#watching tms just made me want to watch tms 2 again

[iguessitsjustme]

To My Star - Music

It has been 6 months since @gillianthecat requested a music analysis of To My Star. I said I’d do it in a few weeks and I started it then shit life happened but I wanted to actually do the analysis so here it is…a million years later. I will say this might be a bit disjointed because some of my notes are from 6 months ago and the rest are from the past week so apologies in advance for that. I did want to make this a longer post since it’s been so long since it was requested so I might have gotten a bit carried away.

As always this is my disclaimer that I’m just an idiot with a somewhat decent ear and I enjoy soundtracks. I am wrong sometimes so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Before I get into specifics, my general thoughts are that it’s a fine soundtrack. It’s not my favorite, but it does work very well for the show. It does a good job of keeping the tone that the show is setting. Most of the time the soundtrack helps set the tone of the show, but for To My Star it felt like the actors really set the tone for the show and the music followed. It wasn’t as cohesive as I really like, but it worked well enough that it didn’t stand out as not working. But with that said, I did really enjoy it. Overall it felt like they sampled youtube’s royalty free music catalog except for certain instances, but what they did choose to do actually worked really well but more on that later.

One of the main thingsI noticed when doing my rewatch for this, is that To My Star utilizes silence quite a bit. While there are some instances of music when Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon weren’t around, for the most part, the music only followed their story. Other characters were mostly given silence when they were the focus, which was an interesting choice. It worked for TMS because it wasn’t the only time there was silence. There was always silence during Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s important moments. The music waited until something was said before coming in and joining the scene. So it wasn’t as jarring as it would have been to have silence for the other characters. The silence being used for Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s important moments made it so when it was silent for the other characters, the audience paid attention because their part in the story is also important. TMS is ultimately about Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon but it’s not just their story as they are impacted by the other characters around them.

But as it is Han Ji Woo and Kang Seo Joon’s story, what were some of their big moments that were impacted by silence? There are a few but I’m only going to talk about what I think is the most important one. At the beginning, Kang Seo Joon hears a crash and has a panic attack as a result (been there my dude, it sucks). There is silence before the crash that leads into the panic attack and there’s silence at the start of the panic attack as well. Then we begin hearing a repetitive, dissonant note during the attack, but it’s backed by calming music that grows louder as Han Ji Woo cares for Kang Seo Joon. This worked almost a little too well for me. I don’t like being reminded of my own panic attacks like that, ya know? But it does a good job of using music to convey what Kang Seo Joon is feeling. We see the panic attack and we can hear it. It’s jarring.

The biggest surprise to me about the soundtrack was realizing that Kang Seo Joon and Han Ji Woo have different genres. Some shows do this and do it really well. A more recent example that I really loved was Never Let Me Go. Both boys had their own distinct genre that had to reconcile with each other when those two were together. That’s probably the one of the easiest shows to watch and pick up on the distinct music for each character. It’s far, far more subtle in TMS, but it’s there.

During the show, Han Ji Woo is a jazzy boy. It’s a smooth jazz, which fits Han Ji Woo’s character very well. He’s soft and subtle and his life should be formulaic and set in routine, but nothing has gone as expected. His routine has been thrown off. He still has his calm, almost stoic exterior, but inside he’s facing turmoil. Kang Seo Joon has come into his life and brought something new and unexpected. He’s facing feelings he wasn’t aware he could still feel and he’s willing to do things he didn’t realize he’s willing to do. Once his turmoil is settled though, he reverts back to what I believe his true genre is: classical. Han Ji Woo is a piano concerto. He’s soft and beautiful and strong. He can get loud and stand up for himself when needed and he can become muted when he’s feeling a little lost. Han Ji Woo settles into his new routine with Kang Seo Joon and he’s no longer a jazzy boy. He’s back to himself as a classical boy. The inner turmoil and struggle Han Ji Woo has felt is made so abundantly clear in this line:

At this moment in the show, Han Ji Woo’s jazz was slowly being taken over by Kang Seo Joon’s music. He was already scared because his genre was off but now even not-his-genre is being overtaken by Kang Seo Joon.

Kang Seo Joon has been consistently coming into Han Ji Woo’s life and overtaking his music. Kang Seo Joon is pop music. He is fun and upbeat. He is the music that so many people in the world listen to. I mean, it’s called pop music for a reason! At first it makes sense that Kang Seo Joon should have the more formulaic music. He seems shallow on the surface, but as always, that’s not the case as he has hidden depth and struggles. A lot of the pop songs that play are in English which was surprising, but they could be a hint at Kang Seo Joon being more than he seems. He’s not just the cookie-cutter celebrity that everyone, including Han Ji Woo, sees him as. He has hopes and fears and he has experienced his fair share of pain. And when he meets and starts falling for Han Ji Woo? Their music starts to blend.

When Han Ji Woo reaches for Kang Seo Joon’s face, about to take an eyelash off, but stops and walks away, leaving them both feeling like something has shifted in that moment, their music combines. It’s both poppy and jazzy. This is the moment that they both start to become aware that there are feelings floating around. 

By the end of the show, Han Ji Woo has embraced his jazziness because he realizes that his life isn’t going to go to routine now that he’s with Kang Seo Joon. When he’s alone, classical music follows him. But when he’s with Kang Seo Joon, he’s back to jazz. And in the very last scene, when those two are in bed and begin making out, the music is pop music but with a little jazz element thrown in. They’ve found their harmony and their balance as their two genres are able to meet to become one.

Here are some other things I noticed but they didn’t make it into the post itself:

-When Han Ji Woo is running to Kang Seo Joon at the end, it’s a pop song playing

-The music in the restaurant is smooth jazz

[seirindono]

two questions.

one, HOW DOES ONE COMIC/STORY BOARD??

IM OBSESSED WITH HOW YOU DO IT ITS SO BEAUTIFUL

two, HOW DO YOU SO IT SO FAST( that’s question is more just me being super impressed oh my goodness)

you’re very good😳

Aw, sweet, a board question *puts on serious glasses*

Ok, bring it on anon.

So, the first thing to ask yourself when starting a comic, as I see it, is what type of board are you dealing with. Webtoon? A4 pages? 4 panels? There are many ways to go about it, and each involves different processes. For example, pages will allow for more superfluous scenes, whereas the webtoon format has to be super succinct because of the reading direction. I personally think that's the main reason I do pages, among other advantages: •narrative density •variety •Tumblr-friendly format

There are quite a few disadvantages too but you have to go through the process of trials and errors to really find out what suits you best!

Then there's the ambition of the sequence you're boarding for. And it goes from 1. how used I am to boarding this kind of sequence/drawing these characters/setting and backgrounds, to 2. is it an emotional sequence? Dialogue-heavy? Or more contemplative?

It changes the way you work and how you should approach your board! For example, in TMS, the very wordy chapters (4 and 5 for ex) generally called for simple and narrow framing. Of course, you don't want to bore the reader so you can spice things up to match the characters mood and reactions once in a while, but you have to bear in mind that the sequence aims to provide dialogue and information = the text bubbles are key and WILL take a lot of place. So let them.

( then again, it's all about pacing and balance. A page full of dialogue and one with too much happening are equally hard to read and boring to do)

Only dialogue, simple squares, no compostion, the focus is on Mel's reaction

On the other hand, parts 7 and 8 are all about action and atmosphere! This makes for wider and more varied shots!

They're fighting, things are going fast so why not use a single line to show many actions! They're still basically squares and rectangles but the pacing is totally different!

Or why not give the action a full page to really show its sheer impact

You can also split things, with a zoom or small time gap, depending on if it's a gag or if you want to put the focus on a reaction. Here, the asymmetry helps reinforce the unstable, jerky aspect of the scene. The situation is getting out of hand, and visually, the pages are affected too.

Now, these are case-by-case examples. And I never work on my pages separately.

For context, this-

-is the "first" board I did for part 8.

The drawings are very small and frankly difficult to make out, but the intention is what matters at this point lol I have the script (very important) next to my canvas, and I scribble the pages one after the ither. This allows me to see if the actions flow well, if the compositions are varied and also whether certain passages are too long or too short in regard to their importance. Which scenes can be merged? Removed? Toned down or if they deserve more bite?

This is a really fun and creative part but, I'll say it again, made a lot easier with a solid scipt. And I'm talking about a text document with clearly defined dialogues (or at least outlines) and actions.

I can't really explain how to write a script, it really depends on your work flow and how confortable you are with writing, but it's too important to just rush through it. No matter how much it changes before, during or after your finish boarding (cuz you gotta break your own rules sometimes and you'll often realize some things don't work as well once you put them on paper/sometimes art block can be resolved by writing the scene and just taking the time to imagine) but it's still your one guideline.

Aaaand, that's about it.

Other than that, I can only highly recommend reading lots of comics, Webtoon, books, watching movies, paintings, illustrations, animatics or listening to music, to inspire you and expand your own "personal library of references". Professional or not, anything your find inspiring and well executed. Boarding is at its core, telling stories. No art skill involved, just pure subjectivity. At the end of the day, it's all about squares, rectangles and bubbles so you gotta work on your creativity. The rest is gut feeling!

Constantly ask yourself how to tell this story, and how you want to tell it. How this sequence should be perceived? What do you need to show to make pages and pages of words appealing and interesting.

