#such as that they then probably paid most attention to that aspect of the show. such as they could post a play by play centered on it lol

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Go see Summer Stock at @goodspeedmusicals it’s amazing and I finally got to meet @actually_will_roland one of, my favorite actors ever. ( I am a massive fan of Will and I’ve never been more starstruck in my life than I was meeting him, he’s exactly how I imagined he would be, if not better) also the dancing was incredible and @corbinbleu is soooo good at tapping. Go see it before it’s run ends!

shoutout to josh's summer stock experience and repping w/the lgw tee while providing pics of the theater features....corresponding with several posts i've seen about corbin bleu fans delighted to meet him in the cozy little stagedoor equivalent that is a hangout in the goodspeed parking lot, we do love to see it

[cepheustarot]

Your karmic task in this life

Attention! This reading is for entertainment purposes only. This tarot reading does not give a 100% guarantee that all the described situations will occur or being ultimate truth. You build your own life and destiny and only you know yourself best.

✧ Masterlist ✧ Paid readings

Pick a pile. Choose one or more pictures. Trust your intuition.

Pile 1: As the cards show, you are one of those who tend to trust public opinion and adapt to it, the opinion of those people whom you consider to be an authority is important to you, and what matters to you is how you look in the eyes of other people, how you present yourself, what they think of you from the outside. You hear a lot of voices, but you don't hear your own, you can even suppress or ignore. Here your karmic task is to pay attention to yourself, listen to yourself, because you have a very well-developed intuition and you know best what you need in this life. You need to change your priorities and at least try to listen to yourself, question other people's opinions about your life. You could also feel for yourself that if you listened to someone else, took their advice into account and acted on their words, then everything went awry, you did not move forward, but there was a feeling that you were standing still or even moving backwards. As soon as you start paying attention to yourself, your thoughts and desires, then all the doors will open in front of you, nothing will hinder you, but on the contrary it will only push you into action and help you realize your desires and dreams.

Pile 2: You are probably one of those people who rarely finish what they started, you tend to give up after the first setbacks and never come back to it. Perhaps you are prone to perfectionism, strive to do everything perfectly the first time, it is important for you to be a successful person with great achievements, so you react sharply to your own failures. Here your karmic task is to learn not to be afraid of mistakes and failures, not to be afraid to look stupid and uneducated / ignorant, on the contrary, curiosity and the desire to learn something new should lead you ahead. You don't need to be too strict with yourself, to look up to someone else's result. It is very important to learn to be less strict with yourself, take care of yourself and move at your own pace. You can also be too categorical about yourself, it is important to learn how to recognize and use your talents and abilities, because you are a very smart and capable person. Don't be afraid to start something new and take on challenges, and don't be afraid to show initiative and self-confidence, you really can do a lot.

Pile 3: Most likely, you are one of those people who find it difficult to let go of the past, get rid of unnecessary things, and may be too attached to the material. You also prefer stability and tranquility in life, are reluctant to accept changes from the outside and cannot adapt to changes for a long time. Because of this, you prefer to keep everything under your control, because this way you feel supported by yourself and you feel less fear of losing something dear to you. Your karmic task is to free yourself from the fear of loss and the need to keep everything under control. Material things and some aspects of life come and go — this is a natural process of life. It is physically impossible to foresee all the consequences, all the changes in life, and thinking through further developments of events will only increase your anxiety and tension. It is important to learn how to take changes calmly, not to be afraid of them, to relax to some extent and go with the flow, because changes  ≠ something bad, they can be an opportunity to improve your life. You need to take into account past experience and be able to move on.

Thank you for reading! I will be glad of any feedback 💕

[oneatlatime]

I was thinking about city of Walls and Secrets again (because when I don't like things I want to know WHY) and it occurred to me how much power Iroh has amassed, just by being nice.

We've seen Iroh being nice to strangers, often in situations where he can't receive anything in return for his good manners, since the beginning of the show. I've usually written those occurrences off as Iroh smoothing over for Zuko's awkwardness or awfulness (think him interfering between Zuko and the ship's crew in The Storm), or as simply Iroh being a polite person. I don't think he was lying when he told Toph - while showing Toph - that he enjoys sitting down for tea with new people. He is sociable by nature, and if Azula's comment about him being a tea-loving kook is accurate in Zuko Alone (which is up for debate - she did a lot of lying and/or repeating what the adults around her think as her own opinions that episode), then he's always been a sociable creature. This seems to be a fundamental aspect of Iroh's personality.

So whenever I've seen Iroh being nice to strangers, I've never suspected that it had a purpose beyond the short term (cover for his nephew), or as Iroh being Iroh. But I think he's playing the long game with niceness. Let me explain:

When you're hiding under a false identity while posing as a refugee in a city that probably has a ridiculously large bounty on your real identity's head (and rightfully so), you'd think the smart thing to do would be to keep a low profile. And Zuko and Iroh are doing that! Sort of. They're staying in the lower ring, but they are working customer-facing jobs. And more importantly, a true attempt at lying low would include reproducing the awful tea that was being served at the tea shop before they were hired. But Iroh won't let bad tea stand.

I made a joke in my write up of the Tales of Ba Sing Se that it was a good thing that Iroh came to people's attention as the person who makes the "best tea in the city," because he was going to attract attention one way or another, and being a good teamaker is both less suspicious and more of a currency than just being a nice guy who stops babies from crying and compassionately redirects muggers. But now that I've thought about it for a bit, I think he was going to attract attention one way or the other because he has, all this time, been attempting to attract attention. It's not just his personality, it's not just him cleaning up after Zuko, it's him consciously attempting to build connections. It's a 'nice two birds with one stone' type situation that he can attract this attention while being paid to make tea.

Here's the thing: all these times that Iroh has been polite in situations where there could be no payoff for being so, I think he has been casting seeds. And City of Walls and Secrets is the first episode where we see the seeds of his politeness and (seemingly counterintuitive for keeping a low profile) network building bear fruit.

Jet accuses Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders. He's absolutely right. Given that Zuko and Iroh are members of the Fire Nation royal family, you could argue that they're the most firebenders a firebender could be. But Iroh has been being relentlessly polite to customers, and serving the guards such good tea that they declare he makes the "best tea in the city." Rather than playing it safe and letting people overlook him, he has given people a reason to like him. So the customers, the guards, even his boss, come to his defence when Jet accuses him. The guards are not going to let a man who keeps them fed, keeps them in tea, and keeps them company, be maligned.

Here's the other thing about these seeds of politeness that Iroh casts: they protect Zuko in the long term as much as the do in the short term. Sometimes Iroh's politeness is just covering for a single remark from his nephew, which I always view in the short term as smoothing over offence. But Iroh being polite also goes a long way to protecting Zuko from Jet's accusations. Lest we forget, Zuko steals a guard's swords, at least participates in the destruction of the tea shop's table, and at least participates in the disorderly conduct outside the tea shop. If the law were fair, half of the consequences heaped on Jet would fall on Zuko. And (this is speculation) I would argue that if Iroh had kept his head down and played at being a refugee rather than everyone's friend, Zuko at least would have lost his job for destroying some of those tables. But the goodwill Iroh has generated with customers, guards, and his boss stretches to cover Zuko too. Which is handy, because Zuko is not looking like he's in a place where he can expend much mental energy on anything beyond taking it one day at a time at the moment.

Iroh knows there is power in being nice. The incident with Jet shows that being nice can carry more power than being truthful. A lot of that is down to presentation; Jet didn't exactly endear himself, and frankly season 1 Jet would have been ashamed of season 2 Jet's lack of charm, but that's a post for another day.

All this makes me think two things: first, I wonder if any of the other one-episode characters that Iroh has tossed a throwaway polite comment to are going to come back. Second, Iroh is playing a somewhat risky game by attracting attention; so far it's paid off. I wonder if there will come a point where it causes trouble instead.

[justenjoythegossip]

PR spin, credibility of team PR/team Real and the toxicity that they purposefully manufacture, the end of the shitshow: a few random thoughts

The PR spin 

Some mods have been writing that the recent papwalk of Chris and Abba was staged (which it clearly was by the way), Jesal the trolling pap has admitted to it as well, proving something. But regarding celebrities, 99% of what comes out in the media or on SM is staged and manufactured for PR purposes. 

Meghan and Harry call the paps on them all the time and people are not questioning whether they are a legitimate couple. Robert Pattinson and Suki have called Backgrid to show that they were expecting. And guess what? They were expecting. When Jennifer Garner was recently pictured giving money to a homeless person, it was clearly staged and probably served as damaged control for her horrible interview with Regina King. 

