#this feels like such a basic analysis but i wanted to share

[broadwayfangirl222]

Addict VS Poison

Now this this isn't gonna be a "Which is better" comparison, they're both awesome to me. Plus that kinda comparison feels kinda...boring and could easily turn mean. I wanted to focus on how while they basically tackle the same topics/themes, with the same character, they end up having this different vibe to them. Let's start with the OG

(FYI I'm not gonna use any of the animation in addict as part of this character analysis since the other one doesn't have that yet and that changes quite a bit here)

Addict:

I'd say a decent chunk of this song can be summarized as "denial and distraction" Not actual denial though, but the kind of denial where you're aware but you just really, really don't want to, or you can't, actually deal the issue so you just distract yourself.

Despite having overdosed / And ending up comatose / I don't give a damn / I've let my emotions go / Fuck being a sober hoe / This is the mantra / This is my life you're playing with now / 'Til the end of the night / Surrounded by fire, the passion ignites

Angel here is basically going "fuck it, we party" He's decided to fully block out the lows, no matter how bad those lows are, and only embrace the highs. He wants squeeze every last ounce of fun and enjoyment he can out of his horrible situation. The most obvious moment of Angel completely addressing his feelings and isn't hiding behind this care free party persona is the reprise

I'm addicted to the sorrow / When the buzz ends by tomorrow / There's another rush of poison flowing into my veins / Giving me a dose of pleasure that resides by the pain / I'm addicted, I'm dependent / Looking awesome, feeling helpless

He admits he's feeling helpless and hurting and struggling here. And I don't want to mispeak on a topic like this so if i'm off on this please feel free to correct me. But the more I read this reprise the more I feel like this reprise also is kind of an admittance to this being a form of self harm too.

Now Cherri adds an interesting element to this. Even without seeing the animation you do get the impression she's by his side, she's sees what he's going through and wants to support him. One of her lines is basically offering her friendship and help

So, come if you're feelin' brave, and fancy yourself a mate / You want it, I got it / See what you like? / We could have it all by the end of the night

Without the animation this part I can see Cherri literally reaching out her hand to Angel in this part. He isn't alone here. He has someone by his side. Someone he can share the fun with and someone to commiserate with. This fact kinda gives it this hopeful tone to it despite the more negative lyrics and implications in parts. The reprise has this too with him saying maybe the hotel won't be terrible. He has this tentative hope for the future here for the first time.

Poison:

This one right off the bat this song has this frustration to it. Frustration for his situation as a whole, frustration at Valentino for putting him through all this, frustration at himself for fully knowing this is all toxic and terrible for him but still "falling for it" anyway (even thought it's obviously not his fault.) Again just purely from the lyrics and tone, this version of Angel feels like he's long past that denial and distraction. He's not distracting himself anymore. Any shred of fun and enjoyment he could have from this is just long since dead. He's completely aware here: He knows that he's trapped in a toxic cycle, fully aware it'll absolutely kill him one day. Part of the chorus is flat out "YEAH I KNOW, (it's/you're) poison" but despite that awareness, he's still stuck in this 'cause of Valentino.

Any way you want me, baby / That's the way you got me, I'll be yours / My story's gonna end with me dead from your poison / I got so good at bein' untrue / I got so good at tellin' you what you wanna hear / I disassociate, disappear / Yeah, yeah, yeah

He still has to be whatever Valentino wants and tell him whatever he wants to hear. The lyrics explicitly sate he completely detaches and simply plays the part he's supposed to. At this point there's no more denying or masking the situation to himself. Angel just sees it as pure survival now.

It's also interesting to note that it's only Angel here. There's no Cherri, or anyone, by his side in this song. He's isolated and desperate and hurt here. It feels like he's more at the end of his rope and just so lost on what to do. This is such a low point for him and his (after) life and he clearly doesn't see any out.

TLDR: Addict has this vibe of Angel wanting to embrace the chaos, the vices, the fun so he doesn't have to think on the bad. And that there's this shred of hope for the future at the end, like it might be possible for him to get out of this. Meanwhile Poison is him fully aware of his situation. He's frustrated, hurt and desperate to get out of this toxic cycle of abuse but he doesn't see how so he's just doing anything and everything he can to survive

[cathodic-clairvoyant]

Oh hi there transfem discussing her experience in the trans community i just had a quick question about your post

What does tme mean?

Oh okay i see i understand, thank you.

What does transmisogyny mean?

Ah I see, I get it.

What's a trans woman?

Oof scary. One last question.

What's a woman?

Thank you for being my own personal google (not like you had anything better to do right?) and derailing the point of your post for my own personal education. I will now add nothing of value to this post in return. Bye bye!

[simping-acefully]

Ep 3 got me acting really unwise

Nsfw headcanons for Laios under the cut (gn unspecified partner for Laios)

Warnings: NSFWish, probably ooc, reader insert implied?, probably not very sexy because I used this for character analysis.

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Laios is very attentive, though he's also very insecure when it comes to engaging with others. So I imagine he'd be a little clumsy, though very eager to provide the best aftercare for his partner. He's also very cuddly.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

The favorite part of his own body are his hands. They are strong and calloused, and he's used them to protect others and to create new stuff! (Aka, cooking) the fact that those hands can also help him please a partner is a plus.

On a partner? Probably lips. I imagine Laios struggles to read people's facial expressions (the 'tism go brr) but seeing his partner's smile is reassuring. He also really likes running his thumb over them and maybe getting his fingers nibbled.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

He cums a lot.He has tasted his own cum out of curiosity in the past, too. And if he had a partner that ejaculated or squirted he would be delighted to taste it all.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

He has probably jerked off to thoughts of his partner before they get together and it's eating him alive :(

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Zero experience, lots of book knowledge though! He's confused but he's got the spirit. Will need some leading at first, but he's a quick learner and is curious enough to experiment and try new things once he's gained confidence.

As an ace myself, I like to think that Laios is either ace too, or has a low drive and thus, sexual intimacy is a matter of doing something intimate and unique with a partner.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Any position that will allow him to see his partner's face for smooching! The emotional intimacy is the most important part for him.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

He tries to be serious to the point he's almost uptight. But his clumsy and eager nature ends up organically devolving into somewhat goofy intimacy.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

The carpet matches the drapes, but this man keeps it all natural because ?? Why would he waste time/energy on such things??? (Aka, he's not used to grooming the area, but he would do an effort if asked)

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Very!! The main driving force for the act. Laios is constantly kissing and checking with his partner. He loves them so much and this is a physical way to convey those feelings!

He holds hands with his partner, kisses their face and neck and tries to keep them as close as possible, the mental image of melting into a puddle together comes to mind.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Doesn't do it often, but when he does it's more of a thing of connecting with his own body than getting rid of any urges. He won't be able to get off unless he's in a good mood.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Has a wee bit of a praise kink that he doesn't fully understand.

Shibari is one he wants to delve into, too. There's something to be said about the artistry of the knots, and the feeling of compression can be quite comforting.

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Probably his partner's bed. He shares a room with Falin, so intimacy on his place is a no-no. He doesn't particularly enjoy motels or inns either because he feels kind of self conscious/pressured to perform within a time limit. He was to take things slow and he wants to cuddle to sleep afterwards, dammit!

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

I think his biggest driving force is an emotional connection. He craves to be understood and loved, so feeling that coming from his partner will make him want to show his appreciation in a physical way.

Probably jealousy is another good way to make Laios seek out his partner. He wants reassurance, to kill any doubts in his mind and any lingering feelings of inadequacy.

Also adrenaline too! Sometimes when the blood is pumping, his mind wanders. If he and his partner just were in a situation of danger, the physical reminder that they are there, alive and safe will make him desperate to feel them.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Doesn't like/understand degradation, and wouldn't do anything that he felt could hurt his partner.

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

He prefers to give, and lives for pleasing his partner! He's not very skilled at first, but he's very observant and receptive, so he gets the hang of what his partner likes even if they do not say so themselves.

However, after getting head himself, he's hooked. He loves it, he loves the look on his partner's eyes and the physical feeling is overwhelming on the best possible way.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Usually slow and sensual, unless he just had a life or death situation with his partner, then he's desperate and anxious.

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Not one to really go for quickies, but if he's on the rare mood for one, he'll be sure to get and give lots of affection.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Laios would be interested in trying everything at least once. He's curious and inquisitive, and just as he is fascinated by monsters, he's fascinated by his partner and wants to learn what turns them on, and see what also works for him

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Stamina for days! He can last one very long round. If he didn't get sleepy and cuddly afterwards, he could probably do more, but hnnnggg comfy

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

He doesn't own toys, but if introduced to them he's up for trying pretty much anything, both on himself and his partner.

I can see him growing particularly attached to non-human looking dildos/strap-ons and ropes.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's not much of a tease, but he low-key enjoys being teased. He doesn't seem to understand it, or be fully aware of the fact, but yeah.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Not particularly loud out the impulse to self restrain, but Laios is a whiner. He can get pretty loud when he's about to cum though.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

Would love to roleplay as a monster with their partner but when he did bring up the idea he got laughed off and passed it off as a joke. It was not a joke.

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

I like to think that it would kind of mimic his silhouette, length slightly above average and overall on the thicker side. The widest point is right after the head.

Not very high at all. I kinda imagine Laios on the gray sexual spectrum so, it only becomes a thought after he begins pining for his eventual partner. It starts with him wondering how soft their hands would be, how about their neck and lips? And it eventually escalates to wandering thoughts of intimacy.

Once he does become intimate with a partner, he longs for intimacy more than he longs for sex itself.

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

VERY. He's an eepy man.

[ashipiko]

—NIKO CIMARRON

All information on Niko Cimarron ATM! Will most likely be updated ☆

—MORE UNDER CUT

BASIC INFORMATION:

Class: 2-A

Birthday: October 24

Height: 176cm

Dominant Hand: Right

From: Land of Pyroxene / Shaftlands

Club: Film Studies (visits on occasion, inactive member)

Favorite Subject: Magic Analysis

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Likes: Making a profit

Dislikes: Getting outsmarted

Favorite Food: Berries / Berry flavored things

Least Favorite Food: Anything too hot

Specialty: Balancing on the line of lie and truth

GALLERY:

VOICE CLAIM:

YUU’S INTERVIEW:

— Scarabia Dorms - Niko’s Room —

for easier reading, all yuu dialogue will be in italics and all niko dialogue will be in a normal black font instead of green.

There you are. Surprised you came to visit me, Carrots.

> You know what I’m here for, Niko.

> Why are you surprised?

No need to act like that. Interview, right? Or should I say an interrogation? If you wanted to hang out with me, you didn’t need to hide around the bush, you know…

It’s cute seeing you all dodgy, but still. ♡

> I think it matches your vibe.

> You’re one to talk.

Yeah, yeah. How many questions do we have planned for today? Don’t take too long, now. I’ve gotta start pumping out those treats for my profit.

…Oh. No need to worry about a pen and paper, I’ve got one for you.

> I didn’t expect for you to be so prepared.

> (…They’re cuter than expected.)

Something something about matching the vibes… They’re modeled after an old movie about cops and so, interrogating. Figured you’d like them. A carrot for Carrots. It’s cute.

It’s about time to start though, huh?

> Yeah.

> No more wasting time.

INTERVIEW: START!

1. Can we get some basic info about you from… you?

A second year Scarabia student who’s a fox beastman. I guess I’m what you’d call a charmer, thief of the heart, man of your dreams… I’ve heard it all. But the real name’s Niko. Niko Cimarron. My surname means “Wild”, so you could call me Mr. Wild if you like that too. Heh, actually, it’s a business thing, so I guess you’d only call me that if you bought my products… Say, Carrots, you feeling like you need a snack? I have some lefties if you’d like.

> No thanks.

> Why not?

They’re tasty, I prommie~.

2. Speaking of which, what are your “pawpsicles” made from? How do you make them?

Those little things? Why, I’ll let you know I put my blood, sweat, and tears in those treats. Makes me happy to see other people happy, like the faces on a thaumark. To make ‘em, it’s just some tasty berries from the school grounds that get mushed up to get juice, where they go into a mold and freeze up. It’s hard work! I’ve gotta walk so many steps around the school and all across campus… You’re lucky you never saw me in my first year. Took me a while to get used to the schedule… Though, I’m a well-organized man now, I’ll have you know. It’s good for the public image.

3. You’re from the Shaftlands, aren’t you? Do you have any connections to Vil, Cater, or Jack?

Connections? I have them with everyone, really… though I don’t think those three are really aware I came from the same place as them. To be fair, the Shaftlands is a pretty big area. People even go as far to call it a utopia.

If anything, I’ve talked to Diamond more at NRC than anywhere in the Shaftlands. Is that because I never even saw him once? Maybe. So I can’t say about back then, but I can enjoy a good conversation with him now. He’s a good customer and a good influencer. Back then, he got me a good chunk of costumers off of a Magicam post, so I’ve got to give it to him. Who knew people could just follow trendy things at the drop of a hat? Crazy, right?

Vil is a major celebrity, and Jack, I didn’t even know existed ‘till this year. I’ve got nothing to say about Mr. Hardhead, but I’ve had my fair share of talks with Vil. When we were kids, I got a wave from him once… It was great bragging rights. Heh, he kinda freaks me out now though. The reason why I don’t actually participate in club activities. He’s probably too high of a standard for a lowlife like me, so it’s not something that bothers me anyway.

4. You don’t seem to have a Unique Magic. Any reason why?

Ah. Magic? A little bit of a sour topic for me, Carrots, ow… I’m just a late bloomer, is all. I’ve got magic in me, but I never played around with it when I was younger, so I’m way more rusty than all of the other guys here. It doesn’t mean I don’t know the brain stuff, though. Just inexperienced.

If I’m being dead honest, it’s kind of a miracle how I got into NRC. I guess they wanted the fox vote, huh? Heh.

5. Not sure if I’ve seen you around a lot with one particular person. Is there a secret someone?

Secret someone? Getting jealous, are you? Haha, I would’ve never taken you to be the type!

> Not the focus of the question.

> That’s not…!

It’s your fault for wording it like that. You’ve got to watch your words, Carrots. Well, the business life is a cold one, isn’t it? Being around a bunch of highschool guys isn’t really the “ideal” grounds for making business partners either, so it is what it is. At least this way, I get all the profits, so I don’t mind. If you want, I can save a spot for you by my side. ♡

> Again, no thanks.