Be patient, be bold. Start with easy stuff to get some confidence if you need to. Accept that "boring" pages are smt necessary and that it's up to you to build up tension for a scene to really pop. Try new ideas and be ready to scrap many of them, the result will be worth all the work!

Now, concerning the "fast" part, I'm flattered but I personally think I'm super slow xD You prbly get that impression bc I finish the whole chapter before posting it, but behind the scene, I'm just working at a very regular pace.

Thank youuu anon ♡( ◡‿◡ )

[odusseus-xvi]

Just saw a post saying that it didn't feel right for q!Baghera to bond with q!Jaiden about their neutrality for Cucurucho especially considering what recenty happened to q!Forever. And at first, yeah okay, it's definitely unealthy, I understand, HOWEVER what made me do a double take is the later comment "It makes sense for q!Jaiden because it's her character but I'm disappointed in q!Baghera." And I was confused, because her pov makes sense in that. And then I saw the "I don't watch her pov, it's just what I see of her character." and that's where I went "OH, I can help with that ! :D" Because it does make sense form her pov.

So, time to clarify :

First of all, talking about Baghera (it's the character from now on) and Cucurucho's relationship, she has never been anti Cucurucho. She has always shown compassion for him. HOWEVER it was never in the way "he's a perfect little guy, it can do no wrong" but more in a "They might not have free will, someone or something might be suffering under all this. "

Because that's the thing, Cucurucho is not just Evil Guy tm that uses the fact he's nice to people in order to manipulate people on his side, it's a anthropomorphic white bear, with a robotic voice, godlike powers, and that might not even have free will or anything. To her POV there might be someone suffering. Does it know what it's doing, Can it make choices on it's own, Was something transformed against their will to become this. Are all those acts Cucurcho or the Federation using him ?

Their is then the shock and the recent revelation. You have to realise it's not just "the trauma she rediscovered is blinding her a little bit on some subjetcs." It's so much more intense. The PTSD was so intense she dissociated for 2 full weeks. The Federation had to go fetch her in order for her not to die. It was clear that this happened before AND can happen again. This is one of the reasons she tends to just clock out important and negative details that can induce stress, ESPECIALLY since she discovered she was created entirely by the Federation, in her pov yes Forever is part of her chosen family, but at the same time a BOMB of an information was dropped on her and the first reaction you have is not "It's okay, they are not my chosen family, I'm gonna focus on the people I care about." It's "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DOES THAT MEAN ABOUT ME" And that might be something she sees in Cucurucho, it might have raised her. And it might be in a similar situation. She was also so Anti-Federation for so long that now that she knows she was made by them, that she can't escape them, she is so terrified that people would start seeing the Federation in her the same way they see it in Cucurucho.

In a way it's a bit like realising years later your parents are complete assholes, but in reverse. She realised the Federation are the reason she is alive, the reason she exists. She might know they are evil, but they raised her.. She HAS to find some good in them, there has to be right ? If she is of them, there has to be some good.

In a similar way the "Cucurucho has never done anything bad to me" is not JUST reassuring herself and blocking out the problems of the others (it's partly that, and I agree it's very unealthy, that's why we are cheering, we want the angst) but it's also "I know they are capable of good, I've seen it, there has to be a way to point it towards that good and fight the Federation's influence". Imagine the "I can fix him" meme but infinitely more fucked up.

I want to be very clear everyone who follows her POV realises everything she is doing is VERY unealthy and unfair to a lot of people (to q!Forever, among others yes, q!Etoiles himself commented on how she acted strange recently), BUT it does make sense from her pov, and because she hides things to the others, I do realise now that YES, from other povs it feels like a shift, and her just not caring, but she does care, she is just REALLY lost, confused and scared at the moment. And that is partly why we are all SO interested and invested in her bonding with Jaiden, because it's terribly unealthy and it offers two amazing possibilities, either they get out of it together, with some help or not and it's beautiful, OR they make each other worse.

I can't wait to see where they go with it.

[spaceorphan18]

The Lady Whistledown Papers: 1x06 - Swish (Part 2)

Welcome back, Gentle Readers, to The Lady Whistledown Papers, where I’m taking an in-depth look at Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton’s character arcs and romance within the show Bridgerton!

For previous issues, follow tag : The Lady Whistledown Papers

Skipping over, like, ten minutes of Daphne and Simon sex. Look, I know it looks hot, but I don't recommend doing it outside in the rain. But that's just me. Maybe it's your thing. You do you, boo.

Anyway...

Violet

Can we talk about the beginning of this scene for a second? One of the things I truly love about Bridgerton is the family dynamics, and all of these little insights we get into the family. Gregory and Hyacinth are arguing over a ribbon and Benedict is really stepping up and being 'dad' because Anthony has other things going on, and meanwhile Eloise is just grabbing food and Violet is reading the morning newspaper and it really doesn't matter if it's 1824 or 2024, some things don't change in families, and I think that's kind of cool.

Colin trepidatiously walking into the dinning rooms screams kid who is coming out of his room after being grounded for the night. Also, the timeline is weird on this. So... we know time has passed because of the sex montage (btw - are Simon and Daphne Saphne? Why not Dimon? I feel like then you can use the little diamond emojis for them anyway...). Time has passed. Whistledown needed to be written and released. Has Colin just avoided his family for that long? Is that why he's being that sheepish about approaching his mother? What has he been up to for the past twenty-four hours?

I just had to include the family shot. Violet is pissed. Eloise is delighted. Hyacinth is like - yo, you made the news!!! Which, is funny, because according to the books, Whistledown mentions Colin, like, every other issue. How no one figured out Pen was Whistledown or her feelings for Colin just continues to crack me up. I understand why they didn't, but man it would have been entertaining if someone at least mentioned how often Colin ends up with Whistledown -- and be like, we don't know who she is, but she sure does love Colin.

Also love that Benedict is like - okay, everyone out, Mom's gonna yell at Colin now, and as much as we'd love to watch that, we probably shouldn't... The only unrealistic thing is not one of them going -- no, I want to be here and watch the drama. You know they're all talking about it in whatever room they've relocated to.

Continuing on our theme of how Colin is still very childish in nature... the FIRST thing he does when he sits down is apologize. Again. Violet does not look happy. And Colin, the child who probably didn't get disciplined all that often (or at least not from Violet) is backpedaling a little, and wanting to make immediate amends. He doesn't want to disappoint his mother. (He doesn't want to disappoint any of his family, really) But his whole demeanor here is -- kid who was caught getting in trouble and is now facing the consequences of his actions.

Violet mentions that she's glad she knew (about 2 seconds) before Whistledown reported it. Which is kind of funny because technically, Pen did know before her. But the point is -- just as Anthony was shocked by the development, so is Violet. It does feel out of nowhere.

Colin digs in his heels (stubborn man that he is) and throws out that maybe if Violet hadn't been so caught up with Daphne, she'd have seen that he was courting Marina all season. Which is very much a... you're not paying enough attention to me because of your other children... moment. And I can only imagine that in a family that size, fighting for your parents' attention is a thing that does happen.

And it's not even about attention in this minute. It's about being taken seriously. Colin is in that awkward time of late teens/early twenties where you just want everyone to think of you as AN ADULT(TM) and most people still think of you as a child. Colin's feelings feel very real to him, and while Violet and Anthony (and hell, maybe even Pen gets it) may still laugh and shake their head and go - boy, you still young yet, he doesn't feel that way.

And I mean, I'm not discredit Colin's feelings here, either. Because they are real. He does feel attachment to Marina. He does find her attractive. He does want to explore what a relationship is with her. And he does want to play out all these romantic fantasies he has. BUT. His his inexperience is showing. Because the infatuation he has with Marina is more idyllic, and not built in reality, commonality, and a deeper bond the way it will be with Penelope.

Violet says something key here -- first of all, I need to point out that even if he doesn't feel like it, and even if she is a bit preoccupied with Daphne, Violet is paying attention to all her children. She does get her children. She was well aware Colin was enjoying flirting with Marina. And it's brought up that he flirts with lots of girls. But the key element is that he never acts on any of it. The flirting is just a part of his personality, the way cracking jokes and being kind are. It's how he relates to others. He's charming.

But the thing is the whole charming thing can feel - hollow - for him. Especially when he wants to be taken seriously. Serious people in love are - charming - or - funny - or flirty. (Oh, poor Colin who has people like Anthony and Simon for role models. And Benedict, who is more like him, and who is taken even less seriously at times). Colin comments that no one takes him seriously except for Marina.

Which... isn't true. Because we all know Pen takes him seriously. And, really his other does, too. And we all know Marina isn't being altruistic with her seriousness. But Colin is really only seeing what he wants to see here. Which leads me to a thought I should have brought up in the convo about Anthony ---

The more people don't take him seriously, the more Colin decides he's in some kind of Romeo and Juliet type scenario. He almost wants it to be like that, which again, is another romantic fantasy, where he and his love can run away and be happy together, and face the world on their own despite all the people telling them no! But again, the youthfulness is on display here. Because Romeo and Juliet is not a romance to aspire to.

Violet does make the comment that she's never seen him so solemn and serious. And I am curious as to what she means here. In the last day or so? In the past few weeks? Whatever the timeline is, I think it's telling that Violet has noticed this. Colin is the type of person who you wears their emotions on their sleeve. And as much as he can withdraw when upset (sensitive soul that he is), the lack of a more jovial and lighthearted Colin is always a tell.

