#now i need the fanbase to grow so everyone start watching it

[bohemian-nights]

as a black gorl i find it really frustrating that a lot of black people rally behind rhaenyra so valiantly as if her actions (future, past, and present) haven’t been coded in such anti-black/misogynoir behavior towards the velaryons?

i wonder if the HotD writers are aware that the choice of making velaryons black no matter the intention changes the optics of EVERYTHING that happens now or later and adds a racial element to what was previously only reserved for nettles. the velaryons have been treated like shit from the very beginning in this show by the targaryens. rhaenyra doesn’t have a relationship with laena anymore and they deleted scenes of the two interacting so their show canon starts with laena attempting to befriend rhaenyra, and ends with rhaenyra sleeping with laena’s widowed husband at her FUNERAL (and calling LAENOR -her husband, the brother of the DEAD LAENA- “useless” because he’s inconsolable over losing his sister), uses laena’s daughters as bargaining chips so that she can put her white sons on the throne of their land instead of endorsing the twins (something even alicent endorsed when she was bargaining with rhaenys), vaemond is killed by daemon and calls rhaenyra a whore even though he never did that in the book so that a black man is given justification to be killed on screen??? like it’s just crazy to me how this family keeps getting fucked over by the tb targaryens and rhaenyra but niggas still stand ten toes down behind rhaenyra??? DID WE WATCH THE SAME SHOW?

and it’s even funnier because the treatment of velaryons only gets worse by all technicalities. the fact they even temporarily switched teams speaks on that so much. then you have corlys tortured by rhaenyra’s orders (and the optics of that is ANOTHER black man doomed at the expense of a white woman) and her council denouncing his bastards (and now with those bastards being black confirmed by leaks) when she spent years convincing everyone her WHITE ones were legit. and then topple that with the infamous nettles quote??? it’s not looking good for her i fear.

honestly i hope my fellow black people jump ship SOON because the egg will be on y’all faces if the show decides to keep all this in.

I wish they’d learn, grow a spine, and realize Missy Anne is not Dany(which is why they support her in the first place), but clowns will be clowns 🤷🏽‍♀️

And calling y’all clowns is me being nice cause I could call y’all the other c-word which is how a lot of you sound when you look the other way at your faves racism and your fellow white/non-Black mentally disturbed cult members I mean stans harassing Black fans and calling characters racial slurs🙃

My problem with them is less that they support Miss Maegor. I mean it is all technically fictional, so it’s not like they are stanning an actual Karen.

However, when they get mad at the fact that some Black people are uncomfortable stanning a racist psycho(especially seeing how her fanbase is comprised of actual racists) that doesn’t make a lick of sense.

They need to reassess cause at this point I’ve seen several of them try to throw other Black people under the bus for this fictitious racist who does all that you mentioned.

Like please save your energy for the stans calling Black characters the n-word, saying Afro hair looks dirty, and saying that it’s fine to cut the only in-canon Black character because there are already enough Black people on the show.

The fact that they seemingly have more smoke for other Black fans than the stans that are just using them to say see look this Black person agrees with me because they are butt-hurt that we all aren’t falling in line to defend a racist white woman and a crusty white ship is downright embarrassing.

[inmyblueparadise]

after the band breakup, reader writes a song about sex and the boys react to it and are asked about it in interviews

Hi lovie ! Wrote that really quickly hope you like it ! xx

You were always considered the baby of the group. You were the only girl, always protected by the boys, even the fans started calling you Baby Direction. And you loved it. You loved being taken care of, looked after, at the beginning it was cute, but as you grew it became kind of annoying.

Growing up as a woman was hard.

Growing up as a woman surrounded by men was harder.

Growing up as the only woman in a band with the eyes of the world watching you was imp-fucking-osible.

It meant that you didn't go on many dates, didn't introduce the guys you were seeing to your boys (the last time you did that, they threatened him so much that he got scared and never called you again), and didn't talk to them about sex !

It's not that you were shy about talking about sex. You talked about it with a lot of people on the 1D team Lou, Caroline, even Paul ! But never the boys. You didn't talk about it, you didn't write about it in songs, No. Sex. Management insisted that you were to play the "good girl" role. Whatever that meant. Nothing too sexy ? Keeping your mouth shut ? (You were never good at that anyway)

But now that you were writing for your first solo album, you felt more free, more in control, more you.

The songs were about being a woman, discovering yourself, freedom, passion, and yes sex. When your album was put out, it was like an earthquake. It made it's way to the top of the charts, everyone was talking about it. Of course the boys all sent you texts to congratulate you (proving that they didn't listened to the all thing because none of them made a comment about the few sex song)

It all started a few days after the release of the album. A video surfaced on the internet of Louis on a radio show, listening to your song.

Louis, i think you know the next artist we are going to play !

Oh really ?

Yeah, If you're only joining us, this is the breakfast show and we are live with Louis Tomlinson, we'll be back after this beautiful song by a beautiful artist, from her brand new N°1 album : this is 34+35 by Y!N !

The video was the funniest thing ever. Louis was seen jamming to the songs for 10 seconds before his face went red and his mouth was open. The radio host was laughing when the song ended.

Are you ok Louis ?

No ! That's my baby sister, I don't want to know that. I mean don't get me wrong it's a fantastic song, and I love her, now that doesn't mean that I'm not going to send her a text about it.

The fanbase was making fun of Louis, the hastags #LouisBigBrotherModeActivated, #PoorY/N and #SaveBabyDirection were trending on social media.

And it came to no surprise, that after the interview you got a message on the group chat from Louis saying :

Louis : Young lady we need to talk !

You : ?

Louis : 34+35 ?

You : Oh..Ooooooh ! What do you mean you said you listened to the album ? You didn't ? wtf

Liam : What is happening ?

Harry : I'm so lost

Louis : Well then you guys should listen to that song then

Louis : Of course I listened to your album, ok not all of it, but I did it really good babe.

Harry : Go angel !! Nice song !

Niall : Ewww wtf babe ! "Fuck me 'til the daylight" really ?

Liam : I'm traumatized !

You : Oh shut up ! Liam you literally wrote a song about a girl taking her clothes off, Niall shut up with your slow hands and Louis do you want me to talk about No Control ?

Louis : ...

Niall : Fair point

Liam : Good job angel !

Harry : It's really catchy, I like it !

The only problem with that video is that the boys were asked about the song a lot after that.

For Liam it was during a radio show.

What do you think about 34+35 by Y/N ?

It's a great song, I mean obviously, it was awkward when I heard it for the first time because she's my baby sister. But she's an amazing performer and songwriter, and I'm very proud.

For Niall it was during a red carpet.

Niall, all of the ex-members of the band are putting songs out, including you, but there was a little buzz around the song 34+35 by Y/N have you heard it ?

Yeah I did, you know the funniest thing is before the video with Louis none of us had heard it, and then he started talking about it on the group chat and that was when I heard it. I'm not gonna lie, it's kinda weird hearing a girl I consider my little sister singing about "You say, "It tastes like candy, So what are you doing tonight? Better say, "Doin' you right". It's kind of weird, but she is owning her life, her sexuality and her freedom and I'm really proud of her !

And for Harry it's was on stage, on his tour, no one even talked about it, he was talking about Watermelon Suger and somehow he ended up talking about you (not in that way guys come on)

After reading a sign saying : What is WS about ?

"It's also about the female orgasm, but his you want a really sexy song listen to 34+35, I mean "4.5 when I make the bed shake, Put it down heavy even though it's lightweight" he started singing making the arena shake with excitement !

So yeah, that's how the boys reacted when they heard you sing about sex. ;)

[alarrytale]

Hi Marte, this is just a rant because I don't plan on going anywhere as I'm addicted to twitter lol but what is going on with Nick's fanbase? I knew it was too good to be true when rwrb came out and everyone got on so well. There were some toxic ph fans but they were such a small minority that everyone ignored them. It was really nice with everyone getting on and everyone making memes and jokes. Now people are fighting every day and policing each other, especially bullying fans into watching tioy and speaking well on it. There was someone in the fandom who said they didn't like it and fans were harassing them. They're getting big heads after the rave reviews and they're even starting to turn on rwrb fans for not wanting to watch a really het movie. So many of them are teenagers too and that's unusual for a man almost 30, that most of his fans are teenagers. They are really really ageist to people in their 20s+ but karma will come around because they'll turn that age. Then they'll be on the receiving end. They've just become so toxic. There is also a small section of his fandom who are rwrb fans who claim to be a fan of him but they're clearly not. They keep up with him but they're going out of their way to twist things he says and they're trying to get him cancelled. I think they're more Tzp fans. But some Nick fans have been toxic to Tzp too. It's just really different to how it was some months ago. There isn't often a day without drama.

Hi, anon!

Rant away! I've seen it too. I think it's a couple of things. One, he's currently promoting a very, very het movie and it's attracting a lot of new het fans. Second, his fandom has grow rapidly, explosively over the past six months. He is everywhere and doing stuff like roundtables with other great actors. His team is pushing really, really hard and working overtime to make this his break-through. Remember he's 30, he isn't that young anymore. This is his shot. He seems very ambitious and willing to do almost anything and be anything to grow a fanbase and get those oscar worthy roles. It's hard to remember he only shot to fame eight or so months ago.

To me it seems like they want him to have an ambigious image, like Harry does. He's not as straight passing as H is, so maybe he'll get away with it without having queerbaiting accusations. But they're also pushing the het and teasing his fans to create engagement. It's working. It's fucking annoying that it's working. His fans shouldn't be that young and naive, when he himself is almost 30yo. He's lucky they are. But it's not fun for the rest of us who have to deal with a fandom going from being harmonious to being factured and fighting.

Anyways, bullying isn't cool, fan policing isn't cool, ageism isn't cool and people are allowed not to like something or not support something without beeing peer pressured or ostracized if they don't. His fans need to grow up.

[francostrider]

Final Fantasy for MEN™

Final Fantasy XVI was released recently, and I think it’s fair to say that the reaction had been mixed. You can count on Square Enix to make a compentently functional game, and I’m sure it plays fine. But the style and gameplay change had been a subject of debate.

Now, the gameplay is a subject in and of itself, as well as Final Fantasy’s overall identity. Personally, it fell out of favor for me when everyone looked like supermodels and dressed like a fashion designer was given too many belts. But let’s put my ranting points about the series aside to address another issue.

And that subject is thus: making a series veer toward adults. People have remarked about the tonal shift that FFXVI has had, feeling more like Game of Thrones rather than a proper Final Fantasy game. The upcoming Dragon Quest game is going for the darker and edgier route as well, with only a fiery number to show for itself so far. Yuji Horii, the series creator, had apparently had unspecified issues for aiming the series at adults.

But I would just like to point something out: I only started playing Dragon Quest games as an adult. While I bounced off IX, I fell in love with VIII when it came out on the 3DS, played through I and II on my phone, and XI became our evening play-and-watch (as in my wife watching and enjoying the characters) after Ys VIII and Tales of Vesperia. In fact, I’m not sure I would have had patience for them as an idiot, edgy teenager. I had enough of turned based games at the time and wanted fast, twitch based combat. I also insisted on darker themes (though I appreciated Prince of Persia: Sands of Time for lightening things up).

But there is the ironic thing about “aiming things” at certain audiences. You know who took up most of the theater seating in Team America: World Police? It was not adults; teenagers took up most of them. The South Park movie was quoted all the time back when I was in middle school. And I’m pretty sure the creators know this. Despite the R-Rating most of their material gets, teenagers make up their primary audience.

And it’s not just comedies; teenagers are a mix of emotions, growing up, and trying to find their identity. They want validation and part of that is finding where they are in the world at large. And that includes confronting the worse parts of human society. When I was a teenager, videogames were mocked as nerd and kid’s stuff, when we were “supposed to be” listening and watching edgier things. Diving into the adult stuff was not just a point of pride for a teenager, but also a point of mockery if you didn’t.

