#and i immediately thought ‘oh no’ and then sb introduced me to him and he said ‘hi ellen nice to meet you’ and i babbled some similar words

[just-a-floofy-catt]

ANOTHER DRABBLE WOOO ✨️✨️

(The bullet pointed ones tend to make less sense to anyone whos not me so just like, beware that ig lmao)

• Not long after Sun and Moon separate into different bodies

• Things have settled down after the events of sb and now things are running smoothly at the dc w the two of them.

• Sun was never let outside the daycare when they were together

• So now that theyre separate and some rules have changed due to alot of new staff and stuff, hes allowed to

• Hes curious

• Context : hes never met the Glamrocks before due to this, but he used to idolize them. He used to dress up as them and everything and always daydream about meeting them XD. He was just like the kids in that regard lol. He like really thought they were cool and its adorable. But obviously when all the virus shit happened he got too stressed to think about any of that.

• So, now that everythings even better than it used to be, his little glamrock interest starts back up in full swing

• (Also, the Glamrocks have kind of met moon. Just seen him from afar on patrol before, and also may have had an encounter or two w him when he was infected. But they dont know him properly or anythin)

• Sun finds out through the staff that apparently on the weekend afterhours, the band is gonna be having a practice session and run through on the main stage for a new performance. He gets like, super excited and begs Moon to ask if they can go watch, and to take him there

• Moon ends up asking some staff to arrange it and they do

• The glams are like, super curious but also a little put off/weirded out. Mostly cus theyve heard the dcas are weird or annoying (mostly sprouting from how sun can b a little much and moon can b a little scary at times. Their behaviour was amplified w the virus shit, making sun into an overbearing anxious mess and moon absolutely feral. Alot of staff didnt get good impressions from that and so rumors and shit spread alot)

• Freddy is mostly just curious and is just kinda assuring everyone hes sure itll be fine and that theyll be nice.

• Chicas actually kinda excited and trying to also be positive

• Roxy is convinced theyll be weird and childish and annoying

• Monty is also convinced theyll be freaky and annoying

• The day comes and Sunny shows up fully dressed up. He basically tried to imitate the glamrocks and its absolutely precious. Hes so damn excited and a lil nervous and shy.

• The glams spot him as hes bouncing over, holdimg moons hand and practically glowing, and their jaws just drop.

• Hes nothing like they imagined.

• Even roxy and monty immediately warm up a lil at realizing how hard he tried to look like them

• Its the cutest thing. They all think its so sweet

• He introduces himself and is just positively beaming, and a lil jittery. Bro is literally meeting his idols.

• Hes complimenting all of them and the way he looks at them makes them a lil flustered XD

• So they practice and all, like planned, and Sunny goes wild lmao. Whooping, cheering, whistling, everything XD. It makes them all feel a lil more energized than it probably should (he tends to have that effect :) )

• Afterwards, everyone just sits and talks and gets to know one another. Its nice.

• By the end of the night Sun tires himself out from all the excitement and falls asleep in Moons lap.

• Moon takes him back and bids everyone goodbye.

• Safe to say, they made a good impression on everyone and now theyve all decided that Sun must be protected and loved at all costs XD

(AND YOU TOO MOON DONT YOU DARE THINK YOURE SAFE FROM BEING LOVED AND PROTECTED)

(Omg now just imagining there being a silence between the glams when they leave and suddenly its just broken by Monty taking a deep breath and then saying, very seriously, "I would die for them." XD)

(Everyone immediately agrees)

(I should draw that)

• Oh, and Sunny is absolutely still their biggest fan

(Extra detail is that he 100% has plushies of all of them in his room and loves them dearly)

- overall tldr is that Sunny would be adorable trying to dress up like a Glamrock.

[fingertipsmp3]

I have a long and varied list of regrets, but possibly the funniest one is the time my former flatmate had a friend over and I saw that he was hot so I went “not today Satan” and hid in my bedroom until he left

[icedteaandoldlace]

So there’s this “101 Reasons to Ship Snowbarry” video that keeps coming up on my YouTube suggestions. Idgaf about Snowbarry, and I’ve already hit the “not interested” button on similar videos before, but since I can’t seem to get away from video suggestions like this, I’m just gonna watch it and liveblog it, and bet that for every entry on the list, I can come up with a corresponding rebuttal for why Barrisco would make an even better couple. (I’m not gonna comment this ON the video ofc, this is just for my own amusement.)

Click the link above if you want to see the stuff I’ll be responding to, but be forewarned, that video is like, way long, so naturally it follows that this post is gonna be, too.

Additional note: If you are a Snowbarry shipper who has stumbled across this post somehow, now would be the time to stop reading, and also to add the “anti Snowbarry” tag to your filters if you wish to avoid running into posts like this in the future, ‘cause I ain’t interested in engaging in shipping wars.

Anyways, let’s go:

1. "How they met." Cisco woke Barry out of a coma by playing/singing a song about bisexuality, 'nuff said. (Also, part of the purpose of that scene was to introduce Caitlin as the serious, “down to business” one, and Cisco as the warmer, more easygoing one who’s trying to make Barry feel more comfortable.)

2. "They're both scientists." What is Cisco, an Instagram influencer?

3. If Caitlin being Barry’s personal doctor gets her romantic points, then the same should go for Cisco being his personal tailor. Actually, he should get more points, because there’s no moratorium on romantic relationships between tailors and their clients.

4. The way Barry and Cisco gaze into each other's eyes for non-medical purposes. This is too easy.

5. Uh. Cisco being the voice in Barry's ear while he's running, and often the first person he calls out to for help solving a problem.

6. They frequently take hold of each other's hands and shoulders.

7. Cisco comforts Barry while Caitlin tends to his wounds.

8 through 12 is literally just stuff about Caitlin being a doctor, and I don't find this stuff relevant enough to rebut because there's nothing inherently romantic about any of it.

13. "They both have fun together." Yes, Cisco also, the fun having, it happens, lots. Even more, actually.

14. Not really sure what to say for this one. Barry and Cisco noticing when each other is sad and then checking on each other (at Cecile’s baby shower and Barry’s bachelor party, respectively, and also on other occasions), comes to mind. That doesn’t have to do with noticing each other’s lips, per se, but I’ve never thought of either of these SB scenes as moments where Barry was staring at Caitlin’s lips, just as moments where he’s noticing her expression/overall mood, which is something he does with Cisco (and vice versa), too.

15. They all have nerdy hobbies, dude, they're nerds.

16. This one for SB is "she makes Barry drunk on purpose", which, y'know, she did because he wanted to be able to get buzzed, which Cisco has succeeded in helping him do, too (and the drink he made was more effective and longer lasting), but the way this is phrased is kind of suggestive, like Caitlin was doing it to lower his inhibitions (which she totally wasn’t), and uuuuhhhh, don't romanticize that maybe???

17. Cisco put all that tech into Barry's suit, including delivery menus from his favorite restaurants + wrote him an instruction manual, and sped up all his favorite shows so he could catch up on what he missed while he was in the speed force.

18. Barry makes Cisco's (and everyone's) hair fly everywhere when he speeds out of a room, too. Like, this is just basic physics, fam, wyd?

19. Barry also uses his powers to help Cisco. And...literally everyone who needs his help, this is basic superhero stuff, wyd?

20. He is impressed with Cisco, frequently.

21. Just having nicknames? He calls him "bud", "dude", etc., and one time he called him "Cis". (Bonus: Iris and Cisco have called Caitlin "Cait", too, so it’s not just a Ronnie and Barry thing.)

22. Cisco can make anything to help Barry. They're literally top-notch genius scientists, I don't even

23. Obviously they think each other makes great company, they're best friends. All of them.

24. They comfort each other. Again, best friends + Team Flash pep talks are a major staple of the show.

25. He needs Cisco, too.

26. They...they care about...my god, it's like you people have never heard of FRIENDS.

27. Honestly, how many times have we heard Barry tell Cisco he believes in him, or heard Cisco gush about what a great hero Barry is?

28. Helping each other conquer their fears. Yep, that's another one that applies to like, everyone on this show.

29. "They both have experienced loss" IT'S A SUPERHERO SHOW! Also, that's just life. Name one main character on this show who hasn't experienced loss. Nash and Wally have both experienced loss, and I have yet to see anyone ship them.

30. "They both can sing really well." Okay now. This one is true for Barry and Cisco, but uh...Caitlin is literally tone deaf. I'm not being mean, Danielle Panabaker knows good and well that she can't sing, and she has talked about Carlos side-eyeing her when she gets going because she's not good at it. THAT'S OKAY! There's nothing wrong with not being able to sing, but--WHY would you claim that she's good at something that she clearly is not? She wasn't on pitch for a single line of Summer Nights, and she straight up changes keys mid-line in the mockingbird song in that other clip, and just...what even is this entry?!

31. Watching over each other, yeah, another basic staple of being friends and superheroes.

32. "He is always standing behind Caitlin" AND LOOK WHO'S STANDING BESIDE HIM!

33. Remember that time fake Jay "died" and Cisco stayed with Caitlin until she fell asleep? Remember when Dante died and Caitlin slept on Cisco's couch to keep him company? Remember all those times Barry or Cisco were rendered unconscious, and the other stayed by their bedside until they woke up?

34. Basically just a continuation of 33. See above.

35. "Maybe 'okay' will be our 'always'." Hmm, what WOULD Barry and Cisco's "always/okay" be? Probably just calling out each other's names tbh, they do that a lot. Or perhaps, "For real?"

36. Is2g. Being only one call or text away is, again, a staple of the show, considering everyone in it is a close-knit found family and knows there's a very good chance that that call or text might be saying, "I'm in mortal danger, please come save my life at once."

37. Funny, I already pointed out once before (in a different post) the fun parallel of how Caitlin will sometimes go running to whoever her love interest is at the moment, or she'll call out his name, while Cisco is at the same moment running to Barry/calling out for Barry.

Side note: did they really think including Barry's proposal song to Iris would give more weight to their why-to-ship-Snowbarry argument?

38. I mean...Barry kind of carries everyone everywhere. You don't really get to see it, but how the heck else do you explain all the times he whooshes people in and out of places? He can't just drag them, otherwise the soles of their shoes would either wear down fast or catch on fire.

39. Okay, no shade to Barry and Caitlin's friendship, and some of these moments are really great, but generally speaking, their hugs do not compare to the ones that either of them has with Cisco. Also, note the group hug scene, conveniently cut off before Cisco joins in, because unlike the Romione + Harry hug in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, there's no way to interpret it as a third wheel/cockblocking moment, because the moment Cisco declares it a group hug moment, Barry and Caitlin both agree, and you can see it on their faces that they are delighted, and think that Cisco joining in their hug has just made it even BETTER.

40. Henry gladly accepts a hug from Caitlin, immediately after laughing at Cisco's awkward moment and giving him a fatherly reassuring pat on the shoulder. I think it's safe to say he approves of all of Team Flash.

41. Oh look, another thing Barry and Cisco and multiple other characters do.

Good god, I'm not even halfway through this yet. This is like that time I tried to climb Diamond Head.

42. Ah, superhero poses, yes. That thing that...superheroes...do. Like, all of the ones on this show. And in general.

43.  "They begin to resemble each other." They're just white, fam. OH MY GOD, I SOMETIMES TAKE MY SUNGLASSES OFF WITH ONE HAND, TOO! OT3 MUCH????? 😱 Lol what even??

44. How many times throughout this video am I gonna have to repeat that everyone on this show has these moments? Also, speaking in unison with someone because you had prior knowledge of what they were going to say due to yourself or someone else time traveling, is not the same as being in sync with them because you’re close. (He said “Weather Wizard” at the same time as Cisco, too.)

45. Idk what to even say to this one. Like, Iris is obviously the love of Barry's life, and Cisco is obviously his favorite best friend and the person he would be with if he didn’t have Iris.

46. *John Mulaney voice* AND THEN THEY DIDN'T! Seriously, though, both of the people they were trying to get over were perfect for them. I don't have a Barrisco specific rebuttal for this one though.

47. So by this video's logic, that one scene from 4x03 means that Barry, Harry, and Cisco should be a threesome, huh?

48. "I did it because it gave me an excuse to bring him back."

49. .................is this even an argument?

50. They're both good looking people, darling.

51. Wrong, sir. They fight like siblings. Trust me on this one, I have six of them.

52. Trauma response. I'm moving away from Barrisco arguments and just saying the first thing that pops into my head now. But seriously, this is a normal reaction to trauma/loss.

53. *Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh* I'm not even gonna say it this time, you already know.

54. Again, have you people ever had anyone in your life that you cared about, ever? I'm starting to get concerned, honestly. But for the sake of bringing Barrisco back into this, hey, remember that time Barry and Caitlin both got kidnapped on the same night and Cisco was completely beside himself?

55. This is getting out of hand.

56. Pretty sure dating Caitlin didn't even make the list for Barry's reasons to dislike Jay and Julian (also, he liked Ronnie, the guy she loved the most, so...)

57. Judging Barry for being a dumbass + helping an exposed girl out =/= jealousy. Granted, there was some jealousy in that last clip, but not because Iris got the man; it was because Barry was all set to live happily ever after while Caitlin was, y'know, struggling with powers she didn't want and another person living in her head that kept fighting her for control of her body.

58. Refer to season 1 episode 2, wherein Cisco is the person helping Barry from the beginning, and Caitlin asserts that she is on Joe's side when he tells Barry what a stupid and reckless idea trying to be a superhero is.

59 + 60. "Let's bring our boy home." / "Let's go get our girl." Do I need to cite either quote?

61. Again I ask, did a human make this list?

62. Don't make me tap the sign.

63. One word: Elseworlds.

64. If you'll scroll waaaaaaaaaaay up there, I already covered that Barry and Cisco hold hands A LOT.

65. Oooh, I made a meme about this one! Not after watching this video, I just see SBers say this all the time, and it drives me crazy.

I used this in my Snowbarry fandom drama presentation for my squad’s presentation party a while back.

Side note: ~INTERESTING~ how Caitlin being a doctor is ““romantic”” when she’s treating Barry but ““motherly”” when she’s treating Cisco. I can’t even.

66. ......I’m sorry, I’m just not seeing how the dramatic irony of them stating that Killer Frost will never be a problem on Earth-1 is pertinent to shipping them as a couple.

67. Hannibal Bates and Caitlin are perfect for each other? Weird take, but okay. Oh, and there Caitlin is trying to freeze Barry to death. Wasn’t there a point somewhere up there about her never wanting him to get hurt?

Side note: Hey, what’s the name of that guy who saved Barry in this scene?

68. Bruh, that’s just her dynamic with everyone that season.

69. Barry and Iris, Barry and Cisco, Cisco and Caitlin, Cisco and Harry, Caitlin and Killer Frost, Cisco and Killer Frost--just naming some duos that are more iconic than Barry and Caitlin. Again, no shade to their friendship--I really like them as friends!--but the shippers stay making it out to be more than it really is.

I also just have to point out that although Killer Frost was the one who willingly teamed up with Savitar/whom Savitar sought out first, when she comments on their team up and says it’s “Barry and Caitlin together again”, his response is to point out that she’s not Caitlin and he’s not Barry. In contrast, when he takes Cisco against his will and forces him to modify the speed force bazooka, he still refers to Cisco as his best friend.

70. Make up your mind, does Savitar count as Barry in this or not? Because he totally grabbed Caitlin by the throat once.

71. I don’t know how to break this to you, but not enjoying it when someone is in pain is just being normal. (Do I even need to point out Cisco’s empathetic cringing compared to Barry’s looks of mild discomfort, or...?)

At some point this went from being about Barrisco to being about Cisco being the favorite friend to both of them, idk.

72. He. Is. Literally. A. Superhero.

73. Man, what did I JUST say? Also, can we just acknowledge the build up to Crisis on Infinite Earths for a second, wherein Frost very quickly accepts that Barry is supposed to die in order to save everyone else, while Cisco has infinite crises of his own at the idea of having to accept Barry’s death--which, I might add, he never actually does? Neither does Iris, for that matter. They tried to accept it, and they thought they did, but they didn’t really.

74. Oh fuck it, just read 73 again.

75. Okay, what even is this one? Two scenes where they are not present for each other’s “deaths” and thus don’t react to them, meanwhile Cisco is devastated in both of them?

