#the first three episodes were kinda ok

[carbonatedcartoonist]

Guys I’m actually obsessed with “you’re a loser” from the new hazbin hotel show. I think I’ve watched it ten times now.

#its…. #god it’s SO GOOD #this is all I’m going to be thinking about for like a week #masquerade the entire episode was just god damn #the first three episodes were kinda ok #but that one #fuck #and poison is a banger too #hazbin hotel #honestly p much all the songs have been insane hits

[daria-meoi]

About the Nightingale song and the Bentley.

Ok. I did a thing. You know that Nightingale song the Bentley plays when Crowley starts the engine. I was sure it was a reconciling message from Azi. Simply because the Bentley has been shown to be almost sentient and couldn't function as a device in which you could queue a song to play later (some summer children claim Crowley did that). She always responds to the current moment. And she's been shown to have formed a particular bond with Azi.

So there are three possible instigators of the song:

1. The Bentley herself: a) if she is that tone-deaf (which is almost impossible), b) if she is that bitch (which is possible - Crowley mentions that his car is not a fan of him living in her - but unlikely).

2. Crowley's state of mind (which kinda contradicts the seemingly obvious).

3. Aziraphale.

Now. The creators wanted to put this song there and to make it instantly recognizable so that Crowley could switch it off pretty fast but we still caught the line about the nightingale singing. So it couldn't start from the beginning, it instantly went about the nightingale (another point against the "he queued it" version).

The song has this line three times. I've never been that good at processing audio information, but after several listenings I'm pretty sure that the second one is used here.

Due to all sorts of circumstances it was technically not that easy and not at all pretty, so I'm not posting it. I had to use an old shitty phone with VPN to open the song on YouTube first, recorded it on a different phone, then recorded a video of the final minutes of the 6th episode (together with my own reflection in the screen and shaky hands). And superimposed them on each other matching that bit, which the Bentley plays. I did math first of course, so I knew what I would get, but still wanted to see it with my own eyes.

And you know what? The song starts playing when Azi asks the Metatron about the plan, the lyrics start when he gets the answer about the second coming. When Azi turns and looks at Crowley it goes "There were angels dining at the Ritz". When Crowley is getting into the car the song goes "That when you turned and smiled at me", here the Bentley picks up "A nightingale sang in Berkeley square". The last accords of the song end together with Azi's insane-ish smile followed by the blur.

Make of this what you like.

Upd: here's the video edit I made.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #the Bentley #no nightingales #I'm perfectly normal about it #good omens meta

[waitmyturtles]

Unknown: The Final Episodes (Episodes 10, 11, and 12)

(*CAVEAT!!!!* I wrote this screed before the producers of Unknown cut a different version of episode 11. I have only watched the first version, the version that the Taiwanese BL gods had originally intended us to watch, hmph. My commentary below only reflects my thoughts on this first version. I'm gonna allow myself to be old and crabby and say, "BAH! We didn't revise episodes back in *mah* day!" to excuse myself from watching it and I'm an old mom, I have no fuckin' time to watch a revise, so so sorry fam lmaooo ok byeeeee)

So -- I'll repeat what I think a lot of us have thought about the final arcs of Unknown, and where I could have used more of the delicate, thoughtful exploration about family roles and boundaries that the first nine episodes of this show displayed. These are the elements that drew me to the show, as well as Yuan's general spiciness and empathic intelligence towards Qian.

Anyone who reads around here knows that themes that I'm driven by include Asian intergenerational trauma and Asian family systems and dynamics. This show (here, here, and my tag) -- oh lordo, this show tackled expected, internalized, and externalized roles and responsibilities within families head-the-fuck-on, at least for the first nine episodes.

Let me state the obvious first: this show veered off the highway a bit too early to demonstrate that, WOW, Qian really is the

HORNIEST MAN ALIVE, WOW, EVER --

(dang dude, you really needed to get down EARLIER and MORE OFTEN, because that IN-OFFICE AFTERGLOW, MY MAN, like, listen, I'm down for the post-nut vibes! all support and celebration and respect, but also, we need to delegate these tasks, we're on the clock, you are a co-owner of this company, back to work! chop-chop)

and MAN, could I have used a quick wave of a flag or hand that his deficit for love, care, and tenderness would hit at THAT SPECIFIC angle (HEH HEH) so very quickly and VERY INTENSELY at the start of episode 11. That took me out. I had to just scream at @lurkingshan. I watched that episode IN PUBLIC, PEOPLE!

We were missing some steps there. It was a FABULOUS actual love scene. But I could have used more of

1) Yuan contemplating the reality of what was going to go down BEFORE that scene began, and

2) To see Qian enter that moment as well. Instead, we hit the sheets, and had to process that very intense scene WITH flashbacks, which, whew, was a whole thing, all while I was just kinda literally screaming.

Those flashbacks were supposed to tell me that Qian had come to terms with Yuan's lifelong longing, but the down-dirty confirmed that for me before I was ready to get to the same mindset that Qian had started that scene with. The very important timing and pacing of the emotional exploration and reveals that we had been presented with in the previous episodes was jettisoned for the booty.

So, yeah. That was out of order.

What I also missed in these episodes was, as I stated earlier, the previous and very intentional exploration of family roles and boundaries that this show was playing with prior to the last three episodes.

With this emotional line concluding in episode 10, Qian showed us consistently that his struggle with negotiating his older-brother-and-fatherly responsibilities was his biggest burden, alongside the lifelong processing of the abuse he had received at the hands of his mother, and his further processing of her death.

Qian and Yuan get together in episode 11, literally go out on a date, and Qian woos Yuan.

Qian's continued resistance to being open about his health to Yuan is extremely reminiscent of a parent (I think of Asian parents, but I think this is common to global parenthood) hiding a health status from a child. This part of the story was still an important one. Qian was STILL holding onto his understanding of his responsibilities to Yuan and Lili as a parent/older sibling figure. If he didn't get out of that surgery in perfect condition, he worried about their futures -- regardless of the facts that Yuan was self-sufficient, and Lili was both self-sufficient and supported by a loving partner. Because that's how so many parents are: no matter the stability of their children, parents will see children as their children.

What I liked about this storyline, and what I could have used a bit more of (ideally in an extra episode) WAS HOW YUAN'S FAMILY ROLE CHANGES AUTOMATICALLY BY BECOMING QIAN'S PARTNER.

Lili calls Yuan a "sister-in-law," but he also becomes a

brother-in-law, AND a stepdad, AND THEN ALSO BECOMES A VERY NOT TECHNICAL GRANDPA, ALONG WITH GRANDPA/UNCLE/OLDER BROTHER QIAN

AND, AND!

We see Yuan THEN CARING FOR QIAN as the younger brother he's always been, AND

AS QIAN'S PARTNER

which they're calling wife or sister-in-law in the show, which, bleh to gendered terms, but

THEY WERE GOING THERE WITH YUAN

but we didn't get enough of it.

THAT IS A HUGE CHANGE FOR YUAN.

HE IS EQUAL NOW!

We just didn't get enough exploration there. Because the show was centering Qian's narrative (which I don't blame the show for at all), and mans was in his post-boop vibe the whole time, that we didn't sit enough with the changing of these roles FOR THESE TWO MEN, and while Lili hinted at it, I would have liked just a few more minutes at the macro-high level to explore what this meant for this entire, wonderful family unit. This is just huge Asian family dynamics stuff regarding who has power, and how that impacts how Qian interacts with Yuan, how Qian has to internally process the growth of his "child," as it were, to be LITERALLY EQUAL to him as his partner; and also for Lili to contemplate as she regards Yuan now as someone partnered with her caretaker. Yuan now would kind of step into that role, as well. THAT'S HUGE for dynamics changing and rebuilding.

Let's also remember that San Peng transcends these boundaries, too, but it's a bit easier for him, because he hasn't lived in that house. But he's the family's benefactor, in a way, which both Yuan and Lili acknowledge. And his turning into a partner into the family is also a significant boundary-crossing.

Finally, Qian's concern for Lili. Yes, he was concerned for her career. He didn't want Lili to turn out like his mom.

I would have liked to have proof in that concern, literally. I say this as a mom.

Qian was missing something big. Lili's baby was going to be born into a nice big family unit that Qian was the creator and anchor of.

At least they had Qian and Yuan sitting on baby toys to end the series. Lili, truly, had nothing to worry about. The gay uncle-grandpas were going to be there to help raise the baby, because as an Asian viewer, I am going to assume the extended family's participation

(NOT ASSISTANCE! ACTIVE PARTICIPATION!)

in the raising of that child.

I'm not sure why Qian missed that, except for the very real reason of familial PTSD and intergenerational trauma from his mother. But San Peng was right there as Lili's partner and as the actual dad. And Qian was valid to have a concern. But that could have been a moment where Yuan, also, as a new equal "elder" of this newly readjusted family, could have reassured everyone that this baby was going to be born in a wonderful, close-knit, loving extended family.

These readjusted roles were not fully named and explored. If I were Lili, I know I'd be having that baby in the good hands of all of the men around me that would help me raise the kiddo in a happy and supportive environment.

One more point about the baby. We need more babies in BLs. We need to show men becoming fathers, people becoming parents. This is a right that all people have. We need more of it to emphasize that all people are deserving of the families that they want to create -- and truly, it was so BEAUTIFULLY SYMBOLIC that Qian would be such a good caretaker as to be blessed with further generations, because he literally cared so well for Yuan and Lili that they could bless him back with growing the family he tended to. We just didn't get enough sitting with that.

Finally! TF was up with that office vibe in the end. The tops, the bottoms, the public kissing. That we got that instead of the role explorations -- k, but the tone of all that was a little off, if it was meant to be comedic. And yes, I definitely took away that I was meant to ship Dr. Lin and Le Ge. I have NO IDEA why they were talking otherwise. Doc and Don are meant to, ya know, YA KNOW? Right? Ummm, lol.

All of this together is enough to put a touch of a damper on my memories of this show. I didn't end with a high.

But I ABSOLUTELY LOVED what this show accomplished through the first 10 episodes. All these complicated, delicious boundaries and roles and responsibilities being explored! It's a joy, as an Asian, to watch this being explored in a queer Asian show.

We ended on some tropey bumps, but I'm going to remember this show overall with fondness, and I'm ultimately very happy that this was my first Taiwanese BL. I can't wait to catch up in this space more in due time.

#unknown #unknown the series #chris chiu #kurt huang #qian x yuan #yuan x qian #unknown meta #unknown the series meta

[prettypei]

plot: them with a popular! chubby! fem! s/o; fluff!

reader: chubby! popular! fem! Reader

characters: yuuta, maki

warnings: mentions of fatshaming/homophobia, reader is sassy, mild spoilers for culling game arc (?, spoilers for jjk s2, use of Japanese honorifics, reader and maki are both lesbian in maki's part, a creep in maki's part

a/n: littleeeee bit of a self-insert... I jus wanted 2 write a lil sth LOL, yuuta is 2nd year btw

YUUTA

a little backstory on the reader!! ok soso reader is a 2nd year who's the closest with the first years and in this au you're really close to yuji...you currently maintain a long-distance relationship with yuuta! (let's pretend culling games didn't happen lol)

so let's rewind to the episode where the slice of life is happening (aka the "yuji bf material" ep ACK)

it was just supposed to be the first years but you were in the area too cuz you had just finished a mission, and yuji REALLLYYYY wanted to watch Earthworm Man 4... so you reluctantly agreed to go with them

(ps the first years kinda have a crush on you,, like idolizing ykwim)

so the four of you finished the movie when you recieved a call from your bf

so you talk blah blah blah and you're like "wait, isn't it like 3 am in Africa?" and he replies with a nervous chuckle and a "well,, guess where I am now?" and you literally scream into the phone... okie the fic is down below!!

"You're WHAT?" You screamed into the phone. "(name)-senpai, please shut up." Megumi deadpanned. "sorry, megumi. BABE, YOU'RE WHAT?" "Babe?" The three underclassmen shared a confused look. "Wait, you're here? Like in front of the movie theater? I don't see-WAITHOLYSHITISTHATYOU-" The three of them turned heads to see the direction you were waving in. "(name)!" Yuuta yelled excitedly. "O-okkotsu-senpai!" Megumi said with a surprised look on his face. "Who's he?" Nobara whispered to you, giving yuuta a weird look. "Show some respect." Megumi hisses while glaring at Nobara. "Ah, it's fine!" Yuuta smiles at all of them. "I'm just here to visit my wonderful girfriend!" "Girlfriend?" The three underclassmen feign a shocked expression as Yuuta squishes your cheeks together. "(n-name) has a boyfriend?!" Yuji squeaks. "Don't forget honorifics, it's disrespectful!" Megumi scolds once again, but he's the most surprised one of them all. "I thought you were single!" Nobara pouted. "Well, I'm not. Y'all ain't got a chance with me anyways." You smirked while giving Yuuta a peck on the cheek, leaving him flustered. "Awww... but I wanted to ask (name)-senpai out..." Yuji mumbles. "What?" Suddenly the atmosphere became cold and dark, and yuuta was glaring at a certain someone. "I-I mean-I thought-" Yuji stammered. "Yuu, babe, let's go. Let's go watch Barbie!" You insisted, pulling on his sleeve. "Okay, sure!" Yuuta's entire face lightens up as you pull him into the cinema. "O-Okkotsu senpai sure is scary..."

MAKI

reader is a 2nd year in this too :3

soooo maki is really like NOT open at all about your personal life, it's not that she's embarrassed of you it's just because she doesn't want others to stress her out about marriage, vows... she just wants to live the present

but that doesn't mean that she doesn't wanna share you with her closest friends though! And she's going to... but she keeps forgetting.

so basically you, maki and nobara are having a girl's day out and some creep tries hitting on ya...yk what's gonna happen.

"What do you guys want?" Maki asked you while you guys were lining up for the crepe shop. "I think... strawberry?" "Ohhh I want a blueberry one!" "Okay, I'll line up. You guys can go sit on a bench and rest." "You and Nobara walk to the bench under the tree, chatting excitedly while Maki told the cashier your order. All of a sudden, Nobara stopped talking and narrowed her eyes as a young man walked over. "He-Hello miss?" He asked timidly after tapping your shoulder. "Uh, yeah?" You give him a confused look. "Do I know you?" "N-No... I just wanted to ask for you nu-number...m-mommy...?" He squeaked, fiddling with his hands. At this point, you were beyond disgusted. "What the actual fuck?" You snap. "Get the-fuck-away from me!" "I-I like being degraded..." He whimpers as you push him away from you. "C-Can I get your number...? Promise I'll call you mommy..." "I don't-" "SHHHKKK." A long blade was dug in the bark of the tree behind the man, with only a millimeter to spare. "H-Huh?!" His voice's an octave higher. "Don't you ever touch my girlfriend ever again, scum." Maki growled as she came back with two crepes in her hands. "I-I-I won't! I swear I won't-I'll-I'll never-" "Shut up, little shit." Maki grumbled as she put her hand in yours, the man stumbling away and crying at the same time. "You okay?" Maki asked you with a concerned look. You giggled in response and held her hand tighter. "Love ya."

#pei writes 🖋️ #jjk #maki jjk #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu maki #jujutsu yuta #yuta #yuuta okkotsu #okkotsu yuuta #yuuta x reader #jjk yuuta #yuuta x you #yuuta okkotsu smut #yuta okkotsu #yuta x reader #yuuta x y/n #yuta x you #maki x reader #maki zenin #maki x you #maki x y/n #maki fluff

[dmercer91]

ebug's sister, dm91

ok, first post where blake is blake!! also, excuse the absolute dumpster fire that is my life, and is the reason that this post is one post and not like 47

last season! (2022-23) part one / part two / part three / part four / part five / part six / part seven / part eight / part nine / part ten / part eleven / part twelve

(2023-24)! part one /

blakefriarr_

liked by dawson1417, adamfantilli and 6,947 others

blakefriarr_: so many things have happened since i last popped up on all your timelines and made them immeasurably better!

this is episode one of season two of i-am-both-the sister-of-the-devils-home-emergency-backup-goaltender-and-also-happen-to-be dating-dawson-mercer-forward-for-the-devils series!

these pictures are in no particular order, because, i am moving into a new place with afore mentioned dawson mercer and have spent the last several weeks making it look like it's not the most depressing back alley murderous apartment any of you have ever laid your eyes on

and apparently, i have a ball ton of stuff!

regardless, here's what i've caught up on;

the entire nhl draft! though i have not acquired any new adoptees, it did come to my attention that the anaheim ducks as an organization did personally victimize me during the 2023 entry draft (they also took a BALLSY amount of time to re-sign bitch one and bitch two. what the literal fuck, dudes). also- if you are seeing this and you need help to flee, blink twice (not you adam) (you know who you are)

2, the entire preseason was also missed while i was one, curing myself from jetlag and the absolute dread of going back to uni and two, moving my egregious amount of shit with a spiteful level of independence. the devils won every preseason game! dawson scored that clusterfuck of a goal on slide two and we also got to see goalie bonks again! (i told you those pics weren't in order and i meant it)

three, (or four, i forgot what came first) quinneth played his first regular season game as captain of the canucks ad they kicked ass against the edmonton dudes. goncrats captain ;p

four (probably) rookie had both his first reg season nhl game AND his birth on the same day! he cried on camera for thousands of viewers and made me question kidnapping his brother and locking him in an abandoned building in ohio (who am i kidding i don't want to be in ohio). the blue jackets have since been doing blue jacket things (losing)

five (it's all blended together these days) the devs started their regular season and now i get to go to the arena and watch in peace as nico makes dumb faces, jack gets into petty scrums and goes to the box (apparently? that ones new.) and dawson does dawson things (be hot)

sixth and finally, assistant coach and captain quinn (he should probably drop a title for his mental health, me thinks) turned 24! i giggled profusely at an edit of him as tracksuit rob. good job on aging, kid 🎉

that's all, i think. (probably not, what do i know)

view 712 comments..

jj.friar31: remember when we were roomies??? siblings defying the odds?? i've been left out to dry. i'm MARINATING in my loneliness. you've basically shot me and left me out for dead, blakey.

