#also I’m still working on my big post on every episode

[historicallyaccuratecheese]

HELLO…? MAGNUS ARCHIVES FANARTIST? YES, I WOULD LIKE A DRAWING OF JON…LOOKING WELL PUT TOGETHER AND MENTALLY STABLE!!!

[emo-batboy]

Battinson on SNL

Idk how popular Saturday Night Live is outside of the US so there will be some links for context. That said, as a New Jersey native, I think Battinson would totally watch the show. And since he's a celebrity...👀

SO

To promote WE’s newest charity fund, Alfred signs Bruce up to be a guest host on SNL (à la this post) The announcement is made, and everyone’s like “oh this is going to be a disaster. That man can’t even hold eye contact or speak a full sentence without crying.”

But oh, that’s why it’s so funny.

Now, hear me out. Bruce’s strengths are displayed best when he’s himself. That’s why he’s so popular in Gotham. That’s why the internet calls him Relatable TM and a Disaster (Affectionate) and “Poor Little Meow Meow.” It’s his ✨ essence ✨

But he tends to get overwhelmed or self-conscious onstage, right? Because he can’t be Himself himself if he has time to overthink something. So after a few meetings with Bruce, the writers of SNL figure out the perfect way to keep Bruce from getting anxious.

They decide to load this episode with as many skits where Bruce plays different caricature-like versions of himself as possible. The objective? Make him break character and laugh so he doesn’t overthink. And if he breaks character, he’ll still technically be in character because he’s playing himself, you know? Genius.

So that’s how they go about structuring the show. During the few days they have to write, they decide to take everything about Bruce’s public image and either ramp it up to 11 or turn it on its head.

He speaks quietly? Turn it into a running gag. He dresses in all black? Make him emo. He tips well? Add that in too. He’s “depressed” and “sad?” Literally, all he does on screen is laugh and break character. What’s not to love?

Of course, Bruce also gets to decide what skits are in each episode as well. (Refer to this if you have no idea how SNL works.) He loves the idea, though, and he has a surprisingly dark sense of humor which bleeds into some of the sketches. They add in a few skits without him, and they’ve got their lineup.

It’s the wildest episode of the season. Here are the highlights:

OPENING MONOLOGUE

It’s the big night, everyone’s excited to see Bruce Wayne hosting a live sketch comedy show with no idea how it will turn out.

To begin his monologue, Bruce walks on, opens his mouth to start talking, and immediately two cast members appear as stagehands to set up six microphones in front of him. He is already struggling to keep himself together.

Bruce: “You may be wondering why I’m host- Cast Member: *adds one more tiny microphone to his chest* Bruce: “You may be wondering why I’m hosting tonight.”

It’s working. The audience loves it.

Halfway through, Kate McKinnon comes out in a dark cloak with a chalice. “Your sustenance, my lord.” *sees camera* “Oh. Sorry. Carry on.” And she shambles off. Bruce has to take a second before continuing.

Bruce knows when (most of) the jokes come. It’s literally on the cue cards, but he still falls into a fit of giggles.

There are a few more gags, including Lex Luthor peeking out from behind the band set-up, all teasing the show to come.

Overall, an amazing way to set the tone for the episode. Expectations have been set. Then the skits begin!

(Oh but before I forget: During every single live skit with Bruce, the writers have scheduled for one of the cast members to run in dressed as a stagehand and put an extra mic on him. They do not tell him when it will happen.)

SKIT #1

Between the monologue and the first skit, he has to do a really fast quick change, but to everyone’s surprise, Bruce is a natural. (Huh, wonder why.)

The skit is called Gotham PTA Meeting. We open in a meeting room full of stereotypical PTA moms setting down baked goods and gossiping. And apparently, there is a new PTA member attending today 👀

Right as the meeting starts, he enters. Bruce walks in wearing the most emo get-up imaginable. He’s got a Nirvana shirt, a comical amount of eyeliner, black skinny jeans, chain accessories, metal rings, AND a clip-in extension to give him fringe.

Someone immediately runs in and puts another mic on him.

PTA Mom: “Oh, Bruce! You made it! Did you bring a snack?” Bruce: “I brought lemon bars.” PTA Mom: “Why are they black?” Bruce: “They match my soul…they’re also vegan.”

He talks like a moody teenager. HE CONSTANTLY has to brush the fringe off to the side to read the cue cards. And because there’s so much eyeliner and he’s sweating a bit from the lights, it starts running everywhere.

PTA Mom: “Bruce, you’re a little quiet. What are your thoughts on increasing the school lunch budget?” Bruce: *eyeliner dripping down his chin* “I think it’s a great idea.”

SKIT #2

For a pre-filmed skit, they bring back the Chad character with Pete Davidson.

It’s 2 am, and Chad is working at a 24hr drug store in Gotham. He’s reading Twilight (the book is upside down) when the lights begin to flicker.

He turns around and tries the light switch, turns back around, and JUMPSCARE it’s Bruce dressed as Edward from Twilight.

Yes, he IS sparkly.

Bruce is awkwardly holding a bunch of items, all concerning. He plops down a few knives, several raw meats, Sudafed. Chad: “Oh hey.” Bruce: O_O “I’d like to check out please.” Chad: “Lit.”

Chad’s “No Fucks Given” energy and Bruce’s “Please Do Not Perceive Me” energy clash like titans. The whole skit centers around it.

Bruce: *sweating bullets* “Oh. You’re reading Twilight?” Chad: “Just the title.” Bruce: *throws the book through the window at lightning speed* “It’s not very good. You should probably read something else.” Chad: *shrugs* “Okay.”

Chad: “ID?” Bruce: “ID? For what?” Chad: “Sudafed.” Bruce: “Oh. I don’t really need that, actually.” Chad: “Already scanned it.” Bruce: “Haha. Of course.” *awkwardly produces a scroll from his pocket that says Bruce Wayne DOB: 1901* Chad: “Okay.”

Bruce checks out, Chad picks up a porno mag or something, and we see Bruce turn into a bat and fly off through the window behind him.

SKIT #3

The next skit they have is Celebrity Family Feud: Billionaires Edition. Again, Bruce plays himself, but he’s more of a background character. Instead, the skit makes fun of billionaires as a whole.

Bruce’s team consists of Kylie Jenner, Lex Luthor, and Oliver Queen. So just imagine three Lucille Bluths standing beside one another. 

Bruce’s bit? He just keeps handing cash to Steve Harvey every time he breathes in his direction.

Host: "We got the richest man in the world: Bruce Wayne!" Bruce: *hands him a roll of cash* Host: "Oh, what’s this for?" Bruce: "It’s your tip. I always tip." Host: "Oh, Mr. Wayne, you don’t usually tip the show host. I’m also a millionaire myself." Lex Luthor: *snatches it* "Well, if you’re not going to use it, I will…for charity, of course." Host: "Uh huh, whatever helps you sleep at night."

Just a ton of fun quips, the usual.

At some point, Harvey says, “That’s batty.” Bruce: *ducks* “Where?!” Host: “Oh, I don’t mean Batman. He’s not here.” Bruce: “You don’t know that.”

This time, the mic bit is a bit different.

Host: “We asked 100 billionaires: How much does a loaf of bread cost? Top three answers are on the board.” Bruce: *hits buzzer* Host: Bruce, your answer is? Cast Member: *runs in with a megaphone and holds it in front of Bruce* Bruce: “TEN DOLLARS?”

Board dings! That was the #1 answer

Brucie Wayne for the win

SKIT #4

Next is a skit that dares to ask Gotham, “Why would anyone live here?”

The skit begins with someone opening a press conference for Wayne Enterprises. “And now presenting: Bruce Wayne!” Bruce walks in…

But it’s not him. Instead, it’s one of the cast members dressed in a black suit with horribly gelled brown hair.

Everyone in the audience is wondering where the actual Bruce is before another cast member runs onstage crying, “Help! Help! I’ve just been robbed! Somebody call Batman!”

A mini version of the bat-signal lights up…

We hear some generic hero music play…

And there he is: Bruce Wayne dressed in a horribly cheap Batman costume

(They got the cowl ALL wrong btw)

Bruce puts his hands on his hips in a weird superhero pose. Bruce: “I’m Batm-” Cast Member: *runs out to attach another mic to his costume* Bruce: “….I’m Batman!”

Cue all of the gags and digs against Batman. The fake Bruce faints then starts crying under a table. Someone calls Batman a furry. Bruce is barely keeping it together the whole time. Lord help him, but he asked for it. He approved the skit.

