#beach scene actually happened with my friend this is not just a parody of that little mermaid comic

[grumpybuneary]

im normal about the buneary line

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

April 2021 Part 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Second Chance Ep 1 - living up to its name since it looks to be a series of redemption arcs. Launched with a college confession and a broken friendship, then a flash back to them as seniors in high school. Pairings include friends to lovers, nerd/jock, and maybe cafe boss/employee. There’s a lot going on, but it’s still... quiet and sweet. The script is pretty pat but it’s still WAY more watchable than Cupid Coach or Brothers and most of the acting is solid. Ep 1 tropes included: he’s in engineering, wound tending, fast & bicurious. This could turn into what I wanted My Gear & Your Gown to be. Fingers crossed. 

Love Poison 2 Ep 1 & 2 turns out I did watch and report on season 1 (8 eps), season 2 seems equally unmemorable. Thai countryside setting, strong dialect, incomprehensible plot, camp side characters, and ghastly singing. 

Y-Destiny Ep 1 (eng subs?) - opened with the sports romance enemies to lovers (they aren’t going in the teaser order). When the couple got over fighting, the flirting was v cute, but the flipping SPONGE BATH trope had to rear its ugly head. Still, this series is shaping up to be less coy and more frank than most BL, better than expected. It feels, I don’t know, gay-er or something?  *** Sources were correct that each couple is getting (at least) 2 eps, and MDL has been updated to say this is a 15 episode series (not 7). 

Cupid Coach 12 fin - The new Nite was great and should have been a main all along. It felt like we got a tiny nugget of what could have been in about 10 minutes worth of this last ep. It was way too slow with terrible editing and a criminally bad script, but at least it ended happy. Mostly, like Friend Forever, I’m just disappointed that these two actors were done dirty by the series. Bad Cupid Coach, no screen caps for you. 

Lovely Writer Ep 6 - breaking news, there’s a het couple I like: toppy bi femme + soft boi = such a good pairing! I know, but this NEVER happens. Meanwhile, Sib’s secret is out, Gene is a bit of a drama queen, and the plot thickens. We half way through.  

Brothers Ep 9 - Kaow had a serious moment of advice giving that was truly lovely. Lots of family dama made this a superior episode to... well... any of the others in this series. Which isn’t saying much. 

1000 Stars Ep 10 fin - at the start this series didn’t grab me the way GMMTV’s last BL, Tonhon Chonlatee, did. But boy did it end 1000x better. Might have given us 2021′s best forehead kiss. I enjoyed the ultra romantic cliff-top reunion kiss, and I LOVED the stinger flirting scene. That was an absolute gift we had no right to expect. This drama is a poster child for finishing on a high note (always focus on that dessert course). Final thoughts? This was FAR more a classic romance than it was BL. There were some BL tropes used but not many and most of them originated in the romance genre not yaoi. A picture perfect ending bumped 1000 Stars much higher up my best-of list than expected. Not sure how often I’ll rewatch it as a whole, but this last episode? I’m probably rewatching it right now. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Dear Uranus (Taiwan GL) Ep 3 fin - I guess that’s it? Okaaaaay  

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 3 (AKA Ep 5-6) - we got actual legit gay culture not just BL (always appreciated) from XingSi. I’m starting to find LiCheng’s “show them we fucking” hijinks hilarious rather than annoying (not sure why, maybe I just love a rubber chicken, or maybe it was the STUFFED CORN WITH THE TASSEL that did it). 

-- H4 Moment of RANT --

Tropes included beach trip, there’s only one bed, cook for him, baby is a floppy drunk, carry baby to bed, and.... drunk non-con. Whoopdedoo. Here we go again. Did TharnType teach us NOTHING? (Apparently it taught us if the chemistry is good enough, I have no morals at all.) At least H4 seems to be taking us out of cheese into serious when it comes to assault. Or is it? 

I take back what I said last week about XingSi & YongJie being codependency + salvation trope, that only works if YongJie is the uke. He’s NOT. So we got us an obsessive predatory villain with a possible redemption arc. That’s more common in crime dramas, mafia romance, and epic fantasy than BL. It’s real hard to redeem a sexual predator in a reality-grounded universe like contemporary romance (See Kla in LBC1&2). 

Next week is gonna be a test of the whole damn franchise. Imma remind both me a you that this was ep 3 of 10 so we got a ways to go yet... but ooof, what have we wrought, BL? (I ended up doing a whole post about the stepbrother trope because of this sub plot.) Taiwan is killing me.

-- RANT ended --

Word of Honor (China) Ep 19-21 - over half way point so we got ALL the back story (in a classic 4 act story structure midway reveal). Now we know who WKX really is and his lineage. We also got some cute hugs and hand holds. Moving along at a nice clip despite being 36 eps total. Still gayest thing to come out of we-not-gay China since Advance Bravely. 

Most Peaceful Place (Vietnam) Ep 2 - takes them a while to get eng subs together and ep 2 didn’t drop until late. So I’m putting this in a Thurs time slot going forward. Miscommunication already cleared up and a 2nd couple has been introduced. The pacing on these Vietnamese BLs is always a bit... off. But it’s still better than most of its ilk, enjoyable. I’m thinking it’s a 6 ep arc. 

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 5 - after the initial drama DRAMA of ep 2, the current external crisis at work is much quieter, giving this whole season a top heavy feel. Taken along side the first season, I think it’s fitting nicely into a 4 act structure, but that might be my bias. I hope I’m not wrong, we’ll find out next week. Shi De puttering about being domestic with Shu Yi on his back was the best execution of the piggyback trope EVER. Meanwhile, our little D/s side couple of codependency, salvation trope + mental illness is becoming weirdly appealing. I don’t know. H4 done mess with my head. 

Stand Alones 

Absolute BL AKA Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai vs Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko  (Japan) Ep 1-4 mini series. Found subs under A Man Who Defies The World of BL. IT’S HILARIOUS. It’s Japan making fun of us, but also itself for having started this whole BL nonsense - from yaoi roots to present day. It’s parody goddamn gold. Utterly cheeky unto the very last line. We are not worthy. 

Apparently the most powerful tropes of all time are: baby is a floppy drunk and the piggyback fo nobility. Oh and chocolate. {Full review here.} 

Honestly, this show may have been made with only @heretherebedork and I in mind. I don’t know if you’d even understand half of it if you don’t have a history with the manga source genre and an obsessive interest in underlying narrative devices. I haven’t seen much chatter in the blog’o’sphere on this one because, in the end, it’s not a romance at all, it’s social commentary. 

The ending line was a masterclass in lampooning a genre. I’m going to rewatch the whole thing just to catch all the digs I missed first time around. It is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. 

Thank you Japan. I forgive you all your hair-styling sins of the last decade. 

Breaking News 

Spring Line Up:

Scholar Ryu’s Wedding Ceremony AKA Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding (Korean historical BL) April 15th 

Close Friend the series (Thai trailer) April 22. 

2gether the movie (Thai trailer) April 22 to Thai theaters.

Nitiman (Thai) May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 (Thai) May 27 on LineTV

Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong) June to Viu 

Gossip 

Bad Buddies released its first promo op via Arm Share, which means GMMTV is at least *thinking* about filming it. 

Fun behind the scenes gossip sesh with eng subs for Tell the World I Love You (that Perth Bas movie we are maybe getting someday but will likely be sad). 

New Thai BL Bite Me (adapted from novel Grab a Bite) dropped a teaser. It stars Mark Siwat (Kla in LBC) as uke character Ake, a delivery boy with special foodie powers, and chef Eua (seme played by Zung Kidakorn) who discovers him. It’s from the same author as Manner of Death so we might even get some actual plot. Since it’s an established BL actor who I happen LOVE, a known author, and a plot about FOOD, I could not me more excited for this one. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed a day later than actual air date for accessibility reasons. Some are dropping multiples at a time but just started so I’m not sure on numbering. 

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

[earbuds-and-hightops]

An Open Letter to Supernatural

[ Spoiler warning for 15x20, obviously ]

I understand that a well-contemplated complaint about this ending cannot be made without first reading the original, pre-COVID, script of 15x20, but in the long run, the initial plan is not what will be remembered. 

What will be remembered is what this show created. What it became beyond two brothers driving around the country, hunting monsters. Characters were introduced and developed, and in that, Sam and Dean Winchester become so much more than two kids living on the road. In the past 15 years, the cast, and thus the family, grew to something that would be unimaginable to those who started this project back in 2005. Not only did the characters and their stories become meaningful, but the show itself grew into, well, a family. The fans who have kept this show alive since Day 1 have come together to form what I believe is the greatest community in pop culture. 

What hurts the most is that this finale did not do any of that development justice. 

The finale (and consequently the episodes leading up to it) reverts back to the story between only Sam and Dean. While some see this as an ode to who they are--their brotherhood and familial bond being the heart of their values and the root of their characters--I cannot help but see this as a rejection of their experiences this past decade and a half. 

What’s worse, episode 15x18 confirmed one of the most pure and powerful and goddamn beautiful romances that television will ever see. This story of an angel who abandoned his family and the only beings he’s known for thousands of years, all for one person. I knew from the instant the screen faded to black on November 5 that the story of Castiel will always be remembered, even if his feelings were unrequited. Castiel will always be remembered. 

And then there’s Destiel. I was genuinely impressed that this show would even grow to include a queer angel, more importantly, a queer character in a leading role. The queer-baiting and the “bury your gays” trope both make this confession and its lack of acknowledgement that much worse (and is worthy of an entirely separate open letter for another night). It matters less if Dean does or doesn’t reciprocate these feelings and more that it’s wrong that he completely ignores it. Cas’s love confession, this beautifully tragic and tragically beautiful emotion coming from a being who wasn’t supposed to feel emotions at all, is something that, unfortunately, will become a secret that dies with Dean Winchester. 

It’s truly a shame that the writers of this show let that happen. 

We haven’t even touched the fact that Castiel’s death was an act of sacrifice to save Dean. Dean’s limited reaction and lack of mourning* tears apart this phrase that has become pivotal to the entire show and fanbase: “Family don’t end in blood.” While it would be a lot to ask that Dean rescue Cas from the Empty and resume their cycle of rescue and resurrection, I think it’s only fair that Dean take the time to fully accept Castiel’s actions and words for what they mean instead of simply moving forward as if they never happened.

What’s more, Misha Collins is one of the greatest and kindest people in this world, and he’s poured his heart and soul into Supernatural, just like everybody else. He’s spent 12 years on this project, and the final two episodes hardly mentioned his character. He didn’t deserve this. It’s heartbreaking that his last credit on this show will be a prank call from someone trying to impersonate him, and not something that pays tribute to such an important character and important actor**

The most devastating part of this ending is what happened in 15x19. Pardon my French when I say that that episode, the ultimate climax of the season and latter half of the series, was a piece of dog shit. It’s incredibly frustrating to invest in 15 years worth of television and look forward to this ultimate battle between two average boys and God the Almighty Himself and to instead watch a 6-minute long fist fight on the beach with the only dialogue being variations of “seriously guys, stay down.” 

My issues with 15x19 lie less in the storyline that was chosen and more in how they were presented. I am completely on board with Jack taking God’s power and eventually becoming the new God, but the episode was far too quick to have any real meaning, and, as stated before, Castiel’s sacrifice, which allows Sam, Dean, and Jack to do what they do in 15x19, is hardly mentioned.

Most fans agree that 15x19 was far too quickly paced. The plot with Michael and Lucifer was questionable to begin with, but should have been an episode on its own if it were to be perused at all. Michael’s story in particular could have been fleshed out to reiterate this theme of overly loyal sons and their fathers, as well as their relationships with less loyal siblings, but was instead reduced to about 20 minutes of screen time. 

Though this is less important, Lucifer’s plan to make a new Death felt like a cheap cop-out just to close the storyline with Death’s book, but we can finish that discussion another day. 

The general fan reaction to this atrocity of an episode was that this was meta, and according to Becky, the ending was supposed to be dog shit. This, along with the untouched storyline started when Cas died, gave fans so much hope that the finale would be this amazing piece of art that puts Supernatural in the history books. 

While it’s obvious that an hour cannot perfectly tie up every single event and arc with a pretty little bow, it can at least...try. Any finale should, at minimum, pay tribute to what the show started as (which 15x20 did well) and what it became (which 15x20 failed to do miserably). 

In addition, a reference to character back in season 1 is incredibly frustrating when recurring characters with actual, well, character go unnoticed. I mostly reference Eileen here, but this also applies to Jody and Donna. Nobody even mentions the other wonderful friends who have helped Sam and Dean along their journey to Heaven. If family doesn’t end in blood, then why doesn’t it extend to include Castiel, Jack, Mary, Rowena, Charlie, Kevin, Jody and her girls, Donna, and so many others?

Dean’s death was sad, I’ll give them that (and honestly, I was expecting it). However, considering that this man has defeated apocalypses, killed Death, and taken down God, his death via nail in the wall was incredibly anticlimactic, and something that could literally have happened at any point over the 15 seasons. While Dean’s death was obviously not my ideal ending, I think it could have worked if it were done properly, and in this case, it was not. That said, I do appreciate that Sam did not try to bring Dean back, as that would indicate literally no growth at all.

Dean’s funeral was...pathetic, to say the least. Sam being the only person there was depressing considering that Dean had lots of other close friends (and you’d think that Jack would pay his respects, but apparently not), however, this is likely a scene that was impacted by COVID and the availability of some of the cast, so I will not dwell on that scene.

Dean’s time in Heaven complicates matters even more. Firstly, Bobby confirms that Castiel is no longer in the Empty and has been in contact with Jack. I would have loved to see this reunion; Cas is essentially Jack’s father, and I would have loved to see how their upgrading/remodeling of Heaven brought them closer together. I understand that the writers were trying to focus this finale story on the brothers, this goes back to my earlier point that you cannot simply ignore everything that that this show has grown to include. Bobby’s explanation also begs the question of why Dean had no intention of seeing Cas (or Jack, for that matter) again now that he has the opportunity.

Secondly, Dean’s instinct to go directly for the Impala was very in-character, however, the editing implied that driving was all Dean did until Sam died. As we know, Sam dies of old age, likely (completely guessing here) upwards of 40-50 years from Dean’s death, and that is a very, very long time for Dean to simply driving around the mountains. It would have been nice to see Dean reunite with other family and friends who are also in Heaven, however, again, COVID restraints.

Sam’s ending was similar to what I and a lot of other fans imagined (not necessarily wanted, but predicted) it to be: kids and a wife, living a normal, monster-free, life. I hate to believe that he doesn’t end up with Eileen (to my recollection, his wife was a blur in the background, and it is unclear if she was meant to be Eileen) however that might just be my bias and appreciation of Shoshannah Stern. While I’m glad that this storyline gave Sam the room to grow and develop without his brother, it also completely ignores everything that he’s been through this past decade and a half, and that is something that should not happen. Sam grew and changed so much since he left Stanford and leaving that life, the life of a hunter, behind feels very counterintuitive.

Let’s not even discuss the wig that Jared wore. It reminded me of the Cain wig that Rob wore in the Hillywood parody.

What shocked me the most at the beginning of this episode was the lack of a “The Road So Far” compilation. I hoped for the full song with a recap of all 15 seasons, or, at minimum, the typical single-season recap. “Carry On My Wayward Son” is such an important part of the show and the culture of the fan base, that it seems almost sacrilegious that the season finale not begin with this song and a memorial to the events in the past season (or series).*** I’m very happy that it was included at all, but I was shocked when Neoni’s cover took over.

No disrespect to Neoni; those girls are incredibly talented and I love their music, however, a series finale of a 15 season long show does not feel like the place for a cover when they already have the rights to the original, and the original is so iconic.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge Jensen Ackles’s reaction to this conclusion. At a con panel about a year ago, he said that he needed to be talked into agreeing to this script by Erik Kripke himself, because the ending just wasn’t sitting right with him. So many fans took this to believe that he was homophobic and afraid that of Destiel becoming fully canon, and he got so much more hate than he deserved, because ultimately, he was right in his first opinion. This isn’t the way this story should have ended. Jensen explained that he had been “too close” to the story, and that it took a more holistic view from a step backwards (the audience’s perspective, as he puts it) to agree on this ending, but honestly, nobody knows Dean Winchester better than Jensen, and he knows what’s best and what would be the best way to finish this character’s arc. I think fans and Jensen alike agree that this wasn’t it.

I sympathize with all of the cast and crew members who disagree with how this show ended but are bounded by contract to support this show no matter what. Especially Misha and Jensen.

Over all, I believe that Supernatural will go down in history (in internet communities, at least) as one of the greatest shows ever. While I do agree that the writing quality in terms of both dialogue and plot declined as years passed, the community, the family, that this show created cannot be ignored because of a poorly written/planned ending. I think that the fandom will collectively let go of this disaster of an ending that we were given and will, just like Sam and Dean, write our own stories. I have full faith and confidence that Supernatural will not be represented by this finale episode, but by the beautiful stories, amazing characters, and the family that this show created and what the fans have chosen to do with it.

Sincerely,

A Fiercely Frustrated but Fiercely Loyal Fan

* I do not count that last clip of Dean crying on the floor as mourning. In my mind, that was a reaction, not an emotional healing and overcoming, if that makes sense. I argue that if Dean were to fully mourn and process everything (like Sam did in 15x20) we would have seen at least a bit of that on screen. 

** This is where I would have loved to see some of the original scripts. I hope that the writers initial intentions were to have Misha more involved in these last two episodes than what was likely a voice memo created in 10 minutes tops at Misha’s house.

*** The strange montage at the end of 15x19 makes so much more sense. I still would have preferred that montage at the beginning of 15x20. This also shines light on the video that Misha posted. What would we do without him :)

[ick25]

How Steven Universe broke my heart.

So Steven Universe has finally come to an end and people are so happy and crying because of how the show had such a beautiful ending that dealt with real life issues and personal matters that we all relate to at some point in our lives... But I am not one of those people.

I have nothing against teaching children life lessons on how to deal with trauma and anxiety, but what made me interested in the show in the first place was the fantastical elements, the action mixed with comedy, and heartwarming scenes from time to time. From the very beginning, I was never a fan of Steven’s interactions with the people of Beach City who don’t even seem to care about what the gems actually are or why they should be more careful around him. They just feel like characters in a Slice of Life show since they barely make any contribution to the real plot of Steven Universe. It’s like the entire show is split into two different genres, the town’s people only exist for comedic purposes and whenever Steven needs to learn something that the Crystal Gems can’t teach him because of their lack of communication with each other. I know the gems were not fans of making friends with humans, but they’ve had like 1000 years to understand how human society works! Have they been living under a rock all this time?!

Anyway, the show has been infuriating to me many times, but deep down I was hoping that all those questions I had were gonna be answered in a very clever and exciting way in future seasons... That never happened. 

Every time the show woke my curiosity, it disappointing me hard, and now that it’s over I have come to realized that maybe the story that attracted me in the first place didn’t matter at all. This was my emotional struggle throughout the show.

Season 1.

Up: The show started out like a funny cartoon with great promise, likable characters, and an interesting background. My first impression was that the Crystal gems were like part of a secret magical society that travels to other worlds to keep peace in the universe. 

Down: It is revealed that they are actually aliens and that the other worlds where actually places on Earth where the monsters they fight are corrupted gems. This let me down because, being such a nerd, I couldn’t stop thinking about the odds of another planet having the same minerals with the same exact  names and characteristics given to them by humans on Earth.

