#personally i need to see him baffled but in a comedic way

[teddyclara]

Does Sunday know that Clockie is like, a real guy that some people in the Dreamscape can interact with? Does he know that there's a sentient memetic entity based on a beloved cartoon character running around asking the Trailblazer to help undo the Family's emotion control thing and also helping them manipulate emotions? Would he look at the Trailblazer like they were some insane person (they are but for different reasons) if they told him that they were talking to Clockie? Who actively opposes the Family?

[tempobaekh]

Bakugou Katsuki dating a hyper feminine fem!reader

(who is also the human embodiment of Barbie)

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x hyper-feminine!fem!freader Warnings: fluff, maybe ooc bakugou? idk, the pictures at the top DO NOT indicate how the reader looks, reader is a Barbie dolls collector idk if that should be a warning I’m not good at this, there is nothing specific body type, hair texture or skin color described Note: Since I watched the Barbie movie I have been OBSESSED with it and hyper-fixated on it, so this idea came to my mind. I am not good at writing/writing headcanons so if it's bad please don't mind it. But do let me know what I can do better in the future.

Hyper and girly gf x grumpy and anger issues bf

Or la la la and ok ok ok

That’s literally you two

Dating someone who is hyperfeminine and is literally the human embodiment of Barbie would be an interesting dynamic for Bakugou

But yknow the saying ‘opposite attracts’

First time meeting you Bakugou would be utterly baffled at first by your pink-themed wardrobe, sparkly accessories, and bubbly personality; it would be completely alien to him.

At first, he might find you overly cheerful and appearance-focused. However, over time, he would begin to appreciate your confidence, bubbly personality, and unique traits (and also your odd obsession with collecting Barbies)

He might even secretly enjoy your knack for fashion and makeup although he will never understand your obsession with the color pink

OCCASIONALLY might let you do makeup on him bc he loves you too much to say no to you

Glaring at his reflection in the hand mirror with pink eyeshadow on his eyelid “I look ridiculous.”

but will literally threaten you if you tell someone what he doesn’t know is that you secretly took a picture of him with the pink and glittery makeup

Bakugou often reluctantly let himself get dragged by you to go shopping INSISTING on holding all your bags for you walking with you like an intimidating guard dog

Yknow that tik tok trend where a girl has night walking privilege and then they show their intimidating boyfriend walking with them? Yeah that’s you guys anywhere y’all go

Will glare and almost physically get ready to fight someone if they look at you oddly or comment on your appearance

The outfit contrast is COMEDIC between you two when you guys go out

Bc like you are all pink, bows, frills, sparkle, gems, and smiley

While he is all black, in large jackets, combat boots, hunched over shoulders, and a scowl on his face

Yall definitely get looks and double check by people

He will definitely give you self-defense lessons bc even though he is always there to protect you he needs to know if there is a situation where he can’t be there to protect you which is NOT often you can defend yourself

“If I’m not there to beat up some shitty idiot, at least you can kick some ass.”

“But I thought you would always be there to be my knight in shining armor.” you would say teasingly

Gets dizzy every time he sees your closet he's dramatic bc it’s all shades of pink, glitters, frills, and sparkles 

Pointing at your high heels; “How the hell do you walk around in those death traps??”

Bakugou ALWAYS remembers every little thing about you

Like your favorite food, flower, color that is really obvious or snacks, he even remembers your favorite Barbie from your huge Barbie collection

Bakugou would struggle to express his feelings in words, but his actions would speak volumes he will go out of his way to ensure your comfort and safety, and his subtle ways of affection always make your heart flutter

Surprises you with an intimate candle-light dinner with a big bouquet of pink roses

“Don’t get used to this mushy crap, okay?” he would mutter with a small smile

And you would pinch his cheeks “Who knew you were so cheesy Katsu.”

And you appreciate his ways of showing affection 

Bakugou once surprised you with a limited-edition Barbie that you had been wanting for a while and you cried

Y'all's dates might involve a mix of Bakugou’s preferred activities and your interests/ideas

So it’s a different type of date every time and each of them more fun and sweet than the last

Bakugou uses a few different pet names to call you by:

Doll/Dollface: Bakugou, at first, used the nickname with a hint of sarcasm but it evolves into an endearing term

Barbie: While this pet name seems like an obvious choice, Bakugou playfully uses it to acknowledge your resemblance to the iconic doll

Babe: A more casual and common term

Sunshine: He uses this term to acknowledge your bright and positive personality, even if he’d never admit that you have a positive influence on his mood

Princess: Bakugou might reluctantly use this pet name when he is feeling particularly soft towards you, even if he’d never say it out loud in public might let it slip once or twice

When you heard about the Barbie movie coming out you were SO EXCITED

Talking Bakugou’s ear off about the film and begging him to come with you

He is too whipped and can never say no to you so of course he is coming with you

You already had your outfit and makeup picked out for the film and also chose a Ken outfit for Bakugou fucking imagine him in the mojo dojo casa house Ken outfit with the fur coat SKSJSKJSJ which he hesitantly wore just to make you happy

He was definitely not enjoying himself by being your Ken no definitely not

He also bought you the Margot Robbie Barbie as a gift to surprise you and you swore you fell even more for the ruby eyed man in front of you

So in conclusion Bakugou loves you a lot and will do anything for you no matter what it is or how ridiculous it is

Note: gifs, pictures, and header DOES NOT belong to me. CREDITS TO THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS!! Feedback is appreciated.

[sheher-gayboy]

Up next, Barbie! As before, text copied below the cut-off ❤️

The most interesting thing about Barbie is how people talk about it and what they choose not to talk about. In a just world this is a box office hit, changes some thirteen year old's life and the rest of us go on, thinking of it occasionally whenever we see an impossibly built blonde man or a pink car. In a just world, Barbie is Die Hard for whatever the woman equivalent of that guy is.

We don't live in a just world however, and instead a movie that is better than it has any right to be (but crucially, still not amazing) is a whirlwind vortex of our culture, coming to represent everything about this moment in time. Some of this the movie invites on itself, it self evidently wanted to start some of these conversations, it wants to be talked about as a feminist piece though it never purports to be saying anything all that deep and lampoons itself for how it conveys the trite messages that it does. It's conveyed quite competently and it's all in a fun package, Robbie and Gerwig are confident in their abilities as storytellers and it's clear this is all just a stop along the road for them towards higher pursuits. God forbid this be seen as the height of anyone involved's career, everyone is putting in a good show but you can feel that they can all do better and this one is just for the hell of it.

There are good things here that are actually worth talking about and it's baffling to me how little attention is being paid to them. Ryan Gosling easily steals the show as Ken, though to be fair no one is given nearly the comedic breathing room to shine as him. The design of Barbieland is rival to the greatest of the Star Wars or Hogwarts sets, as the camera pans by it's pastel pinks you can feel the children in the audience get their first urges to create a world we could live in. Though short, the time we spend with Rhea Perlman as Ruth Handler (though, more accurately, God), is phenomenal, weaving the film in Gerwig's larger tapestry about women, memories and those that create us. Likewise too, America Ferrera's turn as every Gen X and Millennial woman ever feels more like a grounding piece, through her character we see how Gerwig is approaching the task of making a film that she must've known would be everything that it is in the public eye. Strangely, the movie feels like it has something much more emotionally resonant to say to young men, speaking personally, I could've used a message that said I didn't need to define myself by filling the boxes of the comphet lifestyle a lot earlier than I did receive it in my life.

I don't only have praise of course, I feel that the appeal to small familial emotions is Gerwig stunting herself and repeating the emotional cores of her previous films while not having anything new to say on these points. The film plays with queerness but not in any way that can rallied behind, it's as if the movie is somehow gay best friending the entire queer audience. Finally, as I said, it all feels a little trite. I suppose there's room for this sort of messaging, it's not like we're in a post-sexism world and there's always someone who's hearing this stuff for the first time (I guess I assumed there weren't quite so many adults who hadn't heard it before though).

Overall, I want to see Margot Robbie in things that challenge her and I want Greta Gerwig to make things that challenge us and yes, Ryan Gosling needs more comedy roles. The principal take away is that it's a god damn shame we'll never get The Nice Guys 2.

[blazeofnight]

PotO Italy (Trieste) review - Actors and final thoughts

ACTORS

Let's get this out of the way: I am not a Ramin fan. As in, I like him fine as a singer, not so much as an actor, but I also don't resent him with the burning hatred of a thousand suns. He's NOT the main reason why I went to see this production, I went in expecting him to be perfectly serviceable but nothing more.

I think his voice has improved since the 25th-anniversary recording, and I liked his acting a bit more too. He still has some mannerisms that annoy me, but in general this Phantom was a good mix of angry and pathetic, definitely more nuanced and vulnerable. I didn't come out of the theatre converted to him as the one true Phantom or whatever, but it still was way better than what I expected.

Bradley was ok, not a Raoul I loved, and at times he was just…. there, I did love him in the more emotional/intimate moments (like AIAOY, he was great) but he could have been better when 100% emotions weren’t required. He did look very good in Raoul’s suits, so there’s that, and he was NOT a possessive/angry Raoul (which I personally dislike). A bit jealous, maybe, but nothing too strong.

I have to say this staging has some rather physical moments for both the Phantom and Raoul, good thing both Ramin and Bradley are gym rats!

The one I really LOVED (and the main reason I’ll see the show again) is Amelia Milo. You can definitely tell she needs a bit more experience, and as I said in the first post her voice can be a bit thin in her very upper range, but overall she impressed me with her portrayal of a sweet, naive girl who has to grow up and leave the past behind. I think she portrayed Christine’s growth and change beautifully, if she’ll be back in Italy in other roles I’ll definitely go see her again because I want to see how her career goes! Also, people who met her at the stage door say she’s absolutely a lovely human being, which is always nice!

Earl Carpenter and Ian Mowat as the managers were a delightful comedic duo, you can definitely see they are both experienced actors. Slapstick does suit Earl and I remember him saying he really wanted to play André because of the comedic potential, I can definitely see how he enjoyed himself in the role! His half-drunk “baleeeEEEET” will stay with me forever.

I also really liked Anna Corvino as Carlotta, if you’re familiar with the mannerisms of old Italian opera divas you can definitely see she got some inspiration from them and it was a lovely detail. She sings well, and I found her lovely to watch; she did not go overboard with the funny faces but still provided a lot of funny moments with her overly dignified countenance.

Zoe Nochi as Meg was… a mixed bag. I loved how close she and Christine are, and how intense she was during Angel of Music, BUT. She spent a lot of time screaming “THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!” at the top of her lungs, looking comically over the top scared. No nuance there, which is perplexing since she showed she’s capable of that in other scenes. It’s a pity because those screeches really ruined an otherwise lovely Meg (ETA: after seeing her again in Milan, I have to say I felt this issue a lot less so maybe I just caught her on an off day! Also to be clear I really liked her Meg's performance apart from this)

I have little to say about the other actors, they were all perfectly fine, no issues there but also nothing that stood out to me.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, I’d give this production a 7.5/10. 

The cast worked well, nothing to complain about here.

The costumes had some really nice stuff + some just ok stuff + a couple of baffling choices.

The same goes for the backgrounds and props, there’s a couple of glaring issues (the title song, the whole cemetery scene), some need a bit of adjusting (the use of the rotating stage, the ending of AIAOY), and others worked well.

I have never seen another non-replica version live, but from the pictures and reviews of those who did, it looks like this is pretty much what happens with all of them. Working with smaller budgets + having to do stuff differently leads to similar issues, I believe, and each production has to choose what to sacrifice.

One thing I do love 100% without reservation, is the tone shift. The original novel was very gothic in ambience, descriptions, tone, horror. The current version of the musical I saw in London is extremely beautiful, smooth, a fantastic musical experience, but I find that the emphasis on the romance part of “gothic romance” flattens it a bit (and a big part of the fandom then brings the process even further). I do love how the Italian production shifts the tone a bit further back towards the “gothic” bit, which really explains much of the background, the use of lights (which was GREAT in many scenes btw), and especially much of the changes that outraged people when they first became known. 

It is a different point of view on the tale and its themes than the one the original production has, and as such it’s natural that some folks will like one but not the other, while others will like both. Personally, being originally a book fan, I LOVE it. And I honestly believe it can be an interesting experience for folks who really like the original, but are willing to have their idea of how this story can be told challenged a bit. Maybe there’ll be that one detail or scene that you really love and will incorporate into your own personal canon, maybe you’ll just use this experience as a springboard to analyze what you like about the original musical and confirm that yep, you like it as it is. As long as they don’t go into the theatre expecting to have the same experience as the original, I think most people will be fine when it comes to characterization and plot details changes.

As I said in part 2 of my review, I think that this is a perfectly serviceable production for folks approaching this musical for the first time and I think if fans of the original approached it with more of an open mind and less comparing it to other productions at all costs, there is some value here for them too. Yes, some stuff does not work and needs to be fixed, but it’s definitely not a disaster beyond anyone’s imagination. As I said I give it 7.5/10, which means it’s perfectly watchable and ok overall, but will need to do a bit of work in order to be truly “good”.

I will see it again tomorrow in Milan and I'm excited to see how Vinny Coyle as Raoul will change the main trio dynamic and if there are any changes made/if issues were solved. 

There's some stuff I really want to say about the current status of musical theatre in Italy, why I think the management made certain choices, and why this production is important for the Italian scene, but it's a post for another time. For now, it's all. 

[rrickgrrimes8]

Bully ~ Stiles Stilinski

really don’t like this one

Dear diary,

Sooo let's just say today sucked like sucked a whole bucket tonne. It sucked like every day this year has sucked. And the very handsome but incredibly annoying reason is no one other then Stiles Stilinski. My class mate. My nemesis. My unspoken crush. For god sake I hate him so much but I also love him so much. God it's so frustrating. I want him to badly but he'll never ever be mine not in this universe at least. He's just so great and he's so-

"(Y/n)" Stiles' voice rang over the phone in a whiny cringe worthy voice causing me to drop my pen and paper. "Stiles" I mocked back impersonating the same irritating voice. "Scott needs you" He stated coldly. "What for trippy?" I asked causing him to sigh heavily at the nickname I gave him.

You see way way back in freshman year I was actually friends with Stiles. We got along well and shared the same undying passion for Star Wars but then one day it all changed. Why? you ask. Well I have zero clue whatsoever. He just changed one day and started to be distant and rude. So I did them same to him. I became rude to him said horrible and snarky remarks about and to him.

But anyways back to the nickname. One day Scot and Stiles came up to me -Stiles not being overly eager to do so- and they were telling me about the past nights events on Scott completely wolfed out on Stiles or something along those lines. In all honesty I wasn't listening at all and that probably makes me sound like a bad friend buttttt I do have a reason for it. The reason is I was checking out Stiles but I mean can you blame me.  No you can't cause I know all you horny people would be doing the same thing as me. So no judging over here thank you very much.

But then after Scott finished talking Jackson - my other mortal enemy and also my ex boyfriend - came speeding down the hallway not caring about the danger he was putting everyone in. Jackson came rushing by and let's just say Stiles wasn't best please. If there is one person that hates Jackson more than yours truly it would be Stiles. Why? Again I have no clue but that doesn't really matter.

Because of Stiles confusing hatred for Jackson he decided it would be funny to trip Jackson up. And yes it was funny - insanely funny actually - but not because Jackson fell but because somehow -just somehow definitely not because I pushed him slightly - when Stiles put his foot out to trip him up Jackson tripped Stiles up instead and he bloody face planted. Legit I kid you not he went head first into the ground - knocked him out for a good 5 minutes. Scott was so worried but I was laughing my ass off.

So ever since then I called him trippy. "Oh my- (y/n)! Can you just not make this difficult please? For once?!" He shot back having enough of me teasing him about his fall. "Oooh sorry big man I'm scared" I replied cockily "What got your panties in a twist?" I teased him. "What the hell do you think, (y/n)?!" "Ummmm let me think..." I paused for comedic affect. "No clue trippy" Stiles started to mumble something under his breath that I didn't quite catch but before I could ask what he said he hung up.

He hung up on me. How rude. What a rude rude little man. How dare he hang up on me in the middle of a conversation. I immediately clicked on his contact to call him back.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.

God he's taking a while to answer.

Ring.

Ring.

Rin-

"What?" Stiles answered clearly annoyed at me.

"Why did you hang up on me?" I asked actually kind of hurt by his action. "Oh I don't know (y/l/n) maybe just maybe due to the fact you were making fun of me." He replied his voice strict and emotionless.

"So what? It's just the way we speak to each other. What's the big deal?" I asked baffled by his reaction. "The big deal is that maybe what you say actually hurts me okay?!" His voice raised causing my gut to feel heavy. He's hurt by what I said? "I-I didn't know you felt that way." I admitted honestly.

If I did know he was hurt by what I said I would've stopped - instantly. "Well maybe you should of thought about that yeah? Instead of being the bully we all know you are!" He spat pure hatred radiating from his words. If I could see him now he'd probably have steam erupting from his ears.

He thinks I'm a bully? Am I a bully? His fiery words cut deep and I felt my eyes start to sting. No god don't cry don't cry (y/n) stay strong.

"Y-you think I'm a bully?" I attempted at being strong but my voice wavered and cracked due to the pressure the sob threatening to escape did in my throat.

"Yes I do! And it's not just me. Everyone does! Scott does. Lydia does. Allison does. Hell even fricking Jackson does and he's the biggest bully I know well except from you. And I know for a fact that Justin does or well did." The tears fell freely at his harsh words. Did they really all feel that way about me? Did my brother think that about me before he-?

"O-oh I'm so-sorry you all feel that way. Um I'll leave you guys alone from now onwards." I almost silently sobbed to Stiles down the phone. I didn't waited a second to hang up the phone on him and throw my phone across the room -most likely breaking it - in your anger.

Do they really think I'm a bully? The question haunted my thoughts as I stood up pacing around my almost lifeless room. My cries were inevitably obvious and would've been heard by my parents if they weren't both at work. "Oh my g-god. What have I done? M-my friends hate me. T-they think I'm a b-ully" I cringed at the word. Bully. Thats what I am. No point in denying it. Stiles thinks it and so does everyone else. God even god damn Jackson does and he's a prick.

Thinking back now I did say some pretty horrific stuff to Stiles. At the time I believed it was well deserved because he pushed me away but nothing justified what I say to him on a daily basis. I'm supposed to be in love with him and I treat him like dirt on the bottom of my shoe. I'm a horrible person. Quite possibly the worst.

Without realising it I had wondered into my brothers room - my dead brother as a matter of fact. Justin his name was. He died in a car accident a little over a year ago which perfectly aligned to right after Stiles pushed me away. When he died Stiles didn't even offer his condolences. He didn't come to his funeral. He didn't say anything to me about him. This was the first time he even uttered his name since he died. And it felt like a slap in the face. We were friends. They were friends. Scott came to his funeral so did Lydia and Jackson but Stiles didn't and I wanted more then anything for him to be there. I needed him and he neglected to help me. So after that I was a huge and massive bully to him. He hurt me so I hurt him. I felt as if he deserved it but he didn't he never did.

I crumbled to the floor hugging one of Justin's shirts that was left idly by. It still smells like him I thought as I pulled it to my nose. I instantly was drawn to the comforting smell pressing my whimpering face into it. Wishing for Justin to miraculously appear but he didn't.

I cried into the soft fabric but immediately tensed when I felt two arms wrap around my tiny torso. I pulled the shirt away from my eyes and I met a rather distraught looking Stiles Stilinski.

"S-Stiles" My meek and frail voice called out to him. "Shhh it's okay (y/n). Everything is okay" He reassured me cradling me softly. "I'm so sorry Stiles." I whimpered whole heartedly. "I know." He muttered into my soft (y/h/c). He pulled the shirt out of my hands and laid it next to was gently. I whimpered softly at the disappearance of my brothers missing smell.

Stiles wrapped one arm around my knees while the other wrapped around my waist/torso. He picked my off of the ground and carried me over to my lonely room. Stiles placed me down on my messy bed covering me in blankets. He kneeled down next to my bed holding tightly onto my hand.

"I'm sorry (y/n)" he finally broke the silence. "I-I didn't mean what I said on the phone." He looked down to you stroking the hair out of your teary cheeks. "B-but it was true" my voice cracked beyond belief and a burn in my throat appeared due to the overwhelming amount of sobs I was releasing.