> Maybe after I get a break from all the things this school brings.

Keep me in mind~.

6. Our last question. You say a lot of random stuff. People get annoyed with it pretty often. How do you feel about that?

…? Oh, you picked up on it, huh? Heh, I mean… I guess I could come clean. I think it’s interesting you haven’t walked away from me yet, y’know. Usually people aren’t into this stuff.

> You are annoying, but…

> (Would it be mean to say something?)

I appreciate you, Carrots. A little too much than I’d like.

Usually people don’t really like the stereotypical foxiness I bring to the table. They run away because I’m either something they don’t wanna get mixed up with, or just something they don’t like. I think you’re a weirdo who’s looking for entertainment when you come into my room and talk to me like this.

…But I guess that just means that you like the way I talk to you, right? You can’t get enough? Is that what’s happening here? ♡

> For a second, I thought you were going to need some comfort, but I guess not.

> Really, it’s fine, Niko…

Don’t pretend like your cheeks aren’t a little red. I like the reactions I get out of you. ♡

Is that all you wanted? Yeah? Alright, we’re done here, then. Hand me the pen, would ya?

> It was nice being able to talk to you like this.

> (That was a quick turnaround.)

…Yeah. Hurry on up, shouldn’t you be studying up on actual things worth studying? Live up to that Smarty McSmart Pants title. Bye-bye now~.

INTERVIEW: END!

> (I feel like Niko’s more than meets the eye.)

> (I feel like Niko’s… hiding something.)

.

.

.

TRIVIA:

Niko is twisted off of Nick Wilde from Zootopia!

Niko is actually magicless. Not entirely, as he does have some running in his blood, so he didn’t lie, but it’s not enough where he can successfully conjure spells. Because of this, at NRC, he often has to get by with con-artist type excuses and acts. It works most of the time, as he has Crowley’s support. For now, he’s getting by with the excuse of being a late bloomer, but I’m sure suspicions are beginning to rise… Perhaps, if it were to be found out that he’s unable to conjure spells, he would be kicked out of NRC.

He made it to NRC after being dared to attempt to con his way in by his magicless best friend. His name is not noted, but he’s a very angry and violent French fennec fox. Niko is often bullied by him.

He can be considered a fan of Vil.

Niko enjoys the pop genre a lot, but is embarrassed to admit it.

Despite being a playboy, Niko is easily flustered at the thought of someone seriously making moves on him.

Niko can also count as a bit of a heartbreaker. For the romantics around the school, everyone knows Niko as that kid who’ll charm you for a week and leave you heartbroken when he inevitability rejects you. It’s not anything against anybody, really, but more so the fact that Niko can’t ever imagine dating someone before he tells them his secret. It feels unfair to him. But people take offense to it nonetheless, the heartbroken people usually cutting Niko off as soon as they figure out that there won’t be anything working between them.

Because of the way some people leave him as soon as they sense no romance, Niko finds the concept of love to be sort of flaky. It takes a while for him to develop a crush, despite his flighty, flirty attitude.

Due to being a class 2-A student, Niko often ends up selling his treats most often there. Kalim and Silver are his number one customers, as Kalim buys bundles of them to give to Scarabia members, and Silver buys them for Lilia to enjoy.

Niko attends the Playful Land event and ends up staying in contact with Fellow Honest afterwards. This relationship ends up contributing a lot to Niko’s development.

Even though he doesn’t want to, he feels obligated to play into the deceitful foxiness of himself, because that’s what people naturally expect of him. It stops them from getting curious about him, as it seems like they’ve already got him figured out.

He says things that are considered shallow, like flirting or bargaining because he wants to get a reaction out of people. Niko does small things like this for small reactions — enough of these small reactions will fulfill the same satisfaction of seeing someone he loves flustered or happy, he thinks. In truth, he knows it won’t amount to much. Niko tries to satisfy himself enough so that he won’t need the real thing.

Niko feels very guilty for deceiving everyone at NRC, especially the prefect. Even still, he doesn’t have the heart to tell them that he truly doesn’t belong here, taking up a spot possibly for somebody who deserves it much more.

Niko’s way of thinking suggests that if he acts distasteful enough, it will cause people to stray far away from him. He believes that he really is just a lowlife fox, but the truth of his actions is something he think people would hate him for most; living in a lie. Because of this, he acts like a playboy and an annoyance in attempts to get people to stay away, preventing them from finding out the even uglier truth of him.

Additionally, he’s afraid to have the truth leak out because he doesn’t want to leave NRC. Though he doesn’t have much, he doesn’t want to lose the little bit he does have, and the little bits he keeps on gaining.

Even still, Niko craves for someone who will take time to understand him. Which is why he’s so attached to the prefect.

More to be added!

^ the pawpsicle icons in this relationship chart represent whether if the character is an avid pawpsicle enjoyer (has the icon), has experienced it once but never had it again (once!), and if they have never had it.

[akookminsupporter]

ARE YOU SURE?!: THIRD EPISODE

MY IMPRESSIONS

Preface: This is not an analysis post, and honestly, I don’t want to overanalyse their interactions or everything they said and did—many others are already doing that. My intention with this post is simply to share my thoughts on the episodes, my impressions, and perhaps my conclusions.

I’m writing this as I watch the episodes for the second time.

Well, this time the trailer or preview of the episode didn’t lie. Tae wasn’t originally scheduled, so to speak, to be on the show. He saw the schedule and invited himself. That’s very him; he does what he wants. This is also confirmed by the activities they chose.

From the first minute, you can see the dynamic between Jungkook and Tae, and I find it so obvious that I don’t understand why many people misinterpret it. They have a slightly passive-aggressive dynamic, but in a fun way. Jungkook is the cheeky teenager who always has a comeback for everything.

They really love Jeju Island. And Jungkook had to prove that his Jiminpedia is up to date.

Jimin and Jungkook bickering cutely will always give me life.

Jimin looked tired at the beginning of the trip. I wonder if it’s mainly because he tends to get carsick?

This episode perfectly showcased the dynamics between each pair, and I feel it confirmed what I said in an Ask: each pair operates on different wavelengths, and when they’re together, it becomes even more apparent. I feel like they try to make it work, and generally, it does, but it’s still obvious that their dynamics are different.

Tae and Jungkook are like two puppy Labradors, excited about absolutely everything. The way they ordered all kinds of food and then ate it so excitedly and happily was endearing to watch. Jimin looking a bit nostalgic and tired, it was quite… an interesting contrast, and a little bit funny too.

The way Jungkook’s face lit up when Jimin walked into the restaurant is just too beautiful and reminded me of that time when they were visiting a TinyTans store, and his face transformed when he heard Jimin’s voice. The same thing happened here.

Tae saying he shouldn’t have come, and Jimin and Jungkook immediately telling him to leave then, that it was their trip, is such a mood. They said it in a funny way, but at the same time, it’s a bit of that passive-aggressive dynamic the three of them share. Though I do wonder what Tae meant when he said “they do that even when there are no cameras”. What was he referring to? The slight awkwardness that’s always there between them? Or what?

Jimin and Jungkook telling Tae what happened on their trip to the USA suggests they don’t tell each other everything.

Why is Jungkook always picking up Jimin’s shoes, and why is Jimin practically allergic to his own shoes? Hahaha.

Jimin chasing after Tae to feed him is so on-brand with their dynamic.

Tae not knowing how to order at a drive-thru is that reminder we sometimes need as fans that they’ve never led normal lives. Though, on the other hand, Jimin seemed like an expert or at least someone with experience ajajajaajaja.

Jimin saying he wasn’t okay with Jungkook not finishing his coffee, despite Jungkook saying it was fine if he didn’t, says a lot about the kind of person Jimin is and how much he cares about Jungkook too.

Jimin and Jungkook immediately understanding that the mattress on the floor was for Tae and that the beds were obviously for them was a bit funny. I don’t know if they did it intentionally, but they basically said, “You weren’t originally part of the plan.”

Once again, Jungkook always worrying about the staff is heartwarming to see. They’re amazing people.

Vminkook, in general, are cute to watch together. Fun. It’s easy to see they’re the youngest in the group, haha. They’re too adorable. But it’s also easy to see in moments that Jimin is definitely the eldest, haha.

Jimin sleeping through all the chaos caused by Jungkook and Tae is definitely a MOOD. This reminds me of my previous posts when I said Jimin is one of those people who loves to travel and plan trips, but once he arrives, he just wants to rest and do nothing.

That said, Jimin just needed a nap to recharge. Ajajajajajaj

Well, we got to the part where Jungkook and Tae were lying down together. With all due respect, there was nothing romantic about it, and Jungkook looked a bit uncomfortable or lost. Another thing about their dynamic is that Tae often treats Jungkook like a child, or maybe “baby” is the right word in their case. Jungkook usually goes with the flow, but only for a moment. And that moment is a clear example of that. Their dynamic is definitely interesting.

Jungkook and Tae teasing Jimin is a recurring thing when the three of them are together. The funny part is that Jimin is usually the one who starts, but then he can’t handle them.

When they went to the game center, or whatever it’s called, is when we saw the true regression of Jungkook and Tae to their childhood, haha. Jungkook, in particular, was the happiest. This moment also reconfirmed that the trip was designed for Jimin and Jungkook only. Another thing that became clear is that everything they did was chosen by them, as Jimin said it was his idea to pick that place.

When Jimin jumped and got hurt, the way Jungkook’s face fell immediately reminded me of the online concert the guys did. When Jimin started crying, Jungkook didn’t notice right away, and he was smiling, but when he saw Jimin, his face immediately changed. Something similar happened here.

Hearing Jungkook say “Jiminssi” in the way he always does will always give me years of life.

Jimin and Tae are mostly toddlers together. And they’re very cute to watch.

MY CONCLUSION ON THE THIRD EPISODE

This episode was what I thought it would be. As I’ve said many times, watching their dynamic is interesting.

Something else I confirmed is that the dynamic between Jimin and Jungkook changes a bit when there’s another member present. It’s not that they change in those moments, but I feel they adjust their dynamic to include the other person. I feel they also sacrifice their closeness in a way so as not to exclude the other person. More than once, I’ve wondered if they do this because they’re aware of how they are ajajaajajaj.

The above, I think, is the reason why this episode feels so different from the previous one. This episode is three friends on a vacation that was originally meant for two.

Something I did feel, and this might be controversial, is that this episode felt like a filler episode. I feel like it was more of the same and wasn’t really necessary. I don’t know. It’s also true that this episode felt more like what we’re used to seeing in these types of BTS shows, so in a way, it felt nostalgic.

With that, I can understand why many are saying they miss the vibe of the first two episodes and honestly, I kind of agree with that. I want more of the first two episodes, but at the same time, I like the fact that the three of them had that time together before enlisting and honestly, that difference helps to clearly see the difference between Jimin and Jungkook when they’re alone compared to when they’re with others, in this case, with another member.

Overall, I enjoyed the episode. It was really fun and cute. And I want to see more of how their dynamic and interactions developed as a trio.

If you’ve made it this far, I’m sorry and thank you—I just couldn’t stop writing ajajajajaja.

[andy-wm]

i'm wondering how your thesis of "idols will come out when they want" fits into your insane shadow analysis attempting to prove jimin and jungkook fucked in the middle of their travel show (amongst other things)? like do you get joy out or trying to drag someone out of a closet they might not be in? or is it something else? just curious! 😀

Hey wdcmaxy

Since you have the guts to use your name I'll respond :)

So, you read my thesis?

*Sips whisky*

Cool. And you read my insane shadow analysis too?

Hmmm... do you come here often?

Let me answer your question then.

I think we both know the shadows analysis isn't really insane - it's based on very basic earth science. Shadows grow longer as the day progresses because of the rotation of the earth on its axis. You sound reasonably literate so i assume you know this already.

I guess your description of my shadow analysis ( I think I'll name my next racehorse 'Shadow Analysis') as insane is an attempt to discredit the idea that a fair bit of time passed while Tae was out of the house? But that was kinda silly on your part. Even children know that shadows change as the day passes.

Nothing insane about it.

He was gone for hours, no debate.

Now let's move on to the fucking part, and when and how idols choose to come out.

This is actually worth discussing.

As flattered as i am that you think my tiny insignificant blog could be a game changer for anyone, let's be real.

How many people, besides yourself, do you think read my blog?

Serious question.

I'm estimating maybe 100. Double that on a good day. Maybe 300 if i write something REALLY profound which doesn't happen often.

I am way less excited about my impact on the world than you are, because I'm a realist.

BUT if by some strange twist of fate my blog came to the attention of someone whose opinion mattered (I'm not counting you, don't worry) do you think they would take it seriously? Do you REALLY imagine a random tumblr post about shadows could make someone believe that an idol was gay if they didn't already believe it?

Here's a great example of how that wouldn't happen:

You, dear reader.

You're my example.

You came here to tell me I'm speaking shit and that I should pull my head in, correct? My insane shadow analysis hasn't changed your beliefs at all. You're here, throwing a tantrum on my page, because you don't agree with what I'm saying, not because you suddenly believe it.

Or ...

Perhaps you suspect it's true and that scares you. Maybe you can't be absolutely sure I'm wrong and that's why you need to yell at me? Could that be it? Time for a bit of self reflection?

Either way, it's not going to make an iota of difference in the grand scheme of things.

We are all just dust motes floating through time and space, my friend. You dont need to worry so much. The universe is unfolding exactly as intended.

However... There are a couple of things we should agree on:

The fact is that the shadows grew long and therefore, time passed. And Tae was out for several hours. Maybe he went out for a bit of afternoon delight himself? Maybe Jimin and Jungkook played Pokemon Go all afternoon, or prayed, or practiced their English, or braided each other's hair.

Regardless of whether they did or didn't fuck, or how many times, or on what surfaces, the time still passed.

And whether I write my blog or not, people will believe what they believe. And they will be gay or they won't be gay.

And even though I never mentioned anything about them fucking in that post, whether you like it or not Jimin and Jungkook might be fucking right now, as you read this.

One last thing...

Please bear in mind, through all of this, that fucking is not the be all and end all of life. Sure its a lot of fun if you do it right but the notion that it's more meaningful than sharing your innermost thoughts and feelings, or giving someone your time and energy, is bullshit.