Too much of a coincidence.

Up: I decided to accept the alien thing and keep watching because I thought it was really cute that both Lapis and Pearl wanted to return to their Homeworld which awoke my interest again.

Season 2.

Up more: Peridot’s secret mission, Malachite coming back again and the introduction of Yellow Diamond got me excited.

A little Down: The slow pacing when we were supposed to be worried about the Cluster.

Season 3.

Down: Finding out that the forced fusion experiments where not relevant anymore because I wanted that to be explored more.

Up: The revelation that Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond. I liked this because I thought that Steven was going to learn about the hard decisions his mother had to make in order to keep Earth safe. Oh how naive was I.

Season 4.

A little boring until Blue Diamond appears who I cant help but like.

When I saw her crying for Pink I thought, Ok, she is not what I was expecting but she might become an ally later on. (Turns out she’s my favorite character now)

Up: Pink Diamond’s human zoo intrigued me.

Down a little: Yellow Diamond appears to cheer up Blue and it is obvious that both are gonna become good later on.

Up: Aquamarine and Topaz appear to kidnap humans for the zoo, The town’s people are finally important to the plot.

Season 5, when I started to lose hope.

Up: The mystery that came out from the trial episode to the Off colors being introduced.

Down: Lars basically turns into lion and becomes a shortcut for Steven to go between worlds easily.

Down again: Lars and the off colors suddenly become a parody of Captain Harlock ruining my illusion of having Steven and the Crystal gems traveling to Homeworld to save them.

Slightly Up: Steven gets visions of Pink Diamonds past and how it seemed that it was Pearl who shattered her.

Super Down!: Rose was Pink Diamond and faked her own shattering for no good reason! Everything we were told throughout the show was a lie!

Up: Great battle against Yellow and Blue Diamond, and White Diamond is finally mentioned, and I was like “good, she must be the ultimate evil and maybe we’ll learn more about corruption.”

Crash and burn: White Diamond is forgiven and instantly becomes good.

But a glimmer of hope appears when the movie is announced.

Movie.

Slowly up: New cool villain appears, will we learn more about Pink Diamond’s past?

Down again: Spinel goes to live with the Diamonds which sounds like a terrible idea at first.

Steven Universe Future.

Steven is having trouble with his new power, will we finally address how Pink Diamond was really like?

Down forever: Who cares about Pink Diamond or the origin of the Diamonds, what matters is that Steven is a teenager that finally acknowledges that his life has been terrible and that his family has to comfort him because he is going through puberty and already has a midlife crisis at age 16.

In conclusion, Steven Universe’s main focus ended up being about talking things out in a peaceful matter and that family is the most important thing... But that doesn’t work if you already established that said family consists of aliens who don’t know anything about communication and or have been destroying life forms in the Universe for thousands of years! The message does not fit with what already has been established in the show to the point that it’s unrealistic. It’s nice and all that they’re teaching kids that violence doesn’t solve anything and that talking things out is better, but the truth is, that is not always the case in real life. Even if they are family, some people are not willing to change and won’t listen to reasons. You can’t force someone to “Change their mind” , because you think they are in the wrong, and even if they are, you can’t expect them to accept that what they’ve been doing all their lives is suddenly wrong. The Diamonds had to change for themselves not because Steven tells them to. SU Future showed that they eventually changed for the best and even discovered new powers but it was already too late for me to accept that.

This show really wanted me to believe that the gems were the only advance alien race in the entire universe, nobody fought against them? What was the point of making the Cluster which was referred to as Geo Weapon? Doesn’t Homeworld have any enemies? Apparently not, and all that matters in the end is to make amends with your love ones, avoid toxic relationships, and only talk things out when a family member is threatening to kill you and destroy everything you love. ¬ ¬ 

[comicteaparty]

April 20th-April 26th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from April 20th, 2020 to April 26th, 2020.  The chat focused on Only In Your Dreams! by Tuyetnhi Pham.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Only In Your Dreams! by Tuyetnhi Pham~! (http://oiydcomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until April 26th, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic! Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

5. I like how distinctive the character designs are! The mcs are both very unique and recognizable

8. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it also explores some real neat concepts

the story is full of personality

carcarchu

the comic's not loading for me shakes fist at wifi, gonna try again tomorrow but i just wanted to say the look of the site is really cute!

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Got the chance to read it So here are some of my thoughts: 1. I like the romantic atmosphere that the comic starts off with warm colours and it gives a vacation ad sensation? 2. My favourite moment is in the pink strange dream world, the colours contrast to the reality of Cara. 4. Fave moment: When that mystery guy shows up and he had corny lines like a romantic parody. It seem so fantastical. 5. I like the colour palette choice of brown tones, shades of pinks. 6. I think the theme is about expectations (it's not clear atm), how Cara is distancing from real relationships and prefer to indulge. 7: I like how the creator shows Cara looking scared of confronting things. It sets an interesting tone of uncertainty. Is she hiding something?(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm super curious about the situation of Cara not remembering her past dreams with Richie, and how that ties into the theme.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

1. I like how I don’t know what to expect. I also like how the premise is relateable; the idea that you are scared of imperfection making you have high standards in life hit close. 2) Every single time we’re treated to....Tuyetnhi’s lovely use of expression. Also the end part of episode 2, because that’s when I realized it’s going to get dark. 3) A tie between Ana and Richie. Ana because she makes me laugh with her blunt assertions (which...aren’t wrong) and Richie because he’s so flamboyant and extra. I love how much personality they all have. 4) Hands down Richie and Cara. They have a really hilarious dynamic going on. 6) The idea that people seek perfection through their dreams instead of facing reality. Also I really liked how it tackles society’s fixation on everyone to find someone....maybe Cara doesn’t need that and needs to focus on herself first? 7) That I won’t know what to expect. I came into this thinking it was going to be a classic romcom, and then I get hit with implicit horror and trippyness. I have a feeling Tuyetnhi is hinting at some darker aspects of the story we have yet to see. 8) Good lord the expressions. They really do the story justice and make me turn the page every time. Also the colours are beautiful.(edited)

(Whoops sorry keiiii)

7) two moments actually!

The fact that their wide eyed sweaty expressions matched made me laugh really hard

And also Cara’s quick acceptance of the situation was so unexpected and hilarious I took a double take. Also props to the colour dissonance; that looks like meme material right there!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yeah. I want to make it clear that Cara is like "This is really not my day." lol

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Well....you portrayed that sentiment perfectly

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Omg yes the wide eyed expressions were also making me laugh! Well that was an expression I didn't expect coming into the story(edited)

I was wondering if that was suppose to be serious or humorous?

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

both LOL

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

I see the horror you got going there Tuyetnhi Reminds me of...I dunno Jojo?

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

well............ yes and no lol

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

But I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen

Although...if we’re going by the silhouette....is she scared of herself?

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

C:

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

I like that sense of not knowing what's happening? :)(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

that will be coming up in Ch. 3 soon

so please wait till then thank u lol

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

So far it's tough to choose a fave character right now since I feel the story has just started its first segment. I would like to wait until more content is shown before I can make a firm choice? (I'm analytical, I like to go over OCs flaws and strengths once I know more about them)(edited)

I'm curious to learn about her ex crush, since we only get a glimpse of how Cara precieve him. But what is Dean really like? *Drum rolls(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

you got.... good questions

it will be rewarded.... later on LOL

mariah (rainy day dreams)

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I really liked the colors and island vibe. And this was even before Animal Crossing came out and I started hardcore living that island life I just love a good, soft pink to purple gradient generally speaking so the opening of the story was like falling into a comfy brain pillow for me. 2-4 I'm just gonna answer these ones kind of all together because they thoughts on then are all kind of threaded together into one big thought. After having read through the archive I really liked the scene with Ana and Cara. When I first read it I was like "dang, she's giving Cara such a hard time," but after having read the scenes where Cara just refused to admit to Richie she doesn't know what's going on I really retroactively appreciated Ana's willingness to call Cara on her bullshit XD I think it's a really good foil trait to have for a protagonist who seems dead set on avoiding confrontation even though it seems like doing so is most likely just gonna come back to bite her later. I imagine we aren't going to see Ana for a while though unless Cara is able to use her Phone A Friend card in the dream realm XD I am also looking forward to seeing more of the Cara doppelganger and how she and Cara interact with each other going forward. That feels like an exciting and drama filled mystery

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic? I also love the atmosphere. The color choices are just so beautiful. 2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)? Ana pointing out Cara's BS hahahaha. 3. Who is your favorite character? Definitely Ana. She's so down-to-earth from what I can tell, someone I'd want to be friends with. 4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most? Probably Ana and Cara. I like to see good friendships depicted, especially in a romance. 5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it! In general, everything is so soft and pretty. I also really appreciate the fact that all the characters have larger noses. If I had a favorite panel, it would be at the beginning, the sunset beach waves. 6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores? So far, I'm not sure about themes, but I like the talk about the pressure parents give to their children to get married. 7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content? There's a lot of mystery, so I'm looking forward to learning about Cara's dreams, Richie, and the key. 8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are? The visuals are really nice. I can't stop gushing about the color choices and the pretty atmosphere.(edited)

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

The way Cronaj sums up their thoughts on OiYD, I'm agreeing with the statement on Ana and Cara! Esp friendship part

Deo101 [Millennium]

I'll answer the questions hopefully later this week, but this song reminded me of the comic!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4z5ecLCvSQ(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

@Deo101 [Millennium] damn that’s a good song

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Oooo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

He's definitely hot and extra

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

lmao

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

My joke idea is that Cara is secretly in a reality show starring Richie and her and the bonds they play out is meant for a live broadcast. But she's clearly not agreeing to this(edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh god. i don't think that's good for Cara's mental state lmao

Feather J. Fern

Also I have to say, I do love how the first cover is literally Cara being the meme of "Oh no he's hot"

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

fjdkalfdjdklfj

Feather J. Fern

Also I finally started it, while a bit late, I have to relate to Cara being an accountant.

Also I think my favourite panel is "Welp that worked"

Also I have to appreciate picking a pink that doesn't grate on the eyes.

https://gyazo.com/71fe22ea6ac2ebf6b3d85531c66bf8ed Another really good panel

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I enjoyed making that one LOL

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

that face is one of my favourites not gonna lie

Feather J. Fern

I really like the surrealness of the story, can't wait to see what happens next

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

same! I feel like something is about to happen

I'm also wondering how Richie would react to the real world

like....the ex. And her parents.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

soon™️

Feather J. Fern

More like everyone reacting to Richie XD

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Yeah pretty much

Like can Richie handle the world?

More like

Can the world handle RICHIE

RebelVampire

I like that the beginning really contrasts the dream and Cara's reality pretty quickly. I kind of feel it catches that feeling of coming out of a dream to face reality which kind of sucks, and also plays into the themes of dream vs. reality and expectation vs. reality. It's very easy to idealize things, whether as a route of escapism or just because it sounds appealing. But the reality of things generally is always different, and I like that we're seeing this full force in the comic through Cara's perspective. And the contrasts between the two really enhance those topics. My favorite moment in the comic so far is probably when Cara meets what I assume is Dean. Cause I really loved that both parties were kind of at fault, and I also liked how quickly that convo devolved into a grumpfest, because that felt very realistic. My favorite character right now is definitely Richie, because he is ridiculous and sympathetic at the same time. I adore his exaggerated personality, while at the same time feel sorry for him since for him the memories are clearly there and like...I would not want to be in the shoes of someone where the person they loved no longer remembered them. As for character interacting the most, Cara and Richie because that entire premise of one person remembering and the other not makes for a really tense and awkward situation. It's hard to tell where it's going to go. What I like about the art is the palettes of color chosen, since there's some beautiful scenery as well as fantastic contrasts when needed to make certain moments pop (like dream vs. reality).

As for the story content, what I actually like the most is that Cara is a flawed protagonist. I've read a lot of stories where the protagonist is always 100% right in the relationship and is just eternally the victim because society pressure. But Cara has a lot more going on, since she's clearly been at fault in some interactions, and while we can sympathize with people pressuring her into relationships, she also maybe takes it too far by being avoidant of basically every relationship. However, since she has these traits, I'm more invested into her personal dilemmas since she'll actually make mistakes when dealing with stuff. Which I think this is the overall strength of the comic. Cara is just a damn good protagonist who is easily likeable but isn't perfect and whose imperfections are not just brushed off so easily.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

;_; .... thank you.

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I love the story so far! When I first started, I figured it would be some sort of awkward story where Richie comes into the real world and he has to figure out how to, like, act natural, and hilarity ensues. But holy cow, Cara losing her memories, and the slide into somewhat of a horror angle - it's not something I expected (though admittedly I could have read the synopsis lol), but it's definitely something I like!(edited)

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Do you think the people around Cara were right to try and pressure her into a relationship? Overall, what do you think the comic has to say about relationships and the themes regarding relationship pressure?

10. Is what Cara experiencing dream or reality, and where is the line between them in this case? Additionally, why do you think her dreams have the potential to become reality as opposed to other people? Also, what is the overall message underlying these themes?

11. Is Richie really just a dream Cara dreamt up, or is there something more to him? If he somehow makes it to Cara’s world, do you think he’ll be able to adjust to that reality? Also, can he win Cara over?

12. What do you think the Cara imposter is about, and what does this have to do with the entire situation? Do you think Cara will eventually remember her dreams? Lastly, what do you think Cara has in store for her as the story continues?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

9. I personally don’t think it was great of the people in Cara’s life to pressure her like that. Sure, they mean well, but it’s most likely bringing Cara’s self esteem down by a lot. I have a feeling that her dreams/reality colliding together is partially motivated by that; the pressure of pleasing society has made her....subconsciously take drastic measures?

10. I’m actually not sure! Maybe there’s a supernatural explanation to it, or it could all just be a dream. Dreams have a way of showing a person’s innermost desires or fears, so maybe Cara’s desires and fears are coming alive in response to external stress factors. So perhaps she opened a portal of sorts between the realms in some way (there’s a key!!!!).

11. Oh I’m thinking they might end up together. But the realist inside me thinks...perhaps what Cara needs isn’t romantic love, but more independent love and being able to love herself. What DOES worry me, however, is the fact that Richie seems...a bit desperate for Cara to like him. Is there a condition to his love after all? If so, that means that it’s possible he’s forced in some way to love her or make her love him. And that’s not really conducive to romance, is it?

12. Ah...the thing that makes me mystified the most. Cara seems to have a negative view of herself, since she told her to get out in the end of chapter two. However, Cara #2 seems to be pretty helpful; knocking on the door to tell her to get out of the house (which Richie has her in), so in a way letting her out. While our Cara seems to dislike her a lot, I think the key to the story would be our Cara needing to accept this double Cara to be really free. Maybe she will, maybe she won’t! But from what I can see from the story and like I’ve said earlier...maybe Cara needs to be able to find love within herself. Love for that Cara double, and enough love to become independent and not bend to society’s overwhelming pressure for outside romance. I hope she finds that as the story comes along, and know that it’s okay to not be ready for love.

As for Richie...hmm. He’s dealing with an amnesiac heroine, and adjusting to the real world. I’m sure it’s going to lead to some hilarious hijinks, but hopefully he can manage! He seems up to the task

RebelVampire

I think whether people were right to pressure Cara is a tricky gray area. On the one hand, no, they were wrong. Nobody should be forced into a relationship. But on the other hand, if you know a person is actively self-sabotaging, isn't it more correct to speak up? So to me this is maybe a situation of good intentions with bad execution. However, I do think overall the comic does say pressuring people into relationships sucks and plz don't do that cause that's how you make ppl run further away. I think it's both, because a dream is reality in a sense. I think many of us have had dreams that caused real emotional affects, whether negative or positive. So the line between them is merely the fact effects are limited. Cara have may have just found a way to cross that line and make a dream a tangible thing that has more consequences. As for why her dreams, I don't know. Maybe she's just super good at dreaming. I do think as the overall message though is that dreams are good but not when we get lost in them, because then we idealize and reject "reality" in ways that aren't healthy. I do think Richie is primarily something Cara dreamt up, but kind of not maybe. Like sure maybe Cara is idea creator, but something else was involved in making the physical reality of that idea. As for Richie adjusting to Cara's world, I'm sure it will be laughably hilarious. I do think he can sort of win Cara over, at least in the sense of being friends. Cause how can you hate Richie? I'm taking a shot in the dark and saying Cara imposter is the embodiment of Cara's missing memories but since they're just memories, all they can do is imitate. As for Cara remembering, I feel like it will be yes but I kind of want it to be no. I like the idea of them having to reform a relationship entire from scratch.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Oo good impressions! I wish I have more to say but it would affect the story LOL. Enjoyed reading everyone's theories tho!

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Ok my turn, let's see what my head theories are: 9: I felt the same annoyance as Cara but it's a mixed feeling, Even though, people shouldn't pressure a lady on her love life, she also has a problem with being in relationships. Or I remember one quote from the story was how she 'ditched her dates by rushing to the bathroom.' although I don't know her circumstance, I do know she has issues to settle too. Relationship pressure is real, especially as a young person grows older. 10. From the comic visuals, it feels much like it's her escapism dream. The only clue I got, is that her holding a literal 'key' connecting both worlds, is evidence that both world could collide. So far, we haven't seen other people's dreams, or whether this is an unusual occurrence in the world? It seems to be a message about idealistic relationships. Since Cara seem to turn away real ones, it manifested? 11. I'm curious about Richie's character too. He seems like a powerful imagination, enough to sway the lead, so he's more than a simple figment. I wonder if his submissive, flirtatious (?) personality was build in him. He doesn't seem to have a 'life' outside his dream house, or so far. 12. I'm not sure whether the 'Other Cara' might be trying to help her or is that.. actually a shadow side? I don't want to say too much, but it's interesting to see where the story goes.(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

Oh! You make a good point about Richie; I never thought about that! Do you think maybe he's simply a part of Cara and eventually gains his own sentience/personality?

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

Hehe I like analyzing dreams :3 In dream theory, I feel he could be? I was more skeptical whether he should be treated as a real character or something else.(edited)

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

man this does make me want to look up dream psychology

i have a feeling...Tuyetnhi is using some theories from that

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Hmmmm dream psychology you say?

I guess you can say there's some elements of that, but it's not a major chunk of it if that makes sense lol

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

13. Maintaining the will power to finish OIYD! so I can see it as its end lmao. As a passion project but also something that I want to invest in when I have the time, I hope ya'll looking forward in reading Ch. 3 very soon lol.

shadowhood (SunnyxRain)

13. I really want to see how both Cara and Richie will develop as characters. Whether Cara will figure out for herself what being both independent means....and whether she does want a relationship for herself and not for other people. Likewise with Richie, I want to see if he'll be able to be his own person...and whether he's real or not. I have a lot of questions that I want to be answered, and I can't wait to keep reading.

14. Tuyetnhi, good luck on the webcomic. It's hard to start one and even harder to pull off a good one, and I know yours is a good one. I really look forward to reading more from you. You're amazing (edited)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

thank you

Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]

13. I'm interested in learning more about Cara's conflicts, why she is hesitant about having a real relationship vs her dream one? I love the unexpected dark twist that the story seems to be going. 14. I want to say, no pressure and take your time to complete the chapter. Just know you have my support and willing to read when it is ready. Good luck

RebelVampire

I'm looking forward to more Richie being Richie. Because he is an adorable person. And also because I'm waiting for some 'reality' culture shock. My final words are that this comic has a strong themes game going on and an intriguing premise, so it'll be fun to see where the comic is in a few more chapters since I'm pretty sure we're in for a wild ride.

