#from a corresponding time slot

[markrosewater]

Hey, Mark, I'm not to make another UB-related request. This isn't coming from an anti-UB place, and it's just one Goose's opinion, but I'm sure there are others who feel this way.

Can we get rid of flavor words, please? I haven't seen a single upside to them presented, just downsides:

For decades, one of MtG's biggest strengths was capturing the ludonarrative. Having to spell it out makes it seem like you all have lost confidence in your ability to make card design that makes sense with the captured flavor.

If a design is intended to be funny (the Street Fighter cards come to mind), it feels like you're pointing at the "joke" and saying "See? Please laugh." As a person who has a comedy background, I'm sure you understand why killing the frog is bad.

Death of the epithet: The most minor of the criticisms, but I really think "Ian Chester, Science Teacher" reads better than "Ian Chester" and then calling his ability "science teacher." (I may be mixing up the WHO teachers, but this applies to both, luckily.) Epithets also make it easier to depict multiple "moments" of a character without giving a card up as the "definitive" version of that character.

It feels like you don't trust players to get why the card text is what it is. Telling your audience you don't expect them to be smart (or rather, literate) enough to "get" it doesn't really help. I've seen people say they add flavor to the cards, but the flavor isn't diminished by removing the flavor words (flavor is when things are fleshed out and living, not when things are spelled out). If it's for fans of the IP, then they already get it (Oh, the activated ability that grants flying is referencing this character's rocket propulsion). Non-fans of the IP aren't benefited either, as they will sus out said character has rocket propulsion or be left completely in the dark (see Cult of Skaro: These words do nothing to tell me about the ability. If you were to leave them out, I'd still be able to sus out that each ability corresponds to one of the four Daleks depicted).

Lastly, they make cards harder to read. When trying to grok a card, there should be as few words as possible I'm supposed to ignore.

I understand some people will go "I recognize the thing" and a bulb in their brain will light up, but something being easy like this doesn't mean it's better or that we actually like it more.

I guess there's the potential upside that you could slot in numerals to power up my Baron von Count deck, but I don't see any real tangible upside to them. Obviously I'm missing something. Can you say what it is?

(Also, even if you don't answer it,thank you for taking the time to answer this book of an ask. These are feelings I've been sitting on since AFR and keeping an open mind on in case I changed how I felt from my initial reaction.)

Flavor words can do some things that we can't replicate elsewhere. I agree they can be overused, and are not always used optimally, but I don't think we want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[perpetuallylate1890]

The mantra of "just fit in" shows up a few times in TBOB and thisisnotawebsite.com. We first saw it here in code, repeating all the way off the book page:

Then, if you enter JUSTFITIN as a password in the website, it pulls up a video of people playing Perfection, a game in which shapes are fit into their corresponding slots.

The motif reappears when SAY BAAAA is entered in the website. This pulls up a pitch for Ciphertology, the final line of which is: "It's time to fit in."

Funny how he's still repeating the mantra that was drilled into him from an early age. Only now, he uses it to prey on vulnerable people for his cult. Anyways I'm sure this is a coincidence and has no bearing on Bill's character at all

[pinkykats-place]

HotD DILF(s) x Reader Insert Fics

Tumblr Recommendations

Disclaimers!

None of the stories are mine.

Some contain mature content.

Gif not mine.

Note: if you read and enjoy any of these stories - please like, leave a comment and/or reblog original post!

*************************************

The Good Queen

Viserys Targaryen x Fem!Reader Summary: The King must choose a new wife, and Alicent’s older sister, Y/n Hightower, is a suitable choice and a perfect match. For once, Viserys makes a decision that benefits everyone and upsets little few. The Seven Kingdoms are better for it.

Viserys Targaryen x Reader

Playtime´s over

Viserys I Targaryen x servant!reader

synopsis: King Viserys calls you into his chambers for a favor.

Viserys I Targaryen w/Second Wife Headcanons (Romantic)

yandere!viserys i targaryen x female!reader

viserys obsessed with his second wife after aemma and they have like dozens of kids

Viserys x Hightower!reader

Summary: alicent had an older widowed or still unmarried sister that hears what otto has been planning and decides to ruin his plan and save alicent from that life by making viscerys focus on her instead

Not All That Glitters is Gold

Daemon Targaryen x female!reader

Prompt: during your engagement dinner, you learn from your fiancé's niece that he holds choice words about you.

or finding out he calls you clingy behind your back.

Loyalty

Daemon Targaryen x Hightower!reader

Summary: the king decides it's time for his brother to produce more targaryen heirs. who better than another hightower daughter to carry them?

Blue Moon Wreckage

Daemon Targaryen x fem!wife!reader

prompt: your husband can often lose his temper and resort to the man he was before you. you grow tired of lashing your tongue, and learn your husband responds better to silence.

At First Glance

Otto Hightower x Fem!Tyrell!Reader

Summary: Let's go back to the beginning of our Rosebud and her Hightower. Ser Otto is slotted to marry the young Tyrell girl, expecting resentment and disgust. However, his young bride proves him wrong quickly and erotically.

Would That I

Otto Hightower x wife!Reader

Summary: Otto makes sure his pretty, young wife has absolutely everything she desires.

Otto Hightower x fem!Targaryen!Reader

Request: An Otto and Targaryen reader one, where she is Daemon and Viserys younger sister and Daemon has always lusted after her, Viserys too, but not as much as Daemon. She and Otto get married out of love. Fast forward, Daemon finds a way to sneak and be voyeur in her and Otto’s chambers.

We Light The Way

Otto Hightower x Fem!Targaryen!Reader

Summary: Princess Y/n Targaryen, sister to Prince Daemon and sister to King Viserys, knows that her brothers turn a blind eye if she doesn’t act like their innocent baby sister. So she uses that to her advantage and sneaks around with a certain Hand of the King...

Letters From Oldtown (part 1)

Otto Hightower x Redwyne!reader

Summary: Cast away, Ser Otto finds refuged in the comforts of home, where he meets the lady in charge of Daeron's education. After years of careful friendship, they start an epistolary romance when he is called back to serve the King once more.

Wine Upon Her Lips (part 2)

Otto Hightower x Redwyne!reader

Summary: A royal wedding brings the widowed Lady Redwyne to King's Landing and reunites her with Ser Otto. Despite their agreement to keep to the rules of propriety, the feelings expressed during their correspondance can no longer be restrained.

In All the Freshness of her Youth

Otto Hightower x Targaryen!reader (Rhaenyra's younger sister)

Series: A Companion

Otto Hightower x Young Widow!Reader

Summary: At the suggestion of Princess Rhaenyra, King Viserys Targaryen had commanded that his Hand, Otto Hightower, find a new bride. Preferably at the King's own wedding to Otto's daughter Alicent. While the Princess intended the suggestion as a form of revenge for Otto's machinations which led to the royal engagement, he intends to make the best of it. While he has always known that his late wife, Madelyn, is the great love of his life, he welcomes the idea of finding a tolerable companion. What he doesn't expect is you, a lady widowed far too young, who begins to spark feelings within him he thought long extinguished.

Mare's Milk & Cider

Otto Hightower x reader(can be seen as platonic/romantic), hotd x reader

Series: One in the Same

Otto Hightower x Targaryen!Fem!Reader

The Moon is a Frozen Tear

Otto Hightower x Targaryen!reader

Summary: As a cousin to King Viserys, you enjoy a privileged position in his inner circle. Loss after loss, you find comfort in the company of none other than his Hand, Ser Otto.

My Honour

otto x targ!f!reader

Deflowered

Otto Hightower x fem!Reader

Otto Hightower x Reader Masterlist

Otto Hightower Masterlist

NSFW Alphabet with Otto Hightower:

[melbatron5000]

Reality is . . . off

Here's me, screaming into the void. I've got no theory, only Clues.

Reality seems to be acting strangely in Season 2 of Good Omens. Mostly around Aziraphale. My examples:

This season seems to be from Aziraphale's point of view, and all the colors and lighting seem to be very bright and vibrant.

The note from Maggie -- another post on Tumblr (damned if I can find it now) pointed out that she puts her phone down right as Aziraphale comes into her shop for the first time. She seems to be texting him, but the text message arrives to his door as a note in the mail slot because that's how he expects to receive correspondences.

Changing the Bentley into Our Car -- and in the flashback to 1941 that happens after the trip to Edinburgh in the show, the Bently is still a four-door. He changed it and then made it so it always was that way. (There's a line in the book about someone being powerful enough to change something and then make it so it always was that way -- something that's repeated about the Book of Life, too. Hmm . . .) No wonder Crowley just opens up the back door to put his plants in, it's always had a back door at that point! And please don't @ me with the Bently is not a Clue -- the change happens right in scene, on screen. That was not a "they hoped no one would notice" moment. And yes, I know they weren't able to use Mary for the second season. They got a reasonable look-alike, and then changed that car into a four-door. For why??

The Bentley following him when he parks it. People have said, "Oh, yes, the Bentley is sentient, of course!" But it hasn't done anything to show that until after Aziraphale drives it. And don't @ me with the Queen -- the gag in the book says that any album left in a car for more than a fortnight transmogrifies into The Best of Queen. It's not the Bentley doing that, it's just a fact of Queen. (Can confirm.)

Aziraphale is terrible at magic. But somehow, when he really needs to make a trick work, he does it. Oh, yeah, babe? You just put that photo right up your sleeve slick as that? Hm.

That 25 Lazarii miracle. Neither of them expected that. Yet there it was.

The whole ball. He wasn't casting miracles, reality was just -- conforming itself to what he wanted.

Now my point is . . . I don't know. My observation is that reality seems to be following Aziraphale's wishes, and I don't think he even realizes that it shouldn't be. Not entirely. Or is it that he knows reality is re-shaping itself around him, and he's enjoying it?

Reality is not warping around Crowley in the same way, and Crowley seems to be able to feel something's wrong. Coming in waves, like a hangover.

Now, I have heard it said that Neil has also pointed out that our angel and demon warp reality just by existing. Okay, actually makes sense. How could an occult and celestial being not mess with reality without even realizing they're doing it?

Am I chewing on a nothing burger?

Is Aziraphale turned up somehow?

What is going on.

[sumerianlanguage]

Hi there! I’d like start with a thank you for taking the time and effort to help people who are interested in all things Sumerian learn! :D I’m not sure if this has been asked before, but what were the names given for the months of the year by the Sumerians? I’m curious as to how a lyric from a song like "Do you remember the 21st night of September" would translate into Sumerian

Hello, and thanks for the kind words!

