#i was kinda expecting it to play the theme song of the show or like

[coldflasher]

oh yeah today i got a new flash funko pop. it’s exactly the same as two of my other flash funko pops, except this one lights up and makes pew pew, whoosh noises when you bop it on the head. it is, quite frankly, delightful

[zootopiathingz]

My issue with Vaggie and her character

(TW: Opinion‼️)

I’ve been wanting to make a rant about this for a while and I’m sure other people have already done it, but I figured I might as well share my thoughts because I like to think my opinion matters to some people lmao. Anyway, I wouldn’t read this if you’re like a die-hard Vaggie/chaggie fan, but that’s up to you!

So I’m sure some of you by now heard the news that Charlie and Vaggie are getting another duet in S2 which apparently will be about their sex life. Which like, ok sure. In a show like this I expected a sexual-themed song to happen eventually. Here’s my issue with this though;

If you need to make an entire musical number about how much your main couple fucks, because of the severe lack of any hints of a sex life between them in the first season, then it’s not a good pairing, and this feels like a desperate attempt to give them chemistry that they just don’t have.

I saw someone say something similar on Twitter and I really couldn’t agree more. Some of you are going to say “you only say that because you don’t ship Chaggie!!” You’re right. I don’t ship them. Because there’s nothing there for me to root for. Like, at all.

Let’s start off with the fact that Vaggie has no personality outside of being Charlie’s girlfriend. I tried to like her character, I really did, but she’s honestly the most forgettable to me in the entire show. Some of you might disagree with me, but be honest and answer me this; can you name one interesting thing about her character that doesn’t involve her relationship with Charlie? And what she adds to the plot besides being Charlie’s “voice of reason”? (Which she’s not, she basically just gentle-parents Charlie into not doing things that Charlie wants to do)

Let’s take a look at some of the other characters in our main cast: Charlie, princess of Hell, desperately tries to help other people even when nobody believes in her cause. Alastor is a powerful overlord who’s supposedly helping out with the hotel, but clearly has ulterior motives that have yet to be revealed. Angel Dust is a famous porn star in an abusive relationship with his employer and is on a path to redemption himself. Husk is a former overlord who lost all his power to his gambling addiction and is now being forced to play bartender. Lucifer, the king of all Hell, a fallen angel who lost his will to dream, a shell of his former self. For fuck’s sake, even Lilith—whom we have yet to even hear speak—has a more compelling plot; she’s been gone for seven years, she’s in Heaven having made a deal with Adam and we have no idea why.

And what does Vaggie do exactly? She gives Charlie advice, she helps run the hotel, she.. occasionally threatens to hurt people with an angelic weapon (you know, the thing that kills souls for good?)

Ok so she’s also a fallen angel—a former exorcist in Adam’s army that leads to exterminations. Now that could have been an interesting plot point. It does explain a little why she’s so aggressive and skilled in combat. The scene with her practice-fighting Carmilla for answers was probably the most interesting scene that prominently features her. And even then, Carmilla kinda steals the spotlight for me, as I’m actually way more invested in her character and her background (seriously, why is she so knowledgeable about angelic weapons and Vaggie—the literal former angel herself—isn’t?)

This was honestly a twist I didn’t see coming, and it had so much potential to add more to Vaggie’s personality and character as a whole. Seriously, losing her wings and her fucking eyeball must’ve been severely traumatic. She might hold some grudge against Adam and Lute for abandoning her and tossing her aside like she was nothing, even after all that work she put in to be one of the top exorcists. She could maybe miss Heaven and even if she’s content living in Hell, a part of her will still always long to go back to what was once her home.

…But no, the entire reason she’s a fallen angel is just to create conflict between her and Charlie. And that barely lasted a whole episode.

Again, everything about her and her ‘personality’ all narrows down to Charlie. Not only is this a terrible foundation for the main couple of the series, it’s also just extremely unhealthy realistically speaking. Even episode 3 alludes to the toxicity of Vaggie thinking she has no purpose outside of helping and protecting Charlie. And I find it funny that Charlie is so taken aback, but she doesn’t actually say anything to correct Vaggie, because…it’s true.

It’s very frustrating for me to say this. Vaggie had so much potential to be at least a somewhat interesting character, but instead she’s always resorted to being Charlie’s partner/sidekick. Ik this has a lot to do with Vivziepop being terrible at writing female characters but imma be real, even Loona interests me more and they almost have the exact same traits (grumpy, aggressive, insecure, etc.)

I’m gonna try and wrap this up the best I can. Honestly guys, ship whatever you want but for me, Chaggie just has no appeal at all. For the first four episodes, I didn’t even know they were a couple. I assumed Vaggie had some sort of unrequited, unhealthy crush on Charlie. Hazbin Hotel’s writing is already kinda bad to begin with, but if I can’t tell that your main female leads are in a romantic relationship within the first few minutes of their screen-time, that’s really saying something. And I understand wanting more wlw relationships in media, but having two female characters together just for the sake of having a wlw relationship in your show is not good representation. You need to actually have chemistry between them, you need to make them compelling characters as individuals, and sadly Vaggie is too one-dimensional that, on her own, she has nothing going on, and I’m not rooting for her and Charlie.

And I’m sorry but I can already tell I’m going to cringe so hard at this ‘sexy’ duet between them next season💀

[absolutebl]

This Week In BL - I’m pleased with what’s airing, but conflicted about what’s ended & getting started

Aug 2023 Wk 1

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Laws of Attraction (Sat iQIYI) 4 of 8 - Omg the way the bodyguard (handler?) looks at the rich kid. Gah. I see why @heretherebedork​ loves these 2. But I really hate him (not the handler, the kid). Fun fight scene. I love lawyer babygirl SO MUCH. HE WILL BE MY 2023 FAV CHARACTER. I’M CALLING IT. This ep, Srs? You’re killing me. Suits! Pussycat bows! And then... The Public Claiming!!!!! One of my favorite tropes! And openly flirting? Boys. I’m getting spoiled. Wait… is that…? NO SINGING. Ah well, Thai BL giveth and Thai BL taketh away. 

Hidden Agenda that isn’t hidden (Sun GMMTV YouTube) ep 4 of 10 - I like the script for this. It feels like the conversations they have are very honest to a uni experience. It’s comfortable and breezy. I did not expect the kiss. Bit early in the arc. There is either going to be a lot of backend drama, or a long domestic honeymoon period. (Bet you can guess which one I vote for.) 

Low Frequency (Sat iQIYI) ep 5 of 8 - It’s moving along in a Ghost Host kinda way (minus the killer chemistry). I’m not mad about it, I don’t think I'll remember it tho. 

Be Mine Super Star (Mon Viki) ep 5 of 12 - My ambivalent relationship with this drama continues. Cohabitation trope. Punn is basically a huge puppy trying to spoil/cuddle/fuck his pretty kitty prince. It is what it is. Meanwhile, I just want more of Big Daddy & the Hot Doc. (Also the name of my burlesque show.) Why does Kevin have more chemistry with Ashi in a 1 min long scene than Punn has had… ever? Is this nascent bad boy effect or nascent 2nd lead syndrome I’m feeling? (Meanwhile Ben! Hi! Long time no see!) 

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 11 of 12 - Whatever. Trash(ish) watch here. 

Dinosaur Love (Sun iQIYI) ep 6 of 8 eps - Aw pretty baby is unhappy his bf got injured. But also very blushing maiden. This is profoundly NOT GOOD. 

Wedding Plan (Weds YT & iQIYI) ep 3 of 7 - I have decided that Lom’s theme song is BigBang’s Monster. Listen. You’ll see what I mean. Also BigBang = also very problematic but banging. What I’m saying is, I wanna punch Lom so bad, I went slightly bonkers. Water sports are addressed. A trash watch is happening!

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Jun & Jun (Korea Thurs Viki) 3 of 8 - How DARE they make me love this show so much? I feel personally attacked. The smell thing! Gah. The way they automatically go informal in private. The flirting. The language. The suits, the EVERYTHING. It’s embarrassing how much I rewatch the final bits of each ep. 

Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 6 of 10 eps - I adore this ridiculous show. (I just realized that the actor playing Jiang Chi played Ray’s evil 2-timing bf in About Youth). Baby boy is quite clueless. Sweet dreams tho. I love them both so much. The washing his jersey scene was so fucking cute. Couple’s numbers, couple’s keychains, bridal towel, kisses. Thank you Taiwan for NOT activating blushing maiden. However, confident gay/confused bisexual is a go. And we got us some justifiable angst. Sigh. I’m so happy. 

Sing My Crush AKA Follow The Wind (Korea Weds iQIYI) 1-2 of 8 eps - supposed to have released in the first half of 2022 this is a adaption of Myung’s webtoon, from the director of My Sweet Dear, and Love Tractor’s production house, basically Korea does About Youth. It’s sweet (the singing bits are easy to skip) and very much a story of young first love but less stiff than KBL’s usual high school fare (kinda Taiwan feeling). I like it but that very imprecision in production makes me concerned for an HEA, especially with such a low MDL rating. 

