#oooof this scene was gorgeous

[booasaur]

Perry Mason (2020) - 2x04

[maliciousalice]

@thresholdbb omg tumblr ate your ask but thankyou for asking!!!!

👕Character whose fashion you like.

Phoar! Startrek really isn't a show I associate with being fashionable. It's very camp isn't it? In theory a lot of the wardrobe is really cool and they wanted to gain that retro-future aesthetic. Did it work? I'm not sure. However it does make a statement. The Startrek aesthetic is really recognizable and that's important! I think that's where modern trek kind of looses the plot. It's not as careful about the unique visual design as a whole anymore and as a result it doesn't settle in our minds. Is it bad artistry? No but it's not as stringent. What I mean by that is older trek cared about nuance. For example every haircut was done the same way on men, or suits were tailored in a way to look sleek but practical (they weren't). Gaudy patterns were important to denote things like status. It looks ugly on the outside but when you're watching the show it envelops you and makes you feel welcomed into the universe.

I digress.

To answer this, the most fashionable character, hands down, is Quark! That mfer always looks good, and has the finest drip in the galaxy. Love that.

🥲 ST moment that makes you cry.

There are two moments that make me particularly sad. Kate's acting in the climax of Resistance is incredible. I read somewhere she had a special-wink-wink- relationship with the Director in the early seasons and she was being tested by this episode in some regard. I think it paid off. I treasure any time her captain-hood is removed, and the extreme vulnerability of Janeway is on display-MWAH MWAH poignant. This episode is beautifully intimate, particularly this scene. It's overall gorgeous and unique in how she whispers to him, as if there is nothing more important than to secure his peace of mind as he dies, and it's heart rending when it ends with her just crouching there, emotionally alone. I love how Janeway is forced into the father-daughter dynamic between her and Caylem, one that she would ordinarily resist (heh themes) because I think it inherently weakens her status. The back and forth throughout the episode of them taking care of each other's welfare is so it's terribly sad when it's torn down and we discover the truth behind Caylem's family. If you've dug around her character you know that her Admiral-Father has had impact on her life. She's haunted by him in both a figurative way by being a Captain, and literal sense later on in Coda. Much like Caylem, she looses her father in a violent manner that she has to carry around while she forges ahead. It also reflects well on Kate's relationship with her actual father, she recently revealed that she was never able to get him on her page, but in spite that she adore him with all her might. So a scene like this is really revealing-I believe she was able to draw upon those feelings and that's kinda neat to be so raw as an actor. SIGH.

This one just straight up made me cry fr because Prodigy s1 is a really mature, well done piece of (Startrek) media. Holo Janeway has an irony about it where in the end she is program designed to be a teacher, and she didn't expect to develop a strong bond with the crew. Her final moments are of displaying a huge amount of selflessness and courage to help the kids get out of trouble, similarly to how Janeway would approach dire circumstances. The music swelling and the ship activating is just OOOOF!!! I love how it parallels Dal's initiation of the first Protojump in a Moral Star. By that means It suggests how proud she is to get to do this for them. As a character she is really interesting to think about, in a way I can't entirely articulate. A lot of her moments are quite sad in general, she has to keep an active role so she isn't ignored, and help where help is needed, but at the same time she has constraints, one being that she manipulated by the antagonists. And In contrast to that, the kids do their best to help her feel like she is important and more than a command program to be used insincerely. She grew to love the Protostar crew, that's evident in her body language in this scene. She has a lot of depth overall. Equal to the real Janeway she deeply feels love, guilt and pain, but importantly she is transformed by the her time on the Protostar and while active, learns and grows with Dal, Rok-tak, Zero, Jankom and Gwyn. It's REALLY sweet that they care all care about each other.

I love her and I love JANEWAY!!!!

🥹 Favourite behind the scenes picture.

Ooooh I love all behind the scenes stuff. My brother in Christ It's super difficult to just name one thing and I'm very greedy!! I wish we had more BTS content for Voyager but sadly, it's a matter of grab what you can, however you can. Anyway, I have an inherent interest in seeing the cogs behind the wheel. I chose these samples because I think they're charming.

The continuity polaroid's are so fun and a lost technique, I like to think about assistants having to pull the actors aside and asking them to take those. How daunting! Kate's grin in the one where she is offset is SO cute. So she must have been in a good mood, super Cheeky!

Following that is a screenshot from a video of her having her makeup done. A rare catch. I like this because she often sooks about how much time hair and makeup was spent on her to become Captain Janeway. I get it's a huge time-sink, but love or hate it, the full irony is that her early season appearance is really iconic and in it's own right adds to Captain Janeway's sensibility. Silly goose Kate! Besides that, she looks hot checking herself out, haha.

Moreover, I love on-set editorial photos of actors in costume. While we did have heaps of them in the Starfleet uniform, I wish we had a larger collection with clearer releases, it would have given an opportunity to see in things of interest better detail. Particularly the lower half of unique costumes. For whatever reason special outfits weren't often established or framed for us to see the legs in the show, so a nice big photograph would have solved that. Also I love that these style of pictures capture an impression of an episode without giving it away.

Similarly, fly on the wall on-set photos are cool. They're way more intimate and candid than anything else and it makes me feel as though I am spying on the actors, but they're also a good way to document how things might have been on set.

The Timeless one is interesting too because it's of a deleted scene, we never see Chakotay look at a dead Janeway (how deliciously macabre!), but at some point in time it was in the script and they filmed it.

Hmm this bts picture of Janeway in the Cardigan is adorable! I believe it was worn by Kate for a Charity but look how cute she looks? Makes me wish we saw her mess around with things like that more because 7 Years is a long ass time to be in uniform everyday ( coming from someone who went to school in a Uniform and enjoyed it for the most part). Casual Fridays anyone?

I love this gif. It's from the first shoots of Caretaker and Kate looks so radiant! Her smile is is breathtaking! Whenever I see this gif I get a sense of delight. Poor thing had no idea what she was getting herself into, haha. Really though, check out the original Caretaker photos, they're super-cool. The history behind it is fascinating; I'd love to see more footage from that version of the pilot episode. Unfortunately, it's probably not preserved well, much like lots of Paramount's historical material.

On a similar trend, it's fun to see this set of pictures too. It's for the First Contact film / maybe the Universal studios ride, when she reprised her role as Vice AdmiralJaneway. Kate was genuinely delighted to do this cameo and it shows. As per her operandum she put her whole self into this small segment and that's so darling. It makes me wish we had more of this Janeway at that point in time. I love post Endgame chubby-Janeway. In a fictional sense it denotes that she is comfortable or stressed to be an Admiral (sadly it's the latter in real life) or whatever and I love that for her.

These kind of pictures are fun because it's been said that at times it was the most playful set to be on. There are tales that the cast were not that serious all the time. You get that impression here, and it's probably why the majority of them are still good friends to this day. They're like a family bros!!! Having worked in media I know that wrapping up after working on something for a long time is really rewarding and I bet they had a good time at parties.

Apropos previous, the opposite can be said. While they had fun, the hours were long and the scripts intensive. Kate was around for all of the episodes of Voyager in one way or another, and still managed to bring her A-game each time. She is truly admirable! Seeing her so exhausted is charming. She had a lot of weight to carry for the franchise and did an exemplary job performing her way through 7 years of weird and wonderful material. I wonder how often they fell asleep on set? I know I would. Get some rest queen!

Finally, I've been following Prodigy bts as best I can, and because of my career in animation I get pretty interested in Production art. I love seeing the fast metamorphosis of a visual style. It's really impressive how much attention they applied to the designs, maintaining the older stuff, while adapting a new frontier. One of the lead artists made some pretty neat observations to get Kate's appearance right. It's so cool that they documented that journey, because from my dabbling I know she has a very beautiful, distinct face that isn't easy to capture.

ANYWAY Thankyou for reading my fat thesis fellas. tl;dr i love this stinky Startrek Voyager and by extension the franchise.

[shannankle]

The Sign Episode 7 Thoughts

Showing abs is apparently necessary for good art (taking notes)

Okay but are they talking about having him paint him, make love, or kill him and make him a part of the art (they keep showing the art tools like torture tools)

That love scene was really beautiful, love the way it makes the art very visceral. The way it's framed reminds me a bit of Hannibal and the way bodies there are framed as art.

Ah so we are intentionally blurring the lines here between love making, art, and potential murder--cause the scene of him washing off the paint is pulled straight from a crime thriller. I like the contrast between the red paint and the blue lighting.

Interesting bathroom, the shot is really pretty, but logistically how do you shower without getting everything wet. The mirror is really interesting though. Practically it's a good way to make sure he gets all the paint off. But it also highlights how alone he is here, with only his own reflection to keep him company.

Yai why are you trying to stop Tharn from saving someone?

These guys are so bad at working, meanwhile Yai is telling Tharn not to get distracted from the job they're already all not doing

Oh I like the way the actor plays Mr. Montree. A lot of actors would overplay the sinister aspect to make sure the audience really gets it, but instead of any tension in his voice or body language, he comes across quite genuine and warm in his responses. We can still pick up the tension if we observe the captain and read between the lines of what he's saying. Nice!

Tharn, darling, maybe don't tip the guy off! I'm glad Yai told him that was stupid

Ah hello again Nat's abs!

Interesting that most of the guests are in black, white, or beige, but Mr. Montree is in blue and Phaya's grandma is in red. Of course those are the colors used in the painting and earlier with Art. It makes sense that Mr. Montree would stand out, but I'm curious why Phaya's grandma in particular. Will she become more important? Is she related to Mr. Montree in some way?

I'd love to know more about the artists and art they used for this episode. There's some really gorgeous pieces

Oh no a broken statue I'm getting Shadow flashbacks

Wait why would they detain Art? It was clearly an accident

Dr. Chachacha stepping up to say Art is his patient, what is this Hannibal? Dr. Chalecter over here! It's got to be an influence right? Cause I was getting similar vibes in the opening scenes too

I wonder if hysteria as a term has the same connotations as it does in Western psychiatry. Like is it still a term that's used medically? Or is it clearly outdated? If it's the later, why doesn't that raise any eyebrows? Either way it fits with his sinister role in the story and the way he riles Phaya up to cause problems and make it seem like Phaya is dangerous or hysterical. Say Art is hysterical and off his meds and you can discredit him. How much of that is Dr. Chalecter using some sort of power on people is hard to say.

Huh, even after that back and forth, I'm not quite sure what the show's perspective is here on mental illness. They aren't necessarily pushing back on the idea that it can make you dangerous, even if there's some nuance added. Though Dr. Chalecter did get in a funny burn telling Phaya: you're not mentally ill, your personality just sucks.

Okay I get that Phaya is acting like an idiot because he's scared, but my patience is a little thin. It's just not a dynamic I enjoy. I'm kind of hoping it really is Dr. Chalecter's doing.

Oooof Dr. Chalecter is over here distinguishing "normal" people vs mentally ill people. Rich and ableist! Despite the copganda the show is at least giving us evil psychiatrists.

No don't bring the charismatic psychiatrist into your police investigation! It's like the captain hasn't even seen Hannibal!

Did Kao's body get put into the art and that's why they can't find him?

Okay I guess I'm glad it wasn't portrayed as him killing out of madness or mental illness, that's a relief.

Tharn's visions are getting super convenient and helpful now. I like the touch of focusing on the clock in the flashback

Imagine being the poor cab driver. You pick up a guy with a bleeding neck and instead of going to the hospital he asks you to drop him somewhere sketchy

Why would you sit in the car to get evidence? Wouldn't that disrupt things?

These two have no chill, why are they bickering in front of everyone's salad. Also not sure why we needed a montage of the meeting.

Kitty Kitty Kitty Kitty!!!

Oh Phaya's little meow to deflect, adorable!

Huh the grandma's comments about not understanding people's motivations and everyone losing their minds are troubling. Feels in line with what the episode seems to be bringing up around mental illness. Even with Tharn's response, I'm not really sure what the show is trying to say about the topic. Kind of similar to last week's take on justice.

