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ponett · 4 months

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Bobby's 2023 Media Wrap-Up

So! Like I said before, this past year I kept a running list of everything I watched, every game I finished, every new album I listened to, etc., and wrote one-paragraph blurbs with my thoughts on every single one. Please enjoy this journey through everything I liked, or didn't like, in 2023, with my favorites of the year listed at the bottom.

(Yes! This is long!!)

Some notes:

I mainly only included things I finished. Exceptions are marked with an asterisk.

I included some YouTube stuff as "TV shows" - mostly particularly long, high effort video essays and documentaries.

I was a bit less adventurous than I'd like to have been this year. Part of this was just that I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up with Big Releases I felt obligated to check out, and part of this was just executive dysfunction from burnout. Wait until you see how long it took me to beat Mario Wonder lmao

Yes, I need to read more books. I don't read a lot of books these days. I need to get back to Discworld.

COLOR KEY

Video Games • TV / Web Video • Movies • Comics • Music

January

1/15: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (MSQ) - Very slow at times, the Primal shit is generally extremely lame to me outside of the boss fights themselves, but god if the quality of life improvements over WoW, the JRPG energy, and the fact that it Actually Has A Story carry it pretty hard.

1/18: Sonic the Hedgehog: Scrapnik Island miniseries - One of the most creative and compelling uses of the Sonic IP… ever? Fantastic little self-contained arc about the struggles of Eggman’s abandoned creations that gracefully weaves between heartfelt optimism and moody horror with some of the best art ever seen in a Sonic comic.

1/18: Mega Man X4 - Glad I finally actually beat this after never even beating any of the Mavericks as a kid! I can see why it’s a lot of peoples’ favorites. The gameplay has very little of that X series bloat and is just fun, especially after getting X’s armor upgrades. (But the story really is a long series of missed opportunities.)

February

2/2: Donks - Felix Colgrave continues to be an exceptional artist. The sound design on this is fantastic and really sells this short as something unique. Had to go back and watch his older stuff again after this.

2/4: Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward (3.0 - 3.3 MSQ) - I get it now. I get why people say this is just a proper mainline Final Fantasy game built into the framework of an MMO. That shit ruled. Not even walking back the drama in Ul’Dah from the end of ARR can sour me on it because the main storyline was so strong.

2/8: Disneyland's Forgotten Sci-Fi Rock Band - Live From the Space Stage - A nice and honest tribute to a group of artists who could have easily been forgotten. In hindsight this feels like a precursor to Kevin’s Disney Channel jingle video, a tribute to the unsung artists pouring their hearts into “lesser” art for a megacorporation, art that was designed to be transient but sticks with people nonetheless.

2/9: Metroid Prime Remastered* - Not gonna finish because I just played through the Wii version in 2021, but still. Very, very pretty remaster.

2/16: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - It’s more Theatrhythm. What more could I want

2/17: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (anime) - Probably the best part of the anime so far (assuming they continue on to SBR). A near perfect mix of the more structured plot of part 5 with the goofiness of parts 3 and 4 that crescendos into a fantastic, bombastic, emotional, bittersweet ending. The use of footage from the original opening and the new ending set to Roundabout in the finale were perfect, and made me intensely nostalgic for the early days of my JoJo fandom between seasons 1 and 2 of the anime.

2/22: Aggretsuko Season 5 - I don’t really know what to make of this one. Once you get past the agonizing initial arc all about Haida where Retsuko has to be his overbearing mommy GF who flips out and starts spying on him when she’s left on read and chides him when he misbehaves, it feels like an improvement over the previous seasons. But I don’t know how much of that is due to the extremely low bar set by season 4. And then the ending is extremely rushed and anticlimactic. They got legally married and the only acknowledgement was a shot of them signing the paperwork in a montage partway through the final episode?????????

2/24: Double Fine PsychOdyssey - God, what a journey the making of this game was. I already loved 2 Player’s past efforts at documenting Double Fine’s process, but this takes it to a whole new level. This feels culturally significant. The depth and honesty with which they depict not just the nitty gritty of making a game, but also the inherent struggles of working on a collaborative creative work for years at a time, is astounding. Not to mention that they were there to capture the shift from office life to remote work as COVID hit. So much of this would have been nightmarishly stressful to watch if I didn’t already know how successful the game was, but that’s just because they really didn’t sugarcoat it. And yet even after all that, it leaves me feeling optimistic about video games as an art form in a way that the constant headlines about cynical live service games don’t. There are still people out there pouring their hearts into making real art, and this is their story. Everyone who plays video games should watch this.

2/25: Cracker Island (Gorillaz) - New Gorillaz albums feel like less of an event these days, but after Humanz it feels like they’re just more chill with the project and their ambitions with it. Every couple years we get some more laid back jams from Damon along with some fun new collabs. Hard to complain. Favorite track: New Gold

2/25: Pool Kids (Pool Kids) - I discovered this band because Derek knows them and was excited when they got a song added to Fortnite through the Bandcamp collab. Always down to find more cool indie rock bands I can vibe with. The mix of dreamy vocals and energetic riffs on some of the tracks here almost fill the Crying-shaped hole in my heart. Almost… Favorite track: Conscious Uncoupling

2/25: Insane in the Rain (insaneintherainmusic) - I thought it was really funny timing when Carlos announced that his first original project would be a jazz fusion album inspired by acts like T-Square and Casiopea right as I was getting into those two specific bands. The final product does not disappoint. Favorite track: Insane in the Rain

2/26: Get Up Sequences Part Two (The Go! Team) - I’ve never been one to believe that a band’s sound has to remain exactly the same forever, but it really does hit you hard that the first two tracks here sound like classic The Go! Team. Their more recent cleaner sound is still here too, though, for a nice mix of old and new. Favorite track: Divebomb

2/28: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (Season 1) - Oh my god. Oh my god. I got distracted around the time I was finishing SLARPG, but finally catching up now, wow. My assumption that the seemingly lighter tone of the series compared to the prologue was there to lull us into a false sense of security before twisting the knife when war finally breaks out was spot on. This is peak Gundam.

March

3/4: Pizza Tower - One of the best platformers I’ve played in a long time. It transcends its blatant Wario Land inspirations with the sheer speed at which Peppino can move and the way things like the level design, his wall running, and even the hidden ability to do a second lap around the level reward getting into a flow state where you’re just constantly moving. This is the type of game that wants to turn you into a speedrunner. My only real complaint is a few iffy enemy designs that I wish would get patched.

3/6: Bloons TD 6 * - I bought this before bed one night on a nostalgic whim and then the next morning woke up and saw the Steam receipt email on my phone in one of the most “what did I do last night” moments of my life. I like when the monkeys pop the balloons.

3/7: The Book of Boba Fett - I put off finishing this show for a very long time but finally caved upon the release of The Mandalorian season 3. This show spends four episodes failing to make me give a shit about Boba Fett trying to be “the daimyo” and drive the drug trade off of Tatooine, then just gives up and becomes season 2.5 of Mando, which in turn feels like it undercuts the main series. It fails as both its own story and as a spinoff. I know that finishing this after Andor did it no favors, but WHOOF.

3/12: Obi-Wan Kenobi - Some interesting ideas in the first half hinting at a more introspective show, but it’s mostly swept aside in the back half so it can become a generic Star Wars adventure remixing things from A New Hope and Rebels (and apparently Jedi: Fallen Order). Action scenes have zero stakes because you know nothing can happen to any of the returning characters and none of the new ones are particularly interesting. Why there’s a second climax hinging on a Luke Skywalker death fakeout eludes me. Obi-Wan throwing the rocks at Vader is one of the funniest things in Star Wars history. But it was still better than Book of Boba Fett, I guess.

3/19: The King of Braves GaoGaiGar - Wow, cool robot indeed… GaoGaiGar isn’t going to blow anyone away with its writing, but sometimes you just need a really fun monster of the week mecha show with great action and lovably goofy characters. This is a show where like 20% of every episode consists of recycled transformation, combination, and signature attack sequences and I ate it up every time because they look fucking cool as hell. I don’t care. I’d watch Final Fusion another 49 times.

3/21: The Last of Us (HBO) * - Watched the first two episodes out of curiosity, but I’m not sure if I’ll continue because I don’t give a shit about The Last of Us. It’s definitely a well done adaptation, though, even if I know it’s inevitably going to devolve into miserable torture porn with questionable politics if they adapt Part II faithfully. The ending of episode 2 also lines up perfectly with where I stopped in the game in 2013 lmao

3/27: The Future is a Dead Mall - Decentraland and the Metaverse (Folding Ideas) - Another banger from Dan Olson. This time the premise inherently gives him more time to just show off a bunch of stupid ugly bullshit made by crypto guys, which is fun. My main complaint was that I wished he would’ve brought up Second Life more as a point of comparison (a thing I basically always want out of discussion of “the metaverse”), but he at least did touch on it in the last section.

3/31: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog - I can’t believe after years of begging for the supporting cast to get more and better material in a Sonic game I got my wish in the form of a freeware murder mystery VN released for April Fools. This kicked ass.

April

4/7: Berserk - Completed Miura’s run and caught up on the chapters that have been released posthumously. It’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said about Berserk, universally agreed upon as one of the greats of manga and fantasy fiction as a whole. What begins in its first few volumes as a nihilistic and edgy action comic built to facilitate as much sex and gore as possible quickly evolves into something deeply human and vulnerable and beautiful, both figuratively and in terms of its lavish art. The world sucks and is immeasurably cruel, and you will see that cruelty illustrated in graphic, sickening detail repeatedly throughout the series. (Perhaps a little too often throughout the Golden Age, where it feels like Miura never misses an opportunity to threaten Casca with sexual assault mid-battle.) But the point isn’t to wallow in that misery. It’s the story of a victim of horrific abuse learning to slowly open up to others, having those people he cares about torn away from him in the worst night of his life, hardening himself into a cold killing machine, and then slowly learning to open back up again, even if it means leaving himself vulnerable to more hurt. Anyone who says that the series peaked with the eclipse and went downhill in the “Guts’ JRPG Party” era is missing the point. Guts needed to find new people in his life to care about, to begin to find happiness again. Because no matter what unspeakable things Guts has gone through, it’s still possible for him to heal and to be loved. It takes time, but eventually you stop and realize that life has moved on.

4/8: Dedede’s Drum Dash Deluxe - Skipped it upon release because I didn’t particularly care for the minigame in Triple Deluxe, and I didn’t miss much. It’s fine as a little distraction, but not as a standalone rhythm game with only seven songs. If you don’t bother with the hard modes or chase after high scores this game is 15 minutes long. Oh how I yearn for Kirby to get the Theatrhythm treatment.

4/10: The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar FINAL - Eh… It was okay. Lots of cool robot fights, but said fights are stitched together with a mediocre plot that tries too hard to be more “mature” than its unabashedly schlocky kids’ show predecessor. Not crazy about the ending, either, which tries to be a bittersweet farewell closing off the series once and for all while also teasing that maybe there’ll be ANOTHER sequel after the OVA series they literally called “FINAL.” Ah well.

4/11: The Owl House - Sad to see this one go, but it’s hard to imagine them doing a better finale than this, even if they had gotten the six seasons they deserved. I’m not as obsessed with The Owl House as I probably would’ve been had it come out when I was, like, 20, but it’s a really fantastic show for all the reasons people always say. Great characters, great world, great story. I love that this starry-eyed fantasy story about a teenager finding love and a place where she belongs is also set on the rotting corpse of a titan with Hieronymous Bosch-inspired scenery and freaky monsters everywhere. What a great mix. If anything, I just wish I would’ve watched the first season as it aired so I could’ve had more time with it.

4/29: Mega Man Battle Network 3: Blue Version - FINALLY beat this via the new collection, 20 years after playing it as my first Mega Man game. (Technically my first was White, not Blue, but whatever.) There are more annoyances than I remember - lots of really really bad forced backtracking sections where you have to revisit every previous part of the internet, low chip drop rates, some really aggravating bosses like BubbleMan and KingMan, etc. But it’s still a great time overall. It’s Battle Network. In the back half the story gets surprisingly emotional, too. I was always under the assumption that the Hub stuff never came back up much in the story after 1, so I was pleasantly surprised with how relevant it was to the emotional arc of 3.

4/30: Mega Man Battle Network 4: Red Sun * - Yeah I’m not playing through the whole thing lmao. I just wanted to play the first couple hours for nostalgia’s sake, and as a baseline for how much better the rest are. Even before getting deep in the game and having to deal with all the shit gated between doing two new game+ playthroughs, it’s immediately obvious how much of a downgrade this one is. Tons of glaring errors and typos all over the script, blander music, a way more boring aesthetic for the internet, and a premise that mostly just recycles the tournament idea from 3.

May

5/14: The Venture Bros. - Glad I finally sat down and watched all of this with Anthony after having seen one (1) episode as a teenager and a bunch of random clips in the years since. Great show. Some jokes in the early seasons haven’t aged gracefully, but what the show grows into over time... man. Hank and Dean go from being the butt of the joke to being characters you actually sympathize with - while still also being funny little goofballs. And the journey Henchman 21 goes on throughout the show. Man. Amazing that a comedy like this could run for 20 years and maintain its level of quality. Can’t wait for the movie.

5/18: Future Me Hates Me (The Beths) - Okay yeah I’m now just discovering bands through Fortnite lmao. I can’t complain really, they pick some really great indie artists for the in-game radio stations. Anyway: It’s very easy to win me over with a combination of energetic power pop, catchy guitar riffs, and earnest lyrics like this. One of those albums where three or four tracks in I know I have to buy it. Favorite track: Not Running

5/18: Jump Rope Gazers (The Beths) - Ditto. Favorite track: Dying to Believe

5/18: Expert In A Dying Field (The Beths) - Another good album. (I’m listening to these in release order.) I’ve been a bit slower to warm up to this one, initially thinking it was a little too mellow overall, but it might be my favorite after a few listens. Some real high highs. Interestingly, the lead singer’s New Zealand accent is also coming out more in her singing? Favorite track: Your Side (or maybe Head in the Clouds)

5/19: The Super Mario Bros. Movie - As a Mario fan, I think I enjoyed it? As a movie, less so? It was decent, in spite of feeling like they came up with a list of fun action setpieces first and then wrote the absolute bare minimum possible for the story scenes tying it all together. Full thoughts here. (This is the first movie I’ve seen this year, huh? I really don’t watch a lot of movies.)

5/23: Don't Know What You're In Until You're Out (Gladie) - I feel like I don’t like Gladie as much as I should. Their style of noisy indie rock is very much in my wheelhouse, and I do enjoy listening to them, but I dunno. Maybe it’s that the particular style of vocals makes it more monotonous to me. A good album nonetheless, if not 100% my thing. Favorite track: Nothing

5/24: City Slicker (Ginger Root) - Yes I am still making my way through Bandcamp artists I heard on Fortnite don’t @ me. Any excuse to get me to listen to some cool city pop-inspired funk like this is a good excuse. Favorite track: Loretta

5/24: Rikki (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: Why Try

5/25: Spotlight People (Ginger Root) - Favorite track: The Classic

5/29: Succession - A good dramedy series that increasingly focuses more on the drama than the comedy as it progresses, but it’s hard to complain about that since the drama is so compellingly produced. I enjoyed it. That being said, I kind of rankle at the claims that it’s The Greatest TV Show Of All Time. It’s great, don’t get me wrong. Amazing performances all around. But the show LOVES to spin its wheels, to repeat itself, and to let most of its interesting dramatic developments fizzle out before anything really comes of them, almost as if the show is constantly getting bored with its own ideas. To some extent this is intentional - Logan Roy is the untouchable billionaire, his kids fail at everything (but will nonetheless remain billionaires), and in the long run none of them really give a shit about anything other than their own status. But it’s not like things tend to visibly impact anyone else, either, be they supporting characters or the world at large. Even the Big Scary Election, where the Roy siblings are directly responsible for plunging the nation into chaos, ultimately has zero impact on the finale a mere two episodes later. Certain Other Things do have an impact in the last season, though, allowing things to meaningfully change for the cast and for the show to sit with the ensuing drama, which has stopped me from souring on Succession more. There was finally a payoff for something. But it does still kind of feel like a show that goes in circles until it’s ready to call it quits, even if those circles did contain a lot of great acting and music along the way.

5/29: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts - I’d watched the first 12 episodes when they originally released, but I guess the Netflix binge release and the fact that all three “seasons” came out in one year led to me waiting until it finished… and then I just never got around to finishing it. Glad I fixed that! Really fun and stylish cartoon with an art style reminiscent of Teen Titans, a hip hop-filled soundtrack, dynamic fight scenes, and a colorful post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant (mostly anthropomorphic) animals. I’ll admit that at times I do kinda roll my eyes at Kipo’s unshakeable belief that everyone can be friends in a way that I don’t necessarily with similar shows like Steven Universe, and not every joke lands, but I dunno. It’s a kids’ show. That’s to be expected. It doesn’t detract from the overall package for me.

June

6/1: Craig of the Creek (Season 4) - It’s been years and I’m still processing the fact that kids can turn on Cartoon Network and hear Jeff Rosenstock. Anyway! Craig continues to be one of the best cartoons on TV, consistently funny and creative and way more engaging than a show about a bunch of kids LARPing in the woods has any right to be. This season turned into One Piece with the gang effectively hunting down the Poneglyphs in search of a legendary treasure. The kids think it’ll be magic. It isn't. An increasing number of cartoon logic gags aside, this show is firmly set in the real world. Does that make it any less interesting? Hell no. Season 3 turned a game of capture the flag into an all-out five episode war between the heroes and villains, filled with dramatic turnabouts and a climactic guest appearance from Del the Funky Homosapien. I’m sure however they wrap things up in the (sadly shortened) final season, it’ll be great. (Also? I would watch a whole show based on that “what if” episode that jumped forward to everyone’s 20s.)

6/6: Barry - Holy shit, what a show. I ended up binging it in less than a week in a cycle of “okay, just one more episode.” The way this show is able to swing between tones and genres while still feeling like a cohesive whole is truly masterful. It’s a layered character drama, a tragic crime thriller, a farcical comedy, an understated action series, a surrealist morality play, and a scathing satire of Hollywood, all in one. Even within the criminal underworld subplots the show ranges in tone from Breaking Bad to Paddington 2. And it works! While the show naturally gets bleaker over time as it confronts the repercussions of Barry’s murders, it never completely loses sight of its comedic roots. My favorite episode was easily season 2’s “ronny/lily,” a mostly self-contained episode that somehow manages to keep throwing the perfect curveballs to escalate its dark comedy.

6/12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) - Y’all heard of this movie? Pretty good, it turns out. (I’d seen the theatrical cut before, but this was my first time watching the extended edition. I’ve also only seen parts of the other two movies, so it’s time I finally watch all the extended cuts. The Gollum game pushed me to this.)

6/13: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Extended Edition) - give it to us RAW and WRIGGLING

6/17: The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Extended Edition) - I’m not crying YOU’RE crying

6/22: Clone High (Season 2) - While the first episode being about “cancel culture” (or, more accurately, a teenager from 2003 being transported to 2023 and putting his foot in his mouth a lot) put a lot of people off, I ended up enjoying the new season of Clone High. The new clones grew on me as the season went on and their roles in the web of teen romance melodrama crystalized, and it made me laugh a lot, and Cleo/Frida is galaxy brained. Also they played one of my favorite Antarctigo Vespucci songs like a minute into the first episode. I don’t think I could really ask for much more.

6/28: The Mandalorian (Season 3) - I'd been watching this weekly but put off the last episode for no real reason. Responses to this season have been all over the place, but my blistering hot take is… it was fine. Is it as good as the first season? Probably not. But Mando no longer needs to carry the whole franchise on its shoulders and set the bar for how good the live action Disney Star Wars shows can be, because Andor exists, and it’s never gonna top Andor. The Mandalorian is free to just be a pulpy space adventure show where Giancarlo Esposito plays a scenery-chewing cartoon villain and a little puppet does wire stunts. These are things Andor cannot and should not do, but that’s Star Wars, baby. It’s delightful. I could watch Grogu get underhand tossed like a sack of flour all day.