I imagine things have shifted in the last twenty years, but the human experience of a teenager is still there; searching for purpose and validation in an ever changing world. Interest in the more adult themes and stories do not start after you’re 17. They start younger than that. There is certainly some maturity needed to understand graphic violence and racier topics, and I’m not about to show a six year old Scorn, but interest in adult subjects happen at varying ages for different people. 

So, when a creator of a long running game series starts going on about how “they are aiming at adults”, I feel like they are missing an important point about fiction and culture. And it comes from the same dimwitted attitude adults in the US had toward both cartoons and videogames when I was growing up: That they are kids stuff to grow out of. But with communities growing with the internet, and validating the Strange and the “Nerdier” interest, I think it’s fair to say that the better of us have moved past that notion.

Both Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have adult fanbases. Final Fantasy in particular hit big time back with VII and was already exploring adult themes. It had you following a trail of blood, to find the corrupt president of a mega corp impaled with a sword. Considering all the sequels, spin offs, older games getting western releases, and Kingdom Hearts, they are already appealing to adults.

Being an adult does not mean only watching dramas and staring at sales reports. Or only bloody violence. To not reinvent the wheel, I’ll just go ahead and quote CS Lewis:

“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

I feared discussing my favorite games and cartoons as a teenager. And even in college to some extent. But during college, I was free to connect with like minded people and enjoy things openly, rather than pretend to be something I’m not. This led me to my lifelong friends and, eventually, my marriage. That is the mark of adulthood; finding your people and your own style, not just copying what a bunch of olds expect of you. Culture has become far too varied for that.

I imagine part of the tone change has to do with Dragon Quest’s record of success in the west. While Final Fantasy regularly makes bank here, including the two MMORPGs, Dragon Quest has yet to release its MMO officially in the States. While, yes, the rest of the series would eventually get released here, it took a longer time to get there and I imagine digital distribution gave them more confidence. Dragon Quest XI was a shot in the arm for the series, but I imagine it still struggles with its competitors.

The idea of “aiming at adults”, however, is a fallacy in understanding its audience. Adults are already playing the series, and abandoning the light hearted nature of the series will likely turn off part of the audience they already have. There’s a difference between “light hearted” and “kiddie”.

No, Dragon Quest VIII isn’t a dystopia like Final Fantasy VII’s Midgar. But we are also chasing a murderous clown possessed by a demon king. The first boss is a creature concussed by the same item we are trying to find, but our mode of airborne transportation is the ghost of a murdered child of a spirit bird. And there’s something about Akira Toriyama’s art style that makes the shift from sillier moments to down right heart breaking moments work very well, where the living dolls that are Bravely Default’s heroes doing over the top heroics just feels off. I love this style, I love its humor, and I love its characters, and none of that makes me feel like I’m being talked down to like I’m a kid. 

After eleven games, I guess a style and tone change is bound to happen at some point. And I don’t feel a franchise should be forced to do the same thing over and over again. But the point I’m making is that you’re not making it more appealing to adults. Or less appealing, for that matter. It is a change, neither better nor worse, and might be subjectively received favorably or ill-favorably depending on timing and climate. But, Horii, don’t feel that you somehow owe the gaming community a “darker” game now to show you’re grown up.

You’ve been appealing to adults for a long time now.

[sadmailman-02]

People you’d like to get to know better

tagged by: @everlasting-evocation

Thank you!!!

Last Song Played: West 144th St by Elijah Fox

Currently Watching: I actually don’t watch much television. But I will say I have been watching a lot of videos about deep sea exploration, my favorite channel is DeepseaOddities! I will link them below! It’s YouTube so I’m not sure if it applies. Besides that I watch a lot of Jeopardy when I can since I don’t have cable.

Currently Reading: Oh god where do I even begin. I have a lot of books on the to do list but my two main ones right now are The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and The Trial by Franz Kafka. I know babies first novels but I have been trying to read for leisure more often and outside of fanfiction. I do read quite a lot of fanfiction and always love recommendations. I will try to finish both of these books though before the semester starts!

Current Obsession: Pathologic, Fear and Hunger, and Dark Souls. I am currently playing through Pathologic 2 and I beat Fear and Hunger once already but need to go back for the other endings. I’m actually playing through Dark Souls for the first time! My mom was kind enough to buy me the game so I have been playing after work for the past week. Although I die a lot I still have fun… I’m happy to be in these fanbases because everyone is quite welcoming and very creative! They are kind and fun to converse with and seem pretty mature so I will stay awhile. I’m looking forward to finishing the games and continue creating more work/writings. I love seeing these fanbases grow!!! I have been playing Fear and Hunger since January and it feels like it’s blown up since then! I’m hoping this encourages Orange to make another dating sim hehe…kidding…

People I’d like to get to know better:

@aphroditethrone @brothanaturrre @rooksongbird @petbacteria

(I don’t know more people to tag ^^;)

[writer-and-artist27]

Hi dude! I hope you're having a good day. I've been reading your works for a while now and I was wondering if you can share your opinions on Oshi no Ko and its characters (specifically Ai Hoshino). No pressure, though! If this makes you feel uncomfortable, feel free to delete this ask.

Hello to you too, anon. Doing my best to have good days if anything. Only answering this at 10:06 pm on a Saturday night because of finishing a hangout with my best guy friend and my boyfriend, so it's been going well. The question doesn't make me uncomfy at all.

My opinions on Oshi no Ko, huh...

Gotta put it under a cut from how long this answer is turning out to be.

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

I really love it. Now at least. It took some growing pains to come to that conclusion, because some of the story beats and character decisions made in-universe need me to turn my empathy off to take it in and not be sensitive/be hurt irl. Especially with the real life research put into said story beats because knowing how much corruption/nepotism can be put into the entertainment industry really is disheartening for me as someone who writes for fun and just wants to help others feel happy in a small way too. (Let it be said when I read into the story of wrestler Hana Kimura and how it might've inspired Akane's first story - I nearly cried and still currently sympathize with Hana's mother from being triggered by watching that particular anime episode.) That's how well-written it is - when I have to take breaks and research ahead of time so I don't get thrown off guard.

Funnily enough, I first heard of it when I started reading and slowly collecting the manga for Kaguya-sama: Love is War. Aka Akasaka was already really famous even amongst my small friend group irl from how he set the standard for new romance comedy, and when Oshi no Ko's anime adaptation was announced, that's when I started seeing the first manga volume pop up in Barnes and Noble stores my boyfriend and I visited together on dates.

I was really wary at first, no thanks to my first exposure to Mengo Yokoyari's art being Scum's Wish (and how uncomfy I was watching clips of that show since I'd been made a middleman to two relationships friends had by then) and how the Internet spoiled me on how Ai was going to die; and add in how they cast Rie Takahashi - as in Mash Kyrielight - as her VA, I was also just scared. Because I love Mash thanks to Fate/Grand Order, I really respect Takahashi's work - the last thing I needed when starting Oshi no Ko was to hear Mash's voice as Ai died.

But once the anime started and my boyfriend let me listen to Idol by YOASOBI - I was a goner. More so when I found the 45510 short story that fans translated from Akasaka that let the fanbase peek into Ai.

Just like how I grew to love Mash, I ended up falling for Ai more than any other character in Oshi no Ko. And, to be completely honest, I think it's from how much I sympathize with Ai. With her desire of trying to find love that's hers because she never truly knew what it was like, I mean. While Mash reminds me of a little sister that I could've wanted, a friend I wanted to look out for, Ai reminds me of the face I sometimes feel myself putting on in public, unconsciously too, especially when working in the healthcare community.

Not everyone is truly honest with themselves. The number of times I've had to hunch into myself on the trolley when others would throw baseless comments like, "Get out of my country, Asian bitch," "You're not my nursing mother, keep your bullshit away from me," and even "You're not God's angel, you fancy hoe" - there's a reason I've started to joke about having my own mini-book of "misadventures." The jokes let me cope with the increasing amounts of bitterness I've been seeing.

I've had to learn how to put on a smile, play up an innocent image of seemingly not hearing darker drama amongst coworkers, even fake cheeriness in my voice to molecular companies over the phone when asking for materials for patient care - because even the "nicest" people can hold the most bitter pills in life. But I have to keep that kind of mask up, just to make sure I make it through another day. To make sure the people I love don't worry more than they need to.

But at the same time, whenever I offer my coworkers a massage to their shoulders, give hugs when I can on bad days - everyone keeps calling me "sweet" and "kind." And it's still hard to believe that sometimes.

Ai told the lie of "I love you" in the hopes of finding love someday. It was hard not to like her when I try to do something kind because I honestly believe it's the right thing to do while wanting to believe in the hope of finding more people who feel the same way. In the hope I can find more people I don't have to be a "cheery star" for all the time.

Because I've been hurt way too many times by falsehoods. Because I've seen enough darkness.

...I forgot where I was going with this, but let it be said the glimpse we get into the entertainment industry mixed in with the very human aspect of all the characters shown in the story - from Ai, Aqua, Ruby, Kana, Akane, Miyako, Ichigo - every single one feels real and my struggles of trying to find myself in a worklife that's had me let go three times despite my best efforts (and bullied to the point of abuse one other time too) feel all the more valid. I guess.

[nebulous-nevermore]

Hi. Hello. This is probably totally unasked for, and it’s probably gonna end up massive bc once i start talking, i keep going, but it’s,,,, been a few days now. I think I’ve sorted out some of my thoughts.

So let’s talk about Technoblade.

I know a lot of people recognize his name from DSMP. That was a big part of his content for the past year, so I don’t blame you one bit.

But I want to tell you how much more than that he was. So here’s a (probably not so brief) summary about everything else.

Obviously not everything. Go look at his channel for that.

When he started his youtube channel, it was over 11 years ago. He was 23 when he died, so he was about 12. And his goal was to make it to 10 million subscribers.

Hardcore With A Steering Wheel was one of his first popular videos. Just what it says on the tin—He beat hardcore minecraft with a steering wheel. Worth the watch, and one of the rare videos where he has a camera. It was absurd, and strange, but it was hilarious.

And that was Techno.

Then the Bedwars Winstreak. Bedwars is a minigame on Hypixel, and Techno decided that he was bored one day, and decided to crush the streak record that had been there.

And he did. He ended up actually ending the streak himself, because the pressure was becoming unbearable, and was making him anxious and upset.

Techno got his big break into fame during Minecraft Mondays—the tournament preceding MCC, for those who don’t know. At that point, Techno already had a pretty large fanbase, in order to meet the requirement of 2k concurrent viewers that Minecraft Monday required.

Lots of old big-name youtubers were participating, it was one of The Minecraft Youtube Events of the time. And it was how he broke containment.

And Techno was unstoppable. Honest-to-goodness, no exaggerations, he was a PVP legend. Even on weeks when his team didn’t win, he would come out, take names, and make jokes while he did it.

So people started to check him out. This was when I found him, myself. He was just wild. There are so many compilations of just,,,, people hearing/seeing him in one direction, then turning around and noping the hell outta there, even if they had better items than him.

He was already a legend around the community, new players were always warned to just try and run if they ever saw him.

And then Minecraft Monday faded out. The server got hacked, Techno even got banned, it was wild. But the numbers were already coming in.

For a while, there was a lull. Techno made a lot of videos of himself just chatting over Hypixel Minigames.

And then the Potato War. Techno realized that he wasn’t exactly growing with his current setup, and that he needed vested interest. Grudges, maybe. One-On-One conflict.

So, he decided to become the #1 Potato Farmer on Hypixel. For no reason other than he could. Which put him up against the #1 of the time.

And here’s something about Techno—He has a very strategic mind, and he’s very, very dedicated when he decides on something.

He did genuine calculations, sabotaged his opponent, and farmed potatoes by HAND. In a game where you could automate potato production. And he won—by a MASSIVE margin.