Bruce: “Looks like a job for my bat taser!” Cast Member: “Isn’t that just a taser with a bat on it?” Bruce: *whispers* “You shut your mouth.”

He saves the day, the police take the thief into custody, then Batman myStErioUsly disappears. Bruce: “Look over there!” *runs off* Cast Member: “Oh my gooood, how did he do that?”

CLOSING SEGMENT

Finally, they have the Weekend Update where Bruce comes on as himself for the final time.

Since they got his permission, the writers switch out some of Bruce’s jokes last minute. (Think Bill Hader’s Stefon which notoriously caused him to break character because the writers would mess with his cue cards.)

News Anchor: “Here to promote his newest humanitarian project: Bruce Wayne!” “Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure to see you today.” Bruce: “Thank you. This is probably the longest I’ve been out of the house.” News Anchor: “Since the Riddler catastrophe?” Bruce: “Since ever.”

News Anchor: “So Mr. Wayne! Before you make your announcement, any life updates?” Bruce: “Yes, actually. Just a few days ago, I adopted five- *starts losing it* five more children.” News Anchor: “Wow, really? So you have eight kids now.” Bruce: “Uh huh. *tears streaming down his face* One more orphan and I get the tenth one free.”

News Anchor: “So where can people find you online?” Bruce: “Well, I don’t have social media because I’m afraid of people, but sometimes I’m on Twitter.” News Anchor: “What about a phone call?” Bruce: “Oh no, phone calls- *giggle* phone calls give me fainting spells.”

It’s a great way of finishing the show, with the most genuine version of Bruce. Then, he gets to what’s really important!

News Anchor: “So if they can’t reach you on social media or on the phone, what else can our viewers do, Mr. Wayne?” Bruce: “They can donate to the Wayne Foundation’s newest charity called The Arts Initiative. It funds programs for the arts in underdeveloped school districts nationwide. I’ve already donated $30 million, and I’ve pledged to match every dollar donated within the next week.”

And that’s what he’s here for :) They share a link for where and how to donate. The anchors praise him for his charity, which he deflects because he can definitely afford this, and the 90-minute broadcast is over.

The camera pans away with the whole cast waving goodbye, and Bruce is seen keeling over with laughter.

Along with some of the other skits, these four specifically go viral. WE raises a fuck ton of money, and everyone loves Bruce.

THE END

LOVE YOU ALL!! Let me know what you think :D

[bookscandlesnbts]

Jikookery in the new Beyond the Story Doc

Don’t expect think pieces/summary posts from me on a regular basis because it’s only when I feel like I have something unique to say. I definitely agree with the majority of the opinions that I’ve read on the doc being sloppy timeline wise and not showing us much else new. This was in my drafts and I forgot about it, so I’m posting it.

But these last couple episodes were gems. And posed something interesting. I had seen the Jikook moments sprinkled on Twitter, but I had to wait to watch the episodes until I got off of work. In the context of the episodes, I think they mean sooo much more than how they can be perceived alone as snippets. Every other member besides Jin (who was with a non idol or celebrity friend group which warmed my heart so much honestly) was featured alone except Jikook. And I doubt all of them are truly alone as in they don’t have a significant other that they could have been seen relaxing with. And I think the answer is quite simple: because Jikook are always together and they have the power of plausible deniability because they are bandmates right?? That means they could never be together according to the court of homophobic public opinion and probably statistical data right??? I know everyone is freaking out about the date on the refrigerator when hunky bf JK cooks dinner at Mimi’s place but I think it’s actually very interesting that they chose that specific date to film them together. And it was the day before White Day too when they were also seen together. *sigh*

Maybe they thought it would be less weird for Jikook to be seen decompressing and hanging out right after a concert versus bringing a film crew in during their actual personal time that would expose them seeing each other outside of “work”. Jikook were very private too leading up to their companion enlistment. As much as JK went live even, we never saw the two of them together except for the minute where JK shows up on Jimin’s Face Documentary which was live, so I lied. I have no doubt that they saw each other all the time even if we didn’t see evidence of it. But that’s the point. They probably wanted to continue having their privacy. We don’t know what the date was when Jin with his friends but I would guess it probably wasn’t the day immediately after their last big concert in Korea. The other members I can’t say for sure but someone could probably analyze their hair or something and determine it was a later date. The point is that Jimin and Jungkook still wanted to be filmed hanging out together for the doc when none of the other members chose to film together. To me, that really speaks volumes to their bond and closeness.

[dumbfridge]

hey!!! if you enjoy varian and the seven kingdoms please stop scrolling for just a moment!!!!

so i know there are multiple fanfiction creators who have written their own versions of vat7k and i love and have read each and every one of them

i decided i wanted to join in on the fun and so i’ve been working on my own version of vat7k for over a year now

i’ve split it into three books plus a prequel and a sequel. each book (minus the prequel & sequal) have 22 chapters each. the prequel & sequel will have around 1-10 chapters (it depends on how long the written portion is)

i wanted to make my series have a similar vibe to an actual tv show so the chapters will be posted as if they are episodes. for example, one chapter will be lore based and another will be similar to a filler episode.

sadly, i’m still working on it and it probably won’t be done anytime soon but i do have a decent portion of it created. i have an idea for what to put into each chapter and am working on the details of each chapter. i’ve also written a few snippets here and there and here’s one from the prequel, After Ever After:

Varian’s pacing. He knows he’s pacing but by the Sun, he’s angry. For years, he’s wanted to know more about his mother. For years, he’s begged to hear stories about her. For years, he’s lived off of the small scraps that his father gave to him, only to learn that he has been keeping a key component about his mother from him.

His mother’s journal sits before him on Xavier’s table, a deep forest green with a symbol engraved upon it. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it's mocking him. Just when he made peace with the fact that nothing will ever change in Corona, this journal pops into existence as a big “fuck you!” to Varian’s mental wellbeing.

Xavier has been watching him patiently, having already picked his way through the journal. Varian stubbornly refuses to be the one to speak first but Xavier is just staring at him, his eyes following the path Varian is making into his floor.

Varian doesn’t speak for several more seconds before he demands: “So? What does it mean? What are the Seven Trials and why was my mom so obsessed with it?”

“Ah, yes, the Seven Trials,” Xavier enunciates. He rubs his chin as a faraway look passes over his face. “It is an old tale but one worth revisiting.”

“Oh, would you quit it?” Varian snaps. He stops pacing and stands across from Xavier, arms crossed and his foot tapping the ground repeatedly. “I really don’t want a long winded explanation right now.”

Xavier chuckles. “Very well. I will keep my story short. The Seven Trials were a test made long ago by Demanitus himself.”

Varian’s foot falls with a final thump. “Demanitus? My mom followed his studies too?”

“It would seem so.” Xavier gently picks up the journal and flicks through the pages. He stops about midway through the book and turns it for Varian to see. “And it also seems like she got very close to her goal.”

The entry on the page is annoyingly vague. The main phrases he gets from it are words he’s already read when he skimmed through it earlier. “The Eternal Library” particularly stands out to him. He could have sworn he heard it somewhere before.

When he rereads the paragraph, though, he puts together pieces that he had taken for granted before. Most of it doesn’t make any sense because she’s using key words only she obviously knows but Varian gets the gist of it. She completed all of the trials and found the location of the Eternal Library.

that’s all i have for that right now

if you have any questions, feel free to ask

and if you have suggestions, i’d be happy to hear them! i can’t promise any of them will make the cut but if they do, i’ll make sure to credit whoever’s idea it originally was

thank you for reading! if any of you are interested i might be able to post more snippets of it

[andromedism]

In 2017, I watched “The Gang Tends Bar” as it aired live, and it’s all kind of a blur but I remember three things very clearly:

Sunnyblr was POPPING. To this day, I still see TGTB posts floating around with 10k notes and they are all still so fucking good. My beautiful relics of an absolutely insane time.

Airing A Crickets Tale that very next week is probably one of the most chaotic things that was happening to Tumblr at that time. We were all like, “Mmm, thanks for whatever that was, RCG! So yummy! Now can we have another helping of repressed middle-aged gay men?” and they said, “Okay, sure! Here’s more of that but make it foreboding,” and aired “Dennis’ Double Life” the very next week after THAT.

I didn’t sleep the night TGTB aired. I was a freshman in college and I went to class the next day and just stared at nothing during my lecture because I was so blown away by it. At 18, it was one of the most formative experiences I’ve ever had with television. Raw, emotional moments have always been so much more impactful to me in comedic shows. I still consider it one of the most romantic episodes of any show I’ve ever seen. I’m 25 now, and I have never forgotten the way I felt the first time I saw this episode. My life is entirely different now from February of 2017, but my feelings about TGTB are exactly the same if not intensified.

