#which i rank kinda highly; more so than a lot of other things in a game narratively driven by the fun lil guys you make i guess

[sleidog]

don't feel like spreading the poll of the week because theres enough negativity and pointed-ness around, however

[milaisreading]

🌱🩷:Blue lock au where Y/n got invited to join the Blue Lock program as a player. She crossdresses as a boy and is friends with Reo and Nagi (they don't know she is a girl). I didn't change much abt Y/n's appearance, except that I made her around 5'10" tall and that she has a similar hairstyle to Chigiri's (the color is up to you, tho)

Warnings: None in particular. Reader uses she/her when narrating, otherwise the characters use he/him for Y/n. Requests are open for this AU.

⚽️Blue Lock belongs to Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

'Blue Lock... so this will be my new escape...' (Y/n) gulped as she looked at the building in front of herself. She saw a lot of people, well known high school players enter the place, making her nervous over the whole idea. Sure, she was excited over finally leaving her home, her adoptive parents for a while, but she was just entering a bigger hell than she already left. Now, some might be confused what a girl was doing at Blue Lock? A project meant for the best football players in Japanese high schools. For male football players. Well, the question was pretty easy to answer, kinda. (Y/n) was adopted at a pretty young age into a somewhat well-off family, but the life she had wasn't the best. Her parents always wanted to have only boys, and while they had 2 biological sons, they didn't want to have a daughter.

'The only reason we adopted you was because I was indebted to your father.' She shuddered as she remembered her adopted father's words. (Y/n) knew they didn't want her, so she did her best to survive the household till she can be free. One of the ways was giving into her parents' demands on changing her personality and appearance to suit a stereotypical guy. (Y/n) didn't want that, at all, but for now she had to be someone she wasn't.

'At least they let me grow out my hair... and they allowed me to leave to this football camp.' She thought, touching a few strands of her (h/c) hair.

"Hey! Earth to (Y/n), are you alright?" She jumped, looking over at her teammates, Nagi and Reo. The two looked at her in worry for a moment, which caused her to smile and nod her head.

"I am fine! Don't worry... Just a little nervous." She thought as Reo grabbed her hand and pulled her into the building while Nagi followed after them.

"Don't be. All three of us are highly ranked football players, I am sure this thing will be a walk in the park for us." Reo laughed.

"Yeah, you worry too much." Nagi yawned as they got into the main hall where the other players were. (Y/n) recognized some from her previous matches, and some were unfamiliar.

'Oh... that Kira guy was invited here too? Figures, he was a good opponent back then...' She thought, recognizing the white haired boy. She then turned her attention to another guy standing next to Kira, they seemed pretty close.

'Who is he? I never saw him before...' (Y/n) thought while observing the blue-eyed boy.

'That sprout is cute tho.' She smiled, noticing the few strands of hair that were sticking out.

"Who are you looking at? Come on, we need to catch up to Reo." Nagi ground as he tugged on the pants of her uniform.

"H-huh? Nobody! Let's hurry up." She said, glancing a few more times at the unknown boy.

They soon reached Reo, only for him to scold the duo for getting lost.

"Congratulations, you unpolished lumps of talent." The trio froze for a moment and then looked at the stage, only to find a guy with bowl-cut black hair and glasses looking at all of them.

"Who is he?" (Y/n) muttered.

"Dunno." Nagi shrugged.

"What did he just call us?" Reo wondered.

"According to my personal judgment the 300 of you are the best strikers under 18. My name is Jinpachi Ego and I was hired to give Japan a World Cup victory." Everyone kept silent as (Y/n) stared at Ego in shock.

'World Cup victory? Japan can't qualify for semi-finals, what does he mean by victory?' She thought skeptically.

"I'll say this plainly. One thing is needed for Japanese soccer to become the best in the world: the birth of a revolutionary striker. From you 300 players gathered here today, I will forge the best striker in the world through a certain project."

Ego continued his speech, not giving anyone time to digest anything.

"What a bore." Nagi groaned, earning a kick to his leg by (Y/n).

"Shh." She warned, then looked back at Ego.

"All of them revolutionary strikers!! Their extraordinary egoism is the one thing Japan’s football lacks. You will not become the greatest strikers in the world, unless you have the ego to match. My purpose here, is to create such a player in Japan."

'Egoism? Shouldn't football be treated as a team sport? What good does it bring to act like that on the field?' (Y/n) raised her eyebrow, tuning out whatever Reo and Nagi were saying.

As Ego kept on talking, (Y/n) was getting lost in her thoughts.

'So we are basically training for our national team now... Getting out of one hellhole into another, but at least here... at least here I feel a little bit more like myself, as odd as it sounds. While I can't tell to anyone I am not a guy, at least I can play the sport that always saved me from going insane.' (Y/n) thought, looking back at the crowd as Ego finished his speech. (Y/n) listened as he talked about reaching the goal he set up for them, and if the players who were gathered had what it takes to become a striker. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the boy from before rush to a open door, and something struck her. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about him and the look he held in his eyes made her hypnotized, and she quickly ran after him.

'Who are you? And what's up with you?' She sprinted faster after him, ignoring Reo and Nagi's calls, both desperate to catch up with her.

"Huh? Thank you... so you said I am in Team X, Teieri-san?"  (Y/n) asked the woman, who smiled and nodded her head.

"Yes, that's just down the corridor. I will keep your phone and other items safe while you are at our facility." (Y/n) thanked the woman and started walking down the hallway, looking at all the rooms in curiosity.

'Probably the storages...' She thought.

'This place is like a prison, but I can welcome it. I wonder how I will keep myself hidden now... now that I have to share a room and everything with some dudes.' She cringed and sighed, then slowly walked into Team X's room. Inside were, as expected a bunch of other guys, some changing, some just talking.

'Oh brother....' She thought, looking to the side.

"Ah? You are our other teammate?" A guy with brownish hair asked.

"Y-yes! (L/n) (Y/n) is my name." She said in a little bit deeper voice.

"(Y/n)? Isn't that a girl's name?" Another guy asked while walking up to the duo.

"My parents have a thing for feminine names." She answered with the same lie she's been using for years.

"Wait... (Y/n)... (L/n) (Y/n)? Hakuho's eagle?"

"What?" (Y/n) she raised her eyebrow as a blonde approached them.

"You are known as a beast with those precise shots. I should have expected someone like you being here."

"Ah... thanks." (Y/n) answered, unsure what was going on at this point. By now a group has been formed around her and the guys started asking her different questions, until someone cleared his throat.

"Can you donkeys shut up?"

(Y/n) tensed up and looked at a pair of red eyes staring directly at her.

'Ahhh!! Scary!' She thought.

"Sorry, Barou." A few sighed out as the boy and (Y/n) had a stare down.

"Barou... I know you. You are that guy from Akudo Academy. We played against you at the quarterfinals." (Y/n) recalled, remembering the sheer force he used back then.

"So what about it?" The boy asked, obviously annoyed that she brought that up. Some of the teammates backed away, scared of a possible infight.

"Nothing-"

"I see you unpolished lumps have all found your room." The group looked at the monitor, only to find Ego staring down at them.

"Good, now it's time for the first elimination round."

"What?" (Y/n) and Barou asked at the same time.

"Every team in our 5 buildings is playing a game of tag, in a football way. You will be given a football, the person you hit with it will be it, and will chase someone else." Ego started explaining as a football fell from the ceiling, landing between Barou and (Y/n). The duo glanced at the item and then at each other.

"You are given 2 minutes. The person who stays it when the time runs out, is eliminated from Blue Lock..." The room fell into a tense silence.

"And, subsequently they are losing the opportunity to ever play for Japan."

"Haaa?!" Barou and (Y/n) yelled in shock.

"That's rediculous, how is a game of tag going to help here?" Barou wondered.

"Especially if you only give us 2 minutes."

"2 minutes is the most a player spends in the possession of the ball during a game. Now hurry up. On your sleeves you will see your current rankings, the one with the lowest is the 1st it."

(Y/n) quickly went to look at hers and scanned the tag.

"Currently the highest ranked one here is (L/n) (Y/n), at 252."

"How does this ranking even work?" She wondered to herself as the screen flashed the name of the first it. She looked at the boy and felt a little sad, he looked pretty meek.

"Donkey." Barou started, hitting (Y/n)'s head.

"Ow! What? And did you just call me a donkey?" She asked in disbelief.

"Don't get too distracted, can't have you eliminated this soon." Barou warned, confusing the girl a little.

"What? Why would you care?"

"Because I still need to prove to you that I am far better than you are."

The girl sweatdropped as the siren signaled the start, causing everyone to disparage across the room. She watched as the boy nervously looked around before his eyes fell on her.

'Shit.' She thought, dodging the ball that came flying to her.

"Huh? Why aren't you kicking back? You are the higher rank here." Barou questioned, annoyed at her move.

"What? The goal here is not to be it!" She watched as the ball bounced off the wall and back to the boy, who seemed more and more determined to get her instead of someone else.

'I can't be eliminated.... I don't want to go back home...' (Y/n) thought, glaring back at him.

[zingaplanet]

hi new tennis fan here, do you mind explaining the 2011 fedal fallout? I tried looking around but couldn't find much. Thanks in advance!

Oh ho ho mutual, thanks for the question altho I fear this might get too complicated too political too quickly hahaha I'll try to keep my answer neutral. Tennis politics is an underworld of nasty nasty business and as much as it is fascinating, it is unfortunately very different from the clean, elegant, prestigious look the sport is presented as at front, as is expected when big prize money is on the line. This is going to be quite long, as usual, so be prepared hahaha

There's a good NYT article about this whole Nadal-Federer-Djokovic council debacle which I highly reccommend (around their 2019 return to the council), but let me provide a bit of a back story to that as well.

Now this all started back in the early 2010s, Federer and Nadal were still world number 1 and 2 (oh the good old days), and they were also the leaders at the players' council (Nadal was Federer's VP). So the gist of it by end of 2011, there was a bit of a dispute, esentially about prize money, but quickly turned into a bit of everything.

Basically, after the ATP finals of that year, there was talk of changing ATP into a 2 year ranking system. This is a bit unconventional but it's actually related to how points are accumulated throughout the whole tour and the accessibility of the sports to newcomers.

Everyone kinda knows that tennis is one of the most difficult sports to break into, not only because tournament seedings are based on rankings (unlike in football for instance where it's random), meaning top players will always have preference to go all the way to the final, but also because prize money has also been reported as highly unequal. Players at the top level like Serena, Federer, Sharapova, Nadal etc earned a gazillion times more than even the top 20 players, this is because of sponsorship, but also because of the gap in prize money. More reports have been coming out on this recently, where the top 5 players in India and other countries can't even sustain themselves with prize money alone and has to take up side jobs.

The idea is that with a 2 year ranking, points will be distributed more evenly, rankings will be much more accessible and players in the top 50 will have access to better prize money. It's a bit complicated to explain technically but that's the gist of it as far as I understand.

Now the problem starts when in November that year, the players meeting saw all players (including Nadal) except Federer, the president, support the 2 year system. They were also planning to boycott the Australian Open, that they deemed were far too unfair in terms of prize money distribution as all other Grand Slams.

