#i feel like 6 seasons is a good amount BUT they are so short

[buddieisgoingcanon2024]

Sorry if you already answered something similar but I wonder if the reason Buck didn't get the real coming out storyline arc and exploration of his sexuality storyline, is because they are saving it for Eddie.

Eddie needs the bigger storyline, the time for it. Doing it twice would feel like overkill. So, it's going to Eddie. Buck got to come out first because it all didn't work out with scheduling the storyline the way they wanted for Eddie. It makes sense if the plan was Eddie first, do the bigger storyline first, but due to storyline changes for Buck, he'd be left without a storyline and maybe they also realized Eddie x Tommy wouldn't work in such a short amount of time. So, there was the last minute switch. I mean, they already shoved way too much into this season, maybe this was the one storyline they knew around Ep4 wouldn't fit and still be good with 6 episodes left.

I have not gotten this question/ask before. So thanks anon.

I believe you are on to something. I think Tim and co thought Eddie’s coming out would need way more time to flesh out (more than say 5 episodes or less). Also the fact that Ryan was right in the fact that Eddie has way more baggage to go through to end up where we want him and Buck.

Everything you’ve said I could’ve said also but not as graciously as you have.

[someoldfires]

oh i have. A lot of thoughts

[flower-boi16]

Thinking about this further, Viv could have made good use of the eight episodes she had if she just chose to take the time to rework the story and actually knew how to pace things. Cuz here's the thing, there are other seasons of TV shows I've seen that have had just as much if not LESS time to tell they're stories but are better paced and structured than HH.

The third season of The Owl House had only three episodes to tell it's story. Two of those episodes are 44 minutes long and the last one is 55 minutes long, so it's at least 6 and a half episodes of TOH and Hazbin Hotel, since both shows have similar runtimes. That is LESS than what Hazbin has, which is eight episodes.

There's also Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a show that, like Hazbin, has eight episodes, so it has the exact same amount of time that Hazbin does to tell its story (I've seen the first six episodes of the show and it's already better paced than Hazbin).

The thing is, the reason why these things have better pacing than Hazbin despite just as much or even less time to tell their stories as Hazbin is because the writers of those shows actually knew how to pace things out and which things to focus on for the story. Viv clearly doesn't know how to pace things and it results in a mess.

And, mind you, The Owl House specifically got its third season cut short by Disney, so Dana and her crew were forced to completely rework 2B and whatever plans they had for season 3. They made sure every second counted when writing TOH season 3 knowing of the short time limit they had. And, the season ended up being an absolutely phenomenal conclusion to the show that provided a satisfying end to the story & characters, and it also ended up being better written, and better paced than Hazbin, despite having less time to tell it's story.

Hazbin could've had decent pacing if Viv didn't try to cram so much into eight episodes because it makes the show feel cluttered and unfocused. The show was already renewed for a second season, why not save all the big stuff for it? I don't know why Hazbin had eight episodes and who made that decision, whether it was an executive or Viv herself, but either way, she should have made good use of the time she had...but she didn't.

And, ultimately, it resulted in everything feeling rushed.

[nipuni]

Doctor Who report!! We are all caught up with NuWho and in time to watch the new season when it comes out!! mission accomplished, It took us around 6 months total and we loved every minute of it 🥰

Now that we have watched all eras I can share our tastes and opinions nobody asked for under the cut 😌

We can confidently say RTD's era is our favourite and for Doctors 10 (and 14) followed by 12, but honestly there isn't a single Doctor (or Master!) that we didn't love.

We've also started rewatching the first four seasons now with more context and there is just something so special about them. They almost feel like a different show from all the later ones. The silliness and the way the story doesn't take itself seriously at all until all of a sudden it does and then the pain hits you twice as hard because of it. How with just with a line or deed and it's implications the Doctor can be so unbelievably inspiring. The way the narrative seems to place you in the role of a companion trying to catch up with the Doctor and figure him out yet never quite managing to do so creates this distance but also admiration and reverence in you too and you can't help but adore him flaws and all. It has just the right amount of room for every side character and relationship to develop and feel human and the right amount of exposition to keep the pace quick and don't hold your hand. The glimpses behind the doctor's cheerful childish façade into an unsettling calculating alienness and immeasurable trauma but also a weary wisdom. The complete selflessness to the point of martyrdom. The reckless irresponsible acts of devotion from both the companions and the Doctor. The near apotheosis of the companions the closer they get to him. The contagious feeling of awe and wonder and hope for life. The way it's so unabashedly centered around love of every kind 😭 ARGHH I don't know man there is nothing like it!! Ultimate comfort show for us, just.. healing really. There is so much more I can say and gush about but I'd be here typing all day so I'll draw more about it instead!! We would also like to get started on classic Who soon! and try to get our hands on the audio episodes and comic books and all the extra stuff as well 😊

We also watched more David Tennant works since the last report!

Blackpool was hilarious, infuriating and horny, the singing was a choice but overall so fun!! The Escape Artist was great, very sad and tense, would have loved for it to be longer, these miniseries are always so good but so short!! Mad to be Normal is so underrated? we enjoyed it a lot!! RD Laing's portrayal was so compelling, it's beautifully shot and the 60's setting is really immersive and well done. Einstein and Eddington was also really good, incredibly accurate historical setting!! the costuming was fantastic, one of the best I've seen!! These last two films are biographical and sort of no plot just vibes so maybe this is why they are not everyone's cup of tea but we enjoyed them very much. David just never misses, I'm sure we can watch anything with him in it and we will love it no matter what lmao what a guy 😭

Anyway that's all for now! I hope you are all doing well, spring/autumn is almost here! best bits of the year 😊

[alister312]

Recently, some official South Park merch was released in claw machines across Japan! Since one of the designated machine locations was relatively near where I live, I made a weekend trip of it and thought it would be fun to share a bit of it with y’all 🥰 This will mostly focus on the info about the plushies but also touch a bit on the place I went to to get them. Read on if you’re interested!

Thanks to a tip from my good pal @allymumu, I learned about two different South Park claw machine merch drops happening in March. First were these plastic cases:

As well as these plushie keychains:

None of the machines carrying the plastic cases were anywhere near me, however one machine with the plushie keychains was! So I decided to head over to AruAru City (a 6 floor mall devoted entirely to anime/manga/games that houses the Kitakyushu Manga Museum) in Kokura to try my hand at winning these guys.

Once there, the claw machine was actually incredibly difficult to locate. I searched around for a while along with my friend who joined me on this trip. Eventually, we had to ask an employee where the machine was.

As you can see, it definitely needed to be pointed out!

Claw machines in Japan aren’t usually stuffed with prizes so when we got to it, there were only 3 of the 4 plushies available to win at a time, with employees restocking whenever the machine ran out.

This was actually perfectly fine for me because I hadn’t been planning on trying to win Towelie. Sorry to all the Towelie stans out there but I don’t care that much for him 😅 Crane games are just as much about luck as they are skill so I didn’t want to waste any more money than necessary. Plus, the claw machine was small and close to the ground, so it was kind of uncomfortable crouching down and playing at it for an extended period of time.

Surprisingly, getting Kenny and Stan was relatively easy! Probably 5-6 tries each.

Which, at ¥100 (~$0.66 USD) a try, is a reasonable amount to spend.

Butters, however… well, he lived up to his name and kept slipping out of the claw every time I got a grip on him. I’d prefer not to specify exactly how much I spent trying to get him but let’s just say it was a lot 😭 My friend was able to win him for herself though so I do have a picture of all the boys!

They’re very soft and well made, perfectly palm sized 🥰 The elastic feels a little short sometimes if you plan on looping the entire plush through it to attach it to something (I did this with my belt loop to carry them around with me) but with some squishing they get through just fine.

Since going on a trip just to win some plushies seems a bit crazy, my friend and I visited some other cool places in Kokura the next day! Of course, the plushies came with us. ケニーちゃんはかわいいプリンセスだから, I of course brought him to Kokura Castle.

Then basically right down the street is the TOTO Museum, a museum dedicated to the company TOTO. However, since TOTO specializes in toilets, this place is more colloquially known as the Toilet Museum. Considering Stan’s last season trauma surrounding Japanese toilets, I thought it would help give him closure or something to learn their history.

All in all, a very fun and rewarding trip! I really hope there’s more claw machine merch drops relatively soon. If there are and I can go, I promise to share the info with y’all just like this! Hope you enjoyed 💕

[skitskatdacat63]

2009 Reference Guide to Seb's Hair(Long post w lots of pics):

I would rate these but I love every version of him too much so I cannot pick 🤭, I'll add some commentary though. This took a horrible amount of time but it was also a great excuse to download and show off a truly terrible amnt of Seb pics(I was in tears half the time bcs of cuteness agression)

0. Testing(Jerez)(February 10th-12th):

Honestly such perfect Seb hair, I find this soooo cute!!! His hair is honestly always so perfect at Jerez testing every season. I love the length and style, he looks so incredibly pretty <3

1. Australia(March 26th-29th):

And now he is...bald. I actually kinda love this hair, he's my little kiwi fruit!! But I also can't help but mourn the Jerez hair. I'm just like: why did you feel the need to go bald, Seb??? It makes him look so young!

