#i did a specific rewatch of it and noted everything down

[pastafossa]

hello!! this is a super random question and you don’t have to answer but how do you keep such a good track of the daredevil show timeline?? all of your fics are so coherent and seem to follow it amazingly well so i’m just wondering if you have any tips for that like it’s so noticeable how well you know the show when i reread trt and i really admire that :p

THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO READ CAUSE THE DD TIMELINE IS INSANE, SO THANK YOU. I've spent more than one night tearing my hair out over it and that appears to have paid off! 😂

So I have two things I did in order to really track the Daredevil timeline.

1. In order to reference larger Marvel events along with other Defenders events, I use this timeline by gamesradar which has both the movies and the Defenders shows on a year by year timeline. This gave me a rough idea of gaps between seasons along with when other characters might pop up.

But more importantly,

2. I created my own Daredevil timeline that goes episode by episode. I did this by going through a series rewatch focused specifically on the timeline itself. Every time day shifted into night, I noted it. Matt waking up? That's a new day. Indicator via dialogue that it's been 2 days? Add that gap. Season reference like Ben mentioning in late S1 that it's getting colder (thus a sign that S1 takes place from at least early summer to fall)? That's written down. With this I could roughly track not only how much time passes in each episode, but I also was able to have a general idea of how long the individual seasons last. Doing this allowed me to weave my own plotline in and out of canon and construct a concurrent TRT events timeline in a way that feels like it fits! I even added some sections on Matt's injuries so I could track not just when he's hurt but his heal times. This is in addition to a quicknotes sort of guide I made for each episode so I could quickly double check my references without necessarily having to boot up Dis+. Obviously some canon gets changed in TRT but when I do change things, I make sure the goal of those canon scenes are still met, whether that's clues or foreshadowing.

Now granted, some parts of the canon timeline I quickly discovered are batshit. S2 is supposed to take place in the course of about 2 weeks, for example, which is WAY too fast for that big of a trial, and Matt's healing period in S3 is hilariously short. Those are moments I chose to take a crowbar to and stretch out a bit (in TRT, jury selection for Frank's trial, for example, no longer takes 2 days; now it takes a week, and the trial itself will be a bit longer than in canon), but because I had my timeline of events, I knew there was a long gap after Elektra's death (summer, roughly) and the little bit at the end of S2 where he goes to meet Karen with his mask (I think it's early winter, if I remember my timeline correctly). So that's kinda how I know where I can fiddle with the timeline while still ensuring it all flows coherently and doesn't ram into anything!

[keithyp00]

❭❭─ღSoft Targets ღ─➣

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x f!super-solider!reader

Warnings/Tags: slow burn, friends?-to-lovers, action, comfort, fluff, mentions of past trauma, violence, spice, angst, tension, possessiveness, praise

MDNI (18+): explicit sexual content (m/f), fingering, unprotected sex, oral (f receiving), dominant!Bucky, praise kink, mild jealousy, emotional vulnerability

Word Count: 2.0K

Featuring Sam Wilson and Joaquin Torres

Author Note: Hi! Nothing important for me to note here but I did wanna ask an opinion! I just rewatched Fresh last night and I was curious if any of you guys would be interested in me posting some crazy one-shots about Steve Kemp (because I really wanna write a psychotic reader). But let me know! This is also my first time posting smut so-

Please do not copy or translate any of my works. Thank you!

You had been many things- a ghost, a weapon, a cautionary tale. But around Sam and Joaquin, you were just... Y/N. Grumpy when tired. Deadly before coffee on some days. And the only one among them that could snipe a moving target while quoting Schopenhauer. (The philosopher of pessimism.)

Which is why you instantly knew something was up the second you walked into the hangar.

Sam was pacing near the quinjet, arms crossed, wearing that specific smirk that always preceded chaos. Joaquin stood beside him, poorly hiding a shit-eating grin behind a tablet.

"No," you said without preamble, tossing your bag down with a loud thud.

Sam blinked, innocent. "No, what?"

"Whatever it is you're planning."

Joaquin chimed in, "Okay but- hypothetically- if we were trying to set you up with someone..."

"I'd kill you where you stand."

"Romantic," Sam deadpanned. "You and Bucky are a match made in hell."

You raised a brow. "We share a mission report from Latvia and very similar trauma. That's not chemistry, that's a war crime."

"Still hot," Joaquin mumbled, scrolling.

"I hate you both."

They grinned in unison. You were doomed.

~~~~~

You didn't expect to see Bucky Barnes again, not really. Not in the civilian sense.

The last time your paths crossed was a mess of cold air, Hydra bunkers, a muscle memory soaked in blood. You remembered snow crunching under boots, steel eyes across a ruined hallway. No bullets fired. Just a pause. A flicker of recognition. Then silence.

Now he stood in the compound kitchen, sleeves rolled, frowning at the coffee machine like it insulted his lineage.

He looked up as you entered, gaze sharpening- then softening.

"Y/N."

"Barnes."

A breath of quiet passed between you. Not cold. Not tense. Just... suspended.

"You cut your hair," he said.

"You grew a conscience."

He let out a quiet breath, one that resembled a chuckle. "Mostly."

Something in your chest unfurled. Carefully.

~~~~~

Sam and Joaquin were anything but subtle.

Suddenly, you found yourself paired with Bucky for everything- training, briefings, field ops, even debrief dinners. Once, you found a copy of your favorite book tucked in your locker- annotated in Bucky's handwriting. The next day, Joaquin 'accidentally' left your hoodie at Bucky's place.

When you showed up to get it, you found the hoodie folded neatly beside two glasses and an unopened bottle of whiskey. A Post-It note stuck to the neck, which read: Stay. Talk. He's not as grumpy as he pretends. -S.

You stayed. And honestly, neither of you talked much, but the silence between you didn't ache the way it used to. It felt like space. Like breath.

Like peace.

~~~~~

The mission in Krakow wasn't supposed to be complicated.

Infiltrate. Extract. Burn it down.

You moved like shadows- silent, lethal. You disarmed a guard with one twist, snapped a lock, cleared the corridor. When Bucky fell in beside you, you didn't flinch. You moved like mirrors, and you had forgotten how easy it could be, trusting someone to have your back.

He grunted as a bullet grazed his shoulder. "You always show off this much?"

You smirked. "Only when you're watching."

By the time the lab was in ruins, and the hostages were evacuated, you were both bleeding and breathless, leaning against the alley wall under sodium-yellow lights.

"You saved me in there," he said quietly.

"You saved me first," you replied.

He looked at you, eyes scanning like he wanted to memorize the whole shape of you. "You ever get tired of being used like a weapon?" He asked.

"All the time," you whispered.

He nodded, then reached out- slowly- and brushed a strand of hair behind your ear. "You're more than that," he stated. "You always were."

~~~~~

He started showing up.

Sometimes with takeout. Sometimes with a book. Once with a cat.

"I thought you didn't like animals," you said with a smile.

"I don't, but cats are an exception. You just looked like you needed someone who doesn't expect anything from you."

"You mean besides you?"

He smiled. small and self-deprecating. "I don't expect anything either."

That night, you sat on the floor, knees touched, the fluffy white cat- whom you named Alpine- curled in your lap and his voice low beside you as he explained his nightmares, things he had never shared with anyone else.

When he asked you what your worst one was, you answered with honesty: "The one where I'm still in that lab. But this time... I want to stay."

He didn't speak. Just took your hand and held it like it was something fragile.

Like you were.

~~~~~

It happened in the quiet, like most important things do.

A mission gone wrong. Rain falling in sheets. You made it out- barely- and sat in the transport van soaked and silent.

You turned toward him, eyes searching. He looked at you like he was already yours.

"You ever wonder," you started, voice low, "what we'd be if none of this happened?"

He didn't hesitate. "I'd still find you."

You kissed him then. Not hard. Not desperate. Just... sure.

It was soft. Anchored. The kind of kiss you give someone when you're finally ready to feel again.

~~~~~

Sam leaned against the doorframe of the training room, arms folded.

"So. You and Barnes."

You didn't look up from the punching bag. "You want a thank-you or a medal?"

"I'll take both," he said smugly. Joaquin fist-bumped him behind your back.

Bucky walked in a few seconds later, shirt clinging to him post-shower. He stopped beside you, handed you a towel, and pressed a quick kiss to the side of your head.

Sam nearly dropped his water bottle. "God, you're publicly affectionate."

You smirked. "Don't make me kick you."

Joaquin clapped once. "It worked, though. Admit it."

You looked up at Bucky. He smiled, shy and warm and real.

"Yeah," you said softly. "It did."

~~~~~

That night, curled against Bucky's side, you let yourself believe in softness. In second chances. In the idea that maybe, just maybe, there was more to you than your kill count or combat record.

Bucky brushed his fingers down your spine and whispered, "You're not a weapon."

You looked up at him. "Then what am I?"

He smiled. "Someone I want to come home to."

~~~~~

Several Days Later

The apartment was quiet. Only the soft hum of rain against the windows filled the silence.

You were standing in his living room, soaked and bruised, tactical gear clinging to your skin like a second layer you hadn't yet learned to shed. Your lip was bleeding. A shallow gash trailed down your bicep.

Bucky hadn't set a word since you left the quinjet.

You watched him from the corner of your eyes as you peeled off your jacket, wincing slightly at the pull of a forming bruise. He hadn't even looked at you.

"You're mad at me," you said finally.

He dropped his gloves on the kitchen counter like he was trying not to throw them. "You think?"

You raised a brow. "I disarmed the bombs."

"You disarmed three bombs, alone, with no backup. You didn't even tell us you went inside the building."

"It was the fastest option."

"It was reckless."

"It worked."

"It could've gotten you killed."

That made you pause. You turned fully toward him now. His voice hadn't raised, but the heat in it was undeniable- burning with something sharper than anger.

Something closer to fear.

Your voice lowered. "Is that really what's bothering you?"

He finally met your eyes- and something in his expression made your breath catch.

"You think I'd survive watching you die?"

Your heart stuttered. "Bucky-"

Before you could say anything more, he was in front of you.

He closed the distance in one stride, and then he was kissing you- desperate, hard, unyielding.

And you kissed him back just as fiercely, blood singing, nerves sparking to life. His hands gripped your waist, pulling you against him. You could feel how tightly coiled he was beneath the surface. He wasn't angry. He was unraveling.

~~~~~

"Bedroom," he growled against your lips. "Now."

You stumbled backward as he advanced, pulling your shirt over your head before you even reached the hallway. His eyes dropped to your chest- he hesitated for half a second when he saw the bruises already blooming there.

His voice was low. Rough. "You let them touch you?"

"They tried," you whispered.

That was all he needed.

He grabbed your hips, lifted you like you weighed nothing, and carried you to the bed. He laid you down carefully, reverently, then stripped off your boots and pants like it was a mission all its own. His eyes roamed over every mark, every scar.

"You don't get to be careless," he murmured, metal hand tracing the side of your thigh. "Not when you belong to me."

You gasped, hips arching into his touch. "Then show me."

He growled- actually growled- and then dropped to his knees at the edge of the bed. "Legs up."

You obeyed instantly, spreading for him.

He didn't hesitate- he leaned in, tongue flicking slowly through your folds, groaning when he tasted you. One of his hands pinned your hips, the older sliding up to spread you wider.

"Oh, fuck- Bucky," you moaned, hand fisting in his hair.

He worked you slowly at first- long, deep licks, sucking gently on your clit until you were trembling. But when you started to squirm, when your thighs started to close around his head- he got mean.

He slid two fingers inside you and crooked them just right. His tongue didn't stop moving. He kept going until you were writhing, breathless, mouth open in a silent scream as you came hard around his fingers.

He didn't let up. He licked you through it, humming like he could get drunk off the taste of your alone.

When you finally came down, you were panting, flushed, wrecked.

He stood and kissed you- deep and filthy- letting you taste yourself on his lips.

"Still mad?" You asked breathlessly.

"I haven't even started."

~~~~~

He stripped down fast- ripping off his shirt, his pants, everything. Your eyes trailed down his chest, his arms, the glint of metal and scars. But it was the look in his eyes that stole your remaining breath.

Dark. Desperate. Dangerous.

"You're mine," he said again, voice like gravel. "Say it."

"I'm yours."

He dragged the head of his cock through your folds, teasing you with slow rolls of his hips. You were still slick, still fluttering from your previous orgasm.

"Beg."

"Bucky-"

He nudged the tip inside. Your breath hitched.

"Beg for it, doll."

You shuddered. "Please. I want you. I need you."

That was enough.

He slammed into you with one thrust- deep and full, making you cry out. You clutched at his shoulders as he set a brutal pace, hips slapping against yours, the sound obscene in what was once a quiet room.

You wrapped your legs around him, pulling him deeper, tighter, closer.

He kissed you- sloppy, desperate, teeth grazing your lips. HIs hand found your throat, not squeezing, just holding- just claiming.

"You feel too good," he groaned. "Like you were made for me."

You gasped, nails digging into his back. "Harder," you whispered.

He obeyed.

He fucked you like he was punishing you- for the mission, for scaring him, for making him feel anything at all. And you took it, crying out with every thrust, drunk on the way he filled you.

And when you started to clench again, your walls fluttering around him, he lost it.

"Come for me," he said, voice guttural. "I wanna feel you lose it."

You did- with a cry that tore from your throat, back arching, body shaking as you came around him.

