#it's not particularly original methinks

[lucy-ghoul]

the fact that i had accidentally created a similar magic system to full metal alchemist (with even a similar motivation for the male antihero - that is, bringing someone back from the dead, with horrifying consequences) before i even watched one episode of the show is extremely funny to me ngl

[nyatbinary-81]

@vulpixisananimal sifstem art jumpscare!! more specifically i got bored and decided to mess around with sif and mal's outfits.

[absolutebl]

Genuine Question: Given how much people hate problematic topics in BL eg: kp, mame, love syndrome, etc. why is everyone so damn excited about Only Friends? Like we know nothing about the show. It's GMMTV so how sexy is it going to get? you know, like it's GMMTV. I like the cast as much as anyone and particularly FirstKhao but I don't see this 'sexiness' everyone is going so crazy over? Is it some bts thing like I know the director is jojo and he's gay. Is that why everyone so excited? Is it because we just haven't gotten anything really brilliant this year that gets the whole BL fandom together and that's why people are hoping this will, is that what's going on? I like everyone involved well enough but 'sexy', 'crazy', 'problematic', 'high heat'... I don't get it.

Only Friends & Jojo

Genuine answer.

Okay so this question got me invested enough to get off the phone, over to the laptop, and onto hotel wifi, which means typos rather than dictation homophones, but there it is.

I guess what I am saying it...

mistakes will be made

From the tenor of your question methinks you have not watched Friend Zone? It's a 2 part series. Mostly messy hets but...

Also a TON of broad spectrum queer rep (lesbian, bi, ace, demi). Real queers, not sanitized for straight consumption.

Because yeah, GMMTV will get messy and go into higher heat levels in a late night way (not in a KP way).

But actually what has most people excited about Only Friends is it being sourced in this man:

Jojo Tichakorn Phukhaotong

Jojo is a screenwriter (originals) and director, openly gay, multifaceted and a little experimental, naturally talented (on the job trained - he's an archaeologist originally), and he is behind:

The Warp Effect, Friend Zone and MOST importantly (IMHO)...

3 Will Be Free

There are others too, but for the purposes of this post, those are the 3 that count. I think of him a little as the GMMTV director version of Ohm's acting.

Jojo specializes in:

ensemble pieces,

good chemistry (NOT necessarily high heat, so by this I mean actor chemistry with each other all around - couples, cast, team, production)

working with and finding actors within GMMTV's stable who work well together (even if that means busting up a pair),

a queer lens,

queer rep,

and often very messy story (as in he is not invested in the traditional beats of a romance, let alone a BL).

AND he can shoot action (this is a specific skill set for directors and it's NOT easy),

thus he will shoot his sex/intimacy & COMEDY scenes as if they WERE action sequences.

This makes his stuff particularly exciting to watch. It's dynamic, there's a lot of movement, the eye is caught and dragged places. He doesn't use dirty/peekaboo framing or central aperture or manga style (not with INTENT the way trained directors do). In fact he does none of those things I harp on about because I like the romance stuff.

He's not being clever with us. He's being honest, but still applying skill. His stuff not quite raw, but also not really directed. You can tell he gives his actors a script, throws them together and then instructs them to just BE THOSE CHARACTERS. He has a light touch, he trusts them. He's not fussy or nit-picky. He's not doing a million takes to get that sene exactly how he envisions it. His ensemble pieces are just that, group projects.

His eye is wide, even for intimacy, by which I mean: he controls and watches for multiple actors at once when there are a lot of them on screen together, without them feeling stiff.

His style is quite organic but not too gritty.

Struggling to understand what I mean?

For example, watch a Jojo "group of friends chatting" scene where everyone is just standing around then watch the same thing in, say, SCOY. You'll see what I mean. SCOY is also a very queer ensemble piece, but it will feel quite stiff, unnatural, and "planned" (staged) by comparison.

For the giffers out there you might notice that Jojo's stuff is particularly difficult to gif cleanly? This is why.

I find him an exciting director. I didn't cover him in my directors overview because at the time he hadn't done much BL (and frankly, he still hasn't). It's not his focus.

I think Only Friends is actually not likely to be very BL. Queer = yes, BL = NO. He won't hit the tropes and there is no reason to assume it will end happily for all couples (if any). That's not Jojo's point of view.

He doesn't play our game. As a result, some of those excited by the idea of this show (or excited the general enthusiasm & anticipation around it), may be doomed to disappointment.

It's one of the reasons you don't see me getting excited about it.

I'm a fan of specifically the fluffy side of BL, this will NOT be that. And I can appreciate a director without necessarily liking the stories he tells.

I am industry enough to acknowledge Jojo's skill (and I LOVE 3 Will Be Free - just not as a BL), but I don't always like his narratives. No matter how good he is, his stuff is not why I personally watch Thai BL.

It's GMMTV, so how sexy is it going to get?

Again, see Friend Zone. GMMTV has a late night pantheon, mostly for het, but they will get salacious. Lots of cheating and terrible decisions. There will be no archetypes. Characters will exist in grey areas, even the "good" characters. There will be no paladins in this show. No seme/uke.

To answer this frankly?

Only Friends will get soap opera or telenovella sexy but no more. So we will be in Midnight Chicken territory, not Bed Friends.

I think the words being bandied about:

'sexy', 'crazy', 'problematic', 'high heat'

are used here on tumblr (and in fandom) as an attempt to articulate expectations set up by Jojo's style.

Most viewers only react emotionally to the tenor of a director with this set of skills. That's fine, that's what the production company wants: A visceral emotional reaction.

But I hope I've managed to clarify from a film-critic perspective what's bringing this sensation about?

But ALSO seeing a bunch of, essentially, lower heat pure BL pairs, have to push themselves into messy queer spaces? (Notice GMMTV only let the more established actors into this one? No JoongDunk, no GeminiFourth)

This is probably really what everyone is excited about.

