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lurkingshan · 7 months

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A Time Called You: A Great Reminder to Go Watch Someday or One Day

This past weekend Netflix dropped a new kdrama called A Time Called You in its entirety, and I became particularly interested in watching it as soon as I realized what it was: the Korean remake of Someday or One Day I knew had been in the works for awhile. If you’re not familiar, Someday or One Day (SOOD) is a beloved 2019 Taiwanese drama that is widely considered to be among the best dramas the country has ever produced (there is also a 2022 film version of the story, but that’s less relevant to this post). Now, I love Korean dramas, and I know that countries remaking each other’s best shit is very common in the Asian media landscape, but I couldn’t help but feel protective of the original work and a bit resentful of the choice to adapt something that was so original and unique and specific and put that generic kdrama sheen on it. Taiwan has a small film industry, and this is one of its jewels. We didn’t need Korea’s take on it.

And having watched the adaptation in full now, I am feeling pretty justified in that initial feeling. Let me just say upfront: A Time Called You (ATCY) is a perfectly good drama with a solid cast and competent storytelling. Had I seen it absent the knowledge of what it was adapting, I probably would have liked it a lot. But I have already seen and loved Someday or One Day, so I feel compelled to break down why it is the better version of this tale, both for my fellow SOOD devotees who are wondering how this adaptation stacks up and for folks who have only seen the kdrama in the hopes that you’ll decide to watch the original. As usual, I did the most, so reader be advised that this is long (tagging @troubled-mind as promised and @smittenskitten because I saw you were looking for a comparison of the two dramas). TL; DR: if you liked ATCY, or have seen neither version and are wondering which to watch: go find Someday or One Day, because it’s an overall superior and more satisfying execution of the same story.

The Vibe

Let’s start here because it’s the most obvious and immediately striking thing as someone who has seen both versions. SOOD has a bit of a rough and unpolished feel, which makes it feel more grounded in reality (important when you are getting into fantasy elements like time travel but you still want the characters to feel like real people). We open our story in 1998 in a record shop with a young girl playing Last Dance by Wu Bai and China Blue, a 1996 mando pop rock ballad, and thus setting the tone—this will be a somewhat raw and bittersweet story about grief and hurt and longing that will invite us to wallow in our feelings. And that melancholic vibe stays throughout the drama, even in the explicitly happy scenes, because you are always aware that the joy you are seeing has already been lost.

By contrast, ATCY feels… emotionally flat. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very faithful adaptation. The early episodes are practically a shot for shot remake of the original drama. But it’s too polished, too shiny. The filmmaking is bog standard kdrama fare; everything is soft focus and warmly lit and too beautiful and consequently nothing feels real. It feels right in line with the standard aesthetics of recent mainstream Korean dramas, and that choice undermines the emotional weight and grit of this story.

A great example of this can be seen in the way the two dramas handle the iconic scene where our female lead runs in the rain, looking back over her shoulder to smile in delight at the male lead before continuing on her way. This is a moment of realization for him about his feelings for her—one he will later immortalize in a painting that becomes part of the mystery of the past she is trying to unravel. In Someday or One Day, this scene takes place on a regular street, in the utterly mundane surroundings of their everyday lives as they walk home, and she runs down the middle of the road as puddles gather in the uneven pavement; in A Time Called Love, they are in a picturesque park for this scene, surrounded by green and encased within a grove of giant trees, and she runs right down the middle of a tree lane that looks like it came straight out of a fairytale. One story is very much about a love grounded in a reality we can recognize; the other is pure fantasy romance.

The Music

I already mentioned the song that anchors the Taiwanese drama above. Last Dance is hugely important to the story, both thematically and as a plot device, and in its ability to set the mood and tone of the drama.

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The Korean remake similarly uses a real 1996 ballad as its main song and time travel mechanism: With My Tears by Seo Ji Won. And, uh, the vibe is a bit different.

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Discerning listeners might recognize this as one of the many classic love ballads performed by our favorite doctors by day, rock stars by night over on Hospital Playlist. It’s a perfectly fine song. But it sets quite a different tone for our story, doesn’t it? It also is meant to be a song that a teenage boy is hankering to listen to on cassette, and listen, I wasn’t living in Korea in 1996. I have no idea how culturally accurate that may be. I’m sure there were in fact baby Lee Ik Juns running around trying to get their hands on this cheesy love song. But the edgier sound of Last Dance definitely sounds more in line with something the teenage male lead would listen to and what the music is meant to convey. And frankly, since we hear this song about 30 times in the drama, it matters that Last Dance is just an objectively better song.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because beyond the classic song each version chose to use as its centerpiece, there is also a stark difference in the quality and tone of each drama’s OSTs. Here is a compilation of the Someday or One Day tracks, including the utterly gorgeous main theme by Shi Shi. The music is hugely important in the Taiwanese drama and is used to set the mood as well as emphasize its themes, and the tracks feel specific to this story.

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And here is a compilation of A Time Called You OSTs.

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If you’re familiar with kdrama OSTs, you will recognize most of the artists on here, as well as some new covers of old songs. And again, the vibes are quite different. Whereas SOOD was very intentional and specific in its music choices, ATCY just sounds like every other kdrama. There is nothing on this tracklist that stands out or evokes the kind of feeling that the SOOD tracks do.

The Main Couple

The name and timeline situation in this show makes this section unnecessarily difficult, so let me just make a little reference sheet here:

Someday or One Day

Alice Ke plays Yu Xuan (2019) and Yun Ru (1998)

Greg Hsu plays Quan Sheng (2019) and Zi Wei (1998)

A Time Called You

Jeon Yeo Been plays Jun Hee (2023) and Min Yu (1998)

Ahn Hyo Seop plays Yeun Jun (2023) and Si Heon (1998)

All of the actors here are seasoned and very good at their jobs, so I am not casting shade on any of them—they are executing their performances based on writing and directorial choices. But I cannot deny that the Taiwanese version of these characters are more compelling all around. In SOOD, the main characters have a real spark; despite the melancholic undertone of the story, there are moments of genuine joy and when they connect with each other, you feel why this bond is strong enough for them to find each other through time and despite all the trauma they endure. In ATCY, however, the characterizations are muted.

This is most evident in the difference between Quan Sheng/Zi Wei and Yeon Jun/Si Heon. Greg Hsu plays Zi Wei as magnetic, playful, mischievous, utterly lovable, and very intense about his feelings for his lady. He has a real joie de vivre about him that clearly brightens up Yu Xuan’s life considerably, and his devotion to her is not just shown, but deeply felt. Experiencing their memories, you understand immediately why Yu Xuan can’t move on from his death; he was the joyful, relaxed counterpoint to her more ambitious and serious personality. Si Heon, though? He is a nice dude and a generous partner and he is very good looking. But he doesn’t have the playfulness or the intensity that his Taiwanese counterpart does. His personality is just more moderate all around. One great example of this: upon discovering that he has traveled forward into the body of the person that would become Yu Xuan/Jun Hee’s boyfriend, Zi Wei (in Quan Sheng’s body now, are you still with me?) actively decides to find her, love her, and try to solve this time loop quagmire they are in; Si Heon (in Yeon Jun’s body) waits for a moment of fate to give him a sign, and only makes the decision to pursue Jun Hee after running into her by coincidence.

Similarly, Jun Hee is not quite as spunky and sassy as Yu Xuan and Min Yu is not as dark and awkward as Yun Ru; when Jun Hee travels to the past and takes up residence in Min Yu’s body, the differences between the two characters she is playing are not as evident. In SOOD, I could tell at a glance who is in Yun Ru’s body; in ATCY I need more context to be sure. Where Yun Ru had more of an edge, Min Yu simply reads very shy. It’s not as compelling. One scene that really stands out as an example of this: when Yun Ru is pretending to be Yu Xuan in 1998 and looks in the mirror to practice smiling, it looks downright creepy and sinister; when Min Yu is masquerading as Jun Hee and looks at herself in the mirror, she just looks awed and happy, if a bit awkward. It’s subtle, but it changes the way you feel about the characters.

The difference in Jun Hee and Yeon Jun’s characterization also affects the couple chemistry, which is just not nearly as strong in ATCY. The characters are more muted and thus the expected sparks are more like smoldering embers. The relationship feels cozy and warm and nurturing, but it doesn’t feel vital. It doesn’t feel like the kind of relationship you would fight through time or break the rules of the universe to return to. I recall gasping or crying or laughing out loud throughout SOOD because I was constantly taken aback by Greg Hsu’s arresting presence and the chemistry he and Alice Ke generated was just emotionally riveting. When Yu Xuan told Zi Wei (as Quan Sheng) that they were officially together, that man literally jumped for joy and shouted out his love for her; Si Heon (as Yeon Jun) reacts to the same moment with a quiet smile and a hug. When Zi Wei saw Yu Xuan in Yun Ru’s body again in the finale, he knew instantly that it was her and the smile overtook his face as he reached for her; Si Heon initially called Min Ju’s name before getting closer and taking several beats to realize it was Jun Hee (ruining this iconic moment is perhaps this remake’s greatest sin against romance, my god).

Everything between the couple in SOOD was just more, both in happiness and in despair. I liked Jun Hee and Si Heon, and Ahn Hyo Seop and Jeon Yeo Been are very competent actors whose performances I have loved in other dramas, but they didn’t achieve that level of chemistry here, the writing and directing choices worked against them, and I didn’t feel that same desperation for them to figure this out that I did with Yu Xuan and Zi Wei.

The Story

The Korean version is a very faithful adaptation overall (I haven’t mentioned Jun Jie and In Gyuk because his character and story is more consistent across the two shows), but does make some small tweaks to the story, some of which seem to be out of necessity due to a shorter run time (one episode and a couple hours total less than the Taiwanese original) and some just… because? The shorter amount of story time does lead to them having to cut corners on some aspects of the mythology and time travel lore, making it all a bit less clear for folks who don’t already understand what’s going on, and they put in a few nods to typical kdrama tropes like amusement park dates and hand of fate stuff that we really didn’t need—they are already trapped in a time loop together, we get it!

ATCY also messed with the timelines and ages for reasons I don’t really understand and that don’t really track. In SOOD, Zi Wei traveled forward from 2002 to Quan Sheng’s body in 2010, met Yu Xuan, and then died in 2018. In ATCY, Si Heon traveled forward from 2002 only to 2007 and did not die until 2022—but the relationship dynamics are all the same. It made sense for a young couple who had been together about 7 years and who were in their mid-20s to be having the kind of relationship problems they did—fighting about prioritizing careers and time abroad and whether it was time to get married. But a couple who has been together nearly 15 years? Who are in their mid-30s? They would have already been married probably and had a couple kids to boot. The choice to change the timeline like this had me scratching my head and accomplished nothing for the story.