The dispute between the two of them also has another layer into it however. Unsurprisignly, the ranking debate is related to discussions about scheduling, in which Nadal has been strongly advocating for change since the beginning of his career.

I managed to dig up some quotes on this, it's pretty nasty (hmu if you want sources):

“"For him, it's good to say nothing, (His attitude is) "Everything is positive. It's all well and good for me, I look like a gentleman,' and the rest can burn themselves. He likes the circuit. I like the circuit. It's better than many other sports, but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be better.”

Rafa and some other players are protesting about the number of mandatory events a pro player is required to compete in during the year, arguing this is not actually sustainable for an athlete's physical condition which he himself has felt the brunt too many times.

"I love the game and there are a lot of things I'm grateful for,” Nadal said. “The game has allowed me to lead a fantastic lifestyle. But to finish your career with pain all over your body, is that a positive? No. Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he'll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor (Andy) Murray, nor (Novak) Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose. Tennis is an important part of my life, but it's a tough sport. We're not like him, where it's effortless to play. For all of us, it's a battle."

I believe this is the period Federer was referring to when he said "He used to follow me around with everything but then he grew to be his own person," etc.

Federer and Nadal before this period were strangely civil towards each other, even after those French Open and Wimbledon finals back to back - but this seemed to be the beginning of their souring relations. Federer handled it very discretely and only said he had “no hard feelings” toward Nadal for the comments, and Nadal also later admitted that his comments “must stay in the locker room.”

I'm not saying one player is right and the other is wrong, there is always 2 sides of the coin. A 2 year ranking system will mess a lot of things up in terms of the sport's competitiveness and spectatorship, but there is also a real pay gap problem in tennis, especially in Grand Slams, it's a very top heavy sport. It's very evident that Nadal and Federer's frustrations with each other relate a lot to their different career trajectories and playing style. Nadal said many times from the beginning that his style of play is too physicaly disruptive and I remember him saying he'd be very surprised if he's still playing in his 30s and it's obvious that Federer's injury-free career bothered him a bit, while Federer, I think is always the perfect middle-man between the players and the tournament organisers (he has very good relationship with all of them), and he understood nuances of the sports' politics and that it's never that simple to change everything, something a lot of young players don't really get I think (Nadal is a bit more politically diplomatic nowadays).

The story of the 2019 council dispute is a bit more complicated, and it actually shows how much they've built bridges over their differences as this time it was more the case of Novak vs the two of them, quite literally haha. Nadal and Federer were no longer part of the council then. I think it started with the firing of the ATP chief executive, Chris Kermode (Djokovic was the president at that time I think). Nadal and Federer were very unhappy about this and that they weren't consulted on the decision.

Federer said: “I tried to meet Novak on the deadline; unfortunately, he had no time, That’s hard to understand for me.” Nadal, who met with Federer at that tournament to discuss tour business, also echoed his displeasure.

Very spicy, huh? This actually ended up bringing both Nadal and Federer back together into the council. Federer agreed to rejoin, and he talked about it with Nadal: "I would only do it if you were going too. And he said: I also only participate if you are there too."

See his cute full interview here:

The sweetest cherry on top is actually Andy Murray, bless his little heart (he is unsurprisingly quite uninvolved with the drama hahaha). He also left the council recently and actually was really happy Federer and Nadal the duo managed to get back together into the fray. “Despite the sport’s current success we live in chaotic times,” Murray wrote on Twitter. “My biggest achievement on the council may well prove to be being part of the group of resignations that presented the opportunity for this to happen. Good luck!!!”

Anyhow, there you go, a few thousand? words on tennis politics that you clearly did not ask for but hey! nothing better to start saturday morning than some spicy drama between the world's top athletes, eh?

[briarandhissecretgarden]

Villager and Illager Thoughts - headcanon

Thinking about the way society works with my silly little MC world...

Villagers probably have large sections of the world where they populate it, some villages are bigger than others and are very valuable trading places, but all villages are far enough away from each other that you'd have to use a horse or minecart to reach them, and even then, it might take a day or two.

I imagine theres wandering traders that group together in caravans, but nothing too big. maybe if you pay them a few emeralds they'll drop you off by a town in a few days. They're nomadic people, hardly ever staying for than a week, if that. They're always happy to see people, any new traveler is a customer and friend. Super friendly. Some can be sleazy, but they'll never give you items you can live without. Important fellows to those that live far away from any exotic places. They most likely know all or many languages, both spoken and written. It's better for business. I think to think they even raid temples at times!!! Maybe going though Jungle or Desert Temples just to leave things behind or take items,,

I think Illagers make plans of the best areas to build their strong beautiful mansions, and look for stable ground to build their outposts. I would think they have a way of communicating with those in the Mansion, maybe the ones that live there are more important or higher ranking. It seems like Evokers have a high status among other Illagers. Pillagers being the bottom of course. I also want to include more Illagers like those that were included in MCDungeons. They seem like so much fun, and different forms of magic usage seems logical. I mean Iceologers, Geomancers, and Wind Callers are all super interesting and really important to magic lore in the MC universe as a whole.

I do not consider Witches, Illagers (and neither does minecraft iirc) They all kinda just vibe and feel like they have their own lives. Not exactly violent, but curious and mischievous in ways that Villager culture clashes with. They all live on their own, but some make deals with Illagers or Villages. Their magic and potions in exchange for protection or resources. I imagine every village that contains a Cleric, knows of at least one Witch they can learn from, even if its gotta be in secret. I agree almost wholeheartedly with RetroGamingNow's interpretation of the Witch, I think its clear and makes a lot of sense, it's what i assumed for a very long time anyways. I feel like Witches are a fairly new source of magic in the world, compared to Illager and Villagers. This leads to them being seen as lesser than and never fitting in with either group. They rally in the ways of excitement, curiosity and overall, being true to one's self and never feeling sorry for being different. Witches are one of the most diverse groups, many of which are highly skilled and dangerous, but wouldn't hurt a fly without reason. Super happy group, some are hybrids or weren't even born Witches. My idea is there are Witches that are born as just that, and are brought up in the culture. The others are folks who practice witchcraft and chose to align themselves with the philosophy. (they refer to themselves as Witches if they'd like, its not required)

I touched on it a fair bit earlier, but, I had the idea that Villagers were also a being capable of magic. I like to think that the Iron Golems they spawn are from magic. villagers can create and build things when absolutely necessary or for their work, but they do not partake in magic since it is a lost art in their culture. However, the summoning of an Iron Golem unlocks a very deep connection with their world, allowing them to create life from (seemingly) nothing. (it actually does consume materials, it just takes those materials directly from the world from random places) A village will usually construct one themselves the physical way, but if under enough stress and fear, one can be summoned. Depending on the threat, it can be a permanent form, or just disappear after the Villager is safe. Illagers cannot do this, their connection with the Golem was cut as soon as they decided their fates. Iron Golems will only ever protect Villagers as Illagers are capable of protecting themselves. Although a Ravager is close to a Golem, I don't know how to fully implement them, as they must be fairly new to their technology.

Those are all my thoughts right now, things are subject to change. But yeah :0)

[0809sysblings]

weapons the prisoners would play in Splatoon

I primarily play ranked/anarchy, so most of what I say will be from that perspective 👍. also it's kinda obvious from my picks that I have a defensive and supportive playstyle, so I have a bit of a bias towards those kinds of weapons lol.

read more cause this is kinda long and so people not into Splatoon can easily scroll past <3

Haruka

Haruka would play a support weapon that would allow him to be as passive as possible while still contributing to the team. he'd probably spend most of the match keeping mid inked and special farming.

so I think the N-ZAP '89 would be a weapon he'd like to play. he'd really like autobombs because it'd help him feel safer knowing he can chuck one to where he wants to go and it'll reveal any sharkers so he doesn't get jumpscared.

Yuno

I think Yuno would play a more niche weapon. she'd want a weapon that's a bit more engaging than just holding down ZR, so she'd probably find playing the basic shooters pretty boring. she'd be a very strategic player, probably the type of player to like to bait opponents and take advantage of the weaknesses of their weapons. she'd be especially good at predicting what both her teammates and opponents will do.

all of this would make her a great backliner. so, I think she'd maybe like playing the Tri-stringer. it's a pretty fun and mentally engaging weapon to play if you know how to use it. she'd love taking advantage of the AoE properties of the charged shots and using them to make opponents go where she wants.

Fuuta

already talked about him, although it was mostly in a shitpost-y manner lol. but I do think he'd play the Range Blaster. he'd think the design is sick as fuck. I Know his ass would've loved the Grim Range Blaster from Splat 1 and 2.

he probably has a bit of a superiority complex surrounding the fact that he doesn't only play the current meta picks. but he absolutely trashes on the widely-considered weaker weapons, too.

Muu

I think Muu would be both an aggressive and passive player. she'll challenge you, but the second she's at a disadvantage she's running away. she probably likes flanking.

so I think she'd like the Octobrush Nouveau. not the vanilla Octobrush because I think she'd be too intimidated by Zipcaster to want to play it lol. this weapon would give her a lot of mobility, making it easier to run away strategically retreat. she probably uses squid beakons pretty selfishly, not really going out of her way to put them down in good spots for her teammates. (also I would make a Nouveau Haha French joke, but unfortunately the Japanese name for it does not include any reference to the word nouveau 😔...)

Shidou

let's pretend Shidou is not an adult with a Highly demanding job that would definitely not allow him to spend significant time playing video games. Shidou would definitely play support. he's very focused on the objective. he finds it more rewarding to help protect and backup his teammates rather than to challenge opponents on his own. he's the teammate that covers your jumps for you and always responds to callouts.

so I think he'd be naturally drawn to the Tenta Brella. the vanilla variant is bit more support-oriented than the Sorella variant which has a more aggressive special, so I think he'd probably lean towards the vanilla. he'd maybe switch it up though depending on what he thinks would help push objective best based on the map and mode.

Mahiru

Mahiru would be the type of player to just want to have fun. she probably only plays turf war and would want to do fun things and match outfits and weapons with people she gets to play with. Splatfests are her favorite thing, and she makes sure to ignore any salty plaza posts.

and so for the life of me I cannot come up with any actual weapon assignment other than I think she'd like playing around with an inkbrush because then she could draw cutesy things like hearts or smiley faces with it. she'll just play whatever will make her and anyone she plays with happiest.

Kazui

Kazui is gay so obviously he plays Splatoon. /j I don't have much to say on what his playstyle would be or what kind of player he'd be tbh... what I do know though is that he would play with stick controls because he's "an old man who doesn't understand motion controls".

maybe it's just the fact that he's very strong and has a solid physique, but I think he'd like splatlings, specifically the Nautilus 47 or the Hydra Splatling. while the Hydra Splatling fits the Strong Man vibes better, I think he'd also find the Nautilus 47's charge-holding gimmick neat and would like playing it because of that. something something it references him hiding his true self and sleight of hand tricks, idk.

Amane

Amane would definitely not be allowed to play Splatoon, or the vast majority (if not all) of video games for that matter, but... let's just pretend she plays video games.

thank you to @/laniemae for bringing up the umbrella Amane has in The Purge March MV and suggesting a brella for her, because that is what I'll be going with! I think she'd play the Splat Brella. specifically the vanilla variant as opposed to its Sorella counterpart. mostly just due to the fact that I feel like her playstyle would be safer and more defensive, which wouldn't match well with the Sorella Brella's more aggressive kit and especially its much riskier special.

