#this is directed at floyd obv

[girlinthetardis04]

Yuu: Did you just call me a shrimp, you asshole?! I'm still growing, dammit!

[zombieweek-g]

Finished Black Sun

massive spoilers for the whole show under the cut obv

never in my life have i watched a show so utterly devoid of any subtext whatsoever that wasnt just not terrible, but was actually pretty great overall.

To literally no ones surprise the themes of racial and ethnic discrimination were not subtle in the least and at all times felt like being hit in the head with a bat, but at a certain point the absurdity of it actually became, sort of endearing? Like it’s so hard to take the show seriously when it does something like make direct reference to the death of George Floyd but at the same time the way it wears its themes so blatantly on its sleeve without leaving any room for misinterpretation is pretty impressive. 

Like yea, it’s not subtle, but it also never compromises on its main theme by taking some shaky middle ground on the matter, the show holds to the idea that the only way to induce change is by fighting for it. I was fully expecting some wobbly ending where the characters try to get along with words, or get one over on the prime minister thorugh the law but no, it ends with a fucking political assassination set to an instrumental version of the original Black opening. Like the absurdity of it all contrasts so starkly with the very serious portrayal of its themes, but that actually kind of adds to it in a way.

Theres also a lot to be said for how the show never actually forgets what tis adapting, or the inherent camp/nature of the original black. Like I’d seen a clip of the remade opening sequence before i got to ep 10 and assumed it was some post credits thing but no that shit is front end center on the final episode. Combined with the incredible practical effects and suit design, and it makes something that plays on all the strengths of tokusatsu so well that even if the darker nature of the plot can go a bit far at times, it’s still a toku ass toku show.

All this praise without even touching the plot of the show, which is where it gets a little bit shaky for me. Not to say the plot was bad of course, I was thoroughly engaged with the way the story was told for the first seven episodes. Building the viewer’s understanding of what happened in ‘72 through small clues in the modern day plot to the point where you basically know what’s gonna happen, but can still be surprised by exactly how it happens. Also on that note of the ‘72 to modern day transitions, a lot of them were done extremely well imo, especially in the later episodes where it was used to contrast the scenes happening. Just generally the story, even with only 10 eps, felt a lot like watching a super condensed 50 episode show, especially with eps 8/9 basically not having kotaro do anything but be dead for them.

Like every 3 episodes felt like they followed a totally different sort of structure, with the first 3 being very typical semi motw plots, leading into the climax in ep 6/7, and then the sort of calmness of 8/9 before the finale. It made each episode so much more engaging to watch over time, and makes me pretty happy I didn’t just binge the show.

That said the 10 ep structure definitely meant some of the characters got less time to really develop than others, with Nick being the biggest example of this, though even then I didn’t really feel like I needed to know more about him other than being a cool dude who wants to be a kaijin. Though that slightly goes out the window with the reveal that he’s Oliver’s son/grandson, since there wouldve been a lot more room for interesting stuff with him in that situation.

Overall though, outside of a few oddly paced/worded dialogues, a lot of the character work felt very well done. Some of the Gorgom priests didnt get as much as they could, and the same went for Black’s little circle of friends by the end, but there was still enough for each of them that nobody really stood out as being flat. Though I’ll admit some of Aoi’s scenes in that ep 7-9 range felt sort of like an abrupt change, especially with her threats towards Bilgenia.

But again, none of that really stops this from having been probably the best high budget show to tackle this sort of conflict that I’ve ever seen. For a long time I assumed any big productions like this that would try and have this kind of theming would just take the same pathetic middle ground that they usually do by the end, but I think that’s something I should’ve just attributed to American Hollywood productions instead.

So far this is the absolute best thing to come out of all the Rider 50th stuff that’s been done, and after having seen both this and shin ultra im kinda incredibly excited to see what shin rider brings to the table.

But anyway, all of this doesn’t speak to my love of this show as much as the fact that I’ve rewatched the scene of dounami getting decapitated to the black opening about 30 times now. I’m so incredibly happy that this show I hade basically zero expectations for turned out to be as good as it was.

[ozziesjester]

here goes nothing. pubby s/i masterpost (will be edited as more get created obv)

raphael (my tmc s/i) is an alternate imitating another archangel. they're based loosely off the archangel raphael, who was known for healing the sick and curing a man of blindness :3 as such, they are functionally blind themselves!!

they live amongst a small village of humans and have for many generations. they're revered as a saint there, even if their healing tactics are a tad ... unconventional. humans healed by them find themselves with an intrinsic desire to serve under raphael until they're either disposed of or die of natural causes.

they're intended to be gabriel's direct foil - where he is cruel and disdainful of humans, raph is caring and sympathetic toward them. though they ultimately work toward the same goal of eradicating humanity

next is doctor fawn (not his real name, AKA scp-████), my scp foundation s/i. he's a man in his late 40s that stopped physically aging around age 12 for unknown, probably anomalous reasons. due to this, he never went through puberty naturally and had to be put on testosterone to simulate puberty.

