#TONS of lines in literally every episode.
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Carmy’s Panic Attack
hi! hello! i don’t normally make things like this but i’ve been obsessed with the bear and sydcarmy so i thought i’d make my first meta. go easy on me please lol.
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sydcarmy is a new hyper-fixation of mine recently so i’ve been reading metas and trying to better articulate why this ship is so addictive to me. i kind of came to the conclusion that subtext and words that aren’t really being said but still very present to the narrative is something that i eat up. although, the thing that gets to me the most is THIS scene right here. carmy’s rude awakening panic attack scene. this is when the show really slapped me in the face. i thought of sydcarmy as a ship that might not happen (and i’ve been burned with ships like these before. hello fellow tvd bamon shippers) so, naturally i ship it and pay attention but i don’t get worked up over them. i would catch certain lines and just think *interesting. huh. that has to be intentional right?*
but then we get to the panic attack scene and it all just clicked in place for me. why did we see sydney’s tattoo in a blue filter next to carmy kissing claire? then we get to claire and carmy’s intimate scene which is also in blue and i remember just sitting there watching it with a confused expression the whole time. during it, i kept thinking why are both these scenes blue? why put sydney after claire (and vice versa) all the time?🤨
all those questions came up to the surface once i saw this scene. it felt like an assassin attempt on my life because i literally lost my mind. i started questioning every thought i’ve ever had. i looked at the dialogue really carefully. i started reading metas to see if people were seeing what i was seeing (they were and a sh*t ton more that wasn’t even in my line of thinking.)
so, after a while i just started binging their scenes over and over again. after this scene, it kinda somehow became a phenomenon almost?? a rare moment in carmy’s head where even though it isn’t explicitly defined, it’s there for us to see.
i watched the trailer for the bear s3 and i just kept thinking of everything i’ve learned and came to the conclusion that none of this is a coincidence.
in the panic attack scene, we’re met with the intimate scene of claire and carmy. then we get snapshots of claire mixed in with his family from the fishes episode. it’s such a strange scene when other people conclude that because carmy just loves claire so much, it scares him. while sydney JUST represents his confidence in his cooking and the restaurant. i kept thinking “how is that the representation of this scene?”
and then i looked at it with a different perspective. as a significant other, wouldn’t i be just a little concerned that another woman can calm him down but not me? then i realized, that’s exactly what’s bothering me about people saying that. because regardless of whether you shipped claire and carmy (all five of them) wouldn’t you be a little upset that carmy can’t even think about his girlfriend to calm down? he doesn’t even call for her in the walk in. he knew she was there. but he called for sydney (the restaurant). he even goes as far as giving claire a fake number. why would i root for that?💀
not to the mention the table scene, which is just straight emotional cheating with a f*cking RESTAURANT y’all. how is it even with sydney representing a restaurant, it still feels disrespectful to claire? you don’t just stare at your restaurant platonic partner like THAT with a hand twitch for no reason. he has more emotional intimacy with sydney, a restaurant. (please let that sink in)
all of this to say it’s very fascinating to see how much claire was attached to the episode fishes. it’s beautiful storytelling because we didn’t really know/meet the family yet until that episode. then seemingly, we get all these scenes of claire being put right next to his family in the panic attack. at the time, i didn’t understand why until the s3 trailer.
what was it about THIS little interaction that causes carmy to give her the wrong number and (possibly intentionally) forget her entirely??
and also how can this be seen as a good thing for claire and carmy stans (all four of them)??? carmy looked so frazzled and shifty eyed. just from the trailer alone, it almost looked like he wasn’t even really looking at her. which is interesting because how can people potentially turn this around and say how romantic this scene is? if sydney truly represents the restaurant to some then what does claire represent here if you add the panic scene on top of it? unless you look at the whole fishes episode in a positive light then being attached to a clearly traumatizing day doesn’t really mean good things for that relationship. that relationship was DOA (dead on arrival).
also a little fun coincidence that just doesn’t seem like a coincidence at this point is how claire is wearing a RED puffer jacket. with the way it’s shot, it’s a pretty good juxtaposition of a sydcarmy moment in the s1 finale. coincidentally, this scene was also in the panic attack.
night is the opposite of day. red is the opposite of green isn’t it? another coincidence???! i’m being delusional??? i don’t know, dude.
seems like claire is in competition with sydney, who apparently just represents the restaurant (how does this not make her a romantic rival?)🙃
also i had another thought that because claire left her “i love you.” on voicemail in s2, if there’s a love confession between sydcarmy, it would be on a call that carmy would answer. i don’t really have in depth thoughts on this theory though so i just thought i’d leave it here to look back on.
thank you if anyone read this. just needed to get my thoughts out before s3 starts and i lose all my initial thoughts and feelings.