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 8fin  - Rough final episode, but it does end happily. Fortunately, I had some warning for my personal triggers, but this is Japan and they did go dark. Full review below. 

Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu Gaga) 5 of 12 eps - Shin is so cute and proud and boldly out. I love him. Movement in the relationship with both couples, even if it’s movement into arguments and misunderstanding. I suppose we got 12 eps they need to do... something.  

Stay Still (Hong Kong Tues YouTube) 1 of 5 eps - It’s confusing. And… not good? Some flashbacks some present day? 

It’s airing but ...

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me.

Review: Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa

I had to chew on this for a while but here’s where I ended up. 

Two young men with a shared tragic past reunite and fall in love all over again, but the past will not stop hunting them. Based on a manga, this office set reunion romance is GREAT… damn it. It’s Japan in full on soft focus which means it gets emo, abusive, and chewy. These two characters are giving parts of their souls away in a desperate attempt to shape themselves to the expectations they have of each other. 

Japan gave us the Bed Friends that Thailand could never even imagine. But here’s the thing: I don’t enjoy my BL this heavy and cutting. I know that for The 8th Sense crowd this is peak BL and I can’t argue with the fact that the romantic devotion, domesticity, script, and acting IS all on point. It’s just not my personal preference for that point to be so damn sharp. I appreciate that this being 2023 I have the luxury of consistent quality (especially from Japan) and thus the ability to say… 

I acknowledge that this SHOULD get a 9/10 but I can’t emotionally go higher than 8/10 

RECOMMENDED BUT KNOW WHAT KIND OF BL THIS IS AND TRIGGER WARNINGS LIKE CRAZY 

Japan = sticking to its lanes like their BL is on rails. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Starting: 

8/11 Love Class Season 2 (Korea Fri Viki) 10 eps 

8/12 My Personal Weatherman AKA Taikan Yoho (Japan Sat Gaga) 8 eps 

Still Coming August 2023

8/19 Love in Translation (Thai Sat One31) ? eps - Two strangers start working in a cafe together.

8/19 I Feel You Linger in the Air (Thai Sat Gaga) 12 eps - The time travel historical romance many of us have been waiting for. 

8/20 My Universe series (Thai Sun iQIYI) 24 episodes - This is sampler pack BL, 12 pairs, each pair gets 2 eps, not sure on the order they’ll drop. Known couples include EarthBank from Destiny Seeker and KaownahTurbo from Love Stage!!!, mostly fresh faces otherwise. Jane to direct several.

8/22 Kisseki: Dear to Me formerly known as Miracle (Taiwan Tues ????) 13 eps - From screenwriter Lin Pei Yu (We Best Love, H3: Trapped) features a student doctor forced to take care of a gangster. I love the premise and like the writer, Viki or Gaga will get this one.  

8/24 Man Suang (Thailand movie, domestic cinema release) - historical drama about Thai burlesque with KP’s MileApo. Tong is in this one too?

8/? Why R U? (Korean remake) is supposed to be out this month, filming started in sept 22. I find everything about this hilarious. I mean if Korea remakes it, we lose all the sexy and then... would we have a story at all? No we would not. Not even for six short eps. It’d be like one of those mesh shopping bags.

Oh yeah, Only Friends is coming. 

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Hidden Agenda. I love them. 

Public claiming with the waist grab maneuver! A true hero. 

But I think we can all agree that THIS is the hero all love triangles deserve. (both Laws) 

(Last week) 

[dollcherray]

I LUV UR ACC THEME SO MUCH!!💗🎀

I was wondering if you could do tadc x piano player 😋🙏 maybe morute too? plays a lot of songs by people like Bambi Baker, Cosy St. Jean, and Nicole Dollanganger:3 (totally not projecting…)

Erm I’m a gay bitch so pref femme characters pleaseeee🕷️

♡ ๋࣭ ⭑PERVERTED ₊˚⊹♡

۶ৎ POMNI, RAGATHA AND GANGLE X MORUTE READER ۶ৎ

ᶻz Notes: Hey boo! Ty for the compliment <3 only did for these three because i hc zooble as non binary, so i did the canon girls 🫦 kind of short because im in a hurry to go study 😭😭😭 i apologize dearly.

♡ Type: Romantic, Fluff, Headcanons.

๋࣭ ⭑Song: Perverted - Elita

۶♡ৎ RAGATHA ๋࣭ ⭑

۶ৎ Ragatha is a optimistic person, so she would naturally try to compliment any hobbie you have, doesn't matter how strange or creepy it is, expect lots of compliments directed at your playing piano hobbie.

۶ৎ She would find your style a little bit disconcerting cuz of the "creepy" vibe it gives, but she deals with it for you <3 however... its kind of hard for her to compliment it sometimes, but she tries!

۶ৎ Ragatha LOVES when you play your piano, can be for her or not she would appreciate how you play it, would probably fall in love with you again in moments like these, Ragatha is a hopeless romantic bro.

۶ৎ Finds your musical taste... unique, for lack of a better word, she doesn't really identifies with it but would try to listen to you rambling about them so she could try and discuss with you about it. (she secretly find the lyrics or the music's beat creepy sometimes...)

۶ৎ If you offer to do her outfit and makeup she would hesitate to accept at first, but how can she say no to you looking at her like a dramatic puppy? she eventually gives in. (omg morute Ragatha 🫦)

۶ৎ Play some of her favorite musics and she will go ballistic (in a positive way) she would be so happy that Ragatha will probably dance while you play <3

۶ৎ Is really fond of the idea of asking you to teach it but would go against it since she doesn't think she would be very talented.

۶ৎ Overall: shes kind of "scared" but supportive!

"You look so cute today honey!"

﹏ GANGLE ꒰͡ ͜ ı ͜ ͡꒱

๋࣭ ⭑ Oh my stars.

๋࣭ ⭑ She absolutely adores you and your style, i headcanon Gangle to be an art person so she really likes your hobby, so im allowed to say for you to expect her complimenting EVERYTHING about you when she is with her happy mask, but when she is with the sad one Gangle will be more shy about it </3

๋࣭ ⭑ Kinda like Ragatha's reaction when you're playing the piano, only difference is that she would probably sometimes drift to sleep when you play it, she finds it soothing.

๋࣭ ⭑So yeah, Gangle would probably ask you to play your piano when she cant catch a glimpse of sleep, just play anything, she doesn't really care what you play, she just enjoys seeing you play and have fun with your instrument.

๋࣭ ⭑I think she would be more fond of your style than Ragatha would be and more comfortable when complimenting it, she would straight up say you look like a living doll.

๋࣭ ⭑Gangle would continue to curse her own digital body out because she wouldn't be able to let you dress her in your style (Frustrated Gangle screeching.mp4) but will be happy if you put a little ribbon on her mask.

๋࣭ ⭑She would want you to teach her how to play piano, i dont make the rules (i do) so she could play for you<333 imagine you two playing together your favorite songs.

๋࣭ ⭑ Supportive and loving 🫶🏼😭

"I really love you and your unique traits..."

・❥・POMNI ✮⋆˙

♡ Probably the most nervous and shy of them all, is really supportive but has way more trouble showing it than the other two, even if she doesn't really identify to your style of clothing.

♡ Finds your musical taste peculiarly peaceful, i feel like she would occasionally ask you to play it for her, probably would like Bambi Baker more.

♡ Really applauds your ability to play the piano since she knows that the average person takes 7 years to learn so you have to put alot of effort and patience into it and it honestly makes you more attractive to her how you have such a beautiful hobby.

♡ She doesn't really like the idea of you dressing her but Pomni says yes anyways when you ask her to please you (people pleaser) and then would continue to not dislike it when your done dressing her.

♡ Wouldnt have the patience to learn the piano 😭 sorry gurl but she would almost smash the piano in the 7th try due to nervousness 😔🙏🏼

♡ Pomni could listen to you rambling about your favorite singers but her short attention spam would not allow it 😿

“H-hey nice... um... hair?”

[leavemyelevator-alone]

Okay, I know I’m a few days late, but I want to talk about Nicholas the Punisher. This theme shows up in either episode 6 or 7, during Wolfwood’s fight against Livio on the Sand Steamer, and it starts playing when Wolfwood declares that he’s gonna be pissed if he has to hurt Livio. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Wolfwood fight (far from it), but with such high stakes on the outcome on this fight, both concerning Livio’s safety and Vash’s survival, and the fact that this is the theme that is supposed to reflect Wolfwood as the Punisher, we would expect something fast-paced and tense, maybe, if it wanted to lean into the looming outcome if Vash and Wolfwood lose. 

