#surprisingly no one mentioned in this post is an alien | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

the-moon-files · 4 months

Note

Man, I love the trope of aliens being terrified of humans, and I've seen some fics of human!reader reacting differently to stuff like posions/plants in hyrule, but this is in another level! We are indestructible! I mean, I could live on Death Mountain! With the Gorons! It's literally a dream come true!

Also, the urge this would give me to give them all the hugs and piggy back rides whenever it gets cold/windy/whatever extreme condition.

If Hylians would be surprisingly light, would they be light enough for me to pick up Time? Just get that big ass man with a bunch of armor on my back? Because new need unlocked.

NEW NEED UNLOCKED INDEEEEDDD. (touches my fingertips together like a villain up to no good)

CREDIT FOUND!! (Who did it first!):

IDK who it was but someone mentioned in a rlly old 2023-2022? LU x human reader post abt the hylians being lighter in comparison to humans!! If i find who it is, or if u recognize u wrote abt smth similar pls leave a comment so I can @ you!! /gen

@wayfayrr :D ive been in humans are space orcs fandom (is it a fandom? More like endless AU idea ppl wrote abt on tumblr) for Years, and ofc i never thought to put with Loz this past year or 2 getting into this fandom dammit - UR WORKS AMAZING THANK YOU SM FOR MERGING MY 2 FAVS AND LIKING/REBLOGGING THIS HOT MESS 😭😭

GOD i NEED to play TP bc u can hold cats like this?? and u get to see LINK do it??? 😭😭

Sun: technically Masc! Reader but not explicit (you/he/him), coule be Gender Neutral, Human Reader

Orbit: headcanons-ish

Stars: The Classic Chain of Links

Comets & Meteors: Content: in Four’s desc. mentioned “diving into chest”, & Triggers: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

☆

A kinda 2nd part/expansion to this post!

no bc the “i can live wherever tf i want” was secretly part of why i wrote that post (so sue me, i wanna be able to follow wild around his hyrule w/o getting nuked)

OMFG SO GLAD SOMEONE WANTS TO TALK ABT HOW AFFECTIONATE YOU’D GET BC OF THIS TOWARDS THE LINKS (anduseitasanexcusehahai mean what? whatd i say??)

There’s only 2 types of Links in this hyrule(s):

Who’s already down with being cuddled at the slightest/not so slightest inconvenience??:

Wild

(unsurprisingly, also if anyone teases him he just teases right back that not only is it “for survival”, but also look he’s “getting Guide Cuddles™️ and You’re Not” lmao,

would sleep right up against ur bedroll every night if u let him, likes when you commit to the cuddle (even if he goes a little red), like wrapping arms + legs around him, adores fireside cuddles, has said on multiple occasions that nothing makes him feel safer than holding onto you, and how he can’t go back to doing things like this on his own anymore 😭😭😭

his favorite cuddle is whatever you give him LMAO u can always count on Wild if your ever feeling like u need to cuddle smth blonde and cute lol - he constantly offers or initiates it himself <33 )

Sky

another unsurprising one, his favorite time to cuddle is when it’s cold outside, or windy, and he can just get under a blanket and take a nap with you,

esp if it’s both and he can convince you to lay partially on him for heated + weighted human blanket purposes, he’s literally staring at you with sparkles in his eyes as soon as a breeze goes by lol

his Loftwing/Crimson wasn’t rlly able to fly u long distances u find out!! :( Hylians are just so light that ofc that explains why they can ride these pelican/ostrich creations for hours, whereas the bird can only rlly manage 20 minutes of low flying with you (+ Sky) on its back, but that’s fine, bc u figured out how to “shield surf” rlly fast down slopes to keep up with Sky flying low, and by “shield surfing” i mean, shocking Wild into jaw-dropped silence as he watches you fly by completely barefoot 👍

(after all, ur skin has to be pretty tough/thick to be able to handle the weather/environmental conditions, and finding out u can withstand lava? yeah this is nothing turns out)

secretly loves piggyback rides, but never asks, u just see him get this look in his eyes, and shuffling in place just behind you lol

Wind

touch starved, but what Link isnt lol

his favorite is piggyback rides, since he was raised by his grandma, and there weren’t a whole lot of close, young adults to pick him up as a kid

so now, he takes FULL advantage of u being able to easily pick him up lol

one time u guys were going uphill while a pleasant breeze was blowing-

actually it was gale force winds.

but ur you, so it took Wind flying backwards into you to realize. he also screeched at you for “ABANDONING ME- YOURE GONNA MAKE ME, A LITTLE GUY LIKE ME, CRAWL UP THIS?? HOW COULD YOU-” you give him piggy back rides whenever it’s windy.

will treat u like his own personal ship whenever ur both in the water, which consists of him yelling sailor terms like “turn starboard! raise the sails!” while sitting on ur shoulders while u get slammed (gently buffeted, really) by waves

Hyrule

shy, shy, shy, shy-

the quintessential:

“👉👈 🥺 is it okay, if we maybe hug rn?? I'm just rlly cold, and i know u said you didnt mind, and I saw Wild and Sky just laying on you, sorry if this is weird-”

Hyrule, sweets, you literally love him more than life itself, of course you’ll cuddle the fairy boy

the more excited he gets = the more likely to jump on ur back/wrap his arms around ur waist happily, esp since he’s an extra cutie patootie and will subconsciously seek u out if the environment gets a little rough

Sets an Amazing example for the other Links, not too clingy when ur busy, great at latching onto ur back when things get tough for him, asks politely and thanks you everytime he gets down <3

Hyrule is eternally fascinated by whatever u do, u just walk thru flood waters like it’s nothing and while the rest are used to it by now, he’s the only Link looking at you like your some kind of god 💗💘💖💕🙈

accidentally squeezed ur arm muscles one time when he saw u doing that thing where u curl ur arm and Wind/Wild were able to hang off of it,

you both just stared at each other for a solid minute before his ears turned down and he went completely red and apologized profusely for 5 minutes, before you just scooped him up too lmao (his face after tho)

Four

depending on the cuddle he gets shy sometimes, even worse if more than 1 Link is looking at you two, in which he will attempt to escape ur arms.

keyword being attempt.

you just wrap ur legs around him and trap him instead lol

likes to cuddle you somehow where he’s not in the way but you can keep doing whatever it is you were busy with

if he splits, then u can fucking bet Red is the first to dive into ur chest- unless there is literally, actively, a threat right in front of him, he’s going for it lol, Green loves to wrap his arms around one of yours and just hang off u all day, Blue will wait until ur sitting somewhere and flop on ur legs to purposely trap u there, the little shit, and Vio just likes hugs. he’s such a sweetheart, he just loves being wrapped up and wrapping you up 🥺

And who must be Convinced. (most to least)

Legend

fully expected,

silly man thinks he’s above love and cuddles, and all the good things in life LMAO came for ur throat again

it'll be below-freezing temperatures, in a cave with a barely there campfire, a blizzard outside, the other heroes complaining at him to just get under the blanket so you’ll get under the blanket,

bc you two are just doing that thing where 2 characters have like a table between them and are fake-out dodging left and right to try and catch the other lmao

is most susceptible to cuddles when he’s tired/injured/sick/sleepy.

it’s a cold morning and u just scootch the Links into a pile and use him as a pillow lol, and as long as no one, not even gods, perceives you two, he’ll let you stay

ok but you definitely caught him from falling into lava one time while on Death Mountain, and had to bridal carry him across half a lava lake back to shore, hehe,

Legend swore everyone there to secrecy on their own graves and favorite items

also refuses to let Ravio know of ur human advantages lol

he just wants the attention on himself as much as he can in between the other Links, no need for more competition

Time

silly man just doesn't think of his needs including affection/emotional comfort,

he only rlly initiates when the circumstances are dire, like gale force winds that he can barely walk thru/starting to slip, desert heat getting to him thru his armor and needs ur cooling touch, etc.

he keeps it as professional as he can, like wrapping an arm around ur shoulders, but you just snatch him by the waist and pick him up half the time, was surprised at first, chain giggled at him, then complained lightly, finally just accepted his fate anytime he touches you lol,

YES you have given him a piggyback ride, when a flood of water burst a dam during a battle/the other Links got out but Time didn't bc of his heavy armor,

so u yoink him up and just stood ur ground against the raging waves and climbed a rock until u weren't submerged anymore, poor guy was so worn out from the battle + the flood that he just let you carry him all the way until u camped for the night, and secretly took a nap 😭

like Legend he can be convinced to rely on u when he’s already vulnerable like sleepy/tired/injured/sick, but he does find himself secretly appreciative someone in the group can just lift his heavy ass in full armor/or someone else if it gets bad enough,

got converted and no longer has to be convinced usually, he just doesn't initiate much so u have to lol

Warriors

YET ANOTHER SILLY MAN!!

whats with all these idiots neglecting themselves, both physically and emotionally??

like boy u cant stand the heat of a desert or blizzard, just let in the cuddles 👹

similar to Time, just more vocal abt how appreciative/advantageous it is to have someone to be able to carry comrades out of harsh conditions or battles easily.

Did Not think abt this applying to himself until you literally swept him off his feet like a classic damsel in distress- mans let out a shriek after taking a second to process everything LMAO-

Loudly and Dramatically complains abt u coming to cuddle him, both just to love on him, and to heat him up in a rainstorm, but hugs you back and holds onto you anyway hehe.

Became the 2nd person to find out you’re immune to lightning.

See, everyone heard Legend talk abt u getting struck in a storm in Wild’s hyrule, but no one really came to full terms with it bc they didn't see it. Warrior is now a full believer. He actually got the closest to pissing his armor he ever has in all of his battles bc he forgot abt the metal in the storm = bad idea, until it was too late and u guys were trying to retreat to regroup, bc there were too many black-bloods, only to get full body tackled by you to avoid getting hit by lightning.

You had to bridal carry him for a minute after bc u just got back up after being hit, (it just felt like you rubbed ur body on the carpet and touched a metal wall, like a full body small static shock) bc he was in such a state of literal horror/shock,

Wars saw your life flash before his eyes 💀

Twilight

HA HA HA- HE NEEDS THE LEAST AMOUNT OF CONVINCING LMAOOO

goofy wolf man has wolf instincts that help ur case as to Why You Need to Pet Twilight’s Hair and Hold His Hand at All Times if Possible.

main reason Twi’s here is bc he thinks his height + weight = him not needing u to hold onto/cuddle as much, and he would be proven wrong HA

actually gets all blushy/shy anytime u pick him up, freezes like a puppy who’s gotten scruffed too lol

likes a lot more casual touch/cuddles, like arm around ur shoulder or his, sitting with legs touching, leaning against u when he’s cold, etc.

omfg funniest thing abt Wars/Time/Twi is that they’re the tallest out of the Links, so they make for extra fun when picking them up, cuddling etc.

but the best thing ever happened one time when Twi was still recovering from the Shadow’s wound, it got reopened/ached so bad he couldn’t run, but u all were trying to retreat at the moment bc Big Boss,

and u just snatched him up into a piggyback ride, his legs comically sticking out, but the best part was that Hylians are light.

so you were able to run full tilt adrenaline powered run, to the point you surpassed the other Links ahead, and had everyone laughing and simultaneously trying to conserve their breath to keep running LMAO

Twi grew up tall/bigger than kids his age, and is another victim of “no adult figures to pick him up when he was younger”, so he gets this little giddy smile when u pick him up lol <3

the first time u put him in a bridal carry for smth like river rushing waters, mans blushed, stuttered abt smth the whole time, and then didnt let go after you tried to put him down, u didnt have the heart to insist, so u just carried him around half of the day 😭

☆

sorry some have less than others, its nearly 2am I'm just riffing kicking my feet and shit, so I'm not being very thorough

i hope u liked my spiral into blonde twink insanity (well theyre kinda on a spectrum of twinkness)

anyway goodnight, and have a great weekend!!

to the 2 other ppl who sent asks, ill get to you soon and thank you sm for sending stuff :’)

Please feel free to send asks for requests or just to chat :)

Peace out,

🌙

375 notes · View notes

siblingskissing · 13 days

Note

Ronance headcanons?

Ronance Headcanons

I have had the BIGGEST brain rot about these two, you guys don't even know, so please excuse my rambling session in this post. As always- feel free to share your headcanons, opinions, thoughts ideas, just be kind <3

-Robin is the biggest simp to ever exist. Nancy mentions liking a color? Guess who's suddenly adding it all over their wardrobe! A favourite food? She's already learned how to cook it. Allergic to something? Robin will destroy it with her bare hands and make it go extinct to protect her girl.

-Likewise, Nancy would and will kill for Robin (come on Robin tell her to kill for you she wants to)

-Their favourite dates include them sitting in one of their rooms, a movie or music playing as they discuss conspiracy theories or whatever story Nancy is working on

"There's been a ton of missing items from farms in the areas. Animals, tools, bales of hay-"

"could it be aliens?"

"Alie- Robin it's not aliens!"

"What? Interdimensional monsters are real but aliens aren't?"

-Many people assume Nancy would get annoyed by Robins carefree joke centered attitude but actually she calms down whenever Robin tries making jokes.

-She doesn't like when people don't take things seriously, but she knows Robin is taking it serious, but using humour to make sure they don't spiral with the problem

-their relationship definitely started off rocky but with some time, understanding and surprisingly really deep conversations they learn to appreciate the little things about one another.

-Robin loves Nancy's drive and her leadership skills. She makes sure that everyone takes her seriously and if the kids complain about Nancy being a hard ass she brings them back to listen.

"Nancy's not our boss!"

"No, but she's the one keeping you dipshits safe- she knows what she's doing so listen up and quit complaining"

-They kids listen to Robin more and so when she follows Nancy with no complaints, the kids unconsciously follow suit.

-When Nancy gets stressed/aggravated Robin will be there to lend her a shoulder. They're very much leader/Right Hand man coded to me.

-Nancy doesn't know much about queer culture so when she does eventually come out Robin is happy to talk to her about it and share what she knows.

"So we use Blue violets because Sappho used to describe women wearing garlands of them,"

"Sappho?"

