#also a lot of this is directed at the sp fandom-

[nerdy-hyperfixations]

I find it a little annoying when it’s obvious that creators can’t make jokes without fanbases claiming it as “canon” immediately and forever.

Like if I were to make a story about some guy name Greg who works at a desk job or something, and then I make a joke on social media that’s like “oh yeah, haha, Greg also religiously worships Danny Gonzales” and then every time someone doesn’t draw Greg with a shine for Danny on is desk in fanart, they get flooded with comments saying “um actually 🤓☝️…” and everyone goes around saying it’s canon that Greg worships Danny as his lord and savior and goes to Danny church every Monday. Like. No. That was obviously a joke.

[lurkingteapot]

Every now and then I think about how subtitles (or dubs), and thus translation choices, shape our perception of the media we consume. It's so interesting. I'd wager anyone who speaks two (or more) languages knows the feeling of "yeah, that's what it literally translates to, but that's not what it means" or has answered a question like "how do you say _____ in (language)?" with "you don't, it's just … not a thing, we don't say that."

I've had my fair share of "[SHIP] are [married/soulmates/fated/FANCY TERM], it's text!" "[CHARACTER A] calls [CHARACTER B] [ENDEARMENT/NICKNAME], it's text!" and every time. Every time I'm just like. Do they though. Is it though. And a lot of the time, this means seeking out alternative translations, or translation meta from fluent or native speakers, or sometimes from language learners of the language the piece of media is originally in.

Why does it matter? Maybe it doesn't. To lots of people, it doesn't. People have different interests and priorities in fiction and the way they interact with it. It's great. It matters to me because back in the early 2000s, I had dial-up internet. Video or audio media that wasn't available through my local library very much wasn't available, but fanfiction was. So I started to read English language Gundam Wing fanfic before I ever had a chance to watch the show. When I did get around to watching Gundam Wing, it was the original Japanese dub. Some of the characters were almost unrecognisable to me, and first I doubted my Japanese language ability, then, after checking some bits with friends, I wondered why even my favourite writers, writers I knew to be consistent in other things, had made these characters seem so different … until I had the chance to watch the US-English dub a few years later. Going by that adaptation, the characterisation from all those stories suddenly made a lot more sense. And the thing is, that interpretation is also valid! They just took it a direction that was a larger leap for me to make.

Loose adaptations and very free translations have become less frequent since, or maybe my taste just hasn't led me their way, but the issue at the core is still a thing: Supernatural fandom got different nuances of endings for their show depending on the language they watched it in. CQL and MDZS fandom and the never-ending discussions about 知己 vs soulmate vs Other Options. A subset of VLD fans looking at a specific clip in all the different languages to see what was being said/implied in which dub, and how different translators interpreted the same English original line. The list is pretty much endless.

And that's … idk if it's fine, but it's what happens! A lot of the time, concepts -- expressed in language -- don't translate 1:1. The larger the cultural gap, the larger the gaps between the way concepts are expressed or understood also tend to be. Other times, there is a literal translation that works but isn't very idiomatic because there's a register mismatch or worse. And that's even before cultural assumptions come in. It's normal to have those. It's also important to remember that things like "thanks I hate it" as a sentiment of praise/affection, while the words translate literally quite easily, emphatically isn't easy to translate in the sense anglophone internet users the phrase.

Every translation is, at some level, a transformative work. Sometimes expressions or concepts or even single words simply don't have an exact equivalent in the target language and need to be interpreted at the translator's discretion, especially when going from a high-context/listener-responsible source language to a low-context/speaker-responsible target language (where high-context/listener responsible roughly means a large amount of contextual information can be omitted by the speaker because it's the listener's responsibility to infer it and ask for clarification if needed, and low-context/speaker-responsible roughly means a lot of information needs to be codified in speech, i.e. the speaker is responsible for providing sufficiently explicit context and will be blamed if it's lacking).

Is this a mouse or a rat? Guess based on context clues! High-context languages can and frequently do omit entire parts of speech that lower-context/speaker-responsible languages like English regard as essential, such as the grammatical subject of a sentence: the equivalent of "Go?" - "Go." does largely the same amount of heavy lifting as "is he/she/it/are you/they/we going?" - "yes, I am/he/she/it is/we/you/they are" in several listener-responsible languages, but tends to seem clumsy or incomplete in more speaker-responsible ones. This does NOT mean the listener-responsible language is clumsy. It's arguably more efficient! And reversely, saying "Are you going?" - "I am (going)" might seem unnecessarily convoluted and clumsy in a listener-responsible language. All depending on context.

This gets tricky both when the ambiguity of the missing subject of the sentence is clearly important (is speaker A asking "are you going" or "is she going"? wait until next chapter and find out!) AND when it's important that the translator assign an explicit subject in order for the sentence to make sense in the target language. For our example, depending on context, something like "are we all going?" - "yes" or "they going, too?" might work. Context!

As a consequence of this, sometimes, translation adds things – we gain things in translation, so to speak. Sometimes, it's because the target language needs the extra information (like the subject in the examples above), sometimes it's because the target language actually differentiates between mouse and rat even though the source language doesn't. However, because in most cases translators don't have access to the original authors, or even the original authors' agencies to ask for clarification (and in most cases wouldn't get paid for the time to put in this extra work even if they did), this kind of addition is almost always an interpretation. Sometimes made with a lot of certainty, sometimes it's more of a "fuck it, I've got to put something and hope it doesn't get proven wrong next episode/chapter/ten seasons down" (especially fun when you're working on a series that's in progress).

For the vast majority of cases, several translations are valid. Some may be more far-fetched than others, and there'll always be subjectivity to whether something was translated effectively, what "effectively" even means …

ANYWAY. I think my point is … how interesting, how cool is it that engaging with media in multiple languages will always yield multiple, often equally valid but just sliiiiightly different versions of that piece of media? And that I'd love more conversations about how, the second we (as folks who don't speak the material's original language) start picking the subtitle or dub wording apart for meta, we're basically working from a secondary source, and if we're doing due diligence, to which extent do we need to check there's nothing substantial being (literally) lost -- or added! -- in translation?

[orphiclovers]

yk, I was goaded into reading Self-Cest for the Danny Phantom fandom (it was a good read and I stalked the author’s entire dischoreography afterward) but now I’m wondering how that would go for Han Sooyoung and her avatars. Specifically 1863rd Han Sooyoung.

How would they get over the dispute over who the true hsy is? Would they conclude that they’re just two different people because the 1963rd was only possessing the other hsy to write? Would they be able to differentiate? Questions questions questions

The fic was by Dream_Trance if ur curious

'goaded' I like that word. I too have goaded people into reading selfcest content I think.

I'm guessing you read my recent Han Sooyoung meta where I talk about how I think their split happened and then sent this ask. You got me absolutely right in that case, there IS a secret selfcest version of that post I didn't include because of woke (well, actually because I want people to focus on the theory lol and weird selfcest shipping distracts from that).

The thing orv does with the alt universe selves that is sooo interesting to me is all of them, and I do mean all, have these twisted and complicated feeling about their other selves. And that's all canon, all I do is tint those feelings in a slightly more romantic direction. for fun. (despite all appearances I'm secretly a canon purist. no, not really. but imagine if I was)

So, what is Han Sooyoung's whole deal?

From what we see in orv, their whole dynamic is basically.... 1863 is cool smart badass powerful protagonist-like and 3rd is the 'rip-off' constantly trying to catch up to her awesomeness / keep up / 'plagirizing' her. This happens a lot, starting from when Han Sooyoung is 13 years old and accidentally plagirises herself for the 1st time.

1863 writes Ways of Survival? 3rd gets vague dream-memories and writes SSSSS grade infinite regressor.

1863 becomes a constellation named Architect of the False Last Act? guess what 3rd does.

See how the narration always mentions 'btw 1863 did this first' - I'm not making this up. 3rd even plagiarizes 1863's lost memories into existence again !!

So if there is one 'true' Han Sooyoung...it is pretty clear who that would be. But crucially, 1863 does not mind at all being ripped off and isn't bitter about it. (unlike sp, who is very bitter at first.)

When Kim Dokja comes to her like 'someone plagiarized your novel!!1!!1!' han sooyoung says lol idc because she knows its just 'daytime ego'/3rd.

Even during the scenarios, 1863 is constantly helping her out because she sees 3rd as a bit of an idiot who does not know anything (very sp style) so OBVIOUSLY she needs to come along and save her while pretending its a huge hassle and she totally doesn't want to. (very 'this will be the last time i help you' for spyjh).

Like, for example, way before 3rd gets Predictive Plagiarism, 1863 is giving cryptic dream hints to help her, and when that doesn't work just straight up temporarily passing on the skill.

but she's totally doing it for fun and because she likes to throw a wrench in others plans haha and not because she cares or anything. totally.

And ALSO let's just talk about this epilouge moment that drives me crazy. 3rd is doubting herself and crumbling under the pressure so 1863 emerges from their subconscious to help her one last time and says LET ME DO IT. Aargh!!!

selfcest yuri...