And he followed- burying himself deep, groaning your name as he spilled inside you.

~~~~~

Then you lay together, sweat-slick and breathing hard.

You traced lazy circles on his chest. "Still mad?"

He looked down at you, lips twitching into a betraying half-smile. "Always."

"Good," you whispered. "Means you care."

He turned on his side and kissed you slowly, sweetly. Letting the softness he'd been holding back all night finally rise to the surface. "I care more than I know what to do with," he said against your lips.

You smiled, curling into him. "Then we'll figure it out."

He held you close, like you were the only thing anchoring him to the world.

And for the first time in a long time, he let himself believe he might deserve it.

[seyaryminamoto]

My latest completed commission may have been a bit ambitious... because I went wild with it. But I certainly relished in doing so :') Combining my favorite ship with my favorite-ever Disney movie is, uh... a dangerous concoction :'D

The commissioner specifically requested for Azula as Mulan, Sokka as Shang, and Xin Long (my OC dragon from Gladiator) as Mushu. The rest of the cast was up to me to choose, and I pretty much went wild rewatching this movie and picking out some of my favorite moments to recreate them in my style, with these characters. I came up with a lot of correlating characters between both ATLA and 1998's Mulan, but I couldn't hope to draw EVERYTHING, unfortunately. Still, if you want my reasoning for the cast correlation... check out the Read More! Beyond that, feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to commission me, or if you want to join my Patreon!

The Herbalist as Mulan's grandmother might feel arbitrary but she honestly felt like the ATLA elderly lady with the most similar personality to Grandma Fa. Fickle, with a unique connection with a seemingly perfectly ordinary animal, old and sassy? Figured it fit! So for once, the Herbalist is Azula's grandma! xD strange notion, I know, Azulon/Herbalist is not a ship I ever thought I'd accidentally put out in the world but there have been wilder ships than that in this fandom...

Momo became Cri-Kee, I wasn't 100% sold on it but when I considered that Avatar features soooo many hybrid animals... I figured he could be a hybrid cricket-lemur. Weird, I know, but eh? Better than nothing xD

Aang as Chien-Po was a no-brainer. He's the only character I settled on instantly, never even considered anyone else for the role. Their personalities line up really well, and Chien-Po's tendency to be OP and resolve things that are outside of other people's reach sounded like he was prime Avatar material! So, while their dietary preferences are an obvious difference between them, I decided to go for it nonetheless considering all their other similarities!

Kino (another Gladiator OC) is Ling, and he actually did give me a ton of trouble to choose. I considered many characters for the role right up until I realized that Kino's personality actually lines up fairly well with Ling's, down to being a class clown type (who ABSOLUTELY would have cut gym class!) and breaking out in song about the hypothetical woman he'd like to fight for? Yeeeeah that's right up his alley xD but there's another reason why I picked Kino...

... And that is my likely unexpected choice for Yao:

ZUKO.

ZUKO IS YAO.

YES.

I'M NOT EVEN SORRY.

(For the uninitiated, Aang, Zuko and Kino are best friends in Gladiator, very often together, and they make a really good team, so that's the extra reason why Kino became the obvious choice for Ling aside from having really similar personalities, definitely closer personalities than, say, Jet, for instance.)

People have likened Zuko to Shang a LOT since ATLA aired. This is the main reason why I'm even making this huge note! I suspect it's primarily because of the aesthetic, let's be real here, and because he becomes Aang's teacher, but people have exaggerated Zuko's alleged similarities with Shang, or taken them out of proportion, in many ways. I actually remember an AMV ages ago with "Be a Man" and it was Zuko "training the Gaang"?? It... didn't feel right to me. Obviously, someone might rebuff with "well, how does Sokka make MORE sense than that, though?" And believe it or not, I have arguments for that... (when do I not...?)

Not only is this what the commissioner specifically requested (and it obviously lines up with the ship we love!), but let's examine the actual reasons why Sokka as Shang adds up:

Sokka actually had to train a bunch of toddlers who weren't paying any attention to him. You know. Kind of how Shang had to train the unruly soldiers who weren't getting anything right. Sokka has a positive relationship with his dad (Zuko, ofc, does not). Shang also has a positive relationship with his dad! And not only this, but there's a military component to both relationships, specifically with Shang wanting to follow on his father's footsteps and aid him in the war... so much like someone else I know, who jumped at every opportunity to rejoin his father in the war, even wishing to join him as a child until Hakoda tasked him with protecting their Tribe instead (kinda like Shang is tasked with training soldiers rather than joining a battlefield).

And the final cherry-on-top that I'd loooove to hear Zuko fans try to argue against... is sexism :') didn't Sokka get characterized as a sexist guy for four episodes, which made people decide that this was his main character trait even if it went away that quickly? Um, yes, that happened. Shang literally sings the memorable song that's a crazy ode to masculinity, including the rather sexist line of "did they send me daughters when I asked for sons". Shang outright abandons Mulan once they discover that she was a woman all along (while, admittedly, choosing to abandon her rather than KILL HER, which as we saw from Chi-Fu, he was NOT supposed to spare her!)...

So, is this REALLY what Zuko fans, who willfully believe their boy is a feminist king (... why? beats me...) are trying to compare their unproblematic blorbo to? :'D Me? I have no problem linking Sokka with Shang due to Sokka's beginnings and due to the fact that both Shang and Sokka have similar growth when it comes to accepting femininity is as valid as masculinity, and as they both learn to respect women as fighters and potential heroes! (I simply do not believe Sokka's ENTIRE tenure in ATLA was about that, though, and that's what I continue to clash with the fandom over...) So... all this is why I've reasoned that Sokka is a VERY solid choice for Shang, in fact, better than Zuko could hope to be.

... but this isn't all.

Maybe some might accept my arguments for Sokka-Shang. And then, they might ask:

WHY ZUKO AS YAO, THO??

... And the truth is it took me long to see it, myself, but HOLY SHIT, DOES IT FIT!

What is the primary thing we remember about Yao in Mulan? This guy is constantly itching for a fight, to prove himself, surely riddled with insecurities that he exteriorizes through overcompensation of masculinity. He's funny as fuck, but he's taking himself 100% seriously as a manly man all the time, and he's always ready for violence. But there's one more thing...

He treats Mulan as his RIVAL.

And more often than not? SHE SCREWS HIM OVER. Intentionally or not.

What does that sound like? Why, yes, it sounds a LOT like Azula and Zuko's sibling relationship!

The fact that Yao is a temperamental dude who lashes out easily at things (oh, something he has in common with Zuko!), that he specifically resents Mulan (in this case, Azula, just as Zuko does!) and is either constantly looking to defeat her and prove his superiority over her (... wait, just as Zuko with Azula??), that he has a black eye perpetually across the movie, and it's his LEFT EYE (just as Zuko's scar is on his left eye! :'D), that he's friends with a pacifist he has basically nothing in common with, personality-wise (just like Zuko and Aang!), and that he pretty much has a REDEMPTION ARC in which he goes from a bitter, asshole rival to Mulan to treating her as a friend and ally, to the point where he was disappointed to leave her behind and THEN joined her at once when she says she has a plan? :') I have always been critical of Zuko's redemption arc, goes without saying. But if ANY of these characters redeemed himself in any significant way, it certainly seems to be Yao to me, and with people gushing NON-STOP about Zuko's redemption? Why, he ought to be the character who goes from bitter rival to loyal friend, right?

So. I'm not even sorry. Zuko is Yao. And I'd dare say that he should be flattered by the comparison, even, because Yao ends up being cool as FUCK!

I don't really talk about this much nowadays, but Mulan was my favorite Disney movie growing up, it ABSOLUTELY had a formative influence on me as a little girl, and Mulan was my favorite female character for a looooong time. Thus, any excuse to rewatch this movie makes me happy as heck. With the wisdom of age I know, of course, that it's not perfect, it's not what China wants, it's not the most thoughtful depiction of Chinese culture or the most faithful adaptation of Mulan's poem (... but I'd also dare bring up that the 2009 Chinese adaptation ISN'T all that faithful either...), but it has a kind of magic in it, a solid storytelling flow, so many memorable moments one after the next, that I could hardly choose which scenes to depict... Disney has never again seen the storytelling heights it reached with Mulan in 1998. I don't even care if that's a controversial opinion in any way... this is their best animated feature for me, and nobody can change my mind.

So... depicting Azula, my beloved, in all these scenarios as this character I adored and idolized as a child, was so damn fulfilling for me. While some might think that, personality-wise, these two ladies don't have much in common, the fact that Mulan is sent to a matchmaker who basically tells her she looks good but is going to be the worst wife ever...? Our girl Azula, with all those insecurities about being unloveable and a monster, probably would relate big time to that.

Mulan is also an INTELLIGENT soldier rather than a brawny one, which is how she starts to make progress in the army, it's how she manages to overcome the huns with that avalanche... and Azula's primary difference with most other antagonists in ATLA is that she's smart as fuck. She is very strong, no doubt, but a LOT of that strength comes from her intelligence, from assessing situations in unique ways, from planning and strategizing. The way Mulan finds the most unexpected solutions that still pay off reminds me a lot of how Azula achieves unexpected feats through rather unorthodox means, capable of taking over a city with basically no bloodshed while her nation has spent 100 years trying and failing to do so through major army incursions and who knows how much senseless violence. Obviously, I'm not saying what Azula did is GOOD and it's kind of dumb that we always have to point that out... I'm merely comparing the magnitude of the feats, and the fact that they both come from ladies who use strategy and intelligence to achieve their goals rather than muscle and physical power.

And while anyone would rage at me for the comparison between Fa Zhou (her dad) and Ozai, the truth is the dynamic between them CAN be compared, if loosely: Mulan literally goes to war to keep her father safe. Azula goes to war under her father's orders. Hell, she makes herself BAIT in the Eclipse to make sure the Gaang won't get to her dad?? While it's very much possible to say that both characters have different personalities and attitudes in life... I'd also bring up that their contexts are evidently completely different. I wouldn't say for certain that Azula, had she been raised outside a Royal Family, would be EXACTLY like Mulan... but they might have more similar traits than one might expect. Ultimately, though... I love them both. And this opportunity to swap their places was pretty much a dream come true!

Alright, that was plenty of rambling xD ultimately, I had a blast doing this commission, as I'm sure is obvious by now. So! If anyone wants to commission me, feel free to check out my prices right here and hit me up if you're interested!

[goquokka00]

Stray Kids on Weed

The Bangchan Strain In which the love of their life smokes the mary jane, and they give it a shot for the first time...

Bangchan | Minho | Changbin | Hyunjin Jisung | Felix | Seungmin | Jeongin

A Few Notes: This is purely just supposed to be funny and a joke. I've also never been high and while I am friends with those who have either tried weed or do weed on the regular, I only know so much. So please just bear with me and have a good laugh, okay? Okay. Love you guys ❤️❤️❤️

I have a very firm belief that Mr. Bangchan over here in the corner's first time ever even dealing with weed is through a joint. He gives me the vibe that if he ever did smoke, it would be from joints, and he'd be good at rolling in general.

He sees you smoking it from time to time, and this time, he wanted to give it a shot. Of course, with any first time smoking, he ends up going into a coughing fit. I mean, you're breathing in smoke, why wouldn't you cough the first time? Hello?

But once the initial high kicks in, I see Bangchan as someone who'd be very giggly. Like, anything and everything is funny to this mother fucker. The picture that has been hanging for forever on your wall that was honestly really beautiful is immediately the funniest thing Bangchan has ever laid his eyes on because, and I quote, "The bear be kronked."

It isn't just the picture. It's watching dance practices, his own music, texts he's had with you in the past, need I say more? And if he found something funny when he was sober, then you bet your ass Bangchan's pissing his pants laughing. One time you had him rewatch the video of Jisung twerking that the younger member had sent out to just the members specifically, and Bangchan was on the floor, struggling to breathe from how hard he was laughing.

I also have this feeling that Bangchan would end up being way more emotional. Since he doesn't really show emotion when he's sober, I feel like more of his emotions would come out when high because you're relaxed, and riding the vibe train to who knows where. But I'm not talking just being more susceptible to his emotions.

I'm talking the stereotypical "Teenage girl is on her period and literally can't control her emotions." Bro will literally hear one sad thing and start bawling, only to giggle a few minutes later because he thought he sounded funny and saw you laughing at him crying.

And don't even get me started on the stripping issue.

I have this gut feeling that Bangchan would find clothes...uncomfortable...when high. They're clinging to his skin, tickling his arms, his jeans just feel weird, or his sweats are too hot. And so he'd just take them off, right then and there. And I mean everything.

If you're not there to watch him, or if he gets into the mary-ja-mooch when you're not there, you're gonna end up walking into the living room to see Bangchan ass-naked and laughing at his schlong because of how it's moving.

By the time his high is finally dissipating, you're usually able to get him back onto the couch curled up with a blanket and some water. And once he's sober, you both agree that this strictly stays between you two and that the kids will NEVER find out about his.

Do I think that Chan would go back to smoking? Maybe, probably not? I feel like he'd only do it on occasion, maybe if he's had a really stressful day and needs a break, but I feel like since he always ends up like...y'know...he tends to keep it on the down low.

Hey! Firstly, thank you so much for reading this post, and I really hope you enjoyed! If you did, please like, reblog, or comment so I can see how I'm doing with writing and getting feedback! I hope you have a lovely day! Sleep well, stay in good health, and eat something if you haven't! ❤️❤️❤️

Taglist: @miss-daisy04 @kayleefriedchicken @wolfs-archive @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @wolfs-howling @rose-w-00-d

[mysterystarz]

just keep falling for

pairing: kuroo tetsurou x g!n reader

genre: fluff, best friends to lovers, mutual pining, boatload of an oblivious but perceptive reader, kuroo really doesn’t know how to get the obvious out and reader cannot really tell him they know what he means

notes: rewatching hq and i literally fell in love w everyone again — dedicated to all kuroo fans, not proofread at all

also i haven’t written in so long so my style is all over the place so pls critique me and also my hand slipped

reblogs and opinions are appreciated <3

kuroo was taking an awfully long time in the locker room.

standing in the gym, you watched as the first years helped with deconstructing the volleyball nets for the day. while you offered your help, they politely declined, suggesting you wait to accompany their captain out to advertise their great work.

normally, kuroo was quick. any jokes that happened inside the locker room were quick to reach your ears, and you knew how much he tried to include you in everything.

you leaned against the wall, watching the clock tick for a whole minute before opting to pace around the gym.

little did you know, kuroo was having a meltdown inside the locker room.

“kuroo!” yaku yelled, brandishing his towel. “you need to get a grip. stop freaking out. you’re supposed to be the composed one!”

“seriously kuroo,” kenma agreed, “why are you acting so surprised. it’s not like this is new news.”

“guys,” kuroo began, raking a finger through his hair, “this messes up everything.”

“is this about y/n?” lev asked, finally entering the locker room. “did kuroo finally do something about that crush?”

“enough!” kuroo sighed, sitting down at one of the benches. in the span of the last ten minutes, kuroo had one of the most dramatic realizations of his life.

he liked you.

you, his best friend and his other half. you, who cheered for him at every game and even lended him cool analogies to use in captains speeches. you, who stole his jacket and ran away from him, leaving him to chase you as far as the two of you could run.

he wasn’t sure what had changed. somehow, you’d entered his head, and with every pump of his heart, you sunk deeper and deeper into his bloodstream.

“did you seriously not know?” yaku asked gently, “because if you ask us, it was obvious from the very start. you hold them in such high regard.”

“i didn’t,” he admitted, turning to meet yaku’s eyes. “i didn’t know and now, i don’t know what to do. we’ve been friends for ages….i don’t even think they see me that way.”

“just tell them kuroo,” kenma said, not looking up from his console. “they like you a lot, they’re not going to say no.”

the team voiced their agreement, and began to file out of the locker room at last.

“sorry to keep you waiting,” he smiled, meeting your gaze as he walked out of the locker room.

“no problem,” you said, returning a grin of your own. “was there something going on in there?”

“nahhhhh,” he laughed, “someone was just having a meltdown about how to do a proper confession.”

“confession?” you rose a brow, and kuroo silently cursed himself for letting such a specific detail slip.

for a moment, you were stunned. as you walked, you considered all the possibilities.

you knew lev had been racking up quite the fanbase through his games, and you also knew how yaku was starting to branch out a bit more. if kenma had a prospective partner, you would’ve already heard of it by now.

unless…unless it was kuroo having the meltdown.

you pondered this detail as you walked out of the school doors, holding them open for your lanky best friend.

“hey dork,” you began, “who are you planning on confessing to? it was your meltdown, right?”

kuroo felt his heart drop in his chest. curse you and your quick connections.

“what makes you think the meltdown was mine?”

“because i would’ve known about everyone else,” you smiled confidently. “you would’ve told me.”

kuroo simply looked at you, distracted by your smile and the way it lit up your eyes. if only he could put it into words.