"... Do you have a spar 3 hours so I can explain Sappho and Greek poetry to you?"

-They take all kinds of cute little Polaroids that they keep at Robins place

(examples of said Polaroids)

-Robins family is more supportive so often Nancy goes over there to spend the night

-when college comes up in discussions Robin mentions that she enjoyed investigating with Nancy, the research was fun when they didn't have death looming over them.

"Yeah, learning Russian to break the code was awesome- the torture kind of ruined it though-"

"The WHAT?"

-Nancy asks Robin 1000X if Robin is sure she wants to go to the same college/same field and Robin promises her that she isn't only going because of her.

"I'd follow you anywhere, but this is also for me- if I have to do one more customer service job I might kill someone."

-They love movie nights, curled up under a blanket watching whatever film they can find. Robin always finds the oddest ones and sometimes some really deep indie films. Nancy also enjoys the foreign films she can find and let's her choose.

-on nights Nancy chooses- she likes care free fun films. Nothing too heavy because she likes the simplicity

-Theyre a gross matching couple- but in a new fun way.

-Mat hing colors in their respective styles, using each other's clothes and making it go with their personal choices, matching patterns/designs.

-They also shared shoes sometimes

-On the 90s Nancy gets a more "Rachel from friends" style like this

-Robin eats it up like no one is watching and often has to hold back from just kissing her 24/7

(also I badly wanna do a look book of the characters so Please someone ask for that because I love fashion)

I definitely probably have more but here you are!!

#proship #antis dni #proship community #proship please interact #stranger things #ronance #ronance headcanons #robin buckley #nancy wheeler

44 notes · View notes

stingandsnoutbindery · 10 months

Text

A Year of Books

This isn’t a complete family photo, but it’s the closest to complete, as I’ve gifted majority of them, and I’m left with three of the nine.

Last year on the 21st of July, I finished my first ever book. It’s strange how long I’ve kept this hobby for, and it is actually my longest running hobby. All my past ones have merely lasted a few months, then I ditch and never revisit them. Someone did mention that bookbinding is 30 different hobbies in one, so I suppose that explains why this has stuck with me for this long. I planned several projects during the summer of last year, and I am still surprisingly enthusiastic about completing them over a year later.

Given my tight schedule, I managed to bind 9 books: 2 fanbinds and 7 notebooks. How ever underwhelming, I am very satisfied with my progress and learnings from my few creations. Most importantly, I am incredibly thankful for all the lovely friends and folks I’ve made and met through this hobby. If I'm being honest, it can be quite alienating in real life to have such niche interests, so to find folks who share the same enthusiasm and are happy to geek over unorthodox things with me brings an indescribable feeling and I treasure every single one of you!

Now, I make it a point that I try something new with every bind I make, and as this is my little binding archive, allow me to quickly share everything that I made in the past year.

Bind 1: An architecture sketch notebook for my brother

Bradel binding covered in homemade bookcloth

Trimmed with an unsharpened chisel (I wanted to test its performance pre and post sharpening)

Bind 2: Birthday notebook for my mom

Three-piece flatback Bradel

Flower embroidery on the spine (My first foray into embroidery and I did it without the hoop so do excuse the quality)

Bind 3: My first fanbind! Love and Other Historical Accidents

Three-piece InBoards Bradel

The book I am most proud of

Bind 4 & 5: More notebooks (for dad and uncle)

A three-piece bradel and a regular bradel

Used this lovely Chiyogami paper from Itoya

Bind 6 & 7: First quarto and coptic stitch (more gifts)

Learned that trimming quartos with a blunt knife is (obviously) not good

More beautiful chiyogami paper

Bind 8: 2nd Fanbind! and more Pacific Rimbaud

20 minutes of figuring out how to arrange quarto pages

The most setbacks I've ever experienced. Something went wrong every step of the way

Bind 9: A Planner

This bind made me realize how much I love rounded spines

#buzzing books #1 year bindeversary #sting and snout bindery #booksbooksandmorebooks #fanbinding #bookbinding #how has it been a year #fanfic binding #fanficbookbinding #z’s biblioteca

69 notes · View notes

nayeonline · 8 months

Text

my 5 favourite k-pop music videos <3

I love music videos, and in k-pop there are a lot of mildy shitty ones, but there are also some amazing ones that are just as iconic as they are aesthetically pleasing. Obviously budget will come into play here, so big 4 groups will be more prevalent on this list, but I tried to be as fair as possible, within reason. Also, I'm a girl group stan, so don't expect many boy groups. Obviously I will forget some, but maybe I'll make a part two, and you are very welcome to leave your fave mvs in the rbs or comments. This list is in no particular order, lets gaur

1. 'Feel Special' - TWICE (JYP Ent.)

This music video inspired this list, and for good reason. 'Feel Special' is in my opinion, the epitome of Twice, as they stand today. It encapsulates their more mature concept post 'Yes Or Yes', but it doesn't alienate their debut cuter concept, it rather welcomes it with open arms and celebrates it as a part of Twice's history, something their newer releases occasionally struggle with. Visually its a feast, its decadent and lavish, and positively gorgeous. Each member has her own movie-esque set, employing various genres and aesthetics, and then the members unite in the most glittery set ever concieved, the gold contrasting their raspberry and champagne outfits magnificently, while also referencing the group's official colours, as seen on their lightstick. The whole video is cinematic and opulent, and every detail, down to Sana's dip died pink hair, and Nayeon's stunning ginger curls which I wish she would bring back, is flawless. The only gripe I have is Chaeyoung's unblended foundation in her solo scene, but hey, we aren't all be perfect. My favourite scenes in this video are the afor-mentioned glittery golden arches group scene, as well as Jihyo's rainbow vintage television scene, that was surprisingly ahead of its time in terms of its retro aesthetics. It's a must-watch music video for the history books, and it's Twice's best song too - it deserves no less.

2. 'Why Not?' - LOONA (BlockBerry Creative - ew)

Note: If you would like to watch this m/v, please stream it from a non official yt channel, in accordance with the boycott. They will usually be marked with 'Boycott Ver.' in the title or something similar.

Loona has a lot of amazing music videos in their arsenal, but 'Why Not?' goes above and beyond. It's one of the most visually striking music videos I have ever seen, and its grasp on colour, composition, and rhythm is completely unparalleled. It's vibrancy is just gorgeous, full of neon lights and shining metallics. The video exists in a constant state of dichotomy: both cool and warm, metropolitan and pastoral, manmade and fantastical. You would assume this would ruin the video's visual message, but the contrast actually enhances it, as well as furthering the group's lore. it's unafraid to experiment with aspect ratio and camera movement, and along with the subversive editing, the final product is unique as well as timeless. Who cares that the last five scenes were neon and retro-futuristic? It's time for Heejin and Hyunjin's black and white minimalist mildly 1920s suited up dance break with a 4:3 aspect ratio of course! As the song itself says, why not? It's as playful as the song, as well as being visually stunning. My favourite scenes include Choerry's upside down mirror moment with the neon lights, as well as Kim Lip in the field with the funky glowing orbs, and of course the cult circle on the moon scene. Fucking iconic.

3. 'Ditto' (Sides A & B) - NewJeans (Ador)

Note: I have a full review of this song, if you are interested.

Where the other videos on this list are overwhelmingly vibrant or cinematic, 'Ditto' is understated and personal. Arguably one of the most influential k-pop music videos of all time, it breaks every rule of what a music video of this genre looks and feels like, rejecting glamour and high fashion for an unromanticized schoolgirl aesthetic surrounded with melancholy. It's heartfelt and unassumingly tragic, and truly makes the viewer yearn for a time they only half remember. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema I have ever seen, and I am so happy that K-pop stans loved it to death as I did, despite how starkly different it is to most everything in k-pop before it. It does however remind me of f(x)'s '4 Walls' m/v, which isn't a shock as Min Heejin (ew) was their creative director also. It also has vibes of the cult classic (?) Japanese movie 'All About Lily Chou Chou'. It has sparked many trends in the industry, including but not limited to: b-roll interspersions, the typical schoolgirl aesthetic, and the general rejection of the polished, glitzy vibe we expect of k-pop idols. Their impact on trends is notable, but in my opinion, no one has executed this aesthetic to the standard that NewJeans has. The unassuming tragic beauty of 'Ditto' is difficult to put into words, you must go and watch the two music videos for it - they are life changing.

4. 'Kill This Love' - BLACKPINK (YG Ent.)

Say what you will about Blackpink, but they KNOW how to do a music video, and 'Kill This Love' is one of their best; it is beyond extravagant. The sets are huge and striking and insane - Jennie floats on the heads of two enormous swans and all four girls dance in the middle of a huge fucking BEAR TRAP and its ridiculously cool. The fashion and styling is amazing too - my fave looks include Jennie's Lara Croft moment with the braid, Lisa's big ass fur coat from her cereal scene, and Jennie's gorgeous eye makeup from her shopping scene with Lisa. In a word, 'Kill This Love' is extra(vagant). Even the scenes that are conceptually ordinary - Lisa's cereal aisle, Rosé crying in her car - are elevated into the extraordinary. There is no real storyline or through line between the scenes other than their saturated colour palettes and the members themselves, but who cares? The members look like fucking goddesses, the dance looks amazing, and there are MULTIPLE jaw-drop moments throughout the runtime - what more do you want? Where 'Ditto' rejects the typical k-pop visual aesthetics, 'Kill This Love' epitomizes them. If I wanted to explain to western pop stan what k-pop is about, this is the video I would show them first. My favourite scenes include: the group scene with the exploding statues and the bad bitch combat outfits, Rosé caught in the storm with beautiful lighting, and THE BEST SCENE IN A BLACKPINK MUSIC VIDEO EVERRRR... Jisoo's goddess moment with the sun and the reflections. Nobody does music videos quite like Blackpink.

5. 'What Is Love?' - TWICE (JYP Ent.)

This music video is so unbelievably special to me. It doesn't break any boundaries with camera movement, editing, or aspect ratio like 'Why Not?', and it doesn't entirely reinvent the typical k-pop music video like 'Ditto' either, but I think it is one of the best music videos ever because it is so FUN. 'What Is Love' is a music video that is a series of references to iconic movies, most of which being about love, as the title suggests. It harkens back to 'La La Land', 'La Boum', 'Pulp Fiction', 'The Princess Diaries', and many more, with the girls playing the characters, on their fictional discovery of what love truly is. It's so special to me because it reminds me of doing exactly what the girls are doing with my best friends and my big sister - trying to learn what love is from the movies is something almost everyone has experienced, and thus the whole video feels nostalgic both for its references, and for its overall concept. It's fun and lighthearted and a memory of simpler times. Oh, to be a 12 year old obsessed with 'The Princess Diaries' again, to be a tween watching 'Pulp Fiction' with your big sister when it's probably not age appropriate, to be young teen watching 'La La Land' right when it came out. What a time to be alive. That's what 'What Is Love?' is, it's a celebration of life, of growing up, of being just a little naive and knowing it. Iconic, truly.

34 notes · View notes

crepes-suzette-373 · 6 months

Text

Sanji and his brother(s), and Kamen Rider?? (also, sun and moon... and dragons)

Credits to this Twitter post that mentioned that Sanji seems to take inspiration from Kamen Rider Black.

When I poked around that a little, surprisingly the similarity fits not just Sanji, but his brother(s) too. I put the plural in brackets because Kamen Rider Black only has one brother, and I'm not sure if the lore necessarily fits into all 3 of Sanji's brothers. Maybe it's just one of them.

I'm going to start with a long winded summary of the Kamen Rider part first, so bear with that one second before I dive into the Sanji stuff.

(also it veers off into utter madcap theory about mythology again)

Kamen Rider Black's protagonist, Minami Koutarou, lost his parents at a young age and was adopted by his father's friend. He gained an adoptive brother, who coincidentally has the same birthday date as him (so, not blood related, but "almost twins" in a way).

The two brothers were kidnapped by the evil alien/monsters to be become candidates of their new King. Koutarou was to be implanted with the Sun Stone to become Black Sun, and his brother Nobuhiko implanted with Moon Stone to become Shadow Moon.

Koutarou's adoptive father/Nobuhiko's father had "sold" his services to the evil group in exchange for research funds, so he had to participate with the experiments (including experimenting on his own sons). However, knowing that their personalities/memories are going to be erased in the process, he intervened to save them, and was killed in the process.

Only Koutarou made it out, while his brother was left with the evil group. Koutarou gained powers, but still had his humanity, so he became the superhero Kamen Rider Black. His brother, who ended up losing his humanity, became the evil fighter Shadow Moon.

This is similar to what Sora did for her kids. The details of the circumstances are different, but the rough summary of it matches.

Other similarities include the fact that Kamen Rider Black and Shadow Moon aren't actually wearing protective suits or armour. The armour-like appearance is actually "exoskeleton"/hardened skin.

(text is Google Translated from the Kamen Rider official site just to save time, so the wording is somewhat funny but it should still make sense)

Kamen Rider Black looks like that because when he "henshin", he transform into a grasshopper-like alien form first, then his skin hardened into that armour-like appearance. Shadow Moon is permanently in the "armour" form, and doesn't seem to have a human form anymore (at least in the original series).

While Sanji can "henshin" back and forth between normal state and exoskeleton (for now), his brothers just have the exoskeleton permanently.

Edit: Also, the way the Germa raid suits are activated is very similar to how a number of more modern Riders activate their belts to transform:

Okay, now we have established the similarity, but what does it mean?

Possible foreshadowing

In the sequel series, Kamen Rider Black RX, Shadow Moon regained his humanity and helped Kamen Rider Black, but dies in the end.

I sure hope this is not what's going to happen to Sanji's brothers, but it's not an unlikely possibility for the plot to go this way.

Sun and Moon

This is where it really goes into galaxy brain hyperthink. Feel free to ignore from this point onwards if that's not your vibe.

Black Sun and Shadow Moon sounds like they can imply solar and lunar eclipses. Lunar eclipses can be "red", when it happens in the form of the "blood moon". If Sanji's abilities ("black leg", "stealth black") is a reference to Kamen Rider Black, then if Shadow Moon's counterpart is just one person, then it might be Ichiji, the "red" one.

