#long ass ramble!!!!

[iwoulddieforienzo]

Something I really appreciate about TOA that I don’t see get talked about much is that I never get the sense that Apollo finds Lester ugly.

For all that he complains about the body he’s stuck in, I never got the feeling that it came from a distaste for Lester himself. When he sees Lester’s traits reflected in others, like Meg being chunky, he is completely unaffected by it. Finds it charming, even. (In fact, the only times I can remember him having Opinions about how someone looks is when they’ve chosen something about their appearance that he either approves or disapproves of, like a tacky jacket/hair cut or when he finds someone attractive. The only time I can remember him calling anybody ugly was when he pointed out that Dionysus was choosing to look as ugly as possible to piss of Zeus, which is a statement of fact and doesn’t necessarily mean he thinks that Dionysus’ form is actually ugly. He makes no mention of finding it so before or after that line. It’s a statement of fact that Dionysus is choosing a form that either he or Zeus finds ugly to piss of their dad.)

The thing about Lester is that he is so devastatingly mortal. He has flab and acne and no upper body strength and his voice squeaks when he’s nervous and he sweats a lot and he has a silly name and messy, curly hair that’s impossible to tame. He is the Most Teenager To Ever. There is no godly blood running through his veins, no powers he can call upon. If Apollo were to run into him in the street, I don’t think he’d pay him much mind. He’d probably just think, “sweet kid”, and move on. If he got to know him, I think Apollo would adore him because that’s just who rrverse!Apollo is. He loves mortals despite himself, flaws and all. He’d argue against anything bad Lester had to say about his own appearance and mean every word.

The problem is that it’s Apollo in this body. Apollo, The Golden Child, the perfect son, a God. His distaste for this body is because Lester is so devastatingly mortal and imperfect. Apollo has to be perfect, he has to be shiny and pretty and strong because he has nothing else to offer otherwise.

And.. I dunno, there’s something about Apollo hating the things that draw him to others when it’s him. The flaws that he tears apart in himself he finds endlessly charming on others, or he thinks that they have better reasons for why they have them, or he thinks they have enough positive traits to counteract them. The positive things that he hides deep enough that even the reader can’t see right away, like his kindness and genuine desire to understand and connect with everyone around him, that he’s shocked to find directed at him in turn.

That Apollo accepting himself and reclaiming his personhood leads to him being comfortable with being Lester, imperfect and mortal as he is. That he takes that imperfection back with him to Olympus… I dunno man I’m Emotional. Also it’s just plain nice that Lester is never treated as ugly for looking like a normal ass teenager, even by the guy stuck in this body. That’s neat.

Or maybe I’m just rambling and this means nothing at all and I’m reading too far into Blorbo from my books.

[mibkid]

Can i just say as both an artist and cosplayer i am so greatful and amazed over Jojo's amazing linked universe comic and just how much time and effort she puts into it.

i mean i am floored over 10 pages a month fully colored with detailed backgrounds and good story, believe me it's crazy amount of work. ...and speech bubbles. eurgh typography...(u can guess which part of comic making i enjoy the least)

Not only that but i am eternally greatfull for just how many angles we get to see the characters in the comic, the varied poses and expressions are not only amazing to look at and great way to show personalities, but also just such great reference points when either drawing the characters or trying to figure out how the hell a costume is built up.

AND jojo has drawn them in various stages of their clothes on during the comic, so you KNOW HOW THE LAYERING WORKS.

How is Time's armor built up? Boom right there in multiple angles and sometimes off.

Ah how does Hyrule's layering work? BOOM right there with an interesting maybe leather based under-armor??

How large is Twilight's chainmail and how is it built up? BAM right there.

Jojo literally drew a whole page of how Sky's clothes are built up, layer by layer.

It's truly a blessing!

AND IT IS CRAZY that jojo added so much beautiful embroidery to the characters' clothes.

(my brain is like "oh but me like to know every detail of the embroidery of every character", and i end up looking at the pictures and say "sush brain don't be a spoilsport they're already detailed just use your imagination of what jojo has drawn and what could fit the specifics", because that is fun too! like Sky's embroidery on his over-undershirt could very much be berries of some sort on twig together with some sort of classic skyloftian forms, like lingon berries though it isn't,( i know that lingon berries don't exist in hyrule...) but it would be a fun idea!)