you had a way of making him nervous.

“i’d tell you details if you stopped smiling at me like that. too bright — it’s hurting my eyes.” he teased.

what he didn’t expect was for you to laugh and immediately drop your smile, transitioning to a serious face.

“tell me now,” you huffed, “i deserve to know who’s on your mind these days.”

he sighed.

if there was one thing worse than your uncanny ability to read his mind, it was the lack of that ability to tell that you were the only person he ever thought about.

kuroo got home, resting his bag on the floor of his room and immediately dialing kenma. he picked up in an instant, and kuroo couldn’t help but be thankful for his setter.

“kenma,” he sighed, “this is like one of your games. impossible.”

“let me guess. y/n didn’t catch a hint?”

“they know it’s me” he groaned, “they know i had the meltdown. they know there’s someone in my head. they keep trying to ask me who it is, but i can’t just say ‘it’s you’ can i?”

“being direct is actually a good idea.” kenma suggested, “go retry that level kuroo. maybe you’ll have some luck this time.”

with that, kenma hung up, leaving kuroo frenzied with an emotion that felt a lot like hope.

sitting and staring out the window, you wondered if now was a good time to acknowledge your growing crush on nekoma’s middle blocker.

he was everything you could ever ask for. thoughtful, sweet, laughably charming, and with a nerdy twist that made him a dork and undeniably your other half.

it didn’t help how handsome he’d become over the years either. he’d gotten taller and taller, his eyes golden and his hair endearingly messy. he was solid from all the days spent practicing, and after every embrace, you were left craving more.

as much as you didn’t want to admit your discomfort, the sensation hovered over you like a fog.

the idea of kuroo having feelings for someone else was bittersweet. you adored him — you really did, and his happiness was yours.

but….you couldn’t help but wish that you could both be happy. that he’d see you the way you’d always seen him.

someone to just keep falling for.

the next morning, kuroo came to grab you from your house for the daily walk to school. he’d made an effort to make sure his tie was on incorrectly in the hopes that you’d fix it for him.

you greeted him at the door, breaking into a grin upon seeing his disheveled state.

“come inside,” you sighed, dragging him by the hand into the foyer. he stood patiently as you reached for his tie, straightening out the edges and meticulously smoothing out the wrinkles of his shirt.

“it’s almost like we’re married.” he teased, happy at the flustered expression that shot onto your features. “what? cat got your tongue?”

“shut up tetsu.”

“i don’t want to.” he said, looking into your eyes. he hoped that there was something conveyed in the silent space between you. the tenseness was all but palpable.

“oh.” you whispered, cupping his cheek. “so this is your confession? a messy tie and a lot of cheek.”

“of course,” he smirked, “you’re the only person i’d do that for.”

©mysterystarz all rights reserved, please do not plagiarize, translate, or modify my fics in any way even if credited

[he-is-in-my-pants]

LIQUID COURAGE

pairing: Charlie walker x ftm!reader

word count: 3178

warnings: kissing/making out, underage drinking, reader wears a binder, loooots of talking and thinking about feelings, no mentions of the murders (do with that what you will), Charlie is confused about his sexuality, kinda mentions Kirby x Charlie in the past?, trans angst based on my own experience

authors note: I didn't find anything more creative than a game of spin the bottle, forgive me. also this is my first fic ever, so support is appreciated :)

The kitchen air smelled of stale beer, flat soda and boredom. Outside, everything looked still, frozen in time, in stark contrast to the high pitched scream streaming in from Kirby’s living room, the flickering lights of the gory slasher movie Robbie had insisted the group rewatched, as he did at least three times a year. In an attempt to flee the overwatched dialogues and murders, you had escaped to the dark kitchen, taking as long as possible to grab a soda from the well-stocked fridge. Everybody else seemed absolutely enthralled by the flashing images, Robbie above all and, sadly, Charlie too. You had only come to this “party” (not really a party) as an excuse to spend time with the boy, but you’d barely had a chance to speak to him, he’d already been at Kirby’s side when you’d arrived, and he hadn’t left it at all. Boredom had slowly seeped in, and while trying to sneak glances at Charlie and somewhat look interested at what was going on in the movie, you’d finally sneaked off into the kitchen, after a mumbled excuse about being thirsty.

You leaned against the counter, taking a sip of soda, looking through the darkness at Charlie’s sharp features, at his eyes fixed towards the screen, mesmerized by the blood on-screen. You rubbed your eyes, sighing, wincing as the edge of your binder dug into your ribs. How could you have been so stupid as to hope for his attention when you knew that the boy was pining for Kirby, the blond angel. You couldn’t hate her, she was an absolute sweetheart, one of the first to accept your transition, the first to defend you, the first to invite you anywhere, and specifically tonight, she’d offered to let you stay the night, and offer that you’d graciously accepted, eager to get away from home. You understood Charlie: Kirby was probably one of the best people in this town, and one of your closest friends. 

But you were starting to regret your decision of even coming, you felt completely forgotten and out of place. You finally made your way back to the living room just in time to see Robbie pause the movie near the end to explain a useless detail of the plot, one that he’d already underlined in the past. His remarks were accompanied by a disgruntled chorus of disappointment and a throw pillow chucked at his face by an annoyed Jill. You chuckled softly at the odd scene unfolding in front of you and went to plop down on the far end of the couch, when Kirby spoke up in your direction:

“Cmon, sit here, next to me!”

She scooched over, leaving a gap between her and a panicked-looking Charlie. A million thoughts crossed your mind in that moment, and most of them either included running away or passing out.

“No, don’t worry, I’m fine where I am,” you managed to force out.

“Nuh-uh, as host, I demand you sit next to me,” she joked. Since she didn’t seem to want to let it go, you dragged yourself over and plopped down on the couch, hoping Charlie wouldn’t be too pissed at you sitting between him and his longtime crush. You didn’t even dare look in his direction, and anyway, Robbie was already shushing everyone as he resumed the movie. 

The end of the movie was a blur, you’d seen it so many times that you spent your time curled up on the sofa, refusing to look at Charlie for more than a second at a time, mostly letting your mind wonder as to what could be, but never would.

Charlie was straight, you knew that. You also knew that he liked Kirby. You were gay, everybody knew that. And most importantly, like a blaring neon sign above your head, to your dismay, you were trans. It wasn’t easy feeling accepted, especially in such a small town where everyone knew everyone. You’d lived in Woodsboro forever, people had known you as the little girl grappling for her femininity, dressed in the frilliest dresses, hair falling to her waist. Seeing you grow into a boy, then a young man, was odd to them. It took a while for people to accept your transition, and though you’d found lots of allies and friends, you’d also discovered how horrible certain people could be. In short, it was difficult. You were sick of the comments, the stares, the judgement. You’d rather people just kept ignoring you, it would be softer on everyone that way. 

Charlie was a person who you’d not interacted with enough to know what he thought. In hopes of saving yourself the humiliation, you stayed mostly away from the boy you liked, you pined from afar, and he never made a step in your direction, no matter how hard you hoped. Tonight was a last resort, and clearly, it wouldn’t amount to much.

You snapped out of your rêverie as the final credits began to roll, and you felt Kirby stir beside you. Robbie seemed ready to immediately play another movie, but Kirby stopped him easily with a single glare. She stood up, turned on some soft lights, and spoke loud, overtop the other conversations.

“Let's play some games. This doesn't feel like a party.” She stared pointedly at Robbie, who was too busy rifling through her movie collection to notice. The blond grabbed an empty bottle from a nearby table and waved it around. Jill turned to face her.

“Spin the bottle? What are we, thirteen?”

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun.”

Everyone seemed to agree with Kirby, except you, but you didn’t dare speak up. Instead, you slipped away to seek refuge in the kitchen again. As you walked past the girl, she seemed to want to say something, but a pleading look from you convinced her to stay quiet. She followed away from the others, into the kitchen.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine… party games aren’t really my thing, sorry,” you mumble back.

“Are you sure? It’ll be fun, I promise. Plus, it’s just us, you know everyone here.”

You glanced beyond her, at Charlie, who was sitting on the floor, talking with Robbie.

“It’s more for your sake… I don’t think many people are eager to kiss me.”

“So what? No one here wants to makeout with Robbie and he’s still playing.”

“Yeah but he has an obnoxious ego.”

She giggled.

“True, but still. I think you should play.”

“I don’t think I have the guts for that, Kirby.”

“I have a remedy for that.”

She walked to the fridge and came back brandishing a bottle of beer, looking exceedingly proud of herself.

“Your solution is beer?”

“Liquid courage.”

You smiled against your will. Her good mood was infectious, bleeding out onto your skin and into your heart.

“You’re trying to get me drunk.”

“Maybe.” She smiled childishly. “Alright, yeah, I am. But can you blame me? You’re a very fun drunk.”

“Kirby, I-”

“Oh shush, you’re sleeping over, right?”

“I guess.”

“Then drink.” She practically shoved the bottle in your hands. “Cmon, you’ll have fun.”

Reluctantly, you took a sip of beer and followed Kirby back into the living room, where everyone was sitting in a circle.

“Jesus, this looks like a cult,” you mumbled. In the corner of your eye, you caught Charlie smiling at your comment, and you felt your heart swell. You plopped down on the floor, between Kirby and Olivia, directly across from the boy, and took another sip of beer. It wasn’t hard liquor, but you were drinking on an empty stomach, and you were tired, so you could already feel a fuzzy warmth spreading through your body. 

Still, you crossed your fingers that the bottle didn’t land on you, you’d rather not be involved than see the look of disgust on Charlie’s someone’s face. The game took off, but you were too deep in thought, slowly growing tipsier, to notice much of what was happening. Suddenly, you heard someone call your name. Panicked, you looked up, thinking the bottle was pointing at you, but it was the second worse thing that could happen: it was your turn. There was a tense silence in the room and as you looked around at the hesitant faces, you mumbled:

“I should just skip my turn.”

A few faces relaxed, but Kirby frowned. She handed you the bottle.

“Cmon Y/N, it’s fine, just spin.”

You took the bottle from her hands and placed it in front of you. You glanced at Charlie, who seemed to be interested in everything but you, and with a deep breath, you spun the bottle. It seemed to go on forever, and you were growing dizzy from how hard you were staring at it, as if willing it to explode. It started to slow down, and you wished you could disappear. It stopped spinning, pointing straight ahead of you. You couldn’t even get yourself to look up, you didn’t want to see his face. But you had to. 

You glanced at Charlie, and he looked absolutely bewildered. You saw him looking at Kirby, looking panicked, and you catch her shrugging. You opened your mouth to talk, but the alcohol made you slow, and someone beat you to it.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

It’s Trevor. Grade A asshole, you thought to yourself. But he was right. You nodded and mumbled an agreement. Charlie stayed quiet for a moment, then finally spoke up, directly at you.

“No, it’s fine. It’s just a game.”

And the world seemed to crash down around you.

“What?” Your tone betrayed your shock. He shrugged.

“I said I’d do it. Wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t. Everyone else played, it’s only fair.”

You nodded slowly; and Kirby gently pushed you to get up. You had a feeling she knew about your crush on the long-haired boy, even though you never mentioned it, and you silently thanked her for encouraging you to play. You slowly walked towards Charlie, staring at your feet, willing for time to stop and to go faster at the same time. You stopped in front of him, and you could feel everyone staring at you. You took a deep breath, and through the slight beer-induced haze, you leaned towards him. You were terrified. You were scared he’d regret, pull back, but no. He met you halfway, and you swore you heard someone gasp. His lips were dry, they tasted of soda and chapstick, they moved hesitantly, slowly. You felt his hand brush your waist softly, right before you pulled back, and you were sure you felt him chase your lips before straightening up and looking away. You bowed your head to hide your profuse blush and headed back to your spot next to Kirby, who was smiling excessively.

The game went on in a blur, neither you nor Charlie being called on again. Eventually, people started to break off and the game died down. You excused yourself and rushed upstairs. It was much quieter there, and you stepped into the guest bedroom you used when you spent the night at Kirby’s. Slumping on the bed, you took a minute to collect yourself.

Holy fuck.

Holy. Fuck. You could still taste Charlie on your lips, you could still feel him somehow. The kiss had lasted a fraction of a second, or a million years, you couldn’t tell. You looked at your reflection in the mirror in front of you, it felt like you were looking at another person. No physical differences, but something changed. It scared you how much one kiss with Charlie, in such an unserious context, had impacted you. The moment was replaying over and over again in your head. You couldn’t face him after that, you really couldn’t. You considered staying in here for a while, but you knew Kirby or another one of the girls would come get you eventually. So, after making sure that you looked presentable, you headed for the bedroom door, but as it swung open, you jumped when you saw someone standing there. Your heart rate tripled when you realised that it was Charlie. He seemed just as startled as you.

“Oh, hey… everything okay?” you managed to ask.

“Yeah, Kirby sent me to get you. She said she needed help with something.” You noticed he looked shy, a faint blush coloring his pale skin.

“I’ll be right there.”

He nodded and started to walk away, but stopped when he heard your voice.

“I’m sorry about earlier”

“What for?” He looked at you quizzically. 

“The um… the game? The kiss,” you blurted out.

“You don’t need to apologize for that-”

“I know, it was just a game, but still, I’m sorry you were in that position-”

“Y/N.”

“What?”

“I wanted it to happen. I liked it.”

The words vanished from your mouth, and you stared at Charlie, bewildered. You could feel your face go red.

“I’m sorry, what?” you finally managed to ask.

“I said I liked it.”

“And before that?”

“I was… was hoping for it.”

Nothing seemed to make sense. You ran a hand through your hair.

“You don’t need to say anything,” he said, “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

He started to walk away, and you wanted to say something, you really did, but you couldn’t get any words out, nothing coherent. You saw him disappear down the stairs, and cursed yourself for being so slow.

What had even happened? It must’ve been a hallucination, right? A sick image conjured up by your hazy, lovesick mind, to taunt you. There was absolutely no way Charlie had just said that he’d liked, that he’d wanted it. You rushed down the stairs, back down to everyone, scanning the faces. You found Kirby before finding the boy: she was all smiles and excitement. She rushed to see you, and you took a few steps in her direction.

“He’s outside, if you’re looking for him.”

Both of you knew who she was talking about.

“You knew?!”

“Of course I knew.” You stared at her, shocked.

“What? How?”

“I’m the only one who knows Y/N, don’t worry… I think even Charlie himself was confused.”

Things made even less sense now. 

“I think you should go talk to him.”

“Fuck no… I can’t face him.”

“Sure you can. You have to.”

She seemed set on pushing you towards him, but you were too frazzled to do anything, let alone in Charlie’s general direction.

“Oh cmon, he’s just as nervous as you are yknow? It would be cute if I wasn’t getting frustrated at the fact that neither one of you wants to make a move. You have to do something.”

“I’ll fuck it up”

“You won’t.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“You’re overestimating my skills Kirby.” She grabbed your forearm, gently pulling you towards the back door. You kept trying to free yourself, to convince her to let you go, but it was no use. The door was right in front of you.

“Kirby-”

“Y/N. He likes you. I know, he’s talked my ear off about it. You like him, obviously. What could go wrong?”

“So much could go wrong.”

“Nothing will, I’m sure.”

And with that she opened the door for you. With a last pleading look, you stepped outside. The porch seemed empty, but Charlie appeared from around a corner. He looked like an angel in the moonlight, pale skin, piercing eyes, hair almost glowing silver.

“Hey,” he mumbled.

“Hi”

Neither of you seemed to know what to say. A laugh tumbled from his lips, and you relaxed a little.

“Fuck um…” You looked away, the back at him. “I had no idea.”

“I wasn’t sure either. I just… felt something, I guess, but I didn’t really know what it was. I didn’t know I liked… boys.”

He’d called you a boy. It was stupid, but it meant everything. You could feel butterflies fluttering in your chest, between your ribs.

“What about Kirby?” you asked, still wondering about his alleged crush on your friend. He frowned.

“What about her?”

“Everyone seems to think that you like her.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, looking at you.

“I did. In the past.”

“Oh.”

“But we wouldn’t work. We’ve both established that.”

He looked away and started pacing, walking along the lines of the wooden porch.

“But we stayed friends. She’s the only person I told about… you”

“Oh wow.”

“I know.” He looked at you again. “She helped me figure things out.”

“I guess I have her to thank, huh.”

“I guess so.”

The air smelled sweet outside, vividly fresh in your throat and lungs, slowly bringing you out of the lethargic state you were in. You’d lost your beer at some point, but you’d drunk enough to be enjoyably tipsy and giddy, especially out here, alone with Charlie. You found yourself unable to hold his gaze without feeling your cheeks flush, so you let your gaze wander along the treeline, or towards the illuminated windows.

“Sorry,” you felt yourself mumble, “I’m not good at this shit, I’m making it awkward.”

The boy frowned, leaning against the banister.

“You’re not, don’t worry.”

“And sorry if the kiss was bad,” you added.

“It wasn’t.”

“And sorry for apologizing so much.”

He laughed softly at that.

“You’re forgiven.” Then, “So… that kiss.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I could do it better if you give me another chance.”

“I’d give you as many chances as you need”