Mikoto

I'm gonna give each of the 3 alters their own weapon(s). because I want to <3

Mikoto perhaps it's just the reference to 3 in its name, but I think Mikoto would play the Tri-Slosher Nouveau. he probably doesn't have that great of aim, so he'd like weapons with a wide hitbox where aiming isn't important. I think he'd love fizzy bombs, so he'd pick the Nouveau over the vanilla. and more importantly he'd be awful at Inkjet because of the aforementioned bad aim lol.

Orekoto Orekoto would definitely have the most aggressive playstyle of the three. I think the obvious choice for him would be the Splatana Wiper. although I think he'd prefer the aesthetic of the Splatana Stamper more, the Wiper is better for a faster and more aggressive playstyle. also he would LOVE Ultra Stamp.

Midokoto Midokoto is probably a player that prefers longer range weapons and would gravitate towards backline positions. so I think he'd play the Custom Jet Squelcher. I can also see him playing weapons like the (Forge/)Splattershot Pro, H-3 Nozzlenose(/D), and Squeezer.

Kotoko

Kotoko has such big charger energy. you cannot tell me she wouldn't play chargers. she's a very observant player who stays composed under pressure. she has a lot of game knowledge and can easily predict most players' movements. she probably takes the game a little too seriously.

I think the E-liter 4K would be her weapon of choice. her E-liter vibes are simply too strong. that being said, I think she'd also like playing squiffer once it gets a more aggressive kit. she's that terrifying charger on the enemy team that makes you want to scream every time they splat you and who you end up targeting the entire match just to try to splat them as revenge. she has made dozens of players rage quit and shows no signs of stopping.

🦑 thank you for coming to my Squidx Talk 🐙

^ if that doesn't format correctly on mobile im so sorry

[bl-inded]

Our skyy 2- Wrap Up

Since this is an anthology and I, being the simp that I am, have watched all of the original shows, I thought it'd be fun to rank all the episodes.

The thing is, even though I have watched all of the shows, my opinion on these episodes are very reliant on my opinions of the original show as well. Meaning if I loved the original show and the our skyy episode was meh, it might be ranked lower than shows I didn't feel so highly about, but the our skyy episode delivered. Anywho-

7. Sky in your heart (ep 3-4)

Tbh I wasn't the biggest fan of the original show, but this episode was very in tone with said show. It was overall, cute. The greenflags were greening with the communication and lack of jealousy. You go boys! Live your happiest life.

But I did miss the other pair of the show (idk if you can technically count it as this show since they were two 7 episode series, but I would have liked to see even a cameo from them). Good vibes. I liked it.

(what i didn't like in a side note is the chunky ring design)

6. My school president (ep 9-10)

To anyone who hasn't already, you havvvveee to go watch the original show. It is so sweet it will give you diabetes. And I loved the concept of this episode.

As a fanfic author I was mostly here for the validation that all our headcanons are canon. But, it felt like a highlight reel with roles reversed. Which is interesting but 2 episodes wasn't enough time to develop that story.

For what they attempted they did aight! I kinda wish we got something more post canon in their universe, happy cute boyfriends™, but yk. It's okay. More Fourth and Gemini always makes me happy. Plus the cast seemed to have fun filming it if the behind the scenes are any indication.

5. A boss and a babe (ep 11-12)

Listen, half the excitement of our skyy is missing these characters. So it was surely a choice by gmm to time this episode riiiighhhttt after the finale of the show.

That being said, this episode was pretty dang fun. Am I still mourning the loss of multiple unresolved storylines from the show they set up and literally forgot about- yes (Drake, you deserved better🤧). But considering our skyy 2 is the biggest "who took my FANFIC out of ao3 and into YouTube" plot ever, I'll overlook it.

This episode managed to do what neither enchanté nor abaab did- show me the appeal of forcebook. They are very cute in light-hearted settings. I'm yet to see them thrive in the drama, but only friends is happening soon... Soooooo

4. Never Let Me Go (ep 1-2)

Now thiss was a perfect soulmates AU for TV (or YouTube in this case) if I've ever seen one. We got the time travel, the drama, the classism all wrapped in a ball of all fluff and no angst. They understood the assignment.

Again. I missed my second couple (I am Perth Stan, I can't help myself. The 6 of us who demanded justice for Chopper, I see you!) But I didn't miss them too much, coz the premise was fun.

(I also loved the house set that they had!! I wanna go visit it if it's real!)

3. The Eclipse (ep 5-6)

These two episodes are single-handedly responsible for increasing the average number of kisses in Our Skyy. I wasn't even expecting this many? Even if it was basically just prep for Khao and First in Only friends, I'm still here for it.

It was also surprisingly an episode that caused a lot of debate about Akk and/or Ayan being out of character, which I didn't expect, but have my opinions on.

But overall, it was an extremely sweet episode with political and social commentary that the show had, but commentary lite. The locations were fantastic! I honestly just want more First and Khao in everything, please and thank you.

2. Bad Buddy x A Tale of a Thousand Stars (ep 13-16)

(please don't kill me)

Speaking of who took my fanfic out of ao3, OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD. I knewwww we can trust in P'Aof for delivering a story. BUT DID I EXPECT HIM TO PUT ALL MY FAVS IN THE SAME SCREEN AT THE SAME TIME???? What great times we're living in *sighs in bl*.

Watching EarthMix slip back into phuphatian was a pleasure. Ohm and Nanon are sooo awesome! I missed Pat and Pran so much. The crossover could have easily gone into the forced-for-fanservice territory, but they had a plot for it!🤌🏼

They brought back characters that felt like home. Even the conflicts were so lived in. It is self aware in what small things can blow out of proportion.

Watching Pat and Pran in their college years hiding their relationship after reading countless fanfics about it- just, tears. Thanks! I love them. I missed them. I'm living for this. I see why this was at the end. Worth all the hype and more.

Still screaming about this, and have been for two weeks. Will keep you updated on when or if I stop.

Buuuut the reason I didn't rank this at the top is because we didn't get enough bad buddy in the crossover. I loved both the shows, but i feel like pat pran were slightly overshadowed. I was lowkey cringing by the end too with the second atots recreation of the series!? Oh god. But we got a proposal! And the confirmation it's an open secret?!? And whatever tf it was that korn and wai were doing backstage🤡. So it was almost in the number one spot, it's just that I preferred my actual number one spot episode more.

1. Vice Versa (ep 7-8)

Did I expect vice versa to be this high on my list, nope. Did I fall and virtually adopt this kid as soon as he came on screen... Maybe👀. Are Jimmy and Sea climbing up on my couples i can't wait to see more of this yes- also maybe.

But even otherwise, I think this episode had the most solid and cohesive storyline. Everyone felt familiar and acted in character. They even wrapped up the whole random-kid-showed-up-at-our-front-door plot surprisingly well. Like if you watched the episode, they left very clear hints.

They even kept the colour theme (even though multi colour isn't technically a colour, would have gone with white or black maybe, but that's just me).

I did not expect this to be my number 1. Actually, i was barely even looking forward to this episode. But it was a pleasant surprise.

And I was shooketh, considering my biggest complaint about the original show was that they left too many threads loose.

Jimmy and Sea were so good! Got me even more excited to see them in Last Twilight (in P'Aof we trust).

***

Now that that is over (and if you're reading this far) can we talk about how many birthday plots there were??? I feel like every other week there was a birthday. Just confused about it, that's all.

[coquelicoq]

this post is brought to you by: la lettre c!

[previously: la lettre b]

i recently spent nearly a month reading the C section of this french dictionary. and by gum now you are going to hear about it!!

stats

percentage of dico taken up by C words: 10.6% (yeah you heard me. a tenth of this dictionary is just for the letter C. you've been warned)

percentage of dico read (as of the end of the C section): 23.5%

rate and duration: 3 pages/day for 27 days

total entries: 3449

rows added to my vocabulary spreadsheet: 708 😅

fun facts

more pages in this dico are devoted to words starting with C than with any other letter! which if you think about it makes sense. not only can a word-initial c be followed by any vowel, it can be followed by h, l, and r, plus the prefix con/com- is EXTREMELY generative…19 of the 81 pages are dedicated just to words that start with con or com (over a page of which are actually words that start with contre). i love that you get nearly 1/4 of the way through this dictionary before you even get to the 4th letter of the 26-letter alphabet.

as mentioned in the B post, there sure are a lot of slang words meaning "head" that start with c. you've got your caboche (hobnail). you've got your cafetière (coffeemaker). you've got your carafe (carafe) or your carafon (small carafe). you've got your chou (cabbage). you've got your ciboulot (diminutive of ciboule, which means head). you've got your citron (lemon). shockingly coco (coconut) is not slang for noggin to my knowledge…but it's not like there's a one-to-one mapping between "round things" and "things that are slang for noggin", or we wouldn't be in this situation with carafe, now would we?

speaking of noggins, there are also a lot of idioms meaning "to wrack one's brain" that were in the C section, either because the "wrack" word starts with a c or because the "brain" word does: se casser la tête (casser: break), se creuser le ciboulot/la cervelle/la tête/les méninges (creuser: dig).

page hogs

(entries taking up 1/6 of a page or more)

carte

ce

chaîne

charger

chien

compte

conseil

corde

corps

côté

couleur

coup

coupe

couper

courir

cours

croire

culture

i knew coup would be big, and i wasn't surprised by corps or cours, but damn there are a lot more chien idioms than i was expecting!

🤯 momence

i looked up the etymology of un casanier/une casanière (homebody) expecting it to be pretty straightforward given the spanish casa meaning house, but it actually came from an italian word meaning "moneylender"??? which was then influenced by the word that means house, but still. not sure i buy the logical leap made in the CNRTL entry for casanier that the "homebody" sense "s'explique prob[ablement] par le fait que les prêteurs italiens installés en France semblaient tenus à résider en un lieu précis, évolution favorisée par l'infl[uence] de case* « maison », fréquent au XVIe s". yeah but were italian moneylenders unique in liking to stay in one spot? i kinda doubt it…

chevronné(e): experienced, seasoned, highly qualified. one of my favorite things about this project is how much i am learning about etymology just because words from the same root whose meanings have since diverged still often occur near each other in the dictionary. chevronné comes right after chevron, which is a pattern in the shape of a V (or upside-down V). on a military uniform, chevrons indicate an officer's rank. so someone who is chevronné is someone who wears a lot of chevrons because they have a high rank, which generally indicates a lot of experience.

and if you're wondering why chevron means an inverted V shape, another meaning of chevron is "rafter", as in, the beams in a roof that slope to either side…forming an inverted V shape. and why is that beam called a chevron? well, we're getting into speculation now*, but chevron comes a few entries after chèvre, goat. according to this dictionary, chèvre is also another word for chevalet, which means "sawhorse" and comes from the word cheval (horse). now, chèvre and cheval, though they look similar in french, come from completely different latin roots. but goats and horses are both four-legged animals, and a sawhorse is, of course, a support structure made of two upside-down Vs that look like the two pairs of legs of a four-legged animal. so i'm not sure of the exact chain of causality here, but it does seem plausible that the inverted V came to be called a chevron because of its resemblance to a pair of legs? of some animal or another??