As you can see by my... detailed oriented nature i am very interested in their designs. But again the whole comic is a true wonder, i mean, so many angles not just the characters but the surroundings. So many different zoom-outs and zoom-ins utilized, the comic knows when to change from one character to another to more than one. So it's great on a technical standpoint too. And it's SO cool to see how Jojo's art has changed through time. (that is not a pun)

Anyway, i felt like i had a lot to say, and this was me saying it. I guess it's a Appreciation post for jojo, for showing other artists and creatives so much different and amazing artwork. (and giving us amazing references)

But also it's that i want other people to see(though i think they do already) how much time and effort and love has been put into it, not that it matters much coming from me as a random person who happens to enjoy her work.

But i think it's fun to show appreciation for artists and writers anyway.

[biowho]

To me this implies that they’re gonna throw the CC out into the world for us to play with before the game comes out and if that’s more than me and my wishful thinking I will be going insane

[kaleidoscopiccc]

I think it would be really funny if mischa knows way more languages than he lets on just because he finds the choirs reaction when he starts speaking a completely random language he never told anyone about funny

“SINCE WHEN DO YOU KNOW BULGARIAN??”

“since 12 years old”

[mblue-art]

once again i was fueled with coffee (did not sleep the whole night) but this time i doodled college au to cope bc ofc i did (also did not feel like sleeping wooo)

[swollenbabyfat]

Making a bunch of bad art is just as important as making a bunch of good art, so regardless of how yours comes out today I'm glad you made it.

[guaxinimraccoon]

Agora, a pergunta q nn quer calar: por que o Toby roubou o livro?

MEU DEUS eu achei que já tinha dito isso em algum lugar, mas dei uma procurada aqui e nada de achar o link disso pq eu NUNCA EXPLIQUEI DJKSKJDSKJDS MALZ bora lá

My bud here asked a very important question: why Tobias stole a very sacred and important book?

The short answer is: because Tobias has a curse and he wanted to find a cure.

OMG HOW- calm down, first things first.

As I said before, when Alex and Elisa started to take their relationship more seriously, Alex would hang out in the Colony using a shrinking potion and preteding to be an imp. He was well accepted as one by Elisa's fellow imps and fairies and they never had many problems with his disguise.

But there was this one, powerful, envy fairy who took notice that something about Alex was... off.

She started to do her own investigations and ended up finding the truth out: Alex was no imp, but a human in disguise. Although, to her, this was actually very good news.

Why? Because this fairy - Irwalia - comes from a family that has been preaching an ancient propecy over a century now. Said prophecy omens that, one day, a being with the strongest of souls - a fairy soul - and the strongest of bodies - a human body - would be born to free the Colony from it's decades of war.

There are a lot of fairy families that preach this prophecy till this day, but all of them are taken as delusionals by most of the Colony's inhabitants. It's impossible to have a being that has a different soul from it's body, it just can't happen. But they hold onto their beliefs firmly regardless.

When Irwalia learned the truth about Alex, she couldn't help but be ecstatic: she had finally found a human inside the Colony's walls. And, if SHE was the one who discovered him first, then she must be the one meant to give birth to this prophetic child… right?

In a vengeful and spiteful spirit, Irwalia decided to not report Alex to the Colony's authorities, but instead take her anger out on what the human and his imp wife treasured the most: their only child.

Alex and Elisa didn't took long to find Toby, afterall she wanted to take her revenge in front of them...

Irwalia cursed Toby with something that not only breaked Alex's heart, but made the child defenseless if he ever encountered a human: if in close proximity to a human, Toby is completely unable to do any kind of magic.

This may not sound like a big deal, but imps, especially imp borrowers, take great advantage from their magic abilities to protect themselves from the sight of humans and their malicious intents. And, of course, Toby would never be able to obtain his full magic potential (which he has a lot of) around his own father.

