#anon who said where stuff was manufactured if that's real where did you get that info please?

[statementlou]

I noticed 28OP didn't use the emails they collected from us the other day to announce the drop (yet), but also a thought about that- based on shipping out promises (immediately according to the order confirmations) and Louis modeling these items recently, this drop was already manufactured in advance, and so unaffected by the size info they collected this week- but they can use that to gauge what to make for future drops and hopefully then larger sizes won't sell out so quickly. And we know when to expect them (every 28th) so even without emails people won't miss their chances if things do continue to sell out quickly

[alarrytale]

I think that along with L*ewe, which they've both been wearing a lot, and L*me and other stuff they're promoting, that the stunt is in part to undo the damage O*ivia did to Harry's image. They couldn't do another PR relationship like Holivia because people would turn against Harry completely as he's so overexposed so they had no choice but to make this one low key and unproblematic. They want people to be invested in it, and many are but there's many ignoring it too. It has definitely helped his image with some of the gp, who think the 'relationship' is cute. But I'm angry at him and his team. He made that romantic quote at his show, supposedly giving advice to a fan but no doubt the whole exchange was orchestrated, and it turned out it was something T*ylor also said and it was used to sell their relationship, they used the exact same tactic with Holivia. I ignored it with Holivia because that whole stunt was weird but when they used that tactic again it really made me question how genuine Harry's shows are. Even that 'daddy' exchange at his show it turned out that the guy works for Pleasing. That was a set up. Lol. How are we supposed to believe anything he says when it's used to sell stunts, and even his shows aren't safe from them. I also stupidly thought that he might CO or stop stunting after the queerbaiting backlash. I thought that the backlash was too much for HSHQ to ignore, it was all over the media and social media. Then he literally went into another pr relationship after. They learned nothing, except to make this pr relationship more low key. I hate this need for him to always be publicly in a relationship or if he isn't then he's linked to a different model every week. His success is so manufactured, he has got to where he is by connections only. He hasn't earned his position. He is a very talented musician but they don't lean into his talent to sell him, it's completely overshadowed by his PR stunts. They could have done so much else with him.

Hi, anon!

I still don't understand how a pr/bearding relationship is going to rehab the damage of another pr/bearding relationship. The only thing holivia did was make people sick and tired of his pr relationships. We are stunt fatigued. This is yet another one, but with added shit aka poorly disguised repetitive brand promo. The obvious brand promo is actually making the whole thing look more fake. I see more and more people calling H out on his bs.

Yes, they use the same tricks every stunt. They start seeding a relationship with small things like that, that makes sense in hindsight. And yes, so much H does that seems organic is preplanned, set up or contrived. Even at his shows. We see less and less of the real Harry. Everything he does or shows us is controlled and is connected to an agenda. Things that might seem innocent on surface level always seems to be tied to a stunt or commercial gain. He's a walking billboard, always selling us something. We don’t get any fan service to make up for it either anymore, that's were the issue lies. There is nothing good to make up for the bad (or the things we tolerate for his sake).

I do wish they'd have more faith in him as a talented artist. I wish he had more faith in himself too. I think everyone makes more money this way, but i don't understand how he's not embarrased and ashamed. He does look annoyed and pissed off in all the photos from the last month. Is a cranky H good promo for the citrus fruit brand or the german lion brand? Is the fandom making fun of it's ridiculousness good promo? I think we're all counting the days until this phase is over. He doesn’t need to stunt like this to rehab his image after O. As you say, there's loads of other things he could do that give him pr that everyone would love, including him.

[capricornus-rex]

A Test of Wills (2)

Requested by Anon. Prompt:

What about...Cal x reader fic, getting stuck on Jakku because the Mantis needs repairs?

Cal Kestis x Reader

Part 1 | Part 3 | Masterlist

2 of ?

The door lowered itself to open and the planet presented itself to you. The Mantis has landed in the outskirts of the settlement—and perhaps in a safe distance away from that particular settlement in case the locals weren’t too friendly.

The trek roughly took an hour to travel by foot. Next thing you know, you and Cal were already standing by the arch that bore the place’s name.

Niima Outpost.

The sights and the sounds gave you an idea of what life in this place looks like.

Lightweight speeders and ferries come in droves, the drivers carrying out loads of parts—treating them just as carefully as actual smuggler’s bounty—and all of these junk traders gravitate towards the biggest tent resting in the center of the settlement.

It doesn’t take a genius that majority—if not all—of these people are scavengers. The real question is where they are finding their bounties.

“Get ‘yer own loot!” a Sullustan growled at Cal while he hauled a sled filled with scraps.

“Sorry, I was just looking,” Cal scoffed.

He turned to face front before speaking, “It’s almost like Bracca in here.”

“There a difference?”

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be any rain in here,”

There were a few ruffians here and there, a few benevolent dwellers sprinkled into the population—the ones who just go about their business and avoid trouble when they could—you place yourself in the latter category. Keeping your cowls low, you and Cal make your way towards the cluster of tents.

“Where do you think we can get the best parts?” Cal muttered within your earshot.

“I don’t know, but I guess we can keep looking,”

“Okay…”

The two of you fanned out, covering more ground and merchandise instead of sticking together. As you passed and stopped by the tents, the peddlers implored you to buy their scavenged parts. Cal, on the other hand, decided to get intel whilst window shopping. He stopped at one of the tents that sold a certain array of parts, he looked around until the merchant in charge of the booth arrives.

Much to his surprise, he meets the merchant—an Abednedo, the same species as Prauf.

“I used to scrap things like these before,” he said while studying what appears to be a central processing unit board, he looked the part of an interested buyer as he weighed it on his hands. “Where do you get them?”

“Most of these are the fruits of my labor. Some others here are ones I’ve traded with the bunch o’ riffraff that come here,”

“Oh, I see,”

There was a pause between the exchange. Suddenly, Cal’s memories caught him off-guard. He remembers the last thing that Prauf told him: to get out and see the galaxy. Well, now he’s doing it.

“Kiddo, hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he muttered. “Just remembered a friend.”

The Abednedo nodded and gestured over his wares, advertising some more to Cal.

“I wager you have some emergency power cells for the ship I’m in,”

“Well, that depends on what kind of ship you’re talking about,”

“An S-161 Stinger XL,”

Cal added the other parts that they needed—the hyperspace compressor as well as enough tanks of fuel that could cover the distance between Jakku and the Core World systems.

The merchant adjusts himself on his seat, thoroughly intrigued by the mention of the Mantis’s manufacture name, “Well now, that’s a fancy ship for a kid like you to be in—and here in this middle o’ nowhere planet too!”

“Do you have them?” Cal pressed.

Even with its small mouth, the Abednedo’s expression took a dramatic shift. Suddenly, his laidback demeanor became stiff and wary, his small eyes looked left and right, and then he leaned over his table so that his words would only be in Cal’s earshot.

“Listen, the stuff in your shopping list is something we vendors combined can’t cover—even if we take to the best trader that might come here,”

“So what can you suggest?”

“See that big tent over there?”

Cal looked over to his shoulder and saw the exact same tent that he and you first noticed when you set foot into this outpost. When he turned back to the merchant, he got a more elaborate explanation.

“That’s the best place you’re going to get your parts. They’ll accept Republic credits—if you have any on you—but getting them will be tough,”

“How so?”