So again the staging and the manufacturing for PR purposes do not give us any information on whether a couple is legitimate or if they are only playing for the cameras. Of course, we can strongly suspect Chris and Abba are not legitimate, there are so many clues and signs that point to it but it’s for another discussion. 

The purposely badly manufactured PR…

However, we can question the quality of the content that’s being fed to us because their papwalk didn’t sell their love or marriage at all (that aspect has been already discussed). So the question remains. Why is that? Does Chris hate her so much that he is incapable of acting a very simple scene? Or doesn’t he make much of an effort to sell it because it serves another purpose? Because, they are both actors and what is asked of them is not Sophie’s Choice. So many actors who hated each other’s guts had to play romantic leads and managed to sell it. On the show Castle, Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic famously hated one another and there are countless examples. But why can’t Chris and Abba do it? Or why won’t they? 

The general public won’t look past the big picture. So for them, Chris and Abba will look either cute or creepy (most comments seem pretty negative though). However, the people who pay close attention will be able to interpret the signs the way they want to. So by staging this bad papwalk, they are feeding both team real and team pr by keeping the discourse very much alive and riling people up in order to keep them engaged. 

It has been the tactics used by their teams since the very beginning. They have been weaponizing Chris’ fandom to instigate anger and division so that they could drive traffic and make them gain more attention. Because, they don’t register with the general public. Their names were not even used for clickbait in the Just Jared article about the Scarlett’s Christmas party (which was more likely Colin’s party given all the SNL people present but the spin that it was her party and not her husband’s is telling). Interest in him is fading and she is still a nobody. So the controversy, the inconsistencies, the mysteries and of course the end of the shitshow are all designed to keep his fandom (or what’s left of it) engaged. 

Who are Team PR and Team real…

By team Real and Team PR, I am not including mods who have an opinion on whether Chris and Abba are a legitimate couple with a PR spin (situationship or not, relationship or not, married or not) or exclusively PR but I am talking about mods who claim to know the truth one way or the other, who claim to have insider information and use vitriolic rhetoric against the other group and attack them constantly and viciously or anyone who writes anything contradictory to the narrative they are trying to sell. Those mods are, I believe, either trolls or plants paid by their teams to keep the discourse alive. 

Why both Team PR and Team real have no credibility…

Both Teams have lost all credibility at this point. 

Team Real have seen some of their mods make a complete incredible nonsensical and non-credible U-turn from debunking Chris and Abba’s stunts to selling them as a real couple and shipping them. This includes the mods who had debunked the yoga certificate, pointed out the photoshopped pics in the scare videos or Valentine’s drop and so forth.

By the way, how credible is it that those people recognized the hotel room in Finland (that had 12 rooms by the way) from one picture of Chris and Abba? How credible is it that they recognized the hotel room in Lisbon from the video Chris did for that teacher? Also how credible is it (and how hilarious) that those mods got the exclusive that Renner and Hemsworth were in Boston and told two strangers that they were there for Chris’ kinda first “wedding” when they “reportedly signed an NDA” according to very reliable People’s magazine (read sarcasm here)? 

Team Real also includes the mods that called Chris absolute horrible names like groomer and pedophile before making a complete U-turn  when they allegedly went to the NY con to get a pic with their favorite Captain America. 

But Team PR has lost all credibility as well. They have pretended to be privy to private and personal information regarding Chris to spew nonsense, viciously attack, troll and lie for more than a year now. 

One mod (that I won’t name) have recently made a post saying that people who didn’t know PR or Chris shouldn’t express their opinion on the matter. As if they had any credibility to do so themselves? Recently again they have said that the PR was about to be over because they were spending Thanksgiving apart and the Forbes articles made no mention of her. Also let’s not forget that those mods were part of a scam when they asked fans to give money for a fund to save Chris (a multimillionaire) from this PR nightmare!

But it’s very possible that those mods  don’t want people to express their opinions because they want to control the narrative, like their counterparts from Team real. 

The controversy around the ending of that shitshow…

I can safely say that the end of this shitshow is a controversial subject because I was recently insulted and blocked by one of those so-called Team PR blogs for only stating after the Forbes article that I thought that the PR games were very likely to continue for a while. I still believe a 4-month marriage would be bad publicity for Chris, especially after marrying a 26 year old that looks like his niece. 

But what I find interesting is that they are pushing that the end is near (they have been pushing that lie since the Ghosted premiere by the way) when in truth no one knows when it’s going to end. Except the protagonists of that shitshow and their teams. 

Of course they will probably be right at some point. I think no one believes that they are endgame. But what’s interesting is by keeping people’s hopes alive that it will end soon, they are making sure that people stay engaged. If you were to tell people, relax, it’s going to last for a while, many would check out and leave the fandom. Because many fans that are left are waiting for the end, desperately waiting for it. 

[breathetoseethetruth]

Entirely random Twilight take: I always thought it was sad, how much Bella as a vampire was just entirely written off as a Mary Sue by many, because to me it showed, how little anyone paid attention to what the narrative told us about her as an individual character.

Bella is so good at being a vampire, because she so thoroughly wanted to be one. Because a vampire was what she was always meant to be. It was her destiny, as well as her own chosen destiny. She's the only Cullen, who actually made the choice to be a vampire. She doesn't yearn for humanity like say Rosalie or Edward, because she was born as the wrong species.

The narrative establishes how unhappy she is with being human (even though Bella herself initially couldn't really recognize that that's what it was, as she wasn't an inherent believer into anything supernatural at first), even before she meets Edward. We are shown how clumsy she is in her human body, because this isn't the form she's meant to have.

She's as enamored with Vampirism itself (the beauty, powers, benefits, immortality) as she is with Edward, as we see her repeatedly romanticize Vampirism, even separately from Edward, in the books. I'd go as far as saying, that she would have wanted to become a vampire, even if she hadn't fallen in love with Edward.

This is probably the most interesting aspect about her, yet it flew over so many people's heads, even though this probably would have made her more intriguing to many of said people.

We rarely see this in protagonists and heroes in mainstream media: actively seeking out power (and immortality) like that. Many of them actually prefer a mundane life (well, the "status quo", really) and have powers happen to them against their will, or they reluctantly accept power or positions of power for the greater good. The hero or protagonist, is supposed to be humble and reject power, to prove they are good and worthy. The fact that the female main character of Twilight, of all characters, went against this stereotype, makes the supposedly "bland" Bella rather interesting to me.

"My time as a human was over, but I never felt more alive."

"After 18 years of being utterly ordinary, I finally found I could shine. I was born to be a vampire."

[yumeka-sxf]

A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Part 23

*This is part of an ongoing post series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

----------

When Yor says goodbye to a very grateful Olka, the latter leaves her with some heartfelt parting words: she'll be praying that Yor and her family can find peace and happiness. Yor is taken aback by Olka's gratitude, which is understandable. Being an assassin is an unappreciated job, since most of it involves simply killing your victims and then disappearing without a trace. Her assignment with Olka may have been the first time a client expressed such sincere gratitude for the work she does. Not only that, but Olka having Yor hug Gram while telling her that she's the reason he has a future, is probably the first time she was able to so plainly see how her work can mean the difference between peace and tragedy for a family in need.

Despite the fact that Olka had repeatedly reminded Yor that her family is just for show, she's obviously realized that Yor sees them as much more. She can't openly tell this to Yor, so perhaps she chose these particular words of farewell as a way of getting Yor to really think about how much her family means to her…in the hopes that one day she can also leave the horrors of the underworld behind to pursue a quiet life. Olka's words may have struck a chord, as Yor seems very deep in thought while she and McMahon watch Olka's raft disappear into the distance. When McMahon notices how melancholic she looks, he reminds her not to get sentimental since they're both just foot soldiers. But ironically, almost immediately after, he tells her that she should meet up with Loid and Anya as a reward for her hard work while he takes care of any further incidents.

McMahon's history with Yor (if any) is still a mystery, but despite his stoic demeanor, maybe he too realizes that she truly enjoys being with her supposed "cover up" family.

I've seen discourse surrounding the idea that Yor's preference of "traditionally feminine" roles – wanting to be a wife and mother – is a sign of weakness and submissiveness. In addition, as @connoisseursdecomfort discusses here, some people only see one aspect of her character instead of the whole picture, and paint that in a negative way. To quote Connoisseur's post:

"Endo doesn’t want [Yor] to be just soft and sweet and sexy and strong. Like any other human, she is very self-conscious when she doesn’t fit in, and all of these discussions really show how realistic it is for Yor to feel insecure - she is too muscle-head and strong to be feminine in the eyes of the Asian readers, but too sensitive, gentle and ditzy to be masculine. She is not created to fit any standards, and therefore deemed a failure in every reader who sought to make another exemplary woman of this modern age. She has to be perfect, but she will never be."