July

7/2: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (Season 2) - LOVE WINS. (More nuanced take from way later: It definitely feels like a lot of the more messy political conflicts in this show got swept aside by the big final battle where some more easily resolved family conflicts take center stage. I’m not sure the ending is the most satisfying. But also this show only got half the episode count that damn near every other Gundam show ever made got, so that might be a factor here. Idk. Still one of my favorite Gundams.)

7/4: Final Fantasy XVI (watched Anthony play) - I had to write my longest Medium article ever about this one because I was so frustrated

7/10: Home Movies - “Things I like that I’ve never seen in full” has certainly been a recurring theme this year. Home Movies remains an all-time classic of animated comedy that went out on a high note before things got stale or the characters became parodies of themselves. While it’s mostly known for its funny improvised banter, throughout the last season you can really see the arc where Brendon no longer enjoys making movies, yet he feels obligated to keep using them to escape from the real world. In that light, the ending where the nature of their dysfunctional makeshift family is cemented, Brendon’s camera suddenly breaks, and life moves on really does feel like the perfect note to end on. Truly one of the best to ever do it.

7/15: The Legend of Zelda - Tears of the Kingdom - Wow. Just… wow. I had serious doubts about TotK in the months leading up to release due to how close Nintendo was playing their cards to their chest. I didn’t want this to be a Saints Row IV, where the game is fun enough but the recycled map makes it feel like a rehash. Instead, I found a game that made me look at BotW’s map in a whole new light, brimming with so many more things to do and people to meet. Add on a better, more versatile set of tools, more varied dungeons and bosses, and a story that I felt was told somewhat better and we’ve got a real contender for my new favorite Zelda game. It was hard to tear myself away, but as this list shows, it’s been basically the only game I’ve played since it came out.

7/16: Sonic Prime (Season 2) - I liked the parts with Shadow and Chaos Sonic, but I’ve come to the sad conclusion that most of this show is just mediocre. More thoughts here.

7/18: We ♥ Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie - “I’m a dog, but I love Katamari Damacy.” Truer words have never been spoken.

7/19: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Pretty good! It didn’t blow me away, but after how bad the Bay movies got I’m just thankful to have a decently cohesive Transformers movie where the human story is okay and I like the bots (although half of them needed more screen time), even if it is just another Hollywood blockbuster about two sides fighting over a macguffin that devolves into a big CGI battle against an army of nameless monsters in the third act. This is basically a mid-tier MCU movie but with Transformers, which won’t do much for most people, but again: the bar was underground.

7/22: The Venture Bros.: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart - God DAMN. A phenomenal ending for the series. While I would have loved to see a full final season to get some more one-off episodes in there, this doesn’t feel creatively compromised in any way–either due to the time constraints, or due to a desire to make it more marketable as a movie. It really does feel like they just took their outlines for the canceled final season and gently massaged them into the shape of an 84-minute movie, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s completely on par with the previous seasons. A hilarious and fitting sendoff for one of the greats of adult animation.

7/23: Beautiful Katamari - This was one of my first Xbox 360 games, but a frustrating temperature-based level made me put it down for 16 years. “Maybe it won’t be as bad now that I’ve beaten the first two games and am better at Katamari,” I thought. Nope! Still an absolutely dogshit level. But also, turns out the whole game is only like two hours long lmao. It’s still Katamari, so it’s still fun - the final level in particular, which seamlessly takes you from ground level all the way to space, feels like a logical endpoint for the series - but beyond that it just doesn't have the same soul without Keita Takahashi's input.

August

8/4: Doom Singer (Chris Farren) - I’ve been waiting so long for Chris and Jeff to do another Antarctigo Vespucci album, but god damn. This is the best of Chris’s solo work, and a contender for his best record, period. Every track’s a banger, with more energy than some of his previous solo work but also a good deal of variety. Favorite tracks: First Place, Cosmic Leash

8/4: Transformers Earthspark (Season 1) - This show had a bit of an uneven start, unsure if it wanted to have the emotional maturity of a more serious action cartoon or a preschool cartoon where the characters have little kid mood swings and outbursts and learn basic lessons. It also felt like it was speedrunning its Wholesome Found Family Dynamic with characters who just met, which didn’t feel earned. While these problems never completely go away (see: the cheap and corny way the otherwise very dark season finale suddenly resolves), the show improves quickly, and the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s so great to have a Transformers cartoon that feels fresh, giving us a post-war setting with a bunch of new characters and new dynamics between the Cybertronians and the humans. The returning characters are also uniformly great as the old veterans overseeing the new generation. (Reformed Megatron! Danny Pudi as Bumblebee! Steve Blum returning as Starscream! Keith David as Grimlock!!!) And those super dynamic action scenes! I can nitpick, but Earthspark’s a ton of fun, and easily the best new Transformers cartoon since Prime and Animated.

8/5: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (remaster) - Everyone who told me this game was a masterpiece was right. I had played the first chapter when it dropped as the demo for the iOS version years ago, but never went further than that until now. What a game. Absolutely incredible through and through. Great story, great twists, great characters, great puzzles, great art direction. Everything comes together so perfectly to form a totally unique, unforgettable package, a top tier video game murder mystery. Everyone should play this, preferably going in as blind as possible.

8/15: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16) - Wow! Recent seasons of Sunny have been kind of up and down, with some interesting experiments (Mac Finds His Pride, the Ireland arc, etc.) paired with some comedic duds. Most of this latest season is standard fare for the series with fewer big creative swings, but it’s just hit after hit in terms of comedy. Not a single dud, whether we’re seeing Mac and Dennis try to start a rental business for inflatable furniture or watching the gang meet Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, believing the entire time that the latter is Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle. Even the attempts at topical comedy landed better. Easily the funniest season in years.

8/16: One Piece Film Gold - It’s easy to see why this one has kind of been forgotten in the wake of Stampede and Film Red, which revolve around established fan favorite characters, but this was still pretty fun. Perhaps a little too long, but it’s fun to see the Straw Hats fool around in a giant casino and do a heist. They definitely cranked the fanservice up even more than usual in this one, though, as I probably should have expected for a movie made alongside the anime’s adaptation of Dressrosa.

8/17: One Piece: Stampede - This one goes for a different kind of fanservice. While most One Piece movies are isolated from the ongoing plot and its expanded cast of characters, Stampede instead asks “What if we just put damn near every active character on the same island and had them fight?” The answer: a fun time! It would get old if all of the movies were like this, but after a bunch of movies that are just like “the Straw Hats are gonna land on another new island and fight some more weird guys” it’s fun to see characters like Law and Buggy and Smoker get in on the fun. It’s also nice to get a movie with the Wano era art style, and Usopp surprisingly gets some really good character moments in here.

8/18: One Piece Film Red - This really is the best of the One Piece movies, huh? (Baron Omatsuri is a close second.) It really feels like a change of pace after the last four with the most interesting and emotionally engaging story out of any of them. And even if the events of these movies are never canon, it still feels significant in my understanding of Shanks as a character as we move into the final phase of the manga.

8/21: Pikmin 4 - The opening hour of the game made me really question if they’d changed too much, with all the focus on your new dog unit over your Pikmin and the extremely dull, drawn out dialogue scenes with your new companions back at the base. But once I got into the swing of things I had a blast. This is probably my new favorite Pikmin game. There’s a great mix of activities here to keep things fresh. I also really ended up liking Oatchi’s role as basically your second captain who can also serve as your tank or a rideable mount. The Dandori stuff and nighttime missions in particular show off how useful Oatchi is for your multitasking without necessarily overshadowing the Pikmin.

8/22: Never Get Tired: The Bomb the Music Industry! Story - I literally backed this on Kickstarter eight years ago (my name is in the credits!) and then never got around to watching it for no reason. It’s on YouTube now, and Jeff’s got a new album out next week, so now feels like the perfect time to watch it. And man… what a great documentary. Obviously I’m just a fan of the band, but this also really spoke to me as an artist. Jeff wanting to stick to his principles and give out his music for free and play cheap all ages shows, his discomfort over the idea of selling merch, and the struggles that come with not playing the game like that… It's hard. They readily admit that Jeff is an idealist, that people fight him on this stuff, that he’s missed out on some big opportunities because of these stances, and that he’s had to compromise a bit on some of these things over time. But that incredible climax with their final show, including a full opening performance of the slowly building “Campaign for a Better Next Weekend” and the closing performance of “Future 86” where the whole audience is singing along as the members of the band are hugging and crying… it’s beautiful. This may have been a band where the members had to go back to their shitty day jobs after every tour because they weren’t selling out arenas, but their art meant something to people, and that makes it all worth it.

8/25: Nimona - I haven’t read the original comic (yet), so I can’t compare them too much, but it’s nonetheless pretty apparent that some things were softened and easy kids’ movie jokes were added by the studio to squeeze this graphic novel for teens into a PG animated movie. Regardless, the emotional throughline hits REALLY hard, particularly the very blatant trans allegory and the climax. (It’s no wonder Disney was afraid of this movie seeing the light of day lmao.) The animation is also very squishy and fun to watch throughout. Great movie.

8/26: Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - Spider-Verse really has done so much for animation, huh? This one was as good as everyone said. Beautiful use of stylized color and lighting throughout, and every time this movie very conspicuously shifted to different framerates for a flashy fight scene it owned. Very cute and heartwarming story, too, which thankfully gave its second act plenty of time to explore the cast and let them go on their journey, unlike a certain plumber movie that came out a few months later. Also I would let Death [redacted]

8/28: Holocure: Save the Fans! - This isn't really something I can beat, but I've been addicted to Holocure lately. I don't even watch VTubers aside from maybe seeing a funny Korone animation every now and then, this is just a really, really good freeware Vampire Survivors clone with a huge roster of varied characters to pick from.

8/31: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock) - A new album from Jeff is always a major event for me. If there were any worries that he was starting to go soft at 40 (because one of the three singles off this album was a gentle acoustic piece), the frantic opening of this album put those worries to rest. The first two tracks are Jeff screaming out for help as he’s pulled in a million directions by the chaotic state of the world, a theme that becomes the thesis of the album. I’d say it lags slightly in the middle, but overall this is another extremely well-rounded record full of bangers that’s unapologetically Jeff, with possibly my favorite closing track he’s ever done. Favorite tracks: I WANNA BE WRONG, 3 SUMMERS

September

9/3: One Piece (live action, Season 1) - They did it. I can’t believe it, but they did it. While I have my nitpicks (Usopp and Sanji don’t get enough big moments to shine), this is an extremely solid and faithful adaptation of the first few arcs of One Piece with a great cast. For the most part the changes feel smart and logical, and the big emotional beats of the story are all there and executed very well. I doubted it a little in episodes 2-4, where the Orange Town and Syrup Village arcs saw some major changes to shift the action indoors, and the increased focus on the drama in favor of repeating every gag and battle from the manga 1:1 took a bit of getting used to, but by the end I was having a blast. It’s a different take on One Piece, but it still feels like One Piece. Genuinely very excited for season 2.

9/4: Pseudoregalia - A great little N64-style 3D Metroidvania focused on platforming and very satisfying movement. I always love entries in the genre that are less prescriptive in what order you have to tackle areas in, a la Symphony of the Night or Hollow Knight, and this one’s great in that regard. While there are a number of new moves to find, most of the map is open to you very early in the game, and smart use of your moveset can allow you to “sequence break” without even realizing it. (You would not believe how long I went without getting the wall run.) I do wish it had a map, but that’s already being patched in.

9/6: Bomb Rush Cyberfunk * - Not a bad game at all, but I quickly remembered how bad I am at skating games, so like… eh? Not sure I have much desire to play past chapter 2. Also the soundtrack is sadly kinda hit or miss for me outside of the obvious Naganuma tunes.

9/9: The History of the Minnesota Vikings (Dorktown) - Jon Bois never misses. Even as someone who doesn’t actively follow sports, Jon Bois is a master storyteller, using graphs and statistics and funny anecdotes to explore these deeply human stories. He can convey why people care so much about these teams, these people, and sports in general, and how our popular sports reflect on American culture. He could tell the story of just about any team or player in any sport and I just know I’ll come out the other side a misty-eyed fan. And what a fascinating cast of characters we have this time, with origin stories for everything from the Hail Mary pass to a Minnesota state supreme court judge to the Griddy. Nine hours well spent.

9/10: Timespinner - A fun and highly polished Metroidvania that maybe doesn’t quite have enough of its own identity in its quest to replicate Symphony of the Night…but also, like, this was pitched as a Symphony throwback on KickStarter in a pre-Bloodstained, pre-Hollow Knight world, so I can’t really blame ‘em! Stopping time to avoid boss attacks is fun, the pixel art is gorgeous, and I liked the dark science fantasy story about warring empires and meddling with time a lot more than I thought I would - lore journal text dumps and all.

9/14: The Decay of Sam & Cat (Quinton Reviews) - All the stuff at the end with Matt Bennett (the actor who played Robbie on Victorious and Sam & Cat) in this was really good and sweet. It’s that kind of thing that makes these videos feel like they’re still worthwhile on some level. But the padding and the things Quinton chooses to spend the colossal runtime on does drive me more and more insane with each passing Nick sitcom video. I don’t know how much longer he can keep this schtick up. I hope he’s able to move on to other things before too terribly long instead of continuing to extend this “miniseries.”

9/19: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales - AKA Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 1.5. It’s fun for the same reasons Peter’s first game was fun. I had a good time swinging around New York again in preparation for the sequel, and there’s a lot of cute stuff with Miles becoming Harlem’s neighborhood hero, but WOW did the Underground v. Roxxon conflict fall flat for me.

9/20: I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson - I understand so many posts now.

9/25: Spider-Man (2002) (rewatch) - It’s you who’s out, Gobby! OUT OF YOUR MIND!

9/25: Futurama (Season 8) - I was ready to be a hater, recalling the fact that Futurama has already had three “perfect endings” with the show getting a little weaker with every revival. Then I watched the first new episode on a whim and thought it wasn’t bad, so I was like, eh, sure, I’ll watch the rest. Overall Hulurama is hit or miss. There are chuckles to be had, and it sure as hell beats modern Simpsons, but almost every episode is either a belated take on an overplayed Topical Issue (the pandemic, Amazon, cancel culture, etc.) or a direct sequel to an old episode people liked. Or both! It’s also really noticeable that certain voice actors sound way older - Billy West is struggling with the Fry voice in particular, and it hurts his comedic timing. But just when all hope seemed lost after the nigh-incomprehensible toy-themed anthology episode, possibly the worst episode of the entire series… the last episode, where the Planet Express crew explores whether or not the universe could be a simulation, was really, really solid. Great note to end on to make me not regret my time with this season as a whole.

9/26: Spider-Man 2 (2004) (rewatch) - Once the GOAT, always the GOAT.

9/27: Spider-Man 3 (rewatch) - Revisiting this movie for the first time since I saw it in theaters… it’s not bad. It’s fine! It continues to have the heart and sincerity that make the first two movies work. It’s just not as concise with three villains vying for the spotlight, but I also wouldn’t cut any of them, necessarily. I guess Eddie/Venom would be the easiest, but Peter getting the black suit and giving in to his resentment feels too central to cut. (Yes, even with Emo Peter becoming a meme.)

9/28: Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one, especially since I was never really a fan of the genderbend episodes in the original show. (At the time they mostly just felt like an excuse to crank up the teen romance stuff to 11.) But MAN. This was a fantastic coda to the original series. It made me care about Fionna and Cake and their friends as their own characters separate from their original counterparts, it gave the Simon/Betty arc a much more satisfying (if no less bittersweet) resolution than the original finale had time to do, and it even managed to be a multiverse story that didn’t make me roll my eyes in 2023. A+ all around. Makes me wanna rewatch the original show again. [spoiler: I did]

9/29: Meanwhile (aivi & surasshu) - It’s been a whole decade–they were busy with, you know, all the music in Steven Universe, among other things–but we finally have a new aivi & surasshu album! Their chiptune/piano fusion style is familiar, but they’ve definitely grown as composers in subtle ways. Favorite track: Time Travel

October

10/1: This is Financial Advice (Folding Ideas) - A lot of the nitty gritty finance law stuff turned into white noise for me, but still, great video. I had no idea that the GameStop stock craze devolved into this bizarre cult that thinks they’re going to crash the global economy and rise from the ashes as the new kings with the value of their GME stocks. Glad this video exists to try and balance out the narrative.

10/5: Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon DLC - Good ideas, absurdly frustrating and tedious execution. Full thoughts here.

10/10: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (rewatch) - I didn’t plan this, but very fitting that I would end up rewatching this on 10/10.

10/12: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - ha he! (Seriously though, that finale was a fucking masterpiece. The RTVS crew has an incredible knack for using the framing device of video game livestreams to blur the lines between comedy and horror, or ironic anti-humor and complete sincerity. I’ve never seen anything else like this.)

10/15: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Not sure how much I can say that hasn’t already been said. The most visually creative movie I’ve ever seen, grounded by some really excellent storytelling about Miles (and now Gwen) that’s probably better than his actual comics. But it also does feel like it’s about to end and then the movie just keeps going like ten times over lmao. Can’t wait to watch this a second time on a better TV.

10/20: Sonic Superstars - A mostly really solid and fun 2D Sonic game that’s unfortunately dragged down by an extremely hodgepodge soundtrack and some overly drawn out boss fights. I spent HOURS trying to beat the final boss of the bonus scenario (which is required for the true ending in this one) before giving up. Really a shame that that’s the note I’m leaving the game on, because I otherwise enjoyed it, but ah well. More thoughts here.

10/27: Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Another good Spider-Man game from Insomniac. Liked the story more than the one in Miles Morales, but maybe not as much as the first game. Extensive thoughts here.

10/28: Venom - Was in the mood for more Venom after the game. As expected this was not a very good movie, but the dynamic between Eddie and Venom made it a fun watch. Tom Hardy is constantly about to shit his pants in this movie. It’s great.

10/28: Venom: Let There Be Carnage - I had a way better time with this one. Is this a good movie? No. But it cranks the insanity of the first movie up to 11. Goofy as fuck in an extremely watchable way.

November

11/5: Pluto - An absolutely masterful series that anyone interested in sci-fi needs to watch. The anime adaptation was great, and I immediately understand why people who’ve read the manga speak so highly of it. Really makes me want to get into Astro Boy more, and also read some of Urasawa’s other works.

11/18: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - Wow, just wow. When news of a Scott Pilgrim anime broke I was cautiously curious to see if we’d get a more direct adaptation of the comics, and instead it veered off in the exact opposite direction in the best way possible. This is almost entirely a different story, one that’s in conversation with the previous versions (sometimes in very meta ways), and I think it’s really valuable to see O’Malley revisiting these characters with new things to say about them. The major story divergence gives us a chance to examine the characters from a new angle - particularly Ramona, who’s the real protagonist of this version, and the evil exes, who completely steal the show. This was a great reminder of why I fell in love with this series as a teenager. I now genuinely hope we get more Scott Pilgrim.

11/22: Void Rivals (Issues #1 - #6) - The first arc of the new Robert Kirkman series that kicked off Skybound’s new “Energon Universe” is now complete, and I’m left thinking Void Rivals is… okay? I thought the first issue was a decent (if not particularly original) sci-fi comic with an appealing art style, which just so happens to also briefly have a Transformer in it so there can be a Big Surprise. And the series still hasn’t quite shaken that feeling to me. It’s an okay sci-fi series that arbitrarily dedicates a couple of pages of every issue to something from Transformers, but I’m not really sure what the shared universe stuff adds to Void Rivals, or what Void Rivals adds to Transformers and GI Joe. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

11/22: Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History (Defunctland) - Yeah, gotta be honest, I only got halfway through this one. It seems like Kevin just 1) really wanted to push himself creatively and 2) make a love letter to Epcot, and while I respect that, I think it suffers as a historical documentary. It’s Fantasia but for the creation of Epcot. That might be very impressive on a technical level, but it feels more like a piece of Disney propaganda than prior Defunctland videos due to a lack of context and nuance.

11/24: Aperture Desk Job - A short, sweet, and funny little tech demo for my new Steam Deck set in the Portal universe. More effort was definitely put into this than was strictly necessary.