Kitty makes the perfect transition shot!

Interesting how the final scenes between Phaya and Tharn here mirror Art and Kao but with very different endings. Both begin in spaces where Art and Phaya make and display their art. Tharn and Kao are invited into these intimate spaces. But the couple's follow opposite trajectories--one betraying that intimacy (Kao) and the other (Thar) deciding to take a leap of faith and trust in it.

Art and Kao make love in a scene that may have just been a fantasy, but, real or not, the scene has a dream-like aesthetic that is edging into nightmare. We then learn they fought and separated.

In contrast, Phaya and Tharn talk, resonate with each other emotionally and come together. They then make love. Like, Art and Kao's love scene, there's a fantastic quality, but this one stays out of nightmare territory.

The mirrors are particularly notable. We end with mirror's capturing Phaya and Tharn together, intimate. While we began with Art in his bathroom, the mirrors highlighting how alone he is.

A final thought: It has been 4 weeks since Sand has graced our screens, now we must wait at least a week more and that is a true crime!

[camille-bee]

QUICK MESSY THOUGHTS ON EP 7 OF HOTD ALSO OUT OF ORDER LOL

- DAEMON LAUGHING AT LAENAS FUNERAL WAS SUCH A MOOD BECAUSE I DID THE SAME THING AT MY FRIENDS FUNERAL IM SORRY I WAS TIRED OF BEING SAD AND I JUST SNAPPED 😩

- rhaenyra and daemon stealing glances and him kinda giggling and like what the fu-

- ummm what's the point of crispin?

- alicent staring at rhaenyra I could hear her saying "you targaryen do have queer customs" lmaoooo

- ummm daemon come on babe say what you need to say "i need- nothing" uh huh sure honey and he looked so distraught (whispers: I don't think it was because of laena, at least not entirely)

- almond milk kinda wanting to say sorry to jace? But not knowing how? kinda felt that? Omg? What is this?

-BAELA LISTEN BAELA BAELA THE WAY SHE GRABBED JACES HAND BECAUSE SHE KNEW HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY OMG???? IDK WHY I GASPED BUT I DID?

- almond milk being ? Kinda nice? About haleana? Uhhhhh okay? That was nice? Him defending his sister?

- RHAENYRA EYE FUCKING DAEMON? YES SIS SAME HERE?

-BUT THE BEACH SCENE?? MIGUEL YOU ARE ABOUT TO CATH THEEE HANDS! MY EYES WERE STRAINING!!!!

-YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH DAEMON WAS WANTING TO RESTRAIN HIMSELF AGAIN LIKE IN THE BROTHEL SCENE BUT HE SAW HOW MUCH SHE WANTED HIM??? AND HE JUST SAID "FUCK IT"

- also WHEN DAEMYRA WERE WALKING ON THE BEACH AND SHE STARTED TO SPEAK ABOUT HER UHHH FINDING JOY IN SEX THE WAY DAEMON JUST SMILED??? LIKE HE WAS KINDA PROUD OF HER???? UGHHHH YES? THANK YOU KING!

- DAEMONS SCARS? THE WAY HE CARESSED HER SHOULDER? THE WAY HE SOFTLY GRABBED HER THIGH AND THEN HE REALLY GRABBED IT!!!!! THE PANTING! THE MUSIC!!! (the only think I dont get is the look rhaenyra has?) I have to watch again... for information ofc

-Rhaenys going off on corlys? Speaking facts about his ambitions? Yes yes

- Almond milk claiming vhagar? The audacity? fucker taking what he wants essentially

- VHAGAR you traitorous bitch you are dead to me

-okay but the whole almond milk riding vhagar sequence with the music? That was kinda iconic fuxk

-ummm aegon uhhhh no thoughts head empty huh

- otto love to hate you

- viserys you sweet decaying fool at least you can act kingly when it comes to your grandsons

- I kinda felt bad for alicent because her son did lose an eye and ofc she's upset. Her son lost an eye like I wouldn't care if my son was at fault HE LOST AN EYE!!!! Buuuut

-Alicent you bitch. You self righteous bitch. She deadass grabs a knife and SHE GOES STRAIGHT FOR LUKE!!! LUC? IF IT WASN'T FOR RHAENYRA WHO WAS CHECKING IN ON HER KIDS, IF IT WASN'T FOR THE FACT THAT SHE INAVERTEDLY WAS A SHIELD! ALICENT WOULD'VE ATTACKED A CHILD! WTFFFFFFFFF

-Alicent repenting yeah sure crocodile tears

- I feel so bad because the way I cheered when almond milk lost his eye? Oooof that was kinda embarrassing of me 😭 there's audio proof of the moment lol but he deserved it for punching BAELA

-BAELA BAELA LISTEN I ADORE YOU? THE PUNCH SHE THREW? OOF SHE KNOCKED HIM THE FUCK DOWN

- JACE DISTRACTING ALMOND MILK AND LUKE DELIVERING THE FINAL CUT? SO ICONIC OF THEM? TEAMWORK!!

-THE WEDDING WAS SO FUCKING GORGEOUS!!!!! HER TOUCH TO HIS FACE? HIS SMILE? THEIR KISS???? UGHHHHH AHHHHHHH the THEME????. AHHHH GIVE IT TO ME!!!

- oh yeah laenor lives. Huh

- OMG THE WAY LAENOR WAS SO SWEET TO RHAENYRA THOUGH!! AND YOU CAN INSTANTLY TELL WHEN HE SAYS " ILL TRY TO BE THE HUBBY YOU DESERVE" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT YOU CAN INSTANTLY TELL THE MOMENT RHAENYRA THINKS OF DAEMON.

- QARL GLANCING AT DAEMONS LIPS TWICE? DOWN BOY

- WHEN DAEMON AND RHAENYRA ARE PLOTTING THAT SHOT! HE SITS DOWN WHILE SHE REMAINS STANDING! SORT OF LIKE HE'S KNEELING BEFORE HER! AHHAHH

- was it daemons idea to let Laenor live? Idk kinda got that vibe but maybe I'm just sleep deprived lol

There was obviously more small moments I liked a lot but I'm tired lol

Sorry for the typos.

Also glad miguel ain't directing anymore eps.

[wild-karrde]

Happy Fandom Friday!

I have one more (hopefully) submission for this week—two more artworks. The first artwork contains spoilers for TOG: Empire of Storms; the second artwork contains spoilers for The Ballad of Never After :)

This artwork by @/inkfaeart (insta) of Elide and Lorcan as Evie and Rick from The Mummy is AMAZING. One of my fav book couples dressed for Halloween as my fav movie couple? It doesn’t get better than that. Elide and Lorcan really fit the vibe of Evie and Rick and I love this artwork so much.

This artwork by @/alexandraczerw_art (insta) of Eva and Jacks is GORGEOUS. The artwork truly captures the sweetness of this book scene, and I love the softness of it all—from Eva’s giddy expression to the soft look on Jack’s face. This piece makes me feel so many things.

OOOOF I LOVE BOTH OF THESE SO MUCH (even without being familiar with the source material). As someone that could give a TED Talk about how much I loved The Mummy series, the first piece makes me absolutely GIDDY. And the second piece is so SOFT and warm and sweet! These are both FANTASTIC! Thanks so much for sending them in Alli!

Participate in Fandom Friday to show your favorite creators from this week some love! :)

[minalblood]

I figured if Meg, Drake and Nida are streaming an episode,ni may as well be in line and continue my rewatch so here we gooo, ep 5!

Akridaaa here yaay! I love those fuckers! And a lot about the Akrida this episode since we're finally getting to seeing them full on.

God, Dean speaking about pain and letting it out so it doesn't fuck you up hurts. And of course it's highly relevant to this ep, Mary of course once more being the Dean mirror.

Ok lets begin, cuz I've thoughts. We'll do this one chronological aka as the ep goes.

1stly this is the episode when I literally went "oh there you were, u fucker" cuz this episode is the one when John acts most like the version we're used to from spn. Interesting thing, when John's talking to Millie at the beginning of the episode and she asks him.how he is but in a way that he can easily let rest there and he is so in his head about what happened last ep that he preemptively reassure her he isn't affected by the Vietnam trauma which ofc means it is at the front of his mind. Also about that scene, Millie saying she wanted to take a pry bar to the motorcycle heavily echoes Dean taking a crowbar to Baby after John's death. I have many thoughts about Millie saying Mary is good for John like Betty was. Like what does she mean? Why does John need someone to keep him in check tho, because thats the implication there for me, we'll circle back to this cuz my opinion kind changes as the ep goes on.

Ada off the bat is the focus here.She ignored Carlos' mention about the demon after the last time when she was almost sadistically plucking leaves off. She wasn't really listening to the case detail as Mary was listing them. She didn't even really get involved in the discussion except to say they need to work this case and oooof it hurts to see because we ofc now know why shes acting as distracted and worried as she is.

Lata took Ada knowing her djinn lore as a ... birds of a feather thing aka Ada being interesting in the lore as she herself is and is so pleased about it. I wonder what she thought about it after finding out about Tony and Ali.

God Tony's entrence is pretty fucking great tho, jeesus. I also love that we start it off on the usual set up for monsters that spn perfected aka the monster of the week doesnt show their face til late in the episode cuz theyre the threat, the danger, the thing we're not supposed to relate to or get close to whereas the victim and the brothers (in spn) are introduced to us with full shot of their face because we're meant to care about them, to associate them immediately with a person and be invested in them, be close to them. So Tony being shot as just his legs as he runs until the moment he sees Ada is absolutely gorgeous to me. It goes from this distant, dangerous thing to someone important to one of our main charaters in the span of seconds. In seconds he becomes someone we're emotionally invested in (even if just curiosity about why Ada has her reaction) only to then really hit home once she says who he is, her son.

I also love that Lata's question about Ada being a djinn is said completely without judgement, just Lata trying to recontextualize what she know about Ada to herself, including the earlier knowledge about djinn lore. And this non judgemental attitude is relfected by Carlos and Mary as well. They're curious, confused, shocked, but not hostile to Ada. They just want to understand. But John is a dif creature here. From the moment Ada memtions who Tony is, John is pissed. He's absolutely furious throughout Ada's story, completely cruel in his reaction and absolutely oblivious about how he comes across for all of it, or willfully ignorant if I'm not feeling charitable. And this after he was a dick to Mary earlier about the motorcycle, but that by contrasr was just a foot in mouth thing That, while yes, dickish, wasnt harmful ultimately. And in both he had no clue how he came across. In the 1st scene, Mary let him know, in the second, because it was so striking that Mary Carlos and Lata chose instead to remove him from Ada's presence as quickly as possible without any chastisement because they knew Ada safety was more important than John being made aware of his behaviour (be it even just the emotional side here, since I don't think they would ever think hed do anything really). And it's this scene that makes it clear beyond any reasonable doubt to me, thay yea, this is def John Winchester and he is just a few degrees off of spn!john and could easily become him.

But the other interesting part here is that it's him having this reaction, the newbie here, the one who's joined this fight without any personal stake really. Like Henry doesn't count since the trauma of losing Henry is an old one that is wrapped more in Henry's abandonment than the actual supernatural world, whereas everybody else has lost people they loved as a direct result of monsters. But they're still empathetic to Ada and understand her choice so much easier than John who just doesn't get it or even try. Because he's already written monsters off as the Enemy thus the evil to his good.Like I said about the previous episode, John views it all in stark Black and White colors.

And now we have the Millie/Ada/John/Dean parallel. Aka the parent afraid of/for their child to the point they end up hurting them. Now importantly, Millie is parallel more clearly with John as parent here, specifically his controlling behaviour towards his kids, Dean most of all Id say and using that fear/worry as an excuse for his shitty behaviour. While Ada is both Dean and John. Leaning more toward Dean, who ultimately did realise that the behaviour was wrong and tried to fix things in much the same way Ada gives Tony the choice to help, to reestablish connection, Dean extends the same to Jack. John never fully does this, he dies still balancing between saving his son vs killing him. And then there is the treating your child based off of seeing him as another person. This one is big too, because Millie and Ada treated their sons as tho punishing them for their fathers, but important distinction, Ada tried not to allow her fear to taint Tony, it was him walking into her nightmare that led to their break. Millie does treat John like this, deliberately. She constantly compares John to Henry and we have to assume this is a behaviour that's been present during John's childhood too because of how prevalent it is.