"N-no it wasn't (y/n). You're not a bully. You never have been and you never will" Stiles attempted to comfort you but just resulting in you sobbing harder. Stiles got into the bed despite still wearing all of his clothes including shoes and wrapped his strong arms around you.

"But I am a bully Stiles. I bully you everyday. Every single day." I sobbed heavier then before my tears soaking forcefully into his flannel. "No you didn't (y/n). What I said on the phone - I didn't mean it. No one thinks your a bully and you certainly aren't one. You're a kind amazing and drop dead gorgeous women and you are far from a bully." Stiles insisted.

"Why did you say it then?" I questioned still hiding my broken face in his shirt. "I was just mad and upset bec-because um well because I'm in love with you and you clearly don't feel the same way. S-so I got mad" Stiles rambled hoping i wasn't paying attention to his words. "Y-you love me?"

"No I'm in love with you it's kinda different." He corrected. "What's the difference?" "The difference is that people can say they someone love when they don't or they can say they love someone and then change there mind but the way I feel about you. I-I'm in love you u-unconditionally. I've been in love with you since I met you. And as much as it annoys me that you call me trippy or about any nickname you think could bother me I still love you. I always have and always will be. A-and I get that you don't love me or even like me back-"

"Iloveyoutoo" I screamed interrupting Stiles confession and at a pace that no one could ever understand what I said. I shot up out of the bed startling Stiles.

"You what?" Stiles inquired perplexed and humoured at my outburst. I jumped onto his lap surprising him to the point he snorted lightly. "I love you too" I whispered passionately into his ear still straddling his muscular waist. "Y-you do?" The uncertainty radiated from his glossy eyes.

"I do" He beamed at me before taking hold of my rosy and blotchy cheeks and planted his lips onto mine. Sparking the forces of attraction between us. Our moves kept going at each other. Our lips tangling together like a ball of string. Moans filled the air of my silent house.

"God I love you (y/n)"

[honey-milk-depresso]

For owl1256, happy fricking birthday you dumb, precious and comedic shit. I appreciate you for being my best friend, and this oneshot is for you my simp. Happy Birthday!

Zhongli x Reader (Deserve you.)

“ Zhongli?”

“Ah, Y/n.”

Zhongli was your friend. Pretty simple. You were quite close to the humble man who worked at Wangshu Funeral Parlour. Getting to know more about him, you found out that he was very knowledgeable of so many things, and you wonder why he wasn’t a famous historian and what not, and why someone like him worked at a funeral parlour. You decided not to question the enigmatic man, you rather appreciate the calm and tranquil presence of him.

Zhongli, a man who lived for millions and possibly billions of years ago, had finally retired from being the Geo Arcon. He never told you anything about this, of course. It would have been dropping a major bomb on your already fragile mind. He enjoyed the presence and company of you whenever you sent Qingxin and Silk flowers to the parlour. He would always introduce you to his tea collection and brew some tea for you. Well, you told him to brew it before hand.

Today was possibly an important day, more so to him, that he wanted to carry out for you.

“You called for me?”

“Yes, I did. There’s somewhere I liked to bring you today.”

“Oh?”

“It’s quite a nice place, and i thought maybe you would like to have tea with me over there.”

“Oh, um, that sounds great, Zhongli! Sure I’d follow!”

Sometimes you felt like you were the most luckiest person alive to spend time with such a charming and fine young man like Zhongli (yes I’m making you sappy-). Sometimes you wonder what an ordinary person like you would hang out with such a picture perfect, inside and out, man like him.

“Perfect. If you may, I like that if you could follow me now. That is, of course, you are free. If not, then I can wait.”

“Ah, no I can go. Don’t worry.”

He smiled. “Wonderful. Let us go then.”

==================================

“Woah.”

You stared in awe. Zhongli made you close your eyes, only finally getting to open them when you met lushes of willow trees that had a small opening that was big enough for one person to pass in. It was very faint, but you could see just a crack of sunlight that poke out of that opening.

Upon entering, you felt your breath hitched. A small stream that flowed down from the cliff into the lake, trees of different shades of red swayed by the soft breeze that blew from the west. A picnic blanket and a tea set was seen laid down on the grass.

“How did you even find this place on accident??”

”Well, it’s as you said. By accident. A very fortunate one.”

“It’s so beautiful. I could see the whole of Liyue from here!”

Zhongli chuckled as you admired the little hideaway. He found your antiques....

cute.

“Well then, I wish you a happy birthday, y/n.”

“Eh?”

Oh yeah, it was your birthday, huh?

You very much forgot about it due the increasing demands of work to be carried out by you. You hadn’t had much time to actually think and remember your birthday.

“I hope this gift was able to make you calm down. I could already tell that work has made you as tense as ever, y/n.”

Your eyes softened.

“Yes it has.”

He hummed. “I’m please to know that. Well, shall we sit down.”

“Of course.”

================================= A long comfortable silence pass over you two.

The only thing heard was the gentle breeze, the soft rustling of the leaves, and the occasional sips of you drinking your tea.

You stated at the tea cup, the osmanthus tea liquid rippled as a qingxin petal fell. You didn’t really cared about the petal, but you focused on the tea cup more as you thought about the man who planned this all out for you. Just you.

“You know, Zhongli. Sometimes I wonder what I ever do to deserve your company. Your attention. What I ever did to deserve you.”

He looked at you quite baffled. He could come up with a million reasons. Your company, your presence, your smile, your personality, your way of expressing.... the list goes on. To hear you say as if you didn’t deserve him, made him think the opposite. What did he ever do to deserve someone like you?

“There are a million reasons I can see what you have done to deserve me. But I wonder what I ever did to deserve you.”

“You’re kidding, right? Zhongli, you are the calmest, wisest, most knowledgeable man I’ve ever met. You’re very kind with unrivalled amount of patience and you have... well,um... possess striking features not many can have. I wonder why you’d wanna spend time with ordinary looking people like me. I’m quite bland. I easily blend in with the crowd,” you smiled sadly. You weren’t as special as people like Ningguang or Ganyu who possessed very beautiful features, knowledge or Vision. You were just someone who sold flowers to people all day long, and you only know about flowers and nature, and you love writing. Otherwise, you were quite ordinary and boring to your eyes.

“Well, you must be joking. You’re someone with a big heart, a natural, tranquil presence, and you’re very patient as well. Your not someone ordinary, y/n. Your way of expressing your feelings and thoughts is something that needs to be taken into consideration. Sometimes I wonder why you haven’t become a famous author yet.”

“Well, I...”

To be honest, you weren’t quite expecting to hear that from someone like Zhongli. You blushed in embarrassment as you were caught by the unexpected sweet compliments he gave you that sounded genuinely... well, genuine and sincere.

He smiled and looked at you softly. “I think anyone wouldn’t deserve as someone as perfect as you.”

[oatchi]

im sure someone else is going to say sentinel and ive already worn out the send you rewrite for an ask game joke so. prowl :]

you are only the second person to send me an ask actually. comedically. being the sentinel guy has many downfalls (everyone assumes someone said sentinel already /JOKE) i can do tfa prowl yes :-)

favorite thing about them well hes simply the best prowl because he absolutely isnt prowl at all. like not even close. that is just a man who happens to share the same name with prowl. im (mostly) kidding i havent really consumed a lot of tfmedia especially not any with prowl prevalent so i dont know if theres any other really good prowls and i just havent encountered them yet or whatever but i really do like his character so much. we love to see an autistic robot. i think his growth over the show is very interesting and like... hes such a handsome little man (spoken the way you would about like a tuxedo cat) his design is so interesting and again its so funny because girl that is NOT prowl! not even CLOSE!

least favorite thing about them theres not a lot i dislike about tfa prowl, but i will say the end of the show........ the season 4 scripts literally imply that scrapper mixmaster and dirtboss and wreck gar are still out there.......... they were willing to perma kill starscream on screen. for just a single tfa constructicon life we could save prowl. i guess its more of a story critique, without season 4 to have the whole ghost prowl plot happen, his death sort of feels.. out of nowhere...? he was training, he became literally so comically powerful, i guess the only thing stopping him from being the answer to all problems would be to kill him. but like... without season 4 it just feels so abrupt. still makes me cry a little though god bless (salute)

favorite line anytime tfa prowl says "fascinating..." is so everything to me. he is entranced by the beauty of organic life. but i do have to love the quip he does to bumblebee in the season 1 finale where he says that they need to use bumblebees strongest power, and after bee himself lists a few things, he cuts in and goes "Your obnoxious personality." i love that so much

brOTP i dont have a specific relationship i like the most with prowl, but i do think him and jazz shouldve gotten more screentime together. they shouldve been better friends :(

OTP did you know prowl is at the very least like a million years old? because he was drafted for the war? as in, the great war? as in, prowl is closer to ratchet aged than anyone else? this is not ending the way you think i still think bulkprowlbee is everything but prowl never clarifies hes the second oldest at all because theyre all adults so he just assumes they know however hes got like godly cybertronian genes and all that ninja training that make him look so young so one day bumblebee very boldly says something about "old bots" in reference to optimus (note: in my mind, bumblebee is like cybertronian mid 20s and optimus is cybertronian mid 30s) and prowl looks at him so baffled and goes ".... you do know im older than him, right?" and bumblebee goes "...huh" and prowl goes "bumblebee, i was drafted for the great war. im closer to ratchet in terms of age than anything." and bumblebee completely shuts down and its not for the reason you think at all its 100% because he didnt know his boyfriend was a silver fox otherwise he wouldve made like 1000 more jokes about it. everyone else is also so baffled by this revelation. i want to talk about this more in my headcanon section

nOTP im not as opposed to it as some people are, but i do still think prowl/lockdown is a little strange. i think you have to make prowl like 100% not an autobot for that which i will admit is funny as fuck but it just genuinely makes no sense to imagine them shipped in a normal tfa timeline aligned situation. also not a notp per se but sometimes i see people ship prowl and lugnut and that baffles me endlessly. you do you but also thats the funniest thing i have ever imagined. how did you get to that conclusion at all

random headcanon autobots and their reactions to learning prowl was draft dodger in the great war (mostly the age part) optimus: dead silence and the most horrified expression you could imagine. he assumed prowl was his age, maybe a little older or younger, give or take. he needs a bit to sit down knowing he is commanding over two people who are literally like 100x his age. once hes over it he asks about the war because of course he does bumblebee: see otp answer bulkhead: so so so very shocked and he needs to process it so bad but he clarifies so fast and so panicked that it changes nothing and that theyre all still friends (or boyfriends if you believe in bulkprowlbee). the moment he gets over it despite what he said he starts worrying about his health like hes an old old man and prowl is like "bulkhead i appreciate it im pretty sure im in better physical shape than all of you perhaps even combined" ratchet: literally does not believe him. literally refuses to believe this. he is so shocked and in denial. and when prowl provides proof that its true, ratchet goes dead silent in horror for like 20 seconds with this absolutely incredulous look on his face, followed instantly by more rage, going "WAIT just a allspark-damned minute, youre a DRAFT DODGER?!" and now that conversation is happening. bonus jazz and sentinel because i feel like it jazz: is older than him, and its not a shock. hed recognize yoketrons teachings anywhere sentinel: DID NOT KNOW JAZZ WAS THAT OLD. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOURE HAT OLD. JAZZ. JAZZ COME BACK! OPTIMUS! OPTIMUS (FRANTICALLY SHAKING HIM BY THE SHOULDERS) WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT LITTLE FREAK ON YOUR TEAM IS GREAT WAR AGE AND SO IS JAZZ? (10 SECOND PAUSE IN TIME) (OPTIMUS SHRUGS AND MAKES THAT "IDK" SOUND) DONT SHRUG AT ME I NEED ANSWERS

unpopular opinion uhhhh. hm. i dont know actually. i dont have a lot of crazy opinions on prowl. is the whole "prowl acts so smart but is so stupid" thing unpopular? can i say i think prowl is academically smart but he would probably wouldnt hesitate to jump off a cliff if prompted? but only because he thinks its a good idea/he thinks he can do it. i think prowl would do anything against orders if he thought he could

song i associate with them i have never thought about prowl while listening to a song in my life so im just going to go to my best friend the family jewels, album by marina who previously had some diamonds, and hold up Are You Satisfied? i think it fit him. a lot actually.

favorite picture of them this image i found on google at like 3 am once that was a wattpad fanfic cover i think. it makes me cry. its the funniest shit i have ever seen.

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

Teddy Bear Anon has purposed yet another interesting addition to the Immune AU which gives me plot ideas! In particular, a scene that would really help give past Dream a strong push into his character arc. 

I like to image that immune!Dream’s character arc starts with the death of immune!Puffy. Sure, maybe he’s not sad yet, but he feels something for the woman who declared herself his pseudo mother. It’s what helps to crack the shell enough for the rest of the immune gang to start weedling their way into his heart. Immune!Dream after spending enough time watching the group he, starts to realize that yeah, connections to other people isn’t a weakness. It really is a strength. It’s something that takes time for him to come to terms with because Techno seems like a testament to the fact connections are a weakness. He was unbeatable until his horse got kidnapped. His only connection, his only weakness. But then there’s Tommy who seems to represent the complete opposite. 

Where Dream represents strength from caring too little, Tommy represents strength from caring far too much. Now I’m a sucker for bamf Tommy, and I like to personally imagine that maybe the Immunes hold out for a year or two before they cave and try to make the portal. So Tommy has what really boils down to a two year training arc on top of already being a child veteran (I like to canonize SMP Earth as well because personal preference and it gives me even more room to make Tommy suffer. SMP Earth being canon? God, so much fucking trauma considering how the others treated him, a 15 year old child, like an adult.) Anyway Dream slowly realizes connections with one another are what kept the remaining Immunes alive, and he tries to force his younger self to understand that. Tries, but doesn’t really get far. Up until what everyone else calls The Fight.

Tommy’s always just kind of screwed around in fights as long as there’s only a threat to him. We know he has a tendency to throw if MCC is any indicator. But then they time travel and maybe they spend some time in the past trying to get the situation sorted and the past’s Dream maybe just kinda does something to Tubbo. Doesn’t even have to be big, it just needs to clock as a threat to Immune!Tommy who’s already lost his Tubbo and refuses to let his younger self go through that. So Tommy goes completely ape shit on the younger Dream. Sure, it’s only been two years for this Tommy. He’s probably, like, 18 or 19 at most. Still a child as far as a lot of people are concerned. He shouldn’t be stronger than Dream or Technoblade, and in the few cross group sparing sessions they’ve had he isn’t. He’s stronger than his younger self but no where near these two demi gods of combat. But then Dream suddenly registers as a threat to Tubbo in Immune!Tommy’s eyes and he makes the mistake of mocking Tommy while he’s at it. He knows that immune!Tommy lost his Tubbo and maybe the past Dream is lashing out slightly or trying to get some kind of foothold in Tommy’s psyche. He isn’t doing anything near what immune!Dream has done, but it’s enough to piss Tommy off. So immune!Tommy challenges Dream to a fight and Dream immediately realizes the mistake he’s made when Tommy starts to destroy him. 

Say even Techno’s there for some reason or another and he realizes what’s going down so he tries to calm Tommy down, joining the fight just as Dream is loosing it. The situation quickly turns into the first time Techno’s ever gotten his ass thoroughly kicked by Tommy, leaving everyone spectating baffled (Tommy’s younger self partly included). They’re certain this kid is going on some rampage and none of them can stop him but the moment Dream and Techno are both taken care of (wounded, not killed, the older Tommy is always careful about that. He even throws a splash healing on them with some indifferent kind of disgust that hides the fact he does still care to some extent even hurting as he is.) Tommy immediately just switches focus to outright doting on Tubbo, ignoring any muttered Clingyinnits in favor of ensuring Tubbo is fine. Tubbo is completely find and just as confused, but the point stands and neither Tommy ends up leaving Tubbo’s side for the rest of the day. The younger Tommy, after all, is the only one the older Tommy’s told the full story to regarding the future (even when he couldn’t trust his own family he was always able to trust himself with the secrets that mattered, so he prepares his younger self in case the worst comes to pass.)

The older Dream, immune!Dream, he doesn’t get involved. He sit on the side lines and just kinda laughs, the sound drowned out by Sapnap’s loud encouragements and Sam’s half hearted attempts to get Tommy to stop (he could have stopped Tommy immediately if he’d stepped in. Sam is after all the only person on earth Tommy listens to without hesitation, but Sam lets it happen and pretends he tried.) 

Immune!Dream just kinda smirks at his younger self later that night and mentions something about attachments really making you weak. After all, it’s not like the only time Tommy takes a battle seriously is when someone he cares about is in danger. It’s not like Tommy would turn the world into a seared ball for Tubbo, and Tubbo would do the same in return. It’s not like they’ve watched the people they care about temporarily rebuke the Crimson just to give the Immunes those precious extra seconds needed to survive in a fight. Attachments, they’re just a weakness.

The younger Dream doesn’t know how to respond to that. It’s the first time he thinks about his older self maybe being right.

Before I go I wanna leave you with two more ideas for the Immune AU

First up, Wilbur is eight years older than Tommy give or take. Wilbur had Fundy when he was around 16 and Tommy was around 8. Tommy was the best damn uncle he could be and for a while Tommy and Fundy were really stupidly close. They were both apart of the raised by Wilbur club and Wilbur was trying his damn best. Fundy aged/matured (physically and mentally) faster than a regular person for a while. They believed it was because he was a fox hybrid and Wilbur was ready to lose Fundy too soon. When Fundy was equivalent to 18 in human years though his aging process suddenly slowed to a crawl and his tail split into two, at which point the group realized he was actually a kitsune and it was just those first 8 years that passed by quickly (and Wilbur had a lot of questions for the now missing Sally who he’d thought was a salmon hybrid, genuinely, but became exceedingly less sure.) His family knows he’s a kitsune, but Fundy hid it from most of the rest of the server. A good thing considering later events. 

Fundy was part of the Immune group for a while and I like to imagine that he and Tommy had a falling out during the Pogtopia era but after the egg started to take over they started bonding again and acting like, well, family. Unfortunately when it came time for them to activate the portal, Fundy ended up getting separated from the group and getting caught. The eggpire didn’t actually know Fundy was fully immune or a kitsune so he just kinda pretended to get infected, using his illusions to make his fur look crimson. I personally like the idea that Fundy at some point managed to get back to the time machine and being a little code wizard manages to get the thing working and yeets himself in. He shows up a little late but after fixing his appearance manages to catch up with the rest of the group.

Fundy is underrated. Tommy being a good uncle is underrated. Sam would absolutely adopt the traumatized fox baby in Eret’s honor. What’s not to love?

The last concept I wanna bring up that I really like is hybrid Tommy. Tanuki would be good since it’s another reason for the Sam Nook bit. Maybe Sam specifically picked Sam Nook since Tom Nook was Tommy’s favorite character on the grounds he was the only representation Tommy had ever gotten and it made the kiddo happy. However, I also personally really like phoenix Tommy and it would make an interesting plot point. Tommy accidentally losing his third life at some point and realizing he’s an immortal creature of fire would have led to him taking a protector role for his new family. He can’t die, but he can burn anything around him, why not send him out to get supplies when the worst the eggpire could do would be capture him. Even then he just literally cannot hear the egg. Which could lead to both some interesting comedic moments and some really good angst if Sam agonizes over his desire to protect Tommy and let him be a child suddenly being at odds with the fact Tommy is literally the best person for the job so to speak. Not to mention Sapnap, who I headcanon as a Blaze hybrid, would be even more attached the moment he found a new fire proof friend to burn forests with him. Regardless of which hybrid type he is, I could see him hiding it from everyone except for Fundy when he was a child and only ever admitting it later to the other Immunes once they become a found family.

Personally I like the idea of Tommy being part tanuki hybrid and part phoenix hybrid, but is that too mary sue? Is it just a little bit too cheesy to have him be both? I will never not try to incorporate phoenix Tommy into my fics but also tanuki Tommy would be such a mood for this au.

Like image Tommy just builds a den that’s in reality a vault/panic room a la Techno and he hides it under Church Prime since that is The Safe Spot in Tommy’s mind.

~Snapdragon & Firefly

[my-writings-and-musings]

Hi! Can i have some angst and fluff? soulmate AU where Rung, Drift, Rodimus and Swerve´s soulmate rejects them and some time later after the Lost light launch, (not human) Alien joins the Lost Light and their soulmate is the bot in question? And they would love to pamper them to pieces but are understanding of the situation. Thanks! (Also sorry for my bad English)

It just occurred to me... I've never really done anything with soulmates before! I think I get the basics of your request though, so here it goes! (Don't worry, your English is fine!)

