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scarletlich · 2 years

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Heyo you offered to talk about the memes in the Chinese dsmp community and yup here I am to listen bc this is cool (also the fact that tommy is sometimes legit called child is fucking hilarious to me lol)

I will first add a slight disclaimer, I have been less active lately in Chinese dsmp community (wow back in the day I was part of a translation team too...) so my memes may be a bit outdated.

For some context, I'll explain a bit about how bilibili is structured. Here's a screenshot from Dream's 1v4 Manhunt Finale. As you can see, there are bullet comments on top of the video (if you scroll down there will also be comments below the video like on YouTube), sort of like chat on streams. Some of the bullet comments have lots of likes, such as the one with a yellow thumbs up next to it (it says ***At this point Antfrost is secretly doing something***).

The ones I have been keeping up with the most on bilibili were Dream's manhunts and Technoblade, so there'll probably be more of their memes in this list.

muffinhead 松饼脑袋 this actually means pancake head, one of the initial translators mistakenly translated muffin as pancake but it stuck and is now a meme. Also theoretically they could've used 头 instead of 脑袋 but that also stuck.

Dream's opening "only X% aren't subscribed": 白嫖不分国界 "getting/taking things for free is an international activity". When you watch a video on bilibili without leaving a like or coins (which you get for free by logging in) or subscribing it's described as taking something for free.

There's a specific type of meme called 空耳 (lit: empty ear) which is how people mishear English. These are a bit hit or miss for me since I am a native English speaker as well, but here's a couple more common ones:

"leave me alone" sounds like 李云龙 Li Yunlong (1919-1965) who was a general in the People's Liberation Army and there was a movie made about him in 2005 I believe.

In the manhunt where the hunters get enchanted diamond armor Bad excitedly chants "shiny squad! shiny squad!" but viewers in the bullet comments misheard this as "Chinese squad". After seeing that comment I couldn't unhear it either.

半条命 "half a life" Every time Dream has half a heart left somebody will come up with a fancy title to describe the scenario, and people will spam 封印解除 "the seal (on his power/skill) has been broken". Examples of titles: 半条命：亡命天涯 "Half a Life: Death at the Cliffs/Edge of the Sky" 半条命：山谷危机 "Half a Life: Danger in the Canyon" (these are pretty mediocre examples, there are better ones but I can't think of them right now)

D道站 (since dream is also shortened to D) is a pun off of 地道战, a 1966 classic Chinese movie about the Sino-Japanese War, it means tunnel warfare and is used for whenever Dream tunnels around during manhunt.

They also have the dudududu meme, of course. They call it 松饼处刑曲, "muffin" sentencing (like sentencing a crime) song

Techno was a known fan of the esports donghua (donghua is to China as anime is to Japan) The King's Avatar 《全职高手》 and talked about it onstream before, he even read the entire over thousand chapter webnovel. In fact, fans found his comments on the English translation and he was in the novel's Discord server (it was linked to his Discord account iirc so it was him). He also once made his nick on hypixel OneAutumnLeaf referencing 一叶知秋, the main character's original username. (Sidenote I remember getting salty when people were commenting "webnovel? just say fanfiction" it's not fanfiction! it's original fiction! just because webnovels aren't a thing in the US... no need to say it in such a disparaging way... anyway...)

Of course Chinese fans would know about his memes with Sun Zi (Sun Tzu but modern transliteration) and The Art of War, as well as when he intentionally misquotes. The Republic-era author 鲁迅 Lu Xun is also often misquoted as a meme so these jokes often appear 鲁迅：这个我熟 "Lu Xun: I am familiar with this (experience of being misquoted)". Sometimes people comment on how incredibly long the English translation of Sun Zi's lines are.

中国文化传播大使 Techno is jokingly called Ambassador of Spreading Chinese Culture because of his usage of The Art of War, and to be honest he really truly understood the concepts he quoted lmao, he used them very well.

日常和粉丝互相80 Techno and his fans bully each other on the daily

There was that time Techno described Dream as a 刑天 Xingtian, a Chinese mythological warrior who was beheaded and then basically has eyes where his nipples are and a mouth on his stomach, so Chinese fans sometimes call him the green Xingtian, they also call him 晴天娃娃 which is actually a Japanese thing, they look like this:

Skeppy often starts and ends his videos with things like "like or die tmr" and the bullet comments will spam 永久反弹 which means "eternal reflection", its basically just a "no u"

On funny interactions/bullying between Phil and his "sons" or Wilbur and Fundy, commenters like to spam 父慈子孝 which is a Chinese idiom meaning "compassionate father and filial son(s)"

I might add to this post in reblogs if I remember any more memes unique to Chinese fandom. I am not active on lofter dsmp circles (which you can think of as equivalent to tumblr) or weibo (analogous to twitter), only bilibili (similar to youtube) so that's where my memes come from.

#dream smp #dsmp #dreamwastaken #technoblade #skeppy #badboyhalo #wilbur soot #philza #itsfundy #antfrost #long post #chinese dsmp fandom

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ramonahblog · 2 years

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CBS Ghosts Review Ramble

Season One, Episode Seventeen: Attic Girl

Spoilers below the cut.

Starting off in 1987. What year did Arrow-Guy die? Before or after or the same?

Also stereotypical creepy setting despite it being the Woodstone Mansion.

Huh, I know there are a lot of myths/legends which are essentially “if you do anything more than lightly kiss as a teenager, you die,” but there is one specific one I’m thinking of. Where the guy gets out of the car while the chick is like “no” and she hears trees scraping the roof and she eventually gets out and the “Tree” scraping the roof was her murdered boyfriend’s feet all this time. Or she tries to get out only for her dead body to fall down from the roof. Cause that latter one makes so much sense.

I know it said chainsaw killer but that’s what I thought of. Also damn, the casting credits really spoiled that, huh?

Hetty hoping to possess someone again.

“You actually booked a guest?!” Hetty giving off a surprise pikachu face here. I don’t even like Pokemon, I just like that meme.

“You get to use that like two more times,” - Sam. Sorry, Sam. But when you ask your spouse to literally commit corpserobbing, that spouse gets to use that an infinite amount of times. Especially if they did it.

Also I love how all the other ghosts are like “fair” when Jay responds as to why he gets the nicer chore.

Here’s Stephanie. I can’t remember if I posted on tumblr or just said it in discord but I did say that if the show went with the expected ghost for Stephanie to have a crush on (Trevor), I would laugh. So *laughing*.

Sam is like “WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME THERE WAS A GHOST IN AN ATTIC?!” but trying to be polite. This is twice now that the main ghosts haven’t told Sam about the other ghosts. I don’t want to make that two-nickel meme but just know that’s what I’m picturing. Feel free to make the meme yourself.

Trevor’s face when Hetty goes “and Trevor has a crush on her”

Okay so I’m assuming the Sam-Stephanie conflict comes from Stephanie’s - omg I want to shorten her name so badly - crush on Trevor. And also, just letting you know I wrote Sam-Steph before realizing I had no idea if Stephanie was right (listen I was not kidding when I said I was awful with names) and that was not a good combo.

“I AM A GOD” - Alberta. Also love the fact that it is Alberta who is heard. Also does this still count as a new power? I feel like it doesn’t count as a new power because Alberta’s power has always been related to her voice. I don’t think it counts as a new power. It’s too similar.

“Yes, I went down a rabbithole,” - Jay. Mood. Rabbitholes are sneaky.

“Oh, a ghost Prom cause that doesn’t sound like the title to a horror movie,” - Jay. He’s killing (pffft accident, I swear) it this episode. Damn it google docs, I DON’T NEED THE FUCKING IN. Maybe I should just risk tumblr and its poor saves again.

Lol Isaac getting Alberta to ask how Hamilton died. Apparently multiple times.

Hetty is 100% down to be Isaac’s wingEwardian. I hope she actually is Edwardian and I did not fuck that up.WingVictorian just sounds weird.

Ooof. No.

I like how the other ghosts were drawing a hard line at no mean pranks (too bad they had no context so it comes across cruel anyway). Also love the fact that Pete (hey I got it!) is nowhere to be seen.

And he is so confused. Also love how the other ghosts are immediately wtf? And are like “Stephanie no” once they have the context and immediately go to Sam to apologize.

Lol at Trevor admitting he hadn’t gotten it.

“Trying to defend you Sam, not making it easy,” - Pete.

OMG, omg. I just realized Sam’s reaction to Trevor’s dating profile in Jay’s Sister is a lot better (worse?) with this context.

Good try, ghosts. Kinda making it sound like you planned the whole thing out here. All you did was call Stephanie on her bluff about the “no one allowed at prom” thing.

Alberta lol.

“How are we even related?” - Hetty. :D

“Sucked off at prom? I suppose anything’s possible,” - Hetty. I’m laughing. My humour died at twelve and is now a ghost. I’m laughing.

AWW JAY WENT AND FOUND A CORSAGE AND DRESSED UP TO SURPRISE SAM!

#cbs ghosts #cbs ghosts spoilers #cbs ghosts review ramble #Attic Girl #Season One Episode seventeen #s01e17 attic girl

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mammonslefttoe · 5 years

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One Brain Cell Theories: Chapter 17 & 18

There are a few things that may confirm my suspicions and the new chapters have reinforced it.

SPOILERS AHEAD, please click at your own risk and any input/more theories are welcome! I’m going to try and make this a series.

This is also a relatively long read so grab some snacks! We diving in boys!!

(This is one of my many theories. One day, I’ll be able to write down what’s happening in my head.)

TLDR; HUNNY we have to talk about the other human

A few things to remember before I dive in:

Solomon has a pact with Barbatos. Solomon has a ring of wisdom and is known to make a pact with larger and more powerful demons. We all know he lowkey wants a pact with Lucifer.

Lucifer told us not to trust Solomon in Chapter 2

There’s a possibility Barbatos has tried to poison us with tea, a Mandragora blend. Mandragora has the potential to be fatal, one of the most notable symptoms are hyperactivity and hallucinations.

When Barbatos sent us back in time, we found out he is extremely OP. He even has the power to look into the past and future.

Okay now onwards to the only viable explanation I can think of: Barbatos and Solomon are scheming a takeover. (or this really is a messed up “prove yourself” challenge from Diavolo)

Let’s begin to when shit started to get real.

A sorta shortened (?) recap of everything that has happened thus far, please feel free to skip if you don’t need it:

After almost confessing your love to Lucifer and dying in the process Belphie comes down the stairs and its the big reveal, everyone essentially gasps in shock. Beel, Belph, and MC run away to Luke’s joint only to get busted by Dia & Barbatos and they drag away Belphie to throw him in jail for treason (and its implied he gon’ die). Lost and afraid, Beel and MC run back to the House of Lamentation. There we have a really heartfelt scene with all the demon boys and we are determined to storm into Dia’s castle and solve the situation.

Arriving at Dia’s castle, the pair say they were expecting us. Lucifer stood up to Diavolo & he says please, LOUD AUDIENCE GASP. No matter how much we try to reason, the only way Belphie will be released is if MC goes back into the past alone and figure out who actually opening Belphie’s door. No reason is truly given to this. Diavolo explains that Barbatos has multiple abilities, some of this includes viewing the past & future and, most importantly, time travel.

As we continue to Barbatos’ room, he is super happy (and creepy) but gives us a very dire warning - do not interact with the past in any way or it will alternate the current timeline. This includes speaking to anyone or being involved in any type of action. If we want to come back to the present, we have to go through the same door that we end up entering through. Then off we go and we land in the middle of Mammon’s room with ALL OF THE BROTHERS sans Lucifer and Belphie. And things go haywire.

As we are running to go up to the attic, we are forced to hide in Lilith’s room, where we have a flashback (or hallucination) of playing hide and seek. Flashback Levi reminds us to go find Belphie. During this time, it is revealed that MC may have been the one to open Belphie’s door and tldr; Belphie kills MC.

As we lay dying, we are somehow saved by Lilith (our long lost aunt twice removed apparently) and we are outside of our own body...in another one. Dia and Barbatos stroll in saying they knew this would happen & Barbatos did us a favor and revived us using an alternate timeline MC (what). Everyone is pumped we have like 1/10,000,000 genes related to human Lillith and this is their closure.

Everything seems to be looking up and MC patches things up between Belphie and the other brothers. They throw her a joint party with Diavolo’s birthday party & give her the sweetest gifts. At the end of Chapter 18, Belphie creates a pact with MC.

This is all fine and dandy but...is it really?

A few things really popped out during these two recent chapters:

Belphie is by our side the entire two chapters. Whether this is supposed to signify a new start or something else, it isn’t entirely clear.

Beel and Belph are the only ones that text us during this time. Belphie texts us after every chapter moment.

Solomon runs into Belph and MC while shopping, randomly asking Belph if he plans on making a pact with MC. Then brazenly offers to make a pact with him instead. Belph refuses vehemently but looks at MC for a reaction. Solomon notices this.

As Belph gives us a gift of himself (lol same), he mentions how he’s doing this for us and not because of Lilith.

In the game itself, there’s a completely different game style. MC has more options to speak and the dialogue options have become more brazen. Almost as if...this is a different personality (or could signify MC is more comfortable with them in general). It felt off playing the last two chapters though, for me at least.

Now onwards to the theory: Solomon is our main antagonist.

In Chapter 2, we are formally introduced to Solomon, the other exchange student. Although the interaction is rushed, we can sense out two things: he’s insanely smart and he’s already comfortable around demons. As he runs off to class, MC runs into Lucifer and we learn a bit more about this mystery boy.

Apparently, Solomon is a wizard and has a ring of wisdom, which makes him incredibly dangerous. He has pacts with more than 70 demons (I think the exact number was 78 but I might be wrong). Among these demons are Asmodeus and Barbatos. At the end of Lucifer’s explanation, he adds that MC shouldn’t trust Solomon.

Historically and culturally, Solomon is most known as the “Wise King.” He is also regarded as a fantastical figure, someone who is known to have powers over both angels and demons.