*(the CNRTL etymology entry for chevron claims that it comes from a latin word that meant both goat and chevron, capreolus, but i haven't been able to confirm for myself that capreolus meant chevron so am not taking that as gospel.)

couché(e) en chien de fusil: lying curled up in a ball/in the fetal position. the fun thing about this one is that there's this passage in les mis where gavroche notices that the pistol he's stolen from a shop window "n'avait pas de chien." this confused the hell out of me when i read it. the pistol didn't have a dog? why the fuck would the pistol have a dog??? eventually i managed to wrap my head around the idea that chien might mean something other than "dog" in the context of a pistol, and once my mind was opened to that revolutionary possibility it didn't take long to discover that the hammer of a gun is called a chien. so when i got to this entry in the dictionary, i was like yeah, yeah, le chien de fusil, we've all seen it. the problem is i still don't really get how that translates to the fetal position. they just don't seem that similar to me? so this one is a work in progress.

être à la colle: live together, be shacked up. (colle means glue.) i also like vivre en concubinage, which means the same thing. you can imagine my surprise when i got to concubinage and finally learned it does not mean "the state of having concubines" as i had been assuming. i would see it in like news articles about modern french people and be like "that doesn't seem right, but i don't know enough about french culture to dispute it."

somewhat relatedly, i don't think i had ever come across et consorts ("and company") in the wild before reaching its entry in the dictionary, which is good because i'm sure i would have grossly misinterpreted it as well. on balance i think english getting so much vocab from french does make learning french vocab much easier than it would be otherwise, but there are times when it would really help to be bringing to the table fewer preconceived notions about the meaning of words lol.

let's talk about compris(e). so service (non) compris (service (not) included (in the price of something)) is one of the phrases i learned back when i was a kid who didn't know any french, because i was going to france and it was in some guidebook or other. then y compris (including) caught my eye very early on in my french education because i didn't know what the y was doing in there and i probably latched onto it because it looked like spanish. (the french word y has a completely different meaning than the spanish word y, but i didn't know that at the time because i hadn't learned about adverbial pronouns yet, and learning "y compris" didn't help me figure it out because it seemed to make total sense for a phrase which means "including" to contain a word meaning "and". but i digress.) and of course i learned the verb comprendre (understand) in year 1 of french. but it was not until now, TWENTY YEARS LATER, that i put together that the compris in service compris and y compris is...THE PAST PARTICIPLE OF COMPRENDRE! HELLO!!! like i knew that compris is the pp of comprendre, but i never connected it with those other expressions! and the english word comprehend also has both "understand" and "include" senses (think lizzy saying "you must comprehend a great deal in your idea of an accomplished woman" in pride and prejudice), so all the pieces were there all along! truly i am surrounded by countless wonders just waiting to be discovered.

i am continuing to take note of verbs that no one ever told me take être as auxiliary. the first one since accourir is convenir de [qqch], but it seems to only take être in some circumstances and i'm not really clear on what they are…just in literature or when being formal? the jury is out. this one is less mindblowing than accourir because it does have venir right there in it, which doesn't mean that it obviously must take être, but i feel a little more primed to accept it. accourir was just a total shock. i'm still feeling the reverberations.

favorite words to pronounce

cessation [sesasjɔ̃]

champignonnière [ʃɑ̃piɲɔnjɛʀ]

cliquetis [klik(ə)ti]

clopin-clopant [klɔpɛ̃klɔpɑ̃]

cocotte [kɔkɔt]

coléoptère [kɔleɔptɛʀ]

compensation [kɔ̃pɑ̃sasjɔ̃]

consciencieusement [kɔ̃sjɑ̃sjøzəmɑ̃]

contentement [kɔ̃tɑ̃tmɑ̃]

coquelicot [kɔkliko]

cumulus [kymylys]

cyclique [siklik]

so the mouthfeel in the C section is simply exquisite. sometimes i just say "consciencieusement" out of nowhere because it soothes me. that said, possibly my least favorite word to pronounce in the entire french language (yes even more than procureur du roi) also starts with C: chirurgie. like damn. have mercy. also found myself struggling with condamner (apparently you don't pronounce the m and you don't nasalize the vowel before it. IS THIS EVEN FRENCH????), construire (dedicating my life to learning synonyms for every sense of this word so i never have to say it out loud), and coopérant (no, not the double o! please, i'll do anything!).

favorite words period

c'est le cadet de mes soucis: that's the least of my worries. cadet is also the word you would use to talk about a younger sibling, like ma sœur cadette, so that's the association i have with it. out of all my worries, this one is the baby. aww.

avoir le cafard: have the blues, feel depressed, be down in the dumps. un cafard is a cockroach btw. i'm gonna need my fellow anglophones to either learn this french expression or at the very least calque it into english because i use it all the time now. lads i got the roach today…yeah no i'm gonna have to reschedule, it's that damn roach…

c'est fort du café: that's a bit much, that's going too far, that's pushing it. the coffee is too damn strong! dial it back people!

the C section contains both cahin-caha (with difficulty) and clopin-clopant (with a limp, falteringly). i'm always a sucker for (quasi-)reduplication! and with these two in particular, i like the way that the sounds rock back and forth, like an aural representation of the action they would describe.

renvoyer/remettre [qqch] aux calendes grecques: postpone [sth] indefinitely. i was confused by this one because i looked up calendes and naturally it translates as calends, which as a former latin student i know to be the first day of the month (just as the ides is a specific day in the middle of the month) in the ancient roman calendar. but according to this random website whose trustworthiness i have not determined, that's precisely the point: to postpone something until the calends of the greeks is to never do it, because the greek calendar doesn't even HAVE a calends. makes me think of that episode of parks & rec when ron had like 90 meetings on the same day because april had been scheduling all his meetings for march 31st, thinking that march only has 30 days. damn, should have scheduled them all for the greek calends. the french could have told her that.

calter/caleter ([qqch]): shift [sth], move [sth]; scram, scat, leg it. i will just be scooping this up and squirreling it away in my hoard of ways to talk about getting the hell out of dodge, thank you…

faire un câlin is to hug…or to have sex!! why does french keep doing this to me. i just want some affection-related words that are not also sex slang, is that so much to ask??

callipyge: endowed with a nice butt. i am not making this up, it is a word and it is in this pocket french dictionary. would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the meeting at which they decided to keep this one in. "callipyge? oh yeah that one's essential." done and dusted. (okay after i wrote this i did hear moira say "my callipygean ass" in an episode of schitt's creek i was rewatching, but i think that still proves my point, because moira.)

une cambuse: can't believe there's an entire word for "hovel" that victor hugo never used in les mis. monsieur come collect your word (that also means "ship's galley")!

un camembert: obviously there is a cheese called this but DID YOU KNOW it's also the word for pie chart?? that's so french omg.

faire la carpette: bend over backwards to please someone; lie on the floor. i love the double meaning: figuratively being a doormat or literally just being flat on the ground. oh carpet we're really in it now…

faire la carpe pâmée: feign unconsciousness. quick, they're looking this way! do the fainted carp!

so many great casse- compounds, including three that all mean snack (un casse-croûte (lit. break-crust), un casse-dalle, un casse-graine (lit. break-food)). there's a whole bunch of casse-[body part] compounds: un(e) casse-couilles (lit. break-balls) and un(e) casse-pieds (lit. break-feet) both mean pain in the ass, while un(e) casse-cou (break-neck) is a daredevil and un casse-tête (lit. break-head) is a brainteaser, a conundrum, or a club/mace. the adjective casse-gueule (lit. break-face) means risky, dangerous, tricky. i also checked my separate french slang dictionary (you can't expect me to have just ONE french dictionary, come on) because i thought it was weird that there was no casse-cul even though the word cul is like the number one word to put in french idioms, and guess what. un(e) casse-cul is ALSO a pain in the ass. i am feeling so smug about this extremely obvious deduction. eat yer heart out, hercule poirot!

ça passe ou ça casse: it's make or break. love me a pithy rhyming cliche! i hope they say this on french reality shows…i can totally imagine it in a dramatic announcer voiceover.

je me casse: i'm outta here. yes!! another one for the casual farewell arsenal!!!

être assis(e)/avoir le cul entre deux chaises: have a foot in each camp, be sitting on the fence, be caught in the middle. literally: be sitting ass between two chairs. just such a good image.

appuyer sur le champignon: step on the gas. why is the gas pedal a mushroom? heck if i know, but i am on board with it and ready to be charmed.

tenir la chandelle: be the third wheel. listen, it was probably really complicated to have sex back in the days of 1) complicated dress and 2) no electricity. maybe you need someone to illuminate all the tricky fastenings you're trying to undo…that's where the candle guy comes in.

passe ton chemin !: on your way/off with you! i am collecting soooo many ways to tell people to leave. if i could just go back twenty years to that one time i was in a phone booth in the south of france with a friend who was being harassed by an adult french man…i sure would be able to yell something at him in the right language this time. rick steves taught me how to propose to someone in marriage but not how to rebuff a creep. come on, rick! priorities!

être comme cul et chemise: be thick as thieves, be bosom buddies. literally, be like ass and shirt, which maybe didn't age super well, because these days most shirts don't even cover the ass 🙄 interestingly, i looked up "be in cahoots with [sb]" on wordreference to see if that was also a possible translation of this expression, and it turned up être en chemise avec [qqn]. which is maybe just a slightly less vulgar way of saying comme cul et chemise? i don't have a great sense for how rude of a word "cul" is considered to be, since as i mentioned previously it appears in approximately five hundred thousand french expressions.

just to throw another thing in the mix, être en cheville avec [qqn] ALSO means to be in cahoots with [sb]. maybe être en chemise avec is what happens when être comme cul et chemise and être en cheville avec have a baby?? (before reading this dictionary i only knew about the "ankle" sense of cheville, but apparently it's also like a dowel that you use when building stuff? so that's probably the sense that's being invoked in this expression.)

chiche (incidentally, pronounced just like "sheesh") is an interjection meaning "i dare you!" (it's also an adjective meaning stingy.) this section of the dictionary also has cap ou pas cap ? (cap: short for capable), which appears to mean the same thing. kids gotta have ways to taunt each other into doing dumb shit. it's a universal law, probably.

bête comme chou: dead simple, easy as pie, easy-peasy. literally, stupid as cabbage. it's so easy a cabbage could do/understand it, and cabbages aren't exactly known for their feats of intelligence or skill. remembering this one should be bête comme chou. (i wish i could leave it there but i did actually look up the etymology of bête comme chou and it seems to be more that chou was slang for ass, so calling someone bête comme chou was like calling them a dumbass, and then at some point the meaning shifted to refer to things a dumbass can't do or understand rather than the dumbass themselves. but "so easy a cabbage could do it" is easier to remember, so.)

faire chou blanc: come up short, come up empty-handed. i was reading this thinking, man, the french sure don't think much of the capabilities of cabbages, but i looked up the etymology of faire chou blanc and this actually comes from the berry dialect, where coup is pronounced chou. un c[h]oup blanc was a phrase used in the game of quilles (skittles, related to bowling) for when you fail to hit any pins whatsoever. so faire chou blanc is basically to throw a gutter ball!