You can have a roots-deep love for someone and never even think of fucking them. Or you can meet someone in a public toilet and have at it, and leave without even knowing their name.

Sex does not equal love. Fucking is not that big of a big deal.

Unless...

Unless you're fucking someone the patriarchy doesn't want you to fuck. Then its a major issue.

Hear me out.

The need to control who we fuck is based a patriarchal need to control material wealth.

To control material wealth, the patriarchy needs to control reproduction (so they can be sure their wealth stays with their bloodline, because wealth is built over many generations) and to do THAT they need to control womens' bodies.... and to do that, of course they need to control who women fuck. And who men fuck too!

Do you know what the ACTUAL issue is with men who like dick? They don't automatically buy into the patriarchal way of life. (where's the solidarity, lads?)

Why don't they?

Because lifelong monogamy and marriage and nuclear families don't matter as much when you're not equating love with sex, and sex with reproduction. When your goal isn't to accumulate wealth and pass it down to your children.

Same thing applies to women who love women. They aren't focused on being demure and pleasing the men in power. They aren't focused on making themselves wife material. They will challenge the status quo and maybe even (shock! horror!) decide not to have children. How the heck do you make sure your money and power stays in the family, how do you build an empire, when the women are perfectly happy having sex with each other and don't want to love, honour and obey??

And whose fault is all this?

Its got to be the damned queers, right? They're making people think there might be other ways to share your life with those you care about! That's why its important to squash down gayness whenever you can, right, wdcmaxy?

Look at them destroying the fabric of society!

If Jimin and Jungkook ARE fucking every chance they get, good for them. I hope they're balls deep and breathless, hitting all those sweet spots for each other having a really good time.

And if they're not fucking, it actually doesn't matter to me because the way they support each other and share their hearts is beautiful. (I do think they are fucking though)

Truthfully, whatever they're doing, as long as they're happy I'm happy.

Can you say the same, wdcmaxy?

Peace.

[starbylers]

After spending some time listening and re-listening and thinking a lot, I think I finally have my head wrapped around all these songs. This post is an exploration of what they could tell us about Mike’s story, and also a sort of theory I noticed once I saw the full picture. This playlist is—in my opinion—the story we’ve been theorising for the past two years reflected in 12 songs. That might sound hyperbolic but it’s simply what I heard and interpreted, and wanted to share because I enjoyed writing it. I hope this is an interesting read!

If you didn’t see my last post about why I do believe this is Finn’s Mike/ST playlist despite the somewhat ambiguous title you can read that here. It’s totally okay if you disagree but I’m not interested in debating it, and this analysis is coming from a perspective of assuming we've guessed correctly that the playlist relates to ST (obviously we can't 1000% verify that, but for the purposes of this post that’s my stance).

I’m going to focus on themes and overall meanings in the songs because in my opinion that’s where any connections are going to lie, rather than specific lines holding anything important (aside from a few which I’ll highlight) because I feel like that’s closest to how Finn would’ve thought while making it. Basically a macro level representation of Mike and what he goes through next season, something that would help a person get into the headspace of a character. Oh and my larger point is about the playlist as a whole, which will come together at the end :)

➠ Track 1 | Ballad of the Texas King

The first song is an anomaly in that I think it’s meant to set the tone more than anything else. These explain better than I could hope to:

"Itʼs a murder ballad, and as is common in murder ballads, deals with promise and innocence being snuffed out.” [link]

"Clarke sings of a chance encounter with an ominous figure that feels akin to selling your soul at the crossroads" [link]

Hey kid come along, something is wrong, I believe you now / All this to say only one way that this can go / Come with us for a ride / Don’t it feel like hell? Boy let me tell you, that’s where you are

• • •

A nice little coincidence, Finn himself is quoted as saying season 5 is a “crossroads”. I can see this song being an allusion to inevitable big choices with life-altering consequences next season, and also more mature themes being tackled within Mike’s story. I mean he’s stepping back into his role as leader, and now they’re older that will come with a lot more weight and responsibility in situations where the fate of the world is likely hanging in the balance. Not to mention how his personal struggles will be tied up in that, it’s probable that a slightly darker, more self-reflective—and transformative—tone is waiting for us in regards to season 5 Mike.

➠ Track 2 | What You're Doing

A simple song about a turbulent relationship where one person is unhappy because their partner is messing them around, and they're pleading with them to stop.

Look what you’re doing, I'm feeling blue and lonely / You got me running and there's no fun in it / Please stop your lying, you've got me crying, girl

The partner is the one holding control in the situation, while they feel at the mercy of their partner’s careless choices. The mood here is one of helplessness and desperation while still remaining open-hearted, hoping they’ll change.

I've been waiting here for you wondering what you're gonna do / If you should need a love that's true it’s me / Why should it be so much to ask of you what you're doing to me?

• • •

This is heavily M!Ieven coded. What do we know about their dynamic? Mike is always the one chasing El (trying to “win her back” in s3, terrified of her not needing him in s4, stressing about her being in danger all the time). El is consistently seeking autonomy (choosing to learn about her identity over pursuing romance with him in s2, choosing to break up with him in s3, choosing to leave him behind in s4, and I’m willing to bet she’s the one who removes herself from his storyline in s5). We know their separation will happen early season, and naturally things between them must be unstable leading up to this. El being the one to pull away while Mike stresses over it checks out considering these past patterns, and also the end of s4 with her already closing herself off while Mike appears at a loss.

➠ Track 3 | After The Earthquake

A song reminiscing on a relationship and the failure and death of it, with a sense of lingering nostalgia and unwillingness to let it go. It’s set to the backdrop of a metaphorical car crash.

It wasn't built to last / If you wake up you’ll remember the awful things I said / Looking back to the vibrant days / Those days I'd never let you fall apart but things fade / Why would I ever fall in love again when every detail’s over the guard rail? / Velvet curtains drawn, flowers at your feet / Say you’ll climb your way out of your wake now / Are you awake now?

• • •

In simpler terms…this is a break up song. The longing tone makes sense to me for M!Ieven because I’ve long suspected the initial split between them is not going to be super clean cut (this should make more sense later). Mike and El were together for a long time for their age, and have a lot of intense shared memories. El was also his first and only experience of relationships; it’s going to be difficult to detach. It being the right decision to end something doesn’t mean it’s easy or simple. Even if Mike is gay and didn’t truly like her romantically, he still loved her and in my opinion that distinction isn’t something he’s going to have figured out and made peace with the second it ends.

➠ Track 4 | Promises I've Made

Very straightforward and repetitive, and follows on seamlessly from the last song: this is about having trouble moving on from someone who’s left your life.

Ever since you have gone the days don't seem so bright and I wish I could forget you but I can’t / I have promised myself I wouldn't dream of you but I find that awful hard sometimes to do

• • •

Based on what I’ve seen people might fight me on this, but to me it’s M!Ieven coded mainly because of its positioning in the playlist (directly after a struggling relationship song + break up song) but also because it is technically about an ex love. Could we say it doesn’t need to be interpreted that specifically? Yes. I suppose it could be Byler coded too but personally...the way I would interpret it is as Mike moping over whatever happened with El. There’s not any intense emotional pining going on; if you listen it has a very laid back, chill sort of mood and is honestly very upbeat. There’s no deep heartbreak. It’s just about missing someone. Plus it sort of perfectly closes out the process we see over the last two songs of being unhappy with someone, to breaking up and grieving, to the typical post-break up struggle of navigating this hole in your life and naturally missing what once filled it. This is a whole sub-arc for Mike.

➠ Track 5 | Angst In My Pants

We’ve reached the gay section! This song is about trying to fit yourself into an acceptable—aspirational, even—life but never feeling content, and continuously trying to squash this troubling Feeling, the titular phrase: angst in (your) pants. Some people think it’s a reference to literal physical arousal but others including me think that in context it’s intended more as a metaphor for sexual frustration/dissatisfaction.

I hope it doesn't show, it'll go away / It's just a passing phase / When you’re all alone, you and your head / When you think you’ve made it disappear it comes again, hello, I’m here and I’ve got angst in my pants

The queer subtext here is very clear, I don’t think I even have to explain (check out the cover art too lol). The song closes with a realisation/acceptance that no, this “phase” won't ever go away i.e. it’s just who you are.

Give it a hundred years, it won't go away

I also thought one of the opening verse lines was an interesting segue from the last few songs:

But when you’re all alone and nothing bites you’d wish you stayed at home with someone nice

• • •

Angst In My Pants may aswell be titled Forced Conformity the thematic parallels to ST are that blatant. Another point for team Mike Wheeler actually is connected to the main themes of the show like all his other friends, and no it’s not because he’s somehow oppressed for being a nerd. Also rather than being about feelings for another person the song is about personal struggle with sexuality which excites me to think about in relation to Mike because we’ve been saying he needs to explore his own identity outside of being a love interest.

➠ Track 6 | The Better Side

A very sweet, slow, slightly melancholy song. I’ll be honest I cannot decipher more than 2/3 of the lyrics but here are the most meaningful ones of those I could:

I know you cry and I’m trying to keep you by my warmth

You’re never gonna see my eyes, you’re coloring all the skies you want to / I tried staying alive, keep my head on the better side when you’re far away

You’re on the better side you’re always the better one for me

You’re all that I need, I’m not gonna miss you anymore

My understanding is it’s about pining over someone who is a “better” choice, whatever that means in this context. Deciding you want someone, someone who you don’t currently have, someone who is maybe distracted, distant or physically absent? But vowing to change that because you recognise that you need them.

• • •

This directly follows the Gay Thoughts song, and precedes the Gay Thoughts song 2.0 so I feel safe interpreting it as Byler coded and about how it’s Mike’s turn to pine. (Also because “better” implies that there’s a “worse” i.e. this is a situation where you’re differentiating between two things i.e. in Mike’s case, Will vs El). I can envision Mike and Will getting moments together away from whatever chaos is surely going on, having the space to connect more where Mike starts becoming conscious of his feelings, realising slowly that Will is the “better” one for him. And as the song also suggests, perhaps Will has pulled away from him in the beginning. I think this is possible because the torment Will's likely going to endure from Vecna could understandably cause him to push Mike away, fearing his safety or him finding out how Will feels, and also I just don’t think he’ll be able to stand the pain of being M!Ieven’s couple’s counsellor for much longer without cracking. But I think Mike “it’ll be easier if we’re a team” Wheeler would make it his mission to fix any rift between them, the final line literally being I’m not gonna miss you anymore.

➠ Track 7 | Don't Ask Me To Explain

As far as I can tell, this song is about being afraid to face queer feelings for another person who is also hiding this about themselves, and being conflicted about whether to confess because you're not sure how they feel.

How will I ever know you enough to love you if you're hiding who you are? / How am I supposed to let it show when I don't even know? / Don’t move on without me, who will be watching my body when I sleep? / I don't want to be the one who's coming out first, I'd really like to but I'm just too shy

The end is an admission of…something. I’m not sure whether to interpret it as wishful thinking over this queer relationship you believe you can’t have, or as an offhand comment about forcing yourself to love someone you can’t because of your sexuality. Interesting either way:

It’s so easy to lie to myself and pretend that I could love you but I can't

I did do some research and the alleged true explanation of this song is it’s from one queer friend to another (man to woman, I assume both closeted, maybe a failed romance?) but I could only find one uncited source for that and everywhere else seems to agree with my interpretation so it seems when listening to the song that’s the story people hear. (Plus either way the song is about being queer. Undeniably so).

• • •

It’s not Byler coded we’re way past that, it literally just…is them. It does seem to suggest a level of internal conflict in Mike regarding coming out that I can’t say I expected (yes I have no doubts about canon Byler but I’m also a pessimist by nature—that should tell you how obvious their endgame is though lmao—so I assumed the Duffers would go wrong somewhere). I always thought he would be almost consciously clueless about himself until he finds out Will loves him, and the focus be more on him liking Will back rather than him liking boys (and obviously wasn’t a fan of that), but the prospect of Mike actually being aware and grappling with his sexuality is what we’ve been praying for and builds on the more low-level thrum of sexual confusion in Angst In My Pants. Oh and the song also could suggest Mike suspecting that Will likes him/is queer too before anyone confesses.

➠ Track 8 | What Do You Want Me To Do?

Another straightforward one. It’s quite angsty, a big contrast to the more sad feelings about a relationship from the earlier songs. This is about someone who left you for someone else/someone who walked out on you, who decides they want you back.

You walked out took your chance, turned your back on our romance / You said the change would do you good / But then the bubble burst your dream, turned into a nightmare scream / You came crawling to me your knees, and you were asking me to love you please

The main message of the repetitive chorus is basically: you want me to need you, but that’s not real love. You’re just using me to feel better about yourself.

What do you want me to do? Say that I need you more? Is that what real lovers do? Or only what you use me for?

• • •

I mean isn’t that last part how we’ve always described M!Ieven’s dynamic—all about aligning with the other’s needs whether for safety, validation or feeling ‘normal’, rather than genuine romance? I don’t think there’s any chance at all of El leaving Mike for someone else lol, as I said I don’t think we need to interpret these songs super specifically. But it does make me wonder: could we possibly see a moment of regression for El at some point in the season, after they separate? The focus here in my opinion is frustration at someone trying to re-enter your life when you know they don’t truly love you. Reflecting on their dynamic I talked about with earlier songs and their history in the show (El walking away, Mike scared to lose her), is it possible the break up could leave Mike struggling initially then he progressively understands why it was the right choice (especially after spending time with Will), meanwhile for El it’s the opposite—she’s more sure about breaking up but something happens later on that shakes her belief in herself. Her having one last hurdle to overcome in her dependency on Mike to finally break that pattern of hindering her growth by retreating to him could make sense. And based on this song…Mike would not be receptive to being El’s safety net. Growth for both of them.

➠ Track 9 | Substitute

Again, very angsty compared to earlier. It’s about a relationship characterised by false perceptions (focused on class), and those being what is holding it together. One partner is pretending to be something they’re not, cosplaying as someone else, and the other is also being dishonest/fake.

You think we look really good together / My fine looking suit is really made out of sack / The simple things you see are all complicated / Substitute your lies for fact / I see right through your plastic mac

The relationship breaks down because of this and their partner doesn’t truly want to fix things, and ultimately trades up.

