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#it is clearly the superior outfit :p
slexenskee · 25 days
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Detour (MDNSY Oneshot)
For an ask about the reactions of the JJK cast on MDNSY Gojo's... everything 😂
Scrubstan22 finds himself in the (un)enviable position of explaining Ru-kun to the JJK cast
(Link here: or read below)
Nanabi Shun, better known by his online handle ‘Scrubstan22’ is having his most surreal day yet. An unhinged mad scientist turned villain with a space-time quirk and an obsession with Ru-kun that borders on the same level as even the most delusional of Scrubs, has accidentally flung him, an innocent bystander, into an alternate dimension. 
This would be terrifying, if it wasn’t apparently some kind of alternate dimension where Ru-kun’s anime is real. 
And not only is it real… it’s apparently Ru-kun’s true origin story?? 
To be fair, it’s still terrifying, but Scrubstan22 has more pressing matters to focus on than his own mortality and possible impending doom. 
Gojo Satoru apparently exists in this world— but Ru-kun does not. 
It’s utterly absurd! It’s unreasonable and unfair! Maybe those songs really do already exist in this world— as the very unamused talking Panda keeps trying to tell him— but if No Scrubs and Ru-kun aren’t performing it, then they don’t actually exist at all! Nanabi couldn’t possibly put into words how life-changing it was to see Ru-kun perform in person. The fact that he doesn’t exist in this world— or at least not as the shit-posting global celebrity rockstar that Nanabi knows him as— is really quite sad. These poor kids don’t know what they’re missing out on. As a major Scrub and Ru-kun simp, Nanabi just can’t let this slide. He has to rectify it immediately. 
Luckily he has a perfect solution.
His entire downloaded archive of all things No Scrubs and Ru-kun.
Some of Gojo Satoru’s students are more impressed than others. 
“I hate that he looks so good in that skirt,” comes from the glasses-wearing girl. Maki, he thinks is her name. He only watched through the anime once so he’s pretty bad with the names of all the side characters.  
“I should have known he’d make an excellent Sailor Moon after he stole my uniform.” Kugisaki Nobara complains, looking exactly as her character does in the anime. 
Neither of them are enthused to see Ru-kun in his crossdressing glory, but Nanabi notices they’re unwillingly enthralled nonetheless. 
Itadori Yuuji himself— the main character of Cursed Fight Season One— is unsurprisingly the most enthusiastic about it all. He nearly climbs over Nanabi for a better look at the recording on his phone, eyes alight. 
“Sensei is so cool as a rockstar! It really suits him well!” Itadori exclaims, delighted. “And he’s singing ‘My Chemical Romance’? Sensei has such good taste!”
“He’s just an emo-punk loser who clearly had way too much time on his hands,” Fushiguro Megumi protests, although despite his inflammatory remarks he too doesn’t look away from the screen. 
Apparently quite a few No Scrubs’ songs are from this band ‘My Chemical Romance’. Yuuji even shows him the music video of the same song from the actual band just to prove it, although that was wholly unnecessary. Nanabi believes him when he says all these songs already exist in this world and belong to other bands— he just doesn’t care. If anything, seeing the other bands perform it just confirms what he already believed; Ru-kun does it better. 
Nanabi is happy to show them all the fan recordings he has of No Scrubs, gushing over the various outfit choices and the songs themselves. It’s actually kind of nice that these songs exist already, because that means these kids already know them and he can argue about which are superior without having to explain. Itadori’s favorite is ‘A Loaded God Complex’, called ‘Sugar We’re Goin’ Down’ in this world (although Itadori admits the changed title suits Ru-kun far more), Fushiguro’s is ‘Island in the Sun’, and Panda translates that Inumaki’s is ‘Thanks for the Memories’, but Panda himself confesses he’s unfamiliar with this genre of music. The two girls decry all their picks as boring, and don’t seem particularly impressed by any of Ru-kun’s songs until—
“Paramore!!” The two girls screech in unison, suddenly looking a lot more invested than they had earlier. 
Nanabi has up a recording from the Scrubs Unite tour, which Ru-kun had done entirely in drag. They’d finally gotten to the encore, where Ru-kun had tried to weasel his female bandmates into singing the encore song, insisting it was made for a female vocalist. They summarily denied him, so he ended up singing the song himself, called Misery Business. It’s one of Nanbi’s favorite performances, and one Ru-kun hasn’t done since. 
Even Maki and Kugisaki are begrudgingly impressed. 
“He sounds like a male Hayley Williams— that’s so fucking unfair,” Kugisaki denounces, despairing. “Why does that bastard have to be good at everything, seriously.” 
“The outfit is pretty spot on too, if he just dyed his hair, it’d be a great cosplay.” Maki agrees, sourly. 
“Does he play anything else from Riot?” Kugsaki rounds on him. “What about That’s What You Get?”
Nanabi looks up at her helplessly. “Sorry, I don’t think so. But they apparently have a ton of unreleased stuff though, so maybe I just haven’t heard it.”
Apparently back when No Scrubs was truly an underground band playing random shows at dive bars, they had an insanely large setlist. Most of those songs never made it onto any of the official recordings. He’s heard rumors online that there’s a vinyl floating around, but aside from a single interview with All Might, has no real confirmation of its existence. 
“I think it’s awesome that Sensei has an alternate personality as a rockstar,” Yuuji enthuses, looking rather fond and indulgent as he stares down at Ru-kun strutting across a stage. “I hope it’s more relaxing than being The Strongest all the time.”
Nanabi blinks at him. “Oh. He’s that too.” 
The Jujutsu Tech students stare at him blankly. “... What?” 
//
As it turns out, they’re all collectively more confused and bewildered by the whole Sixwings thing than they are the ‘world’s strongest’ thing. In this world, since the moment of his birth Gojo Satoru was always meant to be the strongest. That he can destroy armies in the blink of an eye and pull out purple-laser-death-beams-of-doom (apparently a technique called Hollow Purple in this world) and walk through explosions unscathed is just common knowledge among the Jujutsu World. 
So all of his footage of Dabi’s many international exploits was met with a genial disinterest. 
His media folder of Sixwings, however…
“He’s… really in a relationship?” Kugisaki looks utterly confounded. “A normal, healthy, longterm relationship?”
“He’s getting married?” Maki sounds bewildered.
“He has a kid?” Fushiguro sounds unimpressed. 
Panda scratches his chin. “Huh. Hey, that’s good for him! He sounds like he’s actually a well-adjusted and normal guy.” 
“Is his boyfriend a psychopath?” Kugisaki asks, urgently. “I really can’t see how else this would work out.”
“Not at all! Hawks is well-known as a very charming and friendly hero. He’s actually a really good guy.” Nanabi protests. 
Kugisaki squints at him. “How the hell does he put up with him then?”
Nanabi smiles sheepishly. “Uh… he’s pretty easygoing I guess?” 
Maki is leaning over him for a better look at his phone, using her fingers to zoom in on the photo he has up of Hawks and Ru-kun at the U.A. School Festival. He doesn’t swing that way, but even he has to admit they looked really good that day. And with Eri thrown in on top of it? It’s no wonder they’re regularly voted as the cutest couple in Japan.