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Fans and Creators of Webtoons!
I want to talk about Line Webtoon’s new “Super Like” program and why it sucks for literally everyone.
What is a “Super Like?”
According to their website, super likes are a new way for webtoon creators to monetize their work. Readers can pay real money to buy a super like for their favorite webtoon, and the creator gets a fraction of that money.
Wait, a fraction? Not all of it?
Yep! Webtoon skims quite a chunk off the top.
30% goes to Webtoon, and then another 30% of that amount goes to the payment processor.
So what do creators get? 49 cents for every dollar their fans try to give them. Literally half.
That’s pretty ludicrous, right?
Interestingly enough, they announced that they had a “tipping system” in the works in the same email they ended the CANVAS creator rewards program (and many comic creators livelihoods)
They said tipping system in their social media posts too
Obviously this tipping system is referring to super likes right? They say they’re going to do a tipping system, and then this rolls out.
But “tips” are not something that buisinesses can just take a cut of, at least not in the United States. According to the Department of Labor, it is illegal for any amount of tips from customers to go to an employer.
Webtoon is trying to walk back this language, of course. You won’t find the word “tip” anywhere on their website page explaining how it works. But those old social media posts are still up.
This is all pretty scummy
But wait, it gets worse!
They removed the Patreon button at the end of episodes and replaced it with this:
Yep! That’s right. Webtoon really said “what if we replace the tipping system that already existed with a shittier one where you only get half of it 🥺”
Unsurprisingly, they faced a ton of backlash.
Webtoon was quick to point out that the Patreon button was only removed from the end of episodes and there was still a button on the creator’s homepage. But of course, the end of episodes is where that button matters the most.
Creators know this. Webtoon knows this.
Eventually, after days of continued complaints from creators on social media, Webtoon went on damage control mode and announced that they would be putting the Patreon button back at the end of episodes—
As of right now (May 11th, 2024) the Patreon button is still not back.
***
So…Super likes are “super totally not a tip.”
But if they aren’t tips…what are they?
Well there’s a bit more to the story of what a super like actually is. After announceing the program, the app updated to reveal a new ranking category on the front page
When you click on this ranking tab, you can see that there is now both a daily and weekly ranking
If you’re a CANVAS creator, you know how difficult and seemingly random it can be to get your comic on the front page of the app—so my immediate worry was that comic creators were going to buy superlikes on their own series to get in this ranking and…
Yep, that’s already happening.
But why would webtoon even allow creators to buy superlikes for themselves? How does that make sense?
Surely goading desperate creators into buying superlikes can’t be that lucrative, can it?
No. I think there’s another, possibly even worse reason.
Fandom wars
If you’re into music, you probably are aware of how common it is for super fans to make concerted efforts to get their favorite musician to the top of the billboard charts. They coordinate over social media, stream music on loop as soon as an album drops to inflate the numbers, buy albums in bulk to increase sales, all so that they can say their fav is number one. It’s especially common among K-pop fans and swifties
This phenomena is well documented
Fans of Webtoons can be just as ravenous as K-pop, so I think Webtoon is trying to capitalize on this. They want to encourage fandom war and make money. That’s why they have this ranking. Not only can super fans brag about their favorite series topping the charts but they can wear their super like proudly on their reader profile that webtoon will be rolling out soon.
They’re just testing this super like stuff out on CANVAS right now, but once this starts up with originals? Oh. It will be a very profitable, very terrible mess.
(Oh and I mean profitable for webtoon, not creators, in case that wasn’t clear.)
***
Anyway, if you’re a creator, do yourself a favor and don’t enable super likes.
If you’re a fan of a webcomic, just donate to that creators patreon or Ko-Fi to show your support. Don’t give a red cent to webtoon because they did not do any of the work to make the series you love, alright?
Also check out my webtoon haha.
#webtoon#super likes#webtoon super likes#webtoon super like#super like program#monetization#comics#comic#webcomic#Patreon#webtoon canvas#webtoon creator rewards#webtoon fans#webtoon fan#webtoon creator#artists on tumblr#weird comics
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ENHYPEN MEETING THEIR LONG DISTANCE S/O FOR THE FIRST TIME.
