#2020 movies released list

[abbyshands]

THE LAST OF US, and the israeli themes surrounding it

i'm very glad that people were able to see one of the previous things i published, where i complied a series of links that you can use to learn more of what's going on in gaza, how you can help, places you need to boycott, etc. however, at the end of the post, there is a large part of it that is DIRECTLY meant for people who play or watch the last of us, or play the last of us 2.

the last of us 2 in specific is not at all elusive in displaying the chilling themes we are seeing before us today. what boggles my mind, is that a select few individuals are choosing to keep publishing fics, reblogging them, uploading content that has NOTHING to do with what's going on, etc. also, you can't reblog one thing about palestine and claim that you care, then flood your account or people's home pages in fanfiction, especially during a media blackout. it just doesn't work like that.

i took the time to make a post discussing all of the israeli/palestinian themes that the games as a whole, but mainly the second one, display. if you are my mutual, a friend, a fan of my work, or a fan of the game or show, then i 100% demand you read this. if you can read fics for hours, you can spend time to read a post discussing the universe those very fics came from.

a lot of us are now aware of the last of us's nature in regards to the ongoing genocide, but not many people know the specifics of it. after seeing this post last night (the person who made this, you are an angel), i decided to take the time to dive into the specifics of the last of us 2's israeli nature, on a logical level, but also a moral level, using a list of sources to help me along, which will be linked at the end of this post. i will link the sources along the way so you know which sources i got my information from.

regardless of if this changes anyone's mind about ignoring the media blackout, or not giving a fuck about what's going on period, know this: regardless of how you feel, regardless of what you believe, from the river to the see, palestine will be free. at this fucking point, the people who are on the right side will keep speaking out and spreading awareness, regardless if you are here to do it with us. that's it. now, let's get into this.

UPCOMING DISCUSSIONS: neil druckmann, the last of us 1, the last of us 2, the last of us show and zionism in the show's cast, boycotting the game and show, and conclusion

NEIL DRUCKMANN

45-year-old neil druckmann, who was the co-director and co-writer for the last of us 2, was born in tel aviv, israel in 1978. according to the above source, druckmann was raised in a settlement in the west bank, where he was surrounded by violence on a daily basis. comics, movies, and most of all, video games, became an escape for him as a child, before he and his family moved to miami, floridawhen he was 10 years old.

to water down the full story that you can, again, read here, druckmann went to college to major in criminology. however, when he was in college, druckmann took a compsci course, that later lead to his major becoming coding as opposed to criminology. soon after, he knew he wanted a career that related to one thing: video games.

in the summer of 2013, the last of us part 1 was released, and it was renowned as one of best video games to have ever been made. in 2020, druckmann and nd released the last of us part 2, followed by the 2022 release of HBO's show based on the first video game. druckmann played a huge part on set, being not only the co-creator and co-writer of the show, but also having directed an episode himself. druckmann will remain involved in the second season of the show.

bringing up neil druckmann’s background is a crucial aspect of what’s upcoming in this post, hence why i wanted to discuss it at all. druckmann growing up in israel is one of the sole reasons the last of us was ever made at all, and not only that: it is the reason why the second game is the way it is, because neil druckmann planted his israeli ideologies right into it.

so, let’s speak on it.

THE LAST OF US 1

on the official the last of us podcast, neil druckmann himself discussed the last of us' link to the israeli-palestinian conflict, and now, genocide. the general consensus was that people will go ridiculously far for the people that they love. this idea of druckmann's was revealed when he discussed the first time the main character of the first game, joel miller, kills somebody to keep his daughter, sarah, safe from harm. this is one of the first scenes in the game prior to the time jump, where the pair's neighbor becomes infected, and attacks them. joel uses a gun to kill him so that the neighbor doesn't harm sarah.

the following is a quote i would like to copy from this link word for word: "Druckmann said he follows "a lot of Israeli politics" and compared the incident to Israel's release of hundreds of Palestinians prisoners in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011."

the plot of the first game, as neil druckmann explained, is based around a moral dilemma. he discusses how if joel had to kill a man to save a random kid, would he have done it? druckmann himself says, "but when it was his tribe, his daughter, there was no question about what he was going to do."

while the first game, in my opinion, isn't as heavily centered around israeli themes as the second game is, regardless, it is heavily crucial to note that the basis of the first game derived from a real-life incident involving israel and palestine, where hundreds of palestinian people (edit: i believe it is more than 1,000) were released from imprisonment, all in exchange for one israeli soldier. in the second game, the israeli-palestinian themes, if you look closely enough, scream out at you.

let's talk about it.

THE LAST OF US 2

"There is a common saying that if you seek revenge, you should dig two graves. Playing The Last of Us Part II is like being made to dig those graves with your teeth (Zacny)."

nd's 2022 the last of us part II is described down to the last letter in the above quote, albeit the game's utterly obvious israeli nature. in this post, the creator, rob zacny, goes on to discuss the game's theme of a "cycle of violence," and how the game reminds you in each grotesque encounter of the cruel ideology behind that. due to what occurs in the last of us 1, joel, basically, reaps what he sows when he is murdered for killing a surgeon who, along with the group said surgeon was a member of, the fireflies, was planning to perform surgery on ellie, who joel had since grown close to, in search of a cure for the infection that has plagued their world for decades. four years later, the second playable character in the game, who is introduced in the first half hour or so, abby anderson, kills joel to avenge the surgeon who was murdered, who happened to be her father. from then on, the game follows what, again, can only be described as a "cycle of violence." joel kills abby's dad, abby kills joel, ellie kills all of abby's friends, aims to kill abby in the final battle of the game, but spares abby when ellie's conscious morally attacks her for her decisions.

throughout the 24 odd hour gameplay, the player is allowed to play as ellie and abby, abby's parts of the game being arguably longer than ellie's. the idea this, i believe, is meant to introduce, is one of perspective: the player is meant to be loyal to joel miller once the first game has been finished, so when he is killed, they are inclined to make abby pay for it. however, abby's perspective, both in the past and as the present course of the game goes on, is meant to make the player understand why she did what she did. thus, the moral: there are no good guys in this game. every person is as equally bad as the following, and no one is innocent. however, when we consider the israeli-palestinian nature of this ideology and how it is presented in the last of us part 2, it simply doesn't work like this.

“I suspect that some players, if they consciously clock the parallels at all, will think The Last of Us Part II is taking a balanced and fair perspective on that conflict, humanizing and exposing flaws in both sides of its in-game analogues. But as someone who grew up in Israel, I recognized a familiar, firmly Israeli way of seeing and explaining the conflict which tries to appear evenhanded and even enlightened, but in practice marginalizes Palestinian experience in a manner that perpetuates a horrific status quo (Maiberg).”

when discussing the last of us part 2’s plot, one could 100% argue that there really aren’t good guys on the dual sides of the game. if you compare ellie and abby, you know that ellie went on a murder frenzy to get revenge on abby for killing joel. on abby’s side of it all, you know that abby wasn’t all that great before coming across lev and yara, and even then, she killed people to do what everyone in said world aims to do: survive. prior to finding lev and yara, abby had killed numerous people before, and did, as the player sees, handle joel very cruelly before she ended up killing him. here’s one more example, one that’s more random (but it’s simply to compare abby vs. ellie’s people, if you will): joel and manny. joel went on a cross country murder spree to keep ellie safe, and killed a building full of people at the end of the game to save her life. in regards to manny, if you recall a discussion that manny and mel had in the beginning of abby’s parts of the game, the pair are discussing a happening where a group aside from the wlf, the seraphites (which we will discuss later) attacked them because the wlf killed children who were a part of their (the seraphite’s) group. manny voiced how he would prefer to keep their people (the wlf) safe, and challenges mel, implying that those “kids” weren’t really kids, because they were the ones who attacked their guys (the wlf) in the first place. as a general consensus, manny kills several people throughout the course of the game, which can be inferred or seen by the player, making him, for the sake of what i’m getting at, a bad guy.

we see in the game how ellie and abby’s people are unanimously bad. the last of us is set in a world where laws and morals are thrown out the window for the sake of survival, so this is no surprise. however, this dual perspective, “no bad guy,” ideology simply doesn’t apply in the world today. you may compare ellie vs. abby, or joel vs. manny, or bring in more characters in the game, such as tommy, nora, etc, claiming that all parties are bad. that makes perfect sense. but think about it like this: if this is meant to represent the israeli-palestinian perspective, and i give you the scenario of a five-year-old child versus a full-grown IDF soldier, what would you say? isn’t there an obvious answer as to who is in the wrong and who’s not? maiberg is 100% right in claiming that the game marginalizes the real-life palestinian experience. abby, ellie, joel, manny, etc, are not real people. but the thousands of innocent children who have been killed for the ridiculousness and inhumane israeli regime are. you can’t say each side is equal in awfulness, not when one side is full of innocent men, women, and children, some of which could never make it into a year of their lives. not when if one side pauses their battle, there would be a ceasefire, but if the converse pauses their battle, they would all be dead.

“And then they cheered afterward,” Druckmann, who grew up in Israel, recalls. “It was the cheering that was really chilling to me. … In my mind, I thought, ‘Oh, man, if I could just push a button and kill all these people that committed this horrible act, I would make them feel the same pain that they inflicted on these people.’"

remember how i said discussing neil druckmann's background was crucial? it is. druckmann, who, again, was born in israel, told the Washington Post that the game's cynical themes of revenge and suffering is linked to the 2000 killing of two israeli soldiers (tw, lynching), who were killed by a mob (maiberg). allegedly, some of the incident was remembered in film, that druckmann watched, and in his interview, he explained his angry nature that came about in response to the video, and how he desired vengeance.

the last of us part 2 is mainly set in seattle, washington, where secondary main character, abby anderson, resides in with a militia group named the wlf (which we will also delve into later, alongside the seraphites). maiberg brings out how seattle, on a visual and mechanical level, is based around "a series of checkpoints, security walls, and barriers (Maiberg)." he notes: "[seattle] looks almost exactly like the tall, precast concrete barriers and watch towers Israel started building through the West Bank in 2000." here are side by side images for comparison:

now that we’ve discussed this, let us discuss one of most prevalent aspects of abby’s part of the story: the wlf, and the seraphites. the seraphites are a religious group, nicknamed “the scars” due to the scars the members of said group carve into their faces to display their membership, who the wlf, a makeshift militia group, runs into conflict with following the fall of FEDRA, the country’s former military. in a note in the game, a fedra commander explains that the city of seattle has been lost to the wolves (the wlf), who he names as terrorists. maiberg brings out the following: “Here, there are parallels to early Zionist organisations that fought British rule in the region. These organizations were also described as terrorists, and leaders of those organizations later became leaders in Israel, much like how Isaac, the leader of the Wolves, came to control Seattle. Other in-game notes, scenes of urban ambushes, and the bodies of executed FEDRA officers laboriously walk the player through the cliche "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter (Maiberg).”

maiberg also discusses a series of manners in which the fictional seraphites resemble real-life palestinians. here are the three ways he specifically discusses in his original post, but there are much more:

“The same note from the Seattle FEDRA commander that bitterly says the Wolves are in charge explains that it's now their responsibility to not only feed and shelter the people of Seattle, but deal with the "religious fanatics," referring to the Scars.

Later in the game, Ellie finds a location called "Martyr Gate," where the Scars' spiritual leader apparently died, indicating a religious significance of a specific and disputed location, and emphasizing the notion of martyrdom as central to their culture.

The Scars are able to get around Wolf patrols and various barriers around the city via an elaborate, secret system of bridges between skyscrapers. These function as a kind of flipped version of the underground tunnels Palestinians use to bypass Israeli blockades and other means of limiting free movement in order to get supplies and carry out attacks on Israel.”

one more post i would like to link is this one, the very reason i decided to make this in the first place. it captures the zionism in the last of us 2, along with the wlf vs. seraphite conflict, perfectly. i very much recommend you read it, as it explains it much better than i can.

the general consensus is this: the idea that the seraphites are equally as bad as the wlf, which implies that palestinians are equally as bad as israelis, simply doesn’t apply in 2024. as i said before: what is so vile and cruel about a newborn baby? a pregnant woman? an innocent man? NOTHING. part of the reason the last of us captures this so poorly is due to the apocalyptic nature of the world the game is set in. obviously, people would go rogue if their lives were put in peril by not only animalistic infected beings, but also humans. however, we live in a real world where laws and morals do, in fact, apply. this isn’t a video game where those are simply discarded. what the wlf and the seraphites did to each other in the last of us 2 could be any other day for them: but what israel is doing to palestine right now is a war crime, a genocide, and plainly vile.

