#this is actually cap 2.0

[chocosvt]

hi choco! i'm so excited to see you back on my tl; i've missed you and your god-tier fics & i'm super duper excited to read your wonwoo fic as well (140k words? we will all be well fed fr 🤲)

i had a little rant? not exactly rant but something that's been itching my mind a bit haha, i hope you don't mind me sharing it with you! i genuinely want some advice over this.

as a long fic writer, how do you consistently come back to writing your fic without getting bored? i looooove writing long fics too (big lover of slowburn and angst lol) but i always get so impatient and bored of writing the story so quickly :(

i'd posted a teaser for a fic a while back and it got a good amount of traction (something i will always be grateful for) and someone asked me when i would release the full fic, to which i gave them a tentative date. fast forward to the day before the day i said i would post the fic and you have me typing out paragraphs upon paragraphs of stuff that i absolutely loathe in my writing. i ended up posting the fic anyway, but it's been only a day and i already want to take it down—not bc it's not getting any attention, because it is, but more so bc i hate that fic and would do anything to rewrite it.

iirc your joshua fic, 'best friend's brother' was a rewrite of a fic you'd written earlier, right? was your thought process similar to this? where did you start your rewriting process from? did you have any second thoughts when you took it down the first time?

i'm really sorry if this is too many questions 😅 please take your time if you do choose to answer this! much love and have a great day, choco!!! thank you so much :)

(is it alright if i use an emoji to sign off so i can find this ask later?)

— 🍫

first of all, THANK U SO MUCH <3

and i don't mind at all! these are rly insightful questions :o though i'll just chunk my answers a bit so i'm not all over the place.

not getting bored to be honest, i'm not sure if i ever "get bored" of writing out the plot. but i definitely get burnt out, and sometimes i get downright sick of reviewing my own writing, to the point where i just have to close my laptop and walk away. i think the most important & overarching piece of advice i can give--not just in terms of long fics but any fic for that matter--is to never force anything & take breaks!

when i'm busy at uni, there are like 5 month breaks where i don't bother writing at all. i always think that the second i have free time, i should theoretically want to write, but sometimes i just don't. and i make peace with it bc i know the second i force anything i will end up hating it (also takes the fun & enjoyment out of the process).

i think if you're getting bored, it's probably a sign that your body & mind just isn't interested in writing at the moment. so i would step away & take a break and attempt to get your mind off the plot. i think that taking a break also invigorates your mind a bit and gives you newer, better ideas (at least from my experience).

bfb rewrite the reason i rewrote best friend's brother was bc the og fic was from 2016, when my writing style was completely different. i still liked the concept but naturally, as my writing grew, i just detested the way the old ver was written, which spurred me to create the rewrite.

i wanted to give the characters a lot more depth & beef up the plot, so the new fic is actually a lot different in comparison to the old one. i wasn't attempting to do a scene-for-scene rewrite--it was simply just my approach to an old concept that i felt i could now execute better.

as to how i went abt rewriting it, i just picked out moments from the old fic that i liked and built around them. for instance, i rly liked the "skipping stones" scene that shows some intimacy & tenderness between joshua and reader. but it can't just happen out the gate. so i had to figure out the typical "why, when, and how is this moment happening right now?" from scratch.

the thing with long fics for me, it honestly is a test of patience & dedication!! bc it can truly be so frustrating :( a lot of times, you want to jump right into the good parts bc those are like the shiny glimmers that make the fic attractive. but depending on how impactful you want those moments to be, build-up is sooooo key! the thing is, build-up is just so critical in my opinion, but it can also be such a pain to write :p

i find when i review my writing, these are scenes i criticize or change the most--more than the big, hard-hitting scenes. bc to me, it's such a specific thing that you have to nail down justttt right. it's a lot of thinking and finagling and i think this process is what i dread the most? especially when it refuses to turn out how you want it--ugh, so discouraging!! but once you get it's like a silky flowy river!!

the big takeaways (i guess?) 1. taking breaks is so important! 2. don't force anything xxxx 3. take the big moments & build around them i totallyyyyy understand your frustration!! there have been so many moments where i'm like I NEED TO WRITE AHHHHH and then i promptly open the document only to sit there, blankly read a few sentences, and then get this rly big sinking feeling in my gut that is essentially telling me "never mind" and honestly i just listen to it bc if i'm gonna close & open the document 10 times in a row i obviously don't want to write. i'm just searching for something fulfilling and clearly not finding it in the task at hand so i should do smth else.

THIS IS EXTREMELY LENGTHY AND I''M BEYOND SORRY, but i hope somewhere amongst this mumbo jumbo there was something that stood out & may give you a bit of closure!

[gyuwoncheol]

Cheol being literally offended when you sit on any seat that’s not his face lap he’s like ??? your designated throne is right here and you’re sitting on the couch? - ⚡️💖

TW: dirty talk, use of pet names, mentions of face sitting and fingering, no actual sex but VERY suggestive so you’ve been warned. 18+ only (MDNI).

Note: sorry this took a while, ⚡️ anon. But know that i love you dearly.

Note 2.0: a little drabble for you all as I try to navigate my busy schedule and get through my WIPs. These really help me keep my writing cap on so if you have thoughts about ang of the boys, send them right in 😉

“Where are you going?” Your boyfriend asks as your wrist gets caught on his large hand.

Cheol was looking up at you from where he was seated in the armchair on the far side of Seokmin’s huge living room. All the boys gathered together with their significant others to celebrate the end of their comeback season.

You smiled and patted the top of his head, “over there. There’s an empty spot beside Chan.” You should’ve known to just keep quiet instead because the angry pout that appeared on Seungcheol’s face was classic.

A simple tug on your wrist and the next thing you know, his strong arms were around your torso and you were seated on his lap.

“Stay here.”

You turned your head to the side, examining the disgusted look he was throwing Chan. “Why do you have to sit there huh? I’m literally right here.”

“It was an empty spot, Cheollie, calm down. I wasn’t really thinking much of it.”