Those crocodile tears are what you cry / It’s a genuine problem, you won’t try to work it out at all, you just pass it by / Substitute me for him / Substitute my coke for gin

Essentially: your partner not knowing the real you because you’re putting on a facade—the facade being the version of you they really like, the thing that was making you compatible—leads the relationship to fail. The literal title suggests neither of them as they are are what the other truly wants or needs.

• • •

Obviously this does not directly parallel M!leven in terms of the topic of the lying but in terms of the themes and core relationship issues…yeah. To me this could be about point Mike has reached after gradually coming to realisations about the nature of their relationship after it’s over, like I mentioned before. I can envision a mid-late season confrontation (or something less aggressive sounding lol) between them, pairing perfectly with the topic of the previous song. El scared trying to fall back on Mike and he’s like…no, we don’t work, I can’t be that for you anymore and this is why: betraying who he is (nerd) to impress her, trying so hard to play the “boyfriend” role (yet they never successfully emotionally connect), if he’s gay then there’s also the facade of straightness, etc. I think it would show a lot of emotional maturity from him honestly, and I really need him to have a strong grasp on what went wrong with El for them to have a shot at forming a healthy friendship, and also to psychologically process all that stuff before getting involved with Will.

➠ Track 10 | The Rebel Kind

A short song about life being tough when you don’t have much (this one is class-focused too), but still craving the freedom that comes from not following societal rules and pressures for how to do life “right”, and instead living on your own terms. Basically the struggle is worth not having to conform. The first verse sums it up pretty well:

They call us the rebel kind but they don’t understand the things a man must do to prove that he’s a man / It’s not easy but I don’t mind, I just wanna run with the rebel kind

• • •

Again, obviously the specific topic is not relevant to ST but the thematic parallels blew my mind, I mean the entire show is about people being outcasts and learning to find strength in that, and the final season is going to majorly drive that point. We know this from the fact that Will “being different” Byers is the one who’s arc is said to tie up the whole show. Now in regards to Mike…if this doesn’t scream forced conformity and deciding to reject it for your own happiness I don’t know what does. It perfectly captures the thematic end point of his arc next season (and not just his but probably the entire party’s in one way or another). Also the toxic masculinity reference in that one line applies heavily to Mike with his history of trying so hard to do what he thinks he supposed to do in going from boy to man i.e. We’re not kids anymore. Did you think we were never gonna get girlfriends?

➠ Track 11 | Block Rockin’ Beats

Another one I think is mainly to set a tone; no real lyrics just beats. In my opinion it comes after The Rebel Kind for a reason. Somehow it just makes sense, it’s got this really loud, frenzied, unrestrained energy to it.

➠ Track 12 | Just What I Needed

We end off with a love (or desire?) song. It’s interesting because it’s quite aggressive sonically but at the same time it talks about being with someone in a simple uncomplicated way:

I don’t mind you coming here and wasting all my time / I don’t mind you hanging out and talking in your sleep

…but it’s also very intense how you feel with them.

Cause when you’re standing oh so near I kinda lose my mind

There’s a repeated line that stuck in my head. It’s obviously written about a female subject, but there is such a rejection of the feminine going on:

It’s not the perfume that you wear, it’s not the ribbons in your hair

It’s saying those feminine attributes are not why this person is attractive—and yeah logically that means the subject must have those things, but as I’ve said I don’t think these songs need to be interpreted on such a specific level. The point being made is about a deeper connection. The line is just intriguing to me from the perspective of Mike being into boys, I mean he could’ve picked literally any other romance song.

I needed someone to feed / I needed someone to bleed / I guess you’re just what I needed

The message here is basically: I was craving the rawest form of connection/intimacy with another human being (that doesn’t have to necessarily mean sexual it’s just those visceral words feed, bleed in comparison to perfume and ribbons which sound very fluffy lol)…and now I’ve found you and it’s exactly what I was looking for.

• • •

With all the themes through the songs of rejecting fake relationships and conformity, and accepting and exploring queerness…Will Byers is obviously going to be the thing Mike needed. I’ve been saying (and so have many) but Byler isn’t happening till the end. Also the playlist finishing with this song is telling in my opinion. Aside from the Castle Byers Classics link, the title itself implies searching for something which is now found, a journey being over. I say this for the purposes of pushing my agenda about this playlist painting a narrative. Hear me out:

Personally……that’s not accidental. It just isn’t. Even if my more specific interpretations aren’t correct, I just cannot believe that this wasn’t curated to draw a particular picture. I believe in coincidences and if the playlist had been titled as it was with a bunch of random unconnected irrelevant songs I’d be the first person to file it under that. But the title and the inclusion of a song from Will’s official playlist and these specific songs in this specific order? Yeah it’s about s5 Mike and I cannot wait to see him! If you made it this far thanks for reading <3

[raceweek]

hello. alexalblondo's rude anon coming here to humbly and politely beg for galex primer because i dont understand their history. george said he lived at alex's family's house at one point? how - weren't they already racing? sorry thank you humble thank you 🙏🙏

hello!!! thanks chris for the referral FKFJDKD

i have overwhelmed my alex and george tags so much that i fear i could never capture all of it but my galex key moment anthology is under the cut!!

karting/early single seaters

Alex thinks they met in 2011 but the footage in georges flip phone says he knew alex back in 2009.

Their first actual interaction (so far as they've told the world) was when alex was world champion with the intrepid karting team and bc he was their reference driver he was asked to help pick the drivers who were quick to replace him when he moved up and he picked george (and charles) so they were then part of that same intrepid driver programme for a while. Interestingly, alex was always at least one year above him bc of their ages and george says the fact they didn't really race directly against each other before 2016 was probably why they became such good friends.

They did a deep dive of their camera rolls from this time on twitch a couple years back and talked about the oldest pictures they have of each other in their camera rolls (1:25:36) which was cute.

2017

2017 is the year george basically lived with alex. They were also sharing a trainer whilst alex was competing in gp2 and george was in gp3. George was doing mercedes sim work at their factory so rented a flat in milton keynes near where alex lived but according to alex that rent was wasted money bc george had more meals at alexs' house than he did that year. Also as detailed in those links, the Great Mountain Biking Incident of 2017 occurred at this time so we have the fun mental image of george literally wheeling alex into a&e on a wheelchair bc that is an actual event that happened.

2018

George and alex both in f2 fighting for the title year wooooo!! They never really fought on track but we did get fun tidbits like when alex pipped george to the win at silverstone bc george had a slow pit stop and giggled about it in parc ferme (5:42) & these post session interviews.

also some incredible photoshoots.

2019

Promotion to f1!!! We started the year at winter testing and this nugget that they have both accepted that they are actually tied together by the strings of fate. They're doing fun media stuff like karting and bullying each other over percentage of apexs hit at the skypad (video). 2019 also the start of the umbrella sharing. They were just together a lot… more skypad analysis!!!

2019 also has MY personal favourite galex moment which was hockenheim 2019 and the 45 minute phone call galex had on the way home after george missed out on scoring what would have been his first point in f1 and only point of the season.

There was also the summer break and enjoying a training camp together, exchanging infections etc. Alex also took george to meet lily for the first time, bc that’s a normal thing to do.

There was also the rookie of the year vid, and the rookie season review vid at the end of the year. Much was happening.

2020

The year started with f1 trying to race during a global pandemic. Fun! On the singular media day before everyone realised just how stupid that was they were being annoying. The lockdowns did give us the twitch streams. George was initially so bad at virtual racing he had to secretly consult alex's brother for help behind alexs back. George was also actively seeking alex out like a missile at any given opportunity and at one point felt necessary to declare that he wasn't alexs boyfriend when someone asked if alex was going to be streaming that day. Anyway my lockdown twitchscapades tag has a post with a playlist of all the streams that haven't been lost or deleted if you want to feel joy and have a spare million hours.

Racing resumed in July with the covid team bubbles and within two races and one qualifying session george was defending alexs honour to sky sports and the world in a truly remarkable fashion.

At the end of the year alex was unemployed....even more tragic than this loss was that alexs career difficulties were so extreme he started ghosting george, which devastated him to the extent he needed to publicly drag him for it.

There was also george asking lily to post alexs n*des on instagram and lily responding with if anyone has them it would be you which was perhaps the last time george had access to his own social media password.

Despite george not liking it they celebrated alexs first podium by going golfing! and reverse! George was also gifted an alex albon signed autograph card for christmas and said that he'll put it somewhere special x

2021

The beginning of 2021 was during lockdown and there was more fun virtual gps except the only two drivers doing it were george and alex so they were just bitching and gossiping and threatening to steal strategies and abu dhabi 2016 each other. Particular shoutout to the time they had a virtual race on valentines day and alex put a suit on for it and george was baffled. Immediately after valentines day was georges birthday which lily used to thank george for letting her borrow his boyfriend from time to time.

Then the season started with george enduring the season alexless and not letting anyone forget about it. Alex was turning up to races after being locked in the simulator until the early hours posting stuff like this on instagram and otherwise stumbling over his words after getting whipped on the ass.

Perhaps the defining moment of the galex 2021 season was george pushing the williams board to sign alex so heavily that they had to actively shut him out of proceedings. Also at this time there was this cute congrats from alexs family and one from alex to georgie about the mercedes seat.

anyway here's some more random 2021 nuggets:

i've seen him topless a few times

george getting alex a good deal on a merc x

yet More golf

the handover

georges driver room

2022

They truly lost every inch of personal space in 2022 like. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. The back signing Hello.

2022 had alex having his appendix out, nearly dying and alexs family updating george whilst alex was in the icu and then when alex returned for the next race in signapore a couple weeks later (insane behaviour) george was like mmm audacious of him to be here.

Elsewhere alex discovered georges photoshoot and was making screensavers about it. Alex also discovered hair dye and george was making instagram stories about it.

other random 2022 nuggets:

george is alexs fave f1 driver excluding himself

this skit williams did of lily finding a huge picture of george in alexs driver room

whatever this image is of lily george and alex

private plane carpool

double date

2023

@onadarklingplain covers the whole year for you much MUCH better than i ever could here!!!!!

and that brings us to present where they're just as weird and freaky with each other as ever!!!

[foone]

The way it works is it's a surgery to make you immune to a bullet.

Note, that's not the same as being immune to bullets. You're only immune to a single shot: if someone shoots you twice, you're dead.

You can take the surgery again, though. The only real limitation is that you gotta wait 2-3 weeks between each time. But if you've got the money and the time, you can be as bulletproof as you want.

It doesn't "refill", by the way. Often when the surgery is explained people think it's like "a bullet a day" or "you can get shot once a year" or whatever. Nope! Once you've been shot it's just like you never had that surgery to begin with. If you want to "refill" that immunity? You have the surgery again.

No, there's no upper limit to how many times you can go, that we know of at least. There's one guy in Florida who has made it "his thing" to get the surgery as often as he can. He's currently up to about 50. Obviously there's some people online who've said they're gonna shoot this guy and lower his "record", just to be countrary.

Anyway I'm sure there'd be people who have even higher numbers (anyone who has "getting shot" as a major occupational risk, ie, politicians, soldiers, cops, and anyone doing any kind of residental survey in rural areas), but they only invented the surgery like three years ago, it's just simple math: you can't do much better than that guy.

The invention of the surgery hasn't done much to decrease gun sales, though. I mean, there's been a slight increase in people buying guns with larger capacity, for what I'd consider obvious reasons.

I did see an article suggesting that in the long run it might end up increasing the sale of guns. See their analysis is that two factors are going to drive up gun ownership:

1. People will be more willing to shoot at trespassers and thieves and such, because it'll be more like a warning shot: if they have some immunity, it won't be murder. So far that hasn't really happened as not that many people have the surgery yet. Although it's spreading fast, only major cities have surgeons trained in it, and often waits for surgery can be months long.

2. Conversely, people are going to be more likely to break in and rob and trespass if they know they can't be shot dead for it, because they got the surgery. There'll be a minor uptick in home invasions and such and this'll cause a big predictable panic among middle class homeowners who are now terrified some hooligan is gonna break into their house to steal their iPads. Thus they go throw money at security systems and cameras and guns.

So who knows at this point. If the cost (in both time and money) comes down, maybe it becomes super common for people to be so effectively invulnerable to guns that there's really no point in owning one?

I do agree with the common consensus that this is going to drive a big increase in crimes committed with knives and such. Why take a risk that your target might be immune?

Which reminds me of another thing to clarify because sometimes people online get this very wrong: it's only for bullets! You are not immune to getting hit by a car or poisoned or set on fire. Don't walk into traffic or anything, jesus.

Oh one last thing: there is a blood test that can tell if you have immunity, but it can't tell how many times you've had the surgery. You gotta figure that out yourself: so ask your doctor, search your emails, something. Every day I'm hearing from healthcare workers saying someone came in to get the blood test and it had to be explained to them that we can't tell how much protection you have: only if it's there or not. And I feel like a fool for having to say this, but REMEMBER to subtract any times you've got shot! (if you have been) Obviously!

EDIT: In light of recent events, people are sharing this post and arguing about it a lot, but let me be clear: grazes and small cuts do not count! The exact dividing line is too complicated to explain here (look up "circulatory shock" on Wikipedia), but basically if you don't end up with a big hole in you, the shot doesn't trigger the immunity.

That's how it works: you could have an ear blown clean off, and you'd still not trigger an immunity. So please stop spreading that idiotic conspiracy theory that a former president didn't have any immunity. You can barely run a high-school without being required to have immunity to hold the position, because what if someone shoots you? Come on! Of course he has immunity.

For all we know he's got some prototype experimental shit they use on president's that got him up to 200 in a couple days. There's endless rumors of the DoD funding billions in black budget items to that sort of thing, because of course. Who wouldn't want a way to make bulletproof soldiers? You don't think the soviets are pouring even more into it?

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I'm a student about to start my second year, and me and all my friends are really nervous. It feels like first year was really rough for everyone all over the place and we're all really hoping for a better second year this year! Have lecturers been noticing that too? Do you think it's because of COVID?

Oh my god yes. Jesus yes. It's absolutely the covid effect, and we're expecting to see the disruption for the next five or so years, tbh - the current 18-21 year old undergrads went through the most important years of high school during a lockdown. That not only interrupted academic development (home schooling during a time of stress, massive disruption to exams and exam-taking skills, etc), it also enormously hit emotional development (mid to late teens have the highest socialising needs of the human lifespan, and no one could meet and interact with each other.) And that latter point is having a much bigger effect than the former.

