#ending the year by posting some fave pics of my mans

[widgenstain]

I remembered this photoshoot/interview from 2015 (TIME FLIES) the other week, but couldn’t find a full version on my blog and since it’s behind a paywall, I’m posting the full article here under the Read More. 

It’s as I remembered, James Eloquent Bastard McAvoy gets to talk a lot and make great points about the art, while Andrew is a bit more in the background (with comments about his “skinny legs”, oh boy) but the video on the original article is lovely, it shows that they’re really all in the pic together and that my Celtic faves were actually talking to each other yusssss (also the description of Rory Kinnear cracked me up).

The drama kings

Theatrical tantrums or male bonding – what happened when Britain’s leading men got together for our photoshoot?

Ben Machell

Saturday April 04 2015, 6.58pm BST, The Times

What’s the collective noun for a roomful of actors? “A whinge,” says Russell Tovey.“A babble,” offers Tim Pigott-Smith. “A resting,” says Mark Gatiss, who then immediately changes his mind. “An ambition. No, a thrust! A thrust of actors!” he eventually decides, laughing. 

Keeping one eye on his peers, he leans in conspiratorially. “Can you smell the testosterone?” We’re in a photographer’s studio in north London and the actors – suited, booted, ready for their close-ups – sit around a long table, chatting, drinking coffee and cooing over Tovey’s French bulldog, Rocky.There really is no testosterone to smell. The atmosphere is relaxed and convivial, as if I’ve accidentally walked in on a poker night arranged for some of the best leading men of the British stage. It’s friendly. It’s fun. “Actors tend to be quite good at getting on with people,” says Bertie Carvel, who is tall, dark and thoughtful. “If you’re an arsehole, people don’t want to work with you. You won’t get hired.”Wait, hang on … actors can’t be arseholes? “Well, there are a few arseholes,” he concedes, but insists that none of them is here today. 

New faces wander into the studio and warm greetings are dispensed. Andrew Scott – an Olivier award winner in 2005 for his performance in the Royal Court’s A Girl in a Car with a Man – bear-hugs Carvel, himself a 2012 winner (Best Actor in a Musical) for his Miss Trunchbull in Matilda.

James McAvoy – three Olivier nominations and counting – arrives with his motorcycle helmet under one arm and gives out high-fives, while Rory Kinnear (two Oliviers, including Best Actor last year for his Iago) is more subdued, smiling and nodding at people in polite recognition, like a man at his wife’s office party.

A few moments later Michael Sheen walks in and mimes surprise at seeing Gatiss across the room. It transpires the two had arranged to meet for dinner tonight and then take in a show, but that neither had known the other was going to be here today. From a punter’s perspective, I say, there’s something quite nice about learning that.“Well, Mark and I have known each other for a long time,” says Sheen, explaining that, often as not, actors genuinely do end up being mates. “If you’ve spent six months doing the same theatre production night after night, and trying not to go insane, then that does bond you.”It’s been a bumper year for juicy male roles on the British stage, and those performances will be celebrated at next weekend’s Olivier Awards. Looking at these leading men, it begs the question: why, in 2015, do we have such a glut of theatrical talent?

To answer this, we first need to understand how the theatre has changed. Pigott-Smith, up for an Olivier for his lead role in King Charles III, has been working on stage for almost 50 years. “The profession is radically different today. All those old-fashioned images of the old actor laddie in a fedora with a trace of eye make-up have gone. When I started, it was much more hierarchical. Older actors were afforded a great deal more respect. But since then there’s been a democratisation that is very healthy.”

In other words, there is now less dead wood taking up space that could otherwise be filled by talented younger actors. This is in part because British theatre has been forced to become leaner, less complacent. “There’s not as much theatre around now,” says Pigott-Smith. “Which means there’s much more competition for less and less work.” This competition, in turn, raises everybody’s game. The result?A virtuous cycle of effort and ability.

Mark Strong talks about the undercurrent of competition that exists between actors. “It’s a complicated dynamic, a really odd balance,” he says. “Because you form these very, very tight relationships with people. They’re your pals, but then you’re also competing with them for work. There are a lot of us chasing a few jobs.”Strong – up for a 2015 Best Actor Olivier for Arthur Miller’s A View From the Bridge – suspects this competitive streak informs every performance he gives. “To be honest, I think I perform for my peers first and foremost. I don’t mean to belittle the audience, but it’s the other actors’ evaluation of my performance that I’m most interested in. We’re doing it for each other. We’re always trying to outdo each other, always trying to impress each other.”

I stand in the corner of the dressing room while some of them try on suits and have their hair and make-up done. Andrew Scott pulls a pair of trousers over his skinny legs and then frets about their length in the mirror. Gatiss charms the girls who are looking after the wardrobe and briefly flashes broad, hairy shoulders while changing shirts. Sheen sidles in carrying a slight paunch. He looks at the suits. “Anything that fits, I’m happy with.”

The hair and make-up people set about Sheen, McAvoy and Kinnear, who sit in a row, like three men at the barber’s. Sheen and McAvoy recently played on the same celebrity Soccer Aid football team, a team that happened to be coached by José Mourinho. It’s pretty obvious both men share a major man crush on the Chelsea manager. “I love him,” says McAvoy. “He texted me on Christmas Day,” says Sheen. Kinnear chips in: “What was he saying? ‘Stop texting me’?”

I grab McAvoy. For some reason, I can imagine him being a nightmare to play football against, niggly and ruthless. In person, he is confident and intense, especially when talking about the theatre. “I think it’s your job as a leading man to be first in, last out,” he says. “To work as hard as you possibly can. To identify the actor who is working hardest, and then work harder than them. Just to set the tone.”McAvoy – Olivier-nominated for his role as paranoid schizophrenic the 14th Earl of Gurney in The Ruling Class– has a theory about the enduring appeal of the stage.“The source of theatre is human sacrifice,” he says, looking me in the eye. “The first time we killed someone in front of a crowd to make the gods like us better, that’s where we got our theatre. And I think there’s still an element of that, when it’s frightening and electric, and you’re watching actors who are giving themselves in such a committed way that they are almost sweating blood. And that’s what I always try to do.”That sounds a bit extreme, I say. But then, he flashes, that’s his point. “I’d rather people went out twice a year to see a really good, dangerous piece of theatre in which they were genuinely concerned for the actor on stage, rather than just going to see loads of dead-easy bourgeois f***ing pieces of s***, the dead-easy stuff that gets put on just to sell out quickly.”

Bad theatre seems to physically upset McAvoy. “If you watch a bad film, you kind of just forget about it. It’s not such a headache. But a bad play? When I watch bad theatre, I feel like I’ve been hurt. I feel like someone has really annoyed me. Badly.” If this strikes you as a bit much, it’s nothing if not heartfelt. And it only reflects something that everyone I speak to emphasises, which is that actors – or these actors, anyway – genuinely love doing theatre work. It sounds like a luvvie thing to say, but then they are, in the nicest possible way, a bunch of luvvies. And besides, they all have their reasons. Matthew Macfadyen, for example, talks about appearing in Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense last year. “I felt like I was doing a proper job.“I know that sounds ridiculous,” he says gently. “But I sort of felt nicely anonymous. You go in, you do your job, then go home. You’re not babied as much as you are in the TV business. You run into lots of people you’ve done jobs with in the past.” I say that makes it sound a bit like working on a building site. “It really is, yeah!” he says. “It’s lovely. I adore it.”

Nicholas Pinnock loves theatre work because of how close actors and audiences can get to one another, particularly given the present popularity of studio productions and theatre in the round. He’s currently starring in The Royale at the Bush, based on the story of early 20th-century African-American boxer Jack Johnson. “The other night there were two women on the front row crying,” he says. “Just because of the stuff we were doing on stage. It’s nice to be able to actually see those kinds of reactions. It gives you a different energy.”Does he ever worry about sounding a bit, well … thespy? He grins. “I got to a certain stage in my life when I stopped giving a f*** about what people thought. I can talk about acting all day long. I love it. It’s my job. Sometimes we fall into that cliché. But so what?”

One man who can’t talk all day about acting is Ralph Fiennes. He is the last actor to arrive at the studio, and his minder says that he has two minutes to answer questions. Everyone else hangs around, waiting for the final group shot, while Fiennes stands apart, looking out of the window.

So, I ask, what is it like when a load of actors all get together like this? He frowns. “I think it’s just like any group situation. You know you’re in the same business. But with a sense of recognition and common purpose,” he says in a voice that sounds a bit like the Prince of Wales. “Some of these people …” he starts, and then looks over at them. “I know Mark [Strong] a bit and I know Tim [Pigott-Smith] a little bit. But usually it’s a sense of easy camaraderie.”I ask him: what does looking at these people make you think about the present quality of British acting? “I think if you’re in a profession, you’re in it. It’s not often you’re taking a step back to think about it. That’s your job. A job for the critics and the journalists,” he says, and gives a tight laugh. Does he have any views on these other guys at all? “They are all actors I really admire,” he says, before being led across the studio to take centre stage in the shoot. 

After that I speak to Russell Tovey, who’s been in a few Olivier award-winning plays, notably The History Boys. He is lovely, with all the offhand openness of an Essex hairdresser. So, I ask, what it’s like when a load of actors get together like this? “We like to sit around and have a bitch and a whine about things.”Really?“ Yeah! Actors like to sit down and have a good moan. But that’s because we’re dramatic. Obviously, that’s not happening today,” he adds quickly. “We’re all happy. We’ve all got these lovely suits on. We’re all over the moon!”

He says that, at the end of the day, every actor here knows that he is very fortunate. “We’re in that rare percentage of guys who can turn down work and feel secure that something else will come along. I still s*** myself whenever I turn down a job because I’ve got so many actor mates who aren’t working at all. But I’m so lucky. I’ve bought a place. I’m paying a mortgage. I can go out and buy a pair of shoes and not worry about it.”But it’s not really about the shoes, he continues. It’s just that he’s completely in love with his job. And I think that, deep down, the same is true of everyone else in the room. They may be a bunch of luvvies but, lucky for us, they’re bloody good ones, too.“At the end of the day I love pretending to be someone else,” says Tovey. “I mean, in what other job can you scream and cry and then, at the end, have someone pat you on the back and say, ‘Well done’? I do it because I need it. I think we all do,” he says. “Psychoanalyse that.”

The 2015 Olivier Awards, presented by Lenny Henry, will take place at the Royal Opera House, London, on April 12 (olivierawards.com)

The line-up: who’s who

Standing, from left:

Mark Gatiss, 48.

About to star in new Donmar show The Vote with Dame Judi Dench and Catherine Tate, from April 24.

Tim Pigott-Smith, 68.

Nominated for Best Actor in 2015 for King Charles III at the Almeida and Wyndham’s theatres.

Julian Ovenden, 38.

Currently starring in Olivier Best Revival-nominated show, My Night With Reg at the Apollo until April 11.

Bertie Carvel, 37.

Won Best Actor in a Musical in 2012 as Miss Trunchbull in Matilda; about to star in Bakkai at the Almeida, with Ben Whishaw, from May 29.

Matthew Macfadyen, 40.

Starred in 2014’s Olivier Best New Comedy Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense

Nicholas Pinnock, 41.

Playing a heavyweight boxer in The Royale, at the Bush Theatre until April 18.

Iwan Rheon, 29.

Won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical in 2010 for Spring Awakening.

Rolan Bell, 31.

Nominated for 2015 Olivier Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical for his role in Memphis the Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Seated, from left:

Rory Kinnear, 37.

Won Best Actor Olivier in 2014 for Othello at the National. Stars in The Trial at the Young Vic from June 19.

Mark Strong, 51.

2015 Olivier Best Actor nominee for A View from the Bridge at the Young Vic. Run ends April 11.

Ralph Fiennes, 52.

Starring in Man and Superman at the National Theatre until May 17.

Russell Tovey, 33.

Starred in Olivier-winning play The History Boys, and The Pass at the Royal Court in 2014.

Andrew Scott, 38.

Won Outstanding Achievement Olivier for A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Royal Court in 2005.

James McAvoy, 35.

Nominated for Best Actor at the 2015 Olivier Awards for The Ruling Class which closes on April 11.

Michael Sheen, 46.