And besides, in some parts of Japanese tradition, "red" can be seen as the opposite of "black". Black is the colour of the north and represents the element water, red is the colour of the south and represents fire.

Aside from that, old Japanese traditions view black as "night", and red as "the sun/sunrise". Thus, opposites, as well as reaffirms the sun/moon-night/day imagery.

The sun and moon tomoe

A sub theory of the above. While Ichiji's power seems to be meant to be "light", many people in the fandom considers his power to be related to fire and heat. Occasionally one would see fanarts with the theme of "Ichiji and Sanji the fire duo".

They have a point. "Sparking" is written with the kanji for light sparks, but those sparks also still imply "fire" (the word includes the fire kanji, and refers to sparks that has the potential to cause fire). This reinforces the "counterparts" theory.

Speaking of fire, sun, and moon, there is a certain object that combines those:

These are the great taiko drums used for gagaku or bugaku traditional dances. The drums are framed in fire shapes, and as such is often known as the "flame drums" kaendaiko 火烟太鼓.

The left drum is decorated with the sun, and the right drum with the moon. It's not always like this, but sometimes the Sun's tomoe curl right, like Sanji's brows, while the Moon's tomoe curl the opposite way, like his brothers.

I've talked about how the Germa skull's eyes resemble tomoe. I've talked about how I suspect Germa has connection to the moon. I also mentioned that there might be a theme of "sun and moon team ups".

The Kamen Rider connection, and the tomoe on the drums, I really hope are hints that would point to Sanji fully reconciling with his brothers properly.

Here be dragons: Sun and moon reversal?

Many people has theorised that Sanji's powers are Lunarian-based, and here's my take on it. Despite its name, though, Lunarians by design seems more closely tied to the sun.

To quickly reiterate, King's design looks similar to Garuda, from both Hindu and Japanese mythology:

The Japanese thought that Garuda is associated with fire and the sun. Not to mention, the black wings (and maybe even the dark skin) brings to mind the legend of the "crow who resides in the sun", the Yatagarasu.

So a fire bird with sun imagery, but named after the moon? Sun/moon reversal. Like a Yin Yang twist.

In connection to the drums from the previous part. The sun drum has dragons, the moon drums has hou'ou ("Asian phoenix"). It's not just because of these drums specifically, it's also in part based on Yin Yang philosophy. Dragon is seen as Yang, and the sun is also Yang. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese word for the sun is "the great Yang" (taiyō 太陽). So they are paired together. The moon is Yin, and because the hou'ou is seen as feminine (Yin), they are paired together as the counterpart to the other pair.

While a hou'ou is nothing like the Western phoenix, we have seen from Marco that Oda-sensei can consider them as the same thing. Marco's fruit powers are based on the western phoenix, but one of his attacks is named after the hou'ou.

If Sanji, who has "sun imagery" (from the Kamen Rider connection), has connection to "fire bird" imagery, then will his brother(s), who has moon connections, get "dragon" imagery to them later?

Ichiji, sparks, and the dragon

Conspiracy upon conspiracy.

Some time ago I pointed out that in terms of the name, Ichiji's "sparks" seems to be connected to his brothers (not Reiju, just his brothers). Besides that, "sparks" 火花 seem to just be byproducts that is not necessarily wanted.

Sparks from electric charge: What you want is electricity. Sparks are either just there, or it's occurring because something's wrong.

Crackling fire sparks: Those are just there as well, and while it can look aesthetic, it's secondary to the fire itself.

Sparks from iron welding/smithing: It's just a byproduct of the metal bring grinded or hit. Not to mention, the sparks are actually hazardous.

This seems strange for a power name, although it could be that sensei was just finding a kanji that's the closest thing to the English word "spark". Maybe this was actually a thing from the older generations of Super Sentai.

Still. Let's imagine that the "spark" being something rather odd for a power is a hint that something is amiss.

That last one from the smithing is what I want to point out here. There is a certain god of blacksmithing in Japan, who shares a name/is syncretised with a dragon. It is Ame no Mahitotsu no Kami.

There is a certain shrine called Tado Taisha in Mie prefecture that used to enshrine a dragon god, known as Ichimoku Ren. However, over time, because of various reasons this dragon god and the blacksmith god became joined as one entity and worshipped in the same shrine.

Following the Phoenix/Dragon theory from above, maybe the one who will get dragon imagery specifically will be Ichiji. Not saying that he will transform into a dragon, that's overdoing it. Just "imagery" associated with it. Perhaps instead of using the Eastern dragon, who are typically associated with wind and rain, the imagery will be more like a Western dragon who are associated with fire.

Although it would be funny if his "true abilities" turn out to be related to wind, though.

Also, the blacksmith god and the dragon are partially syncretised because they both have one eye, so I do wonder if it's possible that under his glasses Ichiji is actually missing one eye? I doubt it since both his eyes were glowing when he did Sparking Valkyrie, but on the other hand, what if like Stealth Black the sparks were all from the suit? What if the glasses generates the light, and it has nothing to do with Ichiji's actual eyes? And that his actually built-in augmentations is not that? I'm just saying.

And a little more detail, in relation to the missing eye theory: Ichimoku Ren and Ame no Mahitotsu both lost their eye because their own activities injured themselves. Blindness from smithing sparks is a common occupational hazard for blacksmiths, and that's how Ame no Mahitotsu lost his eye. Ichinoku Ren lost an eye in a storm, either while trying to stop the storm to protect the people who worship him or while causing the storm in a fit of rage (karma?).

What if Ichiji's powers went haywire one day, and he injured himself then?

#conspiracy theory #vinsmoke family #vinsmoke brothers #vinsmoke ichiji #ichiji #germa 66

23 notes · View notes

lemongrace · 9 months

Text

Requisition

Nobody ever paid attention to a guard. People on the streets of Suramar parted absent-mindedly, oblivious to the true nature of the elf. Oblivious that a wraith had been walking among them.

Briefly catching a glimpse of her own reflection in the canal below, Eluein quickly averted her gaze. Donning a disguise in the city of her birth was more than insulting - it was repulsive. Deep blues replaced the unhealthily pale colouration of her skin, with the twilight-coloured armour in stark contrast to her usually monochrome palette. Even so little as the way the dual-bladed glaive rested in the palm vexed her, yet it was a necessary element of the deception; the fewer parts she obscured by magical means, the better.

Navigating the Grand Promenade proved surprisingly easy - the layout of the streets changed little from the one still fresh in her memory, despite the residences differing from those she remembered from the days of the Empire. A critical eye swept the landscape. The once familiar skyline became enriched with newly built spires she didn't recognise, flying the colours and banners of the Nightborne capital that proudly displayed the rebellious dusk lily. Even the sky, now locked in the artificial state of perpetual dusk, was alien to behold; her home, usurped.

Frustrated by the sight, she picked up the pace. The Venimeux manor was still a good distance away.

The protective enchantment woven into the walls of Idyssa’s estate prevented direct teleportation, warding off the interior from unwanted visitors. An obvious idea following the insurrection - now she cursed herself under the breath for even suggesting it.

As soon as she turned into the residential area, the sound of gossip and laughter assaulted her ears. The whisperings of fleeting romances, political shifts, personal betrayals - it was all so vapid and inconsequential.

Eluein stopped as the passing carriage forced her to a halt. The faceless guard ensuring its safe transit nodded and, without a second thought, she dipped her head back. All without a single word spoken. Truly, it was much easier to sneak into the city under the guise of a Duskwatch than assume the role of a local noble. Her already rigid gait made the deception that much more convincing.

The more she heard, the more she realised how quickly the socialities moved on. No one even so little as mentioned the tragedy that befell Lady Venimeux in her own home anymore, despite the odd and random nature of the murder; that too became old news. Good. It would’ve made everything that much easier.

A single guard kept watch over the entrance to the estate even a good week after its lady’s passing, still like a statue. A deterrence against looters, she thought. Thankfully, she only came to requisition.

“The location of your station has been altered. Venimeux Estate is no longer your charge.” Shalassian. Despite it being similar to her own ancestral language, she hated the bastardised sound of it. Speaking it, even less so.

“On whose orders?”

“The guard captain’s. You are to relinquish your post.” The fact it was a lie didn’t matter. Even if he made the effort to confirm the truthfulness of her words, she would’ve been gone long before anyone arrived to apprehend the imposter.

Had he not been standing there for hours already, perhaps he would have protested more. A discontent grunt was all she was given before the guard saluted and finally gave up his post. Once he disappeared from view, so did she abandon the deception.

A motion of her hand drew a sigil in the air, Shal’dorei in design - a corresponding rune on the other side of the door stirred, and the arcane lock keeping them shut relented with a distinct click. Wasting no time, Eluein disappeared inside.

The interior was just as she saw it the last time - a lavishly decorated salon in the shades of violet and maroon, opening to a massive window overlooking the entire City. Cupboards and bookshelves neatly aligned with the walls, a bouquet of fresh flowers in each vase– fresh flowers?

Impossible. All servants she was aware of had been recalled, and she didn’t sense a presence of another upon her arrival. The property was empty - not even so much as a single spider upon the ceiling. Not a single soul that wasn’t her own, unless the house’s mistress rose from the grave.

Eluein descended downstairs with haste, unlocking the doors of the underground study. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the estate - dark, lit only by the waning flames of leyfire lamps, with the air so thick with a pungent scent of herbs and moisture it became difficult to breathe. Idyssa’s alchemist den heaved under the weight of hundreds– thousands of vials, tinctures and potions; magical solutions of such a wide variety she’d need hours to carefully go through them all. Luckily, she only needed one.

She recalled its dark violet colour, and the unpleasant thickness of the liquid; how it swirled within the vial and the bitter taste it left in her mouth. How the near constant pain wrecking her body became a negligible afterthought under its effect - at this point, she couldn’t remember a single moment without it. Like needles under the skin, pushing deeper with each passing day.

As minutes passed, her search became more frantic. Cabinets slammed, pages torn from the notebooks in a desperate hunt for the formula. Shattered glass accumulated on the floor at an increasingly rapid pace, mixing the various potions into a single noxious pool. Tearing out a drawer from the wooden desk, she flung it across the study in a fit of rage; her usually aloof and cold visage reduced into a seething, wheezing mess. Nothing. Not a single vial of the medicine remained, and she had sent its creator to her early grave along with it.

The walls of the state shook as an underground explosion rocked its very foundation.

#world of warcraft #oc writing #eluein #idyssa #highborne #nightborne #the ravencallers #suramar #im sorry women #but the gay grandma got too silly #and might have killed her nightborne gf

28 notes · View notes

jinxedwood · 8 months

Text

List your nine most favourite books

Tagged by @arenee1999

Listen, there are books I think are good, and books I like, and sometimes that list doesn't overlap. This was a tough list to compile and I reserve the right to disavow it at a later date!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells. This is a novella and the first of the Murderbot series. It’s an action story about a sentient robot that has broken free of its programming and has developed free will. This is a recent read and I loved every moment of it and it was so awesome to find a series and go ’wait…there are four more books already published? Its my Birthday!’

A Player of Games by Iain M Banks.This was the first of the Contact books I read, and while there are more sophisticated books from this series, this book deftly introduces the Culture and its universe and ethics while still giving you a gut punch to the stomach. It also gives you a surprisingly modern take on gender and identity considering it was written over thirty years ago.

Orlando, by Virginia Woolf. A story about a nobleman born in England during the reign of Elizabeth I, who wakes up a woman one morning and then goes on to live for another 300 hundred years - although others are too polite to mention this. I fell in love with this book as a teenager and that hasn’t changed.

Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett. This is the 12th Discworld book and the 3rd of the Witches books, but it also happened to be my first introduction to Granny Weatherwax and I will love her always and forever.

The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood. Listen, I know the Handmaid’s Tale is awesome, but she has written a whole ton of other books in a ton of different genres that are also awesome. This book is about friendship and betrayal (and that one crazy fucker who meandered around your friendship circle when you were in your twenties and left carnage in their wake)

The Assassin's Apprentice (First of the Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb Epic Quest Fantasy, except the primary character is not who you’d think he’d be. Loved this series from the beginning to the end.

The Rivers of London, By Ben Aaronovitch. First of an Urban Fantasy series in which Peter Grant is a beat cop with the London Met, who has an encounter with the supernatural and suddenly gets seconded to the in ‘The Folly’, the officially unofficial branch of the London police that deals with the freaky side of things. Also, he’s now a Sorcerer's apprentice.

This is such a beautifully crafted world and the characters are perfectly rendered. If you haven’t read this series, you’re missing out.

And two old faves that probably wouldn’t pass the smell test nowadays.

The Many Coloured Land (form the Saga of the Exiles Series), by Julian May.

Listen, the 21st century is a rough place for a lot of humans. First the Aliens came, and then all those super powered humans came out of the woodwork and your average Joe just wanted to go back to a simpler world - so that handy time gate back to the Pliocene Era will come in dead handy, am I right? A new virgin world that's just a younger version of the present, and it will be all theirs and only theirs.

Except for the Fae, who already live there and are in charge, and all of you would-be frontiersmen are now their serfs and slaves. Good times.

I don't know what this writer was smoking when she dreamed up this series but it must have been some serious shit (and I still love these crazy books)

The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham. You know this writer, you really do. This is the Guy who wrote Day of the Triffids and the Midwich Cuckoos. Like most British Sci Fi writers from this era, he leans more into the eerie and creepy rather than epic and operatic. I came across this book in my School Library (back in the OLDEN TIMES) It’s a post apocalyptic future that we assume happens after a nuclear winter.

This was written in the 1950s but gives a good stab at describing what this kind of world would look like, warts and all and it's one of those stories that kind of stuck with me through the years so I thought it might deserve a spot on this list.

And because it's Wyndham, there are telepaths.

Tagging in a non compulsory sort of way: @cbk1000, @hellsbellschime, @yamimana-ramblings, @pers-books, @lilbreck @randomkiwibirds @galvanizedfriend @garglyswoof @manicpixiesdreamdragon

#books #memes

19 notes · View notes

sitbc-archive · 2 months

Text

UPDATE: I found a higher quality version of the model sheet after giving a quick look at Brian A. Miller's Twitter/X account (as Mo's post mentioned that it came from there). The Instagram variant will be replaced by the Twitter/X one, but I will make a reblog of this post which contains the former.