“Damn. They actually look really good together.” Maki says, begrudging. 
“Tuna, tuna.” Inumaki pokes Panda in the side.
Panda gives a solemn nod. “Inumaki-kun has a good point. What’s all this gossip about a Sixwings baby?”
“Oh, that’s Eri-chan.” Nanabi scrolls down to a better photo of her. There’s one from the Ru-kun signing event at Tower Records, where a sinfully good-looking Ru-kun is holding her on his hip and waving out to the crowds. “She’s the child he birthed from his own body.”
Fushiguro blinks rapidly. “He what now?”
“He’s fucking with you.” Kugisaki denies immediately. 
Nanabi shrugs. “Maybe— but no one knows for sure! To be honest, none of his powers make much sense to us, so some people believe it and others don’t.”
Maki’s expression turns worried. “Well, they’re not all that clear to us either… I mean, there’s a lot you can do with cursed energy…”
She glances up at Panda. Panda just gives her a thumbs up. “That’s right! I mean, I exist, so who knows!”
“There’s a couple different rumors about it, but none are confirmed.” Nanabi fills them in with a gleeful expression. “The main one is that she really is the Sixwings baby, and they had her when they were teenagers and kept it a secret. There’s also a couple variations where Eri is his child, but the regular way, but he’s slept with a lot of people and none of them were women so people are pretty skeptical about it. Then there’s also the theory that he did birth her from his own body, but not with Hawks. There’s no real guesses on who her father is for that one.”
His companions look at him with varying degrees of incredulity. Nanabi spreads his hands. “The likely answer is he’s just messing with everyone and she’s adopted, but like I said, we really don’t know!”
Itadori doesn’t really seem to care about the truth either way, grabbing at his phone to scroll through the photos. “They’re so cute together! Haha, she really kind of even does look like sensei a little bit! She’s definitely just as stylish as he is!”
Itadori keeps scrolling until he gets to the infamous Swing incident, saved in all its glory in an endless gif format. 
They all stare in silence as, on screen, Gojo Satoru gets KO’d by his kid on a swing set over and over again. 
“Send me that.” Kugisaki demands. 
//
Scrubstan22 gets rescued eventually. It’s a pretty boring affair, truth be told. He didn’t see any real curses, or any kind of fighting. 
Gojo doesn’t return to campus until long after the sun has set, to the bizarre scene of all his students shoving their phones at poor Nanami, who looks as if he regretted ever coming in person to turn in his paperwork. They’re apparently trying to show Nanami photos of Gojo in drag, despite his vocal protests. The moment they lay eyes on him they pounce on him instead. None of their explanations make any sense. There’s something about him being a rockstar, and also married, and apparently a mother, and they have plenty of blurry photo evidence they try to shove at him. It looks like they all took photos of someone else’s screenshots, so the quality leaves much to be desired. Maybe if he squints really hard, that does kind of look like him in a mini skirt, but who’s to say really? 
Unfortunately for the students, the space-time continuum rights itself overnight and they all lose their collective memory of Scrubstan22 and his alternate-universe. But the digital evidence remains, and occasionally Kugisaki will pull out her phone and watch a very random gif of Gojo-sensei getting smacked to the ground by a kid on a swing, and while she has no idea where it came from, she draws immense satisfaction from it anyway. 
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beevean · 3 months
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We finally watched Nocturne.
... what? No, no endless post this time :P not only because it's just one season. It's just as I expected: it's not as infuriating as its big sibling. (unless you're familiar with the French Revolution coughcough@the-crow-binary)
We only watched the first four episodes so far, and I have already said a lot, so let's go.
The thing I complained the most about, I noticed, was the worldbuilding, mostly how vampires work. The original show "elfified" vampires, only keeping the basic traits "need blood, don't like sunlight or running water, can turn into things like bats and mist". They were portrayed as this ancient rage, one with its own culture (much superior than the dumb humans who forget everything because church bad): they sleep normally, they can eat food if they so wish, apparently they can have sex with zero issues lol, and infamously child vampires are treated as, well, innocent children and not as poor human kids suffering a terrible fate. Trevor even kindly tells us that the reason vampires hate crosses regardless of their faith is because their eyesight is so advanced that they freak out at the sight of geometrical shapes. The only monstruous trait they have is that apparently they have a tendency to go insane and crave power. Honestly, they kind of remind me of Twilight.
And somehow Nocturne manages to get it worse.
Now, yes, vampires in Nocturne bite far more often than in the OG show. I think in that other show we see them doing that... twice? And Carmilla and Lenore lick Hector's blood; then they just drink from their stock of blood à la Drac from SoTN. Anyway, Nocturne is more willing to show them as beasts, so good job. Hell, Sun Thundercat even turns a human!
But in this setting, vampires seem to not even have those few weaknesses they had in the OG show. For a story centered on how Sun Thundercat will bring eternal night to the world because sun is the number 1 obstacle to vampires, it's baffling how easily they can just walk around in plain daylight. Olrox looks out of the window with his face illuminated by the sun. Drolta can literally walk just fine, even without a parasol. @spinningbuster98 kept asking "why don't peasants or slaves just destroy the windows of the places where they know vampires live?" - well clearly they'd be fine!
And special shoutout to Drolta who openly mocks the concept of her being hurt by being in a church. At least in S1, Blue Fangs explained its presence in the Bishop's church by blaming his heinous actions for pushing God away.
Vampires are also shockingly well integrated into society. These extremely pale people, with visible pointy ears and long fangs, can chill around in a nice palace or stroll into a theatre, and no one bats an eye. How? In the OG show, vampires could be in a position of power (see the council of Styria), but they mostly worked from the shadows. Did humans just... accept the presence of these monsters?
(the cross weakness becomes way funnier now. Vampires are weak to the religion they used to believe in, so Annette can ask the help of the Christian God to harm previously Christian vampires. I actually like this. But then this makes that OG "vampires have super freaky eyesight" scene even stupider than it used to be)
Another point for the clumsy worldbuilding. Hey, remember how I complained that N!Hector wearing Hector's CoD outfit makes no sense? Because that's what he could cobble up from his old Devil Forgemaster uniform and it's basically the best he can wear for running through the country and fighting, while N!Hector 1) is still in Drac's service in S2 so you'd expect a more professional uniform from him, like the one worn by N!Isaac, and 2) he very much does not fight, making details like the arm guard and the single glove look redudant. We have a similar issue here: Maria, whose design was taken straight out of DXC, complains in the first episode that her mother is too poor to pay taxes. You can tell that she doesn't look that poor. To make things even worse, in the second episode, Tera is able to offer bread to Annette and Edouard: the French Revolution started, among other reasons, because even bread got ridiculously expensive for common people! So which is it? Is Maria one of the common people, or a well-off young woman who really has no business leading the revolution?
And this... is tied to other problems.
The French Revolution is nothing more than a shallow backdrop for the main plot being the Vampire Messiah being hyped up as the greatest evil to ever evil. You can tell the writers did not care when they cast Vaublanc, a real person who fought against slavery, as a vampire slaveowner. I think. I think you shouldn't do that.