He brought that strategic mind with him.

Next up was conquering smpEarth. Before the dsmp, it was one of those smps to get a lot of youtubers interacting in one space. The map was a recreation of earth in minecraft, and there were factions for each continent.

Techno joined the Antarctic Empire with Philza, the guy who lost a 5-year old hardcore world to a baby zombie, and VoiceoverPete.

Techno and Phil already knew each other, having totally stomped a Minecraft Monday tournament together prior.

And their sights were set on conquering the entire SMP.

The way that the faction system was set up, people could claim land to establish their empires. This was done by claiming chunks, and everyone had a number of chunk claims that they could make, which they got more of over time.

Together, the Antarctic Empire amassed enough claimable chunks, and set their plan into action: Outlining the entire SMP, and claiming it for their own faction.

And Techno destroyed another Minecraft Tournament while he was at it—Minecraft Ultimate, where his team of three won against a cross-teaming gaggle of teams of four.

And then, Minecraft Championship started to take off. And youtubers from Minecraft Monday hadn’t forgotten the legend of Technoblade.

And he continued to live up to it, too.

Techno continued to be feared in PVP based events—So much so that there was significant interest in having other minigames, in order to give others a chance.

And so, Techno broke BuildMart.

In the original version of BuildMart, there wasn’t any randomness to the builds. Just the order in which they appeared in.

So Techno made a shopping list. Each member of the team had a list of items and the amount to grab. and when they had all the materials necessary, their team built faster than anyone else, taking first place in the minigame.

Techno also took the record for fastest time and fastest lap on Ace Race.

He seemed unstoppable.

And then Dream v. Techno was a whole thing.

The two teamed up together and completely destroyed an MCC tournament.

And then there was the 100k duel, where he eeked out a win.

And then the DSMP videos started.

About 8 months ago, he announced his battle with cancer.

He was always pushing for subs and donations, but that increased. He founded MCYT against Cancer, and raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research.

He gave off this air about him that really made it feel like he was going to be okay. That he planned to come back, full force, and start working his way up to taking names again.

His name was Alex. He hit his dream of 10 million subs.

And he left us a final message, only hours before he passed. He was thinking about his fans until the end.

So, I don’t care if you don’t like DSMP. I’ll be honest, I’m not the biggest fan myself.

I don’t care if you didn’t like Techno. If his content isn’t for you, that’s okay.

But please, please be respectful.

[wuahae]

my all time favs are haikyuu and your lie in april !! i started watching in middle school as a deal to get my friend to listen to kpop LMAO 😭 on that note svt needs to sing an anime ost ASAP because run to you and together... woozi i know you got another one in you!!! (btw pls do tell me about those underrated shows!!) -prom anon

I LOOOVE YOUR LIE IN APRIL!!! i had a big haikyuu phase back in summer 2020 kfnakfk i met so many good friends because of it too 😭😭 i soooo agree with that i know woozi would be cheesed to produce an anime ost 🥹🥹🥹 i watched that one 5 hour vlive of him ranking all those anime and i’d never felt so seen before KFJSKFJSK but hmmmm ok well . my top recs are always always going to be fruits basket (2001 version and remake!) and fullmetal alchemist brotherhood :”)

but for underrated shows if you like a good historical action/romance, yona of the dawn is literally SO good people always forget about it when talking about good shoujo!! the next few shoujo im about to list aren’t exactly underrated in the shoujo world but in terms of the greater anime fanbase is sorta overlooked is ao haru ride!! super cute high school romance i think fondly of it! andddd hmmm this is less approachable but i also really like chihayafuru :”) AND. oh my god. this one anime called kamisama hajimemashita (or kamisama kiss in the english title) ITS SO GOOOOOODDDD i wish more ppl talked about it 😭😭😭😭😭 but i’m not gonna lie a lot of shoujo that are considered classics didn’t exactly…..Age well without nostalgia kfjakfnwkfk which is why i’m not recommending Too many 🥲

a good action anime i think isn’t mentioned Nearly enough is noragami :”) its sooo heartfelt and the characters hurt me so bad but i love them so much and i need a season 3 stat!!!!!! and demon slayer isn’t underrated At All but i do still really really like it 😔🫶 i have other action anime recs that fall under a more like . darker/more eccentric vibe that ill refrain from recommending for now cause i’m not sure if you’re into that genre but :”) if you’re ever interested lmk 🫶

also if you liked your lie in april for the music aspect of it there’s this one anime called kono oto tomare that’s about this koto club in high school and how they grow in both koto and themselves and their friendship in each other….💔💔💔💔 its so good im so serious …….

ALSO FOR SAD ANIMEEEEE OMG. ok not underrated but i recommend it every time . anohana: the flower we saw that day….THIS ANIME CHANGED ME FUNDAMENTALLY AS A PERSON IM SO SERIOUS…… (i can make a whole other recommendation list for anime Movies that i think everyone should watch . but ill refrain from that so this post doesn’t get Too long fjwkfjdk) but a good like. oh my gosh this anime makes me cry when i think about it but march comes in like a lion…. its definitely not for everyone like the tone is so sad and melancholic but its so healing 😭😭 you could find it a little boring considering a lot of the plotpoints center around shogi but like THATS NOT WHAT RLY MATTERS HERE …..its all about the Feeling………..

but yeah i have. so many recs i could talk about this for days but i don’t wanna recommend something that you might not like so 💔💔💔💔 i’m stopping myself Here even though there are so many personal favorites of mine that i adore JFNSKFK i hope i gave you an anime in this list that you haven’t heard of before!!

[absolutelyinlove]

let's talk: canon events! how'd you get into the dream team? what brought you to dtblr?

oh god ok my like. origin story of how i started watching dteam is insanely convoluted so i’m going to put it under the cut and like. to preface i just need u to know i’ve never been normal about anything in my life like i am so completely incapable of having passive interests. that is really crucial to understand

ok. So. basically i’ve always been super into mcyt content, i was a Massive cube smp + cube uhc stan back when that was a thing, i was like. 12-14 at the time but i was on stan twitter, wrote rpf on wattpad, experienced the severe trauma of ccs i wrote about Finding my fic and talking about it very publicly. The whole experience. and then when cube smp started to die my overall mcyt interest heavily faded, i’ve still always been incredibly fixated on minecraft itself i used to be super into uhc and other competitive gamemodes but in terms of actually watching content creators that was like. something that kinda faded in and out i’d go through long phases of watching nothing at all sometimes for entire years then randomly get slapped by nostalgia and fall back into it and rewatch old series’, etc.

but anyway. i had other interests, i had a different main fandom, i was still on stan twitter (kpop twitter to be specific) when dream rly started blowing up and. All i ever heard abt him was negative. because i was. on kpop twitter where like everyone was just excited there was a New Most Hated Fandom on the internet so he was an extremely common punching bag and i just Solely knew of him in a negative light and i’d never actually watched him to form my own opinions because (and this sounds so absurd) i also had this very irrational Jealousy toward the like. “new wave” of mcyt stans in 2019-2020 because suddenly it was a COMMON mainstream fandom and it ABSOLUTELY WASNT back when /i/ was a teenager and at my peak obsession so therefore all i felt was very misplaced dislike because How come this massive fanbase wasn’t around when this was My interest ? anyway.

Then like. sometime still in 2020 ? my irl friend sent me a manhunt and was like u NEED to watch this (because all my irls know i am. Very abnormal about competitive minecraft content) and i was like. Huh is it time for me to finally watch this dream guy. and i watched it and well it was very inevitable i got hooked because manhunt is soooo comedically perfect in terms of how me-catered it is, it is Literally everything i could ever ask for in terms of youtube content so it was absolutely over for me and i binged the entire series over the course of like. a week. and at first i really did think i would just be a passive youtube fan, because again. all i’d ever heard about dream was that he was a Bad Person and therefore i really did Try not to get invested beyond just thinking the videos were good but ofc as soon as i finished watching every manhunt that was out at the time i moved onto other dteam videos and i just fell reallyyyyy really in love with their dynamic and it was like. MAN! i had to accept i was growing attached and i Wanted to know more abt them at this point. i watched every single video on dream’s channel by the time i accepted Okay im in too deep now i want to know more.

this is the part that is going to make me sound incredibly fuckin g crazy so i need u to just hear me out. so i started googling dream and looking at the dsmp wiki (because as a youtube-only viewer i knew Nothing about dsmp other than people on my side of twitter hating it) and i was so surprised to realize hbomb was a member i’m crying because i knew him from CUBE SMP!!!!!!! i was like whta the fuck. now i feel Obligated to care like this is my Past combining with the present… it’s like fate… so then. naturally. i Looked up like. Reasons Dream Is Problematic threads on twitter. because i was like if im going to do this i need to know what exactly i am going into here i want to know why this dude is so hated and i unironically went through every single thread and callout post i could find, looking at Every reason someone gave for hating him then looking up the original clip with full context and watching it for myself so i could make my own judgement of it and also looking into how he responded and that was how i realized Oh like 87% of this is exaggerated and the stuff that’s true is either kind of nothing or he seems to be trying to do better. And that was how i decided. He is just some guy who seems very well-meaning and is making efforts to Grow and Now i can allow myself to . watch his stream vods? i know ho w crazy this sounds im crying but u need to understand i genuinely waited to watch any vods and grow attached to his content in a non-casual way until after i was SURE no secret horrible misdeeds were going to catch me off guard and i’d realize i didn’t actually want to support him i’m fucking crying

and then naturally ijust got incredibly fixated on mcc when i discovered That and that was what led me to watching a ton of other streamers, i was never super into dsmp but i Did get very into watching non-lore dsmp vods and just. tons of vods in general. i got severely fixated on mcsr around this time too which was awesome until it Wasn’t and i made a lurker account on twitter like literally a priv with 0 followers where i only followed ccs because i didn’t want to follow them from my acct with all my kpoptwt mutuals and get Called a freak for supporting dream. i also kept up very closely with any drama/situations involving dream even before being on dttwt in any capacity because again. i just like to have full context for everything so this was like. when i was unfortunately a very active dwt2 user because that was mostly how i stayed in the loop with things and tbf at the time it was actually a pretty good place for nuanced discussion this was before it got terribly unbearable but. Yeah. i started reading heat waves “ironically” while it was ongoing like i was reading it bookclub-style with my dranti friends and pretending i knew nothing abt dream or george outside the context of the fic (I AM TERRIBLE) but i ended up getting curious about what other fics were out there and that was how i started reading dnf earnestly.

i didn’t start writing until wayyyyy later after i came out of the dream stan closet to my friend reyna (still the only one of my kpoptwt-era friends who knows i am. the way that i am) in like. mid 2021? and i got them invested in dteam too and then in december 2021 we made our ao3s + new twitter accts together and both started writing fics

as for dtblr in specific i am relatively new here i guess ! i have been a long time lurker as i’ve always preferred tumblr for fandom discussion compared to twitter but i was always too shy to actually make my own account andddd because i started on twitter and had exclusively used twitter in my previous fandom it just like. Came more naturally to me and it’s so good for fic promo i just. Accepted it. but then after october several of my friends and like at least half of my mutuals at the time all became antis and once i was back to feeling. normal about consuming fandom content in like late october early november i desperately wanted to have a place where i wasn’t being made to feel GUILTY constantly so i finally made an acct over here so i’d have at least one space where i could Talk Freely about fandom things without expecting 10 people to tell me to kms for it. (don’t worry i eventually did finally make a new priv and i’m no longer held hostage by ex-stan mutuals on twitter but it was ROUGH at the time like so many of my friends have told me they assumed i’d just lost most of my interest and was only still in the fandom for the sake of writing because i never talked abt anything anymore for so long IT WAS BAD I JUST FELT SILENCED but im free now i promise) so yeah.

but don’t worry now i am here less out of “i have nowhere else to go” necessity and actually just because i Do enjoy it and i prefer it immensely to maintwt i am so content now with basically solely talking abt fandom things here and on my privtwt and just using main for fic talk life is beautiful !

sorry this is really fucking absurdly long i am so normal

[ear-worthy]

Season Finale of “Spotify: Mic Check” — South African Amapiano Artist Tyla

Spotify saved the best for last on its season finale this week of “Spotify: Mic Check.” In this episode, we learn about Amapaino music, which is a Zulu or Xhosa word loosely translated to “the pianos”, is a subgenre of house and Kwaito music that emerged in South Africa in the mid-2010s. It is a hybrid of deep house, jazz, and lounge music characterized by synths and wide percussive bass lines.