Aside from all that, his hair is now bright blue, a side effect of the curse that makes it difficult for him to hide from humans and dangerous animals.

Toby grew up not being allowed to leave the Colony EVER because of his curse. So when he became an adult, after getting involved in a lot of trouble inside the Colony, being the little thief and vagabond that he is, he thought-

Unfortunately, he never had the chance to actually seek a cure for his curse in the book because he was discovered for his theft before that, yeah, it was all kind of pointless, he truly sucks at hiding.

Huh, I also wonder why it worked...

[karniss-bg3]

The Tragedy of Faith

So between tumblr and twitter I've read various takes on Kar'niss and what draws people to him. For some it's the monster fucking appeal, for others it's the desire to fix a clearly broken individual. There are in-betweens and of course this is subjective and depends on the person. Act 2 spoilers ahead. Where my personal interest comes from is how good Larian communicated the tragedy of faith and what a cult can do to a person. Kar'niss is a creature that has been broken by not one God, but two. Lolth broke him physically, the Absolute broke him mentally. His entire identity has been lost to a deity to the point he raises her in his speech. Referring to her as "Majesty" and "Queen", two terms you don't really hear anyone else address her as, he has elevated her to his final savior and leader. He also often refers to himself as "we" and "us", cementing him as part of the hive mind rather than holding any individuality of his own. When he does refer to himself as "I", it's mostly to show further loyalty to the Absolute, to maintain a position of importance in his fractured mind. Cults are notorious for targeting the most vulnerable in society as they are the easiest to mold and manipulate to their doctrine. The fact that goblins are one of the main races that fall to the Absolute's influence is telling in that regard, as they are often dismissed by the other races. Kar'niss was ripe for the picking, an easy target to lure into her arms. No doubt he was found shortly after Lolth twisted him into a drider and banished him, he didn't stand a chance.

Not even taking those elements into account, Kar'niss came from a society that is infamous for cruelty and violence, especially toward males of their species. Drow greatest hits include, but are not limited to: -Killing their young if they are not aesthetically pleasing enough. In other words, ugly. -Sacrificing every third born son to Lolth.

-If a male finds the favor of two competing females, it often doesn't end well for the male. The rival woman will kill the male and chuck his dead body into his opponents bedchambers, just for the sake of being petty.

-Love and emotions of any sort are in short supply, if not outright unseen as a general rule. The nature of drow to backstab and seek to rise in the ranks makes it near impossible to be anything other than fierce and domineering.

With these things in mind, it's easy to assume that Kar'niss had a turbulent upbringing and likely suffered untold abuse from many around him. It's not to say that good or reasonable drow don't exist, it's just not commonplace in a Lolthite society. Unfortunately, the game doesn't give us a great deal to go on as far as his past. What little he reveals only happens after he's dead, and even then its really a cliffs notes version. What we do know is that his devotion is intense and unwavering. He's willing to die for the Absolute because in his mind the Absolute are the only ones who care about him. We even see fellow followers talk down to him, dismiss him, and verbally eye-roll the guy. To them, his fanaticism is over the top and they follow the same God he does.

All told, this leads me to the conclusion that Kar'niss has never, or rarely, known true compassion in his entire life. He's been used as a puppet for one deity or another, and likely mocked or cast aside even when he did everything right. It doesn't surprise me that there are folks who desire a romance option, or barring that a side venture to break him free of the Absolute's hold. We don't know if Kar'niss did terrible things in his past, or where his moral compass sits as his entire personality revolves around God. But I'd love to know, and I crave more background on him in one form or another.

I've spent too much time thinking about different paths that could happen in-game. I also understand it's incredibly unlikely he'll ever become a companion. The sheer amount of time and resources needed to give a character a satisfying arc is likely more than Larian can do with other constraints, but maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised. So Kar'niss lovers, platonic, romantic, or everything in-between...I gotchu fam. We stan the spooder bby. Someone get that man a blanket and a nice mug of hot cocoa. And a cult de-programming kit, one of those would be good.