They are gonna see their favorites cheat, sleep around, be gay (not BL gay, but actual gay). Some are legitimately excited about this, some are shipper excited, and the BL-stans who don't know Jojo are doomed to disappointment.

I'm mostly excited by how messy this is gonna make the fandom.

Su su na.

(source)

[pidgefudge]

SO. i have listened to @gooboogy 's wonderful green album. and i wrote down my thoughts on each song. and now i am putting them here!!

"thoughts" being actually somewhat coherent comments that devolve into What Would This Be In A Video Game because this is me we're working with after all

and you reading this. yes you. go listen to it

verdant: oooough blorpy,,,, very cool i like. good beat it's quite foot tappable. also the name itself might be a new vocal stim. verdant. vvvverrrrrdant.

halls: much noises!! the instrumence in this scratch my brain in a good way. feels a bit like im 7 years old watchinf my brother play 2d mario stages and reimagining the music

agua: oooohh arpeggio action and a SICK beat. once again the Noises are lovely. big fan of all 3 so far but this one in particular methinks. however i have many more songs to go (!!)

doot doot: very fun i also like this one a lot :3 and coming to you from my one-track autistic mind: this album would be a fantastic game soundtrack

side note i know im writing less for some of these but thats bc im experiencing them in shapes and colors more than expressable words. trust me they're stirring the brain stew

going for a walk: i know the title is about a walk but im envisioning this as the soundtrack to a sort of road trip montage animation thing. specifically my road trip with family from san francisco to la. oh yes this ending is us finally getting to the hotel and me flopping onto the bed

forward: im liking the melody here a lot <33 this album is making me want to boot up lmms again and try my hand at original music,,, ive only ever attempted remixes (i tried to do aquarium park from sonic colors a few years ago and gave up but now i kinda wanna go back to it,,, i wonder if i was cooking) ok yes back to the actual song whoops this one is soo cool one of my faves so far

snag: i like these opening chords!! i dont know what you actually call them but the like. buildup parts?? you know?? those bits??? big fan OOH and a uh. build down (lol) bit too! also liking the sparkly chimey instrumence

blazen: OHHH YESSS this would be the theme for my favorite antagonist in the hypothetical game that i am apparently going to be referencing multiple times (dimentio and mr L came to mind immediately) absolutely jamming

beep boop: fuck yeah man it sure does OH SPOOKY NOTES OH OH COOL BEAT ASWELL i am in for a fun time this is. also the theme of my favorite antagonist. but the battle theme i think. oh hell yeah the orchestra hits. yes yes definitely battle theme. sorry for putting all these in a vgm context shfjdkfkssghf i just listen to a lot of it so thats how my brain parses instrumentals

hunt: strimgs :3 wohhh this is so cool. buzzy in a good way. golden brown triangles and other spiky shapes. that's kinda meaningless to anyone but me but. oh nice more Noises always love the Noises

overwhelm: theme for when i have a project due the next day and am swamped with other homework shdjdksfjdh

VERDANT!: once more with gusto!! loving the faster tempo. constellationy crystally instrument is particularly pleasing. oooughh so gooddddd

creepin': spacey!! im watching a crew set out in their little shuttle, oblivious to the horrors awaiting them on their station

envy: this is a boss fight that's emotionally heavy for the protagonists. perhaps fighting a former friend or mentor or team member

whomp whomp: quite a tricksy track!! some sort of haunted place,,,, maybe the place where the previous battle takes place. maybe it's actually a ghost (especially if the protagonist had some role in their death and feels crushing guilt) (bonus points if the ghost openly expresses resentment for the protag)

gromulous: the word ever. final boss' lair for sureee. yeah this song sure is gromulous. idk how else to describe it you hit the nail on the head

largemouth: oooh a bit silly but also cool guy. im thinking some sort of underground secret society/lab thing they have to infiltrate that's hiding a Sinister Secret (the big plot twist of the game) doesn't even have to physically be underground it could be a moon base situation. maybe i should just make this whole thing into a scifi space rpg

a way out: i can see this as the final boss music and as you get further in the fight it ramps up. i know i already assigned songs to the main antagonist but shhhhh. (or i can always pull a super paper mario in terms of antagonists)

under over: oh!! i love this one!! hometown theme. chill and familiar but still upbeat rather than sleepy. and it has a very strong nostalgia factor,,,,, in love with this song it might be my favorite. but there are still 3 more so!

float: this beginning is very cool im loving the vibe. dire dire docks but make it just after sunset and watch the ocean come alive with bioluminescent lights and fish raves. i guess it isnt a space game anymore. or maybe dream sequence beach episode?? WOAHHH OCEAN MAGICANT i might be cooking with this one Hold On. yesyesyes ok some sort of trip/dream where theyre shrunk down marinauts (whatever ocean prefix) as opposed to astronauts and exploring a cool coral reef/ocean floor area and talking to the sea life and woahhhhhh this would look gorgeous in pixel art. tbh this one could be in its own game considering how vivid the imagery is

outside: post-final-boss world returning to normal/person being rescued or uncorrupted/whatever magical thing happening. very fond of the bird chirps too <33 OH MUSIC BOX SOUNDS i also adore this one. i think the ending of this game is kinda bittersweet. we saved the world/person/whatever but At A Cost. this is sooooo pretty. would also transition well into credits

Green: and roll credits!! this would be the kind of credits theme i sway in my seat and contemplate the game to. the entire album is fantastic and these last few especially have been so lovely

[internetskiff]

A tidbit of Half-Life lore that always fascinated me is that the machine that causes the Resonance Cascade and basically kicks off the events of the entire series is called the "Anti-mass SPECTROMETER" - spectrometers usually doing.. exactly what it says on the tin, measuring the spectrum of something (light spectra for example). So basically, instead of the entire incident being kicked off by a deliberate teleportation experiment gone wrong like in a cliche science fiction horror story (which iirc that was what they originally went with in early development), the whole incident was kicked off by a "relatively" mundane measuring device (by Black Mesa standards, at least). It's such a good subversion of tropes methinks, especially for a videogame from 1998. The teleportation experiments still happened, of course. They've been happening for a while. They've been dissecting fauna from the other world, studying it, setting up outposts - they were pretty close to finding their footing in Xen, and in any other videogame at the time the Lambda Labs would be the root cause of the problem, and their teleporter device would be what causes a tear between realities. But nope! It's merely the precursor. Shit only hits the fan because of an otherwise normal sample measurement gone wrong.