And with that, his hands were firmly on your waist and his lips pressed against yours. He still tasted of chapstick, but something stronger tainted his lips, something inebriating and velvety, some of Kirby’s liquid courage probably. The kiss was messy and uncertain, but desperate. Both of you had waited and imagined and wished for too long to not enjoy this moment. You finally pulled back, breathing heavily, fire of the alcohol smeared on your lips, his grip tight on your abdomen, your arms resting on his shoulders.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much… but there’s room for improvement. Try again,” you answered, smiling slightly. He didn’t hesitate, pressing you against the banister, joining your lips again. Your lips dropped open, and you could feel him in your mouth, you could taste him, warm and heady. A soft sound escaped you, loud in the quiet of the garden, and you felt him smile. His hips were pressed against yours, and you grabbed his face to have something to hold on to, and in that moment, you could feel everything with such glaring reality that it all made sense, for once.

When, a while later, you both walked back inside with messy hair and swollen lips, pupils blown wide and giddy smiles on your flushed faces, not a single person could question what had happened outside. It all felt like a dream, but for once, it was real, his hand was in yours, hidden underneath the table, and nothing felt so bad anymore.

[detectivejay]

I finished watching The Residence on Thursday (rushing to beat a Netflix pause I set up lol) and I absolutely loved it. It had me riveted from beginning to end, and felt like such a love letter to the detective murder mystery genre, while also refreshing a lot of the building blocks used in such stories. This probably isn’t a very coherent review to follow, and I'm sure it could use a lot of editing, but here’s some of my scattered thoughts and opinions.

Spoilers ahead for the entire show:

Cordelia Cupp is so much of what I wanted to see in a female detective. She gets to be kind yet blunt, eccentric, determined, difficult at times, with her own very specific process, and yet also aware enough to tell when people are discounting her for many of those very same traits they’d more readily accept in a man. She points out the gender imbalance in the room immediately when she meets with the investigative officials and I wanted to applaud. Not to mention the unspoken racial disparity in the room–the three most sympathetic and effective investigative officials are her, Edwin and Dokes and that’s no mistake. It was a much-needed commentary on these disparities in detective stories, investigative teams, law enforcement and more, and was echoed in the disparity between the staff that work in the Residence and the politicians and members of the First Family that they work for during their time there.

Cordelia’s interest and love of birding plays into her methods, which was another element of her character I really enjoyed. She has a life outside her detective work, a passion that informs her professional work. She uses birding journals as detective journals as well, drawing everything, taking notes, jotting down ideas, sketching maps in perhaps the most relatable form of detective work I’ve ever seen portrayed. It’s not all up in some mind palace, abstract and somehow perfectly recalled. While she has an incredible memory for details, she’s also working things out on the page, recording names, sketching her impressions and observations to revisit later. This felt much more real and relatable to me and I enjoyed her all the more for it.

The fact that she goes into the summation without having 100% confirmed or decided on who she believes is the killer is incredible. She employs again her technique of the hawk, circling and waiting to see who will reveal a weakness that gives her further insight. Lilly was one of my top suspects from around the middle of the show’s run all the way to the end, but I was still second guessing myself, not wanting it to be Jasmine, surprised if it was Elliot, deeply saddened and refusing to believe if it was Elysie or Bruce, disappointed if it was all just some hijinks by Tripp (and some of it was, but thankfully not all. If this was all just some bungled accidental manslaughter by him, it would have been way less satisfying.) Lilly’s attempts to still spin the story and evade and throw others under the bus only made you root for her defeat as the villain even more. All along there were hints she was the outlier who hated the house and didn’t respect the people in it, but still you questioned whether she was smart enough, capable enough. I can’t wait to rewatch later on when I’ve forgotten some of the details and see how that foreshadowing hits a second time around.

The White House itself was an excellent and creative setting for a murder mystery, like a big house straight out of Clue, but also very real. It’s both a familiar setting to us and yet a foreign and mysterious one with all the portions of the home that are closed to the public. I have no idea if all the trick doors and closets and stairways are real, but I believed they could be in such a place with such a long and winding history. All the staff felt real and human and I grew to care for so many of them, just like AB did, even with their quirks and difficulties and flaws. Being from the DC area myself, I was delighted to see a mystery set in a city I know and yet still surprise me with new details like the lights on 16th street in the White House windows. So many stories are afraid to be set in DC and have to contend with politics, and yet The Residence handles this so elegantly by creating their own fictional politicians, with whom they can still deliver insightful commentary without having to be beholden to current events to the letter. When most murder mystery shows in the present day are set in New York or London, setting The Residence in DC, somewhere only this particular mystery in this particular house with these particular characters could happen, gave the show such distinct character and contextual nuance and they really used that setting to the fullest here.

I think the only place I was left wanting slightly more was the ending, the denouement, but then again, I always want more at that point, and that’s also a good sign. A sign I didn’t want to leave this story world, that I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to these characters yet. I wanted a promise that Cordelia, Edwin and Dokes would work together again, that maybe Edwin would become Cordelia’s Watson or protege. I didn’t mind the visit with Nan Cox (who had previously turned on a Sherlock Holmes movie or show, yes girl, cooped up in her room with mystery shows?), but when Cordelia goes to stand in the Game Room after, I wished we maybe saw the young boy who spotted the red light getting his White House tour behind her, just one more little nod to close out that story thread.

Other stray thoughts? WHAT WAS UP WITH THE CALLIGRAPHER? Did the poor man have carpal tunnel? Was he so tired of seating and guest changes that he just decided to write illegibly to make the place cards pass for just about anyone? Did he hurt his dominant hand and have to switch suddenly to his other? It was such a funny gag but that was one detail that never played into the mystery at large, and so maybe it was just meant to be a red herring, another nod to mystery conventions, defying the idea that everything has to play into the larger mystery. But when pretty much all of the other small details did, I wanted this one to also, even if in a very minor way. That’s just how compelling most of those details were.

I did find Tripp being responsible for the dragging of the body and cutting of AB’s wrists and the blood in 301 to feel like a little bit of a letdown, but I think after 8 episodes of build up, you want everything to be masterminded and significant perhaps, just like with the Third Man, and yet the real answer ends up being much more human, wacky and unintentional. Maybe a lesson for me in that, and the logic did hold up, so I can’t complain too much. They even managed to give that guy a little bit of pathos, as insufferable as he was normally, with how he cleaned up his act to go to the State Dinner in memory of his mom and her Australian heritage. But he’d been the screw up for too long and his brother refused. Just with that short bit of backstory, he became more than just a clown, well done.

The gingerbread house part still makes me sad. More of people being nice to AB please, that man’s job was so hard and so thankless so often.

Was anyone else picking up maybe a vibe between Cordelia and the tree/forestry lady? It may have just been hi I respect an expert on this topic I know less about, similar to her respect for Anne Dodge the medical examiner, but I dunno, I was getting some sapphic vibes heey. Cordelia is some flavor of queer, but who’s to say what, and I love that for her. If she did date the forestry lady, they’d be an incredible natural expedition team with their knowledge of birds and plants. Benoit Blanc has a cute baker husband, maybe it might be nice for Cordelia to have a partner too, if she wishes. If not, she has a very full life. She was adorable as an auntie with her nephew, being open and honest in talking to him about herself, her personality, her way of thinking, why she does what she does, her relationship with her sister/his mom, and more. Her nephew was also precious, being willing to meet her where she was at, ask questions without much judgment (even if his mom had some feelings on the matter lol), and try to learn from and relate to his aunt. More of them birding together please, they’re very cute and wholesome.

I enjoyed the framing device of the Senate hearing, and appreciated the storytelling options it gave to the mystery, while also giving this mystery a distinct character and acknowledging the setting it was taking place in. Of course a murder in the White House is going to undergo more scrutiny. Of course people will try to use it as a platform to push their political agendas. But by the end, the two lead Senators were just as invested as we were. And I always enjoy when stories play with how we’re given information, whether in the moment, or with someone telling us in hindsight, as they were in the hearings. How the whole Third Man part played out, how Cordelia was able to quit and try to get away from it all, only to end up watching the hearings because Edwin reached out. The fact that Cordelia quit at all, because they wanted to wrap the whole matter up with a bow on their timetable, or Dokes, whom she respected deeply, would be the one penalized for it.

Having to solve the mystery on a timetable that pleased the political factions and law enforcement agencies and others added a different element of urgency and challenge to the case unlike others I’ve seen before. I also enjoyed the whole discussion of a “nemesis bird” versus a “nemesis case”, a concept that I’ve seen before in detective fiction, that case that always sticks with them, but never have heard it described so well, in such a fresh way. The analogies to Cordelia’s birding continue to strengthen the story and its themes and what might have seemed like some irrelevant hobby for characterization, something many of the other characters dismiss early on as some weird quirk and nothing more, is actually highly relevant to the entire story and her process as a whole.

I have no real effective way of wrapping all my rambling up, except to say please watch The Residence on Netflix. If you want to see a queer, likely neurodivergent woman of color getting to be every bit the eccentric, brilliant, human, captivating detective that you so often get to see men like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Shawn Spencer, Adrian Monk, Benoit Blanc and so on get to be on our screens, then please watch. Even if you somehow don’t care about that, still watch. It’s an excellently crafted mystery that pays homage to the genre (I love the episode titles, the shoutouts to Holmes, Marple, Agatha Christie in general, and Blanc) while also refreshing some of its elements, and it works. It really works. It’s funny, smart, and engaging with very human characters, in a very unique setting, with a well-crafted payoff. What more could you ask of a mystery? I hope she gets a new season every few years, just as much as I always wish for more Benoit Blanc movies.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Elisabeth: das Musical (1992) [Elisabeth: the Musical]

Ayyyyyyyyy its been several months but Im BACK BABEY!!! Im not gonna be back for long though because Im not unemployed yet so I dont have the time to watch movies and write reviews about them all the time, but I do have the time to sit down every once in a while and write a little bit of this. which has been taking me several months now

Anyway, if you thought I wouldnt use this project as an excuse to rewatch my favorite musical, you would be very wrong >:)

Now, since this is my favorite musical you would probably think that writing a review would be easy, but because Ive basically been thinking about it nonstop for a few months, its caused me to have this giant buildup of thoughts, its kind of like theres a clogged faucet in my brain right now, to the point where I struggle to properly articulate any of them, especially if Im not being prompted somehow. Like it goes beyond vampire-autism at this point, its not enough to just invite me to talk about Elisabeth, you need to ask me specific questions (on that note, my askbox is always open <3)

So yeah, Im not going to go into a lot of detail but to make up for that, I will be talking about all different productions Ive seen so far in the order that I watched them in (all proshots because Im unfortunately very picky when it comes to my musical-recordings looking and sounding good lol)

The Vienna Production(s)

Thats referring to the original 1992 version, the 1998 version and the 2005 revival.

oughhhhhhh its so good, they really put everything into this one: beautiful songs, strong artistic direction, incredible social commentary, a portrayal of death that serves mad cunt, gay sex etc etc

My first experience with this musical went as follows: my mother bought me the 2001 Essen cd and just kinda put it (and a few other musical cds that dont matter) in my room while I wasnt there without telling me, because we were arguing and our relationship was pretty bad at the time, and it took me a while to listen to it, in part because I was mad at her and wanted to spite her (?) but also I didnt look at the cd cover very closely and for the longest time I thought it was about one of the british Elizabeths and I was like "tch. i dont care about some british queen, im not listening to that". And then one day I actually looked at it and saw that it was a Sissi-musical, which, I also didnt care about her at the time so that didnt really pique my interest either. A few days later I decided to look at the back of the cd cover which had all the song titles, and then I just kinda did that again every few days until I finally took the little booklet with the lyrics out of the case, read through them, and then at last listened to the songs. I do not know why I was doing like, regency-era courting rituals with this random cd, I have never done this before or since, but I did it this one time. And I really liked it so I would listen to it atleast once every day, usually in the mornings because I always wake up at 5am and I needed something to kill time before I had to leave at 7 lol

Theres only 16 songs on this cd and I think they do a decent job at 'summarizing' the story, but I could tell I was missing a lot (although I thought it was just dialogue at the time), and I was really curious about that but I didnt even try to find a proshot or a bootleg or look further into it because I didnt think I was going to find it because I thought it was super obscure because its. german. Idk, does anyone else kindof instinctually assume that every piece of media from your native country is some obscure bullshit that no one cares about (including other people from your native country) or is that just me? Whatever, despite me not looking further into it, I did eventually get the 2005 proshot recommended to me on youtube which is great, i love that google knows my every move and I love that I cant do anything about it. But for some reason I still needed that push to get me to actually watch it, and that push came in the form of a Diana: The Musical review. I watched it and then I read some of the comments and then I left my very own, very long comment where I compared it to Elisabeth: das Musical. Since I obviously hadnt seen either musical in full it was honestly probably pretty incoherent, but my main point was that it looks like Diana couldve really used some satire and social commentary elements similar to the ones present in Elisabeth, which I knew were there because the cd had Milch and Kitsch. Those songs are actually one of the things that I initially found very intriguing because they seemed so out of place among most of the other songs that are these very emotional and earnest ballads and duets, like Wie Du, Ich gehör nur mir, Elisabeth mach auf mein Engel, Ich will dir nur sagen, and Boote in der Nacht are more or less what I would expect from a Sissi-musical, and then Der letzte Tanz is more or less what I would expect from a Sissi-musical where death is a love interest, but Kitsch especially was such a wildcard in there.

Anyway, after I wrote that comment under the Diana: The Musical review, it occurred to me that I should probably watch Elisabeth: das Musical before I start writing needlessly long analyses in random comments sections. And then I thought to myself "oh! since these are both musicals about generally beloved royal women, it would be interesting if I watched both of them for the first time back to back and then maybe made a video essay comparing them" I decided to watch Diana first because what little I heard of the songs in that review sounded pretty bad so I wanted to get that out of the way first, and it was indeed bad, but I was still sure that there was enough there to make a video essay about, especially if Im comparing it to something else. And then I watched Elisabeth and it was so good that I was like "you know, I dont think i want to compare this to that other piece of shit" so I didnt write the video essay I wanted to write originally and started on something that was just about Elisabeth das Musical, which I also didnt end up writing because I usually have a low attentionspan and I struggle with writing alot, thats a big part of why these posts take me so long, along with the fact that I have a job now thats been sucking all the time and energy out of me like a cruel vampire

So yeah, the 2005 proshot was my first time properly experiencing this musical and I do think its a good introduction because things are explained a bit more and it feels like more of a cohesive story compared to the original one which feels more loose with less connective tissue; like, you can tell this musical was made the assumption that the aufience already knew about Elisabeth as a historical figure to some extent, which is fair enough but I missed out on three years of highschool history so I knew literally nothing, like Rudolf's suicide was a huge surprise to me. And it spared me the disappointment of watching the full musical for the first time without getting to hear my second favorite song, Wenn ich tanzen will. That being said, I do vastly prefer the 1992 version simply because the cast is the definition of perfection. I have yet to see or hear an actor that managed to do a better with Lucheni than Ethan Freeman, and ohhhhh you shouldve seen how insane I was about Uwe Kröger's Tod after I first watched that proshot