THE LAST OF US SHOW, and zionism in the show’s cast

i don’t think i need to spend a lot of time here, because if you have made it this far, you are well aware of the real nature of the last of us and the last of us 2 already, so you must understand that the show is HBO’s take on the game’s story (which, need i remind you show-wise and game-wise, neil druckmann played a huge part in). i simply bring it up so that people are aware of the fact that the 2022 show is ALSO linked to the ongoing genocide, and the cast is a major part of that (however, if anyone would like me to delve deeper into the show, let me know, and i 100% will).

for the following season which is a sequel to the last, theorized to center around the happenings of the last of us 2, members who are set to play a few crucial characters in the game have been announced. this includes isabela merced, who will play dina woodward, ellie’s romantic partner for most of the game, alongside kaitlyn dever, who will play abby anderson.

many people freaked out when they realized kaitlyn dever will be playing abby, but not for the reason they should have been. if you are a last of us fan, you are well aware that abby’s muscles are a central aspect of her persona. yet, kaitlyn dever is on the skinnier side, and according to some, does not resemble abby.

but this is not the issue that is most crucial to discuss.

kaitlyn dever is a zionist, and so is isabela merced (i am under the impression that both of these claims are true, but i had trouble finding a source i deemed reliable enough to link here. if i do, however, i will). now, while i’m not here to riddle you with conspiracy theories, people believe this (zionism) is the reason kaitlyn dever in specific got the role of abby anderson (there is a separate actress, shannon berry, who more closely resembles abby, but made a post in solidarity with palestine. this is theorized to be the reason why she didn’t get the part, and why kaitlyn dever was announced shortly after this particular actress made said post). let us not also forget that ellie’s actor, bella ramsey, is also in support of israel, which can be seen here.

(edit: i was informed since making this that bella has a story on one of their social medias, showing their alleged support of palestine and calling for a ceasefire. i’m going to link this post where i spoke on it, so you aware of what i think on that front).

all of the previously provided information brings me to my final part of this post: boycotting the games, and boycotting the show.

BOYCOTTING THE GAME AND SHOW

i could go on and on about why this is so crucial, but we would be here forever. however, i’m going to paste in what i wrote in this post surrounding the topic of boycotting, as i personally believe i got it down quite well in regards to the last of us (the show and game). it reads:

"DO NOT BUY TLOU, TLOU REMASTERED, TLOU2, TLOU2 REMASTERED, OR ANY GAME FROM ND! neil druckmann has donated money to the IDF in the past. & where do you think he’s getting his money from? yeah, you got that. watch gameplays, pirate these games, or buy them secondhand. several shops sell used games. & for those of you who went and purchased the game anyway, knowing about all of this? fuck you.

if you think your $10 doesn’t matter, then think about this: okay, one person spends $10 on the game. whatever. but when 100,000 people do it? that’s a million dollars, going into the hands of a zionist, who is using YOUR money to help kill innocent men, women, and children. put that in your pipe and smoke it.

it is not just the games you need to boycott. HBO’S show also needs to be. follow this link to learn of more movies and shows you need to boycott, & the reasons why, including the last of us. let’s also not forget that dina & abby’s actresses are in support of israel, and BELLA RAMSEY, ellie’s actress, has also shown support.

boycott. the fucking. show. there are a million websites where you can pirate it, so you are not giving any of your support to it. resist."

what it comes down to is this: purchasing the game or watching the show directly from nd or HBO is not a must. spreading awareness and speaking out about palestine is. you are more than capable of not purchasing the game, or watching playthroughs, or buying the game secondhand, etc. you are more than capable of pirating the hbo show so that money is not made off of your engagement. it's not that difficult. i have said it once, and i will say it again: boycotting is a form of resistance, and that is the least we can do for those suffering in gaza as you read this. resist. people openly admitting that they went and purchased the game anyway simply make me sick. i hope you know what an awful thing to brag about that is, and how despicable of a human it makes you.

CONCLUSION

there's so much to discuss when it comes down to this topic, and it's possible that in the future, i will make a second part to this. however, for now, i really hope this does suffice. i believe knowing of the game's israeli nature is a step. but knowing the specifics is a leap, one that i need everyone engaged in this fandom to take, hence why i wanted to make this post at all.

i'm not saying anyone needs to quit liking the games or the show or whatever. i'm not saying you need to delete or throw away a game you spent $60 on. i've seen so many people who are way too dense to understand that. what i'm saying is that it's crucial you are at least AWARE of the content you are consuming. aware of why it even came about at all.

in my opinion, you can't separate the game from the roots. but you can remain aware of the inner workings of this world you've grown to love. you can keep spreading awareness about it, and you can do right by the people in gaza by discussing the ongoing genocide, and using your voice as much as you can.

i'm so lucky to have been able to gain a following on here in such a short amount of time, even if that following has gone up and down because i've chosen to post more about palestine as opposed to my previous content (granted, that fact won't deter me at all). i will keep using said following to keep speaking out for the people in gaza, and i encourage you to do the same. keep reblogging. keep speaking up. keep using your voices. the people in gaza need us. be there for them.

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE 🇵🇸🍉.

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

neil druckmann | the official the last of us podcast | the not so hidden israeli politics of the last of us 2, by emanuel maiberg (i highly recommend you read the full post. it discusses several crucial details i didn't discuss in this post) | galid shalit prisoner exchange | Neil Druckmann Speaking on the Washington Post | 2000 killing of two israeli soldiers (TW: LYNCHING) | 'The Last of Us Part II' Is a Grim and Bloody Spectacle, but a Poor Sequel | Veiling Colonial Violence: The Last of Us Part II, Israel and the Erasure of Power (full disclosure, i did not read the full post. i merely needed the quote in the very beginning of it) | zionism in tlou2 | isabela merced | kaitlyn dever | bella ramsey's support of israel

PALESTINE LINKS

—

#ellie williams #abby anderson #the last of us #the last of us 2 #tlou #tlou2 #ellie williams x reader #abby anderson x reader #the last of us remastered #the last of us 2 remastered #joel miller #joel miller x reader #ellie tlou #tlou ellie #abby tlou #tlou abby #joel tlou #tlou joel #palestine #gaza #free palestine #free gaza

[dynared]

As Dreamworks's deal with Netflix for exclusive shows expires (they first signed a deal with Hulu for exclusives and now seem to be given shows to them and Peacock), shows have begun to leave the service en masse. However, due to the nature of staggered contracts, many of these shows will not be leaving Netflix for at least a year, while others may have several years left on the service. What's on Netflix did some calculations based on when the final seasons were added and came up with some removal dates for the shows -

Voltron: Legendary Defender (N Original)December 14, 2018 December 14, 2024

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (N Original)May 15, 2020 April 10, 2026

3Below: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)July 12, 2019 August 7, 2026

Wizards: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)August 7, 2020 August 7, 2026

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (N Original)May 25, 2018 August 7, 2026

There are plenty of other expiration dates on that list, but these are the big ones I noticed, mostly because they were attempts at franchise creation that fell completely flat. Voltron's big-budget Amazon movie is due for a 2025 release in a best-case scenario (worst-case scenario is more Robotech-style development hell) and with the rollout of a lot of classic Voltron merchandise including the oft-mentioned Voltron beer, the plan to erase VLD from everything come the film release is well underway. Dreamworks doesn't seem to mind, since they're still the video distributor for DOTU on behalf of World Events Productions, their name is on the Voltron beer.

She-Ra is a similar story. The franchise is also with Amazon via Dreamworks, for a live-action show directed by one of the directors of the Watchmen TV show. Hopefully, whoever plays Hordak can chew the scenery as hard as Jeremy Irons did. It probably will air sometime in 2025-2026 best case scenario as well, just in time to see SPOP eliminated from everything (something Mattel is only too happy to facilitate given their release of classic She-Ra figures for their Masterverse brand of toys).

Trollhunters was meant to be a franchise but despite a lot of big names attached to it, it went absolutely nowhere and everyone seems to have disavowed the whole thing after the ending. So it's just getting tossed to one side.

The internet means IP gets recycled and discarded faster and faster these days. And these are three examples of shows set to disappear from the face of the earth, to the glee of the license holders.

#dreamworks #netflix #voltron #voltron: legendary defender #voltron legendary defender #keith #shiro #lance #she ra #she ra and the princesses of power #amazon studios #prime video #trollhunters #tales of arcadia

[cellphonehippie]

CELLPHONEHIPPIE'S EDITING CHALLENGE

Try your best to accumulate as many points as you can! More info under the cut!

Hey! I'm back with a little challenge. In this challange you are trying your best to score as many points as you can by following the score sheet. There are ways to gain points and lose points. You have to decide what points you want to gain and if you are going to sacrifice any points by including anything that is in the -1 points list. In the end you are to tally your points, you can include your total in your caption so everyone can see what they have to try and beat! Please tag your edits to #cpheditchallenge and/or usercellphonehippie

Here are the points guides written out, they are in three catergories "+5", "+2", "-1".

+5 +5 including a zoo animal (+2 points if it’s from the north or south pole) +5 a quote from a movie +5 including a word that has the letter ‘z’ in it +5 analog collage +5 includes your astrology sign +5 a board game +5 including a woman +5 a vehicle +5 takes you less than an hour to make +5 something from your native country +5 uses a word from your URL/username

+2 +2 including only the colours black and white +2 a lyric +2 something you’ve never done before +2 nostalgia +2 no words +2 including stickers +2 including the colour blue +2 moving aspect (gif or alluding to motion) +2 using a photo you’ve taken +2 bugs +2 including a hair dryer +2 including a banana +2 referencing the 60s or 80s +2 birds +2 a bowing ball

-1 -1 if the person or quote origins from the US -1 majority of the piece is white -1 capital letters -1 if your quote includes the pronouns ‘I’m/I’ -1 if your quote is from something released in 2023 or 2020 -1 using a dust texture -1 using the colour pink -1 if you use the magic wand tool in photoshop -1 roses -1 anything from space -1 glitter or sparkle -1 if your quote is about love -1 if your subject/s is blonde -1 less that two parts

Please send me an ask if any of this is confusing! Also this is all light hearted so don't stress about it! If this is dumb and flops let's pretend it never happened lol. But any reblogs will be appreciated!!

No due date, ignore the graphic

#cpheditchallenge #tsuserclaire

[digitalgate02]

The UPDATED (OG) Adventure universe’s Partnership double year math count

Updated Digimon Adventure OG Timeline’s Partnership Math Count List 

Not particularly spoilers from the movie, just stuff stated by the official timeline from the pre-release stream for the movie in Japan (Oct 26)

Early 80s - Oikawa Yukio & Hida Hiroki make the first contact with the Digital World, befriend Pipimon (no partnerships)

1995 - Hikari and Taichi find a Koromon egg* (no partnerships)

1996 - 2 (Rui; someone else gets a digimon later in that year*)

1997 - 4 (Menoa)

1998 - 8 (Possibly the previous 5 mentioned from Adv’99 anime/novels)

1999 - 16 (Adv Eight, Meiko*)

2000 - 32 (Ken*)

2001 - 64 (Michael)

2002 - 128 (Daisuke, Miyako, Iori)

2003 - 256

2004 - 512

2005 - 1,024

2006 - 2,048

2007 - 4,096

2008 - 8,192

2009 - 16,384

2010 - 32,768

2011 - 65,536

2012 - 131,072

2013 - 262,144

2014 - 524,288

2015 - 1.048,576

2016 - 2.097,152

2017 - 4.194,304

2018 - 8.388,608

2019 - 16.777,216

2020 - 33.554,432

2021 - 67.108,864

2022 - 134.217,728

2023 - 268.435,456

2024 - 536.870,912

2025 - 1.073.741,824

2026 - 2.147.483,648

2027 -  4.294.967,296

2028 (02 Epilogue) - 8.589.934,592

↓ Original notes + "Why there's still no retcon of the lore" below ↓

First, the OG notes from the outdated post:

→ This count is not about “which was the very first digimon-human contact”, and yes about people with a digivice. Because if we were going to count who was the first human to have contact with a digimon, it’s actually two and they’re Oikawa Yukio and Iori’s dad, Hida Hiroki.