2. Malaysia(April 2nd-5th):

3. China(April 16th-19th):

I think the highlight of his bald era is how much he embodies the nickname "sunshine." Like the way his hair and eylashes glow in the sun??? Literally sunshine. Also it's cute to see his hair grow more fluffy

4. Bahrain(April 23rd-26th):

The texture differences are so interesting, I think this length looks its best when it's more fluffy like in the top right pic.

5. Spain(May 7th-10th):

It's funny how his hairline does that point in the middle, again: looks better when he looks unkempt

6. Monaco(May 21st-24th):

Weirdly shocked at how much his hair grew in-between Spain and Monaco??? Also I forgot that those fashion pics were from this weekend, and I was jumpscared by his mohawk look. I think he should keep away from hair product hahaha

7. Turkey(June 4th-7th):

Lego hair looking ass. Kidding kidding, just think his hair looks best all natural

8. Silverstone(June 18th-21st):

Lowkey kinda baffling to me how different his hair looks at different stages of the weekend. The podium hair especially is just soooo different, its very cute but yeah idk

9. Germany(July 9th-12th):

I did not realize he cut his hair again during this season?? Seeing these was very surprising to me, I had thought he grew it out for the entire season but I guess not! But I guess if he hadn't gotten a haircut the entire season, he'd probably have his angelic curls of 2010 by the end

10. Hungary(July 23rd-26th):

Kinda love the looks he was serving this weekend, it's just very spikey and cute(also the cunty sunglasses!!

11. Valencia(August 20th-23rd):

12. Belgium(August 27th-30th):

That garage lighting makes his hair look soooo much more yellow rather than his fair blond in the sunlight

13. Italy(September 10th-13th):

This transitional growing period is not my fav, just the way his hair sweeps in is funny

14. Singapore(September 24th-27th):

Looking particularly blond this weekend!! His hair is just very light and pretty

15. Japan(October 1st-4th):

I think most of these are from post-quali and for good reason; I love the way it looks like he has highlights in all the bottom pics

16. Brazil(October 15th-18th):

I love his scruffiness from this weekend!!! The scruffy stubble is sooooooo!!!

17. Abu Dhabi(October 29th-November 1st):

Pretty cute I think but yeah like nothing can really compete with his hair length in 2010 for me so I look at these and I'm like, ooooo growing longer!!

Conclusion: I think it's fun to get to see the process of someone's hair growing out. I've noticed that a lot of men with short hair get very consistent haircuts to keep their hair generally the same length, and I think that's so boring!! I think it's great to grow out your hair for a few months time because you get to see yourself at all the different stages and experiment with all kinds of different looks! So yeah, props to Seb for serving all kinds of looks this season!!

Also it's always interesting to me how much hair length/style and facial hair can change a person's look, but particularly how old/young they look. Like when he shaved his his head, it made him look so young. But in Brazil for example, with the longer hair and scruffy facial hair, he def looks older!

And of course, let me know which you like the best :D My favorite is Jerez <3

[cirrus-grey]

From June 9, 2019 to September 23, 2023 I posted something new to my Ao3 account at least once a week, every week (allowing for some deviation between weekend/weekday posting in the early days). From January 25, 2020, I’ve had an update every single Saturday. In total, this has amounted to 219 weeks of content, 299 individual updates, and 204 unique stories (approximately - I think I miscounted somewhere in there).

4 years, 3 months of weekly posting. 3 years, 8 months of Saturday stories.

I’m very glad I’m taking a break, because finding time to post every Saturday has been getting difficult, but it still feels very weird to not be posting something today.

Anyway, I’m very proud of how much I’ve created over the last few years, so I wanted to do a bit of a statistics breakdown because I’m a sucker for hard data:

Per Ao3 sorting here, I’ve posted… 209 stories. Yeah I definitely miscounted. Anyway.

Fandoms:

203 for The Magnus Archives

2 for Discworld

2 for Good Omens TV

1 for Good Omens Book

1 for Skulduggery Pleasant

1 for Malevolent (which was a TMA crossover lol)

A bunch of other fandoms got dragged into the stats because of Vinettes, but I only added TMA stories to that one in the last 4 years.

Of the 203 TMA stories, 6 are multi-chapter longfics, including Yesterday is Here - which kicked off the Saturday posting, and remains my most popular story to date.

Wordcount:

Approximately 819,000.

Which equals about 530 words written per day.

My average story length was about 3,919 words.

If you take the 6 longfics out of that math, the average drops down to 2,623.

2020 had the highest per-year wordcount, at 236,485.

The highest wordcount for a single story was 57,758 for A Matter of Diplomacy.

The lowest wordcount was only 215 for Best Wishes.

You could fit 268.6 Best Wishes into 1 AMoD.

Random:

40 of the oneshots were posted as direct, week-of reactions to TMA S5 episodes, encompassing 19.14% of the total fics.

30 of the oneshots were for the Castaways series, for 14.35% of the total fics.

The 203 TMA fics are 97.13% of the total.

Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist was in slightly more stories (189) than Martin Blackwood (186), but significantly more stories than the next-most common characters, Tim Stoker (32) and Sasha James (26).

Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist was, unsurprisingly, the most common relationship, at 94.26% of the total (197 fics).

My ten most common tags were, in order: Episode Related (65), Fluff (53), Post-Canon (42), Short (41), Post-Episode: e200 Last Words (39), Location: Somewhere Else (29), Canon Asexual Character (27), Season/Series 01 (22), First Kiss (19), and Happy Ending (14), which says a lot about the type of story I like to write and also that I really like tagging when and where things are set.

Jon was still just ‘Jonathan Sims’ when I started this…

‘Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist’ arrived on the scene in May 2020, so 149 (78.84%) of the Jon stories have the long tag, and 40 (21.16%) have the short.

[whimsicallyenchantedrose]

Season 3 Rewatch Drabbles: 3x22 There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)

Summary:  A series of 100-500 word drabbles to accompany my    rewatch of season 3 of Once Upon a Time.  There will be a drabble–either a deleted scene, a “fix it” fic or a character musing for each episode of the season.  Focus will be on Emma, Henry, the Charmings and Killian–with an emphasis on Captain Swan’s epic love story.

Word Count: 484

Other Chapters: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (26) (27) (28)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Notes: I knew there was no way I could stick to just one drabble an episode for the CS movie, so I didn't even try. There will be 2 drabbles for 3x21 and 4 for 3x22. They are all written, so the plan is to post one per day until they're all posted.

With Snow White off to secure reinforcements, Killian was left alone with the younger version of Emma’s father.  There was a long moment of somewhat awkward silence, and Killian couldn’t help but wonder what Emma was enduring at the hands of the queen. The anxiety swelled at the thought. She was in danger, and he was wasting time simply sitting before a fire.  He wanted to be off. Now.  He wanted to find her, to save her.

But he was and had always been a strategic thinker, and he knew Lady Snow’s plan was a good one.  He must content himself with remaining in place and waiting.

Nothing, however, said he must waste the intervening time.  Perhaps he could find a way to steer Charming toward his ultimate destiny.

“Are you excited for your nuptials?” Killian asked casually.

The prince shook his head and smiled self-deprecatingly.  “Hm,” he said, “marrying Midas’s daughter.  What’s not to be excited about?”

“I don’t mean to pry, mate,” Killian said carefully, “but you don’t exactly look like someone who’s doing this by choice.”

David was silent for a moment, staring sightlessly into the fire. “I always thought I’d marry for love, and here I’m about to enter into what amounts to a business transaction, a merger of two kingdoms,” he said. “I don’t know. This whole ordeal makes me wonder if there's even such a thing as true love.”

Prince Charming was questioning the very concept of true love?  Things were even more dire than he’d imagined. 

“I once felt as you did mate,” Killian said, “and all it took was meeting the right person, and everything changed.”

“Princess Leia, the one we’re rescuing?”

Warmth filled Killian as he thought of Emma. “Aye. I’d go to the end of the word for her. Or time.”

“And she for you, I take it?”

Would she?  Would she go to such lengths for him?  He knew she had feelings for him, but she’d been running for so long–running from him, running from her family, running from love.  Would she follow him through a time portal?

Killian chuckled “I don’t know.”

Charming looked surprised at that.  “What’s the problem?”

That was far more than a short, fireside conversation, so Killian merely brushed it aside “There are many complications.”

“Family?” Charming asked. “Because my father is making things quite difficult for me.

“Aye, there’s that,” Killian said, suppressing a grin at the irony of the question. “I’m not so sure her parents approve of me.”

“Given the lengths you’ve gone to to save her, they’d be crazy not too.”

Killian did chuckle.  “I hope you remember that.”