So yeah, this is a brief look on how I interpret the 3rd/1863rd relationship (Han Sooyoung version.) I have more thoughts on them during the epilouge specifically and the avatar skill but. different post.

[chattegeorgiana]

Hello Chatte,

How have you been doing?

I have this thing that's been pestering me for a while now. A lot of NH defenders/shippers swear on their life that there are strong parallels between her and Kushina and it's a hill these people are willing to die on.

They love to cite examples from that god forsaken series called Boruto, where they have comical moments of Hinata being the ''scary mommy'' trope and a ''hot headed wife'' just like Kushina. This doesn't sit well with me and I just see it as SP being SP, nothing more, nothing less; and for the NH fan to be like ''ohh..... look...... there are so many parallels between MK and NH. NH was planned from the beginning. yay...... '' Those sorta BS (pardon me my French).

Also, I'd like to point out that I'm an anti ender not because of the pairing reasons but because of how the ending happened. All thanks to each and every character being nothing more than a pairing fodder, the show has left many debates as to what it's messages and themes are.

I really have zero reasons to like female characters like Sakura and Hinata but this, this is beyond character assassination and also an insult to the fan base, especially those who gave common sense and aren't blinded by pairing choice. For me how the characters are treated is way more important than shipping.

Also, when is your next YT video on Boruto being Oro's genjutsu gonna be released?

Thank for reading my somewhat lame and a long comment and I wish you the best with Kaika Saisei

Cheers!

Hi there,

Well, for the whole NH thing, the reason why they insist is because the sequel did a 180 and changed her characteristics, so ofc they are willing to die on that hill.

But we all know if we look at the actual content from the manga that she has nothing in common with Kushina nor Minato like they like to say. Kushina is loud and passionate. Where have you seen Hinata display those qualities? Whereas Minato is calm & calculated, something that she isn't once again. She's quiet & shy but that doesn't equate the calmness Minato displays. Not to mention we've seen even in this one shot that Kishi wrote that Minato can also get super passionate from time to time, whereas Hinata has never displayed that feat.

All in all for this whole thing to work they had to turn her into Sakura. It's clear as daylight to anyone who isn't a NH. Even a neutral. So why consume your energy with what they're saying? It's not like it's true. The evidence to support that is those 15 years of serialization prior to the ending that holds all the weight.

We all know TL & the other products at the end were made so that they can retcon the pre-established narrative.

The show ending the way it did basically destroyed everything Naruto once as a story stood for. Sad, but true.

I always said I wouldn't have had any issue with the choice of pairings if done correctly. After all, I used to be a multishipper once. I saw the potential that all had in the beginning. It's just that when part 2 launched, the story was clear of its direction - of course, until they decided to retcon again and to hell with everything.

And sadly, the girls got the short end of the stick. Both Hinata & Sakura, if we're being true to ourselves. But these people are ready to die on a hill just because they're so attached to their opinions rather than seeing the story for what it is - a great emotional impact story, but with a lot of issues underneath it if you put aside the emotional impact.

It's the reason why it pulls so many people into it. Because it's filled with emotional manipulation, in a way. Look at the way the franchise also directs its marketing campaigns for other materials/products. They scan the internet, see what the talk is in the fandom & then bam, there they are with their products that just so happen to have the thematic of whatever talk is in the fandom - like when they are some sort of servants because at some point NH & SS were arguing about who's richer and who's the servant and who's the patron and all kind of BS like that.

Or when we in the NaruSaku fandom had an extensive talk about tarot and the symbolism that surrounds NS and 6 months later bam, there they are with products with tarot themes.

Or that game they have and I saw two of the concepts I had for Sakura combined into a third one.

They basically combined these two artwork concepts into the third one that is their image from the game.

So what can I say? As you can see, Pierrot be doing whatever it is to get their way, lol.

If you think about the girls - when they thought Hinata was more profitable, they pushed her in everybody's face so much so that it affected the story's ending.

Now that Sakura's more profitable, they discarded Hinata like a used toy and she barely makes any appearances outside her mom-like persona.

This only shows anyone with a little critical thinking that SP has no respect for any characters nor the story. It's just about the $$$ and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

But meh, anyway, at this point is more than funny lol. It's just Pierrot being Pierrot tbh... Nothing good can be expected of that studio.

As for my next video, I'm planning on getting back to work on these somewhere in March.

Last year I've been caught up with a major life event so it really hindered my capacity to take care of everything that I wanted to do, but as I said, I'm planning on getting back to these.

It's just that I'll need to edit some things since I initially envisioned it in a certain way and there are certain changes that happened in the meantime, that kind of rendered some of the things I worked on obsolete, so I'm trying to adjust to that. But yeah, as soon as I have everything up and running again, I'll definitely start working on it.

And aah dear, don't worry, your question was not lame! Thank you for dropping into my inbox and for your wishes regarding Kaika!

[olliandre]

10 TOP RANKED THAI BL ON MYDRAMALIST

+my opinion, since I’ve watched all of them for this post

1. I Feel You Linger in the Air (8,9/10)

DESCRIPTION: Jom is an architect responsible for the renovation of a historic house alongside the Ping River. There he discovers a wooden chest packed with old drawings, drawings that look strangely familiar. The contents are intriguing. However, Jom doesn't have time to concern himself with them; he has plans to reunite with his boyfriend. For years, Jom has been counting the days till his boyfriend would return from his far away studies, only to find him engaged to someone else on his return. Heartbroken, Jom comes to a place of acceptance as he mistakenly runs his car into the river. In the cold darkness, Jom catches the sweet scent of fresh frangipani flowers coming from the stream and in the distance, he can make out a deep, gentle voice pronouncing clearly, "Pho Jom."

MY TAKE: Well deserved first place. It’s the best Thai drama I’ve ever seen and I really hope we’ll get more like this one in the future. Everything was on point - the costumes, the acting, the cinematography. The relationship between the main characters felt real and absolutely believe, especially thanks to P’Bright (Khun Yai), who delievered everything well through his eyes. The story made me emotional to the point I cried like a baby at the end, which didn’t happen for a really long time. To be honest, I could rewatch this series without ever getting bored because of how unique and heartwarming it was. If I were to criticise anything, I’d choose the fact that Jom seemed quite bland during the first few episodes and also the way Khun Yai wasn’t cautious at all with their relationship despite living around the 1920s. However, it can be explained by some things from the novel, which I’m considering to write a post about. Aside from the romance plot, IFYLITA discussed the topic of women’s opression and offered a lesbian sub-plot that made the story even better. I recommend everyone to watch it, it’s ridiculous how little recognition the series got from the BL fandom!

2. The Sign (8,6/10)

DESCRIPTION: For as long as Tharn can remember, he's had premonitions about those around him, sensing both the good and the bad. Partners on a team of special investigators, when kind and cheerful Tharn met clever and charming Phaya, it felt as though they'd known each other for a long time.

MY TAKE: Another gem showing that the industry is slowly heading to a new, better direction. The plot contains lots of action scenes, investigations and Thai mythology elements, which I don’t think have been used in any series before, at least not in a well known one. I’m a sucker for reinarnation and soulmates motives, I wish Tharn and Phaya believed in each other more though. It was frustrating to see them fight so much. Some of the comedy scenes made me cringe, too. Still, the story was solid and engaging, especially thanks to Tharn and Phaya’s relationship complexity. During some scenes CGI was used and I have to admit they must have spent some budget on it. It’s the third Idolfactory’s drama and they definitely get better with every project. More series like The Sign!

3. Last Twilight (8,5/10)

DESCRIPTION: Burdened with heavy debt, Mhok, a technical college student, applies for a high-paying job as a caregiver to Day, a badminton player with partial blindness due to infectious keratitis. Day hires Mhok who—unlike other applicants—seems to take no pity on him. With so much time spent in each others' company, the two develop a deep bond. When Day learns he'll have approximately 90 days until he loses what vision he has remaining, how will the two weather the trials ahead?

MY TAKE: I’m gonna be honest, I fell in love with Last Twilight very quickly. The acting was top-notch - I think P’Sea portrayed a blind character really well despite having vision and P’Jimmy… P’Jimmy was just on another level of greatness. Just like P’Bright, his eyes told everything. Every emotion could be seen clearly and he efortlessly made Mhok the viewer’s favourite. Mhok itself was a mature, selfless person, but with Jimmy’s portrayal I think it’s even harder not to love him, not be enchanted by him. I found the story heartwarming and moving, beautifully culminating in the last scene of the 9th episode. At that moment I’ve felt that both Day and Mhok’s journey found some sort of an ending, maybe terribly sad, but also with some sweetness in it. Throughout the whole series it was Mhok teaching Day how to live again after losing his sight and encouraging him to stand on his own legs again. In the 9th episode though it seemed like the dynamic shifted somehow, showing that Day reached some maturity that Mhok haven’t had yet, and that he could help him with his grief too. The whole message of Last Twilight was delivered fully then. However, what happened later completely ruined it. I understand that P’Aof wanted LT to be realistic and because of that he decided to face the fact that Mhok can’t be Day’s caretaker forever. But all of this was handled poorly, seemed rushed especially after 11 episode and I couldn’t bear to watch one of my favourite series trashing itself. After that it was also imposible to ignore the issues I had with Mhok and Day’s relationship anymore, especially the August plot. I hated how although Day showed huge interest in Mhok on the beginning, he suddenly revealed his crush on other boy and he seemed really bothered by Mhok’s confession, too. What a mess. Porjai and Night’s subplot was great though, I liked both the characters and their relationship. I recommend everyone to just watch episodes 1-9 despite some disappointments on the way.

