#so i feel like compared to mid 2020 there are more people who are specifically his fans

[mcytblr-archive]

Early MCYTblr Interviews: kermiekermie

today's interviewee is @kermiekermie, who ran "Friend or Host", was a part of the "Block Men Simps" group chat, and has generally been an active member of MCYTblr for a long time! below is a transcript of the questions and answers.

Q: What was your general experience in MCYTblr? Does anything stand out to you immediately?

A: I think my general experience on mcytblr was pretty positive compared to some peoples. The one thing that really stands out is how young I was- i was 11 when i joined mcytblr in early-mid 2020. That didnt really change the way people treated me aside from the occasional teasing and babying, but I did make it a point to say I didn't want to be treated differently. Mcytblr was not my first time in a fandom space and I knew how to avoid creeps already so I never really had any truly negative experiences, honestly the only annoying things that happened were being banned from discords and blocked by people due to my age (which was completely understandable). The biggest memory I have of mcytblr is of course the Block Men Simps group chat, and the original members of the group chat are really the only tumblr mutuals I still keep up with (snail actually has my snapchat!) I still kind of view them as a sort of family, and they were there for me in what I consider an extremely low point of my life and really helped me take my mind off things. During quarantine, I didnt have any of my irls numbers or socials and my mom had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, so I quite literally NEVER left the house and tumblr was really the only social interaction I got for a solid year. And while that definitely impacted my social development (i still cant start a conversation with someone irl without feeling nauseous and shaky) i'm very grateful I had people to talk to throughout that.

Q: I understand that you were the one who set up "Friend or Host". What was the process of organizing a fandom event like that like?

A: Friend or host . god. Like I said, I was 11-12 throughout the majority of my time on mcytblr, and I had ZERO experience organizing anything and I had very little help from anyone else. I tried to make it work the best I could and got creative, but overall I don't think it was a very big success. Funnily enough, not everyone who participated in FOH knew my age and one of the winners actually blocked me afterwards they found out, which I still giggle about today.

Q: How did Friend or Host go?

A: I don't think FOH necessarily went bad, but if I had a little more help and better organization skills and planned it out further ahead of time, I think it would've gone better. It was still fun and I had a good time either way, but I can admit it was a little messy.

Q: What major events in the fandom do you remember? (Either from the MCYTers themselves or fandom-specific!)

A: Honestly, my memory of my time in the wider mcytblr community isnt all that great and I tend to get timelines a little messed up, but i DO remember being there for the creation of the original dreamceler copypasta. In the BMS group chat we were having our normal conversation and someone oncest got brought up at the same time as dream somehow, and thus Ginger wrote the extremely cursed dreamceler copypasta. This eventually evolved into an entire universe (the dreamceler cinematic universe?) with various different copypastas that eventually had to be archived because of how out of hand it got. Sometimes I still see the copypastas floating around and it kind of freaks me out every time. I also have a veryyyy vivid memory of the time I made the 2020 mcytblr election discord read OmegaNotFound on wattpad (do NOT research. for your own safety) and it was really amusing seeing everyones reactions.

Q: Do you remember any of the "kinnie" blogs?

A: oh MY the kinnie blogs!! i actually have dms with a couple of them plotting little jokes and such and I got involved with them quite often!! i actually ran a justaminx one for a couple days (yikes) and it wasnt really that believeable looking back. me and ginger as well as a couple other mooties loved spamming the ask boxes of them with piss jokes and such, and I feel like we played a pretty big role in how widespread and popular kinnie blogs became.

Q: What was the "Kroger Anon"?

A: oh my dearest kroger anon how I miss you…. I still dont know who the kroger anon actually WAS, but they would send rainbow colored advertising messages about Kroger to various mcytblr blogs at random intervals. Funny thing is, I dont live near any krogers and have never been to one in my life, but the anon messages kinda made me want to go. I miss kroger anon…. kroger anon if youre reading this come home please..

Q: What were common in-jokes in the fandom of that time? (Copypastas, headcanons, rumors, etc)

A: Common in-jokes is a hard one!! like i said earlier, my memory of my time in mcytblr isnt all that great or extensive and I could probably better answer this if I went through my archive but alas, I do not have the patience for that. Obviously we had the good ole tapeworm and pregnancy posts, dreamceler, and various other cursed copypastas and memes. One inside joke between the block men simps gc was "thinkign 👽" which came from a typo snail made that just kind of caught on and we would use every once in a while to giggle at. Other than that, I can't really think of any specific inside jokes.

Q: Is there anything else you remember or would like to talk about?

A: Something I really want to talk about is how much lurking I did!! on the outside I was definitely a normal parasocial mcytblr blog but I lurked on pretty much every corner of the fandom you could really think of. Obviously I have a ton of critblr and other controversial mutuals but I never really openly interacted with that side of mcytblr since it was pretty heavily debated and I am nothing if not conflict avoidant. I also did quite a bit of truthing that no one ever really mentioned which I guess I sort of appreciate. I think being in a fandom that involved actual real people ar that age for that long kind of screwed with me, and ive never really been able to be in a fandom for a piece of actual fiction because theyve just never gotten my interest in the same way, I guess. Even now, i was in grouptwt for quite a while (tgc podcast) and now im active on kpoptwt, which again, both of those fandoms are for actual real people. I dont think its the parasocial aspect either, ive never been super parasocial and have never had a problem criticizing the content creators I watch. Im really grateful for all the people I met on mcytblr, but I think the actual dream smp and the way I engaged with content overall negatively impacted how I interact with things now.

#early mcytblr interviews #Volume 15 #kermiekermie

[voluptuarian]

"New Turkey" Introductory Reader

I did so much research for my paper that the final product barely scratched the surface of what I've read or looked up in the course of writing it. As such, I feel like the scope of my paper is very basic compared to the depth of the issue. (And considering how quickly I wrote it, frankly I'm not that sure of its actual writing quality.)

My research topic was current Turkish politics, centering on recent policies of President Erdogan and his party, the AKP, who have dominated the country since the mid-2000s. In particular I wanted to look into the roots of, and meaning behind a sort of party motto/discourse/policy umbrella which started in 2014 when Erdogan became president and announced the arrival of a "New Turkey."

This motto has frequently been compared to "Make America Great Again," and is just as bold and lacking in specific meaning. It is also the mission statement behind much of what's happening in Turkey's social and political climate right now, so for anyone interested in what's been going on in Turkey in the recent past, or curious about where the country's current direction is leading, the "New Turkey" idea is central to everything.

Rather than just delete all my references I thought I would share them here for anyone who's interested. Consider this a bit of "New Turkey" intro. It includes most of what I used in my bibliography and some other sources I looked at but didn't get to include.

I'm including some newspaper articles here-- these are all very introductory-- they're helpful for people with no background at all on Turkey, as well as for anyone who's interested and doesn't want to go through an entire paper's worth of books and articles. All these should be accessible for most people, I think.

“Erdogan Elected Turkey’s President, Promises ‘New Era.’”

"21st Century Will Be the Century of Türkiye: Erdoğan."

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan Sworn in as Turkish President; Swearing-in Ceremony Caps Monthslong Campaign."

"Erdoğan's split personality: the reformer v the tyrant"

"Turkey, lavish new presidential palace proves divisive."

"Turkey Rages at Shoddy Construction of 'Earthquake-Proof' Homes."

(Also looking up information on the Gezi Park protests from 2013 or Fethullah Gülen and his movement will be helpful for newbies as well.)

Behind the cut is all the more scholarly stuff. I've included entries in citation form so all the info you could need is there; I've also included links to everything but I don't know how many will be accessible everywhere, or to people without accounts, or even usable (I had a couple links stop working during the process of writing this.) Hopefully even if you can't access them all through the links provided, looking up the article information or even reaching out to the author will get you access. Happy reading!

The progression and consolidation of erdoğanist authoritarianism in the New Turkey - Bilge Azgın https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683857.2020.1764277

Bâli, Aslı Ü., 'The “New Turkey” At Home and Abroad', in Amal Ghazal, and Jens Hanssen (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Middle Eastern and North African History, Oxford Handbooks (2020; online edn, Oxford Academic, 9 June 2015), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199672530.013.29‌

Bourcier, Nicolas. “Erdogan, the Enduring Reinterpreter of Turkish History.” Le Monde.fr, October 29, 2023. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/10/29/erdogan-the-enduring-reinterpreter-of-turkish-history_6212761_4.html.

Cagaptay, Soner. “Making Turkey Great Again.” The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 43, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 169–78. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/45289835.

Çevik, S. B. (2024). Grandiose dreams, mega projects: Ottoman nostalgia in ‘new Turkey’. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 21(1), e1846. https://doi.org/10.1002/aps.1846

Heper, M., & Toktas, S. (2003). Islam, Modernity, and Democracy in Contemporary Turkey: The Case of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The Muslim World, 93(2), 157-185. http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/islam-modernity-democracy-contemporary-turkey/docview/216437044/se-2

ERDOGAN'S GRAND VISION: Rise and Decline - Hillel Fradkin, Lewis Libby (2013)https://www.jstor.org/stable/43556162?searchText=&searchUri=&ab_segments=&searchKey=&refreqid=fastly-default%3A07607ba3d65e40f3231e2694b7b6b306&seq=2

Eissenstat, Howard. "Recep tayyip erdoğan: From 'illiberal democracy' to electoral authoritarianism (born 1953)" in Dictators and Autocrats: Securing Power Across Global Politics, ed. Klaus Larres (Abingdon, Oxfordshire, U.K: Routledge, 2021) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003100508-25/recep-tayyip-erdo%C4%9Fan-howard-eissenstat

Cinar Kiper, “Sultan Erdoğan: Turkey’s Rebranding into the New, Old Ottoman Empire”, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/04/sultan-Erdoğan-turkeys-rebranding-into-the-new-old-ottoman-empire/274724/

Kocamaner, Hikmet. “How New Is Erdoğan’s ‘New Turkey’?” Middle East Brief, no. 91 (April 2015): 1–9. https://doi.org/https://www.brandeis.edu/crown/publications/middle-east-briefs/pdfs/1-100/meb91.pdf.

‌McKernan, Bethan. 2019. “From Reformer to ‘New Sultan’: Erdoğan’s Populist Evolution.” The Guardian, March 11, 2019, sec. World news. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/11/from-reformer-to-new-sultan-erdogans-populist-evolution.

Populism, victimhood and Turkish foreign policy under AKP rule - Mehmet Arısan https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683849.2022.2106131?src=recsys

Development of the 'New Turkey' Media Image: Substantive Aspect - N. E. Demeshko; V. A. Avatkov; A. A. Irkhin https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=ea94c4bc-4632-4ee4-a8c2-df8b9f5973bf%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsdoj.

Smith Reynolds, Aaron. “The ‘New Turkey’ Might Have Come to an End: Here’s Why.” giga. https://www.giga-hamburg.de/de/publikationen/giga-focus/the-new-turkey-might-have-come-to-an-end-heres-why.

Solomon, Hussein. “Turkey’s AKP and the Myth of Islamist Moderation.” Jewish Political Studies Review 30, no. 3/4 (2019): 128–35. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26801121.

Yavuz, M. Hakan. “Social and Intellectual Origins of Neo-Ottomanism: Searching for a Post-National Vision.” Die Welt des Islams 56, no. 3–4 (November 28, 2016): 438–65. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700607-05634p08.

Media in New Turkey: The Origins of an Authoritarian Neoliberal State - Bilge Yesil https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=w3tMDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=%22new+turkey%22+origins+erdogan&ots=iqHojS41ci&sig=KC201icwuSS6tseeNml_IFMnZWU#v=onepage&q=%22new%20turkey%22%20origins%20erdogan&f=false

Yilmaz, Ihsan. "Islamic Populism and Creating Desirable Citizens in Erdogan’s New Turkey." Mediterranean Quarterly 29, no. 4 (2018): 52-76. muse.jhu.edu/article/717683.

The AKP and the spirit of the ‘new’ Turkey: imagined victim, reactionary mood, and resentful sovereign- Zafer Yilmaz https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14683849.2017.1314763

#idk it felt wasteful just deleting everything so here you go #erdogan #recep tayyip erdogan #turkey #turkiye #turkish politics #current events #politics #ottoman empire #neo-ottomanism

[bathshebaeliam-borninelysium]

"Danganronpa 5: my Worst Dream and Best Nightmare, or the Lament of the Grounded Ultimate Spaceman" by Bathsheba Eliam

(This is the genesis of a self-contained alternate universe worldbuilding assignment and eventually a Multi-Media Masterdocument of sort, dictating a vision of the corporate popularization and immediate selling-out of and moral panic around a hard soft reboot of Danganronpa supposedly made "by the fans" "for the fans."

The situation begins as a byproduct of Danganronpa V3 being received differently, as well as an uptick in the acclaim for the series after 2017 as a sort of cult classic, one that takes over places where no one in this reality cares. This is resulting in perception of it being Game (Series) of the Year for more than one year, coinciding with the 10-Year-Anniversary and the resulting forced cancelation of Kodaka's comparative original vision of I) the pacifist Alterate Universe installment that we recieved a short version of this dimension and II) an immediately following darker, more impressionistic Danganronpa 4 with the working title of "Danganronpa c4 — Great Depression" that would have taken place in the Kuril Islands and followed Jin Kirigiri, who was secretly spared by Monokuma, trying to prove that the killing games have continued in a secret location, years after the aforementioned "broadcast" ended and the world had "rebuilt".

Whatever else happens as a result of the reinterpretation of Danganronpa as a "legacy franchise," the constant marketing of a "Spyfi Era", and constant negotiations around an early-to-mid-2020s-spanning "Inter-active, Inter-national Event" to lead into the fanfare of an announced Danganronpa Monoverse and Multiverse, respectively, is indicated through hints and character introductions in this "pilot."

I will gladly offer my other more visual and varied sources from this controversial dimension, that can include any kind of media from this world but limited to the Monoversal Online Commune (that dimension's resulting militarized fandom specifically for Danganronpa 4, stylized as 5) and its many outlets. Although if anyone cared as much as I did, I would be willing to copy kinds of media that tangential as well (quizzes from fansites, official passages of dialogue from the game(s), biographical featurettes about its creators, merchandise, transcripts of Let's Plays and certainly more, as I do not think of anything as too detailed) in the vein of an obsession of mine that lasted about as long I have been working on these...things.

Enjoy if possible.)

(Taken from Blogger's The Girl's Time-Travelling Closet, published at 9:04 AM, October 4th, 2023, by St. Elizabeth Barnabas)

Danganronpa 5 is real and I thought I would be celebrating, privately at least.

Yet, the enabling vagueness of the unanimous hatred that the fans are feeling in private is enough to compell me to be the Spartacus and be the first to put it into, let's say, unsympathetic words. The appeal of the "killing game international" theory from YouTube based on the "5" anagram in the untouched treasure troves of codes in THH was fascinating and I would have given even more money for it to be true as of 2021 when it was really soaring as people were putting it together again after the first video. It was surprisingly compelling. ALSO. The implications of the Kuma Klan reveal in the early marketing that confirmed the theory was, tantalizing to say the least. The second that the new animation style was revealed and no one cared because they were so dazzled by Kokichi as Headmaster, I had a feeling that the darling campaign of teasers was a "too good to be true" scenario, not that I thought it was too good. Then the premier happened and I fell in love with how the prologue confirmed the entire theory in one uninterrupted gesture, and I soon enough could not be more disappointed.

Why did they let the game come off like a mobile game spinoff with the kindergarten palette of a Cut the Rope or Crossy Road??

Why did the whole first trial get wasted by a bunch of century-old Italian/"dark-skinned European" (I kid you not) stereotypes when the game was supposed to idolize and stylize in a distinctly love-lettery way the countries featured, when we already have to deal with the resulting anticlimactically cartoony Scottish Monokuma makeover stupidity????

