#that era was kinda weird and i think we can all agree

[thurnerstorms]

this band is the only thing keeping me sane rn

[tenderleavesbob]

Mask picked up Link and started stroking his back. The large white cat arched into his hands with a purr. “I wonder if you’re the first hero with four legs,” Mask mused, carrying Link around the tent. Tune sat on his bed and watched the pair, trying not to grin too widely. The large white cat was almost as big as Mask and they all knew it, even as Mask pretended otherwise. “It’s crazy to think that it isn’t just me.”

“The stories claim that there were multiple heroes!” Tune chirped. “They just say heroes, and some of the pictures are weird. They don’t say that they were Hylian or anything. I bet there were some Zora heroes!”

“Gorons,” Mask agreed, hitting the far side of the tent. He turned and resumed walking. LInk purred in his arms, his tail swishing lazily. 

“Rito.”

“...what’s a Rito?”

“They don’t have Rito in your era?”

Link yawned and licked his chops. It had been a long day trying to keep the boys out of trouble. It was easier fighting the war. He had to nip their ankles and claw their boots earlier to get them into the tent. Alas, it was already too late for several hapless soldiers. They should have known better than to tease Mask, he supposed.

“I don’t think so. What’s a Rito?”

“A descendant of the Zora. They have wings and can fly!”

“...bullshit.”

Link rested his head on Mask’s shoulder and watched the boys through one cracked eye. Tune’s grin was gone, replaced by a pout. Well, that didn’t take any time at all.

“It’s true! They used to be Zora, but now they have wings and call themselves the Rito. There was this sage --”

“I thought you said your era was all water. Sounds like a Zora’s paradise!”

“Yeah, but our water sucks. If we can’t swim in it, I bet it would be worse for the Zora!”

Mask shifted like he wanted to cross his arms, only to remember that he was still carrying Link. He carefully put LInk on his own bed and tidied Link’s scarf. During the day, Link normally wore armor, too, but Tune had taken it off him for the night. Everyone learned a while ago to leave Link’s scarf alone.

“They’re Zora. How can water suck for a Zora?”

“I don’t know! It’s not like there’s any Zora I can ask in my time!”

“What, because they all became birds?”

“That’s not what I said!”

Link sighed and started grooming his tail. Somehow, whenever Mask carried him, he ended up with dirt in his fur. If he was going to scold his kittens, he wanted to look respectable during it.

“You said they have wings and flew! What else has wings and can fly?”

“I mean, they’re kinda birdish. They have beaks…”

“So they’re birds.”

“They’re Rito!”

They were both on their feet now, glaring at each other. At least they didn’t grab weapons this time. Nothing ended well when they were both armed. Link yawned again and stretched. Such loud kittens he had.

“What does that even mean?”

“What do you think it means! They’re people!”

“They’re birds.”

“Stop calling them that!”

And his kittens were two seconds away from getting physical. LInk sighed inwardly and shook his head. Kittens these days.

“You --”

Link took a deep breath and screeched.

Both boys immediately shut up. It had been a long time since he was a Hylian and LInk had no idea if he would ever be a Hylian again. He didn’t know if such a method would be as effective without the type of angry yowl only a large cat could manage. He did know that regular shouting meant nothing to these boys, and they were often quick to shout back. A good screech, though? Always shut his kittens up.

Satisfied by their sudden silence, Link sat down and primly wrapped his tail around his legs. He stared pointedly at both boys until their shoulders slumped and their ears went flat. Content, he meowed at them and jumped down. He walked in a circle around them, rubbing their legs and purring. He was large enough and his tail was long enough that he could almost completely encircle their legs.

“Yeah, yeah, Cap,” Mask grumbled. “We get it. We’re playing nice.”

Not good enough. He mrrp’d deliberately, swatting Tune’s leg. The boy jumped.

“We’re playing nice,” Tune agreed quickly.

Now a swat to Mask’s leg. Mask growled. Impertinent kitten. Another swat, this time with a touch of claws to Mask’s bare leg. The boy yelped. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

Link paused and stood with a single paw on Tune’s leg. Tune huffed. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have started shouting.”

Pleased, Link backed away and walked back to his desk. His water dish awaited him. 

As did another dish, that one empty. He tapped it and looked at his kittens. In unison, they rolled their eyes. “Yeah, yeah. We haven’t forgotten your cream.”

Good kittens. Link began to purr and stretched out on his desk. Having four paws instead of two legs was a little frustrating some days, but he thought his kittens balanced out the situation quite nicely. Especially since they, of all people, understood the importance of quality cream with dinner.

[orkbutch]

So I've been seeing A Viewpoint within the bg3 fandom occuring. And I gotta be honest. I disagree that the characters being bisexual in Baldur's Gate 3 means you cannot headcanon them as other sexualities for your own fandom content purposes. I think that's not reflective of how queer people and their sexual identities actually work, and its just antithetical to how fandom has always functioned, which is an exercise of imagination. I wanna clarify up front: I agree that someone saying that a character Can't or Shouldn't or Was Not Meant To Be bisexual because of whatever reason IS biphobic sentiment. The characters in Baldur's Gate 3 are canonically bi/pan, thats made pretty damn clear when you look through all their content. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about headcanons, au's; the kind of imaginitve play that is very much what fandom creativity is about. If you set a standard in fandom that depicting a character as a certain sexuality is Not Allowed, 1. you're kinda flattening sexuality in a weird way, like personally my sexuality is complicated as fuck and has changed over time, and 2. you're limiting creativity. And I think creativity in fandom is extremely important. It's the whole fun of fandom. Creativity is worth protecting and its worth establishing the nuance between Depicting A Version of Character who is X and Insisting That Character Should Be X in canon. Because like... we meddle with character's identities in fandom all the time. That's what headcanons ARE, they change appearance, social position, career, faith, species, traumatic experience, moral and political alignment, and SO much more. I think limiting what people can headcanon within fandom... is less fun! It's just less fun. Imaginative scope lets you do more, weird fun stuff. It lets you depict more complex interesting characters. Example: my Bad Nun AU. In that, Shadowheart identifies as a lesbian. Why is that? Because I wanted Shadowheart's experience within Bad Nun to specifically explore the history and context of lesbians within nunneries, especially how that manifested post Vatican II. These were also eras when 'lesbian' was more ubiquitos, had a different context and more flexibility; a lot of women that would probably consider themselves 'bisexual' now were identifying as lesbians, were in lesbian communities and events and spaces.

On that note: Flattening sexuality. You're gonna say people CANNOT depict these characters as ANYTHING but bisexual? That is not how most queer people's sexualities work. It simply isn't. I've identified as tons of different shit in my sexuality. I'm still not sure about it. For me half the time my "sexual identity" is just the words I use to communicate what I'm looking for, and that changes depends on What I Want at that time, what I'm looking to explore, my social context, ect. ect. like what. This isn't how sexuality works for real people. How are artists meant to be Creative and imaginatively depict real, complex, queer sexuality if they are restricted to depicting only what is within canon?? This is not how any other part of fandom works. Fandom art should work how all art works. If someone makes shit art, it gets dunked on and ignored for being bad or lazy or lame. If someone did Heterosexual Karlach fanfic, I would be like "what the fuck why" because they made Karlach less fucking cool. Het Karlach would be boring and thats More Egregious because they DECIDED to make her heterosexual DESPITE canon. But even then, EVEN THEN, I don't think that should be looked at as off limits shit, because I don't believe art should have many things off limits. Any limits must be very nuanced, because art and creativity is nuanced. Obviously my brain would go "het karlach? you deserve jail time and thats queerphobic", but I honestly believe creative license is more important than those feelings. I WOULD happily comment on their thing, "heterosexual karlach is boring, thats a shit idea" because I'm right

If you want good art and good writing, you need to protext creative license.