The Sumerians used a system of twelve or thirteen lunisolar months, similar to other lunisolar calendars like the Hebrew calendar. (In fact, many Hebrew-calendar months derive their names from the Babylonian calendar, a later standardization of the Sumerian calendar months.) In most periods, the months started with the first visible crescent moon (right after the new moon) closest to the spring equinox; months could be anywhere from 28 to 30 days long, depending on when the next new crescent moon was sighted. The months would be:

Barazagngar 𒌚𒁈𒍠𒃻 (~March-April) Ezemgusisu 𒌚𒂡𒄞𒋛𒋢 (~April-May) Sigushubbangar 𒌚𒋞𒄷𒋛𒊒𒁀𒃻 (~May-June) Shunumun 𒌚𒋗𒆰 (~June-July) Neizingar 𒌚𒉈𒉈𒃻 (~July-August) KinInanna 𒌚𒆥𒀭𒈹 (~August-September) Duku 𒌚𒇯𒆬 (~September-October) Apindua 𒌚𒄑𒀳𒂃𒀀 (~October-November) Gan'gane 𒌚𒃶𒃶𒌓𒁺 (~November-December) Abe 𒌚𒀊𒌓𒁺 (~December-January) Ziza 𒌚𒍩𒀀 (~January-February) Shekinku 𒌚𒊺𒆥𒋻 (~February-March) Dirishekinku 𒌚𒋛𒀀𒊺𒆥𒋻 was the intercalary month, only included in some years, to keep the lunar months in line with the annual solar cycle

Note that each month had any of a wide variety of variant spellings, and the system above was pretty unstandardized until the later Babylonian era. The initial 𒌚 sign is the determiner for months and is unpronounced.

I'm having some trouble finding a consistent pattern for "on the #th day of [month name]", but the general way to say "on the #th day of the month" is ituda ud #(-kam), literally "in the month its #th day". Assuming we can slot in a month name, say Duku (the most likely month for late September to fall in), alongside ngi "night" and nishdish (my best guess for "21", whose pronunciation we don't know), then Dukua ngi nishdishakam would be "The 21st night of Duku".

Using one of the words for "remember", pad, you could say Zae Dukua ngi nishdishakam ibpaden? "Are you remembering [what happened] on the 21st night of Duku?" Though note that this would almost never correspond to our own September 21, for which you'd have to calculate the exact date for each year; I think for 2024 it'd be the 18th of Duku based on my quick counting, but it could fall anywhere from the end of KinInanna to the start of Apindua. I hope that's helpful!

[amerricanartwork]

Quetzalli's Needle Felting Commissions: OPEN! (5/5 Slots)

That's right, after YEARS of wanting to do some needle felting commissions, I believe I'm finally ready to put this plan in motion!!

If you're interested, make sure to read the important info below, or you can message me for other details! I also may update this post as time goes, on, including adding more categories of figures.

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GENERAL INFO

My felted figures are made primarily using Maori wool batting and natural core wool, wrapped atop aluminum wire armatures that make them semi-poseable as well.

Right now, I'm most comfortable making animals (particularly mammals), but I'd be willing to try other creatures and humanoid figures to some degree.

I can make real animals of various species and breeds, including pets, and OCs, both completely original and fan-characters

My figures are typically stylized with a somewhat cartoon-y appearance, especially in the face. If you don't want your figure(s) to look this way, please let me know so we can discuss it. I'm open to making figures in other styles, such as a more realistic look or a chibi-esque style.

Unfortunately, I will only be shipping to the United States as of now.

Though the figures I've made so far range in size, in general, the minimum size is 3 inches tall (bottom of the feet to the top of the head, not including any ears/horns/hair/etc.) or long (the front of the face to the end of the thighs, not including any tail), and the maximum size is 8 inches tall or long. These constraints may change depending on the complexity of the figure(s).

Unless the figure(s) is based on a general species/breed and not a specific animal or character (ex: if you want a German shepherd, but not a personal pet or other specific German shepherd), make sure you can provide reference images from as many angles as possible for the subject(s) you'd like me to make, whether that be photos of a real-life pet, or drawn reference sheets and images of a character.

All transactions will be done via Etsy. I require 50% up front and 50% after the artwork is completed, which can be paid by purchasing corresponding listings on my Etsy shop.

I may not have all of the right wool colors for your subject. If the figure requires me to buy additional wool, the cost of the wool will be added to the total cost and it may take longer for me to make. In this instance, I'll let you know when the wool arrives.

I often make traditional blueprint sketches of my figures before starting. During the process, I may ask for confirmation on the blueprint to ensure I interpret the subject to your liking.

While my figures are somewhat durable and meant to be slightly posed, they are not toys, so avoid being rough with them after you receive them.

I may reject a commission offer for any reason.

Rain World-inspired commissions, unless explicitly agreed to before any payment, will be posted under the "project: rain wool" tag on this blog.

My prices are ultimately based on an hourly rate of $30. Anything on the subject that would require more time to make than the base prices, whether that be because it requires me to add more wool or because its features are more complex, will therefore increase the price.

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PRICES

The prices below are base rates for types of figures I already have experience with and examples of. For all figures, the prices may change based on the size and complexity of the figure.

Real-Life-Inspired Animals: $120 to $210

These figures will be animals inspired by real life species and breeds, including pets. While I can vary their size, the minimum size is 4 inches on the longest side (for quadruped animals, this is usually from the tip of the snout to the end of the thighs, not including the tail), and the maximum size is 8 inches on the longest side.

$120 is the base rate for a 4 inch figure, and $210 is the base rate for 8-inch figure, like those shown in the photos. The price may changed based on the complexity of the figure, such as one that requires more colors or has special features (antlers, horns, clothing, accessories, etc).

Rain World-Inspired Slugcats & Lizards: $90 Base per Slugcat, $120 Base per Lizard

These are figures inspired by Rain World's player characters: the slugcats, and a common type of creature in the game: lizards of various colors. The minimum size for a slugcat is 3 inches tall, from the bottom of their feet to the top of their head (not counting the ears), and the maximum size is 8 inches tall. The minimum size for a lizard is 3 inches long from the tip of the snout to the end of the back legs, and the maximum size is 8 inches long.

The base rates are for the respective minimum sizes, and will increase for larger figures. The base price also assumes only 2 colors for the figures (a body color and a "face" color for slugcats, and a body color and head color for lizards), with little to no special features besides perhaps simple scars. More intricate features, such as clothing, detailed markings, special appendages (like Rivulet's gills) or additional colors will cost more depending on the complexity of the additions. I can also make small props for these figures, such as spears and food items, at an extra cost.

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PROCESS

If you're interested in a felted figure, fill out this form so I can put you on a waiting list, which will start out at 5 slots for now.

Once I'm available, I'll contact the email you provide to discuss more information about what figure(s) you want, how long it will take to make the artwork, how much it will cost, and any other important details. I will also send you my Terms of Service document, and if you aren't comfortable with any of the terms, I'm willing to negotiate some details before payment. We must both agree, in writing, to the terms before I proceed.

Once the terms have been explicitly agreed to and the price established, I'll send you a listing on Etsy at the price of the first payment. Purchasing this will give you access to a digital file acting as a receipt for your commission. It will also contain the date I plan to start working on your commission, and up until this date you may request a refund.

From there, I will continue to email you update images of the figure(s), and may ask for some feedback before continuing.

Once the final artwork is done, I'll send you another Etsy listing at the remaining payment price with images of the finished figure(s), marked as "Commission for [Buyer Name]: [Figure Name(s)]". After purchasing this, you will be shipped the felted figure(s).

[blackpanda-ts4]

My dynasty finally found it's place!

And this became possible thanks to SimsDynastyTree!!! • Since I have been using the Figma template for my dynasty tree for a long time, first of all I would like to note the intuitive, responsive, concise and easy-to-learn interface of the site (those who also used Figma will understand me);

• I was very pleased with the interface of the tree itself, which is made in the style of The Sims 4. Thanks to this, the tree does not look "foreign", and perfectly combines with the game itself, complementing it;

• Despite the fact that the appearance of the tree is close in design to what we are used to seeing in the game, there are many customization options on the site: background, icons with characters, relationship lines and even the icon of the heir display - all this can be customized to your liking from the blanks proposed by the developers. By combining these blanks with each other, you can create a truly unique style for your tree;

• Special attention should be paid to the icons of relationships and life forms, which were hand-drawn by the project designer. They fit perfectly into the game style, although they differ from those icons that are presented in the game;

• PHOTO GALLERY! You can create your own photo gallery for EACH character in the tree and add a description to each photo. Saving a character's memories of places and events that are important to him is now easier than ever;

• In addition, the character card contains special slots for portraits corresponding to each life stage (from newborn to elder). I need this function like no other - I really like to watch my dynasties grow up and change;

• As a user, I was very pleased that the Sims DynastyTree development team does not stand still, but constantly develops its project, improving the functionality of the tree.

• And it's free! Of course, you can buy a subscription to open additional customization options, but the main functionality of the tree is absolutely free.

• Summarizing all of the above, I can say with confidence that, whether you are hardcore dynasty player or, like me, humble owner of a small family that has only three generations, SimsDynastyTree can become a worthy repository of memories of the time spent with your characters.

[firewindearthsea]

Book Of Shadows Prompts: Sea Witch Edition

A place to slot the local tide table, so that you can keep track of high and low tides

Beachcombing correspondences

Extracting salt from seawater

Use seawater and watercolours to paint the sea

What can you forage on your local beach?

Spell timings and the tides

What would you find in a rockpool near your house?

Local legends about the sea

Sailors' sayings and superstitions

Conchomancy: divination using seashells

An ocean themed meditation, for when you need the sea but can't reach it.

[adiluv-moved]

❥ 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐄, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐈𝐌. ˚⊹꒷

🎧୧・꒰summary—wc꒱ you're supposed to be his fan. not la signora's, not childe's, and definitely not il dottore's. 824 words.

💿୧・꒰warnings꒱ yandere character ꒰possessive behavior, petty scara꒱, idol/modern au, slightly suggestive at the end, reader is not traveler, lightly edited.

🎤୧・꒰adi moment꒱ inspired by these hcs! i don't think i'll be beating these scara lover allegations anytime soon, sadly... but anyway! scaramouche is honestly such a petty bastard imo, so i figured i'd mess around a bit with the idea! as always, hope you enjoy! ໒꒰ྀི ⁎ᵕ ᴗ ᵕ⁎꒱ྀི১

as a disclaimer, i don’t support yandere behavior in real life! please don’t interpret this post as justification for any of scaramouche’s actions.