It adds a degree of believability to it, methinks. A device being pushed to it's limits by staff racing to meet a quota - it almost sounds like I'm describing the lead up to a real life nuclear accident, doesn't it? Hundreds of lives cut short by a rushed sample measurement? The G-Man planted a particularly pure sample, but I really do wonder how much it's purity actually played into the whole disaster. It seems like it was IMPERATIVE that the Spectrometer was also pushed to it's limits analyzing it. I mean, even one of the scientists says that boosting it to 105% is a "bit of a gamble" so they knew it was a risky move to stress the system like that. The Lambda Core Teleporter operated swimmingly - meanwhile a mere spectrometer was the weak link the G-Man targeted. Half Life 1's lore is a lot more sophisticated than people give it credit for imo.

[apprenticestanheight]

random chain and shotgunshipping drink headcanons below bc I thought about adams relationship with energy drinks and then this came to be:

hot takes probably but I feel like Adam would like monster and redbull but the og flavors specifically and maybe one or two outside of that (like--if he HAS TO, he'll get the green apple flavored monster or the blueberry red bull)

amanda would ADORE the mango punch monster and also probably the peachy keen one?? For Redbull I feel like she would probs enjoy the peach and original flavors the most but she loathes the original monster bc she thinks it tastes like lighter fluid.

Lawrence and Lynn are both coffee enjoyers methinks--Lawrence would probably take his black or with one cream. Lynn would like two creams and one liquid sugar or maybe she'd put brown sugar or something in it?? She's also definitely someone who gets a flavor shot whenever their coffee gets boring or they know they need coffee but they feel like coffee, sugar and cream will still be a lil too strong. I feel like she goes for toffee, vanilla, or cinnamon when she does

Lynn would also maybe steal a Red Bull from Amandas stash on a particularly early day where Lawrence wouldn't take from Adams bc he's got a coffee pot in his office and one at his and Adams apartment anyway and he likes the smell of fresh coffee too much to skip out on it

[zaranthropy]

I've been looking at Suzumi star pages (particularly the arabic ones) and getting some Symbolism Revelations™ this evening that people may enjoy as food for thought.

Starting with the most lore-related one, Benny's name is often theorized to come from Benetnasch, the first star in the Big Dipper constellation. What nobody tells you however is that benny's star is originally called Alkaid, "the leader". Benetnasch comes from banaatunna'ash (Arabic; "بنات نعش", "the mourning maidens" lit. "Daughters of the bier") and is the arabic name of the big dipper constellation. A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave. This relates to the original myth of Banaatunna'ash.

for the Bedouins of the Syrian desert, the Daughters of Nash accuse al-Jaday, i.e. Polaris, to have killed their father. But al-Farqadân [Ursa Minor] deem that the killer is not al-Jaday but Suhayl, and interpose between them and the North star. That is the reason why they are called al Hawâjzîn, “the Interposers”: they prevent the daughters from slaking their thirst for vengeance, and condemn them to turn indefinitely around the Pole.

From Our Arabic Heritage in the Celestial Vault.

Why this is interesting is because not only is Benny depicted to be the "leader" of the Suzumi collective– in the same constellation's naming origins (which influenced the names of Alkaid and Benetnasch), not only is Suzumi as a whole a being who seeks to sate their bloodlust for vengeance on Tsubakura, there also exists a Hamal among Alkaid's two companion stars, the other two mourning maidens.

The daughters of the bier, i.e. the mourning maidens, are the three stars of the handle of the Big Dipper, Alkaid, Mizar, and Alioth; while the four stars of the bowl, Megrez, Phecda, Merak, and Dubhe, are the bier.

From Medieval Islamic Astronomy.

Considering how Hamee often refers to themself as a maiden, this could point to a potential explanation as to why they do this.

Moving onto Hamee's star, Hamal – the current name of the star – (arabic; "حَمْل") refers to a little year-old lamb originally and not the ram as one may envision when looking at its relationship to Aries, this was an interpertation later introduced by the Greek. The star itself also is originally called "the horns of the lamb", specifically in reference to the tiny nubs you'd see on the head of a first-year fat tailed sheep, and is a similar case as with Benetnasch [name of constellation becomes the name of star because "wah arabic complicated" or something]. This exact type of sheep is also the one that would've been there for Jesus times if biblical allegories are your thing (parable of the lost sheep comes to mind). Also, in modern usage, the star is called "the headbutter/the headstrong", (Arabic; الناطح), so do with that what you will.

Arde has to have had the coolest one by far methinks, as Aldebaran is the only Suzumi star name that doesn't originally belong to a constellation and retains its original Arabic form plus it's the one with the most well-rounded mythology and cultural significance that just so happens to fit Arde well. To start, let's talk about the constellation right next to Aldebaran. Al-Thuriyya (Pleiades) has to be THE most famous constellation in Arab star mythology, being also related to Suhail (remember that guy?), and is also the reason of the name Aldebaran (Arabic; الدِبَران (full historical name; "الهادي الدِبَران")), meaning "The Follower" or "The Pursuing One", being given to the star right on its northwestern side.