11/26: ESCHATOS - I am not good at bullet hell games, but I enjoy them from time to time and I really love this one’s FM synth soundtrack, so I picked it up on a whim in the Steam sale. I only beat it on Easy, but still, I had a lot of fun with it! It’s straightforward but very flashy, with the camera dynamically zooming around from set piece to set piece at ridiculous speeds and each level segueing directly into the next. The lack of a powerup system on the main mode in favor of just needing to know when to use your different shot types makes it feel very approachable.

11/27: Lunistice - A great little 3D platformer with a good soundtrack that I had fun hunting down all the secrets in. This is an easy recommendation for fans of games like Kirby or Klonoa - whimsical games set in colorful dream worlds where the underlying story can get a bit more somber. (Although the story in this one is mostly told through mildly cryptic lore dumps, so your mileage there may vary.)

11/28: Spark the Electric Jester 2 - The leap from 2D to 3D here is impressive, but this is very clearly a rough draft for Spark 3. Very, very fun Sonic-style 3D platforming, but the combat is lacking and the storytelling is just kinda bad. More extensive thoughts on this and the above two games here.

December

12/2: Fortnite (Chapter 4) - This was my first full chapter of Fortnite, after having been roped into the game by the siren songs of Zero Build mode and Goku during Chapter 3. This means it’s harder for me to compare this chapter to previous ones, but still, Fortnite remains a genuinely very well made Battle Royale shooter that’s a blast with friends. If I have any complaint about this Chapter, it’s that they would regularly introduce zany ideas and then slowly reel them back in, whether it was the Augment system or the increasingly mundane movement items. It also felt like it was a little too easy to get the perfect loadout in every match, meaning the final showdown would almost always be against players with Slurp Juice and gold shotguns. And I missed the smaller mid-season map updates of Chapter 3. But overall I still had a really good time, and look forward to playing more for the foreseeable future.

12/4: Plagiarism and You(Tube) (HBomberguy) - This will get written off by many as “YouTuber drama,” but this really is an excellent video essay that feels like the kick in the pants that YouTube needs. If video essayists are gonna be a major source of information for so many, then they gotta have standards. I also think it does a good job of highlighting the people that have been plagiarized and trying to drive more attention their way in an attempt to right those wrongs.

12/6: Transformers (Skybound comic) - We only got the first three issues of this in 2023, but I just HAVE to say something about how incredible this series is here. Daniel Warren Johnson is knocking it out of the park. This is the new bar for Transformers. The hand-inked art is extremely dynamic and full of character, and the story is using the familiar beats of G1 Transformers but doing very new things with them. You can tell this from the very first page, but the emotional scene of Optimus accidentally crushing a deer in the forest and realizing how fragile life is on Earth sealed the deal for me. And yet in the very same comics Optimus can do suplexes and clotheslines and lord knows how many other wrestling moves on Decepticons, and it doesn’t feel like tonal whiplash? These comics just fucking rule, and anyone with even the slightest interest in Transformers should be reading them.

12/8: What We Do in the Shadows (Season 5) - [spoilers] WWDITS has very much settled into being a status quo show. Every season has its own little arc where one or two things change to keep things interesting, but then everything returns to normal by the end. Guillermo finally becoming a vampire, only to become a human again in the end, might just be the most egregious example of this yet. But also… the show’s still really funny? And I continue to be happy that Kristen Schaal has stuck around as a series regular as the Guide. So it’s hard to complain. I could see the show running out of steam over the next few seasons, but it’s still hitting for me right now.

12/12: Pony Island - Finally got around to this since the trailer for the sequel dropped. I feel like playing this years later in a post-Inscryption world where Pony Island is a known quantity kind of lessens its impact, but still, it’s a fun and funny puzzle game where you try to hack your way out of a possessed arcade machine. I’m not sure I found it particularly scary, but I’m not sure it’s supposed to be? The way the game messes with you during the Asmodeus “boss fight” was probably the highlight for me. I also like being able to say things like “The part where you have to not kill Jesus was so hard. I kept getting terrible butterfly patterns.”

12/16: Breaking Bad VR but the AI is Self-Aware (wayneradiotv) - As always, Wayne and co.’s commitment to the bit is unrivaled. This kind of got interpreted as just a way to troll HLVRAI fans, but so many moments in this genuinely made me laugh out loud.

12/18: Soul of Sovereignty Prelude - As someone who would list Cucumber Quest as a big creative influence, I was naturally very excited for this first chapter of GGDG’s new visual novel. Their mentality of both scaling things back in terms of labor while also going more shamelessly self-indulgent in terms of storytelling after burning out on making webcomics has really spoken to me, and WOW, the end result of that new process of theirs is shaping up to be something really special. The art and music are sparse but extremely evocative, giving you the rough sketch of the world and letting your mind fill in the rest. The story blends literary high fantasy vibes with the style of fantasy seen in ‘90s JRPGs (you can definitely tell this came from an idea for an RPG), but rather than constantly winking at the audience and making self-aware video game references it plays these storytelling ideas extremely sincerely, giving them real dramatic weight while still indulging in fun tropes to their fullest extent. While it’s a far cry from their most famous work with much more mature content, GGDG always excels at creating characters and worlds that immediately grab me. I can’t wait for the rest.

12/18: Barbie - I’m only… what, five months late for the whole Barbenheimer thing? Perfect timing. Anyway! On the one hand, I get the critiques saying that this movie is just a major corporation funding a self-aware feminist critique of their own product as a marketing ploy. And I kinda agree with that. And the movie is a little too long, and I don’t really know what to think of the way the Barbie/Ken conflict plays out. Anthony asked me to summarize what the story ended up being about, and I had no idea what to even say. But also… I did still like the movie? We don’t get a lot of cartoonish, absurdist, fourth wall breaking comedies like this anymore, and this is a good one of those. Also the whole cast is great, the set design is kind of stunning, and the cinematography is consistently appealing. I wouldn’t say it’s a revolutionary work of feminist filmmaking by any stretch, but it’s a good comedy movie.

12/21: Dr. Stone: New World - Man, Dr. Stone is great. I’ve said this many times, but I just love that this series uses all the trappings of shounen that would normally be used to hype up the protagonist learning a new move to instead hype up things like the protagonist building a loom or a hot air balloon. It’s shounen Bill Nye. I didn’t completely love everything about the Treasure Island arc this season, but it all built towards a really fun climax with a lot of satisfying turnabouts where the heroes use their ingenuity to just barely win.

12/23: The History of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out World Records (Summoning Salt) - Truly one of my favorite Summoning Salt videos ever, even with how repetitive Punch-Out can get to watch. It’s just so hard to beat “and that runner… was me.”

12/24: Super Mario Bros. Wonder - What more can be said that hasn’t already been said? It’s the best and most creative 2D Mario game since the ‘90s. The only real flaws are that it’s a little easy, the Search Party stages are annoying in singleplayer, and I wish that every boss prior to the final boss wasn’t just some form of Bowser Jr. fight. But those aren’t nearly enough to drag the whole experience down. It was a blast.

12/24: Do a Powerbomb! - Got this from Anthony as a birthday present. This is the previous series by the creative team currently doing the new Transformers comics I was gushing about a few entries ago. Even with the high bar set by those comics, Do a Powerbomb! exceeded my expectations. Holy shit. An absolutely entrancing fantasy wrestling miniseries full of dynamic, energetic action and tons of heart. These comics where a guy wrestles a giant talking orangutan almost made me cry. Twice. An instant favorite.

12/25: Adventure Time (rewatch) - We ended up finishing our rewatch of Adventure Time (the main series, anyway) on my 30th birthday, which feels appropriate. I already kinda knew this, but this rewatch has truly confirmed that Adventure Time is my favorite TV series of all time. The entire show is even better on a full series rewatch. In hindsight, even parts that annoyed me when they aired end up being important parts of the beautiful tapestry that is this series. The many low points of Finn’s adolescent love life are important stepping stones in his growth as a person, which leaves him in an extremely satisfying place by the end. Jake having kids didn’t get to be a huge status quo change because they grew up instantly, but then they did a bunch of fun episodes about Jake’s relationships with his adult children that deepened him as a character. And most of the big lore questions they kept teasing over the years (“Where’d the humans go?” “Who are Finn’s parents?” “When’s Finn gonna get a robot arm?” etc.) ended up getting satisfying and creative answers, because the show left itself the room to figure those things out later. This is a truly special, one-of-a-kind series, one that lasted nearly 300 episodes and yet still seems like it was over too soon. And yes, I did in fact cry during the final montage, like I knew I would. I will always cherish this show with all of my heart.

12/25: Olive the Other Reindeer (rewatch) - Haven’t seen this one since I was a kid! It was a favorite of mine back then, and while it might not be quite as funny as I remember it’s still very cute, with a 2D/3D hybrid art style that remains very unique and appealing. As an adult I can also appreciate the cast they got for this, with like half the cast of Futurama bolstered by guests like Michael Stipe from REM and The Sopranos’ Joe Pantoliano.

12/26: Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio - Anthony and I capped off our Christmas with the most jolly and festive stop motion movie of all! Jokes aside, man, what a beautiful movie. The animation is immaculate, and we really just don’t get children’s animated films like this anymore. Ones that overtly feature real world politics and religion and so many other dark themes in a way that doesn’t talk down to kids or sugarcoat things. This one hits hard. We need more movies like this.

12/31: Oppenheimer - This was an interesting one. Despite being three hours, the way that first hour jumps around in time makes it feel like Oppenheimer is constantly being propelled forward through life at a breakneck pace, swept up by the rising tide of nationalism in spite of his personal left wing politics, never really reflecting on what he’s doing until it’s too late. Then when he’s no longer useful to the empire, he’s chewed up and spat out, only to eventually be honored as a national hero as a symbolic gesture. It’s a compelling story. However, I’m a little torn on how certain aspects of history were framed. Does the abstraction of the bombings detract from the true weight of those events, in favor of sympathizing with the man who built the bomb? Or is it clever a way to show how the realities of the war were compartmentalized away by people who were complicit in its most heinous acts of violence? One minute a bunch of physicists are talking theory, thousands of miles away from the theaters of war, and the next they’ve killed 200,000 people. So which is it? Eh, probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. But I liked it overall.

12/31: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe - I’ve been really surprised by how good this rerelease is. It kind of flew under the radar for me. I liked the original game, but at the time it also almost felt like the New Super Mario Bros. of Kirby. It was a straightforward throwback game where you went through a grass world, then a desert world, then a water world, etc., and also they added four player co-op. But returning to this one after the kinda mid Star Allies has made me appreciate just how solid RtDL is as a Kirby game. I really like the updated graphics, too - yes, even the new cel shaded outlines around the characters - even though I didn’t think it looked that great in screenshots. Also the two new copy abilities (Sand and Mecha) are fun, the minigame collection is shockingly fleshed out to the point that they could’ve sold it as a standalone eShop game, the collectible character masks are fun, and the new epilogue mode where you play as Magolor is one of the coolest bonus modes they’ve ever done. This is a top tier Kirby remake any fan of the series should check out.

Ongoing things I followed in 2023 that don't have a blurb:

Halo Infinite multiplayer

IDW Sonic the Hedgehog (main series + specials)

One Piece

Chainsaw Man

My Hero Academia (not caught up)

The JOJOlands (not caught up)

Things I started in 2023 that I still need to finish:

Freedom Planet 2

Hi-Fi Rush

Live A Live

Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Picross 3D Round 2

Rhythm Heaven MegaMix

Mega Man Battle Network 5: Team ProtoMan

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Spark the Electric Jester 3

Sonic Dream Team

One Piece (Wano arc, anime)

Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 (I’ve already read the Shibuya arc already in the manga, though)

Astro Boy (2003 anime)

Futurama (original run rewatch)

One Piece (manga reread)

The Amazing Spider-Man (Lee/Ditko era)

Scott Pilgrim series (reread)

And finally... my favorites of 2023!!!

Overall favorite game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Favorite indie game: Pseudoregalia

Games remastered in 2023 that are now among my all-time faves: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, We Love Katamari

Most pleasant surprise in gaming: The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog

Favorite film: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Favorite live action show: Barry

Favorite anime: Pluto

Favorite anime written by a Canadian guy and an American guy based on the Canadian guy's old graphic novel series: Scott PIlgrim Takes Off

Favorite live action adaptation of an anime that I still can't believe they didn't fuck up: One Piece

Favorite Western cartoon: Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake

Favorite older cartoon I only got around to watching in its entirety this year: The Venture Bros.

Favorite documentary: Double Fine PsychOdyssey

Favorite semi-improvised semi-scripted absurdist comedy/horror/tragedy Twitch livestream performance art thing: Half-Life Alyx but the Gnome is Self-Aware finale (wayneradiotv)

Favorite manga: Chainsaw Man

Favorite older manga that I only read this year: Berserk

Favorite Western comic book: Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers

Favorite album: HELLMODE (Jeff Rosenstock)

And that's a wrap!!!!! Happy new year, everyone! Here's to me maybe actually reading a goddamn book this year

#bobby writes #i don't have a writing tag so i'm making one now to save this and other things

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amourdivine · 7 months

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𝐏𝐈𝐂𝐊 𝐀 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐃 💌 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐒 𝐘𝐎𝐔?

At last, another Tumblr pick a card reading. After reading started on Youtube, I've realized I missed the written PAC's I used to make once I got to Tumblr. Today, let's take a peek at this person's intentions! I hope you enjoy it & please don’t forget to provide feedback, if you will; If you liked this reading, please consider booking a paid reading or tipping me at @ [email protected]! xo. ♡

follow me on my socials. youtube ✨ instagram

none of the images are mine unless stated otherwise.

how to choose your pile. take deep breaths for a few minutes & look at each and every one of the piles separately. which pile sparks a feeling inside you? which pile gives you a strong memory or calls out to you the most? take your time and feel free to come back to it later.

♡ ♡ ♡ pick a card masterlist & information.

disclaimer. this is a general reading for entertainment purposes. tarot is a divination tool & is not a substitute for medical and professional advice, nor is it meant to be taken as such. i do not take responsibility for any choice(s) made by you or others regarding my readings.

amourdivine. 2021 - 2023 © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content.

PILE 001.

the artist • the lovers • the hierophant

It is possible you are in a relationship with this person, and if not, they wish to be in a relationship with you soon. This person wants commitment, they have a vision of a life with you, but they may be wrapped up in perfectionism - nothing major. They want to make sure you have a solid foundation to grow upon, like laying the groundwork for a good relationship to blossom. This person is very patient as well, I'm sensing Capricorn or Taurus. They think you're very beautiful, pretty much the whole package, pile one.

The Artist in this deck is an extra major arcana card (I'm using the Ethereal Visions Tarot) that speaks of vision and I honestly believe this person envisions more than just a casual relationship with you. Even if they take their sweet time, they want to make sure both of you are compatible, ready for something deeper, for a responsible and mature relationship to one another. Overall, I see very pure, gentle and benevolent intentions from them towards you. ♡

additional messages. pluto in scorpio, long distance relationship, long term commitment, far away/distance, old school, 95, 90, travel, sagittarius, 333, 888, ten of cups, lover of mine, forever, secure attachment.

channeled song. caroline by patrick droney.

♡ ♡ ♡ if you enjoyed this reading, please consider tipping me via paypal @ [email protected]!

PILE 002.

judgement • justice • ten of pentacles.

Whether romantic or not, this person wants to apologize to you. They want to make it right, correct their wrongs and come clean to you. If this person lied or screwed up big time in your connection, they want to tell you they've learnt their lesson. It probably came as a bitter, rude awakening or some sort of very unwanted wake-up call. I think they reminisce on a lot of memories the two of you made and it's possible you've known them for a long time - I see some sort of family tie here. Either you know each other's families or you are literally like family to one another.

They want to talk to you so bad, pile two. There are so many songs in my head (and shuffled in my playlist) about apologizing, righting one's wrongs and wanting to be in one another's life again. I think they want to make amends and finally be honest. I get the energy from you that you're "done" with them, you may have gotten tired of their excuses or empty promises... but if you haven't, consider hearing them out. They're sorry and want to provide you some closure at the very least. ♡

additional messages. scorpio rising, end of the world, bad blood, bastille, wild youth, reckless, "you were my best friend", "how could you", ten of swords, teen drama, betrayal, party animal.

channeled song. blender by 5 seconds of summer.

♡ ♡ ♡ if you enjoyed this reading, please consider tipping me via paypal @ [email protected]!

PILE 003.

queen of pentacles • ten of wands • seven of pentacles

The energy of this pile feels more platonic, but it can still be romantic for some of you. Either way, this seems like someone who wants to care for you in some type of way, to ease your burdens, to let you rely on them. Their intentions are pure, but you may not be used to accepting help from anyone, pile three. It's understandable.

However, I think this is someone other people may often label as a "safe person". I also heard "earth angel", so some of you may resonate with the term. This person wants to offer you a way out of a difficult situation and I don't see them being forceful or pushy about it, so they'll wait until you ask for them to help you or to accept their help. They see the potential in you to have a brilliant and good future. For some of you, this could be an older figure, like a mother or grandmother, maybe a teacher or someone who's already well-established in their profession. This person wants to ease your anxiety and to make sure you don't feel so alone. They care for you a lot. I think your guides want you to rely on people a bit more often, pile three, to become more interdependent, especially if you're going through something. ♡

additional messages. "count on me", sit on the rooftop, friendship, reconnect, burnout, 777, growth, sustainability, college, agriculture, blossom, bloom, midlife crisis, triggers, red alert, hypervigilance.

channeled song. thinking about you by forester.

♡ ♡ ♡ if you enjoyed this reading, please consider tipping me via paypal @ [email protected]!

PILE 004.

five of swords • the emperor • the fool

I was really hoping all piles would pass the vibe check (lol), but it seems that this person's intentions are muddy... I feel like I'm slowly drowning in quicksand but it's hard to tell if I'm truly in danger or not. Their intentions aren't all that clear, but these intentions aren't good. They seem to be someone driven by a need for control towards others. If you have argued or had a falling out with this person, they do wish to reconnect but I don't think they have changed. The Fool here feels more so like you, as if they want to make a fool out of you.

I wouldn't consider this person an enemy, but they're more of a frenemy. They may say things that hurt you, but talk their way out of an apology. Here's the thing, even if they do wish to reconnect, as I mentioned, I don't think they want to make right by you. They miss some sort of power they felt or even had over you. This person could be very competitive and perhaps having you in their life gave them a kind of advantage over others - they may see things as very "black & white", no nuance or dialogue. It will definitely do you good to stay away from them, pile three. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think you already caught onto this person's sneaky ways. ♡

additional messages. player, loser, aries, gemini, "i could never figure you out", "i hate you for what you did", drake, leave me blue, trouble, playlist, dubstep, losing faith, outta here, liar.

channeled song. who by lauv ft. bts | twin flame by montana janel (bonus song + the lyrics are very relevant)

♡ ♡ ♡ if you enjoyed this reading, please consider tipping me via paypal @ [email protected]!

amourdivine. © do not copy, redistribute or edit my content.