Literally just today, Mo Willems had uploaded a SITBC model sheet of himself from 2000, as well as a bunch of info regarding the series' press on "The Critic's Tour" in The Ritz Carlton, Los Angeles.

Mo's Description:

Baa-ck in the Day.

Here’s a model sheet from 23 years ago when Cartoon Network was launching my short-lived series, SHEEP IN THE BIG CITY.

The gag for the press was that the show was created by myself and an actual sheep with whom I’d been a writing partner for years. We even had a live sheep share the stage with me when we presented the show at Up Fronts in LA in early 2001. Wonderfully, some reporters fell for it. To be fair to them, the sheep bleated at all the right times and was such a great performer he literally ate the scenery.

The image of me w/ the puppet was from actual model sheets. I wanted Sheep to be animated as if he were a puppet, which would make him look all the more alien and oblivious.

The show was fun and a flop, but I’m surprisingly touched by how often a fan lets me know how much they enjoyed the show.

Brain's Description:

Creator self model sheets from 2000. SHEEP had just premiered. PPG & EEE were in production and on air. I don’t believe Genndy or John D ever did one. I like how everything about these reflect the man behind them.

Sources:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mo Willems (@officiallyofficialmo)

instagram

#sheep in the big city #sitbc #cartoon network #sheep #model sheets #production art #curious pictures #Instagram #Brian. A Miller #mo willems

7 notes · View notes

theophagian · 1 year

Text

— about;

hello, writeblr! I'm Theo Vaughan; early thirties, writer, reader, and gamer. I live in the midwest, and I'm a college student majoring in veterinary technology. I'm non-binary and transmasc, and I use he/they pronouns.

I write primarily queer romance, with a particular emphasis on stories with a trans male protagonist. My stories also tend to lean a bit darker. They'll all have specific content warnings on them.

I'm also looking for writeblrs to follow, so feel free to interact with this post so I know to follow you!

please be 18+ to follow/interact/read. my stories often contain adult content not suitable for minors. thank you!

— links;

twitter // wattpad // archive of our own

— works in progress;

And Hell Followed

When Adrian was twelve, his friend Malcolm vanished. The police marked it down as the typical case of a runaway kid from a broken, impoverished home, and Malcolm was never found. But Adrian always believed that Malcolm was kidnapped. His best friend would never leave him without saying goodbye.

Now twenty-two, he's never forgotten Malcolm, and now works with kids to prevent the same thing from happening to them. He has no idea that his childhood best friend is still alive — and has been following him for the past six months.

And one night, he takes Adrian.

Waking in the cold basement of an abandoned house, Adrian doesn't know why he's been kidnapped, or who has taken him. And the mysterious masked man who brings him dinner is silent on the matter.

The days pass, and Adrian slowly tried to make friends with the masked man. Whether it's out of hope that he will free him, or simply out of desperation for contact, he talks to the only person he can.

But it soon becomes clear that his captor wants something more from him.

Impact: Elysium

Nikolai Sullivan is an astronaut. Well, a psychologist, really. His job is to monitor the mental health of the crew of the SSE Elysium, a scientific vessel exploring the depths of unknown space, further than humanity has ever gone before. Their mission is to discover more resources for earth's growing population and its expansion in the stars.

The Elysium never reaches her destination.

Crash landing on an unknown planet, Niko is separated from the rest of the crew in his escape pod. His chances of survival are low, even on the miraculously habitable land he finds himself on — until he stumbles upon a group of primitive yet intelligent alien beings that are surprisingly human-like.

The Havrai, as they call themselves, might be human-like in appearance, but they couldn't be more different in culture and even biology. But Niko has no choice. They are his only chance at survival.

As the rest of his crew is searching for him, Niko discovers more about the Havrai, and the mysterious ancient ruins that surround them.

Not to mention the Havrian who insists that Niko is his mate.

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writeblr introduction #wip #wip intro #wip introduction #writers on tumblr #writers of tumblr #writerscommunity #mine.#myintro

60 notes · View notes

artbyblastweave · 2 years

Text

Some broad notes as I continue watching Superman: The Animated Series:

The show has a strong expectation of the audience’s attention to detail, in a way a lot of contemporary cartoons don’t. In The Way of All Flesh, there’s a scene where Clark and Lois, in an office setting without much of interest going on visually, casually question how John Corbin could have contracted the incredibly rare virus that forced him to become Metallo, given that it’s only found on an isolated island in South America; Lois speculates that he probably caught it while on the lam or participating in a regime change, and the question is put to bed. Later they’re investigating Corbin’s doctor’s office, and Clark wordlessly X-rays a sharps box, witnessing a suspect container, but making no commentary on it. At the climax he reveals that Lex Luthor (duh) was paying John’s doctor to slip him the virus in his food. In a contemporary cartoon, you would probably get a pointed dun-dun-dun-style sequence of the doctor actually poisoning the food to make sure nobody missed what was going on, and the sequence of noticing and retrieving the smoking-gun bottle-o-viral-agent would be given significantly more visual weight- a larger, shiner vial, a prolonged sequence where Clark retrieves it from the lockbox and scrutinizes it aloud. Another example- in the episode that introduces Kryptonite, Clark is investigating the museum that houses the kryptonite, and he passes by a tour guide who’s giving a muted, in-the-background lecture on how the ancient Babylonians were affected by lead poisoning from their dishware; this lecture isn’t centered and is mixed at a fairly low volume compared to the rest of the scene. Later he remembers that lecture and uses one of the lead dishes to contain the Kryptonite in the climactic fight. In a contemporary cartoon that lecture would be fuckin’ centered. They would walk in front of Superman before he was able to get to the Kryptonite display. He might say something like “interesting” aloud. In the parasite episode, Superman ultimately neutralizes Parasite by exposing him to the Kryptonite he stole from Lexcorp in the previous episode; absolutely no mention is made of why the kryptonite harms Parasite, it’s assumed that the audience will intuit that Parasite absorbed Superman’s weaknesses on top of his strengths.

The show is grounded in terms of where it sits in the progression of the universe. In the Pilot, we learn that this is already a superhero universe, through Ma Kent’s derisive reference to “That Nut From Gotham;” other heroes exist, but they’re fringe and seen as significantly less legitimate than they one day will be. In “A little piece of Home,” One of the thugs says, “I don’t do Metropolis; not since the big blue guy;” Superman is fundamentally still a novelty people are adjusting to and not a background fact of life. During Metallo’s initial rampage, when he still looks human, the news media jumps to the conclusion that he might be another alien of some sort because that’s their frame of reference for “super-strong-outwardly human;” recurring supervillians aren’t quite a thing yet.

The show is surprisingly tightly-paced for something nominally episodic. The very episode after the introduction of Kryptonite opens with Superman and Pr. Hamilton building an anti-kryptonite containment suit (which helpfully also counters Parasite.) Corbin appears as a one-off villain in the pilot and gets brought back to become Metallo approx. Five episodes later. After his role in the pilot, Braniac returns to the main plot with only four episodes having elapsed; a short enough period of time that the weekly viewers won’t have forgotten him, but enough individual adventures have happened that they’ve established a sense of the post-Superman emerging status-quo. For example, Superman and Lex’s dynamic is sufficiently well established that you can have Superman walk into Lex’s command center to have a terse but outwardly respectful conversation about taking safeguards against Braniac, but the overall sense that Superman and company are kinda novelties hasn’t yet gone away.

#thoughts #meta #superman the animated series #DCAU #timmverse #superman #S:TAS

139 notes · View notes

secretsandpurplethoughtss · 12 hours

Text

MCL Amber: Two lonely hearts +18

📸 pairing: Amber x male oc

📸 wc: 4'579

📸 summary: A stranger accidentally texts Amber a love letter intended for someone else. Despite the mistake, Amber can't stop thinking about it and begins texting this stranger. As they chat, they realize they have a few things in common, - being anonymous helps them connect - such as how both of them love their jobs but feel painfully lonely. They start as friends, but their connection grows stronger, and they begin to wonder if there's potential for something more exciting than friendship. 📲❤️‍🔥

📸 warnings: masturbation, phone/video sex, nudes, mention of anorexia and body issues, mention of drugs, mention of bullying, mention of abuse and toxic relationships, mention of addiction

📸 a/n: I forgave Amber a long time ago. Maybe after reading this fic, more people will start to like her. Either way, I had fun writing this story, and it is surprisingly spicy, even though it happens over the phone. 🌶️🌶️

Amber Carello lived the dream life she was yearning for: She was a successful lingerie model and widely known influencer on Instagram. She had so much money that she never had to worry about paying her bills or not being able to dine in high-end restaurants. Because of her lifestyle, she received so many free things that she daily had something new and fashionable to wear. But this “dream life” didn’t turn out to be so dreamy after all, despite all the good things she was getting because of it. Amber had body issues and anorexia, which she was battling daily, and she had no real friends, as no one from the modeling or the influencer world cared to “have actual friends” beyond posting pictures together for fans. And doing drugs together.

Amber tried to become friends with her former modeling partners in the past. But she ended up almost killing herself from how much of a bad influence they were on her: they worsened her body image, got her into drugs, which was also a hard habit to kick, and overall, Amber was connected with some shady people for a while. But now that she didn’t have any debts to any shady drug dealers (thanks to her brother Nath) she started eating more or less (thanks to Nath’s girlfriend, Esha), dropped her former “friends,” and stopped trying to fit in the modeling crowd Amber realized just how alone she was. After every shoot and show, the other models left together to party, and Amber went home. For a while, she lived with some of these girls as they were from the same agency, and money was easier to save that way, but they made her feel like an “unwanted alien” when she stopped pretending to be someone else. So as soon as Amber hit her big break, she moved out. However, she often questioned herself, which was worse: Living with the other models but being constantly ridiculed or living utterly alone and watching Netflix for five hours every night with nothing else to do. Amber yearned for friends in her life, but she was surrounded by either super-skinny coke-head models or other influencers who only cared about their image and numbers. She was thankful to have Nathaniel in her life, but she was embarrassed to always hang out with her brother and his girlfriend – they had their own lives and surely wanted alone time. Plus, they were busy people: Nathaniel was now a police officer and Esha was following her dreams of becoming a doctor.

Amber also thought about reaching out to old friends like Charlotte and Li, but Amber knew that there were several reasons why their trio parted ways, as they were not a good influence on one another. Their friendship started as kids, and back then, it was innocent, but they became ruthless bullies, heartless mean girls, and privileged queen bees over time. Amber still had a hard time believing herself to be a good person after everything she did. She was in therapy and changed significantly after high school, but she wondered if she deserved kindness and goodness in her life. Her friend Ella thought so, and they started out as enemies in high school and became friends during university. It was easy to find common ground between them: They both cared for fashion, so they got along surprisingly well, but Ella was also busy building her fashion empire, and if she wasn’t working on that, she was spending time with her boyfriend, Castiel. Castiel was Amber’s “big love” and borderline obsession for an embarrassingly long time. Castiel, a known musician now, was constantly on tour, so he was glad to have some alone time with his girlfriend whenever he returned home. Therefore, Amber felt embarrassed to rob them of their time together. The only option for Amber left was Lexi, who was also an old acquaintance turned model, but Lexi didn’t care to hang around Amber as she never forgave her for what happened between them in high school. Amber understood this decision and also respected Lexi as unlike Amber she never even tried to fit in with the toxic model crowd. But unlike Amber, that decision didn’t make her a lonely loser as Lexi had her own support system, something Amber most definitely didn’t really have. She barely talked to her parents, and if she did, she only spoke to her mother, as Amber could never forgive her father for being physically abusive to Nathaniel. Even though she had some contact with her mother, Amber sometimes wished she was strong enough to completely cut her out of her life too, as her mother was not only aware of the abuse going on in their home and decided to do nothing about it, but she also caused Amber’s body issues to flare up constantly. It most certainly wasn’t just the modeling industry that pushed her into anorexia.

“This is it…” Amber sighed to herself as she lowered herself onto her couch. She pulled a soft pink blanket over her body and looked for something new to watch on Netflix, which turned out to be challenging as she kept getting through all the shows at an embarrassingly fast pace.

For several minutes, she searched for something before she caved in and clicked on “Breaking Bad,” a show many guys seemed to be obsessed with for some reason. As she watched the screen, trying to give the show a fair chance, she munched on celery sticks dipped in hummus. A couple of hours went by when she finally reached for her phone to see if she had gotten any new messages from people who wanted to hang out with her on a Wednesday night, but that was not the case. It almost never was.

As she half-watched the show, she started scrolling on Instagram. That’s when she received a message from a number she didn’t recognize, nor did she have it saved in her contacts.

Stranger: Hey Allie. I know this message might surprise you as we haven’t talked in years, but I have been thinking about you. Life has been a little crazy ever since we parted ways. I don’t know if you know where I ended up, but I just saw on social media that you got engaged. You deserve it, and I am happy that you found happiness. I must admit that I had a couple of drinks when I saw the announcement. The truth is that I miss you, and I think I might still be in love with you. I think you were the only person in my life who ever cared about me, and now that I have reached my goals (in my professional life), I keep thinking back to when you and I were in a relationship. I don’t regret choosing my job, but I regret not trying to work things out between us. Do you think about me? Did you get everything you ever wanted? Does your new fiancé make you happy? I hope so. If not… I am horrible for this, but if not, I am here.

Evidently, the drunk-lover boy sent the message to the wrong number. Still, Amber couldn’t help reading the message repeatedly and imagining herself as this mysterious “Allie” with this poor guy wrapped around her fingers years later. Amber had never experienced love, nor had she ever been in a serious relationship before, but she wondered what it felt like to be so insanely in love with someone that you catch yourself thinking about them from time-to-time years later. Their engagement announcement causing you to get drunk and send a heartfelt message – a declaration of love.