   But no. Wolfwood’s theme (as the Punisher) is so slow, and seems to carry a melancholic, tragic theme to it. It feels so weary, like Wolfwood is exhausted of having to play this part, and is sick of hurting people he once knew (and even loved, in Livio’s case). It carries an undertone of determinedness, but it’s so overwhelmingly melancholic it makes me pause. Does it mean that under all of his blunder, Wolfwood had already given up on Livio, from the start of the fight? This theme plays before he spits out who he really is to Vash, so does that mean that this is how Wolfwood views himself? Does he see himself as this tragic, unforgivable monster? Does he think that he doomed Livio, albeit unknowingly from the start by letting his little brother follow him around? I think so, but the cool thing about music is that everyone has their own interpretation of it. 

   Knives’ theme is strong gorgeous and victorious, Vash’s is chaotic and clearly feels like someone on the run, but Wolfwood’s stays tragic. It is mean to show who he is with the Eye of Michael — what they’ve made him into. Not this strong, unbreakable inhuman fighter, but a scared, broken man who feels like not only his brother but his humanity was ripped away from him. Let’s compare it to Undertaker, his introductory theme: as @/fatalwhims mentioned, this piece is overall kinda unsettling. It’s slower as well, but is more confident. It’s relaxed, and arguably a little mischievous, as opposed to Nicholas the Punisher’s despondency. This is absolutely the musical personification of Wolfwood’s persona he shares with the gang. This is the relaxed, knows what he’s doing, “big-brother Nico” vibes he attempts to use to get Vash to trust him. But Nicholas the Punisher is so far from that. 

Okay, we got the melancholy, “woe-is me” music out of the way; now it’s time for the action-packed, Vashwood-fighting-back-to-back fight music, right? Wrong. Whom to Kill, Whom to Let Live is the track that plays next, and it is just as (arguably) hopeless. The piano creates a bit more of a determined feel, as well as the bass (I think? Correct me if I’m wrong, cause I probably am) that comes in at 1:07 and the addition of another instrument at 1:37, but if you listen closely, the determination that it invokes fits more that of a grim one than that of a triumphant, I-can-beat-him! feel that most series like to do. That aforementioned piano piece? It’s lifted directly from the track Orphanage. Whom to Kill is just as sad of a song as Nicholas the Punisher, and I feel like this is the perfect score for this fight scene. This is not an epic showdown like it was against the Nebraskas at the beginning of the series, or even against Knives at the end of it. This is what I would call the “Last Agni Kai” fight: Wolfwood doesn’t want to fight Livio. He understands that he seems to have no choice, but that doesn’t mean he wants to fight his baby brother. That is why the Orphanage piano piece comes back and haunts this track. That is why it is grim determination. He will either have to let Livio kill his ward (which will get him killed by Knives), or he will have to kill Livio himself (which will break him worse than death). The entirety of the Livio-Vash-Wolfwood fight is tragic, somber, almost desperate music; not what you would expect to hear from an epic fight scene. None of this might make any sense, but I had to get it out of my system. Thanks for indulging my rambling! 

@tristampparty

[pedges]

heavy are the open hearted

pairing: jackson era joel miller x reader (mostly gender neutral)

summary: joel broke your heart, and his own in the process. this is how he tries to fix it.

or, just a song fic

content: song fic, angst, joel sings a song, allusions to 18+ themes (mdni), happy ending if you look at it a certain way. 2.2k words.

a/n: another drabble. i know this version of joel is cliche but. the song. the song. this is paired with this version of "these days" by nico! sorry for this, there's something nasty in the air rn.

The last person you’d expect to, walks onto the little makeshift stage in the Tipsy Bison. 

You’re not sure who suggested it a few months ago in this never ending strive for a sense of normalcy again, but having open-mic nights (without the mic) at the bar every couple of weeks didn’t sound too bad at all. In fact, they’ve been quite fun. The doctors, and the carpenters, and the farmers all have their respective, important duties. But remembering that people had lives, and hobbies, and talents beyond the ones that were necessary for survival anymore is hard nowadays, so it’s more than refreshing to hear someone play a nice song, even if the piano is untuned, or recite a poem that recounts the leftover beauty of the world. There definitely is some left, you think, most people just aren’t looking hard enough.

It’s just that, when you’re sitting at the bar, and you see Joel Miller step onto the stage with the most timid wave to the crowd, something stutters in your chest. 

He’s got his guitar slung over his shoulder and his hair looks real nice. You wonder if he’s wearing that cologne you made him. (“You seem like a lemongrass kinda guy,” you’d told him. “Do I?” he asked. You weren’t really sure until he wore it day after day. He was a lemongrass kind of guy.) Part of you doesn’t want to get close enough to figure out, the other part is aching to do nothing but that. You watch him sit down on the edge of the stool placed on the stage and bring his guitar around to his chest. It looks so natural there, like if it replaced his beating heart, nothing would change. He might even smile more. 

There’s something in the air now, at least for you. In fact, you know you’re the only one that feels it, because you know what this means for Joel and there’s only three other people in the room who do too. But it’s different for you, because Tommy is Joel’s brother, and that doesn’t count (and Maria knows by proxy). Ellie has seen him play his guitar, once, she said, but she doesn’t look anywhere nearly as shocked as you feel. As a matter of fact, when you glance her way, it shows you the little smile she’s sending you until she notices you looking and turns away. 

You swallow the sudden lump in your throat. 

“Uh, hello,” a familiar, gruff voice says that turns your attention back to the stage. “Don’t got much to say. Been thinkin’ about this song a lot lately. That’s it.” 

Joel finishes tuning his guitar, and poises himself for that first strum. It hits you like a freight train. 

You haven’t talked to him in weeks. Not since he said some horrible things, and you said some terrible things back. There’s a tiny little voice in your head telling you to get up and walk out, because whatever this is an attempt at, you don’t want to see it. But then you realize, it’s not an attempt at anything. It’s just Joel, doing what he said he couldn’t do for you, for the whole damn town. 

Joel starts to play—your heart plummets. 

Well I've been out walking,

I don't do too much talking these days

It’s not about the guitar playing—it never truly was. But when you’d asked him to play, and he refused, and you thought he was joking until you realized that he wasn’t—well, it struck something in you. It was a small thing to tip you over the edge, you see that now, but what is it they say about the straw and the camel’s back? Except you’re not a camel—you’re a human in a fragile world with a fragile heart. Maybe you should have gotten over each time Joel seemed to purposely shut you out. Maybe it was your fault, you think, letting delusions fester in your mind for well over a year, after the first year of you two dancing around one another. 

These days.

But when your first kiss turned into several more without a word being said about it, you really should have seen it coming. You both found each other carrying enough baggage to last a lifetime. You never asked to look into his, he never asked to look into yours—but there was an unspoken understanding that every time you crawled into his bed, there was a certain tenderness behind every kiss, every touch, something that could lead to a greener road. At least you thought there was. 

Theses days I seem to think a lot

about the things that I forgot to do,

and all the times I had the chance to

You thought he wore a smile reserved just for you. You thought when he told you about Sarah, that one and only time, or the way he almost lost Ellie in the worst way possible, that it was because he trusted you. You thought when he said, “I’m all yours, darlin’,” as he made a home between your thighs, he meant it. If you’d known that giving your heart to Joel Miller would have it end up shriveled at his feet as he strummed a guitar for all of Jackson to hear, you’d have shackled it to your ribcage. 

And I had a lover.

You thought you loved him, and stupidly, you thought he loved you too. If only you hadn’t asked him to play for you, or if only he had. 

It's so hard to risk another these days.

"I’m startin’ to think this isn’t about the fuckin’ guitar,” he’d said three minutes into your argument, void of any care you thought he might’ve had for you. It wasn’t. "So I’m gonna have to stop you right there, because whatever you think there is between us—" 

These days.

He didn’t say it, but he didn’t have to, confirming your worst fears. It isn’t there.

And instead of crying, instead of begging him to take back what he said, you just spat back just as coldly, “Did you ever think that if you actually let someone in, instead of acting so apathetic, and boorish, and mean, you might be a little less miserable, Joel?” 

Now if I seem to be afraid,

“If there was somethin’ worth lettin’ in, I’d do it, darlin’.” 

to live the life that I have made in song—

For the first time, the name he usually wore so tenderly on his tongue was sharp, and thorny, and painful—and you refused to let him see how much it stung. 

“Fuck you, Joel.” He started to backtrack, some Wait’s, and something like I didn’t mean—but your mind drowned it out. Because it was the only thing it could do. You left without another word. 

Well it's just that I've been losing so long.

There are two things you don’t realize right away. One—there are tears brimming your eyes as you watch Joel, watch him use a delicateness he once used to touch you, to play his guitar. And two—he’s looking right at you. Now would be the perfect moment to get up and leave, you think, but you feel absolutely paralyzed. Like the magnetism he used from the moment you first saw him has you stationed on that creaky barstool of yours. 