→ I’m ignoring all the inconsistencies with other material (WS & ▽) because they seem to not match well with the original count. So, in this case, Ken’s statement in the anime (Aug 2000) is the one to be accounted for here. I don’t know if Ryo counts as Chosen (possibly yes, judging by 02 flashbacks) but I’m not sure where to place him here.

→ I’m only adding Michael to the count, even if he’s not a main character and yes a side character, because 02 ep 14 had this statement regarding him. And I like Michael too so, let me have him there :V

→ Menoa states in the movie she met Morphomon when she was nine, and according to the Dash X novel version, she’s the same age as Taichi. Which means she became a Chosen in 1997.

→ I couldn’t think of how to include Maki & Daigo’s group in this because ▽ contradicts with the original lore’s math – The fact the Pt4 book released with the movie on Japanese theaters state them being in Elementary School the time they went to their adventure in the DW, and later the confession scene means they’re in University/College makes them possibly been Chosen Children way before 1995, and I’d take it granted that they were chosen by someone else IF weren’t for the Homeostasis being involved in the scene and the digivice being way too modern for that time (it was basically Taichi group’s model. If you look at Rui’s digivice in the leaked footage from DigiFes2022, his model seems to be different and an older version)

→ That said, Meiko is the only character in ▽ that does not fall into contradiction with the math count. Because in 1999 there was not only Taichi’s group, but also other 8 non-featured Chosen according to Kakudou’s notes. So we can consider Meiko one of those other 8 children.

→ When it comes to Wallace, I prefer to think he is game in the original math – Taichi and Hikari met that Koromon in 95, but they had no digivice until 1999. Which means it can be possible that Wallace had encountered Gummy-Choco’s egg before 1995 and only became an official Chosen Child later.

Now, the new notes:

→ To avoid spoiling any detail about the movie itself, I’ll make sure to tell you they might have changed how the math works only. It’s not like, “everyone gets a digimon at the same time” but rather… “A X number of people get partnered with a digimon in different periods of a year” – Which means yes, you can still count Rui and Ukkomon as the origins of the Digimon partnership, but that later in the same year someone else (or, say, Wallace in the main timeline) got a partner months later.

→ That said, I’m opting to update this list and work within the idea that various sources of partnership (Homeostasis, Holy Beasts, etc) can be counted in the math. Remember – Homeostasis (not referred to as this in the OG series but yes in the novels) had selected Taichi & co., but the Holy Beasts chose Dai-Miya-Iori. And some other entity probably chose Ken in August 2000. This could explain why there’s a higher number of partnerships happening at the same time in Adv’99 and 02.

→ As I mentioned before, and indirectly supported by the staff (check the official timeline at the top of the list), ▽ has violated the lore to the point it goes in direct conflict with the new 02 movie and the entire timeline. So I guess it’s better to consider ▽ as its own timeline/Alternate universe than forcing it into the main timeline.

→ That said, and since Meiko does exist in Kizuna/main timeline, I suppose Maki and Daigo also do exist, and maybe they got their “ages” retconned and down to something suitable to the universe’s math count. They can still be part of the previous five kids mentioned in Adv’99 anime/novels, but they are probably around their teen years, or even early 20s instead, not fully adults working for the government I suppose. Or alternatively, just not Chosen yet. Pick your favorite route, Maki/Daigo fans!!

→ Yes, the Koromon from the very first movie IS NOT THE SAME PARTNERED WITH TAICHI. This never was confirmed, and was just fandom's theory. Considering how ▽ also made this mistake and possibly was one of the lore's violation, I prefer to believe this means it's not the same Koromon/Agumon partnered with Taichi in Adv'99.

#digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digifood for thought #kizuna spoilers #02tb spoilers #ni's digitheories

[hoodharlow]

Prologue: Let Me Make Your Night

AN: this part one of my enemies to lovers fic with Joe Burrow and a latina!OC. diclaimer i know NOTHING about football. i thought this white boy was cute and decided to write about him. and a huge thank you to @heavyhitterheaux and @nattinatalia for letting me bounce ideas off with them ilysm <333

Requested? No

Warnings: smut angsty ending

Word Count: 4.8k words

February 2022

Astrid looked at her dad’s text messages and rolled her eyes. Sometimes she’d forget how much of a die hard fan he was of the San Diego Chargers, not the LA Chargers. In his eyes they don’t exist and the Chargers stopped being a real team until the end of 2016. So the fact that she was at SoFi Stadium, where the team resides now, for the superbowl was sending her dad into a frenzy. She invited him to join her, technically his good friend Guy Fieri invited them, but her dad said no and to be safe. 

“Astrid Romero, over here!” photographers yelled at her as she made her way to the box seats. 

She smiled and waved before nudging her best friend to keep walking. 

“Damn, you’re like famous, famous now.” Amira said in a teasing tone. 

“Oh hush.” Astrid said, shyly.

Astrid Romero was an up and coming actress. She starred in the soon to be released drama ‘The Perfect Family’ for HBOMax alongside Mark Ruffalo, Kid Cudi, Noah Centineo, Eva Longoria, Benjamin Bratt and other known actors. It was her first big TV role. The tv show that got her really started was the three episode arc on FBI where she played the daughter of sicario that got kidnapped on her walk to campus and Maggie and OA had to find her so there wouldn’t be a terf war between the carteles. After that she had small roles here and there. Her first movie role was the year before when she starred in an action rom-com movie with Jacob Elordi and Aaron Taylor Johnson. A lot of people compared the movie to ‘This Means War’ but how it was better because it wasn’t as cheesy and predictable as the 2012 movie.

Acting wasn’t her original plan when she moved to LA. She originally planned to study biology at USC and become a doctor like her mom. After she finished her degree in 2020, she planned on taking a gap year before starting med school at USC. Because she needed a job to maintain herself in LA, she interned with her godfather at Food Network. Guy was friends with her dad and the family restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives a few years ago and since then her dad and Guy just clicked. He sometimes is a guest judge on Guy’s Grocery Games. 

Astrid mainly worked with the camera crew. It wasn’t until one day she had to fill in for Hunter, Guy Fieri’s oldest son, for an episode of Guy’s Grocery Games. Since then it was like she was hit with the acting bug and she needed to be in front of the camera. Thanks to her connections to Guy, she was able to book auditions and see what’s out there.

When she booked the movie with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jacob Elordi, she was nervous to tell her mom. Mostly out of fear of disappointing her mom that she was briefly going to Seattle for the movie because they had a plan for her to become a doctor. Fortunately for her, her mom was supportive of her and whatever she wanted to do. Both of her parents were very supportive of her and her three older brothers. 

Her two oldest were fraternal twins, Gael and Gabriel. They were four years older than Astrid and her other brother, Esteban, was two years older than her. The twins followed their parents' footsteps. Gael worked as a chef in Hillcrest and Gabriel was doing his residency at UCSD to become a doctor. Meanwhile Esteban played in a minor league baseball team in hopes he'd get scouted into a major league team. 

“J said Drake was able to add us to his list so we can go whenever we want.” Amira said, checking her phone. 

“Okay, I just have to say hi to Guy and get a picture with him so he can confirm to my dad that we were there with him.” Astrid said as they entered the large room. 

She spotted the blonde dip-dyed man and made a beeline toward him, making sure Amira was behind her. She greeted him and his family and got her picture with him. Astrid sent her dad the picture and linked arms with Amira. 

“Is that Martha Stewart?” Amira asked, nodding her head at the older woman. 

“Yes, wanna say hi?” Astrid asked. 

“I don’t know. I never met a convicted felon before.” she said, feigning fear. 

“Ay por favor.” Astrid laughed. 

She pulled Amira to where Martha was and waited a few seconds to greet her. 

“Hi, I’m Astrid Romero, my dad is Enrique Romero. My friend, Amira,  and I just wanted to say hi.” she told the older woman. 

“Hi,” Martha greeted them with both a hug and an air kiss on each cheek. She glanced down to Astrid’s nails. “I love your nails. They’re perfect for spring.”

“Thank you, actually Amira did them for me.” she said. She brought her nails up so the woman could see them better. They were clear acrylic nails, nude at the base, and hand small flowers all over for a spring theme. Her gold rings made her nails stand out more. 

Martha turned to Amira. “You’re so talented.”

“Oh, thank you.” she said shyly. 

Astrid excused herself and answered a text from her dad and left Amira talking to Martha. Amira walked over to her with the biggest smile on her face. 

“Bitch, I’m doing Martha’s nails.” she squealed as they made their way out of the room. 

“Shut up!” Astrid whisper-yelled. “I’m so excited.”

Astrid knew her friend was talented. Amira and Astrid met in their first year at USC. They were assigned to the same dorm. She ran a small nail business in their door to have spending money since her parents only covered her tuition, boarding, and other necessary school expenses. Just like Astrid, Amira got her degree, but didn’t pursue a career with it. After graduation she enrolled into cosmetology school and got her nail technician license. She has a decent following and worked from her apartment until she had enough to open her own nail salon. She also sold press on kits. Amira sometimes traveled with Astrid so she could do her nails for press and for red carpet events. Which was how Amira met her boyfriend, Jack Harlow.

In September Astrid was invited to the Met Gala by Tommy Hilfiger, who did the costumes for the movie she did with Jacob and Aaron. She brought out Amira and she did her nails in the suite Tommy got for everyone he was dressing. Jack spent the whole night asking Astrid about Amira, until she texted her friend asking if she could give Jack her number because he was annoying her. She said yes obviously and they’ve been together for a few months. Astrid also got a lot of compliments on her nails and she was telling them that her best friend Amira did them. From there Amira gained a huge celebrity following. 

The second they entered, Amira and Jack were attached to the hip. Astrid awkwardly sat next to Jack’s best friend, who fell asleep before the game even started. She decided to get up and venture out after getting bored of doing nothing. She tucked her pass inside so no one could snatch it if they walked past her and went to the room next door that was selling team gear and superbowl merch. She decided to get a jersey as a memento of her first superbowl. Knowing her father would drop dead if she bought a jersey from any of the LA teams, she decided to buy a Bengals jersey. She liked tigers and 1998, the year she was born, was the year of the tiger. 

"Good choice." Someone behind her said. 

Astrid turned back and was met with a tall figure, showing him the jersey. "You think so? I only picked this so my dad wouldn't disown me."

"Dang and here I thought you liked the team." The guy said, placing his hand on his chest. 

"We'll see how the game ends." She joked.

"Astrid?" Jack called from the entrance. He angrily stomped toward her. "Your best friend was about to call a search party. You can't just fucking leave like that."

"You two were swapping spit. It's not like I left the stadium." She said, pushing hair behind her ear. 

"Next time take your phone." He said, pulling her phone out of his pocket.

Astrid took her phone, feeling slightly embarrassed that Jack was scolding her like a child. 

"Jack?" The guy said, making his presence known. 

"Yeah–holy shit Joe, I didn't recognize you. What's up, man." Jack said, reaching forward to give the guy, who apparently is named Joe, a bro hug. 

Astrid waited a few seconds for Jack to introduce her to his very cute and tall friend, but the two guys fell into conversation. She got in line and paid for her jersey while Jack caught up with his friend. She sent him a text and returned to where Amira was. 

"Where the fuck were you?" Amira asked in a motherly tone. 

"Next door, getting a jersey." She said, taking off her oversized jacket so she could put on the jersey. 

"Who did you get?" 

"Not sure, I just picked number nine." Astrid said, folding the jersey so it looks cropped. She gestured down to her outfit. "Cute?"

"Yes, it's giving WAG supporting her man at the superbowl." Amira nodded. 

"You think I can be a WAG?" She asked. 

"You could be the Vanessa Hudgens of the NFL. Like people would know you and wonder how an NFL player was able to bag you." 

Astrid laughed at her response. While they waited for the game to start, poses ranging from corny prom poses to thirst trapping ones. Amira's boyfriend came back and the pair went back to overdoing the pda. To keep herself busy she decided to look up the player of the jersey she bought. She stared dumbfoundedly at her phone. 

