#i may also surprise her and buy her some merch if its good

[aintmyjewelry]

it's very funny to me that my mom's favorite taylor album is reputation. and it's the only album she will listen to front to back. it's the only one she cares about. she knows the singles and such from other albums but her genuine fangirl interest began and ended with reputation. a woman who knows what she wants.

#i did promise her i will by her her own copy of reputation tv when it comes on #i may also surprise her and buy her some merch if its good

[beastabyss666]

You know as a former member of Vivziepop's cult and yes its a cult not a fandom anymore I am disgusted by a majority of the people in it.

Like someone on the subreddit brought up it being kinda tasteless or fucked that they sold sexy Stella merch in bdsm gear when she's abused Stolas physically. The post was deleted quickly and judging by my experiences in the fandom people were stanning Viv or harassing OP and that has got me thinking.

Why is Stella in bdsm gear? Like Stolas and Blitzo are canonically into it yet you give the abuser that...

Like isn't a bit fucked that instead of choosing the canonical practicioners in your show you choose to put someone who uses pain not to pleasure but to slowly break and hurt someone.

We know Vivziepop has a merch rep so how did that get into production?

I also find it fucked that Vivziepop and crew are attempting to tackle an issue as serious as domestic abuse and do it so poorly by writing Stolas and Stella as bickering children next we see them. Then the staff has the utter gawl to sell merch in general of Stella and the fans buying it up.

Like I understand autograph signings slightly but that's the only merch Stella should have.

Vivziepop's cult loves to claim that they utterly depise Stella and deserves to suffer because she's an abuser so how dare people want nuance or not just a generically evil cartoon villain but the moment she is drawn in a sexy way they start throwing money at that.

Like I just want to know how these people if their friends ask about the character on the pin will explain "Oh this is Stella who's a sexy domestic abuser"

Then again am I surprised when Vivziepop makes merch of a rapist and most of the crew have some weird fascination with Valentino and not in the way that he's their best written villain way more like they are simping over him.

I think a lot of fandoms, especially nowadays, have a lot of genuinely bad people who really need help/therapy but see nothing wrong in what they do or just keep doing that, though they know it ain't okay. That's so frustrating when you can't feel comfortable even in an Internet community. But Viv's "fandom"(I mean exactly these two shows, although Zoophobia also had...... not very pleasant people) is surely something... Where'd you find so many blatantly oblivious and blind brown nosers which keep pretending everything's good when there's already tons of red flags from Vivienne? Yeah, that's a rare case. I don't wanna interact with this fandom or even talk about it, tbh. I still watch the show cuz it's fun to see how it manages to be worse with every episode, though sometimes I don't make reviews as many other people do it faster and better and I just have nothing to say(I need to take my jaw from the floor). Regarding Stella – well, I don't know on what principles Viv or her team makes merch with the characters, but aren't all characters being sexualized anyway? They even have merch with Chaz, a guy who, like, died in the same episode. And they keep doing new merch with this jerk. And that's obviously because there are people who simp for him. I don't know if Stella's merch may be an insult to those who practice BDSM, I'm not into it, tbh, and I don't take these things seriously, but I find this just a bland sexualisation. Well, it's "sexy merch", but yeah, Stella's all character is based on being a mean aggressive yelling bitch, and this thing....... it must be a character trait, I guess? Or just a sweet treat for rule34 artists, like most of the stuff Viv does. Again, I don't take all of this seriously, this sexy merch was made to tease and please the simping fans, but there's certainly a part of irony in it. Like, people in this fandom hate Stella so much that they shit on people who simply want her to be a more complex character, and they're........ still buying all this stuff. They........ enjoy Stella being "hot dommy mommy" and still keep hating her? Ngl, only Viv's fanbase can do that, lol. I've seen this fandom from the start and I can say that many people here always had some weird obsession with Valentino. I even remember some person passive aggressively telling me that "he's just very charismatic and it's your problems if you can't see it". When there were, like........ A musical clip and a comic where he just was being an abusive jerk. Yeah, that's a really weird fascination. Also, doesn't one of HH's crew, who is an animator or a director(don't remember correctly), has a rape fetish and has drawn an animatic on their beloved ship Angel/Val? Hella ironic that a show about serious portrayal of trauma and abuse has a crew member(or members) which legit....... find it hot or cute. That's sick af but I guess Viv doesn't care who she hires. Oh, that's definitely not a pit I would like to fall in. I'm not sure there's any hope on Hazbin portraying trauma or mental illnesses properly, but I'll still watch it anyway. Whenever it comes out....

#anti vivziepop #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop critical #anti helluva boss #helluva boss critical #helluva boss criticism #helluva boss salt #helluva boss critique #anti hazbin hotel

[i-love-yoi]

Hero, Mari and Sunny with Idol reader.

I'm very ashamed that it took so long to do this. I just had to correct my grades for the trimester, then my grades, and I could barely crawl to bed, and then again it was 6-7 in the morning, and now I was also sick, but now I’m on sick leave.

TW:GN!reader, romance relationship, Mari from DreamWorld, spoilers(?), takes place after the Mari incident.

Hero

•In fact, the guy supported you at the very beginning, when you were trying to form your own team and reveal your musical skills.

•He often supports you during your training sessions and is clearly proud of you.

•However, if you ask him to control your abilities, he will find fault with absolutely everything.

•It’s like that same person when you’re reciting a poem or reading aloud, and he interrupts you, saying something like: “Actually, there’s not a thread there, but a twig!” and further attacks.

•It seems to me that he is a bit of a perfectionist.

•However, he does this not out of malice, but so that you become more ideal in this matter, and it will be easier for you in the future.

•He also often supports or consoles you, saying: “You would have sung perfectly, but at this moment the tone should have been a little higher.”

•However, if you invite him to your group, he will immediately refuse.

•As he himself believes, singing is not his thing, and performing on stage, I think, is not very comfortable for him.

•As you move forward, further and further, reaching your debut and giving concerts, rest assured that he will shine at every concert you perform.

•He will quickly try to make friends with your group by establishing contact.

•He may spoil you with a trip to a cafe or he will cook some delicious food to praise you.

•Unfortunately, if you travel all the way to other countries, he will not be able to be with you, since, after all, he is studying at college, and there is almost no rest and vacation there.

•However, you can always call him, and after going to the toilet, he can support you, reassure you and wish you good luck, holding his fingers for you.

•If you get your own personal merch, of course, like his little brother, he won’t spend all his money on merch, but he will buy himself some things.

•When you release even your first songs, he will obviously set them as his ringtone or add them to his list of favorite songs.

•To create songs, you need some kind of situation to rely on it and create meaning in the song, because songs are not an empty set of letters and notes, but a whole story of someone’s story and situation, someone’s opinion and thoughts.

•This is where Hero will help you.

•We all know that every branch of the profession has its own dark secrets that not everyone is ready to reveal, but medicine generally has a lot of them.

•Moreover, many trust Hero, and most likely could share their situations and thoughts with him, or accidentally overhear both the lecturer and classmates.

•Also, he is a person who likes to think deeply, so the meaning of the song will always be in your pocket, no matter how many songs you have already made.

•But what if you want to become a Japanese or Korean idol? Are you from another country altogether, but you don’t know their national language?

•Hero will invite you to learn the language together.

•Of course, this will only make it more difficult for him to study in college, but why not just try, like self-development for example?

•Moreover, when you want this with your loved one, it becomes even more pleasant.

Mari

•She will be clearly surprised and will encourage you in your endeavors.

•During training, he will also be slightly supportive and will not be able to take his eyes off you.

•When you gather your personal group, she will get to know everyone there and will immediately find a common language, making friends.

•Often she will treat you with various goodies from her basket, and also, while you are lying on her lap, stroke your head, comforting you and saying that you will succeed and you can do everything.

•Oh, at your concerts she is clearly the brightest of all fans, actively waving glow sticks.

•Although, she will stand out from all the fans, since the omori gang is basically the only one with a human shell of all the inhabitants of Headspace.

•No matter where you play concerts, even if it's inside Humphrey, Mari will still be there.

•If you have your own merch, Mari will definitely buy herself a couple of things, especially if it’s clothes.

•She'll love seeing you blush while she's wearing your band T-shirt with the band name on it.

•She would also talk about you to many people, praising you and your songs.

•Regardless of the meaning of the song, she really likes them.

•If you are a singer, she will obviously ask you for the sheet music of one of your songs, and ask you to do a duet with her while she plays your song on the piano.

•She often asks you for sheet music to play the piano.

•Sometimes out of boredom or when doing something, such as cleaning her basket, she may hum lines from your songs, even if they are in other languages.

•In fact, Mari is one big support group for you.

•If you learn another language, she will enjoy your spoken language.

•Also, she will sometimes ask you how, for example, you say apple in Korean or something else.

•She loves to hear your sweet voice and unfamiliar language; in any case, it will always seem beautiful to her.

Sunny

•He's interested in your desire to become an idol, but of course he won't admit it.

•Seeing your persistence in training, he secretly admires you, so don’t be surprised if he only has eyes for you.

•Honestly, he wouldn’t even make the first movement in the dance with his hands, what can I say further.

•Consider that in Dreamworld you are already the most popular and successful idol that everyone loves.

•Okay, maybe he had a thing for Asian gyaru girls who are very energetic, like puppies, and also a little selfish and arrogant, and your image changed to something like that—

•When you gather a group, he will be a little distant from them, as he will feel uncomfortable.

•These are new people unknown to him, you never know what they will do or say, and they will even take you for something strange, he doesn’t need that.

•You won’t get verbal support from him, sorry, but no.

•However, tactile and physical are clearly to be expected.

•He likes tactility, but doesn't show it very clearly, especially in public.

•At concerts he will be quite quiet, but the glow sticks in his hands will be raised anyway.

•He likes your songs, I'm not kidding.

•He will literally be in headphones 24/7, listening to your songs, even falling asleep with them.

•Because of this, by the way, his ears then hurt terribly and his hearing is much worse.

•If they offer themes for songs, they are mostly dark or rated 18+ or 21+

•But you will accept them anyway.

•He will watch in awe as you create song lyrics out of nothing.

•If you ask him to play a duet with you, he will refuse at that very second, he will clearly be uncomfortable.

•He only knows how to play the violin, and his violin, well... It's broken.

•Yes, even if the violin was repaired, he would still refuse before you finish the sentence.

•Don’t even mention joining a group, he’d rather eat a bar of soap than perform on stage, in front of a large number of people, and also in an unfamiliar company, well, this is clearly not his habitat.

•Moreover, you need to train long and hard and spend a lot of energy.

•He barely has enough strength to get out of bed, what exercises and training?

•If you start learning a foreign language, Sunny, as always, will watch it, admiring you.

•It’s literally like you’re learning to speak again, and he doesn’t even know his native English.

•And when you speak fully in another language, it is heaven for his ears.

•Now in his dreams you also call him nicknames in different languages.

#omori #omori hero #omori sunny #omori mari #hero omori x reader #omori x reader

[surveillance-0011]

Looking at Garten of BanBan II… I actually feel kind of optimistic.

This second game feels like it does have more effort put into it- and it’s more genuine, less of a cash grab especially without the merch link right there. I’m not gonna blame the devs for charging money bc it seems they are very low budget, and I’d prefer a game costing money rather than asking you to buy overpriced merch.

There’s a somewhat scarier atmosphere and I think the direction the story is heading could prove to be interesting.

Spoiler alert:

Saw the human experimentation thing coming from a mile away. Not the most original in the mascot-based horror niche, but I’m a sucker for it and am actually kinda interested in seeing why it’s happening in this facility posing as a kindergarten, of all places. Also, BanBan as a possible good guy is very interesting. Yes, Alice and Mommy Long Legs both send you on fetch quests with ulterior motives, but BanBan seems to genuinely care about saving the kids, even if it means he’s not heroic enough to do it himself.

It’s also interesting that he’s apparently not the “major” threat- that’s Stinger Flynn, apparently. Unless BanBan is lying/tricking the MC, which is like a 50/50 chance.

The game also, surprisingly, has a sense of humor. BanBan’s note telling you he’s gonna knock you out, his sheepish apology, NabNab’s misery, and Seline (the snail) reaching the chase scene too late all actually got a chuckle out of me.

However, it’s not exactly the most riveting gameplay. The game still seems kinda slow, glitchy, and like there isn’t as much of an “active” threat. Everything is very … compartmentalized? Until the last chase scene there doesn’t seem to be an active threat chasing you down.

And the story does have some pitfalls and confusing bits. It’s frustrating to me that they are dropping gradual hints in the notes alone- at this point I wish there was more of a why and maybe even more of an admission. BanBan sees himself as human still, yes, but certainly he’s aware everyone else thinks he’s BanBan? And that he’s in a lab? But he never says “yeah they mighta turned me into something I’m not, but deep down I’m human and you can trust me”

And while I like the idea of Stinger Flynn as a major threat I’m surprised NabNab isn’t more of an opposing force. Like they’re literally an obstacle for like the construction section and they peer out as a lil secret when you finish the chase scene and turn back. For someone teased as a big thing, they seem more like a needless red herring and underwhelming extra. It’d be better if they were more present in this chapter.

The … attempt at social commentary in the classroom segment was also just weird? There’s not really a popular kid weird kid bullying hierarchy in kindergarten of all places… and the metaphor is just very bland and fake deep and whatnot. Unless it’s just BanBaleena running the school like she thinks they’re run bc she’s a human experiment with no memory/knowledge of the outside world. Or some sort of commentary on the game community? Eh, it was just weirdly cynical and I didn’t dig it.

And it’s weird that they’re already advertising game 3. It’s a chapter system and it’s bound to happen, but it makes me think they’re rushing it a little.

So it’s not perfect by any means. There’s a couple of glaring issues of disorganization and rougher edges, hell some of the worries concerning it being too “kiddy” still ring true. But it also seems to confirm the game is growing into its own unique self and is a genuine attempt at making a decent game rather than something thrown together to make some money off of children. There’s some heart. It may be small or weak, but it’s there.

I never thought I’d be rooting for the Euphoric Brothers, but I do actually hope they improve from here and actually make something some people can dig. They’re not really some insidious force like people make them out to be, just two people trying in a… pretty flawed way? They gotta work on a lot of stuff, from the game to how they have taken criticism, but they’re not goddawful, the first game was just the worst first impression ever.

And…If anything BanBan’s popularity is inspiring. It’s a good reminder that anyone can make a game- and possibly succeed in getting what they wish.

Tldr: not winning any awards any time soon, but Garten of BanBan is not a total waste. I hope the Devs listen to the criticism they’ve gotten and improve from here, too.

And I. Do like NabNab and Stinger Flynn. And BanBan. I am not immune to silly blob thing.

#garten of banban #garten of BanBan II #only watched play throughs bc I don’t have money or a good computer #but like. yeah #.txt #mascot horror #I have a soft spot for these sorts of things #esp as an artist with a shitty budget and concerns abt the quality of what I make

[vimbry]

moomins: we live simply and enjoyably, we find comfort in small things and nobody here knows how money works

snufkin: I don’t need possessions to make me happy

moominofficial: buy this watch for 33 thousand euros

fFHDJ

they miss the point of their own IP so badly it’s weird! well, weird yet not surprising. they’re a business, I get it, they gotta make money. I know there’s been moomin merchandise since the ‘50s, they’ve hardly just started to sell out now, but for a good while it was just like, posters? some cool handmade dolls? crockery? and all originals. now they’ll rotate their limited gallery of stock images on anything that’ll sell. moominvalley (2019) stuff is the worst for this. it’s just recycling their 2D concept art.

and it’s not that they don’t make some good merch still, but man, is there a lot of weak and kinda desperate stuff in there. like you said, yeah we really needed “pricey regular watch but tiny moomin and snufkin lineart on it”. 

they churn out a lot of (overpriced) easy products cause they know people will go, hey, it’s moomin! I’ll buy it. and as much as they like to lord over disney with the, “did u know: tove kicked uncle mr wilty off her island :)” trivia, they basically operate the same way. they’re legally vicious. you saw how they went after that google drive and its creator (which had multiple discontinued/previously lost media, free subtitled videos, and actually helped the moomin boom along because people could access it. it’s something a company should really turn a blind eye to if it means more consumers down the line imo). they also vetoed down a non-profit charity zine. worst look. great job shutting down all that potential fundraising, moomin characters. some pesky fans might’ve gotten food, shelter, or other resources through images of your hippos and we can’t have that.

also this may sound a bit societycomic.jpg, but look how they’re partnering with a campaign to save the baltic sea with posters like “oh! don’t make waste. be like snufkin, buy practical clothes only when you need them!”, while turning around and producing fashionable outfits and saying “hey, you wanna be like snufkin?” at the same time. like pick one maybe.

like, clothing with your faves on is nice! I wouldn’t begrudge anyone purchasing that. it’s not like that’s the Biggest problem in the world compared to say, disposable high fashion, but it’s still hypocritical of them.

