#i was at the start of season 2 i really should find another big project to work on cos it's the perfect show for me to have in the bg

[chaotictomtom]

msorry but seeing that pic got me dizzy with need to indeed kiss the librarian. spike is cool too ig

[dalliancekay]

I'm just gonna write out what I think cos if someone sends me this again for the 113th time, I'm gonna snap. Look. Interviews (months!) before a premiere of something are tricky. You gotta be careful and VAGUE with what you say and what you want people to expect. Mostly creators focus on the themes in the first, maybe second episodes or so too trying not to give away much. Just the bare bones, what is already expected anyway. After all, they want you to watch it and go: "Ahhhh...." It was the same in S2 as well. (David describing in interviews how unmoored Crowley was in S2, how kind of disappointed etc and Michael how Az is also a bit disconcerted by not having a job, something big to belong to). But that's a description of - how we find the Ineffables in ep1, rather than describing the whole of Season 2. And there was a book first before the series and you must admit Aziraphale and Crowley are a bit different in the series than they are in the book. So caution was needed. PLUS their story has evolved again. It doesn't now end in the Ritz (I know it never really did for Neil and Terry who clearly wanted them to deal with the whole system somehow). The husbands have more trouble ahead. More details were added. We got more of their story, their journeys. Crowley doesn't change and is just waiting for Aziraphale to catch up with him is not much of a story, don't you think? Aziraphale is a naïve goody two shoes angel who has to realise Heaven is bad - is just so simple I'd be angry if I was Neil and read that. Well, okay, I AM angry.

And I'm sorry but Aziraphale has not lived a guarded life. He has lived a life of fear and anxiety with bosses who underestimate, belittle and laugh at him and think he's soft and rather pointless. Does anyone know what the question was Neil answers?

Yeah, Aziraphale changes a lot in S1 (esp first 2 eps, he's kind of forced to think about the stuff that was always kinda there but swept under a rug a bit in is mind). Crowley throws out - we should do something. This whole Armageddon thing, I don't like it. He is so much a questioner of everything, isn't he. Why does it have to be tis way. Makes no sense, what if... And generally, he doesn't have much to lose. If Hell wins, well, he knows what it's like. If Heaven wins, well, it'd be marginally better? Just about? If he survives to see it? Still sucks balls tho. So yes, David is right that Crowley NEEDS Aziraphale to see things his way and quickly. Cos EARTH.

Aziraphale knows the Earth came with a manual and an expiry date. He even told this to Angel!Crowley aeons ago.

So Aziraphale's journey (is not stopping believing Heaven is good and truth and light) is believing that he has choices. That the Plan might be Ineffable but it doesn't have to follow what he was told it must follow.

Crowley says, look, let's try, what do we have to lose. You like Earth as much as I do. And he gets Aziraphale to agree, they hatch a plan.

We watch Crowley come to love and trust Aziraphale through the ages after all he has been through. We watch Aziraphale to guard their little existence and carefully push at boundaries of what he thinks he can get away with. He wonders at what things are really like. What do they mean.

Their journey, is towards each other.

I don't know how they will smash the System before they fall into a tight embrace and never let go, but I know they will. Even if they have no idea yet that that is even possible. How could they.

And if I see one more post about how Aziraphale was backsliding and choosing his ‘faith’ over Crowley in the Final 15, I will set the internet on fire.

I can never decide if Heaven and Hell are more like mafia or like a dictatorship. Maybe a mix of both. Just cos they couldn't be killed, they were left alone for a bit. Didn't last long though, did it. They needed to be separated so they don't stop another go at destroying the little Universe project God started. I guess the Archangels are quite fed up with it.

Remember. Aziraphale and Crowley have nowhere to go. They never had. The best they could do was keep their little places on Earth. For themselves. For each other. Until they couldn't.

If you thought Aziraphale won't take the chance to have a tiny glimmer of an opportunity to destroy the fucking system in whatever way he can come up with (instead of what, being downmoted, having his memory erased too?), than you don't get him at all. Did he want to stay? You heard him say it. Was he allowed to? (No, really Metatron, nice chat but do fuck off for real now, I have a date with my demon). If you think Metatron wouldn't be back with a punishment for helping Gabriel than I don't know what to tell you.

Remember this?

And then they threatened the demon he loves.

ALSO Why do people keep bringing this back to justify their vague (or not so vague) dislike of Az (but but Neil said "I think Aziraphale needs to learn") cos they think Az betrayed Crowley by leaving or something. The angel is just so stubborn. And he just won't listen to Crowley... right? /s And they ignore all the other wonderful things Neil says about Aziraphale. Especially pointing out again and again and again how smart Aziraphale is. And you can see this. In canon. On screen. In the words and scenes of what Neil wrote. You can see Aziraphale's struggles - he is a part of something he disagrees with and has no way out (Hell is not a way out btw) and tries to live in his existence in the little bubble with Crowley while being extremely careful not to have it burst. Until it inevitably does. Just as he always knew it would. But okay, if you want to have Good Omens be about a demon who figured everything out and is now waiting for his fluffy little angel to catch up and apologise to him (a million times) for being stupid so they can finally ride into the sunset, have at it. TL;DR - Heaven is good and Heaven should/could be good are two different things - Aziraphale is not an idiot; whether he still believes God is good/neutral/whatever and just the management bad or not is up in the air, we can't know unless we ask him, but it's definitely not so simple as he needs to see it's bad, like Crowley did, end of story - The Ineffables HAVE NOWHERE TO GO. There isn't a secret third option where they can leave for and be happy if only Aziraphale opened his eyes - it's what the story is about - Crowley left Heaven for an even worse place. It would make zero sense for Aziraphale to follow his journey. Crowley is not free and doesn't have all the answers - I bet it has never occurred to either of them the whole System can be ever changed (we don't even know if it can be. The System is bigger than the UNIVERSE) - But I think that's what they'll do in S3

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (21-27 Apr 2024)

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

😊 rounding third, sliding home. (througheden) - 68K, enjoyable steddie AU with pro baseball player Steven & massage therapist Eddie

🥰 Daddy Issues (His Boy Next Door #39) (RJ Moray) - reread; just a big fan of Jack & Channon & their ongoing story!

🥰 Common Ground (His Boy Next Door #40) (RJ Moray) - LOVE that Jack & Ewan are finding some common ground - really love that this series is showing how two people who don't particularly care for each other can work to find connection for the sake of the people they DO love

😍 ACT-verse series (ann_anotherthing) - truly outstanding series about middle-aged Steddie getting a 2nd chance romance after their first one flamed out 25 yrs earlier. Full series is 117K but it starts with A Certain Type (54K), which is a fully complete story with satisfying HEA - the rest are flashback fics or wonderfully indulgent epilogue/vignettes, full of fluffy and delicious porn. The author confesses to basically turning them into her middle-aged OCs but 1) I think her projections of their characters in middle-age with these particular life experiences seem reasonably plausible and more importantly 2) I don't fucking care because this story and these characters (main & supporting) are AMAZING.

💖💖 +227K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

When you stop being a ghost in a shell (Bittersweet_in_Boston) - MCU: Stucky, 12K - Hydra finds Steve in 1952 & then they have The Asset and The Captain. Except they really should have known better than to ever let them see one another.

Where the Sunflowers Grow (AidaRonan) - Stranger Things: Buckingham, 30K - incredible Chrissy recovery fic with bonus Buckingham. Just. So Fucking Good.

Early Returns (rageprufrock) - Inception: Arthur/Eames, 15K - fabulous AU where Arthur's an editor who has everything on lock, dammit & Eames is a reporter who wants to mess him up. Also the newsroom is nothing but a high-pressure high school when it comes to gossip.

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Murdoch Mysteries - s16, e14-20

Um, Actually - s9, e5; s1, e3, 4, 6-20

Game Changer - s6, e6

Smartypants - s1, e1

Ghosts (US) - s3, e9

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Untapped Rage" (s21, e16)

D20: Adventuring Party - "Honor the Cock" (s16, e16)

Dead Boy Detectives - s1, e1-3

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #13: Of the Gentle Sea

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep13 "Of the Gentle Sea"

Worlds Beyond Number - WWW #14: There is an Ocean Vaster Than This One

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for WWW ep14 "There is an Ocean Vaster Than This One"

99% Invisible - The Power Broker #04: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

What Next: TBD - The Internet Archive Endangered

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tree Week: A Tasty Tale about Meyer Lemons

⭐ The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tree Week: Love Letters

The Sporkful - Priya Krishna Writes The Kids Cookbook She Wished She'd Had

The Allusionist - 193. Word Play 3: Lemon Demon

WikiHole - Cicadas…LIVE (with Matt Rogers, Carl Tart and Claudia O'Doherty)

In Defense of Fandom - Season 2 Episode 3: Fanfiction fixit data

Vibe Check - Her Mediocrity Cannot Touch Me

Code Switch - How Jewish Communities Are Divided Over Support of Israel

Short Wave - Beavers Can Help With Climate Change. So How Do We Get Along?

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tree Week: Oh, the places you will go …. to see these notable trees

⭐ Decoder Ring - Making Real Music for a Fake Band

Ologies with Alie Ward - Columbidology (PIGEONS? YES) Part 2 with Rosemary Mosco

All Songs Considered - Cruel songs for the cruelest month

Pop Culture Happy Hour - What Makes A Good Sex Scene?

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Tree Week: Killer Trees with Mary Roach

Shedunnit - Agatha Christie's Many Houses

⭐ 99% Invisible #579 - Towers of Silence

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat: Sound and Music Talkback Extravaganza: The Sound and the Fury: Music is All Around Us Volume 1

Dear Prudence - My love language with friends is touch, but it makes my partner jealous. Help!

Worlds Beyond Number - Fireside Chat for Chapter 1 of The Wizard the Witch and the Wild One

⭐ Endless Thread - The Jackie Show

Worlds Beyond Number: Fireside - Fireside Chat for LEVELING UP (1 to 2)

Today, Explained - Honey, We Saved the Bees

Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me! - Renée Elise Goldsberry

⭐ Hit Parade - The Bridge: What Made Them Beautiful

History Is Sexy - Episode #86 - Napoleon III

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

'80s Pop Party

Village People radio

[whovianwatchingstartrek]

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 113 - Followers of the Red Angel

Star Trek: Discovery - Season 2 Episode 2 - New Eden

Sorry it's been a few days, haven't had time to watch because my Partner's been sick, and I've been looking after him. He's doing better now, so I'm back!

We open this episode with Michael showing Pike the audio recording that Spock left behind at the end of last episode. It's very clear that these signals are related to whatever visions Spock has been having. Apparently, Spock has also been booked into a psychiatric facility, through his own choice.

Discussion about Spock are interrupted however by another Signal appearing. It is extremely far away though, hundreds of year's at Discovery's Top Speed. Pike give's the order to reactivate the Spore Drive. Paul Stamets here is great, I love how the episode is cutting through his grief and his philosophy over life, death and how it relates to him seeing Hugh in the Spore network.

Meanwhile on the bridge, we meet a mystery: There are humans on this planet! Humans who have apparently been here since before the Earth Achieved Warp capabilities. Enterprise did a similar episode, and it was a fun excuse for a western, so that immediately got my hopes up to see if we were gonna Genre shift here too, which we didn't particularly, but this pre-industrial world was still a fun setting

Apparently, these humans arrival on this planet happened during Earth's WW3, which a bit about in Enterprise, but ENT never really went into detail about WW3, so I'm hoping this is a chance to explore that. Unfortunately that didn't pan out. I am still hoping information about WW3 is something we'll get eventually, it seems like a pretty big part of Star Trek Earth's history to leave entirely vague.