She bought Joe Burrow's jersey.

That was the guy from the line when she was picking a jersey and began chatting her up. Then she went on Google because she was fairly positive that Jack mentioned him in one of his songs, the name sounded familiar. She was right and copied the lyric onto her Instagram post, adding a few pictures that she took with Amira. While she was on Instagram, she looked him up and without thinking she followed him. 

*

"I can't believe Astrid fucking Romero followed you." Ja'Maar told Joe as they got in the sprinter van with all the other players. After their loss, the team was going to a private party hosted by Kid Cudi. 

"Oh that," he shrugged it off.

In truth, Joe was over the moon. He didn't get a chance to get her name before she left the stand, but Jack said her name and he kept it on the back burner so he could look her up after the game. To his surprise, when he opened his notifications and saw people commenting his @ on her post where she used the line from Jack's song. He was even more surprised to see that she followed him. Obviously he followed her back and liked her post. 

He was going to invite her to the after party but he felt like it was too forward since they only had a two minute conversation. However he found a loophole and invited Jack, telling him he could bring some friends, but to let him know who he was bringing to add them to his VIP section. He was relieved to see her name among the small group Jack was bringing. 

When Joe and the rest of the team arrived at the club, it was in full swing. The dance floor was filled with people dancing and the bar was full. The VIP section Joe had was in the balcony overlooking the whole club. The club provided the team with unlimited bottle service and full access to the private bar in the balcony so they didn't go down where the non VIP guests were. 

Joe looked through the bottles and excused himself to go to the bar. A bartender approached him and took his order. They handed him his drink and went to tend to other people, walking up to the bar. 

"Is this seat taken?" Someone asked. 

He looked up and saw it was Astrid, shaking his head. "It is."

Her face dropped. "Oh, I’m sorry." 

"No, I meant that it is taken now that you're here." Joe corrected himself. 

"Oh, okay." She giggled. 

She took a seat as a bartender asked her what she wanted to drink. She leaned forward, allowing for Joe to take her in. She wore a short sparkly dress. There was a slit down her thigh, but it was fastened by two large, gold safety pins. It was loose-fitting but it knew where to hug her body. The club lights bounced off her dress, making her tan skin glow and the few tattoos she had shine. All in all, she looked beautiful. 

"I'm sorry about the game." She said, crossing her leg. 

Joe shrugged. "We'll get them next time. 

"I know but as a new fan, I was a little sad my new team lost." Astrid pouted. 

"I promise you next time we make it to the super bowl, we'll win just for you." He said. 

"I'm holding you to it." She said, making him laugh.

Astrid and Joe fell into conversation. They were mainly focused on Joe and the teams he played in college. Joe was a bit hesitant about talking about himself because he was used to other people only pretending and not paying any attention to what he said. It was refreshing to talk to Astrid. She was a good listener and knew the right questions to ask him. He was able to relax with her and have a normal conversation with her.

'What a Feeling' by One Direction began playing and Astrid perked up. 

"Do you wanna dance?" She asked Joe. 

"Sure." He nodded. She could ask him to rob a bank and he would. 

She placed a hundred dollar bill to cover their drinks under their drinks and reached for his hand. She led him to the dance floor. They stood off to the side, so they wouldn’t draw attention to themselves. 

Joe was unsure where to place his hands so he kept them at his sides. Astrid brought his hands to her hips while she wrapped her arms around him. They slowly danced, swaying from side to side. For a change of pace the DJ played 'Bouncin' by Tinashe. This time Astrid turned around and pressed her back against Joe. Luckily this time around, he knew what he was doing. He gently pushed her down and kept his hand on her back as he rolled his hips into her ass.  

The DJ was all over the place after the sing ended. They played a bunch of songs from reggaeton to line dancing. After an hour, or what felt like an hour, of dancing, Astrid and Joe made their way back to the VIP section. They ordered some water and sat back on the stools. 

Joe's stomach growled loud enough that Astrid was able to hear it. He gave her a sheepish look. 

"Sorry, I haven’t eaten since this morning." He said. 

"I know this twenty-four hour taco shop. For being in LA they have decent Mexican food. Plus it's super low-key if you wanna go." She suggested. 

"I would kill for a burrito right now." 

"Lucky for you, you won’t have to." Astrid teased. "I’m going to tell my friends that I’m leaving. Do you want to meet here in five?"

"Sounds like a plan." Joe nodded. 

They went their separate ways. Joe went to where his teammates were and told them he was heading out. While he waited for Astrid he ordered an UberLux. Jeff was showing up in five minutes in a Range Rover. 

"All set." Astrid said when she came back.

She went down to the dance floor and told Amira and Jack she was leaving with Joe. Amira reminded her to share her location and if her plans changed to let her know. 

"Let's go." He said. 

There were paps posted and got a few pictures of Joe and Astris, but thanks to security, they weren't followed. Astrid wore a huge oversized jacket that she used to shield her face from the cameras. She also hid behind Joe's tall frame. They reached their designated Uber, Astrid placed her jacket over her so she wouldn't be photographed as paps took pictures of the car. Once they were a few streets out, she pulled her jacket off and fixed her hair. 

The drive was pretty quiet. The Uber driver kept to himself, making small talk here and there. In less than half an hour the driver pulled up to the taco shop. The pair thanked him and made their way towards the door. Joe held the door open for them and let Astrid in first. 

“Hasta que se aparece.” a cook from back told Astrid when they got in line. 

“Tenía unas entrevistas en Nueva York.” She replied back to him. Astrid turned back to Joe. “Are you ready to order or do you need a minute?” 

“Uh,” Joe lost his train of thought watching a server carry a plate of rolled tacos with all the toppings to a table. “What’s that?”

“Rolled tacos. You can pick from chicken, beef or potato. They come with lettuce, guac, sour cream and cheese.” Astrid explained. 

“I think I’ll get some chicken ones.” He said. He looked up to the menu and read the drinks section. “And a Mexican coke.” 

“Noted.” she said.

When it was their turn to order, Astrid ordered for them. She ordered five carne asada tacos and a horchata for herself. Joe was ready to pay, but she stopped him since he paid for the Uber. She got their drinks and lead Joe towards the back where there weren’t any windows, in case anyone walked by and recognized him. There was a group of tipsy young women sharing a tray of carne asada fries, laughing among themselves over some party they went to. They looked over to Joe and Astrid as if they were trying to figure out where they saw them, but they went back to their food. 

A server came by with Joe and Astrid’s food a few minutes later.

“Do you want salsa?” Astrid asked him. 

“I’m good.” He said, sipping his drink.

Astrid got up and went to get some for her tacos. She put some habanero salsa and salsa verde in the small containers and grabbed a few slices of radishes and limes. She was going to sit opposite of him but decided to sit next to him. 

Joe was waiting patiently for her to come back so he could eat. He reached for a rolled taco from the pile and took a big bite. He groaned. 

“This is so fucking good.” he said before taking another bite. “They don't have food like this back home.”

“They don’t have rolled tacos in Minnesota?” Asrtid asked him. 

“Why would I know what they have in Minnesota?” Joe asked her.

“Isn’t that where you play?” 

“No, Cincinnati is in Ohio.” He shook his head. 

Astrid burst into a fit of giggles. “Oh that’s embarrassing.” 

“You’re such a fake fan.” he teased her. 

“At least the states were next to each other.” she said. 

“Minnesota and Ohio aren’t next to each other.” he laughed. 

“In my defense, the only states I’ve been to outside of California were New York, Washington,and Florida.” 

“Maybe you can come catch a game in Ohio.” he said nonchalantly before eating another rolled taco.

“Hm, maybe, but Minnesota is looking pretty cool too.” she sipped her drink.

They ate in comfortable silence. When they finished, they sat there talking about anything and everything. The more Joe talked to her the more was interested in getting to know her. He studied her face, eyeing her lips while she drank her horchata.

“Is there something on my face?” Astrid asked him, reaching for a napkin from the dispenser.

“No,” Joe shook his head. 

“Oh you were staring and I assume–”

“I wanted to kiss you.” he said shyly.

“Oh don’t let me stop you.” she said a little too excitedly, making him snort.

Joe cupped her face and he slowly leaned into her, capturing her lips. The kiss was slow like a test in the waters. Lust quickly took over as their kiss intensified. He held her in place with his other arm as his lips dominated her. She was practically on his lap now. Astrid whimpered into his mouth when Joe deepened the kiss. They pulled away, breathless.

“Wanna know a fun fact about this place?” Astrid asked him.

“Hm,” he mumbled in response, kissing down her neck. 

“It’s a five minute walk from my place.”

*

What was supposed to be a five minute walk turned into a fifteen minute walk because they had to take five minute breaks with each step. Joe pressed Astrid into her door next to the car gate and leaned in to kiss her, but she curved him. She gently nudged him off, so she could press the code to unlock the gate to her condo.

Once inside her place, Astrid gently pushed Joe against the door. She dropped to her knees. 

“May I have a taste?” She asked sweetly as she took off her jacket. 

“I’m not gonna last, it’s been months since I had some.” He confessed. 

“That’s fine.” she smiled. 

She skillfully undid his belt and popped the buttons of his jeans. She slid her hand into his boxers and pulled out his cock. It was much bigger than she planned for, but she was committed to making him come in her mouth. She reached for her liga and tied her hair into a low bun. She pulled down the top part of her dress, revealing her chest to him. 

She stroked him a few times. She pulled away and sat on her knees, still stroking him. Her eyes never left Joe’s as she leaned forward and took him in her mouth. Joe closed his eyes, enjoying her mouth on him. She quietly moaned, slipping him further into her mouth. She pulled away until she only had his tip. She swirled her tongue around his tip and slid down his length once more. 

Eventually Joe opened his eyes. He was able to see Astrid play with herself through a full length mirror she had facing the door. He slowly bucked his hips to meet her mouth. She took him back in her mouth, bobbing her head, just as he came. He cursed a few times then moaned out Astrid’s name, as she swallowed every drop of his release.

“You’re unbelievable.” He said, reaching down to help her up.

“Yeah?” she asked him.

“Mhm.” he nodded, pulling her back into a kiss. 

Without breaking their kiss, Astrid guided him down the hallway to her living room. Joe bent down and picked her up by the back of her thighs, carrying her a large beige couch. He gently pushed her down on the couch as he shedded off his clothes, only staying in his boxer-briefs. She laid on her back while he hovered over her. He gave her hips a gentle squeeze before he slid his hands up to her breasts. His thumbs delicately ran over her pert nipples as she melted into his hands. Joe helped her out of her dress and panties and tossed them to the growing pile of clothes.

One of his hands made its way back to her hips and lazily ran his finger tips around her core, sending her goosebumps all over. With the other, he balanced himself so he wouldn’t squish her.

Astrid gasped feeling his ring and middle finger inside of her. Joe pressed his thumb to her clit and sped up his fingers. She whined and placed her head on his shoulder.

“Eyes on me, Astrid.” He said.

She moaned as his fingers fucked into her at a deliciously slow pace. As if her hips had a mind of their own, they followed Joe’s fingers. In a matter of minutes she was close.

“Joe…” she gasped

“I know, Astrid.” He pressed his thumb against her clit and increased his pace.

“Sh–Joe!” She climaxed.

Joe’s fingers were still in her. He pushed himself up, hovering over her. He deftly rubbed her clit with his thumb as he made his way down her body. His mouth went straight to her breasts. He gently nipped under them, kissing her tattoos while his free hand was on her nipples, twisting and rubbing them. His tongue traced her pert peaks, egging her on.

Astrid whined loudly. She was so overwhelmed, desperate for some sort of relief. Joe chuckled. He pushed himself off her. Pulling her in a sitting position, he knelt down in front of her. He pushed her legs apart and smirked.

“Taste for taste?” 

*

Astrid had no idea how they ended up in her bed or what round they were on, but she wasn’t complaining. She never been so thoroughly fucked. The most the guys she’s been with do is maybe give her an orgasm and if she’s lucky they eat her out before they fall asleep on her. It’s a complete 180 with Joe. Granted he allegedly hadn’t had some in months, but still he had lot of stamina. 

“Oh, fuck, just like that Joe.” She moaned out as he thrusted his into her. 