But neither of those things are the change to the story that is weighing on me most. That occurs in a very small and brief backstory for the real Yeon Jun, where the drama introduces an original character who has no counterpart in SOOD: Tae Ha.

In SOOD, the real Quan Sheng is a closeted gay teenager who meets a tragic end: he confesses to his crush, gets brutally rejected, then gets bullied when the crush tells others about his sexuality, and ultimately decides to walk into the sea in an attempt to end his life, a choice that leaves his body in a coma until Zi Wei’s consciousness takes it over. In ATCY, this backstory changes and Rowoon is brought in for a brief but impactful cameo as Tae Ha, Yeon Jun’s cram school friend. We see that the two have mutual feelings for each other but are both struggling to confess. One day as they are driving together, they finally explicitly acknowledge their feelings, holding hands and smiling at one another—and then immediately get hit by a Truck of Doom (easily one of the most tired kdrama tropes), Tae Ha dying on impact and Yeon Jun ending up in a coma with Si Heon’s consciousness eventually taking over his body like in the original story.

Now on first glance, you might be inclined to give the show some credit for including a new gay character and giving the original Yeon Jun a happier experience with his crush. Explicit gay representation? In a mainstream kdrama? Still very rare and a big deal if done right. But if you think for a moment longer you’ll realize we can’t give the show credit for this, because this is a textbook execution of the Bury Your Gays trope and the narrative punishment that befalls gay characters who act on their attraction. Essentially, what the Korean remake did here was reveal these two characters are gay, killed them both immediately after they decided to pursue a relationship with each other, and then had the het male lead character take over the body of this gay man and use it to enter into a relationship with a woman. Some aspects of this plot were present in the original tale, but this choice to add an additional gay character only to kill him and tie it to their moment of acknowledging their mutual attraction? Made it significantly worse. It was badly done and I will not applaud the drama for representation when they did it in such a cruel way.

The Ending

SOOD ends on a hopeful but somewhat ambiguous note, with Yu Xuan in 2020 finding a way to go back and save Yun Ru (and Jun Jie by extension) and then breaking the time loop, sacrificing her relationship with Zi Wei in the process even as it breaks her heart (because the only way for them to meet and fall in love in 2010 was to stay in the loop). She sacrifices their romance, and all their memories together, because it’s the right thing to do—she inadvertently destroyed Yun Ru’s life with her time traveling, and she couldn’t live with that knowing there was a way to fix it. We are left with a broken time loop, original teen Zi Wei meeting child Yu Xuan again in 1998, and the hope that they will find a way to make their fates align again and be together without time travel complications. It’s just the right bittersweet touch to end the story on; their previous relationship was lost and their sacrifice was real, but there is hope for another version of a happy life together, someday.

By contrast, ATCY goes for a more explicit happy ending: Jun Hee makes the same choice to go back and save Min Ju, and to break the time loop and sacrifice her relationship with Si Heon, but in ATCY we then jump forward to 2011 to a happy epilogue to see Si Heon and Jun Hee meet as adults. And look, I love a happy ending! But what I said above about the sacrifice Yu Xuan and Zi Wei made in SOOD really resonating because of its bittersweet ending? That’s absent here, because ATCY decided they needed to put a bow on it and reassure us they would get back together. ATCY was just never willing to let us stay in the grief or commit to the darker and sadder aspects of this story, and as a result, the whole thing loses some of its impact.

#someday or one day #a time called you #tw drama #kdrama #long post #why yes i did write a 3k word post for the ten people on this website who care about both these dramas #shan shouts into the void

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liesmyth · 5 months

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@takiki16 tags on my post are too good not to be shared! The context is wild shit that legit happened in IRL football ⚽ that I need the Ted Lasso fandom to be aware of, because it'd make for excellent fic material:

the MANAGERS #the PERSONAL DRAMA#I KNOW that ted lasso is not designed to be an actual realistic show #I KNOW that this whole thing did in fact begin as a way to soft trap Americans into watching the Prem #to the point that JOSE FUCKING MOURINHO ACTUALLY HAD A PART IN THE ORIGINAL NBC AD #I do NOT want to change the vibe of the show at all #(but like…a dramedy about the EPL that REALLY wanted to roast some fuckers would perhaps…NOT look like ted lasso #if they wanted to start with the managers it would just be two middle aged idiots with BOILING beef #who had to be physically restrained from throwing hands every other game and have personally destroyed each others’ marriages

Okay WHO would Roy have managerial beef with. I vote Arteta. Actually as @elizabear suggests, it's funnier if it's one sided

He would also instinctively dislike Rob Edwards of Luton because Jamie once said he's the hottest manager in the EPL. Roy's annoyed and he doesn't know why. (Rob Edwards is very hot)

For an example of managers throwing hands... the Tuchel/Conte handshake

In fact here's a whole compilation of managers throwing hands.

Thank you for bringing up Mourinho! This is his ad, btw. "What do you WANT Ted?" lives in my mind rent-free

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After much soul-searching I've decided Roy likes Mou a lot among all the managers he's played for. YES, he is a total cunt BUT

he's really fucking funny about it. Like, really.

he's never met a referee he didn't have beef with but most of all Anthony Taylor (as a Roma fan I have to agree with him on that)

the entire 2005 Chelsea team would've died for him. I've said this before, but there can't be a Frank Lampard in TL if Roy plays the box-to-box midfielder role, so this quote about Mourinho walking into Lampard naked in the shower to give him a pep talk? That's Roy. To me.

I can't even pick a quote among all the shit he's said about all the managers he's played against, but I especially enjoy when he used to be a bitch about Pep and Pep was like "I don't know her." It was like a one-sided crush dating back from their Barca days

#if they wanted it to be about the players the literal sky is the limit. WHATEVER the writers room can come up with#it cannot come CLOSE to the batshit drama that real Sockckckckcer Playahs have amongst each other#also intricate rituals. NOT ENOUGH INTRICATE RITUALS#when Jamie scored that free kick after getting permission to be a prick Dani should have kissed him with tongue

Here's some homoeroticism:

#but TO COME BACK TO OP’S POINT ABOUT ACTUAL GAMEPLAY#I want to see Coach Roy get red carded and have to sit in the stands for the next game cursing and swearing

He'd get, like, 3 red cards a season MINIMUM. Mourinho who. Here's Klopp losing it a bit. Here's Pep being passive aggressive as fuck. Pochettino from 2 days ago. Also from last weekend: De Zerbi's "I don't like 80% of referees in England" he's so right for this.

Manager Roy would get himself red carded the week before Richmond play Chelsea away. Totally accidental. So he doesn't have to have a lil cry about it.

#I want to see what it would take to get Zoreaux sent off#and then they have to stick Bumbercatch in goal and it turns out he has some Hyper Specific Phobia about the situation#he manages to save the team but his coping mechanisms for dealing with Forcible Keeper Phobia make up the comedy B-plot of the episode#

I want CLUB RIVALRY. dunno where Richmond actually physically is but imagine if they had derbies#Ted has to be made to understand that no coach - for THIS game we will not stop till we see BLOOD#Richmond wins but bc they are playing away the home fans actively are tossing crap at them as they celebrate on the pitch#also the sprinklers come on and it’s a bus full of soaked greyhounds on the ride home

They're in West London! Maybe they just fucking hate Fulham. Or Brentford.

Actually, I've thought long and hard about Richmond's derby rivalries. Semi-canon sources say they have a bit of a West London rivalry with Brentford BUT to me it doesn't make much sense because Richmond are supposed to have been mid-table in the Prem for years, top-flight but mediocre. Brentford only made it to the Prem in 2021.

Actually, I've decided that Richmond kind of take the place of QPR for most of their history, except they didn't get relegated when QPR did. This is because 1) it'd be too many London-based clubs otherwise but, more importantly, 2) when Man City won their first title in 2012 with Agueeeeeero!!! that was against Richmond. It's funny, To Me.

Also you know Roy still fucking hates Newcastle from his Sunderland academy days. If his pundit career had lasted longer he'd be having top tier shithousery with Alan Shearer every week about it.

Anyway here's a whole youtube playlist about WILD derbies.

#ALSO BC SUAREZ IS COMING TO MIAMI - BITING INCIDENTS CAN THEY DO THAT

As an Italian I am legally obliged to SAY that if Suarez hadn't bitten Chiellini at the World Cup we would have gone past the group stage because Uruguay scored off a corner they won while Italy were all busy telling the ref that there was a fucking cannibal on the pitch. I don't forgive and I don't forget.

Anyway for context: cannibal Luis Suarez. He's a repeat offender. Someone at Richmond would think it was very funny

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#once again sticking this footie post in the tag #ted lasso #FIC AUTHORS I HOPE THIS INSPIRES YOU #tumblr user taakiki16 you're SO valid for those tags I love them #sports #i'm sorry re roy & mourinho it's just true. roy in his prime playing days wouldn't have cared about the cuntery #as a manager he wouldn't be shit to his physio but as a player? sorry it wasn't a deal breaker. he likes mou more than ancelotti. to me #ted lasso meta #i mean. sort of lmao #long post #afc richmond #roy kent #various irl footie people #futbol

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marvel-starwarsfangirl · 3 months

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Who is the mysterious imperial?

Hello guys, I wanted to theorize who this person is. Personally, I think it's Tech, but I could be wrong. Remember when we all thought Marrok from Ahsoka would be Ezra and then he was just some rando created by the Nightsisters? I'm intrigued to see who this is as much as the rest of you. So, let's get to it!

Crosshair- this was my first guess strictly based off of the helmet design. Cross is the only clone we really know who has a scope on his helmet. There is also a rifle on the mysterious figure's back which is again similar to Crosshair.

However, after some thought I don't think that this is Cross. The stance doesn't give me Crosshair vibes and I don't think the body proportions match his. On top of that, I think making Crosshair a brainwashed imperial again would be backpedaling on his character. And, we see him in the trailer back with his old squad. I think that would be a lot of story to cram in if they make him the mysterious imperial. Also, Hemlock has what he wants: Omega. In "Tipping Point," there was no hint that Cross would be used for something else other than information. So, I think it's safe to say that this isn't Crosshair.

CX-1- CX-1 (according to the captions in the trailer), is the clone who ominously tells the Batch (I presume) that they are being hunted. He says "they are coming for all of you." Based off of threatening tone and the intense look in his eyes, CX-1 isn't a clone who will be on the good side. It's possible that he is the mysterious figure.

However, CX-1 doesn't seem like the true identity either. Why would they show a mysterious, masked figure and then his face later? Furthermore, CX-1 is quite possibly another clone assassin such as the one we saw in season 2. I also think it wouldn't be as dramatic of a reveal if it was him.