Perhaps it was selfish of Scaramouche to be so terribly possessive over you, though months of correspondence with you had simply robbed him of the ability to care. A rare find, in his eyes, a bright light in an ocean of monotones. Being in an idol group with a whopping eleven other members certainly guaranteed that the attention of fans was finely split, and so he didn’t exactly see it wrong to be a bit more protective over the one that had eyes for him alone. 

Or, at the very least, the one that should’ve had eyes for him alone.

Although practically drowning beneath the heaps of other memorabilia you’d come decked out in, the Il Dottore themed lanyard that hung from your phone case was ultimately unable to escape his piercing gaze. He’d always hated the cocky bastard, despised his overly pompous boasting and inflamed ego—but never before had those feelings burnt inside him with such soul-splitting intensity. No, he simply couldn’t help but fume atop the stage as the concert carried on, barely visible glares and the slightest shoves casted towards the senior member.

You weren’t exempt, either. 

Was this what you’d wanted? To try and tear him apart with such an intense bout of jealousy? Forcing him—watching him struggle to keep his composure in front of the millions of fans that were watching him?

It was a stroke of luck he’d decided to become an idol, since he would’ve already bit his tongue off if he had the opportunity to keep his mouth closed.

Over the several months you’d known Scaramouche, invitations backstage had become the norm between the both of you—rare moments of alone time together with your body perfectly slotted within his arms and sweet nothings whispered in your ear. 

Naturally, it was the absence of this that drove your heart wild. 

Even worse was when another fan was granted the honor, personally escorted behind the curtains by the star as fans hounded the duo. 

‘He’d never done that for you,’ came the tiny, jealous voice within your mind—fingers clamping shut into fists as you attempted to rationalize the scene in front of you. It was true, of course, that a bodyguard had always been the one to lead you to his dressing room, a slap in the face considering the way he held their hand in front of everybody. Why, oh why, is some… random person getting better treatment?

The both of you were already well aware that this scene would be blowing up come tomorrow, countless articles, tweets, and tiktoks posted by the insignificant pest he’d picked out. And while his cheeks were absolutely straining from the falsified polite smile he wore, seeing the dejected look on your face certainly alleviated some of the burden. 

It wasn’t as though you even had the right to be angry with him—it’d just be silly considering this little stunt of yours—but there was something so horribly satisfying about watching you seething, all the same. How sweet! That little pout pulling down your lips, the crinkles forming in-between your furrowed eyebrows. Exactly what he’d been hoping for, pulling a random member of the audience along with him, and he was glad you decided not to disappoint twice in one night.

Maybe, if you’d chosen any of the other Harbingers to pull such a stunt with, he might’ve found it amusing. But showing up to his concert, with tickets that he paid for on your behalf, with merch of Il Dottore? Hah. Inexcusable, really—though it was ‘cute’ you had the gall. 

He was certain he’d already gone off on tangents about the man before, certain that he’d already emphasized that only he was worthy of your adoration. Why, then, would you carry through with such a thinly veiled betrayal?

He would not share you with that man.

But no matter..! While the audacity you had to toy with him was commendable in its own right, you weren’t the only one that could play at that game. And Scaramouche? He plays to win. For the sake of proving this point, he’s more than willing to allow you to leave empty-handed tonight, push himself through the agony of being without your touch for a bit longer.

As expected, tickets to the Harbinger’s next concert arrive in your mailbox the day after their latest venue is announced—though the two extra items attached are much more novel. A letter, handwritten by the idol himself, chiding you for this little ‘slip-up’ in your loyalties…  and a Scaramouche themed lanyard, orders attached to dispose of your current one immediately.

He’ll be keeping his eyes on his favorite fan.

You’re lucky that he’s being so generous, but even you should know that he has his limits. If you continue to act out, a more… hands-on punishment will be necessary to remind you of exactly who your love and attention belongs to.

But frankly? He doesn’t think he’d mind. ♡

i have a taglist, which you can sign up for here!

[kaijuno]

Kleroterion – Because “Power Corrupts”

This Kleroterion was a device used by the ancient Athenians during their period of Democracy, over 2,500 years ago, to randomly select citizens for state councils, offices, and court juries.

Athenian Democracy developed in the 6th century BC and the process of Sortition was their principal way of achieving fairness and equity.

Sortition is the process for the selection of a few state officials, on a random basis, from a larger pool of candidates.

The fundamental principle behind the sortition process originates from the firm belief that “power corrupts.”

For that reason, when the time came to choose people to be assigned to empowering positions, the ancient Athenians resorted to picking randomly by a lot.

The state positions were highly accountable and only for a limited period, to minimize abuse and corruption.

Sortition was used to pick most of the magistrates for their governing committees, and their juries. Thucydides has Pericles make this point in his Funeral Oration:

“It is administration by the many instead of the few; that is why it is called a democracy.”

The Athenians used a selection procedure with purpose-built allotment machines like this Kleroteria to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into an office.

Those selected through lot underwent an examination to prevent incompetent officials. The Kleroterion was a stone incised with rows of slots and with an attached tube.

The citizens’ token was placed in the slots, and the container was filled with different-colored dice. The dice were released one by one, and each of the die corresponded to a specific row of tokens.

The color of each die determined whether the owners of the tokens in the corresponding row were selected. The selection decided who was given a seat on the citizen’s council or juries.

[the-conversation-pod]

Going High-Low with Taiwan

And we're back! It’s been awhile since we checked in on Taiwan, and the latest offerings have really run the gamut in terms of quality. Ben, NiNi, and Shan sat down to discuss the state of Taiwanese BL via two recent shows, Anti Reset and Unknown.

Timestamps

The timestamps will now correspond with chapters on Spotify for easier navigation.

00:00:00 - Welcome 00:01:15 - Intro 00:02:11 - Anti Reset and VBL 00:13:13 - Unknown the Series 00:20:16 Unknown: The Pseudo Incest Trope 00:27:53 Unknown: San Pang, Li Li, and Family in the Narrative 00:35:48 Unknown: The Ending Stumble 00:43:32 Unknown: Adapting the Da Ge Novel 00:46:15 Unknown: Final Thoughts and Ratings 00:51:53 - Whither Taiwanese BL?

The Conversation Transcripts!

Thanks to the continued efforts of @ginnymoonbeam as transcriber, and @lurkingshan as an editor and proofreader, we are able to bring you transcripts of the episodes.

We will endeavor to make the transcripts available when the episodes launch, and it is our goal to make them available for past episodes (Coming soon thanks to @wen-kexing-apologist). When transcripts are available, we will attach them to the episode post (like this one) and put the transcript behind a Read More cut to cut down on scrolling.

Please send our volunteers your thanks!

00:00:00 - Welcome

NiNi

Welcome to The Conversation About BL, aka The Brown Liquor Podcast.

Ben

And there it is. I’m Ben.

NiNi

I’m NiNi.

Ben

And we’re you’re drunk Caribbean uncle and auntie here sitting on the porch in the rocking chairs.

NiNi

Four times a year we pop in to talk about what’s going on in the BL world.

Ben

We shoot the shit about stories and all the drama going into them. I review from a queer media lens.

NiNi

And I review from a romance and drama lens.

Ben

So if you like cracked-out takes and really intense emotional analysis…

NiNi

If you like talking about artistry, industry, and the discourse…

Ben

And if you generally just love simping…

NiNi

There is a lot of simping on this podcast…

Ben

We are the show for you!

00:01:15 - Intro

Ben 

And we're back! This week we will be discussing the state of Taiwanese BL by highlighting two projects that recently finished for us. 

NiNi 

Shan is here with us. Say hi, Shan. 

Shan 

Hello people! 

NiNi 

Shan has to be here because y'all know I don't watch that much Taiwanese BL. [laughs]

Shan 

And I watch it all. 

Ben 

We're going to be talking about the sci-fi BL Anti Reset and we're going to be talking about the Priest adaptation Unknown the series, based on Priest’s novel Da Ge. 

NiNi 

I am unfamiliar with Anti Reset. I did not watch it. 

Ben 

NiNi: it's a Taiwanese BL. I don't like it! [Shan laughs] I didn't watch it. 

NiNi 

I did watch Unknown and I have thoughts about that. 

00:02:11 - Anti Reset and VBL

NiNi 

Maybe Shan, you could dig in here before we let Ben get into the recap on Anti Reset. 

Shan 

Anti Reset is part of a recent series of Taiwanese BLs that came from a company called VBL. Stay By My Side, You Are Mine, VIP Only, and then Anti Reset. This was a connected series, all these stories happened in the same universe. The characters did cameos in each other's shows and they all aired in the same time slot one right after the other, over the last several months. 

I was not particularly impressed with the quality of these shows and I thought that as the series went on, each show got a little bit worse. [laughs] By the time I was in VIP Only I had really lost interest in what these shows were doing. The stories were weak, the production values were low, they weren't really hitting the usual Taiwanese high watermarks for great casting, good couple chemistry, solid intimacy scenes… The things you can normally reliably count on Taiwan for, were not really showing up in these shows. 

So I was, had kind of already lost my faith in this series when Anti Reset started. I think I got two episodes into it and I just decided to just stop watching. It was givin’ me a weird vibe. I was like, “You know what? I don't know what this show is doing and I don't think I wanna find out.” 

That's where I think I should hand it off to Ben to talk more about what the show actually ended up doing.

Ben 

Oh, man. Trying to describe the premise of this show inherently gives it more credit than it deserves. [Shan and Ben laugh] The premise of the show is that Chu Yi Ping is some sort of humanities professor at a local college. His arm gets injured from pulling his shoulder and his uncle, who runs a experimental tech company, decides that to give him some assistance while he's recovering, they're going to send an experimental house assistant android to his house, which appears in the shape of a really hot guy named Ever 9. 

The show wants to go on to be this exploration about how misanthropy presents in people. How do you find humanity in artificial intelligences that are designed to befriend us? It wants to do this exploration of personhood—I don't think it does—and ends up fundamentally becoming a mail-order bride show that doesn't realize it is one. This show thinks it's doing deep analysis of AI personhood and romance, but it's not. It's just presenting things. It is kind of a mess and I ended up really not liking it. 

NiNi 

I'm a big sci-fi girl. I like these kinds of explorations of the human condition. It's what all the best sci-fi is about. So, basically what you're telling me is don't watch the show. [laughs]

Shan 

Ben, I feel like when I was observing discourse about this show, it did seem like it was working for some people, and I'm curious if you have thoughts about what parts of the show maybe did work better than others. 

Ben 

I think that if you found the leads attractive and you enjoyed the chemistry that the leads were going for—ignoring literally any of the context about what was going on around their interactions—you could enjoy that. But I don't think the show does a great job of addressing its own context. 