We get a little bit of debate between Pike and Michael's different perspectives on what the signals are, Michael taking a more hardline Scientific approach, where as Pike takes a more philosophical approach, assuming these Red Angel signals are some kind of really advanced species and modifies the Sufficiently Advance Technology adage to apply to deities. Kinda reminded me T'Pol's and Archer's "The Vulcan Science Directorate has determined that time travel is impossible" conversations in a way. I find Pike brining up the idea of a god interesting, Enterprise did briefly touch on Religion, but from experience would the first time anything like that has been brought up in relation to a crew member, and I'm curious to see how that's explored.

Over in the hanger bay, Sylvia is working on her Dark matter project, I love her enthusiasm, and just devotion to use it to make a new Spore navigation system so Paul can retire. She's perfect. Unfortunately, it goes wrong and she's knocked unconscious. I love Saru's little speech about how she needs to not overwork herself.

Discovery sends down a ground crew to the planet, and they explore it's church, which apparently has amalgamated a lot Earth's religions together. The worldbuilding of their society is actually really interesting. Apparently, these humans were taken here by Spock's Red Angel, Michael of course wants a more rational explanation, but isn't getting one. We do find out a Soldier's camera recorded this transfer. Our team ask to take shelter in the town's church, as a ruse to find this Camera, but meanwhile on the bridge, one of the planet's radioactive rings is about to collapse and cause the planet's extinction. Saru gives the order to start the rescue of the planet's populace.

Unaware of the impending disaster, we then a little debate between Pike and Michael about whether or not these humans should be reintegrated into Earth Society or if they should be left to develop on their own. They're discovered though, and they're tech is taken so that their captors can prove they're from earth. From here on out, the ground crew get to do some pretty clever low tech solutions to problems, which I loved.

In Medbay, Sylvia starts thinking through a plan to pull the debris away from the planet using the Dark Matter Meteor, and it works! Our ground crew get their tech back, and are extracted back to Enterprise while maintaining their cover. We're then left with a reveal that Sylvia has been seeing a ghost!

Pike returns to the planet to trade a power cell for the Soldier's helmet cam, to find out more info on the Red Angels, and after repairing it aboard discovery, we see that the angel is indeed real, however the feed cuts out shortly after it appears.

I really liked this episode, and I'm loving the build up of the mystery around whatever the Red Angels are, and the various moral and philosophical debates here great. Sylvia Tilly as always was a highlight

[formulaorange]

2023 Spring Anime

This season looks whack. There's so many notable series, there's definitely something for everyone this season. Of course starting off with the big ones:

Demon Slayer Season 3 - The Swordsmith Village Arc

Attack on Titan: The Final Season The Final Chapters

Dr Stone Season 3

While those all look amazing and all:

Bocchi is back baby!!!

Season 2 of Ranking of Kings is back this season. Their story telling is top tier and if you didnt' check out the first season, now is the time to do so.

All these amazing new seasons to look forward to, but this season doesn't stop there, the new series set to debut look absolutely killer too:

Hell's Paradise gets it's anime release, produced by MAPPA of course. This is definitely my most anticipated for the season.

Followed by MASHLE. While I had fun with the manga, I ultimately couldn't get past the art style. The anime should complete the picture for me and this will definitely be one of the top comedy series this season.

Lastly for the big name debut series: Oshi no Ko

This series takes a second to get into but it's taken the manga world by storm and has already gotten its english translations with only 11 japanese releases so far. The story is definitely worth sticking around for and will likely be one if not the top show of the season.

Additional continuing series:

Golden Kamuy S4

Edens Zero S2

The Ancient Magus' Bride S2

KonoSuba - Spin Off Series

As for some lesser known series, I've gone through this seasons' release schedule and filtered through the trailers to pick out the ones that might be worth watching... I honestly wasn't expecting for there to be so many. So like I said, there's definitely something for everyone this season.

Heavenly Delusion

I'm such a sucker for adventure series, throw in sci-fi and I'm hooked. While this definitely gives me Made in Abyss and Promised Neverland vibes, I'm not sure it'll be on the same level.

So far episode 1 looks absolutely amazing. Post-apocalyptic world with the contrast of the two stories, one of kids inside a sanctuary with little outside world knowledge and the kids that live and survive outside. Definitely worth watching.

A Galaxy Next Door

I'm surprised this is even being aired already. I swear the english volumes for the manga just released earlier this year. I've heard mixed things about the series but I think this'll be worth checking out.

Skip to Loafer

I've heard so much about this series and it's honestly got the golden trio of tags. It's a Slice of life comedy romance and the style and characters are so cute. I'll definitely be giving this a full watch through.

Insomniacs after School

This kind of looks like an irl version of Call of the Night but after watching the trailers a bit more it still looks like a lot of fun. It's about these two students who're unable to sleep and what they do when they stay up. They end up joining the astronomy club and overall it looks like it'll be a really pretty and relaxing series.

Dead Mount Death Play

Most manga collectors will have heard of this series. It's supposed to be quite a decent thriller/supernatural series. While I haven't had a chance to read through it, I think it's about time we got another good supernatural show. I'll definitely be checking it out.

Magical Destroyers

This straight up looks like utter chaos. Whether that's good or not I guess we'll find out. It's under the mahou shoujo tag?? but it's about a radical group that is trying to eliminate the otaku culture from Japan. This guy "Otaku Hero" stands up and tries to stop them. It sounds wild and kind of looks like a passion project. I'll give it 3 episodes.

My Home Hero

This is straight up a western drama movie. Similar vibes to Taken this guy kills his daughters yakuza boyfriend and gets caught up in the criminal underground. It's definitely a new trope for anime so I'll be giving it 5 episodes.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury S2

While technically this is a continuation of a series, I feel like many people didn't watch the first half unless they were already into gundam. I never grew up with it and truthfully I just lumped it in with transformers so I never checked it out.

Lots of people have been saying that this reboot it really solid and a good way to get into the series. After watching the trailer I totally understand, the characters all look great and the story looks like a solid sci-fi series. I'll definitely be watching to catch up to the new releases.

Yuri Is My Job

I've head of this series all over the place in the manga world and I know it's one of the more popular shoujo ai. Essentially it seems the plot is that these 2 girls end up working together at a themed cafe and start falling for each other. I don't really have any interest in shoujo ai series (frankly i just started getting into romance series in general) so I'll give it 3 episodes and see how it goes.

The Dangers in My Heart

This is one of those - unlikely mc's gets attention from the pretty love interest. After watching the first episode I can say it definitely isn't the same as the others. The girl is super weird and I like his commentary of all the shit he does. Pretty fun and worth a try at least.

Loving Yamada at Lv999

This looks like a fun lighthearted romance. I'll give it 5 episodes.

Otaku Elf

Pretty much as the title says it's about an Otaku Elf. I think this hoenstly looks like a fun series and as long as you're not looking for more plot, it'll be a good time.

Blue Orchestra

While I think a decent number of people will like the series, I know for sure I'll drop it due to the cgi. I just feel that CGI isn't at the stage where it feels natural enough with the rest of the animations and it really takes away from my watching experience.

My god. I had no clue they redid this but I'll 100% be watching this now lol. They rebooted Tokyo Mew Mew.

This was one of the first anime I watched growing up.

The second season is airing this season - Tokyo Mew Mew New S2

in case anyone else grew up watching it and wats to catch up.

And of course, the isekais.

We've now evolved from just the standard isekais to isekais with a twist.

I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, too.

I'll give it 3 episodes but unsurprisingly I don't think i'll stick with it.

The Legendary Hero is Dead!

This looks a little different from the ususal, I'll give it 3 episodes.

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion

This is a full send fantasy shoujo romance and I thought I had had enough of the royal isekai trope but apparently not. The cheese of the romance has sucked me in again with the pretty animations to top it off. I'll be giving it a good 3 episodes.

The Ecchi series for the season:

KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World

This honestly looks like fun but I've had my fair share of this kind of show. This is a fantasy ecchi isekai comedy. I'll still give it 3 episodes.

Megami no Cafe Terrace

Frankly I have no interest in ecchi harem series like this but the quality looks decent so I've added it here for those who want something to watch along those lines this season.

[cr0ftisprocrastinating]

Crofty! My favorite and beloved academia Dramione writer! Will you be a student again this year? What is the back to school season like for you?

I also want to ask, how do you set intentions for the beginning of the semester/school year and make sure that you stay committed to them? How do you balance separate writing projects with your coursework?

In addition, would you be willing to share advice for a reader halfway through her undergraduate degree? For context, I’ve had some rough setbacks in my first two years, but I’m really eager to prove myself. I want to build back my GPA and earn my way into a humanities PhD program.

Thanks so much! I hope your academic years are wonderful (in the true old meaning of the word!) and give you great joy, wisdom and inspiration.

#ADHDinacademia #PhD #dramione #darkacademia #hogwarts #oxford #oxbridge #ivyleague #columbia #manuscript #marauder #hermionegranger #undergradwoes #lumos

Sweet Piedra! Happy September, aka the best month of the whole year! (it may or may not include my birthday).

I will be a student this year again! I'm just about to start my second year as a phd student (programs in the UK are usually 3-4 years, so I'm nearly halfway through already?!).

The biggest advice I can give about studying is firstly: wanting to do well is the first step to doing well in anything, so you are already a good chunk of the way there!

2. pick things that you are naturally interested in (for option papers). Life is a hell of a lot easier when you're not making it harder for yourself, even if you think you *should* be studying something bc it sounds impressive (personally, I am not into Russian Literature at all, so I just don't force myself to slog through Crime and Punishment, etc. This simple realisation improved my life by at least 100%)

3. Do as much reading as you can. When I did my undergrad I was so surprised at how little reading people did lol, and doing the reading makes a big difference. The Professors have made the reading lists for a reason and they want to help you.

4. Utilise office hours! It took me ages to realise that I can just...go to the office hours and talk to the people who were teaching me. Go in person if you can. Talk them through your essay plans and they will course correct before they're marked. Let them know that you're interested in pursuing it further, and find out what they think you need to do to fill in any gaps you may have. Don't be discouraged if they're short with you, bc academics are a weird bunch.

5. Try not to be so focused on an end result that you forget to enjoy what you're doing right now. Romanticise the hell out of your life whenever you can. It's short!

In terms of my 'process' (sorry this is SO long):

This term is going to be pretty hectic! In addition to my PhD I work Tuesdays and Wednesdays at a corporate job to help pay the bills. I have funding, but funding in the arts is just...not enough.

I will also be teaching this semester for the first time ever (yay!) so I have reading lists and essay questions to put together before Oct. That's every other week though, so it's not too much work.

My supervisors and I try to get a 'chunk' of my thesis written a term (8-10k roughly). I have about 8k due at the end of this month as I have written 2 chunks over the summer, and will have another due at the end of term in Dec.

Also, I've been asked to give a talk about my research at the end of the semester which I am SO excited about, but it means I'll be adapting one of my thesis chapters for that, too! :)

Broadly speaking I do fanfic writing Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, as after grown-up-job-things my brain is too toasted for academic work. When I'm getting to the end of a story however I get real itchy fingers and have to get all the words out as quickly as possible, so I let a lot of other things slide, like cleaning or cooking or washing my hair or also doing my work. Gross, I know, but I've never been particularly functional when I have an idea in my head.

However, I do believe that if you are busy then you are more productive. I have 2 modes: INSANE or blob. I do not recommend this approach, but that is just the way that I'm wired. Today, for instance, I spent the entire day in bed. Tomorrow I really must go back to the library.

Oxford terms are only 8 weeks long, and honestly no matter how prepared I am at the beginning, by halfway through I'm clinging on by a thread. I try not to be too hard on myself when that happens, and focus on getting my work done and not keeping my house clean or whatever else I've decided to beat myself up about.

My username is about procrastinating for a reason. I just kind of productively procrastinate and then at some point everything just gets done?