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Only In Your Dreams! this week! Please also give a special thank you to Tuyetnhi Pham for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Only In Your Dreams!, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://oiydcomic.com/

Tuyetnhi’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oiydcomic

Tuyetnhi’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tuyetnhip

Tuyetnhi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/tuyetnhip

[swishandflickwit]

my weary heart has come to rest in yours (i found my way home) — 1/1

Summary: "I don't get it," Katara purses her lips, befuddlement clear in the furrow of her brows as she turns to him. "You'd think the Fire Nation would know such an important detail about their own prince."

The Gaang wonders why the Fire Nation doesn't seem to know much about Zuko, like maybe where his scar should be? It opens up a lot of questions that they want answered. Zuko, on the other hand, just wants to sleep.

Rating: General Audiences

Words: 5.7k

Warnings:  unbeta’d, zuko-centric, post-ember island players, pre-sozin's comet, zuko gets a hug (as he deserves), non-canon compliant (more like canon adjacent lol), ember island

AN: working title: obligatory the gaang finds out about zuko's scar fic // alt title: a pocket of happiness for my children

title from: Ride Home by Ben&Ben

Also on: ff.net | AO3

Other writing

The atmosphere amongst the occupants of the beach house is sullen and cross following their night out in the theater. 

It isn’t lost on them that the edifice they have come to know as their solace belongs to the very monster man who brought upon their 'deaths'. The certainty that it had all been a fictionalized retelling was not enough to temper even the echo of the crowd’s rabid enthusiasm as they cheered the demise of the Avatar and his friends, nor erase the visceral image of the thespian Fire Lord standing before his adoring subjects—triumphant in his accomplishment of world domination. 

They step through the threshold of the tyrant’s once home. The air grows thicker in acerbity.

Zuko wants to snark at them, I told you they’d butcher it. If he had been the person he was even a month ago perhaps he would have, but the words wither in his throat. The scene of him engulfed in Azula’s flames, however fake or fantasized, sears across his mind on relentless repeat so that it is more selfish entreaty than consideration that has him abstaining from permeating the burdensome silence with his signature brand of pessimism—realism.

Dinner is an equally stilted affair, the only sound to be heard is the clob of chopsticks against wooden bowls and the crackling of the campfire solemnly harmonizing with the occasional sigh of dejection.

This, however, does not last too long.

He supposes he should have seen it coming. This is the boy who offered his friendship at the slightest show of goodness from him. The Avatar is as buoyant in his movements as his element. Though Zuko has come to learn when it comes to his disposition, it is more alacrity than air that has him flitting from one emotion to another, ensuring he never dallies in his worries for too long.

So when Aang bellows, "That's it!" as he discards his bowl with a careless flick, the remains of his uneaten congee spilling carelessly across the cobblestones of the courtyard, Zuko doesn't so much as blink at his latest antics.

He is more surprised at Sokka's indignant huff seeing as it is the first sound he's made in the past two hours (which is subsequently also the quietest he's ever witnessed the other boy to be in all the time he's known him) since they've arrived. 

"I would have eaten that," Sokka mutters irately.

(It is fitting however, that this should be the commentary to break his speechless strike.)

"I mean, what's the big deal? It was just a stupid play!” Aang exclaims emphatically, his voice cracking in his vehemence. “If anything, we should be laughing our butts off—that writer obviously didn't know what he was talking about!"

"Speak for yourself, Twinkletoes," Toph chuckles. "I happened to enjoy my portrayal. It was wrong, sure, but what did you expect from a patchwork of second-hand accounts combined with your regular sprinkling of Fire Nation propaganda? It was dumb, but that was the point. You all know the truth, don't you? Quit being such wet blankets about it already."

After having heard a similar iteration from Toph earlier, Zuko finds no offense from the jibe. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the rest of his companions, save Aang—though even his propensity for optimism appears ready to float away on the next gust of wind.

"At least you were in the play," Suki offers, good-naturedly, if not a bit feebly.

"I think I'd rather just not be in it altogether, if it means I'd have to be depicted like—" Katara shudders before grumbling, as if there truly are no words for that disaster of a parody, "...that."

Zuko wholeheartedly seconds her sentiments.

"Toph's right though!" Aang blusters on, and it all seems rather void but he admires the kid's pluck. "In fact, I think we should all take this opportunity to look back on our adventures—"

Zuko groans. Frankly, he doesn't want to think too much about what it said about him that the Avatar's evasion tactics had relied mostly on improvisation and sheer, dumb luck than calculated military strategy and cunning.

"Or maybe we should just not."

"But Zuko," Aang turns big, round, pleading eyes at him. "Aren't you at least a little curious about what really happened? Not even Toph's heard about half of what we were up to before she joined up with us!"

"You were idiots then, and you're only just a little bit now," Toph snarks. "What else is there to know?"

"Toph," warns Katara just as Sokka sputters, "Hey!"

"It might be good for morale," Suki suggests gently. "I know I could use a pick-me-up."

Zuko gets along with Suki—at least, as well as he is able to get along with anyone. Still, he can't help but shoot her a betrayed glance following her pronouncement. Zuko just wants to sleep, but he should have known better. The minute he starts wanting things is usually the moment they float out of reach.

Suki smiles back unrepentantly, so he sighs in resignation and straps himself down for a long night of reliving his failures (again) and listening to their tales.

"I am a pretty gifted storyteller," Sokka puffs his chest then starts stroking oddly at his face, particularly the area at the sides of his mouth.

Okay? he ponders with a large heaping of confusion.

"That's the spirit, Sokka!" Aang exclaims, but before Sokka can thank him much less get a word in, Aang launches into the story of how the Water Tribe siblings actually found him. Unsurprisingly, it involves less tears—"By which Sokka means no tears!"—and an infuriated Katara and that, he can believe.

Zuko doesn't anticipate being spoken to for the rest of the night. At best, he is a mere purveyor of their communal fire. At worst, an engaged and enthusiastic reaction to the boys' avid narration will be expected of him. And as socially inept as he may be, he has enough tact to refrain from volunteering his side of the events. Even with the amends he's made, he hardly thinks it would encourage rapport to rhapsodize about a time they had been on separate sides at all, no matter how early it had been in their acquaintance. Zuko would (very much) like to retire at some point in the evening without having to worry about suffocating in his sleep.

(He hasn't had that concern for two weeks now, it was practically a new record.)

So imagine his surprise when the focus shifts to him. Toph, much to his mortification, recounts his outburst at being told by a child decked out in derisory Avatar robes (that had to be illegal, right?) that the scar on his 'Prince Zuko costume' was on the wrong side.

"I don't get it," Katara purses her lips, befuddlement clear in the furrow of her brows as she turns to him. "You'd think the Fire Nation would know such an important detail about their own prince."

"Yeah, Sparky." Toph stomps over from the opposite side of their circle to plop down beside him with all the grace of a landslide. "I didn't even know you had a scar until tonight!" She pokes aimlessly at his right cheek. "What gives?"

He stares at her agog before realizing she has no way of deciphering his countenance. So, he responds by addressing Katara's comment instead.

"I don't see why they would," he shrugs. "I'm sure by the time they heard, if they heard about it at all, I had long been banished."

"I'm confused," Aang rubs his head contemplatively. "If you're banished, what's with all the wanted posters? I thought being banished meant you had to stay away, but then they also want to imprison you? You're their prince, it doesn't make sense!"

"Come to think of it," Suki muses, "Why were you banished in the first place?"

"Hold up," Sokka did that thing where he stroked the sides of his face again—seriously, what was up with that?—"I've always wondered, how come you were branded a traitor way before you even joined us? Reading your poster wasn't exactly at the top of our to-do list."

Katara interjects with, "And what were you doing so far out in the South Pole that day we found Aang, anyway?" while Toph reminds him, "Plus, that still doesn't explain why your people don't seem to know anything about you or your scar." 

A headache begins forming at his temples from the barrage of questions. He sighs in vexation before regarding Katara.

"Isn't it obvious? What did you think I was doing? I wasn't exactly sailing around for a vacation destination." Then lowly, somberly, at Toph, "And they haven't been my people," he rubs subconsciously at his marred flesh—mind flitting to that war room—always, always there—and to a whole division of loyal soldiers that in the end, he arrogantly assumed he could defend yet ultimately failed to protect. "Not for a long time."

There is silence in the wake of his disclosure, punctuated by the crackle of the tinder as it is disturbed by the gale gusting in from the beach, and an unnameable terseness that fills the air.

"Why—" he's not sure why he whispers, but it feels appropriate given their stricken expressions. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

Suki ultimately is the one to brave breaking the taut stillness, staring at him with purpose.

"Zuko, when—who—" she stutters with what he speculates is an uncharacteristic timidity. That is until she gathers herself with a deep breath, the query crystallizing on her exhalation.

"How did you get your scar?"

It occurs to him, belatedly, that he may have said too much.

"I don't see how it matters," he retorts, hoping the curtness in his delivery puts an end to this inquisition.

But Zuko never did have much luck getting what he wanted.

(No, he broods with a bitterness he wishes he didn't harbor so much, Azula made sure of that.)

"We don't want to upset you—"

"So don't."

Undeterred, Katara finishes in tonalities as soothing as the morning tide, "But it helps to talk about things that might have hurt you."

Around him, the pressure builds. A deadly gas awaiting a fuse.

"Oh, 'it helps,' does it?" he snarls, rage thrumming like wildfire in his veins—igniting his body, and detonating through his next words. "And who exactly does it help, huh? You sure it's my best interests you have at heart? Or—I know! You wanna know my weaknesses, keep the big, bad fire bender on a leash!" He throws his head back, some facsimile of a laugh escaping his lips. "Unless, of course, you're just saying that to satisfy your insatiable need to mother everyone."

Boom.

"Please, I haven't had a mother in years," and he hates it, he hates how it is his voice now that breaks and his body wilts as the violent cloud of his fury dissipates—all the rancorous contention leaking out of him. "I don't need your ridicule or your pity. I've been fine on my own."

And this is the moment he loses everything, he is convinced. Because this is what Zuko does, and what he is best at. His fingers are but sieves from which good things slip. All of him is a razor blade destined to pierce any that would dare come close. He is downfall personified, he is a plague.

This is how it should be, he reasons, cut him now as they would a festering infection.

(As his father, his sister, his mother, would.)

For broken things beget broken things, and they deserve better than to have him bring ruin upon them all.

But then a hand—hands—ground him, keep him rooted, keep him still.

"Well then," Sokka avers, with his special brand of genial but no less poignant solemnity. "It's a good thing we aren't in the business of dishing out pity. Isn't that right, gang?" He clasps his right shoulder, the gesture teeming with meaning though Zuko is the last person to decode it.

"Ridicule, on the other hand…" Toph snickers. Katara sends her an affronted glare before realizing the futility of such an action. She sighs her discontent instead, before returning her attention to him.

"And you're not anymore," Katara says with an earnestness that confounds Zuko to discover is directed at him. "On your own, that is."

"I don't understand," and truly he doesn't. He knows it is not their way to spill blood (barring Katara's commimation during his early days in the Western Air Temple, which was more than fair), but this is the first he's lost his temper in front of them for no valid reason. His choleric speech had their bonfire flaring with every harsh and erratic breath he expelled, sure signs of his waning control. "Aren't you going to kick me out? At least put me in chains!"

Katara's hand joins Sokka's on his opposite side as she approaches him from behind. He has to crane his neck to ascertain her aghast mien. "For what? For being angry? For talking out of turn?"

(It always boils down to this, doesn't it? Agni, why couldn't he ever just keep his mouth shut for once in his miserable life?)

"I'm sorry," he mumbles, because he is and he doesn't know what the right thing to do or say is.

"I know," Katara smiles, but there is something desolate in the curl of her lips. "You always are," she sighs. "I'm sorry, too."

Her thumb brushes back and forth across the nape of his neck and he would have started at the unfamiliar touch if her apology hadn't already caught him off guard. In truth, this entire night has been an anomaly with how quickly they all have made his head spin in the last few minutes alone.

"You're sorry?" he gapes, genuine bafflement coloring his articulation. "Why?"

"For pushing you to talk about what I should have known was a sensitive topic." It's her turn to squeeze his shoulder. "I really am sorry."

"There's nothing to forgive," he stammers, for there honestly isn't. He's still trying to get over the fact he received an apology, let alone that anyone sought a dispension of forgiveness. From him.

"Katara's maternal instincts and overbearing need to talk about one's feelings can be annoying. Believe me, I know."

"Gee. Thanks, Toph," Katara deadpans.

"But she's right," Toph's roughened hands encircle his left forearm. Compared to the siblings, her grip is near painful, as if to dig in her point. "Bottling it up, burying your emotions… it'll only hurt you more."

"But it doesn't hurt," he insists, stubbornly ignoring the waver in his importunity as his palm spans the breadth of his ragged scar. "It doesn't."

"We're not talking about the hurt there," Katara grazes cool fingers from his back to his front, before placing it prostrate and precise. "We're talking about the one here."

Right atop his heart.

"The monks have a saying," Aang has since nestled on his knees in front of Zuko. Without him noticing, their entire circle has gotten closer so that he is at the center—warm bodies surrounding him from all sides, little planets orbiting the sun.

"Holding onto anger is a lot like holding onto hot coals that you mean to throw at someone else. In the end, you're the one who gets burned."

"What do you want from me?" he questions wearily though he knows the answer.

"Nothing," Katara assuages. "Nothing you aren't willing to give."

"And we know you're a fire bender, buddy, but don't you think a fire shared is a village warmed?" Sokka grins encouragingly before sobering. "Maybe you don't want to, but I think you may need this. You've got all this—this—pent-up frustration inside you. I can't believe we never noticed it before, it's practically oozing out of you! Like pus from a boil!"

Zuko grimaces. "Thanks, Sokka."

Unfazed, he goes on. "Don't tell me you've had someone to talk about this with. I can't imagine you and Azula sitting round a campfire having a heart-to-heart."

You'd be surprised, Zuko thinks, if that night of confessions at the beachside counted at all.

"There's still so much we don't know about you," Aang adds. "We just want to understand."

"But, why?" he blurts, frustration mounting again like a forest fire. He is desperate to fathom their persistence, to decipher the motives behind their inexplicably lambent eyes, their magnanimous looks and their delicate tones. 

"Because we're your friends, Zuko," Suki murmurs while everyone makes their approval known one way or another. "Sharing burdens is kinda what we do."

Oh, he thinks dumbly, Oh.

"It doesn't make for a pleasant bedtime story," he states with an almost believable clinical detachment, steadfastly ignoring the pounding of his heart at her proclamation of friendship. "And it's heavy. This is a load I wouldn't wish on anyone."

"All the better," Katara chirps, settling with her knees aside behind him, "that there's five of us then, right?"

Perhaps it is the security found amongst the shadows of the eventide that loosens his tongue. Perhaps it is that Zuko is just too exhausted, figuring that the fastest way to reach his bed is to simply not argue. It might even be the contentment that Aang and Sokka's adage brings him, the closest taste of home he's had since his separation from the person whom he now knows, without question, he loves most in this world. Or maybe it is simply time , here, on this island, the ghost of dual timbres wisened with age—and it can help you understand yourselves—ringing in his ears. And so beneath a collective scrutiny of ingrained amity and determined tolerance and encouragement and just… goodness.

He begins his tale.

He speaks until his already hoarse voice grows even hoarser, the words clumsy and stilted on his tongue, unused as he is to telling his story—along with the extensive range of sensations that come with it, and the illimitable memories it incites within him, some sentimental while others he would rather forget altogether. 

He speaks of a mother's love lending him both strength and weakness, of how it should have been enough yet still could never outweigh his longing for the love of a father who scorns him, of a sister he adored until she, too, eventually saw him as nothing more than a hindrance, then an enemy. He speaks of an uncle whose favor brought him places he knew he ought to be but secretly did not think he deserved, of advice dispensed wisely and discarded carelessly, of a compassion that flamed so bright within him a King saw it as too untamable to remain, and so he snuffed it out with a fiery hand to his face. He spoke of lonely years with nothing but sky and sea and the musings of an old man over tea as his only company, of a path he knew deep down had been aimless yet it was all he could hold on to because it was a reminder that he was still real.

"Three years," Suki mouths, devastation written so plainly upon her profile Zuko couldn't bear to look at her. "He had you chasing a ghost for three years."

"So… so what you said… about losing your honor?" Katara mutters wetly, and if that isn't evidence enough of her sorrow then surely, the unceasingly dampening spots between his shoulder blades are.

He winces at the flashback her inquest incites, shaking his head in internal, forlorn reproach. His shame galvanizes him enough to want to explicate his reasonings out loud, for if there is absolution to be found in his ramblings then all the more reason to try.

"For so long, I fooled myself into believing that finding the Avatar meant regaining my honor. It never occurred to me until recently that honor wasn't something that could be taken away from you. It's something you earn for yourself," he sighs despondently. "Some days though, it wasn't even about honor—I just wanted to go home. But more than anything, my father led me to believe that if I captured you then I would finally, finally have his approval—his love," he shakes his head before releasing a hollow chuckle. "What a stupid thought."

"No, no it wasn't stupid!" Toph exclaims. "It's a parent's job to love their kid. And even then it's not supposed to be conditional!"

"I can't believe he would—that he'd bur—" Aang cuts himself off with a jerk, as if the word, burn, is a most foul curse that would be invoked at the slightest whisp. Zuko doesn't dissuade him. There was a time when he felt the same way, too.

"His own son," Aang finishes dazedly, his face a river of tears, a torrent with no signs of abating.

"I'm sorry," Zuko tries again, a little alarmed now at the frequency of watery displays before him. "I didn't mean to make you sad. Oh," in his panic, he thumbs impetuously at the stray droplets coursing down the arch of Toph's cheeks. In this light, she looks exactly her age, so young and slight, yet so contrary to what he knows of the mighty and unflappable earth bender. A pang goes through his chest that he could ever be cause for her melancholy, for any of theirs. "Please don't cry."

"You first," Toph replies, inconceivably subdued and gentle as she reaches up to frame his face. Zuko holds his breath when he assumes she will palm at his scar, which she does. But there is no judgement there, only indubitable acceptance, and comfort, as she brushes roughly at the tears he didn't even know he's shed.

"Oh," he repeats, not for the first, and certainly not for the last, time tonight.

Suki sniffs. "He doesn’t deserve you."

Sokka abruptly declares in hard intonations, "I'm gonna kill him—" 

Before he can completely swear his intent, the water in the fountain behind them solidifies into menacingly pointy shards while the earth underneath them trembles dangerously.

"Get in line," Katara hisses darkly at the same time Toph grunts, "Not if I get to him first!"

Sokka's eyes are red-rimmed and gleaming. Still, he announces with a fair amount of acid in his inflection, "I know how you feel about this Aang, but you better hold me back when the time comes cause if I get my hands on that crazy, stupid, son-of-a—"

Zuko lurches forward to cover Aang's ears.

"Sokka!"

It seems the contact is all the incentive Aang needs to throw his arms around Zuko. The fire bender isn't expecting the extra ninety pounds and for all four, gangly limbs to wrap around him like a pentapus so he has no choice but to fall back to accommodate the extra weight, his head landing on Katara's lap as Aang does his utmost to actually meld himself onto his body. 