“Well, I'll keep on movin’,” he sings with a melancholy you understand far too well. You can feel your throat threaten to collapse in on itself, to suffocate you if you don’t make the necessary moves to survive. But you can’t, and Joel keeps singing. “Things are bound to be improvin’ these days.” 

You had told Joel once that you wondered if they’d have found each other without the apocalypse, in the quiet aftermath of another night spent in his bed. He didn’t say anything for a few long beats. You thought it was because he had nothing to say, and if he did, he just didn’t want to say it. But then he’d hummed, and ran a calloused hand up and down your arm. 

One of these days

“Think we would’ve,” he’d responded, in an unusually tender voice. “Think we would’ve in a thousand timelines.” 

That’s when you realized, in retrospect, if you had shackled up your heart, he would’ve found a way to set it free anyways. It was never yours to keep—and always his to have. 

These days I sit on cornerstones,

and count the time in quarter tones to ten, my friend

Your ears are starting to ring. There’s not a sound to be heard in the Tipsy Bison except those resounding from Joel’s guitar, and his voice. You wonder briefly if anyone else is as enraptured as you are. You know what the town thought of Joel at first, know that some of them still look at him as if he’s an enigma, because he is. But no matter what you think, what he thinks, he isn’t—not to you. 

“Don’t confront me with my failures—” You might be imagining it, you have to be, but you swear Joel’s voice cracks. His playing has slowed, and he sounds distant, yet simultaneously the closest he’s ever been. You think you might cry. “—I have not forgotten them.” 

As the last note Joel plays fades out, that silence in the room becomes deafening, just an echo of that last strum bouncing off the walls. No one speaks, or claps, or moves—like he has truly and utterly stunned the crowd because he didn’t just stitch his heart to his sleeve—he served it on a goddamn silver platter. It’s silent, until it’s not, because the scratch of your stool against the floor jostles the quietness as you make for the exit. You don’t care that everyone is about to tie two and two together, you just care about getting the hell out of there.

Surprisingly—or, unsurprisingly—Joel follows. 

As you stalk down the main dirt road, faster than ever, nothing but the lights up above leading you far away from the bar. You think for a moment you might let them lead you out of Jackson. Facing the horrors beyond these walls would be better than facing the ones within them. It isn’t long before you hear your name. 

“Wait,” Joel is saying when he gets close enough, and his hand finds your arm. It doesn’t sting the way you expect it to. “Please.” 

“No,” you grit out, turning around with a speed that shocks the both of you, and makes him draw his hand back. “No, you don’t—you don’t get to do that.” 

“I know, darlin’, I—“ 

“You don’t know, Joel, you don’t.” You hadn’t realized it, but those brimming tears finally managed to find a way to fall, staining your cheeks. “If you think for a second you can just—just sing a song, and I’d forgive you, or let you back in, you’re a bigger fool than I thought.” 

“Querida,” he says, and for a moment, he reaches out for you once more—but decides against it at the last second, and god, you can’t believe how bad you want him to. The name is enough, enough to drain your heart and fill it back up, and you think for just a second that you’re lying to the both of you. It is that easy for him, isn’t it, to drag you back in. “I’m not askin’ for your forgiveness, I’m not, I just—“ 

It briefly seems like Joel didn’t expect to make it this far, like he didn’t think you’d give him the time of day, but you are. Because you love him, you think. And the realization makes your heart cinch. You don’t respond, but you don’t walk away either. You see Joel’s throat flex with a gulp. 

“I hate the way we ended things.” 

Me too, you think, but instead you say meekly, “Didn’t think there was anything for us to end.”

There’s a flash of something in Joel’s eyes, but you feel like you’d be a fool to think it’s regret. But then again, you never wanted to let your ability to hope die in this world. That’s what got you here in the first place, but at least it reminded you that your heart still worked. Finally—finally—though, he reaches out for your hand, and you let him. He holds it there, just your fingers, gentle and a little scared. 

You realize something then. 

The song wasn’t for you—neither was the guitar playing. It was for him. Always had been, now more than ever. 

“Think you and I both know that isn’t true,” he says then, and you’ve never heard him sound so small. Your tears are dry on your cheeks now, your eyes chilled from the cool night air. You can’t help but look down at both your hands. 

“You have a funny way of showing it,” you tell him, and he doesn’t argue. 

Instead, he just clears his throat. “I am sorry.” 

“I know,” you say, because you finally do. You kind of figured it out as soon as he stepped on that stage, you just had to wrestle with it for a little bit. He brushes his thumb across the back of your hand. “I—I just don’t know when I’ll forgive you,” you continue, then look up to meet his eye. The regret is still there, but then there’s something you thought you might’ve seen in him a few times before. The hope. 

“When?” he asks. “Not if?” 

“When,” you repeat. 

The smallest, most minuscule hint of a smile draws upon his lips. Yours twitch a little too. 

“I’d like to take you on a date when you do.” For the first time in a long time, you let out a quiet laugh. 

“When I do,” you say, “you’ll be the first to know.” 

-

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thanks for reading, friend

[lou-struck]

High Score

 Leviathan x reader

~You take Levi to a human world arcade, where he is ready to show off his skills. 

W.C: 2.1K

*This was kinda hard to finish since this was like mid-mental breakdown. But I got this done and I am so proud of myself for doing it.

The summer heat of the human world is a welcome sensation on your skin as you drag a slightly sweaty Avatar of Envy down the sidewalk. As a notorious shut-in, Levi doesn't do well in the sun, and although you had only stepped out of the portal Barbatos had prepared for the two of you two blocks ago, he is already out of breath.

Suddenly, the Demon digs his feet into the pavement, preventing the two of you from moving forward. "MC?" pants, trying and failing to hide his exhaustion 'A-are we almost there?"

You see the familiar half-lit neon sign just a few doors away, "We are so close Levi. I promise it will be nice and cool inside; we can get something to drink and enjoy the Air conditioning."

"Air Conditioning," he repeats in an eager whisper and picks his head up with newfound strength. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to the arcade."

His orange and purple eyes are sparkling with determination as you walk the rest of the way to the old-school arcade, where you promised to show him all your favorite classic machines. The red-bricked building looks just the same as before you were magically whisked away to the Devildom those many months ago; the only difference on the outside is a touch-up of fire engine red paint on the double wooden doors. 

Pulling open the faded brass door handles, you are met with a strong gust of air conditioning. This second wind hugs you like an old friend as you walk towards the mantra of beeps and boops the retro arcade machines are playing.

"What do you think?" you ask, playfully bumping into Levi's shoulder. "Does this place meet your expectations?" 

"Uhh yeah," he exclaims, looking at the rows and rows of games. "This place is so cool Mc. It looks like the arcade in the manga, 'Help! I've been sucked into a game, and the Gorilla King kidnapped me instead of the Princess.'" 

How he manages to say such a long title in one breath never ceases to amaze you. But the title gives you a pretty good idea of what game he should try first. 

"How about we start with Donkey Kong?" you laugh, reaching into the pocket of your shorts and pulling out a large sandwich bag full of tokens. You toy with the zipper and take out two, one for him and one for you. "Each machine in here only needs one credit, so I think we will be set to play all day without having to get more."

He carefully takes the coin from your hand but doesn't put it into the slot right away. "A-actually you should play first, Mc," he mumbles shyly, stepping back from the temptations on the screen.

"I'll do my best, but I haven't played this in a while," you say, slipping your own token into the slot. "The theme song blares from the old yet well-maintained speakers as the text 'L E V E L 1' flashes across the screen.

You grab hold of the red plastic joystick and place your other hand just over the jump button. Mario's little legs manage to leap over barrel after barrel as he makes his little pixelated self up the ramps. You may be rusty, but muscle memory is working well for you. Within two minutes, you make it to the top of the platform without losing any of your lives. You look to Levi with a smile of victory.

"You're the GOAT Mc," he cheers, leaning over your shoulder to look at the screen, watching in fascination as Donkey Kong swipes the Princess over his shoulder and carries her further up the tower for you to chase. 

"I don't remember this part," you murmur, trying to familiarize yourself with the next level. As you move, sentient little fireballs that begin to chase after you. Moving your joystick, you try to gain enough speed to jump over the flames, only to set yourself on fire. 

Apparently, you can't jump over them like the barrels from the last level.

Oh shoot," you hiss, watching as Mario falls to the ground and a little halo appears above his head before the screen resets. 

"You're good; you still have two lives left." he encourages with clenched fists.  

"We got this," you say brightly, moving the joystick once more. You only manage to make it a few steps before accidentally running into the little fireball that was chilling on the blue ladder above you, making you lose yet another life. "No, no, we're good." You sigh, gritting your teeth. You are brought to the bottom of the ladder, and you manage to avoid the fireballs as you try to collect the support blocks that are holding up the structure.��

"Keep going Mc; now's the time to take down the Boss," he says, watching as you remove the fifth support on the gorilla's platform. "Just as you are about to cross over to the last one, you fall down the gap you had created and lose your final life. 

