#also why are we getting a watch sponsor what's happened to this place

[theoryandahalf]

EXCUSE ME, MR DAPPER TOM, SOON TO BE HOST OF YOUTUBE'S GAME THEORY.

IS THAT A CRAVAT?

[lnlightning81]

Set Up [CL16]

Summary: You meet Daniel Ricciardo at a Red Bull athlete sponsor event and become friends. When you finally accept his offer to go to a Grand Prix, he sets you up on a date with a fellow driver.

Pairing/s: Daniel Ricciardo x Australian!Red Bull Athlete!Reader (Platonic), Charles Leclerc x Australian!Red Bull Athlete! Reader

A/N: Had the idea that the reader is a speed skater because why not. However there's only one slight mention of that at the end so you can imagine the reader to be any athlete.

Word Count: 1.4k

Masterlist Charles Leclerc Masterlist Tag List Coming Soon

Public events were always the worst, but that came with being an athlete for Red Bull. It was yet another one of their sponsor events that all athletes had to attend so here you were in a fancy black tie dress surrounded by lots of sponsors and lots of other athletes that also probably didn’t want to be there. 

The dark blue dress hugged your figure in just all the places that it needed to. Accepting a flute of champagne from the server walking around the room, you settled down at your table in front of your name place. Looking at the names around the rest of the table ,you sighed as you didn’t recognise any of them. 

Ten minutes later, people started sitting around the table. The names on the table help you find out their names without having to have an awkward conversation. Scotty James was the first person to sit down. Now that you’d seen his face, you knew who he was. You’d spoken to him a few times at past events. 