Bonus Big Feelings:

Once you’ve watched “Dennis’ Double Life,” TGTB reads so differently—it hurts so much more. Because you know how it ends for them and you never get closure. YOU NEVER GET CLOSURE.

Something about Glenn’s hair being outstandingly hot in S12 really brought everything together, that year + heightened the pining. He would do something and we’d all be like “ok work!”

Season 16 is the closest I’ve felt to Season 12 levels of deranged. I think this makes sense since S16, stylistically, reminds me the most of classic Sunny and somehow, also, every macden fic I’ve ever read.

I never had a good reference point for whether other people outside of Sunnyblr read that episode as incredibly queer, or Just Guys Being Dudes, but most of my comms class watched this show, and we were all foaming at the mouth talking about it the next day. Everyone was like, “Oh my god! It’s getting gayer! We won!”

Reflecting on where I was in life when TGTB, and when this most recent season aired, I can’t help but wonder where we’ll all be if they touch noses. Season 24 is our seasons guys.

[lurkingshan]

Japanese QL Corner

ICYMI: There are so many Japanese qls airing weekly, so I’m going to start posting this little round up at the end of each week. Most of these shows are on Gaga and I highly recommend watching!

Tsukuritai Onna to Tabetai Onna 2

Besties, I screamed!!! We were blessed with episodes 9-12 of this fantastic second season this week, and we finally reached the moment we've been building toward for so long. I AM SO PROUD OF KASUGA AND NOMOTO. Amazing job using your words, ladies. And I loved the way they tied Kasuga's family plot in here, with her need to move giving her the motivation to finally tell Nomoto what she wants. Nomoto was ready for it, too, and already planning to confess on her own (still not over that adorable screamsqueal she let out after inviting Kasuga for Valentines dinner). I can't wait for them to buy a big house, invite Nagumo and Yako to live with them, and start their very own lesbian commune where every meal is amazing.

Chaser Game W

I did some investigating this week because the way these characters are written was just not making sense to me. And as it happens, not only is this show about women written by a male screenwriter, it was adapted from a het manga! Itsuki's character was originally a heterosexual man. Let me tell ya, this made a lot click into place for me. Trust a male writer to take a het romance about power dynamics, gender swap one of the characters to make it a gl, and fail to adjust the characterizations and plot for the completely different power dynamics and communication styles that would entail. It doesn’t explain all the issues with the writing, but it sure does explain a lot about the puzzling lack of feelings processing and communication between these two women. Despite that messiness, I will finish watching this one to support the ratings so we get more gls soon.

My Strawberry Film

What we got here is a love chain of pain. Chika loves Ryo, but Ryo loves Hikaru, and Hikaru is fixated on Minami. Everyone is pining and there is no way for everyone to get what they want. A classic high school angst set up, though admittedly not my favorite kind of story. I will continue to hope that Chika experiences an awakening and we end up with both a bl and a gl pair in this show. I did not expect them to find Minami that easily (or that she would be their peer), so I'm curious to see where they take the plot for this one.

Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka

Last week I said I was wary of them bringing Mizuki back into the mix to interfere in the relationship, and as expected I was irritated with the way the show used him in this week's episode. I like where that final conversation between Sakae and Soga ended up, but I didn't care for the way Mizuki was used to interfere. It felt like a retread of the last couple weeks, didn't accomplish anything new for those relationships, and just made Sakae seem kind of weak willed and immature. Sakae was not feeling confident about Soga's feelings because he had not communicated clearly, but every time Soga tried to talk to him, Sakae just stood there and let Mizuki get in the way. I would have liked to see him draw a firmer boundary with Mizuki and talk to Soga like an adult, but instead he was wavering through most of the episode and not giving Soga the chance to explain things. It was an annoying dynamic and I hope it's actually over. But of course, Mizuki hasn't left yet and the episode didn't allow us more than a brief happy moment before flashing forward to a breakup, so we're clearly in for more seesaw shenanigans before this ends.

Perfect Propose

I love this show, y'all. I already posted a little love note to this episode, which I thought was so smart and authentic in the way it depicted Hiro's ongoing struggles with work, his burnout, and his fear about moving on (also shoutout to this post from @befuddledcinnamonroll for a great overview on why the storytelling choices are so effective). And for an episode where Hiro and Kai shared only a couple scenes, it got a surprising amount of relationship development done, as Hiro became more aware of his growing feelings for Kai and Kai made his intentions and his boundaries clear. I love that he put the ball firmly in Hiro's court to decide what he wants and ask for it, and I am so looking forward to seeing Hiro run next week. If only I could get another six episodes, everything here would be perfect.

Ossan's Love Returns

I'll be honest, this show has been kinda wobbly for me in the back half. It feels like they put too many balls in the air and are not quite sure how to land them all. For one, I am just not nearly as invested in this Izumi/Kiku loveline as the show clearly wants me to be--I've been shipping Kiku x Moving On the whole time and was hopeful we may be finally getting there, but it just keeps coming back around. Takegawa's story seems to have gotten lost somewhere along the way, and I was so confused by some of the storytelling choices re: Kurosawa's plot this week that I had to convene @twig-tea and @my-rose-tinted-glasses, and our collective brain power still couldn't quite piece together the show's intent. I loved the first stretch of the episode with the whole squad assembling to puzzle through what they know about Chief's health woes and support him, but then they lost me with that goodbye video sequence immediately followed by a one month later psyche! moment. If they are not killing Kurosawa off (which I don't think they are) the very overwrought final scenes with him, Haruta, and Maki hit pretty weird. Having now seen the end scene that undercuts it all, it could be that it was meant to feel like comedic melodrama, but in the absence of any solid reassurance to the audience that the health threat was not real, that did not really land. All that said, I still love all of these characters and it's been a real delight to see Haruta and Maki settle into their married life, so I'm still very happy to be watching and looking forward to how they wrap up.

[bengiyo]

23.5 Ep 6 Stray Thoughts

Last week, Ongsa took the big lie too far for me. They all attended Sun’s birthday party, and Sun explicitly asked Earth to attend the party as well. Ongsa failed to tell Sun the truth, let Sun cry, and continued the lie even further. Aylin got picked on again, but Luna has decided she’s not going to let that happen on her watch.

I like Alpha getting Aylin to go talk to Ongsa.

I feel so bad for this poor dog. He is panting in every scene.

The person who posted that Ongsa is losing to herself is so correct.

Episode 6: The Apocalypse

Ah, yes, the boys have also fallen in the makeup wars. I get that beauty product companies help fund our shows, but goddamn.

I respect Mawin for outing himself rather than be misunderstood as straight and interested in the wrong person.

Shout out to my boy Euro for having Mawin check out Tinh when he wasn’t looking.

I don’t mind meddling in this case, because it’s clear Ongsa is too paralyzed to move forward on her own. Still, I feel bad that even more people know before Sun even though I am amused that this sleepover is high-key turning into a double date.

Okay, Luna, that was a really decent opening you created there. I love the way View is playing Aylin’s increasing frustration with Ongsa. That lean over was great.

This bedroom scene is solid emotional work for View and June. I’m starting to see the vision.

 KABE-DON! I WANT TO SEE HER MAD!

Ongsa, let’s take a ride. We need to talk.

Mhmm, and now Sun is finding out on her own.

“’Spies and thieves!’ she spits. ‘Spies and thieves!’”

Ongsa, you can’t run away from this!

Damn, Milk sold that fall.

Je ne sais pas aussi, Sun.

Ongsa, you got your whole family scared and running around in the streets like this. It’s too much!

Thankfully, Sun is bisexual and processing this fairly quickly.

Oh good. We’ve got decent parents and siblings in this one.

Oh, Ongsa. I remember being this young. I do not miss it.

“I’m sorry for being a girl.” Hold on, let me go lay down real quick.

Well well well. The “Let me think about it and get to know you better” era has reached GL.

Journey before destination? I love Sun, too.

Next week looks fun! Thank you for the reassurance.

Lord, Ongsa had me stressed all episode. I don’t ever want to be that young and anxious ever again. I felt so much old closet trauma welling up in me the entire episode. I need to go take a walk!

Doing a soft reset at this point is kind of interesting since we're at the midpoint. I'm curious how the back half will unfold.