#SORRY sjd I kinda went off on your ask here #I'm just very easily heated about moominco's business practices #love theirs and nintendos products but I will not bootlick #also I wanna stress how much this is not a 'stop buying moomin stuff' take lol that isn't a bad thing #just anger towards mass-produced merchandising in general and also awful ruthless corportations #asks #Anonymous

[shinidamachu]

I got a complaint about Sunrise's execution of Yashahime. Ignoring the ships&animation: 1. Intent was to make Yashahime accessible to younger audience. Problem: Yashahime relies heavily on call backs to OG series&fan favorite characters. It doesn't work as standalone series. This alienates some fans. 2. Follows format of OG series with filler stories direct from Inu manga. Problem: We're now in a binge/streaming culture. OG series was produced when 'seasons' did not have breaks in-between (1/2)

Filler eps made only for call backs to OG series in 24 ep season format reduces proper story progression and satisfying character growth. 3) Lack of outside input. RT has said she asked Kag's VA for opinions (also rumors exist that Sunrise loved working with Kikyo's VA, thus Kikyo appears more). OG cast of VAs, some VERY big names, have shown surprise and differences in opinions (sort of a big deal to admit publicly in Japan). This leads to 4) Many expected RT-style storytelling.

Many saw the cash grab but Sunrise assured multiple times RT approved all, thus 'she must be heavily involved.' Problem: VA has mentioned RT's surprise at some story elements & RT clarified her opinion on some topics. Sunrise exaggerated or lied of RT's 'heavy' involvement & lacks outside opinions. Franchise with sequels relying on one person to make big decisions... *cough*starwars*cough* HNY could've been a good generic standalone anime. But no. Relies heavily on call backs

You are absolutely right and you should say it. You know, I’ve recently read Yashahime: Where Did The Inuyasha Spin-Off Go Wrong? by Alan Hobbs and let me tell you: it is spot on, just like your complaints. Everyone interested should give it a read sometime.

I’d say the problem isn’t even that Yashahime relies heavily on call backs to the original series, is that call backs to the original series are the only thing Yashahime has to offer. And it manages to fail even at that. Let’s be honest here: right now, who is Yashahime’s audience? Mostly adult hardcore Inuyasha fans. Why are they still watching? Because of the original characters. We know those characters. We care deeply about them. But the new viewers won’t, because the new main characters don’t give them a reason to, so they aren’t drawn by nostalgia like we are. People who have never seen Inuyasha are getting nothing out of it. And lately not even nostalgia is enough to keep ratings up. Not when there’s literally thousands of more interesting shows to watch out there. 

They intended to use the original character as bait for us to come, but forgot to write compelling plots characters for us to stay. In fact, they went out of their way to deliver a story that pretty much insulted the original, so not only most of us left, we made a point out of screaming to whoever would listen how bad of an experience this whole thing was on our way out. 

If they were trying to make Yashahime accessible to younger audience they miscalculated splendidly, but in the end of the day, I feel like Yashahime was just a move to recover some of the big, old Inuyasha hype in order to sell more merch, because look at the decisions they have made so far. They were always going to alienate a part of the fans. There’s no way they didn’t take that in consideration.

And sure, because of the streaming culture, the format of Inuyasha, which Yashahime tries to follow, may have fallen out of use, but the difference is that Inuyasha’s fillers were needed as a breather from the plot. Yashahime has no plot, which makes the fillers unnecessary and frustrating rather than funny or cute like most of Inuyasha’s were. 

The lack of outside input was their fault. They either didn’t search around the fandom to see what we truly wanted from this show or they did and completely ignored it because they thought we were gonna eat whatever crap they fed us anyway, so why bother? If they had stopped and actually listened, they would have come to the conclusion this series was a bomb (derogatory). But it doesn’t matter how much we hate it, as long as we keep buying their products, it was all worth it for them.

And, finally, you can’t expect Takahashi-style storytelling without Takahashi. That’s why everyone feels out of character. That’s why the story is so dull. It has no soul. Inuyasha was charming enough that we could overlook its flaws. Yashahime falls unbelievably flat in comparison because is trying way too hard and not trying at all at the same time. Takahashi’s level of involvement wasn’t the only thing Sunrise nastily lied to us about. 

I can only hope they lose a lot of money over it and never touch the Inuyasha franchise again.

#You guys are on fire today #Good Lord #Anti Sessrin #Anti Yashahime #Anti Sunrise

[sailorfailures]

ColourPop is dropping a Sailor Moon collab on Feb 20th and I have some Opinions

It’s the moment Sailor Moon makeup geeks have been waiting for - ColourPop cosmetics, noted for their affordable and colourful official pop culture makeup collaborations, has announced a Sailor Moon collaboration containing an eyeshadow palette, two liquid lipsticks, two lip glosses, two blushes, and two body glitters. Most likely this collab is being timed with the 25th Anniversary of Sailor Moon’s debut in North America to contrast with Japanese cosmetics from brands like Creer Beaute and Shiseido, which were released for the Japanese 25th anniversary.

Source: ColourPopCo on Twitter

After my initial excitement about the long-awaited collaboration died down, I was left with a somewhat disappointing realisation... this entire collab, over a total of nine products, was not about Sailor Moon: The Show... it was about Sailor Moon, the character.

When I imagine a makeup collection for Sailor Moon I immediately picture the rainbow of colours represented across the whole Sailor squad, or at least the OG Sailor Team five. But almost everything in the collab is quite warm, and either pink or neutral/natural. Exceedingly neutral/natural, in fact. One look at the names for all the product colours - “Shining Moon”, “Twilight Flash”, “Bun Head”, “Usagi” - make it clear that the products are intended to reflect Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon only.

The packaging itself is... interesting. I can appreciate that they were trying something new with the eyeshadow and blush cases, as they are all topped with different holographic pictures - not (just) the shiny kind of holo, but the old school kind that flips between two different images, all exclusively featuring Usagi and sometimes Luna. You can see the effect in action in this video review by TrendMood. Good concept but slightly awkward execution. I think they would’ve benefited from some kind of static frame around the images so that it didn’t look like I’d just hot glued a pog to my pencil case. The rest of the packaging features the same old redrawn clipart from every other piece of anniversary merch, so, yawn, though the prismatic elements are nice. The body glitter pots are cute, featuring Usagi’s first transformation brooch to mirror the round shape of the pots, but ColourPop’s “gliterally obsessed” branding seems out of place. I know that’s the name of their glitter gel series but maybe it could’ve been swapped out just this once.

(Screencap from above video by TrendMood)

The lip sticks/glosses are by far the most disappointing. Apart from the cardboard boxes they come in, the only branding visible on the tubes themselves is the series logo and a nondescript crescent moon pattern on the caps. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of subtle packaging. I don’t really want Sailor Moon’s face plastered all over a lipstick either; but I’ve also never been a fan of using random moons/hearts/stars as a stand-in for something more relevant to the show when that imagery is so generic and disconnected from the series. Why not little graphics of the Silver Crystal? If they’d thrown some rabbits, bows, and/or roses into the pattern then the combination would read more as “Sailor Moon” than moons on their own. (That said, splitting them into “Moonlight” for the liquid lips and “Daylight” for the lighter glosses with transformed vs. non-transformed? Brilliant. Genius. The perfect blend of nostalgic and practical.)

(Screencap from above video by TrendMood)

Here’s a photo of the palette taken from Temptalia’s website with everything but the shadows desaturated, so you can read the colours more clearly without being influenced by the packaging:

At first I wasn’t sure what this colour story was trying to tell me. I definitely understand going for a more neutral/“everyday” palette over something more glam, since the characters themselves are generally fresh-faced, but the AMOUNT of neutral shades here seem out of place for such a bright series. Tuxedo Rose and Love (the two pinks in the middle of the bottom row) are so similar for such a limited palette. Twilight Flash (top, second from the left) feels out of place; oddly saturated and just a bit too warm to play nicely with many of the other colours. Mare Serenitatis (the coppery-looking one) stood out as unusual but is actually more of a wine/plum under all the glitter, which is much more appropriate and reminds me of Sailor Moon’s transformation.

The more I looked at this palette, and the more I saw of reviewer's looks using it, the more I slowly realised that this palette wasn’t really evoking the character of Usagi herself, but rather the nostalgic, hazy, pink-washed aesthetic of the entire 90s Sailor Moon animation.

The dreamy not-quite-pastel quality of the 90s anime (half conscious design choice, half convention of the time) has received a lot of modern attention and praise. It makes sense that the palette feels like it’s being viewed through a rose-tinted filter when the entire show felt that way, or is at least remembered that way. It wouldn’t surprise me if ColourPop literally based some swatches on recurring colours picked from screenshots.

That being said... Does that make it a good choice for a makeup collab? Is this what Sailor Moon fans want and will buy? Is it versatile enough to warrant a purchase for non-diehard fans? Is it actually what casual fans, who might buy something like this out of pure nostalgia, are actually nostalgic for? Just because I see what ColourPop was going for, does it automatically translate to the most appropriate choice?

Ultimately, my judgement on that comes down to whether this is ColourPop’s only Sailor Moon collab. If this is them testing the waters to see if they can branch out into releasing products focused on the other girls, like a blue/silver mini palette for Sailor Mercury, a green/pink mini palette for Sailor Jupiter, etc. then I’m all for it. When perceived as a palette that represents the show itself, and not any specific character - not even Usagi, despite what all of the swatch names suggest - it really shines. But that’s not really ColourPop’s MO. Most of their pop culture collections are released in one big shining burst of products and then... nothing. And there are quite a few different products here.

I’d also be remiss not to point out that there are lots of indie Sailor Moon-inspired makeup collections already on the market, which makes sense for an almost-30-year-old series that literally repeats the words “make-up!” nearly every episode. Maybe ColourPop felt like they would be stepping on fandom toes or running the risk of copycat accusations if they strayed too close to any of the 2,348 red Sailor Mars-inspired eyeshadows online, though I assume they’d have the legal upper hand. In that respect, I do appreciate that this is a unique approach to a concept that has been nearly driven into the ground.

But ColourPop is not an indie brand and there are some benefits that come with that. They are generally more accessible, sometimes more affordable, can usually ship to more places in less time at a lower cost to the buyer, and can afford much larger runs that will sell out less quickly (though don’t be fooled, this collab will almost certainly start to sell out shortly after its launch). For many fans, especially younger fans, this is probably their only feasible option for Sailor Moon makeup. And some fans prefer the stamp of authenticity from an “official” collaboration, even if indie collections are often, well, better. So I think there’s an impetus for ColourPop to release a less specialised collection that’s reminiscent of more characters.

If this really is the only Sailor Moon collab ColourPop is planning to release, then the packaging, in my opinion, is an odd choice. I don’t know why they decided to focus exclusively on Usagi herself; if the colour story is meant to represent the entire series, then why not either have all the girls on the front in a rosey colour scheme, OR have none of them and focus on one of the cityscapes that clearly inspired the palette? I feel like there are lots of fans who aren’t necessarily fond of Usagi herself who may be put off by the overwhelming focus on her.

Overall: The lip sticks are nice but not super exciting, but I like what I can see of the lipglosses. The subtle glitter is very Sailor Moon. I love the Moonlight/Daylight concept but wish it were reflected on the actual tubes. The body glitters (Moonlight Legend, Moon Prism Power) are exciting and interesting, by far the most experimental part of the collab. The shape and colour choices for the glitters are very “Sailor Moon” and I can see them getting some use on the festival scene. The blushes also seem cute but a tad overpowering for the otherwise understated vibe of the rest of the collab, like the liquid lipsticks, and I love the Luna stamp in the blushes but would be sad to actually use them and see it get worn away. And while I like the gauzy backdrop-inspired looks people are making out of the palette, I feel like it’s extremely limited in the number of unique looks you could actually pull off.

So, in the end... am I going to be buying any of these? Hell, probably, if they’re not totally sold out by the time I get to them. My initial roller coaster of OMG COLOURPOP SAILOR MOON!!!! excitement dropped into “that’s it?” disappointment but has now leveled out at a respectable buzz of interest. I could see myself wearing most of these products, and the collector in me wants at least a piece of the collab for posterity. I just really hope that this isn’t the end of ColourPop’s involvement in Sailor Moon and that we might see some future products tailored specifically to the other girls, so that my collection isn’t just Usagi’s face staring back at me.

#Sailor Moon #ColourPop #Colour Pop #merchandise #long post #edit: just bc I have some questions about this collab I hope this didn't come off as overly negative #I'm still planning on buying a lot of it LOL #and the more I look at it the more excited I get #I think I wrote a lot of this when I was still in the disappointed downspiral from the initial announcement #bc I was thinking about what it 'could' have been based on my own biases #when i look back and see what it actually is I'm still very excited #the more I look at it the more I feel like these are uniquely 'sailor moon'

[rhinoswriting]

A Life On The Road - Part 4 (A Luke Hemmings FanFic)

Overview: Elizabeth and Calum have been best friends since they were 15/14 respectively. Elizabeth is from and lives in the UK, but her family lived in Sydney for a brief 2 year period which is how the two met.

With 5SOS embarking on their biggest and most ambitious world tour to date, Cal has invited Elizabeth along to work as a photographer/content creator for their social media. This is in the hopes that travelling with them will help Elizabeth achieve her dream of becoming a full-time travel writer.

Elizabeth is acquainted with the rest of 5SOS but doesn’t know them tremendously well. Obviously that changes as they are all forced to be in one another’s company for the duration of the tour. As the tour progresses and new friendships blossom, Elizabeth feels the connection between her and Luke grow more and more.

A/N: Picking up in Paris. There’s drinking and swearing in this one.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

******************************************

“That was genuinely one of the best meals I’ve ever had.” Michael announced as we exited the restaurant.

“It was incredible! I’m still so jealous of your main though, Mikey. Like, mine was good but I should have got the same as you.” I replied.

“So where to next? The night is still young and we have no obligations before tomorrow’s soundcheck.” Ashton asked the group.

A bar was obviously the unanimous decision. But I did convince them to walk aimlessly until we found a bar. That way we could see some of the landmarks lit up and I could get some content both for the band insta and to go alongside any Paris articles of mine that got picked up.

“I’m going to have my work cut out topping these,” I told the guys as I reviewed the short series of photos I had just taken of them by The Louvre, “So I think that counts as me done for the night. Time to find the nearest baaarrrr!”

It didn’t take long to find a bar. It also didn’t take long for us to all have a cocktail glass held in each hand. While the meal was excellent, it was quite a posh place, something none of us were exactly used to. This bar felt much more like our kind of place. It was time to really relax and have fun as nothing more than a group of friends.

In terms of music it was a bit hit and miss as to whether or not we knew the song playing. While that stopped us singing, it never stopped us from dancing. Also, not being familiar with a song was an excellent opportunity to get the next round of drinks in.

“Hurry up! I don’t have a good grip on these! Quick! Take your fucking drinks!” I yelled as I returned from the bar doing my very best to carry five glasses.

“Thanks, EP!” Cal shouted back as he took two glasses from me, passing one on to Michael.