Some personal mantras:

'everything in moderation, including moderation'

'say yes and figure it out later'

'the work comes first' (normally I say this to try and galvanize myself into staying in the library when I want to go to the pub)

'fuck it' (said when the pub wins out)

'it'll get done, because it has to' (said when I have a week to write 4,000 words because i've procrastinated too close to the sun, again)

[jubileebloom]

Episode lists from the last seasons of MLP FiM except I Made Some Of It Up and then gave up on season 9

I am good at titles I swear

Season 8:

Students Abroad: Part 1 Twilight Sparkle and Cheerilee hope to start off the new school year with some additional students in Ponyville’s high school, but the EEA has other ideas.

Students Abroad: Part 2 Chancellor Neighsay is against the idea of having non-ponies attend a school run by ponies. When Twilight tries to convince him otherwise, she runs into problems with the leaders of other countries as well.

The Maud Couple

Manehattan Monthly Magazine Fluttershy offers to look after Rarity’s boutique while she’s away, but when a reporter comes by looking to write about the shop, she has to figure out how Rarity would want all his questions answered.

Grannies Gone Wild

Surf and/or Turf

Horse Play

The Parent Map

Party’s Favored Applejack and Rainbow Dash volunteer to lead a field trip with the multicultural student program, but their students end up arguing about which pony is better.

idk anything but the god damn miscommunication trope

Molt Down

Marks for Effort The Cutie Mark Crusaders are looking forward to joining the multicultural student program next year for their final years of school, but Scootaloo’s poor grades are putting her in danger of being ineligible to join.

idk anything but the mean 6 that was AWFUL

oh yeah gave up on season 8 too

Season 9:

uhhhhh idk just not the mean 3 and the tree of harmony still gets destroyed but Celestia and Luna aren't certain on retiring yet they're just considering it I really should have written this out before posting but I Am Tired and I Am Giving Up

the main point was me just adding on another season for funsies so here we go (I don't even like half of these but oh well here we are I tried)

Season 10:

Insurrections of Harmony: Part 1 Ponies and places of importance are being targeted by the newly discovered League of Silent Voices, but Twilight wonders if they are truly enemies or allies in disguise.

Insurrections of Harmony: Part 2 After the League goes too far with one of their demonstrations, Twilight and her friends must navigate difficult decisions about how to respond to their protests.

Wings out of Whack Gallus, Gabby, Smolder, and Silverstream are all volunteering to help Derpy Hooves make her delivery rounds when they run into her old childhood bully.

Inside and Outside While working on restoring a garden, Sandbar and Yona confront Ocellus over her recent reluctance to stay in her natural form.

Little Creatures, Big Hearts Pipsqueak finds he might be in over his head after he volunteers in a massive Trottingham community service project and takes on a major role.

Larger than Life LARPing When word gets out about Discord’s unique, immersive way of running Ogres and Oubliettes games, he finds himself suddenly popular among a large community of O&O fans.

Fix-up Mix-up Twilight has called up Tempest Berrytwist and Scootaloo to meet a group of researchers who want to experiment with giving them additional abilities. As they question what they truly want, the experiment takes an unexpected turn.

Illuminated Crystal Skies As Flurry Heart is getting a bit older, Cadence and Shining Armor begin to worry if being raised royal is right for her.

Gold Star Grownup Starlight Glimmer’s old teacher has moved to Ponyville to help with the multicultural student program, and Starlight has to prove to him that she’s managed to become a functional adult after being a disaster in his class.

Have A Nice Daisy Someone has been leaving daisy chains on the doorsteps of every home in Ponyville, and in trying to find this mysterious benefactor, the citizens get a chance to bond with their neighbors a bit better.

Too Tired to Trot Rainbow Dash has to talk Spitfire into taking some time off as it becomes clear that the Wonderbolt is overworking herself.

Far From the Family Tree The League of Silent Voices has started revealing private information about powerful figures publicly. But when they manage to unearth who Celestia and Luna’s parents were, the sisters themselves may not be able to handle the discovery.

Of Trees and Time’s Passage A discovery is made about Celestia and Luna’s connection to the late Tree of Harmony, and the effects of its destruction may be worse than they knew.

Radiant Stage Lights Rarity and Kerfuffle write to each other for advice and support as they each prepare for their own upcoming fashion shows.

Animal Jamming Fluttershy is eager to rejoin the revived Pony Tones, but finds it difficult to make time in her schedule as her animal shelter is in full swing.

Lights Shining Down Starswirl and Twilight gather a large group of unicorns to figure out a pressing question: what to do about raising and lowering the Sun and Moon.

League of Losers Conflict is brewing at the headquarters of the League of Silent Voices, as every member has different ways they want to go about their goals.

Mystery of the Missing Marmalade Applejack receives word from Cherry Jubilee that her farm is in trouble, and she begins to suspect that foul play was involved.

Young Souls, Old Stories The Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Young Six team up with the Pillars for an important mission: correct some things their history textbooks got wrong.

Forever Your Filly Overwhelmed by all her responsibilities, Twilight borrows a page from Celestia and Luna’s most recent chapters and spends the day with her parents to destress, bringing Spike along too.

Ribbons and Wrappings Pinkie Pie worries her gift-giving game has gotten rusty, so she decides to find just-because gifts for all her family and friends.

Interdimensional Re-visitors Sunset Shimmer spends a day back in Equestria, bringing some unexpected guests back with her.

Equestria Reborn, Part 1: Every Voice Calling The League of Silent Voices has finally swayed many ponies of Equestria to their side, but amidst the chaos being spread, some start to question their leader’s motives.

Equestria Reborn, Part 2: Negotiations of Traitors With Frostbiters being spotted all over Equestria, it’s up to the three princesses to try to come to an agreement with the League’s leader.

Equestria Reborn, Part 3: Dawn of Dreams Every creature must choose to come back together after it turns out that Swaying Scales’s plans weren’t as benevolent as they had seemed, while Scales reflects on her own rise to power.

Scrolls and Celebrations Some time after Equestria’s government was reformed, Twilight and all her co-rulers struggle to get their paperwork done in time to join in on the Unity Festival.

[freshmoneyalmondathlete]

So... Fate The Winx Saga has been cancelled after two seasons .

I'm feeling very deflated and sad . I knew this was a very big possibility with how season 1 went story wise however with season 2 , it really started to gain momentum for me . It was starting to resemble a somewhat structured live action adaptation of one of my favourite childhood cartoon series .

And that's the thing it was an ADAPTATION. With adaptations you don't get word for word dialogue and arcs for arcs from the original to the new project . You don't solely just go copy and paste . You experiment and draw inspiration, you do it justice yes to very best of your ability but an adaptation isn't the original and nor should it be . It should resemble the original but not just be another copy.

Don't get me wrong the series had it's flaws but it also had it's highlights , Farah Dowling being of them .

Ftws has brought so many of us together on this platform and that is what I take most from this series .

Season 2 was an upgrade from season 1 and I was hoping by season 3 , it would have improved even more and find a stronger footing however we won't be getting a season 3 and I genuinely have to make peace with that which is hard to do rn because it was getting there as a series . Slowly but surely with each season it was getting there.

And with Netflix it really does come down to subscriptions . It really is how they make majority of their money and Netflix has been in trouble for a few years now and they cut whatever shows they can so they can save money for their highest earning. If something doesn't bring in more new subscriptions then it won't survive long .

Netflix may not believe in the show but we can still keep the fandom alive with fanfiction.

[animehouse-moe]

Fate Japanese Art Book Haul

So, a big old order of Fate material. But still, even with this much being added to my collection I've scratched the surface of Fate/Type-Moon material. This (alongside my other Heaven's Feel stuff) represents the majority of anime art book works, but still I'd say I'm only getting to about 50, maybe 60, percent of the anime art books currently. So yeah, still loads to go on all fronts, but good progress! Anyways, let me dive into the art books from top to bottom in the above image.

Fate/Prototype Animation Material

This one is really interesting to me. The vast majority of the art book is just the storyboards for a single 10 minute OVA. The amount of projected and potential work in this art book comfortably outweighs the information we get in the OVA, making it a super cool look into the original concepts that Nasu had for the Stay Night route.

Of course, the book has more than just storyboards to it, as it starts off with character and prop design pages in full color. Super cool to see so I sort of wish they included more extraneous production aspects alongside it, but I won't really complain given how much material there already is, and the fact that I got it for dirt cheap (a little over 5CAD at auction).

Fate/Zero Openings and Endings Key Animations

Another sorta extra purchase, but for how much it was (10.50CAD and it's Hardcover), I wasn't going to pass it up in the moment. Have to fill out that roster somehow, right? Anyways, it's a relatively small art book, just a bit bigger in trim than the Prototype one, but it's really cool to have the openings and endings in keyframe format. Lots of pretty stuff in there.

There is a proper item set for this though. It originally comes in a box with a pair of extra material books including storyboards for the openings and endings. The whole set itself is a bit of a challenge to find at times, but the individual items are very abundant, so I'll probably be picking them up in the next haul or two if I can find them for cheap. Or maybe I'll double dip and get the box if I can, it does seem pretty cool (also comes with bonus full sheets from the OPs/EDs).

Image from this art book blog, which you should definitely check out

Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works First Season Key Animations

This was really cool. I'm a big cheapskate (despite how much I buy), so I was incredibly happy to have won the auction for this pair of books at only around 20CAD each. What's not cool, but rather confusing, is how different the second season key animations set is. It's a colored and metallic dust jacket. Very weird, right? Anyways, it's super cool fate stuff and the key animation is as incredible as you might expect.

Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel AD Correction Collection Volumes 1 & 2

I feel like a fraud, only having things for Heaven's Feel 1&2, but Spring Song stuff is so expensive. I could get the first two storyboard collections for both Heaven's Feel and Unlimited Blade Works for less than I can typically find the Spring Songs Key Animations for. It's so rough. Anyways, these are a collection of the correction done by the Art Director for Heaven's Feel. You could say it already overlaps with the Keyframe Collections of their namesakes, but I think it's interesting to see the changes and overall process of the work.

Fate/Zero Key Animations Collection

I really appreciate that Zero kept the dust jackets consistent for itself. UBW Season 2 really is just the odd one out of Ufotable's Fate collection. Regardless, it's pretty much the same story as the UBW keyframe collections, plenty of cool and very pretty keyframe art that provides a window into the production and work of Ufotable on the series.

Fate/Grand Order Trailer's Trail Volume 1

Now hear me out, I don't play FGO, but I do enjoy the quality of the trailers, and when an A4 book comprised of over 400 pages of key animation is 10CAD it's hard to look the other way. In general though, it's pretty cool, and well organized into chapters so you don't get pieces mixed up with each other. Definitely worth it for any fans of the game, or just like some really well animated Fate stuff.

Ufotable 15th Anniversary Exhibition Pictorial Record

This was a pretty cool pickup. Special art stuff for studios as a whole isn't something that greatly interests me, but Ufotable is definitely a studio I'd be interested in having a history of, even if I'm not a fan of everything they work on. Overall it's a very pretty and well constructed hardcover art book, with a nice helping of works from all across their years (which they did an excellent job of selecting the best moments from).

And that about does it with this haul. As you can tell, there's a lot here, but also a great deal that I'm still missing. The more you come to understand and have, the deeper the abyss seems to grow. At the end of the day though, it's incredible fun and something I've grown to be incredibly passionate about. There's so much history to all of these art books, so many memories and so much passion behind it all. Having a record of all of my favorite series and titles and animators just feels right. I'm able to be in control of what I remember of them and it's a really great feeling.

[crowdvscritic]

round up // APRIL 24

Big ensembles, the queens of pop, rocky romances, and love-it-or-hate-it pop culture artifacts—they’re all here.

We're on the eve of summer blockbuster season, but we’ve already seen several strong releases, including one below I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m still thinking about in December. Keep scrolling through this Round Up for the top comedies, classics, and action thrillers I experienced April in the order I experienced them...