4. Not Me (8,5/10)

DESCRIPTION: Black and White are twins with a powerful connection. After their parents' separation, though, White’s father took him abroad, and their family effectively severed in two. It isn’t until fifteen years have passed that White—now grown—returns to Thailand. One day, seemingly from nowhere, White feels an agony like death. He recovers in the hospital, but they’re unable to determine the cause. Then he picks up a call from a childhood friend, Tod. Tod tells him that Black is in a coma following a vicious attack, and he learns that Black is in a motorcycle gang. Unable to endure the harm done to his brother in silence, and suspecting it was one of Black’s close friends—Sean, Gram, or Yok—who betrayed him, White disguises himself as Black to root out the traitor. But White doesn’t know his brother as well as he thought; he’s not behaving like the Black Sean knows, distrustful and uncaring about the feelings of others. Sean's suspicious. The difference gets under Sean's skin and makes him feel things he shouldn’t.

MY TAKE: I’ve actually first started watching Not Me around the time it was coming out, but I became bored around the half of it, so I’ve seen the rest of the episodes just recently. It’s refreshing to receive a politics and society problems oriented BL, this series without doubt was mature and one of a kind. Not Me took on many issues the modern Thailand still faces, struggling with democracy, human rights and equality. The relationship between White and Sean was another difficult thing here with its complexity, as they faced their opposite ideas for making a change - Sean being more reckless and hotheaded, while White more rational and fragile mentally. They went through many stages and although they were allies, it’d call it an enemies to lovers dynamic. I felt connected to both of them - to White because I agreed with his methods more and to Sean because of his abandonment issues. What they had was not pretty, no, it was raw and even rough at times, however, they managed to build mutual trust and the ending was satisfying. Definitely recommend!

5. A Tale of Thousand Stars (8,5/10)

DESCRIPTION: After a volunteer teacher Torfun dies in a tragic accident, her heart is transplanted into Tian. Tian learns about his donor’s life through a series of diary entries that reveal her secrets and interests. Included is her promise to count a thousand stars with Chief Forest Officer Phupha. Tian decides to follow in Torfun's footsteps and fulfill her promise. Now a new volunteer teacher himself, Tian attempts to befriend Phupha who initially gives him the cold shoulder. As the two grow steadily closer, Tian notices his new heart beats quickly whenever he's near the officer. Much like the heart’s previous owner, Tian cannot help but fall for Phupha. Treading on dangerous ground, can he still go through with the thousand-star promise?

MY TAKE: It’s such a classic that I don’t know if there’s anyone who hasn’t heard of it yet, but let’s proceed! 1000 stars for years took a special place in my heart, as it was one of few good Thai BL during the time it came out. I loved the rural atmosphere of Pha Pun Dao and the process of Tian adapting to life in the village. The story was slow, warm and sort of pure, although the tension and chemistry were there. Big kudos for the scene in which Tian came to the conclusion that his feelings for Phupha mean he likes men, since that wasn’t a standard in the „I don’t like men, I only like you” era. Another thing is, P’Mix (Tian), who was a rookie back then, played his role so well that I would never suspect it’s his first time acting! Recommend for anyone seeking comfort, even if it gets sad by the end.

6. My School President (8,5/10)

DESCRIPTION: Student body president Tinn has a secret crush on Gun, the head of the music club and lead singer of the middling band Chinzhilla. The son of the principal, Tinn is instructed to axe any clubs that don't boost their school's reputation. The music club tops that list and Tinn is therefore Gun's number one enemy. Desperate to save his club, Gun will do anything, even pledge servitude to Tinn. When Tinn learns Chinzhilla has a rule that band members aren't permitted to date until they win the Hot Wave Music Contest, he vows to do whatever it takes to help them do just that.

MY TAKE: At first the fact that the story takes place in a high school setting put me off, as I prefer watching young adult stories, but I gave it a shot because of the good reviews. And after watching it I can say it was definitely worth it. My School President is a silly rom-com that delicately touches some more serious issues. Nevertheless, it was a light watch. N'Gemini and N'Fourth delievered an excellent performance, accurately and realistically portraying the main couple. Maybe it’s because they are just slightly older than the characters, so it was easier for them to understand them. I also still listen to MSP soundtracks. Aside from being simply good pieces of music, they make me feel positive and refreshed everytime I hear them. It’s like an energizer.

7. Bad Buddy (8,4/10)

DESCRIPTION: Ever since they were young, Pran and Pat's families had a deep and raging rivalry, trying to one-up each other on everything. This also extended to their sons. Comparing their sons' achievements and merits,—whether it be academic or extracurricular—the two families leave no stone unturned to outshine and gloat in front of the other. The rivalry was passed down as a family heirloom and the two boys become rivals in turn. Until... they grow tired and become friends. Really good friends. However, because of their families' rivalry, their friendship has to be kept under wraps. And so began a journey of secret friendship... and then perhaps a secret romance?

MY TAKE: This is another series I’ve dropped in half and picked up just recently. Although the entire enemies since birth plot seemed a little bit Wattpad-ish to me, I’ve still enjoyed Bad Buddy a lot. The relationship of Pat and Pran was fun and realistic, they also had good chemistry together, probably due to the actor’s long-lasting frienship. There was something about them that just seemed so natural. Big plus for verse rights and lesbian sub-plot. The only thing I’m not content with was that instead of working things through with their families, the scriptwriters decided to just make Pat and Pran lie and avoid the topic. It could have been handled in a better way.

8. Moonlight Chicken (8,3/10)

DESCRIPTION: Jim is an ordinary guy running a Hainanese chicken rice diner. One night, he meets breezy Wen when he stays past closing drunk. Brought together by fate that night, intangible feelings arise. Neither can stop thinking about the other despite Jim's efforts to remain unattached. Working at the diner are Jim's nephew Li Ming, Saleng, and occasionally chicken supplier Kaipa who doesn't mind having an excuse to see him.

MY TAKE: I’m a Chinese learner and liked P’Earth and P’Mix’s performance in 1000 stars a lot, so I was looking forward for Moonlight Chicken to come out. The relationship between Jim and Wen disappointed me a bit, as it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. They started off from a one night stand and Jim was doing everything he could to keep things this way, with Wen persistently trying to change his mind. I’m still happy though, because the series maturely portrayed real life problems of Thai people. Jim, as an adult, was a person tied by chores and responsibilities of a restaurant owner and legal guardian for his teenager nephew. It’s understandable for him to take more things than just his feelings into consideration, especially since he was older than Wen. The problems between them made the series even more realistic, but N’Gemini (Heart) and N’Fourth (Li Ming) undoubtebly stole this show from the main couple. Not good for people wanting to watch something romantic and fluffy, nevertheless, still good.

9. Triage (8,3/10)

DESCRIPTION: Third-year emergency medicine resident Tin has to cope with a deluge of different patients every day. Up until the eighteenth, that is. Tin's life is transformed when university student Tol's car is overturned, and he's rushed to the emergency room in serious condition. That night doesn't end when Tin fails to save Tol's life, though. When Tin next wakes, he finds himself in a time loop, a loop he won't be able to leave until he's altered Tol's fate.

MY TAKE: Triage was a slowburn and it took quite a few episodes for the main couple to start developing feelings, as the time loops didn’t help in building any kind of closeness. They had good chemistry though and I really liked the performance of every actor in this series. Also! The! Plot! It was truly a masterpiece. It turned out that Triage novel is another work of Manner of Death’s author and that those two are actually connected. Doctor Bun and Tan appear in one episode of Triage and if MoD season 2 actually happens, it will be a continuation of the mystery after Triage’s ending. About the ending itself, it wasn’t satisfying. Also, why do I feel like they got some inspiration from the movie Bruce Almighty?

10. To Sir, With Love (8,3/10)

DESCRIPTION: The Five Dragon Guild is under the leadership of Jao Sua Song. He's skilled and in control in business, but things in the family have become chaotic. By his main wife Li, he has his eldest son Thian. He has a secondary wife Jan with whom he has a son named Yang and he has a mistress named Bua. In a Chinese family, masculinity is prized. Thian is the face of the family, the one who will eventually succeed Song, who will carry the power his father has built. Khun Chai is not a position just anyone is suited to. The love between two men is obstructed by Chinese society.

