#also i’m obsessed with joey’s vibe

[tending-the-hearth]

chosen cast continues to be my favorite group of people

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

🪓 Nerdy Prudes Must Die - Some Thoughts 🪓

I decided to rewatch NPMD (second day in a row 🙈) and wanted to write down some random thoughts and reactions because why the fuck not 😌

‼️ SPOILERS FOR NPMD BELOW ‼️

I loved this show from the second it started omg I love things about murder 🤭

“Riiiiichie… Riiiiiichie…” — kind of gave off IT vibes ngl

They really killed off Jon Matteson’s nerd character in the first 35 seconds 💀

“They twisted his nipples off 🤣” - WHY WAS HE SO HAPPY ABOUT IT

THE PROJECTION OF THE TITLE IN THE VICTIM’S BLOOD, STARKID HAD HELLA BUDGET FOR THIS SHOW 🙌🏻

“🎵I’m dead…the blood is arbitrating from my head🎵” needs to become a trending TikTok sound or something oh my fucking gOD

LAUREN YOU QUEEN 🙌🏻👏🏻 also living for that fucking wig

MARIAHHHHHHH 🎵❤️

Definitely felt the “High School is Killin’ Me” “I’m so fucking dead” in my soul even though I’m a full ass adult now

“I was deep in a Twitter fight about a problematic puppy” ROFL OMFG

Joey as Peter Spankoffski 😭👏🏻

ANGELA AS GRACE CHASITY HELL FUCKIN YEAH SHE IS EATING THIS PART UP

We all knew someone at school who snitched to the teachers lbh 💀

“So you don’t wanna be bullied?” “No, I wanna be invisible.” “…then why do you come to public school dressed in suspenders and a fucking bow tie?” - PLEAAAASE 💀🤣

MICRO-PETER 😂💀

Joey taking off his glasses and going “oh god” under his breath, “IT’S NOT ACTUALLY A MICROPENIS”… oh he ATE the role, R*bert who?!?

“My titties are tenderised” - I MEAN SAME BUT-?!?

“I didn’t know you were funny.” “Neither did I.” “I like funny guys.” — I AM SORRY BUT IM ALREADY SHIPPING HARD

Actually obsessed with Richie’s hair and outfit like I can’t explain it other than I’m obsessed

IT’S MAX JÄGERMAN

“Ohh well there’s a difference between intent and impact - I learnt that at an anti bullying assembly last month, FUCK NUGGET” took me off guard tbh like I know I’m tired and easily surprised but still 🤭

GRACE CHASITY PROTESTING THE CO-ED HOMECOMING DANCE I CANNOT-

Jägerman is literally the archetype of the school bully jock who peaked in high school like omg but also he’s into Grace?!?!

“I run laps in the gym and I don’t want to slip on any SPUNK” - FUCKING HELL

“Can I carry your books for you?” “Carry my books? 🤢 I don’t think either of us are ready for that, I mean we’re only 18!”

“My little dirty girl.” — 😳😲😮‍💨

“I am only one man’s girl, Max, and his name is Jesus Christ!” — IM FUCKING HOWLING ANGELA KILLED THE DELIVERY OF THAT LINE I CANT-

“I’m a literal monster!” - oh so Max is self aware then 🤔

“This is politics, Stephanie 🙄 learn to multitask!”

I love that Starkid keep casting Corey as Mariah’s dad?!?

Stephanie is apparently her father’s “October surprise”… so her birthday is in October, like Hannah Foster’s? 🤔

“Stephanie, please, I’d like to have an intelligent conversation with you - in other words, shut up” - DAMN WHAT A BURN

NOOO NOT HER PHONE 😰 (I am also addicted to my phone so I get it lol)

NOT STEPHANIE THROWING HER HAND BETWEEN HER PHONE AND THE HAMMER OMFG (same though)

Mayor Lauter really said “I don’t give a shit if you lie, steal or cheat to get your grades up, just don’t get caught” - spoken like a true politician

“How am I supposed to study without listening to Spotify?!?” probably should not have resonated with me like it did 🤭

Peter trying to make a joke and Richie and Ruth not getting it is so relatable tbh

I’m obsessed with Ruth’s mushroom jumper tbh

“I just want someone to touch me… anyone, PLEASE” — ROFL (same girl)

“What was it like when she touched your arm?… DID YOU CUM?!?” — 💀💀💀💀

“You and Steph, it’s a fantasy - like a boy and his anime love pillows. It’s a beautiful dream, but I’ll never hold the real Rei or Asuka in my arms.” — I AM PISSING MYSELF LAUGHING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

“I’m such a loser, telemarketers hang up on me” 💀😭

DID RICHIE JUST FUCKING SAY “NANI!” JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I CANT DEAL WITH THIS SHOW 🤣

Richie and Ruth climbing Pete like a tree and demanding to know what Stephanie is saying is so ridiculously funny 😆

“Really, Ruth? A Star Wars analogy? Need I go into why Attack on Titan is superior in every possible way?” — STARKID UNDERSTAND THE NERDS I LOVE IT

“You’re telling me I gotta be funny again?!? I didn’t do it on purpose the first time!”

“Pete, you’ve been given a once in a lifetime opportunity - someone’s willing to tolerate your presence for a whole evening! This may never happen again!” — damn wish that would happen to me 😭🙈

Not Pete getting a boner during “Cool as I think I am” 🙈

Nooooo not Max finding Pete before he could go into the restaurant to meet Stephanie 😭

“I’m sick of your ssshhhhit!” — YES PETEY STAND UP TO HIM

The fact Max said “Rendezvous” as “Randay-Voose” 💀

The way it transitioned from “say your prayers” to the Chasity family going “AMEN” was PERFECTION

Grace’s father referring to his wife as “mother” is…something 💀

“He came up to me in the hallway and he asked if he could carry my books.” “Oh, Mark - I didn’t know that sort of thing happened at Hatchetfield High! Do you think you should call the boy’s father?” — ?!?!?!

“Mom, will you pass the butt stuff? The butter. Butter. Will you pass the butter? (Chuckles nervously) I just want some head and butter. BREAD! Bread! Bread and butt-sex to go with this big shaft of meat I’m gonna choke down. Oh boy…oh criminy!” - THE SCREECH I GAVE WAS UNHOLY

“I’ve just got some butterflies in my tummy; and they’re flying REAL low today” 😭💀🙈

GRACE FANTASISING ABOUT MAX IN THE BATH I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS

“Brewing up a big ol’ pot of dirty girl soup” - ABSOLUTELY NOT 💀

HES FUCKING SHIRTLESS WHAT THE FUCK-

“Everyone’s got their secrets, and this one’s mine. I love… Jesus! 😃” - this was when I definitely knew she was fantasising because ain’t no fucking way-

WAS THE DIRTY GIRL SONG SUPPOSED TO BE VIEWED AS HOT BECAUSE I AM VERY FLUSTERED AND CONFUSED AND TOTALLY VIBING WITH THE TUNE

🎵 DIRTY DIRTY GIRL WON’T YOU PRAY FOR ME🎵

You see, if Christian parents didn’t repress their teenager’s hormones and sexuality then MAYBE their teenagers wouldn’t resort to murder 🙃

Grace’s dad saying he’s going to get the plunger when she said she was doing a big poop 😭💀

Grace really thinks that impure thoughts only happen after marriage and I almost envy her innocence

“Money isn’t everything… looks are.” - yeah no that about sums people up in this day and age 😑

“We thought you were waifu material, but you’re just a bully” — NOT WAIFU MATERIAL 💀

PETE’S BLACK EYE NOOOO 😭🥺

Grace is kind of a psychopath and I’m loving that for her tbh

“I’m not comfortable with the plan if it involves that kind of language” but she’s comfortable with filming someone getting terrified and pissing their pants 💀

The “the place is not structurally sound” comment was DEFINITELY foreshadowing

“I get pus in my pits!” Jesus ☠️

🎵🤌🏻we’re gonna bully the bully🤌🏻🎵

“We’re gonna cut off his nips!” - what is with the obsession with n!pples in this show 😳

I’M SORRY BUT THIS IS ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WHEN THEY TALKED ABOUT KEEPING THE BEANS COOL

“You’re like super nice to me 😀” “…not really. I’m just doing the bare minimum here.” “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” “Oh, that’s sad!” — 😂😅🤣

“Okay, Richie, be honest… Am I reading as ghost or Lin Manuel Miranda” — OH FUCKING GOD IM CACKLING

“You kinda look like that homeless guy from downtown” 💀 FOURTH WALL BREAK?!?