Of course I also loved Pia Douwes, Andreas Bieber and Else Ludwig but I just feel a little less strongly about them because I think they usually do a pretty good job casting Elisabeth, Rudolf and Sophie, whereas I feel like they struggle to cast actors for Lucheni and Tod that manage to live up to the original cast even a little. Its definitely less bad with Lucheni, the main issue I have with most of his actors besides Ethan Freeman is that none of them ever even try to do an italian accent (probably because they cant do a good one which is good, no accent is definitely better than a bad one in this case, but still) so all the italian bits of dialogue sound really unnatural imo. But with Tod its like, straightup i dont even know what on earth theyre trying to do most of the time, but it very rarely works for me.

Now, the eagle-eyed of you will have noticed that ive talked about the 1992 proshot and the 2005 proshot but not the 1998 proshot, even though I mentioned it at the very start of this section. Thats because i FUCKING HATE IT!!!!! No just kidding, its mostly the same as the 1992 production except it has the longer version of Nichts, nichts, gar nichts and the cast is a bit worse. Its actually kind of impressive because thinking back on it, I feel like literally every actor was just the slightly worse knockoff version, with the exception of Maya Harkvoort as Elisabeth. And thats not to say that theyre bad, I just like them less than the original cast and I dont think they make any interesting acting choices to make up for it. And then theres the guy who played der Tod, whose name I am not looking up because Im about to get mean and I'll feel less bad about that if I dont use his actual name. He just sounds so bad. Hes like Uwe Kröger from an alternate universe where he cant sing. And to be fair, Im pretty sure this is the same guy as the one who played Tod on the 1996 cd and hes literally unbearable on that one, so he has improved quite a bit, but it just wasnt enough.

I remember a while ago when all my Elisabeth-mutuals reblogged this gifset of 1998!Tod and I dont remember if I only liked it or if I reblogged it as well but whatever I did, I did it with gritted teeth because I had recently watched that proshot and hated his performance. Everyone was going #woa mama hes serving cunt and in my head I was just like "yeah, but hes not serving a good performance thoughhhhhhhh". Also, he literally looks and has a lot of the same mannerisms as uwe!Tod, I'd be gravely disappointed if he didnt serve cunt

So yeah, its not like, awful or anything but I think the 1998 proshot is really only worth watching if you wanna see Maya Harkvoort as Elisabeth but in a pre-2001-changes production

The 1999 Schevening Production

Now THIS is an awful Elisabeth production! I hated this fucker so much I didnt even bother rewatching it for this post. Fortunately I did write a little review of it immediately after watching it, so if you care about my fresh 1999 Schevening Production Thoughts, feel free to scrawl through the bog that is my blog to find it

The first (and pretty much only) thing that you need to know about this one is that they cut all of the political songs. So theres no Hass, no Jedem gibt er das Seine, no Milch im pretty sure, and definitely no Die Schatten werden länger Reprise. Honestly I might be missing a cut song or two here because they somehow managed to shave a whole half an hour off this thing. I would be impressed by how they managed to do that without rendering the story completely incomprehensible if I wasnt so busy being angry at the way they just completely gutted this musical. I dont even understand why they did it, the musical is SO MUCH obviously worse for it! Like, okay, I could kinda get it if they had just cut Hass since thats obviously the most uncomfortable song (i would think less of them for it, but I would get it, the takarazuka version does it too) but them cutting the other political songs is just baffling to me because its like. bro. its politics from the 1800s, how is that upsetting or discomforting nowadays?

Whatever, lets talk about some other stuff. The cast was mostly not remarkable enough for me to remember ~1 year later. Pia Douwes is here as Elisabeth and shes very good as always, thats kindof it. This version of Der Tod is the most aggressive and overtly antagonistic Ive seen, which was kinda interesting in the sense that Death is usually personified as a straightfoward villain and vienna!Tod was kind of a subversion of that and a little more complex and now this production is basically subverting the subversion, but I untimately wasnt all that into it

I remember initially quite enjoying the sets and overall style of this production, Im pretty sure in my original review I said something along the lines of "I like the symbolism and abstractness of the original production, but its neat seeing a more literal take on it" and now Im just like. chuckles nervously, Okay guys, its been fun, can we go back to the symbolism. please.

So yeah, I really dont think this one is worth watching unless youre a hardcore Pia-stan or youre just really committed to watching every version of Elisabeth: das Musical you can get your hands on, like meeeeee <3

The 2004 Budapest Production

This is a really good one! I actually rewatched it for this post and I was excited to do so. I dont have too much to say about it though, in terms of story its fairly similar to the Vienna productions except that it has Kein Kommen ohne Gehen and the conspiracy song and der Tod has a bit more of a romantic vibe. Actually, i think a better way of describing it is, its like the takarazuka production but un-takarazukafied, which might not make that much sense if you havent seen both of these especially considering I havent talked about the takarazuka production yet. But what I mean is, both of these productions focus a lot more on the hungarian revolution-side of things and make it into more of a proper subplot, and the way they do it is mostly structurally the same (as in, new scenes/songs are inserted at mostly the same points in the narrative) but takarazuka version is a lot more glitzy and overdramatic where this production is a lot more grounded. I dont really prefer one over the other because the approaches are so different that I feel like they cant really be compared. I do like that they do that overall and I really like the conspiracy song for drawing additional parallels between Rudolf and Elisabeth, even though I know its not historically accurate, although I will say that it feels a little bit off in this production which otherwise does seem to be going for historical accuracy. Like, it doesnt bother me at all in the takarazuka production just because i feel like that one takes so many liberties that it doesn't really stick out, but even here, its not the biggest deal to me

Anyway, other stuff. The stage feels weirdly small, but I really like the sets, they lean a bit more towards being literal rather than symbolic but they do some really cool stuff with them, I especially like the way they'll spin essentially the whole set sometimes, it makes for some very interesting and dynamic staging. The performances were great, obviously Szabó P Szilveszter as der Tod was amazing, he has such a beautiful and powerful voice, and I also loved Janza Kata as Elisabeth. I feel like she played it a bit angrier than Im used to, like you can really feel her her frustration at the world around her even early on during Wie Du, and its so good. mwah

This production is the first one that Ive ever liked Franz Joseph in even a little. With him Im usually like "goddddd he sucks so much, i literally cant believe they got married" from the very start, but with this guy I was like "oh..... hes kinda cute, I get what Elisabeth sees in him" during So wie man plant und denkt and Nichts ist schwer. And I was initially worried that I only thought that because they didnt give him that historically acurrate haircut that the Vienna productions give that looks really bad and stupid, however I have since seen the takarazuka productions where they also give him a better haircut, and out of all the performers Ive seen Ive only liked two, so. yay! Im not shallow as fuck! Although I will reiterate that that era was truly a dark age for men's hair, I have such a viscerally negative reaction to most of those styles. And ugh, dont even get me started on the facial hair...... So yeah, while the haircut is not my only reason for liking him so much, it does help quite a bit

I will say, I noticed quite a few lyrics that I didnt really like. Or rather, because I dont speak hungarian so i dont actually know what the lyrics are and have to go off the subtitles and other translations, I dont like the sentiment behind them regardless of whether the lyrics sound good when you can properly understand them, if that makes sense. Like, the last line of Kein Kommen ohne Gehen was something like "You will be my queen of the night forever" and I just dont like that idea fundamentally, like my opinion of what this line is communicating wouldnt change if it was communicating it in a different way. But there werent too many lines that bothered me like that and most of them are not particularly (negatively) memorable, they just made me frown a lil as I was watching and then I basically immediately forgot about them.

So yeah, its really good and I'd definitely recommend watching it if you havent already

The Takarazuka Production(s)

That's referring to. all of them. I have seen all the normal proshots from 1996 to 2018, all the concert proshots and I have seen a few of the shinjinkoen ones as well (not all or even a lot of them bc theyre very hard to find unfortunately). Fortunately, theyre fundamentally all the same, the only big change that they ever made was adding Wenn ich tanzen will in 2002, and they change the costumes sometimes but thats it, so I dont have to get into every single individual production. Atleast not right now, I might at least compare the different Tod-performances because there are some striking differences, but that would be for a different post

I went on a bit of a journey watching all these different proshots, the first one I saw was the 1996 Star one and I absolutely loved it, then I watched a few more and I started noticing some issues which caused me to start disliking it, but then I watched some more and came around to liking it again. Its like, I have all these criticisms and complaints but I dont really think about those as Im watching it, Im just kinda along for the ride and having a good time and then when Im like, on a walk and I randomly start thinking about Elisabeth: Ai to Shi no Rondo I go "man, theres a bunch of shit here that sucks"

So yeah, lets talk about the shit that sucks, from Bothers Me Most to Bothers Me Least

It feels like they tried to make der Tod the protagonist instead of Elisabeth by giving him more stagetime and also giving him like three reprises of Ai to Shi No Rondo, effectively replacing the Ich gehör nur mir melody as the most important one, which I dislike on principle, but it also just plain doesnt work. Like, theyre trying to make this guy a protagonist with a rich inner world but first of all, hes supposed to be a personification of aspects of Elisabeth's (and Rudolf's) inner world and second of all, even as a more straightforward and human-seeming romantic character, his whole appeal is that you cant really know his inner world because hes mysterious like that and ultimately nonhuman, so all you can get out of him here is shallow little songs about his feelings for Elisabeth that are really bland and boring. Also, him singing about his love for Elisabeth so many times (and at such inappropriate moments like directly after she considered killing herself and at her sons funeral) makes him seem unbearably pathetic, but that actually doesnt bother me that much because I think its very funny

This version is definitely a lot more sanitized with there being no Hass, Kitsch and Kitsch Reprise being heavily altered to be less poignant, the bigger focus on Tod's romantic nature and Elisabeth's rougher edges being sanded down. The colorful costumes and sets also just make it feel like more of a silly fun time which contributes to the sanitized-ness imo. In a way, its kinda like the Scheveningen prod except this one went about its sanitization with surgical precision, where that one just started senselessly chopping off limbs

This version is very sillygoofy, thats the best word for it. This is my last complaint because if you catch me in the right mood this isnt even a complaint, this is just an aspect of the show that I think is fun and that I like a lot, but if you catch me in a different mood then boy will I complain. I dont really know how to properly explain this one in a concise way to someone who hasnt seen it. Instead of that little scene of some hungarians gossiping about little Sophie after Stationen einer Ehe, we get a scene of some hungarians being upset at the austrian empire and planning to stage a protest next time Elisabeth and Franz Joseph come to do some kind of assembly (? i guess) and then the assembly happens and they do the protest and the imperial guards shoot up into the air to intimidate them into stopping and then Franz Joseph turns to Elisabeth like "cmon, we gotta leave" but shes like "no wait" and she takes of her cloak (shes been wearing a cloak that hides her whole body basically this entire time btw), revealing her dress which is hungarian flag-colored and then she says "Éljen, Hungary!" and the crowd goes wild!!!

That scene is the sillygoofiest thing that happens in this production, nothing tops it, all the other sillygoofy bits are more subdued in their sillygoofiness, but still, I feel like its a good scene to use as an example of this show's sillygoofiness. Also, whenever I think about scenes in this show that are sillygoofy I always think of the scenes that are part of the whole hungarian revolution-subplot. Theyre actually not that tonally different from any of the other parts of this show, like obviously they would be absolutely hilarious if you just inserted them into the original austrian production or the hungarian production as they are, but they dont stick out within the takarazuka production itself, yknow what I mean? They've made enough subtle changes to the original material that the things that they added (which would otherwise seem incongruous with that material) dont immediately stick out.

All of this to say, I think the people who have tried to adapt this musical into the 'takarazuka style' have done an excellent job at it, but I could definitely see people who are fans of Elisabeth das Musical not really enjoying it because of that, unless theyre like me, and can be momentarily distracted from its flaws by virtue of featuring a bunch of beautiful women singing beautifully for 2 and a half hours. But if that sounds good to you, I would 100% recommend it because its a fun and very well-made time. I dont have a specific proshot that I would recommend over the others, but I will say that I have a huge soft spot for the 1996 Star one because its the first one i saw and I absolutely adore Asaji Saki's Tod, and for the 2009 Moon one because thats the one I spent a bunch of time making german subtitles for to show my parents

Okay, before I move on to talking about the next production, I just have one more thing to say, or rather ask: why are the takarazuka and hungarian productions so similar? They both premiered in the year 1996 (and there was no pre-takarazuka japanese prod to my knowledge) so it seems impossible to me for one to have taken from the other, and from what I can tell, the changes that are specific to both of these productions and that dont really appear in any others (except for the toho production but we'll get to that) have existed in both of them from the start, so like, how did that happen, what overlap was there between their creative teams because there must have been something or else they wouldnt have turned out so similar? So yeah, if anyone reading this knows more about the behind the scenes history of these productions, please tell me about it, Im very curious

The 2016 Toho Production (White Cast)

Its kinda funny going from the Takarazuka section where I had seen literally as many of them as I could physically get my hands on, to this one where Im just like "yeah, Ive just seen the one that Im pretty sure is the most popular one, its atleast the one I see people post gifs of the most". To be fair, I think theyve only released 6 or 7 proshots even though theyve been putting it on since 2001, god knows why

Whatever, this production is really good and I like it a lot. The songs are overwhelmingly the same as they were in the takarazuka production, although theyve made some changes to the ones that were the most different to make them more like they were originally. Thats honestly a good way of describing this production as a whole; if the Budapest one felt like the takarazuka one but completely un-takarazukafied, this one was like, 50% un-takarazukafied. I was really debating with myself what percentage I would say there, because while the changes are for the most part subtle and the overall sillygoofiness remains intact for the most part, they did keep Kitsch the same and they kept Hass the same which was honestly shocking to me, I was kind of expecting them to censor it somehow or atleast tone it down or something, which is why I was actually looking at the screen during this version for once (Hass usually gives me horrible intrusive thoughts and I usually watch musicals on my tv so I cant just skip ahead, so if Im watching it and its a language I dont speak I just look away for a bit, and if Im watching it in german I'll just leave the room for a bit) but uh. they dont, and not only that but they put a gigantic swastika flag on the stage that takes up basically the entire screen and just gives me the worst intrusive thoughts. And honestly, even though this caused my brain to torment me for like two weeks, Im glad they did it because Hass really isnt a song you should try to censor or downplay, you either do it or you just dont even try. Anyway, my point here is, because that alone was SO un-takarazukalike, I was originally going to say that this production was 80% un-takarazukafied, but then I thought about it some more and I was like "well yes, but then they also added that bit to that already-sillygoofy scene where Elisabeth reveals that her dress is hungary-colored to the crowd where Batthany tried to assassinate her at Tod's behest, so. i gotta lower that percentage I think" and thats how I ended up with that number

Anyway, time to talk about some stuff that isnt the tone and how it compares to other productions. I really liked the sets, theyre leaning more towards being symbolic, although I will say that the symbolism felt a bit more simplistic compared to the Vienna productions. Still, how can i deny the sheer effect of just having like half of the stage taken up by three gigantic coffins? I feel like there are so many scenes that were kindof elevated for me because I was just like "ohhhh theyre singing about this thing while standing on this gigantic coffin and it symbolises that death is all around them and the monarchy is built on death and theyre in the midst of this dying era". One example of this is in the Jedem gibt er das Seine scene, they do it exactly like you would expect, they dont do a carousel-thing like the Vienna production, but they put Franz Joseph and his desk and his whole entourage on those coffins and then the mother comes in below them on the stage, and its just so good, I dont know what to say

I dont have too much to say about the cast, it was pretty good all around, the only thing that I can remember rn is that I thought Hanafusa Mari as Elisabeth was a bit off. Specifically whenever she had to be sad, I just never quite bought it, but I did like her whenever she was happy or glad or during Wenn ich tanzen will when she was all spiteful, and obviously her voice was absolutely beautiful. Shirota Yu as der Tod was also great, he plays it like a real freak, he actually reminded me a lot of Matè Kamaras except I like this guy more because I feel like hes not constantly hissing and growling

So yeah, it's a good production that I would definitely recommend checking out if you can

The 2009 Antwerpen Production

