#international fans doesn’t matter to them I guess

[quan-yizhen]

Kinda going off of this post, I do think it’s interesting how Kyojuro is framed in fandom to have been completely level headed / understood where his father was coming from because I really don’t think … he fully did. I think this is stemming from him being a very heroic/noble type character but a theme that keeps cropping up in KNY is ‘what does it mean to be human?’ Faults and all?’ And it’s Kyojuro’s humanity that caught the eye of a lot of his fans, I’d guess.

And maybe it’s because I’m looking at it from the outside in, but when a parent is emotionally neglectful / not attending to their child’s emotional development, etc. … the child in question—no matter how “mature” they are presenting—is still a child. you can’t expect them to understand nuance. and when they eventually learn and grow into an adult, you can’t fully expect them to have an accurate view on that either.

They are not connecting the dots of why an adult is lashing out and how that connects to what said adult may be going through internally. Their mode of thinking is usually a lot simpler in that if A is angry at B, it’s because B did something to anger A. That’s why it’s so important for parents if they visibly get upset to calmly explain to their children why if the situation is appropriate to, especially if they have nothing to do with it. And if that doesn’t happen, I think a lot of times this can manifest in two different ways where the kid will try and “apologize” through making their parent happy, by doing what they think they should be doing and going above and beyond (like Kyojuro) or staying under the radar and keeping their head down to avoid the anger (like Senjuro.)

I think this is kinda amplified too because Shinjuro wasn’t always like that. So if you’re a kid and you’ve just lost your mom and now your dad, who was once so kind and patient, is now angry and snapping at you … what will you think? You might think in the midst of all this change, you are not doing something you’re suppose to. And I think that’s what Kyojuro (and Senjuro) grew up thinking.

So I think what I’m getting at is, at the end of the day, while Kyojuro at 20 / 21, is able to wish his father well as his final words (and I genuinely believe he meant that) everything else about his character that is so often admirable to everyone else (ie. his drive, his willingness to help and guide) is screaming “I’ve done well, I’m doing well, are you proud of me yet?” Even if now he’s at an age where he might be able to piece it all together, to understand that it was never him, to know how to reassure Senjuro “no, it was never you,” there’s still that corner that I think might not know for sure. There’s that corner that might not be so confident that his father likes him, never knowing that all of the posturing and anger was (in a v unhealthy, roundabout way) because of how much his father loved him. There was never a happy ending in play. It doesn’t matter how much you love someone if they’ve never felt it. Kyojuro’s story is sad because emotional abandonment hurts just as much as physical abandonment. Sanemi and Genya’s story is sad because running into a stranger you know everything about is and will always be jarring. Giyuu and his imposter syndrome, Tanjiro and this underlying fear of being useless, Zenitsu trying to make it all while only being able to master one form, Mitsuri just wanting to find someone who likes her for no other reason than that she’s her—these can all be relatable and idk. I think this is good storytelling overall but it’s something about Them Rengoku’s.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

a thought 🤔💭

Consider this post an offshoot of this one!

A lot of the world lore we receive comes directly from the 22-student main cast of NRC. However, this information they provide us with shouldn’t always be taken at face value 💦 Characters can be unreliable narrators; they won’t be 100% honest with us just because we’re the player.

There are points where they speak with sarcasm (so it negates the words they actually say). This happens a lot with Leona’s lines. Other times, characters intentionally say something to avoid implying something else or to cover up a less savory truth. An example of this may be Azul, who is highly concerned with maintaining his self image. Therefore, not everything he says may be entirely truthful, as the words may be intentionally changed to preserve his self image. We need to more carefully parse through and determine what is true and what is false or insincere of the information they disperse to us. It’s much easier, of course, to get a sense for their intentions by listening to their voiced home screen lines rather than just reading the text snd comparing it to their facial expressions, but voices aren’t always available.

Something else I was thinking about that goes hand-in-hand with this is how different backgrounds bias clouds the information given out or can provide an incomplete sample of the TWST population. For example, if you think about it, NRC only has ~800 students and we only see 22 of them. That’s a very small fraction of the total population of Twisted Wonderland (the whole world)—not to mention that almost 75% of those 22 come from at least upper middle class or at least “special” or privileged families:

Riddle’s parents are both medical mages, with his mother being particularly well-known in their hometown’s community. He had the privilege of studying magic since he was very young (which is notable since education is typically general and does not include magic unless you specifically go to a school for it like NRC).

Cater’s dad is a banker. I’m guessing he has to be pretty high up on the food chain to be traveling all the time (and far enough to separate Cater from his friends every time they do), as a regular low-level banker would stay put at one bank location and devote most of their time there.

Leona is a prince, and so is Malleus. Whether they are crown prince or not doesn’t matter because they still receive great educations and access to great funds either way.

Azul’s mom owns and operates the most famous restaurant in the ENTIRE Coral Sea. His stepdad is also a lawyer.

The Leech twins’ father has important connections and is highly influential in the Coral Sea; they are probably loaded because of this. (Popular fan speculation is the Leech mob family.)

Kalim’s dad is a wealthy trader and he is related to royalty; as the eldest son, Kalim is going to inherit the business. The Asim family’s enormous wealth is mention several times over in the main story, voice lines, vignettes, and events.

Jamil’s family is also said to be well-off.

Vil is an A-list celebrity and his father is as well.

We don’t know the specifics about Rook’s family, but they must be influential and deal in some kind of international business, as Rook mentions they have villas and warp pads (which require special clearance for) all over Twisted Wonderland.

Idia and Ortho’s family legit runs a secret government organization that studies blot. Idia himself is a child prodigy, and is set to become the next director after his father and grandmother.

Lilia is a renown war general and was close friends with his country’s crown princess and her spouse. He lives humbly, but he still has highly influential connections that a regular person wouldn’t.

Silver is Lilia’s adopted son, so by extension, he comes from a privileged background. Even if he technically grew up in a hut in the middle of the woods and didn’t live luxuriously, he still has Lilia’s social connections.

Sebek’s parents are both dentists and do you know how much money dentists make—

Ace, Trey, Jack, and Epel come from normal income families (excluding the portion in book 5 when Epel said his family’s farm has fallen on hard times).

Ruggie comes from extreme poverty while Deuce’s family has had financial issues due to being a single parent household.

And that’s not even to mention that NRC is all-male and mostly 16-18 year olds, thus skewing the perspectives we see in a “male” and “adolescent” direction. This will naturally limit the scope of how they see the world and how they speak about it, even if the characters themselves don’t intend for it to happen. In fact, I wonder if part of the reason the NRC boys aren’t open to accepting help or being open with others when they’re struggling isn’t purely a school-exclusive thing. Maybe it’s because 1) teenagers tend to be largely egocentric/focused on themselves anyway, and 2) society largely discourages men from showing “weakness” and NRC happens to attract particularly prideful students 😭 but the most obvious example of background limiting scope of perception are definitely the super sheltered, super wealthy characters (Malleus, Kalim, etc.).

Just getting our information from them won’t be entirely accurate to how the rest of the population acts or perceives things. We cannot 100% rely on what we know of the TWST boys’ behaviors to assess what everyone or everything else is like.

[arogustus]

Splatband Analysis - Squid Squad + Diss-Pair

(Disclaimer: This analysis in based on what I get out of looking into the character descriptions we have of the splatband characters. If you disagree with what I say, that is fine, we are all beheld to our opinions. Just don’t be a jerk about it.)

The Squad of Squid (and that one urchin). Squid Squad was the first splatband, with the two super cool songs that dominated the music scene, one of which is an emblematic part of Turf War gameplay. They’re also the band with the juiciest drama out of all the splatbands. Plagiarism, violence and relationship drama. This band has it all, so let’s see what all that was!

Also Warabi is here too I guess. They’re just one octopus, so it’s easy to jam them in here.

The Band

Squid Squad was Inkopolis’ hottest act back in the first Splatoon, and evidently have been playing for a decent while before they gained notoriety in Turf Wars with their latest album, Fresh Kids. They don’t make many public appearances due to their popularity causing them to get constantly mobbed by fans. Despite that, their success hides their amateurish nature, as outside of Ikkan, none of the band members know much about making music, practically winging it when it comes to their stuff, though definitely with a lot of passion for it. 

Internally, the band seemed to be rife with discord between band members that got bad enough the bassist eventually up and left, though not before one final concert on Starfish Mainstage. After that, silence for everyone but Quinn, who later pops up in Diss-Pair in Splatoon 2. According to Booyah Base, the others were focusing on their solo careers. But they did come back as Front Roe, although now actively distancing themselves from their past, to the point of not even performing any of their old songs. They want a fresh start, and want the world to see them for their talent and not for their fame. Though it’s fair to say the failure of Squid Squad is probably still fresh in their hearts.

Ichiya

Oh, Ichiya. Who knew the guy who looks like a fish gasping for air out of water would be at the center of so much drama. Let’s start with the information we learned most recently. That is, that he’s not an Inkopolis native, but actually from the Splatlands! We don’t know what made him move over to Inkopolis, Beika is pretty vague about the circumstances, but he seems to have adapted pretty well to the local culture. His relationship to Beika itself is its own mystery. All we have to go over is that the two were close enough that they had shared knowledge of Now or Never. Maybe he used to be a part of C-Side before Inkopolis? Maybe the two were close friends, or dating? No one is willing to give a straight answer. According to Splatune 3, he and Front Roe have made no comment on the matter, though people assume they are outraged. Note the keyword “assume”, here, that’s just what the public thinks.

He’s described as selfish, with the temperament of a prodigy and rockstar charm that draws people to him. The trademarks of someone who’s letting fame get to their heads it seems, though not immediately noticeable considering the charm thing. He probably seems cooler when seen from a distance, but you realize his negatives once you get to know him. This aspect seems to have faded for Front Roe, considering their current distancing from their past fame is kinda antithetical to his personality in Squid Squad. He’s hiding his identity (poorly) alongside the others, so something must have changed.

On the topic of being a prodigy, Ichiya can’t read!.. Music. He doesn’t know how to read music, I assume his other reading levels are normal. This is shocking since he’s the one who writes the band's music. He’s just getting by with flashy guitar riffs. This is actually reflected in the music itself. I’ve seen plenty of musicians react videos of Splattack that point out how relatively simple and easy to learn and perform the song is. I wonder if this applies to other bands. At the very least Ikkan saw this potential and wanted to mentor him, but considering how that went (the two’s arguments got bad enough they got in a live shootout with each other), it’s fair to say he wasn’t receptive to that gesture. 

Namida

Namida is the crazy girl of the team. We don’t get an idea as to how other than the bunch of nicknames she gets people to call her. The examples we got are “Mida-Chan”, "Master Namida", "Naminami", and "Girl from Planet Namik". Mida-Chan and Naminami sound like casual nicknames you’d get a friend to call you, while Girl from Planet Namik makes her sound eccentric and out of this world. Master Namida gives the feeling of wanting to be looked up to, probably a nickname used whenever someone asks her something. Am I reading too deep into these random nicknames? Yes, that’s the whole point of this analysis.

One minor thing is that she has knowledge in jazz theory. Seems she was studying jazz in particular before joining Squid Squad. Maybe she likes Ink Theory? At the very least she’s noted to be pretty skilled. Her lore is pretty sparse, all things considered.

Murasaki

Murasaki is next. The youngest member of the band, as the original Squid Research Lab tweet describes him as a youngster, and he’s called wild child due to his drumming skills. Not that he actually knows much about drumming, he’s like Ichiya in that he relies a lot on raw talent. Uncanny sense of rhythm, but not a lot of technique. He’s passionate, though, considering he cries during his drum solos. Energetic and emotional, especially once he gets going on the drum kit. The Squid Research Lab also describes him as “rough around the edges”. He must have been a prickly (hehe) kid, but one with a good heart. 

We do get to hear about him in Splatune 3’s section for Front Roe. He’s hanging out in bars now, and gives a cryptic answer to the question of whether Ikkan would ever collab with Front Roe (I’ll go into that in Ikkan’s section). He’s probably just throwing off the interviewer for the sake of the band's privacy.

Small but funny thing, Squid Squad actually starred in a small, four panel gag comic once, picture below. Definitely the best treatment a Splatband has ever gotten before Splatoon 3. Considering it’s a gag comic, it’s hard to say if this is how Murasaki is treated by his fanbase. But uh, if it is, I think he’s got reasons to be a little prickly.

Ikkan

The other center of drama that also looks like a dying fish. Look at how much he and Ichiya have in common. He’s the oldest member of the band, and evidently the most experienced and responsible as well. Always arrives early before anyone else, and leaves the stage after everyone else. Even wanted to try and mentor Ichiya to help him actually learn music. Funny that he thought Squid Squad was just a passing fad in the grand scheme of things. Maybe he cared more than he let on? If you remember the Ink Theory valentine’s artwork

and look at his bass case, you can see he still has Squid Squad stickers slapped on them. And then there’s the whole thing with Front Roe’s other song, Sandy Side Up, which appears to feature vocals of both him and Warabi. The fact that both sides are being deliberately vague about a reunion does give the potential that it is a reunion, but there is no concrete answer.