A tighter grip squeezed on your waist and suddenly your boyfriend’s lips were inches from your ear, “Did you also not think much last night when you asked to sit on my face?”

“Seungcheol!” You reprimand him with a whisper, eyes bugging out in disbelief at his choice of words, yet all he did was smirk continuously, his signature eyebrow raise in full view.

“That’s not how you were calling me last night when I was making you cum, princess.”

You made an attempt to move out of Cheol’s hold, embarrassed at how he wasn’t even lowering his volume with your friends around, not that they could hear anyway with how loud Seungkwan and Seokmin were bickering.

“I said, stay.” His bone-chilling tone renders you immobile, shocks of electricity alighting your nerves.

“Don’t worry, princess, they can’t hear me,” he confirms, but it’s not at all reassuring when he moves your ass against his crotch. He repeats the motion several more times, his hardening cock feeling more and more prominent through his sweatpants and your skirt, “But they will hear you if you start whimpering louder.”

You stilled at his words, eyes shooting open and head snapping up from where you had let it fall against his shoulder. You didn’t even notice how you had let yourself slowly fall into a bubble of pleasure, soft quiet whines leaving your mouth in that short duration.

“Cheol, stop, please,” you beg as sternly as you could, stopping his hand from hiking up in between your legs. Though your little spot was a little on the far side of the room and the rest of the group had their backs on you, one look back from his members and they could tell their leader was attempting to finger you.

Seungcheol chuckles darkly at your request, his hot breath right on your ear, “Fine,” he finally agrees, not wanting to traumatize any of your friends, “but you’re staying here, listening to me as I tell you exactly how I’ll make you cum at least eight times tonight.”

[bootleg-nessie]

Things that will happen in the future (based on my own experiences with time travel):

***FAQs at the end***

*All of these observations are copied directly from my notes in roughly the order I took them in

*Don’t ask about the interchanging use of past/present/future tense, you know how that stuff is with time travel

Women just started all growing three boobs instead of two. Scientists baffled

Genetically engineered catboys (no literally)

The great pyramid of Giza has been converted into a Bass Pro Shop

The entire state of Rhode Island was bought by some rich tech CEO who promptly dug a 500 foot wide trench around the entire state so that it could in fact be an island. It was soon converted into the world’s largest parking lot

Pollution has gotten so bad that fresh oxygen is now delivered straight to most homes via a subscription service

Basic necessities such as food, water, and housing are now provided for free by the government, but only for the top 1% of wealth holders

Insulin now costs twice as much as rent. “Get fucked,” say pharma companies

92.6% of new electronic appliances now have smartphone integration and require a monthly subscription to use

Most billionaires have real estate on earth’s moon

As an ongoing film experiment, Taika Waititi successfully convinced a Nebraska man that he’s been raptured and is now in heaven. He actually got Truman Show’d and now millions of viewers tune in every week to watch God (played by John DiMaggio) manipulate Robert into confronting his own views, battle cognitive dissonance, and face the realization that he might not have been as good of a person on Earth as he thought he was

Carrots have gone extinct, as have highland cows

Species of extinct animals and plants now are being posthumously renamed after the billionaires and elites most directly responsible for killing then off

Researchers discovered a sentient colony of fungus off the coast of Chile, it prefers to go by Fleebo and appears to have a incredibly complex intelligence far greater than any other observed organic being

Nobody knows where Ireland went. It literally just disappeared off the face of the earth one day and nobody bothered to question it. The story couldn’t compete in the news cycle with the recent news about a company in China that made the first real life pokemon. An entire civilization of people gone and I’m the only one who seems to remember it or even care

Fleebo and its offspring have annexed Madagascar and are threatening any retaliation with nuclear warfare and “making The Last of Us a reality.” Nobody knows if Fleebo actually has the capabilities to do this, but after the Lovecraft incident we’re all TOO goddam scared to fuck around and find out

Large snails have replaced cats and dogs as the most common household pet. Snail culture has largely taken over the world, especially Japan

The president of the United States is now decided with an oiled up twerking competition. Most people were hesitant at first but this has produced vastly more competent leaders so now everyone just kinda goes along with it

With the cost of living crisis only worsening with time, selling tattoo space on your body to advertisers has become common as people struggle to afford rent and pay their bills

North and South Korea have reunited into “Korea 2.0”

Germany has split up into East and West Germany again

Belgium and France have been annexed by West Germany and renamed “Wester Germany” and “Westest Germany” respectively

The entirety of Florida is now underwater. Most of Kansas is too for some reason that scientists refuse to explain because they’ve “sworn an oath to the eldritch gods” and that “much worse things would happen” if they did

The melting ice caps in Antarctica unveiled a lost civilization of intelligent creatures descended from a species of lungfish, predating human civilization by millions of years. They planned on hibernating for another 10-15 million years to observe the course of evolution on Earth and are very very angry at humans for waking them up prematurely and ruining all of that with global warming

The politically correct term for lungfish people is “Dipnoid” but most people refer to them by a variety of slurs, such as “finwalker” and “kelp muncher” (not that they even eat kelp)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has now increased to nearly half the size of what was formerly known as Canada and has been colonized entirely by pirates (the flag is actually pretty cool). The pirate nation has the 17th largest economy in the world and is projected to surpass the United States in GDP

Africa is about 2% smaller. Nobody knows why. Most people point to Fleebo, who denies having any involvement

All human-Dipnoid interaction was promptly banned by most world governments, except for the GPGPRP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch Republic of Pirates), whom the Dipnoids rely upon extensively for trade

Scientists have used DNA from fossils to recreate other species of humans. We now live alongside them like we did for thousands of years before everyone besides Homo sapiens went extinct. Racism is at an all time high

Class C and above robots are now legally recognized by most progressive countries as people

The United States government has been exposed for secretly funneling billions of dollars into the GPGPRP and using it to fund terrorist operations all over the world.