Current undergrads haven't been able to develop the same resilience, the same approach to andragogic education, the same interpersonal skills for dealing with lecturers/fellow students. University is not like school; in school teachers are giving you the knowledge, and gradually encouraging you to try and use it to formulate your own opinions. In university, we're supposed to give you the framework to then go out and do you own research. The bulk of your education comes from you, not us; we're more like facilitators.

But, we're noticing that there's a far bigger skew now towards needing to get the answer right. Anxiety is higher, and so the fear of being wrong is much more crippling for these students, and that in turn means they're less willing/able to take charge of their own education and are more passive with it, wanting to just be fed the right answers so they can rote learn them and get the Good mark. And the disconnect between that and the reality of what lecturers are expecting is pretty big, it turns out, and is causing even more anxiety and stress. Record numbers of my students have started asking me to give their assignment drafts a quick look over, just to see if they're on the right track. Which, you know, I'm more than happy to do; but I do think it's a notable pattern change from three or four years ago.

If you're worrying on a personal level though, Anon, I have some Handy Tips if they're any use!

Remember: the idea of uni is that you are doing your own research and learning on the topics your lecturers describe. They're giving you the basics, but they're expecting you to look up examples, case studies, other research papers, etc. They want to see analysis. That's what gets you the good marks. If you simply describe the information you got in lectures and don't add anything, you'll struggle to rise out of a basic pass.

What's the fundamental point of your particular course? It's important to know this, because it'll tell you how to focus your assessments and exam answers. Just within the environmental sector, you could have Environmental Science (focus: academic exploration and research), Environmental Conservation (focus: applying the academic research to actual management and solutions), Environmental Impacts (focus: philosophy and ethics), etc. In all three, you might be given a paper about the latest IPCC report, but in the first you would focus on exploring all the research papers that formed the conclusion on climate change, in the second you'd focus on case studies around the world and the applicability/feasibility of the shared economic pathways that are going to fix the problem, and in the third you'd focus on the human impacts of both the problem and the proposed solutions. You may of course include elements of all of those, but your main focus should be chosen appropriately.

Keep your notes with copies of the lecture slides in nice ordered folders. Keep a bulleted list of the topics covered in each. This makes it far easier to go and double check the right info when you're stressed out

On that note, the best note-taking system is to add notes/comments to the lecture slides where you record clarifications and things the lecturer said (INCLUDING CASE STUDIES). Don't bother duplicating effort by writing what's on the slide.

I truly do know this is easier said than done, but don't leave your assignments until the last minute. Are you struggling with motivation? You need a study group. You need to body double.

And finally, the biggest: CONTACT STUDENT SUPPORT IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING. Every time I go to an exam board and we get to a student who has failed stuff, the first question the Academic Office asks is "Has this student been working with Student Support?" Even if they aren't that helpful in your uni, working with them means they know about the things you're struggling with, and that you've clearly been trying to work around the problems. That makes the Academic Office far, far more likely to take a lenient view of a student, rather than going "Well, clearly they just don't care then, withdraw them from the program." Your Student Support should be able to help you with counselling, study buddies, a support worker that can help you organise your time and interpret your assignment briefs correctly and give you interim deadlines, etc.

Oh, and remember to schedule in rest and downtime, just as much as study time.

And... honestly, you learned a lot in your first year. The learning curve is less steep in second year, even accounting for the academic rigour increasing. By now, you're basically used to things like referencing, routines, assignment formatting, etc. There are no more surprises, really. Now's the point you can get the bit between your teeth and run.

Anyway: good luck! And enjoy it as much as you can. University is hard, no doubt about that, but it can and should be fun as well.

[boldlybrightsun]

Jay Love Language

Jay's love language would be physical affection and Gifting/Receiving gifts.

He is clingy. Read it again.

He will not shy away to shower you with physical affection.

Hugs, kisses, cuddles, rubs, pats, etc. He will attempt all forms of physical affection available on this planet.

He is the type of person who cannot keep his hands off his partner. He feels very happy and safe when he has one arm around you and even just toucing you in general. He can actually become really sad and very grief-stricken if he cannot touch you. (Yes he will legit start mourning if he cannot meet you or be with you)

Gifting and receiving gifts is so important to him!

It doesn't have to be expensive and most of the time it isn't. I apologize to all the Sugar Daddy Jay lovers lmao.

He will definitely spend on you but only if you're his wife or if he is really serious about the relationship.

Do not expect that treatment in the initial stages of the relationship is all I'm saying. Moving on..

The type of gifts he loves to give would be something special for you and you only like composing a song for you, writing a poem or drawing something. Basically anything creative.

He genuinely prefers that you do the same and give him something really personal. Remember that Taurus sign is ruled by Venus and Venus not only stands for material stuff but art too.

Now, I'm not saying he wouldn't prefer material stuff, he definitely would, but he is someone who knows exactly what he wants if you're trying to impress him with material stuff I bid you good luck. Unless you really know what he likes personally it might actually be really hard to please him in terms of gifts.

He is the type to share his food with you and take you out to places he deems worthy enough for you to visit. He wouldn't let his s/o eat at just some place and would do thorough analysis on whether you would like this place or not. He is one of those people who always says stuff like "Wow this place is nice I'm going to bring my s/o here" much to the dismay of the other members who came with there lol.

Elaborating more on the above point, he cannot shut up about you for the love of God. My s/o did this, went there and looked like this, blah blah. Will not shut up to other people about you. Your biggest supporter.

Though he might not agree, he is very good at consoling people when it is required. If you want him to answer what would he do if you became a worm, sorry, he will say he'll throw you out.

Jay Love Language MTL

Physical Affection == Giving / Receiving Gifts

Quality Time == Acts of Service

Words of Affirmation

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Prince Soma: possibly being the key that causes Ciel to have a conflict with Sebastian?

I don't know if im the first one to notice how Anime!Abberline and manga! Prince Soma have some very striking parallels when it comes to their relationship to O!Ciel, which made me realize a few things.

First of all, I do think that some concepts of season 1 in general do parallel to the manga. Here's an excellent analysis on the topic if you want to dive deeper on that area.

Alright, let's start with me drawing some parallels to make this analysis more digestable, and then explaning how this will theoretically give us a conflict between the demon butler and our petty child.

Basically, Abberline drawing the similarties with our earl due to a shared trauma/tragedy: They both lost their families, but one learned to heal from the event, and the other completely refuses to accept happiness. (guess who's who, lol)

Fundamentally, O!Ciel is creating a hypothetical comparassion: If he hadn't gone through his personal tragedy, then he would've been as naive and innocent as Soma.

Something to consider about this parallel: The narrative in both cases textually highlights the similarities between Ciel and Abberline/Soma.

O!Ciel saying he only needs pawns, and that he has no time to have real emotional connections with people.

O!Ciel saying he uses people as pawns and doesn't see Soma as a friend, he doesn't need him by his side.

Notes to take here:

In both of these instances, o!Ciel refueses to form real human connection.

Both of these convesations spark up due to confrontation about o!Ciel's true intentions and nature.

His face is turned on both scenes/pannels, making us question how genuine o!Ciel's words are.

"Keep your distance from me, or you'll get killed" - Ciel to Abberline, season 1 episode 20

o!Ciel explicitly stating why he kept Prince Soma at arms lenght. He didn't want him and Agni to get hurt/killed in result of their closeness to our earl.

Things to point out:

o!Ciel's entire reason to push people away is because he doesn't want them to get hurt, so his earlier refusal to cut ties with others is due to fear and hestiance to accept love.

Abberline got hurt because of his relationship with o!Ciel, likewise with Soma. Causing our earl to display emotional reactions in both cases, demostrating he does care for the people close to him.

While Abberline ended up dying due to his closeness to our earl, Soma did survive the attack in chapter 125, but a part of him died with Agni as shown in the image below:

Remember when o!Ciel said that he would've turned out like the prince if it weren't for the amount of abuse and grief he went through? Well, isn't it ironic that Soma is turning out exactly like o!Ciel after losing Agni: Turning his back to salvation, his heart longing for revenge after the injustice he was put through.

(I also want to point out, Yana had made a statement that Prince Soma was originally going to die instead of Agni, but changed her mind in respect for Agni's character.)

Now, lets run back to the title of this post:

"You do have a chance to move forward, to build a brand new future for yoursef. Don't ever forget that, promise, you won't." - Abberline, Black Butler season 1, episode 20

Before our dear investigator dies, he states that he wants o!Ciel to open up his world despite his desire for revenge.

How does this connect to Soma's resolve and his relationship to Ciel? Well...

Here, our prince boasts that he wants to become o!Ciel's "Agni." In other words, he wants to provide his friend with love and protection, creating a positive worldview for the earl, who continues to turn away from the light.

It's important to note that this was before Soma thought o!Ciel killed Agni! But of course, I feel like his initiaal intentions to help o!Ciel will come back when he finds out o!Ciel isnt the true killer. (also, Soma now has Agni's powers, so atleast physically, he already has his strenght that he will hopefully use to protect the ones around him.)

So, now what?

Anime!Abberline and Soma having a similar resolve for o!Ciel, as well as their relationship with him. (as if it isn't clear enough, Abberline died protecting o!Ciel, making the earl realize his own life has value).

Prince Soma has his back turned away from the light, and o!Ciel will witness this eventually. I think it's crystal clear that our earl wouldn't want the prince to make this decision, but wouldn't that make him doubt his own quest for revenge?

Circling back to Yana intending for Soma to die, there could be a chace for him to die while becoming o!Ciels "Agni", causing o!Ciel to realize how Soma died protecting him due to love and not bc of revenge, making him question everything about his own resolve??? Plus, if o!Ciel willingly gives his life now, then that would make Soma's sacrifice worthless.

There could be a slight chance, Prince Soma survives this whole ordeal, and completes his mission of protecting o!Ciel without dying. In this hypothetical, he would then decide to florish again and go back to india, which could give o!Ciel a similar relazation that maybe, his life is worth living, just like Soma's.

In the anime, Abberline's sacrifice causes our earl to truly question his contract with Sebastian, as well as his need for revenge.

This causes the demon to feel obvious anger towards his master. And throughout the following episodes, he desperately attempts to make the earl feel hopeless again. (he clearly doesn't want to lose the meal he has been working on for years).

In conclusion:

Theres plenty of textual evidence that Soma and the earl have lots in common, especially now that the prince lost someone and vows to get revenge.

o!Ciel and Soma's relationship with revenge as of now are in a similar stance, but Soma's initial idea of protecting o!Ciel and living for love instead of revenge will come in fruition soon enough.

What would be the point of having glaring obvious parallels, and not taking advantage of them to further create a long awaited conflict between the two main characters, additionally developing them?

Anyways, that's all I have to say folks! I hope you enjoyed my take and please, let me know your thoughts:)

[girlbossblackbeard]

S2 TRAILER ANALYSIS WITH 1 BILLION SCREENSHOTS

obligatory warning that this post is gonna be SOOOOOOOOOOOOO foolishly long and rambling with all my silly little theories and thoughts and if you ALSO have silly little theories and thoughts you should ABSOLUTELY share them here please!!!! we can clown so much harder when our cacophonous honking harmonizes!!!!!!!

NOW ONTO THE POST (putting it under a read more so tumblr doesn't literally explode):

-the revenge looks BUSTED AF: i don't know if this is from general disrepair when ed is in his kraken era or if she was in a battle but her sails are all dirty in the opening shot of the trailer, and later we see stede on her deck with tattered sails and ropes everywhere, AND i'm like 99% sure that the shot of buttons ziplining from one ship to another is him going from the Chinese warfleet ship to the revenge, which i'm guessing is essentially stuck bc the sails are so torn they would never be able to catch the wind strongly enough to move her. I also wonder if the shot of roach shooting a canon at something is him shooting a canon at her since we had all those allusions to her exploding from samba, vico, and david on twitter all those months ago

-stede's earring: he DOES NOT HAVE THE EARRING when we see him lying on the deck next to roach and sighing dramatically nor does he have it during his conversation with Olu about stede dumping him, but he DOES have the earring in later shots like the beach english fight and when he's talking about being a failure his whole life which means WE WILL GET TO SEE STEDE GET HIS EAR PIERCED!!!!!!!!!! we'll get to see him make the decision to look even hotter and who knows who does the piercing for him idk!!!!!! @sluterastede had a dastardly beautiful thought in her brain about ed giving stede the piercing and stede making groaning noises and izzy once again thinking they're flapping their jacks right there on the deck in front of god and everybody!!!!!

-stede is spilling his heart out ("i let him down. i should've just told him how i feel") to susan on her ship (you can tell it's her by the long hair)

-interesting that there's a drawing of a donkey next to ed's wanted poster considering s1 had the line "a rich donkey is still a donkey". also i can't really read what the surrounding posters say other than "WANTED 20 GUINEAS". is this in the republic of pirates?

