#anyways this was really fun to make it’s the quickest edit i’ve ever made

[lanarchive]

diet mountain dew (demo) — carlos cuesta

[masterhandss]

‘My Next Life as A Villainess’ Anime is over...

SO WHAT NOW???

A lot of us are disappointed that Katarina’s adventures are finally over, and a lot of us are gonna miss watching the wacky hi-jinks of our dense villainess. I’ve seen a lot of people say that they will stop posting or paying attention to hamefura after the anime ends, and while I might be the same to some extent, I just want to say that there are still a lot of hamefura things to look forward to after the anime ends!

These are actually some very obvious things to look forward to, but you know I’d still like to share them so you can use them to fill the hole in your heart that the anime left behind.

-------

Edit: (9/30/20) I added stuff, as well as a cut for all yall who says my posts are too long qwq

The Manga

Hamefura still has an on-going manga that is currently in Chapter 3 of the Light Novels! A lot of you already read it, and understand that it can get frustrating when there’s a lack of updates on the english side of things, but if you’re really curious, you can go over and check out the JP releases every month so you can have an idea of whats to come for the manga :DD (The fan translation of ENG Chapter 26 came out a few days ago so you know it’s not dead!!)

I’d recommend reading the english translation on Mangadex, since most translation groups officially upload their translation on there. 

The Spin-off (Hametsuo/Bakarina Alter)

It deserves it’s own category for just how unique it is in terms of its reception in the western crowd. I know a lot of people probably read it, but I guess people barely talk about because it’s not really that far into it’s premise yet. 

I just can’t stop recommending this manga to people (despite not going where I thought it’d be) because of how good the art-style is and how much promise it has. It updates monthly, which I know is a long wait, but it does pay off when you see the quality of everything. Plus it’s just fun to imagine how hamefura would go if it followed the typical “villainess otome isekai” format.

I actually love talking about hametsuo, so maybe my posts are woth the look ;; w ;;

The Light Novels

credits to @sparckle-art​ for the scans!

I’m happy to read that a lot of people are gonna go switch and buy the light novels after the anime ends! By the time the anime ends, the Vol. 6 of the LN would release a week later, acting kind of like a replacement of what is supposed to be a new episode for that week.

The fan-translated version of the web novel is available online, up until half of Vol. 4, but I still recommend buying the books on bookwalker (i don’t know if the sale is still there, but I’d recommend picking up the book regardless!). If reading the fan translation piqued your interest, then playing for the books would definitely worth your money if you ask me! 

An increase of sales might show them that there’s interest for this light novel, and might make them translate the JP novels even faster! (or maybe i’m just too impatient to wait 2-3 months for Volume 7 dshfjsfgs who knows?)

My only warning is that the tone really does shift post-arc 1 (Fortune Lover I) so if you’re looking for harem hijinks, from spoilers I’ve seen I think there would less of that and more of world building. (ps. please stop asking me where to read it ;;-;;)

Edit: Volume 8 is coming out in a few months, with Volume 9 probably being released at either Jan or Feb next year, then after that it’ll be a yearly update

StoryMe Otome Game

credit to the hamefura reddit discord for the screenshots!

I’m surprised a lot of people doesn’t know about the StoryMe game, despite it updating every week alongside the anime. Just kidding I didn’t either lol, I actually found about this thanks to the hamefura reddit discord server! StoryMe is a choose-your-own-adventure otome game, kind of like those “Episodes” or “Chapters” game that gets recommended on Youtube a lot. 

It’s still in japanese, which is probably why not a lot of people knows of it yet, but it seems like you can play as Katarina and romance anyone from the entire harem (yes, the girls too), so keep you eyes peeled for if ever it gets an english translation!

It’s basically the bluray Fortune Lover game with the DVDs, but instead of Maria, you actually get to play as Katarina!

(I’ll make a separate post for this later, maybe)

Edit: The game just came out in English in September 16, and just spat out a 11-episode update at September 30

tldr: go play it, it has 19 episodes out right now

Katarina’s Farm

It’s a newly announced mobile game with a web trial version that centers around playing as Katarina, trying to earn money and points for expanding your farm land, planting more expensive plants and getting the other members of the harem to join you! It’s a 2D pixel game that seems like it wouldnt take too much time to play (you can get the first 4 characters within 30 minutes of gameplay, but that might be adjusted in the mobile version) so I understand if it might not interest some people, but that’s still something to look forward to!

I made another post about it so check out the link to the web version here!

The Bluray Otome Game

While I can’t say this for certain, but maybe if there was ever an official english bluray release, it might include the Fortune Lover Male Capture Target Routes that are included in the game. Maybe someone will play it and translate it even! It would interesting to see how different the boys are, and give us further appreciation for Katarina’s influence and changes!

There’s a preview for a CG in Keith’s Route, which comes with the second bluray (no pv for Geordo ;; w ;;)

Edit: All the boy’s routes are out in Japanese

We don’t know if they’ll ever be released in English though, so hopefully someone translates them at least ;;w;;

The Manga and Yuri Anthology

Missing the hilarious and heartwarming antics of Katarina and her harem? Then you should check out the Manga Anthology (that has just been been translated in its entirety). It’s 14 chapters of absolute hilarity!

There’s also a Yuri Anthology, featuring the 4 girls of the harem! If you’re looking for more of that then, it’s an absolute recommendation!

Spin-off Visual Novel

Edit: They recently just announced a spinoff visual novel! It takes place after the Fortune Lover 1 Arc and features sexy pirates hgsjhgsdf

It’s just recently announced so there’s not a lot of info besides the company making it (it’s Otomate) and the fact that it’s gonna be an all new Bakarina adventure uwu

Bakarina Radio

I heard there’s a Bakarina Radio too, featurning the VAs of the anime cast. 

I don’t know if its a regular thing or a one time thing, but its still worth checkin out!

https//twitter.com/hamehura/status/1309831738525278209

The Second Season of the Anime

I seriously wasn’t expecting another season, considering how different the next arc is, but I’m happy nonetheless for more Bakarina! I hope this motivates the fans to continue supporting the series, as a bigger reaction will definitely lead to more content for us to enjoy! I have a theory about S2, which I think is worth the read :3c

Other Otome Isekais

There’s a lot of other Villainess Otome Isekai’s that are worth the read, and a lot of them as just as interesting as hamefura, despite the lack of a harem (from deep rooted revenge to hilarious and crazy villainess, there’s a lot!) The quickest recommendation I can give is just looking up “Akuyaku” and “Villainess” on Mangadex (do both btw they dont have the same results), but theres a lot that doesn’t get recommended so do your research! I swear it’s worth your time!