Rung

·Being rejected by the one he'd supposedly been intended to spend eternity with had cut him to his core. In his spark, he'd taken it as a sign he was indeed forgettable, perhaps doomed to be alone and insignificant for the rest of his days. After all, if his soulmate didn't want him, who would? He'd buried the pain like so many others for eons afterwards. Every time someone got his name wrong though, he'd think back to that rejection. What could possibly be so wrong with him, that no one could remember he was there? Was he truly so unremarkable?

·You had joined the Lost Light more or less on a whim, with the hope of meeting your soulmate always at the back of your mind. In such a massive universe, perhaps you needed to look for them instead of hoping they'd come for you. It had been almost comedic when you'd run into the shy phsychiatrist and realized he was the one on your first day. Rung had been shocked at the revelation, but quickly became quiet and almost... grieved. At your gentle prompting he'd softly explained what had happened to him, and you'd been heartbroken for his sake. Though wanting so badly to commit to him right there, you'd made it clear you understood, especially when he explained he just wanted time. He certainly didn't want you to think he was rejecting you.

·Thus, things had proceeded slowly. While you wanted so badly to jump into a relationship, having him beside you as you got to know him was enough for now. Just seeing your willingness to get to know him had brought about a slow change in the timid mech. Every day he got a little brighter, as if his optics shone with greater zeal at your continued presence. Truthfully it hurt to see how little he cared for himself. Yet, by being there day after day, you slowly brought him around to the idea he was more than memorable. To you, he was unforgettable.

Drift

·His rejection had occurred, quite painfully, not long after he'd changed his ways. The loss of his soulmate at that time had nearly sent him into a spiral. What greater clue could the universe give him that he was irredeemable? Their rejection surely meant he was doomed to be alone, for even if he had friends, he'd never have the love he'd dreamed of his whole life. Eventually he'd accepted it only under the misguided belief that such pain was a part of his "penance", and that he surely deserved it for everything he'd done.

·You'd been on the Lost Light a little while before meeting Drift, but knew him by reputation already when you had your first encounter, one that surprised you for multiple reasons. First was that anyone could have anything against the bright and happy bot you were surprised to learn was the "evil" former Decepticon everyone warned you about. Second, to the greatest of shocks, was that he was your soulmate. Your delight had only been tarnished by his expression of pain at the revelation, and after leading you somewhere private he'd shared his story, including how he couldn't possibly deserve love after everything he'd been through. Surely you deserved better...

·Even having only just met him, you'd been certain that Drift didn't deserve the self admonishment he was giving himself. Refusing to let him tear himself down but understanding of his trauma, you made it clear you wouldn't rush but wanted to spend time with him regardless. Wanting to continue his self imposed exclusion but too lonely to refuse you, he accepts on the grounds you start as friends, and while you want so badly to shower him with affection you accept. It's only by going slowly that you begin to open him up to the idea of love again, convincing him bit by bit that he can indeed be forgiven and cherished as he deserves. Time and patience slowly heal his wounds thanks to you.

Rodimus

·Not a stranger to pain, Rodimus nevertheless doubted any agony had ever cut as close as the dismissal from his soulmate, and the blow to his confidence still lingers with striking intensity. If he cared to reflect on the pain, he'd see the gaping hole in his self confidence comes largely from the untended trauma of the rejection. Instead he's simply given up on finding love and chooses to seek other ways to heal, but as he doesn't address the initial cause of his pain, none of his considerable accomplishments quell the agony. Eventually he begins to accept that nothing will make him feel whole again.

·Though you'd of course heard of the Lost Light and it's now famous captain, it hadn't been until you were actually on the ship itself for a few weeks that you'd met him. He'd immediately proven himself to be an energetic, likable bot with a lot of personality, and you'd been beyond happy when he'd proven to be your soulmate. Said happiness had been put on hold at his expression of pain upon hearing the news, but he'd quickly put a smile back on until the two of you were alone together. Breaking down in private, he'd told you of his soulmate and how he had never been able to make up for being such a failure they never wanted him. Having only just met him, you're fast to reassure Rodimus that he's anything but a failure, and that you already can see that even if they couldn't. It takes time, but soon you convince him to open his spark again and give you a chance.

·With the pain of old injuries still so tender, he's slow to let you in. At first he seems to believe you'll abandon him at any moment, or for even the smallest transgressions. It's only with a great deal of reasurance you convince him you're here to stay. The love you show him begins to also make him believe he's worth something once more, and he starts to see all he's accomplished as something to celebrate. Every day there's progress, and while it's hard for you at times, seeing him come around to realize his own self worth is all it takes to convince you to keep going.

Swerve

·Always having had a hard time making friends, he'd long looked forward to meeting his soulmate, having believed that upon doing so the loneliness he'd endured would finally be over. Their rejection had shattered that dream along with any hope he had of ever knowing what it was to belong. After recovering just enough to keep going, he'd put on a happy mask in the aftermath, hoping that if he convinced others he was okay he might convince himself. It never worked, not really. Others did indeed see him as the happy goofball, but he never forgot the pain of that horrible day. Often he wondered if he might as well just give up...

·Upon taking a chance and joining the Lost Light, you'd been overwhelmed by the rush of friend groups so well established you wondered how you'd ever fit in. Thankfully there had been a few helpful bots to suggest you hit the bar and talk to Swerve, as he knew everyone and could steer you in the right direction. You'd found the chat happy barkeep to be a delight straight away, which had only made you that much happier to find he was your soulmate, as you'd always wanted someone with an appreciation for the happier things. It had made you so terribly sad to see him break down in the back of the bar, his tears pouring forth just as readily as the story of his long ago rejection and how he doubted you wanted him considering what he was under his happy mask. You'd gone straight to comforting the minibot. Regardless of his past, you assured him, you at least wanted to get to know the bot everyone on the Lost Light considered their favorite. Perhaps it was foolish of him, but you'd indeed struck a tiny bit of hope remaining in his spark. He simply couldn't say no altogether.

·Bit by bit, you encouraged him to see the worth you knew he had. The bot who tended the bar was the heart of the ship in your eyes, and though you wanted so badly to love him and be loved back, for now you were content getting him to see the truth. Your tireless enthusiasm at first just baffled him. What could he have possibly done to deserve a second chance with someone so wonderful and supportive? It wasn't until some time had passed that he realized you were indeed having an impact on him. Slowly he began to see himself as someone worth knowing, and others began to happily notice the improvement as well. Eventually Swerve began to realize that no one was just humoring him, as he'd long feared, but that he was indeed a beloved crew member. Your patience finally made him see beyond the initial pain, and into a genuinely happy future.

[popculturebuffet]

Goof Week: Sports Goofy in SoccerMania: GoofTales Woo-oo! (Paid For for WeirdKev27)

Gorsh all you happy people and welcome back to Goof Week, my Weeklong Celebration of everyone’s favorite goofus. 

And today we have a special treat, something nice and obscure but something that still has a vital place in Disney History. Welcome folks to Sports Goof in Soccermania!  

So yesterday in my Goof Troop review I wished there had been another DuckTales episode with Goofy, you know maybe find out what happened to Peg, see Max and Roxanne again that sort of thing.  Whelp SOMEONE must’ve hid a Monkey’s Paw around here somewhere because I got this special instead on comision. This is a VERY intresting little artifact as it came out only 4 months before DuckTales, was produced around the same time, and was written by Tad Stones, who would both go on to work on DuckTales and even more importantly create Darkwing Duck. 

Not only that but it has some odd things attached to it: it’s the first major production starting Scrooge, as he had an educational short about him, the first animated appearance of the Beagle Boys and most important the FIRST time Russi Taylor would voice Huey, Dewey and Louie, something she’d do till her passing a few years ago. At the time of this article she has not been recast, though I personally vote for Cristina Valenzuela, who took over the role of Young Donald and frankly does such a good job with that voice I didn’t know if Russi had already recorded lines for Season 3 before her passing. 

So what IS Sports Goofy in Soccermania you ask? It was a TV Special from 1987, again four months before DuckTales, that was later sold on VHS. My guess is Disney intended for this to become a regular thing like the Charlie Brown or Garfield specials, but my honest guess is with DuckTales MASSIVE success they wanted to put all the TV Animation resources into making more shows to go with it. The fact the special is essentailly a Scrooge story with Goofy in it and Scrooge and the Boys were now tied up in DuckTales probably helped the decision. So we only got one of these and i’m proud to share it for Goof Week. So join me under the cut to see what a Sports Goof is, what Scrooge sounds like without Alan Young or David Tennant andto see me refrence the film UHF because I likes it. 

 So we open with the titles which are neat and then open at the Money bin, we even get a great sign gag that looks like something Carl Barks would write.

So Scrooge greets his nephews the way he greets everybody.. with a canon to the face... though he backs of firing once he realizes it’s them. The boys ALL wear red this special so .. I guess Huey won and now rules all three bodies with an iron fist? So the Huey Hive Mind asks Scrooge for a donation, a standard Scrooge setup, ask the rich asshole for money, as their trying to help the local soccer program and they need a buck fiddy for a trophy. 

Scrooge’s voice here.. is terrible. I do not like to bash voice actors, they are hard working talented people who do a lot of great stuff, often for less pay than they deserve, and this blog ALWAYS makes that painfully clear. And Will Ryan is not without talent: While he hasn’t done much i’m familiar with he did play Petrie in Land Before Time and was great in it. So while I don’t dislike him as a person.. he did an utterly DREADFUL Scrooge. He dosen’t really attempt to do a scottish accent despite the character still saying cannae at one point, and as for what accent he is going for...

His Scrooge just sounds like someone trying to do a “foreign” accent and failing. It just sounds weird and makes every bit of his dialouge aside from one a chore to sit through. And the dialouge isn’t bad dialouge, it’s a well written and animated Scrooge even with the lower budget than Ducktales, but the voice just ruins it for me. Even without Young and Tennant to compare it to this just blows and the fact it’s paired up with the iconic Russi Taylor voice for the triplets.

This being Scrooge he instead fishes a Trophy out of the bin that’s all banged up and dinky and shoos them out. So in natural Barksian fashion the trophy turns out to be worth a million dollars. So we get some reaction shots.. INCLUDING GRANDMA DUCK!

For DuckTales fans joining us who have ZERO idea who that is, since she sadly did not make it into the reboot and Frank did have ideas, Grandma Duck is Donald, Della and Gladstone’s grandma. She’s a sweet old country woman who lives on a farm and is in fact the one who sold him Kilmotor HIll, with her husband renaming it from Killmule hill. I like her a lot since she reminds me of my own grandma and like her she still works when she can. Donald’s cousin Gus loafs around and eats as her farmhand. As you can tell I like her a lot, agani because she reminds me of one of my grandmas so this was nice even if she was only around for 20 seconds of screentime. 

This ends up in the paper and sends Scrooge through the roof, literally when he finds out. 

Two notes  before we move on: The bin has a unique really cool design , though I get why other productions haven’t used it: besides this one’s obscurity while cool it just looks a bit TOO nice for Scrooge. Even in 2017 while still damn cool looking it still looks practicle. This .. is not that.

This looks like MC Hammer built this. It still looks awesome bu tit’s just not Scrooge sadly. 

The other is that his Butler is named Jeeves here, but looks almost exactly like Duckworth. Just feels weird is all. 

Naturally the Beagle Boys happen upon the paper too and their leader, no name given has a plan: Enter legitmately and win the cup all legal like, which dosen’t sound like it lives up to the beagle code of no hones twork.... until he brings up theri going ot cheat their asses off. 

Meanwhile Scrooge tries bribing the boys with a giant trophy at their house... with Donald oddly absent despite Anselmo having taken over for Nash by this point. I know he was still a bit rough at the roll, but come on. It���s just.. weird especailly for reasons i’ll get into soon. 

So Scrooge agrees to sponsor the boys teams so he can get the trophy back square, and is forced to buy a knew ball and here we FINALLY get Goofy. I say finally because this special is 20 mintues long and it takes almost a fourth of it for him to arrive. It’s just weird for him to not be in it for so long. I mean I don’t want THIS

Flashbeagle didn’t take a fourth of the special to get to Flashbeagle. It did take longer than that to get to the title track but when your sitting on THIS

You gotta use it JUST right. Goofy here is not played by Bill Farmer, which IS odd as he did start playing him that year, but my guess is they weren’t sure if they were going with Farmer or the actor who played him in this special, Tony Pope, so they were trying out both as whoever DID get the role would have it for life. Disney takes the casting of the sensational 7 VERY seriously, as evidenced by the fact most cast changes are caused by death and unlike with Tony and Donald it’s clear Colvig hadn’t picked a succesor. I can also see why it’s a hard choice: while farmer IS excellent and was the right man for the job, Pope is still excellent in the role, bringing the warmth and energy you’d expect from Goofy and having excellent comedic timing that’s vital to getting the dog man right. I can see why this was such a hard choice, even if I also see they went with Farmer: Farmer just has slightly more energy to the roll. It’s a small diffrence and something that dosen’t effect the special, but it is a KEY diffrence and the reason Bill’s THE goofy to me even over his original voice actor Pinto Colvig. 

Also I may of mispoke there... see it’s not Goofy in this special it’s SPORTS Goofy. No really every bit of dialogue refers to him as Sports Goofy. It’d be like if they refered to then CEO Micheal Eisner as Won’t Think Through Eurodisneyland Micheal Eisner. 

So Sports Goofy helps them get a ball in an honestly awesome way and shows despite his clumsy manner, he’s damn cordinated, easily putting everything up and showing some real skill with the ball. So Moneygrubbing Scrooge decides Sports Goofy is his ticket to get the trophy back and recuits goofy as coach and star player for the boys team. 

So Asshole Scrooge meets his team the Greenbacks.. which are a bunch of random animal characters with no real personality. They are a hippo, a goat, expresso the ostrich, a navy (blue) seal,  an elephant in a beanie, a killaroo and a cheetah or leopard. But I have one question, really simple really easy one...

You need 11 players for a soccer team, thank you google. So they DID get that accurate. With Goofy and the Triplets you only need 7 more. THIS is why Donald’s absence is glaring: he’s just oddly not there when they needed 7 other characters but Elephant in a Beanie gets in there. And it’s not hard ot fill either: Donald , Daisy (Because duh), Gyro and Grandma Duck (Because both cameoed but I only mentioned Grandma Duck, though this is ALSO Gyro’s first apperance), Gladstone (who as it turns out had a cameo storyboarded that didn’t make it into the final product), Gus (Since grandma duck) and Scrooge’s butler since he was in an earlier scene anyway so why waste the character model. They could still play the same roll as easily steamrolled underdogs and it’d make more sense.  It just baffles me that with such a deep bench to play from, they don’t use ANY OF IT in favor of the cast of Animal Soccer World.

The Greenbacks can’t play for greenjack, which worries Scrooge.. but Goofy is able to carry them to the finals, while the Beagle Boys make their way there too. We find this out.. via newspaper transition. We get a bunch of headlines telling us what happened instead of you know a montage because that costs money and they already spent 1.50 making this special.. they only have 50 cents left. 

So the Beagles recognizing Sport Goofy is the only thing in their way plots a kidnappin. We get a gut busting scene of the beagles all hiding in Sports Goofy’s house with him being oblvious only to spring on him. 

The next day with Sports Goofy a no show the team is bummed, even mor ewhen they find a kidnapping note from Don’tGetNotToLeaveEvidence Beagle Boys. Seriously give that to the officals. 

So Asshole Scrooge tries to give a rousing speech... and it is a sight to behold and the one highlight of pope as scrooge... it’s why I picked it as the article image. That glitching isn’t me by the way: it REALLY does that. Coupled with the yellow eyes i’ts just fantastic. So the team decides to morosely play the game and Hivemind Huey boos scrooge for not having faith in him. Instead of again you know telling the officials. Maybe assimilating the other made Huey dumber. I

So the game begins and the Cheating Beagles cream the Give Up To Easily Green Backs, while Sports Goofy watches from the other Crime Beagles hideout. It honestly reminds me of UHF: a dumb well meaning guy whose vital to something succeding is kidnapped.. it dosen’t involve Weird Al dressing up as rambo but still. It also makes me want UHF but with the disney cast. Fethry as weird al, Donald as his best friend, Fethry’s girlfriend for the comcis as weird al’s girlfriend, Gyro as philo, Goofy as Stanley, and Pete of course is Stacey Keach. I could go on but you get the point. Someone draw this.  Sport Goofy is a clever bastard and escapes by working one of his shoes off, taking a nearbye knife and cutting himself free.. and almost stabbing a beagle boy in the face but that would just make two. Sport Goofy escapes and the lunkheaded beagle boys chase after him IN THEIR CAR WHILE GOOFY RUNS AHEAD OF IT.  Goofy, he can really move! Goofy, he’s got attitude! Goofy HE’S THE FASTEST THING ALLIIIIVEEEEEE. Sport Goofy makes it in time fo rhalf time, rallies the troops and it goes how you’d expect: They overcome the beagles blatant cheating, win the cup, the beagles attempt to cheat with a rigged ball backfires and they all get arrested. It’s by the numbers stuff. We end with Scrooge deciding to dontate the trophy instead (though in a great bit asking if it was tax deductible), and posing for a team shot> We get some awesome credits music and we’re out

Final Thoughts:

This special is mediocre: There are only a handful of great jokes, it’s your standard “teamwork makes the dreamwork plot” that dosen’t work because our underdogs really CAN’T play without their star, and Scrooge’s voice hurts to listen to. Pope and Taylor are great and while Will Ryan is an awful Scrooge, he is a good Beagle Boy or five. 

It IS worth a watch though. It’s riffable enough with the sometimes sloppy unfinished animatoin in the last part and Scrooge’s terrible voice, and it is still is a neat oddity for 90′s kids like myself to not only see Russi’s first thing as Huey Dewey and Louie, but to also see Scrooge and Goofy with vastly diffrent voice actors, as well as Gyro and the Beagle Boys first animated apperances. The fact this came just months before Ducktales makes it all the more intresting. So if your looking for a legit good Disney product.. this is shoddy at best if well meaning. But as a bit of disney history, especially only clocking in at 20 minutes so it’ sa brisk watch, it’s worth a look if your into that. 

Next On Goof Week: We come on in To The House of Mouse where goofy becomes faster than a speeding punchline,  more powerful than pete when his family has to wrestle him to the ground to take him to the doctor and able to make tall leaps of logic in a single bound. it’s SUPER GOOF!

So thank you for reading and if you liked this review give it a like and consider joining my patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet. As a patron you’d get access to exclusive reviews, the patreon’s discord and to pick a short each time I do one of these shortstaculars. Donald’s comnig next month and the deadline is in only a few days to join up for said month so the clock is ticking. Even a dollar a month helps me reach my stretch goals so please i fyou can sign up today and if not, I understand and i’ll see you at the next rainbow

[oscopelabs]

It’s Arrested Development: How ‘High Fidelity’ Has Endured Beyond Its Cultural Sell-By Date by Vikram Murthi

It’s easy to forget now that at the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic had taken hold of our consciousness, for a brief moment, High Fidelity was back. Not only did Nick Hornby’s debut novel and Stephen Frears’ film adaptation celebrate major milestones this year — 25th and 20th anniversaries, respectively — but a TV adaptation premiered on Hulu in February. In light of all of these arbitrary signposts, multiple thinkpieces and remembrances litigated Hornby’s original text on familiar, predictable grounds. Is the novel/film’s protagonist Rob actually an asshole? (Sure.) Does Hornby uphold his character’s callous attitudes towards women? (Not really.) Hasn’t the story’s gatekeeping, anti-poptimist approach to artistic taste culturally run its course? (Probably.) Why do we need to revisit this story about this person right now? (Fair question!)

Despite reasonable objections on grounds of relevancy, enough good will for the core narrative—record store owner seeks out a series of exes to determine a pattern of behavior following a devastating breakup—apparently exists to help produce a gender-flipped streaming show featuring updated musical references and starring a decidedly not-middle-aged Zoë Kravitz. I only made it through six of ten episodes in its first (and only) season, but I was surprised by how closely the show hewed to High Fidelity’s film adaptation, to the point of re-staging numerous scenes down to character blocking and swiping large swaths of dialogue wholesale. (Similarly, the film adaptation hewed quite close to the novel, with most of the dialogue ripped straight from Hornby.) Admittedly, the series features a more diverse cast than the film, centering different experiences and broadly acknowledging some criticisms of the source material regarding its ostensibly exclusionary worldview. Nevertheless, it seemed like a self-defeating move for the show to line itself so definitively with a text that many consider hopelessly problematic, especially considering the potential to repurpose its premise as a springboard for more contemporary ideas.