“According to the Rabbinical literature, on account of his modest request for wisdom only, Solomon was rewarded with riches and an unprecedented glorious realm, which extended over the upper world inhabited by the angels and over the whole of the terrestrial globe with all its inhabitants, including all the beasts, fowl, and reptiles, as well as the demons and spirits. His control over the demons, spirits, and animals augmented his splendor, the demons bringing him precious stones, besides water from distant countries to irrigate his exotic plants. The beasts and fowl of their own accord entered the kitchen of Solomon's palace, so that they might be used as food for him, and extravagant meals for him were prepared daily by each of his 700 wives and 300 concubines, with the thought that perhaps the king would feast that day in her house.”

Additionally, he was given a ring, known as the “Seal of Solomon,” which gave him the ability to trap demons under his control.

A magic ring called the "Seal of Solomon" was supposedly given to Solomon and gave him power over demons or Jinn. The magical symbol said to have been on the Seal of Solomon which made it efficacious is often considered to be the Star of David. Asmodeus, king of demons, was one day, according to the classical Rabbis, captured by Benaiah (my note: Benaiah is a human, he was a soldier that helped Solomon rise to power) using the ring, and was forced to remain in Solomon's service. The Seal of Solomon, in some legends known as the Ring of Aandaleeb, was a highly sought after symbol of power. In several legends, different groups or individuals attempted to steal it or attain it in some manner.

And this is a potential plot in our story.

MC is, of course, the main protagonist of the story. We typically are. But there was never a clear antagonist. Or maybe he was playing along with our situation, a wolf in sheep's clothing?

We all know Levi’s strangely long anime names are a strange foreshadowing of the future. We have:

Though all titles seem to have a connection with our current plot, I’m going to focus on the first one, which seems to have the most implications regarding our current situation. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the second image with the two titles might be a backstory for Barbatos but that’s another story that I cannot fully prove yet. The third title also refers to a legend regarding Asmo and Solomon.

The first title seems...has quite obvious implications when recounting the events of chapters 15 - 18. Halfway through our journey, here we are, thrust into an alternate timeline, alone and scared but we end up making a pact with...our sixth demon? And this isn’t just a regular demon, this is one of the deadly sins. So now we have 6/7 demon brothers under our power, some of the most powerful demons in Devildom. It’s alarming how quickly MC is able to gain the trust of these demons, effectively creating pacts in the course of...maybe a few months?

What alarms me the most is how fast Belphie turned from, quite literally, killing us to making a pact with us in a course of 3 chapters. This brings me to my first suspicion in SoloBarb’s plot: This timeline is the only timeline where MC is able to make a pact with Belphie. All other timelines do not reflect this. This placement was 100% intentional from the start.

It is a known fact that Barbatos is able to view time and its events. It’s revealed this extends to alternate timelines when saving MC. If he is this powerful, wouldn’t he be able to simply look back in the past and find out who opened Belph’s door without the need for MC? This would be the easiest and most direct solution.

SIDENOTE: Keep in mind, part of the reason Barbatos could not stop the Belphie situation from happening is due to Diavolo’s restriction. Barbatos states that “Diavolo has forbidden him from using his powers freely.” HOWEVER, it then leads to the question: who really has the most control over Barbatos, Diavolo or Solomon? Traditionally, when pacts are made, it means that the demon is completely under the control of the individual but does it outweigh an authority figure? In my opinion, Solomon technically has the most power fo Barbatos. Solomon’s pact with Barbatos = a magically restrictive bond while Diavolo’s rule over Barbatos = a matter of respect of authority. There is no physically restrictive bond Diavolo has on Barbatos.

Also considering how cunning Solomon is, he could have easily manipulated Diavolo into this entire plan as well.

In addition, Solomon’s strangely direct question, asking Belphie if he was going to make a pact with MC, was alarming. It was as if he was proving his own theory: the demon brothers will make a pact with MC and never him. He seemed almost satisfied with this answer and didn’t seem to protest against it too much. Couple this with Solomon’s constant approval when MC makes pacts with the demon brothers during her stay, its...disconcerting.

Omg he even says “If you change your mind” what kind of creepy

If we consider all of this, it truly does seem as if Solomon is our potential antagonist. It seems to me that everything is pointing at him. He’s quiet enough for us to overlook and disregard as a side character, though he seems to have a certain unnerving edge to him. My god, the demons are even wary of him. If that wasn’t the biggest tip-off, idk what is.

Also physically, we have yet to hear his entire backstory in the game or have a chapter dedicated to him. So far, in terms of side characters, we have ample interaction with Diavolo and Luke (still waiting on Simeon) but no deep dives into Solomon and Barbatos. (Which means >.> we’ll get them in later chapters)

This brings me to the next question: so how is MC a chess piece in his plot?

Hey, remember that RANDOM moment Solomon lent out his power during Diavolo’s house party. AND NO ONE QUESTIONED IT. Honestly, what the hell was that all about?

In regards to this, why did he do this? Some answers include: he did it for shits and giggles, he wanted to test out the theory of us having powerful magic in our bloodline, or he wanted a test run. Yeah. You heard me. A test run.

Prior to this, MC was unable to truly summon a demon on their own. The most she could do was give out a pretty strong verbal command and the demon (Mammon lol) must carry it out. However, MC cannot fully utilize the pact’s potential due to her lack of innate magic ability.

This is both an affirmation and leverage for Solomon’s situation. On one end, it’s confirmed that MC has huge magic potential and can properly use it when needed. On the other end, this can be a bargaining tool for the future...

Which could lead to a large plot development: Once MC gains all seven pacts (c’mon, it is going to be impossible to not make a pact with Lucifer), what will they use it for?

MY PREDICTION: Solomon will attempt to manipulate MC into his control. Magic is powerful in this game but so are humans. A human was the reason Lilith was going to be punished by God. Solomon, a human, has power and control over 70+ demons. Belphegor was set on destroying only the human world. MC has pacts with the, arguably, the strongest demons in Devildom who are also formerly fallen angels.

From what I’ve seen so far, nothing is more powerful than a pact. And nothing is more powerful than human manipulation.

What will he use MC’s powers for? ...I have a sneaking feeling it might be to overthrow Diavolo based on Solomon’s cultural legend. Solomon famously has power over Asmo, the king of demons. Of course, we know the Asmo in our game is not the king but Diavolo is. Obey me! has a funny way of interpreting these legends in a unique way. Who knows if they split up Asmo into two different entities.

but who tf really knows what’s going on

BUT

I guess we’ll have to see what happens in later chapters. Of course, this is all really a far fetch theory but there seem to be so many underlying connections to Solomon in the game. I mean ffs, he’s the only other human here and he’s SOLOMON. The very character itself is so suspicious.

THIS ENTIRE THING COULD ALSO BE A MESSED UP CHALLENGE FROM DIAVOLO

OR SOME CRAZY HALLUCINATION CAUSED BY BARBATOS GIVING US THAT SUS TEA BLEND

But tbh who really knows what’s happening. The only confirmed thing is that we’re still on this alternate timeline (that MC totally messed up) and we haven’t returned to our OG timeline. lucifer please pick me up I’m scared

If you made it this far, you are SUCH A TROOP. I hope this actually has a consistent flow and it makes sense. If you have any questions or observations I didn’t include please feel free to message me! I’m open to discussion!

A big s/o to wikipedia for the quick info on Solomon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon#Seal_of_Solomon) and a thank you to @the-orizon for the screenshots & amazing info! Love you!

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adifferentworldfromyesterdays · 3 years

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Can transliteration posts count for EAW? lol

I said I’d do “Everything I Ever Thought I Knew” breakdown, but “Next Stop Anywhere” adorable in jp and tempting. I’ll do “Next Stop Anywhere” after EIETIK.

Everything I Ever Thought I Knew -> 偽りの人生 itsuwari no jinsei

偽り itsuwari means fake, a lie, a falsehood and another reading that uses the character is 偽物 nisemono. That Nisemono in particular goes towards nonliving beings as there is 物* mono.

*There is also 者 mono and モノ mono, but the second one isn’t needed here.

If you see this 者 mono that one goes towards living people/animals. This can be seen a lot in Japanese, words having similar living and nonliving meanings, as well other things as in colors based on shades but is still the same word.

And 人生 jinsei is life, lifestyle. Made up of two on readings.

人 hito/ jin is person.

- Hito is pretty straight forward, also a person.

- The reading from jin is seen in words like 日本人 nihonjin, a japanese person.

生 nama / iki / sei is to be alive.

- Nama is more on the scale of realtime as we see it in 生放送 namahousou, meaning live broadcast and 生クリーム nama curiimu, if you’re wondering why it has 生 nama it’s because it’s a reactive supplement to make whipped cream (or that’s my guess, jp namings are another day).

- Iki* is for living, ex. 生きたい ikitai, I want to go live.

- Sei is seen in words like 先生 sensei, teacher.

*appears in song lyrics

Depending on tl, roughly the title can go as the following:

- The false life I’ve led

- The life that was fake

- The lie that was my life

Now onto the full song under the cut below!!

This is another good example where they had to combine/shorten parts orz jp in a nutshell.

Lots to unpack here let’s take things slowly!

I thought I was an outcast -> たった1人で tatta hitori de

I thought I stood alone -> 生きてきたよ ikite kita yo

A rogue, a thief, a joker -> 居場所など　ないさ ibashoo nado nai sa*

No place to call my own ->どこにもない doko ni mo nai

I thought no one could love me -> 誰にも愛して dare ni mo aishte

And how could I have known? -> もらえないと moraenaito

I was wrong, oh so wrong -> 思っていたけど omotte ita kedo

We start with tatta hitori de which fits with I thought I was an outcast, and so does the following line I thought I stood alone -> ikite kita yo. Next line we see they omitted A rogue, a thief, a joker, in favour of ibashoo nado nai sa. Then we see the lyrics change back to a closer tl.

- Merely living on my own, with nowhere to call home. Yet*, gaining the affection from someone (was what he wanted) would be the answer, or so I thought.

- Out in the world, surviving on my own. Nowhere to live and with nowhere to belong, I didn’t think I was able to love (and be loved). Until I was proved wrong (Rapunzel).

*sa in this context is like, yet, well, supposedly, you see.

Then I thought I'd found it -> あの/る時夢を ano (aru) toki yume wo

A dream that I could share -> 見つけたんだ mitsuketanda

I thought I was so lucky -> 怖くなるほど kowaku naru hodo

It almost wasn't fair -> 幸せだった shiawase datta

I thought I knew my purpose -> ついに明日を tsuni ashita* wo

I thought that I knew where I belonged -> 手に入れたと teni ireta to

But I was wrong -> 思っていたけど omotteita kedo**

This next part is fairly close but there are differences once again in artistic liberties taken lol.

* like with igad and Big Nose’s line, it stands for a definitive future

- The dream I had once dreamed of, it was finally realized. At first quite scary, it turned out quite divine. Finally a future** in sight, something I could attain, or so I thought.

- That dream I once dreamed of, laid before my eyes. Securely in my hands, not without its ups and downs, rested a future safe and warm (context; as it shows LBEA and in the jp he doesn’t say the contempt and secure line, he just says we can live comfortably lol), but now I know**.

** Roughly is or so I thought, but kedo can also work as a soft ‘but...’, making “now I know” an unspoken phrase.

Everything I ever thought I knew -> 全てが崩れ去る subete ga kuzure saru

Where I've been, where I'm going -> 過去も未来も kakko mo mirai mo

Everything I counted on turned out to be untrue -> 信じていたもの望むもの shinjiteita mono nozomu mono

Could've guessed, should've known, now I do -> 全部儚く消え去る zenbu hakanaku kieru saru

The first significant difference in the chorus is Everything I ever thought I knew becoming subete ga kuzure saru. Where I've been (past -> kakko) where I'm going ( future -> mirai) is pretty self explanatory. And then we see a mirror with the last chorus line cycling back to the first.

- Everything is falling apart. Everything I wished for and everything I believed in. The past and future, all fleeting away, gradually until they fade away.

- Past and Future, everything is breaking apart, everything I trusted and everything that I had wished for, every ounce fading away like a dream (context?).

Everything I've yearned for -> これまで作り kore made tsukuri

everything I planned -> 続けたもの tsuzuketa mono

All my sweetest memories were castles made of sand -> サラサラ吹き飛ぶ砂の城 sara sara fuki tobu suna no shiro

Now that it's all crumbling ->ちぎれた思いを chigireta omoi* wo

help me understand -> 集めても atsumete mo

If none of it was really me -> 分からなくなるだけ wakaranaku naru dake

then who am I supposed to be? -> 俺は誰なんだ？ ore ha dare nanda

The first two lines are similar but build more onto the castle, wall idea that Eugene had built over time.

*omoi is an interesting word that can be liberally tl’d into feelings, memories, something, from the heart

- Everything I’ve made, everything I’ve built, that (sand)castle now being blow away by the wind. Even if I were to rebuild those memories, I’ve come to no longer know, who am I meant to be?

- Everything I’ve continuously built, like a sandcastle being blown away, torn from my heart, no matter how many times I rebuild, no longer seeing (context), just who the real me is meant to be?

Everything I ever thought I knew -> 全てが薄れてく subete ga usureteku

Every hope, every feeling -> 愛も希望も* ai mo kibou mo

Love and trust and happiness , they're done, they're gone, they're through -> 涙も笑いも幸せも namida mo warai mo shiawase mo

And what's left, me alone -> 手からこぼれて te kara koborete

once again -> 俺は ore ha ->

Should've known -> 今また ima mata

now I do -> ひとり hitori

Finally a mention of the title. Yeah, sometimes they don’t even add in the title lol (points at “Buddy song”「オレたち親友」oretachi shinnyu)

They're done, they're gone, they're through is another omitted line. And in place we get the following line te kara koborete. They’re really emphasizing how much feelings matter to Eugene Q_Q

- Everything turned out to be a lie, the love and hope, our tears, laughter, and happiness, slipping from my fingers. Now to realize*, I’m once again, am all alone.

- Everything turned out to be untrue, *the warmth and protection (bc of Rapunzel and Corona), emotions overflowing, my hands unable to contain (context). And at last I see*, that I truly am, all alone.

*this is also taken from context as he battle with his complex emotions.

I guess my life meant nothing -> 偽りの人生 itsuwari no jinsei

I guess it was a sham -> 生きてきたのか ikite kita no ka

I guess I'm someone else now ->もう分からないよ mou wakaranai yo

I wonder who I am -> 俺は誰だ ore ha dare da

Nothing’s majorly changed here.