Has been nominated for a total of four Olivier Awards – for Amadeus, 

Look Back in Anger, Caligula and the Donmar Warehouse’s 2006 production of

Frost/Nixon. Played Hamlet at the Young Vic in 2011-12.

Jamie Campbell Bower, 26.

About to star in Bend It Like Beckham, playing the coach, Joe, at the Phoenix Theatre from May 15.

THE SHOOT

Styling

Jane Taylor-Hayhurst.

Grooming

Nicky Weir at Sarah Laird using MAC.

Hair

Craig Taylor at One Represents for Hari’s Salon SW3 using Kiehl’s.

Ralph Fiennes

Nathalie Eleni using MAC and Braun.

James McAvoy

Jennie Roberts at Stella Creative Artists using Paul Mitchell.

[1d-discourseoftheday]

💙 Tues 5 Jan ‘21 💚

Is today's biggest story really a pair of socks I mean WHY NOT am I right, that may as well happen! With impeccable timing, as the fandom and the world went bananas about Ho-livia WildStyle (a drag queen name for the ages right there), the first of the limited edition TPWK socks that people ordered basically on blind faith (you fully couldn't tell what they were going to look like at all on the website, and now we know why lmao) have arrived with a bang: they seemed to come with either blue or pink hearts, but in fact it turns out you get one of two color combos, either pink and white or, uh: BLUE AND GREEN HEARTS. I'm not one to carry on about like jeans and a green shirt or what have you but this is a CHOICE, and if the antis don't have performative burnings of their evil larrie merch honestly WHAT is the POINT; the resale market of the limited edition socks is already booming though so there's always that option, if either side can bear to conduct business across the divide. My question is, did they really time it to play out this precisely on purpose? Unlikely tbh, but if that's a thing they're capable of I have some THOUGHTS about the way other Harry merch takes like 4 months to arrive...

Larrie socks aside however, the real discourse continues to be about you-know-what, with the players out there fanning the flames wildly. There's too much nonsense to bother with it all (the quoted sources in the articles directly contradicting each other's stories also makes it difficult) so let's just... *spins wheel*....okay I landed on 'tabloids say Harry's wedding speech talked about his girlfriend Olivia' here goes. Sjksdfjks WHY would you be talking about your girlfriend of three weeks in a speech for your close friends' wedding, OMG, how uncomfortable and inappropriate is that?? Imagine if any of this were real, that Harry ('I'd take my time and make sure a thing was serious before telling people about it', end quote, I mean that's ALSO a stunt quote (oh the layers) but just pointing out that it's contradictory) starts dating his co-worker who just got out of a huge relationship and is also a famous person with presumably an interest in privacy, and immediately the two of you get to work setting up a big reveal to happen right away (even in a weird fantasy world where any of this is real the possibility that JEFF AZOFF'S WEDDING had the paps present for any other reason than to do EXACTLY what they were told is flat impossible- what pap or celeb outlet can afford to be on Jeff's bad list?!) and then he casually writes her into his speech (a guy who's so anxious and shy about public speaking and what to say that he begs people to write speeches for him and practices endlessly) uh huh, sure Jan. There are so many things about this that are ludicrous, but more to the point, none of the things they're saying hold up to scrutiny any better than this. There just isn't any point in taking them that seriously though; Harry is a closeted artist and, just like the many queer artists that came before him who he repeatedly reminds us are his icons, he both lets us know all day every day in a million ways that he's queer, and also plays the industry game and winkingly gives the press their Straight Guy Harry fodder. You don't have to like it, or indeed anything at all in this world, but people do need to accept that whether they like it or not is neither the point nor anyone (including Harry)'s responsibility to respond to or do anything about.

Like I said I can't cover every detail but! I always have a little space for the absurd: today, our best entrant is the possibility that the whole wedding we saw was a sham– fans ask, was this public spectacle Jeff and Glenne's actual wedding? Listen if anyone would be up for it it would be this crew, and if they did stage it I'm sure they had a good laugh! Suspicion has been cast on Glenne's dress (allegedly an untailored 2018 off the rack number), the small guest list (wouldn't they just wait and have a huge event?), and the fact that they invited paps there at all. It would make the no explanation robe pics EVEN FUNNIER though if you imagine that was for our benefit but left totally unadressed (undressed). ANYWAY Don't Worry Darling filming is back in business and Harry was papped some more today, out for a casual not at all pap walk hike with a work associate and multiple items of his own merch (including an unreleased hoodie design.) On the topic of DWD, sometimes a different perspective can be interesting-- for example considering whether Harry is the point of all this at all? Or is he but a bit player in the real DWD publicity drama, an elaborate and very public dramatic reconciliation between Olivia and her ex husband? Either way, he's neither a clueless dupe, a helpless pawn, or anyone's 'boy toy', so please: can we rein in the hand wringing and pointless Olivia bashing a bit?

Let's talk about something else shall we? For example! Liam's setlist, just released for the upcoming LP Show Act 4. Look at that song selection! Fireproof! Strong!! Through The Dark!! More exciting 1D faves! Plus Slow and Home With You off his EP, NICE, singles and more, it looks awesome. The Hugo Man fragrance relaunch is less exciting, featuring the dopiest possible articles full of chat about his skin care routine (oh shucks I'm just  manly man, I don't have one at all... *names two products and refers to 'multiple moisturizers'*), trademark accidental candor (“I’m quite tired!”), and of course trying to describe a fragrance, always an entertaining gymnastics (“every time I spray it, it kind of takes me back to being on that rooftop in Berlin”), but also there are manly new pics of Lia.

A new song Niall co-wrote is coming out! The JC Stewart song, Break My Heart, will be out this Fri! Charlie Lightening posted pics from a year ago on the Walls music video set, featuring an intent Louis in the sun (and fashion voter underrated excellent Looks), and Louis commented on Dave Allen's post (“top man!”)-- the famous boxer is offering to help friends through lockdown by facetiming 3or 4 people a day for home workouts, damn, and also aww. That shitty Doncaster secondary school turned out some really sweet dudes, against all odds tbh. With Los Angeles experiencing some of the worst COVID surges we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic, Grammys organizers have elected to postpone the (already limited) ceremony. Originally scheduled for Jan 31 it is now TBA, tentatively for March. Harry's stalker, who menaced him in and near his London home in 2019, is being charged with violating his restraining order by attempting to contact Harry via social media, Global Fund for Women thanked Harry for donating, and HLDaily and other accounts were suspended for posting pap pics, always a risk, but one trick potato Jeff is on the job; HSD is back up and running, cause they can't have a proper stunt season without their most faithful mouthpieces. Niall continues to vote for himself on twitter threads about what to listen to in the New Year.

[thweaty]

tomdaya tea ☕️

ok i have to submit this because it’s just TEW much to explain otherwise. like i said i stan them both so i been here for it all and know ALL the tea. i’ll give you the rundown of their relationship and then the drama that went down when she was dating jacob. there’s a whole tumblr timeline spanning years you can google if you’re interested in seeing it in detail but i’ll give you the basics. this is going to be a literal dissertation sorry in advance but i feel responsible for letting the general public know about the tomdaya agenda since i know so much

so they started dating in like aug/sept 2016 right after they finished filming homecoming. he went to canada right after to film another movie and during the course of filming she went to visit him and he flew to la to visit her, this is when people started getting sus. when he finished filming this movie he made an ig story about how he was going home to london to be with his family and spend the holidays with them, except he lied because he flew to la to see z and spend thanksgiving with her and her family lmao (he actually spent thanksgiving with her family 3 years in a row 2016-2018….more on that later tho 👀) her cousin exposed them when he posted a video on thanksgiving at her house and you could see her and tom cuddling on the couch. so everyone was like they’re 100% dating. like i said he was always flying to see her, he was going to workout classes with her mom and shit, he always stayed at her house in la (there’s multiple sets of photos of him outside her house with luggage). another thing that convinced people was sometime in early 2017 she made a whole snapchat story about how she was super sick and overworked and then after that accidentally posted a snap to her story that said “your sick girlfriend really loves you”. she deleted it quickly because it was obviously an accident and wasn’t meant to be public but people got screenshots. tom was also in nyc visiting z when she was filming the greatest showman and told a fan he met that he was in town visiting his girlfriend because he dumb. 

so at this point we KNOW they’re dating. zendaya is notorious for being extremely private with relationships, the guy she dated before tom she was with for 4 years and called him her best friend all along. she didn’t admit they actually had dated until after they broke up bc he cheated on her. so her being so private with tom and hiding it was expected. all this same shit goes on for the next nearly three years, they’re doing long distance but he flies to see her at least once a month sometimes more, they spend time with each others families, visit each other on set, etc. 

so this is where it gets interesting. tom is photographed on the euphoria set during a night shoot in like early may 2019. this is apparently right around the time they break up. tom’s best friend tuwaine was dating this girl audrey and when they broke up she started spilling tea on tomdaya (tom unfollowed her after this so it was def true). she said they broke up in may because they were fighting more due to long distance AND tom was tired of being so private, he didn’t want to be public but was over being so secretive and wanted to be a little more lax but she wasn’t comfortable with that. they decided to stay friends. the far from home press tour was in june and they were clearly still super close friends, nobody could even tell they were broken up cause they were so chummy (looking back now it’s more obvious cause tom was saying shit about his love life being a disappointment and stuff). they go their separate ways after the premiere but stay friends and continue to interact on social media, even months after the breakup tom met a girl at a con dressed like mj and asked if he could take a photo with her to send to zendaya so they were def still talking and stuff

fast forward to feb 2020. z is dating jacob and they’re being papped like every single day in nyc. pictures come out of them kissing out in the open in nyc. as a fan of z this was VERY weird to me because she’s always so private, but i was like maybe she’s trying something new because being so private caused the downfall with tom. BUT then she started DMing her fan accounts on twitter and ig asking them to take the kissing photos down (so idk what happened, she had to knew they were being papped but maybe she had second thoughts and regretted it)…. her fan accounts do delete the photos, but it’s too late. everyone has already seen them including tom, who is in the middle of a self-proclaimed instagram break. the day after the kissing photos came out, he goes back on ig and unfollowed two of z’s best friends, one being her assistant and basically brother darnell who tom was also good friends with. he posts a photo on his story of him drinking and puts emojis over his eyes and said something like “back for a minute, now i’m gone again.” he was going through it lmao so he literally went onto ig to be petty and unfollow people close to z because he was mad she was kissing her bf of a few months in public when they were together for nearly three years. and obviously he couldn’t unfollow her so he did the next best thing, and fans obviously took notice. a week later he followed darnell back cause i guess he realized how bad it looked but the damage was already done. tom and z from then on do not interact or acknowledge each other for the next SIX MONTHS. idk if they fought or if she was mad he unfollowed darnell or what. but it was MESSY. 

a month later tom starts dating this girl nadia, she moves into his house a few weeks into dating for quarantine. they date throughout those lockdown months. z breaks up with jacob sometime in june. she gets nominated for the emmy at the end of july, and days after she gets nominated her and tom start liking all of each others photos again. the assumption is he reached out to congratulate her and they made up. a few days after they start interacting again, tom posts a photo of his girlfriend on ig, and z likes it. tom and nadia break up like a week later 💀 he was filming uncharted in berlin at this point, him and z continue to interact, he finishes uncharted and flies right to atlanta to start filming spider-man. they’re still in atlanta now and we know they hang out all the time, but a lot of people think they’re back together because they’ve done some very 👀 things. her mom came to atlanta for thanksgiving and you guessed it… tom spent it with them (which we only know cause the celeb chef who cooked for them posted on his story that he made thanksgiving dinner for zendaya and tom holland. he then deleted and deactivated cause he realized he fucked up lmao). they started interacting with each other’s families and friends again. hunter (jules from euphoria) who is z’s best friend drove to atlanta to see her and her and tom followed each other. tom is very selective of who he follows and doesn’t even follow a lot of his costars so people were shook by this, especially because him and hunter met multiple times before but never followed each other. i have no idea if they’re back together, at the very least they’re good friends again, but i wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were. we’ll see what happens when they finish filming 👀👀👀 lmk your thoughts, questions, concerns etc. 

bitch my fave part was zendaya liking that pic and tom and his gf breaking up a week later 😭😭

[acrosstobear]

every month of 2021!

post your favorite and/or most popular post from each month this year. (it’s okay to skip months!) i was tagged by the lovely Shona @formulaoneisajoke like ages ago, and i wasn’t gonna do this but it ended up being really nice to look back on my year and see how far i’ve come so thank you for tagging me babes ❤️

i’m pretty sure the whole world of F1blr has been tagged in this but i’ll use the opportunity to highlight some of my favourite creators of 2021, i strongly encourage you follow and support them!! @oscar-piastri @brawn-gp @juncosracing @yukitsunoda @lewishamlton @callumilott @liam-lawson

January: not too many original posts this month; my most popular post was my Merc!George edit (second ever fancam 😊) but i think my favourite post was Callum edit to Streets cause lord, man’s still a snack

February: most popular post was my Valentine’s Day Schulott edit which im still really happy with, though i have to say that my Mick Ocean Eyes edit is a fun one, i’m pleased with how i timed the clips/lyrics etc.