High Fidelity’s endurance as both a piece of IP and a flashpoint for media discourse is mildly baffling for obvious reasons. For one thing, its cultural milieu is actually dated. Even correcting for vinyl’s recent financial resurgence, the idea of snooty record store clerks passing judgment on customer preferences has more or less gone the way of the dodo. With the Internet came the democratization of access, ensuring that the cultivation of personal taste is no longer laborious or expensive, or could even be considered particularly impressive (if it ever could have been). Secondly, as one might imagine, some of Hornby’s insights into heterosexual relationships and the differences between men and women, even presented through the flawed, self-deprecating interiority of High Fidelity’s main character, are indeed reductive. Frears’ film actually strips away the vast majority of Hornby’s weaker commentary, but the novel does include such cringeworthy bits like, “What’s the deal with foreplay?” that are best left alone.

Accounting for all of that, though, it’s remarkable how many misreadings of Hornby’s text have been accepted as conventional wisdom. It’s taken as a given by many that the novel and film earnestly preach the notion that what you like is more important than what you are like when, in fact, the narrative arc is constructed around reaching the opposite conclusion. (The last lines of the novel and film are, literally, “…I start to compile in my head a compilation tape for her, something that's full of stuff she's heard of, and full of stuff she'd play. Tonight, for the first time ever, I can sort of see how it's done.”) That’s relatively minor compared to the constant refrain that Rob’s narcissism goes uncriticized, even though the story’s thematic and emotional potency derives from what the audience perceives that Rob cannot. To put it bluntly, High Fidelity’s central irony revolves around a man who listens to music for a living being unable to hear the women in his life.

While Hornby’s prose immerses the reader in Rob’s interior monologue, providing ample room for the character to spout internal justifications of his behavior, the novel hardly obscures or conceals this conclusion. Moreover, the film makes it unavoidably explicit in numerous scenes. Rob (John Cusack) triumphantly pantomimes Rocky Balboa’s boxing routine soundtracked to Queen’s “We Are The Champions” after his ex-girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjejle) confirms she hasn’t yet slept with her new boyfriend Ray (Tim Robbins), but doesn’t hear the part where she says she prefers to sleep next to him. When Laura informs Rob that she did eventually sleep with Ray, Rob completely falls apart. In an earlier, more pointed scene, Rob goes out with his ex-girlfriend from high school (Joelle Carter) to ask why she chose to have sex with an obnoxious classmate instead of him. She venomously informs him that he actually broke up with her because she was too prudish, an abrupt, cruel bit of business we actually witness at the film’s beginning. It was in her moment of heartbroken vulnerability that she agreed to quickly sleep with someone else (“It wasn’t rape because I technically said, ‘Okay,’ but it wasn’t far off,” she sneers), which ultimately put her off sex until after college. Rob doesn’t hear this explanation or the damning portrait of his teenaged self. Instead, he’s delighted to learn that he wasn’t actually dumped.

These are evidently low character moments, one’s that are comedic in their depiction of blinkeredness but whose emotional takeaways are crystal clear, and one’s that have been written about before. My personal pick from the film, though, comes late when Rob attends Laura’s father’s funeral. He sits in the back and, in typical fashion, turns to the camera to deliver a list of songs to play at his funeral, concluding with his professed wish that “some beautiful, tearful woman would insist on ‘You’re The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me’ by Gladys Knight.” It’s a really galling, egotistical moment that still makes me wince despite having seen the movie umpteen times. Yet, it’s immediately followed by the casket being lowered to the ground as Laura’s sobs ring out in the church. In a movie defined by John Cusack’s vocal timbre, it’s one of the few times when he completely shuts up. From two-thirds down the center aisle, Frears’ camera pushes into Cusack’s face until tears in his eyes are visible, but what you really see is an appropriately guilt-ridden, ashamed expression.

However, none of this evidence carries any weight if your objection to High Fidelity is that Rob suffers no material consequences for his behavior. While Rob is frequently called out for his actions, he is never actively punished. He doesn’t, say, receive a restraining order for continually calling Laura after they’ve broken up or end up alone mending a permanent broken heart because of his past relationships. By the end, Rob and Laura get back together and Rob even starts an independent record label on the side. It’s a stretch to characterize Hornby’s High Fidelity as a redemption tale, but it is a sideways rehabilitation narrative with a happy ending that arises at least partly out of mutual exhaustion.

Those two elements—Rob’s asshole recovery and the exhausted happy ending—rarely seem to factor into High Fidelity discourse. Granted, there’s credence to the idea that, socially and culturally, people have less patience for the personality types depicted in High Fidelity, and thus are less inclined to extend them forgiveness, let alone anything resembling retribution. I suppose that’s a valid reaction, one against which I have no interest in arguing, but it’s somewhat ironic that High Fidelity has endured for reasons that have nothing to do with its conclusions regarding inflexible personal principles and the folly of escapism. Both the book and film are specifically about someone who slowly comes to terms with accepting reality rather than live in a world mediated by pop cultural fantasies whose unrealistic expectations have only caused personal suffering. It’s not unfair to characterize this as a fairly obvious epiphany, but considering we currently live in a world dominated by virtual echo chambers with an entertainment culture committed to validating arrested adolescence, it retroactively counts as “mature” and holds more weight than it otherwise should.

Near the end of High Fidelity, the book, after Rob and Laura have gotten back together in the aftermath of Laura’s father’s death, Hornby includes a chapter featuring five conversations between the couple unpacking the state of their relationship. During the third conversation, Rob and Laura fight about how she doesn’t care about music as strongly as he does, catalyzed by Rob’s objection to Laura liking both Solomon Burke and Art Garfunkel, which, in his mind, is a contradiction in terms. Laura finally admits that not only does she not really care about the difference between them, but that most people outside of his immediate circle of two don’t care about the difference, and that this mentality is indicative of a larger problem. It’s part of what keeps him stuck in his head and reluctant to commit to anything. “I’m just trying to wake you up,” she says. “I'm just trying to show you that you've lived half your life, but for all you've got to show for it you might as well be nineteen, and I'm not talking about money or property or furniture.”

I fell for High Fidelity (first the movie, then the book) as a younger man for the reasons I assume most sensitive-cum-oblivious, culturally preoccupied straight guys do: it accurately pinpoints a pattern of music consumption and organizationally anal-retentive behavior with which I’m intimately familiar. I spent the vast majority of my early years listening to and cataloguing albums, and when I arrived at college, I quickly fell in with a small group of like-minded music obsessives. We had very serious, very prolonged discussions filled with impossibly strong opinions about our favorite artists and records. Few new releases came and went without them being scrutinized by us, the unappreciated scholars of all that is righteous. List-making wasn’t in vogue, but there wasn’t a song that passed us by that we didn’t judge or size up. I was exposed to more music during this relatively short period of time than I likely will ever absorb again. Some of these times were the most engaging and fun of my life, and I still enjoy discussing and sharing music with close friends, but I’m not such a true believer to fully feel comfortable with this behavior. It’s not entirely healthy on its own and definitely alienating to others, and there comes a point when you hear yourself the way a stranger might, or maybe even catch a glimpse of someone’s eyes when you’re midst rant about some stupid album, and realize, “That’s all there is of me. There isn’t anything else.”

This is what Rob proclaims to Laura in the conversation when she tells him she was more interested in music during their courtship than she is now. It’s a patently self-pitying statement on his part that doesn’t go unchallenged by her in the moment or bear fruit in the rest of the novel. Yet, it’s this type of uncomfortably relatable sentiment that goes under-discussed. If High Fidelity will continue to have a life well after its cultural moment has passed, then it’s worth addressing what it offers on its own terms. Near the end of the book, Laura introduces Rob to another couple with whom he gets along quite well. When the evening comes to an end, she tells him to take a look at their record collection, and it’s predictably filled with artists he doesn’t care for, e.g. Billy Joel, Simply Red, Meat Loaf. “'Everybody's faith needs testing from time to time,” Laura tells him later when they’re alone. Amidst Rob’s self-loathing and sullen pettiness, Hornby argues that one should contribute in some way rather than only consume and that, at some point, it’s time to put away childish ideas in order to get the most out of life. It’s an entirely untrendy argument, one that goes against the nostalgic spirit of superhero films and reboot culture, but it doesn’t lack merit. Accepting that some values aren’t conducive to a full life, especially when it’s shared with someone else, doesn’t have to mean abandoning interests or becoming an entirely different person. It just means that letting go isn’t an admission of defeat.

It’s why I’ve always found the proposal scene in the film to be quite moving, albeit maybe not specifically romantic. It plays out similarly in both the book and the film, but the film has the added benefit of Cusack and Hjejle’s performances to amplify the vulnerability and shared understanding. Laura meets Rob for a drink in the afternoon where he sheepishly asks if she would like to get married. Laura bursts out laughing and says that he isn’t the safest bet considering he was making mixtapes for some reporter a few days prior. When asked what brought this on, Rob notes that he’s sick of thinking about love and settling down and marriage and wants to think about something else. (“I changed my mind. That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. I do. I will,” she sarcastically replies.) He goes on to say that he’s tired of fantasizing about other women because the fantasies have nothing to do with them and everything to do with himself and that it doesn’t exist never mind delivering on its promise. “I’m tired of it,” he says, “and I’m tired of everything else for that matter, but I don’t ever seem to get tired of you.”

This sort of anti-Jerry Maguire line would be callous if Laura didn’t basically say the same thing to him when they got back together. (“I’m too tired not to be with you.”) It’s possible to read this as an act of mutual settling, but I always thought Hornby’s point was personal growth and accepting one’s situation were intertwined. The key moment in High Fidelity, the film, comes when Laura finds Rob’s list of top five dream jobs. (In the book, Laura makes Rob compile the list.) At the bottom of the list, after such standard choices like music journalist and record producer, lies architect, a job that Rob isn’t entirely sure about anyway. (“I did put it at number five!” he insists.) Laura asks Rob the obvious question: wouldn’t you rather own your own record store than hypothetically be an architect, a job you’re not particularly enthused with anyway?

It’s Laura who convinces Rob that living the fifth-best version of your life can actually be pretty satisfying and doesn’t have to be treated like a cruel fate worse than death. Similarly, Rob and Laura both make the active decision to try to work things out instead of starting over with someone else. Laura’s apathy may have reunited them, and Rob’s apathy might have kept him from running, but it’s their shared history that keeps them together. More than the music and the romance, High Fidelity follows the necessary decisions and compromises one has to maneuver in order to grow instead of regress. “I've been letting the weather and my stomach muscles and a great chord change in a Pretenders single make up my mind for me, and I want to do it for myself,” Rob says near the end of Hornby’s novel. High Fidelity’s emotional potency lies in taking that sentiment seriously.

[phoenix-manga]

[DCA Event] - Six Queens Event Part 4

[Seymour - Heart of Stone]

It was Briar’s turn, the ghost makes the feeling of grief and heartbreak wash over her as her grey eyes started to glow. This part of the act was difficult for Briar, she was tested and nearly possessed because she relates so much to the third queen.

She might have stayed in the village for a good portion of the years but she always came back when told to, not because she was obedient but because deep down she still was the child who yearned for her father’s love. What she would give to at least see him smile at her. Not to be left alone.

Her expression morphs into sadness that even left the audience tearing up. Crowley was bawling and blowing into a handkerchief, Rook was dabbing the corner of his eyes with a tissue while Vil is trying so damn hard NOT to tear up and ruin his mascara. Heck, even Divus was tearing up a bit.

Kalim is sobbing into Jamil’s shoulder. But the ones who got hit the hardest? The Diasomnia guys, Lilia is silently crying it was almost like the soul of the queen was there singing about her regrets. Malleus was grasping Lilia’s hand has he was keeping his head down to not let anyone see his tears. Sebek’s stoic face would have been convincing if not for the waterfall of tears. Silver, there was a flashback to his childhood days wondering who his parents were. It was very emotional for the entire room, alright?

But the other five were slightly panicking on the inside, Briar was losing herself and they had to do something before anything goes wrong. Evonie signals the others to surround her and back her up when she was reaching the climax.

Evonie places a hand on her shoulder to make Briar look at her, to the crowd it was as if she was acting but to the six? This was an act to keep Briar from fading. 

Briar gently smiled as she realizes that she has friends who can fill the emptiness in her heart, she can feel the possession fading but not entirely. Briar’s act has ended.

[Haus of Holbein]

The mood started to lighten up when Vidya took the stage. The smoke machine activated as she explains on how the king went further west to find his next queen.

The smoke engulfed the stage where you can barely see the actresses.

The crowd was shook as the smoked cleared and the queens were wearing luminescent ruffs and glasses as the light flashed different colors and the rave music blared through out the stage.

Vidya: He enlisted the help of a legendary painter, Hans! ...

Six: H O L B E I N

Welcome to the Haus! To the Haus of Holbein! *Cue rave music and air horns*

But they started to cheer as the queens danced as if they were on crack. Kalim and Lilia started to head bang and wave their arms everytime the rave music comes up. Floyd was digging the dance and music, cause he probably dances like that, moves to the music with no care.

Those who were weirded out were Riddle, Vil, Jack, and Azul. This was a crazy song out of nowhere.

Divus was laughing... LAUGHING at how ridiculous those ruffs were and it tied the scene in a perfectly comedic way. Crowley blanked out since he’s never seen Divus laugh that loud.

Lilia can remember the times he’s worn a ruff before and it was uncomfortable. But he is thinking that he might wear it to a rave just to see the reactions.

When the song ended, the props were off and it was finally time for Vidya’s real act to start.

[Cleves - Get Down]

Vidya starts the act as the ghost makes the feeling of the need to brag wash over her as her eyes glowed red. She was the least concerned about getting taken over since she has a very strong will. 

Her sarcastic delivery made the people chuckle and snort. Jamil snorts but manages to cover it up before Kalim could notice. Jack liked this character, she didn’t let her divorce get to her, mad respect.

Vidya:  Well, I guess you already know what happened next. How I came to England, hopeful, summoned after the king saw my portrait. 

And how I, with my meager looks the way they are, didn’t live up to his expectations. I mean, It’s the usual story, isn’t it? The savvy educated young princess deemed repulsive by the wheezing, wrinkled, ulcer-riddled man twenty-four years her senior! 

Vidya: Rejection, rejection from a king! How can anyone overcome the fate as devastating than being forced to move into a resplendent palace in Richmond with more money that I could ever spend in a lifetime?! 

Let’s just say Jamil might have a bit of bitter feeling when it comes to Kalim and his riches but seeing Vidya act like this? He’s kind of glad that she was just playing a character, he didn’t think he could hang out with her if she was actually like this. But he has to admit that she was killing the role and it was something she would say. He’s been there to witness her sharp wit and words damage prides.

Vidya: And not a single man around to tell me what to do with it. I mean seriously, just… tragic.

When the lights turn red and the bass hits the crowd cheers as she saunters to a metal throne and sits leisurely on it. When she starts the chorus, “get down” and starts to dance hip hop that made the crowd cheer louder. Who knew Vidya could move like that? Kalim had his mouth agape while Jamil was baffled, those dance moves were almost the same as his.

He remembered that time when she was watching him dance for the past few weeks. So that was why she was there! It all suddenly made sense. Not bad for someone who didn’t even do street dance, get it right for the first time.

When she sang the part where the queens tug at her jacket and shorts to reveal a one piece costume covered in rubies and gold chains, it was a rich kid’s rave outfit. 

Vidya: Pull up outside of my carriage, don’t got no marriage so I have a little flirt with the foot man as he takes me fur-

*GASP*

The room was filled with whistles and cheers as her outfit sparkled under the stage lights. It got intense when she started to dance with confidence as if she was the top dog of the dance floor.

Kalim and Jamil: *When Vidya’s rave outfit was revealed*

Kalim was red because he has never seen her in that getup, he doesn’t know what to feel about it. Jamil on the other hand was contemplating if she could probably tag along with him when he goes to a street dance. Girl, that outfit’s a waste if you’re not gonna show it off!

Divus did the slow clap when the outfit was revealed, it was made to fit the person. He’s thinking on how Ella was making this outfit to impress him, the red and black outfit is his signature fave! “Well played!” he thinks to himself, he expects nothing less from a Glaciel.

Vidya was damn good at getting the crowd to feel so energetic the cheering was so loud when she sang, “No one tells me I need a rich man, DOING MY THING IN MY PALACE IN RICHMOND!”. There were people yelling, “Yas!” and “Queen!”

When the song ended, the crowd was cheering so loud and everyone was thinking on this character was going to become a crowd favorite.

[Extra]

Evonie: That doesn’t sound so hard at all...

Vidya: Oh yeah, I guess you’re right... I probably won’t win then... Oh well, back to the palace! *Drum and guitar sounds* hehe!

Lilia claps in amusement, this was his favorite queen! She didn’t take the divorce too hard and just went and wiped her tears with expensive silks. He thinks back on the time that he visited the Richmond palace and how luxurious it was at the time. Maybe he’ll visit it again to see how things are.

[izzielizzie]

Chapter Three

Nate’s chapter is finally here! Sorry it took so long, but I hope the wait was worth it. And, as always, a big thank you to the very lovely @natewynoou​ for checking in with me, allowing me to steal some ideas, and being an overall great friend. Okay, here you go:

“How are you Nate?” My counselor asks me as I sit in front of his desk after school. I was called to his office to “talk about my week” which is a shit excuse since it’s only Tuesday.  I thought he wanted to lecture me on my attendance or my grades or some other crap he knows I don’t care about, but the look of actual concern on his face is telling me this isn’t that type of meeting.

“I’m okay,” I say cautiously. You can never tell what these people really want.

“Good, good. Yesterday must have been traumatic for you, huh?”

And there’s the ulterior motive. Simon. “Yeah, I guess so,” I say, crossing my arms. 

“You were one of the last people to see him alive.” A statement, not a question.

“Yeah, I was.” I can feel myself shutting down and putting up walls. This is starting to feel less like a conversation and more like an interrogation. 

“Interesting, considering your history.”

“My history?”

“You know, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Damn. That was my excuse the first time the police found me at a drug transaction. I didn’t know Mr. I-already-forgot-his-name knew about that. I’m thrown off guard, but I don’t show it. I laugh a humorless laugh and cross my arms, settling in my chair.

“I guess so.”

My counselor searches my face for a beat before nodding. “You seem okay. I think this concludes our meeting, Mr. Macauley.”

I stand, thankful to end this strange meeting. “Thanks,” I say, walking past his desk to push open the door and make my way into the hallway. It’s nearly four in the afternoon, and I don’t know what to do with myself. I might as well just go home. I’m about to leave the building when I hear someone sniffling. I should keep walking. Some crying girl isn’t my problem, but I recognize the person sitting at the base of the stairwell. “Bronwyn?” I ask, walking towards the girl. Maybe she’s upset about yesterday? I mean, she did watch someone die. She seemed okay when I drove her home last night, but maybe she’s not. The girl stops sniffling and twists her torso to look at me. Huh. Okay, it’s not Bronwyn. It’s someone much worse.

“Nathaniel?” I cringe at my full name. But Maeve Rojas moved away before I insisted people call me Nate. 

“It’s Nate,” I say. Maeve snorts and pushes her gym bag off the stairs next to her. I suppose that means I’m supposed to sit next to her. I don’t though. I lean against the banister and look down into her freckled face. It’s tearstained, and her amber eyes are dull. I haven’t seen Maeve since she was nine, and she looks a lot healthier now. I wonder briefly if she still has cancer. But I can’t figure out how to ask that without sounding like a fucking idiot, so I don’t. 

“What do you want?” she asks me.

“You were crying,” I say.

“And?”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

She stares at me, and for some reason, she cracks up. Like, full out laughing so hard she’s crying again. She doubles over and wraps her arms around her small body. Nate Macauley. Comedic genius. “Jesus, Nate, since when do you care?”