- Having led a false life, no longer knowing what’s right, I’ve lost sight of myself, so just who am I?

- Living out a falsehood, what do I believe in (context), when I don’t even know who I (really) am.

Thanks for reading.

And remember to give Eugene lots of hugs q-q.

#crack taken seriously #Everything I ever thought I knew #eugene fitzherbert #gives eugene a hug #this is why i don't do full song analysis's on here lol #rta #tts #en -> jp #jp -> en #international dubs #rapunzel's tangled adventure #Transliteration post #Translation post #analysis

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 4 years

Text

Moriarty 8 - 11 (FINAL) | HypMic 12 - 13 (FINAL) | Taiso Samurai 7 - 9 | Akudama 9 - 12 (FINAL)

Hopefully I’ll be able to get on to all that backlog soon, because...I don’t want it to keep accumulating and Skate-Leading Stars (first winter 2021 anime) already has an advance 1st ep. up...

Moriarty 8

(Moriarty 8 notes deleted accidentally…)

Moriarty 9

If you want a modern equivalent to the Baker Street Irregulars, then I’d suggest you look this way *jabs finger at Odd Jobs Yamada (from HypMic)*.

These CGI background horse and carriages are…kind of distracting…

I’m guessing back in those days, the Irregulars were better than Google at finding info…because Google didn’t exist until the internet did.

Moriarty 10

Just this ep and one more until the end…at least, until spring 2021.

Wow, the use of colour here is really striking!

White lilies mean…purity/chastity…?

I’ve never heard of “bending someone’s ear” until now. It means to talk to someone, especially to ask a favour or to talk at length.

Probatio diabolica: the devil’s proof. I didn’t even know that was a concept until now…(I never once studied law, as you can tell.)

“William” isn’t normally shortened to “Liam”…It’s normally “Will”…also, notice all the footprints on the floor…

Moriarty 11 (FINAL)

Last ep. before spring 2021.

LOL, kabedon.

The fishy thing about Brits is that they’ve named things across the world names from Britain. I know there’s a Doncaster which isn’t anywhere near Britain, for one thing…

Observe the weird finger-like marking made by one of the bloodstains and the scratches on the suitcase. The latter was probably forced open.

Considering the number of signs the killer left, he was clearly in a hurry…

Well, based on that shoeprint we can find the killer if we can find traces of blood on his shoe.

“Duram” (sic).

Ah! If it was raining in Durham, then there would be traces of mud on the killer’s shoes. I remember early on in Detective Conan Shinichi, then newly shrunk, deduced Agasa was running in the rain based on the mud on his pants…this is similar.

Chloral (hydrate…?).

The “washroom” (apparently a Canadian term, the British term is “water closet”) has privacy and a place to get rid of the evidence, to some extent.

What about the rest of Eddie’s clothes?

Considering there are still 5 minutes of the ep. left…there’s going to be some kind of stinger for the next season. I can feel it.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait…Director Holmes??? Y’mean, Mycroft?! That is a good stinger! See you next time.

HypMic 12

“Ever since I was born, there was never a time I’d felt I’d accomplished something.” – Aw, Doppo, sweetpea (<- this blogger calls people “sweetpea” when they’re feeling lots of moe feels for them). Please don’t say that. You’ve accomplished more than enough in your life!

…Oh, almost didn’t notice it until Hifumi hid behind Doppo and the angle changed to confirm the jacket was on the bed, but Hifumi doesn’t have his jacket on.

I think I saw a tweet that said something about a wall being wrecked (specifically “Wall: Ow…”) but I wasn’t sure of the context, so I saved it in my bookmarks…LOL, so that’s what it means?

Samatoki, I know you don’t like Ichiro…but please stop trying to preach what his 2nd character song says in the title…(i.e. Break the Wall, LOL)

Jyuto’s very much a “I’ll leave this problem to the other guy” guy.

When the Funi subs say “dame”, I think Samatoki is just referring to an “onna” (woman). It’s a bit of an odd choice, really…although I can’t go and interrogate whoever was responsible for it. I don’t have the authority or the contacts that will allow me to.

This is not the time for fighting one another!!!

Notably, in the manga, Jakurai was going to chaffeur Hifumi and Doppo to their place, but then he had to go to work and so they rode the train with their prize money. This “run from Special Forces” ending is better, I think, since people got grumpy at Jakurai for having to abandon them with the money.

“…permission to cover a story.” - Permission from…who?

*screams* I was thinking Tom, Rex and Iris worked for a foreign government! They work for Ichijiku – why didn’t I think of that?!

LOL, I couldn’t even tell what Tom was saying until I played it back…it’s English, just…said in a spot where you don’t expect it.

“…that scares me.” – This may be nitpicky of me, but osoreru is actually a derivative of osore (fear), so “it strikes fear in me”…? “It strikes fear in my heart”? What would sound right…?

Go, host mode Hifumi! (...but does that imply host mode Hifumi is the only “version” of Hifumi able to rap? Certainly, he was able to do Wrap and Rap without his jacket, right…?)

You can tell Tom still respects Jakurai after all this time because he (the former) calls him (the latter) “Sensei”. Also, this’ll be interesting, we haven’t seen many mics and speakers beyond the standard bad guy ones (depicted in both the anime and the manga).

My gosh! All I knew of this song was that m-flo, also responsible for Human Lost’s theme song (and notably they’re a hip hop group with techno influences), was responsible for this song. Man, this s*** slaps! It’s great! (Sorry, I’ve just never really had the chance to capitalise on all the info I gathered on EDM DJs when talking in terms of things from Japan…m-flo is basically the only act I know which does that, so I’m really excited…can’t you tell from how verbose I’m getting in this note?)

That’s interesting that Matenrou won and Tom still took the gold chair symbolism to represent him and the Secret Aliens as the victor instead.

Iris’s parts are awesome. M-flo has a female vocalist and so I’d assume Iris takes on Lisa’s (m-flo’s vocalist’s) parts.

…Hmm, Gentaro’s made a reference to the track “Me Against the World”, has he?...Maybe.

I’m not quite sure, but I think Ramuda said “majo” (witch) when he was referring to Beauty and the Beast in the English subs.

…gosh, what is up with that airhorn…? Still, next time is the last time. See you on Christmas…no, Boxing Day.

HypMic 13 (FINAL)

This is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning…y’know, considering how stuff trended on Twitter, I’d say this anime’s gonna get a 2nd season, but you can’t really say that until it actually happens. I mean, Boueibu is much less popular than HypMic and that got a 2nd season…

This is the 1st episode where I woke up early enough to watch without spoilers and had no obligations to place over it, so…this is exciting, in its own sense, but in a sense, it could also be called “profoundly disappointing” because this experience is only available to me as of the final episode.

One of the tweets I saw a few weeks back came to mind – someone became interested in sakuga houkai (terrible animation, literally “animation collapse”) because of HypMic…I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing…

…Dude, you probably shouldn’t answer a call from someone who just revealed themselves to be a traitor last episode…*sweatdrops*

(Spoiler for rest of franchise) Hmm…Dice’s face is pretty straight. Assuming at this point we knew Dice was Otome’s son, this is a good poker face from him…!

This thing about gangs was mentioned in their profiles (although the words used implies they “went delinquent”), so it actually doesn’t surprise me.

I wonder if this subway exists in the mainline story…?

According to the next ep. preview I saw on Twitter, TDD will reform to take down the Secret Aliens. I’m not sure if that was a guess or whether that’s true, so I’m waiting for the shoe to drop on it.

Samatoki-san, not -sama. Hmm…

There was definitely the word “team” in Dice’s line, so it’s “what the legendary team was made of”.

…oh gosh…they’re still using that airhorn…?

Again with the play on “lonely thunder”. It’s a really fun pun, but one I’d like to see in the rest of the series more.

Notably, Iris’s rap in English missed the word “charisma” where it could have fit (unless I missed reading it the first time).

Note Samatoki does actually use the word “shinsensa” (freshness), so there’s no lie there.

I still love how much they went in on Rex’s theme, even in his raps.

Huh, that’s new. Never seen a tag team like this before.

It seems Tom’s signature is using a lot of English, which makes it easy for us English/Japanese pair translators.

Saburo didn’t actually say “Ichi-nii”, did he…?

…based on the rock intro, this is Rhyme Anima, the OP, or something that sounds similar. What I’d need to confirm this is the “nautilus” line and the “ends corruption” line, which are the OP’s two biggest tells for AMQ.

“rainmaking” – Hmm, another link from Gentaro to Rei. This might be a different part of Rhyme Anima (OP) that wasn’t used as the OP proper.

“this white light invites and heals” (<- paraphrased) – Sounds like Sensei, alright!

…now that (rainbow bit). That’s sakuga!

*a silhouette appears* - Oh nooooooooooooooo! Now they‘ve done it! They’ve included Rei! That’s more than enough spoilers to last a lifetime for y’all anime-onlys!

I wish someone would work on this collaboration between Saburo and Riou…

Hmm…what is the series endgame? Putting in Dice as the new ruler??? I mean, Dice is the worst possible politician ever. He’s far too lax about things.

*Nemu enters* - No! Nemu!

Not only is Iris a “ramen shop owner”, it’s Tom’s favourite food…No wonder ramen has significance to her.

…ooh! A new song! Update: I don’t know what this song’s name is, although it probably will become clear what its name is on the 13th. I’ll keep my eye on Twitter in case the answer is there.

…I knew it was far too early to say if there was an s2 – the DVD’s live events go until September 5th and the 2nd DRB finishes in March. That almost felt like a stinger right there. Oh well, I’m more than happy to call this anime a success, even if I would call it the worst of the arms of the franchise. All HypMic’s anime had to do was deliver fun, before anything else, and it delivered on that front. See you around!

Taiso Samurai 7

Anime burnout means I’m coming back to the anime after the day it finishes.

This dancing scene is kind of like the one at the start of ep. 2 of IWGP, except it has the owl to represent the setting as well as the dance stage.

Leo doesn’t seem to know kanji or katakana, only hiragana.

Even though this part of the anime is set in London, the characters are still speaking Japanese (lel…?).

LOL, Edward Scissorhands much?

LOL, these background gossips are like the Plastics from Mean Girls…haha.

…LOL, that’s not one of those dismounting moves, is it? It’s just kind of…jumping off the bar.

Lookit how Leo’s sticker is 90 deg. sideways from what it should be, haha.

I don’t think it’s true that Olympic gymnasts have never failed. Like other people at the top of their game, they’re probably failed millions of times, but only outside the view of most of the world. Persistence and passion are what’s key to becoming the best at what you are, no matter what field you’re in.

Now Aragaki’s what I call a “determinator” (see TV Tropes on what that is).

Taiso Samurai 8

Notably, the word used for “clothes” is specifically for Western clothing, like dresses.

Well, now we know why Leo can do those stretches…

They’ve clearly sped up the dance here, but…it’s basically the same sort of movements Yuri on Ice used to suck me in. I’m here for it!

Leo seems to be the type who tries to push away his worries by distracting people (including himself) with other things…I see. I didn’t have much of a grasp of his character beforehand.

Britney! F*** you, Britney!

Ah, that must be the (a?) fabled owl of Ikebukuro. I’ve never actually been to Ikebukuro…the closest I got was Akihabara (to memory) and even then, that was for electronics, not anime…so I’ve never seen the owl statue I’ve been talking about close up.

Rei does kind of look like her mother like this.

Ah! Rei and Kitty have a pair look now! “Twinsies”, they call it.

Amakusa’s head is located right next to Leo’s butt, so I end up staring at it…LOL.

The Hoover mission.

“I <3 Ninja”, LOL.

LOL, “Nyapoo!”

*sighs* The problem with being multi-talented is that you’re going to be told to one day put one passion above the others, even if you don’t want that.

LOL, you can be a ninja with this WikiHow article. (I was looking for Kitty’s quote, but found that instead. It seems to be a quote from one of Tomoyo’s movies.) Update: I was right.

There’s a movie in the back where the title is “Black Rainmaker”. (Tomoyo, I presume) Mifune is the 1st person credited.

Considering this is 2003…you won’t be on Mars in 2013, Kitty.

Wow, a tape! That brings me back to 2003, indeed.

Charlie’s Angels…so that’s what the tape was.

LOL, a shoebill.

“blade in your heart” – That would refer to the character for “ninja”, which has a blade over a heart. Y’know Kiss Shot Acerola Heart-Under-Blade (from Monogatari), yeah? Like that.

…you might think emails were out of place in 2003, but a virus from an email caused me to be an avid reader and that virus was unleashed around the late 90s – early 2000s.

LOL, Kitty’s cat belt buckle.

You said it, Rei. You said it.

Taiso Samurai 9

Lausanne, Switzerland.

I noticed one of the boxes at the start of the OP says “Horizontal Bars”, rather than some random name to make the boxes look like they were discarded.

Someone encoded the video funny…

LOL, BB’s getting possessive of his territory.

Fuku-chan the fukurou (owl) in Ikebukuro…LOL.

LOL, randomly there’s a skeleton with a hat in the background of Britney’s clinic.

Notably, one of the wall hangings says “heart” on it – alternatively, “soul”.

Notably, Atlanta was the 1996 Summer Olympics…there is no 1997 Lausanne Olympics, as far as I know.

Akudama 9

I watched the part where it glitches twice and I can’t quite figure out what that circular symbol is…maybe it’s Hacker’s symbol…?

Ah! Only now they properly confirm Swindler used to work in the Seal centre.

“Life that never dies is defective.” – Doctor

Does that mean Doctor is actually older than she looks, due to plastic surgery…?

Marker? What marker?

Apparently that flower is a cherry blossom…according to Detective Conan.

…I know this anime wasn’t made in America (it wouldn’t be “anime” otherwise), but Anime Feminist is going to have a field day with this one…if they haven’t abandoned it already due to their idea of morals.

…now I can even see parallels between HypMic’s authorities and Akudama’s. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

“Why did this have to happen when I’m chief?” – Sounds like…basically every authority during COVID and BLM, to be honest.

See? Akudama likes the S word. I told you.