[thesaltwateremu]

I’ve seen a lot of people saying that norris and chester can’t be jmart because you’re able to listen to tmagp without any knowledge of tma. Here’s why I disagree

I feel like it’s fairly common for sequels to be written with the intention that it’s still understandable from an outside perspective. With movies especially this makes sense since i at least don’t think it’s uncommon for people to watch sequels without seeing the original (I mean really, how many of us have seen every marvel movie. Or with the new hunger games movie, a lot of my friends who watched it had never seen the original triology)

From a monetary standpoint, you want to make your sequel accessible to as many people as possible. With tma, there’s 200 episodes. That can be really overwhelming for someone unsure if they want to listen to protocol. By making it possible to listen to tmagp without having listened to tma, they are way more likely to listen, and might even go back and listen to tma. Marvel is a good comparison here: there’s a lot of marvel movies. It’s overwhelming for someone to have to watch all of them to understand the plot, so marvel makes their sequels work as standalones, while it is obviously more enjoyable if you’ve watched others. Same deal with hunger games. Also the friends I mentioned before who had never watched the original movies now really want to see them, bringing more money to the franchise

Jmart being in tmagp really wouldn’t be that alienating for new listeners. The main thing that would make tmagp difficult to listen to without context from tma is worldbuilding. However, this problem is avoided due to tmagp taking place in a completely different universe. Even original tma fans don’t have much world building to go off of. This is actually a big reason why I think the fears will be different in tmagp. It took so long for that world building to occur, it’d be boring for old listeners to hear the same thing again, and confusing for new ones to go on without it. Jmart is different because they’re just two characters. Sure, we’ll have a better understanding of who they are if we’ve listened to tma, but I feel like it’s not that difficult to quickly sum up their realtionship and their past in a way that’s understandable to new listeners. Plus we would need some backstory anyways since we don’t really know how they ended up in the tmagp universe

I almost think it’d be a missed opportunity if they didn’t have jmart or some other direct connection to tma in tmagp because one big reason for making sequels is bringing more attention to the original piece of media. Having a direct connection to tma, especially if it’s explained in a way that’s brief and intriguing could make new listeners more likely to go back and listen to tma

TLDR: tmagp could have jmart because it’s pretty common for movies and other media to make their sequels understandable for new viewers, and it wouldn’t take that much effort for there to be a quick explanation of who jmart is for new listeners

This wasn’t meant to attack anyone who’s been saying this, I’m just providing a counterpoint. If you disagree, that’s completely fine, I’m not here to start beef with strangers on the internet. Feel free to leave your thoughts agreeing, disagreeing, or otherwise, just be nice about it :) (this goes for all posts of people posting their thoughts and theories btw, we have so little info to go off of, just let people speculate without shutting them down)

(also I realize this post kinda sounds like I’m saying rusty quill is only making a sequel for money and attention. This is absolutely not what I’m saying, these are just often reasons that sequels are made, in addition to loving the story, characters, fandom, etc)

[my-rose-tinted-glasses]

My memory is terrible so I wanted to do a breakdown of my stuff every once in a while. Might be monthly, might be whenever I feel like it.

BL - Currently Watching

7 Days Before Valentine [11/12] - Unlike some other shows, this one is actually getting better towards the end. I appreciate that Sunshine did some self reflection and became a better human being and I really enjoy the visuals here. Also, 7 days before valentine we will watch the finale, so that's neat.

Cherry Magic Th [7/12]– I like what the thai version is doing with the source material, I think they are being really smart and I'm so happy I got to watch the shopping date and the helicopter ride that were missing from the japanese live action.

Cherry Magic Anime [4/12]– I'm enjoying all the parallels way too much. Part of me wishes that it had stayed closer to the manga but since I get that also from Thailand, I can't complain.

Cooking Crush [9/12]– My expectations weren’t as low as maybe other people because I'm a OffGun fan but I am enjoying this show way more than I thought. It’s so refreshing to see good communication and well rounded characters that are given the space to work stuff out and be honest with each other. I feel for Samsee, cause, been there.

Dead Friend Forever [6/12]– this show continues to surprise me every week. I’m a big horror and slasher fan so for the premise alone I was gonna watch it. But I’m liking the way they chose to structure this story, moving from the slasher bit to the past at that moment was really smart. The visuals are so strong in this and I’m enjoying the communal murdering impulses towards the original friend group.

Ossan's Love Returns [3/12] - It’s chaos but the kind that only Japan can get away with for me. That season opener alone would’ve made me stop watching if it wasn’t for that. But the thing about these characters for me is that they get to be this ridiculous because it’s all grounded in such heart and kindness towards each other. It's a balancing act that only Japan can deliver at this level.

Playboyy [10/14] – I applaud the effort to make something new and out of the bl box, I think the show is trying to talk about interesting things and there are moments where the visuals are very strong. However, the acting is the weakest part of the whole thing and so I cannot connect to the characters, which leaves the whole experience kinda empty for me.

Although I Love You, and You? [3/10]- Japan my beloved. What’s there to say? Sakae is my new favourite boy and I’m really enjoying these two bridging the gap in their personalities.

The Sign [10/12]– Phaya and Tharn are delightful. Yai is the bestest boy ever. But there’s too many loose threads considering we only have 2 episodes left. There’s still to much going on and the investigation part of it just seems too disconnected for me to care. I really hope they're not counting on a special or a second season to wrap this up.

BL - Finished

Last Twilight – No need to repeat myself. here and here

Love for Love's Sake - What a wonderful surprise this was. Yeo Woon is one of the most adorable characters of all time and I seriously cannot handle it. From the beginning there was always a cloud over the whole story and I think in the end it all came together really well, to give us a happy ending that feels earned. Also really appreciated the way the story dealt with the triangle. Most of the time I hate them with a passion so I was really happy that Sang Won didn't just disappear and stayed in the group and kept teasing Yeo Woon. And now I'm just suppose to move on?

Night Dream – I liked the beginning a lot, but, as it’s becoming increasingly frequent, it dipped as it approached the end and although I liked how it finished I wasn’t a fan of the path to get there. Time skip once again not used well.

Sahara Sensei to Toki-kun - I have not seen the finale yet but I didn't want to wait so I might update this post when I watch it. However, Toki is my favourite boy, and I just want him to be happy.

VIP Only – Cute but ultimately forgettable.

Rose Watches OJBL

So this month I started my journey into older jbl stuff in order to have a bigger understanding of the landscape and what came before. With the help of the amazing @twig-tea I've started this journey with 2 films: Ai no Kotodama (2008) - Such a wonderful way to start this adventure. Really enjoyed this film. Without spoiling it, I understand that the beginning of the film might turn some people off of it but I think it's actually really smart and purposeful. I would definitely recommend it.

No Touching At All (2014) - Also really enjoyed this one. The direction is really interesting I thought. I feel it's all very intentional and it reflects very well the characters state of mind.

And because Cherry Magic opened the anime gates I also watched:

Given (2019) - This is SO GOOD. This show rewired my brain. Just now I was listening to THE SONG and I got emotional again. Every once in a while I enter this mindset where I feel like nothing that I watch can surprise me anymore. Then I watched this show. My thoughts after watching can be found here.

Not BL - Watched this month

The Killing Vote Taxi Driver 2 Vigilante Fermat no Ryori

Well, that's it I guess. Now I have to go and make some Love for Love's Sake gifs because I just can't move on and need to live there a little longer. Speaking of gifs, I'm always happy to take gif requests so let me know.

💜💜💜

[beauty-and-passion]

Tackling The Magnus Archives

I hope you’re satisfied, TMA fandom.

For a lot of time, I’ve seen this fandom everywhere: posts, fanarts, even more fanarts, people mentioning scary stuff and an overall positive reaction about this series.

At first, I didn’t pay it any attention. It seemed just like any other series, with nothing exceptional about it. But the more time passed, the more fanarts I saw, the more they got my interest. I still had no idea what the series was about, but it looked interesting. Maybe there was something I didn’t notice before.

So… why not give it a try?

Cool, what’s the plan?

From the moment I decided to give this series a try, I ran away from all spoilers. That means I am currently facing a series I have no idea what will be about. I know nothing about the plot, nor the characters.

Well, nothing except for a few things I accidentally learned before:

Jonathan Sims is the protagonist. I think?

There is a Michael somewhere

Also, a Martin doing stuff

There are a lot of names

And a library

I’ve also seen a spider lady

Someone explores a dungeon? Is there a dungeon in this story?

There is a homoerotic story too

I also recently found out there is a season 2 - or a related series? No idea what the plot is about, but we will find out along the road.

How?

I had two choices: to analyze every single episode (and die of old age because it would take an eternity) or listen to the whole series first, then write one/several posts analyzing it. But it would still take a lot of time and I will inevitably forget a lot of stuff or don’t cover things as well as they deserve.