So we already have all the daddy issues before the main emotional break of the episode is even introduced. And it all paves the way for the John/Samuel parallel's and as such the Dean/Mary parallels once we enter Mary's mind.

And it's important too that it's John talking to Mary that cools John down and it's the comparison to themselves that has him actually willing to relate to Ada's experience.

God I still hate the Saint Miguel reference, especially after the previous episode.

Another important thing about Ada/Dean is they both acknowledge their failings and then choose to do better, whereas Millie is a bit of an inbetween, she's changing as I've said, but is just figuring it out still, she's not really there yet, but she's asking about how to do it which is very important. It means she's willing to put in the work to do better. I also love that Ada immediately believes Tony but so does Carlos, even without the evidence.

Small thing I appreciated about the talk the gang has about the Akrida is Carlos picking up the file and clearly trying to put stuff together themselves.

I love everyone but John's reactions to Ada. So so much. I also love the following your heart advice Ada gives Mary, it reminds me of Mildred (my beloved) giving the same advice to Dean.

God Carlos' lies are awful, how have they been a hunter so long ans still.are this shit at lying. I love them.

I adore the Akrida design as well, i fucking love those bugs soo much.

Aaaand Mary got stung. And Carlos making a joke to difuse the worry is soo soo good and his advice to Ada to just tell Tony the truth is brilliant. As is Ada's talk to him. I LOVE her making sure she refers to Tony as his own person rather than who he is in relation to her, it's her ackowledging his personahood and also her not pushing him and making it clear she knows he likely will still leave and wont force him.to stay, it is such such good communication.

John being signled out makes perfect sense to me here tbh, bacuse outta everyone there, John has been the one to push Mary even when she's been at her most stubborn, he's the one whose been challenging her since they met as she does him. They know Mary can just tune them.out because she's done it before (in this show even) but John has always broken through to her.

John saying you cant fight ur trauma but you can face it, is chef's kiss after last ep. It shows he has been thinking, has been trying to do better even if it's not shown to us. To some degree he knows what he needs to do. I dont even mind thay he's a bit too harsh initially in trying to convince Mary to face her worst memory, bacause it is a time crunch, there's time to process it properly after, once Mary is alive to do it. And he give her the space and understanding she needs once she's going through it, he doesnt make it about himself. So we have not just Mary afecting him like Millie says in the beginning, but he afects her too. This is why they can work together.

But goood I hate the Campbell's just as much as I hate spn!John. For the same reasons, and I still think they were better parents then John, bacause Mary at least had more stability than Dean and Sam did, because she had a stable home. But yea, Mary's tragedy in spn is def partly the fact that her kids had to live what she did, and she has no idea just how similar it was, not really.

John giving Mary the reassurence that shes right to want to leave once shes done hunting is also very very good.

And I gotta say I love the bonding between Ada and Tony at the end, open ended but full of potential and i love lata and tony so so much! And also also, carlos once more pulling that vital vital background work to finally find out about Roxy.

This episode is so chock-full of intergenerational trauma (not that thats surprising, but rather the way it gets highlighted here). There is so so much to talk about and I can't even get all of it out but yeah, heres ep 5. Do i have more thoughts about it? Always. But so far here we leave it

[dangermousie]

Oooof, they are gorgeous but all I feel is dread because she’s using him. And she may tell herself it’s for the best and he won’t mind but even she knows that’s deluded.

So the thing about the infamous carousel scene, I know a lot of people were very up in arms about it but my ultimate reaction is that eh - Ekim and Kanat are even steven now, which admittedly is not a way to run a relationship.

Because what he did is awful but what she did (first!) is every bit as awful. Each hurt the other person unbearably, knowingly - and each used the other person’s feelings and vulnerability that they don’t show others, that they revealed in confidence. Having Ekim kidnapped off the street only to be brought to the place where she was abandoned by her father (as she told Kanat is a vulnerable moment) and then go “see! I bet he left you because you stabbed him in the back” is vile. Pretending you agree to date someone and be with someone and fight against the world with him and then lead him on and on (when he’s clearly emotionally desperate - Ekim may not know about the abuse but even she can tell Kanat is clingy and intense because he’s truly desperate to love and be loved) when you are manipulating him for info, is equally vile.

Like this bit of manipulation made me genuinely uncomfortable “it’s like we are engaged! so tell me the truth about the crime!” Yikes.

Look at him here. It’s like this made him believe he’s worthy of love for the first time. Only to go “psych!”

There is a reason he says this about her father leaving - because he’s mirroring, and it says volumes about what his greatest fear/hurt was and is.

And yes, he’s uniquely vulnerable to being broken by her action but even if he was a functional happy Mr. Happison from Functionville, it would have still been beyond the pale. But it’s like she hit dead center in his most vulnerable spot - his fear he can’t be loved and his desperation to protect his brother. And then she set it all on fire. She brought a recording device and recorded what he confessed.

And the thing is, Aziz is his no-go zone. I think a lot of the reason he tries to take the blame on himself is because of this, not because any rational person would believe he’s the culprit. Riza fucked up both his kids and Kanat lets Aziz get away with (not literal) murder because of guilt.

He begs and yet she goes to the cops.

He is terrified at himself and appalled and this is like the greatest trust he could give her but she breaks it into pieces.

And it’s not that I blame her but I totally get why he lost it so badly, especially knowing he has zero healthy relationship models which means knowing that there certain things you don’t say and do even in fights. And - honestly - she should also have known that certain things, like manipulating someone emotionally to get info and hitting his biggest vulnerabilities - is also a death knell.

(bwahahaha I want to be so hot that even when a man is dumping me for being an evil witch, he’s singing praises of my beauty!)

He orchestrated the carousel to hurt her. But she went forward in her plan under no illusions of what it was going to do to him either (she has that nightmare where he kills himself.) He told her about Aziz in confidence and begged her not to reveal and she told him about her father in confidence and begged him not to reveal, and then they both did. It’s horrifyingly even, to me.

In real life, I’d tell both of them to lose each other’s number. But it’s a show so I am just gonna desperately hope for therapy. And enjoy watching the gorgeous dysfunction!

God, this is perfectly tailored to my specs!!!

In real life, no relationship would get over this double whammy. But after OTPs in Kuzgun or Cesur ve Guzel (here to manipulate you to take down your fam) or SBA (I will marry you at gunpoint because you saw me perform a mob hit), Turkish dizis can sell me on anything. And that’s not even getting into my being a long-term period cdrama watcher where even “oops, I murdered your whole fam on purpose” is not necessarily a deal breaker (The Wolf.) Anything can be gotten over in a show if a couple is hot enough and this one is on fire. She’s stunning and with gorgeous hair and his neck is delightfully thick and he cries beautifully, they will make it.

[gins-potter]

Shadow and Bone 1x02 First Watch Thoughts

Under the cut again because I’m sure this will be long like the first

“Not if we can’t go together” and I’m crying again

I will not get over crly haired Mal, I’m sorry it’s too cute

Ahhhhh that cut, I fucking looooooove

Nooooo he was reaching for her hand

The Kanej arguing though I kinda love

Is that her menagerie tattoo though?

“Maybe I won’t be here when you get back” oooooof you tell him girl

So the crows storyline is... two weeks? Ahead of Alina’s? Interesting.

God Jessie is so fucking pretty tho, and that outfit it a vibe.

I don’t love the Darkling like other people, but Ben Barnes can fucking get it

Hmmmm Zoya seems a little different from the books, interesting

“I know her better than anyone else does”

This music

Omfg i fucking love this music

Note to self: check out the soundtrack tomorrow

Well at least we got to see Kaz hit someone with his cane

Even if he lost the fight 10 seconds later

Big rip

“Have we ever made a deal before” oooof that lil hint

Idk how to feel about that scene

Wait so Jesper knows about Kaz’s past or nah?  I am confusion.  He didn’t seem to know what Inej was talking about when she said Kaz wanted revenge, so I’m confused by the “he recognise you” comment

Damn Kaz you so smart baby

My hearttttttt

And now Malina’s been split up for however long

Damn those knives are so sexy

Where’s her braid though?????

Hmmmmmmm

Something has to go wrong right?

Oh my god Jesper, I love you

Fedyor!!

I love the dynamic between Grisha and non-Grisha, especially in Ravka, it’s so interesting to me

These effects are hella good though, you can tell they put money into this show

Oh my god is he gonna do the cut???

Oh shit

Interesting that Inej refuses to kill, I wonder if that will change between now and whenever they get to the SoC storyline

The differences between the Darkling and Alina also interest the hell out of me; he can’t understand why she wouldn’t want her powers

And there it is, that sense of belonging she always wanted

Ohhh is Mal gonna go after her?!?!? Be still my Malina heart

“She’s worth it” these Malina moments are killing me

Omfg Jesper I love you

Ohhhhhhh she sent Inej after the conductor???? Interesting

Moves and counter-moves

Seeing Inej talking about her brother and grappling with her faith is actually making me tear up though

I wonder if the crows are going to fail at this job, which makes them even more determined for the actual SoC plot

Mal what are you doinggggggggg?

I mean I love it but still.

Eugh don’t throw logic at him, let him be a stupid romantic

HE THREW DOWN THE CROW CLUB FOR INEJ?? HOLY CRAP

Like I know it’s only so he can take her out of Ketterdam but still

Oh might god this music, the cuts between them, this cinematography is gorgeous

The gifsets of their hands are just gonna be a whole thing, huh?

Final Thoughts:

The visuals continue to be absolutely stunning

As does the soundtrack

I can see why reviewers have been saying it’ll be hard to dislike Mal/Malina in the show, I already love them and they’re grabbing a hold of my heart even more

So far the Alina storyline has been very consistent to the books

Obviously the Crows are more of a prequel so it’s hard to compare them to the books, I am very curious how their storyline will play out and set up for the actual SoC heist

Like obviously paying off her indenture to Heleen is what keeps Inej with the dregs during the SoC duology, so if they pay it off in this season what’s there to keep her in the show beyond this first storyline

But then how does Kaz putting the Crow Club up as collatoral factor in?  Like does he just have to bring Inej back to Ketterdam to get it back?  Or does he need to bring her back and the money to pay off her indenture?  And if he doesn’t does he lose the crow club?  I have many questions.

[girllovescomic]

Winter Begonia Episode 6 recap

One of my favorite episode, it is in my eyes when Cheng Fengtai (Er Ye) truly falls for our little singer, Shang Xirui.  He was already attracted to him, evidenced by the gaze, but this is what tips him over the line from infatuation to love. This is also an episode where you see how the opera lyrics are integral to the plot. 

We hear Er Ye’s internal thoughts as he watches the opera, engrossed in Shang Lao Ban’s interpretation of Yang Guifei. He tells that when one leaves the Palace for Eternal Youth (the name of the Opera), they can see their lives in the story or some similarities between them and the character, but for him it goes deeper.  He sees the helplessness and compromise he and his family had to make due to circumstances.  For him, he had to give up his literary dreams and return home (from Europe, I presume) to take the family business which had been in ruin. He had no idea what he was doing because he was young, having to deal with creditors taking away everything, their employees leaving them and his sister Meixin forced to marry the Commander Cao and leave the man she loved, so they can settle some debts.  Apparently, this was not enough, leading him to marry Fan Xian aka Er Nainai, who turns out had a lucrative career as a businesswoman that she was forced to becoming a housewife, confined inside the mansion walls to raise their children.  By the way, can we command the way Huang Xiaoming speaks English? He even speaks better than the white girl talking to him.  LOL. 