She felt for the guy, not only because he clearly still had feelings for his ex and hoped that she’d want to re-connect with him, despite having no contact between them for years and her clearly moving on, but also because of the sentence: “I think you were the only person in my life who ever cared about me.” He seemed lonely, just like she was. Therefore, out of kindness, she decided to put this guy out of his misery before he ended up staring at his phone for weeks, wondering why Allie was not messaging him back.

Amber: Hi. I’m not Allie; I think you either sent this to the wrong number, or Allie switched numbers, and I got hers. I’m really sorry.

In a minute, she had already received a reply.

Stranger: Seriously?

Amber: Yeah, sorry. I kind of wish I was her, though.

As soon as she clicked on “send,” Amber felt embarrassed for admitting that to this complete stranger, who was, in fact, Allie’s ex.

Stranger: Yeah, why?

Amber: Not only is she engaged, but she has another guy declaring love over text. My love life is basically nonexistent, so I am a little jealous.

It was surprising how easy it was to be completely transparent over text. Maybe because they were strangers who would never meet, perhaps it was so easy because the texting was completely anonymous, or maybe because texting was less cringe-worthy than saying things out loud in real life – either way, Amber enjoyed how frank she could be without a care.

Stranger: I think I completely embarrassed myself by sending this text, but I’m glad you liked it. I’m not sure Allie would have.

Amber: Probably not. The girl is engaged; I think she has moved on. Sorry.

Stranger: It’s okay, I thought so, too. But I just still had to send it, just in case. It’s pathetic, no?

Amber: It’s romantic. She would be on her way to your apartment now if this was a movie.

Stranger: Sure, and it would be pouring rain.

Amber: Absolutely! For some reason, she’d know where you lived after all these years, and she would be drenched in rainwater, waiting for you to open the door so that she could make her own declaration of love.

Stranger: I usually don’t like romcoms, but this one sounds awesome. What happens next?

Amber: Well, after she tells you she loves you back and won’t marry the other guy, you have this dramatic kiss and probably end up having sex.

Stranger: Awesome. You should become a screenwriter or a book author.

Amber giggled as she read the message.

Amber: Oh no, this was all I had. I’m not really a creative person.

Stranger: Hmmm. So how come you have a nonexistent love life, by the way?

Amber: Only douchebags ask me out. Stopped saying yes to those kinds of guys a long time ago. They’ll never change, and they’re only after one thing.

Stranger: That’s tough. Maybe you’re looking for the right guy at the wrong places?

Amber: The truth is I’m not even looking.

Stranger: Gave up on love? Welcome to the club!

Amber: Well, at least you have been in love. I don’t even know what that feels like.

Stranger: Well, I got drunk and embarrassed myself through text, trying to stop my ex from marrying someone else, so you can imagine how awesome it is!

Amber: Touché. Maybe I’m better off not knowing.

Stranger: Yeah.

Amber: So, what’s the plan? Are you sitting in a bar, continuously drinking shots, thinking about Allie?

She couldn’t help texting the stranger. Maybe she liked being the onlooker in someone else’s love story or she was just desperate for any “real” human conversation.

Stranger: First, I’m not at a bar but at home. Second, I have no idea what the plan is. Texting you helps, though.

She felt a little smug reading this.

Amber: Really?

Stranger: Yeah, you’re a good conversation partner, and your “presence” through texts keeps me from embarrassing myself further.

Amber: How could you further embarrass yourself?

Stranger: Well, I could send her a DM. I’m sure she would receive that message; I don’t know why I texted her number. Maybe nostalgia.

Amber: Ooooh yeah. Don’t do that. Can I ask why it ended between you two?

Stranger: We wanted different things, and she kept telling me that I was making a mistake in my profession. She said, “It wasn’t me.”

Amber: Was she right?

Stranger: Kind of. It wasn’t me then, but I still pursued it. Then, it became me.

Amber: So, you chose work over love?

She wondered what decision she would make as she typed out this question. She suspected she would have chosen love.

Stranger: Yes. But I like where I’m at right now and enjoy my lifestyle. I’m just… lonely? I guess? I don’t know; it’s kind of embarrassing to admit this.

Amber: Hey, you’re not entirely alone in this! I feel the same way! I love my job and my lifestyle, but I also feel lonely. And it’s okay to admit this: it’s anonymous.

Stranger: Well, we have a couple of things in common: we love our jobs, we’re lonely, and we’ve given up on love. But hey, what if we became friends?

Amber almost let her phone fall when she read the last sentence.

Amber: What??

Stranger: This is the most honest conversation I had in a while. So, what if we became friends through text? We don’t share our identities, so being authentic is easier.

It took Amber a couple of minutes to text him back. It seemed insane to become friends with someone who sent her a text message by accident. But he was also right: they were both lonely and seemed to have a couple of things in common, which made it easier to understand one another. Plus, there was nothing to lose! They would never meet, never share their real identities – if things went south, they could just stop texting or block each other’s numbers.

Amber: Okay, I’m in.

Stranger: Nice. Omg, wait, you’re an adult, though, right?

Amber: Yes. I’m 25. You’re also not a 12-year-old, I assume? :)

Stranger: Yes. I’m 27.

Amber: Puuuh, good. So, what should I call you?

Stranger: Hmm, good question. How about “Dean”?

Amber: Sounds good, but how did you come up with that?

Stranger: Well, it’s my real name. No, just kidding. I like the show Supernatural, and Dean is one of the main characters.

Amber: Oh, I heard of that show!

Stranger: You need to watch it! It’s awesome.

Amber: I’ll put it on my list!

She saved the stranger under the name ‘Dean’ and then opened her notes app to write down ‘Supernatural’ as a potential new show to binge-watch.

Dean: So, what can I call you?

Amber: Dove.

Dean: Dove? How did you come up with that?

Amber: Honestly, I have no idea; it’s the first thing that popped into my head.

Dean: Hahaha, okay then, ‘Dove.’

The conversation stopped right after that as both ran out of things to say. Amber wondered what things she should ask him to get to know him and to become friends. She hadn’t felt this excited to get to know someone new in a while, and because of this, she was also nervous about fucking it up. Therefore, she poured herself a glass of white wine to ease up. Before she thought of something fascinating to ask ‘Dean,’ her phone screen lit up. He had already thought of something.

Dean: This is so high school, but I found an app that would provide us with questions to get to know each other better? It’s randomized questions.

He included a screenshot of the app, and Amber downloaded it.

Amber: Okay. I downloaded it. What now?

Dean created a “private room” in the app and gave her the code. Then, the fun began. They would randomly select a question, see it at the same time, and answer it over text. First, Dean randomized the question, “What keeps you up at night?”

Amber: Wow, that is a deep one for the first question!

Dean: Should I randomize for another question?

Amber: No. I’m not a coward! I’ll answer it!

Dean: Brave girl.

Amber: What usually keeps me up is being lonely. I wish for friends, a boyfriend, and maybe a better family.

Dean: Hmm, I get that.

Amber: What is your answer?

Dean: Work sometimes keeps me up at night. It’s hard to switch it off. That and lately Allie, when I feel particularly lonely. Your turn to spin!

The next question was less deep.

Amber: Okay, so if you could swap lives with anyone, who would it be?

It took Dean a couple of minutes to answer. Amber poured herself a second glass of wine in that time.

Dean: That’s a tricky question. I don’t think I would swap with anyone else? Despite my loneliness. You?

Amber: Maybe my brother? He seems to have his life under control. He has a job he loves, like me, but he also has friends and is in a stable relationship. And he is less insecure about his looks.

Dean: You don’t like the way you look?

Amber: I know I’m attractive, but I have some… issues regarding my weight. Being skinny is now trendy, so I’m trying to stay skinny, but I tend to overdo it with diets.

She was surprised that she admitted her anorexia to a stranger. It wasn’t as embarrassing or as bad as she thought it would be.

Dean: I’m sorry about that. Society is brutal on women.

Amber: Yeah, tell me about it! Your turn to randomize!

Dean hit the randomize button, and the next question popped up. ‘Do you go on many dates?’ It was Amber’s turn to answer first.

Amber: I used to. Not anymore. Like I said, I started saying no, when someone (usually an asshole) asks me out. What about you?

Dean: I go on a lot of dates. But I’m not looking for love. It’s just casual.

Amber: So, it’s about sex?

Dean: More or less. But I’m upfront about it. The women I go out with know this.

Amber: Are you really attractive or something? To go on a lot of dates and have it all be so casual?

Dean: I think so. I feel like you get asked out a lot from our texts. Is that right?

Amber: Yes.

Dean: So, we have another thing in common. We’re both hot.

Amber’s cheeks flushed as she imagined what ‘Dean’ looked like. She was tipsy, and she hadn’t had any… fun in a while. Suddenly, she wondered if this friendship between them could also be more sexual. Though maybe Dean didn’t want it to be: It seemed like he didn’t need to have anonymous friendship+ relationships as he dated around a lot.

Dean: Are you still here?

Amber wondered if she should ask him for a picture. Not with his face in it, because that would defeat the whole “anonymous” thing, but more down from his neck. Was he muscular? Was he stylish?

Dean: You’re thinking about what I look like, aren’t you?

Instead of being embarrassed by how quick he caught on, she was more aroused. Dean was smart… but what if he wasn’t as hot as she imagined?

Dean: Give me a sec.

Amber nervously waited for another text from him, sipping on her wine. A couple of minutes later, she received a photo from Dean… He was standing in front of his bathroom mirror, and it was taken from the neck down. He was shirtless, had a six-pack, and was quite muscular. Some veins were seen on his arm, and he stood far enough from the mirror for Amber to tell that he was only in his (blue) boxers.Without thinking much, she rushed into her bedroom and pulled her clothes off. She put on a matching set of underwear (as she got rid of her bra when she arrived home, and the panties she was wearing were more comfortable and less sexy) and got on her knees in front of her full-body-length mirror. Her blonde curls draped over her left shoulder, and she didn’t care if Dean knew she was a blonde or if he was into blondes. She just wanted to have some reckless fun, as it had been too long since she had exchanged pictures or had sex with anyone. And this time was different: It was anonymous, and it was for her own enjoyment. There were too many incidents in the past where sex or sexual fun was about her previous partners and not at all about her.

As soon as she sent the picture, Dean wrote a reply.

Dean: So, we were both telling the truth: we’re insanely hot!

Amber: And we both had to drink.

Dean: So, Dove… tell me, what are you into? What would you do to me if I was there right now? Or what would I be doing to you?

It was hot how he wanted to know what she liked. How he wanted her to take charge… As she seriously thought of her answer, she climbed into her comfortable bed.

But what did she really like? She hasn’t really explored her own sexuality, as sex, making out, and all her relationships were always about the other person and not her. What were their needs? What did they find attractive? What were they into?

Amber: What did I make you feel when you saw that picture?

Deep down, Amber felt the need to be wanted, to be recognized, to be understood, but not only that: she wanted to be cherished, no, even more than that, she wanted to be treated like a queen. Amber wanted to be worshipped.

Dean: Take a look.

He sent her another picture. This time, he was in bed, and the picture showed a noticeable bulge under his boxer shorts.

Dean: You look like a goddess.

A smile played on Amber’s lips as she read through that sentence again and again. No one has complimented her like this before, but this was precisely the compliment she yearned for.

Dean: I kind of wish this wasn’t anonymous anymore. And that we could meet up, and I could run my hands across your perfect body. Has anyone ever told you that you should try modeling?

Amber chuckled and shook her head in disbelief.

Amber: Sorry, but a deal is a deal. We can’t meet up.

Dean: You’re killing me. No, I think this is a crime: you’re committing a crime. You’re torturing me.

Amber: I am?

Dean: Yes. But if we can’t meet up…, would you mind sending pics without underwear?

Maybe it was the alcohol, the loneliness, or just how sexually frustrated she was, but Amber practically tore off her thong and bra in a rush of excitement.

Amber: Will you do the same?

Dean: Yes.

Amber’s next message was a photo of her bare breasts, her back against the bedframe, her right-hand cupping one breast provocatively.

Dean: I knew it – breasts of a Greek goddess. Please keep the pictures coming. I need to see more. I don’t even know how someone like you can be real.

Her pulse quickened at his words, and she could feel the heat building between her legs. Without hesitation, she slid two fingers inside herself, the pleasure immediate and intense. She snapped a picture of her hand between her thighs, her fingers glistening with desire, and sent it to Dean. She imagined the perfect body she saw in his mirror and a handsome face with a deep, seductive voice, whispering all the right things to her.

It was insane how turned on she was by just texting with some guy.

Dean: Fuck.

Amber waited for another request or picture from Dean, but after several minutes, there was nothing. Undeterred, she continued to touch herself, letting her fantasy take her to new heights. Her phone buzzed, breaking her reverie. It was a video. With a racing heart, she opened it to see Dean’s boxers gone, his fully erect cock in his hand. He stroked himself slowly at first, then faster, his groans echoing in her ears.

Dean: This is your doing. All you.

Amber wanted more. She needed more.

Amber: Facetime? But without our actual faces? And no talking other than moaning…

She was scared he would recognize her voice if he followed her on Instagram.

Dean: YES

The video call started immediately. Their screens filled with their bodies, hot and eager. Dean’s hand was still on his thick, throbbing erection, and Amber’s fingers were still buried deep inside her. At first, they were out of sync, but soon their rhythms matched, moving together in a dance of mutual pleasure. Sometimes, Amber closed her eyes, imagining Dean’s fingers inside her instead of her own. Other times, she kept her eyes open, reveling in how much she was turning him on.

But fingering herself wasn’t enough, so she stopped her movements and sent him a text.

Amber: WAIT.