I don’t know how to answer her, so I don’t. I look at her for a moment before turning on my heel and stalking away. I push through the doors of the school and make a beeline for the parking lot, where my bike is parked. I have the urge to kick it, but it’s old and the only thing I own that isn’t broken, so I refrain. I’m about to climb onto my bike and stress drive around greater San Diego when someone calls my name. I turn, and it’s Bronwyn. Jesus. Just what I need: another Rojas.

“Yes?” I ask when Bronwyn approaches me. She’s wearing jeans for once, and it’s a little off-putting. She always wears dresses. 

Bronwyn stares at me for a moment, unsure. “I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out.”

“What?” Now I’m the one who’s unsure. In the past five minutes, every single thing I’d known about the Rojas sisters to be true is apparently not true. Bronwyn Rojas doesn’t want to hang out with a person like me. Her family made that clear five years ago when they slammed their front door in my face.

“Hang out? I could use a distraction.” I’m pretty sure my definition of a distraction is a lot more destructive than Bronwyn’s, but she looks desperate.

“Um, okay?”

“Great.” She stands there, staring at me, the sun illuminating coppery streaks in her dark hair. I stare back at her, and suddenly we’re cracking up. “This is so awkward,” she says, wrapping her arms around her body the same way Maeve did. It’s crazy how similar they are.

“It is,” I agree. I’m leaning back against my motorcycle. I straighten and offer her my helmet. “How do you feel about pizza?”

I’m laughing so hard the waitress is eyeing me weirdly. Halfway through an olive and pepper pizza, Bronwyn and I have fallen into a giddy, half drunk state that I haven't been in since I was a kid. There’s something about Bronwyn’s sense of humor that makes her endearing. Back when we went to the same elementary school, we were best friends, and I passed most of my time listening to her laugh. We’ve overlooked the awkwardness of our situation and relationship (or lack thereof) for just today, and I’ve got to say, it’s a little surprising that I can still feel so comfortable with her. 

“Nate, do you remember that day in gym class? When we played baseball?” Bronwyn’s glasses are tilted on her nose, and there’s a bit of crust in her hand that she seems to have forgotten about. She’s at ease in her chair, her legs crossed. She’s tied her hair up in a bun, and she looks beautiful. She always does, obviously, but now she’s just on another level. Maybe because I haven’t been this close to her in… forever. 

“Fifth grade right?” I ask this like it’s a passing time I hardly remember and not one of my favorite memories, the one I pull out of the box in my mind that holds the things that give me comfort. 

Bronwyn grins at me like she’s a teacher and I’m a student who finally understands the purpose of multiplication. “Yeah!” Her smile drops. “I think that was the last time we were all… you know.”

I know. It was the last time we were friends. And by we, I don’t mean just me, and Bronwyn, and Maeve, but Cooper Clay, Addy Prentiss, and Luis Santos too. The memory hits me, all of a sudden, of that day:

We were in gym class, the five of us. Maeve hadn’t been in school for years at this point, but she knew about all the goings on in that private school. Cathlic school was not my favorite, but my friends made it better. We were playing baseball, and much to Cooper’s chagrin, Jake Riordan was pitching. He only went to our school for a year, but Jake was the bane of Cooper’s existence. I have no idea why they’re best friends now. I was playing first base, which still baffles me. I hate baseball, and I suck at it. Luis was catching, which was definitely not a surprise. Bronwyn was up to bat, and one of the obnoxious boys on my team told Jake to strike her out. Normally, something like this would have made Bronwyn burst into tears, but for some reason, Bronwyn just smiled a slow smile that I’d come to learn meant danger. I could feel a swell of pride in my chest before Bronwyn had even done anything. I caught Cooper’s eye on third base, and we grinned at each other. We watched as Bronwyn swung, and made contact with the ball. Bron never had good aim, but the ball sped towards the boy (I think his name was Sean), and hit him straight in the face. Bronwyn might not have been a good baseball player, but she sure was a good actress. Her apologetic shock was so convincing that Sean had been sent to the nurse by the gym teacher and Bronwyn had been warned to keep her hits soft.

We had spent the rest of the day in suppressed joy, grinning at each other from across classrooms and laughing loudly, but not loud enough to draw attention, when we regrouped at lunch to tell the story to Addy, who had art class when we had gym. 

“We need to tell Maeve,” Addy had said as she wiped tears from her eyes.

“For sure,” Cooper had agreed.

Three hours later, we piled into Maeve’s hospital room, claiming our usual seats: Addy in the armchair, Bronwyn at the foot of the bed, Cooper on the spindly chair, and me on the window seat. Luis got the coveted privilege of crawling onto the bed next to Maeve, a spot we rotated between the five of us. We grinned at each other as Maeve laughed herself sick. Laughter was the best medicine, Mrs. Rojas had told us once when Maeve was really sick, and we’d taken that to heart, making Maeve laugh so hard and so frequently that she would start coughing until a nurse came running in. 

I’m brought back to myself, and see Bronwyn grinning at me again. “I miss that,” she says quietly, like she isn’t sure she’s allowed to say that.

“I do too.” I pause. “Thanks for offering to hang out.”

“You’re welcome Nate.”

[justfinishedreading]

The Diary of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain

Spoilers (Sort of)

Before reading this book I had never read anything by Mark Twain, but I had heard that he was a great comedic writer and I was looking forward to my first experience of his writing. The Diary of Adam and Eve is his somewhat comedic and satirical version of the biblical legend, told in diary entry form, alternating between Adam and Eve. It’s important to explain that The Diary of Adam and Eve is not actually a single work of fiction; during his lifetime Mark Twain wrote seven short texts on the theme of Adam and Eve, published in different literary journals. These texts focus on different ideas within the context of the legend and do not always follow the same storyline or describe the same events in a consistent way.

The first text contains ‘Extracts from Adam’s Diary’ and ‘Eve’s Diary’, we’re first introduced to Adam (of course), he talks about the arrival of a curious and chatty creature who calls herself Eve. Adam is a solemn and territorial recluse; his diary entries are brief and mostly talk about how annoyed he is that Eve keeps hanging around him and thwarting his frequent attempts to run away. It is Eve who introduces the word “We” to Adam, before her, the possibility of the concept of a collective never occurred to him.

Eve’s diary entries are much longer and philosophical, in them she questions the existence of the creatures in the garden of Eden, their nature, and her own existence and feelings. She examines lions and tigers and tells Adam she believes their teeth look like they were designed for killing and consuming flesh, yet these animals currently eat grass and flowers. Adam tells her that animals killing each other would bring Death to the garden, which is something that has not yet happened. Eve’s observation is telling us that if animals were already “designed” this way, to inflict death, then it is with the anticipation of an event the creator already knows will happen. According to the Bible, Disease, Pain and Death were released onto the world once Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit, however if God’s world was already designed and created in preparation for such an event, was it ever Eve and Adam’s fault for disobeying an order given by a being who already knew the order would be disobeyed? With time recluse Adam warms up to Eve, although he doesn’t seem to have many redeeming qualities, one thing I will say for Adam is that I don’t recall him ever even thinking about blaming Eve for their “downfall”.

There are some amusing scenes in this first set of texts, for example Eve gives birth to Abel while Adam is away travelling, when he comes back Eve explains nothing and Adam is perplexed by the baby and keeps trying to conduct experiments on it. He is also obsessed with trying to capture another one from the wild. Twain gives both Adam and Eve a child-like wonder and amazement at the world and entertains us with stories of Eve trying to fetch stars from the night sky and wondering who stole them when day approaches.

Eve is convinced that she is some sort of experiment. The way the story of Adam and Eve is interpreted is usually that Adam was made in God’s image, God then took a rib from Adam and made Eve, therefore Adam is closer to God, and Eve is somewhat inferior because she is a copy of a copy. But if we think about what happens with anything that is created, the first creation is never the best version, usually with each new creation it is better than the last, it is improved. In this light we can view Eve not inferior to Adam but superior.

Eve tells us that she sometimes acts silly, or she conceals things from Adam in order to save him from feeling embarrassment, she realizes that he lacks some of the abilities she has and she does certain things to dumb herself down in order to not hurt his pride. This is something many women can relate to, myself included: needing to tip-toe around some men who have fragile egos and high tempers, this is one of the amazing things about this text, it was written a century ago, and by a man, and yet it is refreshingly feminist. We’re currently going through another feminist revival, and during a time when a lot of machismo and sexual harassment by celebrates is being exposed on social media, and we are losing faith in men in the public eye, it’s hopeful to read a work like The Diaries of Adam and Eve and find a male voice not blinded by ego, not threatened, but with an understanding nature.

Regarding humour, there are certain jokes that aren’t very funny, that are baffling and which I can only presume are related to some event or common joke specific to the time and place Twain was writing in. However there are other amusing scenes, for example interactions with dinosaurs are always funny, in this text and the others we see that Twain has an interest in science and the scientific method, the existence of dinosaurs is proven and Twain is not about to leave them out of Eden, so we get Eve trying to ride a brontosaurus, he “followed her like a pet mountain. Like the other animals. They all do that.” Eve, bright as she is, is also humble, she notices that several animals, particularly the dog and the elephant seem to understand her, and talk, but she does not understand them, and in this case they must be her superiors. In a later text Adam and Eve find a pterodactyl. They name him Terry.

This first section ends on a bit of a sad note, Eve theorizes why she loves Adam, that it is not a product of reasoning, she naively states that she would still love him even if he abused and beat her, words which made me very sad to read. In the end she says she is “only a girl, and the first that examined this matter, and it may turn out that in my ignorance and inexperience I have not got it right.” It is a true portrayal of First Love, of thinking that it’s noble to love someone even if they hurt you, and yet Eve has the wisdom to perceive that her understanding of this may change with time. In a later text Eve describes meeting Adam for the first times and thinking he must be some sort of reptile based on how emotionless and inactive he was.

From Adam’s analysis of their love we have simply, and touchingly, these few words written on Eve’s grave: “Wheresoever she was, there was Eden.”

The above points all relate to the first text in this collection, and it was the one I liked most, the one that gave me what I most expected. I would have loved a full novel written in this style, with themes and events expanded upon, but I can understand how it would have been financially and socially damaging for Twain to write such a book in the early 20th century American south, the novel would have ended up banned and part of book-burnings by religious groups across the country, then and now. It’s a shame, there’s are so many good ideas here, surely somewhere someone has written a novel on Adam and Eve – I should do some research on this.

Now regarding the other six texts, they all have differing tones, they were clearly written with specific different themes in mind, written as one-off literary amusements, imagine the opinions section in a newspaper, with articles bouncing off ideas contemporary to the time. I’m just going to mention a few aspects that I found interesting without really describing each individual article.

Eve writes “For we were children without nurses and without instructors. There was no one to tell us anything.” Throughout all these texts by Twain, God is absent, we hear Adam mention once or twice that he was instructed by God to not eat the fruit, but that’s it. Later when Satan appears, Adam and Eve are full of questions. In this imagining of Eden there is no dialogue between God and Adam and Eve, and before those of you who are more religious rush to protest, why should Twain not write their relationship as it currently is for so many of the Christian faith today? Sure there are some who say they speak to God, have a special relationship with him, but for the vast majority there is no clear two-way conversation going on. As Eves says, they were left alone, they discovered, HAD to discover, things by trial and error.

There’s a moment when just before eating the fruit, Adam and Eve have a discussion about what is Good, what is Evil, what is Pain, Disease and Death. Since they have experienced none of these, since they have seen none of these, they have absolutely no concept of what they could mean. How do you explain colours to someone born blind? So, whilst they were warned that eating the fruit would release a bunch of these (completely unknown) concepts, they decide to go right ahead.

Some other humour to note: Eve writes “the ability to spell correctly is a gift; that it is born in a person, and is a sign of intellectual inferiority. By parity of reasoning, its absence is a sign of great mental power.” As someone with a level of dyslexia myself, I welcome this thought. A good story from Adam is when he and Eve asked Noah what happened to all the dinosaurs? “he coloured and changed the subject.” After some persuasion he blames it on his sons for not carrying out their duties correctly, he then says that the dinosaurs and some other animals were left behind because they knew they would be needed for fossils one day… and also there were some miscalculations regarding the ark…

Amongst the jokes and the theological theories, there’s also commentary on the current state of affairs: Eve muses that the human population is too great in number and will consume the earth to devasting effects. This written by Twain a hundred years ago. Wow, what would he think if he saw us now?

There is a truly gut-wrenching and touching moment when Adam and Eve experience Death for the first time; Cain and Abel fight, Abel is hit, but none of them know what death is, they do not recognize or understand the moment he dies, instead they take him to his bed and wait, and wait, for Abel to wake up. All they comprehend is sleep, and therefore they presume that that’s what’s happening. Eve writes of spending hours by Abel’s side, covering his cold body with wool in a futile attempt to warm his body. There’s another diary entry describing her anguish as Eve begins to suspect that this might be what Death is.  

I’d like to end with a small but significant sentence, Adam writes about Eve: “She was never able to keep her composure when she came upon a relative; she would try to kiss every one of these people, black and white and all.” Apart from the fact that all other people of colour are ignored and humanity is basically divided into just white people and black people, and that nowadays the need to specify black and white people in such a sentence almost has the oppose effect and actually sounds racist, but given the time, and the fact that Mark Twain was born in the south, it is a sentence that has good intentions behind it, it is a sentence that is saying: we are all relatives of Adam and Eve, independent of colour. We are all family.

Review by Book Hamster

[kim-lexie]

crash landing on you.

woah...if a drama ever could crash land, oh i mean ‘descend’ into my heart it was this one. it descended from the greatest drama writers and has been placed into my list of top dramas of all time. like i’m telling you it’s up there with ‘scarlet heart ryeo’, ‘something in the rain’ and ‘mr. sunshine’. seriously it will not disappoint you and i would give it 100 out of 10. 

overview.

this drama follows se-ri, a ceo of an impressive cosmetic-lifestyle brand in seoul. she goes to test drive some of her paragliding products, and a nasty storms ends up sending her to north korea. after landing, she soon meets ri jung-hyuk, a captain in north korea monitoring the boarder. the drama follows him protecting her to deliver her home to south korea, and how their relationship flourishes in the diversity they face from two very different sides of the boarder.

there is romance, family drama, political issues, and cultural differences that are presented in this drama. and i was absolutely there for it all. i ended up writing down my thoughts and fave moments from each episode. because from the start i knew this drama would wreck my heart, and i wanted to look back at all the good times, and times i cried my eyes out of course. so i posted a week-by-week playback from the drama so if you want to see my random thoughts from each week here is the link week-by-week playback.

*spoiler alert* they are ahead, you have been warned.

i have many thoughts, and i am writing this the day i finished the drama. so i will do my best to touch on everything that really struck me throughout this drama. i may even have to go back and update later on, because it is a lot to process.

characters. 

i appreciated that we followed so many characters and that the characters were dynamic and held their own for the plot and development of the story.

ri jeong-hyeok and yoon se-ri. their relationship developed so beautifully. i loved how he had a heart to protect her immediately. from their first meeting and him directing her how to leave the north, and her running towards it just showed their personalities perfectly. once he discovered  that she was still there he was determined to get her out safely, and to protect her no matter the cost. when we come to find that they met long before, it just went to show how deep their connection and destiny was (cue me singing lyn’s ‘my destiny’ from my love from the star at least twice an episode). he saved her life many a times, as well as her saving his. they had so many moments. some of my faves (obvi not a comprehensive list all of their moments, that would be too much for my heart):

her falling from the tree saying he was totally her type. 

how he kept trying to meet her needs even though it was ridiculous and not necessities for the north, but were needs for her as a lady from the south. from making her food, to getting her the candles and body products from the market.

when she was lost in the market and he got a scented candle to lift up to find her.

him keeping her photo even though he called her out saying that it was silly to get extras.

after ri jeong-hyeok got shot protecting her, and their first kiss moment at the hospital. 

when ri jeong-hyeok’s family kidnaps her and they meet again at his family home.

when seri played on the piano and we discovered that it was jeong-hyeok’s song all along, the song for his brother that saved her life. when she contemplated suidcide in switzerland.

when his brother’s watch came full circle, to provide pertinent information in turning in the bad man and being the gift se-ri had bought to gift to jeong-hyeok.

when he followed her to the south to protect her, and they met on the street.

when he and the boys surprised her for her birthday.

him waiting for her after he was taken by the NIS and they allowed him to be at her bedside in the ICU until she woke up from the coma.

him leaving her a fully stocked fridge and writing out recipes for her. along with leaving her text messages for a year. 

him leaving her a recording of him playing the piece on the piano for her to fall asleep, rather than her depending on sleeping medications.

them writing i love you with books on the shelf.

captain ri’s company. i throughly enjoyed the addition of getting to know all of his men. they all developed a friendship with se-ri and it was so precious. and how she gave them all rewards before she was meant to leave the first time, and gifted them things. i loved how they all came to love her and wanted to protect her, which is especially prominent in how they all surround her after she was shot by cheol-gang. 

ju-meok and his love for south korean dramas throughout the episodes was precious. i loved that seri was able to make his dream and gift come true to meet his favorite actress. eun-dong a precious bean, just wanting to see his family, not always knowing what was going on, but always providing emotional support. kwang-beom the handsome face, who blew his cover in the south when all the agencies wanted to recruit him (hahaha). and of course chi-su the one most hesitant to accept her, came to love her most and became the most accustomed to the lifestyle of the south. 

these men tended to provide the perfect comedic relief for many tense moments. their one liners were perfect. i appreciated them coming to the south and trying to get accustomed to blend in. all those scenes were hilarious from them in the stores walking around with their knock off brand names, hours in the internet cafes, sauna stays, and chicken dinners. some notable moments include the birthday celebration scene, when seri thought they had left and gone back to the north and starts weeping on the floor, just for them to come out for the ‘surprise’. and them saying wait ju-meok you said surprises were a good idea but she is crying. another moment being when ri jeong-hyeok was showing seri his scars saying hers won't be too bad, and them walking in thinking something scandalous was happening, (this even happened when captain ri was in the hospital in north korea hahaha).

jeong-hyeok’s family. the storyline behind his brother was kind of dropped, and it was kinda sad because i feel like it shaped jeong-hyeok immensely. but it was so sad that his brother passed in such a tragic way at the hands of cheol-gang. and that it brought jeong-hyeok back from his dream as a pianist to fulfill what he needed to for his family. his father was stern and hilarious in the scene when the two of them finally met again. just being baffled that his only son left was in love with a woman from the south. his mother was so supportive of him, and i loved that. she just wanted her only son to be happy in life and come back alive. 

now seri’s family is whole other story they were WACK. like seriously insane and it was ridiculous. her father and mother redeemed themselves compared to the beginning, once seri returned they kept it in check and wanted the best for her. i loved how the mother and daughter relationship blossomed and how she was there for her daughter in recovery and grieving the loss of jeong-hyeok as he went back to the north. that was beautiful. 

now on to her oppa se-hyeong and his witch of a wife sang-a. they wanted to keep her in the north, then when she was back to send her back/use it against her in business ventures, then tell cheol-gang her address so he could take her. like what?!?! her eldest brother and his wife were oblivious and just wanted money and titles, but dang at least they didnt send an ex NK officer after seri. and it was only until the man-bok wire tapped the room while she was in a coma did it come out that they were truly evil. 

our second otp. seung-jung and seo dan. my goodness what an unexpected pairing, but you know i was on that ship as soon as i saw it developing. i loved how they dished what the other served, and how seung-jung was a different person who wanted to do better by her, seriously they were great. i loved that seo dan saw that she was worthy and deserved to have a man that wanted her and saw her true beauty and qualities that made her a strong and independent woman. and that she didnt need to pursue something that was not vibrant because jeong-hyeok did not pursue her how she deserved, because he had someone else in his heart. i loved this relationship. and i really did not appreciate that we finally had major character development from seung-jung, and then he died. like seriously?! we went from only a few episodes prior going to turn seri into her brother and keep her there in the north. and then he went to protect seo dan and ended up losing his life to protect her. 

the moment he asked her what she was referring to when she said, ‘i like it’. was it jeong-hyeok, was it the ramen, or was it him (seung-jung)?!? and she responded with him, weeping. i weeped like a baby. and then he died in the ambulance. i couldn't contain it.

seo dan’s family. i loved her mother, she provided much comedic relief when it came to how seo dan and jeong-hyeok were originally engaged, to kinda getting on the ship of ‘alberto’, to being like maybe it’s fine if she is alone, let me get myself a man. it was hilarious. i also loved how she went into the village and used her money on the black market to get goods to the ladies of the village. it was quite funny to see how much of the south, she appreciated even though they were pretty high up in status in the north. like the boutiques she went to, and the english phrases, and south korean products she used. 