“A blob with two legs—goes by Unkar Plutt—holds up an event of some kind every two weeks. You name it: auction, gamble—a game of Sabacc or Dejarik, whatever—and even fight club. I heard that there will be an event tomorrow,”

“Tomorrow,” Cal echoed. “Which of the three?”

“He didn’t say; or at least word hasn’t come out yet,”

Cal and the merchant exchanged nods. To throw off any suspicion, Cal bought the only mint power cell the Abednedo had. He also slid a single silver bar of Republic credit on the table for the intel. He leaves the tent and comes looking for you; he finds you studying a bunch of auxiliary power cells and compressors sold by an old vendor. Cal stops dead in his tracks, he looks at you from afar, and watches you converse with the peddler—you were sweetly smiling back at the vendor, even lending an ear to some stories that she felt compelled to tell you, and by the grace of your kindness, you stayed to listen before you could pay what you’ve taken.

The old and kindly lady-vendor gave a weak squeeze on your hand when she saw that you have given some excess in the payment—which you insisted she keep. Cal smiled to himself while keeping his eyes on you, still studying your hauls for today. He thinks that your endearing nature seems to persist even in an unforgiving setting such as this planet.

You look to your front and see Cal walking up to you with a smile.

“Why are you smiling?” you curiously asked.

He shakes his head but his smile stretched a few inches more, “Nothing. What’d you get there?”

“Something we might need in the future. This,” you hold up the part in your hand to show Cal, “Is a compact auxiliary power battery. It may be small but can power up a ship as big as the Mantis or perhaps a Corellian freighter.”

“You know your parts, huh?”

“I met a good scrapper,” you winked.

“Is he good-looking too?”

You pursed your lips, tipped your head sideways and shrugged, “Most likely.”

Cal lets you in on the intel that he’s gathered from the Abednedo merchant—everything that he’s learned from start to finish. You conclude that there shouldn’t be any harm in just checking it out.

Both of you marched towards the biggest tent in the center of the settlement. Brushing past a couple of dwellers who were in the middle of a brawl because one of them apparently cut in line. Seconds later, a group of uniformed individuals entered the scene and broke off the fight, they had weapons on them too, and the fact that they were pointing it at the brawlers’ faces were enough for them to stand down.

Neither of you maintained eye contact and didn’t look long at the scenario—you continued your unassuming trader charade.

“You Unkar Plutt?” Cal abruptly spoke to the squelching blob that had its back turned to the window.

The creature in charge was a huge gob of pink, moist flesh. A pair of small eyes between a wide nose and a small mouth filled with tiny but sharp, yellow teeth. Neither of you jumped at the sight of him; but mentally, both of you agreed that he was definitely ugly… and rancid.

Cal did the talking. After all, he is the scrapper between the two of you.

“So what if I am?” he grumbled.

“What’s tomorrow’s main event?”

Unkar didn’t seem to be impressed that a pair of new faces have caught wind about the events he holds for the best prizes in his stronghold. He planted his pudgy fist on the table and leaned closer to the grated window that separated him from Cal.

“I don’t think you can take what you’re getting yourself into,”

“Oh, trust me—I’ve had worse,”

The Blobfish—as most scavengers call him—chuckled sinisterly, unknowingly underestimating Cal.

“At dawn. You win; you name your boon. That’s all I could tell ya,”

“Do we get like a schedule or a sign-up list or whatever?”

“At dawn, boy. At my shipyard out there,” he snarled.

“Thanks. We’ll be in touch,”

You and Cal pace away from the window, he starts to whisper his ideas to your ear—but in your periphery, some of the thugs had their eye on you, even while you were still speaking with Unkar, you take Cal by the arm and exit the tent, away from prying eyes and ears.

[formulatrash]

south african anon back again, thanks for the info! didn't mean to sound cynical about cape town, i'm sure many factors went into the decision like you said. but there's a reason we all call it little europe lmao. i'm not super knowledgeable about motorsport in general but i was talking to a friend about this and it sucks that more or less the last period of influence our country had there was basically not our country at all but the old SA, and stuff like this could go a long way to fixing that

No it’s cool it’s a good question, I was genuinely surprised it wasn’t Johannesburg. 

Here’s (some of) the interview I did where he talks about it: 

Iain Banner: My background is in sports and entertainment, I was the sponsorship director for 12 years for Richmond, a luxury goods business that was previously in the tobacco industry. So I oversaw, as sponsorship director of the global activities sponsorship of the Williams team from ’94 to ’99, when we had the devastation of Ayrton Senna crashing and then the elation of Damon Hill winning I 1996 ad through that I got exposed to motor racing at a very high level, fortunately with a team that was doing very well and got to know the key players - Bernie Ecclestone, team managers, etc. and in 1995 Bernie said he was very keen for a race in South Africa and he mandated myself and Johan Rupert to see if we could get support for the race.

We wet to see the minister of sport and he loved the idea but having just come out of apartheid there were so many other priorities there was no way he could direct a very limited budget in any way towards Formula One. 

Bernie asked me again in 2001 to have a look and see but by that time it had become unaffordable for the country, as far as I was concerned. It just couldn’t be done.

There were many people that spoke about Formula One and I always said look, I’ll get the contract and I’ll show you what it costs and that’s just to secure the opportunity and that’s hard currency in a soft currency market.

So I had a bit of prior involvement in motorsport but my last big push in sports was creating, building, co-founding the Laureus World Sports Awards and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, which we started working on in 1998 and we launched in 2000. We’ve just, in Berlin ten days ago, had our twentieth anniversary of the awards but my real push there was Sport for Good, where we use sport as a tool to bring kids together and to address social issues and community. I’ve raised over €150 million since we started that and over 160 projects around the world, over 5 million children impacted - it was one of the forerunners for sport for development, which has become a very big thing. 

I moved back to South Africa, after starting Laureus in London and became in various businesses and then bought the i3 and started to see the impact of electric cars and I started dabbling a bit more in the world of sport, secured to the rights to the World Triathlon Series and I partnered with an old schoolfriend of mine, Bruce Forsyth - who has a business called World Sport with logistical infrastructure and we worked on events in South Africa and Abu Dhabi and then we started talking about Formula E. 

We’d heard about it, we thought it might be a good idea and so we entered the feasibility stage and that resulted in us paying what we had to pay to do a feasibility study and we started that in July last year.And we’ve moved in relative terms quite quickly, Formula E representatives including the track designer came down in September and we started working on the potential of what this might look like and I’m delighted to say we’ve made great progress with the city, with important meetings happening yesterday and on Tuesday [March 3rd] - I think 2021 is ambitious but it could be realised, potentially. 

Me: I mean, Riyadh came together in three months, I’d think 2020 might be possible?

Iain Banner: If not then 2022.

Me: Why Cape Town, I thought that Johannesburg, as the capital-

IB: It’s not the capital

Me: Oh, is it not?

iB: No, it’s Pretoria.

Me: Right, well, shows what I know - so if not Johannesburg then I thought Durban had the track, which was used for A1GP whereas I’ve never heard of racing in Cape Town?

The beauty of a motor race like a Formula E race is to be visually arresting, so that you create brilliant television pictures because part of the job is to promote the place that you’re racing in. It’s not just about what happens on the day, it’s about what happens afterwards as a consequence of having the race so Cape Town makes aesthetic sense and commercial sense.