The point is, it becomes increasingly jarring when you see that the main protagonists, the ones who spout the most generic "liberty, equality, fraternity"... are not even French. Maria has Russian origins, and as I've shown she seems to be doing well. Richter is a Romanian who grew up in the US. Annette, who gets to make a super epic speech about freedom, is a runaway from Saint-Domingue. Edouard is a rich opera singer, also from Saint-Domingue.
Oh, Annette.
You know, I want to say something. I'd have much more patience for her abrasive, ungrateful, condescending behavior, I'd justify it as a result of her trauma, if it weren't for how mean-spirited she is and for how no one seems to even react to her.
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bruh.
You did that, huh. Richter has been nothing but kind and supportive to you, relating to the loss of your friend and of your mother - this isn't a Trevor situation where you can fall for what the story tells you and believe he's actually rude, no, Richter is on-screen a very nice guy! And you say that? To his face? After he revealed to you that the Belmonts used to do magic but he can't because he lost his mom? Something you should know how devastating it feels? And you THROW THAT TO HIS FACE??
Richter is the one who gasps, by the way. Maria and Tera over there? Nah they're just eating popcorn as this stranger is deliberately hitting Richter where it hurts the most. Thanks girls.
Oh but she's not done!
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I know what this is. Look at her, the Stronk former slave who suffered Hardships which inherently makes her more Mature and World Wise, looking down on the two white French people who obviously had it so easy in their lives.
Hey, Ms. Adult. Who's the one who lost control of her powers, leading to Edouard becoming a Night Creature? Richter is too nice to throw that in your face. I'm not :)
Hey, Ms. I Suffered More Than You. Who's the one who only managed to save herself from the plantation only due to magical god-inherited powers? Which is also incredibly insensitive to the real-life slaves who managed to escape with nothing more but human skills and intellect?
Hey, Ms. I'm More Mature Than You Whiteys. Who's the one who needed the help of a rich half-white man to be protected? Not that you even know the concept of being grateful.
Uh, and Tera? You mind chiming in? You mind defending your daughter and your adopted son from this stranger who keeps being rude and disrespectful? No? Okay. She just suggests how to save Edouard, but lets Annette's words slide. You and Lisa can compete for the title of Mom of the Year.
Oh, but this is not a sexism or racism issue. This is literally the same thing as Alucard in S2 being the biggest hypercunt to Trevor, making fun of his traumatic childhood, cruelly mocking his family and his legacy, and treating him like he's nothing more than a failure of a drunkard when the dude has been nothing but a help in fights and gave them access to the vast Belmont Hold... and Sypha always rushed in Alucard's defense because boohoo his depression is an icy well of sadness, he Suffered More Than You!
This is just the writers shitting on the Belmonts, and I am sick of it. Trevor did not deserve this, and Richter doesn't deserve this.
Anyway, characters. I have little to say. Richter is the best one, being reasonably cocky as you would expect from him; not to an insufferable degree, just yeah he comes off as an immature young man who needs to grow up. I like him. Maria is a parody of teens on Twitter talking about seizing the means of production, and I kind of forget she's there. Annette, yeah :) Edouard got retroactively characterized after his death, but I still don't know how to describe his personality beyond "helpful" and "source of infodumps". Tera exists. The abbot is profoundly stupid for allying himself with vampires for the sake of crushing the "Godless" Revolution (there's an N!Hector joke to make here but it's not worth it). Drolta is basically Isaac who slapped a pair of tits on himself and just like that she's a beloved slay queen icon. Templar Agent Stone Mizrak is mere bara bait so far. Olrox... well, so far he's mildly intriguing for being outside of the hero/villain dichotomy. Kind of a tryhard, though, and I still don't know why he didn't just kill Richter.
My last complaint is that it's really boring how they hype up Sun Thundercat as this harbinger of DEATH AND SUFFERING AND PAIN AND TERROR way before we even see her. It reminds me of Alucard exposing how a world without humans would be: just this empty, edgy narration with nothing to show for it. But at least by then we had a taste of Dracula's anger and powers, so this is even worse. You need to try harder to build up an antagonist.
and finally, have the best moment in the whole franchise
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BUT, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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sabra-n · 10 months
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Random Ted Lasso bits and bobs before I start reading everyone else's reactions:
I'm pretty worried about Jamie's injury. When he sat in the locker room accepting everyone's high fives and fist bumps, that was Roy at the end of "All Apologies," which is not a promising comparison given what came in "The Hope That Kills You." I mean, Jamie's much younger, but it's just enough to freak me out a bit.
I love that Jade doesn't think about work when she's not there. And also when she is there. Nate can't help but put his thoughtfulness and ingenuity into whatever job he's doing, from arranging the suitcases in the team bus when he was the kit man to using salty nuts to sell beer at A Taste of Athens, but in a show full of people who are passionate about their work, Jade is a representative of the many, many perfectly normal people who just want to get paid.
I'm kind of amazed it took us this long to get a Higgs Boson joke.
"That's what mothers do," says local woman with very normal mother.
Yes, Dottie, Ted has talked about the poop candy bar, but it was to Roy, who meticulously pretended to be ignoring everything going on in the locker room until he sensed something wrong with his Specialest Boy. (It's Jamie. Jamie is his Specialest Boy.)
Not gonna lie, I have been Jamie crying over a suitcase. Except for me it was a potted plant cough years ago. I was sad it wasn't in its natural environment.
I have also been Ted with his oven - when I lived in London for a bit I never fully understood those little symbols so I might have, uh. Cooked everything on the stovetop.
"I do believe in second chances, Ted. That's why I'm still married and all my sons are alive."
The poster of Roy was better than I could ever have imagined. And it was hanging right next to a topless Keeley poster, and also Jamie's mom was styled like Keeley, and, well. This show wants us to go to weird psychosexual places with these three, doesn't it?
Jamie's stepdad is a delight. If Roy wasn't so utterly fascinated watching Jamie with his mum, I'm sure he would have traded baking tips. But he was fascinated, because weird psychosexual places.
Hannah Waddingham, who has a four-octave range, saying that Freddie Mercury's greatest talent wasn't that vocal range but flipping straights. *salutes* Between that and the team bus driver being a drag artist, Ted Lasso has opened the queer barn door and tied it to make sure it stays that way. (Hey, you know who else is gay? David Hockney.)
Keeley's silly soccer ball dress was one of my favorite outfits of hers in a season I've been kind of mixed on her wardrobe. Also, she and Roy being HEY BUDDY OLD PAL was too fucking cute. Bless Jamie for interrupting just as Keeley was seemingly about to let Roy down gently. Was I saying something about emotional honesty being good? Because I like repression, actually.
Was Roy drunk at the end there at Jamie's mum's house? Did I see him blow a kiss?
So between the joy riding incident at 15 and going to jail on prom night, Ted had trouble with the law more than once when he was young, huh? Though the former was all Ronny Fowches, that candy bar pooping twerp.
Barbara slooowly crunching her way through an apple while blatantly watching Keeley and Roy is everything to me. Katy Wix is a fucking treasure.
"Scott Cinnamon's bar mitzvah" is just a fun phrase.