April Crowd-Pleasers

1. Monkey Man (2024)

Part John Wick, part Rocky, and part something all its own, Dev Patel’s feature directorial debut is a brutal revenge thriller action fans will love. Watch my full review for KMOV.  Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10

2. SNL Round Up

Just last month I was low-key mourning an underwhelming season of Saturday Night Live, but then Kristen Wiig and Ryan Gosling came to revive my hopes with two of the best episodes in awhile. Start with “Beavis and Butt-Head” or just cue up both episodes and watch start-to-finish.

“Five-Timers Monologue” (4916 with Kristen Wiig) 

“Jumanji” (4916)

“Weekend Update: Aunt Linda on the Latest Hit Movies” (4916)

“La Maison Du Bang!” (4916)

“Monologue” (4917 with Ryan Gosling)

“The Engagement” (4917)

“Weekend Update: Resident Boyfriend Michael Longfellow on Weaponized Incompetence” (4917)

“Weekend Update: Caitlin Clark on the WNBA Draft” (4917)

“Beavis and Butt-Head” (4917)

“Erin Brockovich” (4917)

“Doctor” (4917)

“Papyrus 2” (4917)

3. Upgraded (2024)

This update of Working Girl set in the art world is, to put it bluntly, just super cute. Camila Mendes has the star power to lead movies bigger than Prime originals (including the winning charisma needed for the best rom-coms), and we could use Marisa Tomei in more of everything. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

4. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

It’s not every day I get to mention The Guns of Navarone in a review. This movie is selling itself to you (and your dad) as an opportunity to watch Superman and Jack Reacher kill a bunch of Nazis, and with Guy Ritchie directing, this action-adventure is plenty fun. Read my full review at ZekeFilm. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 7.5/10

5. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-21)

Thanks to Southwest Airlines, I've seen a smattering of the eight seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but with the first four seasons now on Netflix, April became the month to watch it all the way through. Like Mike Schur’s other sitcoms (The Good Place, The Office, Parks and Recreation), the joke rate is exceptionally high and the characters are lovable and idiosyncratic. If a sitcom filled with Halloween heists, umpteen references to Die Hard, and the silliest possible cases for police offers sounds like your jam, you won’t be disappointed, either. 

MORE APRIL CROWD-PLEASERS: If you can roll with the half-developed plotting (and a few cruder-than-necessary moments) in the stylish Lisa Frankenstein (2024), this ‘80s-set homage to Heathers is a lot of fun. // When I tried to watch High Fidelity (2000) as a teenager, I quit about 30 minutes in because John Cusack’s man-child protagonist was so unlikeable. I’m glad I gave it another chance as an adult so I could realize that’s the point. // Jake Johnson’s feature directorial debut Self Reliance (2023) is successful as both a comedy and a thriller. // How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days by K.M. Jackson (2021) is a frothy BFFs-to-true-loves rom-com filled with celebrity cameos. // Smokey and the Bandit (1977) is way more fun than a movie about greedy lawbreakers should be.

April Critic Picks

1. The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Best Picture Project continues with Billy Wilder’s first bout of Oscar glory. Read my Crowd and Critic reviews (or just keep scrolling to the previous post if you’re on the home page.) Crowd: 7/10 // Critic: 9/10

2. Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé (2024)

The problem of writing about Beyoncé is it’s boring to just keep finding new ways to say, “She’s really good at this!” I could write about the sincerity the coming-of-age heartbreak in “16 CARRIAGES,” the epic nature of the bookends “AMERICAN REQUIEM” and “AMEN,” the innovation on “JOLENE” and “BLACKBIIRD,” and the absolute banger that is “YA YA.” (The only real surprise is I’ve found a second Post Malone song I like.) Because I’m a film critic and not a music critic (or much of a country fan), I recommend checking out the Los Angeles Times review for more context on how this fits into her canon and the history of country music.

3. The Heartbreak Kid (1972)

Why is this rom-com from Elaine May so hard to find? Because my local library is awesome, I’ve now finally seen Charles Grodin get married and then think he may have met the real love of his life (Cybill Shepherd) on his honeymoon. More than five decades later, May’s hilarious and cringey film still has plenty of insight into men’s and women’s relationships (and sunburns), and (minor spoiler alert) its ending is a perfect companion to The Graduate. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9.5/10

4. Civil War (2024) 

I saw someone on Letterboxd call this movie a Rorschach test, and boy, oh boy, that’s an undersell. Civil War is brilliant not because of the political statements it’s making if for no other reason than it makes very few of them. This photojournalist road trip is about the impossibility of complete objectivity, but more than that, it’s about the destructive nature of hostile disagreement. An alliance between California and Texas is writer/director Alex Garland deliberately telling us not to get hung up in our moment’s political issues—if we are so convinced of our own self-righteousness, we’ll lose everything we claim to be fighting for. The Jesse Plemons performance is my premature pick for Best Scene of 2024. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 9/10

5. The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift (2024)

The prophet has come down from the mountain. Somewhere in my third listen, The Tortured Poets Department snuck up on me. I thought this would be another evermore: worthy of mad respect, but too lugubrious to be a frequent relisten outside of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.” While that tragic bop is the current contender for the top spot in this year's Spotify 100, “The Tortured Poets Department,” “Clara Bow,” “Fortnight” (now only the third Post Malone song I’ve ever liked), and “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys” will also certainly be in my annual playlist—and that’s just Side A! On Side B, the Daedalian lyrics of “The Black Dog,” “imgonnagetyouback,” “So High School,” “I Hate It Here,” and “I Look in People’s Windows” elevate their sad stories into awe-inspiring strings of words. Whom she and her collaborators are writing about is beside the point; even at billionaire status, Swift’s heartbreak, regret, hope, and indignation are as relatable as ever, sp she can write about high school as long as she likes. Because I’m a film critic and not a music critic, I recommend checking out Variety’s review for more thoughtful (and perhaps more objective) prose about this collection of poetry.

MORE APRIL CRITIC PICKS: Unfaithfully Yours (1948) is an early entry in the Symphony Conductors Dealing With Marital Issues Cinematic Universe that paved the way for Tár and Maestro. // Frank Capra’s semi-forgotten early feature Platinum Blonde (1931) fits right in his legacy of class-conscious rom-coms. // The spectacle of Cleopatra (1963) still dazzles even now.

Also in April…

I checked out the new time travel romance on Hulu, The Greatest Hits, which definitely took inspiration from High Fidelity. Read my full review for Zekefilm.

Photo credits: Beyoncé. All others IMDb.com.

[fragileswift1313]

Lightfall! And some other quick things

Kia ora, folks!

This is going to be another short one of these today, and once you read the next little bit I think you’ll understand - I just haven’t gotten around to putting aside time to work on things. There’s some stuff coming, though, don’t worry!

So, some of you may be aware that the fifth major expansion for Destiny 2, titled Lightfall, dropped this week (either because you follow games news or because I just would not shut up about it on twitter), and y’all, it’s really fucking good. Last year’s expansion, The Witch Queen, was really great but I think Lightfall knocks it out of the park. It’s goofy and silly even though the overarching story themes featured are very serious and scary, and I think it strikes a really good balance between the two modes. AND WE FINALLY GOT A SPEAKING NON-BINARY CHARACTER. Nimbus is a big (figureatively and literally), goofy thembo (like a himbo, but a they!) and I honestly love them so much, even though they can get a little annoying sometimes. I was going to link to something about them here, but I literally couldn’t find anyone else saying anything positive about them so 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m not going to get super deep into why the apparent discourse around this character bothers me and bums me out as much as it does because I feel like that should be fairly obvious at this point. I am a non-binary person, and this is a videogame series I love and have been playing since 2014. And here is the first time I’ve felt real representation for my gender in a videogame, I think ever, and all anyone can talk about is how annoying they are. It honestly feels really shitty when even folks I adore in games media are sniping at Nimbus. But I guess that’s all I have to say about that. Anyways…

I really liked Osiris’ arc in this expansion, too; it’s been a long time since he was so central to a Destiny plot, and I really hope they keep him around for a bit longer in the upcoming seasons over the rest of 2023. I’m not going to get into any plot spoilers here or anything, I just wanted to mention it since I have lost roughly a week to this game at this point and I still have a lot to do here.

In other news, I have my review of Atomic Heart incoming probably next week, and I am also pretty close to being done with Persona 3 Portable so I might share some feelings about that sometime soon. I’m also working on something about the recent relaunch of the Microsoft search engine ‘Bing’, which I’m sure you’ve all heard at least a little something about - that will more than likely go up later this week.

Tabitha’s Story is still very much a work in progress, and I’ll be honest, I probably shouldn’t have talked so much about it already because I was feeling much more ambitious about that project at the outset than I can realistically deliver, so I apologise for that. It is definitely coming though! I am still just trying to bank a bunch of posts before I start regularly putting them out into the world.

Thanks so much for reading, folks, I really appreciate it. As always, if you have comments/questions/suggestions, you can hit me up at the links at the bottom of the page. There’s also an email address there now, so if you want to get in touch that way, you can! You may not know this, but I also have a personal Tumblr page where I mostly just Taylorpost (the term I invented for endlessly reblogging GIFs of Taylor Swift) and reblog stuff that stands out to me in a kind of emotional way, I guess?

Thanks again, friendos. I’ll talk to you all again soon. Ka kite anō au i a koe. 💚

Socials etc | Twitter | Mastodon | Cohost | Substack | itch.io | Letterboxd | Instagram | Carrd | Email

[jamnotjam]

Season 2, episode 3

L.JN x f!reader

You thought your project partner was just being mean for no reason, but turns out he has a different side to him after all.

Rating: fluff

Word count: 1.1k

Warnings: tsundere!jeno, school stuff, projects

Requested: no

”y/n?”

You look up at your teacher

“uh, here”

“jeno?”

“Here”

you look at your classmate with a sigh, jeno, jenos never liked you, you don’t know why, you’ve always been nice to him.

you try to sit with him at lunch, you invite him to your parties, you even asked him to the dance before, even though you don’t like him like that, anything to find out why he doesn’t like you.

You sit through your boring class, up until your teacher unvails they’re assigning everyone projects, you quietly groan, projects suck.

You raise your hand

“yes, y/n?”

“Can I be grouped with-” you point to your friend at the other side of the class

“no, y/n, I will be assigning group mates”

you sigh again, another reason to hate class projects.

“All right, I will be assigning group mates now” your teacher says, you nervously wait, hoping to not be grouped with a asshole

“y/n, you will be grouped with jeno”

….

you were grouped with a asshole.

jeno looks over at you, angry look on his face, you give him a smile back, trying to hide your anger.

You stare at jeno sitting at a table alone

“maybe if you get to know him he’ll be nicer? He looks lonely…”

your friend says as she takes a sip of her drink

“i dont know…ive tried to get to know him before”

“well this will give you a better chance, he cant ignore you forever”

your other friend says

“i guess…”

i get up and go to his table, slamming my tray down next to his

“hey, groupie”

he looks at you and sighs

“great, just as my day was getting better”

you sit next to him

“we should get started on the project”

“really? Schools not even over, cant you wait?”

“Its a pretty big project, dont you think we should get started asap?”

he sighs

“fine, but you will be in charge, im too tired for this”

you smile and pull out a notebook from your bag

“lets get started!”

the bell rings and you sigh in relief, schools finally over, you had been working on your project all through class, just trying to speed up the process of having to work with jeno.

you put your books in your bag and get up, you leave class and go out to the front of the school, you see jeno and go over to him

“hey~”

you smile at him, he sighs in response

“whyre you sitting out here all alone?”

“…i lost my ride, trying to figure out how to get home”

you nod and look down at your bookbag before you get a idea

“hey! Why dont i walk you home and we can work on our project there”

he looks at you “seriously?”

“Yeah! Itll be fun!”