Max must be VERY drunk because ain’t no way he thought Pete was a ghost or Ruth was actually a skeleton 💀

“Grace, we gotta abort the plan, it’s not working!” “It’s working for me, he’s so violent! 😍”

Not Max actually being touched by them putting this whole thing together for him 💀 very much giving off himbo vibes and I love him for that

MAX FELL THREE STOREYS

Oh my GOD THE FUCKING MAKE UP ON MAX FOR HIS DEATH SCENE HOLY SHIT

“NERDY! PRUDES! MUST! DIE!” — oh hey it’s the name of the show! 😃 And also it was written on the wall in… oh 😳

“I did get a lot of incriminating footage of us luring him here with malicious intent!” - uh oh

“My god! We’re going to jail! And with my luck, no one will even bother making me their bitch!” — PLEASE 💀

“It wasn’t murder, and it wasn’t an accident… it was an act of God! 😇” - Grace is UNHINGED

“No more tickling in our mommy spots!” - OUR WHAT SPOTS?!?

“🎵🤌🏻 We’re gonna bury the body! 🤌🏻🎵”

“Oh no she’s snapping again”

“I just cut off his nips 😌” - again with the nips?!?

DAN AND DONNA 😃😃😃

“Two weeks of heartache” - cut to all of his classmates happy without his influence 💀

STEPH PASSED THE TEST! 😃

“Ya know, this is really your C+.” “Oh Steph… you can keep it. It’d really bring down my GPA.”

Steph asking Pete out to the football game 🥹😁 we love to see it!

GO GO NIGHTHAWKS! 😃🦅 (I know it’s an eagle emoji there’s no hawk emoji 🙈)

“N, I-G, H-T… *squawk squawk* Ks!” 👏🏻🙌🏻

Richie is the team mascot and they wanted/needed him in the huddle 🥹

They apologised for bullying him 😭👏🏻

“And we’d like to apologise in advance for if Max ever comes back, ‘cause we’ll probably go right back to doing it”

“Fuck Clivesdale! Fuck ‘em straight to hell! Assholes!” — AGREED! 👏🏻

I’m 90% sure Jon actually struggled with taking that mascot top off but it worked well with the scene so 😌

“I love being alive! 😃” — oh he’s so about to fucking die, isn’t he?

IT’S MAX CALLING FOR RICHIE HES BACK FROM THE DEAD

MAX’S COSTUME/MAKE UP IS AMAZING OH MY GOD 😌💅🏻

“Should’ve joined the smoke club you nerdy prude” — ANOTHER SMOKE CLUB REFERENCE

Every song on this soundtrack fucking slaps I LOVE IT

There’s not very many men that can pull off being absolutely absolutely fucking terrifying while dancing and singing across the stage but Will Branner managed it so kudos to him

The bit where Richie was repeating what Max said (“who will pray for me? When I’m gone?”) was INSANELY GOOD

“What did they find? You don’t say…you don’t say!” “What’d they find, dad?” “They didn’t say” - 💀

“Oh heck… I’m so hecking fudged”

“*relieved* Oh well we don’t know anything about that one!” “Or ANY one!”

“Maybe it’s a coincidence. People tell me to die every day!” — Okay why is Ruth kind of me 😭

THE FUCKING CAMEOS IN “HATCHET TOWN” ASDFGHJKL?!?! ZIGGY?! MAN IN A HURRY?!? GERALD MONROE?!?

“Ohhh I remember before the lockdown” - yeah me too 😅

THE BARBECUE MONOLOGUES GOT ME HOLLERING 💀

Ruth walking onto the stage and into the spotlight 🥺 literally she was me this whole scene omg I relate so hard to most of what she said ASDFGHJKL

Lauren ATE that song up by the way

MAX KILLED HER BY WEDGIE-ING HER IN TWO AND THEN PUT THE PANTS OVER HER HEAD WHAT THE FUCK MAX 😭

Him telling her to “project” so those in the back row could hear her triggered me so bad as an actor omg 😳

Grace really accusing the entirety of Clivesdale 💀

As soon as the WWJD bracelet was brought up I KNEW what was going on 😭

“Who’s plan was it, Grace?” “It was God’s plan! And now he’s leaving me out to dry! Do something, you son of a bitch!” 💀😅🤣

Grace has lost her fucking SHIT and I fully support that for her

“Show Me Your Hands” musical refrain?!

BEANIES?!? PAUL AND EMMA?!? 😭😭😭 ITS FUCKING PAUL AND EMMA I CANNOT-

“Cup of roasted coffee” refrain too?!?

PAUL GAVE EMMA HIS NUMBER 😭❤️

PAUL + EMMA IN EVERY SINGLE TIMELINE, EVERY SINGLE UNIVERSE-

“EXCUSE ME I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WHAT FEELS LIKE FIVE FUCKING YEARS AND I STILL HAVE NOT RECIEVED MY GODDAMN HOT CHOCOLATE” 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀😂😂😂😂😂 I FUCKKING CANT IM DONE

🎵”Don’t need a lover boy need a lover man / sure I’m a sapiosexual and you’re intellectual but I’ll cut my lover losses when I can” 🎵 — this song goes so hard omg

Grace pushing between them and shouting “leave room for Jesus!” 💀

“Do we need to get ahold of Ruth?” “Good luck getting ahold of her. Does your phone pls cover calls to hell?” “…Hell?” “She’s bisexual and dead, where else would she be?!?” — 💀

Grace whipping out the gun and telling Steph to cool her beans was so iconic of her

“(Canadian accent) ‘Cause if I’m going down, you hosers comin’ with me, eh” — OH MY FUCKING GOD

Doesn’t shock me a cop would arrest Paul for zero fucking reason, fuck the police 💀

“All I wanted was to be a regular girl with no sexual desire until she was safely married 😭” the FUCK-

“Don’t comfort her, she’s fuckin’ weird” 💀

“I don’t give a shit who you kill - but you just had to go and do it in that house, didn’t you?” — Mayor Lauter really said “murder is fine but NOT in that specific house, you fucking idiots”

THE LORDS IN BLACK?!? 😃 WIGGLY AND BLINKY AND POKEY AND NIBBLY AND TINKY?!?!? FUCK YEAAAAHH

“She gave me head in her car - check it out!” *throws Miss Tessburger’s head onstage* — BRO THE FUCK

WELP I GUESS MAYOR LAUTER IS DEAD THEN?!?