And I think that's another key aspect to letting Violet know that something is off about all of this. Colin, ultimately, isn't happy. Sure, he's frustrated here because (he thinks) he's in love and wants to get married and achieve his romantic dreams. But he's in love with an idea. And he doesn't want to face that fact when Anthony and Violet are kind of pointing that out. He just wants to be in love.

But being in love with an idea means you are ultimately unhappy with it. It'll never measure up to what you want it to be because it's not real. And I mean -- clearly real love comes with its own set of issues. But here, the simple act of being in love really isn't bringing him the joy it should be -- and that is telling.

The thing about Violet is that she is a sympathetic and kind person at heart, who is trying to take him seriously. She may not love this idea, but she will support him in this if it's what he really wants. Yeah, it's the 1800s, and there are all these extra societal components that layer on, but I still think she comes off as a mom who will let her kids be her kids. She'll direct them when she feels she needs to, but she allows them to make their mistakes and live their lives. And she's not perfect either, but she does try.

I also love the very honest end to this scene, where now that Daphne is married and out of the house, the reality that Violet's kids are moving on is hard. They've always been a unit and they're starting to fracture off, and that change is difficult.

I also love that, in a way to bring levity, and make his mother feel better (because he is an empathetic little soul) he jokes about Violet having her hands full with Eloise. And, you know, good luck with that. (Which is also such a sibling thing to say/do. I LOVE the sibling dynamics of this show.)

Anyway, this is such a sweet little scene, and I love that we get some Violet/Colin stuff, because while there isn't much of it -- it's always good. This episode is so good... there's so much!!

[autumnwhistles]

Introducing Last Life SMP: The Unofficial Musical

“There is an old, old tale to be told

Of green like the spruce, of crimson and gold.”

[Full song list and links under the cut]

NOTE: AUDITIONS ARE OPEN UNTIL NOV 20TH!!!! If you're interested, please check out the #auditions and #info tags for more information.

Those are the first lines sung (...kind of) in a musical adaption of the Last Life SMP I’ve decided to talk myself to write, for... some reason. Please note this is not an actual play and never will be (rights and crediting issues, for one thing, the CCs deserve to take credit for the storyline they’ve made), but I will record, put it together, and upload songs to Youtube in a playlist. Most of the plot is from Last Life itself, and is stated in the songs, so it should be easy enough to follow. There will also be the relevant plot in the description of each song.

My aim is to tell a coherent story through songs (which, because I can’t hold myself back, I’ve planned 45 of...), meaning that I can’t just jump perspectives continuously and chronicle events. This means that some of the CC’s characters are going to have a bigger role than others, though I do want to honour everyone involved, so I’d appreciate any ideas on doing this (especially for Tango and Skizz). However, so far:

It mainly follows Martyn (especially due to his lore, he had the easiest storyline to adapt into a narrative setting, and to me at least was the main character of that season), partially following Scott as the winner as well. They do foil each other quite well this season, which is a bonus – though I am going to be stretching this for the sake of Cohesion^TM.

Important events and important exposition are given to us by the Chorus, keeping the storyline in tact while shifting focuses (Joel going Red, for example). The Chorus are actually Watchers observing the events, which is hinted in the opening song (they sing a lot of references to Martyn’s Last Life teaser, for instance).

This means that Watchers and Listeners are technically canon (especially since we’re following Martyn’s lore), but the names aren’t going to be stated so things can be interpreted differently for people who don’t keep track of/aren’t fans of that. 

Memories of 3rd Life are also canon, as they are in the series.

This follows the headcanon (and out-of-universe truth) that 3rd Life took place in Spring and Last Life in Autumn, so if there are references to that in songs (which they are), that’s why.

Also, though I’ve tried to keep everything as faithful to the events of Last Life as possible (except one confrontation/song that doesn’t happen, to resolve various things), but I do tweak some minor chronological aspects (eg when alliances were established) and omit some things  again for cohesion, and also to help establish information early on.

Progress-wise first song is nearly finished, though I do still need to record it. I have pretty concrete ideas for others, and some I don’t really know yet, but hopefully they’ll be coming out at a steady, if slow, pace. I am somewhat a novice at music production (as in recording and putting tracks together) though, so help with that would be appreciated.

*if you’re not convinced, watch the start of his session 8 until 1:57, he canonically hallucinates his friends and this is due to a sinister entity only he can hear speaking to him and commanding him to follow it even somewhat despite his will, manipulated by promises of bringing back these dead friends. And all this is in his episodes. Main character behaviour, guys. Main character behaviour.

Full song list:

Part 1:

1. Overture/Middle of Nowhere: We’re introduced to the Last Life world by the Chorus as players spawn in. Martyn seems to hear something, but brushes it off.

2. Corners of the World: Through Martyn’s perspective we’re introduced to players and their alliances. He meets Scott and Pearl and chats to them for a while, before heading with them to spawn.

3. “Tales: Record 13″/”The Boogeyman”: At spawn, Grian narrates his experience with BDubs’ Boogeyman curse, and all around the map the players express what they’ve heard about the Boogeyman curse themselves.

4. “A(ha)lliances”: The Southlands ally, making a-ha jokes, and Pearl and Scott solidify their alliance via Pearl gifting Scott a life.

5. “The Table Song 1″: Now some time into the series, the Chorus updates us on the alliances that have formed: the Fairy Fort, Team BEST, Magical Mountain, Scott and Pearl, and the Southlands. It also chronicles the journey of the Enchanting Table, now in Magical Mountain, and the Southlands’ trip to enchant which ends with Scar’s Boogeyman kill.

6. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 1)”: Martyn hears a mysterious voice speaking to him for the first time, telling him to give Ren some Nether Wart. He does so.

7. “Debts (potentially an instrumental)”: Martyn extinguishes Ren’s burning tower and Ren tells him of his alliance and pledge to Lizzie, reminding him of his time in 3rd Life.

8. “In Spring We Met”: After returning to the Southlands, Martyn thinks about the conflicting loyalties he feels between the Southlands and the remaining ties he feels to Ren, despite it being a new life. As he falls asleep, the voice whispers to him about betraying the Southlands and forming an alliance with Ren to suit its own goals.

9. “Green, Crimson, Gold”: Joel is now Red after an unlucky session, and news of a Red name spreads throughout the server.

10. “The Table Song 2″*: The journey of the Enchanting Table is further chronicled, coming into Scott and Pearl’s possession, who then sell it to Lizzie for a life each, putting Scott up to the same number of lives as Martyn, 4.

11. “Their Dubious Game”: Scott wonders about how trustworthy the rules of the game actually are, prompted by the forced isolation of Red names this time due to their nature contradicting his experiences in 3rd Life with Jimmy, while Martyn, breaching the border with the Southlands, hesitantly wonders the same thing. 

12. “Northern Lament”: Below Magical Mountain, Joel fumes at being distrusted by everyone and isolated purely due to his Red name. Above, Scar muses about being isolated and distrusted for the opposite reason, because of how many lives he has.

13. “A(ha)alliances (Reprise)”: Time passes, and Martyn grows closer to the Southlands. However, he’s still meeting up with Ren who offers to introduce him to Lizzie and the rest of the Fairy Fort, potentially considering a betrayal. The Voice prompts him to accept this, as they can be useful in its plan.

14. “unnamed Wither theme (Instrumental)”: Grian informs the Southlands that Scott and Pearl are in possession of a Wither Skull, expressing his desire to retrieve it. Martyn, Impulse and Mumbo go, Martyn however intending to eventually destroy it because of how unprepared everyone is for a Wither fight.

15. Unnamed Song: After they’re found out by Scott and Impulse and Mumbo flee, Scott informs Martyn that Grian also has a Wither Skull, Martyn immediately gives the skull back, and the two talk about their distrust of Grian and his desire to bring complete chaos to the server. However, that night (post-song) the Voice informs him that its goal is to watch the server burn.

16. “The Table Song 3″: The Chorus further chronicles the Enchanting Table’s journey, now in the Fairy Fort, where two members – Ren and BigB – are chosen as the Boogeyman. Team BEST visits and Bdubs gives a life to Lizzie in exchange, giving enchanting to everyone free of charge. Ren manages to kill a member of Team BEST, Skizz, but BigB has not gotten a kill yet, and the session is nearly over. He catches sight of his closest ally Cleo by the side of Ren’s pit trap.

17. “Green, Crimson, Gold (Reprise)”: Cleo, now Yellow, arrives at Scott and Pearl’s base informing them of BigB’s Boogeyman kill on her, wanting to cut TIES. Scott and Pearl accept (song intro). Meanwhile, Joel is getting desperate for allies, now hunting for Yellows to convert to Red with him. Hearing about Grian’s wither skull, he goes to the Nether, where Grian and Mumbo are building a Ghost farm, and shoots Grian off the edge, turning him Red. BDubs, fighting in the Nether, falls and turns Red too. When heading to Scott and Pearl’s base, a Yellow Cleo is killed by Joel’s trap. 

18. “Friends”: The Southlands are informed of Grian’s death, and, now Red, Grian is to be exiled from the Southlands. He desperately tries to kill Mumbo as Impulse and Jimmy arrive, asking if they can still be friends, while Scott and Pearl mourn the loss of a friendship with Cleo, and Martyn is introduced to the rest of the Shadow Alliance under the gaze of the Moon, giving Ren a life.