Anyways, I hope any of these fill the hole that the hamefura anime will leave in our hearts as we wait for season 2! (sorry for repeating the same line again hdsfgdjhsfg) Feel free to add anything like fanfic recommendations and artists, as I can’t cover everything on my own, as those really help provide hamefura fans with content :DD

[aliceslantern]

Give/Take, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, chapter 9

Ienzo has been too busy since the war to be overwhelmed by the past. But with little progress to be made in his work with Kairi, old nightmares start to invade.

Riku is a glorified housesitter. Lonely and faced with no choice but to wait for a way to find his friends, he eagerly accepts when Ienzo asks him to help do repairs around the castle. Before long, the two strike up an unlikely friendship, united by their dark pasts and their attempts to be better people.

But just as they begin to consider something more... Kairi wakes up.

Ienzoku (Ienzo/Riku), post-Melody of Memory, slow burn. Updates Thursdays until it's done.

Chapter summary:  On different worlds, Ienzo and Riku write each other letters.

Read it on FF.net/on AO3

---

Ienzo,

Sorry for the radio silence over the past few days, but things have literally been so insane I haven’t had a minute to myself to write this note. My mom is barely letting me out of her sight--not that I can blame her. She goes between being outraged to dropping everything and hugging me. She wants to know everything, and I’m trying to tell her as much as I can, but still editing the most… incriminating parts until she’s ready. You understand. Even when I was home before we never got into it.

I haven’t even really had time to enjoy being home. I’ve had to see family, friends, and they all want to know where I’ve disappeared to. People all over town, too, want to know what happened and where I went. A lot of people assumed that I’d gotten myself killed.

Including my parents. That was, and still is, the hardest thing I’ve had to accept. Starting to grieve someone and just beginning to make progress only to learn they’re alive… I feel so guilty. Now I wish I’d gone back home during Kairi’s year of sleep, even for a little while.

I’ll tell you more about what happened, but I just wanted to… start to get a status update. “Any news?” How are you? How have you been? What are you and the guys up to?

Write soon,

Riku

Dear Riku,

Thanks for your text. Of course I understand how overwhelming everything must be, and this was an unusual homecoming. I just hope it’s been more joyful than bittersweet, though I fear it’s the latter. I’m hoping this transition becomes less of a traumatic one for you. And even if it is… well. I am an impartial ear.

Correction--a somewhat impartial ear. I will yell at, and/or make fun of, anyone who gives you grief.

Do tell me about Sora and Kairi. Things must be dazzling for Sora especially--I can only imagine what sort of journey he’s gone through, and I’m probably wrong. Hopefully the three of you get to spend some time together, just relaxing and being friends. It’s the least of what you deserve.

I, on the other hand, don’t have much worth reporting. I’m continuing to work with Aeleus and Dilan on the repairs, helping Even with his various little experiments. I’m trying to figure out where I would be most helpful, but that has been somewhat difficult. I’m sure you can sympathize. It’s finally starting to get warm again here.

If I ever quit faffing about and find something worth writing about I’ll let you know…

Yours,

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

Ha ha. For some reason I don’t believe you’ve been as lazy as you said you’ve been. Though part of me hopes you have. You deserve a little rest too.

On the topic of rest…

Right after I got your letter the puppet strings that have been keeping me awake since I got home snapped. I fell asleep on the living room couch and didn’t wake up for thirty-six hours. Mom was hysterical; she thought something was really wrong with me and took me to the doctor (which, considering how long it’s been since I’ve been home for any length of time, was my pediatrician. Awkward.). But the doctor just said what I told her, that I just needed to sleep . And sleep, and sleep… maybe it’s my turn to sleep for a year. Ha ha.

Yeah, yeah. Spare me your lectures. I’ve been so wired that even when I tried, I couldn’t sleep.

Sora and Kairi are doing as okay as they can. Of the three of us, I think Kairi’s bounced back the quickest. She’s already talking about re-enrolling in school to catch up. Considering she’s the mayor’s daughter, it made the news when she got back. She’s like a celebrity, though because she’s Kairi and she’s perfect, she’s got it under control. I mean that with no sarcasm whatsoever.

Sora…

As you can probably tell by me skirting around the subject, Sora… isn’t completely okay. Physically, he’s fine. Healthy. But it’s… between the Keyblade War, and what he experienced alone while we were all, very briefly, dead (which, remind me to tell you about that if I haven’t, because it is a trip.). He’s been ALONE for so long. I’ve never seen him so shaken, and he’s so quiet . Talk to him and he tries to be all smiles, of course, but a few of us were at the beach and instead of being all up in the middle of it like he usually is, he was sitting aside… alone. Kairi’s been trying to gently pry, but he keeps saying he’s okay. A tired act I think all of us know well by now. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do. What kind of therapist here would get what he’s gone through, anyway? The most we can do is be there, and keep on top of him, and hope he heals and processes over time. Makes me feel like a shitty best friend, but the emotional stuff was never my forte.

Sleepily yours,

Riku

---

My sleepyhead,

Hopefully by the time you get this you’re actually conscious. You had a long ordeal. Physically, emotionally, of course you’re exhausted. I hope you’re actually listening to it instead of pushing through. Been there. Done that. It is not worth it. You’re probably also still growing, believe it or not. The human male keeps growing and developing until twenty-five, and unless my knowledge of Destiny Island’s time stream is way off, you’re not exactly there yet.

I’m glad Kairi is doing well, and taking all of that in stride. If it were me I would’ve thrown in the towel long ago. I think school would be good. A taste of normalcy. You three deserve to get back to your lives… whatever that means. Or at least rest a while before finding greener pastures elsewhere.