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courtney-deserved-better · 4 months

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seeing as it’s now been one year since the last chapter of slippery slopes was posted, i decided to make a big sappy post talking about what this fic has meant to me over the last two and a half years

i started writing slippery slopes after a bolt of inspiration struck me on this post. i’d tried writing my fair share of long fics prior, most of them remaining unpublished and all of them unfinished. i’m not quite sure what made me think i could write slippery slopes other than a strong desire to write the alenoah fic i wanted to read but that didn’t exist at the time. slippery slopes was the 30th fic posted in the alenoah tag, which didn’t have any finished long fics at the time. i think if you told 2021 pj that in two years there would be over 600 alenoah fics, many of them tdwt rewrites, their head would explode.

i honestly had no idea what i was jumping into when i started writing slippery slopes. looking back, i was very insecure about my writing. i’d actually forgotten about that until i was reading some posts i’d made while i was still writing it, where i wondered if i was going to be able to pull off the miscommunication plotline and the unplanned alecourtney friendship. almost every announcement of a chapter draft being completed included me saying i felt weird about it, or thought it was bad. i felt incredibly uncomfortable writing serious angst and when that started playing an important role in the fic at around chapter seven i feared that my writing was awful and other people would dislike it the way i had. i genuinely don’t think it hit me that slippery slopes was a popular fic until a few months before it became the most kudosed fic on ao3.

back then, i was able to understand why other people liked slippery slopes, but i couldn’t read it without cringing. i’m not sure when exactly the switch flipped—probably after i finally finished it and was able to distance myself from the writing process—but it became a fic that i’m incredibly proud of. i can reread it now and enjoy it without cringing in the slightest. i was able to see my writing as good, and well-crafted. i will always appreciate slippery slopes as a fic where i grew incredibly as a writer. i understand how to plan out long fics while still allowing for spontaneity. i can comfortably write angst. i feel strong in my choices for characterization and friendship even if it may seem unconventional. i have so much more confidence in my writing now, and a lot of that is thanks to you all.

other than desperately wanting an alenoah tdwt rewrite fic, a huge part of why i wrote slippery slopes was because i felt lonely in the td fandom and was hoping that this fic could connect me with more people out there. and boy oh boy it sure has. and not just the plethora of alenoah shippers—way more than i expected—but there were also people who didn’t ship alenoah, but still stayed for the story, and people who had never considered alenoah but gave my fic a chance and ended up shipping it anyway. when i didn’t believe my writing was good, there were many, many kind commenters who showed my fic love and encouraged me to keep going with it. and even now, there are commenters whose fresh excitement make me feel like all the time i spent on this fic was so, so worth it. and they all inspire me to keep writing.

i may be a good writer, but i don’t think i can ever fully express what everyone’s support has done for me. i still struggle to wrap my mind around the fact that there are dozens of drawings of my fic that you all have made! that’s crazy! i am so, so lucky to have such wonderful readers, and i hope you all know how incredibly grateful i am. slippery slopes would not exist without you. this was a joint effort. it’s amazing to me how a spontaneously started fic for a crackship ended up changing the total drama fandom landscape the way it did. who would’ve guessed that a simple whim to write an alenoah fic could become quite the slippery slope.

#slippery slopes #alenoah #my fic

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welcometothejianghu · 1 month

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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 叛逆者/The Rebel.

The Rebel is a 2021 period drama set during the 1930s and '40s as seen (mostly) from Shanghai by a patriotic young man who just keeps getting injured, ow, that poor baby.

It's a fairly realistic spy drama, by which I mean, there's not a bunch of cute costume changes or fun fake identities. Instead, this is a story about people who live entire other lives for years, keeping their true allegiances under wraps, doing what they can to help their side while sweating out what they can’t. It's way more John le Carré than Ian Fleming -- no James Bond flashiness or gizmos, all George Smiley subterfuge and paperwork. Actual spycraft is tough, kids!

Full disclaimer up front: This show is not a happy fun good time. It's a fascinating, gripping, tense piece of work about a thirteen-year period of history where a whole lot of miserable things were happening. The body count is frighteningly high. Be very careful about which characters you get attached to. Exactly one man has plot armor, so God help the rest of them.

However, if you're up for a quality drama with a serious tone that's so full of HISTORY! it's bursting at the seams, I have five reasons you should give this one a shot:

1. Starring the veins in Zhu Yilong's forehead

Do you feel like watching a beautiful man have a terrible day for 43 episodes straight?

This show is absolutely a Zhu Yilong vehicle. The rest of the cast is great (and more on them later), but he's the star -- and the show just loves to beat him up, both emotionally and physically. His character, Lin Nansheng, exists in a Murphy's-Law situation where if anything bad can happen to him, it will. If you like seeing this gorgeous gentleman in distress, this show has you covered.

Someone please care him.

2. Daddy Issues

Chen Moqun is a bad, bad man. He's a bastard in his first scene, and he's a bastard in his last. He is loyal to exactly one thing, and that is his own survival. He will ally with anyone and fuck anyone over if it means he gets to live another day.

He is also scaldingly hot in his bastardry.

Chen Moqun is the spymaster who pulls Lin Nansheng out of the regular military ranks and into the world of the intelligence services, despite Lin Nansheng's lack of experience in the field. This means that Lin Nansheng is Chen Moqun's little golden boy -- and that means Chen Moqun feels justified in making Lin Nansheng do whatever the hell he wants, and in getting all up in Lin Nansheng's business when he doesn't do it perfectly.

I know there are several of you out there whose tails just started wagging. Good, you've got it.

Alas that he is not in nearly as much of the series as his top billing suggests he would be. He's a major figure in the early arcs, but pretty soon after, Circumstances relocate him to somewhere Lin Nansheng isn't -- and because Lin Nansheng is our POV character, Chen Moqun all but vanishes from the show. He reappears later, but as a much less prominent figure. Still a self-serving bastard, though! Don't worry about that.

I like Chen Moqun as a character for a lot of reasons. He's slimy, but he's effective. He's smart, but he's not a supervillain. He's the kind of competent bastard that it's very fun to watch the good guys outwit. He kind of has to leave the narrative, because he's so sharp that much of the plot would be impossible under his supervision; he gets replaced by [spoiler], whose general incompetence makes him dangerous in a very different way, but who is so self-absorbed that he can't see when he's being played. Pulling the wool over Chen Moqun's eyes is a much nastier business.

At the same time, though, he's a coward. He'll sell out anything and anyone to save his own skin. His lack of inner conviction eventually reduces him to something pathetic, leaving him at the mercy of people he once abused, Lin Nansheng included. ...Ah, your tails are wagging harder now, I see.

Now, for those of you who are not into a Bad Daddy dynamic, may I sell you on how Lin Nansheng also has two Good Daddies?

Honestly, if this show had not been laboring under the weight of [gestures to the state of Chinese media and culture], I'm pretty sure they would have made at least one of these two Older Lifelong Bachelors textually gay. I'm just saying, throw-yourself-into-the-cause-style patriotism is a great cover for never marrying and being cagey about your entire personal life.

Also, I know their super-secret espionage meetups on park benches aren't intended to look like dudes cruising, but come on.

3. A startlingly good love story???

And I say "startlingly" because the love story comes in multiple stages, and I haaaaaate the first one. Fortunately, so does the show!

When Lin Nansheng and Zhu Yizhen start off their romance, she's a wealthy college schoolgirl (which comes off as more than a little creepy, since Tong Yao is clearly in her late thirties) and he's a TA at her school -- except she's actually a student activist working for the Communists, and he's a member of the KMT sent to seduce her and infiltrate her cell. It goes exactly as badly as you'd expect! And when it was clear it was over for good, I breathed a sigh of relief. I liked them both as individual characters, but as a romantic pairing, the amount of malicious deception involved really wasn't doing it for me, to say nothing of how I dislike teacher/student as a trope. (Also, they really have no chemistry together, but whatever, I'm used to c-drama hets by now.) Well, I thought, thank goodness all that's over and we'll never have to come back to it!

But here's the thing: They come together again later under different circumstances, and oh, that's some good stuff. She gets a haircut, he gets to be himself, and the two of them have to learn how to work together even when they can't entirely trust one another.

That amount of deception is great, because that's not lies -- it's opsec. They are both withholding colossal amounts of information from one another, and each one of them knows the other's doing it, even if they don't know what information is being withheld. They both want to know what the other person knows, but they also know that person would die before giving up their secrets.

This does lead to a number of points where you're hollering JUST TELL HIM/HER at the screen, which can get a little frustrating. But, like, you get it. They've got reasons for not sharing information, and grim little reason number one is, the bad guys can't torture out of you what you don't know.

This is not a romance drama; this is a drama that happens to have a complicated romance stitched all the way through it. Sometimes it's the main focus, but much of the time it's a side note. The two of them go years at a time without interacting. They each spend a fair amount of time believing the other is dead. When they do get to work together, they're great partners. When they're separated or at odds, they don't collapse.

I said earlier that Lin Nansheng is the POV character, which is mostly true. However, we do get a not-small amount of the story told from Zhu Yizhen's POV when he's not around, which goes a long way toward making her an actual person and not just an accessory to his story -- and that goes a long way toward making this romance something between equals, and not just a case where a nice guy feels real bad about how much he fucked over the girl he liked.

I'd say that if you're looking for a drama where the love story is a central point of interest, or for a drama without any love story at all, you'll be happier elsewhere. However, if you're a Goldilocks who enjoys a fraught love story when it's there but doesn't miss it when it's gone, this may strike a good balance for you!

This pair is also about as much as the show gets in terms of textual, onscreen romance. Howerver, there are also a number of couples in this show who have to pretend to be married, if that's a trope that does it for you. And speaking of those...

4. My Fair Lady

Lan Xinjie turned out to be maybe my favorite character in the show, which surprised the hell out of me, considering how she was introduced as a pretty throwaway character: Oh, look, a pretty and sophisticated woman at the dance hall, she can use her refined and wordly ways to make The Virgin Lin Nansheng sweat, it's great.

But then she comes back. In fact, she keeps exiting the narrative and then showing up again a couple episodes later! Her continued involvement with these spy boys keeps both ruining her life and saving it. Every time you think she's gotten out, circumstances pull her back into Lin Nansheng's catastrophe orbit, making her maybe the most tragic character in a series full of them.

Here's a thing that impressed me about the drama: Lan Xinjie is a sex worker, but the show never shits on her for that. The show presents what she's doing as negative, but mostly because she doesn't particularly enjoy doing it. She keeps doing it, though, because sometimes it's the best way for her to make money, and sometimes it's the only way for her to make money.

The thing is, Lan Xinjie herself never talks about what she's doing like it's some tragic fate. It's a job. She has to play nice with jackass men from all over the world, and she can do it because men fall all over a pretty girl like her. Whenever Lin Nansheng makes a sad face about it, she basically rolls her eyes at him. She has a very solid grasp of the way the world works, and she's going to do what she needs to do to keep herself and her loved ones alive.

Now: Lan Xinjie definitely functions in the narrative as a contrast to how Good and Pure Communist Girl-Next-Door Zhu Yizhen is. Lan Xinjie is a little too much of a Fallen Woman, so she's never going to threaten Zhu Yizhen's position as the main love interest. However, it would have been so easy to go all in on slut-shaming Lan Xinjie to make that contrast even starker, and the show does not do that. It does not judge her for her choices, in part because it understands that women like her very often doesn't have any.

On top of all of this, Zhu Zhu can act her damn face off. There are story beats that could have been melodramatic and unintentionally comic, but she sells them and makes them devastating. Arguably the best scenes in the entire show are when she and Zhu Yilong are working together, because the two of them consistently turn in stellar performances. This show is not exactly a font of subtlety (see my next point), but both of them manage to play their roles with restraint and dignity that make their moments together shine.

I won't spoil where exactly this goes, but to me, the complicated relationship between Lin Nansheng and Lan Xinjie is one of the highlights of the show. It's a lot of guilt and obligation intertwined with genuine affection, and because it can't be The Love Story, it winds up being a very fraught, intimate friendship that lasts through the best and worst parts of both of their lives.

Also, everything she wears is stunning. Marry me, Miss Lan.

5. Makes you feel real smart!

Hey, nerds! Do you like history? Because boy oh boy, is this a show about history!

It's so much a show about history, in fact, that it occasionally has to break into little documentary-style interludes, where you get to watch pictures of actual historical footage while one of the cast members narrates a small summary of what's going on with the geopolitical situation at that moment. Everyone in the main cast is fictional, but there are plenty of real names dropped all over the place. You aren't expected to know everything already, but you're definitely expected to keep up.

I will admit that I don't know the ins and outs of that historical period well enough to fact-check a lot of the particulars, so I can't swear to the accuracy of its various smaller moves. I do know enough about it to know, though, that this story is a little biased.

And by that I mean: This show is propaganda through and through. It’s all about how well the Righteous Communists did in their battle first against the Terrible Japanese, then against the Wicked KMT (the non-Communist Nationalists). Characters give stirring declarations of their principles at a rate of about one every other episode. There’s a whole scene where two dudes sit on a park bench and talk animatedly about what a great and prescient writer Mao was. Be prepared to be serenaded by a number of (what I assume are) stirring Communist anthems.

This all has zero emotional resonance to me. There were several points I could tell it was making references to events and people and speeches that are surely real historical things, but I lack most of the cultural competency that I’d need to recognize them without explanation. The climactic moment of Lin Nansheng’s joining the Communists (this is not a spoiler, you know it’s coming from the get-go) mostly seemed goofy to me, especially with the closed-fist salute that looks like you’re about to punch yourself in the head.

See what I mean?

All of which is to say: The propaganda did not bother me, because I mostly found it abstract and funny. And for heaven's sake, I'm from the US; I learned how to laugh my way through unsubtle pro-government propaganda watching Saturday morning cartoons.

However, I can imagine people closer to these cultures and events having MUCH stronger reactions. If this is you, yeah, be careful.

What's kind of sad (and by sad I mean funny) is how much the blatant Communism! Fuck Yeah! just turns the show into the "How do you do, fellow kids?" of propaganda. If it had just told the story, it honestly would have done a better job of making the Communists seem like the cool underdogs against the overpowering forces of authoritarian jackassery. But when you have someone all but turn to the camera damn near every episode to make sure you, the viewer, know how good and noble and smart its brave communist characters are, it sure spoils the effect.

I honestly don't know enough about the production team to know how accidental or intentional this was. Is it possible the drama is actually subtly lampooning these hyper-patriotic tropes? Sure, maybe! Is it possible that it actually believes this cringe with all its heart? Could be! Is it maybe neutral on matters of personal belief but playing up this version of history to get the show approved by party censors during the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CCP? Ah, yeah, that's the most likely one. Believe what you want about its motivations. Those who are inclined to be moved by its ideologies probably will be. The rest of us, probably the opposite.

All that said: I actually think it's useful and good to hear obviously biased takes on historical events, especially from unfamiliar and non-western perspectives. This is because all takes on historical events are biased, and it's dangerous and stupid to pretend they're not! Looking at how someone tells a story is as instructive as looking at the story they tell. If you go into the Rebel with that in mind, it adds a meta-layer of interest that I (a historian) find fascinating.

Ready to watch, comrade?

This one's an iQiyi exclusive -- and it's not a VIP exclusive, so if you're willing to put up with some ads, you can watch it all for free.

This is a show I'm probably never going to watch all the way through again, on account of how heavy it is. However, it is also a show I'm very glad I watched, because I find myself thinking about it a lot. Even when it's being hokey and jingoistic, it never stops being interesting. It's just a well-made drama that contains multitudes.

And, of course, one of those is this beautiful man's beautiful face.

#the rebel #叛逆者 #lin nansheng #i made this #rec post

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writingmochi · 8 months

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loomer | a visualizer and a teaser

cast: jay ✗ fem.reader

synopsis: jay has always been a loomer, an introvert, and an outsider in a group of people others presumed are bad. looming in the shadows in the corner of the parties full of drinks, drugs, and sex, only can be seen with the flamed blunt of his cigarette in the dark. out of the blue, an orange flame is ignited in the dark corner, creating a silhouette of another person, another loomer, standing beside him

genre: lonely people in neon cities, drama, romance, early 00s au, bad boy au, angst, mature content (consumption of drugs, explicit smut)

inspired by: music my bloody valentine's "loomer" (1991), movie fallen angels (1995) and millennium mambo (2001)

word count: 132 (projected to be around 10k and above)

release: 2024

part of the loveless anthology

the flame that illuminates a silver of his being is enough to let the world know he exists; even with the thoughts clouding his mind. stress and burden seemed to fall away in tiny bits as he could see the flame coming closer and closer to the fingers that he pinched the stick in between. under the layers of booming music from the speaker and his free hand wrapping in front of his torso, he hears a small click and a small orange light coming from the dark side, where it was supposed to be the deepest part of his shadowy blanket.

a trembling breath, a puff, and a hot cloud that flies in front of him later, jay finally turns his head around to follow the trail of smoke and sound.

taglist: @raeyunshm @endzii23 @fluffyywoo @camipendragon @hiqhkey @wccycc @cha0thicpisces @y4wnjunz @yeehawnana @beansworldsstuff @kimipxl @reallysmolrenjun @impureperhaps @shinrjj

#k-labels #enhypen imagines #enhypen scenarios #enhypen smut #enhypen angst #enhypen x reader #jay x reader #rsc: loomer #rsc: loveless #cr: jay #cs: enhypen #sc: regina

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butterflydemons · 1 month

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𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: Miya spends a night out drinking with her friends and goes home with an unknown man. She wakes up the following day and discovers it’s none other than the leader of Stray Kids.

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: bangchan x biracial!oc ( Miya )

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 5,105

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: nsfw content, drinking, fingering, oral sex ( female receiving ), unprotected sex ( wrap it before you tap it ), one night stand, pregnancy.

𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬: This fanfic is strictly fictional so I don’t wanna hear that so and so wouldn’t do this or that. Also, this is my first time writing a biracial reader. Enjoy!

𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭: @doitforbangchan @linosazuna hope you guys like it!!

Korean is Italicized.

⇢ ɴᴇxᴛ

Chapter I🧸: How It Started

〚 October 3, 2021 〛

IT WAS A Saturday night, people and cars filled the streets. Miya sat in the living room of her apartment, catching up on a K-Drama series. Like every other young adult, she wanted to get out and do something with her friends. As if god read her mind, her phone started ringing. Pausing the show, Miya grabbed her phone and saw the name Caleb🩶 flashing on the screen. A grin appeared on her face as she answered it.

Pain in my ass, how's it going?

Caleb🩶 - First of all, I’m never a pain in the ass.

You are, but I love you nonetheless. What’s up?

Caleb🩶 - Many of us are going to a Korean barbecue restaurant for a buddy of mine's birthday in an hour. Do you want to join?

I’ll be ready.

Caleb🩶 - Karsyn will meet you in front of your place.

Okay, see you later.

The phone call ended, and Miya let out a squeal in excitement. She jumped up and raced to the bathroom for a quick shower. Miya was thrilled that Hyun called and invited her. He was treating his friend to dinner for their birthday and wondered if Miya wanted to join them. It was good that Miya had no classes; seeing as she finished school to get her nursing license, she was all for a fun night.

Miya’s outfit was a blue button-up dress that exposed part of the tattoo on her thigh, leaving more to the imagination, paired with all-white sneakers, wanting to keep her look simple. She styled her medium-length dark hair with a clip in a half-up, half-down look. A white handbag and framed glasses brought the look together. After a spritz of perfume, Miya gloated at her appearance and started taking pictures of herself, posting them to her Instagram story. Seconds later, she received an incoming text from her best friend, Karsyn.

Fav Girl😚🏄 - I’m outside, babe.

Omw out.

Miya smiled as she picked up her keys and left her apartment. Outside, she saw Karsyn waiting in her car. They’ve been together since high school. Many people didn’t think they would be together this long, but they were mistaken. The two friends locked eyes, and a grin appeared on their faces.

“You look so cute!” Karsyn complimented, squeezing at her best friend's appearance. Miya didn’t consider herself arrogant but confident. “Looking like a five-course meal, baby girl!”

“Oh, stop.” Miya blushed at the nickname, beginning to feel giddy.

She entered the white Mercedes-Benz C-Class convertible, feeling the soft leather seat on her smooth legs. Miya loved the interior of Karsyn’s car because the interior lights were a different color every time. Tonight, they were pink, and they looked so luxurious.

“I’m serious. You look super cute.” Karsyn beamed, smiling at her friend.

“Thank you.” She replied, returning the gesture.

Karsyn drove away while Miya scrolled through her friend's Spotify playlist. The pair jammed out to the music from the speakers, reveling in each other’s company. They loved one another dearly and considered themselves sisters. No one could break the bond between Miya and her friends. She would protect them with her life.

In a matter of minutes, Karsyn arrives at the gathering’s destination. Of course, before they enter the restaurant, they have to take a few Instagram pictures because it wouldn’t be like them not to capture this moment. Karsyn grasps Miya’s hand, and the two of them walk inside. Immediately, Miya spotted her other best friend, Kaya, sitting at the table, scrolling through her phone. The young woman looks up at the presence of her two friends.

“Finally, you made it,” Kaya announced, catching the entire table's attention. She stood up and hugged Miya.

“Caleb called me late,” Miya replied, smiling at her friend.