Personality wise, beyond that dedication and passion for music, he’s not a very emotive person. That dead fish stare is apparently his default look, and he doesn’t move around a lot while performing. Still, when Ichiya shot him with a gun, he shot back with his own (what the fuck), and then he stopped showing up to rehearsals and eventually left the band entirely. His response to being asked a question he doesn’t want to answer (would he ever reunite with Squid Squad?) was to say “that’s a good question”, and then he just left the room and never returned.  

According to Splatune, Ikkan (back in Squid Squad) actually stayed at a celebration party for one of their live shows up until the very end. Hard to say if it means he’s a secret party animal, or just felt obligated to stay. The latter tracks better with his personality in my opinion, as we know his response to an uncomfortable social situation is to just nope the fuck out. He also arrived at the studio before everyone else like always after the party, showcasing that diligence we know and love about him.

Now, as we all know, he did come back in a new band for Splatoon 2, Diss-Pair, having found an Octoling twink overseas who he befriended. It’s through here that we get a bit more insight about his reasons for leaving Squid Squad. Specifically he disliked the lack of tension, and them just being yes-men to whatever he said. Considering their overall inexperience, Squid Squad didn’t have much in terms of discussion over the songwriting process. But he did find it with Warabi, at least. Their first meeting was mistaken for an argument, and they have this balanced dynamic of pointing out each other's flaws while still trusting each other enough to not even have to look at each other during performances. He really respects the octoling.

Warabi

Diss-Pair’s other half, and an octoling that has been living on the surface for quite some time it seems. Now, I don’t mean offense, but I don’t much care for the “Warabi is an Octarian” headcanon. A lot of the info we’re given of them pretty heavily imply they were born on the surface. Their parents are famous actors, they had a musical education for gifted kids, they visit up to twenty countries a year on their tours before Diss-Pair. All of it just screams surface octopus. Marina does state she’s friends with them, along with Paul, who’s heavily implied to be an Octarian octoling. Maybe they’re friends because she’s an octoling DJ in a city notoriously lacking in the species overall? At least one thing we don’t know is where they are from, as Ikkan met them overseas. But yeah, surface octopus. 

Anyway, onto the octopus, they’re a DJ, specifically a Beatsmith with a strong focus on EDM style stuff. Their interest didn’t start early though, having come after growing up surrounded by music genres from around the world through their actor parents, complete with classical music education. Electronic music came to them in their teenage years, which seems to be their main deal. No details on their exact relationship with their parents, but at the very least it seems they indulge them in their love of music, so the relationship might be positive. They’re apparently very demanding as a performer, with demands that seem all over the place, but that belies a clever and intelligent person. An eccentric artist it seems, probably someone who asks people to serve a bowl full of only red M&M’s, but who actually knows their shit. And considering they’re meant to be a mismatch with the stoic, unemotive Ikkan, it’s likely they’re much more lively and energetic compared to him just to make the contrast between the two clearer. Despite those differences and the arguments they seem to have, they get along and greatly respect Ikkan.

It’s nice for Ikkan that he found someone who he considers an equal.

---

I wonder what we'll learn about Front Roe once the Side Order artbook is released (nothing like it has been announced, but come on, it has to be coming). Will the Beika/Ichiya drama reach its tipping point? Will Namida get more crazy nicknames? Will Ikkan be there and somehow answer nothing? It's all I care about, really, I'd settle for just buying the splatband pages of the artbook.

[tarochimochi]

Loser’s parents, Failure and Prize

The theme today was cake meeting Loser’s family but that got me thinking. What about Loser’s family since Cake has a dad?

So meet Loser’s parents, Failure and Prize. He gets his cubeness and pattern from his dad, but his shiny ivoryness from his mom.

(Their not great people, don’t get attached to them)

So hc and lore below undercut!

I’ve been super fixated on writing about Loser and Winner lately because I think their such interesting characters and their so much untapped potential for them.

Trigger warning for internalized ableism, ableism, child neglect, child abandonment, and parental abuse.

I really love the idea that Winner and Loser are opposites in alot of ways. I read this absolutely lovely fanfiction here (Read the warning before you do) and it made me like the idea that while Loser was always the more popular one of the duo. Loser was always jealous of Winner for other things. (Btw for context Winner and Loser have been in the industry since they were really young, I’d say 8-10)

Winner has a mom who loves them for who they are and is always their to support them no matter what. She is their every step of the way for them, and is their biggest fan because they wanted to be in the industry. While Loser doesn’t hate being in the industry and actually likes it, he was more so forced into it by his dad with little interference from his mom. Everyone really loves him though because he has that natural charisma.

If Winner makes a mistake and gets down on themself, Winner’s mom is always on the set to comfort them and hang with them in the trailer. It’s rare if Loser’s parents show up, let alone would talk to him if he ever messed up. If they were on set though Loser would get the yelling of a lifetime from his dad.

Loser was jealous of how when they were younger, Winner could always do the cool action packed things. In my original Loser reference sheet, I stated that I headcanon Loser as being disabled but not specifically GERD, Fibromyalgia, Arrhythmia, and POTS. Let me tell you as someone who has three of those diseases, it is so painful sometimes. Loser can push through it, but his dad shames him for “Your co-star is doing better then you, fix that.” leading to his extreme internalized ableism in himself where he feels he can’t talk or show any weakness around others or people will not see him as the guy he sets himself up to be.

After Loser and Winner have their duo break up, his dad really emphasizes he thinks it’s his fault their little thing fell apart. On the flipside, he’s happy now that he “eliminated” what was holding him back.

Now where’s Loser’s mom during this? Being a bystander and not interfering with anything. Loser and his mom barely interacted even in his childhood.

I guess moral of today’s Losercake post is, after years he reconciles with Winner and is kinda just his new family now. Found family and all!

I have some more Loser’s parents writing ideas that I would love to speak about, but most of them come from the general experience of being Asian American and my headcanon of Loser being Wasian, and I don’t know if people want to hear that to much? Maybe another time!

Shoutout to my qpp btw

[male-reader-haven]

~That Horrible, Wonderful Feeling~

Author note:

Here is chapter 1 of the project I've been working so long on!! I'm super passionate about this storyline, so I'm hoping you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it. As of right now, I have about 4 chapters completed, and depending on how well this is received I plan on posting them as well. Enjoy your Namjoon crumbs, there is SO much more to come!

Chapter 1: Ideal Woman

Namjoon's POV as he deals with prying reporters, stalkers, and some unwarranted feelings that send him spiraling. How can he claim to know and protect his fellow members if he doesn't even know himself? Y/N, one of 8 members of the worldwide popular K-pop boyband BTS, slowly helps Namjoon along in his journey of self-discovery and acceptance, dealing with his own feelings along the way.

Pairing: Kim Namjoon x male idol Y/N

TW: Stalking, internalized homophobia, heavier topics, invasion of privacy, slight NSFW, 18+

Word count: 2801

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Now, RM, the fans are dying to know. What are your ideal traits in a girl?” The interviewer smiled and held out the microphone towards Namjoon expectantly. The camera pans over to his face and he forces a smile and glances down.

What a stupid fucking question. 

He is so tired of being asked the same questions. Although he knew it was bound to happen due to BTS being worldwide famous idols, still, indulging reporters and tabloids who are constantly hungry for new content and scandals to feed their prying gossipers is so exhausting.

“Ah, well, you know, we all are focusing on our career and don’t have time for anything like that.” He avoids the question, hoping the reporter will drop it. She doesn’t catch on. She has a smile that is too wide and obviously faked. Honestly, Namjoon is pretty sure this american interviewer doesn’t even really know BTS too well or even listen to their music.

“Come on, everyone has a type. ARMY wants to know what kind of woman is RM’s type?” 

As if you can speak for ARMY.

“Why do you care?” Namjoon snaps. He surprises himself with his response and immediately follows it up. “I-I mean, it doesn’t really matter. As long as they love and accept me, I guess.” He saves it the best he can. The interviewer stares him down.

“Awe, how sweet. Well before you go Namjoon, we just gotta know! There have been rumors going around that you secretly have a girlfriend! Is it true? Should we be expecting an announcement soon?” As she speaks, pictures flash across the screen of Namjoon caught in the street taking pictures with a fan. Namjoon feels frustration bubble up, not only at the accusation but at the lack of privacy and how the tabloids must have been following him around taking pictures.

“Wow. Really? Shameless.” He loses his patience. “I don’t appreciate being followed and stalked everywhere I go, you know. She is a fan and we took a picture. Sorry I couldn't satisfy your gossip.” He can’t stop himself. “Do you guys really get paid for this? Pushing this  scummy, heteronormative agenda on celebrities hoping for a sliver of drama just so you can get a few clicks in by exaggerating and lying? We are people too, just like you. Normal people. So no, you don't get to make assumptions about me or pry into my life.”

“Heteronormative? Are you saying you are something other than straight? Is this official?” The woman interjects. Namjoon is fuming.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Namjoon gets up and storms away from the lit up booth and over to his staff, who briskly apologize to the interviewer and team and take him back to the studio.

Namjoon knows he went too far. Luckily his agent made sure that the interview would be scrapped and not published, but that is now an entire news group that BigHit won’t ever get an interview with again. Honestly they didn’t need the extra publicity, since at this point any company would be more than ecstatic to host an interview from BTS, but this was supposed to be a series of solo interviews from each of the artists, which would have no doubt been popular. Still, he didn't feel bad. Too many times have people asked BTS questions about their private lives and tried exposing them with false accusations and start scandals, none of which ever stick due to ARMY being so protective of them, but it took a toll on their mental health sometimes. Namjoon sinks into the back seat of the car as he looks out the window, listening to the patter of rain on the roof and watching the street lights reflect off the dripping window. 

My ideal woman, huh?

He reflects. Everywhere he goes where people ask him these questions, they always say “ideal girl” or “woman,” always assuming he is straight. I mean, he IS straight, but it bothers him nonetheless. It’s not like anyone bothers to ask, they always just assume. He knows that people just want to hear him talk about specific traits and types to fulfill people’s fantasies. It seems people also assume that all ARMYs are straight fangirls. It’s 2023, how are people still pushing heteronormative standards? He takes out his phone to see new messages in the BTS group chat.

WWH: How’d the interview go?

Namjoon sighed and typed out his response.

Me: Horribly. Pretty sure I ruined it for   all of us, sorry guys. JK: How so?  Me: I lost it and kind of snapped V: Dang, sounds like they deserved it then.  No worries man, probably for the best Me: Stupid private questions. I got  too pissed though, it is my fault, but still Y/N: Ew, don’t they have anything better to do? Jimin: Fr. Don’t feel bad, I would have  been short tempered too J-hope: Does this mean we have a free  weeknd? WWH: Nice spelling J-hope: thx dad JK: Hell yeah, let's do a movie night! (read by SUGA, WWH, J-hope, and 4 others)

Namjoon puts his phone away and looks out the window again. 

“Are you saying you are something other than straight? Is this official?” 

The woman’s words echo in his head longer than he would have liked. Namjoon has always liked women, that he is certain of. Ever since he was little he had crushes on disney princesses and actresses all the time. He had his fair share in heartbreaks and girlfriends in school too. Ever since becoming an idol, however, everything relating to romance seems to have left his life and been put in the back of his mind. He knows it's because they are idols that they aren't allowed to publicly date. That isn’t to say however that he didn't fantasize about having a partner or being in a romantic relationship. Despite BTS being his family and never truly being alone, he couldn’t help feeling lonely in some ways. These days, Namjoon finds himself stuck in his room working even in his free time. Maybe this weekend becoming suddenly free would be a blessing after all.

Namjoon walks into what he and BTS know as the “safehouse,” which is a large home away from the city where all 8 members have access at all times and their own separate rooms. They usually go to the safehouse when they want to meet up, have events and parties or just whenever they want to get out to somewhere private from their own separate homes. The other members are already gathered around in the dining room as he comes through the door.

“Hey, there he is! Welcome to the finest restaurant in all of Korea.” Hoseok yells over from the table where they are all feasting on what looks like bbq.

“Join us, I slaved away at making this for all of you, congratulate me.” Jin’s bubbly voice calls.

“As if. All you did was order the food hyung, don’t act like you prepared it!” Jimin teases Jin and reaches over to put some beef over the bbq and then dips it in some sauce.

“Ah, perfect. I’m starving.” Namjoon puts away his things and sits down in the empty chair next to Y/N. They all get into food and conversation, laughing and smiling and having a great time.

“I’m curious, what did she ask you that sent you over the edge?” Jungkook quired, sitting back as Taehyung brought over some beers.

“The interviewer started asking about my ideal type of woman, a question which I can usually dodge, but she was persistent. Then they pulled up pictures of me back when I was visiting Switzerland where I met a fan and they tried to frame it like a secret girlfriend situation.”

“They followed you to Switzerland?” Y/N looked up, a disgusted look on his face.

“Guess so. Anyways after that she-” Namjoon cuts himself off.

 “Are you saying you are something other than straight? Is this official?” Her words came bubbling up again, making him feel nauseous.

“She what?” Taehyung presses. Namjoon shakes his head.

“Nothing. I just got pissed, snapped at her and left after that.” He avoids eye contact with any of them, hoping someone will change the subject.

“I think you were in the right. I would have been so snarky.” Yoongi speaks up from the corner seat. 

“Yeah, don’t think about it too much man. There will always be more interviews, with better and more respectful people.” Jungkook says, trying to make him feel better.