Cape Town is probably the most progressive city [in terms of emobility] and they’re discussing banning combustion vehicles or at least, petrol or diesel vehicles from sales by 2030 in favour of electric, hydrogen, etc. That’s just talk, it’s not legislature but they want to be seen as a green city and it’s very much an objective.

The why is - there’s lots of boxes that need to be ticked to justify putting on an event like this. For South Africa, it’s a very expensive exercise - but if you can promote the country, if you can promote alternative energies, if you can really get people to start thinking differently as a consequence of the race then that’s what matters. 

The race will be great - but our objective is to do more than a race, we’ve called our company E-Movement for a reason, we want to have everything electric; business to consumer events, a big exhibition where people can come and see everything electric - car manufacturers, skateboards, bicycles, everything. And have an activation zone potentially on the track or within the track or in the stadium adjacent to the track. 

We’ve got to bring people’s consciousness up about this alternative to traditional fossil fuel transport.

[pxiao]

Yoshida Salt

An anon wanted me to salt Y_ma but know what, I’ll just salt the writer in general. Take out the middleman, list my complaints of his lazy writing. This man has been with the franchise for years, at least he’s been with YGO since the D_ma arc. He’s the main writer of the Genex season 4, FiveD’s season 2 and all of ZXL and VR. With A5 being the only show that he didn’t touch even if he did touch the manga ... So let’s get to it.  

Action, no thought

As LK said it best during his abridging of season 4, yeah his writing sounds cool but if you think about it for a second, it falls part. In general a lot of his writing sounds cool but under any scruinity it falls apart. I’m not saying his writing has to be perfect but some of these issues are just him not even paying attention. Like D_ma arc. Why does Amelid_ hate Ka_ba? He knows Ka_ba isn’t related to Gozub_ro at all. He hates his step father AND he changed the company from a weapon manufacturer to a gaming company. Him hating Gozub_ro fine, it makes sense but Ka_ba has no reason for the hate at all. It’s just really really dumb. Why did those bikers kidnap that Professor Hawkins ... and then release him hours later for no reason. And for the added bonus that means that A_em lost to Rafael and lost Y_gi’s soul FOR NO REASON. It surely isn’t that Professor Hawkins’ is still needed for the plot but if A_em is going to lose they aren’t going to get him back. 

ZXL’s final arc is just ... stupid .... Again Sh_rk is all angsty that he HAS to fight for the Ba_ians and he has to fight his friends. And this war will be bloody and sadness and blah blah. But why???? If he knows Y_ma as well as he SAYS he does, why doesn’t he talk. Y_ma HATED the idea of the war, he didn’t want to fight and was wanted to talk to Sh_rk. Sure As_ral is iffy BUT he should know much of an influence Y_ma is on the guy and HE SAW HIS ME_ORIES, so he saw how Y_ma hates the idea of murder and stuff. Like why didn’t he at least TALK about it. Keep war as an option BUT AS THE LAST OPTION. AS GUESS WHAT, Y_MA DUELED AS_RAL TO SAVE THE BA_IANS AND EVEN THEN AS_RAL DIDN’T WANT TO KILL THEM ANYWAY. So all of Sh_rk whining and bitching was 1000000% a waste of time and lives. Good job dumbass.

Same for VR’s season 1 final arc. So apparently the only way to stop the tower of H_noi is if Ry_ken wills it. .... SO WHY IS HE ON THE FUCKING INTERNET. That means the heroes have no way to turn it off without Ry_ken. If he and Spe_ctre stay offline, they get to live and the internet is destroyed without ANYONE BEING ABLE TO STOP THEM. How dumb are these guys? Yoshida dumb. 

Characters

so adding to the no thought part ... Yoshida’s characters are never consistent. It’s almost infuriating really. This will mainly focus on ZXL and VR as those are his creations. 

Lets start with ZXL, the characters can switch personalities PER SCENE. Ka_to’s first scene is him all moody about having to take the numbers and steal the owner’s souls. Ok fine as he doesn’t want to do that. That’s perfectly fine. So why is it, that everytime. he. duels. he. has. the. biggest. slasher. smile. EVER. How is he sad about what’s he’s doing? HOW DOES HE CARE ABOUT OTHERS, HE FUCKING ENJOYS BEING A MONSTER. Words are cheap, he might say he hates it but if he’s being a sadistic monster, he enjoying it. Like if you want him to be cocky there are other ways of doing it. LIKE A5!KA_IO! He was cocky, brutal and bitter but he was never happy. He cared plenty of people but he never felt like a sociopath, just a bittered kid. He was cocky sure. If anything A5!Ka_to is more faithful to the Ka_to’s concept than the original Ka_to. And then there is As_ral. So when Y_ma’s “friends” are captured and threatened. As_ral refuses to help as he’s still not over Ka_io nearly killing him and he has reason to think Ka_io is involved. And you know what, that’s fine. As_ral is an alien and he has never met or talked to them, makes sense he doesn’t care. But the next episode has As_ral DARE TO SAY HE DEEP DOWN WANTED TO HELP Y_MA’S FRIENDS. No ... no no no. As_ral was completely stoic and uncaring in that scene. YOU CAN’T HAVE HIM SAY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT THAT SCENE SHOWED. THAT’S HORRIBLE WRITING. 

VR has Go change his entire personality between seasons. Season 1 was a competitive guy that wanted to be number 1 both because he liked it and to gain money for the kids. He wanted to beat PM to be number 1 BUT when he lost, he was FINE WITH IT. Sure he has always wanted to beat PM but he never let it consume him. So why is it in season 2, he becomes a big baby over it. ....... In season 2 THAT IS ALL HE IS ABOUT. During an interview they only wanted to talk about PM BUT HE SHOULD KNOW THAT. HE TALKED ABOUT HOW PM IS LEADING THE NEW GENERATION OF DUELISTS(gross by the way) SO IS HE NOW ALL PISSY ABOUT IT. And then he quits his job to be a bounty hunter ... and NEVER thinks about the kids. truly amazing writing. 

An in general Yoshida’s characters are so simple. Everyone is so one-note. Yu_aku is PTSD man, Y_ma is hyper active, Kot_ri is there, Vecto_ is evil hammy. There is no other side to them and if there is, it lasts an episode or two. Y_ma realizes he could die. And he is reasonably scared, good. He gets a lesson that dueling always involves death(NO IT DOESN’T) and never scared EVER AGAIN. And now he’s just either hyper active or sad that he might cause As_ral’s death.  

Protagonists

They get their own section. THEY ARE ANNOYING PERFECT. Just the protagonist is NEVER allowed to fail and if they do, it’s never in a major way. Y_sei never lost in season 2 and that includes one moment that EVERYONE HATES HOW HE WON. Fucking team Unicorn duel. 

Y_ma character NEVER GROWS, that’s A FACT. Yoshida even wrote on the last Zxl manga volume, he stopped him from changing. And it’s dumb when Y_ma has a real flaw. HE’S FUCKING NAIVE. He blinded trusted Shingetsu which was revealed to be Ve_tor just fucking with him. AND HE NEVER GETS AFFECT BY THIS SHIT. He’s not overally careful, he’s still as trusting to not only everyone around him BUT EVEN VEC_OR. HE WILLINGLY LET VEC_OR TRICK HIM EVEN AFTER VEC_OR REVEALED HE WANTED TO KILL Y_MA TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN, HE WAS FINE WITH IT. THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING AT ALL. Look you can’t distrust everyone around you but the opposite is not right either, you can’t trust everyone instantly. And characters like Sh_rk who would call Y_ma out for this stupidity would later say, “no wait that’s a good thing. YOU SHOULD INSTANTLY TRUST EVERYONE YOU MEET AND SAY YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE YOU DUEL.” 