If by "ditzy" people mean she's naïve about many things, then yes, she is, but there's a reason for it that anyone who's paid attention to the series can easily see: since she had to raise her brother since childhood, she wasn't able to pursue a proper education or gain the kind of real-life knowledge most people who live "normal" lives do. If by "ditzy" they mean she's too nice or polite…why is that a bad thing? While her low self-esteem makes it hard for her to stand up against people who insult her directly, she doesn't hesitate to attack anyone who threatens her family, nor does she hesitate to kill bad guys on her missions. So why is being nice to people who are not a threat to her a bad thing? Since when does having a brash, cocky attitude equate to strength, while being polite and nice to others by default, along with the very human displays of vulnerability and self-doubt, equate to weakness?

In my opinion, anyone who feels this way about Yor – that the only personality trait she has is "ditzy," or that it's somehow anti-feminist for her to desire the peaceful life of a wife/mother instead of something grander – is missing the whole point of the series. I discussed earlier that Endo does not portray Yor's profession as something glorious that she enjoys doing. It's dangerous, ugly, and morally ambiguous, but she does it out of desire to protect her family. Not only has she been doing it since she was a child, and thus was never able to experience a "normal" life, but it's a job with very little appreciation or acknowledgement. So after living with Loid and Anya, people who appreciate her for who she really is, don't force her to act certain ways nor expect anything in return, why should she be ridiculed for desiring peaceful days with them instead of living only in the cold, thankless underworld? Loid never forced her to remain his wife and Anya's mother after the interview – she chose to stay, at first for her own benefit, but she soon realized that being with them makes her happy. Is it "submissiveness" that someone who's been thrust into a dangerous, unforgiving life as an assassin since childhood now finds comfort in the traditional role of wife/mother with people she loves? Submissiveness is blind obedience, where you live a certain way by someone else's choice or even by force, and that's not the case here. There's no rule that says being a strong woman necessitates a complete rejection of feminine roles and values. A strong female character isn't necessarily one that's filled with self-confidence or tomboyish brashness…if anything, having no inner turmoil for them to overcome makes them a weaker character in my opinion. She's not throwing anything away for "a man" by choosing on her own to stay with Loid because he's always kind and considerate to her. As we saw at the end of her epiphany, she didn't even have to choose her role as a wife/mother over her role as an assassin – she decided to keep being both, but it's her love for Loid and Anya that made her resolve for remaining as Thorn Princess even stronger than before.

What's even more amazing about Yor's character is that, even when she understands that she doesn't need to be an assassin anymore – that no one needs financial support from her work, she still makes the most unselfish choice. She could have ditched her Garden work completely to pursue the life that truly makes her happy, which is being the wife/mother of the Forger family. After knowing how selflessly she's lived her life up to this point, pretty much sacrificing her well-being for Yuri's, no one would blame her if she decided to finally choose what's best for her now. But instead, she chooses to continue her unselfish way of life…even if it means sacrificing her own happiness yet again, she will continue this dangerous line of work, because preventing tragedy from befalling her loved ones or the world in general is more important to her than her own personal happiness. Having such unwavering selflessness, in addition to being a kind and patient mother, encouraging wife, and deadly assassin who still retains her humanity, Endo has done wonders making a character both cute/sweet but also a total badass who's strong on the outside as well as the inside.

Continue to Part 24 ->

<- Return to Part 22

[bbygirl-aemond]

Which Targaryen do you think you would be able to make Freud rise from his grave faster?

....Daemon? Daemon. He checks every single box.

He has massive mommy issues because his mom died when he was a baby. Because she specifically died in childbirth, it rings a lot of Freudian bells related to things like womb envy. The lack of maternal presence is what causes his relationships with all subsequent family members to be so clingy. He also has daddy issues, because Baelon was heavily affected by the losses of his favorite sister and brother and likely never paid much attention to him as a second son.

The mommy and daddy issues combine into him projecting his maternal and paternal needs for affection/approval/etc. onto his only remaining relative, his older brother Viserys. This is also because his parents were both siblings, so they blended the fraternal with the romantic and sexual, AND his grandparents did the same because they were also siblings. All of the romantic relationships modeled before him were between siblings.

So Daemon loves Viserys in every possible way (fraternal, paternal, maternal, and romantic) and desires the same from Viserys in return. Because it's the only way he knows to love. This is also why Daemon has def got some gender envy, because if he'd been born a girl, then Viserys would have married and loved him (in his mind) and they could have had babies together (he's super into Valyrian bloodline stuff).

Here's where Daemon's obsession with Rhaenyra comes into play. He views her as a kindred spirit, sort of who he thinks he could have been if he'd been born a girl, especially because she gets Viserys's favor the way he thinks he would have if he'd been a girl. He also sees her as an extension of Viserys; if he can't have Viserys, then at least he can have Rhaenyra. He loves her because she gives him the affection he wanted from Viserys, because he can't be in a relationship with Viserys and she's the next best thing (Ryan Condal has confirmed this verbatim btw in case you think I'm reaching).

This is part of why he's SO happy to have babies with Rhaenyra. Baby Aegon and Viserys represent the children he wishes he could have had with Viserys. They carry Viserys's blood, through Rhaenyra, and Daemon's blood, through himself. They represent the union (yes, romantic and sexual) that Daemon subconsciously wishes he could have had with Viserys.

(Also, if you're asking within the Stormbreak universe, Aemond looks fairly similar to how Daemon's mom, Alyssa, is described. Plus he's also like an extension of Viserys, maybe even more so because he's male.)

Like, this mans' psychosexual fuckery has LAYERS. The incest aspect of him and Rhaenyra is only the tip of the iceberg because of how much it ties into his fucked up feelings towards Viserys. And it would honestly have most of these layers even if his parents had survived, because they were still siblings, as were his grandparents.

I think a lot of this Viserys stuff would be WAY more clear if they hadn't aged Viserys up in the show, btw. In the book, Viserys is only four years older than Daemon, but in the show he seems like a grandpa by the time he dies. If Viserys was played by someone who was younger and hot the way Matt Smith is, I guarantee they would be one of THE most popular ships in the fandom, and this type of analysis would be super commonplace.

Anyways yes if Daemon existed in real life he would single-handedly resurrect Freud and also probably render him immortal by virtue of being the single most fucked up incesty individual on the planet.

[nichecomicstournament]

propaganda under the readmore

Gwen Lou Sabuki: Sabuki was a member of the original (junior) Invaders (the Kid Commandos) crew, along with Bucky Barnes and Toro. She has 6 total appearances, the most recent of which was in a flashback, back during the Original Sins event, in which she prevented the U.S. Military and the original Invaders from wiping out Japan with an artificial tsunami.

Blaine "Kid" Colt:

I WILL DEFEND COLT WITH MY LIFE

Ok, I know that nobody reads the Marvel Westerns except me (the vast majority of comments I see on comics sites about them are some variant of “I’m just reading this for completion’s sake”) but Kid Colt is the reason I actually sat up and paid attention to the 1940s-50s Westerns. He’s been through several new origins, and all of them are superficially similar to the first origin we saw laid out in his debut (Kid Colt, Hero of the West #1) but they ALL miss the POINT of the character.

In the first year and a half or so since his debut in 1948, Colt was written by a specific author, Ernie Hart, and he establishes over and over again that Kid Colt is, a violent, traumatized young man who has chosen the life of an outlaw and has no regrets about any of his decisions.

In the first Colt story, we learn that he’s very skilled with a gun, but chooses not to wear guns because he knows his temper means that he would probably draw and kill someone if he had them on him. He endures the ridicule of the other townspeople and even his own father, who doesn’t know his reasons for refusing to wear a gun. But his father is murdered by law enforcement to steal his land and cattle, and Colt is framed for it. He takes matters into his own hands, kills the lawmen (beating one of them to death with his own whip in the process), and leaves town.

For the next eight issues, and the other Western titles he appears in at the time, Kid Colt rides alone for the most part, but consistently goes out of his way to help other outlaws who need it, and affirms over and over again that being a criminal does not make you any less human or deserving of dignity- but he is merciless with lawmen and judges and sheriffs who abuse their power. Sure, he is sometimes lonely, and once or twice considers settling down, but ultimately embraces his new life as an outlaw, and enjoys the freedom it affords him.