[darby-derby]

When I say that I love Speedwagon I don’t mean I love him for the memes, I mean I fucking LOVE Speedwagon. I mean that if that scruffy little man showed up on my doorstep with his goofy accent and stolen hat I would take him into my home and feed him porridge. I fucking love Robert Edward O. Speedwagon. Absolute icon.

[pianokantzart]

Bowser’s Portrayal as a Hopeless Romantic

After my initial viewing of The Mario Movie, I couldn’t help but wonder what on earth was up with Bowser’s attempted wedding massacre?

At first glance it seems to be a highly miscalculated attempt to impress the princess; a social blunder, ridiculous even by Bowser’s standards. It’s an easy interpretation to make when he had the sweet puppy-love look on his face while explaining what he was about to do.

But then I noticed that when Peach turns to him with a look of horror, Bower’s expression and attitude shifts.

He knows exactly what he’s doing.  This is backed up by this exchange earlier in the movie, when he first announced his intention to marry Peach:

Koopa Trooper: Doesn’t she hate you? Bowser: Of course she hates me! but that makes me love her all the more.

At surface level, Bowser’s lovesick behavior seems to indicated a misunderstood softie... the proposal rehearsals with Kamek, the flowers, the stupid hat, the power ballad love song, etcetera. There is no doubt that somewhere at Bowser’s core, there is a desire to be loved back.

But at the end of the day, being loved does not take priority. Bowser’s priority is to be in control, hence the power star being at the center of his proposal. He doesn’t want a partnership so much as he wants to be the undisputed victor in the war for Princess Peach, whether his opponent is Mario or Peach herself.

He has no interest in meeting her halfway. His entire courting process is thus:

“Marry me or I’ll destroy everything that you love.”

“I’m going to prove my absolute power over this situation by ordering a mass slaughter on our wedding day.”

TL;DR

“I would never marry a monster.”

SHE’S RIGHT, AND SHE SHOULD SAY IT.

[choilacanth]

(inebriated thoughts on dunmer diaspora. did not edit, only hit send in an attempt to be brave. inebriated very inebriated. if you want to fight pls be nice. )

so the tribunal collapse/red year/oblivion crisis wombo combo happened 200 years before skyrim and dunmer probably scattered into the winds fleeing vvardenfell and affected areas of morrowind

200 years is like 4 generations in human years but for dunmer it could encompass 1 to 4 generations depending on the dunmer (there are both 100 year old first time parents and 3 time grandparents i believe, though i hc most dunmer would start pairing up and settling down at 50 or so)

you have dunmer kids who came of age near 4e 201 listening to stories of red mountain erupting and their fathers choking on ash trying to dig their older siblings out of the rubble

you have once-proud redoran kinsmen watching their sons and daughters eke out a living on a farm owned by hlaalus

i imagine the combo of events overturned a lot of social structures so dunmer diaspora are either a.) clinging stubbornly to the old ways in an attempt to preserve what they know, mostly present in 1st gen immigrants or b.) very quick to adapt to a new land while hanging on to the shreds of their identity that remain acceptable, as they have adapted all their life to struggle.

to make matters more confusing, the replacement of a cultural religion (the tribunal) with the reclamations (3 good daedra) was underway when red mountain erupted, so the dunmer who left slowly abandoned the old ways upon getting the memo only to enter lands where stendarr's priests admonish daedra worship. i suppose they get some special dispensation, but can only praise the daedra in "acceptable" ways, so the image of azura/boethiah/mephala is further diluted in skyrim and other places with a vigilants of stendarr presence

so, by 4e 201 the dunmer communities of skyrim are split into a few groups. within windhelm is an enclave of dunmer who are mostly sequestered from the nord population. while it would seem intuitive that they would be less traditional in their customs, the hostility of nords in windhelm towards them means they have no reason to appease these neighbors and instead, cling to their traditions in a very quiet way within the gray quarter. there are, however, dunmer who have integrated better, and that would be those of the "fallen" house hlaalu, who moved in early, switched over to the divines worship, and own land and farms right outside windhelm beside nord neighbors who look upon them kindly. the situation of the hlaalus is much better than those within the gray quarter, which is a reversal of how they are viewed in the rest of morrowind for selling out to the empire. due to their ties to the empire, however, after the great war in skyrim 4e 170 nords do not trust them as much.