The nod between Sam and Rebecca on movie night was a literal nod to the You've Got Mail/The Shop Around the Corner/She Loves Me/Parfumerie shape of their Bantr storyline, obviously, so I guess it's acceptable. :P
So hey, Ted thinks Sleepless in Seattle is superior, and that one's about a widower who moves to Seattle with his young son, who decides to play matchmaker for him. So clearly Ted is going to end up with *checks notes* Nate.
Nate tumbled out of Richmond the same way he tumbled into his parents' house. Circles, baby.
Another circle was, of course, the blue moon of Man City - the song and the thing itself, clearly visible in the sky as Jamie walks to his mum's house with the world's least subtle tail.
Isaac is still enforcing phone etiquette on movie night.
Ted's mom just straight-up eats from her son's open peanut butter jar, which explains a lot. And she loves tea, which I'm going to be turning in my mind like it's a microwave for a while.
*adds "antidemocratic" to list of Bumbercatch...ness*
Jamie gets not one, but two equivalents to Dr. Fieldstone's note this episode, with the unheard words from Roy and Pep.
And...that was Pep Guardiola, right? The actual person? I just started giggling uncontrollably every time he was on screen, because there's RPF and then there's this.
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noa-nightingale · 2 years
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Thirsty Baddie Ranks Top 5 Sexiest Disney Characters
I am having one of the worst weeks of my life right now and this whole post is me trying to distract myself by rewatching this glorious glorious episode of Top 5 Beatdown. It’s an absolute delight of an episode and it made me feel better for the time I rewatched it.
So, naturally, I want to write about it.
I like that the episode starts like this...
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... because wasn’t he the one who suggested the topic?
Anyway, we are off to a fantastic start. And Joyce is back! Always love to see her, her energy, her sense of humor and her stunning outfit. Made me feel better immediately.
I still don’t know how I feel about Shane purring because it is equally cute, funny and disturbing - which probably means that he should do it more often. (Also because it is extremely entertaining to see Ryan’s reaction lol.)
“This is Top 5 Beatdown! I respect you when the cameras are off.” I love her.
It’s still hilarious that Ryan said he watched A Goofy Movie on “performance enhancers” (weed) and Shane’s first thought was cocaine while Joyce’s first thought was viagra lmao.
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Ryan’s number 5 (Powerline) is extremely valid btw (even though I would not put him on my own list). When I first watched the episode, I listened to Eye to Eye on repeat for several days afterwards.
🎶 If we listen to each other’s hearts we’ll find we’re never to far apart And mayyybe love is the reason why for the first time ever we’re seeing it eye to eye 🎶
And Mouse Madej returns! I am just going to use this opportunity to share my Miss Bianca/Mouse Madej art here again. ^-^ (Steven banned fanart for this episode which naturally led to people drawing more fanart for this one than for any other T5B episode. I kept it wholesome though.)
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The innuendos in this episode lol
Ryan: “And she (Nani) loves her sister’s little blue guy.”
Shane: “Oh, we had a blue guy. Had.”
*a transparent Professor undulates across the screen*
This made me realize once again how much they bring up the nasty little blue guy in shows that are not Puppet History. Months later and they are still rubbing it in. (R.I.P to a real one.)
BUT ALSO
RYAN
HOW can you mention Vixey but not Maid Marian! If we are talking about sexy vixens, she is CLEARLY superior!
And while I am calling out people here - I agree that Ursula should be at least on one list but no one mentioned that she is inspired by Divine who was a drag queen. I just think Ursula should have gotten bonus points for that (and maybe be moved a little higher on the list SHANE).
That being said, it’s one of the most valid picks in this entire episode. ^-^
I have never watched Big Hero 6 and had to look up what the aunt looks like, and I loved Ryan’s reaction. “Oh I see. ... Oh I see. 👀“
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Aaand here we have Mr Bergara’s first mention of lovely green eyes. I agree that green eyes are lovely but personally, I think that dark brown is clearly the best eye color, not that I am biased. Also, I would not call Nala’s eyes green, they look more blue-ish to me. :p
Ryan: “(...) a littel topsy-turvy.”
Shane: “Or bottomsy-turvy.”
I wonder how many people thought this too and then rejoiced when he said it, because I certainly did. :D
The whole part with Queenie the Cow is a mess lmao. I sometimes wonder what went on in Shane’s brain when he added (oedipal). Like, what was the thought process here.
“I don’t have mommy issues. I love that she gives milk.”
This is such a golden quote. And I love that Ryan immediately calls him out for it.
Not gonna lie though, all the things Shane said about Queenie’s kindness and sweetness are very endearing, almost too endearing for a video like this. ^-^
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And Mouse Madej strikes again. I know what Shane means with “aspirational hot” though (and a top hat and cape sounds dope) although for me it would be more in the realm of gender envy. (Btw I think that Shane’s list is very interesting in general.)
Mulan is a great choice too (although she is not on my list either). Joyce: “It’s a little bit androgynous.” I agree that it makes a character so much more appealing. ^-^ Like, things that play with gender like that? Hell yeah.
Never thought I would hear the words “post-nut clarity” while someone was talking about The Lion King. I will think about this on my deathbed, thank you Ryan.
Loved Joyce’s wholesome ending to a non-wholesome video.
“To be a ho, you gotta be wholesome.” Embroider that one on a pillow lmao.
And here is my list:
1) Long John Silver (Treasure Planet) 2) Merlin (The Sword in the Stone) 3) Ursula (The Little Mermaid) 4) Maid Marian (Robin Hood) 5) Nala/Sarabi (The Lion King)
I am appalled that nobody even considered this guy.
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(And honestly, I both think he is sexy AND I get gender envy from him. Absolute dreamboat.)
Well, that’s it! I loved rewatching the episode, it made things a little better and I could forget the other stuff in my life for a while. Thanks, Watcher and Joyce! 💜
(I also feel the need to mention at this point that I am asexual as hell lol. Just as a way to finish this text. ^-^)
Thanks for reading!
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delyth88 · 3 years
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louu-7 · 4 years
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everything i don’t know
on wattpad
CHAPTER 3:
“You’re far from becoming a whale darling.”
We laugh and walk towards the Starbucks, because our drinks are basically waiting for us to come and buy them to become whales. That is the life we decided to live.
We arrive in the little coffee shop and order our drinks. They prepare it in a little amount of time before giving to us. We pay and get out of the shop, Alyssa’s telling me that Dad tried to call her.
“Why do they never try to call me? I’m an adult.”
“No you’re not babe, but, I don’t know, it’s just because... they just don’t wanna bother you.”
“They do it anyway.”
She looks at me while letting out a sigh and I shrug innocently. It’s the truth, but anyway. Aly takes me to one of the boutique she thinks could fit with my style and what I like, and we walk inside before she lets me for a minute the time to call Dad back.
I explore the sections of the shop, and I have to admit that Alyssa’s good for this one, I really like almost everything that catch my eyes.
I continue to dive into this chill vibes clothing boutique. A pair of jeans attract my regard, with three or four tank tops that I saw on Internet and that I really appreciate. I choose to try on two tops and the jeans that I already love so much. It’s ripped and the cut is a little oversized; totally something I’ll be wearing.
“Find somethin’?”