“Oh hey Y/N” He smiled, and you looked over 

“Evening Scotty. No wife this time?” You asked, and he shook his head 

“No, she's at home. Wasn’t interested in another one of these events” You nodded while taking a drink of champagne. More people started to sit down, and throughout the night, you started hitting it off with Daniel Ricciardo.

~~~

A few months after the event, Daniel had invited you to watch a Grand Prix after staying in touch. Being a Red Bull athlete meant that cameras were on you from the second you walked into the paddock. Daniel is waiting at the side for you with his signature smile 

“Y/N L/N” He cheered, holding out the syllables as he walked over. You smiled, giving him a hug 

“Daniel Ricciardo” You laughed while walking with him. 

“So I’ve been thinking” Daniel hummed, and you turned your head to look at him 

“That’s not a good thing” You joked, and he rolled his eyes 

“You were complaining the other day that you saw some tyres getting more attention than you have recently, but I came up with a plan” You raised an eyebrow, looking at him

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea, and I don’t even know what it is” You muttered, and he laughed 

“I’ve got a friend. He’s also a driver, but he’s also very single, and I think you’d be a perfect match together” He explained 

“I am not going out with Lando Norris” You warned, and he laughed 

“No it’s not Lando” He shook his head

“You got Max and Kelly to break up?” You joked, and he rolled his eyes, walking into the garage with you 

“I did not. Do you trust me, though?” He asked, and you looked at him sceptically 

“Not really no” You shrugged 

“Never mind I’ll take my date back then” You rolled your eyes 

“Who’s this date with then?” You asked 

“You’ll see. You don’t happen to have that dress from the night we met, do you?” He asked 

“No, not in Monaco” You shook your head 

“Do you have any like that in Monaco?” He asked 

“Kinda? I’ve got a red version of it. Well it’s not similar in any way, but I’ve got a red long dress in my apartment. But the blue one’s back in Melbourne” You shrugged 

“Wear the red dress then. You’ll be picked up at seven tonight. That’s all I’m saying” 

“You don’t even know where I stay?” You frowned 

“I was hoping you’d tell me that detail” You laughed, shaking your head. 

And so at seven o’clock there was a knock on your apartment door. You grabbed your purse, walking over to the door and pulled it open to see the person you least expected standing at your door. Neither of you said anything as you just looked at each other. 

“Woah” He mumbled, causing you to smile slightly 

“Woah yourself” You hummed 

“You know, when Daniel said he was setting me up, I didn’t know what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t you” He smiled. 

“I could say the same thing Charles” You smiled, taking his hand as he held it out for you. You walked down to his Ferrari with him. Smiles covering your faces as he helped you into the car. 

“So where are we going tonight, Mr Leclerc?” You asked as he got into the car as well. 

“Well I obviously had to find somewhere for both our diets, but there’s a little restaurant that I quite like next to the harbour, so I figured we could go there?” He suggested, and you nodded 

“That sounds like a good plan” You smiled, looking over at him before turning to look out the window at the views that were passing. When arriving at the restaurant, Charles got out of the car first before rushing around to help you out. Passing the keys off to a member of staff that would park the car safely for him. 

Getting seated was easy. Charles had made reservations asking to be hidden in the back of the restaurant so that you could enjoy yourself without having to have fans asking either of you for autographs or pictures every couple of minutes. Or the worst thing. Fans taking pictures without you realising getting the worst angles. You both ordered your drinks and food, opting for non-alcoholic drinks not even because Charles was driving but because your diets didn’t really allow alcohol. 

“So why Monaco?” Charles asked 

“I’m actually only here on holiday. I live in the UK” You confessed, and he nodded 

“Why Monaco for a holiday then?” He chuckled, and you smiled 

“Daniel invited me to the Grand Prix and after meeting him at a Red Bull athlete event. I actually got into the sport, so when he offered, I couldn’t say no. I’d like to end up retiring in Monaco, though. Sell both of my houses and just live here” You explained and he nodded

“It’s lovely here. Although I may be a little biassed but oh well” You let out a laugh 

“So you’ve got a house in the UK, but where’s your other?” He asked, leaning back in the chair 

“Melbourne obviously” You laughed, and he nodded

“Should have seen that coming” You nodded 

“Let me guess. House in Monaco and house in Italy” You guessed 

“Spot on. Hotels everywhere else” He nodded, and you chuckled. The conversation flowed easily about your different training and different lifestyles but also things that you had in common. 

“I’ve always wanted a dog but with all these competitions and travelling it just never felt right but when I retire in Monaco the first thing I do except find a home is get a dog” You nodded and he chuckled 

“Just out of curiosity, what kind of age do people in your sport retire?” He asked, tilting his head a little 

“I’ve got about a year left realistically, but I’m aiming to reach the 2026 winter olympics before I retire” You sighed 

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to ask it like that” He winced a little, and you shook your head 

“No, it wasn’t you. Don’t worry. I just hate that I had to pick a sport that requires such early retirement. I love skating, and I think I’ll always skate, and obviously, going at speed is very enjoyable” You both laughed at the statement 

“Maybe we should sign you up for a hot lap. See how you enjoy our kind of fast” You smiled 

“I would very much enjoy that. I know for a fact you go about two hundred miles an hour faster than I do” You chuckled, and he frowned 

“How fast do you go?” He asked, and you shrugged

“About thirty-five miles an hour? Roughly. Give or take depends on the day, where I’m competing, and who I’m competing against” You shrugged as his eyes widened

“Seriously?” He asked, and you nodded 

“Deadly” You smiled 

“Maybe I’ll have to come watch you work one day” He smiled, and you tilted your head

“That would be so much fun getting you on the ice with me” 

And so you did. During the break between a couple of races, you got Charles onto an ice rink and skating with you. He wasn’t enjoying it as much as you were, but it made for a great second official date. Something you’d never tell Daniel just yet.

Tag List

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[kiwisa]

Watch Out, Boys ✷ cl16

✷ SECOND INTERLUDE OF THE TAMING OF THE HEARTBREAKER

━━━━━  PREVIOUS & NEXT !

in which... Y/N's invitation to the Miami GP means trouble !

AS THE HALL & OATES' SONG GOES: "Watch out, boys, she'll chew you up." Because, if there's one thing we know, it's that putting Y/N L/N and 20 conventionally attractive men in the same place is never a good idea. 

Yet, that is precisely what's going to happen in a few days at the Miami International Autodrome. The actress, who will play the iconic Barbie in Greta Gerwig's adaptation, has been invited by Ray-Ban to the Miami Grand Prix on May 8.

The news was announced on Ferrari’s TikTok account⏤which the eyewear brand sponsors⏤and has since then sparked numerous reactions. While these vary, one common thread stands out: the fear of havoc. Admittedly, L/N turns heads and sows discord wherever she goes. 

Formula One is already a chaotic world, adding Y/N L/N and her shenanigans to the mix would only make it worse. 

Since her list of actors waiting to be seduced is dwindling, this event presents itself as a bargain for the Academy Award-winning actress, who will only have to draw someone from 20 options to be her next prey. 

If the possibilities are considerably reduced by one small element to consider⏤the WAGs⏤L/N has shown before that she is not above immorality when it comes to getting her way. Her affair with Harry Styles, even though he was rumoured to be in a relationship with Olivia Wilde at the time, is formal proof of this. 

Hide your men, ladies, because The Heartbreaker is in town and ready to pounce!

✷ SEE ALSO ON LOVE CLUB... !

Y/N L/N named the highest-paid actress of 2021 by Forbes

"Name a more iconic character? You can't" Y/N on being cast as Barbie for Greta Gerwig's movie

Is Harry Styles cheating on Olivia Wilde with Y/N L/N?

Of course, all eyes are now on the two Ferrari drivers, with whom L/N will spend most of her time (common sponsor dictates), and more particularly on Charles Leclerc, who is single.

It has been almost a month since the woman was last seen with anyone. A record! She's probably more determined than ever to get her hands on some fresh meat, and what better than a handsome, muscular driver who can speak French? We all know L/N's soft spot for the language of love. Her interviews remind us of it enough. So do her many French conquests.

We just hope that the actress' famous bedroom eyes will not trouble the Monegasque and make him lose his race. The fans of Il Predestinato would not react kindly to this.

He is, after all, one of the current favourites for the championship.

In any case, no matter what happens over the weekend, the outcome is bound to be interesting. Because, while her actions are open to criticism, Y/N L/N's impact is undeniable.

The woman is already the talk of the paddock and she hasn’t even set foot on it yet.

FILED UNDER #Y/NL/N #F1 #ACTORS #SPORTS #MIAMI #DATING

Sort by Latest ↓

Anonymous 15 minutes ago

It's already a miracle that she hasn't tried to fuck football players yet, if she could keep this up with F1 it would be great.

Anonymous 38 minutes ago

I will never understand why celebrities who have nothing to do with F1 and probably don't give a shit about it either are invited to all GP. It's ridiculous.

Anonymous 51 minutes ago

There's something about Y/N that I just hate. It's physical at this point. I can only stand her in movies. Probably because she doesn't act like herself in those...

Anonymous 1 hour ago

No, but I swear she really has a libido problem. This is the only explanation. She must be a nymphomaniac. Or just a whore. Or both.

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[dreamauri]

begging for a new “for sentimental reasons” chapter.

I AM STARVED

♪ — 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 - part nine charles leclerc  x  fem! driver! reader (angst) “… forgetting is troublesome especially when you used to be enemies.”

voice notes 🔊 . . . ( very short, sorry. AND BEFORE YOU READ. IM ALSO VERY VERY SORRY. theres still a few more chapters to get to. so, relax )

( fic master list | general master list ) ( requests ) ( previous | next )

You gulped as you turned up the volume on the tv, tears stinging your eyes as you watched Andrew Garfield's spider man on the TV, swinging around. And no matter how loud or visually distracting the movie was you could still hear your father shouting on the phone in the other room. Your one chance at getting a sponsor and you perform a very lovely last place. "ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THIS, BECAUSE I AM VERY HAPPY." You flinched as you watched him enter the room, shutting the door. "What was I even thinking? You're just a stupid girl."

-

"Hey." You wiped your tears looking up at the blurry figure. "Bad day, huh?" He sat beside you. You looked at him confused, who was this guy? "You had a bad day too?" "Very bad." You could almost put a finger on his accent. "What happened to you?" A deep sigh rocked your chest as you reieved your memories from earlier. "I haven't been performing that well in my profession recently, my team is going to drop me . . . My dad was right, I'm just a stupid girl." "I beg to differ . . . When I look at you I see, . . . this strong woman who's put me in shock several times. She's very strong, and just as beautiful." You tried to blink your eyes clean. Who was this drunk stranger trying to comfort an equally drunk girl on the side of the street. "What's your name?" “Carl.” He lied straight through his teeth.

-

“Carl? Are you following me? What are you doing in this part of the world?” “I was going to ask you that question! I missed you!”

-

“How long till she realizes Carl is the guy she hates the most in the world?” “Shut up, Lando.” “Oh, I’m sorry Charles— I mean, Carl.”

-

“Hey?” You snapped your head up, looking at the boy confused. Now was really not the time. You were balancing your whole weight on your feet. Rehabilitation sessions after a 48g crash wasn’t something you could chat through. “Leclerc. If you don’t mind, I’m expecting company—” “I am company.” “Boy, just go. I have no energy to fight with you.” “I’m Carl . . .” You scoffed, rolling your eyes. “Yeah I know, now please leave.”

-

“Y/N, please.” Charles held your hand. “In the time I spent with you, I’ve grown . . . feelings for you.” You chuckled. “You grew feelings? What is it? A plant? You don't grow feelings, Charles.” “Now's not the time to correct my english!” “Yeah yeah. Okay well, we were drunk, drunk people do stupid stuff.” “I wasn’t drunk! You were.” “—I’ll punch your face.” “SORRY, sorry. Just. I really do love you, Y/N!” “HAH— AND I'M A POTATO.”

-

“Give me this one chance! Please, Y/N." "Why should I?! Why do you love me?" "I— I dont know?! You make me happy! You make me feel safe. Its just— sentimental reasons, okay?"

★ ☆ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Oh . . .”

In extreme truth revealing situations, emotions are always easy to blind humans, especially when it comes to betrayal. Somepeople may act rashly and take risks. Some people stand incredibly still. Their eyes wide, heart cracking and shattering. Some feel silent anger, others feel a panic attack crashing in. 

Maybe things can be better. Right? You can always fix what's broken, whether it was objects or bones. Feelings too. You can fix your feelings, yes? Yes? You can forgive him. Of course you can, can you not? You love him. You need him. 

The tears that fill your eyes start to run down your cheeks and neck. A hiccup slowly leaves your lips as you continue to look down at your shoes. Breathing was getting harder and your hands that hugged you into yourself gripped your biceps a little too harshly, warm crimson was dripping down your arm and fingers.

“H—how—” how dare you, you wanted to ask. The blurry figure in red tried to take a step closer only for you to take one back in return. “I thought I— I thought—” You shut your mouth to hold back the sobs. You brushed your hair from your face, a sad chuckle leaving your lips as you wiped your eyes.

“Why—” You looked at Charles, demanding an explanation. The pain felt immense. The panic washed away and was soon replaced by anger and sadness. “I thought I could trust you? I thought we were a team?” You took a step forward grabbing his wrist holding up the pliers. “I don’t even want to know what you were doing.”

 You dropped his hand before pushing past him. 

[nanowrimo]

How to Choose the Right Story Idea

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Scrivener, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is an award-winning writing app containing all the tools you need to get writing and keep writing. They’ve teamed up with S J Watson, bestselling author of Before I Go To Sleep, to get some tips on deciding if your story idea is a good one. 

If you’re writing fiction, the thing that must come first is the idea. Without that we have nothing. But what are ideas; how do we get them; and crucially, how can we choose which ones are good enough to sustain a long piece of fiction? 

These are big questions, so let’s consider them here. 

What is an Idea?

I came across two interesting dictionary definitions of what an idea is:

Something such as a thought or conception that is the product of mental activity; and

A sense that something can happen, a notion or expectation.

The seeds of ideas are everywhere. Everything we see, hear, read or watch can spark a thought, and we need to remain alert to those sparks, as some might become useful ideas. But being alert is not enough. Rarely do ideas arrive fully formed. Usually we have to actively work on promising nuggets in order to turn them into gold. We can’t just sit around and wait for the lightning bolt to strike.

Instead, get used to actively, and playfully, interrogating your daily musings. Ask yourself questions. ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ or, ‘Why did that person just..?’ etc. Don’t censor yourself. Let your mind take you to wild and fanciful places. You can always reign it back in later. Fill your notebook.

Choosing an idea to work on

Not all ideas are created equal. So how do we choose? Look at the second definition above. Some ideas seem exciting at first but they’re limited. It’s hard to see how they can lead to interesting characters and high-stakes conflict. Others invite you into a world brimming with possibilities. They seem to open doors. These are the ones to work on.

The best, most fertile ideas, are magnetic. They grow by attracting other ideas to them. You’ll notice connections, and find yourself asking ‘What if..?’ and ‘I wonder why..?’ more and more. When this happens, you know you’re on to something, but at this point it can still help to ask yourself some questions.

First, which ideas excite you?  Are there any that you can’t quite believe no one else has written? If so, go for it! If not, then perhaps proceed more cautiously. Don’t reject them outright, necessarily. Maybe you just need an extra ingredient or two. Give it time and wait until you do get that glimmer of excitement. 

Next, can you see a protagonist with a goal and obstacles that stand in their way? If not, maybe you have an idea for a situation, but not an actual novel. ‘What if a totalitarian regime came to power?’ is not an idea for a story, but ‘What if two people fall in love in a world governed by a regime that has outlawed romantic attachment?’ is. Again, keep going, stir the pot until you can come up with characters and conflict.