Tech- I have a strong feeling that it's Tech. The armor, stance, and proportions are all very similar to Tech's. The mask is also unique and appears to have an outline similar to glasses/eye holes. Tech was distinct among clones for his goggles. So, is this a hint that it's him? Hemlock had his goggles (which were somehow mostly in tact despite being in a fall that should've completely shattered them) which raises questions of how he got them. Given Hemlock's goals and career, it would make sense that he would sense that he would turn one of the Batch's own into a cold-hearted killer. Two episodes in the final season are called "The Harbinger" and "Identity Crisis" which could indicate that the mysterious imperial is someone both the Batch and we the audience know since the character is getting spotlighted. From a character POV, it would a devastating blow for the Batch to learn that their fallen brother was actually alive. There would be a lot of angst material.

The only reason I think of that the figure isn't Tech is because of how it would it impact his sacrifice. Star Wars is notorious for seemingly killing off characters and then revealing that they survived through some miracle. Maul, Echo, Boba Fett, Palpatine, Sabine... the list could go on. Having Tech survive such a fall from that height seems impossible. His loss greatly affected the Batch. But, that's the only reason why I think he wouldn't be that mysterious imperial.

What do you guys think? Is it Tech, CX-1, or someone completely new or we forgot about? We'll see in a few weeks! Until then, let's complete theorizing.

#star wars #the bad batch #tbb speculations #tbb season 3 #tbb crosshair #tbb tech #cx-1

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umaia3aurart · 7 months

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What are your thoughts over the Japanese dub of the transformer prime series? Or any tf series!

I kinda love the second opening song of the primverse

OH! This is gonna be a long post! Let me talk a lot PLSSS!! 🥺👉👈

I love the original TFP dub but I also dig the Japanese version! I often enjoy comparing the differences between them!

A lot of popular voice actors in Japan participate in the show. Some of them even did voices in the “BEAST WARS” series, which had a big fanbase in my country.

The biggest difference between the original and the Japanese version is that the latter makes a few adjustments to the characters to make them more distinctive and child-friendly. They even added some comical lines that weren’t in the original to make it more mild and relatable for children. Because the original had some pretty serious moments. So in the Japanese version, Starscream and Airachnid turned out to be the funniest characters…

Similarly, “BEAST WARS” also underwent some comical changes for similar reasons. And because of that, the show was a hit with Japanese kids back in the day. So in TFP, I'd say they also gave a nod to fans who grew up watching it.

But as you can imagine, these changes have divided opinions among fans in Japan. Tbh, I understand how both of them feel about it because I love the original vibes! That being said, the Japanese dub has a lot of adorable moments that don’t exist in the original version! Let me pick up MY BOY BREAKDOWN as an example!!!!

He has a funny childish demeanor and talks more than in the original dub. His favorite phrase is “壊すの大好き!(I love breaking things!)”

In “Deus Ex Machina,” the episode of his first appearance, he says, “あーーーごめーーーーん！！(AAAHHH I’M SOOOORYYYYYY!!!)” to Knock Out when he accidentally hits his partner's face with his hammer!

In the next episode, “Speed Metal,” when Starscream scratches Knock Out’s paint as a punishment, Breakdown breaks the fourth wall and speaks to kids in front of the TV, saying “みんなぁ！いじめはダメだぞぉ！(HEY YOU GUYS!! BULLYING IS WRONG!!)” AWW IT'S SO ADORABLE!! HES 100% A NICE GUY lmao

And surprisingly, he even sings a song sometimes... If you don't believe me, please check out “T.M.I” and “Operation Bumblebee part 2” 🥺

And Our Knock Out is even more of a narcissist than in the original. He always praises himself for how beautiful he is. He usually uses polite Japanese when talking to others, but sometimes he talks to Breakdown casually! I love how the difference in his behavior signifies that Breakdown is special to him as a friend! ( ꈍᴗꈍ) <3

In addition, the voices of Optimus and Megatron both sound younger than in the original! On the other hand, Bulkhead sounds older than in the English version. That's interesting! Oh, and did you know? Wheeljack speaks just like a samurai! This change is probably due to his two-sword style.

I especially love Japanese Ratchet. The voice actor is Nobuo Tobita, who has played many TF characters until now. His voice is really soft and gentle! Besides, he also voiced Scourge in Rise of the Beasts! Wow, he has a wide range of acting! I’m a long-time fan of his!

Oh, speaking of ROTB, let me mention Japanese Mirage’s voice actor, Shingo Fujimori! He’s a famous comedian, and his comedy style is acting like a player and a party person (or someone like that… it’s difficult to explain). He shouts things like “YOOO! GIRL, YOU’RE SO PURDYYY!” So he really fits the character of Mirage!

Oh! And you listened to “TRANSFORMERZ” by M-flo? I like the song too! The original opening theme of TFP is magnificent, so you all might be surprised at the gap between them, but such an anime style is not bad, right? It's interesting how we find different styles in different countries!Unfortunately, the show was only broadcast in Japan up to seasons 2. I wish I could have seen the entire series dubbed in Japanese...😭

I really talked for quite a while, sorry! Thank you for the question, and for taking the time to read!

#thank you for the ask!#my thoughts #the japanese dub vs the original dub #anyway I love both!#long post #maccadam #transformers prime #rise of the beasts #japanese voice actors #transformers

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chemicallywrit · 4 months

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Happy Audio Drama Sunday! Last one of the year! There are so many amazing shows I listened to this year--Gastronaut, Kakos Industries, Madame Magenta, Dungeons & Daddies, Cry Havoc! Ask Questions Later, Bronzeville, Deviser, Ghosts in the Burbs, The Silt Verses, Fall of the House of Sunshine, The Ballad of Anne and Mary, Eliza: A Robot Story, Eeler's Choice, Hemophobia--this list isn't even comprehensive! But here is what stood out to me this week. (As always, some spoilers follow.)

🦸‍♂️ I've had Superhuman Public Radio on my radar for a while, but I finally got a chance to listen to it this week. For lack of a better way of putting it, the structural integrity of this show is flawless. It sounds exactly like listening to NPR, and it's funny and clever with some really incredible worldbuilding. It's everything I like about listening to local news without the stress of it being local news that affects me. I love it.

✨ I'm also new to Breathing Space, but the Firefly vibes are off the charts. I love any story that is basically just Anticapitalists in Space, but the western vibes of this really make the stories hit home. I especially liked S1E2, "A Rat Among Falcons," because who doesn't love a scruffy nobody being incorporated into a found family? S1E5, "The Salvage of the Valentina Tereshkova" was also a really excellent space horror story. I can't wait to see what they do next. And that theme song tho, right??

❤️‍🩹 @thefringespod has been making incredible use of their new full cast, and I love the twist that this season is driving home--it's not a story presented to you, the listener, it's a tragedy that the mute second character is helping to undo. The softness of the family that Pine Gonzalez spent the whole first season describing comes through beautifully in the work of the actors.

🌊 Modes of Thought In Anterran Literature is always a little bit unnerving, but this week our professor faced the horrors of...rich people. Like, REALLY rich people. "You're already paying for private security?" Absolutely chilling conversations. There was a headline this week about a bunch of Silicon Valley millionaires trying to start a utopia in the desert, which works great all the time of course, and I thought of Anterra, tearing itself apart, and about the professor, who doesn't exactly make great choices, tearing himself apart too.

🐺 Things are getting very scary on Palimpsest! Is this a werewolf season?? It is VERY gothic, which is fun in a Jazz Age setting. It feels incongruous, which just adds to the horror. The quiet build of Palimpsest never disappoints me.

📦 Bless those children on @storiesfromylelmore, they're so darn good. ItMe has always been excellent at writing along the span of human nature, and seeing them do it with the three kids in Stories from Ylelmore is wonderful. Of course, a lot of the credit has to go to ItMe's flawless line delivery too. The kids feel very real, even while they're delivering magical packages from a bookstore to the head of the local witch coven.

🐦 The Amelia Project's Twelve Days of Christmas thing has been so funny. I half hope we never find out who's tormenting Alvina. The only downside is that now I have the song stuck in my head constantly, and seeing that it's like, the second-worse Christmas song, this is a problem. The show's worth it, though.

🕯️ What should appear in my podcatcher this morning but the second episode of Flickers! I was intrigued by that first episode, and this second one is really bringing home the isolationist horror. I can't wait for the next installment.

👽 Among the Stars and Bones is coming back! It's coming back this month! This is one of my all-time favorite sci-fi shows, everyone, if you're not on board yet then GET WITH IT, because this next season is guaranteed to blow your mind.

That's what I've been listening to! Here's what's going on with me:

🧟‍♀️ The Dead has been posting episodes from its second series, Ephemeris, which I wish we could have spent more time on, because the premise is so good. Zombies. In. Space. My gosh. David Ault and Kayla Temshiv in particular are killing it on this story. It'll be a few weeks before our next story premiers, but I'm REALLY excited about that one. Tune in!

Finally, the most important news...

💚Inn Between Returns on Wednesday!🏹

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

I am THRILLED about season five. The cast is killer, the story is fantastic, everyone's bringing their A-game, and I can't wait for you to hear it.

That's all for me! Happy New Year everyone!

(If you like what I do, I'd love it if you could send me a ko-fi! Especially since my car just frikkin. Died. So rude of it. Thanks!)

#superhuman public radio #breathing space podcast #tales from the fringes #modes of thought in anterran literature #palimpsest #stories from ylelmore #the amelia project #flickers podcast #among the stars and bones #the dead podcast #inn between #audio drama sunday #audio drama #audio fiction #fiction podcast

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skeletonpunching · 1 year

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Buddy Daddies interview with Uchiyama Koki

Interview with Uchiyama Koki (voice actor for Suwa Rei)

Interviewer: When you first saw the character design, description, and other information about Suwa Rei, what impression did you have?

Uchiyama: He had a chilly air, and his personality didn't seem cheery at all. I had a very strong impression of coldness, as if he'd closed off his heart. The description said that "he was raised in an unusual environment, and works as an assassin", but since it was an original series, I had no idea what future development he would go through. So I figured he must still have plenty of hidden depths in store.

Interviewer: And how did it feel to actually act as him?

Uchiyama: (Kurusu) Kazuki and (Unasaka) Miri have lots of lighthearted interactions which roll along at a brisk pace, but when Rei joins in, he can't really keep up with that pace and energy; I was often reminded to convey that during the recording sessions. There are a lot of conversation scenes among the three members of the household, and I was told not to fall into their rhythm. When you're talking to someone, it's natural to get emotionally caught up in the conversation, and to be mindful of the other person when choosing your words. But when it came to Rei, it was very important to keep that tendency in check.

Interviewer: You were essentially playing the dual roles of father to Miri, and a professional assassin. Was there anything you kept in mind at those times?