→ blakefriarr_: this is a touch dramatic, that's MY thing

→ jj.friar31: if i agree to never steal your dramatics again will you come back

→ blakefriarr_: have u seen how pretty my boyfriend is?? no dude

→ jj.friar31: blake pls

adamfantilli: of every picture you could've used you just decided to screenshot me crying

→ blakefriarr_: hi im blake have we met??

→ adamfantilli: also, do not kidnap luca.

→ blakefriarr_: oh so you just don't want my love?? is that what this is??

→ luca.fantilli: do not kidnap me

→ blakefriarr_: BOOORRRINNNGGGGG

nicohischier: every day i wonder what it would be like if we didn't let the ebug's come into the room

→ blakefriarr_: do you want dawson to be lonely and bitchless

→ nicohischer: yeah kinda??

→ blakefriarr_: oh

jackhughes: why.

→ blakefriarr_ ehehehe your bucket doing weird things

_quinnhughes: ??????? why am i tracksuit rob????

→ blakefriarr_: who else would be tracksuit rob

→ _quinnhughes: nobody needs to be tracksuit rob, friar.

→ _blakefriarr_: WRONG! you do :)

_connorbedard: am i who i are???

→ blakefriarr_: no apparently you are timbaland

→ _connorbedard: oh. okay?

→ adamfantilli: @/_connorbedard you get used to it

→ _connorbedard: do i want to??

→ adamfantilli: eh. 50/50

dawson1417: oh how i've missed the chaos

→ blakefriarr_: fbejdbsjshdghshsb

→ dawson1417: sometimes it's almost like you say words

→ blakefriarr_: :p i love you

→ dawson1417: i love you too, my girl <3

tannercharlotte: this is my reality tv

→ blakefriarr_: i'll leave him for u say the word

→ dawson1417: HEY??

→ blakefriarr_: shhhh baby go sleep

→ tannercharlotte: don't leave him b he doesn't have to know

ryangraves27: she back

→ blakefriarr_: i back!!

nhlblackhawks: ??

→ njdevils: don't '??' her she's right

→ blakefriarr_: thank you (trade for charlie)

→ nyrangers: i can excuse hawks slander but i draw the line at trying to take our char

→ nhlblackhawks: you can excuse hawks slander?

→ jj.friar31: why do teams keep doing this you have ENOUGH leverage over me

trevorzegras: am i bitch one or bitch two

→ trevorzegras: actually yk what don't answer that i don't wanna know

→ blakefriarr_: too bad you're actually both jamie is an angel

view more comments..

#dawson mercer #dawson mercer x reader #hockey imagine #nhl imagine #new jersey devils #young wild & free au !

[itsoka-y]

Alright chat is time to ask the real questions here and by real questions I mean who of these kids is chronically online and what flavor of chronically online are they. I bring forth some of my choices (plus a few headcanons)

I just know she ran a Tumblr account like the navy during the golden years where Superwholock reigned supreme I just can feel it in my bones. She also strikes me as someone who enjoys a bit of a conspiracy but she'll have an alternate account for that (and also I think this was a phase for her to develope her writing and journalism skills through her posts even though she was kinda pulling some things out of her ass sometimes but then again she was 13)

Kinda self-explanatory if not even canon. He'd be one of those annoying ass otakus who try to gatekeep fucking naruto of all things because if you cannot name the sharingan Sasuke used in episode 234 then you're not a real fan.

(i have not watched a single episode of Naruto and it shows i'm sorry)

He's also a misogynist and would engage in discourse with any fujoshi that crosses his timeline because why you forcing Naruto and Sasuke to be gay?

Unrelated but this is like my favorite picture of him of all time i'm afraid he's the only man i'll choose over a bear

My favorite headcanon is that he's the wildest card you'll ever cross paths with in your life. Like you see him from afar and you kinda get a feel for what he's going to be like (shy, polite bordering on coy, reserved etc. etc.) but then you get to meet and sure it's not like he's outregous or anything but him cracking a galvinazed steel and eco-friendly wood venneer joke or him sending one of those alpha images of an anthropomorphic wolf ripping its shirt would have never crossed your mind. And he has such a wide range as well; one day he's referencing world is mine by hatsune miku the next day you hear him quote breaking bad (someone cooked here) after someone scores a goal with a new hissatsu technique. He definitely knows what the omegaverse is

He really is oomf

Queen of tiktok. She'd be one of those younger gen z kids/older gen alpha that kinda romanticizes being a fangirl during the 2010s and feels nostalgia for it even if she never lived through those years. She also dabbles into some of the booktok territory, but I don't see her as those who only care for books based on "spicyness" but one of them "you like enemies to lovers because you want to believe that someone will fall in love with you even after seeing the ugliest parts first" kinda gals

When he's not training or working to support his little siblings, you bet your ass he's on facebook. He shows you memes that were relevant like two or three whole years ago but you don't have the heart to tell him so you just awkwardly laugh, reinforcing the cycle (the only ones who'd genuinely find them funny would be Tsunami but that's only because he's chronically offline)

He's so out of the loop and let's pray to god It stays that way. Bless his little soul

Hear me out. Terrible case of ipad kid even if he got out of it. I mean, he was playing to recreate the fire tornado when he was five years old and I like to imagine him as that one scene of little deku asking his mom to play on the computer the video of all might saving people but it's him pestering yuuichi to play him a compilation of all of Gouenji's hissatsu techniques. I find it adorable thank you very much. He's still lurking somewhere on twitter with his private account (he has 0 followers and he'd like for it to keep being that way) where he just vents about his life and feelings (look he's gone through so much and he needs a place to let it all out ok?) and retweets stuff from other emo kids online. I also know his spotify playlists are curated to perfection

As any child with a troubled home life, he copes by being an absolute MENACE online. He for sure has told people to off themselves at some point. Has sided with Drake during this years beef with Kendrick Lamar for the hell of it (doesn't even listen to the guy's music). Thank god the FFI wasn't running digital footprints' checks way back when because his ass would not have made the call into the team because of it. Got tamer as an adult and realized how fucked up some of the shit he was doing and saying was but has still gotten into trouble for some of his old tweets (he's definitely ruffled some feathers for quite a few football fans online and is quite the controversial character, you either love him or hate him i fear)

Same as Fudou but whereas Fudou was trolling through the league of Legends chat and on call of duty lobbies this one was trolling on fortnite. Maybe even roblox

And that would be it. Feel free to add as many other characters as you feel like because this is so fun to do and I want to see someone else's takes to this kinda thing 🫣

#otonashi haruna #kakeru megane #fubuki shirou #midori seto #tsurugi kyousuke #hijikata raiden #fudou akio #kariya masaki #ina11 #inazuma eleven #inazuma eleven go #honestly i have so much fun doing things like this #kinda let out how much of a chronically online freak i am myself but oh well #i am cringe but i am free

[steddieas-shegoes]

Request: THIS IDEA JUST SPARKED HOLY SHIT?? OK have you ever watched Hot Ones with Sean Evens (first we feast is the youtube channel) so basically that but Steve is the one being interviewed but he LOVES spicy food??(watch the episode with Florence Pugh i LOVE it but basically I want it to be kinda like that) just yeah that. Jxjxnxnx please and thank you

MY LOVE ❤️ I admit, most of what I watch of really anything is either highlights on Tik Tok or short clips my friends send me because I am out of touch with the cool kids. But Hot Ones is SO GOOD. The Lewis Capaldi episode (I do love him anyways) had me actually almost pee my pants laughing. I hope you love this fun (short, sorry) thing for this! - Mickala ❤️

-------------------------------------------------

“I just don’t know why you got Hot Ones. They could have had the whole band on there making idiots of themselves,” Eddie pouted.

He’d been pouting for two days now.

In fact, his entire band was from the moment Steve called him on tour to let him know that he would be doing the Hot Ones interview next week.

“I told you, they had a last minute cancellation and my schedule just worked. Maybe you’ll get next season,” Steve said over the phone as the oven timer went off to let him know his brownies were done cooking.

“Whatcha makin’ Stevie?” Eddie’s curiosity was adorable.

He was in London, just got off stage from their last show in Europe. Steve was in their home in LA, having the last lazy day in before his awards season started.

“If I tell you, you’ll be sad you’re missing it.”

“Tell us! Tell us!” Gareth said from much closer than Steve would have expected.

“Hi Gare Bear. No personal space tonight?”

Eddie laughed as Steve pulled the brownies out of the oven and shut it off.

“He said personal space is for people who don’t like each other and he likes me very much,” Steve could hear Eddie’s eye roll in his voice. “A shame because I can’t stand him.”

“Play nice boys. You’ll be home in less than 24 hours,” Steve reminded them.

Gareth lived a mile up the road from them with his boyfriend and their excessive amount of cats.

Excessive being four.

Steve was allergic, so any amount of cats seemed excessive to him.

But Steve and Gareth were close, had been since even before Eddie and Steve started dating.

He was Steve’s best man in their wedding, much to Dustin’s bafflement. He only didn’t argue because Eddie softened the blow by asking him to be his own best man.

Usually if baked goods or a home cooked meal were involved, Gareth would show up at their door ready to partake.

“You’ll be home when I get there?”

“Yep. Cleared my whole day just for you, baby.”

“Good. Miss you.

“Miss you too. You heading to bed?” Steve poked at the brownies, making sure they were cooked.

“Yeah, I’m beat.” Eddie yawned to emphasize how exhausted he was. “Did your manager tell them you love spicy foods or are you just gonna let them assume you’re a wimp?”

“Nah. It’ll be fun.”

—-------------------

When he arrives on the set of Hot Ones, Sean greets him with a smile and a handshake.

Eddie wasn’t able to come with him, but Robin had promised to record the whole thing just for them.

She watched from the side next to his manager, Nancy, and his bodyguard, Hopper.

They settled at the table, got mic’d up, makeup touched up, and Sean reminded him that if he absolutely had to tap out, they could stop recording and edit everything accordingly to make it look like he made it through the challenge.

Steve wasn’t worried.

The first three wings didn’t even have a kick. It was just a casual conversation between friends.

He talked about his work with a theater group for kids in New York City, as well as his work on an indie film that was coming out in the fall.

The fourth and fifth wings had a pinch of spice to them, but nothing to make even bat an eye.

Sean continued asking questions, Steve continued answering them.

On the seventh wing, Steve was barely distracted from the question: “What project of yours are you most looking forward to doing next?”

“I think I’ll be most excited to take some time off with my husband, working on starting the family we’ve wanted for a while. He’s been on tour for most of the last year, and we agreed it was a good time to figure out what we wanna do,” Steve said as he took another bite.

He could feel the burn of this one at least, felt the sting on his lips and tongue.

But it was very manageable, and the jalapeno flavor was almost refreshing. It tasted fresh.

“Okay, I have to ask: did you practice these beforehand?”

Steve snorted.

“No. I’m just not very sensitive to spicy foods. I usually keep a lot of hot sauces in my house. Poor Eddie’s learned how to tolerate spice because of it,” Steve said as they brought out the eighth wing.

“I’ve never had anyone so calm at this point. I’m starting to think even the hottest one won’t really bother you!”

“I guess we’ll see!”

The ninth wing was hot. He wouldn’t try to deny it.

“It does have a lovely watermelon flavor to it, very fruity and tangy on top of the spice. I like it,” Steve smiled.

He knew his face was getting a bit red from this one, and he reached for the water, but only had to take a couple of small sips before he was ready to keep going.

“Alright, for this one, we’ll ask a question for you to answer before and then we’ll have one for right after. You ready?”

“Bring it on!”

And it definitely did.

It was hot, and he could feel tears in his eyes, and sweat breaking out across his forehead.

“Finally, we have a reaction!” Sean exclaimed.

“This one’s definitely a lot more than the others,” Steve added, reaching for the milk.

He could tell Robin and Nancy were laughing, probably very much enjoying any amount of pain he managed to have when he went into this so sure that none of them would get to him.

“Final question: Would you ever consider retiring to follow Eddie on tour with your future family?”

Steve nodded once, taking another sip of the milk.

God, this one was hot.

“Uh, yep. I mean, retiring is a strong word. I would definitely take a long break. I’ve always wanted a family,” he stopped to take another sip and a bite of the celery. “I’ve wanted to be a dad for as long as I can remember. And I know Eddie wants that, but he also doesn’t wanna stop making music, and the rest of his band isn’t ready to take a break like that. I know it would be easy for me, so my plan would be to take at least a few years off.”

“Doing alright over there?”

Steve laughed, fanning his face.

“I’m okay. That just went from a kick to a beatdown pretty quick.”

“Well, you’re a pro at making it look easy. You deserve an Oscar for this performance!”

It was a ridiculous sentiment, but funny, and Steve was up for an Oscar this year.

He finished the glass of milk and shook Sean’s hand, thanking him for having him.

“Eddie is already in tears watching Sean watch you in disbelief,” Robin started as soon as he joined them again.

“What was all that at the end?” Nancy asked, arms crossed, face furious.

He usually had free reign in interviews, but he knew Nancy would tell him not to mention anything even slightly related to retirement.

His career had really only just taken off a couple years earlier, and talking about a break or retiring now would immediately cut his chances of good roles in half.

“Just the truth, Nance. You know Eddie and I wanna start a family,” he said as they started walking through the backstage area to leave.

“I just didn’t know that meant taking a break. I thought you’d just take turns with stuff or hire a nanny.”

Steve knew that worked for a lot of couples, but they both were too family-focused for that. They didn’t want a nanny raising their kids.

“Why are you freaking out?”

“I’m not! I just would’ve liked a heads up.”

Robin stared between them, eyes bouncing back and forth like it was a tennis match.

“I don’t have to tell you every single detail of my life. You know all that’s relevant right now.”

Nancy sighed, but nodded, turning away and typing furiously on her phone.

His phone rang seconds later.

“Sweetheart, let me just say: it is so sexy how you handle those hot sauces,” Eddie’s teasing voice was enough to get him back into a happy mood.

“Your standards for sexy are so low,” Steve said as he walked to the corner to get as much privacy as possible.

“No, it’s just that everything you do is sexy.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“But I’m yours.”

“And I’m yours.”

“Steve!” Sean’s voice came from behind him, large smile lighting up his face. “Sorry to bother you, but would Eddie and the guys like to come on the show as our bonus episode this season?”

Eddie was screaming yes through the phone, much to their amusement.

“So…yes?” Sean asked.

“Yes!” Eddie yelled.

Sean walked away to update the producer while Steve kept talking to Eddie.