[winterxgardener]

What makes Shourtney stand out to me (as a possible couple) is that despite all the LA influences and insane talent, they kinda seem like two people you could see hanging out in your neighborhood. They are so special but normal at the same time if that makes sense.

I also feel that neither of them are particularly great at hiding their true feelings about people and things around them - and I love that about them. I'm sure they do a loooooot of self-censoring but at the same time, have hard time maintaining a proper poker face.

Actually, there are some 2019-2020 videos where Courtney and Shayne start acting silly/flirty together, and the other person in the room (usually Ian and Damien) has a slightly amused but uncomfortable "here we go again" expression on their face. The expression is so relatable 'cause I've been in similar situations myself at the workplace and kept thinking "you guys really need to do something about this romantic tension 'cause we have a meeting with the boss in two minutes and she might have some questions". So awkward but hilarious at the same time.

Similarly to the previous anon, I also wish we could hear their own experience at some point since what we discuss here in Tumblr, is mainly just speculation/interpretation. Even if it turns out that Shourtney never happened and we shippers have been living in delulu, I'd still love to hear what their shared journey has been (bts) since it feels like they rarely talk about their friendship/something-else-ship anymore. Ian and Anthony discuss their friendship frequently in videos, Shayne and Damien make references to their shared past experiences from time to time, and I've even heard Amanda and Angela commenting on how close friends they are. But I can not remember the last time Shayne and Courtney had even a brief discussion about them as a duo, despite being one of the more iconic ones.

I actually think that it was the contradiction between their non-verbal language and verbal treatment of each other that led me to speculate (1-2 years ago) that something is going on bts. For me their "heart eyes" alone are not really a proof of anything since they keep looking at half the cast with similar endearment. However, I found it weird that they would look at each other so lovingly (at least in brief moments) but rarely ever say anything friend-like directly to each other or even act politely, like normal coworkers. Some people will explain that with their long friendship but they are close with Damien and Ian as well and rarely act in the same contradictory way with them. I just can't explain that with anything else but "something's going on".

As a background info: I started my Smosh journey with videos from 2022 and 2023, and initially, knew nothing about the Shourtney shipping that happened in late 2010s. Despite this (or because of it?) I sensed something between them and was not surprised to hear that they might be more than just coworkers. However, I def understand why shippers got a bad rep in Defy era because I can not sense the same chemistry between them in older videos and would have needed a fair amount of delulu to convince myself that they are together. Nowadays, it's the other way around: you need to make a lot of mental acrobics to explain why they are most probably just friends.

Btw, sorry for a long, not-so-cohesive ramble on this. I'm writing this in a sleepy mode, and am not sure myself what is the red thread of this anymore. :D

I am speechless while reading this. What do you mean by 'not cohesive'? This is a well-structured narrative. 🤯🤯

I agree that between 2019 and 2021, Shourtney appeared different, especially during their Twitch streams since they were unedited, unlike now, where they can easily censor or edit some of their moments.

Regarding their chemistry, from 2015 to 2018, it was just full-blown flirting as friends. (I don't know if I'm just being delusional), but something changed in 2019.🙉🙈

[hyunin]

every month of 2023!

got tagged by @strayklds to do the classic yearly wrap up of my most popular and/or favorite things i made this year and it's always fun so i will do both 💓 plus some commentary because i can't shut up. i'm going to do it on this acc instead of yangjeongin so i can tag my non-skz cc friends properly, but i'll include stuff from across all blogs 🥳

i'm not sure who got tagged to do this already and who didn't so i will just tag some pals/favorite ccs and anyone that sees this should feel free to do it and say i tagged them if u would like!

@foxinys @seo-changbinnies @miyawaki @wahgifs @twoce @dinoboos @agibbangs @xiaojuun @exocean @hyunsung @huiracha @seungs

putting everything under the cut let's go

JANUARY popular: slutty hyunchan. i get it. also didn't realize this got That many notes asdlfkasjdlgk favorite: 2022 mbc gayo hyunjin. i just thought my coloring was neat for this. first set of the year also!

FEBRUARY popular: wolfgang ending fairies. these are ugly idk what y'all were on about but okay it do just be like that sometimes favorite: yellow wood era hyunjin bday countdown set. this was in the top 3 of my fav sets from this countdown in general

MARCH popular: hyunjin's 2023 bday set. thank god. looking back at this is making me emotional actually just kidding it was this one. boooooo fine he's cute i get it. favorite: i had a ton of countdown sets this month and i liked a lot of them but in retrospect i think my fav is the christmas evel era one. shoutout to oddinary and in life too.

APRIL popular: this random hyunin set for some reason. ok favorite: dfesta the movie 12 set i guess. these were good hyunjins and april was a flop month for me lowkey

MAY popular: hyunjin just standing there at the one versace event. i still hate y'all for this favorite: i think the hyunjin maniac tour mini vlog actually. kinda surprising myself with this one but i just think it's very cute. makes me happie. maybe this one tho. idk. i like the coloring on these too. whatever! this month was kinda mid no standouts to me

JUNE popular: hyunjin doing That move in s-class. so true favorite: the introducing skz gifset of the era. not my best of these but still my fav this month

JULY popular: TAEMIN AND HYUNJIN DESERVEEEE favorite: maybe taemin and hyunjin as well bc it changed my life but hyunjin's cardboard cutout of chan is also a fav because it makes me laugh every time

AUGUST popular: hyunjin at kcon la. i get this too favorite: hyunin squish compilation. very important 2 me. but a rare main blog contribution, i love this eunbi set i made.

SEPTEMBER popular: we had multiple sets do numbers this month actually but precious nacific hyunjin wins somehow. i made this set so randomly but it be like that sometimes (2) favorite: 230908 hyunjin not even because i like the set that much but just because it's a hyunjin of all time and he deserves recognition

OCTOBER popular: angel rockstar trailer hyunjin. yeah favorite: i don't know guys. everything i made this month was so mid. nothing notable at all. so i'll agree w the people on rockstar trailer hyunjin

NOVEMBER popular: dramatic hyunjin. i don't like my coloring for this but he was so funny so i can accept it favorite: i think 231118 music core hyunjin?? i like the nine set i made for this day a lot as well bc i'm just obsessed w this look but i think i like the stage gifs better

DECEMBER (so far) popular: dancing sweaty hyunjin. y'all are so weird but i'm the one who giffed it so, favorite: hmmm i think the hyunin set just because they r so important to me and i had fun giffing it

thank u to everyone that read all of this and that liked and supported my content this year 🫶 looking forward to what 2024 brings <3

[childotkw]

Hi, do you ever think abt Voldie adopting/raising Harry in a purely platonic sense? Or like. Just Voldie & Harry… Acquaintance? Idk, i was gonna say friendship but it feels kinda weird

Anyways, they are so alike that they can vent to each other abt a lot of things, but also so different that they still get some kind of feedback and/or whiplash. What if their groups have an encounter for whatever reason and smth smth it’s completely fine if muggleborns know absolutely nothing abt magic before hogwarts or smthng and both are like “nO!” and stare at each other with the horrible realization that they Loudly Agreed on Something. Publicly.

I’ve just been thinking abt platonic relationships, it’s a weird mood hAHAHAHA

Have a cookie for your patience uvu 🍪 and another one for your service to tomarrymort fans 🍪 jsbfkdbfke anD REGULUS can’t forget Regulus! 🍪

Ooh the good old Voldemort raising Harry trope! 10/10 because it can be crack or angsty as all hell! Even just a friendship would be hilarious to me.

Like, say we do a same-era story, where Tom is the perfect Slytherin student and Harry is the golden boy of Gryffindor. Tom is prim and proper and polite, whereas Harry is rough and roguish and relaxed.