Why was my darling Ultimate Astronomer Yura with her whimsy and distinctly Great Glass Elevator/Phantom Tollbooth aesthetic relegated to the straightman and then killed in such a basic manner just because of their sudden ultimately fetishistic obsession with Europe and Southern Asia and wanting to give Japan the "backseat"????

Why did they have god forsaken Jon Wagner the real worst character of the franchise, a literal implied groomer and canonical blonde haired "patriotic" GERMAN (albeit green-eyed), kill three students as if to immediately force him into the Nagito slot and give him a villainous allure posthumously that cannot go away for the rest of the game (before the twist when we get to thankfully have a flashback to easier days)?????

I digress. I do not care about the characters' fashions and debatably humor being "too millennial" like some of the vocal, supposedly liberal young fans that this installment has somehow basically created are making identical video essays about. I do not even resent them, despite how hyperbolic they are with their approach to getting this game cancelled at least ELEVEN MONTHS too late. I just find it ultimately a waste of the fandom's newfound agency that the high-budgeted delights of this whole soft reboot and the beginning of Generation, Too which definitely is getting delayed for a reason, has made other fans into frightened peacekeepers just because of how grateful the new writers say that they should be for how big of a deal it all is, despite only giving them so much in the way of faux-3D visuals and games-within-games that the random, unpunished in-character abuse of past characters, new more vulnerable characters and, in the guise of the "bone-dry humor" of characters like the Quadruplets and even Noa and Catalina, REAL PEOPLE AND CULTURES looks like something that is not a big enough deal that 6 and 4 could be not worth having.

Despite  this ... of course I am looking forward to Danganronpa Feud: All-Despair Dynasty. If anything it's just because of the Arcana Studio/Witchblade-like concept art from the trailer which was practically an AMV (especially that of the  Samurai who I am so psychically confident is the Yokai Form for Nagito not Naegi, despite what the "dead once, born twice" speech by Watatsusami implies) and worldbuilding for the Monobeasts/overall arguably revolutionary concept, even among these Danganronpa Whatif minigames that have been released for the overlong anniversary. In spite of my willingness to discuss this at most conveniences, the summer that I lost to Danganronpa 5: Life Exchange is almost traumatic, to the point where I would literally deny the existence of a trailer if they in spite of the latest "hiatus" WERE to reveal A) the oft-forgotten webseries that IS happening at least according to the self-indulgent Ronpa Writers Room Tumblr, or B) the last of the mascot-revealing short films/teasers for 6, both of which would be befitting of Halloween. I am also irrationally interested in the suspected webseries for the fact that my history with Dimension 20 and selectively Critical Roll gives me a decent insight into what this Erika Ishii-voiced-Monokuma is going to be like, despite the voice filter that she said she did need, however sure I am that that was just a joke about the Batman "and you'll never have to" gag running throughout the similarly recent Adventuring Party finale for Starstruck Episode II—Iliad not that anyone here is going to encourage me having thoughts about my other less passionate interests than this one, AS WELL as this one.

Nonetheless, I should hope that the franchise can get over Suki da Minamoto's infamous scripting method, stop relying on her RWR and their constant "retreats", and have the intended successor for Kodaka return from her still-shelved film project at Picona Studio before this period of reflection is over, and the two most crucial games of the new series are terrorized the same person that came up with the "Danganronpa Decade" era in the first place. I have to stop myself.

Since I am editing this to add any remaining positivity that I have after the epilogue was released, I should say the one part of the game that I have always understood people's willingness to use in fangans and such afterwards, unsurprisingly from Trial 5, in the Colloseum Room.

In the words of everyone's favorite self-proclaimed Ultimate Killing School Dropout, Chester "goddamn the Chevalier" Valentine,

"she made me realize that it's not Hell or Heaven ... It's Hell then Heaven! After everything, after Monokuma, after Tyranno Rex, and after the universe ... good's the last thing there is!"

#danganronpa #fanganronpa #alternate universe #alternate history #worldbuilding #danganronpa art #danganronpa fanart #danganronpa v3 #dimensionranpa #dimension 197 #danganronpa 2

[electracraft]

I feel like the change has come with the change in George's style of content right? I've been here since since mid 2020 and the difference in George then and George now is absolutely insane to me

My streamers had a whole growth arc good for him

yes the streaming style and how he presents himself has definitely changed so much, i remember that he was afraid of streaming anything other than minecraft cause he thought that viewers wouldn't be interested and now his stream with the most viewers is a just chatting stream.

i feel like a lot of the shift in his content happened when he started to stream more with quackity and karl too, with the stream trains and trying new games and all. plus george got more comfortable on camera over time, he went from turning his camera off to drink to drinking his own bath water for 300k people to see (i dont know if this is good or bad change, but it's a change nonetheless)

and also i think that the fandom in general is starting to change their perception of george after the vlogs, and now that he's hanging out more with the other brits, cause most of the people in this fandom who aren't fans of george specifically probably wouldn't have noticed a "shift", if they dismissed his content as boring i assume they wouldnt watch it lmao. so it's fun to see people whose impression of george was "boring guy on the smp who doesnt even do lore" being like "how did he hide THIS from us” 

#ask #anon #this got surprisingly long sorry #and just to add #now george is more popular in general #so i feel like compared to mid 2020 there are more people who are specifically his fans #not that he didn't have fans before #but i feel like before mid 2020 a lot of his brand was tied to dream #and while dream kinda managed to get his own brand with the manhunt and the speedruns and the duel/rivalry with techno #it felt like george was mostly known for being dream's friend #like a george solo stream wouldn't have been that interesting to most people while now a george solo stream would pull 100k viewers #which is an INSANE amount

[botanyshitposts]

Garden sales have been absolutely wild here (mid-sized city in the Canadian prairies). In 2020 my main supplier smashed their previous record for mail orders by 300%. In late January this year they had *15,000* more orders than they'd had at the same time last year. Currently they've suspended phone orders, instituted a daily quota on online orders and are frantically hiring more full-time warehouse staff.

oh man, this is fascinating to hear; cool because of how notoriously hard greenhouses are to keep afloat financially, and fascinating from a garden industry perspective.

for those not acquainted with the really interesting world of garden and flower industries, most (ornamental flower) greenhouse and florist sales in recent years come from valentines’ day and mothers’ day alone, as opposed to several decades ago where flowers (in floral arrangements at least) were considered a thing you got on a regular basis without any special occasion needed. the turnover rate for retailers selling flowers for planting in gardens is really high unless you’re a big chain that sells flowers/florist services on the side, or you expand to include garden equipment, landscaping, houseplants, etc (my fave book on the flower industry and how this all goes down is called Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart, for anyone interested).

that aside, this feels like the other side of a new york times article i saw last month called We’re Saying it with Flowers. Loudly and Repeatedly, by Carly Lewis (which to be fair is specifically about florists, not greenhouse or houseplant sales; i’d assume gardening is way up too for similar reasons, though). it was really conflicting for me to read, because like...it’s a horrifying set of circumstances where this huge influx is happening, but it’s happening for really human reasons. excerpts for those who dont have access, although the whole article is really cool:

---

Three weeks ago, Julia Gray, a florist, delivered a bright bouquet of flowers to a customer in Queens — spring colors, by request. Judging by the accompanying card, which the sender had carefully dictated to Ms. Gray by telephone, a familial falling out had taken place. The flowers were sent as an apology.

“It was this young woman, sending flowers to her aunt,” Ms. Gray said. “She hadn’t seen her family for a year and a half.” When Ms. Gray told the recipient the flowers were from her niece, her face lit up. “People are realizing that time is of the essence,” Ms. Gray said. “You can’t hold a grudge.”

[...]

Spending the past 11 months in various states of lockdown has inspired many a soul-searching expedition. It’s been a period of perhaps involuntary rumination, during which many people have had no choice but to be alone with their thoughts. And when those thoughts sometimes become softhearted mea culpas, florists get the call.

[...]

Mr. Harkins estimates that his business is up 50 percent compared with this time last year. “My father told me when I was a young man that the flower business is recession proof,” he said. “He started during the second dip of the Great Depression in 1937. He said, ‘When things really get bad, a guy can’t go out and buy his wife a new car or a mink coat, but he can buy a dozen red roses and feel like a big shot.’ It’s kind of a denial of the hard times. That’s where the florist steps in.”

According to a recent survey conducted by the Society of American Florists, over 80 percent of respondents reported an increase in holiday sales compared to 2019. In January, 1-800-Flowers, a leading e-commerce retailer, announced what it said was the company’s highest quarterly revenue and profit in history, with a total net revenue of $877.3 million, an increase of 44.8 percent compared with the same quarter last year. Chris McCann, the president and C.E.O., estimated that approximately 22 million stems, including about 14 million roses, were delivered by the company for Valentine’s Day.

[...]

“It’s wrenching to know that the reason someone is sending flowers is because otherwise they’d be there in person,” said Whit McClure, who runs the floral design studio Whit Hazen in Los Angeles. “I get choked up thinking about that.” Ms. McClure also noted that, given the staggering number of Covid-19-related deaths in Los Angeles, she has been receiving a significant increase in condolence and sympathy orders.

[...]

“We’re getting more deliveries just to say hello and check in,” Ms. Gray said. “There’s this one couple we just started taking orders from during the pandemic. He lives in Brooklyn and she lives in Queens, she’s taking care of her elderly mother. He sends flowers to her every two weeks — beautiful arrangements, always decadent, gorgeous long-stem roses. Had the pandemic not happened, he could have been seeing her and not sending her flowers. You should see the cards he writes. He is madly in love with her. They actually got in a fight, I think they broke up at one point. But they got back together. He kept sending flowers.”

Emily Scott, who owns Floriconvento Flowers in Harlem, said that customers and florists alike are mindful of exacerbated sensitivities amid the pandemic. “There have been so many deaths, and that is such a touchy subject,” she said. “But whether it’s a death or a great, positive occasion like a new birth, there’s still so much love that needs to be expressed.” As well as less clear emotions: “There’s a lot of nuance that can be acknowledged through flowers.”

----

yeah so anyway

#oh god i almost cried again rereading this. rare incredibly hard hitting plant-related mainstream article #plont asks #asks #industry #Anonymous #economic botany

[potteresque-ire]

Hi! I have been reading your posts and responses to anonymous and I am inclined to comment on your broadly realistic views and detailed analystic answers and let us not forget your ability to be warm in putting forward your opinions. I am truly a huge fan. Thank you for being a station for various answer seekers.

If you have time and patience, please elaborate on the situation GG is still facing post 227. Recently I read various comments insinuating GG copied DD for Douyin night which is absurd but the implication that only one party is still being targeted unnecessarily raise hackles of a lot of solo fans. And I, under any circumstances, DO NOT believe the involvement of the other party. Firm believer of BJYXSZD.

My point is what is being done to stop these antis from targeting GG. Since one of the motive to target GG is to severe the relationship of GG and DD, IMO at least. Does constant attack (external stimulus) on GG (belittling him by comparing him to DD) may have the possibility to effect their relationship (internal reaction)? Objectively yes, but given your perception of their relationship, what is your opinion in this matter, however subjective it may be?

Moreover, how much extreme and sometimes irrational analysis done by bjyx community can lead to harm to both of them especially GG?

Also, I have seen DD being the captain of BJYX in various circumstances but also throwing off people from their old predicted/maintened theories especially in case of Kadians. I am not sure how much to trust these 'candies' since he has a reputation of not giving a f*** of others opinion. So why would he post GG related or non-related content with same kadians. I mean if he posts private content with GG related kadian then why post promotional content with GG related kadian. Does it imply that kadians are related to GG or not or he doesn't care and we are thinking too much. I am not sure what I am writing now, maybe multitude of thoughts poring out here. I am extremely sorry for that.

I do not know whether people believe or not but 1st post by GG yesterday had initials YB in the circle. Not at all explicit, and depends on believers but I felt like he was just trolling BJYX, it may be good naturedly but after his promotional brand picture of shrimp in bunny's hand. I do not know I just felt, dissappointed/bitter/unsure about all of this. I think it is normal to feel this way from time to time even for SZD because along with emotional investment we have rational perspective which is necessary to scrutinize evidence(maybe) from time to time.

I whole heartedly apologize for writing an essay length ask, this is the reason I wanted your patience 😅.

If any other blogger wants to add or comment on this please feel free to do so. Your suggestions are highly welcomed. 🙏

Hello Anon!

I take it that your questions about safety are concerned about the behaviour of c-solos and c-turtles? International fans aren’t likely to put Gg and Dd at any risk. That said, however, frequent fighting among i-fans would likely drain Gg and Dd’s international fanbase, as many fans do not enjoy being a combative atmosphere (I, for one, will run away as quickly as a turtle can run!). Lost i-fans can’t be easily replenished, whether they’re turtles or solos ~ The Untamed, as a foreign language show so beloved that fans are willing to scale tall language and cultural barriers to understand it, isn’t something that comes around often. (stanning Gg and/or Dd does take a lot of work!)

About the arguments. I probably only know about a fraction of them since I do not interact directly with fans outside Tumblr . As far as I can tell, however, recent arguments among c-solos and c-turtles have been ordinary fights, and also, fairly “bi-directional” between the solos (ie. I don’t think Gg or Dd has been relatively exempt from attacks compared to each other). 

These arguments can be heated and some of the attacks may sound vicious, but there’s nothing much to worry about from a safety angle, as they haven’t caught the attention of those outside the fan circles.

The theorising by turtles are also not inherently dangerous. c-turtles have mostly been careful about keeping their discussions among themselves. The only risk it may lead to in the future, that I can think of right now, is the associated YiZhan content on China-based websites (ex. Bilibili, Douyin), which has become fairly plentiful. YiZhan candies used to be relatively obscure given the guidelines of CP fans to keep them among themselves (they call this practice 圈地自萌, literally, drawing a circle on the ground and have fun in it by oneself). These days, however, anyone who’s curious can get a good sense of YiZhan’s story by browsing Bilibili. 

This probably contributes to the continued growth of the turtle population; however, some of this content is created by non-turtles who seek viewership and have little concern over Gg and Dd’s safety. They are the ones who re-upload the BTS, for example, despite the repeated pleas and warnings by the “站姐”s—the superfans who take/purchase these videos—as well as the turtles to not do that. If these content creators go overboard, there’s a possibility that YiZhan content may get caught in the government’s “Eradicating Pornography and Illegal Publications”（掃黃打非) movement. The movement originated in the mid 2000s, and its recent waves have been used as pretext to remove LGBT+ and BL content on line (I will eventually set up a post re: those events). Just last month (2020 Dec), Bilibili has been explicitly named by the government for hosting questionable materials, which means it’s already under scrutiny. Sweeps performed on an entire website are usually broad-based enough that no specific individuals are targeted; however, the government also encourages, with financial incentives, the reporting of specific content and has set up a dedicated website for doing so. While all YiZhan content has no direct relation to Gg and Dd, removal of such content may cause an over-reaction from fans, which can, in turn, lead to accusations of poor fan management by Gg and Dd. Most people will also assume the YiZhan content to be created by turtles.

(Another example of how an alleged turtle mis-step can get the YiZhan fandoms and Gg and Dd tied to the 掃黃打非 movement: a few days ago, a Weibo post showed a photo of a hardcover version of an explicit BJYX fanfic, reportedly sold for profit, and GG haters were calling for an arrest for “illegal publication.” So far, there’s minimal noise on the issue, so it isn’t something to worry about. It can also be fake news, which is so bountiful on the platform and on every aspect of daily life that most die a very peaceful, very well-deserved death.).

Whether fan arguments / theories may affect Gg and Dd’s relationship (assuming they’re in a relationship) … my guess is, not much. Gg and Dd are busy people, unlikely to closely follow their fans’ discussions. Again, I expect effects to be felt only if the arguments get out of hand ~ as in, if they begin to involve the public and/or the government.