Uchiyama: In Rei's case - first of all, when his hairstyle changes, he leaves a very distinct visual impression, and so I figured that had to make some difference. During the recording sessions, I was asked to give him a slightly different vibe whenever he entered assassin mode. And as for the parts where he's being a father to Miri, I felt like that aspect developed bit by bit as the story progressed - early on, he doesn't have the sort of concern or feelings for her that Kazuki does. Rei's fatherly feelings build up through various incidents, and it made sense that it would be a gradual development.

Interviewer: Please tell us your impressions of Kazuki and Miri, as well as what you find appealing about each of them.

Uchiyama: I think Kazuki is an essentially cheerful person, and takes an interest in all sorts of things. Unlike Rei, he has very strong life skills; he can cook and clean and do laundry to perfection, and he can communicate smoothly with others. No matter whether he's dealing with the job or the housework, he tackles it proactively. It sounds strange to say that he "enjoys" his job as an assassin, but on the whole, I do get the impression that he really revels in life in general. That's his charm. Miri is as bright as the sun, and chatters away cheerfully in a loud voice. I think she has a natural ability to lift the spirits of the people around her, with her laughing and singing. Plus she has quite a wealth of different expressions, and not just childishly adorable ones - her goofy faces and wicked smirks are also drawn in fine detail. That level of expressiveness and variation is also charming. I think it's good that she has traits beyond just cuteness.

Interviewer: From the episodes that have aired so far, are there any scenes that left an impression on you, or that you're especially fond of?

Uchiyama: There's a scene where they're struggling to balance their life with Miri and their job, and so they head to the government office, but what I really found memorable was how we begin to see all the aspects of "parenting" from there. Part of the process is that they have to write her name on all her belongings for daycare; I thought that little detail was very effective. And in the scene where they go shopping for high-end children's clothing, it was interesting to see Kazuki go on about how, when you're entering a group environment, you have to try to look cool right from the start. I've spotted designer children's clothing in department stores, and I've always wondered what sort of parent would buy such expensive stuff. Turns out Kazuki does. (laughs) That was on my mind as well.

Interviewer: Please tell us what you think are the selling points of this series "Buddy Daddies".

Uchiyama: I think it really is the feeling you only get from an original anime, that you have no way to tell where things are going from here. I also recorded every episode with no idea how it would all turn out in the end. From the midpoint onwards, Miri's mother is an important character as well, and various dramas are playing out in parallel, including each character's past. In that way, every episode brings a sense of freshness, and I think you can enjoy that without ever getting bored.

Interviewer: Finally, please give a message to everyone who is enjoying this series.

Uchiyama: When it comes to Rei, his past and background are still a mystery in many ways. We get a few glimpses from his conversations with Kazuki, but the series will delve more deeply into that from now on. Please pay close attention to the story of the Rei, Kazuki, and Miri trio, as well as to each character's life until now. And this one is a minor detail, but I'd like to note that there are a lot of homages to legendary movies scattered throughout. The scene of making French toast is reminiscent of "Kramer vs. Kramer" [1979 legal drama], and Ogino Ryo is a lot like Chigurh from "No Country for Old Men" [2007 thriller by the Coen brothers]. I think it would be wonderful if you could appreciate those hidden references as well. I hope you will follow this series all the way to the finale.

#buddy daddies #buddy daddies interview #uchiyama kouki

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scarareg · 3 months

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Percy Jackson and The Olympians Season 1 Review (1/3)

What I like:

It has color! Disney tends to do their live actions shows/series dark or gray ,so I am pleasant to see colors popping up on the screen. Walker's eyes and the orange shirts are a highlight for me!

Set design is impressive! The team behind it did an excellent job. Each cabin is INSANE! Olympus is sooooo marvelous as well!

I was doubting of Lin being casted as Hermes but he proved me wrong and he did a great job

NICO DI ANGELO'S VOICE!

The credits are so cool and cute! Love the art!

Like the casting for Ares, Dionysus, Poseidon, Sally and Hephaestus

NICO DI ANGELO SCREAMING "BIANCA"

I can see why Walker was chosen as Percy. He fits the character so well,has the vibe,the mannerism,the eyes. My only complaint is the hair,they could and should have made him wear a wig. If Miley Cyrus could do it, Walker can! They have the money to buy one,there are not excuses

Seeing the Mythomagic deck was super cool! Love the design!

Cerberus!

In all seriousness,they foreshadowing the di Angelo siblings using their voices was smart AF, because casting them at this point requires a lot of hard work,time and money that may not pay off

Percy driving scene,love it!

The scene of Grover being pulled to Tartarus is really well done and faithful to the books, truly makes you feel the tension of the moment!

Sally in the rain while Logical by Liv Rodrigo is playing is incredible,completely in love with that scene! My girl just wants to feel a ounce of how she felt while being with Poseidon,it is so tragic!

The Lightning Bolt and Hades Helmet are sooo cool, really well design,I want them!

Ares bleeding Ichor!

The interaction between Poseidon and Percy was cute and I like what Poseidon said about Percy having trouble following rules, but that it was his fault because that is how the ocean is . Super wholesome moment!

Percy calling Kronos grandpa is hilarious

Stuff I feel conflicted about:

Even if I love to see what Mythomagic looks like, I feel that making it a demigod stuff instead of Nico's precious hobby takes away from him. The game is in part a connection to his past, to his era, his sister and a side that divides him from the rest. Nico feels like an outcast even among outcasts, and the other demigods feel he is kinda strange. Even Percy, who tried to be friendly, thought Mythomagic was lame. I don't know, I just think it should be only his stuff

What I dislike:

The entire cast looks nothing like their book counterparts and it is distracting to me. I am going to compare it to the One Piece Live Action to explain my feelings. With OP I did not need to be told who was who ; and I already was fangirling that Coby was in the background,or Buggy will be next episode, or Helmeppo is hot for some reason,etc. Here I was like "some dudes are looking at Percy,is he supposed to be Luke? I do not know. He may be,but I am not sure." And hey,look at that ,he turned out to be Luke!. I don't know,I don't love that, it takes away from the experience and characters

Percy was angsty in a way that feels out of character to me. Like,in the books he was sad that his mother "died",obviously,but he still had his kindness. Here, his anger was more reminiscent of Harry after Sirius died in the books. Trashing everything,yelling,full of fury. And it felt wrong for Percy to act like that. For example: in the books when Percy finally wakes up, he tells Grover that they are still friends and that he know he did everything in his power to help him and his mother. In the show Percy is super cold and actively distances himself from Grover until the quest is going to start, and it feels like Percy chose Grover to go with him because that's how the book go, yet Show Percy dont feel particularly excited for Grover to be there,he dont seems to miss him after their fight , nor thinks of him as his best friend. He said himself "finally I have friend" referring to Luke and the other guys in camp,meaning Grover was not. Which takes me to the next point

Grover is treated awfully by the writers. Everyone keeps telling him to go away. Chiron and Mr D. seem tired of him. In Lotus Casino, Percy and Annabeth acted like they were forgiving him for forgetting them,even if they knew it wasn't his fault that he didn't remember. The writers made the naiad give Percy four pearls only to make Grover lose one, which was unnecessary and just makes him look stupid or incompetent. The list goes on,you get the idea. Grover is not treated with respect by either writers or the narrative

We were told but not shown Annabeth's fear of spiders (that is another problem of the show,it tells but don't show), they didn't mention her passion for architecture and dreams of becoming an architect. Also,I don't love the idea of her listening to Luke's plan. My girl is supposed to still have hope for Luke to change his mind,she believes in his kindness and is in negation and defends him when people calls him "evil" for four books in a row. They taking away all these details ,plus she not having a crush on Luke feels like they are taking away what makes Annabeth herself while removing the side of her that is just a teenager girl. She is supposed to be kind as well, that is why people like Frank feel safe asking her for help because he knows she is not going to laugh of him. Here she is way more stoic. You can be smart and warm at the same time,Rick. It is possible, you wrote it that way 18 years ago

Sally yelling to Percy. I know that people say we should not trust Book Percy's POV because he sees his mom as perfect (fair point) but I think that if Percy has such a great perception of her is for a reason. Also ,I am willing to believe that if Percy says his mother never got mad and screamed at him for being expelled from schools,it's because is true. In the show almost all the flashbacks are her shouting at him. Book Sally don't do that because she understands,she knows who Percy's father is,she knows what having a child of him would mean,she knows that the magical and strange stuff that Percy experience is not his fault; that is why she is patient and kind,and what makes her such a great,mature,kind mother; and they took that away from her.

The acting was not the best in the first episodes. Now ,it got better as the show went on, but in the first 3 episodes legit feels like they are reading the script from a carbon board. I do not know if it is because of the directors or lack of experience playing the characters and that is why it improves later on or what, but it is really noticeable

They are skipping or cutting scenes really weirdly , just fading to black and showing the aftermath of situations. Like Sally's car crashing after the Minotaur attack. At one point we see the Minotaur coming, then the screen goes to black and next scene they are crashed. Or with the animal escape we see them in the car and next scene they are in the streets free. It makes the pacing feel strange, takes away the momentum and feels kinda lazy coming from such a big production.

They tell us but do not show the magic in this world and is frustrating! For example, in Narnia no one tells Lucy or us the rules but we see it. With the music cue we know the Wardrobe is special in some way. The she gets inside it and walks backwards,and keeps going and keeps going and keeps going, which is weird, and there are trees! Later, when Mr Tumnus plays his flute, we see that it's magical and makes Lucy fall asleep; and after that she returns to the normal world and we know hours have passed yet Peter is still counting, meaning in our world just have been seconds. In the Percy Jackson's world an easy way to show the magic is with the Mist, but instead they decided to just tell us everything with endless,boring exposition dialogue

Connected with the prev point,they never figure out who any of the creatures/monsters are (except from Echidna) and is boring. Every scene is the trio meeting them and immediately going "you are Medusa", "You are Crusty and here is all the information about you". Yes,the characters know them from myths, but each creature/monster has gone through changes to blend in modern times,making it tricky to be immediately recognizible, that's the fun of the books.

I also feel the world building was lacking. Like people who are watching the show without having read the books do not know there is no Hades Cabin or which Cabin is for which God. Bet some of them think the first three Cabins are for Zeus, Poseidon and Hades but no; Cabin 2 is Hera's and is and always will be empty because she is the goddess of marriage, meaning she is 100% loyal to Zeus. And please correct me if I am wrong, but they did not mention the Mist nor Ambrosia,isn't it? Because I genuinely can not recall. All these details are important and are missing. They are also wasting the opportunity of foreshadow future characters. Like how cool would be to see an 8 year old Will! Or get know Cabin 9 and Beckendorf, that would give Percy a connection with him earlier than in the books and make us book readers hype to see Leo's Cabin!

