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knb-matchups · 4 years

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Okay, I'm tempted to indulge in both the alternate match up and relationship headcanons for the one I got, so feel free to pick from this either or.

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i’ll go with both ! because a) i have the time & b) it’s so much fun to come up with these ideas?? (*´▽`*)

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your alternate match is . . . 𝐊𝐈𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐀 !!

it was really a toss up between kuroko & kise for this alternative match. however, i leaned toward kise for this! i’m pretty certain that a gemini & a leo are a great match anyway.

okay so hear me out- kise ryouta is literally a ball of goofy sunshine & you’ll never get bored being around him. he’s a natural when it comes to keeping a conversation. to your introversion, he’s the extroversion you need ! you’ll find yourself opening up because of how easygoing & open he is as a person. his good looks helps, too.

it’s a fact he’s popular, yes, but the reality is he’s only got eyes for you. i mean, you are one of the most realest & sweetest girl (who is, by the way, often overlooked) he knows ! in all honesty, he may in passing not bat an eye at you, but by chance (perhaps through a school project or something of that nature), he’ll get to know you. and i swear, this boy will regret not getting to know you earlier.

he’ll cherish the one on one time that he gets with you because you are like breath of fresh air to him. you aren’t the typical crazy fangirl he’s bombarded with; you’re you & he appreciates how you don’t put on airs and bend yourself backwards to be someone he would fall for. in turn, your genuine personality & overall persona has got him wrapped around your finger.

kise also picks up on your little quirks- like how you are with social situations. and while he may not initially understand empathetically why you get drained being around a group of people, he’ll be quick to make a casual exit with you to ensure you’re recharged to your comfortable state.

he may seem like the type who doesn’t care about girls, but with the ones he’s close with, you best believe he’ll showcase his serious & protective side. let’s not forget the fact he’s also a quick learner; as a result, he’ll be informed on all there is to know about you.

also? give him credit for his outlandish romantic gestures! he adores it when you’re smiling, so for special occasions, he likes to go all out. it may take a few tries, but he’ll finally find out what truly makes you happy & cater his gestures to that.

kise strikes to me as someone who is a party-goer & enjoys the social scene, but at the same time, he does enjoy the more intimate affairs. when he’s bored of hanging out with tiresome people, he’ll definitely find solace in chatting with you about the subjects you enjoy such as your ideas surrounding characters & stories.

he’ll gladly talk about his ideas, to which you’re happy for, but the two of you find he’s a bit better at simply listening rather than inserting in his ideas. no offense; i’m sure he’ll get it one day.

also- kise is definitely a touchy-feely person; he’s not afraid of showcasing his affections through hugs or sometimes a small peck on your forehead. you may have to push him away if he tries to initiate this pda. but, kise can’t help but want to display his love for you (especially if you’re shy about such affection).

for someone so outwardly bubbly as kise, it may come as a surprise to some that he does have a cold side. he’ll only showcase this to people, who he, frankly, doesn’t care about. to you, he’s never truly showed you his colder side because in all interactions he’s had with you, he was pretty cheery & upbeat. however, his two-faced nature comes out especially if his protective instinct comes over him.

he’s quick to change his mood if there’s someone being particularly troublesome to you.

to put it simply, you guys would make a really cute couple! yet, there is always some backlash with having two fundamentally different people together. you both would have to compromise & find ways to make it work because some things just don’t work naturally. but if you do, the effort will pay off !

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relationship headcanons with . . . 𝐒𝐀𝐊𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐈 𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐔 !!

PROS

you’re both so considerate of each other ! you guys literally will put each other first, and it’s so wholesome. sakurai will never want to make you uncomfortable around him, and the same applies with you to him.

of the two of you, it’ll be hard to say who’s the better gift giver. both of you are thoughtful & very perceptive in nature, so who’s to say who’s better if you both win the “best girlfriend / best boyfriend” award?

your relationship is equal in terms of give & take. this is also good to know for the long run because you both know that not one person is trying to do it all.

you guys rarely fight. and even when you do, you both have that ingrained need of reconciling ( the moment probably ends up being like that classic moment where the two of you apologize at the same time -- )

your interests/hobbies align! it makes for a natural relationship to occur based on these similarities in character. due to this fact, you both find comfort in doing these activities together & it’s a way for you to always have a connection.

both of your confidence levels are fairly low, so the two of you try to lift each other up by describing in detail all the good qualities you guys have. this becomes such a soft & tender ritual you guys share.

CONS

you both will have trouble communicating woes that you have with one another. i can see you guys walking on eggshells, trying so hard not to bother each other with things that you think don’t matter.

but if you guys bottle up these woes, the reality is . . . at some point, the bottle will. . . explode because of the accumulative amount ! it doesn’t even have to be something big that blows the cap off.

when you guys end up fighting, perhaps due to this, it can get brutal in the sense bottled up feelings will come out like a tidal wave & things that you don’t mean will come out.

things may be a lil’ awkward & tense between you two; guilt & regret being the main feelings you two share. but you guys will reconcile; you always do !

you both don’t have much of a sense of adventure or risk-- you both are more drawn to staying within your zone of comfort. and while that’s perfectly fine, there may be things you both are missing out on.