“TO EP FOR ADDING MORE FUN, AND RIGHT NOW DRINKS, TO TOUR AND BEING A STEP CLOSER TO ACHEIVING HER DREAMS!” Ashton called as he raised his glass into the air for a toast.

“TO EP!” The four of them shouted as they clinked their glasses together.

“You guys are too much at times,” I laughed, “But thank you very much none the less.”

With that slightly embarrassing moment of attention out the way we got back to dancing and sipping on our drinks. After a few songs Cal excused himself to the smoking area. Not long after he’d gone Michael went up to the bar as it was his turn to buy the round, leaving just me, Luke and Ash dancing in a little triangle of space. That was until Live In The Moment by Portugal. The Man started playing. 

As soon as we recognised the song Luke gave me a knowing look as I exclaimed ‘As if!’ because only hours ago in that random little coffee shop had we bonded over our mutual current obsession with the song. From that point until the song faded into the next Luke and I were solely focussed on one another as we passionately sang the lyrics at each other and let the beat draw our drunk, dancing bodies closer together in the already small space. 

Without even realising it we became only inches apart, loudly singing into each other’s faces with our drink-free hands moving between air punches, waves and resting on each other (his hand on my waist, mine on his shoulder). And then far too soon the song was over.

“That’s officially made my night,” I declared as I took a step back and downed what remained of my drink, “That was the best coincidence ever.”

“I think that just became our song.” Luke smiled down at me while pushing a few curls back out of his face.

“Are you fucks going to take your drinks now? Because I’m 30 seconds away from drinking them.” Michael somewhat playfully asked, pulling the two of us out of our bubble.

It wasn’t long after taking our drinks from Michael that Mr. Brightside came on and the five of us went mad for it on the dancefloor. And it turned out that, just like a multitude of other clubs I’d been to, Mr Brightside was a subtle signal that closing time was fast approaching. After the two songs that followed, the music stopped and the house lights came on.

“Boooo!” We all declared, clearly not ready for the night to be over just yet.

We collected our jackets from the cloakroom as we were ushered out into the cold Parisian night air with the rest of the crowd. Once out on the street we checked the time for the first time in hours. Realising it was 3:05am and nowhere else was likely to still be open we began our walk back to the tour bus.

It may seem strange to say, but drunk walks home at the end of a night out are one of my favourite things in the world. I get such a feeling of togetherness when I’m laughing and slightly staggering down the street with friends. It always makes me feel like I belong. And semi-lost under the streetlights of Paris I had that feeling of belonging wash its warmth over me. I took two large steps to catch up with Cal and looped my arm through his, 

“I so fucking glad I’m here. Thank you so much for being my best friend. And thank you for having bandmates that are so easy to get along with.” I told Cal as I placed my drunk, sleepy head against his arm as I wasn’t quite tall enough to reach his shoulder.

As Cal and I continued our drunk heart-to-heart we absentmindedly followed the other three in what we hoped was the direction of the tour bus. Seeing as we hadn’t been paying much attention to them and their antics, it was a bit of a surprise to hear Ash shout “Smile!” at us. Thankfully we were quick enough to pose. 

The result was a pretty cool photo of us, arms still linked, pulling tongue-out faces while flipping the camera off. I asked Ash to send it to me, edited it a bit and kept it in my Insta drafts for review and posting in the morning. By the time I’d done this, we’d managed to find our way back to the bus. Once we all piled in we promptly collapsed in our bunks for what remained of the night.

*

The next day was actually quite a relaxed one for me by touring standards.

I was woken up by Michael repeatedly prodding my upper arm. Once I stirred and opened one eye to find him there, he let me know that Ashton had gone and done a coffee run and mine was waiting for me in the kitchen area. Begrudgingly I got up, because I knew the caffeine would do me good, and I also really needed painkillers for my head. As I padded into the bus’ kitchen area in my XXL tee I saw that the guys were looking just as rough as I felt and probably looked too.

“Thanks for the coffee, Ash.” I said as I picked up the cup with my name on, “I don’t suppose there’s any painkillers on this bus?”

“Got some on my coffee run. Here you go.” Ash responded handing me the small rectangular box.

“You lifesaver.” I said taking the box and settling down on the small sofa next to Luke who was barely awake.

As everyone was pretty hungover we didn’t talk much. We just sat in a comfortable silence while we waited for the caffeine to kick in. 

The silence was finally broken by Lou getting onto the bus and letting the four guys know it was soundcheck in 30 minutes. This prompted them to go and change out of their joggers and freshen up a bit. As they did so I dug out my laptop, charger and notebook from my bunk in order to set up a temporary desk at the kitchen booth’s table and get some work done.

After two hours I’d managed to finish, proof read and send off my article on Glasgow to ELLE; as well as flesh out two article ideas for Paris. Pleased with what I had achieved in that time, despite my headache only being dulled slightly by the painkillers, I took a break. 

Predictably, after making some instant mug ramen, I ended up on Instagram; which was when I remembered the photo in my drafts from last night. I clicked onto it and saw drunk me had gone a bit too far when altering the brightness and warmth of the photo. Once I had edited them down and was pleased with how it looked, I tapped out the caption “Two of a kind!” with the emoji of the two dancing girls at the end, tagged Cal and hit ‘Post’. Not quite ready to go back to work, I decided to get dressed and head into the venue to see what the guys were up to.

The guys were just finishing up the meet and greet, so I hopped round to the front of the venue and gave some of the roadies a hand with prepping the t-shirts and hoodies into piles by size at the merch booth. In between pile sorting, Lou appeared to let us know the boys were in Dressing Room 4 doing radio interviews over the phone and to avoid that area of the venue until they were done. Not knowing when exactly that would be, I headed back to the bus once the merch had been sorted and video called Drew.

“Work is so shit without you. Your replacement sucks too.” Drew complained.

“Aww I’m sorry, Drew! Have you heard back from the other firm you applied to?”

“No, not yet. But I should hopefully within the next week. I can’t survive much longer with these people. How’re you surviving on the road?”

“Really well actually! Not to rub it in or anything.” I laughed.

As I was divulging into some of the details and anecdotes I heard someone slapping their hands along the length of the bus as they approached the door.

“Oh. It sounds like I’m going to have to go.” I managed to say before the door opened and Luke stepped onto the bus, “Adios. I’ll call you again soon.”

“Oh shit, sorry, I didn’t realise you were on the phone.” Luke apologised as he caught the tail-end of my conversation, “We’re all just chilling in the main dressing room now, so I said I’d come and find you.”

“Let me grab my camera gear and I’ll be right with you.” I told him while shimmying out of the booth at the front of the bus.

After a few wrong turns backstage, which resulted in a game of Marco Polo between Luke and Michael as a way to guide us the right place, we were back into our comfortable evening routine. They got prepped and hyped up and I documented it with my camera. That evening I took each of them down the hall to a really cool, cobalt blue door I’d spotted for some solo shots. Luke, taking the longest to decide on his stage outfit for the night, was the last of the four I photographed.

“That red silk shirt was such a good choice.” I complemented him as I held my eye up to the viewfinder, “It contrasts this cobalt door so well. And the two together really bring out your eyes.”

“He doesn’t need a bigger head than he’s already got!” Cal called playfully down the corridor.

Luke let out his infectious giggle and I seized the opportunity to grab another photo while chuckling myself. It was a great photo. Such a pure moment captured. I almost didn’t want to share it on their social media, but I knew that was a foolish, and not to mention selfish, thought.

Not long after that the guys were called to the stage. I took my place side of stage and ritualistically fist bumped each of them as they took to the stage for another amazing show. I felt I had already got enough content while in Paris, so I chose to just enjoy the performance instead of worrying about shots and footage. It was the first time I had let myself do so on this tour and I had a blast.

“It looked like you were having a good time tonight.” Cal later remarked when we were all back on the bus and on the road to Brussels. 

“Don’t tell Lou, but I sort of let myself take tonight off shooting to enjoy the gig as I already have so much Paris content.” I confessed as I reclined on the sofa in the lounge at the back of the tour bus.

“Your secret is safe with us.” Cal reassured with a wink, before taking the final swig that remained in his beer bottle, “Right you fucks, I’m off to bed. See you in Brussels.”

Not long after, Mike and Ash made their way to their bunks as well. This left just Luke and I chilling in the back lounge. As he was scrolling through Netflix looking for a film to put on, I asked him, 

“Are you not shattered too?”

“Eh,” He shrugged, “A bit, yeah. But I always have trouble sleeping. Plus after our drunk chat the other night I’d like to hang out with you more, and I seem to only really get the chance at night.”

“I’m not going to argue with that.” I responded while draping a blanket over my shoulders as the opening credits to Groundhog Day began. After a pause I continued, “We can hang out during the day you know. Like take a break and grab lunch or something. Hey, why don’t we do the coffee run together tomorrow? That’ll be an opportunity to hang out.”

“I’d like that,” He smiled, and then tugged a little at the blanket, “Don’t go hogging all the blanket.”

I released my grip on the blanket, allowing Luke to drape it over himself as well. The added warmth of his body next to mine made me feel even cosier and it wasn’t long before I nodded off to sleep.

The tour bus abruptly coming to a stop a few hours later managed to rouse me from my slumber. As my eyes fluttered open, the rest of my body registered that I wasn’t in my bunk, or even laying down, and that the warm thing my head was on smelt very good. Once my eyes were open and no longer fuzzy with sleep I realised that I had fallen asleep during the film, as I was still sat on the lounge’s U-shaped sofa. Luke must have fallen asleep at some point during the film too, as the nice smelling thing my head was resting on was his shoulder, and I could feel his head resting gently on top of mine as he snored softly.

“Wake up. Hey, Luke. Wake up, “I prompted as I gently shook his thigh, “I think we’re in Brussels.”

#luke hemmings x ofc #luke hemmings fanfiction #luke hemmings fanfic #luke 5sos #luke hemmings #5sos fanfiction #5sos fanfic

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: T

Chapter Summary:  Chat Noir brings up some renovations the base could use. Also, he and Ladybug flirt decide to study together.

Word Count: 2065 | Chapter 2/?

XXX

It was almost funny—in a twisted sort of way—how she could go from fighting for her life to panicking about her grades.

Today’s akuma had struck while she was supposed to be studying for her first physics exam.  Even with Rena Rouge and Carapace providing backup, the fight through Lord Labyrinth’s twisting maze had taken three hours.  

And, to top it off, she was stranded on the opposite side of the city.

“I’m sorry, Marinette,” Tikki said, curled up into a ball in her palms.  “You’re sure you don’t have even a crumb left?”

She patted her empty pockets.  “Nothing.”  

Tikki had already eaten her five backup macarons, two emergency protein bars, and even a crepe she’d snagged with the last of her change.  She couldn’t afford much more on a university budget.  Tikki didn’t always need to recharge after using Lucky Charm anymore, but she also couldn’t go on forever.

“The hideout is closer than your school, right?  We could stop there, then I can transform you and get you home.”

“Good idea, Tikki.”  Marinette pressed a quick kiss to her head before slipping her into her backpack, which had reappeared once she’d detransformed.  The heavy weight of her laptop and notebook pulling on her shoulders only added to her exhaustion.

“There’s a good entrance the next street over…”

Soon enough she was dropping down into the damp sewer.  In comic books, didn’t the heroes have cool hideouts?  But she couldn’t complain.  Chat may have been the one to suggest the location, but she’d agreed that it was the safest bet.  At least it would be a place she could rest for a minute.

The secret base was disguised from the outside, thanks to Rena Rouge’s new long-lasting illusion.  Marinette could only spot the door by looking for a specific pattern in the wall—four slightly shimmery bricks at about eye level.  She still patted the wall in three different places before brushing the secret handle.

“Finally,” she breathed, fumbling for the padlock.  Once she pulled it just out of the illusion’s range, she could enter the password.  Four letters, one on each dial.

HOME.  She’d thought it was too obvious, but Chat Noir had teared up once he’d seen the lock’s default password, and she couldn’t bring herself to change it.

With the lock still in hand, she stepped into the room— 

—Only to hear someone yelp and fall off the couch.

“Who is it?  Who’s there?”  Chat Noir’s voice rang out.

Marinette nearly jumped back and slammed the door.  But thankfully, Chat’s hand was covering his eyes. 

His ungloved hand.  Thankfully, he’d at least had the sense to cover his miraculous with some kind of… hair scrunchie?  Oh well, whatever worked.

“Don’t look!”  She said redundantly.  If he’d gotten a glimpse of her, it was already too late.

“I won’t, I pawmise.”

She took her fake mask from its hook and slipped it over her face.  Then she shoved her backpack and shoes into the cabinet labeled LADYBUG, exchanging them for a long green hoodie that was too big to wear in public.  Thankfully it was cool down in the sewers, even during the late summer. 

The wooden cabinet door hadn’t been the product of a Lucky Charm, and it hung at a lopsided angle when she shut it.

“Alright.”  She sighed.  “You can look now.”

Chat Noir dropped his arm and stood, his eyes widening beneath the fabric mask as he took her in.  

Strangely, she wanted to squirm under his gaze.  It wasn’t like she looked that different outside of her suit, and the fake mask would still hide her identity.  But Chat’s eyes… the black fabric didn’t change his scleras, and she found herself transfixed by the new shade of spring green.  She hadn’t seen him like this since they’d swapped miraculouses while fighting against Reflekta and Reflekdoll.

“What?  Hotter than you expected?”  He grinned, flexing his arm under his Ladybug-themed hoodie.  At least he’d been smart enough to bring an outfit change too.

“Trying to win me over by buying my merch now?” She raised an eyebrow.  Pretty eyes or not, he was still Chat Noir.  She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of getting flustered.

“No, I’m trying to win you over by being pawsomely charming. This,” he tugged at the hem of his hoodie, “is just because I have taste.”

“I guess I can’t fault you there.”  She stepped over to him and straightened the drawstrings hanging from his hood.  It was still weird, seeing him in normal clothes, being forced to confront the fact that Chat Noir was a regular university student, just like her.  She knew that, of course, but with his over-the-top puns and flirting, it sometimes felt like he belonged in a comic book.

“We need a doorbell.  You could’ve seen me before I had the chance to put on my mask.”  She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that sooner.  She’d assumed heroes would stop here individually, or arrive transformed.  It wasn’t like her to miss such an obvious problem; the stress of classes must be getting to her.

“You could’ve just knocked, you know.”  He smirked.

“...I didn’t expect anyone to be here,” she admitted, face heating.  “The lock was still on.  How did you even get in?”

“I had Plagg put it back on just in case I ended up taking a catnap.  But don’t worry about it, bugaboo.  We’ll both be more prepared next time.”

His smile hit differently outside of his transformation.  Stupidly, she found herself just staring into his eyes again.

“Great, now we’re going to have to watch the lovebirds in person.”  Plagg gagged from his spot on the counter.  It didn’t stop him from swallowing a wedge of cheese immediately after, though.

“And I’m going to have to smell you in person,” Tikki said, waving her arm in front of her face.

“We’re in a sewer!  How much stinkier can it get?”

Marinette laughed.  It wasn’t often she got to see Plagg, much less him and Tikki together.

“When it comes to month-old camembert, it can always get stinkier,” Chat said.  “Trust me.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”  Marinette didn’t have a very good sense of smell, anyway.  That was convenient when your secret base was located in the sewers.

“I think we’ll be fine coming here without our suits as long as everyone knocks first,”  Chat said, plopping back down on the couch.  “We’ve already got changes of clothes that won’t identify us.  Rena and Carapace dropped theirs off when they were adding their improvements yesterday.”

“Improvements?”  Marinette raised an eyebrow, not that he could see under her mask.

“I told them it would be okay; I didn’t think you’d mind.  Carapace just thought it would be smart to put a Shellter around the Miracle Box.  The kwamis can phase through it with their miraculouses, but no one can reach inside to steal them.”

She stepped up to the entertainment center and opened the cabinet with the miracle box.  Sure enough, there was a glowing green barrier around the red egg.

“That’s a good idea, but… what if the kwamis don’t know they’re needed?  They can’t hear us when they’re inside their magical world.”