the women of the village. these women were precious. they were hilarious in how they always prepared the best for jeong-hyeok when he came back from the outpost. i loved how the village banned together to protect seri and how seri made limited edition products in tribute to them. 

the premise and themes.

overall the idea of this concept is wild and completely ridiculous. that she was hidden for so long, that they met before in switzerland of all places, and that it took her weeks to escape the north and it took 8 men 12 hours to get there is ridiculous. but then again if we didn’t have these wild storylines would it really be a drama? 

it was interesting to see their perspective of life in the north, for the duration of the drama i was wondering how much of this is true. from the market to the wiretapping of the homes, to the guards and military structure. it was all very intriguing. and i also have issues with people saying this drama glorified north korea because i would like to see those receipts because i did not see it portrayed as a wonderful place to live. it looked difficult and cold, and terrifying! 

the only thing that humanized it was the people, which is how it is in these situations. the people there, just typical everyday people, do not necessarily reflect the hierarchy of hate portrayed by officials of the government. 

it was so sad at the place that seri was incredibly vulnerable and wanted to take her own life. she insanely depressed and how jeong-hyeok in that precise moment when he was sad and alone wrote a piece of music for his brother that brought her out of her own darkness was beautiful. even though they did not talk or communicate face to face, the heart behind his music brought her out. and they were eventually able to come full circle and meet and grow together. se-ri is an incredible strong character and i wish she had the support she needed from her family and friends. i am glad that jeong-hyeok was able to be there for her, and meet her in her most vulnerable moment on the bridge.

cinematography and episode layout.

i loved the filming of this. like seriously it was beautifully done. from the dynamic scenes in nature and traveling through the forests, to the cityscapes and small moments they highlighted.

i appreciated how we followed the cohesive storyline, but that at the end of each episode we got an extra tidbit to take with us. one of the most noteworthy ones being when the NIS was investigating the ‘spies’/captain ri’s men and looking at all their histories and transactions and places they visited (HILARIOUS). then at the end of that episode it flashed back to the NIS, and now they were looking into jeong-hyeok. and it showed the collective moments that him and se-ri shared and the investigator said that a psychologist viewed all the materials and found to conclude that jeong-hyeok was in love with se-ri. then the lead investigator was like, ‘no duh, you needed a psychologist to tell you that bro. i can see it with my own eyes’. i laughed so hard. 

these end scenes at the end of the episodes were also pivotal in piecing together their histories. and seeing how they had met long ago and that destiny truly brought them together. 

the ending.

i am partially satisfied with the ending. i like how we got to see where everyone went. like even the little things of how man-bok and his family ended up in pyeongyang. and that the village ladies were same old same old even with a new captain showing up. 

i was disappointed that our second otp was ripped apart by those chinese gangsters, because we could have had it all, and not the tragic ending of him protecting her from the bad men and dying a slow painful death and they finally confessed their love for each other. 

i loved that our couple found each other eventually, after years but that it was while she was paragliding, which i freaking called it being like wouldn't that bring us full circle! it was wild and i loved how it ended with them on a picnic enjoying life in a little house with all their photos, because that's how it all started. i wish we could have seen them in the future with their twins, but ya know i’ll take this ending over a scarlet heart ryeo for our main leads.

the ost. 

my goodness i have never had a great drama with a subpar ost tracks. and this one does not fall short. now, i have drama ost playlists each each, and i believe every track from this drama made the list, because *insert slow clap* they are fantastic. my faves:

‘flower’ by yoonmirae.

‘here i am again’ by yerin baek.

‘all of my days’ by sejeong.

‘photo of my mind’ by song ga in.

‘let us go’ by crush. (his tracks always get me)

‘give you my heart’ by iu.

now if you haven't watched it yet go get netflix and watch this one because it will not disappoint. and i will have to rewatch it eventually because it really was perfect. and i am sure there are many easter eggs that i missed. 

[danwhobrowses]

AEW - Best and Worst Booking Decisions from Double or Nothing 2020 to 2021

As I promised back in my WWE Post Reviewing the Booking of Mania 35-36 it is time for me to run down AEW's booking over the last year.

Double or Nothing 2020 was AEW's first PPV of the Empty Arena Era, which they pulled off with the inaugural TNT champion being Cody'd, Brian Cage's debut and murder of Darby Allin, Hikaru Shida began her mammoth title reign, Moxley and Brodie Lee put on a fantastic show with their short build and we finished off with the wacky Stadium Stampede. But since then, it's had some ups and downs.

As I said with the WWE one, these are my opinions: some of which will act within hindsight rather than within the moment.

There will also be spoilers from the Dynamite after DoN 2020 to the end of DoN 2021, you have been warned

May 2020 Best - FTR They told us one day they would wrestle the Bucks and the world shall rejoice, and after several teases on BTE following The Revival's release from the E, FTR arrived and the division got even more stacked because of it.

Worst - Mike Tyson loses to his shirt AEW did try with Tyson, pushing for some shared history with Jericho as they began to stand off with one another. But his struggle to cleanly tear off his shirt really made the confrontation awkward and it wouldn't go anywhere.

Best - Baker becomes the Roll Model Baker's injury was a huge blow given how she was finally getting over thanks to her heel turn and bloody battle with Shida. It would've very easily killed her momentum to be off TV, but AEW instead played into Baker's injury by making her flaunt her heelish hilarity, starting with her being a wheelchair-riding 'roll model', this would begin Baker's time entertaining in spite of injury.

Worst - Allie and QT begin What was this huh? Now Allie in a red dress was a sight to behold but the whole romance angle where a very married Allie had a brief period as a babyface and pairing with the also very married QT Marshall. We all knew it was gonna lead to Butcher and Blade jumping the Natural Nightmares, but it really overstayed its welcome.

Best - The TNT Open Challenge We will get more on this but Cody's win of the TNT title was met with concern given the monster push of Lance Archer - not to mention the dismal design of the championship itself. But Cody did his best to add prestige via the weekly Open Challenge, which would showcase a lot of talent in a similar way to Cena's US title Open Challenge.

June 2020 Best - Brodie goes on the Recruitment Prowl Being the leader of the Dark Order, Mr. Brodie Lee needed a new direction after being felled by Jon Moxley. What he decided was to add to his ranks; bringing in Dark Standout Alan Angels, enticing Colt Cabana and extending a hand to Anna Jay. These choices bolstered the Dark Order's ranks to last much longer, especially with their segments in BTE showing all their comedic flair.

Worst - Sammy Guevara eats his words The Speaking Out movement affected AEW just as it did most of wrestling, leading to the release of Jimmy Havoc. But Sammy Guevara also got done in by his egregiously vulgar comments he made regarding his attraction WWE's Sasha Banks in an old interview that had now surfaced. While this isn't a booking decision per se, it was the fault of AEW to have not caught this on their background check. Sammy would rightfully be suspended with a full apology, seminars taken and a direct conversation with Banks herself to make amends.

Best - Red Velvet stirs in Red Velvet would debut on Dark in June, showcasing talent which would later be enhanced and explored later in the year, adding Red Velvet did indeed bolster the women's division a bit more, showing AEW's dedication towards building new stars was still alive.

Best - Wardlow vs Luchasaurus rocks the house Lumberjack matches are more miss than hit, but the long-awaited match between Wardlow and Luchasaurus was a sleeper hit for the month. Big time spots of athletic hosses slapping meat and flipping feet continued to showcase Wardlow's dominance with a big win over the Dino-man, just a good wrestling match worth the wait.

July 2020

Best - Open Challenge Opens Doors Cody's open challenges started with the AEW roster, but they soon expanded to being for indy talent and cross-promotional challengers too: Enter Eddie Kingston. The Mad King made an instant impact in his hardcore challenge against Cody, which quickly earned him a contract with the company. Also among the challengers was Ricky Starks - who would also get a contract - and Warhorse, who had rallied the fans into giving him a shot - and AEW did play into his popularity, having an answer for a lot of Cody's offense until he hurt his leg for the finish. It was smart booking even if Cody was bound to win.

Worst - Cardona's time is Radio Silence You gotta feel bad for Matt Cardona, he has all the makings to be a great star, but he just suffers from either company disinterest, injury or poor timing. The latter was the case for his AEW time, since AEW were having to deal with WWE's COVID outbreak by extension of any partners, Cardona only had a rare appearance backing up Cody a few times and while he did find himself in Impact, it's sadly not as green as the other side.

Best - Sue is Over The Best Friends as babyfaces walk the line perfectly of being a group of goofball man-children but also legitimate and talented wrestlers. The cherry on the top though was the Friends' entrance to Fyter Fest in Trent's mom Sue's mini-van for their tag title match, immediately getting Sue over with fans. Sue would also be a cult figure for BTE in her skits with the Dark Order, being the only person ever to make Brodie Lee break character and corpse.

Worst - Cody cannot elevate Hager Cody's defenses led to Hager (and his wife) looking for a title match, the sale of it being a more legitimate bout with the weigh in and packages didn't pull off in the match though, being quite slow and simplistic. Hager still remains a wrestler who lacks any more potential than what he has now but knows the right people.

Best - Taz promos around Mox's COVID absence Due to the aforementioned outbreak, AEW were forced to reschedule their main event when Renee Young had contracted the virus, exposing their world champion Jon Moxley by extension. This meant that Brian Cage would have to wait longer for their match (though not as long as UK fans are waiting for AEW to come overseas), so AEW decided to let Taz carry them over this predicament, which he did marvelously by reviving his FTW title and handing it to Cage. It added some extra heat and something for Cage to carry around as if he had won the personal victory over Moxley already, and it would lead us into the following week's rescheduled Main Event at Fight for the Fallen.

August 2020 Best - Brodie Destroys Cody After a lot of defenses and Cody getting the 'finished product' TNT title, fans wondered how Cody's defense against Mr. Brodie Lee would go. And boy did we get a spectacle, the Exalted One demolished Cody, Anna Jay then choked out Brandi as the rest of the Dark Order held the Nightmare Family at bay, and we were left with the visual of Brodie on top and Cody and Brandi at their feet, covered in the shredded remains of the old TNT title that Cody had reigned with. It was great storytelling and a great way to elevate Brodie as well as finally putting the Dark Order over, the stable rode the highest they had been since their debut while Cody disappeared to film for the Go Big Show.

Worst - Bea and Sadie get released, Mel stays AEW did their best to keep as many people they could during the Pandemic, but due to the travel restrictions Bea Priestley was very much land locked and Sadie Gibbs was not getting a second chance at her botched debut. It was a shame because of how talented both women were, Bea especially since rumor has it she might be en route to the E. What was baffling was that Mel, of the failed Nightmare Collective, remains on AEW's payroll despite not having appeared for over a year, hard to add that up.

Best - Thunder Rosa makes her challenge Before the Forbidden Door, NWA opened their doors to AEW while the pandemic prevented them from filming shows. With champion Hikaru Shida lacking a built-up challenger, fans were interested in Thunder Rosa's intrigue about Shida's challenge, and would be pleased to see AEW roll with it too. Rosa and Shida made for a great cross-promotional feud which'd lead to a great match in the following month. To this very day, Thunder Rosa's appearance on AEW is one of the brand's most vital steps in terms of strengthening their women's division.

Worst - The Deadly Draw is on Youtube Speaking of the Women's Division, AEW had also decided to have an all-women's tournament called the Deadly Draw. 'Random' tag teams would be forged in a tag tournament that'd give women some time to show their stuff. Unfortunately, this would mostly be on Youtube - save for the Finals - and be dominated by Fans' disdain that Allie and Brandi were making the finals. The method of picking was not handled well since we didn't really get any mismatch teams aside from Nyla, and the amount of women we got were not all spectacular with Rache Chanel and the former Cameron being a part of it. While Ivelisse and Diamante would win too they only got some crappy medals, all of which leaves a bitter taste following Ivelisse's release.

Best - Deadly Draw gives us Conti, Diamante and Savoy That being said, the Deadly Draw had its saving graces. For one the use of Veda Scott on commentary, Madusa as the host and Shaul Guerrero as the announcer were nice touches, we also got to see Tay Conti, Diamante, Ivelisse and Nicole Savoy wrestle - the middle two win. Conti would turn out to be the most important of the lot with her team and friendship with Dark Order's Anna Jay, getting over because of their chemistry and making it to the semi-finals.

Worst - Conti to Dark Order doesn't develop Conti and Anna's friendship meant that soon after, Jay had extended an offer for her friend to join the stable. For weeks we saw Conti carry around this invitation but then: nothing. Conti never joined Dark Order and this didn't beget any friction between the friends either - in the end it became a missed opportunity as Conti dances on the edge of being supported by the Dark Order but not a part of the Dark Order.

Best - Jericho and Cassidy Debate With Mike Tyson unable to appear more to feud with Jericho, AEW slotted over-as-fuck Orange Cassidy to face Jericho. While Jericho got the win in the first match, we were graced with a fun 'debate' hosted by Schiavone and with a guest appearance of Eric Bischoff. Cassidy's monologue during the debate was great too.

Worst - Cassidy's first win over Jericho isn't as big as it should be Unfortunately, when Cassidy did get the win over Jericho was not as good as the first, getting clunky at times with some miscommunication and slow pacing. They would have their rubber match in the gimmicky Mimosa Mayhem which would also be a bit of a mixed bag.

Best - Hardy and the Mad King Squad Up Despite solid starts, Private Party, Lucha Bros and Butcher & the Blade had struggled a little to find success in AEW, but they would gain some benefit by associating with Matt Hardy and Eddie Kingston. Hardy worked well as a mentor to the similar styled tag team to his younger years, while Kingston's evil grin to the camera did signal that Kingston's new squad would be up to no good.

Best - Moxley and Allin make another classic Allin and Moxley somehow just click, they click so well that you could put them in a match every week and people wouldn't complain, hell there's fanart of Moxley essentially adopting Allin in the same vein as Shota 'Shooter' Umino. Anyway, Allin vs Moxley is always fantastic, and it made sense for the feud that was growing.

Best - You're Out of the Elite! Hangman's slow burn storytelling has been sublime, and it was at a new height when FTR started sniffing around Hangman like lions around a wounded gazelle. Feeding into Hangman's alcoholism - established since his inability to beat Jericho or PAC in his hunt to be world champion - FTR exposed doubt within Page that the Bucks were ousting him out and would soon turn on him. All of which were mind games to sow discontent between him and Omega in their bid for the tag titles. The cherry on the top came with Hangman's removal from the Elite, after a stellar feud in Revolution being brought up, Hangman impulsively screwed out the Bucks from getting another title match, after a dressing down and being kicked out of the group we pan to a shot of Hangman staring into a mirror cracked - perfect storytelling.

Best - MJF campaigns against Moxley MJF had been undefeated and fans have wondered when rather than if he would get his shot. And when he set his eyes on Moxley it is spectacular. The faux presidential campaign was right up MJF's alley as he looked to write out Moxley's go-to finish of the Paradigm Shift, this also had great easter eggs like MJF emulating Samoa Joe's shove on him to one of his entourage, as well as his lawyer Sterling being a good addition for the feud.

September 2020 Best - Allin/Starks, Johnson/Carter are bangers September came out with some very impressive matches, for Dynamite it was the culmination of Allin and Starks' feuding but on Dark we got unsigned Lee Johnson and Ben Carter blow the roof off, immediately both names were a topic of scouting and it remains a top level match.

Worst - Billy Mitchell's cameo Early into Miro's debut we got some vignettes of 'The Best Man' enjoying his other past-time as a gamer. While this wasn't the right way to go in hindsight, the cameo of Billy Mitchell - a controversial figure in Arcade Gaming - was quite out of place for AEW as well, many having to look up who the dude was anyway and why many gamers were disgruntled about it. 'Celebrity' Cameos can only really work if you know who they are.

Best - Kingston stories a weird finish into a Title Match It would've been a Worst moment on this list when Eddie Kingston lost a battle royale for a title shot by being pushed off the turnbuckle despite leaving to the apron via the middle rope. However, when winner Archer came down with COVID, AEW was put in a reverse Fyter Fest scenario, a champion but no opponent. This allowed Kingston an in to use the fact that he never technically went over the top rope to barter a title match, which he used to impressive effect.

Worst - Sydal Slips The Shooting Star Press is a difficult move to pull off, and dangerous to botch. It had also been the staple of Matt Sydal, who was the Joker in the Casino Battle Royale of All Out, but when he did his Shooting Star he slipped and faceplanted. While it's not a booking decision it is a sore spot, Sydal has partly recovered as a full time worker and a mini-feud with Nakazawa to save face on the botch, but he has only once tried the move again.

Best - Will Hobbs impresses When Sydal botched and hit the floor though, Will Hobbs was the one you saw roll over inconspicuously to check he wasn't hurt. The youngster had already been impressing on AEW Dark on a regular basis and his appearance alone in the Battle Royale was an encouraging sign. Hobbs would also put on a strong performance in that match, which would lean in on being more utilized on Dynamite, his momentum would also carry to Double or Nothing with another strong run in a Battle Royale mostly pitted against Christian Cage.

Worst - The Matt Hardy incident Perhaps the lowest point of All Out was the Broken Rules Match. Hardy and Sydal had overshot their spear spot from a forklift to a table and Hardy hit his head hard. Hardy wobbled with signs of concussion as the match to and fro'd about being called off, Hardy though was having none of it - since the stipulation would have him retire had he lost - he would continue for a scaffolding spot for the finish but it did put a lot of heat on Guevara and AEW for allowing the match to continue. Matt would make a recovery and have a cinematic match with Sammy to finish the tainted feud, but from there BROKEN Matt Hardy was seldom seen.

Best - Deeb arrives Serena Deeb is one of the most technically gifted women on wrestling. Someone so grossly underutilized by WWE that it's baffling that the best thing they would do with her on the main roster is shave her head for the admittedly great Straight Edge Society but then release her for not keeping up kayfabe in her personal life. This was the month though that the current NWA Women's Champion debuted on AEW Dark and would later get signed, Deeb adds veteran experience and technical mastery to AEW's women's roster and she is a cert to be AEW Women's Champion someday.

Worst - Fans fight Tooth and Nail but Swole/Baker doesn't deliver Despite Britt Baker's rise to superstardom, her return feud with Big Swole became a bit of a mishit. The build was fine with Swole often getting the better of the wheelchair-bound Baker, so for Baker's return AEW had set a cinematic match in her dentist's office. The match was placed on the Buy-In, which pissed a lot of fans off and had them strong-arm Khan into putting it as the opener, and it didn't pay off. The match was par at best, ending with Baker losing as well, while the quickly-put-together match of Private Party vs Silver & Reynolds shone brightly on the Buy In in the spot this match should've taken. Listening to fans is of course good but AEW had the hindsight to judge whether the match was worth it in the eyes of the fans and they picked wrong.

Best - Parking Lot Brawl But for every par match AEW has they always sneak in a blinder, and it was Best Friends' 5-Star Parking Lot Brawl against Santana & Ortiz that pulled it off. With Orange Cassidy coming out of the boot of the car, Santana & Ortiz's Dead Presidents' appearance and Sue getting a brand new minivan and flipping off the Inner Circle duo at the end, the match was a fantastic closer for the night.

October 2020 Best - Brandon Cutler gets the W Brandon Cutler had AEW's longest losing streak, and they loved to ham it up, except Peter Avalon also had AEW's longest losing streak too. They had tried working together but couldn't find the common ground, so when Avalon turned on Cutler we were set for one of these men to get the win. After two no contests due to double count outs and double disqualifications, Cutler and Avalon had a no rules rubber match on Dark and it was great. Cutler got his win in probably AEW Dark's best feud storytelling - though it probably should've been on Dynamite or even the Buy In of the PPV - giving a payoff years in the making.

Worst - Nyla/Shida II is built on Dark Hikaru Shida had gone through the majority of the Women's Roster, so with new manager Vickie Guerrero, Nyla Rose wanted her title back. The problem however was that all of Vickie's calling out of Shida after a Nyla squash was on Dark, so the match was poorly built. You feel bad for Tony Khan because he tried this so more eyes would go on Dark but it was also a reminder that title matches should be built on the Main Show.