“Detective Shapiro, are you a woman of faith?” “Catholic.” “I’ll take that as a no” — THE FUCK GRACE 😑

They’re really about to summon five otherworldly entities who are evil I’m-

The Summoning screams CRACK and I’m living for it

“Hello Fwendy-Wends” - SCREAMING LITERALLY FUCKING SCREAMING

“WE DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR PHONE” TOOK ME OUT ASDFGHJKL

SHE CHERISHES PETE 😭

“Pay the price or fuck off” 💀

Can I just say that I need would love a show specifically just about the Lords in Black fucking about and it’s Jon the whole time as Wiggly exactly as he was during the Summoning scene because that was AMAZING IM SHAKING-

The fact Pete cherishes Steph and she cherishes him oh my hEART 😭

“Hey Steph, if things were different, would you wanna come to homecoming with me?” “I’d like that, Pete. I’d really like that.” - SHUT THE FUCK UP NO 😭😭😭

Not Max saving Pete from being shot 💀

“So you do know the Bible!” — GRACE OMG IM SCREECHING HELP

“But Jesus never threw a football like you, Max” - WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

Max being confused about what dirty girl soup is and then being turned on when she explains 😭💀

“Take me, Max, right here on the 50 yard line!” — oh dear gOD

Max’s struggle over whether to kill Steph and Pete or whether to bang Grace omfg 😭😅

THE NOISES OFF STAGE OMFG WTAF 😭💀😂😅🤣

Grace got Max kicking his feet, twirling his hair, after one shag, just like a teenage girl 💀 I’m crying so hard with laughter I can’t cope with it-

GRACE GAVE HIM HER CHASTITY AND SACRIFICED WHAT SHE CHERISHED MOST ASDFGHJKL

PETE AND STEPHANIE AT HOMECOMING TOGETHER ASDFGHJKL ✨T H E M ✨

Grace choosing not to get the dance cancelled and she brought a date?!? That’s character development! 😀

She let Jason walk her home?!? O_o and then asked him to kiss her?!?!

“That was… absolutely disgusting! Really, Jason?!? Kissing on the first date?!?” Oh noooo 💀

“You’re a dirty perv, Jason”

SHES GOT THE FUCKING BLACK BOOK IS SHE SUMMONING THEM AGAIN

🎵DIRTY DUDES MUST DIE🎵

Well thIS TOOK A FUCKING TURN DAMN

Anyway, 11/10, immaculate, amazing, incredible, show-stopping, would recommend to everyone of course and will definitely be rewatching it a LOT 🪓

[abitofboth]

okay fuck it I’m gonna write detailed thoughts about cinderella’s castle even though I never usually do cuz like who am I to review something

first of all: PUPPETS!!!!! god, I am SO glad starkid puppets are back in action. I fully believe puppets should be used in theatre way more than they are now (the joey puppet in war horse is extraordinary) and the puppetry in cc was so reminiscent of starship to me- I’ve been craving the high of pincer and bug for YEARS lmao. when hop-a-lot came on stage I audibly went “oh shit”, crumb is a fuckin delightful little guy and I desperately need to hug him, and the troll puppets brought so much life to characters that I think wouldn’t have been as fun without them. the love that went into crafting every puppet is so easy to see and I really hope we get more of it from starkid in the future!!

I’m really happy to see bryce in a main role, she is a fuckin powerhouse!!! her voice is incredible and she brought such a fun spin to ella. I was lowkey worried it was gonna give off alw bad cinderella vibes but I shoulda had more faith, her character charms you as soon as she walks on stage!!

I’m also kind of a little obsessed with tadius?? curt in any role is guaranteed to take my heart but god, make him a lover boy and throw in a sprinkle of sass and I’ll just lay down my life for him. wish there’d been some more of the romance between him and ella!!

the trolls were also some incredibly fun characters. lauren and mariah killed it and like let’s be real, we were all rooting for them and their hot girl summer. what’s a little murder between friends?? angela was great and I loved the twist on the stepmother character that was way more interesting than the usual “she’s just kind of a bitch”.

jeff as the narrator was perfect but we all knew that was gonna be the case anyway. give him his cunty eyeliner and the man’s unstoppable.

joey’s voice work also deserves a special shout out!! every time he opens his mouth I’m giving him a standing ovation. what can’t the man do??

I didn’t love the character of the prince but ig that’s the point of him!! james played him so well and I really do think he’s so underrated as an actor. the physicality and comedy that he brings really makes him stand out, but I will say that the sex jokes got old pretty quickly for me lmao. it made him feel a lot more one-beat than I think they were going for

I reeeaally enjoyed the set and lighting of this one!! literally as soon as we pressed play, my sister and I were like oh shit okay I see your bigger budget mr lang!! and the COSTUMES!! loved loved loved them. Ella’s dress was beautiful and I’m really glad they went with something of their own design rather than try to replicate something disney-ish. it looks like they had a load of fun with the wigs in this one too which I always love to see!!

I thought kim, jon, and joey were, despite shining in whatever stage time they had, WOEFULLY underused. only one scene for kim, and I wish we’d have been able to spend more time with hop-a-lot and crumb- considering they were main characters it felt like we barely saw them. they had like, at most three lines in a song too? let them sing!!!

the music was also not what I expected! I didn’t expect it to be so synth-y, maybe more of a rock vibe from the small hints we had during production? I saw another review say it gave them 80s fantasy film vibes and I think that’s the perf description!! I really enjoyed all the songs and I always love being able to take in whatever jeff has cooked up. everyone was on their a-game as always with their voices too- bryce and kim were real stand outs for me. I do feel like the soundtrack is kind of forgettable though? usually after watching a starkid show I’ll find at least a few songs have earwormed their way into my head but right now I can only recall the opening/closing song. maybe that’s just on me though!

I also thought the general pacing was a little off and the story was maybe not quite ready. some parts felt rushed and some parts dragged a little, and at the end I was left still feeling a little hungry for something more.

overall I really enjoyed it!! I’ve been a huge fan of starkid for well over a decade and with each new show I’m blown away by their creativity and obvious love for the craft. I was so excited to see them move away from hatchetfield for now and jump into a different sandbox to play around with, and I’m SOOOO looking forward to the proshot version because I just know it’s gonna blow everyone away. I’m so glad they make such incredible theatre and do it in such an accessible way, and not to sound super cheesy but god is it great to be alive at the same time as them

(and really, nick lang I am begging you to make a crumb plushie)

[kairithemang0]

Kai i need you to know that every time you post about Wilbur Cross i get this 🤏 close to drawing him because I’ve very rarely drawn him but I’m also very obsessed with him (his VIBES!!!! Love me an insane eldritch man who breaks the forth wall and is also played by Joey Richter)

pls. for me. pls. pls pls pls. draw my beautiful wife PLS PLS PLS PLS PLS ON MY KNEES

[bizarrescribblez]

Anyways- time to go off about my s/i lore for ever new d.an s.tevens f/os ive aquired in the span of a week 💀💥

Abigail (Frank) - this one i just now planned out thanks to jen BUT me thinks i’m joey’s cousin or friend who comes along to the heist for moral support since i had no beef or business with abigail or his business so i fr was just an outsider with no connection. idk what my made up name would be (ofc maybe ‘Bunny’ or ‘Rabbit’ i don’t know), but obviously me and frank form a kinda weird bond since he’s an asshole but understands i shouldnt of been there to begin with. (I have more but it delves into spoiler territory so ill prob do a seperate post for that!)

Godzilla x Kong (Trapper) - my s/i is alreasy pre established in the monsterverse (been there since godzilla 2014 :3) so i’ve already got that kaiju experience plentyfold! I’m a kaiju researcher mainlu delving into how they function and i love to sketch and observe them.. i work at the monarch base that ilene and trapper work at which is how i meet him >_< !! both of us being big kaiju lovers since he’s kong’s veternarian and i love love to doodle kaijus hehehehe

Night at the Museum (Lancelot) - just like my monsterverse s/i i think i’m also present for the first two movies :) starting off as somebody who just goes to the museum to relax and sketch then becoming a guide myself! A while after the second movie ends i end up getting transferred to the london museum seen in 3 and find myself relaxing the most in the exhibit Lancelot resides.. (yall getting lisa frankenstein vibes from this- 💥) anywayss once larry and the crew arrive and the london museum comes to life SO DOES LANCELOT AND OUR MEETCUTE BEGINS. The visual I have in mind @ me securing the tablet and he has to snatch me up and takes me + the tablet away on his horse… GET ME OUT!!!!!!!