I haven’t watched The Shining, but reading the synopsis, you can figure out why Cutthroat is the way he is…sort of.

How does the iconic quote go? “Heeeeeeeeeeeere’s Danny!” (or something…?)

They even copied the iconic eye shot! There you go!

Way to take a guy out (with the door, LOL).

…with all this killing, I can see why Akudama Drive was only in one magazine now. (Then again, HypMic was in basically all of them and that also has a tonne of problems…)

Akudama 10

万死 literally means “10000 deaths”.

Babel.

That police chief is such a mood, LOL.

I can see why people didn’t recognise Swindler, but Courier never changes his look, so…uh…

You can’t become a police chief without a sense of justice, no?

“Since when did you know that I’m not-“ - *facepalms*

Is this what they call an “ass-kickin’ Christmas”? (LOL)

Y’know, Sister, you could just do the whole “wherever you are, I’m also seeing the same sky as you” thing some other anime do.

Notably, there are shide (the paper strips) and a rope over the vault…they really do treat the shinkansen and its immortal children as a single god, huh?

Hmm? They don’t care about Sister anymore? Just Brother? (Somewhere along the way, the priorities must have shifted.)

In the end, the best ship is Brawler and Hoodlum (lel).

Akudama 11

One more ep after this. I’m gonna miss this anime, even if it was crazy over-the-top and I didn’t finish it until after the day it ended.

I think the scariest scene in all of Akudama Drive is the one where the “cleaner” tosses the girl aside.

“This nowhere place!” – Around this time, the bunny and shark’s shirts say “morning”/”afternoon” (shark) and “evening” (bunny).

The blue bird of happiness…literally. That character on the birds is the one for “happy”.

…LOL, that one glitched Courier looks more like Cutthroat.

Hacker’s drone matches Courier’s head angles, LOL.

I guess if you think you’re falling in Kanto, you’re falling in Kanto and if you think you’re floating (like Courier did), you float. I always liked that concept.

War Games. Now the title makes sense!

…but they can be together if they stay here in Kanto as vessels for the citizens? (That sounds mighty antagonistic of me, but…that logic does compute.)

Maybe swindlers play games with the truth…? (What an interesting concept.)

“Just fine.” – I think Hacker needs a “This is fine” meme.

“We can hear your heart talking.” – It means something like “We can hear you spouting your true intentions.”

“…worth every last penny…” – That’s a weird thing to say for someone whose life got changed by 500 yen…Just goes to tell you how American the subbers can be sometimes.

Swindler’s smug face is so good, LOL.

Akudama 12 (FINAL)

This episode isn’t named after a movie. It’s named after the anime itself.

The TV says “Please watch away from the TV”, i.e. stand back from the TV while you watch.

“They came and stole the offerings…” – At this point, bunny’s shirt says “freedom” and shark’s says honpou, meaning “wild, uninhibited, rampant, extravagant”.

…where did Shikoku come from? Is that where Swindler and Sister landed after they tried going to the moon?

Ohh! That Christian imagery! That’s scary!

Is Akudama Drive a tragedy? No, I think…on the contrary, it’s a story of hope.

LOL, “s*** guy”.

I thought the girl had a bomb. Turns out she has a gun, which is…far worse, come to think of it.

Instead of red characters which say things about the situation, now Shark and Bunny have Hacker’s symbol on them.

There’s no way anyone who wasn’t immortal would survive the attack Courier took…

…why is it that falling over represents vulnerability in children in all of these stores where a war has happened and/or there’s a chase? Hmm?

Wow, Sister did everything with heels on…?!

Anyways, that was a fun time. See you next time!

#simulcast commentary #akudama drive #Chesarka watches Akudama Drive #taiso samurai #Gymnastics Samurai #HypMic #Hypnosis Mic #Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle - Rhyme Anima #moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #Chesarka watches Yuukoku no Moriarty #Chesarka watches HypMic #Chesarka watches Taiso Samurai

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twenty-one-froggy-pilots · 4 years

Note

Hi! I'm a recent fan of twenty one pilots and I already love them, but I see you are a very huge and long-dated fan, so can you suggest me some resources or some videos to know better the band? Thank you if you will help me ♡ #stayalive

Hello! Thank you so much for asking me! I hope this can help you out a lot! There will be a lot of links I hope that’s ok!

Also I’m sorry if I go over stuff you already know, I’m not sure how new of a fan you are so I started from the beginning! I hope I can help you out in some way! If you have any questions please let me know!! ☺️🖤💙🖤

Ok so the easiest place to start for any new band is their music videos! So I found a playlist with all of them in order so you can get the perfect feel for them!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9sI7P2-U9q57Oq7Pz5w5t74__UWsV0Oz

There are two members in the band

This is Tyler Joesph

Tyler is the lead singer/pianist/bassist/lyricist/producer.... and more, he wears a lot of different hats haha

And this is Josh Dun

Josh plays the drums :]

The band formed in 2009 with Tyler and some other bros, but they had to move on so Tyler needed a drummer and he got Josh (who was already a fan of the group) who quit his job as a grocery bagger the first day they ever played a show im pretty sure

These are some really funny dudes btw, if you really want to get into them I beg you to watch their interviews, never have I been so entertained by two idiots before (but I love them so much!!!) compilations on YouTube are a great way to get a feel for the two little rascals

Also A long ongoing gag they pull is playing up the first time they met, so in interviews (and I’ll link some of my favorites below!) they often lie about it, it’s one of their most funny jokes in my opinion, it really confuses some of the interviewers and is honestly just so them 🖤🖤🖤

Here’s a compilation of moments that I think are funny that will give you a feel for their humor!

youtube

https://youtu.be/f10lcX-8f1U

Oh! They also have 5 albums but only 4 of them are released on Spotify

The albums are

Twenty One Pilots (everyone just calls it self titled to the point were we (or at least I do) actually forget it’s real name)

Regional at Best (this one is not available on Spotify, but is available on YouTube in lyric videos)

Vessel

Blurryface

Trench

There are a lot of songs the fans consider to be really really good that aren’t the ones you hear on the radio that we really enjoy (unless your stations are really cool lol)

Forest

Kitchen Sink

Slow Town

Anathema

Mad World cover

Jar of hearts cover

We also have some fun songs like, ‘Coconut sharks in the water’ that are just kinda fun to enjoy

Oh also, one thing that Tyler has said is the 21p shortening of the band name is not ok, while you can do whatever you want, fans will get mad at you if you do spell it like that, we as a fandom either spell it out Twenty One Pilots, or shorten it to TOP, recently Tyler has stylized it as Twenty Øne Piløts, and we most often shorten it to TØP, I don’t personally care, but I figured this might be important for a new fan to know, no one should bug you for using TOP over TØP, those are interchangeable

Here’s my favorite live performance (it’s so good!!!! I was so lucky to hear this live at the last tour! I almost cried!!! I love it so much! It features a member from misterwives who plays the trumpet and it adds so much to the song!!!) I already love Fall Away a lot so this blew me away!!

youtube

https://youtu.be/2JE8R9KfJwI

And here a really awesome way to get to know the band, these are fun little tour videos that include fun moments and some live versions of songs that you can’t really hear anywhere else! I’ll link sleepers here because it’s my favorite but all of the tour videos are so fun! You can find them in the playlist section on the twenty one pilots YouTube channel!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3roRV3JHZzaIqhzgrHQMtI-JXg1arQMP

Ok, and lastly, these are my personal favorite top ‘interviews’

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/4wtrRvqtth0

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/NMksRW6ASq8

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/SXCdxr33iLs

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/ABQBgJZBbzw

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/JSan2aSf4qs

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/uw6AsoRtqtI

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/sHHkLLH36Ng

🖤

youtube

https://youtu.be/bPE76L-RUuI

🖤

Also I almost forgot they took their pants off, to accept a literal Grammy and The Rock thought that their speech was cool so, you know, we stan solid weirdos but I love them

(I ran out of videos I’m allowed to use but honestly the previews of them in their underwear are a lot so I’m not to upset haha)

🖤

Just remember,

Anyone from anywhere, can do anything

And

Stay Street and Stay Alive 🖤💙🖤

I hope this could help you out on your skeleton clique journey!! I’m wishing you lots of luck!!!

#I hope this helps you!!!#I’m wishing you lots of luck and a very fun journey!!!#🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤😊😊😊😊😊#nic writes

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unordinary-analysis · 4 years

Text

Episode 174

Honorable mentions:

I’ve been thinking a lot about Cecile recently (I don’t know why) and about how she went from being in control and having authority behind the scenes to being John’s punching bag. It’s scary really how much power John has over people. Cecile, I’m almost certain, still has ambition though, so I am looking forward to seeing what her next move is.

I’m not going to talk about the basic confirmation of the New Bostin/Wellston association in John’s mind because I’ve said everything I wanted to say about that in the last handful of posts, and I’m looking forward to moving on past that analysis (mainly so I don’t have to restate everything I’ve ever said in every post ever every time I want to write a new analysis lol). I might write something on this in the future though because it was a big part of this episode, but not right now lol.

The height difference between Arlo and John gets me every time ksjdfhsjeraksjngj

Rereading episode 123 reintroduced me to John’s, “ARLO, YOU BITCH”

The same thing happens in episode 123 and 174. Arlo is obviously better off in the situation, but for some reason John feels the need to punch him in the face. And both times it’s not strong enough to even move Arlo’s jaw sidkfhskjfrnkk.

I just want to say that it is pretty much confirmed that John has some sort of mental health issues as a lot of people were saying in the comments of this episode. Arlo also says something that sounds like he thinks this. I’ve talked about this before (don’t remember where/when), but I just wanted to put this here as an acknowledgement of that. I don’t know. I’m not sure if that will lead anywhere specifically in the future or if I’ll talk about it.

While writing this, I accidentally almost wrote Seraphina as Claire and I just--

I think from now on I’m going to be trying to keep these posts shorter because I think they get hard to digest when they end up at almost 5k words like last week’s. Also, I want to learn how to be able to shorten things without losing any substance, so that’ll hopefully happen. Who knows.

John:

The thing about John’s development as a character is that it’s so subtle that it’s a while before the changes are really obvious. I mentioned this while talking about how the switch between John’s fake side and his dark side had become so apparent after such a long time of watching John’s side, but I’m talking about something different now. I think that chapter of this fake vs real John in my analyses ended last episode along with that climax. Right now I want to talk about John’s violence.

I know it’s not exactly (or at all lmao) new for John to be extremely violent, but while in the past that violence had always been targeted at Arlo or Cecile or someone else, now it’s being targeted at Seraphina. For the most part (besides that scene between John and Cecile in episode 167), Seraphina has been kept out of that drama, and that is because John was still trying to convince her of the whole innocent cripple thing. But now, as she just told him that she knows who he is and what he’s done, there’s no more reason for John to hold back, and he doesn’t. In this episode, John grabs and yanks her arm and stuff. And in general he hurts her like he doesn’t care about her. It really was more of his demeanor that made his actions stand out. But everything just seemed so much more extreme because we’ve never seen this with Sera before. Sera’s always had this special significance to John that we kind of got used to. Anyway, that’s why in this episode, even more than all the others of Joker beating up people, John’s violence is very obvious. I also want to say that I think John’s violence has peaked. And, yes, I say peaked because I don’t think John will get any worse from here on. He might stay at this level, but he won’t become even more violent. I mentioned that I closed a chapter of my analyses last episode, and that chapter was about the inevitable takeover of John’s true, dark nature. When John finally became fully dark last episode (or however I said it), he reached his worst point and I think that is the limit to how bad he is going to get. I might be wrong though.

Another thing that I noticed was just how different Seraphina and John’s dynamic has changed throughout the story. Obviously, there was going to be a change, but I realized it’s been a complete switch. We started this comic with John as the quiet, but will fuck you up cripple and with Sera as the everybody’s scared of, powerful bitch. Now we can just reverse those and it fits. As some of you may know, I am a sucker for dynamics and this had me thinking. I’m just wondering how their dynamic is going to change again. Because, oh boy, it will.

Arlo:

When Arlo walked in, my heart stopped, but that’s a little off topic for this-- Anyway, as I said in honorable mentions (and yes this had to be said twice), that height difference between John and Arlo has me livingggg. Height difference is a really good, kind of subtle way to compare two characters, and I think uru-chan does this on purpose because it was something she also highlighted in episode 123. Height difference is used in this comic to express authority/superiority. In episode 123, Arlo stands up to John for one of the first times and refuses to keep being his errand boy. While previously in their scenes, the height difference was never stressed, in this episode, multiple panels show it, symbolizing that in this scene, Arlo has more power, has more control. And in this week’s episode, there’s a similar meaning. When Arlo walks in, John is taken off guard and stutters Arlo’s name. Arlo, on the other hand, is presented as cool and calm. This dynamic, too, helps to orient Arlo as the person most in control in the room.

Anyway, besides in relation to John, I feel that this episode is really where Arlo starts to gain his authority back. We all know that he’s been struggling with losing his title as king and watching John ruin the school, but he never did anything about it because he felt it was hopeless. But, as I said, Arlo is portrayed as the most powerful in the room in this episode, even though he technically isn’t. That’s difficult to achieve and something that used to really set Arlo apart from others: his ability to command authority. This is one of the reasons why Arlo made such a great king. Anyway, Similarly to Sera and John, I think that this part of the story is a turning point for Arlo too. He’s being pushed back into the drama by Seraphina and I think he’s finally going to get himself back. That authority we saw from Arlo in this episode is what I think of him as. It was nice to see it again.

Hallway Scene:

This is going to be a quick little section, but I didn’t want to put it in honorable mentions. During the hallway scene between Seraphina and Arlo, I felt that when Arlo brought up John, he was talking from a more outside point of view. He says, “He needs help. He’s so lost in his own head… Nobody can get through to him. Not even you.” This was a very observational thing to say, which I feel Arlo is really good at. Arlo knows when he needs to step back. Seraphina, on the other hand, still seemed caught up in John’s thought. She says, “I’m just a cripple. And you’re just his errand-boy. The Royals, and this whole school… all garbage.” Sera is still trying to figure John out, she’s still only focusing on him, which can be expected, but is still not ideal. She does say, “If that’s how he truly sees us… then what makes us worth listening to,” and, “Now that it’s over, I just want to move on. I have more important things to focus on,” which do state that she wants to move past John, but just the fact that she hasn’t accepted that she can’t even begin to comprehend John’s thoughts separates her from Arlo. Seraphina is still treating John as an equal part of this situation, whereas Arlo knows that he’s just a distraction. I’m not sure if that made a lot of sense because I struggled with words, but who knows.