ferme ton clapet !: shut your trap! jotting this down for my trip in time back to that one phone booth harasser guy 👀📝 he will rue the day i built a time machine and also the day i decided to read the entire french dictionary.

prendre ses cliques et ses claques: pack up and leave, take one's things and go. listen, i'm a simple guy. you put two words that sound almost the same right next to each other and i eat that shit right up. also, as established i have this weird obsession with learning as many ways as possible to talk about removing myself from situations. so welcome to the fold, my child. you may have clique-claqued your way out of wherever you were before, but you are home now. allow me to introduce you to all your new siblings.

des clous !: no way!, no chance! clous are nails. don't look at me, i don't get it either. i just think it's catchy.

le petit coin: bathroom. literally "the little corner". as far as euphemisms go, i much prefer this to "the little boys'/girls' room".

c'est le comble/c'est un comble: that takes the cake, well now i've heard it all, you couldn't make this up. le comble is the pinnacle of something, the most [thing] that [thing] can be. so it's like whew, there's no beating that! also it comes from the latin word cumulus btw.

comme tout: as anything, as can be. in other words, af.

en compote: aching, sore. as though your muscles have been pureed into jam i guess?

une contrepèterie: a spoonerism! this is when two sounds in a phrase are switched, changing the meaning of the phrase in a comical way ("the lord is a shoving leopard" for "the lord is a loving shepherd", for example). the french example given in the wikipedia article for spoonerisms is "femme folle à la messe et femme molle à la fesse" ("insane woman at mass, woman with flabby buttocks") from a novel by rabelais. (which is kind of giving me freak in the sheets lady in the streets vibes now that i think about it.)

convivial(e): convivial, friendly, congenial, of course, but also easy to use, user-friendly! i find this so charming. i am truly so easy to please.

sauter/passer du coq-à-l'âne: go off on a tangent, be all over the place. literally, jump from the rooster to the donkey. makes sense to me. you thought we were talking about the rooster? well, now we're talking about the donkey. try to keep up.

les coquelicots: period, menstruation, time of the month. un coquelicot is a poppy, but les coquelicots? watch out. i haven't confirmed this, but i'm choosing to believe it's because of the color. also, i love poppies, and i love the word coquelicot. if getting my stupid period gives me the opportunity to say this fun word, i'll take it.

corser [qqch]: spice [sth] up (figurative or literal); complicate [sth]; flavor [sth]. my first thought was "is corsican cuisine known for being spicy??" but the etymology of corser is actually from the word corps, meaning body. so, you're giving body to something. neat! there's also se corser (get complicated, thicken), as in la situation se corse (the plot thickens). oh yeah. now we're cookin'.

en tenir une couche: be a dumbass, not be playing with a full deck. une couche is a layer, so i'm thinking this is like not having much going on under the hood. what you see is what you get. there's nothing under the surface. nobody at home.

ma couille: dude, mate. i definitely need ways to say dude in french. couille means testicle btw, because of course it does. this is french we're talking about.

un coupe-coupe: machete. literally, a cut-cut. if only more french words were formed using this logic!! i could get used to this.

le crachin: drizzle. which also allows you to say the truly incredible phrase il y a du crachin (it's drizzling). (cracher is to spit.)

ça craint: that sucks; life sucks. craindre [qqch] is to be afraid of [sth], so i don't totally get the connection, but i say "that sucks" all the time, so it's nice to have a way to say it in french. actually, it would be better if things could just suck less. but that does seem more difficult than just learning some words.

avoir un (petit) creux: feel peckish. un creux is a hollow so this is giving me vibes like please sir 🥺 my tummy is a lil empty 🥺👉👈

le cuir: leather, but also apparently the word for making a liaison (aka pronouncing the letter on the end of a word because the following word starts with a vowel) when you're not supposed to. no idea what that has to do with leather, but i do find myself kind of charmed against my will to know that there's a specific word for this mistake i make all the time. i guess that means i'm not alone. OR they made up the word just for me 🥰 either way, a win imho.

avoir du cul: be damn lucky. okay the rest of these are cul idioms. i told you there were a lot, so i have just picked my very favorites.

avoir la tête dans le cul if translated literally would be more or less "have one's head up one's ass", mais attention because apparently in french it means be half-asleep, be dozy, feel like shit. so if someone says j'ai la tête dans le cul, they are probably not inviting you to join them in roasting them for being a dumbass. word to the wise.

en avoir plein/ras le cul (de [qqch]): be sick and tired (of [sth]), be fed up (with [sth]), have had it up to here (with [sth]). french truly is a beautiful language.

saving the best for last (but also, it just came last in the alphabet): et mon cul, c'est du poulet ?: yeah, right!, my ass! literally "and my ass, it's [made of] chicken?" i assume i don't have to explain why this brings me such joy.

next up…51 pages of Ds! (which i actually finished reading long ago and am now in the E's but shhhhh)

[brandonxdylan]

Ranking the GAY EPISODES of Beverly Hills, 90210 - Part 2

(Part 1 here)

#4.) Blind Spot (Season 4, Episode 26)

Car trouble lands Brandon and Steve stranded at a GAY COFFEEHOUSE, where, amidst all of his ridiculous gay panic, Steve clocks Mike, his fraternity president, enjoying a coffee with another guy. Back at the frat house, Mike approaches Steve, assuming that since he was also at the GAY COFFEEHOUSE, he must be gay too. Steve gives Mike the cold shoulder, showing no empathy for him whatsoever, and it’s actually really sad because Mike was so excited to relate to someone else in a similar situation, which I have to imagine would have been a rare opportunity, and I know how vulnerable and embarrassed he would have felt in that moment. Later on, Artie, another frat guy, makes, like, two incredibly dumb gay jokes about Steve, and rather than ignore them, fire back, or do literally anything other than the one thing he shouldn’t do, Steve immediately goes into self-preservation mode and deflects Artie’s homophobic ire towards Mike, the actual gay guy who’s been hiding in plain sight. Mike is understandably pissed when Steve tells him that “it just slipped out,” which isn’t really true. Latently homophobic Steve intentionally threw Mike under the bus to protect his own extremely fragile ego. Even Brandon agrees that Steve is a huge fucking dipshit for this, so you know it’s bad. Anyway, some of the frat brothers paint Mike’s bedroom door pink (such a weird fucking flex, honestly) and Mike threatens to leave the frat to avoid any further humiliation. He doesn’t, of course, because during a tribunal to decide Mike’s fate (insane that this is what it comes to, but the show doesn’t even acknowledge that), Steve saves the day by calling out Mike’s good attributes and blah blah blah, the homophobe becomes the hero. Hooray. Honestly, I kinda wish Mike had just left the frat. Why stay somewhere that is full of assholes who need to have a group fucking meeting discussing your personal life before they permit you to be in their presence? Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t consider being allowed to stay somewhere like that “a win.” But whatever. Mike manages to make some good points, and his gay rage is, appropriately, very justified. I just wish it didn’t have to be tempered at the end. I wish he got to peace out, go find love somewhere better than the damn KEG house, and leave Steve feeling like a piece of shit for fucking up his life. I would have been a hell of a lot more satisfied by that. Though this episode gets bonus points for featuring the GAY COFFEEHOUSE, which is the same coffeehouse used in an iconic double date scene from the stone cold classic, A Very Brady Sequel. More bonus points for some cute Dylan stuff during the photo shoot B story, and in particular, the moment where Dylan checks out and proceeds to compliment Brandon’s boxers. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me going.

#3.) Making Amends/The Nature of Nurture (Season 8, Episodes 23-24)

While working at the free clinic, Kelly finds a baby abandoned by its teen mother (a young Jessica Alba), and though she initially wants to adopt it herself, she relents when she learns that the baby will be placed in a foster-to-adopt situation with a carefully selected couple, as opposed to going back to the mother, whom Kelly has quickly and harshly written off as evil. But things that a major turn when Kelly learns that the foster parents are (gasp!) HOMOS! This sets off her strange and highly problematic crusade to return the baby to the custody of its mother, who does actively want it back now that she too knows her baby is at risk of being raised by a couple of gays. Ultimately, teen mom’s homophobia proves excessive, and causes Kelly to recognize that maybe the baby is better off with loving parents, regardless of their sexuality, than with a homophobic teen mom who only wants it out of spite. Naturally, things wrap up neatly, the baby lands with the gays, and Kelly gets to feel good about doing the right thing despite being the source of a LOT of strife for a LOT of people. There’s also a LOT to think about in this episode, and overall, I think it’s fairly well done aside from some frustrating character stuff. While Kelly – allegedly a social work major - demonstrates next to know understanding of how social services actually work, the writers do. I already wrote a bit about this episode so I won’t get too into it, but suffice it to say it tackles some thorny issues regarding issues of child protection, fostering, and adoption pretty well, and with as much accuracy as I think can be expected from a show like this. What I find most maddening about this episode is that Kelly isn’t granted the opportunity for any substantial self-reflection or personal growth. Her homophobic beliefs are placed in stark contrast to teen mom’s more extreme views, and therefore written off as not that bad. Additionally, the out-of-nowhere explanation that she wanted the baby for herself is positioned as the real reason for her actions, and the fact that the foster parents were gay was just an easy excuse she used to justify her shitty behavior. This doesn’t really track, and I don’t buy it. I think it would have been far more interesting to have this episode tackle the issue of latent homophobia, and explore the nuances involved in addressing that. As it is, Kelly isn’t left accountable for her actions, and that’s a problem for me because that’s really the theme of this episode. It’s not really about the gay parents, it’s about other (straight) people’s feelings about them. I think they could have dug a little deeper to offer a more satisfying character arc for Kelly. It’s not problematic to have latently prejudiced beliefs. It’s human! And dealing with them is something that would have been refreshing to see in an episode that otherwise gets so much right.