76. Same thing I’ve already said several times before.

77. How many times do I gotta point out that this is a superhero show?

78. Just really trying hard to find enough reasons to make this list 101, huh? (What is Firestorm, chopped liver?)

79. Because violence = chemistry apparently. Wasn’t there another entry about how they can never hurt each other or something?

80. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over the vibrating hand that shredded Cisco’s heart before either of those scenes happened.

81. It’s like SBers think they’re the only two characters on the entire show.

82. I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over all the other vibrating hands triggering Cisco at least once per season. But sure, Barry and Caitlin are the only two who know suffering.

83. Two words: Flashpoint. Dante. Also, not seeing how this one is romantic.

84. That’s just a Caitlin/Frost thing, fam, it only happened to Barry because he got whammied by Prism, who caused the same effect in everyone else he whammied. (Cisco’s eyes turned purple once when he got hypnotized.)

85. Please. I beg of you. Get friends. Interact with a human person.

Side note: “I trust you” was almost what I put for Barrisco’s “always/okay”.

86. “Don’t call me that. I don’t know you, string bean.” / “I don’t know who you think you are, but around here, people call me Mr. Ramon.” / “The name is Vibe.” (Again, romance where?)

87. Kinda like how Mirror Iris and Mirror Kamilla have slightly dressier tastes than Real Iris and Real Kamilla.

88. ....Anyways, Vibe........

89. The first time because Cisco saved him, the second time because she froze him just enough to fool Grodd, not enough to actually kill him. (Again I say, what is Firestorm?)

90. So romance. Very love. Much relationship.

91. ANYWAYS, CISCO. (And uh, hello, IRIS???? Joe? Harry?)

92. See 88.

93. This one might be a fun ship parallel if Caitlin had actually been involved in Barry’s brain zapping, but instead it’s just like, “here’s two random scenes that are kinda similar in completely insignificant ways”, like the evil clothes thing a few entries back.

94. Another entry that just demonstrates that their one-on-one moments together, while good, just don’t compare to either of their one-on-one moments with Cisco. I can’t be the only person who sees this.

95 + 96 + 97. I can’t muster up enough interest in any of these shows to watch them all the way through. Is this supposed to impress me?

98 + 99 + 100. The only point this proves is that they have multiple ship names. (I thought their evil ship name was Savifrost?)

101. Mm, sorry, sweetheart, Westallen, Barrisco, and Snowstorm all have them beat in this category.

This post really got away from me, at this point idk what I’m even doing, but I went on too long to stop now.

Oh, shit, there’s a bonus round.

Honestly, I fail to see how a lot of these supposedly “match”? But as for the ones that do, that’s just your basic TV aesthetics, I forget the official name for it. They’re matchy-matchy with Cisco in some of those shots, too, because TV matchy color psychology whatever. It’s a whole thing, every TV show and movie does it.

If anyone actually followed along this far, congratulations on your attention span, my brain could never. Idk how to end this post because it strayed so far from my original intent and basically just turned into a Snowbarry Fandom Doesn’t Make Sense Presentation 2.0

You know, I like to try not to generalize and stuff, and I’d like to think that maybe not all SBers are racist and that some people genuinely just like the ship because they think that makes sense or something, but then I look at their reasons for shipping it, and it’s just the dang blandest thing I ever did see, and they have to reach so far when they try to explain why they think they’re the best “couple” on the show and just??? I am the queen of shipping friends who never get together romantically, but Barry and Caitlin just don’t got it, son. Tbh part of the show’s appeal to me is the fact that there’s no threat of Caitlin ever getting with either of her male bffs in that way, because Cisco is like her brother, and getting with Barry just wouldn’t make sense. It just befuddles me to no end that they are such a wildly popular ship and not a rare pair, because the way their relationship is in canon is just exactly the way it should be.

That’s it, I guess. I’ve already invested this much time in this, so I might as well post it.

Also, please don’t anybody try to start anything in the comments section of this video, this fandom has enough drama as it is.

[dashhoney25]

SB: one

NATASHA

The aroma of Dior Sauvage tickled my nose as I turned over in bed. Opening my eyes, there lay before me a handsome stranger with mocha skin right next to me. He was bare skinned, no tattoos. He had a low hair-cut and was clean shaven. Looking down at myself, the plush duvet covered my naked body. The guilt began to creep in as I struggled to turn over to the opposite side of the bed; my sore body alerted me that something bad had happened the night before. Leaning over to grab my phone from the nightstand, my head began pounding in pain. The effort given was too much, I could only glance at the time; 6:00am.

Sighing heavily, I slammed my phone on the nightstand and covered myself back in bed; causing the stranger to awaken. "Good morning" he said, sitting up. I turned towards him and met his gaze, pulling the duvet over my head. "You shy now?" he questioned pulling the duvet back. I turned away from him quickly, and he pulled me into his embrace. "What's wrong?" he whispered in my ear. I hadn't felt this bad since Malcolm, I never imagined myself in this position again. Sighing heavily, I spoke, "My head hurts". "Hold on" he whispered kissing the back of my neck before getting out of bed. As the bed lightened, I sat up and examined the room. There were black out curtains, a few paintings on the wall, and a perfectly mounted tv. I looked up to see a series of mirrors constructed beautifully into the ceiling. This wasn't my home, nor was this place familiar. I was knocked out of my thoughts when I saw him standing at the threshold with a bottle of water in hand and a bottle of medicine. "You're up" he said with a smile.

"Yeah" I said faintly, noticing he was completely naked. My face scrunched a little as he took a seat next to me and handed me the bottle of Ibuprofen and a bottle of Fiji water. I examined the bottle of medicine and poured two pills in my hand, looking at them intently before popping them in my mouth and opening the sealed, cold bottle of water. "You don't trust me?" he asked jokingly. Swallowing the medicine, feeling the cold water opening my insides, I spoke, "I don't even know you". He smirked, "We got to know each other last night" he said. I drank some more water before capping it and leaned over to place it on the nightstand. Still holding the duvet over my body, I just stared at the ground, feeling a wave of emotions. He lifted my chin, adjusting my focus to his. "What's on your mind?" he asked with concern. I examined his plump lips and felt myself getting lost in them, licking his lips, he pulled me into a deep kiss and climbed on top of me getting back in bed. Pulling the duvet away, his warm skin collided with mine as my fingers trailed his back while he placed soft kisses on my neck. Enjoying this pleasure of his soft lips against my skin I opened my eyes and saw myself in the mirror on the ceiling and I instantly pictured King.

My heart pounded quickly and I jumped, causing him to stop and look at me. "What's wrong?" he questioned. He sat up and I held my chest, hoping my heart would calm down, "What happened last night?" I questioned. He licked his lips and smiled, "You and I. . ." his voice trailed, I noticed he was looking away. Following his eyes I noticed our clothes on the floor and my heels by his door. My face felt hot and a rush of embarrassment clouded me. "Oh my God" I said frustrated, trying to replay what happened the night before, before I ended up here. "You don't remember, do you?" he asked noticing the worrying look on my face. "Tell me, the short version" I stated.

"Last night, I noticed you at the bar with your girl, you two looked like you were having a good time. You two ordered a drink and you two talked for a moment before she walked off. I couldn't take my eyes off of you in that dress, and I had to be in your presence. I introduced myself an-" "I'm sorry what was your name again?" I interrupted. "Donnie" he chuckled. "Okay, so you introduced yourself to me while Alana asked me to watch her drink for a moment and then what?" I questioned. "I asked if you'd join me upstairs to my section. You were reluctant for a moment and somewhere along the way I convinced you to come with me. You drank both drinks and we went upstairs to my section" he continued. My mind is racing trying to pinpoint when all of this happened, I looked back at Donnie awaiting for him to continue. "I noticed the girl you were with was looking for you, so I had one of my boys bring her up to my section. She talked to you for a moment and decided to have a drink. She noticed you were a little friendly with me and tried to intervene. I don't think she was feeling me too much and she tried to get you to leave with her, but for some reason; you wouldn't" Donnie added.

"What did you do to me?!" I asked pushing him. "Chill" he said. "I didn't do anything" he added. "Did you put something in my drink?!' I yelled at him. "No." he replied sternly. "Your friend didn't leave immediately, she decided to hang out but kept a watchful eye on you from downstairs. You and I continued to talk and shared another drink, as well as some hookah. We were vibing and we both felt some tension there, but I knew you were afraid to make the first move" Donnie said. I rolled my eyes feeling guilty, but who could I blame? It's not like Alana didn't try to take me home. I haven't been like this in years, but why would I just leave with some stranger? I thought to myself. "How did we end up here?" I questioned. "I did everything you liked. I made you smile, stared in your eyes, and made the first move. Once I kissed you, you weren't with the shy girl shit; you let me touch the kitty right there in the club" he added. You were mortified at what you were hearing, "Once thing led to another once I tasted you, and I didn't want to keep you from what you wanted last night, so I brought you here; and here we are" he said.

Your chest heaved up and down in displeasure just hearing how you let him handle you in public, you couldn't believe that you jeopardized your relationship for the second time. It wasn't enough that you almost lost everything, but to do it again as if you hadn't spent years repairing the sacred bond; you get drunk and fuck a handsome stranger with no regrets. Sighing, you pulled a hair tie from your wrist and pulled your hair into a high messy bun. You clutched the duvet over you and looked back at Donnie, "Turn your head" you commanded. Donnie laughed, "You really acting shy right now after I've fucked, sucked, and licked all over that gorgeous body of yours Princess?" he teased. Huffing, you shot a look of disgust and Donnie immediately turned away from you as you got out of bed to put on your dress from last night.

The black plunge halter dress hugged your body perfectly accentuating the small curves on your petite frame. You slipped on your shoes and grabbed your clutch purse off the floor. Donnie turned around to look at you, "Damn" he exclaimed. You tried to hide your face from blushing. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time" I said looking through my purse, noticing everything was still in tact. Adonis chuckled, "No, thank you. I enjoyed myself. I look forward to continuing this arrangement, that was a part of the deal we made last night... and this morning in the shower" he added getting out of bed. I raised a brow at him, "I really don't know what you mean. Donnie, I know we slept together but I don't remember." I said grabbing my phone, placing it in my clutch. "It's okay, that just gives us more memories to make" he said placing a kiss on my cheek. His words resonated with you in an eerie way. I grabbed the bottle of fiji water, "I have to go" I spoke before leaving his room. I walked to the front door and opened it, noticing that there was only one car outside. "Shit!" I said to myself realizing I did in fact leave with him. I pulled out my phone and called an Uber. Donnie came to the door and noticed me hanging up, "I can take you home if you'd like" he said flashing his dimples, damn he was fine as hell.

"No, no. Thank you. I think we both need a break from each other" I said taking a step back from him. Adonis smiled, "Well look, Natasha is it?" he asked. I shook my head in agreement, "At least stand inside the house, I don't want you standing there waiting for your ride like that, it'll break my heart" he joked. "D, it's okay. They'll be here in like 5 minutes" I replied. Ignoring my request, Donnie took my hand and lead me back inside the house. "Just 5 minutes" he said. As Donnie walked into the kitchen to make some coffee, I opened a message thread to text Audrey. Audrey was my best friend and I could tell her anything, and right now I really needed to talk to her. "Coffee?" Donnie asked me. "No thanks" I said simply. Before he could offer me anything else, a notification came to my phone alerting me that my driver was outside. "Hey, um I'll see you around. My driver's outside" I said opening the door. Donnie ran to the door and helped open the door for me. "Be safe Princess" he said before kissing my cheek. Donnie had a weird sense of comfort over me, I didn't know whether to welcome this attention, or run from it. Whatever truly happened between us, he definitely had an attachment to me. I left his house and got in the car, experiencing the ride of shame.

I arrived home to my longtime boyfriend, King. King and I met on set of his music video, I was his love interest and we've been together ever since. During the course of our 4 years we've experienced miscarriages, my infidelity, and moments of uncertainty; somehow we've been able to stick it out, but now I'm not too sure. "Hey baby" he said walking towards me, greeting me with a kiss. Walking inside, King noticed my outfit, "Now I know you didn't wear that shit out last night" he said to me. I placed my keys on the counter and kicked off my shoes. I rolled my eyes. "Bae I told you me and Alana were going out. It's not my fault you weren't here when I left last night" I argued. "You know how I feel about that shit Tash" he spat. "King, can you not talk so loud? I have a headache" I groaned walking to our bedroom. King followed behind me and grabbed my arm to get a good look at me. I scrunched my face for a moment and noticed the sadness in his eyes, "I missed you last night. Why didn't you call?" he asked tracing the cleavage of my dress, I shivered at his touch. "It was getting late, and I... I had been drinking. I'm sorry. We didn't want to go too far, so Alana and I stayed at Audrey's last night" I lied. King didn't say anything, he continued to ponder about my dress.

"Turn around" he commanded, doing as told, King unzipped the back of my dress and undid the clasp around my neck, causing my dress to fall. He walked in front of me and trailed his finger across my top lip, he stared at me a moment. "Wash last night off of you." He said before placing a soft kiss to my neck. Quickly walking into the bathroom, I got in the shower and turned on the water. Something about King's demeanor turned me on, but also scared me. I didn't like lying to him, nor do I ever come home late without calling or texting. I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about my actions towards him, who would've thought that last night would make me so crazy. As the hot water cascaded down my body, I closed my eyes and reminisced on a brief moment from last night:

Struggling to get in the shower due to the passion in our kisses, Donnie picked me up and turned on the water in haste as he laid me on the floor. With lusty filled eyes, I watched as he climbed on top of me and kissed me viciously, inserting his tongue down my throat as his hands roamed my body. Slight moans escaped my lips as I could feel his hands caress every inch of me, as his hands reached my thighs, he broke the kiss and kept his eyes on me. Sitting up on my elbows I watched as he inserted two fingers into me causing me to moan in pleasure. I wasted no time in grinding against his fingers. The lust in his eyes ignited a fire within me, that I released his fingers from my body and sucked them dry. I straddled him and pulled him into a kiss. Kissing down his neck, I grabbed his shaft and stroked him generously. Breaking the kiss, he stared in my eyes as I eased myself onto him while cupping his balls. Welcoming his length, I moaned on his lips as he attempted to suck my bottom lip with his plump ones. Thrusting his hips against me as I began to bounce on him, I gripped the back of his neck and screamed out in pleasure, enjoying how his dick massaged my folds effortlessly. "Promise me this won't be the last time" he let out looking me in the eyes. I shook my head in agreement and continued to bounce on him biting at his shoulder. Donnie pulled away from me, pulling back my folds to flicker at my clit. "Promise me Princess!" he urged while still pumping into me. I didn't want this sensation to stop, but he was talking too much. I placed my hand over his and stood up, when he pinned me against the wall and thrusted into me roughly, placing his hand around my neck, getting my attention. I groaned at how rough, and deep he was filling me up, causing my eyes to roll in my head as he brought my face to his. "Promise. Me." He said with each thrust. With the last blow, I creamed over his dick and let out, "I promise baby" faintly.

Tears filled my eyes as I could still feel the intense pounding from the night before. I grabbed the washcloth and covered it with body wash and lathered it together before rubbing my body. How could I betray King like that? How could I lie to him and drag my best friend into it? I scrubbed my body roughly to the point that I felt my skin was getting raw, I just wanted to get every remnant of Donnie off of me. The hot shower soothed me, but it didn't get rid of my headache, nor the heartache and guilt that resided in my soul. Getting out of the shower, I dried off and walked into the bedroom and put on King's t-shirt and a pair of black laced panties. I towel dried my hair before getting in bed next to King.

King noticed my puffy eyes and raised his brow, "You ok baby?" he asked with concern. "No" I said snuggling up to him, holding him tight. "What's wrong?" he asked. "My head hurts" I said in a whiney tone. King chuckled, "that's what your ass gets for staying out all night" I hit him in his rib and he held his side in pain. "Chill Tash, you hit too hard!" he joked. "That ain't funny! My head hurts!" I yelled. "I'm sorry" he said as his laugh subsided, "You want me to get you something?" he asked with genuine concern. "No, I took something at Audrey's" I said continuing my lie. "Well just lay on my chest and relax, I'm not going nowhere" he said changing the television.