 In this episode, listeners will head overseas to South Africa to learn more about South African Amapiano artist Tyla whose sound fuses pop, classic R&B, and African Beats. 

You can listen to the full episode here. 

Tyla discusses her beginnings in South Africa, her DM to Drake, the pivotal moment when she almost gave up on music, working with accomplished producers like Tricky Stewart and Kooldrink, the impact of joining Spotify’s RADAR program in Africa and sharing a sneak peek of her new single, “Water.” 

 RADAR is Spotify’s program created to spotlight up-and-coming music talent — allowing them an opportunity to broaden their fanbase and supporting them in their path to superstardom through comprehensive marketing, content, and editorial campaigns. 

 Available to stream for free exclusively on Spotify, please see below for interview highlights in the episode. 

Tyla on growing up in South Africa. “… I always wanted to actually grow up in America. When I was younger, I just always thought, ‘If I were born in America, I would have been famous by now,’ and all of these things. But I mean, now that I’m older, I just realized how amazing my childhood was. Just like the culture, the music, the food, the people. Yeah, South Africa is amazing. I still believe that everyone needs to visit South Africa at least once in their life.”     Tyla on sending one of her earliest songs to Drake via direct message on social media. “Literally, when my first song started doing well, I unsent the message. I was like, ‘There’s no way he’s seen this small little girl on his phone singing.’ So no, he hasn’t. But I have a feeling one day soon he’s going to reach out.” 

 Tyla on what makes a song fit into the Amapiano genre. “I feel like it’s a genre that grew over time. There are definitely roots in Kwaito and jazz, South African house. But I feel the thing that makes it Amapiano is that log drum. The log drum that just slams you, like, I feel that’s what makes Amapiano.” 

Tyla on why she believes her first single, “Getting Late,” resonated with so many people globally. “You know, I was actually so surprised. Initially, I was just like, ‘I like the song and hope it does well.’ And then, when people from America, Europe, and all of those people started jumping on, I was so shocked. I was like, ‘Why? Okay, this is cool.’ I feel the dancing, the song, the music video. I feel like it just made a whole package for everyone to consume, and then they just loved it, I guess.” 

 Tyla on working with famed music producer Tricky Stewart who has worked with the likes of Beyoncé and Rihanna. “Crazy. Like, when I heard that I was going to work with him, I was like, ‘You guys are lying. You guys are literally lying.’ But then we met, and he’s such a good person. Such a nice person. I always imagine these hectic producers to be serious, you know? But he’s just so fun and he was very welcoming. And I don’t know, I just love working with him because you can see his passion for music. So, yeah, just the fact that he worked with Rihanna, with Beyoncé, all these different artists. I was just so grateful to even be there.” 

Tyla on being a featured artist in Spotify’s RADAR Africa program. “Yo, the opportunities that I’ve been given, like billboards and a documentary that’s coming out soon — I’m excited about it! My whole family was in it. They keep asking me every day, “When can we watch the video? When can we watch the video?” I’m just so happy that Spotify was able to do this for me because, I mean, it’s a huge opportunity. And yeah, I’m excited to see how much further we can go with it.”

You can listen to the full episode here.

[alkalinefrog]

For the actor AU, do any of the cast get fan mail, and if so what sorts of mail do they get? love you art a lot btw, it always brightens my day!

Ooo great question!! This is kinda half fanmail, half social media. I'll do the first couple that come to mind!:

Misa, being the biggest celebrity on the show and a famous model/actor, is of course used to getting heaps of fan mail every day. She needs a whole PR team to get through it, but she makes sure to reply to as many as she can! Even if she can’t personalize every single one, she makes sure to give the page a lipstick kiss mark!

Raito and Renata both get TONS of love letters, much to the latter's surprise! Raito's used to it from his other roles (like Seto Kaiba in yugioh EYY) but Renata started getting flooded with 'em after the production started posting behind the scenes pics on social media. Not even the mocap suit can detract from her beauty.

^^^Surprisingly, Matsui also gets a bunch of love letters from people watching his character's sad love life and being like "I'LL date you, Matsuda!! <3 <3 <3" and the rest of the cast finds it hilarious given how similar his irl love life is.

Ryuuzaki actually starts out as a small social media personality making a lot of goth/autism awareness content, but he loves messing with his online fanbase and giving vague esoteric answers. He still interacts with them regularly even while on the show! People thought that being cast in TV would make him open up more online but it only makes his posts even more esoteric. He just has a bigger head about it now lolol (thanks @translightyagami for the chatting up this fun headcanon way back when!)

Nate River starts out getting a lot of people asking him about his brother Ryuuzaki LOL. He eventually does grow a pretty sizeable fanbase as he gets more well known, but it was super annoying for him to have to talk about his sibling half the time in interviews 😂

Similar to Misa, Mihael Keehl started out as a model/singer before the show! (Thanks @ellenoir for the headcanon ask I still gotta answer!) Unlike Misa, this is his first acting role, so he gets showered with his fans' absolute hype!

Mail Jeevas also gets a surprising amount of love letters considering how small his role is. He's like a John Krasinski type where he started off in comedy. Death Note was his breakout action role and everyone was like "wait he's HOT?!" so this is a first for him too!

Steve gets apples. Baskets and baskets of apples. Get the epipen.

(and thank you so much!!)

[shallitickleyournerdbutton]

After the heartache of the Volume 8 finale, I would like to return to a happier point in the show and suggest some memes/jokes that I like to think the students at Beacon would have had. More closely inline with the RWBY Chibi-verse, than the actual show - where Nothing Bad Ever Happened.

"Who's child is this?" being used to refer to Ruby - the youngest student at Beacon - when she's left unsupervised and/or doing something odd.

"I'd let Glynda punish/whip me for one corn chip."

Every now and again "Missing - Have you seen this person?" posters for Professor Peach will pop up around campus. No one knows who it is that keeps making them.

Vomit Boy candids being taken and shared any time Jaune is Suffering™️ on some form of transport.

The Great One plush of Pyrrha exists in-universe... and becomes the go-to prize for any stupid competition between the students. There's at least a dozen of these dolls on campus now, owned by various people and won as "spoils of war."

There's a dedicated chalkboard in the combat room for tallying how many times Nora has launched someone into the stratosphere. Notable mentions are listed on the board alongside her of other people who have achieved this feat - including Yang, Yatsuhashi, and Glynda.

(She launched both Port and Oobleck one day when they kept annoying her. Sometimes, their screams can still be heard if you listen closely enough.)

"There's that old guy again..." "Oh, shopkeep? Yea, he's everywhere. Don't think too much about it."

This leads to "Don't think too much about it." becoming something of a slogan for every time anything unusual happens.

"Candy canes, kids! One for Sun Wukong, one for Yang Xiao-Long, ooh four for Coco Adel, you go Coco!"

"I--"

"Andnoneforweissschneebye~"

Team STRQ having something akin to legend status at Beacon, whispered in hushed voices for fear and reverence of their names. There's a war between the students regarding team JNPR as their successors vs. the students who insist JNPR are not anywhere near worthy of such a title.

"How many team CRDLs does it take to beat Pyrrha?"

Blurry fancam-style videos of the Qrow vs. Winter fight out in the courtyard being traded around like baseball cards with other students. Some try and manufacture a "rematch" of this with the materials they've got - trying to get Ruby and Weiss to fight each other. 

That weird sing-song "HellOooOo~" that Yang sometimes does being mimicked by everyone. And I mean everyone.

Any time there's a significant lull in conversations or classes, someone often asks "Why are we here?" which never fails to make everyone in the vicinity groan.

"Ozpin is compensating for something" jokes about his office chair - including at least one popular response being "it's the war crimes", without them knowing just how accurate they actually are.

"On a scale of Ren-Nora, how excited do you want me to be?"

"Ladies Love Lavender" referring to Lisa Lavender having her own in-universe fandom mostly comprised of women. (Lavender being associated with lesbians irl, and I just think this would be funny.)

The sight of Ren just picking up and carrying Nora away from something is so commonplace that other people start doing it to their friends when they Need To Stop.

"Why is Blake's bow so big?" "Because it's full of secrets."

Blake being a closet faunus being such a poorly hidden secret that by the time she finally takes off the bow no one actually even notices. 

The betting pool surrounding exactly what it is in Ozpin's cup - coffee being one of the least popular options, and souls being the top choice.

Using Yatsuhasi as a unit of measurement. 

Photoshopping adorable images of Velvet onto various "cute" animal memes.

Everyone wanting to be spanked by Coco Adel. 

"I'd let Fox blow me up too."

"Why is Weiss' hair so long?" "To reflect the length of her father's crimes."

Everyone mimicking Pyrrha's memetic "I'm sorry!" anytime they apologise for anything. Even going as far to do it while apologising to things that don't require apologies - like inanimate objects.

"Are Port and Oobleck, you know... 💅?"

In fact, just that 💅 being used to refer to a large number of people at Beacon. Actual LGBT students picking this up and using it towards grimm when they're attacked to question the sexuality/homophobia of the grimm targeting them over their peers.

Threatening Neptune with water anytime he flirts with a girl who is clearly Not Interested in him.

No one knowing who, exactly, the other two members of team SSSN are - with wild theories abounding about who they may be. Popular choices include Shopkeep, Zwei, and Professor Peach.

This persists even after their tournament fights where they're shown. Scarlet and Sage are perfectly content with this, and participate.

"Arslan's/Pyrrha's back must be aching from constantly carrying her entire team."

And the respective responses of, "Reese/Nora are alright."

Similar jokes about Glynda also carrying the entire faculty/academy on her back.

"Salutations!"

The war between the "Irondaddy" fanbase, and his haters - who refer to him with various derogatory versions of his name. "Metalpenis", "Coppercock", "Chromeshaft", etc.

Anytime someone is doing something ~questionable~ donning a pair of glasses and/or imitating Oz or Oobleck pushing them back up their nose with accompanying menacing body language. (Kubrick Stare optional.)

Mercury having a foot fetish, courtesy of the people who caught him sniffing shoes at the festival.

"Did <character> just die?" "You know, it was really unclear." any time someone takes some insane damage in a fight and isn't seen for some time afterwards.

Everyone trying to locate and get a pic of the ~mysterious~ fourth member of team CMSN, who has only ever been spotted once - her tournament fight in the first round. Beacon's version of "Where's Wally?"

The Sympathy Fund for Emerald and her one-sided crush on Cinder. "She could honestly do so much better."

People offering themselves up as tribute to spar with Pyrrha/Yang/Coco/Sun just so they can be beaten up by the hottest people on campus.

"I drink milk!" being used as a defensive argument in wildly inappropriate contexts.

Naming grimm really boring names and attempting to keep them as pets. 

The innumerous times Port has allowed a "zoo-break" to happen under his watch and everyone having to assist in recovering his prized subjects.

"Where the fuck are all the fourth years?" "Ozpin's soul collection."

Candid shots of Glynda Suffering™️ being shared similarly to the ones of Vomit Boy.

Ranking people based on their Patience Levels - Pyrrha, Ren, Glynda, Emerald, and Fox being frequent top markers based on the bullshit they put up with from their respective teams.

"Saint Pyrrha" being a common nickname for her, and her neverending niceness towards people who absolutely do not not deserve it.