Best - MJF and Jericho get musical MJF had decided once again to try and get in with the Inner Circle, only this time he was faring better thanks to his chemistry with Chris Jericho. What we got was Le Dinner Debonair, a pompous, broadway-esque musical scene that fit the larger than life and delusional heel aura of both men's ego. While some people called it 'too goofy', it was also named one of the best TV moments of the year.

Worst - Miro feuds over an Arcade Machine Fans wanted one thing from Miro: the beast, but AEW did not lead with that. Instead they had him feud with Best Friends because they were thrown into an Arcade Machine he was playing. While it's not the level of feuding over shampoo, it was still rather dumb and contrived given how the rest of this weak feud was telegraphed leading up to Kip and Penelope's wedding - despite Miro's attempts to subvert Wrestling Wedding Tropes.

Best - Leyla legitimately impresses In October, 'Legit' Leyla Hirsch came out of nowhere and made the best of her moment. A non-title debut against champion Hikaru Shida on Dark proved an extremely entertaining affair as Hirsch got to showcase her physicality, and then that was followed instantly by a NWA Women's Title shot against Deeb on Dynamite - which she also really impressed in. While it took a while for AEW to announce Leyla as a signing, it was a definite plus to see Olympic qualities in the Women's Division.

Worst - Jericho can't get Luther over When Jericho got a whole Dynamite to celebrate 30 years in the business he had a lot on his plate, several cameos from Slash and Hiroshi Tanahashi made it a special moment but the Main Event didn't work. Luther is sadly another one of those Brutus Beefcake cases of knowing the right people, and while Luther could probably go when he was younger, currently he isn't the best. People wondered if Jericho could carry Luther in his match with Chaos Project but unfortunately it didn't land, Luther after all has his place on the undercard throwing Serpentico around, he doesn't need any more than that.

Best - The Cleaner shows signs of returning After an Anniversary Show meant that Moxley had gone through another opponent in his mammoth title reign, AEW had set up a tournament to name the new Number 1 Contender. At this time as well FTR had already dealt with Hangman and Omega but their post-match embrace was not reciprocated by Omega, who had more or less washed his hands with his partner. The two were in different places, Page had descended further into the bottom of a drink without any of his friends while Kenny had become focused upon being a singles competitor again. Metaphorically winking to the hard cam, Omega would enter in an over the top fashion with cheerleaders of the Jacksonville Jaguars dancing with brooms to hark the slow arrival of the Cleaner. His disgruntled face after squashing Sonny Kiss was also meme quality.

Worst - Brodie's Reign is cut short Brodie Lee's TNT title reign was great, it had put the Dark Order on top and his segments on BTE were extremely entertaining too. An emphatic return of the dark haired Cody Rhodes did invite a rematch which would be a more brutal affair than Cody's prior squashing, but sadly Brodie would not retain. His reign only lasted a month and in hindsight that would be the only time Brodie held gold, while he stated he had no regrets on how short his reign was it was not great booking to put it immediately back on Cody as if Brodie only held it because Cody had another show to record.

Best - Dog Collar Match was great Result notwithstanding though, the Dog Collar match proved as brutal as it was entertaining. Another match that elevated the TNT title's prestige, Lee and Cody tore into each other in a match that could've easily screamed Vince Russo late-WCW failure. But the men pulled it off with their raw talent and nobody looked bad out of it.

November 2020 Best - Kenny vs Hangman I Since AEW's inception, Hangman Page has been on a slow course to squaring off against Kenny Omega. This came to a head in the finals of the No.1 Contendership Tournament, the confident Kenny vs the angsty Page proved an effective opener which further spiralled Hangman into depression while Kenny would return to the top of the card.

Worst - Hornswoggle in a nappy? The Inner Circle's Vegas skit was probably too much, it had some good moments like Hager and Wardlow continually staring at each other as they beat up people in the club, also the appearance of an Elvis Impersonator and Konnan. But the bit finished on a weird note trying to homage The Hangover by having WWE's former Hornswoggle appear in a baby's nappy, it was just weird no ways around it.

Best - Cargill and Top Flight make an impression November saw the debuts of new members of the Women's and Tag Division. The Martin brothers impressed as the new vibrant and athletic tag team, putting on a wild show against The Bucks. Jade Cargill would start AEW by confronting Cody with the tease of one Shaquille O'Neal, but the moment the camera panned to Cargill she had one word printed on her and it was 'Star'. While Top Flight are halved by injury, Cargill has continued to show her growth.

Worst - Shida vs Abadon has a short build When Abadon debuted on AEW Dark she put on an impressive match with then-not-champion Hikaru Shida, the story being that Shida was weirded out by the Living Dead Girl. Since then, Abadon had been undefeated in her sporadic appearances - partly delayed by injury - so she was put on a course to reignite this storyline with Shida. However, they didn't get enough time, only a couple segments of Shida trying to prove herself not scared and an AEW Dark segment when Abadon jumped Shida and hit a Cemetery Drive on her. A decent match would follow, but we could've done a lot more.

Best - Hobbs turns to FTW Will Hobbs had grown more and more impressive with each appearance, put over as well in promo by Jon Moxley too gave him a lot of credit. During Darby's feud with Team Taz, Hobbs had often come to make the save to prevent Darby from being injured, however he did have a habit of arriving a little late. This proved to be intentional when Hobbs turned heel, aligning with Team Taz to learn under the ECW Legend. While Hobbs has yet to taste gold, he has of recent found himself elevated by the feud with Christian Cage and should Brian Cage move away from Team Taz, he would clearly be the top choice to take the FTW belt from him.

Worst - Cody Hogan's his title loss When it was time for Cody to drop the TNT belt again, fans would hope that it would be a similar case of Cody putting someone over red hot like he did Brodie. However, instead Darby defeated Cody with a series of roll ups which Cody kicked out in 3.1, a very Hogan vs Warrior title change with Cody also having to keep the spotlight on him by handing the belt to Darby before Darby's moment was further interrupted by Team Taz's attack.

Best - Darby has gold At the very least, Darby being crowned TNT champion after finally beating Cody was a perfect narrative for the talented and albeit batshit crazy masochist Emo Skater Boy. Darby's reign would also be consistently good and maintain Allin's star aura against opponents of all shapes and sizes.

Best - PAC is BAC Due to COVID, several of AEW's international talents were land-locked and unable to appear, but when the UK's borders loosened slightly The Bastard PAC made an emphatic return to reestablish Death Triangle. This had also come off the heels of Eddie Kingston trying to sway Penta away from his brother and kick Fénix out of his group. PAC's mini-feud with Kingston would remind the world that AEW had some world class talent to put in against Kenny Omega as well as reminding the world that PAC is just amazing as a wrestler.

Best - Bunkhouse match blows the roof off Dustin Rhodes seems to have carved an interesting spot for himself as the 'Obscure Gimmick Match Master'. Currently teasing a Bullrope match with Nick Comoroto, he shone brightly in the culmination of the long-winded QT/Allie storyline which lead to a Bunkhouse Match against the Butcher and the Blade. It had old school qualities with amazing spots that continued a long chain of AEW pulling off impressive gimmick matches even if the feud wasn't as impressive itself.

Best - Mox and Kingston, Feud of the Year 2020 You know what was an impressive feud though? Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston. Imagine winning feud of the year for something set up in September to November? And most of it was promo, but these were two of the best promo guys in the world, touching on their roots, their former friendship, the lengths either would go and all coming to a head in an I Quit Match. Kingston made you believe every word he said when he declared that he would never quit and he wouldn't stop until he was champion but come the match Moxley proved more resilient than words can be. Getting Feud of the Year is not bad going for what originally started as a one-off title match because Archer got COVID.

December 2020 Best - Brodie Lee Memorial Show Near the end of December the wrestling world was shocked by the death of Brodie Lee, the Exalted One was someone fans really wanted to see be a major world champion someday, but he had tragically succumbed to a Lung condition. At this time too AEW were promoting a 2-part special of New Year's Dash, but delayed the shows a week to put on a memorial show for Brodie. With matches picked by Brodie's eldest son, AEW did perhaps the perfect tribute show, with a perfect blend of clips and tributes paired with matches that honored the Big Rig. Brodie's influence was shown with Silver emulating Brodie's outfit, Eric Redbeard appearing, FTR renaming their Goodnight Express to the Big Rig, and the TNT title being handed to Brodie Lee Jr. - who became AEW's youngest signing - and a special t-shirt being the highest selling t-shirt of 2020, with proceeds going to Brodie's wife, Amanda. Brodie's influence still reigns in AEW as the Dark Order have become somewhat gatekeepers to the TNT title and the quote 'It's [day], and you know what that means' being frequently used or displayed via signs to start off an AEW show.

Worst - Ben Carter slips through their fingers Ben Carter had proven a sensational talent on his AEW showings, quickly having rose to having a match on Dynamite. However, AEW did not get his signature on the dotted line, and the E came a-callin'. The loss of the now-Nathan Frazer was a rough blow for AEW business since it showed that WWE could still outbid them if they wanted someone enough, and AEW made the mistake of not signing him before other companies started sniffing around.

Best - IT'S STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! The 'Winter is Coming' special had many big things happen, but one of the biggest of all was the return of Sting. Instantly Sting's T-Shirt sales broke records in AEW (until the Brodie shirt would break Sting's) as the WCW legend had made his return to TNT in a veil of snow staring down Darby Allin, nostalgia was high on this moment.

Worst - STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING does nothing for a month But. There was a problem with Sting's arrival on AEW, he wasn't exactly spry in his 60s and AEW were cautious in wanting him to come back into the ring despite being classed as an active talent. AEW did miss a mark by promoting Sting to just do the same interview over and over, more than once in fact, you gotta do something with Sting to get the fans excited.

Best - Taz chokes out Cody While feuding with Darby, Cody became involved when he dropped the TNT title to Darby and got attacked by Team Taz all the same. When this led to a verbose conflict between Cody and Taz over the legitimacy of the FTW championship, Cody made the mistake of turning his back on Taz after diminishing his philosophy because Taz's son Hook was training under his factory rather than his father. Jake the Snake did warn him not to turn your back on someone you respect, but maybe he should've warned him to not turn your back on a Human Suplex Machine, because Taz immediately put him in the Tazmission - to a huge pop from fans - choking out the younger Rhodes to further personalize their feud.

Worst - Dynamite Diamond Ring doesn't change MJF had used the Dynamite Diamond Ring sporadically as a weapon to cheat in matches, but it anything it was a glorified brass knuckles that had limited prestige. When AEW had the chance to give it new prestige by having it fought over a year after MJF won it, they decided to simply keep it on MJF's pinky finger. As a result we had a battle royale and a match that kinda went nowhere narratively, and AEW should've really just made the ring a one-off or given it to someone else to signify a young up-and-coming talent getting a rub.

Best - The Acclaimed prove they're not all talk Not to be outdone by Top Flight, who they seem destined to have an eternal rivalry with, The Acclaimed put on an impressive showing in their title match with the Bucks too. Max Caster's diss tracks continue to slowly win fans over but this was the moment the Acclaimed turned into a mainstay of AEW's tag division.

Worst - TNT ask for no more surprises While reported months later, fans were alerted that after Sting's debut, TNT had asked AEW to not do any more surprises. Business-wise it made sense since they wanted to promote any big moments on the show for a greater viewership, but Wrestling-wise eliminating the shock factor would be a detriment to the business as a whole. AEW have managed to work their way around such things by promoting 'mystery entrants' or debuting surprise characters between other promoted segments but it is still a questionable decision by TNT to request such a thing.

Best - This is Bear Country Next on the 'XX impress on Dark, get signed up' is the tag team of Bear Country. Different to Top Flight's flippy talent and the Acclaimed's knack for mind games and more technical wrestling was two big hoss men running roughshot War Machine-style, there's not much else you need to sell with that, Bear Country was just good stuff and provided another style AEW's tag division could use.

January 2021 Best - Negative One With Brodie Lee Jr. now signed to AEW, he started to make appearances as Dark Order's new leader 'Negative One'. And instantly, Brodie Jr had become an excellent presence. With great understanding of the business for such a young age, Negative One would delight audiences on Dark and Elevation be it on commentary or simply being the feral prince that often accompanied Preston Vance, Anna Jay and/or Tay Conti. The kid was having the time of his life too.

Worst - TNT title doesn't get revamped enough With the original finished product of the TNT title handed to Brodie Jr, there was an opening to make a new TNT title which learned from the criticisms that the original had. Unfortunately we did not have this, we mostly just got a Black strap. Granted COVID would've been a part of that but given how long Darby's reign was, we could've put work towards giving us a better looking TNT championship.

Best - Dark Order turn face, help the Hangman On BTE Dark Order found their feet with their flair for comedy, one of the segments that began this was Evil Uno's selling of Brodie's throwing of papers, the bit originated from Lee discovering that Hangman had once reached out to the Dark Order website sometime at the beginning of his depression spiral. Because of the rejection, the Dark Order had fostered an animosity against Page with frequent 'Fuck Hangman' chants, and yet Hangman would sporadically appear in their hangout, starting his own 'Fuck Hangman' chant when kicked out of the Elite in a brutal show of Page's self-loathing. From there though the Dark Order had softened to the Anxious Millennial Cowboy and after a face turn they had grown to become AEW's most popular faction and a much-needed friend for Page. While Hangman wouldn't officially join the Dark Order, it definitely proved to be an entertaining chapter in Page's story from an unlikely source.

Worst - Team Taz will jump Darby, but not Sting During their feud, Team Taz were seen to jump Darby Allin whenever they could, didn't matter if he had Cody or Moxley on his side they would still try to get the upper hand on the TNT champion. But now that Sting has arrived, Team Taz decided to stop doing that. As much as it was AEW protecting Sting from bumps, it really diminished Team Taz as well because five men that included Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs and Brian Cage were scurrying away from a lone 60 year old with a baseball bat.

Best - Bullet Club in AEW Tama Tonga might refute it, but the appearance of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in AEW was big, and their arrival to aid Kenny and then to two sweet him with the Bucks was an image definitely worthy of closing the night. From Gallows and Anderson's arrival to AEW led to Impact's doors being opened, which has recently led to Omega being the Belt Collector.

Worst - Callis' feud with the Bucks is gimmicky When Kenny won the AEW World Title at Winter is Coming, he had began a full on chaotic turn with Don Callis as his manager of sorts. The Young Bucks however were still firm babyfaces and were perturbed by Callis' actions that were ousting the Jackson brothers out of Kenny's social circles. Some bits were good, Callis really laying in thick the fact that he felt the Bucks had lost their edge, but the majority of it was a bit too much soap opera for my liking, the fake shiner was probably where it jumped the shark.

Best - Tay Conti shows her improvement against Deeb Tay Conti had grown a lot as a wrestler since her debut, and when set to challenge Serena Deeb for the NWA Women's Championship we had the story of 'Jack of All Trades vs Master of One'. Leaning more into her Judo and martial arts background, Tay Conti showed the wrestling world that she had arrived as a wrestler thanks to the AEW machine. WWE's loss had officially become AEW's gain as Tay Conti continues her rise to perhaps being one of the biggest female stars in the company.

Worst - Archer can't win a feud Having lost to Cody in May and then Moxley on the Anniversary episode, Archer was put in a no-win situation by feuding with Eddie Kingston. Now Kingston is great, but the problem was that both men desperately needed to win a feud for credibility, and Archer was the one who lost. Archer continues to be sold as a monster but also someone who will lose all his major feuds. Suffice to say, more can be done with the Murderhawk Monster.

Best - MJF sows seeds of discontent Having officially gotten in with the Inner Circle, MJF now had Chris Jericho's ear and he was ready to spread his poison. This started with the ousting of Sammy Guevara - Jericho's protege of sorts - before moving on to sowing tension between Jericho and Santana & Ortiz. This would be the beginnings of an excellent swerve by AEW, which we will get to later.

Worst - Santana and Ortiz aren't even the Inner Circle's tag team? Because of MJF's sowing though, we had a weird scenario where the Inner Circle were debating who was their official tag team? Debating between Jericho and MJF the singles competitors, Sammy and Hager the singles competitors or Santana & Ortiz the tag team. In this as well MJF and Jericho won, which was more sowing on MJF's part but it does still leave the worrying sense that AEW's tag division is perhaps too big as Tony Khan waits for the right moment to introduce a Trios title.

Best - Wardlow vs Hager was surprisingly good Another recurring narrative of MJF joining the Inner Circle was Jake Hager and Wardlow staring each other off whenever they could. In order to 'bury the hatchet', Hager challenged the War Dog to a match, and surprisingly this was Hager's best match in an AEW ring so far, big men slapping meat with the right conclusion of Wardlow winning.

Worst - The Waiting Room fades out While Britt Baker was injured but not Wheelchair bound she had started an interview show on Dark called 'The Waiting Room', it had a few flaws here and there but eventually it showed on Dynamite to decent effect. But after that it was gone, which is a shame because it could've easily been a longstanding segment for either of AEW's shows at the time to give some promo segments or interviews to AEW's talent.

Best - Private Party are leeched After working under the wing of 'Big Money' Matt Hardy, Private Party turned heel to compliment Hardy's newfound persona as the Company Leech. The heel turn has somewhat revitalized the once-promising tag team and proved they can play either side, it even got them an Impact Tag Title shot and an impressive match on the PPV.

Worst - Whatever Snoop Dogg was doing Snoop Dogg made an AEW appearance where he was insistent on doing a spot, but it didn't really work - much like it didn't really work when he tried it in WWE. Snoop as a guest wasn't the worst idea in the world and it is good that he's willing to bump on the show, but could does not always mean should.

Best - Jungle Boy and Dax put on a masterclass In the middle of FTR's midcard feud with Jurassic Express - the one that'd involve Marko Stunt being kidnapped - Dax Harwood and Jungle Boy crossed paths in an excellently technical match. The match received high praise that'd further put Jungle Boy over while also giving worthy praise for Harwood's wrestling ability.

Best - Jungle Boy gets some Baltimora While on the subject of Jungle Jack Perry, Tony Khan had decided that he had a library of songs he owned or could own and use as entrance themes for some of AEW's more earmarked talent. This would begin with Jungle Boy, who was given Baltimora's 'Tarzan Boy' per the suggestion of Joey Janela. Immediately Jungle Boy had something the fans could use to rally behind, a chantable song that embraced all that Jungle Boy's character was.

February 2021 Best - JD Drake makes an impression JD Drake does not look like AEW's typical wrestler, but that's the point. On his debut on Dark he surprised many with his great offense and agility, even able to pull off a moonsault. Quickly Drake was signed and becomes the odd one out but also the oft-ignored voice of common sense in the Wingmen faction of prettyboys. He's having a lot of fun with it too and has put on good matches, recently against Rocky Romero.

Worst - Women's Eliminator Tournament partly goes on Youtube The Women's Eliminator Tournament opened up the Women's Division in a big way, but COVID meant that not all of it could be filmed in Jacksonville. So like the Deadly Draw, the tournament had to spend some of its time on Youtube. Now I have no problem with Youtube being used, it's a wider medium that can be accessed at any time, but it did mimic the downsides of the Deadly Draw and alienate the TNT-only audience, especially since Dynamite rarely showed highlights of the tournament progress.

Best - Women's Eliminator Tournament exceeds expectations That is however, the only criticism with hindsight one can give the Eliminator Tournament. Because not only did it give us the return of Riho, Yuka Sakazaki, Ryo Mizunami, Emi Sakura and Aja Kong, but it also graced us with the talented debuts of Maki Itoh, VENY (aka Asuka, who also wore Hana Kimura's robe) and Mei Suruga. In addition Shida provided Japanese commentary for the Joshi matches sporting a strikingly beautiful white suit. The tournament did not have a bad match at all; with VENY vs Sakura, Suruga vs Sakazaki, Sakazaki vs Sakura (which had Sakura perform a fantastic entrance), Serena Deeb vs Riho, Leyla Hirsch vs Thunder Rosa, Riho vs Rosa, Baker vs Nyla, Conti vs Nyla and the finals were all great and unique matches. The non-tournament 6-woman joshi tag match was also excellent and so was the surprise winner of Ryo Mizunami and her title shot against Shida at Revolution.

Best - Moxley brings the IWGP US Championship Jon Moxley may've lost the AEW World Championship, he still had a title on hand he could use: the IWGP US Championship. While NJPW had intended to keep it mainly on NJPW Strong during COVID, New Japan also allowed Moxley to bring his title on rare occasions to AEW, later to the point where he could defend it. It was definite good business and the next thing is why it was such a big deal.