“See? Now you’ll get your show, too.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #request #ficlet #stranger things #rock star eddie munson #actor steve harrington #modern au

[perfectfangirl]

notes after rewatching fallout s1 ep6

• this episode begins with cooper doing some masterful propaganda commercial work for vault tec • it's shown in black and white, cooper looks smooth and suave in a 50s way, he's smoking a cigarette and it's giving rod serling, he's in a suit and tie as he strolls the halls of vault 4 [the very vault lucy and maximus ended up at in the last episode] • so vault 4 has three foot thick lead casings, at least the vaults are annihilation proof • "strong enough to keep out the rads and the reds" cannot wait to see what kind of mind laundering barb did to cooper to persuade him to do content like this because • whew ok so i am going to make an attempt to explain the music choice here for the scene [because by looking it up, it feels like a choice made with express purpose]

• the instrumental playing here is titled "improvisation of "tchaikovsky's pathetique (andante)" by django reinhart. ok so what is tchaikovsky's "pathetique symphony"? well it's tchaikovsky's last symphony before his passing. what this got to do with anything? well it wasn't clear what this symphony meant [he never truly explained and he died suddenly] but some motifs with it that fans and studiers have explored something called tchaikovsky's "cross motif", parts of his own songs that he associated with the crucifixion, himself, and tristan [of tristan and isolde]. this motif is about star crossed lovers, y'all. i'll let y'all connect tour dots of your choosing for that one • pieces of this specific tchaikovsky symphony also have motifs of [catholic] requiems, some specialists in his work say this song deals with the power of fate in life and death--- all on wikipedia, there's so much more overtones just for this song and it's actually incredible in relation to this episode, i did not expect this

• cooper in the ad from two hundred years ago passing down the hallway with unit 428, the same exact street and unit lucy and maximus end up at • "meet the hawthornes" wait like the hawthorne institute right • "now this isn't just your average all american family, no lloyd and cassandra here are both scientists" and it's table of nothing but poc ✨ • when i first saw this ad filming scene, i thought they read their lines kinda funny but it really was because they were scientists and not actors lol • "wait a second, did you say "living down here?" well there hasn't been a nuclear incident, has there?" spine chilling--- played as a joke, in a commercial, the seriousness and direness being dismissed by vault tex • cooper doing a good ass take then giving that thumbs up [and to those actual ghouls in suits behind the vault windows looking in at the commercial set] • cooper thanking the scientists and kid actos for coming to do the scene 🥲 • you can tell cooper use to be background and stunt work because has so little ego and pomp when they yell "cut". he thanks the other performers, they're equals in his eyes

• cooper coming for bud's neck first meeting upon hearing that this mf is from west tek, love seeing him be mean to this guy • bud overseeing the rollout of the t45 power armour and talking about how bad the design flaws were without a hint of remorse for how many lives were lost to such a poorly produced piece of technology. "they looked great", if cooper would've punched him right then and there, i would've cheered • "product management was never my bag" what this mean for vault 31? • this conversation was crazy for two reasons, first, cooper is doing that thing again where someone is having a conversation with him but that man is not fucking listening--- barb is in the room and nobody and nothing else matters, he's done this like three times in the show and second, bud is talking to cooper like he's trying to pitch a product, all his conversations with cooper felt like that but the sinister thing about it is • "because what is the ultimate weapon to destroy your competition? it's not outselling them. it's not outsmarting them. it's time. time is the ultimate weapon." and we're told the entire thing, the play's the thing • time being the ultimate weapon means so much for this universe • "... when we almost lost the great state of alaska to the reds" you think they'll show the battle of anchorage or cooper fighting before the bombs fell? • bud is so devious. it's so satirical to me that i find him to be one of the most repulsive characters in this show. and they showed people eating people in this thing. and what do you know? he's like a manager or something. in the hr department. he might as well be as evil as mr. house lmao • i wonder if in the last two hundred years has cooper reflected on this conversation, it was abrupt but dull, almost like a business meeting, devoid of any long term meaning, one of the many inane conversations he's had with suits and yet... bud is telling cooper the exact vault 31 plans, a villain • cooper "i ain't reading all that. i'm happy for you though. or sorry that happened" bud's conversation to go be a wife guy with barb • the whole time, cooper and barb have been eying each other

• listen--- the way cooper slides right behind barb's back and starts kissing her shoulder, in front of like everybody, to the point of a staff barb was talking to leaves, i want to scream inside a pillow • you know? seeing cooper this type of romance and passion in the same episode he sews on that finger, i--- • "i'm at work." and cooper do not care, barb! y'all the only people in the room, baby. according to cooper--- "oh, how 'bout we clock out" he wants her so bad, i'm sick • "but what do you say you and me knock back a couple of pina coladas by the pool, listen to hifi..." the smile once present on barb's face slowly slides off as cooper says this. [cooper is such an introvert, swear] cooper just wanted to get out of there, be at home with his wifey ☹️

• going to be honest here and i say i don't like her throwing a party at their house without checking with or even telling cooper, it's kind of a pretty big red flag for her behaviour on out and i wonder if this is around the time she starts making the decisions that would lead to her and cooper's divorce • no a wrap party for an ad is crazy, vault tec was so in her pockets 😭 • lmao ok but when he thought the wrap party was elsewhere, the way he was like "ok so we go there for a little minute and talk then leave" like it was a game plan, he wanted to be home so bad lmaooo • "the things i'm willing to do for you never cease to amaze me" he would've gone to the ends of the earth for her, i think • i wonder, like the conversation with bud prior, does he reflect on this sentiment towards her. he kinda did and went along with whatever she said. until he couldn't • cooper and barb's house is beautiful btw • little easter egg is the paper cooper is reading at the wrap party in his bedroom says "nuka cola walks back new nuka" referencing coke's new coke fiasco 🤭 • cooper is looking at the vault tec ad of him for the vaults in the newspaper and i bet he's asking himself what he's doing • i don't like the parallel of cooper telling roosevelt he can't come down to the party to barb telling cooper dogs can't come into the vaults 😭 • "i'm heading into enemy territory" cooper is such an introvert 😞 but i also am curious if he's referring to the suits, the corporation and has always not liked this type of ideology and crowds anyways • didn't notice the second paper on the bedroom bench, it says "reds losing territory! troops deployed to far east" so things are clearly escalating [and apparently in the us' favour] • black is walton goggins' colour btw • this scene where cooper walks onto the stairs in front of his own movie poster for "a man and his dog" is one of my favourite scenes because like--- he oozes confidence, coolness, a man. it's a grand entrance, he's a star • this scene where cooper walks onto the stairs in front of his own movie poster for "a man and his dog" is one of my favourite scenes because like--- he oozes confidence, coolness, a man. it's a grand entrance, he's a star • "yeah, i love that one, too. it was my real dog." cooper says with such pride and warmth. it's one of the sweetest scenes in this whole show 🥲 • i really like this scene because fuck i don't love a big ass party at a big ass house • tbh cooper is smoking and drinking to take the edge off because barb really sprung this shit on him • cooper passes by some suits discussing what i can only assume is power armour but looking closely, it's a little weird. what do they mean "negotiations in anchorage are having a serious impact on presales."? are they fucking talking about peace negotiations, ceasefire? "we'll have to circle up with d.c. about that" nah wait what the hell that mean? what the fuck they talkin' bout??

• cooper is thrilled barb invited that freak bud askins to that house party lmao • ay lmaooo sebastian doing the codsworth impression for the pretty servers at cooper and barb's house party and him taking that as interest from them in him and him asking if when after their shift if they wanted to party in the hot tub and them telling him no 😭 • "you might be the only one of my invites who actually showed up" two things--- this makes my statement about cooper only really getting to hear the voice of sebastian in the mr. handy post war even sadder but this also suggests he's losing friends now because of this • this by me meaning vault tec and the whole vault system [and experiments]. i did not catch his career was already being effected by this. he was really willing to risk it all and well... for barb • "i think our hollywood actor friends don't want to be seen celebrating with the pitchman for the end of the world" you don't know the half of it. you hear i lost a movie over these ads? yeah, i showed up to set, the actors wouldn't come out of their trailers. bonnie lewis said it was on moral grounds." no but ok the fact that cooper was already being boycotted by his peers for this. he's already compromising his principles but it's still so inline with his principles. cooper can't yet see they're compromising his principles oof • he got boycotted by his peers then blacklisted by that corporation, oh this would be my villain origin story too--- did anybody who wasn't janey have cooper's back after the divorce? like • wonder what the actors thought about "the man from deadhorse"? • "... radicalism is sweeping through hollywood like a bad case of the clap." lmao jesus • "even got your friend, charlie whiteknife." "are you kidding me? charlie? i served with that guy." and his third eye has simply opened, blackballing machine go crazy in the "fallout" world • "but you my friend, you know which way the wild ins blowing. and it's that--- a world run by people who wear pocket protectors to a pool party." they also show someone with a pip boy. sebastian wasn't actually even joking • here's where the show gets so on the nose, why it might as well be a tissue--- sebastian admits he sold his vocal rights for mr. handy. cooper and sebastian discuss how much sebastian got paid for that. cooper says 10 million. sebastian is taken aback and says 186 pre tax. i'm not good with math so on first watch i assumed 186,000. which is the lowest ball for this. come to find out the wiki says this is the case. cooper asks if he could've asked for more. and sebastian basically implies all his agent could get him was his own mr. handy robot. bonkers. • "i thought the studio owned that character?" "they did. and then robco bought the studio." it's really hard to conceptualize in this episode but this is a fine indictment on the sinister underpinnings of capitalistic evil in this series • sebastian then goes on to say something very prescient. "hollywood is in the past. forget hollywood. the future, my friend, is products. you're a product. i'm a product. the end of the world is a product." i don't know about y'all but i think this is one of the scariest and most bone chilling things said and presented in this show. and this is a show with deathclaws and cannibals. my question is... does amazon know they're talking about them? they're about you too, honey • the fact this show is set in the post apocalyptic wasteland but still intrigues us with dystopian, late stage capitalistic doom both horrifies and fascinates me

• anyhow! the scenes ends and then segues into cooper lying down on the super duper mart floor. having somehow survived the chem binge of the century. i bet he was knocked out for twenty hours • the mr. handy repeating the exact line sebastian did in the scene before ☹️ • every time cooper open his mouth, i almost have tears in my eyes because why when the president [sorrel's] sheriff henchmen walked in on him to survey the situation and cooper says "now y'all here for the ice cream social, i'm afraid i got some bad news for you" lmao why the fuck he be talkin' to people like this, it ki lls me • could not immediately find anything about using teeth as bullets so for fallout i absolutely think it's mad to do lmao "using teeth for ammunition. always finding new ways to kill each other up there, aren't they?" ain't never lied • at first, i thought them asking lucy and maximus to stay for a few days was weird and that they were evil but as the next episode shows, they genuinely wanted to show hospitality 😭 • which makes maximus coming in thinking he's saving lucy with the power suit all the more hilarious and awful dkgdkfgdk • "you had a rotten human tooth lodged in your shoulder" it would take me weeks to go back outside lmao • maximus never experiencing a vault [i.e. real] doctor before • vault 4 got surface foragers

• don't blame lucy one bit for enjoying being in a vault again, the surface is a goddamn shitshow • birdie essentially being a survivor of shady sands, like maximus. so it makes this even more wild as hank's daughter, lucy, would to that vault [and shake things up and throw acid in a guy's face fldgldg] • birdie saying the shady sands blast was so big, they could feel it a three day's walk away. not good at math and cars are in the pasty so roughtly i'd say that's about or a little over a hundred miles away. that's diabolical hank could do that again after experiencing that for the first time on a larger scale before • lucy hearing about the devastation of shady sands. not a single clue it was her own father, oof--- • while in quarantine [as to not make the rest of the vault sick or precaution] lucy is staring at and flexing her hand with the new grey finger on it. wonder what's going through her head there

• maximus to lucy "you smell good" me: "huh?? the fuck he talkin' bout? 😭 • lucy looks down, just as fuckign confused as me. and then it dawned on here. he's a man • lucy is so casual, i love that in this vault 33 or like society or whatever that she hasn't been shamed with purity politics because she asks maximus if he wanted to have sex [vaultknight, this one's for you] • i feel like the very next thing maximus says after this made lucy reconsider the offer because why this man say "you mean use my cock?" man her eyes 😭 why he say thisss • the face maximus makes when lucy asks though, rental free ksfkdg • maximus calling getting an erection "that weird thing could happen" and ejaculation "it gets all big and hard like a big pimple and then it pops" has got to be one of maximus' hands down funniest and most disgusting lines in the show like what you mean pimpleee like what is the brotherhood of steel teaching these guys 😭 • lucy... is so sweet and sensitive, she doesn't laugh or get second hand embarrassment, she simply explains it's all natural and normal bodily phenomena--- remember she's a teacher 🥲

• on one hand yes i think he came back down from the cloud and remembered he's a knight and they take vows [lore doesn't seem to say of celibacy but i think show depiction of the brotherhood of steel might] • but on the other, i think he realises he might be out of his depth and inexperienced for someone like lucy anyways atm so he bows out [hilarious he does ask again later after a shower and some food though 😭] • lucy says her signature "okie dokey", lays out on the gurney and waits out the rest of the quarantine, maximus barely containing himself as he stares at lucy • a cute and downright hysterical scene but isn't it so 🤭 that maximus' pick up line was to tell lucy she smelled good? idk i just think it's oddly sweet • crazy how this scene is basically him rejecting her offer whew

• something about the way fallout weaves false narratives as an unreliable narrator--- i'd sure like a video essay on this because they do it with lucy's memories, they od it with moldaver's storyline, they do it with vault 4. i could name some more put i really enjoy this kind of twist, our presumptions and suppositions do not always service us in this narrative and what is expected often is not what is received • the song that played in this scene sounded so familiar to me so i looked it up and it's "theme from a summer place" by percy faith. "summer place" is a film. you know what the film is about? teenage lovers who broke it off but they reunite years later and find out the children from their individual marriages are they themselves teenage lovers. it's hard for me to articulate but something about this premise will come up again or be relative to the story, just something about this song choice feels important • the quarantine facility is labelled "test subjects" [but it's a red herring gldflgdl] • is lucy eating sugar bombs in the picnic table breakfast scene? • also--- ms. lucy getting that hair done and then it look good for all the rest of the episodes until the finale • you know in this scene, both lucy and maximus are not entirely wrong despite opposing views on vault 4--- maximus thinks the residents are trying to trap them [they aren't] "this is a cult. same as any." [lmao correct] "titus, this is a safe place, where people take care of each other." [correct, also forgot maximus is still donning the ruse here] • lucy and maximus are both in cults but only one of them recognizes a cult when they see it 😭 • maximus asking why? the vault is a safe place where people take care of each other ☹️ • lucy touching maximus hand. then attempting to feed him 😭 • i said this a few episodes back about maximus and thaddeus in the deception reveal scene they had and [besides dane's relationship with maximus] that situation was probably the closest either of them had to friendship. i am saying the same thing again for maximus but this time with lucy.

• maximus and lucy discriminating against this one eyed overseer like that upon meeting him 😭 • the music cue is so startling like please, just a one eye guy 😭 • i think if the overseer would explain why people shouldn't go to level 12, they wouldn't? maybe he operates on the assumption people know vault 4's experiment but i think talking about it would've avoided the situation it caused in this episode tbh • lucy starts discriminating again and observes people exhibiting unusual bodily abnormalities and/or differences. if you think about it, it's kinda fucked up how they act in this vault when a lot of them are surface dwelling shady sands survivors or vault experiment survivors hell or both 😭 • "lots of people have one eye" and lucy saw a two headed cow, what's her deal suddenly lgdgldl • i think it felt "normal" to see a brahmin because the wasteland is tainted, poisoned, unsafe. having that in a vault and appearing in people form is messing with her idealism and programming again. seeing such "imperfection" in vault dwellers is leading her to question the people and not the circumstances. everyone in vaults 31, 32, 33 are bred to perfection. she's seeing nonstandard humans and thinking something's wrong. when the truth is vault tec was conducting much more sinister experiments someone with one eye. the one thing she thought was "normal" shattered again

• somewhere in the wasteland, cooper is being lead by force by these fake sheriffs, the scene transitions to cooper and barb chilling in the hot tub • ok so the song in both scenes is "lonely hours" by gene armstrong, it's fairly clear what this song expresses but i know of wonder for whom • "doesn't get any better than this" you damn right, barb! cooper howard is fine as fuck, there i said it • somebody on here found the exact vintage martini glasses they used for this scene btw • cooper is at the peak of luxury and fulfillment but then asks barb "you ever... think about working somewhere else?" has barb always worked at vault tec? if i finf out their entire relationship was a conspiracy, i will cry myself to sleep • barb says she use to but with cooper doing vault tec ads now, it's like the family business. haha. what

• janey and roosevelt in the same scene ☹️ • "i think about it. quitting showbiz. buying us a ranch up in bakersfield. get back to being a real cowboy again." once more with that introvert bit inside of cooper. wonder which thing inspired him telling her this. you know what's crazy? that in a twisted, cursed way, cooper really did get back to being a "real cowboy" again after the war in the wasteland. i feel so incredibly sad for cooper. he really was just some cowhand who fell into acting • barb asking what she would do and cooper telling her raise chickens 😭 not @ the chicken scene in the first episode! cooper wanted to raise chickens 😭 • barb asking cooper what's gotten into him and this man says "a gin martini" ooo i love everything he ever says like

• the conversation was light but cooper goes on to confess "maybe i've been reading too much news lately. got me second guessing the whole city life." cooper is really and truly questioning his involvement in this vault tc shit and himself • this is the closest walton gets to abs in the series as aaron and ella both have their skin time, can definitely see that tight chest under all that water tho bless • barb has gotten out of the hot tub and starts fiddling with the pip boy, cooper sexily glares at her about it • cooper seems surprised she has one "bud askins... he licensed them from robco. we're integrating them with the vault tec admission systems." barb informs. here go this bud askins mf again • cooper is quite literally gritting his teeth hearing that man's name •"trust me, i know. the company's filled with guys like him. but vault tec exists with or without me." this goes for like any business but it's something about how telling of her individual motives are about this