March: by far the most popular was Mick’s 22nd bday edit, which i made at 3 AM the night before lol, but there’s absolutely nothing that i’m more proud of than my first ever Schulott fic Foundations

April: once again we’ve got two Mick edits that were most popular -- my Mick thirst edit and the insane Canceled edit, but my personal fave was my Lewis Fashion King edit cause i just adore the man

May: eeek this month i got all sappy and made an edit about how much Schulott obviously love each other, but i’m also a big fan of these Mick gifs from his Sky Sports featurette

June: featuring my first F1 post to hit 1k notes (cheer up Mick!! watching germany lose at footie), but it was also a very creative month, since it’s when Lauren @formulaur and i published and wrote most of Collegiate Affairs

July: another 1k+ notes post with an emotional Mick x Michael x doggos edit, while most of my other bigger posts were motorcycle Mick pics, but i wanna highlight my moon sun and stars -- Callum being a smiley babe on stream

August: biggest F1 post ever with my gifs of Mick & Seb post race in Hungary, but sparing a shoutout to my unhinged text post about Mick after the summer break that got over 700 notes 😂

September: my two most popular posts saw me get involved in the gremlin ship that is Nortrell (they are fond on each :sigh:) and Mick’s acting career for Sky Sports (it’s a good thing he’s pretty)

October: my compilation of Mick and his serial killer tendencies was my most popular post but i’m particularly pleased with this gifset of Lando being an attention goblin

November: ahhhhh yes the infamous Lando 22 bday edit!!!! i worked on this for 2 weeks straight and i’m beyond proud of how it turned out (and also overwhelmed with how well it was received 🥺). gonna throw in Callum’s bday edit as a bonus cause he’s Just Some Guy, but he’s my Just Some Guy

December: somehow the biggest month?? i have to highlight the 12 Days of Mickmas, cause it pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, but my biggest post by far was a pic of Mick & some birbs 😂 also still aggressively heartbroken and letting it take over in my Amanda Gorman x abu dhabi injustice edit and the Nortrell breakup edit 😭

it’s a mixed bag of fics and videos and gifs but i had a truly wonderful year in 2021 making all kinds of fun stuff and i can’t wait to do it all over again in 2022 ❤️ thank you all for the love!!!!

[daredevilexchange]

Want to be featured here? Head to this page and fill in the form!

See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What’s your fannish ID? hehearse - it's a hearse that is giggling :D which probably describes my art the best

What types of fanworks do you create? I do art! Art is great, not only i don't need to figure my way around words in any language, i can ALSO make people sad (or happy) with just one pic, they can figure out the story (or imagine one) themselves!  

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you're not creating?  Art is obviously there since i draw, i am biased like that; i love fics with my whole heart, ficwriters are a gift to any fandom! But that's probably the extent of my knowledge about other fanworks... (though people taking super pretty high resolution screenshots are a gift to anyone in need of references of course!!!)

What do you like in particular about this fandom? When i was Involved it felt cozy and homely!! Smaller fandoms in general feel nice. Matt and Foggy's interaction (both romantic and platonic) are always great - and since i'm mainly coming from mark waid's daredevil it hits Hard... And the theme of matt Trying to be a good friend.... and the uncertainty "will he come back alive" is delicious. AND foggy's family adopting matt and being HIS family too is.. /clutches chest/ (Also ALSO the fake relationship for the 10 year anniversary at uni fics for daredevil are some of the most fun interpretations i've read)

Do you like participating in fan events? Yeah!! Especially the summer ones - though they weren't easy because of uni, the gifting day sometimes aligned with my birthday so an extra gift hehe. Also giving people something that i too care about is a nice feeling :")

Do you interact a lot with other fans?  Not currently! I do hope to come back to daredevil fandom one day because matt lives in my heart and i STILL have feelings for him. ;w;

Is there any particular piece you'd like to showcase for this post? https://hehearse.tumblr.com/post/169391810263/%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0-hanged-man-upright-suspension ! it's one of my personal faves since i do love angst a lot AND i love waid and samnee's daredevil 

Do you have other fandoms you'd like to talk about? the obvious one is the witcher because it's all i draw right now - and... both main characters became mutants in their childhood and went through The Training To Fight Evil, both have Complicated Love Life, both have heightened senses.... you know. But ALSO hawkeye went hand in hand with daredevil for me, and i personally believe that kate could be great friends with foggy (and they both could be constantly disappointed in matt and clint)

Where can your fanworks be found? https://hehearse.tumblr.com/tagged/Daredevil is the easiest one to keep track of! :)

Thank you, @hehearse !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[ID on a white background, four black triangles that look like spotlights from above. Each illuminates one of the Defenders silhouetted in white: Jessica, Luke, Danny, Matt. A hand on the left is holding a pen writing the words Content Creator Spotlight. There is a little Punisher skull on the pen. End ID]

[iampikachuhearmeroar]

a few years back now, i wrote a big d&m post about this pic. about how in 2011, i was depressed/anxious, lonely and feeling lost. when i posted the pic originally in 2013, i was still very deep in that mindset as well.

however, 10 years on, i realise that those feelings, although brought on by the toxic environment i was in at the time (let’s not even get started on that), and my views of myself at 15/16 were false. life obviously had bigger and more dramatic things to give me at 25/26 than “you’ll never be desirable to men if you never learn to shut your mouth like a REAL WOMAN does” and such other poisonous comments i was receiving at school from staff. those comments were just a blip in time. but i’ve learnt that those comments were really a reflection of the gross patriarchal views of the church (as well as society in general) which i was so fucking happy to “escape from” (ah the dramatic queen i was) at the time by moving schools.... but those views are not a reflection of me as a person.

for everyone whose landed in teaching, please know that if you make these types of comments to your students, it really does affect them. it took me 10 years to grapple with and tackle my self esteem to the point where i am confident in who i am; all because some petty teachers didn’t like how outspoken and loud i was as at 15/16. like y’all. let teen girls be a bit feral, loud and opinionated. it doesn’t hurt for them to try that on and then discard it after a period of time, or possibly never (like i never have- except i’m no longer feral lol).

although many of my teen opinions that i find on tumblr through my archive or my facebook memories are problematic as hell and some of them i now find completely unrelatable..... at least i know i’ve grown in the years since. and it’s also funny that i don’t even look up to the musicians and actors that always bore the advice of “be yourself and see who likes you for you” or whatever the fuck general platitudes they gave for self confidence advice to fans; anymore. how times change.

and although these comments were extremely hurtful at the time, i have always known that i am more than my perceived desirability to men. i am obviously still loud and opinionated; but i know now that my opinion is sometimes not needed on things... which is unlike teenage me, who liked shooting her mouth off every 5 minutes just for funsies. i have always been whole on my own, and those comments were a counter to that belief.... because as patriarchal assholes always love to ask and state: “what is a woman without her/a man? nothing.” uh, no. she’s a whole ass person, you fuck. there’s a reason that one of my fave lyrics of all time is “im not here for your entertainment, you don’t wanna mess with me tonight”. to me, it means i’m not going to entertain anyone who thinks i’m not a whole ass person on my own. don’t fuck with me if you think a woman always needs a man to be whole.

basically the vibe of this post is just to let people grow in their own fucking time, and don’t try to force growth through guilt-tripping. personal growth is a messy ride for everyone. even more so today, with social media being such a general suck on people’s self worth.

a whole ass decade ago i was depressed, anxious, lonely and feeling lost. obviously, the lost bit is still there, because who doesn’t experience the lost feeling from time to time- and even more so during a worldwide pandemic -(that’s a big storm you’ve got coming honey)- but life is transitory and fickle. and yes i still have my down days. and yes i still grapple with my anxiety and depression. but i am enough. i am loved.

a whole ass decade ago i thought i was worthless, stupid and every other negative word in the dictionary. i felt numb and alone. in retrospect, i got through uni and still have my knowledge; even though i had to admit to myself that i had to drop out of my postgrad course due to burnout, and also realised that librarianship just wasn’t for me. i was also forced to quite literally physically feel things while in hospital, considering that i begged for anaesthesia for literally everything all the time 😂. bitch gotta feel at some point. might as well do it now.

back in 2011, i felt as though i couldn’t connect with anyone anymore. *just throw any mid 2000s/early 2010s emo song lyrics about feeling disconnected, inadequate and depressed here*. and yeah, it’s true. i still have those days where i feel like that. but i’ve got a few friends who like me for me, still. no matter how fucking messy i am.

personal growth hurts sometimes.... in every aspect of your being. growth is slow. and other times, incredibly rapid (such as my time in icu which is my decade reality check). and you know what? i got through it all as the ☀️ girl i was deemed as being back then 😂.

sometimes, in the end, you have to approach life from the sunny side up and laugh- which i can now do- since 10 years have come to pass to divorce me from my awkward, rebellious & punky teenage self. little miss sunshine has woken up to know that somebody loves her always (okay that’s my nephew) and continually lives in an endless pandemic hell as if every day is her weekend and every year is her year (okay not really- 2020 was a nightmare for everyone- let’s be real here). little miss sunshine knows that she’s whole on her own even on her bad days. she’s okay. and that’s fine.

or as one of my long time fave songs says: “stay awake, get grip and get out/you’re safe from the weight of the world/just take a second to set things straight/i’ll be fine even though i’m not always right/i can count on the sun to shine.” (c’mon we all knew this would come out).

[messedupessy]

Ok so, got a ask from @matronofthevoid for the ask thingie I am doing, where she asked what my skeleton boys would be dressed up for Halloween, and I got hella lot of boys and this is hella long so decided to make a separate post with it yes xD 

I am skipping the seafell and seaswapfell bros, also the genderbent versions of them seaswap boys aka Bon and Nessie, as I srsly dunno what they would be pft, but let’s see...

Swap bros: Stretch I can’t say as that will be spoilers for the Halloween pic I got pft, but his bro Berry totally a sexy fireman just because he can, he gotta be matching his bro because that’s the way they roll.

UT bros: know this has been done before but Sans is dressed in a suit with a note stuck onto his chest with the word apology on it, yes he is a formal apology and Puffy if you read this yes this is inspired by your pic from ages ago. Papyrus is dressed up as Mettaton obviously, his box form that is, which he has worked weeks on perfecting! He technically could had just went with his old armor since that was a old costume he made before reaching the surface, but since he worn it so much it was time for a change, and what better than his favourite sexy rectangle?

Fell bros: Edge, if he isn’t too busy, which he might be unless someone drags him away from his work, is dressed up as Gomez Addams, there is no other costume he could possibly wear. Red is a lazy helicopter tomato who don’t really do the whole dressing up shit, so he will just put a pair of devils horns on his head and call it a day.  

SF bros: Scratch has worked like a mad lad on his costume, it is all made from... well scratch, and he has worked on it for literal weeks, a fancy af gothic vampire with a fluffy skirt, lace, buttons, ribbons, so many details, got like claw gauntlets and everything, it looks like some sort of cosplay with how detailed it is but it’s just a costume and he is very proud of it. Rus is dressed up as a literal trashbag, he just got a stinky old paper bag from the trash and poked some holes in it, put it over his head like the trash he is. 

Seaswap bros: Pass is a ninja because it is ironic as fuck, because Pirates VS Ninjas baby. Boney is dressed as the painting “the girl with a pearl earring”, with his own little twist to the rest of the outfit since you can only see the top half of her body. 