HEADCANONS/SCENARIOS

as mentioned before, your dates will be so cute.

but the special occasion dates are on a whole different level.

sakurai will worry so much about making it perfect (being the perfectionist he is), and he’ll go back to his habit of apologizing profusely if something minuscule is wrong.

say it’s your birthday-- he’ll definitely want to have an intimate celebration because he knows large parties & groups of people is not up your alley at all!

he’ll be so sweet-- hanging up cute decorations at his house where he’ll lead you to after treating you out on an excursion for your birthday. from the bookstore to your favorite restaurant for lunch, he’ll make sure you guys hit all your favorite places.

it’s basically a way for him to showcase his love & gratitude for you ; he wants to say how lucky he is to have you in his life and while he can’t make it super luxurious, he wants this day to be special.

it’s overwhelming how kind he is. he’ll also have all the trademark birthday decorations-- with a theme of red because he knows that’s your favorite color.

red balloons, red confetti, red dessert . . . it’ll be be quite the party even though it’s for a party of two. but, it’s special because even the idea of the two of you having quality time is more than enough.

then again, he doesn’t skimp out on gifts. he just goes all in just to see you happy.

even with how thoughtful he is about his gift, he’ll still apologize when he gives it to you, saying that he’s sorry if it’s not what you wanted or if it’s a bad gift. . .

you, of course, tell him how much you’re grateful for his gift because it’s honestly so perfect? plus, has anyone ever went all out for you this way before? probably not on the same caliber as sakurai- that’s for sure.

he went above & beyond your expectations- essentially, he picked up on what you’d love through small hints from conversation. you’re not the type to give someone a list of what exactly you’d like as you probably see it as rude (which sakurai kind of adores that aspect of you anyway).

the whole day is basically perfect with the perfect boyfriend and just that fact makes you overwhelmed with happiness.

some other relationship things !!

sakurai would love to watch anime with you?? since it’s the next best thing asides from manga. he’ll get so emotionally attached to the characters that you find it kinda sweet how he’ll say with such a serious expression that this character deserved better and such.

sakurai is the type to draw out happy endings to the anime/manga characters that didn’t get the love they deserve. and you admire his skill of the art. but you definitely help with the writing aspect of it (from the overall development & characterization).

if you guys end up living together in a house or an apartment, sakurai is more than willing to do the house chores-- cleaning to cooking to whatever; he’s quite proficient & you’ll be surprised at how good his food tastes, too!

on that note, he’ll get a warm feeling when you offer to help him; old habits die hard since he’ll apologize and say that he didn’t mean to guilt you into doing chores.

you weren’t "guilted” though.

he basically feels so lucky to live with you, so that’s the reason why he’s so willing to be like a “housewife”.

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— lily ! ♡

#knb matchups #kise ryouta #sakurai ryou #knb #kuroko no basuke #kuroko no basket #kuroko no basuke matchups #kuroko no basket matchups #matchups #request #relationship headcanons #alternate matchup

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icedanceupstarts · 5 years

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2019 US Nationals Preview

Wherein the battle for a slightly imaginary medal might be the most exciting part, and your mods have to resort to some mildly desperate measures to get video.

Christina Carreira/ Anthony Ponomarenko

Age: 18/18

Started Skating Together: 2014

Coach: Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Carmerlengo

Season's Best: 180.22

Rhythm Dance: Where is Maria? Who is Maria?

Free Dance: Clair de Beat Drop

We joked earlier in the summer that this season Nationals was going to be half Team Gadbois, half Team Youthful Upstart, and Carreira/Ponomarenko are the youthiest upstarts of them all. They're not just the youngest in terms of individual age, but as a team. All the other medal contenders in this field had been competing internationally for at least two years by the time these two teamed up, and their inexperience and relatively short partnership by ice dance standards has them at a disadvantage. Even so, they've had a seamless transition into the senior ranks, showcasing a power and maturity beyond their years that earned them their first GP medal and their first senior international victory. They've really challenged themselves in the complexity of their programs, with an increase in transitions and hold, and a ridiculously challenging four sets of twizzles in the free dance. You can still see the traces of the junior ranks on them-- sometimes they get a little too amped and their skating ends up slightly sloppy and rushed in places, costing them valuable points in GOE, and they lack the confidence and maturity of the older teams. However, they've been steadily blossoming throughout the season, noticeably gaining experience from every competition, showing real promise at every outing and learning from their mistakes. They've been getting less nervous with every outing and been showing off their natural strengths more, like their musicality, chemistry, and huge ice coverage. They were one of the first teams to achieve a L4 on any section of the tango romantica or have either partner achieve L4 on the foot step sequence, and their performance quality at Rostelecom Cup was fantastic. We've mentioned that they lack the self-assuredness of the more experienced teams, but their free dance performance at Tallinn had them skating with a cool, almost stately confidence that took them to their deserved first senior international gold. Of the contenders, Carreira/Ponomarenko are the youngest, scrappiest underdogs with a lot to gain, and if they can put together the best aspects of all their performances thus far, they could very well challenge for the pewter.

Madison Chock/ Evan Bates

Age: 26/29

Started Skating Together: 2011

Coach: Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer

Season's Best: No ISU Season’s Best, 197.32 at Torun

Rhythm Dance: Assassin's Tango

Free Dance: Fever/Burning Love

Our favorite recluses have been pretty quiet since her surgery and the announcement that they would be one of several teams making the move to Montreal, and when they withdrew from both GP events their future seemed increasingly uncertain. It was a great relief to see them not only back, but able to get their feet wet before Nationals, and not just so we didn't have to write “IDK MAN” for the program entries. You can see that they're a little rusty from their time off, and seemed especially tight for the rhythm dance, but it was an impressive first outing, and a slap in the face for anyone getting too gleeful about writing them off. We like their tango, which is a great balance between elegant and dramatic with palpable tension between them all the way through. Again, they were a little tentative in this performance, but the choreography and packaging is strong and natural on them, and they express the nuances of the music so well, down to their fingertips. They also got level 3s on both sections of the tango romantica, which is a stronger technical display than most of their competition have shown all season. We admit to being a little leery when we heard their music choices for the free dance, but it's a really great, fun, flirty program for them, and they got strong levels there as well, including a level 4 on the one foot step sequence from Madi. Do we wish that the music transition was a little smoother? Sure, but hey, pobody's nerfect. Trying to earn back their National title will be a big ask just off of her surgery, and in their second competition of the season, but it's not impossible. Levels can make a big difference when its close, and Chock/Bates seem to have retained the precision that helped them be such strong technical powerhouses in the past. They're also still the best lifters in the field, with flashy, eyecatching lifts that are as effortless as they are difficult. And their fun free dance is certainly a breath of fresh air with current ice dance trends. If they can let go of their nerves, keep that technical performance while cleaning up some minor bobbles and shining in the performance aspect as they always have, they very well could be back on top.