MY TAKE: Everthing was good here - the acting, the costumes, the setting... a high quality series indeed. I especially loved brotherly bond between Tian and Yang, as it was the purest and the most wholesome thing in this drama. The murder plot was interesting too. However, all of this was simply too prolonged. Because everyone for 17 1-hour episodes straight was running around and trying to find that Tian’s homosexual, they may as well just name the series Tian’s secret. I got sick of it around 9th episode and there were still 8 more. It’s a pity that it completely ruined To Sir, With Love for me. Tian and Jiu, the main couple, didn’t receive many screentime, so it was quite unsatisfying too.

[there will be a link to 11-15 in the future]

[keldjinfae]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers! Spread the self-love 💞

Okay, so first off, thanks to @dear-massacre for this one. I got to filter through a lot of things I wrote for other fandoms besides Teen Wolf, and while I won't be sharing them (purely because most of them fell victim to the Great Strikethrough Purge, and the "clean" versions I have up on the Pit that is fanfiction.net are... frankly, things I would delete if I could remember what the hell my log-in is), I did remember one I co-wrote with a friend of mine over a decade ago. And neither of us remembers how to log into that old account we created solely for the purpose of writing something together (let me just say, AO3 allowing for co-creators is a fucking godsend), so the link for that one will have to direct you there instead of AO3. I may be able to update this with an AO3 link, provided @caseyvalhalla (said cowriter) is able to find a full version of the fic in their backup drive (which would be outstanding, seeing as how my copy of the fic was lost at some point about three or four PCs/laptops ago).

I also left WIPs out of this list because I feel like that might be too cruel of a tease, seeing as how I haven't updated them since about 2011.

Freaks and Fools is a Halloween-themed fic that Casey and I brainstormed together in about two hours after the initial joke of mashing up Kingdom Hearts and Peanuts. One of us said "Axel is Snoopy, sleeping out on the lawn," and it suddenly turned into him also being Johnny from The Outsiders; what followed was a feverish brainstorming session of determining the perfect way to balance drama and humor. Then we wrote and edited the whole damn thing over the course of three coffee-laden weekends.

I'm Not Asking Questions, I'm Taking My Chances is the first fic I wrote for the Sterek Reverse Bang. I'd previously written a fic for the Sterek Reverse Quickie, and it was my very first Teen Wolf fic, period, while I fucked around and found out if I'd be able to write for the fandom. Turns out, I could. The minimum word count for the RB was 5k, so naturally I wrote something up in the 80k range because I have zero chill.

It's a fantasy AU that very loosely (seriously, so loose that you definitely don't want to be relying on this fic to catch you in a trustfall exercise) incorporates themes from the Merlin series. Writing it helped teach me how to better plan out scenes, in terms of "do I really need to write out this whole scene independently or could I just incorporate it briefly into this already-existing one?" It also gave me better practice at determining when I was going to have to let scenes go altogether, maybe with the notion that I might write them someday and add them on later.

You Gotta Promise Not to Stop When I Say When is a fic I wrote for the Sterek Reverse Quickie, during which I was paired up with the same artist who I'd written for during my very first RQ. She wanted comfort, made a moodboard about it (sadly, Discord stopped image hosting so the links to all of her previous artwork are all broken), and I decided I wanted to write comfort as well. I gave her two choices (Derek takes Stiles's pain, or Stiles is a vampire sharing a house with Derek, and both of them accuse the other of being a squatter--it's a long, stupid story that has gone off the rails in a meme prompt thread on Discord), and went with the one that both of us could sink into.

This one is probably my absolute favorite because I literally just wrote what I know. Stiles is disabled, Derek helps him cope with it. I can't really sell it any better than that, other than to say that I wrote my own personal experiences, but Sterekified.

We're Floating in the Moonlit Sky is a Sterek fic I wrote for a little something called the 1000 Cakes Challenge, which provided the writer and artist participants with a word, an action, and a setting, and had us all spin our own take on them. The word was "kumquat," the action was "pursuit" or "sleepwalk" (I incorporated both--again, zero chill), and the setting was a gorgeous painting of a snowy forest that one of the moderators made herself just for the challenge. Initially, I wasn't even going to participate because I'd literally just finished writing my latest Sterek RB fic and thought I was burned out. Then an idea smacked me in the face right as I was falling asleep.

I love this one because it's more or less just me allowing myself some pure self-indulgence. There's some angst, there's some drama, but most of it is just seeing how many Christmas carol references I can squeeze in as puns. Stiles is half-elf and half-frost sprite, Derek is still a werewolf, Peter is Krampus (thanks to @ice-mage, because "of course Peter is Krampus"), and Noah is Santa Claus.

My Echo, My Shadow, and Me is the Sterek Reverse Bang fic I wrote before I got started on Floating. I somehow managed to write 100k+ words in a bit under four months, and satisfied my desire to write a season 3a "fix-it" (of sorts--more like a revision) in the process. I don't know if the experience would be the same for @nerdherderette, who wound up beta-reading "the Beast in Blue" in the course of about 20 hours, but it was damn satisfying to write.

Essentially, all of season 3a still happens, but Jackson never leaves and Cora never arrives. I wanted to explore everyone's strengths and flaws, and I wanted to write an alternate take on the nogitsune without having to rewrite 3b as well.

[lunaneko14]

I was on Twitter today and I saw some people say that the only reason why borusara's feelings are being lightly hinted is because boruto is not a romance manga and it's an action one so romance is not the main focus that's why borusara's feelings for each other aren't confirmed yet.

Now me personally, I disagree. I don't think that's the reason why their so called romantic feelings isn't confirmed. Naruto wasn't a romance manga either but at least some characters romantic feelings were confirmed many times (Sakura – Hinata) Same goes to other shonen mangas.(bleach,samurai x and so on)

But if it's like what they say then...What is stopping ikemoto/kishimoto from making borusara's feelings canon? Right now they're the most popular ship in the boruto fandom, majority of the fandom expects them to happen right? Wouldn't they be benefited from making it happen?

So what is stopping them from making borusara canon?

I will tell you my opinion. Borusara is just like Narusaku. Just like how SP pushed narusaku in the past they're now doing the same thing with borusara. (They can't even hide their favouritism 💀) Not only the anime but the boruto chibi manga(?) also throws in a lot of borusara moments. The same thing happened with narusaku which obviously made a lots of narusaku shippers confident abt their ship becoming canon.

SP even goes as far as deleting important sumire moments/borusumi moments and adding borusara & kawasumi moments. Same thing happened with NH too. And keep in mind the person who adds those borusara moments and keeps deleting any scene related to sumire is Noriyuki Abe.

The same person who directed bleach and ruined it for ih shippers/orihime stans. He's the one who always added those useless ir moments and mischaracterized orihime. I also heard that kubo did not like the anime adaptation bc of the changes and he felt like this wasn't the story he wrote. Now same thing is happening with boruto💀

Even in the damn novel they made it seem like every single thing that boruto does in his life is for sarada and right after doing that they deleted the scene were boruto was crying for sumire.

Now with all this said I want to conclude that borusara's feelings not being confirmed isn't bc boruto is a shonen manga it's bc they won't happen and if they do god they would be miserable. Most of the shippers feed on the extra fillers and novel but when you bring up the fact that only 2 have confirmed their feelings for boruto and that they might have a higher chance of ending up with them they deny it and say that it's only a crush (news flash: it's not. sumire's feelings has been confirmed to be love. ROMANTIC LOVE)

+ I feel like couples from the same group are miserable. Sasuke & Sakura / Tsunade & Jiraiya are the biggest examples of that.

Yup

[cheylouwho]

whats SPHS? that acronym is from my previous high school 😅😅

Oh, it stands for south park historical society. We're group of users (im one of them) who do projects related to preserving and finding south park media of all kinds, as well as documenting fandom trends and history. The acronym just makes us feel fancy but its just like 15 specific people in a discord server. We put out that one iceberg that blooms used in his yt video as well as have documented a lot of old fandom content and lost media. Most of us have been in the fandom for 10+ years, some of us even 20+. Many of us have connections directly to people who work for SP or know someone who does. The fanart archive is my personal project relating to it if you've seen that. Its also why youll see people come to my blog with random or obscure sp questions because I usually have the info or at least the resources to point the right direction.

[rikeijo]

Today's translation #45

The talk about censorship...

Yamamoto Sayo's episode commentary

Episode 7.

　　We decided we would do the scene after Yuuri's FS as early as during the "writing of the project proposal" stage, so with Kubo-san we couldn't wait to finally draw it. It happens that before FS, the skaters who did well in SP are under huge pressure. When something like that is happening to Yuuri, how will Victor deal with him…? - I was thinking of this as I was working on the plot and suddenly I remembered Takahashi Daisuke's SP "Eye" during Vancouver Olympics, choreographed by Miyamoto-sensei. This SP starts with the sound of glass breaking. At that time, Takahashi was often said to be mentally weak, and from what I've heard, it was the sound editor, Yano-san, who put in his SP music this special effect that wasn't present in the original track, with the purpose of breaking Takahashi's heart of glass before his performance. Yuuri crying before his own performance was also inspired by Takahashi before his FS in Vancouver. I thought Victor would probably forcefully break Yuuri's heart… and so I created the scene in the parking lot. After being angry with Victor's immaturity as a coach and telling him how he really feels while crying, Yuuri takes the offensive and in his FS he changes a quad toe loop to a quad flip, Victor's symbol. Victor sees it and he's perplexed with this joy he feels as a coach, joy that he didn't know as a skater… and this leads to the scene after Yuuri's performance. To be honest, while working on this scene, I was stopped many times by everyone around me, but to me it was a scene I just had to include, so I bulldozed my way through, while being fully aware that people wouldn't understand. Of course, I was sure that when they saw the finished film [as in "a roll of film"] I would be able to make them understand… By the way, the scenes when Yuuri turns off all the TVs in the backstage and is tapping his leg while sitting in the chair with his head down were inspired by Machida Tatsuki.