Yu_aku is just infuriating. He has no character besides REVENGE. He never losses and VR is OBSESSED WITH TELLING US HOW PERFECT HE IS. He’s the best duelist ever, everyone loves him and he beats everyone around him. Realize how he sounds like a Marty sue, well he is. Shockingly every human character has a backstory now. but. him.

And then he never has the other characters really help. I mean in ZXL who else but Sh_rk and Ka_io did anything of value? The final arc has the Ba_rians die for no reason. Y_ma’s friends die mostly offscreen. And the arclights die for no reason. the entire cast dies for no reason.

Same for VR the final arc as A0i and Go lose their first duel to hype Spe_tre and Ry_ken. Same for GG and Ak_ra died to let Yu_saku duel which Kus_nagi did nothing of value but comment. What was the point of these characters if they do jack shit. And the same for Genex. J_dai does everything! All his friends died again then Fub_ki failed to do anything of value and then Jo_an sacrified himself for no reason. And then they all disappear so Ju_ai can face darkness all by himself. Though to be fair that’s a Genex issue overall.

Cheats  

Oh boy. So his protagonists cheat ... ALL THE TIME. Y_ma has the fucking Sh_ning draw which lets him MAKE THE EXACT CARDS HE NEEDS TO WIN. And they’re all so fucking specific. To beat Galaxy-E_es that can remove itself from play, he makes a monster that prevents that. AND HE DOES THIS SO MANY TIMES. How are we supposed to have fun watching him win IF HE MAKES THE EXACT CARDS HE NEEDS TO WIN. There is nothing to enjoy. 

YU_AKU IS WORSE. HIS STORM ACCESS IS JUST AS ANNOYING. BUT HE ALWAYS ABUSES IT. There are few duels where YU_AKU DOESN’T ABUSE IT. And those are master duels BECAUSE HE CAN’T. His go-to strategy is to use it. The show cares him a “master duelist” but honestly how good is he if he needs to cheat a new card to get out of the situation. Answer, not a good one.

Girls 

Allow me to say this. He is sexist. And the dumbest thing is, he always adds these “you go girl episodes” and then proves them wrong. 

With A_i, he had her meet these overly sexist guys saying as a girl, she can’t ride a D-Wheel. And she proves them wrong, yay right? Then why is it in the Team Unicorn duel she couldn’t beat And_e DESPITE THE FACT THAT J_CK ALREADY TOOK HIM ON, TOOK A GOOD CHUNK OF HIS LP OUT. I mean sure it’s her first riding duel, maybe her next riding duel will be ... oh wait she never duels individually again. And even then it’s not a riding duel. So yeah good way of proving that girls can totally turbo duel BY HAVING AK_ NOT WIN A SINGLE TURB_ DUEL. 

Ri_’s first episode has her be this perfect woman that doesn’t want to be a weakness for her brother but wants to be see as her own person. Fine. And that’s why she never once thinks for herself ever. When Ve_tor revealed that he killed her and Sh_rk as Bar_an. She gives no fuck that she died once, that she had to fight her friends, no it’s all HOW SH_RK SUFFERED. When Sh_rk and Ri_ are getting their memories back, she just says to Sh_rk, I’ll do anything you decide. Great way stand out from your br_ther there, let him do all your thinking for you.

A0i ... honestly she’s just sad. Just after she was in a coma, Ak_ra is nervous over letting her duel cause you know coma. But someone is like, let her duel. And she wins yay. Next duel, she loses. LIKE REALLY BADLY. She’s a mess, her opponent was not only toying with her the entire time, but he completely mocks her and she’s humiliated her. How was Ak_ra wrong to be nervous? She just proved she isn’t good enough to take care of herself. 

The issue is I don’t think he hates girls, but he doesn’t care for the girl characters and perfectly willing to use them to create “drama” which leads us to 

Fanservice

So I can enjoy fanservice as long as it isn’t crammed in there. So why is it that a show about card games NEEDS THIS. Look YGO has never been innocent with this. An_u, M_i and DMG have moments of fanservice but it isn’t never this in your face. And yes Asu_ka and A_i are pretty fanservicy too. But WHY DO WE NEED K_TORI’S SKIRT TO NOT COVER ANYTHING, WHY DO WE HAVE TO SEE HER TOWER SLIP. Did I forget to mention SHE’S 13 AND BOY DOES SHE LOOK IT. 

VR IS IN NO WAY INNOCENT. How many ass shots do we need when GG duels? And the second A_i becomes BG, she gets the same ass shots. And why is Queen always in a bikini. When talking to an employee. IN VIRTUAL REALITY??? Any reason? Cleavage? YEP. 

Filler 

He is lousy with filler. ZXl has so much pointless duels. What is the point of the fucking tomato episode which is only funny cause of A5 by the way. Did we need a cat girl to duel a dog girl????? Did we need the time when Ko_ori and cat girl were brainwashed to duel duel Y_ma?

Season 2 of 5D’s has so many plot points that make no sense. Ghost boy kidnaps Ru_a, random kid wants Stardust, Crashtown, J_ck duels a tax collector. Does this further the show? Ha. 

Vr is mostly free of filler but season 1 has plenty of recaps and I refuse to let the fandom forget that.

Redemptions

my god he sucks at these. He hands them out like candy and few deserve it. Like did you know that the Leviathan, the dragon like thing, the big bad monster of the D_ma arc. In the original japanese language, it lost all it’s hate and was allowed to live with DMG and the three dragon knights. Does that make no sense? OF COURSE IT DOESN’T. IT HAS DONE NOTHING TO EARN THAT REDEMPTION, IT WAS A MASS OF HATE THAT TRIED TO DESTROY TWO WORLDS TWICE!!! 

Dr. Faker who said he see his oldest son Ka_io as a pawn and plans to sacrifice him so he can commit genocide but it’s ok cause he was doing it to save his youngest son. Yes that’s good, commit genocide and kill your older son for your younger son. That isn’t horrible selfish and you get no comeuppance at all. ..... FUCK THAT.

Oh Genex .... So Sa_ou, villain of season 2 who was taken over by the light. He lost his powers and duels Ju_ai to get his sister back, who still has her psychic powers which includes some really powerful shit by the way. But it’s revealed that he actually MISSES HIS POWERS AND DEEP DOWN JUST WANTS THAT POWER BACK SO FUCKING MUCH THAT HE’S BECOMING EVIL. So is Ju_ai disgusted? Nope, he just beats him and plans to save him later and nothing ever happens to him. So you’re just going to ignore that he’s a power manic. Ok good, just ignore that like you do everything else Ju_ai, you bum. 