He stopped masturbating, and Amber placed her phone down momentarily, reaching into her bedside table to retrieve her pink dildo. With a sly smile, she got back into position, feeling the cool silicone against her warm skin. She could sense Dean’s excitement as his breathing grew ragged. Holding the dildo just above her entrance, she let her anticipation build before revealing herself on the call once more. The tension was electric, and Amber reveled in the control she had over Dean’s desire. She teased herself with the toy, mirroring Dean's slow, deliberate strokes, their mutual yearning palpable through the digital connection. Unable to hold back any longer, Amber finally pushed the dildo inside her, her moan echoing through the room. She imagined it was Dean, his touch, his presence. The rhythm they created together, though separated by distance, felt synchronous and deeply personal. Masturbating with one hand and holding up the phone with the other was hard, but the sheer arousal she felt drove her past the discomfort. When she unexpectedly hit her G-pot, she loudly gasped, and upon hearing that, Dean groaned. She continued to hit that spot, her mind spiraling into a haze of pleasure, each thrust pushing her closer to the edge. Dean was close too, she could tell. His moans were becoming more frequent, more urgent. They were both caught in a rapture of mutual pleasure, eyes locked on each other, feeding off each other’s reactions. Then Dean came with a sexy low grunt, and she imagined tasting his release, feeling it on her tongue, a fantasy that only heightened her arousal. He texted her.

Dean: Keep going, baby. I want to see you come.

Amber obliged, her body trembling as she hit her G-spot one final time, her orgasm crashing over her in waves. She pulled out the dildo, now slick with her cum, and lay there, breathing heavily, completely spent. Dean mirrored her, both of them basking in the afterglow of their shared experience. At some point, she hung up.

Dean: This was fun. I loved hearing you moan and seeing you pleasure yourself. I wish I could have actually been there… But I think this friendship will be fun!

Amber: Sure sounds like it. :)

As Amber lay in bed, her head in the clouds from pure ecstasy, her mind imagining what Dean could be like in real life. She was unaware of just how close they were to one another. Just a wall away, her wealthy, privileged neighbor—the one she thought she hated—was lying in his own bed, his thoughts consumed with her. Well, he knew her as ‘Dove.'

#smut #fanfiction #mcl #amber #my candy love #amour sucre #corazon de melon #mcl new gen #fanfic #amber carello #modeling #my candy love university life #my candy love love life #my candy love high school life #nathaniel #castiel #+18 content

2 notes · View notes

citrus-soda · 3 months

Note

oh oh oh! R and P!

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom and R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

My fave platonic relationship has got to be Dororo and Koyuki's friendship. It's a shame the main focus is on Keroro n Fuyuki because honestly? While it is super cute I think there's sooo much interesting potential in the dynamic between Dororo and Koyuki. Like uuuuu. Their time in the ninja village... the time they spent hunting hostile aliens together.... I'm so fascinated!

Perhaps it's not that it's my fave for what it is, but for what it could be?

For R... I think I mentioned to you once that I was messing with a FriendSwapAU for KG... I might as well just elaborate on it! Prepare for a long post. I'll use a readmore to keep it neat.

As the title implies, the Human and Keronian friendships are swapped!

Tamama is pals with Natsumi

Giroro ends up crash landing onto Momoka’s estate

Kururu is friendly with Fuyuki

Dororo is found injured in an alley by Saburo

Keroro is found half-dead in the forest by Koyuki

Tamama crashes on the grounds of the Hinata sibling's school, and is discovered by Natsumi when he sneaks in to raid snacks! He would be the first Keronian the kids meet in the AU.

Initially, Natsumi is the first to run into him during sports practice. She freaks the fuck out and throws her lunchbox at him, which Tamama gladly picks up before he runs away.

After practice, she goes home and spills the details to Fuyuki. Of course, Fuyuki immediately suggests the two go back to school that night to try and find the mysterious creature.

Upon sneaking back into school, Natsumi and Fuyuki search around, to no luck, before Tamama manages to corner them in a stairwell. The situation seems dire... but it turns out that Tamama ate the lunch Natsumi chucked at him and he LOVED it. By the power of anime and tasty home cooking. He admits that he's lost and sad and may I pwease have some more food. Look at me I'm so cute you just can't say no to me. (Tam just wants more of that tasty Earth food.)(Freeloader!!!!!)

Fuyuki is on board immediately and begs Natsumi to take Tam with them, but she refuses. Tamama ends up following them home anyway, and when they all run into Aki she dotes on Tamama sorta like how she did with Keroro in canon. The Tammy distribution system, everyone. (Freeeeloaderrrrrr)

Anyway, they keep Tamama at home under the guise of keeping the public from finding out about him, while Tamama is happy to get free food and adoration. One day, Tam declares that he needs to find his comrades, and it goes from there.

Tam is very very cute, but he’s also a little shit, he and Natsumi squabble a lot. Natsumi thinks Tamama is cute, nice when he wants to be, but also kinda a pain. Tamama likes Natsumi’s cooking, likes her fun big-sister side, but hates when she nags him.

The two have a bit of a rivalry going on as they both are fairly strong for their species. They like tusslingggggg.

Technically, Tamama is more of the Hinata family's counterpart alien than he is JUST Natsumi’s. Sorta like how Keroro is ultimately the Hinata’s in canon, even if Fuyuki is touted as being his best friend.

(I'm basing a lot of their dynamic on a manga translation of a chapter where Tamama helps the Hinata siblings cook dinner after Natsumi cuts her hand. He gets along with them rather well!)

---

At first you wouldn’t expect Giroro and Momoka to get along, but they make for a surprisingly good team. Giroro is initially apprehended by Momoka’s bodyguards when he crashes onto NPG property, and he puts up a hell of a fight to escape. He gets injured and on his way through the mansion he runs into Momoka. Running on fumes and being caught unawares by her unassuming appearance, Giroro gets beat pretty soundly. His life, however, is spared by Momoka under the condition that he becomes a part of her bodyguard force. And if he promises to meet Fuyuki. A girl's got her agenda!!

Thoroughly humbled by Momoka’s crazy warrior spirit, Giroro agrees and ends up living at the mansion as Momoka’s sparring partner / bodyguard / feral spicy alien frog thing.

Giroro ends up being a pretty decent guard dog. Momoka learns about warrior’s honor and how to use grenades.

Imagine Giroro grumpily having a high tea. He hates its he hates it ughhh.

GIRORO you will eat the petit-four and you will LIKE IT

For like the first year, Giroro sleeps in his tent outside before he can finally be coaxed inside. Then he just sets up his tent on the floor of a guest room. The road to domestication is a long one.

This is purely for the sillies but Giroro is forced to follow the NPG army dress code and wears NPG body armor when he’s at the mansion. He was a little ball of anger the entire time he got measured for that suit. Fuck you Paul.

At first Giroro is kinda embarrassed and tries to justify his capture to the other Keronians by saying that he's at the mansion to study how the NPG private army is run, or that he's studying earth weaponry. This tapers off after a while.

---

Dororo and Saburo initially meet on one of Saburo’s late-night excursions. After being hit by a car, Dororo hides for a few days in a nearby alleyway that just so happens to be a hang-out spot of the young DJ. No one comes to save him until Saburo, cool as ever, takes Dororo in and patches him up.

Saburo would take an interest in the alien Dororo, who latches on to this crumb of recognition gladly. When you so often get forgotten and overlooked, having your friendship being sought out is. Amazing. Once Dororo is fully healed, he decides to stay with Saburo and keep him company, and I personally think the two would get along well. Apparently they like playing shogi together in the manga. Cuteee.

I’d argue that canon Dororo’s ninja lifestyle isn't too dissimilar to his old assassin ways, which is why it fits him so well. Considering that, AU Dororo takes longer to adjust to a purely civilian life. However, just as canon Dororo learns to love Earth’s natural beauty and the traditional culture of Japan, AU Dororo learns to love the beauty of Earth’s cities, and Japan’s contemporary culture. Thanks to Saburo, he develops an interest in modern poetry, as well as dance and music. Dororo and Saburo would totally do parkour together, convince me otherwise.

Enjoys street fashion. Uses either a fashion facemask or a painter’s mask to cover his mouth. He dresses like a splatoon character….

Still hates litterbugs and carbon emissions.

Technically, canon Zeroro chose the name Dororo for the area he was rescued in, so if Zeroro was rescued in an alleyway… he probably wouldn’t have the name Dororo. For clarity’s sake, he’s still called Dororo in the AU.

You ever try to read an AU where the character’s names get switched around because of the circumstances of the AU? That shit is CONFUSING.

---

Honestly it was hard to separate Fuyuki from Keroro but I think Fuyuki and Kururu is a very funny combo. When Kuru eventually joins the team, Fuyuki just sorta gravitates to him.

Fuyuki’s fascination with aliens and the occult pretty much overrides his common sense at times so I think he’d be very wowed by Kururu’s smarts and constantly asking him about Keron and space in general. Kuru hates all the questions at first but he secretly ends up liking the attention and feeling wanted.

Kururu definitely lies to Fuyuki for shits and giggles. He loves to point at whatever crap magazine Fuyuki’s reading and say shit like “mothman’s actually my brother in-law”. Both Fuyuki and Natsumi are the targets of Kururu’s pranks. As a byproduct of this, Fuyuki becomes less of a pushover.

Still a little bastard but a bastard with pals now

Kururu won’t do chores like canon Keroro does but he’ll tinker with electronic devices around the house to “improve efficiency”. This is often done without permission. The Hinata’s washing machine now plays car crash sound effects when the laundry is done. Natsumi hates it so much.

Kururu is a tricky character to write for since he can be unpredictable, but I do think my idea works. He can be friend.

---

And the final set, the one that gave me the most trouble....

Keroro and Koyuki!

This is like such a far-flung idea but. I really think i can make it work. Keroro and Fuyuki are pals why??? Fuyuki pretty much just looked at this alien and said “hey lets be friends” and ol’ insecure Keroro was like. Damn. friends? With me? Sniffle sniffle ok….??

Koyuki is honestly fairly friendly too! She likes having friends! She probably runs into Keroro like half dead of starvation in the forest, thinks he's a kappa, picks his 12lb ass up and takes him home. Talking all the while about how he’ll be ok and hey what's it like being a yokai.

Keroro was going stir-crazy being all on his lonesome in the big, dark forest, so he kinda latches on to Koyuki. Totally cries.

He has a hard time fitting in at shinobi village at first, since it’s far removed from all the modern convenience and entertainment he loves so much. Keroro… HATES being left alone with his thoughts. He likes to do stuff with his hands! He tries to keep busy however he can during his healing process. He picks up on traditional Japanese cooking, and maybe in a fit of desperation he tries making his OWN gundam to fill the plastic-model shaped hole in his heart. And by ‘own gundam’ I mean, like made of sticks and acorns. Whittling.

Bud does chores old fashioned style washin laundry in the river. Chatting with Koyuki-dono.

All the while he’s being eaten up inside by his thoughts. The kindness of Koyuki. His plans of invasion. Why did no-one come for him? Once he leaves the village, (will he leave?) what’s his plan? Has he been assumed dead? Oh he’s totally legally dead now isn’t he. His days in the Shinobi village are both freeing, since he has no invasion tasks and is just chillin in the beauty of nature, yet also INCREDIBLY hectic with his self-imposed routine he’s come up with to keep his mind off of things. Denial is a river in Egypt.

He wonders if anyone cried at his funeral.

When the ninja eventually split for the modern world, He tags along with Koyuki since hes got no other options. He really pushes for Koyuki to get out there and finally experience society. It’s mostly a ruse to get her to take him gundam shopping or to the movies but. They do bond over it. Both of them are learning about Earth’s society together. They find comfort in the fact that they both feel like outsiders.

When it’s revealed to Keroro that the rest of the platoon is still on Earth, Keroro keeps his presence a secret for a bit longer, as he tries to come up with a decent plan to explain where he’s been and why he’s made no progress. Oh my god is he suffering. It just eats him up inside. "Why did no one come to save me?"

In the time that Keroro has been MIA, Kururu naturally has been the platoon’s acting leader and most of their tasks have been related to finding Keroro.

His star-badge got fucked in his crash-landing so that's why it's taken so long.

The two do end up fighting against other invader races like Koyuki and Dororo did in canon! Koyuki is the one doing most of the fighting though, while Keroro provides her intel into the different kinds of aliens.

Keroro justifies this to himself by thinking that, if he eliminates some of the competition early on in the game, It’ll go towards the invasion effort and keep his platoon + HQ off his ass. Are you sure it isn’t because you’ve grown to like Earth, Keroro?

After he reunites with the team, he still lives with Koyuki since he'd feel bad leaving her in her hut alone, so he essentially would commute to the secret base under the Hinata house.

...Whew! Talk about a word avalanche. I hope this made sense!

#long post #answered asks #my brain worms r on full display here wheeeee #for archival purposes ill tag as #KG friendswap #ask games #save for later

3 notes · View notes

nagichi-boop · 1 month

Text

My thoughts on the Knuckles series

I want to preface this by saying that if you haven't watched the series yourself and have the means to do so, I suggest watching it yourself and forming your own opinions on the series. The episodes are about 25-30 mins long, so it should take about 3 hours. But if you'd rather give the show a pass, I understand, especially given that so many people have given rather mixed reviews on the series. I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said, but I thought I'd share my personal thoughts on the series.

I will be discussing spoilers in this post, though I won't be breaking apart the plot per se. I just want to discuss some thoughts on the series, good and bad, since I know some people have been very harsh on this series. And as a disclaimer, these are personal opinions rather than outright critiques.

For a tldr rating though, I'd give the series like...6.5/10?

Things I Liked

I really enjoyed the plot of the first episode or so. The scenes with the Wachoski family was probably some of my favourites for the series, even if only brief. I wasn't sure that they would include the other characters, so it was nice to see most of them. I wasn't super keen on the GUN agents necessarily, but I thought their story parts were the most enjoyable. I enjoyed watching Wade scheme to save him and immediately fumble the bag, but ultimately sort of recreate his plan? I also appreciated him using the siracha to free himself from the GUN agent since it was starting to wear a little that he seemed utterly incompetent - more on that later.

I once again appreciate the references to the Sonic universe. I only really noticed the Knuckles hat (which if I'm not mistaken is a reference to the OVA cartoon?), but I also saw someone mention Sonic 06 before watching it, which helped me recognise the reference to the game (both Knuckles' power and the creature that I assumed to be Iblis). I also saw a Reddit post pointing out that the alien attack mentioned by the bowling tournament announcers took place 50 years ago, which could be a reference towards Shadow, but it's not outright stated to be that.