Sighing, I took in King's cologne and held him tight trying to fight my thoughts of last night when I heard a noise from the nightstand. "I think that's your phone" King said. "Could you get it for me?" I asked not wanting to move. King huffed and leaned over me to grab my phone, as he leaned over I stared at him on top of me; mesmerized at his caramel skin and his muscles. "What you looking at girl?" he teased. A smirk came across my face as he leaned down and kissed me passionately, inserting his tongue. He caressed my face and sucked on my bottom lip gently before pulling away. "Mhmmm" he let out in satisfaction. Blushing, King handed me the phone and I received a text from Audrey asking what was up. I was in the middle of texting her when I received a text from my friend Mercedes asking if we would be available tomorrow to come by her house for a get together. Replying, Audrey asked if I had heard from Mercedes and from there we agreed that we would discuss further matters at Mercedes' house tomorrow.

"You done yet? I've been away from you all night. Tell Audrey ya'll can talk later" King asked growing impatient. Closing the text and locking my phone I sighed, "You're right" I said putting the phone away. "You deserve all my time" I said turning my attention towards him. Straddling him, King could tell that I wasn't 100% my best, he could see that I was in pain. I leaned down to kiss him when he stopped me. "Damn you look like you haven't had any sleep" he joked, "I see why you got a headache" he laughed. I felt bad and I probably did look like hell considering what I had endured. King noticed he had hurt my feelings, "I'm sorry. Let's just chill for the rest of the day. I'll fuck last night out of you later" he said kissing my cheek before pulling me into his chest to rest. I looked up at him and noticed his eyes were fixed on the television. He caught me staring at him and my eyes were glossing over. "I love you" I said lowly. "I love you too baby girl" he replied.

@soufcakmistress @liilbougievert @honeyandpeaches  @goddessofthundathighs @nahimjustfeelingit-writes @thehomierobbstark  @mochaxmars @harleycativy @blackpinup22 @19jammmy @mbjfangirl  @killmonger-fics @browngirldominion @woahitslucyylu @loudcowboylawyertree  @bigchoose @uzumaki-rebellion  @nizzle-mo @luvwitoutlimit1 @honeytoffee  @queenflaws @callmemckenzieee @kkrown  @madison2035 @illegalxbae @stokeleybabymama @cecereads209 @imanerdychubbyqueen @nyneebey @shaekingshitup @thickemadame @amorestevens @mymeira12universe-blog

[badlydrawndrawnings]

*re-watches netflix asoue*

*Thinks about Gregor and Ike, and see how they’re missing a H*

*Thinks about how H could be Hector*

*’Oh yeah, Hector is not a VFD member in the Netflix show. Welp that can’t work in the Netflix show’*

*Suddenly realizes age lifts affect more characters, not just Kit*

*Spots some Barry Sonnenfeld cameos I didn’t see before*

*‘Hey wait a minute! [RETRACTED]’*

It’s a creator cameo, but Ike is played by Barry Sonnenfeld. Netflix!Ike is one of the older VFD members, meaning he got a major age lift upward (using Sonnenfeld’s age as a ballpark range), because there’s a chance Book!Ike -as with most members in the SBG- are in the same range, give or take several years. Gregor is dead, but he too got an age lift upward since Gregor is Ike’s older brother. They’re not the only ones (using most of the actors ages as a ballpark range) that are affect by them.

Lemony got an age lift upward, while Kit got an age lift downward (no amount of CGI on Patrick Warburton can make him look younger than Allison Williams -but it works enough for me to say he’s younger than Nathan Fillion- or stretching my disbelief Kit is older than Lemony, unless she found the fountain of youth). TUA has possible evidence Larry is the youngest SBG member if you don’t include Fernald (who age is more or less the same maybe slightly older but not by much), but Netflix!Larry certainly looks older than several members, including Kit and Larry. Ticket Seller Guy looks like the age I assumed Ishmael was in the books, and it stands out and goes to my next observation: Netflix!Ishmael  certainly looks younger than I imagined (the beard and hair looks fake as hell that’s probably it) Is it because they made VFD Ishmael’s creation as a school principal? Probably?

Based on Ike’s portrayal and painting, Gregor and Ike are in the same age range as Ishmael. Ergo, those three aren’t part of the same ‘generation’ as Lemony and Co (the hybrid SB/OS Generation). Ike certainly doesn’t seem he went to school with most of them except Josephine (who looks like she got an age lift upward).

Given they’re brothers, Gregor and Ike will have a resemblance between each other. And there’s one VFD member in the Netflix show who got an age lift upward, and he also just happens to bare a resemblance to Ike. He’s the closest thing one will get to what Gregor would look in the Netflix show.

If the theory Gregor and Ike has a sibling who names start with H can work its way in the Netflix Continuity, the only contender for H is Widdershins.

*OBJECTION!* (says the non-crack theorist side of me who was listening to Ace Attorney OSTs on Youtube while writing this second half of the post) Fiona introduces herself as Fiona Widdershins. Fiona still calls her stepfather Captain Widdershins. That means Fiona is taking the Widdershins surname.

Given the numerous cameos of Barry Sonnenfeld (I never spotted the one in the Reptile Room and the Wasabi one in the Grim Grotto), there’s a gene floating around Netflix ASOUE’s world. Let’s call it ‘the Bullshit Gene’, because it’s bullshit how it keeps showing up. The Bullshit Gene is out there because some people with the gene can’t keep it in their pants, or the Bullshit Gene is super strong to be past down numerous generations and their face becomes very f*cking common to where people who don’t have it joke/comment about it whenever possible.

Gregor, Ike, and Widdershins could have seen how it’s almost bullshit they look similar to one another, and joke how their faces are almost everywhere in places they don’t expect. But the three only learn the truth that they’re half brothers in a DNA test that was supposed to be a joke. Gregor and Ike’s father and Widdershins’ mother cheated on their spouses, which lead to Widdershins’ birth (given Widdershins’ painting, he’s close to Gregor’s age or is at Gregor’s age). Mr. Anwhistle Sr and Mrs. Widdershins Sr didn’t tell their children or their spouses of the affair because of the Bullshit Gene. Anyone who makes a comment how the three share a resemblance to one other are brushed off because they just have that very f*cking common face that is everywhere.

So uh, there isn’t a proper ‘H’ Awhistle because H stands for Half-Brother.

*HOLD IT!* (says the non-crack theorist side of me) Would all three keep this hidden? Widdershins, yes. Gregor, maybe (it can go either way there’s little info about him). But Ike? From what we know of Ike, would he not tell Josephine, his own wife? What would be a reason to keep it hidden anyway?

Let’s say Fernald working at Anwhistle Aquatics as an apprentice happens after the three found out they’re half brothers. Gregor, Widdeshins, and Ike for some reason (in a rather idiotic move), thought to keep it to themselves because no one would believe them because the Bullshit Gene is everywhere and everyone knows about it and joke about it. Reasonable, but still idiotic. Ike is sort of hoping for the right moment to strike though to tell Josephine and maybe everyone else. They’re going to start a family after all. It would be wonderful if the two families got together for a real family picnic, not a VFD meeting/picnic.

With this new-found familial connection, Widdershins thought to use the the nepotist approach to get Fernald a job at Anwhistle Aquatics (‘Gregor can you help your step-nephew achieve his dream in Marine Biology and stuff?’ ‘Step-Half Nephew. Fernald actually has the best qualifications, so yeah.’). 

That action decided they should do a test run of sorts. Anwhistle Aquatic is the chosen grounds. Fernald and Gregor are working together and they get along. Ike visits and tells Josephine (Josephine mentioning in Season One about she thinks boys would prefer to play with cards; she never met Fernald, but she heard of him through Ike), and Widdershins show up once in awhile to check up on his stepson (Fiona visits once or twice but she barely remembers them by the time she becomes 16). The brothers see it’s working...at first. The Medusoid Mycelium is now created. Ike and Gregor start fighting over it, as with Gregor and Fernald (who is more  ‘hey just reconsider’). Widdershins isn’t getting involved, but agrees with Ike and Fernald. Gregor is outnumber but he still wants to go through the program, with or without his apprentice’s (nephew) help. 

And then the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire happens. Everyone eventually learns it’s done by Fernald. And Ike is angry Gregor is dead. Gregor could still be alive if Widdershins didn’t try to get his step-son into working at Anwhistle Aquatics. If Gregor and Ike never discover their half brother and his family, Gregor would still be alive. And Ike wants to have a family with Josephine. With Fernald with mind, Ike doesn’t want Widdershins and Fiona to be around Ike’s family in case the same stunt happens again. Widdershins and Ike in a mutual agreement -with a heated argument- parts way and keep their family secret to themselves.

So yeah. Ike would keep a secret from Josephine if his buttons were push. Gregor and his death was the button that did the trick.

*HANG ON!* (says the non-crack theorist side of me) What does that means regarding the bad blood between him and Widdershins? Widdershins is the one who drove Fernald away in the books after all! For...well, no one know for sure. Just theories. Mostly related to Mrs. Widdershins.

*‘Hey wait a minute! I just realize there’s lack of an importance of Mrs. Widdershins and her death in the Netflix Show’*

Okay, so in the books, Widdershins for whatever reason (guilt? let’s say guilt), is on the denial train when it comes to Fernald. More often than not, Widdershins wants to remember Fernald as the teenage boy who is pleasant and charming. He never brings up the fights or anything bad regarding his stepson. In fact, the denial train is so strong, I think the reason why Widdershins made his weird comment of marriage to Violet is because he convinced himself Fernald is still a teenage boy, and not the adult he is by present time. And it’s clear as day Fernald really, really, hates his stepfather. A lot. At lot to where Fernald would start a fight with his stepfather in a parking lot Denny’s (and Fernald will win said fight). Apply the idea/theory Mrs. Widdershins was working with Gregor and she died in the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire, Fernald has every right to pick said fight: Widdershins was responsible for Fernald’s mom death in Fernald’s eyes.

In the Netflix show, Fernald hate his stepfather, but it’s not on the levels as his book counterpart. After his freak out over Madame Lulu!Olivia, Fernald thinks about calling Fiona, but gets the realization his stepfather could answer instead, and even comments/ask himself if Widdershins would still be mad at him [Fernald], most likely over the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire. Fernald’s tone in the scene means he is scare of meeting Widdershins again. Fernald gladly tells Sunny a happy memory of sorts with Widdershins, about how the two went ice fishing before immediately back tracking because Fernald realize (in horror) he has remnant affection (let’s call it that) left in his heart. And the biggest ‘slip-up’ of this remnant affection: Fernald calls Widdershins ‘step-pops’. He and Fiona call Widdershins their stepfather, but Fiona never says ‘step-pops’. It’s possible ‘step-pops’ was Fernald’s prefer terminology before the bad blood set. There’s hate, but it’s not worth picking a fight in a parking lot at Denny’s.

In the Netflix show...instead of keeping Fernald alive as a young teenager who is pleasant and charming, Widdershins wants Fernald very f*cking dead. He told Fiona her brother died in a manatee accident. He told Fiona this not long after Fernald set Anwhistle Aquatics on fire and presumably after getting kick out of VFD, and around this time the big fight happens where Fernald tells Widdershins he [Fernald] never wanted to see his [Widdershins] face again. It’s a f*ck up lie because when Book!Widdershins said the same thing to Book!Fiona about her mom, Fiona’s mom is dead. Book!Widdershins also never even told Fiona that Fernald is dead, he’s just alive and missing. And I should bring up the happy family photo. In the books, it’s more or less open correction it was crumple but it still show all four of the family members. Netflix’s happy family photo took a note from Mama Imelda in Coco who folded away her husband’s guitar on the ofrenda photo (after ripping off her husband’s face). Widdershins folded away Fernald, leaving only Fiona and Widdershins (and Fernald’s hand). 

In both books and show, Widdershins drove away Fernald. In the books, it’s possible (but not 100% certain) Fernald blames Widdershins for causing Fernald’s mom death in the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire. In the Netflix show, under this theory Netflix!H is Widdershins, Widdershins drove away Fernald because Widdershins blames Fernald for causing Widdershins’ half brother death in the Anwhistle Aquatic Fire. However, Fernald decision’s to leave is also because Fernald doesn’t understand the full extent of his actions. Fernald knows his Stepfather is mad over the fire and Gregor’s death, but Fernald didn’t think his Stepfather would be super mad over the fire and Gregor’s death. 

Of course, Fernald probably (probably) wouldn’t have set the fire had the three brothers you know, told everyone they’re related. It’s possible (possible) Widdershins did realize that terrible mistake in a cooling off period. If he also hated Fernald enough to never want to see his stepson’s face again, Widdershins could have torn off Fernald’s face of the photo.

[junker-town]

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

The Western Illinois Leathernecks begin Year 20 in our simulated dynasty in College Hoops 2K8.

Welcome back to our simulated dynasty with the Western Illinois Leathernecks in College Hoops 2K8. You can find a full explanation of this project + spoiler-free links to previous seasons here. Check out the introduction to this series from early April for full context. As a reminder, I simulate every game in this series (even the ones we watch on Twitch) and only handle the recruiting and coaching strategies.

Before we start Year 20 of Coach Rick’s tenure at Western Illinois, here’s a recap of everything that has happened last season:

Coming off three straight seasons that ended in the Elite Eight, the Leathernecks enter the new year with two returning starters and a team rated as a 97 overall. We went 6-6 against a difficult non-conference schedule before going undefeated in conference and again claiming the Summit League tournament championship. We enter the NCAA tournament as a No. 12 seed at 26-6 on the season.

We faced No. 5 seed Cal in the first round of the NCAA tournament. We lost, 90-87, when our potential game-tying three at the buzzer fell short. Read the tournament + offseason recap here.

We landed three new players on the recruiting trail.

Western Illinois, Year 20, 2026-2027

Here’s a look at our roster coming into Year 20:

It feels like a new era at Western Illinois with only two returning starters and just one senior on the roster. This squad might not have the experience we’d ideally prefer — reflected in the game’s ‘team unity’ ranking — but we do have size and shooting at every position with some emerging young depth on the bench. If nothing else, I’m hoping we can set the table for an even better season a year from now depending on few NBA draft decisions.

Let’s run through the starters real quick. As something new this year, click on the names for a link to their player cards with full ratings.

PG Tron Whaley, redshirt junior, 87 overall: Tron enters the starting lineup for the first time as a junior after being a key piece off the bench last season. He’s grown two inches to 6’4 since committing and now looks like a steady lead guard with size and shooting ability. Has a 86-rating in three-point shooting, which is tops on the team. Former No. 128 overall recruit with C+ potential.

SG Mathew Alloway, redshirt freshman, 82 overall: The former Mr. Basketball out of Minnesota becomes the rare freshman starter for the Leathernecks. The 6’6 shooting guard doesn’t have a signature skill yet, but looks solid across the board. Rated as a 94 in speed and a 78 in three-point shooting. Former No. 31 overall recruit with B- potential.

SF Wilky Henry, redshirt senior, 93 overall: Henry needs to be a superstar this year for this team to play up to its potential. I think he can get there. Moving back to his natural position of small forward after starting at shooting guard last season, Henry is a massive 6’8, 242 pound wing who can shoot from three, rise above the rim for monster dunks, and handle the ball like a guard. We need him to be our go-to scorer on the perimeter. Former No. 80 overall recruit with C+ potential.

PF Allan Cunningham, redshirt junior, 89 overall: Cunningham is already on his way to becoming one of the most beloved players in program history. A standout in NCAA tournament games since his freshman season, ‘Ham’ is preposterously large (6’11, 289 pounds) with a refined skill set that includes legitimate three-point range. He’s a skilled inside scorer and rebounder while having an A grade in three-point shooting and an A- grade in speed. He should be a stud this year. Former No. 67 recruit with C+ potential. Projected first round pick.

C Pat Giddens, redshirt junior, 91 overall: Giddens is tied for the best potential rating in program history, per reader Evan’s Leathernecks Recruiting Database. This is his big chance to translate that potential into production on the court. Giddens moves into the starting lineup after being sixth man last season. He’s a bit short for a center at 6’9. but he’s impossibly strong at 290 pounds. Him and Ham up front is a supersized front court we’re hoping will be a great advantage for us all season. Former No. 115 overall recruit. Projected lottery pick.

There was some thought given to starting Henry at shooting guard again (where he goes down one point) to get sophomore Wilbur Ager in the starting lineup, but we prefer putting Henry at his best position, throwing Alloway into the fire, and letting Ager be one of the the better bench players in the country.