however, windhelm is not the only place in skyrim dunmer call home. the rift also hosts many dunmer, and stormcloak influence is much less influential than coin. the rift is home to fisheries based out of lake honrich, farms that remain bountiful in the more temperate climate, and lots and lots of trade through both the jerall mountains and the velothi mountains. riften also burned down in 4E 129 in the revolt against jarl hosgunn, and the dunmer, argonian, and nord population of the rift all joined in to rebuild the city. these three communities are on much more equal footing versus in windhelm. due to its proximity to morrowind, the dunmer that settled in riften are more likely to receive "updated" news from their homeland, and as they feel less threatened and want to get along with their business contacts and neighbors more organically they would shift towards adopting skyrim culture more readily.

what does this all mean? it means that darra's business-minded father was quick to put icons of zenithar in front of their store in the rift, but also pray to azura at dawn and dusk. darra's father swallows his dunmer pride to adapt, but never quite loses it, so darra has to learn to be comfortable in her own skin and has no idea what a cliff racer looks like. she still hears about it from her childhood friends, the old dunmer uncles of the warehouse. it means that she grows up knowing balimund and brynjolf and haelga and many more, but they grow older and she barely ages, even though she lived through the same war they did. there are many other things that this could mean.

finally, when teldryn sero moves into darra's spare room in the lousy little honeyside townhouse, his memories of windhelm decades ago still sting, but he learns to like the crooked little city for how casually it welcomes him. he ends up playing teeba-hatsei with the fishery argonians. (he has no tail, but he makes do.)

[jellyjamheadobb]

[laurrelise]

hey what’s up moots. i have been mia on tumblr for the better part of a week

pov: days ago i saw some really cool fanart for the umbrella academy and found out it was an illustration of a scene from an au fic (holding it together by sharkneto) and was bored and decided to start reading and just see if i liked it, no big deal

fast forward to now, about a week later, where i’ve read the 90k word fic plus it’s 196k word prequel fic (joining together, also by sharkneto) in every second of my free time and i’m so desperately and emotionally attached to both of them that i genuinely have no idea what to do with myself now.

ok maybe everyone in the fandom has already read both of these and i’m an absolute idiot who’s just discovering them but my words genuinely cannot describe how close im holding these to my tua hyperfixated heart rn. i need help thanks

also for some reason ao3 has repeatedly shut down for maintenance over the course of this week leaving me with so much excitement and suspicion over what would happen next so thank you to ao3 for being the worst this week but it’s ok we made it through!!!!1!!1!!!1!!!!

[honkowo]

WHEEEEEE ETHNICITIES POST PART 1!!!!!!! COS I GOT NO CLUE HOW 2 GO ABOUT CULTURES N SHIT!!!!! LOL!!

OK SO ive FINALLY finished the 5 main colour variations (& overall morphology) for angels!!! posting these separate from the culture post cos i still have fuckall idea for that(plus theres already a fair few images in this post if i tried combining the 2 i would have..... a long ass post lol) ANYWAY:

SALT DESERT: least populous of the 5. theyre essentially tundra angels but w thicker skin & MUCH paler. built to handle extreme temperature variation as well as VERY STRONG air currents & high altitudes. body type is typically tall & skinny, with long wings & sail. theyre 3rd best in terms of long-distance flight.

TUNDRA: most populous of the 5. theyre the goldilocks in terms of preffered climate, in that they stick to the tundras & savannas of homeworld(not too hot/cold, average wind speed, etc). body types vary, but theyre usually on the leaner side for aerodynamics, with long wings & sail. 2nd best at long-distance flight.

CENTRAL CLIFFS: 2nd most populous of the 5 & are built to survive the warmer temperatures of the equator throughout the year. body types are typically on the heavier side to help with burrowing & to accommodate for the much higher likelihood of getting domed by flying debris, as well as broad-but-short wings & sail. theyre 2nd worst at long-distance flight, as theyre more suited for climbing & gliding than powered flight.