the foundation discovered him through his work in a college and basically just. Stole Him. they stole a whole ass college professor. initially, they only planned to study him, but with much pushback and whining from fawn he became a researcher.

it's hard to get people to take him seriously. he gets a lot of flack from older researchers but clef gives it to him the worst. he's got the nickname "doctor baby" because of him. his lab coat doesn't fit and the foundation doesn't think it's necessary to tailor it to his size.

he exists as comic relief and pretty much nothing else :/

petal is my trolls s/i! they're a pop troll, but don't really align themselves to a single genre. they grew up in pop village and escaped the troll tree as a Very Small Baby troll with their parents.

they're a huge closeted brozone fan, and went to one of their concerts as a small child. their stan was always john dory, especially after meeting him backstage - he gave them their rainbow beaded bracelet that they'd keep into adulthood

after saving floyd, he'd run into them again in their flower shop and hit it off all over again. now they share rhonda and hardly stay in a single place for too long :3

this is my boy bryce, probably one of my oldest s/i's i have! bryce is an unfortunate circumstance - he was kidnapped by william afton as a small child and would have ended up dead if not for the man taking pity on him.

being raised by a sociopathic serial killer turned him into an emotionally stunted adult who continues his work to this day. he has a particularly deep-seated attachment to his daughter, vanessa, and goes out of his way to "keep tabs" on her after she leaves jeremy's house.

and finally (for now at least), my hellaverse s/i, lillie! their backstory is still in the works, but here's what i've got so far.

in their life, they were neglected and abandoned, leading to a detached sense of self and incredibly low self esteem. they were the perfect candidate to be indoctrinated into a small, yet enthused cult. their ability to follow orders exactly as written and tendency to obey authority no matter what got them to a higher rank within the cult: right up next to their leader.

the beliefs of their cult were unclear, but a few things were certain - their leader claimed he could speak to god, attachment to material possessions was discouraged, and they were to never, ever leave the compound unsupervised.

their plans were to follow their leader's orders up until the "reawakening", in which he promised every member a spot in heaven, so long as he were the one to kill them. naturally, lillie was the first to go. the sacrificial lamb.

their arrival in hell was unexpected, even more so when they were greeted with bloodshed and destruction. unbeknownst to them, they had died during an extermination. in order to shelter themselves from exterminators, they took cover, and hid there until somebody came upon them.

alastor was the first to see them, and took advantage of that. "you picked a very bad day to die!" he offered them guaranteed protection in exchange for their soul. of course they agreed. now they're bound together with no out, and lillie isn't sure they're too upset about that.

[auditionsuggestions]

Hi love! My university is going to be doing Head Over Heels and I need some help figuring out an audition song and a monologue. I'm a pretty solid soprano so I'm going for Philoclea but I'm just a bit stumped and was hoping you might have some ideas? Thanks :)

Ooh! Interesting to see a university doing something new. Best thing you can do, imo, is a 80s pop/rock song. Obviously, something by the Gogos not used in the show is gonna be ideal. You can also take a look at something by Blondie. "Call Me" or "Heart of Glass" could be fun choices. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" may be a bit more pop, but if you can nail it, it gives me the same fun, uptempo vibes that the show does. The Bangles could also work. "Hero Takes a Fall" could work well. "It Must've Been Love" by Roxette could work for a ballad. You can also look at Pop/Rock musicals obv. Tbh, something from Legally Blonde (like So Much Better), maybe arranging "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" from Next to Normal into a solor, or if you'd like a ballad option "If the World Should End" from Spiderman could work.

For monologues, look at this one from https://www.backstage.com/monologues/floyd-dell/enigma/1047/ to have a dramatic piece to contrast withthe more upbeat pop songs I've given you. Violet's monologue from Alcott (https://www.backstage.com/monologues/adam-szymkowicz/alcott/1312/) could be a good comedic choice if you want to go that direction. Or this https://www.backstage.com/monologues/adam-szymkowicz/east-haddam/1303/ could be funny since HoH is based on another important play in the theatre canon (granted Arcadia is def newer than R&J)

Break a leg!

[lightskinrry]

ok this dreaming too much and obv and harry is not much of a vocal king (lets be honest here harry can sing but its not THAT singer some of his high notes are him just screaming rip) but do you see him fitting an poppy rnb sound? or maybe hyper pop like sophie or charli cxc? bc in this point in time pop its so saturated and the indie pink floyd ish sound too :/

I think Harry has a great voice like he’s objectively a good singer I wouldn’t say he’s a vocalist let’s not get over our head lmaosjs but he’s still a very good singer !! I could totally see him give into a pop rnb sound!!! Lights up was there and he could indulge even more!!! Hyper pop seems a little too far off his world bc he seems to really be attached to his old school vibe while you can still get that vintage sound with rnb it’s much harder with hyper pop so I think he’ll stay grounded to his roots but if he ever goes that direction I would love to hear it!!!! I think the next album will either be a lazy one and it won’t be that good or it will be very experimental and we might def get some rnb