The friendship with Luke feels underdeveloped. Percy says "finally I have friends" but I feel he barely knows him and we dont even know the name of the other dudes who supposedly are his friends. The show could have benefited from having two full episodes taking place in the Camp and moving the flashbacks from episode 8 to episode 2, it would feel more natural

Luke not having his scar. The reason I think it is important is because for Luke looking himself in the mirror is a constant reminder of his father, his grudge towards him, his quest and the failure it was and the shame he feels about it. All those feelings boiled down inside him and is the reason he joins Kronos. Taking the scar away takes that complexity. See it as the equivalent of Zuko's scar in the Percy Jackson universe

Part 2 • Part 3

#Percy Jackson #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Percy Jackon and the Olympians #Percy Jackson Series #Percy Jackson Show #PJO Show Crit #PJO Critical #pjoverse #rrverse

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waitmyturtles · 5 months

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Possible TWs if I get there: domestic assault, sexual assault, corpses

I've been trying to conjure what to write about Shadow the Series since I binged it last week. It seems tenuous to make any guesses about this show, since each episode does it what needs to do, and adds information that colors and has me questioning any theories I'm coming up with. Instead, I'm just going to meditate on a couple of bits that are sticking with me, and questions that I have about references the show may be making. Full disclosure: I have NOT spent enough time searching for meta in the tag, so my apologies if I'm repeating anything that's already been written.

1) The scene in episode 3 with the monk had me thinking a lot. In reference to an unrelated conversation with @lurkingshan, the legend of the story of villagers sending dead bodies floating down a river as sacrifices to local wild ghosts -- and the timing of the Catholic school being built after World War II -- had me thinking if, within that legend, there were any references to the building of the Burma-Siam Railway, also known as the Death Railway. I rewatched that scene yesterday, and noted that the referenced dead bodies were not necessarily attributed as being of the village in which the monk is from.

I'm extrapolating: taking into consideration that memories of assault or trauma among children are often dissociated into stories (think Life of Pi), the same will often go for local legends of attack and war. Again, I'm extrapolating, but I think it's interesting to note that this school was built on otherwise venerable grounds, meaningful to the local villagers, and that ghosts considered inhabitants of this area began to rebel against not being worshipped.

Catholic schools in Southeast Asia were already plentiful before WWII due to colonialism; in fact, a Catholic school built AFTER WWII would be relatively new, as compared to schools built before and at the turn of the 20th century. I wonder what it meant that that school was only built after the war.

2) I very much appreciate that Dan never lacks a critical eye or question. He heard from the monk that he should use his dream ring to bring him back to reality; but also, that staying in the dream realm for too long would expose him to "things he shouldn't know" (I'm paraphrasing). And Dan asks why.

Dan's someone who questions, and who lets other people who that he's going to question.

I appreciate that while the set-up of Dan's exposure to the Buddhism of the monk seemed like a reprieve from the weird-ass vibe of the Catholic school -- that Dan didn't fall into the mindset that what he was experiencing at the temple was necessarily "a" or "the" right path. The monk still told him -- as so much of Christianity tells Christians -- to not question certain things, which is out of the possibility of Dan's internal philosophy to find answers.

3) A priest using hypnosis. SMDH. "Feelings aren't reality"? Biatch. I got shivers when Anurak popped out the Rorshach drawings.

4) I mentioned this to a few other folks, but it's definitely giving me the jibbles that Nai seems okay with Dan taking the fall (multiple times) for Nai's revenge scheme against Anan. Without intervention, the oppressed will oppress.

5) Episodes 6 and 7 did not seem as tight as the earlier episodes; it seemed to me that the show, as it continues, is holding a lot of stuff, and will need to unwind on this stuff as we near conclusion. I'm hoping for a tight ending, but we'll see.

I have no theories on the shadow, except, again, many of those who have suffered trauma as children may experience dissociation. But I'm not going to offer that as a theory for conclusion -- it's far too early to make those conjectures. My tastes having me paying continued attention to the themes of Christianity living side-by-side with Asian traditions of religion, spirituality, and local/regional practice, and what it means to have your questioning sides shut down when one has questions about how these cultures co-exist, if at all. I see the clash of cultures especially as juxtaposed during the funerals of Dan's parents at the temple, with Anurak visiting both times.

This is a FANTASTIC show, and it's honestly a HUGE refresher to take a break from traditional BL to watch a queer thriller. I can see that Nai may be attracted to Dan, but I'm honestly so glad to not actively ship Fluke and Singto. They are SO GREAT in their roles, holding their own, and I would be perfectly happy with no couples at the end of this show -- this wouldn't be an element to an excellent ending that I need or that I'd ask for.

#shadow the series #shadow the series meta #fluke natouch #singto prachaya

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butterflydm · 8 months

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wot deeper dive 2x4: daughter of the night

This specific post I am going to avoid any spoilers from the books! I will be doing another post later today that includes those spoilers and related thoughts.

I feel like I can safely call him 'Ishamael' now. The information is all there in the episodes.

I do like this initial 'calling' scene, though we got a lot of it teased to us before the season aired, so I've talked about it before. But we hear the word 'Lanfear' here, though it's followed by a lot of Old Tongue, so it might not have stood out too much to people who didn't already know that it's someone's name.

Given what we saw of the flashback last season "3000 years ago", I feel safe in saying... yeah, looks like Ishamael is among the ruins of that older civilization. Probably brings back some memories. Also, time-stamp note: it looks like he's wearing the black buttoned outfit that he wore last season, not the blue with the gold tie-clip-like design that he's been wearing this season.

3. The bloody woman! I wonder if she's bloody (and naked) because that's what she looked like when she got sealed up or if it's something that happened due to the process of unsealing. It looks like the seal was already partially damaged, so maybe that's why Lanfear was bloody when she woke up.

4. I loved Anveare's plotline through this episode. I really enjoy what the show is doing in showing us the downside of being a channeler -- outliving your friends and family, watching them grow old and die. Having children is a crapshoot -- if they're a girl, and they can channel, then it's a relatively normal parental relationship. But if they're a boy or if they're a girl who can't channel, then they will inevitably die before you. We're introduced to Anveare again by showing us her signs of aging -- she looks at the lines on her face and puts on an elaborately-styled wig to cover how white her real hair is.

5. Here's a question: given the age of her butler and how she talks later about needing to ask friends for food (and the general vibe of the manor house itself); it sounds like their house truly is fallen, as Moiraine mentioned in s1, and is having serious money issues (though in the way that nobility has money issues rather than the way that the people in the Foregate do -- she's not poor, she lacks funds) and Anveare seeks to fix the problems both of money and of her house's image by marrying her (unnamed for now) son to the Cairhienin queen (also unnamed for now). The interesting thing to me about this is that it means that her conversation with Rand in the last episode probably did have an element of genuine sympathy for the Foregaters in it -- it sounds like she's also felt like she could lose her home and her place in society. And it's implied that she's an artist! I really loved seeing the sketches and paintings in her study.

6. The conversation between Lady Anveare and Moiraine is so painful! Moiraine is NOT here to engage emotionally with her younger sister -- she is here to find Rand and to try to keep Lanfear away from him, and she has no time or patience for anything else (as we saw with her behavior with Lan as well). It's clear how frustrated Anveare is with Moiraine's behavior. I'm assuming that she guessed straight-away that Moiraine's appearance here had to do with the mysterious redheaded boy who visited Logain and made an appearance at a party (because it's also made clear in this episode that Logain being sent to Cairhien was not 'business as usual' with male channelers but an oddity, which means that Anveare has probably been keeping an eye on the sanatorium ever since he arrived) -- if Moiraine actually had been willing to slow down and take tea with her here, I wonder if Lady Anveare would have just told her about Rand. But Moiraine "my loyalty is to the Dragon Reborn and him alone" Sedai does not have the patience for such things. I like that we're really seeing the damage that Moiraine's singlemindedness has been doing to her relationships with the people around her. It's not targeted at Lan! It's everyone who gets in the way of what she thinks she must do! The way Moiraine sweeps back into the house and just immediately starts giving orders!

7. Guilty Rand and Selene ready to take advantage of it (twisting the knife by blaming herself for the fire when of course she knows how it really started). She's so manipulative! I love how effective she is as a villain here. She's good at finding weak spots and exploiting them without giving away that she's aware of what she's poking at. And the facial expressions are just... on point, always. But Rand is worried that he'll hurt anyone if he's around them, and the more he cares, the more he worries.

8. Poor Nynaeve. The Accepted testing really put her through the wringer. I like that we only hear the flashback here and that we don't actually flash back to the test. It just happened last episode! We can remember it fine. They did a good job of showing why Nynaeve is currently feeling more emotionally connected to Liandrin (who also has a child, like Nynaeve has the memory of having a child) than to Egwene, who has not experienced anything like what Nynaeve has gone through. And Nynaeve needing to take that moment to remember and go back to put her ring on. Egwene is trying to hard to connect with Nynaeve but Nynaeve just... she was essentially 'trained' by her time as a Wisdom not to want to burden 'the kids' with her troubles (we see that in the very first episode when she launches her Bel Tine lantern separate from the rest of the village, not letting them see her mourn the people she's lost).

Also: the Accepted rooms are a big upgrade from the novice rooms!

9. We transition from Nynaeve feeling out of place to Lan feeling out of place. He has his hair down, similarly to how he had it in her vision of her AU future, but the quiet happiness that was on his face in that future isn't here now. This is a slower-paced episode for Lan and he doesn't get a big reveal at the end of the episode like we get in most of the other plotlines but if I think of it as an Alanna-focused plotline rather than a Lan-focused plotline, there is a reveal -- the poem and, potentially, the worry that Lan and/or Moiraine might be Darkfriends (we'll maybe find out next week if that's where her thoughts went or if she instead assumes that Moiraine is hunting Darkfriends or something similar).

I mean, thinking about the information that Alanna has:

a. discovers this poem which references the Daughter of the Night -- she doesn't even want to believe that Lan knows who it's referring to! Because of the Implications.

b. talks about how Moiraine changed twenty years ago, very abruptly (this is also likely when Moiraine and Siuan had their very public falling-out) and became colder "like ice".

c. Moiraine was willing to use Alanna to threaten Lan with a forced bonding, which Alanna went along with because Moiraine is her friend, but she may now be thinking about that in a different way -- why would Moiraine want to push Lan away that hard? (this would be leaning into the idea that Moiraine is a Darkfriend and Lan isn't)

It's pretty suspicious, when you think about it! So... if I think of this plotline as less about the show trying to tell us about Lan and more about Alanna: Investigator (mirroring Moiraine: Investigator in Cairhien) in Cairhien, then I feel more patient about the slower pace. And Alanna: Investigator has two co-conspirators that she trusts absolutely, which is a big contrast to Moiraine, as is her relationship with her family! Where Moiraine is cold and pushes away her only relative that we meet, Alanna is warm and teasing and clearly has maintained strong bonds with her large and loving family.