The Guest (David) - ok you can see now i’m in too deep fr anywayss obviously david survives the first movie and i imagine is back on his bs @ pretending to be somebody he isn’t. like i imagine i come home from work to see him on my porch and him explaining he was waiting for me since he heard i knew the petersons and came to break the news that they died since he was a “family friend”. and obviously since i’m not smart i’d have him stay with me since he’d still be limping/have wounds from what happened (he’d claim it’s cuz he tried to fight back who killed them) so i fix him up and have him stay with me.. AND OBSESSION ON HIS END FORMS. ofc im just as obsessed with him but literally he would go after anybody who tried to mess with me and id be like ahahaha ok :))

Anyways…. Thats it im very sorry everypony i know all this is out of nowhere but its been rattling in my brain for a week straight and i had to let it out.. anyways this is me at s.kwisgaar + all my new schmoopies…. My blonde boys from heaven…

[hereforthefunnyguys]

4, 7, and 22 (Joey) for the ask game

SORRY this took a hot minute

4. Is there a popular pairing you don't necessarily dislike but aren't too invested in?

Probably either puzzleshipping or peachshipping. I’m sorry… I just… like I see it but I don’t really see it you know? I understand why you could be obsessed with them but also I just am Not. Simultaneously there are probably too many to name here but also probably Angstshipping (its cute but like I don’t really see it? Probably too much, uh. Angst for me. so to speak).

7. Is there a piece of clothing you think [character] is particularly fond of/that you imagine them wearing a lot or like to draw them in?

For Joey? I always picture him with a varsity jacket and those dog tags he wore in Battle City.

However… my favorite clothing headcanon is probably Ryou wearing lace collars or something similar both because A) it looks really cool and if you think of Ryou as more gnc then the lace collars are a cool way to achieve that vibe, and B) makes a good parallel with Yugi’s leather collar (and Marik’s gold anatomy-defying-bangle-collar-usekh-stupid… thingamajig, I suppose). Of course he probably would never do this in the show proper due to somehow always looking like the most generic Nice High School Young Man possible but still. Fun thoughts

22. Give us a headcanon for [Joey]

Got 2 be captain of the basketball team for the last year of high school :) he had a whole-ass High School Musical character arc about learning to be a team player and get better at the sport, we just didn’t see it on-screen because no card games were involved and it was therefore pointless to us.

[saleintothe90s]

480. Seventeen Magazine, March 1994

woAh, its joey from Blossom this month.

I'm always obsessed with these Prom issues from the mid 90s, they're always bittersweet to look at because I remember young me fantasizing about going to the prom while looking at these, and then once in 2001 I didn't go because I was like, the ugliest girl in my class and most people treated me like a leper.

I adore that Versus by Gianni Versace dress.

Oh yeah here are some Angela Chase fashions.

Now if Almay cosmetics still looked like THIS, I might buy it. But also, they have a terrible shade range.

Now this sporty look is miles better than the 1995 one I featured last year. I thought those were Converses, but they're from Bakers. I love the look, but also it reminds me of those Yasmine Sahid Instagram "who said I can't wear converse with my dress" reels that are so funny.

I think Walmart sells this dress every Summer.

Ahh! So this is the origins of those black mini Caboodles you always see on eBay.

YAAS to this dress but also what 14 year old goes to the prom? Sounds like Nina goes to a private school, so maybe prom is open to all at some private schools?

Bang goals!

Oh WOW. I'm not too crazy about the first look, but this second look with the knee highs heels and tapestry clothing is breathtaking. And the name brand is ANXIETY. And look!!! The vest and skirt is currently on Poshmark, I'm so mad its a size medium.

These black and white dresses didn't just have a moment, they held on for years. I still remembered seeing them at stores when I was in high school.

I don't think New Freedom is still being made? I assume it was just folded into the Kotex brand.

Wait, hold up, Sharlynn, you had a fiancé your senior year of high school?!

Her man is looking at her like, "is that your sister's dress from the 1989 prom?"

I never really put much thought into how much going to the prom really costs. I just thought it was dress, shoes, makeup, Claire's jewelry. Do kids these days still rent limos?

Did proms have dress codes back then? Because I feel like these would break a dress code.

I just like this illustration in a quiz about whether you are a control freak or not.

These type of bandages took forever to be available to a mass market. I see the Band Aid Ourtone ones when I go to Target.

Protip: do not wear a backpack while shopping.

I just saw a glittery fabric in those exact colors at Joann's yesterday.

This red dress is giving off pageant vibes though.

via GIPHY

I have so many questions and theories about this. Is Michael a family friend? Does he work with her dad? Is this letter even real or something created by the editors about a similar situation they read about? I always wondered that about these Q&A in teen magazines, were the questions really sent in, or were they curated from events in the news, or a blend of several questions sent in? Former teen magazine editors give advice.

wow, this was ahead of its time. I couldn't find any information about this other than a coupon in the Commercial Appeal.

More Blossom!

I feel like things haven't improved much.

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[flowercrown-bard]

thank you for tagging me @joeys-piano :D

Trope Game

Rules: How much do these tropes affect your decision to click on a fic?

-10 -> very dissuaded

0 -> don’t care either way

10 ->  very enticed

nope -> if it’s a hard no and you’d never click on a fic with that tag or or you even have the tag blocked or you’d insta click out of the fic if it wasn’t tagged.

Bonus points for explaining the rating and whether it’s conditional

Age gap   nope/10

It just makes me so uncomfortable. I’ve been in a situation where someone tried to have an age gap relationship with me and it was the creepiest thing. I absolutely cannot read that in a romantic way

Codependency   -2/10

Like. I don’t mind codependency. I think I might actually write it a lot. But if it’s so strong that the author will use the tag, then I’m probably going to be wary

Enemies to lovers   7/10

love that trope, but it depends on which characters feature in the fic. it was my favourite trope until i discovered the joys of friends to lovers. It just depends a lot on what “enemies” means. Is it just the characters hating each other? Is it them having huge moral disagreements? Are they living in countries that are at war? There are so many different flavours of enemies and i don’t vibe with all of them. but being on opposing sides initially, then having to work together and slowly learning to trust and understand each other? That’s the good stuff (also my first ever ship was enemies to lovers, so I owe my love for writing and reading fic to this trope)

Enemies with benefits   -10/10

what can i say, I’m just not into sex. I can see the appeal of friends with benefits because of the intense pining but enemies with benefits sounds like it’s mostly only sexual attraction and I’m just very meh about that

Fake dating/relationship   10/10

YES. I bought a book for the first time in years mostly because it had “fake dates” in the title and i’m devouring it. Fake dating comes with all the other great tropes! Misunderstandings, pining, sharing a bed, self-esteem issues, softness. I love it

Found family   2/10

i love found family but i don’t think it would really sway my decision on whether i would read a fic or not

Friends to lovers   10/10

YES! Geraskier and Ineffable Spouses my beloveds. I think maybe it’s because I’m on the aro spectrum, but I was always really bored with the “love at first sight” trope. i just didn’t get it. Being friends with someone, loving them platonically and then finding out that you also love them romantically? Already being aware of a person’s flaws and likes and who you are when you are with them and then falling in love with this person? I adore it

Friends with benefits   5/10

Not a fan of the sex, but I love when it comes with pining and self-esteem issues

Hurt/comfort   8/10

depends on what kind of hurt. I don’t exactly seek it out for reading, but it’s one of my favourites to write

Love triangle   -10/10

Yeah no. I can see the appeal I guess but it’s really not for me

Mistaken/hidden identity   10/10

Can I give more than 10 points? I want to give this ALL the points. I love mistaken identity so much. pretending to be someone else and then falling in love and wishing you could just be your real self around them, but being afraid, they wouldn’t like the real you? Or already being in love and talking about your crush to this other person and whoops it turns out it’s actually them. there are so many different ways to play with this trope and i love them all. (also I’m playing a shapeshifter in Pathfinder and it definitely influenced my love for identity porn)

Monster fu… relationship   -10/10

I’m not into sex

Obsession, possessiveness, etc   -10/10

it makes me so uncomfortable. A little bit of possessiveness can be nice, but again, if it’s strong enough that the tag is used, then it will probably make me uncomfortable

Opposites (like grumpy×sunshine, etc)    10/10

YES!! Sun and moon! Water and fire! Angel and demon! Healer and fighter! Weak normal guy bard and strong superhuman witcher! I love it!