Further conversation came to a halt at the sound of someone approaching.  Killian and Charming got to their feet, their swords drawn and pointed to the potential threat.

It looked like further discussion on the topic of their respective love lives would have to wait.

NEXT CHAPTER->

[lowkeyrobin]

hiii so im very sick right now (allergies💔), so could you maybe do like mcyt comforting/taking care of a sick reader? thank youu -🦢

omg sameeeee eugh ; but yeah, thanks for requesting! ; hope you feel better 🦢 🫶❤️ ; cast is short bc I didn't have anymore ideas lmfaooo

MCYT ; sickly

includes ; tommyinnit, tubbo, ranboo, badlinu, & maxggs

warnings ; language, mentions of throwing up, allergies/flu/fever symptoms

masterlist

TOMMYINNIT

giving you lots and lots of soup / tea & honey

he does not give two shits if he gets sick, he will be giving you love and affection

he's making sure there's a trash bin / large bowl at your disposal for any... bodily fluids /ns

he has to go get you more tissues and literally spends 15 minutes in the store debating which ones you'd want

he can't even ask cause you're asleep for once and doesn't wanna disturb you

"i got four flavors of throat lozenges because i dunno what you like"

runs you a warm bath every day you're sick

you're basically quarentining together let's be honest

2020core!-

TUBBO

"get away from me wtf"

jkjk

you're surprised he isn't a doctor cause like...

he gets you a bunch of medicines and warm foods, and lots of tissues

"take this every three hours and that every 12"

literally so sweet cause he hates seeing you sick

but he'll make fun of you every once in a while for laughs

he's like a tired mother when you're finally able to sleep cause your sinuses are all stuffed

"theyre finally asleep"

RANBOO

again, a sweetheart

they're not getting within a 6 foot radius of you cause they don't wanna catch anything from you

"its allergies, I'm not contagious"

"you don't know that"

buys the entire pharmacy for you

straight up calls his mom because he doesn't know what to get you

in their defense, what's the difference??

makes you watch asmr videos when you're dealing with headaches cause your sinuses are fucked

they're actually really entertaining

there's a whole rainbow of medicines so they organize it in rainbow order while you're asleep

FREDDIE BADLINU

there's now a whole row of soup in your pantry

literally the only liquids you're drinking for a week are water and tea 😭

there is no shame in this game, he couldn't care less if you throw up cause like, you're sick, why would he judge?

always making jokes/saying dumb shit to make you laugh

but then you start coughing and choking on mucus and then he feels awful

tweets that your "cough sounds like a dying squirrel" 💀

not afraid to cuddle with you or anything once he realizes you aren't contagious/ remembers he has a good immune system

(he ends up sick as well)

might as well be March 2020 again cause the amount of wet wipes he has laying around is wild like calm down

MAXGGS

feels so bad that you're sick

he was blowing pollen in your face so he feels like he's to blame (it's just the seasons changing)

he'll make fun of you plenty tho

so many sick selfies 💀

"which flavor do you prefer? cherry or grape?"

"neither tbh"

"cherry it is then"

"just take a throat lozenge"

"I'd rather die"

if your hair is long enough, he's holding it back when you're throwing up

lots of just trying to physically make you feel better

and lots of joking and watching funny shit on YouTube

[ineedahugtm]

Hello! This was into response about someone complaining about Hazbin Hotels (admittedly) pretty bad pacing so strap in for 8 paragraphs outlining the history of television and how Hazbin hotel’s terrible pacing fits into this.

So here’s a little (unneeded but still fun) history of television. So as we transitioned from the Radio Era a full season was 39 weeks (3 quarters of a year) and was preformed live, during the rest of the year that time slot would be designated for replacement shows because show hosts have to vacation at some point in their lives.

Anyways due to primitive recording techniques making reruns virtually impossible, the industry standard of replacement shows continued into television. Although finally by mid-fifties reruns were more possible and commonplace. From this point on the number of episodes began to decline, by the late 60’s the 46 episode standard season became 26 instead. (1ep per week is half the year meaning reruns for the other half so that every show could be repeated once a lot easier than the longer seasons of the past )

Essentially broadcast networks wanted more bang for their buck

Then came the miniseries format in the 70’s. Usually about 13 episodes telling stories week to week that were self contained (Think Phineas and Ferb, the episodes have no impact on each other) Also 13 is half of what a normal season was so networks would use this if a project was on the edge of cancellation.

Also in the 70’s networks would cancel shows mid year (now it’s after the November sweeps) so they’d order shows in 12 episode groups and if the ratings weren’t good enough a new one would replace it in January.

By the 90’s it kept getting shorter ordering shows in either 8, 16, or 24 episode seasons. For almost all new shows that a network isn’t sure about they give 8 episodes to test out the waters and see how fans react and that’s what I believe Amazon Prime did for Hazbin Hotel.

And so after an entire history lesson of television, let’s talk about Hazbin Hotel.

So let’s get one thing straight, yeah the pacing of HH is not great and definitely could be improved upon. From what it looks like, we’re supposedly watching a show that has a time span of about 6 months in between 8 episodes which gives no time to develop almost anything but plot relevant to the extermination. However like I just spent the past 4 paragraphs leading up to, season’s episodes are only getting shorter and shorter, not to mention that it’s up to the networks to tell the show how many episodes it’s going to be getting. So with 8 episodes to tell decades worth of planning a world out for Hazbin Hotel I’m sure that’s a little hard, especially with all of the characters that we love and want screen time for (remember how everyone was mad at Encanto for the pacing as well? The plot was there but the movie was too short for the amount of characters and stories that they wanted to tell)

Additionally it’s been said that the team didn’t know that the show was getting a second season until half way through production (I don’t have any sources to back this one up but I’ve heard it going around a few places) so it seems like this season was planned like it was the only season we would be getting which would explain why everything is so fast paced.

Hopefully with that second season (and maybe more) they will feel more fluid and organic but for now we need to understand that this is just the first season and that the rough start shouldn’t be entirely on the blame of the show itself. If your mad about something sure, I’m down to put the blame on those responsible- but I think instead of being mad at the show, or saying “I’m disappointed in the show” we should shift the blame onto the networks who put such small episode constraints on not just Hazbin hotel- but all new shows! Sure if you have a well thought out story that you can tell in 8 episodes then that’s great! But too many shows are forced to rush through their plot because of greedy networks enforcing restraints on the creativity of the shows their hosting

[plushii-gutz]

Part 6, I promise this will go somewhere eventually

ֶ֢︶︶֪︶︶֪︶︶֪︶︶֪︶ིྀ︶︶֪︶︶֪︶︶֪︶︶֪︶

The castle door swung wide open. The refurbishment has nearly been a success, a few aspects unfinished that are yet to be tackled. Only minutes ago were they able to restore the electricity. As they had planned, the previously introduced Mythicals returned with additional bits of furniture and goods to help the many young Celestials settle down better within their new home. Strombonin carried in large boxes with the pieces needed to contruct a bed frame, G'joob carrying buckets of brushes and sponges and hopping up the stairs to drop some off. Furnoss looked for a way to repay them, only to be assured that it wasn't necessary. A fireplace had been discovered behind a bit of wreckage within the kitchen, which he chose to work on by himself. An odd choice of construction, yes, but perhaps the area could double as a sort of living room. Still, he offered his help where it was needed.

They began with the four rooms on the first floor, giving each a proper bed and replacing the curtains with less ragged ones. They replaced light bulbs and added carpets, also painting over bits of the walls to make them appear more fresh. They, the kids, were also given the choice to choose their room colors or if they would like to have details painted on. Hornacle, of course, took advantage of the privilege. G'joob stood behind to monitor them as the other rooms were given a new coat of paint, making sure no one tried to eat it. They already had a.. small incident with Plixie. Still, Strombonin's taller stature made the job quick, and Furnoss's firey abilities settled the pigments quickly.

Most of the kids were still eating away at the new food they were introduced to, strings of cheese getting caught in their hair or fur and grease covering their hands and face. Yawstrich took it upon themself to watch over them, offering napkins and wet wipes that he had bought at the store to keep their nasty little goblin talons from staining any of the newly colored walls. Furnoss soon joined them, apologizing for leaving the responsibility behind.

"Oh, it's fine!" They assured him. "They're way more well-behaved than most Air Island monsterlings! Believe me, Tweedles can be ferocious - and don't get me started on Cybops! Oh, and Riffs! They tend to be really short tempered. It isn't a rare occurrence for one of 'em to just snap at ya!"

Yawstrich went on over the many Air Island residents and species, most of which the fire monster was completely unaware of existing. Even so, in the end, he wasn't needed.

He didn't want to complain, but Furnoss has felt a bit.. forgotten Lately.

He never realized how little he had to do once his job as the caretaker had been moved to another monster. He could recall the same feeling while on the Seasonals' ship, distracting himself with books and unhealthy amounts of coffee. He didn't want to seem as though he didn't appreciate the help, but it felt as if he had no other purpose. Furnoss never had the chance to explore his own interests or likes. Even in his free time, he could only worry that something had happened to the kids. He questioned.. who was he? He didn't know himself as anyone but the job he was given. He never dove deep into any activities - why would he with so much to do? He never considered the day that the rest wouldn't need him anymore.