The conversation shifts from there and as the night goes on, the boys get more and more inebriated. Jin is practically howling from laughter at Hoseok, who is falling over in his chair with his face bright red. Jimin is half asleep, Jungkook is not far behind him, and Taehyung is talking about some nonsense with Yoongi. Y/N and Namjoon seem to be the better off in the bunch, simply making stupid jokes and laughing at the other members. Namjoon speaks up.

“I’m drunk, gonna turn in for the night. As should all of you.”

“I think Jimin is already there.” Jin laughs and points at Jimin, who is face flat on the table.

“I’ll take him to his room.” Jungkook sighs and lifts Jimin up and carries him away. The other members eventually all go to their respective rooms also. Namjoon makes his way to his room. 

Namjoon closes his door and goes to get ready for bed. His tipsiness makes him stumble sometimes, but he manages to get changed and brush his teeth. After getting ready, he practically falls into his bed and crawls underneath the light brown and white covers. He drifts into thought.

Ideal woman… 

Namjoon starts thinking about what he finds attractive. He imagines lean, fit bodies and smooth skin. Silky hair and slightly parted lips. Sparkling eyes and light voices that entice him. He imagines a pair of hands caressing his face, feels the hands move down his neck and to his chest, constantly moving. The hands then become arms attached to a lean and skinny body, a dancer’s body. He feels the body with his own hands, moving to the sides of the person and down to their hips. The person materializes even more, revealing defined abs that lead to a man’s chest and strong thighs that straddle Namjoon’s middle, masculine shoulders that carry beauty and grace. The person is a beautifully built man. The face is blurred, but he can make out plump lips that shine, half parted in a silent breath. The figure leans down into Namjoon, hands on his chest and head as it gets closer to his face. Namjoon is lost in a trance by this beautiful person, and leans in to meet his lips with theirs, when he is met with air. He opens his eyes to his empty room and him in bed.

What a strange dream. 

He winces as he adjusts under the covers and discovers that he is partially hard.

Great, just what I need. 

He doesn’t have the energy to fix it right now, so he just takes a deep breath and ignores it. Eventually, Namjoon drifts off to sleep.

The next day arrives quickly, and the members are all hung over in the house waking each other up and groaning in the living room.

“What’s everyone’s plans today?” Jimin pipes up, cheerfully, as if he didn't get absolutely wasted the night before. J-hope looks up at him from his fetal position.

“How are you a real person?” 

“Yoongi-ssi and I were going fishing if anyone wants to join us.” Jin puts the offer out there, to which nobody volunteers.

“I thought you hate fishing?” Y/N asks Yoongi.

“I do, but it makes Jin hyung happy. And it's more fun with friends.” Yoongi half spoke, half groaned his response.

“Awe, he does have a heart!” Jimin teased. Yoongi curled deeper into his blanket in response.

“I want to go hiking today, anyone want to come with? We can get ramyeon after and karaoke!” Jungkook suggests.

“Oh, that sounds fun! I'll come.” Hoseok blinks the sleepy away from his eyes and nods.

“Jimin and I will come too.” Taehyung holds up his arm.

“Do I get any say in this?” Jimin smacks Taehyung’s shoulder.

Guess that leaves Namjoon and Y/N. Namjoon turns to him.

“Would you be interested in going to the National Folk Museum of Art in Seoul? I haven’t been there in a while.” Namjoon and Y/N both share a passion for minimalistic art and artists as well as art history. Y/N looked up at him and smiled through groggy eyes.

“Sure, that sounds fun!” 

Cute. 

“Sounds like we all got plans then! Get up and get going boys, or these hangovers are gonna take your Friday away.” Jin initiates the march to get ready for the day and get going. As everyone gets up and gets ready to leave, Namjoon also stands up. Y/N stays on the couch for a second before groaning and putting his arms out.

“Help me up hyung, i'm dying.” Namjoon smiles and exaggeratedly pulls Y/N up from the couch.

“I take it I will be driving us?” Y/N teases.

“It’s safer for us and the universe that I don’t.” Namjoon laughs and lets Y/N go upstairs. He trips over the first step, making Namjoon smile.

Was he always this adorable?

Some time goes by and Namjoon gets a text.

Y/N: I’ll be ready in 15, meet me in my car? Me: SOunds good Y/N: Lol typo

He puts his phone away and gets ready. After 15 minutes of looking for a good art museum outfit (he decides on jeans and a hoodie because he couldn't decide) Namjoon heads downstairs and to the parking lot to meet Y/N. He sees the light mint green beetle with its engine on and in the driver’s seat is Y/N, in what looks to be a brown sweater and a green beret with thin circle glasses. He opens the passenger door and buckles his seatbelt.

“You look nice! Perfect for the museum.” Namjoon compliments his outfit.

“Ah, a classic Namjoon look.” Y/N laughs, pointing out Namjoon’s plain outfit.

“Yeah well, I'm okay with being inconspicuous.” 

“You will be my staff as I get all the attention!!” Y/N smiles and gives Namjoon’s shoulder a light punch. Namjoon looks around the inside of Y/N’s car, taking it all in. The interior is light brown and clean, Y/N likes to keep his things tidy. On the windshield mirror is hanging a car freshener that looks like a daisy. Y/N turns on his bluetooth and connects his phone to the radio.

“Any music suggestions?” He asks Namjoon.

“I want to listen to what you want. What are you listening to these days?” Namjoon inquires. It has been a while since he hung out with any of the members one on one. Y/N nods and scrolls through his phone as if it was a super important decision.

“I need to find songs that you wont judge me for.” Y/N laughs, half joking.

“You know I listen to a bit of everything, not much can surprise me.” Namjoon reassures him. Y/N smiles and a song begins to play. Namjoon recognizes it as Troye Sivan’s “Lucky Strike.” Y/N bops his head along to the music and looks at Namjoon for approval.

“I know Troye Sivan. He has a great voice.” 

“God, what I would GIVE to do a collab with him!” Y/N reels, then puts the car in reverse and they set off. The car ride is pleasant and calming as they take turns recommending songs and vibing to them, moments of silent listening as well as gushing about artists they like.

“I wish we could be more open in our music. Like Troye Sivan or Frank Ocean.” Y/N expresses. “I mean, I know we technically can, and there is nothing wrong with expressing your true self through music, but I feel like we have to be so on edge because of how many people listen to our music.” Namjoon understands what he means.

“I get it. We have to tiptoe around certain topics because of how international our reach is.” Y/N nods solemnly to Namjoon's response.

“Yeah. I just wish I could write about what I want without worrying about scandals. We write about girls all the time, I'd love to write a boy love song.” Y/N is focused on the road. Namjoon turns to look at him when he says that, but doesn't say anything. They bop their heads to music the whole way, Y/N making silly gestures and expressions to the music as he drives. A slight burning feeling arises in Namjoon's chest, and upon realizing he is staring quickly glances away and swallows.

Must still be hungover.

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Aaaaaa what did you guys think?!?! I have SO much more written that I'm excited to share with you about this story. If you enjoyed and want to see more chapters please show this some love and tell me what you think below!!!

Stay tuned, Jae loves you <3

[angelinthefire]

Solitudes: director's commentary

So this is a thing I do now, post commentary on my fics. I've been sitting on this fic for a long time and I'm excited to finally talk about it!

Read the fic here

Chapter 1

The title of this fic is a reference to “Two Solitudes”, a novel which I’ve never read, but which is a point of reference for Canadian political science, about the fundamental division between Quebec and English Canada, and the two never being able to connect or understand the experience of the other.  And that’s one of the inspirations for this fic, exploring the degree to which Dean and Cas understand each other and misunderstand each other, and their attempts to communicate what they want from their relationship.  I do believe that Dean and Cas understand each other and connect and relate to each other to a large extent, and far better than some fans give them credit for. Sometimes I see the “Don’t go/Ask me to stay” dynamic exaggerated to an extent that I believe no longer makes sense, given their friendship.  At the same time, there is an underlying tension and disconnect between them. They don’t have a perfect understanding of each other. And that still matters quite a lot. 

The other source of inspiration for this is that I haven’t written anything where Dean is the one with a handle on his feelings and wants to initiate something, since like 2013. And that I’ve never written anything set in season 12, despite that season having the perfect setup for Dean and Cas getting together.  And I was thinking, how do I push things further than what happened on the show? I usually like my fic to feel very situated in canon, and since Dean and Cas didn’t actually get together in s12, something else would have to happen, something to push Dean over the edge. Something that would also push Cas to make a realization.  So that’s how I ended up with the idea to lock Dean and Cas in a room together, with Dean thinking that Cas is dead, and Cas unable to do anything but watch. In my head, the alternate title for this story is “The Pear Jiggler fic”. Just stick them in a box and fuck with them. We also often talk about how Cas never gets to see how Dean reacts when he dies, so that was a fun thing to do as well.  And I just love a good bottle episode. Something that’s just all character-driven. 

In terms of characterization, one thing that’s very important to me is that Cas knows that Dean cares about him. He’s not some poor soul who thinks he’s on thin ice all the time, or thinks that he has to be useful to be loved. He understands that Dean cares, but the misunderstanding is the degree to which Dean needs him in his life.  Cas does have a drive to be useful, to solve problems, but it’s internally motivated. He has to prove that he’s useful for himself, not for Dean. Even when Dean gets pissed at him, Cas doesn’t take it too, too personally, because he does still know that he’s important to Dean.

For Dean, the emphasis is really on the way he retreats when threatened, emotionally. When he behaves badly, it’s partially because he’s worried, but also as a defence mechanism. He only puts words to his feelings when he has nothing left to lose. 

It’s been a while since I’ve written a version of Cas that wasn’t fully tuned in to his feelings for Dean. One of the more fun things about this angsty fic was having Cas thinking about Dean wistfully, and not imagining that Dean might be in love with him, or that his feelings are anything other than friendship.  I guess the other option was to write mutual pining, Dean and Cas both being aware of their feelings but neither realizing the other feels the same way. But for me, the realization that what they feel is love is a really fun part of the story, so I wanted that moment for at least one of them.  Of course, Dean isn’t fully there yet either. Like he knows, but he’s not 100% there. But it’s just caution that’s holding him back. A lot of the time in fic, when it’s Dean’s POV and he knows he’s in love with Cas, there’s a whole big self esteem thing that holds him back. And I never really buy that. Plus it’s unnecessary.

I’ve noticed that in a lot of my fics, I get Dean out of the driver’s seat of the Impala, or out of the Impala entirely. It is about getting him into a new situation, making him feel off-kilter in some way. Switching up the status-quo. 

I’ve been playing the Sims quite a bit, mostly building homes, and therefore looking at a lot of fancy real estate postings for inspiration. I find brutalist architecture quite compelling in its own right. I wanted a setting that feels foreboding, but still like a place where someone might actually have lived. A room with very little in it that could provide distraction. And a space where light plays an important role, which it does in brutalist buildings, I think. I do find it unlikely that a desk and chair would have survived, but Dean needed something to smash up, so. And the fountain wall is there to create a sense that the building is being taken over by something, it has something growing in it. 

The monster itself isn’t consciously based on anything. It’s what it needs to be for the story. Whatever lore I made up only exists to support its function in the story. Even the way Sam kills it, just serves to underline that it’s unique and powerful, and therefore able to keep Cas contained.

Chapter 2

I didn’t have the idea to do the split-screen until I was well into planning the fic. To emphasize the division between Dean and Cas, their mismatched perspectives. For a second I considered just having two unbroken columns, so that the reader would have to decide when/if to go back and forth, but that would have been kind of confusing. And ultimately, Cas is reacting to Dean, so you need to keep going back to Dean to understand Cas.  I wrote Dean’s side first, as the independent variable. Deciding where to break, and switch to Cas was a bit of a back-and-forth process, because it had to work both in terms of story and in terms of rhythm.  One thing I liked about this is that I didn’t have to decide whose POV to write in. Unless a story is strictly one character’s POV I usually plan out scenes from both of their perspectives and then decide which one is better to take for the story, and sometimes that can be kind of tough. 

Of course, the entire conceit of this scenario is that it’s a metaphor for their relationship. Or it takes the tension in their relationship and brings it to the next level. They’re together, but there’s something preventing them from fully connecting. They understand each other, but they misunderstand each other at the same time. And it’s by making that disconnect physical that they start to kind of be able to deal with it. Because it gives Cas a perspective on Dean that he didn’t have before. They don’t fully resolve their problems by the end, and to be honest I wouldn’t want them to. But they make some progress. 

I had fun with the imagery for this. Dean and Cas sharing the same space, being separated by light, and by illusion.

Dean’s alcoholism figures very heavily in this. But it is not addressed as a problem for him to overcome. I neither feel equipped to write a story about alcoholism per se, nor do I want to. A running theme throughout a few of my fics is that Dean and Cas do not fix each other. They keep being the same fucked up guys. And I think getting Dean to a place where he wants to deal with his substance abuse problems would require a lot more story behind it. 

The withdrawal is there to make things that much more horrible for Dean, not to actually deal with alcoholism as an issue.. And it adds an extra sense of threat. I didn’t do a ton of research on what happens when someone goes through withdrawal, I just looked up a timeline for symptoms (it can start after just six hours! I didn’t know that before). And I confirmed that someone could die from withdrawal. 