-stede says "i will find him" meaning ed may be actively avoiding stede at the beginning of the season???? (or the basic laws of travel physics have finally caught up to them)

-"look, captain, you know blackbeard's gonna murder you" i just think it's interesting that Olu is referring to him as blackbeard again even though ed told everyone in his pink robe era to call him ed. like it makes sense that he'd say blackbeard considering ed is on a rampage but it just made my brain wheels start spinning

-the Kraken crew are eating cake :)

-ed is holding a torch while letting the storm rain down on him: i don't think the laugh we hear is his because i don't think his mouth is even open during that slow-mo shot

-STEDE with a TEAR in his EYE as he says "i think i hurt him pretty bad"

-ed sobbing on the floor while the little bride cake topper is next to his head

-ed choking on the weed smoke i'm ACTUALLY crying, but also: where the fuck is ed when he's sitting in the chair smoking??? i thought it was on deck at first bc above his head is really dark and it looks like the lanterns we see on the deck of the revenge but there's a chandelier too?? it might be whatever shop Anne Bonny and her friend "you two know each other?" run bc behind ed in that chair is just a bunch of random furniture and a chandelier like we see when ed and stede are at the market. in fact, i think ed is smoking with Anne Bonny because I think that's her hand in the corner of that shot:

-"no more booze, no more drugs, and no more _____" not sure what the end of that sentence could be but we know that the "stede" that was put in there is NOT what he actually says!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-"you two know each other?" now hold on a sec because it kinda sounds like stede met Anne Bonny and Co. separately from Ed/before that market scene (maybe in the teaser clip of Anne on Stede's lap??) WHAT IF WE GET THE AITA SCENARIO WHERE ED AND STEDE TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THEIR VERSION OF EVENTS AND NO ONE REALIZES THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT EACH OTHER UNTIL THAT MOMENT BC THEY'RE BOTH SO BIASED ABOUT ONE ANOTHER

-the evil guy definitely got his nose sliced off by Jackie. good for her :D I also don't think the evil guy is Hornigold, i'm still holding onto my theory that the man in the white rags we saw in the teaser and this trailer is hornigold's "ghost" that ed needs to contend with to find his inner peace or whatever a la stede with nigel's "ghost". but i DO think the evil guy is the rich prince dude from that leaked audition tape from rhys's friend. if memory serves, the guy wants to buy his way into the pirate lifestyle but he's pompous and entitled which makes him reckless. based off the production stills we also got today, he still had a nose when he went into Spanish Jackie's...but i don't think he leaves with one. so because he gets butthurt over invading a space that was NOT meant for him and faces the consequences of purposely disobeying their customs, he defects to the english navy and goes on a rampage against all piracy, very MRA energy :/ also, later izzy says to him "you don't know the first thing about piracy" which would further support that this guy just tried to buy his way in

-izzy gets an honest-to-god pegleg but he doesn't start the season off with it because we see him in several shots with both legs, like the wedding raid and swordfighting stede on the beach. unsure if he loses it due to infection from the toe situation or if he gets shot in the knee like i've seen some posts talk about, but @sluterastede mentioned that one of the leaked audition tapes for archie included dialogue about an amputation so maybe that character has to uh. Get Her Roach On

-as i mentioned before with the teaser analysis, izzy is clearly training stede for something and now im guessing it's the english but like we kinda knew that !

-olu is in a bar fight??

-THE "ED GETS CAUGHT IN A BUCKET ON A ROPE DURING THE STORM AND GOES OVERBOARD" THEORY IS OUT. THE "ED TIES HIMSELF TO A MF BIG ASS ROCK AND JUMPS OFF A GOD DAMN CLIFF TO GO ON SOME SOUL-SEARCHING JOURNEY UNDER THE SEA" THEORY IS IN. and what the FUCK is the rag man doing with ed up on that cliff hello?????? if my theory is correct and that is in fact hornigold's ghost or whatever, what advice or harmful shit is he saying that makes ed do that?????????????????????? but do note the large rock with the rope around it in the first pic

-the revenge crew is blowing up SOMETHING on the side of a building. maybe to cause a distraction or gain access inside the building? is it the side of Spanish Jackie's?? also hiiiiiiii lucius <3

-"our entire escape relies on this" i'm just assuming they're trying to escape from the english bc that seems to be the Big Bad of the season??

-not plot related but during the rope swinging training session izzy slaps stede on the ass and makes this face (sir??????):

>he also has his pegleg here so their mentorship may ramp up after izzy is out of commission for hand-to-hand combat. maybe izzy was supposed to have a larger fighting role alongside ed in defeating the english but once he became incapacitated he realized he would need to train someone else up for the job so ed would be sufficiently protected. but it also had to be someone izzy knew would be willing to die for ed to save his life if it came to that, just like izzy would

-"i've been a failure my whole life. it's not so bad once you get used to it" is stede talking to ed here? is that ed's hair in the corner of the frame??

>side note: as mentioned above, stede also has his earring by this point!!

-"you're going through that 'if i was a regular dude' phase" first of all, SPANISH JACKIE AND EDWARD TEACH BEST FRIENDS TRUTHERS RISE UP. second, why would ed be considered a regular dude now?? how did he lose his reputation? did he willingly give it up or was it taken from him? is this permanent or just temporary? or did he fake his own death with the cliff and the rock thing so he could retire and live a more normal life?? the swede doesn't seem scared of him at all in the final clip from the trailer, straight up asking him if he's poor and going "back to basics". of course, that could just be a power trip from being one of Jackie's newest husbands (or at least her waitstaff)

-possibly totally minor/just a continuity error thing, but: ed has a red ring. we saw it in s1 as he picks up the rather fine cashmere and we see it as ed dramatically drapes himself across the ship's helm with his head on his hand. we do not see it in the scene where he's smoking (see above) or the scene where he's talking to the rabbit. now, if you'll allow me a little bit of clownery for a moment, red has been explicitly coded in this show to be a symbol of love/the heart, especially as it pertains to edward like his red silk scarf as a metaphor for his heart in s1. what if. what if he. gave the red ring (his heart) to. SomeOne. because.....................because his heart belongs to st--[GUNSHOTS]

-olu, jim, and archie with garlic around their necks and making a cross with their fingers - clearly they think someone is a vampire on the ship. @sluterastede proposed it could be izzy, especially if he's on the brink of death due to an infection and frenchie managed to spread his superstitions to other people on the ship!

-THIS FUCKIN GUY. WHO ARE YOU??? it seems like he kidnaps stede and his crew and throws a party on the ship and drugs the drinks which is why everyone is kinda tripping/laughing in some parts. but then everyone gets tied down (stede to the mast, wee john's hands get squished, olu and roach's heads get squished, and jim and archie's feet get secured to the ship's railing i think??). also that wide shot is definitely the rando dude hitting some shrill high note at the same moment the revenge crew cry out in pain from all the squishing (except maybe jim and archie - they might just be laughing at the others bc they're badasses and this pain is nothing). also don't know what the guy is looking at when we first see him but im thinking maybe it's a wanted poster of stede and he's looking at the description of the gentleman pirate to confirm it's the dude right in front of him/that he's captured?? also i think roach is wearing flowers from the drug party in his apron when he fires that canon, so maybe he's tripping too and shoots a canon?? i need a prayer circle for the revenge's safety at this time

-stede has a bullet hole???????????????? did ed fucking shoot him in the heart?????????????????????????? he also notably does NOT have the earring in this scene but he does have the sexy stiddies (blue) shirt like we see in the other shot where he DOES have the earring. maybe this weirdo dude pierces stede's ear bc he thinks stede needs to look more piratey?? or stede gets absolutely sloshed (or drugged) and gets his ear pierced idk !!! maybe jim does it bc they're effortlessly cool and has a bunch of ear piercings!!!

-idk if this is a coincidence or not but i'm pretty sure stede in his training scenes with izzy is wearing the clothes he wore in that final shot of s1 as he rows to find the crew on the island (white linen shirt, dark pants, brown belt and boots). so either costume changes are happening later in the season, they're reusing outfits like normal people do, or the training montage happens extremely early on in the season

-so originally with the teaser trailer i thought ed falling in the water was followed by the shot of ed coming out of the water on the beach. i don't know if i fully believe that anymore because ed is NOT wearing his jacket on the cliff (see above), but he IS wearing it as he comes up out of the water, so either it's two different events and ed just spends a lot of time in the water this season or he puts his jacket on before jumping off the cliff

-ed his holding his right side as he slashes that dude on the beach so he definitely got hurt in battle but i hope it's not him getting stabbed bc ur supposed to cleverly take the sword on the left where all the unimportant bits are :(((

-I VERY STRONGLY BELIEVE that the person in the scene where stede turns around and shoots his gun into the air and everyone else on deck suddenly draws their weapons against that person is our boy lucius!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he's wearing a beret?????????? @sluterastede proposed that lucius got picked up by the english navy after getting thrown overboard and that's why we see him in the english navy garb (which we later see frenchie in too?? i believe an infiltration fuckery is afoot). also the fact that the shot immediately after this one is of Black Pete doing a happy little fist pump which i'm choosing to interpret as a cute little easter egg symbolizing Pete gets reunited with his love. i also also also believe lucius is in the shot of buttons about to zipline from one ship to the other. i missed him :')

-okay i know i said in an earlier post that stede running across the beach was romantic but i changed my mind and i think izzy is just making stede do cardio as part of his training lol. his outfit matches the one he's wearing when swordfighting izzy in that earlier wideshot and i think he even still has the scarf belt and the full beard in both scenes (explained at the end of this post via production stills) so maybe they have an honest to god training montage that takes course over several days and we get an incredible 80s powerballad to play on top of it while stede thinks of ed to motivate him or whatever. david jenkins hire me to help write season 3 i have ideas

-i think jim is behind stede as he breaks into the weirdly religious room we saw in the teaser when stede punches that guy??

-ed is pretty bloodied in the shot of stede leaning over him and saying VERY worriedly "ed????" so my theory is that ed got hurt in battle or he was taken captive by the Chinese warfleet and stede was worried he was grievously injured. however, once ed comes to and realizes who's kneeling over him, he gets pissed and headbutts stede because he's still mad at him for breaking his heart, and maybe his hands are restrained/his body is too weak so he can't push stede away. or maybe they had to begrudgingly work together on some mission and stede fucked it up and ed got hurt so he's mad about that idk!! ALSO HE'S WEARING THE CRAVAT HELLO

-ed in buttons's shirt looking so PEACEFUL what the HELL. obviously it's from the same general time as him being in Spanish Jackie's when she's talking to him about being a regular dude and later when the swede asks him if he's poor addkjfajdfhlkefh i fucking love this show and its writing so much. but ed says "no, i'm just trying something different man >:/" so i wonder if this is ed at the end of s2 or if this is more towards the middle as he's still in the thick of his healing journey. maybe buttons teaches ed about meditation and/or the tai chi he practiced with the Chinese warfleet crew??

-the BTS production still of ed with his "trust no one" tattoo also features what i believe is the treasure chest we see jim carrying off the ship in the shot where fang is smashing two dudes' heads together!

-i also think the BTS production still of stede with the beard is early on in ep 1 because he has a full beard (that im hoping someone on the revenge bullies him into shaving off to the scruff we see in the rest of the promo materials) and ALSO because he's wearing a long red scarf around his waist, which we never see again in any of the other promo material - except, however, around his neck as a makeshift cravat:

>it's the same exact material and everything! my guess is he gets his ass handed to him in a fight (maybe against izzy??) and his scarf belt gets destroyed, so he repurposes the shredded fabric into his necktie

-there's literal gold bars in the background of this production still lmao the kraken crew got BUSY during ed's goth era

>speaking of, the fucking hair dye dripping down izzy's forehead in this production still:

*sad clown noises*

in conclusion:

WE'RE BACK BABEYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

anyway that's my second dissertation on less than 2 minutes of content that turned out to be quite literally 6 pages long :)

[l-in-the-light]

The most embarrassing series of posts about Lawlu you will ever read: edition Dressrosa (part 7)

The soap opera in sunny Dressrosa continues! Let's take a look at Luffy's turn to act overprotective!

Luffy protecting both Torao and Moocy never really gets old. Also look at the last image to the right, Luffy is doing his gatling, and I think it's the first time Law sees it. His eyes are hidden and I get the vibe he's actually impressed. I mean, who wouldn't be, gatling is one of Luffy's coolest attacks :D Luffy's is unaware of course, too focused on his task.

The moment Law speaks up, no matter the chaos and screaming around, Luffy's attention is instantly directed fully towards him (the "Hmm?" bubble). That's how much he's interested in whatever Torao is going to say.

"I've braced myself for this" says Law, and Luffy is so confused by that statement. He doesn't realize yet that Law needs time to adjust or get ready mentally, especially since he's so stubborn. And sometimes he just needs a push. I think Luffy will remember this and use it later, never maliciously though, but to help Law open up to new friendships heh.

It took Law a really long time to actually reach his resolve to beat up Doflamingo as well. Luffy is listening closely. If you read my analysis of Luffy and Law's friendship, you know this is the moment when Luffy might be thinking "I already knew you wanted to punch him up as well".

Law is actually opening up here, it's only like two sentences but I bet it took him a lot to say it, that's how much he actually trusts Luffy. He just told him something he never really shared with people (with exception of Bepo, Penguin and Shachi). And Luffy's mesmerized face says it all. He didn't expect it, he's full of feelings, probably thanks to the trust Law shows here. Luffy never wants to hear about people's past, not even of his own crewmates, because he doesn't have to know anything to want to help them (though he occassionaly listens to his friends like Rebecca), but here it's different. He wants to know, he's interested in Law and his life, probably even his previous adventures.

And again, the very moment Law speaks up, Luffy turns to him to listen. Never ignoring him. Why would he, if Law returns the favour every single time as well? Those two never ignore each other.

Also this moment is funny when put into context, because it happens soon after the enemies were shooting at them, and I guess this is the moment Trafalgar Law finally declared "Nopes, I won't tolerate it any longer, uncuff me finally". Took him long enough.

Luffy here is like "You worry too much, this is an adventure, remember?", because Luffy said something similar back on Sunny when Law worried and it worked that time, so he did basically the same here. He doesn't like Law to worry so much. Sadly, that did not work this time around, I wonder why hm. Luffy clearly smiles here for Law, to cheer him up, he wasn't really smiling before, instead he was constantly in his serious mode.

Law meanwhile worries his ass off again, realizing this can't go on forever like this (he is kinda right about it). This might be also the moment Luffy realized that Law likes to overworry, but Luffy doesn't mind. Law might be way too serious, worry all the time and complain, but for Luffy he will still be the coolest person in the world. He accepts him just the way he is and likes him for that. It's the same for all Luffy's crewmates as well, so it's not that outstanding or exceptional here, but still heartwarming.

They're totally on same page here. One mind.

There's something special about Luffy picking up the snail that belongs to Torao and introducing himself as future king of the pirates <3

Luffy: I told you not to worry!

Law: How could I have not?!

Luffy even makes sure to ask Robin how they will reach them and he does it just so Law won't worry too much anymore. Normally Luffy wouldn't even bother asking something like that.

Law is probably relieved here. Still, he scolds Luffy for his carefree attitude.

Luffy caring more for Moocy and Law than himself here. Supports Law with his hand. No wonder, he carried him all the way through Dressrosa, he's probably very aware how weak Law is here so he's trying to help and support him as well.

Law's worry just went overdrive, because he realized Luffy is gonna put himself in a very dangerous spot. I guess he knows by now how much Luffy cares about people and animal companions.

