#bbs bait and switch

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY'S BASEBALL MOM – ROOFTOP RUGBY WITH LUCY IN THE SKY… OR ON A BASEBALL DIAMOND?

One of the most mystifying aspects of Bad Buddy was the decision to have Pat wear the now-iconic Baseball Mom tee for the Epic Rooftop Kiss at the end of Episode 5.

It's so utterly incongruous with the drama onscreen. The scene was a pivotal moment for the narrative, with Pat's big coming out to Pran followed by the very steamy demonstration of mutual emotions, after episodes of unending turbulence around where they stood with each other. And The Kiss they delivered was so stupendous, it rocked the Internet to its very foundations.

And for that hugely important moment, Director Aof decided Pat should wear – a big woman's t-shirt more associated with loud, overzealous American moms cheering on their kids at Little League baseball? 👀

At first I thought production simply wanted something open and sporty for Pat, to contrast with Pran being all covered up (mirroring their states of mind – Pat actively seeking to confess his feelings on the rooftop, Pran all closed-off and repressed). That line of thinking was definitely behind a lot of Pat and Pran's outfits, and I assumed they just used a random tee and cut off its sleeves for this.

But in retrospect this seems altogether too blasé an approach, especially since we can see how purposeful the wardrobe decisions were throughout the rest of the series. (The Soon Vijarn Recap video for BBS Ep.5 also makes it very clear Director Aof was closely involved in wardrobe selection, choosing all the outfits for their appropriateness to the narrative – see this link here, at timestamp 23.24.)

(above) The Soon Vijarn Recap video for BBS Ep.5 timestamp 23.49

The examples of the wardrobe reflecting the characters' inner states are copious. Pran's emotional journey in the first half of BBS – learning to open up, getting his feelings returned, and falling into a relationship – was mirrored by his sartorial journey, and he went from all colorless and buttoned-up to a wardrobe filled with more relaxed, expressive and colorful outfits when out in public:

(above) Pran all buttoned-up in his early whites (Ep.2 [1I4] 1.56, Ep.3 [1I4] 12.40 and Ep.5 [1I4] 6.03)

(above) A selection of Pran's more relaxed and colorful sweaters that he wore outside later in the series (Ep.7 [3I4] 2.52, Ep.10 [3I4] 0.26, Ep.12 [3I4] 6.36 and Ep.12 [4/4] 10.14)

Loud extrovert Pat on the other hand was decked out almost from the beginning in bright prints and wacky t-shirts (with some rivaling Baseball Mom in wackiness), all the better to broadcast his outgoing character and personality:

(above) A selection of Pat's bright and wacky tops (Ep.2 [2/4] 5.03, Ep.6 [3I4] 4.37, Ep.8 [2/4] 8.30 and Ep.10 [1I4] 4.52)

The mystery deepened further when the fandom tracked down the maker of Baseball Mom – it looks like a small, possibly home-based business in the US, and the t-shirt is part of a line, one of several related tops (see this link here). It simply wasn't a random tee from some small Bangkok shop (unless the vendor had gotten it secondhand off some American tourist, and was re-selling it locally). This looks like a t-shirt that was specifically procured for the show (possibly even sourced from overseas), rendered sleeveless with low-cut armholes to echo the openness of Pat's personality, and then put on Ohm with absolute intent.

But why?

I'm convinced that there is an element of subversion about this (not the least because the t-shirt undercuts the heavy drama of the scene so drastically). @ranchthoughts has already pointed out in this write-up linked here that the feminine Mom is an allusion to the subversion of gender roles embodied by Pat's character, and I very much agree. It's also possible that this particular tee was chosen because the baseball standing in for (and thus somewhat obscuring) the letter 'O' in the word Mom kind of makes the word call out to M🤍M or MLM. (And here's an afterthought that occured to me watching Only Friends and the promo trailer for My Golden Blood – the baseball bat is also visual shorthand for the emotional violence that Pat and Pran wreak upon their relationship when each figuratively beats up on the other – and on himself too – while acting out their strange, rambunctious relationship as enemies who are secret friends and later lovers.)

But I also do think that there's still more to Baseball Mom than the above, and this particular train of thought was triggered by an Ask from @pandasmagorica about Ep.5's rooftop scene (linked here).

I now think we can piece together a reason for Baseball Mom on the rooftop, but it's only fair to signal that this wackiest of wardrobe choices is getting possibly the wackiest of explanations (and it's a doozy).

Now what @pandasmagorica's Ask triggered for me was the realization that Pat's directness on the rooftop was actually almost the complete opposite of something that he'd been doing very often, right up until Episode 5 – and that was his propensity to torment Pran with the bait-and-switch.

Time and again, Pat would reach out with the offer of something precious to Pran – a smile, a kind word, a tender moment, a suggestion of intimacy – but then quite suddenly he would subvert the situation and switch out the proffered affection with something wholly discomfiting, crushing hopeful Pran's expectations.

There are several examples:

During their childhood, Pat returned Pran's watch after Pran saved Pa from drowning (Ep.1 [4/4] 9.46), signaling the start of his friendship with the lonely little boy next door – only to impose the caveat "But…don’t talk to me in front of people. They might think we're buddies."

That (almost shirtless) bedside conversation at the end of Ep.4 (beginning at Ep.4 [4/4] 10.43), when Pat kept bombarding poor Pran with personal, leading questions, half-begged to be allowed to share his bed and cuddle, before shattering his neighbor's heart by declaring that it was Ink whom he liked romantically.

Tending to Pran’s injured shoulder at Ep.4 [3I4] 7.07, before suggesting he only wanted Pran to recover so that they could compete in rugby again;

Returning Pran’s long-lost guitar to him, then ruining the tenderness of the moment with “I just like to see your face… when you lose” (Ep.3 [4/4] 10.30).

And with Pran deep in his feelings for Pat, the constant intimations of closeness and deeper feelings, shell-gamed away at the last minute, must have been soul-crushing for our poor yearning boy. (This is also what the lyrics of Pran's theme – Just Friend? – are all about, e.g., "I can’t make sense of what you’ve done"/"Are we just friends or are we more?"/"If you don’t mean it, don’t act that way".)

No wonder Pran was trying so hard to keep a distance from the cheerful boy next door, who was always invading his personal space (after having taken over his heart). So much so that Pran on the rooftop was expecting more of the same, which explains his blunt statement "Pat, you've got to stop doing this to me. We are not a thing" in response to Pat telling him that it hurt to see the song they co-wrote in high school played with someone else.

Pran saw this as more of Pat's teasing games, but irony of ironies Pat was being totally serious this time. And yet, even on the rooftop in Ep.5, Pat did a version of the bait-and-switch one more time, but with the polarity reversed for once – he listed all the ways Pran's exile should have brought him joy, only to end with "It was so depressingly lonely for me." 😢

I think Pat learnt early on that this is what you do to your loved ones – because there's actually an example of Ming doing something similar to his son at Ep.8 [2/4] 16.12. Helping to wash Pat's car, he quietly allowed his son to natter on about his day with fibs about rugby practice, before landing a sledgehammer blow saying "When did I teach you to lie?" at Ep.8 [2/4] 16.41. This was an ambush, intended to take Pat by surprise and inflict the maximum amount of damage – and judging by Pat's despondent moping after, Ming certainly succeeded.

But it's not only Pat doing this to Pran, or Ming doing this to Pat, that we see in BBS. Director Aof and his writers actually littered the narrative with other examples of the set-up and switch-out as well, doing it to us the viewers:

Pat may have started out Ep.1 a ruffian, but then we saw that he was really a cheery big kid who needed his popsicles and cuddles from Nong Nao for comfort (Ep.1 [4/4] 8.37 and Ep.2 [1I4] 1.36).

Ink was introduced as a demure girl from the north (remembering that northern Thailand is seen as close to the birthplace of Thai culture) in Ep.4 [1I4] 7.41; then she tripped and let out a curse word at Ep.4 [1I4] 8.01.

Pa's glow-up at Ep.7 [1I4] 2.39 and subsequent story arc subverted her initial (albeit not very successful) portrayal as the frumpy kid sister with no life and no agency as a character.

BBS placed the emotional burden of Episodes 1 to 4 solely on Pran's pining shoulders, and then suddenly whipped it away in Ep.5 and dumped it squarely on Pat (kudos to Ohm, who gamely played Pat as a shining object of affection for the first third of BBS, before showing us that Junior Jindapat was so much more than a lovable, empty vessel himbo, and was instead someone who actually did possess an inner life that he could access).

And perhaps the biggest BBS bait-and-switch of all – Pran's unrequited love for inaccessible Pat turns out to be requited after all, but then without warning it's Pran who spins out of reach on the rooftop.

Looking at BL as a genre, the bait-and-switch is sometimes employed as a storytelling device to provide an unexpected dramatic twist (though whether or not it satisfies is debatable). For example there is the trap set for Lhong in TharnType, the aloof ice prince Sarawat turning out to have been carrying a torch for Tine in 2gether, and Nubsib's reveal in Lovely Writer as someone who also shared a past with Gene.

And if you think about it, all of Bad Buddy itself was kind of one big bait-and-switch as well. They set it up so that – at the start – it looked like the series would be shaping up into a run-of-the-mill, formulaic romance. The roadmap was laid out quite clearly – enemies to lovers, Romeo and Juliet or Kwan and Riam but the BL version thank you very much, star-crossed and kept apart by their warring families.

So we were expecting BBS to follow the usual romcom beats and rhythms, delivering the standard tropes, with the main storyline about how the enemies would fall in love against the odds, then find a way to beat the odds and stay together, or fall victim to it and be forever driven apart.

Except that Director Aof and his team pulled the rug out from under us time and time again, after setting this all up. The idea that Pat and Pran were enemies got turned on its head (they'd been secret friends since childhood). The process of falling in love didn't follow conventional beats at all – Pran was already in love, while Pat was… possibly already beset by emotions, just getting them all mixed up and projecting them onto Ink.

Instead of showing us the main couple falling for each other over the course of 12 episodes, this was firmly established by the end of Episode 5. Instead of their families being the primary conflict driving them apart, it was Pran's overthinking and emotional walls that drove a wedge between them in Episode 6. When family conflict finally did rear its head to threaten their relationship, well Pat and Pran just sidestepped it and carried on.

And the tropes? One by one they fell by the wayside as well. Ink turned up in Ep.4, looking like a formidable love rival for Pran (and he believed it too). Except that she wasn't the stereotype of the evil girlfriend at all – she turned out to be Pat's supportive bestie, while her eye (and camera) were focused on Pa instead. Any stereotypes overhanging macho Pat and pernickety Pran got subverted too, with Pat ditching sports practice for musical theater and Pran a credible street fighter and also a star player on his rugby team – so much for the seme and uke in this BL. The "gay for you" trope got put down (Ep.9 [2/4] 1.41), as was the "wifey" one (Ep.9 [4/4] 8.48). There are so many examples.

Even the end of Ep.11 was a bait-and-switch as well, when a large portion of the fandom was hoodwinked by Director Aof's Ep.12 preview into thinking that we were headed for a break-up. (Fortunately they switched it out for the happy ending that we got instead, thank goodness.)

There's so much of this going on, it seems as though BBS was actually celebrating the bait-and-switch (and in that way kind of subverting its use in BL as well). The thing is, nothing was ever what it seemed in Bad Buddy, and it was all intended to be so, from Day One, because it's solidly a thematic preoccupation underlying the series.

I now think Baseball Mom really plays into all of this glorification of the bait-and-switch as a storytelling device, and its subversion as well. But in a really wacky way, as perhaps is only fitting for the wackiest of Pat's t‑shirts.

So looking back on decades of popular media, who's been crowned the Big Boss of the Bait-and-Switch, the Grand Poobah of Switcheroos, the Queen of the Short-Con, the House Mother of all Bamboozlers?