Or Fujiwara .... Ok so let me get this straight, you decide that you want to cover the world in darkness and forget EVERYTHING because you lost your parents .... Ok look losing your parents is sad BUT THERE ARE OTHER FUCKING THINGS TO DO. LIKE GRIEF COUNSELING! And you had Honest to help you through it. THERE ARE PLENTY OF ORPHANS IN THE WORLD AND THEY DON’T FUCKING DECIDE TO COVER THE WORLD IN DARKNESS. And what’s his punishment? Did you guess nothing. YEP

Consequences

HE HAS NONE. EVERYTHING WILL ALWAYS BE REDONE WHICH MAKES YOU WONDER WHAT WAS THE POINT! Genex has everyone die and come back, AGAIN, seriously GeneX what is wrong with you? 

ZXL has everyone die and then at the end, As_ral literally RETCONS THAT GONE. WHAT WAS THE POINT OF ALL OF THAT???? Ka_to’s dramatic death, nope nothing. Sh_rk’s death? Nope. HELL the show building up to As_ral and Y_ma separating like Y_gi and A_em. NOPE LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES THEY NEED TO TEAM UP AGAIN TO FIGHT A NEW THREAT. HONESTLY I HOPE THEY LOSE. 

VR’s season 1 has everyone in a coma and then PM beats Ry_ken and then they wake up. Hell Ai was dead for a few minutes and he had a dramatic good bye and then he comes back. AND HE AND YU_AKU ALSO HAVE A DRAMATIC GOODBYE AND THEN HE COMES BACK THE VERY NEXT EPISODE.

Everything has to be reset back. Everything has no lasting changes so let me ask you, why should I care? Why should I worry if I know everything is fine? Answer, I don’t. FUCKING AS_RAL HAD DIED MORE THAN ONCE. It’s like Dragonb_ll death means nothing. Thus this all means nothing. 

And you know the biggest joke? HE REUSES THIS SHIT OVER AND OVER AND OVER. So if you disliked it before, you’ll grow to hate it as he repeats over and over. 

If you like his writing whatever. But in my opinion, he doesn’t fucking care.

[inyournightmares97]

What about got7 made you like them so much

Oh, dear. This is a heavy question to wake up to and I will not be able to go about my day unless I do justice to this, so here you go lovely anon. GOT7 was not the reason I got into K-Pop, GOT7 was the reason I stayed and if any of this makes it sound like I’m bashing other groups, take my apology now. These are purely my personal opinions and I love EVERY single one of the groups I mention here.

(Please stop reading if you don’t want to read a long, lengthy rant about my love for GOT7 and shit.)

Here we go. Five Reasons I Love GOT7

1. Around 2016, I was at a point where everything in K-Pop was starting to seem rather boring and manufactured. The same practiced answers to the same questions, the same stupid games on every variety show, the same mildly problematic attitude towards sex, skin tone and everything else; this is something which you wouldn’t notice if you stick with a single group but when you’re multi-fandom and you watch so many groups go through the same routine… damn if it doesn’t feel staged after a while. If somebody handed me a mic, I think I could do a standard stage greeting, explain my title song and my ideal type just as well as any idol could. 

Honestly, at that point, Jackson was like a breath of fresh air. Every word that came out of his mouth was so different and I love the casual way in which he questions things the Korean industry takes for granted. If you haven’t seen Hitmaker yet, you must. Jackson tore Doni and Coni a new one, and I had a newfound respect for him. Yes, Jackson Wang is the reason I initially started following GOT7. Most foreign members of rookie groups keep their mouths carefully shut during early debut years because they’re scared of messing up but Jackson’s foray into the Korean industry as a foreigner felt so relatable because the moment something would happen to make me think… well, what was that? Jackson’s loose tongue would be asking the same question in a funnier way than I could have. 

This might sound odd because so many I-fans consider Jackson problematic, but damn, if I don’t think he is the most unproblematic thing as far as K-Pop goes. (More on this later)

2. Damn, if they’re not funny. Yes, a lot of groups are funny and have their moments, I’m pretty sure you could find any idol group saying hilarious things at some point or the other. But GOT7 are the most consistent with their humor. I’ll say it here; I’ve NEVER found a GOT7 video boring. (Let’s not count V-lives. Those drone on forever and are often awkward) These guys were made to entertain. They really were. 

Their interviews are also amazing to watch. Nobody gets MCs flustered like GOT7 does. (One of my favorites is this episode of Idol Battle Likes because the MC, Eunwoo, was a rookie idol and you can see the horror in his face as he tries to salvage the interview yet also the admiration because damn, these guys just do whatever the hell they want to). And this isn’t just Jackson anymore because there are interviews where Jackson isn’t around and they still manage to be hilariously funny. (Case in point: this episode of Global Request Show where Jackson is absent and Jaebum’s unprompted opening line is - “If we lose, Bambam is going to get hit in the forehead by all the members and the MCs” to a flustered baby Bam (who probably did something to piss JB off earlier) and also the classic JJP recreation. 

Not that there aren’t other idols who are also funny. The best example is BtoB, those guys are constantly on crack but their humor is a little different from that of GOT7s, lmao, it consists mostly of me crying at the screen - no, why are you doing that with your pretty face? GOT7, on the other hand, is extremely witty and I am constantly entertained. They couldn’t make us laugh more if their jokes were scripted. 

3. I feel like their relationship with each other is extremely honest. And by that, I don’t mean it’s perfect. I mean it’s honest. Listen, I don’t want to sound like an old veteran or something since I’ve only been into K-Pop for like 3 years or so, but groups are not as close as they seem. (Please don’t take this as me bashing other groups, I love all these guys, but I’m just pointing out examples). Did anyone forsee all the EXO members who left? No, because they all acted really close and tight and loyal until the last moment but now they pretend as if those members never existed. (Yes, I know SM is a snake and is probably making them do that. It still bothers me.) I’ve honestly never heard EXO talk about major fights they had. Infinite, who was my first and for a long time, my ultimate group? I did not see Hoya leaving. When I heard the rumors that a member wasn’t resigning, I was positive it was Sungyeol to go take on an acting career. Hoya doesn’t even seem to talk to the other members much anymore. I was wrong about their friendship, and that shows that there are so many things these idols hide so well from their fans. 

I think GOT7 is relatively one of the most honest groups, and that’s why Jackson keeps saying it. I firmly hope and believe that GOT7 will never spring something as horrifying as a member leaving without a proper explanation. (Not saying that nobody will ever leave. They might choose to take a different path. But I hope and believe it’ll be done the right way, not with radio silence and deflections of awkward questions. Like how Sistar disbanded in such a cool way, writing handwritten letters to the fans explaining their decisions and having an amazing last stage). 

I have also never heard a group talk so freely about the fights they had. I mean, dude. Mark breaking the AC and throwing a laptop at Bam? Jackson and Jaebum fighting over the chicken? I know this sounds funny right now but those were probably extremely serious fights at the time they happened and it’s a testament to their relationship that GOT7 are constantly telling stories about their past fights. I don’t see other groups that tell stories about real fights so often. I really don’t. (Except for totally veteran groups that have been around for like a decade, but guys… I think Seungri and Heechul make up half the stuff they say for entertainment, lmao). 

4. They deal with so much unnecessary hate. Raise your hands if you’re never heard the phrase GOT7 is problematic. Like, wow. There are idols out there who’ve gotten caught doing illegal drugs, have DUIs to their name, participated in financial scandals and harassing fans but GOT7 who have literally never hurt a soul or broken the law are the problematic ones, okay. Sure. 