So, I chose a third option: to tackle the series ten episodes at a time and write a post with my impressions about all of them. (a bit like I do for Eurovision, only for TMA). This way:

I’ll cover every episode

I will remember more stuff

I will post constantly, so you won’t have to wait forever for me to finish the whole thing first

It will be funnier and more entertaining

Is there something we should/shouldn’t do?

I want my impressions and comments to be as genuine as possible, but in order to do that, I shouldn’t know anything about what I will read.

That means I will actively avoid every little information about the series. It doesn’t matter if it’s about harmless or well-known info: I won’t read it, period.

So please, do not write me anything about this series. I will not read any ask regarding TMA. You can still ask me stuff and write comments, sure. And you can put spoilers if you want, but please: be kind and put a big warning before them. Do not spoil the fun.

What’s the timeline?

Asap: I will write a new post and add it to the main masterlist. This new post will seve as masterlist for TMA and include this introductory post, as well as all other reactions. So If you ever miss one of them, you will read all of them there.

In the next couple days: it will come out the first post with my reactions about chapters 1-10. I’m already working on it, so it should come out very soon.

I will try to keep up a consistent schedule, but can’t promise you anything. I am preparing two exams and my final thesis too, so it might take me some time to post. But I will end this series. By now, you know that when I start something, I finish it.

In conclusion

Thank you in advance to all the people who will follow me in this adventure. If you already know about TMA, you can have fun, by mocking me for my ignorance or wait for the moment I will face the real shit. If you don’t know about TMA, maybe you will find the inspiration to start it - or to do it with me. It’ll be fun! And even if the series ends up being bad, at least we can laugh together at how terrible it is.

See you very soon with the first post about chapters 1-10.

(How about a coffee? ☕)

_______________________________

TAGLIST:

@royalprinceroman @mudpuddlenl@allmycrushesaredead @aquatedia@whatishappeningrightnow  @effortiswhatmatters @bella-in-a-bag  @doydoune @forever-third-wheeling​ @payte @hypnossanders​  @idontreallyknow24​  @imcrushedbyarainbowoffical​ @patton-cake​  @hereissananxiousmess​  @purplebronzeandblue​  @cynicalandsarcastic​ ​@lost-in-thought-20​ @andtheyreonfire​ 

@riseofthewerewolf​ @rosesandlove44​​  @chewy-rubies @groaaaaan​ @arya-skywalker  @csi-baker-street-babes @queen-of-all-things-snuggly @reesiereads

@dracayd-universe​ @starlightnyx​ @stubbornness-and-spite​ @averykedavra @joyrose-fandomer @mihaela-tbg @igonnatalknothing

@thatoneloudowl  @grayson-22  @softangryfuckingdepressed @theotherella  @boopypastaissalty @nevenastark @varthandiveturinn @roses-bubbles @cuter-on-the-inside  @coldbookworm  @snixxxsmythe @charmingcritter  @analogical-mess @emphasis-on-the-oopsie @selfdestructivecat @yangwalkerao3 @the3rddenialist

[brekwrites]

Wassup, I hear you like screaming about Solar from tSaMs, I am here to get my ear drums busted :D

I will gladly talk about Solar with you, I am somewhat new to tumblr (been here a while only started posting today) so I’m tryna engage with other artists and creators, and get my ass out of the corner.

I also really like your fan fictions! Keep up the good work :)

Hi!!!!

Yea I love Solar he's like. The guy ever. I could scream about a lot of Solar-related things, but at the current moment I'm thinking about how his relationships are with the other characters. This got long, so I'm sticking it under the cut.

Like, I wanna see more of him and Sun interacting and some sort of evidence that his feelings toward Sun are complicated by his grief surrounding his own Sun. I'd like to see some 'you're stuck in a body that's really similar to mine, I know how my own model works, let me help' solidarity between them as well.

I wanna see how his experiences with his own Moon affect his interactions with New Moon. I feel like he's remained calm in the face of quite a few of Moon's outbursts, which is interesting to me. Is he used to them? Is he freaking out a bit, but shutting down (bc that's totally a response he seems to have to stressful situations)? Is the time he spends with New Moon healing for him in a way that's similar to when Lunar spends time with him? I'd also love to see Moon provide some support and comfort for him, since it's been established he does the same for Moon. At the same time, there are times when he and Moon start to feed off of each other in a way that's not great, and I want to see more of that too.

I feel like it's been established that it was good for Lunar to spend time with Solar and that he sees him and Eclipse as definitively separate people now. Also, we know that Solar was lonely in his own universe and deeply hurt when he learned Lunar was gone. I wanna see a bit more of Solar's struggle with being one of the few good Eclipses, and I feel like that could be explored through his relationship with Lunar (if Lunar could focus on something other than his own issues for more than a few seconds). Does he feel like it's only a matter of time before he does something unforgivable? Is he constantly making an effort to prove that he's still good, still trustworthy, and it's still safe to keep him around? Is he ever afraid that if he slips up, even a little, they'll send him back to his dimension to be alone? We know a big part of Eclipse's issues stem from abandonment, and I feel like that definitely applies to Solar as well. I wanna see him sink his claws into his new family and refuse to let go because he feels like every good thing he has is taken from him eventually. I wanna see him be willing to fight to keep what he's worked so hard for.

It's really interesting for me to see Solar's interactions with Earth because she's such an open person, in contrast to the way he closes himself off. We know he was lonely in his old dimension, we know he's probably starved for approval and affection and kindness, but whenever Earth offers it he shies away. He admitted to feeling left out and wanting to spend more time with her and Lunar, but he was very blunt and matter-of-fact when he said it. Earth has tried to talk to him about his feelings, but he shut down and barely responded. But we know he wants to be more open and closer to her, because he agreed to learn to knit with her, agreed to make a new body for her, laughs and jokes with her, and hugged her back when she hugged him. He also looks up to her, which we saw in the recent ep where he tried to mediate between her and Lunar. It didn't go well, but that was his way of showing he cared about them both and wanted to help them work it out. Finally, I know they needed another person to play Frank in the Christmas episode, but Solar's hasty exit and comments about how he didn't know how to handle the interaction had me like GRRRRRR. YOU SHOULD EXPLORE THAT MORE DEEPLY MY GUY! And cry about it, maybe.

Also, with Eclipse coming back? I wanna see them talk more! I wanna see Solar be like, "I see right through you, actually. You're a sad, lonely, piece of shit. I know because that's how I feel, sometimes." I want Solar to see what he could have been and feel things about it. I want Eclipse to see what he could have been, what he could have had, and feel things about it.

Like idk it's just so fun to stick Solar together in a room with another character in literally any context. I like the canon concept of him joining the family, I like AUs where he gets together with Moon, and I also like AUs where he gets together with Sun. Fuck it, maybe I'll ship him with Eclipse too. Or Ruin. Or KC. I literally do not care as long as I get to put him in situations and see what he does. I want to study him like a little bug under a magnifying glass.

Anyways... I like Solar lmao. Thank you for sending me an ask! :)

[silver-ink-iron-words]

T_T

This is so touching!

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this. But then I was like, I've already made them wait long enough, and what's the harm of posting two things in one day?

Felt it'd be nice to have Part 6 be a little less plot-driven. You'll see what I mean

-------

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

QPR, Part 6

“[Hero], come on!” the villain called, from where they laid sprawled on the couch. “You said it wouldn’t take that long!”

“Hold on just a sec.” The hero’s voice floated from the kitchen. “They’ll be done soon.”

The villain scowled and flopped back on the pillows. “You never see Do-yun making Ha-rin wait around forever.”

“That’s because tv shows have this magical trick called the jump cut.” There was the sound of an oven door closing. “We'll just let them bake, and then they’ll be so good you won’t even remember the wait.”

The villain groaned.

Then they heard the sound of running water, and burst up, rushing into the kitchen. “Are you doing my dishes?!”

The hero jerked their head up like they’d been caught vandalizing. “I was just going to do a few while we waited.”

“Okay, one, you do not need to do my chores on k-drama night. And two, how long is the baking going to take?!”

The hero glanced to their phone on the counter. “’Bout fifty more minutes.”

The villain gaped. “That’s most of an episode!”

“Well I didn’t want us to have to pause the show during a big scene. This way we can – Jesus your hands are freezing!”

The villain had come up behind the hero to hug them, pressing their hands on the hero’s stomach.

“Come watch tv dear,” they said into the hero’s shoulder. “I’m cold without you.”

The hero shook their head, but also cracked a small grin. “You’re evil.”