It’s disheartening, but not surprising, that Sora feels the way he does. Like I said, I can only imagine what he might have gone through. Though I don’t like it when you say you’re a shitty friend when I watched you struggle to save your friends for a literal year. You’re too hard on  yourself, Riku. Being there, after everything else you did for him, is enough. Make sure to take time for yourself too. Though if Sora’s condition deteriorates, do let me know. I’ll see if I have any sort of psychological resource which might help him more than just a standard therapist with no notion of the greater World outside. Hopefully he’ll start to feel more himself once he settles back down.

This… very brief death occurrence you were referring to intrigues me. What was all that about? Fortunately it seems to not have stuck, but regardless, I felt my heart jump into my throat when I read it.

The others have been asking after you, Ansem especially. He says to “send his regards” and I promise it’s friendlier than it sounds.

I wonder, do you have sea salt ice cream where you are? It’s the height of summer and Scrooge McDuck is out. None of my cohorts here are willing to share. It’s been war.

Craving sea salt,

Ienzo

---

To the insatiable sweet tooth--

No, as a matter of fact, we do not have that particular sea salt ice cream here. If we want it, we have to go off-world. There are other, more native flavors which you might like, like dragon fruit or star fruit. (It’s mostly fruit. Sorry, we’re islanders.)

Sora seems to be doing a little bit better. Roxas, Xion, and them came to visit, which seemed to brighten his spirits, or at least distract him. Sometimes he still stares off into the distance and he’s not quite as chatty. This is going to take a long time.

As for the death thing… well, part of why Sora disappeared was because he went back in time to save us after the dark prophecy was fulfilled and the Demon Tide killed us… apparently. Even I can’t keep it all straight in my head, and it happened to me. He changed the flow of time to save us, and “abusing” the power of waking to save Kairi was the final straw. I… don’t like thinking about it much. It makes me feel sick.

Mundane life feels weird. I do chores around the house, and I mow lawns for some pocket change. Can you imagine it? The magic would make it easy, but it also unsettles people, so I do it with a mower. I had to go to social services to get an ID and we waited in line for two. Hours. I almost went insane. But at least it no longer has the awful picture it did when I started high school.

Speaking of, mom wants me to re-enroll right away, and dad wants me to do night school and speed through a general high school degree. I’m not sure how I feel about it, honestly. Kairi and Sora are excited, and I think it’ll be good for them. Maybe I’ll take a year, or do it online, or something. Though I’m sad to say my computer literacy isn’t nearly as good as yours.

How are you feeling in the castle? It must be summer for you guys there, too, though I imagine there aren’t beaches or anything. I didn’t see any. Do you have any summer activities? Or do you just sit in the library with a moldering old paperback all day?

Gainfully employed,

Riku

---

Dear Riku,

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity about that experience. I knew time travel was a factor in Sora’s disappearance--but I didn’t think it went like that for all of you. Terrifying. Awful.

A fantastic way to start a correspondence.

To answer the question… no, there are no “beaches” in terms of ocean beaches, but when I was a boy Radiant Garden did have springs on the far edges of town, as well as public pools. I was not allowed to go to them much--Even was rather neurotic--but yes, they do exist. Did exist. The restoration committee has it on their very, very long list. The paths down to the springs probably need some maintenance.

That is to say, when not in the lab I am sweating and thinking of cooler days. Though I know this might feel borderline chilly for you. Indifference to temperature is one of the few things on my waning list of what I miss from being a Nobody.

I’m glad you have some way to fill your days… that, and the idea of you working outside appeals to me. I imagine it must bore you.

I don’t spend ALL of my days in the library. Just most of them, lately, as am still trying to get this place even the slightest bit organized. If I had the resources I’d digitize everything. It’d make life so much easier. But I am one person with one computer and there are thousands upon thousands of books here. As a boy I used to have the fantasy of reading all of them before I turned eighteen. But, alas, that has not happened, and some of the texts are too boring, or in another language, or are too fragile to be handled. I clearly had very interesting ideas of leisure.

I still have not been able to get my hands on any decent ice cream.

Unsatisfied,

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

I wanted to talk about this earlier but I had to get things settled in terms of my room. (Long story. Not a fun story.) Would you ever consider visiting? I could come get you. My parents are okay with it. In fact, they for some reason link you with me coming home, which I guess is true. You did help us get the clue Kairi needed. Either way, you’ve already made a good impression.

(If it’s not clear, I miss you.)

I can take you to a real beach. Show you around, not that there’s a whole lot to see. A change of scenery might be nice. Sora and Kairi want to hang out, too. Sora says hi.

If you’re busy, of course, I can come to you. But I know you’ve been there a long time, and there’s not always good memory there.

No pressure. Let me know.

Riku

---

Riku,

I think you may be on the right track with a change of scenery. I’m afraid what little wit I had left me, and when I was explaining to the others I’d like to visit, it became clear very quickly that our relationship is more than surface level. For that, I’m sorry.

However… the more I think about it, the more appealing it is. Even doing nothing--with you--is better than sitting here doing nothing by myself.

That is to say I miss you too.

I can be ready whenever is most convenient. I’m sorry for making you come all this way, though.

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

Please, the flight will give me a few hours’ of peace and quiet. It’s been great spending all this time with friends and family, but… I feel kind of suffocated sometimes. Besides, I better keep my piloting skills in tip-top shape. Sora’s mad that I’m better at it than him. What can I say, it’s one of my many natural talents. Along with gardening, apparently.

Bring light clothes; it’s HOT here. And sunscreen. I mean it.

Looking forward to seeing you, and talking to you, in person.

Yours, Riku

[sedlex]

She-Ra immediate aftermath, for posterity.

Excitement-related insomnia log: the night before and I woke up at least 10 times to check the clock 

Friday. The show is released at midnight PST so about four/five hours later the first wave of "Catradora canon!!!" is well underway and the invested fans are collectively losing their minds all around the world. Reactions are mostly keysmash and people are actively taking pics and recording videos of their screens with their phones while crying. Those who don't go there reblog stuff in solidarity. Some decide they now go there and start furiously watching from the beginning. There is nothing else happening. Nothing. The quickest fanartists swoop in with either short hair portraits, angst or kisses. At some point the realization that "we're gonna win in the end" was referring to all of us dawns: it's a weloveyounoelle fest.