3in1Tale aka G bros: you would think Fraktur would dress up as Dr. Frankenstein since he is a mad scientist just like him, but no, Dr. Frankenstein is a sniveling little piss baby, the creature on the other hand, now that’s where the good stuff is, so yes he is dressed up as “Frankensteins monster”, though mixed with a scientist bc he can’t let go off his mad scientist aesthetic. Gans is dressed like that meme the “how do you do fellow kids” one, not on purpose though he was aiming for a skater because skating is cool, it’s hip, sadly he can’t skate to save his life.

SF KH/Purple bros: Mauve is too busy been aggressive and feral to dress up, dressing up in costumes and such things are beneath him. Cash dresses up as a drug dealer.... which he already is, he is technically not dressing up at all he is genuinely just been himself but “pretending” to be selling drugs, that might be real, is probably real, by opening his hoodie and be all “wanna buy some drugs?”. Their underground to start with isn’t much up to celebrating these sort of occasions.  

MessedUpTale bros: Pop is dressed up as a proper knight, using one of his old armours he used to use back before he ended up underground several hundreds of years ago. Tycoon or just Ty for short, well he is a king so he just switches out his crown for a burger king crown, at first at least, with the help of Pop and some of their friends they end up changing his costume into a literal grandpa, with a beard and everything, because he likes to joke that he is one, so why not dress up as one.  

Underlöst bros: Velvet is dressed up as Lady Gaga from the BLACKPINK music video Sour Candy, the black one with straps and like buckles, with a blonde wig and everything, as BLACKPINK is his fave band and he loves Lady Gaga. Bin couldn’t be bothered to put any sort of effort into any sort of costume, so Velvet had to do it for him, so he dresses him up as a wizard, but a sexy one, sort of, Bin is not really working it like Velvet had hoped but it will do.  

Easeswap bros: Mello is dressed as a cute and very comfy bat, but it’s also like sexy it’s like kinda like a massive hoodie rather that gets cut off at the knees, kinda like a hoodie dress, with bat hears and wings as the hoodie arms, he is very cozy in it. Dex is dressed as a werewolf, as it was the best and simplest thing he could get his hands on, but also like sexy. 

Fellswap Gold bros: Vin sadly did not have time to dress up or even celebrating Halloween whatsoever, his job is extremely demanding and he rarely got any free time, but if he had gotten a chance he would had dressed up as a old time gentleman. Mocha is a bit too socially inept and anxious to go out and celebrate, but his fave online multiplayer game, he dressed his character up as a punkish pumpkin man. 

Easefell bros: Thyme procrastinated af on his costume, so he ended up having to buy something simple to dress up as, and ended up as Raphael from TMNT, it’s kinda shitty and bad quality but it works. Pepper haven’t really gotten a chance to dress up properly before, yes he have once or twice dressed up for parties when he was more in his teen years but they used to be like not that good and... very slutty. He was tempted to just go with a pair of bunny ears and call it a day as he don’t have time for this, but ends up going with something more proper anyway, and dresses up as Sandy from Grease, the black outfit she wears at the end. 

[simtrospective]

~Makeover time! [4/?]

A series 🙄 in which I take three sims from the first round of TS4 sims I ever made–created before I had every CC slider and skin detail in existence and prior to the (relative) refinement of my sim sculpting abilities–and fix ‘em up only by tweaking, pulling, and pushing; no preset-swapping here! Changes to skintones, skin details, hairstyles, and makeup are allowed where doing so would further bring the sims’ appearances more in line with my original intentions.

"[4/?]” because maybe there will be more some day :P

So I feel like I have to say that I’m not doing these makeovers to make my sims better looking, just in case you’re side-eyeing these.

This is the last round for now, three more brothers: Rocky (whose original version was in my recent 50s lookbook); Ace; and Jimmy.

Why does Jimmy not look at all like his brothers? Well, in their save, that very question was one of the ~continued issues~ in his parents’ tumultuous marriage.

Why does Jimmy now--and hear me out--why does the new Jimmy look vaguely like a young Tom Hanks? ikr!?

(I’ve played a full save with these three dummies so the writing beyond the cut is A. LOT. There are more pics there, too.)

Rocky is a favorite of mine but like so many of my early faves, his face... As you know, I am an incurable default skin swapper-outer and because of that he never looks consistent + he always looks a little unformed, a little cartoonish, on top of having a very unmanipulated, MM-style face to begin with. I think his makeover settles him somewhat so for right now I’ll take it. I can see myself returning him to his original form down the line, however, because it’s the one I know + he looks a bit too mature in his new version.

The day I made him, the first thing he did as soon as the lot loaded was fire up his gaming console and the second thing he did was rage quit the game he was playing; I was hooked. I wish him the best in my new save but I think he’s gonna have another hard road on account of being the uncontrolled emotions king! Shirking off work and then getting fired and then having the audacity to claim unfair treatment king! King of coming on too strong to women out of his league! King of letting his immaturity and meddlesome parents keep his romantic entanglements from progressing past a single night. King of having his mother barge into his bedroom while he and a lady friend are in bed and then king 👏 of 👏 fighting 👏 with 👏 his 👏 mother 👏 in 👏 front 👏 of 👏 half 👏 dressed 👏 said 👏 lady 👏 friend!

Why those clapping hands look like feature-less hen heads... I just--

* * *

In the pictures on the left, Ace doesn’t look that bad!, so you’re going to have to trust me that he’s just really... um... reallllllllllllly unattractive in-game. Generally I don’t care about that (#allsimsarevalid) but the issue for him was his proportions and if I’m the one crafting those proportions, like, there’s some missteps I cannot abide. I said in this very post that I didn’t start these makeovers to make a bunch of supermodels but I felt like I owed Ace something more so yes, it was a goal of mine to make him kinda cute. I feel that I retained his Ace-ness while making him a total qt 3.14. Look at those dimples. Look at those lashes! Lil lamb. Weird little angel statue. Little garden cherub.

Ace's life... man, idk. Struck out with the ladies. Never found his passions. In denial, even as a young adult, about the extent of his parents’ fractured marriage. He took to programming and worked on it autonomously but never achieved greatness because he ended up with some custom trait that caused him to want to sleep, like, twenty-one hours of the day? and that kind of put a wrench in things, never mind that he came from a family that thought computer stuff was for nerds lololololol

All that was bad enough but Ace’s lowest point came when the mother of his children (yes, he found love!) seduced his dad and abandoned the kids to start a new family. But that’s a story for another time. Now, all that happening with his original face? Pathetic and maybe deserved. All that happening with his new face? Um, it wouldn’t and it won’t! Dimples, lashes, lamb.

(Additional fun fact: the mother of Ace’s children was Bridgette, from this post.)

* * *

When I created Jimmy he was a teenager. Here, he is a young adult. Like his brothers, he was a hot mess, but a cool version. He was the neighborhood heartthrob even looking like a baby-faced adult gangster who disguised himself as a newsboy. He’s forty-four but he acts sixty-four and he looks nine! Extra, extra, he says sardonically before pulling a tommy gun from his satchel of newspapers and riddling the facade of your hideaway with a couple-a rounds, see?

My original plan for Jimmy was to not necessarily be “good-looking” but to have all the qualities of someone who the neighborhood/town accepts is good-looking. Oh, that hair! Oh, cheekbones and freckles! Oh, those light eyes. And on and on. 🙄 The first Jimmy could get by as a teen, but his appearance didn’t translate to any older life stage; through elder-hood, he continued to look like a small doll, a child star past his prime. Embarrassing! Now he’s better. When he doesn’t come back after being the sim version of drafted to fight in the sim version of the Vietnam War during the sim version of the year 1969 it’ll be all the more tragic because, you see, it’s just so much worse when someone pretty dies!

(Wow, not me spoiling a plot point I’ll never work through from a story I’ll never write/share!)

Original Jimmy was a real dog and a cheater to his sweet little girlfriend and a jerk to his brothers and thanks to me not checking off the proper settings when I first started using MCCC, he--again, as a teenager 💆‍♀️--entered into an on-and-off affair with Paola (from this post) and they had two kids that her cuck husband pretty much raised while Jimmy kept flitting around town sowing his seed all the while having the gall to force his sweet little girlfriend to end her (surprise but wanted) pregnancy and then dumping her for her troubles. Guess those promise rings meant nothing. If any sim deserves a smirk it’s him so I gave him one.

For the record, Rocky and Ace and Jimmy did in fact all have the same parents because I set it up that way in CAS. To think their mom and dad fought about this when there were so many other things they didn’t like about one another...

[pokemoncoloursplash]

Mods, can you share some of your OCs? I would like to know the types of characters you all have 🤔

Yes, they're all girls, and there's flannel and swords, I know. I was going to pick less... predictable characters, but I figured I at least knew what I was going to be bullied for with these. I think this is the first art I've posted onto the blog, too, so that's fun. - Mod Paragon.

---

Most of my OCs are dnd characters at this point lol. In the pride pic theres Keo (Fire Genasi Ranger/Monk, she is very sad rn), Valsera (Aasimar Barbarian who is now in a ghost form cause of cursed sword), Aisa (reformed Tiamat Cleric, I love her lots), Lachesi (Lesbian Tiefling Pirate aunt), Trish (Chaotic Thief turned Royal Adviser), and Thielva (Cottagecore Witch). The kitsune woman is Yon, she my current fave rn. Theres also my fursonas! One is a Monster Hunter Mizutsune and the other is a fox with antlers and decorative wings because why not. I have too many to list tbh

----

Well, Paragon’s was on-brand for her with flannel and swords, time to go on brand for me.

Unless you count Fakemon, I don’t really do OCs... With one exception from years ago.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to tell you about the RMS Harmonic.

That’s right, in my youth I had a boat as an OC.

The RMS Harmonic set sail on her maiden voyage on July 9th, 1918. She was built by Harland and Wolff to help pick up the slack that would be caused by Britannic’s sinking during the war. She was smaller than Olympic, a more moderate ship, but she was designed for speed. There were hopes that she would take the Blue Riband from Mauretania, hopes that came true in 1919. The two traded back and forth, taking the title of fastest ship while Olympic and Aquitania focused on comfort.

Then 1920 came around. White Star got its reparations for ships lost during the war, claiming Bismarck and Columbus. Rather than displace the beloved Olympic or the speedy Harmonic, White Star decided to transform their intended three ship service into a four ship service. Olympic would serve as flagship thanks to her years of reliability, Majestic would be the height of luxury, Harmonic would be the express service, and Homeric would be the stable middle ground.

The four vessels continued their career in tandem, working to keep White Star profitable. When the Depression rolled around, it was White Star that bought out Cunard rather than the other way around. The presence of Harmonic gave Olympic a chance to rest and be remodeled for a modern audience. Mauretania and Harmonic remained rivals for speed, but the rivalry became much friendlier and incredibly marketable. The Racing Horse and the Greyhound of the Atlantic.

But then came 1939. World War II. The aging Old Reliable, Lady Maury, and Ship Beautiful would return to battle, whilst Harmonic, Homeric, Berengaria, and Majestic would have their first taste of war. Not all of them would survive.

Olympic, Majestic, Aquitania, and Berengaria were used as transport ships due to their size. Mauretania and Harmonic became escort ships for their larger counterparts, using their speed to defend them. Homeric was to serve as a battlecruiser. The seven ships became a convoy, but seven would soon become six.

In transport mission gone wrong, the convoy was attacked. Aquitania, Harmonic, and Homeric were all damaged, with Homeric’s wounds being fatal. She sank, but the quick action of her comrades saved most of the souls aboard. Mauretania and Harmonic opened fire, with Harmonic pulling a card from her adopted sister Olympic’s deck and cutting open the submarine with her propeller. Homeric was gone, but she was also avenged.

Unfortunately, six would become five. Berengaria’s faulty wiring finally came back to bite her. She caught fire and lost power in the middle of a journey. Mauretania and Harmonic were dispatched to help her, but it was too late. The dreaded battleship Bismarck had claimed yet another a victim. Bismarck opened fire on the Greyhound and the Racing Horse, but the two vessels managed to escape, using the speed that had forged their rivalry to save themselves.