• didn't realize barb told cooper "doesn't do anyone any good to complain from the sidelines." this is so funnily passive aggressive of her idk. because all cooper was trying to do was attempt to understand why she would put up with all this stuff and she just gets defensive--- he wasn't even demanding she do anything, he just doesn't get being around all these soulless corporate people • "all i'm saying is we have this one life. do you really want to spend your nine to five working with these assholes?" this statement might have basically caused a fight [also, it personally victimizes me because cooper has essentially lived five lifetimes after the bombs fell] • barb exasperatedly says "i need this job, coop. it guarantees us a spot in the vaults." cooper thinks they can just buy a spot in the vaults. then barb says "one of the good vaults." "what's that supposed to mean?" and i'm still with cooper, what the hell does this mean, barb? • i would've questioned my entire marriage after this conversation because

• this implies the entire vault system got something messed up going on with them and that going into a vault was inevitable, spooky • not at one of "the good ones" being vault 4 after the residents successfully were able to take it over and flourish 🥲 • "just.. trust me. please." in some ways, i wonder could she still have been trusted? i have a love/hate relationship with barb, i understand her motivations but not the implementation • anyways, barb was so pretty in this scene, like an evil barbie doll • on the tv in the bar cooper is in, the anchor says "as all nations race to secure uranium and control the future of energy, a shortage has emerged, turning even allies into potential competitors" remember how this entire first season is about different factions fighting over harnessing cold fusion? because i do

• starting to theorize nobody trusted each other and everybody dropped their bombs • ok so, i do not know why cooper met up with charlie whiteknife but i like it lol • seems cooper isn't afraid to be seen talking to charlie though, kinda ballsy • cooper reveals his disbelief at charlie apparently attending communist meetings. maybe he met up with him because he was a close friend and comrade • "we watched people die together up north fighting against all that horseshit." it's not like the hugest plot point or super prominent in flashbacks of his life but cooper is an [ex] military man. and this means i kinda forgot he's basically already [implied] to have killed people. [obviously for a cause but kill nonetheless]. he's been fighting and killing technically for over two hundred years. he's a veteran. that extra layer to his character when you rewatch the bait scene and his speech about torture and his confinement of being buried in a coffin by dom pedro to be dug up every year got a whole new meaning too

• charlie then says "yeah and for what?" cooper next "what do you mean, for what? for the american dream. we're actors. we make movies, charlie." "yeah the american dream has me getting shot in the ass by you all day." don't even know if i have enough space to cover what i think of this conversation--- i mean the topics range from the treatment of veterans when they come back home to the conditions and typecasting minority actors have faced in hollywood • cooper replies "you got five acres in tarzana. i think you're doing alright" cooper has some ignorance here but i digress. charlie tells him don't none of that matter, that vault tec is evil • cooper interjects "my wife works there. you really think barb's the devil?" you know this scene and line hurts like hell for several reasons, chief amongst them being that by calling vault tec evil, cooper takes this to mean barb is evil. walton has gone on record to say after spying revealed her true nature, cooper thinks she's the devil incarnate ☹️ that yeah, i guess barb is evil, that cooper thinks she is too and that cooper probably remembers this conversation. coope probably thinks of how naive and foolish he was to defend her or think highly of her in the first place 😞 • charlie sound like a conspiracy theorist but he told not a single lie. "do you know what "fiduciary responsibility" means?" cooper, ever our cowboy himbo responds "no, i have no fucking idea. i play a cowboy for a living" "ok, so the government has outsourced the survival of the human race to vault tec. vault tec is a private corporation that has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors. and how does it make money? by selling vaults. but they can't sell vaults if the peace negotiations go through. so vault tec has a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that it don't work out.". cooper asks how they could do that and charlie simply reveals he doesn't know • ain't seen nobody talk about this but charlie starts explaining what vault tec is doing to cooper like cooper asked him "explain it to me like i'm a cowboy" 😭 • "you remember that movie we did with johnny morton? you were the sheriff and i was some generic indian?" "cooper, thoughtfully i suppose says "come on, man. don't say that. tallhand mudlake could talk to horses. you played him with grace and with dignity." i don't know but cooper really is a down to earth, sweet guy. and that's why maybe he met up with charlie, they seem fairly close • can i say how refreshing it is to see a show like this be so meta in different ways, having the indigenous character be the one to essentially be the canary in the coal mine about a company trying to bring about the ruin of the united states. i got chills. • "vault tec is a trillion dollar company that owns half of everything" sound familiar? • "i guess everything's a conspiracy, right? come on, man, you sound like you're in a cult" "and you're sitting here defending a system that's ready to set the world on fire, cooper. maybe you're the one in a cult." cooper has no rebuttal for this

• cooper questions his cog in all this again. that statement really had him silent. he had nothing to say for himself. if i thought he was having second thoughts about his involvement with vault tec before, this scene sure solidifies it now • charlie offers him a card of where to meet. at the hollywood forever cemetery [a real place!] then relays "you should learn the truth about where your wife works. for her sake." • the talk about cults in this episode is so ironic • the call cooper denies which was for barb was from hank, only knew this time because i read it, didn't even pick up on it • in the dinner scene [where cooper and barb have a pretty decent fight] there's a couple things about it but one of them i wanted to do was colour analysis. like i mentioned before, i saw a post on it and for various scenes, but for this scene in particular, i too find it curious barb is no longer in her red tone outfits. quite literally every outfit hers up until now has been peachy, pinks ,reds, earth tones, skin tones. but here. in this scene she's blue. a completely different tone and colour. cooper is wearing blue and yellow again [these are basically his signature colours] but barb in blue? very different for her

• not only is barb in blue but she also has on a pip boy. she even starts talking and acting different hence the fight • as an aside, janey reading "little house on the prairie" [a book about a young girl's life in the old west] to roosevelt is very cute • cooper thinks it's cute janey is reading to roosevelt so he goes "ah, does he like it?" with the cutest smile. mans loves his dog 🥲 • barbs lets out a sign and cooper asks her what is it. "it's going to be hard on her. that's all." "what is?" "you know, no dogs in the vaults." cooper stops mid chew. what the hell is barb talking about? • cooper's whole demeanor changes, he's not even chewing his food the same, he goes for a swig of wine but not before asking "says who?" • "no dogs is the vault says who?" "well... there's just. the um... that's the policy." dogs eating meat is an "unavoidable inefficiency". cooper is rightfully unsatisfied with this answer. "that's not really the question, is it? all i'm asking is who decided that there were no dogs in the vault?"

• barb decides to take offense again to cooper's probing of the machinations that be at this company. "well, i think that is a relatively trivial concern given the prerequisite conditions of living in a nuclear fallout shelter" it's something so disturbing about this conversation. and i believe this is predicated exclusively on the notion of displaying vault tec's lake of compassion and humanity. also, is this not a brainwashed barb? who is this woman and what have they done with barb? • cooper simply asks: who makes the rules? and that "no dogs allowed" must be new because it sounds like some shit that didn't get ran by anybody 😭 • "i mean, what else do you have in store for us? are the blue jumpsuits, are those mandatory? what i don't want to wear a blue jumpsuit? what if i want to wear a green one?" lol • barb is like "so the bomb falls and you want to know about your wardrobe?" "no, i want to know about my freedom." i want her to be serious • cooper explains to her that he didn't go to war defending that freedom so that he could live in a cellar under the boot of upper management. i really feel like barb is failing to consider what she is asking of cooper. roosevelt isn't a house plant or a car. roosevelt is cooper's dog. a dog he loved and so much, it was in one of his films. how is cooper inquiring about the policy implementation trivial at all? she's just awfully cruel to me about flippant here and the secrets she's keeping from cooper were already causing their marriage problems • i do not like barb's retort being like, a lecture to cooper about how sad and worried she was waiting for him to return from war. and he immediately yields to her statements--- like is sorry for making her worry about him. when was the one out in the field both watching people die and probably also killing some too. all for wildly misguided people like her. her experience is just not comparable to his so i just hate the way barb is in this scene. she's changed • "so, you do not need to tell me how bad war is, coop." i'm sorry, but what the fuck would she know? lmao

• when barb says "everyday i go into work and think about how humanity can survive a nuclear event that will wipe out 90% of life on earth and i come home and you're talking about hiding out at a ranch up in baskersfield" whoa whoa whoa--- where is this coming from? obviously i don't know the day to day conversations these two have but it's like she's minimizing his desire to step away from hollywood and then frame it into some kind of fantasy she thinks he was having. there's nothing wrong with his desire to do that and her making it seem like it was stupid and unreasonable don't sit right with me either because • barb says "you know, i don't even know what planet you're on sometimes, coop" and it's like? planet earth. why is she talking to him as if he's not a veteran or spokesperson for nuclear fallout shelters? why is she also talking to him like he go to work with her everyday? how could she imply a veteran has his head essentially in the sand?

• barb continues her harangue "and no, none of it is ideal. but if billions of people are going to lose their lives, i will do whatever it takes to make sure the people i love, that is you and that is janey, aren't among them. i have worked hard to make sure we go into a special vault for management, where we will oversee all of the other vaults. you don't get it. this is the best we can possibly hope for. for janey." well. barb's speech is a whole revelation. an unsettling and terrifying one. why, she almost sounds as if she's in a [doomsday] cult. why in the hell is barb talking like she knows the bombs will drop? also, how spooky is her saying she'll do whatever it takes to make sure the people she loves don't get blasted and i just. to what lengths will barb go through to do that? • cooper's face this whole time is a mix between a hurt puppy dog and a man questioning who he married, his principles, and the world around him • how insane is the best someone like barb can hope for in a vault is a management vault [vault 31]. how disturbing that vault tec ran so many experiments, "good" vaults were few • barb appears to have lost her appetite by now so she gets up. ever the sweetheart, cooper gets up to apologize to barb for their fight. and what he says next is so soul crushing and also ironic. • "i know you always try to do the right thing. that's what i love about you." oh, they're breaking my heart • love that the next scene is overseer benjamin explaining how a toilet works to lucy gdgkdfkd • overseer benjamin somehow for whatever reason thinking lucy's name is "goosey" maclean, is not an accident ☝️ they know that sounds like a certain other word associated when two characters in this show 💀 • lmao can someone explain why overseer benjamin put on bifocals to read a paper when he only got one eyes • overseen benjamin is a fifth generation vault dweller and lucy [being prejudice again 😭] is surprised to learn this. she almost tells him she thinks this because of his eyes but doesn't 😭 • fucking hysterical when lucy realises this one eyed overseer is prejudice himself against wastelanders when it's like? you think like him and also don't think vault dwellers look like him either 😭 • lmao why overseer benjamin got moldy drinks on his desk?

• overseer benjamin says he's open minded but then complains about the wastelanders smelly food and weird ideas. lucy asks him why he keeps accepting wastelanders if he himself doesn't even like them. then he reveals it's a vault policy lol • overseer benjamin is weird and not at all because he has one eyes [he's a bit of an insensitive jerk] 😭 • i don't get why overseer benjamin just didn't tell her in simple terms what level 12 is, being aggressive to lucy about it made her want to investigate it • lucy being told to skedaddle 🤭 • watching the scene where birdie comes across maximus trying to steal vault 4's fusion core is so different on second watch when you realize birdie was being nothing but truthful and warm to him • they're playing all the string music cues and everyone is regarded with suspicion but it's literally just maximus discovering comfort, community, and altruism for what feels like the first time 😭 • birdie even wrote him a welcome note in the gift basket 😢 • everything is played so darkly and then the camera pans to a beautiful scene of a waterfall on one of the tvs in his unit. then its a montage of maximus experiencing running water, television, and soap for after so long • we are then treated to a shot of maximus' shirtless torso. i have normal thoughts about this • lmao maximus tastes caviar for the first time in his life then exists his unit in a bathrobe and slippers, walks up to someone in the hallway and asks in the most boyish, innocent voice "excuse me. what is this? 🥺 " • they gave this mf three (3) bottles of champagne. take me to vault 4 like • lucy entering a vault classroom and stops smiling after confronting the magnitude of shady sands as displayed as history in said classroom • if lucy didn't think the ncr [new california republic] was real before, i'm sure seeing the flag in the classroom assured her

• not the place cooper is being dragged to called "the governmint" 😭 • there's wanted posters in this place and what do you know one of them is moldaver and one of them looks like cooper • we have finally arrived at the symbolic finger sewing on hand scene--- i mentioned that in relation to the finger biting off scene, it had a lot of meaning and i was going to wait until cooper did the thing to express it so here goes • i'll go ahead and put this out there now that yes, the argument could be made that cooper was simply attaching a finger as he needed a trigger finger to shoot and that's it. but. we see who cooper is. there's more to it than that and i'm going to explain further • sorrel talks for a minutes "i heard it was a ghoul that fucked up that super duper mart. nobody told me it was the ghoul. you boys know who you just brought in? this sumbitch right here used to be the best bounty hunter to ever shoot a man in the ass." you know the next thing that comes out of cooper's mouth? asking for a needle and thread • firstly, i find it all too interesting after being regaled about his past chaotic neutral exploits, he asks for a needle and thread. why does it feel like he's about to sew on a new lease on life, a new clean slate onto his hand? • secondly... well i have to bring up the string of fate, don't i? lucy may not have cooper's finger [too on the nose] but cooper has hers [just right] and by sewing hers onto his, they are connected forever • i find him directly asking for the needle and thread [to blow these guys away with a firearm] after shrugging off being called the best bounty hunter in the wasteland really somethin' • [because if he would've had his trigger finger back at the super duper mart, i imagine there would be no captivity of cooper] • one of sorrel's dummy henchmen says "sorry, we don't do a lot of kntting 'round here" and cooper hits back "it's called sewing", love he corrected this man lmao idk why • sorrel's first mistake was bringing cooper in there, his second mistake was letting him open his bag, and his third mistake was letting that man sew a trigger finger back onto his hand lmaooo • while the henchmen gets cooper's needle and thread, cooper is fiddling with his trigger fingerless glove, it's so subtle • the finger unfurls from cooper's pack to sorrel's visible disgust whilst cooper asks "do you mind?" to having his bound hands unbound [you can really see walton's hazel eyes in this scene btw] • sorrel scared as hell of this two hundred year old war veteran bounty hunter ghoul, hesitates and naturally. "aw, come on now, sorrel, we old friends, ain't we?" are they? he saw what happened at the super duper mart and he's shaking in his boots lol • sorrel cuts cooper's ropes and then quaintly says "look at you. 200 years. i don't know what keeps you going... or maybe you're still looking for her." cooper has already began sewing on lucy's finger. it is shown in a closeup. however, as soon as sorrel says "her", cooper cuts sorrel a glance. when i first watched this scene, i think i thought he meant moldaver. but i think it's obvious it's janey

• cooper slyly hits back with "well, sorrel... i can confidentially cross one reason off that list for you. i sure as hell ain't still alive so that i can have unintelligent conversations with dipshits like you." one of sorrel's henchmen does not like this back talk and hits cooper in the head with the butt of his gun, knocking cooper's hat off. i see why king knocked his block off • "mind your fucking mouth. that's the president of the government you're talking to" cooper's brow is furrowed but he humourously complies "you a president now?" • and then he says "well then you might want to hire a publicist" do the people even know what that is 😭 • cooper saying conversations with someone like sorrel are "unintelligent" after discussing studies on torture with lucy in the bait scene is so • cooper asks sorrel about moldaver. "they call her the flame mother. now that bitch is dangerous." cooper ironically replies "well, when it comes to leadership these days, dangerous is what they call a prerequisite" cooper really reads it, huh

• as sorrel starts to ask cooper if he knew why he was dragged into his outpost, the camera once again pans to cooper sewing lucy's finger to his hand • it's so subtle it's almost plausible it wasn't on purpose but as cooper puts some of the final loops to connect lucy's finger to his hand, the thread forms a heart. in the same moment, cooper takes full responsibility for what lucy did at the super duper mart • i mean, we could be here all day arguing about why he did this. like there's so little reason when he could just implicate her and make her the target of a new bounty. more caps and vials for him. in any other instant, perhaps he would have. but not like this and not over lucy • you know, in the finger biting off scene when cooper says to lucy "now that right there is the closest thing we’ve had to an honest exchange so far"? well i think he also wanted to get honest feelings out of her by messing with her, too. and this indeed was the most honest reaction they both had and with each other. because she spent most of her time preaching her vault propaganda to him and he was nothing but forthcoming with her about everything tbh. now why he needed honesty hour to be gloveless and with losing fingers, that's anyone's guess. she surprised him with that bite, i suppose. but she also surprised him with her principles.