Part 2:

1. “Walls”: Grian has been exiled from the Southlands, the stone wall he built separating them. In the Snow Fort, Etho and BDubs build a wall to keep them separate until he can gain a life again. Cleo, wanting vengeance on BigB, meets Scott on the other side of his wall, Scott giving her some sugarcane. Post-song, Grian, Joel and Cleo express their desire to gain lives back from Scar. 

2. “Their Will”: Martyn relays the aims of the Voice, which he now interprets as the Moon, to the rest of the Shadow Alliance, who agree with it.

3. “Die For Me”: In a Shadow Alliance meeting, Martyn asks if there’s anything recent he should know about the Fairy Fort. They tell him the Fairy Fort has burned down at the hands of Cleo, relaying the tale as a flashback (with mainly Cleo singing). 

4. “Promises”/“Coal Mine”: Martyn chases Jimmy, who’s stolen his life in the Southlands life-passing ritual, spurred on by the Voice. He lies to Jimmy, telling him they can run away from the Southlands together if he gives him back his life. Jimmy expresses his worry about potentially being the first out again in the process, as this has happened before and he is very vulnerable as a Yellow, and agrees. Martyn runs back with his life straight after.

5. “The Table Song 4”: Since there are only three of them now, the three remaining Southlanders spend the day together, including sneaking around Team BEST’s snow fort looking for the Enchanting Table and finding a secret entrance. They are caught but let go due to some lies of Martyn’s about their aim, telling them he was simply looking for Ender Pearls.

6. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Song: Precursor)”: During the day, the Southlanders meet Scott, Martyn bringing up the danger of Grian’s Wither Skull as he’s now Red, and they decide to look for it. As Martyn is called away to a Shadow Alliance Meeting, Impulse manages to find it, and entrusts it to Scott. Scott gives it to the Fairy Fort for safekeeping.

7. Unnamed Song: Cleo, now Yellow again, visits Scott and officially joins their alliance. Scott expresses his desire to simply protect his allies and simply live a quiet life in these games, though violence is necessary as a means to this end as he knows the chaos that will ensue.

8. “Tales: The Wizard On The Mountain”: a Yellow Grian rejoins the Southlands, telling them (especially Martyn, as he did not know when this happened due to his absences) how he got a life back from Scar, who’s now Yellow himself. (And yes Grian gets songs where he’s relaying events to others instead of ones of them happening to him because he’s a Watcher hehe, he’s not involved in the action songs he watches)

9. “The Trial of Timmy”: The Southlands hold a trial for Jimmy about whether he should be exiled or stay in. They will anonymously vote their verdict in a book, Grian campaigning for Jimmy to leave, while the others, minus Martyn, campaign for him to stay. When it is time for them to vote, Martyn votes him in.

10. “Our Will Be Done (Precursor 2)”: The Voice is angry at Martyn, asking him why he’s still attached to the Southlands when he wishes to join the Shadow, appearing to him and telling him a demonstration is in order... “Lights extinguish/Begin the Slaughter/Our Will Be Done!”

11. “Unnamed Wither Theme (Instrumental 2)”: Grian manages to gather the three Wither Skulls he needs with the help of Impulse, who wants to stay loyal to his allies and feels regret for taking it with Scott. Martyn, though not active, does not try to stop him, and distracts Team BEST while the other two take it. 

12. “Red, Crimson, Gold (Reprise 2)”: As Grian is distracted by this aim, the other members of the South fall to boogeymen, of which there are six of this session, due to the Voice’s promise. Impulse falls to Yellow at Scott’s hands, and Mumbo and Jimmy both become Red, along with many other players on the server, including Lizzie and once more, Joel.

13. “Friends (Reprise)”: Returning to the Southlands after their mission, Grian, Martyn and Impulse find the South blown up by Mumbo: mourning the loss of the alliance, they mournfully burn the walls in commemoration. Grian and Martyn muse on each other’s untrustworthiness, Impulse remaining loyal to both, as the allyship between Scott, Pearl and Cleo strengthens. Far away, Etho, with Bdubs once again on the other side of the wall, discovers the missing Wither Skull, suspecting the Southlands.

14. Unnamed Song: Martyn and Grian, now the last two Southland members after Impulse is shot by Mumbo in the Nether and becomes Red, mentally comment about their distrust of the other person and about there being something off about them, Martyn due to the Voice’s seeming hatred of Grian and Grian’s apparent apathy to everything apart from causing bloodshed, Grian because he senses something around Martyn (Watcher powers heh) and his relative absence from the Southlands when they were still around, though he does express a wish to protect their last remaining threads of alliance. They express none of this aloud. 

15. “When Will You Learn?, Parts 1 and 2”: Heading back to the Southlands, Grian and Martyn meet Jimmy and Mumbo, who attack them. Grian kills them both, to Martyn’s shock, and shocked himself, tries to defend these actions. All of a sudden, the Voice appears again and a Boogeyman curse strikes Martyn. Prompted by the Voice (seeming to have a specific hatred of Grian) and by vengeance for Mumbo and Jimmy, Martyn immediately moves to kill Grian. He succeeds, but the kill is attributed to Joel, who has sniped him. Exhausted, Martyn managed to kill Tango. When called to another Shadow meeting, he returns to his empty Southlands tower instead.

16. “Unnamed Wither Song (Proper)”: The Wither is raised by Grian and Impulse in Team BEST’s base. Etho wants to run, but Bdubs attacks it, giving him the courage to attack too – however, Bdubs loses a life to it, turning Red once more. The remaining Greens and Yellows flock to fight it as the Reds join in, trying to kill the other players. The Wither is defeated by Etho; Impulse falls to Scott’s hand, dying permanently; Bdubs takes Lizzie’s final life as he was promised a life in exchange for killing a Red; he is shot by Grian as he runs to Etho to inform him of this.

17. Unnamed Song: In the aftermath, Etho mourns BDubs’ death, while Ren mourns his failure to protect his Shadow Queen, even if she was Red.

18. Unnamed Song (and the only one not following ‘canon’ events): With Impulse’s death as a catalyst, Martyn seeks out a Red Grian, proposing a temporary truce for him to explain what's going on. They confront each other about their various actions against the Southlands, and their apparent detachment from it, and talk about their suspicions that the other person knows more than they seem about the nature of the games – as the Voice tries to stop Martyn from inquiring further. Grian says he experiences this alongside his friends as a decision when prompted by Martyn stating he never cared in the first place. He wonders if Martyn would understand the situation due to his position; however, he does not know what Grian is talking about and distrusts him. Angry, Grian leaves, calling Martyn nothing but a follower. Angry, the voices swell around Martyn and he falls asleep.

19. “Our Will Be Done”: Waking up all alone, Martyn hallucinates his friends, before they are revealed as fake, the Voice in their places. He snaps at it, finally asking why they’re doing this. Why are they speaking to him? Why are they hell-bent on killing Grian? What did he mean? Why does he have to follow it when he wants to do the opposite of what they tell him? Who are they – why should he do anything they say? However, they pacify him, promising that if he does what they say, they will bring Impulse, Mumbo and Jimmy back. Martyn concedes.

20. “Scott’s Elegy”: Scott, cursed as the Boogeyman once more makes a decision to surrender himself to the curse instead, as he doesn’t want to kill any more allies with so few lives left in the game.

21. Unnamed Sad Martyn Song: Martyn thinks on Scott’s decision, thinking about what he’d once wanted, everything that’s now impossible as he’s pushed around by the Voices with not enough willpower to say no: he wishes to make choices but cannot, and thinks about Grian’s words. 

22. “Our Will Be Done (Reprise)”: In a meeting of the Greens and Yellows, the Voice tells Martyn to place an End Crystal in the centre as a test for Scott: if he blows it up, he passes, if he doesn’t, he fails. Scott chooses not to, and as Scott turns Red, the voices talking to Martyn become loud and angry, commanding him to kill Scott for disobeying them, yet again promising him the Southlands back if he does. While walking around, Martyn loses his first life to a trap at Grian’s hands.

23. “Boogie Boogie On The Dance Floor”: The Chorus informs us that it is the last day. Pearl is chosen as the Boogeyman, rigging a TNT trap on a disco floor, turning Ren’s red. The others quickly fall to the Reds, including Cleo.

24. “Martyn’s Stand”: Now left as the last Yellow, Martyn decides he is tired of hiding, deciding make a last stand against everyone. At first humming the start of “In Spring We Met” as a comfort, he heads to a mountain and pouring lava down the sides as a beacon for the Reds. However, though he puts up a good fight, he doesn’t manage to take any of them down before dying himself, marking the server entirely Red. 

25. “Battle Royale”: With the Reds having turned on each other, the four survivors – Pearl, Scott, Ren and Martyn – agree to a Battle Royale to decide the victor. Pearl dies early on, prompting Scott to grieve and resolve to win this fight, no matter what it takes. Martyn eventually falls to his own End Crystal. Only Scott and Ren are left, and they fight to the voices of dead players telling them to play the game. After a long fight, Scott manages to kill Ren, partially due to a zombie which he interprets as the world maybe doing something after all for his defiance. He is crowned the winner. However, the Voice does not like this, the Chorus supporting this, and Scott is stricken dead with heavenly lightning.