The play, or specifically the way SXR sings it exposes all the emotions he had pushed aside as he realize that in life you cannot always do what you want, that sometimes the hand of fate forces you to make choices that goes against your dreams, making you suffer silently as you bite your lips and trudge through life. Ooof, I felt that one to my core.  We go back to Shang Lao Ban singing what appears to be sad song. CFT is completely absorbed, to the point of tears as he resumes his narration.  

To him, Xirui’s Yang Guifei is unwilling to submit to fate, to kill herself because the courtiers ask her to, but freely choosing to sacrifice herself

In one of the most beautiful sequence that made me weep, we see SXR as Yang Guifei standing afar from CFT talking to each other, the white cloth falling on the floor.  She (talking about Yang Guifei) is reaching out to him, which makes him look around wondering if he is the one she wants. He tells her that it is her life, he can’t help her; she responds that she does not need his help, she just wants to look at her.  He laments that she did not need to die as long as she was willing to accept her status, but she responds what was she supposed to let go of. He replies that should have taken conformed to the hand of fate, like he did,  but to her that would have been meaningless. He tries to stop her from killing herself, but she replies that if she delays it more, she might start to regret it.  We go back to the present time and CFT is weeping, clearly affected.  Sigh, what a scene.  I am crying while typing this.  

SXR is doing his thing, marveling the audience, who are equally moved.  With everyone gone, CFT is alone in his VIP box, thinking of his mother, who left to pursue her dreams as her singer instead of being confined in her role as mother and wife.  CFT finally understands why his mother made that decision to go back to her love of the opera, as he walks dazed.  

SXR watches as CFT walks dazed to his house.  He is so struck, he doesn’t even see or hear anyone, not his wife nor his household manager.  The man is completely gone, his mind still on his vision of Yang Guifei. 

Again, we are privy to his thoughts and he tells us that SXR not only portrays Yang Guifei but embodies her, not simply acting her out, but being a living and breathing embodiment of the tragic concubine, like a reincarnation. OOOOF, this is poetry! As an aside, this scene was in the novel as well, although not as poetic.  He stands in the courtyard as snowfall as if in a dream-like state, stumbling through his house, much to the other’ consternation.  

Still in a daze, CFT is sitting and humming to himself.  Through a conversation between his wife and the annoying maid, it has been a half day he’s been in this position and that he has not gone to any of his social functions, discuss business or play mahjong, for the past couple of days, completely uninterested in anything.  The annoying maid of course has to run her mouth, claiming that at least Er Ye stays at home instead of being seduced by girls. I swear this girl has a one-track mind. He has been seduced, but not some women, but by an adorable opera singer who can lift his soul. Er Nainai responds that she doesn't care about this nonsense, she feels uneasy by this version of her husband. She clearly knows the annoying little maid can’t process such adult thinking and tells her so.  I like this side of Er Nainai. Meanwhile, Er Ye’s mind is still on the songs and may I say, Huang Xiaoming looks absolutely gorgeous in it.

He tries to replicate the experience, but none of the records he pick come close to the original.  Fan Lian is completely confused by his BIL’s reaction, wondering what he is looking for.  Like a lovestruck teenager who has discover her first pop idol, CFT confesses that he wants to hear Shang Xirui. Fanboy Fan Lian tells him that he has some of SXR records, and will lend it to him, but that is not what CFT is really looking for. 

Me, when I hear shitty house music

 He tells his BIL that when SXR is on stage he is a completely different person, as if he just walked out of book or an opera script.  Fan Lian tells him that he said something similar to SXR, “Body in the mortal realm, but spirit in the performance.” Ooof, I wished I could write something like that in my stories. He adds that of course, it’s a simplistic way to describe the singer’s performance, especially when taking into account his irascible personality and his nebulous past with his cousin.  But he adores the man’s talent, so he is able to ignore all that.  I completely understand bro.  I have a lot of celebrities that I enjoy their work, but dislike their personalities.  Sometimes you have to separate the art from the man/woman.  

CFT tells him that is not what he cares about, since he has no understanding of the art form, but he actually cares about the man’s spirit, which he finds special.  Well, someone is smitten. He finds it refined, rich and sensitive.  He is not only a performer who is amazing at what he does, but compare to him, everyone else are mere mortals.  This goes above Fan Lian’s head.  The look on CFT’s face says it all; this is a man who has fallen in love, so yeah, Fan Lian, you can’t understand what he is talking about or feeling. 

Dressed up in a fabulous attire and strutting his stuff, while his wife looks on, relieved that he is finally leaving the house, he goes out to find SXR.  Er Nainai tells Meixin that she used to be uneasy whenever Er Ye left the house, but now she is relieved that he is going out, as long as his heart is with his family. You might end up regretting those words.  

Meanwhile, SXR is facing another crisis as the opera singer who he was replacing while he was out sick as suddenly decided to come back, probably because he is jealous at the success our little divo is having.  Xiao Lai can’t believe this bullshit, especially since they are running out of place to perform.  

Waiting like a teenage boy for his crush, CFT is standing next to his car, when he spots Shang Lao Ban coming out of the theater with Xiao Lai.  He presses on the horn to get his crush’s attention and I swear this is the cutest thing ever.  SXR sends away Xiao Lai who does not seemed to happy that her boss is spending time with the businessman. Shang Lao Ban asks Er Ye how long he has been waiting in the cold instead of coming backstage. CFT looks at him like a man in love looks at his object of affection. I am so jealous of this fictional character! Seriously, he is practically gazing at the other man, who can only smile and asks where they are going.  Oh my, is this their first date? I squeal! He is taking him for an afternoon tea and actually wants to know what he would like to eat. Our little glutton tells him that he wants something sweet and opens the door to let him in.  I need to pause for a second, tis tew much. 

SXR is scarfing down on a chocolate cake and asks where Er Ye went after the show.  He wants to have his opinion about his performance, which CFT tells him it was really great. In other operas, Yang Guifei would be forced to die at Mawei Station, but SXR version sang about willingly giving her life for love, turning the damsel into a hero.  He was especially struck by one of the lyrics, which is the same lyrics SXR loves about the opera, brought to tears.  

CFT flashes a 1000 watt smile upon hearing that and tells him that his performance of Palace of Eternal Youth does not resemble other version of this opera and should be called something else, like the Legend of the Flourishing Tang Dynasty.  A little history background here.  Yang Guifei was Emperor Ming of Tang’s favored concubine, whom he stole from his own son.  Apparently he lavished her with gifts, built an expensive pavilion for her, neglecting his duties as an Emperor, so much so there was a rebellion.  Wanting to stop the rebellion, the courtiers forced the Emperor to demand Yang Guifei to be killed as they saw her and her family as the reason for the unrest.  Unlike the opera, she does not kill herself, but is killed by Gao Lishin and her body brought to the head of the rebellion as proof of her death.  However, the marks the slow decline of the dynasty..

SXR is confused by what CFT is saying, not grasping the meaning behind the title.  CFT explains that Palace of Eternal Youth is a love story between to high status people confined by their roles, that of an Emperor and his consort.  They have to abide to what his expected of them in their respective roles.  The play not only depicts this confinement, but also the rise and fall of a nation.  SXR version of the play since about a flourishing dynasty yet it is focus on a tragedy of sacrifice, which could be reflected in 1930s China before the horrors of the occupation and the valiant resistance from both communists and nationalists to oust the invaders. This goes above the uneducated SXR who explains to CFT that in the second act of the play, Yang Guifei had angered the Emperor in a fit of jealousy , but afterwards made up.  The reason for the disagreement was due to the fact the Emperor was enamored with another woman called JIang Caiping, feeling Yang Guifei sacrificed herself for no reason.  CFT sees a parallel between SXR situation with Mengping and his story.  SXR tells him that indeed he sees himself in the stories he sings. CFT tells him that he understands as he used to see that opera performers were similar to their characters, but when he saw SXR performed Yang Guifei, he was more than a mere embodiment but was the actual person, which makes SXR sees that CFT understands his performance in depth, and adds that he was using his soul to perform.  This gets CFT to smile, one that I bet even his wife never seen.  It is a naked smile what they shows his true emotion.  We are witnessing the connection of two souls here and it's a beautiful thing.  Once again, how this past censorship is beyond me. 

Look at this smile!

Meanwhile the troupe is waiting.  I have a feeling Xiao Lai told the troupe their leader had left with Er Ye.  As soon as the duo appears, everyone stands up in attention.  SXR shouts to Xiao Lai to warm up some wine, while Shi Jiu is trying her best to put her flirt on. Oh sis, you are wasting your time.  The man is not interested. 

She comments that finally her boss is seeing the light, associating himself with Commander Cao’s BIL is the next best thing than getting the actual man to dispel the rumors and help them out of their desperate situation. The duo chat some more, over wine, talking about the difference between Western Opera and Eastern Opera performers, especially the castrato. They talk about skills needed to be a good singer. They get drunk, so much so that SXR and are hilarious.  

SXR is in his first costume he ever used when performing and despite being average compared to now, he considers it his most prized one; it is his armor, his guts.  I have to say it is a beautiful piece, showcasing the meticulous work put in Eastern embroidery and their use of pearls.  

CFT reveals that he wrote a story when he was in school abroad.  SXR says he is not surprised since he can see that Er Ye understands the art on a deeper level and why they are connecting.  CFT tells him of his story, which is about a woman who eloped with a man she loved, but who abandoned.  While she waited at home, she had many lovers, who came and gone, until the woman finally realize that she didn’t need these men in her life.  They were just a passing folly, not dependable to ensure her happiness and that by controlling her fate, she can do so.  She went on to open her own weaving shop, taking in widows and orphans and went on to have great success, so much so, she was asked by the Empress to make her clothes.  Damn, that is a freaking good story! They laugh and SXR thinks the morale of the story is that for a woman to control her fate, she needs money. Hmm.. aren’t we all? Shang Lao Ban reminds might be too progressive for Beijing Opera; instead the protagonist would be killed.  CFT tells him that stories transcends culture or gender which seems to make SXR teary.  As a performer, he is seen as the dregs of Chinese society, lower than a prostitute, despite the fame. I bet he wished to live in a world that would dispense of this hierarchical structure and see his profession respected by those in higher status.  He tells CFT that he would love to play this type of woman, and I am hoping this is a hint of collaboration between the two.  I actually would love to see him play this kind of character.

The troupe is eavesdropping, hoping their leader would hit up CFT’s wallet to help them out when Lao Ge comes in looking for his boss.  They push him out, claiming Cheng Er Ye is not inside.  Shi Jiu says they should keep anyone from interrupting since it might be their only opportunity; Dashen replies that it depends on their leader’s abilities to charm beg Cheng Er Ye for help.  

Meanwhile, the duo is still discussing opera.  Er Ye does not understand that for the sake of expediency, why not only wear a mask like the Japanese kabuki performers do, which would save time on makeup.  This appears to make SXR laugh hard.  He tells Er Ye that it is not the same thing because you will not be able to see the facial expression, which are an integral part of the opera.  Wearing a mask is like being a ghost on stage, a bit like dubbed voices take away the essence of the emotions conveyed by the actors (any C drama fans would understand).  

They drink again and SXR reveals this has been the happiest day since he came to Beijing.  He never expected to become kindred spirits with Commander Cao’s BIL.  CFT ponders about the title, which constrains me like the rest of his life.  But SXR sees through the facade of a man who seems powerful and wealthy, like the fictional character, General Gao Yaonei who took Lin Chong’s wife, but turns out to be a good person, while CFT also had the wrong picture of Shang Lao Ban as an arrogant prima donna on the cray cray side, but is actually a good person as well.  Shang Lao Ban is asleep and he looks so cute.  The troupe is still standing at the door when a drunk Cheng Er Ye stumbles out.  The troupe does not want to let him go back home and convince him to stay by claiming their leader would beat him up if he leaves without saying goodbye.  Lol these sneaky mofos. It actually succeed and Cheng Er Ye returns to sleep with our adorable Shang Lao Ban.  They have no idea they are helping the ship sail.  