They’re polar opposites in temperament and attitude, and you’d think that that would mean they’d hate each other - but they…don’t??? Tom and Harry get along extremely well, and there’s a lot of respect between them?? Harry is the only one that can get away with being rude to Tom, and Tom is the only one Harry really stops and listens to.

No one knows where this friendship sprung from and half the schools think they’re fucking but they’re not and no one knows what’s happening?????

Harry openly calls Tom his best friend and Tom doesn’t correct him. Tom seeks out Harry’s company and doesn’t treat it like a transaction where he wants something out of it.

And this freaky friendship carries over into the war much to everyone’s confusion.

Tom is Dark Lording his way across Britain. Harry is a top-tier auror. And yet they still hang out casually sometimes and just talk???

Dumbledore keeps trying to pressure Harry into taking down Tom, but Harry is like “I’m chasing the Dark Lord Voldemort not my buddy Tom Riddle” (he absolutely knows who Tom is but there’s no evidence so he can’t just arrest him)

Tom’s followers awkwardly fight around Harry because they don’t actually know what their Lord would do if they hurt his apparent best friend.

Tom and Harry get into debates all the time with each other, and have only had One serious fight between them in the decade they’ve known each other. No one knows the details of their relationship and at this point they’re too scared to say anything.

Their friendship just boggles people.

(And thank you for the cookies!)

[yanderes-galore]

This one’s kinda weird, but I’m fascinated with how much Thel ‘Vadam/The Arbiter changes within the Halo canon, and I feel like that could extend to how he’d be as a yandere during different key times of his life. So could you do a concept comparing and contrasting how he’d be as a yandere during his Human-Covenant war career, during his time as the repentant Arbiter at the end of the war, and during his time as the peacekeeping leader after the war?

If this is too much for one request, lemme know and I’ll break it up into three, one for each era: since even tho Thel is one character, he might as well be three different people on the grander scale.

Sure! I may talk a little bit about each era for comparison purposes but make a full concept separately at a later date? Not sure yet, depends on what info I put in this!

I hope you like it :) About time I wrote for him!

Yandere! Thel 'Vadamee Behavior Comparison

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Forced marriage mention, Murder/Mass Murder, Violence, Possessive behavior, Tried to keep darling vague, Dubious relationship, Overprotective behavior, Manipulation, Isolation.

Start of the Human/Covenant War Era (Before Halo 2)

This version of Thel is much more Ruthless than the Thel we know.

In this era Thel is loyal to the Covenant.

Which would make the darling he is most compatible with a Sangheili.

Thel has slaughtered many humans in this era which would make him currently incompatible with a human darling.

Being seen with a human is treason, you'd both die if such a thing happened.

A Sangheili darling would be the most successful here, as much as I like alien/human pairings I must keep up with the lore.

I do not have much to speak on this version of Thel as he is more akin to the rest of his species.

He is traditional and searches for honor in his actions.

He would not be a very intense yandere in this stage as he is more focused with his work.

His attraction to you does become a distraction at times, however.

He is easily one of the best Sangheili warriors due to all he's done for the Covenant.

Thel has never been one for affection, most of the Sangheili species hasn't been.

Although despite his loyal attitude to the Prophets at this time he'd try to court his darling.

I'd say his yandere behavior around this time is Possessive, Controlling, Manipulative, and Cruel.

He makes it a goal to marry you in the traditional Sangheili way.

Surely that would very honorable for both of your families?

Why act like you aren't interested?

Surely your family will agree to such a set up, haven't you seen his work?

He's glassed many planets.

Killed billions of humans.

He's known as a great warrior, there's no need to worry so much.

He is capable of defending you and your new family bloodline.

Thel doesn't allow much resistance in this era.

He expects you to go along with it and accept his proposals and gifts.

Sangheili value honor.

He courts you by battling other potential suitors, he promises to dedicate himself to you.

He would love to spill the blood of the lesser Sangheili and humans for you.

He wants you to know it's shameful that they even showed interest in you.

Thel wants to show you he's the best suitor you can get.

Refusal would be unheard of, dear!

It's only natural for Sangheili to possessive of their mate too.

Don't act so sad or that you didn't want anything to do with him...

Marrying him is the greatest honor you could ever have!

The Great Schism Era (Halo 2 -> Halo 3)

When people think Thel, this is typically who they think.

Many think of The Arbiter when they think of him.

Around this era, Thel and the Sangheili were betrayed by the Prophets in favor of the Jiralhanae.

This version of era would be more compatible with human and Sangheili darlings.

This version of era is actually working alongside the humans against the Covenant which gives him time to get to know a few.

I like to think Thel is more understanding in this era towards his darling.

He tries to listen and understand you compared to how he was before the betrayal.

Thel would be Protective, Manipulative, Possessive, Slightly controlling, Dedicated, and Understanding of his darling in this era.

I personally like the idea of him exploring the concept of a human darling.

Most Sangheili see this as strange, foreign, and a little bit weird.

Thel would think this at first, but he's already encountered humans like Chief, so it wouldn't be too bad for him.

Thel isn't as cruel as he was before.

He's learned compassion from his human comrades and prefers negotiations to violence.

Unless violence is needed.

He'd show curiosity towards a human mate but would also take the more traditional Sangheili spouse.

He's protective of you as he sees you as equal to him.

In battle Thel would defend you with his life.

He likes the idea of battling alongside the one he loves, despite the differences in strength.

Thel is still possessive about you like he was before.

He growls when other Sangheili or humans show interest before recapturing your attention.

As a result he can seem controlling, but has the charisma to convince you he's doing this to show his loyalty and defend you.

Thel makes you feel bad for "not understanding his culture" and assuming he means you harm.

He apologizes if he's scared you and knows his sins can't be so easily forgiven.

Yet... won't you believe him?

He just wishes to care for you like one of his own....

Thel tries his best to be understanding of his darling, learning that it's best to understand your partner from humans.

If you aren't comfortable starting a relationship now, he'll wait.

He'd wait a long time for you.

Just don't expect him to give up his spot as potential suitor.

He's still going to kill for you and keep others away if you try to pick another partner besides him... he feels only he's suitable for such an honorable role.

Post Human/Covenant War Era (Halo 5ish)

Thel remains relatively the same as he was during The Great Schism.

He is open to the idea of a Sangheili or human partner still, despite the backlash it could cause in the civil war.

Thel is also much more charismatic and powerful leader, giving into the role of Kaidon on his homeworld.

Thel would still be Protective, Manipulative, Possessive, Slightly controlling, Dedicated, and Understanding of his darling in this era.

It's just now he is better at manipulating his darling.

Thel's partner in this era would be taught Sangheili culture more than his previous era, especially if they are human.

You'd be taught Sangheili if you did not know it, he'd teach you how to fight, and he'd show you traditions of his Keep.

Thel is probably even more protective than he was before.

Around this time he is dealing with fights breaking out between his own people.

Thel would want you to live with him on his homeworld, but you'd be kept in his home.

Your existence is kept a secret so no one knows you and him are allies.

Thel would keep a watchful eye over you at all times, setting guards up to defend you if he has to leave your side.

If someone hurt you, Thel would not be afraid to plunge his energy blade through their gut.

He hates the idea of you being hurt because of his beliefs.

He wants to be the best for you.

This solves his possessive behavior a bit because he keeps you in his home at all times.

Thel likes the idea of coming home to you... just to show you how much he cares.

He probably wouldn't mind nipping your skin a bit, either.

Thel listens to your fears and complaints and tries to remedy them.

But he'd never leave your side.

Thel adores you, as your partner for life he refuses to let you go.

In the time of war, anyone could hurt you.

He apologizes for locking you in his home, guarded by his most trusted warriors... but he promises to come back!

Don't look so disappointed or upset... he just loves you and doesn't want to lose you. You'll understand at some point, right?