"Slothdog pile?" Toph asks unnecessarily and with a gargantuan amount of glee that the shift in mood gives him whiplash. "No way I'm not getting in on this!"

Toph burrows her head onto his hip, knocking Aang's leg aside as she commandeers Zuko's own left leg like a body pillow. It appears to be all the permission everyone else has been seeking as well, for like dominoes they begin falling into place around him. Katara tucks his head a little more securely on her thigh before leaning her upper body against the lip of the fountain at her back while Suki lists against Sokka who leans his head onto Zuko's right shoulder. 

"What—what's happening right now?" he doesn't want to appear too scandalized but he is at a loss for what to do with his limbs, outstretched as they are on either side of him. The Royal family didn't do touch, much less hug. The gesture became even more scarce when his mother… when she was gone, and though his uncle was a lot more free with his affections, it still hadn't warranted familiarity. His muscles contract at the overwhelming amount of contact.

"I wouldn't think too hard." Above him, there are traces of moisture on her visage but Katara chuckles, fond and ebullient now, much to his relief. "Just go with the flow."

"Says the water bender to the fire bender," he bites back weakly, which only fuels Katara's amusement.

Aang fastens his hold around the prince's torso, and he tenses even more.

"You know your dad's wrong, right, Zuko?"

"About what?" he quips sarcastically, but is surprised by the ardency in their antiphon.

"About everything," Aang counters fiercely. "Like, yeah, you chased us all over the world but you never aimed to kill!"

With his lineage it feels like a low bar but he nods his acknowledgement and his gratitude.

"You didn't save me from the pirates, but you kept them from… touching me," her tone is as algid as the glaciers of her homeland, but the rattle of Katara's bones is so prominent that he shakes along with her. "It could have gone a lot worse."

"I wouldn't do you that dishonor," he whispers brokenly, sick at the scenarios he can so acutely guess is conquering her imagination, it's own horrific play dancing along her features.

"I know," she reciprocates, just as gravely, "I know that now."

"You kept your promise. You could have come back, razed our village—"

"And mine," Suki joins Sokka.

"But you didn't."

He frowns. "Those days, my word was the only currency I had that was worth trading." 

He doesn't like how they make it—him—sound. Every decent deed he had fulfilled in pursuit of the Avatar was done so as a courtesy mostly to himself. If he was to regain his honor, he had to act with as much honor as his, admittedly dastardly-to-begin-with, mission could provide. Now, Zuko isn't exactly an authority—even on his good days—on altruism but he could at least recognize that in those moments, any clemency administered had been the right thing to do.

"Anyone would have done the same," he defends faintly, then immediately wishes he could take it back when Katara growls.

"No, Zuko," she clenches quivering fingers around the ubiquitous pendant adorning her neck. "No, they wouldn't."

"It's more than that, though," Aang asserts imploringly. "It's just you. It's so obvious, how did we ever not see it before now? It's who you are," he takes a deep breath, the wisdom of a thousand others before him laying siege in his every movement, every syllable. "And who you are is the most honorable guy we know."

He does a double-take.

"You… you really think that?" He shakes his head in frantic incredulity, blood roaring like a storm through his veins. "All of you?"

He looks at each of them in bewilderment—lingers especially on Aang, at the roundness of his cheeks that should be testament to his naiveté yet so contrary to the maturity shadowing his bearing—as if he can divine their rationale through sight alone. He doubts them, and it makes him feel older than sixteen, his cynicism a pallium shackled to his shoulders. But there is a chorus of devout agreeance, Aang's hope a living, tangible thing that he gives to Zuko freely. He fumbles. He doesn't trust the fervor with which it sets him aglow (metaphorically and physically, it would seem, as Sokka comments mildly, "Wow, you're like a heated blanket with how warm you are. Hey, why didn't we think of doing this before?"), but Zuko—even with his infinite skepticism—cannot find it in his fractured heart to reject it.

"Zuko?" Aang prompts, raising his head so he can catch his eye, gray and gold colliding in an affable display of security. "You believe us, don't you?"

"Yeah," Zuko reassures, albeit timorously. He takes a bracing, meditative breath before releasing it, sinking into the downy cosset of their affections as he turns his head to Katara's stomach, lowers his arms to clutch Suki and Sokka closer, bundles Aang on his chest with his heated breath, and secures Toph to his side with a hand to her back. Then, stronger, "Yeah, I guess I do."

When he decided to share his tumultuous past, he thought that he might shatter and they would rejoice at the gravity of his turmoil. But he should have known better than to assume his friends—and how marvelous a notion, to think that he of all people would have a group he is honored to name as such his own—will let him. He knows Suki had called themselves so earlier, but he doesn't quite believe it. Not until now.

"We won't let him touch you again."

It is said through a yawn as one by one, they nod off, until only Zuko and Katara are left to drift close to the edge of lethargy. She strokes tenderly at his hair, so reminiscent of his mother that he feels a familiar burning in his eyes and a lump at the back of his throat once more, all from the simple motion—or so he tells himself.

"Sleep, Zuko," she sweeps away the strands at his forehead before impressing upon it a tender kiss. "No one will hurt you. Not anymore, not ever."

Zuko can take care of himself. The way he's brought up, he's had to. Beyond that, they are at the very front lines of a war—any day, any second, could mean the last for them and they would have no way of knowing until it is upon them, so Katara's asseveration should not have brought him the relief it did. If anything, he should have denied it with the same dose of pessimism realism he approaches most everything in his life. 

But perhaps, just this once, he will allow himself the privilege of their refuge. He will allow himself to believe in the vehemency of their promise.

I just wanted to go home, he had said. And this is not a place he pictured himself ever being in, trivialized to a mere furnace, yet strangely he finds he does not mind it (not that he would ever divulge this forthright), not even a little bit. The struggle and strife of his history, of his present, are unchanged, but an effervescence envelops him in spite of the five bodies weighing him down.

Maybe even because of them.

He closes his eyes when Katara has another go at running her fingers through his hair. He can almost conjure the ghost of his mother's smile when she used to employ the same tactics to lull him to slumber. He thinks of his uncle, mistifying and genteel and terrifying and loving all at once, sitting vigil at his bedside when fever and delirium took him during those early days of recovery, and long after then, whether or not he admitted to his desire for him to stay. He compares this house and everything it represents—a relic to his family's happiness—to this strangely colorful and caring mismatch of a rugged group that someway, somehow, just manages to fit perfectly into his arms. He tightens his embrace, and it suddenly hits him.

He supposes home was something he could carry with him all along.

"Sleep," Katara hums.

And so he does.

-//////-

Later, much later, when the power from the comet has receded to the faintest of throbs, and his sister is sedated and heavily guarded while his father is in chains at the bottom of the most isolated prison in the Fire Nation, their fates to be decided in the coming weeks by a tribunal composed of the remaining leaders from all nations—when he retires to his room in lieu of that of the Fire Lord's (despite the mantle and all it entails, both the sordid and the noble, falling solely onto his shoulders), and he sports yet another scar, a burn, that he will bear just as proudly as the first and more fiercely than even his eminent title, for there was no higher honor than protecting a friend—when his uncle has resumed his seat, snoring soundly and deservedly on an armchair at the side of his vast four-poster, always at his side as if they had never parted for even one second, and he is sandwiched between his two most favorite twelve-year olds in the world, Toph as unmindful of his injury as one would expect her to be when she plants her sleep-dead body right atop his chest, and Aang entirely all too much, curled into a ball that hardly breaches his space, apart from his head as he dozes lightly on his shoulder—when Sokka and Suki are passed out at the foot of his bed, his leg a pillow for their weary heads and their bodies as tangled onto each other despite Sokka's own bandaged leg (like the kindred souls he knows them to be, like magnets helpless against each other's pull), and Katara has expelled the last of her curative waters on him, much to his insistence that he doesn't need it any longer, before she sinks into the only unoccupied space above him on his bed—when they lie there in the first quiet they've achieved since they all adjourned here, their heads touching and their breathing in sync—he opens his eyes.

"You did it, Zuko," Katara's voice is a susurrant trill tinged with exaltation and pride. "You're home."

As he does then, he does again now, and tightens his hold—a hand to steady Aang's lolling head, another at Toph's back to still her fitful body, his leg pushing to burrow the blanket further into Suki's side, and the fireplace flaring with his breath to heat the figures he cannot reach. The difference in this embrace, however, is in the absence of doubt and the lack of fear, replaced with all the affluence of his adoration—unhindered and abounding.

"Yeah."

It is his turn to press a kiss onto her forehead, lips moving tired but no less grateful and indulgent. 

Cradled in the warmth of everyone he loves and cares about, he is quite inclined to agree.

"I am home."

-//////-

AN: "Holding on to anger is like grasping on hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets hurt." —Buddha

i feel like you aren't part of the atla fandom and the zuko nation until you crank out one of these lmao. listen, listen, the beach gets cold at night so i just always picture these kids a pile of tired, sleeping limbs at the end of every day and all huddling into the only free source of heat, no fire required. let me live in this world.

come say hi to me!

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

“Us” (2019) - Thoughts (SPOILERS!)

So I watched Jordan Peele’s “Us” today at the cinema and I just need to get some stuff off my chest about it because I went alone and have no one to discuss it with xD

Please do NOT read if you want to avoid SPOILERS!!!!

This movie creeped the fuck out of me - it wasn’t a particularly jumpscare-filled movie but it was creepy as fuck

So the movie opens with Adelaide going to this funfair/amusement park and wandering off into a house of mirrors. There she meets an exact clone of herself (Red) and she’s not the same since. She’s traumatized and can’t really speak about it, though they say she takes up dance or something as a way to express herself

That opening with the creepy choir music and rabbits? What the fuck? I did not need that nightmare fuel?? :))

I literally had no idea about the amount of tunnels that are apparently under America but woW OKAY THAT’S NOT UNSETTLING AT ALL

Fast forward to present day and she’s an adult with a husband and kids, and they’re at the beach where the above stuff happened, and she’s super freaked out about it.

The Tyler family are literally so white privilege - and I say that as a white person. It’s fucking hilarious. “It’s vodka o’clock” - lmao that really is such a white thing to say

Also the twins?? They were Ross and Rachel’s daughter, Emma, in Friends when they were babies?? 

I actually liked most of the humour to be honest, it kind of lulled you into a false sense of security

Zora pretending to turn off her phone and then continuing to use it once her mom had gone was so relatable tbh

I probably shouldn’t have taken my glasses off and redone my hair at the exact moment the Tethered people showed up because I’m blind as a bat and it was a blur for a full minute whilst I tried to rearrange my goddamn headband

Pluto (Jason’s ‘Other/Tethered’ person) was literally so fucking creepy; maybe it was the mask, maybe the movements, maybe everything put together...but holy S H I T. NIGHTMARE FUEL

The story that Red was telling about the shadow?? Y I K E S. 

Also Red needs to drink some water, it was super unsettling

I’m never going to look at scissors the same way again

Yo the Tylers getting murdered happened so fast WTAF 

Love how we were tricked into “oh they’re out there?? oh no they’re not, haha cool...fUCK o_O”

I probably should not have laughed so hard when Kitty called out to “Ophelia” to “phone the police” and it went “now playing fuck the police” XD

Also “Ophelia”?? I see you with your “Alexa” parody, movie!

Can I just say that the twins and their Tethered selves doing gymnastics freaked me out way more than anything else in any other horror movie yIKES

The scene where Kitty’s doppelgänger (Dahlia I think?) puts on lipstick, goes to hurt Adelaide but then cuts her own face open instead and laughs?? Literal chills, man

Being a gore fan, I really appreciate the sheer amount of blood in this film, 11/10 high-key recommend 

I can’t believe that every time we eat anything, the Tethered versions of ourselves have to eat raw rabbit like??? gross?? definitely not having nightmares about that...

The white people’s boat is called B’Yacht’ch I fucking cannot

Also usually in horror movies, it’s a cliché that the “token black person” dies first but in this film it’s the irritating white people who all die, and all of the black family survive this is good content

The soundtrack is A+

The fight scene/dance duel scene? With the remix of “I got 5 on it”? BEAUTIFUL. POETIC CINEMA I SWEAR

THE TWIST AT THE END BYE

I am so confused and questioning everything I know, what the fuck Jordan Peele

Okay so the “twist” deserves it’s own section because bitch the FUCK

So the huge twist (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER) is that Adelaide and Red switched places right at the start of the movie - so the person who we think is Adelaide is actually Red, and vice versa

I’m not saying the twist was bad but I kinda knew already that Adelaide and Red were switched at the beginning of the movie - I mean the moment is heavily implied in the trailer!

I think they drop so many hints/clues throughout the film that it starts to add up quickly

First of all, the fact that Adelaide-who-is-really-Red only drinks water and barely eats anything. Like she repeatedly refuses to drink any alcohol too

It’s mentioned that Adelaide-who-is-really-Red doesn’t talk a lot, and at first it’s like “oh it’s the trauma of whatever happened in the funhouse” but then it makes sense that it’s actually Red

Adelaide-who-is-really-Red REALLY did not want to be back at that beach - again you assume it’s because “trauma” but nah, it’s because she knows what she did

The way Adelaide-who-is-really-Red killed one of the doppelgängers was kinda reminiscent of how the Tethered were killing people

The story that Red-who-is-really-Adelaide tells about giving birth to those ‘monsters’ seems oddly human for something supposedly without a soul (since she mentions that the experiments duplicated the human body but they couldn’t do the soul) - and then it’s like “...oh fuck”

Red-who-is-really-Adelaide knows that ‘real’ people eat proper food because she ate it herself; ‘real’ children get proper toys because she did too, etc. 

The reason that Red-who-is-really-Adelaide’s voice is so hoarse/raspy is because Adelaide-who-is-really-Red choked her into unconsciousness before taking her place

To add, Red-who-is-really-Adelaide is the only ‘Tethered’ who can actually talk

The fact that the beginning of the movie shows Red-who-is-really-Adelaide watching an advert for People of America on TV (the people holding hands across the country), it’s on her t-shirt when the switch happens and then that’s exactly what the Tethered start to do. Also, near the end of the film, you see her cutting up those paper-chain-people who are holding hands 

The Thriller t-shirt; right at the end of the Thriller music video, there’s the whole identity question of “is he who we think he is”? (I think)

So, here are a few gripes I had despite overall liking the movie;

It started off kinda slow, which was good in some ways because of tension and character establishment etc, but putting a whole two to three minutes opening credits thing really slowed it down a lot after the opening (though I did like the soundtrack during those credits)

Despite the switch being relatively well-done and a good twist, it just seemed really obvious after seeing the trailer

The twist sort of brought some plotholes but I’m going to bring that up in my question section in a sec since it may be intentional (you’ll know what I mean in a second)

I feel like a few times during the film, it was building up tension to be terrifying/scary but then the “punch”, as it were, came too soon to reach its full potential - like it peaked a tad too early

Finally, questions I have after the movie! (and boy, do I have questions)

Does Red-who-is-really-Adelaide not know that she’s not one of the Tethered? Did she forget completely? Like why does she want and plan to kill all “normal” humans? She must retain SOME memory because she talks about food/toys, plus the People of America/holding hands thing. 

Also does Adelaide-who-is-really-Red not remember that she’s one of the Tethered at all before the end of the film? 

The Tethered are all shadows of the “normal” people (for lack of a better phrase), so why is Adelaide-who-is-really-Red able to a) speak normally, b) dance so well, c) move more “normally”? And why does Red-who-is-really-Adelaide not move “normally” (eg. the dance parallel) when she’s “normal”?

^^ I wonder if over time they both forgot or repressed those memories, and only fragments remained. And then Adelaide-who-is-really-Red only remembers at the end that she’s actually a Tethered-person.

Adelaide-who-is-really-Red is a Tethered-person, right? So does that mean that the “normal” Zora and Jason are half-Tethered? Is that why they manage to survive so well or...?

Why does Red-who-is-really-Adelaide want to kill everyone in the outer-world? Is this supposed to reflect not separating “us” vs “them” or something? She clearly got loose from being cuffed to the bed, so why didn’t she escape after and go back home?

^Also, who uncuffed her? And why? Was it the Tethered?

Sometimes it’s like the Tethered completely mirror the “normal” versions, and then other times they don’t. Which is it? Why?

What happens next?? What is the purpose of the Tethered all holding hands in a line? What are they hoping to achieve? Are they trying to send a message?

Jason seems to realize that Adelaide-who-is-really-Red is...well, actually Red - and so does she now. What impact does this have? Is she going to go crazy and kill her family? 

Do Tethered have feelings? Or emotions? Because Adelaide-who-is-really-Red married Gabe so...? You know?

Is the fact that neither of them remember the switch that well/they both adapted supposed to signify that souls aren’t a real thing?? Because supposedly that’s what the Tethered lack?

Are there Tethered for ALL of America or just Santa Cruz? And what about the rest of the world? Do I have a Tethered-version of myself??

Finally, if there is a Tethered version of me out there, I’m sorry for eating so much since that means you’ve had to eat a fuck ton of raw rabbit :’( Please don’t kill me, we can be friends!

Overall, though, I did enjoy the movie! :)

[tranxendance]

I think Mob Psycho 100 is my favorite anime ever.

Which is a weird thing to title a post, I’ll give you that. Even my current favorites, Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist have parts of them I don’t like and I consider them 9 or 9.5′s out of 10.

I ‘think’ it’s my favorite because it’s (As time of this writing) still ongoing but it’s safe to say the last episode of season 2 isn’t going to be suddenly terrible. That, and I haven’t had months and years to stew on it before I claim it’s actually my favorite.

I tend to like things that subvert the norm, especially in the Anime business where it’s sort of expected to follow a formula and not deviate from it too much. If it worked for Akira Toriyama, it should work for us, right? The greats make a story, then everyone uses that as a skeleton to build their own very-similar story on top of it. It’s why trends and tropes are so much more noticeable in anime. Defeat-into-friendship, the tournament arc, the beach episode, power creep escalation. Sometimes, an anime will even outright take a visual theme and reuse it to trick your brain. Try to watch the Dragon Ball OP and then Yu Yu Hakusho and see how similar they are. Sometimes it’s a shot for shot copy with the YYS characters.

(They even always have the protags run from right to left the same way geez)

So, Shonen is a massively incestuous genre and it has been for 30 years or more. That’s not to say that it’s necessarily a bad thing because some shows want to ‘do it better’.

Now, ONE is a writer who sort of specializes in parody or at least subverting your expectations. You already know just by the name of the series that Saitama is going to show up and win the fight in one punch, the surprise is how hard the other characters fought before he got there, and then how instead of everyone worshipping him as a hero they harass him. So: Let’s take the shonen hero archetype. He’s physically competent, he never gives up, he has friends but never has to rely on anyone but himself, he soon surpasses his teachers if he has any, never gives up, and is righteous in his beliefs. It’s likely he has an array of ‘cool’ moves with names he can shout out, you can make action figures out of him, he’s instantly recognizable by his hair or clothing. He’s good because he’s strong and he’s strong because he’s good. I say ‘he’ because I’ve literally never seen a Shonen that didn’t have a male protagonist.

(Even my beloved Kenshiro is just...this, but again he’s sort of the archetype everyone else built on afterward)

Now along comes Mob. He’s generic looking with his dopey bowl-cut hairdo and plain black school uniform. He’s by far the most powerful psychic individually you’ll meet for the majority of the show, but he’s also a pacifist, he hates fighting and refuses to hurt other people with his powers no matter how bad and wrong they seem to be. He doesn’t really have cool lines or marketable super-moves. But most importantly of all, he is not self-reliant and tough and determined. In fact, he’s an emotional, sensitive kid that has trouble expressing himself and taking social cues from others, which makes him awkward and shy!