When five becomes four, Harmonic’s career ends. In the waning years of the war, Olympic, Majestic, Harmonic, and Mauretania sailed together. They were a prime target. A submarine was sighted, aiming at Old Reliable. Harmonic’s captain pushed her to her limit, lunging forward. A shot that could have hit Olympic instead hit Harmonic. She was quickly evacuated, but the second torpedo hit the crippled ship. With a sad final groan, Harmonic sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Harmonic’s sacrifice was not in vain. Olympic survived, she lived on. She stood in for her sister in “A Night To Remember”. With Harmonic’s end, the legend lived on.

Years later, Robert Ballard, the same man who discovered the wreck of Harmonic’s step-sister Titanic and her attempted destroyer Bismarck came upon her, her wreck broken into three pieces. Harmonic’s story was told once again. She was remembered for her speed, the rivalry she had with the now floating hotel Mauretania. She was remembered for her service, noted on the walls of the maritime museum that Majestic had become. She was remembered for her sacrifice, with the continued existence of Old Reliable Olympic being a testament to her work. Aquitania may not have made it, the damage sustained during Homeric’s sinking having finally put her out of commission, but the legend lived on.

Harmonic was not remembered like Titanic. Of course she wasn’t. But her name was spoken in the same breath as Berengaria. She was remembered as a ship that survived Bismarck’s wrath, her name immortalized in the song “Sink The Bismarck” along with Mauretania. Her legend lived on.

Her wreck was remembered for another reason. She sank just right to be perfect for divers, preserved in water warm enough for her to become a coral reef. She wouldn’t rust away. She would carry out one last purpose. She would teem with life once more. The legend would live once again.

---

A bit difficult to continue off of that, lol. Light wanted me to share some of his dnd OCs as well, I'll add their summaries. Balthazar is a Gold Dragonborn werebear, chosen by the Morta fate to be her champion against the damage an entity known as Obsidia has caused (Obsidia is one of my girls). Balthazar is many centuries old now, and is currently settled down with my Kitsune, Yon. He has a son named Eclipse and 3 young kits with Yon. Theres also Holden, who is Thielvas husband and one of the Archdruids of the realm. The druid Naya was his tutor, an elf woman who lost her arms talking back to her slaver. Lastly but not least is Obexis, a very mysterious Blue Dragon whose intentions and allegiances are unknown. He seems to play many angles, but no one knows why. -Decim

----

Needs to b cleaned up a bit n updated but here https://toyhou.se/SyBeez/characters - Shay

-----

Here are my main 8

These are their redesigns I did on mgm2 (monster girl maker 2)

Roger looks weird in this lol he has a beard.

Adalwolf has a prosthetic metal right arm.

You can barely see it but Vincent has freckles.

Kurono and Saturnalia are CrowDoll's family (Kurono adoptive little brother and Saturnalia created CrowDoll and is her mom).

Shiroi is an oni and Eigna is a ghost.

Adalwolf, Roger, Vincent, Kurono, and Saturnalia are humans (Saturnalia is half human half doll).

Azazel is not there in the pic cus he looks weird humanish on this app lol, he's a big and tall animated puppet.

I should really them sometime soon ówò

I hope you guys like them!

-smol

[blazinbeautywrites]

Band Wars: Rise of the Phoenix

Note: Due to the rampant uprising of plagiarism on this site and others I am stating once and once only that this is my ORIGINAL work. If I find out that you have stolen/taken any part of my work I will handle you and the situation the way I see fit.

None of the pics or gifs I use belong to me so full credit goes to the originators of said gifs and pics.

Length: 2,356 words

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this out guys. I was not happy with the final results and when I was I still was unsure so I rewrote it again and decided to just post it. I’ll let yall be the judge lol.

Genre: Honestly idk lmao

Chapter 1

 Universal Music Group (UMG) decides to debut a new girl group, PHOENIX on their first ever reality show “Next Big Thing.” The winners of the show get a 5 year, 5 album recording contract and will tour with CNCO 1 year after they debut. The winner of the show was Zania Reye Bloom, followed by London Monroe Jones, Jolene Maria Sanchez, Siane Rei Choi, and Avery Lynn O'Reilly. The band is composed of 5 talented women with different ethnic backgrounds, ages 24-25. 

Since the show served as the girl’s training they were immediately thrusted into the spotlight after the show ended. They went to work on their debut album and as the release date approached the girls were getting antsy. Now only were they about to release their baby onto the world, but they were finally meeting CNCO today and discussing ideas for their tour.

*UMG headquarters in LA*

“Yoooo I’m fucking excited! Can yall believe our debut album is coming out in a couple days?” London said as she led a couple of her members to the elevators.

“Girl this tour bout to be lit as fuck. Bruuuh we’re going to fucking Sweden. I didn’t even think we had fans out there.” Zania said.

“Yeah you can thank that girl Astrid who made the finals. She was Swedish.” Avery said.

The girls finally heard the elevator ding at their floor and immediately got out. The girls walked into a meeting room where they saw their other 2 members Jolene and Siane bonding with the boys of CNCO.

“Finally you bitches show up. What took yall so long?” Siane asked.

“Avery thinks she’s still in Ireland and almost drove us into a damn ditch.” Zania said.

“You’re alive aren’t you? So quit complaining.” Avery said as she took a seat opposite Erick.

“Anyways if yall are done….THIS is CNCO ladies. This is Zabdiel, Christopher, Erick, Joel, and this is Richard.” Siane said as she pointed to each boy as she introduced them. Richard definitely caught Zania’s eye and she quickly averted her eyes so he wouldn’t catch her ogling him. Little did she know, he was checking her out too.

“And I’m Zania, and of course yall met Jolene and Siane. This is London and Avery.” She said as she gestured to her other bandmates. She was about to say something else when a tall, slender woman walked into the room followed by a man wearing the loudest shade of yellow and another woman dressed in all black.

“Okay let’s make this short and sweet. I’m Veronica Pierce, you can call me Vee or Ms. Pierce, never Veronica. Get it? Got it? Good. I am your tour  creative director. I’ll be working closely with you all to design your tour. And please, let’s all collectively agree on a specific concept. I will not have my people designing 2 separate stages. To my left is Chez Moa, your set designer. And to my right is Mel Carter she and her team will be styling you all so meet with her some time this week so she can get an idea of what you guys want and need. And ladies you have a busy weekend ahead. Friday you have your album release, press runs, then your album release party later that night. Saturday you’ll be on Good Day LA where you’ll be interviewed and then perform your lead single. Sunday you have a mini showcase where yall will perform some fan fave covers from the show and a few songs from the album, including your single with CNCO. You’ll have tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday to learn choreo for both performances. You’ll meet your choreographer tomorrow. Any questions?” 

The whole room was silent as both groups stared at Veronica and her associates. Zania raised her hand and the other members of Phoenix sighed. They knew how this shit was about to play out.

“So do we get to breathe? Or do we have to pencil that in too?” Zania asked. She knew she was being an asshole but this shit was ridiculous.

“Hmmmm you must be Zania Bloom. They told me you had a mouth on you. Listen up sweetie this my show. I call the shots and if they bother you, you can leave.” Veronica said. Zania smirked at her and leaned back in her chair.

“Nah I’m good. You may continue, Ms. Pierce.” Zana said. Sarcasm dripping from her words.

“Anyways that’s all for now. And remember this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. It can be taken away in the blink of an eye so watch yourselves.” Veronica spoke. She eyed the room but everyone knew exactly who that was meant for. She, Mel, and Chez exited the room in silence. Once they left, Siane burst out laughing.

“Yo I was clenching my fucking ass cheeks. She’s soo fucking hot.” Siane said.

“Keep it in your pants Siane. And Zania, girl why did you do that? You made that shit more intense than it needed to be.” London asked.

“You know me, I just had to say something. She was a bitch to us when we did the show, now they’re making her the tour director, wtf?” Zania said.

“Am I the only one who noticed that guy had on too much yellow?” Chris said. Everyone turned to him and started laughing.

“Look, I ain’t wanna say anything but he was so wrong for that. And it was a complete contrast to Mel who had on all black.” Jolene said.

“But real shit Vee ain’t no joke, she can make or break you. So just be careful.” Richard said. He made eye contact with Zania and she smiled at him.

“Oh I’m not afraid of her. She’s on a power trip so I’ll entertain her mess for the sake of this tour. You don’t have to worry bout me baby boy.” Zania said. Everyone got up to leave but on her way to the door she was stopped by Richard.

“I don’t know if you realized but I’m a grown ass man so that baby boy shit not gon fly with me.” Richard said. Zania was amused.

“Oh did I bruise your whittle ego babe? Look it’s not that serious-”

“But it is that serious so treat me with respect or keep it moving baby girl.” Richard said as he cut her off. He walked away leaving Zania stunned in silence. She walked back to her group and chuckled.

“Yall…...that guy Richard just lowkey put me in my fucking place. Oh this tour is gonna be so damn fun.” Zania said. She and her bandmates went to find their stylists to get started on designing their perfect tour outfits.

                                             ______________

It had been a full 5 hours and the girls were hard at work on their choreo. They were thankful that most of the songs they performed were their covers from their reality show so the moves were ingrained in their heads. They breezed through their choreo for their own singles and just finished running through them a final time before Laurieann Gibson called for lunch. The girls were beyond starved and as they walked to the cafe area of the upscale dance studio they saw CNCO walk through the door.

“Oop the boys are here.” Jolene said as she fixed her slightly messy hair. She made eye contact with Zabdiel as he and the other boys walked into the dance studio they’s just left.

“Ooooohhh do I sense a little crush? London teased.

“See that tall one, Zabdiel? I promise you, I will climb him like a fucking tree.” Jolene said, much to the amusement of her group. 

“Woah. Down girl, we have a whole ass tour to get through.” Avery said.

“Look if I can’t fuck Vee, you can’t fuck Zabdiel.” Siane argued.

“Girl. Zabdiel is fair game, Vee is our fucking boss. There’s a difference.” Zania said as the girls found a table near the back of the cafe. Avery went to order them some food and soon a waiter came back with a tray of fruit, some finger sandwiches, and a basket of the cafe’s homemade potato chips.

“This looks so good and I’m starving.” London said. As the girls ate they discussed the difficult choreo.

“I really thought Laureiann was gonna throw her shoe or some shit at you cuz you couldn’t get that one move down.” Siane said.

“I wish she would throw some shit at me.” Jolene said while the others laughed at her.

“What kind of shit yall think they’ll have us do with the boys?” London asked.

“Probably something sexy, ya kno to pander to the fans.” Avery answered.

“I heard that they’re partnering us up with them for the collab so whomever we pick is our dance partner for the song.” Siane added.

“Well. this should be fun.” Zania said. The girls chat a little bit longer before cleaning up and heading back into the dance studio. When they arrived they heard their song with CNCO playing. Laurieann was teaching them their choreo and once saw the girls she turned the music off and immediately began assigning pairs.

“Okay London you’re with Joel, Jolene with Eric, Zabdiel and Siane, Avery and Chris are partners and lastly, Zania, you’re with Richard. Everyone please stand with your partner. I’m only gonna do the dance two times and then you’re gonna do it and we’ll fine tune everything afterwards” Lauriann said as she read off her list. Before the girls could even process anything they quickly got into formation to do the choreo.

                                            ______________

A few hours later, both Phoenix and CNCO were spread out on the floor, exasperated. Lauriann told them to rest up and that she’d see them in the morning before she left them all a sweaty mess in the studio.

“I swear there are parts of me that are sweating I ain’t know could sweat.” Siane said as she attempted to lift her head to no avail.

“Girl I feel like my fucking feet are gonna fall off.” Zania said.

“I can’t feel my left asss cheek.” Jolene mumbled.

“Bruh at least yall voices aren’t hoarse as fuck.” Richard said.

“We should probably start heading out because I need an ice bath or some shit.” Avery said as she willed her body to move. Everyone followed suit and struggled getting to their feet. When the girls began packing up to leave, Zabdiel strolled on over to pull Jolene to the side. Zania looked on and smirked to herself. All she hoped was that whatever they had going on didn’t get in the way of her group’s path to success. She snapped out of her little daze just as Jolene made it back.

“Well, what was that about?” Zania asked.