But maybe he did remember a bit of himself long ago.

Yawstrich's rambling is cut short when the entrance of the castle flies open once more. Hyehehe darted in, carrying a months worth of groceries that dangled from his arms and ears. Behind him dragged a wagon with the end of his foot carrying it along by the handle, filled with miscellaneous items that couldn't be grouped into one and some even wrapped with ribbons. Strombonin had been making their way downstairs around the same time, Hornacle hopping alongside with G'joob.

"Honey, I'm home!" The jester yelled, dropping most of the paper bags to the floor.

"What is all of that?" The cold island Mythical questioned, motioning a hand to the extras that resided in the wagon. "What did you do with my card? I told you only pick up what would be needed."

"Oh, lighten up - It was just a couple extras for the kids! Ya want them to feel at home, dont'cha?"

He began looking over the tags on each gift, handing them out to their designated Celestials. They were primarily toys, a few articles of clothing that matched their personalities relatively well. Torrt was finally able to play their song, gifted a new drum to accompany the sound he could make with their shell. Galvana was gifted a simple turquoise rubber ball, which they immediately tried to balance on. Despite being unsuccessful, they began a quick game with Vhamp, who had received a simple blue bandana and a set of roller blades to allow them to move faster. Hornacle was given water paints, of course, as well as an odd looking plush of some kind of sea critter. It appeared to have multiple limbs, likely a tentacled beast from the Living Ocean. It came with a cardboard tag attached, which Hornacle wrote "fishy" on after they had been taught how to spell it by Attmoz not too long ago. Very creative name.

Blasoom was given a hanging basket to help keep the vines within her room alive and well while no longer being attached to the walls themselves. Plixie had gotten a small microphone, which had settings to change their voice and add different effects when spoken in to. Strombonin questioned the prices of these items but wasn't met with an answer.

"Hehe, oh yeah, Furnoss!" Hyehehe slid across the floor to the red monsters side with a couple of boxes. "You're gonna want these!"

"Oh? Thank you!" He smiled, peeling back the tape of one.

"Yeah," Hyehehe chuckled. "Make sure to care for yourself, too. You can't pour from an empty cup!"

The box held many things, each seeming to have a theme. There were the expected clothing items to help with the increasingly cold weather, as well as books over simple recipes and treats that he hadn't thought of before. He also received a new set of wares for the house and a book over tips and tricks for child behavior. Though it may seem like a sort of 'lame' gift, some of it would certainly be useful. The second package held more childlike gifts, an adorable plush of the Earth island critter with posable limbs, a journal with stickers to help with planning and scheduling as well as just writing down whatever, and a calendar.

"Ay, where's the bug and rock? And the pink and purple one?"

"Attmoz and Glaishur might be working on their rooms," Furnoss answered, "And I think Scaratar is with one of them? I'm not really sure about Syncopite - I haven't seen them much."

Yawstrich, Furnoss, and Gjoob began to help the kids clean up the wrapping paper and packaging, Strombonin and Hyehehe moving past to enter Glaishurs room. Inside, the cold monster seemed to be folding a letter and sealing it shut with a sticker. His distinctive chill had already returned, the window now covered in frost and barely visible flurries starting to fall from the ceiling. A familiar pink cloud hovered above, performing the task. It was far more tame than what his old room was like, though the two Mythicals weren't aware of that. They did catch his attention, though.

"Hey there, fluffy!" Hyehehe took lead, only to be pulled back by the fur of his neck. He reentered, slower this time by Strombonin's rule. "Right. Eh - sorry if I got a bit crazy earlier.. or something."

"Just give him the gift."

"Right! Right - here ya go, chilly! Picked 'em out myself! Oh, and I'm gunna leave this here for that pink guy- cant find 'em for the life of me!"

The Earth Mythical tossed the presents to Glaishurs bed, still being watched over like a child.

"Oh! Th-thank you!" Glaishur stuttered, wanting to smack himself in the face afterward. It wasn't new for him to fumble his words, but it had become more frequent since his return. He was well aware of it, too. "I don' think I ever caught your name.."

"Hyehehe!"

"..heheh?"

"Hyehehe."

"Hi-ehe?"

"Just call me Jest."

"Ok. Thank you, Jest!"

They turned to leave, Strombonin being stopped at the door at Glaishurs words.

"How can I help?" They asked, moving closer to the bed. The purple celestial tugged at the sleeves of his sweater.

"If you find Syncopite, could ya try an' talk to 'em? I think he's been avoiding 'Moz and I."

Strombonin accepted the request, continuing his previous task of delivering the final few packages. The second the door shut, Attmoz rolled over from his floating resting spot. He hadn't been awake for most of that conversation, having dozed off a bit after forming the cloud itself.

"Eh? Did I miss something?" He asked, letting his arms dangle over the edge of the cloud. His gaze fell on Glaishur, who seemed to be having a tricky time with the cardboard boxes.

"Nah. Just a lil talkin' is all."

Attmoz ended up falling asleep once again, draped in the soft pink blanket that the cold Celestial had carried since their arrival.

Glaishur finally began to open his gift. The first item he pulled seemed to be some kind of plastic worm-like critter, each individual segment of it clicking against itself and causing an oddly cartoony noise that he admittedly loved. He spent far too long fidgeting with it before moving on to the next item. It was a hoodie, solid white apart from the blue sleeves and a small teal embroidery of a snowflake on the top right. He most definitely needed to wash his sweater, so this was pretty good timing. A quick swap, and he felt good to go. Lastly, he received a charger, likely for the new phone he had been given from.. well, he isn't sure. Sometimes, he just found things in thin air. Or maybe Strombonin actually had given it to him? There was a lot to question, but he didn't care enough to dive deep.

Scaratar and Syncopite were found along the hallways upstairs, the poison monster holding a small brush dipped in a soft yellow paint. She stood by her door, decorating it with paintings of delicate yellow flowers hanging off long twisted vines. A few petals from the flowers hovered downward to spell out her name, which was still being worked on with the help of Syncopite.

Their work was put aside for more of Hyehehe's offerings, Scaratar finding a few wind-up critters in her boxes along with hair clips, sparkly bracelets, a small watering can, and a little backpack to keep everything in. Syncopite left their gifts behind as Strombonin pulled him aside, Hyehehe taking his place in the painting.

"I've noticed a bit of distance between you and the rest," Strombonin spoke. "I'm not fully aware of your situation, but I am still willing to help in any way I can. Of course, this is only an offer. It's entirely up to you."

The crystal monster hesitated to respond. He wasn't sure how much the other knew of their journey from the original island to here, what all had happened to Glaishur or the kids.

"Something.. happened. A while ago. Someone hurt Glaishur. Badly. And that 'someone' was only around because I allowed it. Well, Furnoss had a say, too, but he turned to me for advice. One wrong choice, and I don't think Glaishur will ever be the same."

Strombonin settled himself down, giving Syncopite the time to speak that they needed.

"I knew I couldn't control what came next, but the blame isn't any less mine. It feels wrong to be around Glaishur or Attmoz after the incident. I know he hasn't said it, but I think Attmoz doesn't trust me anymore, more or less like me. I don't blame him. I have no worthy idea as to how Furnoss is holding up. He seems fine, but he always does. It'll take a long time to teach 'em that not all tears are evil."

The playful chatter from Hyehehe is the only barrier Scaratar has from reality, and it seems the cold Mythical is growing wary of this. He gave a small nod, promising Syncopite that their words would be kept safe within his mind. They returned to Scaratar, finishing their work of art while Strombonin and his friend returned downstairs. It was clear that Syncopite didn't want to talk much about what happened, and Furnoss likely knew more.

The downstairs were cleaned. The kids and remaining monsters from earlier had left for the outdoors, promising to only venture nearby. Furnoss stood behind, organizing and inspecting a few of the decorations that were left until he felt the placement was perfect. There were plenty of frames from the previous owner, most of which were rid of pictures, but still had been left out to fill the empty spots on tables and such. Hyehehe left to join the others, Strombonin once again starting up a conversation.

"Must be a lot of work having to raise so many," he commented.

"They are a handful," Furnoss responded. "But they're well-behaved. Usually, at least."

"And you raised them by yourself?"

"Well.. no. Sort of?"

Furnoss could tell this would he a long talk. He went ahead and took a seat, Strombonin doing the same.

"Do you remember what I had told you?"

"I do," the Mythical nodded. "Reversing of age after encapsulated in stone. You had been one of the first freed, followed by the rest."

"Correct, yes. But.. I wasn't alone. Loodvigg had been with me."

"I did notice their absence. I was tempted to ask for an explanation, but I was unsure if the subject was sensitive. Could you tell me about this?"