Poly   3/10

I mostly don’t click on poly ship fics. I love pining and most poly fics i’ve read already has two people in a relationship, so there’s no pining between them. One author that really convinced me to give poly fics a shot is @ghostinthelibrarywrites. they give every person in the relationship attention and time to develop and explore the feelings they have for the other people and it’s so well written and amazing. So yeah, I won’t seek out the tag and I won’t click it most of the time when i see it but sometimes I do it anyway and I’m stumbling upon some of the best fics I’ve ever read

pregnancy   nope/10

not my thing

Second chance   2/10

Depends on what went wrong with the first chance. was it cheating? then no. Was it a betrayal to save the other person or because the character had to go through some intense growth to realise that what they did was morally wrong? (looking at you, Cahir) then yes, I love it

Sex to feelings   -5/10

Not into sex

Slowburn   9,8/10

for the longest time, slowburn was all i read. i love seeing relationships develop. i love pining and plot and actually getting to know the other person before making a move. For a while now, reading has been really exhausting for me though, so i couldn’t read anything longer than 6k. but in my heart, i still adore slowburn

Soulmates   7/10

sometimes i seek it out. it depends on what kind of soulbond it is. The thing is, i don’t like the idea of being tied to someone by destiny and not having a choice in whether you love them or not. but some fics play around with the trope. Like, what if the trials take away witchers’ ability to form soul bonds? what if someone makes the active choice never to look at their soulmark? Or that one Jaskel fic (I sadly forgot the title and the author), in which Jaskier was famous, so people kept saying his soulmark-words to him, hoping that he’ll think they’re his soulmate? There are so many interesting ways to put a twist on this trope. but i don’t like the idea of soulmates in general

tagging: @combatbootsfemme @lokibus @parttime-creative @witcher-and-his-bard-archive @dhwty-writes @rebrandedbard @mollymawkwrites

[the-irrelevant-trumpeter]

vhs christmas carols: the coherent version

clark just casually sounding like an angel

meredith vibing on the bongos is so funny

i love the choreography godbless james tolbert

the box lids making the play button gagged me fr

janaya sounds so good ugh

and is also pretty wtf and i love della’s costume

i also love jim’s costume! maybe this will just be me raving over the costumes

jim making a heart with his hands as he leaves? i love him. he has such himbo energy

joey lauren and brian leaping onto stage is so funny

actually the three of them in general are so funny in this show

the new songs are so boppy, i know this is such a broad statement but i don’t know what else to say about them except that they’re all fucking spectacular and clark outdid himself

the model walking!!!! the dancing!!!! iconic

everything about the internal panic song is hilarious, a strong contender for my favourite of all of the new songs

“you’re more beautiful than ever” CRYING SCREAMING SOBBING WHAT THE FUCK WHY AM I FEELING THINGS

jim and della are so cute istg

“not combs that comb but combs you wear” fave lyric

this song is so heartfelt and janaya and curt do such a good job and sound so good

the matching combs in the hair 😭 i love them

the cold streets of the city probably is my favourite song

their voices are so funny, this is my favourite trio of all time

brian’s face when the match girl comes in is so funny

and lauren’s face when she gets offered a match ansjdhdjsksa

as i said, i will be raving about costumes, and the match girl costume is soooo good i’m so obsessed

scrooge bumping into della and now the match girl is so funny

meredith tearing up is so real i also feel like crying

idk what else i can say about grandma land except that man this story is genuinely so sad

and that jamie burns is gorgeous and also has the voice of an angel

i like how this final song of the act sets up scrooge and the christmas carol themes

“hi clark”

THE AUDIENCE IS SO REAL FOR CHEERING AS SOON AS BAH HUMBUG STARTS

meredith helping out with the bass line on the keyboard is sooo funny

AJ!SCROOGE IS SO GOOD

like i love dylan obvs but i adore aj’s version so much

going into this with the cast changes in mind i was a little more hesitant about brian as fred (just because i think corey is so good at it) but i love the way he plays him so much, he’s so funny

bob’s wave when he’s introduced is so cute

having meredith be in the band for most of it and then coming down as marley is genuinely so ingenious. his presence is constantly hanging over scrooge and the entire narrative even when scrooge doesn’t realise it,

“scrooge gives a shriek” *short high pitched scream* killed me

the ghosts wrapping the chains around scrooge is really cool

christmas past is always pretty unhinged but i need whatever jlb put into this performance because it’s OFF THE CHARTS she’s so iconic

the slo-mo dancing is so good thank you james tolbert

the contrast between jim & della and scrooge & belle KILLS ME!!! need whoever deduced to have them played by the same person to pay my therapy bills please /pos

curt does a really great job in this role

also JANAYA ma’am im already in love with you, you don’t have to keep driving the needle in

aj sounds so heartbroken holy shit he was such a good choice to take over for dylan he’s so so so so so good

james tolbert crushing it as always

the light up shoes and glasses is still iconic

every time tiny tim gets a little more pathetic and this is the correct choice for character

i also like that it’s developed from just emily being disgusted by tim in the last one to bob also being the same in this one

joey trying to drag brian to his feet is my favourite

also tim using the bear as a microphone

basically what i’m trying to say that every new character choice in regards to tim is absolutely perfect godbless

JIM AND DELLA BEING THE COUPLE THAT WERE IN DEBT IS SO CLEVER I LOVE HOW THEY TIE THE SHOWS TOGETHER

bob holding tim’s bear 😭

the choice to have the people that scrooge has wronged surrounding him and him begging to THEM that he’s changed is such a good directorial choice like!!! james tolbert i will never stop thanking you for this decision

THE MATCH GIRL INSTEAD OF THE TURKEY BOY

SCROOGE BUYING SOME MATCHES AAAAA FJDJDHEBDHDND HIS REDEMPTION IS LITERALLY SAVING LIVES ALREADY

clark audibly giggling as aj and lauren fumble around with the money is so precious

SCROOGE GIVING JIM THE WATCH AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

can’t believe i went from laughing at fred still partying with the glasses to crying at his expression at seeing scrooge trying to connect with him. brian holden i am suing you for emotional damage.

overall the show is still so good but honestly what was i expecting

the first act was a really great edition to the story and i love how they made them connect to christmas carol

and all of the cast changes in christmas carol were excellent and worked so well

this is still the best starkid show no i’m not taking criticism

and i hope they keep on performing it because i love it so much

[monkiedude]

@brendaonao3 tagged me to do this! Love you, old friend.

3 ships

Hangman/Rooster my beloved!!!! I don’t know if TG:M was just at the right place at the right time or what, but I haven’t been this invested in a ship in AGES. Just. Enough canon to work with, enough blank space to play with, you could make me believe they get together just about any way and I’d buy it and thank you for it. (Plus the raw material GP and MT bring to the table doesn’t hurt. Hnngh.)

I tend to be pretty fandom-monogamous, but two other fave ships I’d revisited pre-TG:M:

Arthur/Eames (Inception). Coincidentally (?) LOTS of parallels to Hangman/Rooster. Two supporting characters in a team that has to work together to pull off a mission. Total opposites in many ways that you know would make them total complements if they could get over themselves. MAJOR bitter ex energy. This ship also has some of the most incredible fic I’ve read for any fandom, ever. The canon-compliant stuff is great, but the AUs! Dear god, the AUs. It is my very fervent wish that we start getting TG:M AUs like that. (Plus the raw material that TH and JGL bring to the table doesn’t hurt. JGL’s wardrobe alone.)