"That was fun, how about you give it a try." you suggest, "Do you still have the token I gave you?"

"But, you were so close." Levi cries, taking the loss much harder than you are. "Wait, what are those?" he points to the list of high scores that flash on your screen once the 'Game Over' screen fades away with curiosity. 

"Those are the machine's high scores." You explain, "If you do well, you can put your name on the board for everyone to see."

"So these are my rivals." he breathes, his hand twitching in anticipation as he takes his token and slides it into the machine. 

As the screen once again comes to life, you feel a shift in the air. A competitive energy radiates off of Leviathan as he grips the joystick. Although he has only seen you do the basics, he expertly navigates the first stage, leaping over barrels and climbing ladders without a hint of hesitation. 

With the first half of the level cleared you are brought to the next phase, where you met your demise only minutes earlier. But Levi looks at the screen as if it is nothing more than a challenge and jumps in fearlessly, collecting vintage landlines, parasols, and support beams until the platform disappears.

With the first level being cleared in the blink of an eye, you realize that the two of you will definitely be here for a while. 

"You're really good at this," You say, placing a hand on his shoulder. You notice how he seems to lean into your touch, and he spares you a glance as the screen transitions to the start of Level Two.

"Could you stay there?" he asks with a shaky voice. The screen in front of him does little to hide the glow on his face. If he wasn't holding on to the joystick, you know he would try to hide his blushing cheeks with his hands. "You might be my good luck charm or whatever normies say."

You only laugh and give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I can do that. I promise I won't leave your side."

"T-thank you Mc." he murmurs softly, "I want to get that high score."

The thing with the Donkey Kong arcade game is that each level gets longer, faster, and more challenging. You have never even seen what lies beyond the end of level two, so this is all new territory for the both of you. 

But Levi never falters, staring at the screen with amber eyes filled with determination. Even with a few strands of his purple hair covering his face, he seems comfortable. You are so focused on watching his features that you don't realize that he has successfully cleared level two just as easily as the first. 

And what neither of you realize is that a small crowd of arcade onlookers are watching your screen from behind you. 

The barrels in level three zoom across the screen at an uncomfortably fast pace, but Levi just jumps over them as if they were nothing. A part of you wonders if his skills are just a result of his inhuman reflexes, but after seeing how winded the Otaku got walking down the street to the arcade, you push that through from your head. 

"Woah, is that guy even human?" one of the onlookers gasps as Levi clears level 3 without breaking a sweat. "I've never seen anyone get this far without taking any damage." You turn around to see that quite a large group of about twenty-five to thirty people are watching your screen in fascination.

The shy Demon's breath hitches; he doesn't usually play games in front of a live crowd, but you stop him from turning around and seeing just how large the crowd is.

"You got this Levi. Don't worry about them; they are just watching you."

"Live?" he murmurs with wide eyes. Despite his efforts to hide it, he trembles slightly. "I'm a shut-in for a reason; all this attention makes my stomach feel like it's tying itself in knots."

"Just think of it as a live stream." you encourage brightly. "If you focus on the game, you won't be able to see them at all."

"An IRL livestream?" he repeats, a small smile appearing on his face. "I can work with that."

"I knew you could." You grin, giving him a little peck on the cheek for good luck. He lets go of the joystick briefly to touch his cheek, trying to savor the sweet sensation of your lips. 

"Look out!" One of the onlookers shouts as a barrel comes towards the in-game avatar. The next level had started.

 Levi's hands fly back to the machine and he avoids the obstacle in the nick of time. "Oh, my Diavolo, that was close." He mumbles just loud enough for you to hear. He turns his attention fully back to the screen and starts running up the ramp. 

"Too close," you sigh as the crowd behind him only seems to grow in number and tenacity as they react to every little movement on the screen. The idea of flustering him with something as simple as a peck on the cheek is flattering beyond words, and you smile devilishly, planning to use this little method to distract him during your game nights.

"He's almost there." someone yells as Levi reaches the final platform. The Fireballs flicker menacingly, creeping across the screen, but they are no match for Levi's inhuman gaming reflexes. He climbs, collects, and leaps as if he were the one inside the game fighting for his life, holding the joystick as if it were his lifeline. 

Aside from the machine, not a sound can be heard in the bustling arcade as everyone watches Levi grab the last support beam. 

DK crashes to the ground, and the crowd erupts in cheers. Levi shyly looks over his shoulder to see just how many humans were cheering him on. He looks nervous, but this is one of the first times the Avatar of Envy has been so openly praised in a public setting. For once, he doesn't have to worry about not being as strong as Beel, as flashy as Mammon, or as put-together and OP as Lucifer. Today, he gets to be Leviathan, and people like him for it. 

It puts a real smile on his face, even as the crowd thins and the arcade populace goes to play games of their own. 

"Levi, look, you got the high score on the machine," you exclaim, pointing at the blinking Number One spot on the machine. Your interjection was a welcome, distracting him from thinking any more about his perceived shortcomings or petty comparisons. 

The other scores look so much smaller than his, and a proud smile appears on the Demon's face as he types in the first three letters of his name. 

L.E.V

"Should I start calling you Lev now?" you tease watching the cute way his brow furrows as he tries to figure out what nickname he should put instead. 

He turns to look at you, accidentally pressing the submit button in the process. "No, I didn't mean to do that. Why am I so embarrassing?" he puts his head in his hands and stares at the score sheet. 

Reaching into your bag, you pull out another token for him, "Now you'll just have to beat your own high score."

Tagging: @enchantedforest-network

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, am really really interested to read your thoughts on Seven!

*

Ask 2: Hey bpp, can i be honest?? Ive been checked out of the fandom but still keep track of any music releases. So i didnt know abt any rumors abt 7. Imagine me being kind of disappointed that it’s another english song from jk when i watched the mv😅 it feels like his most promoted songs since last year has been all eng song… idk i wanted & expted something diff… i didnt like l&r, dreamers and now 7… it’s back to back lol. Tbf i didnt like My You too and thats in korean. At least not enough to listen!again after the first listen.

Im happy that still with you is finally on spotify tho. I’ll still be waiting excited for his album whenever it comes out. Hopefully ill find something i like in it!!

**

[BPP Note: Both asks above were sent before my "I don't like it..." post. The asks posted below were sent afterwards.]

**

Ask 3:

Same here

All the hype didn't matched with the song

1. rest members songs had so much depth and substance to it while this was the cliche boy chasing a girl song. Like we always dont need deep songs but the quality could be so much better. This was like just another pop song.

I think I'll put this on same level as BAD DECISIONS. But for bad decisions, atleast the chorus was staying on my mind while for this nothing was catchy enough for us to humm. Just because it's JK it will get hype but otherwise it's so generic. I think I liked LEFT and RIGHT way better than Seven. Even the rap portion felt so unnecessary and boring.

2. MV was kinda nice because of the production but concept was too shallow, the stalking and chasing was so outdated. In my country we have like 9293928843837 MVs in this same concept that not many make the same theme songs again.

3. The choreography. We haven't seen the full version. But for tiktok they do the highlight portions if that's so mediocre idk how rest will be. It was again giving the same mediocre showing off choreography and for me backdancers ruined it with their awkward moves.

4. they wanted this song to be played everywhere around the world. But there was nothing catchy enough to attract gp or go viral on tiktok, even if we sped it up. The only way to make everyone listen is to shove it down their throat but doing payola. But idk if investing in payola is worthy for the song. I also doubt the longietivity, as for me it was boring after 2 listens. I'll rather listen Like Crazy or wildflower or closer 20 times than listening this once.

5. I HOPE he'll bring something fresh to the table for his album and don't involve this mediocre producers who uses the same formula and same superstar persona to make a song successful. He is so much talented to sing a song which is so rich in melody and lyrics. And he can produce way better songs by himself.

Prolly a 4/10 for me

*

Ask 4: troye sivan's rush (which also came out last night) is exactly what I wish Seven was. I don't mean that in a 'I expect the things JK to make to be gay' way just in the way it's a fun, very danceable, sexy summer song that doesn't pull its punches. Something about seven feels too run through a commercial sanitizer a few times, even with the explicit lyrics.

***

Hi Anon(s),

Jungkook likes to fuck.

Rather, Andrew Watt likes to fuck and thinks Jungkook can relate.

JK has been talking about wanting to show more mature and explicit sides of himself for a good long while now. So I’m glad he’s finally gotten to do that, confirming for us why he keeps getting noise complaints from his neighbours since the mattresses all over his apartment don't help.

BTS has made songs explicitly referring to sex before (though it's been mostly the rapline doing so). So it's nothing new but I guess it's cool JK gets to share with us that he too has sex.

The question I posed to my friends immediately after watching the MV is, “Do you know who's been doing A&R for BigHit since 2020? I really need to know who is doing A&R for BigHit in America because they’ve been doing an appalling job lately. I'm starting to wonder if it's an inside job cause this song is kinda ass.”