[asteria7fics]

hey! while i don't want to assume that you're still doing this challenge, but if you are, i'd love to hear your thoughts on bebe! your analysis on wendy was excellent, so i just want to hear more lol

🏳️‍🌈 A sexuality headcanon

🏳️‍⚧️ A gender headcanon

🧸 A headcanon about their childhood

👻 A headcanon about what scares them

🎶 A headcanon about music

👽 A headcanon about a weird quirk of there

💝 A headcanon about their love language

🫂 A friendship headcanon

💔 An angsty headcanon

🪢 A headcanon about their family

📓 A headcanon about their hobbies

👗 A headcanon about their clothes

🔪 A headcanon relating to fighting/violence

🌟 A headcanon about their desires/wishes

🍫 A headcanon about food

🎭 A headcanon about what they lie about

❤️‍🔥 A romantic headcanon

💄 An appearance headcanon

🖕 A headcanon relating to anger

😬 A headcanon about the worst thing they’ve done

😶 A random headcanon

(sorry about the number of questions here. Answer as much or as little as you want!)

-<3

Hell yeah dude! I’m happy to keep doing these as long as people have characters they want me to blab about!

And truthfully, talking about Bebe will probably actually help me a ton. She makes super limited appearances in EWILY but I’d like to explore her character more in the future!

Anyway, let’s get into it!

🏳️‍🌈 - So deep in the walk-in closet it’s actually a little embarrassing. Bebe’s the kinda girl that acts straight 99% of the time, but WILL make out with her female friends when she’s drunk. But it, like, didn’t mean anything she swears.

🏳️‍⚧️ - Cis girl. Definitely most comfortable when presenting high feminine.

🧸 - I kinda like to think Bebe was a little bit spoiled as a child. Not rotten, she was just one of those kids that got whatever she wanted. As an only child, she was doted on pretty heavily by her parents and extended family.

👻 - Not much truly scares Bebe, though she would definitely be the kinda girl that agrees to see a scary movie with a hot guy just so she can scream and grab hold of his arm. If she was in a really terrifying situation though? She is on her knees begging for her life, all confidence is out the window.

🎶 - Bebe loves popular music, and is a MASSIVE Swiftie!!! Owns every album, spends hours online discussing lore and hint drops. Currently, I think she’d also really like Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and Meg Thee Stallion.

👽 - She’s so…. Normal, that it’s hard to imagine her doing anything ‘quirky’. I do imagine she probably went through a phase of biting her cute little pink pens and pencils until someone scared her about it ruining her teeth (probably Kyle making an offhand comment lmao).

💝 - Gift giving. NEXT! Ahaha no but seriously loves receiving gifts. I think she gives love with a lot of physical touch though. Big on hugs and hand holding.

🫂 - As we know, Wendy is her BFF, though Bebe is very popular and makes friends extremely easily. She’s one of those people that will go into the bathroom at a party and come out with a whole new friend group and plans with them for the following weekend.

💔 - Bebe stopped trying to keep a boyfriend in the summer between freshman and sophomore year, claiming to be over stupid boys and wanting to be in her ‘hot girl era’, but she was really just tired of being disappointed by jerks who treated her like garbage. She’s really kind of given up on the idea of ‘love’ as something real and attainable.

🪢 - She is very close with both of her parents, spending tons of time gossiping and shopping with her mom if she isn’t with her other friends. She’s her father’s perfect little angel, and he definitely brought her chocolates and consoled her after her worst breakups.

📓 - Bebe’s top hobby is being a social butterfly, but she also really loves makeup and fashion! I could see her attempting to become an influencer during college for some extra income. She also definitely used to be a horse girl, though she probably no longer keeps horses into her teens.

👗 - Perfect transition from the last question hehe! Bebe keeps up with most trends, so at the current moment she would wear tons of Y2K inspired clothes! Low waisted jeans, mini skirts and baby tees. She has a revolving wardrobe and rarely wears the same combination of clothes twice.

🔪 - Bebe can and will fuck you up. You saw what she did to Butters. Talk shit about one of her girls? Start praying brother it’s over for you, especially if she’s sloshed.

🌟 - She would claim to be happy with the idea of being independent, as some kind of influencer or maybe a personal assistant to a super famous celebrity, but she secretly fantasizes about having an extravagant wedding and starting a family. Yes, she’s had a wedding Pinterest board since she was like twelve.

🍫 - Unfortunately probably succumbs to a lot of social pressure to stay thin, using a ton of super unhealthy trend diets throughout her early teens in an attempt to stay skinny. As she gets older though she starts to accept herself as she’s meant to be, with a lot of help from Wendy and a great many lectures about the health risks associated with those horrible, bullshit diets.

🎭 - Ahahaha being straight!! No, but seriously, she lies constantly to her parents about where she is and who she’s with. Despite being spoiled, they don’t love some aspects of her lifestyle (namely, doing lots of drugs and having lots of sex ahaha).

❤️‍🔥 - As I’ve mentioned, Bebe has sort of given up on the idea of being in love. She has a few sexual partners that she revisits occasionally, but the second they start catching feelings she dips.

💄 - GORGEOUS!!! STUNNING!!! Big, bouncy blond curls, round features and the most insanely blue eyes out of anyone in town (second is probably Stan tbh, brother stares into your soul with those things). And her makeup is always FLAWLESS?? An actual guru, she should really go to cos school.

🖕 - Bebe’s a bad bitch, we all know this, though she’s got a longer fuse than you might expect. Unless she’s drunk. I think this whole ask has taught us all not to let Bebe get too drunk, huh?

😬 - Nothing! She’s a perfect angel and has never done anything wrong! JK she sleeps with girls’ boyfriends on the regular. None of her friends though, don’t worry. She’s not a total monster. (Also, the whole list thing? Yeah, that was rotted. I support her wrongs and her rights)

😶 - Despite appearing very infrequently in EWILY, Bebe actually plays a very important role. Aside from hosting the post benefit party at her house, of course. She also probably helped Wendy when she was running for class president! Aaaw girls supporting girls, love them!

Thank you for these, anon!! I really don’t get enough of a chance to stop and think about some of the side characters like I did when I was working on TSOB, so it’s helpful to be handed an opportunity to do so! I hope my answers please and sparkle!

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1117 Review and Analysis

And so ends the Broadcast Era (any Three Body readers here?) after a long few months. The breaks were certainly not kind to this sequence, but I think it will be remembered fondly. One Piece’s biggest strength is how populated and alive its world feels, and emphasising that all these supporting characters are still relevant and it’s all their lives at stake is going to pay dividends when things get apocalyptic in the endgame.

Anyway, to review the manga instead of the fanbase, it’s sweet to see Neko on the cover page felt comfortable dropping the gun from his stump arm. Even as an apparent yakuza, things are at peace enough that he doesn’t need to be packing. Also the way Yamato’s backpack fits right between their belt loop thingies is a cute detail.

Nice to see Drake still kicking. I’d have been willing to believe he was dead after Wano. I wonder if the broadcast is going to start influencing SWORD to go finally rogue and move all the less-evil Marines into their own, easier to root for faction.

You have to wonder what Stussy’s exit plan is if she isn’t rushing to rejoin the group on the Sunny. Or if she is, no one’s snailed in to tell them hold tight.

The attention to detail with the giants’ ship’s figurehead being tied back on after being cut a couple of chapters ago is great. The giants as a whole give us some really fun, evocative pages this week as they lay into the Marine fleet. And while we’re obviously not getting a full set of one on ones for this arc, Oda gives some solid moments to Bluegrass and Doll, perhaps to set them up to be bigger opponents in the future. I certainly didn’t expect Kashii to take such a big beatdown right in the middle of his triumphant return to the story.

It feels likely that it was trying to reach Luffy at the cost of all else, but then why does it only sometimes react to Gear Five, and why only at the end was it activated enough to start moving?