Kaitlin Hawayek/ Jean-Luc Baker

Age: 22/25

Started Skating Together: 2012

Coach: Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer

Season's Best: 184.63

Rhythm Dance: 2 B or Not 2 B

Free Dance: To Build This Shirt

The 2014 Junior World Champions have been waiting four years for their big break and 2018 was a good year for them. Their return to the national podium after coming fifth two years in a row, winning the 2018 4CC title, their first trip to senior worlds where they made the top 10 all just started things off. After their much anticipated coaching change, despite a later start to the season, they earned their first GP gold and their first trip to GPF.

They will really want to get their levels in the rhythm dance together. They have a lower season's best in that segment than McNamara/Carpenter, and the trio of baby seniors breathing down their necks have put out stronger technical performances in every single rhythm dance outing this season than Hawayek/Baker have yet to accomplish. However, they did have a later start to the season and their levels have improved since their initial outings, and they do have a deserved PCS and GOE cushion. They have a great feel for the tango, and carry their mature and passionate performance through a really nice step sequence that gets faster and faster. Now that Jean-Luc has fully recovered from his concussion they've been able to put more focus into nailing their keypoints and we hope to see that come to fruition this week. It's their free dance that has been picking up the marks for them and overcoming their technical issues in the rhythm dance. While we still have questions about their remarkably chipper interpretation of a sad break up song, it's a well constructed program that uses the music to a very satisfying build, and their inexplicable joy is still fairly infectious. Given the scores that Hubbell/Donohue and Chock/Bates have put up so far, it's going to be hard for them to close the gap and rise above bronze, but it's not impossible. Even if they can't, they can at least put the pressure on if they skate their best, and make their mark for the future.

Madison Hubbell/ Zachary Donohue

Age: 27/27

Started Skating Together: 2011

Coach: Marie-France Dubreuil, Patrice Lauzon, Romain Haguenauer

Season's Best: 205.35

Rhythm Dance: We’ll do you one better: Why is Maria?

Free Dance: Why are these music cuts

The reigning national champions, world silver medalists, and newly crowned GPF champions are favored to continue their undefeated season here. They're great, powerful skaters, and get deservedly high GOE and PCS. Hubbell/Donohue have been skating with a lot of confidence this season, and mostly avoiding the silly mistakes that tripped them up in the past. Their rhythm dance is now a much more dramatic program with a more explosive finish than in its earlier incarnation, and it's a good fit for their skating. Their free dance, to put it mildly, has not really been a hit with fandom in either its original or revamped states, but they're still fabulous skaters who clearly are feeling their music choice and perform well. They're continuing to tweak their free dance, so perhaps it has settled into a stronger whole that better serves their talents. They've historically had several programs in the past that were met with poor reception but reworked over the season until they became fan favorites, and we may see a similar evolution happen here. Given that their main competition for the title has been out all season due to injury and are still getting their feet under them, Hubbell/Donohue should be able to defend their title if they skate with the power and confidence they have all season, along with the attention to levels they've been paying since GPF. It won't be a cakewalk, but if nothing else, their willingness to rehaul both programs in the month or so before GPF proves that they're more than willing to fight.

Karina Manta/Joseph Johnson

Age: 22/24

Started Skating Together: 2014

Coach: Patti Gottwein

Season's Best: 139.33

Rhythm Dance: Frida

Free Dance: Queer Dance Party

Barring some deeply unexpected, completely unforeseeable circumstance, Manta/Johnson are going to be seventh.

We do not normally make predictions that firm and pronounced, but in this case it's fairly clear. They're too good to place lower than that, they got that host pick for a reason, and they don't have the technical skills to place higher unless some massive disaster strikes. The other six teams featured in this recap all have at least one GP medal, one national title at either the junior or senior level, and half of them have qualified to GPF. Manta/Johnson can't compete with them, and that's okay! They're not here to win, they're here to make friends and influence people into realizing that this sport is not about romance between partners. They're the first dance team with two openly out partners, and their very presence here is meaningful.

Even if they weren't making history and paving the way for a less heteronormative dance world, they would still be winning the title for The Most Fun, or at least a heavy contender. Their lifts don't always cover as much ice as some of the top teams but are difficult and interesting, and their expression throughout their Frida rhythm dance(which, it should be noted, uses the music from a scene where two women dance together) is top notch. It's their free dance that's really a crowd pleaser, though. It's just a showy dance party from start to finish, and just when you think that it can't get more ridiculously entertaining, it somehow does, using one of the standout choreographic step sequences this season to build the program further and ending with an incredible choreographic lift to end the program with a bang. We hope they're able to perform at their best here and get encouragement to continue for many years to come. And hey, while they'll probably be seventh, Canadian and Russian Nationals have both proven that plucky underdogs with little pressure on them can rise higher than anyone would expect from them.

Lorraine McNamara/Quinn Carpenter

Age: 19/22

Started Skating Together: 2005

Coach: Elena Novak, Alexei Kiliakov, Greg Zuerlein

Season's Best: 180.57

Rhythm Dance: Wrist Flower Wango

Free Dance: Normie Cosplay

McNamara/Carpenter have always had the skills to contend at the very top, but have been criticized in the past for being too messy and having programs that are too over the top. This season they've cleaned up their lines, improved their stretch, and toned down the dramatics, leading their critics to just call them boring instead because sometimes there's just no winning with the fandom. They've made great pushes technically, with almost all new elements this season. McNamara/Carpenter are the longest lasting American dance team competing today, and that longevity shows in their eery mind meld and just how well they match each other.

Of the four former junior national champions skating lyrical free dances, theirs is the most sedate, relying on their performance quality to give it a build rather than being able to rely on the structuring and the music. It's a fantastic display of their skills when on, but gives them less to fall back on when they're off. With their biggest competitors also skating similar styles, they'll need to show that theirs is the loveliest lyrical free dance to rule them all. Their big chance here will be in the rhythm dance. They're coming into this event with a higher season's best in that segment than Hawayek/Baker, the first team to hit all their key points this season, and the only team in this field other than Carreira/Ponomarenko to get a level 4 on any section of their pattern period. If they can harness their technical prowess and give a strong, confident, expressive performance, they may very well be able to shoot not just for the pewter, but a spot on the world team.