The only times in the Hart run, iirc, he considers settling down is with an entire community of people who show him love and concern (particularly, and notably, there's a young man who tends him back to health, though this ends in tragedy). Colt also has no problem getting help from people because he is a charismatic, kind man- he very rarely finds himself in a position where he can’t get help from a local (unlike, say, Rawhide, who is perpetually a target but that’s a post for another day) But regardless, Colt is popular with ladies, but settling down with a woman for love is something that he can never do, and he says as much more than once. There are several ways to interpret this, but this aspect is another one that vanishes when Hart stops writing Kid Colt.

1950, the year Hart stops writing Colt for whatever reason, is around when the Comics Code Authority really started to get some teeth. You can even read letters in the actual comic itself in the lead up to 1950 put in by the publishers talking about the ongoing debate about the moral content of comics, and one of the first things the new writer does (Leon Lazarus) is revamp Colt’s backstory. On the surface, it’s mostly faithful - but it changes the fact that Colt kills both the Sheriff and his deputy to one shooting the other and Colt accidentally knocking the Sheriff off the cliff. The textbox epilogue says he was “accused” of murdering lawmen, implying innocence. But it also completely removes the rage element from his backstory- in this version, Colt doesn’t carry a gun because he doesn’t want his skill to draw in a bunch of gunhawks, claiming he had a brother (who had never been mentioned before, of course) who got shot in the back because of his skill with a gun.

Needless to say, these two changes remove the most compelling things about the character. Crucially, unlike a lot of other Western heroes who find themselves in this predicament, Colt as written by Ernie Hart has no interest in proving his innocence. Colt becomes an outlaw because he sees no other way forward- but he never looks back. He honestly does not believe he did anything wrong and has no interest in justifying himself to the world. But under Lazarus, and pretty much all the later writers, suddenly he hates being an outlaw, and wishes he could prove his innocence, except it’s impossible. He pines after women he meets once. He is suddenly respectful to lawmen and judges and won’t raise a gun against them even to save his life or the life of another. He says shit like “I might be an outlaw but I don’t act like one.” They might as well have just made a completely different person.

Don't get me wrong, there’s some good stories that show flashes of who Colt was in the beginning, but most of the life is leeched out of him, and this is definitely true in all the modern versions of Colt that we have. In The Sensational Seven, Colt is for some reason turned into a boorish douchebag who only thinks about sex. DeFalco’s Kid Colt oneshot, in addition to having a lot of Confederate apologism, goes with the blandest, most toothless version of Kid Colt possible, and that asinine “Moving On” oneshot by Tony Isabella in Marvel 1001 is just. It’s not any sort of a satisfying completion for his character arc, and there's untapped ground withi

Anyway, I know this is more than you ever wanted to know about cowboys, especially Kid Colt, but I lov him so much please....

[libra-stellium]

no bc I have beef with Uranus omg

this whole time I've been like saturn saturn saturn meanwhile uranus has been sifting through my life with her dirty little fingers!!

Once upon a time on March 6, 2019 Uranus entered Taurus and took a vow to be a nuisance in my life for the next 6 years!

Tomorrow Uranus is going to be exact on my 3H until June 15 and I'm expecting something to happen with my neighbors that is going to be the most annoying thing I've ever dealt with. Now I could be right or it could be something worse because i'm expecting the neighbors issue and uranus is unexpected shit smh

ALSO on May 21, 2024 I started my Uranus trine Uranus transit and one of the things for it is "you may be inclined to throw over an existing personal relationship in order to liberate yourself from the restrictions it imposed" and I feel like I'm gonna have to go no contact with my aunt as well bc she's making the choice to be on my mother's side. Literally on May 21 she shared pics of my trip with my mother without my consent and I specifically told her multiple times don't talk about my business with this person i'm no longer in contact with and now my mother knows where I was, when i was there, what i was doing, who i was with like what the fuckkkk??? and my aunt had the nerve to be like "oh I'm tired of lying to my sister she was sad and asking for you so i showed her" YOUR SISTER IS A MANIPULATIVE NARCISSITIC BITCH and you can get cut off too!! Her and her sister with their aqua moons in my 12H are probably gonna be completely out of my life next year and that's insane to think about!! I literally won't have any immediate family in my life after that......bc they cannot stop themselves from fucking me over.....just wow

But Uranus isn't done with me!!! I've got a lovely (derogatory) Uranus opposite Pluto transit June 25 2024 - November 10 2024 and what can I expect??? "Change may come through persons with upsetting surprises" G R E A T bc my birthday is right in the middle of that with all the Libra transiting my 8H

It's not all bad (I guesssss) bc I just finished a Uranus sextile Saturn transit from April 14, 2023 - May 18, 2024 in my 1H and it was:

opportunity to make creative changes through a system

I tried many different routines during this time to work on my physical body and my mental health

superiors will be impressed with innovative ideas, you may be rewarded with a higher position in that particular system

Stuff at work came pretty easy and they did end up seeing me like someone the other staff could go to for questions

I also have a Uranus trine Neptune transit right now ending July 1 and that one is cute it's about being more involved in spiritual studies, working hard with others to actualize beliefs about how the world should be and try to help loved ones grow and that's honestly the norm for me lol I'm always looking up something for astro and tarot or literal religion, telling people what I think of the world events (free palestine) and telling friends what they can do to improve their lives!

I still want to throw hands with Uranus bc this is still ridiculous! I have 5 Uranus aspects in my chart I never paid attention to but they would explain a lot!!! I would like a surprise birthday party not surprise traumatic events lmfao

[noonaishere]

Music of the Heart [J.YH] - thirty-one | JUPiTER

You walked into the studio to the cacophonous sound of multiple keys on the keyboard being held down. You looked over at the keyboard to find Hongjoong, face down on the keys.

You laughed softly; he probably fell asleep there last night and didn’t even hear the noise. This poor guy was going to make himself deaf before thirty if he kept doing this kind of thing.

With a chuckle, you walked over to the keyboard and switched it off.

“Why’d you do that?”

“AHH!”

Hongjoong looked up at you, the lines of the keys indented on his face.

“What the hell is wrong with you? I thought you fell asleep like last time.”

“Oh…” he touched his face and then ruffled his hair in frustration. “I was just thinking.”

“Having emos?” You chuckled.

“Yeah, having emos.” He turned the keyboard back on.

Now that your heart rate had lowered to a number under 180 bpm, you could put your stuff down on the table. “What about?”

“This song I’m working on for my own recordings.”

“Are you also a soloist?”

He nodded as he pressed a few keys idly. “I release under another name though.”

“Really? Why?”

He shrugged. “I’d rather people look at my solo work without being biased by my producing work.”

“Makes sense. You are one of the most famous producers in the business.”

He nodded tiredly. “Anyway, JUPiTER is coming in today so I think I need to give up for now.”

Your eyebrows ticked up. 

JUPiTER was Wonderland Entertainment’s most popular boy band. While their main concept was astronomy and Greek mythology, each of their comebacks had a different vibes, from cool, to cute, to sexy, they pulled them all off well. As expected of a group managed by Wonderland.

“Wow, really?”

“Mhm. we had finished their album right before we hired you. I think they had some questions for their performances.”

“Umm, what should I be doing?”

“You should just observe today.”

You nodded. “Okay.”

You took your notebook and a pen out of your bag so you could make notes if you needed to. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Hongjoong watch you for a moment before going back to idly pressing the keyboard keys.

A few minutes later, Maddox came in with JUPiTER behind him.

“Yes I be the cat and, yes I do the dragging.” He sang as he walked in, followed by his temporary entourage.

You looked up and bowed as they came into the room.

Hongjoong stood as well. “This is our new bassist and producer in training, t/l/n t/f/n.”

The group of boys took turns shaking your hand as they introduced themselves: the leader, Dal; the “mom”, Max; the unofficial maknae, Keeho; the fashionista, Jiung; and the actual maknae, Jongseob. You had seen them all on stage and in pictures before but - even though they were wearing casual clothes - they were all gorgeous in real life. Who could possibly think the visual arts were still needed when there were people this pretty on planet earth?

“It’s nice to meet you all.” You said.

They all nodded and responded with the same sentiment to varying degrees.

“So what are you doing here today?” Dal asked.

“She’s here to observe the recording process,” Hongjoong answered.

“But we’re done,” Keeho pointed out.