Terrence:

Just here to say that I absolutely adore anything there is to do with Terrence because of his potential and link to the underlying plot of UnOrdinary. That’s it. I’m just excited. You might be asking yourself, if they thought the previous point could’ve gone into honorable mentions, why not this one? It's even shorter! To that I say ha. Imagine limiting Terrence to a single bullet point. The disrespect.

#unordinary #webtoon #unordinary webtoon #episode 174 #official

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nikosomething · 4 years

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HEYYYY I'm back, very late, I know! But *distressed gurgling noises*. Sorry?? As for fic recs and sangcheng, I'm going to wait until the reveal so I can DM you about it, if you would like? Yess, it's precisely sweating that makes me hate summer haha. It is, truly, yes, the time between Christmas and new year is so sweet, the liminal days as some Tumblr post put it. OMG I'M CACKLING. That was a ride!! dfgdhjshxjdjd yes it's Heaven's official blessing, or TGCF (shortened Chinese title). Yes, I have read both of mxtx's other works- TGCF and svsss. TGCF is my favorite of all three of her books!

Oh yeah, having Meng Yao realise earlier what a douche his dick of a father is would be most wonderful for him AND other characters. Much less grief, surely. I'm alright with any canon divergence with the side characters. I just don't like wwx and lwj making different choices lol. ANYTHING ELSE is super fine! Omg that sounds beautiful. I hope you had a merry Christmas, Niko! Ah we don't celebrate xmas, no! But my holidays have been delightful! Oh wow, that's such a detailed answer. (2)

I prefer tea these days. Back in college, I used to drink coffee on the regular. Now, however, I'm more interested in ginger tea these days. I make it fresh each time- grate fresh ginger, boil it in water with tea powder and some sugar on the stove. I haven't really tried fancy teas, I don't think I'm much of a teabag person. I'd need loose tea haha. I like the ritual of making it, you know? As it so happens, Niko, this bunny is allergic to apples. I start sneezing as soon as I eat even a single bite of an apple, same with pears as well. Guess what my favorite fruit is? Apples! *saddest bunny sniff* green apples more so but I can't eat them! 😔

Cooking shows are soooo good, but it's been years since I have seen a proper cooking show. All of your recs sound amazing, I might check them out next year when I have time (busy with college work, you see). Oooh what all have I watched? Mostly Netflix shows and cdramas. Cdramas first cuz those are the ones I recently watched and hence, also remember - Joy of Life, Nirvana in Fire, the romance of tiger and rose, Hikaru No Go, Go ahead, TGCF donghua. Western shows- locke and key, Euphoria, Sex Education, (ohmygod I seriously can't recall any other. Rip my memory but I watched SO MANY shows ahhhhhh), I'm currently watching Bridgerton. If I remember, I shall tell you when the reveal happens. NIKO, even I watched the pillowbook and it's prequel, and yes, I have to agree that they aren't my favourites too. They were mehhh. I only liked it cuz of Dijun (purple robes, silver hair fella)! (3)

I'm pretty sure I messed up the numbering. I hope you can figure them out AHHHHHHH I don't even know the number of this text dfgdjdhdjdhdhd

Questions now! Idk have many questions honestly haha. I'm just excited for the reveal lmao. Who amongst the MDZS characters, would be your best friend and who would be your enemy? Kiss marry kill- JC, NHS, WWX? What's your favorite and least favorite arc/subplot in MDZS/cql? Alright, that's all for now! Talk to you soon- 🐰

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Heyyyyy my dear bunny, I missed you!! But don't worry, life happens! I understand haha Alright, let's wait for the big reveal so you can give me all da SangCheng fic recs! I am EXCITED! Omg okay yes, TGCF, I recognise that. And SVSS, taht one too. That was one crazy ride it's true hahaha If TGCF is your fav then it's all the more reason for me to get to TGCF next! Who is your fav character in TGCF (I wanna have that in mind when I read it haha) Ohhh! Now that's interesting! Why don't you like canon divergence for WangXian? I am intrigued! And thank youuu! I had a great Xmas and great stomachache cause I just didn't stop eating hahaha I lay awake with cramps regretting everything just to do it all over again the next day oops... talk about learning from your mistakes and stuff... hahaha May I ask where you come from? Is it a personal decision that you don't celebrate, is it religiously influenced or is it because of where you live? I hope that didn't sound disrespectful, if so (if I ever sound disrespectful for that matter) please let me know. I am always willing to learn and improve! <3 Ohhh yes, fresh ginger tea is amazing! I have never tried it with sugar, though, but now I am curious. And I actually have a teashop right around the corner where I can get fancy loose tea. Tell me what you like and I'll send you something ;)

Ohhhh noooooes you are allergic to apples! Nooooo! I am so sorry, esp since you like them! I have a friend who is allergic to tomatoes but loves tomato sauce. Ahhh it always breaks my heart Oh! I watched the first episodes of Euphoria but then I didn't have access anymore and I was so sad about that. And I think I also watched Sex Ed! And Netflix recommended Bridgerton to me only yesterday. It seemed interesting! Do you like it so far? (Also Imma so gonan check out your recommendations!!) HAHAHAHA OMGGG BUNNY! YES; I ONLY WATCHED IT FOR DIJUN! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT hahahahahaha Also I was so confused when everything was different in Pillowbook. Like they took great care to build it all up in Eternal Love and then EVERYTHING. IS. DIFFERENT. Ohh but I loved the General. What's his name... the one who was by Dijun's side as his right hand man and leader of the troops during that one life. Do you know who I mean? The sweet sweet boy ahhh man I took a bazillion screenshots of him hahaha I enjoyed your numbering haha it was almost perfect hahaha

My Answers

Who yould be my best friend? Uhmmmm... I guess someone who supports me, likes my enthusiasm but also helps me remember how the world works and sprinkles in a tad of realism. Lan Xichen perhaps! And I'd also have a great time with Lan Jingyi! haha omg all the LansBut I'd enjoy the presence of most characters tbh!!Enemywise... I only dislike people who hurt others so I guess if I witnessed one of them hurting my friends they'd become my enemy? Sadly I guess it'd be Xue Yang then. Or my baby Meng Yao if I had been close with NHS and or NMJ. I mean JGS and WRH are a given so I don't really mention them.Now tell me about you! I can't wait to hear about it!!omggg why are you giving me that super hard choice!!? Uhmmm... Kiss them all, have them marry their loved ones and pls, pls let them live! xDDDDD *sneakily sneaking out of this one*As for arc/subplot please let me know your thoughts on this! I honestly can't tell, I's have to watch it all over again cause I forget way too quickly. But there were defo parts I enjoyed mor ethan others. I'll think about it!Feel hugged!!!

#mdzsnetcc #bunny friend

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raindrops-on-the-roof · 4 years

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major fanfic progress update! please check here for updates on ALL wips!

hey everyone! this may be a bit of a long one, so i’ll post the tl;dr here and then continue on under the cut! these are all as of the 28th of May 2020!

posted: it's nothing: currently completed. if there's more carmen/gray content in the next season you betcha I'm gonna update it though! hash for updates: its nothing

here is something to believe in: on temporary hiatus while I work out where I want the direction of the plot to go. i try to post progress with the hash: histbi

unposted: red threads, golden chains: Phoenix Wright! a wrightworth-centric eight-chapter analysis of the original game (with artistic liberty involved, of course!). hash: red threads golden chains

You can lead a horse to Water: Fire Emblem: Three houses! a half-finished claudeleth drabble focusing on Byleth's thoughts of Garreg Mach. not sure how far it'll extend yet; we'll see. hash on tumblr: horse to water

Jump into the Fog: Overwatch! a multichap Symmrat fanfic based around the overwatch recall (cause there isn't enough of those!). title is shamelessly stolen from The Wombats and the legendary vargrimar and nezkah. hash for this: jitf!

more information on all of these under the cut!

Extended version!

it’s nothing: currently completed at about 8k words! i originally intended to leave it open ended at chp 3 for next season (which is confirmed!! hooray!!) but I eventually succumbed to y'all asking for more haha. not sure the direction i would take other than that though, and i feel like the ending suits the rush of it!

here is something to believe in: on temporary hiatus at around 30k words! i know this is disappointing to a lot of you but i honestly wrote most of those words in a spur of inspiration without any thought as to how it would work lmao. i need some time to work out what the plot will be so that my writing has direction and you guys aren’t left disappointed. the other thing is that chapters are currently spanning a half day at a time and i cannot continue that considering the game spans several years! so i need to plan that out too. would appreciate any advice/assistance! i’m also still looking for anyone interested in betaing it! please pm me if you are :D

red threads, golden chains: currently sitting in my doc at about 20k words. i started this fic almost a year ago as a guilty pleasure during my last year at school (which is mostly why it didn’t get finished) but it is almost completed! i think only another 5k words max before it’s edited and posted which is super exciting! it’s likely going to be about eight chapters, posted weekly. keep an eye on the hash for updates! here is a taster (i haven’t written the description yet lmao):

“Edgeworth glares at him again and Phoenix remembers when they were on the same side. He supposes that it had never been intentional to chase Edgeworth, but that was just how things ended up: he doesn’t think he’s thankful for Dahlia, exactly, but almost certainly without her he never would’ve met Mia the way he did.

The more he thinks about it, the more he thanks his lucky stars that he fell into her lap and reconsidered that day - the day Miles defended him in class and seared himself into Phoenix’s memory. From that day, Miles showed him he wasn’t and never would be alone.

Until the incident, of course.

He left, and never explained why. He left Phoenix behind, and though that view is childish and he knows it, he can’t help but feel the cold space he left behind, tugging at his very being for years and years.”

look forward to it!

You can lead a horse to Water: it’s a oneshot; currently about a quarter done at around 1.5k. Claudeleth/Bylaude is probably in my top fire emblem ships so i just HAD to write something for it after the feels of this fic and ESPECIALLY this fic! the stunning poetry inspired me so much; just read these lines: ‘He wonders in-between breaths “If she could see me now, would she hate me?”.

Yet what he says is “If I need to shut up, then make me.”

And what he thinks is “If this is a nightmare, then wake me.”’ SPECTACULAR! unfortunately the fic is orphaned, but still, please go read it!

songs such as Charlie by Mallrat and Apricot Princess by Rex Orange County also inspired this! no clue when it’ll be up, but i’m not letting go of it. here’s a taste:

“The first time Byleth saw Claude, it was like something clicked.

Not visibly and hardly mentally, of course - but in her heart, despite its determination not to beat, something almost shifted, like it realised its perpetual emotionless state was unsustainable and impossible against his charming smiles.

Except, his smiles weren’t charming; they were razor-sharp, pointy and pointed, and it would take a long time before that changed, unfortunately.”

watch this space for more updates!

Jump into the Fog: the plans are currently at about 6k lmao! i am very excited for this fic cause it’ll be my first fully planned one! i have the overarching plot and all the characters planned out (everyone will be there, even Echo!) and am just writing the seperate character arc plots and finishing up the ideas for individual missions and such! here is the summary:

“Through no fault of her own, Symmetra finds out of Vishkar’s wrongdoing. Not knowing who to trust and having nowhere to go, she follows the last person on Earth she wanted to see to somewhere that can help her; Overwatch.

His health quickly deteriorating, Junkrat resigns himself to his shortened lifespan and decides to go out with a bang. Recalling a doctor who saved countless lives from his youth, Roadhog doesn’t take that lying down, and the ensuing hunt places them at Overwatch’s door.”

timeline placement: takes past after two weeks after the Paris mission shown in the Overwatch two release video. easy to assume after the events of the Christmas of year one of the recall. Baptiste’s betrayal of Talon brought a year earlier. Junkrat and Roadhog in Australia for Christmas, Lucio’s record released after Vishkar left Rio in November of that year. hence, this takes place in early Jan.

at the moment the planned ships are 100% symmrat, gency and bunnyribbit, and am considering the rest of the characters’ ships. i am also trying to make it as scientifically viable as possible! no cheesing here, i did my research into radiation poisioning lmao. Satya actually gets her friend *cough* Baptiste *cough* to disconnect her arm as she flees from Vishkar! the people present at the Overwatch base when they arrive (a week between them) are the people shown in Zero Hour, minus Genji (which will be explained!)

I’m SO excited for this fic, but I have no idea when it will be ready to post lol. I will likely try to finish other things before starting writing it (namely horse to water and red threads, golden chains and maybe even histbi), so the plans may sit dormant for some time. will be putting out a call for betas when i start writing!

thank you for reading, everyone! stay safe out there!

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hallie-fics · 5 years

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author spotlight - restlessqueenx

“If you get yourself killed doing this,” Harry murmurs, his hand on the back of her neck, his forehead warm where it's leaning against hers, “I will never ever forgive you.”

- Someday I’ll Need Your Spine to Hide Behind @restlessqueenx

it’s not hard to note the fics that define a fandom. this author has written three, three defining stories. the amount of love and respect i have for them is immense, and i was honored to be able to ask and receive answers for these various questions regarding everything from their writing process to favorite hallie headcanon.

this is only the first in a series of interviews done with hallie authors. if there’s anyone who you’d like to see, please message me and i’ll get that sorted out right away!

the q&a

*quick note, I tend to shorten my titles when talking about them because I always pick such long titles, so I may refer to Someday I’ll Need Your Spine to Hide Behind as “Spine,” It Feels Like Winter Follows You Around as “Winter” and Screaming at the Stars as “Stars”

Favorite of your stories (and why)

I think, at least right now, it has to be Someday I’ll Need Your Spine to Hide Behind, because it’s complete. Also, because Winter (Harry’s POV) wouldn’t exist without it (I had never intended to write it, and it just sort of happened), and Screaming at the Stars is probably more in the vein of what I normally write, but I can’t decide how satisfied I am with it until I wrap it up.