It’s this little lady right here: 😍

This is Lucy Van Pelt, from Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. Lucy is many things in the Peanuts universe, but one thing she's iconic for is a bait-and-switch prank, where she holds a football and then goads Charlie Brown on to kick it. He usually takes a bit of convincing, but eventually he goes for it and at the last second, Lucy pulls the ball away and poor Chuck ends up kicking the air, sent flying in the process. It's a running gag in the comic strip, first appearing in 1952 and recurring every year after that:

So what's the link with Baseball Mom though?

Football aside, in Peanuts Lucy is also a member of Charlie Brown's baseball team – and significantly she's absolutely terrible at the game. She misses the easiest of pitches, and even when perfectly positioned she gets hit on the head by the ball instead of catching it in her mitt.

So while she may be totally, confidently in charge of the situation baiting Charlie Brown with the pigskin, when it comes to baseball instead of football – Lucy is completely out of her element.

The parallel with Bad Buddy is that master of the bait-and-switch Pat Napat Jindapat – the BBS manifestation of Lucy – was pulling different versions of the Charlie Brown football prank on hapless Pran over and over again, causing much anguish to the latter's battered heart.

But suddenly on the rooftop, the tables got turned and Pran pulled the big switcheroo on him instead – by confirming their mutual feelings with a kiss so dizzyingly sensational that Pat must have been delirious with happiness… only to send it all crashing down by abandoning him there without a word of explanation.

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.5 [4/4] 12.58 – an abandoned Pat stares uncomprehendingly as Pran walks away from the wreckage of their broken hearts

In that moment Football Lucy morphed into Baseball Lucy, from self-assured manipulator to incompetent klutz, all alone in right field when the ball came zooming in from way out left. And what better way to mark this moment than with a t-shirt loudly proclaiming Pat's newly-minted Baseball Lucy status on its front?

(above) The Baseball Mom graphic – BBS's own version of The Scarlet Letter

Yes, I know this explanation is outlandish; that's how it sounded to me too when it first took shape in my head. So I decided to test it, by looking for supporting information elsewhere in the context of Bad Buddy. And the findings are truly surprising. 👀

No characters from Peanuts actually appear (in canon form) within any of BBS's visuals (not that they could, I suppose, for licensing reasons). But Charlie Brown and his cohort of characters aren't unknown in Thailand – there is a Charlie Brown Café (79/335 แขวงช่องนนทรี เขตยานนาวา, Bangkok, Thailand, 10120) that was previously at MBK Centre and a Charlie Brown's Restaurant (315/303 ซ.นราธิวาส24 แขวง ช่องนนทรี Yan Nawa, Bangkok 10120, Thailand) at Belle Park Plaza/Fortune Condo Town:

(above left) Charlie Brown Café; (above right) Charlie Brown's Restaurant

And even though we don't directly see Charlie Brown, Lucy or any other Peanuts characters in BBS, there are oblique references. One of the more obvious ones alludes to Lucy's younger brother, Linus Van Pelt:

When we see Pran out in the world with his PP hobo bag (written up here) or Pat snuggled in bed with his beloved Nong Nao (written up here), we know by now that the bag and the stuffed doll-pillow are our boys' favorite comfort objects, providing psychological security even as they face their personal fears.

(above left) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [1I4] 3.01 – Pran and his PP hobo bag, that he deploys like a shield when outside; (above right) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [1I4] 1.37 – Pat cuddling Nong Nao for comfort when he's all alone

But another name for these comfort objects actually has a connection to Peanuts – they can also be called Linus blankets, after the security blanket that Lucy's brother carries around with him all the time. Just a coincidence? I'm not so sure. (I think it's also significant that all three objects have blue as their predominant color.)

There's also a nod at Charlie Brown himself later, on the rooftop in Ep.7 [4/4] – Pat's tee is an unmistakeable visual reference to Charlie Brown's signature yellow top with its zigzag motif:

(above left) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 1.48; (above right) Charlie Brown in his own iconic t-shirt

After their roles were reversed on the rooftop at the end of Ep.5 (with Pran pulling the ultimate bait-and-switch move back on Pat by walking away after The Kiss), the mantle of Charlie Brown the football prank victim was thrust onto Pat instead, and that is what we see here in Ep.7.

The brand name emblazoned on Pat's t-shirt also rings some bells – it's Patriots, which immediately calls to mind the NFL team from New England, and is another nod at Lucy's American football. (There is also a Minor League baseball team called the Somerset Patriots based in New Jersey; not as well-known as their counterparts – compatriots? – a few states away, but still… 👀).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 2.13

And looking a bit closer the Ep.7 scene on the rooftop (the last one to be filmed among all of Bad Buddy's queues) really starts to overflow with meaning because it's actually a parallel to Ep.5's rooftop bait-and-switch.

It's far too much to include here, so I've put it into its own separate post (see this write-up linked here) – the short of it is that Pat as Charlie Brown plays the bait-and-switch one last time on Pran in Ep.7, but for the very first time turns the last-second switch-out into a win for his beloved instead, rescuing Pran who was floundering with the musical. And this reversal of the bait-and-switch, a redemption of sorts, is what convinces Pran to end their courtship competition and enter into confirmed couplehood instead. 👍

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Now all that aside, there's still one more element in Bad Buddy that I think is a direct reference to Lucy's bait-and-switch in Peanuts – and that's all the rugby, doing its part as a stand-in for Lucy's American football.

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 2.04 – the boys face off on the rugby pitch

It would never have been possible to feature American (gridiron) football authentically in Bad Buddy (it's not a popular sport outside of North America, to be honest, and would have been totally alien in a Thai setting). So they shone the spotlight on rugby instead, most probably because the ball used for play there is ovoid and almost the same as the one used in American football – it seems like the rugby in BBS is pointing at Lucy and the American football she deviously deploys.

(top) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [2/4] 13.01; (bottom) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [2/4] 13.02

This would explain why Director Aof and his team opted to feature rugby instead of soccer – the latter is far more popular in Thailand, and would have been a more obvious choice. In addition, soccer would have been far easier to stage – all the BBS rugby scenes had to be filmed at a completely different campus from the primary uni location (Bangkok University instead of Rangsit University) because the latter doesn't seem to have a rugby pitch, though it does have a soccer one. In case you were wondering as I was, the goalposts are starkly different so they couldn't just pretend to play rugby on the soccer pitch – it would have been a terribly obvious fake-out if they had.

They couldn't substitute another team sport even if it was easier to accommodate, because rugby (or rather the ball) was integral to this aspect of the storyline. It needed to be rugby if the intention was to evoke Lucy's favorite weapon of torment.

Further evidence in support of this can be found when you look at the original (rough-draft promo) Bad Buddy trailer that was released in 2020 (I think) to promote the 2021 lineup, before actual filming of the series itself in mid-2021:

The rugby was present even at that early stage (and Toto was on Pat's team! 😂). But what's mindblowing is that they're actually using an American football (the AF500), not a rugby ball (you can tell from the laces, which modern rugby balls do not have). 👀 So the gridiron football was very much part of Bad Buddy's primordial DNA, way back at its inception, even before actual filming began. Another nod at Lucy in Peanuts here.

(above) A screenshot from the original Bad Buddy promo trailer at timestamp 1.48

(above) A screenshot from the original Bad Buddy promo trailer at timestamp 2.15

Now all of this is dandy I suppose, but even with Linus blankets, Pat dressed like Charlie Brown, the oval ball and BBS's insistence on rugby (masquerading as American football) over soccer, for the longest time the hardboiled skeptic in me still wasn't fully convinced that Pat wearing Baseball Mom was actually Lucy in disguise getting her comeuppance, Bad Buddy style.

UNTIL I DECIDED TO LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT THE RUGBY MATCH IN EPISODE 4. And that was the clincher, that cemented the intentionality behind Baseball Mom in my mind, because there actually is a sequence where Pat executes Lucy's signature bait-and-switch move, with the rugby ball standing in for an American football, and with Pran as his fall guy.

The sequence in question starts at Ep.4 [4/4] 3.33, when we see Pat running with the ball, coveted by Pran (in more ways than one).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 3.33

Pran tackles him, but in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, Pat flicks the ball away and before any of us (Pran included) can realize what's happened, Korn is off and running with it instead (and I think he scores the rugby version of a touchdown too).

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.4 [4/4] 3.38

Meanwhile, Pat and Pran are still locked in a full-body clinch – and if you look closely, it's Pat who's actually holding on to Pran, not letting him go (with obvious delight, even if he's unaware of exactly why he's relishing the contact so much).

Much of Bad Buddy is really chaste, but there's something about this moment here that makes it seem like a line has been crossed, and that things have turned inexplicably raunchy somehow. There's full-body grappling, legs spread wide, crotch jammed to butt, a whole lot of heaving and panting. Pat is clearly enjoying every second, almost as though it’s the successful climax of his great big plan to waylay Pran with this bait-and-switch. And of course it's the perfect cue for him to deliver that now infamous, golden line: "If you hug me this tight, you might as well take me as your boyfriend." 😂

Actually Pat had been teasing and taunting Pran with hints of romance even before the game (going so far as to acknowledge that his behavior was flirtatious, at Ep.4 [4/4] 0.48) so it's impossible not to see that body tackle on the pitch as anything but a close encounter suffused with sexual tension – and Pran would of course be the first to notice it. (It's possibly also a subversion of the accidental "falling on you" trope, since it's at once contrived yet consensual.)

If you break it down, Pat used the ball to get Pran to tackle him, only to switch it out at the last minute with something else (close, practically intimate body contact) that poor Pran (drowning in his crush) would have found absolutely devastating. This is practically a playbook version of Lucy doing the football bait-and-switch with Charlie Brown.

To be honest though, I'd always found this rugby clinch a little odd and confusing, and had wondered why they even had this scene. It was logistically complicated to set up (two whole teams of players!), and the bait-and-switch portion would have been extremely tricky to choreograph and film. The whole rigmarole was also a lot of work for just a few seconds of screen time. That the ball slips away unseen also makes it seem anti-climactic for the viewer – but not for master gameplayer Pat, who successfully got his planned payload nonetheless.

And because he did it using Lucy Van Pelt's signature move, I now think the reason for this scene is for it to be held up as the paragon of Pat's bait-and-switch traps in Bad Buddy, and a parallel for the Epic Rooftop Kiss when Pran slaps the old switcheroo back on Pat instead.

On the rugby pitch Pat baited Pran by pulling away (with the ball), and then crushed his heart with physical intimacy (hugging him like a lover, but making it seem like he was only play-acting at returning Pran's love). On the rooftop Pran baited Pat with physical intimacy (The Kiss, proof to Pat that his feelings were returned), and then crushed his heart by pulling away (and taking with him all promise of his love).

Atop Chana City Residence at the end of Ep.5, perpetual prankster Pat couldn't stop himself and went in for the bait (Pran offering himself up romantically), only to see it whisked away from him at the very last second.

Suddenly the rules changed and Football Lucy, the House Mother of all bait-and-switch bamboozles, became the victim of the biggest bait-and-switch of them all, and was thrust into a different game instead. Bereft of Pran and denied his moment of victory, Pat became Baseball Mom indeed. 😔

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.5 [4/4] 13.06

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P.S. You can order Baseball Mom (the t-shirt, not Pat 😂) from Amazon at this link here. (If the link doesn't work, you may need to change your "Deliver To" location at the top left of the landing page on Amazon to another country – not useful if you want to buy it when they don't deliver to your location, but useful if you just want to view the page, or get them to deliver to a third party who can then forward it to you. If changing the location doesn't work, try following the other instructions in this post linked here.)