────𝖺𝗅𝗍𝖾𝗋𝗇𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗅𝗒, 𝗐𝗁𝖾𝗇 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗄 𝗍𝗈𝗀𝖾𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅.
( NOTES. ) enhypen as eager ducklings. fluff. fem!centered. revamp. lowercase intended. 1036wc. from my old acct. 𓈃 ๋ 𝐍𝐄𝐖 峠
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ LEE HEE-SEUNG. 이희승 spends the entire time after you tell him you’re coming in writing a perfect song for you. barely gets a blink of sleep the night before, keeps tossing and turning every second quite literally. re-reads your text conversations, and looks at the photos and videos of you that you shared. at the airport he has a board with your name in case you don’t recognize him with his mask on, his doe eyes are all wide to spot you from far away. honestly has probably learned half of the whole of your language to impress you. when you reach and he sees you, boy doesn’t even wait already rushing to hug you. cries as he rocks your body side to side and on the way back home keeps looking at you.
"you mean so much to me, i don't think i can stay away from you anymore,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ PARK JONG-SEONG. 박종성 gets and gives himself countless peptalks on how to not have an embarrassing episode. chooses his outfit, perfume, shoes, accessories everything he will have on very very carefully. is nervous to the point of pissing his pants, but forcefully keeps on a calm composure. he just wants to look perfect for you. definitely buys a sweet gift, and has it covered in a pretty wrapper with a handwritten letter inside. looks like a model waiting for you, hands in his pocket as he stands all tall with a cold expression. but the image is gone the moment you arrive, as he melts and gives you a big long kiss. holds onto your hand- has your fingers intertwined the whole ride back home.
"having you by my side is like the greatest gift ever, i hope i always have it,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ SIM JAE-YUN. 심재윤 is nervous since day one after he got to know you’re coming to meet him. calls you every night to talk about what you’re gonna do when you’re here. flirts a lot saying now that you’ll be together in real life for some time, he’s going to take full advantage of it. updates you on his every action on the day of your arrival even though he knows you can’t check your phone. takes out time to learn his favorite endearment terms in your language so that he can make you feel special. also please he’s not waiting, as soon as you’re in his line of sight, he’s sprinting to you, picking you up and twirling you in a hug like in the movies. attached at the hip to you the whole entire time. gives tons & all types of kisses until the day of your return.
"you're so much prettier in person, so beautiful and all mine,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ PARK SUNG-HOON. 박성훈 wakes up early to stand in the line and buy your favourite food from your favorite place. has all the members gathered to help him decide what he should wear, nitpicks on every detail. practices everyday what all he wants to say to you face to face, probably changes the wordings a lot. yet forgets everything when he lays his eyes on you as you come running to him. stumbles back a little before holding you tight against him. whispers how he missed you, almost cries, eyes brimming with tears and shuttering when trying to speak. stealing glances, and looking away smiling all shy now that you’re going to be next to him for a while. cannot for the love of god make eye contact, he malfunctions.
"you have no idea how much i love this right now and how much i love you,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ KIM SUN-WOO. 김선우 excited from the very beginning, prepares something handmade to give you. almost everyone he knows closely, knows that you’re coming, he just can’t stop talking about it. everyone at the airport can already guess that he’s waiting for someone special. practically screams your name before you run to each other and he’s squishing you a bone tight hug. showers your entire face with kisses, while squealing and asking if this real and you’re actually here. for sure you both cry saying how much you wanted to meet and now, finally. he absolutely cannot stop giggling and smiling with his eyes the entire time of your stay. does not bother acknowledging anyone that's not you.
"your smile is so cute, i feel so lucky to be the one you smile at,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ YANG JUNG-WON. 양정원 spends the entire morning at the flowershop picking out the perfect bouquet to show his love for you. also buys these little couple bracelet set he came across on the way to the airport. probably has a serious talk with heeseung or jake the night before. you bet jungwon's secretly learnt your language, has a big speech prepared in it. waits at the airport terminal looking like a soft bunny, breathing calm but exploding inside. noticing your figure, excitedly walks to the other side of the barrier, calling out your name with a smile. gives you the flowers then holds both of your hands as he speaks, small tears dropping. kisses your eyes when you start crying too.