The villain matched their expression and pressed their hands more. “Of course I am. It’s the only way I can get you to cuddle me.”

In the end, the brownies were, in fact, good enough to make the villain forget why they were annoyed in the first place.

---

“Oh my god,” the hero said.

The villain fidgeted. “Do you like it?”

“Like it?” The hero looked up. “[Villain], it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

The hero was holding a small fluffy teddy bear, its fur the black, grey, white, and purple of the asexual flag.

The villain beamed. “Really?”

The hero nodded gleefully. “He needs a name.”

“I think the tag says its name is ‘Fuzzy’ or something. You could – ”

“Ferdinand,” the hero decided, assessing the stuffed animal. “Ferdinand Bearnsby. The next Prince of Denmark.”

The villain wrapped the hero in a hug. “I’m so glad you like it.”

---

“So is [Villain], like, a law-abiding citizen now?” the hero’s friend asked.

“Uh, sort of?” The hero gazed around at the restaurant’s outdoor seating area. “They still break minor laws, but I think they’ve really toned it down to stress me out less.”

“Hey, that’s great.”

The hero swirled their iced tea with their straw. “Yeah, I guess.”

The friend quirked an eyebrow. “You don’t agree?”

The hero sighed. “Okay, so don’t ever tell [Villain] this, but I think their ‘devil may care’ attitude is maybe, kinda . . . a little bit cool?”

The friend grinned. “Oh really?”

In return, the hero’s smile was sheepish. “It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but I secretly wish that they’d behave more like their old villainous self sometimes.”

“Hm, well I suppose that – ”

Something enormous crashed into the street, making all the dishes clatter. The hero and their friend both whipped their heads around to see the cause of the noise.

“[Villain]!”

“Oh hi [Hero]!” The fifty-foot tall mech waved at the two of them. “Fancy meeting you here. How did you know it was me?”

“[Villain], why are you in a giant robot?!”

“Isn’t it cool?” The villain spun around, their heavy feet cracking the pavement and the machine's hinges screeching with every movement. “I finally figured out how to get the power system working.”

“This is illegal.”

The villain laughed. “Ah okay, I see the issue. But, fear not my darling, for I have” – they pulled out a sheet of paper that looked miniscule in their enormous metal hands – “a permit!”

Soon after, the mech continued walking down the street, while the hero followed them, shouting at the top of their lungs.

The friend watched them go, and then chuckled. Those two maniacs were perfect for each other.

---

A-spec stories taglist:

@feline17ff , @piept , @doublericenobeans , @vioqueenofmushrooms , @pigeonwhumps , @thelazywitchphotographer , @taramacgay

[gwenboucharddidnothingwrong]

i think we can all agree that it’s not gonna be as simple as ‘arthur gets his daughter back, john and arthur get to live separately’ right? but what if it was? (well not quite but hear me out)

kayne has shown that he’s able to interact with faroe in other timelines, and also transport people (john and arthur atleast) between those timelines, but would he really be capable of creating a whole new faroe for arthur even if he is telling the truth? or of giving john his own body? i don’t think so.

i reckon that, for kayne to bring back faroe in the ‘middle c’ universe, he’d have to take her out of another timeline, which would cause all sorts of problems elswhere. (although tbh i wouldn’t put it past kayne. he doesn’t seem all that bothered as to what effects his actions have on other timelines). even if arthur got faroe back, would he just be forced to let her go/have her taken away from him because of some interdimentional reasons beyond his control?

also, what’s so special about the arthur in our timeline? i mean, kayne is most likely not even from the ‘middle c’ timeline, and the whole ‘darkthur’ thing shows he’s been following what’s been going on in the other timelines. who’s to say he’s not been making empty promises to every other arthur and john? AND IF HE HAS WHAT WOULD THAT MEAN (does he need the same thing from multiple timelines?? tbh i don’t think this point is particularly likely, but just putting it out there)

and as for john getting his own body - he wouldn’t be getting his own back. unless kayne is planning on reuniting him with the king in yellow, where the hell would he be getting that body from? would it be human? would it not? (OR HE COULD JUST PUT HIM IN PARKERS DEAD BODY SSJSJDJGJKFJGG)

the promises he made them are really vague which makes me think he’s definitely not giving them the full picture of the deal they’re making (i mean considering it’s kayne we’re talking about i guess that was a given but still).

also i get that, considering the threats that kayne has made, they don’t have much of a choice but to do what he’s told them to, but what about the repercussions of giving kayne what he wants? it’s clearly not gonna be anything good, and now i come to think of it we know next to nothing about his actual motives. so far he’s pretty much just showed up, killed people, and caused problems.

i’m gonna be real i wasn’t paying that much attention at this point in the episode so i can’t actually remember exactly what he wanted arthur and john to get, but considering the threats he made to make sure they didn’t have any option but to do what he wanted, it’s gotta be really important to him.

and tbh, i’ve got a feeling kayne is working for someone, or atleast being made to do this. he went to some pretty big lengths to prove to john and arthur not only how much power he had, but to make it clear what he was willing to do with that power. i don’t actually have much evidence to back this point up tbh but IVE GOT A FEELING ABOUT IT OK

and also why does he need arthur to do it? is it arthur specifically that he needs for whatever reason? i mean that would make sense, why else would kayne be forcing him to do it, and why else would he have gotten john to try and make arthur get that stone (was that what it was? again, i’m bad at following for the whole hour) in new york.

but has he made them do whatever it is because he knows something will happen? has he made all those promises to john and arthur knowing it won’t matter either way because they aren’t going to make it back?

tldr, even if kayne were to give john and arthur what he said he would, there’s no way it would be as simple as he says it is

(wow, didn’t expect this post to go on for so long, well done for reading if you got up to here, have an unrelated doodle i drew in my physics book below the cut and go drink some water or something)

(his name is jumbo!)

[miintsprigz]

I decided to liveblog my thoughts on the new amazing digital circus episode!

Another long post incoming…

But uh SPOILERS!!!

•Oh this is a nightmare…just based on the weird movements…

•That’s such a terrifying nightmare legitimately. I know the “I don’t wanna play with you anymore” jokes will abound but…imagine if she DOES actually abstract at some point. And this was foreshadowing. Also, the fact that she’s so terrified of being forgotten… Oh honey… we could never forget you!

•I don’t ship them (PLEASE DONT KILL ME) but Ragatha and Pomni are so sweet. But goshdangit Ragatha your fEELINGS MATTER STOP FAWNING.

•THE GIANT BUBBLE BLEEP AHAHA

•”Zooby” PFFT.

•LARPING. SO POMNI’S CANONICALLY ONE OF US HUH, GIANT DWEEB (affectionately)

•Idk why but I really like that gummy elephant. It’s so cute!

•”They’ve even got little candy bugs here!” D’AWW.

•So…Caine’s God, huh.

•”I’m not a child you don’t have to hype me up.” Fair point. Still get icked out by r34 tho.

•”I call shotgun!” Ok I admit he’s fun at times.

•PLEASE LET GANGLE HAVE ONE NICE THING I BEG OF YOU

•The graphics did get a serious upgrade. I love it.

•Huh, so the AI have personalities even when they aren’t being watched, if the gummy bandits are AI.

•Ok never mind Jax is a pain again.

•YEAH YOU CUSS HIM OUT POMNI!

•Aw well at least Kinger is trying to help.

•”Now I have no bridge!” EAT IT RABBIT

•Gosh this really is so silly I like it.

•Jax makes me hate him more almost every time he opens his mouth.

•DID HE JUST SHOVE RAGATHA IN THE FACE?! AND BLACKMAIL POOR GANGLE?!

•Sorry I’ll stop talking about Jax, I just really don’t like him (love him as a character, pisses me off as a person).

•OH GOSH NOT THE GLITCHING VEHICLE

•Oh no that poor gummy dude! I love his Aussie accent too (I think he’s an Aussie)

•OH SHOOT HE GLITCHED THROUGH THOSE ARE MODELS!

•Yeah that must be unnerving. Poor guy.

•There’s our girl!

•”Under the map” makes me think she designed it. “What are you on about?” Makes me think he IS an AI. But he’s becoming self aware. “Where’s mum…” oh no this poor guy…

•Aw Pomni is being nice to him.

•Well I love this fella already. …but I already know…things…hhhhhhhhhh.

•Hah, Willy Wonks reference.

•OH SHOOT ITS A RAGGEDY ANN MOVIE REFERENCE. Fudge is silly, I kinda love him. But also YIKES HE ATE PEOPLE.