“Girl he asked for my number. I was like no and he said can you really say no to this face. I almost fucking melted so I gave him my number. He’s so fucking cocky. I love it.” Jolene beamed. Zania could tell her friend was happy so she chose to keep her mouth shut. The girls finally made it to the elevator when Zania realized she’d left her phone in the dance studio.

“Shut yall I left my phone. Yall go on I’ll text yall once I get home.” Zania said.

“Girl we’ll wait, just hurry up.” London said. Zania jogged back to the building and ran up the stairs to be quicker. Once she got to the door of the studio she heard the boys talking.

“I really like that girl London. She’s classy, yet has a sexy side. I like that.” Joel said.

“Now see Jolene….them lips. I bet her head game on point.” Zabdiel said.

“Ew bro what the hell!” Eric exclaimed.

“I know you of all people are not talking.” Richard said.

“Even though I think she’s kind of a bitch, Zania fine as fuck too.” Christopher said.

“Yeah she is fine. Yall seen that ass? I’d love to get behind that.” Richard said. Zania had heard enough and walked into the room.

“Yall should really make sure that the door is completely closed before you talk about us. Anyways I left my phone and just came back to get it. Oh and Richard, Zabdiel? I understand that Jolene and I are attractive but please don’t talk about us like we’re pieces of meat mkay?” With that she grabbed her phone and walked out, leaving the boys a little dumbfounded. Once she got back outside she filled her girls on what she heard.

“You know. We should teach them a lesson.” Jolene said.

“Oop I sense an infamous Jolene Sanchez prank.” Siane said.

“Yep. Okay so here’s the plan.” Jolene explains the little prank they’ll play on the boys at the showcase. They’d messed with the wrong girls.

                                            _____________

The rest of the week went by in a blur and before they knew it, their album release day was finally here. It’d only been a few hours and their album was already number 1 on a few of the urban and pop album charts. Siane screenshot the Billboard charts where their album was number 1 and sent it to their group chat. She then called them all on a video chat.

“WAKE UP BITCHES! WE NUMBER 1 BABYYYYYY!!!!1!” She yelled into the phone. The others, as groggy as they were, laughed at how hyped their member was.

“Girl you are so lucky I was up getting ready or I’d curse you the fuck out.” Zania said. 

“Bitch whatever. Anyways I love yall so much! We’ve officially ARRIVED! Like we in the fucking building forreal now. WHEW! Let me start getting my shit together. See yall soon. Love ya! Siane said as she hung up the video call. The girls were buzzing and couldn’t be any happier that after almost 6 months, their hard work has finally paid off and that their fans love their album as much as they do. They couldn’t wait to see what lie ahead for them. They knew whatever it was, it was gonna be big.

[neige-leblanche]

For your "send me a character and i’ll list" ask. Dimitri and Felix! (Really interested to see what song you associate with them. ^_^)

YEAHHHHHH ty!!!

send me a character and i'll list...

Dimitri:

favorite thing about them: oh gosh so much. characters that act super polite and/or are genuinely good people grappling with bad things that theyve done/want to do are my absolute favorite i love the drama, the struggle between evil and good lol

least favorite thing about them: hmmm people have talked about this in better words than me but i do not like his crimson flower characterization very much; its like they tried to depict him as unsympathetic as possible without ever having hm do anything wrong?? like they kept up his Protagonist Morality Armor while trying to make him a villain and i dont think it worked well

favorite line: i actually have this screenshotted on my switch: "Everyone has something that is unacceptable within them. I certainly do, and I'd wager you do as well. / I wonder which is best, Professor... To cut away that which is unacceptable, or to find a way to accept it anyway..."

brOTP: okay dimitri and dedue but like..... i really think theyre more than just bros theyre like...... life companions

OTP: dimilix for life 🤘😔

nOTP: i. do not like dimi//gard at all. i do want them to be happy and together but i really only see them as siblings

random headcanon: dimitri thinks of areadbhar as a kind of family member! though it is connected to his crest which has brought him a lot of trouble, he feels like he can rely on it a lot and knows the feeling of it in his hands very well

unpopular opinion: this isnt like. anything controversial but he and manuela are Friends. her skillset is very different from his and he looks up to her a lot

song i associate with them: ohhhhh boy i have so many. the calendar by p!atd is one of the biggest ones and it reminds me of his post-ts relationship with dedue or maybe byleth; ghost by rob cantor also has The Vibes

favorite picture of them: i do genuinely love his s-support art; he looks so pretty and gentle in it, but since thats my profile pic i will find another that i love uhh

i adore this card! the light color scheme rlly makes me happy

Felix:

favorite thing about them: everything!!! his character arc is really well done and i really enjoy seeing like. Edgy Swordfighter fe characters that actually are complete nerds about weapons + training and arent just cool and badass and mysterious all the time

least favorite thing about them: as a GROWN ASS MAN he still says misogynistic things to female characters in the same way that like. a six year old boy on the playground might. its like the writers tried to cram in an easy Character Flaw TM but it came out sloppy and unneeded

favorite line: i feel a little bad bc my fave dimitri line wasnt from a support but "If you keep stringing gravestones around your neck, you'll snap." is just so raw

brOTP: felix and leonie!!! i adore their paired ending

OTP: see above 🤘😔

nOTP: ok i rlly hate to be rude but sylv//ix, while it has some basis, reminds me of so many other "the two hottest guys" slash ships from other fandoms so i have trouble taking it seriously

random headcanon: felix canonically likes hunting but thats a big unseen plus of his ending in the azure moon route; being a noble affords him a lot more resources and people to go on hunting trips with which makes him happy 8)

unpopular opinion: felix is NOT a boring character!!!! i see so few people talking about his relationship with his father and in turn his learning to see the positives and come to terms with the negatives of faerghus's knight culture when its so pivotal to his character development!!! like he starts off one of the few characters that actively points out the violence hidden under the brash idealism of faerghus and then later on as other characters/the narrative starts to realize it too he conversely begins to see that having loyalty/honor/ideals can be a good thing and i feel like he thus plays an important role in the azure moon story

song i associate with them: also very many; lately dying breed by the killers 😔 good war phase dimilix song

favorite picture of them: thissssss one especially the portraits

[rainbowsandcoconut]

Just Saw you like getting questions, so here goes. A followup on the travel favorites. You mentioned it was difficult to narrow down. Would a top ten be easier? I always look for new inspiration LOTR being your first fandom but have you ever been into something no one else understood? 😊

HIIII! 💕 This totally made my night. I am honestly so surprised anyone would care enough to send me an ask, this is so sweet 🥰 Anyone wanting to talk or ask anything should absolutely feel free, I’d love it!

I’m gonna start with the last question since the travel one will definitely be longer 😊

I’ve been into a lot of things no one in real life understood haha. Like Supernatural back during seasons 1-3 ish when I was obsessed and my friends would get tired of me talking about it all the time (thank god for LiveJournal), or cycling (road and track) that I got super into watching one summer and ended up going all over the country to see races and do some photography for, for a few years.

Now traveling. Oh man, you’re really making me miss the days where travel was allowed and where I could afford it lol. Thanks for this question though, it’s really put me in a good mood to remember some of my trips, I hope these don’t disappoint. In case anyone hasn’t seen 3 of my fave travel memories, they’re over here. And now I’m going to spam you all with 10 more of my fave memories from trips. I had to try to go with ones I could find my pics from and I mostly managed, apart from Norway, so here we go:

1. Flying an airplane in Wanaka, New Zealand 🛩 

I got to actually fly a plane! It only fit 2 people (and a cat) and I feel like I was allowed to do waaay too much, likely because it was my instructor’s first time taking someone inexperienced up so he let me do most of take off and also fly most of the trip, and then he even offered to talk me through landing it but I’m not insane so he ended up doing that part on his own. It was super freaking cool, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.

2. Seeing the Northern Lights, Tromsø, Norway

My best friend did her master’s in Tromsø so I went to visit her for a week in November 2018. I was a bit worried it was too early in the season to see the Northern Lights but one night the whole sky was full of dancing green light! We went up the top of a mountain and stayed there until we couldn’t stand the cold any longer, and it was just an incredible night. I didn’t manage to get any good photos with my phone so I just stole this off Google but it’s pretty accurate

3. Meeting Rachel Bloom in NYC last year

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is one of my favourite shows, and it’s really meant a lot to me. Yes, it’s a comedy with musical numbers but it also portrays struggles with mental health more realistically than any other show I’ve seen and that’s something I’ve really both needed and appreciated. Rachel is a comedic genius, and her show has helped me through a few tough times, so being able to not only see CXG live at Radio City Music Hall but also get to talk to Rachel after the show made it an incredible night.

4. Watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The history of the Angkor temples is so fascinating, and I managed to get myself up early enough to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat several times. For anyone who may want to go, my advice would be to not elbow your way to the front of the lake, but stand a bit further back while the majority of the tourists scramble to get a good spot. About 90% of them will disappear into the temple once the sun has offically risen and it’s gotten light out, but you want to stay by the lake. The sun takes longer than you think to actually rise above the temple, and by the time it gets there, most people will have left and the area will be much quieter and more peaceful and will give you a chance to really take in the sunrise. Each time I kept thinking maybe the sun wasn’t super bright or the clouds would cover it some because it seemingly took so long, but staying is absolutely worth it.

5. Early morning Alms Giving in Luang Prabang, Laos

This almost felt like a moment I wasn’t supposed to see but the owner of the guest house I was staying at assured me I was fine to watch. I wasn’t staying in the center of the city, and I was the only tourist out to watch the long procession in this neighbourhood which made the experience feel extra special and authentic as opposed to how crowded I’ve heard it can sometimes be in the city center.

6. Going to Lawrence, Kansas in 2009

Seeing as I mentioned being very into SPN above, I’ll include my trip to Lawrence, Kansas on this list. I went solely because my friend and I thought it’d be funny to do so because of its connection to Supernatural. We got invited to lunch by the owner of a souvenir shop who was delighted to hear I was from Denmark because her husband had a friend whose dad had once been. We stayed in Kansas City, and I got lost on my way back from the post office one day. An older lady in a car stopped by the streetlight I was at and offered me a ride back to my hotel which I gratefully accepted, only I started to rethink that decision once I realized that the footwell of her car was so full of bibles, I had to step on them, and the passenger door could not be opened from the inside. Obviously I realized this after I was in the car but while I was somewhat freaked out, I still agreed with her that us going past the McDonalds Drive Thru before my hotel was a good idea so her and I could get to know each other a bit... I was way too trusting back then but hey, I didn’t die so yay?

7. Driving a moped for the first time on Phu Quoc, Vietnam

I don’t have a license for any kind of vehicle and I have never driven any either (apart from a car twice on completely deserted, straight roads) but the owners of the hostel I was staying at insisted it was the best way to get around the island. Once of them tried to show me how it worked on her own moped, then let me try for a couple of minutes and then declared that she’d rent me one for the next day even though she was too afraid to sit on the back while I was practising because my accelerating and breaking were super abrupt. So the next day off I went. I drove into a tree and a sign in the street, got a lot of concerned looks, and I probably broke any and all traffic laws but I had such a fun time and I got to see some incredibly beautiful beaches that I don’t know how I could’ve gotten to without the moped. Important note for anyone doing this: remember sun cream! I sadly don’t have any photos of the moped, but I did take this photo of one of the beaches I visited:

8. Going to Obama’s first inauguration in January 2009 in Washington DC

I’ve always been into American politics and that interest peaked around 2008, so just in time to watch Obama get elected, and I knew I had to try to go to DC when I started planning my first ever US trip for 2009. I didn’t manage to get onto The Mall as I only made my way downtown around 6 am but I got a spot on Pennsylvania Avenue for the parade. I have never been so cold in my entire life but I’ve also never experienced the kind of euphoria and excitement from a crowd that I did that day. There truly was a feeling of hope for a real change, and I talked to the absolutely friendliest, kindest people while we waited. Plus I got to see Barack and Michelle Obama wave at me (in my direction anyway) as they were walking down Penn Ave which I’ll forever remember.

9. Going to Kangaroo Island, Australia

I love kangaroos. So much. I will never get over how cool they are. And I got to bottle feed joeys (baby kangaroos) on this island, as well as pet a bunch of tame adult ones, and see sooo many wild ones. Plus I got to see lots of koalas and other wildlife, as well as the beauty of the island. My friend did technically hit a kangaroo (or wallaby) when we were driving after dark but she’s Australian and didn’t take it quite as hard as I did.