As for the question about what is being done to stop Gg being targeted: fan wars are incredibly common in China (as in everywhere else), and Gg and Dd’s aren’t special in that sense ~ it’s just that as turtles, we know about those surrounding Gg and Dd and they feel significant to us. No individuals can stop a fan war ~ all we can do is to not join these wars ourselves.

Personally, I think the international fan base of Gg and Dd, as solos and cpfs, have more chance to achieve peace than its Chinese counterparts — if they choose to want that. Popularity in China is not only quantified (which is likely true everywhere, by marketing departments), but very visibly so. Sales numbers, votes, traffic attributed to each idol are frequently released to the public, possibly to foster competition among fans and drive these numbers further upward. c-turtles’ demonstrated strong performance in pushing these metrics has made them a target to those who wish to have usurp their consumer power. They, therefore, have good reasons to be wary of anyone who try to sway them from their “turtle-ship”, whether to turn them into solos or to lure them into an entirely different fandom. The swaying messages are also not always obvious, not always a direct “your cp suck”.  They can be subtle, many even come from netizens who appear to be fellow turtles, who may say “oh, maybe we (turtles) are wrong” or “we have to be realistic; Gg and Dd will never look at each other publicly again”—messages that cast doubt and sink morale in a fandom that’s already running an uphill battle. Remember: traditionally, CP fandoms are not expected or welcomed to last, and solos have been happy to (correctly) point out that the BTS, the origin of the most solid “evidences” of BJYXSZD, are getting older by the day. c-turtles can’t expect anyone else to help defend their ship if something happens, given CP fandoms’ lack of respectability, given YiZhan being a real person M/M pairing that is often frowned upon. So it’s understandable, to me at least, why c-turtles are on guard, and occasionally, clash with those who they feel may be trying to take away what they love.

i-turtles, I feel, don’t have that many reasons to fight. We don’t really have other fandoms (for example, the up and coming danmeis—the adapted BL dramas) vying for our attention (and wallets). No one can put an expiration date on the YiZhan communities except ourselves.

Another way to see this is: we—as in, the combined Gg + Dd international fanbase, the solos + CPFs—are lucky in a way the fans in Gg and Dd’s home country are not. Collectively, we’re much further removed from the pressure to perform as fans, which is immense in China with their fan circle culture and fan economy. i-shrimps and i-motorcycles ~ some of you are reading this, I think? (hello!) ~ here are my humble thoughts: the solo/turtle ratio of Gg and Dd’s international fans doesn’t make much of an impact on Gg and Dd’s star status, on the popularity metrics that matter. Our spending power is limited outside China’s borders, and while Gg and Dd likely love us equally as fans, our adoration for them doesn’t really matter much, if at all, to the production/media/commercial companies that control the trajectories of their careers. 

Along this line, the turtles’ “double loyalty” doesn’t have much of an ill effect, because there are few popularity contests here that mean much; few times (if any) when the turtles must face the dilemma of whether to vote for Gg or Dd because only a single vote is allowed; few situations where they have only x amount of dollars and must split it equally between Gg or Dd’s endorsements. There’s also much less cause to worry that i-turtles may draw the attention, or ire of the Chinese government ~ the whole international fanbase is too far away, too spread out to destabilise the regime in any way.

What the turtles do have in common with you, the solos, is their knowledge, their love for Gg/Dd. Knowledge, in particular. The people who know about Gg/Dd are still far and in between—at where I am, at least, and my guess is, it’s likely true for many of you too. Think of the turtles as people who you can talk to about your favourite star in places where few people know about him, can help promote The Untamed  far and wide—many people still haven’t heard of the show, and they deserve to.

For the turtles ~ no one can take away our turtle-ship identity, as long as we don’t give it away. No one can report on the our communities to the government and get them dissolved. Our votes, our spending habits are no one else’s business but ours here.

So, Anon, here’s what I think, and these are all very personal opinions, very personal decisions on how to navigate fandom …

I truly hope that we, as the international fanbase, can try to use this luck that we have. Make our communities not mere copies of their (combative) Chinese counterparts but something different, something with our own flavour, something with more peace and less fighting.

Specifically, I see little cause to try to persuade/dissuade anyone to be a solo/turtle. I find them… not the best use of time. Why? Because frankly, neither solos nor turtles have a better grasp of who Gg and Dd are. Neither solos nor turtles have a truly good grasp of who Gg and Dd are. These discussions are therefore bound to end up with more ill will than conclusions, since both sides are short of facts.

We’re all short of facts as audiences, who’ve all only seen a tiny sliver of who Gg and Dd are as human beings.

I don’t mean Gg and Dd’s star image is fake ~ it’s just that, their star image is their “work face”, and even I, a lowly turtle, must act somewhat differently in my own office. It’s part of being professional.

Gg and Dd’s star image are their professional face, and no professionals worth a salt truly ignore other’s opinions, especially when the profession is being an entertainer whose job is to face and hold the attention of the public. 

This is true for Gg; this is true for Dd.

Social media accounts are also part of Gg and Dd’s professional face ~ whatever is posted on there will be scrutinised by millions of fans, and they know that. The posts do provide some insights about Gg an Dd’s personalities, but they can’t be expected to show a complete picture. No parts of these posts, therefore, whether it’s the content or the kadians, are sufficient evidences for / against any aspect of their personal lives (especially as private an aspect as their romantic lives). Anon, you mentioned promotional marketing materials, and here’s my understanding of them ~ ambassadors such as Gg and Dd have minimal control over their design. The shrimp-holding bunny you’re referring to, for example, is very likely provided by the company.

However, may I also add this? Please try to not think of the shrimps / motorcycles as enemies of the turtles. Millions of people are behind each of these labels, and true for any group of this size, a fraction of its members are bound to be annoying. A small fraction may be awful, even. But they don’t represent the entire group. The shrimps are not only Gg’s fans, many of them have supported him longer than any turtle (since turtle-ship can’t be older than 2018); they’re also the reasons why Gg is in the industry ~ they voted for him in X-Fire. Likewise, a subset of motorcycles have been with Dd since UNIQ; they were there when the Korean ban effectively dissolved his group; they stuck with him when he was attacked for taking on the role of LWJ.

We’re all Gg and Dd’s fans, if you ask people outside the fandom. Remember: few outside China understand why heated arguments can occur between a bunch of shrimps, turtles and motorbikes. (It sounds a bit kafkaesque, just typing it out.)

It’s important not to lose sight too, that Gg and Dd’s social media accounts, where many new candies are found, primarily function as bridges of communication between them and their fans. These accounts do have different degrees of “professionalism” ~ Weibo and the official accounts being more formal, and Oasis, Douyin being more laid back and intimate; still, they all serve similar purposes. They’re not candy generators, or a script Gg and Dd have an obligation to follow to confirm / refute BJYXSZD.

Also: these accounts are accessible and watched by the public, not all of whom are friendly to Gg and Dd.

Re: Gg’s drawing on Oasis. He used the account as it’s intended for—to interact with his fans (the caption of the first draft was an unspoken invitation to shower him with ideas) and maybe, to show off a little (it was a very nice piece of artwork ~ a comment that I, sadly, haven’t seen much of). I doubt he posted his drawing because he wanted fans to carpet-search for traces of Dd in it (even though he probably expected that would happen); I very much doubt he posted his drawing because he wanted his fans to fight over scratch marks or black dots.  

If these fights keep happening, I can imagine a possible outcome. He’ll stop showing us his drawings. His social media accounts will become less and less personal, as they already have.

I’ll share with you my thoughts about candies too, while I’m at it. These are probably not-so-popular opinions, so please take them all with a grain of salt.(Salted caramels? 😊 )

I haven’t looked at why candies are called candies, but I find the name appropriate for how I think of them ~ candies are 1) neither evidences or truth, 2) sweet, 3) treats (non-essential, not like the main course).

The first point is, perhaps, the one I try the hardest to keep in mind. There are posts out there claiming the candies as made-beliefs—generated from edited pictures or videos, exaggerated translations, and their interpretations forced by “guidances” in the annotations/narration. There are also posts claiming that turtles are deceivers, or have been deceived by brainwashers who maliciously created these make-beliefs. A turtle may assume these posts are all lies, all made by antis. 

But, speaking turtle-to-turtle, I’d venture to say this … there’s some truth in the *first* statement. Many candies do, indeed, taste different if their taster returns to the original source—not necessarily unsweet, but less sweet. Candies, remember, are generated by fans like you and I. Same for c-candies ~ they aren’t endorsed by Gg and Dd, aren’t necessarily closer to the truth just because of the relative proximity of their birthplaces to their leads. 

Candy generation is The Tradition of CP fandoms. It’s a celebrated skill, and who doesn’t want to generate a candy that will be talked about, that will be part of the BJYX canon, for as long as the fandom lasts? Some fans are, therefore, also more … efficient in the “marketing” of the candies they generated — in persuading others that their candies are evidences, the truth. “Guidance” photos and videos (which pinpoint the place to watch, sometimes with appropriate sound effects for emphasis) have come about that way, and because they’re easy to digest—especially where language barriers exist—they end up spreading to i-fandoms.

These photos and videos may look more professional / trustworthy, but they often have an additional layer of subjectivity ~ on top of the already subjective opinion of what makes a candy. Translations (of BTS, fake rumours house content etc) also introduce a subjective element. Word choices can significant modify the tone of a conversation; speakers of different Chinese dialects may also have different interpretations of the same phrases. Example: I, as a non Chongqing/Sichuanese speaker, can guess the literal meaning of the “puppy” term Gg used for Dd — 狗崽崽 (gou zai zai) — but I also had to rely on others to tell me how endearing the term is; me being a Chinese speaker actually doesn’t make my interpretation any more valid, or authoritative, in this scenario, because my dialect doesn’t use this term at all. 

It doesn’t mean the people who’ve put in the work have any less-than-good intent; the vast majority of them come from a place of deep love. It’s just that we all carry our own perspectives, and as fans, our strong emotions in our fanworks.

This is why candies are often insufficient as good “points” for arguments, why they fail to convince non-believers, sometimes to the disappointment of some turtles. As evidences, they aren’t objective enough; they’re also often touch upon the assumption that’s mark the fundamental difference between solo and cp fans — the assumption that Gg and Dd are (not) together. Take, for example, this segment from a (polite) ask I got from an anon solo:

All the matching clothes, jewelry, shoes etc. Stopped being valid candy when I realized that the brands have popular stars "endorse" their products. The lightning pendant? Other actors have also worn it. Does that mean they are in a 3-way with (Gg) and (Dd)? Probs not.

Solo anon was correct! Brands have star endorsers, and other entertainers have, indeed, worn the same lightning pendant. The implied argument is also valid: people who don’t care about, don’t even know about each other can wear the same things. Most of us do that on a daily basis with our mass-produced garments.

However, a counterargument can also be made to the statement above, and easily: even the most precious, most beautiful wedding rings (say, from Tiffany!) are not exclusive to the first RL couple who bought them. It doesn’t mean the first RL couple is sleeping with all the couples who bought the same rings afterwards, doesn’t mean those rings aren’t significant to every one of these couples as romantic mementos. More often than not, couples wear matching things not because these things are exclusive to them—because how often can one find things that only exist as a single pair in this world? They wear matching things because they want to see something on themselves that remind them of their significant other and so, as long as the things aren’t so prevalent that everyone is wearing them, they can already serve their purpose.

But you see, Anon, that arguing over this would’ve been a waste of time? Because the solo came in with the assumption that Gg and Dd were not a couple, and the counterargument was made with the assumption that they were. The pendants alone are insufficient to prove either side correct or wrong. No one knows why those pendants ended up on Gg and Dd’s necks, except Gg and Dd and their teams. If I were to argue with anon solo, we can go on and on and on until we’re both left with bitter tastes in our mouths and WWX-red in our eyes, and forget the one thing that really matters: we’re both Gg’s fans.

(We could’ve spent the time talking about how that scene in The Wolf with Ji Chong throwing Zai Xing in the water is ❤️.) (I can’t believe the script waited 30+ episodes to do it. 😂)

This leads to my second point, Anon. Candies are meant to be sweet, and they’re meant to be sweet for you. In Chinese, a term for an expert candy person is a 嗑學家 (the candy-eating in CP fandoms is called 嗑糖 (ketang) ～ with 嗑 ke denoting a specific form of eating that requires breaking something open first with teeth—such as watermelon seeds; a 嗑學家 is a 嗑 (ke)-ologist). A 嗑學家 isn’t someone who can recall the longest list of candies, or spread the most candies around, or convince the most people that the CP behind the candies is real; they are those who can find their own candies in a source material, and be overjoyed by the sweetness of their discoveries without outside help. To me, at least, this term encapsulates the subjective nature of candies ~ what’s right for you may not be right for me and vice versa, and that’s perfectly all right. In other words, there are many candies out there but you’re not required to believe in all of them; instead, you’re free to choose candies to your own liking, compose your own version of the BJYX canon that you love, that you find sweet.

Wait, but you may say. Doesn’t that make my canon fantasy? Yes and no, because candies are based on real events. They’re interpretations, which sit somewhere between reality and fantasy. They’re like … opinion shows on news channels.

But what if I need to convince people of my canon —

Your “opposition”’s canon is as fantastical, and as real as yours — maybe it isn’t, but neither of you have a way to prove it one way or another.

Wouldn’t solos call me delulu, or clowns?

Maybe. But one step outside the fandom, and all of us fans—solo and cpfs—are delulu, clowns.

(That’s why while I’ve used the cpn label, I haven’t called myself delulu, or a clown. Anyone who thinks I have the truth about the love story about a pair of idol I haven’t met from thousands of miles away … the joke’s probably on them, don’t you think?)

Of course and again, Anon, this is only my take! I like candies precisely because I like to watch the real-time generation of candies, which ones different people claim as their own, which candies fall away and which stick around in the fandom over time. As a fic writer, this ship has gifted me with a treasure trove of information ~ what do people think of as romantic gestures, as give-away signs of love? The fun/amazing part of BJYX is that candies are available for so many different answers to these questions. Some people think of longing gazes and sweet smiles; some think of touches that can’t be helped (the many, many, many “fights”); some think of service (buying foods, designing clothes); some think of caring about the other’s well-being (throat candies and dumplings + noodles + crackers); some think of being The Other’s One and Only Exception (Dd being so talkative around Gg, Gg being so … fussy around Dd); some think of expressions through the arts (songs, drawings, dances); some think of grand gestures (the wave heart in the ocean); some think of matching clothes and symbolic accessories (rings); some think of birthdays and anniversaries (314, 622, the first snow); some think of sharing life’s hassles and small tidbits (fake rumour house); some think of … just looking VERY good together. Etc etc.

Some think of a subset of these, some think of all of these…

(Personally, I’m a very picky candy eater. I know about many of them, but only a small fraction impresses on me.)

(Still, I love watching candies. I love watching the joy of people sweetened by them ~ or, when c-turtles exclaim kswl! — the short form of ke si wo le! 嗑死我了! I “ke”ed so much I’m dying!)

This gets to 3), Anon, and I apologise to you too, for answering your not-essay-at-all with an essay! Candies are, to me, treats, and I don’t expect them to come at any frequencies higher than treats do. The reason isn’t because I don’t like candies ~ I enjoy watching them, as I said, even if I don’t eat many of them; the reason is because I don’t expect anyone’s romantic love to leave a trace in everything they do. For example, if I truly find myself in a SZD/SJD discussion re: Gg’s drawing, I’d say the lack of Dd in Gg’s self-portrait doesn’t really mean much. Even if Gg and Dd were head-over-heels in love with one another, Gg doesn’t have to put Dd in everything he touches. Likewise, Dd doesn’t have to present a consistent, or decipherable story with his kadians. This is true for the real-life couples around us too, isn’t it? They don’t perform every single act in life leaving a noticeable trace of their significant other. And the misunderstanding that couples do that — that their romantic lives take over who they are as individuals — IMO, partially explains why people who choose to not to date or marry, people who’re aro-aces, often have a difficult time convincing others that they’re complete humans. Romantic love is, of course, very, very important and can be life altering, but it also isn’t everything about a person ~ especially not if a person who has a career as exciting as Gg’s and Dd’s. Gg and Dd who also have friends, family, (many) talents and interests …

(And lots of ugly icons on their cell phones. Yes, I’m talking about you, Gg. That long-armed Pepe from your 2018 snowless Beijing post will give me nightmares…)

#pie metas #pie answers #yizhan #BJYX

[celiabowens]

Book recommendations, Literary Fiction edition(?)