For Dean, chapter 2 is about making him sit with his misery. Unlike every other time he’s lost Cas on the show, there’s nothing to distract him here. And that’s one of the things that pushes him to vocalize his thoughts and feelings..  As well, anger, guilt, fear and love are all very much intertwined for Dean. And that’s accentuated by the situation. So he says “I hate you” before he says “I love you.” But then, as his motivation to survive kind of drains away, his defensive instincts do as well. 

For Cas, it was about forcing him to accept that things are outside of his control. There’s no more desperate moves, he can’t throw himself on his sword. Like Dean, there’s nothing to distract him, he’s forced to stop and reflect on what’s happening. He has to face what he means to Dean.  When Cas says “I’m not worth it” - that’s something that came up when I was freewriting dialogue and it just felt right. But I spend zero time unpacking it. Again, it’s one of those things - Dean and Cas are both fucked up, they both have their problems, and this experience doesn’t change that. In fact, it probably makes him worse. Another aspect of Cas’ powerlessness is how he relates to his human body. Not having it, or not being able to use it, makes him more possessive over it. 

Still on the topic of Dean and Cas not being able to fix each other, you see that when Dean says he’s in love with Cas, and it finally clicks for Cas. It doesn’t solve anything.  I did really want to make the point that the two of them being in love doesn’t change anything in terms of their plans or obligations. And it doesn’t really change much about how they relate to each other either. I’ve said before that their friendship and their romance are indistinguishable imo. And the other side of that is that Dean and Cas are both more than their relationship, and the pressures and stresses they face mostly come from outside their relationship (which is a fact that fans lose sight of sometimes). Whether they’re officially In Love or not, they want to be together, but there’s other forces, both internal and external, keeping them apart. 

I hope Dean lying down with Cas’ dead body works. It’s super melodramatic, but it’s also kind of gruesome and I like that. I also love the idea of Cas being jealous of the illusion of his dead body. 

Chapter 3

A dynamic that I really like in storytelling is when The Big Event in the story is not the thing that pushes the characters towards the resolution, but it primes them for the next little thing tipping them over. I do that here, and I kind of do that in Life Skills too. It feels more real to me, and it creates more space to explore the ending imo. So Dean tries to go back to normal!

The fight in the parking lot was probably the scene that was the most fun to write. Like it’s still frustrating and angsty, but it’s kind of funny too. 

And yeah, Cas still feels trapped. The repetition of the gray and green imagery reflects that. He still feels powerless, and it just takes one more shove to get him to open up about it.

Dean has a bit of an impulse to be controlling here. First of all, because I do think it’s in character, but also because I think it’s fun. Like I don’t like to go super-toxic with Dean and Cas, but there’s a measure of toxicity. Again, they keep being fucked up. For Dean, I just touch on it briefly, but I think one aspect of his upbringing is that love has to be proven. Like, he loved his father, so he did what was asked of him. If Cas loved Dean, then he would do what Dean asked of him - this is the main concept that underlies my read of Dean’s reaction to Cas collaborating with Crowley in s7.  For Cas’ part, he doesn’t really register that there’s anything wrong with Dean’s behaviour, or he reads in the best intentions. Which is a fun idea to me. 

I really grappled with whether or not to have a sex scene as part of the resolution. It felt formulaic to do so. There wasn’t a story that I wanted to tell with their sex. But on the other hand, I know there would have been a time when I would have been disappointed to read something like this and not get a sex scene out of it. They go through such intense emotions, it only seems fair to the reader. Ultimately it came down to the fact that there wasn’t anything else that I wanted to say about Dean and Cas. 

I kind of grappled with the end in general. Usually, I write fic with a particular ending in mind. For this one, the journey was the focus more than the ending. But I think the ambiguity works. Nothing is fixed, but they’re trying.

And that’s what listening to the tape at the end is about. The tape is Dean’s way of trying to communicate with Cas. But Cas didn’t really get it before. Now Dean is trying to help him to understand. I considered including lyrics at the end. But the scene isn’t about the lyrics, the lyrics could be anything, it’s about the fact of them listening together.

[watchingblsnowandforever]

Prompt: “there is a rumour going around that the vocalist of a popular boy band is dating someone and everyone’s guessing who he could be dating, and everyone’s guess is anyone but me” au (taken from this list by @alan-apologist)

Word count: 608

Pairing: Tinn × Gun

Title: Not Your Boyfriend (Or, Am I?)

Note: This is an original work by me (@watchingblsnowandforever). Do NOT repost, or post to another website without my explicit permission.

No matter how hard and gruelling the day was, Tinn always found a little bit of joy in the break room. Every single day, without fail, all the doctors and nurses gossiped about the rumoured boyfriend of the lead vocalist of Chinzhilla. 

Chinzhilla was the #1 band in Thailand now. Tinn couldn't go anywhere without hearing their name. 

One time, he'd realized that he was out of toothpaste in the middle of the night and had to drag himself to the nearest 7/11. At the counter, the boy noticed his Chinzhilla hoodie he'd borrowed (read: stolen) from Gun and went on a breathless rant about how good Chinzhilla was and how handsome their members were. Tinn would have found it hilarious if he were not sleep deprived, but he could only just blink owlishly at the boy until he sheepishly apologized and finally gave him his toothpaste. 

A couple of weeks ago, in an interview, the other band members were teasing the lead vocalist about how whipped he was for his boyfriend, and Gun had confidently retorted that his boyfriend was more whipped for him, and except for a little snickering, none of the others had denied that.

While true, it'd taken Tinn back to their high school days, and he'd screamed into his pillow with cherry red cheeks, and then called Tiw to rant. Again. 

See, they had a deal. Every other weekend, Tinn treated Tiw to whatever he wanted, and Tiw patiently listened to all his (coherent and otherwise) rants. 

They both knew Tiw would do it no matter how much he complained, but it gave them an opportunity to catch up on each other's lives.

Anyways, since then, there had been an uproar among the Chinzhilla fans about who this mysterious boyfriend could be, and why they didn't know all about him already.

So his colleagues - grown, professional adults, he might add - liked to speculate who the lucky man could be. Their guesses became more ridiculous by the day. 

Today was no different. And as usual, he just listened to them and laughed internally as he ate his homemade lunch (packed by his beloved boyfriend).

“Do you think it’s that guy, Tiwson?”

“Oh yeah! Doesn’t he attend every one of their concerts?”

“I’ve heard that he even has a backstage pass!”

“Wait, wait, I think Gun and Tiwson went to the same high school!”

There was a collective gasp.

Tinn choked on his rice. 

Tiwson?! Tiwson of all people?! He had the urge to laugh hysterically even as his eyes watered. That was simultaneously the closest to the right person and the furthest thing from the truth.

“Are you okay, phi?” Abbie asked. He gave her a thumbs up.

Abbie was an intern under him. She was one of the best medical students he’d seen. Only thing was, she loved to gossip, and knew everything about everyone that was ever on the internet. And she had a huge crush on her fellow intern Tess.

________

That evening, when he told Tiwson about how he was apparently dating Gun, Tiw’s expression had him laughing for a solid ten minutes.

Gun, on the other hand, looked at him all angry and jealous and kissed him senseless and then some.

It was a pretty long night, and Tinn had to take the next day off.

Totally worth it.

Maybe, just maybe, he should encourage his colleagues’ “discussions” and tell Gun all about it when he came back home.

Gun chased him with (a replica of) the Chinzhilla plushie around their house after he heard that.

Life was pretty good, he thought, as he ran around the living room laughing.

[polyamorouspunk]

Hi, just wanted to vent. I recently told me mum that I'm polyamorous and have another gf and I was just so disappointed in her reaction. She wasn't mean or unaccepting or anything so I feel so stupid for for feeling this way.

I gave her a letter via my sibling that still lives at home and when they told me they had given it to her I was super nervous all day. She took all day to reply to me (she is a self employed landlord so the fact she was too busy to get back to me straightaway is all self imposed) and even then it was my sibling who had to phone me in the end to have her talk to me. I poured my heart out to her in the letter, talking about how this was me involving her in my life and how anxious I was. And she just said something about how she didn't have a problem with it and it was really a "private matter" whatever that means. She also compared me to my cheating grandad (dad's side) and speculated on whether it ran in the family. She also doesn't seem that interested in my new gf (idk how else to refer to her) and only asks about the gf she previously knew about when on the phone.

I just wanted to have a real emotional conversation with me and she's clearly oblivious to that or doesn't care. She also will never approve of me telling my grandparents (her patents) and so won't give me any help with that which I know without asking because she won't tell them about my sibling being nonbinary.

It sounds pretty bad now that I've written it out so I feel less bad about being upset. Thank you if you take the time to read this

- 🐇💕

I never came out to my mom until my brother did first.

My brother was the first one to come out as gay, though as my mom says, he never had to, she ‘just knew’.

Me? I had to come out. And even when I came out I still got asked if I was allowed to call myself gay.

I never really outright told my mom I was “trans” either. She jokingly would call me “My boy!” And I would enjoy it, but then told me referring to me as a “son” was weird. But I agreed.

I never told my mom when I had other partners. To be honest, it just wasn’t worth it, just like it’s not worth it to argue with people over my pronouns or whatever or people assuming I’m cis or calling myself a lesbian without explaining that actually I like men too or whatever. It just wasn’t worth it.

But I hated myself for being polyam. I despised myself. I had so much internal shame that I had heard people talk about having for being gay or trans but had never understood in those regards.

I knew my brother’s dad had cheated on my mom and my dad had cheated on her, and I didn’t want to be compared to that.

My mom was fine with my brother being polyam, though, so I said I was too. But that’s all I’ve really said. I honestly don’t know the details of my brother’s dating situation anymore but it’s not any of my business.

She felt she was the one who had to tell my grandparents about my brother being gay, and probably me too.

My mom tells me about her ‘dating life’ which honestly I don’t really care to hear about, and I’m not really a fan of when she prys into mine.

While it’s not a “private” matter I think it’s a personal one, and one that’s to be disclosed at one’s discretion.

There will be people who understand parts of us but not others. I don’t think we can ever fully, truly understand someone else. How we support them- or I guess, don’t- is what matters.

And people come around sometimes. People change. Sometimes for better or for worse.

It can be hard to care for someone you see as… intruding… into what you know, even if it’s about someone else’s life. But I hope that maybe she can come to see them somewhat as equals. Not that one partner is more important than the other, that one matters and the other doesn’t. But just two seperate but equal entities.

[alovelyburn]

I am a little worried this ask could be easily misunderstood as being in bad intent, especially seeing the amount of fans assigning every possible diagnosis, I mean the ones they consider “evil” (which I do find pretty ableist to be honest), to Griffith. Nevertheless I am quite interested in your opinion on the matter. So. Would you say that Griffith has some types of mental disorder? I do not know anything about you so I do not know if you have proper knowledge to actually determine him as such, nor if you are comfortable with answering this type of question, obviously feel free to ignore me, hiding behind anon, trying to get some answers from you😅. But I must admit, I can see some signs of different types in him? although it could be just projecting. I doubt it could be Miura actual intention, but I could be wrong, he did surprise me with his knowledge and openness in his interviews already. Doesn’t matter if you decide to post this, or not, I’m thankful for your content brightening my everyday and making poor little heart who feels such deep weird connection with Griffith so happy ❤️

Honestly, I mostly ignore the weirdos when it comes to Griffith diagnoses so I have no idea wtf they’re saying about him - I mostly see a lot of "sociopath" and "narcissist" but he doesn't actually qualify for either one so like.... mostly it’s a bunch of pop culture-fed armchair psychologists talking shit about characters they don't like.

AS FOR ME

I do know a fair amount about psychology - I guess more than your average person in an armchair playing Freud - but I am in no way a medical professional or qualified to be diagnosing people. Characters are extra difficult because we can only judge from what the writer puts on the page and even the most complex character is ruled by like... story logic, which obviously doesn't apply to real life.

Which is to say take it with a grain of salt regardless of who's saying it, but since you asked...

...for me personally, Griffith mostly comes off as having I guess a combination of ptsd (along with almost everyone in the series, lmao) and what's colloquially called Smiling Depression, which is a form of major depression with atypical presentation where the person internalizes their symptoms so that their emotional issues are invisible from the outside despite being just as debilitating internally.

If you're curious about it, you can read about that here, and here's a nutshell rundown from someone who is, let's stress this again, not a mental health professional:

The people most prone to this particular variant of depression will tend to be ambitious or perfectionistic. They may feel like a fraud - they may not even realize that what they're feeling is depression and certainly not a lot of people outside would know as they appear to be active, high-functioning individuals - even unusually high-functioning. They may even be seen as "perfect," with a steady job and healthy active social life, but they have few real friends or confidants and often unhealthy coping mechanisms. They often have poor  self-esteem and suffer from low self-worth. They may think that showing their feelings would be perceived as weakness and like they don't want to burden people with their problems. They may not have the energy deficits that people with more typical depression presentations have in public, but it may hit them when they're alone. Smiling Depression is considered by some to be potentially even more dangerous than typical depression because of the suppression, reluctance to seek help and, well, the excess of energy that they sometimes use in self-destructive ways? Thus they are sometimes at a high risk of suicide.

Now, was Miura sitting there thinking about what mental disorders Griffith might have had... no idea. I mean I wouldn't necessarily doubt it, he did talk about Griffith being unable to love women and probably being a victim of child abuse + his inability to reroute his life's path, so obviously he was thinking about Griffith's psychology.