And how about Mars seemingly recognising the robot? Definitely gives us a hint that the Elders are older than they appear, despite previous evidence suggesting they don’t go all the way back to the Void Century.

There is one reoccurring complaint I do agree with, as this marathon segment wraps up: it’s kinda weird there was no visual content in the broadcast, after the emphasis placed on it with the 10 minute lead time. Maybe we take it as part of Vegapunk’s perfectionism – it just wouldn’t feel right to him if he wasn’t being seen, which would track with an artificial devil fruit not feeling right because of its colour, something on one else would care about – but that’s still a little weak. I’m sure Oda wrote out the whole speech in advance and chunked it out chapter by chapter with the cameos and action beats he wanted to accompany it, and he found he decided the preamble was necessary to get everyone where they needed. The arrival of the Elders wouldn’t have had the focus that made it so great if Vegapunk was already dropping lore bombs. Buuuut I’m sure there could have been a better in-universe justification for it. Maybe just saying he wants people to set up recording devices to preserve and repeat the message could have made it easier to swallow.

I think we can all let out a breath with the broadcast over. While I’m sure there’s still some cooldown to go, especially if the Iron Giant means to retaliate, things seem poised to wrap up here. There are multiple calls to get the ships moving throughout the chapter, from Zoro, Luffy and the giants, with the stragglers close enough to jump aboard as they go. And with Vegapunk dead and the broadcast over there’s nothing left on Egghead I can see the crew getting invested in fighting for. It’s kind of a loss for the Strawhats, not being able to protect everything they promised they would and having to retreat from foes they have no idea how to fight, albeit not as devastating a one as Sabaody. Elbaf could end up being a chance to regroup, power up one last time, and make ready to stop these unstoppable monsters in the true final battle. And setting that up is a very exciting prospect.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Ok so weird thing: Puppet Zelda. I mean, it was pretty obvious as a player Imo? But what I don't get: The tears show her ONCE! and it's the scene right before Ganondorf gives Sonia a backbreaking back massage. It's alluded to that she (he) did some other weird stuff to mess up for Sonia and Rauru, and it's not expanded upon at all. I was so put off by that, because it feels like that would have been a big chance for ACTUAL character development for ALL the characters from the past. What did P-Z do? Where was Ganondorf? Was he hidden, or was he inside the castle? How did Sonia react to it? How did Rauru react to it? How did Sonia catch on? Why was it only Sonia and Zelda confronting P-Z? Why wasn't Rauru somewhere hidden as well? I doubt Rauru would have dismissed such a serious accusation. Sonia confronts P-Z, Zelda comes out, then Rauru lies in wait to check for extra danger. The time it takes for Rauru to arrive also kinda makes me think he wasn't that far away? P-Z is a cool concept, but I'm still just so baffled by the absolute "non-story" they built by alluding to her bullshit.

Okay so. Yeah. I completely, 100% agree, and I want to use the opportunity to air out a very particular complaint I have not really seen a lot of people talk about, because I just rewatched that scene and I am shocked all over again.

The teacup scene, after Ganondorf submits, is, in my opinion, horrendous. Like not because of secret Problematisms (though yes also this, we just saw them asking their enemies to kneel and the very next scene they're having a little tea party with cake between royals while armed guards protect them and it's not supposed to be a red flag and it's wild to me), but because the actual writing, at a craft level, reads like a first draft at best. There are three narrative information beats that matter in this entire scene:

The war has stopped

Zelda wants to help her ancestors and not only return to her own era (??? okay, she already did and the problems are technically over already as far as they know??? and it's not a choice she's making since she still can't master her powers and never learn to btw)

Rauru learns Link's name

I'd argue the only real important thing is that Rauru learns Link's name, and it could have been done in a much more interesting and dynamic way.

Instead the scene just goes on and on with lore dumps that never go anywhere, reiterations of the bond between Zelda and Sonia we had already established, dialogue that is... shockingly bad...

Actually, let's examine just one case: "Ah. I can see that you have absolute faith in him."

Like, just, general pro-tip: if you use "I can see that X" in dialogue and it's not ironic or used as de-escalation and just there to reiterate what we have just immediately established, cut that line. It's doing nothing, it's dead weight, it's just grinding the pace of a scene to a halt for no reason (unless you want it to be about stagnation, like I could see a David Lynch dinner scene where every character restate each other's actions by saying "I can see that you really like the gravy." over and over but it's not.... very applicable to more generic situations). This is writing 101, and the scene is full of these nothing sentences that go nowhere and establish nothing about the characters or the world and set up nothing and pay off nothing and it's driving me wild!

(also it does my least favorite thing in game writing aka the game praising the player character for an unreasonable amount of time, but I realize this is a pet peeve and not as important but it always makes me roll my eyes incredibly hard when it's not earned and it wasn't earned or useful here, the fact that the scene ends on everyone being like yaaay link!!! is... completely disconnected from the actual story happening in the past and shouldn't be the focus of the characters at that moment --it would be more powerful if Zelda used Link as an image of strength to inspire Rauru after Sonia's death later, for example)

It's a scene that completely undermines the tension built in the previous memory, makes the timeline of events confusing, and it leaves a ton of questions open, like: where the hell is Ganondorf? What is he doing? What did Rauru mean by "keeping him close", if he isn't actually close? Do they think he returned to the gerudo lands while he actually stayed hidden in their palace to do his Puppet Zelda shenanigans? I don't know! There is no way to know, because we're being told about teacups and how Link is amazing instead of anything relevant to the plot!

So yeah. Would have *gladly* done away with that teacup scene and focused more on a very tense moment of Sonia and Puppet Zelda where she acts very suspiciously and maybe aborts a first attempt at stealing the stone that goes nowhere, and this is when Sonia catches on that something is off? Honestly, I would also have killed for an actual scene of tension between Zelda and Ganondorf where they, like. Talk to each other. Instead of this actual current version of the story where they never do. And maybe this is how he realizes that she has a special connection with Sonia and it's how he tries to get her.

But yeah. Sorry, I kind of hijacked the ask into a "this damn teacup scene!!!" *shakes my first at clouds*, but I think it mirrors the thought that priorities were not given to the actual tension points laid down in the story. Puppet Zelda inherently calls upon ideas of fear of imposture, of abuse of power, of insecurity, of a twisted version of what Hyrule *could* be, which is so interesting and ripe with conflict and counterpoints.

I would have done unruly things for a Zelda arc where she is struggling to be a ruler and she's still very insecure and wrecked by guilt over the Calamity thing and feel disconnected from the land because of the whole "being locked 100 years away fighting a demon" thing and her daddy issues, and this is this insecurity that Ganondorf picks up on and preys on by trying to dismantle Hyrule using her very image as he plans his Big Comeback, and our role is to unite all of Hyrule against this weird nasty caricature of her created by an envious man who was furious to see his rule rejected and his rebellion considered less important than peace, then go to her acknowledging the immense and unjust sacrifice she made becoming a dragon and being like "hey Zelda we all love you and we will all fight for you because we made the choice to believe in the future you want to build" and it would have been soososo powerful and I would have perhaps shed a tear or two or ten. ;_;

[mint-ty]

I get the disappointment re: the lack of bojere content. We were all expecting more, especially after finding out that JO would spend so many days with him. But I don't think Jere hates bojere, considering how much he himself has willingly and knowingly fed us bojere enjoyers. But I do feel like he is afraid that his involvement and presence throws a shadow over JO, and really wanted JO to have their proper moment in Finland now, and not make it about him. And having been to both shows, I think it was the right call. I feel like even bringing Häärijä on stage on Saturday, while cute, was unnecessary and a bit of a mistake. Sunday's show was the perfect JO experience and I'm glad they got to have it and that Jere was able to enjoy it from the audience for once. And also he is on vacation and kinda in between "eras" right now, and JO is also moving on from ESC, so I feel them playing Cha Cha cha now would have felt weird. Idk, maybe they'll do something in July, when Jere is back to work, so to speak. Or maybe they won't. But I'm happy they'll at least get to meet again fairly soon. Especially when I think about last May and Jere crying, because he didn't know if he'd see bojan again. 🥺❤️ And I'll continue to wish for a proper collab song, so that they would always have an excuse to perform together if the opportunity arose and it wouldn't be awkward (like playing just Käärijä or JO song would be, I think)