Rachel Parsons/ Michael Parsons

Age: 21/23

Started Skating Together: 2010

Coach: Elena Novak, Alexei Kiliakov, Greg Zuerlein

Season's Best: 180.95

Rhythm Dance: The Lone Hair Flower

Free Dance: Home Construction Ad Opportunity

Alphabet makes them the last of our former Junior National Champions brawling for the podium, but they're in no way the least. The Parsons are not the splashiest performers of this field, but they have a mature, solid presence on the ice and incredible glide. Their twizzles are huge and fast, great step sequences, and they have a strong, warm connection between them. Some people think that their chemistry is weird and incestuous, and those people are entitled to their opinion even if it does personally make us google the statistics for only children(on the rise over the past twenty years, which may explain some things). We've always considered one of their greatest strengths to be their ability to project any sensuality outwards at the audience without seeming disconnected from each other. It's like wingmanning on ice, and it's an extraordinarily difficult balance to hit. They're great twizzlers, and often could stand to get a little more credit GOE wise there. The Parsons skate so close together and partner each other so well, and have great, matching knee bend that makes all their elements flow into each other. They weren't at their best in the free dance at IdF, but when they loosen up their free dance is beautiful and suits their style of skating. The Parsons have a higher Season's Best score than McNamara/Carpenter and Carreira/Ponomarenko by a hair, and aren't that far behind Hawayek/Baker. If they skate their best, they could put some real pressure on their teammates and walk away with their first senior national medal-- and not just the pewter.

#ice dance #2019 us nationals #preview #season: 2018 2019 #team usa

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idolizerp · 6 years

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[ LOADING INFORMATION ON OLYMPUS’ LEAD RAP, SUB VOCAL SIHWAN…. ]

DETAILS

CURRENT AGE: 26 DEBUT AGE: 18 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 16 SKILL POINTS: 10 VOCAL | 16 DANCE | 10 RAP | 14 PERFORMANCE SECONDARY SKILLS: Modeling

INTERVIEW

perhaps out of force of habit, sihwan comes off as a troublemaker. he isn’t, really - midas won’t let him be - but they use that to their advantage by portraying him as a kind of playful rascal, someone who’ll play pranks on other members and find loopholes to missions on variety games. it has been a bit of a hit or miss in terms of success - he’s good at bringing fun and interest for viewers and he’s good at lifting the mood, but it has been interpreted as malicious or cheating equally as often. this is made worse from the fact that sihwan debuted with a lower level of skill than the rest of the group, giving him a cheater image from the get-go. midas keeps an eye on what posts and comments are saying about him and try to get him to amp it up or tone it down depending on what the situation asks for, but unfortunately it’s close enough to his actual personality that on occasion he’ll slip up when he’s not supposed to.

his success really stems from his charisma and stage presence. sihwan is good at covering up his mistakes with an absurd amount of confidence, which has also been helpful with his budding modelling career. olympus’ image is so carefully tailored and some of the fashions he showcases are vastly outside of it, but because of his ability to pull off almost anything he has the opportunity to further both his own career and his group’s as a whole. of course, confidence is often interpreted as arrogance, and working in high fashion definitely doesn’t help, but midas is fine with sihwan appearing arrogant as long as he maintains the interest of the public. his reputation is a mixed bag as a result, but generally it is relatively good - he gets both criticized and praised for different aspects of his idol work, and gets similarly positive and negative attention for visiting the hospital relatively often and getting photo ops with patients and medical staff.

BIOGRAPHY

( O N E . )

on the surface, their life is ideal. he’s the youngest of three. a father who worked as a bank teller, a mother who had been an elementary school teacher until she became pregnant with her first and decided to become a stay-at-home mom. they saved up until they could buy a modest home in the suburbs and settled down there to raise their family.

of course, things are never as easy as they seem. the family’s eldest child, a daughter, was pretty and healthy from day one, picking up sports soon after she had learned to run, eventually leading her school teams to victory time and time again. the second, a son, was healthy for the first few years, but as he grew older concerning symptoms showed up, and by the time sihwan was born, the family had grown used to frequent trips to the hospital, check-ups and tests and weeks spent monitoring over a young boy with a frail immune system. when sihwan came out healthy and stayed that way, the attention was immediately brought back to his brother - and he didn’t mind. he spent his days in his mom’s arms by his brother’s bedside, in meetings with nurses and doctors, and once he’d started going to school, he was enrolled in a school close to the hospital in order to walk over at the end of the day to meet his family for dinner. that was their normal - the routine, familial habit.

( T W O . )

his teachers complained that he was a troublemaker. the truth is he’s really just full of pent up energy that is never quite spent and he has a natural curiosity that has him asking incessant tangential questions, both of which become annoying traits to anyone who has to watch over him. but teachers don’t scold or complain, and his parents don’t notice or try to stop him, because he’s pitied - he’s the kid whose family is always dragging to the hospital, who is left aside while another child needs more fussing over.

as a result, sihwan grows up more or less without limits. suffering few consequences for any of his actions and given little guidance as he matures, he becomes lazy and aimless. he can’t imagine a future for himself, and more than that, he doesn’t bother to. there’s no reason to since no one is making sure he does, no one is forcing him to practice or cultivate any interests or talents he might have. he lives firmly in the present, taking every day at a time.

( T H R E E . )

sihwan is at a ddeokbokki stand with friends on his fourteenth birthday when a tall woman in a pantsuit approaches him and hands him a business card. “midas media”, it reads, and although he isn’t particularly invested in kpop it’s a notorious enough name that he decides on a whim to go for it. he has nothing to lose - scouting him means the company is already interested in him, right? parents aren’t a problem either, his will probably just be glad he’s finally working towards something.

by a miracle, or maybe just a lot of good luck, he passes the audition. but it soon becomes obvious that he’s not quite on the same level as the other trainees. midas is no joke, and everyone there knows it - some have been taking dance and vocal classes for years with the express purpose of debuting someday, others have an innate talent that no amount of hard work could imitate. most importantly, for the first time in his life, sihwan is challenged. there were very real consequences if he slacked off, and the company ensures that that is made clear. and, truth be told, he found his old life of slacking off at school and reading manhwas in the hospital boring. this one, with the potential of fame and glory, was much more enticing.