Also ask, are the stakes high enough to maintain a reader’s interest, and if not can they be raised? Are their problems, if not universal, then at least relatable? A professor searching for the key to immortality is one thing, but a professor searching for the key to immortality because his wife is dying is suddenly something else. Keep going until you feel that tug of universality. 

Finally, does your idea seem original?  This is important, but beware! Almost everything has been done before, the key is how you combine ideas and what you do with them. Don’t reject every idea that is reminiscent of something else, but instead look for how you’re going to make it your own. 

In short, daydream, be playful with your thoughts and observations, and sooner or later something will come along that seems on fire with possibility. Congratulations! Now the hard work starts…

SJ Watson is author of Before I Go To Sleep, which was turned into a film starring Nicole Kidman. He has since published two further psychological thrillers, Second Life and Final Cut, and has set up The Writers’ Lodge, which aims to help and support writers at every stage of their creative writing journey. S J Watson recently launched a public novel writing project called The Experiment. He writes using Scrivener.

All NaNoWriMo participants receive 20% off Scrivener for macOS and Windows from now until December 7, 2023, with the code NANOWRIMO23 .

Top photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash.

[thewitchwannabe]

Sneaking in (ninja style!)

The plan was simple enough, sneak in, get any information they could find on whatever the purple dragons were building, get out. Master Splinter even accepted their little endeavor. And so Leona stood on the top of the rooftop with her siblings and their two human allies. The plan was simple; the four turtles would sneak into the mechanical shop that worked at one the dragon’s hideouts, to find anything as to what they are doing with the tech. Casey will provide the getaway distraction, while April oversees the whole thing through the security cameras around. Donny set April up with their laptop and a headset with a microphone, “you have 6 cameras to watch over, you can double click on any of them to freeze the video for a few seconds, but if everything goes right you won't even see us”. 

April nodded with a confident smile, Casey crouched next to his childhood friend to look at the screen. His mind seemed to get a thought as his lips pulled into a tight line trying not to say. “Jones, don't you dare” April warned, but it was completely ignored. “Oh my gawd it's just like fnaf!”, the vigilante said. The two humans burst out laughing, quickly joined by Mikey who also thought the joke was hilarious. Donny, Raph and Leona stood watching the scene, with mostly amused smiles. Leo walked closer, placing her hand on Mikey’s shell, “according to the research Donny made, the opening should be happening in a few minutes so we gotta get moving”, she said “Casey you stay with April until we give the signal, alright?”

“You got it, blue” The human boy said with a sly smile. Leo felt her cheeks warm up at the nickname, but quickly went back into leader mode, instructing her siblings to follow her. The four ninjas jumped from the window with practiced ease.

The back door of the mechanical shop opened revealing a rookie member carrying two trash bags. From the shadows of the alleyway, four pairs of white eyes watched the unaware guy as he opened the trash bin. A fast shuriken shot from the shadows, creating cuts in both bags, making all the contents spill onto the floor. Making use of the distracted guy and the unlocked door, the four turtles slipped inside the building. 

The building had two stories, one used for the actual mechanic stuff, having different cars and car pieces around the first floor. While the other was offices and storage rooms. Or at least that's what they appeared to be. In reality it was more like the purple dragon's little club house. Leo spotted about twelve guys scattered across the floor, with only three of them actually working on a green van.

Carefully the ninja made their way to the second floor. A hallway of doors in front of them, one of said doors busted open as a clearly intoxicated guy walked out. The guy didn’t even see the turtles as they quickly climbed onto the ceiling and into a vent. Making their way through the air ducts, they looked through and counted another 6 gang members chilling and drinking around the place. But nothing that looked important. That is until Raph signaled at the vent he was checking. It lead to a sort of office. Two figures stood inside, the bigger one, that Raph recognized as Hun talked loudly.

“Those Foot bastards are holdin’ up on us, only giving us Baxter used stuff.” The gang leader said picking up some sort of machine and throwing it against the wall.

The other guy was of a darker complexion, clearly fit but significantly smaller than the huge Hun. “I still don’t get why we need them, we’ve been doing perfectly fine on our own,” the guy said, not even flinching at Hun’s actions. 

“Cuz right now we’re only small pond fishes, Xever, but with the stuff those ninjas can get us, we’ll be able to expand even further” Hun explained rather angrily. 

The guy, Xever, rolled his eyes at Hun. “So did you have anything important to say or did you just come here to talk shit about our sponsors?” 

Hun narrowed his eyes at Xever, as he walked over to the smaller man. Towering over him he roughly pushed something none of the turtles could make out into Xever’s chest. “Shredhead wants to meet with us” he said “Don’t be late”

Xever looked as Hun walked out the room, before pocketing the object. “Whatever you say boss” he said before following behind the gang leader. 

The office room was left silent and completely abandoned. Donnie asked April to freeze the video of the room before the youngest turtle busted the vent and jumped down, quickly followed by his siblings. The room was filled with blueprints and what looked like unfinished prototypes. Donny quickly got to work scanning the blueprints, quickly followed by Mikey completely destroying them. Leo and Raph looked through the boxes finding similar machines as the ones they got with Casey. Once he was done, Donny tossed Mikey a tiny mic, “Place it somewhere they don't see it” they instructed. The orange banded turtle gave a joking salute and went to find the perfect spot.

Donny reached his other siblings inspecting two almost completed models of the robot depicted in the blueprints. “We’re taking those, it’s much more finished than the ones we have in the lair”, Leo gave a sharp nod and went to pack the robot and a few spare parts into boxes. Raph looked up at the vent they had used to get it, and then back at the rather large boxes. “I don’t think we’ll be able to fit those through the vents”. Mikey appeared suddenly leaning heavily against his younger brother, who tried to swat him away only getting a chuckle from the other turtle. “I think Raphie is right guys” he says finally letting go of his brother.

The older sibling looked at the vents and then back at each other, silently agreeing. They agreed that they were going to have to get out the “normal way”, aka actually using the hallways. But doing so while carrying two big and heavy boxes and not being spotted by the approximately 20 gang members inside the building was not exactly easy. Luckily they had a distraction at the ready. Leo pressed her fingers to the earpiece, “Hey Case, time to do your thing” she said. The line turned to static for a second before Casey’s voice resonated in Leo’s earpiece, “Roger that, preciosa”. Despite not knowing what he had called her, the playful tone of the vigilante’s voice made her face warm up. Her mask hiding the small blush that formed on her cheeks. 

April informed them that Casey, now decked out with his mask, hockey bag filled with sports equipment and a pair of roller blades, had gone out to the main entrance of the mechanic shop to rile up the gang, with somewhat disturbing efficiency. Easily getting Xever and the whole gang inside the building to come out. Which correlated to the turtles hearing how the people in the second floor ran out their respective rooms. Waiting a few seconds to make sure everyone was gone, the four ninja carefully slipped out of the office. As they reached the first floor, they noticed the garage door wide open. Outside stood the gang members surrounding Casey. The gang was rowdy and impatient, ready to jump on the teenage vigilante.

Xever held a hand up, telling his guys to calm down “Go home garoto, Hun is already gone, so no need to beat you up” he said.

“What's wrong? Not so tough without your boss around, huh?” Casey loudly teased. Xever stood in front of the vigilante with an annoyed look. 

“You do realize we drastically outnumber you right?” Xever asked

“You do realize half your guys are completely drunk right?” the vigilante retorted 

The turtles knew exactly where the human’s little conversation was going, so they got back to action. They were almost at the door they entered through, when Donny spotted the green van sitting in the workshop. “I got an idea, go help Casey!” Donny said, running to the van with one of the boxes. Quickly picking up on Donny’s idea, Leo dropped her own boxes next to the vehicle and instructed her brothers to follow her. As the turtles start making they way towards their friend Xever brings down his hand, telling his people to go at Casey. 

The vigilante used his rollerblades to quickly evade the attacks coming at him. Many of them were sloppy, and unrefined as they tried to fight their own intoxication. Pulling his hockey stick, Casey blocked and hit his opponents. But he became predictably outnumbered, as the gang came in closer. Suddenly a fast blur that knocked out several goons appeared before him. “You really do know how to make an entrance blue”, Casey said. The turtle turned to face her friend with a confident smile and both swords drawn. “Not just me”, she said and as clockwork two more figures joined them, Mikey and Raph beating their way to them. 

The four stood with their backs against each other as the dragons quickly surrounded them, everything stood still for a second before one of the goons yelled “Get them!” and the fighting resumed. The four vigilantes took on the onslaught of gangsters, while Donny worked on hijacking the van in the mechanic shop. Casey used his great variety of equipment to attack his opponents, keeping them at a hockey stick length, while he used his rollerblades to skate around them and place a solid hit. Mikey jumped around the battlefield, mocking and teasing the drunken goons, easily avoiding their sloppy attacks and returning fast and hard hits with his chucks. Raph stood closer to his brother, taking on the guys that were left stunted from a nunchuck to the face, using his sais to bring them down. Leona was elegant as always, moving light on her feet like a butterfly, swiftly disarming her opponents as well as assisting both her brothers and Casey when needed. 

Xever stood back watching the fight, finally seeing the turtle freaks Hun had told him about with his own eyes. He dodges a few of his stumbling men as they walk off the hits they got and makes his way to the center of the fight. He pushes his way through until he’s face to face with the masked vigilante one again. “So little Armando really is friends with freaks”, he said, taking a hold of the baseball bat heading his way. Casey immediately dropped the bat and fell to his knees allowing Leo to jump on his back to attack Xever. The sword managed to grace Xever’s leg as he moved out the way. The two teens stood side by side, Leo gripped her katana tighter as Casey pulled out a golf club. Xever looked around to see most of his guys laying on the floor semi unconscious. 

Just as he was weighing his options, from the open garage a van rolled out at max speed towards them. Making a large drift it surrounded the group and got behind Casey and the turtles. Behind the wheel was Donny and April who had made her way to the mechanic shop while everyone was distracted with the fight. Leo signaled for Mikey and Raph to get in the van. The younger turtles gave their opponents a final hit before quickly getting in through the van’s back door. Once his little siblings were aboard Donny shifted the gear into reverse and back away and onto the street at a somewhat moderate pace. 

Leo and Casey stood back not making sure they weren’t trying to follow them. Leona shot three shurikens at the guys trying to go for their own vehicles, while Casey rounded the still conscious goons with his skates. Xever could only look as the group of teens left his group in shambles. Leo looked back at the van seeing it a little further down the street with the back doors fully open. “Casey! let’s book it!”, she said, deming her opponents effectively defeated and her siblings at a safe distance. Both her and Casey started running after the van which slowed down a little after seeing them approaching. Using his rollerblades to move faster Casey caught up to Leo “Let’s go preciosa!”, in a swift move lifted her from the ground bridal style. Leo’s eyes went wide open and her face warmed up as the vigilante held her tighter. Casey made sure to turn his head back at Xever who was watching them get away, and stuck his tongue out mockingly. It didn’t take long for the two of them to catch up to the moving van. Casey dropped Leo inside as gently as he could and was quickly pulled up by the oldest turtle. 

They looked back at the mess of purple dragons laying in the street, Xever looking rather pissed. Casey could help but smirk at their handiwork, “Hey blue, wanna learn some spanish?” he asked. Leo looked at her human friend and nodded with an amused look. The vigilante took a deep breath and yelled “CHINGUEN A SU MADRE!”. From the front seat Leo heard April burst out laughing, quickly followed by Casey and her sibling. She copied Casey’s deep breath, and tried her best to repeat what Casey had said. Knowing very well it was most likely a curse word but not finding it in herself to care, as she was filled with adrenaline and joined the human’s laughter. Quickly followed by her siblings. She and Casey closed the van’s door, big smiles plastered on their faces. Leona felt her face warm up in a way that was becoming rather familiar as she laughed with Casey. The teens rode on their new van back to the lair to celebrate their successful mission.

Part 1

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[kvetchinglyneurotic]

ok i just finished season 1 of daredevil and i will have articulate things to say about it at some point but for now here's the stream of consciousness notes i took while i was watching:

-I like Jack Murdock as a portrayal of a loving but flawed parent — like he clearly cares for Matt so much and he’s doing his best but there’s some parts of a “normal” childhood he just doesn’t really have the resources to provide. That being said being stupidly self-sacrificial clearly runs in the family. Just take the dive and collect your money my guy 

-“you shouldn’t be sneaking around at night you could get hurt”/ “we need to do this within the legal system” Matthew you fucking hypocrite (affectionate)

-weirdly fascinated by the way Fisk & co. translate for their sketchy group meeting that always seem to take place in abandoned parking garages, especially with how Wesley gives the general idea of what they’re saying instead of a direct translation — ok update i suspected this was because Fisk actually understood what everyone was saying and I was right!

-I like Foggy but I disagree with him about the purpose of a defense attorney — he wants to represent people who aren’t guilty/were justified in what they did but everyone deserves representation even if they 100% did the thing and were 100% wrong in doing so 

-Honestly probably worked out better for Matt that Stick was only around for a couple of years at the most. Also symbolic that he left before teaching Matt to use knives — Matt never fully goes down the road of lethal force (I mean some of the things he does definitely would kill people in real life but in real life he’d also be dead so it evens out) or fully cuts off the people he cares about. Also are they implying that the reason Matt doesn’t permanently have broken ribs and/or major blood loss that he meditates? I mean suspension of disbelief obviously but that is. very funny 

-Fisk is, on the one hand, very detail-oriented, but he’s also impulsive and emotionally reactive, so he has to come up with plans to cover for it. Also I feel like his and Wesley’s relationship is going to implode at some point. Or one of them (probably Wesley since Fisk is like. the main villain) is going to die

-are they sponsored by Dell 

-obviously I know why they do this for cinematic reasons but it’s very funny that in-universe Fisk gives his entire speech in 1x08 without actually saying his name until he dramatically announces at the end. Although maybe that’s just for dramatic effect and in-universe he's just repeating it? Also don’t throw your computer Matt you have no money 

-Matt’s smug little smile when Karen says the man in the mask looks badass flipping around :3 

-“the whole wounded, handsome duck thing” 

-i love how much they dwell on the actual implications of finding out your friend is secretly a vigilante/has had superpowers the entire time you’ve known each other, and that knowing they go out at night to beat people up, even if it’s for the “right” reasons, would still be alarming 

-actually not bad on the nighttime colour-grading front! I can see what’s happening which is better than most shows 

-I appreciate that there’s an actual plot about/explanation of how Matt gets his body armour 