Astrid was riding him with her back to him. Her legs tucked under Joe’s thighs. She leaned forward and gripped the comforter in front of her for balance as she bounced on his cock. She felt him sit up and press his chest on her back. One his hands wandered down to her clit, slowly drawing figure eights with his thumb while the other played with her nipples.

“Fuck,” she managed to murmur before her climax took over. She repeated his name as she slowed her movements.

“You got one more?” Joe asked. 

“Yes.” she nodded.

“That’s what I like to hear.” he grinned. 

Joe pulled his length out of her and positioned her so that only her ass was in the air for him, so she wouldn't be on all fours. He knew she was exhausted from all those previous rounds. He knelt in front of her and aligned himself to her entrance, slowly pushing himself in her once more. His hands gripped her waist as he slowly rocked into her. As the minutes passed, his thrusts got rougher, and Astrid couldn’t hold back. She begged Joe to keep fucking her at that irritatingly slow and rough pace she loved. He leaned over, his chest against her back.

“Fuck.” Joe moaned out.

His lips kissed all over her neck as he continued to fuck Astrid. She rocked back against him, meeting his thrusts.

“That’s it, take me so good, Astrid.” He groaned in her ear. Joe shifted his hips as he thrusted into her. The new angle hit her in that spot that made her beg for him.

“Please, fuck—”

She pushed back rougher to meet his thrusts. He gripped her hips with one hand while the other went back down to her clit. Joe worked his fingers roughly as he pushed his hips into Astrid. He buried his face in her neck, kissing her sweet spot. Her quiet praises filled the room, egging him on. She quietly whimpered his name, lazily meeting his thrusts before her orgasm took over. Joe’s orgasm followed soon after. He cried her name and pushed himself deep inside Astrid, spilling every last drop in her. 

He plopped next to her, careful not to squish her. He brushed her hair off her face. 

“Was it good?” he asked her nervously.

“More than good.” she nodded sleepily. 

They laid in silence, trying to catch their breaths. Eventually Astrid got up to use the bathroom and clean herself up. She washed her face removing the make up and Joe’s release from when he came on her face a few rounds ago. She exited the bathroom and found it empty. She figured that Joe went to get his clothes in the living room. But she heard a car pull outside her place. She pushed the curtains to the side to get a view and saw Joe get in the car.

Never in a million years did she expect him to leave so abruptly. Obviously it was one time thing and nothing was going to come out of their hook up. But she deserved at least a goodbye. 

#joe burrow #joe burrow fan fic #joe burrow smut #joe burrow oneshot #joe burrow imagine #behind the scenes

[internm0thb0y]

Tonight's the night everyone.

The end of the Clone Wars era, after almost 16 years. I thought it would be nice to write a little something for it, since it's so important to me.

The Clone Wars was the show that brought me into Star Wars, which is now one of the most important aspects of my life. I first saw it when I was 6 years old, at my friend's birthday party. I didn't know very many people there, so I was sitting alone for most of the party. My friend's mom noticed, so she put a show on for me— the Clone Wars, season 3, episode 22.

After that, I became obsessed. Later that week, I found a few of those Star Wars kids books, with simple sentences and arrows describing each aspect of a picture. My aunt also lent me her copy of the Lego Star Wars Complete Saga game for my Wii. My favourite levels were that of the Phantom Menace. Although she insisted that I wouldn't like the movie, it is still my favourite to this day (although I will admit that the dialogue was less than perfect).

When I was around 7, my father and I watched the live-action films.The prequels became my favourite films, despite all their flaws, and my favourite character was Commander Cody, although he only had moments of screen time in Revenge of the Sith. Before I even knew he was in the Clone Wars, he was my favourite.

After finishing the films, I returned to the Clone Wars. While Cody remained (and still is) my favourite clone, I quickly developed a bit of a crush on Rex, which led to my realization that I was queer. Soon enough, my list of favourite characters was overthrown by clones— Cody, Rex, Echo, Kix, Tech, and so many more.

I still remember the day I watched the finale of the Clone Wars. May 4th, 2020. I was in my room on my computer, and sat in the dark for far too long after the credits finished. I'm embarrassed to admit how long I cried that night. But, despite my sadness, I was happier that I got to experience it. When the Bad Batch was released, I was overjoyed— but I knew that it too would one day end.

And that day is tomorrow! I'm so sad that it's ending, but I'm also so happy to be here for this. Star Wars, notably the Clone Wars, has gotten me through so much, and I'm so thankful for it being here. The clones existed, exist, and will continue to exist in my mind forever, and even if the era is over, it will continue to live on. Thank you so much to the actors, producers, directors, animators, and everyone else that made these shows possible. Thank you to Dee Bradley Baker for being such an inspiration to me (and for the autograph last week!).

Good luck for tomorrow soldiers. May the Force be with you.

#codypersonalposts #codypostsfandoms #star wars #the clone wars #star wars the clone wars #the bad batch #star wars the bad batch #sw #sw tbb #sw tcw #the clones #tcw #clone wars #bad batch #commander cody #cc 2224 #captain rex #ct 7567 #tbb s3 #dee bradley baker #james arnold taylor #ashley eckstein #matt lanter #the clone army #sw the clone wars #sw the bad batch #tbb #clone force 99 #dave filoni #ct 1409

[absolutebl]

BL Streaming - Which Service is Worth Your Money?

I’m bored and I have a little extra time this morning so it’s time for ABL to play with the spreadsheet of doom. 

Occasionally I get the question: 

If I were to subscribe to only one platform for BL which should I pick? 

This post is dated May 2023. 

First things first. I am going to be (somewhat) objective about this and not judge on quality of content. Because if KinnPorsche is all you love in life, obvs you need iQIYI, but if you are a HIStory franchise stan, than it’s all about Viki. Those are your life choices, I’m just here to play numbers games, okay? 

Secondly, some shows air on multiple platforms, particularly Viki & Gaga, but sometimes it’s Gaga & YouTube, occasionally it’s even iQIYI + others. This has only started happening in the last few years. Bed Friend was on 3 different platforms (GaGa, iQIYI, YT) - even though it was originally announced for Viki! I honestly don’t know how to track this, so I tend to log the spreadsheet with my preferred watching platform for that language, this will throw the numbers off for those platforms. 

Since I join everything my platform preference choice is based on:  

the quality of the subs/captions   

the quality of the user experience  

My subs experience tends to be: 

YT = best for Thai

Viki = best for Korean and sometimes Japanese, okay for Thai

Gaga = best for Chinese and sometimes Japanese but very weak Thai subs

My user interface preference is: 

YT, Viki, Gaga in that order then everyone else with iQIYI at the bottom. This is because I watch on mobile devices. 

ASplay, WeTV, former Line, Amarin TV, Netflix and the other smaller suppliers (and apps) will all be grouped together for this assessment. Since they have so few offerings, by default I would not recommend subbing those platforms unless you are a hard stan of all BL with disposable income. 

Super bad BLs that I watched back in the day on grey sites or YT (pre 2020 crack down) because there were no other options and I am a completest are still listed as grey. I would never suggest anyone watch these shows anyway, so I don’t care if they have now shown up on legitimate sites. If they are somewhere, it’s likely Gaga. Which means Gaga’s percentage of the market share is probably UNDER reported by my numbers. 

Movies and cinema-only releases that never got international distribution fall into the “grey” category. If I got it off an indie subber, since that too is technically illegal, it falls into the grey category as well. 

Final note: This is from a USA based IP, I don’t use a VPN, so platforms assessments are from that perspective. 

Spring 2023, current state of the spreadsheet. AKA 

Our BL Data Set 

Total # of BLs = 564

# of BLs ongoing (so finished runtime is best guess) = 18 

Just Answer the Damn Question 

Round Number of Actual BLs - % of market share

YouTube = 218 - 38.6%

Gaga = 148 - 26.2% 

Viki = 77 - 13.7% 

Grey = 53 - 9.4% 

BLs I’ve never been able to find on any platform (including grey): 36 - 6.4% 

iQIYI = 14 - 2.5% 

Other platforms = 12 - 2.2% 

Margin of error: +- 1% (look I’m just not driven to be that accurate here)

Subscription Platforms Breakdown  - % of market share

Eliminating YouTube, Grey, and missing BLs. Viki is included because I do not know which of theirs are behind the paywall and which are not. 

Total subscribe-only BLs: 257 

Gaga = 59%

Viki = 30%

iQIYI = 6%

Sml sites/apps = 5%

(rounded) 

Okay but how about actual runtime? 

Gaga = 360 hrs - 44% 

Viki = 311 hrs - 38% 

iQIYI = 98 hrs - 12% 

Sml sites = 50 hrs - 6%

Anyway you cut it... on pure BL standards...

GAGAOOLALA WINS 

Other consideration? In most places Gaga is ALSO the cheapest per month option. 

Final Thoughts

YouTube (America’s Alphabet) 

YT has the most pieces of content and longest overall runtime because of all the Thai stuff. ALSO bootlegs show up there, especially the early Chinese and Japanese stuff. They will often get taken down and you have to hunt for it again. YT takedowns come in waves, every 6 months or so.

However, GMMTV, some Star Hunter, some Studio Wabi Sabi, all the Vietnamese & Pinoy stuff (until now), and a few choice bits of Strongberry are YT content.

YT’s app is the best UX of a poor set (for me), but the web based YT at Premium level doesn’t work with Firefox. I use YT for work A LOT, so the fee for Premium ($13.99) and lack of ads + downloads (travel) is worth it for me, but I think it probubly isn’t if you’re on a budget. 

GaGaOOLaLa (Taiwan’s Portico Media) 

Of the pay to play platforms, GaGa dominates with the most BLs by all metrics. If you’re intersted in darker BL, GL and other queer content, very high heat, the history of the genre, or Japanese stuff - most of that is on GaGa. Also all of Strongberry and some of the newer queerer series (like My Ride).  

At $6.99 a month it’s ALSO one of the cheapest options. 

Gaga is based out of Taiwan, the only Asian country with marriage equality (as of 2022) AND it specializes in exclusively queer content so they need our support. If you can afford them, you should support them. GaGa is the only platform that will always have more BL, guaranteed (so long as Taiwan is autonomous). Ironically, you can follow their YT channel for previews and teasers to their latest series, short content, and acquisitions. 

Their app isn’t great, but their web-based interface is fine. That said: there’s no categories (way to organize), and the way they roll out new episodes is unintuitive. Their mobile app ALWAYS pauses not mater what you actually want it to do and the lack of the quick skip ahead is frustrating. 

Viki (Japan’s Rakutan)

Viki specializes in longer series, mostly Thai, Taiwanese, and a few of the Chinese bromances. It also now has a lot of KBLs. But in general only more recent stuff (2018 is as far back as they go).

At $4.99-$11.99 depending, it’s low to average cost. I’m not sure which one (if any) you actually need for BL. Most of my favorite new shows tend to air on Viki, and I like Rakutan as a parent company, so I don’t mind supporting them. 

They happen to have 5 of my top ten BLs, which is A LOT (since I hand out 10/10 so rarely). So for me they host the objective best BL content. 

They have the second best app (after YT, it’s kinda a combo of YT + Netflix) but the lack of a speed-up option is frustrating for many. Also the desktop version is super buggy. But they DO have categories you can name and control, which I love.

Other Platforms 

iQIYI - is Mainland China based (hello Baidu, you ugly fucker), so the platform getting/pimping BL for an international audience only is… how do I put this?… oh yeah: shitty. I will often rename it Icky, for this reason. It clearly wants to break the market, but… do we want it in the market at all? How long will they host BLs? When will they be shut down and censored? I would say it’s only worth it if you really also like Chinese dramas. And even so, Viki also has A LOT of those. Unfortunately for us, Wabi Sabi seems to have cut a distribution deal with Icky. And, of course, there is the KinnPorsche situation (so ironic that Icky hosts the highest heat). The interface is a nightmare. They have the WORST app, even when you pay, it serves ads, some of which alpha crash the platform. 

Netflix - here in the states it almost never has new BL content. Sometimes some old stuff. They tested the waters with SOTUS and Love Sick. I have a feeling they aren’t particularly intersted in this market. So if BL is what you watch, don’t bother. At last check they still had Gameboys and Your Name Engraved Herein and Wish You. 