But either way what I do think is that his own mindset colored the way he wrote Griffith - Miura has said that he was depressed while creating the Golden Age which is why the Eclipse so so extreme, for example - just like his own experience of childhood trauma and abuse obviously colored everything in the series and every character he wrote.

Plus Griffith (like Guts) is based on both him and Mori, and they were both depressive survivors of childhood abuse and/or neglect, so ptsd + depression seems to make sense.

Anyway, I don't know if that's what you were looking or hoping for, but hopefully it's interesting. <3

[firstkanaphans]

Lowkey... I was so excited about Moonlight Chicken bc big fan of 1000 stars and Cupids last wish.... but how did the earthmix ship have the least impact? Maybe MSP and Eclipse were more recent so those ships overshadowed? And 1000 stars and CLW don't really have side ships so the main couple could shine? or maybe bc MC didn't have a real plot and earthmix does better in plot-heavy shows?? I'm just so confused bc I only watched the show for earthmix and came out shipping the sideships more than them and I want to deeply analyze wtf happened

I want to preface this by saying that I enjoyed MLC immensely—it’s only the second Thai BL ever that I’ve rated 10/10—but I do agree that the JimWen storyline was the weakest of the three. The problem wasn’t the chemistry, though; it was the writing. EarthMix have amazing sexual chemistry and they did what they could with a flawed script.

The first problem, in my opinion, was that the character of Wen was severely underdeveloped. How do I know this? Try describing Wen in one word without using his physical appearance or profession. The only words I can come up with are slutty and sad. And unfortunately, a sad slut does not a main character make. Even Praew, who had the least amount of screen time, has a bigger personality.

The second problem is that Jim and Wen’s relationship has no stakes and very little conflict. Theirs is a very quiet story, more introspective than plot-driven, and that’s a perfectly valid way to write, but you’re setting them up for failure when you make Heart and LiMing the secondary ship because Heart and LiMing are all conflict all the time—both internal conflict (Heart blaming LiMing for breaking the vase + their ongoing communication difficulties) and external conflict (the disapproval of their respective families).

We don’t spend our mental energy worrying about Jim and Wen because in the long run it doesn’t really matter whether they get together or not. If Jim never gives in to Wen’s advances, they will just go back to their separate lives and they will still be fine. The stakes in the JimWen plotline are about Jim’s diner, not the relationship itself, and it’s frustrating because they were so close to getting it right.

This is pure speculation, but my guess is that if P’Jojo had directed MLC like he was supposed to, he would have made Wen a cheater for real. And suddenly, there are stakes! I know a lot of people don’t like infidelity plotlines and I get it, but it would have made Jim and Wen’s relationship 1000x more interesting because now Wen is being forced to choose between the life he has built with a partner of six years versus the chance of something better. And on the other side, there is Jim who has unwittingly fallen in love with someone who is treating another man the exact same way Jim’s cheating ex-husband treated him. God, it would have been beautiful.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think EarthMix were overshadowed by the other couples, I think the script just fucked them over. That being said, I still enjoyed the show as a whole. Stories are going to resonate with who they resonate with. But in the case of MLC, I really do think the brunt of the issue was with the writing.

[variousqueerthings]

Ultravox do they split up?!!!

okaaaay so far best fuckn episode This Season, it's Cold War and it's got (checks the list): Liam Cunningham (for anyone acknowledging the good bits of Game of Thrones), David Warner (!!!!!!! no seriously !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and he's the best part of the episode too), Tobias Menzies (for you the terror fans), Josh O'Connor!!?? pre-doing a million great gay movies, and James Norton, whom I've definitely seen around somewhere

basically just a mix of greats and soon-to-be smash hits in terms of guest cast just because it's a time to flex I guess

ALSO Spencer Wilding at this point deserves credit on the level of Doug Jones for the kind of Big Creature acting he's done on this show (including sexiest of creatures - the minotaur back in my favourite eleven-era episode The God Complex) (also apparently darth vader in rogue one??? dude)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 9/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 7/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 8/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 6/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 7/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 10/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 10/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 10/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 8/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 7/10

FULL RATING: 82/100 (if I can count….)

between this and the "Stalin's Russia" moment in Idiot's Lantern, do you think Mark Gatiss is into USSR aesthetics?

OBJECTIFICATION: Clara has a similar gag to Rose back in Werewolf Land and Idiot's Lantern, and Amy with Rio, in that they were heading for Vegas and landed a bit off... inside a USSR Sub during the Cold War! Clara immediately spends the rest of the episode draped in an oversized USSR submarine coat and it's quite charming to be honest

PLOT-POINT: this episode has soooo much Clara feeling in it, specifically Clara reacting to violence, to the point that she's about to have a full-on panic attack and needs to be helped by David Warner (sobs, I want David Warner to ask me about Ultravox to stave off a panic attack too). it's quite brutal, to the point that we only see little glimpses of body and blood, which makes it even more affecting than you know they would have been allowed on a BBC for-kids slot

she also has some interesting interactions with the Ice Warrior, which we'll get to in a sec, but do have a mix of emotional-but-capable to them.

COMPLEXITY: Ice Warrior found. Ice Warrior thawed. Ice Warrior angry. Talk Down Angry Ice Warrior. it's doing what it does on the tin, and it does it well!

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: teeechnically not much, barring giving us more of what kind of person Clara is and her reactions to a kind of adventure she might find herself in, and the Ice Warriors are seen again!

it's a great one-off essentially, where the heavy lifting is done in other points. I will say I think Clara and Eleven... may be underrated. at least based off the episodes I've seen with them post-Snowmen (which, granted, that and Asylum of the Daleks was not a great way to start them off, and honestly doesn't even really give a sense of who Clara would be in these episodes). they've got kind of a serious sibling energy going on, where they're both a little silly, and it's a relief after so much ooohhh sexy companion Stuff (again, Clara in AotD and TS is not representative of this Clara, who so far hasn't actually flirted with the Doctor, outside of the "Snog Box" thing, which is still why I choose to believe the Tardis doesn't like her)

COMPANIONS MATTER: crucially, Clara represents the non-military face of this episode, and never changes into someone who would decide all-out violence is the right decision, and while it's not explicit, it is I think part of what saves everyone's life. it's not the episode where she makes the most plans or is the most badass, in many ways it goes well with the previous episode, in that she simply is a very nice person

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: he's running around like a headless chicken just like the rest of them. his aim is simply to stop escalating violence on both sides (Cold War, get it) and so it's like plugging a million leaks everywhere, and then begging the Ice Warrior to show mercy... it makes for a nice change, the Doctor as some guy again

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: ICE WARRIORS! honestly not much more to say. ICE WARRIORS!

“SEXINESS”: could we finally be free? of stupid dialogue?

INTERNAL WORLD: they're on a sub, it's the Cold War, there's an Ice Warrior. listen, sometimes that's all you need (often)

POLITICS: it's the Cold War. IIII think this episode is pretty humanising of the Russians in this particular framing. it's mainly just a bunch of scared men on a boat, hoping the world won't end, and it's got quite a prescient "let's not destroy the world now either" feeling to it. Idk. simple. works in my opinion

FULL RATING: 80/100 (if I can count….)

I think this episode is great!

Jenna Louise Coleman and David Warner the Highest of Highlights, they were so great opposite each other. His grounded (but playful) old man energy, her small dog wide-eyedness, the fact that his character immediately took her under his wing, and I think their back-and-forths really complimented one another. where I think JLC weakest bit of directing is that she's constantly speaking a million miles an hour (speeding up Matt Smith's dialogue delivery too), it occasionally slows down here to match Warner, and when it's fast again it feels like it works... dare I say it, if he'd done a First Doctor cameo opposite her, it would have been kind of great

the only things I rated a little lower were not things that I think needed more focus on the whole. it was a simple, claustrophobic, cat and mouse game, in which one could only hope to convince the cat to calm down please

on the whole, things are looking up with this era!

[madara-fate]

Hey, maddy. I know I don’t really discuss about Hinata much but I guess this is finally the time I do so. I don’t really hate Hinata but I can’t say that I like her either. But ones thing I can truly say though is that Hinata is perfectly written as she is. Her fans oftentimes come up with the stupid delusions and twist the narrative just to fit her in the image that they expected of her.

I always see questions in Qoura about why Hinata wasn’t able to handle the training of her clan and I guess I wanna answer or give my insights here since you’re probably the only one who can actually understand and give great feedback about my thoughts on which I very much appreciate and love. I very much thank you for always lending your ears and give your two cents on my ramblings. Anyway, let’s actually start talking about Hinata.

I do believe that Hinata received the same training as her fellow clansmen, I do honestly believe that Hinata couldn’t handle it. She has a weak mentality but there’s many things that contribute to one being mentally weak (such as environmental factors) so Hinata isn’t born that way. She’s mentally weak, drained, and burnout for being force to do something she doesn’t even want. If a person is not motivated to do something then it’ll only suck the life out of that person. No matter how intelligent or talented a person is, if he is not motivated then he’ll never excel. Motivation can have both external and internal factors that pushes them to be motivated. For example, how Hanabi was able to handle the Clan Training when Hinata can’t, in their fight we can see that Hanabi wanted and is motivated to win, while she showed a bit of remorse after hitting Hinata, the fact remains that Hanabi wanted to win, she actually tried to striking Hinata with no second thoughts. Hinata didn’t want to win nor fight her sister, so she settled with blocking or maneuvering Hanabi’s attacks. As we can see, Hinata does have the potential since it’s displayed numerous times like when she mastered the Twin Lion Fist because she’s determined to become strong for Naruto or when she learned 64 Palms, or where she refused to look bad or back down against Neji in the Chunin Exams because she didn’t wanna look bad in front of Naruto.

As Neji said during the Chunin Exam that Hinata is suffering because of the destiny of the Main Branch, Hinata also marked that Neji too is suffering from the destinies of both clans.

What exactly is Hinata’s destiny for being born in the Main Branch? Well, power, leadership, expectations, and of course with great power comes with great responsibility and duties. Hinata since birth was already destined to lead the Hyūga and the duties was placed on her shoulders without even consulting her if this something she even wants to do, that leading the clan, being a leader, is something she actually wants. From what we’ve seen so far, I can confidently say that she doesn’t. Fans oftentimes headcanon that Hinata wanted to get strong to prove her clan wrong and take back the Heiress Title from Hanabi when in truth, she has shown no interest in the political aspects of her clan.

If Hinata wanted to take back her title she would’ve asked Hanabi for a rematch, just because Hinata mastered some Jutsu doesn’t automatically make her the strongest. A person can have a flexible arsenal but if you ineffectively use them, there’s really no point. That’s what makes Neji a total genius, being able to utilize the Hyūga Clan Jutsu’s with great efficiency + his battle intelligence. If Hinata wanted that title back she would’ve asked for a fight and there were many instances where she had the opportunity such as during Shippuden Era or after the War since there was a two year time-skip, yet Hinata didn’t do any of that. Furthermore, Hinata has said over and over again that she wanted to be strong to stay by Naruto’s side and she said at the war that she was always chasing after him. So, she never wanted to be clan head and I think that’s simply preference or maybe she did wanted to at first but when the training started become stressful and was more now as an obligation where she has to forcefully pull herself to wake up in order to train, then she might’ve lost interest. Anyway, we’ll never really know.

Hinata didn’t wanna be Clan Head and that showed a lot where she and Neji basically changed roles when they all reconciled. Neji fighting and training with Hiashi like what a true Heir would do and Hinata bringing them Tea like what a good lower branch member would do, and we seen that they are completely comfortable and happy like that.

I think that it’s perfect that way. Neji, someone who is born into a family with low social standing, to merely exist to protect the designated person they’re assigned to, a tool, someone disposable, that’s what he is. yet Neji possessed such great talents and intelligence but was never given the opportunity to attain great achievements. Frustrated and confused because he’s nothing but a servant, nothing but a worm among the goldfish and that’s what he’ll always be, yet that doesn’t seem stop him to yearn more, to dream of more, to chase something that’s ambiguous and unreachable is a behavior of a fool and that people would probably call him ambitious or delusional. If people knew they’d probably say that he’s talent inflated his ego. His dreams haunts him everyday, the man he could’ve been has never felt so far away.

Then we have Hinata, born into an upstanding powerful family, sits at the highest of the pyramid. Yet, she is unhappy, yet she is trap. I guess that being able to do what you want doesn’t always mean you can do whatever you want. I think Hinata’s character gives a good message to children that hey, I know that all your family are lawyers, doctors or powerful businessmen and they probably want you to be the same and society also probably expects you to be the same, but hey, it’s okay if you don’t wanna be just like them. It’s okay if you want to be more gentle, soft, but never delicate; that you prefer to embrace vulnerability, and be emotional. It’s okay if you wanna pursue art, music, write poetry, or dance. Forcing yourself to be something you are not leads you to hate yourself. You’ll look at the mirror and you won’t be able to recognize the face you’re born into, you’ll have self-doubts, you’re unmotivated, you tell yourself you’re lost but are you? Or are you just really scared?