You've got this android living in your house who is doing your house chores and making your food for you, and otherwise taking care of you. So you basically have purchased a housewife. But then he decides he's in love with the housewife and wants to pursue the concept that the android has a personality and is capable of reciprocating his feelings and such. But they don't do a good job creating this crossover point where Ever 9 cares about Chu Yi Ping because of who Ever 9 is and not because of what Ever 9 was programmed to be. 

The issue, too, with Chu Yi Ping is he's got this fundamental misanthropy that isn't really addressed or challenged. What is it about Ever 9 that allows him to not hate him the way he hates other people? The fact that Ever 9 is programmed to put up with all of his shit all the time? That's kinda weird, particularly because they went for a multi-year separation at the end, and I'm like, he didn't grow from this. He's just a sad little weirdo the whole time. 

Shan 

They did a multi-year separation between… a man and a robot? 

Ben 

They did. 

NiNi 

I was about to say— [all laugh]

Shan

I mean! I’m like, what? But, like—, Did—, How—, But—, I—

NiNi

Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I have another related question. 

Ben 

Please, go on. [Ben and Shan laugh]

NiNi 

This is not a story about an AI achieving self-awareness or sentience or crossing the human-digital divide in some way. 

Ben 

It wants to be that. It really wants to be a story about Ever 9 exceeding his programming. They very much think there's, like, a Pinocchio thing going on with him. 

Shan 

He's still a robot. 

NiNi 

Even Pinocchio turned into a real boy at the end. 

Shan

Right, this is what I don't understand. 

NiNi 

So what is the point, then? If nothing actually changes about Ever 9. 

Ben 

This is one of the fundamental questions I've been asking about BL lately. [all laugh] And here we are again. 

Shan 

What is the point? [laughs]

NiNi 

This is the thing that people don't get about sci-fi a lot. Sci-fi is more philosophy than science. It's a lot more about humanity and the things that humanity does to each other and how humanity evolves than it is about the cool things that the science can do. And whenever I see sci-fi that does not understand that, you can tell. 

Shan 

I think—and I wonder how you feel about this, Ben—one of the tension points here may be trying to take a narrative like this and turn it into a straightforward romance between a person and an object. When I've seen stories with this conceit done well, the romance is maybe not the primary point, and it's more about, like NiNi is saying, the philosophical questions underpinning it. I think about something like Lars and the Real Girl, which is more about the nature of loneliness and the nature of grief and how a community can come together to support somebody in finding a way to be happy. But it's not about the actual romance between the person and the thing. It feels like maybe what's difficult here is they want to examine those things, but at the same time they just want this to be a standard BL where they're just executing romance tropes. Those things don't go together that well. 

Ben 

I agree. I feel like Chu Yi Ping’s misanthropy and disconnectedness from other people should have been the crux of the storytelling, and they were more focused on making the android say hyung and oppa instead. 

NiNi 

For me, if you're gonna do a robot story like this, maybe you actually put somebody else into the story who the main character then falls in love with. The main character is able to interact with the robot to actually, themselves, become a real boy. But somebody in the story has to become a real boy! [laughs] That's the whole—you know what I mean?

Shan 

There's a kdrama that I really love called I'm Not a Robot. And that is pretty much how they handled that. There's a robot, there's a real girl. And in the end, the romance is with the real girl, not the robot. [laughs] 

It just feels like they tried to do that sort of story, but also somehow make the robot the main person without having them actually achieve personhood, and that just doesn't really work. 

NiNi 

It's either that or take it dystopian. Take it in the opposite direction. But then I guess that's not a BL. 

Shan 

Right. So you can also take it in the real fucked up direction, but yeah, you have to commit and it sounds like they just tried to do it all in some kind of weird blend that didn't come together. 

NiNi 

So, I'm guessing this one's a chop, Ben. 

Ben 

Oh, it's 100% a chop. I think I ended up giving it a 5? This is a show that I do not recommend at all. If you just want to see pretty decently attractive Taiwanese actors kind of moon at each other a little bit and make out a little bit, by all means! Go in and have a great time. But that's what you're getting out of it, at most. It's not good sci-fi, and I don't like it. At all. 

Shan 

I'm feeling happy with my choices. I'm gonna not return and finish this one. I think I'm gonna let it lie. It sounds like it was the right choice to not finish it for me. 

Ben 

What did we get out of the VBL project? My only positive takeaway from it is, I'm really glad that they got some money together to continue making small budget Taiwanese BL. I don't want small budget Taiwanese BL to give up, but also, these were not the best offerings that we've gotten out of that. 

Shan 

They need some better scripts. 

Ben 

We gotta do better. I really did not want to be super harsh about VBL and a bunch of their projects but, they're kind of really frustrating in a lot of ways. Stay By My Side ends abruptly. You Are Mine does not do the boss-employee romance any real justice. VIP Only ended up being kinda boring and wasn't really satisfying in its conclusion. And this one just really did not understand the expectations of sci-fi storytelling.

When we looked at the descriptions of all these shows ahead of time, we were like, there's a lot of ways that they could fuck this up royally, but these would actually be pretty good, or at least interesting and compelling in some ways. But they weren't. There's some sort epilogue episode or some shit they're gonna be releasing?

Shan 

A little special to try to sell merch, I think. 

NiNi 

I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do. 

Shan

Yeaaaaah. 

Ben 

Not impressed, and we are moving on. 

NiNi 

You're not even gonna rate it? 

Ben 

Oh, I gave it a 5. 

NiNi 

5 for Anti Reset from The Conversation. 

Ben 

And the 5 is, the leads were actually pretty solid with each other. 

NiNi 

Wow, that is damning with the faintest of praise. 

[all laugh]

Ben 

It's not good, y’all. 

00:13:13 - Unknown the Series

NiNi

Let's leave that behind and move on to something that all of us actually watched and I think liked a little bit more. Moving on to Unknown the series. 

Ben, give us the rundown, what is Unknown the series about?

Ben

Unknown is a found family narrative that has to deal with the way these relationships change as people grow up. This brother and sister end up deciding to adopt a homeless kid who's in their neighborhood. Wei Qian is like a high schooler trying to take care of his little sister ‘cause their parents are dead, and they decide to also take care of this kid, Xiao Yuan. Xiao Yuan is appreciative of this and is glad to become a brother to this family. But as he grows and matures, he ends up developing deep affection for Wei Qian, and we spend the bulk of the story dealing with Xiao Yuan struggling with his feelings for Wei Qian, and how this impacts the community around them. 

Beyond the three siblings, we have their neighbor San Pang, whose family has opted to never raise the rent on the Wei siblings to make sure that they have a place to stay. Wei Qian spends much of his adolescence when he's not in school working for the local gang: complications ensue as a result of this. 

Shan, further thoughts?

Shan

Really, at its heart, this is a relationship change narrative. So, it's all about how this family decide to take each other as family and then as they grow up, some of the relationships start to shift and change, not only between Wei Qian and Wei Yuan, but also between Wei Li Li and San Pang. Wei Qian really takes his responsibilities as the older brother—but also the default patriarch of this family—very seriously. He is a caretaker, he is the person providing financially for the family. San Pang is his best friend, someone who's known him his whole life, who completely understands his devotion to his siblings and also loves them, as well, as an older brother figure. 

There are some other characters in the mix. Qian and San Pang end up going into business with a third partner, named Lao Xiong. There's also the local gang—the lead gangster is called Le—and then there's Doctor Lin, played by our beloved Sam Lin, who's also in the mix as a side character who comes in and out of the story. 

I don't know, NiNi, if you wanted to add anything about your overall impressions of what the story is tackling, the themes.

NiNi

I came into this one later than you guys did, so I was catching up on kind of a binge. And also the rhythms of Taiwanese BL and Taiwanese drama are a little harder for me, so it takes me a while to get into things emotionally. So I was doing a little bit of an uphill climb? I understood where the story was going and what they were trying to do. I didn't all the way feel it? There were points that I would hit, definitely a point at the end or near the end that I felt it, but going through the pockets of the story as it was happening, I didn't get the depth of feeling about this that I would get about a story. That's not necessarily to do with it being a Taiwanese story, ‘cause there's Taiwanese stories that I have that depth of feeling about. Just this one didn't hit me in the exact same way that I think it hit you guys.

Shan

I felt this story deeply. I was very emotionally connected to the characters, very, very invested in this story and really did love it. I have, unfortunately, some serious critiques [laughs] for the way that the story ended up, but really loved it along the way, was super invested. And part of that might come from my relative comfort with the tropes that were at play.

NiNi

It might be, because I'm an eldest sibling and I understand the feelings of responsibility and wanting to be somebody who takes care of your siblings and an example for them and to be strong for them and all of that. If there is any character that I really glommed onto, it was Wei Qian. But then what that left me with was a disconnect from some of his thought processes and actions later down in the story? There were things that I wanted to understand more that I didn't understand about the way that he was processing certain things. That's my thing. That's not a problem with the story, I think that's my reaction to the story.

Ben

I think in the early parts of the story I was really with everything that it was doing. I got Wei Qian’s whole deal fairly quickly. He's, like, 13 to 15 and his mom is dead. His dad is dead or not in the picture. And he's got a little sister that he has to take care of. And the neighbors are willing to help accommodate this but he's gotta get money some sort of way, so he ends up wrapped up with the local gang. I also got the way they would feel sympathy for another kid who's on the street struggling as well. I totally get them adopting someone else who seems like he's going through some shit the way they are too. 

I got the way Yuan’s thankfulness about being saved from the street and the way Wei Qian was willing to sacrifice himself for Yuan, and I totally get that turning into a kind of devotion that shifts over time, and mingles with his latent queerness. I was able to follow Yuan down that route. And I liked the way the show treated all of those developments really seriously. From Wei Qian having some sort of sexual related trauma and being really resistant to advances from women… And I also got the way that that sort of blew up in their faces when Yuan's feelings became known to them. 

I really enjoyed the early parts of the story. I think Ray Jiang directed this? Ray’s tendency to use longer shots of characters working in the space together worked really well for me here, and the actors had really good timing for me to get a strong sense of the dynamics between their characters. So I was really able to pull a lot of the expected emotional beats out of a lot of little things in this show early on.

00:20:16 Unknown: The Pseudo Incest Trope

Ben

I actually waited until like week six, I think, Shan, was when you told me it was time to start watching? I have deep qualms with the stepbrothers trope. I don't usually connect to it or enjoy it.

NiNi

I don't have an issue with the stepbrothers trope, but this didn't feel like stepbrothers to me. The relationship between Wei Qian and Yuan felt almost paternalistic, and that was, I think, deliberately something that Wei Qian did put that distance between them. I did not see how Wei Qian overcame that, he did it so deliberately and he reinforced it so deliberately over and over throughout the years, and I feel like the turn into romance didn't quite work for me?