Luffy looks like he's kinda supporting Law there with the hand on his arm, which probably reflects the title of this chapter "palm" (one of the two possible meanings, the other is the heart key in Doflamingo's palm). He's literally holding Law here in his "battle" with Mingo.

Even Doflamingo thinks Law became "softhearted". He mocks him for sticking with Luffy, but Law's not having any of that. He's sticking with his choice to the very end, even when Mingo tries to kill him right here and now, blaming Law for being weak and dying miserably like that. Law has no way of defending himself besides his words, but he already made his choice. If anything, I think the only regret he would have would be if Luffy died here together with him.

Luffy's also alright with this, he wouldn't do anything differently, because Luffy doesn't want to live with regrets anyway. If it means he's dying here with Law, then so be it.

They realized Mingo actually did save them just to mock them. They both feel extremely humiliated about it. Luffy doesn't even have to feel this way just for Law, but I think in large part he does. He didn't feel humiliated when he learned Kuma send Strawhats away to save them. He didn't feel that way either when Robin saved him in Alabasta, in fact he instead tried to thank her. But as long as Law has a grudge against Mingo, Luffy is not gonna say "thanks" to him no matter what. Sorry Mingo, you should have been nicer to Law.

Yeah, poor Law, can't even complain outloud (after all he did tell Luffy to leave Moocy behind so complaining about it now would be unfair) and it feels like he's too close to other people. This can't be comfortable knowing what we know about him.

Before Kyros hopped in, Cavendish was in front and Luffy in the back, and Law in the middle. When they rode Moocy it was the same, with Luffy in front, and Zoro in the back. They keep positioning Law in the middle to protect him.

Remember when Law was taken aback by Luffy's silly competitiveness and stubborness? Law's not even out of the cuffs yet but he's ready to compete in this field. To be fair, it's also because he wants again to keep Luffy out of trouble, but he's also just silly here with "Mingo is mine and mine alone to beat".

And the silly competitiveness continues on. Bargaining who has bigger grudge is very mature indeed. It's honestly funny how Law wants to protect Luffy but also doesn't want to look uncool or allow him to take all the credit. Those two are hopeless. This is even funnier because Law usually *doesn't* take credit. Luffy jumps on the bandwagon ofc just because he can (or he's still overprotective towards Law, isn't he?). He's probably secretly enjoying the fact he can actually compete with Law, no matter what it's about.

Luffy's concerned face here is also quite extraordinary. He worries because he feels responsible for protecting Law. Usually extra trouble doesn't even faze him. Now it does, but not because of himself, but for Law again. Those two really compete in overworrying about each other, don't they? Both afraid as much to lose the other.

Look, Luffy is directly in front of Law, protecting him with his body. Meanwhile Law has enough again, because he knows he could deal with that danger easily if not for the cuffs. He also wants to protect Luffy back after all. It shouldn't be strange he goes straight to business when Robin arrives, this is constantly on his mind: get rid of the cuffs so he can get rid of the enemies here. Law sometimes proves he also has a one-track mind, suspiciously often when it involves Luffy.

Again, they're on same page, matching each other's pace.

Luffy is with Rebecca exactly the same way Law was wtih Robin few moments ago. One-tracked mind again. Law probably reminded Luffy he can easily get rid of the enemies and Luffy is ready to bet on that.

Mirroring each other's tiredness with those huffs here. Luffy still looks pretty worried. Law meanwhile is putting up a confident front, maybe for Luffy to stop worrying over him. He would totally do something like that. Besides, he's just a show-off.

Same mind, again. No more fights over who will save the other! The determination is still there, tho.

Law tells Luffy to get moving and charges ahead first. But when Luffy stalls back to reassure Rebecca, Law isn't walking so fast anymore, he also changed the way he's carrying his sword. Most likely he stopped and waited for Luffy or walked slower, so that Luffy can easily catch up. If that's not a proof of him being actually a considerate person, then I don't know what this is. They agreed to do it together, so Law is just not leaving without Luffy. Luffy meanwhile runs to catch up to not make Law wait any longer.

"You never listen and toss yourself into trouble, Mugiwara-ya". I could swear he says it in his mind. Luffy's a bit confused, having flashback to Ace and I'm not sure if that's sweet or heartbreaking. After all Ace was the only person in Luffy's life who cared about him like that, worrying and covering up for him. Luffy's face is saying "this is oddly familiar", but he probably didn't realize yet that he just gained another person in his life who will treat him the same way from now on (or even has been already for quite a bit).

Luffy is so impressed with Law's powers. After all this is the very first time Law used it on Luffy.

Can I also just say that Law using his powers should be extremely intimidating: everything in his "room" is at his mercy and he can operate on objects and people in every possible way, but instead it's used here to show trust. Law wouldn't use his powers to harm Luffy, but he easily could have. He actually never uses his powers to hurt his allies and anyone asking him to shamble them shows trust in that. Of course Luffy wouldn't be concerned about this, because he knows and deeply believes Law to be a good person.

Law meanwhile completely refuses Luffy's compliment and instead throws it back at him "good thing you carried me so far away, I could save up my strength". Those two are insufferable like that, lol.

Luffy is so concerned when he hears Law making a painful noise <3 he's like "who hurt you?! Let me punch them!!" or "I hope you're not painful because of me!"

Plotting together their strategy against Mingo. Luffy is actually listening and trying to argue back, but not very effectively, judging from his expression. Law's resolve here can't be broken. Even Luffy can be taken aback by that. Besides, he again is in his "I don't want to disappoint Law" phase.

Both lowered their guard when a child approached them, ffs. And people would still doubt that Law never intended to hurt kids. He cares, it's just that sometimes he will discard that if someone else's life on the line Luffy's. But here? He's fully in his goody-goody self.

And here we go, facing Mingo together. What do you mean fighting side by side isn't a love confession??

Now it's time to go all crazy for the end of this post, all brakes are off! Let's talk about Law's coat here.

Yes, I did a picture case study, why do you ask?

Anyway, let's start from the left. We usually think that this symbol on Law's coat stands just for mockery of Doflamingo's jolly roger, right? But there are some things that don't truly fit. Why didn't Law just make it yellow? His own jolly roger is yellow, Doffy's jolly roger is yellow, yet the mocking symbol Law came up with is suddenly white? And why is yellow instead used only for the border of the circle? Doffy's jolly roger doesn't have an extra border like that. If Law wanted to just make it stand out more by using two different colors, then they should be reversed, right? The jolly roger yellow, the border white. And yet it's not. So it makes me think "yellow border" is an important detail.

And then I noticed that Bartolomeo also has a similar symbol on his back to Law's (on the right of the picture). An X with (his own, I presume) head over it. It kinda looks like a person doing a X pose. And Bartolomeo indeed does the X pose when he's excited over something, just look at him there. It could even refer to his setting up the barrier gesture, when he crosses his hands.

And yeah, that made me think... what if Law's symbol could be seen the same way? It's a person doing an X pose... with a strange yellow circle on his back. What could that be?

Yeah, I really wonder.

There is an image with Luffy doing an X pose with his strawhat off in previous picture for comparison. You can decide for yourself if this fits or not. It's basically a person doing a X pose with the strawhat dangling on the back. Now let's put it back on:

This is basically it lol. And "corazon" means heart, so yeah. Cheesy af.

Now let me quote you Oda from SBS to fill up any remaining blanks:

D: Question. On Law-san's coat, there is a logo that reads "corazan". Is this talking about the Cora-san that Law loves? Is Law's coat specially custom made?                                              

Oda: Yes. So, to be specific, the coat reads "Corazon (corazón)" rather than "Cora-san". In Spanish, this word means "heart". While this is in fact straight up Cora-san's code name, it can be said that there isn't really a problem with the captain of the "Heart Pirates" wearing this coat either. Even speaking ability-wise, Law is a "death surgeon" known with his unique skill of cutting people's' "hearts" out. While to society, it may seem like a symbol of fear and power, I'm quite positive that Law himself had "Cora-san" in mind. It's definitely custom made.

Few things to note here:

Law's clothes are custom made. I think that means he makes them himself. That's why they can have feathers and his jolly roger plastered all over them.

For Law it's important that his clothes refer to his own crew and that his jolly roger is always present on his clothes. It's his pride as the captain! So the "Corazon" stands also for "heart" as in "heart pirates". Seems he cares a lot about that, just look how Oda phrased it: "there's no problem with a Heart Pirates captain wearing a coat with Corazon word spelled out" because heart=corazon. Meanwhile it would be problematic if the captain wore a logo that doesn't belong with his crew, right? For Law that would be no good, he has a reputation to uphold!

Since he has his captain's pride to uphold, he can't make a direct reference to Luffy on his clothes. He hides it instead and makes stupid references that can be understood in more ways than one, but probably he's the only one who gets it.

That's why his coat actually serves three purposes: 1. His dedication to his own crew as their captain 2. mockery to Doflamingo, hoping it could work to provoke him 3. homage to Luffy, because someone is smitten beyond human comprehension, but will hide it in plain sight.

And let's cover the last track left: Law didn't yet have his coat on when they arrived at Dressrosa. Luffy already made his excited X pose when they stepped out and Law is there to witness it (two pictures above). Law's group is also the last to leave (Luffy is deep in his fight in collosseum before Law's group with Robin and Usopp are ready to go, and the meetup was somewhere around noon or later in Green Bit. Remember, it was 8 hours after their early morning ransom call!). In other words, Law had plenty of time to prepare his clothes. He either used thread and needle (a surgeon is probaly quite good with needle work, right?) or painted it, doesn't matter. Point stands. It is freaking possible.

And now I'm satisfied because I found a reason why the circle had to be yellow. Ahahaha. Hope you enjoyed my craziness, but please tell me it doesn't fit. It does, doesn't it?

[extendedtimeline]

Batman: Bloodstorm & Queerness

READ: this has been posted on twitter aswell, so if you find that, it's me lol! This will be an even longer version of that, with more description as I don't have the pesky world limit here! I wanted to start this out by saying I may get some things wrong, and this was something I'd originally had posted on a Mastodon Server my friends are running so I wasn't checking it over very much, just wanted to get my thoughts out! There are probably a lot of different ways this comic can be read, but I'm particularly enamored by queer readings of comics so that's what I'll be focusing on today. This won't be exhaustive on the queer metaphors in this comic, and I'd be happy for people to add on to what I say! I'm not an expert on making analysis posts, so forgive me if anything is unclear or out of place. I'm also getting used to Tumblr formatting, but fans here tend to be more active so I really wanted to share here! With that, let's get into it

Brief Summary

Before getting into my reading, I thought it best to give a (semi-) brief Summary of the comic itself. There's also someone context from the previous comic (as this is part of a trilogy!) that I'll try to provide too, but a lot of the material I'll talk about isn't really dependent on the fact you have the experience of reading Red Rain.

In "Batman: Bloodstorm" Bruce has been turned into a vampire (the previous comic delves into how this happened, but just know he's sort of shed the identity of "Bruce Wayne" and has given in to being Batman more "full time"). Batman finds out there are vampires he has not "killed" yet (as he had killed a large sum of them in Red Rain)(Because Vampires are undead he does not consider it murder to take them out). While he hunts these vamps down he is heavily resisting the urge to suck blood, and because he has resisted it, he is getting progressively weaker, to the point it's hard to do much of anything. In the first comic, Tanya (a vampire woman he had become friends with) had synthesized this replacement for blood, that would keep her alive and well without the need to kill. Bruce tries to recreate this, but it's not enough for him and he continues to become weaker the most he resists sucking blood.

While this is happening Joker has started working with the vampires LOL he's just being Joker using his charm and stuff to get them to comply.

Cut to Selina who we see get attacked by a werewolf like creature, and she becomes a werecat from this attack (I'd like to note, the way this was framed it very much reads like sexual assault). She intends to get her male attacker back for what he did to her.

Selina attacks Batman believing him to be the man, but they clear it up fast that he is not. She wants to help him, but in Batman fashion he denies her help.

There's this woman who Batman has been going to, trying to gain information on these super natural occurrings. He asks her if it's possible for him to survive when he doesn't drink blood, and asks what an alternative may be. She basically says GET A BITCH! (he needs the loving touch of a woman or something)

When he runs away from the woman, Selina finds him and takes him to her apartment where they cuddle until morning, and he DOES feel better after this. Like a considerable amount. He feels like his weakness is going away. So he lets her in on his scheme to catch the Joker and the rest of the vamps. They go to find them and take them down.

During the scuffle Joker shoots Selina with an arrow and she's killed. Batman, filled with rage, finally gives in to his urge to suck blood, and he sucks the Jokers blood. Making sure to take the necessary precautions afterwards to ensure Joker doesn't come back to life as a vampire.

In this world, if you suck blood, you become impure, and start to have reactions to stereotypical vampire deterrents. Batman believes himself to be unsafe now that he's sucked blood, and tasks Gordan and Alfred with killing him.

How is this queer?

In this section we will operate under the assumption queerness and vampirism are inherently intertwined in this story. That is to say, vampirism is just a stand in for queerness or queer experiences. Vampires and vampire media has been queercoded and littered with queer subtext for DECADES. I recommend reading up on it, or if you're into Video Essays I really enjoyed this video about the bisexualness of Dracula, specifically!

In these next images Batman is talking to another vampire about his vampirism (or more like the Vampire is talking AT him and Batman tries to deny it).

Batman says that he does NOT drink blood, and the way the vampire responds seems almost erotic lol? He tells Batman that he knows he WANTS to drink blood, and that sooner or later he'll just have to give in to it. Again, batman denies, denies, denies, but it's because he knows it to be TRUE, the desire is only getting stronger.

The vampire calls him a "filthy blood junkie" (to me this seems akin to calling a queer person "faggot" perhaps). The way he says that the vampirism is just "tempting the natural predator in [him]." struck me as a way of saying "you've always been queer, but the urge (to do something about it) is undeniable now, so what are you going to do about it?" The vampire goes on to say he used to HATE the site of blood (perhaps that he used to hate his own queerness and hid from it) but now that he's a vampire he craves it. It gives him satisfaction, exactly what he needs, he can't get enough of it.

This whole interaction reads (to me) as this man describing his queer awakening to Batman, connecting his own experience to Batmans, recognizing the signs. But Batman doesn't believe this. He doesn't WANT to give in.