[Notes:

I know that it was probably discussed a million times, but still some people in the fandom... and even youtubers, who you'd expect to do some in-depth research... like to spread the "gay censorship laws, and that's why they couldn't show the kiss" theory to this day.

There's no LGBT censorship law in Japan. Almost all media censorship (with obvious exceptions like e.g. nudity...) in Japan is actually self-imposed. If you read this commentary, I think it's quite clear that Sayo was talking here about this kind of self-censorship thing... The exact phrase she used is that "she was stopped from 各方面", "from every direction"... This probably could mean production committee members, producers, other staff members.

If I remember correctly, I also read in the past some posts in English arguing that she didn't mean "the kiss", but the whole sequence of events in this episode. It's very clear, however, that she meant specifically the "scene after the FS" in the original text, so the kiss.

Most importantly, everyone who knows how LGBT-related issues are treated in Japan in general probably wasn't shocked by this comment like at all. This is simply how things are in this country. ]

[ofkingsandlionhearts]

Personal anxiety rant (for me not you - I am soft pls do not yell at me)

I have not done one of these for a very long time - didn’t even think I’d still be on this website if I thought there would be a next time from the last time but I felt like I needed to do this now personally so don’t mind me. I actually feel terrible that I am doing this after not having to for so many years but here tf we are now it’s happening

Sometimes I feel like I’m at the stage in my life where I’m not sure how I should be living anymore. I know I should be happy - and trust me, I do take up every opportunity I can to do things that make me happy even if it’s the smallest things in life or checking off items on my list of things I wanted to do like 10 years ago or even when I was a kid-

…but these days it also feels like I’m living in a box. And I just don’t know what’s going to end up happening to me. I’m supposed to be an adult now I guess (don’t ask my age, I’ve been an adult for quite some time). I don’t like looking at how other people are doing either solely for comparison - that actually sends me into a worse whirlwind of thoughts and frightens me. But sometimes I just see things or run into people and can’t help but look up every now and then before I go back to being an ostrich and sticking my head back in the sand to spend time with my own thoughts. I often think too that I spend too much time with those thoughts these days - don’t get to talk about them as much irl now since I’m afraid of being judged or pitied which honestly would be a lot worse but what’s worse than keeping all of this pent up inside until my mind eventually explodes?

I don’t get to talk to as many people now - whether it’s people I know or don’t know. Not that I want to talk with a lot of people now - I’m still the same introvert as always who would rather fall into a black hole than initiate a new conversation with a new person. I love my job now but don’t get to talk much with anyone my age. I’ve been told to put myself “out there” more but each day I really question more and more what tf that means for someone like me who’s scared in general of the world? I know I should slow down and take one day, one hour, one minute at a time but often I find it harder and harder to do

I liked it when I had friends to talk to in school - honestly even this website when it wasn’t as scary with all the sp*mb*ts lurking at every corner and the fandoms I used to be active in were more alive and photoshop/gif making/developing fanwork was still a hobby I enjoyed

I think this suddenly became a mess of thoughts here that I don’t know if I want to go on with but if you’re still reading, then fcking kudos to you - this is me putting everything I feel right now on a page for me alone and not directing it towards anyone whatsoever. Not to say either that I’m not thankful for all the good things I’ve had or continue to have now in my life - of course I fcking am but what tf am I supposed to do these thoughts I’ve been spending so much time with since the day I was given a new path I haven’t been sure how to step on

[peppermint-twst]

about me…

hi! i’m peppermint and i decided to add some more info about me and my blog. i’m still not exactly sure what i wanna include, but i will edit this as i think of more stuff i wanna add.

Ask Box is open btw 💕

Some basic things:

21+, she/her, queer, neurodivergent, afab, femme, arab/latino, usa (america), ENTP ILE 7w8 sp/sx (more on personality typing below)

first of all, this blog isn’t dedicated to anything in particular, i mostly follow a lot of fandom tumblrs for things i like so those are usually the sources for my reblog, and i occasionally post about about my fandoms too. the fandoms i follow are:

-Twisted Wonderland

-Ensemble Stars

-Pokémon

-Sanrio (Hello Kitty, My Melody, Keroppi, etc…)

-Fragaria Memories (also Sanrio)

-Genshin Impact

(more about my fave characters/blorbos below)

I also reblog general funny memes once in awhile. And sometimes social discourse. And some cute aesthetic things.

I’m an adult and I post NSFW content sometimes, but I will tag it under MATURE Community Labels when I post or reblog something. There are times where I might forget to do that so if that makes you nervous, I advise you not to follow me.

My blorbos

-twst: riddle, cater, lilia, and silver

-enstars: shinobu, hajime, kohaku, yuta, and tori

-pokémon: grookey, lucario, riolu, sylveon, jirachi, and milcery

-pokémon characters: allister, raihan, goh, and lillie

-sanrio: my little forest fellow, kirimichan, my melody, and cogimyun

-fragaria memories: rimicha, klarkstella, myunna, and tuxam

-genshin: kazuha, tighnari, cyno, and freminet

Personality Typing:

I have made posts about Socionics which is a personality typing system. If you’re familiar with MBTI, then you might have an idea about this sort of thing, but I don’t really like talking about MBTI since there’s a lot of misleading information about it online—basically if you Google it, the top results (like 16personalities) won’t give you accurate (very far from accurate) information. And 16personalities is the place most people learn about it from so I prefer not to engage with people online about it.

Basically the best place to go to learn about MBTI, Socionics, Enneagram, and other typing systems is Personality Database. It’s actually pretty fun because it has pages on almost everything in media and real life. Most of what I have learned is through trying to find out what types my favorite characters are. It gets messy and people are always arguing but that’s the good thing about it. It’s mostly just a good place to get into it and it can point you in the direction of better resources.

There’s still a ton of stuff I don’t know or understand and I’m still learning, but I like to go on Pdb just to see what people are saying. There’s still misunderstanding about MBTI/Meyers Briggs, but they don’t misuse it by typing by letters (like 16p). Instead they type by FUNCTIONS. If someone is shown to be typing by letters, they usually get called out and are told that they’re supposed to be typing by functions.

I can make more posts about it if people want, but I’ll end it here for now.

my Ask Box is open btw…

[thedrarrylibrarian]

To celebrate their new direction and get some insights into the how and why the blog is changing, I invited @sitp-recs to chat with me. We knew we'd have so much fun, and didn't want to leave any patrons out, so we recorded our conversation to share. I'll be DL, in bold, and sitp-recs is SP. I hope you enjoy getting a bit of behind the scenes of how we run our blogs, finding balance in fandom, and our friendship.

DL: First of all, Happy New Year! I’m so glad we could finally sit down and chat like we’ve been trying to do for….4 months now? 5 months? Lol

SP: Happy New Year! I’m so ready for 2022. Hopefully it will be a gentler year to us all. And I know, right? It’s been months and so much has changed between then and now, but I’m happy we’re doing this to start the year. Good omens! Thanks for the invite by the way, I’m really humbled by it.

DL: You’re so welcome! I’m ecstatic to have you, so I’m glad we made it work. And a gentler and kinder year is the best wish for 2022. Did you set any New Year’s Resolutions in relation to your blog?

SP: That’s a great starting point, actually. I posted about it recently and rather than a few bullet points, mine was a long and mildly chaotic rambling lol. Rigid resolutions and numbers scare me a bit and I’m trying to take it easy this year. Mainly, I hope to keep doing what I love but find more balance along the way. I want to read more, comment more, write more single reviews and be more present for my friends. It’s kinda generic, I know, but I want to establish a low pressure environment so I can continue enjoying the blog now that it’s entering its third year.

DL: You and I have talked before about how running a fan blog, while sometimes time consuming, should always be fun. Did you feel like you’d gotten to a point where it was no longer fun this year?

DL: This year being…last year lmao. 2021.

SP: Sadly, yes. Although, to be fair, it was way more related to what I was going through in real life and less related to fandom in general. I changed jobs at the beginning of 2021 and have been dedicating a lot of time and energy to it. The first semester was a complete nightmare and I was barely able to read anything, let alone write recs. It’s particularly frustrating to watch the fandom flourish when you can’t keep up. I got overwhelmed between the buzz surrounding new fics and the pressure I put on myself to keep the blog active by posting recs and giving something back to the community. That’s when I decided to stop making reclists, as they basically took all my free time away and were adding to the stress rather than being a fun, relaxing activity.