Easiest story to write

Probably Screaming at the Stars because it just sort of showed up as this emotion in my chest and I knew I wanted to put it down on the page. Spine was pretty time consuming because it’s canon divergent and I was constantly having to check scenes to get the dialogue/descriptions right. I wanted to use as much of canon as I could, but that meant that I couldn’t really write it if I wasn’t home with the episodes available. Winter was (is) difficult because of how dark of a headspace I sometimes have to get into with Harry. Stars is overall a much lighter emotional space to access.

Hardest story to write

Spine, just because of how much work it took to weave the canon with the canon divergence and reframe scenes. Winter is easier because (even though it does include some scenes that aren’t in Spine) I have the blueprint of Spine to refer to, and I reuse some sections of it word for word to highlight the difference in POV when it diverges. Winter is definitely emotionally heavier, but it’s less tedious work.

Pre-writing process (if any)

For me, it depends a lot on the fic. With Spine, the very first thing that came to me was “What if I wrote a soulmate AU where the only thing that indicates that is that wherever you fall asleep, you always wake up where your soulmate is?” Then I thought, “Could this be set in the canon universe? How would that potentially just twist around or change what we’ve seen?” And everything spiralled out from there. I didn’t really outline initially, I started writing it, just to see where it was going. Then I ended up having to go through every episode and watch each Harry, Allie, and Hallie scene and write basic outlines of the dialogue and what happened in those scenes so I could start to figure out how to adjust the scenes/story to fit the soulmate AU idea. I’m not very patient about outlines, so I mostly just bullet point brief descriptions of what I need to write and then re-examine the scene as I’m writing. I’ve never written something that relied so heavily on canon before. It’s a lot of work and I’m really impressed by people who do it regularly. So Spine’s pre-writing was basically an idea on a twisted trope (I don’t know if I’m the first person to think of it, but I’ve never read a soulmate au with the basis of Spine before) and then watching/transposing the canon scenes. Winter didn’t really have any since I had Spine as a basis. Stars I started thinking about while taking a shower and I just jumped right into it.

What drew you to Hallie?

I love ships that I see potential for, but aren’t all neatly worked out immediately in canon. And I love ships that I feel the characters have a lot of potential to grow and change as individuals within the relationship. I was a little unsure about Hallie at first as I was watching the show, because it took me a while to work out how I felt about Harry in general, but I just see so much potential for a great story between them. And, to be quite honest, Kathryn and Alex just have loads and loads of on screen chemistry, they just light up with each other in scenes. Sometimes actors just have that with each other and it’s almost hard to look away.

Hopes for season 2

Growth and help for Harry! I’m okay with having to wait for romantic Hallie (presuming we get more seasons) as long as keeping them apart feels organic and true to the story (and not done solely for tension & keeping the audience coming back), but I need to see Harry receive help (I get that he can’t get professional help in these circumstances, but he really needs people who are genuinely looking out for him and trying to help him) and to also grow as a person and make better decisions/amends for some of his actions. I want Harry to have friends/people who actually care about him. While I really love Kelly’s character, and appreciate that she’s tried to keep an eye out for him, I think Harry needs people in his life outside of just an ex (and obviously outside of Campbell) and that’s pretty much all he’s had for a while. Harry’s so isolated in season 1, and I don’t see him being able to develop much (in a positive manner) if he continues to be so isolated in season 2.

Favorite line (or lines) that you’ve written for a hallie fic/ a section that you’re really proud of

From Spine, probably my favorite pieces are-

Allie tells him to leave like it matters, like come morning she won't find herself curled in his bed, close enough to feel his body heat. She tells him to go, because she wants to hate him, thinks she deserves to hate him, but she doesn't. And that's even worse.

And then the end, which I wrote long before I actually got to it. Specifically-

“There's probably a world somewhere,” Harry says, and his voice rumbles through his chest, against her skin, “where we never worked any of this out, and you and I are on opposite sides and always will be.”

“Probably.” It wouldn't be hard, she thinks, to have ended up somewhere else, anywhere else. They fought for this, a small sliver of peace in a fucked up world. It might be all they get.

“I'm glad it's not this one.”

“Me too.” Under her cheek, his heartbeat is steady, in sync with hers.

From Winter my absolute favorite section so far is the flashback to Harry when he’s 13 & deals with his familial relationships. I also am pretty happy with-

Allie is simultaneously fragile and hard as steel, one for a moment, the other the next. Harry doesn't understand it, how she can bear to wear her feelings to blatantly on her face, how she survives without a protective shell to keep her safe. He could never do that. She doesn't burrow down inside herself, she burns. He almost can't even watch it. Harry doesn't know what he is, but he knows Allie is something else entirely.

And-

She lets out a little shaky exhale. “I don't know how to hate you.”

Harry wonders how that can be. It's easy, he wants to say, if she doesn't already, all she needs to do is crack open his ribs, see that dark void yawning underneath, that place he falls into. But Allie isn't like him, even her darkest moods and thoughts are full of fire, casting light. Allie burns things down, she doesn't swallow them up.

He tells her the truth, one he's known for a long time. “I do.”

And, finally-

She's not starlight or sunlight or candlelight, she's a forest fire. When she leans into him, skin fever hot and her nails biting into his shoulders, he wonders if her inferno could burn the darkness right out from behind his ribs. Harry thinks he could be reduced to ashes, but he'd still let her try.

From Stars, I’m a little less sure, but I do like this part-

Just outside the doors, she catches a glimpse of Harry, head thrown back, laughing, his friends crowding close to him like moths to a flame, like they can't help it. Harry's always been magnetic. Allie remembers his face in the moonlight, the way she'd felt compelled to lean closer. It wasn't her fault; if you get close enough to Harry, he draws you into his orbit, planets rotating around a sun, basking in his light. Even now, her feet ache to drift in his direction. Those aren't her friends, he's not her friend anymore, but his gravitational pull is strong.

What type of Hallie stories do you like to write/read? (canon divergence, modern au, soulmate au, etc)

I’m an AU girl at heart, which is ironic considering 2 of my 3 Hallie fics are canon divergent. But really, I’m a big fan of AUs, almost any of them, I love them so much. I think I get more and more attracted to them the further I get into a show (the more seasons) because canon gets more confining as you have more of it. I think the kind of AU I like the most depends on the ship. I like soulmate AUs (obviously, I wrote one, lol) for Hallie because they have a history of not being super fond of each other & it’s a great way to force them to interact.

Favorite Hallie trope?

I think…. maybe Bed Sharing? You may notice that I write it into like everything I write ever. I just love the intimacy of it and the conversations people can have late at night in the dark or sleepy in the early morning. I dunno. It’s a thing for me, I guess.

Favorite Hallie headcanon?

I haven’t written it into anything (yet), but I have this mental picture of Modern AU Hallie getting really competitive about playing boardgames with each other. That has a soft spot in my heart.

How long have you been writing for?

Pretty much as long as I can remember. The first thing I can remember writing (like thinking I was seriously writing something people would want to read) was this ridiculous story about unicorn royalty when I was about seven years old. I never finished it, but I think I actually did write like at least a couple thousand words before I quit. I have hundreds of beginnings of original works, literally several hundred, but most of them are only a few hundred words. My parents always encouraged me to write, so it was just something I did pretty much ever since I physically could.

How has your writing style evolved over time?

Oh, I’m not even sure where to begin with this. Because I’ve been writing since I was really young, it’s definitely evolved a lot, some of it just through age and getting a better grasp of language, and some of it deliberately. I think when I was younger, I tried really hard to mimic the styles of writers I liked, and I’ve definitely moved away from that as I’ve gotten older and found my own voice. I’m not trying to sound like anyone in particular now. That’s not to say I don’t find other writers influential, I certainly do, but I’m not actively attempting to write in someone else’s style. I think everyone who writes is always evolving. You can’t help but be influenced by everything you read and absorb.

Do you ever worry about how your stories are received?

All the time. I only have 3 works on the restlessqueen AO3, but I think I’ve posted about 25 fanfictions over various platforms/accounts for various fandoms and ships, and I get nervous about them every time. Whenever I write something, I usually get this glow of like “Oh, I’ve done something and I like it!” and then that sort of slowly wears off and I start to just question everything about it. I don’t know anyone who feels 100% confident about the stuff they post. I think I’m a little less nervous about it than I used to be, because people have been very kind to me for the most part (I have one old fic from around 2012/13 that got a couple of comments that still haunt me a bit, but other than that I’ve had good experiences) and so that’s helped ease some of my fears. I think what makes me the most worried now is when I post something and I just don’t get much feedback or it takes quite a while for responses to roll in, because I’m always thinking like “is it really so bad no one has literally anything to say?? Is it that bad and I didn’t realize it?” Also, I’m a bit insecure about my descriptive writing, I feel like I don’t do a very good job of describing location/setting, and it’s something I’m working on. I’m always a little scared someone will say they basically just didn’t get any sort of mental picture from what I write.

What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

Focus. I have so many ideas always bouncing around my head, but I get distracted super easily. I can’t ever seem to only do one thing at a time. If I’m writing, I’m definitely either listening to music or sometimes even playing a podcast in the background because it’s like if there’s any free space at all in my brain, I just completely lose my ability to do anything. It’s a big struggle for me. I actually write with the most focus when I’m supposed to be doing something else. I wrote 150k worth of an original piece by writing when I was supposed to be taking notes in history class in high school. In fact, a lot of my fanfiction has been written during lectures, because somehow if I’m supposed to be focusing on something else, I’m almost always the most productive version of my writing self. I wish I were different, though.

Do you get writer’s block and if so how do you deal with it?

Ugh. Unfortunately. I’m not great at handling writer’s block, tbh. Sometimes I just don’t write for a long time. I think reading can sometimes oust me from it, but not always. The worst is that occasionally I have to just push through it and write my way out of it (which basically means just writing really uninspired crap until I manage to find some inspiration again). I do think that talking to someone about what I’m working on is a big help, though it’s not always an available option. I’m part of a writing group, and I usually feel really inspired after we’ve had a writing discussion.

Biggest risk you’ve ever taken as a writer?

Wow, this is actually a really hard question. I feel like I’m not a big risk taker, and this is making me wonder if maybe I should try to take more writing risks. I guess most recently it could be creating the restlessqueen AO3. I made it because I have written quite a few fics for a pretty large fandom and I had gotten comfortable within that space and I thought it would be good for me to step outside of that world for a bit. I think it really has been, too.

again, the biggest of thanks to @restlessqueenx for doing this with me! to anyone who hasn’t read any of these fics, please do so immediately. each of them are amazing and i will never step recommending them!

#the society #hallie #hallie:fic #fic rec #author spotlight #i will forver recommend spine to anyone who asks for a soulmate au #restlessqueenx

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ateanalenn · 4 years

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The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writer

ORIGINAL POST AT DREAMWIDTH! (and updates will be there too and maybe on tumblr, if I remember)

(this is a copy paste, the formatting might not survive)

(also available on AO3)