Kirk/McCoy (ST:AOS). Oh, man, I was super-obsessed with this one back in the day. Much like TG:M, I saw the first movie WAY too many times in the theater. In general, I’m not big on ships that start as best friends, for whatever reason, but I vibe with this one. Plus Star Trek is just a fun universe to play in (although, again, some of my fave fics for this ship are AUs too, god, there is one kids-to-adults one that focuses mostly on HS and I re-read it still, all the time). I’m sad about this ship, though, because most if not all of my engagement with it was on LJ, and I know that a lot of the fic hasn’t made it to AO3. (I love K/M in TOS too, fwiw. DeForest Kelley’s McCoy in Wrath of Khan after the Kobayashi Maru, draped across the floor, actually begging for a compliment from Kirk…SO fruity, god love him.)

First ship

JC/Joey (popslash). I still stand by it and will not take questions at this time.

Last movie

In truth, the OG Top Gun for the zillionth time, while I was multitasking doing laundry and a crossword puzzle. Before that, it was actually Whiplash for the first time, as I continue in my quest to watch Miles Teller’s back catalogue, and a rewatch of Tombstone for the first time in at least a decade, for Val Kilmer. Next up is a rewatch of Jerry Maguire, probably for the first time since it was in the theater? (I have a huge embarrassment squick, so I remember not loving it, but I’m also in a Tom Cruise phase, so needs must.)

Last song

Sturgill Simpson’s cover of “The Promise,” which I didn’t know existed, but now do thanks to a completely captivating Hangster WIP. Before that, some random new-ish country songs as I continue digging for songs that Jake thinks about playing for Bradley on acoustic guitar. Suggestions welcome.

Currently reading

I mean, the real answer is Hangster fic, but I also just started “Girlhood” by Melissa Febos and am getting ready to be furious about it.

Currently watching

Other than the movies mentioned above, I just finished rewatching Bridgerton s2, which I unironically love. Oh, and trolling YouTube for Miles Teller interviews. (Glen Powell is my guy, but sometimes I find him to be, like. Overly polished, and kinda performative, in interviews. Miles is a fucking loose cannon and I find him fascinating.)

Currently consuming

Diet Dr. Pepper. Should actually eat lunch at some point.

Currently craving

Trying to remember if I have stuff to make a Jungle Bird, but I think I’m out of Campari. Boo.

I literally don’t know how to tag people, I’m such a fossil, but this was fun! Am I doing this right? @greendaze, @daggerspared, @saint--claire ?

[littlestsnicket]

for the choose violence ask game: witcher fandom

15, 18, and 19

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

for the love of god, please stop drawing jaskier as a twink. even putting aside the physical reality of joey batey, the only thing we know about book!jaskier’s physique is that he thinks it’s a good idea to steal geralt’s jacket, and i personally think he would rather wear his own slightly more damp and wrinkley jacket than be swimming in his clothes. (book!jaskier should have giant anime eyes though.)

in case it needs to be said, i’m not at all mad at individual artists, but i think i’m allowed to be frustrated by fandom trends. it’s a constant reminder that i’m not shipping quite the same thing as fandom at larger.

(also purple jacket > doublets)

18. it’s absolutely criminal that fandom has been sleeping on…

lydia. even though she’s not a particularly well developed or interesting character in the books, i imprinted on her hard and was so excited when the netflix show introduced her early. she has… mrs lovett (from sweeny todd) vibes. complely deranged and obsessed with a man who’s intention is completely elsewhere. probably not an objectively good trope from a feminist perspective, but i love it so much.

i’m going to write lydia/triss fic. it will probably just be a drabble, but i’m going to do it. i have not stopped thinking about it since redanian intelligence screencapped them dancing together in the trailer.

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of really like…

netflix!geralt. i love book!geralt in the books. i suspect i would not even like book!geralt on screen. my tv watching and reading needs are different. i’m glad they changed his character quite a bit. i am sorry.

still very much on a crusade against the ‘but he cares so much about the source material!!!’ cavill fans though. just stop it.

[maulsoleum]

orchid, abelia, jasmine, palm tree

ask games r so fun lmao we love learning things about others

YES! i love learning stuff about people also answering questions is so fun to me LMAO

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS ONE! hands down without a doubt it’s “mary on a cross” - ghost. i know it got very popular on tik tok and watered down from what it was (glad to see ghost popular but people watering down the song makes me sad a bit) but since it came out in 2019 it’s been my all time favorite song since. i can never get sick of it. it’s such a beautiful song but still holds ghosts general vibe. also the end of the song is so fucking gorgeous. it calms me down and is just. so perfect to me. and in concert it’s fucking amazing.

abelia ⇢ do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with?

i answered this one in a prev ask so sorry mootie :(

jasmine ⇢ do you have a movie or book you loved but will never watch/read again?

i honestly cant think of any i’m a chronic rewatched (and i’m not the biggest reader tbh). there’s nothing that’s come to mind but there definitely has to be stuff i adore but cant rewatch due to length or some element to it that i can’t go through again LMAO

palm tree ⇢ do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS QUESTION OH BOY! i fucking love villains, i get it from my dad he has an obsession with them. you could argue any villain character especially cartoony ones are villains i shouldn’t like but love regardless LMAO. the first one that really comes to mind though is wilbur cross (and subsequently all the lords in black) from the hatchetfield universe through starkid productions. something about cryptid horrors plaguing a town through multiple timelines and taking the forms of stuffed dolls is SO GOOD. also just wilbur himself. an anti-capitalist america-hating former general that got corrupted into doing the bidding of a bunch of cosmic beings? fucking great. his song in black friday? a banger. also played by joey richter who is my favorite actor LMAO. love wilbur

[actoons]

naegami and komahina of course! but i’m also curious on how you feel about aoi x sakura (i don’t know their ship name (´；ω；`) )

AAAAAA a 3fer lol! I’ll try to be brief :

Naegami

- ship of all time idk just obsessed with them.

- This is end game. This is after 693939485859 chapters of slow burn and naegi divorce. Also they are madohomu mode just are don’t even ask

- Lol I have playlists for them both individually. But for the ship : lemon boy is the naegami song of all time my sibling exposed me to it and ya. Sorry lol.

- I could squash Togami alone ya, Naegi alone ya, together probably not

Kohina!!

- I like a lot!! I perfer kamukoma tho by a little bit ^^ they’re mutant kawoshin vibes LOL no but really their mirroring and back and forth is really compelling

- Ahhh unpopular opinions are a little scary lol for me, But I’m personally not big into kohina fluff at all ;; sorry!

- Hey Joey Jane by Claire quilty

- Yes but no bc komaedas looney tunes logic would screw me over somehow

Asagami:

-!!!!!! Oh I love them. I find myself more interested to write messy relationships but I love them and what they do for the narrative and they’re extremely underrated.

-I don’t have an unpopular opinion honestly they’re lesbians who deserved better toko and Togami and Yasuhiro all should get hit by a bus fr / HJ lol no but for real their relationship moved me….

- song : I very sadly cannot think of one! But if you have any to reccomend I’d really like to know!!

- spiritually I don’t have the heart to destroy them in earnest at all lol

[carnavoyeur]

Hey idk if your asks work anymore but I was wondering about QotSA and what album I should listen to. I've only heard a couple of their songs and was considering of just doing a listen to their discography.

Asks work, thank god!! Sorry for the info dump. <3

I’m always a fan of starting at the beginning :) Each album feels very unique from one another, but they all sound like QotSA, if that makes sense. The two albums I listened to before really getting into them were Songs for the Deaf (every single fan and I would recommend this one) and Era Vulgaris (underrated, apparently the most divisive before Villains, and my favorite). If I had to recommend a top three to listen to though, I would say their self-titled, Songs for the Deaf, and …Like Clockwork.