-Wow who could have guessed leaving the gun in the middle of the table was a bad idea. I kind of liked Wesley but honestly what a dumbass way to die. Do admire the bluff though “you don’t really believe I’d put a loaded gun where you could reach it?” 

-love the approach to superhero realism here — not necessarily in the abilities or the way the plot is constructed (although that’s good, too) but in the characters’ reactions (Foggy finding out about Matt; Karen when she kills Wesley, Fisk when he finds out Wesley is dead) 

-“I thought your days of being relevant were past” ouch 

-reasons Wilson Fisk is evil: murder, drug dealing, doesn’t like cat videos 

-I do like that Fisk kind of gets the power of friendship thing though? But like it makes him worse 

-I’m very much not the most qualified to make this judgement and I’d want to check what people who actually *are* in a position to judge have to say about it, but I feel like this show has a bit of an… orientalism problem, I guess? But orientalism that also includes Russians, and also I know this is partly an extension of her being a very minor character but Doris (Ben Urich’s wife) is the only character who seems like she’s *only* there to like. encourage others through her wise words and doesn’t have much of an internal life of her own (besides the priest I guess but I feel like with priests that’s kind of their job) 

-Did Foggy not go to Ben’s funeral? 

-Fisk is also going to kill Leland. Maybe stop killing all your allies Fisk 

-I think it’s cute that Matt still holds onto Foggy’s arm when they’re walking even when it’s just the two of them and Foggy already knows that he doesn’t need to do it 

-Why does Marvel keep naming wise mentor figures who die Ben? Matt and Peter Parker should make a club (is Ben Urich in the comics? I haven't read the comics)

-“while actively being arrested” has got to win some sort of award for worst marriage proposal but I guess I admire that he just went for it? 

-Ominously large number of minutes left in this episode after the seeming resolution 

-Matt’s dumbass little horns <3

-Fisk: “You think one man in a silly little costume will make a difference?” bro *you* thought one man in a silly little costume would make a difference when you were the one man. Also I hope the silly little costume protects Matt from blunt force trauma 

-I’m honestly still not entirely sure how/if Nelson & Murdock actually made any money

-I feel like that bit near the beginning where Karen and Matt both have secrets and Foggy’s like “I wish I had a secret” describes their dynamic basically

[xf-cases-solved]

S1E20: Darkness Falls

Case: You know it's gonna be a good time when our heroes have to take off their government office clothes and put on some survival gear. Similar to Ice—which we all know is a top tier episode—Darkness Falls sees Mulder and Scully on the hunt to discover what happened to a team of loggers that disappeared in Olympic National Forest up in Washington. (Spoiler alert: Bad things happened to the loggers.) After the discovery of one of the loggers inside of a gigantic bug cocoon—and after the ominous testimony and environmentalist rant of a random eco-terrorist raiding their base for food—our dynamic duo and their episode sidekick NPCs conclude that there's a serious pest control problem happening out there in the forest, and the only thing that will keep them safe is staying in the light. Good thing they aren't stranded, and that Mulder didn't give away all their extra fuel, and that they definitely have more than just one single lightbulb and a sputtering generator to get them through the night. Oh, wait. 😬

Mulder has weird sexual tension with an eco-terrorist; Scully has the Coat of All Time™️ (in my notes, I literally just have the word COAT written down and then underlined); a forest service marshal has had it up to here with these dumb treehuggers; and CGI is once again used liberally, this time to create fluorescent green bugs that suck you dry (and not in a fun way). Let's go on a nice trip to the forest! 

Does someone die in the cold open: Yes

Does Mulder present a slideshow: Yeah boi!

Does the evidence survive the investigation: Nah, the government is destroying that shit posthaste.

Whodunit: Old bugs

Convictions: None necessary

Did they solve it: Yes! Using Ice rules here. The evidence was technically destroyed, but they were able to solve the case before that happened. Also, that quarantine facility doesn't look like a fun time and I feel bad for them, so I'll toss 'em a bone.

[how do i determine if a case is solved? check the scale here: x]

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: Giant, ugly, multicolored 90s raincoats on tiny people. Provide decades of delight to people all over the world by wearing a giant, ugly, multicolored 90s raincoat on your tiny, tiny frame. You look adorable. You are also so tiny. Why did you buy your raincoat at Big and Tall??

***

General Total Stats:

(green means stat has changed since last ep; red means new stat added to list)

Total Cases *Definitively* Solved So Far: 10 (streak restarted. it's fucking ping pong up in here)

Total Number of "Mulder/Scully, It's Me" Phone Calls: 1

Total Number of Times Scully Has Conveniently Not Seen Something Crucial: 5

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Been in Mortal Danger: 6

Total Number of Times Scully Has Been in Mortal Danger: 8

Total Number of Sexually Charged, Uncomfortably Intimate, and/or Flirty Moments Between Friendly Coworkers: 10

Total Number of Autopsies Scully Has Performed On Screen: 2 (she examines a dead body, but there's like, not rly a lot left to do an autopsy on even if she had the space to do it)

Total Number of Times Scully Plays Doctor: 2

Total Number of Times Mulder Talks to an Informant: 10 

Total Number of Times People Making Out in a Car Are Hurt or Killed: 2

Total Number of Nosebleeds: 4

Total Number of Times Mulder Has Tasted/Sniffed/Touched Something Questionable Without Following Proper Safety Procedures: 2 

Total Number of Times Someone Says "Trust No One": 1 

Total Number of Times Someone Says "I Want to Believe": 3

Total Number of Times Someone Says "The Truth is Out There": 1

Total Number of Cigarettes Cigarette Smoking Man Has Smoked: 2

Total Number of Maggie Scully Sightings: 1

Total Number of Lone Gunmen Sightings: 1

Total Number of Alex Krycek Sightings: 0 :(

Total Number of Times I Had to Look Up What State the Episode Takes Place in Even Though I Literally Just Watched It: 7½ (i wrote it down in my notes lmfao)

Total Number of Times I Had to Look at an Episode's Wikipedia Page to Fill This Out Because It Was Fucking Confusing and/or Too Boring for Me to Pay Attention: 5 (nah man, i love Darkness Falls)

[ridiasfangirlings]

Yata Misaki taking in orphans that happened to be dangerous strains? (Of course, two of those orphans just happen to be Minoru and Megumi, -because why not?-)

Yata Misaki’s School for the Gifted and Talented XD Imagine this as like a post-ROK thing, where all these new Strains have popped up as a consequence of Hisui releasing the Slate. Megumi and Minoru have both been exhibiting minor powers but haven’t said anything to their parents, not really sure what’s going on and not wanting to worry them. Then Yata’s family gets caught up in some dangerous Strain situation that leads to Yata’s mom and stepdad dying and Minoru and Megumi both awakening their powers (kinda like how Neko’s powers awoke when the Kagutsu Crater happened). Luckily S4 are there to handle the aftermath and of course Fushimi immediately recognizes Yata’s siblings. When he realizes they’re both Strains he takes them aside, tells the squad to get them some food and watch over them, and then he immediately phones Yata. Poor Yata is obviously devastated to find out that his parents are dead and then on top of that he learns his siblings are Strains. Fushimi offers to reach out to the Golds to see what kind of power dampeners they have on hand but say there aren’t actually a lot of those around anymore, maybe some got destroyed in the Green clan’s rampage through Mihashira and the rest are being used on dangerous Strains who can’t be imprisoned without having their powers sealed.

Yata takes in his siblings and figures the best he can do is at least try to help them with their powers, they’re both all wide eyed and surprised when they find out that their big brother also has powers (though maybe Minoru expected, because he heard you could get powers from jungle and then he got that mail from Fushimi telling him to stop using it, and he kinda connected the dots that maybe Fushimi has powers and if he does Yata definitely does too). Imagine Yata takes them to the bar so Anna can help them with control and everything is going pretty well. In the meantime Yata starts winning skateboard competitions and even getting sponsors, making enough money to move to a bigger place where Minoru and Megumi can have more space.

One day there’s a big catastrophe involving some other criminal Strains near where Yata lives and Fushimi shows up at Yata’s place looking annoyed and toting a kid about Megumi’s age with him. He tells Yata that the kid is an orphan Strain who got caught in the mess, S4 will handle her eventually but right now they need someone to watch her and he knows Megumi is about the same age. Yata complains that he isn’t a babysitter but he takes the kid anyway because he can’t say no to a crying kid. Soon the kid is playing with Megumi, who’s showing her how to contain her powers, and Yata starts wondering what S4 is planning to do with her anyway. The kid might have other family but can they handle someone with powers and what if they turn her away, what if she gets pulled into shady stuff just because she’s different from other people.

And that’s how Yata suddenly finds himself taking care of a whole bunch of kids. I imagine him talking to Kusanagi and Anna about this and maybe Kusanagi helps him out some, Yata using the money he’s been winning from skateboarding and Kusanagi providing the business expertise to help set up like a Home for Wayward Strains. S4 assists with this too, imagine Fushimi showing up at Yata’s place to help him handle the financials, claiming it’s not like he wants to help Yata but Munakata thinks S4 should work with Yata as a partner on this and anyway here’s how we get you a bunch of government grants. It’s not all orphan kids, like some have parents but those parents can’t handle their kids’ powers so they stay for a while at Yata’s place until they learn control. Meanwhile whenever S4 finds a dangerous child Strain without parents they get brought right over to Yata’s place for help. 

Maybe some of the Strains that were working at S4 get brought over to Yata’s place too, as like teachers to help the kids learn control (and after she graduates Anna tells Yata that she’s always wanted to be a teacher, like Honami, and eventually she becomes one of the teachers at the school too). Yata has no idea how this happened, because he never thought an idiot like himself would run a school. At the same time he’s also kinda excited because after years of not really knowing what to do with himself he’s finally found something he’s passionate about and he gets to help all these people, he’s able to make sure all these kids will always feel like they have a place to belong no matter what.

[rou-luxe]

THEORIES

babe wake up tragic yaoi dropped *THIS ACCOUNT DOES NOT USUALLY POST ALNST FANTHEORIES. IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. theories / commentary / spoilers under the cut

I don't know 100% ALNST lore... most of this is speculation I think some people have commented on this already but apparently the one in the couple who wears white dies (Sua, Ivan) Following this pattern, Hyuna x Luka's relationship is complicated but if we go by that Luka is dying next round... But the next round is Till vs Luka, which would be different from the pattern (Sua vs Mizi, Ivan vs Till)... so maybe to complete the pattern Hyuna puts herself in instead of Till. mom pick me up I'm scared On top of that, Ivan wore black before, but switched to white. Does this have to do with something... (Was Till supposed to die instead...) Luka and Hyuna evidently have VERY different singing styles though so that would be interesting def Also the characters look older (not only the haircut man... they're taller) so I wonder... how much time has passed in ALNST??? and is it proportional to irl time (probably not) Not sure about the other videos I need to check but this time there are human spectators amongst the aliens in the crowd for the first time??? is alnst so powerful that they want to watch the showdown too??? Till sounds like he's about to break poor bb Till's lyrics in the beginning start off hopeless, asking someone to hurt him. To dissolve and drown in someone, to become one with them. Definitely Mizi. When Till's master shoves his face towards the newspaper, he's probably telling him to snap out of it, sing properly and let go of Mizi??? Then Till gets his ahh beat and he reaches for Mizi, his one hope in the darkness "Icy lips" - he already thinks Mizi is dead??? Ivan's eyes look empty. interruption from mizisua sponsor /j Even though the MIZISUA video is more of a backstory video, it also suits Round 1. I think it might suit Ivantill as well hold on When Mizi and Sua found each other (refer to MIZISUA video), Sua has lost hope already, but Mizi's love gives her some hope in the dark. Then they are torn apart, but still want to be together. The one who lives (Mizi) is in grief. Ivan's empty eyes look like he has lost hope, just like Sua. Till gave him a reason to keep going (see: Black Sorrow, their relationship shown in Cure <- this video)

Back to the video Till laying there by himself, Ivan moves the (muzzle?) restriction, maybe to help him breathe Ivan's verse reflects Till's but it's different in multiple ways "Cold words" - Referring to Till? (well... till has always been naturally sassy...) Similar to Till's statement in the first part, Ivan is saying that Till can break him apart and build him back again (mend) I guess they fought and became friends 💀 "I'll drown in you" as well. Till would sacrifice himself for Mizi, Ivan would sacrifice himself for Till (CRIES) Ivan feels "seen" by Till, Till wants to dissolve in Mizi's gaze Why does he reach for the back of Till's neck? Till unawares (sleeping)? Are the two somewhat related? Ivan reaches for Till (love) but Till unaware (once again 💀) Consume me + licking the blood from Till's wound. they really want to become one person don't they 2:46 Ivan turns away from the camera is he giving Till a kiss on the cheek or is he whispering something to Till in his sleep we'll never know

"We shall dance", with "our story". TOGETHER. THEY WANT TO BE TOGET- *gets shot* PLEASE LET THEM BE YAOI AGGHGH everlasting memory this moment will last forever THE KISS SCENE I WAS SO HAPPY AT FIRST AND THEN WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED I rewatched this video too many times the animation just too pretty man 😭 Till pushes him away I noticed this in a lot of promo arts and stuff because yk Mizi

okay back to the video Ivan's expression when he chokes Till kind of looks like him looking down at the camera like he did at the end of Black Sorrow am I reading too into this Till gives up. He doesn't even fight the choking. Normally this would be uncharacteristic but yk Mizi 😭😭 I'm confused how Ivan gets hit??? I think it's bullets but who knows maybe the rain is possessed or maybe Ivan did it himself Like in Till's song (it's been confirmed by the creators that Till killed his enemy to win apparently), if the enemy is killed then you win. Ivan sacrificed himself so Till could win, so Till could live There was also a theory I read that Luka was pissing off Mizi so she would fight back, so she would continue living BUT LUKA IS A WHOLE OTHER STORY THIS ISN'T ABOUT LUKA WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IVANTILL At the end of MIZISUA video, Mizi wakes up crying in the rain. Till stands in the rain staring at Ivan's corpse (but we don't see the body) The light is focused on Ivan, not Till. The light of Ivan's life has been snuffed out, but it also leaves Till in darkness I was expecting Till to make some sort of movement once the lights turned off but nope omg Luka vs Till... Till is gonna kill his ahh for disrespecting Mizi 💀 THE OTHER YAOI DUO!! WHAT HAPPENED TO HYUNA BRO IS MAMA GONNA DIE WHO INTRUDED imagine if the intruder was luka that would be so funny also there is a heavy heartbeat motif in the kick drums for the song omg there is no heartbeat during the music when - Kid Ivan stares deadly at the camera (it stops there) - Ivan enters stage - They build the heartbeat motif again slowly during the backstory part - back to life. Starts with a single kick then double - Ivan is falling insert ivantill my god my universe memes again, Till is literally Ivan's reason for living

thank you for reading my nonsense ramblings it's 3:30 am Ivantill is worth staying up any day THIS IS NOT PROOFREAD I am CRYING 🔥🔥 WE COPE GOOD NIGHT might draw ivantill fanart... doubt I have time though

[spooky-stille]

Hello you lot, it’s been a little while, how are you all doing?

I’m writing this, distracting myself from last minute packing for Glastonbury which is coming at me quick this weekend. I’m massively disorganised at the best of times so it’s absolute chaos round here. Piles of stuff all over the place. Gambling on no rain which feels like a bit of a risk, but hey. Glastonbury for me is like summer’s answer to Christmas, so I’m well excited. Some of our most surreal and favourite gigs ever have been there, but I’ve also been coming as a punter with my mates for years and years. And while I know the idea of living in a busy, noisy field to watch music for 5 days straight is a lot of people’s idea of hell, I can’t bloody wait (even if I’ve got that anticipation-sick-stomach feeling you get before a big night). There’s so much great music on the lineup this year, but that magical parallel universe of a festival site is vast and sprawling, so feel free to imagine me and my mates - running around like headless chickens, trying to be in 6 places at once - from now til Monday. Actually don’t do that, no one needs that image.

 

 