We get three very distinct and different types of ways that Aes Sedai deal with being Aes Sedai and how that affects their family: you can be the cheerful guardian angel of your extended family, like Alanna is (and Maksim and Ihvon are clearly fully part of the family as well, and adored by the children); you can cut them off entirely, like Moiraine has; or you can keep them a secret so that your enemies can't use them against you, like Liandrin has.

10. Alanna always being hungry is such a great character choice. I think I may have read that it was initially the actress's idea? But they are definitely playing into it this season and it works so well, on so many levels. She is a woman of strong appetites, who isn't ashamed to show it. And, like she did with Egwene and sex in 2x1, she's assuming here that Lan also has large appetites (for food, in this case).

11. This scene with Alanna does feel like it gives us a lot of information -- Maksim and Ihvon are on suicide watch for Lan (suicide is a big theme in this episode, actually), but Alanna doesn't think that's the issue here. We learn that Alanna plans to return to the Tower the next day, and we get the info drop about Moiraine's abrupt change twenty years ago. We also have Alanna feeling Lan out about his current plans. Despite what other characters say, Alanna herself doesn't much behave like she's planning to bond Lan imo. She mentions Nynaeve to him here and presents Nynaeve as the potential new option for him. But Lan was just told in 2x2 by Moiraine that he failed her as a Warder and he felt that too -- he wasn't able to protect her just by himself and so he's doubting himself.

In... certain ways, what Moiraine did to Lan over the last few months is not dissimilar to what Liandrin did to Mat, in terms of making them doubt themselves as a person. Their motivations were different but the results appear somewhat similar -- both Lan and Mat are adrift and not certain which direction to turn. "Where would I go?" seems to be the question on both their minds. Lan doesn't feel he would be any use to Nynaeve, just as Mat doesn't feel he would be any use to Egwene.

12. Moiraine looking at all the little pieces of her youth -- the dollhouse, the mirror, the books, the music box, the... cigars? And I love her silhouette her in Cairhienin dress. It's so distinctive. She allows herself some softness here, when she's alone, that she doesn't allow when she's around Anveare. Moiraine: Investigator is now out on the town! This scene is even more interesting knowing that Celestin (head of the sanatorium) sends reports to Lady Anveare. I wonder if Lady Anveare has already guessed that the redheaded boy is a man who can channel, given who he was interested in meeting and that Moiraine went to speak with him too.

13. Loved Moiraine and Logain's scene but, wow, very sharp and intense. She tries to bribe him with the wine and fails, but she does successfully bribe him with the promise of being allowed to kill himself if he does want she asks (which really puts it into perspective how terrible it is to lose the One Power). We get our explanation here of why the gentled false dragon was in Cairhien instead of Tar Valon (bait for Rand) and it's so good! Definitely a joint venture between Siuan and Moiraine -- I imagine that Moiraine penned her a desperate message as soon as she was able to, after realizing at the Eye that she'd screwed up by letting Rand leave. I imagine they also probably made it very public gossip that the false dragon was in Cairhien, explaining how Rand found out about it in the first place.

14. It does sound here like Moiraine's current plan is to stay in Cairhien so that Rand can learn from Logain, but it's very possible that discovering Lanfear in bed with Rand at the end of the episode has changed her plans. We will see!

...also I love Moiraine's pockets.

15. Poor Egwene trying to sort through her feelings, while Elayne does her best to be supportive. Elayne is very sensible-head here, which I appreciate. This isn't a situation that Egwene can 'fix' for Nynaeve, no matter how much she wants to help. It's a lovely and sweet moment between the two of them that shows their growing friendship, and we also get to see them doing chores at the same time, which shows us that Elayne is settling with the White Tower routine. Egwene feeling small and useless in the Tower. Baby. *hugs*

16. And then we get the flipside of things and see Nynaeve's discomfort in the Tower and with being Accepted. She tries to go to the Warder's training ground to find Maksim and Ihvon, but only finds a friendly Warder-in-training who has heard the hot gossip about her skills and is interested in presenting himself as a potential bonding option for her. We do see here that it's the specific friendships that she'd formed already that she was seeking out in the earlier episode when she sparred with Maksim and Ihvon, and not simply sword training itself.

17. Liandrin spots this conversation and then receives a message. This is where we get our discussion between Liandrin and Leane about the invaders on the western coast. The conversation is very vague with Leane, but then when she talks to Nynaeve later, Liandrin suddenly has a bunch of information about a specific group that was captured by the Seanchan. Given that we do find out in this episode that Liandrin is working with Ishamael (from the Mat & Min plotline), it's easy to guess where she got her information about Perrin and Loial's capture.

I love Leane's little shoulder wrap thing. The fashion in this show just vibes with me. I enjoy it. We do learn here that sisters were sent to investigate the attacks in the west.

I am very curious about what explanation they'll give for where Siuan currently is. They've made it a mystery and pointed out twice now that it's a mystery (both here and in 2x1, in the conversation between Egwene and Nynaeve).

18. Aw, wolves! This scene is great. Perrin gets some answers from Elyas, we learn about how the wolfbrother business works, Perrin learns that he isn't a werewolf, and we meet Hopper! What a cutie! I really liked the visualizations and the sendings of the wolves. We also learn that the wolves have been seeing Perrin's dreams.

I love how Elyas clearly is trying to help Perrin but his idea of help is just kinda... off from what Perrin thinks of help as.

I really like how seriously the show has taken Perrin's grief over Laila.

19. Lan has been obsessing over the poem, and Maksim catches him putting it away (explaining how Maksim knew where to look in the later scene). So... if I'm thinking about this storyline in terms of Alanna: Investigator, then Maksim talking to Lan here is just as much about trying to get information out of Lan as it is about trying to 'help' Lan get over his 'broken' bond with Moiraine.

"Have you ever known a marriage that is exactly the same another?" I do like that they are establishing that Warder bonds can come in all different kinds of ways.

20. Now we are back with Moiraine: Investigator, who is trying to figure out where Rand might have gone after the inn that he was staying in burned down. (I assume this conversation was also reported to Lady Anveare, lol)

21. Lanfear admits a small lie to Rand here (to get him adjusted to the idea that she can lie to him and it's okay?), saying that her family never came here, that it was actually her and her ex. Lanfear constantly talking about her ex with Rand: haha, I understand why he's just ugh, "Ugh, idk he sounds boring [aka I don't want to talk about your ex-boyfriend 24/7]" especially since we know from the conversation later that Rand has caught feelings for 'Selene' even though he was trying his hardest not to. He's likely assuming that the ex was older and more sophisticated and it makes him feel young and unsophisticated in comparison when she keeps bringing said ex up.

The music here is so good.

22. Mat and Min! This is a cute interaction, though it's colored by the fact that the viewers know that Min is working with Liandrin. Mat is so so adorable here and I'm glad he was able to shed the coat for this scene. Also, Min paying the bartender to get Mat drunk (so that he'll sleep through her 'meeting' later).

23. This conversation with Nynaeve and Liandrin is so good and so manipulative. Liandrin is able to take the information that Nynaeve discovered (about her son) and use it for her own benefit. I do think there's a certain amount of regret for her that she's pulling the trigger on the plan that she was given to follow by Ishamael (from her apology later) but there's no hesitation. We know from the conversation with Min in a little bit that Ishamael makes promises. "I couldn't risk losing the only thing in this world that's truly mine." A reason to make a deal with Ishamael? And she offers the carrot here for Nynaeve to take -- people you love are in danger. She knows Nynaeve well enough to know that Nynaeve will take the bait, and likely assumes that Egwene will get swept along with Nynaeve (she saw how much Egwene cares about Nynaeve last episode).

It's only Elayne that was a 'complication'.

24. So, again, in the context of Alanna: Investigator... Ihvon trying to work out why Moiraine left Lan behind (and being the distraction), while Maksim and Alanna snoop in his stuff. We do also learn here that Alanna and her Warders all agree on their top priorities: the Light winning out over the Dark (and then dessert).

25. Genuinely enjoyed Anvaere successfully playing Moiraine. This is her city! She's the one who stayed! She knows the place and the people. And it's a good reminder to Moiraine that people who can't channel can be just as capable as those who can. She left Lan behind to protect him, but Lan is willing to risk his life for this, just as Moiraine is. Anvaere has been doing the hard work of re-establishing their house and family after their uncle did something that destroyed their reputations (unspecified). And Anvaere got what she was after from the beginning -- for her big sisters to sit down and have tea with her.

26. Elayne and Egwene's conversation here is very cute. Elayne has lived with duty all her life. She's just perfect in this scene (she's perfect).

Nynaeve not expecting Egwene to come with her has to be SUCH a blow for Egwene to hear. That Nynaeve has misunderstood her so badly, that she's believed that Egwene is after power for power's sake, rather because she wants to use that power to help people (and especially the people she loves).

And Elayne following them. So cute!

Of course, then Liandrin shows up. But it was very cute until then!

27. "No one escapes their fate. You know that better than anyone." This dream that Ishamael pushes on her, so that she'll be more receptive to his offer, really is so heartbreaking. No wonder she wanted to escape and travel and go as far away as she could. The show has done such a good job setting up believable emotional stakes for the characters.

The second that Min realizes who she really made a deal with, she wants to break it. And here is where we officially find out where Ishamael wants Mat to be led: to Cairhien.

Of course, Rand is in Cairhien. And Min had that viewing about Mat stabbing Rand. But she doesn't know that Rand is in Cairhien. Interesting puzzle pieces.

28. Once we know that Lanfear is a Forsaken, I feel like we can guess that she set up this entire scenario (ex. why are they sleeping outside? Selene said she wanted to, probably, to set up the scene properly) -- she brought the Fade here, she wanted Rand to use the One Power so that she could act out the part of Distressed Girlfriend Struggling With Learning Her Boyfriend Can Channel. She does such a good job, too. She really plays on his fears and how desperate he is to still feel like himself. You can really see how his heart his breaking when she pulls away from him.

Natasha and Josha are so good in this scene. There are so many levels. She also manages to continue to give surprisingly solid life advice, which is somehow incredibly hilarious to me. But I feel like Rand is, uh, probably going to believe all that advice is terrible now.

We also see that Rand is learning the sword but still isn't very good at it, as the Fade quickly disarms him and he needs to use the Power in order to protect himself and (probably more importantly to his mind) 'Selene'.

29. There is definitely a part of me that wishes that this had just been a romance scene. Rand getting tied up (and liking it)! 'Selene' literally thumbs open his mouth for their kiss! The way she kisses down his body and the expression on his face! It was a very very sensual scene, very well done. "You are the first woman who's seen me as a man" he tells her and I think he means that pretty precisely -- he loved Egwene but he still felt like a boy with her.

But instead of being a romance scene it's, you know, a deeply traumatic moment for Rand and will hamper his ability to engage in emotional intimacy (which will also potentially lead to other delicious angst in the future, though, I hope). We've definitely been getting a lot of trauma for our youngsters set up in recent episodes and we're only half-way through the season, so plenty of time for more trauma.