Chat’s face fell.  It was weird, not seeing his ears and tail droop, but the rest of his body language was still so expressive.

“I didn’t think of that.”

“It’s okay.”  She stepped over and put a hand on his shoulder.  “It really was a good idea.  You didn’t know.”  

Master Fu had given her more training on being the Guardian than he had Chat Noir.  All the Master said on the matter was that Chat’s schedule wouldn’t allow it.

He nodded.  “I’ll have him take it down next time I see him.”

Maybe they could still use Shellter in other ways; she’d have to think about that.  If only all four of them could control the shield.  That would make an excellent way to protect the base.

“You said Rena made some changes too?”

“Oh, right!”  He sprung up again, then vaulted over the back of the couch to reach the kitchen.  Apparently he was athletic even without the suit.  “She brought some cooking supplies.  Also, she was asking if we had any plans to add a bathroom.”

“A bathroom?  This isn’t a hotel.”  Marinette rubbed her temples.  She wasn’t a plumber.  She couldn’t just Lucky Charm up a functioning toilet.

Plagg let out a loud burp.  “She’s right.  Who needs a fancy kitchen or a bathroom when you’ve got a fridge full of cheese?”

Chat glared at him.  “Some of us aren’t magical kwamis who never need to pee.”

“That’s what the sewer’s for, isn’t it?”

“Not that kind of sewer!”  He smacked his forehead.

Marinette was doing her best not to burst out laughing.  Chat Noir might wear the clown suit, but Plagg was the clown suit.

“I’ll see if I can come up with anything,” she assured him.  Having a bathroom down here would be nice, though she didn’t know how to pull that off yet.  There was a locker room for sanitation employees that they could probably use, but it would be risky, whether they went suited up or not.

This was supposed to be just a simple meeting place.  She should’ve known that doing anything with Chat Noir couldn’t be simple.

Maybe we should’ve gone with his first idea of renting an apartment, she thought as she poured herself a glass of milk.  It looked like Alya had brought disposable cups along with the griddle, spatulas, and utensils strewn on the counter.  She really should try Lucky Charming up some drawers.  Or at least break out the dragon miraculous and cut a few more cabinets into the rock.

“So what brings you here, anyway?”  Chat asked while lounging against the counter.  “Hoping you’d run into a handsome black cat?”

He slicked his hair back in a way he probably thought was suave.  Instead he just ended up skewing his mask, and he blinked in surprise.  Or maybe winked.  It was hard to tell with the fabric covering up one of his eyes.

“Tikki needed a break before heading home.  You saw how many Lucky Charms I used today.”  She held out her cup, letting Tikki dunk her cookie in it before she took another sip.

“You were amazing.  Building a trebuchet out of the pieces it gave you?  Genius.”

She punched him lightly.  “Flatterer.”

“It’s not flattery if it’s true, my lady.”  He winked.

Stop that, she told her heart when it picked up its pace.  It didn’t listen, especially when he leaned in towards her.

It’s those stupid eyes.  Those stupid, gorgeous eyes.

“I still can’t believe you launched my staff at just the right angle to hit the akumatized object over the wall. You wouldn’t happen to be a physics major, would you?”

“A what?”  She blinked before his words actually sunk in.  Then she nearly dropped her cup of milk on the counter.  “Oh no!  The physics exam!”

“...So that’s a yes?”

“No.”  Her face flopped on the stone counter.  Ow.  “I’m terrible at physics.  I just have to take the intro class, and I was supposed to study for the test today, but then Lord Labyrinth took forever and,” she took a deep breath, “I just really don’t want to.”

She’d never procrastinated in her life.  Well, not on purpose, anyway.  She just had too much to do to afford it.

“Even superheroes need breaks, you know.”  He rubbed her shoulder, his touch gentle without his claws.  “But if you do want to study… could I help you?  I’ve took a few physics classes last year.  They were a-mass-ing.”

“Really?”  They didn’t talk much about their school lives—mostly for identity reasons, but also because they usually didn’t have the time.  She never would’ve picked him out as a science guy.  Theatre, maybe.

“Yeah.  You could say I had a lot of potential.”  

She groaned.  “Oh no.  I can’t take cat puns and science puns.  If you keep this up, I’ll just take my chances with failing.”

“What?  Do you think there’s too much friction between us?”

“Chat.” She glared on principle, even though she had to admit that one was almost funny.

“Alright, alright, I’m done.”  He grinned.  “Grab your notes and we can get started.”

#tali writes #ladynoir #home base #fic tag #if youre not following me on ao3 #just know that i posted this chapter weeks ago #there are like 5 chapters of this fic out already #i am slow at crossposting to tumblr

[ahnsael]

@kjuw89 replied to your photo: “Isn’t she beautiful?”:

Crowds look light ��

They’re not bad. I was surprised to see 15 minutes for Pirates. On the Disney Parks App it then said that HyperSpace Mountain had a 20 minute wait, but it had just returned to 104 status after going 101 (for you non-cast members, that means it was working again after having broken down), and by the time I got there from Big Thunder it was up to 55 minutes and no Single Rider Line. I got a FastPass for 9:10-10:10pm, but then gave that up for a Small World FastPass that would be valid by the time I walked from Galaxy’s Edge instead when I decided I didn’t have the energy to stay that late today.

The highest I saw Smuggler’s Run was also 55 minutes, and that and HyperSpace Mountain were the two longest waits in the park. It was warm today (even though I heard people complaining about how cold it was when I left -- it was predicted to be in the mid-60s at the time, so I’m guessing they’re SoCal people -- we’re already down to the 30s at night back home, which is probably why I found a scorpion in our garage yesterday; it’s still warm enough during the day, but it’s cold at night and our garage is still warm -- also I used my blacklight that I use for IDs and large bills at work and saw that the thing about them glowing green under black light is true), but when i walked by Splash Mountain on the way to the Hungry Bear and then Galaxy’s Edge, the wait was only 30 minutes.

I forgot to mention Star Tours and the Jedi Thingy in the Captain EO theater on my list of things I did today, too. I walked in to Star Tours and waited less than 5 minutes on Standby. It was weird to see that the Star Trader is pretty much all Star Wars merch now (it used to just be the small part by the Star Tours exit into the gift shop). There was also a huge selection of Star Wars pins on Main Street in the music store (which is now mostly a pin store). So much Star Wars in areas of the park other than the Star Wars par!I

I also happened to time the Jedi thing just right after finding out the Space Mountain wasn’t doing single rider but hearing the announcement that the doors to the theater were opening.

I was one of literally three people in the theater, and I was really only there to sit in the old seats and pretend I was watching Captain EO. The cast member didn’t even bother with the microphone; he just stood in front of us and did his spiel “in person” to us.

I wasn’t exactly wowed by Smuggler’s Run. I was told to watch for flashing buttons and push them (I was an engineer, the last row), and I was focused on that for the first part of the ride until I realized that the bright green flashes were enough to get my attention if I wasn’t looking.

The down side: Without spoiling the story, there were two times I was supposed to press something specific (and two other times to hit a couple other things -- there wasn’t a lot of interactivity for the engineer position). The first time I pressed the button and it had the desired effect; the second time, I pressed it, but it stayed lit, and Hondo kept yelling at me to press it, no matter how many times I pressed it. I could see the other Engineer (another single rider) having the same issue at the same time.

The lady who grouped us asked me whether I was a rebel or part of the Empire, and I told her honestly, “I don’t know, I just walked into Galaxy’s Edge and came here.” And since I was a single rider, I don’t think anything would have been “remembered” for me anyway as they advertised when the land opened.

Another issue was the Play Disney Parks app.When I first opened it, I allowed location services only while the app is open...turns out you can’t get “achievements”  unless they’re always on (any time you turn the phone screen off, the app starts from scratch when you reopen it). And for the life of me, I couldn’t find a way to go back and change my preferences. Maybe it’s outside the app in the phone’s app settings.

Oh, and they still have the typo on the sign at the entrance to the Haunted Mansion display in the Opera House on Main Street. It still says “Kindly step all the way in to the explore eerie evolution of the Haunted Mansion’s design” instead of “Kindly step all the way in to explore the eerie evolution of the Haunted Mansion’s design” (emphasis mine -- I tried posting it earlier from the Opera House, but Disneyland’s wifi keeps going in and out and if you thought I posted a lot today, just imagine if half of them hadn’t failed due to a lost connection!). That typo has been there for months, I believe. Disney has its own sign shop. It’s an easy fix. They just haven’t done it. Has nobody actually told them? Would I be a jerk to mention it?

The only other thing that I was disappointed in was that when I got dinner at the Hungry Bear, the cashier asked whether I wanted fries, slaw, or onion rings. I chose the rings.

And then when I got my receipt, I noticed that I was charged an extra 50¢ for that choice, then saw on the menu that it said “includes fries or slaw” (onion rings appeared nowhere on the menu, even as a side dish). Seemed a dirty trick to not mention the upcharge when offering it. It is, at the very least, a sneaky upcharge

But...let’s be honest, if she had said “would you like fries or slaw, which are included, or would you like to substitute onion rings for 50¢ more?” I still would have chosen the onion rings. It’s not a ridiculous upcharge, I just think it should be mentioned at the time.

But overall, it’s been so long that things that used to drive me up a wall were...pretty much okay today.

When I was in line for Pirates, there was a lady ahead of me with a young (2 or 3 years old I think) daughter, and she was having a heck of a time keeping her daughter from wandering off, or bumping into those of us around her, etc. That used to drive me crazy.

And maybe it’s because I’m an uncle now and understand the struggle better, but...all I could think was “Hey, at least she’s trying. Besides, what kid DOESN’T do these things?”

I was more bummed about the group who tried to sneak past me in the FastPass line of Big Thunder (the cast member at the merge point saw this and made them wait until I was ahead of them, bless him), the people behind me in line for Pirates who were old enough to understand the concept of personal space but still kept walking into me, and the family in front of me waiting at the FastPass merge point at Small World who kept giving their 1-2 year old daughter an empty Coke bottle, just for her to throw it down again -- one of those times at my head (and instead of stopping giving it to her to throw, tried to tell her to throw it in another direction without so much as a “sorry ‘bout that”). But to the cast member’s credit, the one watching the merge point -- while not showing perturbation at the situation (her Disney smile game was strong), when she let us in she sent that family to one line and the rest of us around them to another line, and gave a brief but noticeable (to me) look of “I got you, fam.”

I had all these plans for what the first thing I was going to do was when I got there. The thing I did was the thing I didn’t plan, but I’m okay with it...I wandered some of the shops on Main Street. Partly, I was looking for a hat, since I didn’t bring one (I brought sunscreen, but...getting sunburned, then shaving my head, can result in “hairless dandruff” -- the peeling skin just being made to look awful by a razor passing over it). I may buy this one tomorrow:

Overall, though, I wasn’t a big fan of the hat selections available.

But I went into the Magic Shop (take that, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland still has a Magic Shop) wanting to buy a Hot Rod. I found it on the shelf right as the cast member started asking if he could help me with anything. I told him that the Hot Rod was the first magic trick I ever bought in that store as a kid and the first “real” magic trick I ever learned (this is true), and he said “And it’s still a great classic trick.” (If you want a cast member who knows every last bit of their merchandise, experience over the last 30+ years tells me this is the store you want to be in.)

I bought it (I have a guest at my casino that it’s going to blow away, even though it’s one of the easiest tricks to perform).

There’s a sculpture (probably about 6-7″ tall) of Peter Pan riding Peter Pan’s Flight that’s surprisingly only $55, and I may get that too. There was a great lithograph of the organist in the Haunted Mansion for $40...the problem with wall art is that for everything I put up, depending on the size, I have to choose one or two attraction posters to take down.

There’s probably more that I’m going to have to choose between (or order online later since they’re on shopdisney), and part of me is worried that, since I would do Package Pickup rather than carry the things (other than the hat) around all day, I might forget to actually pick them up on the way out. I could have them shipped, but I don’t know how much that would cost.

Today was more or less my test run -- if I was so exhausted by the end that the walk back to the hotel was a pain, I was going to pay the $25 parking fee and drive in tomorrow. But even after all that time awake, the walk takes less than a half hour. And once I crossed Harbor and then Disney Way and started walking down Disney Way, there was only one other pedestrian with me (it was a madhouse from the exit to that point -- I was far from the only one leaving early, but even though I never understood leaving early when I was younger and had more energy...I get it, especially for people with multi-day passes).

I wore a PeopleMover T-shirt, and one of the cast members at Hungry Bear complimented me on it, so that was good (I thought about wearing my T-shirt of an anthropomorphic Pluto walking a non-anthropomorphic Goofy, but decided I didn’t want a bunch of kids asking their parents questions about it; when I left work this morning I chose an understated WED Enterprises T-shirt, but even with my A/C on for the whole drive down, I was a sweaty mess when I got here and I wasn’t going to subject people to that).

My shirt choices for tomorrow: the aforementioned Pluto/Goofy shirt, a shirt that is a parody of “The Jerk” movie poster but with Goofy taking Steve Martin’s place and the title changed to “The Goof,” or a Captain R3X T-shirt.

Honestly, it’s probably between “The Goof” and Captain R3X. The other one might freak people out more than I would like.

Oh, and I have to look into Oga’s Cantina. Earlier I saw a reservation available for tomorrow evening, but...when it asked me to authorize a credit card guarantee, I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to (I know they charge you if you don’t show up, but...how much? And am I just guaranteeing being able to go in and have a drink and enjoy the ambiance, or am I required to buy a certain dollar amount of things, like the $200 you’re committing to when you reserve building a light saber or a droid?).

Speaking of which, I saw a LOT of people, in my 3½ hours there today, carrying around “custom droid” boxes.

Not that I’m surprised a lot of people are getting them, I’m just surprised they’re not having them held for package pick-up at the end of the day, choosing instead to carry them around.

The things I did learn today: I do NOT miss driving in Southern California. You know you’ve reached Southern California when the left lane is street racers holding racers through heavy traffic, when people are diving from lane to lane to try and find the fastest way to their destination, when people randomly slow down to 10 below the limit, then accelerate to 10 over when you try to go around them, and just the general feeling of claustrophobia of being in a sea of so many bad drivers that you have to scan them all to try to anticipate what stupid thing they’re going to do next so you can react before they do it because if you wait for it to happen, it’s gonna be too late.

I also learned that driving down on Highway 395 sucks. For more than half the time, it’s one lane in either direction (passing lanes are few and far between, and in the daylight there’s that “is that the water-mirage effect, or a semi coming? I have a dotted line and I can legally pass, but I literally have no idea whether it’s safe to do so and I am NOT dying on the way to Disneyland). And there is a TON of road construction (a good 25 miles is one lane TOTAL, with them alternating directions in that one lane).The whole area around Victorville is a complete mess. At the intersections (of which there are many), they open up to two lanes for the last couple hundred feet prior to the intersection, just to go back to one lane afterwards. Which means that a LOT of people who have been frustrated for 100 miles or more about their inability to pass are trying everything they can to cheat the system and get ahead somehow before the road goes back to one lane.

Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of jerk drivers in northern Nevada. But traffic is sparse enough that I see, at most, five jerks a day. Most nights it’s just one, some nights none (the advantage of working graveyard is there aren’t a lot of people on the road, and we’re a small enough town that even “rush hour” means going 15 in a 25 zone at worst). But in SoCal, there are so many selfish drivers that it just...wow. It’s a lot to deal with when I haven’t dealt with it in so long (and since I’ve never driven south from the 395 to the 15 to the 60 to the 57 before, so it was all new road to me -- this was literally my first time traveling more than 3 miles south on 395 since I moved to Nevada, and that’s the highway my casino is on). The claustrophobia, when I knew I had no possible out if anything happened, was scaring me.

It’s great to be back. I mean, I’m home at Disneyland. It’s also going to be great to leave and get back to a small town in rural Nevada.