The main reason I’m writing this is because I’ve made some new music and am in the process of getting it all ready for you to hear. I wanted to find a way to be directly in touch about all of that, about what’s been happening with us, what’s to come, and as a way to share a bunch of recommendations and things that I think are interesting (and hope you will too).

So, this is a hello to anyone who’s new here, and of course hi again to anyone who’s been around for a while. Cheers for reading this (I’m impressed if you’ve made it this far). I’m properly excited for what’s up next (more on that later) and in the meantime I’ll do my best to make these mails worth your time.

When me and the guys and our whole touring team finished our tours at the end of last year it felt like the right time for us all to take a proper break. Obviously we’re insanely lucky to get to play music and to travel all over the world with it, but we hadn’t really, properly stopped at all since we started out more than 10 years ago. Touring’s been this dominant line that’s cut right through and across most of our adult lives. While it can be an amazing whirlwind and is of course a huge privilege, it can also be completely all consuming, and, like loads of things in life, it’s not without its challenges. So, for that and for many different reasons, this year felt like the right time to not book any gigs at all and see what life looked like. It’s genuinely the first time since Bastille started that there’s been nothing scheduled. Mad.

We’ve all been off doing different things and getting on with life, while getting used to being in one place for a while. For me - in what’ll come as no surprise to anyone who knows me - I’ve not really been that great at sitting still or taking a break. I’ve been busy working on some fun things… so why would I want to not be doing that?!

 

Being home and being around has been genuinely brilliant, I’m really loving it. Part of that has been because for the first time in ages I’ve had the time to work on music and songwriting at home on my laptop, very much like how I did back when I was making the songs that became Bad Blood. This year so far has been such a fun and creatively satisfying time and I’ve felt well lucky having the space to chase a bunch of ideas and see where they lead and what they become. It probably sounds (and is) pretty self indulgent, but it’s been great.

Amongst all of that stuff (and general life stuff) I’ve used the time to travel a bunch, to take in as many films/books/gigs/shows/art as possible, I spent some time out at sea on the Greenpeace boat in the Bermuda Triangle (?!?!?), ran a half marathon for Warchild with some mates (thanks so much to anyone who sponsored - you’re brilliant), Tour-Managed my friends band FOURS on their UK tour with To Kill A King, and have been working away on a whole load of different projects with some brilliant people. I’ve also been learning the guitar… something I’ve always wanted to do but never seemed able to properly focus on.

 

 

And the reason I’ve learned guitar has to do with that new music I mentioned. There’ll be loads more news to come on that in the very near future (I’m excited to talk about the process and ideas behind it all… come on guys it’s my weird brain here so nothing’s ever as simple as it could be). I’ve tried to approach the whole process of recording and beyond in a totally different way, and I’m beyond excited to share it all with you.

For now… I’ve got to get back to packing or I’ll find myself on Sunday with no clean pants. I’m  here in my room with my head in my phone, sat amongst these piles and I haven’t even found a bag for any of it yet, so I better get on with it.

And to anyone here that’s also heading to Glastonbury this weekend, I hope you’re all packed and ready, and maybe I’ll bump into you there somewhere? (Oh s**t, also don’t forget to come to Pilton Palais on Sunday to join me and the editor of Empire Magazine having a chat about Nosferatu and horror films!)

Speak soon.

Dan x

[destinygoldenstar]

Which Love Triangle Is Worse? (Ninjago Vs Total Drama)

Hey, this is called a sponsor, right? For advertising something? Why don’t we try it? For a book?

Destiny’s Burden. An original story by yours truly.

The world of Destiny takes place a century into the future, where Earth and all its morally questionable implications were wiped out for the sake of a utopia.

The beloved savior, Mary Sue, rescued everyone from extinction by creating a world system that would change all of humanity.

Destiny, from all the Chosen One stories you’ve heard, is the dominant force of society. Those who’ve praised Mary Sue have been granted a loving world of kingdoms with the clearest right and wrong, and lives of great fortune. Those who’ve rejected her ideals were cursed to become the Dark Lords, the villains and the black of the stories that would come.

When certain children come of age, they are granted a destiny of their own, abilities of a Chosen One, and given clear stories for them to follow and train for. Stories that would bring peace to their wonderful world, against the Dark Lords who dare to try and change it.

A generation of Chosen Ones begins with Charlie Sue, the descendent of Mary Sue herself, being assigned the task of becoming the savior of the entire land after a group of Dark Lords steal power.

With the help of a few Chosen One friends, Charlie must train for the day he claims his place as Destiny’s savior.

And if Destiny really is that pleasing of a utopia.

An original fantasy action story by yours truly. Questions are free to be asked in messaging me, and followers of my blog will, in time, get a chance to beta read parts of the story and give much needed feedback to make this a great passion project. More info coming soon.

Now, onto the post.

You know, this was easier to decide than I thought.

I know, it didn’t sound like it would at first.

Okay, lets think of a better intro...

Both of these cartoons means quite a bit to me. 

I already talk about Total Drama on my blog quite a bit, to the point where I think some of my followers think I’m a TD blog. I’m not. There’s other stuff I talk about. In fact, there’s even more I could talk about with TD, and opinions I have yet to share. 

However, it is an absolute CRIME in my head that I have not talked about Ninjago as much as I do with TD. I mean, I made a Skybound review awhile back, which holds up on my opinions, but that’s about it.

Why do I say this? Well because, I have the LAMEST childhood over. I did not grow up with Total Drama. I watched it when covid hit and I had nothing better to do. I didn’t even watch Avatar The Last Airbender until last year, which is NUTS. 

I was more so into MLP as a kid, but I stopped watching it around Season 6, not through any puberty hit, but because my parents HATE me watching MLP. (For reasons I don’t get.) And I was also bullied heavily for liking MLP, so...

I also was obsessed with Minecraft Story Mode. (And I did make a few posts about it. They’re old, though.) It’s sad to me what happened to that series...

I also binge read the Sailor Moon manga, and I have all the books still. I watched the 90s show too, but... I honestly did not like it.

I would say, ‘what a surprise, the book is better’, but you’d be shocked to hear the Sailor Moon fandom say that the 90s anime is superior. For me... no.

Then I had one brief RWBY phase. And I mean BRIEF. In actuality, I don’t hardcore hate the show, but the one aspect of the show that prevents me from getting into it is it’s awful protagonists. I dunno, maybe I’ll make a post about that topic, because it’s astounding to me how bad their protagonists are.

And if you know me, I more so tend to have more to talk about when it comes to the flawed shows rather than shows with perfect writing. I said it over and over again, YES, I’ve watched ATLA, and Arcane. Those shows are amazing. Do you want me to praise those shows like the 7 billion other people on planet earth have?

Okay, I’m getting off track.

But there’s one show in my childhood that I distinctly remember being a part of my childhood more than any of these: That’s Ninjago.

I remember when I was around eight years old, and my sibling and I would tune in every week to watch an episode on Netflix. And I don’t even like the shows my sibling watch. But we both bonded with this show specifically. I think it has to do with this being the first show I’ve watched that wasn’t just one episode adventures. This was a show with substance, with story arcs that branch for multiple episodes, with characters to follow. Something I was not familiar with at the time.

Also Zane. Best boy. No I’m not taking criticism.

Before I even made my Tumblr account, I would write private essays talking about Ninjago. They’re terrible. 

I have huge memories of this show. I WANTED to talk about this show for awhile, but couldn’t figure out what to talk about.

And then in my creative writing class, we were talking about tropes we hated. 

My teacher said ‘the love triangle’. (I didn’t have that on my list, surprisingly)

It seemed like everyone, besides myself, hated the love triangle trope. And it seems very valid.

Like, just pick one love interest, darn it!

So that got me to make this post. Why a contest between these two shows?

Well they both have a love triangle that the majority of the fandom hates, they’re both known for destroying a relationship people liked, and they both take place in their Season Three.

And also, everyone hates these plotlines, so I wanted to ask myself, are they really that bad? More importantly, which is worse?

That’s what we’re here for.

Keep in mind, this is my POV on these plotlines. There’s obviously gonna be disagreement and I would love to hear your opinions when reblogging.

Also SPOILER WARNING FROM HERE ON OUT. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED EITHER OF THESE SHOWS AND DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED, DON’T CLICK ‘KEEP READING’. Watch the shows, and then come back.

But there’s one key factor that I think makes people lean to one argument:

Bias

My first claim is that it has to do with nostalgia of the show that springs our reactions.

When I watched the Ninjago love triangle as a kid, I was confused, cringing, and angry.

When I watched the Total Drama love triangle when I’m older, I was just like ‘okay, so we’re doing this.’

So obviously, there’s a great line of bias. As a kid, your brain hasn’t fully developed, so when bringing up a concept that isn’t black and white, and emotionally damaging, you’re gonna get heavy results. 

It was the same for when Zane died in Season Three. I was a kid. I was TICKED.

Looking back now, that was an expertly built up scene and one of the best payoffs to a character arc in the show. 

‘Animation is for babies’

And yet you have this:

“Are you working for Silco?”

“Fuck you”

-Arcane. (And that’s the LEAST adult thing in the show)

It’s the same thing with shipping.

Kids media are given the simplistic idea that romance is absolute. That you have one person destined for you and it will all work out.

A love triangle is... complicated, for kids heads.

So when another guy a character is in love with enters the picture, kids are gonna be confused and relatively act negative towards it. Despite the fact that love triangles... do actually exist in the real world?

Anyone remember Hamilton? Of course you do.

This is why we tend to hate Love Tringles in my eyes.

But I want to be as objective as possible with this, and discuss each storyline and their problems. So lets coin toss and decide which show we start with.

*Flips coin*

*Gets Heads*

Ninjago, it’s your lucky day.

I guess it’s fitting since I watched this show first.

Ninjago (Jay, Cole, and Nya Love Triangle)

Ninjago is a show produced by LEGO, which tells the story about a group of ninjas being assigned to face against the evils of the titular world. It’s also LEGOs biggest TV show to date.

This is more of an action superhero show than anything, and I think that’s gonna be the biggest difference here. Both shows I’m talking about have different priorities.

But I’m just focusing on the love triangle.

This plotline springs in its third season, Rebooted. It’s an eight episode long season, and the plotline gets introduced in the premiere briefly, and stays relevant all season between the three characters involved. It gets carried over to season four in that third episode, and it’s mentioned briefly in the premiere of season six. Then it ends.

People tend to hate this love triangle for a certain reason:

Why?

WHY was this love triangle needed?

I tried researching what was going on behind the scenes when the decision was made, but I could not find anything. I may be bad at research though.

My best guess is this:

Ninjago was originally supposed to end after Season Two: Legacy Of The Green Ninja. However, from the success of the show and insane toy sales, they made the decision to continue the story and make a third season. The task of continuing a story you designed to end is... daunting. For any writer.

So my biggest assumption on why they decided to do a love triangle was because they were still struggling to figure out what to do with the story of Ninjago from where they intended to end it.

I don’t hate Rebooted. Rebooted has its moments. But the season also carries a lot of lows, and this is one of them. It’s why I think most of the fandom sees this as a mid tier season overall, and pretty mixed.

So lets give context to the love before the season:

Right from the pilot episodes, one of the missions of the newly formed ninja team was to rescue the fire ninja Kai’s sister, Nya. 

And the lightning ninja, Jay, says this:

“We’re saving a girl? Is she hot?”

Right off the bat, and before they even met, the writers implied that Jay was gonna have a thing for Nya, the most major girl character in the entire show.

Jay and Nya properly meet in the second pilot episode after Kai rescues her, and they exchange their favorite colors. It so happens to be blue. Flirting.

Right off the bat, there is no hate each other until they love each other bull, there is no will they or will they won’t, from the moment they met, these two have had a thing for each other.

In fact, we don’t even really do a ‘will they or will they won’t’ with them, because the flirting carries over in the proper first season of the show.

So much so that their big milestone in their relationship is in Episode 8.

Yeah. That’s quick. It’s almost impressive.

Basically, that episode has Jay trying to impress Nya, Kai tricking him into giving his sister an allergy (like the great brother he is), and despite this, Nya accepting his proposal to go on a date. Unfortunately, Jay gets his finger pricked on a snake fang, and it’s worse sounding than it sounds when you know the context of the show. Wacky hijinks ensue when their secrets of their identities clash, with Jay being a nobody from a junkyard, and Nya being a Samurai ally to the ninja and wanting to keep that a secret because of some sexist bull. 

But by the end of the episode, they make up, confess their feelings, and become an official couple.

From there, there’s minimal drama between their relationship for the rest of Season One, and all of Season Two. It’s just been them flirting and praising each other, and being supportive. 

There was also an episode where an evil clone of Jay kisses Nya, and tells the real Jay about it, which makes Jay so mad that he essentially MURDERS him. 

Compared to Total Drama, and due to different show circumstances, this is actually a very tame thing to do.

So, Jay and Nya as a couple, pre-Rebooted, has had next to NO issues.

Now you might be wondering, if that’s the case, WHY IN THE NAME OF HECK did they decide to throw Cole into this? Where did he fit in all of this?

Well, I just rewatched all of Season One and Two for this post, and in terms of Cole and Nya interactions... there was nothing.

I’m not kidding. These two have not had ONE interaction with each other pre-Rebooted. The most is when Nya is talking to all the ninja, not Cole specifically.

So why would Nya suddenly have a thing for a guy she never talks to, when she has a good relationship with Jay?

And whatever you Total Drama people who haven’t watched Ninjago are thinking, it’s even dumber than that.

So in the premiere of Rebooted, they go to this sci-fi tour at the new Ninjago central tower... thing. The ninja are left doing plot stuff with Cyrus, and Nya is left to take care of kids and be a chaperon to a field trip. Little girls find this ‘perfect match’ machine, which is SUCH a real thing in the real world (sarcasm), and they make Nya try the machine.

And her perfect match is said to be Cole.

THAT is how Nya gets feelings for Cole.

Told you it was dumber than you think.

She did not gain feelings for Cole through any interaction with him, or other people pressuring the concept, or even her current boyfriend being any wrong to her. 

No.

It’s a freaking. MACHINE.

So right at the next time Nya is focused on, she is flirting with Cole. She mistakes him referring to the students with their kids, she gives him the looks, and she’s also holding hands with him.

Yeah. Nya is essentially CHEATING ON HER BOYFRIEND.

And again, she’s only doing this because a MACHINE SAID SO.

It’s not like she’s even trying to hide it, as Jay catches them. 

This makes Nya look horrendously unlikeable in the season, as you’d expect.

Why is this so OOC for her? Because there was ZERO prompting for this to happen. None. 

At most, you could say that Jay’s ego made her feel lesser of relevance, but to Ninjago’s credit, they do address that... IN SEASON SIX. 

So that’s not an excuse here. We’re talking about BEFORE Skybound.

Until Skybound, and I guess Tournament of Elements, Nya hasn’t had an issue with Jay’s ego. Again, in the episode where they hook up, she tells him that he doesn’t need to impress her. And they both agreed on such. 