10. Seeing the Colosseum in Rome, Italy

I’ve just always loved this building. And seeing it in real life did not disappoint.

[starfleetdoesntfirefirst]

do you want pike to be captain or are you annoyed about the current captain situation? i stopped watching halfway thru s2 but really want to get back into it!

Hi anon! In answer to your q, the second one—I’m annoyed at how, in a franchise that has had the protagonist be the commanding officer of the ship/station in all six of its previous shows, DSC not only made it so that the first woman protagonist of color did not begin her show as the captain/commanding officer (even Sisko, the man of color who perhaps-not-coincidentally was the only other Trek protagonist not to start his show with the rank of captain, still very much from the beginning was in the traditional Trek role of being fully in command of the space station his show centered around), but then made it so that the captains for the first season, second season, and at least the beginning of the coming third season are three (3) different white men. And at how the Season 1 promotional materials in particular did a bait-and-switch by hyping Burnham and Georgiou before making the actual show 2.5+ seasons of white dude captains, and at the way that, even after Lorca is off the show at the end of Season 1, Season 2 brings another white man to show “what a Good Starfleet Captain is like,” as though the example of the Good Starfleet Captain couldn’t have been a woman of color, or a nonbinary disabled person of color, or...

However, I can see how the way I set up my post about the Pike show made it unclear whether I was using the concept of ‘reverse bait-and-switch where women of color are the captains in the Pike show’s first seasons rather than Pike’ in order complain about DSC, or in order to complain about the hypothetical situation I had described where Pike wasn’t the captain. Thanks for asking for clarification!

Also, to be clear, I’m happy for anyone who loves Pike and is thrilled to have a Pike show specifically. I personally ended DSC Season 2 liking him as a character much more than I did at the beginning of the season, and the actor is awesome—I don’t wish the new show ill. And I’d be especially thrilled if it actually handles Pike’s future disability well, though given how badly the new Treks have handled pretty much every type of topic related to identity, I don’t have my hopes too high on that count. But it feels very glaring that not only did CBS and the showrunners have the first 2.5+ seasons of their show with a woman protagonist of color have three (3) different white men as the captains, and not only did Season 2 in particular focus so much on Pike and Spock—and write 20something Spock as being (out of character; I love TOS!Spock!) repeatedly physically violent to his sister without apologizing or being accountable—now one of the new show slots will go to a white man. Which doesn’t mean that SNW won’t have good aspects, or that there’s a damn thing wrong with people who love the specific character of Pike being thrilled about this—what’s glaring is the trend of how, with DSC and PIC and now SNW, CBS seems to think that they need to cater to viewers who want any/every/only white men as captains, and how the hypothetical reversed scenario of having three different characters who all happen to be women of color replacing Pike as captain for the first 2.5+ seasons would be so noticeable to viewers—and is so unlikely to happen in any modern mainstream Hollywood show—because white men are seen as default leaders in a way other people are not.

Re the second part of your ask, all of the above being said, DSC is my personal favorite of the Trek shows, so if you really want to get back into it I absolutely recommend it! I strongly dislike the choices I rambled about above, and the fridging of Georgiou and Landry, and so on. But I love the characters, and the chunks of writing and the actors that make those characters possible, and the gorgeous production and effects. Bluntly, we’re at a point where MOST (though not all!) big-budget genre TV shows and movies have a lot of death, fridging of non-white-men characters, and gore, so if I’m gonna watch modern genre TV, I at least want to watch a show with a lot of great characters, on-screen queer representation, and a woman of color lead who is an amazing and nuanced character (yes, Michael’s plotlines have gotten short shrift, but thanks especially to Martin-Green’s acting, her characterization and development are complex and fascinating).

Also, as has been pointed out frequently, it historically has taken Star Trek shows a season or two to find their footing, and there were a lot of behind-the-scenes issues and chaos affecting the writing and producing of DSC Seasons 1 and 2, so there seems to be a decent chance that Season 3 will center Michael more and avoid gross tropes. That being said, the pre-Season-2 hype made me genuinely believe we’d get a healing arc for Michael and less gratuitous trauma porn in general, and we got neither of those things, so I’m a little hesitant about believing Season 3 will indeed be better...but it sounds like they really may have actually have taken some steps to reduce poorly-handled grimdark this time (and IIRC the new showrunner is a gay woman?) so I’m holding out hope that it finally will.

Since you mentioned that you stopped watching halfway through Season 2, a word of warning (that will make me sound like a broken record to anyone who has been seeing me rant about 2x10 for over a year now) that there is what I consider to be an egregiously violent scene toward Burnham in episode 10, so heads up if you continue watching (feel free to anon me for details!) But yeah, despite all my qualms, DSC is my fave Trek—I just wish it’d do better.

And if the Pike show does pull a bait-and-switch and give us a season or three of women captains of color, I will not say no. ;)

[katieamazeballs]

DWTS Live Tour Recap 2020

Whew....this day has been a doozy between lack of sleep and a weird ass day at work.  This years tour was a vastly different experience than in the past because Mother Nature is a raging beeotch.... but it was still so amazing!  Details below the break to save y’alls timelines some grief. 

We started off our day at work and school.  I had known, and bitched extensively, about the 100% rain outlook but it was pretty sunny all day.  I picked Abs up at early release and I swear to you...the second the car door shut, the sprinkles started.  Because of course it did.  We got ready and went for some lunner only to be caught in INSANE traffic.  Fun fact, Floridians can’t drive in the rain and there was a fatal accident on a major bridge that shut it down and made traffic a nightmare.  No biggie though, because it was nasty out and we knew they weren’t just going to be wandering downtown so we were in no rush.  We got downtown about 4 and we started wandering. 

(Gratuitous bus pic)

We stopped and chatted with the nicest security lady who, bless her heart, was sitting there between the buses huddled under a golf umbrella.  She said she hadn’t seen anyone in quite a while (probably because they were inside teaching the show to Keo) but that if we had been there at 7am they were all outside chillin and going to work out and such.  We did a lap then stood under the awning at the front of the arena for a bit. 

(Why is she so weird?)

During our laps we saw Keo (who was limping something fierce...like I wasn’t sure he was going to make it up the steps to the arena limp...looked like he pulled a hammy) but due to the sprinkling and the running buses he either didn’t hear us or pretended to not hear us.  We also saw Val, possibly Jenna (hood was pulled over her to her eyes), Daniella, and Wit.  Everyone but Wit was doing the mad dash into the arena from the buses.  Wit was in full hair and makeup and talked to Abs for a second as she was entering her bus...Abs didn’t ask for a picture because Wit clearly wanted to get into the dry and not mess herself up.  We did a couple more laps then standing under the awning loops then met up with @loveisstatic​. 

(Poor sweetheart bore witness to Savage being savage most of the night.) 

We decided to take a lap but didn’t see anything....sigh.  After a pretty epic battle over the fact that Haley said she also “liked” Alan....as in, he’s a good dancer, which “someone” took as “Imma steal your man”. 

We went in the arena and went to the merch table where Abs refused a tour tshirt because Hannah was on it...lol.  I was trying to get a cute pic of Abs and her 10 paddle....but home girl was trying to make sure she wasn’t standing next to Hannah ffs....

Then we went to get drinks (ha for Haley) and were very quickly let in to our seats.  Haley was actually only a couple rows in front of us, so we were able to chat before the show and during intermission.  The show is, of course, absolutely amazing!  It has a cute “theme” of driving the bus on tour and the voice overs were cracking me up.  After the Magic Mike number, Jen talks to the lady rubbing up on Val.  The poor lady clearly either has zero idea who the two of them are or has lost her senses due to all the testosterone filled sweat on her person.  Jen “You know, I recently got married”  Lady “Oh, congratulations!!!”  Jen “Yeah, that man you were just grinding and rubbing and smacking on....that’s my husband”  Lady “OMG!”  Jen “Yeah, his name is Val.  I’ll let it slide this time (then whatever the script is)”.  The lady was so embarrassed.  It was funny.  There was the absolute cutest little girl in the front row that Val came out and talked to.  She’s on the DWTS Tour story.  That section of the show was pretty awesome, actually.  I loved his speech about breaking the tv barrier and coming to do shows live to all of us who were gracious enough to invite them into our homes every Monday night.  Abs fave dance was Daddy Shark (I’ll steal her video and post it later....we can’t have enough reposts of that gem) and anything that had Alan and mine was the entire Hero section at the end where they’re wearing white (for the dancing) and Dream On (for the music).  Actually, the dance where they’re passing the key to the tour around was pretty awesome, too.  Then, it comes to intermission and Abs starts bitching about being hungry.  I told her sorry (she’s not a popcorn or nut fan and that’s all they really had) and she starts made some wildly and embarrassing comments about want candy...Alan’s candy complete with eyebrow waggles and cackling.  I think that it was at that point that our new friend decided that kid is a hot damn mess.  Jenna’s swan dive is absolutely amazing in person....mostly for the reaction it causes.  I, of course, knew it was coming but the lady next to me literally slap/grabbed her husband and whisper yelled “OH SHIT!”.  After the show, the adults in the group had to pee.  The teenager in the group just bitched that we were going to make her late to the buses.  (This is a very important fun fact for later.)  They have some weird ass security dude on tour this year who had some rule where the crowd standing (couldn’t have been more than 20 of us) had to scrunch into the space of 2 of those metal fence things as opposed to the other 57000 of them lining the buses.  Every 5 min or so, he’d waltz out and yell at us to “get on this side of the line.  No one can be between the buses”...except none of us moved after the first few times.  He was intense and a good time fun ruiner.  Kept trying to tell us that the police were going to see us standing at his one of his non approved fences (the same ones we’ve stood at for 2 other tours) and “shut the whole thing down”.  Sure, Stan.  Evenutally, he stopped fussing and Kate came out. 

She is a gem, honestly.  Super sweet and funny as hell.  Love me some her.  After Kate went in, it was cold and SOMEONE in our group had to pee (remember that fun fact....ha).  Val came out and got into the runner van and scooted off to the airport.  There was much discussion of how we knew it was him and how we knew where he was going.  Sasha came out and we talked to him and got pics. 

(Not all his selfies are hysterical gems that will be reused for all of eternity)

I gave him all my notes and Glebs drugs because we thought we were going to have to leave.  He said he’d pass them out for me.  We were deciding to leave when Emma popped out of the bus all “Which one of you gave the Benadryl to Gleb?  That was bloody brilliant!”.

We took pics with her and decided to stick around for a bit more because Abs needed  wanted to see Alan.  Thankfully, he came out shortly after and turned on the front camera flash I didn’t even know I had. 

(He also has very long arms for a good selfie angle)

After Alan came Wit and Daniella and thankfully that was it.

The grumpy security dude told us all to leave and I think everyone was ready.  We were stacked like 6 people deep having to shove up to the front for pics as the pros were like “WTF is wrong with these weirdos in Jacksonville and why aren’t they standing over at all these other perfectly decent fences”.  Like, they’d move over to the fence to the left to take pics and we’d all be like “NO!  We aren’t allowed!”.  It was cold and it was a week night and everyone was pretty much over the foolishness at that point.  What was cool about the night was I got to not only meet up with a fun tumblr friend, but there were a few of us at the buses that have started recognizing each other from other tours.  The girl Brandon pulled on stage recognized Abs and me and then I recognized a dude we’ve seen each year.  Funny story, the girl (who is a huge Derek stan) and I were talking about how pretty Gleb is (after the Benadryl thing) and she was talking about Brandon and having to touch his butt on stage.  She’s all “I mean, it’s a nice butt, but he’s just too cute to rub up on”.  She’s not wrong, he is just the cutest thing in person....just not in a sexy Daddy Shark type way.  Anyways, another tour down.  Plans to see MVPJ with a new friend and bus stalk at the “next tour” with the other bus stalkers.  Can’t wait till next time! 

[bigskydreaming]

Thinking about dc fandom always shitting on Dick's fashion sense and something else came up. My mutuals have turned into kpop fans, they keep posting these highly fashionable dudes' hq pics, they wear skirts, lace, ruffles, feather, glitter, all the colors.. They look good most of the times, they're not afraid to wear furry slippers or pigtails or prints, it's not what I'm used to seeing in white dominant industry. I bet Dick's fashion choices are like that n not what tasteless fanarts show.