NORTH/SOUTH COAST: 3rd most populous of the 5. coastal angels are the largest of the angel types, and are built to survive & navigate the seas & frozen coastlines of homeworld with ease. theyre the best at long-distance flight, as they often take regular journeys from the north to the south to ferry resources between both the coastal spheres as well as other spheres that might be up to trade. body types are usually TALL & WELL BUILT, with a long sail & wings.

TROPICS: 2nd least populous of the 5 as well as the shortest. theyre an offshoot of coastal angels who preffered to burrow amongst the more varied plantlife of angel homeworld. theyre the worst at flying, often only able to glide & fly in short bursts(similar to earth chickens) as theyre almost entirely suited to burrowing. the average body type for tropic angels is short & stocky, with short wings.

like usual, gif stills r under the readmore :)

angles:

map:

(was gonna send the stills but i hit the image limit LOL so youll have 2 have the merged map sorry)

[jmdbjk]

Looking back and forward.

2023 was one for the books.

It is Thursday, Dec. 7 where I am... Friday, Dec. 8 in Korea.

It is the last Friday for Namjoon, Taehyung, Jimin and Jungkook to be civilians. This is their last weekend to spend in their homes, at the company to work, running along the river, doing boxing workouts, ordering delivery food, loving on their dogs, doing the things they've been doing the last over ten years. It will be about 100 days until they get time off and can maybe spend some time back at home.

They are tying up loose ends, getting their shit together, preparing to put their lives on hold.

They will return to us in mid-June 2025.

I've watched their last group live several times after the english subs were up. There were a lot of things I saw and I have a lot of mixed emotions about it all.

None of us know these men, we are observers and all we know is what they choose to show us. Unfortunately, they can't control every single thing and people and the media insist on prying and publishing images and things about them that lead to unconfirmed rumors and misinformation.

In the approximately 38 minutes they shared with us, they conveyed that they are getting ready to go, they seemed in positive spirits. They conveyed that they were still working on things for us (except Jungkook).

They said there was A LOT of content coming, so much... they've NEVER ever reassured us like this before.

They asked fans to NOT show up at the induction site out of respect for the other men and their families also entering the military those days. They explicitly said "we are their face and to do them proud."

During this live, I saw Tae being the fantastically funny guy that he is. Tae was alight with excitement. He was anxious to learn from his fellow soldiers. He is a flower waiting to bloom. And seeing his friendship with Jimin maturing, flourishing, same age friends forever was wonderful.

And Namjoon trying to keep up with the crazy shenanigans of the maknae line. Trying to be the voice of reason: "it'll go by quick, we've left a lot of content. Jin will be back soon. We'll all get strong." But there seemed to be a bit of push and pull between he and Jimin... it was interesting. But he was lighthearted, positive, going into with an open mind. Get in, get out, get back to work.

Jimin, Jimin, Jimin... There was a bit of resignation wrapped up in Jimin's positivity. He wouldn't agree that it would go by fast and he didn't want to show himself with the buzz cut. I wanted to reach through the screen and hold his hand and reassure him we'd be here waiting and that we know it's hard to leave everything right now to do this. This man lives to do work on his passion. He's already had to stop once. Now he has to do it again. I think he is going into his MS kicking and screaming because he does not want to leave his youth behind. It is unfinished.

He said he had been sick. He coughed, sneezed and sniffled the entire live. I hope all of these symptoms have disappeared by Monday/Tuesday. I remember his friend Sungwoon had to delay his enlistment date because he tested positive for covid. Please don't let that happen to any of our four.

During this last group live, I saw a Jungkook that I'd never seen before. His vibe was so in tune to Jimin. I know he's been that way since... 2017? 2018? But this was so in your face I was dumbfounded. Jungkook constantly soothing Jiminie. The things they probably talked about while they were in Japan a few weeks ago, man, to be a fly on the wall.

ALL of those lives he did this past year flashed through my head, how unhinged he was the first few months, falling asleep drunk with the candle, calling out stalkers. ALL those times WE said he was missing Jimin because he was begging him to come eat chicken and drink beer, or come do a boxing workout, or better yet, "let me come over and we can shower together..." No... I meant to say: he can go over to Jimin's and wash up and do a live together. Yes, that's what he said. Beggged him. Tried to use Army as leverage. And all we got was Jimin saying he "can handle it" and "you know how my personality is"...