A new major religion revolving around Dave Grohl has skyrocketed in popularity. Grohilsm is now the world’s largest religion, second only to Fleeboism

Scientists discovered a new continent in the Pacific Ocean, and then promptly lost it again. Most people are convinced this was just an elaborate practical joke, but scientists “swear it definitely happened”

For a brief period of about 30 years, everything in George Orwell’s 1984 happened almost exactly as written in the book. Literally 1984

It was revealed that Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself. He actually faked his death and spent the next few years in a drug-fueled episode of psychosis making sock puppets in a cave in Italy and then molesting said sock puppets until he died from a sock puppet related illness

Bigfoot was discovered off the coast of Georgia doing cocaine with a congregation of alligators. When questioned, he said he normally lives in Montana and was only there on vacation. He is now a celebrity, and has been featured in a number of tv shows and films, two of which he won an Oscar for. Last I checked, he was a washed up actor living in Hollywood with a reanimated Neanderthal woman

The GPGPRP raided most of England’s museums with the object of “doing exactly what they did for the last few centuries” England was understandably furious, but the rest of the world found it rather amusing

England declared war on the GPGPRP, which it promptly lost after hackers brought down the entire country’s military overnight. Much like in the 21st century, England is the world’s laughing stock

The entirety of Luxembourg relocated itself to the moon

Russia attempted to take over most of Eurasia. In retaliation to the full global effort to stop them, they launched nukes at the world’s 600 most populous cities outside of its current territory. Most of the warheads were stopped in time, but a few major metropolitan areas got hit pretty badly, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Mexico City, and Istanbul. Japan was understandably super pissed that Hiroshima and Nagasaki got nuked for a second time

In the wake of the nuclear holocaust, Canada assumed control over what was formerly Russia and assimilated many of its citizens and leaders into its own society and government. Under the new rule of formerly Russian leaders, Canada became a puppet state for the second coming of Russia. It annexed much of the United States, Mongolia, China, and a handful of other countries, becoming “the world’s first megacountry.” Crungolaska now controls a majority of the northern hemisphere

As part of a practical joke by Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks was actually marooned on a desert island like in Castaway. He lasted less than a week before he died. When I left this era of the future, Adam Sandler was serving a lifetime sentence in prison for murder

Fringe groups of crows with above-average intelligence have started popping up around the world. So far they have been observed forming small communities, crafting relatively complex tools, using rudimentary speech, performing rituals, and creating music

Aliens visited earth and had a formal meeting with many of our world leaders, but decided to leave us alone for a few thousand more years because humanity is “not yet mature enough to handle the responsibilities of interstellar travel.” They have incentivized us with a the blueprints for an Alcubierre Drive and a means to produce the exotic matter to fuel it once they deem us as being ready

The original colony of settlers on Mars has declared independence, officially becoming the first country not on Earth

We sent Tom Cruise back to space but this time we just left him there

The tether for the space elevator broke. The town known as Vatorville, famous for being the location of the takeoff point of the elevator shuttle on Earth, was completely decimated as tens of thousands of miles of steel cable came crashing back down. There were no survivors

Most people in first and second world countries have mandatory microchip implants that serve as a personal ID

Last Thursdayism has been largely denounced by quantum physicists. Current theories now revolve around “Next Thursdayism,” the belief that the entire universe was created in the future and that we all exist as a memory in the past

Synthetic organ farms for transplants and research have become a massive industry worth billions of dollars. However, there is still a huge black market for organically grown human organs, as they’re much cheaper to acquire and aren’t taxed at the exorbitant rates that lab-grown organs are

China dug a hole all the way to the center of the Earth. Turns out it’s hollow and there are people living inside. Who knew?

A university reconstructed the entire city of Rome as it was in its early days during the Roman Empire. It’s actually pretty historically accurate, except for the fact that there’s a lot less sex because it’s run by a bunch of sweaty history nerds

After Rome 2 resulted in the creation of a cult revolving around the Roman god of the dead that gained traction as a minor religion, Pluto was officially reinstated as a planet by NASA when cultists picketed their headquarters every day for nearly 3 years straight. “Fine, we’ll give these fucking virgins what they want so they’ll finally shut the hell up,” said NASA’s administrator in chief

In a display of the biotechnical prowess of Disney’s Imagineers, all the animatronics in Disney’s Hall of Presidents were replaced with clones of the originals, which went about exactly as well as you’d expect. After reports of the presidents hurling a series of racial slurs and other obscenities at the first black family to enter surfaced, the project was shut down almost immediately after it had opened. Minority admission to Magic Kingdom plummeted to 2.3% of its numbers from the previous year, making it the second whitest place on earth after a taylor swift concert

Plastic now makes up about 3% of every organism on earth by weight

Public officials are now required by law to take shrooms before running for office

Trees are considered a rare and highly sought after commodity, and are usually only owned by public institutions and the rich (the vast majority of oxygen farms use algae to produce oxygen)

FAQs:

FAQ: What time period(s) did you go to?

A: I have no fucking clue. The world stopped using the Gregorian calendar in 2063 after a gamma ray burst hit the sun. The GRB led to stellar ablation, which changed the length of a year on Earth. The sun would continue to lose mass at an accelerated rate for several more years, with the length of the year changing slightly from year to year. The world adopted a variety of different calendars which kept being updated frequently and were often super confusing and contradictory. I traveled to about a dozen different points in time, which based on my best estimates spanned within a few millennia of the current date.

FAQ: How did you obtain a time machine?