We’re going with a nine-man rotation this season: Ager and freshman center Kevin Brazzle will each get about 15 minutes per game, while freshman point guard Jamie Burke and freshman power forward LF Neal each get about 10 minutes per game. That means junior guard Vitor Andrisevic (79 overall) is out of the rotation. He will go down as the biggest recruiting bust in program history.

We also welcome three new incoming recruits to the team. All of them will redshirt.

PG Koko Reeves out of San Antonio, No. 52 overall recruit: 73 overall, C potential. Reeves is the smallest recruit we’ve ever had, but he’s already grown an inch to 5’11 since committing. His C potential grade is disappointing, but he looks like an absolutely elite shooter, already rated as an 82 from three-point range.

SF Jitim Dupre out of Chicago, No. 91 overall recruit: 76 overall, C+ potential. Dupre is a tall, lanky wing at 6’9. He’s a bit disappointing as a three-point shooter with a 72 rating.

C Artie Snipes out of Riverside, No. 177 overall recruit (No. 10 center): 75 overall, B+ potential. The 6’11 center is the heaviest recruit we’ve ever had at 282 pounds. Looks like he’s going to be another outstanding big man for the Leathernecks.

Recruiting

We only have one scholarship to recruit for this year. I want to hit the JUCO market to find a five-star shooting guard or power forward to join timeline of last year’s three-man class. I use my first two visits on these players:

6’2 shooting guard Edwin Wolfe out of Federal Way, WA

6’4 shooting guard V.J. Roberts out of Chicago

JUCO recruits aren’t numerically ranked and don’t have AAU stats, but Wolfe is the top shooting guard among JUCO players when the class is sorted by recruiting stars, so we offer him the scholarship.

Also we have to create a player for the winner of last season’s bracket contest, Isaac Springer. I asked Isaac to give me some details the player he wanted to create, and this is what he hit me with:

I actually had a small idea if I won: would it be possible to create Jon Bois instead? I’m not a huge college basketball fan (or much of a basketball fan in general), so I don’t really know anything about stats or positions or what’s good. But Jon is my favorite content creator online, and he’s what’s helped me find SB Nation and all of the great work that everyone is doing there. I think it’d be fun to introduce him into the Leathernecks universe.

Say no more, my man. Jon Bois, five-star shooting out of Louisville, is officially in the Leathernecks Universe. We’ll follow Jon’s recruitment and his career wherever he ends up. As a reminder, we don’t go after created players at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game.

Finally, it’s time to begin the season. We start the year unranked in the polls and rated as a 96 overall. Let’s go!

First game: @ Illinois

I’ve had this game circled on my calendar since the Illini shocked us in the opener last season. We run this state, and we’ve proven it multiple times in the last decade. It’s time to issue the Illini an emphatic reminder of that.

Loss, 83-62. Oh my god. The Illini smacked us from the opening tip-off and there was nothing we could do to recover. That is not how we wanted to start the season. Ager had a good game and pretty much everyone else struggled.

Next up we have Georgetown. The Hoyas are rated as a 91 overall.

Win, 76-50. There we go. Look at Cunningham ball out with 23 points and six rebounds on 3-of-4 shooting from three-point range. That’s why this man is an icon. Read our beat writer Matthew Morrow on what makes Cunningham so special. I’m gonna need my guards to do better than shoot 1-of-13 from the floor, but thankfully it’s a long season and they should improve along the way.

As I sim to the next week, I noticed that my backup option on the recruiting trail V.J. Roberts really likes us. If he commits by the early signing period, we’d get a coaching point for landing our first five-star recruit in season. I decide to pull the scholarship from Wolfe and give it to Roberts. If he doesn’t accept it, I will probably re-offer Wolfe, assuming he doesn’t hate me now.

Next game is against Louisville, who enters at No. 1 in the polls. We decided to watch this game on the Twitch stream. The Cards enter at a 96 overall. The game will begin when you press play:

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Loss, 111-105. Damn, we almost had them. I feel a lot better about my team after watching them go toe-to-toe with No. 1 in the country on the road. My freshman shooting guard Mathew Alloway looked terrific offensively, finishing with 24 points on 1-of-18 shooting. He also picked up a nickname on the Twitch stream: All Day. Let’s just decide not to talk about his defense. Cunningham was again phenomenal, Wilky Henry was solid, and we found a new breakout player in backup center Kevin Brazzle. He’s huge at 7’1 and was immediately more effective than our starter Giddens, who got into early foul trouble.

Our defense was just terrible all around. Louisville shot 50 percent from the field and 43 percent from three. They also forced us into 18 turnovers with their press. We’re going to need to close-out on shooters and take care of the ball if we want to make a deep run.

As the early signing period begins, we have a rematch with Cal, who knocked us out of the NCAA tournament in the first round last year. I’ll take one hot serving of revenge, please.

Win, 91-63. Eat it, Bears. Cunningham carried us like always with 20 points, Henry puts up a 9-9-9 line in a game where he shoots 2-for-11, Tron goes 5-for-5 from deep to score 18 points, which I believe is a career-high. Hell yeah. We’re 2-2- on the year.

We have our two early conference games on the final week of the early signing period. We blowout both UMKC and IUPUI to make us 4-2 on the year. Unfortunately, we don’t land the commitment we were looking for from Roberts. Since Wolfe appears to be the higher rated prospect and still doesn’t have any other suitors, we pull the scholarship from Roberts and re-offer Wolfe.

In other news, Jon Bois commits to Dayton!

Next up we have Stanford. The Cardinal are 3-4 on the year and enter as an 87 overall.

Loss, 77-75. Woof. Giddens and Henry played well, but that’s a team we should beat. It’s tough to get an at-large bid in the Summit League when you’re losing to likely non-tournament teams like Illinois and Stanford, so we’re probably going to need to win the conference tournament again to punch our ticket.

We have a tough week coming up, too: we travel to face Michigan and Duke in true road games.

The Wolverines are No. 17 in the polls and the defending national champions. Can we get back on track?

Loss, 86-74. Ugh. My center Giddens only playing seven minutes because of foul trouble wasn’t ideal, and neither was his backup Brazzle also getting into foul trouble. Great game from Henry with 23 points — we need more of that. It’s become apparent that this team isn’t as good defensively as we typically are.

Alright, Duke time. The Blue Devils are ranked No. 9 in the polls entering the game.

Loss, 99-60. Zero combined points from my backcourt seems less than great. This regular season is not going how I had hoped.

Next up we have Dayton, who enter at No. 11 in the country. The Flyers are led by Matt Boswell, the player we ever created for the first ever winner of our bracket contest. Dayton has not made the tournament yet since Boswell’s arrival, but it looks like they’re going to do it this year. This would be a nice win if we can get it.

Loss, 74-60. Boswell with 14 points in the win. We have left ourselves zero margin for error in the conference tournament.

We only have one more non-conference game left: @ Vanderbilt. The Commodores are led by one-time Leathernecks recruiting target Stane’s Hobson, who is a 93 overall as a senior point guard.

Win, 106-102! Hell yeah. We really needed that heading into conference play. Cunningham killed it (23 points on 9-of-14 shooting), Tron Whaley is turning into a dynamic point guard (18 points, six assists), and Brazzle gave us a nice lift off the bench with 10 points. I love the three-point shooting and the assists. Let’s keep it going to finish out the year strong.

It is now time for Summit League play. We have gone undefeated in the Summit the last two seasons. Can we do it again?

Yup. We finish off the perfect slate in conference play to enter the conference tournament at 21-6. Here’s a look at the end-of-season stats:

Great year for Cunningham. He’s just so damn good; the fact that he’s our primary option on offense is the thing that has me feeling optimistic about our tournament chances. Having four starters finish in the teens in scoring average feels pretty good, too. I also have to note our three-point shooting numbers were through the roof this year. Here’s what we did from deep:

Tron Whaley: 47 percent on 117 attempts

Wilky Henry: 40.3 percent on 114 attempts

Allan Cunningham: 47.2 percent on 74 attempts

Mathew Alloway: 50.7 percent on 63 attempts

I wish there was a way I could tell my team to shoot more threes. Getting up enough 3PAs is going to be a big key going into the postseason.

But first, we have to win the Summit League conference tournament again. We again enter the field as the top seed. As I’ve noted, I really don’t think we’ll have enough juice to get an at-large bid after our shaky non-conference schedule. We can’t have a letdown here.

Summit League tournament

First game is against Oral Roberts. They enter at 7-22 on the season.

Win, 123-62. Henry scores 24, Giddens scores 22, and Cunningham scores 20. We hit 12-of-19 threes in this game, too. We have UMKC next.

Win, 81-61. Henry plays arguably his best game of the season, finishing with 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the win. We out-rebounded them 36-19. Seems good. Now we have Fort Wayne in the title game. Why am I so nervous about this?

Win, 86-52! Tron just crushes it with 26 points, seven assists, and 6-of-8 shooting from three. Ham put in work like always, too. I am more relieved than excited — but hell yes, we’re going dancing again. I’m hoping for a single-digit seed, but I doubt our resume was good enough for it.

2027 NCAA tournament

We’re a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Minnesota in the first round. Wow. We haven’t faced the Golden Gophers in this simulation before, so that should be fun.

Here’s a look at our roster heading into the tournament:

It’s going to be Wilky and Cunningham leading the way. We just need Alloway to not actively hurt as our lowest rated starter in years as an 85 overall. For the record, I liked what he showed in the Louisville game and I’m super optimistic about his future. We also need Giddens to finally play up to his rating, especially as a projected lottery pick and what appears to be the highest rated junior in the country.

Here’s a link to the Minnesota roster. The Golden Gophers enter the game as a 98 overall — just like us. Here’s how the two teams matchup:

This is going to be a really tough test for a first round game. We’re going to watch the simulated game together on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. We’ll talk about that more in a second. But first, let’s get to this year’s bracket contest.

2027 NCAA tournament bracket contest

We’ve been running a bracket contest for the last few seasons, and it’s been a ton of fun. We’re opening it up to anyone who wants to enter as long as you turn in your bracket before we stream our first NCAA tournament game on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch.

This is everything you need to know:

How does scoring work?

We use a standard scoring format. You get one point for correctly guessing the winner in a first round game, two points for correctly a winner in a round of 32 game, four points for correctly guessing a winner in a Sweet 16 game, eight points for correctly guessing a winner in an Elite Eight game, 16 points for correctly guessing a winner in the Final Four, and 32 points for correctly guessing the national champion.

Can I see the rosters for the other teams?

Yes. You can find the rosters for every team on the right side of the bracket in the East and West regionals here. You can find the rosters for every team on the left side of the bracket for the South and Midwest regionals here. Just arrow over to scroll through the rosters.

How do I enter?

1. Click this link to open the interactive bracket.

2. After opening, in the top left select File > Make a Copy

3. Make your picks

4. In the top left, select File and either “Share” and share with sean@hoopsinsight.com or “Email as attachment” and email as an Excel file (not PDF please!) to sean@hoopsinsight.com

Once your picks are entered, you can track scoring with Sean’s Blog Team app that works on desktop and mobile.

What does the winner get?

The winner gets to create themselves or a character as a five-star recruit ahead of next season. We won’t go after the created recruits at Western Illinois to preserve the integrity of the game, but we’ll follow the career of your character throughout our series.

Readers David, Matt, and Josh made an NCAA tournament preview show

I love the Leatherneck community so much. Please watch David, Matt, and Josh breakdown this year’s team and the entire NCAA tournament bracket in a 25-minute selection show.

This is the best.

The old clips got me choked up a little bit. Amazing work by them.

You might have noticed Boswell and the Dayton Flyers would likely be our opponent if we can reach the Sweet 16. I would love nothing more than to make it happen. Especially after Boswell said he would drop a cool 28 points on Giddens on the bracket show.

We need to win two games on Sunday night first, though. Here’s how you can watch Western Illinois in the 2027 NCAA tournament.

How to watch Western Illinois vs. Minnesota in the first round of the 2027 NCAA tournament

Game: No. 12 seed Western Illinois vs. No. 5 seed Minnesota, first round, 2027 NCAA tournament

How to watch: My Twitch channel. You don’t need to sign up for anything to watch, but you do need to register for an account to comment. Do it, it’s fun.

Date: Sunday, Aug. 16

Tip-off time: 8:30 p.m. ET

If we win: We’ll face the winner of No. 4 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 13 seed Yale in the round of 32 immediately following the first round game.

Here a couple bonus links:

Join the Leathernecks Subreddit started by reader Evan.

Reader Thanh Nguyen in Japan wrote a fan-fiction e-book on the first eight seasons of Leathernecks basketball under Coach Rick. Spoilers ahead, but this is absolutely incredible and I highly recommend buying it.

We now have a fan-started Leathernecks Twitter account. There will be spoilers on there from the Twitch stream before the recap post goes out.

Come hang out and watch our Leathernecks take on Minnesota in the NCAA tournament on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on Twitch. Thank you and go ‘Necks.

[ugyeoms]

Acting//Kyungsoo Scenario

Title: Acting//Kyungsoo Scenario

Word Count: 3436

Request: (Anon) Hi!! I've been wanting to ask this for quite some time. Do you think you can write a scenario where you play as kyungsoos sister on a drama but outside of it you fall in love with each other? Thank you!

A/N: Here you go anon! I’m so sorry this took so long! (and im sorry for the terrible title i suck at them) I just wanted to say the actors names I used in here are completely random, there’s no drama that they’re staring in together! I merely just chose them because I like them! If you guys like this scenario, then please check out my masterlists and feel free to request fake texts or scenarios for any of the 4 groups I write for. Thank you!

_______________________________________________________________________

The ringing of your phone startles you as you snap out of your daze and rush to pick it up.

“Hello?” you greet nervously.

“Y/N! YOU GOT A PART!” your manger exclaims. You squeal and smile really big, absolutely ecstatic that you were able to score a part in SBS’s upcoming drama. 

“Which part did I get?” You ask, your voice full of excitement.

“You will be playing the role of the male lead’s sister!” She replies. “The role of the sister does have a pretty decent amount of screen time and lines though, i’d even consider her as a main character!” You can’t believe you managed to get such a good role as a relatively rookie actress and are extremely satisfied with the part.

“Awesome! Do you know who the male lead is yet?” You question. 

“You’re not gonna believe me when I tell you.” She replies, and you can practically feel the smile on her face.

“Oh my gosh, who is it?” You ask, once again anxious.

“Do Kyungsoo!” She replies with enthusiasm. You almost drop your phone when you hear the name come out of her mouth.

“Do Kyungsoo?! Like Exo’s Do Kyungsoo?!” You reply, your jaw hanging open in shock.

“Yes! Can you believe it?! You got a good part in a drama with Do Kyungsoo as the lead male! This is insane! Do you realize how many people are going to be watching you act because of him?” She replies.

You feel faint as you consider just how much attention this drama is going to get solely because of him. Although you’re merely playing his sister, tons of people are going to see what you’re capable of when it comes to your acting skills. You seriously hope you don’t get too nervous around Kyungsoo though, since you are in fact a huge fan of Exo. “This can’t be real!” You reply in utter disbelief.

“But it is!” Your manager replies. “And tomorrow you will be meeting with the cast for the script reading of the pilot!” 

“What?! Already?!” You scream, jumping out of your chair. “I’m not mentally prepared for this, oh my gosh. What am I gonna do?” 

“Y/N, you’re an amazing actress, you can do this! Now go relax, you have to be well rested for the script reading tomorrow!” 

“Ok, ok, I will eat some dinner and then head straight to bed! Goodnight!” You reply.

“Goodnight! Congrats again!” You manager says before hanging up. You place your phone down on the table in front of you, and just stare forward, still trying to process what just happened. This whole thing feels like a dream! You got a main part in an SBS drama that has Exo’s Kyungsoo in it! Excited for tomorrow, you quickly eat something and then decide to go straight to bed.

~

The next morning, you and your manager are in the car on the way to the script reading. The palms of your hands are clammy as you think about what’s about to happen. In no time, you and your manager arrive at the building the script reading is being held in and make your way in side. You’re looking down at the floor as you try and take deep breaths to help you calm down. It’s just a script reading! Your manager leads you into a room with a long table with just a few people sitting at it and a bunch of name tags. Spotting your name, you begin to head over to your seat until you’re stopped by who you recognize to be the producer of the show.