“Hey! Hey! I did no such thing.” Hyun-Jung, also known as Caleb, denied, shaking his head.

“Do you want me to pull up the recent call?” Miya asked, arching an eyebrow as she held up her phone. “I can show you exactly what time you called me, Caleb.”

“I’m kidding, Mimi.” He responded, laughing as he drank his beer.

Miya rolled her eyes as she shook her head, not wanting to cuss at her friend in front of everyone in the restaurant. She settled for giving him a glare with a devious grin on her lips. Caleb thought her expression was amusing and adorable as he stood up with his arms open. He laughed as Miya reluctantly wrapped hers around him in a friendly embrace.

“You’re lucky we’re friends.” She sarcastically smiled, pulling away from their hug.

“Anyway, I want to introduce you to some people,” Caleb replied, stretching his hand out to a group of guys sitting at the end of the table.

Miya looked at the guys and was in awe at how beautiful they looked. They looked straight out of the K-Drama she had been watching earlier at home: flawless skin, perfect hair, not an ounce of makeup, a sense of fashion, and, no doubt, killer smiles. There was something familiar about the guys in front of her, but Miya couldn’t put her finger on it.

‘ Oh well, I’ll figure it out later. ‘

Caleb introduced Miya to the group of guys, and they all gave polite bows before she returned the gesture. “Nice to meet you all.” She gave them a smile before her best friend Kaya dragged her to the other side of the table.

She talked and laughed with her friends as the table started ordering Soju and meat to put on the grill, not knowing that a certain someone had his eyes on the whole time.

Chan couldn’t stop glancing at Miya every chance he got. Whenever one of the guys wasn’t talking to him, he would look at the goddess he met, seeing her laugh with her friends at the opposite end of the table. He’d never met someone that appeared like her or spoke the way she did. It was his birthday, and Caleb wanted to treat him to dinner and drinks with his group members. At first, Chan was going to deny seeing as they had an interview tomorrow, but he decided why not since Hyun offered to treat him.

Now Chan is glad he accepted Caleb’s invitation because if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have met this gorgeous girl named Miya. Something about her made him want to get to know her more. He wanted to know her favorite food, see her smile daily, and how she sounded beneath him. Chan’s mind was becoming restless, but it fluttered back to her for some reason. No matter how hard Chan tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about Miya’s million-dollar smile.

His heart didn’t flutter until he heard Miya speaking Korean to Ryan. “Yeong hyung, what's the plan after this?”

“It’s up to everyone what they want to do.” Yeong-Sik, known as Ryan, answered, shrugging his shoulders. “I'm down to hit a club.”

“That sounds fun.” Miya’s other friend, Karsyn, chimed in, nodding in agreement.

He could return to his hotel room and get some much-needed sleep, or he could go out with his friends, getting to know the beauty scanning him with her seductive eyes from the opposite end of the table. Chan wanted to do things to her—sinful things—things that would make a holy person have a heart attack. Never had he felt this way towards someone, especially a woman. His eyes glanced at everyone around him but lingered on Miya’s for a few seconds before replying.

“Sure, why not.” Chan nodded, shrugging his shoulders.

Ryan bursts into cheers, raising his glass of Soju before throwing it back and slamming his cup on the wooden table.

Keep screamin’ you want it, girl, you lookin’ lovely when you ride this pony; we can do this ‘til the morning.

The large group entered the nightclub, and Kaya immediately dragged Miya to the bar while the others went to the table Ryan had booked. Club OCTAGON was packed with people from wall to wall, making maneuvering difficult. At the bar, Miya ordered a lemon drop martini, Kaya wanted a screwdriver, and Karsyn got a porn star martini, followed by a round of shots for themselves.

“Here’s to having a fun night and shaking some ass!” Kaya toasted, making the other two females repeat after her. “Here’s to having a fun night and shaking some ass!” Miya downed the shot, grimacing at the bitter taste, and chased it with her martini.

“Let’s go dance!” Karsyn shouted over the music. She grabbed Miya’s hand and pulled her through the sea of bodies to the dance floor.

The trio of friends laughed and danced amongst the crowd, slowly engulfed in the euphoric atmosphere. Miya’s hips moved to the beat of One Of The Girls by The Weekend. Her hands ran over her body sensually, almost in a teasing way. She could feel his eyes on her the entire time. His brown orbs slowly scanned over her luscious figure.

Chan’s hands twitched as he stared at Miya, teasing him with her sensual movements. He wanted to get her alone and run his hands over every curve on her body, hearing her moan beneath him as he fucked her slow and deep. The air around him grew heavy the longer his eyes lingered. Chan saw an opportunity when she said something to her friends and walked to the bar. His feet took him to the crowded space, but he found a space beside her.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re following me,” Miya said, smirking as she looked at him.

Chan stumbled over his words, unable to find the correct response. He went silent for a few seconds before speaking, “N-No, I’m not following you.”

“Are you ordering a drink?” She asked him, grinning at his body language.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Chan responded, scratching the back of his neck. He didn’t know why he felt so nervous.

“About what?” Miya questioned, arching an eyebrow at him.

Chan got a whiff of Miya's perfume and wanted to moan out loud. She smelled of vanilla and peaches. “What’s your name?”

“Miya.” She replied, taking a sip of her second lemon drop martini.

“Do you have a Korean name?” He inquired, leaning against the bar.

“Ae Mae-Ying,” Miya answered, smiling at Chan flirtatiously.

Now that Chan was this close to her, Miya got a good look at him. He looked like he had stepped out of a K-Drama: flawless skin, pretty brown eyes, and full pink lips.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiled, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

“You have an accent. Where are you from?” Miya asked, politely shaking his hand.

“Australia,” Chan answered, letting out a chuckle.

“No way. My friend Karsyn is from there, too.” Miya gasped, staring at Chan in shock. “She was born in Melbourne.”

“It’s a pretty nice place.” Chan nodded, smiling at Miya.

The longer the pair talked, the more Chan wanted to take Miya back to his hotel room and strip her of her dress. He could tell she wanted the same by the hunger in her eyes. As if they read each other’s minds, Chan smirked at Miya as he laced his fingers with hers and took her outside the club. She ordered an Uber, and once it arrived, the two got in, heading to Chan’s hotel room. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other in the backseat.

Chan's left arm wrapped around Miya’s neck while his right hand rested on her thigh, rubbing circles in the skin. Miya giggled as Chan planted kisses on the exposed skin of her neck. She loved neck smooches; they made her very horny and made her throb. He’d whisper how sexy she looked on the dance floor while slowly inching his hand higher on her upper leg. Her breathing gradually became uneven and ragged.

The pair arrived at the hotel and thanked the driver as they climbed out of the backseat. Miya giggled as Chan held her hand and twirled her in a circle. He was enjoying her company and soon her naked body. As they entered the building, the employees behind the check-in counter were the only people there. Other guests were either in their room minding their business or out having a good time.

On the elevator ride to the eighth floor, Chan had Miya against the wall, his face stuffed in her neck, drinking in her scent. He was mesmerizing it in his brain. Her eyes would roll back as he sucked on her pulse point, making her whimper. Chan’s veiny hands slithered around her waist and gripped both cheeks in his palms, pulling her closer to his body. Miya’s arms wrapped around his neck, tilting her head to the side so he could gain more access to skin.

Chan perched her leg on his hip as he slid his left hand up her thigh, going beneath Miya’s dress to grip her ass. She could feel the material of his jeans rub against her clothed clit, and that set her body into overdrive. Her pussy started throbbing, feeling like it had a heartbeat, and it was no doubt leaking into her panties. Miya whimpered as Chan sucked on her pulse point, earning a moan from her. He could listen to her whimpers and moans any day of the week.

When Chan did pull away from Miya’s neck, he stared at her dead in the eyes and smashed his lips to hers. The two engaged in a steamy yet passionate kiss. Their teeth clicked together as each of them moaned. Miya’s tongue swirled around Chan’s, and his cock grew hard at the sensation. He wanted nothing more than to have Miya’s legs pressed to the bed as he pounded her into the following year.

The sound of the elevator dinging brought them out of their blissful world, and they stepped off the machine. Miya giggled as Chan pressed her against the wall, licking along her neck as they walked to his room. When they arrived, Chan used the key card to unlock the door and allowed Miya to enter first. As soon as the door closed, Chan was on Miya, and she was on him. He softly slammed her against the nearest wall.

Chan hoisted the young woman in his arms as her legs wrapped around his torso. Yet again, their lips moved in sync but quickly deepened as he walked over to the bed. Miya’s back hits the soft mattress as Chan continues his assault on her neck. Chan’s lips on Miya made her mind go fuzzy, unable to think straight. He gripped her thigh and pulled it up a bit, lifting her hips enough to feel his pelvis as he kneaded the flesh.

Miya moaned, feeling the roughness of Chan’s pants rub against her covered sensitive clit, giving her the right amount of friction. She squirmed beneath him as the wetness of her panties became uncomfortable. Chan kissed her deeply, briefly pausing to peel Miya out of her dress, leaving her in her black thong. He admired her body, staring at every curve and dip in her skin, running his hands up and down her frame. Hell, he even thought she had such a beautiful body.

Miya had puffy lips as her chest rose and fell, and she tried to catch her breath as the man above her trailed his lips down her body. Starting at Miya’s neck, Chan nibbled down her collarbone to the valley of her breasts, making sure to suck her nipples in his mouth, showing attention to the sensitive buds. She moaned, running her fingers through his hair and pulling his face closer. Chan loved hearing her moan and could listen to them all day. He wanted to keep her beneath the sheets.

Chan continued his assault with his lips trailing his tongue down the young woman’s torso. When he got to her panties, he looked up at her, and she nodded for him to continue. His hands reached up and peeled the black item of clothing down her legs, discarding them behind him. Miya’s heart was beating wildly in her chest, and her stomach burned with arousal. She was beyond horny.

Chan ran his fingers through her fold before he slipped the tip of his middle finger into her. “Such a pretty pussy you have.”

Miya couldn’t help but blush at the compliment. Her back arched as Chan thrust his finger inside of her knuckle, deep exploring her soft walls.

“Mmm fuck.” She moaned, closing her eyes in pleasure.

Chan’s lips hovered over Miya’s as he slowly worked in and out of her. She kept arching and writhing as he continued his ministrations, mouth wide open as she let out silent moans.

“I can feel you tightening already.” Once Chan added a second finger, Miya couldn't contain herself. Her moans spilled out of her like a pornstar. Even when he kissed her, nothing stopped the volume she was outputting. “Good job, baby.”

Chan could feel her walls clamp down on his fingers. “C-Chan…please…” Miya could contain the moans that escaped her mouth as they bounced off the hotel room's walls.

“Please, what?” Chan smirked at Miya, watching her come undone. “I can’t hear you.”

His fingers moved faster in and out of her tight wet cunt loving the sounds she made. He smiled as he heard her beg and plead, and he stopped. Miya felt hurt, distracted even. Chan gazed at her lustfully before taking her by surprise by latching his mouth on her clit. Miya bites back her moans, and that makes Chan mad.

Something came over him, and he swatted her ass cheek, making her mewl. Chan groaned at the taste of her juices as they ran down his chin. Miya gasped, gripping the back of his head and pushing him deeper into her sopping pussy.

“Mmm, you taste so fucking good.” Miya moaned at the huskiness of Chan’s voice. The vibrations of his tone shot right to her pulsing cunt.

“Don’t stop, please.” Miya moaned, feeling Chan run his fingers over sensitive clit. “I’m so close.”

How can Chan say no to her? He grabbed the back of Miya’s knees, pushed her legs to the bed, and began to devour her. His tongue ran through her soaking cunt before sticking it inside of her. Miya’s thighs started shaking, feeling her first orgasm of the night approaching. And it was coming fast.

There was a burning feeling in Miya's lower stomach, and her walls clenched. She was a spluttering mess saying Chan’s name in a chanting moan. As her orgasm hit her hard, Miya closed her thighs around Chan’s head as the aftershocks flowed through her body. Chan laughed, removing Miya’s legs, and trailed kisses up her chest, nibbling the skin on her neck before smashing his lips to hers. She moans, tasting herself in his mouth.

Chan was hard beyond words. He didn’t need Miya to suck his cock but would’ve loved to feel it; he just wanted to be inside of her. As Chan shed his pants and boxers, Miya gawked at him, impressed with the sheer size of his appendage. Miya knew that she should tell him to grab a condom, but with the alcohol running through their veins, she couldn’t stop herself from crying out as he sank into her.

Miya threw her head back, arching into Chan as she pulsated wildly around him. “So fucking tight…” Chan hissed as his pace sped up to the point he was jackhammering into her. His lips found their way back to her neck, and kept mumbling about how Miya felt around him. She felt so tight, so warm, just right. His teeth nipped her ear lobe, desperate to grab onto something. “Is this good, baby? Need it harder, faster?”

When Miya didn’t respond, Chan slowed down, making her whine. Chan never wanted to pull out. He yearned to keep himself nice and snug in her warmth. He was stretching her out oh so sweetly.

“Faster, please,” Miya begged, rolling her eyes to the back of her head. She lay on the bed, eyes glazed over with lust, and her cheek flushed.

Chan couldn’t get over the way she looked beneath him. She was so sexy, so good, and willing to take whatever he could dish out. He bit his lip at Miya’s fucked out appearance and glanced down, seeing the white ring at the base of his cock. His thumb rubbed her sensitive clit making the woman beneath him mewl out loud.

“Oh, you’re so sensitive, baby,” Chan grunted, leaving a hickey on her neck.

“Ahhh…wait…” Miya squirmed, and her hand went to grab his wrist. Chan noticed how she didn’t pull his hand away despite her pleas. “Chan, please--too much.”

He kept using her body. Chan could feel her clamping down around his length. “Sorry,” he breathed out as he felt the pressure in his balls rising. “You’re just, hmmmph, too perfect.

“Fuck, fuck fuck,” Miya came with a cry. Her arms wrapped around his neck, trying to ground yourself in any way that she could. Nothing could stop the curses that flowed out of you as you held him close against you. Chan wasn’t far behind; “Oh, I-I’m gonna--”

Chan stilled as his hot sticky cum painted the inside of Miya’s tight cunt. Their heavy breaths filled the room, bouncing off the walls. He pressed his lips to hers as her hands ran down his muscular back. Once his cock went soft, Chan pulled out of Miya and went to the bathroom to retrieve a small towel. As he cleaned Miya off, she could feel herself falling asleep.

Chan smiled down at Miya’s sleeping form and lay beside her, going to sleep himself.

Miya stirred awake, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. As she regained consciousness, she soon realized she wasn’t in her bedroom, let alone her apartment. Her head pounds, eyes go wide as she sits up in the bed and discovers she is naked.

‘What the hell happened last night?’

As she rubbed her head, Miya glanced around the room, and her eyes settled on a body underneath the blankets. Hesitantly, she reached over and peeled the sheets back to receive a lifetime shock. Asleep in the nude beside her was none other than the leader of Stray Kids: Bang Chan. Miya quietly gasped as she slipped out of the bed onto the floor. She had to be quick and silent.

‘Holy shit! There can’t be no way.’

‘How could I not recognize him?’

Miya tiptoed around the hotel room and found her dress lying on the floor before slipping it on. She discovered her panties and shoes discarded by the door. After seeing all her items, Miya snuck out of the door to the elevator. Inside the machine, she leaned against the wall. She opened her purse and grabbed her phone, seeing she only had a ten percent battery.

With a second thought, Miya ordered herself an Uber. When she got to the lobby, the red sedan was waiting for her to take her home. Miya climbed in the backseat, buckled her seatbelt, and leaned her head against the window. On the ride home, she saw at least fifty calls from Kaya and decided to call her back before her phone died.

Bestie🤍🥤- It’s about time you fucking answered! I was about to go to the police station and put out a missing persons report!!

Well, good thing I did call you.

Bestie🤍🥤- Where the hell have you been?

I went with some guy last night.

Bestie🤍🥤- With whom?

Some guy I met. I didn’t get his name.

Bestie🤍🥤- Next time, let someone know so we don’t worry.

I’m sorry, jagi.

Bestie🤍🥤- Where are you now?

I’m in an Uber on my way home.

Bestie🤍🥤- Okay, I’ll see you soon.

Okay bye.

Right when Miya hung up her phone, the screen went black. Finally, she arrived home and thanked the driver as she exited the car. Entering her apartment, Miya locked the door behind her. She kicked off her sneakers and plopped down on the couch. She stared at the ceiling as the events of last night replayed in her head.

Miya remembered everything from when Caleb introduced her to Chan and his bandmates to the second they stepped inside his hotel room. Did she regret it? No. Does she feel embarrassed? Hell yeah. She had sex with a known celebrity. Damn it, Miya hoped he didn't remember because that would be humiliating and prayed she’d never see him again.

She was so worried that she didn’t hear her best friend Kaya walk into the apartment.

“What’s got your mind occupied?” Kaya asked, tapping Miya on her leg.

“I think I did something wrong,” Miya answered, sitting on the couch.

“What happened?” Her best friend questioned curiously, leaning back against the sofa.

“I-I-I slept with someone.” She stuttered, beginning to feel guilty.

“Who was it?” Kayla inquired, crossing her arms.

“Do you know the K-pop group Stray Kids?” Miya asked, taking a breath and preparing to spill the beans.

“Yeah, what about them?” Her best friend responded, eyeing her warily.

“Well, I had sex with their leader,” Miya confessed, feeling like she lifted a weight off her shoulders.

It took Kaya a minute to process what Miya had confessed before gasping. “No shit you did.”

“Wait, you knew?” She asked, eyes widening in shock.

“Mhmm. The dinner was for his birthday.” Kaya nodded, replying to her best friend.

“I’m freaking out on the inside. How can I do that and with Chan of all people?” Miya asked herself out loud, staring at the ceiling.

“You’re human, Miya.” Kaya sighed, patting her friend on the shoulder.

“What would you do in my position?” Miya questioned, looking at her calm friend.

“Don't make a big deal about it.” Her best friend said, shrugging her shoulders. “If you think about it, he most likely won’t say anything about it because of his status.”

“You’re right.” She nodded, processing her words. She sat silently for a minute before sighing and saying, “Thank you for that, but I need to shower.”

“You’re welcome.” Kaya smiled, waving at her as Miya walked towards her bedroom.

While Miya showered, she stood under the cascading water, having a flashback to last night. She’s not going to lie; she had a damn good time with Chan. Especially when they got to his hotel room. Honestly, Miya would do it again and again. She hopes it doesn’t get out to the public, including his fans.

It’s been eight weeks since Miya slept with Stray Kids’s leader Bang Chan. She went on with her days pretending like it didn’t happen, although she kept getting flashbacks of that pleasurable moment. Having to go to work the next day, Miya returned to her work routine as a neonatal nurse. Miya loved her job and wouldn’t trade it for any other career. No one could convince her to switch jobs if they offered to pay her twenty million dollars.

Today was like any other day for Miya. She woke up early, got ready, stopped for coffee, and carpooled with Kaya to work. For some reason, it felt off to her. As she sipped her beverage, she cringed at the bitter taste but stopped when her stomach churned.

“Pull over.” Miya quickly stated, unfastening her seatbelt. She opened the door and leaned just in time to vomit her morning breakfast.

Kaya sat in the driver's seat, shocked and worried for her best friend. “Are you okay? You never get sick from coffee?”

Miya heaved before leaning back in the vehicle. Kaya hands her a bottle of water to rinse her mouth out. She tried catching her breath before speaking.

“Is today the 28th?” Miya asked, staring ahead of her.

“Yeah, why?” Her best friend asked, driving away when the light turned green.

Suddenly, Miya's eyes widened as she tried to unlock her phone and click on her period tracker app. The notification bubble popped up: Your period is 55 days late! Miya gasped.

“We have to stop by a convenience store,” Miya said, looking at her best friend.

“What? Why?” Kaya asked, widening her eyes and raising her brows in shock.

“Please just go to a convenience store.” She begged as realization began to sink into her brain.