A: I think it was the 17th or 18th of June, 2055? That night, a large sci-fi looking box thingy roughly the size of a VW Bus appeared a few hundred yards away in the open field in front of my house. I tried to take a picture of the box, but for some reason the closer I got, the more the image on my camera started to become fuzzy, and by the time I got close enough to take a decent picture, the camera had stopped working altogether. I pulled open a door to reveal a corpse inside that was charred beyond recognition, who appeared to have suffocated and/or burned to death during a fire that damaged most of the interior. I also noticed a number of strange tumors and growths on the body. I pressed a random button on the remains of what I believed to be a control panel, expecting nothing to happen, but the door closed automatically and I suddenly lost consciousness. When I came to, I exited the box, expecting to still be in the field in front of my house, but instead found myself a ways outside of a small snowy village that based on my best estimates, was somewhere in northern Asia around 2-3 thousand years ago. The villagers started coming after me with spears, so I quickly ran back to the box and pressed another button, hoping it would return me to from whence I came. This time, the people I found (who were thankfully much nicer and spoke a dialect of English that I could mostly understand) told me that it was the year 506 of the PGRB-Δ4 calendar (the calendar that the United Territories was using at the time). I repeated this maybe a dozen more times trying to get home until I landed in 2023, which as far as I could tell, was the closest I had gotten back to my original time so far. It was at this point that I decided to stay and seek medical attention, as I was rather concerned about some nasty new growths on my arms and legs similar to that which I had seen on the corpse.

FAQ: Where is the time machine now?

A: No idea. It disappeared a few days after I landed in 2023. My best guess is that some poor sap found it and ended up sometime else.

(I never ask for likes/reblogs but I literally spent fucking WEEKS on this one so if you liked it pls show me some love <3)

[absolutebl]

BL recs (from any country) that don't have any s*x scenes? I'm too ace to enjoy them at all. Happy ending preferred, angst v welcome:)

BLs Without Sex Scenes

Oof, this is a hard one. Is a dead fish kiss okay? I do have a heat sorting on the spreadsheet of doom, and there are some with no kissing at all, but a dead fish kiss is in most of the HEA ones.

BLs with No Kisses

21 Days Theory (Thailand, YouTube) - the only thing I didn't like about this pulp was the fact that they don't kiss, so... yeah, this is my first pick for you. Very YA first love angsty, fantastic queer rep and side characters. RECOMMENDED

My Esports Genius Brother (China, Gaga?) - it's hella odd censored bromance but enjoyable. No real angst tho.

HIStory My Hero (Taiwan, Viki) - basically a BL with no sex or kissing, but also body-swap so is it BL? I can't remember the end but I think it's happy?

Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan, ????) - this 2017 yaoi adaptation is a full on BL just no kissing at all. The source manga (I Hear the Sunspot) is a favorite of mine and the casting was decent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for you (but not in general). Grey only.

Love of Siam (Thailand, ????) ALL THE ANGST, I'm pretty sure the most they do is hug, I could be v wrong though because too sad for me to ever rewatch. Very formative to the Thai BL industry.

The Lover (BL cut) (Korea ????) sometimes you can find the BL cut on YT, it has slapstick comedic sexualized moments that are maybe a little homophobic (or something), no actual sex or kissing, but no angst at all. (Korea's working some shizz out with this early offering.)

Kabe Koji AKA Kabesaa Doujin Sakka no Neko Yashiki-kun wa Shounin Yokkyuu wo Kojirasete iru (Japan, Viki) - I watched this and I was excited about it before it aired, but I seem to have expunged it from my memory and kept no screen caps in annoyance, so that's all I got.

Love in Spring AKA Spring of Crush (Korea, ????) - a crossdressing historical that flew utterly under the radar. I decided it just wasn't really BL, but it has BL aspects and it's kinda a little queer... or something. Grey only.

Evening Cafe (Thai pulp, YouTube) - No heat and no kisses, but a decent lead pair, about a boy who works in a cafe and the new employee who has a crush on him. That’s it, that's the whole story.

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea, Viki) - Has no kissing and many people found it really good as @isisanna-blog reminded me, thank you). It certainly has ALL THE ANGST. (I did not like it at all, but I'm a terrible judge of this kind of BL.)

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Japan ???) - this is such a lovely show, very warm and comforting and slice of life. There is very little angst, they too old for that shit, but little to no sexual content either. It's very warm and loving. A safe extremely yet queer show - and oh boy do we not get many of those. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Censored Bromances

So No Kisses (TM) for the gays but the hets might do stuff I didn't pay attention to. All these from China. Some happy, most not.

The Untamed

Word of Honor

Guardian

SCI Mysteries

Stay With Me AKA Addicted 2.0 (I never watched this so there may be rough play)

Mr CEO Falling in Love With Me

The Fairy Fox

Youth in the Breeze

Precise Shot

Advance Bravely

His Cat AKA His Cat Boyfriend

The Male Queen: Han Zi Gao

The "Ghost Boyfriend" series

Past Youth

I Go To School Not By Bus (Hong Kong short)

Recommended Shorts with no kisses, but cute & fun

The 8.2 Second Rule (Japan YouTube)

One Last Order (Korea, Gaga)

Love Advisor (Thailand, YouTube)

BLs with Dead Fish Kisses (maybe? only one, if any)

His the series: I Didn't Think I Would Fall In Love (Japan ????) - (NOT His the movie) this one has all the angst you could want in your whole life. ALL OF IT. Japan wins at emo, it's their THING.

Cherry Magic AKA 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard AKA 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho (Japan ????) - there's sort of some bed tussling and implied sex but you could imagine them just being snuggles for the mains, the sides have dead fish kiss. In general there's some angst but not much. It's fluffy and great. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Bonus: overt ace representation for one of the side characters.

Meow Ears Up (Thailand Viki) - sides may kiss? I enjoyed this pulp especially at the start, the premise is fun. I think my biggest complaint was lack of kissing.

My Love Mix Up AKA Kieta Hatsukoi (Japan Viki), a case could be made for a demi seme in this BL. So much frenetic angst around bisexual identity crisis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My Ride (Thailand Gaga) - my favorite Thai BL pulp the sides have a good kiss and the mains do kiss but it's v dead fish, not at all sexual, and it comes at the very end. Otherwise extremely chaste, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BL, queer and complex and engaging.