#2.) A Mate for Life/Disappearing Act/Pledging My Love (Season 7, Episodes 3-5)

Kelly begins a school placement at a group home for men with AIDS, and befriends Jimmy, a young gay man who is dying of the disease. Jimmy (played by Michael Stoyanov from Blossom) copes with his illness by practicing magic tricks, engaging in some self-deprecating gallows humour, and being generally charming. At one point, Kelly gets some of Jimmy’s blood on her hands, and she panics that she might be now be infected with HIV. Following an anxiety dream in which she gets AIDS rash, Kelly gets tested and though her doctor assures her that she’s probably fine, he does give her a lecture on safe sex, reminding her that HIV isn’t just for gay men - anyone can get it, and sexual intercourse is an easy way to do so. While she’s waiting for her test results, Kelly tells Clare and Donna that she’ll move out of their beach house if she ends up testing positive, and it’s around this point that I began to realize that this is a storyline that is wasted on Kelly. First of all, she’s straight, and though, yes, anyone can contract HIV, it goes without saying that it was gay men who were disproportionately affected by it in the United States at this time. Second of all, she was “contaminated” in such a minor way. These two factors make all of this feel really low stakes. We know that there’s no way in hell Kelly tests positive. I want to be clear that I don’t think that shows like this have any inherent obligation to those who have lived through trauma or illness to deal with these issues in a way that is consistently true to life. That’s a slippery slope because not all lived experience is the same, and what might feel validating and representative to someone might feel offensive to someone else. Plus, it’s also a lot to ask of a TV show, whose primary concern should be to entertain and to compel, not present viewers with a case study on living with AIDS. However, in this case I have to admit that it does feel a little inappropriate to be putting Kelly through the ringer in the most low stakes way possible, and milking that for drama when so many gay men were really going the ringer and the stakes were much higher. Not to minimize the experience of people like Kelly who suffered the worry of a close call, but it feels like the show is really pushing it with what it’s asking us to buy into. Granted, I guess that’s why we have Jimmy - to demonstrate what being a gay man dying of AIDS in the 90s actually could have looked like. And while yes, Jimmy falls squarely into the much-maligned trope of gays who only show up to die for the sake of the straight characters’ growth, he’s probably about as good as we possibly could’ve expected to get at the time, barring the show deciding to suddenly break all kinds of barriers and introduce a main gay character living with AIDS. It was just never gonna happen, and I’m not going to hold that against the show. Unsurprisingly, Kelly tests negative, but Jimmy takes a turn for the worse. Watching him make peace with his fate as Kelly offers some misplaced naivete, desperately suggesting that what he knows to be true might not be, it’s hard not to feel something. When Kelly suggests taking a photo of the two of them, it makes sense that Kelly would want to not only preserve a memento of their friendship, but also to assure Jimmy that he is someone who will be remembered fondly. It’s a touching moment, and the weight of it is effectively conveyed. While I already explained why I think this episode kind of mishandles its subject matter in terms of the AIDS scare stuff, what it gets right is the friendship between Kelly and Jimmy. I think what could’ve made it even better, however, would have been to allow Kelly just a little more time to sit in her open-ended grief, and try to make sense of Jimmy’s death. Some frank acknowledgement of the difficulty involved in doing that might have been an appropriately cathartic cap to this story, and it would have been a uniquely heavy moment for a show that by this point was often pretty superficial.

#1.) I’m Back Because/The Following Options (Season 9, Episodes 8-9)

Steve’s mom comes to town because she’s starring in a much-hyped comeback sitcom. Rumours abound that she’s dating her co-star, and when Steve asks her about them, she neither confirms nor denies, instead opting to remind Steve that it’s no one’s business who she dates. Eventually, however, she admits to Steve that she’s not dating her co-star, nor is she dating any man. She’s actually dating a woman. And okay, this is honestly one of the most unexpected yet awesome choices that this show could have made at this point. In an era of the show full of random retcons and arbitrary character development, the fact that this one comes out of nowhere actually makes sense, considering Samantha had been deeply in the closet prior to this moment, and she’s not someone we see every week. And choosing to give a coming out storyline to a middle aged mother as opposed to some young twentysomething? That’s a bold choice! The crux of the drama here is that Steve (once again) demonstrates some very blatant homophobic feelings about his mother’s sexuality, and slings some pretty nasty remarks her way, going so far as to accuse her of adopting him in order to complete some sort of heterosexual façade for the sake of her image. It’s all pretty embarrassing for Steve, but as with the earlier episode featuring Kelly and the teen mom, there is room to allow these characters to explore their latent homophobia. That would not only offer some compelling drama, but it would be an accurate reflection of reality. And this storyline gets 75% of the way there. They just bungle the ending. Steve only starts to see the light once word of Samantha’s sexuality leaks to the media, and Samantha is fired from her new show amidst the ensuing scandal. Watching his mom go through all of this undue humiliation causes Steve to do an about face, and choose to embrace her for who she is. It’s a cute ending, but man, does it ever skip a lot of steps in terms of Steve’s growth. We don’t get to see Steve do any of the work involved in addressing his homophobia, nor do we get any indication as to what specifically would have spurred his change of heart beyond his mom’s name being dragged through the mud. There’s no suggestion of introspection or vulnerability. There’s not really even an apology. I think if this storyline had had one more episode to really flesh out Steve’s character development, and to offer a heart to heart between mother and son, it could’ve been great. But there are still great things about it. Christine Belford is really good as Samantha (seriously, Samantha is not even a character we get to know very well over the course of the series, yet I practically cheered when she told Steve she was gay, so that’s a testament to her), and for all of Steve’s shitty behaviour towards her, Samantha gets to land a few zingers of her own. And again, I appreciate that the show chose to go this route with this character. Coming out in midlife is a reality for many people, and Samantha’s celebrity adds an interesting dynamic. There are definitely things that could have been improved upon, and it perhaps bites off a little more than it can chew, but its heart is in the right place, and it’s sympathetic without being condescending or othering. And while it’s Samantha’s final appearance on the show (BOO!), we do get to meet her new girlfriend, Karen, in the aforementioned luau episode of season 10, and wow - LESBIAN LEGEND. I sure hope Samantha hung on to her.

Well, there you have it. A thorough(ish) rundown of Beverly Hills, 90210′s major(ish) storylines featuring gay themes. It’s disappointing how short-lived all of these stories were, because most of them would’ve been better served by characters whom we actually get to know outside of their relationships with members of the gang. Still, as I’ve said before, I’m used to accepting scraps when it comes to queer content. And I’m happy to look back at this show and accept that we needed baby steps like this in order to get more and better gay content on television.

I hope everyone has had a safe and happy Pride month!

[oaxleaf]

mag 117 - testament

if i were to rank all the episodes of tma, this would no doubt be in the top ten, maybe top five. i'm the kinda person who tends relistens to my favourite parts of things rather than the whole thing, and i have listened to this a good ten times. thus, expect this to be stupidly long

jon is showing a somewhat uncharacteristic display of spiteful self-destruction here, hoping that elias' plan doesn't work. he definitely has tendency to be spiteful and bitter, and as is pretty clear he doesn't exactly value his own life and safety very highly, but it's not very often those two traits are combined. what is significantly more characteristic, though, is extreme feelings of responsibility (which inevitably leads to guilt)

jon choosing to trust the others is one of my absolute favourite scenes throughout the whole show. there is such an emphasis on how the choices we don't know we make can end up destorying us, a sort of butterfly effect, but this is a total different type of choice. very deliberate, and something that is actually good for him. even before his breakdown he wasn't exactly a trusting person, so, like i have pointed out before in other posts, it's only really this trauma that drives him to this development

basira here has an odd type of self-realization. she finally snaps out of the type of mindless apathy she's been in for so long, the one that makes her bury herself in a book and ignore the world. she is so so close to understanding her flaws and comabtting them, since she does actually take more action from here on forward. yet, she does seem to miss the core of her issues, which is her unwillingness to be in anyway sentimental about or look deeper into things. she'll keep on moving with the same straight focus and practicality, something that will save her in the short hand but holds her back more and more as she is directly faced with more morally complex situations that she can't us logic or rationality to get out of

melanie is, in quite a few ways, pretty similar to tim here. a mixture of anger and depression and slowly giving up that really manages to capture me. i find a lot of relatable things in how she seems so used to things, but that doesn't make her less angry. just because she's been scrabbling and being trampled at the bottom of the ladder her whole life doesn't make things hurt less

she does, however, seem to try and find an identity beyond that. something which is really hard when the whole world seems to be against you. she tries to go beyond her anger and bitterness, and i think that is why she chooses to tell jon about her trip to india. she's not being compelled, after all, and has no actual reason to tell him. i think she just wants to try being vulnerable. at the end though, she retreats back to herself, defensive as always - a pattern she's repeated many times

martin really is on the verge of breaking. just like jon, he is someone who really prefers action to doing nothing, even if that's a trait he represses for a long time. here, for once, he gets to be independent. i think the most interesting parts of this are displayed in the next episode

daisy remains practical and uninterested as ever. even basira indulges jon in the tape recorders, but daisy never becomes all that captured with them. which i think is also part of why she makes such a good companion to him later on, but that's another tangent. simply, she acknowledges it but has zero interest in venting to it

the 'i have a feeling i'm not coming back from this' trope is one i always go feral for. it hurts so much but it's so good. tim has already pretty much given up here and there isn't much more to say about it. it's bitter and painful and we all know the end is near. i think the most interesting part is that, near the end, tim presents jon with a proper, head-on moral dilemma: will he have the guts to do what it takes? a question that sort of becomes meaningless when in the end jon is stuck in the unknowing and tim takes action into his own hands, but an interesting question nontheless. would he be able to do it?

and, finally, to me, jon burning gerry's page reads like a final act of rebellion before jon 'officially' looses his humanity to the eye post-unknowing. i don't think he would have been able to burn that page after waking up from his coma

[genericeurofan]

finally sitting down and making a post to kinda introduce myself and explain any possible downsides to my internet vibe

SO….for starters, you guys can call me al, although i’m really in the market for a new nickname with a horrific backstory lmao. I use she/her pronouns, and I live in the US!

I’ve been OBSESSED with ESC since 2018! Eurovision has been the one thing that’s been consistently good throughout my life and i’m too far invested to give it up lmao.

Anywho, here’s some random little fun facts about me!

- I pretty much fit every description of my zodiac sign/personality types. I’m a Gemini, ENTP-T, and my enneagram is 8w7. Maybe it explains why i’m such a spiteful human being

- I’m starting my first year of uni in August and I could not be more excited !!!!!

- I LOVE history and will make it a point to visit as many historical sites and museums as possible on every trip I go on! I love going to historical reenactments and hope to do that as a side quest sometime in the future.

- Maybe 80% of my current playlist is Eurovision related, but I’ll listen to anything (although i’m VERY picky about country music). I have a playlist on Spotify called “intro to my shockingly basic music taste” that i’ve been using to introduce potential uni friends to what I listen to, feel free to check it out!

- I’ve only been to 4 concerts which surprisingly is NOTHING compared to everyone else I know irl. So far i’ve seen Three Doors Down, Coolio/Vanilla Ice, My Chemical Romance with 100 Gecs, and Måneskin (which was BY FAR the most fun i’ve ever had).

- Speaking of music, my top artist right now are Marco Mengoni and Joker Out. Can you tell I miss eurovision?!?! I was also in the top 10% of Doja Cat listeners last year..,…

- My best friend (who I met through Eurovision groups) recently wrote a book and it’s dedicated to me! It’s by far my biggest flex. (they also run the podcast for the esc news account we volunteer for and i was the first and probably most chaotic guest)

- I don’t watch a lot of tv…my favorite shows are literally Community and Antiques Roadshow….