~
I bought all the stuff that I choose from the first boutique, and we’re basically just hanging out in the mall, gossiping and laughing at funny people in the shopping mall. Some people are just the craziest like, who’s coming into a mall to play football when they don’t even know how to shoot right in the ball?
“Where do we go now?” I ask, impatient to continue our little trip. “I don’t know, tell me, where do we go. Just look ‘round and choose a shop.”
“OK, hum,” I spin around and a cool store front just catch up my regard, “this one seems so great, let’s go!”
“Babe, this shop is kinda reserved.”
“For what?”
“Pogues.”
“You’re kidding?” I raise my eyebrows while looking at her, shook. “No, it’s a pogue shop. There’s not much pogues boutiques ‘round here but, this one is.”
“Well, that’s perfect, they wear pretty cool clothes. Let’s go.” I start to walk toward the shop but Aly stops me by taking my hand in hers. I look back at her and shrug before understanding the matter. “It’s OK if you don’t wanna go, you’re anti-pogues after all.” I laugh and she tries to give me a faint smile before fail it. “I said to Dad that I wasn’t leaving you alone. I come, it’s OK.”
“Sure?”
“Yeah, c’mon.”
She seems against the idea, but she gets in front of me and walk toward the shop before I join her and hug her while walking. I’m so truly happy that we hang out, and moreover that she lets me do kind of whatever I want.
"You’re the best sis ever Aly, I love you babe. You love me?”
"Of course, if not we weren’t gonna buy stuff in a pogue’s shop.”
"You’re right. I love you, you know that?
"Of course, who doesn’t love me.” I sigh in a smile and push her away while she laughs and come back towards me to hug me at her turn. We finally come into the shop and the vibe is just so perfect, there’s some surfboards to decorate the boutique, and the music is as chill as possible. I start walking around again between the section, and it’s even more my style here.
Alyssa doesn’t talk a lot, but she seems to observe a lot around her.
“So, how does it feels to break the rule?” I ask, a smile on my face, while I go through the clothes. “I don’t know. Weird.”
“Doesn’t it feels fucking good?” I almost shout out when a smile’s drawing out on her lips. “Kind of. But don’t say it to the parents, I swear if you say a word ‘bout-”
“C’mon babe, why would I do that, they already have me in their sight.” We keep on walking around, and suddenly, this voice that my brain can’t even forget is speaking up. My face is crumpling, and I quickly take Alyssa’s hand so we move somewhere else in the shop.
“What the hell are you-”
“Shh…”
I can’t stop to looking around us. They’re gonna come in, they’re pogues, it’s not an option, they’re gonna come inside. Fuck. Alyssa’s making me look at her and asks me using her eyes what’s going on. My eyes just dive into hers, and a moment after, her face’s crumpling too. She got this.
“I wanna buy this stuff but I don’t want them to see me, like, I don’t want them to see me.”
“Why, who cares?”
“Them. Look, I don’t know why, but these guys weren’t that grateful for me to come and help the one who was lying on the floor.”
“C’mon, they’re not gonna kill you.”
“No, Alyssa please, the blond was so offensive, and before leaving he looked at me and… I don’t know, it was just… so cold and just pure nastiness against me.”
She sighs and I do the same before starting to leave the little area that I found to look around. Fuck, they’re gonna see us, they’re coming towards us.
The tone of the blond’s voice was so emotionless and mean, like, what did I do to him to receive this kind of attitude... I’m not saying that I’m perfect, but I never did anything to them, they’re not even supposed to know me because of my Dad’s rules…
“OK, let’s go.” I say, the clothes in my hands. “If we’re quick enough we can make it. I think.”
“No, but let’s go, I’m tired of staying here.”
“Yeah same.”
So we leave our safe zone and almost run toward the checkout. To be honest, I think we did it-
Shit. We didn’t. I can feel their looks burning my back and my heart starts to beat quicker. Why is this happening to me, I didn’t ask for nothing, I just wanted to hang out and have good time with my sis…
“It’s OK babe, just ignore them.”
“I can’t because I feel like he’s gonna kill me for fucking nothing.”
“They don’t.” I look back at them and see the blond’s walking toward us. I also remark that Sarah’s with them talking with a brown-haired boy.
“Oh, but it’s Thara Abrams, what a surprise.” He’s coming slowly in front of us and I do my best to ignore this kind of attention. I don’t understand why am I so nervous, like this is not me. C’mon girl, get a grip on yourself, you can do it, yell my conscience at my face.
Once he’s in front of us, I smile bitterly while he acts like he’s clearly superior to me. “What’s wrong with you?” I shrug, a lot more confident than a minute ago. “With me? Who’s the kook hanging in pogue’s territory? Between us,” he winces a little, acting dishonestly kindly, “you should go now.”
“Wow, so you just come to threat me?”
“No, I’m preventing you from doing a mistake, just leave.”
“I didn’t ask for you to give me advice, just leave me alone.”
He smiles again and stop looking at me with his annoying air.
“So now kooks can come into our territory, but pogues are beating up by pieces of shit like you because they do their job.” I frown at him and bite my lips before shrugging. “You kiddin’ me right? I don’t think you have something to say, I came to help him and you clearly told me to fuck off. Now this isn’t my problem, just do your things-”
“Oh, because now you play the victim? You don’t seem to remember what you said ‘bout us behind our back.”
“What the hell are you talking ‘bout?” He starts to go and turns towards me to repeat that I should let it go and leave.
He comes backs with the others and they all just stare at me like I was a piece of crap. I can see something different in the eyes of Sarah, like if I disappointed her, and I sadly frown.
We we’re used to be really good friends before she starts hanging with the rest of them. My parents don’t want me to talk to her, and when it happened they didn’t even let me explain her why we needed to bring our friendship to an end.
I loved her, I always will, and when I was allowed to see her my parent’s rules weren’t that formal. Now it’s as if I was living locked in a castle…
“T, your turn.” I turn towards her and she looks at the checkout so I do the same and smile to the cashier while giving him the clothes. We pay and just leave, the words of the blond in repeat on my mind. What did I do to him? And what could’ve I say, I almost can’t pronounce the “p” word without having my parents yelling at me to keep quiet about them.
“Let’s go back home, I got what I wanted.”
“Sure? Don’t let him ruin your day babe, wanna eat?” I think about it for a minute and accept before we start walking around to find a good fast food or somewhere we can eat good food. “Oh, can we eat sushi?” I ask when we meet a sushi shop. “Sure, let’s go. Didn’t know you liked it.”
“Yeah, because we never eat some at home, the parents doesn’t seem to like it.”
“Right, let’s gain weigh.”
“Babe! Sushi’s good for health. C’mon!”
~
We’re back home. The sushi was amazing, and I’m actually trying on everyone of the clothes that we bought to create some cool outfits, because I only have this to do.
Alyssa’s gone with my mother, because she would like to work with our Mom for the brand, so they have an appointment to talk about it with the boss. They both love fashion, but Alyssa’s really into it, she likes to look good and wear luxurious brand, basically the opposite of me. Mom prefers business, and she hopes that sometimes she could be the co-directrice of the business.