On the car ride to the store, Kaya was worried about her best friend and curious about why she needed to go there, but she drove there anyway. Miya raced inside the building, searching the aisles for what she needed. Once Miya found what she needed, she hesitantly grabbed them and paid. Kaya eyed the bag inside the car but didn’t question Miya why her best friend got what she bought. The pair arrived at the hospital and went through metal detectors before walking to their department.

Before heading to her post, Miya took the pregnancy tests to the restroom. Kaya eyed her warily and followed behind her. Miya took each test out of the box and peed on each stick. She held all three in her hand, praying they all came up negative. God, she hoped they were false.

After the time was up, she slowly peered at the sticks and gasped. Kaya heard her and knocked on the stall door.

“Miya, what's wrong?” She asked, placing her hand on the door.

Miya felt shocked, scared, and even somewhat happy. Did Mya want a child right now? No, she didn't. For crying out loud, Miya’s only twenty-two. What will she do with a baby while working the hours she does? Slowly, she stood up and unlatched the restroom stall door, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m pregnant.” Miya sniffled, falling into Kaya’s arms as she cried.

Kaya couldn’t do anything but comfort her best friend through her tough time. “Oh baby, I’m sorry. Whatever you want to do, know that Karsyn and I are always here for you.” She kissed Miya’s head while rubbing her back in a comforting manner.

It took Miya some time to gather herself before she got to work. During her shift, Miya kept thinking about what she should do. What would her parents think? Does she even tell them? How will they react?

#「❀」 ⠀ ⠀ 𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒 #bang chan x reader #bang chan x oc #bang chan x biracial!reader #bang chan x biracial!oc #bang chan series #bang chan fanfic #bang chan fic #stray kids x reader #stray kids fanfic #stray kids fic #Spotify

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chans-room · 1 year

Text

Craving Connection — 1

Warnings: reader has nickname Sugar Plum, familial drama, self-deprecating thoughts, mentions of anxiety, allusions to abandonment/abandonment issues, discussions of toxic former relationships, discussions of cheating in said former relationship, Chan calls her ex a cunt (derogatory) multiple times lol, a little bit of spice but it’s very mild bc they’re in public but there’s a somewhat staged ~fake dating~ PDA moment I’m earning that tag on this one babes. Tbh that’s pretty much all there is before we swan dive into it 👀

Length: 4k + text conversation

A/n: so I am a backstory heavy bitch and I can’t seem to start my SMAUs without a few written chapters soooo sorry about that? Also I’m sorry this has taken 8000 years, I’m already working on the next part and have a fair amount of future chapters done so hopefully I’ll be able to update this pretty frequently. Thank you @bibbykins and @j-a-nuary for making this legible. also everyone can thank @gimmethatagustd for how the last scene turned out 🖤

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October 1, 2021 — 5:20am

She bounced on her toes, eyes scanning the small crowd of people pulling suitcases behind them for the familiar freckles of her favorite cousin. She knew he — and the friend he had brought with him — had landed, but the minutes seemed to drag as she watched families and friends reuniting all around her, in the dead of the night.

But the crowd thinning made her palms sweat. The fear that her parents had found out, and gone against their self-imposed rule to never speak about her again, and that Felix had changed his mind about her.

“Felix! You can’t just drop your shit here, mate!” A voice called out, making her stop in the midst of her aimless pacing and her head snap toward the direction of the sound. She only saw a flash of black before someone slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her as they crashed into the floor.

“Sugar Plum, I’ve missed you so much!” Felix’s deep voice nearly reverberated in her chest from where he laid on top of her, deceptively strong arms constricting around her.

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she giggled, tightening her grip on him, “You have no idea how much I missed you, Lix.”

“I’m so happy to see you,” he sighed, loosening his grip to hover over her, a pleased smile on his face. “Come on, we have so much to catch up on.”

She rolled her eyes, letting him pull her off the ground before wrapping her in another tight hug. It sent a deep pain through her chest, the moment mirroring the last time she’d seen him — standing in that very airport 2 years before, saying goodbye to him before he left for Seoul. They had cried and promised to see each other at Christmas, Easter, and on every overlapping holiday they could find. It was a promise she regretted breaking — but it was one she had no control over. That had been the first of many days she felt truly alone; and if she’d known what would follow, she might have gone with him then. Maybe if she had, she would still have a family.

“Felix!” The same voice from earlier called out, making them both look over their shoulders to find the source.

He was gorgeous, even if he was angry. His strong brows were furrowed over narrowed, sparkling brown eyes. “Oh! Good, you’re here,” Felix smiled proudly, before gesturing toward him and clearing his throat, “This is my friend, and roommate, he owed me a favor, which is why he’s here. Besides, his birthday is in like 2 days and I’m such a good friend, so I brought him home to see his family. Aren’t I the best, Chris?”

Dread shot through her at the name; she couldn’t seem to escape memories of him. She pushed down the bitter taste in her mouth — she couldn’t be unfairly judging her cousin's friend just because he shared the unfortunate fate of having the same name as her ex.

Fortunately, her momentary battle with her brain wasn’t noticed by either boy, seeing as Felix was ignoring the way his friend’s plump lips were pulled tight into a grimace, his strong jaw clenching in anger as he dragged three suitcases behind him, his thick arms piled high with various sweaters and a bouquet of flowers. She bit her lip to suppress a laugh as he glared daggers at her cousin, his gaze softening slightly as he took her in, before hardening again as he refocused on the boy next to her.

“Felix, if you abandon me again with all of your shit, I will leave it behind,” he seethed, dropping the pile of sweaters on the ground with a muffled thump, earning an indignant scream from Felix.

“That’s Hyunjin’s cashmere!” He yelped, diving at the pile.

The glare faded into an endeared smile as he watched Felix dust off the sweater, shaking his head fondly before turning his attention to her. He held out the bouquet, the soft smile on his plush lips pushing his cheeks up to make his eyes nearly disappear into tiny crescents. “He got these for you back in Seoul. He made the flight attendant put them in water for nearly the whole thing so they wouldn’t wilt. I’m Chan by the way.”

She could feel the tears well up in her eyes again as she took the flowers from him, trying to still her shaking hands. “Thank you,” she forced out, internally cringing at the quiver in her voice as she did. She cleared her throat before tearing her eyes off her cousin, willing away her tears, “So… Chris? Chan? Do you have a preference?”

“No, not really,” he laughed with a shrug, “Felix is really the only one to call me Chris, except my family. All our other friends call me Chan.”

The admission put her mind at ease as she nodded absently, staring at the tulips in her hands, as she mumbled her name to him, followed by a shy, “Everyone calls me Sugar Plum though.” she shrugged, making him smile.

“Honestly, you can call me whatever you like,” he said, feigning indifference before leaning in and whispering in her ear, “and Sugar Plum is cute, but I think I’d rather call you mine.”

She choked on a gasp and a giggle as he backed away, throwing her a wink.

—

October 1, 2021 — 1:45 pm

“You really don’t have to spend the day with me, Chan,” she sighed, slipping the sunglasses down her nose to stare at him over the edge of the frame, “I know you want to see your family and spend time with them. I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself for one day.”

Chan felt the bittersweet edge to her words, and he hated how they made his chest tingle with unease. The tone of her voice stirred an ugly anger in his gut as he considered why she would be so quick to dismiss herself. It made him want to prove her wrong — to show her that she was someone who anyone would want to spend time with; someone who he wanted to spend time with.

With a big smile, he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his side, not missing the way she bit her lip and tried to hide the grin growing on her face. “Nah, it’s kinda nice to get to see Sydney like this, you know? I’ve never stayed in a fancy hotel like the one you’re staying in. But also I’m glad I have the chance to get to know you better,” he smiled, watching her sink behind her hands. “Besides, Felix will be back tomorrow, and seeing my parents for two days is better than the zero I thought I would.”

“I’m just saying if you don’t wanna be with me today you don’t need to. I’m used to doing things alone,” she mumbled, making Chan frown.

“Yeah, well, I don’t wanna be alone, so you’re stuck with me today,” he grinned, scrunching his nose at her hesitant expression. “Come on, we’re almost up and you haven’t decided what you want!” He could feel her heartbeat under his hand resting in the middle of her back, and part of him hoped that it was because of him.

“Are you always this serious about ice cream?” She asked, staring up at him with raised eyebrows.

“Are you not serious about ice cream? I mean, come on, it’s one of life’s most simple pleasures!” He exclaimed, drawing attention from the people surrounding them. The laugh that tore out of her made his heart race; he’d never heard anything so perfect.

“You just have to cause a scene, don’t you,” she giggled, pressing her face into his shoulder to hide from the disapproving stare of the old woman in front of them who was shaking her head and mumbling to herself.

“Only when it makes you laugh like that,” he sighed, pleased that he’d been able to pull her out of the tense, almost sour mood she’d been in since Felix told her he would be gone for the day. He didn’t need to know everything that happened with their family to know that she’d been hurt, and something about that sat heavily in his gut. What he did know was that it was too nice of a day for her to spend it alone in the hotel.

“So tell me about school. You’re on the soccer team with Lix, right? What’s everyone else like? What do you all study?” She asked, pushing her sunglasses back onto the top of her head, “I want to know all the details before I start next week.”

The attention turning on him made heat flood his cheeks, cursing the pink tinge he knew was creeping up his neck as she stared up at him expectantly. The look in her eyes made his mouth run dry — he couldn’t feel like that about her. There was no way Felix would let him live if he tried, and as his roommate, he needed to keep the peace.

But the feeling of her fingers curling around his bicep made his head swim and his heart race. He knew already there was no way he could deny the effect she had on him. He could only hope she felt the same.

October 1, 2021 — 4:10pm

“Do you wanna hang out here or walk around a bit more?” Chan asked, shoving his wallet back into his pocket as they wandered away from the counter.

She felt her heart flutter for the millionth time that day as he looked at her expectantly. She didn’t know if she could ever get used to someone caring about her opinion so much — it was equal parts exciting and unsettling.

“It’s supposed to rain, so maybe we should start heading back to the hotel?” She shrugged, trying to push the unease out of her mind; trying to convince herself that Chan wasn’t Christian. Felix would never have trusted him if he was.

At that moment she realized she’d almost gone the whole day without thinking of him. But the moment the thought of him passed through her mind, it was as if she’d conjured him. Because behind Chan’s shoulder, she watched him walk through the door, arm around the shoulders of a girl she had only seen once — the night she packed her things and left him.

“Fuck,” she whispered. He shouldn’t have been there, he should have been in Singapore, planning his wedding. Not in Australia, not in Sydney, but definitely not in her favourite coffee shop. It made her blood boil and her hands shake — Christian had refused to set foot inside it again after she had dragged him there the first time. He’d even told her that she was embarrassing for wanting to go back there. But now; here he was with Hanako. With the fiancée he’d conveniently forgotten to mention.

Jealousy and rage clouded her senses, but the crushing sense of inadequacy that filled her made her stomach turn. He never looked at her the way he was looking at Hanako — so full of love and adoration. She couldn’t even blame him; she was gorgeous. Her silky black hair cascaded down her back effortlessly, and a sweet smile seemed to be set permanently on her heart shaped lips. The more she stared at her the more self conscious she became — Hanako seemed to be everything she was not.

She realized at that moment it was never about the coffee shop; he was embarrassed to be with her.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chan asked, crowding her sight as he pulled her toward the wall of books. His hands cradling her face tenderly made the fresh wave of tears sting in her eyes. She hated it — she hated that he could see the cracks in her, hated how Christian could find new ways to hurt her, and hated that there was still part of her that was affected by him.

“Not really,” she laughed sarcastically, pushing the bone crushing hurt back down. “That guy over there, the asshole with the tattoos and the all black, the one with the girl in the dress? He’s my ex. And I don’t want him to see me.”

Chan’s head whipped around to look over his shoulder, finding them with ease before turning back to face her, “That guy?”

She nodded, “Yeah. And that’s his fiancée.”

“What a cunt,” Chan mumbled, shaking his head.

She grabbed his shoulders, positioning her in front of him to effectively block herself from Christian’s view, using Chan’s broad frame as a shield, “I can’t stand him.“

“Hey, don’t worry about him, just focus on me,” Chan said softly, shuffling forward to cage her against the bookshelf. “What do you wanna do?”

“I just-I don’t want him to see me. He wasn’t supposed to be here,” she mumbled with a pout.

He nodded before he took a step forward, pressing her back fully against the wall, “I’m gonna touch you, is that okay?” He asked, his hands hovering over her waist. The earnestness in his eyes gave her goosebumps; she couldn’t remember a time anyone looked at her like he was right then.

“Yeah, you can touch me,” she nodded breathlessly, “Can I..?”

“Of course,” he smiled, shivering as her hands skimmed across his shoulders, one hand gently tracing shapes into the muscle of his chest while the other occupied itself with the curly black hairs at the nape of his neck. “God it’s so stupid but I’m just-like-I have so many questions.”

She laughed and rolled her eyes, tugging his hair lightly, “Don’t say it’s stupid, you’re curious. That’s normal. I’ll answer whatever you wanna know.”

“I’m not sure I wanna know honestly,” he laughed bitterly, “Whatever you tell me will probably just make me want to punch him in the face.”

A soft warmth spread through her at his honesty; it was incredibly refreshing after spending 2 years constantly guessing what Christian was thinking or feeling. For a second she imagined how nice it would be to be with someone like him. But she quickly shook herself out of the fantasy — she barely knew Chan, how could she possibly think she knew him well enough to imagine a relationship with him.

“I doubt it, Channie,” she sighed, looking away from his eyes, focusing on the thin gold chain that sat on his collarbones. It caught the light every time she twirled a curl around her finger, making an image of him hovering over her with his chain smacking his chin as he pounded into her flash through her head. Tendrils of lust curled in her belly — she didn’t know how thoroughly and quickly Chan managed to take root in her head but she knew it couldn’t be good.

“Well, he’s your ex and he has a fiancée, so I think anything I find out about him is going to make me hate him more than I do right now,” he scoffed before adding, “You’re lucky it’s me with you today and not Felix. He wouldn’t even ask, he’d just start swinging.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that — he was right. Her cousin was prone to reacting first and asking questions later. “I mean, that’s fair I guess. But honestly it was barely a relationship. I mean, you and I are being more scandalous now than he and I ever were.”

“You’re telling me he had you and he wasn’t showing you off to everyone with eyes?” Chan asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She shook her head before answering, “We didn’t really do… anything. We didn’t go out, I never met his friends or family and he never met mine. I realize now it’s because I was his side piece and he couldn’t have anyone asking about me,” she shrugged, wishing she didn’t sound so defeated.

Chan’s body went rigid under her hands, his jaw clenched and his hands tightening on her hips. “What a fucking cunt,” he ground out through his teeth, “If you were mine, fuck, I’d never be able to keep my hands off you. My friends would be sick of how much I talk about you, Sugar Plum — especially Felix.”

The flames of desire surged in her veins again; it was almost overwhelming. She knew Chan was dangerous for her for any number of reasons, but the main one being that he made her want for the first time in a long time. She didn’t realize how much she craved what he was offering until he put it into words. But she didn’t know if he meant it as seriously or as desperately as she wanted it.

Chan’s voice in her ear made her shiver, pulling her out of the thought spiral that was beginning to consume her. “I really can’t stand this,” he mumbled before a wicked smile spread across his face, “Alright, so, I’m gonna get real close to you, and you’re gonna slip your hand under the back of my shirt, okay? If you’re uncomfortable or want me to back off, I will, but he needs to know what he lost. So he can see you’re not bothered by him.”

Her mouth went dry as she put his plan together in her head, watching the smirk grow as she dropped one hand from where it was resting on the back of his neck, her fingers toying with the hem of his shirt. “You’re evil, just like me,” she breathed, splaying her hand across his warm, muscular expanse of skin as both of his grabbed her hips, adjusting his stance so he could tower over her slightly. “I like that about you,” she admitted, making him chuckle.

He surged forward, his nose bumping against hers, “I like that about you too, Sugar Plum,” he smiled, “Now if you wanna really sell it, I’m gonna dip my head down and you’re gonna pull my hair and kiss my neck.”

“Okay,” she whispered back, feeling Chan’s breath on her neck, his hand sliding into her hair to steer her where he wanted her. Her fingers tightened in his hair on instinct as her lips brushed the junction of his neck — making goosebumps spread across his tanned arms. She felt him shudder, giggling an apology into his skin.

“Don’t be sorry,” he argued, resting his forehead against her collarbone, “It was nice, I just can’t control what my body does when someone like you kisses my neck like that. I mean, it’s really not fair.”

She was about to apologize again when she felt his plush lips make contact with her skin, but where her touch was fleeting and almost accidental, his lips attached themselves to her neck with force.

The gentle suction ripped a startled gasp from her. He pulled away with a wet pop, smiling innocently, “Now we’re even,” he shrugged. “I’m sure he’s fucking boiling now. I know I would be if I saw that.”

It took her a second to remember how their little charade had begun, feeling dizzy because of Chan’s presence and proximity. She had nearly forgotten about Christian entirely, something she couldn’t deny made her stomach flip with both anxiety and excitement. She had to fight through the haze in her mind to even think of a coherent response. “Chan I don’t think he’s looking—“

“Why wouldn’t he be looking? You’re the most interesting thing here. Everyone should be looking.”

The absolute certainty in his voice was staggering to her — she knew he meant it. But she couldn’t understand why. He barely knew her, but he was committing near public indecency just to spite her ex on her behalf. Maybe it was because he was so close with Felix, one of the only people she trusted wholeheartedly and implicitly, but she didn’t question Chan’s intentions or authenticity in the slightest.

It made her want him even more.

“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it,” she whispered back, the words coming out of their own volition. She knew he meant it — but she needed to hear him confirm it.

He surged forward, his nose bumping against hers — a habit of his that she enjoyed a little too much. “Hey, I fucking mean it, yeah? You’re incredible. And just because that asshole couldn’t see it doesn’t make it any less true,” Chan said seriously, pushing a piece of hair out of her face, “You’re so—“

“Babe, what the fuck is all this? Who the fuck are you letting grope you in our place.”

The too familiar voice that cut him off felt like a bucket of ice water being thrown on her.

She peeked over Chan’s shoulder to see Christian — sans Hanako — glaring daggers at the back of Chan’s head. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Chan’s voice, “Excuse you, mate, but who the right fuck are you? And what business of yours who gropes her where?”

A shocked scoff came out of Christian, his eyes narrowing as he assessed Chan, “I’m her boyfriend, mate, which is why I wanna know why you’re all over her.”

Chan threw his head back, a full laugh tearing out of his throat before shaking his head, “Nah, you’re her ex aren’t you? I’ve heard all about you,” Chan rolled his eyes, turning back to face her, his expression softening as he ran his thumb over her cheekbone and down to her lips, gently pulling her bottom lip from between her teeth. She hadn’t realized she’d begun to chew on it nervously as she looked between them, but Chan’s soft smile and gentle hands made the tension drop from her frame. “Why don’t you leave us alone? Don’t you have a fiancée to look after, champ?”

She saw the rage ignite in Christian’s eyes at his obvious insult, his mouth opening to say something that she knew would slice through her straight to the bone — a skill he wielded like a professional through their relationship. He always knew what to say to inflict the most damage the fastest, leaving her shattered in his wake.

But before he could make a sound, her name was being called out — signaling their order was ready — and Chan was steering her away from him.

She took a single step forward before a hand closed around her wrist, dragging her out from Chan’s arm. “Don’t fucking walk away from me again, baby. You don’t understand—“

“No, Christian. I don’t need to understand anything. You had a fucking fiancée the whole time we were together. Do you know how much that hurt me? After all that I gave up for you?” She couldn’t seem to stop the words from coming out — but if she was honest with herself, she needed to say them. “And before you say anything, to try and manipulate yourself out of the mess you made — I heard you say that I meant nothing to you; that I was just a piece of ass you were fucking around with before settling down. So get your hands off me,” she seethed, glaring at him. Pain sparkled in his eyes as he opened his mouth to argue but she cut him off, “Just stop, Chris; I don’t want to hear it. Now let me go.” He staggered back as if he’d been slapped, releasing her.

Chan took her hand, making her turn to look at him over her shoulder, “You ready to leave?”

She couldn’t trust her voice anymore, only managing a nod before his arm was around her shoulders, pulling her toward the exit, grabbing their coffees and passing her drink off to her seamlessly.