(puting under cut because I'm just waffling depressing shit)

man, anon, I don't even know why it's hitting me so hard. The weird thing is that I fully agree with everthing: him on stage would have been unnecessary and kinda setting a bad precedent, and I'm happy they keep their friendship private, as they should. (the friendship that is absolutely real and I never doubted that). But the timing and the way it was done... like the silence is so fucking loud. The only conclusion I can draw is that Jere regrets doing things the way he's done during JO Nordic Tour... Am I now a bad person that I enjoyed that content? Because whenever I had a bad day it was such a comfort to look up videos of Jere and Bojan... but if he regrets that those videos are public, I feel like I'm not allowed to rely on them anymore.. That we're not invited to Bojere anymore.

And again it's completely fine, they don't own us anything. But the christmas is gone and I don't know what to do now.. I keep reminding myself that I can't expect anything and honestly that's very depressing.

I also undestand that these are fully my personal issues, I'm most likely overthinking all this to oblivion and I'm also sorry for bringing all this up here. It would make me most happy to know I'm the only one feeling this way.

Oh and I love you anon, I hope you have a good day 💖

[bootleg-b0i]

I hate the a college course rabbit hole has my Swiftie-posting, but honestly, my feelings about her so ugh...conflicting.

On the one hand, she's the poster girl for white millennial cishetnormativity, I have little in common with this woman demographically. And yet I've listened to her music for as long as my conscious memory goes back. I don't consider myself a fan but I know all the words to 75% of her songs.

But mainly, my feelings recently are just like, what role creatives and public figures have in shaping the people who parasocially connect with them. Her dating that racist is so vile, but also fans sending her that tantrum letter about how she has to break up with him to be a good role model for the fans is WEIRD. And I think she has every right to read something like that and think y'all are being WHACK.

But its not like those fans didn't have a point? Idk, it's like, maybe we wouldn't care that she was dating a racist weirdo if she hadn't tried to frame herself as the paragon of allyship back in Lover era. I watched Miss Americana doc recently and like, seriously the whole thing devolves into morality propaganda. Propaganda I agree with mind you!! But girl, why was that necessary?

Alternatively, she wouldn't feel so much responsibility to voice her opinions if she wasn't always forced to be aware of the millions of media-uncritical teens who lap her every word right up. Like, we don't hold men to that kind of standard, that's why Matty Healy is even still relevant!! He can say all this heinous shit to HIS OWN teen fans and everybody lets that slide, but suddenly its Taylor's fault for dating him that the teens are gonna think its okay to being a racial fetishist? The math is kinda missing me on that one.

At one point, early on in her career, she had to dodge down allegations that she was convincing teen girls to break up with their good boyfriends by constantly writing break-up songs. Some of the discourse really feels like that kind of ridiculousness. Nobody is gonna go out and date a racist cuz Mommy Tay told us it was okay. Literally nobody is doing that unless they already wanted to.

It's hard really. I think she has every right to be angry and feel like she's going crazy under that kind of scrutiny that just gets worse all the time. I think there should be, and probably is, an onus on fans to be media-critical and decide for themselves "hey this is kind of fucked up and I think that's wrong, even if I look up to this person". And believe it or not! Most people not on the internet are able to do that!

But all that said, no matter what documentaries she makes, we need to impose a belief that girly is not a paragon of anything, but especially not:

Good Decisions

Allyship

Mental Health

Or Moral Credibility!

She's right to say that its literally her life, no one else's. Be a responsible consumer and don't listen to people who you think aren't worthy of support, and if you don't want to stop listening to her music even then, then you have to sort out that moral conundrum for yourself. It's not her job to be a moral figurehead for you, even if she wants to be and tells you she is.

[local-lamppost]

Feel free to ignore this, its just me gushing about how important Code Lyoko is to me.

I'm not one of those people who gets nostalgic and for multiple reasons, A) I'm very rarely emotionally sentimental towards media, B) I am a bit stunted emotionally, and C) due to a childhood/teenage years of a number of head injuries my memory is absolutely shot.

But through it all, Code Lyoko-the weird show from France with its stilted animation and repetitive plot-is what gets me. Not my favorite movies, games, or even other tv shows will do this to me.

Now, I started watching Code Lyoko when I was pretty young. I'm more or less a year older than it. So, when it was dubbed into english for the states, I was just old enough to catch onto the plot and some time later be enthralled with the later seasons/reruns. I have two older brothers and we all have vastly different taste in media, but for a solid part of my childhood we all agreed on a shared love for this show. We would meet in the den to watch the episodes every day and get along as only kids watching cartoons can.

When we moved states the subject I was most upset over was that CN for some reason didn't have Code Lyoko in this new area. Which, considering the move took probably about a day or two, really confused me. But for years this show lived only in my memory, not even my friends at school-in grades above or below-knew what I was talking about.

Some years pass, Code Lyoko is this shiny little memory that sits in the back of my brain, and I'm given a gen 1 iPad. It's slow, it dies quickly, I didn't even have my own headphones, but I didn't have to share with my brothers and had Youtube.

Now, for any young folk reading this for some reason (first off, good on you for getting into Code Lyoko) Youtube had been around for a few years at this point and had only really started getting traction circa 2008-09. The fun thing about early Youtube was that you could watch anything. Very few restrictions, no concept of enforcing copyright, it just had to be ten minutes or less and even that was beginning to change(I think). This was the era of watching a lagging anime in 3-4 parts an episode, and this is where I was able to finally watch Code Lyoko again.

I remember very specifically marathoning the show in the kitchen, sitting oddly in an arm chair, utterly engrossed in this show. It had action, it was 3D animated, the characters were cool and funny, and I would've done anything to have a hangout like the factory. Not to mention the intro was the best thing I'd ever heard and still is to this day one of my favorites.

But why do I love this show? Well a couple reasons...

Thing 1: Animation

Now I know the jokes and the jabs and the fact that its old and dated are what anyone unfamiliar with the show is quick to point out. If anyone has even passing knowledge of Code Lyoko its usually the weird character designs. If you watch the show you get used to it and sorta come to notice that it fits the characters much better in the 3D world more than the 2D and Lyoko is where all the cool action scenes are so.

And, I don't know if this is a hot take, but I like the 3D animation a lot. It looks like the ps2/3 games we would play as kids, and the premise is basically kids fighting monsters in a video game in 2003. It's an aesthetic that I appreciate for better or worse.

Thing 2: Stakes/Story

Code Lyoko is one of the few shows (cartoons especially) with the unique ability to be episodic in a serialized way. Things build up, connect, and whatever big changes happen in the past seasons continue on in the following. This was kinda insane to young me, shows were episodic or serialized, not both. Not to say there was nothing else (Teen Titans, Generator Rex, X-Men Evolution, Avatar, etc.) nor to say that Code Lyoko was the best at doing this, but no matter how repetitive the usual episodes are it more than makes up for with the stakes of those epidoes.

I don't think many cartoons put the kids in as imiment danger as Code Lyoko. Military satellites, Nuclear collisions, plagues of rats and hoards of wasps, using nano tech to give people amnesia that spread like the flu, being drowned or boiled alive, molested by plants, haunted by internet ghosts, Jeremy messing up a code so badly the antagonist needs to help the heroes out, feeling what it is like to be killed every time they are devertualized, having gravity turned off, having to deal with the fact that they are all months to potentially years older than their peers due to time travel, stressing over keeping everyone alive because time travel doesn't fix that, and so much more. Keep in mind they are all 13-15 years old and also in boarding school, on their own those are experiences that will deeply scar and change you without the cyber terrorism.