"you're beyond precious to me, it feels like i'm addicted to you,"
𝒢𝓁𝒸 ─ NISHIMURA RI-KI. 西村力 so nervous he thinks he'll pass out any moment. asks for all kind of advice from everyone he knows and notes it down on his notes app. acts out a fake scenario in his head of how he's going to jump you, hug the hell out of you, pepper you with kisses and absolutely make it so cute without crying. but the moment he sees you, poor baby starts sobbing like anything. it's so overwhelming, walks up to you in quick steps and pulls you into a tight hug. nuzzles his head into the crook of your neck, apologizing for 'ruining' this but he just so happy that you're here. after he's calm down it's just a shy boy. takes you both a while to get rid of the shyness but it's all really cute honestly.
"no one has ever made me feel the way you do, you're really my special person,"
TAGLIST ( open. ) @kangseulgithegreat . .
#enhypen imagines#enhypen headcanons#enhypen fluff#enhypen reactions#enhypen drabbles#enhypen soft hours#enhypen soft thoughts#enhypen heeseung imagines#enhypen jake imagines#enhypen jay imagines#enhypen sunghoon imagines#enhypen sunoo imagines#enhypen jungwon imagines#enhypen riki#enhypen oneshots#enhypen series#enhypen angst#wonryllis
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ENHA REACTION TO A FANBOY !
PAIRING maknae line! enha x mr
( hyung line ver, maknae line ver )
GENRE idol x fan, fluff
WARNING|S none
A. NOTE all writings and reactions from these idols are from MY imagination, it does not reflect their actions and reactions irl!
more under the cut !
⋆｡ ˚ sunoo
okay u cannot guarantee me that when u finally sat down at the chair in front of him, he'll not be acting n treating u like ur his gossip buddy. i mean who could blame him?? after rows n rows n ROWS of lovesick fangirls, there's finally a male that is in his presence! will spend like half of ur time getting to know you both, n quarter of the time signing ur albums n rare photocards n the remaining time gossiping about the other members to u. well not like the usual gossip that would reveal there actual hobbies n stuff, just on camera n the episodes stuff.
when it comes to the signing parts, he'll be so careful and neither do you n him know why!?!? (probably wouldn't want to cover his gorgeous face on that rare photocard of urs!!) also itll be so unique n neat omgg, hes not rushing like before when u noticed his hands where moving so fast during signing the girls albums n when u looked at it, it was literally like a child's hand writing ...
now when the staff told both of u its been already 2 mins past time, and that u needed to go cause there's other people (well now all girls) waiting in queue, he'll be all pouty and would probably reach out at ur hands to hold it as a goodbye, he'll be kinda sad??? but not that much, since he knows that you'll be there on his next fan sign, i mean youve always been there! on every concert, on every fancall. don't think he'll notice you hm? especially with some boy he considers a cutie.
⋆｡ ˚ wang jungwon
he'll smile at you, no not the usual smile he gives to everyone but that big n cute smile of his that's showing his smile dimple ahh!!! he'd think that ur so adorable!! especially with you clutching your album like ur life depended on it while smiling brightly while introducing urself to him.
would ask tons of questions to you like whos ur bias n why, will be so happy and flustered that you can't even see his eyes because hes smiling so much, when you tell him that hes ur bias then going on to explain why. now when signing ur album he'll leave little messages and stuff like 'from your bias jungwon' will write it in korean if you tell you know korean.
hes so touched by your enthusiasm by talking to him and showing him ur drawings of him and the other members, literally showing ur efforts just to give him something! and when ur talking hed be listening so intently, nodding along and sharing stories about behind-the-scenes moments from the episodes youd watch.
after you got up to leave since the staff said so, he couldn't shake off your guys encounter!! he was so touched from your compliments and support to him that it was too much to just forget off. oh, how he was looking forward to seeing you again...
⋆｡ ˚ ni-ki
hes smirking when he saw you, dont know, dont care if that makes a scandal, but hes smirking! the flirtatious way, probably be thinking, 'looks like i can attract more than just the opposite gender'. hes not the one to be first to give out compliments, but with you? he cant help it! his tongue is just slipping out truths coming straight from the heart.
hes going to question u like jungwon, 'who is ur bias?' but if it's not him he'll be so pouty, for example when you answered heeseung, he'll be like why? and when u say hes handsome he'll be pointing to himself and say what about me? am i more handsome then him? like boy, know ur limits, jk jk.
he'll be so impressed by ur pencil drawing of him, and seeing the effort on your handmade gifts makes his heart flutter, and his cheek a hue pink! maybe you'll be the one that inspires him to draw!!!
but boy hes a BIG tease when you're talking to him and suddenly stutter because ur flustered on the way hes looking at you with such interest!! like i said he can help it!! and when its time for you to leave, he'll give you a flying kiss BUT like when he touch his lips with his hand he'll quickly get the flying kiss to ur lips!!! while saying that he'll be looking forward on seeing u again enjoying the way your covering ur lips with your hands with a shock face not believing that his hand just touched your lips!!