Weiss' "Hey!" being replicated amongst the student body and slowly growing more and more high-pitched in its replication until it eventually just becomes a shrill noise. Even so, everyone still knows what it means - and Weiss is absolutely unamused by all of this.

In fact, a lot of early!Weiss' comments being mercilessly mocked by everyone - "I'm a victim!" being one of them.

Renowned fear permitting amongst the student body regarding Yang's red eyes meaning Serious Business. Morphs into references of "going full Yang" to mean having rage-fuelled temper tantrums.

"Never miss a beat, never miss a beat" becoming a mantra for focusing on a task. This inspires several remixes of Neon saying it, and again with no one knowing who it is making them.

By all means, feel free to add any more that you all think of! I could use a laugh!

Also, check the notes for additions!

[just-an-enby-lemon]

My Thoughs (that no one asked) For A Victorius Revival

So, I watched the 8 yours Victorius video, and now I cannot stop thinking about how I would do a revival. But none of my friends are even remotly interrested in Victorius, so here I am. Probably no one will read it anyway but at least I will be able to take this out of my cheast. Introducions made, let's go:

Where are they now?

I thoug a lot about how the best way to organize my ideias and the order of presentation and I decided that the best way to do it, was to do a quick run over on the characters and try to present what would be their personal quest/theme in a possible season 1.

Tori Vega: After the realize of her first album Tori quickly grew to stardon, but that didn't last much. She was considered to dificult to work with and entered in a bunch of controversies, including being acused more than once of plagiarism. The last straw was her being weirdly preach and low key racist to a girl if a hijab (the whole "you don't need to wear it" bs) during a show.

After that keeping her carear was just not viable annymore. And in the last fifteen years she have been working as a barista and wishing for the famous life she was promised as a teen.

During the season she would try to recover her image and actually improve as a person only to realise that the fact she is better doesn't mean people will forgive her and that is okay. That she doesn't have to be the star everyone though she would, that she is happy to just have her old friends back and to be improving as a person and living the in present instead of in the past. She would also develop a relationship with Jade (where everyone thinks they are figthing for Beck but the are finally processing the feelings they had for each other as adults).

Jade West: As expected, Jade is talented and made her cinema deboot soon after graduation catching the eyes of horror fans and indie movie enthusiasts. She was a huge promise and did delivered two very good movies. The problem was ... well that she was unsufferable to work wich. And for a movie director... well... that is a problem. Soon she started reciving denunces about how awfull it was her workplace enviroment and she was attacked on social media, besides no actor wanted to work with her anymore. Her movies started losing budget, audience interest and she declined quickly. Her last twelve years were spend doing small roles in theather productions and wishing for a second chance in Hollywood.

During the season she would learn to open herself to her friend circle and with that recognize that she need help to deal with her daddy insues and learning how to manage her people skills. This soul searching would be what leads her to recognize her feelings for Tori and to act on it.

Beck Oliver: Just as Jade and Tori, Beck started great working in modeling and making his path into the public eye until finally becaming an actor. He had a huge fanbase, being the romantic partner in romcons, the tradicinal hero and all that not inovative pappers. It annoyed him, but he belived he could grow over it. Just months before the pilot he had recived the chance of changing his career and expanding to more than the "pretty boy" BUT he was cancelled on twitter for his transphobic coments and a different actor got the job. Now in the brick of losing everything as a consequence for his actions (and cancel culture) he is desperate for a big comeback/apollogy moment.

During the season Beck would have three arcs: firstly starting to really regret his past actions and not only the fallout and trying to open his mind, deal with his toxic masculinity and improve as a person, second deal with his own internalize image of himself as nothing more than a pretty face and try to discover himself beyong being pretty and thrid deal with his internal belief that he would somehow end up with Tori or Jade by the end and learning to be only their friend.

Robbie Shapiro: Robbie became internet famous by posting his comedy songs on youtube - his early work being vastly compared to Bo Burnham early work - and showing an incredible balance in being funny and genuine while making general good songs. This is until people found his older videos and his Rex stuff. He was cancelled and his weird excuse that it wasn't him but Rex just made things worse, with drama channels and youtube conspiracy theorists alike jumping on it. He lost a deal with Netflix and his channel died not much after.

After that Robbie went from job to job never quite finding a place to fit in. In the present he has work for almost nine years in a series of unstable jobs and wants to somehow be truly able to let Rex behind and restart his youtube channel.

Yeah. Robbie arc is admiting that he is reponsable for Rex bs, dealing if this side of himself (in a way that still let's a bit ambiguous if he was alive or not) and being finally able to raise above if. Finally becoming a better person, actually loving himself and letting once and for all Rex go. He also will have an small arc discovering his own bissexuality and dating Berth, I don't know what I would do for his end paring yet though.

Andre Harris: So the catch with Andre is that he goes into a very different direction the the other friends till here. You must have realized at this point that all of them have as a theme the process of growing up and learning to be a good person. This is actually related to the plot. But Andre is different. After Hollywood Arts, Andre went to college to study music theory and in there he would finally be able to discover himself (with help from his new college friends) growing pass his need to please others to develop a real personality. Becaming more sardonic and down to earth but still friendly and laid back. He isn't high school Andre annymore.

After college Andre would become a quite famous music producer creating a bunch of hit songs and working with varius famous musicians but still unable to start his own music career being too critic with himself and thinking that he's albun isn't ready yet.

While Andre professional arc would be to overcome his perfectionism to be able to realise his album, his story in the friendgroup would be of someone who still loves very much his high school friends but isn't the guy they knew anymore and it's unsure of how the new him fits in the group. He would also have at least one episode about the loss of his grandma.

Cat Valentine: I know that you were wating this moment. Well Cat started a little bit late compared to her friends, her adventures with Sam and all. But she actually is the one with the best carrer she uploaded her songs and covers to youtube and started growing to stardown. She is starting to deal with the fame, especially when her brother is a supervilan.

As Ariana Grande is a bit too expansive to be on pay-row for all episodes Cat is mostly busy working on her recent album or visiting Sam (it would be a great way to actually give Sam an update even without Jeannete, only by Cat crazy stories and would make the revival still share an universe with ICarly allowing for a revival crossover) but she would still appear in important episodes. Her arc would be her dealing with her fame - as she is well Cat - and with the fact that her brother is a supervillain (yeah I'm trying to unite the NSU don't judge), and if possible not being infantalized annymore cause JESUS CHRIST.

Trina Vega: Trina is actually well. She stopped keeping contact with her familly until she and Tori reunited in the pilot and for Tori surprise she is a well paid stunt actress and has a loyal following with her Tik Tok videos where she gives tips about stunt acting, talks about overcaming an abusive family and just does some funny videos. She is married and with two kids that she loves very much and she is just happy. Her arc it's trying to rekindle her broken relashionship with Tori.

Sinjin Van Cleef (and Berth DeFect): He is also fine. He started making sucess with his kindda shitposty youtube channel, where he collaborates with Berth. His weird but genuine and fun content and his pashion for his weirdness (and the empty slot left by the end of ICarly) helped. In the years that passed his content and comedy evolved with his and Berth 's channel growing and becaming something quite unique. They started making short animations and their absurdist humor actually gave than the chance of making their own cartoons for Netflix. They still have the channel and now besides their short weird videos and "normal" vlogs/reacts, they mostly talk about the development of this new project. While everyone thinks he and Berth are a couple they are actually just very close best friends. He appears during the arc where Berf starts to date Robbie and both make apperances after that.

Erwin Sikowits: He makes some special apperances but he is just the same hippie crazy guy, the only difference is that the audience is older and so we know he does drugs. He is retired but sometimes gives special classes and he is actually one of the characthers on the happy train. On the few times he appears he shows he does still cares and thinks foundly of his old students. Also he is pan because I refuse to let the scene with Spencer be a merely homophobic joke on the writers part and not a part of his characther. Let Sikowits have a boyfriend, you cowards.

The Plot

Twenty years after the kids leaved Hollywood arts a series of werid coincidences ends up with the old gang (Tori, Jade, Cat, Beck, Robbie and Andre) all reunited. They decide that it must mean something and mark to have a nigth out for old times sake there they learn about each other missfortune and financial struggles and all of them (except Cat) decide to move to the same building and try to mimic a "content house" in a way to recover their lost fame (Andre is there as a promotion for his future debut album and because he wants to conect with his friends) and overcame their cancel status.

[aminiatureworld]

Spotlight

Characters: Albedo, Kazuha, Xiao, gn!reader

Word Count: 3,707

Warnings: Swearing

Premise: Modern AU in which the reader’s s/o is famous.

Author’s Note: My first crack at a modern AU and I enjoyed it immensely! My personal media of choice definitely came through in this prompt. I would now kill for Albedo to read Shakespeare. Also streamer Kazuha is an inspired idea, thank you anon for that! Not to mention musician Xiao, truly chef’s kiss.

Albedo

Albedo was a stage actor, both by education and by trade. Starting in high school he began in local productions, before entering into the Mondstadt Theateracademie. After appearing as Estragon in a filmed version of Waiting for Godot, he began to be scouted for various television miniseries, eventually becoming a well-respected film actor.

You arrived somewhere in the middle of his career. Working as a costume assistant at the Academie you had quickly fallen for the inquisitive and deceptively intense soul that exuded every color of emotion onstage, from raging anger to soft sorrow, before stepping into the wings and resuming an aura of utter calm. He had captivated you, both as an actor and as a human being; and when you learned that he had also become slightly infatuated with you, well, it was hard not to feel like you had stepped into a wonderful play, or perhaps simply a wonderful play had been brought to life.

The switch from theatre to screen was certainly a jarring one for both of you. When the first film contract was offered Albedo had stared at it for a long time, rereading it over and over again as the coffee in front of him quickly turned cold.

“Is there something wrong with the contract?” You had asked.

“No, it’s not that. It’s only…”

“Only?”

“Only on stage there is a single audience. You can feel their reactions, can measure their response. There is nothing nebulous about the people around you. But on film you cannot do that. You cannot adjust for time of day, or whether it’s a weekend or a Friday performance. You must let your lines out and hope that they land without even being able to calculate it.”

“It’s not a science experiment my darling,” you had teased.

“Maybe not,” Albedo admitted. Still he continued to read and reread, and it was only until the next afternoon that he had told you his answer.

Still, you had to admit that he made a fantastic actor. The naturally inward part of your partner’s personality, the part that always seemed to jump out the moment he left the stage, worked well to balance with the camera’s need for subtlety, unlike the projection required for stage plays. It was little surprise then that he should grow so popular. Despite all the worries about measuring audience response, there was no doubting the success of Albedo’s acting career.

Being a naturally withdrawn person Albedo mostly stayed off of social media. He had one private Instagram for friends – he didn’t post anything; one private Facebook for family – the only picture was one of you two in the mountains next to a particularly weird looking rock; and WhatsApp – which could barely be counted. Thus when he started blowing up on Twitter – a platform you had a mostly unused account on – the reaction was mostly one of “why are they talking about me?”

Not that Albedo minded fan enthusiasm, indeed when people started showing up in droves at the stage door for him he was always careful to thank everyone collectively and talk to as many people as possible, it just sort of confused him that so many people should take a vested interest in the actor and not just the character.

“It’s because they want to show you how wonderful they think your performances are,” you’d explained.

“I don’t have Twitter,” Albedo deadpanned.

Despite his protests though you sometimes caught him scrolling on your account, face slightly red at all the positive attention. His habit of internal self-deprecation had never truly gone away. That fact became slightly unfortunate in the face of hate comments. It was hard for Albedo not to take things personally. If someone said his acting was shit then you would catch Albedo reading the same line over and over again, as if to achieve mathematical perfection. It was a difficult urge to fight, and you were always careful to give Albedo plenty of reassurance when these things popped up, as well as surreptitiously blocking the trolls that wandered their way onto your dash.