( F O U R . )

he was put into a group to prepare for debut about a year after being scouted. it was obvious to everyone that he had been selected as a pretty face to add to the lineup - still lacking in terms of skill, he was given the position of lead rap and sub vocal, guaranteeing him some lines but not enough that fans would get too critical.

what he lacked in rap and vocals he made up for in charisma. his dance was not particularly strong when compared with the other members, but his onstage attitude was strong, compelling, impossible to ignore. even offstage he grabbed attention with his bright smile and dimples, a combination midas had him master early on. in front of the cameras and the smiling faces of the public, sihwan had the attention he had never realized he needed so badly.

( F I V E . )

in the early days after olympus’ debut, he could cover up some of his shortcomings with his confidence. by the time this was becoming less effective, the group had amassed a rabid following that would jump to his defence if anyone showed the slightest amount of doubt.

in the meantime, sihwan had become driven. he was not used to having a goal, and every fibre of his being became intensely focused on pushing olympus forward and keeping them ahead of other groups. he did anything and everything the company told him to on the chance that it would bring them more fame and success. he was greedy and ambitious; he had become addicted to the life he now lived. the future was all he obsessed over.

he practiced his rap and his vocals and reached a point where he better deserved his assigned spot. but it was clear that he wouldn’t improve much further. midas began sending him on photoshoots and getting him to talk with designers, trying to get olympus into the more exclusive fashion community through sihwan’s height and high cheekbones. and it worked - he took to modelling like a duck to water. it’s his non-musical contribution to the group, by maintaining an artistic side to their enterprise.

( S I X . )

olympus is on top. threatened every so often, but still standing on their own two feet on top of the kpop food chain. sihwan has barely any time to visit his brother anymore, but every once in a while he makes a point to go home or to the hospital with a copy of their latest release on cd to play in his brother’s walkman. the media paints him as a caring younger brother, a filial son, and midas makes sure that each time he sets foot in a hospital thousands of photos are taken of him shaking hands with patients, but none of that is really the truth. he cares about his brother, but he had never known him any other way but sick - visiting him is like visiting any relative. his relationship with his parents is as strange and distant as ever, and while he continues to send a portion of his pay home and pays for his brother’s hospital bills and bought his parents a car it isn’t out of a filial love, it’s just what’s done.

sihwan had never spent time predicting how his life would turn out, but even if he had this would not have been entertained as a possibility. but his ambition still burns, and he won’t stop until olympus reaches heights that no one else could dream of reaching. he won’t stop until all eyes are on him.

#id.bio #id.midas #id.olympus #id.lee hongbin

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briangroth27 · 7 years

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Iron Fist Season 1 Review

I went into Iron Fist knowing next to nothing of the character: only his reputation as Luke Cage’s best friend/fellow Hero for Hire and his “zen surfer” portrayal on Ultimate Spider-man. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave the character’s first live action showcase, currently streaming on Netflix, a fan. It’s gotten a lot of bad reviews, and sadly I think they’re largely deserved. The show is low-stakes and repetitive from the get-go, never really has a grasp of who Danny (Finn Jones) is or what the main threat should be, and (though this doesn’t seem to be entirely their fault) boasts a mythology behind its central character that makes little to no sense.

Full spoilers…

First off, I don’t understand the Iron Fist mythology. Iron Fist is supposed to be a great warrior who guards the path to the mystical K’un-Lun (which only appears in our reality every 15 years), meaning he has to stay there. But he’s also the sworn enemy of The Hand…so how can he destroy them if he’s not supposed to leave his monastic Brigadoon? Was the plan to just wipe out any Hand who happened to try to take the village whenever the path appeared, hoping they’d never stop trying until their ranks had been completely destroyed? To the show’s credit, Danny does realize this contradiction…eleven episodes in (and even then, it comes off as an excuse for why he won’t go back rather than a mission-altering epiphany). It would’ve been a stronger character motivation had he left K’un-Lun to destroy The Hand to complete that portion of his duties instead of completely abandoning them, choosing a proactive approach rather than sitting and doing nothing. That’s another issue: since K’un-Lun only appears in our plane of existence every 15 years, their information is outdated, but even that doesn’t excuse the idea that The Hand are talked about as if they’re mythical enemies who haven’t existed for a very long time. Danny has no idea The Hand are currently active in modern-day New York when he gets there; who did he think he was training to fight all these years if he didn’t believe The Hand were still real? Why is the Iron Fist necessary to protect the gateway to a magical training camp that didn't even know its sworn enemy was still around? Is Danny Rand anything more than a mystical doorman? I don’t know if any of this is the case in the comics, but if it is, the show should’ve either updated it, better explained it, or used it to spin the characters into interesting directions.

K’un-Lun itself should’ve been much more explored. We got maybe five minutes of screentime spent there, all of it very vague and barren. There's not much context to anything Danny felt there because we barely even saw snippets of his stay; it's all secondhand for us. These were the 15 most transformative years of Danny’s life and we saw next to nothing. We never see him struggle (except for one random scene of the monks beating him as a child). We never see him as an outsider. What we did see was entirely unimpressive. I didn’t need the entire series to be about his training (nor would I want it to be), but I definitely needed a better idea of what it was like and how being there changed him (since we have no information about the kid he was before he went missing either). Maybe the show should’ve started off with the first two-three episodes detailing his training or the rules of magic in Danny’s world. Much like Dr. Strange, I wish they'd gone FAR weirder and more outlandish with the supernatural elements. A season later, I’m not even sure what's so great about K'un-Lun that makes them so much more important than the rest of the world. And who were the masters of the Iron Fist mysticism, who thought it unnecessary to teach Danny how to use his focused Chi to heal others, or even to recharge his powers? Even if his “training went a little sideways,” as he claims, shouldn’t recharging his abilities have been lesson #2?