In the third episode of Rebooted, it’s revealed that PIXAL is the AI of the machine that did all of this. Not only does she not apologize or tell Nya that she should let her heart decide, but she encourages the cheating and to dump Jay.

To be fair, I don’t really hold PIXAL accountable for the love triangle. At this point in the story, she’s just a robot doing her job, and knows little about showing humanity. And she just woke up from a near death experience, so yeah, I think it’s safe to say that she was numb when she told Nya this. PIXAL is really not trying to harm anybody, or say anything personal, she’s just saying what the program of the machine told her to say.

However, Jay hears PIXAL claim that Cole is Nya’s perfect match, explaining that Nya was indeed cheating on her, and it absolutely ENRAGES Jay.

So much so that when an unexpected Cole walks into the room, Jay physically tries to beat him up. 

They were friends before, and had some playful teasing in the first two seasons, but now it’s gone.

This is, deemed by many fans, one of the WORST scenes of the entire show.

I don’t blame them. I hate this scene too.

Even if you take the so called build up out, the scene is accompanied by awful dialogue and puns, so... there is NO ironically enjoying this either.

So from then on, Cole and Jay hate each other and spend the rest of the season fighting over Nya. To be fair, past this episode, it just turns into spiteful comments, and doesn’t escalate to any physical fighting until Season Four. 

And it’s not like they’re trying to kill each other. Quite the opposite in fact. (Jay does oblige in saving Cole from getting lost in space, no hesitation)

So yeah, this season, because of the love triangle, assassinated all three characters involved. And mind you, I LOVE Ninjago’s protagonists. I LOVE these characters. So when I say they’re OOC here, I mean it.

I already talked about Nya and how this was out of character for her. Because the sexist BS is the biggest pet peeve I have with Nya. Otherwise, she’s very compassionate, assertive, and a girlboss with a very strong character arc throughout the entire show.

Jay does have a right to be angry. After all, he was cheated on. But I think he’s mad at the wrong person. He never blames Nya for this at all, and only pins it on Cole as a heartless monster. That’s odd to me, because Nya cheated, and he SAW THAT. I thought he would yell at her at least once, but no, instead he demands she picks him like an egotist. That’s what someone possessive would do, and Jay has NEVER done this before.

Besides, if you think about it, he’s only mad because PIXAL, an AI, said he was no good for Nya. In that case, he should be mad at PIXAL too. Sure, I said that PIXAL couldn’t help it, but if I were Jay, yelling at her would be warranted. 

But nope. It’s all Cole’s fault, even though Cole was kind of a victim of circumstances.

Speaking of, why is Cole even into Nya?

Like I said, they haven’t talked before this. Cole has shown no signs of liking Nya, in fact, he seemed to support Jay and Nya as a couple. This is especially strange because Cole is the kind of character who knows exactly what he wants. If he was into Nya, he would’ve said so right away, especially before Jay even got with her.

The worst part is, the rest of the season only consists of Nya trying to decide who she likes, and the other two trying to fight for her affection. I don’t think they even mention the cheating after this. And again, it goes absolutely nowhere until Season Four, Episode Three.

In that episode, Jay and Cole are forced to fight each other by Clouse rigging the titular tournament. They’re actually not okay with this until Neuro, a guy who can read minds, escalates their rage. Then they’re okay with beating each other up with a ton of rage and grief towards each other. 

Before the match, Lloyd tells them to remember who the real enemy is. He is referring to Chen. This is the driving force to the rest of the fight.

In a fight scene that is actually visually pleasing, ngl, Cole and Jay go all out until a random point in the middle where Cole decides, ‘hey, you’re not my enemy, and I never even liked Nya, so yeah, I’ll just sacrifice myself so you can stay in the game, symbolizing how you won this love triangle.’

And they make up.

Despite the little effort and prompting beforehand. Like I said, they only did this because Lloyd said so. So why are they making up now if they hate each other so much?

And then any love life plotline with Cole completely drops, and Cole is left with no love interest until Master of the Mountain. Cole and Nya have some scenes together after this, but it’s clear that they’re just friends and it never goes anywhere. And in Skybound, the love triangle is just treated as the plot device that broke up Jay and Nya, as they get back together.

So did the love triangle really amount to anything besides that?

No.

You can wipe out this plotline entirely, and not much changes. The villains don’t take advantage of that specifically, and they forget about it afterwards, with no build up beforehand. 

Yeah you could argue Chen and Clouse took advantage of it, but they were after the ninja because they were spoiled the behind the scenes drama of their little game. They were threats, and an alliance, which their games try to discourage. So they would’ve set Cole and Jay up against each other anyway.

I fully understand why people hate this plotline, as it’s used for unnecessary drama. Unlike Total Drama, which uses titular DRAMA as a part of the plot’s torture, Ninjago has no reason for their drama to be unnecessary. This is not a torturous scenario Ninjago is living in, this is an action show!

I guess I can appreciate that Jay and Nya were able to recover from this and get back together. They even get married. My heart sings.

And at least in Ninjago, this plotline drama doesn’t seem to escalate, and people are able to forget about it.

Total Drama is a completely different story.

So lets talk about that.

Total Drama (Courtney, Gwen, and Duncan Love Triangle)

 I talked about Total Drama quite a bit on my blog already, so I’ll be brief.

Total Drama is about a group of teenagers being scammed onto a game show to try and become celebrities. Torture ensues. 

It’s far more treated like a reality show in cartoon form, I guess that’s the best way I can explain it.

Despite the fact that the love triangle here is HIGHLY loathed, even more so than Ninjago, and that I did headcanon posts of all three characters, I’ve avoided talking about the love triangle before this.

That fandom is THAT violent when it comes to this topic.

You will NEVER get the same POV about it.

So what I’m gonna say is guaranteed to tick off at least half of the people who read this.

PLEASE, just hear me out.

I don’t really ship either.

I haven’t been a hardcore Jaya fan either, but it’s the same mindset I gave to Duncney and Gwuncan. In the latter two’s case, it’s because they’re trapped under such awful circumstances, that being the show’s setting used to stress them out, screw up their heads, and torture them. And also the executives who forced this on the writers.

In the context of Total Drama’s writing staff, they didn’t want to do this either. They were forced to by the executives, who wanted to teach kids that breakups happen and you could end up with someone else.

That sounds like it has good intentions...

Until you find that the actual moral they delivered with the first breakup was that ‘If you break up with someone, the entire world will hate you. And you deserve it.’

I don’t think I need to tell you that’s a bad message.

To be fair, I’ve never been against either ship involved, so I don’t hate either.

But the canon circumstances?

OOF.

Let’s get this started:

So the first season of Total Drama is kind of a different story than with Ninjago.

Unlike Ninjago, which just had Jay and Nya as a couple and Cole was someone I assumed was ace (welcome to the club), all three people involved in the later love triangle had an established love interest and relationship.

Gwen, the third wheel and the Cole in this case, had a relationship with Trent, your typical guitar playing love interest and as generic of a love interest as you can get. But they get in a few shenanigans with Gwen being a stubborn loner, and Heather being Heather and doing one of my most hated story tropes, so they don’t get together until the end of the season. 

And then in season two, Trent gets his character assassinated and becomes possessive over Gwen, OVERLY so, and it causes Gwen to break up with him because as I said in previous posts, Gwen doesn’t know how to deal with relationships. 

And then the entire world treats Trent like a victim, that Gwen was the abusive one, and everyone hates Gwen.

And this is just the START of the Gwen social punching bag.

Then in season one, there was another relationship relevant to this topic: Duncan and Courtney.

They’re presented as your typical bad boy/good girl dynamic.

And they actually had fun chemistry. Ngl.

Duncan flirts with her, and Courtney tries to deny her feelings for him and masks it through lectures, claiming she hates his rude and rebellious behavior. Despite this, they keep having sexual tension, and they have a kiss in Episode 12.

You could say Ninjago has an advantage then, but keep in mind that Ninjago has 13 episodes in its season one, and Total Drama has 26 episodes. So I’d say they’re both impressive.

I would say that on an enjoyment standpoint, Duncan and Courtney, and Jay and Nya are very fun couples with fun chemistry. That’s why people liked them.

Jay and Nya however, barely had any drama going on in their relationship before Season Three.

Duncan and Courtney are a different story.

Like I said before, Courtney tried to deny her feelings for Duncan and masked it through lecturing her own love. It’s not until she finds out about Duncan’s more positive traits that she realizes she wants to be around him. Or rather, she can FIX him.

Yeah. Courtney is a fixer upper.

This is a trope in romance, and not a very good one if you ask me. Usually, I use the fixer upper to claim why a relationship would NOT work.

SHUT UP FROZEN.

And I don’t want to take this all out on Courtney and say she’s the problem. Duncan is a jerk as well. He’s a bully, he cares more about his image than being himself, and he also does stuff we’ll talk about in a minute. But in terms of the couple aspect, Courtney is the one raising the red flags in the beginning.

Now, I do think Courtney cares about Duncan and thinks she’s helping, but that is not the point. You can love your partner, and still abuse them.

Instead of these two working through their differences, Courtney just hands Duncan a list of things she wants to change about him, and is VERY strict about him following that. Prior to this, Duncan has annoyed her by trying to flirt with her, and she responds through lethal hits to the nuts, or physical punches, or mentally guilt tripping him. Prior to even that, she DITCHED him in his hour of her need for a million bucks.

Yeah, Total Drama LOVES romanticizing abusive relationships. That is a PROBLEM.

So Duncan, in his stress of the relationship, decides he doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore, and he votes her off the show, breaking them up.

And then he wins a million dollars, and they get back together.

“Now you’re saying that I’m a gold digger, but check my gleam up, hey go figure.” -Six

And then in Celebrity Manhunt, they publicly humiliate each other yet again, sue each other, and break up. So what was the point of them getting back together?

I heard people claim that in this same special, they have a kiss on the bus while bickering, so that means they’re back together.

If you want to see it that way?

Courtney did.

But let me ask you this: Where in this episode was that confirmed? Where did they agree to get back together?

Exactly.

Duncan never made it clear to Courtney that they weren’t back together in his mind. They had what you called a fling. Duncan does this. He is a horndog.

This is Duncan emotionally using Courtney for his own image. See, I told you Duncan wasn’t innocent in this.

Then there’s Gwen.

Unlike Cole and Nya, Duncan and Gwen actually DID have interactions pre-season three.

In season one, their dynamic started around the slasher episode, as they bonded over their shared enthusiasm for blood and gore in movies. They orchestrate the survival plan for the challenge, and betray each other, but I don’t think either of them took it that personally. They also helped each other/bickered in the castaway episode.

Their friendship properly starts in season two, where they have friendly interactions and help each other out in challenges. Gwen even picks Duncan first to be her teammate. 

It gets to a point where Trent, Gwen’s girlfriend at the time, gets jealous and thinks Gwen is hitting on Duncan. Gwen denies it and claims they’re friends, but no one believes her. In fact, when Gwen is sent to the Aftermath show and broken up with Trent, everyone accuses Gwen of dumping Trent for Duncan. Another reason why the show wants you to hate Gwen and absolutely no one else.

That is frustrating.

In the Celebrity Manhunt special, it’s revealed that Gwen DOES indeed have a crush on Duncan and just doesn’t want it to surface because he’s with Courtney. When she hears they broke up, she becomes interested again.

This is a year after season two, so we don’t know what happened that made Gwen change her mind.

Did Gwen and Duncan bond off screen?

That’s an even bigger possibility in this show than in Ninjago given the circumstances, but they never establish that they did.

Duncan quits Season Three at the start, but the producers track him down anyway. Before he returns, Courtney talks about how she misses him, and wants him back.

GWEN IS IN THESE SCENES BTW.

There’s also this exchange between Alejandro and Courtney in episode two that I noticed upon rewatch that I find interesting:

“Such witty remarks from such fiercely intelligent women. I’m both humbled and intrigued.”

“Nice try. But I’m with Duncan.”

“And what pity it is that you should give yourself to a quitter, who doesn’t deserve you.”

“That’s not-Duncan is-totally-you’re just- will someone hurry this camel up?!”

Obviously, Alejandro is playing her. He is the season’s bad guy after all. He’s taking advantage of the relationship strain. 

But consider how Courtney stutters when trying to defend Duncan? She’s trying to dodge any notion that Duncan would leave her. She thinks she’s doing the right thing, and can’t fathom the idea that she’s done something wrong. She doesn’t WANT to believe they’re broken up.

I’m shocked no one brings up this scene, actually.

During this, Gwen and Courtney, being on the same team, become friends from their shared hatred of Heather. Really, I think they just became friends because they’re the only non-simps, non-insane, non-horrible people on their team.

Friendships come from very unlikely places sometimes.

They didn’t really have any interactions before this. Cole and Jay had two whole seasons being on a team.

And then we get THE SCENE.

Duncan comes back, and immediately, Courtney lectures him for leaving her, then embraces him. He says that every time he ran from the cops, he thought of HER.

He’s staring at GWEN.

GWEN REALIZES THIS.

It brings her in a spiral of question late at night, and she’s clearly not thinking clearly. Are Duncan and Courtney a thing? Are they not? Does Courtney deserve him? Is Courtney a bad influence? Does Duncan like Gwen? Is Duncan interested in her?

Duncan shuts out any questions by coming into the bathroom to kiss her.

Thus, he cheats on Courtney with Gwen.

This can be interpreted in a lot of ways, but I think there’s two we can bring up.

One is the nature of Duncan’s character.

He is a horndog who cares about his image. He wants to be seen as a bad boy and not his true self. He wants is bad boy persona to be his true self. He wants validation from the people around him, so anyone who finds interest in that persona, he will bang. 

He’s not sweet good intended Nya. He’s quite the opposite.

But I don’t think it’s clear what his intention was. Was he trying to escape his situation with someone he trusts? Was he trying to spite Courtney? (I mean, All Stars implies that) Was he trying to start over with a new girl? Is he using Gwen? Does he actually love Gwen?

None of these questions get answered. We are given NO clear idea why Duncan did this. That’s why there’s such a division in perspective.

They could’ve at least had a confessional where Duncan explained his intent, whatever it was, but nope.

The other factor is the influence of the show.

This is the machine from Ninjago.

This is the PIXAL, if PIXAL was a sociopath.

The show fans assumed there was something going on with Duncan and Gwen, and they pressure them into trying to admit that being the truth. EVERYONE, throughout the year, pressure this. Geoff, Heather, fans, Chris, even Courtney herself. 

I talked about this in other posts, so I’ll be brief. The show screws up the morality of SEVERAL characters, to the point where they will do nasty stuff you wouldn't see them do in season one, where they were pure.

It’s very easy to assume that Gwen would only have feelings for Duncan because the show is pulling her strings.

But they don’t establish that either. That’s just my interpretation of it to try and make sense of this writing.

So take all of this with a grain of salt.

Gwen regrets the kiss afterwards, somewhat, well, only because afterwards Courtney goes on and on about how Duncan’s her boyfriend. I think Courtney’s just rubbing this in because she knew Gwen was crushing, and wanted to keep her away from him.

I guess you could say Courtney is Total Drama’s Tsundre.

That makes a lot more sense in a minute.

Gwen and Duncan discuss the matter of Gwen kissing Courtney’s boyfriend in a song. Duncan sings he has no regrets, and Gwen reminds him of Courtney. They both agree that they should stop with the secrets and come clean. They know what will happen, so it’s better to just tell the truth.