Hongjoong nodded. “And answering the questions of the artists is also part of the process. Otherwise you wouldn’t be in the studio today, would you?” He smiled.

They all nodded. He was right. 

He gestured to the chairs at the table. “Please, sit.”

Maddox joined you on one side and Keeho sat on the other side.

A few hours of discussion went by as mostly Dal and Max asked questions having to do with technical aspects, and asked for notes Hongjoong might have for the sound guys on the music shows.

You paid attention and took copious notes; if Hongjoong was really serious about training you as a producer, you wanted to show him that you were serious too.

When the conversation slowed and it seemed like the meeting was about to adjourn, Keeho turned to you.

“So how long have you been working here? You’re new right?”

You nodded. “I’ve been here… a few weeks already?

He nodded. “That’s cool. You’ll be around for our comeback-- Dal?”

Dal looked up. “Yeah?”

“When’s this comeback again?”

You opened your phone and went to the recording calendar, it had the comebacks on it. You checked the upcoming week. It was in three days.

“Umm… You know, it’s soon but I forgot the date again. I’ll check when we get back to the dorms. It’s not this week, I know that.”

“Okay.”

Your brow furrowed, could he have forgotten his own group’s comeback date? That’s weird.

You opened your mouth to help him, when you felt something hit your foot. Looking down, Maddox’s foot was now against yours. You looked up at him, confused, and he shook his head slightly. You looked to Hongjoong and he did the same.

You closed your phone and put it in your pocket.

After a few more minutes of questions and notes, the members, you, Hongjoong, and Maddox all said goodbye to each other and the members left. Maddox and Hongjoong went to their chairs at the desk and you sat at the table and got ready to do some transcribing.

“So um… is there a reason why Dal forgot his own group’s comeback date?”

Hongjoong and Maddox both laughed.

“What?”

“Dal knows it,” Hongjoong started, “he’s a really good leader who’s on top of everything. It’s just that Keeho…” He looked for the right words and looked to Maddox for help.

“Keeho is a streamer,” Maddox said, “and has spoiled every single comeback in some way since they debuted, so eventually the rest of the group decided that they had to lie to him if they didn’t want to continue getting yelled at by their managers for spoiling their comeback dates.”

You laughed. The idea was absurd. “On-- he’s spoiled them on purpose or by accident?”

“By accident. Every single one.”

“Wow,” you laughed. “Okay.”

They both nodded.

“That’s kind of ridiculous that they had to resort to lying to him about it.

“It really is.” Maddox laughed.

“Honestly, they’re doing it for his own good.” Hongjoong added.

“Does he know they’re lying?”

“At this point? I’m not even sure.”

You shook your head with a laugh and got to work transcribing.

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Send an ask or leave a comment if you want to be added to the tag list! 🎵

luvvvx • iamthehotdemon • hrts4hanniehae • rachs-words •

[darkfictionjude]

I'm so sad for Percy. He really is the embodiment of the middle child syndrome, isn't he?

1). While Percy loves his mom a lot (and probably more than he loves his dad), it's obvious that she prefers Orla, even now (perhaps even more now she is dead, and can be idealized further than she already was in life). And Percy is in denial about this favoritism, as it became clear on the most recent update. Perhaps because he can't accept it, or it would break him.

2). Victor obviously prefers Sally. There is little to discuss further on this point. Percy is not welcome as Sally is on the financial situation of the family, and for good reason, since he doesn't seem to be responsible enough. Now, that may be our limited perspective on the issue and on Percy's behavior tampering with our judgment, but I think Victor must have a similar impression, to some extent, and leaves Percy out anyway.

3). While Sally is not a parent, he has been clearly parentified. And Sally has made his favoritism for MC so painfully clear, that Percy cannot do anything but denounce it. Even if Sally's perception of MC is problematic (as he infantalizes MC, and doesn't truly see them as an individual), MC is still more blatantly cherished.

4). MC doesn't have a favorite, but I think that's mostly out of not having opinions on most things rather than because they don't love some members more than others. That said, it would make sense for MC to trust on Sally more than on Percy. Although, it seems possible to build a closer relationship (very slowly) with Percy in game, yet I doubt it would ever be enough as to make MC one of the closest people to Percy. That boat has sailed long ago.

The other aspect is that Percy is also not actively hated by other family members. He is dismissed, or corrected in a condescending way by Sally (although I think Sally is somewhat condescending with all of his siblings, since he infantilizes them all, MC is just ten fold what Percy experiences). But he is not hated. And MC is actively despised by Prudence. And Victor I think does hold some affection for MC, but is not as much as he may have for the other children. Yet, in his case, he still paid a lot more of attention to MC given MC's issues, that he paid to Percy.

As for MC, I think Percy is conflicted. He is wary, he is jealous, he is intrigued but not invested. There is affection there, and maybe some unaware yearning for closeness (which he may very well deny to himself and to the world if ever made explicit by anyone, including himself). But he also has many reasons to keep distance and to distrust MC.

Percy, ultimately, fades to the background. And I think that's tragic. So far his existence seems lonely. But I think this comes from him not having any close relationship within the household, so I do think he may have them elsewhere in town. Yet, that's more of a hope than an actual theory.

You’re gonna to make me cry nonnie what the fuck it’s literally midnight here

This really does a good job of putting it all into a comprehensive list. It makes me feel bad every time I write scenes of sally showing so much affection for mc and not for Percy.

I did like the part where you said that Victor in some way cares for mc. It is interesting and complex how a parent can seemingly care for a their child but not exactly love them (or at least not love them in a healthy).

Percy is the jokester but his life is pretty tragic I think he would trade positions with mc if he could just to get that attention and care

[danieyells]

i actually think this game is playable if u dont spend money!!! i have two accounts in different servers, on my OG one i have no SSRs and i'm up to date with the main story, just have 3 SRs (Jin, Ren and Alan, tho Alan is not as developed since i got him recently). on the other one i miraculously have 3 SSRs, the Tohma and Leo limited ones and Haru who unexpectedly showed up when pulling for Tohma.

i don't have many gems as of now (like, separately 4000 on both accounts thanks to the wishing well), i haven't paid gems to upgrade cards either. just letting the campus farm for upgrades works.

don't lose hope, people!!! you may not be top 100 on the arena but you can still enjoy the story!!!!

(screenshot of my mains on OG account. i'm currently on case 61)

Wowow! That's better than me even lol i don't have anyone at 100 yet(although I'm working on getting my Taiga SSR there and i'm on case 72 lol. It's like 240 limit break fruit to get past level 75 on an SSR pff) i refuse to use my gems for upgrades lmao. . . .

I'm sure it's possible to be f2p, it just doesn't feel like a very f2p friendly game haha most gachas don't tbf. But i'm also not able to pay the closest attention to the actual combat aspects, so i'd probably be better if I were able to dedicate more brainpower to that.

But wow! Very proud of you for getting so far without any spending!!! Here's hoping you can get to the end of the game the same way! 🎉🎉🎉 But yes take their advice and don't give up or give in! Do not do what I've done hahaha

[discluded]

I love love the fact that Mile Spoils Apo…and I’m not speaking in a materialistic way(although he does that too 🙊) but I’m speaking in the sense of how quickly Mile caught on to the fact that Apo is very sensitive to detail and he stored that information deep in his soul (and effectively used it with Apo) and he was able to pick up on things like the fact that Apo doesn’t use cologne but a alum stone stick (the fact that Mile paid attention to that maybe saw Apo wear it and it stuck to him) the fact that he started of by teasing Apo that he talked a lot yet he later understood that, it was Apo’s way of showing he cared (wanting to know everything about the person shows how invested Apo gets) so then when they wouldn’t film together Mile proceeded to call Apo to ask about his day ( if he ate if he drank water if he had a good shooting day)🥺 the way that he kept his phone off night mode until he was able to talk to Apo. The way he would actively take care of Apo on Set and then the one that I think hit me square in my chest and left me no doubt of the absolute adoration Apo feels for Mile is whenApo was doing his Birthday live on IG and “jokingly” (I personally don’t think it was a joke) said “How can I live with out Mile if he’s the one that takes care of Me” cue my tears 😭 the genuine care that Mile put into connecting/ understanding Apo was really what won Apo over. Knowing how they said that Mile was the first to open up to Apo and it gave into Apo returning that trust. (Also Apo GIVES as much as he gets and he returns to Mile tenfold) but I think it hits me a bit more with Mile bc he seemed to be a bit more rough.. ??(idk what word to use) in the beginning and and to see the little by little process of sweetness is just you know 😩😭 and now we have a Mile the almost never says no to Apo, I think I’ve only seen it twice. We see a soft spoken man that is always taking care of Po. And yeah let me just 🚶🏽‍♀️🚶🏽‍♀️ (Last but not least let’s never forget when Mile told Apo that he wasn’t weird that he just had character just like everyone else had theirs) and then we can hear Jeff in the back saying how “it’s so weird to hear Mile say that, since he rarely says this type of things” 🙈💓

The love that I have for these two individuals is going to burst out of my heart ❤️

ANON I CRYYYYYY you read my mind on everything.