WeTV - acts like LineTV used to, has Manner of Death and We Best Love and a few of the more obscure Thai pulps. But probably not worth it for anyone but a completest. 

Grey - Unknown or No Distributor 

Indie subbers: there’s some BLs that you can watch by supporting indie subbers who supply private links to their personal versions. This is not legal, but it is a slightly nicer way to get stuff you can’t find anywhere else. I’ve done this for some Thai and Japanese stuff.

I find the leads for these sources here on Tumblr. If someone is giffing and talking about a show and I don’t know how they are getting hold of it, I simply ask.

DramaCool (USA) & Dailymotion (France) & Bilibili (China) and others - AKA the grey space. You SHOULD feel guilty using these sites, you’re stealing, but it’s where many of us go for BL we can’t find anywhere else (in defiance of what few morals we have left). These are BLs that originally sold to very odd platforms or never got international distribution. Unfortunately, some of my favorites are in this category like Great Men Academy or Seven Days. It’s a nightmare. The ads are terrible and the virus/bug risk is high. They get taken down all the time. Or the leads are faked. I use an old computer to access and suggest you take all necessary precautions yourself.

P’ABL SOAP BOX TIME

Look I work tangential to the entertainment industry, so if you thought I wasn’t going to learn you a little on this subject, you got another think coming. 

HERE’S THE THING: 

You watch a show on one of the grey platforms, ESPECIALLY if it actually has distribution on Gaga or Viki - you better review that shit. You spread the word and advocate for that content here, on MDL, on social media, with fan art, I don’t care. You steal it, you find a way to pay back in your time and/or creativity. 

I get it if you’re poor, but don’t be a goddamn scab. Find a way to reward content creators with non-monetary support. If you had the time to watch the thing you stole, you have time to pay it forward in some substantial way. Do this even if you didn’t steal it but got it for free. Do this if you read fanfic. Do this with articles, blogs, books. Do this with podcasts. 

It isn’t hard to be a decent human and support creators. Don’t you dare just TAKE. If you’re that kind of person stop reading this blog immediately. I don’t want anything to do with you and you don’t deserve my words or my spreadsheet of Doom. 

/rant 

MORE ON THIS TOPIC WITH FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS

Original post on this subject that I adapted for this post. 

(source)

#where to find bl #all about bl #bl sources #bl platforms #ABL rants #BL spreadsheet activate #bl spreadsheet of doom #pay the creators #bl streaming #streaming services compared #DramaCool #Dailymotion #Bilibili #WeTV #Netflix #iQIYI #Viki #rakutan #Rakutan Viki #Japanese BL #Taiwanese BL #Thai BL #Korean BL #GaGaOOLaLa #Portico Media #YouTube #GaGa wins #ASplay #Amarin TV

[joesalw]

I think the apology she wanted from Joe was for him choosing a movie above the opening night of her biggest tour and not jetting back for the opening night. From Taylor's behaviour we can see it's super important for the boyfriend to be there for her tour.

Obviously he was filming and it would have been disruptive for him to do this but I can see her expecting this (also given Joe was away working during other important events for her like Red TV release or the Graduation thingy)

Her remark to Travis saying "jetlag is a choice " and flying around the world for the Superbowl after the last night in Tokyo cements this. She has been dropping quotes about how important it is for the partner to show up and support her in interviews & even in pressers about the Travis relationship

well now that she has a partner who is always there for her important events, she should start focusing on him instead of trying to shade her ex at any given chance. she got what she wanted so why's she still fussing. also here's a list of all the important events that joe attended for her:

1. The jbb concert (her first performance after the cancellation era) he also jetted back from his movie set (the operation finale) to be there for Taylor. Jet lag was a choice back then too.

2. Several rep concerts including the opening night. He attended with his friends, family and co-stars.

3. The Prime concert where she couldn’t stop looking at him.

4. CATS premiere

5. Vmas afterparty in 2023 (even when things were rough)

6. grammys afterparty 2023 (see he attended when he could)

7. golden globes 2020, as her plus one

8. nmes 2020, as her plus one

9. He couldn’t be there at her graduation ceremony but he sent his whole family to support her. His mom was there for Taylor at atw premiere as well.

10. He also went to Paris during lover promo in 2019

11. Lover photoshoot + mv shooting set

These are all I can think of right now but i can confirm there are more events when he was there for her as a support system. During the span of six years he's been there for her from time to time. swifties like to paint him as a bad boyfriend when it's literally not true. I don’t see Taylor's athlete boyfriend joining her promotional work events and if I brought it up swifties will say tk has his own job restrictions. But where is the same energy when it's Joe who couldn’t attend her important events due to job restrictions as well? The tunnel vision of making Joe a villain and a bad boyfriend is so embarrassing, like they know it's not true. Also I hope taylor's very supportive boyfriend will keep up the same energy after six years (if he survives for that long lol)

#joe alwyn #anti taylor swift

[backup-baby-backup]

List of Speak Now TV-related Easter eggs Taylor has dropped recently (just drop it already ffs)

NB: I'm only including hints that are obvious and don't require mental gymnastics. Your mileage might vary, of course.

27 February 2020: The Man music video is released, with the iconic graffitied wall showing Speak Now coming after Red.

26 October 2020: Taylor posts this TikTok.

I really think this is a really obvious hint, but nobody ever seems to talk about it... anyways notice how the colours of the garments she points at go purple > blue > green > black?

9 November 2021: Red (Taylor's Version) signed CDs go on sale. On her website, the price $20.10 is written in purple.

12 November 2021: "Red is about to be mine again, but it has always been ours."

13 December 2021: Taylor turns 32. Her AMA award for Speak Now can be seen in this photo she posts.

20 January 2021: Taylor is named 2022 Record Store Day Ambassador. The logo uses purple text and we lose our minds.

5 May 2022: Taylor Nation drops Speak Now (and 1989) merch for some reason.

Apparently, this was to show the Speak Now trademark was still being used, but I'm still putting it here.

21 October 2022: Anti-Hero music video released.

The koi fish guitar from the Speak Now World Tour makes an appearance.

Also, in the official YouTube video for the TSAntiHeroChallenge thing, she wears the purple dress from the Speak Now tour.

25 October 2022: Bejeweled music video released.

This day is the 12th anniversary of Speak Now.

Enchanted plays at the beginning.

Laura Dern says "Speak not".

Taylor presses the 3 button in the elevator, which is coloured purple.

The 13 button and the 13th indicator light (representing the album after Midnights) are also purple.

Taylor's hairpin says "SN".

Koi fish appears in the windows of the castle.

Long Live plays at the end.

1 November 2022: "I'm enchanted to announce my next tour..."

27 January 2023: Lavender Haze music video released.

The koi fish appears again.

29 January 2023: The official Taylor Swift 2024 calendar is shown on the publisher's website. It features photos from the Speak Now tour.

The cover picture is the same one used in the Eras Tour to represent the Speak Now era.

It will be available for purchase on July 20th.

17 March 2023: Taylor drops If This Was A Movie (TV), which was a deluxe track on Speak Now, and Safe & Sound and Eyes Open (TV), which were first performed live on the Speak Now tour.

9 April 2023: Photos from the set of a music video being filmed in Liverpool are leaked. The Speak Now tour flying balcony and piano can be seen.

13 April 2023: Taylor says that "recently one of my albums has been on my mind a lot" before performing Speak Now.

1 May 2023: Taylor posts this. The purple heart speaks for itself.

5 May 2023: WE WON. WE FINALLY WON.

#taylor swift #speak now #speak now taylor’s version #clowning

[celia-bracali]

Netflix users have been left concerned by the omission of a huge movie from its list of 2024 releases.

On Thursday (1 February), the streaming service, which is both adding and removing a load of new titles this month, unveiled a preview of its movie slate – but the absence of one sequel that was expected to be released later this year is being highlighted by confused subscribers.

The film in question is The Old Guard 2, the sequel to action thriller The Old Guard, starring Charlize Theron.

Released in 2020, The Old Guard followed Theron’s immortal warrior who, along with three other mercenaries, has spent centuries protecting her freedom.

The film was directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and co-starred Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli and Harry Melling in the villain role.

After becoming a big hit for Netflix, a sequel was greenlit, with Victoria Mahoney replacing Pryce-Bythewood as director. However, despite a release date of 2024 previously being announced by the streaming service, The Old Guard 2 has disappeared from the release slate.

Users are particularly concerned following news that a sci-fi drama starring Halle Berry has been shelved indefinitely despite filming being completed two years ago. The Mothership allegedly had its release “pulled” indefinitely following several delays that pushed the project back by years.

News of the film’s cancellation was first reported by The InSneider newsletter, where it was claimed the decision stemmed from the fact that the child actors had grown up too much for some “significant” reshoots to work.

The Old Guard 2 is not the only film to have disappeared from the 2024 release slate: The Electric State, a new thriller from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo, and a thriller from The Raid director Gareth Evans, titled Havoc, are also nowhere to be seen.

Following the schedule’s release, many are expressing concern on social media.

“WHAT ABOUT THE OLD GUARD 2???” one social media user wrote, with another writing: “What the hell?”

An additional Netflix subscriber waded in: “Once again, where the f*** is Old Guard 2?

The Independent has contacted Netflix for comment.

#tog #the old guard #the old guard 2 #netflix #andy | andromache of scythia #joe | yusuf al kaysani #nicky | nicolò di genova #booker | sebastian le livre #nile freeman #quynh the old guard #immortal family #immortal husbands #charlize theron #marwan kenzari #luca marinelli #matthias schoenaerts

[digi-lov]

how do u even start getting into Digimon?? there so much stuff, i dont even know where to begin. like, there is like a hundred shows??? do i start with the first one that came out??

Idk man it just happened??

No, but seriously, don't worry about it! There aren't even that many shows if you ask me. I'll put a list below the cut! I'll list all movies too, so it'll look like more than it really is. Also the dates are the japanese air dates.

Obviously starting with the first season, Digimon Adventure is an easy pick, it also has the most sequels and movies.

But aside from the Adventure related media, all other Digimon Seasons are completely self-contained, and you can just go and watch any! They also all explore "Digimon" and the Digital World in different ways. I personally loved them all.

For the anime I also highly recommend watching the Japanese original. I'm sorry for anyone who grew up with it, but I can barely stand watching the English Dub at all. If you know German though, the German Dub is really good. I still prefer the Japanese original, but the German Dub is at least a translation and not a fan fiction.

The same basically goes for the games. You can just pick any of them up! Also, all Digimon games kind of do their own thing in terms of gameplay and mechanics. There's similarities too, but usually each have their own vibe. A lot of the DS titles do work very similar though!