“Y/N, it’s great to see you! We’re so excited to have you playing Yerin!” He says, bowing.

You bow in return before replying, “Thank you so much for giving me the honor of playing this part! I can’t wait to see the script!”

“I think you’ll like it! Your script is right over at your name tag. We’ll begin the script reading once all of the actors and actresses arrive.” He finishes.

“Alright, thank you!” You smile, continuing the walk over to your name tag. You look at the name tags you’re in between and notice that you’ll be sitting next to Kyungsoo, whose character is named Minho and Park Hyungsik, who is playing a character named Jinyoung. Your hear beat increases a bit knowing that you’re going to be in such a close proximity of such famous people. Deciding it’s best not to worry about it, you take a seat and begin to look over the front page of your script.

“Kim Yerin: Y/N L/N

The sister of Minho. Minho and Yerin are extremely close siblings, and she is one of the main obstacles in the way of Minho and Nayeon being together. Minho will not date anyone without Yerin’s approval, so Nayeon spends a decent amount of time towards the end of the drama when her and Minho get together, trying to convince Yerin and Dahyun that she’s the right girl for their brother and son. However, in addition to being the loving sister of Minho, Yerin is the target of Minho’s friend Jinyoung’s affections. Though she doesn’t fall for him at first, the two eventually end up together in the end.” 

You finish reading the description of your character, absolutely shocked at what a significant role you seem to have. You learn that Nayeon, the female lead, will be played by IU and Jinyoung, the character played by Park Hyungsik, is actually your love interest! You’re shocked how you were able to receive a part in a drama that will have such a famous cast! The first of those three people to arrive is actually Kyungsoo. As soon as you see him walk in your palms start to sweat. He’s even better looking in real life than he is on screen! Luckily, you have a little bit of time to mentally prepare yourself while he’s talking to the producer. You know you have to act all calm and collected around him because you don’t want to make a bad first impression. You guys are going to be working together for a while, so you want to make sure he doesn’t think you’re a weirdo. Lost in your thoughts, you don’t notice Kyungsoo starting to make his way over to his seat and towards you.

“Hi, I’m Do Kyungsoo and I will be playing your brother Minho in the drama. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He says to you politely with a bow. You immediately stand up and bow in return. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too! I’m Y/N L/N and I will playing the role of your sister Yerin! But I think you know that already...” You laugh nervously, getting your first real look at his face. You swear you’ve never seen anyone who is this perfect.

“Yes! I just figured since that’s what is says on your name tag.” He laughs, pointing towards it. 

“Oh, right.” You laugh in return, slightly embarrassed and extremely nervous.

“So, I heard from the producer that you’re a relatively new actress!” He states, shocking you that he actually is trying to make conversation.

“Yes, actually! I’d consider this my biggest role so far, and although I’m nervous, I’m very excited to see where this goes!” You reply, more calm then you were a bit ago.

“Well, congratulations and I’m sure you’ll do great. I was extremely nervous my first big role too, so I understand how you feel.”

“Thank you! Also, you’re such an amazing actor and performer though!” You reply, and you almost see a hint of a blush on his face. “I forgot to say it when I greeted you, but I’m a fan of Exo too.” You say shyly.

“You’re very sweet, thank you for all of the compliments.” He smiles at you. You’re too stunned by his smile to respond, but luckily, you don’t have too. Hyungsik approaches the two of you and bows.

“Hi, I’m Park Hyungsik and I will be playing the role of Jinyoung. It’s a pleasure to meet the two of you.” He states. You two bow in return an introduce yourselves. Everyone makes small talk for a while until finally everyone is there and the script reading can start.

The script reading goes well and the producer begins to give out some filming schedules. You find out that the filming starts as soon as tomorrow and you have to be there pretty early in the morning to get styled for recording. This is a scary experience, but you find it extremely exciting looking at how far you’ve come. The cast and crew were all very nice and you just know that you’re going to have a great time working with them.

~

Your reflection stares back at you as you watch the stylists work on your hair and makeup. The first day of recording is a big deal and you feel very jittery. The stylists finish up and you look at yourself in the mirror. “This is it.” You think to yourself. You walk into the set while looking at your lines. The first scene you would be filming would in fact be with Kyungsoo. The scene will take place in your house and the two of you will basically be introducing your characters through a conversation with each other. While looking over your script, Kyungsoo walks up from behind you and taps you on the shoulder.

“Hey Y/N! Are you ready for this?” He asks, seeing the clear anxiety on your face.

“I think I’m ready! I just really want to know my lines so I don’t mess up.” You reply, still reading over your script.

Kyungsoo pushes your script down making you look up at him. “I’m sure you won’t mess up; however, we can run our lines together if you’d like to practice.” He offers.

“That would be great, thank you so much!” You smile. The two of you go sit down and run the scene together. The both of you pretty much have it down pat and you begin to make small talk. You’re happy the two of you are getting along so well since you feel like that will make your acting all the more believable. You find out that the two of you have very similar interests and even decide to exchange numbers. 

Eventually, the director calls the two of you to set. You and Kyungsoo get in to position and wait for your cue.

“Action!” The director calls.

The two of you run through the scene very smoothly. Although you’ve only known him for a very short time, acting with him seemed to come very naturally.

“That was great guys! I think we could move on to the next scene already!” The director says, making you smile. The first day of your first big role in a drama and you’ve already completed a scene at first take. 

“Wow, first take! That’s awesome!” Kyungsoo says walking over to you.

“Yeah I know! I still can’t believe this is happening!” You reply, sitting down on the floor because why not. 

Kyungsoo sits down next to you and asks, “What?”

“This whole thing! It’s just so unbelievable that I was able to receive such a good role in what is expected to be an incredible drama with a great cast!”

Kyungsoo just smiles, intrigued by how innocent you still are. He finds himself thinking your innocence is adorable. “Well I guess it’s time to believe it now, huh?” He says. “Come on, let’s go get ready for our next scene.”

The rest of the day goes on just as smoothly as the morning. You and Kyungsoo are getting more and more comfortable around each other, and you’ve become rather friendly with Hyungsik and IU as well. You honestly don’t think this day could’ve gone any better.

When you return home, you get a text notification informing you that you’ve been put into a group chat. You look to see that a group chat has been put together by Hyungsik with you, Kyungsoo, and IU in it. The four of you instantly fall into silly conversation and you wonder to yourself how you’ve managed to get so lucky.

~

It’s weeks into filming now, and you and the rest of the cast are closer than ever. You guys text all the time, and sometimes you guys will even hang out outside of set. Especially you and Kyungsoo. You don’t know what happened, but the two of you just managed to hit it off very well. During the weeks of filming, getting to know Kyungsoo so well has made you start to develop feelings for him. You find yourself spending time throughout the day thinking about his smile, his laugh, his voice, etc. Nobody really knows about your crush except IU though. You felt like you could trust her, since the two of you have gotten pretty close.

Today, you couldn’t help but feel extremely nervous. Today is gonna be your first ever kiss scene. You know you shouldn’t be so scared since it’s just acting, but you really can’t help it. It’ll be your first time ever kissing someone in front of a camera, AND a bunch of people are going to see it! You’re quietly watching the crew set up the set for you and Hyungsik’s kissing scene when Kyungsoo comes over and takes a seat next to you.

“You seem extremely nervous.” He says.

“Is it that obvious?” You ask, quietly.

“Just a little bit, but there’s no reason to be nervous! Hyungsik is our good friend!” He says with a little smile, but it feels to you as if he’s hiding something.

“I know, but it’s my first ever kissing scene! I think i’m aloud to be a little nervous.” You say, slightly laughing.

“Yeah, you’re right. But I know for a fact that you’re going to do great. You always do!” He says encouragingly, wrapping his arm around your shoulder and pulling you close. You know that he’s just trying to help, but it’s almost as if he’s making it worse. Kyungsoo’s managed to make you even more nervous by wrapping his arm around you, and now your heart is beating a lot faster then normal. The moment between the two of you is interrupted by the director calling you and Hyungsik to set. You get up and begin walking over to the set with Kyungsoo.

“Don’t worry, you got this! If you feel like you’re getting too nervous, just try and look for me. I’ll be standing right here the whole time.” He says. Shocking him, you lean in and give him a hug.

“Thank you Kyungsoo, really. For everything.” You say against his chest. Now it’s his turn for his heart beat to increase. He feels all giddy and happy with you in his arms and doesn’t want to let go.

“Of course Y/N. Now go. You’ve got this!” He says, sadly releasing you. As soon as he let you go and walk over to Hyungsik, he just now realized that he’s really gonna have to watch the girl he likes kiss another man. He knows it’s just acting, and he’s friends with Hyungsik but still. 

“Action!” The director yells. 

Kyungsoo watches the scene unfold and feels his jealousy begin to creep up. He watches you intently and when he sees your eyes look over to him for a second, he forces on a smile.

You’re mind is in chaos and you listen to Hyungsik passionately reciting his lines. Suddenly, he pushes you against the wall, lightly holds your cheek, and leans in to kiss you. You know you should be focusing on acting into the kiss, but all that’s apparent to you is Kyungsoo’s eyes on you. The kiss scene finally ends when the director yells, “Cut! That was really great guys! We can move on!”

You smile, extremely thankful that the scene is now over. Hyungsik gives you a hug saying you did a great job, since he also knew how nervous you were. You thank him and go to speak to Kyungsoo, but notice he’s not where he was during the scene. Confused, you go to look for him and find him in the corner the two of you always sit in when not busy.

“Hey Y/N, you did great.” He says with a small smile, but you instantly notice that something is off about him. You sit down next to him and lean your head on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” You ask concerned. When he doesn’t answer, you look up to see that he seems reluctant to tell you something.

“You can tell me, I promise I won’t tell anyone or judge you for it!” You say giving him a small smile. “But if you really don’t want to, you don’t have to.” 

“I just feel a little...” He starts.

“A little...” You reply, hoping to get him to finish his sentence.

“Jealous.” He finishes quietly.

“Jealous? Of who?” You say, oblivious.

“I’m jealous that Hyungsik got to kiss you.” He confesses, looking down at his knees.

“You... You are?” You say, shocked.

“Yes.” He replies. “I wanted to be the one to kiss you...” 

“You did?” You reply, wincing at the fact that that’s all you could say right now.

“Look Y/N, we’ve gotten really close over the past few weeks, and the closer we’ve gotten, the stronger my feelings for you have gotten. I really like you.” Kyungsoo says, never looking up from his knees.

“Kyungsoo, I have feelings for you too.” You say looking at him.

“You do?” He asks, finally looking up at your face. You smile when you finally see him.

“Yes, I do. I have since we started filming.” You respond.

“Wow.” He states staring forward. “So how would you feel about going on a date tonight then?” He questions, looking into your eyes with a smile.

“I would love to.” 

~

You smooth your hands down your dress as you look into the mirror one last time. Tonight is the first award show you will be attending since the release of your drama, and you couldn’t be more nervous. Kyungsoo comes up and wraps his arms around your waist, leaning in to kiss your cheek.

“You look stunning babe.” He says, making your face turn bright red.

Kyungsoo asked you to be his girlfriend right after your first date and the two of you have been happily dating ever since. Although, the public is just newly aware of your relationship.

“Thank you love.” You smile, spinning around to give him what was meant to a quick kiss. However, he holds you in place and kisses you with more strength than you had originally intended.

“I’m so nervous for tonight.”

“There’s no need to be nervous. It’s no big deal if you don’t win!” He says, but he leans in and whispers in your ear, “But I know that you’re definitely going to win.”

Your face turns red again as you break out of his hold to grab your bag.

“Ok, let’s go.” You say. Kyungsoo nods and grabs your hand leading you to the door.

The two of your arrive at the award show and cameras start flashing as soon as the two of you walk out. Kyungsoo has told you many times to just ignore the cameras and walk forwards, so that’s exactly what you did. The two of you pose separately once and then together once before heading inside to go sit. The two of you greet the rest of your cast with hugs and begin to watch the show.

Finally, it’s time for the rookie actress award, the one you’re nominated for. The nominees are announced and then the presenter goes to open the envelope. Your heart is beating insanely fast and you wait for them to announce the name.

“And the award goes to... Y/N L/N!” Your whole cast shoots up instantly and starts congratulating you and showering you with hugs. Kyungsoo gives you a quick kiss on the cheek and then you’re walking up to the stage. With your heart still beating insanely fast, you being to make your speech. Once you’re finished, everyone is applauding for you and you make your way back down to your seat. 

You sit down and Kyungsoo leans over and whispers into your ear, “What did I tell you?” You just smile and lean over to give him a kiss, and you know now that you’re the happiest you’ll ever be.

[jade4813]

p1. Me again, so as no to just criticize: I thought the observation that lots of SB impetus for shipping is rooted in being against Iris rather than for their own ship is spot on. I've noticed in a lot of their communications it's more about CS taking Barry away from Iris, than about CS having him. They cannot talk about their own ship without mentioning that 'because B/I have no chemsitry, or is 'boring and their option would be more exciting'.

P2/ they ship SB because they think in comparison SB is better than WA, but that's a terribly shaky ground to have as a ship. I think that's the reason why they're fine with any other white woman. It's about winning one over on Iris. I've never read a single WA fanfic that bashes CS (though I can't say for sure they don't exist). But from what I hear SB fanfics have lots of anti Iris sentiment.

---

Well, I certainly think there is a pretty common phenomenon of people shipping as much due to being anti-another ship as they are pro-the ship they’re shipping. I never got THAT into it because I was also hardcore Lois and Clark, even when Lois wasn’t there, but in early days of Smallville, I was a Chlark shipper to the extent that I really couldn’t stand the Clana ship and Chlark was, at the time, the better possible short-term alternative to me. If Lois hadn’t come in and they’d introduced Lori Lemaris, I would probably have shipped it to the same extent and for the same reasons, assuming it wasn’t even more of a train wreck than I perceived Clana to be. (And the second Lois came on the show, any other potential short-term ship would have been forgotten by me. Immediately.)

As for the fanfic...I have also not seen any WA fics that bash CS, though I wouldn’t bet my life there are none out there. And I certainly have seen several that bash Iris. (I’ve also seen Barry/Reader fics that bash Iris.) But I think there’s a pretty clear reason for that.

To write a story where WA is together and endgame and Barry loves Iris more than anyone else he ever has or ever will and so on and so forth, you don’t HAVE to bash CS. Or any other character. You don’t have to get her out of the way. You don’t have to explain why he spent years convinced CS was the love of his life but now he’s realized it’s Iris. There can be 3 million fanfics written about Westallen as depicted on the CW Flash series, picking up directly and seamlessly where the S3 finale left off or as interludes between episodes we’ve already seen in any given season, and if people wanted to, not a single ONE of them would even have to MENTION CS, let alone bash her. And they would still make sense within the universe that has been set up on the series, as logical continuations of the story that has already been told.

Simply speaking, you just can’t do that with SB. You may not have to bash Iris, per se - kill her, make her into a harpy, etc. but at the very LEAST, if you wanted to write a direct continuation that would be a logical progression of where the story could go, you would have to explain why Barry no longer loves (or I suppose if you wanted to spin it, “thinks he loves”) Iris. You might not have to spend chapters on it, but you would have to have some sort of explanation why he’s always been head over heels in love with Iris and why he would suddenly turn to Caitlin after three years and be like, “Oh, wait! I realized I actually love her!”

(The alternative is, as many do, never mentioning Iris by pretending nothing that has ever happened between Barry and Iris actually happened. Which is what you get with fanfics like the ones I used to see in S2, where CS would be sobbing in grief after the death of JG/HZ and Barry would hug her and then they’d start making out and realize they’re actually in love with each other and everything else would be forgotten because now they’re happy together. It doesn’t exactly fit as a logical course the show could or would take, but at least it doesn’t bash Iris. It just pretends entire major storylines - and characterization and logical character development - don’t exist. But not every fanfic HAS to follow rules of characterization or storylines or development. Sometimes they can just exist to scratch an itch.)