#⇢ ˗ˏˋ eviline writes 💬#enhypen#enha#enhypen sunoo#enhypen jungwon#enhypen niki#enhypen riki#enhypen nishimura riki#enha sunoo#enha fluff#enha jungwon#enha imagines#enha niki#enha riki#male reader#enha x male reader#enhypen x male reader#sunoo x reader#sunoo x male reader#jungwon x reader#jungwon x male reader#niki x reader#riki x reader#niki x male reader#riki x male reader#enha x reader#enhypen x reader#enhypen x y/n#enhypen x you
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I don't care when people have takes that don't agree with mine or love characters that I don't. What does get under my skin is when people are smug and self-congratulatory about a take that's just wrong.
"The story of the show in season one was that it was a bunch of people with conflicting personalities shoved onto a boat together."
The story has always centered Stede, Ed, and their relationship. The initial idea of it came from the fruitiness of historical Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard's whole situation, and David Jenkins always meant for it to be a romance about those two guys. (He talks about it in this interview. The romance wasn't added partway through filming, it was changed because of the way Rhys and Taika played it.)
"Season two of OFMD was an ensemble show and season two wasn't."
OFMD was never an ensemble show. Stede and Ed are the primary characters and everyone else, however much we love them, is secondary. Even Jim, the only other character who gets a flashback and a through-line in season one, is a supporting character. And their story is fantastic! It's about finding a place where you can be who you are, learning who you are beyond assigned roles, and finding belonging and family -- and that's also what our A-plot is about. Jim's story supports the main story.
The crew does have considerably more screen time in season one, and that's because season one has more time. I truly, sincerely wish that season two had the space to feature the crew the way season one did because I love almost all of them and wanted more of them. I think that the crew's relative absence in season two is, overall, to the show's detriment.
But let's think, just for a second, about why there was less time devoted to the crew in a season that was much shorter. If the crew's storyline was the main one and if all characters were equally important, why did David choose to spend the time he had focusing on Ed, Stede, and their relationship? Is it because he lost the plot of his own show?
No.
Season two is shorter. Cuts had to be made, so David cut back on the crew's stories and kept the main story -- the Gentlebeard story -- intact. A writer does not sacrifice their primary story for subplots. When you show me that season two has more Gentlebeard per episode, you're not proving that the nature or focus of the show changed. You're underscoring the importance of the story that has always been the show's center.
If you liked the show better when it had more time to commit to the supporting cast, that's okay. I sincerely don't mind that some people liked season two less because it was heavier on the Gentlebeard. I just don't understand why it's so important to downplay the importance of Ed and Stede in the first season. OFMD has always been their show, and insisting that that's not true is bonkers to me.
Literally no one is saying that Ed and Stede should be the only characters onscreen. No one who loves Gentlebeard hates the crew; I'm deep into Gentlebeardie tumblr and there's tons of love for every single character (with maybe one exception). No one is saying that Ed did nothing wrong or Izzy is the devil incarnate or time given to characters who aren't Stede and Ed is time wasted.
There is a right answer when we're talking about what OFMD is about and who the main characters are.
Also: anyone who's still struggling to understand Anne and Mary's importance should read this. Atticus wrote a lovely and concise essay that ought to clear everything up.
Also also: anyone who harasses people, anonymously or not, is the worst kind of fan. There are no fandom opinions that warrant racism, transphobia, homophobia, doxxing, etc.
#ofmd discourse#gentlebeard#i'm so irritated with people today#and i'll probably regret this#but jfc y'all#sorry for the negativity#life's not going great#and neither are the general fandom tags
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I made a post like this on TikTok already, but I’m also gonna make one here too because I feel like ranting.
The Owl House: Such a great show with a BIPOC main character who is also bisexual and a fantastic plot line. It provides people with needed representation that makes them feel seen and discusses serious topics that people face in real life. It has a loyal and committed fan base and phenomenal ratings. All factors considered, it should be safe from cancellation.