According to an Arab legend from some point in the 7th century, Aldebaran was a poor and destitute person, while Al-Thuriyya was a beautiful and young girl. She impressed Aldebaran, so he decided to propose to her. He wanted someone to accompany him to the engagement ceremony, but he did not find anyone. So he went to the moon and asked him to try as much as he could to marry him to her, and the moon complied and went to her. But she refused, and after the moon pressed her, she said: “What should I do with this runt who has no money?”. The moon returned and told Aldebaran what had happened, but Aldebaran insisted on marrying her. He only owned sheep, so he took them all to Al-Thuriyya so that she would agree to marry him. The twenty sheep that Aldebaran led to the Pleiades are what came to be called “The Hyades,” which became the name of a star cluster that appears close to Aldebaran in the sky. The two stars near Aldebaran are his dogs, which he took with him and the sheep. As such, Aldebaran began to guide (follow) the Pleiades in the sky forever, along with his sheep, guiding them wherever they went. Thus, Aldebaran became a symbol of loyalty, while the Pleiades became a symbol of treachery. This loyalty was even mentioned in some Arabic proverbs: “More loyal than Al-Hadi (Al-Hadi Al-Dabran (Aldebaran)) and more treacherous than Al-Thuriyya (the Pleiades).”

Aldebaran also takes onto some mythology of its own as well, being a star whose rising is known to signal the beginning of the harshest periods of summer– Aldebaran became a star of ill omen to the Arabs of ancient times, even earning its own threatening rhymed prose;

اذا طلع الدبران, توقدت الحزان, وكرهت النيران, واستعرت الذبان, ويبست الغدران, ورمت بأنفسها حيث شاءت الصبيان.

When Aldebaran [the Follower] rises, the rugged lands abounding in jagged rocks burn, the fires are hated, the flies spread like fire, the pools of water left by torrents dry up, and the young children throw themselves wherever they desire.

From When the Follower Rises.

Seeing as Arde is the Suzumi who often keeps Hamee in check, holding them on a proverbial leash, them being "the follower" makes a lot of sense when you consider their canonical position (as one who herds sheep (Hamee) while following the leader (Benny)). They also share similarities with Benetnasch, having two lesser stars associated with them (the "dogs") and being the brightest star of their respective constellations. Hamee is the only one who only has one lesser star, poor hambone.

Tl;dr I'm just sharing my silly region-locked star lore for everyone else to enjoy 😊 hope this unlocks as much Suzumi headcanons in your brain as it did mine

[craetor]

I would love love love to hear about how Mello and Near got together and put away their rivalry in your AU.

Wow, I'm so happy you're interested!

Since L is still alive, Near's ambitions for the future are rather tame. Mello does not run off as he does in the original story either.

As time goes on, Near starts having doubts about being able to sustain himself in the real world. When the moment comes that Mello is forced to leave the orphanage (being 18 and all), he's approached by Near. He asks him what he wants to do after Wammy's.

The conversation destines by Near asking to accompany Mello. He offers to undertake any desk work for him if it means being allowed to stay with him, which, admittedly surprising, Mello finds himself happy to accept. (First Matt was going to be his top and only choice for that but with hard working Near in the picture Mello does the clever thing)

From the situation of their travel/living arrangement quickly destills that Mello might, in fact, not hate Near as a person, partially aided by Near's dandy little crush crystalizing more and more the longer they spend together.

Mello realizes that Near frequently overworks. That he doesn't know how to eat right or keep himself tidy and eventually gets close with him through that, gently admonishing him, carrying him to bed, bringing back toiletries and little gifts... They kind of fall into this sweet, affectionate love where they miss eachother more and more anytime Mello leaves to do dirty work that L usually has specifically selected investigators do.

Their love language is definitely dominated by physicial attention.

Eventually Mello does start hiring a group of personal people to overtake the particularly time consuming part, methinks.

[cringe-and-unhinged]

What are some of your homestuck/hiveswap character voice headcanons?

OH MAN OH MAN.

To be completely honest, I’ve never tried to do voices before, but both have such a colorful cast (haha yeah yeah pun intended whatever) that I wanted to help bring them to life, so it was kind of a matter of ……. seeing what I was capable of.

The first character I volunteered to be was Zebruh, of all trolls. I dropped in on my friends who were going through Marvus’ route in friendsim and I basically went:

“Wow! This Zebruh guy is an infuriating, insufferable, obnoxious, pompous asswipe! Please let me read his lines!”

So he has THE snootiest, grating British Accent, with the pitch of his voice warbling up and down to be over-the-top expressive.

Some other roles of note—

Diemen: a nasally huhuhhuh sort of voice. Inspired by boys I dated in high school.

Kuprum: I don’t know how to describe this except as a lower register of my gremlin voice. This is the voice I hear in my head when I read 4chan posts. Also based on boys I dated.

Azdaja: Admittedly like Sollux’ voice, but more nasally and without the lisp. Also based on b—okay, you get the picture.

Lynera: high-pitched, jittery, and nervous, until she goes on one of her tirades where she goes shrill and caustic.

Daraya: a voice that really just sounds like a low, groan; the sort you draw out when you have to listen to a particularly inane speech from someone you don’t give two shits about.

Ardata: I couldn’t get a consistent read on what her voice would be like, but I think I nailed her wide range of Maniacal Laughter.

Galekh: In University, I was an English Major. The Literary Snobs were my brethren. I gave him a low, pompous British accent, a very Darcy-like tone, and read all his asides (read: walls of inane text) at 120mph.

Chahut: Gave her a low, foreboding voice. When she got accusatory, I tried to channel something booming and all-encompassing, like a monstrous entity from my more sexy-horrific dreams.

For the original HS cast, I can’t hear them as anything other than the Octopimp voices, but I’ve gotten pretty good at Karkat and Terezi methinks….