A companion to this post (which should be updated, at some point lol)

Short Story Collections: 

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield: grotesque and disquieting collection about women and their experience in society, how they view and perceive their own body and desires. Pretty strong mythic, magical realism, body horror elements in here.

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks: fascinating collection in which Sacks reminishes some particularly odd stories of patients who had to cope with bizarre neurological disorders.

Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang: a collection focused on the Chinese millennial experience. Stories about love and loss, family, immigration and the uncertainty of the future. (also there’s an extremely beautiful short story about a pair of Chinese divers that broke me forever!!!)

Bestiary: The Selected Stories by Julio Cortázar: unforgettable selection of short stories that mix surreal elements to everyday life and apparently ordinary events. Would also recommend All Fires the Fire by the same author.

Novels:

How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang: one of the biggest debuts of 2020, it follows two recently orphaned children through the gold rush era. An adventurous historical fiction piece that focuses on themes like gender, identity and immigration, this is one of my favorites 2020 reads so yeah, I’d really push it in anyone’s hands to be honest.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: historical fiction inspired by the last days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in the 1820s. A quite bleak, but beautiful novel (the prose is stunning).

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave: historical fiction novel set in Norway in the 17th century, following the lives of a group of women in a village that recently (barely) survived a storm that killed all of the island’s men. 

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: the 2020 winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The book follows the lives of two boys sentenced to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. A bleak, but important book, with a shocking final twist (side note, I’ve been recommended The Underground Railroad by Whitehead as well, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. If you’re looking for something quite peculiar, if a bit less refined when compared to The Nickel Boys, The Intuitionist is a quite odd pulpy noir set in an alternate NY about...elevator inspectors *and racism*). 

The Leavers by Lisa Ko: haunting book about identity and immigration as the main character is apparently abandoned by his own mother (an undocumented Chinese immigrant) during his childhood. Mainly a story about living in between places and constantly feeling out of place. 

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa: when everyone would probably recommend Murakami (not much against Murakami besides his descriptions of women and their boobs), I suggest checking out some of Ogawa’s books. The recently translated The Memory Police, published in Japan in the mid 90s, is an orwellian dystopian novel set on an unnamed Island where memories slowly disappear. Would also really recommend The Housekeeper and The Professor, a really short novel about a housekeeper hired to clean and cook for a math professor who suffered an injury that causes him to remember new things for only 80 minutes. 

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, following a son writing a letter to his illiterate mother. The book seems quite polarising due to Vuong’s writing style (his poetry background is really quite clear and the book doesn’t really follow a regular narrative, rather than portrays events and memories in brief flashes), but I loved it and I’d really just recommend going into it without knowing much? It’s a beautiful exploration of language, family history, trauma, sexuality and more.

Exist West by Mohsin Hamid: this book was fairly popular when it came out (in 2017 I believe) and was often incorrectly marketed as magical realism. Hamid’s book is a brief and quietly brutal journey with a few fantastical elements, following a couple trying to escape their city in the middle of war, as they hear about peculiar doors that can whisk people far away. The doors are, of course, a quite effective metaphor for the immigrant experience and the book does a great job at portraying the main characters’ relationship. 

Family Trust by Kathy Wang: this has a really low rating on goodreads which...wow i hate that. Family Trust is a literary family saga/drama about a Chinese-American family residing in the Silicon Valley. It’s often been compared to Crazy Rich Asians, but I believe it to be more on the literary side and definitely less lighthearted. 

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: historical family saga (one of my favorites tbh, I’m absolutely biased, but this book deserved more hype) set in Korea and Japan throughout the 20th century, following four generations of a Korean family. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the prose, the book has really great characterisation and absolutely fascinating characters. (I’d suggest checking out eventual TW first, in this case). 

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker: another recent read, The Silence of the Girls, while not faultless, is a pretty good retelling of The Iliad, narrated through Briseis’ perspective. The prose can feel a bit too modern at times, but it provides the reader with some really strong quotes and descriptions. 

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: and also Little Fires Everywhere by the same author, to be honest. If you’re looking for really really good family dramas, with great explorations of rather complex and nuanced relationships? You should just check out her stuff. Vibrant characters, good writing, and some superb portrayal of longing here. 

Nutshell by Ian McEwan: i’m starting with this one only to grab your attention (if you’ve even reached this part lol, congrats), but McEwan’s one of my favorite authors and I’d recommend almost everything I’ve read by him? Nutshell, specifically, is a really odd and fun retelling of Hamlet...told from the pov of an unborn baby. But really, I’d also recommend Atonement (of course), The Children Act, Amsterdam? All good stuff. 

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: I’ve read this book this summer and, while I’m still unsatisfied with the ending, I’d thoroughly recommend this? The novel follows Count Alexander Rostov, who, in 1922, is sentenced to a lifetime of house arrest in the Metropol, a luxurious hotel in the center of Moscow. A singular novel, funny and heartbreaking at once, following a vibrant cast of characters as they come and go from Rostov’s secluded life. 

Human Acts by Han Kang: from the bestselling author of The Vegetarian (which honestly, I thoroughly despised lol), Human Acts focuses on the South Korean Gwangju uprising. It’s a really odd (and at times grotesque) experimental novel (one chapter is narrated from the pov of one of the bodies if I remember correctly), so one really has to be in the mood for it, but it’s a really unique experience, worth a chance.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: sort of a really chunky historical adventure novel following two artists in 1940s/1950s NY, who create a superhero and use him to wage a one man war on the Nazis. A bit slow in places (the pace can be uneven at times and the book is quite long), but an enjoyable novel that does a pretty good job when it comes to exploring rather classic themes of American contemporary fiction: the American dream and the figure of the artist (I think there’s a particularly interesting focus on how the artists navigates the corporate world and its rules) and their creative process.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: this is a pretty classic rec, the book really got a lot of hype when it came out? It’s a dystopian-ish novel set after civilisation’s collapse, following a post-apocalyptic troupe (of Shakespearean actors). It’s a really odd, but surprisingly quiet book. Not sure if a pandemic is exactly the right time to read it, but I thoroughly recommend it. 

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng: I feel like this book is extremely complex to summarise to be honest. In short, it’s a book set in Malaya at the end of the 1940s, following a woman who, after surviving Japanese wartime camps, spends her life prosecuting war criminals. But truthfully this book is about conflicts and contradictions and in particular about remembering and forgetting. Lovely prose. 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt: and also The Goldfinch. I’m sure no one really needs me to introduce Donna Tartt?

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton: quite cerebral mystery set in New Zealand in 1866. Honestly you have to be a patient reader who enjoys novels with a pretty complex structure to like this, but if you’re into this sort of challenging read...go for it? It’s a book of interlocking stories (with 10+ pov and main characters) with a really fascinating structure based on astrological charts, which provide insight to the main characters’ traits and personality as the mystery unfolds.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham: ok...do not watch the movie first. The Hours is an incredibly difficult novel to describe to be honest: it begins by recalling the last moments of Virginia Woolf’s life, as she’s writing Mrs. Dalloway. The book focuses on three separate narratives, each one following a specific character throughout a single day of their own life. Goes without saying that I’d suggest being familiar with Mrs. Dalloway itself first though.

An Artists of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro: not one of Ishiguro’s most famous works (most start reading his work with Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day), but probably my favorite out of those I’ve read so far. The novel follows  Masuji Ono, an artist who put his work in service of imperialist propaganda throughout WWII. Basically a reflection and an account of the artist’s life as he deals with the culpability of his previous actions. 

Stoner by John Williams: I feel like this is an odd book to recommend, because I don’t think someone can truly get the hype unless they read it themselves. Stoner is a pretty straight-forward book, following the ordinary life of an even more ordinary man. And yet it’s so compelling and never dull in its exploration of the characters’ lives and personalities. Also, I’ve just finished Augustus by the same author, which is an epistolary historical fiction novel narrating some of the main events of Augustus’ reign through letters from/by his closest friends and enemies. Really liked it. 

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien: back to integenerational family sagas (because I love those, in case it wasn’t clear lol), Do Not Say We Have Nothing follows a young woman who suddenly rediscovers her family’s fractured past. The novel focuses on two successive generations of a Chinese family through China’s 20th century history. While not every character got the type of development they deserved, the author does a good job when it comes to gradually recreating the family’s complex and nuanced history. 

There’s probably more but I doubt anyone’s going to reach the end or anything so. There’s that lol.

#book recs #book rec #litblr #2020 reads #all the typos are my own LOL #also i didnt put here philip roth or auster #but tbh #i dont think anyone needs me to rec them???

[lydia-yougowith-stiles]

My Top Ships of 2020

It’s FINALLY here!! The list of my top ships of 2020. What a year it was and I can’t believe it’s already January 8th as I’m writing this. Just like I mentioned with my 2020 TV Wrap Up, a lot of these ships helped me escape during 2020. I can’t wait to see where they’re headed for 2021. I have also started watching a few things in December, but I will be saving those ships for my 2021 list. (You’ll notice I have already expanded this list from last year.) Last year, I debated about including an Honorable Mentions sections. This year I will be including it because I wanted to still talk about these ships, but found it hard to rank them with the others. Without further ado here we go!  

Oh! One last thing. Compared to previous years Bellarke has not made it on this list. J. Roth did us dirty with this last season of the 100 and I will pretend it didn’t exist. 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

~ Anne with an E: Jerry and Diana

These two were SOOO CUTE until Diana started acting rude and left our perfect boy Jerry. Watching this last season back, I grew not to like this couple as much as I did the first time. This most definitely had to do with the fact that I knew the outcome AND I could see Diana using him more earlier. She wanted to experience something different and rebel and Jerry was there. But they were so cute as they walked home together and shared books. I’m also really proud of Anne for sticking by Jerry when she found out the truth about their relationship. (As you probably already know I love Jerry so much and don’t want any harm to come for him, so this was a tough one, but yes I’m still including it.) 

~Umbrella Academy: Klaus and Dave

I started watching Umbrella Academy this year, so I was lucky to not just experience the first season, but also the second. I instantly fell in love with Klaus and Dave and we barely got any scenes with them. (That’s my main reason for making them an honorable mention rather than a permanent spot on this list.) I wish we had more scenes with them in love. We do get some great moments in scene two with a younger Dave, which highlights Klaus’ love for him, but it’s not the same. I really love how much Dave changed Klaus. I would argue they’re my favorite romantic relationship on the show. 

~Walking Dead World Beyond: Hope and Elton

Here’s my classic shipping people together who weren’t technically romantic (but honestly those often make the best and most satisfying ships if the writers open their eyes to the chemistry that is on screen...but I digress). While they technically weren’t “romantic” you could tell that Elton grew to have a crush on Hope as the season went on. There was definitely a lot going on between their characters as Hope ***I’m going to try and avoid a spoiler here*** was one of the last people to see Elton’s mom. I think there’s potential for these two down the road and as there are only 2 seasons slotted for Walking Dead World Beyond, I can only hope this is the path the writers take. 

~Violetta: Angie and Pablo

Okay, so even if you have not heard of the Disney Channel telenovela “Violetta” or seen many of my posts, can you just appreciate the chemistry in the above moment between these two people! For a good amount of season 1 of the show, Angie and Pablo were the couple for me and I was ESTATIC when they finally got together. I anticipated it wouldn’t be for long because of slight spoilers and more intuition, but god were they beautiful together. Friends to lovers to the extreme. Screw Herman! Now as I’m slowing watching season 3, I know these two won’t be OTP, but I can savor in this moment and remember the good times. 

17. Violetta: Violetta and Leon

Two back to back Violetta appreciation posts. This show took up my entire 2020 from awaiting for season 2 (and 3) on Disney Plus, as well as watching the 80 episodes (a piece!). Currently, I’m trying to get back into wanting to watch season 3 (as other shows took precedent). With the amount of Violetta I watched, I couldn’t leave Violetta and Leon off this list. They were the favored ship of the show (and one of the most central). In season 1 it took me a little time to like them together, but by episode 35 I could feel the mutual attraction. I remember the moment of them singing/playing piano together. I knew they’d be endgame. My main complaint is that when these two are a part they are SUPER ANNOYING! Like they (specifically I’m thinking of Leon) say rude things about the other person and I’m like how could you be okay to get back together? Their best moments are definitely in season 2, whether singing to the other person or imagining singing to them. Definitely at the end of the season when they’re in Spain. I still have to watch the end of their love story, so I hope it’s satisfying.

16. High School Musical the Musical the Series: Nini and Ricky 

So I added this ship onto my list long before I knew about any real-life/personal drama that was happening among the cast. I considered taking it off the list, but as I am discussing the fictional characters I decided to leave it. High School Musical the Musical the Series was a very early 2020 watch. I liked the show more than I was expecting and was upset to hear that season 2 wouldn’t include a performance of High School Musical 2. (I mean, Beauty and the Beast...really?) This was one of those extremely rare times where I actually liked a ship that was the main ship. Usually, I favor the other part of the love triangle or the underappreciated part. I was both shocked and happy when Ricky and Nini kissed in the finale and got together. Of course the final episode ended with some hurtles for season 2 (which now I guess there will be even more), but it was good to see them together and happy. 

15. Legacies: Hope and Josie

With all of these shows ending earlier than they should have due to COVID, I feel like I’m going to sound like a broken record when I say I don’t remember a lot of what happened in this last season. (I guess for 2021 I’ll have to take more thorough notes, but then again you can see which ships I like more.) With Hope and Josie, season 2 was a bit of a rough road. I mean, what do you expect when you erase yourself from existence for the greater good, which means that your boyfriend hooks up with your friend/eventual lover? (Yes, I added in that second part.) Josie and Landon felt very awkward in the beginning of this season when they were in “love” and forgot about Hope. (I rarely heard anyone say they liked them together.) It got more awkward when Hope came back in the picture and had to watch them together. Then we had that spill with Josie being evil (which I was surprised they tackled so early on in the show. Feels like a later plot to explore). Due to all these hurtles, there were less opportunities for my OTP of Legacies. The best moment we got was in the above photo when Hope went into Josie’s subconscious and was speaking to Josie as a fictional pig the whole time. We will never forget how the “pig” suggested Hope kiss her awake. Come on Julie! Give us what we want! 

14. Single Parents: Will and Angie

Will and Angie were far down on my Top Ships last year. Another friends to lovers, you could just feel the chemistry between these two and that was strengthened in season 2. (I just loved some couples more this year I guess.) Last year, they couldn’t really act on too much romance between these two because of Poppy and Douglas’ relationship, but as those two had some drama this season, Will and Angie had a greater chance of getting together. We watched moments where the two pretended to be a couple (for the sake of Will’s parents) and eventually Will came to the realization of his feelings for Angie. In a classic season 2 plot device of a sitcom, Angie decided to go with her real-life husband/Graham’s dad at the end of the season. But you could see she also had feelings for Will and they HAVE to act on those next season. I can’t remember if the show got a third season, and I will be crushed if they didn’t. Previously, they’ve been mid-season starts so I feel hopeful.  

13. Emma: Emma and Knightley

The last movie I watched in movie theaters was Emma. While it makes me sad that I haven’t been able to go back since, this film was a great one to hold this memory. As an avid Jane Austen fan (and period drama as you will continue to notice), I LOVED this Emma and Knightley pairing. This couple is one of my favorites of the Austen heroines and heroes and I have many favorite reincarnations from Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller to Joanna Sotomura and Brent Bailey in Emma Approved (still so sad those two broke up). So it was very hard to live up to what I’ve watched and liked before. Anya Taylor-Joy and Johnny Flynn did not disappoint and will be one of the combos I think of when I re-visit the novel. I love how we didn’t focus on their crazy age difference and really highlighted on their relationship as family friends and going back a long time. I specifically like the decision to bring in some early nods to Knightley admitting his feelings for Emma and then not doing so because of the presence of Frank Churchill. Just talking about all of this makes me want to re-watch the movie all over again. :) **If you’re a fan of this combo or Emma/Knightley in general that you have to watch this video. It is amazing! 

12. Avatar The Last Airbender: Zuko and Katara

Another binge from 2020. I watched Avatar the Last Airbender in the summer and was amazed by the story-telling and how deep they could get for a kid’s program. Despite, being in MS/HS when the show originally aired, I hadn’t watched it before. So many people had told me to do and then with the help of Netflix, I felt the pull to do so during quarantine. When I headed into the show, I thought Zuko and Katara eventually got together. Mainly, because I know the fandom and love for them is so strong. I instantly felt this too. There were so many great parallels between there characters. (I mean clearly we have the whole water and fire dynamic.) Even when these two weren’t in scenes together I was thinking about how well they’d work together. So needless to say I was disappointed when they didn’t get to be endgame. We did a lot of great moments at the end of season two and definitely with season three. The Last Agni Kai scene will forever give me chills and represent how deep Zutara is. The evidence is all right there. Such a great ship. 

11. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Zoey and Max

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist was one of my favorite watches of 2020 and such a feel good show for a moment with a lot of uncertainty. (I highly recommend if you haven’t watched it. Season 2 just started on NBC this week.) For a while I felt very on the fence if I shipped Zoey more with Simon or Max. As you can notice friends to lovers has been a common thread with my posts (although I LOVE a good enemies to lovers) and Max was that 100%. Plus, he’s played by Skylar Astin so what’s not to love. Despite, all of that I felt both of the men in Zoey’s life had potential and I could be happy if she ended up with either one. By episode 6 I was leaning towards Max (if I’m remembering correctly this would be the “When I Wake Up” number with the scooter) and then by episode 8 I was all in! I mean she sang “I’m Yours” to him. (Episode 8 was one of my favorites for the whole season. She did a fantastic job singing and I loved the twist of events. Also, Max being there for her was adorable. The “Pressure” song in the conference room OMG, get me a Max!) The only thing that upset me about their relationship and Max’s character was how sudden his emotions were. It became all or nothing and it felt like too much. He shouldn’t have given Zoey an ultimatum like that. Once he went to work upstairs, I grew to not like this character. Luckily by the last episode I saw some of the old Max again. We’ll see what happens with this new season. 

10. Julie and the Phantoms: Julie and Luke

Julie and the Phantoms: I cannot talk highly enough of this show. It is amazing and everyone needs to be watching it. Of course, it was created by Kenny Ortega so need I say more...but there is so much more to appreciate too. The actors are fantastic and I love the characters they portray! I also can’t stop listening to the music. But this moment is for Julie and Luke, sorry, I should stop promoting the show :) It was very obvious that two members of the band should fall in love and with Julie and Luke both writing their own music and being passionate about their craft it became a no-brainer that they should end up catching feelings for one another. Of course, there’s the major hurtle that he’s a ghost, but we can figure that out in season 2. Luke is obviously the better pick for Julie (Nick who?). They are just so adorable together and I can’t get over that moment when he talks to her at school by her locker and she pretends to talk on her phone. The way they look at each other says it all. (Such great acting!) Then there’s Edge of Great and Luke’s guitar solo. OH! They’re so meant for each other. While no season 2 announcement has been realized yet, there’s no way this show does not get renewed. 

9. The 100: Murphy and Emori

Okay, so I know this sounds hypocritical that I said I won’t think the last season of the 100 exists and here are Murphy and Emori. But in my defense they are the best part of this season and my love for them as a couple really came to a head this season. Murphy had so much character growth and I was fearing for his life almost every episode. Same went for Emori especially after her accident I didn’t feel positive. These two (along with Raven) were the shining beacon in a very disappointing and confusing season. I love how close they are and how strong they make each other. They have been through so much and it was nice to see them so happy (despite everything going on). You just knew they’d always have each other’s backs no matter what. 

8. Violetta: Fran and Diego

I feel like I would do anything for this ship and I have so many more episodes of season 3 to go. (So that’s saying something.) Another Violetta ship, but arguably the best and one that I know is endgame because I grew so obsessed that I started searching for spoilers early on. (That’s how you know it’s bad. Especially when you’re watching YouTube videos without subtitles, so you have no idea what they’re saying, but they look happy and therefore you are happy.) Fran and Diego only got together in the third and finale season of Violetta. Previously, they were a part of different romances (Diego a major one with Violetta), but at the start of this season they are put together in a lot of situations and quickly grow a strong relationship. You can feel the chemistry instantly! They just fit each other so well. Their singing voices together-OMG! While it took FOREVER for their relationship to be public knowledge, I really haven’t had any other problems with them together. (And with 80 episodes it could easily be the case.) A positive of having more than 30 episodes to go: I have more opportunity to fall even more in love with these two. 

7. Sanditon: Esther and Babington

I LOVE THESE TWO SO MUCH! I watched Sanditon so long ago that my memory could get fuzzy, but one thing that stands out clearly is how great it was watching Esther and Babington get together. When thinking about this show people will probably immediately think of Sidney and Charlotte and while they are great and the central couple of the series, these two have my heart. Esther has SO MUCH character growth and development and Babington is a big influence on that. He helps her to see that she can be so much more than what she currently is doing and gets her away from her brother and that lifestyle. For a bit it was touch and go and I wasn’t sure if the two would be endgame, but luckily they were. It appeared to be a marriage out of friendship/necessity. Babington is fine with loving Esther more and hoping she’ll grow to love him. This quickly changes with a scene where we see the two looking very much in love. While this show only used Jane Austen’s unfinished novel as a stepping stone and became a lot more modern (than most fans liked), I thought it did a nice job with several aspects. The main one being Esther’s character. It is a show that I will definitely be re-watching and will always be upset that it did not get a second season. 

6. Legends of Tomorrow: Ava and Sara

A great ship since Ava was introduced. These two balance each other out so well and are one of the most constant ships on the show. (As the Waverider’s doors continue to be revolving in recent seasons.) Each season we watch their relationship deepen and I truly felt that with this most recent season of Legends. Now this might sound super ironic, because from what I can remember (remember 2020 brain, it’s been a while since watching), Sara was off the Waverider a lot, leaving Ava in charge. Sara was away for so many episodes that I started to question (and do a lot of Google searching) if she was leaving the show. Despite the two being a part, I feel we got to know Ava’s character more. She has definitely grown since we first met her all those seasons ago. Due to this development, I felt this couple deserved this spot on the list. When we got to the end of last season ***SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*** and it looked like Sara (and actually all the Legends) might die, my heart broke for them. Ava and Sara deserve the world. And with the way the finale ended it’s going to be some time till they get it. Once again, Legends is the best CW Superhero show (I said it) and everyone should be watching it.

5. The Spanish Princess: Mary Tudor and Charlie Brandon 

This ship is so underappreciated and deserves to be talked about more!!! (Another common thread in many of these entries.) I have searched for Tumblr posts and YouTube videos and have only found a few dedicated to this couple. There needs to be more!! As the second season of the Spanish Princess dragged for me a bit, once Mary Tudor and Charlie Brandon got more screen time and a plot-line I was instantly sucked in. They nicely balanced the falling out of love of Katherine and Harry. There should have been more scenes with Mary and Charlie. Right away, you could feel some sort of chemistry, but Mary had to be married to the King of France. Then the King dies and she’s promised to pick a marriage of love for her second marriage. Knowing her brother and expecting that she will be married off again she marries the messenger come to get her from France, Charlie Brandon. Super intrigued by their story I looked up the history of the real Mary and Charlie Brandon and their story matches very closely. They got married despite the King’s rules and had many children together. It seems to be a marriage of love like she wanted. This couple will forever be one of my favorites. 

They are also one of my major reasons for wanting to watch the Tudors. While they completely change the Mary and Charles romance (Firstly by naming her Margaret), at least it was very easy to watch. As Charles Brandon is played by the beautiful Henry Cavill. 

4. The Outpost: Talon and Garret

Speaking of underappreciated ships (and TV shows), I present Talon and Garret from CW’s The Outpost. It was SO HARD for me to find a picture from the third (and latest season) of them to put with this post. It’s even hard to watch any scenes of the show on YouTube. Talon and Garret FINALLY got together this season and it was ABOUT TIME! Since season 1 you have felt the tension between these two, but there were always obstacles and people in between them. There seemed to be potential in the first season and by the start of third I was not holding out hope anymore that they would be together. So, it was such a joyous occasion when they became endgame (is that too soon to say? I have no idea if there’s another season on the horizon). This couple solidified my love for a WARRIOR romance. One where, despite being two different genders (and for this show species), both partners are equal in strength and fighting ability. (Well, Talon could take Garret, but they are such a powerful duo!) I now want to read and watch more romances/ships with this trope. [Please let me know if you have any suggestions.] Just talking about them, I can’t help but smile (almost as big as Garret when he saw Talon again before she left for another mission). At the end of the season they might have tried to make it seem like they would pick other partners and I’m so glad they didn’t. You seriously need to watch this show if any of the above sounded appealing/you like high fantasy and maybe a little CGI cheesiest. 

3. The Society: Grizz and Sam

It breaks my heart talking about this ship ever since Netflix released that they were taking back the second season renewal of The Society. I started watching the Society during quarantine (shocking I know), but I do remember a lot from my time watching (more shocking, right?). Hands down the best couple from this show was Grizz and Sam. They weren’t introduced right away and again I might have cheated when I suspected the two might get together, so I looked up some spoilers. (Honestly, that’s the best sign of a ship in my book. If I can’t wait and need to look up spoilers then your show has a good thing going.) Individually Grizz and Sam were my favorite characters and then pairing them together I was dead. So many amazing moments with them. Naturally we didn’t get enough and I will continue to watch fan videos (because there are so many). They are precious and I’m so glad we got some closure at the end of the season because if we didn’t this cancellation would have been even harder. 

2. Nancy Drew: Nancy and Ace

Okay, I’ll try to keep this brief because I know I’ve talked about this couple A LOT on this page in 2020 (but that might be difficult FYI). From an honorable mention thought last year to #2 this year-THAT’S HUGE! But they deserve it, even if they haven’t officially become a couple on the show...well not yet. Early on in the first season I felt a pull between these two characters, which is super ironic seeing as how they had few scenes together and were a part of two different romances. (I mean Nancy had two different love interests.) I thought I was just imagining things (as I do often pair people who barely share plots), but then episode 14 happened and I was sold. Then I came onto Tumblr and discovered the amount of people that felt it too and knew we had something. Shout out to all the other blogs that mention Nace or are made just to honor this amazing duo. I know they will be endgame too and value all your posts that I’m constantly liking and looking for. 

Again, there’s so much I could talk about, but I’ll focus on how much they trust and listen to one another. (I mean Ace drank that stuff because he trusted Nancy!!!) I love how they get paired up on cases and go into investigator mode. They speak SO CLOSE to one another and just all the looks! If we don’t get more moments in the second season I don’t know how I’ll survive. They are just so perfect and I could easily see them become number 1 next year. I cannot wait for the start of season 2 on Jan. 20th!! For now I’ll fast forward through old episodes and watch my favorite moments. Like these:

AND NUMBER ONE.... DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

1. Anne with an E: Anne and Gilbert

Now I know what you’re thinking...’Stephanie, didn’t you pick Shirbert last year too?’ Why, yes that is true. But back then I had only watched seasons 1 and 2 with some spoiler videos of season 3. The release hadn’t come to Netflix yet. Since then, I have watched the last season (and the show as a whole multiple times). It’s just so good and watching the growth of the characters (not only Shirbert) means so much more when you can watch the episodes back to back. But we’re here for Shirbert and how we watched them rise. Yes, it departed from the novel, but I love the twists and turns it took getting to endgame. So many looks and unspoken feelings. I thought it was great how Anne discovered her feelings. I hated Winifred, but understood her purpose. Anne and Gilbert will always be one of my top OTPs no matter which adaptation. Of course, the book will always be the tops, but so many great representations of it have been done on screen. Ultimate enemies to friends to lovers. I hope to one day create characters that could be so strong and beloved. 

#top ships 2020 #bellarke forever #anne with an e #violetta #leonetta #hosie #will x angie #emma and knightley #zutara #max x zoey #zomax #jatp #juke #The 100 #memori #murphy x emori #francesca x diego #diecesca #Sanditon #esther and babington #ava and sara #the spanish princess #mary tudor and charlie brandon #the outpost cw #talon x garret #the society #grizzam #nancy drew cw #nancy x ace #shirbert

[chaolie]

Fundy Week, Day 8 - Free Prompt

Here it is!!! Fashionably late as usual, the last thing I'm writing for @fundyfiles' Fundy Week!! I'm so glad I decided to join this, I can't remember the last time I wrote so much content in so little time, not to mention how proud I am of what I managed to create!!

Now, I wasn't too sure what to write for this one, but I happened across a story idea I saved in mid-November 2020 and it had two incredible things: FWT, and a lot of Angst! So what else could I even write at this point?? And as always, this is also on my Ao3!

Characters: Fundy, Dream, others mentioned

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: (Temporary) Character Death, Explosions

Summary: Not long before the big fight between Manburg and Pogtopia, Fundy finds an unsigned book with a warning directed at him. He brushes it off at first, but the thought keeps lingering at the back of his mind. Eventually, he decides to walk away from the main part of the nation and keep his distance for safety. Too bad that the person who sent the warning didn't notice that.

Fundy’s day was not going great. Schlatt was a complete mess in the morning, the people from Pogtopia basically rejected him and all the information he collected as a spy… At this point, which side should he even fight for? He figured, the people against Schlatt were a safer bet for him, but he still had no guarantee that they wouldn’t turn on him too. Still, it was a risk he was willing to take. A risk he had to take. And he would, but it didn’t make his doubts any less troublesome. That’s why when he spotted a book lying on his desk, for quite a while he considered just leaving it there and not looking inside.

The curiosity got the better of him, and he carefully approached the item, lifting it off the wooden surface and slowly opening it. As soon as he did, a quill slipped out from between the pages and fell to the ground. Great. So it wasn’t even signed. Dreading what he’d find, he started reading the first page.

“Dear Fundy,

This is a warning. Do not fight in the war.”

A confused frown appeared on his face. Who would write this? What did it mean? Hesitantly, he turned the page.

“It doesn’t matter which side you support, be it Manburg or Pogtopia. It doesn’t matter if you were just planning to watch the fight and side with whoever you’d deem more beneficial to support. You, and I can’t stress this enough, can NOT be anywhere near Manburg during the war. It would be best if you stayed away from it altogether, until you’re sure that the danger passed. Stay home, go mineing, take a walk, swim out into the sea… anything you can do away from this deathtrap.”

This was far more concerning than the 1st page. Whoever wrote this seemed very determined to keep him away from the war. And, somehow, they knew that he wasn’t loyal to Schlatt all the way. Nervously, he flipped the page.

“The entire nation is rigged with TNT. One wrong move during the war, or even after all, and everything could be gone in an instant. Including you, and anyone else caught in the blast. Please, DO NOT attend the battle. It doesn’t matter what your ‘allies’ will think of you, it’s better to be judged than dead. And please, don’t tell anyone else about this. If they tried to disarm the TNT, it would only end poorly. Please, make the right decision. Please.

-Signed: Someone who doesn’t want you hurt”

He stared at the page for a moment, re-reading the last part. “Someone who doesn’t want you hurt”, huh? With a sigh, he threw the book back down onto the desk and stepped back, rubbing his face and trying to collect himself. Of course they couldn’t even sign this letter right. No, they just had to leave it like that! How would he know if he could trust them? How would he know if this wasn’t a test, or a joke? How?

He leaned down and picked up the quill he dropped before walking back to the desk and turning the pages again until he reached an empty one. He gripped the feather tighter before angrily scribbling down his response, muttering it under his breath.

“Dear whoever-wrote-this, Fuck You. I don’t know you and I don’t trust you. I think you just want to keep me from fighting. Make sure you have fewer enemies to defeat. I’m not buying your stupid sob story, I’m joining the war and going down in history,” he finished.

He slammed the book shut and set the quill down by its side. This would surely show them that he can’t be threatened so easily. Then, he stepped back and headed towards his chests, the reason he originally came here. He had to collect his gear before the war. “TNT”, the letter claimed. As if that wouldn’t be found yet.

***

A day passed, and the war was already over. It felt weird, compared to how long it took to win independence for L’Manburg in the first place, but Fundy wasn’t complaining. Despite the dirty looks some of his allies shot at him, he didn’t end up in the crossfire or left for dead. That was… nice? And he wasn’t even too hurt, just a few slashes and cuts here and there, none of them seriously bleeding anymore. Emotionally, he wasn’t doing too sound, though.

As he sat on a small wooden chair by the stage, surrounded by friends and allies as some people were giving speeches, passing some official titles over between one another… he could barely focus on anything. He watched people get seriously hurt during the fight, he probably caught glimpses of their lives being taken from them even… not to mention witnessing Schlatt’s final death. That was… quite something. In a negative sense. He wasn’t sure what he expected from a war, though.

And on top of all that, the warning in the book still lingered in his mind. What if whoever left it wasn’t lying? What if all the explosives were just under his feet and would go off any moment now? What if he simply got lucky so far? The thought of dying that way was sickening. He hated it so much, oh so much. He didn’t want to die after all this…

He looked around the crowd. Maybe he’d spot someone who would help him calm down? Reassure him? He had someone specific on his mind, his fiance, but luck wasn’t on his side this time. No matter how long he searched for, he couldn’t catch even a glimpse of Dream’s mask between other people. He wasn’t too surprised, though, the man sided with the losing fraction, after all. Him deciding to leave prematurely was to be expected.

That’s when he made up his mind. Just to feel better, he’d take a walk. Get away from the stage and the loud noises and the stupid, cheap speeches. Get away from the probably nonexistent explosives. Take a stroll down the Prime Path and relax. Look for Dream out there and spend the rest of the day by his side. Who cared about some stupid celebrations, this was all he wanted to do now.

He got up and left, no one noticing his absence in time to stop him. Good, he thought, no need to explain to anyone that some empty threats are pushing me over the edge. He would get to calm himself down at his own pace, which would be quite ideal. He started climbing the path, on his way to Tommy’s house, from which he could head straight to Dream’s base. He would probably be there, and they could just talk there, hidden from anyone else.

Sudden screams of fear picked up behind him, and he never turned as fast in his life. He watched as all his allies and friends scattered in panic, but before he could question why, it happened. An explosion went off, and another one followed it. And another, and another, and- Fundy closed his eyes and covered his ears, the blasts were LOUD. When he opened them, he had already fallen back onto the path, and the place he called home just 5 minutes prior was now nothing but a smoking crater.

He saw some people dangerously close to the destroyed land, helping each other up and covering each other’s wounds. Not thinking twice, he ran back down the path and desperately tried to find the people he cared for. Niki was right there, Eret was pulling someone to their feet, Tommy and Tubbo were by each other’s sides, Quackity was leaning against a broken wall and catching his breath… that would only leave a person or two missing-

“Fundy?!” came a desperate call from the crater, making him stop in his tracks. “Fundy, where- can you hear me?! Fundy!”

“...Dream?!” he called back, forcing his feet to move again. What the hell was he doing down there?

“Fun-!”

Another explosion sounded out in the crater, followed by a scream cut shot with even more leftover TNT going off. And just like that, Fundy was frozen again. His mouth was open just as if he wanted to call out Dream's name, but no words could leave his throat. He simply stared at the edge of the crater and felt a sting of pain in his chest. No, no, no, no-

Suddenly, he was running again. Someone tried to grab him by his arm, someone called his name after him, but it didn’t matter, none of it did anymore. He reached the edge of the crater and to his horror saw someone lying face-down on the freshly blown up ground. He’d recognize that green hoodie anywhere, even if it was scorched and covered by some armor. Without a second thought, he tried to jump in. Something under his feet came loose and he tumbled down the steep wall of the crater until promptly hitting the ground on the very bottom, but not even the pain that ensued could keep him down.

“No, no, no- Dream! D-Dream!” he called out, scrambling to his feet and stumbling forward. This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening, this wasn’t possible- “Dream! Please, Dream!”

He reached his fiance’s side and put a hand over his shoulder, carefully turning him onto his back. His mask was cracked, showing one of his eyes and a part of his cheek. If not the injuries, Fundy could assume that he was asleep, but… Oh, God.

“Dream?” he asked faintly. To his absolute surprise, he saw his fiance’s eye slowly open. His gaze seemed unfocused, and Fundy could only pray that he was still recognizable.

“...Fun… dy?” the man asked slowly, and the fox hybrid wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved just yet.

“I- I’m here, that’s- I’m here, Dream,” he assured as he looked his fiance over. That’s when he noticed a book the man was clutching tightly, pushing it against his chest. “W-what’s this…?” he asked, carefully reaching for it. Dream’s grip on the item seemed to loosen.

“...So you… listened?” he asked faintly as Fundy picked up the book and opened it on the first page only to be greeted by familiar words. Dear Fundy. This is a warning. “Y-you were- s-safe…”

“W-wait, that was you?!” the fox hybrid realized with a gasp. Oh, how come he hadn’t recognized the handwriting?! How come he hadn’t told his fiance about the 'threat'?! How come-

“I- I thought you-” Dream tried to answer, but ended up just laughing at the small misunderstanding that cost his life. His laughter, however, quickly turned into coughing.

“Oh sh- Okay, okay, keep breathing. I- I’ll get you a potion or something, and-” Fundy instructed, searching himself for anything he had with him that could help. Eventually, he turned his head towards the top of the crater. “H-helo?! Help! Please!” he called out.

“...Fundy…?” Dream asked faintly, getting his attention again. When he looked back, the man had somehow slipped his mask off his face and was now carefully putting it into the fox hybrid’s hands, leaving him baffled. “K-keep it.”

“Wh- Wait, no, no, no, Dream! Just- just hold on a moment longer, I’ll get you all the potions you could need and I- I’ll make sure that you’re okay, I promise! Please, just-” he stuttered, holding the mask close to his chest and taking his fiance’s hand.

“I… I don’t…” Dream tried to answer, but his voice seemed to fade with each second. Fundy felt tears slowly running down his cheeks as he squeezed his hand.

“...I love you, okay? I love you, please, just… I love you so much,” he reminded, and hoped that Dream would find it in himself to answer.

“...I lo… love y…”

“...Dream?”

It hurt. It hurt so much to see his fiance’s face numb and to feel his hand grow heavier in his own. The tears staining Fundy’s cheeks burned like acid and he just wished to turn back the time. The- the stupid answer he wrote in the book, why did he ever do that? Why did he think it was a good idea? Why did he let it literally kill the love of his life? Why-

Everything seemed blurry. He didn’t know if it was because of his own wounds or the heartache, but he barely processed what happened. He barely acknowledged someone near him, handing him a potion just minutes too late, barely realized when they led him out of the crater and sat him down on one of the chairs… He stared down at the mask in his hands, cracked by the explosion, and wondered… was this really the end?

Oh.

Wait.

No.

No, it wasn’t the end! He had no idea how he ever forgot, but… but this wasn’t Dream’s last life! No, if he recalled correctly, the man still had all three! What was he even doing here?! Why wasn’t he at spawn already?! He quickly asked for enderpearls and a swiftness potion, all he could think of, and immediately rushed off. Someone tried to stop him again, but it’s not like they managed the first time either. No one would be able to slow him down now.

Just 5 minutes later, he was climbing the wall around the spawn and frantically looking around. Was he here before Dream respawned? Or did he take too long and they missed each other? Should he wait, or go search for him somewhere else-

He suddenly spotted Dream, sitting in one of the corners of the spawn, with his back against the wall. He was curled up, and his hands seemed to remble as they traced the newfound scars on his face. It wasn’t too surprising to find him in that state, dying for the first time was always terrifying…

“Dream!” Fundy gasped, fully jumping the wall and rushing over to his fiance. The man looked up at him, but stayed frozen for a moment. But when the fox hybrid fell to his knees and pulled him into a hug, he returned the gesture. “O-oh, you scared me so much-”

“...I love you, too,” Dream answered quietly, and Fundy barely could stop himself from crying again.

It was such a relief to hear that. Better late, than never.

***

Haha, remember all those fics where Fundy dies in the explosion that were circling around after the Manburg vs Pogtopia war?? Yeah, so what if... yeah. What if for once it was Dream who died there??

Except, since this is the last prompt, I figured I wouldn't make it 100% Angst!

Ok and now some serious talk, thank you so much for reading!! I appreciate every single like, reblog, and all other kinds of interactions. These really mean a lot to me and I just want you all to know

#fundy #c!fundy #Dream #c!dream #fwt #fundywastaken #dream smp #mcyt #my writing #fundyweek2021

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: Blue & Grey - analysis?

by Admin 1 & 2

From anon: I know it sounds like Delulu, so I write anonymously because I’m ashamed. The “blue & gray” lyrics sound like something Tae writes about Jimin to me. The words “my angel” (Jimin is an angel), “someone save me” (we saved each other many times), someone will call in the evening (after work in the evening we meet face to face) “I am blue and gray” (when I’m blue, Jimin’s smile is enough). To me it sounds a bit like lovesick ??? “I want to be happy” (Tae is happiest when he’s with me)

This is an interesting ask, and I don’t necessarily think it’s delulu of you to think this way, even if there are some who would claim otherwise. We know what Blue & Grey is about thanks to everything Tae, as well as some of the other members, said about it at the BE press con as well as Tae’s BE Weverse comeback interview, that it’s lyrics and music born out of Tae’s own feeling of burnout, of being blue and grey, and also is meant as this song to bring comfort to those who might currently be feeling the same way. It’s a song that feels authentic in its sincerity, especially because it was written with a raw honestly and introspective by someone who knows that feeling, as well as additional lyrics added to it to make it OT7 by others who have gone through/felt similar things as well.

We know Yoongi felt it, since we read his lyrics for his tracks on Agust D; we know Namjoon felt it, since that’s the feeling out of which mono. was born; we know Seokjin felt it, because that’s how Abyss came to be; and we know Hoseok felt it, because the members have mentioned how he used to be blue & grey before their debut since he’d been a trainee for so long and felt helpless/hopeless at times, like they would never debut; we also know that Jungkook felt it, since it was brought up in connection to the year that almost had them disband, Seokjin mentioning how Jungkook had retreated into himself, barely spoke about his feelings and thoughts, if at all, and they weren’t sure how to reach him; and I’m sure Jimin felt it as well.

So, since we know the backstory of Blue & Grey you might argue there isn’t really anything there to analyze, and in a way, I agree, but just because we know the main point/theme of the song, that doesn’t necessarily meant there can’t be more to it, especially when you consider how originally Blue & Grey was intended for Tae’s mixtape, and how the lyrics used to not only be different than the ones we have on the album, but they also used to be completely in English. In a way you could argue that while the basis of the song was always the same—a song about Tae’s feeling of being blue and grey—the underlying meaning/connections might’ve changed, or simply been modified to fit OT7 more instead of just him.

Before we get into it, one thing I’d like to say is that I’m in no way trying to twist this to say that the only reason for Tae to write songs is to make them about Jimin, I’m not that kind of person and I think his artistry has far more to it and holds so much deep meaning, but looking at the lyrics and things Tae has said about Jimin over the years, it isn’t that farfetched of a connection to make. It can just as well be complete nonsense, of course, but I see no harm in considering the possibility. I respect Tae and his music tremendously and I’d never want to belittle it in any kind of way, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’s written a song with Jimin in mind or referencing things that connect to him, so let’s just entertain the possibility, maybe even put our delulu hats on if that’ll make us feel a bit better, and treat this as something fun and not to be taken so extremely seriously or as facts, yes? Okay. Let’s go below the cut.

First let’s have a look at the original lyrics we first heard for Blue & Grey during In the SOOP, the version that was intended for Tae’s mixtape:

Where's my angel I'm sick and tired of everything Someone come and save myself Cause I can't take it anymore Everywhere I go, everywhere I see Can you look at me cause I'm going free Every time I cry, every time I smile Can you look at me cause I'm blue and grey I just wanna be happier Baby don't let me go.

Even just based on that it’s easy to see how much they have changed between this and the BE OT7 version. For reference, this is how the album version starts, more specifically Tae’s opening verse:

Where is my angel 하루의 끝을 드리운 At the end of the day, casting its shadow Someone come and save me, please 지친 하루의 한숨뿐 is only the sigh of the exhausting day

Like anon pointed out angel could be a reference to Jimin, or literal angels since we know that while Tae isn’t religious (as far as I’m aware) he does believe in angels and calls upon them to help him. But, as recently as his April 2020 vlive where he spoke about Friends, or rather the dumpling incident, he said that afterward when he and Jimin made up and Jimin told him he wants to support him and be his source of strength/energy Tae thought “my gosh, Jimin is such an angel like this. How could I have been in a fight with him?” (though I could swear the subs used to be a little different from this, that he said “how could I fight with an angel like Jiminie?” or something to that effect, (or that maybe our wonderful translators worded it differently during their live translations and I’m just getting confused), but that would mean for some reason at some point the vlive subs were changed thus raises the question why?). But even in previous years there were moments in which Tae called Jimin an angel.

In his letter to Jimin during BV2 in Hawaii, Tae spoke about how whenever he’s in the bathroom to cry, Jimin would cry with him (we also know that Jimin is the only one who truly knew why Tae cried when reading the letter, as well as that during BV3 the staff specifically called for Jimin when they noticed that Tae was crying), or laugh with him, is there for him. That could fit with “Every time I cry, every time I smile” and also make sense in connection with the next line “Can you look at me cause I'm blue and grey” since, in a moment where you feel blue and grey and yet find the strength to look for someone to help you, to reach out to, you’d want a person who’s very close to you to be the one to look at you/approach you, and he said it himself, in his Hawaii letter, how Jimin is his dearest friend, as well as during FESTA 2019, that Jimin is his one and only true best friend. So, what better person to seek solace with than him?

Furthermore, Tae also once said this (notice the mention of feeling blue):

Then the line “I just wanna be happier”, though I can’t really find a specific connection to Jimin in it, it does still fit with something Tae said last year after the release of Dynamite when they were guests on the radio. In it Tae mentioned how he is happy these days (he played the original version of Blue & Grey during ITS recorded some time end of May beginning of June 2020 while the MBC radio appearance was mid-September 2020, so 3-4 months later), how it took him a lot of time to achieve it since he always worried about things, but that he focused on finding happiness and it seems like he did manage to find it. When comparing Tae in the first half of 2020 to Tae in the second half, I think we can all agree that he seemed much, much happier in the second half, so his efforts paid off.

Also, if you remember, Jimin once (or more times) mentioned how Tae is happiest when he’s with Jimin (he could’ve just meant it in a teasing way, of course, but it could’ve also been just played off as such while being true anyway). So, if he’s happiest with Jimin, supposedly, it would make sense to look for him, mention him even if only through references people may or may not pick up on, and in a way it could also work with this line “Baby don't let me go.” because, once you found someone that can help you, that makes you happy and (among other things) keeps the blue and grey away, you’d want them to stay, right?

We don’t really have any details of what helped Tae finding that happiness, be it working on BE and getting to be the visual director, be it working on his mixtape and being able to put all these emotions he hasn’t shared before into his music and finding catharsis through that, or be it something in some shape or form connected to Jimin, all I can really do is speculate, and really, that isn’t really the point, is it? What matters is that he did find his happiness in the end, and found his way out of his blue and grey feeling.

So, we can say that at least the original version of the lyrics did potentially have some connections to Jimin, especially because I’m unwilling to think it’s all just a coincidence since with something as meaningful and personal as a song like this, there are no coincidences. Also, when comparing the ITS version and the BE version, the former seems to be directed at someone, a specific someone, like the latter more toward themselves, an introspective look (thanks to Admin 2 and romanticdrift for pointing that out). It’d be interesting to know how the rest of the song went, how the lyrics continued, and surely that would help a lot in seeing if there were more connections or not, but I guess we’ll simply never know. While the main point/theme of the song was and is, indeed, that blue and grey feeling and basically verbalizing it through lyrics, it isn’t too out there of an idea to think that Tae made those connection to Jimin deliberately as a way of perhaps pointing out a person or something that he looked for while he felt blue and grey, a person/things that helped him or he thought could do so. Though, again, that’s just speculations and theories, not facts, and I could totally be wrong.

One last thing I’d like to mention, and maybe I’m seeing a connection where there isn’t actually one and reading way too much into it, but I’ll share it anyway. In the BE version of Blue & Grey Jimin and Tae sing the following lines together:

괜찮다고 하지 마 Don’t say you’re okay 괜찮지 않으니까 because you aren’t 제발 혼자 두지 말아 줘 너무 아파 Please don’t leave yourself alone, it hurts so much

This, for me, is quite significant, even if doolset interpreted it as them talking to themselves and not someone else/each other, it still reminded me of the following lines from Jimin’s Promise:

아무렇지 않은데 “I’m alright” 그렇게 말하는데 Though I say so, 사실은 내가 그게 아닌가봐 maybe the truth is that I’m not

And I delulu and reading too much into it? I don’t know, but it was one of the first things I thought of when I read the translation of that particular moment in Blue & Grey.

#BE Blue & Grey #Taehyung #Jimin #vmin #an analysis but not really maybe kinda #song commentary #Blue & Grey commentary #is all of this complete nonsense #possible but who knows #answered ask

[mshermia]

2020 Writer’s Year in Review

A big thank you to @lbigreyhound13 for the tag!

Total number of completed stories: 5! (I guess this stat is a little misleading for me though. I wrote all those stories between mid-October and December while procrastinating from finishing my main story, which still remains unfinished.)

Total number of words: 290.991 (257.523 of that was for “If They Knew All About You”)

Fandoms written in: The MCU, specifically for Irondad & Spiderson

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? 

In fics as in stories, I definitely wrote more than I expected because I was not expecting the prompt fills for whumptober to draw my attention like they did. However, I was definitely expecting to finish my long Bio!Dad story, but. No. Will still need a couple of months on that one... ;)

What’s your own favorite story of the year? My favorite has to still be my Bio!Dad fic “If They Knew All About You”. It’s not just that I spend the most time on it, but while there was a lot of set up for the story in the first half of it, this year I could put out a lot of the scenes I started the story for in the first place - scenes and chapters that I had written months ago, that just sat there in my inbox, waiting for their turn to come. (Tony and Peter both finding out about their history, Tony finding out about who’s to blame that his son was taken, Tony coming to Peter’s rescue... I could keep going :P). I’ve been waiting to publish some of those scenes for more than a year (especially Tony reacting to finding out that Peter is his son) and it’s been so great to see people’s reactions to it as well!

Did you take any writing risks this year?  Erm... I had one chapter for “If They Knew All About You” where I went for a bit of a different approach. I knew what I wanted from the chapter but I wanted it to be less linear. While I do have other chapters that are structured similarly (like for example early on Tony is in the lab working on a project and then he mulls over the situations he’s in with the team and I cut back to an excerpt of their conversation so I can have the just of the situation without having to go on and on about everything happening around it.)

For Chapter 55 - Time To Take A Shot - I took it a bit to the extreme starting the chapter out with Peter holding a gun and having shot someone because I wanted it to have a shocking effect, but I’m still not sure if it was a bit too much or if it worked. Honestly, I’d might write it differently now if I had to do it again, but well, it is what it is ;)

Most popular story of the year: Easily “If They Knew All About You”. At Chapter 29 on December 31st 2019 the fic was at 34.357 hits. On December 31st 2020 the story had grown to 73 chapters and was at about 148.000 hits, (150.000 as of yesterday) which just blows my mind. 

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion: “Nothing Left to Lose” which is part of my post-Endgame series and a (late) Whumptober prompt fill. It’s not finished yet, but compared to the other stories in that series it got *very* few hits. I really like the premise of it about the consequences of undoing the Snap and also Peter and Tony’s conflict with each other, but for some reason there are very few hits and just one comment I think, which honestly surprised me. I think maybe my summary was too vague? Who knows. Maybe it’ll get better with the second chapter :)

Most fun story to write: Probably “Are We Out Of The Woods Yet?” which was the first prompt fill I’ve ever written. With Morgan and Peter being a few years older in this one, it has such a different dynamic than every IronDad story I had written and I really enjoyed the change of pace. 

Most unintentionally telling story: Chapters 56, 57 and 58 of “If They Knew All About You” where Peter (and also Tony) find themselves on the receiving end of the wrath of the NYPD police chief Clarke, who seems to be hell-bend to make their lives as miserable as possible, trying to force hospital staff to ignore procedure to get whatever he wants.  I had written those chapters months before I put them up (actually inspired by a Utah nurse who was threatened and then arrested by an asshole cop who tried to force her to ignore her patient’s rights) but when it came time to publish them, they fell smack in the middle of the demonstrations and riots going on in the US in June/July against police brutality and those chapters got very strong reactions. I hadn’t planned any of that but I guess it’s a sign of how long and publically this problem had already existed before people couldn’t take it any longer.

Biggest surprise: Probably how much I enjoyed dusting off my old tumblr account. I still tread carefully trying to avoid as much Endgame stuff as I can unless it’s an unapologetic “Tony Stark lives” one, but I’ve really enjoyed finding short one-shots like @jen27ny or @superherotiger as well as just connecting with fellow fans and fellow fanfic authors, especially to bounce some ideas off. Compared to other social media sites where I focus on a lot more social issues and politics, tumblr feels like a wholesome and happy place, that’s getting rare to find online (as long as I can dodge those dreaded Endgame gifs) ;)

...

I still don’t follow enough blogs but tagging who I haven’t seen post this yet (no pressure :P) @spagbol99 @ninjazzz3 @polaroid15 @jelly-pies

#writer's year in review #2020 #IRON DAD AND SPIDER SON

[arbysfightcam]

Reality Shifting Video Anthony Padilla

CW: Anthony Padilla video obviously

TW: Caps in some places, possible shifting doubts

Introduction

There are three guests who are called Kristen, Cham, and Daniel. When Anthony asked them to describe what they were, Cham and Kristen answered with Reality Shifters while Daniel answered with Lucid Dreamer. I don’t believe there are subdivisions in Reality Shifting, unless you specifically do Awake Methods or Asleep Methods. Other than that you are just a reality shifter. You may specify where you are shifting to, but that defines you as a Shifter.

“Anything that gets people thinking about the mind and how the mind works I’m all for.” a specific quote said by Daniel. Still doesn’t equate lucid dreaming to reality shifting. Daniel is not there on behalf of shifters but on behalf of lucid dreamers. I get where he’s coming from but this is not one of those places.

1 The Art Of Shifting

Kristen and Cham have the right idea when describing shifting. Cham’s more than Kristen’s. It sounds more eloquent and well spoken. Kristen’s sounded like someone trying to describe a word while using that word. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just doesn’t get the point across well. Daniel is purely talking about lucid dreaming, especially when he said, “the experience is a lot like falling asleep consciously,” and then proceeds to talk about lucid dreaming rather than shifting. As I said before he isn’t there on behalf of shifters. I don’t know this guy’s background, I don't know his youtube videos, and I honestly don’t care what he thinks, as far as I’ve seen he doesn’t speak negatively. All of that said he isn’t the right person to talk to, but has a good state of mind when talking about lucid dreaming.

Kristen is right when talking about awake and asleep methods that completely defeats the purpose of what Daniel was talking about. Cham and Kristen have good definitions for awake and asleep. Awake method’s are literally methods done awake while asleep are done when asleep. No one really talks about not needing a method but that’s me being nitpicky

Daniel is still talking about lucid dreaming.

Script making mention here mix with Estelle Method. It’s specifically used as an example. Scripting definition by “It’s not making a new reality it’s deciding which one you want to focus on” by Cham. I think that is so important to keep in mind especially since non-believers tend to say we are making up scenarios. Anthony then goes onto talk about scripts and whether or not templates are a valid form of scripting. I use a template! I think they get the hard part of figuring out what to write out of the way. Scripting shouldn’t be hard and difficult so if you find it difficult then something is wrong. Okay caps here but MENTION OF NOT USING A SCRIPT YES I AM SO HAPPY. CHam mentioned that I believe and I love that. Scripting should not be everything to shifting. She also calls not shifting with a script a roulette wheel and I love that.

I love that he printed out a pre-written script and mentioned a lot of things that people script in like not dying and not getting traumatized. Cham mentioned that she believes that scripting in not having trauma is not inherently real. She doesn’t discredit it though she does go on to say that you can script it out, but there are some setbacks and things to that. I'm glad she has a different opinion on scripting those things; I personally script those things because I don’t want to get traumatized. That's a valid opinion on that.

I’ve noticed that Anthony mostly asks the real shifters about shifting realities and what they do rather than any answer from Daniel

“I’m gonna get ready to throw some hands if anyone tries anything.” i'm howling i love Kristen.

Sponsored Ad so now I get to express my own opinion about Anthony Padilla; I think he’s been respectful towards the topic and I haven’t seen anything negative from him. I think he started to realise he kinda messed up because I didn’t see anything about the core of reality shifting asked to Daniel.

Now back to Daniel. He’s getting on my nerves.

Kristen’s shifting and Daniel’s lucid dreaming is not to be compared. Kristen said she shifted every once or two months; I’ve seen shifters space out their shifts. I plan on shifting at least once a week once every two weeks, at the most what Kristen does. Daniel is a lucid dreamer which means he isn’t shifting to be another person which takes less energy. Shifting your consciousness from one reality to another takes a bunch of energy; energy that isn’t in lucid dreaming. I like where he wants to go though; Star Trek Next Gen. sounds like an awesome place to visit.

Kristen’s definition of infinite realities is like Cham’s I love consistency. I never really believed people when they said they found Reality Shifting before mid-2020, or it was named something different. The fact that she was brought back around mid-2020 sounds more believable. It’s like me finding 2NE1 but not getting into Kpop until a year later.

2 When the Brain Shifts

I agree with Kristen; should not be used for escapism. Most people that want to shift start to get dependent on it. You should go in with the intent of wanting to come back sooner or later. As said later some start to get into a depressive state of mind because they want to go back.

“Paint a universe with your mind.” sounds like lucid dreaming discourse rather than shifting discourse Daniel.

Anthony finding the pet warning is fascinating to me because I haven't heard that in awhile. That was started by Stellar.Chaos on tiktok and that was because he shifted his entire room to another universe. His method was a spaceship method which required him to be awake and to shift his room like a spaceship. With the inclusion of a pet in the room it would be like shifting your pet to another universe accidentally. Good on Cham for telling people those unsaid rules for shifting. Although the pet question wasn’t answered; i think this is subjective? Since most shift while they are asleep (most successfully shift while lucid dreaming but again it’s not required) they are bringing just their mind, not everything else.

3 Dangers

Yes! It’s finally saidI You cannot get stuck. Here’s a food for thought with what Anthony asked. I don’t think anyone can get stuck (and there isn’t a reality where you can get stuck) because your consciousness belongs in this world originally; you’re just visiting the desired reality.

I love having a healthy mindset to shift. As said earlier you can get into a depressive episode if you want to shift every other day. I think Kristen (I think it was her) that said when you come back you feel depressed.

Sponsored Ad again (haha at 444 too)

4 Critics and Controversy

Hard concept to grasp is correct. Most find it unbelievable. I know @shifting-lark is making a post about this but she even said herself that it was hard to believe, but it was her curiosity that led her down the path she’s gone on today. Daniel is right about wanting to shift to experience a better world and that it’s unfortunate.

“Something we choose to believe in” said Cham. Yes, people can choose not to believe in it just like a religion. Doesn’t mean it isn’t real. She is also right when she said we are not hurting ourselves. As long as you are shifting to visit or live out another life and not to stay there I think it’s fine.

I can see where Anthony is coming from with questioning Kristen’s scenario with Hermione doing the WAP or twerking. With everyone watching the same Harry Potter they have the same mind as what Hermione would act like. Yes, there may be a reality where the person wanted Hermione to do the WAP or to act like a Gen Z, but for the most part people are not thinking about every individual character and wanting to shift to see that. They’re wanting to shift to experience the authentic reality.

Caps again sorry I got excited; WHEN ANTHONY STARTED TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE COMPARING LUCID DREAMING AND SHIFTING I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE DANIEL BUT NO AND I AM SO EXCITED. I feel like people are going to not understand where Cham is coming from but here’s what I think she means. Lucid dreaming makes it feel like we’re making it up and not going anywhere at all making it feel like we are stuck. Being told reality shifting isn’t real is invalidating a whole other life. Yes, I agree with her.

5 All eyes on a new reality

Not really much said except with the fact that it may take a long while to shift. Daniel is the one who said this and at the end of the day I agree with that. He set the example up of someone wanting to learn the piano, well that takes a little bit to learn and you are not experienced from the get-go. Here’s my add-on. I think some people are naturals when it comes to shifting. Like people learning the piano; some people can grasp the concept and ways to learn faster than some others which leads them to become experienced faster.

Overall

I think it’s a good basis, but not really a good place to start. For the most part you have to be somewhat experienced in the area of reality shifting to fully point out things you want to take. If you didn’t know anything about shifting you would question, but use the video as a reference. I think pairing this video with many other “introduction to reality shifting” videos will make a better introduction than just one complete video.

#cw: anthony padilla video #tw cursing #tw shifting doubts #reality shifting #shifting community #desired reality #shiftblr #sky children of the light

[delta-magnetic]

so the pendulum has once again swung over to "its my blog i'll do what i want" so like i said in my reblog gushing about death magnetic, im gonna talk about my sort of personal metallica roadmap ! plus some reflection at the end lol

don't worry i shall put it under a read more because while i have the guts to babble about whatever in this moment, i don't have the balls to force you to look at it assuming/hoping the read more works lmao, here's to hoping!

so when i was in elementary school, and my uncle was of the four relatives i was regularly in a vehicle with, and "his" music was metal/hard rock. specifically he'd always be like "yoooo metallica!" and it would not be a truck ride with him w/o hearing master of puppets

...nono not the whole album! just the title track. might listen to battery sometimes, but he would play it just for the title track

but god damn if we didn't get hype as shit when it was on. i used to always think it was two different songs because of the slower part in the middle (which was admittedly my favorite part besides the intro)

and hearing just this, battery, and seek and destroy sometimes (either through the radio or maybe he had some sort of "best of" or even a burned CD? idk) from my uncle, i always imagined a slightly intimidating, very angry middle aged dude. think 2003/2004 james (didn't really imagine/think about the fact it was a whole band, i was so young and was only putting a face to the vocals), since that was about how old my uncle was, that's why i imagined a very intense, older guy singing master of puppets (this tangent will be relevant to the end lol)

now flash forward many a years. i even wanna say 2020? mom's usual radio station flips over to all christmas music in mid november and stays that way til christmas is over, so she goes to a different one. she tells me how this one plays a LOT of metallica, to her slight dismay

and i heard enter sandman on there while i was in the car with her one day and was like "wait, this is metallica?" i'd love to say i'd surely heard the song at some point in my life before then and knew it was by them, but i really can't! (or who knows maybe i had and just somehow didn't pay it any mind) because if i had i'm sure i would've gotten curious

which i eventually did! but not through "oo i wanna check out more!" i actually have youtube recommended to thank. out of nowhere, i was suggested "members of metallica being idiots". so of course i'm like lol wtf and click on it, and once again am saying "wait this is metallica?" but much more intensely lmao. like wait a second that dude shouting from my uncles radio and his bandmates are just big ol dorks?

and so the rabbit hole begun. i watched more compilations, googled names, and eventually gave in to listening to some songs. i phrase that last part like that because i almost didn't want to get into metallica? like it felt too "different" compared to me. i wasn't a metal person! i couldn't be a metal person! it just didn't fit me and i didn't fit it!

i know some of the first things i heard were two st anger songs (the unnamed feeling and invisible kid. former of which i still absolutely love. i wouldn't say love at first listen, but very liked at first listen) and the black album. there were definitely songs off tba that stood the hell out and i immediately loved, but i think a mix of tiredness on first listen, my own weird intrapersonal skepticism, and unsavory associations tied to dtom prevented it from being my major launch into the band

that would be death magnetic, which i of course gushed about on jinn's post lol, so there's a little bit of space saved

buuuut yep there it is lmao. i've certainly rambled about certain aspects of this before, like my uncle only playing master of puppets, or how i don't feel like i "fit". it took me a while to overcome that tbh, and i even still occasionally struggle with that, because i knew how fans could and would get over "fake" fans, which felt 10x more intense coming from a band of this magnitude and genre (that being said i'm super lucky and glad i've found the people i have on here uwu). and admittedly i'm not a metal person! i just like metallica :3, this could change but i am more than content with just these guys and of course all the other bands i like but you know what i mean!

another thing i've surely said a bunch, but i find it a CRIME my uncle never played me the black album! i know i said that it didn't sucker punch me as hard, but i bet it really would've if i had heard it as a little kid! or hell even just the rest of master of puppets, YOU DEPRIVED ME, SIR!!

it's also just so wild how much my perception of them has changed?? this is another thing i've definitely babbled about before, but going from thinking there was some grumpy man in his mid-40s behind master of puppets vocals, to knowing it was a kind of shy dork who's barely older than i am now?? and putting faces to the rest of the band?? i find it weirdly cool tbh

#wpbosting #i *know* this coulda been condensed #but like i said *somebody* got me feelin rambly! #i mean that in a good way btw <3 #anyone who bothers to read this deserves a medal tbh #maybe now that ive scrawled this down in one post i'll stop bringing it up so much pffft #also i started this like 6 hours ago but then watched a movie with friends #and now its 3 in the morning lmao #was GONNA finish and post this tonight tho dammit! #though with that being said it is time for me to motherfuckin SLEEB

[fmdinyeong]

third time is the charm right? so yeah......... another revamp for inyeong and this time it’s going to be the last. i just didn’t feel like i was going anywhere with her the way she was and that her motives were slightly too superficial to my liking so i took the opportunity to revamp her and make her an older more jaded version of who she originally was supposed to be. phew. that’s a lot. anyway.  i have her BIO, her PROFILE, and again those basic PLOTS. you can (and probably should since i’m waaaaay more likely to reply there) add me on discord @ moonpsy #4969 or like this post and i’ll hit u up <3 

tw: dieting, plastic surgery, depression

okay so same backstory as before; youngest of four kids, very spoiled from birth, ppl never told her no. she did a bunch of different classes/activities growing up, never liked one thing specifically but her parents still indulged her

decided she wanted to be an idol bc she became obsessed with the Lifestyle of idols. nothing about the music or the performance or anything rly she just wanted the fame and the success and the fans basically 

so she auditioned for dimensions with the intention of debuting there, back in 2013 

she never really... tried to do anything when she was in dimensions bc she didn’t think she had to? she did improve on her dancing skills but she didn’t push as hard to improve her vocals esp bc the lawsuit went down and the company was in shambles and whatnot 

7rophy was announced and she wasn’t in the original line up. she told on one of the girls who was, telling the person responsible for the trainees that the girl was in a relationship, and the girl was kicked out of the company but bada still didn’t make it to the group (for reasons like... she didn’t fit the image, she didn’t fit the concept etc etc etc

bada basically felt like she wasn’t going to go anywhere staying in dimensions. so she took the shot of auditioning to bc and got in bc of her decent dancing skills but mostly bc of her looks (she was always pretty but she got a nose job, did some dieting and started taking constant trips to the dermatologist so she started filling exactly the standard of visuals that bc has)

bc was... a whole different story 

the competition there was something else entirely and it basically kicked her butt. the thing is that inyeong thrives on competition. she wants to win, and she knows that to win she needs to be the best. she compares herself to others and that doesn’t make her feel lesser. instead she sets the goal for herself that she’s going to be better than them. 

so she became one of the most diligent trainees, applying herself the hardest, improving the most to the point where she only got good comments during all the evaluations 

she even got the chance to participate in decipher’s the winter’s tale mv in 2018

but her debut never came

and then bc debuted their soloist in 2019 and honestly bada hates her soooo much. she thinks she’s too untalented to have debuted, she has nothing special going for her and she doesn’t understand how she was given a debut before bada was. 

honestly the start of 2020 was terrible for her (lmao same girl). at age 22 she was pretty much convinced she wasn’t going to debut ever and that she was just going to be asked to leave the company, esp with the trainees getting younger and younger, even with her being as good as she was. inyeong got into a seriously depressive episode because she felt like things didn’t have purpose anymore and the one thing she had going for her didn’t offer her any prospect. she was terrified of the possibility of having to find something else to do of her life and at the same time determined to quit bc

her brother minseok kinda pushed her to keep trying, to keep insisting, to keep going. and it was worth it bc by mid 2020 bc let her know she would be debuting in 2021 

she thinks the concept of chroma is pretty convoluted and she doesn’t know how bc expects the public to fully get on board with it. but honestly she’s too happy about debuting. 

in regards to the group and being a leader, inyeong is... i’m not gonna say aoa’s jimin bc yikes but she’s definitely no nurturing and caring leader. she’s very strict with the girls and watches them with hawk eyes. she’s not going to let anyone ruin her debut for her, not them or even herself, so she’s keeping them on a tight leash. when the full group debuts she’s going to act more as a quiet leader, who just keeps an eye on the girls most of the time and lets them do their thing but behind the scenes yeah she’s... not the nicest lmao she’s always going to have a softer spot for chroma crystal though.

personality wise she’s lost a lot of the immaturity that drove her decisions. she’s def still v self-absorbed and cutthroat, def isn’t the nicest person to speak to, but she’s also more conscious of how what other people think about her might affect her career so she’s more careful in her interactions... for now. she doesn’t have a skip on her step as she used to, and like i mentioned, she’s way more jaded and serious about things, but her interactions with people are mostly neutral.

i think this is it!! for future reference the groups she dislikes are origin, wish and femme fatale so anyone from those is like........ almost guaranteed she dislikes them lmao we can work with that though! 

#fmdintro #phew this is big anyway hi i'm a mess we know

[chidoroki]

Head empty, pre-TPN season 2 thoughts only.

Normally I don’t even bother with hiding spoilers but since the new season is so close I’ll put everything below a cut (if tumblr cooperates) because I do want anime-onlys to enjoy the season with as little knowledge to what madness is about to happen as possible. This is just a bunch of notes that filled my head over the past couple days.. weeks? A long time.. and if I didn’t write them all down somewhere I wouldn’t stop thinking about them.. so if you understand this whole mess, then kudos to you.

So, here’s your post-season 1/ch37+ spoiler warning.

Demon language:

With Mujika and Sonju making their grand first appearances, I hope actually implement the demon language this time?

The only word spoken in the language in season 1 was the demon god’s name, which was just changed to “Him” (sub) or “The One” (dub), so ignoring it there was fine.

Granted, our demon friends don’t say much in their language during the upcoming arc, aside from this moment in ch48, but I can see the anime passing it off as a mere whisper between the two of them just so they don’t have to worry about it.

I don’t recall any of the GP poachers using the language though.. right? Pretty sure they don’t..

Anyways, all I’m saying is that they better figure something out by the Ayshe shows up way later in future seasons.

Episode count? 24?

Short answer: I don’t think so? Did once, but stuff happened. Anyways..

Season 1 ended in March 2019, which is also when we learned we were getting a second season and once we found later on that S2 was originally going to air in October 2020, I immediately thought we were getting about 24 eps.

I thought with all that time between seasons, 24 eps would be reasonable and that S2 would end at ch101. S1 managed to adapt 37 chapters, so 64 chapters in a season twice as long sound decent enough, right?

By the time we reach ch101, it would give us the demon forest, shelter B06-32, Goldy Pond and the short trip to Cuvitidala. (all of which would make this long wait for s2 sooo worth it btw.)

By this point we learn a bunch about the outside world, Norman being alive, what happened to Phil, and the demon bastard himself.

I bring up ch101 as a stopping point because it’s the last chapter before the two year time skip and.. I honestly can’t see them doing a time skip mid-season?

I mean, they could if they wanted to, I guess? Having everyone age up suddenly between episodes via a montage, a quick summary or even flashbacks of what we missed.. but maybe at the start of a season? Not in the middle.

Right now we know anime original scenes are going to be included into season 2 so I’m kinda hoping that once we do eventually reach the time skip we learn more about the search Emma’s group went on for T7W/golden water/temples.

I counted. If S2 does indeed get this many episodes, ep23 (or 22, if there’s a break in between somewhere or whatever) will land on my birthday and you can bet I’ll be beyond happy

HOWEVER! all the hope I once had about a 24ep season vanished due to the clusterfuck that was 2020. Thanks to the worldwide pandemic, many anime were put on hold and pushed back several months, with TPN airing this month rather than the original October date.

It was a bummer hearing about the delay at first but I never complained about it. I much rather have the studios prioritize their employee’s health over production.

Even if S2 did reach ch101, or even Goldy Pond, they would need to find a ton of new voice actors, and with how the world is working now.. eh, I have some doubts.

Cloverworks also has two other series airing this month aside from TPN so needless to say they’ll be a bit busy, especially if employees are still working from home, social distancing, or however they’re managing to produce these anime.

So, episode count.. 12?

The main reason I have a hard time grasping the idea of another 12ep season at all is because.. I don’t know where it’ll be a decent place for it to stop?

S1 ending at ch37 with the kids escaping? Perfect. You can’t question that decision. But now? When a whole bunch of craziness is about happen? How do you choose another perfect moment to end a season with?

No matter how many anime original scenes they have planned for the demon forest, I believe we’ll at least reach B06-32, which will get us to ch52.

Could they go farther? Sure. Perhaps ending at ch59-60? It would leave us off with Emma & Ray leaving the comfort of the shelter to follow Yuugo into yet another demon infested forest, much like how S1 left off, as the escapees left their once safe, comfortable life into the unknown world.

Or end at ch64? After Emma gets snatched by the poachers? It could work. It would certainly leave everyone wanting more, especially us manga readers because goddamn the GP arc would be SO close!

Perhaps ch74 after seeing Norman alive? Just so it’s not a big darn secret anymore to those who are going into this season blind? (how do people manage to stay anime only? i’m not trying to make anyone feel bad.. i’m just impressed? i caught up to the manga right after s1 because i didn’t have the self control to wait!)

Ending on that chapter would be so bittersweet to me.. because you know what appears in ch75 and it’s literally one of the only things I care about.

S2 preview trailers already teased some of the demon forest scenes I’m most excited about, so the only things left that will truly excite me are Yuugo and that darn outfit. (seriously, whenever we do get to see emma in her gp outfit for the first time, someone better scream at me so i can die from happiness.)

Okay, and all the GP kids too.. especially their trio!

Could they fit the Goldy Pond arc into a 12 episode season along with every other event that came before it? I.. seriously hope not? 

Compared to s1, which was very dialogue heavy, GP is about as action packed as we’re gonna get in the near future, and those scenes are going to fly by once they get put into motion.

Quick example (because it was recent and i can’t think of something else atm): the Overhaul arc from My Hero Academia. Off the top my head it was about 40 total ch? That arc took up half of the show’s S4, which was a total 25 eps.

So with the GP ending at ch96, it’ll give us about 20-30 chapters (depending on where you personally see the start of this arc I guess? once yuugo leads the duo through the forest, when emma gets snatched or when the battle actually starts)

If GP were to happen in s2 where there’s 12 episodes.. literally everything would be so fast paced and I don’t want them to rush anything or leave stuff out?

Other options?

It’s very wishful thinking and I would be getting my hopes up for nothing, because I know it won’t happen, but I could possibly see them fitting GP arc if S2 was made up of 18eps?

6 eps for the demon forest, 6 for Goldy pPond, the remaining 6 to accommodate B06-32, Cuvitidala and any other anime original scenes as they wish.

Although fitting about 64 chapters into 12-18 episodes sounds a bit much.. but not really? I seriously have no idea at this point how much story we’re going to cover this season.

Could I perhaps place all my hopes towards a second cour later this year? Like for the summer.. or would I be expecting too much?

This all could’ve been avoided if they just tell us! Seriously, I’ve been thinking about episode count since last year.. and now you have to deal with this mindless chatter of mine.

I’d honestly be okay with another 12ep season though. We waited this long that I’ll just be excited to see all the children again.

Anime-only scenes:

Those 3 days the children spent learning from our demon friends? Yes please! Did you know Emma not only learned how to use a bow and arrow but a freakin’ harpoon as well? Like.. hello?? I must see this!

Perhaps they’ll even adopt some of the extra pages from some of the chapters, like they did in S1 with the flashback of Norman being sick in ep10.

I know this will be such a high hope, but I remember in ch177 how Emma claims that after they escaped, they all remembered how kind Isabella really was, so if they decide to adapt the extras from ch41-42 & ch45, I’ll cry.

And these pages? Cloverworks, please..

I’m literally begging here..

Especially these two! Even though I still doubt we’ll reach Goldy Pond if we get 12eps.. but in the future! Please!

Other random nonsense:

I may or may not get emotional upon seeing Isabella at the very start when she goes to confront Grandma Sarah. If her hair is kept down as it was at the end of S1 then I’ll give the anime staff my sincere thanks.

We only heard 15 seconds of “Identity” and yet it has been living in my head rent free ever since that trailer dropped. I need to hear the full song sooo damn badly, y’all have no idea.

Here’s hoping they don’t cut out the inner monologues again. At this moment I don’t remember any specific ones from the demon forest I want to see but I’m sure they’re present.

I’m ready to die at every cute Chris moment they give us.. and this entire scene where the kids scold Ray. 

Literally every scene with Emma & Ray. They’re my top 2 favorites from this series okay? Of course I’m going to fangirl over them. (they already showed the hug in one of the trailers and i damn near cried)

If we see him, (which i’m sure we will, but i still have tiny some doubts) I hope they give Yuugo a fantastic voice actor.

Also, his nicknames for everyone!! Literally everything about that man I’m hyped for.

Again, very doubtful we’ll get GP in a 12ep season, but whenever that arc decides to grace us with its presence, “63194” better play on full blast when ch92-93 gets animated.

Speaking of music, while I’m completely excited to hear the new OST that Obata has in store for us (thank god he’s doing this season again btw!), I hope we hear some of those unused tracks from the first season, specifically “Their Own Thoughts.”

Every time Emma mentions their future, their goals or how her family will always be together, I’ll cry. (thanks demon god and your stupid reward)

Yes I’ll be doing those reaction posts (if you follow me i’m sure you’ve seen them by now) after every new episode as I do with other series I watch.. once I survive the usual long day at work, avoiding anything TPN related so I can watch in peace and quiet when I finally get home.. damn it, im already so anxious, help.

#the promised neverland #chidoroki used chatter