26. “Plainly Spoken [Epilogue]”: All is silence, and yet Martyn opens his eyes once more, to the Voice and the Chorus, now joined as they are the same entity, informing him how disappointed they are in him, and that he is heading closer and closer to the light. As he asks questions, he is cut off, and they say he will forget all that has happened with them as he and everyone else moves into the next game. Up above, the land is now in the state it was at the start of “Middle of Nowhere”, and they are revealed to be those that run the death loop. 

*This may be later excluded due to not adding much at the moment.

[memberment]

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

So the Trinitarians brain worm is back and Morning Glory is now longer and biting the dust as far as my focus goes.

But like, I genuinely want to talk to anyone who's invested in what's to come as far as part two goes. SO PLEASE. I IMPLORE THE FOUR OF YOU WHO PERPETUALLY TAKE NOTICE OF MY SCREAMS INTO THE VOID.

We're all aware that Trin is a time loop fic. That is confirmed.

BUT THE PROBLEM IS HOW I'M GOING ABOUT DOING THAT. AND I NEED INPUT FROM PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT ME AS FAR AS PLEASES AND SPARKLES GO, YES?

Because like sure I'm writing it and like fuck everything else, let me tell my story. But it's the how of it all like if I'm gonna throw another 200 give or take hours into this I would at least like one person to be having a wonderful time drinking and driving (I have since remembered this is not a common phrase, I do not mean this in a literal sense, it's an expression) with me right?

Part two is going to be 50 chapters, give or take. (Part one is about 37 for reference.)

So the plan for part 2 rn is (ROGUHLY):

(1-10) is the second timeline. There are a lot of importants and I cannot just glaze over it all more than that. But we're also working in a bit of a shorter time period than the original events of the story and introductions do not need to happen again, right?

(11-40)ish would be me running through the next timelines in a set up structure -> what changes -> the results of said changes and then inevitably what sends our looper backwards. It wouldn't be running through all the timelines but the more notable ones in kind of a four chapter structure, I am not fully sold on four, but rough estimate yk.

And then 41-50 would be the finale of part two. It's literally the last timeline in its glory and then the epilogue which kicks off part three.

COULD AT LEAST ONE OF Y'ALL SIT THROUGH THAT OR DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY NOTES AT ALL BECAUSE LIKE

I personally kinda like it but if not a soul is reading this I am throwing myself on the curb with the rest of the garbage LMFAOOO.

I NEED THOUGHTS. OPINIONS. COMMENTS. CONCERNS. ANYTHING.

Anyways, I'm going to work. I have off tomorrow and I broke the ff investment seal for today so insanity and updates will be here tonight and homework will be tomorrow.

HOPE EVERYONE HAS A GOOD DAY <3

(9:30) I am literally falling asleep as I lazily write this angel based on Danse Macabre. Expect all of maybe one more update tonight if the tacos I am abt to receive don't wake me up LMFAO.

Also, I am almost saddened by not having something to post tm. Anyone want an early chapter of something that isn't Genesis/Desolation bc they're both on Monday?????? (I am feeling like a menace rn)

(10:19) tacos and the absolute yap session I just had did wake me up a bit. MAAAYBE might write some more. Idk I slept like three hours last night and went to work I'm kinda dead. But we're at 98.2k!!!!!!🥳

(11:06) okay we made it to 99.6k everything besides the flashback for 31 is done. I'm about to relax and watch something and figure out mechanics of some of this because god this series is A BEAST. Like, I still have six planned chapters left.

Pure insanity. I love it here. I hate it here.

Holy shit wait I just came to the realization that I started this fic exactly one month ago. I have belted out 99.6k for THIS FIC ALONE. (Moreso if we're including future shit that hasn't happened yet)

IN ONE MONTH.

THAT IS FUCKING CRAZY WHAT HTE FUCK LMFAOOOO

I may or may not be cooking we’ll find out in 6-26 business hours

(5:28) So I just had a very interesting past few business hours. I read a fic I've been waiting ever so patiently to finish. That's cool, right. I go for a walk at 4 in the morning because I'm insane. Fantastic. I get home at five and I'm like ohhhh well what do I do now it's not sleep time yet. Oh write I'm supposed to be drawing.

Nope I reread the epilogue of morning glory and realized Tweek's first address is for my morning glory and Craig's last sign off is your morning glory and now I'm ready to throw myself on the curb with the garbage as I sob. Someone call a trusted adult for me thanks.

[gayhuckleberryinatrenchcoat]

I can’t believe it took me so long to watch “The Winchesters” but now that I did I am NOT OKAY😭 I only started watching cause I wanted to hear Dean’s voice one more time, in a new situation and I immediately fell in love with every single character🥺

But also there are so many things that scramble my brain PLEASE SOMEONE TALK TO ME ANOUT THIS!!

1. They SERIOUSLY used a watergun filled with holy water?! Jensen knows THE POST TM!

2. They made a HOLY WATER HAIRFLIP?!😭

3. They made a main character VERY CANONICALLY BI!!!

4. I did SO NOT expect any actors from spn to have an appearance and I literally squealed with joy every time someone new appeared I mean first the trickster, then Rowena and then Dean actually has a bigger scene and BOBBY and ofc Jack?!😭

5. They literally gave spn a new spin on that HORRIBLE end and I love that they mention that Jack has all that power and used it to give earth free will and restore everything again.

6. The “it’s time to get to the ‘there’ll be peace when you are done’” comment?!😭😭😭 I am so not okay cause YES DEAN GET SOME PEACE but also how Jensen used EVERY opportunity to reference meaningful spn things😭😭😭

7. I am not okay with Cas not being mentioned, obviously Jack must have gotten him back, why not throw in a tiny half sentence that says he’s back and they’re still besties (yeah we all know they’re husbands but if that’s too difficult to get in there cause of stupid networks or whatevs at least don’t erase him!!)💚💙😭

8. I am SO NOT OKAY with the show being canceled can we please just get it back?! I mean besides needing closure and a happy ending for Dean AND Cas, it’s so comforting to watch adventures out of this world again, even without the original characters. I will never feel as strong about the new characters cause NOTHING could ever come close to what Dean and Cas make me feel but I really love the new cast🥺

9. Also seeing baby again🥺

10. The fact that they changed the whole story of how John became a hunter but did make it still work and fit into the supernatural universe cause it’s just a different world. (Also I really like this version of John)

11. How John and Mary literally act like Dean and Cas like the parallels😭💙💚

12. Also the fact that this show made me ONCE AGAIN log into this hellhole after like 2 years of being out of here. All just because I cannot cope with spn and I need to talk to people who have experienced and feel this same insanity😭

[eliziarts]

It really gets me how you can't say shit about Helluva Boss (or Hazbin Hotel for that matter) to actually critique without fans getting buthurt, and the only people agreeing with you people who just hate Vivzipop (for the record i dont lol). But here are my gripes that I wish people were actually talking about (btw I really *want* to love Helluva Boss and none of this is mean-spirited, just things I've noticed that I wish the team would fix, or I believe are beyond fixing):

1. The very confused tone. I know a lot of people deflect any criticism from the show by saying 'oh but it's a comedy you shouldn't take it too seriously'. Here's the thing- it's literally taking itself too seriously. There's a balance that a show can have between dark elements and humor, but Helluva Boss consistently tries to tackle very, VERY heavy subjects. This combined with the Brandon Rodgers-essque d!ck joke comedy doesn't.. work. At least not in the way they're attempting. I think the most egregious example of this is the scene in the latest episode when Moxie's dad is literally threatening to kill him if he doesn't follow through with an arranged marriage... immeadiatly followed by Moxie walking though a hall of wall d!ldos. It kind of says, 'hey, we were taking this really seriously 2 seconds ago, but jk actually now you should laugh!'

Juxtaposition doesn't work if it actively confuses its audience on what to feel. I'm not sure how much influence Vivzie and Brandon have on the outcome of the show vs the rest of the writing team, but it seems like Brandon's humor and Vivzie's tendency to write melodramatic soap opera scenes just aren't really meshing together quite right. I wish it had more similar pacing and tone shifts that HH had, because it felt more sudden in a purposeful way, rather than 'we're too lazy to find a good transition between these two scenes.'

2. Why does Vivziepop never write interesting female characters? I know this is talked about a bit more, but it's growing increasingly prevalent in Helluva Boss. We still haven't gotten an episode focused on any of the female leads that's actually about *them*.

Millie is practically nonexistent without her relationship to Moxie. Even the episode where we meet her family, it doesn't give us any insight about her. Every time she goes feral(tm) it's either to save her husband or it's part of a group fight. The only backstory we got for Loona was there to service Blitzo's character, and show us *his* reaction. The only things we've seen with Octavia were put there to help us learn more about Stolas. Even in the scene where they only had Loona and Octavia on the screen, it didn't feel like it was about them at all. It didn't feel like the scene existed to show us them bonding about their shitty dads. It felt like the scene was there to once again ask the audience to give Blitzo and Stolas pity points. Which- brings me to my next problem.

3. Its justifications of abuse. I know they're in hell. Most of them should be shitty people, and they are! But I wish the story would stop trying to pretend they're not. Helluva Boss keeps doing this thing where it draws a line between 'good' abuse and 'bad' abuse. And this kind of completely changed Stolas and Blitzo's relationship. Ik some people may like this change but I personally don't.