About Isaac, he’s certainly with my dear father, because he can’t live without him and do something by himself. I think they’re on company premises so, I’m by myself, and for once I kind of like it. I mean, I can do whatever I want here, even put the music so loud that the walls would be shaking. But I’m not, because if I do my Dad will know it so quickly that I couldn’t even have the chance to enjoy it.
I’m just walking around, playing with my cute clothes, even trying on pricey dresses that my parents bought me for special occasion. We have a lot of events, that we both organize at home or assist at somebody else’s house. We’re famous apparently, so we have to be at every single one of these chic parties.
My eyes are somehow attract by one of the dresses behind all the others. A beautiful sparkling baby pink long dress. The bottom is in tulle and the top is in this amazing fabric, it’s like a little see-through lace, really simple and there’s a v-neck, and some thin straps, and an awesome open back. I’m in love with a dress, rather surprising for someone who’s buying stuff in a pogue shop…
Am I changing? Fuck I’m becoming my sister and my mother. I like a damn chic gown. What is happening to me…
A noise downstairs draw my attention and I take my eyes off the big mirror in the bathroom to leave and rejoin the first floor. I’m walking around and, by passing the corridor, the open door of my Dad’s office perturb me. Why the hell is this door open, it’s always locked when I’m alone at home, I have the ban to go there, I don’t even remember of what it’s like on the inside.
I look around to check that nobody can catch me because I think I’ll be totally busted, and walk slowly towards the door while my heartbeats become more and more quick. Why do I feel like this door really isn’t supposed to be open… I swear when I’m saying that it’s the number one of the rule, I heard a hundred times not to go into this room all along my childhood, and I gave up.
I reach out for the doorknob and push the door to finally see what’s inside. It’s been years that I was wondering how it was in this room and it’s… darker than I thought it would be but, it’s kind of the cliché of the office where business men work hard.
The portrait of me on the wall makes me frown. Since when does he got this as a painting for his room… and it’s so big, why did he put my face here? To be honest it makes my heart melt, it shows that he loves me even if he doesn’t really show me.
I step forward and observe closely the room, because I think it’ll be the first and last time that I’ll be able to see it with my own eyes. I walk towards the big wood desk and touch it from my fingertips. I don’t know how to explain how I feel, it’s as if I was discovering something new, something… unexpected.
Then I hesitate. Should I look into the drawers? No, of course no, you’re not supposed to come here Thara. I stand there a minute staring at the first drawer. Nobody’s gonna notice, I guess I can have a look. I start to open slowly and quietly the drawer while looking at the door. If I get caught I’m fucking dead and buried. What could I find except boring papers and some useless shit, or even a-
“A gun.”
I close it up and my heart raise his beats while I’m almost having a panic attack. My Dad’s got a gun in his drawer. He’s got a fucking gun in his drawer.
~
hii, please let me know if there’s mistakes i’m french and it’s not easy but i wanna improve, thx so much for reading me it means a lot!!! hope you enojoyed ^^
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italicwatches · 6 years
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My Hero Academia, season 2 - Episode 19
So all that E3 hype is starting to build up. Are you excited? I’m getting excited. Anyways, it’s My Hero Academia, episode 19! Here we GO!
-Opening!
-PREVIOUSLY ON My Hero Academia, Deku’s team managed to crawl their way into fourth place through backing each other up.
-Episode 19: The Boy Born with Everything
-And PRESENTLY ON My Hero Academia, it’s the lunch break and Shoto’s pulled Deku aside. Deku’s instincts are screaming at him to get out of this situation, but Shoto’s, just, standing there, staring him down…
-Then he finally talks. Mentions how Deku forced him to actually use fire. Something instinctive, from seeing All Might’s raw power, feeling how it’s a near-impossible challenge…And then seeing that same kind of power in Deku’s tiny frame…Deku, are you…
-Some secret child of All Might?
-Dead silence.
-You could hear a pin drop.
-I mean, at the same time, just going off of the data Shoto has, it does sound like a not entirely unreasonable possibility. Someone like All Might, who’s a big symbol, would have reason to keep a relationship secret, especially one that led to a child. Deku just kind of pops up out of nowhere with zero history of displaying a Quirk, shows a barely-controlled super strength, gets in on rescue points alone, and immediately has All Might’s attention. Take that data together, and “secret son who had to keep his power under wraps and never got to learn how to properly use it” sounds very reasonable.
-I mean, it’s utter bullshit, but I can see the path from A to B. Anyways Deku denies it outright and Shoto puts together that there’s something else Deku can’t talk about. So instead, he reveals his thing: Son of Endeavor the second-ranked hero, gotta be the best like no one ever was, to beat All Might is his real test, to take down Deku is his cause, you know the beats to this one.
-Meanwhile All Might’s inviting Endeavor to tea. Important bits to pull from this: They haven’t interacted in 10 years. Endeavor actively refuses to have tea and clearly fucking hates All Might. And his son is a thing he made to beat All Might. …Which s super fucked up.
-Back with the kids. Yeah Shoto describes his father as getting up the ranks through sheer overwhelming force, beating criminals the fuck up and cranking numbers. Losing in the rankings to a guy who mostly got there through symbolic efforts, thus, pisses him off to no end, which is why Shoto was made. An arranged marriage based on Quirks alone. A loveless marriage. A son born of obligation, raised as a tool.
-Shoto’s cold fury, ferocious will, utter refusal to use his fire? They all come from one thing. A raw, brutal need to step out of that shadow…Every memory he has of his mother, she’s in tears. Right up until the point where she gave him that burn, when she poured boiling water onto his face.
-That’s why, no fire. That’s why he picked a fight with Deku. Why he intends to rise to the top. To take everything his father wanted, and do it without using a single thing that piece of shit ‘gave’ him, to make damn sure he doesn’t get a single iota of pride from it!
-And the whole thing is being heard by Katsuki, by the way.
-Deku’s retrospective narration. All of this, it’s the first time he ever really heard of a world like that. The twisted, broken nature of the upper echelons. For him, a boy born to minor-Quirk parents who found each other out of love alone and whose only glory and pride is in the idea of having a loving family with a happy son, it was…A shock. A brutal one. A terrifying one.
-But back into the moment. Shoto’s done. He’s going to win, and he’s going to do it with ice alone. That’s all you need to know. Deku’s left locked down, no idea what to say…Until he admits, he never got anywhere on his own. He’s always had support. Icons to look up to. Friends to have his back. A family that loves him. Comrades…To finish the mission.
-So…Know this. He’s not here to prove anyone wrong. He’s not here for the prestige or the glory. He’s here for one thing. To give back to all of them. To lift up the world that put him on its shoulders. To be a symbol, capable of protecting everyone. It might sound small. It might sound petty. But losing here, would mean letting every last one of those precious people down. He’s not backing down, Shoto. Not even for a second!
-And yeah, I had to go deep in on that. That was a huge character moment for all involved. Seeing the pieces of Shoto’s fucked up backstory, which we’re going to be talking about later make no mistake, and of course Deku’s spirit starting to really have some fire on it. Up until now, we’ve almost solely seen Deku only rise up when the chips were down, his back to the wall, and heroic instinct overtook anxiety-driven conscious thought. But right here, this is a huge step. This is him not just openly admitting his goals and dreams, but standing by them, against someone who arguably deserve them more…Though that’s its own whole kettle of fish I’m not sure we want to go into.