I never thought I'd see a version of Elisabeth: das Musical that I would consider to be basically completely uninteresting, but those freaks over in belgium somehow managed to make it

But before I get into that, I want to tell you something about my experience watching this one (and also the Scheveningen one). So, the only languages I can speak and understand fluently are german and english, so I need subtitles in order to understand all of the non-austrian productions. However, I couldnt immediately find subtitles for the Scheveningen prod and I didnt even really try to look for them that hard because I thought "eh, it doesnt matter, i know this musical inside and out and I'll probably be able to atleast kindof of understand the lyrics without subtitles anyway" because in my head I just kinda think of german and dutch as being very similar because germany and the netherlands are geographically close, even though they really arent, so I ended up watching it just not understanding the vast majority of the words. But again, I know this musical very well so it really didnt matter, although I was a bit disappointed because I was expecting to have an interesting experience listening to this musical in a language that I can somewhat understand but that is also clearly not a language that I can actually speak, do you know what I mean? Anyway, smash cut to like a year later and Im on vk.ru looking for musical proshots to download and I stumble upon this one. Because antwerpen sounds kinda german to me I assume its a german-language proshot I hadnt heard of before so I dont look for subtitles and I just watch it as is, and Im very surprised when it is not in fact german. But I feel like I can kinda understand it, so I just keep watching and I end up having that I expected to have with the dutch proshot with this one which I think is flemish (?). I'm not sure, I dont recognize this language and when I looked it up to see if anyone online knew what it was, all I got was someone on reddit being like "idk, its probably flemish" so

Anyway, back to the actual review part of this whole thing. Why do I find this to be the most uninteresting version of this musical? In a lot of ways, its basically just the 2005 Vienna production except flatter; a lot of the physical sets have been replaced by screens, the performances are all good albeit pretty unremarkable otherwise, the few times they deviate from the Vienna production are fine but also unremarkable to the point that I dont feel like going into detail about them, and the costumes felt worse somehow? Like, theyre not trying to have any kind of symbolism, theyre just historical clothes, which, to be fair, none of the non-Vienna productions that Ive seen so far really try that hard for symbolism with the costumes, I think the reason it stuck out to me here is that its otherwise so similar to the Vienna ones. They dont have a mayerling dress which is immensely disappointing for the same reason, and also now that Ive written that out, Im fully realizing for the first time that literally no production other than the Vienna ones has it and Im getting pretty upset. sighhhhh. when will men-crossdressing enjoyers win

Moving on, while I find the cast mostly unremarkable, I do have a little bit to say about them. I really enjoyed the pathetic wet cat vibes that Jan Schepens brought to Lucheni, especially in the prologue where he has that very brief interaction with Tod, although I will say that I dont like how they made him so unaware of the main plot of the musical. Like, during his little narration bit before Jedem gibt er das Seine he has a newspaper and he has to read it in order to remember that its 1854, I know they do this in some Vienna prods as well and I hate it every time. Because the whole point is, hes just been stuck in this endless loop of retelling this whole story since he died 1898 so by the time youre watching this musical in 2009 or 1992 or whenever, he knows it in and out, thats why he seems so goddamn tired in the 1992 version!!! But other than that hes fine 👍

The other person I have something to say about is der Tod, although its not relly about his performance. His performance is like. in the nicest way possible, the reason i would say hes not literally the worst in terms of singing or cuntserving is that 1998Vienna!Tod and Scheveningen!Tod respectively exist. But while I was watching I was really distracted because I keept thinking "this guy looks so familiar but Im 100% sure Ive never seen him before, he just looks like someone else i know, but who is it that he reminds me of" and then when i got to Mama wo bist du, I realized: he looks so much like one of the guys who played Sebastian in some of the black butler musicals, or atleast my memory of what that guy looks like. And I felt kind of embarassed because I was like "ohhhhhhhh ive enjoyed the concept of Young Boy And Fucked Up Non-Human Have A Relationship Which Is Oddly Soft While Also Being Nothing But Red Flags for way longer than I realized huh" And also, OF COURSE i noticed the similarity in that exact scene, good god

Whatever, theres only one last thing that bothers me and that I wanted to talk about and its Wenn ich tanzen will. I dont like how Tod grabs Elisabeth and manouvers her around like that, which, the choreography here is the same as in the 2005 Vienna production, but I didnt fully realize just how much it bothered me until watching this one so Im talking about it here. I was originally going to do a whole analysis about how I dont think it fits the song very well and thats the reason I dont like it, but upon thinking about it, I think it works well enough. Yknow the contrast between Elisabeth being so defiant and refusing to give into him even though its clear that she knows hes right about all the stuff hes saying and her compromising physical position, and also how it lays bare that der Tod has no real power because hes ultimately a manifestation of her wants, thats all pretty good tbh

No, the reason I dont like this choreography for Wenn ich tanzen will is that its sexual in a way that I dont appreciate because the woman is in the submissive position. Its like. okay so, you know those dark romance/romantasy books about a 17-20 year old girl falling for a ~500 year old guy with overpowered shadow magic and having a bunch of sex with him that are really popular right now and also really popular to make fun of? Well, I used to really like hanging out in the making-fun-of spaces until I realized that people were getting really puratanitical about what people are 'allowed' to write and the extent to which authors are 'responsible' for imparting 'good messages' to their 'impressionable audience' which, these books are not usually categorized as YA, theyre pretty clearly aimed at women who are 18 and up and even if they are, teenagers are not that impressionable but Im not getting into that rn which bothered me, not just because I fundamentally dont agree with that, but also because my issue with them is not that theyre presenting relationship dynamics that are problematic in the sense that the age gap is too big or the power gap is too big or that theyre abusive or whatever, but that theyre presenting relationship dynamics that are problematic in the sense that theyre extremely sexist

And like, to an extend this is just an issue with mainstream romance books as a whole which is why I dont really read them, and Im not saying that anyone who enjoys them is sexist or bad, its just that it personally discomforts me to the point of killing my enjoyment in things like large age gaps or crazy power dynamics, which, for the record, I do genuinely really enjoy! I just dont like it when its like "oh the virginal teeny tiny girl whos barely legal gets with the biggest most bigdicked most powerful ancient MALE to ever exist and whos lowkey highkey abusive", but if a book like that came out where the genders were reversed and it was a cute barely legal ingenue boy and an ancient powerful evil woman, I would not only not have an issue with that, I would find it extremely hot. or if it was gay in some capacity which, books that are exactly like typical romantasy books but gay probably do exist, but I dont really see people discuss them as much, so. My point here is, the typical romance/romantasy relationship dynamic just feels like a model of the patriarchy except its two people instead of like, all of society, and I dont like that and I feel similarly about this Wenn ich tanzen will choreography. Like, its not quite the same feeling but I have trouble articulating my exact discomfort with it, so Im comparing it to a different kind of discomfort that I have with something else that I am capable of articulating.

So yeah, its a fine enough Elisabeth production. watch it if you want, dont watch it if you dont want

Aaaaaaaand thats it. I know Im still missing a couple of korean proshots that I havent seen yet because I havent been able to find subtitles for them, so if theres any korean-speakers in the audience who would be willing to make and share them, I would appreciate it. If no one wants to share them, there is a website called lyricstranslate where people can submit translations of any song into any language, and the korean lyrics are on there so if Im really lucky, someone has translated all of them into a language i know and i can make my own subtitles with those. But Im still working on making a subtitle file for the 2004 Budapest proshot (the version thats available with subtitles on the internet archive is hardsubbed and I'd like the option of having softsubs), so thatll have to wait. I also downloaded a video of the 2001 Essen production, I dont know if thats a proshot or a complete bootleg but I'll watch that one eventually too and if I can muster up the motivation, maybe I'll even write reviews for those as well

Anyway, how many of these have you seen and what did you think of them? Please tell me in excruciating detail, I love reading other peoples Elisabeth-thoughts

[whateverisbeautiful]

Are u going to do a Richonne in Retrospect for TOWL? How do you feel about the show breaking up the friendship with Michonne and Maggie? How do you think Richonne would react to Daryl leaving to find them? What do you think about a TWD season 12?

Thanks for these questions! I hadn’t thought about doing Richonne in Retrospect for TOWL. I’m really looking forward to rewatching TOWL when it comes to Nextflix next month tho and since it’s been a minute since my last rewatch I know watching it again will stir up even more thoughts and observations than the hundreds I’ve already had. Depending on what additional thoughts come to me I know I probably won’t be able to resist putting it in writing and sharing it here. 😊 Wrote out my response to the rest of the questions below ⬇️💗:

How do you feel about the show breaking up the friendship with Michonne and Maggie?

When it comes to Michonne and Maggie, I think it was definitely sad to see the sour note that ended on because they did seem to have a sweet friendship at one point. They could have been a real support system to each other as they navigated raising sons who both (at the time) weren’t getting to have their fathers in their lives.

However, when some of us say that team family sorta stopped feeling like family at some point, I think Maggie is an example of that as someone who still loved the group but definitely branched off into other territories. Which is fine, it’s just sad thatshe didn’t even want to inform Michonne about her going off to establish community elsewhere and that their friendship remained fractured.

I stand by thinking that Maggie had every right to feel hurt that Rick made the executive decision to spare Negan. Where Maggie loses me tho, is in how she went about navigating her hurt by going behind Rick and Michonne’s back. If Maggie had stayed post-Rick’s departure, I’d be curious how Michonne and Maggie would or wouldn’t reconcile their friendship after everything that went down.

How do you think Richonne would react to Daryl leaving to find them?

I might be wrong but I think I saw some people clarify that Daryl hadn’t left at the end of TWD with the primary goal of looking for Rick and Michonne but instead was on some mission from Maggie? And during his travels, he told Judith he’ll be on the lookout for her parents as well? I only saw the series finale once and none of the other spin-offs so I really don’t know the specifics with that. But either way, I believe Daryl was hoping to potentially locate them while he was out and I think Rick and Michonne would appreciate that Daryl wanted to find them.

I think if he’s been gone for a lot longer than expected, they’d worry about him and they’d want him to come back home. But Rick and Michonne would know that they need to stay home with their kids and they’d probably trust that Carol will be successful in finding him. Maybe someone can fill me in - when Carol reunites with Daryl in their show do they at all imply that she knows Rick and Michonne are back home? 

What do you think about a TWD season 12?

I wouldn't be crazy about a TWD Season 12. I would watch for Rick and Michonne but I personally think it would be a better idea to wrap everything up with a TOWL Season 2 instead. And I don’t just think that cuz I'm biased about Richonne even tho I am biased about Richonne. 😋

I think TWD already has such a reputation as neverending and a lot of people are weary about this franchise not knowing when to hang it up. A Season 12 will attract the most loyal in their fanbase but would likely be viewed negatively overall. Especially if they just repeat some of the bad habits new TWD developed.

But if they did a TOWL Season 2 where they maybe make it 8-10 eps instead of 6 and they keep Rick and Michonne the main characters at the forefront while including familiar faces from the TWD cast, that could have a more successful result imo. Rather than feel like a stale continuation, TOWL was a refreshing improvement and promoting a season 2 that incorporates important TWD characters could feel more fresh and exciting than stale and drawn out.

As talented as the TWD ensemble is and has been since the start, Rick Grimes is the franchise’s ultimate protagonist and so ensuring that the season is still built around him and Michonne will keep the story focused and grounded. That'd be key - TOWL season 2 still should be Rick and Michonne's and the cast shouldn’t be bloated with a hodgepodge of characters and storylines. I know expanding and continuing the TWDU has become the network’s priority so I doubt that they’d want to wrap everything up or even be able to wrap everything up in a TOWL season 2 now that timelines and locations are so widespread. But in my mind that'd be a good way to close out the franchise. Let Rick and Michonne band with their family to take on one last major threat (a threat that should feel unique and not just a rehashing of former big bads) and save the world one last time.

If they can do that in a way that includes tight compelling storytelling from beginning to end, I’d want that. Especially just to be able to know for certain that this story is officially closed and the actors can get their flowers for playing roles that saw a confirmed beginning, middle, and end (and end doesn’t mean death, I gotta just make sure I put that out there lol. Cuz I only want Rick and Michonne to return if they get to both live long lives). But if not, then TOWL Season One’s final note is great as is. 👌🏽

[suicidal-vampyre]

How I feel about Angel, after finishing Buffy and feeling incomplete.

I have been told by many in person and online that Angel is not nearly as good as Buffy. I started Buffy many years ago when I was a young adult but fell off and lost interest. I begun rewatching it as a show to fall asleep to but then got so invested in the plot (and maybe got spooked by some episodes, even in the early seasons with the weak 1990s/2000s effects) that I would stay up to watch the episodes.

Then I fell in love with Spike. Obviously he was (and still is, even in his age) a gorgeous being, with a bone structure either graced by the gods or gifted from substances. But I truly realized my weakness for his character after Dru left him the first time and he returned to Sunny Dale, drunk and broken. There is a scene early on that comes to mind of him driving into the town, past the “Welcome to Sunnydale” sign, and opening the car door where bottles and cans clinked out. Instantly I knew I was obsessed.

His character development was everything and even that one scene where Spike hurt Buffy in a way he had not ever before (you know the one) made me love him even more, seeing such a raw side of the character,.

Side note ; I have seen TikTok notes and comments that James Marsters was curled up in a ball crying after that scene and that it took many takes, I understand that acting is a unique job in which people are pushed outside their comfort zones but to me that is a clear sign that things have gone too far. I do not know how true this is because I have not seen any interviews or discussions by Marsters of Gellar regarding this, but I feel like it is something they probably just pushed down and do not discuss.

I am watching Angel for two main reasons, one with a specific point that may be misguided.

The first reason I am watching Angel is because now that I completed Buffy, I am craving more of the Buffy universe and I want to know all the ins and outs. While I recognize there is a movie and comics, the movie is a different cast and I will watch that last, when I feel I have gotten all I can from the characters I know. Also I did not realize I was nearing the end of Buffy when I watched the final episode. I did have the thought many times leading up to the battle wondering what could top this or how things could continue on or be taken to the next level. However, because I was just watching it via Hulu and not clicking per episodes I did not know I was at the end. Essentially I am watching Angel because I am not ready for Buffy to be over.

The second reason is because I need more Spike. Now OBVIOUSLY I know the series is called Angel and is therefore about Angel, however I know there are cameos between the shows primarily because while I was watching Buffy, there was recap in which they showed a scene that had happened between Buffy and Angel in LA. This was around the episode that Oz returned to show Wil he was no longer a werewolf, surprise he was and he left her again. So far there has been one episode (after Buffy sent the ring that rendered a vampire unkillable to Angel) that Spike appeared in Angel. What I am really waiting for is a scene I keep seeing on TikTok and I believe HAS to be within the Angel series because I KNOW i would have remember it and if it happened during Buffy it must have been very early on when I was still sleeping to the show. The episode I am waiting for is where Angel is a puppet and Spike has to fight him. I have seen it on multiple TikTok’s and Reels on my fyp but I cannot imagine how the plot makes it work and so I am trying to be patient and await this particular episode. If it is within the Buffy series and someone has made it this far, please message or comment on this post so I can find it.

The Angel serious falls flat in comparison to Buffy for a multitude of reasons but the following in particular stand out to me. The Angel serious it much too serious, the women in the show are weak and boring, and the concept is basic and feels like a cut and paste of other serious.

Angel as a character is serious, of course, that is how he is written and how everyone constantly observes him. Adjectives of dark and brooding have a connotation to Angel in my mind forever now. That being said, what facilitated the audiences love for the Bangel relationship was the comic relief between their serious moments, without Buffy’s blunt sarcasm, Angels serious comments fall flat and leave the audience bored and easily distracted from the scenes. While his partner Doyle can be goofy, his obsession with Cordelia is the primary focus of his character, swaying what few actually funny comments made to be focused around her rather than around whatever situation they are in.