A little rundown of each album and then my faves from them under the read more:

Queens of the Stone Age (1998) is quintessential desert rock; it’s sludgy, heavy, and has likely taken psychedelics in the last hour. Like, every stoner QotSA fan I know is obsessed with this album. It’s an excellent blueprint for every follow up album. Josh Homme has his hands basically everywhere on this, from vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, and also producer. favorites: Spiders and Vinegaroons, You Can't Quit Me Baby, Regular John

Rated R (2000) is my least favorite lmao and also a favorite of the stoners. Heavy rock with punk influences, and very much a stoner rock album. This is one of two vocally collaborative albums, featuring bassist Nick Oliveri and vocalist Mark Lanegan (RIP grunge king). I don't have a lot to say other than I don't like 2/3 of the songs Nick sings on. favorites: In the Fade, Better Living Through Chemistry, The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret

Songs for the Deaf (2002) is just, the Queens of album of all time. It's what really solidified them as a mainstay in modern rock. It's a concept album of flipping through radio stations while driving out into the desert. Similar genre-wise to Rated R, but significantly better and stronger. This is the second album to have collaborative vocals, still featuring Nick and Mark. I don't like 3/4 of the songs Nick sings on, but the songs themselves work with the album and don't ruin the fluidity of it for me. Also, drums by Dave Grohl. That's a highlight in and of itself. favorites: God Is in the Radio, The Sky is Fallin', A Song for the Deaf

Lullabies to Paralyze (2005) has a lot of bluesy undertones, and is also just? kind of horny? It plays with the concept of like, children's fairy tales as a way to deal with the Problems™️. It's definitely darker but not like, in a way that's inaccessible and super uncomfortable. This was a bit of a slow grower on me. I love it, though, and it's overall pretty solid. Features the first full contributions from guitarist Troy van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo. favorites: I Never Came, Someone's in the Wolf, Burn the Witch

Era Vulgaris (2007) is. Is. I saw someone refer to this the meth album, and I can't even disagree. It has a lot of bite to it, is more experimental (especially with electronics), and draws inspiration from all sorts of genres. It's considered """less easily accessible""" sound-wise but I think that's just a skill issue on everyone else's part. favorites: Misfit Love, Suture Up Your Future, I'm Designer

...Like Clockwork (2013) would probably be their magnum opus, in my opinion. There was a long stretch between albums because of Josh's health issues, which has influenced a lot of these tracks. It has the first full features of guitarist/keyboardist Dean Fertita and bassist Michael Shuman (my beloveds <3). Thematically dark, has the most amount of guest backing vocalists, and one of the most favorites: Smooth Sailing, Keep Your Eyes Peeled, I Appear Missing

Villains (2017) is so so divisive because of the more obviously stronger pop vibes. It's still a rock album, but it's one of the more dancier ones. This is the only album not produced by Josh, who brought in Mark Ronson. There is a noticeable difference in the way this album is mixed from the others, but I don't care about it personally. First full feature of drummer Jon Theodore. favorites: Head Like a Haunted House, Hideaway, The Way You Used to Do

In Times New Roman... (2023), the Divorce Album™️. Josh went through a crazy divorce, and uh, yeah, you definitely feel it in this. This one is the end of a trilogy and does encompass the sounds and themes of ...Like Clockwork and Villains really well, but with a lot of reminders of earlier albums. It's more guitar-driven and doesn't have any real slow down songs like previous albums. favorites: Sicily, Made to Parade, Straight Jacket Fitting

So yeah!! Like I said, chronology is always a good way to listen and I'd say that's a good choice, but if any of these stick out more to you, check them out first!! My personal top three are Era Vulgaris, In Times New Roman..., and self-titled. I would also recommend listening to Them Crooked Vultures, which was fronted by Josh with Dave on drums and John Paul Jones on bass.

[alexyssc13]

Independent Excursion: Media Reflection (Idol Culture & Oshi no Ko)

For my media reflection, I’m going to talk about Japanese idol culture in relation to the anime, Oshi no Ko. Idol culture is not exclusive to Japan as it can also be seen in other countries, such as South Korea and the Philippines. The Japanese music genre that is usually associated to idol culture would have to be J-pop. Generally, I feel like idols are usually seen in groups, and there are both male and female idols. There are two sides to idol culture: the idol and the fan. An idol performs for the audience, so they sing, dance, and charm the people. The fan is a person who listens to their idols’ songs, watches their performances online, keeps up with their social media if possible, and generally has great fondness or even love for their idols. I feel like there are fans who are lowkey about it, and then there are the superfans who are obsessed about their favorite idols.

This relationship between an idol and their fans is touched upon in Oshi no Ko. The anime was pretty popular last year. The plot is a bit too complicated to explain briefly, but I will say that it talks about the good and the bad of the Japanese entertainment industry, including idol culture. When I first watched it, I found it very interesting how the sparkles and pretty appearances and sweet words of the Ai (the idol) were juxtaposed to the downsides and lies that they also have. The anime was also able to show how the supposedly nice relationship between an idol and a fan can actually be not so nice at all, maybe even fatal.

During my study abroad, there were two excursions that I want to talk about and compare. The first excursion was on May 7 after the class activities. Ren, Joey, and I went back to Takeshita Street to get some boba, but the shop we found didn’t have anything that I wanted. However, Ren said she saw another place nearby, so we went there instead. When we got there, it ended up being a combination of a food court and an entertainment stage. After I bought boba, we found seats near the stage around the time one of the groups was doing a tech rehearsal. While I drank and sat there, I noticed that the food court was mostly empty, but some of the tables near us were occupied by other girls and women. The age range varied as there were a few younger girls, some young adults, and a couple possibly middle aged women. They were all waiting for the performances. The only guys I saw were the few who came and left the place or the ones performing on stage. During the time we were there, two boy groups performed: SHIBUYA SIXX and upright. The first group seemed like a darker vibe of J-pop, while the second group had the more upbeat vibe that I was used to. Both groups didn’t have a lot of fans watching them, but I think there were more for upright than SHIBUYA SIXX. I can definitely see the different kinds of appeal for both groups.

The second excursion was on May 19, and it was my XG concert. I explained what kind of group XG is in my blog for that day, but basically they aren’t considered J-pop or K-pop idols. However, I want to include them in this reflection because it was another type of experience related to idol culture. My venue was Osaka-Jo Hall, and it held a lot of people as you can see in my picture. I also remember my app telling me that all of the concerts in Japan were sold out. I feel like that goes to show how large of a fanbase XG has, and they only debuted 2 years ago. Throughout the concert, I remember the moments when fans would scream their bias’s name as a show of support. Being my first concert by an X-pop group, I believe this experience was on a different level.

Based on the two experiences I described, I feel like there were parts of it that were similar to Oshi no Ko. I think they’re similar because Ai and the idol groups in reality both have an appeal that really captivate the hearts of their fans. I remember how Ai would tell her fans that she loves them, which is exactly what XG would tell the audience, making the fans fall even harder for them. I can also see how idols, like upright, put in the work to make sure they perform their best for the audience, which is like Ai practicing before her performances. As for differences, I feel like it’s hard to tell because as a member of the audience, I can’t tell what goes on with the idols behind the scenes. I don’t really know who they are outside of the personality that they display to the rest of the world, which I can say is similar to the anime. Therefore, I think that Oshi no Ko can be a reasonable representation of reality. It probably shows more of what actually goes on within Japanese idol culture than what a person sees from the surface performances.