Meanwhile, the weasel family(Jiang father and son) are discussing SXR financial problems and the fact he had to pawn his costume to pay the rent. They are jubilating at the difficulties Shuiyin troupe is facing, especially since they are a big one and there are bound to have problems as morale starts to get low and the funds disappears. With losing his spot at the theater and not being shrewd, he will have problems raising money, leading to his own people turning against him.  Its the next day and the member wants to know how his chat with Cheng Er Ye went, in the hope they got themselves a rich sponsor.  SXR is like “the hell are you talking about? What difficulties?” Then it dawns on him what they are asking and that angers him.  He lets them know that his “friendship" with Er Ye is on a different level, one of being kindred spirits.  He wouldn’t dare use him for money. 

They grumble until CFT appears; he looks like he didn’t sleep on a cushy mattress like he has at home.  CFT asks if SXR heard some rumbling noises last night and SXR asks if it hail last night.  Judging from his face, he knows where this noise came from and Dashen confirms it was loud snoring. LOL.  SXR is obfuscated, claiming he never snores. Xiao Lai brings out the rinse and CFT is also given one.  As he is about to rinse his mouth, SXR breaks out in a voice exercise that makes CFT gulped the rinse.  LOL  There’s a competition between him and one of the merchant selling fried pancake.  There’s a knock on the door and the merchant as left a piece of fried dough for Shang Lao Ban, claiming it as gift.  He splits it and gives a piece to CFT, who can’t turn it down, but you can tell has no interest in putting this commoner’s food in his stomach.  So boogie. While CFT struggles to eat the dough, SXR invites to take him somewhere fun, but the troupe goad Xiao Lai to remind SXR they have to clean out the backstage of the opera house, hoping CFT would hear about their troubles.  SXR is having none of that, sending some of them to clean out their stuff.  He clearly does not want to ask money from CFT and I can’t blame him.  Money has a way to create unease and inequality, especially in a budding relationship/friendship.  Once you owe someone money, it causes problem, especially when you have to pay it back.  SXR leaves with CFT in tow, who still has not taken a bite of the fried dough, leaving it behind for the others. The way he drops the pancake and wipes his hand is so boogie, I cannot.

They walk through a street where many circus-like performers are showing their talent. They are walking so closely to each other already, le sigh. The area is called Tianqiao and someone in the Viki comments stated this is the closest to the amusement park date trope so prevalent in Asian dramas, and I couldn’t agree more. CFT compares it to the Shanghai’s Great World Amusement Park, confirming the statement above.  It is apparently an entertainment and amusement arcade, which opened back in 1917.  Shang Lao Ban reveals that he once sang there and despite the place having a roof which would carry his voice better, he prefers the open air of Tianqiao.  Clearly not full from the friend pancake, he goes and buys persimmon cake.  Geez where does the food go?! He offers one to Er Ye who, of course, turns it down. 

Look how close they are walking!!!

 Unbeknown to him, he is the victim of a pickpocket.  Trying to get his money to buy cigarette (hmm... wait, this is far more unhealthy than the greasy food Shang Lao Ban is offering you bro!), he realizes what happened.  Our kung fu penguin goes after the thief and kicks ass.  Seriously, he is amazing.  CFT looks like he is enjoying seeing his crush fighting skill, especially he is far more proficient with a gun than his fists. He gets the money back and tells the thief to leave.  CFT asks why he didn’t take the thief to the cops, but SXR tells him the way of the street is that if a thief got his ass kicked, that is sufficient punishment. CFT asks about his kung fu skills, saying it is is good looking (Ohhh); SXR reveals it is a skill that has been passed down from his father, the Shang Family Rod, a type of martial arts that is different from the fake fighting on stage that can do real damage.  CFT comments that SXR must have been beaten a lot when he was a child, which the singer admits.  If you seen Farewell My Concubine, you know the abuse these kids go through to become performers.  It is gross.  SXR invites CFT to continue with their walk and this is where it ends.

Ooof, this episode was heavy in emotion and exposition. I truly think this is where the infatuation Cheng Fengtai had developed for our little divo turns into love and where Shang Xirui gets to see the shrewd businessman has someone who possesses a similar artistic passion who had to give it up for circumstances out of his control.   He is like the real Yang Guifei who was forced to accept her fate and be killed by Gao Lishi, whereas Shang Xirui of the opera who chose to sacrifice herself for her love, giving himself fully to his passion. We are also seeing how much the troupe is suffering because of the rumored feud with Commander Cao, which sets up lots of conflicts that will set up the end of our act 1 and push our protagonists to make a decision that will forever change their lives. 

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 8 - WangXian go on a date & DON’T BLINK

Hello there, welcome to another Untamed commentary. To put everyone in the mood, it is Friday evening, one of those grey rainy days interrupted briefly by by brilliant burst of sunlight. I’m having a snack (chopped mango with yoghurt and a homemade matcha latte with honey), I just washed my hair, I’ve exfoliated, masked and moisturised. And everyone in this household is doing their own thing (napping, watching tv shows, more napping), I’m in a very good mood, so let’s go ahead with episode 8.

I think I’ve never commented on the intro credits before, I’ve seen people say they prefer to skip them because they find them spoilery, which they undoubtedly are. However, besides the absolutely stunning cinematography what I feel they aimed for is confusion. You’ve got this guy who’s kind of dark, but he’s crying and playing the flute, then some people are trying to kill him in some scenes, but in others he’s fighting back to back with the same guys and then there’s black smoke everywhere... I feel that, if I saw the credits I’d be intrigued enough to actively look for the drama and find out what the deal with the guy with the flute is.

And let me repeat something from the previous episode:

BUNBUNS. LOOK AT THE BUNBUNS

HOW’S WWX CUTER THAN THE BUNBUNS. THEY’RE BUNBUNS.

DONT FUCKING DO IT. Oh but these three with the bunbuns just melt my heart. STAY WITH THE BUNBUNS FOREVER AND NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN.

JC: gentlemen’s don’t hold bunbuns.

JC: *proceeds to be soft and cute and gentle with the bunbun he’s holding*

Ok but stoic serious no-nonsense LWJ stopping to say goodbye to the bunbuns? That’s fucking adorable.

FR tho, people who are “tough/cold/unapproachable” being super soft with tiny creatures is my damn kryptonite. It’s like, Ben Solo, being a super-beefcake with a lightsaber, a terrible past, too much attitude... and a kitten on his shoulder, I would 100000% ignore the bit where he was a super effective killing machine and go “aww. you like cats!”

As a lover or thunderstorms at night when everything is still and quiet I would’ve stabbed WC up a nostril just on principle, so props to LXC for not murdering that clown. Never mind threatening his baby brother.

I LOVE SHIJIE’S UNWAVERING FAITH IN HER XIANXIAN.

Aaaaaand let’s have a moment to admire LWJ/Wang YiBo in blue.

Ok, done.

OH MY GOD. I’d forgotten this bit was in here. So you know when WWX has just caught up with LWJ and he throws him a loquat and complains about LWJ leaving him behind? I love the bit when he’s calling the Lans petty, and LWJ just goes “boring” and sweeps past him with this tiny sassy smirk and leaves WWX fucking processing for a second. I live for that kind of LWJ and that’s partly what my TimeTraveling!LWJ was based on.

WWX: *ties them with magic* isn’t this neat?

LWJ, internally: so he’s a genius dumbass, I’m fucked.

Ok now that we are a bit in I can safely say this is one of my favourite episodes. No, it is not because it is pretty much an episode-long WangXian date. How dare you.

LWJ’s internal monologue: I can’t believe in so in love with this dumbass. I’m moron-sexual the gods help me.

JC being a good bro and JYL being the fucking queen of the universe like she always is.

(Another moment to appreciate LWJ/Wang YiBo in blue)

I feel LWJ’s aversión to crowds on a spiritual level.

I also feel NHS excelling just in what he likes so much. I mean, I was never a terrible student, but looking back at just the last six years in Med School my marks skyrocketed from a passing grade in stuff like physics and biophysics to top marks in things like neurosurgery; just due to the fact that I find neurosurgery way more interesting than physics.

THE PETAL SHOWER SCENE IS STUNNING. Also, if you don’t think WWX already had a crush on LWJ (and I am talking in The Untamed/CQL verse, I know that in the books he still thought he was straight) I’m pretty sure this is filmed just so we’d have visual confirmation that he is indeed crushing so hard. And I still don’t know if NHS is wingmaning or third wheeling. (Both? Both? Both? Both is good.)

I mean, NHS goes onto his “LWJ is stunning” monologue, and then WWX gives him kind of a disbelieving look. BUT THEN, he glances at LWJ (again being showered in flowers bc he wasn’t gorgeous enough on his own) and his face turns considering, he makes a stupid joke, and he goes back to looking at LWJ with the softest smile. I will fight anyone that dares tell me CQL!WWX hasn’t been crushing on LWJ since the Cloud Recesses.

//Sidebar LWJ’s looks adorably in awe at the petal shower this whole time.

Aaaaaand plot happens.

Oooof! The contrast between all the colourful flowers before and the burned blackened garden now. Ooooof.

Ok but that shadow bird is fucking cool and I want one.

WC’s head piece (guan?) makes me think of the Disney designs for Pain and Panic.

I know is wishful thinking, but if I wonder how different things would’ve been if WQ had snapped and offed WC when he was taunting her with the safety of her family.

Can I take a moment to rave about how clever WQ is? I mean, she’s already worried and scared for her family, she had absolutely no warning before JC ran into her and yet she managed to pull off that ruse to warn him about WangXian and NHS being in trouble in what, a few minutes? She’s so cool.

Ok, full disclosure here, I can’t see elderly people being sad, scared or worried, it reminds me of my maternal grandparents whom I adored and I get super sad.

(My dad still has his parents but they are terrible to my mum, dad and me, so they get no sympathy)

Funny story: I almost fell backwards the first time I heard “grandmother” used as a respectful term to an elderly lady back when I was living in Bulgaria (I moved back to Spain like a week ago, I’m over the moon to be home y’all). You don’t do that in Spain, calling someone who’s not your grandma “grandma” is really fucking rude.

Aaaaaand none of these knuckleheads know how to speak with a person in shock. They get a pass because all teens are knuckleheads in some measure but...

But if I heard a terrified lady muttering about soul snatching I’d fuck right off that village tbh. I’d take my chances sleeping in the woods with the roaming serial killers.

[it just started storming, I love this!]

Sure! Let’s stay the night in a cave with a creepy anthropomorphic statue that’s supposed to snatch souls. I’m sure it’ll be ok.

NHS is the only one with a Braincell here. (NHS is my adorable Slytherin son and I love him)

Y’all might not have noticed but I have not I’m not going to comment on the quality of the CGI/special effects/monsters. I’m aware this is a tv show and it doesn’t have the same budget as idk, a Marvel movie. I’m ok with them not being that believable. Same with unbelievable sword moves, I know shit all about sword fighting and even less about xianxia. Y’all might even be lucky enough to avoid my “bodies don’t work that way” rants, because again, everyone has magic, why would medicine be any different.

[brief interlude here, I had to go cat-hunting because we couldn’t find one of the cats, she likes to make a break for it sometimes, it’s a full on thunderstorm outside, almost sundown and she’s solid black. We found her in the basement exploring. Two of the other ones are in the kitchen with my mum and my big scaredy boi is under my bed. Also, this storm just reminded me that my dad is fixing the attic so I can have a “loft” next year when I start my residency and I can’t wait to fall asleep to rain up there.]

NOT THE TIME TO FLIRT WWX. NOT THE FUCKING TIME.

What LWJ says: stay alert (in case the statue moves again)

What I hear: Don’t Blink!

Oh come on! Zombies now? Fuck right off, let them sleep!

And that was episode 8! Thank you for reading.