DL: That’s something I very much relate to. As much as I’d love to read fanfic and make rec lists all day, I have other responsibilities. Finding that balance is so important. For me, it’s doing about 1 rec list a week and a Happy Hour on Fridays when I can. I’ve also stopped trying to find lost fics. I feel like that’s in more capable hands with @lostdrarryfics Sometimes I get asks that are like “I’m not sure if you are still active…” and I'm like “...I just posted last week?” and I just have to laugh. It feels like that “I'm not dead yet!” scene from Monty Python. I love putting out content and rec lists, but it’s a hobby. Sometimes real life and responsibilities take precedence, and I’ve always tried to be very honest about that. As your friend, I’m so proud of you for putting those boundaries in place and finding your balance. So now that you’re not doing rec lists, what can we expect to see on your blog?

SP: That’s exactly it, and I think that unfortunately, Tumblr gets tainted by the social media immediacy thing, considering we have so many different demographics mixed together. Everyone is at a different point in their life, and setting up boundaries can be incredibly hard when it’s about something you genuinely love to do, but it’s necessary to keep a healthy relationship with both fandom and real life responsibilities. I don’t want to rule out all reclists because I still very much enjoy making them - but I won’t be doing them on demand as I used to, probably just some specific lists like the one I did for my 2021 favorite works. Other than that, I plan to keep on boosting artworks, microfics, rare pairs and fandom fests when I can. As for the single recs, I’d really love to include older gems, as I did in 2020. When I started the blog the whole idea behind it was to celebrate both classics and lesser known works, and some of the best fics I discovered that year were published between 2010 and 2015. So I’m hoping to highlight those again, and hopefully send more readers their way.

DL: Ooooh, I love that! I think there’s so much great content that gets overlooked because of “classics” so I love finding those hidden gems.

We’ve talked about some of the stressors of running a popular fandom blog, but I certainly don’t want that to take away from how much we both love to do it. Part of the reason you’re working to find this balance is so that you can keep blogging because it does bring so much joy! What’s your favorite part about running your blog?

SP: You’re right - creating this blog was one of my best decisions and a major highlight in these otherwise dark, uncertain times we’ve been living for the past two years. Reccing, for me, is a very special kind of therapy. I love the catharsis it brings, and the way I’m able to freely express my thoughts and feelings about a work that somehow I really can’t translate when I’m leaving a comment on AO3. I love the idea of just… putting my thoughts out there, hoping to find echo but without really considering my audience or expecting something in return, if that makes sense? It’s a very liberating process and hey, I get to practice my English while I’m at it, so that’s a nice bonus! I also love interacting with both creators and fellow readers. I love getting feedback like “Wow, thanks so much for thinking of my fic. This made my day!” just as much as I love hearing “I found this fic thanks to your rec and now I’m obsessed.” It’s so incredible to think that, despite not being a creator, my words could still move someone, even if it’s just one person, and inspire them to either read that work or go and create their own. That’s real magic!

DL: That’s such a lovely answer! I completely get what you’re saying about interacting with fellow fans. Writers often make my day when I read their amazing works, so it feels so good to give that acknowledgement back to them. I love seeing their positive reactions when I’ve included someone in a reclist or featured them in a Happy Hour. It makes me happy to make them happy. You’re absolutely right - it’s a special kind of magic.

One of my favorite things about your blog is how personable you are. You always come across so warm and friendly in all of your posts. I love that. It was one of the first things I noticed when I first followed you.

SP: That’s such a lovely compliment, and the first time I really stop to think about my approach as a blog owner, but yes! I’ve always been the communicative type. I like to think I’m a welcoming presence and I try my best to come from a place of kindness and empathy while respecting my personal boundaries. I’ve always wanted the blog to feel like a safe space that respects all reading preferences, ships and tropes, even if they’re not my own. That’s why I’m so adamant about promoting rare pairs too, as I personally love so many of them. Fandom can be a very hostile space for those communities, so I try my best to stay away from any kind of toxic discussion that doesn’t belong in a positive space.

DL: I love that. I recently read a fic that had Pansy/George as a background pair and I thought it was a really fun ship (don’t worry, it’ll be on my Late Christmas List). What’s a pair that you never would’ve thought of but really enjoy?

SP: Ohh, I’m curious to check that one out! I love fanon Pansy because she’s so shippable. That’s the beauty of being in the HP fandom as a multishipper - there are so many possibilities and so many talented authors trying their hand on rare pairs. I feel really lucky to be experiencing fandom at this point in time. As for your question, a few years ago I’d never have considered reading Golden Trio fics, as in Harry/Ron, Harry/Hermione, and Harry/Ron/Hermione. I used to perceive their dynamics strictly as sibling-like friendship and could not see them interacting romantically at all. I really can’t give you a precise answer on when that changed and I felt comfortable to explore this OT3 (probably as I got more and more interested in the “friends to lovers” trope, and found a compelling summary by an author I trust and love!) but I decided to give it a shot and now I love this triad in every possible variation. I’m still a bit picky about the kind of dynamics I enjoy with most of my favorite rare pairs, so I don’t read them as often as I read Drarry!

DL: Oooh, I actually love a good triad. I haven’t looked at the prompts for @hptriadfest yet but I think they start posting in April. Maybe they’ll have something new for you to enjoy!

SP: Won’t ever deny a good threesome!

DL: One of my favorite things to ask is what are you currently reading? Both in fanfic and in real books?

SP: I’m….so very ashamed to admit that I haven’t read real books since finishing my Master’s two years ago, but I’m hoping to change that this year! Of course, the popular Captive Prince series is high on my list. I’ve seen so many artworks on Tumblr and I just know it’s going to be right up my alley - Drarry similarities and all! As for fic, I just finished oldenuf2nb’s last advent fic called The Magic Behind the Camera with photographer Harry and magazine editor Draco. It’s a lovely read for those who enjoy the identity porn trope! I’m now debating whether to pursue a long or short fic next. Any recs?

DL: Of COURSE I have a rec! I just finished a shorter fic that I really enjoyed. It’s called both that morning equally lay by @janieohio. It’s a remix of Auror Conley on the Case by @frenchmarshmalloww that was also fun. Have you read them?

SP: I haven’t! Ohh, gotta check these out ASAP! Love that summary, and 5k is a perfect length for me. God bless short fics!

DL: Don’t get me wrong - I love a long fic - but I adore short fics. I love a quick bite sized fic that I can get into and finish while I’m waiting in a line or read quickly on my lunch break at work. Also, for books, can I recommend The Guncle by Stephen Rowley? It was one of my favorite reads of 2021. It’s a pretty quick read packed with lots of bittersweet emotions and family moments.

SP: That sounds perfect, thanks so much! And I agree 100% about short fics. They’re very practical as you said, and can be just as much, if not more, nuanced and emotionally rewarding. I’ve read so many brilliant short fics in the past few years. We have some incredibly talented authors exploring shorter forms.

DL: Absolutely!

SP: I can’t believe I got recs out of this!

DL: I can’t help myself! I’m like one of those grandmas who keep trying to feed you, even if you’re not hungry. “Here honey, have another fic rec. You can pack this one up and take it with you!”

SP: It’s in our nature! We just can’t help screaming about our favorite fics and authors!

DL: Exactly! Which, speaking of! Do you want to share any favorite Drarry fics?!

SP: I think @letteredlettered's The Boy Who Only Lived Twice will always be my top favorite. I reread it all the time (despite being 50k) and get the same incomparable thrill I got when I first read it so many years ago. Lettered is definitely a personal favorite for me, the majority of their fics hit all of my boxes. Their most recent fic By the Grace is one of the most compelling, nuanced, and emotionally satisfying masterpieces I’ve ever read. Then I have to mention Far From the Tree by aideomai who pretty much blew my mind with this brilliant and devastatingly tender time travel epic - and I’m not even that invested in the 8th year trope!

DL: I loved By the Grace! I think I put it on a rec list immediately after I read it. I remember feeling like “Oh my god! Do people know about this fic!? Everyone needs to read this RIGHT NOW!”

SP: That was my reaction too! It was so mind blowing!! And so very different from Letterd’s usual style - more focused on dialogue and character development. This excerpt will always live rent free in my head:

Harry’s heart leapt into his throat, and all thoughts of solace or freedom or courage left him. “Do you mean you …” He trailed off, then cleared his throat. His hands twitched again. “You did say you remade every cell.” “Potter, you fool,” Malfoy muttered. “My body doesn’t know how to make a cell that doesn’t love you.”

DL: Ugh. What an excellent quote. With that loveliness, shall we end it there?

SP: Yeah. It’s been so lovely to chat with you! Thank you for the invite!

DL: Thank you for your time!

[south-park-fanart-archive]

Welcome! + Faq, Tags

The main mission behind this blog is to gather as much old, tumblr-based south park fanart as possible and give it a conventional, easily searchable home. While tumblr’s general search system may falter, or google may hide old blogs targeted by the faulty nsfw filters, this blog will be navigable by various tags. 