One of the most telling aspects is how differently they act at the beginning when they were just getting to know each other and now. And yeah, I think you're right that "rough" is probably the right to describe how Mile was acting... but to be fair, it's often the way guys show affection, which would make sense at the beginning of their relationship.

But I think it's also suuupppper interesting in contrast to see the fact now how they act vs. with close cast mates that they both still rough house other castmates but not really each other as much. The only recent time I can think of is Singapore, Apo shaking Mile and making him dizzy lol, but even the tone of that is different where Mile was clearly happy to accept it until he got dizzy and Apo knew when to stop, where as Jeff begrudgingly had to accept their affection in the video 😂😂😂🤣.

Mile has already said that for him, money is not a problem. And Apo's affection and attention isn't so cheap it can be bought. The most important thing, and most limited resource Mile has, is time and Mile gave Apo all his time and attention. Apo saw that and returns all the attention and time and affection 🥺

As for the Feb IG live, I raise you:

We're not gonna see any more IG lives. :') Which I'm OK with. The more they realized they have eyes on them, the more they retreated for their own privacy, which is normal. Their relationship is not for consumption, it's not for the fans, which is why it's so precious and they protect it and each other.

[artist-issues]

Hello! It's been a while since I was last on your ask inbox. I hope you are doing very well. This is perhaps going to be more of a rant than a regular ask, but I need to say this. I know people are very understandably quite over the topic of TLM 1989 vs TLM 2023 and most would probably prefer to sweep it under a rug. I really can't blame them for letting it go, but given that it's been almost a year since it came out, we could look at it in "retrospect" (I don't think that's quite the right word hehe) and I have to say, the way a lot of its stans continue to talk about this movie like it surpassed the original and even have this slightly disrespectful tone towards it is already very irritating, but one of the things that definitely irritated and even straight-up angered me the most about its reaction was the way they, as a collective, threw OG Eric under the bus in order to prop up the LA version. They literally said that the LA version had deeper feelings and cared far more about Ariel than his original counterpart and the "solid proof" they use to prove this was the Kiss The Girl where in the animated he refused to kiss her whereas in the LA version he was very willing to kiss her and the other scene was where he let Ariel slip down to the ground in the animated whereas in the LA he held her all "protective". They used this as proof that the original was practically a "careless douchebag" compared to the LA one who is the true "romantic and sensitive guy" and that really, really pissed me off, and I know I shouldn't let things like that upset me so much, but it goes to show that none of them ever paid any amount of attention to the original movie. They were practically dragging the original Eric all across the internet for that to prop up the LA version, not taking into account the context of absolutely anything at all. Literally almost nobody viewed him as a douchebag for that and the moment this movie comes along, all of a sudden, he doesn't really care for her and is trash??? They clearly forgot about the "I lost her once. I'm not gonna lose her again" scene, which was excluded in the LA version because he DID give up on looking for her after his mom told him to forget about her because "They can't be together". So much for being such an amazingly caring and romantic guy 🙄 I know you also see through the insane nonsense that is that argument, specially as someone who analyzes classic Disney movies so thoroughly and sees things about them that the average viewer can't see. This seems kind of like a rant, but I saw something related to that and I got so mad. People (outside of the TLM fandom) have always dismissed him as "bland", but this movie seems to have provoked a level of hatred to be thrown at him because they don't find some of his reactions to be "good" and "romantic" enough, but all it shows is how little they actually appreciate and understand the original material. Forgive me for my somewhat long and heavy rant, but I wanted to get it off my chest, and I believe you will understand why this made me so mad even a year later. I'd really like to see your thoughts and feeling on this topic. I certainly let mine be known! 🤣

No, I agree! I have a very dear friend who is also fond of analyzing movies and she, too, loves the Live Action Eric more than the original. And I think people are falling prey to one really subliminal, psychological thing here—we're adults now. And Live Action Eric is handsome, and feels more adult, because he's live-action. So there's this aspect of it that we really weren't feeling or paying attention to on the same level in the animated version: it's basically just his sex appeal. I hate saying it. I hate saying it like that.

But I have to because when you realize that what you're saying is correct—there is NO sense in which Eric in the LA is more caring than the real Eric—then you have to go, "okay, if it's not that, then what is it?"

It's that he has scruff. And a British accent. And a wet-fabric low-cut white shirt on. And then suddenly a movie that was about simple, innocent, young love that you could read about in a fairy tale starts to feel a little more angsty, a little more about passion, a little more like The Vampire Diaries, etc.

I'm not saying they're just preferring the LA Eric carnally. (Sorry.) I'm saying, I think there's a difference between the maturity levels of the romance. Live Action wants you thinking about Eric in terms of adult longing. Animated wants you thinking about Eric in terms of childhood dreams. The problem isn't even that one is more noble than the other (although. yeah.) The problem is that the original movie used the relationship to symbolize an important theme, while the Live Action tries to make the relationship the theme, itself...and then like you said, it backs off on that, because the movie "can't be about a girl giving up her life for a boy," so all that's left is "wanting to date hot seaswept Eric vicariously through Ariel."

When you put something that was animated into Live-Action, it carries this stigma that the Live action will be more relatable and "deep" than the animated version, specifically for adults. So then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; the adults just choose to respond to material (like a romance between a prince and a mermaid) that is no deeper than the original as if it is deeper, simply because they went in there believing more in the depth.

That's about as plain as I can make that, I think.

You already covered why Eric is definitely caring in the original perfectly, so I won't go into that. But I do think that what people are missing is how good Disney used to be at making sure a character did what he was supposed to do for the story. Animated Eric's whole thing was that he wasn't going to give up on his Fated Dream Girl. He didn't know it was Ariel, but he wasn't willing to give up on her and jump in this girl he found on the beach's arms until he was sure his dream was all wrong. I think people miss that. I think people see his actions as "he wasn't that into Ariel" instead of "he's a good guy who's 1) nervous about kissing a girl and 2) still thinking about Another Girl he believes rescued him from drowning."

And that's punctuated, like you said, at the end when he realizes his Dream Girl was Ariel all along. And then of course he's sacrificing himself to go after her. He was always willing to. He just didn't know what he didn't know. Remember, Eric isn't Boy Ariel. But he does have this in common with her: he really has faith in something other people don't understand. For him, it's an ideal of true love. For Ariel, it's an ideal of a good world outside the one she lives in. But for both it boils down to love. So you're just seeing Eric act accordingly, until he knows that all along Ariel has been the fulfillment of his ideal.

Anyway. You're super kind, but I don't think I'm able to see things other people can't or even won't in Disney movies. I really think everyone sees them, but not everyone feels the need to verbalize them 😅 I also think what the Live Actions do is basically large-scale gaslighting. By "fixing" things that were not mistakes, and changing major aspects of the story while standing on the shoulders of nostalgia and the original's success, the Live Actions make a meta-commentary on the old movies. So people who loved the original Ariel are like, "oh yeah, good point, that always bothered me," when, no it didn't. Not enough to ruin the story.

Anywho. I missed your asks!

[noirvette]

kyle! w/ a reader like tomoko kuroki [watamote] headcanons!!

i havent ever seen watamote so this is all based off the wiki page so i apologize for any inaccuracy for this request :(

sorry if it's rather short too, some things of her personality i didn't exactly know how to write in

cws: none

Before getting together, Kyle really never paid any mind to you exactly. Like he knew of you but you never interacted with many people, him included, so he sort've did his own thing while you did yours.

It wasn't until you and Butters became friends that he started paying attention to you.

He's figures yourself and him as friends because of this and at some point finds himself drawn to you because of your whole lack of a filter, finds it hilarious when you comment on things without thinking about your words.

After Kyle and you are together is when he realizes how hard you've been trying to get people to recognize you, and swears to himself that he'll help.

He knows how hard or tough it can be on you to get people recognize you, so he's willing to do practice runs or help you with speaking up if you need it.