[flowers-for-nuz]

queer eye s05e05 reactions

love love LOVE everything about jvn in this opening scene !! that sweater crop top!! the ribbon bow in their hair!! gorGEOUS

ok im in love with abby already. protect this smol child !!

jeSUS i am in love with this girl. she's so relatable and so adorable and i just wanna give her the biggest hug and ask her to be my friend

jvn saying "yes.." after everything, almost wishing for her to say she does something other than brush her teeth LMAO

hehe jvn slapping karamo's butt with such vigour i love it

WHAT IS THIS EPISODE I LOVE IT SO MUCH OMFG

antoni and abby riding the bike !!! CUTIES!!! "have u ever ridden one of these before?" / "no" / "SAME!"

antoni is so fascinated by this store i love it

hahahah "there's going to be lots of accidents if u step out like that"

oooof she looks so pretty in that blue dress and gold earrings

skipping with karamo !!! crying

jvn's outfit at moko !!! LOOOOVINGGG it

hahahha jvn explaining sister act to abby xD

ok no this is the best house bobby has done. I WANNA LIVE HERE

abby is just so lovely i cant

she asked them to sign the paint chips 😭

tan lagging behind on his bike hahaha

jvn's grey shirt looks soooo comfy

hahaha karamo carrying tan bridal style

"omg i gave her her mom's haircut" HAHAHHAHA

best. episode. ever

[nickelkeep]

Galaxy Brain 15x12 Reaction Blog

It is so weird to be doing this on a Tuesday. Is what it is though... The Road So Far...

Sammy will bounce back. He won’t have lost hope for long.

KAIA!

Oh shit, I literally just wrote something about her yesterday

JACK! My sweet cinnamon roll <3 I don’t know why Death has you eating angel hearts, but I’m sure we’re going to find out.

Earth 2... I see what you did there.

Chuck’s going to snap him.

It’s monologue time. LMAO.

They don’t spark joy. LMAO.

WAIT. So our Sam and Dean are the real Sam and Dean? They’re not just toys?

Anyone else getting major architect vibes from Chuck right now?

Time to start canceling shows.

JODY. MY QUEEN.

So, that confirms Alex and Patience still live with her.

JODY. DON’T GO IN ALONE.

And there’s Kaia.

PROMO TIME

Why don’t you just go ask your son how he’s feeling? Cause that looks like remorse. There’s gotta be some soul left in my sweet nougat boy.

He looks older, so weary

JKdhgSJHGJSHG DEAN IS SIDING WITH CAS.

Reaper giving a pep talk.

Jack just lied to Sam. :(

...is Sam scared of Jack?

THEY’RE TALKING. DSPOIGPOSDGJHSDG THIS IS SWEET

GO GET MAH JODY.

Look, I know Kaia’s coming for her spear, which is broken

KAIA IS ALIVE? DUN DUN DUN

CAS AND JACK PLAYING CONNECT FOUR

NO. BAD CANON. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THEY’VE MET.

“Hey, not-Kaia? Not helping.” Don’t be surprised if I usurp this line for my own use.

Yes, Jody. YOU GET ALL THE VOTES.

Awww, Teen Vogue not your thing, Not-Kaia?

Jack is busting his ass. 

Sergei is definitely not a friend. wouldn’t mind seeing Cas threaten him again.

“Have you told Claire?”

Who’s outside the door?

JACK, Baby... Don’t do it.

What’s that saying, the Grass is always Greener on the other side? Not-Kaia was jealous of Kaia

JACK.

MERLE? ‘pLDSgdsJ:KLgDS”:JLgdsA”:JOgds”:JOdGS”:JLgDS:JO” BADASS JACK. Manipulation is an art form.

SAM’S LIKE MY BOY?

DON’T YOU HURT MY CAS. 

Witch!Sam

ALL THE PRETTY ALCHEMY SYMBOLS drools

“Honestly? it feels like we’re taking a big, probably stupid risk. It feels good.”

...did y’all forget about those creatures?

“They’re not hungry. They’re scared.”

OOOOF That’s gorgeous, but...

I HAVE ALL MY WAYWARDS BACK! DREAMHUNTER IS BACK! MY BABIES!

Yeah. I fucking jumped. Like, I knew Billie was coming, but a scythe through the chest? Badass queen.

UH OH.

SAM. SAM. CALM DOWN.

Flashback. I love that scene.

WAIT. SAM IS IN GOD’S BOOK?

They’re the messengers of God’s Demise...

I wonder how many worlds God has killed at this point? 

WRITERS LIE, Kiddo.

Yep. Called that. Four weeks of servitude, destroyed by several meteors in mere moments.

I do wonder though... Was Chuck distracted enough that he missed over what Jack was doing?

[takaraphoenix]

Ooh shiny new ask game..... If they haven't been asked yet F, K, X and Y? Thanks! 💜

They haven’t! Thanks for asking! ^-^

F: Share a snippet from one of your favoritedialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

Oooof. I am so bad at remembering things I wrote. xD

Though one story where the dialogue stuck with me is “The Dragon’s Treasure“. I just, personally, found myself surprisingly funny in that one. Most of my humor is “Literally only I will find this funny lol”, but in this case, I was really pleased with it.

"What... in the world. You took the wrong person, dumb dragon. I'm a prince, not a princess."

"Not every dragon likes pretty princesses, some of us do prefer a pretty prince", replied a dark, rumbling voice, echoing through the cave. "And it is not polite to call others 'dumb'."

It took a moment for Percy to place the voice and even then he had a hard time wrapping his head around it. He very slowly turned his head to face the dragon whose black eyes bore into Percy's very soul. The young prince gulped hard, causing the dragon to look nearly amused.

"You... can... t—talk...", stammered Percy, feeling like the ground beneath his feet was crumbling, only that there was no ground because he was still being held by the dragon. "I've gone mad."

"Debatable", hummed the dragon, very clearly amused now. "But yes, of course I can talk. All dragons can talk, we just choose not to because most humans are not good conversationalists."

"So... why are you talking to me? And why did you abduct me?", asked Percy skeptically.

The dragon seemed to frown as he tilted his head – the voice was very clearly male. "If I put you down now, will you be a good, little human and not run away? If you try to run, I will be forced to punish you and I did have other plans for today, little one."

"First of all, I'm not little!", sputtered Percy with a fierce glare.

"Of course, fragile creature that fits into the palm of my hand", drawled the dragon out sarcastically.

Percy's glare darkened even more, though he also looked a bit embarrassed. "Whatever. Yes, yes I won't run away. I just want to know what the hell is going on here."

The dragon cautiously put Percy down before patting his head with a single claw. "There, there. Good, little human. Now, just sit there and wait for a moment. Don't scream, it's annoying."

Percy wanted to ask why, but then it already happened. The magnificent dragon shrank down to... a human-like version of himself. His skin was darker than that of Percy or his country's people, an olive-color, there were patches of scales on his arms and torso. Black curls and silver horns on his head, eyes still as dark and intense as they had been before, with a predator-like look on his face. Percy shuddered under that intense gaze. Around his hips was a piece of leather wrapped that looked pretty much like the dragon's skin had; black, beautiful and adored with sapphire-shards. Thanks to the cloth only around his loins, the human-looking dragon was showing off his very nice physique. Percy felt his face heat up as he stared at the gorgeous creature in front of him. The most stunning parts however were behind the young man – large, black leather wings (though of course smaller than the ones from his dragon-form; proportionally shrunken down) and a black tail whipping behind his body. Percy had never seen anything like this creature before.

"W—What are you?", stammered Percy, clearly frightened by the new things.

"I'm a dragon. I had hoped you would be up to speed on that", sighed the creature disappointed. "My name is Níehkkón tou Chaédez, but you can call me Nico, it is most likely easier to pronounce for your human tongue. I am a dragon. And yes, all dragons can talk and all dragons have a humanoid form. Though we only talk to those we deem worthy. And our humanoid form is normally reserved for our mates. I do have the urge to smack you upside the head however and if I'd do that in dragon-form you will most likely never recover from it."

"Why do you—ouch!" Percy interrupted himself as he was smacked upside the head by a tail.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come upwith?

That’d be Hanging on by Thread. It would have been part of my Chasingverse. And it’d have been a more elaborate look into when Percy lost the baby. I had only hinted at it in the story prior to when he loses it and then talked about the loss during Chasing Fireflies itself, but for a time there I wanted to make a separate story for it.

The whole deal of it was that, during the Giant War, Nico would have gone to the Fates and made a deal with them to protect Percy at all costs, because the thought of losing Percy was too terrifying.

“A life for a life”, was what the Fates declared. “A debt to be paid in days to come.”

And Nico, being young and not knowing what it would entail, agrees.

2020 rolls around, Nico actually managed to get together with Percy, they’re happily married and expecting their fifth child. And then there are complications. While Percy is in the hospital, fighting for his life and the baby’s life, Nico goes to the underworld, trying the only thing he can do.

But he can’t. Because he made the deal. A life for a life. And now he has to make the choice. Uphold the deal and give the life he hasn’t met yet, or undo the deal and instead lose the love of his life and rob their four children of Percy, rob Sally and Paul and Tyson and everyone else of Percy.

So he makes a hard choice that he never told Percy about.

Yeeeah, that was the idea. But then I chickened out of it because I love happy endings and this would literally just reduced me to tears just writing it. Percy losing the baby, blaming himself, slipping into depression, Nico carrying the burden of knowing what had really happened and also blaming himself and just overall angsty sadness. That idea got canceled.

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Jace Herondale! He is a precious boy who is so good to hurt! *^* Physically and emotionally! ^o^ It’s just so much fun, because Dom plays him so beautifully and I know how wonderful he looks when he suffers?

Y: A character you want to protect.

On the risk of sounding like a hypocrite: Jace Herondale. As much as I love making Jace suffer, the show has gone way too far at this point, like seriously even my sadist writer self thinks “Slow down some guys, killing dozens of innocent mundies and murdering Clary in his dreams over and over again and then blaming himself for Clary’s supposed real death really seems enough, did you have to make him murder his only livnig relative??”...

Fanfic Ask Game

[lethesomething]

The definitely not definitive otome guide

I sincerely doubt the world needs this, but that sort of thing has never stopped me before. Have an extremely biased guide of several dating sim games, organised by some arbitrary metrics.

Word of warning: this will be long (4k words), because I've played an embarrassingly large amount of otomes.

As a disclaimer: obviously this is a personal opinion. If you (as a lot of people do) enjoy the more forceful bad boy type in your dating sim, I’m not going to judge you. I, however, don’t, so this list is very specifically going to call out games for how they treat the protag.

Featured here: Amnesia: Memories,  Blood in Roses, Cutie Demon Crashers, Destined to Love, Dream Daddy, Hatoful Boyfriend, Hustle Cat,  Ikemen Revolution, Ikemen Sengoku, Lost Alice,  Midnight Cinderella,  Monster Prom, Mystic Messenger

A note on play styles.

These games come in a few flavours, which is important to know if you're gonna try them.

The vast majority of the mobile games here follow a basic visual novel structure. You pick a guy and read through the different chapters, and depending on your answers you'll be leaning toward one of two or three endngs. Since these are free to play mobiles, there's a bunch of challenges you will need to log in daily to pass.  

Mystic Messenger is the main outlier, since it's a chat simulator that plays in real time.

The pc games tend to be more complex, with interlocking routes and more endings, generally. You'll need a number of skill points to meet character A for instance, or you'll need to do a series of actions to reach ending B.

  Great games

Ikemen Sengoku

Hands down one of the best mobile otomes out there right now. I found this when searching for pics of Masamune Date (from a different game) and I've sort of been obsessed with otomes since.

Platform: Android (free to play, pay for premiums) Story: MC gets sucked into a wormhole and finds herself 500 years back in time, in Sengoku era Japan. She drops in on the exact moment where Nobunaga Oda, the Demon King, would be assassinated at Honno-ji. She stops the murder, disrupts the timeline and now there's a bunch of hot warlords vying for her attention. Protagonist’s spine: Reinforced steel. This is one of my favourite protags, because she is Super Sassy and doesn't take shit, unless she's literally being threatened with a sword. The protags where I feel like I understand their actions are few and far between, but this is one of them. Except when she goes far beyond mere bravery to get her man, and decides to forgo tampons and, like, wifi, to live 500 years in the god damn past. Squick factor: Low. This game is made by Cybird, a company that appears very big on consent. The guys generally treat MC with respect, probably more than could be reasonably asked of a Sengoku warlord. The only worrying stuff happens in the Obvious Yandere route, but you kinda know what you're getting yourself into with that one.