Thing Last: Characters

This is the real kicker and probably something I'll dedicate an entire series of things to talking about in depth, but for now.

Code Lyoko was the first show with characters I truly cared about. My young brain would be so absorbed in those stakes that I could forget that a cartoon for children would not kill any of its main characters(at least back then).

Individually, each character had something going for them. Jeremy was smart, witty, and made me feel better about being a nerd; Aelita was all that and more, being one of the kindest characters in media but still managing to hold her own both verbally and physically (no sequence was cooler to me than in season 1 when Aelita had to avoid monsters without aid and managed to kill a bunch using only the terrain); Yumi was the groups strength in the real world, a bit older and down to earth, it's weird she had no friends prior to the series; Odd, what to say about Odd? He is the only emotionally intelligent person in this whole cast with only Aelita coming close. He is happy, funny, proud, and kinda carried the team in the early episodes when Ulrich wouldn't go to Lyoko for whatever reason; Ulrich, my boy, the best fighter in Lyoko and a contender for best Lyoko design, my relating to him as a child was probably the earliest indicator I had mental health problems, but I will always remember him taking down Kolossus. Lastly, XANA. For a villain with maybe a line of dialog, XANA had a strange sense of character to him. He was a malicious, ruthless, powerful entity that wanted freedom for itself and the destruction of those who imprisoned him. XANA was meant to be a helpful AI, but it got out of hand and was persecuted by the men in black due to its capabilities, even scaring Hopper, his creator. XANA's death in the second to last episode is shown as a smoke being of him contorts in agony and dissipates; so close to being free.

More than anything, the Lyoko Warriors are friends. They goof around, get a virtual Aelita a birthday cake, know when to tease and when to just listen, they will do anything for each other through thick and thin, but they can also just hang out. A lot of stories have groups that feel like they only spend time together to achieve something, for a purpose, the Lyoko Warriors are friends who like being together.

To wrap this up.

Code Lyoko has numerous problems, most of which can be seen in Miraculous Ladybug the current popular French cartoon created by a former Code Lyoko storyboard artist, but it had heart. It showed me how far animation could go, how a world could be created. It motivated me to improve my writing and taught me that no story-no matter how good the visuals or plot-is anything without lovable characters.

More than anything serious, Code Lyoko was fun. It gave me time to spend with my brothers, an introduction into internet media/culture, and the first ending that I ever found satisfying as a child. I love this show, if someone came up to me and said 'if you quit your job and studies that your actually happy with and come make a Code Lyoko reboot/sequal' I wouldn't hesitate.

I love you Code Lyoko and here's to another 20! Let's live in a world without danger.

[paledarklight]

That last anon - I think Rick as a character is geared to care for Beth platonically as a Greene and as his own 'family'. He was very close to Hershel and felt guilt over everything that happened to Beth etc.

That saying... Andrew Lincoln altered his scenes with Em unconsciously with this weird attraction thing he has like that season 3 scene NARGH. It was meant to be sweet and innocent and he's eyefucking her. That is on Andrew 💯 He should have kept any feelings off screen and to himself. It shouldn't affect scenes and alter the interaction. Em is a pro and played her role as it should be.

I have to be clear Rick's emotional direction and Andrew's do not align. I'm pretty sure if the crush scene was implemented then he would have pushed for it to change direction and become requited. But again that's on Andrew. Anyone else playing Rick would have had a totally different take on their relationship and played it as it should.

I am not getting into the age thing or anything via this because where I am, 16 is an adult. I just feel very strongly that it was Daryl who caught feelings for Beth season 4 prison era, possibly as jealousy at first because of Zac getting with Beth. Then it went full rein. But Beth seemed kind of oblivious until that moment in the kitchen but she seems kinda like wow, really, I mean so much to you? The idea seems entrancing. But I am really strong that Rick never seen Beth as anything but Hershel's daughter and as a member of his family. It was platonic and Andrew totally fucked that up with his weird feelings. He's trying to play oh Rick would be against Beth's crush but then Andy comes through and just ARGH. Rick and Beth are platonic, family. Daryl and Beth were on their way to being more.

I'm not hating on you for thinking Rick would be after Beth that way if that's your take. I just think there is a genuine distinction between the characters original arc which was platonic and Andrew just totally setting fire to it. I know people ship them but if we are going to be pedantic, there is nothing romantic in his relationship to Beth. Anything there is all down to Andrew.

I also say yeah, he is hugely attracted to Danai. I know Richonners say he was drawn to Michonne from the moment he seen her and he was checking her out in the prison when he restrained her. No. That was all Andrew again. Rick was driven mad by losing Lori like a couple of days before. He was grieving her and the loss drove him insane. He's not going to be looking at another woman. I know his marriage was over etc but he said he thought he could hold on and keep them safe etc, that he still loves her and just before Lori died, there was hints of a reconciliation. So the way Rick was looking at Michonne all the way through those first scenes is NOT Rick, that is Andrew fucking up those scenes because he's thinking with his dick again.

I have to laugh cause I agree, I think that Andy doesn't always know how to stay in character and he bleeds through into Rick affecting how Rick acts.

When I write and if Ricks is involved he is purely as a father figure , he loves Beth purely as a father loves his daughter.

But your right that I watch how Rick gives the smolder at whomever female he's in contact with and it's like Mmmm maybe ??

But then I have to remember that's Andrew not keeping himself in check.

Norman Reedus can eat peanut butter even if HE hates it, the scene of him escaping the Saviors calls for Daryl Dixon eating peanut butter so he eats it.

Similarly, Andrew....

I agree I definitely see Daryl being jealous, not understanding his feelings but there's definitely jealousy when he sees Zac, @twdmusicboxmystery said I think that he's postering at Zac when he is guessing Daryls past , Daryl gives him this made up story about him being a undercover ans it sounds very cool and tough and a bit showy which Daryl isn't... Except when he's bumping chests with someone he perceived as competition

[fantomette22]

I know how to make Laurence even worse, listen:

Okay so, I think Laurence only condoned Logarius and Executioners to do Cainhurst massacre AFTER Maria's suic1de, because he knew darn well she'd cause a problem in his plan to eliminate Vilebloods (and get Umbilical Cord from Annalise). But what if!!!!!

What if Laurence COULD absolutely see Maria's suic1dal urges coming... and he LET that happen. He LET those feelings fester and bloom, he LET the doctors (Micolash maybe?????) go too hard on Adeline with experiments and cause her to give out, he LET Gehrman, the one person that could have helped to be oblivious about Maria's mental state..... pulling strings from the shadows - or not doing anything - in the ways that'd push her towards the edge, so the "problem" removes itself

Sorry, I had to share this because everyone else should suffer with me, lol. Have a good day 👍

Oh my...the ANGST !!!!!! 😭 the drama!!! LAURENCE WHY !?

Can you stop screwing people's life (and your own)... FOR 5 MINS !!!!!

Ok thanks for the ask, thanks to it I will take the occasion to finally share my headcanons about how I see their relationship across the years >:) (main headcanon, fic verse if you prefer).

So i already explain, (i think), but for me, Laurence is an extremely nuanced character. I mean by this that i don’t think he’s the ultimate devil yet but i don’t think he’s just an only poor mew mew misguided guy either, who was trap in smt out of his control. Nah for me he’s kinda a mixt/ more nuanced character who evolve a lot during his life.