•”Is it really murder if it’s delicious?” FFFFFFF

•I STILL HATE JAX BY THE WAY, please don’t kill me for that. Really only cares about himself, I so badly want to see him get his just desserts. I’m sorry if you love him, I love to hate him, I promise it’s nothing personal

•Poor gummy havin a crisis. I wanna hug him.

•See Pomni is actually nice. Imo anyway. She wants to help she’s just nervous. Attagirl, Pomni. You’re trying your best.

•I’m seeing the I Have No Mouth references. And AW she’s inviting him to come with!!! Good lass.

•POMNI DEVELOPMENT!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! BEST GIRL!!!

•Gummigoo, good lad good lad

•Her knowledge on the programming. Her KNOWLEDGE. EEEEE.

•AWWW THEIR LITTLE SMILES

•This is an oddly pretty landscape here, with the teapots.

•Kinger with a bucket on his head HAHAHA

•”I don’t think she really likes me that much.” Honey if only you saw what ONE EPISODE spawned in regards to art of you two.

•KINGER IS THE TEAM DAD. I REPEAT, KINGER IS THE TEAM DAD! “I remember when you were new here too…” And just like that, he lost it.

•OWCH FUDGE GOT BONKED.

•PFFT ya know as a mildly emetophobic person, I normally hate vomit jokes, but these are kind of funny.

•”Good to see you lads.” AWWW.

•Aw the duplicate worked out.

•”I’m so unbelievably disappointed right now” GOOD, COPE SEETHE MALD

•Pomni is genuinely a sweetie. We can see it now. I love that.

•Also the Princess is lovely, I adore her, hope we see her again.

•Oh shoot. Big boom. OH NO FUDGE.

•NO!!!! GUMMIGOOOOOO!!!! I knew it was coming but STILL.

•It’s so sad that she got all this development and now it seems like she’s back at stage one

•Could gummi have been human after all? Is that why Caine looked horrified???

•BRING HIM BACK PLEASE!!!!

•Awww Zooble’s little comfort.

•Oh shoot, funeral for Kaufmo…that’s so sad… aw… that’s good though. It’s how they keep their humanity.

•LEMME HUG THEM PLEASE!!! AW RAGATHA HONEY ITS OK

•AWWW GANGLE’S DRAWING!! THEY WERE BUDDIES… AAAA

•Even Zooble seems sad. Zooble’s nice deep down too I think, they’re just apathetic. And who can really blame them? When you’re stuck in a digital reality, completely disconnected from your own humanity, sometimes that’s how you cope.

•Notice the only one NOT MOURNING is FRIGGIN JAX. What a dingus.

•I really love seeing a resolution to Pomni’s nightmare, where she realizes that people would miss her, and that they would mourn her if she was gone. I think that’s an important thing for her to realize. I guess she isn’t back at stage one after all.

•I WANT A PLUSHIIIIIIE

•But yeah, this episode was absolutely amazing, it made me feel so many emotions, and I can’t wait to obsess over the TV tropes page with all of its new details!

[anonymoushouseplantfan]

Episode 2

They’re in NY. It’s November 2021. They are running away from paparazzi that…aren’t there? Meghan says there was a guy recording them in the basement but the footage is Kate and Diana. Lol, they are in the NJ Turnpike pretending they are being followed by paps. This is bizarre and hilarious.

More bitching about social media harassment, which is apparently a bunch of Twitter posts. 

Doria does a confessional. Why isn’t Doria pretending she didn’t know who Harry was? Didn’t she get the brief? How does the yoga teacher know about the royals but the Northwestern International Relations graduate does not? She knew right away too. It’s a weird disconnect and the show is full of them. Every two minutes they say something that makes you go “Whaaaaaat? Didn’t they just say….”

Relationship breaks. They “felt tremendous relief.” Of course they did. They leaked it. No mention of the Reitman’s collection or the fact that this was leaking during on of Charles’ big trips. No spooning bananas instagram pic either.

Tatcha CEO is credited as “friend.” Wellness podcaster “friend.” Former agent.  Lol, these people are business associates, not friends. First mention of Meghan’s fauxlantropist work, which baffles me as they should have led with that. “Childhood friend” of Harry’s that I never heard of shows up again. Harry really was ringing up everyone in the Eton yearbook trying to find some desperate classmate hungry for exposure. Montage of the press Sunshine Sachs and Nina Crowne set up for her—UN, Rwanda, etc…. They did nice work and they should have spent more time on this. But maybe not. Someone may start wondering what happened to her passion for Rwandan women’s political rights, hygiene, and menstrual pads. But if you pay for an expensive pr makeover you should use it.

According to Tom Bower she was paying SS $7500/mo and I’m amazed at what a good pr company can do with a four figure monthly stipend. The “classy” makeover lasted three months so they turned her into a humanitarian princess for less than $25k. Impressive.

Flower shop pap walk. Interesting choice since this wasn’t the first pap shot of Meghan and she seems to imply it was. The first pap shot was days earlier at her house and she had a security team with her. I wonder why she picked the flower shop shot which is actually a lot less intrusive (in appearance at least) than the real first pic. Maybe because she had security in the earlier picture? Meghan claims there were 8 or 9 paps at the flower shop but there’s only one video so that seems unlikely. Shop wasn’t anywhere near her house also. Rumor was Marcus took this shot. Maybe she was trying to send some money his way by using his pic.

Stock video of paps because she has no video of paps chasing her of course. Pics of official royal events. 

Back to Toronto. Lol, those are clearly security guards in her porch and not paps. Ditto with her landlord’s security cameras. I think there was a DM article when those went up and Legion Media’s pic still states that those cameras were mounted on what was Meghan’s garage and not on her neighbor’s house as the documentary implies. 

At least she doesn’t mention the fake break-in. Guess she knows that won’t fly anymore. But still, how can you show video from the cameras in front of the house and then claim the cameras in the back were from the neighbors? Obviously the house had cameras in the back too.

[Edited to add: She says Toronto police didn't protect her and the police strongly disagree.]

“My face was everywhere, my life was everywhere.” She blames the tabloids, but that wasn’t true. You were leaking stories to US Weekly and Lainey every other day, girl. It was part of your “classy” makeover. No mention of that weird video of Ivy Mulroney that was sent to the DM. Odd since you would think that would be a big intrusion, if it had been done by a pap.

“There were things that were said and things that were written that I had to go to her to ask.” That would be the cheating on Cory and Del Zotto, I guess.

Back to LA. My husband asks what she did to her nose. It does look weird in this shot.

Doria and Meghan tour LA and Meghan’s life was not that interesting. This should have been edited, heavily. I do love that she sold the same childhood pics her dad sold. Like father, like daughter. Dish soap commercial. My husband asks how much plastic surgery she has had because she looks nothing like her old self. Interesting that he’s only half-watching and his main impressions are drugs and plastic surgery.

Racism and media persecution. Wait, some of these pics are from before the relationship broke. They are from the paps she hired during her European vacation with Jess. 

Academic guy blames the UK tabloids for fanning the madness. No mention of Omid Scobie and USWeekly, who were the ones steadily pushing the romance narrative with stories about Charles meeting her at Birkhall and William meeting her at Kensington Palace, as well as their vacation plans.

And Lainey Liu was boasting that the US mags were getting the scoops and not the UK tabloids because Harry was feeding the stories only to the US. So why blame the UK tabloids, Harry? You knew what you were doing. They could finesse this in 2016 when no one knew that Lainey was friends with Meghan and that Omid was their mouthpiece, but that is not the case anymore. Their unofficial biographer was leaking these stories in 2016. It was not the UK tabloids! 

And then there was Meghan herself, Instagramming all over the place.

Whole Foods pap walk. According to Tom Bower, Richard Kay was the guy who got the pic. Unbelievable. That actually surprised me. No wonder that detail was never released. No one would have believed that Diana's big confidante just randomly noticed Meghan walking into KP.

Kensington Palace statement. No mention of William supporting the statement. No mention of the Caribbean tour that got overshadowed by the romance.

 NAACP award really was in front of a green screen with an applause soundtrack.  LOLOLOLOL. It looks so sad, particularly when compared to the footage of the royal events. I think this is supposed to show that their life is better than before (They get awards! In front of green screens!) but it gives the exact opposite impression.

Harry with the hummingbird feeder also looks sad and pathetic. Archie could be in Africa petting elephants but he’s in Cali admiring hummingbirds instead.

Meghan’s personal assistant talks about how she would be recognized in the Toronto grocery stores. Lol, no. She wishes!