The Good: I friggin love the writing for this game. The guys feel like real characters, there's a ton of interaction between them and I need to give this game extra points for the story events, which are almost invariably gold. This is where the makers stop giving a shit about realism and just go for what they want to write. There's ones where all the guys are suddenly idols, there's a Christmas episode, there's one where they battle through cooking and cleaning. It doesn't take itself serious, is what i mean, and it's Hilarious. The Bad: This is one where the in-game art (aside from the CG's) is actually not that great. Hideyoshi's smile is kinda weird looking and the models feel a little outdated at this point. Best Warlord: This is very difficult, because a lot of them are dreamy, but let's just say that I need a Mitsuhide route so very badly.

 Ikemen Revolution

The newest Cybird game and my current fave.

Story: MC falls down the rabbit hole when she tries to give a rushed White Rabbit man something he dropped. She ends up in Cradle/Wonderland, where war is about to break out between the Red and Black army, the Hearts and the Spades. Everyone is hot dudes and MC is considered Alice the Second (after the one from Through the Looking Glass). Squick factor: Low. Again: Cybird game. This means there is steamy situations and sex scenes, but they're blatantly consensual. The routes I've played so far keep well within the bounds of what I would consider romantic. Protagonist’s spine: Varnished wood.  In general MC is self-propelling with occasional bouts of bravery. You can tell why she's doing the things she's doing and how she reacts to situations feels sort of logical. She's hard-working and caring and a little naïve, but the fact that she's canonically a woman from early 19th Century London does put a lot of her actions in perspective (like the amount of bullshit she puts up with).

The Good: The writing is fun. There's a good mix of angst and just… general comedy. The characters interact with each other a lot, and it feels like they're a big loud family, especially in the Black Army, which is more like a frat than anything else. The art is also decent. The backgrounds are utterly gorgeous and most of the guys are very good looking. When I first started the game I was weirded out by the blinking animation, but I have since gotten used to that. The Bad: I found some of the plot rushed. Like you spend so long slow burn growing toward each other, and then suddenly stuff has to happen action movie style because we're running out of chapters. The final chapters of Fenrir's route were just plain dumb. Like could that BE more of an obvious trap. Come on MC, I expected better of you. Also, since this is a very new game, not that many routes are out (four at the time of writing). Best boy: Hooo man. Of the routes that are out, Ray is very… oooof. But my fave chars are probably 'so done' Sirius (the fact that he's voiced by Suwabe has nothing to do with this, surely) and 'also quite done' Kyle, who is both a doctor and an alcoholic wreck of a human being.

 Mystic Messenger

You know Mystic Messenger, it's like one of the biggest otome's of the past few years.

Platform: Android, iOS (free to play, pay for extra saves and stuff) The Story: MC follows a text message to a weirdly high tech apartment and this somehow puts her in the position of party planner for a secretive group of weird people. It only gets more complicated from there. The game plays out in real time, via chat conversations and the occasional story segment. Squick factor: Um. I personally wasn't weirded out, but I also decided very specifically not to play Jumin's route. This girl did her research. The routes in Another Story are also very over the top and would probably bug me. While I love the Saeran character, I don't think I'd be able to handle that route. So: highly dependent on chosen route. Protagonist’s spine: Adderall. It takes a specific kind of person to download a chat app and follow the instructions given by a random stranger therein. It takes a much stranger person to sit in an apartment with a bomb and just keep inviting people to a party. MC is on a different level from us mortals.

The Good: I loved the game mechanic, because it felt very real. The player is following a chatroom, just like the character is. Besides that, the story is completely bonkers and I appreciate that. The Bad: Did I mention it plays in real time? Because it plays in real time, meaning you get chat conversations at two in the morning. I was very sleep deprived when I played this. Best boy: 707. Dude is funny and deep and hot and relatable and smart and I want to give him all the hugs.

 Dream Daddy

One of the few decidedly mlm games I've played so far. You've probably heard of it since it was the subject of much hype and much controversy. Markiplier played it. Friggin Buzzfeed has video's on it.

Platform: PC and Mac (it's on Steam) The Story: MC is a Dad who moves into a neighbourhood with a lot of other single(-ish) dads. Time to work it. Squick factor: Low. This is primarily a humour game: there's a ton of dad jokes and silly mini games, and a distinct lack of kabe don's. The canon routes are all very thoughtful. Protagonist’s spine: Barbecued sausage. Player Dad just goes for it. He’s flexible and caring enough to handle the more sensitive subjects, and self aware enough to deal with random crime and weird drunks.

The Good: I remember opening this game and, in the character creation screen, telling a trans friend of mine 'omg you can wear binders', and the sheer Glee of his reaction. That's the kinda stuff this game was, partly, made for and it is appreciated. I really liked the tongue-in-cheek writing, most of the jokes landed and the whole thing is just a lot of fun. The Bad: Some of the minigames are annoying. Why the hell are you making me play Bejeweled with fish? I also had a hard time sympathizing with some of the kids. I mean… Lucien straight up tries to murder someone? Ernest is 'rebellious' but he's also an ass. Best dad: Damien has the best route, but have you Seen Mat? Holy moly.

 Not worth it games

Amnesia: Memories

This game should come with a friggin warning, so I'm giving it here. Its popularity and star rating is a terrible indicator for how much you may enjoy this game. It presents itself as a cute dating sim with gorgeous art, but it devolves into straight up horror, and not in the good way. This feels like a guidebook written in the 1800's to tell young women their place. Not even mortified intrigue could make me finish this. 

Platform: PC (Steam or Google Play) and PlayStation Vita Story: MC wakes up with amnesia. Someone hurt her and she doesn't know who to trust. You'll need to figure out what happened. Squick factor: Super high. Like… so high.  Everyone treats MC like shit and she just lets it happen, even developing all kinds of Stockholm Syndrome as she falls in love with these asshats. MC's childhood friend supposedly loves her but is such a tsun and just… doesn't communicate while also treating her like a small child. One of the other characters is so popular he has a fucking harem but MC is just supposed to wait for him to actually fall in love with her. And don't even get me started on that friggin yandere. *shudders* Even the secret route 'true love' character is a million types of wrong. Protagonist’s spine: Undercooked custard. MC has the self preservation skills of a wet sponge and whoever is playing this is supposed to get turned on by high concept ideas of S&M that are just written out so badly everything feels like an abusive relationship.

The Good: *sigh* The art. The art is very pretty (I'm upset at the art since it sucked me into the horror). Also, as a visual novel, this one is complex as all hell. There's a ton of endings  (most of them deadly) depending your actions as a player. It's vast, is what I'm saying. Also, I hear the clover route isn't as bad as some of the others, but I was too weirded out to try. The Bad: See rant. This is one of those games that really seems to glorify the whole possessive, abusive boyfriend shtick, but it's ok because he loves you, really. Ugh. Just… ugh. Best boy: Kent? I guess? He doesn't appear to be actively abusing MC at least.

 Shall we date: Lost Alice

I wondered if I should include this because I literally played like ten chapters  and then deleted it, but that in itself should give some indication.

Platform: Android (free to play, in-app premium purchases) Story: MC wakes up in the forest with amnesia (I see a trend). Turns out she's in Wonderland and everyone thinks she's Alice. Most of Wonderland's characters are, predictably, hot men. Squick  factor: Unavailable. I didn't play far enough to see but some of the men are quite pushy and also it's a Shall we date app, so… tread carefully. Protagonist’s spine: Cement. This is an MC that puts up a fight, which I respect. Sadly she does so in that 'needlessly aggressive' way that anime characters sometimes have. I didn't find her particularly sympathetic.

The Good: The art. It's always the art that gets me. The Bad: The UI annoyed the shit out of me. This is a free to play, pay for premiums game, so some level of mindless clicking is expected if you try to play for free. This one had just too much. There was friend greeting and picture rating and princess lessons and got knows what else, all taking a ton of time. Trying to get to the home page popped up at least four different 'now on sale' screens every single time. The writing wasn't good enough for me to deal with that. Best boy: Well there’s a cat. So.

 Decent games

Hustle cat

This game is set in a cat café, that was all the encouragement I needed to buy it.

Platform: PC (Steam) Story: MC is invited to take a job at a cat café. Turns out everyone in the café is cursed, and also they're into you. Squick factor: Almost non-existant. This is a very tumblr friendly game in the sense that your love interests are both male and female, and none of them are particularly pushy. The relationships feel pretty natural and mostly consist of MC helping their love interest with some subquest. Protagonist’s spine: Cucumber. MC is actually pretty cool. The game does that 'modern western game' thing where you get to pick a gender and a skin colour for your protag and the general atmosphere is 'tongue in cheek'. MC doesn't let people walk over them, but they're generally helpful.

The Good: CATS. The premise of this game is pretty neat. The Bad: According to Steam I played this five months ago, and I pretty much forgot about it. Fun game but not particularly memorable. Best cat: Landry. Tall, gentle giants are a particular weakness.

 Shall we date: Blood in Roses

This is me giving Shall we Date another shot, because the amount of hot mildly medieval boys was intriguing.

Platform: Android (free to play, in-app premiums) Story: There's two, because this app has been around for a while and now has two 'seasons'. The Witch stumbles upon a supposedly abandoned castle and gets imprisoned there by a bunch of vampires. The Hunter, meanwhile, seeks out the castle because she wants to stop an attack on her village. Both come to realize that the castle is now a hotel for monsters, and that its denizens are both not what they imagined, and also hot. Squick factor: Highly dependent on route. The Witch literally starts in a jail cell, so you can imagine the Stockholm Syndrome shit that goes down. Also, this is a personal preference, but I'm really weirded out by a lot of blood play stuff so most of the vampire routes are gonna be… problematic. Shall we Date games don't shy away from sex scenes and I like that, but coupling them with drinking blood 'to get in the mood' is a rather specific niche. The game does offer a number of other options for you to court, from werewolves to wizards and… grim reapers? It's a mixed batch. If you're not into pushed boundaries I can offer one tip: stay away from the vampires. Protagonist’s spine: Sand cookie. She has one, but it's brittle. I've mostly played Hunter routes and it's like… she tries, and she can take care of herself but she also tolerates more bullshit than necessary, ya know.

The Good: The art is good, and some of the storylines are intriguing despite my reservations. I'm still playing it (mostly in a quest to find a good ending where MC doesn't die to become a weird immortal creature).  The UI, while annoying, isn't as bad as Lost Alice's, or so it seems. The Bad: The writing is very hit or miss. There's routes where the guy just sort of lowkey stalks MC, until she suddenly decides she's incredibly in love with him. There's others  that make even less sense, and then there's ones that feel more natural. In general, MC's actions don't  seem to have a lot of thought put into them. Best boy: So far: Gordon. He's cute and sensible and tortured and not incredibly antagonistic.

 Midnight Cinderella

You'll notice a friggin ton of Cybird games on here.

Platform: Android (free to play, premium purchases) Story: MC gets, mostly by accident, chosen to be the Princess of Wysteria. As such she must prepare to govern the country when the king dies, and choose a consort from a number of suitors. Squick factor: Low. Not only are these men respectful of her, they're rather literally treating her like royalty. Having said that, there is a lot of the typical hurtful tsun stuff going in several routes. Protagonist’s spine: Lightly done steak. There's something weird going on with the protag in this game. When it comes to governing, she's tough as nails. She's thrown into a situation she wasn't ready for, and while this stresses her out 24/7, she performs admirably. On the other hand, her main reaction to literally anything when it comes to love is 'Oh'. She cries a lot, at times she feels like a wet rag. There's a bunch of situations she could have just solved by going 'Yeah I'm into you'. She's complex, I guess.

The Good: The writing, while melodramatic, is nice. The art is good as well. The Bad: This is an old game and it doesn't perform that well on my current-gen smartphone. Expect to push certain buttons several times before the game realizes what you're trying to do. Also the loading takes ages. Best boy: For me, Sid, because he reminds me of Aomine Daiki and I'm weak for that type of personality. As far as routes go, Leo's probably had the most impact on me.