These next images I share focus on Batman denying himself blood.

He describes how he's become addicted to the idea of something he's never even had before. This resonated with me, when you're discovering your queerness it seems a lot bigger than it is (bc being queer would be something easy, if there weren't societal pressures), and craving to have this experience you've never gotten. He seems afraid of himself. He sees himself as a predator, as someone people should fear. He doesn't want to be "tempted" by Alfred. I dont think he'd ever do anything to Alfred here, in a queer reading, I'd say this is the result of being told by people that you are predatory for who you love, and it becoming so Ingrained in your sense of self you BELIEVE it.

Next, I want to touch on WHY Bruce is so comforted by Selina. Why she literally makes him stronger, I have two ways I think this could be taken in my reading.

After cuddling with Selina all night, Batman feels MUCH better. He is getting his strength back just from being near her.

1) This is an interpretation I think is sweet, above anything else, that I was thinking about while reading. Selina is a werecat, Batman is a vampire. They can relate to eachother. They're both queer. They're both feared for something they cannot control. The reason Batman finds comfort in Selina is because she is his community. Living in places where there aren't a lot of openly queer people, finding another queer person is a major comfort. You feel less alone. She is giving him something he's desperately needed, and that's the hope that his future isn't doomed because of who he loves.

2) The reason she comforts him is because she validated his heterosexuality. He is cuddling with her and doing things that are stereotypically romantic and that comforts him because it means he can still "mask" (for lack of a better way to put that) his queerness. When he is with her, he can pretend that he is not fighting this battle with himself. He can pretend he is what society deems "normal".

When Selina is killed, Batman refers to her as "[his] last hope."

I think my second reading makes sense in this context, she was literally his last hope at denying his queerness, but with her gone he no longer feels he can hold back what he's been dealing with.

Batman is shown resisting what would normally hurt a vampire because he is still "pure". He hasn't tasted blood (had a queer experience). he brings up Selina having selfless love for him, she made him stronger. (Side note: that's really fucking sweet and I love batman and Selina sm)

This next image made my jaw drop, because to me, if you replace the word "sane" with perhaps "heterosexual" or "straight" it would make A LOT of sense.

Batman has completely given up on hiding his queerness. There's no point in resisting it anymore (was there ever when he knew how this would end eventually?).

I'll leave a transcription of the cursive in the alt text for these next pages. I feel the experience is a lot better when you read them yourself.

So yeah, Batman describes (very erotically might I add!) sucking the Jokers blood. Literally saying the Joker has WON. And like, I feel like this is speaking for itself but I'll try to describe how I felt while reading.

Batman giving in to something he's always wanted, and immediately feeling Shame and guilt at what he's done. Much like how, when things stay in your mind, you can deny them, but when you act things out (like being queer with someone-) you can no longer deny what you desire. He becomes impure once he sucks Jokers blood, so he runs away from all that can hurt him, and asks Gordon and Alfred to end him. Because what is he supposed to do now? Live on knowing what he has done, what he will become if he keeps going? If it's just one person, he can destroy the evidence of it ever happening, continue to deny what he knows to be true, but if there were more? he simply wouldn't be able to stay in denial.

I think Joker being the character here too, adds so much for me personally (as someone who likes batjokes) because in the literal sense it is Batman giving in to his urge to kill Joker, but from a queer standpoint, it seems like something entirely different. He hates the Joker, but he cant help but give in to this hidden desire he has that has been taking over his mind. It makes so much sense it's the Joker, because he is his greatest temptation.

[akookminsupporter]

ARE YOU SURE?!: SECOND EPISODE

MY IMPRESSIONS

Preface: This is not an analysis post, and honestly, I don’t want to overanalyse their interactions or everything they said and did—many others are already doing that. My intention with this post is simply to share my thoughts on the episodes, my impressions, and perhaps my conclusions.

I’m writing this as I watch the episodes for the second time.

The intro still feels too generic for a show featuring TWO SINGERS, but oh well. 

Jimin can never stop praising Jungkook for everything, even the most normal and small things Jungkook does—Jimin will praise him for it. 

I also love how Jimin and Jungkook always, not just on the show, make comments that confirm how well they know each other and how aware they are of everything the other does. 

Jimin and Jungkook really complement each other well, in everything. 

Jimin is more into making plans and wanting to go places, but he’s much calmer. Jungkook isn’t one to plan, but he’ll go with the flow. However, once in those moments, he’s super active. He does everything; he just doesn’t plan it. On the other hand, Jimin plans everything, but even though he participates in everything, he’d prefer to stay sleeping or do it more laid-back, hahaha. 

Seeing Jimin and Jungkook hiking reminded me of that episode of RUN BTS, where Jimin says that if he won, he’d make the loser hike a mountain (I can’t remember the name), and he and Jungkook couldn’t stop laughing. I still wonder what that was all about. 

Their conversations always seem so interesting to me and say a lot about their dynamic. They talk about mundane things and things that, without knowing how they are, wouldn’t make sense. The beautiful thing is that they follow each other’s flow perfectly. Another thing I love about them is that when they’re together, there’s a certain innocence about them and the way they’re gentle without being childish is just too lovely. They definitely have a tone of voice just for the two of them. 

Jimin has a great imagination, no wonder he writes such good songs, hahaha. 

Could Jimin really do a cover of Jungkook’s song and vice versa? Thank you. 

I’m just now noticing the difference in their clothing styles. Jimin really said, “I didn’t shave my legs for nothing!” Hahaha. But yes, black and white all the time, basically. 

When Jimin said he was also a member, Jungkook looked at him as if saying, “Babe, I didn’t mean you,” hahaha. 

The conversation about mosquitoes and Jimin’s blood is too funny. 

I had to look up what omakase means because I obviously didn’t understand what they were talking about, and now that I know, it makes sense. Jimin was absolutely right. 

Maybe it’s just that they really laugh at what they say, but seriously, many things they say and how they react to them make you think they mean something else. Like an innuendo that we’re not supposed to catch, hahaha. 

Everyone’s talking about what Jungkook said to Jimin when he grabbed his sweater, but I haven’t seen anyone talk about how Jungkook responded to it! God, that soft and low tone they use when talking to each other kills me every time I hear it. It’s so delicate and so... private. It’s a very good representation of their relationship in general. 

Jungkook actually said he wanted to try Jimin’s blood, and Jimin really said ‘bet,’ hahaha. 

I love how relaxed and slow the first episodes were. They weren’t there to entertain us; they were there to rest and enjoy their days off, with cameras filming them. The yacht trip was really just that, them enjoying a yacht trip. Nothing more. And I love that they enjoyed it so much. 

I LOVE how they kept saying they felt free or relaxed or incredible just being there. That’s all that matters, right? 

What is it with them and Titanic, seriously? 

Jungkook is so used to Jimin climbing onto his back that he doesn’t even flinch, hahaha. 

Okay, I suppose one of the reasons they said this show would be unfiltered is because of all the times they talked about Jimin needing the toilet, hahaha. Poor man. 

Jungkook searching for more mosquito bites on Jimin’s body is so... I’d like to say someone explain that to me, but I know no one can, or you’ll just say it’s Jikook being Jikook. 

Mate, the way they play-fight is so cute. Like, it’s so damn soft. Delicate. I think I mentioned something about this in my reactions to the first episode, but here it’s more obvious. 

Also, the way Jimin ends up on top of Jungkook and Jungkook acts as if nothing’s out of the ordinary? Okay. 

Something I love about all the members, in general, is how considerate they are of their staff. They always make sure their staff is okay, that they’ve eaten, or that they’re just doing well. That has always spoken very well of them.   The fact that they worked so hard before enlisting and left so much work behind was also a way of taking care of their staff and ensuring they still had jobs during this period of inactivity. The fact that Jin immediately started working, along with his/their staff, is also worth highlighting. 

I was so stressed when Jimin was complaining about his stomach one minute or was afraid to go to the bathroom and then the next minute HE WAS EATING GUACAMOLE AND TACOS WITH ALL THE SALSAS?! Like, my son in Christ, that wasn’t going to help you! 

Jimin always says everything Jungkook does is cute, but Jungkook also finds everything Jimin does cute. And it’s sweet how Jungkook always points out how well Jimin eats or how much he’s enjoying the food. 

Jimin and Jungkook knowing they dominate the charts does wonders for my ego as a fan, hahaha. 

I love how in many of their conversations, they speak in satoori. I hope as the show progresses, they speak more in satoori. 

Jimin validating that there’s nothing wrong with not writing your own songs and saying it’s efficient that way is the biggest FU he could give to Jungkook’s haters, and I’m sure it wasn’t even his intention. 

I really appreciate hearing Jungkook talk a bit more about the direction he initially wanted to go with his single, and I suppose with the album too, and not just that, but what he wanted to achieve with it. Jimin and Jungkook are not new to the industry, and I think both wanted to branch out a bit from what they knew. As Jungkook said, the goals were different. And it’s interesting how their experiences contrast with each other. Jimin wasn’t so used to writing his own songs, so it’s something he wanted to do and ended up enjoying. Jungkook, on the other hand, is someone who has experience writing his own songs, so he already knows the process, and he decided to focus on his voice this time. I suppose that’s why he “sacrificed” part of the process, which ended up being opting not to write his own songs and instead focus on his voice and how he could tell the story others wrote with it. At the end of the day, Jungkook just wants to sing, no matter what story he’s telling or who wrote it. And that’s respectable. 

Jungkook really is Jimin’s chef. Jin wasn’t lying. The fact that Jungkook was always willing to make whatever Jimin wanted to eat is just too cute.

I don’t mean to offend anyone, but I will always side-eye anyone who says they like Twinkies. I haven’t tried many Hostess products, but that is one of the worst, and I’m not going to argue with anyone about it!

Jungkook, I love you, but that’s not how you make authentic carbonara. I’m not Italian, and I still know that. Saying that carbonara requires sugar should be a crime, hahahah.

Jungkook apologising to Jimin for not being able to make the pasta exactly as he wanted is just too sweet.

Watching Jimin eat that pasta – which looked delicious, I won’t lie – was more stressful than it should have been, hahahah.

Jungkook, you were right; WHO ended up being HUGE.

Wait, was Jungkook in the room when Jimin was asking if he should sleep with him and if he did, would he hit him again? Also, I still can’t figure out what Jungkook threw on Jimin’s bed.

Okay, the part where they start “wrestling” while brushing their teeth. Something that stands out about that moment is the silence and their expressions; it’s as if they were holding back from saying something. Yes, I know they had toothbrushes in their mouths, but something similar happened on the yacht. Also, it’s obvious they do those poses we’ve seen before, like when Jungkook carried Jimin during one of their rehearsals – I don’t know if you remember which one I’m talking about. That’s why Jimin looked so comfortable when he climbed onto Jungkook’s shoulders and why Jungkook knew exactly how to lift Jimin, and Jimin knew what to do to make it easier for Jungkook. I’d bet all the money I don’t have that they have a complex of Cirque du Soleil members or something, hahahah.

When Jungkook initially goes to Jimin’s room, he wasn’t wearing a microphone. When he appeared in the kitchen, he initially still didn’t have a microphone on, but after a few seconds, it appeared.

Jungkook really loves eating… junk food, hahahaha. Eating doughnuts in the morning is crazy, hahahaha.

Oh, Jungkook didn’t take off the microphone before getting into Jimin’s bed; he faked putting on the one that was on the bed. So, was that his microphone and did he leave it there the first time he went to Jimin’s room? Or was that Jimin’s microphone and he thought it was his? I’m confused.

I don’t want to analyse that moment, but I think I will analyse that moment in their bed. Bro, the way they did all that in silence, with only grunts heard, was intense. The way Jungkook adjusts Jimin’s leg to snuggle up to it is too much for my cold heart. The way Jimin seemed to want to climb on top of Jungkook or something similar and then they pretended to “wrestle” in bed or whatever that was, is too much.

Jungkook spanking Jimin is… bro. The way Jungkook then buried his face in Jimin’s back, making sure to be as close to him as possible is… oh, my crazy heart.

Saying almost immediately after waking up that they needed to buy a sponge to wash the dishes is perhaps the most domestic thing those two have said. My Latina mother would be proud of them, hahahah.

Oh wait, was that actually Jungkook’s microphone?! Then why was it already on Jimin’s bed when he came in the second time?

I LOVE, LOVE how relaxed Jimin and Jungkook were throughout the episode.

Jimin and Jungkook’s light-hearted bickering during the two episodes was delightful. I love seeing more of that side of their dynamic.

MY CONCLUSION ON THE SECOND EPISODE:

I loved the second episode, maybe even more than the first one.

Here, Jimin and Jungkook were more comfortable. It’s as if, after a few hours or a day, they fell into the comfort of their relationship and everything after that was easy. I think they finally got used to the cameras more than anything else.

So, this second episode was about Jimin and Jungkook being domestic. The episode was about them enjoying the tranquillity of their trip. The domesticity of their trip. The slow pace, basically. And I loved it.

I saw some comments from people saying they didn’t like it and even that the episodes were boring, and look, I respect those opinions, but I do wonder what they were expecting to see. The difference with this show compared to other BTS content we’re used to is that there are only 2 people. In BTS shows, when one isn’t doing something, the other four are either doing something crazy or saying something funny. Obviously, it’s different. Besides, I think this is how Jimin and Jungkook are in their normal lives. This is them being themselves. This is them on holiday, and I think that’s something we, as fans, should appreciate.

Jimin and Jungkook are chaotic but in a different way. They’re not chaotic in the sense of doing a thousand crazy things in different places, but rather doing a thousand things in one place. They’re more homebodies. They’ve said that many times. And I think we’ll see a lot of that.

I think I’ve said this in other posts, this show is Jimin and Jungkook genuinely on holiday, only this time they brought several cameras with them.

The most interesting moments certainly were something. I wonder what was cut in the editing room because there were obvious cuts in those moments.

Jungkook saying they should do many more seasons of this is a good testament to how much he enjoyed it. This was confirmed by the interview given by the show’s director.

I can’t wait to see the rest of the episodes. And I REALLY want to see the behind-the-scenes of these first two episodes.

If you’ve made it this far, I’m sorry and thank you—I just couldn’t stop writing ajajajajaja.