The animation was surprisingly good. Part of me thought the animation quality would be off, but it was more or less on par with the movies from what I could see. Some scenes were a little off, but I can't really fault it since they're trying to incorporate an entirely CGI creature interacting with everything, but for the most part it was awesome.

Things I Didn't Like

I think one of my bigger issues with this series was the humour. That's not to say I didn't find it funny, but the constant surreal/cringe humour eventually wears on you. It worked at the beginning because Knuckles and Wade alternated being the 'straight-man', but for the most part, the characters fell into the same 'I'm dumb' type of humour. I don't quite know how to explain what I mean by this, so I guess I'll give a few examples to illustrate what I mean.

There's Knuckles himself, whose 'stupidity' mostly comes from him not fully grasping human culture. There's also Wade Whipple, who is portrayed as an idiot or loser, something he's called by the other characters. There's Jack Sinclair who acts intimidating while still being dumb behind his seriousness, and was the kind of character that seems threatening until they're dethroned, by which time they start wailing like a baby. We see this mostly when Wade is captured and 'duels' with him, only for him to lose and plead with Wade not to take his clothes this sounds really sus out of context. I didn't particularly care for him, which made some scenes drag as Wade's story with him was being addressed, but he's more of a stepping stone character for Wade's development.

I thought Knuckles and Wade themselves were funny for the most part, but it does begin to grate a little when their goofy humour is pretty much all you get. I get that Wade is the underdog guy, but it didn't feel much like he actually grew as a person. I thought perhaps he would learn to be more self-reliant and competent, but even at the end of the series, he mostly just stalled for Knuckles. This sort of ties into the complaint a lot of people have that the series focused less on Knuckles and more on Wade, which I agree with. It was set up at the start that Knuckles was looking to find his home and purpose, but it didn't feel like that was fully explored. It was sort of implied at the end that the Whipple's were his home, but it felt like a lose end more than a solid conclusion. I also wouldn't have minded if Knuckles actually spent time training Wade, but that didn't really happen either. Most of Wade's 'development' happened away from Knuckles, which made Knuckles feel more like a bit character a lot of the time.

And then there's Wanda Whipple. I'll be honest, I really disliked her character. For the first few minutes it was fine, but the entire scene with the Whipple family dinner just felt awkward and annoying to me. It felt like I was watching two children argue, which I suppose was the point, but watching a grown woman act like a child was just uncomfortable and felt like it was dragged out for ages. I think the only scene I found her funny in was towards the end when she dislocated her thumb, but that was about it. Every other scene she was in felt unenjoyable for me, and frankly I hope she's not in the third movie at all (or if she is, please make it short).

I suppose I could sum this complain up as there being too many comedic relief characters without there being straight-man characters to balance out the chaos. The beginning worked well because Sonic, Tails and Maddie worked as straight-men for Knuckles, so it was funny to watch him be a menace since we could see everyone else's reactions. But for the rest of the series, it was mostly just silly humour. Even the 'adult' jokes weren't particularly funny to me (thinking specifically about the metal detector scene), but maybe I'm just not the right demographic for this kind of series? Who knows.

I watched the series with my dad, and I agree with his thoughts on the series. He felt it could have been done in a movie instead of having a tv series that seemed to drag on a lot. I do agree that some scenes felt like they were going on for too long, which at times felt like I wasn't even watching a Sonic series at all. I guess they want to flesh out the characters unique to the movie universe, but it felt a bit weird to have Knuckles barely involved in the plot given the series was named after him.

It's unfortunate because I think that they initially set up something interesting. I thought they'd focus on the GUN agents pursuing Knuckles, with Knuckles training Wade along the way. But the GUN story got shelved almost immediately to focus more on the bowling stuff - Wade and Jack had an awkward sword dual, and Wade had a bowling match with his dad? I honestly thought The Buyer (that ex GUN weapons guy) would be Wade's dad, but instead we randomly got introduced to Pistol Pete...I dunno, it felt weird to me. It felt like they mashed three unfinished stories together into one weird amalgamation.

I feel like they could have focused more on the GUN agents plot. Perhaps they could have clashed a few times with Knuckles and Wade, but ultimately fail over and over. Wade would have learned indirectly from his warrior training to be strong enough to defeat Jack at bowling and show his progression. The GUN agents would be replaced by The Buyer after he grows tired of waiting for them to fulfil their deal, and who would be more of a threat. While that's happening in the background, we could watch the bowling tournament with Jack losing instead, then have The Buyer crash the party like he did in the actual series. But this is all just me brainstorming what I would have done.

Anyways, those are my thoughts. It's a shame since I love the Sonic movies a lot, but I'm not too worried about Sonic 3 based on this series. Jeff Fowler (the writer for the movies) only wrote the first episode of the series, which was arguably the best episode, so I am confident that Sonic 3 will be good. Admittedly it has me a little worried, but I'm trusting them to do Shadow justice with his debut.

Sorry this is such a long rambly post, but hopefully it's cohesive enough to follow for anyone actually reading it.

#knuckles series #sonic movie #sonic the hedgehog #nagichi talks

2 notes · View notes

boysplanetrecaps · 3 months

Text

Build Up Episode 6 Recap Part 3: Team Mismatch v. Team Maknae

Welcome back to the recap series that follows ALL the rabbit holes: BPR Unnie recaps MNET’s Build Up! In the previous post, we saw a team with not great teamwork lose to a team that had not great rhythm. In tonight’s scintillating tale, we’re going to see a team of maknae (youngest members of the show) take on a team that includes people of all different ages. We’re going to lose one of the teams, and it’s going to be sad no matter what, so… let’s face the music.

Dahee calls the next two teams up on stage. It’s Team Mismatch versus Team Maknae. (These are my names for the teams, but you have to admit, they’re good names.)

Team Mismatch:

Left to right: Geonu, Seohyung, Soomin

In the previous round, Geonu and Soomin performed Don’t Forget and came in 7th place; new recruit Kim Seohyung performed I Don’t Love You with Hong Seongjun of BDC, and lost to Geonu and Soomin. Hong Seongjun was eliminated, unfortunately.

You might remember Geonu as the one who used to have light pink hair. He’s on Just B with Bain. You might remember Chicago’s own Soomin as the one who sang “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” in the vocal check in. And you might remember Kim Seohyung as just being a kind of lovable weirdo with a surprisingly deep voice and a sort of stiff, formal manner despite his relatively young age.

Left to right: Yeonwoo, Yunseo, Joohee

In the previous round, Ji Yeonwoo and Jeong Yunseo performed The Little Prince and came in 8th place; new recruit Park Joohee performed performed The Moon with Kwon Euibin, and lost. Euibin was eliminated, unfortunately.

You may remember Yeonwoo as the one who forgot the words to a Mamamoo song in front of Solar even though he’s from her agency. He certainly remembers, I’m sure. You may remember Joohee as the one who cried at the end of his song in the 2x2 mission and couldn’t sing. Meanwhile, Driver Yunseo is the hero of the maknae team, determined and confident no matter what.

Seeing the two teams onstage, the guys in the green room say the two teams look like villains and “a traffic light.” The judges think that Joohee looks like he’s wearing his dad’s clothes -- I think it’s his loose white pants that give that impression. He also looks terrified.

Team Maknae introduces themselves as “The Youngest Musicians” and do some anime poses. It’s cyooo!

Soomin from the other team immediately pipes up to point out that he’s the same age as the guys in Team Maknae.

The judges ask Joohee how he’s doing, and he says he has decided to be cooler this time. Well, I hope so.

Then Team Mismatch introduces themselves as “Taco Trio” because they ate Mexican food whenever they practiced and each had different favorite dishes -- tacos, quesadillas, and burritos. “Just like we like various dishes,” Seohyung says, “we want to show our diverse charms on stage.”

Dahee encourages the teams to smack talk, and they do, and it’s whatever.

We head into the flashback, picking up with the moment when Yunseo and Yeonwoo recruited Joohee. Joohee was really happy to be on a team with his fellow maknae (youngest) and is looking for a song that will go with their image.

They’ve decided on Nakka by Akmu.

If you don’t know Akmu, they’re a brother-sister duo with undeniable talent signed to YG. They’re not really idols; brother Chankhyuk writes their songs and sings on them, and sister Suhyun might have the single most beautiful voice in all of pop, both kpop and western pop. They’re super popular in Korea, and are called things like “The Nation’s Siblings.” They’re also my fella’s favorite Korean-based musical act by a wide margin. He full on just listens to Akmu.

If you want to get to know them a bit, you can check out Suhyun’s solo song Alien, which is probably her most “idol”-like moment. I already mentioned her performance in Hopeless Romantic in the previous post. And then from Akmu themselves there’s always Dinosaur.

Anyway, I actually hadn’t heard Nakka before but it’s great. A collab with IU? Of course I’m on board. It seems to be about taking a leap of faith when you’re in a good relationship….? I’ll let you be the judge. Joohee says that the song represents closing your eyes and sort of letting go and being courageous.

Driver Yunseo says that he thought the song might be a bit monotonous without some form of performance/dance, so they decide to add some movement. They want to provoke feelings, so they… wear sunglasses? Ok.

They’re rehearsing in a room at Mystic Story, which is Jeong Yunseo’s agency. (Mystic Story is home to Lucy, a boy band, and Billlie, a girl group.) They talk a bit about how they have a chingoo on the opposing team. And again, the subtitles translate “chingoo” as friend, so in the subtitles they’re saying things like “We can’t lose to a friend!” But of course, as you know, chingoo *can* mean friend but it also can mean “someone the same age.” Ok, cool, we’re good.

They’re at some sort of interim evaluation and see their rivals, so they decide to visit them and see… I don’t know, what they’re up to?

Geonu is up to wearing that hat, so, that’s good.

Driver Yunseo asks, “Is there anything you guys can do better than us?” And I mean, what did he think they’d say back to that? Geonu, reasonably, says, “What do YOU think? I mean, honestly, I do everything well.” It’s so odd -- did Yunseo think the other team would be like, “Actually, we’re bad singers, so you should win”? Soomin says, “In a way, everyone on our team has debuted. We’re pros, and you’re amateurs.” I don’t know if that’s entirely accurate, but I guess it’s true that Seohyung has performed on stage, and I guess Soomin put out a single or something, so, sure. Anyway this whole scene makes me really uncomfortable and I’m glad when it’s over!

It’s performance day. Team Maknae turns their backs to the judges then turns back around wearing sunglasses.

This isn’t as random as it might seem; when Akmu performed this song live on Sketchbook, they wore sunglasses too. I think they’re trying to look

The performance begins.

Full version without reactions.

My thoughts:

Aww, I really liked this. I think all three of them have great voices and they sound great together.

Left to right: Yeowoo, Yunseo, Joohee

I think Yeonwoo might hold his eyes open like that to make them look bigger, but it just makes him look scared. I don’t think he actually was scared, though. He sounded great.

It’s funny, I don’t have as much to say about this performance as I do about performances I like less. They all have similar voices; all three have good breath control, no nasality, and an lovely natural vocal color. When they did that bit where they sort of echoed each other back and forth, it almost sounded like the same person singing over and over.

Joohee’s voice is my favorite of the three. It’s just the cleanest and prettiest, in my opinion. I think this is the best I’ve heard him sing this whole time.

Yeonwoo might be the weakest of the three but that’s a compliment to them, not an insult to him. He seems slightly uncomfortable on higher notes -- it’s an issue with agility, I think. He can hit them straight on, but having to hit them suddenly on a run is harder for him. Still, he’s a great singer.

Yunseo’s voice has the most texture, which adds a bit of interest to the trio. He also had that lovely long note with amazing dynamic control (ie, he controls his volume).

I loved the close harmony and almost-acappela moment toward the end. Nice work!

I’m not sure I *loved* the whole stylized, robotic movement thing they did, but it was cute and funny enough. They were doing a thing and it was a way to add interest without using up the breath they needed to sing.

I do worry that maybe the song wasn’t the best choice, just because it didn’t have the emotional resonance or engagement that some of the other songs have had….? But maybe that will work in their favor, helping them stand out in a group of serious, ponderous songs. Regardless, I’m cheering for them to win. I enjoyed this a lot.

In the MNET edit, the judges are laughing during their super serious “bada badas,” but then Joohee starts to sing and Eunkwang loses his SHIT.

Every time the guys do the badabums in their action poses, everyone laughs -- but when they actually sing, everyone is like, “but they can really sing!”

We see Eunkwang the most, but it seems like everyone’s having a great time.

Dahee loves it too!

The judges applaud without hesitation when the guys are done, and all theother guys backstage cheer.

Wendy tells Joohee that when he started to sing at the beginning, she thought they were just playing the pre-recorded song. Fair -- that kid obviously ate the CD for breakfast. Eunkwang adds to the praise, saying that Joohee was like an uncut gemstone that has now become polished.

Eunkwang also praises the teamwork and staging, saying that it made everything fun and light.

Guest Judge Guy -- whose name I never remember so I’ll just have to call him Guest Judge Guy and you’ll just have to make your peace with that -- says, “You were so charming that I thought, ‘I could even become a fan if it’s a team like this.’” Me too, GJG! Me too!

That’s about all the feedback we hear, and then it’s time for Team Mismatch!

Everyone’s interested to see what the “bad guys” are going to do.

The judges wonder about this combination -- Seohyung seems to be an odd choice to add to the duo of Soomin and Geonu. They had had to choose among Seohyung, Joohee, Gwangseok, and Woong, and I’m not sure if there’s anyone they’d prefer to that.. I think Soomin didn’t want to work with Joohee -- he seems to look down on the young trainees, kind of like, I don’t know, like he’s too good to work with them? I don’t mean to be so negative about Soomin but I’ve been open about how he rubs me the wrong way, so at least I’m not pretending I’m totally objective here.. I also think Soomin wouldn’t have wanted to work with Woong -- the two of them worked together on Ditto and I didn’t sense much camaraderie on the team. I think Gwangseok’s voice wouldn’t mesh well at all with Soomin and Geonu’s lighter tones. So it kind of had to be Seohyung. And a bass voice could add a lot of interest to any team, right?