Ironically, of course, this sensitivity and empathy is what makes his psychic power so great, since powers come from strong emotions and he’s basically always trying not to cry. But instead of just making him able to shoot laser beams that are more powerful, his growth is that he learns how to relate with other people and make friends. When ‘defeating’ human opponents, he is deflecting their beams and telekinesis while trying to talk to them, and understand them. He’s a combat therapist. All he wants to do is either make them understand why they’re being selfish, or hurt, or afraid, and help them. This, of course, means nobody really dies and they have a REALLY good chance of turning their villainous lives around or at least becoming one of Mob’s friends.

Mob’s sensitivity and empathy but trying to keep his emotions in check is depicted by a ‘progress to explosion’ counter as he takes little hits of emotional damage and stress throughout a day, so more than any other character you know exactly how Mob feels about something despite his gormless, blank expression. When he reaches 100% he ‘explodes’ which is more or less he has a tantrum and cries and his power goes out of control. Not only is this actually awesome visually because there’s a lot of crazy effects and devastation, but your heart kind of goes out to the kid. This really only happens when something really devastating has happened and the uncontrolled power smashes the enemy of the week.

Mob’s not popular or competent at a lot of things, and would rather become ‘less weird’ than focus on honing psychic ability, which leads him to joining the Body Improvement Club, and working at Spirits & Such with Reigen. Even though he could easily coast through life with his gifts of psychic ability, he’d rather work on the things that he’s not the best at already to become a more well-rounded person. Though he’s easily so much more powerful than the body improvement club or Reigen he still looks up to them. He asks his friends for help and they support him as peers. He’s not a super-mature kid that can just do anything, he still relies on responsible adults when things seem to be beyond him, even going so far as to give his powers to Reigen at one point, because he can’t handle the responsibility on his own.

The way it’s positioned as a goofy comedy about an awkward kid allows for some unexpected emotional blows, and the artstyle (Which unlike One Punch Man didn’t get redrawn by a super-competent manga artist) primes our expectations for silliness, so you don’t immediately think about the bizzare nature of the fight scenes, and they can throw in a Street Fighter gag and you’ll hardly bat an eye.

(Doesn’t look out of place)

In modern Anime, the focus seems to be keeping characters on-model so that any individual frame that you screenshot will look pretty. But making characters highly detailed and on-model also means they can’t move around as much, or it’d be a lot of redrawing keyframes. That means there’s a lot of nice-looking characters that stand around perfectly still doing lip-flap animation for dialogue.

The low line-weight of characters in MP100 means that there can be tons of motion and it won’t be that much more difficult to draw. Reigen moves and wiggles around and strikes crazy poses while talking because of this, making even very standard dialogue fun to watch. Studio Bones also goes the extra mile and throws in different styles of animation entirely, including Ink-on-glass (A technique which, as its name implies, involves smearing slow-drying ink across glass and photographing the results. Very time-consuming and difficult), the industry-standard CG, Graphite dust on paper, chalk, and I think I even saw some cut-paper style in there too. These are often used with ghosts or psychic phenomena, to imply that they don’t follow the same rules as the other characters.

In a recent episode, the solution of the problem was Mob making friends with a person that is sort of his darker half. The person Mob could’ve become if he hadn’t actively tried to go out and socialize, to make friends, to better himself. And the conclusion of this fight is they sit down and talk and become friends...not only did I not hate that I thought it was a fucking amazing conclusion to the penultimate battle of the arc.

TLDR: Mob Psycho 100 is my new favorite anime because Mob is the opposite of a standard shonen hero, animation is amazing, artstyle allows them to play with your expectations and animate things more.

[bangtanficrecs]

Lost & Found Batch #18

The newest batch was long overdue ^^;; As always, if you happen to know the fic the ask is looking for, reply to this post or send us an ask with the request number and title/author. If you happen to know any fics from Past Batches, those are more than welcome as well. Thank you!! ~ Admin P

1) Hi! I think my ask got lost TT I was wondering if you guys know of a vmin fic on ao3 where they’re roommates and jimin likes tae and decided to seduce him by asking him to take nude pics of him, and tae ended up not reacting and then they admitted that they both liked each other? Or something along those lines. PLEASE HELP IT WAS SO AWESOME AND I LOVED IT :( thank you!!!

you're only brave in the moonlight by ameliabedelias

2) Hi!! so a while back i was reading a yoonseok fic on ao3, it was smut, and i wanted to read it again but i cant find it, i was wondering if you could help??? it was yoonseok and yoongi was a "beta" but soon found out he was an omega he called himself a "late bloomer"?? and hoseok walks in, they have sex, and i specifically remember yoongi feeling hoseoks dick in his stomach and "rubbing" it. i know its wierd but can you please help me find it???

A Test in What, Exactly, Is "Too Much" by Yooniefucks

3) Hello, I'm trying to find a fic that has taekook in it. I don't actually remember what the fic is about, but I remember that jungkook is a guard/knight and somewhere along the story, the Prince (?) finds out that jungkook is a werewolf since he was bitten as a child and he imprinted on taehyung, who's human if I'm not mistaken. The king took him in, and he used to be chained to a cage/cave (?) during full moon. It will be great if you can help me :) thank you! 💜

4) Hi, I'm trying to find this yoonjin fic were yoongi is walking home from an underground gig and it's late at night. He smells fresh baked goods and it leads him to a building he passes by all the time but never noticed before. He goes inside and jin fixes him a drink and gives him a muffin/cupcake. At the end jin reveals that he's magic and he cast a spell to find love. Thank you for your help!!

5) I'm looking for a yoongi/jimin fic where jimin is abused by his boyfriend (I think the author used a random idol) and yoongi catches on and tries to help but jimin is really damaged. The rest of the group lowkey knows jimin abused but don't know how to help. Sorry I can't remember lots of details but it was really angsty and good

6) hello, im looking for some kind of royalty fan fic where jimin was visiting yoongi’s palace/home? I can’t remember why but they weren’t close in the beginning. All I can remember was a scene where a bunch of boys were in a room smoking and playing poker (half naked?) and a young servant/slave who was able to play any piano piece after just listening to it once and in the end he left with a Russian man who made music.... thank youu

7) Ugh I seriously need help! I’ve been looking for this fic I lost for 3 days now, I really want to read it again! I’m going to be upset if it was deleted :( anyway, it was a fic where the boys were on their way to something and they got in a car crash but it was only Jin, Hoseok, Yoongi, Tae and Kook. Then Jin and Hoseok were kidnapped by a guy named Sung I think, and the fic focused on Yoongi and Tae and Kook traveling through the woods they crashed in looking for Jin and Hobi and then (pt.1) Jimin and Joon were at a hotel with their manager and they were convinced something was wrong and they wanted to go look for them. In the end they got rescued and they killed the Sung guy and Yoongi was shot and I just really want to find it again cause there was an unfinished sequel. I’m so upset. I hope this was enough to help you help me lookfor it!

8) YOOO what's poppin sis'. Can yall help me. I've been looking for this fic where the rap line is an underground rap line and like they perform cypher pt 3? Idfr the name but the main pairings were namjin and yoonmin. Thanks 🤪🤪🧡

9) Hi there! I was hoping you guys could help me find this fic - it's on AO3. It was multi-chaptered, completed, and was a collection of namjoon centric oneshots/drabbles. one of the chapters was inspired by the "princess princess" anime and featured joon wearing panties, bent over jin's lap, before yoongi came to rescue him from a bunch of onlookers. please help!!

10) Hi! I’m looking for a Yoongi/Jungkook fic. I’ve been searching nonstop for a few weeks and I think the author may have deleted it. The plot line is basically this: Jungkook is a medical student who falls in love with Yoongi and eventually loses his drive in the field. I know it has sexual content so it’s either M rated or E. One of the tags was ‘slow burn’ and ‘Jungkook cries a lot’. Thanks in advance!

11) Hello! In the lost chuchu batch 16, #13 is "I Can't Even" by handintheshot in Ao3. But I can't find a link of it. Also, I'd like to ask whether you know about the fic where jimin suddenly has a vagenay and then proceeds to have a hot threesome with jk and tae? If possible, can you please recommend me more like those? Thank you so much 💜

12) Hello! Do u guys know of a vmin pwp oneshot where taehyung has ADHD? They sit in a chair for most of it, and the premise has a slight focus on how Jimin makes it easier for Tae to sit still. It was really sweet, and I can't find it :c

13) I am looking for a 6+1 fic where Namjoon is homeless and in each iteration a different member takes him into their home and life. A recurring element is a cake decorating book that Namjoon borrows from the library - a page falls out detailing how to make a flower with icing, and he keeps it in his pocket. I have used my search-fu but I cannot find it. It was on AO3. I hope you can help, even if it's just with a possible name I can run via the Wayback machine! Thanks!

14) Hello! I would like to ask your help into searching for a story that I can't, for the life of me, find. It's a Yoonmin story but what I remember the most is that Jungkook works as a janitor in an office and he quits because his boss is horrible. However, Taehyung, whom his boss is interested in working with, will only sign the proposal if they rehire Jungkook, so the boss sends Jimin to do it, since Jimin is friends with the both of them. In the end, they all end up working at the same place. TY

15) Hello. I'm looking for a fic where the group had six members but Suga time travels/dimension travels and becomes part of the group as a secret member. I remember that Jin is doing a vlive and is squirted with a water gun but everyone thinks it's Jimin. And when it's reveled to be Suga he's in his dorm room and pulls a big super soaker from under his blankets. I hope that's enough. It's super specific but I can't seem to find it. I hope you can help me :)

16) hey i was looking for this soul reaper or angel?? au where jungkook dies and is taken to the shinigami/reaper realm by the reaper (i think it was yoongi) and i cant find it anywhere :(( i think he dies bc of his new friends and the fic opens with a scene where the reaper sends one of his murderers souls to hell? The reader finds out later i guess. Id really appreciate it if u could find that :(( thank you!

An anon believes it’s Naught Readings For Naughty Readers by supermans_crib, however that has been on AO3

17) Hi! I had recently lost one of the greatest ffs ever, it was a jikook au where they were in the military (?) and jimin had went into a stage sort of like heat and jungkook had to fuck him, he got hekka scared afterwords but they ended up liking eachother

as if it's your last by fatal (cumrich)

18) Hi! I'm trying to find a NamJin fic. I searched the fics here and my bookmarks on AO3 (since I swear I bookmarked it) but I can't seem to find it. It starts out where Yoongi is accusing Namjoon of not moving on. We find out that Namjoon and Seokjin are friends and Namjoon confessed to Seokjin and was rejected. Things get complicated when Seokjin keeps coming around and even interfering with someone Namjoon starts dating. Memorable scene, Seokjin chasing Namjoon in the dark screeching his name.

everything moves on by fruitily

19) Hello. I am looking for a namgi fic where yoongi works in an old bookshop and likes wearing feminine clothing , and namjoon works at a cafe but visits the bookshop often. Namjoon likes art and philosophy but is scared of his parent's reactions so yoongi tells him to fuck society and to "wake up from your sad life and figure out who you are", they eventually kiss as well. I read it on AO3. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

20) Hi! I was wondering if y’all could help out with a fic I remember reading? jimin pining for yoongi and for some weird reason I remember a specific scene where jimin (whose brought food for yoongi) waits for yoongi outside of (a studio?) falls asleep waiting and wakes up when yoongi and someone else walk out. Jimin had wanted to eat with him I think but yoongi either says that he’s already ate or is headed to eat with the person. It’s unrequited feelings for a bit of the story.

21) There was a fix where yoongi was a prince and he went out and on the way met all the members who were disney princesses, it was a parody kind of, min yoonji was sleeping beauty and she went back to sleep again and from her castle members got a cat and kittens, can you please find it

22) Hello! I read this fiction a loonnggggg time ago where vminkook were in high school detention I think and kook could read minds and read tae's mind once and hes thinking about potatoes so he calls him potato boy but then the next time tae's thinking about fucking jimin and like yeah LOL I think they all end up in a threesome at the end but yeah I dont remember the title or author ))):

23) what’s that fanfic when it’s an au one of them is overweight and they join their school gym or something? and fall in love with the person who trains them. and there’s this beach scene and a car wash scene near the end. been looking for it for a while, hope you can help!

24) hi! i’m looking for a fic i read a while back, i think it was vmin and one of them had been hurt so the other got them off and they ended up in a relationship i think? pretty sure it was cannon compliant too! thanks!

25) so tae is a student and jk is a professor. jk is engaged to this woman (mina?). basically they are both straight but end up falling for each other so before jk gets married he plans to break up with the girl but she blackmails him with pics of him and his student and turns crazy. i don’t rlly remember what happens after that but later they eventually end up together. i think it’s ab 10 chapters. i’m pretty sure i read it on ao3!

26) Hello! I was reading this taekook fic on ao3 but I forgot what it was called ☹️ basically jungkook travels back in time and kidnaps his last self to tell him how in the future Tae kills himself, so jungkook tries to get his past self to be nicer to Tae and stop him. Past jungkook thinks that Tae cheated on him but he was actually forced to have sex with his “boss” but jungkook doesn’t give him a chance to explain and starts cheating on Tae and is being really nasty to him. Ah help plz if you can

27) I’m searching for a fic and i really can’t find it ... i remember it’s jikook (but not really) and it’s about jungkook (who thinks he’s straight) who downloads a porn (by mistake i think) of minjoon and like he ends up liking it, it’s so vague i’m sorry kfhskcj

care to stay for the ride? by voseok

Want to ask us something? We’d love to help, but please be sure to read the FAQ and check our Tags List before or your question may go unanswered.  

[frustratedcastingdirector]

The Times (UK) 10/16/2003

Alex O'Connell goes weak-kneed in the presence of Mark Ruffalo, the anti Hollywood star of In the Cut If there was such a thing as a textbook outsider, Mark Ruffalo would be one. Like Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov, Rilke's Malte Laurids Brigge and, well, Buffy, he is in a netherworld all of his own. Metaphorically speaking, Ruffalo sits on a park bench in the middle of an LA traffic island staring into the smog while most of Tinseltown is vrooming down the highways talking about their Japanese advertising campaigns and what happens if you smoke right after Pilates while on the Atkins. We meet in a hotel in Park Lane, in a suite which has more chintz than a Chelsea draper's. Still, Ruffalo cuts through the frills and fancy, like a pair of industrial shears. To be frank, the furnishings don't get a look-in. His face is soft and crumpled like a baby boxer, his hair is a pile of Italianate curls tousled to unstyled perfection, his eyes are the same lazy, deep brown as his pinstripes. On the soulless hotel interview circuit, Ruffalo is as refreshing as the cold shower I should be having. He doesn't try, he hasn't rehearsed answers, he doesn't care if he says something that might make his agent twitch. Give the man a part in one of the films of the year! (Oh, he's already got one.) A respected theatre actor and director in America but relatively unknown here, barring a star role in the playwright Kenneth Lonergan's film debut You Can Count on Me (2000), Ruffalo is about to ease into the mainstream. The Wisconsin boy has two movies out in the next few months, both in The Times bfi London Film Festival. The first, My Life Without Me, is a drama about a woman with a terminal illness, in which he stars alongside the Canadian actress Sarah Polley. The second, and the biggie, is Jane Campion's cop thriller, In the Cut, the festival's Opening Night Gala. Adapted from the novel by Susanna Moore, the film features Ruffalo as Malloy, a hard nut homicide detective who begins an affair with Frannie, an ethereal New York academic (Meg Ryan). While Malloy is out chasing killers, she's sticking Post-it Notes scrawled with her favourite words on the wall. Ryan is good. Ruffalo is even better as the cop whose incestuous cityscape consists of dives, crime scenes and the odd sweaty mattress. At 35, Ruffalo has taken long enough to get where he is. Partly it was bad luck, he says. Three years ago he was diagnosed with a brain tumour after he finished filming The Last Castle with Robert Redford. "It naturally slowed everything down," he says, in his old-world drawl. "It was taken out immediately and it was benign, but it was a year of being out of work and reassessing. When you're young and you start getting on as the 'hot new thing', you can lose sight of what you are doing it for, and I was starting to get a little disappointed with acting. It made me reassess. Also, they go in there and tinker and you feel like you'll never be the same and, quite frankly, I didn't know if I still had my talent after that." The script for In the Cut arrived eight months after his illness. Campion asked him to lunch and she gave him the good news between courses. Initially, he was concerned about how to make what could easily have been "just another cop role" his own. "We've seen this a thousand times, more, probably," he says, "and it's been done very well by many people." Eventually he located his point of real interest. "There is some part of Malloy that wants more from his class than just where he is at in life. There is some curiosity for fineness and beauty." Research involved trailing Manhattan's cop bars and knocking back whiskey with the guys. "It took a lot of bourbon and cigarettes to get to the point where people were actually being truthful." One of the most talked about elements in the film is the nude sex scene between him and Ryan, her first in a long career. It's erotic and integral. But, boy, wasn't that, well, a pressure? "It was never comfortable," he says, shifting in his chair. "When we had known each other for three months, it was still uncomfortable, people standing around all the time...I'm married ... "I mean, I was really nervous," he laughs, "and when you're nervous it's hard to affect, erm, confidence." Did you have a thing that you did? "A technique? Well, Jane gave me The Woman's Orgasm and a bunch of books and videotapes. At one point she tried to give me an anatomy lesson on the vagina, which frankly brings up all kinds of defensive feelings in a man: 'I know what I'm doing! Why are you telling me that? Let me show you!' And that was funny, seeing myself react like that." Did he read them? "Yes, I did read them. I definitely learnt." He admits that the film's unbalanced relationship dynamic (cop/academic) probably would not work in real life. Luckily Ruffalo has no such personal concerns, as he is married to an actress, Sunrise Coigney. It's fairytale stuff: he saw her in the street, knew she was The One, and had to figure out how to meet her. She has a small part in In the Cut. Ruffalo is unusual in that he is a Hollywood actor with a very definite life outside Hollywood. It has a lot to do with his background in theatre. After moving to San Diego at 13 he uprooted to LA at 18 to study at the Stella Adler theatre school. His big break was in Betrayed by Everyone, a chunk of This is Our Youth which was made into a one-act play at a festival in LA in 1995. There began his great friendship with its writer, Kenneth Lonergan, who later invited him to audition for This is Our Youth, his play about indulged youth in the 1980s. "Since then we've been close friends," Ruffalo says. "We were both struggling in the theatre and then we both did the film You Can Count on Me and it launched our careers." These days he runs an LA theatre company, Page 97, and has written a play and a film of his own. In fact he even turned down a bunch of big studio films, including a part in The Core, because, well, it just didn't suit. And of his considerable freezer of turkeys (he's been in 28 movies, most of them poor to dreadful) he is charmingly self-mocking. Houdini -the biopic? "That is good compared to some of them," he laughs. "I don't network, I see it as kind of crass. There is just this cliquey scene in LA. I don't think that casting directors ever discover anybody, they are just told about somebody by somebody else. I'm sure there are 1,000 people like me out there who have worked really hard and done the plays and the work that really counts, but there is a lot of hyperbole in LA and the focus is in getting to places where you can be seen and get 'famous' and then all the work follows." In fact recently he's even been working on a novel, called Him, which sounds like self-parody or The Outsider Pt 2. "It's about a man who doesn't fit into the modern world," he says with a smirk. Stage, screen, plays, novels, what's it going to be? Unless he makes his mind up, doesn't he risk turning into Ethan Hawke? He sighs, a deep Ruffalo sigh. "They're gonna throw dirt on you at the end of this game, man," he says. "And I don't think you can be too careful at the cost of your life. At the end what do you have but the life you lived?" Quite. CV: MARK RUFFALO AMERICAN HISTORY Born in Wisconsin in Nov, 1967. He moved to San Diego at 18, then to LA where he studied at Stella Adler. NEW BEST FRIEND Playwright Kenneth Lonergan. Ruffalo was in This is Our Youth. MY FAVOURITE WIFE Actress Sunrise Coigney, whom he fell for in the street. UNBEARABLE LIKENESS OF BEING Compared to Marlon Brando and James Dean -"But he had no work ethic," says Ruffalo of the latter. TOPSY TURKEYS Windtalkers (2002); A Fish in the Bathtub (1999); There Goes My Baby (1994).