So far, we have:

a. Mat has been, essentially, emotionally sabotaged by months of Liandrin picking away at his brain; and we know that he's been set loose to follow a plan laid out by Ishamael which is not likely to lead to rainbows and puppies (I will have some theories in my later post with book spoilers).

b. Nynaeve suffered the trauma of the arches and now has been betrayed when she finally had come around to trusting and respecting Liandrin Sedai.

c. Perrin watching one of the men that he's been traveling with killed in an incredibly brutal way and being helpless to do anything about it. He also was told that what he is brings him closer to the Dark One.

d. Egwene has been the main target of all the 'fake-out deaths' in the show -- Nynaeve in episode 1 (which she believed until episode 6); Rand in the current season; and then Nynaeve again last episode.

e. After struggling with his identity all last season, and making the choice to abandon his friends for their own safety, Rand has built himself a new life but couldn't help himself from caring for the new people in it. Just as he'd given in to his emotions about Selene (who he has potentially been sleeping with for months at this point) and she appears to have accepted him as a male channeler! ...he learns that she's essentially a super-charged version of Dana (to simplify things). He literally gets covered in her blood while he watches helplessly, gets hit with incredibly distressing news that he can't question because he knows the person saying it can't lie, and then has to abandon this woman that he's come to love while she's lying dead on the floor and his sword still has her blood on it. Formative trauma centering around emotional intimacy and sexual engagement, table for one!

30. Alanna, Maksim, and Ihvon also realize here that one of the Forsaken is loose, which is gonna confirm their belief that the Last Battle is at hand. Alanna doesn't want to believe that Lan knows he's been carrying around a prophecy about one of the Forsaken, aww.

31. Lanfear reveal! This ending was so intense. Moiraine attacking Selene but explaining that she couldn't kill her and then that blink at the end. So good!

#butterfly watches wot #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot 2x4 spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers

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dizzycloudzzz · 5 months

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Beta Huntlow Headcanons

*in the "start of season 3" phase, human realm, same house and shared traumas

The two would both have the vibe "it's hard to tell if they applied eyeliner or just have dark circles under their eyes", two people who sleep late (WHEN they sleep) and wake up very early. I like to imagine them being the last ones in the house awake and arguing that the other one should go sleep, little hypocrites more concerned with the health of others than with their own

They study wild magic together and test glyphs and techniques on each other cause they need testing to learn, so it's a controlled and platonic fight (visualize, just VISUALIZE a "parallel" of Lumity scene of the Grom dance but it's Huntlow just having fun being chaotic among magic explosions OR putting into practice what they trained against some unlucky)

"You have problems with authorities and rules too? Woah, we have so much in common..." they took the expression partners in crime a little too seriously 😰 a common dialogue would be "do ya wanna rob a store today?" and the other responds "we already did that yesterday, I wanna get out of routine, let's try a bank?" not ironically

For RPG people, I think the moral alignments of them would be in the Neutral spectrum, maybe him as Lawful Neutral and she as True Neutral, I'm indecisive, maybe both Chaotic Neutral????

Aaaand for astrological people I think they would be a Virgo and a Scorpio... I just don't know who would be which lol

These two have a hospital drama/police investigation series that they watch together and they're really into it, It's TREASON to watch one episode without the other

Sometimes they pretend to be a couple to strangers 'cause they think it's so funny, and they tend to do this a lot since they hang out together frequently

Arm wrestling? Just an excuse for them to hold hands!!!! But when they start competing in anything a third person (usually Gus) has to step in to stop them from overdo. It's not about winning, it's about making the other admit defeat

There's frequent romantic tension in moments that were theoretically supposed to be threatening and it's frustrating how many times they come close to kissing but interruptions at the wrong time get in the way, that old cliché

Talking about ✨love language✨: Willow offers is acts of service and what she likes to receive/share is quality time. Hunter's love language offered is giving gifts and what he likes to receive are words of affirmation. Then it happens like:

"hey, Will! to thank you for yesterday I bought – nah, I stole – to you... industrialized cookies that you like..!"

"don't call me- wait, cookies? huh, you're the best dork ever, let's eat that while watching TV?"

"yeah, of course, let's see some tragedies in the news, it'll be fun... by the way, am I really 'the best dork'? cuz I'll brag about it later"

*plus that they are often in physical contact, without realizing it cause they are simply used to

*the headcanon OF the headcanon is that Hunter has a shirt that says "best dork" and maybe I wanna draw this a lot

I love them help me

#toh #the owl house #hunter toh #hunter #au #willow toh #willow #willow park #huntlow #beta huntlow #they live together (with everyone else but THEY LIVE TOGETHER)#headcanon #and i'll fill them with headcanons #they're like those people who walk away without looking back while there's an explosion behind them #with sunglasses over glasses #they fight but they learned to love each other and now they can't imagine themselves without each other #but since they don't say it out loud they are just “buds”#who make out from time to time #beta au

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floof-writes · 4 months

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WARNING: this post includes some negativity about something you might love: D20’s The Seven, specifically choices made by Sephie about Sam Nightingale’s actions and backstory

TL;DR- (Disclaimer, I'm only to episode 5) The way Sephie chose to play Sam makes her seem aloof, toxic, disingenuous, and attention-seeking compared to the rich found-family themes of past Fantasy High seasons and to her fellow characters in this season. Less importantly but still frustrating, she doesn't follow the 'one leveled spell a round' rule. If she had all these flaws and was also funny, I might forgive her. But, alas.

Watching The Seven right now for FHJY and while I have countless good things to say about it, forgive me for instead ranting about the fan beloved Sam Nightingale. While I understand that many people love it, Sam/Sephie’s stage mom backstory gets on my fucking nerves. Especially the viral video thing in episode 5. Sephie blows up a bit (a bit in a comedy show! They're always doing bits!) into something big and then chooses to duck out instead of committing and resolving. I LIVE for emotional moments in D20, I seriously do, but whatever Sephie has been doing just doesn’t work for me. It feels cheap. D20 emotional moments have a ton of build-up through comedy/resistance, and I hate to say it, but Sam is not a funny character. I’m not saying she’s not realistic- she’s traumatized and is going through a lot, but Sephie is playing her in the wrong genre. D20 is a comedy.

Here's the thing: Ally also gets criticism for playing Kristen in a really explicit and overt way, trampling over other roleplay with her trauma, and that is true (sorry Kristen, ily!), but at least what Ally did is funny. Sam isn't. Sephie almost nailed it when Rebecca revealed she was getting divorced- her reaction was both real and comedic, but later when she called Penelope it felt forced/spotlighty/too soon, especially considering she didn't even have a mirror charge left. And that attention-seeky vibe isn’t helped by the fact that Sephie chose to play an ex-child actor: a real-life tragedy that almost always comes off as cheap when fictionalized.

But the parallels between Ally’s Kristen and Sephie’s Sam don’t end there! One of the biggest reasons people were annoyed by Kristen was Ally’s (and to an extent, Brennan/fellow player's), absolute ignorance of the rules about concentration spells, which made her really overpowered in season one. My argument against this as a newbie dnd player was always ‘rule of cool, it was fun to watch and fun to play so it doesn’t matter!', but as a more experienced player I finally understand that frustration even though I tried not to feel it. The same thing happened with Sam in ep 4- she casts two leveled spells in a single turn with Quicken Spell (Lightning Bolt and Fly, and again later with Enthrall and Suggestion), which makes her seem crazily overpowered despite the fact that she’s a 3/6 multi-class among a 9th level druid and a 9th level cleric. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good multi-class, but she shouldn’t be outstripping them so handily (Yielle also fucking slayed this fight though).

[A proposed alternate turn for her second mistake: Quicken spell to Enthrall and then use her winged boots and second action to attack the harpy and catch Penny (a ranged cantrip (LIGHTNING LURE) or a weapon attack if the DM allowed that to cause her to drop Penny, opposed strength with Danielle’s Bear Totem advantage if not). It would have been just as cool and displayed better teamwork, plus it was an opportunity to roleplay bonding and show gratitude for the Feather Fall that saved her fucking life.]

In fact, for me, there’s only three rather subjective reasons why I adore Kristen so much and find Sam super annoying: 1. As we've been over before, Kristen is funny. Sam is not. 2. I personally really relate to Kristen’s Overpowering Trauma (tm) and as an amateur actress, find bitter child actress plots absolutely inconceivable (Disclaimer:Jeanette McCurdy’s ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ made me fucking lose it). And 3. Kristen's story is about finding love (of herself through romantic but most importantly platonic relationships), supporting others, and understanding the world. Caring so much she self-destructs. Even her famous rule-breaking was usually caused by a conflict with Bless, a spell she cast every time to protect her friends. But Sam has thus far rarely displayed unselfishness, despite knowing the Maidens for nearly twice as long as Kristen knew the Bad Kids by the end of Season One. Kristen was self-centered in that Ally often drew the focus of roleplay towards their character's own issues and sub-plot, (or by being the purest form of the new player paradox and asking to do something crazy.) Sam is self-centered in that same way, and also in that she is literally selfish. Antiope says 'I have an opportunity' and instead of saying 'I get it, the pressure of having a parent who doesn't understand you changes everything, but even then a part of you still wants what they want for you' she says 'so you won't be there for me? How could you?'. Penny saves her life before being snatched into the air like a mouse to a hawk, and Sam is the only one who can fly but she plays the harp instead of helping her in return.

ALL the maidens lost months to more than a year of their lives. All the maidens are grappling with generational expectations, trauma, and pressure just like Sam. The big what-if at the end of highschool. I was only going to point out Antiope and Penny, but this actually seems to be a major theme of the season, since Ostentatia and Zelda also have overt themes of this.

Look, if you’re gonna play angsty, there’s a trick to it. There's this highschool level acting advice I've heard so many times: The worst choice you can make on stage is to be bored, because what is the audience to do except be bored as well? Similarly, if you choose to play disconnected, then how is an audience supposed to connect? In a group of people who have vocalized endless support for you, ‘I’m fine, I'm fine' (as shown in episode 5's viral video scene) is just dishonest, and it's honestly a betrayal of Sephie’s fellow actors who are working to improvise a history of openness and support with Sephie’s character, just so Sam can seem aloof and angsty. Break down in their arms, Sephie! Get flustered and run away! Either ‘I Kiss Her And Skateboard Away/I Burn Two Luck Points To Stop Riz From Finding Out’ OR ‘I Need Everyone To Dogpile On Me Right Now/I Kiss Everyone On The Mouth’ levels of teen angst are needed for this to be actually funny. Sam could've had something unique and iconic up there with Kristen and Fig's struggles with being known, but she isn’t cringefail enough. She's not relatable, and she claims to be bitter but really she's just mean. And again, I never said she isn’t realistic- real life people do the ‘I’m fine’ thing. Real life teenagers make a big deal out of something to tease out sympathy/curiosity over a Hidden Trauma and then duck out of an explanation for the attention of it all. But it isn’t funny and it feels OOC for a maiden who had a year and a half to become fucking codependent (/pos) with these other six girls.