The judges ask Seohyung how he feels about singing the song the team is going to sing, and he says cheerfully that he’s never sung in this genre before, but that since the song is called Joker, he’s going to be a Joker in this performance. Love that! Imagine, just saying to your teammates, “Ok, I haven’t done this genre before, but I’m ready to try.” IMAGINE THAT!

We head into the flashback and see Geonu and Soomin entering the Small Room of Serious Decisions, muttering to themselves, “I hope he’s still there!” And quite to everyone’s surprise, they seem to be enthusiastically interested in Kim Seohyung.

I had assumed that they’d chosen via process of elimination -- that they didn’t want a trainee like Joohee, a low tier like Woong, or a strong, uncontrolled voice like Gwangseok’s. But nope, seems like they really wanted Seohyung, or at least are doing a good job of pretending that they did. Good for them either way.

Seohyung is like, “I can’t believe the ‘Chicago baby’ wants me!” (He says “Chicago baby” in English -- pretty funny.) When he runs into them in the hall, Geonu says in Korean, “We chose you!” and Seohyung replies in good-sounding English, “Seriously?!?”

We get a little flashback montage showing how high energy Geonu and Soomin are, and how calm and polite Seohyung is. I think my favorite is him bumping into a door and then saying thank you to it. Also we’re reminded that he likes to watch car documentaries. WHAT ARE CAR DOCUMENTARIES???

(The Korean letters phonetically spell out the English words “Welcome, my bro.” Also: s w e a t e r spotting)

The guys meet up to plan and rehearse, and Geonu and Soomin reveal that they already had a song in mind: Joker by Big Naughty.

Ok, Big Naughty is the guy who sang Hopeless Romantic, which we’ve talked about a few times -- the song that guest starred the female half of Akmu (who sang Nakka). Big Naughty’s song Joker features Jamie, formerly known as Jimin Park, who you might know for being a host/personality on a lot of Korean shows, or for her song 3D Woman or maybe April Fools (two awesome songs). She finally got out of JYP’s basement and she’s out and about now!

Joker seems to be about that tension between wanting to have a sincere, genuine relationship with someone, where you let down your guard, and wanting to protect your heart and keep things light. It has a light, sort of jazzy sound that reminds me a lot of And July by Heize and Dean.

So yeah, Soomin and Geonu tell Seohyung about the song they’ve picked, and he says he’s never heard it. Of course he hasn’t. It’s not a car documentary. Geonu explains that he thinks this will help all of them by letting them show something new but also use their talents.

Seohyung interviews, “I contemplated the situation momentarily. Truly, singing a ballad would be easier, but if I were to do so, how would improvement be possible?” See, that’s my guy. He tells the duo that he’s ready to try it -- “use me as a joker,” he says. Soomin challenges him to try smack talk, and he says, in English: “....… Babies! …. We… we go to the next round!” That’s about all he can do, but it’s great.

Then they decide they have to make a handshake and help Seohyung develop a “vibe.” I think they’re having fun and getting to be friends. It’s cute.

Cutting back to performance day, the judges are like, I can’t imagine Seohyung singing this song. I can’t either, but that’s mainly because Nakka by Akmu is so firmly stuck in my head that I can’t remember how any other songs go until/unless I listen to another one.

The performance begins.

Full version without reactions.

My thoughts:

Overall, really great, mainly because of Soomin and Seohyung.

I wish that Soomin had been entranced by Woong or Bain instead of Geonu, who I think has one of the weakest voices on the show. I really don’t want to feel that way, since Geonu and Bain are in the same group and I want that group to be successful, but I can’t help how I feel -- that Geonu is vastly outshined by nearly every other vocalist on this show. His voice is very nasal, he’s often a bit off key, his high notes are strained and shrill sounding, and he lacks breath support on longer notes. He also is awkward in his movements, the way he kind of jerks around as if he’s semi-dancing.

Geonu’s deficiencies are highlighted by how lovely and sweet Soomin’s voice is. He also has a nice spoken tone that gives warmth to his rapping. I don’t have much to say about Soomin’s performance because it was just sort of universally good.

Seohyung surprised me, and I bet he surprised the judges, with how well he did here. I’m calling it now -- they’re going to do an instant replay of his little growl at the 1:35 mark. His high notes sounded supported, and his deep notes were really satisfying.

I’m a bit on the fence about the arrangement and staging. I love the idea of giving Seohyung the majority of Jamie’s lines, and having him sing them down an octave, so you have a bass coming in instead of an alto. Fun idea. But it did mean that Seohyung hung back for the first third of a three minute performance. I guess we’ll see what the judges think of that. I also wish there’d been more harmonies -- there are only maybe 10-15 seconds total where they’re singing in 3-part harmony. I would have liked to hear more.

If I had to guess, I would assume the judges will give this round to Soomin’s team, if for no other reason than I’ve noticed that Korean judges tend to just sort of prefer awarding wins to older people. It’s a weird sort of age discrimination, where they are indulgent to young people, but also habitually prefer older people. I’m not convinced that Soomin’s team actually did better, though.

In a fight between Soomin and Joohee, I’d say it’s a dead heat.

In a fight between Yunseo and Seohyung, also, a dead heat.

In a fight between Yeonwoo and Geonu, I choose Yeonwoo, no question.

Judging based on team synergy and harmonies, I’d choose the maknae’s team.

So yeah, I’d give the win to the maknae, but I still think the judges are going to give it to Soomin’s team. Let’s see what happens….

In the MNET edit, naturally, we get a lot of reactions to Soomin’s first few notes. And of course, when Seohyung starts to sing, the judges are delighted too.

Ah, I was wrong, there’s no instant replay of Seohyung’s growl, but we do see Wendy make this face:

.. and we do get an instant replay of his lines “... so let’s just play the game.” Checks out.

After Geonu says “take a little nap,” he does this weird little dance and makes weird faces and it’s very like, IDK, your cousin dancing at a party when he’s high on shrooms and no one wants to tell him no music is playing. You know? Very that.

Baekho’s face speaks for all of us, I think:

When they’re done, of course everyone applauds.

Everyone is happy for Seohyung for trying something new and basically nailing it.

Best pals Jay and Wumuti do their best Seohyung deep-voice impression:

It’s obviously very affectionate.

Dahee asks the judges what they thought. Jaehwan says that he got on his feet almost immediately for this performance. He says to all three, “your free, sexy, and fatal charms mesmerized me today,” then calls out Soomin for his excellent intro notes.

VCG praises the group’s teamwork and harmony, and then reminds Seohyung that he (VCG) had told Seohyung to change not his voice, but his expression and manner. And Seohyung did really well at doing just that. Also, his bass voice added a lot to a team with a high tenor like Geonu.

Guest Judge Guy praises Seohyung for tackling a new genre. Yeah!

Baekho tries his best to tell Geonu to stop dancing like a dorky weirdo. He says, “Geonu, I think you have everything you need -- but the image you’re trying to portray kind of ruined the performance in general.” We’re reminded that Geonu did the same kind of thing in the other two performances. Baekho says that if Geonu could just tone that down, he could win a lot of fans. Is anyone going to mention his pitchiness or nasality or lack of vocal agility….? Just me…? Ok…

So, it’s time to get both teams up on stage to find out their fate.

The judges vote. Wendy notes that she might feel different if she’d heard the song in the opposite order. Not fair, then. Maybe watch a playback of both or something.

The results are revealed…

Red is Soomin’s team, and blue is Team Maknae. Only Eunkwang voted for Team Maknae, so Soomin’s team wins.

Dahee asks the winners to say a few words, and Geonu basically says he feels bad about the fact that the losing team is being eliminated, but promises to keep up the good work. Driver Yunseo says they performed with no regrets and enjoyed working together, and hopes to meet everyone again in the future.

They walk off stage together, and it looks as if Yunseo and Yeonwoo are both comforting Joohee. Aww. Backstage, they say they’re a little sad that it’s over, but they aren’t crying. I think they were pretty much expecting to lose. Aww.

Well, I really want to see all of them again in the future, and I think we will. Yunseo is signed to Mystic Story and Yeonwoo is signed to RBW -- both good agencies. I don’t know where Joohee is signed, or if he’s signed at all. However, things often shuffle around after shows like this, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Kim Minseo from Bain’s team ends up debuting with some or all of Team Maknae here in the next year or two. Team Maknae, fighting!

Soomin’s team has a group hug backstage and vows to stick it out to the end.

And that brings us to the end of the round, and the end of this post! Thanks as always for being a friend! I'll see you in the next one.

#bpr recaps build up #mnet build up #build up mnet #build up

2 notes · View notes

whatudottu · 10 months

Text

Me thinking about electrical compression and aliens again has led me to think about another repeat biology subject of the amperi, and how I can explain wire travel in a (still fictional) logical way- find out next now how that turns out!

You know, after I have posted multiple other stuff between this being completed and this actually being posted-

One thing that I tend to do when considering amperi biology is that they need to be a little moist (apologies for the word) in order to breathe, but to take more inspiration from jellyfish - surprisingly the actual inspiration for amperi (probably because you couldn’t exactly design constantly transparent characters in animated tv) - and say that physically a lot of their main body is made from this moisture. Unlike jellyfish it’s not quite water, rather it’s a conductive fluid that actually contains a lot of electrochemical signals akin to a nervous system. This in particular is a biological reason why emotion reading is part of amperi languages - communication is done through the excretion and dispersal of this nervous system in water - and why the now ‘surrounded by emotion chemicals’ Ra’ad due to his undiscovered psychometry mutation was constantly overwhelmed, overstimulated, and overcome with anxiety.

And it’s this excretion that actually plays a language role too, essentially being practically REQUIRED in communication especially with how in water it spreads out. A reason why in the air amperi are a little damp is because excretion is a constant (but consistent) autonomic function, like conductive sweat that contains so many messages, though in surface environments it does make communication difficult. Partly the reason why Ra’ad finds himself preferring land, even if either way he’d still need to wear some damp robes when a dry season hits; it beats having to wear one everytime in the ocean with the cultural equivalent connotation of constantly wearing a balaclava though-

And all this ‘filled with goo’ stuff doesn’t mean that amperi have a true main body under their skin (that’s for @ohyeahben10 ‘s Ultimate Ampfibian) but it DOES mean that if an amperi were to perhaps compress themselves to a smaller ‘fit through the neck of a bottle’ size, they build up a charge and in fact begin to conduct electricity. It’s an adaptation for both offence and defence, either being used in constricting tentacles to electrocute prey and victims through excretion and consequent conduction of their electrochemical gel or - a way we will explore in depth next - electrifying predators and assailants using complete compression and slipping between teeth, gills, blowholes, and/or grasp, leaving a trail of ‘lightning’ in escape.

That’s right baby I’ve finally figured out how to logic my way around wire walking!

I’ve mentioned a few times that I think amperi have a bone in them, often referring to he more literal bone like structure in cuttlefish rather than the flexible structure inside of a squid called a gladius or pen, the squid of course being the basis of my ‘this exists in real biology’ inspiration. In fact, perhaps this gladius will serve to fit much better with the amperi, as it’s role in Earth squids is to serve as protection of visceral organs and an attachment for very important muscle groups; I say, grinning into the camera as if I were a villain thinking of something dastardly.

With this gladius, not only does it serve as a base for the important muscle groups of compression - a complicated dynamic of contracting muscles to reduce size and expanding pores to excrete the mucus they adapted for - but in amongst the visceral organs (from a list of few includes the very important heart) there is a very valued organ that in fact produces its conductive gel, sitting nice and comfortable against the brain where these electrochemical signals translate into commands ether somatic or autonomic. As the muscles contract using the gladius as it’s base it in fact squeezes the perfectly placed organ that disperses this electrochemical as if along a highly distributed nervous system and in fact carries with it charge, charge that conducts to whatever purpose the amperi compresses with.

It is that same conductivity that amperi naturally are that allows them wire and cable transportation, since it is a high energy mode of travel for a significantly reduced body size. In a great grand ocean of vast expanses it’s less effective than the semi-compression of weaponry and desperate compression of ‘please don’t eat me’, or the less desperate semi-compression of electric inking; too much energy for too little time, it’s like trying to sprint across the country.

But in areas with a denser population with specific infrastructure built as the amperi equivalent for public transportation or perhaps at a more basic level a bike lane, literal cable travel is developed around the idea of being high energy fast travelling short distance trips. In ocean cities or towns in close proximity to them, think like if internet cables along the ocean floor were filled with people going to work or school or just going out for lunch. On the land where a lot of the metalworking is literally landlocked to be in as dry of air as it can in order to smith, there are powerlines that provide local traffic for any surface towns or workplaces, but you also get a few more uh trespassers along the lines because a not insignificant number of people live on the surface as hermits away from the ocean and many lines are mainly for transit companies.

From personal experience of accidentally walking through my local transit worksite (fuck you google maps) finding that I’m on the wrong side of a tollgate, sometimes where you need or want to go, the fastest route just so happens to be through the company lines.

On Earth, because the only reason we have internet cables and powerlines is because we use them as - well - powerlines and internet cables, it’s not as if an amperi runaway who’s lost and afraid far from whatever he might’ve called familiar if not quite the home he wanted it to be has any real societal understanding that Earth is the American transportation system of Tesslos, Ra’ad just takes the lines and is internally horrified that they lead directly into houses on occasion.

And I think that’s it for wire walking lmao- this was meant to be posted after I rambles about petrosapien nervous systems but yeet yeet!

#amperi #ra’ad #technically only here to contrast and explain the mutants and magic complications of overstimulation #ben 10 #xenobiology #i mentioned ‘damp robes’ here- essentially they’re there to kinda soak up the excretion and use it as a coolant and moisturiser on land #surface workers have damp robe ppe and uniforms (depending on their jobs; smithies have to be VERY damp)#and surface hermits tend to wear or not wear robes depending on the weather #aggregor happened to snatch ra’ad in the middle of the wet season or in a marsh or something #either way- ra’ad got yanked away from damp weather and shunted in various dry environments #probably the only reason ra’ad didn’t shrivel was because he was so used to ‘not expressing’#aka he has does his best to ‘recycle’ his own goo by just kinda *splat* patting himself down #it does mean he can travel along wires without needing to drag behind a wet blanket

9 notes · View notes