Jungkook watching all that Jimin content... something happened, some decision was made early in the year. Jungkook embraced it and ran with it.

And to know they are going into the service together, it still has me astonished but it all makes sense now. Y'all... they knew they were going to do this wayyyyyy back, not just in August or September when they applied. Jungkook said back in February (before someone lit a fire under his butt in March to start working on music) that he had to take care of his body for the next year. This has been the plan and Jungkook said "no worries, I got this."

2023 was A LOT.

Jimin, Face: the melodies poured out (as they seem to be free-flowing from him at any given moment) but he had to pry those lyrics out of himself. Jimin achieved a #1 BBHot100. And yes, it appears there were not just one, but TWO of those blasted cakes. I didn't know much about PDogg before Jimin's documentary but now I know how much he supported Jimin during this process.

Yoongi, D-Day: I got to see Yoongi in real life. That weekend flew by for me. One of the best weekends ever. As soon as the concert was over I said out loud, I need to see all seven on that stage. His concert tour filled a void for us. We needed that so bad after last year's gut-wrenching news that there would be no tour. And now he's fulfilling his social service. Let him serve quietly with dignity.

Hobi, Military: after tearfully sending him off, what we hear now is he's cracking the whip, though ever-so empathetically (not to be confused with emphatically) over those new enlistees every day. I need to see his boom chakalaka marching drills. Jimin said when he visited Hobi, he wasn't greeted with his ebullient "Jaman!" but more of a lowkey "oh, you're here."

Jungkook, his solo songs and album: Jungkookie chose to go the route of choosing songs that resonated with him. Over the course of years, Kookie has always shared songs with us. We used to love his song recs and his covers of very poignant songs. He KILLED those songs with his vocals. He did what HE wanted to do. And look how well he did with it, also a #1 BBHot100.

Taehyung, Layover: again, Taehyung did what he wanted to do. Not on his album, but Taehyung singing along with Karen Carpenter was never on my bingo card, ever! (a clip on his Instagram stories where he was singing along to "Close to You")

RM, we kept wondering: why isn't he enlisted yet? Someone had to wrangle the maknae. Not that he ever did that this past year. He cut himself over his left eye and had to get stitches... that's gonna leave a scar. Good thing there are 40 bajillion plastic surgeons in Seoul...

Jin is coming. The Head of Ministry of the Military making the decision that no celeb will be doing anything special, instead they will serve just like regular civilians. Sergeant Kim Seokjin will become civilian Jin of BTS on June 12, 2024.

Their constant looking forward to 2025

Skipping over 2024 for the moment...

BTS has to evolve. They must evolve. They are not going to be a 30 something year old K-pop boy band. Some groups might be stuck but BTS will not stay stagnant, they never have. They have to step forward out of that niche and they have been trying to do that incrementally for a while now. They’ve taken us in baby steps already through chapter 2, and Joon said the REAL chapter 2 will begin when they are back from fulfilling their service.

What will they be like? Will they reinvent themselves? Perhaps, but not overnight. I don’t see any sort of extreme makeover for BTS once they come back together. I do see them addressing more mature topics (as we’ve seen), I do hope we see songwriting from all members.

They don't need to abandon their Korean-ness in order to accomplish this. There is nothing stopping them from being a mainstream artist who just happens to be from Korea and who release songs that are in Korean.

I think the accomplishments that Jungkook achieved will continue to pull BTS out of the K-pop realm and into the main stream Pop music realm. They worked that western market. They got pushback, especially western industry institutions: Billboard and the Grammys. And they learned.

Progress is slow but progress nevertheless. They will cross over to general pop one way or the other. They are not going to stay in the kpop box in the future. Straddle both at the same time. They can do it.

For 2024:

I think comeback/HYYH 10th anniversary reboot is already in the works and has been.

I think PDogg will be working on the songs over the next year. I think they have recorded all this year.