Security stuff, including complaints about paps around the Suits trailers which seems odd to me since those are pretty standard for television productions. Also, why are the Invictus Games pictures intrusive? Suits security guy says they were coordinating her security with the palace and “they would handle that stuff.” Interesting detail since she claims she wasn’t protected by the palace and Harry was “hearing this from miles away, completely helpless.” Apparently, she was protected and from day one. Did they watch this before they sent it to Netflix? Did they not notice that half the stuff they put in it contradicts the other half? 

Boring stuff…April 2017 already? They are booking flights to Pippa’s wedding and her Vanity Fair photoshoot through texts. LOL, she was doing a huge interview at the time, but she’s complaining about media intrusion. Make it make sense.

Pics with friends riding bikes. Old pic in her Toronto kitchen. Did they use this one twice? I would not have used it even once. Wait, was this what she was wearing when she met Will and Kate? LOLOLOLOL. “That formality carried over in real life.” I guess Kate was wearing shoes when she met Meghan. The nerve of that girl!

Andrew helped them ambush the Queen at Royal Lodge. That got leaked to Scobie at US Weekly too.

“How do you explain that you have to bow to your grandmother?” Uh, she was like….The Queen? What part of that is hard to understand?

She just compared meeting the Queen to Medieval Times. Wow. Big, exaggerated curtsy. She sounds and looks like an idiot. Fergie said she did great. Of course she did. She didn’t know how to curtsy? How does someone go through high school theater in the United States of Disney without knowing how to curtsy? [Edited: HRH Emilie found a clip of a curtsy scene she did for Suits because of course she did]

His family was impressed. LOL, I don’t think so. The actress thing was the biggest problem…wait, wasn’t her race the biggest problem? Can’t they keep their stories straight?

Interestingly the very first Blind Gossip blind was about how her profession was the problem and not her race. I suspected these blinds came from the Yorks and now I feel pretty good about that guess.

Meghan’s career. No blow-job or cocaine scene. No mention of her old blog. Interesting. I guess I can sort of understand that, but no mention of Trevor either? Are they going to pretend she was never married? No stories about being poor and crawling out of the back of her dad’s old truck either.

First biracial character? Eh, no. Meg was the glue for a lot of those cast relationships, but only one cast members participated in the documentary. Did no one do a consistency check on this show?

Screenshot of the Tig…with Cory front and center. That is hilarious because I don’t think they’ve mentioned him yet. Okay, now I’m sure Meghan didn’t watch this before it went live. She would have caught that and asked them to use a different shot.

“I didn’t want to find the great indie film that would win me an Oscar. I just wanted to volunteer.” She was literally releasing an indie film at this time. It was terrible. This documentary is like a lie-a-thon. Every other statement is a complete lie.

UN Speech. Is the crowd shot a stock picture (or archival picture, whichever is the right term)?  It feels edited in. Jump to September 2021 at the UN. Okay, so the whole point of that meeting was the documentary. We knew that.

Proposal. He couldn’t do it outside the UK? Everyone else has done so outside the UK. What are you talking about, Harry?

Also, no mention of her appearance at Invictus Games? How come none of their charities are getting shout-outs? No mention of the “Mad About Harry” Vanity Fair article or the backlash and you’d think that would be a big deal because she eventually called it racist, no? I guess they don’t want to admit that she was feeding the flames of press coverage.

Funny how they aren’t bitching about the UK tabloids harassing her after the moved to the UK. Could it be because the tabloids were not reporting on that…but Lainey and Hello! Canada (Where Jess started leaking after US Weekly got bought out by National Enquirer and Omid got fired) did.

She got the proposal on video. That’s is hilarious. He proposed with fake candles in their yard. How…tacky. Penguin onesies? Why would you want to tell the world that? I’d love some inside info as to how they pitched this to the director. “Sure the palace made sure our engagement sounded glamorous and romantic, but we are not about that. We want to tell them about the LED candles and penguin onesies. It will make us look cheap and tacky? Of course not, everyone will think we are fun and relatable.”

Cheesy Calvin Klein perfume ad engagement pictures with hideously expensive feather dress. We thought that was super tacky and we didn’t even know about the LED candles and penguin onesies. No mention of how much the dress cost or the backlash it caused. Lots of interviews about how excited people were. 

Engagement photocall was a lot more glamorous than anything they’ve done for this documentary. The royals really know how to manage occasions. Hard to believe these two are the same couple from the grainy proposal video. Goes to show how persuasive good pr can be. They almost looked regal.

Brexit? Boris Johnson? Really? Intrusion into the lives of the royal family was due to…Brexit and anti-immigration sentiment? I swear this documentary is like Mad Libs. They are just throwing stuff out at random. Paparazzi….penguin onesies….racism…..Brexit…. The Brexit referendum was in June 2016 and the engagement was in November 2017 so I’m not sure why they are even bringing it up. 

“They are just trying to destroy me.” The Brexit movement was trying to destroy her? 

It’s over. Wait, they didn’t mention her prior marriage at all??? Lolololol. Brexit is apparently more relevant to her story than her previous marriage. I guess that’s why she didn’t add her first wedding pics and the weed wedding favors to the list of press intrusions. The “phone hack” wasn’t mentioned either or the leaked topless pic. I guess she’s still pretending those weren’t pictures of her.

We seem to be at the engagement and there have been some other interesting omissions, namely Skippy’s wedding and Pippa’s wedding. Weird because you’d think Skippy’s wedding would be a perfect example of press intrusion too. I understand why they left out Pippa’s wedding though. Kinda awkward to admit Pippa invited you to her intimate, family wedding in the same episode where you call her sister “formal.” 

Plus Audi polo, the birthday trip in Africa, Vanity Fair, Invictus…they all got left out. This episode curated the timeline to make it look like Meghan did nothing to encourage coverage and press speculation, and that is far from the truth. Her family is also missing and they were stirring the pot all through this time period. They were talking to the press basically every month.

My husband lost interest at this point. He had no comments other than to say her nose looked fake and the pap chase was fake. The group chat discussed whether they truly thought they had a pap chasing them. Everyone thought that was fake because the camerawork was too perfect. They scoffed at the Medieval Times comment and the curtsy. Someone laughed at the Oscar comment. 

This was pretty boring. The fake pap chase was the best part.

BTW, Tumblr has a 10-link limit now? How annoying.

On to the next episode.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

Btw—

When I talk about and critique both Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel, I say “writers” or “creative heads” and not just “Vivziepop” because I don’t know what the HB writers room looks like. Writing is often a group effort with a head writer credited—I know that Vivienne is usually the head writer and has creative control, but because I still don’t know what the writing situation is like or how collaborative the writing room for HB and HH is, I don’t want to contribute ALL of the writing to Vivienne alone, especially since Brandon Rogers and Adam Neylan are also head writers.

In general I’ve also noticed in general that despite both HB and HH being big projects with a lot of really, really talented and creative musicians, animators, and artists working on them, most people tend to talk about them as being created solely by Vivziepop. (More below cut)

I think acting like Vivzie does everything is a huge disservice to all the people who contribute to the show.

It’s gotten to the point where, sometimes, if you search a song from HB it will usually have VP listed as the creator/composer and not the person who actually wrote the song.

This is especially prevalent on Genius. Thankfully, you CAN find the correct credit given to the musical artists on the series albums—but they are still listed under “Vivziepop” instead of something like “Cast of Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel”. I know this is probably done because she is the creator of the shows, but it’s weird to me because, to my knowledge, she isn’t a composer and doesn’t write any music for the show.

Luckily, Sam does seem to have his own album as well, but Vivzie is still on there? Like maybe I’m wrong but if she also composes music why is she never credited in the show?

(Also please don’t try to twist what I’m saying into “Vivziepop isn’t crediting her musicians at all on Genius!! I don’t know how Genius works or who sets up artist’s music and lyric information. I highly doubt it was Vivziepop or anyone on the creative teams for HB and HH)

I’ve also noticed that there are times where, when I talk about HB’s writing, people will bring up Vivziepop in their replies when I never named or mentioned her in my original post. Sometimes I’ll even be talking about an episode that she didn’t even write.

Again, I understand she’s the creator and lead of both shows—but because I have literally no way of knowing how all these writing decisions are made, and b/c VP doesn’t even write every episode, I’m not going to ascribe every single writing choice I don’t like or disagree with to her alone.

I recognize that she is the creative head, but I’m still not comfortable with acting if she alone is making Hazbin and Helluva Boss alone.

(I know that there is also an interview where she stated A24 let her have complete creative control. Again, that could be true, but we still don’t know enough about how collaborative the process was. Still doesn’t mean I’ll hold back with any critiques once the show comes out. But yeah.)