The Untamed / MDZS, resources post, stuff I needed as a writerApr. 11th, 2020 05:46 pm ateanalennFinding info for this show / how to write about / pitfalls to avoid was a pain :( I guess that's part of having fandom on Tumblr. Since Tumblr's search function only works by selling a kidney and sacrificing a goat, I had to rely on Google. Which, not great. Anyway, useful stuff I found to understand this fandom: • MDZS on Dreamwidth: theuntamed_mdzs (active) mxtx (community focused on all the works by the author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. Not active, but it's there) theyilingweisect (community sharing fics, meta, discussions. Not active either since jan 2020) • MDZS aka Mo Dao Zu Shi (book) aka Grandmaster of Demobnic Cultivation / The Untamed (drama) (there's also an audio drama, a manhua, a donghua, ...) - the novel's en glish fan translation at Exiled Rebels (complete ) As far as I know, this is the most popular translation, though I would like to know if anyone has another translation that they think fit best. - the drama is streaming on Netflix, Viki, WeTV & Youtube. From what I heard around, Netflix and Youtube are the most accessible, obviously, but Viki has the best subtitles (and a whole lot of annoying pubs though). I think that I heard somewhere that there are fan subtitles made, will update if I find the link again). • About names: • The Untamed: A Primer Basically an overview of what is this drama, a few spoilers (but under arrows to open so less risks to see something you didn't want to see). Useful list of titles for the main charas! (ex: Wei Wuxian: Young Master Wei Wei Ying (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”) The Yiling Patriarch (use of this name denotes “I think you are evil”) A-Xian / Xianxian (use of this name denotes “I am your loving older sister, have some soup”) Lan Wangji: Second Young Master Lan Lan Zhan (use of this name denotes “I feel affection for you”) Hanguang Jun (use of this name denotes “I respect you, and you are also famously very beautiful”) Wangji (use of this name denotes “I am your older brother and I wish you’d make a friend”) ) • Another primer tumblr by sonickitty with a few where-do-I-find links • Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) • How Ancient Chinese Names Work - Learn from The Untamed Detailed explanation of what's going on with the names (aka Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan, Hanguang-jun) • Dramatis Personae for Modao Zushi the book dw (another detailed who's who/names list) • Names again, Chinese/Mandarin conventions twitter (aka ex the accents aren't necessary, they're there for pronunciation and some explanation of who would use full name/shortened name) • Infographic: birth name vs courtesy name vs title vs respectful address twitter • Quick table / honorifics guide tumblr by cleyra • Mo Dao Zu Shi | 魔道祖师 The various adaptions tumblr by gravitydefyingtears • A list of MDZS FanFic Common Misleading tumblr by kazeki • A conversation about linguistic register, Lan Wangji, and I guess Wei Wuxian can come too tumblr (pretty important text to understand how lwj speaks) • Writing Lan Wangji's speech patterns (aka say the most in the least words) and the follow up Lan Wangji moving into the lowest, most vernacular linguistic register to try and get through to Wei Wuxian tumblr by hunxi-huilai • Using "You/I" vs "Title-as-you" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Sword names tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Honorifics: jun vs zun tumblr by hunxi-guilai • THE spreadsheet: Mo Dao Zu Shi Character Name Chart, recced by flamebyrd (of who uses what for whom) • Misc Info: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • Everything about those cultivation sects in ‘The Untamed’ Quick who's who of the various sects (Gusu Lan, Lanling Jin, Yunmeng Jiang, Qishan Wen, Qinghe Nie. Protip: first word is basically the location, second is the sect/clan name). • Reference for Modao Zushi Writers: Chinese terms ao3. "This is to provide a reference for writers who are unfamiliar with Chinese literary conventions or terms used in canon." • Resource list dw: Libitina's twitter links for Meta, Linguistics, Costumes, Food, Edits, Art. • Actual drama title vs English drama title twitter • How "Mo Dao Zu Shi" became "Chen Qing Ling" became "The Untamed" tumblr by hunxi-guilai • Very necessary meta about why the novel/extras seems to have so many sex consent issues and how translating to English potentially gives a very different overall feel to the scene (ex: ExR = "you're too much, you're way too much" becomes chiaki_himura's "you're good, you're too good", becomes bigbadredpanda's "you're amazing, you're the best"). Also, Chinese language enables to shorten sentences which makes stuff implied, 's your job to see context clues.) • hunxi guilai's master list of various detailed topics re-Chinese language/customs tumblr • "Wangxian" is such a clever portemanteau tumblr by untamedconnotations • Song Lan didn’t just say that Xiao Xingchen was “nice-looking,” he basically said that Xiao Xingchen was smokin’ hot except like, in two characters and blanketed with literary respectability. tumblr by hunxi-guilai (this is only relevant because xxc IS the most beautiful person, really and needs to be protected at all cost) • The Unclean Realm isn't "unclean" has in dirty/bad, it's most probably to show the difference of way of cultivating vs the other sects tumblr by hunxi-guilai • WuJi, the love song's fan translation tumblr by iarrod • Timeline: • 59 slides of awesomeness by chatcolat. Who's who, plot summary, humor. Beware, so full of spoilers you'll cry if you want to keep some mystery, but! concise recap of what happens in the show to keep the timeline in mind. • A google spreadsheet, via mihanada's GoDC timeline wip (Year/Event/Notes/Ages/...) • MDZS Timeline, that meta AO3 post on speed by TheWickling. Useful if you want all the details, a bit difficult to navigate/understand when you just landed in the fandom. Still very useful. • And the sequel: On Character's Ages ao3 "A collection of meta on the possible ages for different characters in MDZS and what ages they would be during key events in the timeline." • Modao Zushi, birthdates/timeline dw Dirthdates starting with 0 = wwx's birth year. Succinct & useful. • Maps • Fan made mdzs / untamed worldmap twitter • Places of The Untamed - Where They Are in The Real World • IRL sect locations reddit • Google Map of clan locations in Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation tumblr • Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter • Gifsets and images: - Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed drama character guide! deviantart picture = name, who's who in pics. - The Untamed sect sigils - In Which LWJ Gives Not A Single Shit, A Thread #LanWangji #WangXian #cql #TheUntamed SPOILERS for most of the show twitter - The various stages of hairstyles + accessories twitter - SongXiao are in love, got married, are living happily ever after,(FITE ME) twitter by shenweiss - Realizing that wwx is wearing lwj's silk undershirt and the follow up: Qiren's face when he notices xD twitter - gingersnapwolves's Untamed tumblr tag - thewickling's mdzs tumblr tag - hunxi-guilai's cql tumblr tag - compilation of wangxian just being gay and making everyone feel like a third wheel twitter by weiwxngji - wwx swoons a lot and he's gorgeous twitter - Alexandra Rowland explains What Is The Untamed twitter (with pics) - grinding ink requires great patience, often represents that one is willing to wait for another’s feelings twitter - sad compilation of wangxian gazing into each other’s eyes that no one asked for, you’re welcome twitter - This frontal view of Wei Wuxian laying on Lan Wangji’s lap is everything. twitter - Lotus Pier really is one of the most underrated but beautiful places. twitter - Sometimes you see something, a picture, a video, just a snippet of a short moment, and you SEE the love. twitter - CQL’s working title was hot murder husbands twitter (this is amazing) - Lan Wangji just looks a thousand times more intimidating with golden eyes twitter - #TheUntamed’s spinoff webmovie #FatalJourney posters twitter (yessss, nhs, one of my fav) - Don’t you love how exactly 0.5 seconds of this video is Lan Zhan explaining that only spouses are allowed to touch the headband and the rest of the entire 2(!) minutes is a complication of Wei Ying touching it anyways... he said I wanna marry you. twitter • Fic Recs: - DW guest Post: Untamed Fic Starter Pack (a few fics for each subject (ex post canon, juniors centric, ...) - Twitter thread starting with Alexandra Rowland asking for fluffy MDZS/Untamed fic recs. (good new-fandom starter too!) - That twitter thread collecting a list of lady-centric Untamed/MDZS fics Which, good, because as much as I love the fandom, once again women don't exactly come out on top. How many are still alive at the end? I can think of one previously Jin sect lady, but that's it on top of my head, soooo. - Libitina also has posted a lot of mdzs fic recs dw - A "they're students in lockdown and socially distancing" WangXian ficlet tumblr by besanii And bonus: a capybara enjoying a good scritch because I love those dog-sized guinea pigs, seriously, that twitter account is my daily dose of cuteness Also, have some guinea pig on a cutesy bridge PS: I thought that this would be fast because I didn't have that much info to collect at one place, buuuut. It's been 5 hours and it turns out that I did lol. Still, if you have anything else of potential interest, don't hesitate to leave a comment, please :D

#the untamed #resource #dreamwidth blog post #writer info #references

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the-prophet-lemonade · 5 years

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do you have any advice on getting a story to be seen? i made an ao3 account not too long ago so no one has seen my fic at the moment but i was wondering if you had any tips on that, or would i just have to wait?

hello! i can’t claim to know what makes a fic popular as it’s 99% luck, but i can speak for the remaining 1% that has worked ~reasonably~ well for me in the past.

i think there are three key elements to getting a fic “seen”: marketing, branding, and presentation, and they’re all very important. this post got very long, so please find everything under the cut! i hope it helps :-)

i. marketing

fic marketing may seem a bit narcissistic if you haven’t done it before, but trust me on this: it’s the best way to attract readers and you deserve to promoted your story as something you worked hard upon!

drumming up hype for a fic is great. you can do this by posting on social media, providing sneak peaks on your twitter, involving yourself in the fandom community and discussing your wips with other fans, and just generally being excited about what you’re creating. engaging with other people’s writing is also a great method to help boost your own stats … get involved with reading other work and leaving comments for other people, because they will be more likely to return the favour! when someone comments on my fics, i often go and check out their profile and see what they’ve written, as it’s highly likely we enjoy the same things!

making promos is one of my favourite ways to engage with people about fics. once i post a fic/new chapter to ao3, i also crosspost promo posts with links and graphics to my twitter and tumblr. you will need a good hook to get people interested, but also an eye-catching image that summarises the story pictorially can be a great asset (you don’t even need photoshop, just a nice moodboard will do!). when using images however, it’s always important to think how the image size will appear in tumblr’s dimensions and on your own blog … make sure it’s not stretched or the resolution too low, and create something with a good visual flow i.e. the title appears first, then the necessary information, then any teasers or extracts. you need to make your fic post stand out on someone else’s timeline, which may already be filled with a bunch of other fic posts, jostling for attention. make it neat, clean, informative, and professional.

make sure to use the tagging systems efficiently for your chosen social media platforms: only the first five tags count on a tumblr post, so choose them wisely (i.e. use the key fandom tags first and save your personal blog tags for after), and only two hashtags count on twitter before it’s marked as spam, so go for the ship tag!

creating your own fic tag on twitter can also be fun, and i’ve seen a lot more people doing it lately too. you can encourage people to tweet along with a specialised hashtag and then you can find their reaction and engage with them later, which once again expands your fandom circle and will increase engagement on tweets associated with your fic.

another trick i’ve learned is utilising time zones and understanding the demographics of the audience you’re trying to reach. i am very careful to post my fics at certain times of day in order to reach key people e.g. i will try to hit either europeans or americans during the evening, as this is when most people are home from work and wanting to read fic. as a european myself, especially involved in fandoms with high levels of european fans, i usually post during the early evening for CET time zones i.e. 7 or 8 pm and i tend to find this works for me.

with tumblr, i often delay my promo posts so that i post when it’s likely to get maximum interaction (you can see when your blog is most active using your tumblr analytics) … use your queue if need be!

i also take care in reblogging/retweeting my promo posts at certain times of day too. i will usually bump the post just before i go to bed, so as to grab americans in their early evening, and then i will bump it again in the morning when i wake up, to catch australians and west coast americans still awake. i then usually keep bumping my promos once a day for two or three days on my social media to cast a wide enough net to catch as many people who might be interested, as not everyone checks their timeline every day and social media swallows up posts so quickly, especially tumblr which is not built for original content creators to do well (lol). i will usually bump a promo post 5 - 7 times before retiring it and this is a model that’s worked well for me in the past, especially for droplets, which would get 500+ notes per chapter! if you’re anxious about this, know that most people will only see your post once or twice because tumblr moves fast and swallows posts up very quickly, and sometimes people need reminders to read if they decide to save things for later when they have more time

ii. branding

the benefits of branding mainly come from experience, so it’s a tricky thing to utilise if you haven’t published fic before … but there are still tricks worth trying!

certain fic writers will attract readers to new fics just because their name is attached to it, and people know the sort of story they’re getting, they know how it’ll be written, the sort of tropes that will appear, that sort of thing. obviously, building up this sort of brand requires publishing a lot of work, and so it must be said that practice makes perfect: the more you write and publish, the more your fics will be seen and your audience will grow. people will regularly see your username in the tags on ao3 and be more inclined to click on you as someone who reliably produces good content. it’s important to remember that everyone starts from the same place and works hard to improve their craft; success doesn’t just come overnight (unless you’re in the right place at the right time) and any creator will tell you that compliments to their talent aren’t what matters, but instead, it’s compliments to their dedication and hard graft.

another key thing about branding is how you present yourself online. the most important thing in my opinion is cohesion across your social media platforms e.g. having the same username on ao3 as you do on tumblr/twitter/wherever you promote your fic. having an easily navigatable blog with working hyperlinks and archiving of your fic work is also great. basically, building a clean interface for people to engage with your work is vital! having the same icon and username across all your social media makes it so much easier for readers to navigate between your fics and your promo posts … basically, the easier you can spell something out, the better

branding is mostly to do with how you advertise yourself, rather than the particular fic, although much of it overlaps. get your name out there by engaging with other writers and making friends and appreciating their work! this is often the best way to get inspired, plus you get to meet some amazing people. i recommend trying out for zines and big bangs and writing challenges, as these are good ways to show your work to already-established audiences. also, make yourself available by interacting with commentors or by opening up your inbox on tumblr to anons. try linking your social media and your inbox as hyperlinks in the authors note of your fic

iii. presentation

this is really fundamental and is often the main reason people will close out of your fic and not read to the end. people want to read fics that are easy to digest and have had care put into them. this includes a lot of things:

correct tagging i.e. are the tags coherent and not just rambling? are there appropriate trigger warnings in place? have you unnecessarily tagged every side pairing under the sun, rather than just the main relationship?

grammar and spelling. goes without saying … people are more likely to read things that look professional and have had care poured into their preparation. make sure you know how to use speech punctuation. revise how to use commas. avoid epithets (especially racially-aggravated ones). get yourself a beta if you’re worried, because betas are godsends!

paragraphing. so many people will close out of a fic if it isn’t correctly spaced. double spaced paragraphs look best on ao3 and i often won’t read a fic if the paragraphs are too long because it hurts my eyes to read. make sure you’re starting new speakers in new paragraphs. new ideas deserve new paragraphs. basically, every time the “camera” changes, you should be starting a new paragraph. not just a new line.

summaries. i see so many fics on ao3 with summaries that are either apologising for being bad at summaries or apologising for a fic being bad/being a first fic, and like … stop this! own what you have written, no-one else will have written it the way you have and you should be proud of it. if you’re saying in your summary that it’s a bad fic, i’m not going to click on it as a reader. instead, utilise your summary to get people hooked … good hooks can be written a load of different ways, but the best ones i see often involved a snippet from the fic as a taster, and then a couple lines of blurb. get people excited!

titles: i’m personally more likely to click on a fic where the title is either (a) correctly capitalised or (b) is clearly chosen for its aesthetic or meaning (i love long lower case titles with parentheses lol). choosing a memorable title is really helpful, especially one that can be shortened or abbreviated for social media (e.g. for hashtags)!

all this being said, traffic on ao3 is a crytpid at best and obeys little in the way of rhyme or reason. you can put blood, sweat and tears into marketing your fic, but sometimes, just being in the right place at the right time (writing for the right niche) is what does it, so being a fic writer requires a lot of patience. first and foremost, write for yourself. write what you want to read and enjoy doing it, because if you get sucked into obsessively checking stats, it’s only going to disappoint when you don’t achieve what you want to achieve.

just keep persevering and keep writing and appreciating each and every person who takes time in interact with your fic and its promos … because ultimately, all it takes it that one reader to fall head over heels in love with your fic for everything to change. for now, just be proud of your work and keep writing!

#lucy replies #writing

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sole-cuore-amore-e-droga · 5 years

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Tel Aviv 2019: Straight outta Slovenia to Eurovision with a dreamy couple

youtube

Oh boi, now here comes another NF I wasn’t interested in. I don’t hate EMA as a thing, it’s just that it’s infamous for not listening to what people want most of the time, often axing their faves (BQL, Raiven, Nika Zorjan, even going as far back as Saša Lendero and Nina Pušlar...). This year it seemed like Raiven finally had what it takes with her post-dubstep-era dubstep tune, “Kaos”. BUT did she go? Oh nope

Instead we got possibly the best thing that ever happened to Slovenia. That thing is this one entry sung by a cute crossover of Lorde and that trombone fetus thing from Courage the Cowardly Dog (well, at least she looks better than him, hence why ‘cute’), Zala Kralj, and she has her 2-year-long partner Gašper Šantl by her side too, to make up the musical part for the couple’s Eurovision 2019 entry for Slovenia, “Sebi”.