I think when Jin and Hobi get back, they might record their parts. I also am pretty sure we'll see a full-bodied solo effort from Jin and more from Hobi. I think we'll get a ramp up to his discharge with some Hope on the Street content that he recorded before he enlisted.

I think we'll slowly see wheels start turning to get the machine going again much sooner than we imagined.

I think what we see next year will all be primed to pre-promote and whip up the excitement for 2025.

I just feel strongly that Bang PD would NOT have mentioned that specific thing and we would not be hearing the members constantly saying 2025. And especially saying 2025 is not that far in the future and that they are looking forward to the incredible synergy the group will have when they get back together. They've got a lot of work done already. They know already.

They said there is A LOT coming to us.

In about two weeks BTS: Beyond the Star docu-series will begin.

We know we're getting some sort of Jimin and Jungkook traveling content, whether a series or not...I'm leaning toward it being a multi-episode series. Camping? Drinking? Breweries? Beaches? Boating or sailing or both but separate? Fishing? Snow sports? They said it was fun.

We will see activity around all the solo album anniversaries. We still have an RM documentary, a Taehyung documentary and a Jungkook documentary. I bet the latter two will come out towards the end of 2024.

We might have Tae acting, we know he'll be in an IU MV soon.

About aging bangtan ...

Remember when we said this is Bangtan in 20 years?

I joke about it but seriously they are aware that things will be different as they evolve and age as people and as artists.

There are new groups debuting all the time and BTS is aging out of a certain demographic (as they should).

Yoongi saying "cruise with BTS" would be the best case scenario for their future.

I would love to be on that cruise if it ever happens.

[novembermorgon]

(different anon we're all just feeling for the lads ig) do maegor and his wife have children because that could finally be the girl babe myrielle wanted ;-; also listen. listen i know i'm making you take this super far but how would their respective wives get along. are they united together to defend from myrielle or

really shocked at the curiousity about them but in a good way . i will keep talking for as long as you want to know more!

they def do ☝️ funnily enough probably before aenys . i think maegor would be genuinely happy with his wife and they have multiple kids . i actually feel like myrielle would be a pretty good grandma .. hm .

i guess that kind of goes against what i've said before about her but to me, the issue for her isn't really maegor and aenys being married and happy elsewhere but just what that means for Her . she loves her sons very much and obviously wants them to be as happy as they can be - except when they grow up and have lives of their own she loses control of basically the only part of her life she has much of a say in at all. with her sons she has two people who see her happiness as any kind of priority, who have time for and value her as a person, which she doesn't feel like she can get anywhere else . they're always going to be part of her and in that way she can't bear to lose them which makes her kind of the overbearing terrible stepmom by default . which is also why she shifts around and becomes closer to aenys than maegor after both of them are married - aenys is the only one of the two who still keeps to that mindset of my mom is the woman i love the most out of anyone .

BUT ... she would be pretty thrilled to dote on some grandkids. i feel as if she kind of sees them as an extension of her sons moreso than a mix of them and their wives LOL so maegor has children and she sees it as getting a mini-maegor to flaunt around court and to use as an excuse to brag about her sons . look at my beautiful boys who have been so dutiful and princely and married and had children. she's kind of like that type of mother in law grandma that would move in with her son to take care of her grandkid if she could . which is funnier in this context because most westerosi nobles leave much of the parenting to various servants and it's not even her own children LOL

as for their wives .... this one is tough because i didn't think that far LMAO i need to properly develop them both to give a proper answer but i don't think they'd be at odds . probably converse politely when needed and feel some kind of kinship there but i imagine maegor's wife is very fussy about him and sort of clings to him so they're a bit like each other's only close friends because they spend every waking moment together . no real time to bond with anyone else ........ she would loathe aenys himself though i feel . and its mutual

they probably both recognize that if they just dont get in myrielle's way much she doesn't get in their business much either . myrielle doesn't really go out of her way to be cruel just for the sake of it so as long as there's a little bit of a distance there it's fine . this is easier for aenys wife because she doesn't care as much for him so in turn myrielle doesn't care much either