Rant over, something positive to end the post: TaleSpire is so fucking cool! Physical battlemaps are awesome but you couldn't do a 700ft+ chase battle on the dome's tabletop. They really took advantage of using a virtual tool this season and did something they couldn't do otherwise. (Plus the fact that TaleSpire is treated like video game software and has a one time purchase fee instead of a subscription based model is fucking awesome!)

#d20 #the seven d20 #sam nightingale #if you follow her tag I wouldn't read this I love you and I'm not trying to spread negativity #fantasy high #dimension 20 #long post #writing about a character who uses different pronouns than their actor is a real exercise in grammar

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dollsome-does-tumblr · 1 year

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ted lasso 3.07 thoughts

WHEN WILL TEDBECCA COME BACK FROM THE WAR

however, i found this episode immensely enjoyable, my tedbecca agenda aside. it was really charming and full of good and moving stuff!

i can in all honesty say i simply didn’t expect that from the red string. who among us could?????? (so happy that roy was so happy!) now i will always read that part of jane eyre just a little different.

sammmmmmmm!!!! sam’s dad!!!!!!!!!!! sam naming his restaurant after his dad!!!!!!!! sam and simi!!!!!!!!

you know my austen nerd brain was instantly like “JACK IS THE WILLOUGHBY AND ROY IS THE COLONEL BRANDON”. also, i love that keeley loves the book but loves the movie more, because honestly ……………… same.

i loved seeing nate in romcom mode, omggggggg!!!!!! such a joyful storyline. i’d like it if we could get to know jade more as a character – she’s such an enigma! – but i get that this show has like nine million characters already.

trent’s their dork! :)

i really wish rebecca had been involved in the team stuff this week. :( i just really missed her in that space, and would have liked to see her more involved and invested in the new coaching approach, etc. i miss her feeling like part of the team family. (i get that she started their singalong at the end of last episode, but you know what i mean!)

although, her explaining love bombing and doing that love bomb gesture was delightful.

i want a spinoff about barbara. she fascinates and enchants me. (sidenote: i’m picky about who could date beard but i think barbara has the exact right weird vibe.)

did anyone else go “ted was wearing a red t-shirt at the beginning of the episode and rebecca was wearing a red shirt at the end in the RED STRING EPISODE (never mind that the red string was tied to genitals)” or am i just that far gone mentally and emotionally?

with that being said, however: i don’t want to spend the entirety of the final season feeling like the show is a troll at a bridge and i must solve its riddles three to cross! i just want to watch the two characters whose relationship i love spend time together and enjoy each other’s company, damn it, and time is running out!!!!!! even if they don’t have a romantic thing going, i’d rather just watch them have a good time together and be friends!

i feel a lot like lorelai when she and luke break up in season five and she doesn’t want to miss her middle with luke. she doesn’t want to have just an ending with luke! i don’t want to have just an ending with tedbecca! WHERE’S OUR MIDDLE???? I WANT OUR MIDDLE! (we’re not getting our middle, are we.)

will getting way too into being beard, hahahahaha!

also, there was not enough higgins in this episode, but his one little scene was perfection. but also heartbreak. not his cuppa!

i feel like we don’t have enough time left this season to cover all the ground we need to cover, especially if it’s the last season! (i’m getting pretty worried about the pacing of a roy/keeley reunion, weary sigh.) i already feel like they need to decide to have a fourth season as well because this ain’t the final season as it’s meant to be. aghhhhhhhhh! STRESS!

next week sounds like it is gonna bring the DRAMAAAAAAAAA! the pure emotional sloppiness of the ted + michelle + dr. jacob situation really thrills me. BRING IT!

#dollsome's deep thoughts #ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso #ted x rebecca #tedbecca #and everything else!

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tachineko · 7 months

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what are some of the best bl's you think released this year?

hi!! so far i think this year has been good with bl's but i think these few are the ones that i think stand out the most.

currently airing

my personal weatherman

this one came as a shock to me. i haven't been keeping up well with mbs' bls, given that "eternal yesterday" scarred me for life. but knowing the original source, i saw the announcement of them doing this and thought, you know what, maybe it won't be so bad. it won't. and i got shocked at how much i love the actors, the setting, and the characters. i loved this series so much that my tiktok fyp page was filled with one of the actor's cute tiktok dances, and i guess that's just the algorithm for me.

kiseki: dear to me

you can already tell from the amount of gifsets i make that i love this bl. initially, i only watched because i know that my favorite bl scriptwriter, lin pei yu, who i've been a fan of since her first bl, was in charge of the series. but as it went on, i was begging for more because of how much the actors, the plot, the characters, and the setting draw me in. it will honestly become one of my most favorites after it finishes airing. the whole thing just gives off that history-trapped vibe that i've been yearning for in taiwanese bl for so long.

i feel you linger in the air

having read the original novel (go buy and read it. it's amazing), i was expecting this one to be just fine. now that a few episodes have been aired, i'm aware that they did some cutting from the novel to fit the lakorn-style series. still, the quality, acting, and chemistry are so good. i wasn't confident at first since it was directed by tee, but then again, you can't always judge a director from their other few series. especially since this one deals with heavy themes of identity, culture-bound issues, and history. so far so good. i think this might be a standout bl for this quarter.

completed

our dating sim

one of the hit bl's that i personally wasn't a fan of at first, but then i saw how good their chemistry was and how well thought out the plot was. i was also shocked that even the actors themselves didn't expect this series to blow up because it was great from start to finish. one of my favorite scenes this year is that one scene where kitae had an emotional breakdown in front of wan.

sing my crush

this one surprised me the most. having released all their episodes in one day, i was shocked at how long they've kept this from us. it was filmed during the start of the pandemic, and it was only given to us this year. such an amazing drama series.

though one of the reasons why i found this amazing was watching it when i was sick, so i guess that contributed to it.

unintentional love story

what i loved about this series is the length and character progression. it just goes to show that k-bl's have the potential to become full-length in the future.

moonlight chicken

another masterpiece made with love. i think there's not much i can say about this series other than it's one of those classic bl's. i recently recommended this to a friend for their first bl, and they loved it and became a fan instantly.

jun & jun

a bit controversial, but i think my own perception of this series was different than everyone else's. what i love about the series is its outstanding chemistry, easy-to-consume plot, and actors' visuals.

to me, this bl feels like thailand's first step in making korean bl. let me explain. one of the reasons why this series has some hint of thai production in it is because of the presence of high heat among the main characters.

now, a lot of people complain about the quality, but to me, it's fine. it's fine because it's not a series that's meant to be taken seriously, and it's also nonsensical for the sake of easy consumption among viewers. though i gotta say that the actors have great potential to be in other bl's as well.

#lee.asks #asianlgbtqdramas #userbilllkin #usernuria #mjtag #userlotad #tuserfaiza #lextag #asianlgbtqdrama #asiandramasource #usertaeminie #usergooseras #tesstag #boyslovesource #tonanons #userpuentalay #uservid

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notquitedeadpod · 6 months

Text

Today Not Quite Dead turns 365 days old!

A little over a year ago, feeling very disheartened and a little depressed, I decided to take the story about vampires I'd been piddling away with in the background of making Spirit Box Radio and turn it into a single narrator audio drama.

When I did that, I came up with a bunch of anti-rules:

I'd only work on episodes when I felt like it would be fun to do so

I'd make decisions about the story based on what was most emotional to me in the moment, rather than letting myself get stuck in the process of writing something with very restrictive plot goals

If I wasn't asking myself if I'd gone too far at the end of every episode's writing process, I wasn't going far enough

And so, the show was born.

This approach is radically different than pretty much every other writing project I've completed, and that's by design. At the time I started making NQD, I'd faced a pretty big set back with SBR and was struggling to work on it at all. I had a very clear vision for the show which at times made writing it very challenging and restrictive as an experience, and when I was faced with altering that vision, though I'm now convinced it worked out better that way anyway in hindsight, it was really difficult. It made me really rethink my entire approach to working on audio drama.

Writing NQD this radically different way was really good for me. I felt excited and giggly most episodes, and it was the first time I started to feel partially confident about my vocal performances. I noticed it was having a positive impact not just on my relationship with the writing on SBR, but how I felt about its quality overall. By working on something so different that required such a different energy, I came to value SBR more, and by the end of the show's run, I was in love with it the way I was at the beginning.

There's also the fact that I absolutely LOVE vampires. I always have. They're my favourite horror monsters, for reasons which are probably obvious to those of you who have listened to the show. They are almost indistinguishable from humans at a glance, they can live among us undetected, for the most part, but they are NOT human. They're different in importnat and unresolveable ways. As someone who has always struggled to fit in, this has forever resonated with me, and for most of my adult life, I've had an unserious vampire project or two being whittled away at in the background.

There were also some problems with how I wrote season one. NONE of the dates, times or ages lined up properly, and I frequently found I'd written myself into very boring, unfunny plot corners I'd have to spend a lot of time reasoning my way out of, which is no fun at all.

Something interesting, but not really good OR bad, is that LOTS of people found the show felt very trans to them, though none of the characters are transgender in canon. I'd not written the show this way intentionally, but it was very cool to see that other people had found this thematic thread buried in the story.

By the time I got to the end of Season One, I had to admit to myself that despite my best intentions, I had written a show with plot and themes. This was entirely an accident, but I was pretty happy to realise it. I also found that this show, something I'd written primarily for myself, had a real audience. This was a delightful thing to realise. You're all freaks, and I adore that for you, and I hope you're incredibly proud of yourselves, and I mean this entirely seriously. I am a freak too, otherwise I would not be able to write the show at all.

Anyway. We're over halfway through Season Two now, and my approach to the show has changed quite a lot. Though it has remained a project that is predominantly vibes-led, I've also found it exciting to spend some serious time thinking about the show's arcs and future and really indulging in making it As Much As Possible. As you will see over the next several episodes, that is So Much, actually.

On this year's first anniversary of Not Quite Dead, I find myself once again disheartened and depressed, because it's the slow slide into the long nights of winter, and as much as I love the cold and the dark, I struggle with my mental health year-round and this particular change of seasons is the one I feel is the hardest. But I'm also damned proud of this show, and not despite it's silliness, but BECAUSE of it. It's made me a stronger character writer, a better performer, and it's been a disgusting amount of fun.

Here's to another year of this ridiculous show about vampires.

Live. Laugh. Bite.

#not quite dead #audio drama #not quite dead pod #not quite dead podcast #gay vampires #vampire podcast #vampires #vampire #nqd pod #horror #nqd #eira speaks

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