I Want to See Only You AKA Kimi no Koto Dake Mite Itai (Japan ????) - This is a beautiful piece of cinema well acted, about two boys who are opposite personalities and grew up together. The only kiss is the one pictured above, v dead fish. Full review here.

Nobleman Ryu's Wedding (Korea WeTV) - 12th Night goes BL in this cross dressing historical that ended up feeling like a Cinderfella fairy tale, lightly dramatic and utterly charming. Full review. There is one dead fishy kiss at the end but it's otherwise aggressively pure.

If you like this last style of KBL (with a kiss at the end being okay, I have quite a few more to recommend). Until 2022, most KBLs only had one dead fish kiss in them, so you are pretty safe with pre 2022 KBLs. They tend to be quite chaste and de-sexualized. Other good examples: Wish You, Light on Me.

That's all folx.

Some of the above I may be misremembering (since I don't rewatch this kind of BL and my memory is shit). And I may have forgotten some too, so I hope comments with jump in.

Others to consider:

(source)

[dokidokitsuna]

A Cat Most Curious~

-So it turns out I was right about the Curious Cat way back when. They were basically an Ironwood 2.0: enjoyable and engaging as a supporting character, deliciously evil as an antagonist, with surprisingly sympathetic motivations…all undermined by contrived emotional stakes and an anticlimactic character arc, and capped off by an ignominious death. T_T Fortunately, by the time they got viciously mauled I was too jaded about RWBY to feel anything beyond vague annoyance.

-They’re still my favorite aspect of Volume 9, though, and the only Afteran that really left an impression on me. So I’m trying to give them a role in NeverFell…something very close to the end of the story, after the Gods come back to Remnant, but before they’re ultimately defeated. Someone to help usher in the 2nd Era of Magic and show Team RWBY around.

-Do they have to be anthropomorphized for this purpose? No, but it’s fun, so why not? ^^ Tbh, once I thought up that crazy hairstyle I couldn’t help but go through with this design~. I don’t know if it’s actually physically possible…it might be. It was inspired by a type of friendship bracelet knotting pattern, BECAUSE THE CAT IS A FRIEND 😤

-...In truth, they’re more like an amoral spirit-type character, a being who simply craves knowledge and will aid whoever seems to have the most to give. The RWBY girls will have to employ some clever strategy to keep them on their side…

-Much like the god who created them, Curio here has a sort of existential rivalry with their twin sibling, the Jabberwalker. While they seek answers to questions, it simply provides unintelligible “information”, which they find much more irritating than its destructive habits. Meanwhile, the Jabberwalker just wants the Cat to stop fixing things and let them stay broken. Essentially, the direct descendants of Light and Darkness are Order and Chaos, respectively.

[adobe-outdesign]

For neopet's review's would love to hear your thoughts on lenny's! I think they have some really nice color's

Lennies are one of many bird Neopets, but they do have one thing that immediately helps them stand out: their anatomy, which is more akin to a shorebird or emu than the standard songbird. Originally their head feathers were part of a jester's cap of sorts, and while the jester idea was lost over time (if it was even intentional to begin with), the distinctive head and tail feathers remain.

Color-wise they're about as simple as you can get, using one primary color with an accent (orange in the base colour, variable otherwise) for the legs and beak. They can get away with having no markings because of their very lean bodies, and the wings also help break things up a bit.

Lenny didn't really change in any notable way with customization, outside of becoming a little less excited and vaguely gaining a fist, which isn't too noticeable due to them having wings.

Favorite Colours:

Faerie: I really like how the faerie Lenny is vaguely based off a peacock (though unlike peafowl, this is a gender-neutral design), but it doesn't take it overly literally, serving more as an abstract reimagining. The Lenny's default three tail feathers are still there, but they've been made much longer and given a side span of other tail feathers to join them. They also have beautiful layered wings with secondary eyespots and much more pronounced head plumage than an actual peacock. The color palette is also beautiful, using blues, teals, and magentas together with lots of layering and markings. Really nice.

The UC/styled version is a bit better than the converted, as while both are similar, the converted inexplicably kept the three tail feathers where they are normally, along with missing the cheek feathers and slightly loosing the wing eyespots. Plus, of course, the pose is much nicer.

Burlap: The burlap Lenny was the first ever burlap pet, and was in fact the design shown in the "choose a new colour" poll that burlap originates from. I feel like over time this colour has unfortunately become too much like plushie 2.0, but this original concept is fantastic—ultra creepy, with dead black eye buttons, tattered burlap wings, and miscellaneous pieces of junk for the legs and beak. (The scrap metal in particular was completely lost over time for this colour, and is really something they should bring back in the fold.) Awesome option for people who like creepier colours (it's me, I'm people who like creepier colours).

Relic: Relic pets sometimes get way too overblown, but this one is really nicely balanced—just plain, nicely shaded stone with lots of little cracks. There's some moss, but it's kept to the minimum and is carefully placed in a surprisingly realistic way. The tail feathers are the real standout however; instead of making improbable thin stone ones, they're instead a few budding roses. Love it.

BONUS: The only reason the mutant Lenny is a bonus is because... it's not really that mutant-y? Like, that's just straight-up a vulture (reinterpretated, much like the faerie Lenny, which I always like). Even by Lenny standards, the only real differences are clawed wings, shorted legs, different tail feathers, and a single backwards-facing head plume instead of two.

However, technicalities aside, this is a gorgeous design. I really like the layered look of the wings, and I appreciate that it's not 1:1 a real vulture, lacking any pink or black in the design and having clawed wings. Artwork's the same as it was pre-customization, so it unsurprisingly also looks great.

[hillaryisaboss]

Will we think: maybe we could have edged it out with Biden if we had stayed the course, rallied, & kept our effective messaging — Project 2025, abortion, the Supreme Court, democracy, & the successes of the Biden Administration — especially if Biden soon proposes his rent-cap policy, Supreme Court reforms, & a peace deal between Israel & Hamas.

Biden’s support is solid among high-turnout populations: black voters, older voters, independents, & white women who care about abortion. Abortion has won in every single election.