God, I just hate when people think they’re racist. Guys, open your eyes. GOT7 are the most inclusive group out there. They might be a little stupid at times but they have their hearts in the right places. (HAS NOBODY SEEN THIS VIDEO OF WHEN THAT ASSHOLE HYUNMOO SAID NAMJOON SPEAKS BLACK ENGLISH AND JACKSON SHUT HIM DOWN IN 0.5 SECS?) Don’t get me wrong, Namjoon is my bias in BTS, but I never heard anyone bash him for how problematic he was in his early days. He apologized and people are okay with it but somehow GOT7 still gets pulled up for the dumbest shit. 

Like fuck, guys, half the people who bashed Yugyeom have probably consumed alcohol underage too. Bambam is a little stupid at times, but he’s not racist. Give Mark a break, he’s been in Korea for years, when do you think the last time he hung out with his American friends was? People change, give him the benefit of the doubt. I’m not responsible for the shit my childhood friends get up to. Jaebum was joking with his fans. You can’t say that an idol is so cool for being savage with his members and then suddenly backtrack when he gets savage with you, lmao. Just be savage back to him. It’s banter and I love it. It’s much better than hearing meaningless ‘oh you all mean so much to me’ only to find out the idol fucking leaves the group without a word 2 months later. 

So yeah, I have a protective instinct over GOT7. If one of them actually ever does something problematic then they’re getting called out for it, but come on. Let’s not just make them victims all the time. We know how that feels. I was going through a bad time when GOT7 was getting hate and I connected with them personally. 

5. Finally, GOT7 are the underdogs and I always root for them. To me, they’re that group that has amazing potential and while they’re not completely underrated, there’s this feeling that they’ve gone up to a certain point and now it’s hard to go further. It’s pretty clear from the way the members talk, especially Jackson, Jaebum and Jinyoung, that they’re worried they’ve hit their peak. (Have you guys heard of the 5-year jinx?) I think it’s extremely admirable how they’re putting in all their efforts towards making sure that doesn’t happen because listen. They have money, they have comfortable lives and they can sort of relax and do that thing idol groups do where they half-heartedly put out an album every 12-18 months just for the heck of proving they haven’t disbanded yet. But they’re not, they’re still doing multiple comebacks this year because they want recognition and that is something that resounds with me. 

It’s one thing to be stuck at dirt bottom and give up. It makes me cry to see all those idol groups from underrated companies that die out and never make it, who end up quitting and looking for other options in life. The ones who struggle despite not even making a lot of money. That’s terrible. 

But you know what else is terrible? That feeling that you haven’t lost completely. No, you’re not at the bottom, you did pretty well for yourself but you’re not there yet. You can’t turn back and quit completely, but you also have that last mile left to go and that honestly, that last mile is the hardest. I personally relate to that feeling. It’s the feeling that you’re somewhere up there but you’re not at the top and it’s not hard work or determination or talent that matters anymore, it’s just fucking luck. 

I hope and pray that GOT7 cross that last mile to reach the top in their careers and when they do, I want to be there with them so they can inspire me to cross my own barriers. 

[tellywoodtrash]

Heyy! I really loved your analysis on The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family! Could you give your honest review on it? I mean how did you find it's plot, the story, acting, directing all in all the show and what would you rate it? Thank You! Have a nice day! :)

Hello anon!

I’ve got to thank you for sending in this question, coz I did mean to do an overall review for the show beyond the lbs, and was just dragging my feet and being a lazy POS about it. You’re keeping me honest. :)

Tbh, I’m not sure how exactly to rank or rate this show. Until Ep 6. (the one with the big reveal) I really liked it. I really really liked it. But then the show just took a bizarre turn after the reveal. The plot went kinda off the rails, most of the characters were acting very strangely, and I was just left wondering why they built all this up and made me care about these characters just to bring it all crashing down like this.

The story

Nothing new, it was basically a Kapoor & Sons ripoff; right down to the whole vibe; everything from the setting at this hillstation-esque area, to the house parties, to the interpersonal dynamics (the feuding brothers, one of whom is oblivious as to why the other one is so resentful of him; the chill idgaf elder with the shenanigans; husband-wife tension; one of the characters is gay…) to how it all played out (reveal at a fun party right after a troubled marriage got a second wind, sudden untoward death of a parent, brothers making peace after…) all seemed straight up taken from that movie. They adjusted it a little here and there to accommodate the characters and make it seem different, but overall, it was just Kapoor & Sons, the TV version.

The plot

Like I said above, I really liked the way the show was written till Ep. 6. They built up the world really nicely; the family dynamics were uneasy yet stable in a manufactured way, and it all goes to hell with the entry of the ‘outsiders’ Samar and Sonali. I liked their relationship; they seemed like a couple who not only loved each other romantically, but also genuinely liked each other as who they are as a person. They’re still in their honeymoon phase, unaware/blind of each other’s more icky personality traits. Their coupling is so perfect, that even his own mother feels vindicated when they have a minor tiff, claiming no husband and wife are ever THAT happy. On the other hand we have Vikram and Geeta, who are barely holding on to their marriage; their tension is out in the open, even as much as Geeta tried to play it down. I liked how they paralleled the two couples. They also built up the suspense well; it was pretty obvious that there had been infidelity on Geeta’s part and Mridul’s paternity was in question, but the way they ramped it up was good. All this playing around Addu’s coming out, and the social ramifications of such an act in small town India, was well done. It’s after Ep. 6 that everything goes downhill. Samar and Geeta’s characters get reallllllllly unlikable. Their only regret seems to be that everyone found out, rather than the actual deed. And neither of them seem to be really apologetic? Samar kinda brushes it off after making two, three guilty faces/dialogues, Geeta picks fights with Vikram who’s trying to make peace with her despite the fact that she slept with his brother? Ek toh chori, upar se seena jori. Just distasteful. The pace of the show also suffers post ep. 6; everything just unfolds so quickly, yet nothing is really happening, and I was just confused as to what the point of all this was, and how the characters would eventually resolve this emotional quandary. But also, with the insufferable way most of them were acting, I didn’t really care either. I was just like eh, whatever, you’ve made your beds, now lie in it. The writing for all the characters just made me apathetic to their fates. The convenient killing off of PL was just dumb and contrived. Also confusing, because they had this story-telling device of starting every episode a little bit in the future and then flashing back to the point that led to this. Idk why in just that one episode (#9) they start with that scene of her at home, high on pain meds, signing to Begum Akhtar in her sleep and then suddenly it was cut to her dying in a hospital? Just weird, and it really bothered me. But again, I was just so done with these dumbasses that I didn’t actually care.

But I do have some questions about stuff that was faulty/left unresolved:

Why was Geeta talking to Kashyap on the phone saying she “needs” him and asking him to take her away from all this? Just a random red herring to throw us off? That’s pretty bullshit.

The “clues” that Sonali used to put together the secret were pretty shaky at best. He apparently lied about landslides in the area (which… is a weird lie to keep telling over and over about a place? But also the policeman who stopped the vehicle in the earlier ep. clearly stated that it was because of a landslide. So he wasn’t even lying…) and about when/why he learned sign language? How does that lead you to ‘OMG Samar’s the father of Mridul’?? 

The whole Mridul is premature thing and was conceived when Vikram wasn’t in Kannuri thing. Geeta/Samar clearly slept together when Vikram was there. So……… That whole plot point is just null and void. He could be either brother’s kid.