Then Duncan gets mauled by a bear, so they have to wait until after the challenge.

But then Alejandro figured it out and outs it to Courtney, ruining it.

Courtney IMMEDIATELY becomes bloodthirsty on Gwen, and next to EVERYONE joins Courtney in berating Gwen. (Except Cody)

This scene, alongside the Jay and Cole scuffle, hurts to watch.

But I will confess, I prefer to watch the Total Drama fallout scene, because I think the voice acting in the scene is better. You can feel Courtney’s heartbreak as she screams at her nonstop, and the sinister craziness awakening in her. And Gwen CRYING?! REGRETTING what she did?!

Come on, there’s at least SOME value here besides Cody getting a dub.

Even if it is little value besides Cody getting a dub.

From here on out, EVERYONE on the plane (Again, except Cody) HATE Gwen’s guts. They will not let her forget what she did. They will never give her a single iota of grey area besides ‘You suck Gwen, we hate you, the entire world hates you, and you deserve to be hated. Go jump off a plane and die so we can have a party about it.’

Gwen and Duncan even try to apologize, but no one takes it.

This is like Cole and Jay, only it’s not just Jay berating Cole, it’s EVERYONE.

I think I would’ve stopped watching Ninjago for years if that was the case, because that would’ve been PAINFUL to watch.

Courtney is the key factor of this hate club, and rallies everyone up to hate on Gwen and Duncan and try to remove them. Sierra, Heather, Tyler, Alejandro, who the last one WANTED to happen as he’s now in control of her. 

And unlike Jay, Courtney actually DOES berate the cheater for what they did. Deserved.

But then again, at least Jay doesn’t sing a song about trying to kill the other point of the triangle.

50/50.

To Courtney, this is all a serious betrayal. Gwen and Duncan were the only people Courtney allowed herself to open up to, and then they betray her. She has a right to be mad, but not a right to her actions driven by the madness.

For Gwen, Duncan is now the only person she can feel safe with. People tend to cling to the kindness in their life that’s the closest to them. This is why Gwen chooses to stay with Duncan and ignore all the hate she’s getting. She needs love in this moment. 

And then Duncan tries to play Alejandro by pretending to still be into Courtney. It’s an act, but still.

We never see on screen if Duncan explained himself and apologized to Gwen.

Ninjago had a whole season and three episodes worth of love triangle drama.

Total Drama only has three episodes.

And then it abruptly ends unconcluded. 

Courtney wanted to get revenge on Gwen by dumping her off the plane and making Duncan jealous of her.

Technically, she WON.

She gets Gwen out, and she, not intentionally, uses Scott to make Duncan jealous, which causes Gwen to leave him.

Sorry, getting ahead of myself.

Now lets address All Stars.

You could argue this focuses on the love triangle as well, and... kinda? But, All Stars seems to bail on EVERY plotline World Tour had. I have NO IDEA why this is, as unlike Rebooted, World Tour is a FAN FAVORITE SEASON. But they bailed on everything.

And it’s clear that the writers had no objective with giving the love triangle an ending. 

The season is more so focused on Courtney finding a new boyfriend in Scott, that she plans to use, Duncan being thrusted into a heroes position and wanting to be a bad guy again, and Gwen, once again, being hated by everybody around her.

Duncan and Gwen have NO romantic scenes together, and Gwen constantly shuts him out in favor of trying to make things right with Courtney. The girl she BETRAYED.

She also claims that Duncan was not Courtney’s boyfriend at the time, thus she didn’t do anything wrong...

I’m ASSUMING Duncan told Gwen that story to get her on his side. THAT would make sense of this phrase. BUT the writers never establish that.

And again, Duncan only gets jealous because Gwen’s ignoring him when he’s trying to help, and Courtney’s finding a new slave to give her the win. My assumption is that he’s trying to strike up a conversation with Gwen, considering Gwen wanted to make things right with Courtney, but again, no establishment that this is Duncan’s motive.

So Gwen gets fed up with that, and dumps Duncan, shutting him out of her life.

This scene is SO QUICK, that it feels like an afterthought. There’s no blowout, there’s no prompting, there’s no remorse for the action later besides one Duncan confessional, it’s just ‘okay, they’re broken up now, Gwuncan haters can chill the F out.’

Is that the motive? What about the people who liked Gwuncan as a concept and wanted to see more of them? 

Here’s a writing tip: If your fans don’t like an aspect of your story, DON’T bail out of it. WORK on it. MAKE IT BETTER.

In my series that I’m doing, Destiny’s Burden, a lot of my beta readers didn’t like one of my characters at first. They considered her insufferable, annoying, selfish, and stereotypical. But instead of writing that character out of the plot, I took the time to give that character development, and have them develop less of a spoiled personality. Now that character is a fan favorite among my beta readers.

THIS IS WHERE YOU DO THAT, BUT WITH THE LOVE TRIANGLE.

THIS IS WHERE YOU WRITE IT BETTER.

And then there’s the last part of this. Gwen and Courtney making up.

Unlike Tournament of Elements, which threw in the forgiveness at the last minute, Gwen actually puts in the effort beforehand to be friends with Courtney again. She tries REALLY hard actually.

Gosh, I CANNOT believe I’m saying ALL STARS did something better than THE TOURNMENT OF ELEMENTS. WHAT AM I ON?!

And, looking at the Cole and Jay tournament fight, and the Gwen and Courtney boxing match... this is the same scene.

This is literally the same scene, minus the sacrifice Ninjago had.

They duke it out, they beat each other, and they apologize in the middle, explaining that they never missed the girl/guy, they just missed each other, and they make up and become friends again.

I prefer the Ninjago scene though, because it’s way more visually pleasing, and the dialogue seems more sincere to me. Courtney and Gwen’s ‘apology’ is so corny I can’t-

So what is the ending of Total Drama’s love triangle? Courtney and Gwen become best friends in la la land, they trash over Duncan, and cheer when he’s thrown in jail.

And then Courtney betrays Gwen, making all the love and support Gwen got back meaningless. But hey, that’s not relevant to this topic.

Most people in the fandom claim that this was character assassination on all three characters. Just like I said with Ninjago. 

Here’s the thing: Total Drama has more episodes around this time. Ninjago didn’t. I know NOW it’s not a contest on which show had more episodes, but looking at it, Ninjago, in four seasons, had 44 episodes, and Total Drama, in four seasons, had 91.

This is a double edge sword, as on one hand Total Drama has more to work with. On the other, Total Drama has more to work with.

After all, like I said, we are given no clear motive for why Duncan even cheated, or didn’t tell Courtney that they weren’t together anymore. Gwen was cheated on technically in season one, and here she is doing that same emotional betrayal in season three to Courtney. And again, the whole ‘he wasn’t your boyfriend’.

There’s multiple instances where literally ONE MORE SCENE of ANY part of this plotline could’ve helped it make more sense. But no. The writers just really did not want to write this. Again, they were forced to. It shows.

But I will say this, unlike with Ninjago’s love triangle, the Total Drama love triangle is SEVERELY plot relevant. You CAN’T write it out.

Everyone says they should’ve just written it out... how? 

Every fanfic I’ve seen that’s written the love triangle out actively made the story less interesting, and gave the three characters involved nothing to do. 

The villains, again, take advantage of the situation to give themselves plot armor. This is how Alejandro uses Courtney. She would’ve never helped him otherwise. This is what makes Heather jealous, prompting the last quarter of World Tour. This is what season two’s Gwen bashing has built up to. This is what makes Gwen the biggest social punching bag of the entire show. This is what spawns Gwen to become a villainous vulture. This is the start of Duncan’s downfall, and his mental distress getting him behind bars later.

You NEED the love triangle to be a thing for the story to make any sense.

I’m sorry, but that’s what I see.

Which is Worse?

Now to answer the money question.

Which plotline is worse?

This is REALLY subjective. So take it with a grain of salt.

Both of these plotlines have huge issues. They are both dampers to their season three. 

Ninjago had a worse motive, a more pathetic fight, dragged on, and had no plot relevance whatsoever.

Total Drama had a more unlikeable cast participating, poor establishment of motive, ended way too quickly, and suffered from no ending.

I think we can both agree on the quality on both of these plotlines.

It really depends on which plotline I would prefer to watch a compilation of over and over again.

And in that sense...

I think I’d pick Total Drama as the better one.

This is for a few reasons: 

One is that Total Drama is a far more morally grey show, so its characters are far more morally grey than with Ninjago. It’s more believable that the TD characters would do stuff so spiteful towards each other, than the Ninjago characters. This makes it so that you can see everyone’s point of view, and the plotline becomes welcome for multiple interpretations. 

Two is that there was SOME build up to the cheating. You could say that it was bad build up, but at least it WAS build up. What build up was there in Ninjago? Oh yeah, none.

Three is that Total Drama’s plotline is actually plot relevant. If I have to watch the love triangle to watch World Tour, I’ll watch it. I won’t skip it. If I skip it, I know I’ll miss vital information for the rest of the story.

That said, though I say Ninjago is the worse plotline, it does have an advantage of having a better makeup scene, and an actual ending. And the characters were able to recover because of that.

Because, with all six of these characters, I DO like them all. I want the best for them (even if Duncan arguably doesn’t deserve it)

But let me know your thoughts. Would you agree? Disagree? Is there something I missed? Let me know.

[yesterdayiwrote]

Never going to be confirmed, but rumours have it Daimler has been not very happy with Lewis’ expenses (his big salary) for quite some time.

Might be part of the reason why INEOS was brought onboard too (aside from the fact that is was also rumoured Mercedes wanted to invest less money in motorsports).

INEOS are the ones who have covered most of Lewis’ salary in recent times, along with Monster and other sponsors.

Needs to be noted that INEOS got onboard around the end of 2020, which is around the same period of time when Daimler was starting to be vocal about wanting some change within Mercedes’ team (and their reluctancy at agreeing on higher salary’s demands).

Around summer 2020, it was also noted that Monster would increase their sponsor’s share with Mercedes because Lewis was going to have another increase in his salary in 2021).

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/57738/-hamilton-gets-a-more-expensive-contract-from-mercedes-but-lets-sponsor-pay-.html

Guess that Monster leaving Mercedes but still partnering up with Lewis might or might not mean something at this point.

And INEOS partnership with Mercedes is supposed to expire in 2025, so it remains to be seen if they will stay onboard after Lewis’ switch or not.

Honestly anon, the more I've read about this, the more my opinion is becoming that this situation has blame on both sides and that the real crux of the matter is that they've possibly been taking each other for granted for a while.

Daimler are definitely watching costs, and it's been long rumoured that they're not happy to just hand over a blank chequebook and despite everyone's feelings about Lewis and his worth as a driver, that's entirely understandable. They are after all a business and we can't rag on these companies for paying CEOs millions of pounds and then argue that actually one employee should get a 9 figure salary and it be justified?

At some point, Mercedes have clearly decided Lewis is expendable to them. Whether that's right or wrong remains to be seen. I'm far from a Mercedes apologist, but I also don't subscribe to the idea that this situation is entirely a case of them fumbling the bag. I think they've known something like this was a possibility for a long time and have kind of reached a position where they're comfortable with letting it happen.

I think everyone is kind of looking at this from Lewis' point of view and actually if you look at it from Mercedes point of view, as I mentioned the other day, I can see where various cracks may have started forming and how certain things could put them in a difficult place.

Lewis constantly extending how long he intends to stay for sounds great for his fans and the sport. If you're in charge of planning for the future and managing their junior drivers and progression paths, it sounds less great. What happened with Nico will have left a scar and honestly, I can see that Mercedes are scared of it happening again.

I don't think Monster really factor in, if they knew, they'd have gone to Ferrari. Instead they went to McLaren alongside Coca Cola because they're part of the same group.

Ineos could falter, but with such a large shareholding percentage, their commitment is deeper than your average sponsor and you would hope, goes further than just one driver.

Mercedes should have been planning for a post-Lewis world for a long time, if they had any sense. The only slight spanner may be that I'm sure they envisaged it being him being off the grid entirely rather than a few garages away.

I just don't think this is a case of poor lewis being a victim of big bad Mercedes not appreciating him enough. I genuinely think it's a lot deeper and nuanced than that. Lewis had demands and they no longer felt they could meet all of them. He agreed to a compromise, then felt he had a better offer so decided to explore that instead. As you mentioned above, I think the parts have been set in motion for this happening a long time back now.

[redrobin-detective]

Okay, so I just finished season 2 of elementary and what a fucking ride… the writers like went so hard to just… I don’t know… use equal parts happiness and sadness??

1. I was really worried Bell wasn’t going to forgive Sherlock after Tremor, and they like seriously took their time giving both characters these excruciatingly slow halting steps to making amends. Sherlock straight up yelling about his feelings was peak “I have no fucking clue how to say I’m sorry so I’m pointing out your defense mechanisms loudly.” And then after they reconciled, Sherlock was still obviously feeling guilty about it and then we got the ending where they go get coffee together and it’s just so soft and peaceful. Like life isn’t perfect and there’s constantly ups and downs and that’s why you have a support network (friends)!

2. Mycroft was so sus, continued to be sus, and really made an impressive flop there at the end only to top it off by giving Sherlock a hug despite the fact that the man was giving -1000 social cues that he wanted a hug. Hooray for awkward siblings. And the Cane and Able reference in the last episode was not lost on me plus the obvious allusion to the Holmes brothers. Either way, the show demonstrates a complicated sibling relationship compounded by the fact they likely had a fucked up childhood, where they nonetheless care for each other in their own fucked up way.

3. Alistair’s death was so sad but I swear if it’s foreshadowing anything with Sherlock (+ him keeping the business card) I’m gonna yell. I mean, him relapsing may happen but I sure fucking hope it don’t. And if it anyway guilts Joan into not doing her own thing then they better have a really good reason for it! 😬

4. I love every time they bring back Alfredo! And Sherlock making an effort to be a sponsor and speak up at meetings and everything is very nice. I love watching the progress.

Overall, they’ve managed to have incredible characters with realistic development and do a good job of tracking the passing of time. Sherlock is genuinely a complicated person who is trying to be better (both in health and as a decent human being) and it’s just such a raw depiction of him. Gone is this stuck up know it all and in his place is a person who, while capable, really really needs people around him and needs to feel useful.

Now only if I can keep up this 4 hours a day at the gym thing… anyway please yell at me about this if you wish. Either way, I am overwhelmed with feels!

Your legs are gonna be soooooo toned. Idk how much farther you are in the series by now. S1.... I love the whole series but S1 is probably my favorite but S3 and S4 are also amazing. Wait until you meet my daughter, Kitty, in S3

Alfredo deserves the world, I've never totally been on board with Elementary Mycroft, you're right he's sus plus the whole thing with Joan was weird.

But like! The stories are good, even the usual murder of the week is super interesting! I've learned some weird stuff from this show and I love it. But watching the characters grow, watching the strong platonic love of Sherlock and Watson develop and them both grow (and regress sometimes) as people ❤❤❤. It's my favorite show for a reason.

Keep me up to date!!

[casual-video-transcripts]

“the unexpected fanfic AU that charmed the internet” by ColeyDoesThings

Transcript by CCKN is under the cut

[0:00] [ColeyDoesThings Intro Music]

[0:02] Hello! 

[0:03] Today we'll be taking a look into

[0:04] an adorable if somewhat niche AU,

[0:06] alternate universe for those not familiar with the term, 

[0:09] that's captured the heart of many a fandom dwellers

[0:11] since its seemingly random inception online. 

[0:14] I hope you like flowers and

[0:15] aren't too afraid of needles