*Gets cancelled and S3 gets shortened and 2 out of 3 of the episodes were leaked because it “didn’t fit the Disney brand”
The Ghost and Molly McGee: Another fantastic show with a Thai main character that was able to nearly perfectly balance a fun and entertaining episodic structure but still tackle serious and realistic themes and issues people face in real life. It also has great characters and representation, and, in theory, should “fit the Disney brand.”
*Due to lack of promotion and marketing, one of the episode releases on Disney+ kinda flops, and as a result, the show gets cancelled even though the next release had better numbers, thus causing the show to end prematurely. The third season would have dealt with topics such as death and loss and the first 10 scripts were already written*
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: A fantastic show that has (in my personal opinion) THE BEST representation a Disney show has ever had that manages to tackle serious topics and issues people have to face every day. It is able to mix the elements of a serialized and episodic show almost seamlessly and has already won a ton of awards and had over a dozen nominations cumulative.
*Literally never gets promoted, they release half of the season at one time without said promotion, and now the fate of the show rests on the performance of the 14 episode drop on February 2nd and 3rd AND they’re releasing 2 episodes a week on Disney channel and if it doesn’t do well it will get cancelled*
And this isn’t even close to the entire list of shows that have screwed over. (Referring to the leaks of Amphibia and other shows).
In conclusion,
STOP SCREWING OVER YOUR SHOWS DISNEY!!!
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Speaking of Laura and Marisha having relatively weak chemistry, which CR cast members do you think have the strongest chemistry (romantic or otherwise) across campaigns?
I've tried to limit this because I could literally name a great relationship for basically every cast pairing at this point, but some of my favorites. To keep things balanced, I've done a sort of circle situation with two pairings per cast member. I also haven't included Matt just because I think it would be weird because as DM he has to play off everyone well, and he does.
Travis and Liam always have something bizarrely intense and it's different every single time and it's never quite romantic (other than Bertrand/Lieve'tel) but it is, frequently, homoerotic. Obviously most present for Fjord and Caleb and particularly their conversation in the Xhorhaus, but the "I want to give you an experience" line in late Campaign VM and Chetney and Orym's conversation in the Heartmoor are two examples.
Ashley and Travis are also always good; Pike and Grog are legendary for a reason, Fearne and Chetney have some extremely fun stuff going on but can also take it to more serious places, notably their discussion after Ashton's shard absorption attempt. and Fjord and Yasha didn't interact a ton but their few moments (I'm specifically thinking their shopping trip around episode 108 or 109?) are stellar.
Sam and Ashley have the same quality I think Liam and Travis have, namely, they are on some level playing chicken with each other and neither will back down. We see this with Pikelan; my favorite interaction is Pike being mad at Scanlan after he returns from his Meat Man era. Pike and Tary and the flashcards to remember VM is also a legendary scene for a reason. Veth and Yasha have some unbelievably funny conversations (I killed my whole family, I'll throw you under a bridge) and FCG and Fearne have run the gamut from poignant (post-Otohan Fight) to ridiculous (Fearne riding FCG around and using them as a thermos; honestly, the latest Otohan encounter somehow straddled these two vibes).
Laura and Sam should be a legendary cast pairing. They tend to play in a similar space thematically and they also keep overlapping in some sort of stat or outlook as well, without ever playing characters who knew each other beforehand. It's uncanny. We had Vex and Scanlan as Vox Machina's Charm (highlight being Vex's reaction during Bard's Lament). Vex and Tary becoming best friends and opening a bakery. Jester and Veth's shenanigans and deep friendship (messing around in that temple in Zadash; Jester confiding in her about Fjord kissing her; that one time where they encountered the syphilis bandits and kept running past each other in the dark; Jester taking the flask; and many more). And FCG and Imogen's early campaign closeness, with Imogen insisting on FCG's personhood and the two of them doing mind and dream stuff together.
Taliesin and Laura, unsurprisingly given the appeal of Perc'ahlia, are always great as well. Their willingness as Percy and Vex to be incredibly honest with each other, even about their darker traits, is commendable. Molly and Jester were fascinating because I don't think he respected her much but he did enjoy her company, and she admired him greatly. Team Cleric was also, naturally, a great duo, and I particularly think of them both returning to their respective thematic wells of closed-offness and recognizing it in each other, but going to other places to open up. We didn't get a ton of Kingsley, but he and Jester seem to get along pretty well! And Imogen and Ashton's standout moment was post-shard, but they also had a really good conversation after All-Minds-Burn, and I think they are able to embrace the tension regarding their different idealizations of estranged parents as seen in the latest episode.