This habit to take things at face value did not apply when you entered the mix. As far as Albedo was concerned you were his partner and no amount of complaining online would make him second guess that or second guess your worth. Even if you thought that you had a better hold on social media assholerly than he did Albedo would still make sure that for every hate comment that floated your way there were at least three compliments on his part. Mentioning you off-handedly in press interviews, saying that he had to go home to his partner, leaving small sketches on post-it notes scattered throughout your apartment, there were no lengths that Albedo wouldn’t go to assure you. And, if you had to admit, these things truly did make you feel better on the days when the small part of your brain said that this wasn’t mindless social media harassment.

Being an actor Albedo had an incredibly fine-tuned sense of the way that people responded to emotions, as if he were performing some grand sort of scientific experiment to see how many people he could sway with his gift. As of such he was always careful that, regardless of his success, things between you were never upturned. You were with him before he was really famous, and you would be there during and after. Albedo loved you deeply; though he often said that he hated romance plays for how sappy they were in his mind your relationship was the one, glowing exception – regardless of the other happy couples in the world. Though it was slightly idealistic, it was the kind of intensity that comprised Albedo’s personality, was the thing that had garnered him so much success.

Albedo loved you deeply, and no amount of surprise movie contracts would change that.

 Kazuha

You had to admit that when you had met Kazuha you had no idea about his double life as a streamer. He was merely one of the many singers that came and went to the recording studios, all people eager to unleash their talent on the world. But unlike the rest of them, Kazuha could make you laugh.

Perhaps then it was unsurprising that Kazuha should be a popular streamer. Though his often florid talking style might seem on paper like it would be too grating for streaming, in reality his soft cadence combined with a dry sense of humor made him wildly popular. He rarely lost his temper, making him palatable to those who wanted to have a fun time without blowing their ears out, and when he did lose it his hyper-specific, often nonsensical insults were the stuff of memes. No, in retrospect it was not all that surprising that Kazuha was a beloved streamer.

At heart though, Kazuha had told you over coffee, the enthusiastic and earnest internet sensation was a poet.

“When you’ve had a life as dissonant as mine, how can you not be?” He’d joked. And indeed perhaps he was right, for Kazuha was as wonderful a poet as you had ever read. He was born to be a writer, you had told him.

You were also an aspiring singer, as well as a friend of the studio owner where you did your recordings. As such you had made it a habit to help around the studio when you weren’t also working or studying. As you and Kazuha were both students with intense side jobs, the good natured complaining of overworked students also made their way into you rapport, a friendship that grew day-by-day. Eventually it sprouted into love.

Though you knew that Kazuha was a streamer when your relationship started, in reality you hadn’t realized how truly popular he had become. The first time you watched one of his streams you were blown away by his popularity. Watching your first livestream only cemented that. It was hard to believe that your down-to-earth, slightly self-effacing, partner could have garnered such a large fanbase. Not that you didn’t think he deserved it. He absolutely did. However after seeing that you admitted you were a bit awestruck.

“Why? Am I not the same person on screen and off?”

“Of course you are! It’s just, well, my partner’s a celebrity!”

“I would go that far,” Kazuha laughed.

“Well you certainly are to me!”

Nevertheless your dynamic didn’t change much afterwards, besides the occasional teasing on both of your parts. Kazuha was after all Kazuha at the end of the day.

At the beginning Kazuha didn’t mention you much on stream, certainly not by name, you had to admit you were a bit intimidated by the idea of being recognizable on the internet, even if it was just by name.

“This is also my partner’s favorite map.” Had been his first mention, during a game of Mario Kart.

Despite this offhanded remark however the chat had almost immediately exploded, followed by the rest of the fanbase. Though there was, of course, some disappointed buzz – isn’t there always – the reaction was immensely positive. Positive, and curious.

After a while Kazuha started mentioning you more often in streams, especially after the two fo you moved in. Sometimes you would hear him as you passed him room – Kazuha liked to keep the door open – other times you would watch it on stream yourself.

“My partner hates this character. Too bad you can’t throw evidence.”

“Nobody tell my partner that I’m afraid of basements. I don’t need them to know that when laundry day rolls around.”

“Hey if you’re watching this dear, I promise that it’s not that much money. You don’t need to look at the bank account. Who am I kidding, this is why we don’t share one.”

“Hey, darling I know you’re watching this. Can you check and make sure I left my keys on the coffee table, they aren’t on my desk. Also can you make tea?”

Despite fans knowing very little about you, you were surprised by the amount of positive comments that flooded the streams. You had to admit that your initial expectations had been “people are going to find me annoying”. Instead funny comics of your voice drifting in from the other room popped up, along with a lot of waving and “tell your partner not to trust you with the keys” after Kazuha fell off a cliff one too many times. It was an odd experience, to be so happy about the comments of faceless people, people to whom you were also faceless.

Eventually Kazuha’s hardwork in singing paid off and his first single was recorded and given a deal. On the evening of the release livestream Kazuha set up in the living room, angling the camera so that you could sit on the chair just out of frame. You had talked about the release for months now, and a few weeks ago Kazuha had brought up the idea of a pseudo-stream reveal.

“I was wondering if you’d like to say hello to the audience or wave when my song is released. I understand that you’re hesitant about those sort of things, and I would never ask of you something that would make you uncomfortable. This relationship is the most precious thing to me, and I wouldn’t want you to feel pressured or exploited in any ways.”

“Thank you for being so considerate Kazuha. I’ll think about it.”

Now you sat in the chair, fidgeting slightly, waiting as the countdown on his laptop reached one. You excitement certainly seemed matched by that of the fans, who were typing wildly in the chat.

Eventually the screen faded to black and the chatting quieted down. The first few notes of a wooden flute emerged, combined with the strumming of a guitar. As the familiar words began to echo through the laptop speaker you found yourself washed away. Kazuha was always enthralling when he sang. At the end of the song was a dedication, and though Kazuha had already alluded to it, the sincerity still took your breath away.

To my dearest partner. My compass and my guiding star throughout this realization of my dream. You are my sun and my stars, and I’m forever devoted to you. Thank you for sharing in this project, and thank you for giving me such love.

Perhaps it was slightly saccharine. Regardless you felt the sudden, uninhibited urge to cry.

“So, what did everyone think?” Kazuha asked into the mic, face reappearing on screen. He was slightly giddy, and you watched as his hand tugged on the fabric of his linen belt.

Immediately the chat exploded, as waves of “that was amazing”, “I’m crying now”, and “the end was so sweet!” flooded the screen.

“Thank you all for the encouragement!” Kazuha let out a laugh, one that you could tell was one of utter euphoria, and no little relief. “There’s someone else I think who would like to thank you.”

Who knew that a small sentence could cause such a splash?

You barely had time to let out a tentative “Hello,” before an immediate wave of excited screaming covered the bottom left of Kazuha’s stream. “Thank you for supporting Kazuha’s song. And thank you for always being nice to me.” With a tentative wave of the hand you collapsed back on your chair, slightly hysterical laughter rising inside you out of the relief that flooded through you upon seeing the enthused fan reaction.

Afterwards your voice became the occasional guest on Kazuha’s streams, always greeted with enthusiasm. Kazuha continued to grow in popularity, and his music continued to capture a larger and larger audience.

All throughout this you never felt a snag in your relationship. Kazuha may have been a big streaming personality, but he was also a kind and considerate partner, the best that one could ask for in a significant other. Kazuha’s love was never in question. And neither was yours.

 Xiao

Sometimes you were a little self-conscious about the way that you met Xiao.

Though Xiao had definitely grown a following by the time you met – being the main pianist for a popular singer and a classical pseudo-prodigy in both piano and flute his own right certainly had roped him an enthusiastic fanbase – you had simply known him as “the guy who hogs the practice room”.

“I swear to the gods, how long can that bastard take to practice!” You texted angrily at your friend one day. Qixing Conservatory was the premiere music place in Liyue, but what should’ve been an amazing opportunity was being overshadowed by a practice room partner who appeared to not have a life, one who also had the obnoxious habit of playing the same damn thing over, and over, and over again.

“Playing the same piece as before?”

“Yes! Ugh I don’t even know what it’s called but I’ve heard it enough times to last a lifetime, maybe five!”

“Damn I’m sorry, what time does he usually end?”

“I don’t even know. Some time in the early evening. It’s obviously never gotten through to his brain that other people also need to practice. Or that hearing the same notes over and over while waiting makes me want to chuck my binder against a wall.”

“Lol. I kinda want to hear it now. Can you send a video, will the sound pick up?”

“I don’t know how it wouldn’t.”

“…”

“Holy shit! Okay, I need you to watch this video and tell me if you recognize the pianist.”

Safe to say you nearly fell out of your chair upon figuring out Xiao’s identity. Not that you weren’t already about to out of pure exasperation. Still, there was something much more intimidating about shaming a successful musician, and you no longer had the urge to glare at Xiao every time he left the practice room. Honestly, you would have been perfectly happy keeping your head down and never interacting with him at all.

Fate, however, has a sense of humor.

To be fair, some of it was your fault. You knew that Erlkonig was a massively difficult piece. You knew that you should’ve picked something else, knew that even Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata mvt. Three had to be less painful than the non-vocal arrangement you’d placed in front of your eyes. You were never trusting your music taste with your piece choices again. This was a terrible mistake.

“These stupid fucking running notes!” You let out, a groan of exasperation racing through you. Half slamming (you weren’t crazy) the piano cover down you swung the door of the practice room open. You didn’t want to deal with this anymore. Trying to ignore the embarrassment that rose up seeing Xiao waiting on a chair next to the door you went to walk down the hallway.

“You should work on it with a dotted sixteenth note pattern.”

It was the first time that Xiao had ever spoken to you.

Afterwards a rapport slowly grew between the two of you. Often Xiao said nothing as you passed, rarely you made a gesture of recognition when he finally reappeared from the practice room. However soon the occasional word or phrase of advice grew into longer sentences, later these sentences evolved into pieces of conversation. Soon enough you discovered, to your slight horror, that you found yourself yearning for Xiao’s company.

Almost as soon as you’d finally figured out your feelings you were hit with a wave of denial. You weren’t falling for Xiao? How could you fall for someone who got on your nerves so much? Sure he gave you advice, but what about it? You deserved it after having to hear him over and over again while waiting. Certainly Xiao didn’t seem interested in you, he barely talked to you! Yeah he was getting more talkative, but it’s easier to talk to people when you’re giving them advice. There’s no way you were in love with Xiao. And there was no way he was in love with you.

To say that Xiao’s career as a musician, never mind his genuine technical talent at two instruments, was a barrier would be an understatement. The moment you thought you were making some progress, finally admitting to yourself that this crush was, in fact, real, a wave of anxiety would pass over you. Xiao was too good for you, he was too important. Here was a man who had a successful musical career already up in the air while you banged frustratedly on the keys. Why would someone that successful be interested in you? Not to mention the fact that he didn’t seem interested.

Because, you had to admit, you did like Xiao’s music. Not just his classical repertoire, but his pop music as well. It was slightly jazzy, mellow and playful and utterly unlike the scowling musician behind it – something you secretly thought extremely cute and surprisingly charming. To him you were just a practice roommate, and you were sure he’d find the idea of dating someone who was more familiar with his public persona irritating.

So you buried your feelings, or tried to. Unfortunately like sometimes attracts like, and just as Xiao secretly had the emotional understanding of a teaspoon, you weren’t nearly as clever about things as you would like.

“Is there something on my face?” Xiao asked, his voice gruff and slightly reluctant.

“No, why would there be?”

“Because you’re staring at it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” You let your head drop, looking intently at the ivories in front of you. Eventually there was a sigh.

“You don’t have to do that. I… I don’t mind.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! You staring down is weird too. Let’s, let’s just hurry up and do this passage.”