Excitement-related insomnia log: I’ve slept maybe 2 hours in 20-minute bits 

Saturday. Even the slowest watchers, the ones who had to wait for their watching parties or had to work or whatever, are all caught up, endorphins are running high, screenshots are made of every second of the kiss and shared all over the place. So. Much. Art. Still not enough, so everybody reblog everything! The kiss that saved the universe and *that* future scene are big favorites. Meanwhile articles are shared and people see how actually difficult it was to pull this off so well and THANKYOUNOELLEWELOVEYOU!

Excitement-related insomnia log: I don’t recall 3something to 5:30 am, so...

Sunday. Rewatches are happening because with twenty-ish minutes per episode it's quick & easy and people get proof of the things they did notice before: it's parallels town! While visuals are going strong (do not miss the epic scene with Japanese dubbing that makes it feel like the gayest anime ever), the written word side had a little time to organize the thoughts and metas are flourishing. Back on ao3, the tags hurt/comfort and future canon are alight. Just guess who's first in fandometrics for the week ending today despite technically having been around for just three days?

Excitement-related insomnia log: I went to bed at midnight and woke up at 2:30 to rewatch s5 on my phone and I’m pretty sure I got to more than 2/3 before falling somewhat asleep

Monday. The bigots caught up and can those who lament lesbian exploitation in cartoons please go back to how wearing a mask during a pandemic is an attack on liberty thanks bye. More discussions happen and there is reflection on if the catrademption was too fast/offthehookish. You go be mindwiped into an electrocution pool and then chipped in a creepy hivemind alien cult and tell me. Let's see instead more reflection on how the braincells dynamic in the best friend squad changed. On the visual side the edits are more elaborate because people had some more time to put into them and artists are going like crazy with kind of supergay fuel.

Excitement-related insomnia log: a good 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep were achieved 

Tuesday. Things are slowing down a little but 70% of the timeline is still a blessing of fluff art. A whole lot of AUs and post canon appear alongside kisses and comics and fun stuff because why not spread the love. Surprisingly to none, the magic emotional support animal shoved into the story when it's 2/3 done is very loved, look at it meaowing. I'm used to seeing gayness bringing out creativity but damn... also video/music edits smash through the door bringing the gift of feelings.

Excitement-related insomnia log: kinda sorta the usual amount of sleep, 1something am to 7:30

Wednesday. Ok, now things should be back to normal, right? Wrong. Even those who could watch just one or two episodes per day are all caught up and at this point do we still need the spoiler tag? Like, really. Anyway, fanart is a steady abundant flow with such a variety that anyone can find something for them and I’ve seen posts with 15k+ notes. Deservingly so.

Excitement-related insomnia log: scratch that, back to 3 hours because I started reading fanfics at midnight and, well...

Thursday: semblance of normalcy on TL achieved? Kiiinda? There’s still bursts happening at certain times when someone else discover themselves a friend of Mara. Post-s5 headcanons are a thing, as well as wrong hilarious quotes. And the small miracle of people who run away during past Tumblr fuckups who are suddenly back.

Excitement-related insomnia log: I just finished writing this, while in bed, at 1am. Wish me luck.

[purplesurveys]

1108

[created by: vyvyan86]

What did you think you were good at, until you saw someone else do it? Probably at being detail-oriented. I’ve always held secretarial positions so I knew I was somewhat good at it, but my manager is far more capable than me to a ridiculous extent; she’s great at catching mistakes or knowing the right questions to ask.

What's a fun fact you tell in social situations? About me? The go-to fact that has never failed me before is that I don’t like fruits. Alllllllways riles up an entire crowd, and it’s such an easy way to break the ice hahaha.

What's something you're positive that only you do? I don’t enjoy chicken meat too much, so when I eat fried chicken I usually tear off the chicken skin (the only part I like) and give the rest of the meat to whoever wants it - usually my parents, or my dogs if they’re around.

What is something nice going on in your life right now? I’ve been feeling more free than lonely, which is a crucial mindset shift I needed in order to start healing.

What was the pinnacle of wealth to you as a child? Probably Lisa Frank merchandise, or a Speed Stack set.

What's something that you hate, but can't live without? Delayed flights are extremely inconvenient especially when I’m already itching to be back home, and they’re bound to happen every now and then, so.

What skill do you not talk about, because you feel it sounds like bragging? I’m not sure if I can say anything in the field of skills, but there are topics outside of talents that I do shy away from talking about because I don’t want to sound like I’m showing off. One of them is certain relatives I have.

What is an absolute 100% fact? I have work tomorrow and I’m dreading it as always because Monday. I already have 11 items lined up on my to-do list and it’s making my stomach turn.

What's the most useless thing you've memorized? Multiple episodes of Friends in their entirety.

What is your personal curse? My...what?

Who's the worst person you've encountered on the Internet? The trolls/bots employed to praise the government.

Do you ever stop and think, “what the hell am I doing with my life?” Just every once in a while. I don’t run into this crisis too often, and most of the time I always have a reason to be satisfied with where I happen to be in life.

What are some of the small things in life you enjoy? Feeling fresh after a shower; the scent that wafts from the kitchen when my parents have started cooking or baking something; lightning-speed internet; and driving at night.

What happened recently that made you really happy? I took myself out on a self-date for the first time last night. I’ve taken myself out before, but it was always at some coffee shop where I can stay for a few hours and take a survey or two – and people are usually alone there, anyway. I’ve never eaten out on my own, or went beyond getting coffee, before. I feel like last night was such an important mark for my newfound independence, and I let myself be emotional while I was downing my ramen. I can’t believe I’m getting better; I never thought I’d see the day. :)

If death wasn't a consequence, what would you try? Probably touching stuff that aren’t meant to be touched to know how they’d feel like, like lava.

What's the dumbest thing you've heard someone say? Superlatives are always hard to determine...but I’ll be happy to refer you to most of the quotes Duterte has said over the last five years of his presidency.

What is the worst smell you can remember? The sour stench of rotten food always gets me. Other than that, my stomach is a bit of a trooper when it comes to smells so I haven’t smelled a lot of stuff I’ve found to be terrible.

What's something you want that doesn't exist yet? Some kind of invention that lets you Control+F in real life. I can’t even begin to imagine how infinitely convenient this would make things.

Where is your happy place? In my car, driving at night with the right mix of songs to accompany me.