Did Addu get to go to Delhi afterall? I hope she did. She deserved to get outta this close-minded small town and go live her life in a place where she could exist on her own terms. 

What were we supposed to make of the ending for Samar/Sonali? I mean, the show seemed to imply they stayed together; but from what we’d seen of Sonali as a character, she didn’t seem like the type who could make peace with disingenuity like that… Even if Samar and Sonali did stay together, it was highly unlikely she would be able to hang around with Geeta/Mridul ever again. Idk, they just left that hanging up in the air, and it was unsatisfying.

The cast

Kay Kay as Vikram: It’s completely his show. His character is the best written, and the most satisfying one to follow from start to finish. And he plays all the different facts of Vikram well: the angry, bitter man who’s lost himself as well all emotional connection with his family, the exasperated dad trying to come to terms with Addu being gay/Mridul’s effeminate tendencies, the more charming husband/loving big brother he was in the past before all of it went to shit… He plays all of it really well. You start off disliking the character, but the more you see of him, you gradually come over to his side. It’s not that he hasn’t made/isn’t currently making mistakes of his own, but you grow to sympathize with him. I also loved his brief bits of comedy. I’d like to see Kay Kay in lighter roles like these more often.

One qualm though; idk why they had him wear those tacky light-coloured lenses (reminding me of that 2006 -2010ish time in tellywood, when everyone wore those damn lenses. The entire cast of DMG used to wear the same colour and it just looked bizarre.)

Swaroop Sampat as PremLata: She was the actor is was most excited for in this show, and they just fucked me over so bad. She’s hardly in the damn show. I don’t understand why they would underutilize her talents like that. Also I’m not sure of how to feel about PL as a character; she did seem to love her family a lot, but was also very hands-off and just a witness in the bg to everything? She just seemed very uninvolved in whatever was going on, to the point of apathy, just caring about her daily chais and nothing else. But whatever few scenes Swaroop did get, she was radiant and lovely in, as expected.

Barun Sobti as Samar: I always enjoy watching Sobti. Especially in the role of a straight-man to all the madness around him. He’s so enjoyable with his genuine reactions of perplexed and exasperated and amused. But I feel like… Other than in IPK, he isn’t really ACTING. Both in Tu Hai Mera Sunday and here, he plays this chill dude, which is just who he is IRL. It’s just toooooo easy breezy, and I can see that he’s not really putting any major effort into it; compared to Arnav, whom he played in a very measured manner. Also Samar as a character stops being likable after the reveal. His reason for sleeping with Geeta is hardly compelling enough, and so is his demeanour towards Sonali after the reveal. He just doesn’t seem to understand the gravity of what he’s done. The character didn’t deserve to get the easy resolution that he did, especially because he didn’t do any work for it. Bas sabne aise hi maaf kar diya.

Eisha Chopra as Sonali: She’s a revelation. I think I’ve seen her here and there in some web sketches, but this is the first time I’m REALLY seeing her. She’s very charming and confident and a delight to watch. I’ll surely be watching her web series What The Folks in the coming days. Sonali as a character is kind of a mixed bag though. She seemed like a strong, intelligent woman coming into the show, but her bizarre turn into becoming an obsessive snoop who just wants to uncover the family secrets gets pretty annoying. There’s also a brief bit where she’s being a whiny brat for no real good reason? Other than that, I really liked Sonali as a character.

Shriswara as Geeta: A good measured performance. Her character wasn’t clearly defined in the promo, and I thought she’d be a long-suffering wife, but I’m glad she wasn’t. She did keep mum a lot to keep the peace with Vikram (because of her guilt?) but did counter him when required. Her bond with Mridul was the purest, but it was strange how she had no connection with Addu at all? Most of Addu’s parental interaction is with Vikram, despite their tension. She seems to have zero relationship with her mom. I also disliked the turn Geeta’s character took after the reveal. Like I said before, there was no real good reason for her to sleep with Samar. It was just such a flimsyyyyyyyyyyyy plot point. Upar se, she didn’t even seem contrite about it. Like, idk where she got off having that tone with Sonali asking her what her problem is, for wanting to leave after the reveal. It was just jarring. Overall I liked how Sriswara played all the different bits of Geeta; the patient wife just on the brink of losing it, the indulgent mother to Mridul, the woman in a million different clubs because she’s just trying to fill the void in her. As an actor she was very likable, it’s just that the writing for her character was shaky af.

Sanaya Pithawala as Aditi (Addu): I don’t really relate to teenage angst anymore and get annoyed by it, so I can’t really say I connected with her character, but I did feel for her and her heartbreak when Nandu crushes her brutally. I also liked her cool ‘deal with it’ attitude post the incident and the confidence with which she navigated her coming out. The plot with that boy Shashi though, it was confusing… There seemed a legit moment where she was into him. I guess she’s still really figuring out who she is as a person. Her best scenes have to be with Vikram, whether they’re clashing, she’s purposely taking the mick outta him, or trying to make up with him. She was fine, watchable, but I was very distracted by her bad wig.

Prithviraj Sarnaik as Mridul: The purest. The face of an angel. The only character worth rooting for in the show. (I mean Addu too, I guess, but I found her kinda obnoxious at times.) I normally do not like child actors, but this kid was very adorable. He really seemed to have a maturity to him; silently observing and taking in everything. Other than PL, he’s the only one who really gets everything that’s going on here in this shitshow of a family. I felt really bad about how all these badly behaved adults probably traumatised the kid for life. But overall, it was a charming little performance and I wish they’d made him the overarching narrator of the show, coz I loved his little voiceovers every now and then.

Overall

Overall, I’d say this is okay for a one-time watch. It will disappoint you towards the end; because you just stop caring for these characters, which is a mark of crappy writing. But it does have an able star cast that does the best they can with the material on hand, so if you have some time to kill, and like these actors from other stuff, it’s worth a dekko (esp. since each ep is only about 15 - 18 minutes long; you can be done with the whole show in about 3 hours…)

[tinycl0ud]

I hope you dont think im a troll or hating on you w my differing opinion on the whole stationary shop issue but here's something to consider: I feel like you are making stationary shops and their promoters appear evil ): they may charge high prices for their goods but people who would pay for such stationary are often people with the ability to do so. These students are priviledged in a sense and willingly buying the products. Its hard to feel sorry for them.

(cont) Exploitation is everywhere, which doesnt make it alright but it also means that these shops shouldnt be demonized when all they are doing is making priviledged students pay higher prices for stuff that they can get at lower prices if they know where to go to ): this form of “exploitation” is no where as harmful as sweatshops in poorer countries that manufacture goods that our consumeristic society uses. Nike, h&m, zara etc. Thus these shops and their promoters really dont deserve to be demonized and disliked to such an extent. Esp so for the promoters since they play a less significant role in this entire thing ): its like accusing a model/advertiser that advertises a shoe from nike of exploitating the poor labour. And since we buy these products and support these brands (even iphones - China’s electronic sweatshops) are we not all responsible for exploitation? Should we all receive negativity?

SORRY FOR MY LATE REPLY and thank you for your question. 