Earlier on, we were made to believe Stolas kind of fucked up by cheating on his wife. Not only did this affect Stella (tho ofc we later learn it's due to image reasons) but his daughter as well. It's just generally an uncomfortable and tricky situation. And I liked it! It was interesting and had levels of nuance. However, now that we know that he was basically being abused by Stella this entire time, and met Blitzo when they were kids (which is a WHOLE OTHER UNCOMFORTABLE CAN OF WORMS LMAO) the audience no longer feels like Stolas did anything wrong. Now his actions feel justified.

As much as I loved his confrontational scene with Stella the first time I watched it, as I know many people did, I also know that it kind of ruined any sense of nuance that whole situation had. Now, Stolas suddenly has been absolved from any previously implied mistakes. And, Stella is portrayed as this 1 dimensional cruel monster.

Which brings me to the point of abuse in this show. It's a very prevalent theme, and it's a heavy one for a show branded as a sit-com to portray (hard, but not impossible). But it fails on the end that it doesn't stay consistent in its condemnation of it. Every time a character does something 'bad', as soon as we find out there is a reason for this bad behavior, the show suddenly makes it seem like we should feel bad for them and that their actions are justified because they're a broken person. See: the narrative around Stolas' affair suddenly being changed as soon as we find out he was being abused by Stella.

Inconsistent emotional consequences in writing is lazy for sure. But the real problem is when it gets to the abuse side of things, it can actually become harmful. It's implied that Blitzo had an emotionally abusive relationship with Verosika. But ohh we know he had a fucked up childhood and has fear of forming emotional bonds so! Geuss it's okay! But when it comes to Stella, she's just downright mean, 1 dimensional, and literally says she's doing things for no reason other than to make Stolas suffer.

It's important to note that every single time a character gets a *reason* for their assholery, it becomes a *justification* in the way the show frames it. But whenever a character doesn't have a reason for being as asshole, like Stella (at least not one that's shown), that's where the show then draws the line.

This is harmful! Hate to break it to you but the bulk of abusive people out there were abused themselves. They have multitudes of reasons for why they are the way they are. But that doesn't excuse their actions! And I really hate that this is the standard of framing Helluva Boss has set up for their show because now, no matter how bad a character's actions are, they can slap on a sad backstory and suddenly make that character a sympathetic one.

Yeah but anyways idk. If you read all of that I thank you for taking ur time to listen to my 2 cents. The last episode I really enjoyed was the Ozzie's one and I'm just kinda bummed at a lot of this stuff I mentioned.

[skibasyndrome]

Get to Know Me Tag :)

thank you so much to @lollygirlpops, @themarsbar & @hergrandplan for tagging me in this <3<3<3

do you make your bed?

nope, not unless I'm feeling veeeery motivated (which hasn't happened in a while)

what's your favourite number?

Hmmm, I don't really have one I think, but I do really like 2 and 4 and 8. Those just "feel" right, you know?

what is your job?

I’m a university student :) Aaaaaand since Monday I'm working part-time as a (and I hope this is the correct English translation) teaching and research assistant

if you could go back to school, would you?

Hmm, if we're talking about school-school, no I don't think so. I used to say that, but I think with having experienced uni now I wouldn't like to be put back into that rigid system. If we're talking about uni though: I never ever eeeever wanna leave, so I guess that's a yes, haha

can you parallel park?

I can't even drive to begin with, whoops

a job you had that would surprise people?

Hmmm, I don't think I've had too many unusual jobs. I used to work in hospitality every summer and then one summer I had a reeeeally cool job where I worked as a stage technician but since I'm kinda doing stuff with theater now in uni as well maybe that's not so surprising?

do you think aliens are real?

I think the universe is too big for us to be the only life form out there, but I don't think aliens are out here trying to abduct people or something like that

can you drive a manual car?

Again 😅 No driving for me (and I never even tried once)

what's your guilty pleasure?

Honestly I ~technically~ don't think that you should feel guilty about anything that brings you joy if it's not harming anyone buuuuuut, in the sense that I need to be very careful not to neglect all other parts of my life over it: maybe fic writing 😅

tattoos?

Yes! I have a very tiny one that I got myself for my recent birthday :)

it's the tiny heart that Simon drew on Wille's hand <3

favorite color?

I don't think I have one! But because I have pavlov-ed myself into always thinking of yr when I see it I've been loving purple a lot recently

favorite type of music?

My taste in music is aaaaall over the place tbh. I wanna say something like indie or alternative rock or something like that? But I just listen to anything that feels kinda catchy and/or is lyrically strong

do you like puzzles?

Meh, I'm never in the mood to do them tbh

any phobias?

Not severely, but I generally don't do all too well in tightly packed crowds when I don't have my escape plan ready. Oh and certain social situations that could lead to me being judged for being inept. I always like to say that my biggest fear is being an embarrassment and while that sounds ridiculous it's also very, very true

favorite childhood sport?

I never really did much of anything sports-wise, but I used to love swimming before I discovered that swimming means Being Perceived (TM) and then I started hating it lmao

do you talk to yourself?

definitely inside my head, but occasionally also out loud when I'm alone. especially when I need to get a grip and follow a plan I made

what movies do you adore?

I generally don't watch a lot of movies, but I enjoyed Hereditary enough to watch it twice with my friends

coffee or tea?

I like both, but I loooove coffeeeeeeeee

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

the first "thing" I wanted to be was probably a mermaid lmao. job-wise I think I cycled through eeeeverything, but I think some of the early ideas were painter or author or zookeeper

Onward tagging: I kinda lost track of who did this and who didn't, but I'm just gonna go ahead and (no pressure) tag @toffeelemon, @mintycurry, @pagegirlintraining, @irenes-diary, @royalwilmon, @goldenwilmon & anyone who feels like doing it :)

[raiden-brannigan]

1, 2, and 3 for Raiden :D

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Ok my love for Raiden has Evolved over the years, when I got into MGS back when I was 13 it was almost entirely "oh fuckin hot cyborg guy with a sword whos just a complete badass" and while that's not an invalid reason to like a character a lot of the nuances of his tragedy never truly hit me until I got older and I'm like Oh I Know Now. Just his entire story of never truly having an identity and only ever being a tool for someone else and watching it break him down more and more until he eventually starts to find himself is so cool. Plus badass hot cyborg guy never hurts either tbh. Have you SEEN him flip a giant mech over his shoulder and the proceed to rip its arm off and fight it with its own machete limb like???? Tell me thats not the COOLEST shit ever

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

This kinda goes hand in hand with the first question but his story as a whole is so Fucked and tragic likeee watching the end of MGS2 where he throws away his dog tags and declares he's going to "find his own path" in life and live for himself only to see where he ends up in 4 and then watching him get his catharsis at the end of 4 only to be dragged into More Bullshit in Rising like from the moment he was born hes only ever been fucked by life and I'd give some "he keeps getting knocked down but gets back up again" speech but lets be real he was highkey suicidal in 4 LMAO I think the universe just needs to let that boy rest. I think I lost the question somewhere in here lmaoo tldr "favorite canon thing" just how absolutely tragic and miserable his entire life is, and how desperately he wants to just live a normal life with his family but he's been so deeply traumatized by the Everything (tm). Kojima went off with his anti-war metaphor when he made Raiden

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Honestly this one is stumping me cause like I'm having a hard time thinking about something I dislike LMAO. At first I was like, maybe the way he treats Rose sometimes? But then I'm like, it works with the story and I wouldn't change any of it, even if he's kinda a piece of shit to her here and there it fits and I wouldn't say it's ooc? Then I was like, maybe how hamfisted the whole "ripper" thing was in Rising? But then I'm like, it 110% fits the tone of the game and it would NOT be the same if they didn't commit as earnestly as they did to the over the top insanity of everything that game is. It's dumb and excessively cheesy but that's what gives MGR so much of its charm and it for sure wouldn't be as loved and meme'd as it is today if they'd dialed it back lmao.

I don't know if I'd say this is a "canon" thing but I hate that we never got to see what happened to Raiden between 2 and 4. MGS:R was supposed to bridge that gap and it was such a huge important piece to his story that we're only ever told about and I feel like it loses some of it's impact when we don't get to see any of it. Raiden goes from the way he is in 2 to this complete character change in 4 and we just have to hear about what happened when it irreversibly changed his character from that point onward (it's not a bad change, I wouldn't wish it were any different, I just wish we got to experience it)

(Send me a character and a number!)

[alatabouleau]

Why the Beach divorce is unfixable (and why it doesn't work in Good Omens 2)

I think we can all agree that XMFC is a ...~flawed~ movie. I mean, I could write long, long posts about the inherent sexism and racist implications. But today, I want to talk about one thing that actually worked. That made so much sense and hit so hard, it single-handedly saved the whole film for me. Something that I've seen come up recently, again, under the cherik-tag because of another fandom and show. Where something very similar happens, only that in this case, it doesn't work at all.

(if you haven't watched GO S2 yet, spoilers. Also, if you enjoyed the second season, good for you, but this post is going to be highly critical of it. Gotta be my last post about that, since I believe in getting it out of your system but not continually spreading negativity and holding a grudge.)