But if you wanted to write a story that would be a logical continuation of the canon we’ve been given, since there is not a single damn thing or even hint of a moment within the canon that would so much as breathe a possibility that Barry would ever have reason to or ever would turn to Iris and be like, “You know what? Naaaaah...” You would have to write a story where SOMETHING happened to cause him to change THAT fundamentally. And that means Iris dies or becomes a harpy or SOMETHING. With time and effort and creativity, it COULD be done without bashing Iris, if you genuinely liked her character enough. But for the most part, it’s easiest to just write a story where Barry suddenly realizes what a bitch Iris is and bails. (And if you’re writing an SB fic, you probably don’t want to spend a lot of time doing an in-depth analysis of what causes WA to not work. You want to get to the SB part.)

And also...WA fans don’t have to analyze CS as a bitch, because she’s not a threat to their ship. CS could have never existed on the show, and the impact it would have on the WA ship? Zero. Zip. Removing her from the story may change some things, but it would have NO impact on how WA was told, it wouldn’t make the probability of WA being together happen any sooner or any later. I can think of maybe...a half dozen to a dozen scenes, tops, that would have to be rewritten because the absence of CS would even change the DIALOGUE between WA. 

Remove IW from the show and that WOULD fundamentally impact SB. All those scenes where they bonded in the first season because Barry was talking about Iris and Caitlin about Ronnie and how much they loved other people? All would have to be changed. SB still might not happen, but the possibility that it COULD would suddenly be a good deal greater. If for no other reason than Barry would currently not be engaged. Hell, he might even be single. He almost certainly wouldn’t be absolutely and wholeheartedly in love to a degree it’s clear no other ship has so much as a chance.

Iris is very much a very present and very real roadblock to any fantasy ship of Barry and ANY other character. People CAN ship an opposing ship without vilifying Iris, but if you see Iris as standing in the way of the ship you want, you HAVE to vilify her. Because if she isn’t as terrible as you tell yourself she is, what hope do you have that Barry will ever see her the way you do and bail on her to end up with the girl you want him with?

[skylight20sworldblr-blog]

This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows

Sunday morning tv historically is low-hanging fruit for TV bosses.They know there’s a entire nation inevitably switching on; a 3rd hungover from the night time earlier than, a 3rd who have been up since 6am with youngsters and may’t cope with The Go Jetters anymore and third who simply need one thing on in the background whereas they scroll by means of their socials.

No one requires Query Time, just a few fodder to get you thru to lunch, which may solely clarify the reputation of the long-running Sunday Brunch on Channel four. Set in a chat present format over three hours (9.30 to 12.30), it’s interspersed with cooking segments and highlights of the week’s coming TV and music releases, all presided over by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It’s good, it’s advantageous, it’s Sunday morning TV.

Learn extra

Viewers surprised by ladies stockpiling meals for Brexit on This Morning

However earlier this month, ITV behemoth This Morning introduced that it too can be throwing its hat in the circle to seize some of that captive viewers again for his or her channel. And on Sunday 20 January – introduced by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford – so started the first episode of This Morning on Sunday, on air for an hour at 10.30 to 11.30.

This weekend, Sunday Brunch boasted friends Rylan Clark-Neal (himself a This Morning presenter), Laurence Fox, Abigail Lawrie and Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox. Fleur East – recent from the jungle in I’m A Celeb – carried out.

This Morning on Sunday had: properly, Holmes and Langsford. Oh, and chef John Torode. Look, perhaps everybody was simply busy?

So how did the two shows play out and who gained the battle of the weekend? Right here’s what occurred, minute by minute:

The review

10.00 Sunday Brunch (SB): Half an hour earlier than This Morning begins, a newly hirsute Lovejoy – twiddling his beard – and Rimmer grilled actress Lawrie about her position in gritty Sky thriller, Tin Star. As Lawrie mentioned the darkish themes from present, together with a violent episode together with her on-screen father, Lovejoy goes full Partridge, off on a tangent, and jumps in: “I hear there was a cougar on the set. How big was it? Also, how you know if a cougar is going to smell you and go ‘oh, this is an actor and not dinner?’”. Lawrie, to her credit score, manages to politely reply and get to the finish of the interview with out rolling her eyes.

Kevin Clifton’s tattoo

10.30 This Morning on Sunday (TMoS): The acquainted strains of This Morning start as the opening credit roll, with headlines flashing up on partitions promising us ‘Bros: what happened next?’ and ‘Kevin Clifton’s tattoo’. We’re in for a wild journey immediately!

10.31 TMoS: Holmes and Langsford  – who is sticking firmly to the script by sporting a gray jumper with the phrase ‘Sunday’ on it – are shimmying on chairs to beige anthem, Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning. Holmes says: “Welcome to Sunday mornings and to This Morning on a Sunday, because you can’t get too much of a good thing.” This might later be proved as not the case.

Holmes and Langford (Photograph: ITV)

10.32 TMoS: Hey guys at house, what do you rise up to on Sunday? the Langsford-Holmes’ enquire. A painful try at banter ensues as the husband-and-wife duo attempt to burn one another about who does the least at residence at the weekends. “You get treated like a queen!” he tells Langsford, “I make an Ulster Fry!” “When you’re not reclining in your chair watching football!” she joshes again. Please, subsequent merchandise.

10.33 TMoS: Lastly, they announce, they’ll be discussing the difficulty that’s presently dividing the nation: Hen or beef roast? And may you will have Yorkshire puddings with each? Fortunately, they inform us, chef Torode shall be on the present to prepare dinner a particular dish. Ooh, what’s he making? A good, spicy Sri Lankan curry for this chilly climate? Perhaps a hearty Spanish paella or one thing? Beef. He’ll be making roast beef, potatoes and veg. This is actually the Brexit of chat shows.

Rylan Clarke-Neal will host a Saturday afternoon present on Radio 2

10.40 SB: Rylan Clark-Neal is on the couch, chatting about turning into the subsequent host of Grocery store Sweep (RIP Dale Winton) and his new present on BBC Radio 2. Clark-Neal’s truly fairly humorous, and of course, the video footage of Nicole Scherzinger telling him he’s by means of to the subsequent spherical of the X Issue is all the time going to be the spotlight of any present it options in. Chalk one up for the Sunday Brunch workforce. Particularly as Clark-Neal reveals he was out getting pissed with Caroline Flack til 7am, simply two hours earlier than the video was filmed.

10.41 TMoS: First correct phase of the present and it’s the cheery story of a Love Island contestant’s brother realising he had testicular most cancers. Wait! This is only a clip from final weeks present! Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are interviewing him prefer it’s not even Sunday! We’ve been robbed. Change again over to SB.

From Partridge-esque to precise partridge

10.50 SB: They’ve received the full line-up of visitors munching on recreation. Lovejoy goes from Partridge-esque to precise partridge (breasts full of fig, because you ask), whereas Laurence Fox pipes up: “I can’t eat mallard as my son would kill me.”. He eats stuffed mallard.

10.53 TMoS: One other repeated interview. It’s Strictly‘s Kevin Clifton getting a tattoo saying ‘I love Glasgow’. Look, it’s too boring to get into right here.

10.55 TMoS: They’re providing money bungs to maintain watching now, with the announcement of their £100,00zero money prize. (Aspect notice: how do you get signed as much as be the superstar announcer of these? Sweetest job in showbiz: every week’s work in a Maldives resort to learn out a telephone quantity). Then, it’s a montage of Gino DeCampo’s greatest bits. This is the equal of your aunt posting a video of This Morning on Fb, captioning it: “Phil and Holly cracking up on the show today – gave me the giggles too! Xx”

11.00 SB: The SB lot breakout halftime martinis to have fun the world’s greatest martini being introduced in the UK this week. It’s not even noon! Lovejoy slurs “it’s going to become a new traddissshhun.” Assume the producers may need one thing to say about that. Nonetheless, cheers!

11.04 SB: Fox steps as much as make a vinegar-braised hen with Rimmer, which finally ends up wanting a lot nicer than it sounds.

11.05 TMoS: Good god, Alice Beer continues to be going on about methods to make your garments look like they’ve been to the dry cleaners once they haven’tZzzz. This was deemed value repeating from the week of content material? Don’t remind us that our laundry basket is at present overflowing. Allow us to have this one morning with out occupied with home tasks, FFS.

Nick Knowles (Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Pictures)

11.08 TMoS: One other interview from earlier in the week, Nick Knowles speaking about auctioning up his pants from I’m a Celeb for charity. Holmes tells Langsford she’s made a stunning cup of tea, and he simply can’t have a cup of tea with no biscuit. Eats a biscuit. Langsford then tries to open up the debate “milk in first or not?” to which even Holmes shuts down with “I couldn’t care less.” It’s hardly the black/blue or white/gold gown furore, is it?

11.15 SB: Fleur East is being interviewed and actually eager to stay to the script about why she and Simon Cowell and his label Syco parted methods: “We were just on separate paths”, she chirps brightly. Kudos to Lovejoy – he goes in with the query all of us need to know: “How much is it was to do with Simon Cowell?” She excellently deflects the query. On going chart-success for you now, Fleur.

11.17 TMoS: Lastly! A reside slot and never a repeat. However it’s simply Torode telling us how one can prepare dinner an enormous rack of three ribs of beef. Veganary? Pfffft, not on our watch, snowflakes. He explains the key to flavour in a roast is the juices in the tray afterwards. Exhausting to pay attention as Holmes could be seen at the edge of the display, lifting a Yorkshire pudding and making an attempt to surreptitiously eat a bit morsel – you’ve been clocked.

11.20 SB: They’ve pulled out the massive weapons with Jason “Foxy” Fox from SAS Who Dares Wins. Lovejoy and Rimmer are struggling to include how cool they assume he’s. Lovejoy strokes his personal beard once more with pleasure.

11.22 TMoS: “Have you seen the Bros documentary?” asks Langsford. Sure. Final yr, together with the relaxation of the nation. There’s an enormous construct as much as present the previous (repeat) interview of the Goss bros after that battle in the This Morning dressing room. “Look at that body language!” says Langsford. She and Holmes then talk about preventing with households and Langsford repeats 3 times that Holmes is “a sulker.” And on that pass-agg word, it’s throughout till subsequent week. Time to modify again to Sunday Brunch for relaxation of the morning, now.

Over on social media and viewers appeared to be in equal measures confused and irritated to seek out that This Morning was primarily repeats of segments from the earlier week’s shows.

One Twitter consumer stated: “What a disappointment! It’s just a show made up of repeats from the previous week’s show.”

Disgrace it’s simply clips from the week and never new content material. Bit of a cop out. *turns @SundayBrunchC4 on as an alternative* #thismorning #sundaybrunch

— Amy Lee (@Amykinsypoo) January 20, 2019

Thought it was Monday and I used to be late for bloody work once I turned on the telly to see @thismorning! What they enjoying at?! Don’t prefer it. Keep in your lane #thismorning

— Kimberley Walker (@KimberleyHW) January 20, 2019

WHAT a disappointment it’s only a present made up of repeats from the earlier week! Shall be watching #SundayBrunch from now on @thismorning #ThisMorning on Sunday

— Janbo25 (@JaniceGilfillan) January 20, 2019

Finally, it appeared to boil right down to the content material: do viewers need reheats of lukewarm footage from the week earlier than, or getting caught into breakfast cocktails with Rylan Clark-Neal whereas laughing at Lovejoy’s beard? The viewing figures will quickly tell us.

In the imply time, move one other slice of the stuffed mallard, will you?

The post This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows appeared first on List Technology.

[aethermystfan-blog]

This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows

Sunday morning tv historically is low-hanging fruit for TV bosses.They know there’s a entire nation inevitably switching on; a 3rd hungover from the night time earlier than, a 3rd who have been up since 6am with youngsters and may’t cope with The Go Jetters anymore and third who simply need one thing on in the background whereas they scroll by means of their socials.

No one requires Query Time, just a few fodder to get you thru to lunch, which may solely clarify the reputation of the long-running Sunday Brunch on Channel four. Set in a chat present format over three hours (9.30 to 12.30), it’s interspersed with cooking segments and highlights of the week’s coming TV and music releases, all presided over by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It’s good, it’s advantageous, it’s Sunday morning TV.

Learn extra

Viewers surprised by ladies stockpiling meals for Brexit on This Morning

However earlier this month, ITV behemoth This Morning introduced that it too can be throwing its hat in the circle to seize some of that captive viewers again for his or her channel. And on Sunday 20 January – introduced by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford – so started the first episode of This Morning on Sunday, on air for an hour at 10.30 to 11.30.

This weekend, Sunday Brunch boasted friends Rylan Clark-Neal (himself a This Morning presenter), Laurence Fox, Abigail Lawrie and Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox. Fleur East – recent from the jungle in I’m A Celeb – carried out.

This Morning on Sunday had: properly, Holmes and Langsford. Oh, and chef John Torode. Look, perhaps everybody was simply busy?

So how did the two shows play out and who gained the battle of the weekend? Right here’s what occurred, minute by minute:

The review

10.00 Sunday Brunch (SB): Half an hour earlier than This Morning begins, a newly hirsute Lovejoy – twiddling his beard – and Rimmer grilled actress Lawrie about her position in gritty Sky thriller, Tin Star. As Lawrie mentioned the darkish themes from present, together with a violent episode together with her on-screen father, Lovejoy goes full Partridge, off on a tangent, and jumps in: “I hear there was a cougar on the set. How big was it? Also, how you know if a cougar is going to smell you and go ‘oh, this is an actor and not dinner?’”. Lawrie, to her credit score, manages to politely reply and get to the finish of the interview with out rolling her eyes.

Kevin Clifton’s tattoo

10.30 This Morning on Sunday (TMoS): The acquainted strains of This Morning start as the opening credit roll, with headlines flashing up on partitions promising us ‘Bros: what happened next?’ and ‘Kevin Clifton’s tattoo’. We’re in for a wild journey immediately!

10.31 TMoS: Holmes and Langsford  – who is sticking firmly to the script by sporting a gray jumper with the phrase ‘Sunday’ on it – are shimmying on chairs to beige anthem, Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning. Holmes says: “Welcome to Sunday mornings and to This Morning on a Sunday, because you can’t get too much of a good thing.” This might later be proved as not the case.

Holmes and Langford (Photograph: ITV)

10.32 TMoS: Hey guys at house, what do you rise up to on Sunday? the Langsford-Holmes’ enquire. A painful try at banter ensues as the husband-and-wife duo attempt to burn one another about who does the least at residence at the weekends. “You get treated like a queen!” he tells Langsford, “I make an Ulster Fry!” “When you’re not reclining in your chair watching football!” she joshes again. Please, subsequent merchandise.

10.33 TMoS: Lastly, they announce, they’ll be discussing the difficulty that’s presently dividing the nation: Hen or beef roast? And may you will have Yorkshire puddings with each? Fortunately, they inform us, chef Torode shall be on the present to prepare dinner a particular dish. Ooh, what’s he making? A good, spicy Sri Lankan curry for this chilly climate? Perhaps a hearty Spanish paella or one thing? Beef. He’ll be making roast beef, potatoes and veg. This is actually the Brexit of chat shows.

Rylan Clarke-Neal will host a Saturday afternoon present on Radio 2

10.40 SB: Rylan Clark-Neal is on the couch, chatting about turning into the subsequent host of Grocery store Sweep (RIP Dale Winton) and his new present on BBC Radio 2. Clark-Neal’s truly fairly humorous, and of course, the video footage of Nicole Scherzinger telling him he’s by means of to the subsequent spherical of the X Issue is all the time going to be the spotlight of any present it options in. Chalk one up for the Sunday Brunch workforce. Particularly as Clark-Neal reveals he was out getting pissed with Caroline Flack til 7am, simply two hours earlier than the video was filmed.

10.41 TMoS: First correct phase of the present and it’s the cheery story of a Love Island contestant’s brother realising he had testicular most cancers. Wait! This is only a clip from final weeks present! Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are interviewing him prefer it’s not even Sunday! We’ve been robbed. Change again over to SB.

From Partridge-esque to precise partridge

10.50 SB: They’ve received the full line-up of visitors munching on recreation. Lovejoy goes from Partridge-esque to precise partridge (breasts full of fig, because you ask), whereas Laurence Fox pipes up: “I can’t eat mallard as my son would kill me.”. He eats stuffed mallard.

10.53 TMoS: One other repeated interview. It’s Strictly‘s Kevin Clifton getting a tattoo saying ‘I love Glasgow’. Look, it’s too boring to get into right here.