I suspect the fandom has been buying up Baseball Mom like crazy, because it went from limited stock and availability on Amazon (selected locations only), to becoming available for other global locations and on Walmart.com as well – so maybe demand from the BBS fandom has boosted sales so much they started marketing it on more channels? Thai BL soft power trickles down. 🥰👍

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P.P.S. I only realized this after a recent rewatch, but American football actually does appear in Bad Buddy – take a second look at all the posters on the walls of Pat's student apartment:

(above, left) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [4/4] 1.06; (above, center) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [4/4] 1.57; (above, right) Bad Buddy Ep.2 [4/4] 17.21

(above, left) A composite image showing American football posters behind Pat at Ep.2 [1‌/4] 2.35; (above, right) more posters above Pat's kitchen sink at Ep.2 [1‌/4] 12.12, with a rugby one sandwiched between two American football ones

In my mind Director Aof really was signaling Pat's link with Lucy and her football from early on, in plain sight. 😊👍🤩

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P.P.P.S. OK, just a little aside – this Peanuts fan theory for Baseball Mom is really wacky, but I think the universe is telling me to put it out there anyway because just as I was finishing the write-up, this random post about the Peanuts football bait-and-switch appeared on my dashboard.

What are the odds of it crossing my dash at the same time I'm writing about it, when I've not seen it referenced before throughout my history on Tumblr, ever? (There were a few random Peanuts and Charlie Brown posts that appeared at the same time as well.) I'm not superstitious, but I do think the universe has spoken. 😂

[towards-toramunda]

What do you mean orym is talking about his dead family too much for you what do you MEAN?????

[onlyhereforangst]

I know both Rudy and Madison are to blame but for me the blame goes to Rudy even more and you can see it with the way Madison still hangs out with the cast and doesn’t have any conflict with them while Rudy completely removed himself from the cast the last year and so?? The fact no one from the cast hangs out with him outside of work related stuff or likes his posts anymore is a tell.

oh anon completely fucking agree.

there is a STARK difference in how they have handled themselves on screen, behind the scenes, online, and at promotional events.

congratufuckinglations to rudy, you’ve shown every person except one toxic manipulative chick who’s supported you a giant ass middle finger because you can’t show an ounce of professionalism.

[konoharfts]

I’m here to spread my wlw SasuSaku agenda >:) Take these quick lil doodles! (closeups and yapping under the cut)

I don’t even ship regular SasuSaku that much, but toxic wlw SasuSaku? Absolutely.

Like, imagine they had the same homosexual tension that Sasuke has with Naruto. As an example, the second image there is my own take on that one shippuden scene where they see Sasuke again for the first time and he and Naruto have a *moment* but what if it was sakura getting her highly homoerotic moment?

Like I’m thinking from the start the dynamic is COMPLETELY different. Sakura would be socialized to see Sasuke (the most conventionally attractive according to canon) as competition, but then she’d see the darkness in her and get the urge to take care of her like a lost kitten and UGHHHH

And Sasuke would be locked in with revenge she would just see Sakura as an immature annoyance. She doesn’t engage with the “rivalry” she fully believes she’s better. But she’s also secretly insanely jealous because Sakura is everything that was taken from Sasuke (bright, innocent, like a spring breeze, has friends and parents…) so she tries to fully ignore her. Like, will NOT acknowledge her existence. And Sakura whenever she tries to extend the olive branch will get lethal cold shoulder, so she just stops trying and gets even pettier.

All the while they’re developing feelings for each other. Sakura wonders why it hurst so much to see her #1 op walking into the the abandoned compound alone.. Sasuke wonders why her heart squeezes when Sakura laughs, she thinks it must be due to hatred but no bb girl you’re just gay.

(Cue loathing from Wicked)

When they get put on a team together Sasuke can’t avoid Sakura anymore so she switches it up and becomes bratty. LOVES getting a rise out of her (totally not because she finds it cute when she gets all red up and her cheeks puff up nonono) and Sakura takes the bait EVERY. TIME.

Sakura struggles to get along with Sasuke the whole time. Sasuke constantly teases her about being a “deadweight” paper ninja (never calls her weak tho) and it really gets to Sakura. They used to be evenly matched at the academy (in terms of academics) but now she’s suddenly so far behind. She sees Sasuke kicking ass and she burns. To her, Sasuke is everything she is not, and can never be.

But like every time plot would happen they’d always have each other’s backs. They both trust each other and rely on each other and they know so so much about one another from CONSTANTLY watching each other (Sakura seeing Sasuke as her goal, Sasuke seeing Sakura as the ghost of what could have been :( )

They eventually do become friends. Sakura still wants save Sasuke from herself and Sasuke almost wants to let her.

And when Sasuke leaves Sakura is DEVESTATED. Sees it as a personal failing that she wasn’t strong enough to get her back. (Cue training montage)

And in shippuden Sasuke would still tease Sakura and they would fall back into their banter and UGHH

They are NOT good together and it IS a disaster but that’s what makes it so fun <3

I love SakuIno as well, but they already resolved their issues. I need girlfriends that TRY TO KILL EACHOTHER in a gay way <33

I just think they want to tear each other apart <3

Sorry for yapping but DO YOU SEE THE VISION????

Anyway if anyone read all of that I love you <<333

Okay thanks for witnessing my mental illness byee~~~

[tackyink]

This was supposed to be for @asususasa but in the middle of writing I thought this could be useful for someone else, so here's Tacky's general list of otome recs. It took me over an hour to write so I'm not proofreading it.

DS

Not much to say here because back in those days otome games didn't get localized. The stand outs are Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love Plus and Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 2nd Season, who have English fan translations. Slice of life games where you play as the protagonist through her three years of high school. And if you feel like a student-teacher romance that would make Sakura Kinomoto's mom proud, these are your games.

PSP

Still well into the no localizations era with one exception: Hakuouki Demon of the Fleeting Blossom. Not recommending it on PSP because there are better versions. Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story Premium also has a fan translation and should be played over its DS counterpart because it has added functionalities. Sadly this time around the teacher is a secret character and a shota.

3DS

There's Hakuoki Memories of the Shinsengumi. Still not recommended because we can do better.

PS3

Hakuouki Stories of the Shinsengumi includes the original game and the fandisk with some neat animations added. This is the version to play if you want the original experience. If you want even more routes, go for another version.

Vita

Hakuoki Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms, Collar x Malice and Amnesia are the best games you can get for the Vita imo. Some people dig a lot the Psychedelica of the Ashen Hawk and Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly (I've only played BB, it was good but wasn't the best; wouldn't rate it as high as the others). There's Code Realize and its two fandisks (Future Blessings and Wintertide Miracles) and many people swear by them, but while I liked the common route in the first game, the rest didn't do it for me. You can find all of these except CxM and the CRs on Steam, and the Hakuoki games get dirst cheap on sale. Best bang for your buck of the saga. The CR games have PS4 ports and CxM has a Switch one, which you already know.

Switch

*rolls up sleeves* LET'S GO.

To get it out of the way: Hakuouki KW and EB are getting a Switch rerelease and a new translation and will be released as a single game, Hakuoki Chonicles of Wind and Blossom, on August 1st.

Collar x Malice fucking nails the mystery and lowkey horror vibes with and excellent plot that's interconnected in every route. CxM Unlimited is its fandisk and only recommended if you really have the CxM itch, because it's mostly fluff and the little plot there is is at most functional. It has a route where Ichika joins Adonis and you get to see its inner workings though. That was very interesting.

Bustafellows is 100% found family vibes with a very assertive protagonist. It's a mystery/action story and the team dynamics are sort of Ocean's 11-ish. Hilarious, heartbreaking at times, I've never felt more dread in a game than heading towards the basement in a certain's guy's route. There are two unlockable stories after you finish the routes of the guys, one of which I thought was glorious, another which sets up a sequel and is a big downer but I also really liked. It gets heavy at times with murder, suicide, sexual assault, human trafficking, among other kinds of violence, but despite it, it's generally a very funny and upbeat game. We're getting the sequel next year. Also available on PC.

Café Enchanté baits you with the premise of being a girl who manages a coffee shop patronized by handsome supernatural beings, so it's a real surprise when the cannibalism shows up. Anyway. Great game, but I'm afraid saying more would kind of defeat the point. Reminds me of Megami Tensei games, so if coffee shop AUs with supernatural world-ending threats are your thing, go for it. Just be warned that the fandom has kind of collectively agreed that poster boy's route never happened.

Birushana is a hidden gem that goes on sale super cheap and is also probably a hit or miss thing. You play as the legendary Yoshitsune, who in this game is a girl disguising her gender, but she's an amazing warrior as in history. It has the best otome couple I've ever seen, bar none, with Yoshitsune and Noritsune. The game is worth the price just to see them fall in love on the battlefield and watch Noritsune chug down Respect Women Juice all the way through it. The thing is... the rest of routes aren't great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed how utterly unhinged they got at times, but the plot got worse as it deepened. Still. Noritsune. And I loved that most of the guys respected her as a warrior and were aware she was as capable or a better warrior than them and she didn't need a man to protect her. Very refreshing. One of my faves got done dirty by the translation because they started pulling lines out of thin air to make him creepier. Just him. Why. It's not like he needed the help.

Virche Evermore Error Salvation is also a good one if you can handle continuous drama and see egregiously bad science and say, "You know what? It's magic. Humans in this world are just built different." The worldbuilding is really interesting and the characters very enjoyable, though they don't feature a lot in each other's routes or aren't that friendly with each other. The continuous tragedy may tire you out, or maybe it'll work and emotionally destroy you. It didn't get any emotional reaction out of me until a certain point near the end, but I enjoyed the game a lot, nevertheless. We're getting the sequel this November and I'm really looking forward to it.

Variable Barricade: a fun romp where a young heiress has to chose a fiancé among the four disaster bachelors her grandpa has selected. It's not really similar to Ouran, but it reminded me a little of it at times. It's a pretty light game. The BFF is a gothic lolita otaku who has the time of her life shipping you with the guys, and the butler... oh boy the butler.

Amnesia, as I mentioned earlier, has a PC port as well as the Vita version, as well as two localized fandisks for the Switch (Amnesia x Crowd) that I can't speak of because I haven't played them yet. The protagonist has supernatural amnesia and must piece together her life while avoiding that other people realize she's lost her memory. It's a super intriguing game the first time you play, really nailed the being completely and utterly lost in the protagonist's shoes. A required play to get in on the cage jokes. It's sort of a rite of passage for otome gamers.

Jack Jeanne has probably the best group dynamics of any otome I've seen. I think some people have issues with the protagonist because they find her passive, but to me she felt the complete opposite. Everybody is adorable. A sentimental story of hard work, being young and and fighting for your dreams, 10/10, no notes. I lied, there's a note: Tanakamigi deserved a route! Where is our Tanakamigi route! щ(゜ロ゜щ)

Last but not least at all, the two Piofiores. Mafia games where all trigger warnings you can think of apply. Well, maybe not the cannibalism, that's still Café Enchanté's crowning glory. Fated Memories, the first one, has its ups and downs, but has very enjoyable characters, rock-solid worldbuilding, an amazing atmosphere set in 1920s Italy with a jazzy soundtrack that ends up living rent free in your brain. The last routes of the first game, Gil's and Finale, are worth the full price of the game alone. Piofiore Episodio 1926 is a masterpiece of the otome genre. It doesn't have a single boring route, and the final stretch (Advent Calendar-Alternativa-Secret Character route) has the best writing I've seen in an otome. Lots of points of view and situations interconnecting, an excellent final couple, top notch interactions between the main characters. Just the best.

[ramp-it-up]

You pulled a bait and switch there. Bucky and Steve switched places, love it though

Hey Nonnie!

Was that you on the last ask?

I guess I did switch them, even in my head when I answered that ask, lol.

You probably don't believe me, but these characters pretty much write themselves. :)

Thanks for the ask!