-The point is, that was a huge moment. And hell, that’s without even looking at Katsuki, who silently listened to the whole thing. What that’s done for him, getting a deeper look into both of these guys against his own superiority complex, I’m quite frankly going to need to wait and see before I can have any thoughts on it, because I can think of at least three major routes that could have for his own development.
-Right, back to the show. Lunch break is over, and anyone who didn’t make it into the finals has various more recreational games they can use to show their stuff and still get some glory. Oh, and we have real American cheerleaders! America has apparently become Hyrule judging by how intensely pointy those noses are.
-…Also the girls of Class A have been shoved into cheerleader outfits. They’re…Really not happy about this. Oh, and this is all because of the perverse tricks of Kaminari and the human trash ball. He used Momo’s dutiful nature against them all…Though invisible girl is still excited. I think she just likes the idea of getting attention.
-Anyways the finals are an old school FIGHTING TOURNAMENT! Classic one-on-one duels! The finals are always a one-on-one, though the exact sport always changes…
-Which is when, out of the top 16, the tail boy suddenly withdraws. Because he’s getting hugely bad vibes. The cavalry battle was a total blank, guys. Something got into his head…And he doesn’t even know what he did in the field…On his own pride, he, he can’t go into the finals, not without even knowing he got there on his own merits…
-One of his teammates, a kid from Class B, withdraws for the same reason. Which leaves Midnight to have to decide whether to accept it or what to do…And not only does she does it, she looks to the fifth place team to try and find a new duo to take their place and keep the ranks full.
-But the fifth place team got there mostly by just being unnoticed. So they make a universal agreement that it should go to Tetsutetsu’s team, the iron guy, because they held in almost to the end before getting knocked to zero. And then it’s the random bracket draw, with all kinds of fun battles promised.
-While Deku…His first fight is against Shinso. The purple-haired guy. The one who had the withdrawn pair on his team…And tail-guy immediately pulls Deku away from the guy. Whatever you do, don’t talk to him, don’t engage with him. Just, fight, and finish it fast.
-But before the actual tournament, we’ve got the recreational games! It’s classic stuff like scavenger hunts. giant ball rolls, all kinds of classic stuff. Everyone in the actual tournament does different stuff to try and focus, relax, or otherwise be ready…
-Until the stage is assembled in the center of the field, and everyone’s got to be ready…When Deku’s waiting in the entryway, and No Might comes up to him. Deku, Deku’s nervous as hell, freaking out, feeling like he can barely control One For All still…Which is why you just say you’re going to give it your all and win! It’s when you’re most nervous that you’ve got to stand the proudest and put on a strong image! That’s how you be a symbol, kid. Now get out there and kick some ass!
-With Recovery Girl on standby, they can go all out…But Shinso immediately stares Deku down, trying to get a response out of Deku…And almost immediately, Deku gets caught up when the guy pisses all over the two who withdrew, and that’s it. Deku’s eyes go blank, as he’s been caught up in Shinso’s power…!
-Credits!
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dippedanddripped · 4 years
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Charli D’Amelio, the 16-year-old dancing queen of TikTok, is deep in thought. From the scrunched-up look on her face, an endearing expression familiar to her 70 million followers on the video-sharing app, a casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that she is flummoxed by one of life’s imponderables, and not which of her parents is the better dancer.
“That’s a really hard question,” she replies, after some deliberation. “My mom grew up a competition dancer and sometimes does TikTok dances with me, but my dad did breakdancing, and that’s raw, so if I had to ask someone to break it down in the middle of a party, I would have to say my dad.”
“They’re both really good dancers,” Dixie, Charli’s 18-year-old sister and fellow TikTok sensation, offers diplomatically, adding: “There’s a lot of pressure at family reunions, weddings, and birthday parties.”
And then some. As their not inconsiderable number of fans suggests (Dixie is no slouch in the followers department, with her account garnering over 29 million to date), the D’Amelio sisters are as adept as their parents when it comes to cutting a rug — particularly Charli, who has been studying dance since she was just three years old. Dixie, the more outgoing of the two, is better known for talky videos in which she puts her comedic chops to use.
They are also good sports. Despite their age and burgeoning popularity, they are self-effacing, forthcoming, and generous with their answers, which they deliver without bratty or calculated affect. Asked, for example, if she and Dixie are given to spats worthy of Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, Charli doesn’t skip a beat.
“I mean, we’re teenage sisters,” she says matter-of-factly, when we speak over Zoom in June. “So, obviously, we get into disagreements. It’s usually about clothes. We’re the same size, so I tend to wear a lot of her clothes. But Dixie is my number one go-to person — we’re just so close, and our fights usually last two seconds and then we’re over it and, like, ‘Hey, wanna go for a car ride?’”
The sisters are not always easy to tell apart — “We couldn’t be more different,” says Charli, “but we’re used to getting, ‘Oh my God, you guys look like twins!’”— especially on this day, on which they are both wearing high-waisted faded jeans and primrose-colored sweatshirts, their hair pulled back in a similar fashion. “That’s so funny,” says Dixie of their matchy-matchy outfits, “I swear, we haven’t even seen each other this morning.”
It’s a genuineness that goes a long way to explaining their regard on a platform that — despite its early rap for being inauthentic, a venue for creativity cribbed from elsewhere — places a premium on authenticity.
“Charli is accessible in a way I don’t think many other creators are,” says Taylor Lorenz, a technology reporter covering Internet culture for The New York Times. “She’s incredibly humble, and polite, and unproblematic, which is rare in the influencer space. I think Dixie offers a similar appeal. Both of them feel very down home and accessible.”
Stephanie Hind, Head of Talent Management and Operations at TikTok, agrees. “On TikTok, no matter what type of creator you are — an athlete, a designer, an entrepreneur, an artist, or anything in between,” she maintains, “you’re celebrated for being your authentic self. It’s been wonderful to see Charli and Dixie find success by staying true to their passions, putting in hard work and determination into their content, and showcasing joy, creativity, talent, and humor in such an authentic way.”
Adds the girls’ father, Marc: “As parents, in the beginning we were sometimes, ‘Why are you doing videos in your room with your bed unmade and clothes on the floor?’ But Charli understood instinctively that not only did she want to portray her true self but that the people consuming her content wanted to see that from her.”
Theirs is an authenticity that extends to their boundless positivity and the causes (climate change, Black Lives Matter, anti-bullying) that they promote on their accounts, without coming across as cloyingly earnest.
“I’ve been saying these things my whole life,” says Charli, who was tapped in March by Procter & Gamble to create #DistanceDance, a campaign to encourage people to stay-at-home during the pandemic that generated more than 8 billion views and 1.7 million imitation dances from celebrities, influencers, children, families, and others. “The fact that I now get to share that positivity is so important to me. It’s truly what I believe, and now people actually listen.”
“She is the number one person on the app, and has a lot of very young eyes on her,” says Dixie, fidgeting with a piece of toy slime. “I think she’s so happy to have the platform to talk about things that mean a lot to her. That’s important for me, too, but I don’t have the pressure that she has.”