Oh, but I may be meeting up with disfan tomorrow. He hasn’t posted in almost a year here (hence why I’m not tagging him), but I met him in person six years ago at my third most recent trip (this current one being the most recent, then going with an old friend in 2015 where I didn’t see disfan then that third-most recent one in 2013), and it would be great to see him again. I’m still in touch with him from time to time, and when I thought I had a date he offered to do something to help make it special, and while the date thing didn’t work out (I got a text from her while I was on the road saying that she was “getting ready” but nothing since then, even tonight when she knows for sure she missed the boat to It’s a Small World -- I waited 30 minutes longer than I wanted to to leave in case she showed -- though I showed up just about 30 minutes after check-in time so it wasn’t too bad, since a review of my hotel on Travelocity said they charge extra for early check-in even if the room is ready and I don’t know if that would apply if I had missed some traffic and arrived 15 minutes early -- but her text was after I had already given up on her and gotten on the road -- her text was in reply to one I sent at the time we were supposed to meet asking if she was on her way, her reply came over 20 minutes later that she was “getting ready” but since I was driving I didn’t see that until I got here because I’ve learned no to do other things and drive), disfan was a gem. So...I hope I do get to see him tomorrow.

And if any of you Disneyland people who I know on here happen to be going to the parks Tuesday, send me an ask (I’m mostly mobile, though I am on a laptop at the moment, so an ask should show up on my notifications...but maybe to play it safe, add an X to the end of my tumblr name and make it gmail and get in touch with me that way.

I really do enjoy doing the park on my own (which is probably why I didn’t call her instead of text her when she wasn’t there -- plus there was some drama the morning before involving her roommate and I’m worried that may be a regular thing, so I might have self-sabotaged this “date” a little bit by not trying harder than I normally would with someone who I genuinely do like). But I also like doing the park with friends, and if we’re mutuals here we’re already friends (or if you follow me and I don’t follow you and you want to show me that we could be friends that works too), send an email.

I’ll be in the park most of the day (I can’t promise I’m gonna rope-drop it, because my Wednesday/Thursday is gonna be a LONG day driving home and getting there just about in time to shower and get ready for work, then I have a 9am meeting on Thursday, so I’ll have been up since whenever I get up and check out on Wednesday to get back up to Nevada for work), but I’m staying at least through the Electrical Parade. I don’t care about a projection-only show instead of fireworks, and there’s no Fantasmic!, but...the Electrical Parade will be good memories.

Oh, and Laughing Stock, Co. was listed in the times guide that I picked up today (as a “Fri-Sat” thing, no mention that those were their last shows; they’re gone now).

Anyway, my phone (barely) made it the 3½ hours tonight (and that included a live broadcast on Facebook of my ride on Small World from the front row -- which Facebook says they’ve “partially muted” due to the use of copyrighted music, but the song “It’s a Small World” was never copyrighted -- it was written for UNICEF, copyright-free, as a gift to the children of the world.

Oh, and when I rode Small World, they were grouping two boats at once on the same side (that’s “bote” to you, Ian...unless only “botes” with names like Irrawaddy Lady qualify for that title). But as I was the first grouped into the second boat, and the cast member just said “row 1″ which put me with two other people (that row can comfortable fit three), I waited until he was done grouping and then asked whether I was in the boat with the two other people, or waiting for the next boat.

Hey, I was ODV. I can make you a great churro or box of popcorn (I really need to get some popcorn tomorrow -- a Disneyland trip isn’t complete without it), but I don’t know a thing about balancing boats.

At first, he just said “You’re in the second boat.”

And then, after a few seconds, he said “The only way you’d be in their row with them is if you were in their party.”

And...I got it. They were both ladies (one young, one older), and he was saying “we’re not going to put some strange guy in there sitting next to them.”

The only response I had was “that’s probably for the best.” Because he was looking out for his lady guests by not putting some strange guy next to them.

I mean, I know I’m not a danger to anyone with whom I may ride It’s a Small World, but he doesn’t know that. And he acted accordingly, and I dig that. Plus, it gave me a chance to balance y phone on the front lap bar (since I was the only one in the front row on my boat).

Must-dos for tomorrow:

HyperSpace Mountain

The Jungle Cruise

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (single rider, hopefully -- I’ve already translated everything in the queue)..

Peter Pan’s Flight (but probably only if I can book a FastPass)

Waiting in the Standby Line for Smuggler’s Run(I hear the queue is amazing, but the single-rider queue is just a series of hallways and stairs).

Haunted Mansion Holiday (even though Jack should have his own darned attraction by now and leave the Haunted Mansion alone).

Splash Mountain (maybe last? I have a bad habit of being placed in Row 1 and I tend to make the front end heavy and the splashes are huge -- especially for me, and I’m gonna have my cell phone on me)

A grand circle tour on the Disneyland RR

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room (this was what I thought I would do first today, but I worried about staying awake...last time I saw the show was the abbreviated version at Walt Disney World so it will be nice to see it in full again).

The Submarine Voyage with Finding Nemo (I had no interest in that but I’ve seen a thing on how they did it that I want to check out, but also part of it is still underwater so I want to try it).

The Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthough

The PeopleMover (that one’s not gonna happen it’s been gone for over 20 years and I am NOT risking a lifetime ban to go up and try to walk the track that is still there)

Matterhorn Bobsleds

All Fantasyland dark rides

Meet a nice lady and invite her to dinner at some place not Blue Bayou, since that’s booked, but maybe somewhere nicer than the corn dog cart (just kidding -- I couldn’t even get a seemingly nice lady to join me for a trip to Disneyland, even though I had one day’s cost covered through a friend and was willing to foot the bill for the other and I had made it clear that the room I booked had two beds [which it does] and that “things” would not happen UNLESS SHE WANTED AND INITIATED IT [I PROMISE I’M NOT BITTER about her not showing AS I SAID I MAY HAVE SELF-SABOTAGED THAT BY NOT TRYING HARDER TO GET TO TO COME WITH ME WHEN SHE DIDN’T RESPOND TO MY LAST MINUTE TEXT but the concept of dating as daunting; forgive the self-pity but I’d actually have to be worth it for a date to happen and I’m wasn’t worth it to her).

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room (I’m back to “things I must do now)

Dole Whip

Maybe the lobster roll from Harbour Galley?

Popcorn

Maybe stopping my rambling for a minute (y’all know that isn’t gonna happen -- if you didn’t see it, it’s because Disney’s wifi crapped out again and I thought I posted it but it never posted).

But seriously, if any of y’all are there and want to meet, I would throw out every one of these to spend time with you (I’m so lonely!).

#kjuw89 #Kenny goes to Disneyland

[rqs902]

a quick guide to finding idol producer / qcyn merch in taipei

yesterday i went on an adventure in ximen to find merch! (mostly with the slight hope of finding nine percent stuff, since i was so sure that no other groups would be nearly popular enough, but i was pleasantly surprised!) here’s a quick rundown of my experience, in case anyone else is also interested in purchasing cpop (or kpop) merch in ximen :) 

first, as suggested by my partner in crime @tanqram​, i googled “台北偶像專賣店” (taipei idol merchandise store) and “台北偶像專賣店 nine percent” to get info on where to look and addresses for possible stores! one of the most helpful answers I found was: here and basically it lists the addresses of a bunch of stores and also says at the end that the stores in ximen often change, so they may not all exist anymore

with that in mind, i mapped out a route to the stores i wanted to check out, and luckily they’re all within like a 5 min walk of each other bc theyre all in ximending :) honestly i couldnt find a couple of them, so they may not exist, like that post said, or maybe im just blind HAHAHA i did end up looking through a couple of stores and was able to find ip / qcyn merch in 2 of them. 

1. 偶像王 (Idol King) [address: 台北市漢中街50巷7號2樓, Taipei, Taiwan 108] would recommend!! this was the first one i came across out of the 2, and there was a lottt of kpop and cpop merch. photocards, mugs, pillows, bookmarks, wall scrolls, etc. there was a lot of nine percent, but also a good amount of unine and oner. they also had deng chaoyuan and yao chi stuff. i also saw some nex7 posters. i dont remember seeing anyone else from ip/qcyn. bc i saw jia yi (along with a lot of guan yue!? hahhahha) i asked the lady who was running the store if they had any mr.tyger merch. she said no, only the ones who made it (aka unine) (even tho there was some dcy / yao chi stuff LOL), but she offered to print me custom merch. customs posters (about 1 x 1.5ft) i believe were <$3 usd, (which was like double the cost of the preprinted posters) and she also mentioned she could print photocards, but i would have to buy them in a pack of 10 (im assuming they print out that way) 

i ended up buying some stickers (<$2 usd) and posters and then asked her to print me 2 tyger posters, for which i sent her links to the photos via line message and she printed them out for me in like 5 mins. she was super nice!!! and yea dont expect like the highest quality photos and stuff bc this is obviously all fan-made merch but it was super cheap and i was just so amazed there was actually ip/qcyn stuff among all the kpop merch!!  

2.  烏龍院藝術館 [address: 台北市武昌街二段61號2樓] there was mostly just nine percent merch here! two of the nongnong posters in the above photos were from this store. it felt like there was less stuff at this store, but they had a different variety of merch, like there was a nine percent backpack and they had various nine percent members’ necklaces (which I actually considered getting LOL) and keychains, bookmarks, desk calendars, photobooks, etc. along with the usual photocards, wall scrolls, etc. 

i did not see merch for any other ip / qcyn kids, except (!!) there was a poster pack of qcyn kids from the first stage performances, so like there was a poster of each of the winning teams that got to perform on stage aka namanana team a, tarzan next door team a, etc. i almost gave in to the urge to buy this bc namanana linmo is iconic to me, but then i realized that each poster only included like 3-4 of the kids on each team and the rest were cropped out LOL so like zhuo yuan was missing from the namanana poster and the retreat poster literally only had shi zhan, li zhenning and sun zelin LOL. so.... since zhan yu, akey, and jin fan weren’t included and ye ziming also wasn’t (since he was on tarzan team b) i was like... am i really gonna spend $4 just so i can have a namanana linmo poster? HAHAHAH since the namanana one was the only one that really appealed to me, i thought about buying the pack and then just giving away the rest of the posters, but idk if anyone would want them??? if you’re interested / would be willing to pay for shipping, i could go back and buy it, like i said, its literally only the winning teams, and then probably the 4 most popular kids in each group that are included in the photo. for example, the tarzan team a poster was wenhan, guan yue, jia yi and hu chunyang only. 

also, if anyone wants 2 nongnong posters (and maybe also 1 of the yanjun ones), im willing to give those away too LOL they were super cheap and i realized i probably dont need 4 HAHAHHA 

others: there are a bunch of 五大唱片 (Five Music) stores all around, and they have kpop / cpop posters and cds, but i didnt see any related to ip or qcyn. 韓利塢 (hlwcorea) [address: 萬華區西寧南路 169 號 4F, Taipei, Taiwan 108] only had kpop merch and it was easy to miss, but it was there!

yea so basically the most important things i got out of this experience were that you can find nine percent merch in stores, mostly cxk, cln, fcc, justin, zzt merch was available, i found some random wzy, xg and yzj stuff and was surprised there wasnt more lyj. it is also possible to customize your own merch, so if you like a less popular group, there are still options. 

tbh if you really want anything that ive mentioned in this post, let me know within the next few weeks and i could go back and buy it and ship it to you, but ill just ask you to pay for shipping :) 

im considering going back to print out a solo linmo poster anyway, so i dont mind! (if anyone has smiley linmo photos to suggest to use for a poster, let me know!!!) oh and just for reference, i bought all of this merch for a total of maybe $16 usd, so tbh i thought it was a good deal! esp bc i got nongnong and tyger stuff aka my favorite children :’) 

#this was a fun experience and i hope this guide helps!!! i was so excited when i walked into the store and saw nongnong photocards #and then a beautiful zzt poster i almost couldve cried #rants #nine percent #mine #i went in just expecting to get nongnong stuff but i came out with cln lyj yzj zzt and tyger stuff and im still so amazed!! #it was fun bc while the poster was printing i was talking to the lady and she asked me 'now that jia yi is in unine what will mr tyger do' #and i told her i think theyre gonna be releasing an album soon! (pls pls pls be the june surprise they keep talking about....) #and she was like oh really! and i also told her how jia yi will be rejoining tyger after unine disbands #i read an article of an interview with the star master ceo recently where he talked about this and that they 'wanted lin mo to debut' #idk if i believe that but he also said lin mo was so sick after qcyn ended and they gave them all time to recover which i do believe #since kou cong and lin mo were talking in a youthenergyf vlog about how linmo was hospitalized and had vomiting and diarrhea after qcyn :( #but anyway maybe i successfully convinced the store lady that tyger will (hopefully) be active and try to stay relevant thru jiayi's return!

[ellusquirk]

Hi, I wanted a student matchup. I'm an autistic trans lesbian, but more importantly I'm a huge nerd. I love math and science, or studying just about anything. I have a vulgar sense of humor, and love comedy. I'm not great at talking to people, but also don't have a sense of shame, so I manage to be shy and weirdly outgoing. I like to talk with people about philosophy or political theory, I'm generally big-headed. I'm also in love with the goth/punk aesthetique.

written on 14/05/19. requests: CLOSED. match ups: CLOSED.

✎ Ochaco Uraraka

ochaco’s the one for you!

she thinks its adorable that you’re a total nerd and he thinks its so cute when you nerd out, but sometimes she kind of gets confused by all of the stuff you talk about and can never keep up with you. she’s more than happy to buy you merch and spend hours watching your favourite shows and movies with you.

she’s glad that you love to study, because she really struggles to study sometimes and needs that motivation from another person to help her along. she enjoys your company when the [pair of you study together and its super enjoyable for her. she finds it really relaxing to work alongside you and knows that if she ever gets stuck on anything she can go straight to you for help. its reassuring to her that you’ll help her with whatever you can.

she can’t help but get flustered and embarrassed by your vulgar sense of humour at times, but she does enjoy it all the same. she’ll find herself crying from laughter whenever you say something random that’s hilarious and is definitely more than happy to rewatch videos of comedians performing with you. she’ll probably surprise you by taking you to a few gigs from time to time and the two of you most likely have tonnes of inside jokes together!

she respects that sometimes you struggle to talk with people and will never force you into a conversation or situation that you’re uncomfortable with. she understands that you struggle with social situations, and honestly she talks enough to make up for the fact that you aren’t really into the whole social scene. she makes sure other people respect the fact that you may not want to talk to them too and always makes sure that you’re feeling comfortable - its her top priority.

she does like the fact that you’re outgoing in your own way though, but sometimes she has to remind you to tone it back a little bit. she doesn’t want other people to be rude to you because of how blunt you are about everything, and if she does ask you to keep some things to yourself its only because she doesn’t want anyone to be rude to you and subsequently upset you.

she definitely enjoys hearing about your philosophical and political views, and admires that you can be so passionate about them. she often asks you about your views, and is more than happy to just sit and listen whilst you rant about them, chipping in every so often. she’s glad that you have something that you’re intensely passionate about and really hopes that you can continue to develop that passion!

she thinks your goth/punk aesthetic is super cool! sometimes she’ll try some of your clothes on, but honestly she doesn’t think it really suits her. she spends most of her time admiring your fashion sense and helping you pick out outfits she thinks will look good on you, although sometimes her taste is really bad.

written 14/05/19. requests: CLOSED. match ups: CLOSED.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE MATCH-UPS ARE JUST FOR FUN AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE THEM I’M SORRY! I TRY MY BEST AND PICK SOMEONE BASED ON WHAT I THINK AND IF YOU DON’T AGREE THAT’S FINE BUT NO HATE PLS

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #uraraka #ochaco uraraka

[eialyne]

Hey hey 💖

I love that you type and talk so much, please continue. And yes share anything ☆ I don't mind spoilers and I am up to date on the anime though I'm still reading through the manga. Its so good though. I want to hear more about sera !!!! She's like my fave 😍

I agree with you, the little messages thing is super cool and that is also what attracted me too hehhe.