Read Peach VII (SR x Reader "Peach")

Read Answer Love's Call (BB x Reader "Frumoasa")

[freetheshit-outofyou]

This is a prime example of control the message, control the narrative. I understand this took place in England but the Anti-gun left sees this and thinks "That just might work here too." This was a 14 hour stand off, police were held at bay by an freaking BB gun.

This writing is 471 words long, it mentions it's an air rifle once, then the bait and switch happens. It is called a firearm's 6 times and a weapon twice. The evolution in the writing is the exact same evolution in the public that the anti-gun pro crime left do here every single day. Can you hurt someone with a BB/Pellet gun, sure, I have a lot of experience in being shot with them playing BB gun wars. Kids like me that had, I still have, the gold standard Daisy Powerline 880's were king. But, I also did not want to get shot those single pump Red Ryders more than once. Deaths from being shot by a BB gun are exceedingly rare, more rare than deaths by lighting strikes, 4 per year compared to 28 per year, but not a never incident. The incidents of dumbasses getting them shelves shot and killed by using a BB gun in place of a real gun in criminal activities is more often than one might think. The Air rifle in the photo looks to be a Moab Ventures, LLC Black Ops .22 Sniper. That rifle shoot a .22 pellet not the more common .177. Those .22 pellets can kill to be sure the 20 grain pellet at short range will do some damage clipping out of the barrel at 1250fps. But it's lethality is still very limited and no where near enough to stop an entry team with full body armor or this denim jackets, just saying. Compare that to the .22lr subsonic at 1050fps and your standard 22lr (40gr)coming out at 1070 fps, the Stinger (32gr) coming out at 1640fps, Mini MAG (40gr) and Mini MAG (36gr) coming out at 1235 fps and 1260fps respectively, or one I recently tried the Clean-22 Hyper Velocity (31gr) popping off at 1550 fps. Those .22LR's have greater accuracy and far less ballistic drop-off than the air rifle equivalent. (*Those numbers were all based on CII .22LR ammo.) Sorry, I went on a little comparison rant. The point is the anti-gun folks will find a way to sure this in a way that advances their attack in the everyday law abiding gun owner soon enough.

[citystoryscapes]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

yayyyy thank you for the tag deepa, who is the best! @fiercynn <3 I've been meaning to participate in this for agessssss

since there are both recent newcomers to bbs fandom and people like me who are new to bbs tumblr, i thought i'd create a getting-to-know-you meme for people to introduce themselves if they want! all questions are optional

note: i consider "fanworks" to pretty much everything people create related to a fandom, including but not limited to meta/analysis/discussion, gifs, fanvids/edits/fancams, filk, fanart, fanfic, fan food, fan crafts, etc. please include this note with the meme unless you have a different definition!

name and whatever you want to share about yourself

hey, I'm rain! that's not my actual name but it's all the internet is getting. my pronouns are she/they. I'm in my 20s and a grad student, and fandom has been a (selectively) great place for me in terms of finding supportive, brilliant friends. I like to write a fair bit; occasionally, I post it too. I also like cats, big cities, good tea, and old houses.

when did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

I'd heard about bad buddy because it was airing around the same time as another show I was watching, but I wasn't toooo interested until episode 5, part 4/i4. when I tell you that kiss UNLOCKED SOMETHING IN ME... I caught up on the first 5 episodes pretty much immediately after that while quarantining alone over Christmas, and it pretty much kept me sane. I watched the rest of the show as it aired- please spare a moment of silence for the people who had to wait out the two-week gap between episodes over New Year's.

bad buddy has always made me SO genuinely happy and hopeful, reminding me that there is hope for queer Asian people even if our families aren't always supportive.

favorite ship(s)

patpran, inkpa, and some comic relief waikorn

favorite character(s)

in terms of fanworks, it's a very close call between pran and pat, but I think pran is my favorite by a hair! I love his character arc throughout the show! I especially love his confidence and the way he grew into himself. pran might win in terms of being inspirational, but I have to say, I LOVE well-written pat meta.

in terms of who I'd like to channel in real life, it's obviously ink. she is the absolute coolest, a proud simp, and a protective girlfriend.

(I'm great at avoiding making choices)

favorite episode(s)

episode 5, because what could ever compare? I also love parts of episode 3 and 11 (I'm saying this as if I don't love the entire show).

favorite scene(s)

ep 5 rooftop kiss!!!! ep 3 bus stop and mini elevator scene; ep 4 pran's injury and the three wontons dinner; ep 6 beach scene where they're paired up in the game; and their trip to the market, ep 7 confession scene; ep 9's 'anyone taller than me is fine'!!!!! ep 11 bus scene, beach scene, and song montage; ep 12's entire bait and switch reveal, and pat pran's dinner out with friends.

see what I meant about avoiding making choices?

one thing you would change about the show if you could

seconding deepa, WHY DID INKPA NOT KISS??? also this isn't a change I would definitively make to the existing show, but I'd love a b-side where we see patpran's relationship in the years between their graduations and pran's return from Singapore.

what are your some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

I can't believe this is a question I am legitimately choosing to answer:

Fic:

make my body say ah, ah, ah by Sabulum

heart in a cage by sunshinedobi

paradox by Everybodyknows

dynamic by riddles2

a nose boop and the rest is history by seekingmoonscapes

don't forget me when I let the water take me by gilly_bean

your love is your life by threewontons

Videos:

same page by dkyth73

just friends by fiercynn and scribe

dancer by coldties

(if you create fanworks) what are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

technically I've only published one bad buddy fanwork (it's a fic called these violent delights). my favorite thing I've created for the show is an unpublished canon-divergence fic where patpran have sex and possibly get together during their ep 6 beach trip

a song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

I'm sticking to the classics; same page and just being friendly by tilly birds are my top choices. I also made playlists for pat and pran, for said unpublished fic, so here's some of the songs I picked for both:

for pat: the loneliest time by carly rae jepsen, double take by dhruv, better by khalid, the enemy by andrew belle

for pran: washing machine heart by mitski, 18 by 1D, and dancer by leon

idk anything else you want us to know?

I love all of you smart meta writers, I'm kissing your big beautiful brains

okay i'm literally going to tag all of my tumblr mutuals that i think are still in the fandom (if i missed anyone sorry!!), but also if you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged! please don’t let this flop lol 🤞🏽

[hughungrybear]

Me watching Dangerous Romance Ep 12 (FINALE):

We're tying loose ends! I'm really excited to see my GuyNava ship sailing even if it is just one episode 😭😭😭😭 Also, Name and Saifah would probably switch places as Saifah's name will be cleared and Name will have to go to jail for (the much-deserved) shooting of Big Boss.

1. No connection to the plot whatsoever but I just realised, we never did get a ViewJune moment 😭😭😭 I thought this series would at least give us a glimpse of what is to come considering they are being paired in upcoming (much-awaited!) GMMTV GL series, 23.5. 😔😔😔

2. Kang, that gag was already sold by Pat (and bought by Pran) when the BBS production crew decided to have Pat shot and hospitalised ON CHRISTMAS EVE. Yes, I still have not forgotten nor forgiven 😂.

3. Oooh. Guy is walking without crutches! My dude, looks like your 'shooting star' is highly effective in making wishes come true. 🤭🤭🤭

4. Name, you stupid dumbass. Saifah should have just betrayed you from the get-go. I am still not above skinning you alive. 🤬

5. Ngl, I teared up with that conversation between Kang and his Dad. Also, that embrace between brothers, Sailom and Saifah 🥹🥹🥹 And then all was lost when I saw that big-assed tarpaulin welcoming Sailom back that Kang posted on the school grounds 😂😂😂😂

6. Saifah and Name. I wonder if they will ever be able to get their dream of travelling together (preferably to the US) and live the "fast and furious" life. 😔 Also 'best buds'??? BEST BUDS??? ARE WE QUEER-BAITING NOW, PAPANG?

7. Oh, look at Guy. He is playing again 😊 Nava must be proud. Also, considering they used to goad Guy into fighting them, the way Max was ready to throw hands at the player who tripped Guy in the field is just 🤌. The gangs have fully merged.

8. Dad, what are you doing outside? Why are you not sitting with the audience? 😅

9. The fvck is that? I don't remember reviewing that much material to get into uni 😂😂😂 The bulk of those review materials looked like they are studying for licensure exams or something (in my home country, majority of STEM graduates need to take an appropriate licensure exam. Otherwise, you will never be qualified to do the work that you have spent 4 to 5 years studying for. Even with internships - no licence, not qualified).

10. Max and Auto, you know there is such a thing as FaceTime, right? 😂😂😂

11. Pimfah, my spirit animal and fellow GuyNava shipper 😂😂😂

12. Really? All we get are just bits and pieces of ViewJune? We have no choice but to take it, right? I'll just imagine the lesbians will be thriving in the UK 😭😭😭😭

13. I want a MarcPawin series with a lovely, no-mess storyline (looking at you, My Gear and Your Gown. It didn't help that GMMTV also did them dirty with the time slot and the promotion of MGYG). I NEED GMMTV TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT 😭😭😭😭

14. Oh, look at that. Sailom is officially part of the family 😊

15. Okay, but why is Kang making the speech? I thought speeches are reserved for those who graduated with highest honours. 🤔🤔🤔 <after 5 seconds> Ah, of course. Sponsor's son. At least, he's more than aware and accepting now 😅

16. Really? You need to do a PSA of your dating life, Kang? WTH. 😂😂😂😂 and yes, we need the sudden (and completely unnecessary) rain to showcase the windmill umbrella. Gotta promote the merch, eh? 😅

17. Ooof. From Teacher Nubdao to P'Nubdao. We're getting close, Pimfah 😅😅😅

18. Max, you are rich enough to buy a selfie or vlogger stick. So why the ever loving fvck are you using your hand/arm to hold that phone? More importantly, why are you not equipped with the right camera for vlogging? 😅😅😅😅

19. What kind of p*rn play is this end credit scene??? 😂😂😂

Overall, I think this is an okay series. Of course, I might have been a bit misled by the trailer thinking that Sailom's family's debt forced him to sell himself (to prostitution) and Kang is gangster/mafia who comes to save him 😅, which could have perfectly explain the series title. Instead, we got minimal hints of danger all throughout the series. 😅😅 Still, I must thank this series for bringing MarcPawin back 😭😭😭 Now, to get GMMTV to have them cast as main for another BL series...😅😅😅

[madraleen]

Bungo Stray Dogs - Kafka Asagiri/Sango Harukawa Vol. 14-15: A pretty balanced commentary (*anime spoilers and manga spoilers up to ch.114)

-FYODOR, IF VILLAIN WHY SO DAMN PRETTY

-"i won't let [fyodor] hurt a single person [of the agency]" aww ranpo bb

-OMG I'D FORGOTTEN THAT IS NIKOLAI'S FIRST APPEARANCE! HI, I DON'T LIKE YOU, BUT IN A GOOD WAY, HI. 

-"terrorist murder society" lmfao, society

-i love atsushi, he exists in every font. capital letters, bold letters, small letters, soft letters, average letters, he's everything.

-when ranpo wants to turn this job down, fukuzawa looks like "...my favorite... child... has betrayed me…?!"

-oh dazai-chan. get comfy, get settled. welcome to your meursault arc that'll last for at least ten more volumes. i love it when his speech bubble is music notes.

-see, dazai, jouno can hear THE SOUND OF YOUR MUSCLES, can you control THAT, babygirl?