 Destined to Love

I'll be honest, I started this because of an event in Ikemen Sengoku that would give me cross game storage. Don't judge me.

The Story: MC gets flung back in time (this is also a trend, it seems) to the 1800's, a few weeks before the Ikedaya incident will make the Shinsen-gumi a historic Legend. She meets, and chrams, a whole bunch of historical figures. Protagonist’s spine: Cured leather. As a modern woman sent back in time, MC is probably fairly sassy by the standards of the time, but she remains mostly polite. She's tough, considering the circumstances, but quite pliable in that 'we'll see where this goes and make the best of it' way. Squick factor: Low. There's one character that just screams 'red flag' but I have yet to try his route. Since this is a Cybird game, most of the guys are pretty respectful.

The Good: I really like the premise? As the title suggests, MC's love is part of a higher destiny, one that transcends time, and it's one of the reasons she has to go to friggin 1800's Japan. She has a hand in making history. This amuses me. Also, the guys are pretty good looking. The Bad: This is a fairly old mobile game and you can kinda tell. On a technical level it's not as bad as Midnight Cinderella, but again the touch buttons aren't always responsive. Besides that, some of the writing is rather clunkily translated and a bunch of the art is low res. Best Boy: I haven't played all the routes here, but Katsura is a god damn sweetheart, and Kyo and Yamazaki seem adorable AF.

 The weird: the special ones

Hatoful Boyfriend

The reason I know otome's exist. This one shot to meme status a few years back.

Platform: PC (it's on Steam) Story: MC is one of the last remaining humans after sentient birds took over the world. She gets enrolled into an elite school for pigeons. Squick factor: Medium to high. The major thing to understand about Hatoful is that on the surface it looks like a particularly silly dating sim with pigeons, but dig deeper and it is Also a full blown apocalyptic horror story. And it follows the genre where a wrong move gets MC horrifically killed. Having said that, several of the routes, including the god damn serial killer one, didn't bother me as much as something like Amnesia, because they were not sold as romantic. Maybe it's the whole pigeon thing, maybe it's the general weirdness of the plot, or maybe it is because said serial killer actually goes 'Surely you knew this would happen', before he guts you. Protagonist’s spine: Gummy bear. MC is highly forgettable, but therefore also like… not annoying. The main focus here is on uncovering the many layered plot and the player character doesn't really have a scripted personality, she just embodies the player's actions.

The Good: This whole game is so out there. There's a reason it became so popular. It's an Experience. The plot is over the top and intricate and Weird, and that makes it intriguing. There's a ton of routes and endings, some more secret than others. The 'human' version of some of these birds is kinda hot (sadly that includes the serial killer). The Bad: the plot is so weird and meandering that it's kinda hard to follow at times. I'm fairly certain it takes several guides to unlock all the endings. Best Birb: It's been a while, but I remember liking Yuuya's route quite a lot.

 Monster Prom

The new hype.

Platform: PC (Steam!) Story: MC is a student at Monster High, and is trying to get a date for Monster Prom with one of the hot people. Squick factor: None. I mean, nothing that happens here is in accordance to health and safety norms, but that's kinda the point. It's a parody game, making fun of all the hoops teenagers are willing to jump through to become popular. Protagonist's spine: Coagulated blood. MC is willing to make deals with demons, wear corpses as a hat, anything really. The question is very openly: what could I do to make them like me.

The Good: It's a funny game. I like the characters, who embody everything from the Mean Girl to the Hipster Nerd and the Needlessly Aggressive Jock. The art is simple, cartoon style, but pretty neat. The Bad: Everything is very tongue in cheek, which leaves it a little… light for my tastes. I don't feel like any of the routes matter in the grand scheme of things, MC hasn't truly touched anyone's heart. The whole thing is a joke game, so it's funny, but a bit shallow. Best monster: Polly, the permanently stoned party girl.

 Cute Demon Crashers

Technically a sex game? But a really very special one.

Platform: PC (free! Here!) Story: A portal opens in MC's house and four Incubi/Succubi drop through. To apologize for the inconvenience, while they wait for a portal back, they offer to teach MC about sex. Squick factor: I've written about this game before and the best thing, the very best thing about it is how incredibly consent-minded it is. Like, even if you're already in bed, getting it on, there's always an option to turn back and leave it at that. The demons are really just there to help MC find out what gives her pleasure. Protagonist’s spine: Rock. Obviously, MC is mildly upset about four random demons showing up. As mentioned before, what happens next is mostly up to the player.

The Good: It's free and the art is pretty and I love the premise. The Bad: Kinda short, but again: free. Cutest Demon Crasher: *cough* Orias *cough*

[parabataisarah]

BOOK 2, CHAPTER 10

Masterlist here.

Reactions under the ‘Keep Reading’ cut.

- ‘You look down to see powerful arms wrapped around you. You’re spooning with Sean, who’s still asleep. He holds you close, protective.’ I know I’ve said this a lot, but… I’m soft?

- ‘Aleister sleeps on the hardwood floor beside a bed of pillows he made for Grace.’ AWWWH!

- Zahra’s Tough Choice is about coffee? Lmaooo 😂

- I’m getting some of that dirty bean water! I have a 73% chance of this working and I like those odds, so I’m gonna do it!

- Awh, Zahra saved some coffee just for me? I feel special!

- M’kay, gimme a weapon with infinite ammo and let me go ham on all these guys. I’ll have them done and be back in time for lunch.

- ‘He looks directly at you.’ “But I ain’t gonna let them hurt you. I swear it. I swear it on everything.” …Mar, I’ve truly fallen in love with Jake’s character… Send help to me, please.

- Lmao, of course MC finds the spa.

- Let’s go talk to Michelle, let Diego and Varyyn have their time.

- Michelle “gifting” MC a pot of skin care stuff? I love her.

- Woah, Estela’s mother worked for Rourke?

- Awh, no, not at all! Estela is not being stupid by wanting to find the room her mother was in while she worked there. Sure, Rourke might’ve thrown stuff out and cleaned the place, but there’s a chance she could feel her mother there, or feel closer to her mother. I honestly say go for it.

- Of course Craig and Zahra find a gaming system 😂

- Whose family was in the newspaper clipping???

- ‘Friendship Up! Zahra is now friends with you!’ MY LIL’ HACKER BBY!

- ‘Friendship Up! Craig is now friends with you!’ YES BITCH!

- Now it’s just Aleister and IRIS to get to friend level!

- I’ve said it before, and I’m gonna say it again - Please let Craig and Zahra end up together!

- KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!

- Sorry lmao, no, wait, I’m not, I like them together!

- AHHH!

- “Just tell me you aren’t playing strip poker.” “Without you? Never.” SEAN GAYLE, YOU STOP THAT!

- “Good lord, get a room already.” THAT’S WHAT I SAID IN BOOK 1 ALEISTER!

- “Dude. Dudettes. Dudelings. Doodlejumps.” RAJ YOU ARE A TREASURE AND NEED TO BE PROTECTED!

- Shit, it’s New Year’s Eve already?

- Holy hell, Michelle’s birthday is December 31st? One of my cousin’s birthdays is that day too!

- “Also, MC’s birthday starts at midnight!” Oh shit, it’s MC’s birthday too? Well hey, she shares the same birthday month as me!

- Ooof, Sean looks g o o d in a suit, y’all.

- Quinn’s blue dress looks s t u n n i n g!

- Damn, Jake looks g o o d in a suit too!

- Estela! Sparkly dress! She’s too beautiful! Ahhh!

- Damn, MC’s dress looks hot as all hell!

- We brought the dress because… how could I not?

- I loved that little “compliment” section you get if you buy the dress. 😂

- I don’t know why, but ever since I played TRR, when I come across the choice that lets me pick what I drink, I always pick whiskey… Is it an homage to Drake? Is it my own weird way of picking on him? Who knows? Because I certainly don’t! If it wasn’t obvious, I picked the whiskey.

- I’m gonna say that the New Year is an excuse to party, because I threw out resolutions a long time ago and I’ve never been in a relationship, so I don’t see the appeal of kissing at the countdown, and we don’t really party unless we’re at my cousins, so.

- I’m gonna say that my resolution is to hold onto what matters because you truly never know when it could go.

- Me @ my memory “Please don’t fail me on remembering the birthdays!”

- I DID IT! Oh sweet mercy, I did it!

- WAIT WHAT?! HOW AM I HAVING A VISION BY TOUCHING LILA? IS SHE A GODDAMN IDOL?!?

- OH! IT WAS LILA’S FAMILY IN THE CAR CRASH!

- LILA I SWEAR TO HIGH HEAVENS IF YOU DID SOMETHING TO US…

- “Well I’ve always said I’m cold-blooded!” L I L A HONEY!

- Nope, Raj and Craig, I love the two of you, but do not use flares. You will draw the soldiers to us!

- Let’s spend midnight with lover boy!

- VARYYN JUST ASKED IF HE COULD KISS DIEGO! AHHHHH!

- AHHHHH MY BABIES!!!

- I JUST MADE AN AUDIBLE HIGH PITCHED GASP BECAUSE ZAHRA JUST KISSED CRAIG!!!! YES MY OTP!

- Oooof, the full body images of them in their NYE outfits… Gorgeous!

- PFFFT! “What’s up? Something wrong?” “Yes. Something is very wrong. You and I are not naked.” MC DEAR LORD! 😂

- Why is your first instinct to open a drawer, Sean?

- THESE TWO ARE SO ADORABLE I AM CRYING

- I… I uh… Need a moment. Hot damn 😂 They’ve only just started the *wink wink* and I swear 😂 The Damien Scene Writers wrote this scene 😂😂

- It’s almost 1am… PB don’t be doing this to me.

- Also, what a way to start the year!

- We’re going into her mother’s room. Let’s do this!

- “You’re with me?” HELL YEAH I AM!

- Let’s see what’s on this hidden camera!

- I don’t know if I trust Lila…. This scene with Estela’s mum is iffy.

- LILA WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?

- I’m voting her off the island and that’s a FACT!

- WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!?!?!?

- I mean, I’m all for Estela getting her revenge against Lila, but the second I saw her name pop up on screen, my mind was like “LILA RUN!”

- Shit is about to go d o w n.

BONUS SCENE

- Aye, we’re back with Yvonne!

- “Such a pity they are all dead.” Honey, think again!

- What’s The Endless doing here?

- I’m assuming the 12 pedestals are for the twelve idols?

- So I assume Yvonne is going to join our merry group again?

- Oh, now we’re going back to six months ago?

- Wait, Lila stayed???

- So was it Lila who was coming and going from the hotel trying to figure out Rourke’s password and shit?

- Well damn.

- So Lila discovered the door that lead to Rourke’s “mancave”

- Wait, how come IRIS didn’t tell us that Lila had stayed behind??

- She has romantic feelings for Rourke, doesn’t she?

- Well fudge. Lila’s a badass, but a betrayer.

- One word… AHHHHH!

[midsummer-meterorite]

ST:TAS - s01e01 - Beyond the Farthest Star Reaction

ooooo new theme music? and sounds like a new soundtrack too

same sound effects though

man, this animation is unintentionally hilarious

for how simple it is, it captures the cast well though

that alien starship is gorgeous! reminds me of lily pads

in orbit 300 million years ?!?

bees??!

“Compared to the people that built this ship, we are the primitive people Mr. Spock” - Kirk. Got him there! That’s the Jim I know and love.

oooof this alien voice is rough

holy shit, so many explosions!

ah yes, classic whipped kirk for spock the moment he is in danger

if I hear one more “oBeY mE!!” I swear to god

as soon as I heard symbiote - imagine an AU where Venom existed?!

good god, the last desperate calls of the life form where oddly haunting as everyone oddly was so nonchalant about it and then it just ended??

these episodes are soo short :( I miss the long episodes of TOS. I’m sure that ending scene would have been handled better & with more gravitas with more time to breathe