Article corrections: Ruffalo’s family moved to Virginia Beach, VA when he was 13;Lonergan did not invite Ruffalo to audition for “This is Our Youth,” Ruffalo had to nag him into letting him audition for it; The LA theatre company is called Page 93 not 97; and it was Marlon Brando with no work ethic.

[johannesviii]

The City of the Dead

Some A truckload of highlights of the last EDA I’ve read (The City of the Dead).

I took these screens while reading, along with my reactions. As usual, this is full of spoilers.

Okay, so, just imagine. In a parallel universe, one day, Clive Barker decided to write a Doctor Who story, and even if he tried to seriously tone down his usual mix of strange gore + weird sex + unusual magic, the result was still a bit too much for the series, but so good the BBC published it anyway.

Wouldn't that be great?

Now stop imagining, because it's a book written by Lloyd Rose, and it exists.

It's flawed. Of course. What book isn't? It sidelines Fitz and Anji near the end. Its twist could have used a bit of foreshadowing. It delights a bit too much in torturing Eight. But who cares, honestly. It still transported me in a world where there's real danger, and cute cats, and dark magic, and sugar donuts, and blood spells, and awful and weird and wonderful characters, and nightmares, and laughter. It's an experience, to say the least, and probably not for everybody, but my god, what a ride. 10/10

Okay, so, the only thing I know about this book is that I’ve got one friend who really likes it. And it’s by Lloyd Rose, aka the writer of Caerdroia. Will this book be weird too?

APPARENTLY YES. YES IT WILL. What a start.

Doctor, that’s called sleep paralysis. It might be scary, but nothing bad will actually happen to you, okay? Breathe.

Okay now I’m kind of nervous too.

[Unexpected Scherzo flashbacks]

That’s one of the most unnerving descriptions of Eight I’ve ever seen. Wonderful.

"I believe”

Oh don't start with the Earth Arc feelings...

RELATABLE

Museum of Magic? Take me there.

Art goals.

And the price for best out-of-context sentence goes to...

Excuse me, that's way too cool.

Also, it instantly made me think of which kind of bone I'd cut if I ever wanted to do this. Probably a toe.

So, magic is now a thing in this series. Hasn't been the case since The Scarlett Empress, I believe. Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna say 'that's way too cool' a lot over the course of this story?

I'm cackling

He really doesn't want to admit something's wrong.

Wait wait wait wait. What? The bone charm was in the TARDIS?

Doctor no.

Eight being distracted by donuts in the middle of a discussion about a murder, everybody!

A very nice beach

Hmmm cute? Cute.

The exact kind of offerings I'd like to get once I'm dead.

So, this story seems to be a murder mystery, and the goal is to find who the Magician is. I like it.

The Magician found Eight, then. Maybe he's the source of the nightmares?

Meanwhile, Eight tries to go to a goth party, and it's very awkward and relatable.

And Fitz and Anji are visiting New Orleans at night with a guy who pretends to be a magician, and Fitz keeps ruining his groove.

Swan, you're like a parody of a Mary Sue

GO UP

Meanwhile, Anji and Fitz both want to punch Dupre on the nose and I gotta say... me too.

Every conversation in this fandom ever

Guess that puts Dupre on the suspects list, then.

That sounds like the kind of ludicrously aggressive death electro thing I listen to when I need to use violent lines and colours in a drawing.

I guess we can also put Teddy-weird-artist-Acree on the list of suspects (even though his fear of going downstairs is a pretty good alibi). Also, bonus cat.

THIS CONVERSATION HAS ONLY JUST STARTED AND IT'S ALREADY GOLD

Eight's like "Hmmmm what makes people feel  better, OH I KNOW. CATS. HERE. HAVE A CAT."

THIS IS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER BY THE MINUTE

(mid-liveblog update: I drew that scene before I even finished the book.)

He literally ran away haha.

Teddy Acree is cracking me up, seriously wtf

A perfectly reasonable suggestion, Doctor.

ASDFGHJFF He vaguely remembers the Daleks so he finds saltshakers 'sinister', I'm dead

UNREQUESTED 'THE TURING TEST' FEELINGS

SHIT, THAT HURTS

'What if I'm nuts?' 'I'm rather counting on it'

Interesting.

Eight already regrets starting a discussion with Dupre.

THE UNREQUESTED 'THE TURING TEST' FEELINGS ARE BACK WITH A VENGEANCE

Oh my f█cking god

♫ DO THE CREEP ♫

Aaaaaand I think we can also put Thales on the suspects list.

GOOD SHIT GOOD SHIT

Eight, this is a bad idea.

I love how he's dodging Dupre every time that weirdo tries to touch him.

Also, that's a very relatable reaction.

Eight is like "okay no, I'm way too asexual for this"

THE DOCTOR HAD DECIDED IT WAS ABOUT TIME FOR HIM TO LEAVE

'Hadn't he'

Something was actually summoned??

Can you imagine going home in a corset with spikes because you were stuck in it? Lucky he was here, poor her.

Mood

BIG MOOD

Not exactly a revolutionary development, but interesting nonetheless.

Oooooh. His nightmares are actually trying to take him somewhere?

FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT IN THE BOOKS, EIGHT IS VERY CLAUSTROPHOBIC SO I'M PANICKING A LITTLE BIT TOO

SHIT HE FOUND SEVEN IN HIS LOCKED MEMORIES

He has no way of knowing that was a past version of him, has he?

Okay so the Magician isn't Dupre. Which... isn't very surprising.

‘AN IMP WITH TERRIBLE EYES’

Hey look it's the best meme from 2016

HARSHER IN HI̟͔͈̻͓̱ͅN͓͇͉̗̜D̤̼̻͙S̮̤̱͓I͓G͔͉̱͓̩̦̠H͕̲̯T͖̰͎

10/10 conversation

Thank you for clarifying, Doctor

HOLY SHIT

THIS IS SO COOL

I MEAN I HAD A FRIEND WHO WAS A TAROT NERD AS A KID, AND AAAAH LOOK, THAT'S ALL THE CLASSIC DOCTORS AS MAJOR ARCANA

Of course Seven is the Hanged Man OF COURSE EIGHT IS THE TOWER ASDFGFFH THE FIRST MEANING IS 'BRUTAL CHANGE, DISASTER AND IMPENDING DOOM'

Now I want to draw all these cards with the Doctors on them, haha.

I keep thinking about Twelve putting like ten spoons of sugar in his coffee.

This book is starting to break the record for the most "asexual Doctor" moments. And I’m 100% okay with that.

YOU DON'T SAY.

He also vaguely remembers Faction Paradox!

I love how patient Fitz can be with him when he's not well.

He's in the past now and trying to find the source of the problem. That may be interesting. Or it will just make everything more confusing.

And I think that child might be the Magician.

LOOK AT MY FAVORITE IDIOTS BEING HAPPY FOR ONCE

it won't last long

'Your blood smells funny'

WHAT

WHAT

WHAT she’s some sort of spirit what

UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE WEEK

I'd say 'somebody do something' but I'm sorry this is way too funny.

Probably.

Oh shit what the fuck. Is he planning to sacrifice him or something?

UH

UH

WHY DO I GET THE FEELING THIS SCENE WILL MAKE THE NUMBER OF LINES IN MY "EVERYTHING BAD HAPPENS TO THE EIGHTH DOCTOR" GOOGLE SHEET SKYROCKET

Eight might be the champion of gallows humor... but he's still starting to panic a little bit

The thing with the Doctor is, you know he can't die permanently since it would be the end of the series, but because he can't, they set the damage limit veeeery high, so a scene like this one is wayyy more stressful than it would be with a human main character.

Please be scared by the double heartbeat thing & let him go because I'm also starting to panic there.

THIS SCENE IS BOTH HORRIBLY STRESSFUL AND VERY FUNNY THIS IS CONFUSING

Meanwhile: what the f█ck is Fitz doing

Doctor please try to concentrate on a way to get the hell out of here

HE STILL HASN'T ESCAPED AND FITZ AND ANJI ARE WAY TOO FAR AWAY

UGH STOP MAKING ME LAUGH I'M TOO STRESSED FOR THAT

I SAID STOP IT

EIGHT STOP MAKING ME LAUGH THIS IS BAD

Meanwhile Fitz has decided to investigate a grave in the middle of the night, because why not, also I'm too stressed for that right now, go back to Eight

WHAT THE F█CK ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT I THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T GO DOWNSTAIRS WHAT THE F█CK

SHIT SHIT SHIT F█CK HE ACTUALLY DID IT F█CK

TEDDY YOU BASTARD

AQZSDFGHJGFFG F█CK

Meanwhile in the cemetery: I have a new suspect

Okay okay now back to Eight being sacrificed because holy shit

I was about to say 'if he could have done something, he would have done it sooner', but I just realised he expects the invocation to work, and call the thing which is chasing him in his nightmares.

Okay. Okay. That worked. Dupre's dead. Good. F█ck. That was so stressful. Also Eight is probably still bleeding all over the floor, but at least it's over.

TEDDY YOU LITTLE SHIT COME BACK & UNTIE HIM

ASDFGHJKHF

Was it really so difficult to tell the police someone was trying to sacrifice you for some bullshit ceremony? I'm sure they've seen worse.

HAHAHA THAT WHOLE HORRIBLE ORDEAL WAS WORTH IT JUST FOR THIS SCENE

Doctor, no

Asexual Doctor moment number 74612

Fair enough.

HE WAS STILL HIDING IN THE HOUSE

OH NO HAHA

GOOD. Thank you.

If the reveal is something like "hey it was the guy who died at the beginning" I'm gonna be angry.

I must admit no other character we saw so far is the right age to be the kid from the destroyed house. This is getting complicated.

SHIT. SHIT. I completely overlooked that. Good twist.

BAD TIMING BAD TIMING

Wait what the f█ck, if the Magician is attacking Eight right now, he can't be Thales. Who the hell is he, then.

WELL THIS IS NEW

And here we have Fitz trying to pretend he's interested in architecture.

Understandable after the recent events.

OUCH Were these feelings really necessary? I mean this book is intense enough as it is

Teddy is a little shit and at the same time it's impossible to 100% hate the guy, he's like a non-murderous version of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac

He was too obviously weird to be the Magician anyway.

Yeah, we know, Teddy, we watch that show

This whole conversation is gold.

OH SHIT

PLEASE TELL US WHO IT IS, THE SUSPECTS LIST IS NOW VERY THIN.

Wait, it's gonna be someone who already died, isn't it.

Perfectly confusing sentence, thank you Doctor.

Okay so, it's 100% confirmed, it's not Teddy. Not a surprise, but good.

STILL TOO SOON AFTER 23 BOOKS

Are they getting sidelined for the finale? Not sure I like that.

I'm cackling again

WHO IS IT

WHAT

WHAT

HE'S NOT THE RIGHT AGE TO BE THE KID OR THE FATHER WHAT

WHAT THE F█CK HE WASN'T EVEN ON MY RADAR

WELL PLAYED

Oooooooh, he sacrificed his lifespan and so he looks older. Nice trick. Well played.

ALSO I JUST REALISED IT'S THE SAME TWIST THAT THE GAME 'HEAVY RAIN' PULLED AND I FINISHED IT ONLY A FEW MONTHS AGO I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING BUT NO

Ah yes, clearly there wasn't enough physical pain in this book already.

"You don't sound very certain”

This book is so weird, in the best way possible.

Woah the Magician's house nearly works like a TARDIS.

I just had a revelation. Of course I love this book. It's almost a Clive Barker book.

WE FINALLY KNOW WHAT THE TATTOO WAS

I love this f█cking book so much.

I also love Eight's reaction to that reveal.

OH SHIT WHAT

RUST IS USING HIM AS A WEAPON TO CONTINUE HIS VENGEANCE AND RETRIEVE THE AMULET I LOVE THIS

HOLY SHIT EIGHT

He's gonna leave him to... weird swamp creatures which are supposed to guard him while Rust is away, and I'm sure everything is gonna be fine RIGHT

'It's as if there were somebody else living in here with me'

I KNEW IT THAT WAS A BAD IDEA

WHAT THE F█CK did the swamp things trapped him in an imaginary world?

How long has he been there??

Everytime there's a good scene about the contents of the Doctor's pockets in these books, there's a better one in one of the next books, I swear. But I still doubt this one can be beaten.

That explains so much about the random cup of tea Twelve had in the middle of Skaro in The Witch's Familiar, too.

Third screen about the contents of the Doctor's pocket, because I'm still not tired of that.

Mrs Flood has access to this place. Is it an actual place then?

Asexual Doctor moment number 87454

Mrs Flood, NO.

Wait a second, is this place some sort of fairy realm? Is that why he refuses to eat anything here except what's in his own pockets?

Are... are you attempting to escape this realm by walking

Oooh isn't that the cover of the book?

Good point. Also I'm glad they're back in the plot.

I'M HOWLING

FITZ NO

AZSDFGHJ ANJI NO

OH SHIT SHE GUESSED WHO THE MAGICIAN WAS?! GOOD JOB ANJI

Friendly reminder: I love these two idiots.

FITZ TRYING TO PILOT THE TARDIS, EVERYBODY

THEY ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED

So it WAS some sort of fairy realm, woah.

WAIT WHAT

SECOND TWIST WHAT

RUST ISN'T THE KID EIGHT HAS SAVED?

THALES? IT'S THALES??

Wait wait wait, Teddy said Thales wasn't human either, didn't he?

Ooooh Thales is another Naiad!!

OH SHIT OH F█CK OH LORD

EIGHT, PLEASE NEVER DO THAT AGAIN

So he really was using the Void to track Eight, after all. The nightmares about Nothing chasing him were entirely justified and not a metaphor at all!

HOLY SHIT EIGHT NO BAD PLAN

The finale of this book is literally the concept of Nothing saving the day while Eight literally yells into the uncaring infinity of the Void. What can I even say about that.

He doesn't belong in the Void after all, so it can't really claim him. That should convince him he's not a complete monster, after all. Good. Good and nice ending.

Oh that's even better.

Good.

[kadobeclothing]

17 Offbeat, Extreme, and Downright Unusual Ways Brands Have Promoted Their Products

If you’re a marketer of any kind, this phrase is probably lurking somewhere in the back of your mind when you start a new project: “How do we make this brand really stand out?”

The constant battle to differentiate a brand in a crowded playing field is challenging, and it’s pushing some marketers to the extreme. We’ve rounded up 17 creative campaigns and promotions that rely on unconventional mediums to spread brand messaging to consumers. Check them out below for some unique inspiration for your next big campaign.

Unusual Brand Promotions 1. Purple Instead of doing a normal ad for its mattress technology, Purple, a company that targets millennials and young adults, pulled in the comedic duo of Tim and Eric to host a bizarre and trippy web series called “Purple Boys.”  In each episode of the Facebook-based series, Tim and Eric interview goofy fictional characters who are struggling to sleep. While each episode centers around entertainment, each character weaves Purple Mattress information into each scene. Each episode then culminates with someone getting a sound sleep on a Purple Mattress.  Want to see it for yourself? Check out the second episode of Purple Boys which follows a character named Joe Dunder in his quest to get to sleep and fight off the “Sunday Scaries.”

2. Skittles Instead of putting millions of dollars into one short Super Bowl advertisement, Skittles made a full-fledged musical titled “Broadway the Rainbow” — which made fun of advertising. The Skittles musica was formatted as one large and obvious ad that told the story of how manipulative the marketing industry was. Throughout the musical, all of the characters regularly spoke and sang about how advertisements ruined their lives and how they were living in one giant Skittles commercial. Even though Skittles charged $200 for each ticket, the musical sold out and went viral within days of its premiere. When the show was announced, USA Today called it, “the most inventive end run in the history of ambush advertising” because it capitalized on Super Bowl ads by immersing paying viewers into an obvious Skittles ad. To make the show more exclusive for paying customers, Skittles never aired it on television or online. To give you a quick idea of what it was like, here’s a highlight video:

Yes, creating a musical to advertise your company might seem like an outlandish way to spend your advertising dollars. But at a higher level, this campaign does show how marketers can get creative with ambush marketing to cause a buzz that gains attention from a wide range of audiences. 3.. GoPuff GoPuff, a company that allows you to order convenience store items through its app, has a number of odd commercials and ads. But one of the weirdest ways it promotes products on its app is by calling out the weird shopping list of items that people order late at night on its Twitter.

To the lady who just ordered three packs of Benadryl at 10:30 in the morning: WE FEEL YOU GIRL #screwyoupollen pic.twitter.com/y8kPvpV7gU — goPuff (@gopuff) May 2, 2017

Yep. It’s unusual to call out your customers for their weirdness, but while some prospects will learn more about the products you offer, other current customers might order odd things just to get a shoutout.  4. Nivea Kids Sunscreen This marketing stunt from Nivea made for some interesting headlines when it debuted at Cannes in 2016: Seagull drone poops sunscreen…uh, thanks (CNET), Nivea’s Drone Bird Poops Sunscreen on Your Kids (Dronelife), How Bad Was This Nivea Bird Poop Sunscreen Project, Really? (AgencySpy). The list goes on.  The folks at German agency Jung von Matt/Elbe designed this seagull drone to squirt Nivea Kids Sunscreen onto unsuspecting children on the beach. In the case study video below, they explain how the drone can be used to make sure all kids are protected from the sun, even when they refuse to apply sunscreen themselves. It may seem like a parody at first, but make no mistake: This drone is 100% real. Say what you will about the taste level of the pooping seagull concept — it definitely generated a lot of attention for Nivea and left an undeniably memorable impression. Cannes Lion jury president Sir John Hegarty told a group of journalists, “It’s the most stupid thing I think I’ve seen in my whole life. I actually thought the Monty Python team had gotten together and entered it into [Cannes], to see if we would vote for it.” Spoiler alert: They didn’t vote for it. Nivea’s well-intentioned pooping seagull flapped away from Cannes without any awards. 

5. Milka Chocolate When Swiss chocolate company Milka launched in France, they turned to Paris-based agency Buzzman to devise a unique way to introduce their product to the French people. The chocolatiers ended up removing a small square from 13 million of their classic milk chocolate bars, and giving consumers a choice: Do you want the “last square” sent back to you, or do you want to send it to a loved one? Consumers who received a Milka bar with a missing square were given a code they could enter online, where they could either send a small piece of chocolate — along with a personalized message — to a friend or family member, or enter their own address to have the missing piece returned to them. 