-NIKOLAI HAS BEEN A SECRETARY FOR HALF A YEAR, how long have they been planning this

-jouno to dazai: "i can hear your rage." awww, dazai-chan has rage. love seeing wild emotions on dazai

-i'm starting to giggle lowkey hysterically 'cause we're about to start the craziest arc, the never-ending arc, THE arc, the-

-kenji-kun is hugging the back of kunikida's chair as they watch nikolai's video, what a lovely detail

-you know what? before the next arc, there should be an interlude when fifty clues fall on the agency's lap and everyone's like "nope. not doing a thing," and just chilling because they're being baited with clues so often just to fall into traps, like damn. just ignore everything and go have a sushi.

-right, the decay of the angel is fukuchi, fyodor, nikolai, bram and sigma. five.

-ooh sigma has to give intel to get intel, interesting

-okay but does that mean someone in special division knows where the book is?! where was the page taken from, where was the book?! who has it?! why does francis need atsushi if people actually know where it's sealed?! (well, maybe francis doesn't know that)

-"DOSTOY"?! NIKOLAI HAS A PET NAME FOR FYODOR?!

-gogol is gogol is gogol and then suddenly you cut to a panel where he's breathtakingly beautiful

-i mean, i have questions about the book. i don't know how literally switching places with the white hoods or... being there from the beginning or... the whole thing with the white hoods being the agency, how the heck does that constitute narrative consistence? book-san, i have questions.

-omg, fyodor is learning "common japanese"

-vol.15- dude, what beautiful covers though

-DAZAI'S GRIN IN HIS MUGSHOT HELP ME

-book-san, if cameras materialize out of thin air is narrative consistence, what is NOT consistent exactly? like, alright, it rewrites reality - "and then they saw the footage," so a camera must've been there, so to maintain narrative consistency a camera materializes. but is that narrative consistency when a camera wasn't there in the first place? or does narrative consistency just means "anything goes except mass human extinction ‘cause we can’t have that"?

-"something beyond our abilities" might have made the book- oh, maybe we're back to the lovecraftian mysteries then?

-will we ever meet the government's mind-reading skill user, hm? hm?

-was tetchou so pretty princess in the anime? i don't remember him so

-LIL BB TETCHOU IS HOLDING HIS BREATH BC JOUNO TOLD HIM HIS BREATHING ANNOYS HIM, MY HEART

-jouno stops kenji-kun's punch with one hand, while sitting cross-legged and not batting an eyelash.

-i'm sorry, wth, jouno and tetchou are so pretty

-CHU CHU CHUUYA

-ah yes, the beginnings of my "one agency member will switch over to the mafia" suffering. on the one hand, i'm not in any hurry to see it happen 'cause i'm scared (please not dazai, please not dazai, please-). on the other hand, i'm like JUST RIP THE BAND-AID OFF AND GET IT OVER WITH, WHO IS IT

-"USABLE SKILLS" YOU SAY, yes chuuya, we have one of those, tanizaki-kun! and he's pretty okay with the idea too

-it's interesting how kunikida's ideals are also a burden to him, with him feeling some sort of relief at the prospect of losing them, ‘cause there’s a certain freedom in not having anything to live up to, not having anything to uphold, and in not being afraid of the day when it will all crumble because everything will have crumbled already. complex and human.

-very nice panel sequence when kunikida blows up himself and tetchou, very smooth, very impactful, very nice

-hm, francis also says fyodor could be communicating via the guards but... it's too simple! i still don't buy it. it's too big of a job to delegate it, not fyodor. come on, he's getting the information in real-time, or close to it.

-i just had a certain thought- "but dazai also gets info in real t-, no, he stops time, it's fine, time's irrelevant for him," this is what bsd has done to me, that's a perfectly sensible sentence now.

-DAZAI GOT CAUGHT TO SAVE THE AGENCY, FUKUZAWA, KNOW THAT! KNOW THAT, REMEMBER YOUR BLACK SHEEP CHILD! IT WASN'T A VACATION TRIP TO EUROPE!

-"it's time to play, dostoyevsky" oooh dazai-chan looks so serious. i understand the "i hate you, but also my world is boring without you" appeal, but i genuinely don't feel like this is the case for dazai towards fyodor. i joke that it's his situationship because it's funny, but i actually think that he genuinely hates fyodor and genuinely wants to take him down, no ifs, no buts, no regrets, no sense of loss.

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY EPISODE 7 – BAIT-AND-SWITCH WITH CHARLIE BROWN ON THE ROOFTOP

When Pat wore his Baseball Mom tee on the rooftop in Ep.5, one possible reading is that his wacky outfit was actually a call-out to Pran playing a massive bait-and-switch prank on him, after all the times he'd done it to Pran before.

And through this lens, you can also read Pat and Pran as incarnating Lucy and Charlie Brown respectively from the comic strip Peanuts, while the various bait-and-switch games can be seen as renditions of the iconic football gag that Lucy always played on Charlie Brown. (Yes I know this sounds really crazy, but you can read more explanation and justification at this write-up linked here.)

Prior to Ep.5, Pat had always been pulling the bait-and-switch on Pran, just as Lucy did with Charlie Brown. Some examples:

Pat returned Pran's watch at Ep.1 [4/4] 9.46 in a gesture of friendship, only to impose the condition "But…don’t talk to me in front of people. They might think we're buddies."

The tragic bunk-over beginning at Ep.4 [4/4] 10.43, when Pat subjected poor Pran to all sorts of affectionate moments, before exploding any hope of a romance with him by announcing his romantic feelings for Ink instead.

Gently comforting an injured Pran with soothing medication at Ep.4 [3I4] 7.07, and then suggesting it was only to get him back to fighting fit as Pat's competitor in sports;

Returning Pran’s guitar, then whacking down his romantic hopes with a callous "I just like to see your face… when you lose" (Ep.3 [4/4] 10.30).

Just as Pran was always the one subjected to Pat's bait-and-switch, in Peanuts canon Charlie Brown was always the victim of Lucy's prank with the football (she'd whisk it away just before Charlie Brown could kick it, and the momentum of the run-up would send him flying).

But on the rooftop at the end of Ep.5 BBS continued its subversive agenda and had Pran (a version of Charlie Brown the bait-and-switch victim) pulling the switcheroo on Pat instead (who before that was always a version of Lucy, the historical perpetrator of the prank).

Pran suddenly reversed the roles and gave prankster Pat a taste of his own medicine, by walking away after confirming Pat's romantic hopes with The Kiss. And Pat found himself the victim of the very same kind of short-con that he'd been subjecting Pran too up until then.

Since Pat and Pran had switched roles on the rooftop at the end of Ep.5, their very next rooftop encounter at Ep.7 [4/4] 1.44 has Pran now incarnating the persona of crabby fussbudget Lucy, while Pat is Charlie Brown – and Mr. Jindapat is certainly dressed for the part with his t-shirt there calling loudly out to Charlie Brown's iconic zigzagged yellow top:

(above left) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 1.48; (above right) Charlie Brown in his own iconic t-shirt

And this scene then becomes loaded with meaning when we look at it in the light of all the other bait-and-switch encounters in BBS, especially on the rooftop in Ep.5.

Pat calls attention to Pran's previous prankstering (at his expense) in Ep.5 on the rooftop by saying (in the subtitles) "You tricked me here for what now?" at Ep.7 [4/4] 1.44. (I think what he says is "หลอกกูมาทำอะไรอีกเนี่ย?", which – if so – probably translates to something more like "So what else are you duping me with, huh?" i.e., he's asking what more trickery is afoot from Pran).

Pran offhandedly denies any duplicity ("Come on. I’m not always playing games with you") but that's a lie of course – it's Ep.7 and they're still deep in the throes of their Beachside Bet™.😂 And Pat dismisses Pran's trickstering immediately because he knows Pran's ulterior motives in calling him there ("Yeah? If that guy didn’t quit the play, would you still want to see me?").

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 3.33

Pat then tops it off with his comment at timestamp 3.33 ("I love to see your face when you lose"), a reboot of what he first said in the Tinidee corridor at Ep.3 [4/4] 10.30 that also calls out to his bait-and-switch with the guitar there. And this firmly grounds the scene as another comment on his signature pranking.

So Pat as Charlie Brown refuses to take the bait offered by Pran. And then we see Pat/Charlie Brown, the erstwhile prank victim, flipping the script to perform a bait-and-switch back at Pran (in a parallel with what Pran/Charlie Brown did to Pat/Lucy on the rooftop at the end of Ep.5).

But this bait-and-switch on the Ep.7 rooftop is the antithesis of all the previous ones. Maybe Pat has learnt something?

Before this, whenever Pat played the bait-and-switch game with Pran, he would be dangling something of value as bait only to dash Pran's hopes with a last-minute substitution. The promise of a precious moment, replaced with something quite the opposite instead.

Here on the rooftop in Ep.7, Pat changes his modus operandi. He's stringing Pran along by imposing terms that are impossible for him to meet, in return for taking on the role of Riam. What he wants is a public confession of love, a demand that privacy-obsessed Pran (at this stage of his emotional/psychological journey) is intrinsically unable to fulfil. (Of course, Pran's journey will eventually get him to a point when he can and does make that very public confession in Ep.10, and he will pay Pat back for this Ep.7 moment by using another bait-and-switch to get Pat to their khan maak on the Archi steps. 😁)

But Pat is playing hardball here on purpose. He's dashing Pran's hopes upfront in a reversal of all their previous bait-and-switch games, by offering up only defeat and disappointment (without him as Riam, Pran will have to deal with a furious Toto and the musical in a shambles). Except that this also allows Pat to switch things up in a final flourish when he appears on stage as Riam at Ep.7 [4/4] 4.26, saving the day for his beloved.

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 6.40

It’s both a parallel with and also the absolute opposite of their previous bait-and-switch encounters (especially the one on the rooftop in Ep.5), because the initial proposition here is all doom and gloom, while the switched-in coup de grâce turns out to be a win instead for the recipient. It's hugely clever of BBS, and I'm kicking myself for not having seen this buried in there before.

No wonder this was the final play that won the match, worthy enough to have ended their Beachside Bet. And in this moment I think Pat made up for all the times he unwittingly broke poor Pran's heart with all his silly bait-and-switch games – by playing it one more time.

But this time around, instead of whisking his affection away, Pat deployed the ultimate switch-out and gave to Pran the prize he'd always wanted instead – Pat himself, no longer an elusive prankster who would offer and then pull away the possibility of romance, but someone Pran could rely on instead, to be there for him in support and love forever.💖

(above) Bad Buddy Ep.7 [4/4] 6.52 – Pat and Pran bask in the afterglow of Pat's redemptive bait-and-switch, with Pat doing it right by Pran for the first time

‌

[ranchthoughts]

Some recent Baseball Mom shirt thoughts have come through so I needed to update this post.

@telomeke-bbs writes here about Pat, Pran, and Bad Buddy the series' baits and switches and the connection between Pat's Baseball Mom shirt, the rugby played in the series, and Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts comic strip. Telomeke also notes that the baseball replacing the "o" in "mom" makes the shirt seem like it reads M🤍M, or MLM (men loving men).

in her tags here, @dribs-and-drabbles writes:

#the phrase 'he's batting for the other team'#which is an euphemism meaning 'he's gay'#and came from either cricket or baseball#and which could be pertinent to this discussion because in this ep#in this moment#in realising his feelings for pran#pat also realised he liked men as well as women...#or as he said himself 'he doesn't mind gender'#and getting together with pran meant that he was indeed 'batting for the other team'

I cannot believe this did not occur to me when I was scouring baseball for Bad Buddy metaphors. An absolutely brilliant note @dribs-and-drabbles and thank you for bringing it to my attention.

an analysis of the Baseball Mom shirt, Bad Buddy ep. 5

Many have spoken about the shirts of Bad Buddy, and specifically the Baseball Mom shirt before:

In her excellent meta about Pat's shirts, @chickenstrangers posited that the Baseball Mom shirt Pat wears during the episode 5 rooftop scene hints at how Pat sees a future with Pran - partnership, a family (though not necessarily one with kids), possibility. @thegayneurodivergentagenda notes that the Baseball Mom shirt is a tank top, representing Pat at his most "unguarded," his most vulnerable, compared to other scenes where he wears multiple layers.