[0:16] because we're talking about the 

[0:18] flower shop / tattoo parlor AU. 

[0:20] Got a flower handy. 

[0:21] And I kinda wanna show off my tattoos

[0:23] but they're all on my leg in odd positions to show on camera 

[0:27] So i'm not sure how to do that.

[0:28] I do want more in the future. 

[0:29] I’ve designated my legs as the tattoo zone but anyway, 

[0:32] let's talk about this cute AU.

[0:33] But before we begin 

[0:35] I want to give a very special thank you to 

[0:37] the sponsor of today's video, Opera GX. 

[0:39] Opera GX is the perfect web browser for gamers 

[0:42] as well as anime and manga fans 

[0:44] and not just the Yu-Gi-Oh ones.

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[0:49] and curate your online experience as much as Opera GX.

[0:51] Choose from any of Opera GX's unique themes, wallpapers, and colors. 

[0:56] You can also grab an animated wallpaper from Opera[’s] add-ons 

[1:00] if you have a favorite show, game, or movie in mind. 

[1:02] One of my favorite Opera GX features 

[1:04] is that it lets you watch videos and streams seamlessly 

[1:07] no matter what you're doing.

[1:08] In the middle of watching your favorite anime? 

[1:10] Just separate the video from the browser in a little adjustable floating window 

[1:15] and you can catch up as you go through your emails. 

[1:17] You can also log into your social media accounts 

[1:19] directly from the sidebar for easy access! 

[1:21] Want to listen to some music?

[1:22] The GX player allows you to keep all your favorite streaming services in one place,

[1:26] whether it's Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music.

[1:29] And if you're worried about losing all your data from your previous browsers

[1:32] when switching over to Opera GX, 

[1:34] you’e good. 

[1:35] Opera is also equipped with an 1:36import tool that lets you quickly

[1:38] and safely import all bookmarks, browsing history, and cookies. 

[1:42] If you'd like to try out Opera GX for yourself, 

[1:44] download Opera GX for free by clicking my link in the description. 

[1:48] Thank you so much, Opera GX!

[1:49] Now let's get into this AU.

[1:51] So...

[1:52] how the heck did this AU become a thing?

[1:54] Compared to staples like high school AU’s,

[1:57] college AU’s, modern AU’s, supernatural AU's,

[2:00] soulmate AU’s, 

[2:03] it feels kind of out of the blue and oddly specific, right? 

[2:05] Well it's a pretty simple story actually. 

[2:07] In 2014 a Tumblr post started gaining a lot of traction online 

[2:11] in which the user remarked that they passed by a flower shop next to a tattoo shop

[2:16] before inspiration hit and they realized the potential of a florist x tattoo artist AU. 

[2:21] The idea charmed Tumblr 

[2:23] and soon enough the fan-art and fanfic started pouring in. 

[2:25] Granted this was happening at the same time as the peak of the flower crown Tumblr craze, 

[2:30] so just flowers everywhere. 

[2:32] And then the idea caught fire on other platforms as well like Wattpad, AO3, fanfiction.net, DeviantArt. 

[2:38] I actually was online when all this went down and

[2:39] it was like a sudden flower shop tattoo parlor explosion. 

[2:43] I was totally down.

[2:44] There was a lot of cute content for it.

[2:45] I just was mostly confused as to why it was suddenly all over my dashboard.

[2:49] There are several different names for this AU to boot.

[2:52] There's flower shop / tattoo shop AU, flower shop / tattoo parlor AU, florist x tattoo artist AU,

[2:59] but generally if you search up any adoration of flower shop and tattoo AU

[3:04] you'll find yourself in the right ballpark. 

[3:06] Okay so that's the origin of the AU but why do so many people like it?

[3:10] What is the appeal? 

[3:11] Oh boy, where do I begin?

[3:12] For starters you have the aesthetic differences. 

[3:15] Think of that house meme where you have this 

[3:17] super dark kind of spooky house 

[3:19] next to the colorful pastel cheery house. 

[3:22] Between the two different establishments the flower shop and the tattoo shop or parlor,

[3:26] the characters, their personalities, their wardrobe, the style, the color palettes,

[3:31] it's usually very visually distinct from one another. 

[3:34] Basically it's another flavor of opposites attract. 

[3:37] It's very visually satisfying for a lot of people seeing all those aesthetic differences.

[3:41] One character could look very soft,

[3:42] dressed in cozy sweaters and lighter colors. 

[3:45] Maybe they're shy or super sweet or a ball of sunshine 

[3:49] compared to your other character who maybe looks more intimidating! 

[3:52] Maybe they've got leather on and piercings and a darker color palette. 

[3:55] Perhaps they're more reserved

[3:56] and aloof with a serious case of resting bitch face. 

[3:59] Again playing up the opposites and the differing dynamics.

[4:02] Oh! So the soft one works in the flower shop and the tough one works in the tattoo parlor, right? 

[4:06] That's definitely an option and I guess it's the most intuitive one.

[4:09] But another great thing about this AU is that there's a lot of wiggle room for trope subversion. 

[4:14] If you want to have this super soft happy-go-lucky pastel character as the tattoo artist, 

[4:19] you can do that in fact a lot of people might be drawn to it because of that added layer of contrast. 

[4:23] Do you want the tall super intimidating stoic character as a cutesy florist? 

[4:28] That works perfectly fine too.

[4:29] Maybe the tattoo artist looks kind of scary but they're actually a sweetheart,

[4:32] whereas the florist might look super cute but in actuality is a feral gremlin.

[4:37] With the flower shop and tattoo shop AU

[4:39] you can go as by the book trope-y or

[4:42] as off the wall as you want. 

[4:43] There’s really no right or wrong answer. 

[4:45] It’s just up to your preference and people get really creative with it. 

[4:48] Another reason for this AU's popularity is that 

[4:51] working in a flower shop or as a tattoo artist are

[4:53] professions that are often romanticized in fiction,

[4:56] similar to working in a coffee shop or a bookstore. 

[4:59] There's always that image of the protagonist going about their shift, 

[5:02] gazing out the window longingly, and wondering 

[5:04] when their life will begin, 

[5:06] when they'll find that special someone. 

[5:08] Maybe it's the rom-com or the Hallmark effect, I don't know. 

[5:11] Well Hallmark usually has like the

[5:13] cold business woman falling in love like a small town...

[5:16] guy, right? 

[5:17] Uh, I don't know. [laughs] 

[5:18] And the flower shop and tattoo parlor AU offers a lot of meet-cute options. 

[5:23] There's a bunch listed on Tumblr. 

[5:26] Maybe all the local shop employees have a block party and

[5:29] the florist accidentally spills their

[5:31] prized pot roast all over the tattoo artist's leather pants. 

[5:36] You can get as sappy sweet romantic or as horrendously awkward as you want. 

[5:41] Common tropes tied to this AU are often 

[5:44] strangers to lovers or mutual pining.

[5:46] Misunderstandings and miscommunications sometimes are sprinkled into this AU as well. 

[5:51] Like maybe one shop worker sees the other shop worker “flirting” with another employee or

[5:56] talking to a customer and they're like,

[5:58] ″Oh, they don't have feelings for me” or 

[6:01] “Oh, maybe I'm misreading this whole situation.” Bonk! 

[6:04] You can really get jazzy with it. 

[6:05] This all ties into another draw of this AU in that 

[6:08] it's just a simple slice of life. 

[6:09] You don't really have to worry about complex world building, political intrigue and drama,

[6:14] building an intricate mystery 

[6:16] unless you want to incorporate a flower / tattoo shop AU

[6:19] into a dystopian space world on the brink of collapse. 

[6:24] That's an idea.

[6:25] Character motivations can be straight to the point, not super lofty. 

[6:28] Like maybe the tattoo artist is living paycheck to paycheck and wants to open up commissions to save up money 

[6:34] to buy their dream apartment or set up their own tattoo shop. 

[6:37] Maybe the florist takes over their grandmother's flower shop

[6:39] after she passes and they want to revamp it in their own style. 

[6:42] This AU is more rooted in the day-to-day sort of activities 

[6:46] and for readers who want

[6:47] something a little less... expansive?

[6:49] Fantastical? 

[6:51] Then this is perfect for them. 

[6:52] Unless of course, again, 

[6:53] your flower [shop] / tattoo shop AU takes place in a dystopian space world 

[6:57] on the brink of political collapse.

[6:58] And the last big appeal for the flower shop / tattoo shop AU is that 

[7:03] it is a sensory feast and great for those who love schmaltzy symbolism. 

[7:08] People really enjoy the vibes of a good flower shop / tattoo shop AU.

[7:12] They're [chef’s kiss] immaculate. 

[7:14] From smelling the fragrance of the flowers 

[7:16] to hearing the buzzing of tattoo needles 

[7:19] to seeing all the different colors and flower varieties in a flower shop 

[7:23] to seeing all the cool designs in a tattoo shop. 

[7:25] The soft touch of flower petals 

[7:27] or maybe someone pricks their finger on a rose's thorn. 

[7:30] The intimacy of the tattoo artist character getting in real close as they're doing their thing. 

[7:34] It's a sensory overload, and there's ample opportunity

[7:36] to get really big on the details and the imagery. 

[7:39] Lots of ways for the reader to

[7:40] feel immersed in the story and feel like

[7:42] they're almost in the flower shop or tattoo shop and getting romanticized. 

[7:46] And of course, the language of flowers,

[7:48] symbolism. 

[7:50] In practically every story with a flower shop, 

[7:53] there will be a scene where the florist arranges a bouquet or

[7:56] some sort of arrangement that

[7:58] incorporates various meanings of different flowers. 

[8:01] It's a great way to add more emotional impact. 

[8:03] Maybe it's almost like an open secret like 

[8:06] one character is totally oblivious to the meaning of the flowers 

[8:09] and the other character’s like

[8:10] biting their fists. 

[8:12] I mean flowers are already synonymous with romance so why not add more depth to it. 

[8:16] It's romantic! 

[8:17] And hey, if romance isn't your schtick then you can have the florist arrange

[8:20] platonic bouquets. 

[8:21] That's also really cute. 

[8:22] Maybe some sort of good luck arrangement for the new tattoo artist next door. 

[8:25] But yeah, in a nutshell this AU ended up being beloved by those who 

[8:29] want a neat cute environment with some cool contrast, good vibes and aesthetics, 

[8:33] room to play around with tropes and symbolism,

[8:35] something simple and more rooted in reality,

[8:38] and an AU where the mundane can be romanticized suddenly and funnily enough, 

[8:42] there actually are a fair amount of posts out there by 

[8:45] actual florists and tattoo artists offering their two cents on how to make the AU feel more

[8:50] immersive and realistic and fleshed out.

[8:52] Extra resources! Woot! Woot!

[8:53] So if you're ever curious and want to give the flower shop / tattoo parlor AU a try,

[8:59] then check in with your local fandom and see if they have any of the AU in stock. 

[9:03] Maybe try putting your own spin on it. 

[9:04] But thank you so much for watching this quick history / presentation 

[9:10] on the flower shop / tattoo parlor AU. 

[9:12] If you have any other AU's you'd like me to cover in future videos, 

[9:15] then let me know in the comments.

[9:16] What's your personal favorite take on this AU? 

[9:18] Let me know, I'm curious. 

[9:19] Thank you so much again for watching, guys, 

[9:21] and I'll see you in my next video. Bye!

[9:23] [ColeyDoesThings Outro Music]

YouTube Channel: ColeyDoesThings

Video Description:

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what is your favorite part of the flower shop/tattoo parlor AU? :3 

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Thanks for watching!

📌 Disclaimer and Preface: None of the videos I transcribe belong to me. They belong to the content creators and the crew behind the videos. My transcripts may not be 100% as I am not a professional. I'm just someone who wants to provide video transcripts for people to understand and enjoy these videos. For this video, I focused on the speaker. If there are any corrections you would like me to make, let me know in the comment section of the post.

If you like this video or any other video from ColeyDoesThings, please support by watching her videos on the YouTube platform and through other means by her. 

📝 Personal Notes: I was really hesitant to transcribe videos from YouTubers that are on Tumblr because I was anxious on what they would feel about me transcribing their videos. Heck I was afraid to @ her because I don’t want her to find out about this blog space. Sorry that was the anxious side of me talking. But I really like her videos and has been one of my gateways into learning about fandom culture, and thus launched me to transcribe one of her mid-oldish-recent videos. But I do want people to know, if the video creators do want these posts to be taken down, I’ll do it. 

[gwydionmisha]

Re: Tyre Nichols.

Yes, I've watched the footage and it is legitimately devastating and I suspect the worst thing of this kind I've seen.  I do feel a duty to witness, especially because of what I do in this space.  At the same time, I am deeply concerned about the effect on people of seeing police brutal beat an unarmed, terrified person they had already entirely at their mercy to death.  It took him another three days to die, but this is murder, and I don't think that commentators calling it torture and terrorism and state sponsored violence are wrong.

They did it because they could, and absolutely nothing that young man did provoked it and nothing he could have done could have stopped it.  Those police did it because they wanted to plain and simple.  they couldn't tell him why they stopped him.  They refused to tell him anything he did wrong or why they were arresting and beating him to death about 80 yards from home.  They refuse to produce any evidence of a crime Mr. Nichols could have committed, likely because there is none.

This is what happens when the right to murder with impunity is considered a perk for joining the police.  If free reign to murder is the selling point for a job only monsters will stay in that job.

Police culture is corrupt top to bottom.  It needs to be torn down and something better put in it's place.  (I've written before about what that better system would look like, and places working on a whole community model where poverty and mental health are addressed, where the goal is to prevent crimes of poverty and desperation by meeting people's basic needs, where when things do occur there is mental health and addiction diversion, where justice works on a restitution and rehabilitation model instead of a punishment and revenge model, and the goal for offenders who do real harm is to do what is possible to humanely rehabilitate people if they can be helped.  I do think there are some people it is not safe to release.  I'm not convinced that state sponsored violence behind bars is healthy for us as a culture.  Trust me, I get why my mother wished we had the death penalty in my state for single premeditated murder, but I feel differently.  I'm glad Skye's murderer is sorry.  I'm glad he is doing a good long stretch, but I don't think keeping him in there forever or killing him is right, and I hope they gave him access to mental health services in there.  I hope there was some kind of anger management program.  I wish there was some sort of planning for people like him when they get out.  I'd rather we pay to help violent criminals not be violent anymore than simply brutalize people like him for twenty years and let them loose, because he pretty clearly did need good psychiatric care to learn to live with it, to be better instead of worse when he gets out.  Yes, he's still in there.  I have victim notification, though I suspect we are moving into the parole zone.  do yes, the issue is real and personal and I am still furious Skye isn't here because some idiot decided bullets were better than words, but I'd still rather live under a government that didn't do terrible things in my name.)

I am endlessly furious that tax payer money funds state sponsored terrorism against our own people, that all our hands are stained with blood.  I have believed that the police are just another form of organized crime, since I was old enough to understand.  There are no good cops in a system like this.  There can't be because the ones who go in wanting to change it from with in, generally get fired for whistle blowing or get corrupted by cop culture.

I have been trying to pick which coverage to put up in this space, because I feel like what happened is important for people to know about what happened, but I also don't want to brutalize people with images they are not in the right place to see.  To witness directly or not to witness is an incredibly personal decision and whatever you chose I do not judge that choice.

I intended to post things either early Saturday morning or late Saturday night, but I am wrung out from emotion and the med change and I have had far too little sleep and Friday and particularly Saturday were for more physically strenuous than my body can handle.  I burnt through every spoon I have.  Because of the way I work at this, I was prepping and reading and watching footage and coverage Friday in small chunks in between posting things I'd already prepped, because, honestly, it's not good for me to do things like police murders and mass shootings and wars all at once.  

Sunday, I am going to have to rest.  I have nothing left.  This is a hard limit.  I have an obligation Monday, but I will try to work on getting the Memphis coverage and the aggregate up, hopefully by Tuesday morning bedtime.

I am sorry.