This would be alot harder if you didnt lie so well

“fine”

you nod

“good, lead the way then, groupie”

he starts walking to his house, you following in tow

“soooo….”

You say, trying to break the tension, he side glances at you

“why dont you like me?”

You look up at him, he sighs

“its not that i dont like you…persay, your just annoying”

you nod

“fair”

you feel a sharp pain in your feet

“ouch!”

You stop and hold your foot

“whats up?”

He looks back at you

“i dont know….i think my feet just hurt from walking so much”

you adjust your foot in your shoe and keep walking, he walks too.

You guys walk for a few more minutes, he sighs again

“hey”

he says, you look at him

“if your feet hurt that bad, ill carry you”

you pause and let out a dumbfounded laugh

“really? the lee jeno, trying to help me?!”

“I just dont want you complaining while we study!”

“Hey, i wont pass up at free piggy back”

he nods and kneels down, you get behind him and wrap your arms around his neck and your legs around his waist, he lifts you with a grunt. You feel his heartbeat and sigh in content, why is this making you feel so…happy? I mean…its jeno…your supposed to not like him.

You get to his house and he sits you down, he unlocks the door and goes in

“my parents arent home yet”

you nod and go in, he makes a b-line to his room, you follow after him, when you get in the room hes cleaning off some trash on the table, you chuckle

“werent expecting visitors?”

“Shut up”

you smile and sit your bag down, he pulls up two chairs at his desk and sits down, you two are close, so close your arms are touching, you pull your book out the bag

"you ready to start?”

You look at him, your faces are so close your noses are basically touching, he stares are you for a second

“u-uh huh? Oh! Y-yeah…lets start”

he mutters out, his face red

“are you alright?”

You say as you touch his forehead, he pushes your hand away

“yeah”

“are you sure? You seem sick”

“im fine, y/n, lets just start”

jeno groans and lays his head down on the table

"how long is this gonna take? Its so boring….”

You sigh

“jeno, were almost done, please just focus”

“cant we take a snack break? i havent ate since my lunch was rudely interrupted”

you nod

“sure”

he gets up and goes to the kitchen, you follow him, he looks at you

“you just gonna follow me around like a lost puppy?”

You smile “yup”

he smiles lightly, but looks away to hide it, he gets a bag of chips from the top cabinet and gives it to you. he goes back to his room and sits on his bed, you sit next to him and sits the bag of chips inbetween you two. He stuffs his mouth full of chips

“so….what are some of your hobbies?”

you look at him, he shrugs, you nod

“got it”

he swallows

“why do you ask?”

“I dont know…i guess if were working together i should know alittl but about you”

“hmm, i dont know, i think you have a crush on me”

he nudges you playfully

“w-what?! No! Ew!”

You mutter out

“ew? Damn y/n im sitting right here”

“well, i dont have a crush on you”

he hums

“well…why would it be so bad?”

he looks at you, face close to yours

“what if i say i like you?”

Your face flushes

“w-what ?”

He leans closer, lips ghosting over yours

“

"i suppose….if i did, it would go nowhere, because you dont like me”

you freeze, unable to even form thoughts let alone know what to do in this situation. you lean in, closing the gap inbetween you two, he puts his hand on the side of your face, his lips moving in tandem with yours, he pulls away after awhile, he chuckles

“hmm, kinda seems like you have a crush on me, y/n”

you look away and fan your face, he gets up

“lets finish this project, shall we?”

Feedback appreciated!

Request

Masterlist

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

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nili’s witcher watch: the critique

hello all! I’m doing something that literally no one asked me to do, which is to go through the witcher season 2 episode by episode and answer the big question: does this shit suck? why does it suck? what parts of it, specifically, suck, and what could have been done to change that? I am doing this mostly because I think it’s fun and I want to, but also I think a lot of people felt kind of let down by season 2 and its treatment of the characters but no one can really put into words why that is. I hope to do that here, as best as I’m able. 

as a disclaimer, I do not have a degree in media studies or literary analysis; I DO spend a lot of my time analyzing text for historical purposes, but not in this way. this is an amateur project and not meant to be taken super seriously. that said, I do welcome alternate perspectives and engagement! I’d love to hear other people’s takes on this stuff, and I’ve only watched the season twice so there may be things that I missed. Let me know if you think my take is steaming hot garbage. I promise I won’t take it personally, I want you to do it. just don’t get irl mad okay this is all for fun

I’m going to structure this post episode-by-episode, with a sort of global critique of each one as well as additional bullet points about certain elements. Obviously this is going to be a pretty long post, so I will put the rest under the cut!

Let’s start at the beginning (of the middle): Season 2 episode 1.

S2E1: A Grain of Truth

The first episode of season 2 starts off directly where the previous season left off. I’m not going to summarize it in-depth because, well, I hope if you’re reading this you’ve already seen it. This is actually one of my favorite episodes of the season; I think it’s thematically poignant and that Nivellen and Vareena are good characters. It sets up themes of monsters being reflections of the dark deeds of humanity, and Vareena prompts Ciri to question whether she can trust Geralt to protect her if she herself is a monster. 

My love for this episode makes it difficult to say this, but I have to: I don’t think this episode should have been in the season at all. If this was a 20 episode season, I would think absolutely nothing of it, but we only have 8 episodes to cover an insane amount of ground. Nivellen is an interesting character, but it takes a lot of time to set up his whole backstory, and I like the interactions between Ciri and Vareena but they don’t actually have that much bearing on Ciri’s journey. If the culmination of this season was that Geralt had to really struggle to decide if he was going to kill his daughter or save her, then maybe this would have been an appropriate way to start the season. But we never really feel like Geralt ever thinks about harming Ciri, and it’s not even Ciri that’s the monster at the end of the season, it’s Voleth Meir. This episode makes sense in an alternate version of the script, but it sets up some internal conflict that I just don’t think was really ever resolved. 

I think the scenes with the Brotherhood were much too long. The scene in the infirmary didn’t need to be there at all; it barely pushes anything forward. These characters won’t be interacting with any of the Big Three - Yennefer, Geralt, and Ciri - for another two episodes, and the power struggles going on with the sorcerers could easily be explained through some clever dialogue when Yennefer gets to Aretuza. Again, they just spend a lot of time with these side characters and they sacrifice time that we could have spent on main characters. 

That said, I love the scene with Tissaia torturing Cahir. Their acting is just great and it gives us so much insight into where these two characters are at right now. 

This season was supposed to be about Geralt struggling to find his footing as a father figure, a role he’s never had to fill before, and Ciri trying to find a place where she belongs after losing everything and having her identity thrown into question. But Geralt seems to step into the role of Ciri’s father figure pretty easily, despite their disagreements; it never feels like he just bumbles and says the wrong thing, imo. 

The knife scene also doesn’t tell us anything new, aside from a little bit about how Geralt was turned into a witcher, which should have been left for the next episode. It feels like filler, which is an odd sense to get out of what should be a very fast season.

S2E2: Kaer Morhen

Oof, this one is going to be difficult. This episode is pretty good anytime Yennefer is on screen; her interactions with Fringilla are great, and her being scorned by the elves and then later by men in Redania really plays nicely into the overall themes this season of identity and otherness. She’s too human to be considered an elf, and too elven to be considered human, and she no longer has a place with the mages because she’s lost her magic. It’s good! I think the Deathless Mother could have been used much more effectively this season to push the plot, but overall I like her as a villain, and I like Francesca and Fringilla’s storylines. The messiness in this episode comes from Kaer Morhen and the infamous Eskel incident. 

I’ll present my controversial take up front: I don’t hate that Eskel died. It sucks that book/game!Eskel won’t be in the show, because hey, I like that guy. But I don’t mind them killing him off as part of the story they’re telling now. What I dislike is the lack of setup for it. We don’t know Eskel, so his behavior doesn’t wring false to us when we meet him. I wish that Eskel actually hadn’t been killed but instead put in some kind of magical coma; this would have made figuring out the mystery behind the mutated monsters much more pressing and immediate, and him falling ill would be another reason to bring Triss to Kaer Morhen earlier in the season. I also wish he didn’t come off as an asshole for 100% of his screen time.

I was shocked by how many witchers were in the keep. In the book/game universe, there are really only five witchers that spend time at Kaer Morhen: Vesemir, Geralt, Eskel, Lambert, and Coen. And that’s still true! These are the only witchers at Kaer Morhen, because they’re the only witchers we meet in the show. But for some reason there’s all these guys running around in the background, having no impact on the plot or the main characters. I know that it was just so they could kill more of them off in the finale, but all it serves to do is make Eskel’s death have way less impact. The later scenes with Ciri wanting to become a witcher and Vesemir’s desperation to make the mutagen would have felt much more intense if it’d just been those five originally. As is even at the end of season 2 I have no idea how many there are, or what the stakes really are.

Listen. If you’re going to have a huge fight inside the place you built up as a safe haven, and the monster is there specifically because of your main character, why the fuck would you not have that monster interact with your main character even once? Ciri spends the entire fight in her room, and the leshy doesn’t say or do anything that relates to her. When Geralt said that leshen had been around since the Conjunction and couldn’t mate, I was certain that Ciri would at some point communicate with the leshy and she would feel its loneliness. The monsters are drawn to Ciri because they know that she can take them home, but for some reason Eskel’s leshy doesn’t interact with Ciri at all. This would have been a great opportunity to set up the monsters themselves as sympathetic antagonists, as well as thematically relate them to Ciri and Yennefer and their stories of trying to find a place of belonging. Instead Ciri gets sidelined hard, and barely feels present in the episode. 

I can’t believe they didn’t use Yennefer’s pre-transformation self as Voleth Meir’s illusion. Anya is such an amazing actress and could have made this role so chilling. Presenting Yennefer as a version of herself without magic would have been so powerful in the context of offering her power back.

All that said, the final scene with Yennefer trying to create a portal while overlaid with Geralt saying “this Continent is meant for no one” and quoting Calanthe’s “keep your sword close and keep moving” is. Amazing. This show is good sometimes.

S2E3: What is Lost

This episode is very Ciri and Yennefer centric, which is good, and very Vesemir centric, which is fucking weird. Ciri training under the witchers and having this conflict with Geralt about becoming a fighter makes sense and I think it fits with her overall quest to find her new place in the world. Yennefer being at Aretuza is a little messy, but I think it also helps solidify her own lack of place and her isolation. Geralt losing Eskel is... okay, fine, we need to talk about this. But if the other characters are exploring their identities and desire to fit in, why isn’t Geralt? Instead we focus on Vesemir because we need to set up his desperation to create more witchers for the later episodes. Like, who is this guy? Why focus on his emotions over Geralt’s? This episode should have included more scenes of Geralt and Ciri and Geralt talking to Vesemir about his struggles to fit into the role of parent, instead of focusing on Vesemir. 

Ciri training: <3 Geralt building the ab armor: <\3

This episode is mostly about the Brotherhood, and features a pretty solid time skip. It’s been a month since Yennefer was brought to the hut, and presumably a month since Ciri arrived at Kaer Morhen, though that part isn’t clear at all. I’m not sure why this time skip happened; it doesn’t seem to lend to the story, really, and it just makes our timelines a little more confusing. But that’s par for the course in twn. 

We see a LOT of Brotherhood drama in this episode, and again, I don’t think we needed to. We all know that Stregobor is a fucking ass, and we understand that Tissaia and Vilgefortz are making a power play because Tissaia says so to Yennefer. If they’re going to tell us this on screen, there’s no real reason to make a whole scene beforehand about it.