What song gets better the louder it gets? Born For This by Paramore or New Day by The Bouncing Souls.

What's the most deceptive advertising you've seen? Menu items, mostly. Like the one time a local pancake joint promoted their limited edition red velvet pancakes; I was big on red velvet at the time so I hurriedly ordered it, excited to see how they applied it to pancakes; but was disappointed to see that they were only about the size of my palm. 

I honestly don’t mind deceptive advertising for fast food since people should really expect to get what they pay for - so for the most part I don’t find myself feeling betrayed by sloppy-looking Big Macs hahaha - but the pancake place I was referring to was a sit-down restaurant so I did feel a bit upset seeing how sad and tiny my pancakes looked.

What's a joke you always tell people you meet for the first time? Back when I still went to school and we were required to introduce ourselves on the first day of classes, my go-to line was a joke in itself. I liked saying, “Hi, my name is Robyn. You can call me Robyn,” because for some reason it was the quickest way to get chuckles out of my classmates. I guess it’s in the way I deliver the line, but yeah that’s my way of breaking the ice.

What's the biggest inconvenience that does NOT ruin your day? When my dogs do their business somewhere they’re not supposed to. My dogs are my babies haha, so it’s easy to forgive them.

What's your best wrong number story? I don’t know if I have one. I usually ignore/block wrong numbers lol.

What's something everybody should know how to do? Approach intersections slowly, whether they’re walking or driving.

What is a great movie no one knows about? I suppose it’s quite known given the cast is has and the awards it got to have or be nominated for, but no one in my circle knows about it - Revolutionary Road.

What type of person could the world use less of? People who spit in public.

What makes you think, 'Oh dear, I'm old...'? Erm, maybe the fact that you can ask some kids if they know who Hannah Montana or Drake and Josh are, and it’s very likely that they would say no. Also, the fact that current college students were born in the 2000s.

What is one food that you hated as a kid, but love now? Vegetables and my grandma’s chicken curry.

What makes you tingle? Whispering in my ear.

What was your travel nightmare? Any time our flight would get delayed 2-3 times and we have to wait an extra hour per announcement. Even worse if the plane itself takes foreverrrrrrrrr to get clearance to take off.

What’s the best Wi-Fi name you’ve seen? Nacho’s wifi was “Yell ‘Bayani si Marcos’ for password,” which is “Yell “Marcos is a hero” for password.” It’s in reference to Ferdinand Marcos, a former president who doubled as a murderous dictator and thief and is of course not a hero, but for some weird reason is still revered like a god by people from his hometown, including my mom and grandmother. I’ve kept his wifi name on file on my laptop and have no plans to delete it.

What weird thing turns you on? Haha I don’t think anything I’m into can fall under ‘weird.’ I’m not into anything much in the first place.

What's easy to learn, but hard to master? Any sport.

What's something you've changed your opinion on? Certain politicians I used to look up to, but have since learned that they have unfavorable tendencies or traits as well.

Describe your favorite movie as obscurely as possible: A couple drives for the entire movie.

What's the most satisfying thing you've ever felt? So at work I have to use this extension called YAMM and it’s basically a way to be able to mass-send emails to hundreds and even thousands of recipients. I use it regularly to send press releases to media, and it makes me anxious every single time because one mistake can fuck up the spelling of names or the order of email addresses. Every time I accomplish a YAMM send-out without any mistakes I exhale a giant ass sigh of relief.

If you had a refilling bowl, what would you want it to contain? Money or macarons.

Where do you mostly live? In the past, the present or the future? Up until recently, I used to think a lot about the future; in the latest ~chapter of my life I had been finishing up college, figuring out what job.I wanted, and was in a long-term relationship, so it was inevitable for me to think about next steps. Now that I’ve gone/am going through all these massive changes, I’ve found that this time around it’s a lot healthier for me to stay in the present and be happy with what and who I have.

What is more important to you, the way you look or the ideas you present? The ideas and thoughts I have to offer, of course. The current generation doesn’t care as much for physical looks anymore, which I’d say is a great improvement from before.

What don't people get about what it's like to be you? I’m not that rare a snowflake lol, but I guess when it comes to certain things, like my breakup, I’ve since preferred to be insanely private about them (except on here, of course) so that I don’t have to take the whole neighborhood along in my healing process.

If your bedroom had three portals to anywhere, where would they lead? Another country, a coffee shop, and a beach.

How is parallel universe you doing? I hope she’s happier when it comes to love.

Which historical event should be the next huge television series? I’ve always wanted a fictionalized take on the British royal family, so The Crown already works out pretty well for me, actually.

What country should fictional villains be from? Any answer to this would be offensive lmao, so pass.

What is your imaginary Eden? Living conveniently in the condo of my dreams, making enough money to live comfortably and having easy access to whatever food I’m craving at any given moment.

Which Disney princess would make the best villain? I haven’t seen all the princess movies, so I’m not so sure if I can judge well on this.

You can ask any author one question about their story. What do you ask? I’d probably just ask Angie Sage if movie adaptations for Septimus Heap will still push through because I’ve been waiting on them since I was a lot younger.

Would you want a rewind or a pause button for your life? Why that one? Pause. So that if I’m feeling happy, I have the option to stay there longer if I want.

Are you worth your weight in gold? Idk.

[photogrxpher]

☠ ☀ ☢ ❀ ✖

the salty af munday meme

☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you?

Actually, this has never happened before, so I can’t really say for sure. There have been times when someone has ticked me off gradually until I’m just like “nope, sorry, bye”. The quickest I’ve ever unfollowed someone is when they’ve started godmodding and/or force-shipping on me without any ooc interaction beforehand. That generally gets at least one warning though. Also, if I link my rules (this blog doesn’t have a rules page yet, but a lot of my others do) and the other person breaks one or several rules, I’ll generally unfollow then because it’s clear they didn’t bother to read them. Again, they’ll get a warning, but on several occasions peope have continued to break my rules despite being warned and at that point I’m out.

☀ What’s your rp pet peeve?