• cooper is a deeply romantic, protective, and once upon a time, a good man. i think after his encounter with lucy, all those qualities are manifesting themselves inside him again. and because of lucy. and him sewing lucy's finger to his hand symbolizes that • i know this is bizarre but this is indeed the "fallout" universe. this ism't the most disturbing intertwinement. a post here said that lucy biting off cooper's finger was a proposal and cooper sewing her finger onto his hand was him accepting and that was a wasteland promise ring, still laughing about this and while i don't exactly ascribe to the literal theory, i do think some type of promise was made, whether cooper to himself or cooper to others • going back to the finger biting off scene, i couldn't help but ponder why a. cooper was gloveless and b. how he managed to keep all ten of his fingers this long after two hundred years • i can't quite gather why cooper was even gloveless but the closest theories i've seen an agree with is display of vulnerability. whether by accident or not, i do think cooper was attracted to lucy's goodness, saw [both himself and] barb inside her and wanted to poke and prod such an outlook. he's seen where it can go. goodness and morality in the wasteland is horseshit. but lucy proved him so wrong. • fingers are a semi important motif and particularly to cooper. in episode three, we see him go out of his way to touch barb's fingers when she gives him the lavender taffy. it is an intimate exchange. so too is the finger biting and finger cutting off scene. a gothic depiction of intimacy.

• lucy and her finger symbolizes something cooper has that's not so obvious to the viewer and that's hope. sure, it's demented he cut her finger off and sewed it onto his hand but she did bite his finger off first, tooth for a tooth, fair is fair slgdgldl [at least she got another one herself] • every time he looks at that finger and every time he uses it to play judge, jury, or executioner, cooper will carry the spirit of lucy's moral compass with him. that's some crazy symbolism, i think • it really seemed that by trying to "help" lucy by teaching her hard lessons of the wasteland, cooper opened himself up to harm and vulnerability with his gloveless hands. every scene with his gloveless hands has something to do with lucy. • two hundred years and kept all ten fingers until this random girl bit one off? he saw something inside her it clouded his self preservation • 'cause i fucked up a poor, defenseless gang affiliated organ dealership" lmaooo he's in love so bad, he ain't do nothin' but go on a drug bender in that ho 😭 • for probably the first time in decades, he's taken the fall for someone else. a selfless act. quite literally altruism. he doesn't have to do this and yet • this is devoted cooper in action. lucy is a ray of sunshine and goodness in this awful world, no wonder he wanted a bit of her on him. so when he tells her "nothing stays clean up here, vaulty." he was kinda wrong. because now he has something "clean" and and good. and it's lucy's finger

• anyways so sorrel's like "but that super duper mart you gutted was under our protection. so if i wanted to let you go scot free, folks might lose faith about what we're trying to do here. and then what?" "anarchy in the streets" everything this man says is funny af, i'm howling • another thing! dom predro has been digging cooper up every year for thirty years to cut pieces of him off [to do who knows what]. when lucy bites cooper's finger off, she ends up having his blood in her mouth. a part of him is also in her too. this is gothic. also! is him cutting off her finger not a trauma response 😭 he's been cut off of before so he's just acting out of his captivity atp like my goodness, they messed him up so bad • lucy fucked up that organ trafficking ring up so bad, sorrel was really trying to feed cooper to his pigs lmao • it's so nutty lucy has caused so much chaos than cooper has--- he shot siggi's leg off and had a shoot out in filly but damn he did not take out a gang affiliated organ trafficking ring ran in a grocery store. he was actually helping them keep it open like 😭

• there's something so special about sorrel asking cooper if he has anything to say in his defense and as cooper says "guilty as charged" and sorrel asking "just like that?" and cooper flexing lucy's newly sewed on finger on his hand as he goes "just like that" ❤️ • you can't tell me he's not about to go to the ends of the earth for her fkdgdkd • this was his opportunity to turn her in and possibly get a bounty from her or just tell the truth but cooper did. not. do. it. • there was something about the way he sewed lucy's finger on, too [i don't care if i'm reaching] but it reminded me of his and barb's scenes, where if she was in the room, nothing else really mattered. made no difference if it was conversation he was having or what. his attention was on barb the whole time. this scene reminds me of that because he focused on sewing lucy's finger on his hand for the majority of his and sorrel's conversation

• cooper is so?? because why he implicate himself in the actual thing he did with the shootout in filly? "now, if you need anymore evidence, i can tell you about this town i just shot up, filly. oh i must have killed nine or ten people" all in self defense, your honour, please 😭 • y'all don't understand. he's going the extra mile now. he's providing evidence for something he didn't do. he's implicating himself even more by diverting all suspicion to him to cover for lucy. there's no reason for him to do this. • cooper, somehow knowing sorrel got stupid henchmen, starts baiting one of them through the old "you're a coward" "no i'm not" technique • sorrel "don't take the bait, son" then cooper, "well i ain't fishing". nah he did that earlier gldgdlfgld • well anyways, cooper gets out of this pickle pretty quick and gets the upper hand and shoots sorrel's henchmen sheriffs dead and multiple times • didn't realize cooper threw the guns at their bodies after • cooper doesn't recognize moldaver's mugshot

• back in the past, cooper takes up charlie's offer for a meeting and drives up to hollywood forever cemetery • the car cooper is in is a 1954 kaiser darrin • i don't know why cults is sort of an underpinning of the theme of this episode [which is about traps of various kinds] but the comparison and contrast between cooper's and lucy's "cult" meetings and them both being about moldaver is such a plot twist • cooper and lucy both going to these meetings thinking they won't fit in but end up learning something anyways • admittedly the vault 4 cult ritual or whatever was a little weird but it's pretty much how the survivors are coping so i get it tbh • maximus asking lucy "you want to make my cock explode now?" "what?" "sorry, intercourse?" screaminggg, what a gentleman 💀❤️

• "these people are insane." "yeah, they're like you. a little weird but nice." 🥲 • lucy trying to talk maximus out of leaving vault 4 because they were scaring her and she thought it was dangerous ☹️ • lucy goes to level 12 to snoop around in these people's house • turns out level 12 is a horror show but not because of the residents, but because of vault tec • it's wild the stuff lucy saw of level 12 was just shit her father hank signed off on and agreed with • the scientist whose face lucy threw acid in was the same man who nodded at her during the breakfast scene 😭 • them trying to restrain her makes so much sense after this • lucy tells them they're crazy but birdie says "i'm sure if we came to your home, we would say the same thing", first viewing i thought birdie was ridiculous for saying this but second viewing is knowing she is right • they show maximus again eating popcorn, getting the taste of safety and comfort again after years 🥲 • this episode was about traps of all kinds--- the situations people find themselves in, the situations people put others in, the trappings of fame, fortune, power, money. literal traps, figurative traps. traps of the mind and traps of the soul. the worst part about being caught in a trap is not knowing you're in one.

#fallout #fallout show #text post #my meanderings #lucy #maximus #the ghoul #cooper #the trap #barb #janey #ghoulcy #vaultknight

[nalyra-dreaming]

Found an old interview, with a few juicy bits

(and a lot we knew already)

The blood tasted like "Sour Patch Kid" (lol):

The three of them had dancing lessons.... 👀

And Jacob wants to see Louis in the 80s!!! (And we know Sam got his wish^^)

Also kinda sad that Bailey won't be able to explore those hairstyles, but... anyways it's long , so the rest under the cut:

Interview with Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Bailey Bass

Posted on October 2, 2022 by TvMegasite Admin

TV Interview!

Interview with Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid and Bailey Bass of “Interview with The Vampire” on AMC and AMC+ by Suzanne 9/29/22

This was a fun roundtable with the three stars of this great new vampire show. If you love vampire shows, or the Anne Rice novels, you should love this show. It’s very well done, and these actors are great in it. Jacob plays Louie, and we see the story through his eyes as told to ailing reporter Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian, who’s outstanding as always). Sam Reid plays LeStat, the seductive vamp that turns Louie and becomes his friend, lover, mentor, etc. Bailey plays Claudia, the young woman that joins them. They were very kind and fun to interview.

Suzanne:   Hi, I’m Suzanne Lanoue from TVMEG.com, and I’ve watched the first episode. I didn’t get screeners till this morning, so I only got to watch the first one so far, but I’m really enjoying it. It just grabs you and drags you in. So, congratulations on being renewed for season two already, which is great. Do you know when you’ll be starting to film season two, or have you already started filming it?

JACOB ANDERSON:   We haven’t started. We haven’t started shooting, no.

SAM REID:   Probably, I don’t know if we can say anything. [Laughs]

Suzanne:   Have they told you yet?

JACOB ANDERSON:   They haven’t not told us anything.

Suzanne:  [Chuckles} OK, well, thank you!

Jamie from SCIFI VISION:  Hi, I’m Jamie Ruby from SciFi Vision. Thanks for talking to us today, I really enjoyed the first five episodes that we’ve seen. So, for the three of you, can you kind of talk about how you balanced what you pulled from the book versus what you added with your own spin on it?

SAM REID:   Hello, Jamie, I’ll answer that. No. But I would say that anything for myself and my character, my own spin probably came from my own interpretation of the books and Rolins’ work. So, I wasn’t really trying to put any of my own spin on it. It’s just how I imagined it to be, really.

JACOB ANDERSON:   Yeah. I second that. It’s like, you will always view a character through your own lens to an extent and then it’s just kind of, I mean, I guess with anything, it’s like, do other do the other creative people like that, and do they want to discuss it? But you don’t want to mess with this. Like the combination of Anne Rice’s writing and Rolins’ writing, you don’t really want to touch it, you don’t want to just sort of throw your own stuff in just for the sake of it.

SAM REID:   They’re so dense already the characters that it sort of would be a shame to try and deviate too much of thing.

JACOB ANDERSON:   What could you possibly add?

SAM REID:   Yeah.

BAILEY BASS:   I feel the exact same way. It’s really, yes, we were cast because there’s something special in us that Rolin and the entire team really enjoyed when we were doing our auditions. But other than that, it’s really just doing the research and the book, reading the scripts, doing our own technique, and then just coming and creating in this world.

Jamie:  Okay, great. Thank you so much.

Jamie from STARRY MAG:  This is Jamie Steinberg, with Starry Constellation Magazine. Jacob, this is another deeply tortured soul for you to portray. Is there something about these kinds of characters that really draw you to them? Or is this them finding their way to you? Or is it something you see in them that really resonates with you and makes you want to portray them?

JACOB ANDERSON:   I think it’s a combination of both. We find each other. I think I’m slightly less like Grey Worm than I am like Louis. But yeah, I mean, I think you normally want to be like very boundaried when you talk about things and be like, “Oh, well, I’m so removed from the character, and I’m brilliant at acting and blah blah blah blah blah”. But to be honest, yeah, I feel very, very connected to Louis. It’s the thing that bothered me about how Anne Rice wrote him, and also how Rolin wrote him as well. Yeah, I’m drawn to characters who are searching. And I’d ask him questions, not just about the world, but about their place in it and what they contribute or don’t contribute to it. But yeah, I also I felt like it would be like, narcissistic of me to be like, “I am the only person who can play Louis.” But namely, because there is somebody else that’s done it, as well. Many people.

Jamie:  Well, I think you brings such a unique take on it, though, because of the artistry you have. Both of these characters that you mentioned, have just been wonderfully nuanced, I think through your portrayal. So it might be just a little bit time for you to pat yourself on the back for what you’ve brought to the role on your own.

JACOB ANDERSON:   This one’s for you, Bailey.

QUESTION:   Question for Jacob and Sam, one of the really interesting things about this particular adaptation is the romance that we kind of finally get to see between Louis and Lestat. Can you speak to that a little bit? What does it mean to you to be able to portray that relationship in that way?

SAM REID:   Well, I think AMC has the rights to the entire Vampire Chronicles, and so it’s very important to make sure that relationship is established early on. Particularly as the books progress, it becomes much more clear that they are in a very intense romantic relationship. So, I think it’s it’s great to make sure that we’re serving the story correctly. And it wouldn’t be Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire if it wasn’t there. So, yeah.

QUESTION:   I was wondering, and this is kind of specifically for Bailey and Sam, the show doesn’t shy away from race or that being a factor at all for their very long life experience. Was that important to you? And were you afraid of any ignorant backlash, because previously, the characters were paid by white actors?

BAILEY BASS:   I was really excited to play Claudia. It’s really a dream to play such a complex character that’s very loud and unapologetic. I honestly didn’t think twice about anything else. I just knew that Rolin was very intentional about the actors that he wanted to cast in the show, and I’m very fortunate that I was one of them. I just dove into all the research. I read the book. I would cross reference the book and the script and see the quotes that Rolin took from the book and was very intentional about adding them into the script. After doing all the research, I mean, I became Claudia and it was fun to play her.

JACOB ANDERSON:   Yeah, I think something that Rolin’s done, which is – I’m almost loath to call it important, but like it creates a richness is that this isn’t a colorblind casting situation. Louis’ central question is about his humanity and his place in humanity. I think that if you were to cast a black actor or black actors for Louis and Claudia, and to not address that, you’d take a lot away from that question of their humanity. I’m glad that we don’t shy away from it. And in terms of backlash, I just don’t want to give it energy anymore. Like I just – people are going to – I think people need to be seen. Sometimes they’ll say anything to be seen or recognized, and it’s sad, but it’s the internet.

QUESTION:   I would love for you to talk a little bit about what it’s like just being vampires, being able to play vampires when biting people and having these kinds of scenes. What goes into that and how much fun is that to play? How difficult is that to play?

SAM REID:  

It’s very fun. It’s very fun. Yeah, you know, because we’ve got a lot of elements that come into every scene. So, they’re very beautiful, sort of rich dialogue-heavy scenes, but we also have this whole element of the vampire, you know, he kills, so we’ll be pausing for the blood to be put in. We had all these different types of blood that we’d been drinking and tasting, and they made us hibicus flavored blood when we had to drink large amounts of it.

JACOB ANDERSON:  

It did not taste like hibiscus. It tasted like it was like a Sour Patch Kid.

SAM REID:   Yeah.

JACOB ANDERSON:   But in liquid form.

SAM REID:   But there’s a lot of thought and consideration [that had] gone into this. But yeah, it’s so much fun, really. Vampires are, I think, the best type of monster, because they have so much humanity. They’re so articulate. They experience a huge amount. Anne Rice is responsible for our shift in vampires, because she puts the perspective into the eyes of the monster, and you have empathy for them. So, it’s very fun to do these really extreme, horrific things, but also with a level of understanding and empathy and bringing that into the character. So, it’s a fun thing to do.

JACOB ANDERSON:   It’s the best! It’s the best. The best monsters.

Jamie from SCIFI VISION:  So, obviously, you guys do go to some really dark places, though, with your characters. Can you sort of talk about getting into that headspace, and how you sort of, I guess, get back out of it? Is it hard to sort of go there? For all three of you.

BAILEY BASS:   Yeah, it’s hard. We had such long days that it kind of, for me personally, it was hard for me to differ[entiate], like, who’s Claudia and who’s Bailey. So, I kind of had to, like really sit with myself and reflect, but it’s hard. But then also, this is what I love to do, and playing such an extreme character, that’s what makes it fun is that I get to relive and be in these spaces that I would never normally be in if I didn’t get to play Claudia. But the dark, even though it’s dark and everything, I definitely enjoyed it. And I had Sam and Jacob, which they were incredible scene partners, and we all had each other. We made sure that throughout the whole process, our mental health, even though we’re like hysterically crying sometimes that afterwards, our mental health was still good,

SAM REID:   I think to Bailey’s point, like, sometimes the darkest jobs or the darkest sets where the material is the most bleak are the most fun, because, we instinctively know how to just kind of like, help ourselves through that. So, we’ll be making a lot of jokes. You know, it is ridiculous, sometimes what we’re doing, and you have to step back and think [laughs] You know, we’re suspended in the air, covered in blood, so we just kept it light. It was a fun thing to do.

JACOB ANDERSON:   Yeah, I agree. I mean, it’s dense. It’s dense, so you need to focus on the language as well. Like, aside from, yeah, we had a lot of fun, but when you’re doing the scene, you focus on what you’re doing. And I think if you let yourself get dragged into it too much, then hard to to do your job, I think.

Jamie from STARRY MAG:  Bailey, this is such a beautiful costume you have. Talk about when you first saw what you’d be wearing for the series, and if you had any input, and if it takes really putting on that costume to embody your character.