This blog was started on December 31st, 2021, starting out using the resources found on op’s old sideblog that has been collecting fanart since 2014. Many of these blogs are either no longer active, disabled, or were deleted by the mass banning in 2018 (sp fandom used to be full of p0//rn artists!), so the timestamps may not be accurate as some are no longer viable to pull from. Most posts are tagged directly by year (example, “2014″), while others may have a tag like "2014 or older”. This means that the post is at the maximum from 2014, but I don’t have an exact date, only the date I reblogged it. There are also some posts that were sourced and credited but were reposts (not posted by the original artist to tumblr) and those are tagged with “repost” and my best guess on the username of the original artist and the date.

(As a sidenote, even for archival purposes, I will not be posting any explicit nsfw to this blog to avoid any issues with tumblr’s flagging system. Any naughty-adjacent jokes will be tagged with “nsfw-ish”. There is also a tag “flashing gif” because there’s a couple of those for people who may have photosensitivity. There may also be art that has problematic elements, but anything too bad will be tagged as necessary.)

I tried to tag posts with both the artists current (or the last username they used before being disabled) username and a more recognizable username. Some may have been missed, so if you’re looking for someone specific, search the more recognizable name and then after finding it, plug the newer username into your search.

This blog is not just compiling old art, but art created recently in the sp tag. That way, we are creating the most comprehensive place to search for art, and once I’m done going through my old blog, it will have a good record all the way through the present. This way, in the future, if someone wants to look back at 2021 art, the resource is there!

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Some tags to try and search:

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/[insert from below]

[year, ex. 2014]

[character, ex. Kenny] **NOTE: Tolkien is tagged as “Token” on this blog, as the archive was started before his name spelling was changed in canon. For consistency with what was already set up, this is how to find his fanart :)

[group, ex. Craig’s Gang; main 4 ;girls; group shot]

[au, ex. sot; fbw; coon and friends; general “au” tag]

[artist, ex. preoprix]

[ship, ex. creek]

[Season, ex “s18″] (this means the content was published in direct response to an episode from a specific season, or in preparation/hype for the new season)

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Specific links:

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/askblog because remember those? There were a lot!

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/fandom%20history for posts that I feel are very relevant in some way to sp tumblr history. Either being very well known or infamous, or I feel are a fun retrospect.

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/the%20creekening speaking of fandom history, this is all the art that came directly before (much of the joke art submissions) and immediately following the airing of TxC.

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/memes vintage humor! [Also try the long leg craig meme specifically!]

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/fandom%20critique for art that critiqued or made fun of popular fanon or headcanons.

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/crossover see what people liked to mix sp with! (Homestuck. The answer is homestuck.)

https://south-park-fanart-archive.tumblr.com/tagged/op's%20favorite for art that I love in particular and I likely reblogged multiple times during my fandom experience <3

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If all else fails, try the /search function, which will likely bring up something similar to what you’re looking for!

[dear-wormwoods]

you said in one of your posts that kyman is one-sided. may i ask how exactly? from kyle's side? most of the fandom portrays it as one-sided from cartman's side which doesn't make much sense…

This message is super old so I'm sorry if you're long gone, anon! The nice thing about SP is that there's really no wrong way to interpret the show in terms of what could happen in the future. Everything is up in the air and feelings can change a lot between ages 10 and 15 or 20 etc. But here's why I personally see it as one-sided from Cartman's side, not Kyle's:

The two moments I'm thinking of that some people might use as evidence that Kyle has feelings for Cartman are when he puts Cartman to bed in Jewpacabra and when he is shown crying over a picture of Cartman while all the other boys are getting dumped at the end of Skank Hunt. I can see why the juxtaposition in that second example might be seen as evidence, because, well, Kyle is literally crying over Cartman while everyone else is crying over their girlfriends... and I think people are welcome to interpret it that way! But I think Kyle was just feeling immense guilt over what they did to Cartman, and while everyone else is preoccupied with their breakups, he's able to focus on what really matters because he's single. As for the first example, I don't see it as evidence that Kyle likes Cartman, even as a person let alone as a crush. I see it as evidence that Kyle is inherently good and willing to put his own negative feelings aside to make sure another human being is safe. He would have done the same for anyone else, it's just that Cartman is the only one who would actually put himself in that situation.

Kyle is an idealist, and he wants to believe that everyone is good deep down. This includes Cartman. He hates Cartman but he keeps hanging out with him because he thinks that there is hope for Cartman, and that he can help him or fix him somehow. He needs to believe that everyone has the potential to be good, otherwise his entire worldview would have to be brought into question. That's why he gives Cartman chance after chance after chance. That's why he can't just shrug off Cartman's shit the way Stan can, or Kenny (most of the time). That's why he can't let it go when Cartman does shitty things. It's also why he's, in general, so easily manipulated by Cartman. He wants to hold Cartman to a higher standard and genuinely wants Cartman to meet that standard, and that's why he's so angry and hurt when Cartman fails time and time again to do that.

I also think Kyle feels beholden somehow, like it's his duty to put up with Cartman's shit so other people don't have to. I think that's part of why he gets so preoccupied with 'saving' Heidi... it's not that he actually has a crush on her, it's that she's acting as Cartman's emotional punching bag and he feels like that's his role. I'm not saying he was jealous of Heidi or thinks of himself as Cartman's significant other... Kyle is just a martyr and willing to put himself in Cartman's way time and time again. With Heidi getting the brunt of Cartman's mistreatment, Kyle was feeling purposeless.

So I think Kyle's feelings for Cartman are complicated, but not affectionate. I think, however, that he could easily misunderstand his own feelings and end up in some kind of relationship with Cartman. Especially if, as with Heidi, someone on the outside was like "you must like Cartman because of x y and z". Then Kyle, who feels things very deeply but kind of sucks at affect identification and regulation, might actually listen and then reframe his entire approach to Cartman around this new "information". That's really the only way I can see Kyman happening from Kyle's side of things - Kyle coming to the conclusion that having faith in Cartman must mean he likes him, and then resigning himself to that fate. I think he absolutely does have strong feelings for Cartman, they just aren't romantic and probably won't go in that direction unless Cartman puts a lot of effort into manipulating things accordingly.

As for Cartman... I think that's also totally up to interpretation, but in my opinion it's easier to read Cartman's preoccupation with Kyle as a "crush" than it is the other way around. I put crush in quotation marks because I don't really know if Cartman is capable of having one in a traditional sense... his idea of "love" is one person being in control and the other being subservient. It's the kind of relationship he has cultivated with his mother, though she's been getting better at asserting herself, and it's the kind of relationship he wanted to have with Heidi. He feels entitled to people's time and energy and feels a sense of ownership over certain people in his life. He wants authority and sees others as either property (what he would call "love") or tools to further his own self image (in general, his "friendships"). I want to explain that first because I agree with you that Cartman having romantic feelings, the way most people would feel them, doesn't make sense. However, I do think his obsession with Kyle will eventually turn into what HE would consider romantic.

I think Cartman is/would be interested in Kyle mostly because Kyle poses a challenge for him. Kyle is headstrong and morally secure, and he also has a solid support system in his mom, Ike, and (until recently) Stan. He's easily manipulated and gullible, but he bounces back easily so no matter what tactics Cartman uses on him, any influence he has over Kyle is temporary. With Kyle, Cartman would never run into the issue he had with Heidi, where he eventually pushed her so hard and isolated and manipulated her so much that he turned her into his clone. That's one reason why he wants Kyle around, he basically says as much in Smug Alert - Kyle is interesting and fun because he reacts to Cartman's bullshit but doesn't give into it. Cartman could chase him forever and never get bored of it, and that's why he's the ideal recipient of Cartman's "love".

Cartman's obsession with Kyle involves those aforementioned ideas of domination and ownership. Cartoon Wars showed that they're evenly matched when it comes to physical fighting, which is all well and good for Cartman but what he really wants is to use domination to humiliate Kyle. He took full advantage of Kyle's vulnerability in Ginger Cow and he was obsessed with getting Kyle to fulfill his side of their bet in Imaginationland because it involved humiliation and showing off his control/authority over the situation. He wanted everyone to see Kyle submit to him. Despite being a sexual act, at least in Imaginationland, Cartman isn't motivated by sex yet. However, I do think that as he gets older, his need to humiliate Kyle will become more and more of a sexual preoccupation that he'll interpret as romantic because he doesn't understand the difference. And once he identifies his feelings for Kyle as "love", he won't stop until he gets what he feels he's owed.

So in general, I don't think Cartman will ever be truly in love with Kyle (unless something about his current character trajectory drastically changes), but I do think he will think he is and pursue him in his own way. Maybe he could eventually wear Kyle down, maybe not... that mostly depends on what Kyle's support system looks like in the future. But no matter what it's not healthy.

Maybe that explanation helped? My thoughts on Kyman are complicated, I'm sorry. And I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here either, these are just my own thoughts!