He's dealt with Stan's own grim outlook on life and knows how to best deal with that. Whether that be by showing you the positives in life or by talking you out of that mentality, he'll know how to deal.

He may come off as a little overbearing with this, since Kyle's always been a positive outgoing person, just let him know and he'll tone it down.

He also knows when you start getting too "into" your head and has you talk / rant to him about what's going on. Is a great listener, maybe not so much on giving advice on certain things, but he makes up for it by listening.

Kyle has always been a defensive person, so if Cartman ever gives you a tough time (which, it's Cartman and he'll most definitely will), he's speaking his mind and defending you.

He hates when people are selfish, so this is where you may experience a bit of conflict. He'll force you to actually do work that you're supposed to do, even if it means being there with you to make sure you do it (and even if it's to help a little).

As much as he loves you, his own morals make him a bit head strong and he'll put his foot down if necessary.

If you get embarrassed by seeing people you know when out on a date, he'll be willing to avoid them with you, Kyle has no issue with seeing people he knows, but if he himself can avoid unnecessary meeting (and therefore small talk) he'll do it too tbh.

Might laugh and make a joke about how silly you two zig zagging around everyone.

To make sure he spend the most amount of time with you though, he usually plans dates to not be too public. Things like parks or movie nights or often enough.

Doesn't understand the otome game aspect of your life in all honesty, if you continue to play while dating him he'd probably get offended a bit, like "...but i'm like right here..? Why would you date..fictional characters."

Kyle is just the sweetest and is most likely to help you and support you with anything you need.

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ New Generation

Oh the great psychic damage I've inflicted on myself to do this. I was so excited, thinking about how this would let me gush about Bran New Kiss or Inside of Me, but unfortunately, I must start at the dreaded beginning: New Generation.

I will admit that this wasn't as bad as I expected. There was a lot of cringing, a lot of "oh baby what are you doing?" being whispered, but not the total trainwreck I had built up in my head. To be totally honest, I think that these two songs could've been pretty decent with better packaging and fully embracing the campiness, but I digress.

Just for funsies, I've also noted the YouTube and Spotify streams (if applicable) from the day I did the review. Dunno what to make of it yet, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

(Also I like how I slowly become more and more unhinged as I type this review out.)

New Generation - 1st Mini Album | 2008.09.03

So I was already listening to Kpop around this time, but like most people, paid like zero attention to this because I liked the bigger and more popular and better packaged boy groups at the time. I was also just developing my logical reasoning when this came out, so I don't really remember much about this. No idea what the general feel/reception for this was, and I think the first time I listened to this was probably late 2009 after ManManHaNi, and somehow I remember really liking this at the time.

Obviously, time soured my opinion of this mini album, but now as an adult with a mostly functioning prefrontal cortex, I can say I don't really hate it? I hate the packaging of this mini album, but it's oddly endearing in how poorly it's aged.

Another thing I noticed while going back over this is how hard Soohyun, Kevin, and even Kibum carry in these first two releases. I'm not knocking on the others, and it makes sense since Soohyun had been a trainee the longest under some bigger companies, while Kevin and Kibum had both already debuted. They just seem a lot more polished in all aspects, and a lot more committed to the cheesiness. I'm probably not gonna rank them for later releases, but for this one, I think I'd put them as Kevin > Soohyun >> Kibum >>> Dongho > Eli/Xander.

While I don't have my personal rankings of them from that time (based solely off of how much I liked them, irrespective of ability, commitment, etc), I think based off of how I viewed them in 2009, it would be probably Dongho > Kibum > Xander/Kevin > Soohyun/Eli. Yeah, I was a delusional kid who had a crush on Dongho since he was closest in age to me, Kibum and Kevin were both flower boys and good dancers, while Xander was a fellow Canto speaker with an accent I could understand, plus he was funny. Soohyun and Eli were really victims of poor styling at the time, but who wasn't?

Now onto the actual songs -

Intro (Pump Pump) | YouTube Music 10k | Spotify 3.4k

I actually kinda really like this?

Catchy, more mature than Not Young, but also not inappropriately so, and it's got a cute cheeky and fun vibe?

If they turned this into the title track, maybe they would've had a fighting chance in the bloodbath that was 2008 boy group debuts

Not Kevin and Soohyun actually being able to show off their singing here more than in the actual album songs

There's like a random gunshot(?) sound and I don't really understand it

The Kibum-Kevin-Soohyun verse is kinda interesting, and by interesting, I mean it feels like they did Kibum dirty by drawing that comparison, but like also there's no other way to structure it since he is their next best vocalist

Common UKISS intro W I don't think I've ever disliked any of their intros 7.75/10

Not Young (Audio) | YouTube Music 367k | Spotify 132k

The opening quite literally gives me psychic damage, while also making me coo like an affectionate auntie watching her stupid nephews do dumb shit

Kevin's voice unsurprisingly suits this very well, that honey-like voice was made for this kind of cheese, and boy is he hard carrying

Soohyun, bless his heart, is kind of both actively ruining and saving this song

Like he's hard carrying too, and that "You gonna be my lady, yoohoo~" actually goes so hard, but his voice just sounds...way too mature for this

Which makes me wonder if this was a directional problem, or if he just wasn't able to do it at this time because he nails this concept 7 years later for Action (spoiler I guess)

Really love that first prechorus, I don't know what it is, but that Kibum-Soohyun-Kevin buildup really works well

Lyrically, I think the YT comments actually sum it up for me - "We're the new kids on this block" vs. "Stop treating us like kids" - which is it make up your minds

Also shoutout for being their first and only noona-chasing song they really never revisited this concept ever again

Really funny that Dongho is the only one at the right age to make this concept work (and maybe Eli and Kevin too, possibly Kibum if we're being generous) but he gets like 3 lines

I also found a super old live radio version of this song from their promotional period, and yes it's in the crunchiest potato quality imaginable, but it was insightful

Soohyun and Kevin sound great as always, Kibum's voice actually felt much stronger than in the actual song or in music shows, and the rap line was there

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, Kibum did his job, Dongho was there, and RIP to Eli and Xander for that awful last verse (80% not their fault)

6.5/10, needs more commitment to being cheesy and to not the title track

Not Young (MV) | Fan upload 703k

You know, I feel a lot of my bad feelings for the song come from the MV

Like the psychic damage this video inflicts should be studied

Love the fact there's no official MV uploaded so there's only a crunchy fan upload to watch

I actually don't know if this is the same upload I watched back in the day, but the date doesn't seem to line up?

Anyway, crunchy potato quality is completely on brand, YouTube is telling me it's 480p but this feels like 240p at best

The stupid Windows Movie Maker transitions are taking me out

So like we all know NH is a broke ass bitch, so I wanna know if this is actually like a member's house, a staff member's house, or if they just rented it

Dongho's mom's hair is like peak Asian Mom hair like I knew so many women with that exact hairstyle, and not the skin-toned lipstick everyone wore back then

Kevin's hair and outfit are peak 'flower-boy-wannabe-bad-boy' like we all thought that hair was soooo hot, and you were either drowning in your own clothes or cutting off your circulation with no middle ground, and this was a cross-cultural phenomenon

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like this

Xander's Ronald McDonald hair I'm so sorry you had to go through that

The High School Musical-esque dance scenes have me in tears like those basketball jerseys are so goofy and Kevin's legs are lost in the fabric

Flower boy haircuts from this time are like basically the precursor to Karen cuts *cue Abby Lee Miller voice "she's got a really cool and trendy haircut it's like long in the front and short in the back"

Also his eyebrows from this time are tragic, those were dark dark times

This was also a peak fashion look for us girls back then, and you know what, it's still kinda cute

This was so serious for them I'm crying

I still don't quite understand this part

RANDOM PRE-DEBUT KISEOP CAMEO!!!!! I don't remember if he was on set because he was covering for his friend, or if his friend invited him to be an extra, but I just love that he's technically been there from the start

Is he supposed to be the antagonist of the MV? Like I get the plot is they're trying to impress their noona and whatever but like is he supposed to be her boyfriend or something, and they're gonna beat his ass in basketball to win her over???

If that's the plot, they need to get Kevin off their team that boy cannot run

No comment on Dongho's hair that's just tragic

But this whole scene takes me out like this is peak comedy

Why is Kevin perched on the bench like that, why are Dongho and Soohyun sitting on the floor and why is Soohyun grinning like a maniac, is Eli okay???

You may not like it, but this is peak male performance

This frame is a work of art

So so serious for them, I can taste the cheese

This is honestly so confusing I don't get it, but I guess I'm not galaxy-brained enough. Like did they not have enough footage or something? Is there a scene change quota they had to meet or what?