"Well.. there's a lot to take in. Our lives have never been wilder as of late. Back then, tough, Loodvigg was kind. Short tempered, but kind. We both remembered what we used to be, and we remembered who the rest were. For a while, all we had were each other. He helped raise Attmoz, Syncopite, Scaratar, and Glaishur when they were young. It was clear that it didn't enjoy the responsibility, especially at our young age, but it managed to put up with everything until during Torrt's revival. Soon after that, he became.. off. We agreed that it would be best to allow the rest out to avoid any suspicion - we didn't want any questions about where we were from. It wasn't exactly a priority to tell children, 'Hey! We're actually Gods, and now we're all lost in the infinite ocean with no way to get off, and there's a chance that if we're seen, we'll cause the downfall of monsterkind!'."

Furnoss stood a bit taller, his hands motioning more as he spoke.

"They left their room less, spoke to me less. I wasn't sure how to care for so many young monsters, and I certainly didn't trust the older of the bunch either. They were just kids, too. I hate to admit it, but we began to argue more and more. The change was slow, but its impact was obvious. The few times they did come down was only to help me calm the storm. I couldn't bring myself to ever yell at them, and I certainly didn't want to enforce too much punishment, so it was his job. It wasn't fair to paint him like that, but it was all he would do. I wanted to believe so badly that it would change.."

"I had been told of an accident that occurred in your old castle," Strombonin moved in softly. "I wasn't told much, but it had related to Glaishur's injuries. Did Loodvigg happen to be a part of this?"

"It.. yes. It was involved," the fire monster confirmed. "Loodvigg could remember how we had been trapped and forced into these bodies. They hated Galvana for it. I don't know what led to it, but Galvana made a sort of staff with their old orb. Something inside of Loodvigg just.. snapped. He could yell if needed, but he never got physical. At least, not until then. Glaishur had gotten involved, but nothing could've stopped it. Attmoz took charge after, and Loodvigg was locked within its room."

Strombonin organized himself a bit more, keeping their expression kind.

"I don't believe that Glaishur's scars had been caused by just a fist fight of sorts," they delve a bit deeper. "What had happened after?"

"I.. I let Loodvigg out. I wanted to believe so badly that it would change, that it would truly mean everything it said while having time to think of itself. I wanted Loodvigg back.. I wanted my Loodvigg back."

The air felt heavier as the cold monster stood higher, now riddled with whatever was brewing inside of the Celestials mind.

"What exactly was Loodvigg to you?"

"They.. were my partner."

Furnoss could only feel shameful.

"We shared the same stress, the same responsibility, the same past, and it even seemed we would share the same future. Loodvigg was a completely different monster back then. He knew how it was to be me, and I knew what it was like to be him. The manipulation and downplaying of emotions only seeped in once I let my guard down. Even though the cracks had been showing at the start, I was so.. desperate. I was afraid of being alone. So afraid that I risked the life of one of the kindest monsters I knew. It was so, so selfish. I wanted them to be themself again, but some monsters just can't be fixed. It's hard to see the thorns when all your eyes want is the rose. I'll never forgive myself for ignoring all of Attmoz's concerns. I'll never forgive myself for who I was."

Strombonin offered a bit of comfort, a hand on the fire elementalist's shoulder as they spoke.

"It's easy to fool someone, but it's hard to convince them that they've been fooled. We're only monsters - Celestial or not."

Furnoss gave a long, shaky exhale. His eyes moved from his hands to the many scattered toys across the floor.

"It's hard to remember a time when the kids were just kids, and everyone was happy."

Thunder roared outside. It wasn't long after that the group of kids ran back inside, G'joob carrying a few on their head. Yawstrich shook his feathers clean, picking grass from their wings. Hyehehe seemed to just in soak the water, the way you'd expect a stuffed toy to. Weird.

"Storm is comin'," G'joob said.

"Oh dear - here, I can light the fireplace. Let them warm up a bit."

And so Furnoss did. Strombonin left to find a blanket, remembering most of them being left in Glaishurs room. He wouldn't mind sharing, would he?

Within the room, Attmoz seemed to be tearing off the tag on Glaishur's new hoodie with his teeth. Once finished, he pulled the hood up and over the cold monsters head and tightened the strings. Seems to have had holes added for his horns.

"Not to be weird, but you're fuckin' cute. Seriously, Frosty, you're on the same level as Boo on the cute factor."

"No, I'm not!" Glaishur fought back. Why has everyone been saying this?

"But you are, man. Look at this goober! This lil goober!"

"But I ain't!"

The two bickered back and forth, Attmoz eventually winning the argument. Strombonin smiled, leaving the room to allow the two a bit of privacy. He thought it was sweet to see them fall in love all over again. Perhaps the Celestials would find their old ways once more. Back on track, the Mythical found a thick blanket within Attmoz's room. He returned to the group, now folding the cover on top of them as the fire warmed the castle. Scaratar had joined, Furnoss having to wipe her face clean of paint. Syncopite sat nearby, though still distant enough that they couldn't possibly be an issue. At least Hyehehe was on the case, ready to bring a smile in any way possible. It seemed Strombone had finally left its hiding spot, now being held by Hornacle as it kept itself deep within its shell.

Strombonin wondered if Furnoss would be willing to speak more on the matter of their past. It was clear the older of the bunch didn't seem very good, at least not as often as one would like. But for now, he allowed them to rest. It was only fair.

"So Glaishur," Attmoz began, "I was thinking of taking Galvana out to play again. They're still in a real sour mood. Giving me a hard time."

"Galvana isn't givin' you a hard time," Glaishur whispered. "They're having a hard time."

Attmoz fell quiet, thinking of these words. Glaishur was right.

"Well.. what do I do?"

"Talk to 'em," the cold monster shrugged. "Ask if there's a way you can actually help. Give support, let 'em know you care."

"But I have been! I.. I have been? Damn. Maybe I should just give 'Vana some space. Maybe they don't like old Airhead anymore."

Glaishur moved closer, debating his next words.

"I still do," he said quietly, almost as if he didn't want to be heard.

"Eh?"

"I think I like you," he repeated.

"Come again?"

"I like you."

"What?"

"Attmoz!"

"Hah! Nah, I heard you the first time."

"Ugh!"

Glaishur pushed Attmoz away, who only moved closer. They batted at one another and threw small fits. Attmoz grabbed Glaishurs shoulders.

"Ya got something on your face."

"Huh?"

Attmoz gave Glaishur a quick smooch to the forehead, hopping up from the bed and walking to the door.

"I'm gunna make sure everyone's still in one piece - feel free to join when you're done freaking out."

The dumbass just leaves. Glaishur pulled on his hair, kicking his feet and speaking to himself through a smile. It's almost gross how smitten he was. Soon enough, though, he's able to cool off and join the rest. He got a few compliments for his new appeal, Torrt and Plixie dragging him under the blanket with the rest.

The rain trickled down over the windows as the lightning flicked and rolled. The group, now accompanied by the Mythicals, spent the remaining daylight with chatter and occasional playfulness, growing cozier by the fire. Finally, they felt at home.

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Currently watching - January

Because I love a good little list - with an alphabetical order this time! 😊

Regularly updated during the month, latest update 31.01.2023

This may contain spoilers!

1. Ameiro Paradox (6/8 on Viki and Gaga)

An enemies to lovers story with journalists and cute smiles. I am a little bit confused by Kaburagi, just like Onoe is. It is not bad, the acting is quite nice.

2. Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu aka The End Of the World With You (1/8 on Gaga or Viki)

This feels depressing and heartbreaking and I love it! Done right this can become a little sad gem.

3. Cutie Pie 2 You (1/4 on Youtube)

Well, I haven't been waiting for this and the first season left without a deeper impact on me. So right now I am very much unimpressed with this one.

4. HIStory 5: Love in the future (5/20 on Viki)

It is starting to grow on me. Both storylines. Seeing Hai Yi being nice, caring and less arrogant is kind of sweet. And all the flirting between Liang and Wynn is very much entertaining. Besides that, the main story is kind of confusing and I can't stop myself from asking, why doesn't He Bo Wei search himself in the internet?

5. Individual Circumstances (4/8 on Viki)

After years spending their lives apart from each other an almost worn out movie director and a famous writer meet again. The past has to be processed and the writer deals with their history and present in one of his stories. I like this one a lot. Can it be please next week, so I know what they were talking about in the preview?

6. My School President (8/12 on Youtube)

I loooove this one so much!!!! It is my favorite watch of the week! Set in highschool we meet Tinn (the school president) and Gun (head of the music club). Tinn has a huge crush on Gun and Gun sees in Tinn the enemy who is standing between the success of his music club and the win of the Hot Wave Music Contest. Sometimes you just need a good old high school bl to be happy. I enjoyed this series so much. And the music is so good!!!

7. Never Let Me Go (7/12 on Youtube)

The tension and chemistry between the two mains is definitely there and noticeable. I am hooked with the story and at this point really anxious about what's to come. There are so many layers to unfold and I love reading all those metas here on tumblr! So well written analyses.