BAILEY BASS:   Costume is one of my favorite things in my job, being able to speak with the costume designer and be able to talk about what she saw when she read the script, because it’s not just me, it’s a big collaboration of an incredible crew that helps make us look good, basically. And to be able to talk to hair, makeup, and costume and get to know what their first ideas were when they read the script, and then being able to collaborate with them and say what I thought, was really, really fun. And the costume designer for this show, Carol, was just so collaborative. I came in and we were talking about posture. That’s a very big thing for Claudia, because in the beginning, she’s like fourteen years old, and she’s excited being a vampire. She would shrug a lot and just walked like, however and had terrible posture. So, the costume designer would think about that when she was making the costumes. And then also I have to look like a little girl. So, she created these beautiful bows along with making sure that the shape of my costumes hid any curves possible. So, when I put them on, I really felt like a little girl. So, when I was doing the scenes where Claudia is struggling, she wants to be a woman, and I’m sitting in this pink dress that it’s not flattering to anything that’s me as Bailey, it was really easy to feel what Claudia would be feeling at that moment.

Suzanne:   I really enjoyed the wedding scene and your dancing, Jacob; that was great. Was that actually you dancing? And did you have to train for that, or did you already know how, and will there be any more singing or dancing in the show?

JACOB ANDERSON:   That was me and Steven Norfleet, who plays Paul, and we had about a month to train, to practice. I don’t know if you’ve ever done tap dancing, but it’s like learning how to walk again, like how to walk for the first time, like to get your brain to coordinate in that way and to like shift the weight of your body is really confusing. And to add to that we did a lot of our lessons on Sikkim (???). And it’s all like, it’s all sound. You like making music with your feet, but with the lag of, of like, you know, doing it online. But you just drill; you just drill it every day. You drill it every day, and just you have to listen. It’s less about like being mechanical about your body and just like listening to the sound. But there is there is more dancing in the show.

Suzanne:   Oh, good.

JACOB ANDERSON:   Yeah. It was in the trailer, right?

SAM REID:   Yeah, the three of us did dancing lessons.

JACOB ANDERSON:   Yeah, we did.

QUESTION:   I’m curious to just have any of you or all of you talk a little bit about what you love most about the dynamic between all three of your characters, either once Claudia comes in, or kind of as that progresses.

JACOB ANDERSON:   I find it, I think from Louis’ point of view, he’s trying to recreate a kind of family dynamic that he is grieving for in his human life. I think it’s probably the thing that he misses most in some ways. It’s like a grounding thing, is his brother and his sister and his mom, maybe to a lesser extent, but maybe not. So, I find the way that it kind of goes for them, and for him, it’s kind of unexpected. I think he wanted, he was hoping that in bringing somebody else into their family, I think he thought that Claudia might be like him. [laughs] So, it’s interesting. I feel like an outcast, but to also be a part of – I mean, I’ll let Bailey talk more about about that part of it, but really, Claudia ends up being sort of forgotten about a little bit, and their dynamic, which is sad.

BAILEY BASS:   I think what’s wonderful though, is that there’s really no protagonist or antagonist. It changes through every scene in every episode, because these characters are so specific and complex, and Rolin Jones, the writer of the show, did an incredible job of explaining in depth why we do what we do. There’s a reason why we kill the people that we do, why we hurt each other. And because of that, the viewer kind of feels bad for the person hurting the other, but then also feels bad for the person being hurt.

QUESTION:   So, obviously, as vampires, your characters live very long lives. Which era would you like to see, be able to play your character in?

JACOB ANDERSON:   80s 80s 80s. I want the pastels. I want the hair. Let’s go, 80s.

SAM REID:   I’d probably do the 1700s. I think Lestat really that is where he’s from, and that’s the era in which he was born into, so I’d quite like to see him in that in that era.

BAILEY BASS:   I just want to get to the 50s. Like, I just want Claudia to get to the 50s so I can wear all those skirts and just explore more hairstyles, because we evolved. Doing the prep work, there wasn’t a lot of hairstyles – we had a horrible of time looking for photos of black girls in that time period with very versatile hair, which we know they existed, just no one took pictures of them. So, to be able to expand that more and show women who have curly hair, that this is what they look like in that time. I’d love to expand that and go into the 40s and 50s.

Transcribed by Jamie Ruby of ScifiVision

#interview #tvmeg #jacob anderson #sam reid #bailey bass #iwtv cast #amc iwtv #iwtv #amc interview with the vampire #interview with the vampire amc #iwtv amc #iwtv 2022 #interview with the vampire

[mimicha-arts]

Qian Jin

Hello and sorry. I’m here again with my “catch the details faster than the frame changes.” Let's talk about Qian Jin! I'm pretty sure we'll learn new information in the next episode because of the flashback, so I want to get ahead of things a little and play bingo ;)

SPOILERS FOR S2

1. Romeo and Juliet Many have discussed this, but we will go deeper. One of the main key points in the s2 is the Romeo and Juliet theme and poster, which we now know is related to Qian Jin's story.

In my opinion, his whole scene with the poster looked very personal, hardly just "symbolism" of his feelings after losing his wife or something like that. And here I will try to explain why. Because, most likely, the actress on the poster is Qian Jin's wife. Her name was shown for such a brief moment that I actually nearly lost my mind while trying to capture the frame. So, her name is probably Chen Nan (陈楠). And I really don't think it was necessary to include such details if they are minor.

Well. Pure speculations. We all remember that initially everything was wrong with the case, the suspect in the murder of Qian Jin‘s wife after some time committed suicide and left a note with a confession. Although I can read some words, I can't rely on my eyes, so I can't string them together into complete sentences. But what I can guess is that there are two characters in the signature, and the surname kinda looks like Zhuang (庄).

So. Which character also has the surname Zhuang, who has already been "shown" in the series… On the same poster of "Romeo and Juliet", where the actress, theoretically, was Qian Jin's wife… Yeah. Zhuang Shuai (庄帅)

Okay, this could all be a coincidence, my imagination, speculation. But is these details actually connected, for now, until this has been refuted, I suspect that the story of the murder of Qian Jin's wife was much more personal and deep. Like, now we are convinced that after he found out about Cheng Xiaoshi's ability, his motivation is obviously to capture Cheng Xiaoshi in order to rewrite the past. Likely to save his wife (?). But I'm not sure how much more complex it will be?

If any of this is confirmed, I rather think that Qian Jin's wife was killed by Zhuang Shuai out of jealousy. I also need to say, for now I don't think that 戴绿帽子 is a possible situation here, seems TOO cruel for me, but who knows.

2. Qian Jin and details Eyes. We were all confused because Qian Jin's eyes were not common, but icy yellow. In fact, his eyes can be said to have three states. I also note that sometimes pupils are not drawn or too small because of 2D graphics, so I take into account only obvious close-ups. First type: present, yellow eyes with a vertical pupil. We see that kind of his eyes in most of his scenes. The same type of eyes are in his character design pictures and intro.

Second type: present, yellow with a round pupil. This type of eyes appears specifically in episode 4.

(Technically) third type: the past, yellow eyes with a round pupil. In all the close-up scenes in flashbacks, his pupils are round.

Abilities: It's hard to guess, but at the moment I don't think he personally has any special abilities. It seems to me, given his one line, that Qian Jin relies more on his skills, plans and his people, treating abilities (at least in this situation) in a rather lenient way. Also, his real words sound more special and poetic - If there is a way to reach the sky, it will be difficult to fly away even with wings (friendly reminder, I'm not a translator or native speaker)

But there is one dubious detail. OK. Speaking of gloves, he probably uses gloves to avoid accidentally touching Li Tianchen and getting controlled, which is a pretty logical conclusion after episode 8. But. At some point, while talking to Li Tianchen, when the frame points to Qian Jin, there is a rather small movement of the hand and the sound of either the rustle of clothes, or the sound of something being handed over (ep 7, 1:22-1:28). This was weird.

This may be a trick, but at some point, when it gets to 7pm, Qian Jin claps his hands. And given to Cheng Xiaoshi's abilities, we know that clapping can be a means of activating/disabling an ability.

Speculation: Since we can't fully rely on changing the shape of the eyes, pupil, eye color, due to the change in visual "rules" compared to season 1 + animation errors, but for now I'll make assumptions.

In fact, in some of these scenes, Qian Jin may be possessed by Cheng Xiaoshi (which is trite, but possible)

Someone uses their abilities on Qian Jin, they are in cooperation. This person either possess him either they watches events through Qian Jin's eyes from time to time, as if through a camera.

Qian Jin gave something to Li Tianchen in the car, and that will play a role in the plot.

The change of eyes is an attempt to show the change in his personality, but I don't think it's that simple.

3. Something beyond my understanding

The man with a hat. They are obviously connected, and I already wrote a big theory about this, if the man in the hat turns out to be Liu Xiao, let's not dwell on this, if you want to read, click on - Person in the shadows.

Dates In his intro, although there is some information, as always, the year is not indicated. Obviously, the current year is still 2021 (according to s1). But in the second season, we are not shown specific dates anywhere (even with the twins, although we can find out their year of birth by literally subtracting 19), and here. There is an event, there is a blurry date. Not specified. I guess something is wrong with time already or is this a hint that it doesn’t matter, because the events are looped / will be erased.

Player and music And probably the most ??????? thing. When Qian Jin is in the car, there is a VERY short frame before he takes the call. If you catch it... here is a player on the screen. The music is Symphony of Fate (生命交响乐). And the player does not have a "back" button, only forward.

Time is like music, yeah. Thank you for reading once again ~ I hope episode 9 gives us more information and answers some questions though… *cries*. Feel free to discuss!

#link click #link click s2 #link click spoilers #shiguang dailiren #qian jin #mimicha.lc #my moment of insanity

[danaty-consolation]

Nagisa Shiowatari, the misconceived character.

Since Nagisa's episode is coming this thursday, is time for me to come out an explain more about his character based on the manga characterization.

This is a way to point out some things that were not seen in the Ova adaptation and how his character is often targeted of being one of the worst love interest and characters in Urusei Yatsura as a whole.

The flaws of their first meeting

Ryu meet Nagisa first as an appearing ghost, who scared her when she was taking a bath and then he disappeared.

If people are calling this meeting problematic, I think they need to read Ranma 1/2, where Ranma's male form meets Akane which is way more problematic even if is an accident.

Also I think there is more of a problem with these three if we put if realistically, after all she is a scared girl and rather than reafirm this elsewhere these three are with her in a vulnerable position, making her feel more alert rather than more relaxed after that scare.

After that we have a more kinda normal meeting, they scare the gang with this joke

and this is when, we get to know that Nagisa is Ryu's fiancée

The thing here, is that Nagisa had probably grown up by the idea of meeting his fianceé since he was a kid or preteen, the thing is he already knew about his compromise Ryu before meeting her...compared to Ryu who just got told just now, add to the point that here Ryu still thinks Nagisa is a girl meanwhile she thinks that Nagisa sees her as a boy.

Meanwhile I think is way more problematic that Ryu's dad hits his daughter while trying to manipulate her with tears just because she say no to Nagisa.

Changing once again into Nagisa, we see how his last wish before fully disappearing is to kiss the person he likes.

Everyone has one last wish, even tho his wish is innocent to him and quite selfish, it really is uncomfortable to Ryu, because she just meet him and she still thinks he is a girl who thinks she is a boy.

Is it a pretty selfish wish? Yes but is his last one, it doesn't make it ok but when you are about to fully disappear you want to do something you wanted to do when you were alive.

It's believable he would want a kiss, we had seen in the last date, how Nozomi wanted a last date with Ataru. The difference here is that Ataru accepts the date to help her move on meanwhile Ryu doesn't want to be obligated to do something she doesn't want.

Nagisa has a romantic look of what fiancés are, he must think that since both like each other (probably a lie by his father) it must be ok for them to kiss. Nagisa thinks that is okay if he kisses Ryu because they are official, probably his father fault since he is cut with the same scissors as Ryu's father so he omitted some important information like consent in both parts.

Here another misunderstanding, Nagisa thinks that she doesn't like him because he is a ghost, a totally understandable fear because he is dead but she is alive. He must think he is repulsive to her because of being a ghost meanwhile Ryu is trying to explain to him that she is a girl.

Also we see how the others know how this will pass if she just kisses him, Ataru and Lum have more experience thanks to the date with Nozomi so is reasonable how they can see it work. After all if they kiss, he will be out of their lives.

Meanwhile, we see how Nagisa's father is an incredible manipulator by his words, trying to guilt trip Ryu in kissing him when Nagisa doesn't have all that thanks to how he exploited his own son's "feminine look" and put him to work rather than taking him to a school, giving him only hope in the romantic love with Ryu's engagement.

In short Nagisa gets told that she was persuaded when it was just her father that knocked her out in a moment of weakness, Nagisa believes it sadly. Since we had seen how he doesn't rebel to his father says and doings, he takes it all at face value.

However when he notices that he cannot kiss her because he is a ghost makes him super sad.

Nevertheless, a sudden legend with a big urchin that Ataru and Mendou even think about how stupid that legend and action sounds

Makes Nagisa had a physical body again and he is so happy, since this means he can kiss Ryu now.

Ryu doesn't want to and Nagisa tries to stop her in the way he was educated by, a very wrong move of course.

However, by his words, we see that he thinks his situation with his physical body is temporarily. He thinks he will become a ghost again so he wants to get his kiss before disappearing completely.

Then here comes the twist, Ryu shows him her breast, still thinking that he thought of her as a boy, this is Ryu big evasive strategy to stop his kiss, showing that she is indeed a girl and Nagisa by knowing that, back off because he may not be interested in her being a girl since in Ryu's mind she thought that he seen her as a boy.

But it backfired.

Since Nagisa shows that he is indeed a boy and sees nothing wrong with kissing her.

Ryu asking the real questions.

Finally, we see once again Nagisa trying to force himself to Ryu because he thinks his time is running out however, Ryu understandingly says that she has not had time to process all this and doesn't want to do it.

But they notice that he doesn't go with his father because he is kinda alive now with a physical body so now it is shown that he can take it actually slow, with no pressure of disappearing.

2. Nagisa's Character before meeting Ryu and the others.

Nagisa's actions and way of acting represent the way he was raised by his father. It was shown how he has always worked for him while accepting his feminine side that his father had always preferred and promoted out since he thinks Nagisa is a girl, Nagisa is the same as Ryu.

Nevertheless, the real difference here is that Ryu made friends with people who knew her real gender and even had a kinda normal live in school where she became more sociable and seen more normal behavior patterns compared to what she lived with her father, compared to Nagisa who never went to school or have people who knew his real gender. The only person with whom he interacted the most besides the clients who thought he was a girl was his father.

He didn't have anyone else to tell him that his methods were forceful or wrong, he only followed what his dad did.

Ryu and Nagisa are victims of their fathers wanting to make them look the opposite gender, to try to manipulate them into thinking they are from the opposite sex.

Nagisa is more passive than Ryu, he accepts what his father says most of the time.

After all he is more obedient to his father compared to Ryu's open vocal rebellion with her father, the only thing when he contradicts his father is when he shows that he knows that he is a boy and doesn't negate that fact. Sure he act, behaves and is emotionally like a woman but even if he acts like that he knows and is comfortable on being a boy.

That is his only rebellion.

3. Nagisa's and Ryu's relationship while living together.

One night's battle is a small arc that is more to the point about Nagisa's personality and his dynamic with Ryu.

The beginning show Nagisa's dream:

A married life with Ryu.

But the reality is quite different

In this one it is presented how Nagisa is a pretty flawed character.

He is really emotional, like a girl but more over the top. He also eats a lot and is a person who wakes up late.

The thing is until now Ryu and Nagisa hadn't had any development romantically or even as friendship, Ryu is not interested in him in that way and doesn't want to kiss him.

Althrough it is proved that Nagisa is protective of her and doesn't like Ataru trying to make a move on Ryu.

The thing here is, that Nagisa is gullible, he is straightforward to convince because that is his personality and he doesn't know Ryu that well yet. He only meet her recently compared to Ataru and the others.

Nagisa wants to be in Ryu's good side, he wants to know her more but Ryu is pretty stubborn and closes herself because of how they meet and since she sees this as a way to rebel to what her father imposed her, being romantically involved by Nagisa.

That is why when Ryu friends tell him this

He believes in them and feels much better, knowing that he finally has a chance to be on her good side.

And when it shows that Ryu gets interested in him in some way, her father comes out and ruins it by pulling them into a uncomfortable situation.

[cupofteainme]

In season two we learned that there are other queer students in Hillerska.

Nils is there to tell us how it's done in the upper class: high-altitude fucks in Verbier and discretion. For Wille, who's so passionate and honest, it sounds completely alien. How is this sweet boy so out of the loop? Erik or anybody clearly didn't tell him how to handle relationships.

With Nils, we also get to see more of Wille's situation and sympathize with him. Not that I'd need more convincing, but some casual viewer might. Wille's position is unique and he can't make decisions about his life like everybody else.

In the first episode, we see girls making out next to August. This just further emphasizes that there is nothing wrong in being queer, Wille's problem is being a prince.