The women are portrayed as weak. The first three episodes are all about women needing help from Angel. Cordelia is Cordelia, constantly a damsel in distress doing the bare minimum and the one strongish woman in the series ends up being a cop (copaganda of course) and she is Angel’s “inside man” in the police department but REALLY she goes to Angel when she needs help with a case ( where then it seems she hands it over to him ) or when she needs a handsome shoulder to cry on. When you look at how strong the women in Buffy were portrayed, Buffy, the slayer obviously, Dawn, a key to another dimension even as a child, Willow a Wicca powerful beyond her control, eventually reaching nearly goddess abilities, even Buffy’s mother Joyce ( may she rest in peace, that whole section of episodes had me bawling my eyes out and then influenced me to spend some time with my mom, which I hope was the true intention behind that scene. *1 If the director had any other motive (other than deepening the plot to input a twist no one saw coming and/or utilizing pathos for the audience to miss their mothers or encourage them to want to connect with them) it was not only not obvious but would stand to be evidence in the argument of him being a bigot as many fans believe. To concoct such a heartbreaking scene without intentionally wanting to touch the audience would be disgraceful and I would hope no director would take such a path. Joyce was portrayed a headstrong open minded single mother who faced a brain tumor and won, almost. She was one of many strong female characters. Nearly every woman in the Buffy series was given some sort of power and more often than not they were victorious over the men that terrorized or manipulated them. I think I will need to make a post regarding all the Buffy women and what their powers were to hopefully remind us that even in the world were we are losing rights at the hands of our government, we too have power that we may not see.

Finally the private investigator concept is boring and over done. While I am not sure how many shows during this time period were running with this set up, I can think of three immediately that are better done than Angel. I feel like this show could have really succeeded if it went deeper into vampire lore. Maybe having Angel Interact with other vampires and help them find the light. The fight scenes are few and are less impressive with a lack of catchy lines. The show is honestly a fail.

That is my rant regarding Buffy and Angel, hopefully I can make it through the series without too much discern.

*1 I have also seen online about how the director of Buffy actually hates women and is a misogynist bigot. Again, this is something I have no proof of, I have not seen interviews or commentary from actors regarding this perspective. I would like to believe it would be difficult for a man who allegedly hated women so much to write such powerful women characters, good and evil, and weak men that barely make it past supporting roles. While I believe there are some difficult scenes (several with Spike and Buffy, a couple of Willow and Tara, even several lines within the script regarding Dawn) I think it important to remember that it was a different time in Hollywood, where many weird and disgusting things happen still today. There was not a black character in Buffy until the final season. There were many micro agressive borderline racists jokes in the early season, use of the r world, etc. Take time into context and remember that our world is much different than it was even twenty years ago.

[patricia-taxxon]

heya! i just rewatched your sc2020 video…again… and then found out you're on tumblr and, of course, immediately went to look if you've posted anything about sj aswell and found that post from *checks notes* 1.5 months ago - so, i guess what im here to ask is, would you mind elaborating on that?

im unfamiliar with marble blast (im so sorry i do not have the brainpower to watch your essay on that...yet) so the comparison you make is not particularly useful to me :v

also for context, i did contribute to sj, specifically playtesting and programming, so i do have Opinions™ (that im gonna keep to myself due to lack of anon ask (not a bad thing! i understand why you have it off)) and i wonder if those happen to bleed through to the player experience or if your gripes with it are something different entirely.

well, firstly, i have developed such a deep seated hatred of the celeste community that i haven't opened the game in months and i've considered just deleting my spring collab video multiple times, I'm not finishing any more of my maps because I don't want to make anything for these people. so i didn't actually finish SJ, I did everything up to & including the easy half of the grandmaster lobby though, and my take is that even with the few miracles I found within the map list, it would not have inspired a video essay on the level of the spring collab one if I'd played it first. it's just not as interesting, and not as rewarding to study. it represents a horrible misattribution of priorities that permeates the entire community.

in that video, i confidently say that spring collab is ALWAYS interesting, because modding culture is interesting even if it's interesting for being a little bad or revealing something about the author's proclivities. strawberry jam represents a near unanimous drive to remove authorship and make levels that are impartially agreeable, to make Celeste 2. it's only interesting when the mapper does something interesting on purpose, like Paint, Pointless Machines, Undergrowth, Summit Down-Side or Flipside Cliffside. a path of least resistance emerged in the time between SC2020 and Strawberry Jam, and experiencing it in this quantity made me forget what I liked about this game or this modding scene in the first place. the volume of creative gimmicks and varied aesthetics is huge, but each one starts to feel identical after being ground through this particular jank-averse process. I still have strong opinions about every map in SC2020, even the ones that might seem unremarkable, I can only barely begin to quantify the entire fucking C tier of my SJ tierlist. it's diverse on the surface but the substance is homogenous, especially intermediate through expert.

also in my SC2020 video, I talked about a certain tension that arrives once you get to the expert lobby, where the mappers had to create uncommercial levels of difficulty that rubbed against a similar apparent drive to make the player feel like they're actually doing the challenge & not just watching it. strawberry jam arrives at this conflict far earlier, the INTERMEDIATE maps and onwards are the ones that seem to pull between making interesting challenges while also having the player be an agent in those challenges. they want the intermediate levels to feel hard, look cool, and the solution is to just make them ridiculously constrained so the only way is the ~satisfying~ way. that's why I won't make a video about strawberry jam, because many segments in my spring collab video already serve as criticism for strawberry jam. it made the same mistakes again, but worse, and with far less of the things that made me love spring collab in spite of its flaws.

here's my tierlist, if there are any questions i'll try and qualify any of these takes with what i can remember from playing it. however, for reasons stated previously I won't be playing more so this is probably gonna be it.

[lizzyscribbles]

I felt like being emotionally destroyed today, so I watched the dub of episode 151 of MHA. I don't know what it is about Izuku's face when he comes careening out of the sky like a fucking warhead and sees the state of the fight but it gets to me every single time in both languages. He looks positively haunted and it makes me want to cry, my poor son. Anywho, to recover, I decided to go rewatch 136 and 137, which are my favorite episodes of the entire goddamn series and I realized it's high time I do a little rant about them.

This is mostly for me because, again, I don't have anyone to rant about this with and I have got to get these emotions out of me somehow, but I hope someone else finds it enjoyable!

Welcome to Lizzy's MHA Evening Ramble: Why MHA episodes 136 (Deku vs. Class A) and 137 (A Young Woman's Declaration) are what really show us the impact Izuku has had on the people around him (specifically Class 1-A).

Honestly, I don't have much science to back up this post. There's not really a psychological reason behind why these episodes slap, but they do and I'm gonna talk about it.

You see, for better or for worse, everyone in Class-A has a different and unique personality. That much is obvious, I know, but that also means each of them have different things that impact them. Think about it, what means a lot to one person doesn't so much to another.

And yet, despite that, every single one of them had something to say to Deku. Every single one of them. For some of them, it was as simple as helping them organize their notes. For others, it was something he said or did that has followed them through the entire show.

"Meddling where you don't technically have to is the essence of being a hero, right?"

Izuku said that one time to Tenya. One time. But that, accompanied by his actions that night, became the corner stone of what Tenya strove to become.

They all voted to go after Izuku–not even voted, they all just got up and went. No second thoughts, no questions, they just went. They literally slapped a GPS out of Endeavor's hand so they could find him. They were not about to take no for an answer, not even from Izuku himself. It's insane, honestly, that one person managed to impact a group so deeply they'd risk everything to bring him back to their class.

I think a lot of the time, we think of difficult or unhealthy relationships as those where you give and give and give and the other person refuses to the same. No one really tells you what to do when someone you love dearly is giving so much it's hurting them, but they refuse to receive. It's an odd situation, but one I love seeing explored.

Could they have just let him go on his own? Fight by himself because that's what he wanted? Yeah, they totally could've. But they didn't, because they knew if the roles were reversed, Izuku wouldn't have thought twice about hunting them down. They weren't victims, they didn't want to be protected, they wanted to kick ass at his side.

They didn't do it out of heroism or even necessity I'd argue, they did it because that was their friend and they'd be damned if they let him suffer alone.

Still, despite that, Izuku wanted to protect them and he was so, so scared to lose them. It makes sense, in a sad, twisted way, that he would rather keep them locked away behind a wall and fight alone than let them stand at his side. He was haunted by the shit the people around him went through because of Shigaraki and AFO. It's far easier to blame yourself for things than it is to admit that it wasn't your fault and, sometimes, nothing could've done would've changed the outcome. I have no doubt it would've felt like he killed them himself if he went back and something happened, and the thought of that was far more terrifying than any threat to his own person. Of course he wanted to fight alone, he didn't want to fathom the possibility someone else would get hurt because they were around him.

But that wasn't for him to decide.

Sometimes, we forget a relationship goes two ways. It was dangerous for them to be there, sure, but that was a choice they made. A choice they wanted to make. They couldn't make him let them help, but he couldn't make them go away either. I have no doubt that if he got away that day, they'd have followed him to the ends of the earth until he gave in.

It's also easy to forget Izuku is just a kid. He's sixteen, barely in high school. Ochaco says as much when she pleads with the crowds to let him in. Her voice cracks as she begs this group mostly made of ADULTS to let a boy rest inside the walls of his own school. He probably doesn't physically know how to deal with these kinds of emotions yet (the frontal lobe, responsible in part for our emotional reactions to situations, doesn't fully develop until around 25/26, and even then research suggests it's never really fully done). It probably makes perfect sense to him that the best course of action is to be alone, even if it seems stupid to us.

We all need support at any age, but especially during those teenage years. Those are vital years of development as the mind develops and starts to take shape. Izuku has been beaten, traumatized, and terrified, it's no wonder he seems to be making such irrational decisions.

No kid should be carrying the weight of the entire goddamn world on their shoulders at that age and, of course, no one could've predicted that AFO was going to accelerate the process and force Deku to face him, but that doesn't make it any better.

However, that's the great thing about having friends, families, and partners, they come alongside you in those times and help you navigate this crazy new situation. They pick up the things you can't handle because they want to. Sometimes, they just stand next to you. Sometimes you have them lean on you for support. And, sometimes, they shoulder up next to you and carry you for a bit so you can catch your breath.

Because that's what you'd do for them.

Whenever I watch these episodes, I'm reminded of that scene in Lord of the Rings where Frodo thinks he can't go on and Sam says, "I can't carry the ring, but I can carry you!" I think this has similar vibes.

They couldn't carry One for All, but they could carry Izuku, and they were determined to do at least that.

[alessiathepirate]

Ocean's Eleven

CONFIDENCE BOOST: Linus Caldwell x fem!reader

Summary: Rusty left the last advice unfinished, seemingly making Linus both nervous and annoyed. Luckily she's there to help.

Notes: English isn't my first language. I apologize for any mistake I made while I wrote this short story.

After a message reminded me how obsessed I've been with the Ocean's men, I started to rewatch the movies - and it once again gave me some inspiration, ending my writers block. By the time I'm done with the rewatch, hopefully more stories will come :)

Warnings: only a few swear words, but other than that nothing at all

•••

"Where do you put your hands?" both her and Rusty followed Linus' movements with their eyes as he tried to hold the briefcase with both hands. "No good."

She leaned back on the sofa she was sitting on, realizing this won't be a short conversation. She might as well get herself comfortable and watch as Linus learns - it's as entertaining for her as it is annoying and stressful for him. She might as well lean back and enjoy it as long as it's not her turn to move.

"Don't touch your tie. Look at me." Linus did as he was told so. "Okay, I ask you a question 'you have to think of an answer, where do you look?"

Linus looked down. It wasn't the right move.

"No good." Rusty said and for a moment their eyes met - she tilted her head, trying to silently communicate with him like they learned to do so. Don't be that hard on him - her eyes said. "You look down, they know you're lying..." Linus looked up and she smiled - that wasn't right either. "...and up, they know you don't know the truth."

Linus' eyes settled on Rusty once again as he sighed both from the nerves and slight annoyance.

"Don't use seven words when four'll do. Don't shift your weight," Rusty pointed out after Linus did that. "look always at your mark, but don't stare. Be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make him laugh. He's gotta like you and then forget you the moment you left his side." Rusty's expression changed as he continued: "And for God's sake, whatever you do, don't - under any circumstances-"

"Russ!" Livingston's voice came suddenly from the other room, making all three of them look that way.

"Yeah?" Rusty shouted back.

"Can you take a look at this?"

"Sure!" and just like that he got up and left the room, leaving the unfinished sentence hanging.

Linus looked after him, not being able to decide if he should speak up or not and seemingly he couldn't decide what to say if he speaks up either. His mind was full of the instructions Rusty told him, trying to process them in the remaining minutes and then also remember all of them.

"Don't do what?" the question finally came out in a mixture of confusion, stress and annoyance.

Linus finally fully turned to look at her and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, he went through that with me on my first heist as well."

"And how did it go?" he sounded hopeful.

"It was Danny's plan, how do you think it went?" she looked up at him, testing, seeing what he'll say, seeing where his trust lies.

"Good?" it sounded more as a question than an answer.

She chuckled as she stood up, walking up to him, seeing if everything about his clothes are alright.

"Great." she answered as she adjusted his tie, straightening it. "I even got a necklace on the way out."

Finally, through the mixture of emotions what fell on him after Danny was put in a corner, Linus gave her a weak smile. She returned it, doing her best to boost his confidence.

He didn't really have a reason to worry or have fears about failure. He was good at what he was doing. He could pickpocket anyone easily, without anyone noticing. She saw it with her own eyes, she was there with Danny when he recruited him. And that last pull with the wallet was fantastic - unnoticeable even by her.

"You have nothing to worry about, really. You've got this." she put hands on his shoulders and his eyes followed her movements through the glasses he wore. "You were doing just fine without Rusty's speech. He gives it to everyone, believe me. This is your first heist with them, they'll give you a speech and test how good you are."

"Test?" he questioned.

"Yeah. Don't be surprised when they suddenly pop up somewhere when you're supposed to be alone. At least that's what they did with me."

She let go of him and took a step back, looking at him once again - he looked good and not just as a rookie who worked for the Nevada Gaming Commision, but as Linus himself. He looked cute, especially with those glasses and that tie. She got used to the striped shirts and jackets, but this was something new altogether. And he made it work.

"Alright, 'you want my advice?" she asked, hoping that he does.

He nodded - maybe a bit too quickly. The glasses almost fell off, he had to straighten them.

"Just don't stress it. I know you're good, I saw it with my own eyes and believe me, you wouldn't be here if Danny thought you weren't skilled." he was very close to blushing at the compliment and she almost grinned at that. "All Rusty tried to help you with was your acting, but the only thing that matters is for you to stay calm and in character. And your character has to be pitiful, someone Benedict could walk over, someone who's young and forgettable. You can't be smarter than him, funnier than him or even braver than him. 'You understand?"

He nodded - she continued. "You've got this, I believe in you."

That seemed to do the trick - or a trick at least. What she said made him blush, it was noticeable this time around and even his glasses couldn't hide it.

She took a step toward him again to adjust his glasses even if they couldn't have been any straighter. She felt like she needed that excuse to be closer to him than she was and to save that image of Linus in those clothes, blushing the best she could.

"And what shouldn't I do?" he asked after he swallowed.

"Oh, just don't leave without an excuse and don't leave unfinished sentences hang in the air. If it's a joke it's fine, it'd fit the guy you're playing, but otherwise it's a no." she let her arms fall beside her body, but she didn't take a step back this time. "So, 'everything clear now?"

"Yeah, thanks." it wasn't more than a whisper, but she heard it.

"No problem. You can come to me anytime."