So, with this post, I would like to dissect *why*: What makes the Beach Divorce (TM) in First Class work so well is its preparation in the previous events of that film and even before that. The thing about First Class is, while not being the perfect prequel timeline-wise with the previous motives of the first X-Men-trilogy, it still works *because* it is a prequel. At least the very specific part about Professor X and Magneto. Because from the start, when Charles pulls Erik out of the ocean, we, the informed audience, know how it's going to end. But for some moments you tend to forget, when they go on a trip to recruit mutants, training them, working so well together. And even when the small cracks are already visible in the way they discuss the issue of mutant integration into society, one could still hope that maybe this time, they'll find a way, settle their differences and keep building the future. Together. But it's still the same story. It's still the same characters. And both Erik and Charles could never change their core values. Their lives have already shaped them into who they are inherently, and they can't change what they do because they can't change what they *want*. Which is why the line "We want the same thing." - "Oh, I'm sorry my friend. But we do not." hits so hard. Because both is true. On a broader level, they *do* both want the same thing. A better future for mutantkind. Yet just as equally true is the fact that they will never want to choose the same path to get there.

To point it out directly, what makes the Beach Divorce (TM) so brilliantly devastating is that it makes 100% perfect sense for the two characters to behave that way. It makes sense that Erik, who sees someone he clearly cares for (loves) being shot, again!, can't initially accept that it's his fault. It makes sense for him, after taking an unimaginable amount of courage to make himself vulnerable in front of Charles, for the very first time on screen in front of ANYNONE mind you, laying down awkwardly but raw in its honesty how much this man in his arms means to him, to immediately close off and become cold again after being utterly rejected, in his PoV. It makes just as much sense for Charles who spent this movie trying to show Erik that there could be other ways to deal with issues than violence, would perceive how Erik takes on a helmet that cuts him off, kills a man while Charles is IN HIS HEAD, tries to kill "innocent" people and ultimately, shoots him, to conclude that his friend (love interest) has long since chosen a path where he could never follow him and therefore see choosing different sides (breaking up) as the only available option. And you can try to "fix" this. You can make up any scenario you can think of, and it still would play out like that because you can't change how each Erik and Charles perceive the world without changing inherently who they are as characters. That's what makes it so gut-wrenchingly tragic.

The whole tragedy of the tale of cherik is laid out in this one scene: That if the two of them looked into the mirror of erised, they'd see the same vision. Them being together and leading the mutant race in a bright future for them. But in reality, the means they choose to get to that end will never be compatible. Its tragedy defines itself through a subversion of the trope "Love on opposite sides". Because they *choose* to be that. It's not external circumstances that keep them from being together, it's their own values and convictions. Which is what keeps me so obsessed with these two, since that is so uniquely ~them~. So why do I think that this very similar scene, which I described as so brilliantly heartbreaking in one context, doesn't work for Good Omens 2? well... BECAUSE IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE FOR *THESE* CHARACTERS! Because Crowley and Aziraphale are the exact opposite of Cherik. They too, may be a couple that finds itself on different sides, but in their case, that's entirely an external circumstance, while their internal values and convictions align almost perfectly (depending whether we talk book omens or S1GO). Because the core of Ineffable spouses ship is that they are on the same side when they shouldn't be. They have their orders to obey, they have their instructions to despise each other, but they simply don't care enough since They are more interested in earth (and each other) than their respective head offices. That's what makes them work as friends, as a couple, as a ship. So when season 2 pulled a beach divorce à la Cherik, I was mad and disappointed because for me, it tears apart what their relationship is all about. And I'm ok with that kind of sacrifice when it gives you something valuable narrative-wise, which it didn't. And I have no hope of season 3 paying off for that. There was just not a big enough reason for me to break off the backbone of the entire story. That it is possible for you to make your own choices and be with the people you want to be with even if an oppressive system tells you no. It just doesn't make sense.

(So yeah, does this post only exist because I tried to get my head off from the destruction of a very dear ship of mine but also not wanting to spoil anyone's fun, by scrolling through the cherik-tag on Tumblr instead of the good omens tags and seeing so many posts comparing these two scenes, thinking "can you escape this *anywhere* on this page?" while also getting annoyed since how I pointed out in this post, it doesn't work at all in the second context? Maybe. But that's just me. ;))

[absolutebl]

Hey ABL. Just sent my doctorate for examination and for the first time since 2019 I have WAY too much time on hands. Can you suggest some binge watches? Got into bl last Feb so stuff before that would be great. Warmly, M

CONGRATZ!!!

10 Older BLs Worthy of a Binge Watch!

(in no particular order, prior to 2022)

1 Seven Days: Monday-Thursday & Seven Days: Friday-Sunday

Japan 2015 (grey)

Never doubt my ability to recommend this show. One of the best live action yaois ever made, with perfectly structured angst, fantastic characters and acting, and no problematic tropes (rare in Japanese BL). The leads have excellent chemistry although it’s low heat there’s still some really cute mutual kisses.

2 To My Star

Korea 2021 (Viki)

In the mood for something more grown up? TMS is a touch quirky to get into, but utterly charming once it hits its stride. This is the ultimate grumpy/sunshine pairing plus the most appealing light-filled kitchen of our dreams.

I don't like season 2 but others do. It is very clever.

3 We Best Love: No. 1 For You & Fighting Mr. 2nd

Taiwan 2021 (WeTV)

How about a uni + office BL? Brilliant acting saved this show from a messy (pretty classically manga) narrative with a lot of angst. You have to buy in to a yaoi aesthetic with this one, accept that things move fast and occasionally confuse, but that everything will be okay. It’s the ultimate pining seme meets the ultimate tsundere uke. WBL successfully manages to combine the best elements of Korean, Thai, and Japanese BL as it exists right now. Couple that to the insane chemistry from the leads, and we have one of the greatest BLs of all time, cooking higher heat to a recipe I doubt anyone else will ever be able to replicate since only Taiwan is this flexible.

4 He's Coming to Me

Thailand 2019 (YouTube)

With only 8 8 eps and from GMMTV this is short, high quality and bingable for Thailand. Boy and ghost boy fall in love, must solve ghost’s murder. Peak pining but also pretty tame, features my favorite sweet but important coming out sequence in all BL. The third in my precious triumvirate of unbeatable Thai BLs, that are only nominally BL because the story, acting, and production values are so good.

(Together with Until We Meet Again & A Tale of Thousand Stars - those 2 are longer so I don't consider them as bingable, but if you want something to get really stuck into? Go to town.).

5 Color Rush

Korea 2021 (Viki)

A unique paranormal twist elevates this classic high school drama into a pitch-perfect allegory for the queer coming out experience and one of the best BLs of all time (I will fight you on this). Here's my battle essay.

Original trigger.

(Don't bother with season 2.)

6 HIStory 2: Crossing the Line

Taiwan 2018 (Viki)

Lin Pei Yu directs this sports romance (volleyball) with a good boy/bad boy pairing, and my hands-down favorite of the HIStory franchise. There is no clear seme/uke. Ostensibly it's high school set but Taiwan doesn't care about age appropriate actors. It's a very soft sweet romance with some ridiculously easily overcome conflict. There's great kisses but it's medium heat. The side dishes are the stepbrother trope but they’re very tame, and there’s no other triggers. It's not just my favorite of the franchise, it’s one of my favorite BLs with a perfect happy ending.

(The second H2 is also pretty good.)

7 Cherry Magic

30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii AKA Cheri Maho

Japan 2020 (indie subs)

The sweetest fluffiest magical realism BL, packaged as a pinning office romance, very low heat (practically chaste) but the cutest. It’s truly great.

8 Light On Me

Korea 2021 (Viki)

Korea does an elegant pastiche of traditional live action yaoi but all tropes are cleverly deployed to bolster one of the most riveting love triangles ever put on screen… and I don’t like love triangles. LoM strategically tailors classic BL tropes to 2 different semes resulting in pristine pacing, plot, and character development, explicitly serving narrative (not just to tick boxes). LoM is a master class in trope drops. (If you write fanfic or romance you should study this show.) Full review.

9 Be Loved In House: I Do

Taiwan 2021 Viki

A cute classy office set BL with a few plot raised eyebrows, but no other concerns. ALL THE TROPES plus a general sweet softness that’s pretty rare from Taiwan, who usually prefer to go hard, but all their signature domesticity.

10 Lovely Writer

Thailand 2021 (YouTube)

Thailand criticizes itself and the BL industry while simultaneously giving us classic seme/uke with great chemistry in a one-two punch of “we love it, but are we supposed to? and must we think this hard, yet enjoy it SO MUCH?” This show won’t appeal or make sense to those who don’t already have at least some Thai BL watching experience. What Lovely Writer does, at heart, is reexamine Thai BL has done to queerness, but in a very gentle way that has more to do with Thai BL growing up than any actual queer authenticity. It’s not parody or pastiche, but it is self reflective and trying to correct for some chronic mistakes. Whether it is ultimately successful in this matter is going to depend on the watcher’s relationship to BL and queer identity. But that’s what makes this show beautiful, interesting, and thought provoking. And I, for one, applaud the effort even if I didn’t personally connect to the characters.

If you wanted 2022 included here's my top 10 from 2022:

[twig-tea]

Ok I powered through watching the episode on train WiFi and Tumblr is barely loading so I can't do much but I just had to say:

[cut for spoilers]

1) Loved this episode, I think they nailed it at least for me, and I'm satisfied. I knew we weren't going to get everything I could want and am not surprised the show decided to make the higher philosophy point rather than the political point, even though I would have loved the latter. I am very satisfied with Pisaeng and Kawi agreeing together to not change their future and for Pisaeng to have gone back to the present rather than relive their lives as result.