8. Physical: 100 (2/10 on Netflix)

Okay, listen...my best friend told me, I should watch this and after 15 minutes we were on the phone with each other and for the next 1,5 hours we had the time of our lifes! This show is insane and so much fun to watch!

9. The New Employee (6/8 on Viki)

I love the manhwa and I really enjoy this adaptation. It is funny and cute and not so far from the original material. The two mains have a wonderful chemistry.

Finished in January

Series

1. 2 Moons the Ambassador (12/12 on Youtube)

It was just bad. The acting was not good. The plot was...lame and there was too much going on with the amount of couples to deal witj. And there was just too much dull drama without reason and so many plotholes and logical errors... 2 out of 10 for the sweetness sometimes

2. Till the world ends (10/10 on Youtube)

This one was such a pleasant surprise for me. A story about the end of the world with explicit and brutal scenes, decent acting and a kind of good story! The chemistry was there and with episode eight they said, well lets show world what we can do. I won't talk about physics nor the ending. Well the latter would explain the first issues, but I don't care. I liked it! 8,5 out of 10 dystopian ideas

3. Remember Me (14/14 on Gaga)

Okay, this one is so complicated for me. First I found it boring. With episode three I was hooked and totally into it. Around episode 10/11 I just got bored again and the story became...difficult to like anymore and the last one was just meh...I really liked the storytelling, but some parts could have been cut short and others needed more story time. I felt like they have forgotten that there were like four other stories beside Champ's in the last episode so everything felt rushed. And yes, the big problem with Name's decision to speak. Like as it is just so easy to overcome your fear and barrier and mental health problem and just speak. One day, after you notice it would be better for others if you speak, you just do it...well, that is not how it works. And yes, thinking about it, this is a really big problem of the show in general. Just presenting mental health problems as something you can overcome with enough selfcontrol and some words of encouragement...or the sight of others who feel unwell in your depressed presence...damn...It could have been such a nice 7, but thinking about those flaws really hurts...there is no real working with the problems. Champ just decides to forgive his family and his depression is healed...Name speaks because he just decided to do so...Gun and Golf broke up and just a few days later Golf says sorry and pulls out a ring and everything is fine again...Well no...that is not how life works. 4 out of 10 stories to tell

4. Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko Season 1 (4/4 on Gaga)

A man who tries to avoid the world of BL, by reading Yaoi mangas to get to know all the tropes he has to avoid in order to not get involved with the world as a main character. It is hilarious. I had a really good time watching it. 8 out of 10 tropes to avoid

5. Love Bill (10/10 on Youtube)

A vietnamese drama about a young man falling in love with a screenwriter. Well, of course there are some other things happening in between, but this is the heart of the story. Our boy Nguyễn Bá Vinh is doing a great job! I really enjoyed this drama. And the ending is so perfectly fitting for this drama. Thien is a screenwriter and known as the king od sad endings. So yeah, the ending is sad, but at the same time perfect and bittersweet. 7 out of 10 rainwater barrel showers

6. The director who buys me dinner (10/10 on iQiyi)

Okay, I read the Webseries, so I do know what Dennis was up to and what his story was. I liked the story between Yudam and Dongbaek. The ending? I wish they would have stick more to the original, but I am not mad about it. They had a fresh start and it is not that open of an ending for me. Yudam agreed to have dinner with Dongbaek and I believe that those two will be happy in the end. 7,5 out of 10 pills to swallow

7. Island (6/6 non bl)

I have never thought I would say I like a horror series, but here I am. I hate horror besides Vampires, Aliens and Witches, so this was a surprise, especially when I think about my despise and horror for The Exorcist. But this one is really good! And now I can't wait for season 2!! There is so much to unpack and I am hooked! 9,5 out of 10 lust demons

8. War of Y (20/20 on Gaga)

I finally watched it. I don't know. It was good imo, without a doubt. But it is a little bit paradox. The series tries to go against the industry and the fanservice and the working conditions, but in the end it is just another bl. Most of the stories have their happy ending and are kind of unrealistic. I enjoyed my time watching it, even though it was tough at some times. 7 out of 10 two-faced media

9. Gaya Sa Pelikula aka Like in the Movies (8/8 on Youtube)

What a perfect little series! I loved every second of this and I wish it had more episodes. But they managed to tell the story in the time they had without cutting something short or anything. It is a deep story with a light storytelling that fits the tone perfectly. The story is about Karl and Vlad who become fake boyfriends to help each other and who happen to fall in love with each other for real. But nothing is that easy in this world and the process of coming out and coming to terms with who you are needs time. Absolutely love this one! 10 out of 10 dishes to wash

10. Ingredients (21/21 on Gaga)

This was the perfect thing to watch while laying down with a cold. It warms your heart and makes you smile. It is such a cute and wholesome story and I believe they will manage to overcome all obstacles in their relationship. I am very grateful for this recommendation! 9,5 out of 10 desserts

11. My Engineer (14/14 on Youtube)

Well this one was a ride. I liked the beginning, but my patience died at some point. So Bohn and Duen became a couple, but they didn't touch each other, no hand holding, no kind of showing affection and the only one who does shows them through words is Bohn, but he becomes so jealous I wanted to slap his face. He is sulking the whole second part of this series! That was so annoying. The only bright spot were RamKing. I get it, they are cute and the only ones with at least two brain cells! 5,5 out of 10 sulking faces...

12. The Tuxedo (8/8 on Gaga)

This was not good. I think it is cringy and there was no chemistry between the mains or a plot I could really follow. I mean there are short films out there, which can transport a better story with a better feeling for time and substance than this series. The amount of times I cried noooo...Not good... 3,5 out 10 what the hell was this blue tuxedo?!?!

13. History 4: Close to you (10/10 on Viki)

Yeah, close to you...what a perfect titel. Best friends to lovers, stepbrothers to lovers. And I liked it. I don't know what else to say. I know there are some scenes that are just bad. There is no excuse for that, but you know what? I watched KinnPorsche, I watched Dangerous Drugs Of Sex...And besides those scenes I really enjoyed the stories. Yes, also the stepbrothers. 8 out of 10 Cardigans

14. Between Us (12/12 on Youtube)

Well, in the end it was boring and I couldn't care less about WinTeams relationship or their traumas, which is really sad, because it plays such a big role in the series. I liked them in UWMA, but here, in their own series, they were blank and boring. 4,5 out of 10 swimming pools

15. The Devil Judge (16/16 on Viki)

Why so good? I couldn't stop watching in the end. You know the feeling when you are so tense, you just want to spoiler yourself the ending, but you don't want to, but you want to and in the end you are sitting there in tears, because the drama is so sad and you're so tense. And still, since the beginnen of the show, you question yourself if you want to hate Jung Sun Ah, feel pity for her, fuck her or let her fuck you. In the end I let her fuck me out of pity while I hate her with all my guts. But the drama is just so fucking good. So thrilling and with some really good (and some not so good) plot twists. And in the end, every meme is true, gay sex would be less gay than what ever was going on between Kang Yo Han and Kim Ga On and I respect them for that. 10 out of 10 intense eye contacts

16. Zettai BL ni Naru Sekai VS Zettai BL ni Naritakunai Otoko 2 (3/3 on Gaga)

A man who tries to avoid the world of BL, by reading Yaoi mangas to get to know all the tropes he has to avoid in order to not get involved with the world as a main character - Part II (yes, I copy paste this one...). It is hilarious. I had a really good time watching it. 7,5 out of 10 tropes to still avoid

New Category: Dropped/On Hold

1. I will knock you (1/12 on Gaga)

Well, I don't like it. It brings me no joy so far. So for now it is on hold until I have nothing more to watch...

2. To Sir, with love (2/17 on Youtube)

I know that it is good, but I don't know. I just can't find the energy to watch it. Perhaps some day in the future.

3. Something in my room (3/10 on Youtube)

I saw people talking about this one and how good it is. Well, it is quite okay. I guess it will get a little bit deeper with more episodes, but I haven’t had the time to watch more or the motivation to watch it...so for now it is on hold

4. Hit Bite Love (on Youtube)

I couldn't get over the first half of the first epsiode. It just made me uncomfortable. So this was a dropped for me...