Poor writing. I don’t mean that everyone has to be bloody Shakespeare when it comes to their delivery, or that I’ll unfollow for spelling mistakes– I’m talking people who don’t capitalize or use punctuation, and generally just give the impression of not making a lick of effort. I get that for a lot of people in the roleplaying community, English isn’t everyone’s first language. Being bilingual myself, I understand and respect that enormously. I also don’t use HTML in any of my roleplays (because I don’t know how and I’m happy with this text editor tbh), or fancy icons, or gif icons with pretty PSDs, etc. I’m guilty of misspelling words because hey, I’m human. Little mistakes like spelling errors or language or even ‘ugly text’ as some people refer to it are absolutely fine. But the culprits I’ve noticed writing the way I hate are fully grown English-speaking literate adults and have no excuse.

Also, personal/non-rp blogs reblogging active roleplay threads. Please. I speak on behalf of all roleplayers; if you are not part of a roleplay thread and especially if you are not even a roleplay blog, don’t do this.

☢ What fads/trends are you so over?

Those teeny-tiny icons/gifs that are not only so small, you can’t make out the actual image (not great considering the purpose of icons and gifs is to convey your muse’s reaction), but often have been edited with PSDs to the point where they’re just… useless? I get it, it matches your aesthetic, but… at what cost?

❀ What has made you completely lose your chill?

Openly, not much. I internalize that shit. But I’m going to go with possessive partners. People who get angry and upset with you when you roleplay with other people, or respond to somebody else before them. I could go on and on with examples but I think we’ve all encountered these people, so…

✖ How has Tumblr RP changed since you started?

People are so into aesthetics now. I started roleplaying on here in 2013 and at that point, everything was done via ask; threads very rarely got carried. Nobody was using icons, much less gif icons– we were all about those big chunky reaction gifs that took up the whole width of the post. There was no formatting, no elaborate tags (how do y’all even put your tags in different fonts??), no themes that make your brain explode when you try to navigate; everything was minimal and simple and people had fun anyway. 

[itsworn]

Take 5: 1320 Video’s Kyle Loftis

Few things are more synonymous with street racing than 1320 Video. Kyle Loftis’ green-tinted home videos put the viewer in the streets with some of world’s quickest and fastest street cars, brewing 1320 Video into a name known today by every horsepower fiend for dramatic upsets, hilarious sleepers, and wild horsepower. Go back far enough and you’ll see several of the Street Outlaws before the cable TV cameras turned to them. Nowadays, the program has grown to almost a dozen full-time staff, and their YouTube channel has grown to more than 2-million subscribers with nearly a billion total views. Few have seen the grassroots end of drag racing culture and media evolve so much around them, so we managed to catch Kyle as the crew drove up to Street Car Takeover for a look behind the curtain.

HRM] How long are you on the road?

KL] I’m going to say 30-percent of the days in the year, maybe 40 – it’s hard to keep track.

HRM] How big is the staff these days?

KL] We have one main crew, but we can split up in two. Then I’ve got friends at home who can help us. We’ve done three events in one weekend

HRM] Where did it all begin?

KL] It started with our local group, we had a message board called Omaha Racing. I started by taking pictures and video of SPL (stereo) competition, back in like 2002. I worked at a stereo shop in Omaha, NE, one of the bigger ones in the country, and one of the guys there took me to a street race. We got to the meeting spot with two or three-hundred cars. I didn’t get to see street racing, it was busted immediately, but I was hooked. Then more and more message boards showed up that liked the same thing, so a couple years into it I was sharing my videos to 20-30 message boards every time I uploaded a video – guerrilla marketing at its best. I wasn’t making any money on it, it was just for fun.

HRM] How did you come to the name 1320 Video?

KL] I started under Howdy-Ho Productions. My nickname was Howdy-Ho because of South Park’s Kyle and Mr. Hanky while I worked at that stereo shop. After about a year of that, I realized as a marketing person, trademark infringement wouldn’t be a good idea long-term. One of my friends came up with 1320 Video on our local Omaha Racing message board because of a quarter-mile — which is actually not that well known of a stat; people don’t know where the number comes from.

We put up a picture on our Instagram that’s like, ‘The moment you realized 1320 is a quarter-mile.’ And it’s one of our most liked photos. There’s not that many people actually knew it.

HRM] How did you gain access to drivers and races?

KL] It was more of a building trust thing. They saw my videos and saw that I was good at leaving out details, being as secret as we could. I heard about a street race in St. Louis on a message board, and these guys invited me to come down to film it. It was a thousand dollars on each car. So I think it was $12,000 pot. I was like, I’ve never filmed a street race for any money, let alone $1,000 a car. And the term ‘Cash Days’ hadn’t really been invented at that point, I don’t think, but that’s basically what it was: was like a drop-of-a-hat, buy-in elimination thing. And that street race is probably the biggest pivotal moment for me because Trent, the guy that runs King of the Streets in Chicago, was there along with some of the racers like Boosted GT, Limpy, (who came up with Cash Days) was helping run the race. Monza was there, back when he had a Chevrolet Monza.

We only got two races off, then the cops came at 6 in the morning, so they split the money between the remaining racers. It was a charitable race, no one got anything done, and everyone drove 13 hours back home. I made a video of it anyways, since it was such a cool experience, and Limpy called me down to Dallas a few days after I released it, asking if I wanted to film their Cash Days [race]. It was their second or third one, and I came down six or seven times after that. Shawn Wilhoit, The Mistress, actually pitched my plane ticket to come down and Boosted GT picked me up and let me stay at his house while being a taxi for the weekend — back before filming street racing was cool, and back four or five years before Street Outlaws.

HRM] When did you start on YouTube?

KL] I think my first video I uploaded was in 2006, but I was pretty hesitant to move over to YouTube, because I would upload a couple of my videos to a server and then put a page up on my website through HTML with a link to it so you could download it. Then from that website you can also order shirts and stickers, so it helped pay for my travel cost. I was really hesitant to upload to YouTube instead of going to my website and make money to help fund my obsession. It wasn’t untill like 2008 or something when they started allowing you to monetize video. And so I started putting more videos on YouTube. Before that, I actually crashed my dorm’s Internet. Like in 2004, when I was staying in the dorms I crashed the server because I had a video that went viral. That was when I had to move over to a legitimate hosting company. It was a dorm of like 200-something kids, and everyone was wondering why the internet was so slow. I didn’t realize that it had been running slow for a couple of days. I think it was a quarter-million views on that viral video of being downloaded from our server under a desk in the network room.