Then both ended up becoming the people who they wanna be, Hinata embracing her own individuality that’s untainted by her clans beliefs and tradition, she refused to conform to them, and Neji finally being able to reach his potential and have come to peace with himself. And I think that a message that says, you can be who you wanna be even if the world would hate you for it, even if seeing you do something unconventional would make them uncomfortable— as long as you’re doing something that makes you happy, that makes your life fulfilling and radiant, then go for it. It’s your life not theirs, it’s your choice on how you wanna live and give purpose to yourself. Than some generic plotline about a person wanting to prove their clan wrong and become emotionally hinged.

I very much thank you for always lending your ears and give your two cents on my ramblings.

You're very welcome ^_^ And I always love answering your asks. You just have this way of articulating your thoughts which I find very interesting to read.

I do believe that Hinata received the same training as her fellow clansmen, I do honestly believe that Hinata couldn’t handle it. She has a weak mentality but there’s many things that contribute to one being mentally weak (such as environmental factors) so Hinata isn’t born that way. She’s mentally weak, drained, and burnout for being force to do something she doesn’t even want.

Agreed, although I think we should be referring to her mental weakness in the past tense, because that doesn't really apply to her anymore. She's found her mental fortitude.

If a person is not motivated to do something then it’ll only suck the life out of that person. No matter how intelligent or talented a person is, if he is not motivated then he’ll never excel. Motivation can have both external and internal factors that pushes them to be motivated.

True, I think people often underestimate how crucial motivation can be when assessing someone's performance. Because a lot of the time, whether or not you can do something isn't as important as whether or not you want to do it. A good example is when people desire weight loss or muscle gain - people will tell themselves that they need to go to the gym X number of times per week in order to achieve their goals in a certain amount of time, and strictly speaking, then can go to the gym that often, but whether or not they'll find the motivation to drag themselves out of the house to actually go, is a different matter entirely.

For example, how Hanabi was able to handle the Clan Training when Hinata can’t, in their fight we can see that Hanabi wanted and is motivated to win, while she showed a bit of remorse after hitting Hinata, the fact remains that Hanabi wanted to win, she actually tried to striking Hinata with no second thoughts. Hinata didn’t want to win nor fight her sister, so she settled with blocking or maneuvering Hanabi’s attacks. As we can see, Hinata does have the potential since it’s displayed numerous times like when she mastered the Twin Lion Fist because she’s determined to become strong for Naruto or when she learned 64 Palms, or where she refused to look bad or back down against Neji in the Chunin Exams because she didn’t wanna look bad in front of Naruto.

Good point, I don't think it was a lack of skill that was holding Hinata back, as much as it was a lack of resolve. But she found that and more beginning from her fight with Neji onwards.

What exactly is Hinata’s destiny for being born in the Main Branch? Well, power, leadership, expectations, and of course with great power comes with great responsibility and duties. Hinata since birth was already destined to lead the Hyūga and the duties was placed on her shoulders without even consulting her if this something she even wants to do, that leading the clan, being a leader, is something she actually wants. From what we’ve seen so far, I can confidently say that she doesn’t.

I suppose that just comes with being born into those types of families that have leaders. When you're the first born of that leader, it's just expected that you'll eventually take over their duties once they relinquish the position for whatever reason. It's an archaic process, but that's how I feel about a lot of traditions. For someone born in that position, duty unfortunately comes before desire.

If Hinata wanted to take back her title she would’ve asked Hanabi for a rematch, just because Hinata mastered some Jutsu doesn’t automatically make her the strongest. A person can have a flexible arsenal but if you ineffectively use them, there’s really no point. That’s what makes Neji a total genius, being able to utilize the Hyūga Clan Jutsu’s with great efficiency + his battle intelligence.

I wouldn't say that Hinata ineffectively used what she learned though, at least not in general. But I would certainly agree that Neji is the genius of the Hyuga clan. He is the most gifted person in their history, and had he survived, he would still be their strongest fighter.

If Hinata wanted that title back she would’ve asked for a fight and there were many instances where she had the opportunity such as during Shippuden Era or after the War since there was a two year time-skip, yet Hinata didn’t do any of that. Furthermore, Hinata has said over and over again that she wanted to be strong to stay by Naruto’s side and she said at the war that she was always chasing after him.

Yeah, nothing every really showed that Hinata had any genuine interest in succeeding her father as the leader of the clan.

Then we have Hinata, born into an upstanding powerful family, sits at the highest of the pyramid. Yet, she is unhappy, yet she is trap. I guess that being able to do what you want doesn’t always mean you can do whatever you want.

A lot of people born into wealthy families are often portrayed that way. For example, the manner in which you described Hinata's situation reminded me of Rose from Titanic, and how she also felt trapped in her situation, forced to marry someone she didn't love out of duty, forced to act and behave in a certain way because it was expected etc. When in reality, she didn't really want any of that. Funny how both Rose and Hinata ended up falling for someone who society looked down on, but they still nonetheless had the freedom to live their lives how they wanted.

I think Hinata’s character gives a good message to children that hey, I know that all your family are lawyers, doctors or powerful businessmen and they probably want you to be the same and society also probably expects you to be the same, but hey, it’s okay if you don’t wanna be just like them.

Yep, it's a good lesson to learn, that children should stop thinking that they need to live up to their parents' expectations, and start living for themselves.

And I think that a message that says, you can be who you wanna be even if the world would hate you for it, even if seeing you do something unconventional would make them uncomfortable— as long as you’re doing something that makes you happy, that makes your life fulfilling and radiant, then go for it. It’s your life not theirs, it’s your choice on how you wanna live and give purpose to yourself.

Definitely, and I think the relationship between Sasuke and Fugaku slightly touches on that, because Itachi was hailed as a prodigy like no other, so you'd expect Fugaku to wish for Sasuke to live up to those impossibly high standards. But on the contrary, Fugaku wanted Sasuke to not follow in Itachi's footsteps, but rather to forge his own path and honour the clan in his own way. I always really appreciated that about Fugaku, because ultimately, he never forced either of his sons to do anything that they really didn't want to do.

[the-great-lightwood-bane]

First Pride

Chapter 3 of cum non bellantis

Malec | Rated general | no warnings | Bingo Square: First Pride

Summary: Alec and Magnus enjoy the benefits of a telepathetic bond and Alicante has its first pride. 

A/N: Takes place following chapter 3 of magicae bellantis, about a year after the events of vitae bellantis, so read both of those first!

This work was created for the Shadowhunters Pride Bingo presented by the Malec Discord Server. @malecdiscordserver

Read it on AO3 or below the cut.

Alec

“You are cheating,” Jace said, glaring at Alec although he was swaying slightly in place, which rather ruined the effect. “Both of you. I don’t know how you’re doing it, but it’s cheating.”

Alec raised a nonchalant eyebrow at him. “Perhaps Magnus and I are simply better at charades than you are.” 

We kinda are cheating, though, Magnus observed in his head. I don’t think magical mental communication is permitted. 

The rules don’t say it’s not allowed, Alec returned, hiding a smirk behind his glass. And you gotta admit it’s hilarious to watch them struggle to understand how we’re doing it.

The thread of amusement in the bond was answer enough, and Alec turned back to Jace, who was demanding another round. 

“No cheating this time,” Jace told them, pointing at the two of them. “I’m warning you. I’ll tell Alec the word, and I’m activating a hearing rune this time to make sure you’re not whispering to each other.”

“Feel free,” Magnus said indifferently. “You won’t catch us cheating.”

Jace scowled and dragged Alec into the area which Clary had drawn specialised Soundless runes all over, so that he wouldn’t be overheard telling Alec what he had to act out. Not that it mattered; Magnus had a hotline into Alec’s head through the bond humming between them, and no ward they’d encountered yet had been able to separate them. 

“We should make Alec act out something Magnus won’t know about,” Clary suggested, following them over. “Like… a Shadowhunter-only thing.”

“It’s not fair if Magnus doesn’t know what it is,” Alec protested. 

“I don’t care, you two are already being unfair,” Jace replied, and dove into brainstorming with Clary. 

(Magnus chuckled in the back of Alec’s mind, and Alec made sure to keep his face blank and calm while he laughed internally. Pranking Jace was so much fun.)

Three more rounds of charades later — all of which Magnus and Alec had won; Jace was growing increasingly frustrated and drunk, which wasn’t helping his acting skills — Clary finally called a halt. “I think we all know Magnus and Alec are better at this than we are.”

“Cheaters,” Jace mumbled, but acquiesced. 

Should we tell them? Alec asked Magnus mentally. Or keep them guessing?

Jace’ll be furious, Magnus commented, though he wouldn’t be particularly upset about that. 

Jace is drunk and already furious, Alec replied. 

Magnus grinned. Then let’s tell them. 

“My parabatai is a traitor,” Jace was mumbling. “I swear you’re cheating.”

“Calm down, Jace, I’m sure they’re not,” Clary said with a consoling pat to the back of his hand. “We would’ve noticed if they were communicating.”

“Not necessarily,” Alec broke in, smirking when both Jace and Clary’s heads whipped around to stare at him. 

“So you were cheating,” Jace said, eyes wide. “How?” 

Alec and Magnus raised their forearms in sync, gesturing to their matching permanent Alliance runes. “It used to be just emotions and abilities, but lately, we’ve been getting thoughts as well,” Alec explained. 

“Cheaters,” Jace grumbled, turning away from them with a huff. “We’re going to play another round, and this time you’re going to be on opposite teams.”

Magnus

The next morning dawned with shafts of light that Jace claimed were specially designed to hurt his hungover eyes. (Magnus offered Clary a hangover cure but refused one to Jace until he admitted that Magnus had won their last game of charades fair and square. Admittedly, it was false — Alec had mentally told him the answer, purely to piss Jace off — but Magnus was a fan of irritating Jace, so he didn’t feel particularly guilty.)

Simon dropped in shortly after — he’d struck up a friendship with Clary, Jace, and Izzy, as well as Alec — wearing a shirt with a twenty-sided die in the colours of the pan flag. “Hi guys.”

Jace groaned — his hangover still hadn’t abated fully — but Clary waved cheerfully enough. Alec was making pancakes, which left it to Magnus to swan over and greet him. “Sheldon. Pulling out the Pride merch?”

“It’s June,” Simon replied. “I’m going to the parade in New York with Izzy. Can you believe she didn’t know what pride month was?”

What’s pride month? Alec asked Magnus mentally, causing him to bemoan — yet again — Shadowhunters’ lack of exposure to mundane culture. Last June, he supposed it simply hadn’t come up — they’d been dealing with Lilith and Jonathan at the time — but that was no excuse for Shadowhunter ignorance to continue. “It’s an absolute travesty, my dear,” he told Simon, “but mundane queer culture isn’t exactly in the Shadowhunter curriculum.” 

Jace sat up, poised to argue in support of the Shadowhunter curriculum, then winced as his headache apparently increased. Magnus dulled the pain a little, if only so it’d stop bothering Alec through the parabatai bond. 

“Mundane culture isn’t necessary for Shadowhunting,” Jace pointed out. 

“And Shadowhunters are elitist enough not to bother with anything that isn’t strictly necessary,” Alec put in. “What’s pride month?”

“It’s a celebration of diverse genders and sexualities,” Magnus told him, and launched into an in-depth explanation featuring the origin, the different forms of pride parade around the world, and the general culture surrounding it. “I’ve gone every year since 1970.”

There was an introspective bent to Alec’s feelings through the bond which suggested he was considering an idea, but Clary was the one to speak up. “We should go to New York for it, too, then.”

“Actually,” Alec said, consideringly, “what if we didn’t need to go to New York for it?”

He met Magnus’ eyes, and Magnus understood what he was suggesting. “You want to organise an Alicante Pride Parade.”

Alec grinned. “Well, why not?”

Alec

Organising a Pride Parade in a city that regularly exiled queer people two years earlier was a hassle. 

Not enough of a hassle to discourage Alec. If anything, it encouraged him even more — the resistance of his opponents made it from a fun idea into a serious political move, and Alec was always delighted to piss off the remainder of the old guard that’d made it through the Resistance takeover only to be denied at every turn by the new world Alec was building. 

He brought it up at the next Downworld Council meeting, and received overwhelming support along with several offers of aid, which he gladly accepted. The parade would be set up with warlock magic, decorated with faerie-grown flowers in the colours of the pride flag, and take place from evening into the night in deference to the vampires’ preferences; it was a celebration both of queer rights and of Downworlder ones, and Alec was delighted when it finally began to come together. 

The parade happened on the last Sunday of June, the 26th, and the day was filled with last-minute reorganisations. A patch of flowers had withered for an unknown reason, and Alec needed to regrow them into the purple, grey, white, and black of the ace flag; a float was broken; somebody wanted the parade to go down a different street. At last, however, it was all straightened out to everyone’s satisfaction with a minimum of blackmail and almost no blood spilled at all. 

Magnus insisted that Alec come home an hour before the parade was set to start so that they could get ready — or rather, so that he could get Alec ready, because when Alec arrived, he was already dressed to the nines in bright pink, purple, and blue, with more skin showing than Alec had seen on him before in public. What little shirt he was wearing read:

DATING HIM → 

STILL BI

His makeup was also in the colours of the bi flag — eyeshadow in stripes of pink, purple, and blue, on both eyes, that stood out when he blinked; a flag painted on his lips; a flag on either cheek; small gemstones stuck around the corners of his eyes; glitter dusting his nose and cheekbones, highlighting them in that same pink/purple/blue. 