My first impression of Danny Rand from the trailers was that he’d be yet another rich guy who got lost/traveled abroad and came back to save his city with new powers and/or skills. Having seen this from Green Arrow, Batman, Iron Man, and Dr. Strange, I wasn’t sure what new twists Iron Fist could bring to the table. Turns out, not many. Not every character has to reinvent the wheel—there are only so many origin story tropes—but they should all find some fresh angle. Iron Fist didn’t. He doesn’t seem to come home with a concrete goal at all, beyond convincing people he’s really Danny Rand. His attempt to get back into his family’s company feels half-hearted (unfortunately so, since I liked him best when he was insisting on better business practices and on using their resources to help people) and is quickly forgotten. It barely even feels like getting in is what he wants (he doesn’t even know what he’s supposed to do there once he’s in); it’s just something to kill time. He later centers on trying to figure out who killed his parents, eventually giving us the season’s main villain, but even that felt completely routine; the only trope more well-trodden than dead parents inspiring heroes and guys coming back home with skills/talents is evil businessmen. I didn’t find Danny compelling, but the unfocused writing and direction may take some blame off Jones. They asked him to show several seemingly conflicting facets of Danny’s personality that never had a strong connective tissue (more on that in a bit).

Rand was surrounded by controversy from the show’s first announcement: some saw him as a white savior figure who’d appropriated Asian culture; a relic of the 70s that didn’t belong in the modern day. Many argued Marvel should change his character to be Asian-American. Others said they should remain faithful to his Caucasian comic book appearance, claiming an Asian character who’s good at martial arts would be racist in and of itself. It seemed Marvel was damned either way. I don't necessarily mind Danny being white and an expert at martial arts—there's no reason someone from any background can't become an expert in any field with enough practice and training (assuming we're not looking at a story where the white guy is just automatically special and better for no reason beyond the idea that he naturally is; a magical chosen white savior)—and the way he talked about wanting to be Iron Fist more than anything and fighting against impossible odds to attain the title and responsibilities associated with it felt respectable and earned. However, the way he's better at every aspect of Colleen Wing’s life and culture (fight skills, speaking Mandarin, knowing where the best food is served, dojo etiquette, meditation and Tai Chi techniques, capturing the attention of students (until he’s too violent), etc.) than she is does grate on me and crosses the line. His apology for correcting Colleen after informing her about challenging a dojo’s master also came off as condescending. Nothing said K’un-Lun culture had to be exactly hers—not every Asian culture is the same, obviously, especially not made-up mystical ones—but the show chose to have them correlate almost exactly, and it’s in his complete domination of her culture that he comes off as appropriating it. Iron Fist had a golden opportunity by going with Danny’s comic book whiteness to discuss cultural appropriation—what it is and isn’t, why it’s wrong, etc.—in the same way that Daredevil did gentrification, Jessica Jones did sexism and misogyny, and Luke Cage did racism. Danny's talk about feeling empty and thinking the Iron Fist would solve all his problems could’ve been a perfect metaphor for cultural appropriation if the show were at all interested in exploring that. But it isn’t. Had they gone with an Asian-American actor instead, Danny fighting so hard to claim the Iron Fist title could’ve been a great parallel to an Asian-American kid (who would already feel out of place in both American and Asian culture, by the way) fighting to reclaim his culture, as Lewis Tan (a potential Danny Rand) said. It was also frustrating that, even though Danny says he worked hard and earned the Iron Fist mantle, the show teases out an idea that he is some mystical Chosen One who was meant to be Iron Fist all along. That plays even further into the White Savior trope, and that’s not something I’m down to explore in future seasons.

One of the most common arguments I read about why Danny “had to be white” was that he had to feel like an outsider in the Asian-cultured K’un-Lun. If that’s an essential part of Danny’s background, the show completely dropped the ball. It feels like they paid lip service at most to Danny feeling like a fish out of water in both K'un L'un and New York. He commented on being called an outsider back in his mystical land and said there were some unhappy memories, but also mentioned a best friend and fun times sneaking wine. Episode 6 reveals that he might actually be a mighty prophesied savior and was trained to believe as such...some outsider. It does seem like the requirements of being Iron Fist are colder than I’d anticipated, but assuming the beatings he received as a child were part of his training (and we have no reason to think they weren’t), that seems like the rigors everyone else was going through too, not something specifically aimed at him because he was white. And there’s no “Man out of Time” element to his journey back to New York after 15 years; the only times he feels out of place amount to people questioning his lack of footwear, him being friendly with the homeless, not sleeping in a bed, and his lack of "business acumen"…which is really just him having the most basic compassion about clean emissions and the price of pharmaceuticals. He doesn't seem to struggle to connect with anyone he really wants to, unless the other party has dubious interests (the Meachums, mainly) and are intentionally working against him or have the common sense not to invite total strangers into their lives after being semi-stalked by them (Colleen). Nothing about his situation feels very different from any other superhero, much less any other rich guy who returns home with powers/tech to be a hero.