HRM] What was it about that early era of YouTube that kind of stood out to you?

KL] There were a few street racing channels here and there, but few who took it super seriously. I wasn’t taking it super seriously either; I was hooked and I just loved doing it. So I went out more and more, whenever I could take off work and afford to travel. Street Fire was a huge website back then, and I actually think I got more traffic on there for a while. But Street Fire never monetized. They had a message board, and that’s where I got the bulk of my traffic on Street Fire, and then Car Domain bought it and shut it down. There weren’t really that many other car channels out there that I knew of, at least there wasn’t really anything tying it together like modern social media out there, like MySpace didn’t really have amateur video company pages like Facebook now does. So it was a big unknown. You could sometimes find other people doing the same thing on message boards, but that was a different world.

HRM] With the shifts to online media over the last decade, what’s changed for 1320?

KL] I did my first DVD in 2005, though I didn’t really want to. I didn’t know how to do it, I assumed it would be too much work. Then finally someone I went to high school with knew how to offer DVDs, and I started asking questions. He said, ‘Yeah, you just put this stuff together, and I’ll finish it up for you.’ He helped me on my first DVD videos and then I finally figured out how to do it on my own.

The sales of our DVDs didn’t generally change up until about two years ago. We’d been doing digital downloads before; it was actually a popular thing. I knew that there was an international audience that didn’t want the $10 in shipping and waiting six weeks for it to show up. Then we finally started really releasing digital downloads years ago and it was at that point where it started to like flip-flop. So at first we sold like 60 percent physical and 40 percent digital and then the next year it was the other way around. Then last year it was like 80-percent digital, which is really interesting. I think it’s because we offer it now people are becoming used to it. The other part of it is just people wanting it instantly- they want to watch it now. It’s nice because digital is usually a lot easier to first edit and get up then DVDs. We moved from doing three to four DVDs year to just one because we don’t need them anymore. People aren’t buying them.

HRM] What are some of ways you’ve been able to keep ahead and figure it out?

KL] Just living in the space and knowing how our fans and everyone else lives. Watching and breathing this stuff is important. Just like getting on YouTube early was important. I reached a point where I figured, “All right, I’ll try it.” Then Facebook- not many people had Facebook fan pages until a year or two after I created mine. I did that just because my friends were annoyed with car posts on my personal profile every day. So I decided to post it somewhere else and not have to have a bunch of creepers following my personal page. Then it just happened that I ended up with four-and-a-half million fans on Facebook. That really, really helped us out a lot when took off. It definitely helped.

HRM] What a lot of people don’t realize is you started 1320 while working full-time at PayPal. What was it like working 9-to-5 to support a budding business?

KL] Starting a business today is a different game than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Going out and getting a business loan on a gamble is not a way to do it anymore. I was able to run my business through having the right jobs. Just like when I worked at a stereo shop, I wasn’t really traveling that much. When I was at PayPal, I was lucky enough to be able to work from home or from the road. So I’d be in the car on conference calls with Fortune 500 companies helping them with technical questions on setting up PayPal. If we traveled on Thursday I’d have to take off Friday, not a big deal. Then on Monday, I worked on the way back home. Without working 80, 90, 100 hours a week, it wouldn’t have been possible. Luckily I liked both jobs, so it wasn’t too big a deal.

HRM] Did it ever come to a point where they didn’t know that you were involved in street racing?

KL] Every time I got new job, I would tell my boss what I did right away and they’d say, ‘Well that’s cool. As long as it doesn’t interfere with your job, it’s no big deal.’ That’s really the way it was the whole time, which was perfect. The best part about working at PayPal was that I was helping some of the largest companies in the world with optimizing their online sales platform. Not just like how to take payments, but other things outside of that; conversion and marketing. So as I was learning there, I was able to apply that and learn on my website, taking those ideas back to PayPal — so it’s like a give and take. That worked out really nicely.

HRM] When did you start building a team?

KL] It was probably about three years into it. I was shooting by myself for the first years, but I decided it’d be fun to take a friend with me so I could have someone to help drive or just share the experience with. I had an SLR I was shooting with and I taught them how to use it, so I was able to focus on video. They’d be able to focus on the photos, because I would sit there with a video camera and shoot photos my left hand, doing both at the same time for the first five or six years. Even today you’ll still see me shooting on my phone while I’m videotaping, getting still photos as well as video. At first, it was just friends helping here and there just kinda going on trips to have fun. Once we started making decent money with merchandising, it was a no-brainer to start paying people so they can take off work and not do a year’s worth of work for free. Now we’ve got 10 full-time employees. I hired my first when I left PayPal about three-and-a-half years ago, I hired two or three more the next year, then five or six more the next year.

I don’t like to jump into things with too much risk, so it’s a little nerve wracking trying to make sure that you’re able to support all your friends’ livilihoods and have fun on these trips as something that was once really just a hobby for me. With what we’ve built and it’s been pretty easy, and pretty crazy to just look at the whole thing work.

HRM] Well it’s funny you mentioned hopping into things without too much risk because it’s exactly what 1320 Video is. How do you guys go about vetting the cars you ride in?

KL] We’re pretty careful about who we go out with at night and the kinds of cars we’d consider riding in. There’s plenty of cars owners who wanted to give us a ride or we wanted to ride with, but the car didn’t have seat belts or just didn’t look safe, or people just don’t seem like they should be driving a thousand-horsepower car on the street – we’ll shy away from them. Obviously, there’s always the unknown things that are going to happen.

There’s been a few spinouts, just freak accidents. I hit a wall while riding in Houston; I’m not sure what happened, an axle snapped, or something on the road, I’m not really sure. We had a actually had two guys out in St. Louis last year, one was in a car that blew its motor, spitting oil on the ground, and one of the other guys just coming up in a pack of cars a few miles behind. They decided to race right at that spot, and spun out and almost hit some trees. So there’s just that unknown factor we can’t control.

HRM] Stand out match-ups?

KL] My favorite so far was Matt and I hopped in cars in [Mexico] two years ago. One was in a Lamborghini with about 1,700 horsepower. The GTR made about the same power, and we were literally side by side, at 225mph, inching it back and forth. It was the craziest race ever.

HRM] What’s it been like getting involved with the Ice Cream Cruise?