Anyway, sorry for the infodump! I hope at least, like, 40% of that was entertaining to read.

[aliensmoothie]

HERE ! one from almost each on that question list.

💚 GREEN HEART, 🌠 SHOOTING STAR, 💡 LIGHTBULB, 💐 BOUQUET, 🍧 SHAVED ICE, 👁️ EYE for anyone !! go wild .

💚 GREEN HEART - what things make your oc feel comforted? hugs, kisses, food?

for static ............. i think she finds comfort in like . well physical comfort LOL . she likes heavy comfy clothes and blankets . she has a little bed nest methinks . soft things are SO important it will fix her .

🌠 SHOOTING STAR - if they could make any wish with no repercussions, what wish would they make?

well . naomi would wish for original naomi to be alive again . i think she knows revenge wont fix things . its not even really what she wants . she wants naomi back . and without repercussions she would wish for that .

💡 LIGHTBULB - is your oc a planner? do they write down every small detail or just wing it?

static is definitely a planner . she is VERY meticulous i like to think . if she does not know what she is going to do down to a T she kind of panics a little

💐 BOUQUET - create a bouqet for them! what do those flowers mean? are any of the flowers their particular favourite?

THIS ONE SHOULD BE FOR STATIC . GESTURES ... i picked yellow chrysanthemum , yellow butterfly bush , and black eyed susan ......... my girl likes yellow . i think she would really life yellow butterfly bush that seems up her alley ..... chrysanthemums and black eyes susans are apparently gifted to people to comfort them and yellow butterfly bush has to do with rebirth ....... which i thought would be neat :)

🍧 SHAVED ICE - do they still have any objects from their childhood? what significance does it have to them? what would their reaction be if they lost it?

static has like . the first pair of safety scissors she ever got . SHE DID NOT SAVE IT INTENTIONALLY but had found the pair a long time later when she did have her scissors collection . and thought it made a nice addition . she would not be particularly devastated if she lost them but she would be pretty sad . but this also goes for any piece of her collections .

👁️ EYE - what colour are their eyes? do people notice their eyes? is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

isabelle has VERY dark brown eyes .... there is nothing magical about them or anything but i like to think she has pretty eyes :) i dont know if anyone would notice them like . immediately . though her glasses probably draw some attention . but if you were looking at them you would notice they are quite pretty

[un-pearable]

season 7: the thoughts continue

i feel like the quantity and quality of brief stupid & irrelevant team exchanges went up and i am SO here for it. jay has redeemed his poor choices from last season purely by virtue of being part of 50 to 75% of these, for the record. this has been so extremely enjoyable i dont even know where to begin.

the concept of the "hands of time" being twins with symmetrical time powers is honestly. so cool and even if the execution was mid i am still so Extremely glad this exists. because its very cool. i do wish they had better designs though usually the ninjago designs are. well most of the time theyre not spectacular but they're generally fine. these guys are ugly tho.

the snake dudes / one dudette whose names escape me at the moment annoyed me. i dont like them. also why is it that 1) they gave the snake girl titties. real question. i dont think she needs tits made of snakes. stop it and 2) there was only 1 (one) girl. where are my useless female grunts !!!!!

so many time puns. too many time puns. infinite time puns. you can watch my sanity wear away in real time. NO WAIT I SAID TIME DAMMI

^ responding to a message unrelated to ninjago

honestly. okay im gonna be blunt i am very disappointed in this season mainly because i was hoping to get like. sibling foils and stuff COME ON WE'VE GOT THREE DIFFERENT SIBLING PAIRS HERE . WE'VE GOT TIME BROTHERS WHOSE NAMES ALSO ESCAPE ME. WE'VE GOT KAI AND NAYA. WE'VE GOT WU AND GARMADON. AND THESE TERRIBLE WRITERS COULDNT EVEN GIVE ME ONE PAIR OF FOILS. COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

anyways yeah no i am very very disappointed. three pairs. Three of them. and not a single foil in sight. like man why'd you even bother. its like they wanted to do something with them all being siblings but couldnt think of anything past them all being siblings. yknow. its like "ohh wow kai and naya are fighting those time guys !! oh huh what? you mean we should have some thematic or narrative reason for this? ah screw that they're both sibling pairs thats good enough" NO ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. ITS NOT

regarding kai and naya it also annoys me because we didnt really get much of them bonding as siblings because 80% of it was about their parents, who i am ALSO supremely disappointed in, even if im not particularly surprised. like . ok . ok ok. head in hands. they just Left kai and naya because time brother #1 (whose name again escapes me), who, notably does not have any more elemental powers, said "haha im gonna kill them" despite the fact that BOTH of them were there and definitely could've taken him out, and instead decided to go help him build weapons for him to take over ninjago with. for real. really. Really . like MAN at least if they were evil that woudlve been INTERESTING. come ONNNNNNNN. come on. come onnnnnn screw that. and then all kai and naya got this season was "oh wow epic our parents are still here. ok well since the writers arent going to do anything interesting with that we're all gonna be buddy buddy now. tee hee"

really annoyed with wu this season btw. take this discord screenshot that encapsulates my thoughts pretty well

like okay i dont hold him not telling anybody anything at the beginning of the season against him too much because like thats the beginning of the next tacked on season that the authors had not originally had plans for and whats a ninjago season if it doesnt start with wu saying "there's something i havent told you yet" + usually they're stories that he could've reasonably thought wouldn't have become relevant again, but this is just unacceptable. bro get a grip if their master dies out of nowhere when they weren't expecting it then methinks it will distract them. just a little bit.