2) I think the award for most correct about what was going to happen goes to @marbles290 ! Congratulations, I will send you a clowned correctly gif later if nobody else does it first.

3) This show continues to do things that I didn't even think of but love; did anyone else interpret what happened this episode as Kawi figuring out by Pisaeng's behaviour that he had time travelled (since he saw him with the music box), and baiting him into confessing by pretending to have deja-vu?

4) On the same track, how is everyone interpreting Kawi being braver this time? I took it that hearing he and Pisaeng last is what gives him the confidence to try things and be more himself or at least less fearful of making a fool of himself.

4) while we didn't get anything about Pisaeng and Kawi joining the good fight (tm) or about marriage equality exactly, I would like to think that the show is subtly choosing to tell us to keep it up via Max, and giving the audience hope that marriage equality is or can be achieved in Thailand in the future.

One thing: if we could not get Not being clowned by the narrative then I wish he had just faded away rather than being at Pear's wedding, he doesn't deserve to even be near her happiness (though I did notice he was not in the friendship group pic on Pisaeng and Kawi's photo table and that was satisfying).

Something I need to think about more: what does it mean for character consciousness that Kawi made reference to Pisaeng's time travel in the hospital? Did Kawi and Pisaeng of the past forget that Pisaeng had time travelled after Pisaeng moves forward to the future, until the timelines converged again? Did just Pisaeng forget, so Kawi could not make reference to it anymore until the timeline has caught up? I'm inclined to the latter because if I were in a relationship and knew they were going to do something reckless for me but they didn't know about it for years, I would be desperate to tease them about it once they had finally caught up too lol (the other option is they both retain their memories, of course, but then they both would have known in advance that the time travel was taking place so I don't think that one is right. But it's an option!)

This show is definitely winning an award from me for the biggest turn around from expectation to delivery (positive) lol. I've had a lot of fun!

Very excited to read everyone's thoughts when I can get Tumblr to load 💕

@waitmyturtles @dribs-and-drabbles @pandasmagorica @rocketturtle4 @thegalwhorants @visualtaehyun there are so many more people I am forgetting, pls forgive my elder millennial brain I will find you later!

[panelshowsource]

hahahaha that is so funny i have no idea! interestingly i've found a few things on taskmaster to be taken from japanese and korean game shows, so i guess we're all just sharing the fun :')

martin freeman. obviously. no debate. bosch. next question

anon this is so exciting for you!!! we all wish we could watch tm for the first time again!!! hehehe

you may be pleased to know s04 is a great fan favourite, as is...most of the first five series 🥹 i have a ridiculous soft spot for s02, which is pretty tragic since it was so short. in the beginning, in general, the contestants didn't quite understand the full potential of the format, didn't realise all of the lateral thinking they could do, didn't try or want to push the rules — so there's something just so stupid about it, like they really just let alex push them around and laugh at them, and that was so funny. now, there are a lot more rules, certain elements can be tired, the writing team has to work hard so it's not formulaic, etc. still an amazing programme, in HUGE parts thanks to 1) alex and 2) their editor rachel (we stan!!!), but the wide-eyedness of the earliest series are unbeatable in some regards imo. that said, we've had some great recent series, 14 being the the most recent fan fave imo!

btw don't forget to watch the nye and champion of champions specials if you're not already!! they're so silly heh junior taskmaster is also coming up!!

i watched the first series of the nz version recently and i just...idk i may be a purist, but it's been hard for me to get into it. the contestants are really great

— except for, you know...you know what. now i can say it. this is my time to say it. i am so angry about a grown white man in all red and these disgusting THIN little 🤢flip flops🤢

like how dare you wear those abominations on your feet. how dare you make me look at this. anon you're a kiwi so maybe you know this man and maybe next time you see him at the supermarket let him know panelshowsource from tumblr is so mad at him istg. i am genuinely fuming sfhdfkgrd —

but it was a bit predictable, especially with paul not finding his own character right off the bat. that said, i hear it gets even better with series 2 so i need to try it! otherwise, people seem to like the denmark version as well! i want to try that one out :)

i think ed has proven in over ten episodes of the podcast that he makes the utmost effort to use mae's pronouns; i can only recall noticing a slip-up once so imo it's exceptionally rare. mae has also commented on this directly and is very understanding to people who are still adjusting to the language. that said, i am sorry if ed's mistakes made you uncomfortable and if you want to shoot them an email with a suggestion then i don't why you couldn't/shouldn't. that said, i don't think you need to be concerned there's any maliciousness or laziness on the podcast's part because it really does seem they care x

ugh i can only HOPE and PRAY and DREAM and FANTASTISE we get miles on tm actually let's all do a collective sigh of disappointment that we couldn't get miles/frankie on the same season...

i'm usually not one for making predictions because i'm just so remarkably wrong so much of the time, but in my mind there are only two routes for miles: he'll either speedrun the entire thing dara ó briain style

— hold that thought did you guys know one of alex's sons is called dara? i just learned that the other day and i was like wow. okay back to the sentence i was writing —

or he'll flop in the most paddington bear way à la john kearns. i don't see a middle of the road for our guy. interestingly, i just listened to the tm podcast episode with the show director andy devonshire, and he and ed were saying that taskmaster isn't a place for characters: that you come into the show and end up having to be yourself (hence why ed was a competitive maniac muahaha). we've seen miles in really intelligent dynamics, and he can be both witty and unseriously goofy in them, but i'm not sure i've seen enough of him trapped with his own thoughts to know just how he'd perform heh

another thing ed mentioned on the podcast with andy d was his belief that greg is biased towards the older contestants (something like "they talk about being tired and greg simply relates to that — even though greg is not a tired old man and actually has a very youthful energy"; which i love, because it's so fascinating to me how often we forget / people don't realise greg's age because he just fits into any age group so seamlessly), so it makes me wonder if greg wouldn't lovingly bully miles and would actually find him charming/cute

sigh [picks up phone to call alex] let me see i can make this happen

LMAOOO like 5 minutes after the movie released one of my besties called me and was like "sarah. listen to me. rob brydon is sugar daddy ken. this is not a joke. this is code red. this is code. red."

rob is living his dream!!!

cutest anon of the year

[buffyspeak]

it feels very clear to me that the reason the mona reveal was so impactful where the other 'a' reveals were just. bizarre was because the liars genuinely DID do wrong to her when alison was around. don't get me wrong, i don't believe they deserved what she did to them - but they weren't even bystanders of alison's bullying, they were enablers, and probably at times active participants of their own accord. this is tempered by sympathetic moments with the liars regarding mona (such as aria, in the flashbacks, arguing that maybe they should wait for mona before alison steers her away, or emily apologizing to her in late season 2), but it's undeniable that the early seasons were permeated with a strong theme of having to reckon with one's past mistakes. the liars had genuine flaws, made genuine bad decisions, and even as we rooted for them, as we sympathized with them, we also understood why they were targets. (again - not that they deserved what she did. but that it made narrative SENSE.)

even outside Everything Else (TM) regarding the disastrous storyline, charlotte targeting the girls made like.... 0 sense. she says she started because she realized the girls were happy alison was gone and wanted to make them pay, but by this point in the story, we, as an audience, have seen the girls grieve for alison, then fight to uncover the truth for her, then fight to protect her. yes, they all had complicated feelings - but literally who wouldn't? charlotte's reasoning just falls flat.

i never watched most of 6b and 7, but i've long since spoiled myself so i know about alex drake lmao. and it's once again just... not narratively appealing to me. like, i guess it at least makes a little more sense than charlotte did, her wanting to uncover the truth about charlotte and begrudging the life spencer had, but once again, it's just made up of plot convolution and has nothing to do with the actions of the liars themselves.

like. the liars had genuine culpability in how mona was treated before she turned the tables on them. that's what made the original story interesting! but eventually the show got so wrapped up in Big Plot Twists (tm) that it lost the heart of what made the mystery and tragedy impactful.

[novafire-is-thinking]

Just finished watching Rise of the Beasts.

There were better ways I could have spent my time.

[major spoilers below]

Okay, don’t get me wrong. There were parts that I liked. However, RotB doesn’t even come close to making it into my list of top favorite movies.

Things of note:

I [quietly] screamed twice—when Optimus stepped onscreen for the first time and when Mirage first used his holograms :3

Mirage is the embodiment of Power of Friendship(TM), and I love him for it.

Fire-breathing Airazor made me feel very much alive for a brief moment.

AIRAZOR DIED. I felt nothing but annoyance about the rushed feel of it all.

RotB Wheeljack is like if they took Graham Burns and Drift and merged them into one character. This is not necessarily a good thing to me.

“It sounds like we’re all going to die” <- WJ had a more realistic view of things than all the “hero types.” lol

3 spines were visibly ripped/pulled out, but who was counting? (I was.) The way Optimus skewered Scourge’s head with his blade and effortlessly slid out his spine was a satisfying way to end him👌

I’m glad my initial hunch about RotB kept me from getting super hyped about it. Sure, it had a few moments that managed to impress me, but I could have watched a movie recap of it instead of wasting almost 2 hours watching the full thing. If I ever watch it again, I’ll be surprised. I’ve been spoiled by IDW’s roller coaster of angst and complex characterizations.

To close, I offer two of my favorite lines of dialogue in the whole movie:

Unicron: “I can give you everything you want.”

Optimus: “Then die!”

Imagine being able to come up with witty comebacks in the moment, especially in the heat of battle. lol