That was me ~11 hours ago.

I didn’t like the song.

I’ve streamed Seven about 20 times since then I think, took a break from the song for a few hours, watched his GMA performance, caught a few minutes of the Wlive, then listened to it again just before writing this post and…

I still don’t like it.

Jungkook did a good job on the song, Latto's verse wasn't terrible, and while the song itself isn’t bad… the song isn’t good either.

It’s painfully, and at this point it’s a pattern so I have to add, predictably, mediocre.

Reserving judgement for the album, but Anons, I agree with you for the most part. The suits at BigHit are trying but they are woefully out of touch with the reasons BTS blew up in the West in the first place. I don't even feel like spending any energy doing a review or even trying to explain what I mean. So I'll just ramble on for a bit but try to keep it brief.

---

I have to give BigHit some credit because I can see what they're going for here. Andrew Watt is a very celebrated producer in the US, he won the Grammy award for Producer of the Year in 2021, he's got A listers in his portfolio. So, he's not a cheap name to book and I can see why the suits at BigHit thought he's the genius to gift them a song clinically designed for American radio.

But that pandejo phoned it in. There isn't a lick of creativity to be found anywhere in all 3 minutes and five seconds.

It reminds me of VIBE by Jimin and Taeyang, as the closest analog to the vague dissatisfaction morphing into annoyance and then pragmatic rationalization I experienced in that same sequence when listening to it the first few times.

The song is disappointing because we've all heard it before. Too many times, and we're bored of it. We've heard JK sing this sort of song for years, as covers mostly. So on one hand, while I guess it's nice JK gets to have an American summer JB-reject pop tune of his own, it's not good enough to be the track that introduces him to the world as a solo artist.

It's fine for any white, blonde, blue-eyed heartthrob that can ride on a pretty face and implicit bias to rack up accolades, it's not good enough for Jungkook.

And BigHit needs to start using whatever leverage a US$10.6 billion market capitalization buys you in Hollywood, to insist for songs that are at least as good as the songs made by BTS members and produced by their in-house team. It's a waste of money and everybody's time to fly a battalion to LA just to record 2014's summer hit in 2023.

In my opinion.

Still With You > Stay Alive > My Time > Stay > Left & Right > My You > Dreamers > Seven

*

All that said, I can't ignore JK has a taste for songs like this, and it's not his fault the song is shit (he didn't write, compose or produce it), so technically he shouldn't be punished for it. And the song is made for radio, while it's not my personal taste a lot of people really like the song (one of my friends likes Seven the most out of all the BTS releases so far), and it will catch on with some support. So, ARMY will support it including me, just to a lesser degree than I've done so far. Fingers crossed JJK1 has something solid on it.

[virussyart]

Collated warframe thoughts that I didn't want to put in multiple posts (1999 warning):

I really like how Party of your Lifetime is not only just an Evil boyband song, it kinda sounds like the type you'd find as the theme for a TV show's siren boyband-themed Halloween special, particularly during a face-off/darkest hour segment. I swear to god I'm probably thinking of a specific thing it sounds like I'm describing a scooby doo movie or something

On the topic of On-Lyne, my favorite is Drillbit and I recently noticed he has heterochromia? Ohhh. We gotta start play bantering over which one's our favorite just like we would've Back Then

Oh yeah we also need a dark reprise version with infested mouthpiece chittering pls

Four more under the cut cus post is too long (It's not all On-Lyne lmao)

I swear to god DE please at least tell us which infested lich corresponds to which member so that I can adequately figure out those liches' personalities they all have lovely very beautiful designs already please please pleas plea

I have no clue why I disliked the whole romancing thing before DE actually revealed it but they have far exceeded expectations and I will learn to form opinions After I see thingies. I love Quincy so much you don't even Know. Now give the peoples a platonic option and we're set

The mall is legitimately the loveliest thing I've seen in Warframe for a long while, the little community of roleplayers and jokesters and fashionframe flash mobs is so cute. I think we all need a little mall to hang out in and roleplay as minimum wage fast food workers

I still have my first Lotus inbox message from 2014...,,, I can't believe we went from space ninjas to space biomechanical-existential-eldritch-90s-boyband-????-temporal/spacial-bullshit. HOW DO I STILL NOT HAVE ANY MERCH

[theflavorofmyautismisspicy]

I want to yap about the Finnish dub of the series so here’s some random facts about it I’ve learned.

The voice actors for the main characters haven’t actually done much work besides this show. Like their resume is just “side voice in one Horrid Henry episode” and that’s it. Expect for Leon’s voice actor, he’s the only one who has done a few other notable voice acting jobs. Also the voice actor for Markus has acted in musical theater a lot so I guess that’s interesting. He also went to the same high school as my sister lmao. On the other hand, the “not main characters but play a more or less major role” such as Willi, Hadschi, Michi and Natasha are all voiced by like very talented and critically acclaimed voice actors?? Like the people who are carrying the entire Finnish dub industry on their shoulders and have played like 50 different roles. Especially Willi’s voice actor caught me off guard cause he’s also an actor and his most well known role is a very iconic character in Finnish popular culture from a very iconic and very long lasting soap opera TV-series. Like what do you mean the actor of Seppo Taalasmaa also voices Willi in the Finnish dub. It breaks my mind.

Also some kinda interesting random facts about the translation (or atleast I find them kinda interesting). They weren’t allowed to say the word “hell” in the dub, which like I get it, it’s a kids show, but there’s so many cool euphemisms to the word hell in Finnish language so the fact that they used none of those is such missed potential. Also when choosing the setting for the series they just like,,, did an almost direct translation of Grünwald?? Like it takes place in a town called Viherlaakso which is an almost direct translation of it. There does actually exist a place called that but it’s like a small and irrelevant section of a bigger town, I honestly think they just went with the almost direct translation and didn’t mean the actual real life place with that name to be the setting cause it just feels so random. Honestly if it was up to me, they would be living in Kerava. That’s a much more accurate setting for this series. Also the s1e10 just never got dubbed. It was just straight up banned for showing “the kind of bullying they didn’t want to show to kids”. Which is kinda weird to me cause yeah Jojo got almost killed but that’s just kind of an average episode of the show. Like why specifically that one was deemed too inappropriate for kids. We will never know for sure.

But yeah all in all, all though the Finnish dub has some miscastings and translation errors I still think it’s honestly pretty good. Idk maybe nostalgia is affecting me but there’s some real talent behind most of the voices and it’s definitely better than the English one. They also did the thing, that for example the Swedish and Italian dubs of the series also did, aka dubbed the opening theme song and honestly, I like the Finnish opening more than the original, it’s such a banger.

[deltastra]

Tower of God Season 2 (New Trailer with OP Theme) Thoughts

Hello everyone! I haven't done a pre-written post in a while (Did I ever?), so let me yap about the new Tower of God trailer! I wanna tell you guys my honest thoughts and initial reaction to certain scenes.

I waited so long for them to show literally anything else other than the same 12(?) scenes and even a sneak peak to the OP theme performed by NiziU. FINALLY! I will be yapping a lot so SPOILER ALERT FOR ANIME ONLIES

(Also if you guys like posts like this from me, I'll try my best to do this more often as opposed to pre-written reviews!)

Ok so first off I want to say, I was overwhelmed with emotions. I read this arc back in 2016...to see it finally animated, man. Not to mention, it has been like 4 YEARS since season 1. Time flies and a lot happened in my life in between that. I remember how I felt when the OP of the first season played and it hit me that the very first WEBTOON I have ever read, finally got an anime adaptation, which was something that felt impossible back then.

I AM HOPING THIS SCENE WITH ANDROSSI MEANS THAT THE NEW STUDIO WILL FOLLOW THE WEBTOON PROPERLY. Don't get me wrong, besides its flaws, I did love Season 1. However, I was upset with the needless changes they made and important scenes they removed. So I hope the new studio follows the webtoon. They should definitely re-establish how much Bam meant to Androssi.

Seeing Khun in season 2 artstyle is nice. Regarding the artstyle, this may sound weird but I liked season 1's a bit more. Season 1's artsyle felt more "unique" along with its vibrant colours. But, I'll admit, season 2's artsyle is definately more suitable for the long-run when considering how serious the story gets later down the road.

Okay, I'll admit. This scene felt a bit...stiff?? But that's not a big deal.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM AND THEIR FRIENDSHIP GROW ALL OVER AGAIN AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

AND THE OP THEME FINALLY PLAYS! Now here's the thing. I listened to a few songs by NiziU and I won't lie, as nice as the songs were, I was unsure whether they fit the Tower of God tone. But I kept an open mind as I knew nothing about STRAY KIDS back in season 1 and now I listen to TOP and SLUMP so often and associate it with Tower of God due to the lyrics.