@respectthepetty gives a quick primer on the colours of Bad Buddy here - the Baseball Mom shirt is dark blue (Pat's colour) with red writing (Pran's colour). respectthepetty also points the rooftop scene out as a time when Pat and Pran switch colours: Pat is wearing red shorts and Pran is wearing a light blue shirt.

@dribs-and-drabbles spoke here about the flashes of red over Pat's heart that appear in his episode 5 shirts as he becomes more and more sure about his feelings. dribs-and-drabbles also spoke here about how the intensity of the colours in Pat's shirt could speak to the intensity of his feelings, and that the "Mom" on his shirt could reflect the role Pran's mom will have in the success (or failure) of their future relationship.

I would like to add my contributions to the venerable field of Bad Buddy shirt analysis by expanding on the potential meanings of Pat's Baseball Mom shirt in a couple of avenues: Mom, Baseball, and Baseball Mom.

Mom

Firstly, the word Mom. I have talked before about how Pat subverts the typical seme/uke dynamics (and their conflation with masculine/feminine, top/bottom, dom/sub, etc.) we often see in BLs. Pat embodies many of the physical and social qualities we might expect from a "seme" character: he is a bit taller, more muscular, more typically "masculine" (likes sports, doesn't like doing chores, etc.), etc. However, he takes the "uke" role in tropes about as often as he takes the "seme" role (he tends to Pran's wounds, kisses his cheek, is clingy, etc.), even deliberately casting himself in the "uke" role to pursue Pran during the episode 7 bet (e.g., pretending to be sick so Pran will give him a sponge bath). @absolutebl called Bad Buddy a "masterclass" in using tropes to upend our seme/uke expectations. Furthermore, Pat casts himself in the "feminine" role several times over the series: in episode 3 when he is helping Pran visualize the bus stop and offers to play Pran's girlfriend, or when he plays Riam in the play (originally a female role), or even when Pran is upset that Wai isn't speaking to him in episode 9 and Pat suggests they fake breakup and offers to pretend to be the one who got dumped and is heartbroken. And of course, the post-sex scene in episode 11 where it is strongly implied Pran was the top in that encounter.

Thus, the fact that Pat's shirt says Baseball Mom could be a further continuation of the subversions of seme/uke and masculine/feminine in Bad Buddy. Going by typical BL metrics, Pat narratively, physically, and socially should be the "seme", the "masculine" one in the pair, but the show subverts our expectations by having Pat often be the "uke," or "feminine" one in trope instances, sexual situations, and more.

Baseball

Secondly, I would like to examine the choice of baseball. The association of sport to Bad Buddy feels especially apt given the competitive nature of Pat and Pran's relationship. Rivals since birth due to their families' feud, Pat and Pran have always been competing with one another. Even once they become friends, and are on their way to being lovers, the spirit of competition doesn't leave them (there are too many examples and metas to go into them all here so here is a sampling of the myriad of posts detailing Pat and Pran's competitive edge: 1, 2, 3, 4). In fact, competition is the only way they know how to maintain their connection - as @dudeyuri points out in this post, Pran continuously refuses to let Pat settle the debt he owes Pran for saving Pa's life when they were kids in order to keep Pat in his life. The best example of this is of course the episode 7 Flirt-Off Bet, where Pat and Pran compete to see who can make the other fall in love first. They can't simply express their feelings to one other, they (especially Pran) aren't ready for that, so they will work their way around it and through it in the way they know how, through the language they both know: competition.

But back to baseball - why baseball, rather than any other sport? As far as I understand, baseball doesn't seem especially popular in Thailand. Why doesn't Pat's shirt say Soccer Mom or Volleyball Mom, or even Rugby Mom, a sport they both play in the show? Baseball is a slow game: there is a lot of standing around and waiting, a really good hitter only hits the ball about 30% of the time, there are 10 innings, etc. Like baseball players and fans, Pat and Pran are not unaccustomed to waiting. Pran has been pining for Pat for ages, waiting without much hope that Pat will return his feelings. Pat waits for Pran to come around to the idea of a relationship over many long months of the Bet. Both of them are waiting for the day their parent will accept their relationship, when they can be free to be themselves openly. And we as an audience are waiting too - will Bad Buddy have a happy or tragic ending? Are we going full Romeo and Juliet or Kwan and Riam, or is there a light at the end of this tunnel?

In his wonderful novel Summerland about baseball (and many other things), Michael Chabon writes: "The fundamental truth: a baseball game is nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day." In Summerland, Michael Chabon often brings up the idea that baseball was made to make one appreciate a slow, summer's day, and that lovers of baseball and of life know the true purpose of baseball and of life is to pay attention to the small moments and details. This feels relevant to Pat and Pran's story: two people kept apart by their families and faculties, enjoying what moments they can steal in secret. Pat and Pran end the series unable to be fully open about their love, but they will take the happiness they can get. They choose to stay together, they choose optimism (Pran's room full of :)), they choose to focus on the little details of their love for one another. The path to being together might have been long, and still not over yet, but Pat and Pran will wait and enjoy the slow cadence of the journey there together.

Baseball operates on a different timeline to other sports - there is no clock counting down the minutes - just like queer people operate on a different timeline to their non-queer peers. The concept of queer temporality posits queer people live on different timelines than the societal norm, experiencing the past, present, and future in different ways than non-queer people (see @chickenstrangers application of this to Bad Buddy here and @shannankle's application of it to The Eighth Sense here). Queer people are waiting for milestones: their first kiss, first relationship, their first desired puberty, legal marriage, etc. Bad Buddy is a very queer show, full of queer temporality and realistic queer experiences (e.g., pining, self-discovery, waiting for their families' support, no "gay-for-you," no overly prescriptive seme/uke dynamics, no fairy tale happy ending, etc.). Bad Buddy even operates on a different timeline than other shows with regards to the chronological passing of time as it has several significant time skips (the one between episodes 6 and 7, and the one between episodes 11 and 12), both of which upend our expectations about how the show should go (I go into more detail about this here).

In Summerland, Chabon says: "life was like baseball, filled with loss and error, with bad hops and wild pitches, a game in which even champions lost almost as often as they won, and even the best hitters were put out seventy percent of the time." Bad Buddy is not a show full of unrelenting successes. While wearing the Baseball Mom shirt, Pat kisses Pran and get kissed back, but the scene ends with Pran leaving Pat on the rooftop, both in tears. Pat may have confessed feelings, but the pair's relationship moves forwards in fits and starts over the many months of the episode 7 bet. Pat and Pran eventually come together and date, but they have to hide it from their friends, and when their friends find out, their friendships are strained (Pran and Wai's in particular). Even after gaining the support of their friends, Pat and Pran still must hide their relationship from their family and face the consequences of their ongoing feud. While there are many victories and moments of joy in Bad Buddy, they are tempered by moments of failure, of bad luck, of pain and fear. And that's life (and baseball).

A quote attributed to Juliana Hatfield reads: “Baseball is more than a game. It’s like life played out on a field.” What is television if not life played out on a screen? What is Bad Buddy if not the familiar story of star-crossed lovers, a story of queer love and realization and heartbreak, played out on a screen? And to further this argument of "playing out" - Bad Buddy tells us a familiar story of homophobia but played out through the lens of a family feud (there is seemingly little/no homophobia in the world of the show, but nevertheless the show is all about hiding, (non)acceptance, coming out, etc.). What is Bad Buddy if not the eternal story of queer struggle and joy in the face of that, played out through an allegory of familial feuds and generational trauma?

Baseball Mom

Finally, I would like to examine the confluence of "Baseball" and "Mom". For those not in the know, sports parents are a very specific breed. They are typically wildly supportive of their child, often to the detriment of other children (do a quick search for "hockey parents suck," for example and you will find endless articles, blog posts, and Quora questions about the phenomenon). They tend to be single minded, ride or die for their kid and their kid's team, and ready to hurl abuse at anyone who "stands in the way" of their kid's success (other parents, the opposing team, the opposing team's coaches, referees and judges, etc.). When we first meet Pat, he embodies some of the worst traits of a sports parent: he is ready to fight at the drop of the hat to protect his own team (the Engineering faculty), despite the collateral damage it causes and the trouble it gets him and his team in. Over the course of the series, Pat mellows (and there's been so much great meta on this, e.g., @grapejuicegay's post about Pat escaping from under his father's thumb): he works together with Pran to make sure his team (the Engineers) and the opposing team (the Architects) aren't kicked out, and even ends up in a peaceful place with Wai.

Pat enthusiastically loves and supports his friends and his family, like a sports parent does, and while this initially manifests as him physically fighting the opposing team, it eventually settles into what an ideal sports parent (Baseball Mom) is: supporting their team while respecting the other team, and working for a fair space where both teams can compete but also have fun.

Conclusions

While many others have explored the meaning of Pat's episode 5 Baseball Mom shirt before, mostly through the lens of colour theory, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and provide reasons as to why the choice of "Baseball Mom" suits the show Bad Buddy and the character Pat. I think it speaks to the subversion of seme/uke dynamics in the show as a whole and particularly in the character of Pat; it reminds us of the slow and realistic progression of Bad Buddy and life itself, with all its successes and errors, and Pat and Pran's competitive dynamic; and it recalls Pat's personality and arc through the show.

[rikusuriuri]

gods greatest test of strength to me is making me start a soulsborne game & then immediately telling me that i should play sekiro again instead

[daisyachain]

V so far looks great but the story is flaccid. I don’t know any of these people. Ocelot isn’t cackling, Kaz isn’t slutty, the fanservice character isn’t even a bitch, Strangelove and Paz are only here in spirit, I half think the V/BB twist got put in at the last minute to explain why none of these people had a goddamn personality except Huey. Sure the plot is less stupid than 4 but what’s the point!

[trappedinacomputer]

Basically one day Cucurucho was messing around with him while he was afk, then messed with him when he came back (by putting up pictures of himself and things basically saying "this is my home) Bad tried to make a trap to catch him, nothing worked, then he used a picture of himself as the bait and it.. semi worked (Cucurucho took the picture but broke the trap)

Then it became a Cucurucho has a crush on Bad type thing. Bad came back home one day and Cucurucho just had a whole bedroom in his house with the picture of Bad on the wall

Insert a weird kind of scavenger hunt leading him to the Fed office at spawn where there was a chest with gifts and catfish which he spent hours looking for with Cucurucho saying it was rent

Fast forward to today where Bad starts stream and all of Cucurucho's belongings are gone, no pictures, no room, no nothing except a welcome matt at his storage room that says "Welcome BB" with a heart and Cucurucho winking

Bad keeps switching between crying and being sad to going on a crazy ex revenge arc until he goes back home and there's a table with treats and two heart chairs set up and a room that is made to look like a beach in which Bad suddenly forgives him leaving and saying maybe he's not so bad and also stating that with the kids being gone it's been nice to have someone around.

Aaaand then he comes back to end stream and the beach room is gone and he's upset again and questioning his sanity

Tl,dr: Cucurucho just showed up one day showing interest in Bad and now they're in a toxic "roomieship" where Cucurucho is gaslighting Bad

haven't been able to catch any bbh streams recently, apparently he's rooming with cucurucho now? ghosties help

[iwanthermidnightz]

Taylor Swift is best known and beloved as a storyteller, often weaving personal details, cultural references, and double entendres into her songs.

"I love to communicate via Easter eggs. I think the best messages are cryptic ones," she told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. She cited clothing, jewelry, and music-video sets as favored hiding spots, adding that she has been "encoding messages into the lyrics" since her debut album in 2006.