Anime:

Adventure: Digimon Adventure (Movie) (1999) • Digimon Adventure (Season 1) (1999-2000) Digimon Adventure: Our War Game (Movie) (2000) • Digimon Adventure 02 (Season 2) (2000-2001) Digimon Adventure 02: Hurricane Touchdown!! Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals (Movie) (2000) Digimon Adventure 02: Diaboromon Strikes Back (Movie) (2001) • Digimon Adventure tri. (6 Movies or 24 Episodes) (2015-2018) Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (Movie) (2020) Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning (Movie) (2023) [Digimon Adventure: (Reboot) (2020)]

Tamers: • Digimon Tamers (Season 3) (2001-2002) Digimon Tamers: The Adventures' Battle (Movie) (2001) Digimon Tamers: The Runaway Digimon Express (Movie) (2002)

Frontier: • Digimon Frontier (Season 4) (2002-2003) Digimon Frontier: Revival of the Ancient Digimon (Movie) (2002)

Savers/Data Squad: • Digimon Savers / Data Squad (Season 5) (2006-2007) Digimon Savers The Movie: Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode!! (Movie) (2006)

Xros Wars/Fusion: • Digimon Xros Wars / Fusion (2010-2012)

Appmon: • Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016-2017)

Ghost Game: • Digimon Ghost Game (2021-2023)

Games: Generally known Games in bold, more obscure or never released in the West in small I also left out most Phone and Smart Phone games since they're shut down

· Digital Monster Ver. S: Digimon Tamers (1998) (Sega Saturn) • Digimon World (1999) (PS1) · Digital Monster Ver. WonderSwan (1999) (WonderSwan) · Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure: Anode Tamer & Cathode Tamer (1999/2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: Digital Partner (2000) (WonderSwan) · Pocket Digimon World (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Wind Battle Disc (2000) (PS1) > Pocket Digimon World: Cool & Nature Battle Disc (2001) (PS1) • Digimon World 2 (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Adventure 02: Tag Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan) · Digimon Adventure 02: D1 Tamers (2000) (WonderSwan Color) · Digimon World: Digital Card Arena (2000) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Digimon Medley (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit (2001) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) > Digimon Tamers: Battle Spirit Ver. 1.5 (2002) (WonderSwan Color) > Digimon Frontier: Battle Spirit / Battle Spirit 2 (2002) (WonderSwan Color / GBA) • Digimon Tamers: Battle Evolution / Rumble Arena (2001) (PS1) · Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer (2001) (WonderSwan Color) • Digimon World 3 / 2003 (2002) (PS1) · Digimon Racing (2004) (GBA) • Digimon Battle Chronicle / Rumble Arena 2 (2004) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon World X / World 4 (2005) (PS2 / GCN) • Digimon Story / Digimon World DS (2006) (DS) · Digimon Savers: Another Mission / Digimon World Data Squad (2006) (PS2) • Digimon Story: Sunburst & Moonlight / Digimon World Dawn & Dusk (2007) (DS) · Digimon Championship / Digimon World Championship (2008) (DS) · Digimon Masters (2009) (PC) [Korea only] · Digimon Story: Lost Evolution (2010) (DS) [Japan only; Fan Translation exists] · Digimon Story: Super Xros Wars Blue & Red (2011) (DS) • Digimon World Re:Digitize (2012) (PSP) > Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode (2013) (3DS) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] · Digimon Adventure (2013) (PSP) [Japan only; Fan translation exists] • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory (2015) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) • Digimon World -next 0rder- (2016) (PSV, PS4, Switch, PC) · Digimon Universe Appli Monsters (2016) (3DS) · Digimon New Century (2021) (Smart Phone) [China only] • Digimon Survive (2022) (PS4, Switch, PC, XBO)

#lov asks #digimon #digisafe #digimon adventure #digimon games #digimon anime

[fantastic-nonsense]

Harley Quinn's insane popularity during the mid-2010s is a super interesting phenomenon precisely because her abrupt rise in popularity was less about her unique appeal as an individual character and more about everything else DC Comics was doing at the time

Harley's New 52 aesthetic revamp from her classic harlequin costume to a corset, booty shorts, and two-toned hair happened entirely because people loved her look in the Arkham games and DC was trying to capitalize on it. Also almost entirely on the basis of her popularity in those games (and because the company was in desperate need of positive PR after mass criticism about their treatment of female characters in the early New 52, including Harley), editorial greenlit a solo book for her.

Her 2014 solo book outsold most of DC's line partially because of the character, story, and the creative team of course; there's no way it could have been that successful without people liking those things. But its success was massively helped by Harley being one of the few characters who (outside of Glass's Suicide Squad run, which was promptly yeeted into oblivion and never mentioned again) wasn't completely fucked over by the reboot and whose book DC editorial largely left alone during the notoriously micromanaged New 52 era.

She also had one of the few decent "fun" books at a time when DC's offerings were mostly either grimdark and edgy, disliked, or doing something radically different with their protagonists than normal (for example...Lobdell's Teen Titans and Red Hood and the Outlaws, making Supergirl a Red Lantern, and having Dick Grayson fake his death and go undercover as a super spy), making Harley Quinn a breath of fresh air for anyone seeking to escape the melodrama of Forever Evil, Future's End, and Convergence or find a new book after the ones they were reading ended or became unpalatable.

Over in the DCEU, people had two lukewarm movies they weren't really that excited about despite starring DC's Trinity. And then you got Suicide Squad, which was kinda hot garbage and a critical failure but made bank and had the wonderful Margot Robbie playing Harley Quinn. No one else really made it out of that movie looking good, but Margot's depiction of Harley was widely praised and her look in that movie became wildly popular, selling tons of merch. So DC went "oh she's a seller!" and then greenlit the Harley Quinn cartoon and Birds of Prey 2020 while generally refusing to acknowledge that the lack of decent DCEU movies overall, Robbie's performance compared to her co-stars, and Harley's grunge Hot Girl look were the main drivers of Harley's seemingly unique popularity following the movie's release.

Basically: Harley got incredibly lucky because she got a major internal editorial push as a character at the exact same time basically every other character whose comics would have normally outsold hers got fucked over, and then got lucky twice when DC cast Margot Robbie to play her in Suicide Squad while the movie's Hot Topic Aesthetic™ was still somewhat en vogue.

Combine those two things with the fact that her relationship with Poison Ivy (an A-list Batman Rogue) was confirmed at the same time same-sex marriage was legalized and DC was looking to promote a diverse character slate...and you get the wild popularity she's enjoyed since ~2012 that nonetheless is obviously starting to slowly return back to base levels. Which you can tell when you look at, for example, Harley's sales numbers post-Rebirth/Infinite Frontier (since facing actual competition from DC's staple characters) and the number of new Harley-led projects that have been greenlit since the 2020 management massacre that took out Didio.

At the end of the day, The Harley Phenomenon is less about Harley Quinn and more about what happens when a company capitalizes on a character's aesthetic appeal and Cool Girl Status while largely abandoning the goal of making quality content starring the rest of their staple characters. She's certainly popular on her own and has individual appeal, but she never would have achieved the level of mainstream popularity she's enjoyed over the past 10 years without an astounding set of major coincidences all falling in her direction.

#dc comics #harley quinn #comic book history #dceu #margot robbie #long post

[princessrainevillanueva]

DreamWorks Dog Man Movie Reminder

In a recent update, a Twitter/X user (known for its viral new updates during the Mario Movie era in the first half of 2023) posted a list of upcoming movies from Universal Animation - including those from DreamWorks and Illumination. The said list includes official and tentative release dates like Kung Fu Panda 4, The Wild Robot, and Despicable Me 4. There's also the Dog Man movie listed for a 2024/2025 release.

Additionally, there are other movies that are on the rumors list which might all made up by himself. It includes Illumination and Nintendo's Pikmin and Star Fox movies, Megamind 2 and The Bad Guys 2. The rumors section does not have a reliable source for these movies. I don't want to post the list here because some don't have any references.

I'll let you remind that the Dog Man Movie recently announced on December 2020 and we haven't got any newest update for this yet. Once we officially get any fresh info from the Dog Man Movie from DreamWorks, I'm gonna post it here.

#dog man #dogman #dreamworks #dog man movie #dav pilkey #captain underpants #scholastic #animated movies

[frmjudy]

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .  JUDITH  SONG,  known  mononymously  as  JUDY,  is  a  South  Korean  singer-songwriter,  model  and  composer.  She  signed  with  Cult  Creative  in  2008  as  a  trainee  and  debuted  as  a  singer  at  age  twenty  with  Heart  Attack  (2013),  her  first  mini  album.  Although  her  follow-up  single,  Purple  Nights,  and  single  album  Grand  Dream  brought  mainstream  success,  it  was  only  after  the  release  of  Make  Me  Happy  the  lead  single  of  her  2016  mini-album  LOVE  LETTER,  that  she  achieved  national  stardom.  Make  Me  Happy  debuted,  stayed  at  number  1  on  the  Gaon  Digital  Chart  for  six  consecutive  weeks,  and  would  later  take  44th  place  on  Billboard’s  100  Greatest  K-Pop  Songs  of  the  2010s  list. In  2016  she  released  her  first  OST  This  Love,  for  the  television  series  Descendants  of  the  Sun,  and  later  released  A  Lot  Like  Love  for  Moonlovers:  Scarlet  Heart  Ryeo  that  same  year.

With  the  success  of  her  2017  album  OH  MY  GOD  and  the  debuting  as  a  member  of  the  Cult  Creative  project  group,  DITTO,  Judy  established  herself  as  a  formidable  force  on  the  music  charts  of  her  native  country  further  cementing  her  title  as  Korea’s  ‘sweetheart’.

JUDY’s  sixth  mini-album,  Temptation  (2019)  debuted  the  entrance  of  her  thirties,  with  several  tracks  charting  on  the  Gaon  Digital  Chart.  In  April  2020,  she  released  Speak  Out  Loud,  her  first  Japanese  single  album,  and  her  second  collaboration  with  another  artist,  Junko  of  Raevil.

JUDY’s  first  full  album,  Red  Rover  (2019),  became  her  first  to  debut  on  Billboard's  World  Albums  chart,  breaking  many  records  for  Cult  Creative.  Angel’s  Breath  (2023)  was  the  last  release  of  JUDY  before  her  unexpected  four-month-long  hiatus  after  the  death  of  her  fiancé,  actor  Jung  Kyungmin.

MOVIE  STAR  was  released  as  a  pre-release  single  on  Febuary  2,  2024,  this  would  be  a  part  of  her  second  full  album  KILLING  ME  SOFTLY  on  Febuary  12.

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .     GENERAL    INFORMATION 

NATIVE    NAME.  주디

COMPANY.   Cult   Creative

DEBUT   DATE.   May  2,  2013

DEBUT   SONG. Heart  Attack

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .     EXTRAS

GREETING.“Sing  sweetly  for  me!  Hello,  this  is  JUDY!”

FANDOM  NAME.  Song  Birds

FANDOM   COLOR.  Pretty  in  Pink  +  Cloudy  White

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .     DISCOGRAPHY

HEART  ATTACK                ⁄           heart  attack  +  turtule                ⁄            debut  mini  album                ⁄            2013.

Purple  Nights               ⁄            single                ⁄            2013.

GRAND  DREAM                ⁄         oh  my  goodness  +  the  grand  dream                ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2014.

BITTER                ⁄           poison  flower  +  fine               ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2015.

LOVE  LETTER                ⁄           make  me  happy  +  love  letter               ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2016.

THIS  LOVE               ⁄            ost                ⁄            2016.

A  LOT  LIKE  LOVE               ⁄            ost                ⁄            2016.

WOULD  BE  BETTER               ⁄            ost                ⁄            2017.

OH  MY  GOD               ⁄           woman  +  cloud              ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2017.

SOBER                ⁄           don’t  say  no  +  sober               ⁄               single  album                ⁄            2018.

RED  ROVER                ⁄           last  dance  +  love  drug               ⁄            full  album                ⁄            2019.

HONEY                ⁄           honey               ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2019.

SPEAK  OUT  LOUD                ⁄           #girlsspeakout               ⁄            japanese  single  album                ⁄            2020.

LOVER  GIRL              ⁄           not  in  public  +  heart               ⁄            mini  album                ⁄            2021.

EGO  DEATH.                ⁄           little  god  +  i  can’t  control  myself               ⁄            full  album                ⁄            2022.

ANGEL’S BREATH                ⁄           flower               ⁄              mini  album                ⁄            2023.

BLOOD  ORANGE              ⁄          blood  orange               ⁄            english  mini  album                ⁄            2023.

MOVIE  STAR               ⁄             pre-release  single                ⁄            2024.

KILLING  ME  SOFTLY                ⁄           killing  me  +  only  one  +  s.o.s               ⁄            full  album                ⁄            2024.

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .     DISCOGRAPHY

PRETTY  IN  PINK               ⁄           documentary                ⁄            2021  -  2022.

DO  NOT  EAT:  THE  SNOWDROP  TOUR               ⁄           tour  documentary                ⁄            2023.

°  ࣪.  𓂃  .  .  .     TOURS

OH MY GOODNESS TOUR               ⁄             asia  tour                ⁄            2017.

  SNOWDROP  TOUR               ⁄             world  tour               ⁄                         2022 - 2023

#ficnetfairy #⠀ ❝ ⠀ ⸻ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ the anatomy of melancholy ⠀ ⠀ ﹕ ⠀ ⠀ profiles. #⠀ ❝ ⠀ ⸻ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ the anatomy of melancholy ⠀ ⠀ ﹕ ⠀ ⠀ intro. #fake kpop idol #fictional soloist #idolverse #kpop au #fictional idol oc #kpop oc #fictional idol soloist #fictional idol company #idol au #fictional idol community

[hypahfixations]

~ Hello One and All! ~

And Welcome to a Thrilling Breakdown of Dimension 20!