6. Cub Cadet PRO Z Riding Lawnmower Who says the physical press release is completely dead? To promote industrial brand Cub Cadet’s newest riding lawnmower, agency Colle+McVoy came up with a steel alternative to the classic 8.5-by-11 inch paper document.  The press release — which weighed in at a hefty 14 pounds, 13 ounces — was made entirely of Cub Cadet’s signature Triple 7-gauge steel, the same material used in their rugged lawnmowers. Outfitted with bolts and shipped to media outlets in a custom crate, the press release also came with a free crowbar (because why not?). 

Image Credit: Adweek 7. The Art Institute of Chicago and Airbnb Have you even dreamed of walking into one of your favorite paintings? How about staying the night? In this creative campaign to generate publicity for the Art Institute of Chicago’s Van Gogh exhibit in 2016, agency Leo Burnett partnered with Airbnb to create a unique, immersive experience for art lovers. The agency worked with designers and museum curators to meticulously transform a simple studio apartment in Chicago into one of the Dutch artist’s most recognizable paintings, Bedroom in Arles.  As part of the campaign, posters advertising a room to rent and resembling vintage newspaper classified ads were plastered around Chicago, inviting passersby to text “Van Gogh” — aka, Leo Burnett’s clever social media team, who fielded all messages in character. A few lucky early respondents were able to rent the room via Airbnb for only $10 a night. The campaign was a massive success for the Art Institute, leading to the museum’s largest daily exhibition attendance in 15 years, and earning them national media attention. 

Image Credit: AdAge 8. Tiger Beer’s Air-Ink Tiger Beer — an American-owned company that operates out of Singapore — wanted to find a way to turn air pollution into something useful and positive. Enter the talented team at Graviky Labs, who devised a scientific process to capture pollution and transform it into Air-Ink — a fluid black paint. The brand then worked with Australian agency Marcel Sydney to put the ink in the hands of influential street artists and film the results.  It turns out just 40-50 minutes of diesel car pollution can produce a rich shade of black ink, and artists were more than willing to incorporate the paint into their work for the project. 

9. Adobe Stock Apparel If you’re a marketer, you’ve experienced the pain of sorting through seemingly endless pages of bad stock photos in search of one that just isn’t too awful. To promote their new stock photo service Adobe Stock, Adobe partnered with Swedish agency Abby Priest to develop a tongue-in-cheek fashion line that features outdated, overused stock photos. “Some stock images have earned their place in the history books,” said Abby Priest’s Creative Director, Oskar Hellqvist, in a Q&A on Adobe’s blog. “Classic motifs that have been overused and established as hilarious clichés, known, loved and/or hated by all … Turning them into a limited edition clothing line is our way to salute them and an attempt to create something disruptive and unconventional in the genre.” You can see the full Adobe Stock Apparel lookbook here.

Image Credit: Adobe 10. UberPOOL As part of a major advertising push in Latin America, Uber’s in-house marketing team launched a guerrilla campaign in Mexico City, sending out a small army of drones equipped with cheeky signs promoting UberPOOL. Drivers were confronted with the small aircrafts and their mini-billboards while waiting in stagnant rush hour traffic.  Although they don’t plan to replicate the stunt in other markets (since doing something similar in the U.S. or Europe would require some major bureaucratic hoop-jumping), the stunt gained significant earned media attention for the car service app. 

Image Credit: MIT Technology Review 11. KMFA-FM Austin How do you get millennials interested in a classical radio station? This Twitter-powered metronome is a good start. Developed by agency Archer Malmo for Austin’s classical music station KMFA-FM, this metronome ticks at a tempo determined by the number of Tweets sent in the Texan city. “We want people to give KMFA a try — it’s not a stereotypical, stodgy classical music station,” Archer Malmo executive creative director Matt Rand told AdWeek. “That audience happens to be younger and use Twitter more, so basing our ‘heartbeat of the city’ off Twitter volume is a fitting way to connect with them.”

Image Credit: Adweek 12. Laphroaig Most ads run for 30 seconds. This spot from Laphroaig Whiskey clocks in at three and a half hours — and it was all filmed in a single take. U.K. agency Multiply was behind the video, which features comedian Andy Daly reading real reviews of Laphroaig in a filibuster-style speech. Ranging from glowing to downright disgusted, the strongly worded and ultimately mixed reviews are intended to highlight the polarizing nature of Laphroaig — you either love it, or you hate it. But the brand wants to hear about it.

13. Lipton Green Tea To encourage consumers to make healthier choices while shopping for groceries, Lipton Green Tea partnered with agency Wunderman MENA to create a shopping cart that tracks your steps, calories burned, and time spent moving at the grocery store. Aimed at people too busy for regular exercise, the cart is intended to show consumers how many calories they can burn just by walking around at the grocery store. The hope is that they’ll also think twice about what they put in their shopping cart if they can see the calories they’re burning in real time.

14. Burger King Burger King and McDonald’s have always had a rivalry, and on Halloween 2016, the home of the Whopper played a prank on the Golden Arches. A Burger King location in Queens, NY dressed up the entire restaurant as “The Ghost of McDonald’s”, sweeping a massive white ghost costume over the building and adding a saucy message to their sign: “”Booooooo! Just kidding, we still flame grill our burgers. Happy Halloween.” Although only one location participated in the spooky prank, Adweek revealed that it was a stunt pulled off by ad agency David Miami.

Image Credit: Burger King 15. Paqui To drum up some buzz for their gourmet tortilla chip brand, Paqui released a fiery chip spiced with Carolina Reaper peppers — the world’s hottest variety according to Guinness World Records. The Carolina Reaper Madness chips are so dangerously spicy, they’re packaged individually and sold for $4.99 each. So why would you ever want to eat this thing? It’s part of a challenge, naturally. Following in the footsteps of other viral internet food-based challenges — like the cinnamon challenge, which never, ever ended badly for anyone — Paqui’s marketing team launched the #OneChipChallenge. The premise is simple: eat the the Carolina Reaper Madness chip, post your reaction online. The brand offered prizes to select participants, including a year’s supply of their less-spicy chips.

Image Credit: Forbes 16. South Park Video Game Add this one to the list of things no one ever asked for, but somebody made anyway: A virtual reality mask that lets you smell farts. To promote the South Park video game, Ubisoft worked with agency Buzzman to concoct an odor that perfectly mimicked the smell of someone passing gas. It was actually a lot harder than you’d think. Buzzman consulted multiple chemists and perfumers to get the smell right, and worked with a team of software engineers and industrial designers to develop the VR nose mask. They named it — what else? — Nosulus Rift. The mask (thankfully) isn’t for sale, but Ubisoft uses it at promotional events to build hype for the South Park game, which features a particularly flatulent character.

Image Credit: Buzzman via AdAge 17. Virgin America Have you ever looked at your shoes and thought, “Man, I really wish they had a phone charger and WiFi capabilities?” Virgin America has heard your very first world cries, and developed these almost comically tricked-out shoes to promote their first class flying experience. California-based agency Eleven, Inc. designed these extravagant kicks over the course of eight months to mimic the look and feel of Virgin America’s first class cabins. The final product includes mood lighting, WiFi, a USB phone charger, and a small video screen — you know, in case you feel compelled to watch some Netflix on your shoes. The sneakers sold for $97,877.77 on eBay, and all proceeds were donated to Soles 4 Souls, a charity.

Image Credit: Adweek Create a Winning Weird Promotion Coming up with an ad that’s considered off-beat can be tricky. First, you’ll need to have a number of creative brainstorms. Then, you’ll need to make sure that your campaign is understandable and memorable to the audiences you show it to. For example, while millennials and people with a sense of humor might find the Purple series above to be hilarious, others might not understand why Purple is marketing themselves in this way. One way to determine if people will truly understand and engage with your bizarre campaign could be to present it for a focus group first. To learn more about this strategy, click here. Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in November 2016, but was updated for comprehensiveness in November 2019.

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[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episodes 26 and 27. Special Summer Review!

Stand back! Iceman is gonna explode!

It’s summer everyone! This is a special review, we have reached season 2 of the first saga of Rockman.EXE! Today I am gonna review two episodes since not only are they beach episodes, but because these two episodes were never aired in America. That’s right, these are two of the four skipped episodes that were never dubbed, so in America, after Rockman’s revival, we skip to episode 28. 

Why were these episodes never shown in America? Let’s find out!

Spooky.

We open the first skipped episode in an airport where Netto seems ready to travel somewhere all by himself, with his parents and friends seeing him off.

“So what you’re saying is that if I’m losing in a Net Battle I activate the instant win button, right?”

Netto is ready to leave until his useless mom tells him something before leaving.

Playing the “favoritism card”, aren’t we? It’s bad enough that she sucks as a mom, but now she worries about his Navi more than her own son? And also, WHO LETS THEIR ELEVEN YEAR OLD TRAVEL ABROAD ALL BY HIMSELF?!

Netto’s plane leaves, and his friends let us know that he has won some kind of trip for winning second place in the N-1 tournament, right before Dekao shows everyone his swimming trousers.

Just... why?

In the plane, we see that just like with cellphones, PETs have to be turned off before take off. Netto turns on his PET and and sees the sun outside the window, he and Rockman then share a cute moment.

Aww.

The title card appears, and Netto arrives at his first destination, Uki Yuugi (Placent game) beach at the Southern Islands, where he is surprised to find that Meiru-chan and the others are there too!

I like their shared reactions. Wait, why does Rockman call Yaito “sama”?

Yaito explains, with a view of her very own comercial plane, that she was planning to take everyone to Jyawaii and decided to stop at the southern islands on the way, where she just happens to have her own summer mansion.

At the summer “house”, the PETs seem to be conected to eachother as we can see that the Navis, including Rush, are all enjoying a cyber version of the beach, each wearing a typical beach item.

Rockman looks so cute with goggles!

Everyone except for Iceman who, since he is an ice Navi, doesn’t go well with the cyber sun.

We then cut to Netto and the others playing in the ocean, until suddenly, a mechanical shark leaps out of the water over Netto’s head. It turns out to be Masa-san who is there for some reason, but why is the robotic shark huge in the next shot?

Also, does the aquarium know that Masa-san has their shark?

Netto invites Masa-san to play with them, Yaito and Meiru say that they are gonna rest at the summer house, but not before Yaito warns Netto about a Ghost Ship.

Whats with the pose? If a ghost appears to me like that, I would be really confused.

They all end up laughing about it, except for Dekao who is still spooked, and soon after we see the guys riding on a banana boat pulled by Masa’s robot shark. However, fog comes in and a giant ship appears.

The ship crashes into them and casts a net capturing Masa and Tohru while leaving Netto and Dekao in the middle of the ocean.

Back in the summer house, (where Meiru and Yaito seemed to have been playing UNO) they wonder what happend to the boys. Luckily, Yaito has access to a satelite camera where they quickly spot Dekao and Netto. Yaito decides to take action, with Meiru carrying all the PETs running after her.

And we get the reused footage of Yaito sitting in a couch and being transported to her very own submarine. This time the cloths are different, and I like how Meiru put a seat belt on the PETs.

To the Yaito sub! or how it’s called, to the “Yaito Mako”!

Netto and Dekao are paddling their way searching for the ship until they encounter the Yaito Mako that scares them to death, only to wake up inside it in the next shot.

They tell them about what happend and we see Rockman’s reaction to this.

“I wasn’t present when you first talked about it!”

We cut to and back from commercials with a new animation secuence with Rush being chased by a Mettool.

Our heroes catch up with the ghost ship under water, Yaito’s submarine then shoots inflatible bags at it forcing the ship to surface.

The group boards the ship, with Dekao clearly scared out of his wits, and of course, they decide to split up to search for the missing Tohru and Masa-san.

Dekao encounters the “ghost”, who anyone that played the second game know that it is a Null virus, and runs past Netto.

Shortly after, Yaito and Meiru-chan encounter the ghost as well.

What happend to calling her Yaito-sama?

Netto encounters the ghost and finds out that Meiru-chan has been captured in a net.

Netto tries to fight it off but his attacks go through it. The ghost leaves taking Meiru with it. Netto searches for everyone with Rockman hiding inside his PET.

They hear a bang coming from a door and after it falls over, giving both of them a heart attack, a freezing Tohru comes out.

He tells Netto that he was brought into the freezer along with the fish and that the ghost ship isn’t really haunted.

The two of them break into the ships control room where they encounter the ghost from before, Tohru tells Netto to plug-in to the wheel’s computer while he distracts it.

I think its safe to say that it isn’t a ghost, Rockman. And how does Tohru know this? Wasn’t he locked in the freezer until now?

Rockman starts deleting all of the aqua viruses, but an Octo virus absorbs all of the remaining viruses to transform into a bigger version of itself, blowing Rockman away with one attack. This causes the PET to activate the instant win program and Rockman gets the Heat Guts Style.

Which shouldn’t be the case since the Heat Style is suppoused to give him fire based attacks and the Octo virus is an aqua type. He defeats the virus and their friends roll out of a closet where the ghost kept them in a net.

They run up to deck where they find Masa-san who seems to be very good friends with the Null virus, I mean, ghost.

Masa says that he can understand the ghost because they are both “men of the sea” and explains that the ship’s A.I was infected with a virus, and since it is a fishing ship, it caught Masa and Tohru by mistake and Ibo ambushed them thinking that they wanted to steal the fish.

Oh, right, the ghost’s name is Ibo. The ship is returning underwater for some reason and Masa-san says good bye to his new friend before leaving with everyone.

In the next scene we see that everything went back to normal since Netto and friends are playing in the ocean again like nothing ever happen.

Iceman seems to be dying and nobody cares. XD 

Right after this, we cut over to Miyuki’s shop where she and Saloma are trying to close a suitcase thats blows up, followed by Saloma being embarrassed of her bikini bottom that lands on her head.

Turns out they are being called over by Commander Beef to solve a mystery about viruses becoming stronger.

And the episode ends with Commander Beef wondering about the problem and having an hallucination of Ibo where they go fishing together.

My thoughts.

This episode was weird, but that doesn’t explain why it was never dubbed, I guess it was because they spend a lot of time in the real world, running around in a ghost ship and playing on the beach, that we barely get any cyberworld action. So it was pretty boring for an anime that is suppoused to be action packed. And they never aknowlege that Ibo is in a fact a virus.

This episode introduces Rockman’s fear of ghosts that will become a little running gag in future seasons.

The next episode opens with a music video where a Hatsune Miku inspired character name Aki-chan is singing one of the weirdest and cheesiest songs I have ever read the lyrics from.

I also made a parody of this song in a short video I made with MMD, with Miku instead of Aki. Just so you know.

Tohru tells Netto that Aki-chan is the pop idol of Jyawaii aka Hawaii.

The Navis explain that they can’t touch her because her data is different from theirs. Which is noticeble considering that she is actually CGI, just seeing them together in the same shot is weird.

They complement how cute she is, even Rockman, but Roll has no problem with this since she also thinks Aki is cute.

“But if she even thinks of coming close to Rockman she wont be looking so cute anymore”

After talking more about Aki-chan, and also Masa-san complementing her fish shaped button, Yaito and Meiru appear to reveal their new outfits and poses.

The title card appears and it is explained that there is a contest coming up called  “The Real Aki-chan” where girls dress up as Aki and have to sing her songs, Netto finally realizes that Meiru and Yaito plan to enter the contest as well, but he doesn’t get scolded for his reaction since they suddenly hear someone screaming.

It is a terrified Mariko-sensei who is landing on a parachute, Masa tries to catch her, but is nowhere near and Mariko lands on her own.

Jesus Christ, Yaito! Can’t you just send her an e-mail like a normal person?!

And if Mariko-sensei hasn’t suffered enough, the wind blows the parachute away sending her flying again with Masa running after her.

This funny scene is followed by a shot of Miyuki and Saloma sun bathing in a boat before seeing Mariko-sensei pass by. They talk about not finding any clues regarding the powered up viruses and are interrupted by the Commander’s voice coming from a camera, who critizes their outfits or something.

Aren’t you supposed to be chasing Mariko-sensei who flew by just a minute ago?

For some reason we cut to Madoi who we see in some kind of photo shooting dressed as Aki-chan too, but then takes it off to reveal a full shot of herself in a bikini.

I burned my eyes taking this shot so you guys better leave me a good comment after this review.

Madoi is in a set she made because she is annoyed that everyone is at the southern islands except for her, and after this we also see Hinouken who looks like he is in Jyawaii hoping to find Netto so he can finally get his revenge, but it turns out he is just working at a construction site.

We cut back to Jyawaii where Netto and friends are walking around along with Mariko-sensei who seems to have gotten over the whole parachute incident and is looking foward to take part in the Aki-chan contest too.

I guess no one wants to tell her that she is a little too old  to be in the contest.

Suddenly, a giant trash cleaning machine appears and kidnaps Meiru, Yaito and Mariko-sensei.

The boys give chase to the machine. Netto, with Rockman’s help, takes a shortcut where he lands on top of the machine and activates its breaks. Unfortunately, it is the wrong one since there were different girls inside, they tell the boys how there were rumors that all the girls who entered the contest are getting kidnapped, which is confirm when they go talk to the manager of the contest.

The man is also the Manager of Aki-chan herself who is in a computer near them, she tells everyone about how sad she is for the contest being canceled if they dont stop whoever is kidnapping the participants. With this we notice that Iceman has a huge crush on Aki-chan as he promises that they will save the contest to make her happy again. 

Netto comes up with a plan to find the missing girls, and in the next scene we get this.

That’s it, I am blind now. I like the Navis reaction to this, though.

Iceman doesn’t agree with this plan since he thinks it is an insult to Aki-chan and that it will never work. Too bad for him a machine doesn’t see the difference and it catches them with the exact same animations from before.

After Iceman yells about them being the ENEMIES of Aki-chan, the machine takes them to an undergroud path where it dumps them in a warehouse, they slide down a shoot and Netto SOMEHOW manages to tie a wire as he falls.

The timing was so perfect I had to include that last shot! XD

They walk around and quickly find the missing girls with Meiru, Yaito and Mariko-sensei giving them a concert. Because they just had too much fate in them to even worry about being kidnapped.

Why the heck are the manager and his assistant there too?! Probably to make Iceman appear in Netto’s PET after saying that Aki-chan has gone missing. Looks like a lot happend while they were dressing up as Aki.

Was Netto’s plan for everyone to climb up that tiny wire? I know he is not a genious, but seriously!

After this fail, the cooling system of the warehouse starts to activate, luckily, Saloma and Miyuki suddenly appear to get them out.

“I think a better question here is, why are YOU dressed like that?”

Outside, Netto talks to the manager since they all find Aki-chan’s situation and the kidnapping very suspitious, so they agree to let Netto plug-in Rockman into the system to find the server where Aki-chan is stored in case of emergencies, because Aki isnt actually missing, they just lost contact with her.

Rockman types in the cheesy password, “A-R-A-I-N-B-O-W”, and various signs pop up to guide Rockman.

But Rockman is suddenly stopped by a Spooky virus. For some reason the anti-virus program isn’t working so Dekao and Tohru decide to plug-in their Navis to go help Rockman. Gutsman and Iceman coming to help distracts the virus, giving Rockman the chance to cover... whatever things it has for ears.

This confirms Rockman’s theory about Aki’s song being whats causing all the trouble.