Because Swift is proudly meticulous and intentional with her art, fans delight in dissecting her lyrics and visuals, treating each album like a trail of breadcrumbs to be found and interpreted.

A certain branch of Swifties, known as "Gaylors," have long found queer subtext and themes in her music — particularly sapphic listeners who find solace and camaraderie in Swift's accounts of quiet yearning, forbidden love, and female intimacy.

In fact, some believe that dismissing the queer narratives in Swift's music does "a disservice to her genius and lyrical prowess."

Songs like "Welcome to New York" and "You Need to Calm Down" boast overt nods to LGBTQ causes, while others contain subtle phrases and slang that are widely known within the gay community — and therefore highly unlikely to have flown beneath Swift's diligent radar.

Insider's music team analyzed 31 songs in Swift's catalog from a queer perspective, listed below in chronological order.

"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)"

"Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" was apparently inspired by a couple who lived next door to Swift's family while she was growing up.

Swift seems to narrate the story from Mary's perspective, opening with a female pronoun: "She said, I was 7 and you were 9 / I looked at you like the stars that shined."

Because the other half of the couple is neither named nor gendered in the lyrics, Swift seems to fill the role herself, as if she and Mary share these intimate memories ("Our very first fight," "Our favorite spot in town").

Their relationship is defined by fate, but also by disbelief: "Our daddies used to joke about the two of us / They never believed we'd really fall in love." This could point to attraction that breaks with convention, or a fantasy tinged with the fear of familial rejection.

Notably, those fathers are mentioned in the first two verses but absent in the final chorus, when Swift recounts Mary's wedding.

"The Very First Night"

"The Very First Night" was released as a vault track on "Red (Taylor's Version)," meaning it was cut from the album's original tracklist in 2012.

Fans immediately found the song notable for its apparent bait-and-switch.

In the pre-chorus, Swift sings, "They don't know about the night in the hotel / They weren't riding in the car when we both fell," establishing a classic rhyme scheme known as AA BB.

However, the next couplet doesn't rhyme: "Didn't read the note on the Polaroid picture / They don't know how much I miss you."

The final "you" is jarring since the ear is trained to expect a four-line stanza made up of two rhyming couplets. "Her" would have been the natural word here, and the substitution seems designed to be obvious — particularly for a lyrical expert like Swift.

This strategy continues throughout the song as she pairs words like "whispered" and "whisper" with "you." 

The song also features the lyric, "We broke the status quo / Then we broke each other's hearts." It's difficult to argue that Swift having secret rendezvous with a man would break the status quo in any significant way.

"Welcome to New York"

"Welcome to New York" is the opening track of "1989," Swift's official pivot to pop.

She said the album was largely inspired by the "celebration of being unique" in New York City, noting the "freedom" she felt after moving there.

"Everybody here was someone else before," she sings in the second verse. "And you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls."

When asked specifically about the aforementioned line on a 2014 episode of "The Talk," Swift responded, "I wrote the song kind of following when gay marriage became legal in New York."

"So many of my friends had to be kind of scrutinized for who they were in love with from the time they came out," she continued. "I didn't want to make a big deal of it because I don't think it should be a big deal who you love."

The state of New York legalized same-sex marriage in June 2011. Swift moved to the city three years later in March 2014 and released "1989" in October of that year. 

"Style"

"Style" is ostensibly about Harry Styles, whom Swift reportedly dated in late 2012 and early 2013. But the lyrics describe a relationship that evades commitment and clear boundaries, so both people were romantic with others in their downtime.

"I say, 'I heard that you've been out and about with some other girl,'" Swift sings in the second verse. "He says, 'What you heard is true but I can't stop thinking 'bout you and I.'"

Swift replies: "I've been there too a few times."

Given the vague phrasing, this could easily be interpreted to mean that Swift had also been "out and about with some other girl."

Swift kept her interpretation similarly vague while discussing the line with Ryan Seacrest in 2014.

"It's basically one of those relationships that's always a bit off. The two people are trying to forget each other, they both have been out with other people and are trying to forget one another," she explained. "So, it's like, 'Alright, I heard you went off with her and you came back, and well, I've done that, too.'"

"Out of the Woods"

"Out of the Woods" recycles the image of a Polaroid picture that Swift used in "The Very First Night," perhaps indicating the songs were inspired by the same person.

"You took a Polaroid of us / Then discovered / The rest of the world was black and white / But we were in screaming color," she sings in the first verse.

The juxtaposition between the monochromatic world and the relationship's "screaming color" carries the implication of a queer awakening, as gay pride is heavily associated with vibrance and rainbows.

"Out of the Woods" also embodies an anxious, claustrophobic feeling that many closeted queer people may relate to. Swift draws a parallel between the thrill of falling in love and the fear of being discovered.

"I Wish You Would"

"I Wish You Would" features the lyric "We're a crooked love in a straight line down," which echoes the prejudiced idea that queer love is deviant, unnatural, or "crooked" in a culture that deems being straight as the standard. 

"How You Get the Girl"

"The song 'How You Get the Girl' is a song that I wrote about how you get the girl back if you ruined the relationship somehow and she won't talk to you anymore," Swift told Audacy in 2014.

"Like, if you broke up with her and left her on her own for six months and then you realize you miss her," she continued. "All the steps you have to do to edge your way back into her life, because she's probably pretty mad at you. So it's kind of a tutorial."

While this song could be read as Swift doling out advice for clueless men, it's not outrageous to imagine that she's speaking from experience. Because Swift only uses "she" and "her" pronouns throughout the song, both interpretations are able to coexist.

"Wonderland"

"Wonderland" is a source of much speculation among Swift's fans. The song is built upon a bed of references to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," the famous 1865 novel by Lewis Carroll that was animated by Disney in 1951.

Swift uses "falling down the rabbit hole," which transports Alice to Wonderland, as an extended metaphor for falling in love.

"Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?" is a nod to Alice's observation that "curiosity often leads to trouble." Swift also aligns herself with the book's band of outsiders with the lines, "Too in love to think straight" and "We both went mad."

Many fans have noted that Dianna Agron — who was frequently photographed with Swift in 2011 and 2012 before abruptly distancing from each other in 2013 — had a "Wonderland" quote tattooed on her ribcage that has since been removed. She also reportedly had a Tumblr, deleted in 2013, that was called "felldowntherabbithole."

"I believe that love comes in many ways, shapes, and colors," Agron told Nylon in 2015. "I feel proud that we as a society are starting to understand and support more than just the social norms."

"New Romantics"

Just the title of "New Romantics" could be interpreted as a cheeky nod to queerness, especially since the public support for gay marriage began hitting new highs in the years that Swift wrote "1989."

"'Cause baby, I could build a castle / Out of all the bricks they threw at me," she sings in the chorus.

Throwing bricks is symbolically linked with the 1969 protest at Stonewall Inn in New York City, which is often cited as a turning point in the national fight for LGBTQ liberation.

It's safe to say Swift is aware of this history: She gave a surprise performance at Stonewall Inn in 2019 and included a nod to the landmark in her music video for "You Need to Calm Down." (Ryan Reynolds is shown creating a painting of its facade.) 

Another noteworthy lyric arrives in the second verse when Swift sings, "The rumors are terrible and cruel / But, honey, most of them are true."

"Don't Blame Me"

"Don't Blame Me" employs drug use as a metaphor for love, broadly evoking themes of experimentation and rebellion.

In the first verse, Swift draws a contrast between the men she's used as "playthings" and a new kind of relationship, one that's authentic and private: "Something happened for the first time / In the darkest little paradise." Shortly after, she admits, "For you, I would cross the line."

In the second verse, she gets more specific: "Halo hiding my obsession / I once was poison ivy, but now I'm your daisy."

Fans have theorized this points to Karlie Kloss, Swift's one-time best friend. They were nearly inseparable for several years before a rumored rift in 2018.

Kloss is best known as a model and Victoria's Secret Angel. When Swift performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2013 and 2014, the two women would exchange playful touches and strut down the runway holding hands ("Halo hiding my obsession"). 

In March 2014, the duo took a road trip through Big Sur, which Kloss described as "an adventure of a lifetime with my girl." She also shared a photo of a yellow daisy, tagging Swift as the center of the flower ("Now I'm your daisy").

"Gorgeous"

"Gorgeous" is plainly about forbidden love — or, more accurately, forbidden attraction. Swift is agonized by the subject's beauty because, as she admits, "there's nothing I hate more than what I can't have." 

This song could certainly be about Joe Alwyn, Swift's current partner of nearly six years, who she may have met while dating another man. 

It could also be about sapphic desire. As Lindsay Zoladz wrote for The Ringer, "the listener has to accept that there exists something, or someone, that Pop Overlord Taylor Swift cannot immediately command with the snap of a beautifully manicured finger."

"Doesn't 'Gorgeous' sound like it's about having a crush on a woman?" Zoladz continued. "Wouldn't that be the only kind of love forbidden to Taylor 'I'd Never Alienate My Republican Fan Base' Swift?"

(Note: "Gorgeous" was written and released several years before Swift expressed liberal political views and aligned herself with the LGBTQ community.)

(Also note: During the "Reputation" stadium tour, Swift would use the song to introduce the "gorgeous women" onstage with her.)

"Dancing With Our Hands Tied"

"Dancing With Our Hands Tied" is another example of Swift associating love with anxiety and panic, a striking motif of both "Reputation" and "Lover."

The title applies a common idiom, "used to say that someone is unable to act freely because something (such as a rule or law) prevents it," according to Merriam-Webster.

As a hyper-famous woman, Swift is likely "unable to act freely" in a new relationship for fear of rumors, tabloids, and paparazzi.

In a queer context, "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" captures the fear of coming out and being met with homophobia. This is illustrated in the song's second verse: "I loved you in spite of / Deep fears that the world would divide us."

"Dress"

During every show on the "Reputation" stadium tour, Swift would dedicate "Dress" to Loie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance and an out lesbian. According to Vogue, who photographed Fuller in 1913, she lived with her girlfriend from 1905 until her death.

"Dress" is perhaps Swift's most explicitly sexual song ("Only bought this dress so you could take it off"). Although Swift is a noted fan of wearing dresses, it's possible to read this line as the song's subject taking off her own dress.

"Dress" also includes the line "I don't want you like a best friend" twice in each chorus, indicating a friends-to-lovers arc. This is notable because, one, falling in love with your best friend is canonically queer, and two, Kloss described Swift as her best friend on more than one occasion.

Later, Swift sings defiantly, "Everyone thinks that they know us / But they know nothing about us." This doesn't seem to match the tone of Swift's relationship with Alwyn. At the time "Reputation" was released, the public knew hardly any information about their dynamic or history.

"They have quite a low-key relationship, which Taylor likes," Swift's pal Ed Sheeran said in October 2017. "It's normal, and no one really knows about it right now."

Even the song's name invites speculation that it could be about a queer relationship. Put plainly, the song is about sex — so it's interesting that she represented that concept with a dress, a widely recognized symbol of femininity.

"Me!"

Swift described her seventh album "Lover" as "very, very autobiographical," citing "extreme catchiness and moments of extreme personal confession."

She released its lead single on April 26, which is recognized nationally as Lesbian Visibility Day. She promoted the flamboyant music video with a post on Instagram, writing in the caption, "ME! Out now!"

She seems to nod to the gay-pride flag in both the video and the lyrics, singing of herself, "But one of these things is not like the others / Like a rainbow with all of the colors."

In her Netflix documentary "Miss Americana," Swift explained the video's aesthetic concept to Brendon Urie, who is featured on the song.

"Whatever makes you, you — emo kids, theatre, dance sequences, 'La La Land,' everything," she began, to which Urie replied, "Nailed it."