What nominee will do better in head-to-head match-ups after being attacked? Who has the name-recognition?

PS: polls show Biden actually gaining since the debate. Plus, the media is evil (old/debate = Hillary emails 2.0) — creating a false-equivalence for ratings is sick.

[3-inch-sam]

the only thing i know about tron comes from that south park episode so i just wanted to ask, whats tron about and should i watch it?? (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

first of all this is hilarious because literally two days ago my brother sent me the article on Moses and we both discovered he was modeled after the MCP

Whether you should watch it is up to you! It's one of my special interests so I recommend it to basically everyone. If for nothing else, TRON 1982 is a work of pure art and passion and contributed a lot to film as an industry and how we handle CGI and VFX now.

It's about "what if the programs in your computer were actually people running around in there and they had their own little world?" and "All information should be free!!" This comes from the time when computers were just being integrated into everyday life so they were a little more newfangled and weird.

but to me it's also about "what if you met God and they were just like you. what if God was unaware of their own power. if your world started to collapse around you, what would you do? would you wait for the end? would you try to kill God for refusing to help you?"

If you want to get into it, start with the movies: TRON (1982) and Tron Legacy (2010). Then I'd suggest Tron Uprising, and if you want further lore you can go for the comics and games. Here's a way too comprehensive list of all the Tron stuff I have experience with!!

All Tron soundtracks are absolute bangers btw

Blue: canon to the current timeline

Green: non-canon to current timeline

in chronological order, we have

TRON (1982)- the original movie, establishing our world, characters, and themes.

Tron 2.0 (2003)- FPS sequel to the movie, following the son of two of the original protagonists of 1982. (this one kicked off my special interest! i played it during the first quarantine and it was all downhill from there)

Tron 2.0: Ghost in the Machine- a spinoff comic of 2.0. It's very strange and off putting at times, especially the art style after the second issue.

Tron: Evolution- the prequel game to Legacy, which takes place in November of 1989 and follows a brand new security program on the new Grid.

Tron: BETRAYAL- the prequel comic to Legacy, which gives some (imo) much needed context to character motivations.

Tron Uprising (2012-2013)- the prequel cartoon series to Legacy, follows a mechanic program. It's widely regarded as one of the most painful parts of the Tron universe because the series was never finished. It was cancelled during airing and the season finale never aired. It only has a single incomplete season, even though the story and animation were fantastic.

Tron Legacy (2010)- the sequel movie to 1982, which follows the son of the main protagonist of 1982.

Tron: Identity- the newly-released visual novel game that takes place in a separate Grid as Legacy, but the same timeline. It's pretty good!! Introduced the first non-binary character in Tron.

This is already way too long so I'll cap it there. thank you for the ask!!!

[bigstepdisk]

MY BABY GIRL IS GONNA LEARN MAGIC

IM REALLY REALLY HYPED FOR THIS BOOK AAAAAAAAAAAAA IM SO EXCITED FOR WHAT CAMP AND HIS TEAM IS ABOUT TO COOK Q-Q

Im so curious about what happened to everybody who got blasted ;^; are they really dead???? What is the actual plan with the ultimates 1.0 and 2.0??????? HOW'D THEY'RE GOING TO EXPLAIN TO CAP LMFAO THAT WON'T GO OVER WELL BASED ON THE TEASERS? IS THOR OKAY?????

ALSO I NEED MORE WIZKIDS DUO🫣 I can't wait for Hank and Janet to join in!!!!!!!!!, I WISH THIS BOOK IS BIMONTHLY 😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰😰

(Sadly.......I was deadset on buying thw first printing ;^; but I really like this cover more gosh dihfidjfif maybe I'll ask when I finally go to the city on june THIS IS SO SO HYPE IGODJDJEJEJRRJ)

[msmargaretmurry]

do you think tkachuk/drai/mcdavid (or 2 of the 3) would have been anything if matthew was drafted to edmonton instead of jesse puljujarvi?

hello anon! it says something about how uncaffeinated i was when i first read this ask that at first i thought you meant like, as a line, and i was like "well someone would have to learn to play left wing and it would probably be smarter to spread that firepower out over two lines" and then i had one (1) sip of coffee and was like OOOOooohhh you mean in a hrpf way. (i assume. sorry if you actually wanted lineup analysis.) and then i got briefly distracted thinking about a beautiful world where poor jesse puljujärvi never had to endure the dickings around of the oilers management. and THEN i got briefly distracted thinking about how having all three of them would make the oilers' cap situation even more funny. BUT ANYWAY.

short answer: yes. long answer:

so like, on the mcdavid front, hrpf nation has been exploring the mortifying ordeal of being connor mcdavid since before he was drafted. if matthew was drafted to his team people would be interested by default. if the oilers had him, drai, AND matthew, for marketing purposes they would have packaged those three all together like eberle/hall/nuge 2.0 and people would have loved it. matthew would have been giving nonstop quotes about playing with these special players and learning so much from them and whatever the fuck. matthew cares very very deeply about being a Good Teammate. he would have become connor's guard dog the same way he did for auston matthews in the ntdp. folks absolutely would have latched onto it. plus the added dimension of matthew being a Legacy Kid while connor has had Legacy Thrust Upon him would have been like rpf narrative catnip.

also, in addition to the legacy kid thing making him already a person of interest, if matthew had been drafted to the other side of the battle of alberta he would have been exactly as rambunctious and annoying and divisive and shit-stirring and fun to watch, just on the other side of the battle, and manyof us would have still gotten weird and wild about him. imho!!

i think it's a really interesting thought experiment to ponder how being in the shadow of mcdavid (and doing his shenanigans in what might be perceived as in service of the mcdavid experiment) might have possibly changed perpections/portrayals of him, and also how being drafted to a team where he knew he would never, in the eyes of the hockey zeitgeist, be the best player, might have changed matthew's own approach to his career and developing his game. because he's such a family-oriented guy i do still think he would have gotten homesick in edmonton the same way he got homesick in calgary, but i'm really curious if the concept of Playing With McDavid would have been enough to pressure him into sticking it out in the great white north. also, back to the cap crunch of it all — it feels so unlikely that the oilers would be able to afford to keep all three of them, and i wonder, if matthew was there, if drai would be the one to go. and that would have provided some RICH hrpf narratives.