Danny's clear PTSD that he ignored to focus on his training feels like something that could’ve been explored more to add dimension to his character. His fear of flying and near-freakout during turbulence (that’s how his parents died) was a great eample of this, but it was never explored beyond his fits. Along the lines of another trope—the dead parents—why is it necessary that Danny's folks be murdered? Batman’s parents’ murders made him vow not to let that happen to anyone else. Uncle Ben was killed to show Spider-man he could and should be doing more to help people with his powers. What does Danny get out of the fact that his parents were murdered? Wouldn't a random accident providing no enemy to take out his frustrations on be a bigger challenge for his survivor's guilt and his (completely inadequate) attempts to re-center himself? Furthermore, his childlike sensibility upon returning to New York would’ve played better had it been the result of his training to suppress his emotions, rather than just existing completely independent of his PTSD, as if one or the other state of his being didn’t exist at various times. The other problem is we don’t really ever see his training work. It appears the best he can manage is seizure-esque outbursts of shouting and hitting things when he gets overwhelmed. These fits seem like they’re trying to show us a character who could break but for the sake of his training, but they only come off as making it seem like he’s wasted the last 15 years. Along those same lines, he says he took a vow of celibacy, but only a few episodes later sleeps with Colleen. Challenging his resolve, vows, and training would’ve been one thing, but it doesn't feel like he trained for 15 years to be the best anything (despite showing up Colleen at nearly every turn), much less a mystical warrior who's supposed to be in total control of his emotions (he is absolutely not). The show could’ve mined that for an interesting character development—and it almost does, with Claire calling out how unhealthy suppressing his emotions is—but Danny’s answer is to go back to K’un-Lun for even more training at the end of the season (completely reversing his epiphany from the final battle). Ultimately, Danny doesn't feel like he has an arc at all because he's just flitting from one situation to the next as the plot demands. It’s as if they regressed him from where he should’ve been at the start for the sake of drama to watch him kinda-sorta regain all of his skill again, only to have him set off for even more training at the end. He has the nuts and bolts of a complex personality, but they aren’t assembled or explored at all.

The series’ best attributes are without a doubt Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson), Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick), and Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho). Carrie Ann Moss is another very strong Netflix-verse asset, though she doesn’t get as much screentime as the others. I'm glad Claire's here to talk sense into these heroes (she’s the wisest person on these Netfilx shows). I love her as a helper to heroes and I’m glad she’s adding self-defense to her skills (her insisting on going to collect Gao was great!). Claire's talks with Danny about dealing with his issues and letting his emotions out instead of running back to K'un-Lun were really solid. Dawson’s no-nonsense presence and sarcasm ground and humanize these shows so well I don’t know why they’re so afraid to go more fantastical. Galactus could show up and she’d still make it feel like we were tethered to the real world. And she got to say “Sweet Christmas,” which was great! Madame Gao was still the stoic and imposing Hand operative from Daredevil. I’ll always be glad to have her reappear. Since she’s apparently been around since the 17th century, it seems there are many more tales to tell about her!

Colleen was the best new addition to the Netflix-verse and I liked her a lot! Of the characters on the show, she’s the one I want to read more about in the comics. Her struggle with adhering to the Bushido code and keeping her students invested in training and off the streets was far more interesting than Danny stumbling his way through pretrial proceedings that ultimately went nowhere and his other issues. The things she was up against felt real—right down to just paying the rent—and Henwick brought a sense that Colleen really was tested by the forces against her, like with her comments about issues with control in the fight club. Danny’s approach to “dealing” with frustrations served to throw Colleen’s into a much more sympathetic light too. While his dating style—bringing a restaurant to her—felt just like any other billionaire, Danny being impressed with her sword and nunchuck skills—and her glee at showing him she was his equal for once—was cute. I didn’t need them to be together, but I was fine with their relationship. When she was poisoned, I was more concerned about Colleen dying than I was about anyone else at any point on the show, even though I figured she probably wouldn’t die. I absolutely did not see the reveal that she was proudly a member of The Hand coming! That was the one place the show truly shocked me—the one point where it took the more interesting option—and I loved it. I didn’t understand why a martial arts instructor would be training her students to hunt people on the streets, but then it all made sense. Colleen struggling to justify her Hand allegiance and having a good argument that certain segments do help people was good, solid stuff. Claire's retort that they should've chosen another name was perfect...I've had the same thought about SHIELD after they were outted as half-Hydra. It didn’t quite make sense that she wouldn’t know more about the Iron Fist if she were a member of The Hand, but I suppose she could’ve been playing dumb with Danny. I also thought her turn from true believer to betrayer was a little quick, but The Hand attacking Danny was a justifiable motivator and a strong reason to believe him. I’m glad we didn’t get anyone trying to convince her that Danny had struck first. I also felt sorry for her when she realized The Hand would kill her for her doubts, which would’ve been a great parallel to Danny's doubts in the Iron Fist's mission had his side been explored more. Although, him telling her that he knows what it's like to believe in something only to have it pulled away falls totally flat when he's the one who left K'un-Lun.

Iron Fist’s writing definitely has some holes (what psychiatric hospital would let their completely unknown new patient wander around unsupervised with a "tour guide" who was caught trying to convince him to kill himself???), but the biggest problem is that it’s nothing new or inventive. The dialogue isn’t the most original and the show’s pacing is way off. This has been a problem with previous Netflix shows too—I really wish they’d be a little less serialized instead of trying to be 13-hour movies with a single plot—but it was especially apparent here. Two episodes in, Danny was still mostly walking around going “I’m Danny Rand. No, really,” someone disbelieves him, and then he goes on to the next person to start it all over again. There’s also a recurring thing where everyone comments on Danny’s lack of shoes like it’s the funniest running gag ever (it’s not); as if that’s the only thing weird about this guy. There’s also a bit in episode two where Danny’s thought insane because he has a stolen passport with a different name on it, but Danny had no reason to believe his company and his best friends Joy and Ward Meachum (Jessica Stroup and Tom Pelphrey) are no longer friendly, so why didn’t he just call his company? Why all the subterfuge? The later reveal that he knows Jeri Hogarth (Carrie Ann Moss) and that she’s gung-ho about helping him confirms he could’ve just gotten her to bend the rules and let him in the country, making those early plot developments pointless. Even better, why not use his super-ninja skills to sneak in? Unnecessary speed-bumps like these slowed the plot down right off the bat and it never really recovers, thanks to wishy-washy writing around its lead character.