- I do, however, watch a LOT of movies! I watched 74 movies last year and ranked them! I *mostly* love really boring historical dramas and war movies so you already KNOW i’m gonna go crazy for Oppenheimer when that comes out. Some of my faves (in no particular order) are All Quiet on the Western Front, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Airplane!, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and Memphis Belle.

wow it’s actually really hard to write about myself now that I think about it…but i’m SO down to answer any questions and what not! (plz bc i don’t interact with anyone irl how crazy of me)

Other than running this account, I also started my first ESC season as a team member of a moderately-sized Eurovision news group on instagram, which has been INCREDIBLY fun! I highly suggest you guys get involved in something like that if you’re looking for friends in the ESC community (which i’m still on the hunt for, but i’ve got a good start). Along with that, I also make silly little eurovision related whisper posts and you can find a few of those here, but there’s plenty more on my little side account @escwhxpers! My DMs are open there pretty much all of the time!

yuck ig promotion is WEIRD

so yeah! hopefully everything was spelled right and that this was…informative?

also my pinterest is @allshaj if you wanna see all of the eurovision related things i’m printing out and hanging in my dorm room lmao

[dangerliesbeforeyou]

ok so i spent yesterday looking through and collecting data from ao3's rpf (real person fanfiction) collection (for no reason other than 'i was intrigued' lol...)

and i thought i'd go through some of the interesting finds!

(this is probably interesting to nobody but me but hey when has that ever stopped me lol!)

starting with a disclaimer that this is a judgement free zone! i may make a few jokes about things from time to time on here, but i am firmly of the 'ship and let ship' mindset so no hate meant in any of this at all lol <3

first interesting fact is that kpop is the highest rpf tag (with over 650k works!!), bts are obviously the boy group with the most fics, with twice being the highest girl group!

speaking of girls... so for every category i tried to find what the top f/f ship was and for a couple of the tags (most notably actors and music), the top f/f ships were actually male characters (which confused me until i saw the additional tags were genderbend and genderswap lol)... there are also a lot of fandoms where the top characters when you take out m/m ships is actually original female characters (or reader)!

unsurprisingly, taylor swift is the solo artist with the most fics written about her (many shipping her with various celebs, both men and women), but what i found interesting is that there are 140 of her songs and albums that are featured in fics, which is more than any other musician's work (even hozier lol!)

other music tag info is one direction as the non-kpop band with the most fics, with larry stylinson being the top ship (no one is shocked at this) and the highest rating being explicit! which is a bit surprising since most of these fandoms have either general or teen and up ratings as the top one... the only other umbrella rpf fandom that has explicit as the top rating is actors... oh and porn (duh)

my chemical romance deserve a mention as the band with the most fics under the rock music tag (and in the bandom tag), with gerard as the top character (good for them!)! queen also rank pretty highly, with a lot of the fics being specifically linked to the 2018 film bohemian rhapsody rather than specifically the band themselves (so it's like... rpf of rpf lol?)

i think the beatles are the oldest band/musician to have a lot of rpf about them but it's honestly a little hard to tell so don't quote me on this... they are also at the top of the 60's music scene, where the rolling stones take 2nd lol...

the rpf section that i went into the most blind was the sports tag, since my knowledge of sports is .......... yeh that's about all i know lol

men's football and hockey have a similar number of fics each (a little over 30k), though the top character in the sports tag is max verstappen who is actually a racing driver so ??? confused noises lol

anyway idrc about the men (this is a joke ofc @ men i love you), what i DO care about is that women's football (and this is specifically the soccer kind not the american lol) has the highest femslash fics, and i looked up tobin heath (who was the top character in this section) and lemme just say that i Get it lol...

wwe and formula 1 are some other sports that have a significant number of fics in the, filled with people i've never heard of before pfft... i will say that most of the sports have general as their top rating, except for hockey which has explicit (i feel like theirs some kinda joke i could make here about playing with sticks but i'm not gonna lol... especially since most sports already play with balls so?)

anyway enough about sports lol, let's return to something i'm much more comfortable with: youtubers!

youtube is actually the 2nd most written about category (next to kpop, with nearly 280k fics) with minecraft youtubers (the top character being tommyinnit) being the most written about!

what i found most fascinating about this is that 8 out of the 10 top ships in this tag are platonic (and 1 is actually just the 'no romantic relationships' tag lol... the top ship overall is still a slash pairing, but it's still interesting that such a big fandom has mainly platonic pairings!)

also even though the phandom have nowhere near the amount of fics as minecraft youtube, i found it kinda funny that there are (as of writing this) only 95 more fics featuring dan than phil (essentially saying that literally nearly 99% of the fics feature the both of them lol... phandom really said 'co-dependency' and i respect that lol)

moving on to actors, which i expected to have a lot more fics than it does given a lot of rpf involves the actors of characters in popular fictional ships (i mean there are still a lot, over 130k lol...) and supernatural takes the crown of having the most fics of this category! j2 is the top ship, though the 3rd top ship in the actors tag is actually tom hiddleston x original female character! i think because of this british actors are the highest subsection of actors, followed by chinese actors!

i think i did expect the chinese actors to have more fics, but i'm guessing the smaller number is because of the whole xiao zhan ao3 drama from a few years ago... wang yibo x xiao zhan still make up the most popular ship, plus there are plenty of other c-dramas and other chinese shows that have a big number of fics that don't fall under the chinese actor umbrella tag (so the number probably would be a lot larger if i went through and counted them... but i'm not gonna)... similar thing with thai actors, which only has a couple thousand fics in the tag, but there are a whole lot more fics dedicated to rpf of specific actors on specific shows (from a quick glance i think tharntype and kinnporsche are a couple of the highest fandoms? but i didn't go through everything cos i'd already been doing this for a few hours and i was getting sleeeeeby lol...)

one thing that intrigued me was the british comedy category (which is the top comedy category lol! we did it lads we finally came top with something!), where would i lie to you and taskmaster were the top fandoms! david mitchell was the top character and, kinda bizarrely imo, david x charlie brooker was the top ship (i feel like i'm missing some kinda big thing in the british comedy fandom ngl lol... but like really? you ship david with charlie brooker when robert webb, his actual comedy partney, is RIGHT there? or even lee mack i'm ??? ok ok i'm getting off topic pfft...)

oh greg davies and alex horne are also a popular ship in this category ofc (though they have less than 1000 fics lol!)

the final umbrella category of rpf that i could find was historical, which is the tag with the least amount of fics (under 20k), with alexander hamilton and various other american specific historical figures making up the bulk of the popular historical fics (these are mainly tired to the musical hamilton btw)!

the top characters and ship when narrowed down to just the f/f of the historical tag is mostly original female characters btw!

there are also fics of other public figures, like politics, porn, journalists and chefs, and probably the most intriguing facts i found from this section are that hillary clinton is the most popular character in the 21st century us politics section, joe biden and donald trump are the 4th most popular ship (with the reoccurring additional tag of 'crack fic' lol), and though it isn't in the top stats, when i went into the pundit and journalist tag the first few fics to pop up were ben shapiro x matt walsh explicit stuff which was... uh... interesting lol

final thing i'll note is that i stuck mainly to ao3 for this because though i know places like wattpad have a large rpf collection too, but it's so bloody HARD to find data about fics on that site pfft... though i think one thing that would be shown by looking into wattpad's rpf community is that whereas ao3 has a lot of shipping content (obviously), wattpad has a lot more reader x celebrity (but like take this with a pinch of salt since i've not actually done the research for this part pfft...)

anyway i hope you (all 0 of you) enjoyed this rambling take on the data i found on ao3's rpf collection lol!

i know people get really weird around rpf, but i just genuinely find it SO interesting how diverse the range of stuff people write about!

[galionne-speeding]

This isn't even canon-adjacent enough for me to consider it a headcanon so much as AU lore, but... I like the Zeti a lot, and although it's a little different from what other people have set up, I am proud of what I've come up with for them.

As I write them, Zeti are artificial elementals, which reproduce asexually (like, in the same way robots would) but are strongly influenced by the places they are created in. They're not born, they're made, usually by elder Zeti under the title "Eggcrafter"; they have a lot of natural variation, but conformity and "efficiency" (being built for one specific task based on their element) are highly valued in most of society. A lot of people get kinda stuck in their little boxes and are never offered another path.

The Deadly Six are an exception. Zavok and Zor are the only two "on-model" Zeti in the group; Zazz, Zeena, Zomom and Zik are all "off-model". Thing is, Zik never told them that, because... Well, he's, uh. A real piece of work in this version. But he's a pragmatic piece of work, and it did not serve him to dangle those expectations over their heads, so he just didn't bother. He determined it was more effective to play the cards they were dealt than pretend yelling at them would somehow deal out a new hand. For reasons I'll clarify in a minute, nobody was around to question that decision.

Zavok is exactly what he looks like: a warrior, a champion, a conqueror. He is Zik's favorite, and... Although he has done some horrible things, and was never a terribly kind master, he has a soft spot for the toothy little monster he raised like his own creation. (There was a seventh member, sort of the alpha of the pod, who spent more time with Zeena, Zor and Zomom, but she's gone now.) Realizing that he wants Zavok to be happy and to succeed as a person, not just as a soldier, is what will push him to seek redemption in the eyes of the one person he still cares about.

The others, meanwhile, split off and do their own thing. Zeena, Zor, and Zomom were all stolen from the same pod, and consider themselves siblings; they kind of adopt Zazz into their ranks, and consider Zavok like a brother, too, but he chose to side with Zik, and they can't force him to value his well-being over duty. Zeena becomes the new leader, and until the Ruby War happens and Zavok lures them to the Eggman Empire, they travel as a unit, hoping to put together the mystery of what happened to their dying species in the centuries they were asleep, sealed on the Hex, before Eggman showed up and released them.

Okay, this is a really interesting AU! And you're right, this is very different from everything else I've read in Deadly Six fan-lore.

Zeena, Zor, Zomom and Zazz being a sibling-like unit makes me really happy. They just have that vibe, same with Master Zik being like a father figure to Zavok (or at least like, more than just a teacher to him).

I really like the mystery elements in this too! This is really cool!

[yukiakaren]

Kpop title track ranking: TXT

In this series I’ll be ranking kpop groups/soloists title tracks based on my taste.

To say I've struggled with liking TXT is an understatement. I'm not sure is it just the "small brothers of BTS" thing with all the baggage that comes with that did it or what. But throughout the years I've warmed up to them quite a lot. Also, for me, doing this ranking is a reason to give all the title tracks a good listen, whether I had really given them a chance before or not. And the honorable mentions have some dang awesome songs that I highly recommend checking out.

0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You) ft. Seori - When this came out I was absolutely in love with it. Now, I'm not as hyped as I was but it's still a great song deserving the number 1 spot for sure.

Sugar Rush Ride - This one did not peak my interest when I first listened to it when it came out. But now after more listens I feel like finally I'm getting it. And ranking it within their other title tracks this started to feel like the correct spot for it.

Can't You See Me - This one is cool and even I couldn't ignore it when it came out. Quite the Halloween appropriate type of song but it really works and isn't limited to just that one time of the year. I really like it. However, there is this one repeating sound in it, like coins clanking together or something similar, which really annoys me now that I realized it. And with me that is always unfortunate. I gotta hope I can be unbothered by it in the future.

Run Away - This one I did listen to quite a bit after starting to like Can't You See Me and it is pretty nice one still. The mixture of quite bright sound but at the same time having hint of something darker in it makes it interesting to me.

Good Boy Gone Bad - Let's start by saying I straight up despised this when I first heard it. So, I'd say I've come a long way to now actually kinda liking it. Giving it a ranking was still a difficult thing to do. I guess the lingering feeling of "Should I really like this?" keeps it from getting any higher than this.

LO$ER=LO♡ER - Despite the cool rock influences it just lacks something with me and I can't really pinpoint what exactly. A fine song though.