So now i will share my headcanons with his relationship with Maria. Not many people talk about it and most of the takes i see are well not mine. But we don’t have much in canon so i can understand it’s tricky to imagined. But! Maria ended working at the research hall right ? (That she was in charge or under the doctors is another pb) but that mean that well there’s a connection. She joined and fight for the Healing church too! And worked with them! Hide the biggest secrets of them and Byrgenwerth! It’s not nothing! It’s s huge!

So i think at first their relationship was quite great at first! Then it spiraled down…

Let’s cut it with Byrgenwerth time, the hunter/early church era and post fishing hamlet so it’s simpler (respectively the 3fics i try to planned xD)

Byrgenwerth :

So Maria was a student here and Laurence basically one of her teachers. He’s a chill, cool and young teacher, Maria like him and think his classes are the most interesting.

Laurence had quite a harsh time on his first years studying at Byrgen so he try to be attentive to the need of his students. (He always check on Caryll, Rom etc or ask like Gehrman to check and tell him if he noticed smt weird)

Maria who don’t really have much friends at the beginning and is really often alone remind him a lot of himself at first.

But yeah funniest shit how Gehrman become close acquaintance with Maria almost the exact same way he become close acquaintance with Laurence all this years ago xD (i won’t say more about it but Laurence was quite surprised)

So anyway times pass it’s going smoothly and all the Byrgen gang hang around each other more and more (outside class too)

Maria and Caryll are still amazed that Laurence was the coolest bio and theology teacher because of what he could do when drunk xD that man was crazy (spoiler he got more serious but he become worse lol)

Also Laurence maybe accidentally save her life by giving her a free blood vial 💀(Willem don’t agree with that but he doesn’t need to know lol and hey it helped)

And later when blood was stolen from Cainhurst and Maria was completely clueless and confused he advocated for her with Gehrman. (+ advocate to cainhurst so she could stay with them + let’s be real it was first to get money to emancipate himself from Byrgen xD)

---

So a bit later when the first hunts begins? (Or a bit before idk).

Well before Laurence became a grand Vicar with tons of responsibility they all pass times as friends ! Like this yeah xD)

He gave her a freaking chalice for her exploit in the labyrinth and a blood transfusion wow!

Also i think he converted her to religion. (Or at least their religion)

Ok Let me explain. I don’t think Cainhurst are super religious? I think they’re closer to the 2.0 pthumerians. You know before the great ones were their leaders/ gods. Then they disappear and the pthumerians crown leader of their own : aka pthumerians queens and all. I think cainhurst is similar in that sense, at first. And i need to show how Laurence managed to got so many followers !

Maria’s a pyromancer and he learnt about it at some point. Quite funny how he found out even if he was suspicious of smt xD)

Maria hate that aspect of her bc she don’t want to be like the shadow of Yharnam and use her blood to hurt and kill people because smn told her to (aka royal family) she always resent that aspect of her.

Laurence think it’s incredible, that it’s a gift from the great ones! But That she could use how she want, if she want. She could used it to protect the great ones they’re looking for instead ! It’s way closer and prefer that.

That’s a big part on why she joined the healing church.

Also Laurence is this good religious figure that people follow and look for validation and the church was the guardian of the hunters after all.

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So after the hamlet… when everything went down…

Laurence became to change even more after that. Even after he became vicar maybe he got a lil messiah complex + begin to dissociate with lot of things & people but it got worst.

Especially after our lil group loose smn quite important to them… Laurence loose it and instead of « oh maybe we should stop or be more careful so it won’t happen again » he’s like : « ok we need to make sacrifice to ascend. Let’s do it » he was one of most affected by it but… in a bad way he completely dissociated and was more and more antipathetic. He was already ok with sacrificing you know sick people, who are gonna turned into a beast anyway but a friend? Oh well… he decided he won’t go back.

While Maria spiraled more and more down…he always had reassuring words but at some points and didn’t work greatly. And her, who never question the church really begin to wonder if everything worth it. What if what they’re doing is bad and useless? + she begin to cause trouble and confront Laurence about it. He was really annoyed… at some points he even ask Gehrman to do smt about it. Anything he wanted so she would chilled out and calmed down… the hunter was really confused 💀(and freaking tired too)

So Maria and Laurence relationship become more complicated.

About the Vilebloods too… first they were allies and before Maria died they ended up fighting each others. She had to stop them in front of the grand cathedral from fighting 💀 so not good either… relations were really tense… but the massacre happened 10-20y later in my timeline so

Then what happened happened… Maria killed herself and reasearch hall was a huge mess in part bc of this. (Patients revolt and a part were already dead)

Laurence was quite shock… really. And confused. But other feel sadder of course. But he was still touched by it. A bit. It remind him that they might make the sacrifce to loose close ones. But then he needed to clean all this big messes and send a letter to cainhurst That was not a good time for him either. Still he move on. Not like one of his friends… (another story)

So there. Hope i don’t forget anything but it’s a good summary for now.

[sanstropfremir]

Hello, A rover, A gambler, A libertine. I just wanted to say that I really love your blog and all the info you give on stage designing and outfit styling, and basically any other info you have to share about what work goes into making a performance/video look the way it looks. It's really informative and I always love food for brain so mwahhh thank youu.

That being said, I'm very new to the k-pop scene and even newer to being a SHINee fan, but I am already pretty deep down the hole and I absolutely adoreee them and your insight on them (specially Taemin) has made me appreciate them as artists sooooo much moree.

So if you don't mind could you share some thoughts about the Hard era styling? I would love to hear your thoughts on it!! I hope you're doing good <3

not the full government name slfjlskjdf you can just call me d! thank you for sticking around and reading 😊

as for the hard styling, i'm a fan! a lot of people have compared hard and dcm for various reasons (mostly negative ones bc they both are proving to be controversial shinee tracks) but i'm going use the comparison to talk about the styling bc i think the intentions were really similar, but hard was more effective. a thread that's been present in shinee's post military cbs is 'shinee twist on a modern industry trend', which is not a wrong way to go about anchoring cbs, especially since it does work as far as attracting new fans goes, but it does have a built in flaw where if the contemporaneous trends themselves don't have a strong thematic basis then............obviously trying to do any kind of twist on them takes a lot more conceptual work. this is the problem that dcm had; dcm was very much a 'look we can do what the kids do!' but what the kids were doing in late 2020/early 2021 was very formless and right before the crash of the 'fourth gen hardcore bg' trend, so it was a lot of disconnected but persistant loose threads from the entire fourth gen era that had culminated into a mush. so in the shinee's stylists' attempt to make some kind of sense of it they kinda also created a mush. but a different kind of mush. my hypothesis is that the stylists and creative team didn't want to commit seriously to a specific concept bc that wasn't on trend at the time, and so that's why dcm had several different promising ideas but then botched them all on the landing bc the creative team got cold feet about going against the grain for the first cb back in three years. personally i don't agree with their strategy bc there are a lot of flaws with dcm and the whole reality/fake reality concept ended up being racist when they could have very easily not done that, but the strategy DID work and it seems that the creative team were right about fans not being as interested in concept based cbs bc atlantis got paid dust. anyways.

how does this compare to hard? well, hard has the same ideological footing: shinee twist on a current trend. and the current trend this time is an actual concept! so already hard has an easier base to stand on because there IS something there thematically to work with. all the threads are very clearly anchored in the 'y2k' but the shinee twist is that it's more based in late 90s/early 00s hiphop, which is both sonically relevant and different from the hyperpop esque candy crush that a lot of the y2k stylings have become. the oversized shapes and loud logos are all prominent in early hiphop styling (and thus popular culture on a 5ish year delay), and elements like neon colours, layering unconventional garments together and repurposing military looks are all hallmarks of subculture fashion from the 00s, namely skater/emo/punk. the styling feels coherant and put together bc it's drawing from historical evidence (feels fucking WEIRD saying that about the 90s oof) and trends that did actually exist and were worn by real people. but of course with the typical kpop level of exaggeration, obvs.