He looked, in Alec’s estimation, positively ethereal — he was always beautiful, of course, but there was something to be said for the confident pride he wore like a second skin, decked out like this. 

Alec, however, doubted he’d be as comfortable in so little clothing. Magnus clearly sensed his trepidation, because he grinned and reassured Alec that he’d be dressed a bit more sedately. 

The pants covered Alec’s legs — unlike Magnus’ — but they were tight enough that Alec caught Magnus looking rather below his face whenever he turned around; they were plain black, thankfully, and not too tight for Alec to move comfortably, for which he was grateful. The boots weren’t far off his usual, although perhaps a bit less sturdy and with a few more metal bits on them; the shirt covered a good deal more of his chest than Magnus’ did, at least, and it was black aside from letters in the green-and-blue gay flag that spelled out 

← DATING HIM

NO VERY HOMO

The arrows on their respective shirts, Alec noted, pointed in opposite directions, so that when standing next to each other, they’d be pointing to each other. He made a mental note to stay to Magnus’ right so that the shirts worked properly. 

The most adventurous part of his outfit was unquestionably his makeup. Magnus had drawn a rainbow flag on one cheek and the gay flag on the other, a pop of colour Alec liked. He hadn’t been covered with glitter (though a good deal had already drifted onto him from Magnus), but Alec’s eyes were traced with black that made them stand out, his face felt odd with foundation, and when he looked in the mirror, he saw an… augmented version of himself — the curves of his face sharpened, cheekbones brighter, eyes standing out more. It was pretty. He’d expected to tolerate it for Magnus’ sake, but strangely, he liked it for himself as well. 

Toilette complete, Alec hurried out to oversee the finishing touches on the parade. 

Magnus

The parade was everything Magnus could’ve hoped for and more. 

He’d showed Alec videos of mundane Prides and explained as much as he could, but he’d half expected the parade to end up relatively boring in the Shadowhunters’ typical shades of black, with a few Downworlders who knew the mundane customs standing out sharply in more colourful wear. But apparently everyone had gotten the memo and Alec was conservative in his mostly-black clothing: many Shadowhunters were wearing flags of various types, often showing nearly as much skin as mundanes might, and the Downworlder half of the crowd was even brighter. 

He tugged Alec down into a kiss, and the crowd cheered around them. Alec’s slightly obsessive preparations had turned out perfectly — everything was well-timed and every street was hung with decorations; perhaps more importantly, the atmosphere of jubilant half-defiance was perfect, and Magnus found himself grinning uncontrollably. 

Briefly separated from Alec due to organisational difficulties that absolutely required Alec’s approval, Magnus bought himself and Alec several pins adorned with their flags before casting out a mental net to locate his husband. There was a faint shiver of relief in the bond when they found each other again, and probing more closely, Magnus noticed a faint discomfort with the size of the crowd; it wasn’t so bad that Alec wanted to leave, but when Magnus guided him into a quieter area, the slight tension in Alec’s shoulders dissipated. He accepted the pins with a smile that shone brighter than the glitter on his cheeks. 

Izzy appeared shortly after in one of the most revealing dresses Magnus had ever seen her in — which was saying something — in blatant stripes of purple, pink, and blue. Simon was wearing the D&D shirt in pan colours that’d started it all off, and while Jace’s shirt only read ALLY, Clary was wearing the colours of the omni flag. 

“This is really cool, man,” Simon told Alec, grinning. “Never thought Shadowhunters would have so much pride.”

Alec shrugged, uncomfortable as always with praise, but Magnus pushed a thread of his own admiration through the bond to reinforce Simon’s words. Alec arched an eyebrow at him, and Magnus grinned, unrepentant. 

“They’re doing their Alliance-bond-telepathy schtick,” Jace announced, rather complainingly — Magnus supposed he was still salty about his loss at charades, and the bond shot through with laughter. 

“Jealous?” Alec asked him. 

Jace promptly scowled, and Alec chuckled out loud this time. 

Surrounded by brilliant colours and laughter, Magnus had never felt more at home.

[phoomwhoosh]

ALRIGHT. So, I have some thoughts about season 5 of Cobra Kai. This will be under a cut because I am not a heathen.

So, I have watched season 5 twice: once all of the way through and then a second time just for Daniel’s arc. And not because I am only a fan of Daniel. I do love a lot of these guys. Daniel’s arc, though, man...

Anyway, I guess I’ll start with some of my favorite bits/characters:

LOVED Tory this season. Her scenes with Devon really were nice. Frankly, her whole arc and such was fantastic. I HATED that she was forced to break her damned hand, holy shit! I actually had to look away because it was so horrific. I do like how she caught onto Kreese’s bullshit and straight-up went, “Fuck this.” I also like how she mentioned Daniel getting hurt because of their antics and her genuine shock when Kreese was like, “That bitch got what he deserved.”

Sam’s sequence in the nightmarish pod. I like how well it showed her internal struggles and all of the labels she’s been forced to live with. I liked Sam a lot this season.

I actually liked Mike. I totally love that he turned his life around and we got to hear his story. Also, him apologizing to Daniel? Gold. I loved that. I also loved how he interacted with Chozen and Johnny. Him stealing the party limo was just...yeah, that was definitely great.

Daniel’s former rivals (the core three, at least) coming together to help him? Hell yes!!!!!

Chozen was KILLING it this season and I love him so much. I was so, so worried he had died and was gonna legit cry if he had. Also, I adored how he trained the kids and just…man, he was amazing! And his SHIRTS! Once more, I find myself wanting to steal his wardrobe.

Amanda being Jessica’s cousin? LOVED it more than anything. I saw somebody mention on a post that it makes so much sense that Daniel met Amanda through someone else and it really does. As kind as Daniel is, he very clearly doesn’t have a whole lot of friends.

Jessica telling Amanda more about Terry? That was fantastic. I saw someone else say that it was good for Amanda to hear that from someone that wasn’t Daniel and I agree 1000%. It would’ve been hard for Daniel to explain since it would’ve basically just been him heaping blame on himself for things that weren’t really his fault and it wouldn’t have helped matters at all. Whereas hearing it from Jessica, from the outside perspective of someone who was around while it was going on and who was actively involved at several points, yeah. That was better for Amanda. Really love how they handled Daniel and Amanda this season.

There were more things, I’m sure. XD

And now for what I didn’t like:

The teen drama. It is sooooo old to me. Maybe it’s because I’m 30 now and I’ve reached my limit with this stuff. But for real? At this point, it feels like the teens are dating for no reason other than they have to because the writers are holding them at gunpoint. Don’t get me wrong, SOME of them are cute but others are just…yeah.

I wish Sam hadn’t befriended Moon and Yasmine again. I miss Aisha. I honestly wish that those two had been written-off and Aisha’s potential as a character had been realized in full. (I know she left forever ago but listen...I will miss her every season.)

I wasn’t a fan of how Kenny continued to assault and bully Anthony. Yes, I understand why he hates Anthony. However, during that water park scene, they could’ve made Anthony crack his skull open on the edge of the pool and/or drown! THAT is when THEY should have been kicked-out! That shit is dangerous!

I don’t feel like getting into the Mexico plot line or Johnny only getting Miguel and Robby to make-up for the Redacted (not going into that one either) because I feel like enough people have already talked about all of that. Just know that I too am disappointed in some of the things that happened with Johnny this season.

I’m gonna talk about Terry and Daniel probably in a separate post because, honestly, my most favorite parts of the season were the ones involving them. I apologize in advance for when I find time in my life to go feral over that.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Another year-end round-up: Top ten comedy-related podcast episodes I heard in 2022, but not using more than episode from each podcast, because otherwise it would just be a list of my ten favourite Bugle episodes. Put in chronological order from when they first aired, simply because it was hard enough to narrow this down to only ten and chronological order saves me from also ranking them in any other way.

1. The Bugle’s John Oliver era

Hosts: Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver

Guest(s): producers Tom Wright and Chris Skinner, I guess?

Episode #/Title: 131, A Miner Celebration

Date: 2010-10-18

Obviously, trying to pick just one of these is ridiculous. I got into The Bugle in March 2022, and it proceeded to define my entire year. But upon careful consideration, if I had to pick just one, I’m going with the episode in which they celebrated their third anniversary. This was celebrated together by John, Andy, and both their producers, which seemed very exciting. Producer Tom had been with them from when they’d started until he’d moved to Australia in early 2010, but in that time, he’d made enough interjections into the conversations to be a fan favourite, and everyone got very angry when he left. This was the birth of the “fuck you Chris” running joke that lasted for years, aimed at Tom’s replacement Chris Skinner, as people would start all emails to The Bugle with “Fuck you Chris” to remind him that no one could ever replace Tom.

So it was pretty cool when, about six months after Tom had left, Andy Zaltzman surprised the listeners by announcing that Tom was visiting London and joining them in the studio for their anniversary episode! As the episode unfolded, it became clear that before the recording, Andy had been to the pub with Producer Tom and Producer Chris, and all of them were slightly drunk. Andy Zaltzman’s comedy is normally so tightly written, he’s so careful to stay in character, that hearing him loosened up a bit was a delight. As was hearing all four of those people (John, Andy, Tom, Chris) on an episode together, as by that time, Producer Chris had become a favoruite as well, and the “Fuck you Chris” emails had become affectionate, though still frequent.

It opens with John Oliver playing a voice message from Rob Riggle in which he gets called both a “bitch” and a “piece of French garbage”, and Andy Zaltzman announcing that their guests will be a soundproof safe containing “the Pussycat Dolls, longtime Bugleizers, all of them, particularly Sporty and Baby” (“That’s not... it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, I just - I’m not even going to pick you up on that, it’s fine.” - John Oliver) and it only gets better from there. There are peace talks that quickly unravel. There is cake. Andy Zaltzman talks a bunch of shit about capitalism and God. There are four people who are all very relaxed and having a very good time.

Special mentions of other notably strong episodes of this podcast go to... I don’t even know how to do this since it’s all of them, but the ones where they talk shit about News International in 2011 come to mind. The major pun runs. The one after Berlusconi got hit with a ceramic cathedral and it made John and Andy happier than anything else ever has. Bin Laden’s Fuck Youlogy. The episodes after the 2008 DNC and RNC. Playing the fan-made remixes of bullshit monologues - Boffin in a Coffin gets lots of attention and rightly so, but I think my favourite is the date with Delonte West. Any episode that’s heavy on Tuesday night football stories. Losing their minds about the songs Honky Tonk Badonkadonk and Sexy and I Know It. Just everything. 

2. WTF

Host: Marc Maron

Guest(s): John Oliver

Episode #/Title: 298

Date: 2012-07-19

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode, but that does contain a lot of wandering into off-topic stuff about my own life, so I don’t particularly recommend slogging through it.

The point is that I do not like Marc Maron - I didn’t like him before and he hugely annoyed me for this entire episode - but John Oliver was so good on there that that made up for it. I really enjoyed hearing John Oliver go into his past about living in England, and talk about his influences in comedy. Not just other comedians, but things like his love of sports and Philip Larkin and a chip on his shoulder about class. It’s a really good interview, if you can stand listening to Marc Maron for that long, which I find it difficult to do.

3. The Comedian’s Comedian

Host: Stuart Goldsmith

Guest(s): Andy Zaltzman

Episode #/Title: 82

Date: 2014-06-25

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

Rereading that post now reminds me of just how hard it hit me the first time. It was, weirdly, kind of like hearing my dad cry. Despite the fact that, and I swear I know both these things full well, Andy Zaltzman isn’t my dad and he didn’t cry. It was just so jarring to hear him out of character, and he talked very candidly - surprisingly candidly - about all the things he wished were better in his own career and in British satire overall. All the things he’d tried and failed to do in an industry that kept making the same panel shows instead.

I assume some of the candour is because this episode caught Andy Zaltzman at a tough time, during the short window between when John Oliver had started Last Week Tonight and when he left The Bugle. They were will telling the audience at that point that The Bugle would not slow down just because John had his own TV show, but I think they must have known it couldn’t last, and you can hear the frustration in Andy Zaltzman’s voice as he knows he’s about to get left behind in the only thing he’s managed to make really successful. He even opens up a bit about jealousy of John Oliver’s far greater success, which is this sort of tension that’s been almost relentlessly unspoken the more it grows.

Aside from the personal stuff, Andy Zaltzman has some great insights into comedy: the process of writing jokes as creative as his, what political comedy can be and what it can achieve, what has influenced his work. It’s such a rare look at Andy Zaltzman being serious and honest, and he has so much to say.

Special mentions of other notably strong episodes of this podcast go to Stewart Lee, Mark Watson, Paul Chowdhry, and David O’Doherty.

4. The Things We Do for Love

Host: Isy Suttie

Guest(s): John Robins

Episode #/Title: s01e01

Date: 2016-02-11

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

Basically, this one was just enormous fun. It’s the second episode on this list that I’ve chosen partly because someone on it was drunk, which I guess isn’t great, but it was really fun. A properly drunk John Robins talking to Isy Suttie for an hour about teenage crushes and adult crushes and stupid things people do as a result. A lot of the humour came from how well they know each other, obviously with the same person having both a baby with Isy Suttie and a radio show with John Robins, and at one point Robins did threaten to murder them all for their sitcom money. It was a case of someone being totally unguarded - possibly too unguarded, and you wouldn’t want media to be like that all the time, I guess. But for one hour it was enormous fun.