I’m not sure how that would work if Aki wasn’t the one infected by a virus, but this turns out to be the case after Rockman, Iceman and Gutsman find a portal that transports them to the server where Aki is, only to find that her appearence have changed to an evil looking queen.

Much for Iceman’s dismay, Aki reveals that she was the one who kidnapped the girls because she is the REAL Aki-chan.

 The dark Aki sends a couple of Shadow viruses to attack them, the viruses have the ability to transform into various weapons, including a cannon, and soon they over power Gutsman and Iceman.

To make matters worse, the Shadow viruses use Aki-chan as a hostage. 

Rockman is unable to fight back until Netto realizes something suspitious about one of Aki’s buttons. After seeing Aki-chan shed a tear, Rockman gets motivated and Netto sends him a Sword to cut off the button revealing that a LV.3 Shadow virus was the one controlling her.

Netto activates the Style Change as the three viruses merge together to create a giant cannon. Rockman and the cannon’s attack collide, but Rockman’s power literally cuts through deleting the viruses.

In the next scene we get a sad looking Aki-chan worried that she can no longer be an idol after what she did, but thanks to Meiru-chan and everyone else cheering her up, she finally thanks them and vows to do her best.

What are you talking about, Rockman? What song?

 And the episode ends with everyone dressed as Aki-chan singing to their hearts content at the contest.

Tohru, you know you don’t have to dress like that, right? Also, those creepy men in the background. o-o

So what do I think of this one?

Despite my initial thoughts, Aki-chan is not a parody of Hatsune Miku. In fact, the vocaloid Hatsune Miku debuted in 2007 while this episode aired in 2002, maybe it was ahead of its time, maybe Aki-chan inspired Miku’s creation, or maybe it was an idea that wasn’t still very popular in and outside of Japan. Who knows?

This episode introduces Aki-chan who will appear in future episodes of this season, though her songs are changed for the dub to something less corny since they already changed most of the musical score of the show to a futuristic high tech beat.

This episode was probably skipped because of Madoi’s bikini scene and seeing Netto, Dekao and Tohru cross dressing. I can’t say that its also because of the girls dressed as Aki-chan because we see them dress like this again in another episode for a short moment.

The Shadow viruses looked tough in this episode, but if you play the game you’ll notice that their only weakness are sword chips, thats why Rockman was able to free Aki from the virus’s control and defeat all three of them in the end.

Speaking of viruses, since the second season is based on the events from BN2 the episodes will start to feature viruses from the second game, such as the Null and Octo virus in the previous episode and the shadow viruses in this one.

It was a fun episode, weird but charming, it’s not exactly important to the plot unless they aknowlege how the new viruses are smarter and stronger than the previous ones in future episodes.

[rahullikesthings]

I’ve done these year-end reflections for the last four years, and most of them have been how things went badly and how I hope they get better. I’m happy to say 2017 was a really solid year for me. There’s a whole list of accomplishments I’m proud of, some I had worked towards, some that happened by coincidence. I moved into my own apartment. I got a promotion and two different raises at work. I’ve been booked more than ever since I’ve been doing standup. I started my own show. I’ve made friends, at work and through comedy. And as someone that hasn’t had much of that in a few years, I think it’s helped me be less cynical and paranoid about new acquaintances and relationships whenever they do happen. I met Terrell Owens (kind of a weird dude) and Eric Dickerson (cool guy!) and got that close to Steve Kerr at the Warriors championship parade. 

There’s still plenty more I hope to accomplish, but it’s fair to say this year is the start of an upward trajectory. I’m in a good space mentally and physically. I see people around me progressing and moving forward and I’m super happy for them. I’m thinking of going vegan. There’s people I hope to meet, places I hope to travel to, more achievements to realize. 

As I started to put together these lists, I realized how strange my media intake felt this year. Stuff that happened earlier in the year feels like sooo long ago. There are songs I loved that I forgot were released this year at all. The albums list was tough because there was no clear number one for me but definitely a handful that I really liked. There were more beyond that I thoroughly enjoyed, put in a playlist, and then completely forgot about because I guess that’s what streaming is. “Crew” was easily my favorite song this year. I spend just enough time in car to actually listen to the radio and it was such a cool feeling to hear Shy Glizzy on there. I get psyched and sing along to his verse every. single time. 

I watched a ton of TV this year but, really, no show comes close to American Vandal. The humor, the characters, the depth of the parody, the bingeability. It’s maybe the best representation of high school I’ve ever seen on screen. Quality all around. I don’t know that would tell someone who has never seen Twin Peaks to watch it, but there were three of four moments in this season that were some of the most visceral experiences I’ve ever had watching any TV or movie. Godless was fire. Mindhunter was also great. I thought this final season of The Carmichael Show was nearly perfect. Curb might not have had its best season but I laughed uncontrollably at every scene between Larry and Richard Lewis. The Get Down deserved more. The Deuce was as good as people said, but I think I needed a little something more. Shout out to Shark Tank for always coming through. 

I may have watched more movies this year than in any other year in recent memory (shouts to my Movie Pass). I don’t know that I had an obvious number one, but Lady Bird, Florida Project and Get Out are in that discussion for me. But also Star Wars: The Last Jedi was maybe the greatest movie I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ve spent so much of my life with this franchise, I didn’t think I could be surprised anymore. The throne room scene is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, and the audience reaction to Laura Dern’s lightspeed was priceless (every single time). Highlight: Watching Get Out at the Jack London theater in Oakland on opening weekend / Lowlight: not being able to discuss it at work the next day because San Francisco is the whitest, most clueless, most tone-deaf city on Earth. American Made won’t get mentioned a lot but it was one of the more fun experiences I’ve had at the movies. Girls Trip was awesome and hilarious. The Game of Thrones prison scene in Logan Lucky and the Kumail/Ray Romano 9/11 joke in The Big Sick are literally two of the funniest moments in any movie ever. I thought I was over comic book movies, but three ended up on this list. I still can’t tell if I liked Dunkirk.

Here’s to 2018.

Best Songs:

Goldlink “Crew (feat. Brent Faiyaz & Shy Glizzy)” SZA “Supermodel” Tove Love “Disco Tits” Migos “T-Shirt” Playboi Carti “Magnolia” Future “Solo” Sevyn Streeter “Before I Do” Kendrick “Fear” Kelela “LMK” Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like” Ty Dolla $ign “Famous” Adrian Marcel “UKNOWUDO” Miguel “Told You So” 2 Chainz “It’s A Vibe (feat. Ty Dolla $ign, Trey Songz & Jhene Aiko)” A$AP Ferg “Plain Jane” Buddy “Type of Shit (feat. Wiz Khalifa)” Devin the Dude “Are You Goin' My Way?” Frank Ocean “Chanel” Che Ecru “2 Am” Majid Jordan “One I Want (feat. PARTYNEXTDOOR)” Rick Ross “Trap, Trap, Trap (feat. Young Thug & Wale)” Young Thug “Daddy’s Birthday” Vince Stapes “Big Fish” PRETTYMUCH “Open Arms” Wizkid “Come Closer (feat. Drake)”

Best Albums: 

Future HNDRXX Future FUTURE Kelela Take Me Apart Kendrick Lamar DAMN. IDK Iwasverybad Miguel War & Leisure SZA Ctrl Ty Dolla $ign Beach House 3 Jonwayne Rap Album Two Aminé Good For You Mary J. Blige Strength Of A Woman Drake More Life Meek Mill Wins & Losses Jay-Z 4:44 Playboi Carti Playboi Carti Che Ecru buries SiR Her Too Goldlink At What Cost Lou The Human Humaniac Roc Marciano Rosebudd’s Revenge Mozzy & Gunplay Dreadlocks & Headshots Wiki No Mountains In Manhattan milo who told you to think??!!?!?!?! Migos Culture Anna Wise The Feminine: Act II

Best Beats:

Oh No x Tristate “Wind Chime Wizardry” (Oh No) Juelz Santana & Dave East “Time Ticking” (Jahlil Beats) Offset & Metro Boomin “Ric Flair Drip” (Bijan Amir, Metro Boomin)  Future “Solo” (Dre Moon) Iamsu “Shake” (Iamsu) Aminé “Slide” (Jahaan Sweet, Aminé) Kap G “Motivation” (???) Mila J “Fuckboy” (Immanuel Jordan Rich) Jonwayne “Afraid Of Us” (Jonwayne) SZA “Go Gina” (Scum, Lang, Frank Dukes) Milo “Sorcerer” (Kenny Segal) Action Bronson “Bonzai” (Harry Fraud) RJMrLA & DJ Mustard “Hard Way” (DJ Mustard)

Best TV Shows:

American Vandal Mindhunter Godless Twin Peaks: The Return Bojack Horseman The Carmichael Show The Deuce Rick and Morty The Leftovers Master of None Veep Halt and Catch Fire Mr. Robot The Good Place The Get Down Shark Tank Glow Insecure Marvel’s Runaways Lady Dynamite The Defiant Ones All or Nothing  Every scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm between Larry and Richard Lewis

Best Movies:

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Lady Bird The Florida Project Get Out Logan Lucky American Made Logan Girls Trip Hidden Figures The Meyerowitz Stories Molly’s Game The Big Sick Thor: Ragnarok Coco Wonder Woman It The Disaster Artist Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Spider-Man: Homecoming  Dunkirk The Lost City of Z

Best Comedy Specials:

Louis C.K.: 2017 (I know, I know...) Roy Wood Jr: Father Figure Norm Macdonald: Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery Chris Gethard: Career Suicide Al Madrigal: Shrimpin' Ain't Easy Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King Brent Weinbach: Appealing to the Mainstream  Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up For The First Time Maria Bamford: Old Baby Erik Griffin: The Ugly Truth Neal Brennan: Three Mics The Standups: Fortune Feimster The Standups: Beth Stelling Marc Maron: Too Real Comedy Central Stand Up Presents: Anthony Devito Comedy Central Stand Up Presents: Sam Jay Joe Mande's Award-Winning Comedy Special Todd Barry: Spicy Honey Ryan Hamilton: Happy Face The Standups: Nate Bargatze 

Previously: 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Tsukigakirei 6 | Kado 6 | Boku no Hero Academia 20 | Royal Tutor 7 | Grimoire of Zero 6

Apparently there weren’t 2, but 3 .5 episodes (i.e. series recaps) this week (although after Tsukigakirei and Kado, I haven’t found the 3rd series that was affected by such a thing)...with Boku no Hero Academia’s Hero Notebook, that makes a few recaps too many in one season. Still, it does (sadly) mean a break from Tsukigakirei and Kado for one week in regards to simulcast commentary, and it’ll be noted in the next commentary post’s title too (as I’ve done previously for Erased).

Tsukigakirei 6

Wait, there’s a 6.5? I don’t know about you, but a lot of times the .5 ep is a recap. With Tsukigakirei’s current track record of Very Bad CGI Background Characters, I’m not sure I need a .5 ep.

Kinako.

Aren’t there firearm laws in Japan? I’ve heard it’s the safest place in the world…

The piano here (I turned on the volume around here) is quite nice.

The mascot is part of Akane’s background. I guess I should’ve known.

Leaving out the fact Chinatsu likes Kotaro is going to damage you, Akane. That’s how it always goes in these sorts of shows…

I didn’t think Chinatsu would be so understanding…

I didn’t notice Hira had freckles. Or maybe someone added them by accident?

I wouldn’t recommend ditching friends who like the same guy as you (just as a pointer from someone who cuts off relationships a lot).

“Boxes”? Isn’t there a Box app out there or something?...There is indeed a Box app, but it’s for business and FTP. Boxes is then a parody of Dropbox.

I also wouldn’t recommend being sorry for falling for someone. If your feelings are genuine, then that’s all that matters.

Apparently there’s a LINE convo in the ED that changes every ep. I’ve never noticed it because I skip the ED of this show most times. This convo seems to be about finishing exams, at least for the top half or so, and it seems to be a convo with “Kanojo-san”, which could mean “Girlfriend” or just “Her/She” (more than likely the former).

Huh? Never seen this before, this “Sakura’s Fantasies”. It seems to be an omake, appended to the show itself. However, it’s kinda boring…Sure, there are good things about this show, but the show hasn’t actually tried its hand at humour until now (not to my knowledge) and this shows exactly why.

I keep forgetting who Roman is, so…Roman is pink-haired dude? Okay then.

Roman is definitely referring to a wedding dress, I know, but she’s already wearing a dress while looking at the mag, so the wording makes the joke fall flat for me.

Kado 6

Uh-oh. There’s a .5 episode on this show, as well…(it means we get more Kado, sure, but it may be a cost-cutting measure).

I found a guide on the Anisotoron language used for the ep titles while looking for spoilers (because I heard Shindo was forcefully promoted to a higher state of existence without zaShunina telling him…but since that’s an event that occurs in this ep, that doesn’t require a spoiler tag).

Well, it makes sense that those who are more “go with the flow”, like Shindo, would be able to…no, that’s not the right words for it. I think the key component of making a proper Wam is empathy.

Get your hands back on, Shunina. By the way, why’d you take Shindo’s Wam?

Note for later: Kado movement on Aug. 6th 2017. Kado is set in our current year…(I wonder what’ll happen if the anisotropic do arrive in our universe in the future? Would they laugh at zaShunina?)

Amplitude…after all of Kado’s physics, here’s one thing I happen to know about…if you don’t know about amplitude, check the explanation here). What does Kado have to do with waves…?

…Maybe it’s the amplitude of the ground…? That would explain why Kado can conform to a lake’s surface.

Notice there’s a red marking on the map for where Kado is and will be. Not sure if the demo cube is magentised…it’s definitely not velcro though.

Lookit Asano, sleeping on the fold out chairs…LOL.

There’s a box near the mother (on the counter) that says “Delicious Eggplants”.

For some reason, they chose to make the “visiting mother” scene in 2D, and…you know what I’m going to say, right? Knowing me and my gripes with CG? Yeah, you guessed it – it looks a lot better than if it were CG. It would’ve been costly to render the sunglasses and face mask too, I bet, and it seems to give the scene some gravitas due to the sudden contrast.

Octopus tentacles are meant to be snacks, in case you didn’t figure that out from the size of the serving.

…er, CGI Shindo drinking beer completely causes the gravitas to be lost. Welp, it was beautiful while it was happening.

I wonder what it means to show the origami turtles as a trio…it’s gt to be foreshadowing of some sort. Either it’s saying Shindo’s dad is dead or Shunina’s going to reveal how he breeds…well, those are my thoughts, but I heavily lean towards the latter as being true. (By the way, I always thought Shindo was a guy with siblings. Did anyone else think the same thing?)

I know your feels about having to get up early, Hanamori, but why were you running like you were trying to get away from Godzilla?

BVLCARI? Well, Asano’s watch seems to be roughly of that brand (as in, I may have gotten a letter or two wrong).

They’re going to drag Kado by the corner? I’d never think of that, but now that they’ve revealed this, Shindo made it (figuring out how to move Kado with least ground contact) seem a little too easy.

Kado spinning, with all those clouds around it, took my breath away…

Visually speaking, it’s interesting they showed kids on cube-like structures in a park. If I were an anime scholar, I’d want to analyse things like that. Unfortunately, there is no such title as “anime scholar”…

Geometrically speaking, it’s interesting they put Kado, a cube, next to a Ferris wheel, a circle. It’s almost like minimalist art.

*lowkey tries to stifle laughter* That’s not a brain! It’s an egg, or a pill or a lozenge, with brain-like designs in it!...Er-hem. Well, I knew this from the spoilers, but basically, what they implied with the “brain” was “Shindo hasn’t had to sleep since he got anisotropised (or whatever you call it)”.

Boku no Hero Academia 20

“Nabooh” is apparently a Star Wars reference. I hadn’t caught on to that sort of thing until my second watch through of the first season, where Deku cleans up Tatooin Beach and I thought, “That name is a little weird for an anime”.

Brainwashing. I’ve tried that sort of thing in stories before (it was in Conquest Dreams before it got deleted), but seeing the pros and cons of powers is something only the user can really see.

The static was a nice idea, visually speaking.

Ojiro, that’s not selfish at all…

Deku’s looking scary right now. Be careful not to become a villain, or else you’ll fall into the Nietzsche trap*! * - Nietzche once said, “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

The judo throw seems to be a favourite of Deku’s, eh? We saw it in his fight with Bakugo in s1.

I think I get Shinso, actually. The power of stereotypes is a harsh mistress.

I see…Shinso was pointing out Midoriya’s gullibility, in a way.

If Shouto wants to win over his dad, he should face off against another ice user. That’s how these things work, y’know. I should know because I tend to write these sorts of things (see White Parasite for one).

There’s a person in a tiger onesie…well, their onesie kinda looks like a tiger.

Royal Tutor 7

Make sure to keep your torte properly, Leo, or else…ew…

Aw, Bruni. Sad though it is, I know exactly how you feel. I used to be good at a lot of subjects, and in the advanced classes for them, but now I’m average, potentially even struggling in things I thought I was good at.

I have fond memories of a certain show where they’d have home improvement stuff that I’d watch on Friday nights with my dad. It’s still going as we speak, but it’s a shell of what it used to be in my opinion. Why do I bring up this show? It’s because this flashback reminds me of that nostalgia.

Why does Viktor want to have a “backup” successor then, if Eins is so good?(!)

I could see that “I will not have you as my apprentice anymore” line coming, although the line straight after it roped me out of dropping the show.

Dat Bruno sleeping at his desk. That would be me, if I were capable of sleeping at my desk.

Yeah, silver-haired man. In the words of the Who, “Who are you?”

*does double take* Smirdy-what???

(when Dmitri’s drinking his wine) Why do I have the feeling something’s about to go very wrong?...(when Bruno is asked to go away from Granzreich) Yep, must be that dastardly Count…

So Mr Fancy Hat (Heine version) is Eins’ high steward??? You pulled me right back into watching for at least the third or fifth time.

Ooh-wee, Mr Fancy Hat. That’s some soft power, carrot Machiavellianism you’ve got going on there.

Wuh? An old man making a Sailor Moon gesture is funny, but it does make me question exactly how drunk he is. It also makes me question stereotypes again (see Boku no Hero Academia above for the first time).

Ah, Bruni. I don’t just understand you, I grok you (as much as I’d hate to admit it). Back when I was writing Ro.Te.O, the demon of envy (Skyrua/Astaroth) was the easiest to write…

Smirdy-man, you do know what “sophistry” is, right? For reference, here’s Google-sensei to the rescue.

Borscht? I heard of it once, through Cooking Mama…(LOL. Shows how much I suck at recognising cuisine.)

For one second, I thought Heine was a mini ninja, not a mini teacher.

*ROFLs* They’re actually using the live-action version of the ED??? That’s a surprise I never saw coming! (Note: Prior to this ep, I saw the teaser version of this ED on ANN.)

Grimoire of Zero 6

“Grimoire of Zero” is shortened from “Starting the Magic Grimoire From Zero”…or something along those lines…

Thirteen’s name is actually a title, “The Thirteenth”.

How does being an animal correlate with “Because I’m eating, I won’t die?”…?

The thing about the clash of ideologies is that both sides can be as correct as each other…

I have the feeling the final opponent Albus and Mercenary will have to face (I think they’ll regroup) is not necessarily Thirteen, but Zero herself…*shivers*

Ah, the Machiavellianism strikes again! (See Royal Tutor above for the first time.)

A woman (Taichi You) voices Albus, and Takehito Koyasu voices Thirteen…hmph. What a cast.