I love that every single part of this MV can be carbon dated, and not one bit aged well, and I just think that's so iconic

So I've come up with two different ratings for this MV

12/10 if you take this completely unseriously like this is so funny, so poorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like thispoorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Not Young (Stages) | Highest viewed 191k Music Core

Again, I never watched these when they first came out, and I also don't think I watched any of these very much prior to doing this

Not gonna talk about their actual debut stage because that's like 8 pixels total

Also not doing all of their stages, just Music Core because it's actually in really good quality

Look at those fits that was peak fashion in 2008

Dongho's silly little cardigan and bowtie, Kevin's goofy polka dot sweater vest, Soohyun with the plaid vest and random sweatband, Kibum with a random tie, Eli wearing a hoodie I swear every boy had it's a real time capsule

Yeah, I'm grabbing screencaps on mute I'm not subjecting myself to this psychic damage

The multiple bracelets is so real that was such look back then

I remember I used to collect those cheap rubber bracelets to try to recreate that look

This is such an unserious part of the choreo but I will admit it's very cute in a stupid way

Also, all I can think of is the other members talking about how they think his hands are freakish and alien-like, and I think that's just foul of them, but also not undeserved considering how snarky Kevin was in those early days

Oh Soohyun, I'm so sorry they did you dirty like this

Like it's incredible how he de-ages himself a few years later when he gets decent hair and styling

And he was so committed to this like he's literally beaming while everyone else is just smiling

He also winked right before this Soohyun is the cutest I swear

Eli's comically large chain

The dance is cute, but also insanely cringy because they're kind of taking it too seriously and not as full-on campy cheese

Like I said before, Soohyun, Kevin, and Kibum really stand out here as being much more polished and cleaner in their dancing, are clearly committed to the character, and have a good eye for the camera

Dongho is also a standout because wow I forgot he had that je ne sais quoi stage presence

There's a lot of moments where the dancing doesn't quite sync up, and I think it's fairly obvious that they're still very new as a group

They have backup dancers, though not in this particular stage, but I think they had them for their actual debut stage and Music Bank

So I lied, let's check out the Music Bank stage

This actually is from before the Music Core stage (MuCore is listed as 2008.09.27, while the MuBank is supposedly from 2008.09.12)

I didn;t mention this before, but I'm fairly certain the MuCore stage is lipsynced, but the MuBank stage is definitely live

Terrible quality pic, but these were some other peak 2008 fits

I knew so many guys who had Kevin's hoodie

And not Soohyun's trash bag jacket

Soohyun and Kevin are already very good and stable at singing live and making it seem easy, while Kibum definitely struggles a bit

Honestly, I wonder if NH invested in more singing lessons for him, if Kibum could've ended up where Kiseop is now - a solid subvocalist who can also hold his own and step up to being a vocalist

I just watched this dude pull his shirt up over his head for this and no, I don't understand this part of the choreo

I don't really know much about rapping and don't have many particular thoughts on it, but Xander and Eli can be heard clearly, so that's a good thing, right?

Honestly, just ranking both of these stages as 4.5/10

MuCore stage was in better camera quality, sharper and more coordinated group dancing, but probably lipsynced and no funny backup dancers

MuBank is like 360p max and kind of a mess, but I always love hearing Soohyun and Kevin singing live, and there are funny backup dancers

Give It To Me (Audio) | YouTube Music 43k | Spotify 7.9k

I honestly had zero recollection of this song at all

So if Not Young is borderline age inappropriate for being too immature, Give It To Me swings wildly in the opposite direction and teeters into being too mature

Xander, Soohyun, and arguably Kibum are old enough for this song, while Dongho is way too young, and Eli and Kevin are either barely old enough or still young (my personal opinion, based off of some of the lyrics, but the stage of this song is actually fine)

Honestly should've been the title track, they 100% would have had a fighting chance at debut and be remembered as either 'cool new rookie group' or 'wildly inappropriate rookie group', but both are better than 'cringe rookie group'

This is like a proto-Quintessential UKISS™ song - dance beat, Soohyun doing adlibs like rent's due, Eli dropping horrifically funny one liners, and the singing dominating the rapping in all aspects

Now if only this song was a "baby I love you even though you cheated on me pls come back" song

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, who are both surprisingly singing lower than what they usually do, and also do not have a shouting match at any of the song (!!!)

Does that count as early installment weirdness?

Special shoutout to Kibum who actually sounds really good for his two lines. Dunno if his voice just suits this kind of song, or if this is just a more comfortable range for him, but he sounds much better here

Another special shoutout to Dongho for having no lines, you're doing amazing sweatie <3

"And u're so tight" Eli why did you say it like that

"My boo" #1

"Shorty/shawty/whatever tf they say" #1

Does this count as a UKISS Sex Song? Feels gross typing that out, but like looking at the lyrics, I think it does?

UKISS Sex Song #1

6.75/10, knocked off points for being age inappropriate, Eli's rancid one liner (which did make me laugh), and the terrible lyrics in the rapping

Give It To Me (Stage) | Fan upload 15k

I had no idea they did a stage for this

Also, why is this actually better than Not Young?

Love the black/white/gold scheme going on

Also, these are peak Bad Boy circa 2008 looks I would've gone crazy for these guys back then

The trashbag bootcut pants, the random embellishments, the fingerless gloves, Xander rocking the shirt tied around the waist, whatever the heck Eli's accessories are, and the tragic and dramatic 2008 hair? I would've honestly lost my shit

Wait oh my god those aren't bootcut pants those are skinny pants with leg warmers oh my goddddd iconic

So are these the same gloves from Tick Tack? Also Eli wtf is that on your neck???

It's hard to tell if this is sung live or not, but what I do know is Soohyun is making his singing expressions, so I think it's live, with slightly off audio? It's hard to tell honestly, maybe the mics were bad?

Why was this not their actual debut? This is literally what was considered so 2008 cool, the outfits were peak bad boy fashion, and the choreo is very much a product of its time (not derogatory)

Also got a good chuckle with Soohyun being the centre for the dance break while flanked by Kevin and Kibum, it's what he deserves

7.75/10 much better than Not Young in terms of dancing and coordination (makes sense, this is dated 2008.11.06), the outfits are 2008 stylish, and they all seem so much more comfortable with this?

That concludes this review of New Generation. You know, there were a lot of emotions going through this, a lot of "why does NH not think?" and "oh my god sweetie, I'm so sorry they did this to you", and "what were we all smoking back in 2008 to consider this cool?", but I think I had fun while doing this.

I have most of the notes for Bring It Back2 Old School written out, so now it's just a matter of editing and collecting screenshots, which honestly pains me to think about. If New Generation was a dark time in UKISS history, Bring It Back2 Old School is purgatory.

So fun bonus fun fact, if you've made it to the end:

I don't know how many people know this since I also found this out not too long ago while digging around, but XING, the old group that Kevin and Kibum were a part of was an absolute disaster in like every possible way. I got some of this info in English, and the rest in a bad KR-EN translation (so possibly inaccurate), but apparently the XING CEO was actually a former SM CEO who worked there around 2000-2003ish before getting ousted by the board of directors, and was responsible in part for the famous slave contracts.

So out of spite, said CEO took a bunch of SM-affiliated trainees (from my understanding, they were sort of on a shortlist to get into SM) and founded his own company to compete with SM with these new trainees and his new boy group. XING was an absolute disaster for only being around for 4 years with 5 different lineups and 18 total members having been involved. Kevin and Kibum were part of the original lineup, but Kibum bailed after a few months with the excuse of 'focusing on his education', while Kevin stayed long enough to go from maknae to leader, before dipping after the third lineup (also, according to the article I read, he was the CEO's favourite because he thought he had star potential lol). A bunch of the guys who left sued the company around 2008-2009, and got their contracts terminated.

It's hard to understand what the contracts said exactly because of the shitty translation, but it was something like exclusive 10 year contract that will be extended if a member takes personal breaks, goes to school, enlists in military, and/or goes on health leave and profits would only be paid out in fixed amounts after selling 500k (or 250k I can't remember but it was some crazy amount) units (unclear if this means total albums, or just for one release).

Apparently in 2010ish, the CEO was talking about having a 'XING family reunion concert' and asked all the guys about it and got left on read, so then he finally let the name die and moved on to terrorizing more boys (no for real, he allegedly threw a bottle of alcohol at one of the XING guys when he told him about wanting to leave).