I said in my post about it that I wasn’t sure if I’d listen to the rest of the podcast, but I did end up listening to all of it, and special mentions go to the episodes with Danielle Ward, Josh Widdicombe, and Bridget Christie. Those were all great, but nothing actually beat that first one.

5. The Bugle’s 4000 series

Host: Andy Zaltzman

Guest(s): Nish Kumar and Alice Fraser

Episode #/Title: 4050, Bad Boys

Date: 2017-11-18

Like with the other part of The Bugle, this entire enterprise has taken over my life in 2022 too much for me to be able to reasonably choose just one example. But I think, looking at all the episodes (and I’ve only heard episodes 4000-4200 - that took me to mid-2021 after that I took a break from the podcast because it was getting too close to the present and less escapist, thought I intend to go back and hear the rest of them in 2023), this one’s still my favourite.

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

It was a live show, and the first time Nish Kumar and Alice Fraser, the two most frequent guests of the 4000 series, were on together. It was the first time since John Oliver left that they reached that level of chemistry again, that they naturally hit all the running jokes and back-and-forth with each other and the audience, and everyone was having a really good time. I remember listening to that and thinking this is the first time it feels like The Bugle could be really really great again (you know, like America), and I’ve heard Andy Zaltzman say something similar later on, that it got off to a shaky start but there was a turning point where things clicked and it was around here. Everyone was in top form.

Special mentions of other notably strong episodes of this podcast go to episode 4161 with Mark Steel and Hari Kondabolu, episode 4189 with David O’Doherty and Tom Ballard, and episode 4191 with Chris Addison and Alice Fraser.

6. Tea with Alice

Host: Alice Fraser

Guest(s): Tiff Stevenson

Episode #/Title: Consent Cast

Date: 2017-12-01

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

I really enjoyed listening to this episode of two women discussing the gauntlet of experiences from casual sexism to harassment to assault, in ways that could go beyond the surface. These people work in the same industry, they’ve both been there a long time, they already know the basics. They don’t have to re-hash Consent 101 or whatever, they don’t have to address the question of “Do these bad things happen?” They can take it as read that they do happen, they’re a problem, and it’s worth discussing in more detail than that. They get into specifics of how it looks, how it’s responded to, how it feels, how it affects the atmosphere that’s felt even by women who don’t experience it directly. How it changes the choices and calculations they make. How they may have different opinions on some of the finer points of the best way to handle these things, and different women can disagree about those finer points while agreeing on the overall fact that this is a problem and needs to be solved.

Listening to this made me realize how, even though discussions about consent and #metoo are everywhere, it’s not all that common that you get a discussion between two women who have similar experiences, without any men there. It’s great to have conversations about this stuff that include men! There should be lots of those, and there are lots of genuinely good men who need to hear this stuff, and there are also times when men have useful additions to the overall conversation. But I think it’s good for there to be some conversations where it’s just women talking to each other about what women already know is happening, so they can skip the part where they explain the stuff that you don’t know unless you’ve been a woman in those positions (or unless you’ve listened to women who have been, which a lot of men do, and seriously, I’m a feminist who’s of the view that men can be feminists too, not just “allies”, I’m just saying it’s good to have some conversations that are for women and by women).

7. Mrs. Brightside

Host: Susan Calman

Guest(s): Mark Watson

Episode #/Title: 8

Date: 2018-07-23

Here’s a link to what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

I found that this episode was a little bit like the Tea with Alice one, in that it takes a subject that’s ubiquitous in public discussion these days, but goes a fair bit deeper than most discussions do. In this case the subject is mental health, and they both get very candid about their own struggles. About how it actually feels, what sort of things it can cause, what actually works and doesn’t in trying to respond to it. Some of it was genuinely hard to hear, because it got so intensely realistic, but I’m glad I listened to it.

Susan Calman is known for being blunt and direct about everything, including her own battles with depression, and Mark Watson is known for being thoughtful and analytical about everything. That makes a very good combination for an honest conversation like this one.

8. Who Hurt You

Host: Sofie Hagan

Guest(s): Mark Watson

Episode #/Title: end of 2019 wrap-up

Date: 2020-01-08, 2020-01-15

Mark Watson has appeared a bunch of times on this podcast, notably doing two-part episodes at the end of a few years in a row, in which he spent New Year’s with his friend Sofie Hagan, and they’d record several hours of the two of them talking about the year that had ended and the year that was to come. Listening to them all in a row is really interesting, but I think my favourite is the stuff they recorded on New Year’s 2019/2020, which they aired in two parts in early January 2020. These ones are a bit tough to listen to because they’re full of so much hope for the coming year, and of course we know all of that gets crushed almost immediately. But they both get into really interesting stuff, my favourites being the stuff about friendship and writing books and complicated relationships with the internet and social media. And mental health, all of those episodes get into that.

I’m going to be honest: I could easily have picked Mark Watson’s episodes for my favourite ones of the Taskmaster podcast and the Comedian’s Comedian podcast, but I didn’t because I already had to use his Who Hurt You and Mr. Brightside episodes, and I didn’t want Mark Watson to be 40% of this list. He’s just always so good on podcasts, whether he’s talking about personal stuff or comedy careers or what Hugh Dennis drew on Taskmaster once, because he’s intelligent and thoughtful and insightful. If anyone’s interested, I’ve collected all the Mark Watson podcast episodes I’ve heard into a Google Drive folder. Including all of his Who Hurt You appearances, and while I’ve picked the end-of-2019 ones as my favourites, if you’re going to listen to any of those I highly recommend hearing them all in order, it really rewards that.

9. Tiny Revolutions

Host: Tiff Stevenson

Guest(s): Armando Iannucci

Episode #/Title: 1

Date: 2021-04-06

Here’s what I wrote just after hearing that episode.

Armando Iannucci has made some of my favourite things. The Thick of It is, as I have believed since about 2009, the best TV show ever filmed. In the Loop is way up there with my favourite movies. Veep is absolutely brilliant and deserves every bit of acclaim it gets. On the Hour and The Day Today pretty much re-invented satire and inspired generations that would follow. I recently listened to that self-titled Radio Four show he made seven episodes of in the early 90s and I was amazed at how funny it was. Avenue 5 was... okay, I thought it had a lot of potential that was wasted a bit in season 2 and could have ended stronger with a more coherent plot. But overall it was very good. Death of Stalin was the best use of Michael Palin’s time in ages. The Armando Iannucci Shows are this weird surreal sketch thing he did in 2001 that are ridiculously underrated. All that without even mentioning Alan Partridge.

He also has an interesting story, with a father who ran an anti-fascist newspaper in Italy before fleeing the country for reasons that are related to that, and that obviously influenced Armando’s desire to Make Political Art. I’ve heard a lot of interviews in which Armando Iannucci talks about his background and career influences and how and why he does what he does, but I think this one is my favourite. It covers the whole spectrum of topics, and they touch on all the parts of the story I find most interesting. 

10. The Taskmaster podcast

Host: Ed Gamble

Guest(s): Sarah Kendall

Episode #/Title: 74 (discussing Taskmaster s06e07)

Date: 2022-03-31

Sarah Kendall is an absolutely fantastic guest on this podcast, and has been every time she’s appeared. She’s so smart, so analytical, so sharp with her observations. She really knows what she’s talking about when it comes to Taskmaster, her own season and the others. She’s incisive, can point out so many different things with one comment and leave Ed scrambling to keep up.

I think what really elevates this episode in my mind is a couple of things she said that just took apart Russell Howard. To the point where now when I see Russell Howard do anything, the first thing I think of are a couple of the things Sarah Kendall said about him on a podcast once.

Special mentions of other notably strong episodes of this podcast from 2022 go to episodes with Desiree Burch, Dave Gorman, and Mark Watson.

Finally... I’d love to not bring up the John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman Bugle reunion episode, on October 14, 2022, to celebrate the podcast’s fifteenth anniversary. I’d love to say that wasn’t one of the best fucking things I’ve heard this year, to say I didn’t listen to it on a bus, where I both laughed much harder than is appropriate for public transit, and may have sort of almost cried a tiny bit. But I can’t end this post without at least mentioning it. October 13 was my birthday, and this was the best fucking present I could have had.

[tymime]

Rescue Rangers movie review

Hoo boy. I have a lot of opinions about this... thing. And a lot of mixed emotions.

The good:

Making fun of poorly made reboots and remakes. It’s about time somebody with a lot of clout (Disney that is) came out and said “hey these are terrible”. For years I’ve felt like too many animation fans have been too apologetic about these sort of things. The fact that Disney of all people, who are one of the main makers of such reboots/remakes, let someone do this is pretty amazing. I’ll give them credit for that.

Making fun of uncanny valley animation. Again, something that should have been made fun of years ago, and also something Disney is very much guilty of.

Including toons from other countries and mediums. For a very long time I’ve thought that characters that are CG, stop-motion, anime, etc. can and should be considered toons, and interact with more traditional Western cartoon characters. I’m very glad to see it, though I am bummed that somebody else beat me to it. The Amazing World of Gumball already kinda beat them to it though.

Disney acknowledging the existence of mockbusters is surprising. But again, Gumball already kinda beat them to it.

Acknowledging some toons that have been unfairly forgotten. It was nice to see Roger Rabbit and Bonkers get cameos.

The bad:

This movie is most emphatically NOT canon to the Roger Rabbit universe. It’s some strange alternate world where the rules and the timeline are radically different, and I have no idea why they didn’t bother trying to make it not contradict WFRR and its kin.

For example: Chip and Dale have (obviously) existed as a pair well before the 1980s, and have appeared in many other cartoons since. The same goes for Peter Pan.

In the Roger Rabbit universe, toons don’t usually age. (Otherwise how would Baby Herman remain a baby?) In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode “Fields of Honey”, it’s established that toons keep their youth via laughter, and that toons that don’t get enough laughter grow old and eventually fade away. I suspect some people wouldn’t regard Tiny Toons as a canon source of lore- I’ve talked to at least one person who didn’t think so- but I don’t see why not, since it’s so obviously inspired by WFRR, including unofficial cameos by Roger himself: https://tinytoons.fandom.com/wiki/Roger_Rabbit If you want something closer to WFRR, there’s Mickey Mouse’s 60th birthday TV special, which has Roger in it. Mickey definitely doesn’t look 60 years old in that, now does he? And besides, this movie contradicts itself by showing all the other toons as ageless. Chip and Dale themselves stop aging once they become adults. Why should Peter Pan be the exception? Especially since his whole bit is being forever young? Just for the lulz?

(Also apparently Peter’s backstory is awfully close to what happened to his voice actor Bobby Driscoll in real life. In extremely poor taste I’d say.)

The movie also contradicts itself regarding the whole “CG makeover” thing. Somehow “Ugly Sonic” is a separate character from regular Sonic, and yet Baloo and Pumbaa retain their “live-action” designs. On top of that, Lumiere has somehow not retained his “live-action” design. The movie’s internal logic is basically non-existent.

Uncanny-valley CG characters being toons. This is partly a matter of taste, because I refuse to accept the idea that such characters would ever be considered cartoons. For one thing, none of them have ever been created in our universe to be cartoon characters- why or how would they be elsewhere?

The Rescue Rangers characters being CG animation masquerading as traditional 2D. The animation was good, but it was incredibly obvious that it wasn’t what it was trying to imitate. They had real 2D animation elsewhere, but I guess they spent most of the budget on other things to do it for real.

The voices. I don’t know why Hollywood studios keep replacing voice actors with celebrities I’ve never heard of. Fans of the original voices would object, and people who have never seen or don’t like Rescue Rangers probably wouldn’t be tempted to see this movie anyway. They could have at least made them sound sped-up. Why Tress MacNeille was the only original voice to return I have no idea.

Gadget having children with Zipper was incredibly squick-y. I don’t even wanna think about it.

I have no clue where the writers got the idea that the original Rescue Rangers show frequently had Dale get hit on the head with a pipe, or that Gadget told bad jokes that got everyone laughing. I admit I haven’t watched the series religiously, but I have seen every episode at least once, most of them twice, and I don’t remember anything like that happening that often.

The cameos. Animation has gotten way too obsessed with packing their movies full to the brim with cameos lately and it’s getting tiresome. It works in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Lego Movie, and Wreck-It Ralph because it helps set up the worlds of the movies. Ralph Breaks the Internet and Space Jam: A New Legacy felt more like “Look how many properties we own!”, and this movie feels like “Look how much money we spent convincing other studios to lend us their characters!”.

I really take offense at the idea that the Paw Patrol would turn vicious enough to permanently injure someone’s private parts. It just felt like an unnecessary jab by some mean-spirited writer who doesn’t like the show. (It’s an okay show. I’ve watched a few episodes, and yes, it’s kinda dumb, but there’s nothing really wrong with it.) Also, I was very confused as to why they kept calling Nick Jr. “Nickelodeon Junior”. Did some Paramount lawyers object or something?

In conclusion: This movie could have been absolutely amazing, if only somebody had said “wait a minute, that doesn’t make any sense”. It’s like... it was written by people who only had a passing familiarity with what they were referencing, who were trying very, very hard to appeal to superfans, not realizing that those superfans would be able to point out all its flaws. It just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.