As for the sneak peak of RISE UP by NiziU, I like the song. I'm not obsessed over it, maybe I need more of it to form a solid opinion. However, I think it's fine overall! (Hopefully the song isn't wasted in the OP by the use of black screens and credits lol)

I LOVE THIS SHOT SO MUCH. THE DETAIL ON THE SHINSU IS SO GOOD. The lighting as well!

I like how they drew Viole's eyes here. He looks tired which honestly fits well given what he faced during his time with FUG. I don't remember if he looked like that in the WEBTOON whenever his eyes were shown but if it's an anime-original detail, I love it!

(I hope we see his bright eyes during the scene with Wagnan and Viole on the rooftop! Can't wait to see that animated!)

OH I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS FIGHT ANIMATED OMGGGG

Okay, this shot was kinda cool sorry guys I just wanted to say that.

AAAAND THATS ABOUT IT.

First of all, WAY BETTER TRAILER THAN WHATEVER THEY WERE SHOWING US BEFORE! Second, I feel a little more confident about season 2 now. It's alright. I feel like nowadays everyone expects MAPPA or UFOTABLE quality for every anime but this is fine. While I'll miss the season 1 artsyle that I grew to love, I look forward to see what the new studio has to offer.

ALSO KEVIN PENKIN RETURNING LETS GOOOOOO

I want to end things off by saying that when I first read this arc. I ADORED TEAM SWEET AND SOUR. I believe it was because they reminded me of Quinx Squad from Tokyo Ghoul :re...

I just love this team's dynamic and how well they play off eachother. It felt more like a found family. I understand people liked season 1's cast more but I have always been more partial to this team <3

I look forward to seeing them again in the anime cause I miss their early days so much. NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO ANY OF THEM OKAY? HELL TRAIN ISN'T REAL </3 (SIU please bring back the active members please I beg of you. SHOW ME THEIR SEASON 3 LOOKS)

[moondust-bard]

Nine People I Would Like to Know Better (?) Tag

I was tagged by @sleepyowlwrites — thank you!

current book: I’m rereading the last Magnus Chase book in Rick Riordan’s norse mythology series. His books are comfort reads. Reread books happens when I’m stressed, in pain, or upset. I am taking cozy fantasy recs in all age categories at the moment, preferably without romance.

Current fic: I don’t read much fsnfiction anymore, sadly. The JK Rowling of it all kinda ruined it for me. Engaging in fandom beyond casually consuming the media in question only stresses me out now.

Currently watching: I’m rewatching Call the Midwife. It’s a comfort watch. I go back to favorite pieces of media in times of stress. See a theme? To be fair, I don’t watch shoes or films much. Books and music are my main sources of entertainment.

Next on my watchlist: When the next season of Bridgerton drops I’ll be very occupied. I love a good historical drama.

Current hyperfixation: I’m listening to Dimension20’s Fantasy High for the first time. I really want to play DnD, and this show is only barely satisfying that.

Favorite color: lavender has been my favorite color since I was about nine years old. Periwinkle and seafoam are up there, too.

Sweet, spicy, or savory: Sweets, for sure— but more fruity-floral sweetness than bakery sweetness. I’m a big fan of treats with flower syrups, black tea, and sweet herbs in them.

Relationship status: single, and not actively looking for anything. If it happens, cool. If not, I’m honestly just happy to be here at this point. My friendships are super fulfilling and rich, and I have a large family.

Last song: The Prophecy off of Taylor Swift’s new album. I needed to let some stuff out after all the unfun medical experiences this week. The lyrics of that song kind of resemble how I feel about it.

Last thing I googled: lol, I just researched some of the new medical stuff I learned about my haunted house of a body. It was… informative.

Skill I’d like to learn: I would love to make my own clothes. For so long, I struggled to thread a needle on a sewing machine. My vision is very poor, which makes that task challenging. I think, even if it takes forever, hand-sewing might be my best shot at realizing this dream.

Best advice:

Dealing with my own health struggles, as well as supporting family who are attempting to rewrite poisonous, unsustainable behaviors has taught me something I wish I knew much sooner.

I’ve found it’s best for all involved that we try to meet each other where we are. Forcing someone into the shape you envision them in— with all their rough edges smoothed out and flaws filled in— helps no one in the present. Friends and family are going to move at their own pace and in the best way they deem fit for themselves. Expecting someone to exist or change in the ways you think suit them best, and within a set timeframe, is asking for disappointment and conflict. That being said, holding people accountable for how they treat you while they’re learning or in times of struggle is essential in caring for both yourself and that person.

And yes, this applies to how you engage with yourself, as well. There are no timelines. No “this is how I should be” or “this is what I should be doing by this stage of my life.” Exist—and change, if it’s what you’ve chosen — at your own pace, because it’s what you’ve decided is best.

I am tagging @saintedseraph @maddstermind @ettawritesnstudies @mr-writes @ryns-ramblings @acertainmoshke @ravonosify

@italiangothicwriteblr

@likegemstone

[hsslilly-blog]

i love names. blair (marina stewart) and claire (marie swanson) have extremely similar names and it is a bit. i thought it’d be really funny if their names sounded alike since pixelberry wants you to believe it’s the same mc for both games (it’s not. and pixelberry is stupid). but my thought process was something like this:

blair -> blàr means both "plain" and "battlefield" in scottish gaelic which i think it’s fun. i know the plain in question is a synonym to “meadow”, but i don’t think that’s the first thing that comes to mind. it wasn’t to me at least. anyway, i think these ideas work opposite to each other. which i think it’s reflective of blair’s personality. they’ve very meek and affable but at the same time they have temper issues, especially when they’re pushed too far. bhlàir is also a traditionally masculine name in scotland, which is interesting for a highland family.

marina -> this is an anglicised form of their middle name “maired”. which would be margaret, but can also be used in english as marina. it means "from the sea", and blair comes from the sea. but it’s marina because of saint marina, also known as the great martyr marina. and there's also saint margaret of scotland -> religious themes are very present in blair’s character + i really play with the idea of them giving themselves too much for people in detriment of their own well-being. it’s a curse.

stewart -> traditional scottish surname. either guardian of the house or steward. for the latter i like the meaning of someone who takes care of. i mean it makes sense. right. berry high and stuff. and people. and they become a psychologist later on. also it makes their dad’s name james stewart.

so basically their name resumes what i wanted from their character/what they are. often, the first thing you give to a person is your name and blair doesn’t just give you their name; it’s a microcosm of everything that comes after, and what you should expect. as for claire:

claribel -> i wanted a shakespearian name, but not one of the more obvious ones; i wanted something more subtle. it would show her (and her mother's) connection to the stage. so i picked this one from the tempest, and i think it's only mentioned in passing. in french, claribel is clara + belle, bright + beautiful and yeah, that's claire. her nickname "claire" specifically means "famous" in latin.

marie -> this is a recent development! i wanted a middle name for her and harley suggested marie. in french it means "star of the sea". like blair, she was also born in the seaside. what convinced me, though, was the relation of marie to mae (mary) west, one of my inspirations when redesigning claire.

swanson -> got this from gloria swanson. at first, of course. it's an anglicised (scottish) form of a swedish surname. it may have originated as a nickname for a graceful person (like a swan. yeah. that's it). i thought it fit claire's upbringing in upper class. it also fits her kinship to blair, in a way. plus i really like how it sounds like swan song -> i don't know if i've made it obvious in my other posts, but claire has a strong theme of the obsessed artist going on.

claire is a starrrrr. every part of her name is connected to the performing arts in one way or another. it's her destiny, really. kinda like nominative determinism. you can't name your daughter famous star and not expect her to be a famous star, sorry. her dad didn't think through here.

that's it. of course, it's not exactly an A to B thing. their characters informed their names, and vice versa. i already had their personalities consolidated by the time i redesigned/renamed them, so this wasn't a hard thing to do.

[apieceoftoastedbread]

i just got in the car to go home. let me yap.