also this

the ninjago timeline is honestly a joke. its like . MAN it doesnt even begin to make sense its like wu and garmadon's dad is a sort of demigod who created the whole world but also they're only 80 years old and apparently ancient ninjago was 40 years ago and lloyd fits into this picture. somehow. (????????????????????????????) because to say it is terribly unclear when garmadon went full deranged is. well. an understatement of the century. and . yknow what why am i even bothering, honestly. whatever. who cares (me i do)

i didnt like. dislike the season but this one really suffered from a lack of a coherent vision. most of the season kind of felt like they did nothing and WAIT I JUST REALIZED I FORGOT TO TALK ABOUT THE DAY OF THE DEAD SPECIAL. IM SO MAD I THOUGHT THEY WERE GONNA DO SOMETHING ABOUT COLE BEING A GHOST NOW. AND THEN THEY DIDNT. NOT AT ALL. NOT EVEN LIKE A PROPER IDENTITY CRISIS OR ANYTHIGN. THEY FIXED IT IN A SPECIAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A SPECIAL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay that aside. im glad pixal has something to do now instead of just being inside zane's brain. good for her good for her.

im also SO glad they didnt just undo the whole arc with the reversing time blade. thank the lord above i was half expecting them to despite the fact that they literally just did that Last Season. also also i LOVE jay's mom she showed up for .4 minutes, was terribly annoying, and i love it. i love her. i want more annoying women in media please and thank you you can really tell she's jay's mom. i want them to meet so bad.

btw lloyd deserves such a break. he needs it. he should go on vacation or something let everybody else figure it out. they'll probably die without him but idk he needs it. actually speaking of, this was my takeaway from this season

also question about the reversing time blade. theoretically if you punch a recently deceased corpse with it could you bring them back to life?

and, on a final note, take this

THE THOUGHTS ARE VERY MUCH WELCOME

the goofiness the ninja deserve. if the show isn't at least 45% silly character interactions by runtime it isn't even ninjago anymore.

they are!!! they are such a great concept. execution mixed and yeah the designs are. lacking. but once again they knock it out of the park with the show's concepts. notwithstanding the snitties.

i see my pun riddled future. i live in excited fear of it. you are also the funniest person on the planet adksfjds

mhm. mhhhm. what i wouldn't give for this show to figure out what they're doing with the character foiling bc half the time its got a good start but fumbles bc time/medium constraints but 99% of the show's good potential foiling?? is completely squandered??? their reliance on the secret parent reveals over time only gets more frustrating as it continues but for a show that's so oriented on familial bonds BOY do they constantly ignore any and all actual meaning they could explore about them. comparing nya and kai w/ everyone else could be fascinating but that means confronting character traits and we've been. heh. watering down kai ever since he stopped being the main character so that's not allowed.

there is sooooo much to be said about their parents and while there is solace in it does get addressed a little. it is very much in ninjago's special way where they pretend nothing happened for multiple seasons. so that's fun. also now i want kai and nya to have to bond with lloyd over evil parents that'd be funny as hell.

glad you got your cardboard cutout parental figures guys. go ignore your potentially complex emotions about this experience over with jay in the lobby. it'll be your turn to be important again in 2-5 seasons and by then half the world will be retconned again <3

ahh yes. wu. tbh while i get its incredibly frustrating and purely a plot device i do think he's funny as hell for never telling them shit. 100% this guy never actually figured out what being a mentor was beyond how his god-dad treated him and his god-dad was omniscient and ominous about it so. yeah i get it. but any situation where misako can give you valid criticism is a bad one.

the infamous ninjago timeline... in one of the comics it fucks it up so bad that cole is born after lloyd. this place is a dumpster fire of time discrepancies this is what happens when you make time a manipulatable element. what the hell FSM. they have fuckin FOSSILS and also ancient history that the grandpa down the street lived through. either these legos have fuckin long ass lifespans or im just gonna keep blaming it on the fact that TIME IS AN ELEMENT. gravity is a fucking element. speed is a fucjin element. what's next is inertia an element. can their newest villain stop their spinjitzu in its tracks by sending them flying off in a single direction forever. mr self styled god what the fuck were you doing

everything about cole is a tragedy. and also confusing. obligatory return to the status quo i hate you.

I haven't even watched the entire season yet but oooooh jay's mom lives in my brain. she got her grubby little electricity master fingers on my synapses and i can't stop imagining melodramatic fic about her and her confusing as hell life. smthn smthn the lightning rod versus the storm that strikes it. miss child abandonment two, electric boogaloo, i would give you my house for an inch of your life story

the only takes on the ninja's braincell capacity I respect. people putting nya at the top of the list are missing out on her chaotic girl swag and the fact that she has recommended some of the stupidest shit imaginable. queen shit girl but cmon

yes. yes i believe it should and someone should go grab morros abandoned body to test it. this is a universally bad idea

lastly, tragically, i take back my earlier statement, zero offense meant but you have been dethroned as the funniest person on the planet

[piracytheorist]

not sure about Rose gets taken away from Mia bit but the part that annoys me the most which has actually been confirmed in a interview that Shadows of Rose is the end of the Winters story AND it is only four hours long

The interview calls it a "trilogy" and I'm like... it's not??? It's just RE7, RE8, and a small addition to RE8. Since RE dealt in trilogies, it's kind of off that they'll conclude the Winters story in just a DLC. Like, 1-3 and 4-6 had a kind of connected story among them, and it would be even better wrapped-up if 7-9 were also like that, but nope, I guess? And if you had told me that they'd taken the original reaction to Ethan and for that reason made 8 not be about the Winters family, and it was just a one-off with 7, I'd understand that... but they particularly built on Ethan in 8 and the number of people who liked him basically quadrupled... only for them to say "meh" and be like 9 will go on a separate path like bro??? You had a clear-cut path on what to do on your next game and you just crammed it into a DLC. Most of the first-time gameplays I've watched had a very positive reaction to seeing Rose in the post-credits scene, and some even said they'd love to play as her... but Capcom can't see the forest for the trees, methinks.