Short films

1. Invitation (on Gaga)

A short film about a jobless person who finds binoculars and breaks in a stranger's home. There is a good twist in the end. The acting was okay, the story was okay...the ending was good. 6,5 out of 10 binoculars

2. Fragile Souls (on Gaga)

I like this one a lot. It has depth and a really deep story for a movie under 10 minutes. The acting is good, too. It is a story about opening your heart to someone and not keeping you inner demons all to yourself. You are allowed to be vulnerable and it gets better. 8,5 out of 10 grainy metaphores

3. Jay (on Gaga)

Jay is a 13 years old boy who is fascinated by his older brother's physique what somewho change into attraction. He is discovering his own sexual orientation while his brother doesn't keep his own a secret from the younger brother (he has sex with his girlfriend while the door to his room was open). It is a complicated film which ewokes complicated emotions. Jay is in an early stage of puberty and his hormones and emotions are going crazy. He can't bring himself to like the girl who has a crush on him. Instead he fantasises about his brother, or his brother's body, a male body to whom he has easy access. The acting is not bad, the subject difficult, but all in all not a bad short film. 7 out of 10 pants

4. Going South (on Gaga)

What a ride. This movie was tense and uncomfortable to watch. I guess you can start a discourse about the question wether the sexual encounter is consensual, dub con or just simply r*pe...With all I have seen it is r*pe for me. There was so much aggression between those two and I understand both sides, which doesn't mean that ones actions were justified. 5,5 out of 10 chasing scenes

5. Suddenly Last Summer (on Gaga)

It is the story about a student, who stalks his teacher after he discovered the latter is gay. The student goes so far that he blackmails the teacher to do everything he wants for a day in return he would keep his secret safe. Well it was a slow and quiet movie. The acting was good. The story itself was okay. I liked it. Did I liek the student? Nope...But his behavior fits his character and his role in the movie. 8 out of 10 headphones

6. Kiss Of The Rabbit God (on Gaga)

This is such a beautiful and good short film! I loved every second of it and I was hooked to the very last scene. The following is all you need to know. Oh I love some good stories! A long time ago in the Qing Dynasty a young soldier fell in love with a handsome official and was sentenced to death for confessing his longing. When his spirit travelled to the Underworld the soldier’s crime was forgiven as one of passion and he was ordained The Rabbit God, the god of secret lovers. The god now travels through eternity answering prayers of forbidden love. 10 out of 10 crimson-hair

7. Langit Budak Biru (on Gaga)

It is not easy to watch, it is not easy to think about, but it is important to think about, to talk about. A movie about two boarding school students in a very religious and very homophobic country trying to understand why they are here and how to survive. My highest resprect for this movie. 10 out of 10 !

Movies

1. Gameboys: The Movie (on Gaga)

Well I haven't seen the first season, but you can indeed watch this without knowledge of the things that happen before (imo). I thought it was a decent movie. The acting was good, the stroy was there and I liked it. But I can't with "Baby" as a term of endearment. At some point all I could hear and concentrate on was this term and I am honest, I hated it. 7 out of 10 ... baby ...

What I’m looking forward to in January:

Beautiful Scars (2nd)

Stoma (4th)

Cutie Pie 2 You (6th)

Utsukushii Kare: Special Edit Version (16th)

Individual Circumstances (19th)

Hit Bite Love (21st)

Kare ga Boku ni Koishita Wake (23rd)

Bokura no Micro na Shuumatsu (30th)

Langit Budak Biru (30th)

Future

The Luminous Solution

[420technoblazeit]

hello! i'd love to hear your thoughts on hazbin hotel's writing :] i really like the show, but i'm not really sure if i think it's...good? if that makes sense. so i'd love a second opinion :O

oh my god thank you so much for sending this ask bc ive been thinking about this for sooooo long ive got a lot to say about this show. picture that scene in the first episode where charlie whips out her longass pile of drawings to explain the hotel. that's me rn i have many things good and bad to say about this show. first off im gonna keep it a buck fifty with you anyone genuinely saying this show is really bad needs to watch more shows. watch supernatural season 13 or something. this was not by any stretch of the imagination a bad show for me writing-wise and even the criticisms i have here are mostly nitpicks

i actually think they did a pretty good job given the constraints they had. 8 episodes with 25 minutes each is a ridiculously small amount of time. that's less than 4 hours total to tell this whole story and develop, what, 6 main characters? and introduce major antagonists and the minor antagonists for the next season. i don't know how much they had to cut but i'm willing to bet it was a substantial amount since the show in-universe takes place over the span of 6 months. like i know everyone says this about the show but i really do feel bad that they were given such a short amount of time because it's pretty clear to me that there's a lot of passion put behind this project

i've heard a lot of people say that they have issues with the pacing of the show and i kind of agree. i think the timeline of the plot is kind of weird with episode 1 taking place 6 months from the extermination and episode 2 taking place very soon after. if i remember correctly we don't know when episodes 3 and 4 take place but episodes 5, 6, and 7 all take place back to back probably because they didn't want to shove angel, husk, and sir pentious' major character development right at the end of the series as the plot came to its climax. i think i can understand that reasoning but it does make for a very odd structure and leave the story feeling rushed near the end. i don't know what could have fixed this because having vaggie and charlie visit heaven earlier would have meant that a lot of the show had a higher sense of tension and i think that would've been worse. idk. i understand the criticism and i agree with it i just don't know what could have fixed it

the songs are banger. obviously. that's what happens when you hire half of the living tombstone to write your songs theyre just going to be sick as hell. loser, baby was my favorite and the one from dad beat dad was a close second i liked it a lot. i also think they did a great job developing all of the characters and giving them really solid character arcs with a couple exceptions, mostly alastor, niffty, and vaggie. i'll touch on that in a second. to me angel dust is the emotional core of the show and i really like him and husk. theyre my favorites ill b so sad if they get wrenched apart next season

i have some thoughts on vaggie and this comes from a place of love because i think she's an example of a really great character concept with a not-so-great execution. here's what i think. the writers seem to have a tendency of only giving vaggie big character moments that are tied to her relationship with charlie. and it bugs me a little bit. im not saying that vaggie being charlie's girlfriend has to be a smaller part of her character but every time we get a moment with her like her song in episode 3 it's about how she wants to protect charlie. as much as i love 'out for love' in episode 7 it was kind of unnecessary because we already know how devoted vaggie is to charlie. that was never called into question. for her to go to heaven, knowing that they would recognize her there as a fallen angel, just because charlie wanted her to be there really shows how much she loves her. and i think that part of episode 7 could have been better devoted to exploring the reason why she put her faith in the hotel and what charlie was doing in the first place, because she wants to believe that she can find redemption for the crimes she committed as an exorcist. i don't think they talked enough about the idea that vaggie was cast out of heaven for showing mercy to a sinner. and how this shows the very black-and-white view of morality that heaven has. i think i would like vaggie as a character more if the show stopped trying to frame her belief in the hotel as loyalty to her girlfriend and instead talked about how she's trying to find redemption herself, not in trying to get into heaven but in atoning for the many sinners she killed during the exterminations. that's a really big part of her character that i think should be touched on more often

if you follow me you already know my nitpicks about alastor. theyre problems that will almost certainly be fixed in the next season and theyre incredibly minor, i just dont like characters who seem to always inexplicably one step ahead of everyone else and above all sense of consequence. and to me this is made worse by the fact that alastor appears so often in season 1 without having any character development right next to characters like husk and angel who are going through such horrible, horrible things in their lives. and i think the longer we get alastor as a mysterious 5d chessmaster type of character without knowing his true motivations the more annoying it gets. again, nitpicks that almost certainly won't be a problem next season given the way they're setting up his character. you might not have even considered this to be a problem and think that i'm just being a fucked up little whiny bitch. lmao. it's just a personal thing. niffty i think doesn't have to have character development, as it stands she's entertaining enough by herself and i'm fine with having her run around the hotel with no discernible motivations. she's just havin fun

i think the vees are some really strong love to hate them villains. val obviously is a despicable piece of shit and im looking forward to seeing him get what's coming to him. i have no complaints in regards to them i think their moments were tied into the series very well and theyre interesting antagonists already. it's gonna be great seeing them come more into the spotlight in season 2. i will say that i think some of the time dedicated to exploring their characters could have been put towards the actual main villains of this season, heaven and the rest of the angels, but whatever. as i said before i think a lot of the major plot exposition could have been spread out. but in general i think the vees are really interesting

[ammyamarant]

I was talking to my sister recently about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the topic of what I thought was the worst season popped up. Without hesitation, I said season 6.

And I stand by it. Everything in it, everything people are now saying is good actually, is only good on paper. Buffy depressed about being resurrected? And doing incredibly self-destructive things? Having to live without her mother and try and be a good guardian for Dawn? This is all good on paper! But the execution? We get a comedy episode for Buffy trying to get a job. Buffy getting, and failing at a new job, having to deal with both earning money and her duties as a Slayer could have been a short plotline where she couldn't balance it and it made things worse for her. It could have really shown just how much she struggled, and made her self-destruction hit even harder.

But it had to be a comedy episode.

I'm not saying Doublemeat Palace is the only example I have of how they fumbled showing her depression and inability to readjust after being resurrected. But it's the beginning of it, and indicative of how they fumbled showing it.

Willow and Tara having problems with their relationship? Even the best couples have conflicts. But the out of nowhere magic addiction? When it's never been hinted at that the reason Amy abused magic was an addiction, just moral failing when realizing what she could do with it? And then the sheer amount of shit Willow put Tara through? Tara was abused so badly by the writers. Fighting with Willow then having her memory wiped several times, breaking up with her, only to finally make up once Willow was able to admit she needed help only to be killed in the same episode?