Ben

Why do you think the stepbrothers taboo doesn't normally bother you the way it might for other people?

NiNi

It depends on how long they've been raised together. A lot of times when we're getting these stepbrothers trope stories, they're new stepbrothers or they haven't been stepbrothers for very long, or they were close to adults when their parents got together. And so it's… doesn't feel like a sibling relationship to me.

Ben

Shan, you've watched a lot of dramas.

Shan

Sure have.

Ben

What's your read of the stepbrother stuff?

Shan

I wanted to talk about accurate categorization here, because this is not actually a stepbrothers trope. The stepbrothers trope is very popular in yaoi manga, and consequently in BL. But Unknown is more, I think, accurately categorized as a pseudo incest story. And that goes beyond BL. That is actually quite popular [laughs] in Asian dramas more broadly, and also shows up quite a lot in het romance. And it's more about people who are coming together in some kind of family arrangement, and then the point of the trope is that the relationship changes over time and we follow that relationship change. 

There's this impression, I think, that people like it mostly because, “Ooh, it's so titillating. It's so taboo.” For folks who enjoy the pseudo incest trope—and I count myself one of them, I've watched a lot of these kinds of dramas—the appeal of it is that a relationship change narrative is really interesting. It's a lot of deep emotional stuff when you are talking about someone who's really important to you in one specific way, and then trying to transform that relationship to have them be important to you in a different way. That can feel really risky and really dangerous, to put at threat the relationship that you already have for the relationship that you now want. That is not a dynamic that is exclusive to the pseudo incest trope!

NiNi

It feels like an extension of friends to lovers.

Shan

Exactly.

NiNi

A higher risk, higher degree of difficulty friends to lovers.

Shan

Exactly right, NiNi. I also love the friend to lovers trope. I also like enemies to lovers, which is maybe not as deep, but still revolves around that relationship change. I think for a lot of people, that's the appeal. It's a higher stakes version of the friends to lovers trope. 

I think Unknown did a fantastic job with this trope… for the first three quarters of its story. Unfortunately, where it fell down was in the most important part, which is that relationship turn. We followed Yuan through his relationship turn. We saw his feelings for Qian change over time. We saw him try his best to cope with them alone. We saw when he could no longer do that and the feelings poured out of him and that caused a huge rupture. We saw him take time away. We saw his devotion stay strong through a separation and through many years apart. We saw him come back as an adult and decide to pursue the relationship he wanted because he was so certain that he still wanted it. We saw that whole process for Yuan. 

Where the show really dropped the ball is that we didn't see that same deep process happen for Wei Qian. We saw it start, we saw him learn about his younger brother's feelings for him and have an initial response of shock and anger and some revulsion. We saw him push Yuan away. We saw him miss him terribly and regret pushing him away. We saw him start to change the way he saw him when he came back as an adult, and start to get more comfortable with seeking him out as a partner instead of as a younger brother. And then we just saw an abrupt flipped switch, where suddenly he was comfortable not only being in a romance, but in a sexual relationship. And I think that's where they really dropped the ball, is in that transition at the end. And unfortunately, that was the most important part of the story. [laughs] So it's a pretty shitty place to drop the ball, show! 

But, this show did so many of my favorite things—found family, intergenerational family trauma, a serious relationship change narrative. These are like three of my most favorite things in drama. The characters were struggling through poverty, that's another big thing that I love to see depicted well in drama, and the show took it seriously. This show, it felt like, was almost made in a lab to, like, hook me in the heart. And I still have a lot of warm feelings about it and love it, even though it kind of let me down in the end. 

But I'm curious, Ben, to hear you reflect, because I know versions of this trope have caused trouble for you before. I feel like you did better with this than you maybe thought you would, Ben.

Ben

So as someone who has had slurs thrown at him with real intent, I am particularly sensitive to narratives that wanna play with taboo that reflects some of the worst disingenuous presumptions about how queer people behave. I don't always enjoy these sort of narratives where they wanna deal with family members coming of age and developing feelings for each other and then wanting to pursue them. I often struggle with stepsibling relationships in particular because their parents had a romance. I don't usually enjoy the discord that the stepbrothers relationship is introducing to the genuine attempt by their parents to blend their families. 

I don't think this show prickled that because they're more akin to orphans than stepsiblings. I'm less perturbed by orphans who use familial terms to establish closeness and present themselves as a unit to other people, wanting to change that down the road. Also, a smart thing the show did was they used three actors to play Yuan to reflect his growth and change over time, which was a very good choice for this kind of story.

00:27:53 Unknown: San Pang, Li Li, and Family in the Narrative

Shan

The other piece of this trope—the pseudo incest trope—that adds a layer, is that the taboo associated with incest does become part of the story. The external community and their other loved ones become an important part of the decision-making around the relationship change. You're gonna see other people being uncomfortable with the change in the relationship, so it adds this layer of complexity. 

Here, the most important and main stand-in for that, we have San Pang, who has been raised alongside them as their neighbor, who also sees himself as an older brother to Yuan and Li Li, who is the first person to catch on to Yuan’s feelings. He is the one who puts it together and sees the way Yuan’s feelings are changing, and he's the one who tells Qian. In the wake of his coming out to Qian—admitting that he is gay, but not saying who he likes—San Pang is the one who says, “I'm pretty sure you're the person he likes, bro,” and he tries to interfere. He goes to Yuan on his own and he says,”I am seeing this. I want you to understand that it's not something you can pursue. You're going to put so much stress on your brother if you let him find out.” 

There are some great scenes between San Pang and Yuan where they have really important conversations about why it's quote unquote wrong for him to feel this way about Qian, why San Pang feels so uncomfortable with it. He tries to intervene. It doesn't work, and then San Pang’s the one who helps Qian come up with a plan to send Yuan abroad. He was a very important part of that storyline. 

He also is a very important part of the storyline when Yuan comes back as an adult, because he, in those intervening years, has gone through his own journey of his changing feelings for somebody that he also considered a quasi-sibling, and has maybe mellowed out a little bit about what it would mean for the two of them to be together. He sees that the feelings are still there, sees how miserable Qian was when Yuan was gone, and he kind of changes his tune and says, “Maybe I was wrong to try to get in the way of this. Maybe this is the thing that will make you, my best friend in the world who I love, happy, and maybe that's right.” He was such a crucial character in this narrative and I just really loved the way the show used his character as a stand-in for what you would normally see happen with parents in a drama like this.

NiNi

He just wanted to protect everybody. He wants to protect them individually, he wants to protect their family unit. It's very sweet.

Ben

He's like the big cousin who also doesn't know what to do. Wei Qian is stuck with this role, having to care for his sister and the brother that they adopted. That takes a huge amount of personal fortitude to choose to do all of that. San Pang clearly sees this from a young age, and he's always trying to help the best he can. But he's just as young as them and it’s not like he brings any special knowledge to the table. He has these instincts that are grounded in the expected orthodoxy of a family unit, and he's trying to help them replicate that, because he earnestly believes that maybe these things can help them. 

Like, he recognizes that Wei Qian is alone with this huge responsibility he's carrying, and reasonably decides that maybe if he gets a partner who can appreciate that, the mental load on Wei Qian would be better. And as far as he knows, Wei Qian likes girls, so he tries to find women who might be interested in him. That doesn't go well. It's the same thing with always showing up at the clinic when Wei Qian gets the shit beat out of him with the gangster stuff. And even with Yuan, Yuan's feelings come up and he tries to help them, and even when they suggest sending Yuan away, they just wanted him to get some room from Wei Qian to maybe feel something for someone else. Yuan being gay was not their biggest concern. Yuan having feelings for Wei Qian was their primary concern. 

I joked, when he came back sassier and even gayer, that he clearly found his people [laughs] while was in New York. 

Shan

[laughs] Mmhmm. 

Ben

And I ended up really loving San Pang for that. Despite his reticence about Wei Qian, he ends up developing feelings for Li Li, and I think it's because they had those big fights where he was forced to reckon with the nature of these taboos and the orthodoxy they enforce, and whether or not they applied here or not. I feel like San Pang ending up in a relationship with Li Li is intentional by the narrative to draw that line and say, “If this is okay, why not this?”

Shan 

We should talk more about Li Li. One of the things I do credit this show with is caring about the whole family as a unit, and not only about the romance. Her involvement in the story and her relationship with her brothers was just a really important aspect to drive that point home. 

I loved Li Li as a character. She's the little sister that everybody takes care of, including Yuan. She's the one who let him in. When he first followed Wei Qian home, she claimed him as her brother first and brought him into the family. She has a very close but also very different relationship with each of her brothers. And we saw how those bonds held and shifted over time. And when their relationship changed and they decided to be together romantically, Li Li accepted it.

I think she always knew that their relationship was different. What was interesting, I think, and such a good choice, is that she never seemed to feel threatened by that. She was comfortable and secure, knowing that they both loved her. Even though their relationship could maybe sometimes crowd her out. 

Ben 

I really liked that moment in episode 11. We got this little breakdown from her about how nobody cares about Qian. She started to really process, as an adult now, that Wei Qian hid a lot of his suffering from them. 

I actually really like that Li Li got to do teenage rebellion. It says a lot about how effectively Wei Qian did his role as provider that she got to be a bratty teen. 

NiNi 

I feel like as a family story this hits me more than as a romance. Wei Qian’s relationship with both Yuan and Li Li feels parental more than sibling. Li Li and Yuan feel like siblings. 

Shan 

One of the interesting choices that I really appreciate in the story—in the early stages—is that while Wei Qian, I think, was trying to be a parental figure to both of them, Yuan never really accepted that, even when he was younger. And we saw that theme repeat throughout the show of Yuan saying, “You don't have to do it alone. I'm here to help you.” He always, always, always wanted to be a partner to Wei Qian. 

NiNi 

That is true, but this is coming from Yuan’s side. I absolutely see how Yuan made sure, maybe not even consciously, he wanted it to be clear where the boundaries were and the boundary was that, “We are family, we love each other, but you are not my parent, you are not my brother, you are somebody that I am partnered with. We are doing this together in this way.” Yuan always made that distinction. Wei Qian [laughs] is my problem here.

00:35:48 Unknown: The Ending Stumble

Shan 

We should get into where the show stumbled hard, because that's what it all comes down to, right? This big stumble in episode 11. 