Marisha and Taliesin are also really unafraid to explore conflict with each other, and it enhances their character interactions. Percy and Keyleth's friendship is fascinating because it seems that pre-stream they were quite close, but once the Briarwoods arc hit they often found themselves at odds and played off each other brilliantly. I love Molly and Beau's belligerence as well; that is one of my personal big regrets about Molly's death, and Marisha did a fantastic job showing how Beau was affected. Beau and Caduceus were also really interesting, in that they saw each other as the adults of the team for a while, especially early on. Beau and Kingsley have a great conversation in the Nein Reunited. And I've been pretty open about finding Laudna and Ashton's chemistry fascinating; while I enjoyed it romantically earlier, and would have loved to see how that played out, there's just such a great weird tension now, post-shard, that's hard to pin down.
Liam and Marisha have two of I think the most popular relationships in C1 and C2 and with good reason. Vax and Keyleth complement each other incredibly well, and I find Keyleth's feelings about the Raven Queen and how she and Vax approach them very differently to be beautifully done. Empire Siblings are again a favorite - they're so often at odds early on even as Beau has a lot of empathy for Caleb, and they're both the nerds of the party and among the most politically-minded to the point of working closely together years after the campaign. Laudna and Orym are also fascinating because they have these similar and yet wildly different ties to Vox Machina, and Orym feels for her situation, and they have some great conversations during the Issylra arc, but I actually love the growing tension. I love Orym flat out telling Laudna that this mission is important and he is pressuring Imogen because only she is capable of getting this information. I'm excited for the infiltration that's coming up!
But also because I can't limit myself here's some thoughts generally about cases where it's not every campaign but it's worth watching. The short version is "Travis and Ashley have some kind of chemistry with everyone."
I can name at least one relationship, romantic or platonic, between one of Travis's characters and a character from every other cast member, but I specifically want to shout out him and Marisha, who have zero romantic chemistry and bananas platonic chemistry in not just all three campaigns but also EXU Calamity and Candela Obscura Chapter 2. (He and Taliesin tend to have a fun and different thing going on each campaign and have a lot of similarities as players; Scanlan and Grog's clown to clown communication and Fjord and Veth's weirdly charged hostility are great; and hilariously I am obviously a massive fan of Fjord and Jester but I feel like the Baileyhams each campaign are like either we're doing high romance or we're going extremely our separate ways, which kind of makes sense in that they have extremely different approaches to D&D but also a lot of overlap in themes. Like on the rare occasions Grog and Vex, or Chetney and Imogen talk it's very good but they're certainly not the closest of characters)
Ashley also plays well with everyone. She has phenomenal chemistry with both Marisha and Laura. Beauyasha is readily apparent but also what we saw of Pike with both Keyleth and Vex was fantastic, and Imogen and Fearne are great and have some sparks, and Yasha and Jester had some incredible conversations. I also enjoy Ashley and Liam but have never shipped their characters romantically (and I suppose that was only even feasible in C1 given character sexualities); that's on my list of "could be fun" because they do always play off each other well. I will say, Ashton and Fearne have grown on me as a pairing but Ashley and Taliesin have always like...quietly vibed and had some great moments, and I think Molly and Yasha was (platonically) promising and cut short, and I love the conversation where Caduceus encourages Yasha to tell Beau how she feels, but they've never quite blown me away. I would like to see it though. There's potential.
Marisha and Sam seem to operate in very different spaces and so like...Keyleth and Scanlan, or Laudna and FCG, don't really interact much though they do have some mechanical overlap (Keyleth and Scanlan were good in combat together but didn't talk a ton) but specifically as Beau and Veth they were incredible. This is out of game but I very much enjoy their rapport during the Midst roundtables. Would love to see more.
Liam and Sam are also a fascinating case in that they're obviously very close friends irl but it's only as Veth and Caleb, and as the Grimms in Candela Obscura, that they've played characters who were close. They do have great chemistry though, romantic and platonic, and I'd love to see it explored. Liam and Laura are also interesting in that I love the twins and think they're amazing, and I like Orym and Imogen's relationship but particularly with C2 in the rearview, I just do not see much romantic chemistry between them at all. Bonkers good platonic chemistry though.