Ok, Stella is queer too. I didn't see it coming and neither I did with Nils. Which is kinda cool. Their queerness is just one part of them. It also tells us that there are many reasons to stay in the closet and that it can act as a safe place too. People are allowed to protect their feelings or career prospects. In this context the way Wille and Simon were outed seems even more brutal.

In the end Wille was able to come out on his own terms. He already had Simon's love. He was't pressured. It was a choice.

In season three I'd like to see how his bravery gives strength to other queer people to be open and proud.

#The more I think about this season the more touched I am #Wille is going to be such a good leader #He's already given two amazing speeches from heart #young royals #wilmon #young royals season 2

[linghxr]

I watched all the Chinese idol survival shows so you don’t have to (but you should anyway)

About three years ago, I watched 创造101 Produce 101 China, and it kinda changed my life. Yes, really! This show dragged me down a rabbit hole that eventually led to me watching many more Chinese shows and listening to almost exclusively Chinese music. I’m even branching out to cdramas now. All under the guise of, um, improving my listening comprehension!

OK, so “all the Chinese idol survival shows” might be an exaggeration. I’ll be talking about these three classic idol group survival shows from the “golden age” period of 2018-2021:

>> 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You (iQiyi)

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

>> 创造101 Produce 101/创造营 Chuang (Tencent)

创造101 Produce 101 China

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

>> 以团之名 All For One/少年之名 We Are Young (Youku)

以团之名 All For One

少年之名 We Are Young

Here is the order I actually watched these 10 seasons in:

创造101 Produce 101 China

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

以团之名 All For One

少年之名 We Are Young

I started 创造101 Produce 101 China in late 2019/early 2020 and finished 少年之名 We Are Young on Christmas Day 2022. I was literally tearing up. Three franchises, ten seasons, something around 1000 contestants, and three years of my life.

In order to refresh my memory for this post, I rewatched almost all of the performance clips from these shows. I didn’t watch the initial evaluations or any practice room videos (it’s simply too much content). It was simultaneously fun and exhausting. I will go over why you should/shouldn’t watch each season and give any other notable remarks. Let’s get started!

*Please note that for any YouTube links below, there is a risk of muted sections, parts/entire episodes being unavailable, and missing/out of sync subtitles. For official links, whether or not a VIP subscription is needed may change in the future. Fansubbed content may have sections or entire episodes missing.

>> 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You (iQiyi)

iQiyi rebranded the series by changing its name from 偶像练习生 Idol Producer to 青春有你 Youth with You after the first season. However, they really didn’t change much about the format at all. From what I’ve heard, iQiyi doesn’t have as large a budget as Tencent, which you can see reflected in the show’s production quality. However, I’ve long felt that this franchise has a real charming quality that makes up for lack of flashy sets.

偶像练习生 Idol Producer

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch via Idol Producer Subs (English fansubs, missing part of finale)

Why you should watch it: Though not China’s first idol survival show, this show was the first of a new era. It’s iconic! The theme song is a bop, 10/10. Also, I had heard of all of the winners before I watched this season, so there’s some real cultural relevance. I can’t believe it was nearly five years ago! The whole top 20 remains iconic to this day. In most seasons, there are at least one or two popular contestants who I don’t really like or don’t see the appeal of, but that wasn’t the case this season. This season is also a lot shorter than later seasons, so it’s easier for those who are new to survival shows.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: As I mentioned, there is a lack of flashy sets/stages here. The background of the stage often looks empty. There were some performances that were better than I remembered, but there were others that were...not. I’m pretty sure 黄明昊 Justin was 15 when the show began, which shocks me in a BAD way. And if you’re a Jackson Wang fan, I think he barely appeared in the second half of the show.

My picks: 郑锐彬 Zheng Ruibin, 周彦辰 Zhou Yanchen, 蔡徐坤 Cai Xukun, 王子异 Wang Ziyi, 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie, 周锐 Zhou Rui

Favorite performance: PPAP A组 PPAP group A This was a powerhouse group. And it was hilarious to watch the boys’ reaction when they heard the whole song and realized the style was not at all what they had initially expected! They totally pulled it off though.

Iconic moments: 蔡徐坤 Cai Xukun’s outfit (and ego) in the initial evaluation, B-A-L-A-N-C-E, when we realized 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie can sing too, 林彦俊 Lin Yanjun's platinum hair, one of the songs was called Mack Daddy which causes me great distress to this day, 周锐 Zhou Rui aka 周美锐 Zhou Meirui, I’m still laughing over 朱星杰 Zhu Xingjie’s resemblance to 胡巴 Huba.

Verdict: Though this was not my first idol survival show, I think it would be a great first foray for anyone. It’s iconic for a reason. You should watch it (and I might rewatch it). 

青春有你1 Youth with You 1

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch via Qing Chun You Ni Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: This season is the forgotten child of the franchise, but it still had some great performances and a lot of talented contestants. The theme song is also probably my favorite out of all ten theme songs! It was love at first listen. Personally, I enjoyed this team of mentors more than the first season’s. I also feel that the vocal-based performances were stronger this season. For instance, there were great performances of 李荣浩 Li Ronghao songs.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: I feel that some of the magic of the first season was lost, and overall the contestants were not as memorable or charismatic in my opinion. There were also several contestants I found extremely irritating and some contestants who ranked much higher and last much longer on the show than I feel they should have based on their skill level...but I won’t name names.

My picks: 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu, 李振宁 Li Zhenning, 周士原 Zhou Shiyuan, 连淮伟 Li Huaiwei

Favorite performance: 隔壁泰山 A组 Neighboring Tarzan group A This is a very unusal song, but it’s so catchy and memorable. 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu really made this performance for me. And this song still gets stuck in my head months later!

Iconic moments: 冯俊杰 Feng Junjie and 夏瀚宇 Xia Hanyu trying to outdo each other, 胡春杨 Hu Chunyang looked angry 24/7 for no reason, they literally got 蔡依林! Jolin Tsai! as a mentor, 李汶翰 Li Wenhan was everyone’s older brother, their performance made me fall in love with the song 耳朵 Erduo, they kinda did a steampunk concept which I love.

Verdict: It’s not necessarily a must-watch, but I still enjoyed it. If you’ve fallen into the black hole of survival shows and want more, I think it’s worth your time.

青春有你2 Youth with You 2

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (English subs) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, missing several parts/episodes)

Why you should watch it: As iQiyi’s first time with female contestants, this season was highly anticipated. iQiyi stepped it up with subtitles, got Lisa from BLACKPINK as a mentor (I saw people say they came for Lisa and stayed for the trainees), and made a lot of content available on YouTube. As a result, some of the performances from this season have millions of views. It’s well deserved—a lot of the contestants are overflowing with talent and charisma. And honestly, you should watch this for 蔡徐坤. He’s a great MC/mentor to the girls and was truly a highlight of the season for me.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: This is the only season that I watched week by week as it was airing. It was EXHAUSTING. iQiyi started pumping out two episodes a week, doubling the overall episode count. I was literally burnt out by the finale. So if you watch this, please take it slow. Also, I forgot how much they did that thing where they cut away from the performances to show other contestant/mentor reactions and then have to go rewind on the performance...it really drives me nuts. They overdid it for sure.

My picks: 刘雨昕 Liu Yuxin, 喻言 Yu Yan, 王承渲 Wang Chengxuan, 刘令姿 Liu Lingzi, 许馨文 Xu Xinwen

Favorite performance: 不奉陪 No Company This was a tough choice! I went with this performance because I actively sought it out for relistens. That’s so rare for 主题考核 theme evaluation songs for me. All the members got to shine yet they were a very cohesive team.

Iconic moments: Bad Guy was the ultimate dark horse, how no one knew the song 想见你想见你想见你 Miss You 3000, 王承渲 Wang Chengxuan defeated the evil quads, 乃万 Nineone basically replaced Jony J as rap mentor, seeing 刘雨昕 Liu Yuxin with a wig was terrifying, they let the girls wear shorts if they didn’t like skirts #feminism, I still think about 张钰 Zhang Yu and 王清 Wang Qing’s initial performance all the time.

Verdict: I don’t think I could rewatch this season due to its length, but if you can commit the time, I think you should watch it. I’m sad I’ll never get to see a second 青春有你 Youth with You female season.

青春有你3 Youth with You 3

Watch on iQiyi (English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on iQiyi (no English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, missing several parts/episodes)

Why you should watch it: This season was probably the one I felt most emotionally invested in. I feel like I got to know the boys and was in it together with them (parasocial relationships, I know). And the friendships between contestants were so touching. Like 青春有你2 Youth with You 2, this season was also extra long, but I watched this season after it aired, going at my own pace. There were so many charming contestants and memorable performances. The dancing especially shone, but we got some great vocal moments too. I think iQiyi did a really good job picking songs this season.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Sadly, the finale never aired. Due to the infamous milk-wasting scandal, the show was cancelled (but a winning group still formed and debuted). Even though I knew this before watching the show, it was still quite sad to never see a conclusion. Additionally, I believe this show started with more like 120 contestants, and I felt that increased number. Lastly, there was some painful singing and lots of very uninspired rapping. I feel like the gap in skill between the contestants was larger, and some of the teams felt very unbalanced as a result.

My picks: 姜京佐 Jiang Jingzuo, 杨昊铭 Yang Haoming, 十七 Shiqi, 徐子未 Xu Ziwei, 张思源 Zhang Siyuan, 连淮伟 Lian Huaiwei

Favorite performance: 燕尾蝶 Wings of Love This performance was everything I could ever dream of. 徐子未 won the world over instantly. He has the voice of an angel. Love the song, love the concept, love everything about it.

Iconic moments: 罗一舟 Luo Yizhou and 余景天 Tony Yu Jingtians’s friendly rivalry, 徐子未 Xu Ziwei’s back-to-back victories, Yuta’s adorable accent, 王南钧 Wang Nanjun would not shut up about 竹 Bamboo, touch 梁森 Liang Sen’s head for good luck, 刘隽 Liu Jun dances like he’s possessed (in a good way), that 雨爱 Rainie Love stage was a trainwreck tbh.

Verdict: Despite the scandals and lack of a finale, it was worth the watch for me. I feel so fond thinking of this season. Truthfully, season three has surpassed season two for me.

>> 创造101 Produce 101/创造营 Chuang (Tencent)

I read somewhere that Tencent officially licensed the Produce 101 name from Mnet, making this franchise more “official.” For season two, they ended up changing the name to 创造营 Produce Camp. The Chinese name remained the same for seasons three and four, but the in English they started promoting the show under the name Chuang. I think they wanted to beat iQiyi in the contest to see who can have the most titles for the same show.

创造101 Produce 101 China

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, no VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs) Watch on YouTube (no English subs, episode 7 here, episode 10 here) Watch via Produce 101 China Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: This is the only season I’ve seen twice, so that says something I guess! This season holds a special place in my heart as my first survival show, so I rewatched it earlier this year with some friends who hadn’t seen it previously. One thing that stood out to me about this season was that it felt like there were several dark horses who started to shine closer to the middle/end of the show. I liked this because it’s boring when the debut lineup is completely predictable! And if you’re not already a 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi fan, you will leave as a 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi fan, guaranteed.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Not gonna lie, I was not a huge fan of this mentor team. I am fine with these people individually, but together it was not an ideal combo in my opinion. They collectively made some very odd decisions that I strongly disagree with. After my rewatch, I’m just kinda done with 黄子韬 Huang Zitao. I also realized there were a lot more instances of...rough singing than I remembered, so be warned.

My picks: 孟美岐 Meng Meiqi, Yamy, 刘人语 Liu Renyu, 许靖韵 Angela Xu Jingyun, 吴映香 Lucia Wu Yingxiang, 李紫婷 Mimi Li Ziting

Favorite performance: 别人家的小孩 Other People’s Kids This is one of the most iconic performances (and one of my favorites) ever from all of these shows! It’s so unique and really has everything you could want. It was truly a perfect collab performance.

Iconic moments: When they had to tap 杨超越 Yang Chaoyue so she wouldn’t miss the beat, 王一博 Wang Yibo’s blue hair was gorgeous, Triple A group reunion, Look What You Made Me Do with creepy marionettes was perfect, when 陈嘉桦 Ella went barefoot on stage, 黄子韬 Huang Zitao literally screamed at them all, I’ll never forget the iconic 乐华 Yuehua performance.

Verdict: Even the second time, this was a season filled with surprises. It’s not perfect, but I think it will manage to charm you anyway. There are some real hidden gems here.

创造营2019 Produce Camp 2019

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs)

Why you should watch it: This was the first ever male season I watched, and I remember being apprehensive. I ended up having a lot of fun! This season really tugged at my heartstrings with the touching friendships between the boys and the intense 导师推荐生 mentor recommendees segments. I felt like I went through the wringer with them as they were forced to repack all their belongings, endure the brutal F班 demotions, hike across the beach, and more. There were countless hilarious moments too. If I were to rewatch, it would be for 周震南 Zhou Zhennan AKA 南南 Nannan. He just dominates the stage (despite his short stature)!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: I’ll admit, this season probably has the greatest number of contestants that annoy me. Sometimes it’s for no good reason...I just look at them and go ugh. The first round especially has some pretty painful singing, so be warned of that as well. Also, my rewatch made me realize I remembered very few performances from this season, which probably isn’t a good sign. Also, a lot of the performances were very short, sub-three minutes, which personally bothers me.

My picks: 周震南 Zhou Zhennan, 高嘉朗 Gao Jialang, 姚琛 Yao Chen, 陆思恒 Lu Siheng, 李鑫一 Li Xinyi, 贺俊雄 He Junxiong

Favorite performance: 开门见山 Kaimenjianshan I’ll admit that this performance was not as good as I remembered it being (probably because now I’ve heard the original by A-Mei many times), but I picked it anyway to acknowledge the amazing 高嘉朗 Gao Jialang.

Iconic moments: 张颜齐 Zhang Yanqi giving away jars of 老干妈 Lao Gan Ma, we never saw 王晨艺 Wang Chenyi again, 姚琛来了~ (Yao Chen is coming), when 周震南 Zhou Zhennan had his hoodie on but his ears were sticking out omg, try saying 李昀锐 Li Yunrui's name ten times fast, they had 30+ year old men here, this was the OG 乘风破浪 chengfengpolang.

Verdict: Among so many seasons, I don’t think this season stands out that much, but I still remember it fondly. If you want a good laugh and some fun, check it out.

创造营2020 Chuang 2020

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (English subs, missing episode 3) Watch on YouTube (English subs, missing episode 3) Watch on Viki (English subs, no Viki Pass needed)

Why you should watch it: They went all out on the sets, the location, the accommodations, everything. The performance setup was that the seats were in the middle and various stages were located around the perimeter. The seats would rotate to face the stages!! Some of the stages were stunning. I also want to mention that there were some great vocalists this season and I feel like they got to shine, which always makes me happy. The best round by far was the second round (专业方向). We got some beautiful vocal performances and intense dance performances.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: This season felt messy to me. I think they tried to mix things up, but not everything landed. The beautiful sets almost got distracting…they were more interesting than some of the performances. Several very talented and promising contestants never even made it past the first round. And since the final group only had seven people, the finale was just a frustrating experience. I never want to hear that 小摩托 xiao motuo song or 夏天的风 Summer Wind again. I don’t feel this season lived up to 创造101 Produce 101 China (unless you wanted MORE comments about weight/thinness).

My picks: 王柯 Wang Ke, 华承妍 Hua Chengyan, 刘些宁 Liu Xiening, 苏芮琪 Su Ruiqi, 朱主爱, Joyce Zhu Zhu’ai, 王一桥 Wang Yiqiao

Favorite performance: Manta There were a lot of performances I liked, but I really struggled to pick a favorite. I ultimately went with this because it’s one of the most memorable dance performances I’ve seen on these shows.

Iconic moments: That thin waist contest was simply the worst, they were in a literal castle, we all went crazy for the band and 王柯 Wang Ke, 朱主爱 Joyce Zhu Zhu’ai won the collab stage, wtf stop filming 姜贞羽 Jiang Zhenyu, I want to ride that cute train up the mountain, 毛不易 Mao Buyi did not want to talk, pretend that 吴亦凡 Wu Yifan wasn’t there.

Verdict: This season was competing against 青春有你2 Youth with You 2, and I chose to prioritize 青春有你2 Youth with You 2. I would make the same choice now. If you decide to watch, just be warned it may be a frustrating experience.