After that you became more aware of your staring habit. You also became more aware of Xiao’s own habit, leaning towards you. Sometimes you swore that you could feel the tips of his hair tickling your neck, light and feathery and stealing all your attention.

“Hey, Xiao, do you need glasses?”

“Why would you asked that!” Xiao flared up, face reddening. By this time you’d become more accustomed to these flareups of grumpiness, and ignoring it you pressed on.

“It’s just, you seem to be leaning forward.”

“I’m not!” Immediately Xiao shifted back, almost stepping away. Without thinking about it you reached to grab his hand.

“I didn’t mean it was a bad thing!” You got out, before becoming aware of your hand grasping Xiao’s. The touch felt electric, and you were suddenly so very aware of everything, yet unable to focus at all.

“Then you shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Xiao grumbled.

Slowly the musician leaned closer to you once more. You had already half stood up and now you found yourself stepping closer to Xiao. The world continued to shrink until you were almost pressed together. Xiao was leaning forward, as were you, and the longer tufts of his hair were tickling your cheek, helped by the fan whirring away in the corner. Your hand was still in his, but all your thoughts appeared to have died away.

“Xiao?”

“Is this, too close?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“Xiao?”

“What?”

“I like your music. I hope that doesn’t bother you.”

“Why would it?”

“I don’t know. I just, I also like you, not just your music. But I also like your music.”

“I also like yours too.”

Perhaps it wasn’t the most romantic of confessions, but at that point you were far too carried away by the moment, or maybe by the fact that was the most sentences Xiao had strung together that weren’t about triplets. Regardless of the fact, you were suddenly seized by incredible happiness, as all appeared to right itself.

Afterwards initially little changed, Xiao was a gruff as ever, you were still itching to play in the practice room more. Nevertheless when you went to a concert of his for the first time and he let out a small, almost imperceptible, smile your way you knew things had changed. They would keep changing perhaps, or maybe they wouldn’t. After all, this moment was beautiful.

So much that you didn’t even mind the hours spent waiting for the practice room.

[hellveticabold]

For All Time. Always.

I know some of us have been feeling pretty down about all of the anti nonsense here and on Twitter. We may also fear the new direction possible in season two. New director, new writer maybe, who knows what else. Plus the worry about how long we’ll have to wait to see these two together again.

It’s a lot to deal with. Maybe you feel like the world (or small moon) is crashing down on you. But I’m here to help!

Would you like to know how I know that Loki and Sylvie will be together - and for all time, always?

It’s simple!

Greed!!!

Disney is greedy as hell. It’s a money-obsessed behemoth, consumed with the need to sell the most product they possibly can to as many people as they can for as long as they can.

And that, my dear friends, is to the benefit of Sylki's everywhere. 

Think of the merchandise alone! 

The matching horned helmet wedding ring sets. The t-shirts imprinted with "A Bit of Both" or "You ARE my Way." Officially licensed Sylvie horned mouse ears, "Love is a Dagger" earring and necklace set. The Sylvie outfits from Her Universe. The Disney-branded green and gold tablecloth blankets for snuggling. A limited-edition snow globe of the two of them holding hands on Lamentis as the magenta dust swirls around them. 

-Sylki Makes MONEY-

Lots and lots and LOTS of money.

Bruce/Nat and Steve/Sharon weren't dropped as couples due to outrage over them being together - it was dropped because no one gave a crap. It wasn’t important enough to anyone (actors, directors, writers, fans) to keep it going. No disrespect to the ships; they just weren’t fleshed out well enough by the creators, had no impact on the story, and so were dropped without fanfare. 

No passion from the fanbase = no merchandizing = no relationship. 

-Loki is Now Imperative in Marvel’s New Narrative-

Just like Falcon & Bucky and Wanda & Vision’s journeys in their respective shows, Loki’s growth through his relationship with Sylvie is the foundation of his series. It’s not only an important relationship, it is fundamental to his character and and therefore fundamental to Marvel’s Phase 4. 

-Expanding the Market-

See this chart? This is a breakdown of people who think of themselves as superhero movie fans. It shows that 46% of all women DO NOT consider themselves fans of the genre (or don’t care). 39% of men are in the same boat.

Disney/Marvel will always want to expand their audience to earn money. But despite all of those awesome movies in Phases 1, 2, and 3, they still have yet to appeal to over 42% of the population. 

So what’s the plan? How can they expand the fanbase?

-Romance!!!-

After a few choppy starts, we finally have two fully-fledged, heart-stoppingly beautiful, sweeping romantic love stories in the MCU. 

Two out of three of the first Disney/Marvel shows center around a love story!

Wanda's love for Vision and her children as well as Loki and Sylvie's romance and search for one another only serves to grow the Marvel fanbase (namely appealing to women and/or anyone who likes romance as much or more than fist fights... which is a large percentage of that missing 42%). 

Trust me, you're going to be seeing a lot more romance in Marvel for Phase 4. (The Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant Man and the Wasp, etc.)

Women have money. Romantics have money. And Sylki has opened up a whole new demographic for Disney to squeeze. 

Personally, I started shopping for Sylvie merchandise the second she popped on the screen. Any Sylki stuff they come out with, I swear to y’all, I’m going to buy ALL OF IT. (That Lamentis snow globe thing I mentioned earlier? I’d pay like 200 bucks for that.)

-There’s No Financial Downside to Sylki-

Think of it another way: 

Disney isn't losing money by keeping Loki and Sylvie together (they're profiting quite nicely with Sylki, actually) and Disney won’t make money if they drop the relationship.

Antis won't stop watching Marvel movies because of Sylki. They won't cancel their subscription to Disney+ because of it. They're just gonna keep forking over their money show after show and movie after movie and rage tweet on the internet. Nothing Disney will do could stop their asinine posts (there's always someone complaining about something), and so why would they even try to appease those people?

Disney don’t give AF about the content of your posts, my dudes. They’re actually just happy you’re posting. 

Cause it’s engagement! Thumbs up, thumbs down, doesn’t matter; it’s all engagement. 

And engagement is money. 

All of the anti's downvotes and little diatribes on 'self-cest' are annoying and sometimes downright offensive to us, but they keep people talking about the show. 

Each pissy Tiktok video, each crabby IG story, each woefully ignorant Tumblr post - all of it serves to DRAW PEOPLE IN who might not have otherwise watched the show. 

"What on earth is everyone so angry about?" people will ask. "What's self-cest? How could someone fall in love with themselves?" they'll wonder. 

And then they’ll pay Disney to find out. 

(Hell, I only watched Frozen because Elsa was supposed to be hella gay - conservative TV told me so!)

-So Keep the Faith, my Sylki Friends-

If you can't trust that the love and connection between those two characters and those two PHENOMENAL actors is enough to keep Loki and Sylvie together, you can trust that Disney will always follow the money.

and Sylki is money. 

I promise you, there’s far more love from these two is coming! I hope my marketing background and jaded cynicism brightened your day! 

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

curtain call, m | myg

pairing(s): yoongi x reader

summary: You know that TikTok trend where girls would drop their towels in front of their gamer boyfriends? As expected, Min Yoongi didn’t until he was informed by his six troublemaking friends. In this case, his girlfriend was the pro streamer and he was the guy in the towel... so what’s the result?

warnings: rated M (18+) for language, tiny bit of crack; sexually explicit thoughts; smut (fem reader, handjob, cowgirl); very fluffy; non-idol!AU - established relationship, music producer!Yoongi x LoL streamer!reader

-

“Hahaha, oh my god, chat, did you see that? He bounced so many times from the CC, he literally went sky, holy shit!”

Min Yoongi opened the front door of his apartment to the jovial, laughing voice of his girlfriend. He shut the door, smiling to himself. Her streaming room was in the extra bedroom. The door was open, and he could see the bright RGB lights of her computer tower reflecting off the walls. He took off his black coat, placing it on the hanger in the hall closet.

“Stop cursing because it’s not ladylike?” He heard her scoff. “No, fuck you.”

Yoongi smirked. That’s my girl.

He pulled out his phone from his pocket, scrolling through social media. His friends always told him to reply to their posts, but Yoongi was a lurker. The only reason he even had any social media was because his friends set it up for him. He literally only followed six people – his six friends. Everyone else he just stalked from memory, even his own girlfriend. Mostly because he didn’t want random people following him for no reason, because they most certainly would with how popular she was.

When she had asked him what he thought of her full-time video game streaming, Yoongi told her to go for it. She had been obsessed with League of Legends for over nine years, even before she met him. At their first date, she first question was if he knew what League of Legends was.

“Uh… I got to Gold in season 2?”

Later, she told him his answer had seriously tilted her and she even considered not going on a second date.

“But you did. Because of this face.”

She had laughed and nodded.

She had been playing solo queue for a long time. When she finally started streaming her games, her channel grew slowly. She would immediately start playing after she got home from work. Hours and hours, growing a fanbase. Yoongi later learned she was startlingly good – “I was Master for a long time, got Grandmaster this season” – and when she asked him if she could quit her job, he pointed to her bank statements.

“Do you even need to ask? You might make more than me at one point and I’m Big Hit’s top music producer.”

And she did end up making more than him, at least some months, because the team that picked her up as a content creator this year was none other than T1, the most beloved (and hated) organization in Korea. Had she ever met Faker? No, but it was cool to say she was under the same umbrella as him.

Yoongi rounded the corner, knocking his knuckles on the doorframe.

“Hey.”

-

You looked up from your game, grinning. Twitch chat had just said some dumb shit, but your eyes were on Min Yoongi now. The love of your life, standing in the doorframe, looking amused at your antics and dressed sharply in a white dress shirt and black slacks with a matching black tie. Very different to your black T1 hoodie and sweats.

“Whoa, fancy, fancy,” you teased, eyes going back to the game. You pushed back one of your headset’s earcups to hear him better. You clicked rapidly, autoattacking the towers swiftly. You were about to win after a hectic Baron fight. “Why are you dressed like that, Yoongi?”

Your chat was exploding with cat emojis. They had only seen Yoongi a few times and someone had compared him to a cat once. It stuck and now every time Yoongi spoke, your chat was spammed with cats. You even had a custom white cat emote made with Yoongi’s signature black hair.

Yoongi appeared next to you on the cam, only his slacks and bottom of his shirt visible next to you. He patted your head.

“Meeting today,” he said simply in his lovely deep voice. The chat was exploding due to Yoongi’s appearance. Everyone was thirsty for him. You couldn’t blame them. You too. “Looks like T1 Curtain Call is kicking ass.”

You fired the last shot at the Nexus, earning fifty gold. Was it necessary since that was the end of the game? Absolutely not, but it gave you bragging rights. You sat back, smirking. You were in your promos to Challenger, the highest rank in the ladder. It would be really exciting if you could make it to Challenger this season.

You turned to Yoongi as you honored your support Nami. “Chat wants you to say hi.”

Yoongi stuck his large hand out in front of the camera and waved it once. “Hey everyone.”

You chuckled as Yoongi retreated his hand. You clicked on the stats for the chat to read before reentering the lobby. T1 Curtain Call. That was your in-game name, or IGN. It was named after your favorite champion, Jhin, the Virtuoso, mercenary gunman with a sniper ultimate and an obsession with the number four. Your IGN was Jhin’s ultimate ability name. You were an attack-damage carry main, also known as ADC.

You felt Yoongi ruffle your hair, messing it up under your headset.

“Going to take a shower before making dinner. Bye, chat.”

Yoongi stuck his hand in the screen again, right in front of your face.

You leaned forward to read the chat as you queued up. It was going to be a long queue, so you answered questions in the meantime.

“Ask Yoongi to play with you?” You chuckled. “Trust me guys, I’ve tried, even if it was just normals. He’s confused as shit.”