EIA ! VERY CUTE. Also I don't mind writing in anyway you prefer. If you want I can do a selfship for you in first person pov or I can do something special for you in 3rd person. I'm here to please ! Haha but please do tell me some of your ships! Romantically or platonic!

your dcmk secret santa 💌

Sorry about the delayed response! This week has been on the chaotic side of things.

So the fun story about Sera is how, despite not being one of my top faves, she is actualy one of the favorite bits of Conan merch I own. One day at a con I was buying two blind boxes for a keychain series I saw in the dealer's room, with the assumption that I'd probably be giving one to Fyliwion (my IRL DCMK buddy). Imagine my shock and surprise that not only did I get Akai (one of my top 2 preferences from the set) but I ALSO got Sera....and this con was within a week of the series finaly confirming that the two of them were siblings after teasing it for so long!

It was hands down the most amazing blind box luck/coincidence I've had in my life, and they've lived on my keychain ever since.

So if given the choice I would probably still go towards non-selfship for fics. Not because I look down on self-inserts and the like though (most of my early fandom OCs originated that way after all...surprisingly not my DCMK OC though even though she's from the same time-frame; she sprang from a need for extra Org characters for an epic size RP and I liked her so I kept her).

Most of my romantic ships for the series should be in the stats you were sent, buuuuuuut I may have been a bit tipsy when finishing my submission to get it in on time and I cant remember which sections that may have impacted ">> I like to think our host would have contacted me during the matchup phase if I sent in pure gibberish, but if anything did come through as pretty scatterbrained, I'd be happy to clarify!

Friendships however I dont think were included! My "any combination of the main MK foursome" reference on my signup submission applies platonically as well because they're just a good group of kids. Platonic Heiji/Shinichi is great as well as Ran and her main trio of friends (Sonoko/Sera/Kazuha). Ran as a surrogate big sister figure for Ai (nevermind the fact they're technically around the same age) is also good stuff. Then shifting to the older side of the spectrum, I'd say my favorites there are Toichi/Nakamori and Toichi/Yuusaku.

#Dcmksecretsanta

[katvondworld]

Before there was Kylie Jenner, there was Kat Von D. Nearly a decade ago, the tattoo artist famous for a career in reality television and a string of tabloid-fodder relationships took her notoriety and turned it into a global beauty empire. Today, Kat Von D Beauty is one of Sephora’s most successful brands, with products that sell out in a matter of weeks and rack up tens of thousands of glowing reviews and live events that attract hundreds of fans.

Like Kylie, Kat has an instantly recognizable, highly-stylized aesthetic. It’s a combination of punk, goth, and good old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll, featuring lots of black (and lately, head-to-toe red) outfits in faux leather and kooky avant-garde shapes. Jet-black hair, red lipstick, and predilection for mismatched eye makeup have become her signatures. But she doesn’t want an army of Kat clones.

“My biggest nightmare would be if somebody came to Sephora, saw my brand, and said, ‘Oh, I want to look like her, so I’ll buy this makeup,’” Kat Von D proclaimed to an audience of beauty world professionals at the WWD Beauty Summit this summer, her first-ever appearance at a major industry event. “I think that model may work for Kylie or whoever else bases their career on vanity or some kind of superficial thing. It’s quite a gamble because that can be very fleeting a lot of times.” Despite the similarities, Kat doesn’t appreciate Kylie comparisons.

After Kat’s session at the summit was over, she mingled a bit with the suit-wearing masses and then walked downstairs in towering platform shoes, gently guided by a member of her team. “I’m very impressed by Kat Von D!” a gray-haired man said admiringly to a younger woman standing beside him.

“She’s not bound by any rules,” the woman replied.

“I wanted to get a tattoo afterward,” he said.

Tattooing is where it all began for Kat, who was born Katherine von Drachenberg. The 35-year-old is a professional tattoo artist by trade and is known for her elaborate, life-like grayscale portraits. She’s tattooed a ton of musicians and celebrities, including Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Harry Styles. She’s inked everything from the Mona Lisa to images of beloved pets on people’s bodies. It’s still something she does when she’s home in LA, though she tries to “limit it to one a day,” whereas a normal workday in her previous life would have had her seeing five clients one after another. Kat has a years-long wait list and is no longer taking appointments, in order to catch up. She recently said in a YouTube video that she doesn’t charge for tattoos anymore, preferring to do it for art’s sake.

“I feel like my name works against me sometimes, you know? People think, ‘Kat Von D, oh it's somebody that was on TV or somebody that dated somebody.’”

Kat’s own body is covered with tattoos, which you can see in zoomed-in detail in her New York Times bestselling book High Voltage Tattoo. (She has published two other books since.) In it, she models in a bikini and describes the origin of each batch of ink. She’s perhaps best recognized for the spray of stars around her eyes, a motif which shows up frequently in her beauty products. At first, she only had one star on each temple. While Kat lore has long held that the Motley Crue song “Starry Eyes” inspired at least the first few stars, in her book she says she added to them because her ex-husband and fellow tattoo artist Oliver Peck once told her to stop tattooing her face. She even has stars tattooed on one eyelid. One of her best-selling products, a liquid eyeliner, is called Tattoo Liner.

Kat was born in Mexico; she’s fluent in Spanish and identifies as Latina. Her parents are from Argentina and her father’s family originally hails from Germany. Her father is a doctor and she grew up with a conservative background as a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, where her parents were missionaries. She credits her paternal grandmother with instilling in her a love of art and music. (Kat’s a classically trained pianist and has a huge portrait of Beethoven tattooed on her thigh.) She says her father used to catch her on the floor drawing underneath the pews at church.

Kat moved to Colton, California, when she was four years old with her parents, brother, and sister. Her parents divorced years later and her mother moved back to Mexico. At 14, Kat discovered punk rock and started dating a boy named James, who was two years older and had a mohawk and tattoos. She got her first tattoo, an old English “J,” on her ankle at that time. Expanding on her interest in drawing, she started experimenting with tattooing, practicing on her friends. By 16, she had dropped out of high school and moved to Georgia with James. After three months, she moved back to California without him and started looking for jobs in tattoo shops. She secured a position at a shop near a San Bernardino jailhouse before moving to LA, where she landed a new gig every year or so and built up her reputation as a tattoo artist.

Kat didn’t become a public figure until she was cast in Miami Ink, a TLC series which documented a group of tattoo artists, their work, and the usual reality-show conflict and drama. She moved to Miami for the show, going home to LA on weekends. Kat appeared on the series from 2005 to 2007, until Ami James, the owner of the 305 Ink tattoo shop featured on the show, unceremoniously fired her. She was then promptly offered a spinoff called LA Ink, which ran from 2007 to 2011. Prior to its debut, she opened her own shop, High Voltage Tattoo, located in West Hollywood. Fans began to focus on her love life and some of the notorious men in it, like Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, Jesse James (best known for being Sandra Bullock’s ex and wearing Nazi uniforms), and Steve-O of Jackass fame. She became a bit of a gossip column mainstay.

“I feel like my name works against me sometimes, you know?” Kat says at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in June. She’s there for the relaunch of two perfumes, Saint and Sinner, which she’d previously released in 2009 as limited-edition products. “People think, ‘Kat Von D, oh it's somebody that was on TV or somebody that dated somebody.’ And to me as an artist, it's kind of soul crushing. It's like, oh wow, what about all my hard work and what I would love to be known for?"

Kat says she knew that people would initially focus on her brand because it belongs to “that tattoo chick.” She really wanted it to evolve to the point where the product got attention rather than the founder. It might finally be getting there. She tells a story about a young woman who approached her on an airplane and said, “Hey, aren’t you that makeup artist?” Kat corrected her, because she isn’t a makeup artist, but was happy that this fan knew her from her work in the beauty world and not from reality TV.

Kat still has her rabid tattoo fans, though. One late September afternoon at High Voltage, Ashton Williams, the shop’s merchandise manager, is wearing a T-shirt that reads, “Who the fuck is Kat Von D?,” an homage to the “Who the fuck is Mick Jagger?” shirt Keith Richards famously wore on a Rolling Stones tour in the ’70s. There are sweatshirts and tees hanging all over the shop, many featuring a red and yellow High Voltage logo, skull motif, and Kat’s name. But exactly how many people are coming in for Kat merch?

“Tons. We have tour buses that let out in front of the shop all the time. People are obsessed with her. It’s crazy,” says Williams. “We have everyone from grandmothers from England to punk rockers. Nothing surprises me anymore. Literally, you’ll have a grandmother coming in who’s 70-something years old getting tattooed and she’s like, ‘I never really liked tattoos until I saw Kat.’ We have the broadest mix of people.”

People line up at the front windows of the shop and peer in when Kat is in the shop tattooing. She tattoos in plain sight on one of the tables that’s set up in the open-plan shop. They also run around to the back parking lot, Williams says, which features a building-sized mural of Kat and the shop’s other artists, to try to catch her as she’s getting into her car.

The look of the shop — moody red tapestry wallpaper, dark wood, dripping candles, crucifixes, “heartagrams” (a pentagram with a heart shape at the top), paintings in heavy gilt frames — is cohesive with the design of the beauty brand. Kat Von D products come in black boxes featuring gothic lettering and Kat’s original artwork. Shiny black studded tubes house her lipsticks. Religious iconography appears in the packaging and is echoed in the shade names, like her limited edition Saint and Sinner palette, which looks like a stained-glass cathedral window and includes colors like Sacred Heart, Worship, and Vestment. Her brand is everything that so-called millennial beauty lines are not. There’s no soft pink, no sans serif — everything is full coverage and ultra-pigmented. To compare her to Emily Weiss, another brand founder with a reality TV background, Kat Von D is the aesthetic sinner to Glossier’s saint.

Kat has always been a makeup person. She’s worn it since she was a kid and comparesbuying beauty products to “candy shopping.” Makeup has long been another artistic medium for her and she has said the process of applying it is therapeutic. She used to collect lipsticks, telling the LA Times that she’s tried every shade of red ever made, from CoverGirl to Chanel. Though it’s unclear whether or not she ever actively aspired to create her own makeup line, Kat did tell the paper, “I went through all my favorites and said, ‘If this was mine I'd add more purple, use a different finish.’” She has a tattoo on her abdomen that spells out “Hollywood” written in red lipstick, though it’s an homage to the New York Dolls’ logo rather than an ode to that particular beauty product.

Back in 2008, Kat got a call from a Sephora executive who told her people had been inundating sales associates with questions about the red lipstick “that tattoo girl” always wore on Miami Ink. So Sephora, which at the time was producing some of its own house brands, brought Kat up to its American headquarters in San Francisco for a meeting. She told the team there that she was bored (“so fucking bored,” actually) with things she saw in stores. The brand originally launched with four red lipsticks, which almost immediately sold out. This success led to an expanded line inspired by the inks and pigments Kat uses at High Voltage.

“My goal with the makeup line was to create something with a formulation you couldn't argue with. Whether you liked me or not, the product was good.”

“Let's create high-performance, bold, highly-pigmented, long-wear shit that no one else is really doing,” Kat says she suggested to the Sephora team. “I don't think any of us really knew that it could grow into something bigger. My goal with the makeup line was to create something with a formulation you couldn't argue with. Whether you liked me or not, the product was good.”

By all accounts, it is good. Kat Von D Beauty now has over 350 products including lipsticks, brushes, and eyeshadow and contour palettes. The brand sells the products on the Kat Von D Beauty website (international shipping has been available since September) and in stores in 34 countries, 18 of which debuted in the last 12 months. It’s almost exclusively sold at Sephora. In countries where there are no Sephora locations, like the UK and Ireland, it’s available at Debenhams. While brands like MAC, Make Up For Ever, and Urban Decay were already making richly pigmented products, Kat Von D was one of the earliest beauty brands to introduce matte liquid lipsticks, called the Everlasting Liquid Lipstick, back in 2013. Again, she did it long before Kylie introduced her Lip Kits, which, yes, feature longwear matte liquid lipstick.

Sephora does not share sales statistics, but at one point, Lolita Studded Kiss was apparently the retailer’s best-selling lipstick. The dusky rose color is now available in several formulations and is one of the brand’s signature shades. You can even buy a $104 “obsession” kit that includes the original Lolita Studded Kiss lipstick, an eyeshadow, three slightly different Lolita lip liners, and two versions of the shade in the Everlasting Liquid Lipstick formula. Kat originally named the shade after the Japanese street style movement, but later dedicated it to the actress Denise Richards’s daughter Lola, according to a Kendo representative. (The two met when Richards went to get her “Charlie” tattoo — inspired by ex-husband Charlie Sheen — covered up by Kat in 2008.) It is not named for Lolita, the titular underage object of lust in Vladimir Nabokov's controversial classic.

“The color Lolita is a perfect everyday color. I literally wear it every day,” says 15-year-old Samantha, who owns three $20 Lolita tubes. A friend gave her one as a birthday gift and her mom bought her another. “Then I just came to buy another one because it’s so perfect and I love it so much.”

Samantha’s friend, Valentina, also 15, adds solemnly, “It’s a holy grail.” (Holy grail, or HG, is a common designation in the makeup community, meaning it’s a product that works best for one person’s individual needs.)

Samantha and Valentina are at the Sephora at Hollywood and Highland, the same store where Kat herself shopped for red lipstick during her LA Ink days. It’s a bit messy and disheveled, much like the crowded, touristy neighborhood in which it resides. The Kat Von D Beauty section is in a highly trafficked area at the center of the store, with tester pans worn down to the bottom and caps missing from lipsticks.

Samantha first heard about Kat Von D Beauty on Instagram, where fans frequently tag its handle; the brand has 4 million followers and Kat’s personal account has 6.4 million. Kat launched the brand on Instagram herself back in 2015, after a marketing employee (who is no longer at Kendo) scoffed that it wasn’t worth it. The account gained a million followers in one month and Kat is still intimately involved with the imagery that’s posted there, though she now has a dedicated social team.

In January of this year, Kat Von D Beauty had its highest earned media value (or EMV) ever at $42.8 million, according to Tribe Dynamics. EMV is an indirect measure based on mentions and engagement, but it does have some correlation with actual market share and revenue. Since 2015, Kat Von D Beauty has shown up regularly on Tribe’s top ten EMV beauty list, along with social-media heavy hitters like Anastasia Beverly Hills and Too Faced.

“It’s a holy grail.”

“When we think about patterns of successful brands, the thing that they tend to do really well is make great products. The large majority of this content is organic and people aren't going to give you editorial content if they don't love your product,” says Tribe’s Brit McCorquodale. She notes that in the second quarter of this year, over 4,000 influencers were talking about the Kat Von D brand online, but the majority of them were micro-influencers, with under 100,000 followers. “The fact that Kat Von D has performed so well within the influencer community speaks really highly of the products that they're creating, which is something Kendo does very well across their brands.”

Ah yes, Kendo. While Kat provides the ideas and creativity and is the very public face of the brand, Kendo is the entity behind the scenes that quietly brings her visions to life. The company is also the reason that Sephora maintains exclusivity when it comes to Kat Von D Beauty. David Suliteanu, then-CEO of Sephora Americas, started Kendo as a “private label development arm for Sephora” in San Francisco in 2010. In 2014, Suliteanu became the CEO of Kendo, which split off from Sephora as a freestanding entity; it now identifies itself as a brand incubator and credits Kat Von D as being the “seed brand” that launched it.

The luxury conglomerate LVMH is the parent company of both Sephora and Kendo. Kendo owns lip brand Bite Beauty and skincare brand Ole Henriksen, both brands it acquired. It developed Marc Jacobs Beauty, Rihanna’s just-launched Fenty Beauty, and Kat Von D Beauty. It also developed the now-defunct Sephora nail brand Formula X (a rare failure for the company), as well as Elizabeth and James fragrances, the Olsen twins’ brand, which is now under the auspices of Butterfly Beauty.

Kendo does not like to share information about its inner workings nor give any insight into its product development process, although Nancy McGuire, the vice president of product development for Kat Von D Beauty and Ole Henriksen, does sometimes share sneak peeks of products on her Instagram page. Kendo declined to make anyone from the company available for interviews for this story. Instead, they sent email responses which included information taken verbatim from Kendo’s site and the review section of Sephora’s site. A representative did share that “Kat Von D Beauty is among the top-selling brands in all of our retailers, and our products consistently rank as top performers in each category.”