KL] A lot of people actually don’t know that we run that event. We don’t try and overly brand it, it’s ‘presented by 1320’ with our other sponsor, Stereo West, which is actually stereo shop I mentioned earlier.. That was actually an event we used to film back the day, it’s all about the underground culture that started on the street with about 40 cars. The second one was like 80, the next one had 160; then it was 400, 800, and finally 1,200. At that point, my friend didn’t want to deal with it.  It got so big we couldn’t be on the street anymore. The police shut it all down, and made us go home. So I picked it up the next and ran it for two years before it got shut down again. So we did it a baseball stadium and over-sold it- it was just a traffic jam. Finally, we’re now at a racetrack, parking over 1,500 show cars on the road course for the weekend and then having a full day of drag racing and roll racing the next day. It is really cool to be able to support our local community through it. Last year we raised $23,000, and the year before that was just under $20,000. We always try to find a local charity that’s special to us somehow, like an organization that’s helped someone in our group or community.

HRM] What’s it like paying it forward to your local car community?

KL] It’s pretty cool. It’s also a very unique event because it’s not like a hot rodder show or a Mustang show. It’s literally anything and everything: bikes, muscle cars, classics, and there’s a lot if newer cars, slow cars. There’s also a mix of fast cars, really weird cars, literally anything and everything under the sun you can find. We’ve tried our best not to change that over the years. We want to make it so everyone feels like they’re welcome.

HRM] Where do you think today’s more cohesive car culture comes from?

KL] I think it’s the awareness- there’s many different kinds of cultures out there. The Internet has done a lot for that. I think it piques people’s interests to consider other types of cars and types of racing. I notice plenty of things that would be cool to go see, but car events have never been bigger, especially with social media. With Facebook events being a thing, people know that shows are out there and they can go experience something. The Internet also does the opposite, too. It also gives people the power to divide our community, but I think it’s more positive than negative in the long run.

HRM] You’re known for owning Corvettes, but you’re also kind of known for a Dodge Neon – what cars have you owned?

KL] Not many people know I started with a Neon. I had about eight different car stereos in that thing! I bought it when I was 16… it was a gem. I sold that and I wanted a boosted car, but I made the mistake of buying the first one I saw, which was a 1989 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe – the biggest pile-of-crap ever. It blew up three weeks into owning it. I had bought a beater for $2,500, put $5,000 into fixing it, and then sold it for $3,500.

After that, I bought a Mustang  and ended up turbocharging it, blowing up the motor and transmission, spending a bunch of money on that. Then one winter I went out to the garage, and thought, “I don’t need this anymore.” I sold it and bought a ‘Vette, and that’s when that’s when I fell in love with Corvettes. I bought that one sight unseen. I’d never driven a Corvette in my life. It was just like the car I wanted, so I flew Chicago with my dad and drove it back. It was a half second quicker in the quarter-mile then in my Mustang, so it was nice.

HRM] You’ve been through the wringer with your current Corvette. Does racing something that powerful give you a new perspective?

KL] Oh yeah. Immediately when I took the car out for the first time. I’ve raced at drag strips just casually, but nothing where people really cared what I was driving. It was really interesting being in the driver’s seat and thinking about how I would normally film myself driving. How the guys are filming me? What I realized is how nervous you are in the staging lines about to go into eliminations. Some guy sticks a camera in your face, you’re like, ‘I don’t have time for this.’ Other times it’s the opposite. Sometimes it’s kind of calming; it takes your mind off of what you’re doing, and you have a little bit of fun with it. That’s what I’ve really started to take away from working with some of these racers we see regularly. There’s a different level of enjoyment of racing when we’re there to share it with them while competing and then eventually share it with the world. It’s like we’re there partying with them. It kind of breaks things up, but it was a steep learning curve, and it’s definitely given me that different perspective to help me realize how it looks from the other side of the lens. You know when they’re busy or are angry. Like when there’s an accident, there’s a fine line of documenting it and letting people know what happened, letting people know the driver’s safe. We talk to the driver when they’re safe- when it’s okay and they’re in the right mindset. For example, when I had the fire in the Corvette just a couple of months after we finished, it was a pretty big fire, but one of the first things that popped into my head first was to get out of the car. Second was, “My new laptop is in the passenger seat.” Third was, “I hope the cameras are rolling! This really sucks, but I hope I at least have it on video,” because it’s just a part of racing. To go through something like these drivers we filmed: wrecking, catching on fire, whatever it was, it was really interesting to see that whole process then coming back to race again. We often see drivers total their car, then two weeks later they’ve got a whole new car, and it’s mind blowing. They gave me a different perspective on how that goes down.

You think you’re invincible when driving, then something happens and it makes you re-think everything. Like the first pass I went down after that fire was very nerve wracking. Part of me wanted to take it easy on that pass, and at the same time I felt I needed to be back where I was before the fire. That’s what I did and it felt amazing; I was like, ‘Cool, no smoke!’ It was also a wake-up call because we rushed to get the car down there and skimped on a few safety things, and when that fire happened, I made it very obvious why these different things should have been in place to prevent or shorten the amount of time that fire burned.

HRM] What were those things you pointed out?

KL] Well, the first one is a battery cut-off. When I stopped, I could see the fire and smoke, and I immediately just wanted to get out of the car. The engine had stopped, but it didn’t occur to me that the ignition was still in the on-position and there was power to the battery and the fuel pump, and it was pumping out the injector that’s leaking. So, that was the first one. The second one is a fire suppression system, which is kind of overkill for the car I have, but at the same time, I have suggested it to anyone at 1,000hp-plus. I had a fire bottle, but that it wasn’t going to do anything against a fire that was being fueled by a fuel pump. Also, a fire suit; I had a jacket on, but no fire pants, or gloves… or shoes.

HRM] Is there anything you want to get off your chest or that you always wanted to talk about?

KL] I think the most important thing that really makes what we do work is that I’ve got a really big team of talented people. Most of them have worked with me for at least two years, some five years. The biggest thing making this so big and making it work has been my team of friends that jump on whatever job or something’s filming or whatever, I’ve got a big team of people helping them look out for, for me, the company and for themselves. And so it’s been a fun journey.

The post Take 5: 1320 Video’s Kyle Loftis appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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