Blue Hour - One I haven't really listened to but still knew the song. Fine and cheerful but not something I'd search out for.

Crown - I haven't really listened to this one much. For the cutesy type of song it's pretty good. But again there was this sound, a beeping noise of sorts, at one part of the song and that fits in the same category as the one in Can't You See Me. It really bothers me and I can't unhear it now that I spotted it. Otherwise, it is a pretty nice song, it just a shame that the noise is there.

Chasing That Feeling - This one very much feels to me that it should have been one of those full English releases that they did during that time. Very US/western radio play getting type of song to me. Unfortunately, that is coming from someone who's mostly avoiding the current radio hits. A fine song but I'm not the audience for it.

And here are the honorable mentions aka some lovely B-sides to check out: We Lost The Summer - After some confusion I figured out that this one wasn't a title track so I'll start by shouting out this one. Yup, it is one of those 2020 songs, but ignoring lyrics, it's such a vibe! Anti-Romantic - First TXT b-side I ended up checking out after running into it too often in different contexts. It's a nice one for sure. Back For More (TXT ver.) - Out of the full English releases I found myself quite liking this one but the featuring part took me out of it. But now I found this version and can actually recommend this one! Opening Sequence - The hype this one has gotten is fully deserved on my book. It's so dark and moody, just the way I like it. Farewell, Neverland - I just learned that this song exists and I'm so happy that I did! During first listen I read the lyrics at the same time. Then second listen I checked their It's Live performance of it and for the third listen I just listened to the audio. At that second listen I felt a little moved by it and at the third listen I got properly teary-eyed. After listening to a couple of their other newer b-sides I went back to this and just started bawling my eyes out. Damn it's impressive and I'm totally in love with it! I don't think I've ever been able to capture a raw reaction to a new song that I end up loving like this, so I felt like writing it out properly here.

[swallowtail-ageha]

Do you have favorite anime shows?

Yes! I used to be super into anime a few years ago, but now my interest and attention span has kinda dwindled so i'm not exactly up to date to the new hot animes (i do plan however on starting both Frieren and Dungeon Meshi)

If i have to make a list of my favourite animes, those would be (putting them not in a [most favourite-least favourite] order)

1- Shingeki no Kyojin. Hooly shit i think it was the first anime i seriously watched. The SnK manga was also the first one i ever purchased at like ~11. I just have so many good memories related to that manga

2- DOROHEDORO. God i. I think that animanga was tailor-made for me. It is extremely gorey, but also in a non edgy way. The tone is very lighthearted and the entirety of it's cast has it's spotlight. Also the character design is top notch and the ost makes me go insane

3- Tokyo Ghoul! Another childhood classic of mine (but that's more the manga than the anime) again i have so many memories about it including me doing my ghoul sona again at age 11/12. Good times

4- Pluto! I have never ever watched Astroboy in my entire life BUT i was also a huge fan of Urasawa's 20th Century Boys and Billy Bat so i decided to read it and when the anime adaptation came out i was "oh. They couldn't make it more perfect". Seriously tho, the animation, the story, the characters, the critique of the gulf war (since it was first released in the middle of it)... it couldn't be more perfect. Also Atom looks like my cousin so he's my special little boy

5- Shinsekai Yori. This is a weird one. I don't think that like. I'd actually recomend it to someone else. It's extremely slow paced and the whole subject matter is heavy. It's a dystopian novel-turned anime and i think that the pacing does get affected negatively by this. But if you're in for an heavy watch. Watch it. Please. The finale is one of the most poignant finales i've ever seen in an anime and i still think about it years later

5- Akira! While again this is one of those adaptations where the story had to be cut due to the rest of the manga still not being written, it holds up extremely well. Also the animation is gorgeous and last year i traveled to Rome to watch it at the Space Cinema for it's 35th anniversary and it was a spiritual experience. I do not think i ever looked away from the screen, even if for a split second

6- Vinland Saga! I don't have much to say about it especially to avoid spoilers since the anime is not over yet, but god. Thorfinn. I thought people were exaggerating when talking about his character development but he is genuinely wonderfully written. Also i loved the way season two ended with the poem being played while showing the characters of both the past and the present (and i don't remember if it was there in the manga? I think it was? But also the anime version is more cinematic for well. Obvious reasons)

7- Re:Zero! One of those things that i definitely shouldn't have watched as a preteen lmao. I am not a coneisseur of isekais, so i can't really fully appreciate the subversion aspect of it, but i love Subaru's character and the witch lore intrigues me so much, so if i ever get my hands of the novels i'll read them

8- Higurashi I do know that the anime compared to the novels absolutely sucks (iirc they cut a lot of content?) but i think it upholds very well on it's own (not like the umineko anime lmao). Also i had watched it when i was going through a very hard period of my life, so it's extremely dear to me

And that's it for now! Probably if you'd asked me this a few years back i would have replied with more shounens a la jjk and bnha, which i do still like (jjk way more than bnha) and for whom i had a hyperfixation on it, but again my tastes have immensely shifted and i think that overall these animes have made way more impact on me. Other two animes i really enjoy are FMA and HXH, but again while i recognize that FMA is a wonderful story and i do rank it quite highly it doesn't quite scratch my itch, and i constantly switch forth between loving and hating HXH (mainly due to the fandom's obnoxiousness in treating it like a piece of russian literature)

Have a nice day anon!!!

[aeterna-auroral-avenger]

It's honestly so cool that you live near one of the authors you read and she was your professor. All my authors are in the US while I'm isolated in Canada, so meeting them is near impossible at the moment lol.

Ngl, I was also a bit intimidated when I saw how many books Agatha Christie has. But if you want to do a test run, I do highly suggest The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. I listened to it on audio and I liked the narrator, I think he did well. I won't push it on you though, it's just a personal rec.

Oh, I've also got a couple more questions, plus a rant for one.

How do you organize your bookshelf? I personally have my books by matching height because I'm really OCD, and if things don't match up, I get so triggered lol.

Second, have you ever cried (or just got really emotional) while reading? I certainly have and have no shame admitting that. I've done that with shows and movies too. Sometimes with games. Again, no shame with that whatsoever. And this is where the rant comes in.

It always bothers me when people say that it's "wrong" or "pathetic" to cry while reading something. They use the excuse of it being "fiction", so it's not meaningful or whatever. I don't agree with that at all. I think it's totally okay to get emotional while reading. It comes to show how great something is.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like it's an issue if people don't cry or get emotional while reading. What's wrong is that people are judgmental about it and are typically rude to others. What are your thoughts on that?

-Book Anon

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Thanks for the suggestion, Book Anon. I could use another audiobook since I'm not listening to anything like that right now. I'll look into it and decide.

I organize my bookshelf based on authors. Every section of books is based on the author, and then within each section, books are in order if they're a series. If they're multiple stand-alones, then it doesn't matter after that.

In relation to your second question, oh heck yes I have. Multiple times. I've done the same with fewer shows and movies than I have with books, but I have definitely shed many a tear over a passage that really knocked me out. And then I just kinda sit there and cry and don't feel like doing anything for a while lol.

I completely agree with your thoughts in your venting session, Book Anon. The problem with people like that is they don't understand how impactful something like a book or a special tv show or something similar can be. It being fiction has nothing to do with its worth. In fact, a lot of times, things that are fiction rank higher in worth than something that's nonfiction.

Stories help us understand and relate to aspects of the world in which we live. We learn through stories; we make connections through stories; we are inspired by stories. It's a fact of humanity since our creation. We need stories, whether they're filmed or written, fact or fiction, we need them. Even the judgmental types who say it's foolish to get emotional over a fictional story.

[trisshawkeye]

what's this temple finale about

Temple Finale (actual title: In the Midst of My Temple, There I Shall Dwell) is the semi-mythical third and final fic in my Temple series, a set of Gabriel-focused Good Omens fics that I started writing because I didn't like that I hated Gabriel, and finished writing happily and deeply fond of him.

The second fic left off in a difficult place for Gabriel, and I kinda wanted to round it off, so I outlined this fic. I was grappling with a few problems though—the first two fics were very intensely one-to-one with Aziraphale and then with Crowley, and the third is more of an ensemble number which breaks the pattern and makes it feel like a bit of a different beast, and like it doesn't quite sit as well with the other two. Also, I was in two minds about spelling out the metaphysic of what is going on with God and Heaven in this series in any more detail. It was brushing up a bit against my own religious feelings in a way I wasn't really comfortable with at the time. I think I'd be fine coming back to it now, with a better idea of the beats I want to hit there, but I think it would still be challenging to strike the tone I'd want, and it being necessarily non-S2 compliant, I don't know how much interest it would get.

However, it is more-or-less fully outlined, and while I loved S2 and Jim, they didn't quite scratch the Gabriel itch I was after, so I might come back to it at some point. Also, it has space-related aspects to it of which I am very fond and would be quite jazzed to share st some point.

Have an excerpt below the cut, just for fun.

Gabriel needs to talk to God.

The official line of communication nowadays is from the Throne of the Almighty, to the offices of the Metatron, to the Archangels, to the Host, to Humanity. That’s it in its simplest, of course—there’s a plethora of departments and sub-departments, with systems and procedures for passing information around laterally, but as far as the vertical direction is concerned, that’s all there is to it. 

It wasn’t always so well-defined—the Almighty spent a lot more time in the company of humans in the beginning, and even as recently as two thousand years ago, Archangels would still have a hand in delivering some of the more important messages to the denizens of Earth. But the system has been sufficiently refined and cemented in the meantime that actually getting to interact with humans as part of taking over Aziraphale’s workload has been a nice change from the status quo.

Still, in times of crisis, sometimes you need to bypass the usual procedures and talk directly to the One in charge. This is why Gabriel turns to the big red telephone in his office, and dials it. It rings once, twice, and then it is answered.

“Metatron speaking, please state the nature of your emergency.”

The majority of Gabriel’s communications from Above come through the offices of the Metatron rather than from the Voice of God himself, so this is already more direct than usual, but he still needs to get further up the chain.

He clears his throat. “This is the Archangel Gabriel, and I need to consult directly with the Almighty on the, uh, the topic of the direct aftermath of the attempted Armageddon and the Plan going forward.”

The Metatron harrumphs. “Hm, well, yes, it was somewhat… irregular… how that turned out. Still, hardly an emergency. The good work goes on—I trust you have still been receiving your assignments and targets without issue?” 

“Yes, well this is more of a big picture issue—”

The Metatron interrupts with a sharp sigh. “The Almighty is far too busy for a face-to-face meeting just to explain the Plan to an angel—”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me correctly—this is the Archangel Gabriel speaking—”

“Yes, an Archangel of Earth. This planet has, what, ten million angels assigned to it? Maximum? Of which you and I are in the upper echelons, granted, but if you really think that of the multitude of things requiring the attention of the Creator it ranks highly enough to count as an emergency, well. As God’s representative to the heavenly ranks on Earth, that’s what I’m here for. If you have a real problem, please file an issue with my offices by the usual form, and we will get to it as soon as possible. Blessings!”

There is the click of the phone hanging up, and Gabriel stares at the crimson handset in bafflement. This is going to be a little harder than he thought.