创造营2021 Chuang 2021

Watch on Tencent Video (English subs, VIP needed) Watch on 腾讯视频 (no English subs, VIP needed)

Why you should watch it: I wasn’t sure I was going to watch this season because of its international theme. Having foreigners is nothing new, but such a large number was certainly going to alter the show’s dynamic. Well, I watched it anyway. Overall, I’m glad I did. There were some talented and lovable contestants that made this season all worth it. The mentor squad (mostly 宁静 Ning Jing, 邓超 Deng Chao, and 周深 Zhou Shen) were so entertaining. Lastly, compared to the 2019 season, there were more popular vocalists this season, which I 100% support. I’ll be honest, I didn’t remember a lot of the performances from this season, but I ended up pleasantly surprised by how many great ones there were!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: It felt like there was so much focus on Nine and Patrick, Santa and Riki, the Intersection boys, and eventually Lelush as well. The other foreign contestants honestly had very little impact. This didn’t ruin the show or anything, but sometimes I got a little sick of the Santa and Mika show, you know? Also, none of my favorites made it into the winning group unfortunately. While I acknowledge the talent of the winning members, for whatever reason I wasn’t really that invested in most of them.

My picks: 俞更寅 Yu Gengying, 井胧 Jing Long, 林墨 Lin Mo, 奥斯卡 Oscar, 张星特 Zhang Xingte

Favorite performance: Lover Boy 88 This performance was simply infectious! I even made my friends watch to it. 林墨 Lin Mo is so charming. And 张腾 Zhang Teng and 张星特 Zhang Xingte’s vocals were perfect. Just wish it had been longer!

Iconic moments: Mika and 曾涵江 Zeng Hanjiang = my last two brain cells trying to communicate, I still can’t believe Lelush went viral worldwide, 刘宇 Liu Yu broke the Produce curse, Nine and Patrick only learned Chinese for how long???, Caelan kinda does look like Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar AKA 熊熊 Xiongxiong, the 网红 wanghong group was so talented actually.

Verdict: I think this season got more international attention than 青春有你3 Youth with You 3, and while I prefer 青春有你3 Youth with You 3, this season is worth a watch for its uniqueness and improvements over the previous year.

>> 以团之名 All For One/少年之名 We Are Young (Youku)

I watched both seasons of Youku’s shorter-lived franchise in 2022 only after (and only because) I had finished the other two franchises. I think Youku had a smaller budget and thus tried to stand out by shaking up the traditional survival show formula. I think they made some poor choices and some good choices. I don’t know the story behind the name change between seasons, but the seasons are so different from each other that it makes sense.

以团之名 All For One

Watch on Youku (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs)

Why you should watch it: I’m going to say a lot of negative stuff below, but I wanted to add at least a few positive words. During the finale, the remaining contestants sang S.H.E’s 你曾是少年 Wings Of My Words, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so emotional over a performance ever. 任家萱 Selina was a delight throughout. I also really grew to appreciate 奶茶 Naicha and what a great and thoughtful leader he was.

Why you shouldn’t watch it: As I mentioned, this show had some unique features that made it stand out. The contestants formed ten groups of eight, and the composition of the groups remained unchanged throughout. Entire groups got eliminated together. This created a dynamic where some really talented contestants went home too soon due to their group. It also meant that some groups were popular really just due to having one popular member. In the end, one group won...but I guess they realized this was a bad idea, so they formed a second winning group of the most popular contestants from the non-winning groups. I didn’t like this format and felt is really negatively impacted my viewing. Personally, seeing new team lineups form is one of my favorite parts of survival shows. And because the leaders were constant, they had there was too much focus on them. Also, the mentors were so harsh all the time. Maybe it was deserved, but it really bummed me out to watch them constantly talk about how disappointed they were.

My picks: 奶茶 Naicha, 田书臣 Tian Shuchen, 龙泓昊 Long Honghao, 赖煜哲 AJ Lai Yuzhe, 热亚提 Reyati, 赵品霖 Zhao Pinlin

Favorite performance: 饕餮 Taotie This was not one of the performances that stood out in my memory, but it stood out to me when I did my rewatch. I feel like they really nailed every element, and I don’t think the other teams could have pulled off this song.

Iconic moments: 何展成 Jonathan Ha gave up on speaking Chinese and 袁娅维 Tia Ray had to translate for him, the 王霏霏 Wang Feifei and 孟佳 Meng Jia reunion, 龙泓昊 Long Honghao’s beautiful dance to a Shawn Mendes song, I’m not sure why 奶茶 Naicha chose milk tea as stage name, AJ vs. the hidden snacks, they made 周艺轩 Zhou Yixuan perform a UNIQ song.

Verdict: Maybe you can skip this one. I definitely didn’t devote my full attention while I was watching it. And it felt like the show and the mentors were being mean to the boys all the time.

少年之名 We Are Young

Watch on Youku (no English subs, VIP needed) Watch on YouTube (no English subs) Watch via We Are Young Subs (English fansubs)

Why you should watch it: They improved on basically all the issues I had with the first season, and I was pleasantly surprised. Also, this is basically a 青春有你1 Youth with You 1 mini reunion with a few 偶像练习生 Idol Producer alums plus some future 青春有你3 You with You 3 contestants. It was so wonderful to see how the contestants I already knew had grown, and I loved seeing them get new opportunities to shine. There was surprisingly a lot of good raps/rappers on this show! Also, there were some truly incredible performances this season that aren’t like anything I’ve seen on other idol survival shows. And I enjoyed almost every performance—there were only a few that I disliked or thought were, um, not good. The mentors did not always agree...but I don’t care!

Why you shouldn’t watch it: Because they have to be different, when doing the initial evaluations, only about 50 contestants advanced to the next round. This was nice because it meant fewer names/faces, but wow, it felt so mean. Sometimes I wished they had stuck to a more traditional format. Besides that, I don’t have much else negative to say!

My picks: 郭震 Guo Zhen, 寇聪 Kuo Cong, 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan, 左林杰 Zuo Linjie, 李希侃 Li Xikan, 崔少鹏 Cui Shaopeng, 杨超文 Yang Chaowen

Favorite performance: Don’t Start Now I don’t think I’ve ever seen this exact concept on one of these shows before. This performance was instantly a standout for me, especially because it had some of my favorite contestants!

Iconic moments: They literally had a corgi, 林 (Lin) MUA, everyone shipping 薛恩 Xue En and 程潇 Cheng Xiao, 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan in a CROP TOP, 胡彦斌 Hu Yanbin told 寇聪 Kou Cong to wear less to show off his body what, 崔少鹏 Cui Shaopeng’s entrance through the pink smoke, 左林杰 Zuo Linjie really bungee jumped with his eyes closed, how 郭震 Guo Zhen, 左叶 Zuo Ye, and 胡文煊 Hu Wenxuan were in the same group four times without anyone noticing.

Verdict: This season ended up being better than it had any right to be! I think it’s worth checking out, especially if you are missing the boys from the 偶像练习生 Idol Producer/青春有你 Youth with You series.

>> Conclusion

If you actually read this entire post, I’m thoroughly impressed. If you, like me, have spent way too much time watching these shows, feel free to send me a message because I need someone to commiserate with. 

I honestly have this weird feeling that a chapter of my life is over. I have so many treasured memories from watching these shows—moments of laughter, tears, shock, pride, and more. They’ve provided a way to ground my language studies and engage with Chinese pop culture. They made me feel less alone during earlier COVID times.

Well, I’m off to find something to fill the survival show-size hole in my heart...maybe I’ll just rewatch 偶像练习生 Idol Producer.

#my watchlist #idol producer #qing chun you ni #youth with you #produce 101 #produce 101 china #produce camp #chuang #all for one #we are young #survival show #cpop #c-pop #c pop #偶像练习生 #偶像練習生 #青春有你 #创造101 #創造101 #创造营 #創造營 #少年之名 #以团之名 #以團之名 #cpop idols #this is my magnum opus #currently going through survival show withdrawal #I may complain but I love these shows #I spent way too long working on this #I literally have pages of notes

[aphantimes]

ok i finished watching sonic prime

im. underwhelmed lol

the fight in the grim just goes on and on and on and it got repetitive. and the way things are resolved is confusing? im guessing the other shatterspaces keep existing independently but the fact that they created a gateway to green hill in the void implies that green hill is .. part of the shatterverse now?? uhh. idk it's poorly explained

also. man. that dread redemption was really abrupt lol. it came out of nowhere and had no build up. bro was willing to throw anyone under the bus for the entire series and suddenly did a 180.. why??

like literally in the first two episodes of the season he spends the whole time moping and refusing to participate bc there's no treasure involved. then he joined the fight in the grim but. not bc he wanted the prism. it seems like the thought didn't cross his mind. so why did he suddenly choose to participate?? how'd he go from "i don't care about anything but treasure" to to "ok im a good guy that's loyal and isn't obsessed over that rock anymore" in three episodes with no development inbetween LOL

animation was super fun as usual. loved the unhinged nine expressions those were fun. renegade was SO FUCKING COOL I NEED TO GIF THE SHIT OUT OF SO MANY RENEGADE SCENES. but overall im kinda just meh 🤷

#sonic prime #sonic prime season 3 #sonic prime spoilers

[suffarustuffaru]

If you don't mind me asking but when did you first get into re:zero

yeah i dont mind at all :o ig yallre gonna hear my full origin story now haah. its my—my… ok id say tragic backstory but i dont think this is really that tragic LMAO. my humorous backstory? silly backstory?

anyway i got into rezero in summer of 2020!! this was months before s2 started airing and by around this time there was just s1, s1 directors cut may or may not have been out?? i forgor :<, but then s2’s first teaser came out right about now.

it was quarantine…. i was bored one day and wanted smth new to watch… and by then id only really briefly seen rezero—like you know that s1 promo poster with subaru standing there while surrounded by some of the main girls in s1 (beatrice felt emilia rem ram)?? yeah id seen that. in the back of my mind i kinda assumed the show was just another one of those abt a dude surrounded by his harem of girls or smth?? :< but then i learned the Real Premise is the time travel. via death!!!! and ive always loveddd angst and whump so i was like “NO FUCKING WAY I HIT THE JACKPOT” and eagerly looked into rezero some more to see if it was worth watching. and then i saw all the shit reviews on rz that never seemed to agree on if it was good or not…… and then gigguk’s video…… and then i saw mother’s basement on youtube make a defense of rezero s1 and i was like!!! ok fuck it im watching this show. i want the angst i want the complex time travel shit. i think id spoiled myself on a couple of subarus deaths by this point trying to decide if i should commit to rezero and then i started binge watching s1!! esp when i was like ok this is a good time to get into it s2 was announced right??

anyway i got hooked on rezero fr 👍👍 the first s1 emisuba lap pillow had me quaking in my boots ;-;;; and i was already invested from ep1 bc i liked the characters a lot already!!! i am simply BUILT DIFFERENT i loved subaru from day one!!! by the royal selection episodes ofc i was dying of secondhand embarrassment but tbh i grew even more invested in rezero after that!! i was and still am super impressed that the narrative had the balls to have subaru fuck up sooo so so bad there. like seeing that emisuba argument and the julisuba duel for the first time was crazyyy. the conflict was really good and the latter s1 development…. woagh.

and then you know i finish s1 and i immediately get to researching how to read, i read arc 4’s wn and bawl my eyes out from the sheer amount of rollercoaster both the emotions and Long Ass Novel gave me (yes i was bawling my eyes out at parent and child) (yes i was bawling my eyes out at choose me) (yes i was bawling my eyes out for all the suffering loops) (yes i was bawling) (i have no clue how i read all those pages fr like that arc is massive), i speedrun arc 5, i accidentally spoil certain bits for myself (arc 6 stuff), i read most of arc 6 in spurts, tune in every week for s2 (and bawled my eyes out seeing the s2 part 1 op for the first time) etc etc!! one thing lead to another and now i am here…….. three yrs in this fandom… nearly (?) a yr being active on rezero tumblr… HAH

also i made a reddit account back inn…. 2020 or 2021 bc i wanted to be a tinyyy bit active in rezero reddit (this was half a mistake btw. i think i have more balls of steel now but my younger self was sooooo naive. shaking them by the shoulders. this is an anime fandom!!!!!! and this is reddit!!! whatre u expecting???? i am less shy now on the internet thats for sure!!). anyway im still a tiny bit active on rz reddit now after not touching it for like a year. now i use my reddit account for spreading otto propaganda and slander /lh …../hj

but anyway ive never been active in fandoms until rezero and thats bc id usually lurk and a lot of my past hyperfixation medias were :< big fandoms :<<< but then. ok im a fanfic enjoyer and i didnt write much fanfic or publish fic at all before this fandom but then in 2020 after watching s1 i checked rezero’s ao3 page and *sniffles* *sobs* thERE WAS ONLY LIKE 2 PAGES ON THERE MAN….. A WHOLE DESERT…. yes and then one thing lead to another and now there is more fic and also ig id be considered an english fic writer elder maybe…… i started posting in like fall/winter 2020? and maaaan im one of the only ppl from that era whos still posting i think!!! ive seen the entire english fanfic scene pop up!! ive participated in a bunch of community events… sooo wild to think about. i feel old guys!!!

but now i have gotten more and more active in the rz fandom yes :3 its been fun!! rezero is very important media to me and ive met lots of cool people in my time here :) when october 2024 rolls around itll be s3 time (AAAAA HYPE HYPE HYPE) and like four yrs of me being in this fandom?? its wild but my lifes genuinely changed a lot bc of me getting into rezero!! met lots of cool people… made pals… gotten my writing and art out there and improved on it via. large amounts of rezero fanart HAH.. became more unhinged.. etc etc :D even got to meet one of my buddies i met via rezero irl 👍👍 more irl crossover events will happen i swear.

also gigguk in my eyes redeemed himself for his old rezero skit vid by making a glowing review for rezero s2 with his pals. i can forgive him i suppose :<<<

in conclusion: idk if i count as a fandom elder but i sure have a lot of my own fandom lore pfft :<<<

#ask #suffaru post #people including english professors have told me theyre impressed with my writing but truth is ive just been writing a shit ton of anime #fanfic for the last three or so years LMFAO

[footballfanficwriter]

Questions

Summary: In which Jude is in an interview and asked about the reader

Time period: A few years after the world cup

"Welcome back to another episode of one on one, today we are joined by one of the world's greatest midfielders Jude Bellingham, Jude how are you" the interviewer asks

"I'm great man, how are you"

"Good thanks, now you have been to the world cup a few years ago and played against Kylian Mbappe can you please tell us what that was like"

"Uhm well I'll tell you one thing the man's got speed,a really amazing player, great talent but playing against him was something I kinda found hard to fathom and get it into my head, I mean we tried our best to hold on as long as possible and all that matters is that we tried our best"

"Ok I wanna ask a bit about your personal life if that's fine" the interviewer says

"No sure go ahead"

"Your Wife Y/N can you tell us a bit about her"

"Well y/n is my wife, she's the mother of my three lovely kids ,she is my best friend, the love of my life and I don't think I would still be here if it wasn't for her and my mom"

"That's sweet, can you tell us how you met your wife"

" uhm well we met at a red carpet event where she was her brother's plus one and we were placed next to one another so we just started having conversations and at the end of the night we exchanged numbers and after first becoming best friends, about a year later I confessed my feelings for her and she told me she felt the same and we dated for a few years then tied the knote"

"What's something that just makes you fall in love with her again"

"She has this weird laugh that freaks some people out but cause it sounds weird so when I hear her laugh it just reminds or takes me back to the times I would make her laugh before we were dating and I'd get the same reaction"

"What's one thing that just sometimes annoys you about her"

"Nothing she's perfect and I love her so much"

" I've never heard someone answer a question like that, I usually get 'the way she controls the household or how she wants everything presise'

"Well my wife's not like other wife's I mean yes she has her tendency of being a bit controlling, but once she realizes she doing it she immediately stops and asks us on our opinions of what we want to do"

"Who does the cooking and looking after the kids in the house"

" well it's the both of us ,sometimes we'll rotate like I'll do the cooking while she looks after the kids and vice versa, because I can't expect her to do all that by herself, it'll strain her physically and emotionally and I can't let that happen"

"Would you say that if your wife wasn't in your life that you'd have still made it"

"No, absolutely not, my wife has seen me at my lowest and my highest, she's always been there to help and pick me up when I was at my lowest and support me at my highest and same goes for her I saw her at her lowest and her highest and I'm really proud of the things she's achieved .

"And how's fatherhood treating you"

" Fatherhood has it moments when it tough and times when it's enjoyable, my kids they are growing up so fast you know, it feels like just yesterday I was holding them for the first time"

"Can you please share a moment that you shared with your children"

"There was this one time when I had gotten home late from practice and Leilani my 5year old daughter was still up playing with her toys, when I asked her why she was up she told me she was waiting for me to come back home cause she had something important to tell me or rather ask me"

"What did she wanna say"

"She said to me, Daddy I love you so much and I always will, because you will always have a special place in my heart, but I have a boyfriend and he's gonna be my husband cause we're getting married, I looked at her in shock because I wasn't expecting that, then I told her she had to break up with him and she started crying, so I told her she can have her boyfriend and she stopped crying, right before asking me to read her a story book and tuck her in, when I refused she started crying until I agreed"

"Well thank you so much Jude for joining us today I really enjoyed it"

"No problem mate and thank you too"

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