Social media definitely catapulted Kat Von D Beauty into the stratosphere, but its steady success happened in parallel with Sephora’s. It’s impossible to dissect the causality: Did Sephora help Kat Von D or did Kat Von D help Sephora? Yes and yes. Sephora, since it shares a corporate parent with Kat Von D Beauty, naturally seeks to heavily promote the brand, a situation non-LVMH brands are not too pleased about. And as Kat Von D Beauty becomes more ubiquitous on social media, there’s only one place a fan can walk in and try it: Sephora.

Sephora is the number one global beauty retailer, and number two in the US after Ulta. In 2009, it had over 1,000 stores worldwide. Today it has 2,300. According to a recent New York Timesstory, Sephora has doubled its revenue since 2011; a Fung Global Retail & Tech research reportestimates the retailer made between $4.4 billion and $4.9 billion in the US last year alone. That’s a lot of potential Lolita sales. As people are turning away from department stores for beauty, they’re turning to specialty stores like Sephora instead. Sephora also has a reputation as a kingmaker, as Business of Fashion noted in 2013, and brands (especially indie brands) that sell there say they enjoy more perceived legitimacy from customers.

Kat Von D Beauty anticipated making about $2 million its first year and instead made an estimated $12 million.

According to WWD, Kat Von D Beauty anticipated making about $2 million its first year and instead made an estimated $12 million. That momentum has apparently not slowed. The brand’s success is the result of a combination of Sephora’s support and Kendo’s uncanny knack for releasing the right products at the right time, presumably thanks in part to access to Sephora customer sales data. Take the holographic Alchemist Palette, which Kat says took seven years to develop. It debuted (and sold out) right as the unicorn makeup craze was at its apex. Kat Von D Beauty’s success also hinges on Kat Von D the person’s enduring star power.

Since LA Ink ended in 2011, Kat has attended countless Sephora store openings and launches for her brand, traipsing the globe to places like Dubai, Australia, Spain, and the UK for photo ops with fans. From the beginning, she’s maintained a steady line of communication with her fans via Facebook and YouTube; in 2013, a Stylophane report named Kat Von D the most engaged beauty brand on Facebook and she still makes frequent appearances on the brand’s YouTube channel. She has stayed in the public eye in other ways too, releasing her third book in 2013, accompanied by a tour. She also showed up on the Grammys red carpet that year with then-boyfriend Deadmau5. Now, she continues to be most available to fans via her wildly popular personal Instagram and in real life at Kat Von D Beauty events.

Kat is undeniably charismatic in person. Her deep, raspy voice is mesmerizing. She is a hugger. She is beloved by people in her orbit, and they are fiercely loyal to her. Williams, the High Voltage merch manager, credits Kat with convincing him to move to LA, telling him he would “blossom.” Kevin Lewis, a tattoo artist who’s been at High Voltage since LA Ink was still shooting says, “One of the biggest things for me is that, for someone who has made so much for themselves, she’s so grounded. She’s not cocky. She’s not arrogant. She’s not a celebrity.”

Ashley Sherengo, the 24-year-old Kat plucked off Twitter to run the brand’s social media says of their first real-life meeting, “I didn’t expect for her to be so open and kind. I felt like we were just friends who had gone a long time without talking.” Even Amber Rose, who showed up at the Saint and Sinner party after having Kat on her podcast, gushes, “I’ve always been a huge fan and I just kind of took a chance and I went up to her and told her that I love her and she was so gracious and sweet to me.”

None are quite as loyal, though, as the group of four official Kat Von D Beauty makeup artists, dubbed the Artistry Collective.

In a nondescript conference room at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, hours before the Saint and Sinner party, party greeters in black-and-white latex dresses get their makeup done and drag queens from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence cover their facial hair with purple glitter and put on their habits. Kat Von D makeup palettes are scattered everywhere. Steffanie Strazzere, whose taxi-cab-yellow hair, Barbie-pink lips, and aqua eyeshadow fit right into the colorful scene, is helping get everyone ready. She credits Kat with being her “fairy godmother of makeup.”

Kat hired Steffanie, along with Leah Carmichael, Tara Buenrostro, and Kelseyanna Fitzpatrick to be surrogates for her as the Kat Von D Beauty brand grows globally. She discovered all of them (except Leah, who she’s been friends with for years) on Instagram. As faces of the brand, they create content on YouTube and Instagram, do Kat’s makeup, represent the brand at stores and trainings, and help out with product testing. They’re all trained and talented makeup artists. The common thread between them is their artistic vision for what makeup should be, which is, well, uncommon. Kelseyanna, in particular, creates otherworldly, occasionally terrifying, looks.

“I get a lot of people sending messages thanking us for being ourselves and saying that it's pushed them to take more risks with their makeup,” Kelseyanna says. “Someone thanked me last night for doing ugly makeup, like, not caring about being pretty. That's the real stuff, and that really motivates me to keep creating.”

“Everybody's kinda like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And then they're like, ‘Oh. Kat and the Kittens.’"

Steffanie worked at MAC for more than a decade but left because of animal testing, since the brand sells in China. “From a work standpoint,” she says, “I feel really safe because I know Kat has the best interests of the brand, animals, and us in mind, so it’s a very safe place.”

Kat is an outspoken vegan, and her brand is vegan (meaning the products don’t contain any animal byproducts) and cruelty-free (meaning they aren’t tested on animals nor are they sold in mainland China, which requiresforeign brands to test on animals before they sell their products there). There’s a gray area when it comes to the cruelty-free designation, though. Kat Von D Beauty and all the other Kendo brands do not test on animals or sell in China. However, Kendo parent company LVMH owns beauty brands like Benefit, Givenchy, Make Up For Ever, and Fresh, which do sell in China. In the cruelty-free community, this is a point of contention that comes up whenever an indie brand that doesn’t test on animals sells to a large company. But it’s a big part of the brand’s identity and one, according to NPD Group beauty analyst Larissa Jensen, that is an asset. “The brand’s cruelty-free positioning,” she writes in an email, “enables it to connect with consumers on a value- and emotional-based level.”

Kat has tattooed Steffanie twice, once on each calf. One tattoo is an image of her fluffy white cat Baby Ghost and the other is a portrait of Lydia Deetz, Winona Ryder’s character from Beetlejuice. “I just feel so lucky,” she says. “My legs are the most valuable part of my body now.”

The foursome has become famous among makeup fans in their own right. They’ve each experienced huge jumps in followers on their Instagrams and fans regularly recognize them in real life. Tara carries around products to give out to people who come up and talk to her. She says that when the group and Kat are all together in the airport, it causes a lot of commotion: “It's just a sea of black and a ton of suitcases, and everybody's kinda like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And then they're like, ‘Oh. Kat and the Kittens.’"

“I feel like her bodyguard, a protective shield, constantly looking around and making sure she's okay,” Leah says. “People obviously recognize her, especially when she's decked out in a full red outfit. She'll never be the bad guy, she'll never say no, so I think that's where we have to step in sometimes. She's so kind and gracious with every single fan.”

Fans know that Kat handpicked the Collective, and Tara considers the group “a little extension” of her. Fans consider them the next best thing to Kat herself.

The Artistry Collective has garnered criticism, though. As one commenter noted on an early Instagram shot of the group of light-skinned artists, “would be cool to see more ethnic diversity represented in the artistry team!” Some fans thought Kat’s response seemed defensive. She replied in the comments: “Diversity? We have American, Canadian, Dutch, Mexican, Australian, and Argentinian? Not sure what is lacking in ‘diversity’ here. And as for true diversity, I have put together an artistry team that is diverse in each artist's approach to makeup. This group’s experience, talent and hard work in the beauty world speaks for itself and covers the entire spectrum of style and technique.”

When the commenter wrote back, “There are also amazing makeup artists with deeper skin tones out there too and it'd be awesome to see them included in the future,” Kat’s response was, “I'm sorry, but I don't judge or hire people based off of their skin tone. I don't care if you’re black white or neon green - I select my crew by what's on the inside…”

The reality is that beauty companies do need to consider skin tone, because makeup goes on skin.

Kat Von D Beauty has 32 foundation shades and its social media channels sometimes show swatches on different skin tones and repost pictures of women of color using the makeup. But Kat discounting her fans’ desire to see more people they relate to wearing her makeup is shortsighted on a community level, but on a business one too.

Take Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty — Kat Von D’s sister brand at Kendo, let’s not forget — which launched with 40 foundation shades and a public commitment to people of all skin tones. The darker tones sold out, and the media was pretty unanimous in its praise. Kendo’s CEO David Suliteanu has given very few interviews over the years, with the exception of one giddy quote to WWD about how Fenty Beauty would be a “beauty rocket ship that will appeal to a huge and diverse global audience.” He was right. The reality is that beauty companies do need to consider skin tone, because makeup goes on skin.

It should be obvious that Kat is as outspoken as Kendo is opaque, a quality for which she is unapologetic. As befits someone who is trying to sell a saint-and-sinner duality, Kat can be acerbic. “I've just never been afraid of speaking my mind,” she says. This has gotten her into trouble in the reality show of our modern times: social media. Since her brand has launched, she’s found herself embroiled in her fair share of controversies and she’s picked a few fights along the way. But it seems to be working. At the end of last year, L2 credited Kat Von D’s ever-growing digital IQ, a measure of how well a company utilizes technology, to “her uncensored personality and opinions, a successful cocktail no parent company should alter.”

In 2013, Sephora stopped selling a Kat Von D lipstick called “Celebutard” after receiving customer complaints. The most shocking thing might be that the name got past a marketing team in the first place. Kat allegedly tweeted that it was “just a fucking lipstick.” This seems to be one of the last times Sephora or Kendo publicly inserted itself into Kat’s kerfuffles, letting her fight her own fights.

Two years later, there was more outrage over a lipstick shade called “Underage Red,” which had been in the collection in some form since the very beginning. “To go back to the Underage Red or any of the controversial names that I've named some of my products,” Kat says, “it is laughable to me. There is the PC police out there and a lot of times those people just want to be heard in whatever way. I don't really coddle that. Initially, when I named that shade, it was inspired by a specific shade of red that I wore to a concert that I couldn't get into because I was underage.” She ended up writing a defiant Facebook post and Sephora did not pull the shade.

Then there was the great beauty beef of summer 2016, in which Kat called out Jeffree Star, a YouTube and Instagram beauty guru who also used to appear on LA Ink and who Kat had befriended after tattooing him frequently through the years. In a now-deleted Instagram post and then on YouTube, she accused him of bullying, racism, promoting drug use (Kat has been sober for 10 years), and not paying an artist he had used for his beauty line. The accusations of racism prompted some outlets to dig up an old TMZ allegation that, back in 2008, Kat had sent a headshot of herself to her Miami Ink boss Ami James that included a swastika and referred to him as a “Jewbag.” She vehemently denied sending it, calling it a forgery and noting that she had always been “an advocate for tolerance of all races, religions and ways of life.” TLC supported her. Jeffree responded with his own video, calling Kat a liar, and the beauty world buzzed about it for a few weeks.

Kat has also publicly called out other brands like MAC for years because they sell in China, and she targeted Nars on Instagram this summer by posting graphic photos of bloody rabbits after the brand announced it would start selling in the country. “That was just a personal heartbreak,” Kat says. “I'd been a huge fan of Nars for a really long time. It was disheartening. If you're going to choose money over compassion, then that comes with a price as well.”

“There is the PC police out there and a lot of times those people just want to be heard in whatever way. I don't really coddle that.”

She hasn’t been afraid to call out other brands for taking a bit too much inspiration from her products, either. In March, she went after lower-end UK brand Makeup Revolution for copyingher popular $48 Shade and Light Eye Contour palette, from the shades right down to the arrangement of the colors. Even the name was reminiscent of the Kat Von D Beauty product: Makeup Revolution called their iteration the Ultra Eye Contour Light & Shade Palette. She got some backlash from people who couldn’t afford her $50 palette. They perceived Kat as being unsupportive of cheaper brands. She says she can appreciate dupes, but explains, “I'm not for plagiarism and I think that there's a big difference.”

Kat’s biggest controversy to date, however, resulted in her becoming a target of the alt-right and Milo Yiannopoulos. Both Fox News and the Washington Post covered the scandal. It was all because of the Saint and Sinner perfume launch party.

The party was basically goth prom. The night included nuns in drag, pole dancers, a confessional booth, dry ice swirling on the bars, a Nine Inch Nails-heavy soundtrack, Amber Rose and her entourage, and tons and tons of people in extreme makeup with appliques stuck to their faces. The founders of other cruelty-free beauty brands, like Too Faced, Sugarpill, and Melt Cosmetics, were also in attendance. It took a bit of convincing, but Kat’s team allowed her to fulfill her vision and let her invite who she wanted to (rather than simply invite the standard beauty influencers with millions of followers).

“Kendo is really great, and I know that they're obviously putting a lot of marketing dollars into it so I want to respect that. But to them, they want the safe things,” Kat said before the party. “Influencers have a lot of followers. I don't think half of those influencers are on-brand. We don't repost them. I don't really relate to them. I'd rather pick people with smaller follower counts that I actually admire and that are cool and that are different, you know?”

So Kat won. “Of course I won. I will never back up something I don't believe in and they know that. And I think what helps them feel comfortable is that when I am excited about something, it has never failed. When I have doubts is usually when it gets scary.”

She also addressed the huge amount of marketing money that can get sucked into paying influencers. “I see it with other brands and how much gifting they do and the crazy events they throw for people to go on goddamn cruises and shit. To me, it’s just so insincere and fake. We don’t pay anybody,” she says. Then a pause. “I think there’s another influencer event happening right now with actual real, huge influencers. But none of those people were on our list anyway. Not to say that they're not great at what they do, but when you free yourself of all those things then you are left to be able to make cool shit.”

That other event turned out to be the launch of Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty line, which Kim had been teasing for weeks. She invited a few editors and some huge influencers to her actual home across the city in Bel Air. Kim’s outfits and the rooms in which she met her guests were all the same muted colors, once again highlighting the difference between Kat and the rest of the beauty world at this particular moment in time.

There was some drama behind the scenes at the Saint and Sinner party, though, which didn’t come to light until a month later. Kat Von D Beauty had run a contest challenging fans to submit their best saint/sinner makeup looks to win an all-expenses-paid trip to LA for the party. The brand announced the winner, Gypsy Freeman, on its Instagram. But then fans noticed the Trump “Make America Great Again” image Freeman had posted months earlier and started flooding the Kat Von D page with comments.

“Like, if you support Hitler I don't want you to wear my lipstick, to be honest, you know?”

In hindsight, Kat was probably alluding to this incident before the party when asked about politics: “I think everybody has the right to vote for whoever they want. To me, I definitely draw a line in the sand in real life. Like, we can't be friends if you support somebody who's anti-immigration, anti-climate change, anti-women.” When asked if people unfollow her for her stance, she said, “For sure, and I'm glad they do, in the sense that I'm not going to invest energy into converting somebody. You can't shake hands with a fist. People think that it's dumb business-wise, but I would feel the same way about Hitler. Like, if you support Hitler I don't want you to wear my lipstick, to be honest, you know?”

A month after the party, the Wichita Eagle broke the story that Kat had disqualified Freeman from the contest because she was a Trump supporter. The Kat Von D social team has wiped all evidence of the contest from the Facebook page. Freeman sent screenshots to the paper of a direct message conversation that she had with Kat. Freeman’s response to Kat was, “We would love to be there, of course, but I sincerely do understand if you decide to replace us with someone who supports the candidate you support.” The photographer who took the pictures of Freeman’s model did go to the party. Kat later insisted on Instagram, in a comment that appears to have since been deleted, that she did not disqualify her and that Freeman chose not to attend.