NiNi 

Yeah, it just kind of sits over everything and it sits over my entire perception of the story now. I feel like I can't even think of the rest of the story without thinking about how it didn't take me where it needed to go at the end. Yuan comes back to Taiwan and it feels like for Wei Qian, maybe some things have changed, but he's doing a lot to not let this thing happen. And it doesn't feel like a thing that he's fighting against—’cause if it felt like something that he was fighting against, I feel like I could buy it. If it's something that his heart really desires, but his brain is telling him he can't do, like, that works, right? But it doesn't feel like that. 

I don't get where he got shaken. Like, I got the emotional shake. When Yuan gets kidnapped, ‘cause that's a thing that happens, you feel that fear that he had in that moment that he would lose Yuan. I understood why in that moment he would accept that he maybe had these emotions, these feelings that he needed to interrogate for Yuan, and they were churning him up inside, and they got broken out by this thing that happened that shook him. The emotional turn, totally believed. The turn where that goes romantic and sexual, that's the part that—it didn't carry me there. 

Shan 

I do agree with that last bit of what you said. I don't see it the same way as you in terms of not seeing the arc of his feelings starting to change. I think that was very clearly the arc of episodes 7 through 10 for Qian. During their separation, we saw how not functional, frankly, he was without Yuan around. He survived, he got through every day, but he was deeply unhappy. Everybody in his life could see it. He was regretful, he was missing him all the time. And punishing himself and withholding himself from talking to Yuan.

When Yuan came back, he started to interact with him differently. We saw the way that his physical awareness of him was different. We saw him start to seek him out more. We did see him start letting him in on some adult problem solving like he wouldn't have before. He still had his walls up, of course, he was still trying to consciously deny that he was willing to change their relationship in that way. But I do think the show took us through and showed us some very clear moments where his feelings were starting to shift and he was still fighting it. And then, of course, the kidnapping incident really shook him up. 

I think where the failure for me happened was in the moment where this suddenly turned into a sexual desire that we hadn't seen build, at all. And so that is the missing piece for me. They needed a couple more beats in the story there, between him coming to this emotional realization of his desire to keep Yuan next to him forever, and for that to then build into a sexual attraction that he was comfortable acting on. And I think that latter part is where they really dropped the ball. They have him literally say, “I'm not ready yet. I haven't figured out what I'm comfortable with yet.” And then like, literally two minutes later, he's like, “Fuck it, never mind.” And they're just going to town on each other. 

That didn't work for me at all. It was a very strange choice. It was a mistake. The show just really fumbled, and it sucks because they fumbled at the most important part of the story after building it so beautifully for ten weeks to just drop the ball that hard. It's a little bit baffling to me? 

Ben 

Episode 10 ends at the huge emotional turn for Wei Qian. And it was really frustrating for the show to conflate the emotional turn and the sexual turn and try and follow that immediately with the sex in the next episode. That was not the right choice. If the show had done the emotional turn and then spent at least half the episode dealing with this building sexual tension, that would have been interesting. 

The show was obsessed with staying on Yuan's perspective the whole time. It would have been totally fine if Yuan was crackling with sexual energy at the knowledge that Wei Qian had finally hit the emotional turn. But instead they really wanted to have reward sex and then focus on this stupid health scare plot. The problem is, the sex scene isn't good because there's no arc to it. Yuan has been ready to fuck this man for ten years and Wei Qian hasn't been ready to fuck anyone for, like, 15 years. 

They brought up this whole notion that part of Wei Qian's closed-off nature about sex is because his mom possibly abused him. And I just really did not enjoy the show rushing into this sudden sexual comfortability with Wei Qian after showing us that he did not have a good relationship with sex, and I feel like that needed to be resolved before those two were going to be able to have that sort of moment. As a result, the sex scene doesn't create much of an emotional arc, and the show knows this too, because they fucking fill it with stupid Yuan flashbacks. This should be about the change in Wei Qian, not the culmination of Yuan's feelings. 

Wei Qian's reticence about sex is not handled by the story, whether it be discovering queerness in himself or processing the sexual trauma from his mom or getting over whatever blocks about the kid you see as your brother wants to be with you. That part of it was missing when they had set up for it with the end of episode 10, where Wei Qian let down whatever big emotional barrier was between, “I need to protect Yuan,” versus, “I don't wanna be without Yuan.” They were prepped for it, totally, to go into that next area. And then they just didn't, and decided to make it about Wei Qian having a blood clot. 

NiNi 

All the pieces were actually there, they're just in the wrong order. There's a scene after the fact where they're doing this dating SIM game or whatever at work and Wei Qian is having these flashbacks to the sex scene. Why did they not let him have that moment as a fantasy moment before—

Shan 

Yes! 

NiNi

—rather than a flashback moment after? 

Ben 

That's what I also thought at the time. But you know how angry I get on this podcast [Ben and Shan laugh] about having to mentally rejigger the show [NiNi laughs] to make it fucking work. I will not!

Shan 

Besties! That's what they do in the book! That is exactly what they do in the book! [laughs]

Ben 

That's so fuckin’ aggravating. [laughs] I’m so fucking mad! 

Shan 

It’s so aggravating! All the things we're saying they should have done, they fucking did in the book! And I don't [claps hands together] know why the show didn't do it. I'm so mad! 

Ben 

She clappin’, yo, she mad. 

[all laugh]

00:43:32 Unknown: Adapting the Da Ge Novel

Shan 

We haven't talked too much yet about the novel, but I do wanna talk a little bit about some of the adaptation choices that were made here. This show is an adaptation of the novel Da Ge by Priest, who is a very well known danmei author. Other live action adaptations of her books include Word of Honor, Guardian, Justice in the Dark... several others, a lot of them have now been shelved or didn't get to finish airing because of the ban in China. So, it was extremely exciting for fans of her works to see a Taiwanese production take up an adaptation of one of her books, because we know that we're not gonna get good adaptations of danmei anymore out of China, because they are banning queer content and censoring it all to hell—even more than other countries. 

They made a lot of really smart adaptation choices in the way that they structured the show. The book is a lot more complex, in the way that most Priest novels are. There's a lot more characters, the plots are far more intricate, there's a lot more going on. There's an additional member of the family in the book. There's another best friend in the building. There are, like, three different gangs [laughs] instead of one. There's this whole corporate real estate plot that's tied to Wei Qian's work. It's a lot more complex. 

The show did, I think, a fantastic job of making choices to streamline the story, to make it simple enough to fit into a 12 episode arc while still retaining the core themes and the core relationships. And it also did some really great work around the cultural pieces. Mainland China has a lot more deep homophobia, fatphobia, some real weirdness around the way, in media, that sex and gay sex in particular get discussed, and this show really smoothed all of that out. 

Where they really blew it on the adaptation is at this end arc. You see all these aspects of Wei Qian's emotional journey that we are lamenting the show missed. I don't really understand why the show decided to ignore that material in favor of doing what it did instead. A lot of the stuff in the final arc was not in the book at all. If you are someone who loved this story and is disappointed in the ending, I just can't recommend highly enough that you read that book. 

Ben 

That's the theme of this episode. [laughs] If you enjoyed these shows, go do something else. 

Shan 

[laughs] Do something else! No, but do watch Unknown. I do love this show. I don't wanna say that you shouldn’t watch it, but you should go read the book too, ‘cause it'll fill in some pieces that we're missing here.

00:46:15 Unknown: Final Thoughts and Ratings

Ben 

I totally get NiNi maybe not being super connected to what was goin’ on, and if they had not fucked up episode 11, it just would have been an interesting conversation about, where does this gap form? But now we're bogged down in the fact that it's easy to point to the lack of payoff. I watched episode 12 this morning before we're recording this session. And I was like, “Okay, I guess this is fine.” [Shan laugh] This is meant to feel like, almost, epilogue. And I enjoyed the big family hand hold. But I really feel like they really failed at the final steps of the “Yuan and Wei Qian are now a couple” turn, which is really annoying because there were so many things that it did great. 

In the very final episode, there's this really great sequence when we learn that Li Li is pregnant and they have the reaction in the hallway and everybody's coming out of different doors that you don't expect. 

Shan 

That is the funniest scene. 

Ben 

Every time Wei Qian wanted to kill San Pang? [Shan laughs] Some of the best scenes in this show. Like, fucking Yuan sitting on the couch eatin’ his tomatoes, he was enjoying the chaos. We got this other woman who might be with Wei Qian, “I can take care of my brother.”

[Ben and Shan laugh] 

Shan 

He's like, “Don't you worry about it.” I did love those moments of Yuan being like, “Oh, I'm not the family problem now, ha!” [laughs] He's just like sitting back and enjoying it. 

Even at the end, I was frustrated with the last two episodes, but I still had a lot of affection for these characters and this family. This isn't an ending that completely ruined the show, for me. 

Ben 

Shan has a bat she holds called coulda been a 10 that she bashes sh— 

Shan

Yes! [laughs] 

Ben

—bashes shows with.

Shan 

Goddammit! One of the pieces of my frustration here is that this was on track to possibly be the best Taiwanese BL ever made. 

NiNi

Okay, so ratings. Shan, let's have you go first. What do you rate Unknown?

Shan

I gave it a 9. I had to take out my coulda been a 10 bat. 

I think that the narrative and the character work was so strong through the first 10 episodes that I can't take it lower than that. It's sticking with me. It's been a while since I finished the show, and I still think about it every single day. I think about these characters all the time, and that's not gonna go away just because the last couple episodes were a little bit disappointing for me.

NiNi

Ben, how about you?

Ben

Because I am in the business of recommending things—it's my whole shtick—this is an 8.5. It sits between “BL fans should watch this” and “People who like romance should watch this,” for me. I can't give it a 9 because I feel really strongly about the episode 11/12 caveats. But I don't wanna pretend that I didn't think that this cast did a really great job capturing the nuances of their dynamics. And even if they're let down a little bit by some of the direction and writing choices towards the end, I think that the family portion of this is so good, genuinely. So I do think this show is worth watching for people who enjoy the kinds of narratives the show wants to play with. We just need to understand that it stumbles at the end. 

NiNi?

NiNi

I'm having a hard time with this one because in my head this isn't a BL. If I had to put it into a category in my head, it would get slotted near to something like a Moonlight Chicken or 180 D. But it doesn't have the queer bona fides that either of those have. It feels like a family drama that had a romance in it that happened to be this kid falling in love with somebody who is taking care of him. But the idea of it being a central romance, I just didn't buy. So it was a difficult one for me to rate in terms of how I felt about it as a romance. 

In the end, I ended up at an 8 for the show. I think as a family drama, it's excellent. As a family drama, I would probably give it a 9.5 and as a romance, I would probably give it a 7, and so I wind up somewhere in the middle, which for me is an 8. I feel like it's a solid 8 show.