[inkdemonapologist]

Rambling A Lot About The Lost Ones

(this is very long and it’s NOT spoiler-free. A bunch of it is me trying to figure out why I liked a lot of the book but didn’t quite vibe with the direction it went. YOUVE BEEN WARNED.) Okay, let’s start off with:

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT TLO:

Constance!!! I THOUGHT I WAS NOT GOING TO LIKE HER BUT SHE’S OBJECTIVELY THE BEST

I’m still thinking about Constance’s excitement at getting to Make Fog... like it’s just so well-done, the feeling in that scene of like.... seeing a friend who is Finally Getting To Be Themselves, and just thinking in some heartbroken part of your mind, “don’t you know? this isn’t supposed to be so rare... this is how it’s always supposed to be”

Also the way Constance getting pulled along to the Ink Machine is set up is SO GOOD..... the excitement of seeing someone actually treat her the way she should’ve been treated all along, slowly sinking into dread as you start to notice what’s Wrong with Bill... honestly one of the BEST moments for me

Immediately after the Ink Machine Things Happen, the next couple chapters that do an incredible job describing the teens’ reaction to that surreal trauma. Bill just desperately wanting it all to go away and Constance fighting for some control over what’s happening to her brain -- I’ve joked that Adrienne is good at writing sanity damage but HONESTLY I FEEL THIS IS LEGITIMATELY A STRONG SECTION

the hints of Thomas, and the implications that he might be more under the ink’s influence than he realises, ARE REALLY INTRIGUING

Literally every scene Joey is in is great. Joey only gets like 5 pages and they’re all the best.

Brant is funny actually

I feel like if “non-JDS teens stumble upon the Ink Machine, experience horrors and try to take control of the resulting consequences” sounds engaging to you, you’ll probably enjoy this book.

THINGS I HAVE VERY LONG-WINDED AND CONFLICTED FEELINGS ABOUT:

TLO does this weird thing where midway through it feels like it SUDDENLY CHANGES GEARS and veers almost single-mindedly into the Emotions Issue in a way that doesn’t... quite feel like it goes with everything that came before it??

While it does follow coherently from Constance’s personality -- she’s always portrayed as having a lot of frustration, but keeping that frustration tamped down for the sake of others -- Bill’s Ink Influence actually keeps him AWAY from the Machine and the Ink, completely dropping that obsessive interest we’d started to see in him before. He’s so afraid, he just wants to forget it and stay as far out of it as possible, and if he didn’t happen to meet Joey and have information fall into his lap, he might’ve done just that. Constance says she feels more like herself than ever under the Ink’s influence, which could be pretty ominous, but other than yelling at Bill one time it mostly just makes her Suddenly Really Cool?

Like, it’s weird, and distressing for the kids, but it’s not really sinister, not like the sinister vibes of the first ink machine encounter, where Bill’s acting so strangely and Constance has such a strong feeling that they can’t let the ink touch them. Joey isn’t doing this. The Ink isn’t getting anything we can see out of making their emotions wonky. Brant transforms, but that’s just because he DIED(???), so like, as long as you don’t get smashed in half by a door you’re probably okay? Nothing is keeping the other two involved, in the end, and they never fully understand what’s going on. They’re just some teens experiencing out of control emotions and making a futile effort to break the machine that made their emotions wonky, which, by the way, was a side-effect that isn’t really central to the machine’s main threat.

Ultimately the emotions explanation for the Ink has some logistical problems (Lost Ones in the game don’t really seem Consumed By One Emotion so much as just, miserable, and this doesn’t happen to Buddy in DCTL, etc) but that sort of stuff can always be worked with if you sit and fuss with it. I think the concept itself -- that the Ink can exaggerate something about you that you’re normally able to keep hidden -- is very compelling actually! It’s sort of how I’ve interpreted both Sammy and Susie for a while, that their strange behaviour is just a piece of their normal personality that people don’t usually see, exaggerated to a cartoonish extent. 

But I don’t quite like how it plays out here, the way the story’s entire focus swerves away from the dread that had been previously building to fixate on setting up these all-encompassing emotions, a specific and consistent effect that’s a lot less scary when it’s so easily understood. “Oh no now I’m angry all the time” could be horror, but here, while there’s some good lines, it doesn’t quite feel like it ever gets there. 

And in the end of TLO, nothing else really happened. We don’t understand the stakes of the machine -- since the TLO teens directly point out it’s unlikely that the machine is truly here for repairs, my best guess is that it’s here to dodge investigation immediately after JDS’s MULTIPLE MURDERS, and it’s kinda neat to have a detail like that hinted at in the background of another story, but having nothing uncovered by these kids means that nobody in TLO ever truly understands what’s going on enough to make their interaction with the machine meaningful. I suppose they (theoretically?) prevented the Ink Demon from getting out to wreak havoc on Atlantic City, but I don’t understand the Ink Demon well enough to know if he would’ve done that, or if Thomas and Joey had ways to contain him or not -- and neither do the kids. They don’t understand what he is at all. So, what was all this for?

TLO states what I believe is its most compelling theme a few times --

“What’s the point?” “I don’t know. But it’s what happens.”

None of this happened on purpose. It just happened because Joey didn’t care if people got hurt. The kids fume a little about Joey thinking people in New Jersey aren’t as important as New Yorkers, and the same sorta idea crops up in that “Brant who?” knock-knock joke -- the whole point is that these kids aren’t selected or chosen or targeted for any reason. They’re just the people it happened to, the unimportant victims of Joey’s greed and reckless cruelty that he barely even bothered to notice, too distracted by his own shiny ambitions.

I’m conflicted because when I describe this, it sounds profound! It feels like there’s gotta be a way to make this concept work. But when in practice.... it felt more like, “why have I been reading about all this?” in the end. DCTL was also doomed -- we knew Buddy wasn’t going to expose Joey or kill the demon -- but we’re still excited to see what becomes of Buddy, and to learn more about this mystery he’s trying to uncover that we only know the outcome of, but not the process. But everything the kids were trying to do in that final showdown of TLO had such unclear stakes that’s hard to see it as more than pointlessly doomed. 

And I just.... feel like that showdown, and that focus on the ratcheting up of the kids’ emotions, is weirdly out of theme for the franchise as a whole. If I had to write a paper about BatIM’s original themes, I’d talk about being trapped and exploited, the price of obsession, and a loss of self -- and that could’ve played out here, watching the kids get drawn into something very scary. “No escape,” Scott says, but that can’t possibly be because Joey’s going to go around picking up every single Lost One in his car. How do Lost Ones come to be in Bendy and the Ink Machine? If Bill HAD stayed out of it, would that have worked, could he just have gone home and never touched the Ink again -- or would something have drawn him back, inexorably? Is there any sort of slow (but not slow enough) transformation? Constance is so easy to picture because she immediately jumps into questionable science (in a way that made me feel so robbed that we weren’t getting this scene in a Susie book!!). She wants to stop it and understand it and she wants to know more and it’s so easy to imagine that spiralling into something that pulls her back to the machine. Or Bill being so terrified of this thing he can’t seem to hide from, and eventually having to go back just to know if it really even happened, as a growing obsessive paranoia leads him to increasingly lose touch with his normal life. Instead of storming the machine and fighting the demon -- something that I suspect very few JDS employees did -- we could have seen a picture of what happens to people who get caught up in the ink by accident.

We ALMOST got that. We got so, SO CLOSE to that, to the point that some pieces of that narrative started to play out!! But then the creepy supernatural effects were explained with great certainty, while none of the actual, like, mystery was uncovered at all. Why is the machine here? What is Joey trying to do? What does Thomas think he’s trying to do? We can guess at all this based on DCTL, but the adults and demon never get compelling motives here, just vague hints that don’t come to anything within this story. The kids never learn what the demon is, and don’t consider that the ink might be connected with animation until the story is almost done.

I know a lot of people have complained that there’s too much focus on the characters who are Not Previously Established Bendy Characters, but I think, while that’s a valid feeling, in some cases it might be a misplaced complaint. Bendy: The Lost Ones could have unrelated teens and still have them learn about the machine, about the demon, and about the horrors of JDS and what Joey has done in a way that connects back to the actual story of BatIM, but they don’t -- and to me, that’s why it feels like... like, it’s not a bad book. A lot of it is quite engaging! But it still feels detached from Bendy in a way that’s tough to put a finger on.