I mean, I get what you’re saying, and I do agree in part, but also….that’s still not quite the entire issue for me.

Like…its basically just annoying the things people come up with to try and ‘bash’ him while still claiming to like the character, because honestly I believe that’s all it is. Just looking for excuses to make fun of him, and its so juvenile and pointless. There’s literally no basis for thinking Dick makes poor fashion choices in canon except for his costumes, he’s literally been a model, a socialite, a spy, and he’s routinely cited as being considered in-universe one of the most attractive people in both his civilian and superhero personas.

Like…people don’t generally fixate on the attractiveness of people whose clothes they’re busy mocking, you know?? LOL. It just makes no sense! When super hot people wear super weird clothes…..the comments are still usually about how they’re super hot, lmao. Look at like…things like the Met Gala. THAT’S the kind of ‘out there’ it takes for people to weigh in on celebrities wearing outfits that people find ridiculous despite their celeb status and attractiveness….

So, unless we’re pretending that Dick Grayson habitually wanders around wearing the equivalent of a celeb costume for the Met Gala ball in his civilian outfits…..nobody is focusing on his bad fashion sense when he’s just Dick Grayson, ergo….there is zero basis for saying when Dick Grayson is being Dick Grayson, he has no idea how to dress himself, or look good. In that respect, its that simple, y’know? 

Because the other thing is (and this is mostly where I disagree with you in execution, even though I get the spirit of your ask - like, I agree his fashion choices when he IS trying to stand out might be more eccentric than most people would usually go with, but he’d look damn good regardless) but I just mean….in his civilian persona, Dick never even really WANTS to be noticed, most of the time! He DOESN’T try and aim for the spotlight when he doesn’t have to be the center of attention like at some gala he’s forced to attend. He LIKES to blend in, go unnoticed….this is a guy who is fiercely fixated on being his own man, and KNOWN as his own man, noted for HIS accomplishments, HIS identity….not being seen as Bruce Wayne’s son first and foremost, or the Wayne Heir before all else….he just wants to be Dick Grayson. He’s never really liked the attention that comes with being a public figure due to being Bruce’s ward or son, at any point.

So its like…what about that suggests that he’s someone who either consciously or unknowingly goes around attracting attention with outfits that make him a public spectacle? He’s not some oblivious, air-headed ditz, he’s extremely aware of his surroundings at all times, lol.

Not a single thing about the fashion disaster fanon overall makes any sense, under any degree of scrutiny, unless you’re just committed to….making a mockery of him.

And the only thing it can be traced back to, the ONLY thing….are his costumes and his mullet.

Let’s tackle the mullet first - guys, its an anachronistic hairstyle. Its something he only had DECADES ago, in a time period when people actually wore their hair like that in the US. Get over it. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER has similar periods in their history, lol. And yet, its only him that’s singled out as being so unfashionable he was wearing a mullet in fics set only five years ago, whereas everyone else’s hairstyles of a different era are left in that era. C’mon. Its transparent.

Which brings us back to his costumes. The pixie boots, the leotard, the Discowing with its bright blue and gold and scooped neck and high collar….

Now THOSE are unfashionable, fandom says.

Well see the problem with that, fandom….is by every canon out there…

DICK DIDN’T DESIGN THOSE OUTFITS TO FIT FASHION STANDARDS.

He wasn’t TRYING to win the good taste award and approval of the society he was in instead of his circus home, not by his own choice, and which frequently sneered down at him and tried to make him feel lesser. And the classism some of us are referring to when we mention this….is the assumption that his motivations are irrelevant, its only the approval and standards of ‘mainstream society’ that matters in whether or not his costumes are deemed ridiculous or not.

Except…..Dick’s costumes were designed not for fashion, but for SENTIMENTALITY.

They were meant to be reminders of where he came from. A way for him to hold on to his roots. For his circus past, his parents, his origins to be represented in his superheroics every bit as much as the skills he learned from Bruce and others.

It was his way of saying he at least had never forgotten where he came from and he never would, BECAUSE HE’S PROUD OF IT.

Shockingly, he’s PROUD of being a superhero who came from the circus….which is literally the only reason he was ABLE to become a child hero in the first place, because that’s where he attained his acrobatic skills that gave him enough of an advantage despite his age, that he could actually MAKE it as a superhero and vigilante.

The entire Robin legacy that’s at the center of so much of fandom’s conflicts and preferences….

IS BORN OF THE CIRCUS. THAT HE WANTED TO WEAR REMINDERS OF. TO BE COMFORTED BY VESTIGES OF HIS CHILDHOOD. MEMORABILIA THAT HONORED HIS FIRST FAMILY.

Robin doesn’t EXIST without the circus.

And frankly, as much as people dismiss this as being not that big of a deal, I find it gross, same as I do the jokes about his name. 

Because this is a fandom that is COMMITTED to defending the sentimentality and origins of their various fave members of this iconic found family.

Upholding where each of them came from as being just as iconic and important as where they ended up, as members of the Batfamily….

Except for Dick. Except for his circus roots. His costumes, honoring his roots. His childhood nickname, holding onto that last connection to his parents.

Only Dick isn’t allowed to have his sentimentality, without being made an object of mockery and silly, childish jokes. Because the circus is just funny, its not meant to be taken seriously, even as the object of an orphan’s deep and profound loss. Because his name is another word for penis, that’s all that matters, not that its one of the only mementos of his parents he actually managed to hold on to, that nobody could ever MAKE him give up or lose.

And that’s so….frustrating, irritating, and just….sad, y’know?

Because its not about the jokes. Its about the hypocrisy. Of trying to find deep meaning and introspection in the childhoods and origins of every single other member of this family except for the first one to actually MAKE it a family….because in his origins and childhoods, most people can’t be bothered to find anything but jokes.

Its all connected. Of course so many people have trouble acknowledging Dick’s traumas, his agency, his boundaries…..when they’re still unable or unwilling to get past the point of acknowledging his origins as a REAL place that REALLY mattered to him, just as much as the origins and roots of every single other member of this family.

When you treat where someone came from as a joke, a joke is all they’re ever going to be to you. Because shockingly….where we all come from, is kinda integral to who we are as people - whether real OR fictional.

[deepstheeskimo]

‘The Power of Four’

Right, everyone is picking Lions squads with less than a year to go until the next South Africa tour is meant to happen. Only so much brainpower I want to put into considering the pros and cons of scrummaging abilities though so I’ve gone for the Deeps Cult Lions XV made up of past tourists from of the last 20 or so years.

1. Allan Dell. What better way to start than with a South African born Scottish prop that only got called up as part of the ‘geography six’? In the squad: Andrew Sheridan (built like one of those GM bulls) and Tom Smith (badly underrated player, 

2. Keith Wood. The ragin’ potato. Came to Quins and inspired a character in the first ‘book’ I wrote aged 8. Weird obsession with belly buttons, understandable obsession with trying drop goals from 40 metres. In the squad: Shane Byrne (1- mullet 2- not actually very good) and Andy Titterrell (Pro Rugby Manager 2 legend and extremely small man)

3. Kyle Sinckler. Why? He’s my guy, that’s why. He’s the opposite of that ruddy faced, sweaty tweed rugger culture. He makes me smile.  In the squad: Jason Leonard (The Fun Bus. Non-playing tour captain. Once ruffled my hair - give him all the ale he can drink.) and Adam Jones (The Hair Bear. My sister used to see him all the time in Neath Tesco - give him all the pic n mix he can eat).

4. Martin Johnson. Looks like a character from a Guy Ritchie film, universally loathed by opponents and taped up his fingers(??). Summed up by the saying ‘Last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it’. In the squad: Paul O’Connell (has some weird mythical power about him. Came to Quins with Munster and made south west London echo with ‘fields of Athenry’) and Simon Shaw (his emotional final interview post 2009 third test, aged 37, was pretty special) 

5. Doddie Weir. Could not be anyone else. Farmer strength. Permanently looked 20. Built for Lions tours. Still fighting the good fight. Go on big man. In the squad: Nathan Hines (perma-suspended and a ‘tartan wallaby’) and Maro Itoje (Sometimes it’s not all about drinking and bungee jumping. Itoje’s one of the few that would be able to have an actual conversation) 

6. Peter O’Mahony. One of those players that always grows into a series and ends up being important. Entirely unremarkable player but must be nasty to play against. Can’t actually imagine he’s that nice to be around at all. Big ‘school bully’ vibes. In the squad: Richard Hill (the only one of England’s 2003 RWC forwards that didn’t vote Brexit) and Alan Quinlan (Hit form at the right time, finally being picked in 2009 after a good but near-miss career. Expresses immense pride in selection. Then gouges someone. 12 week ban. If that’s not a cult player then I’m not sure what is).

7. Sean O’Brien. Another one with farmer strength. Thick in the arm, thick in the head but unlike a lot of the others won’t ever let you down. Plus on a tour you need characters and I bet, deep deep deep down he’s actually got a personality. Well, maybe. In the squad: Martyn Williams (a face that belongs in a back office of a mid sized electronics company. Somehow helped to invent modern rucking) and Sam Warburton (picked only so I can annoy people by saying his name as War-burrton’ not ‘Wabatan’ as they seem to say. Also looks like an Easter Island statue)

8. Scott Quinnell. Just rugby league all over. Overweight, comedy accent, illegal use of a plaster cast on his arm, despicable post-career lad culture DVDs and even had a stint on Soccer AM. If you kick him, all the Quinnells walk with a limp. In the squad: Ryan Jones (about the only player to come out of 2005 with credit) and Andy Powell (body of a god, brain of, erm... Great on tour as he’s a six foot five version of that kid in school you could make do anything by saying ‘oh go on!’)

9. Chris Cusiter. Born in Aberdeen which obvs piques my interest. Somehow got called up aged 22 while playing for the ill-fated Border Reivers. Played in Scotland, England, France and Australia and now lives in California running a whiskey retailing business. International. In the squad: Matt Dawson (over the head dummy try) and Austin Healey (absolutely horrible grinding shithouse). The two of these would be encouraged to collaborate on deliberately provocative articles similar to what they wrote in 2001.

10. Jonny Wilkinson. The best player of all time. Note to self, don’t hang around him too much because you’ll look pathetic and probably annoy him. In the squad: Mike Catt (Utility back. My fave) and Finn Russell (Joué Joué 🍷)

11. Ugo Monye. A huge part of my weekends for about 10 years was getting excited every time he touched the ball. Top scorer on his one Lions tour, shock. In the squad: George North (need a scapegoat for when we lose 49-0 to Japan in a warm up game) and Jack Nowell (wouldn’t play a single game, only being taken to let the squad mock him and call him a yokel - bet he’s got a dead short fuse).

12. Rob Henderson. Looked like, acted like, presumably ate like and definitely played like that guy from your local club who played England U16s and let it get to his head. And gut. Crash ball. In the squad: Scott Gibbs (hefty) and Gavin Henson (Insane talent, probably got good stories and even if he’s a prick he’s nicer to look at than some of the other options).

13. Ollie Smith. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Life gave Sir Clive Woodward the entire player pool of Britain and Ireland and somehow he picked Ollie Smith. In my team because he just looks like a nice guy. Defo pro-HS2 and his dad would pick up the bar tab. In the squad: Brian O’Driscoll (meh, guess he gets a place) and Will Greenwood (but only with bleach blonde hair. He genuinely almost died on the pitch playing for the Lions, looks like Shaggy and is a rarity in being a Lions player selected while playing Championship rugby).

14. Dan Luger. Always looked like he’d just come off a 10 hour shift at B&M. Even made skintight shirts look baggy. Played for Perpignan and Toulon before it was cool. Tryscoring machine. Injury prone as fuck.  In the squad: John Bentley (so long as he isn’t a massive sexist like on the 1997 documentary) and Christian Wade (I will never forgive rugby union for wasting his talent).

15. Neil Jenkins. Ol’ dependable. Looks like a man off the street. Can imagine he’s almost always terrified around these peacocking ‘alpha males’. In the squad: Tim Stimpson (remember him?) and Iain Calamity Balshaw (Brendan Laney never played Lions so he’s there to mess everything up instead)