That the Netflix shows keep referring to the Avengers Chitauri invasion as "The Incident" and largely ignoring it has gotten annoying (at least Daredevil used it to regress Hell’s Kitchen and Luke Cage featured bootleg video of it as a plot point). I do not understand the desire to keep halfway pretending that they’re in some separate, mostly grounded universe; they are not. They don't need to talk about it as incessantly as SHIELD did in season 1, but coyly vague references draw more attention to the lack of Avengers than the simple fact that these heroes don't world-savers’ help does. On a show like this with magic, this is especially apparent. I’m not sure why Clarie wouldn’t think dragons might be real in this world. I mean, sure, just because one crazy thing is real doesn't mean they all are, but given everything that's happened to New York alone (not to mention the existence of Thor), a little less skepticism would be believable. Even more baffling, why doesn't Claire call Daredevil (or even refer to him by his superhero name)? He might be absolutely helpful in fighting the Hand! Just use an excuse that he’s out of town or something if they don’t want to bring Matt in.

This unwillingness to venture into a bigger universe extends to the opponents Danny faces. Madame Gao and The Hand are great villains, but The Hand aren't anything like what they were in Daredevil and don't come off as a threat here at all. They seem decidedly toned down and it feels like they could’ve been any generic mercenaries. Where are the badass, creepy, somewhat undead ninjas Daredevil fought? If you're going to start your show with Danny as a superhero (and for all intents and purposes, he was—this is 15 years into his training!), you have to give him opponents who are more threatening than random gangsters (Luke Cage had this issue too) and martial arts-trained street kids. If the street kids are supposed to undergo some kind of process to become the heartbeat-less assassins of Daredevil, where is that happening? And what happened to them after Danny busted out of their training compound? The Hand’s leader, Bakuto (Ramon Rodriguez) was just an OK villain, which wasn’t enough on a season this long when he was supposed to be second only to Meachum in terms of villainy (according to the season’s structure, at least). He seemed to have no real plan beyond the continued existence of the Hand via Rand Corp’s assets, making him seem pretty weak. Lewis Tan's drunken guard had more character and charisma than 90% of the characters on this show and also provided the best fight of the series up to episode 8. If they aren’t going to go creepy, they at least need to go distinct. The karaoke-loving assassin from episode 6 felt a little cliché, but at least he and the other three Hand champions Danny faced had personalities and unique fighting styles. Across the board on Netflix series, I want more powered supervillains and far fewer gangsters and businessmen. I don’t know who Danny has in his Rogues Gallery, but he’s gotta have a few mystical enemies he could’ve fought here, if for no other reason than to vary the fights and Danny’s tactics therein. On that note, Danny is the third Defender whose power is super strength. Obviously superheroes are more than their powers, but I’d like to see more variation of them (a super-punch is not that impressive anymore).

Davos (Sacha Dhawan), Danny’s former best friend in K’un-Lun, was another good opponent, and I would’ve liked his arc expanded a lot. There was a lot that could’ve been mined from his well-crafted belief that Danny wasn’t the right choice for the Iron Fist, which never came off as petty jealousy to me. He seemed legitimately hurt that Danny abandoned his duties and sided with a member of the Hand. The one area where Danny’s seeming failure in most of his training worked perfectly was in Davos’ assessment of him; Danny being so unbalanced fueled and justified Davos’ hate quite effectively. I absolutely believe Davos should’ve been the primary antagonist, if not secondary only to The Hand. Imagine how much more complex the show would’ve been had Danny left to defeat The Hand, with Davos following him to stand up for (and represent K’un-Lun and its teachings) and bring him back from the start. Davos chasing Danny for leaving his duties would’ve completed the parallel to Colleen being chased by The Hand for doubting their mission too.

The season’s actual main antagonists, the Meachums, were not compelling to me at all. Danny’s attempts to save Ward and Joy from themselves seemed to fall rapidly to the wayside as the siblings took turns going morally black before bouncing back to gray, then back again, over the course of the season. I understood their desire to keep the company they’d built and didn’t really harbor them any ill will over it—again, Danny never seemed to truly want it—but I never really cared about who controlled it. Ward’s drug problem didn’t interest me at all, nor did Harold’s (David Wenham) attempts to get the company back from his children and The Hand. I didn’t see Ward killing Harold or Harold’s resurrection coming, but I suppose I should’ve, given Nobu’s repeated resurrections on Daredevil. I wasn’t a fan of Harold’s confused undead state and apparently he’ll start becoming a crazed murderer, so a member of the Daredevil cast has that to look forward to… Harold was at least a little interesting to me when it seemed like he really was on Danny’s side, but the reveal of his true evil intentions fell flat because nothing about him stood out in the first place. I didn’t guess that he was behind the Rands’ murders, but it also didn’t shock me. That Harold’s entire goal was to be running Rand (he’s immortal and that’s all he wants? Really?) was so small compared to everything else going on that he felt like a minor villain who should’ve been dealt with by mid-season if not sooner. By no means did he deserve to be the embodiment of Danny’s cave dragon, which felt entirely anticlimactic. I don’t think my lack of interest in the Meachums was the fault of any of these three actors; they were just stuck in a mediocre plot that carried on far longer than it should have.

Speaking of the fights, outside of Bakuto vs. Colleen and Davos vs. Danny (and the massive battle leading into them), none of them have any emotional component to them. Maybe that’s just because most of them involve thugs, but even Danny vs. Harold—the climactic battle of the season—left me cold and just waiting for it to end. If the show doesn’t get me invested in the conflicts between characters, the fights will feel empty. Even though Harold killed Danny’s parents, I wasn’t feeling it. The choreography to Danny’s fights wasn’t the most polished either, but this wasn’t Jones’ fault, as he apparently only had 15 minutes of training before each fight was filmed.

I wish they’d done what the other Netflix shows have done: showcase the hero’s city in the opening credits to make it as much a character as anything else. Here, the credits only showed a CGI Danny doing kung-fu. They should’ve shown off K’un-Lun and juxtaposed it with New York City. The score also felt repetitive.

I didn’t want this to be disappointing (why would anyone want anything they’re watching to be bad?), but unfortunately it was. There are kernels of a good, maybe even great, show here (Colleen, Claire, Gao, Davos), but Danny’s character arc, the villain aspects, and the rest of the show never coalesce around them. It almost always takes the least interesting option, so it comes off as bland and repetitive. If Danny’s character can be redeemed in Defenders, then cool, but it will take a great deal of boldness and precise direction/writing/acting choices to right this ship.

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