So yeah, we just have no choice but to accept that this is what it is. A silly decision that hurts their narrative structure and also their financials. Joke's on them tbh, cause they could have gotten their 60 euros from me (and most Ethan fans) if re9 was about Rose, but nope they'll just be getting their 20 for the DLC and be done with it... if I don't change my mind about that until then, lol.

[frosteee-variation]

🍌 DRAFTY SHIPSHAPE 👁👁👁

sorry for spamming ur inbox btw

NAH IT’S ALL GOOD I LOVE TO TALK ABOUT MY OCS DHFHGHG

BUT. OKAY. I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ONE A GOOD AMOUNT AND

🍌 [BANANA] Have parts of your OC been lost to time (in-universe)? What do they wish they could lose from themselves?

I definitely think Drafty’s origins have been lost to both time and themselves. They don’t remember where they came from! It’s been hundreds of years, possibly even thousands!! Who really knows? Sailors have probably speculated in their time, but nobody’s really thinking about the ghost skeleton’s backstory when the ghost skeleton is standing there and your entire ship immediately crashes into several icebergs.

They’ve just kind of been… there. Definitely from the Age of Piracy, but from no definite source. I don’t think they particularly want to know.

As for what they’d want to lose? hmmm that’s a little more difficult methinks. I think they’d want to lose their purpose and just vibe instead. You know. Normal undead instead of deadly one.

[semper-legens]

7. The Real Guy Fawkes, by Nick Holland

Owned: No, library Page count: 207 My summary: The story of Guy Fawkes, from his early origins in York to his conversion to Catholicism and devotion to his faith, following him and his associates as they set the stage for the Gunpowder Plot...and, ultimately, fail and are executed. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot. Some Guy tried really hard to blow up the king, so we ritually burn him in effigy and set off fireworks and apparently it was illegal to not have a bonfire on Bonfire Night until the 1850s, fucking hell, this country is a nightmare. Anyway, this is a book about Guy Fawkes! I...do not like the way this country remembers Guy Fawkes. While I’m not necessarily on board with all of his goals, the idea of ending persecution of a religious group (yes, even if that religious group is Catholics, they were being literally tortured and murdered for being Catholic, that’s not good) is something I can get behind, and I’m super against the state horrifically executing people. You ever read about hanging, drawing, and quartering? One of the most horrible ways to die. So I appreciated some of this book’s attempts to gain a more nuanced look at Fawkes’ life.

Guy Fawkes was a complicated man. Converted to Catholicism after seeing the torture and death of a Catholic in his home town, as well as being educated by a crypto-Catholic, he ended up going to Spain to fight for the Spanish then being involved in a plot to assassinate King James VI and I, who, let’s not mince words, was a fucking monster. Seriously, the guy personally ‘interrogated’ suspected witches and is pretty much responsible for the murder of anyone executed for witchcraft in England and Scotland, at least, he was awful. But anyway. Guy Fawkes is often seen as a historical villain, particularly if you’re being educated in England because he was a traitor, but I happen to be of the opinion that wanting to murder King James VI and I is in fact the right opinion, so there’s that. This book presented a more sympathetic and nuanced view of Fawkes’ life than the version presented to me by my school (makes sense, I was a kid at the time, but ya know), looking at Fawkes’ life as far as we could trace it through history.

Methinks this book was subject to a wee bit of historical bias, though. While Holland does try and present a balanced view of Fawkes’ life, it’s clear that his sympathies ultimately lie with Fawkes, given his emphasis on the horrific ways that Fawkes was likely tortured (look up the signatures on his confessions), speculation on Fawkes’ feelings and personal life, and the tragic way that he presents Fawkes’ death. Specifically, the mechanisms of being hung, drawn, and quartered involved being hanged not until death, then dismembered while alive. Fawkes, however, died instantly of a broken neck. It’s speculated that he jumped from the scaffold in order to hasten his death, and that was the way I’d heard it; it’s notable, then, that Holland presents it as Fawkes’ body just giving up after being so broken. Which, I hasten to add, is also a valid theory as to what happened, but it’s interesting that he doesn’t mention the other possibility. The one thing he did do that annoyed me, however, was to say things like ‘It is probable that’ or ‘It is possible that’ while in an act of historical speculation. I get it, Fawkes didn’t leave a lot of records, you gotta presume some things. And it’s perfectly legitimate to guess that, say, Fawkes’ parents were happy when he was born. There’s just some other times when the thing being posited is a bit more of a stretch, presented as being basically fact.

Next up, my first new graphic novel of the year, and an initiate witch.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

STATS TIME: Not-Sequel Animated Movie Openings 2003-now

In a previous post, I talked about how not-sequel animated movies sometimes regularly made more than $45m on opening weekend...

So, I decided to compile a little (hah) list of not-sequel animated movies over the years, domestically. This list will include:

Truly original animated movies.

Book/comic/game/etc. adaptations.

Adaptations that aren't part of any previous visual/motion picture iteration. (i.e. MUTANT MAYHEM in relation to not just the various live-action TMNT movies, but also the 2007 animated movie).

Films based on animated TV shows. Technically a sequel of sorts to the show, whatever season it was on, but still.

The photoreal LION KING and JUNGLE BOOK aren't included, no stuff like that. This is reserved for animated movies that *know* they're animated, unreal, etc. "Cartoons".

So, let's begin... We start at 2003, I thought it was fitting. That was 20 years ago, and that was the year FINDING NEMO broke the opening weekend record with a then pretty huge $70m gross. Nowadays, that looks like nothing. Prior to 2003, the highest an animated feature could go was around $50-60m on opening weekend, a lot of the heavies for a good while hovered around $35-45m. The record was broken multiple times from 1992 to 2002, mostly by a Disney-released film.

From 2003-2020, we'll cap it off at $30m. Anything below that will be excluded. Post-2020, we'll cap it off at $20m...