WARNING FOR SPOILERS FOR THE GHOST MOVIE “RITE HERE RITE NOW”

Okay so, the thing at the beginning with saltarian was super cool. was kinda a jumpscare to see his face on the big big screen but it helped me stop disassociating and realize “holy shit im seeing the ghost movie”. Btw!! shoutout to my brother for taking me to go see it since my super religious parents would never take me. anyways uhm it was fucking awesome!! seeing all the ghouls in high detail kinda sparked my ghost hyperfixation again (it never left, just got very, VERY, weak.) i got to see my silly phantom and aurora and all the silly ghouls again and i was stimming very much. the theater was almost empty!! it was shocking how little people there was. I went with my brother and a mutual friend and we were the only ones in our row with small groups spread around us. Since this is my rant and i dont have any rules im gonna rip the bandaid off. i am so glad copia didnt and will HOPEFULLY keep being a reoccurring character as lead of the clergy. im a little upset about the cliffhanger of the new papa but i get it. ALSO,,, COSMO TALKED?? “Arent we gonna do a encore?” EXCUSE ME?? i was so so shocked. The misleading of death and new beginnings was also amazingly portrayed. i am going to miss the character of sister imperator but she had a good run. The show of Her, Papa copia (Father imperator🙏🙏), and Papa nihil being a family and all of then talking warmed my heart. totally didnt cry at that. WHAT DID MAKE ME CRY WAS IF YOU HAVE GHOST!! god the way they did that song and that whole scene tbh was just amazing. i cried a bit and was so touched by that song. The ghoulettes were amazing and i hope this isnt the last we see of them, but i get it if this is it. The singing ghoulete was amazing, she had a truely beautiful voice and make me get the chills a few times. The ones behind the instruments were just as good if not better. they all did great but i applaud the ones playing for being able to focus and play the entire time. The new song(god talk about quick changes) Was AMAZING!! i was up when it dropped and it has already been added to all my playlists. The credits with the song and the meaning of the song touch my heart in a way few songs are able to. I saw people on twitter complaining (as people on twitter do..) about certain ghouls not having much screentime, and i will admit that some had more than others, but i dont think its enough to be upset about. at the end of the day it relies on tobias, the camera team, and the ghouls boundaries. The dancers for Dance macabre and twenties was super cool!! kinda spooked me and make me uncomfy in the beginning but i think they did great. what did make me a little uncomfy was the video for year zero.. I am not a very religious person and do not have a label on what i consider myself, but the video was a bit of a jumpscare and was a little scary for me,. although im sure other liked it. I cannot wait for the album to be out and i will be putting on ghost more since the tism go brrr. expect ghost themed media to be posted by me more!! i think thats all but if theres anything else ill make a part 2 when im able to think again.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk!!

[josephtrohman]

wait, now I'm curious, can you show your fob tattoos?

sorry for the delay anon, i wanted to take the time to potentially take some better pics and i had a very busy evening last night lol. tattoo tour under the cut!!!

my futct keyhole tattoo was my first tattoo gotten at the beginning of february :3 i can’t wait to go back to this artist bc she killed it but it also was my most expensive tattoo (understandably so) so i need to save up but i have more non fob ideas i want to take to her based on her portfolio. it’s a little purple cuz this is from when it was still fresh and the purple is from the stencil but i feel a lil self conscious about my arm rn so i can’t take a better pic rn lol it’s not purple tho

this one was the second one i got and it’s a difficult location for me to photograph since this is on the outside of my ankle lol. i got this one incredibly impulsively near the end of february, bc i had a stressful evening and before going to bed i looked up tattoo shops near me that had online booking availability for the next day, and i booked after looking at the guy’s portfolio a bit even tho he practices more traditional styles n traditional tattoos aren’t my fav. i really wanted to get something special to remember my 8ball, and i was really excited and proud about coming up with this idea on my own!! this one i was slightly upset with at first bc i just think i should have waited but now that ive gotten used to it i appreciate it soooo much more!!!! and now im really happy and think it looks cool :) also this one hurt like a BITCH i wasn’t expecting it given the relative ease of my first one (the shading was rough on the first one but that was it), and the guy even offered me numbing spray for the black, but i powered through and he was very impressed with me and said i was tough lol :)

these next two i got at the same time and for some reason i can’t take a good pic of the one rn (it’s got a lot of adhesive on it from removing the second skin so it looks kinda bad right at this moment until the adhesive washes off more, but beware the second picture has a little bit of blood)

pls don’t make fun of my chubby arm but anyways these two i got at the same time just this past saturday from a lady who specializes in tiny tattoos :) the xo is based on how it actually appears on the back of the record, and she tried to font match it and i think it’s soooooooo cute (it’s rly little on my wrist, so little she just charged me for the i swear i say tattoo!!!). i know it’s kind of crazy to get two tattoos for the same song but 1) that’s my song im the number one highest streamer on stats fm, 2) xo has gotten me through so much :( i am considering one more xo tattoo in the future (getting “love never wanted me but i took it anyway” in pete’s handwriting using the font someone made out of his handwriting). but it’s my plan to wait on that one and make that be a far future tattoo, UNLESS they play xo as my 8ball in which case my ass will get it the next chance i get. lol

i maybe have one or two fob themed tattoos i’m potentially interested in getting in the future but that’s like a long term thing, i want to get some tribute to whatever my 8ball may be at minneapolis to go with my fame < infamy tattoo, especially if they play a song that’s one of MY songs, but this is generally where i’ll leave the fob tattoos for a bit and just getting more personal/non music related tattoos lol

[disasterbijamietartt]

I’ll need a few days to really process the last episode, so don’t expect any meta until the weekend.

But I wanted to write a post about why I believe in the writers and why I think that … this sounds so arrogant and delusional, but that my predictions here* are roughly what will happen and queer folks can stay hopeful.

(*tl;dr: Essentially that Colin will be the inspiration for main characters to address their queerness, Ted Lasso spent two seasons straightbaiting its entire audience and this season will end queer as fuck)

When I started watching Ted Lasso I thought it would be a fun, but silly little sports comedy, but very soon it got obvious how the show featured heavier themes and that they didn’t follow the expected script. Like, when Rebecca tells Ted the truth, you’d normally get some drama and rising conflict – but we got instant forgiveness.

And it got soon obvious we’d get a love triangle with Jamie, Keeley and Roy and – as someone who knows how the script goes – my first assumption was, that Roy x Keeley will be endgame (which was sad, since I adored Jamie x Keeley from the beginning, but I digress).

But some of the things that usually put me off love triangles were missing: there was no prolonged unnecessary drama after Roy learned that Keeley hooked up with Jamie the night before, Jamie and Roy didn’t fight over who would “get” Keeley (even though Roy’s jealousy sure was one reason for the tension between him and Jamie, but it wasn’t the only one), Jamie didn’t try to actively win Keeley back throughout the second season, he didn’t try to sabotage their relationship, even though he still loved her. The rocky parts in Roy’s and Keeley’s relationship weren’t related to Jamie at all, on the contrary, Jamie kind of unintentionally fixed their problems.

So, when they diverge so much from the expected, should I really still assume they’ll end the show with the thing everyone expects to happen? (like, in classic romance structure, Roy and Keeley now had their third act break-up, that always happens before the happily ever after … but as Phil said in an interview, they’re situation is a lot more complex than you’ll usually get.)

So, anyway, Ted Lasso was playing with expectations from the beginning. You’d expect Ted x Rebecca and Roy x Keeley endgame cause that is how the classic narrative works but the show subverted classic structure in the first season. So why should we assume that they just stick to the classic script now?

Also the theme song:

“Yeah, might be all that you get,

Yeah, I guess this might well be it“

I always thought, for an optimistic show like Ted Lasso this was a kinda sober beginning. But if you look at this with a queer eye … Cishet people are so used to seeing their happy endings playing out, so that is what they’ll expect to get. Until the last couple years, queer people barely got any stories with happy endings, so you didn’t exactly grow up with the expectation you’ll get a happy ending.

So you just had to take what you got.

But on the other hand the song has this hopeful bit about trying and not giving up. And … okay, I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but, idk, it just feels like it would fit as the theme song for an ultimately hella queer show?

And there are a lot of allusions to “The Wizard of Oz”, starting with the title of the first episode, Ted being the “Man from Kansas” aka Dorothy – googling I found this post pointing out a lot parallels in the second season, so it is not just me being delusional again.

For context: The movie was released 1939. Between 1934 and 1968 due to the Hays Code people couldn’t be shown as being explicitly queer in movies in the US, so writers started to queercode characters to still indicate queerness. And there is of course queercoding in “The Wizard of Oz” just like Ted Lasso and the movie as a whole resonated a lot with queer audiences, making Judy Garland a Gay Icon (see here). 

Both the movie and L. Frank Baumans novels have a lot of queer subtext (like, there is even kind of a trans character in the novels?). "Friend of Dorothy” was a way gay men referred to each other at a time, where they couldn’t just openly ask about someone’s orientation.

Fun Fact: The movies title song “Over the Rainbow” soon became a queer anthem and people wondered whether it inspired the rainbow flag. But the creator, Gilbert Baker, said he was inspired by,

wait for it,

“She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones (see here).

Rings a bell?

The episode “Rainbow”?

Roy returning as a coach to Richmond?

Also: Jamie comparing the team to the Rolling Stones? Himself to Mick Jagger and Roy to Keith Richards, who both wrote the song?

And, looking at episode titles some more: The color "Lavender" is so queer it has it's own LGTBQ-section on Wikipedia. Also the bisexual pride flag, where the colours overlap to form lavender? There was probably some other reason I forgot that the episode where Jamie returned was called like the queerest color ever, but still …

WHAT A BUNCH OF CURIOUS COINCIDENCES!

Oh God, the more I look, the queerer everything gets! I think I could go on some more, but I need to get breakfast and then some work done.