"And when it's me, it's like — dancers, cats, gay pride, people in country western boots. I start riding a unicorn," she continued. "Everything that makes me, me."

"You Need to Calm Down"

"You Need to Calm Down" is Swift's most emphatic declaration of support for the LGBTQ community.

Although Swift doesn't explicitly identify herself as a member of the community, she sings in the song's pre-chorus that "shade never made anybody less gay."

This may be a callback to "I Forgot That You Existed," the opening track of "Lover," in which Swift said she "lived in the shade you were throwing."

In the music video, Swift also wears a wig with the colors of the bisexual-pride flag.

"Cruel Summer"

Fans speculate that "Cruel Summer" was written in 2016 when Swift was socially ostracized due to her feud with Kim Kardashian and Ye, formally known as Kanye West. A photocopied page of her diary was included with physical copies of "Lover," in which Swift had written, "This summer is the apocalypse."

Some believe this song was inspired by Alwyn, although according to that same diary, he didn't begin dating Swift until October 2016.

Instead, phrases like "angels roll their eyes" and "no rules in breakable heaven" may be references to Kloss' legacy as a Victoria's Secret Angel. 

In the bridge, Swift sings, "I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you," calling to mind a closeted queer romance.

"The Man"

"The Man" exposes sexist double standards in Hollywood, exploring how Swift might be perceived if she were born a man but made all the same choices.

Swift explained the song's concept in an audio clip for Spotify's storyline feature.

"I've had the thought several times in my career, wondering if I had been a man instead of a woman, and if I had lived my life exactly the same way — had the same triumphs, made the same mistakes, dated the same people — what would people have said about me if I was a man instead of a woman?" she said.

The phrase "dated the same people" becomes relevant when paired with the song's bridge: "What's it like to brag about raking in dollars / And getting bitches and models?"

"The Archer"

In "The Archer," Swift compares falling in love to preparing herself for "combat" and expresses a deep-rooted fear of being seen and understood. Queer fans may relate to this as a fear of being outed.

The song's bridge is particularly foreboding: "'Cause they see right through me / They see right through me / They see right through / Can you see right through me? / They see right through / They see right through me / I see right through me / I see right through me."

"False God"

While superficially a love song, "False God" contains clear undertones of religious guilt and shame, recognized by queer people who were raised in God-fearing households.

 "They all warned us about times like this / They say the road gets hard and you get lost when you're led by blind faith," she sings in the pre-chorus. In this context, "they" would refer to those who use religion as a reason to oppose gay rights.

Indeed, Swift's early work hints at a relatively religious and conservative upbringing. She references praying and keeping faith in tracks like "Our Song," "Christmas Must Be Something More," and "Come in With the Rain."

Although her current relationship with religion is a bit murky, Swift does mention Jesus in her 2019 track "Soon You'll Get Better," and in "Miss Americana," she self-identifies as a Christian.

"It's Nice to Have a Friend"

"It's Nice to Have a Friend" thematically mirrors "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)," describing a childhood friendship that blossoms into an adult relationship.

The songs even follow the same structure, describing a youthful crush in verse one and a budding teen romance in verse two, concluding with the couple's wedding and happy ending.

"It's Nice to Have a Friend" doesn't use any male or female pronouns, but several details suggest girlhood and shared femininity: swapping gloves, sleeping in a tent together as kids, "light pink sky," "call my bluff, call you 'babe.'"

"The 1"

"The 1" is the opening track on "Folklore," which Swift described as a collection of stories, visuals, and characters as a vehicle for expressing her own "whims, dreams, fears, and musings." 

"The lines between fantasy and reality blur," she told fans upon the album's release. "Speculation, over time, becomes fact."

"The 1" broadly explores the question of "what could've been," recounting details of past relationships with overtones of nostalgia and regret.

"We were something, don't you think so? / Rosé flowing with your chosen family," Swift sings in the final chorus. "And it would've been sweet / If it could've been me."

Swift has used "chosen family" to describe friends she made in her 20s, specifically those she left behind: "It's sad but sometimes when you grow, you outgrow relationships," she wrote in 2019.

But the term is also deeply entwined with the LGBTQ community, where it's used to describe a group of friends, usually queer, who support and celebrate your identity — especially in the face of homophobia or familial rejection.

"Seven"

"Seven" is clearly in conversation with "Mary's Song (Oh My My My)" and "It's Nice to Have a Friend." This trilogy seems to excavate queer feelings and connections that arise at a tender age, especially within friendships that begin platonically or appear platonic from the outside. (See also: "I knew everything when I was young," the pivotal line in "Cardigan.")

Of the three songs, "Seven" contains the brightest glimmers of queerness. Swift sings about someone with "braids like a pattern" whom she wants to run away with: "Pack your dolls and a sweater / We'll move to India forever."

Swift even references the famous idiom "in the closet," used to describe someone who's hiding their sexuality: "I think your house is haunted / Your dad is always mad and that must be why / And I think you should come live with me / And we can be pirates / Then you won't have to cry / Or hide in the closet."

The dad who's "always mad" recalls the father figures in "Mary's Song," who didn't believe their kids would really fall in love.

"Illicit Affairs"

"Illicit Affairs" is widely interpreted as a song about marital infidelity, but a love affair could be "illicit," or forbidden, for a variety of reasons — including laws, rules, or societal norms.

Swift sings of a relationship full of "clandestine meetings and longing stares," an experience that could be applied to a variety of queer love stories throughout history and pop culture. Fans have paired the lyric with TV shows and films like "Call Me by Your Name," "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," "Heartstopper," "Happiest Season," and "My Policeman."

Another line in the bridge, "You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else," recalls the rainbow-infused allusions in "Out of the Woods" and "Me!"

"Invisible String"

The central metaphor of "Invisible String" was likely inspired by an East Asian folk myth known as "the red thread of fate," visualized as a red string tied around the fingers of soulmates, connecting them by either end.

The song is also rich with Easter eggs and callbacks. Swift opens by referencing Centennial Park in Nashville, Tennessee, known as her adopted hometown. In verse two, she references the title of her 2014 single "Bad Blood."

Because much of the song draws from real details in Swift's life, fans were quick to note the intentional phrasing in the final chorus: "Time, wondrous time / Gave me the blues and then purple-pink skies."

Blue-purple-pink is the exact arrangement of the triple-striped bisexual-pride flag, from bottom to top.

"Betty"

I previously wrote about the queer interpretation of "Betty" and how it can, and should, coexist alongside Swift's official explanation that it's written "from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy." 

Within the song itself, the narrator is only known as James, named after Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively's eldest daughter. (Swift herself was named after James Taylor.)

The song declines to give the narrator any gendered pronouns or identifiers. This vagueness makes it easier to visualize your own versions of the characters — and with Swift's feminine voice serenading a girl named Betty, it's arguably easiest to visualize two girls.

The core listening experience of "Betty" is hearing a girl sing about wanting to kiss another girl.

"Gold Rush"

"Gold Rush," the second track on "Evermore," is about pining for someone who "everybody wants" and refusing to submit to their charms ("I can't dare to dream about you anymore").

Swift describes this person's beauty as "gleaming, twinkling," and perceptibly feminine: "What must it be like to grow up that beautiful? / With your hair falling into place like dominoes."

One year before the release of "Evermore," Kloss shared a photo of herself in a golden dress for the 2019 Met Gala. She captioned the post, "Gold rush."

Swift had previously described Kloss using terms like "gold" and "sunshine." She selected the sun when asked to describe Kloss using a single emoji in 2015. (In return, Kloss selected the princess for Swift.)

"Tolerate It"

Swift told Apple Music's Zane Lowe that "Tolerate It" was largely inspired by "Rebecca," a 1938 Gothic novel by Daphne du Maurier.

"I was thinking, 'Wow, her husband just tolerates her. She's doing all these things and she's trying so hard and she's trying to impress him, and he's just tolerating her the whole time,'" she explained. "There was a part of me that was relating to that, because at some point in my life, I felt that way."

The song's central couplet captures this heartbreaking indifference: "I know my love should be celebrated / But you tolerate it."

During a 2019 interview with Elvis Duran, Swift echoed this very sentiment while discussing her public support of LGBTQ rights and the Equality Act.

"I just wanted to make it known to everyone around me, and my loved ones, and my fans, and my friends and my colleagues, like, I don't just tolerate the way that you are, I celebrate the way that you are," she said.

"Dorothea"

Much like "Betty," "Dorothea" is a love song addressed to a girl. Swift described the titular character as "a girl who left her small town to chase down Hollywood dreams."

But unlike "Betty," Swift has never declared that "Dorothea" was written from the male perspective.

"If you're ever tired of being known for who you know / You know, you'll always know me, Dorothea," Swift sings in the chorus.

"Friend of Dorothy" is popular queer slang; you may have heard the term in The 1995 film "Clueless", or more recently in Netflix's "The Crown". It was originally coined as a synonym for a gay man, but it's more commonly used today as a catchall for any member of the LGBTQ community.

"Ivy"

On its face, "Ivy" is the "infidelity" chapter of "Evermore's" failed marriage anthology.

The narrator seems to be a married woman who's in love with someone else, terrified that her husband will find out.

Many fans have theorized that "Ivy" was inspired by Emily Dickinson. Scholars believe the poet was a lesbian and in love with her childhood best friend, Sue Gilbert, who ended up marrying Dickinson's brother.

The two women shared plenty of intimate letters and Gilbert apparently inspired much of Dickinson's poetry, the most famous of which ends with the line, "Sue - forevermore!" (Not to mention, "Evermore" was announced on Dickinson's birthday, December 10.)

The Apple TV+ series "Dickinson" celebrates the poet's queerness and focuses largely on her clandestine romance with Gilbert.

At the end of a 2021 episode titled "Grief Is a Mouse," the women reunite for a passionate sex scene that leads into the credits, soundtracked by "Ivy."

Swift herself approved the song's usage in the show, according to showrunner Alena Smith.

"I really wanted to use that song — I mean I love that song and also the fans have sort of developed a mythology around it as being a song that relates to Emily and Sue on some emotional level," Smith told the Hollywood Reporter, adding, "We were lucky that Taylor said yes."

"Cowboy Like Me"

"Cowboy Like Me" uses the titles "cowboy" and "bandit" as euphemisms to describe two people in cahoots, hiding who they are from the outside world.

"You're a cowboy like me," then, could be interpreted as a private recognition of shared queerness.

"You asked me to dance / But I said, 'Dancing is a dangerous game,'" Swift sings in the first verse, a clear reference to "Dancing With Our Hands Tied" and the risk she associates with being openly in love.

Later, Swift sings of "the old men that I've swindled" and pretending she was in love for financial gain: "Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear / Like it could be love / I could be the way forward / Only if they pay for it."

Celebrities have been known to engage in relationships for PR purposes— to promote a film, for example, or rehabilitate a person's reputation.

PR relationships have also been historically used to conceal a celebrity's sexuality. Stars like Michael Bolton and Colten Haynes have described the "isolation" and emotional pain this caused before they felt comfortable publicly coming out as gay.

"Right Where You Left Me"

"Right Where You Left Me" one of the most heartbreaking songs in Swift's catalog, also contains one of her most conspicuous queer references.

"I swear you could hear a hairpin drop / Right when I felt the moment stop," Swift sings in the pre-chorus. "Glass shattered on the white cloth / Everybody moved on / I stayed there."

The commonly used idiom is "you could hear a pin drop," meaning it's very quiet. But Swift intentionally changed the noun to "hairpin."

"Dropping hairpins" is a well-known euphemism in the LGBTQ community, described by the New York Times as "a traditional gay gambit."

"This means to drop clues, if not outright statements, about one's own homosexuality in an effort to induce one's interlocutor to follow suit," the Times reported in 2015.

The Stonewall Inn protest is also known was "the hairpin drop heard around the world."