Let’s start reviewing this by complimenting its atmosphere. It’s cosmic. It’s pure. It’s pleasant. I feel like I’m floating among the stars... in the same way as if someone is projecting a star backdrop on a wall and I’m just against the projection, dancing silly. I feel like I’m covered in stardust. This is achieved by the composition of the song, which is very melodic, although a bit background-music-like. It incorporates a lot of those softened hi-hats, soaring synth waves and harmonious additional backing vocals (I think I heard those? whatever that was that adds more depth and gorgeousness to the song...). The lyrics are also cute, the poetry here is pretty fascinating, and I love the hints of intimacy and nature. The chorus reminds me that you have to stay true to what you are and who you stand for, and you don’t need to apologize for being different. Something along the lines of this. And Zala sounds like a person that could do a vocal ASMR therapy - and I imagine that as something that gives tingles to my neck everytime I hear it. You just need to strip the melody away and let me listen to more of those silent, soft-spoken, eerie whispers, and usually I feel creeped out and want it to stop, but at the same time it’s seducing and oddly enough I want some more.

This song has its faults though - it’s supposedly the song being repetitive (look at that chorus’ lyrics, just repeating 3 lines during it doesn’t really suffice, especially with the song being composed like THAT), Zala’s vocals being so hauntingly chill they even sound too calming or too monotonous, and this song is a simple electronic track with it just flowing all so well? Like, it’s something you’d find more on an unknown project’s Bandcamp page and that project usually has 1500 views or so on their videos. It’s a soothing ocean, it’s a galaxy, but sometimes the silence overwhelms you too much you just want to fucking scream... or fall asleep and miss the beauty of it all.

So as a whole it’s a stellar ride through galaxies and supernovas: the song. Great production, slight lo-fi vibe (idk how to explain it but everything here feels so... hmm... soft tune and quiet vocals make it to be something of the more indie-er side of a lower-cost production I suppose?) and sparks of pure bliss raining down on me whenever I remember or hear it. Truly, truly some indie goodness.

The most interesting part? The guys seem too overwhelmed about their Eurovision experience! Sure, Eurovision doesn’t require a too-laidback approach from the participants, but there always are Eurovision non-enthusiasts (seriously, don’t yell at Eurovision participants on Youtube comments when they fail to recognize a language of a song’s from a previous year! Just because they didn’t hear it and/or forgot the language, doesn’t mean they need to be put at stake), or those who just didn’t expect to win their NFs and then are like “shit um now I need to do something about that Eurovision thing I guess”. Salvador never really watched it before, AWS didn’t really hope to participate in Eurovision at the early stages of their NF, now we don’t really hear much Eurovision news and shit from these two Slovenians... well except of them releasing a shortened version of their song so it could comply to Eurovision’s lenght rules (giving it an apt sub title - “Dare to Dream Version”), declaring that one line of the song’s will be sung in English so that everyone not speaking in Slovenian could understand it better (just like Lea sang the end of “Hvala, ne!” in Portuguese because... well we all understand either of them, do we? lol) and that their staging will be similar to the one they had in EMA, and that their stage clothes won’t be the same but of a similar light color. They do have Eurovision in mind, but not quite as much as some other participants, and that’s perfectly fine. As long as they do their job right, that matters.

Approval factor: I may let you in on a little secret here - this is, in fact, my absolute favourite Slovenian entry this decade, if not overall. I have a hard time approving Slovenian entries because they end up lacking something at the end. This one... kinda fits in well with me, so Zala and Gašper did enough of THAT to warrant a big fat thumbs up for me.

Follow-up factor: Wasn't a big fan of Lea's song, BUT I can confirm that she started something good for Slovenia in Eurovision, especially after qualifying. And the couple certainly continued it, so it moves on well! ^^

Qualification factor: Now that's an interesting question... I might be wrong but a part of me fears for them to become the fan favourite duo/couple with a really pretty song that doesn’t qualify, like it already happened to Norma John and ZiBBZ before. They even have been drawn to semifinal 1, ffs. But maybe there’s still a spark of hope somewhere for the two, and I’d be inclined to believe that there is. I don’t wanna see sLOVEnia flop on the year I like their song, ffs. So I’m seeing a borderline result for thee, you the nation of usually fairly-underrated songs. Maybe this cosmic sea beauty will be in them finals.

NATIONAL FINAL BONUS

So, EMA 2019, eh? I guess that was a thing that happened. I at least admire the fact that they used dancing robots for their “not-so-postcards-but-postcards” that played before each performance (I mean, you’d get camera shots of the stage being set up for the act to perform next with their info graphic in the NF’s LED background and next to it there was a re-creation of The Creation of Adam with the other hand being one of a robot’s <3, then cut to EMA’s visual design of the year and the dancing robot person, another shot to the performing act, and then lights out). They had a good time there. And there was a duet singing Salvador Sobral’s ESC winning song, one of them performed by a person who had to be Salvador for a TV show. Ah, fun. I wasn’t all in up for the she-bang (instead I watched A Dal Semi 2 and Supernoval final on that night), but I got some other goodies that I noticed that people noticed before me, for y’all to reminisce. Here are some moments and some songs that lost to this lovely pair:

• So what’s the deal with Raiven, anyway? She’s on the show for her third time, and has already firmly grasped onto the iconic NF partaker’s status, together with.. well... other NF 3-timers (that are mostly from Sweden). This time she went all her way out to prove y’all that “dubstep’s not dead in 2019!!!1″ with her song, “Cows” “Kaos”, and a rather interesting effect show taking place on her face. I don’t know why but Raiven’s and Aly Ryan’s from Germany stagings remind me of each other, maybe because of them being so interesting? Anyway, like as usually, this multicolored songstress failed to grasp the victory of her country’s national final, and honestly, good for that to happen because in my irrelevant opinion, the dubstep in “Kaos” is ridiculously unnecessary and it doesn’t make the song flow very well. Just rework the chorus to make it more suited to the song and maybe it could have worked, as the last 30 seconds and the verses actually rock! I love me some songs that make me feel like I’m listening to sunset transcribed to actual melodies and sounds.

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• The 2015 entrant couple, Raay and Marjetka, are incredibly restless for some reason, and it’s that because they have co-written quite a few songs over the past few years even since their eventual victory as themselves in 2015. Maybe they’re the Slovenian Stig Rästa, probably as in “we loved the Eurovision green room experience so we always want some more!” kind of way. This year they did 2 songs: an electro-swing inspired number about Fridays and “spending some quality time with one’s girls” for the Slovene JESC debutee Ula Ložar and a radio-pop-esque track for a lady named Kim (not Verson). The one that I gravitated towards more will have its video down below and it is probably obvious a bit now. And if it was my will, I’d’ve replaced Raiven with the below lady in the superfinal because... frankly, yet again, I’ll restate that imo it wasn’t Raiven’s year even without the eventual winners having participated...

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• For a country of whose NF’s I didn’t seem to care about, they indeed had quite a few nice numbers. I already shed my thoughts on 2 of them, now here’s another one. Somehow, most countries out there shied away from having rock songs (well except Hungary because I don’t really see any other NF with more than 3 of those clearly audible rock/metal tracks, maybe has to do with the fact they already sent one last year), and as a result, none of the actually submitted ones won because things didn’t really go well with even the slightest rock-sounding songs last year (except one of them almost got into top 10). So one of the rock gems we happened to lose came from Slovenia. INMATE brought the 00s American alt-rock sound that was popular with uncomfortable teens that acted outrageous with their song “Atma” (which somehow means “soul”??). And man they were banging.

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• There’s not much I want to say about the rest of the NF’s gems that you missed. Well, there was one song about horses that is considerably well-received by the fandom, perhaps because of the slow and relaxing ballad sound that surrounds it (but they don’t know the lyrics enough to start hating it). And a song co-written by last year’s Svenskfloppen winner that, as he was destined to, flopped in Melodifestivalen as well. And a decent club track that was actually one of my other favourites, together with “Atma”. And some 00s teen sitcom theme song performed by a completely-careless-about-their-image-band (they call themselves Lumberjack but they dress nothing like ‘em, I assure you) with chill-surfer-attitude-bearing, long-haired lead singer. They brought in a nice vibe at least with their color-splashing LED images and slightly energetic performance. And like I said about how the lead singer looked... well just look at him and try to not see him as a troublemaker teen archetype from a high school rom com or at least irl that can’t score a date:

Damn, Manel Navarro really let himself go.

• Lea Sirk, besides performing the ESC winning song from two years ago in a duet with someone, and obviously re-appearing to be a honourable guest after having won EMA last year after like 4-5 tries, also served her part as a jury member. Y’know, one of those people that maybe visibly or not visibly tried to push Raiven to her eventual EMA win after her 3 tries so that she wouldn’t become an annoying NF hogger for years on end. Well that didn’t happen because the televoters went for the Zalšper couple! You gotta love it when the teleaudience picks that song for Eurovision that is performed by those that didn’t specifically submit it because they wanted Eurovision, right? Well apparently, Lea took the loss of Raiven as a small stab to her heart and was heard complaining about the unexpected outcome (simply not being able to believe Raiven lost), out loud, to the viewing audiences at home and in front of computer screens. Yep, THAT happened... And I couldn’t be bothered to find a clip of it anymore, so instead I’ll post some pictures of a visibly shook Lea with her new hairdye on fleek (I guess that was to reflect Raiven’s love for hair dye?):

noooo why do I have to give a trophy to those whom I did not support to win... well fine I will

With all that out of the way, I just really hope for this lovey-dovey duo all the best possible with having to carry the responsibility of representing a country in a very big European music competition on their shoulders. They aren’t seemingly stressed out themselves from the looks of it (if they were in a Brantsteele’s Hunger Games simulation, they’d be those people who’d pick flowers all the time), but you know what happens when you’re given such a big honour but you let what the honour stands for down, upsetting the others who look up to the honour somehow. Terrible, terrible things. Hope the haters don’t grind these two down if anything happens. Srečno!

#eurovision 2019 #tel aviv 2019 reviews #slovenia 2019 #zala kralj & gašper šantl #sebi #slovenia

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xvnot15 · 5 years

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Tag Game

Tagged by: @conejocabron

Why the username?: Ahh well it’s all tied to my second major fandom of Xena. My nickname (see more details below) got shortened to XV and one of my STV Janeway/7 buddies kept teasing me and calling me 15 (as in xv is 15 in Roman numerals) So my catchphrase at the start of all my emails was “It’s X—V--- not 15!” And her being the wonderful ass-hat she was, (god I do miss her) said “Oh, how’s it going XVnot15.” LOL I use it as my pen name as well for fanfic.

Zodiac: Aries But I’m an Aries lamb not a ram.

Height: 5 foot 4 inches as I have been since my 11th birthday.

Time:15:32

Favorite band/artist: I love all sorts from Mozart to Twisted Sister but given that I’ve been to only 6 concerts in my life and 5 of the were for one artist I best answer Neil Diamond!!

Song stuck in my head: Electric Dreams…there is currently a commercial on UK television with it being sung and it stays in my head ofr ages after each time I see it.

Nickname: OY! Soo very many over the years, Bertha Beth, SuzyQ, Sunshine, Fingers (given by my grade 7 Shop teacher because I ripped up a finger in a scroll saw, OUCH!) Rugrat, Pooh, Mrs Mangalogo… But the one that has stuck and by which I was actually called by just about everyone who knows me was XenaVirgin, then shortened to XV. And I blame Lucy Lawless for it as she gave it to me at the 10th Convention. Check out the 10th Convention DVD on the back there’s a whole section titled I’m a XenaVirgin which is there because that’s how I introduced myself when I got to ask Lucy and Renee a question and you can hear me asking the question. Then my Lady Wife created a yahoo account with the name so I could join the Xena Fan Club Kit yahoo group. And after that it just stuck.

Last movie I saw: Toy Story 4

Following:…me? Following 400 being Followed by 569

Average amount of sleep: NEVER BLOODY ENOUGH!!! I’ve had sleep problems since I was 4 years old and woke up in an empty house because my eldest brother who was supposed to be babysitting me buggered off to visit his girlfriend. Totally freaked me out and I’ve never slept well since, That being said the best time for me to sleep is always between 6:00am and 12:pm.

Last thing I googled: Veronica Seton Williams – Awesome gay lady archaeologist and Egyptologist. Needed to double check if she wrote a particular book.

Other blogs: On Tumblr no.

Do I get asks: Occasionally, 8 out 10 are usually asking about Mirandy fanfics. :D

Lucky number: 3 Always my jersey number when I played hockey in the first all girl House league in Toronto. :D

What am I wearing: Black Sweatpants, Xena T-shirt and itchy grey and black wool sweater.

Dream Job: I’ve had my dream jb, lecturing in Egyptology and ancient history. Now need to get my writing career up and running. Also developing fun workshops on ancient cultures for primary schools.

Dream trips: My real dream trip would seriously be a globetrotting Road Trip to visit my online buddies and pals and give them 3D squeezes. That would take me all over the world, including Egypt and Brazil. Yay!!!

Favorite food: Lemon and feta Greek Chicken with courgettes.

Eye color: Pale blue

Hair color: Sometimes called sandy blonde, others called mousy brown.

Aesthetic: I guess it would be Academia and personal comfort.

Languages I speak: Well I chose to concentrate on dead languages so no one could bug me about my accent. Heheheh. So Middle Egyptian (hieroglyphs) also Middle Egyptian (Hieratic), Aramaic, a smattering of Babylonian, Latin, ancient Greek, some biblical Hebrew. Also a smattering of French, German, Spanish and Yiddish.

Most Iconic song: Well the one song I will always get up and move too, even on my crutches, is 1999 by Prince. It is the essence of my teen years.

Instruments I play: Unfortunately none, though I do read music and can pick out a tune one handed on the piano, I have serious problems coordinating my hands to work together playin an instrument.

Random fact: I was catapulted out of my baby pram when I was a year old and ended up with brain damage from 2 subdural haematomas and having brain surgery. That said I went on to have an I.Q. of 145 and gain B.A. and M.Phil degrees at university. But hay it was officially brain damage, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

I tag any of the Kidlets who follow me who would like to share...just remember to @ me so I know where to find out all about ya. :D

#Tag game

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