10.55 TMoS: They’re providing money bungs to maintain watching now, with the announcement of their £100,00zero money prize. (Aspect notice: how do you get signed as much as be the superstar announcer of these? Sweetest job in showbiz: every week’s work in a Maldives resort to learn out a telephone quantity). Then, it’s a montage of Gino DeCampo’s greatest bits. This is the equal of your aunt posting a video of This Morning on Fb, captioning it: “Phil and Holly cracking up on the show today – gave me the giggles too! Xx”

11.00 SB: The SB lot breakout halftime martinis to have fun the world’s greatest martini being introduced in the UK this week. It’s not even noon! Lovejoy slurs “it’s going to become a new traddissshhun.” Assume the producers may need one thing to say about that. Nonetheless, cheers!

11.04 SB: Fox steps as much as make a vinegar-braised hen with Rimmer, which finally ends up wanting a lot nicer than it sounds.

11.05 TMoS: Good god, Alice Beer continues to be going on about methods to make your garments look like they’ve been to the dry cleaners once they haven’tZzzz. This was deemed value repeating from the week of content material? Don’t remind us that our laundry basket is at present overflowing. Allow us to have this one morning with out occupied with home tasks, FFS.

Nick Knowles (Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Pictures)

11.08 TMoS: One other interview from earlier in the week, Nick Knowles speaking about auctioning up his pants from I’m a Celeb for charity. Holmes tells Langsford she’s made a stunning cup of tea, and he simply can’t have a cup of tea with no biscuit. Eats a biscuit. Langsford then tries to open up the debate “milk in first or not?” to which even Holmes shuts down with “I couldn’t care less.” It’s hardly the black/blue or white/gold gown furore, is it?

11.15 SB: Fleur East is being interviewed and actually eager to stay to the script about why she and Simon Cowell and his label Syco parted methods: “We were just on separate paths”, she chirps brightly. Kudos to Lovejoy – he goes in with the query all of us need to know: “How much is it was to do with Simon Cowell?” She excellently deflects the query. On going chart-success for you now, Fleur.

11.17 TMoS: Lastly! A reside slot and never a repeat. However it’s simply Torode telling us how one can prepare dinner an enormous rack of three ribs of beef. Veganary? Pfffft, not on our watch, snowflakes. He explains the key to flavour in a roast is the juices in the tray afterwards. Exhausting to pay attention as Holmes could be seen at the edge of the display, lifting a Yorkshire pudding and making an attempt to surreptitiously eat a bit morsel – you’ve been clocked.

11.20 SB: They’ve pulled out the massive weapons with Jason “Foxy” Fox from SAS Who Dares Wins. Lovejoy and Rimmer are struggling to include how cool they assume he’s. Lovejoy strokes his personal beard once more with pleasure.

11.22 TMoS: “Have you seen the Bros documentary?” asks Langsford. Sure. Final yr, together with the relaxation of the nation. There’s an enormous construct as much as present the previous (repeat) interview of the Goss bros after that battle in the This Morning dressing room. “Look at that body language!” says Langsford. She and Holmes then talk about preventing with households and Langsford repeats 3 times that Holmes is “a sulker.” And on that pass-agg word, it’s throughout till subsequent week. Time to modify again to Sunday Brunch for relaxation of the morning, now.

Over on social media and viewers appeared to be in equal measures confused and irritated to seek out that This Morning was primarily repeats of segments from the earlier week’s shows.

One Twitter consumer stated: “What a disappointment! It’s just a show made up of repeats from the previous week’s show.”

Disgrace it’s simply clips from the week and never new content material. Bit of a cop out. *turns @SundayBrunchC4 on as an alternative* #thismorning #sundaybrunch

— Amy Lee (@Amykinsypoo) January 20, 2019

Thought it was Monday and I used to be late for bloody work once I turned on the telly to see @thismorning! What they enjoying at?! Don’t prefer it. Keep in your lane #thismorning

— Kimberley Walker (@KimberleyHW) January 20, 2019

WHAT a disappointment it’s only a present made up of repeats from the earlier week! Shall be watching #SundayBrunch from now on @thismorning #ThisMorning on Sunday

— Janbo25 (@JaniceGilfillan) January 20, 2019

Finally, it appeared to boil right down to the content material: do viewers need reheats of lukewarm footage from the week earlier than, or getting caught into breakfast cocktails with Rylan Clark-Neal whereas laughing at Lovejoy’s beard? The viewing figures will quickly tell us.

In the imply time, move one other slice of the stuffed mallard, will you?

The post This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows appeared first on List Technology.

[jimeshbathija3896-blog]

This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows

Sunday morning tv historically is low-hanging fruit for TV bosses.They know there’s a entire nation inevitably switching on; a 3rd hungover from the night time earlier than, a 3rd who have been up since 6am with youngsters and may’t cope with The Go Jetters anymore and third who simply need one thing on in the background whereas they scroll by means of their socials.

No one requires Query Time, just a few fodder to get you thru to lunch, which may solely clarify the reputation of the long-running Sunday Brunch on Channel four. Set in a chat present format over three hours (9.30 to 12.30), it’s interspersed with cooking segments and highlights of the week’s coming TV and music releases, all presided over by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It’s good, it’s advantageous, it’s Sunday morning TV.

Learn extra

Viewers surprised by ladies stockpiling meals for Brexit on This Morning

However earlier this month, ITV behemoth This Morning introduced that it too can be throwing its hat in the circle to seize some of that captive viewers again for his or her channel. And on Sunday 20 January – introduced by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford – so started the first episode of This Morning on Sunday, on air for an hour at 10.30 to 11.30.

This weekend, Sunday Brunch boasted friends Rylan Clark-Neal (himself a This Morning presenter), Laurence Fox, Abigail Lawrie and Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox. Fleur East – recent from the jungle in I’m A Celeb – carried out.

This Morning on Sunday had: properly, Holmes and Langsford. Oh, and chef John Torode. Look, perhaps everybody was simply busy?

So how did the two shows play out and who gained the battle of the weekend? Right here’s what occurred, minute by minute:

The review

10.00 Sunday Brunch (SB): Half an hour earlier than This Morning begins, a newly hirsute Lovejoy – twiddling his beard – and Rimmer grilled actress Lawrie about her position in gritty Sky thriller, Tin Star. As Lawrie mentioned the darkish themes from present, together with a violent episode together with her on-screen father, Lovejoy goes full Partridge, off on a tangent, and jumps in: “I hear there was a cougar on the set. How big was it? Also, how you know if a cougar is going to smell you and go ‘oh, this is an actor and not dinner?’”. Lawrie, to her credit score, manages to politely reply and get to the finish of the interview with out rolling her eyes.

Kevin Clifton’s tattoo

10.30 This Morning on Sunday (TMoS): The acquainted strains of This Morning start as the opening credit roll, with headlines flashing up on partitions promising us ‘Bros: what happened next?’ and ‘Kevin Clifton’s tattoo’. We’re in for a wild journey immediately!

10.31 TMoS: Holmes and Langsford  – who is sticking firmly to the script by sporting a gray jumper with the phrase ‘Sunday’ on it – are shimmying on chairs to beige anthem, Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning. Holmes says: “Welcome to Sunday mornings and to This Morning on a Sunday, because you can’t get too much of a good thing.” This might later be proved as not the case.

Holmes and Langford (Photograph: ITV)

10.32 TMoS: Hey guys at house, what do you rise up to on Sunday? the Langsford-Holmes’ enquire. A painful try at banter ensues as the husband-and-wife duo attempt to burn one another about who does the least at residence at the weekends. “You get treated like a queen!” he tells Langsford, “I make an Ulster Fry!” “When you’re not reclining in your chair watching football!” she joshes again. Please, subsequent merchandise.

10.33 TMoS: Lastly, they announce, they’ll be discussing the difficulty that’s presently dividing the nation: Hen or beef roast? And may you will have Yorkshire puddings with each? Fortunately, they inform us, chef Torode shall be on the present to prepare dinner a particular dish. Ooh, what’s he making? A good, spicy Sri Lankan curry for this chilly climate? Perhaps a hearty Spanish paella or one thing? Beef. He’ll be making roast beef, potatoes and veg. This is actually the Brexit of chat shows.

Rylan Clarke-Neal will host a Saturday afternoon present on Radio 2

10.40 SB: Rylan Clark-Neal is on the couch, chatting about turning into the subsequent host of Grocery store Sweep (RIP Dale Winton) and his new present on BBC Radio 2. Clark-Neal’s truly fairly humorous, and of course, the video footage of Nicole Scherzinger telling him he’s by means of to the subsequent spherical of the X Issue is all the time going to be the spotlight of any present it options in. Chalk one up for the Sunday Brunch workforce. Particularly as Clark-Neal reveals he was out getting pissed with Caroline Flack til 7am, simply two hours earlier than the video was filmed.

10.41 TMoS: First correct phase of the present and it’s the cheery story of a Love Island contestant’s brother realising he had testicular most cancers. Wait! This is only a clip from final weeks present! Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are interviewing him prefer it’s not even Sunday! We’ve been robbed. Change again over to SB.

From Partridge-esque to precise partridge

10.50 SB: They’ve received the full line-up of visitors munching on recreation. Lovejoy goes from Partridge-esque to precise partridge (breasts full of fig, because you ask), whereas Laurence Fox pipes up: “I can’t eat mallard as my son would kill me.”. He eats stuffed mallard.

10.53 TMoS: One other repeated interview. It’s Strictly‘s Kevin Clifton getting a tattoo saying ‘I love Glasgow’. Look, it’s too boring to get into right here.

10.55 TMoS: They’re providing money bungs to maintain watching now, with the announcement of their £100,00zero money prize. (Aspect notice: how do you get signed as much as be the superstar announcer of these? Sweetest job in showbiz: every week’s work in a Maldives resort to learn out a telephone quantity). Then, it’s a montage of Gino DeCampo’s greatest bits. This is the equal of your aunt posting a video of This Morning on Fb, captioning it: “Phil and Holly cracking up on the show today – gave me the giggles too! Xx”

11.00 SB: The SB lot breakout halftime martinis to have fun the world’s greatest martini being introduced in the UK this week. It’s not even noon! Lovejoy slurs “it’s going to become a new traddissshhun.” Assume the producers may need one thing to say about that. Nonetheless, cheers!

11.04 SB: Fox steps as much as make a vinegar-braised hen with Rimmer, which finally ends up wanting a lot nicer than it sounds.

11.05 TMoS: Good god, Alice Beer continues to be going on about methods to make your garments look like they’ve been to the dry cleaners once they haven’tZzzz. This was deemed value repeating from the week of content material? Don’t remind us that our laundry basket is at present overflowing. Allow us to have this one morning with out occupied with home tasks, FFS.

Nick Knowles (Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Pictures)

11.08 TMoS: One other interview from earlier in the week, Nick Knowles speaking about auctioning up his pants from I’m a Celeb for charity. Holmes tells Langsford she’s made a stunning cup of tea, and he simply can’t have a cup of tea with no biscuit. Eats a biscuit. Langsford then tries to open up the debate “milk in first or not?” to which even Holmes shuts down with “I couldn’t care less.” It’s hardly the black/blue or white/gold gown furore, is it?

11.15 SB: Fleur East is being interviewed and actually eager to stay to the script about why she and Simon Cowell and his label Syco parted methods: “We were just on separate paths”, she chirps brightly. Kudos to Lovejoy – he goes in with the query all of us need to know: “How much is it was to do with Simon Cowell?” She excellently deflects the query. On going chart-success for you now, Fleur.

11.17 TMoS: Lastly! A reside slot and never a repeat. However it’s simply Torode telling us how one can prepare dinner an enormous rack of three ribs of beef. Veganary? Pfffft, not on our watch, snowflakes. He explains the key to flavour in a roast is the juices in the tray afterwards. Exhausting to pay attention as Holmes could be seen at the edge of the display, lifting a Yorkshire pudding and making an attempt to surreptitiously eat a bit morsel – you’ve been clocked.

11.20 SB: They’ve pulled out the massive weapons with Jason “Foxy” Fox from SAS Who Dares Wins. Lovejoy and Rimmer are struggling to include how cool they assume he’s. Lovejoy strokes his personal beard once more with pleasure.

11.22 TMoS: “Have you seen the Bros documentary?” asks Langsford. Sure. Final yr, together with the relaxation of the nation. There’s an enormous construct as much as present the previous (repeat) interview of the Goss bros after that battle in the This Morning dressing room. “Look at that body language!” says Langsford. She and Holmes then talk about preventing with households and Langsford repeats 3 times that Holmes is “a sulker.” And on that pass-agg word, it’s throughout till subsequent week. Time to modify again to Sunday Brunch for relaxation of the morning, now.

Over on social media and viewers appeared to be in equal measures confused and irritated to seek out that This Morning was primarily repeats of segments from the earlier week’s shows.

One Twitter consumer stated: “What a disappointment! It’s just a show made up of repeats from the previous week’s show.”

Disgrace it’s simply clips from the week and never new content material. Bit of a cop out. *turns @SundayBrunchC4 on as an alternative* #thismorning #sundaybrunch

— Amy Lee (@Amykinsypoo) January 20, 2019

Thought it was Monday and I used to be late for bloody work once I turned on the telly to see @thismorning! What they enjoying at?! Don’t prefer it. Keep in your lane #thismorning

— Kimberley Walker (@KimberleyHW) January 20, 2019

WHAT a disappointment it’s only a present made up of repeats from the earlier week! Shall be watching #SundayBrunch from now on @thismorning #ThisMorning on Sunday

— Janbo25 (@JaniceGilfillan) January 20, 2019

Finally, it appeared to boil right down to the content material: do viewers need reheats of lukewarm footage from the week earlier than, or getting caught into breakfast cocktails with Rylan Clark-Neal whereas laughing at Lovejoy’s beard? The viewing figures will quickly tell us.

In the imply time, move one other slice of the stuffed mallard, will you?

The post This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows appeared first on List Technology.

[superplhis-blog]

This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows

Sunday morning tv historically is low-hanging fruit for TV bosses.They know there’s a entire nation inevitably switching on; a 3rd hungover from the night time earlier than, a 3rd who have been up since 6am with youngsters and may’t cope with The Go Jetters anymore and third who simply need one thing on in the background whereas they scroll by means of their socials.

No one requires Query Time, just a few fodder to get you thru to lunch, which may solely clarify the reputation of the long-running Sunday Brunch on Channel four. Set in a chat present format over three hours (9.30 to 12.30), it’s interspersed with cooking segments and highlights of the week’s coming TV and music releases, all presided over by Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer. It’s good, it’s advantageous, it’s Sunday morning TV.

Learn extra

Viewers surprised by ladies stockpiling meals for Brexit on This Morning

However earlier this month, ITV behemoth This Morning introduced that it too can be throwing its hat in the circle to seize some of that captive viewers again for his or her channel. And on Sunday 20 January – introduced by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford – so started the first episode of This Morning on Sunday, on air for an hour at 10.30 to 11.30.

This weekend, Sunday Brunch boasted friends Rylan Clark-Neal (himself a This Morning presenter), Laurence Fox, Abigail Lawrie and Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox. Fleur East – recent from the jungle in I’m A Celeb – carried out.

This Morning on Sunday had: properly, Holmes and Langsford. Oh, and chef John Torode. Look, perhaps everybody was simply busy?

So how did the two shows play out and who gained the battle of the weekend? Right here’s what occurred, minute by minute:

The review

10.00 Sunday Brunch (SB): Half an hour earlier than This Morning begins, a newly hirsute Lovejoy – twiddling his beard – and Rimmer grilled actress Lawrie about her position in gritty Sky thriller, Tin Star. As Lawrie mentioned the darkish themes from present, together with a violent episode together with her on-screen father, Lovejoy goes full Partridge, off on a tangent, and jumps in: “I hear there was a cougar on the set. How big was it? Also, how you know if a cougar is going to smell you and go ‘oh, this is an actor and not dinner?’”. Lawrie, to her credit score, manages to politely reply and get to the finish of the interview with out rolling her eyes.

Kevin Clifton’s tattoo

10.30 This Morning on Sunday (TMoS): The acquainted strains of This Morning start as the opening credit roll, with headlines flashing up on partitions promising us ‘Bros: what happened next?’ and ‘Kevin Clifton’s tattoo’. We’re in for a wild journey immediately!