on the draisaitl front, hrpf nation has been info him since he was drafted being he's hot, lmao. (laying these foundations just because if a guy is on the rpf radar it's much more likely for pairing with him to being a Thing(tm).) if matthew had been drafted to the oilers, mattdrai as we know it would absolutely not exist (and que tragique!!). it just wouldn't have that antagonism! i've always said that if leon and matthew were on the same team from the beginning, they would have been fast friends. they would have had a great time terrorizing people together. the things about matthew that pissed leon off so much wouldn't be pissing him off if they weren't being used against him!! so the dynamic that drew so many people into mattdrai wouldn't be there, and it would definitely be a very different thing, but i do think it would still be a thing.

honestly from what i know about hrpf, i feel like if we lived in the matthew-to-the-oilers universe, connor/matthew would be the big ship, with connor/leon and matthew/leon as rarer pairs on the side (and of course connor/matthew/leon hanging out there too). what a world!! i would read a million versions of the au though.

[brisquad-unit-4402]

noctyx 2.0 is real and every second you aren't running they're getting closer

but i had such a busY WEEK AND I DIDN'T GET TO MAKE A PREDICTION POST OR REACT OR SEE THEM LIVE AAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHH

but a very lovely message inspired me to write down my thoughts anyways so here, i'll post what i expected/predicted first, then reactions to the actual outfits under the cut

dude i knew in my heart sonny was wearing a baseball cap with that smooth ass head but in my SOUL i was hoping for, get this, a biker helmet and matching motorcyclist-themed fit. that would be sooooo sick. with a leather jacket (toggle?) and ripped jeans and everything. oh, about how one shoulder is a little higher than the other? i thought he did that thing where you take the jacket entirely off, but sling it around your shoulder

uki mamaaaaa... i thought the little chain was a drop earring ngl. and that he had a hair bow for the ponytail, and one of those classy, flouncy blouses. ever since the first few weeks of noctyx where uki solidified himself as a graceful, elegant kind of guy i've been rooting for a classy fit and i really felt that energy with this silhouette, though to be honest, i did imagine the blouse to be really ruffled like a pirate shirt

i am proud to say i didn't buy fulgur's silhouette for a second. nah-uh dude you can't fool me, the ms paint guy. i recognize a round brush when i see one and i damn well recognized a round brush when i saw it. plus when i zoomed in and saw all those little gaps? nah dude. i'm also mad proud to say that i knew before he posted the real silhouette that it was to obscure longer hair, but it definitely wasn't a 404 fit. his hair would be longer and more unkempt if it was. but aside from that i had no clue what to expect lol

and speaking of zero clues, alban.. literally had no idea of what to think. no idea where to start, either, because his silhouette was so versatile. i remember thinking that following the theme where luxiem 2.0 is based on their pasts, then it would make sense if noctyx 2.0 followed a theme of their future endeavors/more detailed outfits based on their occupations, right? the only details i really gleaned were the straps on his shoulders, and honestly i thought it was a bulletproof vest, or some kinda techwear gear

actual outfit reactions under the cut

so a funny side story while the outfit relay was running, i was at a concert. it was a small lil' outdoor bar type venue full of sweaty bodies packed like sardines, thrashing around to trip hop and noise rap until 1 am and everyone's toes turned black from getting stepped on. there were like four different artists performing before the headliner i was looking forward to the most, and when sonny's relay was going on, the first band had just finished, this noisy distorted group playing along to a rapper shouting along, something a guillotine-by-death-grips enjoyer would froth at the mouth for. once they left the stage and i checked twitter to see the livetweets i was just thinking "this is what he [taichou] would've wanted"

anyways. it was hilarious because the second i clocked sonny's new hair i called him a wet ass dog. it's true. he looks like he crawled out of a dunk tank AAAAAHAHAHAHA it's growing on me, though. the links on his cap are adorble, i love that and the negi. and the water bottle! omizu, those little references with the acessories were easily my favorite part! the fit is really simple so those little details really made it shine, including the quilted texture on the shoes, and the shadow over his eyes when he wears the hat… you know… it’s a good outfit… but it’s just… i can’t help but feel

(also obligatory disclaimer that i’ve only found the time to watch sonny’s stream entirely, and i’m 7 min into uki’s, so let me know if i missed some context. i’m a clips champion at heart.)

i knew uki would be beautiful but i loooove how effortlessly beautiful he is in this one. it's giving me vibes like you impulsively decided to turn up at his door and then spent the rest of the day just comfortably hanging out all chill and calm. his slippers are so adorbs i know how he integrated the stargazers into the fit just like that, and his hair is so pretty when it’s long! he really is uki mama now! and the color is lighter, so i have two headcanons: either it’s dyed and slowly fading out… or he’s so old he’s graying LMAOOOOOO

fuuchan turning up to the outfit reveal no tease no prelude just apple is easily the most on-brand fuuchan thing i’ve seen. happy father’s day to fuuchan and his pink shirt, i SWEAR every dad worth his salt has a pink shirt in that same exact color. megane fuu is so important! i’m so glad this is a thing now it suits his fit and his personality so well! love the legatus motif on the shoes and the buckle too

i guess i’m not really allowed to say i was pleasantly surprised by alban since i didn’t have any expectations. but i was pleasantly surprised! he’s so darling! and all his toggles go so hard! he’s very boy next door, i love the little ripped jean details especially on his jeans! and it’s very versatile, especially when you consider his 1.0 too. he’s so cute. i’m so glad we embraced the konbini thing it’s so important

[alarrytale]