No wonder Amber Benson was on board for the audiobook. Tara deserved better.

Xander and Anya? I'm sorry, Xander has a lot of flaws but he's not the type to leave someone at the alter just so Anya can have her own destructive arc. He'd be more likely to just call the entire thing off before the wedding if he was that afraid that it would turn into what happened with his parents.

The trio? Okay. So. I'm going to talk Arknights for a bit. After going through Code of Brawl, I joke about how much trouble Penguin Logistics gets into and how I don't know how they're still alive after their antics. But the difference between them and the trio is Penguin Logistics is also competent. Exuisai can lean out a car door to shoot rubber bullets at the essentially Italian Mafia guys chasing them and not die because she's, mechanically, a 6* unit who can be a boss killer on her own. This is nothing to her. Texas is the last surviving member of the Texas famiglia, and people constantly refer to her as very dangerous. Il Siracusano showed why. Of course being the driver and pulling off that shit is easy for her. In comparison, the only thing the trio has to offer is Warren was the form of "actually evil" that is oh you're evil evil. They should have never been a threat outside the fact Warren had no moral compass. They're constantly bumbling, and only a threat to Buffy because the plot said so.

Spike? Holy shit. He has more dignity than what he did in season 6, and the bathroom scene felt like a punishment for those who liked Spike enough to keep him around. Like "are you sure you like him? See! He's an irredeemable monster! Stop liking him." We already know Whedon hated how popular Spike was, and because of that, this incredibly out of character and just plain cruel scene can only feel like punishing those who liked him.

Tbh the more I think about it, the more I feel season 6 was a punishment for whoever wanted to keep it going. It's so unpleasant, and it is pretty much just dark for darkness's sake. The writing isn't strong enough to support anything they wanted to do and not have it come off as malicious. It's bad and no amount of good ideas can excuse execution.

Season 6 could have been a poignant look at grief, loss, depression, and self-destruction. Having a human being more evil than a demon and finally showing that the Willow we know really does have the capability to be as evil as her alternate vampire self could have been great, since we've never really had that. Even in season 4, the Initiative was more misguided than actually evil. Instead we got grimdark and out of character writing.

Season 6 sucks, is the worst season, and I will not be convinced otherwise.

[stardiveatnight]

Okay so a few hours have passed since I watched season 3 and I want to collect my thoughts

(Also it is 9am and I haven‘t slept so bear with me)

First of all I wanna say that the performances were amazing. I rewatched the scene where Wille confronts his parents at least ten times because it‘s just so intense and I love Edvin‘s performance in it.

I‘m glad Micke returned, but I‘m also glad that there won’t seem to be a happy ending for him. I felt like Sara‘s and Simon‘s relationship with him needed a bit more exploring and closure and I felt like they did what they could do with the limited amount of time and so many plots to wrap up.

While I felt like the first three episodes were quite slow, it all paid off in episode 5. Such a good episode, I can’t say it enough!

Never thought about Rosh and Stella being a thing but, even though I know they won‘t actually end up together, I quite enjoyed seeing them together.

I found the revelation about the hazing and all that very interesting and didn’t see Erik making a comeback like that at all. But it fits the theme and makes sense, because if everything is not as it seems, then so is Erik. Also, it added depth to not only August, but in my opinion to Nils and Vincent as well.

I very much enjoyed watching Felice‘s struggle with getting over Sara, because I‘m pretty sure we all can relate to that pain and it felt refreshing having it dealt with in such depth.

Simon and Wille being happy together! Being out in public!! That was nice to see, albeit short.

I reblogged a post about this too, but I loved that some of the more heavier subjects were finally addressed out loud. It felt so satisfying to watch after all that buildup and hinting in seasons 1 & 2 (e.g. the racism Felice deals, I really liked her talk with her dad, August‘s eating disorder, and probably other things that my sleep deprived brain cannot think of right now)

I don‘t understand the problems people have with Simon and Wille, or especially Simon‘s behavior at the end of episode 5. I feel like it was pretty careless and ignorant of the palace to expect Wille to explain Simon all the rules he will have to follow now that their relationship is public, and for Simon to follow them all without batting an eye. I mean, he is 17 after all, idk what they were thinking. And to me, it was pretty clear that Simon was anything but happy in their relationship, especially after realizing that due to Wille being a prince, his needs will always somehow mean a little more, have priority, etc. etc., and Simon will have to get used to having to take a step back more times than not. I totally get not being okay with that, and I‘m not trying to say that Wille‘s problems especially towards the end of the season are not bad or valid — they definitely are. But I don‘t think we can fault a 17 year old who is being thrust into this world he doesn’t understand and that is not welcoming to him without any help by his side to think that maybe, this is not the life for him. I guess he could have waited until after his birthday? But that’s just me.

My heart is breaking for Wille, though. He really cannot catch a break, but I was surprised to see that he was seemingly on board with being the crown prince again. I guess anything as long as August doesn’t get what he wants.

I do have to say though, I did not like the music as much as I did in the other seasons. It was alright, and I‘m excited to see whether there‘ll be another iconic song at the end of episode 6.

I mentioned it earlier, but I felt like episodes 1-3 were a little bit slow. I understand why, but at times it was a bit dragging.

I‘m very curious to see how they are going to wrap everything up in the last episode. It sure is a lot for just one more episode, but we‘ll see! I‘m optimistic it‘ll be great.

[alaffy]

Riverdale 7x19 - The Golden Age of Television (Spoilers)

Ok, I will admit the last couple of minutes got me choked up a bit. As much as I feel the series went downhill, I am going to miss it. Or some of it. And I'm glad that, contrary to some of the rumors, things didn't play out quite as I had heard.

The story starts with the removal of Featherhead and the hiring of Weatherbee. Also, the Councilor is leaving for Washington. And we see how the timeline is starting down the path towards light (or some such nonsense). Archie plans on riding the rails during the summer, working on his poetry. That is until he finds out Reggie won't be going to this all important Basketball camp as it will be during peak harvest season. Archie tells Reggie to go to the camp and that Archie will take Reggie's place on the farm. Good on you Archie, you might just be like Fred yet. Eh, probably not. But still good.

Pep comics is going to shut down, but not without putting out one last issue based on "The Comet," by W. E. B. Du Bois. Jughead writes the editorial. Judging by the amount of people reading the last comic, I'm guessing we're to believe it makes people think.

Meanwhile, Jughead gives Du Bois' contact information to Veronica, who gains the rights to make a film version. Clay will write and direct.

Cheryl takes back the Vixens. Evelyn's reaction is priceless.

Nobody mentions Midge. Well...

Hal will be sleeping in the basement. Betty's book is published and she gives a copy to Alice. Alice reads it...and yaddah, yaddah, yaddah....understands Betty now....more bullshit...Alice still has a chance to be happy. But not a stewardess because, well, 1950s.

So, Angel Tabita arrives and shows Jughead seasons 1-6 of Riverdale on an old color tv. This causes Jughead to get his memories back. Tabitha explains that they've done their job creating a better timeline (okay), but the timelines were too tangled to separate them. However, she was able to merge them into one timeline. But this means she can't take everyone back to 2023.

...Sure.

What she can do is give everyone their memories back. Long story short, everyone is given the option to view their past lives. Everyone agrees, except for Kevin because he finds there is no Clay before this timeline and Julian because he learns he's a doll. It's a yes it's a lot for everyone to take in.

So, they all meet up again and talk with Tabitha. The Bear is mentioned. Yay! Everyone asks if it would be possible for Tabitha to make it so they would only have the good memories, but not the bad. I mean, I can't blame them...but some of those memories will loose context.

Good news, apparently it is possible. All Tabitha has to do is hit a big ol' reset button (...Fuck you Riverdale) and show them only the good memories. And so we see everyone, including Kevin, Clay, and Julian watching them.

Tabitha sneaks out and Jughead follows. Jughead asks if Tabitha will stay. She says she can't because there's another Tabitha out there who's actually about to live the life this Tabitha should have had had she not come to Riverdale, but she and Jughead will never get together. Jughead, again, tries to get her to stay as they had a life together before....and, I'm sorry, I know the writers are trying to give Jabitha an epic goodbye...but in the pervious scene Jughead's arm was wrapped around Veronica...they're still dating...what does Jughead think will happen here? Anyway, in the end they have one final kiss goodbye and she disappears. Well, she exits off the stage, they don't have the money for special effects (as season six shows us).

We find out after that Jughead has opted out of not having his memories re-erased and having only the good memories put in. What Jughead mentions, and it seems like he didn't know this at the time, is that Betty also chose to keep all of her memories.

God, life at the Cooper's will be fun. "Hal, can you carve the Turkey?" "GOD MOM, DON'T GIVE HIM A KNIFE!"

Well, one more episode to go. I admit I'm a little curious on how this will end, though I don't have any high expectations for it. Oh, but one last thing before I end this...

Frank and Tom are sleeping with each other. Really. Trying getting that image out of your head.