‘this form of “exploitation” is no where as harmful as sweatshops in poorer countries’ The thing is, just because there is a worse example out there it doesn’t mean we should let things slide. you might as well say ‘suicide in first-world countries is not THAT big an issue compared to ALL THE STARVING CHILDREN IN AFRICA. you can’t just conflate different issues across class/national lines. ‘first-world’ issues have to be considered within their own context. you are right when you identified that there is exploitation everywhere, but it doesn’t make some forms of exploitation more/less unethical than others. w.r.t. the ‘demonising’, or as you put it, ‘making [them] appear evil’, i think there is a distinction between evil and unethical. personally i don’t really believe in the concept of absolute good VS absolute evil, so yeah i think they’re highly unethical but i wouldn’t go so far to say that they are evil…? 

‘Thus these shops and their promoters really dont deserve to be demonized and disliked to such an extent’ well i mean this is my personal opinion and if i really dislike promoters it’s kind of?? my choice?? it feels like you’re attributing all the criticism lobbied at promoters/shops to me or yuke, when all we did was voice our own opinions. if many people agree with us, that’s their personal choice. i’m not sure what you mean by ‘such an extent’ but i’m assuming you’re referring to them getting anonymous hate comments. i don’t think either yuke or i can be held responsible for this. i’ve said this on my IG before but personally i do not endorse anonymous hate comments of any kind. people should stand by their opinions with their real identities at stake, not hide behind anonymity like a coward.

‘Should we all receive negativity?’ i’d just like to say that this whole ‘negativity’ accusation is fallacious and lazy reasoning. anything that goes against one’s personal belief can be conveniently labelled ‘negativity’. there’s a difference between spreading information and spreading negativity..? but if you’re talking about getting anonymous hate comments, like i’ve said, i don’t believe in censorship so i think people can say/create/write wtv they want, so long as they’re ready to stand by their words and face the consequences. anons who send ‘negativity’ are in the wrong.

‘Esp so for the promoters since they play a less significant role in this entire thing ):’ do they? do you honestly think unethical shops like kps can have such a dominance over the studygram community IF IT WEREN’T FOR PROMOTERS? i don’t think so. i think they chose their marketing strategy very cleverly. they chose students with a following who are more inclined towards monetising their followers because they knew that these students with big accounts would not have the business knowhow to ask for their money’s worth, so they can pay these promoters peanuts. they knew that big study accounts have immeasurable persuasive power over other, smaller study accounts, so by sharing 1 pen on their studygram accounts they can increase sales with just the cost of having given that 1 pen to the promoter. they also knew that these promoters did not really see their followers as people or friends, just people they could turn into customers, because most people (especially young children) are naturally selfish.

[a-ship-is-safe-in-harbor]

Just wanted to say that the closed off Gary headcanon has made me see the “I’m happy here with you” moment in a totally different light, and it's just like *damn* ❤❤❤

YESSS!!

Sorry it took me a while to answer this anon, I kept staring at it and trying to figure out how to put it all into words. I’m still trying to really. 

I think that’s the thing that first got me about them. It’s not that Gary wasn’t already doing great on his own at Sky, but then when Jamie joined he wasn’t just doing great, he was suddenly noticeably happy on the job - they both are. You could say that maybe it was just Gary gradually feeling more comfortable with the job and the cameras but then that wouldn’t explain why there’s such a difference between how he is on other Sky things vs MNF and it’s the same with Jamie when he’s on his own.

When they’re on the Sunday show or things like that they’re just counting the seconds until it’s their turn to talk. I love watching them suffering in supposed silence when they’re sitting next to other people and very clearly fighting the urge to just burst in and take over the whole conversation (btw my fav tells for when they’re internally screaming - Gary going from casually holding his pen to a death grip and Jamie doing that grimacing face like he’s being forced to hold a jalapeno in his mouth and huffing so DAMN LOUDLY SERIOUSLY CARRA I ALWAYS WATCH WITH MY FANCY PRO HEADPHONES AND WHEN YOU’RE PISSED OFF YOU BREATHE LOUDER THAN MOST PEOPLE TALK).

And by fight the urge I mean fight it for about 20 seconds and then oops it’s too late now it’s the Gary or Jamie show and everyone else might as well go home. But when they’re talking to each other… I mean, I don’t even have to say it. It’s not just the pre-planned bits of MNF either. Even when they’re just talking freely about something they’re actually listening to each other?? Not that they don’t interrupt each other but far more crucially they never seem to be annoyed with each other when they do?? They want to go wherever the conversation goes because it almost doesn’t matter what they’re talking about as long as they’re talking to each other and it’s like they’re constantly still amazed by it.

There’s something about that joyfulness that’s so genuine and rare and it’s that authenticity that’s so infectious I think, that draws people in and makes them want to not just watch the show but watch their relationship.

It’s not unlike the Top Gear trio in that respect. There’s something there between them that can’t be put into words without getting lost in translation. It’s something that can’t be manufactured or recreated artificially and I think that’s why it took off the way it did only after Jamie joined and why it didn’t work when Gary left.

And you can set aside the whole shippy part of it and just talk about their friendship and partnership and all of this would still be true. Then again… there are plenty of bromances in sports but I can’t think of any that cause decidedly non-fandom people to make swoony videos based on Adele songs when Gary left and stuff like this and this when they were reunited.

When Gary announced his retirement there was an article along the lines of ‘So who is Gary Neville really?’ and IIRC Redders either wrote it or was interviewed for it and there’s only one person he said that Gary was like and it was Carra. 

So long before they partnered up at Sky, even back when they were mortal enemies, they were already linked together in the minds of people who knew them both as being the same and for two such unique people that really is saying something. They’re two footballers who were almost exclusively surrounded by football professionals their whole lives and they STILL both exhausted everyone around them because they wanted to talk about football too much. 

Like, look, I’m pretty obviously someone who talks wayyyy too much in general (understatement of the century and I’m really sorry about that). I can do an okay job of controlling it out in the real world but it doesn’t come naturally to me. My first instinct is almost always to interrupt - not because I’m not listening but because I usually already think I know what someone is going to say and my annoying ADHD ass can’t wait. I may well just be projecting my own stuff onto them but I’m telling you, I know that feeling of unexpectedly finding someone who’s finally going the same speed as you down the same tracks and it’s… god it’s everything. It’s beyond exhilarating. And you get that tunnel vision where you forget anyone else is in the room because for you there really isn’t anyone else. And when I watch them together I recognize all those things. 

Aaaaand I totally didn’t answer the ask. Wait. 

Basically I’m just trying to say that one of the most amazing things about all this is watching Gary let Jamie in the way he has. He’s still a control freak but maybe now we finally see that he can let go a little when he truly trusts the other person. He doesn’t try to take control of Carra’s segments or opinions, he doesn’t always have to have the last word and that’s like… pod person behavior almost for him. On Out of Their League it takes all four of the others to override Gary sometimes and in the end they still end up doing what he wants. He’s always been in charge and I’m not saying that that’s a bad thing, it works for the Co92 and for the United dressing room and it’s always seemed to work for Gary himself. 

But that’s what makes his relationship with Carra so surprising and wonderful. Carra wasn’t trying to get him to stop being so controlling, it just happened. Especially since he came back from Valenica it looks like a true partnership. It’s not just about who has the final say on something, it’s about Gary finally trusting someone without feeling the need to micromanage them. Going from the differences in the behind-the-scenes stuff we’ve seen I think that pre-Valencia it was still a little uneven, with Gary still feeling like he was ultimately responsible for everything, but post-Valencia it’s as likely to be Jamie who’s taking care of things.