I find complaining about both HL´s stage outfits bit like out of boredom because as I am a person who rather attend all those those indie/alternative rock bands and their stage outfits are the last thing to care about. H´s outfits were only exciting because it was very sparkly from time to time, very colourful and it was about if he´ll show hiddies/butterfly tattoo or not. But the fact it was all G*cci and basically 10 models which repeated with different colours, it became repetitive, as you write. With Louis it´s at least sometimes that he actually signal something with his stage outfits - remember the Pleasures blue jersey tshirt with pink bunny? Picasso alike art and bluegreen print on tshirt on the day of Umbrogate 2.0? Him wearing white tshirt with green details and laurels on sleeves on the same day H wore blue supergay supercropped vest and showing his laurels in full view? The excitement came from details. I agree sometimes it looks it´s without any creativity but at least there´s variation of brands and prints not just one brand because of the deal. And when we´re here complaining about stage outfits, have you seen Niall´s outfits? It´s literally the same as with H, 5 outfit variantions, mostly black-grey-beige or other very neutral colours and nothing exciting. But I won´t complaing about it, his performance is what makes the show exciting and great so when fans are not complaing on Niall, why we have to complain on Louis? I liked his tastes like strawberries coloured outfit no matter it was just a tank top and not-so-great-fitting trousers. At least he´s not wearing jeans+tshirt all the time and blesses us with tanktops and shorts sometimes.

Hi, anon!

I think different people have different expectations for a show. Some go for the music, some go for the entertainment and show-factor and some go for the social aspects of it. For people who can't attend a show and watches several shows from home their outfits matter. It helps differentiate between the shows and what they will wear is something to look forward to before each show. Some even tune in just to see what they're wearing. So the outfits they wear matters to many people. Our taste in what's a good look or not may vary greatly. We are allowed to not like something and express it. I think wearing atheisure wear is one of the biggest mistakes of his career and that he's losing fans over it.

Regardless of what he's wearing there is no excuse for repeat outfits and wearing a cap on stage when one of your best, and most recognisable features is your hair... For someone who's struggling with engagement and selling tour tickets as Louis does, he leaves little to be desired and admired when it comes to his outfits. So there is much room for improvement.

I haven't seen Niall's tour outfits. I'm not a solo niall stan. I do think Niall is an excellent dresser when he's doing appearances though. Very varied and fitted clothes.

[yuritsukikage]

MG Sandrock EW 1.5 Review

It’s a 1.5 since the actual kit is the Armadillo Unit but I haven’t built it yet

Okay so the build itself wasn’t actually that bad. The problem is that because much like the MG RX-78-2 2.0, I had a difficult time assembling the kit because my Japanese reading is piss poor and I almost missed one part of the leg armour you have assemble in a particular order. The manual is all in Japanese and it relies on visuals to understand which is fine and dandy but there are texts that are in Japanese that do need to be understood (‘there is a small gap’ etc)

The guy is going to be in that basic standing pose for a very long time because apparently there is a small poly cap that is sandwiched between two joints that make up the the upper leg connection to the waist. It makes is super difficult to articulate the legs without being scared of breaking the abs connection. The joints in the arms is also pretty loose as well as it is a sandwiched part as well and I really don’t have a tool to press back the pieces into place

To be fair, I am going to have the Armadillo unit attached when I have him decal and topcoated so he is going to be just in a standing pose forever anyway.

He was an okay build to be honest. I actually preferred the MG Qan[t] Full Saber in terms of the build even though the Sandrock is much younger kit by I think a year or two. I like the design though which is why I bought him. The Heat Shotels are really unique for a twin blade design.

I’m in the process of starting the Armadillo unit as a complementary but I will need to take a week long break from kit building and then will come back to building the unit then.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Ask us something instead please

I'm unsure about the quirks of the Xbox, but I think I remember being told that

1) your hand was supposed to be in a certain location (like, above the game controller) for the Kinect to recognize you, but apparently this is not true in practice

2) latency is a real problem and the Xbox has trouble figuring out what you're doing in real time without fairly high latency (compared to say, current gen PC sensors)

3) something something video camera, aperture, f-stop

4) it's easier if you're wearing a large cap or something? or not wearing skinny jeans, or something like that

5) you can still hear the actual sound from the game and your actual voice, so I think the idea was that if you wanted to talk you'd do so as the game was pausing, since the Kinect captures your voice as a microphone

6) the Kinect 2.0 supposedly fixes some of these issues (as well as adding software features like 3D tracking)

[theclaravoyant]

Those hospital hallway scenes though right like.

- The Fire Chief is there first of all. Just because Bobby is a Captain? (His “star captain” apparently?) He also happens to be the only person other than Athena who definitely knows Bobby resigned before all this hit

- Hen and Chim are obviously best friending, but they’re also the best contenders for Bobby’s replacement . Especially Hen, since she’s done it more, Chim is happy with that, and Bobby was definitely giving handover vibes to her specifically

- BUT someone is trying to fuck with Hen so it doesn’t make sense that she would actually get something she both wants and deserves. (She might even get transferred or something if they really want to kick her while she’s down)

- so Chimney gets the call and they’re both kind of like oh ok that makes sense even though they’re both kind of disappointed for Hen like ok sure maybe it’s time for Cap Chimney 2.0 ?

- but the title is ALL fall down not some of us have kind of a not cool time . so he doesn’t get it either . in fact, I am kind of expecting it’ll be Gerrard, calling to give Chim the good news himself 🙃🙃🙃

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Um... did you see the lackluster box office for Lightyear? The atrocious reviews for Ghosted and general disinterest in it? The general lack of any mention of him as being "sought after" for projects anymore? This is a man who depends on his fandom for castings, and this is the thing that gets a lot of them to leave for good./ the fact that y’all think he is actually trying to do any movie in the future is kinda funny. from that podcast and his actions it literally seems like he’s out lol. he’ll be back as cap no way home style in a couple of years and that’s it lol. maybe some flop action movies to get a quick check after that.

Gerard Butler 2.0