10.31 TMoS: Holmes and Langsford  – who is sticking firmly to the script by sporting a gray jumper with the phrase ‘Sunday’ on it – are shimmying on chairs to beige anthem, Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning. Holmes says: “Welcome to Sunday mornings and to This Morning on a Sunday, because you can’t get too much of a good thing.” This might later be proved as not the case.

Holmes and Langford (Photograph: ITV)

10.32 TMoS: Hey guys at house, what do you rise up to on Sunday? the Langsford-Holmes’ enquire. A painful try at banter ensues as the husband-and-wife duo attempt to burn one another about who does the least at residence at the weekends. “You get treated like a queen!” he tells Langsford, “I make an Ulster Fry!” “When you’re not reclining in your chair watching football!” she joshes again. Please, subsequent merchandise.

10.33 TMoS: Lastly, they announce, they’ll be discussing the difficulty that’s presently dividing the nation: Hen or beef roast? And may you will have Yorkshire puddings with each? Fortunately, they inform us, chef Torode shall be on the present to prepare dinner a particular dish. Ooh, what’s he making? A good, spicy Sri Lankan curry for this chilly climate? Perhaps a hearty Spanish paella or one thing? Beef. He’ll be making roast beef, potatoes and veg. This is actually the Brexit of chat shows.

Rylan Clarke-Neal will host a Saturday afternoon present on Radio 2

10.40 SB: Rylan Clark-Neal is on the couch, chatting about turning into the subsequent host of Grocery store Sweep (RIP Dale Winton) and his new present on BBC Radio 2. Clark-Neal’s truly fairly humorous, and of course, the video footage of Nicole Scherzinger telling him he’s by means of to the subsequent spherical of the X Issue is all the time going to be the spotlight of any present it options in. Chalk one up for the Sunday Brunch workforce. Particularly as Clark-Neal reveals he was out getting pissed with Caroline Flack til 7am, simply two hours earlier than the video was filmed.

10.41 TMoS: First correct phase of the present and it’s the cheery story of a Love Island contestant’s brother realising he had testicular most cancers. Wait! This is only a clip from final weeks present! Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are interviewing him prefer it’s not even Sunday! We’ve been robbed. Change again over to SB.

From Partridge-esque to precise partridge

10.50 SB: They’ve received the full line-up of visitors munching on recreation. Lovejoy goes from Partridge-esque to precise partridge (breasts full of fig, because you ask), whereas Laurence Fox pipes up: “I can’t eat mallard as my son would kill me.”. He eats stuffed mallard.

10.53 TMoS: One other repeated interview. It’s Strictly‘s Kevin Clifton getting a tattoo saying ‘I love Glasgow’. Look, it’s too boring to get into right here.

10.55 TMoS: They’re providing money bungs to maintain watching now, with the announcement of their £100,00zero money prize. (Aspect notice: how do you get signed as much as be the superstar announcer of these? Sweetest job in showbiz: every week’s work in a Maldives resort to learn out a telephone quantity). Then, it’s a montage of Gino DeCampo’s greatest bits. This is the equal of your aunt posting a video of This Morning on Fb, captioning it: “Phil and Holly cracking up on the show today – gave me the giggles too! Xx”

11.00 SB: The SB lot breakout halftime martinis to have fun the world’s greatest martini being introduced in the UK this week. It’s not even noon! Lovejoy slurs “it’s going to become a new traddissshhun.” Assume the producers may need one thing to say about that. Nonetheless, cheers!

11.04 SB: Fox steps as much as make a vinegar-braised hen with Rimmer, which finally ends up wanting a lot nicer than it sounds.

11.05 TMoS: Good god, Alice Beer continues to be going on about methods to make your garments look like they’ve been to the dry cleaners once they haven’tZzzz. This was deemed value repeating from the week of content material? Don’t remind us that our laundry basket is at present overflowing. Allow us to have this one morning with out occupied with home tasks, FFS.

Nick Knowles (Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Pictures)

11.08 TMoS: One other interview from earlier in the week, Nick Knowles speaking about auctioning up his pants from I’m a Celeb for charity. Holmes tells Langsford she’s made a stunning cup of tea, and he simply can’t have a cup of tea with no biscuit. Eats a biscuit. Langsford then tries to open up the debate “milk in first or not?” to which even Holmes shuts down with “I couldn’t care less.” It’s hardly the black/blue or white/gold gown furore, is it?

11.15 SB: Fleur East is being interviewed and actually eager to stay to the script about why she and Simon Cowell and his label Syco parted methods: “We were just on separate paths”, she chirps brightly. Kudos to Lovejoy – he goes in with the query all of us need to know: “How much is it was to do with Simon Cowell?” She excellently deflects the query. On going chart-success for you now, Fleur.

11.17 TMoS: Lastly! A reside slot and never a repeat. However it’s simply Torode telling us how one can prepare dinner an enormous rack of three ribs of beef. Veganary? Pfffft, not on our watch, snowflakes. He explains the key to flavour in a roast is the juices in the tray afterwards. Exhausting to pay attention as Holmes could be seen at the edge of the display, lifting a Yorkshire pudding and making an attempt to surreptitiously eat a bit morsel – you’ve been clocked.

11.20 SB: They’ve pulled out the massive weapons with Jason “Foxy” Fox from SAS Who Dares Wins. Lovejoy and Rimmer are struggling to include how cool they assume he’s. Lovejoy strokes his personal beard once more with pleasure.

11.22 TMoS: “Have you seen the Bros documentary?” asks Langsford. Sure. Final yr, together with the relaxation of the nation. There’s an enormous construct as much as present the previous (repeat) interview of the Goss bros after that battle in the This Morning dressing room. “Look at that body language!” says Langsford. She and Holmes then talk about preventing with households and Langsford repeats 3 times that Holmes is “a sulker.” And on that pass-agg word, it’s throughout till subsequent week. Time to modify again to Sunday Brunch for relaxation of the morning, now.

Over on social media and viewers appeared to be in equal measures confused and irritated to seek out that This Morning was primarily repeats of segments from the earlier week’s shows.

One Twitter consumer stated: “What a disappointment! It’s just a show made up of repeats from the previous week’s show.”

Disgrace it’s simply clips from the week and never new content material. Bit of a cop out. *turns @SundayBrunchC4 on as an alternative* #thismorning #sundaybrunch

— Amy Lee (@Amykinsypoo) January 20, 2019

Thought it was Monday and I used to be late for bloody work once I turned on the telly to see @thismorning! What they enjoying at?! Don’t prefer it. Keep in your lane #thismorning

— Kimberley Walker (@KimberleyHW) January 20, 2019

WHAT a disappointment it’s only a present made up of repeats from the earlier week! Shall be watching #SundayBrunch from now on @thismorning #ThisMorning on Sunday

— Janbo25 (@JaniceGilfillan) January 20, 2019

Finally, it appeared to boil right down to the content material: do viewers need reheats of lukewarm footage from the week earlier than, or getting caught into breakfast cocktails with Rylan Clark-Neal whereas laughing at Lovejoy’s beard? The viewing figures will quickly tell us.

In the imply time, move one other slice of the stuffed mallard, will you?

The post This Morning on Sunday vs Sunday Brunch: who triumphed? A minute-by-minute review of the weekend shows appeared first on List Technology.

[junker-town]

SB Nation reviews: Mewtwo

Getty Images

The story of the powerful clone Pokemon is also a story of regaining innocence

Style 8

Content 9

Total 8.5

Team Rocket aren’t known for their insight. But halfway through Pokemon: The First Movie, the notoriously inept criminal gang are the ones who shed light on the story of the world’s most powerful Pokémon. The trio of Jessy, James, and Meowth, sneak into Mewtwo’s fortress, and after accidentally activating a video of Mewtwo’s creation inside the building’s replication center, Jessy says, “Oh, a real Pokenstein.”

Mewtwo is a legendary Pokémon introduced in the first generation of the games. He’s appeared in many different forms in the Pokémon universe, but his first major appearance, in Pokemon: The First Movie, is by far the most interesting. In what is ostensibly a children’s movie of love and belonging, Mewtwo grapples with themes of creation, grace and belonging, situating itself clearly alongside Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. But Mewtwo’s story, while derivative, adds to Shelley’s, moving beyond it in fascinating ways.

Both Mewtwo and Dr. Frankenstein’s infamous Creature are science experiments whose rage is fueled by rejection. The world around them sees them as monsters. Dr. Frankenstein flees from his firstborn; The scientists that cloned Mewtwo, and Giovanni, the leader of team Rocket who funded the program, reduced him to an object to be used, rather than a sentient being to be respected and cared for. Both Mewtwo and the Creature are pained by unimaginable loneliness.

Just before the Creature disappears for the last time, he says: “But it is even so; the fallen angel becomes a malignant devil. Yet even that enemy of God and man had friends and associates in his desolation; I am alone.” The Creature, abandoned and denied companionship by his own creator, and shunned by the human world, is condemned to isolation forever.

Mewtwo, after destroying Giovanni’s lab when Giovanni claimed that the purpose of the Pokemon was simply to serve those who created him, stood over the rubble of the building and declared: “I was not born a Pokémon, I was created. And my creators have used and betrayed me. So, I stand alone.”

By the nature of their birth and being, both Mewtwo and the Creature are utterly forsaken.

Shelly referred to the Creature in Frankenstein as “Adam”, created and then shunned by his Maker. Mewtwo is not quite Adam. When Team Rocket watches the video of Mewtwo’s creation, Mew, the Pokémon that Mewtwo is cloned from, floats placidly behind them.

Unlike Mewtwo, the Creature is an original. There is none like him. Frankenstein, coerced, agreed to make a bride for him, but then destroyed the second creature before completion, which exacerbated the Creature’s loneliness and anger still further.

Mewtwo is a copy. The first thing he learns is that he is a clone of Mew. This knowledge, the fact that he is naught but ‘Mew’s shadow,’ enrages him.

He learns at the moment of birth the lesson what the Creature learned at the edge of death: he is the desolate result of an experiment, and no more. At least the Creature has the consolation of being singular, where Mewtwo was made from DNA extracted from Mew’s metaphorical rib.

Mewtwo is Eve to the creature’s Adam. He doesn’t fall from grace: he’s “born” already outside the gates of Eden. Adam is brought to life by Frankenstein, while Mewtwo willed himself to awareness, his first thought being, “I am ready to be.” And when his eyes opened, he spoke as if he was lost. He didn’t ask “who am I?”, but instead, where.

The rebuilt replication center is Mewtwo womb, allowing him to create life. Immediately after Team Rocket watched the video, a machine grabbed Meowth and plucked three of his hairs out. In a few seconds, it cloned the Pokemon and sent the clone Meowth into an incubation tube. The center had several Pokemon in such tubes already. There they slumbered, waiting for Mewtwo to awaken them with his psychic powers. He would will them to life, as he did for himself.

In Readings, the French poet and philosopher Hélène Cixous, writes that after the initial fall from grace, when the forbidden fruit has been consumed, “We can no longer be innocent innocents, since we belong to the world of the afterward ... We have left paradise or the space of the nonfault. We are now on the path between nonfault and the limit, rather than the effacement, of the fault.”

That first innocence of the garden can never be regained. “But all hope is not lost. A second innocence is not necessarily impure. It can be found again if ... following the loss of a first innocence, we go around the earth to arrive at the other side. ”

Mewtwo never went around the Earth. He never actually left the scene of his birth. He centers his story right outside the womb. He destroyed the lab which birthed him twice, once after his initial contact with the scientists who cloned him, and then after his time with Giovanni, only to rebuild it. Cast out of Eden, he constructed the walls anew. He hadn’t found a suitable reason to move forward.

The first time Mewtwo asked about his true purpose, Giovanni didn’t answer. He suggested instead that it would become clear in time. After Giovanni used Mewtwo to defeat Pokemon trainers for some time, Mewtwo returned to the question. What is my purpose? Giovanni responded by saying that Mewtwo was made to be a slave. He was created to serve his master.

Then Mewtwo said, “This cannot be.” He might have been created as an experiment and expected to serve, but the brute fact of creation cannot trespass within the vaults of one’s soul. Mewtwo knew innately that as a living thing, a sentient being, servitude could not possibly be his purpose of existence. Freedom was his natural right. And with that freedom came also the obligation to revolt against anyone who threatened to deny it.

Mewtwo then built his fortress, sent a message to Pokemon trainers around the world, and invited them to travel to his island to face the best Pokemon master. When he showed himself to the trainers, he said he was the strongest Pokemon in the world and explained his plan to rule it. Both ambitions were patched together from his birth and early days. Mewtwo was a child trying on the cruel skin of his parents.

In order for Mewtwo to leave his desolation, for him to begin that journey to the other side of paradise, he needed to know there was a possibility for a renewal of innocence.

The events that would open up that chance needed to be as jarring as his initial fall from grace. It had to reflect and describe the same force that closed him off to begin with. Three encounters pry open his heart and show him the path to salvation. The first was with Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu. After the trainers arrived in his fortress, he introduced himself and detailed that his plan was to take over the world. He denounced humans as cruel and their Pokémon as slaves for following them. Pikachu rebutted that he was wrong about the relationship between Pokémon and humans and that Ash was a friend, not a master.

Mewtwo called Pikachu pathetic, but his contempt arose from painful memory. Pikachu’s friendship with Ash, that equality and love, was what Mewtwo had sought in Giovanni. It was through that weakness he was first exploited.

Pikachu is what Mewtwo had hoped to become before his experiences closed him off to the possibility of such a relationship. When he called Pikachu pathetic, he was also condemning his younger self’s naiveté, in the same way that Frankenstein’s Creature looked back in pity and anger at how he had once “falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.” But unlike the Creature, there was still a chance for Mewtwo, who hadn’t truly begun his journey.

The first event shook Mewtwo, but not forcefully enough. Nor did the second, his encounter with Mew. When Mew appeared, it had no intention of fighting Mewtwo, and casually ignored its clone. Mewtwo wasn’t a threat. But for Mewtwo, Mew’s existence was a reminder of his own contemptible nature. Mew was singular. It had the consolation of possessing a life that wasn’t merely the dim, somber reflection of another’s light. But Mewtwo, the Eve, didn’t have that solace. In his pain he reasoned that by killing Mew, by surpassing his original, he would be free from being a mere shadow.

After Mewtwo challenged Mew to fight, Mew told him that true power comes only from the heart, not special powers. But the nature of the messenger annihilated the message. Mewtwo would not be moved by that which he hated so much. Of course Mew had the privilege to spew such sentimental li(n)es: it never had to question the worth of its existence in the same way that Mewtwo did. What did Adam know about the griefs of Eve?

Mewtwo rebuked Mew’s sentiment and the two began to fight. Mewtwo’s clone Pokemon also fought their originals. As this fight was happening, Ash was climbing down the fortress. He had been launched into the air by Mewtwo after declaring he wouldn’t let Mewtwo set the Pokemon and their clones against each other. He wanted all of them to live peacefully together. He made it back to the ground at the same time that Mewtwo and Mew were about to launch their strongest attacks against each other.

Ash ran between them and screamed for them to stop. His words didn’t stop them. Instead, he was hit by both attacks, which turned him to stone, essentially killing him. Mewtwo was shocked. He softly called Ash’s action foolish, not in condemnation but in surprise that someone would make such a sacrifice. At last, Mewtwo was moved.

Ash was the anti-Giovanni. He was a symbol of innocence, grace, and selfless love. Where Giovanni was manipulative, domineering, and selfish, Ash was so driven by his own selflessness that he put his own life on the line to put an end to the violence. It was only such a grand act of sacrifice, by someone who represented the innocence that Mewtwo had almost given up on, which could shake him out of his despair and pain.

Ash’s death was moving not just Mewtwo but for all the Pokemon in the fortress. Pikachu grieved for him and the others, clones and originals, joined in crying. Their tears and combined sorrow brought him back to life. Mewtwo, finally seeing Cixous’s bright path, gathered up his clone Pokémon and readied to leave the scene of birth. Ash asked him where he was going, and as he flew away, he responded: “To where my heart can learn what yours knows so well.” His journey towards his second innocence may not bear fruit, but the important thing is that it was underway. Unlike Frankenstein’s Creature, his story didn’t end. His conclusion was instead a new beginning.

He was reborn.