-

Yoongi worked the shampoo in his hair, feeling the hot water hit his back. Before getting into the shower, Yoongi had gotten multiple texts from the group chat. Normally he would ignore them, because he always ignored the group chat. This time, however, he saw his girlfriend’s name pop up in the texts, along with his name with multiple exclamation points. He frowned at it, opening the chat. He did not like his friends typing her name heedlessly.

It was some dumb TikTok trend.

“Hyung, you gotta do this to noona,” Jeon Jungkook had typed with multiple ‘kekekeke’ behind it. The youngest was an idiot for even suggesting this.

“Please do it,” Kim Taehyung typed with multiple laughing emojis.

“I want to know her reaction,” Park Jimin typed with a bunch of winking faces.

“The fuck is this?” Kim Seokjin had typed. “Oh my god, you have to do it, Yoongi.”

“But don’t film it,” Kim Namjoon warned. “Don’t want to make her look bad or anything.”

Jung Hoseok had just typed multiple laughing symbols. Yoongi could hear him laughing through the phone even if he wasn’t here.

It was a stupid trend where girls wrapped themselves in towels after a shower and then dropped said towels in front of their gamer boyfriends while they were playing, with varying reactions. Yoongi had sighed, putting his phone down. He shouldn’t have clicked on the chat. Those guys were loons. Besides, his role was reversed in his situation. A guy’s flaccid dick was a thousand times less interesting than his girlfriend’s perky tits and round ass. And her squeezable thighs. And her glistening pussy.

Yoongi rinsed his hair off, muttering to himself.

Why would he even consider distracting her like that anyway? He rubbed soap on his arms and legs. She took her games seriously and Yoongi wanted her to win them. It would just be dumb to be the reason that she dies in game. It was her job, after all. It was true they had less sex, but that was also partially his fault. He had been working on an album and it ran long hours. He had to finish before the deadline after all. Yes, sometimes Yoongi woke up late at night with a massive hard-on and her warm body next to him, only in her underwear. Sometimes he took her hand and wrapped it around him, considering on waking her up to do it.

But her peaceful, sleepy face was too cute to wake up, so he never did.

Yoongi puffed his cheeks as he rinsed off, thinning his mouth and eyes into lines. They used to mess around, right here in the shower, where he would jerk off on her face and chest, just to watch it drip down her body. He could see her pretty face in his mind, cum sprayed across her cheeks and chin, mischievous smile on her lips. They had different schedules now, so she always showered before her stream, while he was at work.

Yoongi clicked his tongue and turned the water off, body still hot. He grabbed the white towel from the rack and dried his hair, making it stick up in every direction. He rubbed himself down, wicking the water away. It made him remember how her hair used to stick to her body after their shared showers and how he would lift it away to play with her nipples.

He huffed, seeing his phone on the bathroom sink. His friends needed help. How could they even suggest such nonsen–

Yoongi tried to wrap his towel around his waist. He could feel a draft. He looked down, raising his eyebrows.

His dick was pitching a music-festival, VIP-member-only sized tent.

Well.

He pursed his lips. He shouldn’t be that surprised. He had literally been thinking about his girlfriend’s naked body the entire time. His eyes glanced to his phone once again before he opened the bathroom door. He heard her sigh loudly.

“Noooo, that’s the third dodge! Am I ever going to play a game, chat?” she whined.

Yoongi padded out into the hallway. Technically he was already halfway there. Might as well. Was this the stupidest shit he was ever going to do? Maybe. But she wasn’t going to expect it, that’s for sure. The thought made Yoongi smirk.

“When is Jungkook going to duo with me again? I don’t know guys; he said he has finals soon so he has to focus on school.” He heard her click her tongue. “Get him on cam again? Oh, I see, that’s what you all wanted... At least let him get through university.”

Yoongi stopped at the doorframe. Her hands were on her chin and she was sighing, looking depressed at her long queue time.

“Ah, so unlucky. It must be everyone’s dinnertime.”

He called her name in the same tone he usually used.

Her head lifted and her eyes floated in his direction.

Yoongi dropped the towel.

In less than a second, her eyes grew three sizes, jaw dropping. His wet hair stuck to his forehead, shading his eyes a bit. He cocked an eyebrow, slow smirk on his lips.

“Anything you want for dinner?”

-

What.

The.

FUCK?

You heard your queue pop, but you were frozen in place, gawking open-mouthed at your boyfriend standing in the doorframe of your streaming room, butt-ass naked, cock hard as a rock, towel on the ground. Did he just..? What the…? This was Min Yoongi. Your mild-mannered, somewhat-lazy, preferred-to-be-asleep boyfriend. Not suddenly-trying-to-send-you-to-horny-jail-in-front-of-three-thousand viewers boyfriend! You blinked at him, stuttering.

“Y-Yoongi…?”

Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. Your voice was a little too breathless, a little too shocked. And slightly too needy for Twitch chat. Your face was heating up fast. You whipped your head back to the screen, realizing you missed the queue. At this point, you didn’t give a single shit.

“You know what, guys,” you said shakily, laughing awkwardly. “I better help Yoongi with dinner and be a good girlfriend.” You rose, feeling the wetness between your legs. “See you tomorrow!”

And you immediately turned off the stream, fuck, you turned off your whole damn computer, mashing the power button, and throwing one of your spare hoodies over the webcam. You exploded from your T1 gaming chair, literally shooting it back three feet into the League plushes behind you, ripping your headset off, tossing it onto the keyboard. Yoongi looked surprised, as if he expected you to be demurer about it.

Yeah, that’s not kind of woman you were.

“Min Yoon-gi,” you hissed, stressing every syllable of his name. “How the fuck do you think you can just show up naked and not expect me to want to immediately fuck you?”

Yoongi chuckled. “I wanted to see your reaction.”

You narrowed your eyes, pressing him against the door with your body. “You don’t watch TikTok. Who put you up to this? Jimin? Taehyung? Jungkook?”

His voice was low and husky. “You know the mankae line are trouble.”

Your hand snaked up into his damp hair and you pulled him down for a sensual kiss. His soft, pink lips parted and you nipped at his lower lip, grinding deliciously into his hard cock. Your sweatpants and underwear were in the way, but you moaned into his mouth, tongue grazing against his lips.

Mentally, you thanked the three mankaes for giving Yoongi this wonderful idea.

He breathed against your lips, smirking.

“How many pieces of clothing are you wearing?” he purred.

You grinned into his kiss, tongue between your teeth. “Four.”

“On brand for you.”

And then you two stumbled into the hallway, Yoongi’s hands on the hem of your hoodie, pushing it up as you kissed him over and over, whispering his name, telling him how handsome he was, how perfectly sexy he was with his wet hair and soft skin. His lips curved upwards under yours, basking in your compliments, drinking them up.

“Count for me,” he drawled, pulling the black T1 hoodie up.

You slipped out of it, sliding down, hands splaying over Yoongi’s chest.

“One.”

He tossed it aside as your hand wrapped around his cock. A sharp gasp left his lips feeling you stroke him slowly, your hand snaking around his neck and bringing his face close to yours, lips on lips. His hands curled around your waist, moving up, grasping the hook-and-eye of your black bra. All the while slowly making your way to the bedroom, nipping at his lips, sucking on his tongue.

Yoongi pinched, releasing your bra. You released his cock, letting it slide off your shoulders.

“Two,” you moaned, feeling his hands on your breasts, rolling your nipples in between his fingers.

“Hah, your body is so fucking hot,” Yoongi murmured. “Missed fucking you.”

You snickered, licking his lips. “Why don’t you actually try to wake me up for once instead of using my hand to jack yourself off at two in the morning?”

His dark brown eyes went wide, shock creeping into his voice. “W-what? How did you…?”

You pushed him through the doorframe of the bedroom. “You think I don’t notice your dick in my hands?” You reached down now, gripping it again, sighing softly at his hardness. “I’m a light sleeper.”

He sputtered at you, fingers curling under the waistband of your sweatpants. “No, you’re not.”

You grinned. “Yeah, you’re right, but this your cock we’re talking about, and I love your cock, Yoongi, fuck,” you continued, pumping him slowly as you felt his length twitch in your hands, his hands pushing down your pants, sliding down your legs.

“Three,” he breathed softly.

You took his larger hand and wrapped it around yours, stepping out of your pants.

“Go on, Yoongi. Show me what you do when you think I’m asleep,” you said softly, nudging him to the bed and laying him down, down, crawling over him, staring into his beautiful dark eyes, falling more and more in love with him every second. Yoongi bit his lip, looking back at you, shifting your hand up and down his cock, whimpering as he jacked himself off, but with your hand and your eyes on him.

“Fuck, you look so pretty,” he mumbled. “Such perfectly shaped eyes.”

You leaned down, squeezing him a little harder, a tiny gasp brushing against your lips. “That’s you, my love.”

He smirked, his free hand hooking on the side of your panties.

“Hit me with the fourth shot,” Yoongi teased, grinning.

You kissed him lightly, smiling. “That’s going to be a critical hit.”

“Better be a critical hit all over my dick.”

You laughed, reaching over to the nightstand and pulling out the drawer, taking out a condom. The two of you pulled down your black panties, Yoongi completing the final number.

“Four,” he exhaled, nearly moaning at the sight of your juices snapping against your thigh.

“Me on top?” you asked, ripping the condom open.

Yoongi’s naughty smirk grew. “You do love me.”

You slid the condom down his length, both of you gasping as his cock throbbed in your hands. You slid up, holding him with two fingers as you sank down on him, tipping your head back at the feeling of Yoongi’s cock buried deep inside.

“I’ve determined we don’t fuck enough,” you muttered, rolling your hips at the delicious sensation of being stretched out by your lover.

“I should wake up earlier,” Yoongi hissed, hands twisting in the sheets. “So we can shower together again.”

“You miss that?” You began to move, riding him deliberately slow but rough, slapping your hips together. You were leaking all over his crotch and balls, adding to the sound. “Miss me on my knees for you, wet from head to toe?”

“Hah… I was thinking about it in the shower,” he panted, feeling you lean down to change the angle, rolling the entire lower half of your body to fuck him hard, fast, intensely squeezing his cock at every descent. “You look so good covered in my cum, my love.”

You smirked, arching an eyebrow. “Yeah? Take some pictures. Show your friends.”

Yoongi laughed, that attractive raspy laugh that showed his pink gums and his pretty white teeth as you rode him, chasing your orgasm and determined to get him to his. “They fucking wish they could see this body,” he growled, a touch of possessiveness in his voice that made your spine shiver deliciously. “Bet they wish they could see you riding my dick right now, your perfect tits and ass bouncing on top of me.”

You clenched him harder and he moaned, head pressed into the pillows, eyes closing, drowning in the feeling of you.

“Ask them,” you snickered. “I already know Jimin’s answer.”

Yoongi gave you an open-mouthed smirk. “That fucking pervert.”

You slammed your hips together tightening your jaw and your core, sucking in his entire length, every contour imprinted into you, every vein pulsing into your walls, Yoongi so fucked out and gone under you, the best image in the entire fucking world. You leaned your head back, gasping triumphantly as the pleasure finally dropped, showering over you, your hips shaking, pussy throbbing all around him, splattering onto his crotch. Yoongi groaned, smacking his fists against the sheets as he shot up into you, cock swelling against your walls, choking out your name due to the strength of your orgasm. You felt your pussy milking him for every drop, draining him. Yoongi’s hips jerked involuntarily up towards you, squelching loudly and lewdly.

Fuck, you loved him.

You bent down, hand between your bodies, holding the condom down as you kissed his open mouth, tongue sliding in to stroke his, murmuring to him how much you loved him. Yoongi panted into your lips, hot erotic breaths that made you moan as you slowly removed yourself from his softening cock. He opened his eyes, half-lidded, drunk with pleasure. His voice was breathless, content.

“I love you.”

You smirked.

“Drop your towel some more, but maybe when I’m not live streaming.”

Yoongi laughed and you laughed too, because in the end it was still hilarious.

-

masterpost