The flashback about Eskel is sweet, but I think it’s also out of place and tonally off. I wish this episode had opened with a flashback of Eskel and Geralt as kids, post-Trials, with Eskel comforting Geralt and acting as anchor. Maybe show them talking about how if they can get through this they’ll be heroes, showing how they used to justify this torture to themselves, and then cut to Eskel’s dead face, showing the harsh reality in opposition to their childhood dreams. This episode is about Ciri wanting to train, and the tension between her and the witchers, and I think they could have used this flashback to drive home the horror of being a witcher and help us understand why the other witchers are so resistant to Ciri and why Geralt in particular doesn’t support her goal. It also would have highlighted what Geralt has lost through Eskel’s death - someone who supported him and cared about him, and gave him strength. 

ALSO, why was Nivellen the one to tell us about how witchers were transformed and not, I don’t know, fucking Lambert? Lambert is canonically the angriest about his circumstances as a witcher, and it makes perfect sense to me that he would confront Ciri and tell her that she didn’t belong there. Lambert feels like he had no choice in his life, and he is, significantly, also a Child Surprise. He should have been the one to explain all this to Ciri so we could draw parallels between them.

Why is Istredd at Aretuza? Narratively speaking, he doesn’t do much other than to interrupt awkwardly about how he thinks monoliths are important, and tell Yennefer information she should probably already know. I love him, but I think it would have made a lot more sense to have him already be in Cintra, and show a scene of him petitioning Fringilla to study the monolith that fell. He should know about that, idk why he wouldn’t, and then he would already be in place when Geralt speaks to him later.

Did we seriously need three scenes of Yennefer running into men in the hallway? I don’t think the Vilgefortz scene serves any real purpose, and the scene with Cahir is fine but it’s not clear if they know each other at all. The three scenes being back to back are so messy that Yennefer herself calls it out in pretty bad meta joke. If your solution to lazy writing is to make a character point it out and laugh then you’re just a bad writer. 

Thanks to the writers for making Lambert and Coen seem so fucking married though. That part was good. Ciri running the gauntlet while Lambert taunts her and gives her pointers in turn is also extremely good.

New monster is also good but I wish we’d gotten to see the leshy more :’(

I wish that the scene with Vizimir at Cahir’s failed execution had been the first and last time we saw that bitch this season. Every scene with Redanian Intelligence ended up having absolutely no bearing on the plot. Mention Dijkstra and then don’t bring him up again until he’s fucking relevant.

S2E4: Redanian Intelligence 

This episode is called Redanian Intelligence but are they? are they

Episode four is, in my opinion, one of the weakest of the season, which some people might find surprising. Those people have been blinded by the return of Jaskier in this episode and his scene with Yennefer, which is one of the best in the season. But every other scene in this episode is either sloppy or just doesn’t need to be there at all. 

I like Triss being here, but I don’t really see how she got to Kaer Morhen. They mention her being called away earlier, but when did Geralt reach out to her? How did Geralt reach out to her? Does he have her on speed dial or what

Cahir and Yennefer in Redania is good, but I wish so much that they’d taken some time to explain what’s going on with the elves in more detail. Jaskier says that Redania thinks the elves are sympathizing with Nilfgaard because of Francesca’s new relationship with Fringilla, but what are they actually doing with them? Are they just killing them? Are they putting them in camps? If Jaskier had been given more time in this episode they could have expanded on this a lot more, but instead we have-

The two sewer elves. I think this is one of the most misplaced arcs in the entire show, and I cannot fathom why they included it. Yennefer and Cahir go into the sewers to escape from the guards, and meet two elves. One of them dies, partly because his friend is a coward, but only after they’ve agreed to take our characters to see the Sandpiper so he can smuggle them to Cintra. These characters serve one purpose, and that is to get Yennefer to Jaskier. Maybe to elaborate on the plight of the elves, but they don’t even really do that. They don’t relate to the plot or the themes of the show really at all, and they both end up dying needlessly. And the scenes with them take up eight full minutes of our forty minute episode! That time could have been spent on Ciri talking to Geralt and Triss, or on Yennefer talking to Jaskier. Wasted time.

The scene with Jaskier on the docks is absolutely garbage, and you didn’t need me to tell you that. It contradicts itself both narratively and tonally. We’re told that Jaskier has been smuggling people to Cintra for a while, enough that he’s well known for it in elven circles. And yet he apparently can’t keep it together enough to brush off an insult when there are actual lives at stake? It would be one thing to make a metatextual joke here about Jaskier’s songs not making sense, and then having him talk himself out of saying something. We could all roll our eyes and laugh at that. But it goes from being a kind of funny bit to being very very serious, because we cut to all these elves and Yennefer who are now thrown into real danger by Jaskier’s actions. And then this other elf that we just met redeems himself (which we didn’t need, who cares) by sacrificing himself. It’s stupid and feels completely off.

Jaskier should have flirted with the guard so that the elves could sneak past him and that’s my firm take. Double down on bisexual Jaskier you cowards. 

I love having two separate scenes of them investigating the monster head in the lab. I love when the plot doesn’t move forward for almost an entire episode <3

Dara gets introduced here as the Redanian spy and we get introduced to Dijkstra, but ask yourself: does any of this fucking matter? Will Dara or Dijkstra do a single solitary fucking thing in the remaining four episodes of this season that has any impact on the main characters? And the answer is firmly no. I love Dara and I was glad to see him come back, but I don’t think I’m overexaggerating when I say that these characters had absolutely no impact on the plot this season. They should have kept Redania out of it except for random shots of the owl in various important scenes, leaving half the audience thinking “what’s up with that owl?” and the other half screaming, and then at the end of season 2 reveal that Phillipa has been listening to all the major important conversations this entire time, setting Redania up as a player in s3. They don’t do anything in season 2 so why introduce them now.

S2E5: Turn Your Back

This episode is quite good, though I wish we’d gotten more interaction between Jaskier and Yen instead of so much background on Rience. Geralt and Istredd’s interactions are fucking good as hell, and we get to see a more academic side of Geralt that’s very fun. Istredd as a scholar is the absolute perfect person to be giving us this exposition (alongside what should have been Jaskier, but whatever) and I think it does a good job of setting up basically what the monoliths do. I wish they’d given a little more background on the Conjunction before this episode, maybe through Triss in episode 4, but it’s pretty good overall.

I wish they’d not shown us so much of Rience before the scene with Jaskier. It makes the timeline way more confusing - we see Lydia break him out in Cintra and then he’s in Oxenfurt torturing Jaskier, and it’s unclear how much time passes in between. It would have been way scarier if he’d just shown up and we hadn’t known who he was working with for a while, and his background could have been explained through a simple piece of dialogue from Lydia later on saying “you owe us.”

Wish they’d said Ciri was seen with a witcher in Sodden instead of just that she was seen in Sodden. Rience’s knowledge of Ciri’s whereabouts always seems to come almost from divination, so I wish they made that more clear.

All that to say: Jaskier torture scene my beloved

So glad Geralt’s hatred of portals remains intact. 

When did Istredd get to Cintra? How long has it been now? He should have been here from the beginning and not in Aretuza >:(

I wish there had been more of a focus in this episodes on Ciri struggling to contain and control her magic and less on this witcher mutagen bit. The point of having Triss here is to highlight how much Ciri needs Yennefer and Yennefer specifically. She should have had a few scenes where Triss tries to teach her to control magic but then fails, maybe resulting in some level of destruction. I don’t think the whole plotline about the Elder Blood bringing the witchers back really matters. The idea of her isolation could have been pushed just by revealing that she has Elder Blood and that’s why her magic is so different, at once showing her that her family lied to her and that she can’t really be a sorceress because her magic is so different.

The scene with Fringilla and Francesca doesn’t really matter or forward the plot but I love them so I’ll allow it <3 if god hates the gays why do we keep winning 

Istredd finally telling Geralt that Yennefer is alive when Triss could have done that weeks ago. We love a man who fucking communicates relevant information for the characters and the plot

Can anyone just use the hut invocation to escape from any situation at any time.? Get out of jail free card babey

S2E6: Dear Friend

This episode deserves to burn in hell for what it did to Roach. Fuck you fuck you fuck you

This is another weak episode, in my opinion, and despite how much I adore Nenneke and the temple of Melitele, I don’t really understand why they’re here. It is once again a moment where they put the characters in a setting and then nothing really happens for a long time. Ciri carries around the magic ball for the entire episode and it doesn’t end up doing anything or helping her at all. Geralt talks to Nenneke and Yennefer and neither conversation really change the character outlooks. Yennefer and Ciri get portaled out, which sets up the next episode, but that’s like... basically the only important thing that happens. Meanwhile all this setup between Fringilla and Francesca is going on, and I just think it’s really weird to spend so much time on these side characters that, even in the books, played a pretty minor role. These people won’t interact with our main characters again for a really long time, so why give them so much screen time now? Once again, it just doesn't feel economical. 

This isn’t a critique I just want to say that “Where the fuck are my swords” is one of the funniest lines in the show and Henry delivered it brilliantly. Hilarious. 

How the fuck did Yennefer get to the temple? Was she portaled there by Voleth Meir? This is the only thing that makes sense, but what the fuck. When she showed up I was legitimately startled. What a weird, anticlimactic way for she and Geralt to meet again, too.

If you are going to reveal that Francesca has the power to bring dead roses back to life with her magic and then kill her baby later on and not bring that shit back why even bring it up in the first place. 

I don’t think that all this political drama between Francesca and Fringilla and Cahir should have been given this much screen time, but I DO love Cahir showing up and being like Fringilla do you goddamn remember what we were doing here in the first place?? We literally came here for one reason

I love Filavandrel he’s such a king and he doesn’t deserve all this. He just wants his family to be safe and for his girlboss wife to be successful 

How the FUCK does Rience get to Kaer Morhen? How the fuck does he know where it is? How in gods name does he know that’s where Ciri should be? And if he had access to this information all along, what was the point of torturing Jaskier? Jaskier doesn’t give up any information that we see (and he doesn’t even know where Kaer Morhen is) so how does Rience get here? It maketh no damn sense

I like Fenn and Codringher as characters but it’s so weird to introduce them here. Istredd is a powerful magic user and one of the foremost researchers on monoliths and the Elders, AND he’s staying in Cintra, where the bloodline of Lara Dorren lived for hundreds of years. Why would he need these people to tell him any of this? Wasting! My! Time! introducing new characters who aren’t necessary! 

I think if you added up the full amount of time we spend this season watching Yennefer walk down hallways trying to open locked doors I would kill myself. Can this woman just arrive at her destination expediently for once.

Yennefer and Geralt’s reunion is so bad. Yennefer goes from screaming about how betrayed she feels and commiserating with Jaskier over their shared hurt in episode 4 to falling into Geralt’s arms in episode 6. It’s weird! I would have expected some level of hesitation, or at least a mention of her being concerned that his feelings and her own aren’t real. I’m glad that she tells him that he hurt her, but it still feels like they get past the mountain trauma way too easily.

If I’d been in that damn editing room you bet your ass that every scene with Dara talking about being a spy would have been cut who cares who cares!!! it doesn’t matter!!! cut them or else 🔫

S2E7: Voleth Meir

The Ciri and Yennefer scenes in this episode are great! I like seeing Yennefer’s struggles to decide whether she’s going to go through with this, whether it’s worth it, and her telling Ciri that magic is all that matters when Ciri’s role in the story is to prove to Yennefer that that isn’t true. The Jaskier and Geralt scenes are a little lackluster, but I think Joey’s performance really pulls through and shows how Jaskier’s dismissive air is a mask to hide how hurt he still is. This episode is messy because this season’s plot is messy, but overall I think it’s pretty alright.