Clearly it’s a genuineness that is resonating beyond the digital landscape. Charli is not only the most followed person on TikTok, but has also parlayed her popularity into collaborations with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Bebe Rexha, as well as brands like Hollister and Sabra hummus, for which she appeared in a 2020 Super Bowl commercial (becoming the first TikTok creator to be featured in an ad during the coveted tentpole sports event). She has taken tentative steps into Hollywood, having provided the voice for Tinker in the upcoming animated film StarDog and TurboCat, and has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
She even sat front row at Prada’s Fall/Winter 2020 show in February, a gauge of pop-culture currency if ever there was one. “Going to the Prada show was definitely something, like, I never thought I would ever be…,” Charli recalls, uncharacteristically reaching for her words. “It was my first fashion show ever, and it was like a dream.” The content partnership she did with the Italian fashion brand during the show led to Charli’s social and press mentions growing by more than 160 percent in the days following the event.
Not to be outdone, Dixie, who studied drama from an early age, made her professional acting debut this year as Georgia in the Brat TV series Attaway General, and has collaborated on shoots and videos with brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren and Dermalogica. In early July, she released her first single, “Be Happy,” which debuted at 41 on the Emerging Artists list on the Billboard Charts and has generated more than 40 million views on YouTube. There is also talk of the D’Amelio clan appearing in their own reality TV show, the family having reportedly signed a deal with American Idol production company Industrial Media.
But for all their undeniable talent, personality, and relatable style (fans study the sisters’ choice of clothing, hairstyles, and nails with the rigor of biblical exegesis), their popularity is also the result of a perfect storm of circumstances. For one, they have an undeniably strong support system. Parents Marc and Heidi seem determined to ensure their daughters are happy and safe doing what they love most, while trusting them to make the right decisions and create content that they can be proud of.
“Unless it’s something that requires us to play the parent card,” says Marc, “we let them make a lot of the decisions about the opportunities that are presented to them. The girls are great. If there is something questionable, like foul language or whatever, they will ask, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’”
Outside the family there is also a solid team in place. The sisters are both managed by Barbara Jones of OutShine Talent and Billy Mann of The Well, and represented by the Hollywood powerhouse United Talent Agency (UTA) — a division of labor which can be confounding to outsiders.
“If you watch the show Entourage,” explains Greg Goodfried, the Co-Head of Digital Talent at UTA, “the managers are Eric, who help Vinny Chase with every aspect of his life, and we [he and his colleague Ali Berman] are Ari. We’re the ones who source and negotiate the deal, and then hand it off to the managers and the client to execute.”
Charli’s rapid ascent — she only started posting last May — is inescapably tied to the rise of TikTok itself, which has gone from a popular global app with negligible traction in the United States to a social-media behemoth, with over 2 billion downloads that has shaken up the entertainment industrial complex and global Internet order. As Goodfried affirms: “It was the right time and the right place for the right person to just emerge on a platform and become a superstar.”
TikTok was an idea whose time had come, and it didn’t hurt that the Chinese conglomerate that owns it poured over a billion dollars into marketing in the first year alone. But there are other important factors at play, including the superior video editing tools the app offers by default.
According to Lorenz, its success lies in no small part to being the anti-Instagram. “It broke the follow graph,” she explains, “and makes all American social networks, where users have to seek out and curate their own feed of content by ‘following’ people, seem archaic. Follower numbers on TikTok are much more of a vanity metric. The ‘For You’ page allows each piece of individual content to live on its own and find its own audience. This is a much better and more engaging way to deliver content than by following an ever expanding group of people/accounts.”
It’s also an easier point of entry for video than Instagram and YouTube, on which aesthetics and production values are key. “With TikTok, it’s literally just your phone,” explains Ali Berman. “Combine that with the emergence of a generation of parents who are more open minded to [social media], and for the first time, people were like, ‘Oh, this is something I can do.’”
“Talking to a lot of my friends,” says Charli, “TikTok is bringing them and their parents a lot closer together, which is really cool. I see a lot of parents and the kids doing dances together. I think it’s awesome that it’s so inclusive of people of all ages.”
Little wonder that brands, with varying degrees of success, are lining up like superfans at a K-pop VIP High-Touch concert. “We’re seeing a ton of enthusiasm from brands,” says Berman, “especially around working with native TikTok creators. They’re really excited, because from a content perspective, it’s a whole new muscle for them to flex.” While opportunities for paid media exist, savvy companies — like Parisian fashion label Jacquemus — are artfully bringing the personalities of their brand to life through the creative usage of in-app effects and filters, and, in the case of Givenchy, which partnered with Young Emperors as a part of its #GivenchyActingChallenge, original sound to encourage user creations.
However, what TikTok delivered to creators, brands, and families at warp speed, the global coronavirus pandemic took away. Just as Charli and Dixie were poised to take advantage of the many opportunities that have promptly come their way, like much of the world, the family retreated indoors to quarantine — hunkering down in a rental property in California.
“I used to want a break from it all for a couple of weeks or so,” says Dixie, who has been accepted to the University of Alabama where she plans to do a business degree. “But after this quarantine period, I never want another break again. I was having the time of my life and I want to get back to work and travel and meet people immediately.”
Though the break temporarily put paid to a slew of meet-and-greet appearances with fans, and led to the rescheduling of several projects – including the Hollister campaign that involved print and videos (not to mention the cancellation of Dixie’s prom) — it has also led to them accruing more followers than ever, with their individual accounts and the combined family one surging over the last few months. They might have been cooped up inside, but so was everyone else — an eager, captive audience for entertaining video content.
It’s also afforded the family a moment to hit the pause button and assess matters. “It brought us a lot closer,” says Marc, “and we were able to have a lot of conversations to prepare for what’s next. Hindsight being 20/20, these are conversations we probably should have had earlier, but everything happened so quickly.”
“When I stop to think about it, I’m like, ‘Whoa, this is so crazy,’” says Charli. “I don’t even know how this happened. But if there’s one thing that I really don’t do, [it’s] overthink things.” Which is just as well, as in the weeks since we spoke, the news broke that TikTok may be banned in the United States due to national security concerns, and Charli and her ex, fellow TikToker Chase Hudson (better known as Lil Huddy) were involved in a messy war of words as part of the TikTok influencer debacle known as the “TikTokalypse.”
Not that anyone should worry too much about the D’Amelio girls. In addition to digital content opportunities, live touring, podcasts, books, TV, licensing deals, and endorsements are all on the table. They’re not going away anytime soon. And on the advice of their family friend, wine critic turned author and marketing guru Gary Vaynerchuk, Marc and Heidi have taught the girls not to “take the positives or the negatives to heart.”
Or, as Charli puts it: “My parents have always been, ‘We don’t care how many followers you have. You still have to do the dishes and take out the garbage. They don’t put me on a pedestal. And I’ve always been big on making sure that what I put out on the Internet about myself is stuff I would want everyone to see. I’m a teenager and [am] obviously not going to make the right choices 100 percent of the time, but I do my best to be the best person I can be, on and off screen.” Spoken like an authentic voice of a generation.
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