With that, they walked out of the doors, not bothering to look behind them. And for the first time in years she felt in control. She didn’t feel like a pawn being used or a prop in someone else’s life. The rush of it was addicting; the electricity of it seemed to thrum under her skin. Chan made her feel powerful, and she never wanted it to stop.

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Taglist: @bibbykins @j-a-nuary @eureka-its-zico @gimmethatagustd @here2bbtstrash @lovemepie67 @whiplaaaaaaaaash @enaluvs

#stray kids smau #stray kids fic #skz smau #skz fic #bang chan smau #bang chan fic #bang chan x reader #craving connection #stray kids smut #bang chan smut

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oh-austin · 2 years

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Hi, I hope you are well, I wanted to make a request about fake instagram, about Austin & y/n being a couple but also Co-stars.

With Natasha Bassett For Face Claim

natasha bassett fc !

! 2019 !

liked by austinfan2 and 24,829

deuxmoi Couple, Austin Butler and Y/N L/N, are set to play Elvis Presley and his first love Dixie Locke in Baz Lurhman’s Elvis

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user5 soo she only got the role because she’s dating the lead??

↳ user7 love that nepotism x

austinfan9 I’ve been WAITING FOR THIS ONE

user12 austin 😩

user16 get it y/n 🥹🥹🥹🥹

austinfan18 so excited for this

austinfan23 I wish she wouldn’t get jobs just for dating austin

↳ austinfan26 I doubt that was the case

liked by oliviadejonge, bazlurhman and 2,829 others

yourinstagram has to be nepotism, see you in memphis x #elvisfilm

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oliviadejonge HAHAHAHHAHA Y/N STOP IT

↳ oliviadejogne but also don’t 😉

austinfan29 give it to them y/n

austinbutler drama queen 👸

↳ yourinstagram proudly

ynfan32 ruthless, it’s what we live for

austinfan36 get that bag 💰

ashleytisdale oh yeah cause your entire career stemmed from your boyfriends… definitely ☺️☺️

↳ yourinstagram so true ash 🤪

! 2021 !

liked by austinbutler and 48,827 others

yourinstagram wrapped on #elvisfilm, so proud of my lover- you are unreal and I cannot wait for everyone to see you in your element ❤️

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austinfan37 y/n and Austin content

↳ austinfan39 always feeding us 💗💗

ashleytisdale love you both so much!

austinfan44 drooling over y/n’s man.. respectfully

↳ yourinstagram well as long as it’s respectfully, go ahead 🫶🏼🫶🏼

austinfan45 everyone say thank you y/n!!

austinbutler my first love, hopefully the last 💗

↳ austinfan47 in tears hyperventilating confirmed ✅

liked by oliviadejonge, yourinstagram and 389,728 others

austinbutler my dixie ❤️ #elvisfilm coming soon

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yourinstagram but.. with.. like a happy ending… right?

↳ austinbutler definitely x

#austin butler imagine #austin butler #elvis 2022 #austin butler one shot #austin butler x reader #austin butler drabble #austin butler fake instagram #austin butler fluff #ig Natasha bassett fc

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undergroundkdrama · 1 year

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#KDRAMAWOMENSWEEK 2023 | March 8th – 15th 2023

[alternatively: a week and one day to talk about and make things for women you appreciate in celebration of International Women’s Day] Inspired by @evansbrewster that’s no longer on Tumblr.com.

@kdramaladies will be hosting the event as well. I’ll reblog where I can and try to be present. Prompts courtesy of @dramaheroine who has dont 99.9999% of getting this week to happen, prompts and more, thanks so much. Gifs courtesy of @cuddlybitch, @haeyeongs and @orangesyellow. Thank you all so so much. Thank you to everyone that checks in about this when I am sure I’ll be sitting it out. KWW has been happening for eight years, this being the ninth which is nuts.

Please tag your posts #kdramawomensweek and/or @undergroundkdrama so they are easier to find, admire, and reblog.

Day 1: In Her Head

Women with rich inner worlds, full of hidden thoughts, desires and fantasies. Are her thoughts being revealed to the viewers in visually exciting ways? Think dream sequences, a touch of magical realism, voiceovers, a cut to a talking head or perhaps weird little animated cells…

Day 2: “It” Girl

2021 was all about Haves and Haves Not x2000. 2022 was the year of women in the legal profession. Tell us which of the characters fitting this year’s trend you have enjoyed the most and why. What made them better than the rest? Or what else do you think has been a popular theme/genre/topic for 2022 dramas? How did women fit into the equation? Here are a few examples: gangsters, “behind the scenes”, school violence, countryside living etc.

Day 3: The Help

Women holding everything together in the background, women who have to do all the dirty work, who do thankless labour regardless of the setting or time period. Servants, secretaries, domestic staff, cleaners, nurses, nannies, care workers, housewives…Let’s put some time aside to ‘celebrate those who don’t celebrate’ because they are too busy keeping things running.

Day 4: Bad Girls Club

Everyone loves an angst filled, angry revenge drama so lets talk about the women who seek revenge? Women who hold grudges and whose hearts are filled with rage. Women who hurt others (knowingly and unknowingly). Women who seek power over others and/or themselves in cruel ways. A day for celebrating women’s wrongs.

Day 5: Recommend Her!

Choose your fave – give us a Top 10 that you think she’d make e.g. Spotify Wrapped, her 2023 reading list, her watchlist. Personally, I think that Lee Yeo Reum from Summer Strike listens to a playlist like this (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3yrqVOEnwQG4z8czX8qD4k?si=36e45bbaeaad4892) as she walks around the village trying to make sense of who she is and what she wants. Today’s a day for projecting and recommending. Sneak your recs in here.

Day 6: Funny Girl Woman

We know women are funny, here’s your time to show love to the actresses who predominately act in comedies, female characters who you find hilarious and actresses who provide the perfect comedic relief every time they pop up onscreen.

Day 7: Lee Yoon Jung/Noh Hee Kyung OR Surprise!

Two pioneering women behind many of our classic favourite dramas. Think of this as a space for tributes to them, what you love about their dramas, Lee Yoon Jung’s direction, Noh Hee Kyung’s writing, your favourite female characters from their dramas… OR Your favourite cameos by actresses! Who used their tiny bit of screen time in the best way possible?!

Day 8: Timeslip

What if time travel really existed? What if two female characters from different dramas, from different tv eras could meet? How are they connected? Why should they meet? Think of this as an opportunity for you to travel back in time.

Please also feel free to be inspired by the prompts from previous years (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2020 Part Deux, 2021, 2022).

#kdramaedit #kdramasource #userdramas #asiandramanet #asiandramasource #kdrama women's week #kdramawomensweek #and I am very thankful always for everyone that participates #i hope you're all doing well and live isn't kicking your ass too hard #and that you're giving yourself the grace that you'll be giving these characters this week!#bc that's what it's all about and all that mushy stuff #thank you thank you <3 #this will always mean something to me even though i am a flake and i don't have the strength or time and sometimes even the energy or will #thanks again to dramaheroine #truly a heroine #thank you

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ginsoakedgirl80 · 4 months

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Costume Cdramas I watched in 2023

My 2nd year with Chinese dramas as my love for costume drama continues.

The title links to where you can watch it (tried to find free legal watches where available)

The Blood of Youth (40 x 45min, filming started in Oct 2021, released Dec 2022) fun action drama with a good dose of comedy, not for people who want lots of romance because they are too busy (and the canon couples don't have enough chemistry, there I said it) to be making out. Good for bromance, ghost ships and/or ace character head canons. Xiao Se's fur collar wins fur collar of the year, Tang Lian is my blorbo of early 2023.

My Uncanny Destiny (24 x 30min, filmed in autumn 2021, released Jan 2023) My favorite comedy of the year. Don't get turned off by the toilet jokes, it's a gem that spoofs drama tropes, gives you a coherent plot, silliness, fun side characters, a ML that is not afraid of being silly and a FL that plays capable and silly well. This might be a low budget production but they put that money to work. Politics, cross-dressing, found family, sisterhood, enemies to lovers, third wheel bisexual who reminds me of Wen Kexing, over the top villain, himbo villain who works out shirtless all the time, it got it all.

Wulin Heroes (22 x 45min, filming started Nov 2020, released Jan 2023) I watched this for Li Hongyi and he is incredibly beautiful in this so props to his stylist and cinematographer. BUT it is a badly written and edited low budget romp. If you are not watching for any actor then do not bother. FL is bearable once you realize she is very much of a lets see where this goes kind of character. 2nd ML is a suffering captive prince turned whiny regent played by Zhu Zanjin. So if you want to see Jin GuangYao suffer, you might like his scenes?? It can totally be read as a throuple especially with the New Tales of Wulin Heroes mini series add on. The choppiness might also be a result of the dangai ban??

No Doubt in us (24 x 14min, 2021, donghua) saw this on netflix and it roped me in with the body switch trope. It's sufficiently entertaining. Though I didn't enjoy the animation style apart from the chibi scenes.)

Heaven Official's Blessing (season 1, 11 x 26min, 2020, Donghua) It's THAT story and the art style is so pretty. I haven't read the books yet but still got what was going on most of the time. Liked it a lot. Haven't watched the 2nd season yet)

The Journey of Chong Zi (40 x 45min, filming started in June 2021, released Feb 2023) This xianxia is a mess! But it gave Scorpion King Li Daikun another memorable role with being the FL's protector. Watching Wang Zhoucheng having a ball with his role was fun. Immortal turned demon Wan Jie is so handsome and tragic. It did draw me in but the main couple is just ick so every time they were apart it immediately got better. ML's refusal to take the antidote to ease his obsession was lmao, FL is naive but charming and her demon styling rocks (do not get the hate on the actress, she is selfmade and there are many bad pretty face actresses around but I guess antis attract antis). Oh and there is a bromance between two of Chong Zi's harem members

Till the End of the Moon (40 x 55min, started filming in Nov 2021, released April 2023) aka my brain rot drama of the year. Drawn in from episode 1 on. Bai Li and Luo Yunxi <3 Pian Ran, Ye Qingyu, Nian Baiyu and Si Ying. <3 I was spamming tumblr with my screenshots, it was a jolly good time to watch this epic tale of love and suffering and saving the world dilemma with a great cast, characters, costumes, sets and soundtrack with the cdrama ppl of tumblr. If this weren't too complicated for cdrama newbies I'd recommend it to all my friends. Do not skip the dream arc (I ended up liking it) or later stuff will make less sense. I'm still annoyed that we didn't get a good extra episode that wraps up some lose ends for the main side characters and that reunion of the main characters but Youku really went nah we better play it safe with censors not liking happy ends for morally grey characters.

My Queen (24 x 45min, filmed in 2020, released Jul 2021) An FL enters a romance adventure VR game drama that I watched because I needed some fluff between TtEotM episodes. Why pick this among any other sufficiently entertaining dramas that are probably better written and not as forgetable? Because I wanted to watch Hu Wei (rich nepo baby in The Blood of Youth) in another comedy role >_> and ridiculous overacting he did deliver

The Trust (30 x 45min, filmed early 2021, released Apr 2023) The life action adaptation of the manhua No doubt in us is based on. I dunno why I finished this, I guess I'm not a quitter and needed silly stuff to balance TtEotM angst. For some reason the director thought it would be a good idea to film this like a donghua and it is causing 2nd hand embarrassment. The ML cannot pull off being a woman in a man's body, not even a martial arts nerd like Xu Yu. Like Wulin Heroes it was filmed before the dangai ban but that didn't stop them from having at least two bromances.

Wanru's Journey (24 x 35min, filming started in Jun 2021, released May 2023) A mess. So IQIYI released this simply to ride on the wave of Ao Ruipeng's The Blood of Youth popularity. Because this got so chopped down because of the dangai ban and it probably wasn't good to begin with. Basically an actress transmigrates into a dangai screenplay and gets between the leads while also making money by writing fic about them (ok this is my reading but she DID release fic and drawings of them). Of course it takes an unnecessarily dramatic turn, instead of staying on the comedy side, cannot remember more of the plot, oops.

King is not Easy (20ep x 30min, released Aug 2017) I watched this for the body switch trope and Bai Lu. Nice to see her actual face before the fair skin filter got her, entertaining enough, badly written silly comedy with mind mindbogglingly contrived final 4 episodes. It's Bai Lu's drama debut so it's nice to see how far she got

Destined (40ep x 45min, filming started in Jun 2022, released June 2023) Highly enjoyable. Fell in love with Bai Jingting. What's not to love about a playboy getting put on his path by his wife and them becoming friends, sworn siblings and then lovers in the process? No this is actually about FL finding her thing (trade) and being wildly successful at it, then it's also political, revenge and more. The leads are extremely charming and have great chemistry (the drama suffers every time they are apart lbr) and the writing is good, though people are too perfect and I wasn't into the whole palace stuff.

My Journey to You (24 ep x 60min, filming started Dec 2022, released Sep 2023) Had me from episode 1 on. Made me buy IQIYI VIP so I can watch it in good quality. Fell in love with Zhang Linghe. Yu Shuxin needs to do all the wuxia while she is still fit. Why waste being able to do the splits on some modern drama? The director sent her mud wrestling and she went for it. Everyone knows she is pretty no need for her to be beautifully put together on screen 24/7. Love the style, the character introductions, the characters, the cast, the chemistry, the story, the way you expect something and something else is going on. While it started out gloomy and remained so for the most part, it surprised me with throwing in more comedy than I expected. The good old idle manchild gets thrown into a position of power story but it's a murderous martial arts clan against another murderous martial arts clan. It's giving you some information but often just enough for getting what's going on just to play with your expectations later, FUN! And I didn't even mention all the other characters because surprise! this is actually an ensemble drama with several intriguing characters. Do not expect for the two leads to be on screen all the time.

Hilarious Family (24ep x 45min, started filming in June 2022 (?), released Sept 2023) A fun ensemble comedy I watched for Jackie Li. A widow moves to another city to marry off her 4 daughters (a silly man-crazy one, a homely one, a scholar one and a tomboy one). No it's not Pride and Prejudice but yes of course this is a romcom and all women have a love interest. It kind of drops off later on tbh, but still good for the characters and side characters. The success of this in China hopefully means that Jackie Li will get to be getting more comedies to work in after the Queen Lau disaster and people having a problem with her artist alias in 2022.

Hello There (20ep x 30min, released Jan 2023) I stumbled on this on IQIYI while looking for a light fast watch that will let my brain relax. The ML's best acting moment is when he plays a wooden robot. FL is fun. There are some questionable scenes, standard low budget action comedy fare.

An Ancient Love Song (14ep x 30 min, released June 2023) A wonderfully written and executed grown up time traveling story, that shows once again that you don't need a big budget to tell a story that draws you in. Ended my palace politics blockade. All this time traveling and no reincarnation in sight. ;_;

Story of Kunning Palace (38ep x 45min, filming started in May 2022, released Nov 2023) Tieing 2nd with My Journey to You for brainrot drama of the year. The cinematography is questionable, the story is not for teaching perfect courting behavior but those two are just such a good cp in their awkward messy way. Their friends/sidekicks are fun too and bring some comedy to that story though crazy in love ML is serving some comedy too. Props to ZLH for actually trying to grasp the basics of playing qin and not just waving over the strings like other dramas deem it sufficient. Bai Lu is Bai Lu-ing, gathering her harem. Coming into this right after An Ancient Love Song the idea to defeat destiny this time around seemed hopeless to me but this is one of those they are good at making plans and they turn out mostly alright dramas. I hope those two's material for the next years is as good as the two dramas with them I watched in 2023, fingers crossed!

Currently watching: A Journey to Love and Taoism Grandmaster as well as 2/3 through a LbFaD rewatch that I started in summer.

I also watched a handful of modern dramas (made in Korea and Japan) and some mini-dramas, but that is for another post.

And yes my most watched actors are probably those uncles stuck in Hengdian, might look that up another day.

If I got the time to blog about a drama I usually do it with screenshots so my tag for those posts is excuse my bad quality screenshots. In other cases I just reblog and put my thoughts in the tags.

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pochqmqri · 3 months

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A few months ago, my copy of the "Limited Edition" Samurai Flamenco Complete Series Collection shipped from the UK, a release by Anime Limited.

As they are a UK-based anime distributor, their Blu-Ray discs are region locked to region code "B," which encompasses Europe. As such, I have a Blu-Ray player that is modified to be region-free, playing discs from anywhere in the world. I recommend buying one from this site, as you can get the best deals here.

Going over the product, despite the fact that it's labeled "Limited Edition," the release is pretty bare bones. It was also initially released back in October of 2021, and still remains available to purchase two years later.

Like most of Anime Limited's Collector's Editions, the release comes in a rigid slipcase illustrated with official artwork. The 22-episode anime is contained across 4 discs, evenly divided into two disc cases. Each case has a reversible slipcover illustrated with characters on both sides.

So let's talk about the contents of the discs. Although it doesn't say on the official website, there are three ways to watch the anime on this release: the French dub, the original Japanese with French subs, and the original Japanese with English subs (subtitles are the same as streaming, no subbed OPs/EDs/insert songs). These are a nice variety of options, but it would have been nice for a few more accessibility options for those who want it, such as the French dub having (dub-accurate) subtitles, and subtitles for those who are deaf or blind, as included with Anime Limited's release of "Looking for Magical Doremi" that I purchased earlier last year. There are a few extras on the discs, but those are just noncredit/blank versions of both opening and both ending themes.

Regarding the visuals, it should be noted that, when Samurai Flamenco aired on TV, it looked quite rough animation-wise. For the home media release in Japan, they made significant touchups here and there in each episode. From what I recall, the version that used to stream on Crunchyroll (before they removed it) was the original broadcast, while the one that streams/ed(?) on Funimation has the corrections. As there were quite a lot of corrections, I will link this post that does a in-depth look episode-by-episode of what changed between the two versions. Going back to Anime Limited's release, based on what I have seen and compared, I can safely say that this release uses the corrected footage, which I think most people can say is quite the plus.

I also want to clarify that this release does not contain any of the extras included with the Japanese home media release, such as the character drama CDs, soundtrack CDs, etc. All you're getting is a slipcase, the discs themselves, and creditless OPs and EDs. That's it.

To wrap it all up, despite the fact that this is a bare bones release, it is still a serviceable way to watch Samurai Flamenco. The anime has been taken off streaming services in the past few years, Netflix and Crunchyroll specifically, and as Manglobe went bankrupt years ago, the anime's future on streaming is bleak and uncertain. Anime Limited managed to secure a home release deal with Manglobe before they went under, so I've heard. Therefore, I definitely recommend owning a physical way to watch this underrated gem. Even so, Anime Limited has noted on their website that, as a limited edition release, they only have a limited number of stock, and once that runs out, they are not sure if they'll restock. So while it's been around for two years now, who can say for sure if it'll be around for any longer. On their website, it currently sells for £35 (approx $44.50 USD), but last year, Anime Limited held two sales that included this release, where in one sale, it went for as low as £8.33 (approx $10.50 USD). So, I also recommend you wait until their end-of-year holiday sale, I think it'll still be around then.

Anime Limited does ship internationally, but I want to warn you that there is a hefty international shipping charge attached. As I live in the US, it costs £25 (approx $32 USD), but I imagine that to more distant countries, it will cost a lot more.

#samurai flamenco #anime #samumenco #samflam #blu-ray #home media

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airenyah · 4 months

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QL Wrapped 2023

i was tagged by @nongnaos and @ranchthoughts thank youuu <333

i meant to upload this at the latest by december 31st, but the thing is when i saw the tag i was a little overwhelmed at first bc i didn't know how to fill it out and then once i had it all written out i had a super hard time deciding on what to gif and then it all ended up taking soooo much longer than planned. and now it's already 2024. oops. well, better late then never...

so without further ado:

You watched 12 QLs this year that's about 264 hours!

(i'm counting only qls that started airing 2023 bc i didn't keep track of every single show that i watched and it's a lot easier to count all the 2023 dramas on mdl lmao)

You primarily only watched QLs from Thailand

i blame my bachelor thesis for this which i was writing on the translation strategies of thai to eng and also the fact that i'm learning thai, so any time i watch a series i'm like "do i watch something from a country other than thailand tonight??" only for a little voice in my head to go "yeah but you COULD be spending your evening practicing thai listening skills" so yeah...