Yennefer said Jaskier was in Oxenfurt and Geralt said I know my daughter’s just been kidnapped but I better swing by and spring my boyfriend out of prison rly quick

Redanian spy in Xin’trea plot is as said before terrible and stupid and does nothing it deserves to be cut in its entirety 

Jaskier’s prison song is great and the way he says Geralt’s name with such devastation when he shows up is awful. Joey you are more than we deserve 

 I don’t really know that Francesca and Fringilla’s falling out makes a ton of sense. In the books I believe Francesca remains in alliance with Nilfgaard for a long time, at the expense of the elves left in Redania. I think it would have been a lot more interesting if her baby had died and she’d remained loyal to Nilfgaard, thinking that she could help them destroy the north, while Filavandrel left to lead the Scoia'tael. Could have set up an interesting dynamic later on, and her falling out with Fringilla doesn’t have anything to do with her baby dying, so...

Tissaia saying that Dijkstra is wasting their time, acting as a stand-in for the audience

What was the point of bringing the dwarves back? They don’t really do anything other than apparently escort Jaskier and Ciri back to Kaer Morhen, which we don’t even get to see, and then they apparently just fuck off? We don’t see them in episode 8 at all, so I don’t understand what the point of writing them in was. Just to give Geralt a horse??

I think focusing so much on Fringilla's and Francesca’s political journey was a mistake with such a short run time, but I can’t lie and say that the culmination of it in this scene where Fringilla brutally murders the generals and puts Cahir in his place doesn’t fucking rule.

S2E8: Family

I think this episode is fun to watch, but it is one of the messiest this season in terms of structure. Voleth Meir was set up as a very interesting monster, even if I think she could have been used better, but the payout was not great. The final battle has so many elements going that feel like they get kind of dropped off, and thematic elements that should have seen payout in this climactic scene either don’t get shown, didn’t get enough build up, or are executed badly. 

If we were going to go back to Kaer Morhen from Cintra - a two to three week journey at minimum! - why didn’t we get to see any of that? I know they were short for time because they wasted so much of it on political drama with the Brotherhood and Redanian spy plots that had absolutely no impact on the story, but you can’t just put two of the most important characters in the story together for the very first time, send them on a long cross country journey, and then not show us any of that. Jaskier and Ciri had not met before this moment, and then spend a significant amount of time together. The fact that this season includes not one scene with Jaskier and Ciri actually talking is fucking bananas. 

No I’m going to talk about this more actually. Jaskier is a bard, and therefore the exposition mouthpiece of the story, not to mention serving over and over again as a stand-in for destiny. He leads the main characters, particularly Geralt, where they need to go. He is responsible for Geralt knowing both Ciri and Yennefer. He is the one who studies myths and songs and legends. The fact that he doesn’t get to give us exposition about the legend of Lara Durren or give Ciri any advice on her place in the world is such a waste of potential for his character. 

Voleth Meir clearly wants to use Ciri to open the portal back to the Wild Hunt, and allows herself to be taken to Kaer Morhen to use the monolith there. Why, then, does she spend so much time killing witchers and lollygagging around? Even if she gains power from it, it seems like a huge risk to sneak around in the dark murdering people when she’s in the keep of the witchers who historically defeated her and imprisoned her for hundreds of years. Why did she open the portal to draw the basilisks in, or any of that, instead of just jumping through the portal right away? 

That said the basilisk designs do fuck.

The thematic payout of this season fell so flat. They’re supposed to draw Ciri back by telling her that she’s their family, but are they? They spend most of this season making her feel othered, and we don’t have enough scenes of her feeling supported and cared for by the witchers to make this land. And the idea of allowing your love to overcome your resentment and hate is something that could have had huge implications for Geralt, if they’d actually committed to it. Jaskier is supposed to bring him the stone to remind him to use love and not hate to beat Voleth Meir, and he sort of does - by dropping it on the floor. Why doesn’t he get to actually convey that to Geralt, thus thematically beginning the healing process between them? It just seems like a weird choice for them to back off of that statement and let the rock on the floor do the talking instead of their characters. 

Yennefer tells Geralt that Voleth Meir preys on your greatest desires and fears and brings out all your worst pains. I assumed that this meant that she would take turns presenting illusions of herself to the characters present or she would goad them into giving into their hatred and pain by taunting them about their own hurts. Maybe even throw them into their own illusions like Ciri or possess various people. There's even a moment when Jaskier comes into the great hall and her eyes drop down to him and then it cuts back to him looking awkward and nervous, and I thought for sure she was going to call him out - a character who has been in pain and felt rejected for so long by Geralt, who still hasn't had the opportunity to resolve any of his feelings about all this - but then they didn't. It almost felt like they were going to do something like that and then there was some rewriting done. Maybe they just needed to save time after the 400 Dijkstra scenes this season taking up so much space but it just felt like such a lost opportunity to lay out all the ways that these characters have hurt each other, and then for Jaskier to say that no, they are choosing to find each other and forgive each other, not because of destiny or fate, but because of love. it could have provided a moment of real catharsis from which the characters could start to rebuild from in season 3, but instead we have this very weird disjointed fight where Voleth Meir's motivations are really unclear and everyone's role is just as murky.

But at least them all going to the new plane was cool. I don’t know why the FUCK they decided to make the Wild Hunt all red when in every version of this story they’re supposed to herald the White Frost and be in cool tones, but whatever. Fine. Whatever. 

Good strong ending though with the Emhyr reveal. Embarrassing for Fringilla and Cahir RIP 

Overall I think that this season was a fun watch, but most of the episodes as they are feel like pieces of a much larger season. There are some missing scenes that you can feel pretty harshly - not enough scenes with Ciri and Geralt struggling to find their dynamic, scenes between Yennefer and Ciri, literally even one scene with Ciri and Jaskier meeting. If this had been a 12 episode season, I think they would have been able to keep it as is and pad it out with those missing scenes, but as-is they just didn’t kill enough darlings. I think Jaskier and Yennefer still being on shaking footing with Geralt is a good place to start off season 3, gives us room for more growth, but I wish they’d given us more scenes to expound on the new dynamics. Jaskier and Yennefer being friends is very good at least, and I thought the actors all did a great job. I enjoyed it, but I’m hoping that if season 3 is the same length as 1 and 2 they learn to keep it a little cleaner. 

And that’s it! I was going to do a whole “Nili rewrites the witcher s2″ thing but this was already a lot so I’m probably not gonna do that. You’ve heard me talk enough already. Thanks for reading Nili’s Opinions <3

[o-wild-west-wind]

Hello hi! Trying out tumblr for story posting ✨

Let me know if you want to be tagged for future updates! Thanks for reading :)

Summary:

Grief is a chaotic thing. So is the man in Storybrooke’s jail, now left in Emma’s charge after Graham’s untimely death. But at least he’s a distraction, and a kindred spirit; a bond in grief, an unexpected partner in personal growth. He’s a good sort of chaos—one she might even grow to care for, if she can open herself up for it. He was also a pirate supervillain, in another life. But how are they supposed to know? Season 1 AU, where Hook is cursed alongside the rest of Storybrooke.

Rating: T

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Read on AO3

*****

Emma found herself busier and busier these days; a workday became long when you were heading a one-woman department. 

Ruby invited her to a night out, which caught her a bit off guard. Back in Boston, you’d be lucky if your waitress even remembered your face, let alone your name. But then again, Storybrooke wasn’t Boston, was it? 

She rainchecked. It’s not that she didn’t want to start building relationships—the pang of loneliness was something that had been gnawing at her for years now—but realistically, she didn’t know how she’d find the time or emotional space for that yet. And sure, there was a dash of anxiety in there, too; did she even remember how to keep a friend, after all these years? Was it something she was even capable of to begin with?

But she was doing pretty well with Mary Margaret, she thought. One friend felt like a pretty big achievement right now. 

It was hard work, harder than it should be, rewiring old habits of wall-building and isolation. It would take time to break them down—and honestly? She was surprised that she’d even made this much progress already. Credit where credit was due, and all that.

And then Henry was a friend too, in a way. In any case, maybe the strongest relationship she’d ever had. So that made two.

Was Killian a friend? Maybe he was—he felt as much a friend as a person could be, if she was being honest. Someone to laugh with, to vent with; that made a friend, didn’t it?

She still felt guilty about what she’d said to Mary Margaret, about him being in jail. But truth be told, Killian was beginning to open old wounds she’d spent so many years trying to bury in bandages. To give grace to him for his mistakes would imply giving grace to herself. Was she even ready for that?

It was hard being a friend to yourself. But maybe that made it a good thing, becoming friends with him. 

People always said you had to care for yourself before you could care for others. But that was bullshit, really; recognizing a part of you in someone else and learning to care for them anyway—wasn’t that the only gateway to self-love people had?

But care was a strong word yet. Friendship, for now, was enough.

*****

She brought Regina up to him a few days later, after she’d let it simmer in the back of her mind for a little while. She was afraid it might be nothing but small-town gossip; but the why of it all kept lingering, and she finally brought it up after she got back from a patrol.

She brought doughnuts as a buffer, just in case.

“Swan, do you know how hard it is to keep trim when I’m stuck in a box all day long, and you keep feeding me?”

“I can stop, if you want me to—”

“No, nevermind.” He grinned. “It’s not really so hard.”

She shook her head, smiling in spite of herself as she walked back to her desk. “I have a weird question for you.”

“I love weird questions.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’re gonna like this one.”

“Try me,” he said through a bite.

“It’s about Regina.”

“Ah.”

“I heard something…weird.”

“Okay…and what was it?”

“Well, I guess I’ll say this first—I heard something that would…I don’t know. Imply, I guess, some sort of…strained history between the two of you?”

He furrowed a brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Is there anything you might be able to tell me about before I tell you?”

He was silent for a moment; his demeanor shifted, that joking humor replaced by an unsettled sort of smile. “How…how am I supposed to tell you if I don’t even know what you’re referring to?”

“Uh-huh.” She scanned his face—but his confusion seemed genuine, at least. She carried on. “So, before the car thing…you really didn’t have any relationship with her? At all?”

Another pause. “Did I not…I thought I already told you that I didn’t—”

“No, you’re right, you did. I just wanted to confirm.”

“Is this an interrogation?” It wasn’t a quip, for once; he looked serious, almost perturbed.

“I’m sorry, I…” She threw up her hands, trying to lighten the mood. “No, I’m just trying to make sense of something.”

“Okay…what is it?”

“It’s probably just gossip, really.” 

“You say that, but—”

“Regina set it all up.”

His eyes flickered. “Set what up?”

“I don’t know this as a fact, by the way, so it may be totally made up—”

“What did she set up?”

“The…bet, or whatever. You know, the thing that made you do it in the first place—”

He crossed his arms. “That makes…no sense…”

“Can you tell me what happened that night?”

“You said this wasn’t an interrogation—”

“Dude, I’m trying to help you! Can’t you just…play along for a minute?”

He clenched his jaw. “Sorry. Of course.”

“Thank you.” She took a breath, thumbing the bridge of her nose. “I told you you wouldn’t like this.”

He smiled, a hint of contrition. “You did, and I’m a prick.”

“Sometimes, you are.” She laughed breathily, grateful for at least some of the tension to be broken.

“So…you want to know about that night?”

“Please.”

“Well, it wasn’t anything special. I just went out drinking with some mates…and then, you know, drank far too much. A typical night of regret.”

“Uh-huh…and were you always drinking that much around then?”

He looked aside, pensive. “Sometimes. Although I was trying to control it.”

“Did your friends know this?”

“Aye, I suppose so.”

“And they encouraged it anyway?” 

“Well, they weren’t great mates.” 

“Do you think any of them would take a bribe against you?”

He got suddenly to his feet, shaking his head. “Okay—all of this, my friends doing shitty things, all that might be well and good—but that doesn’t explain why Regina would’ve done this in the first place. It just isn’t tenable! What did I—” He stopped his feet, furrowing his brows with a look of borderline panic. “What did I do to her?”

Emma looked down at her hands, folding them in front of herself on the desk. She took a breath. “I have another question you might not like.”

A sigh. “It’s alright.”

“Is it possible…did you ever black out when you drank?”

Killian sat back down, leaning his arms on his knees. “What the fuck did I do?”