[karelysse]

alright, at long last... it's time. i'm breaking this up into multiple asks because tumblr is evil. if anyone feels like i've missed something crucial, please hop in and lmk. also it's currently 1 AM, please forgive any typos you see. so, what the fuck do javi do, exactly? the short answer is he gave some rather... poor commentary re: yuzuru's SP. *when* exactly this happened is in question, some say it was once the entire men's event was over, others say it was right after the SP (1/?)

what did javi say? well it was in spanish, but here are some links for you to browse on twitter. here's a generous translation + vid: + the follow-up and here's an alternative translation (scroll down). this sparked a lot of backlash. why was he questioning yuzuru and his work ethic? why would he imply yuzu was lying?

this post does a good job of summing up the disappointment people felt. there was also a weird comment he made about yuzu getting gifts after an event but i can't find the clip. sadly some took it too far and flooded javi's insta, he ended up making a not-apology-apology post about it (tracy + brian both commented under it). but the damage was done, the majority of fanyus dislike/are neutral about him now

to me, the whole thing was very... odd. almost out of character, imo? javi hasn't always been the best with words, but he had so much praise for yuzuru's FS at these Olys, so why would he do such a 180? he knows the scrutiny yuzuru is under, he knows yuzuru wouldn't lie? it just doesn't make sense to me. that said, they're both grown adults and they've known e/o for 10 years. i have faith they'll sort it out for better or worse (especially since they're both scheduled for FaOI this year)

imo, after taking a month to reflect on it, i've decided that this one ugly moment (and i DO think it was a bad take from him tbh) shouldn't mean i can't look on the past with fondness. ultimately we don't know these people! again, it's up to them to figure out how they move forward from here. that's not my call and it's not the fandom's call. more than anything, i want yuzuru to be happy. and that's all for now! next time, i'll fill you in on the poetic tragedy of the whole mess. 💕

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Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this! It's such a concise yet complete overview of the situation, and very lovely of you to send it to me. Now, after reading @fieryrondo's post, so beautifully worded, I don't think I have anything of notable interest to add.

I'll be honest and confess that I have no emotional attachment to all of this, learning about it so late and not being a direct witness to the events (which must have been a lot more dramatic for fans, as it was paired with the pain of Yuzuru losing at that time, I can only assume).

At the end of the day, Javi's a professional giving his opinion on something that wayyyy surpasses my understanding in terms of technicalities. I'm just here for the glitters. But I do think people have been way over the top in speculating on Yuzuru's woe and hurt and feelings of being mortally betrayed. This is not, in my humble opinion, the absolute treason people frame it to be. This isn't an attack to Yuzuru's integrity, and even if it was, welp, Javier Fernandez probably knows Yuzuru Hanyu better than I, a person on the internet who's never met him, ever will, so idc.

As I've been talking about with @sophia-helix, we can't silence every critical voice that raises itself against Yuzuru, that's silly + literal censorship + doesn't serve him in any way, shape, or form. And people are allowed to make mistakes!!!!

[chattegeorgiana]

You keep insisting that the ending Naruto pairings are the reason Boruto's sales are nowhere near as great as Naruto's, yet how come Boruto Naruto the Movie has brought in far more income than both RTN and The last combined? The Boruto Movie has gained almost 40.000.000$ while The Last only 20.000.000$ and RTN only around 17.000.000$. The reasons boruto is not as popular as naruto was is because the plot sucks, the anime has too many garbage fillers, the artstyle in the manga sucks, the new gen characters suck, and the manga wasn't even written by Kishimoto until recently. It has nothing to do with pairings. Hell, if NS became canon, people would've hated it even more, considering how hated Sakura was, and you even admitted she is the most hated character. And you also contradict yourself. First you say she's the most hated, then you say SP missed a marketing opportunity with her... like girl make up your mind? She's the most hated character in the franchize, in a poll she was chosen as the most hated by both male and female, even Kishimoto went out of his way to say girls came at him and said how much they despised Sakura, most people don't give a shit about her, using her as marketing strategy would've done more harm than good. She's even more hated in Japan and other Asian fandoms than she is in the western fandom, and that already says a lot! You're really arrogant to assume that the "silent majority" you speak of are all NaruSaku fans. I guarantee you it isn't. In fact, most people don't even care about ships that much. NaruSakus, you along with the SNS fans, SS fans, NH fans are part of the vocal minority that has nothing better to do than bitch about ships all day long.

But did I ever say that they were THE ONLY reason they are bad? They are an integral part of it yes, but not the only one.

Just because you saw some asks of mine here on Tumblr, you just throw these things around, like this is the only place I talk about the story of Naruto and this is the only aspect I do.

Yes, here on Tumblr I might do it through the virtue of the asks I receive, but that doesn't mean it's the only space I address these matters.

I have other social media channels as well where I discuss other aspects as well. Ya know, how like Boruto is nothing more than a tweaked "cooler" wanna-be version of Naruto, with no real substance whatsoever, a story that doesn't truly leaves a message behind, a morale, with characters that are the shells of their former selves or mechanics that are skewed and "free of" any logic.

But sure, make it as if that's the only aspect I talk about if that makes you sleep well at night.

As for the reason Boruto made so much? Well, I'll tell you why: because it had NaruSasu. Because they knew they messed-up with The Last, so they did the next best thing they could to try and keep the fanbase engaged.

Focused on the biggest portion of the fanbase that gathered around both shippers and non shippers by the virtue of focusing on Sasuke and Naruto and their offsprings. You know why? Because this way they catered to two human emotions: familiarity/comfort & curiosity.

Aka familiarity via having NaruSasu and curiosity to see the new gen kids.

Which yes, had momentum and seemed to have a perfect recipe: no focus on the ships that initially brought he whole mess (Sakura and Hinata were close to non-existent in that movie), and "repaying" the fanbase that was initially pissed at the fact that people thought this was gonna be a T7 movie because of the heavy Kakashi and Ssuke advertisement when they were there to be found for onlyyy few seconds, lol.

But you see, in the test of time, Boruto failed because of the aforementioned reasons.

You say that people would've hated the ending if NS would've been canon, yet curiously enough the number of people that are even non shippers and agree to the idea that NS should've been canon has been increasing over the years. Which in a really curious way was surprising to me too as an NS fan that returned to the fandom after so long.

So you see, I am not sure exactly about that aspect there. Not to mention, since when does a story has to do what the fanbase dictates it? The story should follow its course and intended narration and that's that.

Yes, Sakura was hated, but that's not a reason to not have Naruto end-up with her because within the story mechanics we had many proofs that indicated that they should've ended together, regardless of how people felt about them.

Kishimoto didn't say girls came at him, he said girls sent him letters, which are two different things, because to his face no one truly said that, minus the editors who kept pushing Hinata forward and their bias as well.

Lol at you saying that using her as a marketing strategy would've done more harm than good when she's the only female character being marketed right now via figurines and all those other things.

So reality seems to be contradicting you a bit on that side.

Not to mention, you say that she's the most hated even in Asia and Japan? LOL, where did u even take out these lies?

The hate phenomena has always been a western fandom thing, not an Asian/Eastern fandom one.

You say that the pairings ripped with Sasuke and Naruto as well (funny how NaruSaku isn't dead even after years of being supposedly dead tho), for a character that should've been hated??

This whole hate thing was always a western fandom mirage, sadly, but in Japan and Asia she's always been loved. Like where did u even pull out that information from?

Also what I always said about a NaruSaku ending was that they could've taken a RTN route where they could've had ALL the pairings shown within a parallel universe, but sure, nice way to twist my words and make it like "I can't decide".

There are slight nuance differences which you either purposely not address or you don't know how to do the difference. The truth in this case only you know it.

But stop trying to act that high and mighty coming here on anon making it seem like ooh, I contradict myself and spread nonsense, just because you read a faction of all the ideas I discuss over my social media.

And now to address the silent majority argument. I never said silent majority are ONLY NaruSaku fans. That's what you assumed. Silent majority included NaruSaku fans yes, but also other fans who ya know, have some common sense within them and see how the story has been butchered for the sake of poorly treating a certain aspect of Naruto, which was the romantic one.

Which btw, you say that it wasn't a big deal, yet it was the no. plot included within the story, being presented as early as chapter 3, because chapter 1 and 2 revolved around Naruto wanting to become Hokage for people to acknowledge him and create bonds.

You say that the pairings aren't such a big deal in the fandom, yet guess what, SJ and SP directed a movie on that specific subject. Makes you wonder why now, doesn't it?

And it's a normal aspect to care about if you think about it for a manga that has been focused on BONDS. The romantic plot gets weaved in within the one about bonds really easily, because at the core of it it's about relationships.

And this whole world that we live it it's a relationship: between the body and the spirit, between then heaven and the earth, between friends, between relatives. EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD HAS A RELATIONSHIP BASIS: atom interacts with atom and here we are, living, breathing beings.

But sure, come to me and paint me in this way you're trying as if talking about relationships and their quality is a bad thing.

Mhmm.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

You're free to have your opinion, sure.

I just happen to not agree with it.

And that's that.

Have a good day or night or whatever.