Without further ado...

2003

$70m - FINDING NEMO

2004

$70m - THE INCREDIBLES

$47m - SHARK TALE

$32m - THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE

2005

$47m - MADAGASCAR

$40m - CHICKEN LITTLE

$36m - ROBOTS

2006

$60m - CARS

$41m - HAPPY FEET

$38m - OVER THE HEDGE

2007

$74m - THE SIMPSONS MOVIE

$47m - RATATOUILLE

$38m - BEE MOVIE

2008

$63m - WALL-E

$60m - KUNG FU PANDA

$45m - HORTON HEARS A WHO!

2009

$68m - UP

$59m - MONSTERS VS. ALIENS

$30m - both CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS and A CHRISTMAS CAROL

2010

$56m - DESPICABLE ME

$48m - TANGLED

$46m - MEGAMIND

$43m - HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

2011

$39m - RIO

$38m - RANGO

$37m - HOP

$35m - THE SMURFS

2012

$70m - THE LORAX

$66m - BRAVE

$49m - WRECK-IT RALPH

$42m - HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA

2013

$67m - FROZEN

$43m - THE CROODS

$33m - EPIC

2014

$69m - THE LEGO MOVIE

$56m - BIG HERO 6

$32m - MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN

2015

$90m - INSIDE OUT

$52m - HOME

$44m - THE PEANUTS MOVIE

$39m - THE GOOD DINOSAUR

2016

$75m - ZOOTOPIA

$56m - MOANA

$46m - TROLLS

$38m - THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE

$35m - SING

2017

$50m - both COCO and THE BOSS BABY

2018

$67m - THE GRINCH

$35m - SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

2019

$30m - THE ADDAMS FAMILY

We will skip 2020... Even though ONWARD, which opened right before the pandemic was declared a national emergency, made $38m on its opening weekend... We'll skip it. All the not-sequel stuff either went to streaming (i.e. SCOOB!, SOUL) or skipped a year or two.

2021

$27m - ENCANTO

$21m - DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA - THE MOVIE: MUGEN TRAIN

2022

$23m - both THE BAD GUYS and DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS

2023

$146m - THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE

$29m - ELEMENTAL

$28m - TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM

There you have it...

This kinda tells you everything you need to, methinks... When it comes to the more original/non-massive IP stuff. Particularly when you look at MARIO vs. BAD GUYS, ELEMENTAL, etc.

Maybe in a few years, we return to some not-sequel animated movies easily securing about $40m on opening weekend. Maybe not. The game has certainly changed, but it's cool to track this sort of thing over the years...

If I left out any, please let me know.

[kristiliqua]

i have been constantly thinking about the damn taz au recently im so ill man

i want to talk about it . so bad . like aaaaaaaa i have some specific bits that i really love but dont wanna spoil at all but RHRHRRRRHHGH FUCK !!!!! i just .,, taz!tallulah . thats it . thats all im saying . i love her :(

also i originally made scott smajor be leon the gachapon guy , but i am now making him be badboyhalo . because Fuck scott smajor ^_^ i am not having a weirdo like him in my au lmao (also bbh is just perf for leon)

also man oh man half the fun for this au for me is simply coming up with chapter titles . ive made it a thing where they have to be srs and rhyme with another bit (thatll go in the ch summary) and boyyy oh boy r they fun to hatch out :D i’ll give u all one just for fun — one that easily comes to mind is “trust or forsake, which will you take? (an eye, an ability, or a life at stake?)” :3 yippee (there are so many chapter titles on god . its a miracle that i actually enjoy coming up with them or else i’d be fucked LMFAO)

also taz!missa is a thing now too . a minor character , but he’s there . bc i said so :)) (taz!deathduo is real btw ur welcome)

man can you tell i really just wanna ramble and gush abt this au . bc i really just wanna ramble and gush abt this au ,,, i love it like it is my baby and i will cherish it forever

frowny face . i want to post Something for this au on ao3 already (i have so many snippets just written bc ,,, i had to let out the energy somehow) but i also dont wanna spoil shit before the actual fic so ????? i guess i’ll suffer . and or just rant abt it on here , el em ay oh

i havent even fully written anything thats for sure gonna be in the main fic (well maybe thats a lie . i have so many snippets that im sure one of them will be usable at some point) . i wrote chapter one (and two ?) a While back , but im def not using that lmfao

jusssst . sigh . i love this au sm and im So sorry to my qsmp followers who followed me for qsmp fanarts and ended up getting a ramble abt some au u dont know or care abt LMAOOO — just ignore this , smile .? or join/spectate my brainrot as i slowly lose my mind , idk

,, also . have i ever said that i made fantasy costco be ‘fantasy tescos’ instead ? bc i did , since in my eyes tescos is just the british version of costco ,,, even though i dont Really know what tescos is , or if its at all similar to costco (im american pls forgive me) but they sound similar so idc (,,, i havent even gone to costco either , actually . im just balling it out here fr)

oh yeah i was thinking abt making a pogtopia wilbur slash vilbur arc thing for taz!wilbur in a particularly long arc in the story (cough cough stolen century cough cough) too ,,,,, so that might be a thing . idk . maybe bro kinda loses it in those hundred years , bc fucking hell how r these mfs still sane after that /hj (its like he becomes apathetic as he sees all of it as meaningless and futile . bc these ppl and this world is gonna die anyway , so what purpose do morals or any kind of care serve ? theyll be gone in a year anyway , it rlly doesnt matter what happens to them before then [later , he Does snap out of it . maybe after a more emotional death hmm who knows] . plus paranoia with the whole impending doom thing el oh el couldnt be me) . methinks i’ll maybe write smth for this idea (smth that u all might never see lmao) . smiley face :))

anyways fuck it this is the end of this long ahh post . beeye