You spent way too much time thinking about these characters: Pat Napat Jindapat

listen. LISTEN. i know ok, i know bad buddy is from 2021 not from 2023. however!!!!! bad buddy was part of our skyy 2 and that included my boy pat and so i'm counting it!!!! i'm always thinking about pat napat jindapat ok bye

no for real tho. i am NOT kidding when i say i have spent hours on end thinking about pat in the year of our lord 2023, two full years after the show dropped:

maybe in 2024 i'll finally sit down and write that meta that's been in my head for two years now

Your favorite show was Moonlight Chicken

it's gotta be the chicken show for me. yeah. it just felt so... idk, real in a way. idk how to explain it. i'm not even obsessing over mlc all that much but any time it pops into my head i go all kinds of 😭😭😭 and 🥰🥰🥰

not to mention the firstmix

the heartliming

and most importantly earth and fourth as an uncle/nephew duo??

i am so🥺🥺🥺

special shoutout also to jimbo the cat (left) who looks almost exactly like coco, my family's cat (right):

Another one of your favorites was Last Twilight

just. the way p'aof shows relationships on screen okay. yeah.

i cry

You are still stuck in this hallway:

yeah i've been thinking about the yank-kiss-yeet scene from hidden agenda and joke breaking down afterwards in that very hallway for 19 weeks straight gay. bye.

The soundtracks you listened to the most were:

(according to my spotify wrapped top 5)

Just Friend? (Bad Buddy)

Our Song (Bad Buddy)

น้ำลาย (My School President Cover)

Secret (Bad Buddy)

yeah. i've given up on the "only 2023 media" thing. if we're talking songs only from series released in 2023 then i've got love love love (our skyy 2) on no. 32 and no more empty nights (our skyy 2) on no. 46 on my spotify wrapped

also if you're wondering what the 5th song (on no.3 in reality) from my top 5 was that's missing above where i only mentioned four songs, well, it's none other than tilly birds' same page? which yeah. is also bad buddy related. surprise surprise 🤭

Your overall bl mood was P'Aof

You created 15 gifsets (of which "only" 1/3 were about making other shows about bad buddy)

you can find them here

You shazammed 295 royalty free background music pieces/songs from thai dramas

fun fact: i haven't mentioned this publically yet but since thai dramas keep using the same music over and over again in various series i've actually started collecting the different songs/pieces and i'm planning on making a side blog about it. i just want to go through some more dramas first before i publish anything. so this is something you can look forward to in 2024 dkjfkfdj

currently shazamming my way through bad buddy (you may have seen my blorbo breakdown about pran in the ep4 sleepover scene the other week that was triggered by me shazamming all of ep4). next on the list: theory of love and the eclipse. it takes ages tho, so don't expect it any time soon

Your favorite acting pair was JoongDunk

(is anyone even surprised by this lol)

no but for real whatever these two have going on, i'm intrigued:

i just. i love their energy ok. they're fun. and they're clearly having fun

i couldn't decide on what to gif so here's a little compilation bc fuck it, this is my post and i get to do whatever the fuck i want

(actually there's more that i could have put in there but i didn't wanna waste any more time with posting this tag game and also i was trying to keep the compilation somewhat short lmao)

they are such silly little idiot boys ("little" says the 155cm tall short person about the 180+cm giants 🤭) and i adore them <3

their energy is essentially this meme and i'm so here for it:

and they just communicate so well when they're performing and you never feel like either of them is "alone" on stage (doing his own thing in his own little bubble), it's SUCH a joy to watch!!!! once again plugging two of my all time fave performances that i've been rewatching over and over again for the last 3 months:

youtube

also dunk is just SO little brother-shaped to me idek!! looking at his face just makes me go into big sister mode. it doesn't help that he's only like a month or so older than my actual little brother. AND he reminds me a lot of one of my fave kids from my youth group that i used to go to for years. dunk natachai has klein-andi energy and you all don't know what that means but i know what that means as does my mom and she agrees. so.

tagging:

i feel so ashamed for not making it in time before 2023 ended so i'm not gonna tag anyone but if you see this and you really wanna do it bc you haven't done it yet then please do so and tag me because i say so!!

and mutuals, send me yours bc i'm not sure i saw everyone else's!!!! (@celestial-sapphicss @moonkhao @visualtaehyun @telomeke @waitmyturtles @dribs-and-drabbles did you guys do this already and if yes, send me yours? i must have missed it 🥺🥺🥺)

#my 2023 ql wrapped essentially boils down to ''p'aof dramas + joongdunk'' lmao #as i say in my blog description... i'm a bad buddy blog in its joongdunk era #fun fact: ohm pawat is also extremely little brother shaped to me and idk why #there's something about dunk and ohm that has my brain go #''is anyone gonna adopt these two as little brothers??'' and not wait for an answer #tag game #adrm #also the words ''youth group'' paired with that nickname could be very telling #imagine someone from said youth group also being in the tumblr ql fandom without me knowing and finding this and recognizing it/me #idk how i feel about this... but then again #girl what are YOU doing at the devil's sacrament

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nongnaos · 4 months

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QL WRAPPED 2023

Tagged by @morkofday thank you ❤️

(I absolutely meant to save this as a draft and accidentally posted instead so if everyone could pretend that didn't happen and we all had normal notifications, it would be nice, thank you 😐)

You watched 22 qls this year (and 11 from other years) that's about 130 hours! (Of content from 2023 only!)

(He's talking about my attempts at maths)

You primarily watched bls from Thailand (50%)

You spent way too much time thinking about these characters: Kiyoi Sou, Li Ming, and Mork. (My emo kings!! They're all a lil angsty and clearly my tastes have not developed since 2005. Am I moooore than you bargained for yet?)

(Obsessed, obsessed, chewing, biting, crying)

Your favorite show was Utsukushii Kare. You kept thinking about it all year. (This was THE hyperfixation for the first half of my year, but the fandom was so so small. I truly am so so in love with them and I wish more people watched them and understood them. Like I do. They're mine.)

Your overall bl mood was dramatic.

You read the most fanfiction about Utsukushii Kare. Like way too much. (According to my ao3, apparently. Good fic about them is so hard to find. Most fanfic I read this year has actually been about shows from 2021/2022)

Another of your favorites from this year was JokeZo. they captivated your gay little heart. (This show is a certified mess, but brought me a truly unexpected amount of comfort. Their chemistry was so so good and I loved Zo's storyline in particular. Love and communication and healing, what more could a 90's gay ask for?)

The soundtracks you listened to the most were [the entire About Youth soundtrack is in my spotify top tracks. But that drama is not from this year] Your World, My World (Our Skyy 2) and Better Days (Last Twilight). It made you feel really normal.

Your favorite acting pair was JimmySea. There was just something so mesmerizing about them... (breathing heavily in Last Twilight feelings)

Bonus shoutout to: ✨️her✨️

(Yes)

Here's to another year!!

Invite friends to share theirs: @airenyah , @icouldhyperfixatehim , and @justafriend-ql

#bl wrapped 2023 #ql wrapped #no pressure to do it but also if anyone else wants to do it pls cknsider yourself tagged and message me a link to the finished one #i want to know all of your brains and hearts thank u #liomsa

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softtcurse · 2 years

Text

He taught me

this fic contains NSWF 18+ content, do not interact or read if you are not 18+

He taught me that loving him was never enough, and I could have died right then and there, because he was right beside me.

You remember early on reading through a catalog filled with pretty dresses and beautiful women. Their faces looking right back at yours, and even if it was faux happiness if a camera as they modeled the design, with a very angry tinted price at the bottom. You couldn’t help but wonder what that feeling was.

Was it happiness?, excitement?, fear masked with some type of undying love. Knowing that they were a few weeks, maybe even a few months from marrying their person? It was a feeling that was so beautifully tempting and you craved every ounce of it a little bit more each year. Coming to Atlanta from your home state was very stressful. The whole year into the move you were constantly going back and forth to make sure your new stability was assured in the city you were living in.

That’s where you met Jack, outside your studio apartment that you rented with your close friend Audri. Back in early 2021. Both of you chasing something more that what your hometown could offer you. Meeting him threw you in for an unforgettable loop, and you were scared of how it was going to end.

“You good?” A strong hand came up to cup the back of your neck. A comfortable hotel sheet wrapped the lower half of your body. Your thighs felt like jello and if it wasn’t for the way his other hand was resting on your thigh. Three rounds and you were about asleep, but you were also very deep in thought.

“Yeah, just sleepy is all” You placed a soft kiss on his chest and sighed. “I missed you”

“I missed you too”

You both fell into a comfortable silence.

“Where’s Jack?”

“Hell if I know, probably with Anitta again”

“Right”

“You miss him don't you?”

“Only when I get to thinking, you know?”

“Thinking about what?”

“I don’t know Urban, so much shit” You finally confessed. “I havent seen him in months, and I miss him too but like, he hasn’t even tried to reach out to me since the last time and I feel like shit for not being there for him when he was going through all of that drama with his old bitch but…I felt like maybe it wasn’t my place to say anything.” Urban hummed and nodded his head. Patting your hip gently to get you to sit up. You obliged and sat up. Your back pressed against the headboard. Urban moved out of the bed and stretched. You smiled at him slightly, you knew it was time for him to go to meet up with Jack for some promo they had going on, Urban doing a shoot for him as well.

“I gotta go but I’ll see you later when you come see Jack I guess” Urban stated and placed his wallet and keys in his shirt pockets. You nodded again and waved at him.

“Don’t miss me too much!”

“Hmmm I’ll try not to!”

The door opened and then clicked closed.

The guilt you masked while you were with him became overbearing again.

You and Urban had started messing around once you and Jack had decided it was best to remain close friends. You weren’t in a relationship with him, but it was getting to the point where you both were catching feelings for eachother and Jack had painfully told you he just couldn’t be tied down. For both of your sake you agreed. The sex was amazing, and the way he made you feel outside of the bedroom was even better. But he wasn’t yours and you weren’t going to beg a man that didn’t want to be with you….to be with you. Hence your now friends with benefits situation with Urban. You didn’t have any feelings for him and he didn’t for you either. It was sort of a release for the both of you sexually. The only problem was neither of you told Jack, and you dreaded him ever finding out.

A small ping came from your phone. You reached over for it and unlocked it.

You tucked you bottom lip in your teeth. Jack.

you coming to the shoot right?

yeah i am :)

i missed you, urban does too

You hesitantly typed a response and tossed your phone on the other side of the bed as you felt your chest get heavy again.

i missed you more, urb too

///

“What did you think!?” Jack smiled at you. Facing the mirror in his room. Folding the clothes he had taken off from the shoot. He looked so good and you held back the need to touch the muscle that his arm showed off. It had only been about a month and a few weeks since you had seen him, and yet you still got the same butterflies you got the first time you laid eyes on him.

“It was great, you are a natural on the camera huh? A model, actor, and rapper? What are we supposed to do?”

“You flatter me too much mama, you know I’m a narcissist”

You laugh and shake your head. Sitting on his bed, watching him finish up putting his clothes away and finally turning to look at you.

“You look good” Jack walked over to the opposite side of the bed and sat down.

“Thanks” you breathed out. “You too, it’s like you look different everytime I see you”

“Gotta keep you on your feet”

“And you’re doing a good fucking job”

“At least Im doing a good job at something right? Between us”

You cocked your head up and looked at him with a weird stare. Not following exactly what he was talking about. You noticed the hesitance in his voice. But he then shook it off.

“Ah It’s stupid, just me thinking with a tired head”

“No, you have to tell me what you mean now, you can’t just slide past that and think I won’t notice” You crossed your arms and gave him a pointed look.

“It’s nothing”

“Well obviously it is, if you don’t want me here you can just say tha-“ You were quickly cut off by a seemingly panicked Jack.

“I never said that YN”

“Okay then tell me, you’re confusing me and it’s making my head hurt Jack”

“It’s just” He sighed. His hand coming up to rub his beard “I was thinking about it the other day” You saw Jack give a heavy gulp. “You know how we talked about just being friends? And how I said all that shit about how I couldn’t have a girlfriend right now? All that?”

Of course you remembered, the conversation permanently engraved in the front of your brain. Hell, you even had dreams about the way you had cried infront of him, humiliated and hurt. Wanting nothing more than to be with him and maybe give into the small fantasy you had for the both of you in the back of your head. You even would admit that maybe it was healing from your past that made you think the way you did, delusion even that Jack at the top of his career would want to establish something serious with you. But it didn’t hurt any less finding out that it was all just that, fantasy.

“I-I mean yeah, of course I remember Jack.” You blinked away tears that threatened to come out. You sniffed and shook your head. You couldn’t cry. You were tired of crying for him.

Jack took notice of your eyes and guilt enveloped his being. “Shit, see this is why I didn’t want to say anything” He groaned and opened his arms. “Come here please”

You scooted over and laid your head on his chest. His heart beat was beating fast, he was nervous and it made you feel a little better thinking that maybe the conversation wouldn’t go as worse as it did the last time you were in the same predicament. In the same bedroom, except last time he wasn’t giving you words of comfort and reassurance.

“Why does it always come back to this with us?” You croaked out and rubbed your eyes. Your perfectly fine lashes probably suffering the consequences of that action.

Jack watched as you lifted your head up to look at him and gave you a soft smile. His smile that you loved so much appeared on his face. You knew why women went crazy over him, hell even men. He was so enticing in his actions and the way he spoke. You always told him his flirtatious ways would get him in trouble and little did you know trouble came in the form of you.

“I don’t know mama, it’s just the way it works I guess”

“I don’t want it to work that way anymore”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about” He lifted his hand to wipe a stray tear from your cheek. It was a small gesture, but it still made you feel warm inside. Stupid Jack Harlow.

“I want to make things work with us YN, I want to try again and better this time. I hate the way shit ended before and seeing you…so hurt because of what the fuck I did really does something to a man”

Your ears went deaf for a second at his confession. You mouth dry and if you were hearing things you wanted to pinch yourself a little.

“If this is a joke I will literally drag you by your peeve curly hair up and down the neighborhood Jackman”

“Damn okay I guess” Jack rolled his eyes playfully at you. “I’m not joking, I wouldn’t joke about my feelings like that. What kind of monster do you think I am?”

“The dangerous kind, because you’re everything I want that I would follow you into a cult if you asked me to”

Jack laughed and pinched your side playfully.

“So what do you say?”

You leaned up, your lips smashing into his. Your hands firmly placed on his chest and you pushed him back on the bed. Rubbing them up and down his toned chest.

“I think I can show you better than I can tell you” You tugged down his sweats. The flimsy blue material annoying you as it was getting in the way. His boxers soon followed the heap of clothing on the floor. Your shirt, his sweats, his briefs, his shirt and then the rest of your own clothes. Jack’s hand immediately reaches up to touch your perfect breasts. His eyes looking into yours as you stroked him up and down, kneeling in between his legs as he tweaked your nipples. Your wetness at that point was indescribable. He did things to you, even with the simple and soft touches.

You licked your lips before leaning down and spitting on the head. Jack’s head leaned back from the feeling. A familiar yet foreign sight he hadn’t seen in a while.

You kissed the underside of his member. Before your lips wrapped around the entire length of it that you managed to fit in your mouth. You tried not to gag as you felt him at the back of your throat.

“Relax your throat baby” Jack muttered, his eyes closed and occasionally he looked down at you. One arm on the back of his head and the other gripped your hair at your scalp. You did as told and relaxed your jaw as well. Letting him slide it just a little bit deeper with ease. Jack's fingers moving your head up and down to guide your pace. Your favorite sight was Jack unfolding in front of you. His lashes cascading on his rosy cheeks, his face contoured in something that looked like it was carved out of stone. Him cumming from your mouth or pussy, made you squeeze your thighs in effort to give yourself a little type of sensation.

“F-fuck” Jack moaned out. Opening his eyes to look at you. Your sex hazed eyes looking back up at him. His hand moved to move some stray hairs from your face. You hummed around his dick, sending vibrations down his thighs and up his spine. You giggled and took that as a sign to move faster. You moved your head at a much faster pace, your hand that was wrapped around the rest of his dick moving just as quickly.

“You-youre fuck a fucking Angel baby” Jack breathed our. His mouth going slack. Just like you wanted him. Your hand came down to touch your clit. Rubbing your desperate pussy with some type of stimulation.

“Ah, ah, get your fingers off of that pussy, it’s mine for tonight you desperate slut” Jack spat at you. You whimpered and closed your eyes. Moving your hands away from your wet core.

“You gonna swallow it all baby? Gonna let me fill this sweet mouth with my cum? Hmm? Gonna let me fuck that sweet pussy? Let me chin inside of you?” He moaned out. The sting from his grip on your hair hurt so deliciously. His dick twitched in your mouth.

“Fuck me!” Jack groaned and his hips bucked.

It didn’t take long for your throat to be coated with his cum. You swallowed it all. Your mouth pulling back with a pop. Your tongue moving to lick your lips. You felt a tap on your tongue and you opened your mouth, showing Jack that you had taken it all like the good girl you were for him. Jack’s thumb wiped the corner of your mouth, pushing back a drop of cum back into your mouth. Your lips wrapped around his thumb and sucked it clean.

“So good for me” A hard spank landed on your ass, causing the skin to ripple and you whimpered softly at the impact.

“Lay on your back for me” Jack helped you on your back. Softly positioning a pillow so your head was comfortable. Your hands running down from his cheeks, to his chin, down to his shoulders and then placing them on his chest finally.

Jack’s frame towered over you as he leaned up again. His lips coming down to suck the soft skin on your neck. You entangled your fingers on his curls.

“Ready for me?” Jack asked you. His hands come down to settle on your thighs.

“Mhm”

Jack guided himself to your entrance. His eyes nearly rolling to the back of head at your heat and wetness. You were always so fucking tight. Inch by inch you felt him until he was fully inside of you.

“Feels s’good” You slurred. Jack wrapping your legs around his waist. You crossed your ankles and held him in deep. The initial pace was slow, but it steadily got deeper and faster. Your head moved to the side weakly. You wanted to say something but no words came out. Your head was numb and your hands were placed on the side of the sheets. Gripping the softness of them. Your breasts bouncing and Jack couldn’t help but take one of your nipples into his mouth. His hands on your hips.

“O-oh fuck” You stutter and your mouth opens in pleasure. You felt so fuzzy and warm.

“Such a needy whore hmm?” Jack says after he pops your nipple out of his mouth. A shudder down your skin as his horse voice, his Kentucky accent mixed all into one whispering so close to your ear. You were already so close to coming undone around him. Your orgasm crept on you faster than you thought, not that you were complaining.

“I-I wanna cum” You begged him. He continued to fuck into you, that damn smirk looking down at you.

“Say it again, tell me what you want. I fuck the manners out of you? You don’t know how to ask properly? Dick drunk? Ducked you stupid didn’t I?”

“I wanna cum please! Please let me cum!” You cried. You weren’t thinking straight. Your mouth felt dry and all you could do was beg.

A familiar feeling ran down the core of your pussy. Your toes curled and you knew you were deep in now and there was no going back, and knowing Jack was the same as he breathed heavily and moved at an unforgiving pace. Your pussy clenched around him. Jacks cum coated your walls as he groaned and he rode out his orgasm. You soon came undone after him, after his fingers came down and rubbed fast circles on your clit.

“Jack…” You whined out. He pulled out of you, feeling hid cum seep out and down on the bed. You felt so full, a feeling you haven’t felt in a while. Jack was the only man you ever allowed to cum inside of you.

Jack let out a deep breath and moved his mouth to press a kiss to your lips. Pressing over and over again.

Your hands moved and cupped the back of his neck.

“I missed you so much baby, I know I said it already but I mean it”

“I know Jack, I didn’t know baby” You smiled. Licking your lips once he pulled away. Neither of you noticed your phone pinged. Urban.

can I come see you? lmk

#jack harlow #jack harlow fic #jack harlow x reader #jack harlow imagine #urban wyatt imagine #urban wyatt fic

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