Ben

It's an 8.5 from The Conversation, recommended with specific reservations!

NiNi

You gotta get that .5 in. It's fine.

Shan

We gotta get it in. We gotta—

Ben

That's just how math works!

Shan

—gotta get it in.

NiNi

I know, I'm allowing you to have math. It was a good show.

Ben

It could have been an excellent show, but hmph!

Shan

So close to being one of my all time favorite dramas. It's fine, I'm just gonna go cry about it.

Ben

You were mad about it, because Shan wasn't even buggin’ me on a Saturday, like, “Go watch this show, Ben. Go watch it right now. Wake up, gay boy! Go watch the show so I can talk.”

[Ben and NiNi laugh]

Shan

Ben knew I didn't like the final episodes ‘cause I was not asking him if he watched them yet. [laugh] I was like, I don't wanna talk about it!

00:51:53 - Whither Taiwanese BL?

NiNi 

I want us to talk a little bit about where Taiwanese BL is and what's been happening with it lately and whether it is making the leap in the same ways that other countries appear to be making the leap lately. Whatever that leap is for them. 

I feel in some ways like Taiwanese BL has been a bit stagnant. 

Ben 

Taiwan is a super small country and… politically, they have been a little distracted for a few years! They're not in a position to do a ton more with BL right now. I don't think that we're gonna see a huge sudden surge from Taiwan. The best thing about Unknown is that Taiwan is not out of the game altogether, ‘cause I was real worried! The HIStory franchise is in ruins, and we hadn't really seen something of this production caliber in a while. 

Shan 

I'm with you, Ben. Honestly, when Unknown started airing, I was like, “Oh, thank God, Taiwan can still do it.” I have always been a fan of Taiwanese BLs, which might feel a little bit discordant because [laughs] I am someone who cares a lot about writing and storytelling and story is usually, honestly, the weakest part of Taiwanese BL. They usually don't have good writing. But, what I've always connected to in Taiwanese BLs is, I feel like they have a really good handle on relationship dynamics. They're really good at building characters that connect well with each other emotionally, physically—they've always done really good physical intimacy work in their shows, they usually cast really well for chemistry—and so usually in Taiwanese BLs, it's the characters and the character dynamics that hook me, more than the story. 

So I was really excited to see the high quality Taiwanese production that I knew had a good story underpinning it. I hope to see more. I personally had a great time with Kiseki: Dear To Me, but it is not exactly high art. [laughs] And this run of VBL shows was so bad that I was really losing faith. I had made a commitment that I was going to at least try watching every single Taiwanese BL that comes out. I'm still sticking with that, but I was starting to flag a little bit because some of these shows were so bad. 

So I was so thrilled to see that they still were doing productions of this caliber. And Unknown has been quite successful and got them a lot of positive attention, and so I'm hopeful that they'll be able to continue putting together productions like this, drawing actors of the caliber that they got for this show. I'm more hopeful because this show happened than I was certainly at the end of the year. 

Ben 

I will say the way that the Taiwanese actors talk about the work remains one of my favorite things. I be deep in these cast interviews, seein’ what they have to say about this work, and these Taiwanese boys have really nuanced and complex feelings about the work they're doing playing queer characters. I feel the respect and sometimes the duty they feel to get it right in the way they talk about their characters and the work they're doing. That's why I remain very friendly to… even [laughs] some of the jankiest Taiwanese BLs. These boys take playing queerness seriously. It's really warming for me to know that these guys understand that they're portraying queer people and that queer people will be affected by their portrayals. 

NiNi 

I think I just don't have the connection to Taiwanese drama. I'm coming at this from kdrama, through jdrama, through Thai drama. Taiwan’s the last place that I landed, and I think that I just haven't made the leap yet in terms of style and rhythms and all those other things. Mostly because I don't get to see a lot of it, there is not much. And I think that that definitely impacts how I feel about Taiwanese drama and Taiwanese BL. There are some I love—you know, I'm a staunch lover of HIStory 2: Right or Wrong. You know how I feel about Make Our Days Count. You know how I feel about We Best Love. But none of those, except maybe Right or Wrong, as Shan pointed out, has really stellar writing. 

Ben 

Why would you mention Make Our Days Count? I'm so mad all of a sudden! [laughs]

Shan 

No! Don't go there, Ben. Earmuffs!

NiNi 

We're never gonna get out of a Taiwanese BL conversation without it coming up. It just [laughs] isn’t gonna happen. 

Ben 

[volume raising] Wanna talk about endings for Taiwanese—

Shan

No!

Ben

—BLs?! [laughs]

Shan 

No, we do not! Stop. Pause. NiNi, continue your point. 

NiNi 

What have I done? [laughs] 

Yeah, I agree with Shan that the writing isn't great, and that's maybe one of the reasons that I haven't latched on to Taiwanese BL in the way that I have to others, because I am also a writing person. I can get behind a story for other reasons, and I have. I've gotten behind stories that were not written well because there was some other element of them that really grabbed me, and that's what has happened to me in the Taiwanese BLs that I have liked. But just generally, I don't gravitate in this direction, and there hasn't really been anything yet that makes me wanna gravitate more in this direction?

I recognise the strength of character development. I recognise the fantastic acting in a lotta instances, some of these guys are amazing actors. I just, it hasn't moved me in the kind of ways that I've been moved from other things. And it kinda makes me sad in some ways. I'm still looking for that Taiwanese BL that's gonna grab me by the throat. I haven't found that one yet. I'll keep looking. 

Shan 

It's hard, too, ‘cause like Ben said, it's such a small industry. We don't get that many Taiwanese BLs and we certainly don't get that many of quality. But, I've always really loved the approach to BL that Taiwan brings. 

Ben 

I really feel like when they make BL, somebody in the room is asking how gay people might feel about some of the choices they're making. 

Shan 

I'm gonna keep showing up for Taiwanese BL. I'm gonna keep watching them. I really hope that we get to see more productions of this caliber. I hope that we get to see them working from strong source material, so that the storytelling can really live up to what the casts are bringing. I'm excited to see what comes out next. 

NiNi 

Ray Jiang can stay, though, I like his directorial style. He keeps doing stuff and he hits on something that really pops? I feel like that's the one that's gonna grab me. If I wasn't terrified of what Lin Pei Yu was capable of after Kiseki. If I could get Lin Pei Yu at her best plus Ray Jiang at his best, with basically any of the actors I've ever seen in Taiwanese BL, maybe we'll get something that will grab me by the throat. 

Anyway, that is going to wrap us up on… what's the name of this episode? 

Shan 

Have we decided yet? Hmm. 

Ben 

The State of Taiwan, Taiwanese BL episode, whatever. 

NiNi 

Okay. That is going to wrap us up on our Taiwan episode. We out!

Thank you for being here, Shan. Say bye to the people. 

Shan 

Thank you for having me. Bye, people! 

NiNi 

Say bye to the people, Ben. 

Ben 

Peace.

[ammonitetheartist]

BUNCH more OC stuff heheh

This time for Weird Frog, Packleader, and Cure!

[Image ID: 5 drawings depicting sketches of various Murder Drones fan characters.

The first depicts Weird Frog, a Sentinel resembling a Jurassic Park-style Dilophosaurus. At the top-left is a first draft of the head and neck, while at the bottom-left are a pair of more finalized sketches, one with the neck frill at rest and the other with the frill flared open. In the middle is a fullbody sketch, on top of which is a smaller version that is colored in greenish-grey tones and cyan eyes - with a sample palette of these colors to the very center-right. The final sketch shows a top view of the bladelike tail.

The second drawing depicts the Packleader, a large Sentinel on all fours. It has five eyes instead of the usual three. At the top-left is a first draft of the head and neck, labeled ‘movable horn-like appendages (similar to a Night Fury)’ and ‘neck ridges’. Right next to it is a sketch of the head from above, labeled ‘very broad snout’. To the right is a first draft of an arm, followed by a more finalized sketch with added claws and arm quills, labeled ‘quills on arm’. At the bottom is a fullbody sketch of the Packleader, the ridges on its back labeled ‘thin and bladelike’, and the fins on its tail labeled ‘fins can be folded down’.

The third drawing is the fullybody sketch of the Packleader from the previous drawing, but colored in various blueish-gray tones, with sky-blue eyes. Above is a sample palette of the colors used.

The fourth drawing depicts Cure PHX, who has a Sentinel-like snout with a beak, and Murder Drone-like arms for lower legs. At the top is a bust sketch of them, wearing a chainmail scarf labeled ‘chain link scarf gives a bit of protection + tool to potentially frustrate attack by natite stinger’ and a loop of string with a small vial attached, labeled ‘container of DD saliva’. Three sketches directly below show their foot in two of them, labeled ‘rotatable spur on inside of each ankle to inject melatonin-like substance’, and their leg in the last, labeled ‘substance contained in reservoir inside each leg, refilled through this port’. The bottom row of sketches (from left to right) are: a top-view sketch of their tail with the tail feathers spread, a bust sketch labeled ‘stun lights re-worked to fire painkilling signal’, two sketches of a leg labeled ‘some kind of slots in there; claw deployment re-worked from DD arms’ and ‘three claws in front, one in back’, and a sketch of the top jaw’s inside, labeled ‘secondary set of teeth in back of top jaw, similar to a mosasaur’.

The fifth drawing is a size comparison between Weird Frog (greenish silhouette), an average Sentinel (silver silhouette), and the Packleader (dark grey silhouette). Weird Frog’s head reaches just above the average Sentinel’s shoulder, while the average Sentinel’s head barely reaches the Packleader’s shoulder while the latter is on all fours. At the top-left is a color key labeled with the corresponding characters’ names. End ID]

[gunsandspaceships]

MCU Timeline: Iron Man. Part 2 (Back home)

Part 1.

This part is a little out of order because I haven't yet covered the 3 months Tony spent in Afghanistan. But I felt it necessary to first find out when he returned to the States and explain the difference in the calendars of our reality and the MCU.

This is the screen with the Mad Money recording that Pepper was watching the day she changed Tony's reactor. It says May 4, 2008 10 am PDT. It wasn't the day Tony came home, but at least the next day. Or most people assume it's the next day. In fact, Tony returned home on:

May 2, 2008

~12:30 - Tony arrives on Edwards Air Force Base.

~15:30 - Tony announces he is shutting down weapons production at SI (the drive from Edwards AFB to SI HQ is approximately 2.5 hours, add a stop at Burger King. Plus, the journalists needed time to gather at SI).

~20:00 - Tony is finally in his Malibu mansion (it's already dark outside. He spent a few hours at SI HQ and then drove 1.5 hours home). He scans his body and the arc reactor and starts working on a new version.