The conversation died down after that, but neither of them moved. She took those short moments to really take a good look at him, at his expressions - at every corner of his face, no matter how small. She couldn't find a single mistake there, not a scar, not a wrinkle she wouldn't like. Nothing was there what could've made him worried. She found him flawless - she found him a sweetheart and a very cute one.

"You're a sweetheart, you know?" she said, saying what she thought out loud - as she noticed Saul on the hallway behind Linus, probably on his way out. They don't have much time left. "The others aren't. They're either assholes sometimes for jokes or they get sloppy - but you're neither of those."

"You're not like them either."

"Hell no, I'm much younger thank you very much." she said jokingly, making him chuckle and with that his nervousness disappeared.

"Yeah, that too."

"See? You have nothing to worry about. You're too loveable to run into any sorts of trouble." she explained with a loving smile. "And I'll be around too."

The clock was ticking - Linus should get going and she should get ready, but the conversation was too interesting to leave it hanging.

"Yeah, you'll be the best thing around."

"Better than those millions underground?" she asked with a giggle, saying it as a joke and nothing more, but at his answer it was her turn to blush.

"Definitely."

She swallowed - all the before-heist confidence disappeared from her and she was back on square one, where Linus was.

"We'll talk after, right?"

She tilted her head at the question, finding it cute - it still kept the blush on her face.

"Of course. You can buy me a coffee from those millions if you want to."

And he wanted to. She could see it on his face, in his eyes and that thought made her heart flutter.

"Right, you should get going." her voice was weaker than usual.

"Yeah."

"I believe in you, Linus."

They didn't kiss - it wasn't the right moment and it would've been too soon for that. But she kissed his cheek for good luck - making him blush once more - before he left.

It was quick, but meaningful and she looked him in the eyes as she pulled back. See you after the heist.

Right as she was on her way to her room to put on the dress she needed for her role, her heart almost jumped out of her chest when she saw Rusty on the small hallway. She looked at him for a second, and after his expression told her everything she had to know, she continued to move.

But as she walked past him she said: "You had a bet going, didn't you?"

"Forty bucks said you'd make the first move."

She stopped and turned to look at him, she smiled even if she was annoyed a little. But then again who could've expected them to not gamble when they're about to rob a casino?

"Fifty-fifty, right?"

"No, you'll only get thirty percent. It was way too cheesy to listen to."

She took the money and pocketed it quickly.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"Danny knew since the beginning." Rusty aswered, leaving her as he walked away.

She stood there, trying to figure out what gave it away to Danny before she even realised that she found Linus cute.

"It was the wallet." she whispered to herself, nodding. "Yeah, it was definitely the pull with the wallet."

[perfectfangirl]

notes after rewatching fallout s1 ep1

so once again like a crazy person [i've done this with star wars sequels before] i've decided to take three and half pages of notes over the course of an hour. i've been a fan of the games for at least a decade and i'm actually always watching lore content between the installments though so while i do know some minute details, within the show, there was some things i was interested in and curious about that i just decided to jot down. some of this may be things discussed already and some of it might be something i wasn't sure if anyone brought up before but anyways! maybe i'll do the whole season, but here's my ramblings • them titling the episode "the end" was when i knew i'd love the show • ok but i really wonder if cooper can still do those party tricks? he was really good at them and lucy would probably love them too 🥺 • thinking back, the radio in the first scene mentions not knowing where the president is--- beginning to wonder if he was the guy sitting in on the vault tec meeting • just realized they introduced the mr. handy robot in some of the first scenes • ten years of nuclear threat according to anchor but the show is careful not to give away all the cards because why does the weather anchor make it seem like they know when the bomb will drop? idk but birthday boy mother turns off tv real "head in the sand" like • the nat king cole song that's playing though [wondering if the song is mirroring specifically cooper's feelings about barb despite everything hmm] • horse's name is sugarfoot 🥹 • him having to pay alimony... wonder what the prenup? was like... [still think he probably loves barb 😞]

• them calling him a pinko despite him being an architect of vault boy's persona, a quintessential presentation of a "man's man" acting as a cowboy, a real cowboy, a former marine--- wondering if there was a smear campaign after his situation with barb and vault tec, him working children's parties leads me to believe... • did the kid's say the birthday boy's name was boyd? [if so, there's another character in the games with this name and this is also the name of a character walton has played in another series, funny] • weather man show's up again distressed, wondering if we'll get more info about that day • everyone ignoring, cognitive dissonancing their own nuclear annihilation is so prescient if not disturbing and damning

• him teaching janey the thumb thing ☹️ • cooper's voice when he says "let me see if i can't rustle you up a piece" 😩 • janey being the only one to notice the first bomb • the fear in cooper's eyes • cooper being in denial one last time before realization sets in • people becoming animals the moment they realize what's happening--- one guy punches his friend not letting his family into the fallout shelter • people getting into their cars and cooper onto his horse to escape--- wonder how fast they could be since it doesn't seem you could outrun nuclear annihilation

• lucy being raised so well under the circumstances 😔 [hope she never becomes her father] • i haven't trusted steph since episode one • lucy being a teacher [amongst other things] and asking maximus about what happened after the bombs fell makes so much sense [and also much like another person suggested is an interesting juxtaposition to cooper's pre war knowledge] • lucy showing how skilled she is for being a marriage candidate when in reality we are seeing someone fit for the wasteland is crazy on second watch • is lucy not watching a cooper howard movie with her dad? hello??

• them reading "war and peace" in the family book club is rich • lucy [thinking] she's not good at guns, ironic • steph having to step in like a sisterly type because lucy's mom isn't there 😞 • the wedding dress on lucy being ill fitting, tight as symbolism for lucy not truly "fitting in there" and being constrained [foreshadowing] oof • the vault boy sign in the back saying "don't lose your head" lmao • didn't catch the "cousin stuff" until someone mentioned it on tumblr and twitter 💀

• the flashback we see of lucy ending up being almost a false memory, a misrepresentation of her actual memories, that she has been on the surface, in the sun • norm taunting lucy about her future husband being "anybody" and a "cannibal, crammed full of tumours" 😭 unfortunately for ghoulcy, this was some of the heaviest foreshadowing [the raider also could have been one too] • why didn't hank recognize moldaver? • so many things i still don't understand about vaults 31, 32, 33 • the growing realization they are raiders was pretty funny to me lmao

• moldaver having to sit through the disingenuous lies of hank ugh • norm going into vault 32 like they wanted them to know what was up? or is that just how vault doors work? they used lucy's mom's pip boy [that hank lied about burying] • lucy putting norm in a storage vault, she really is so strong • the handed down wedding dress getting messed up • i am curious if the raiders [shady sands survivors?] only mostly harmed vault tec aligners but maybe not • the way hank and steph retaliating a little too well • hank acting like he doesn't know moldaver when everyone really does know moldaver • moldaver telling lucy she looks like her mother is really such a tipoff

• realizing maximus is getting bullied 😭 • dane... might love maximus a little idk • from latrine duty to basically ruling over the brotherhood of steel • they really showed some dude jacking it lmao it's just normal i guess 💀 • maximus being defeated and having a rightful outburst of emotion, poor guy • the poster saying "the outside world can never harm you"--- funny • chet would've died up there 😭 • them not opening the vault back up for her, wondering if the vapourized bodies are from the initial bomb drop or the subsequent shady sands ones • dane almost gets maximus killed three times tbh • maximus joined the brotherhood of steel to get back at what vault tec did, essentially hank's doing, hank has many enemies • knowing the enclave, it makes sense why siggi is hunted • cooper the ghoul's introduction though • the bounty hunter saying his captors dig cooper up every once in a while to cut pieces of flesh off him 😞 no wonder cooper acts the way he does 😔 he's been taken advantage of, no wonder he doesn't trust anybody and is horrible to everyone • "why is this an amish production of "the count of monte cristo" or the weirdest circle jerk i've ever been invited to?" why would he say this 😭 • cooper's... been invited to circle jerks 👀 • does the bounty hunter know the ghoul is cooper howard?

• him not harming the chicken, him healing dogmeat, there's something there, folks • people only digging him up to use him again 😞 • what a coincidence he's dug up just as lucy leaves the vault • "i do this shit for the love of the game" he's a character, he's playing a character, real theatre kid • hence why cooper is introduced as "the ghoul", cooper is long gone • "us cowpokes, we take it as it comes" something about this lineee

[seventeenlovesthree]

So, as I had pointed out in numerous posts before, the way Daikenyako is framed - or rather Miyakensuke, to keep the correct yearning order -, is pretty damn insane to me.

I still haven't decided whether I find it "too simple" or "just right", because while the framing was incredibly obvious in my opinion, it was still done in a way that didn't feel overbearing. Not only did a big chunk of animation budget go into their scenes specifically, but the dynamics were also played rather consistently.

I had once made a "joke post", implying how the order of yearning basically goes like this: Miyako > Ken > Daisuke > Ramen. And while it was meant to be a joke... Upon rewatching it, it is rather accurate to be honest.

The main theme of these three is usually the following: Daisuke does something brash - like interrupting Miyako, screaming, complaining - OR something inspiring - like giving friendship speeches - and Ken and Miyako react to that in some way. Mostly verbally - but also through physical touch. Miyako and Daisuke have quite a bickering theme going on; Ken is usually softer, but he ALSO has more opportunities to touch Daisuke...

They are literally acting as his "voices of reason", who add to the discussion. In general, Miyako is very responsive to basically everything that Ken says and does, so she is almost always framed next to him - or at least close to him in some capacity. I will outline how Miyaken in particular is framed in another post, just know that she is very obviously and actively trying to reach out to Ken, calming him down, reassuring him, getting his attention.

That becomes even more blatant by the fact that she is getting in between Kensuke moments TWICE - usually to tell them to get their grip together or focus. Technically, this could be seen as her being well aware of how focused Ken is on Daisuke - and that a tiny bit of jealousy may have been involved here. On the other hand, she may just enjoy teasing him/them gently, because, "ya know how the boys are".

Either way, most of the time, whenever the group is together - and Daiken aren't off on their own with Rui -, Daisuke, Ken and Miyako will be together in the same frame 90% of the time.

It's interesting too, because Miyako - while obviously being more thought-driven in comparison to Daisuke's heart-driven actions- uses very similar terms to reach through to Ken. As mentioned, she is actively flirting with Ken through the course of the movie. And Ken, while being mostly oblivious to that - while still being thankful for the reassurance - is trying to reach through to Daisuke on his own behalf. (This is also very nicely framed visually by how much "hand on shoulder" moments there are, with Miyako being very inclined to touch Ken, whereas Ken - as mentioned - is very often seen touching Daisuke.)

Miyako herself notices how Ken had been flirting with Daisuke and acknowledges that by calling them out.

Who does not acknowledge it though? Right, Daisuke doesn't. Either because he simply isn't aware of the blatant flirting - or because he may or may not want to get in between.

I had already lost my mind in the cinema during one of the Miyaken focus moments in which Miyako told Ken that they shall not stop thinking and will find a solution - just to see Daisuke walking out of the frame.

One may argue that this means that Daisuke's true love simply is Ramen - as he keeps bringing it up time and time again -, or that he just wants to give the other two some space, as he may have felt like a third wheel before... Who knows.

To sum it up: I feel like the creators did a very interesting job here. Not only did they acknowledge and portray Kensuke's very ambiguously romantic-platonic relationship, but also committed to making Miyaken more obvious - a ship we know will end up together eventually, but hadn't gotten that much focus previously. Not to mention the blatant use of bisexual lighting here...

On a more light-hearted note: Ken is either caught in a bisexual triangle or we can just assume that this is a very fun depiction of a poly relationship in which all parties allow each other some space - or actively tease each other about it.

[deer0skullz]

Does anyone else feel like Umbrella Academy, What We Do in the Shadows and Our Flag Means Death went down very similar paths or is that just me?

To preface, this is mostly based on how I felt as I watched the shows but also on some of the opinions I picked up from the fandoms.

Also, I’m not going to go back and rewatch all of these shows for the sake of a Tumblr post so I’m working from memory and if you feel like I’ve misremembered any of the plot/ characters let me know.

1. Started as well-received and highly acclaimed live-action fantasy shows with ensemble casts.

Based on my own opinions and what I remember from other fans, UA seasons 1-2 were fairly well received, as were WWDITS seasons 1-3/4 and OFMD season 1.

They’re all definitely different genres of fantasy but I’d say they still all fit under the label. And they obviously all have ensemble casts, with the Hargreeves in UA, the vampires (and Guillermo) in WWDITS and the pirates in OFMD. Even though the plots and characters can be quite different they all have similar vibes.

2. Noted for having open queer representation.

Klaus and Viktor in UA, pretty much the entire main cast of WWDITS, and multiple main characters in OFMD.

3. Tied to already established and respected creators.

UA is based on the comics written by Gerard Way who, of course, is also well known for My Chemical Romance. WWDITS is based on the film by Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi, who are both executive producers of the show. Taika was also involved in OFMD as the actor for Blackbeard and as an executive producer. He has his name tied to many acclaimed films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor Ragnorok and Jojo Rabbit.

These are obviously not the only famous people tied to these projects but it’s just a sample of the talent involved in these shows. I feel like the fact that there was so much talent working on these shows makes my next point more interesting.

4. Experienced drops in quality and/ or introduced problematic elements that caused fans to lose interest or respect.

Again, this is opinion based and if you still liked the shows during these seasons then more power to you.

My overall feeling about all of these shows is that they lost a lot of the joy from their initial season(s) as they went on. Like, they just got significantly less fun to watch. But they also had more specific individual issues that I would like to get into.

I stopped watching UA during season 3 and don’t plan on watching season 4. I feel like a lot of people will already know what I might be referring to with this but yeah, the scene where Allison *did that* to Luther made me so sick. I feel like that season absolutely destroyed her character, and as I said, it just wasn’t anywhere near as fun as seasons 1 or 2.

WWDITS is probably the most successful of the three in my eyes but I could still apply the same argument about loss of enjoyment. The “Guillermo wants to be a vampire” plot line got very stale for me, especially with how they “resolved” (?) it. Saying “oh he’s a vampire now oh nevermind he doesn’t actually like being a vampire and also can’t be one anyway so everything’s back to normal” felt like such a waste of time for me. I know a lot of people also criticised the show for queerbaiting because of the Nandermo plot lines and teases. I wouldn’t necessarily call it queerbaiting but I would agree that the “will they, won’t they” is very played out at this point. Another big criticism I have of the later seasons is how Marwa was treated. The fact that she had no autonomy and was being forcibly changed mentally and physically to appeal to Nandor was treated as like, a running joke and I just found it kind of disturbing. Dark humour is pretty common throughout the show, but given how often her character appeared it felt a lot more, significant than throwaway jokes about drinking human blood. I feel like they could have done so much better with her character.

OFMD is probably the most egregious example of the 3. Season 2 was just not good. I’m not saying it was the worst thing I’ve ever watched but it was incredibly disappointing. The pacing was off, the characters were off, the dynamics were off. It was all just very off. The huge cliffhanger ending with Evil Blackbeard felt like it was resolved way too quickly and everything else in the season felt equally rushed. A lot of the character dynamics, but especially Ed and Stede, just felt wrong to me. From what I understand there were production issues or something so I’m not saying the writers just woke up one day and decided to be bad at their jobs but I can only really judge a show by what I saw on my screen, and what I saw was so far removed from the quality of season 1.

5. Finished on a sour note.

UA ended after 4 seasons, with the fourth being released on Netflix today. I haven’t seen anything that indicates whether this was the intended endpoint or whether it was cancelled. WWDITS will end after season 6 which comes out in October. Again, I can’t find anything indicating whether this was the intended endpoint. OFMD was cancelled just a few months after the release of season 2 in October 2023.

I can’t tell other fans how they should feel but for me I’m incredibly disappointed that 3 shows I really enjoyed saw a gradual (or not so gradual for OFMD) drop in quality that ultimately culminated in them just… ending.

Like I said, I have no interest in US season 4, but I am still somewhat hopeful for WWDITS. I would be really happy if they could bring it back to what it was.

Conclusion

I don’t know what the point of writing this was other than the fact that I’ve always associated these shows as having the same vibes and I feel like it’s interesting that they have a lot of similarities and went down similar paths. Also I just like yapping.