You’ve met our humble dungeon master Brennan Lee Mulligan, and now you’re curious on what other stories he and his crew have told. Whether you have encountered Brennan as a player from his various one-shots across different Actual Play TTRPG brands or have fallen from the heights of Avalir itself during Exandria Unlimited: The Calamity, it can be a little daunting figuring out where to start.  

Allow this Intrepid Hero to be your guide, Gang!

~ Who is the Core Cast? ~

The core cast for Dimension 20 are a group of seven improv comedians, but don't let that fool you into thinking that they are not masterful storytellers.

From Left to Right: Brian Murphy, Lou Wilson, Emily Axford, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Siobhan Thompson, Zac Oyama, and Ally Beardsley.

~ Where to Watch ~

The first episode of every campaign can be watched for free from Dimension 20’s YouTube channel, with some of the older seasons being fully available for free. To gain access to all Dimension 20’s content, along with everything else on Drop Out (including Game Changers and Um, Actually?), you can either become a member on College Humor’s YouTube channel or sign up for DropOutTV. The subscription price is the same for both, just $6 a month, but the DropOut app allows you to download as many episodes as you’d like to watch in offline mode, as well as offer podcast versions.

~ List of Campaigns ~

Dimension 20 has 17 seasons, nearly half of which are played by the core cast while the others are a rotation of guest players and GMs. Rather than listing the campaigns in just release date order, I opted to list by congruency as well for those of us who like to experience one story fully.

~~~

In the World of Spyre

Genre: Fantasy John Hughes movie

System: DnD 5e

Fantasy High

Core Cast

Meet our Intrepid Heroes in their first recorded DnD campaign as teenagers attending Aguefort’s Adventuring Academy! Watch as they overcome the trials and tribulations of high school life…oh, and saving the world.

Full Season Available Here

Pirates of Leviathan

Players: Aabria Iyengar, B. Dave Walters, Carlos Luna, Krystina Arielle, Marisha Ray, and Matthew Mercer

Aboard the floating city of Leviathan, our players discover an incredibly powerful artifact and an incredibly devious scheme. Will they be able to contain it or will they sink the city into the briny depths.

**Note: This was recorded at the start of the 2020 pandemic partially through the recording of Sophomore Year.

Fantasy High: Sophomore Year

Core Cast

It’s sophomore year, baby, and you know what that means! That’s right, time for young love, tragic backstories, and hiring your parents as your employee while on a quest that 70% of your final grade!

First Six Episodes Available Here

** Note: This season is a bit heavier and has aspects of psychological horror.

The Seven

Players: Aabria Iyengar, Becca Scott, Erika Ishii, Isabella Roland, Persephone Valentine, and Rekha Shankar

Playing as the Seven Maidens set a year and a half after the finale of Fantasy High, the girls have to come to terms that their party will be broken up at the end of the year due to being in different graduation classes…or do they?

~~~

Escape From the Bloodkeep

Players: Amy Vorpal, Erika Ishii, Ify Nwadiwe, Matthew Mercer, Mike Trapp, and Rekha Shanker

Genre: Lord of the Rings Parody

System: DnD 5e

Fighting for the side of Darkness and Evil, the players are the elite advisors of the Lord of Shadows. Except the Dark Lord just suddenly died and now they have to figure out how to thwart Good once and for all!

Full Season Available Here

~~~

In the World of Actual New York City

Genre: Urban Fantasy / Superhero Adjacent

System: DnD 5e

The Unsleeping City

Core Cast

Inspired by concepts from Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere, natives of the Big Apple discover the city has so much more than meets the eye. They must come together and discover their power to defeat corruption before it destroys everything.

Full Season Available Here

The Unsleeping City: Chapter Two

Core Cast

Taking place three years after the finale of the first chapter, the players must reunite to confront the evilest enemy of them all: Capitalism Part Duex Electric Boogaloo!

~~~

Tiny Heist

Players: Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Jessica Ross, Justin McElroy, Lily Du, and Travis McElroy

Genre: Ocean’s 11 meets Toy Story

System: DnD 5e

Our players embody the whimsical personas of bugs, toys, and Bitty folk to take down an overreaching mafia boss. After all, there is only one thing more motivating that the love of a child, and that’s a roll of quarters.

~~~

A Crown of Candy

Core Cast

Genre: High Fantasy / Medieval Political Intrigue

System: DnD 5e

The epic story exploring the world of Calorum, where each kingdom is comprised of different food groups that their citizens are made of. Our players are members of the House of Rocks, rulers of Candia, on their way to the naming of the next Emperor of Calorum during a time of great strife.

** Note: This campaign is perhaps the most serious out of anything else in their compendium. They explore themes of war, death, and betrayal with the gravity those topics deserve.

~~~

Mice & Murder

Players: Ally Beardsley, Grant O’Brien, Katie Marovitch, Raphael Chestang, Rekha Shankar, and Sam Reich

Genre: Whodunit / Murder Mystery

System: DnD 5e

In a world where the denizens are anthropomorphic woodland critters, the players have been invited to a fancy birthday party…where a tragedy most foul occurs.

~~~

Misfits And Magic

Guest GM: Aabria Iyengar

Players: Brennan Lee Mulligan, Danielle Radford, Erika Ishii, and Lou Wilson

Genre: Harry Potter Parody

System: Kids on Brooms

Set in the modern day, our players are invited to a prestigious wizarding school to participate in the foreign exchange pilot program, where they discover magic, themselves, and just how impractical this school can be.

** Note: There’s a Holiday Special too!

~~~

Shriek Week

Guest GM: Gabe Hicks

Players: Ally Beardsley, Dani Fernandez, Lily Du, and Ify Nwadiwe

Genre: Monster College

System: The Mythic System

Follow our players in their final semester of university as they try to find a Roëmænce Partnær before the end of year rager, as well as fend off some unwelcome visitors to their campus.

~~~

A Starstruck Odyssey

Core Cast

Genre: Sci-fi / Space Opera

System: Star Wars 5e

The players are a rag-tag group of down-on-their luck spacers just trying to survive the rough and tough galaxy of Starstruck, a technicolor multiverse based on the series of comic books created by Elaine Lee and Michael Kaluta.

~~~

Coffin Run

Guest GM: Jasmine Bhullar

Players: Carlos Luna, Erika Ishii, Isabella Roland, and Zac Oyama

Genre: Gothic Horror

System: DnD 5e

The followers of Count Dracula eagerly await his return home only to find their dark lord has been ambushed. The players are tasked with desperately trying to get his coffin back to the safety of the Castle.

~~~

A Court of Fey & Flowers

Guest GM: Aabria Iyengar

Players: Brennan Lee Mulligan, Emily Axford, Lou Wilson, Omar Najam, Oscar Montoya, and Surena Marie

Genre: Whimsical High Regency

System: Homebrew blend of Good Society & DnD 5e

Fey from all corners of the Faerie gather for The Bloom - a celebration of society, propriety, and abundance of arcane power. Sipping and serving piping hot tea, all eyes and ears are upon the players as they navigate rumors, scandals, and mysteries.

~~~

Neverafter

Core Cast

Genre: Twisted Fairytales

System: DnD 5e

Once upon a time has been cast into happily neverafter; a drought of shadow and misery plaguing the land and players of timeless storybook fame. When awareness of the wrongness is gleamed, and stories intersect in ways they should not, a glimpse between the lines and into the maw of cosmic horror spur our heroes to define destiny.

~~~

TBD

Guest GM: Matthew Mercer

Players: TBD

Genre: TBD

System: TBD

Release Date: May 2023

~ That's a lot. Recommendations? ~

Honestly, I would start with Fantasy High! It's a really good introduction to both the core cast and the way Dimension 20 sets itself apart from other Actual Play shows. From there, you can either go in order (release or series), or simply dabble with whichever genre or campaign trailer catches your eyes most.

As for my personal favorites:

Core Cast would be between A Crown of Candy and A Starstruck Odyssey. A Crown of Candy has some of the most incredible storytelling I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing - Game of Thrones wishes it could be as good! Meanwhile A Starstruck Odyssey is perhaps the funniest games I have ever watched.

Guest Cast is A Court of Fey and Flowers with a very close second being The Seven. I had never understood the appeal of regency before A Court of Fey and Flowers absolutely rocked me with the slightest brush of an ungloved hand. And no media has truly captured what it's like to be in that weird, volatile transition of teenager to young adult quiet like the Seven in the most unhinged way possible.

Wanna do a deeper dive? Visit the Dimension 20 Fan Wiki!

#long post #dimension 20 #d20 #d20 cast #brennan lee mulligan #aabria iyengar #matthew mercer #matt mercer #marisha ray #erika ishii #the mcelroys #griffin mcelroy #gabe hicks #ify nwadiwe #dnd #dnd podcast #dnd5e #dungeons and dragons #dungeons & dragons #kids on brooms #star wars 5e #mythic system #I'm so excited more people are curious about dimension 20 because I'm obsessed if y'all couldn't tell! #dropout #dropout tv #college humor #jasmine bhullar #Brian Murphy #Lou Wilson #Emily Axford

[darubyprincx]

digital media i watched this year that i really really enjoyed: a (non-exhaustive, non-ranked) list

hi everyone! ray keys here. i'm writing this on Dec 21st because I know I'll forget to post this on time if I don't schedule it beforehand.

i don't watch things on streaming services because i don't have any of the apps downloaded on my phone and most shows just aren't my thing anyways (ATLA has been the only exception) so all of the links here go to YouTube or other (free) sites

here we go!

Misc. Series and Standalone Videos

17776

17776 is a multimedia webnovel (?) about American football in the year of, you guessed it, 17776, written in 2017 by Jon Bois. It's told through the communications of three space probes made by humans and it's genuinely comforting as someone who's generally terrified by the concepts of eternity and immortality. Trigger warning for unreality at the start.

17776

20020 (the sequel, written in 2020 by the same author)

Code MENT

Code MENT is a YouTube series made by PurpleEyesWTF, of which the first episode was released in 2010. It's a fan-made abridgMENT of the anime Code Geass, voiced entirely by one guy (or at least i think so), and some parts of it have become legendary (see: Soup Store). Trigger warning for murder, infrequent use of the R slur, and depictions of blood and gore.

Code MENT playlist

Star Wars The Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West

Star Wars the Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West, uploaded to YouTube by GratefulDeadpool in 2017, is a video where somebody put the entire script of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in Google Translate, translated it to Chinese then back to English, and dubbed over it. Yes, it's the entire movie. No, it somehow hasn't been taken down yet.

Star Wars the Third Gathers: Backstroke of the West

Mianite (S1)

At least some of you should be familiar with Mianite, seeing as how it has taken over my entire blog over the past month or so. The World of Mianite is a vanilla Minecraft SMP launched in 2014. It was streamed live, but the recordings of those livestreams were later uploaded to YouTube. The main members of the serverlist are CaptainSparklez, II_JERIICHO_II, SynHD, and OmgItsFirefoxx. Mianite has had three seasons so far, but I've only watched the first from one perspective so that's what you guys are going to get.

CaptainSparklez' Mianite S1 Playlist

MAMASb0y's Mianite Animations Playlist

Mianite Purge Highlights Playlist

Alan Becker (and his Team)'s Work

Hi! This channel gets a special section all to itself because I just finished the Animation vs Minecraft series and I'm pretty sure my life has been irreversibly changed forever.

Animator Vs Animation

Animator Vs Animation (shortened: AVA or AvA) is an animated YouTube series by Alan Becker. The first episode was originally posted in 2006 and was later reuploaded to the platform in 2018. I recently binged the entire thing and was NOT expecting it to be as fucking incredible as it was. This is the de facto best place to start if you want to jump into Alan's other works featuring these characters, which I highly recommend because all of them are fantastic!

Animator Vs Animation Series Playlist

Animation Vs Minecraft

The stick men play the block game. Do not read the comments of any of the episodes until you have finished the entire series. Do not go in with any prior knowledge if you're able to. Set yourself up with a bowl of popcorn and a big ol' glass of ice water, sit back, look really closely for continuity because it is there and it is GLORIOUS, and enjoy.

Animator Vs Minecraft Series Playlist

#ray's tag #ye