Places like The Donald subreddit picked up the story. “I talked to my team because there was a heightened sense of concern,” she says. “We were getting a lot of backlash on that, but I'm like, ’Yeah, fuck, I don't care if Fox News talks shit, fuck them.’ I'm very open about my stance on Trump and if you don't agree with me, that's totally up to you. It's a free country and I actually celebrate true democracy.”

Kat has a lot going on in the coming year. She’s going to launch a self-funded vegan shoe line called Von D Shoes which she says includes 28 different styles. One of the boots will feature a compartment that will fit a lipstick. The line is being produced in Italy using high-tech leather alternatives and with the help of Rebecca Mink, who has her own vegan shoe line. “I'm not interested in looking at cheap plastics,” says Kat. “We're looking at all these innovative, different leather substitutes that are made out of mushroom and pineapple and they're actually great for the environment and look equal to, if not better than leather.”

Kat is also releasing an album and planning a tour. Then, of course, there’s Kat Von D Beauty. She collaborated on an upcoming smudgy guyliner with her friend, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, and has created a palette dedicated to Divine, the late drag queen who frequently collaborated with filmmaker John Waters. Several times, Kat has mentioned wanting to open a store in LA, though nothing is technically in the works yet. She is also in the process of designing a collection for the brand’s tenth anniversary next year.

While Kat and her brand are now a known entity, it cannot be overstated how much of a trailblazer she really is. Reality stars have come and gone with flash-in-the-pan beauty launchesthroughout the years (see: Snooki and any number of Real Housewives and Basketball Wives cast members). But Kat has a unique and unreproducible authenticity, a quality that all beauty brands are now chasing, that is undeniable regardless of how you feel about her personal aesthetic or opinions. Her unabashed love of a full face of makeup and her brand’s use of ultra-pigmented products before it was popular outside of pro brands presaged the moment we’re in now: a moment where more is more when it comes to makeup. She’s also exhibit A for the argument that celebrities should have a strong controlling hand in their brands, as opposed to simply slapping a name on a product for a short-lived sales burst.

As Kat declared when detailing one of her many controversies, “If you don't like it, don't fucking buy it. This is my art and my message to give to the world.”

Cheryl Wischhover is a senior beauty reporter at Racked.

Editor: Julia Rubin Copy editor: Laura Bullard

source> https://www.racked.com/2017/12/12/16763338/kat-von-d-beauty-sephora

#kat von d #kat von d beauty

[lefishe]

Who even is going to read this

So, my crush knows I like her. You can only imagine that yes indeed, this scares the fuck out of me. When I like someone, I think I make it pretty obvious. I tend to do a lot for anyone who asks, but I go out of my way for those I like, just so that they see that they are worth more of my time than anything else I may have been planning on doing. I tend to also act strangely when I'm asked about my love life at the moment, because obviously, I like the person I am being questioned by, and try to say things about what I like is fucking hard without mentioning the very qualities of that person. I want to write to the person constantly, and I have to restrain myself because I know that seeming and being too needy can be detrimental as some are attracted by a certain distance and challenge, while others just don't like to be bothered that much I guess.

I lack closeness a lot. When I try to think about where I am at in my life at this very moment, I think that I'm in a better place than I've truly ever been. And although I've tweeted and written about this before, there has always seemed to be a void left to fill. What I've come to realize is that this void is most apparent when I am alone, because, in those situations, I really am consumed by a lack of anything to do that can please me. I don't really have that many hobbies other than reading, playing piano, and gaming, gaming of which is my favorite, but that I truly only do anymore when I can play with friends. So what I am left with is time by myself to which I have a lot of, and that I never know what to do with. Most of that time gets wasted procrastinating and being lazy in turn, which leads to the rest of what I've built to be a good living, to feel mediocre.

It's said that one must be happy with oneself before they can make someone else happy and that relationships shouldn't be pursued if you are not happy with yourself first. I think at this point, I am happy with myself. Although I'm not perfect and I am pushing myself, for example, to pick up my books more often and go for a jog, I'd say that I am relatively happy in the grand scheme of things. What is apparent though in my life is that throughout this excess of time that I have and a lack of general closeness, I have developed a longing for being happy with someone else. Although I have a few friends that I talk to semi-regularly and now have a few that I can actually see more than once a year, the most important friends in my life are now fading faster and faster away as they are enveloped by closeness near them. I'm lucky that I have the friends that I have now, I am always appreciative of at least having a few that still give a shit about me. But I don't share any of my feelings with any of them anymore, and I don't really share what's honestly going on with me on a present basis. I don't think I have anyone left that I can talk to about everything, and that scares me a bit.

Since I can't talk to anyone about the things that I want to, here are some of the things I like, that no one gives a shit about. One of the things that most people don't know about me is that I watch a lot of YouTube videos on a variety of different topics, not because I can't watch a TV show instead, but because I love jumping from 10 minute video to the next about the next wild topic I want to learn about. Right now for example, I have been binging tons of videos on music production and music creation as its something that has always fascinated me. I listen to 30 000 minutes of music every year, not including all the podcasts I listen to as well, that I also never share. I listen to podcasts that mainly are conversation-based between my favorite comedians and some that dive deep into life toughest questions, and yet I never share these because I know no one else would get them and appreciate them like I do. My love for the content that I enjoy every day goes beyond just being on my phone as although it's not very noticeable, almost every article of clothing that I wear on a daily basis is merchandise from my favorite creators. Most people find merch weird I think, yet I wear it and buy it not only to support the creators that I care for so much directly through purchase, but also to wear it as a token of appreciation for what they bring to my life.

Most people don't know that I have a twitter account. I've kept that under wraps for a long time, and it has been my outlet to self-expression and venting for as long as I've had my account. Recently I deleted my main twitter account because there were a few people on there that followed me that I would have rathered if not, and without blocking them directly, I instead just created another account, where no one follows me. All the daily thoughts and ramblings that I have go on twitter, and as I see it, if I have no one that I can tell those things, well they do no harm being posted in my void of a timeline. I like relaxing to asmr, and even if it's considered by most to be really weird, I appreciate asmr and some of the creators I follow for allowing me some peace of mind when I listen to their videos. It's my style of meditation I guess, and it helps me relax when I need it most. I could go on and on about the things that I like and that I don't talk about more, but I think you get the picture. There's a lot more to me that I don't give away, because I feel like no one wants to listen. If that's because I always have made myself the listener and never have allowed myself to actually be listened to for once, well I guess actually, that might just be it.

So what's the point I'm making. Well, as always, there really isn't one. I guess the main thing is that I'm scared that someone knows I like them, and that I think about them a lot, even if they don't know. I'm scared also that I'm not liked; just in general. I've been friend-zoned more times than I can count, and at this point, I just have to have an honest discussion with myself about whether it's worth worrying about, or if I should just give up hope. As I will always say, the worst thing to do to me is to raise my expectations, and then break them, whether that's through myself breaking my own expectations set for myself, or through others where I have no control over the expectations that others set in my mind about them. What worries me is that I am at a point where I cannot expect anything from anyone. My dad I think exemplifies this the most with the phrase he told me: "expect the worst from people, and you will never be surprised"... or something of that sort. The point I'm making is that I have turned to a point where I expect the worst from everyone. That lack of faith has made me wary of all the people that I have in my life, because I can never rely on anyone to ever return a favor, or fucking care for my existence. I'm forced to assume that I am to face the world alone, and that's, well that's terrifying. I'm sorry if this got dark, as I said, I haven't been able to talk to anyone about this, so thanks for reading whoever you are. The point of this message is that there's a girl that I like, and that's made me think a lot about everything because I haven't liked someone like that in a long time.

[yeolspuppy]

[The truth behind Asian Media and Entertainments]

Hello guys. Long time no see haha x But now I’m back with a fresh material.

Not really an analysis about ChanBaek but it directly touches them too.

So, many fans ask me about relationships announced by the companies, mostly by SM Entertainment and I’ve always answered that those are practically stunts or cover ups for this or that issue.

Today, I was reading a really interesting interview and wanted to share with you all as well; the one who answered the questions works under one of the Asian Entertainment companies as well. From her answers I concluded that she’s probably a long time trainee, staff manager or maybe PR manager. As she just answers, without revealing her idientity, nationality or any other personal information, I think we can be sure of this article which touches not only the issue mentioned above, but also things like idol’s behaviour and image on stage, what are they allowed/what not, and so on.

Lets go~

1 Question; Is everything scripted? What idols say on interviews are scripted?

Answer: Not all the time. Expected and general questions are usually half scripted; half scripted because we only say the gist of what they have to say, we don’t require them to memorize everything, of course. This is for PR (public relations) purposes. It’s for their image and the image of the company. The artists know it anyway, that they have to keep their reputation good no matter what. Also, it’s the company’s decision if the artist will have to keep quiet about a certain topic.

2 Question: Are idols really packaged? Aren’t they showing their true personalities?

Answer: Not all the time.We only do this to artists who are considered important for the company, or the company’s favorites. One example is this actor-singer under our company, we debuted him with a manly image, a lady’s man type (because he really is handsome and looks manly). But in real life, he’s actually gay. There were scandals about him being gay because he was caught two times (he’s so stubborn about going out at night, I’ll talk about this later), 1st; with another actor of the same company, 2nd; with a male singer from the same company, but our company remained silent about it (it’s actually a strategy as well; keeping silent about scandals, because we refrain from talking about it, then people will forget about it eventually).

So the company continued on giving him projects as if no scandal has ever happened. The journalist who reported both incidents later apologized in public, she/he received a lot of hate actaully because the public really loves this guy whom they truly believe is straight. There’s also this one singer whom we debuted as a ‘’sexy-type’’ lady. But she’s actually the girly and shy type in real life.

3 Question: Does the company have control over everything involving the artist?

Answer: Basically yes, since the artist has to ask permission before doing anyting that company didn’t ask them to do. Like, even if the artist has free time, they still have to ask for permission if they can have a vacation on a certain place, or if they can hang out with this person. There are artists who are stubborn about asking for permissions actually, they sneak in and do what they want. Because of their stubborness, scandals may arise (it happened with a few artists actually, like I mentioned earlier). If that artist is very important for the company, we still keep him/her even if he/she is very stubborn. But of course, we will warn him/her, but we will offer some benefits for them to obey and stay with the company. If the artist is not so important, we will have to ask him/her the question ‘’This or the company/contract/career?’’

So yeah, company’s favorites are pretty much treated very differently than the others.

4 Question; Is fake dating really a thing/marketing strategy?

Answer: Yes. If we see that a lot of people love seeing them together, then we will show what the public wants to see. But we mostly do this to create hype for both artists and their future activities, and of course, the profit that the company can get from it. How about the fans who would be brokenhearted?This will be bad for both artists. Honestly and unfortunetly, the company doesn’t care. It’s true that we consider all publicity, as good publicity. We actually have this phrase: success from scandal. After the scandal (any kind of scandal) arose, we will not bring that up ever again. We’ll continue giving the artist their activities to still promote them and proceed as if nothing happened. This is very effective actaully.

5 Question: But why would they do this? They’re already famous, right?

Answer: Because we only use the ‘’reporting/confirming a fake relationship strategy’’ for artists who are already famous. We will never get the attention we want if we suddenly report that there are two not-so-famous artists dating.

In conclusion: here’s a famous saying. ‘’truth is stronger than fiction’’ which is true in so many different cases. Remember that NOT EVERYTHING shown is TRUE especially about celebrities who are under a contract with very big companies and agencies. We will never truly know the full truth about these artists, especially their true feelings, personalities, relationships, sexuality and their private life. As for BaekYeon and KaiStal and others, as the Chinese insider info was posted and confirmed in 2012, stated they were practiced in the entertainment industry, there’s a high possibility that the couples are fake.

There’s also possibility that they’re real and SM just took advantage of it, but it’s less likely. But we will never know if they actaully felt something for each other or not. Maybe they did fall in love with each other, or are single, maybe they actually have other romantic relationships that the public doesn’t know. Once again, I have nothing against SM, any people, any ships. The sole purpose of this is to be eye opener for those who aren’t familiar with the media and entertainment industry in Asia. I’m not claiming that everything I said is hundred percent evident and true in all of the companies, but everything I said is a common practice in Asia and is true os my country and our company. What I said is true and is based on my experiences. I didn’t include links, pictures, other proofs because I don’t want to give in my idientity, nationality and the company I work in. I’m a lazy but a busy person, I wouldn’t waste my free time writing this if they were all lies. But I know there are still people who will choose not to believe, but who am I to force you? Just remember that media and entertainment industry is very manipulative. Don’t let the media control and fool you. There are many studies, research and theories regarding the media and its efforts on the public (when I was in college, we memorized a lot of theories regarding media and its effects, just search about it if you’re interested, you’ll understand media even more. And even though media has negative effect on the public, they will still continue with their doings. Because it’s business. It’s the industry. It involves money.

-Credits to the owner-

Translate from Korean language to English by: yeolspuppy

Grammar edition and correction by: yeolspuppy 

So guys, this is it. I’ve mentioned this all many times and I hope at least now you’ll understand that not everything you see on your screens is true. Because it’s showbiz,

SHOWbiz SHOW + BUSINESS = a dirty industrial field where wealthy people that own this or that company and agency use idols in their own interests, control them, and keep the artists as money creating machines. SHOW and DO A BUSINESS. The word itself says it all, don’t you think so? They show what you are eager to see and in conclusion, they earn money. This is not a place for feelings, for emotions. SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment….. Exactly.

E N T E R T A I N M E N T. 

These people working under such big companies try hard and work their asses off every day to make a show, to entertain all your fantasies about your idol, to make useless merch with this or that popular idol’s/group’s name, just to make fans buy it. Scandals as well. Attention is what they need.

So tell me, what could catch your attention more than scandals and rumors that involve your favorite idol? I’ve said it a lot and gonna repeat it now too; as you see the relationships that are revealed by a company are nothing more but stunts. They pop out to trigger fans, to make them furious. That’s how a certain agency balances the popularity and the ratings of a certain idol.

It’s like: They talk a shit about the artist? They are furious, they are interested? = they remember the artist. The artist is needed. The artist is still able to attract people and help the company to get money. 

As long as this strategy works and the artist is popular among people, the company puts all the efforts to “sell” his image. When it stops working, because the certain artist already old, the concerts are less, the profit goes down, they just throw him/her away as well used handkerchief.

This is one of the biggest reasons why suicide, self harming, narcotics and drug overdose is widely spread among the popular artists and idols. We all are human and not everyone can be strong enough to go through all of this difficulties and stay in his mind.

As I started the article, I’ve mentioned that this all directly touches ChanBaek too because they’re idols as well and everything said above revolves around them too. Baekhyun already went through one scandal, which as we can conclude was fake publicity-stunt as well, and it’s not impossible that Chanyeol or any other EXO member (solo idols, artists, members of other groups) can be involved in that kind of scandal in future too. 

Of course, it might not happen, but better be aware and not be surprised or hurt. 

Remember, that it’s only for the media.

Don’t turn away from your idol, it’s hard for him to participate in it too, it’s hard for him to hurt you and disappoint you too. Instead, give him support and believe in what YOU see and YOU analyze, not in what the media and the companies feed you.

Remember, that it’s showbiz, where everything they do is kind of performance, a theater, where the actors are, sadly, your idols.

Remember, that relationships are real ONLY if the idols talked about it at least ONCE too, not only their agency.

Remember to have your OWN beliefs and follow them. The company doesn’t reveal your idol’s sexuality, but

Remember that not everyone can be straight and fit in your standards. I know most of my readers are ChanBaek shippers, so please guys;

Don’t leave the fandom if you see something that you don’t like.

Don’t jump into conclusions, no matter what you hear.

Don’t turn you back away, if ever any scandal happens with them, because then they’ll need us most. It’s okay to have doubts, but remember that your doubts are YOUR doubts and they don’t define reality. Love and believe regardless of the situation :)

With love, Lil (yeolspuppy) xx.

[If you post my translation of the interview and my views, please give credits. Thank you].

#showbiz korea #kpop #idols #marketing #truth