Best - THE FORBIDDEN DOOR OPENS! 'New Japan will not work with AEW' - that was what we were told in the early stages of AEW, but we held out hope. We got more hope when Harold Meij stepped down from NJPW but still the 'Forbidden Door' remained shut, all the way until Beach Break when a hooded figure came up to Jon Moxley, hit a GTS and revealed himself. KENTA, the holder of the IWGP US Championship Briefcase he won in the inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. The internet went wild, the forbidden door was open and there was no way fans will let it close again.

March 2021 Best - Sting debuts cinematically Team Taz's feud with Darby came to a head with a Tag Team Street Fight. It was Sting's first AEW match and fans were concerned on how many bumps he could take - memory of his 'career-ending' match with Rollins echoing in the mind. AEW though would not make that mistake, deciding to go cinematic to protect Sting and give him time to recover from any bumps caused - as well as win the match like one HHH refused to do - the match itself was fantastic with Team Taz and Darby fitting in a ton of extreme spots and Brian Cage just flexing all over the place.

Worst - Archer feuds(?) with Sting After said Street Fight though, Sting continued said momentum with: Interviews. Worse yet these interviews started being interrupted by Lance Archer, who wanted to take Sting's TV time from him. This amounted to nothing as well because after Sting put an endorsement on Archer, the Murderhawk Monster would decide not to fight for a spot and come in to save Sting and Darby from time to time. If we were gonna establish this alliance we could've done more with it, sadly AEW keep on following up Sting wrestling with a ton of Sting talking.

Best - The Pinnacle debut MJF's snaking in on the Inner Circle was paying off dividends, but after an unsuccessful challenge for the tag titles, the Inner Circle had announced a 'War Council' to discuss their future. It looked as though MJF was gonna completely oust out Jericho from his own group, but out came Sammy Guevara. Absent since leaving the group, Guevara had unraveled MJF, revealing that the Inner Circle was wise to MJF's plot all along: except they weren't. MJF had played 5 steps ahead of the Inner Circle, because he wasn't trying to steal his faction, he was setting up his own. FTR, Spears, Wardlow and MJF swarmed the Inner Circle for an epic debut which would be known as the Pinnacle.

Worst - Cody beats Penta despite a shoulder injury At this point fans were beginning to wonder how Cody Rhodes would write himself off of TV. His wife Brandi was halfway through pregnancy and the Rhodes had announced a Miz & Mrs-esque reality show too. So when Cody was kayfabing a shoulder injury and pitted against Penta El 0M, fans were hoping that this time Cody could not finagle his way into defeating a charismatic and popular member of the roster who could use the rub and has a history of kayfabe breaking arms, and yet he did. The feud set up ended up being a one-off that harmed Penta more than it did good, he had done the arm breaker but Cody just shrugged it off and won anyway. It was growing all too apparent that clean Cody losses will remain to be few and far between.

Best - Penta Says that Alex is a Great Hype Man There is one saving grace to the Penta/Cody mini feud though and it's that pseudo-Dark Order member, Spanish announcer and interviewer Alex Abrahantes had been paired with Penta as his translator/hype man. Sporting some Rollins-esque outfitting of gloves and jackets, Abrahantes added extra venom to his translations which of course gave Penta a lot more vibrance. Alex as well seems to be having a whale of a time doing so.

Worst - Team Taz Dissension starts, but will pause for 2 months In the aftermath of their Street Fight defeat, Cage had drawn the ire of his Team Taz comrades by showing Sting some respect. This led to some light tension between Cage and the rest of the team, especially Ricky Starks. While this could've worked towards a Cage face turn, the tension fizzled out, only reigniting recently.

Best - Jade, Velvet and Shaq impress at a Crossroads The special episode 'The Crossroads' had been set up to promote a mixed tag match which served as Jade Cargill and Shaq's AEW wrestling debut. Competing against Cody and Red Velvet, the match did put fan minds at ease by keeping Shaq's spots simple but classic, while Velvet and Cargill ran the show in the ring. Shaq took a table bump as well which was cool and the match started Jade's star-level momentum on a high.

Worst - Shaq just, disappears In the aftermath of the table spot Shaq was put on a stretcher and into an ambulance, but when we went backstage to get some comments from Shaq before being sent off we found that the ambulance was empty. A weird thing considering that in a few days Shaq would be back on TNT anyway like that had no continuity, it was a strange decision nonetheless.

Best - Exploding. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch! AEW and their penchant for gimmick matches is an interesting relationship, but the moment this match was announced it had garnered a lot of hype. I mean it's not every day you see an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, and Kenny and Mox had already tore into each other in Full Gear to the point where they legitimately broke state laws. The match was every bit as brutal as promised, homaging Onita many a time through Mox but also with the wired up baseball bat, 99% of the match was freaking awesome.

Worst - Fizzling. Barbed Wire. Deathmatch. Sadly, that 1% that wasn't would be the final visual of the PPV. Moxley is defeated and the whole ring is gonna blow, Kenny and co have scurried and Mox is handcuffed and KO'd in the middle of the ring. Disregarding the warnings of the Butcher, Blade and Bunny, Eddie Kingston rushes in to help his former friend, past enmity be damned, he cannot free Mox in time and in a narratively pivotal act of self-sacrifice drapes himself over Moxley to take the blow. And all we got was a fizzle, a few sparklers and fireworks would end the night unfulfilled, undoing all the good the match had delivered. It would be AEW's most unsatisfying moment caused by a botched ending that could never be undone.

Best - Mox and Kingston reunite to rule the promos Although they could not take back the botched finish, the storyline still allowed a new dynamic of Moxley and Kingston reuniting as chaotic street brothers eyeing up the Elite for a fight. One King of Promo would be enough but two was just fantastic, you could watch Kingston and Moxley bounce off of each other all day and still remain thoroughly entertained.

Worst - Kingston doesn't get a crack at Kenny It was however a shame that draping your body over your friend to protect him from an intended explosion was not enough to validate a feud between said person and the creator of the explosive device. Kingston looked all but set to try and avenge his friend by facing Kenny, but it would not turn out to be. The closest we got was a jump and a One Winged Angel, which is a shame because Kingston vs Kenny would've been fantastic - but alas, Mox and Kingston jumped over Kenny and just went for the tag teams instead.

Best - AEW support Cezar Bononi and his wife Cezar Bononi was doing fine as part of the Undercard faction of the Wingmen with Pretty Peter Avalon, Ryan Nemeth and JD Drake. Behind the curtain though Bononi's wife Camila was suffering from Leukemia and needed a Bone Marrow transplant, her sister was a match but she was in Brazil so they needed an emergency visa so to do the transplant on time. Thanks to the collective efforts of fans and the continued exposure AEW provided for Bononi, Camila's sister would make it in time and Camila herself got her transplant and seems to be doing well.

Worst - Big Money Matt loses his quarter, but it doesn't go anywhere In the conclusion of the chapter where Matt Hardy tried to leech his way into Hangman Page's profits, Hangman had defeated Hardy in a 'Big Money' match which meant that Page had won all of Hardy's money over the last quarter. This opened an avenue to see what Big Money Matt could be like with No Money, but it amounted to very little. In fact the worst we got from Matt was eating olives, a missed opportunity for sure, we could've even had Matt be hounded by loan sharks and debt collectors but alas, it didn't dent his money in the end, at the very least Hangman got his lawnmower.

Best - Elevation elevates Mizunami, Leyla and Limelight In March, AEW debuted a more canonized version of Dark called Elevation, which'd be used to show off a bit of the undercard and allow more opportunity to climb the rankings. In the first month of Elevation, we were graced with several good matches, usually including one of three Elevation Regulars. The Eliminator Tournament Winner Ryo Mizunami would go on a series of bouts with female talent such as Tesha Price and KiLynn King where she effortlessly fit into the role of AEW's women's division gatekeeper, meaning that whoever beat her would get a solid rub - and Abadon did. When Mizunami returned to Japan, one of the people she felled took over from her duties and that was Leyla Hirsch, Hirsch had teamed successfully with Mizunami a couple of times as well and has effectively used her spot to get some wins in. On the men's side, NJPW Strong regular Danny Limelight was given his namesake with some high profile matches including Jungle Boy, Frankie Kazarian and Dark Order's 10, not to mention Takeshita, Omega, Kingston and Moxley in later months, the Team Filthy member definitely taking the show's name to heart.

Best - Cassidy wonders where his mind is Not long after Jungle Boy had obtained Baltimora, plans had been made to give Orange Cassidy a new theme too. The pick was an inspired one with The Pixies' 'Where is My Mind?' - which many would be familiar with as the ending song to Fight Club - the song suited Cassidy really well, and after positive testing on Dark it was used for the next Dynamite to close off the night.

Best - Arcade Anarchy delivers in spite of a weak feud It should probably be a word of caution to not face the Best Friends in a gimmick match in AEW, because they hit a new gear whenever they do. The feud with Miro and Kip was poor, and fans were more than happy for it to end on the PPV when Miro got his win, but AEW insisted on one more match: Arcade Anarchy - agreed to by Kip. In spite of fears this match ruled: Trent's return with Sue was great, Kris Statlander's return was a huge surprise, it took all 3 Best Friends to keep Miro down and we finished the night with Where is My Mind playing us off. Despite the weak feud, AEW had finished strongly which made reheating Miro a lot easier.

Best - Tully Blanchard wrestles in 2021 The culmination of Jurassic Express vs FTR came in the Crossroads in a 6-Man tag match. Made extra bonkers because Tully Blanchard was FTR's third man in the match. They of course limited his spots and a Shawn Spears return would prove the difference, but it's an entertainingly ridiculous thing that Tully Blanchard both wrestled in 2021 and won: wrestling is just crazy.

Best - Final 4 of Casino Tag Royale put on a Show AEW have played around with the 'Casino' concept for a few stipulations; regular battle royale for men and women, ladder match, and then tag royale. This royale finished strongly though with the final 4; John Silver, Fénix, PAC and Jungle Boy. Four absolutely over stars brawling out in mini-matches that left fans salivating for more, after Silver and PAC were eliminated Fénix and JB put on an absolute treat of a finale, which ended with Fénix getting the win for Death Triangle to face the Bucks.

Best - Silver earns Sting's respect with a Dislocated Shoulder John Silver was voted by Dark Order to take Darby Allin's open challenge for the TNT title - offered because it was the anniversary of Brodie's debut. Silver vs Allin became a great match, made even more impressive since Silver dislocated his shoulder early in the match and kept going. While Silver couldn't bring the title home to the Dark Order, he got a show of respect from Sting - which in turn would lead to the Dark Order coming to Darby and Sting's aid at times.

Best - Maki Itoh breaks America Fans of TJPW or twitter's tdegifs were very familiar with the charismatic foul-mouthed hard-headed former idol Maki Itoh, and seeing her in the Women's Eliminator tournament paid dividends despite her first round elimination. Itoh's popularity skyrocketed, she had an It factor which pissed off Jim Cornette for extra adulation, and come Revolution's Buy-In, Maki Itoh had arrived in Jacksonville for one of the biggest pops of the night. Itoh proved charming and entertaining even though she was aligned with the heels, to the point where she even main evented the inaugural Elevation against Riho. Sadly Itoh would have to return to Japan and unsuccessfully challenge for Rika Tatsumi's TJPW Princess of Princess Championship (her tag partner/former longstanding rival/sauce boss/Pink Striker Miyu Yamashita would however win), have her twitter hacked and set up a new division of her faction 'Saitama Itoh Respect Army 2021' with Yuki Kamifuku and Marika Kobashi, but she had made her mark and then some, the world was a simp for Maki Itoh, and she allowed it because she needed the monies.

Best - Rosa/Baker break the ceiling Itoh vs Riho wasn't the only cross-promotional women's main event AEW gave us, because 2 days later on St. Patrick's Day Smash, Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa's unsanctioned match would deliver on one of the highest rated matches in modern women's wrestling. A bloody and fantastic affair instantly rose Baker and Rosa's stakes in a fitting end to their rivalry, but one that also didn't cost Baker any standing because it technically 'didn't count'. It remains to this day AEW's best match in the women's division.

April 2021 Best - Miro ditches Kip After months of hanging with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford, Miro had become fed up with Superbad. The acceptance against his wishes to fight the Arcade Anarchy proved the last straw as Miro set his focus on capturing any and every title within his reach, with or without Kip. After a few weeks of not seeing Sabian, Miro attacked him, writing Sabian out of action with a legitimate wrist injury while Ford was dealing with an allergic reaction to her eyelashes, with Kip gone Miro could finally be who we were waiting for: at freaking last.

Worst - Interference finishes beget questions of Faction Bloat Although not as bad as WWE, many matches on AEW seemed to end one way or another with factions fighting one another, clean finish or not. This did of course grind on fans and cause questions to arise that perhaps there are too many factions in AEW, they have a point, though easily fixable without splitting any factions up.

Best - Bucks descend to heeldom Don Callis had been a thorn in the Bucks' side for a while, but his words had got in their head, they were indeed the most successful when they were cocky assholes. Although they did save Moxley from being swarmed one time, the six-man tag proved too much for them: they didn't want to see the feral Moxley take out their old and storied friend and so they chose Kenny over morality. No longer annoyed by Callis, the Bucks became absolute shiteating heels again, which benefits the climate of the tag division.

Best - Jade is elevated by being sought out While Jade Cargill would only sporadically appear for squashes, AEW have done well to slow burn her star power by having managers try to get her as a client. It's simple storytelling but effective, because people want Jade it means that Jade is desirable and that makes her more important as a talent.

Best - Baker DeManDs her title shot Because the Unsanctioned Match 'didn't count' Britt Baker had carried the acclaim of that match even in defeat. Baker had stopped dossing around too, legitimately rising up the ranks to the Number 1 spot like a looming shadow to have her crack at Shida's title. It could've been easy to give her a shot by virtue of her performance but AEW did it right - and gave Tay Conti her shot in the process - which made Baker much more valued in her title hunt.

Best - Cage upsets the Hangman At the Number 1 Spot, Hangman Page looked like he was on course to fight Kenny Omega, but when asked about this prospect Page dodged the subject entirely. The thought though would weigh on his mind in his match against Cage, where he was practically squashed in an upset fashion, it was a surprising plot twist and delays Page's clash with Kenny while also adds to Cage's reputation.

May 2021 Best - Varsity Blonds add some Hart The Varsity Blonds had done well considering that they started as being an undercard pair-up and grew into a talented young combo homaging Brian Pillman and Steve Austin's team of the Hollywood Blonds. But adding Nightmare Factory upstart Julia Hart just added the missing piece for the blonds, as a trio they look the part, and their rise feels earned as they put on a great showing against the Bucks.

Worst - QT loses to Cody after all that Cody's Ace Problem had transitioned to the point where QT Marshall was picked to turn on him next, collecting a small portion of the Nightmare Factory who felt that the students were secondary to Cody's ego. When it came to the exhibition Cody won by DQ, but got assaulted by the Factory, so when they had a proper match we had a choice: elevate this new faction or have their leader lose, guess which they chose? QT tapped out to the Figure Four and Cody prevailed.

Best - SCU put it on the line For several months, SCU had put a challenge on themselves that if they lost in tag competition (not singles or battle royales) they would split up. It had worked well because they were undefeated since, but being at the top of the rankings with a heel Young Bucks signalled the inevitable clash between the two teams. The question would be could the Bucks really end the team they welcomed to AEW on Day 1, their friends, the first World Tag Champions of their company, and the answer was yes. A bloodied affair of near falls and the Bucks hamming up any emotional bonds they once had led to a fantastic match that has put a tragic end to SCU.

Worst - SCU's embrace is cut short But immediately after that we cut to Mox and Eddie trashing their locker room. AEW would return to show SCU's final embrace but a 'previously on' is not as effective as seeing it when the wound is fresh, it was the end of a partnership that had spanned a decade, all the way back to Fortune, Bad Influence and then The Addiction, it deserved the time to linger.

Best - Blood and Guts! Last year it was planned that the Elite would face the Inner Circle in a WarGames-esque match called Blood and Guts. But COVID had prevented this, so we changed to Stadium Stampede. With the Inner Circle feuding with the newfly formed Pinnacle, AEW made the right call in bringing Blood and Guts back a year later to clash the two factions against one another. And it truly did live up to its names, a brutish match which cemented the Pinnacle as one of AEW's top factions.

Worst - Blood and Guts (nor Stadium Stampede II) doesn't finish the feud Big gimmick matches like these should be feud enders, but AEW wanted to put the two factions at odds again. With the threat of disbanding, the Inner Circle got a rematch for Double or Nothing for Stadium Stampede and while it wasn't bad fans did feel that the feud should've ended at Blood and Guts. In addition, Stadium Stampede wouldn't even finish their beef as they look to divide into 3 mini-feuds again.

Best - Miro crushes Darby Without Kip, Miro was a monster and he immediately went for gold. A perfect usurper for Darby Allin's TNT title reign, Miro destroyed the fearless and near-indestructible daredevil - who was protected from the squash because Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky had thrown him down some stairs last week - his look over to Sting as they both accepted that they were likely losing this match was a great moment between Miro's destructive force. And as TNT champion Miro is great, his thanking of God for various things are both charming and hilarious but he also manages to pair it with psychotic menace, long may the Best Man reign.

Worst - Cody's American Dream wins over Ogogo's valid points After submitting QT in his match, Cody's celebrations were cut off by Anthony Ogogo, the Olympic Bronze Medallist and former Boxer in QT's Factory, who KO'd Cody and covered him with the UK flag. A feud with Ogogo could've been the saving face moment for the Factory but instead Cody opted to zone in on the flag thing. Painting Ogogo as the 'Anti-American Foreign Heel' did not sit well for anyone who wasn't an uber-American 'Patriot' since the concept was heavily outdated, in addition Ogogo was making real valid points about why he disliked America: pointing out the gross flaws in the country's healthcare system and Cody would reply with how his pregnant wife and unborn daughter were black, choking up his words to garner sympathy. This all falls flat given how Ogogo is also black and never once implied that Cody was a racist. With the chance to put over the Factory with a charismatic young competitor, Cody instead decided to win without even using a finisher - because it was Memorial Day Weekend and America always wins, at this point the Factory remain pretty tainted now since Cody has beaten every member he's faced (and Dustin beat the other one). Saying things worked out on 'Focus Groups' didn't help Cody's defense as to why the feud went the way it did either, it was an outdated narrative with a result that all but screws over the Factory.

Best - The Forbidden Door opens again While none have risen the heights of KENTA's shocking arrival, the Forbidden Door did remain open for some more appearances from NJPW's personnel. Yuji Nagata made a big return to TNT to fight Moxley for the IWGP US Championship but also Ren Narita and Rocky Romero made appearances, the latter having a mini Roppongi Vice reunion with Trent. AEW had also extended the forbidden door to DDT with Konosuke Takeshita impressing on AEW's first house show and on Elevation, and recently a Joker Card appearance for Lio Rush.

Best - Shida gets recognized, and a revamped title After a year of holding the AEW Women's Championship Hikaru Shida had been the subject of criticism from neckbeards acting like she was the 'female Brock Lesnar'. Some were annoyed that Shida's title reign had lasted so long and were blind to the fact that this was clearly intended so Baker could win in front of a crowd. The Dynamite before Double or Nothing though AEW did right by recognizing Shida's work ethic and title reign and by presenting her with a new and larger Women's Championship. While people may complain that they could've unveiled this new title at the PPV I felt it was right to at least let Shida enter the PPV with this title considering how long she had held the Women's Division down. Some poor builds aside, Shida had carried the division with strong matches and worked behind the scenes as well for improving the division, as well as producing the Women's Eliminator Tournament. In this house we do not disrespect Hikaru Shida.

Best - Double or Nothing 2021 And we end on the crescendo, and what a crescendo. The full-time return of fans were graced with an excellently feel-good PPV - aside from Cody beating Ogogo - which had all the competitors perform at a high level. Starting hot, giving Jungle Boy a big unexpected win, Mark Henry debuting and topping it off with Stadium Stampede signed off a big and entertaining year for AEW and closing off with the returning crowd chanting Judas: masterful chef kiss level idea.

The aftermath of DoN while mentioned will probably not be touched on next year because damn were these posts long, but at the very least I did it for WWE and AEW as I said I would. Let's hope that both companies can rise to higher heights and avoid lower lows in the next year when we retread these ppvs again.