Calendar issue:

Here you can see the date - Thursday the 16th (2008). In our universe, May 16, 2008 was Friday. It is not the only time in the movie in which the dates and days of the week do not correspond to ours. For the timeline to work properly, we have to use the difference and remember to move the dates back one day (Fri to Thu, Sat to Fri, etc).

Why it was not May 3?

May 2, 2008 - Thursday in the MCU.

May 3, 2008 - Friday.

May 4, 2008 - Saturday.

US Stock market hours: 9:30-4:00 pm EST/6:30-1:30 pm PDT (Mon-Fri, closed on weekends).

Mad Money aired at 6 pm EST from Mon to Fri, with reruns at 4 am EST/1 am PDT on Saturday.

Stock market: Tony gave his press conference at around 3 pm PDT (which is 6 pm EST). The US stock market was already closed. It needed at least another day to react to Tony's announcement and drop SI's points. So, it happened the next day - May 3 (Friday).

Mad Money: Pepper was watching a recording of the new episode of Mad Money when SI stock was already falling (bottom of the screen). The episode couldn't have been recorded the day Tony arrived, and it couldn't have been filmed the day Pepper watched it (it's Saturday 10 am PDT/1 pm EST). This happened in the interim, on May 3, after stock marked dropped SI shares (Mad Money's slot is 6 pm EST). Since May 4th falls on a Saturday in the MCU, Pepper may have been watching the recording of the rerun that aired at 4 am EST (1 am PDT), which she missed because she was sleeping.

Reactor and rest: Tony needed time to build a new reactor. This means getting all the components, designing and manufacturing the thing. He also obviously had time to rest, because he looks much better than on the day of his arrival, and not as if he had not slept all night working.

[soul-controller]

Working His Body(Suit) II [Teaser]

With his excitement exponentially ramping up as he turned the suit backwards and stared at the large slit that ran along the length of the suit’s spine, Martin’s boner found itself prodding some unintended places as his firm five-inches found itself rubbing along the gloriously sculpted and plump muscular ass cheeks. Rather than feeling embarrassed upon realizing what had occurred, it only caused the gay man to grow more excited as he envisioned a similar sight of his new bodybuilder-self bending over another gym jock and having his way with the jock’s perky ass. Eager to make this concept a reality, Martin moved his hands away from the suit’s shoulders to instead rest along the suit’s waist. Unsure of the right process of how to put the suit on, he opted to start with the legs first as if they were a pair of pants before moving up and applying the top half as if it was a t-shirt. 

With the burly shoulders falling forward as a result and causing the artificial arms to limply lay in a heap on the floor, the back slit grew larger and allowed Martin to finally begin the process of putting the suit on. Upon lifting his right leg up as far as it could go and pointing his foot, the employee plunged the limb deep into the suit as he aimed for the appropriate leg slot. As soon as his foot made contact with the inside of the bodysuit though, a palpable electric sensation coursed through his body as it seemed like both himself and the suit were excited about this potential pairing. This tingling only grew in intensity as the soft and gelatinous-like interior was filled down to the calf with the solidness of Martin’s leg. Upon feeling his toes make contact with the concrete floor, the man suddenly tilted his foot back to a 90-degree angle and allowed his foot and toes to fill the appropriate slots until the entirety of the suit’s right leg was now solid and functional. 

Although the realization that he was now in possession of a bodybuilder’s leg was quite the exciting one and thus made him want to take a moment to flex his insanely large thighs, the man refused to stop and marvel at it. As a result, Martin wasted no time allowing his left leg to replicate the process so he had two completely functional bodybuilder-sized limbs. But upon finishing that process, there was an additional step that would solidify his lower half’s transformation into that of a bodybuilder. The suit at this point was only functional up to 3/4ths of the bodybuilder’s upper thighs, due in part to the fact that he had neglected to pull the suit farther up to allow his average ass and modest cock to fill the deflated pouches intended for them. Eager to remedy this, Martin pulled the front of the elastic-like bodysuit out away from him and then up to allow his testicles, rock-hard cock, and ass to fill their corresponding points in the suit. For a moment, there was sudden loss of sensation as the man could no longer feel his boner, but this was quickly remedied as he felt something peculiar and thus looked down to his crotch. Instead of his normal-sized testicles and 5” cock, Martin’s eyes widened in disbelief as he saw a tube of meat that had to be at least 7 inches and much girthier (which perfectly matched with his new low-hanging and large balls). 

Moving his hands behind him, the employee couldn’t resist gasping in amusement as he felt the sizable and incredibly firm ass cheeks that now violently jutted forth from his tailbone. Never in his life had he possessed or felt a derriere that was that immense and sculpted. From what he saw and felt from his lower half, he already felt like a Greek god...

After getting the job at his local S-C Fitness, Martin is shocked to find that his work uniform is actually a bodysuit of a rugged bodybuilder. Despite his reservations, the weak and average man's curiosity gets the best of him and he finds himself undressing and seeing what it's like to be so large and muscular. To read more about Martin’s experience as he continues to pull on the bodysuit and see what life is like as a tattooed hunk, click here to sign up for my Patreon!

[angelsworks]

Edward Cullen x Music lover! Reader

Headcannon

You and Edward have colliding tastes of music

You didn’t think you’d meet someone as enthusiastic about music as you. Music was your life. It was around you growing up, it was around you while you drove, while you did homework, even while you showered. There was not a moment you could remember that wasn’t involving some form of music.

It was part of what drew Edward to you. From the way music would flow from your headphones, to your very being.

Songs you’d heard heard years ago to songs you’d heard that morning would buzz around your head in one long playlist. It was like Edwards own personal radio.

Granted the music taste was very different to his own.

Where he preferred instruments like violin, cello, piano or the occasional bit of brass, you preferred everything other.

Classical music didn’t make you feel as much as something fast and loud, something that made you want to move, not sleep.

Eventually when you start talking more he’ll bring it up, his own favourites to listen to. While you do politely agree, inside your head he can hear you thinking his taste does not match your own.

It won’t ever be something you fall out about of course. You have your tastes and he has his. That doesn’t mean the other won’t secretly try and convert them.

Edward will fill his car with classical music and invite you on a long car drive, or offer to pick you up. Successfully trapping you with him for an unfortunate amount of time.

You might hand him a headphone from time to time, complimenting a certain moment in the song your listening to.

He gives it a try. Over his long life he’s come across such music before.

As you get closer he’ll dust off old CDs that correspond to your taste of music and put them to the front of his pile.

He’ll invite you to his house to show you his sound system, while strategically placing said CDs in eyeshot.

You might bring it up, to which he’ll try to be as casual as possible. Suggesting after all your pestering he decided to try them.

The smile that grows on your face as you dive into a history of the band and your favourite from them, is worth every minute he spent listening to the albums beforehand.

Of course his family teases him for it. Their super hearing can definitely hear him humming along to your favourite songs, trying to memorise them.

Bonus:

If you two ever do end up arguing or being not on speaking terms, you can be sure damaging his radio is involved. Whether it’s putting your favourites in his car and hiding the rest, or putting an album you know he hates is then supergluing the slot closed.

The idea totally did not come from Emmet. And his keys didn’t come from Alice.

[speeps-highway]

hiya speeps! love your mods and videos, they have fueled my sonic hyperfixations very well! anyway, in one of your older videos you briefly mentioned how sa1 having cutscenes play over top of gameplay was why characters could "make faces" in that game but not sa2. could you go into more detail as to why this is?

In SA1 the cutscenes are done like an RPGMaker event, it has a library of event-specific functions to control characters/objects etc. and forms a list of them as one big script.

Here's an example from one of Sonic's events:

Here's what a few of them do:

EV_MovePoint2: Move a character to coordinates with specified speed and acceleration. There's also a simpler, less used version called EV_MovePoint that does the same thing but at a fixed speed.

EV_SetAction: Give an object an action (Model+Animation) and textures. You can also specify the speed of the animation, whether it loops and (if another EV_SetAction is playing) how many frames to interpolate to this animation from the previous one. (Think every time Sonic moves his hands around while he says "Ah Yeah this is Happenin'", that uses it)

EV_SetFace: Give a character a list of preset facial animations to do (Each letter in the string corresponds to one) . It only works on Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Tikal - no other character has faces. (Except for Big, but the game will do an out of bounds crash since he only has 6 faces instead of 20)

EV _Wait: Pause the event thread for X frames.

Here's some others that aren't in that image:

EV_CreateObject: Creates a blank object, usually used for props by giving them an appearance with EV_SetAction.

EV_PlayPad: Plays back recorded user input, Sonic Team used this whenever they wanted Sonic to jump or do a spindash.

While this way can make everything look stiff at times, it's pretty flexible and easy to play with in a mod. It's also why the game has 8 character slots and why Eggman, Tikal and event ZERO are technically player characters.

The best part about it is that the two aren't mutually exclusive, you can call anything from an event in during gameplay and vice versa, the game does this itself a few times too, like setting a flag that keeps the hint monitors active for the Twinkle Park scene.

The faces are part of the characters themselves and they'll switch to them at any time if the relevant values are changed, so I managed to figure out how to do it in the Dreamcast version in 2017. (Funnily enough, also August).

As I said above with EV_SetFace, there's only 20 faces to hold up the entire game's dialogue with (even fewer in actuality given the ones either reserved for blinking or unused) and they seem to be focused more on expression than speaking, at least for Sonic and Knuckles, which is why a lot of people find them goofy.

There's only one situation the game uses the animations for outside cutscenes - when the player gets hurt, they'll do one of their screaming animations for a few frames. (There's also a funny issue where Sonic does it after hitting Knuckles in his boss fight)

Anyway, you can call any event animation, any face and even spawn event objects (such as Chaos event actors) whenever you want in that game. Usually the only thing they need is their textures loaded.

Here's a few things I did when I first figured out how to do it:

SA2's cutscenes are full 3D animations (like Blender) in the game's event folder, everything in them is entirely separate to the gameplay stuff, so the in-game characters have no mouths or cutscene-specific animations to play around with.

It meant they didn't need to deal with gameplay limitations (like player physics) and were easier for them to test as they have a fixed timeline rather than relying on in-game sequences to fall into place.

They also had much greater control over character expressions. The mouth and head are separated and they aren't limited to the list of 20 faces. Here's a bunch I dug out a few years ago for Amy's brow alone:

They used to be really annoying to edit (I had to use a Hex Editor) but I think the SA2 Modding community has had breakthroughs since. Still, I suck at 3D modelling so I prefer SA1's.

I decompiled all of SADX PC's event scripts a few years ago so if you want to learn exactly what they do (and change them, as it's in mod form) take a look: