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allgremlinart · 6 months

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haiiiiii friend can you explain jianzhu to me I keep seeing you post about them and I’m nosy and wanna know (<- stopped watching atla bc I realized zutara was never gonna be canon)

also jetko. can you explain jetko too (I’m thinking they’re more on the ghostbat spectrum where it’s like. intense friendship that left both emotionally scarred for the rest of their lives)

TEEHEE HEEHE HEE <- me when I get the opportunity to explain/infodump cross-fandom stuff to mutuals

ok so Jianzhu... ahhh Jianzhu... ((SPOILERS for anyone reading the Kyoshi novels))

This is Jianzhu and also like... probably one of maybe 4 canon images/art there is of him... he's not from the original cartoon he's from the Avatar Kyoshi spin-off novels that take place abt 400 yrs before the events of the show (idk how much you know abt atla lore from osmosis so this might get a little tedious? I'm just gonna explain as succinctly as possible.)

To be brief, he's a cunty old man. But unlike when I call, say, Minhkhoa a cunty old man it's not really loving ... its more like... I love to hate him. He's a REALLY good villain.

He's a politician. He made 500 people dig their own graves and then buried them alive. He beheaded his friend of like 20+ years. He drugs and kidnaps teenagers. etc. It's great.

His whole character arc is like... He's in control. You start off the book and he is very clearly in control, and he knows what he's doing, and he even sounds halfway reasonable sometimes but over the course of the novel he gets more and more desperate to grab hold of a situation that spirals wildly away from him and you get to watch it happen. His justifications for his actions get crazier, he gets sloppier and sloppier with his murders....

OH also you know how sometimes people think Bruce is some callous asshole who was only using his adoptive son who worshipped him as a weapon, and when he died he quickly sought to replace him without remorse ? Yeah he's like that but. Like actually this time. His dead adoptive son also then comes back after eating an eyeball in the spirit world (idk) and kills him by pressing a pebble through his sternum so. More successful than Jason at patricide I'd say. Look there's a lot I didn't cover, here's his wiki.

ok Jetko... ah... the ancient yaoi..

Important required reading before I explain this ship is this post. What you have to understand about Zuko is that for basically like... 40 episodes the only person he shares significant screen time with is his uncle so when him and Jet met in s2 and had a decent 3 episodes worth of interactions ... it was enough, lets just say that.

The basic Jetko timeline is they meet on a ferry while Zuko and his Uncle are disguised as refugees and they steal food together -> Jet tries to get Zuko (who he only ever knows as "Li") to join his emo band gang which Zuko refuses -> Jet sees Uncle Warcrimes heating his tea and correctly deduces that they are firebenders (ie not who they say they are; the enemy) -> Zuko and his Uncle work in a tea shop while Jet stalks them and steals things from their house and watches them from behind clotheslines (yeah) -> Jet confronts them in the teashop, sword fight, Jet gets arrested and brainwashed by the secret police (yeah) -> Jet dies under a lake which Zuko only finds out about a season later.

So they never had the 4 years of intense homoerotic cohabitation that ghostbat had,.. their chemistry and potential are pretty much instigated by a few of Jet's weird intense lines, such as "As soon as I saw your scar I knew exactly who you were - you're an outcast, like me." And the crux of the ship is like.. Jet both does and doesn't know who Zuko is.

He knows he is also angry and restless, like himself - he knows he is running from his past, like himself - and he knows he is going to Ba Sing Se to create a new identity. These things are all true, for both of them; what Jet doesn't know is that Zuko is from the imperialist nation that brutally murdered his parents and invaded his home and he incorrectly assumes that the anger he recognizes in Zuko stems from the same need to enact violence on those who have taken everything from him.

So I guess the "thought you were exactly like me but then I found out you're not which enrages and humiliates me so know I'm going to beat the shit out of you" thing from BTK no. 6 is something they share with ghostbat but.. Jet's anger is probably a little more justified than Minhkhoa's lol...

In conclusion it's your basic "doomed relationship/they work great together but that doesn't fix anything" ship premise. It used to be more popular back in the day... pretty sure I owe my life to maybe 3 different Taiwanese/Chinese doujin artists from 2009... yeah that's the gist of it.

#wow it is harder than I thought to explain atla lore without like. ACTUALLY explaining atla lore (because trust me that would take too long)#also I'm literally so tortured and enthralled by the end of that first sentence North. its so funny to me but I'm so lost.#how did u hear about z/tara ?? why was it the crux of your interest in the show ?? when was this ?? but also yeah like I've said before #that ship is queerbaiting for straight pairings sdshdsh so you weren't the only one #allgremlinasks #atla #jianzhu #jetko #north tag

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drconstellation · 3 months

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Liberty versus the Tree of Life

TW: Discussion of death and grief

I received a question from @lickthecowhappy the other day on one of my metas that I'm going to try and address in this post. This is going to wander into some pretty heavy areas, and discuss some implications for S3.

They asked:

"What do you think about comparing "give me liberty (coffee) or give me death" with gaining free will via the tree of knowledge but losing access to the tree of life in the process?"

On one hand this might look like a simple choice between two things, but its not - there are shades of grey, of course. Can the two (liberty/death vs. knowledge/life) be compared? Yes - in a way. But we need to unpack the question in its entirety first.

"Give me liberty, or give me death!"

This famous quote that forms the basis of the name of Nina's coffee shop is from a reconstructed speech given by the American politician Patrick Henry in 1775, as the colonists prepared to fight against the British Empire. It is worth us having a look at the extended excerpt of the speech quoted from Wikipedia in context of what we know is coming in S3:

If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

If the mention of Boston wasn't there, you could almost read that as a crazy synopsis of S2 and S3. The Great War, that wasn't considered concluded satisfactorily and must be restarted and finished once and for all, has begun again, and is on its inexorable way. There will be storms. Some see the outcome in black and white - you either win or die; there is no other option, because they do not dare entertain it.

The fandom seems quite settled with the analogy of liberty and freedom = coffee, and six shots of espresso is Crowley's coffee preference, because he loves and protects his freedom with a passion. Crowley is that coffee, in a way - long, dark and richly intense. He is a champion of free will. Even as a demon he still gives those he tempts the choice to make their own mistakes. So how do we apply this to the coffee the Metatron offers Aziraphale, and the other option, death?

The coffee the Metatron orders and forces on Aziraphale is a message, and a warning, to the angel - "I know all about you and your demon partner." The shot of coffee in it is Crowley, the oat milk is to say Aziraphale has maybe gone a bit too far with things with Crowley while on Earth, and the almond syrup is to say they have been watched and observed do so. This is confirmed when the Metatron mentions that he knows that Aziraphale and Crowley have formed a de facto partnership.

And where would Aziraphale get his Crowley from if he went back to Heaven?

What about death? Is it a real option? What does the option of death mean anyway?

If you are not familiar with the Tarot deck, the Death card can seem quite alarming. A skeleton in black armour strides over a fallen king - death does not care for rank or position. Death cares not for riches, they will not hold it at bay. Nor will prayers. Death does not care what age you are, either. But the small, kneeling child holds a posy of flowers up as if in greeting, the only one prepared to face the rider on the pale horse; this is because children are not as always as set in their ways as adults are, and can adapt to change more easily.

Experienced Tarot users know that is what the Death card signifies when it appears: Change. Something is coming to and end, but something else is about to start as well. It's not a physical death, its a spiritual or metaphorical death. It should be a welcomed card, as it indicates there is a promise renewal and new beginnings on the horizon (see the dawning sun between the two pillars in the top right of the card?) and all one has to do is surrender to the inevitable change. But like death, making changes can sometime be a hard, fearful thing to face. Facing death, either your own or someone else's, is ultimately about accepting change.

Surrender to the British is not what Patrick Henry wanted to do. He wanted to keep the liberty he had in the new world.

But death was the only viable option Aziraphale had.

"So predictable," remarked the Metatron to Nina, when she told him people don't ever ask for death in response to his question. Death is present in Nina's coffee shop - it's the green colour on the inside walls.

I haven't done much colour meta lately but I have been doing a lot of research on them, as I realized the original meta I wrote needed a major revision, which I plan to do soon. Green was one of those colours that needed more work.

The green on the inside walls actually has two meanings, which are both specifically tied to the coffee shop, but the first one is Death, with the capital D. This is one of the Four Horsepeople lurking in the background of S2, as Armageddon prepares to ramp up again. War is on the label of the wine bottle Crowley has in S2E5, Famine is the Marley Horse statue that Crowley puts his sunglasses on inside the bookshop, and where the stone-shaped Eccles cakes are placed in offering. Death is waiting inside the coffee shop, right next to the constraining sky-blue moral lawfulness of Heaven.

Death rides a pale horse, but the word used to describe it, "chloros," actually translates to a "pale greenish-yellow." That would have looked a bit sickly inside the coffee shop, I think, so they used a more complimentary shade of green, and one that would double up with a second meaning. Green is also the colour associated with new beginnings and the resurrection. That's why the outside of The Resurrectionist pub is dark green - it's got nothing to do with Hell (at least, I don't think it does, in this case!)

The Second Coming is in progress. Armageddon is underway again. Someone in Heaven is determined to see the supposed Great Plan come to fruition.

The Riddle of the Sphinx

In Sophocles play Oedipus Rex the titular character meets the Sphinx on a hill outside of Thebes. The monster has been devouring travelers who do not answer her riddle correctly.

"What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"

Clever Oedipus replies with "Man," and defeated, the Sphinx departs, removing her curse from the city.

A baby crawls on four limbs into childhood, then two legs into adulthood, then on three legs with a cane for an aid into old age. This is the natural progression of life. You would not want to remain an infant forever, and similarly if you have children wouldn't you wish to see them progress from childhood to adulthood and have children of their own?

Remember Momento mori? It's a major theme in the series. Remember that you die. It's a reminder that cycles must end and restart, and that death is an important part of life. We saw the Starmaker set up a star factory, but even stars die eventually, and need to die, to make new stars. The universe recycles itself, that is how it keeps going. Sometimes we need a reminder that life is short, although sometimes it seems too long as well.

I think we too easily forget that our ineffable duo, as angel and demon, are entities that can effortlessly travel between these two worlds of life and death, as we humans see it. It's their business to do so, after all. As supernatural beings, they are eternally alive, and death has a different meaning to them - it's destruction that they fear.

The Tree of Knowledge & The Tree of Life

Aziraphale's role as Guardian of the Eastern Gate was to prevent humans returning to the Garden of Eden to access the Tree of Life after they had eaten from the Tree of Knowledge.

The Tree of Knowledge gave us questioning, curiosity and imagination. We learned, we created and in doing so made choices - we used free will. But in taking this liberty it gave us the responsibility for ourselves. It supposedly gave us the concept of sin and doing wrong, and also shorter lives to help us deal with the "agony" of this.

And the other option, the Tree of Life, that is apparently so dangerous we must be kept away from it? Is it death? No, quite the opposite - it offers eternal life, and redemption from sin. In short - a state of no change - and no choice.

To access the Tree of Life now the choice is made for you before you can arrive in front of it, in the Book of Life. If your name is in the Book on Judgement Day, you get to enter Paradise. If it is not, you will be cast down into a lake of burning sulfur (hmm, sounds familiar...) And that's it, forever and ever.

Is that really the ideal of Paradise? Yet we're made to fear the cyclic change and new growth that death brings, and want to yearn so much for the stagnation of Eternity that we rigidly structure our lives around a possible promise of it as a goal.

Eternal Life, Eternal Youth

Eternal life is not the same as eternal youth. In a cautionary tale from Ovid's Metamorphoses we have the Cumaean Sybil who lived a thousand years. She was the priestess of the oracle of Apollo at Cumae, near Naples, and apparently Apollo offered to grant her a wish in exchange for her virginity. She scooped up a handful of sand, and asked to be given as many years of life as there were grains of sand that she held. Later, she refused to sleep with the god, so he let her physical body wither away, because she had failed to ask for eternal youth as well. Her body shrunk as the years went by, and grew smaller and smaller, and eventually only her voice was left, kept contained in a jar. (And here is a link to one of the books on Jim's bookshelf - Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is named after the ampulla that the Sybil's voice was said to have been kept in.)

Searching for a Fountain of Youth, or creating a Philosopher's Stone for immortality has a common theme in stories through history, even from earliest times. It can be seen as a blessing, or a curse, or a fool's errand. It's a quest that is still prevalent in our modern thinking - going to the gym to build muscle, cosmetic surgery for looks only etc Queer culture has long had an emphasis on youth and beauty and growing old is anathema; freezing the body in time like in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray is an aim, but our fragile mortal frames just aren't made for that. Isn't it what is inside us that counts, not the label we have applied to it?

Choices, Choices...

The time has come to make a choice: will it be the stimulating coffee of free will, or the painful change and rebirth of death, that might lead to something even better?

Perhaps you want to try the other combination: Having control and responsibility over your own short life in exchange for having to live your life to a strict set of rules so that you can then exist forever in somebody else's idea of a static ideal afterwards.

I find I'm a bit biased. But you chose what you will.

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” T. S. Eliot

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cere-mon-ials · 4 months

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2023 in kdramas

*that i finished

**in order of how deep and lasting the brainrot was/is from barely a smidge to stitched to my soul

[12] I figured See You In My 19th Life would be trying when I couldn’t understand why an extraordinary individual in her 18th life—18 incredible lives lived over some of history’s most happening centuries—would fixate on one pesky schoolboy. I bought it because (a) Shin Hye-sun was selling it (b) the show tried to make it clear that while she remembered her past lives, it is not the same as living the one she is in. So when the young Ju-won meets Seo-ha, she is still a 12-year-old who happens to fall for a 9-year-old, except she has heightened emotional maturity.

The plot follows Ju-won, who is reincarnated as Ban Ji-eum, her 19th life after her 18th was cut short in a car accident with Seo-ha. Then, the show fumbles its own logic, unable to choose if the real gift is living in the present or remembering how we got there. We are told that Ji-eum is determined to fix the life she didn’t get to live as Ju-won and because Ju-won’s family and Seo-ha are still alive, that’s who she seeks out. She also finds a dear one from her 17th life. The twist is that the 18th life was meant to be a fated reincarnation of two lovers, who in their time—the first life—were wronged. In the end, when the sins are atoned for, Ji-eum loses the memories of her past lives. She is Ji-eum, smart and talented, daughter of an abusive man and born destitute, free of karmic obligations. But who is this Ji-eum? Who does she love? Why are the memories of everyone who knew her as the extraordinary Ju-won/Ji-eum so valuable and hers isn’t? Milquetoast writing and a genuine lack of interesting characters in the rest of the show.

[11] I didn’t finish the first season of Dr. Romantic because I had a violent reaction (derogatory) to Yoo Yeon-seok’s character. I went straight to the additional episode ft. Kim Hye-soo who is ~flails~ and warmed up to this fantastic ensemble, thanks to a YYS-less sequel. Season 3 is ambitious and follows the raggity crew of overworked doctors in a country hospital now coping with its expansion into an elite trauma centre. The show does neither this premise nor the incredible cast they managed to bring back together (at least four of who could demand three times what they were paid in S2) any real justice. It had all the ingredients and an emotional core that is most pleasing to me. Seriously, it was so good: in reaching for the Michelin stars of healthcare, ostensibly Kim Sabu’s legacy, both he and his colleagues find that they may need to reassess what he taught them. Look at the implications. Doldam is a hospital that has run for two seasons on the strength of close-knit interpersonal relationships in ways (some might accuse) hazardous to professional codes. Something's gotta give.

DRR S3 does not trust the emotional tensions that these ideas can provoke and instead, throws in spectacle after spectacle. A bloodbath on a ship carrying illegal migrants, a raging forest fire, a building collapse. And there are villains, written as yangs to yings, in a main character's father played by an actual trash person, and then groan a politician. I mean, the vagaries of ill fortune and death is right there. Isn’t that enough? Makes you wonder just how did Lee-Shin partnership accomplish what they did with HosPlay. Someone who loves DRR’s characters will sit through it. But it’s junk food.

[10] Lee Bo-young is a force in Agency. It's a tried and tested formula: a brilliant creative person with abandonment issues in fantastic clothes. I enjoyed the snippy dialogues, peppered with refreshing metaphor and irony reminiscent of vintage Hollywood flicks. The writing isn’t confident about what it wants to say about an ambitious single woman in a workplace (and other women too including working mothers, women who find no need in dressing up to do their jobs, expert women who still have to struggle when they want to build something). But perhaps you, like me, can let it pass. It is not ideal to fetch a real answer to women’s struggles amidst capitalist excess.

[9] Our Blooming Youth begins with a cursed prince (Park Hyung-sik) and a noblewoman (Jeon So-nee) accused of murdering her entire family joining hands to free each other. Lurking behind is a national conspiracy spearheaded by several degenerate officials who wish to erase a people and their history—interesting that OBY and My Dearest later in the year featured the most marginalised being branded as traitors. The prince and noblewoman (cross-dressed as a eunuch of course) are joined by four young individuals who feel a sense of duty. I adored this band and their shenanigans. The show is kind to the youth in question, to their capacity to chase freedom and friendship. I was moved by such love for characters in this story about nationhood as an ongoing project.

But enjoying OBY means reading in between the lines because the show doesn’t know what to do with its 20-episode length or the depth of its interest in the scars of unacknowledged genocide. I felt impatient and unfulfilled more times than I’d like. I wish OBY was more meaty because it had the opportunity to be radical and chose to be inoffensive. Hyung-sik, very dear to me. So-nee, GOSH. I have loved her since Encounter (2018) and she fills a frame like nobody’s business. If there is such a thing as female gaze, she’s got it. I caught her in the little I watched of Soulmate (2023) recently. A marvel, just like Kim Da-mi.

[8] One Day Off is whimsical and celebrates the mundane in eight chapters following the wanderings of a school teacher, played by the luminous Lee Na-young. Japanese entertainment does discovering minor joys and its everydayness so well that it’s a genre in itself. I have seen it in a handful Korean variety shows too. As a drama, this is new to me and ODO felt special. It giveth in multitudes taking us to a monastery, an art exhibit, a film festival, a planetarium, many bakeries. At other times, it puts us in the middle of a rainy day and ancestral rites and a bus station where the teacher is stuck with condescending boomers. It's lovely.

[7] King The Land benefitted from low expectations of prestige. Junho lovers were tuning in to see him frolic after his Baeksang-winning performance as King Jeongjo, I can’t speak for Yoon-A lovers. The makers wanted to bank on these beloved actors and there is minimal friction between who they are and what they play on-screen. Junho, handsome, rich, kind. Yoon-A, pretty, hardworking, warm. There is a good chance that this show was part of a joint marketing campaign by Dior and Estee Lauder. And also, possibly, Thailand's tourism department. KTL is classic popcorn, easy on the eyes, easy on the mind (save for that irritatingly stupid arc with the ‘Arab prince’), designed to be innocuous. Here’s the thing, though: the cast and crew were not messing around with that dough. They chose to inject this fan + consumer service with an earnest desire to entertain missers of fluff romance. Lee Junho, permanent resident of my heart.

[6] Going in with low expectations helped when I watched My ID is Gangnam Beauty too. Kang Mi-rae is starting college with a new face, having shed her old one at the surgeon’s table because of life-long bullying at being conventionally unattractive. But Mi-rae now has to deal with gossip and judgement about the extents she has gone for what’s deemed as a vanity project. When Mi-rae says that it matters what people think of her, I can't object. It’s because Gangnam Beauty tells a story about familiar feelings and yet, it is also defiantly about Mi-rae. You can walk with her but you’re aware that not all of us walk in her precise shoes, and it’s not about measuring who’s having it worse either. I loved watching her settle into her skin, remaining compassionate in whatever is the opposite of noble idiocy.

Very sweet romance. I may not have noticed Cha Eun-woo if I hadn’t been derailed to the hilt by him in Island—also a show I finished but you will not find it on this list For Reasons.

[5] I wanted to love My Dearest a lot more. It was promising what with Namgoong Min as the perfect Lee Jang-hyun and Ahn Eun-jin as the perfect Yoo Gil-chae. NGM’s ability to smirk in a way that elicits both a punch and a blush is unparalleled. He owns the role of clever playboy merchant who sees the rules of polite society as impositions and who values human life above platitudes. AEJ's Gil-chae is stubborn and witty and audacious and has no interest in anything that distracts her from her desires. I loved them, and that became one of my problems when Part 1 ended. NGM is the perfect Jang-hyun and AEJ is the perfect Gil-chae but I wasn’t able to root for their romance. I never quite got over how the desire that they shared, which war put a damper on before it got a chance to bloom, gets cheapened at the end of Part 1—please read @elderflowergin's excellent post about this. In Part 2, that conversation isn’t adequately addressed but I was there to watch these two actors earn their Baeksang nominations. I found myself willing to move with the tides when Jang-hyun and Gil-chae let each other in after they learn to devote themselves to the people who make their community.

I cannot fault MD, however, on its commentary about how war disrupts ordinary life. There is nothing more moving in the show than the Joseon slaves in Qing singing their songs and harvesting rice, yearning for home while the King and his scholars commit to preserving standing and write these countrymen off. It’s a sharp critique of an upper class that delude themselves about their importance. MD is courageous enough to say that the nation does owe something to its people and the nation must prove itself worthy of sacrifice before it can demand such a thing. I haven’t stopped feeling the pangs of this love letter to a people and their land. The first seven episodes, set during the invasion and in the early days of the Joseon surrender, is real television. It’s what I watch sageuks for.

What else? Great telling of Crown Prince So-hyeons’s story. Lee Chung-ah is captivating. MD would have risen in my heart and on this list if it were more attentive to Ryang-eum. Double amnesia was comically exhausting to watch but I do feel generous now. The first time round Jang-hyun regains his memory because of a tangible article that proved Gil-chae’s love for him. The second time he traces back the arc of his life that spawned enduring memories of love and dreams. He’s not looking to retrieve what he doesn’t know he has lost. He knows he has lost and he is piecing together what he can. That’s a bold note to conclude on by makers who have risen to question the state of a nation in the hands of incompetence and cruelty and obscene pride. The racism is unsurprising—I wish this meant that I had better tolerance for it. I also wish the story knew better than to push Eun-hye to the sidelines. My favourite scene is Gil-chae finding Jang-hyun clawing to life by a string on a pile of corpses and proceeding to play dead while holding him tight to escape.

[4] I kept tuning in to Moving week after week despite my reservations about high school life, superheroes, and gore because it is a feat of storytelling. A rewarding first act, an absorbing second, and a near perfect third. It’s a compelling story on its own about superhero parents who will go to any lengths to protect their superhero children. But it’s also poignant in how it tackles passive peace.

Critiques of the state’s abuse of power often turn fangless in the face of this idea about national security, the notion that secures our future. Writers fumble because they feel forced to provide an alternative: how else do we protect what we must? Moving kills the question by letting you see past that what (national security) and takes you to a who (our children, our literal future). It dismantles the illusions with its central stage as a highly-surveilled school where undercover secret agents observe and train gifted children. The litmus test isn’t going to be the abstraction of a nation. It’s going to be whether our children can grow up, can learn, can be free to be who they want to be, irrespective of talents they may or may not possess.

A state which can’t imagine freedom as such is a failed state and a failed state resorts to joining hands with those who have every interest in keeping us from seeing that we do in fact want the same things as our neighbours. The real world bleeds in when the story of two Koreas becomes apparent. It’s acutely observed in a way that’s trope-y but perhaps not untrue. But the show is more interested in the shared Koreanness, in their love for their children, and for the unimpeachable desire to make their lives better.

Park Hee-soon had me hugging myself from his first frame to the last. Electrifying performance. Han Hyo-joo, oh my god.

[3] My Lovely Boxer was made for me. It’s about Gwon-sook (Kim So-hye), a boxing prodigy who disappeared from public eye after failing to show up for a championship game and Tae-young (Lee Sang-yeob), a ruthless sports agent at the cross hairs of matchfixing. Tae-young has messes to clean, payments to make, and he finds Gwon-sook to bring her back to the limelight for one final game to lose. Gwon-sook wants nothing to do with the sport and Tae-young promises that if disappearing for good is what she wants, then this plan would work for her too. It’s exactly as angsty as it sounds.

The show works because it doesn’t touch a thing that it isn’t willing to gnaw into. It doesn’t merely dangle matchfixing as plot omen—it explores the emotional and economic damages for the sportsmen with heft. Gwon-sook feels no love for boxing but she isn’t the only boxer in the world and that feeling is hardly universal. One of my favourite characters this year is Ah-reum, the opponent of that championship game for which Gwon-sook didn’t show up. That day, Gwon-sook may have chosen to leave the game for self-preservation but she also took away Ah-reum’s right to fair play. MLB is at its best when it navigates Gwon-sook seeking Ah-reum’s forgiveness because therein lies sportsmanship and what it means to tirelessly push your body for a shot at the ring. It’s an exhilarating journey with these two girls because (a) you want Ah-reum to have her moment (b) you don’t want Gwon-sook to lose and let the matchfixing bookers pocket money (c) you begin to wish Gwon-sook could win because she is too good. The stakes are delicious because the bookers are also a tad bit murderous and the final match had me at the edge of my seat.

Lee Sang-yeob was a shock to my system with his intense stare and a thespian interpretation of a man in shades of grey. Sexy bitch. I want to see Kim So-hye and Shin Se-kyung play sisters one day.

[2] Into The Ring tops my list of kdrama romcoms. Nana is a star and the fact that Se-ra cannot walk straight to save her life makes me giggle. She is blunt in the wrong ways, sharp in the wrong ways, and honest in all the right ways. Her heart is big and she has a sense of service to the people around her as though she really believes she was raised by a village. I loved Se-ra’s parents who reminded me of my own in their warmth and clownery. Park Sung-hoon’s Gong-myung is the dream guy: competent at work, loser in everything else. There’s only one kind of valid workplace romance and it’s this: accidentally becoming an elected representative and your childhood nerd friend volunteering to be your secretary to cover your ass. Perfect, no notes.

I happened to be reading Sara Ahmed’s Complaint! around the same time and I think it made me love the show's take on political action more. This is where Se-ra begins, just her and her complaint diary. That early episode where it dawns on her that she wants this job as much as she needs it got to me. There’s much to love in a show that is okay with however small a population she represents, as long as they are fun about joy and serious about justice.

[1] At the outset, Call It Love sounded like the makjang I avoid—a relationship between a woman and the son of her father’s mistress? Turns out, it's possible to tell that story like an accomplished spare poem with meticulously composed frames overdoing headroom and pared down dialogues. In effect, CIL is beautiful to look at and inviting to spend time with. This is kdrama caviar. Debut writer Kim Ga-eun has a gift for writing loneliness and solitude as not mutually exclusive to being a loved and loving person. She’s drawn comparisons to the extraordinary Park Hae-young who is the master at this sorcery. To my mind, the comparisons hold merit in subject but they operate with different intentions and styles. I hope they meet one day and I get to be a fly on the wall.

I was struck by how Lee Sung-kyung played Woo-joo as the responsible middle child, the one most burdened by the timing of her family’s collapse. The show is about her revenge but often, you see her struggle with the coldness this demands of her. She cannot resist what comes easiest to her and that’s her ability to see people having bad times as a reflection of the times, not the people. It's why she can forgive the aggrieved man who harms her, and why she tidies Dong-jin’s ex’s house while the ex is recouping from the heartbreak of losing the same man she is falling in love with.

No one has gotten the allure of the quiet guy, the shy guy, the good guy who is too awkward to be nice like Kim Young-kwang has. Dong-jin knows he has to work very hard to keep up with the pace of the world. He knows his mind but is afraid to impose it, because he doesn’t think it matters and because he doesn’t want to be a bother. Young-kwang just gets that line between clarity and low-esteem. I will never forget his teary eyes and total submission to loving Woo-joo in the single word he lets out with a hitched exhale. He slouches a lot but he will look you in the eye when he has to say something he doesn’t want to repeat. I loved him for that dignity. Special kisses to him for ditching neck ties.

It is true pleasure to see two male leads, majestic and towering in physique, composed to look tiny and frail. At one point, the costume department steps up Woo-joo’s wardrobe as her feelings intensify and it doesn't come across as a makeover. It is presented as the ordinary consequence of paying attention. I loved everything and everyone. The siblings. The ex-girlfriend, the bad mother and also, the generous & kinda clueless one. The stepfather who lingered, the best friends, the loyal & competent manager lady. Favourite kiss.

I am currently watching four dramas: A Good Day To Be A Dog (cute & fun), My Demon (silly & fun), Park's Marriage Contract (testing my patience), and Tell Me That You Love Me (relishing but for some reason not investing). I missed Not Others and The Eighth Sense when they were airing and they are the two shows from 2023 that I am adding to my watchlist. I am looking forward to 2024 because we seem to be getting at least one release from several greats and beauties. See you then! I hope no one emails you for the rest of the year and you eat well.

#call it love #into the ring #my lovely boxer #disney moving #moving #mbc my dearest #my id is gangnam beauty #gangnam beauty #king the land #one day off #our blooming youth #jtbc agency #dr romantic 3 #see you in my 19th life #kdrama #notes #2023 in review #kdrama in review

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thistleation · 9 months

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Hi lovely blog and art, just chiming in to say I also think Beatrice is ruthless and that she is portrayed as ruthless in warrior nun, she shot a tranquilizer dart in Ava's neck. Like I guess she expected the other to talk to her and convince her of going with them, but ofc ofc she's the one that not only thought about the scenario in which Ava resisted and tried to escape, she arrived there with a solution, mind you, a swift solution that removed agency from Ava. Also she she asks Vincent is removing the halo would mean Ava would die, she's talking about it like she's discussing the weather. Seeing as she was a nun, I was actually expecting her to be like 'but father Vincent we can't even consider that, because the value of human life bla bla, and this is a innocent human life that got caught in the middle of it all', instead cold as ice sister Beatrice's response to the possibility of killing Ava to retrieve the halo was: 'but the politics though' it actually made me laugh. I mean she was raised by diplomatics/politicians ofc she has concepts like 'optics, church PR' in mind. That actually made me realize that even before being a nun, she's above all, a devoted warrior. Above her supposed catholic ethics and compassion is her absolute, unwavering commitment to The Mission. Beatrice is ruthless and I love that about her. Because after Ava, that ruthlessness, that devotion, all of her skills have shifted and she's loyal to Ava with that same ruthlessness

Yes exactly!

I think all of them can be expected to have a certain level of cavalier attitude towards death as any of them who've been on more than a handful of missions can be expected to have killed in the line of duty.

Beatrice though has her upbringing that plays a role as well.

She's been taught from an early age that her feelings are wrong, and her coping strategies for that trauma are repressing her feelings and cold, emotionless logic.

I don't think S1 Beatrice means to be cold and callous, I think she's quite empathetic underneath, even then. It's just that she's so used to trusting the moral aspect of her actions to the church.

Again, her feelings, her judgement can't be trusted — she's been told as much since childhood — so instead she relinquishes those to a higher authority. And what higher authority is there than the church, the literal embodiment of God's will on earth?

And so Beatrice instead focuses on the tactics, the strategy, the logical breakdown of any situation as a problem to be solved, trusting that the problem that was put in front of her was put there by the church and God and is therefore morally right to solve.

Beatrice only focuses on the line.

And eventually, when the situation gets messier, when her love for Ava grows stronger and stronger, and she finds her personal priorities have shifted because she's finally, finally found something for herself to truly live for, that line is still there, and Beatrice can see it clearly.

I'm fond of saying that one of the sexiest things about S2 Beatrice is that she's prepared to turn her back on the mission and let the world burn if it means saving Ava.

There's this post I saw a good while back that said there's an appeal to being loved by a villain, because a villain can put you first, can choose you even if it means thousands of others die, where a hero can only ever put you second, after the greater good.

Beatrice will put Ava first. Before anything else.

I think she realizes that towards the end of S2. I think it scares her, and I think that's partly what led to the "would you come with me" scene.

But in the end when it comes down to it, she still makes the decision. Fuck the mission and fuck the world if that's what it takes, she puts Ava first.

And I love that for her.

#warrior nun #sister beatrice #avatrice #thank you for the compliment as well!#art has been going better since I came out so here's to hoping you'll see a bunch more from me!#I've got another pirate one I'm working on right now and I *promise* I've not forgotten about the big LB splash page for Casper

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divinekangaroo · 6 months

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I’m baffled as to why Tommy married Lizzie really. She is unsuitable to be a politician’s wife, a mistress on the side surely would have been fine, it's even norm. It is no way a good strategy or helps his reputation.

Agree! There was no strategic gain for him at all. It might nominally help his reputation with some working class voters, that he married within his class and not above it, but I don't know how that works if Lizzie's reputation as a prostitute was well known. Either way this nominal reputational boost with one demographic is not likely significant enough to be any part of his decision making. I feel there had to be some level of personal care for her in there, and a desire to do something for her, as well as his strong sense of family, because otherwise why would he marry her?

Based on cues in the canon, there's possible motivation including:

his strong cultural and personal sense of responsibility to family given Lizzie has his child - he's demonstrated this sense of family before with Grace, because as soon as he learned Grace was pregnant in S2, he went immediately to marriage. This was different to his conversations with S1 Grace where he was satisifed with a relationship and not marriage. (And even his S2 pre-pregnancy conversations with Grace, where he seemed satisifed with an affair. And the way he brought Duke into the picture.) His children are very important to him!

an acknowledment/respect for Lizzie's unashamed willingness to be a single mother to his child, and all the stigma that carries on top of her past; marrying her would be the least he could do to help erase that stigma for her. Noting no amount of money would erase the stigma of single motherhood given his and her class of origin. These social privileges to the mistresses of upper class men do not apply to the mistresses of working class men who've acquired money.

he was feeling really fucked up at the end of S4, and Lizzie's helped him with comfort/care through other times when he was feeling really fucked up. Apart from being his regular pre S1, when his war trauma would have been the worst, in S2 Lizzie features with this one observable sexual event where he was with her immediately after Polly told him to get over Grace, and immediately before he had to do an assassination he didn't want to. S3 he clearly articulates she stopped his heart from breaking. Lizzie (and sex with Lizzie) represents some kind of easy, accessible physical comfort/softness for him between slices of hell.

some kind of guilt at how he'd treated her in the past (John, Epsom) when here she was, prepared to be a single mother to his child with no shame.

he actually likes her - S2 he goes to a special effort to elevate her out of being a prostitute, even when she was probably barely capable of the role at that point, S3 features several elements suggesting he trusts her significantly, S4 they have relaxed conversations despite all the shit going on, even in S5 in the middle of the worst and cutting at each other verbally, they both mutually decide to still try to find some middle ground where they can stay together, which suggests they have a lot of non-sexual/conversational history not shown on screen. They also have several almost comedic moments of chemistry in S4 and S5 which ties back to liking, too.

I 100% feel Ruby was the trigger for the marriage, no matter any other motivation, I don't think he'd marry her if there was no child. But he had to have more than *just* the child to go so far as marriage, hence the above.

I think, given Lizzie was the one he took to the bridge which was his 'can I still do good things the way Greta and I used to speak about' moment, this sort of symbolic link carried through Ruby's conception, he might have also thought marrying Lizzie would be a gesture of 'doing a good thing.' There is a constant theme in the series, and Tommy even clearly and verbally articulates it in S5, that when Tommy tries to do a good thing, people get hurt. Hence the weight of his regret for marrying Lizzie as expressed in S6 -- marrying her, which he likely saw as a good act, resulted in Lizzie's anguish and exposed her to hurt by both Tommy personally in his emotional closed-off state, and via the acts Tommy was doing in trying to sabotage Mosley, which he would not deviate from even when conscious of the hurt it would cause Lizzie.

#tommy x lizzie #peaky blinders

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localdumbitch · 1 year

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Polyamory in Media

Watched:

You me her (good)

Sense8 (good)

Amorous/Hide & Seek (really good)

Siren (acceptable)

Fling (a classic but bad ending)

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (acceptable, we deserve this type of genre film)

Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2(complicated but good, ending sucked)

Two in the Bush (good)

Trigonometry (really good)

The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself (really good, we were robbed w the cancellation)

Ma Belle, My beauty (boring but watch)

Lost Girl (good until its not good but still watch)

Gossip Girl reboot (bad show, shitty ending but some good throuple moments)

Show Me What You Got (terrible ending, I mean really)

We Are Thr3e (actually pretty good, will be rewatching)

Blocco 181 (good throuple, and we’re getting a s2!!)

First Blush (acceptable)

Not Watched:

Savages

Sex of the Angels/Angels of Sex

Taste of Betel Nut

Threesome

Bright Night* need more research

Kiss Me Again

Caprica

The Magicians

Wanderlust

Compersion

Poly People

Threesomething

Love Songs

Reckless*

Love: Augmented

Versailles

3 Will Be Free

Poly-ish

Before We Grow Old

Purposely not included; The Expanse, most animated shows that have a single episode of polyamory (I’m looking at you Futurama), Black Sails, American Horror Story, Fate: The Winx Saga, Avenue 5, Insatiable, The Politician

#poly #polyamarous #polyamory #throuple #with reviews #finally watched blocco and it was really really good!!#highly recommend #also We Are Thr3e is a stand out fave #let me know if I missed anything

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theyknowthatweknow · 11 months

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I didn't see anyone talk about this, but Sam's storyline in Ted Lasso was heavily based on things that actually happened involving the British government and Marcus Rashford and eventually, since this episode was written before it happened, was a foreshadowing of what would happen with former player and current pundit Gary Lineker (who did make an appearance as himself in S2).

Some may remember this, but during lockdown Rashford raised a lot of money for children in poverty and campaigned for free school meals for poor children whose families couldn't afford proper meals and have free school meals provided due to having to do home schooling according to coronavirus lockdown procedures. This led to a lot of right wing politicians and people telling him to 'stick to football' and like Sam did on twitter on the show, Rashford also got into a heated exchange on twitter with a right wing politician regarding this. Thankfully, because of support for him and ordinary people and small businesses supporting him and choosing to help these families with meals, the government eventually had to give what he campaigned for, which was basically just to save face. Because of this, a murial was painted in honour of Rashford.

Something that was also happening at the time was the Black Lives Matters moment - every single club had their players start to take the knee before the match. And it wasn't just because of this movement, but because of the growing number of racism black players were receiving both social media and in the stadiums. Rashford himself was subjected to a lot of it. A lot of football fans even were booing players taking the knee, especially when English players were playing against opposition from other European countries like Poland and Ukraine, such as in the Euros. But tumblr with the fake workery were more offended by English fans booing national anthems of European countries, than actual ignorance to racism. Many other international teams in the Euros like Italy who tumblr was frothing over because they had some weird fetish for Italian men even refused to take the knee, despite Italian football having far worse racism than England and also being notorious in football for the horrific racism from Italian fans. On club level, it was already bad from football fans, but what happened after the Euros final was something else.

The final went to penalties and Rashford, along with other black players who took the penalties missed them. Almost any of us who are people of colour knew what was gonna happen - which was the horrific racism they all endured not just England, but internationally. Remember the line from Sam about how he is supported till he misses a penalty kick? That was based on this and also Rashford and other black players experiences of racism when missing penalties. I remember as well tumblr and especially Italian fans here and on other social media doing their fake wokery and laughing at these players, all whilst we were trying to ask them not to, when they were getting a lot of racism. But this was probably because Italians subjected Mario Balotelli to the same racism when they lost a final years ago and have been subjecting him to many years, to the point he's been reduced to tears and severely affected his mental health. The next day, it was discovered that the murial painted for Rashford was graffitied with racism. Remember how Sam's restaurant was also graffitied? A lot of people covered them up with messages of support for Rashford, but the man who painted it went back to get it back to normal - what made this more heartbreaking is that he was also black and saw the racism on it which he said made it very hard for him to do. Remember how the players helped fix Sam's restaurant?

As this happened, a right wing politician tweeted that if Rashford 'sticked to football' this wouldn't have happened - she received a barrage of criticism so had to delete the tweet. Also remember how Sam's exchange was with the home secretary of Britain? Well the then home secretary, priti Patel - who is a brown British Indian woman of immigrant background - was criticising the players taking the knee. When the racism happened, she decided to tweet in support which led to a black English player Tyrone Mings furiously (and correctly) responding that her words like her right wing peers has enabled this to happen and that she doesn't get to be a hypocrite and now decide to support them. Because not only did she criticise them, she was also using dangerous rhetoric against refugees - much like the home secretary in Ted lasso.

But just when we thought the worst had happened... Along came suella braverman, another racist brown woman with an immigrant background. She is actually way worse than priti Patel which we never would have imagined and is trying to pass laws that go against international law along with the current right wing government of jailing or deporting people seeking asylum who didn't come from 'legal routes.' Even though they've made it so difficult for them to gain asylum. A Jewish woman actually asked her to stop using the language she has because it reminds her of how Jewish refugees were treated during the holocaust, but she refused to listen and was very offensive. So very similar to the home secretary on Ted lasso talking about sending boats back. Just recently this year Gary Lineker, who himself has housed an immigrant, asked right wing government officials like her to stop using such dangerous language and have empathy which led to him being suspended by the BBC who he does football punditry for, to keep politics out. All of his colleagues then walked out on strike in support of him, along with other people in the country supporting him, which thankfully led to him being reinstated. However sadly, the current right wing government are still using dangerous language against immigrants and refugees and trying to push legislation against them which breaches human rights and international law. Just today, the current prime minister rush sunak - who is also a brown Indian person of immigrant background that has used his immigrant story to help him reach where he is - said legal migration is TOO HIGH - the same things which let him become the British prime minister.

An episode after this one, Ted was reading a story to his son Henry about a character called Marcus - that was a book from Marcus Rashford as he is trying to help improve reading literacy amongst children. Whilst these books were being released he was doing poorly but this season he has been doing AMAZING whilst seemingly taking a step back from the activism he's done. A lot of people, many of whom supported him have said he did badly because he was doing 'too much' off the field when they are ignoring the very obvious psychological effects of continuously being racially abused just before that season, had on him. There have been some changes such as football fans in England since the Euros being overwhelmingly supportive of the taking of the knee and being more supportive of anti racism messages. But support doesn't mean the problems have gone away.

#Ted lasso #marcus rashford #uk politics #sam obisanya

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thewickedbohemian · 3 months

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Thoughts on the Found season finale

I didn't expect her closing things down because A. it would have been teased, B. they already fake-outted that in E10 and C. we have a second season so where do we go from here

On the other hand maybe the people who've been partially comparing this to Leverage were right because Leverage also had a 13-episode (but that's more normal for it) first season intended to be a complete story should the series not be renewed and fractured the team near the end of S1 to bring them back together in the S2 premiere

For another Leverage parallel Leverage often kinda sets up kid "pseudo-successors" connecting with the team and being inclined towards wanting to do what they do even if they aren't seen again and it feels like Found was doing that both here with Dasheka and last episode with Aisha and her best friend.

Now that we've seen the flashbacks of him actually being a teacher Sir comes across less neurodivergent to me although that could just be him being very good at masking like how he masked his dark side (either way in addition to obvious ways he's a dick he's kinda a little pretentious)

Well, there went a lot of the more-exciting theories I had about the motives for Zeke's kidnapping that I formed as soon as we learned his dad's a politician (though who knows what still could have been up with his uncle)

Yet again with me predicting some of the other plot twists (that Sir left the photo and that Dasheka's abuse wasn't reported because there was a cover-up going on)

I know episodes of a show aren't shot week-by-week-to-be-done-by-the-airdate but if I didn't know better I'd say the prominence of Ethan this episode out of nowhere was the writers reminding people "Dhan has a husband, stop using him as the Fandom Bicycle"

I'll say this again if I've said it before, there's a lot of freaking fairytale-archetype parallels going on with this ensemble (but not to the level of Bones and the Arthurian stuff) from Gabi being "the princess who saved herself" and Dhan even more her knight-in-shining-armor (albeit platonically) than Trent to Zeke's situation basically being how one would modern-AU-in-a-OUAT-esque-sense a wizard in a tower

But despite the fairytale motif it's still also got the superhero motif cropping up again with Dasheka's comment about the invisible capes (and also making me think back to similarly-chaotic-good sadly-one-season show Rebel a couple years back as that show's "professional activist" lead's whole catchphrase was about "putting on your cape" as a metaphor for social action)

#found nbc #leverage #gabi mosely #zeke wallace #hugh evans #dhan rana

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gentlebeard · 8 months

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hi lets show some love for our mutuals. tag your favorite mutuals and tell them why you love them

thank you, dear anon. time to spread lots of love:

@blakbonnet - what would i do without meow? she’s so smart & kind & funny & so fucking talented. writing, painting, making gifs, clowning - there’s nothing she can’t do. we have one and the same brain and often send each other almost identical messages at the same time. she’s my biggest fan and greatest supporter. team beard brought us together and now i never want to be without her!

@sherlockig - my soulmate, my sunshine, my rock. not only is she incredibly sweet and one of my best friends in the world, she’s also the backbone of the ofmd fandom. she graces our screens with fantastically edited screen caps of our beloved blorbos. we’d be lost if alexz didn’t put so much love and energy into picking the perfect frames! i’m so grateful for her presence in the fandom and in my life.

@saltpepperbeard - jodi. my wifey. my one true love. nothing brings me more joy than seeing her gifs or reading her insane tags on posts. they’re better and more entertaining than any newspaper or novel. every time she has an insanely brilliant (or angsty) thought, i wanna propose to her all over again. her writing makes my brain tingle in the best possible way. btw all of you are invited to our next wedding 🥰

@bizarrelittlemew - one day i saw one of ida’s gif sets and was like: hell yeah, i wanna see more of that. i came for the gifs but stayed for her love of rhys darby, her kindness, her writing, her amazing vibe, her creativity, and her lovely self.

@not-nervous-jester - jams is the hottest person on this hellsite. they’re just so effortlessly funny and amazing. their brain has the most wrinkles because they’re so fantastic and intelligent. i invite jams to make out with me regularly because i’m secretly (or not so secretly, i guess) obsessed with them. anyway, i’m smooching you and your brain, jams!

@skysofrey - kaitlin is the sweetest human ever. sunshine in a bottle. kindness personified. seeing her yellow hearts in the tags improves my mood instantly. she deserves to have a perfect day every single day.

@stedebonnets - another 10/10 human being. how anyone can be so sweet and supportive is almost unbelievable to me. ara will make you feel like the most special person on this planet with just a few words and sweet emojis. i bet ara’s hugs feel like coming home after being gone for years.

@dickfuckk - i once called josh the bts king because he’ll know or find anything that is just slightly adjacent to ofmd. his dedication to @ourflagmeansbts is insane to me. on top of that: nice & funny dude, hilarious videos, my dj archive 😌

@rainbowcrowley - after just casually communicating over tags we have finally moved our relationship to the next stage (dms & laughing about shitty memes about politicians, apparently). addi will tell you they make “mediocre gifs” but that’s just a blatant lie. their gifs always look fantastic. a very sweet bean.

@darkinerry - marlena will come out of nowhere and throw spectacular taika gifs into your inbox or just make a straight up insane gif set of that man with clips they probably had to kill someone for. idk how else they do it or where they get them, it’s a mystery to me. excited puppy energy 24/7.

honorable mention goes to olivia aka @snake-snack-stede who is, hands down, the most hilarious person in the ofmd fandom. i’m looking forward to your s2 shenanigans as much as the episodes!!!

if i didn’t mention you, know i still love you. and you’re amazing. 💕

#i have so much more to say about each and every one of you but this is a novel already #asks #❤️

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brookiidookiii · 3 months

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what are your favorite and least favorite ships? 👀

Oh boy do I have a lot of opinions

- tbh I like a lot of Jo ships. Jock joeather jomaria,, ngl lately I’ve been in a joeather mood. Her x any girl is always a classic. The only guy I can ship her with is brick really 😭 I think they have really good chemistry. And I am a sucker for rivalries + it’s been a childhood OTP. I low key thought they were gonna end up together when I first watched s4.

Now I could write essays on joeather forever. Their rivalry could’ve been something great but the writers were awful. I think Jo should kiss her enemies

- yeah sorry I’m a duncney enjoyer and I do not care how toxic they were. Adds flavor. Heathney is excellent too. Courtney just needs someone who will enable her bad behavior (also sorry I prefer heathney over gwourtney). The TikTok fandom is really annoying about duncney tho because I’ll see videos about how “why does no one ever talk about how toxic duncney is :(“ while all the tumblr fandom does is talk about how they can make them worse lmaooo

- samkota is my favorite canon couple

- MKulia duhhhh I’ve been a shipper since I watched the reboot, which I started watching probably a month before s2 got released. Toxic yuri

- Chemma in the sense that it’s ironic and I can just make memes about them I don’t actually like them

- gwoey ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

- Trent x Lindsay is a secret rarepair of mine. They can be cute

- SKYELLLAA as much as I love toxic yuri I love wholesome stuff too. I think they are neat

- sanders x MacArthur. Idek how to explain what kind of relationship they’d have but I think they are both butch lesbians. MacArthur you are my lord and savior

Okay least favorites let’s go. Also heads up I don’t really care for any of the m/m ships 😭 mostly because I don’t care for many of the male characters lol

- zoke. They didn’t even do anything wrong like I LIKE them but they’re just so boring and unentertaining that what’s even the point yk. And when Zoey got superpowers after Mike left. Stop. Secondhand embarrassment. Like in s4 they were obnoxious at best but in all stars that made me truly pray on their downfall. I like fanon zoke.

In my mind they had a sweet romance that lasted a few years until they got a bigger divorce and left on good terms

- any and all Noah ships sorryyyy he’s overrated and I don’t like Noah at all. I don’t get the hype around alenoah it’s not that good. Everytime someone calls MKulia yuri alenoah an evil politician gets another year added to their life. I don’t like you. Like I get why people like noco. Just pure fluff, which isn’t for me, and they did have that ear kiss which was something, but I still hate it

I saw someone say alenoah was basically just aleheather without heather and yeah. Everytime I see someone list out the reasons Alejandro would be into Noah it’s just the same reasons Alejandro’s into heather.

Also MKulia is more like joeather anyway but whateva,,

- I don’t even make that many sexuality headcanons bc I guess I just don’t think about it but I can tell you who’s straight. Damien is straight. He is the most heterosexual person the series has ever made. I don’t think he should be shipped to with men. Also Wayne is straight

- sugella because as much as I love toxic yuri, that doesn’t even sound like fun toxicity just misery. It’s not for me 😭 I still stan sugar tho

- ripaxel. I tried to like it SORRRYYYY ripper is annoying and he needs the death penalty. Everytime they’re compared to jock I lose a year off my life. Ripaxel is what jock haters think jock shippers like. You are all wrong.

Axel is my queen and lord and savior. It’s okay babygirl we can ride off into the sunset together

- prileb. Why did it exist. I hate this. But seeing priya in love was pretty cute I gotta admit

- gwuncan. Self explanatory

- Scottney cause wtf 😭😭😭 once again I like them in the sense that I can make memes about it but bro SCOTT???? Courtney you can do better than that thing. Scott has skidmarks

- fanon brott 💀💀💀 I don’t like fanon brick in general. Y’all do him dirty. Ong Scott would not let brick use him as his Barbie doll for clothes. Scott would make fun of brick for liking fashion. Do you know nothing about Scott? Saw someone once say that they would watch legally blonde together HELL NO.

Also I really really hate that when I go out looking for jomaria fanfics, they’re only ever tagged as side couples in brott fics. Are you kidding me.

- bro the malejandro fanfics 😭 who is writing these things. Some of those titles make me lose it. I think we all should stop acknowledging mal and all stars existences

- gwody. Once again that big ass chin motherfucker doesn’t deserve Gwen.

- Jo x any other guy. Sorry. She doesn’t deserve any of those fuckers. Jock is the exception because at least he’d treat her right but even then he’s just a guy

- I don’t like Scott x anyone in general. Even Dott I’m hesitant because it would never work out and that’s what makes it soooo fun to explore because in the end she always ends up killing him

bruh most of these yaoi ships piss me off idk I don’t get the appeal for any of them. But I draw whatever people ask from me idrc it’s not a big deal LOLLL

Also this fandom is so goddamn cringe for calling straight couples yuri/yaoi. YOU LOOK EMBARRASSING OKAY

There’s a lot more couples I dislike than like tbh. I don’t think this fandom or its opinions sorry guys

#ask #I am a hater sorry #I have a lot more platonic dynamics in my head

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