“It…you might have done nothing!” She softened her eyes, feeling a pang of guilt for putting the thoughts in his head. “Regina’s a bit unhinged, I wouldn’t be surprised if she just gets off on ruining people’s lives—”

“But I ruined it for myself, Emma. Whether or not she was behind it all—I still did that to myself. I…hell.” He rubbed at his face with his palm, and then suddenly pushed his sleeve up above his arm. “Have I ever shown you this?”

It was a large tattoo; a bit hard to make out from the distance, but it looked something like a dagger cutting through lettering. A word, maybe a name? She shook her head.

“I don’t remember getting this. I don’t know who ‘Milah’ even is.” He stood back up, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I must’ve met someone some random night and…and gotten a bloody tattoo for them—and I don’t even remember it! So what else have I fucking done?”

She could feel the anxiety brewing, her own guilt beginning to sync itself up with his panic. “Killian?”

He didn’t respond, but his eyes flickered in her direction.

“Let’s take a break from this.”

Silence, still. He sat back down slowly, jaw clenching and unclenching. 

“I’m sorry, Killian.”

A pause. “Why?”

“I shouldn’t have brought these things up.”

“It’s your job.” He leaned back against the wall. “I understand.”

“I know, but…still.”

They were both quiet for a minute, nothing but deep breaths and cracked knuckles. 

“I think I’m afraid of myself.”

Emma looked up, feeling the shock of his words like a suddenly ripped scab.

“And what makes it even worse—I know that he’s still a part of me. That person I was.” He was quiet for another moment, sullen, staring so hard at the wall that he might have drilled a hole in it through sheer force of will. “You have no idea how easy it is to slip into the darkness…”

“Darkness seems harsh, doesn’t it?” The words came out of her quicker than expected, almost as if someone else had spoken them. Realizing what she’d begun, she took a second to recollect her thoughts. “You…you aren’t a bad person for having made mistakes, I think. You’re just a…well, a person, right? That’s just a part of being a person, isn’t it?” 

She could hear Mary Margaret’s voice in her words; maybe her friend was getting through to her, after all.

“Maybe so…but most people’s mistakes are innocuous. They don’t…well, they’re not like mine.”

Emma swallowed. She wanted to say something, so desperately wanted to share her past, what she knew as their common ground—but she couldn’t. She wasn’t ready; it got caught in her throat, and something else came out in its stead. 

“But even if you did make big mistakes in a past life…that doesn’t define you. It doesn’t mean anything about who you are moving forward. Right?” 

A pause. “Aye, I suppose.”

“And even if that person is still a part of you…I mean, that’s just it, right? A part? That you can control? That can change?”

He nodded.

“And that person…they’re only who they are because of the things that broke you down in the first place.” She looked down at her hands, tapping a finger lightly on the table. “You’re just a hurt person. That doesn’t make you evil or anything.” She lifted her head, and their eyes met. “Right?”

There was a second that he held her gaze, and there was something tender, maybe even understanding, about the way he looked at her—as if he saw the flash of a mirror there, too. Her instinct told her to break the contact, to look away; but that would be hypocritical. And there was an unexpected comfort in it, anyway—maybe, perhaps, there was an even greater part of her that wanted to be read.

“You’re right, Swan. You’re always right.” 

He smiled, and she returned the gesture. 

“I know.”

*****

Read the rest on AO3.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL

May 2021 Wk 3

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

It’s a cray cray Friday when Vietnam gets its eng subs up before GMMTV Thailand. What alter-reality are we in? Well, the Vietnamese offerings are better right now anyway. (Oooo, feel that burn.) 

Ongoing Series - Thai

Top Secret Together Ep 2 - pulping it up in the best possible way. Sure sound and production values are pants, and in classic Thai fashion the editing in post is exacerbating (rather than fixing) pacing issues, but it’s still CUTE AF. I don’t even mind the added university storyline, because they’ve got good chemistry (and a confident gay fresher after a panicked gay hazer is an old favorite... what can I say, SOTUS was my first love). We aren’t spending too much time with any one couple, so it’s weighted a lot better than Brothers was, but also character development is slow. 

Siew Sum Noi Ep 2 - Unfortunately, it’s just too hard to find, plus no subs. I’m dropping it in the hopes it comes back on my radar some day. 

Y-Destiny Ep 8 - (Thurs) It’s rough having a ghost boyfriend, half your friends are scared, the other half think you’re crazy, and kissing shortens your lifespan. This was a cute couple even if I wasn’t wild about the surrounding story. 

Close Friend Ep 5: (Dear My Star/JimmyTommy) - about high school penpals. It had to rely entirely on voice over work as the actors only meet face to face at the end. It’s a good thing they are appealing screen presences on their own, with good vocal control. It’s hard to imagine any other BL pair carrying this kinda plot. It’s by far my favorite of the series so far, and I’m not even a big JimmyTommy fan. 

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 7 - no subs. Do we care? Not really. Because we have... 

Nitiman Ep 3 - currently my favorite out of Thailand. It’s the university Thai BL i’ve been waiting for since... when was the last good one? My Engineer? Yowza. Anyway we got: head on my shoulder, baby is a floppy drunk (but still wants to be in control), proximity alert, boyfriend’s closet, seme gets seriously jelly, and a cute twist on feeding him. There’s something fun and complex about Jin’s character. He’s not a panicked bi. He knows exactly what’s going on, he just hasn’t decided if he wants Bb or not. He clearly enjoys being looked after, the compliments, and the attention, but he’s not sure if he’s going to like what happens if he gives in. I like that twist on the usual tsundere uke archetype a lot, cautious rather than willfully obtuse or freaked out. We can see Jin realizing in stages: I like this person, I like that they like me, I like the romantic attentiveness. But in the background is... do I actually want to f*k him? It’s a dynamic we don’t often see on BL. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 10 fin - the most ridiculous show using BLs worst tropes in a sort of weird smoothie of bitter greens and too ripe banana. The ending was the sappiest cheesiest thing ever, like cheese syrup tapped from the cheese tree. So of course I loved it, but I’m pretty sure I giggled through all the bits meant to be profound. Because, in the end, to tolerate this show at all, you just can’t take ANY of it seriously. RECOMMENDED (with some SERIOUS reservations and trigger warnings.) Full review here. 

Be Loved in House: I Do (Taiwan) Ep 1-2 - I don’t mind a damaged seme character but this one is a bit weird for me. Like creepy Cheese in the Trap level weird. On the bright side, the story has given our tsundere uke good motivation for his angst and great existing friendships, loyalty, and likability. Plus I’m invested in the cafe owner/innocent puppy side dishes. So if it’s only the seme character I’m not jiving with, and he’s the most established actor, it should all turn out fine. I believe in you, Taiwanese BL. 

Papa & Daddy (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - speaking of belief. This such a good show but they gave us a cliffhanger ending. Now we must hope against hope for season two. That’s never guaranteed with Taiwan tho. So, I’m docking a few points and saying, RECOMMENDED so long as you realize it’s a cliffhanger. 

Love is Science? (Taiwan) Ep 1-9 (BL subplot) - this is a good het romance, but the fact that the BL subplot is a beautifully acted disaster bi + confident gay means you’re hearing about it whether you want to or not. Plus they just added in some GL! Come on! I gotta support Taiwan normalizing queer to this extent. They are fighting the good fight and if I also have to watch a career lady and her much younger softest straight boi get it on, too? Twist my arm with that service sub subtext. Go on Taiwan, TWIST IT. It’s on Viki. Join the revolution.   * Incidentally if you actually like the D/s het dynamic of this show, I highly recommend Japanese Kimi wa Petto - career woman keeps a hot young dancer boy as a pet. Oh yes, an actual pet, that IS the pitch. Never doubt Japan when kink is on the line. It’s also on Viki. Go get your kink on, thank me later. (If it helps: That was not a request.)  

Most Peaceful Place 2 (Vietnam) Ep 2 (AKA 5) - love triangles aren’t my thing, but if you’re gonna do it short form, by all means bring in the lead’s other BL pairing so the chemistry is on point. Now I've no idea who I want him to end up with. Can’t they just be in a poly triad? 

My Lascivious Boss (Vietnam) Ep 7 - I’m still enjoying it a lot. It’s still unabashedly queer and the tension is ramping up. We now have secret identity, blackmail, femme fatale, faen fatale, and incoming seme confrontation. Best of all, the series is still airing, which makes it longer than any other Vietnamese BL I’ve seen (aside from Tein Bromance - which is just too weird to count). 

Gossip - Thai BL 

SEVEN PROJECT TEASERS

No one is entirely sure what Studio Wabi Sabi’s Seven Project/7Project will entail. 

It might be like Close Friend (1 episode per couple, no linking), 

or Y-Destiny (2 episodes per couple, loosely linked), 

or The En of Love (4 episodes per couple, linked but independent consecutive stories). 

They’re giving the couple’s arcs separate titles. So each one would be what? Seven Project: Once Upon a Time or the like? We’re in Taiwanese title territory people and NO ONE WANTS TO GO THERE. Anygay... 

Once Upon a Time is the BounPrem (og UWMA) anchor story, and seems to be the most dramatic and likely saddest. These two can handle most of what’s thrown at them at this juncture, so it should be good. 

Vs Love is a BoomPeak (og Make it Right) university vehicle. Since I thought Boom was done with our nonsense, I couldn’t be more thrilled and surprised this pair is doing another show together. I don’t think either of them are the greatest actors but I find Peak very endearing and Boom charismatic on screen, so I’ll watch. 

Would You be My Love is the hotly anticipated SantaEarth launch. They’re a (cultivated) IRL ship and Earth is an established BL actor. They have great chemistry and high energy so this could be lots of fun. 

We are also getting a GL from this series from established BL actresses Samantha and Pineare. Nothing teased yet on that, but I’m looking forward to this installment the most. Also curious to see how the ladies handle the branding and promo side, not to mention the culture. (Thailand variety shows gonna force *girls* to play the Pepero game?) 

Secret Crush on You upcoming Thai BL with no release date, co-produced by and featuring (but NOT staring) Saint and directed by Cheewin (sigh) with all fresh faces. (Previously known as Stalker the series.) It looks like pure pulp and I’m not wild about the plot but could be better than expected as it’s adapted from a novel. Cheewin is an okay director when he has an actual story to follow. 

Don’t Say No the series. Coming from the producers of TharnType this is the JaFirst vehicle many have been waiting for. Friends to lovers + a good boy/bad boy pairing on a sports romance foundation. It’s basketball so they tapped Meen as well (he’s semi-pro). The bad news? You get one guess as to who is writing the darn thing? Yep it’s MAME. So, ya know, expect some slam dunk kidnapping, a light dribbling of rape, and me turning into a basketcase. AKA... 

Will I have to live blog this series in order to survive it? That seems to be the only way I can. So probably. Which means the bad sports puns will continue. Look, if I’m suffering, SO ARE YOU! 

Rumors of a new YinWar vehicle The Best Story (mini series) coming in July. Also rumors that their previously announced Love Mechanics (full length series) has either been delayed, is facing money issues, or is moving studios, or all three. 

Breaking News 

DELAYED (I’m talking these three off the watch list until we get new airing dates) 

Love Area’s release was pushed out but it got a trailer. 

Golden Blood was supposed to drop Weds but comments in MDL report that it is delayed due to C19.  

Love’s Outlet (Taiwan) is supposed to have started a 50 episode run (only 3-5 min each, what utter nonsense). Sadly, this delay is due to a surge in cases in Taiwan which was doing so well, but also doesn’t have many inoculations. 

Bad Buddy has started workshopping at GMMTV actual. 

Kang Insoo’s BTS for Nobleman Ryu’s Wedding is SO FLIPPING CUTE. You have to watch it. Trust me, I don’t rec behind the scenes stuff often. 

Next Week Looks Like This: 

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

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