Taliesin and Sam are also a fun one in that I do like FCG and Ashton's friendship and their post-shard absorption conversation was a standout, as is Percy's outburst at Scanlan during the Bard's Lament and his friendship with Tary (and Tary's crush on him). Veth and Molly had some good moments; Veth and Caduceus did NOT know how to interact with each other.
#answered#pawthorn#cr tag#one of my first ever popular posts was me comparing cast members' c1 and c2 characters and this feels like it's bringing me back#cr spoilers
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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 民国奇探/My Roommate is a Detective.
My Roommate is a Detective is a 2020 drama about the Jazz Age shenanigans of a terrible OT3: a useless noodle boy, a spoiled journalist girl, and a handsome thug-turned-cop, who together solve Agatha Christie mysteries in 1920s Shanghai.
I mean, seriously, have you ever wondered what Hercule Poirot would be like if he were a 6'2" Chinese rubber man? If he had a long-suffering sugar daddy from the wrong side of the tracks and a spunky sugar mommy who owned their shared apartment? The answer is, it would be a laugh-out-loud-funny series about a ridiculous and charming assortment of weirdos solving only slightly believable murder mysteries in charming period clothing.
This is another one of those shows where I'm kind of shocked at how not well-known it is, except I'm not, because I can see exactly the problems that keep fandom from descending on it like horny little vultures. Nonetheless, I think it's a good time that more people would enjoy if they gave it the chance. Here's five reasons why you should:
1. Equal parts smart as heck and dumb as butts
On the one hand, especially given its tone and tenor, this show has many surprisingly clever turns and thoughtful moments, carried along by some talented actors. On the other hand, [.gif of a guinea pig in a rollerskate being pushed merrily down a hallway]
This show is not a complicated intellectual exercise. It's an action comedy about a goofy sleuth, a rich-girl reporter, and the cop who should be the straight man in this trio, except he's as much of a goober as the other two are. If the promotional tableaus are giving you real "cover of a Clue box" vibes, you've understood the kind of pastiche it's pulling off.
The mysteries are preposterous. They're all the kind of thing that exemplify the Doyle line about how, when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left has got to be the answer, no matter how ding-dang improbable it may be. You know the type: tons of overly elaborate setups, unbelievably perfect timing, coincidental long-lost relatives, people hallucinating right and left. They're also very short -- most full cases take only 2-3 episodes to introduce, investigate, and resolve, even when interspersed with the larger goings-on in these weirdos' lives. The DramaWiki page for the show lists 23 separate arcs over 36 episodes, so you do the math.
And yet, it's way more thoughtful and clever than its doofy little setup would indicate. Its attention to detail surprised me on more than one occasion. Add to that a bunch of solid performances from an ensemble of real characters, and what you get is definitely more substantive than a junk-food waste of time. You can't turn your brain off while watching it, but you sure can turn it down, and that's great.
It also doesn't hurt that everyone is super attractive and wearing great outfits. The whole show's worth it for the wardrobes.
2. THE GIRL
Fuck the haters, fuck everyone, I am going to climb right up on my little soapbox and tell you all why Bai Youning is awesome.
She is insane. She's a troll. She's a clever little monster. Every other character's response to her is, oh my god, you are literally the worst. And she is! She has been spoiled beyond belief by her incredibly rich Crime Dad, and she has learned to leverage her uwu just a widdle girl status to get her whatever the hell she wants. She simply cannot hear it when someone says the word "no." She will look her future sister-in-law in the eye and point a loaded gun at her own head without blinking. Every ball she has is made of brass.
She's hardly perfect. During the course of the show, there are some times where her entitlement runs face-first into the brick wall of reality. She's not nearly as good at her chosen career path as she's been told (mostly by the people who get paid to tell her she's good). She's rarely prepared to deal with the consequences of her actions, especially when she can't just throw money at the problem.
So she learns, and grows, and changes. She's always going to be a stubborn bitch, but she can become a stubborn bitch with a more accurate conception of her relationship to the world around her.
She's actually a really good romantic foil for Lu Yao, who is equally stubborn and spoiled and obnoxious as hell. It is a pure brat4brat relationship, where each one thrives on comically enraging the other. What this means, though, is that when they actually start showing one another some vulnerability, it's really sweet.
Now: I'm pretty sure that you could not have made a female character in her position that everyone did not hate, no matter how cool you made her, because that is the fate of all girls who theoretically keep the two boys from kissing. (More on that next point.) If she were less outgoing and friendly, she would've been hated for being too cold. If she were less headstrong, she would've been hated for being a pushover. If she weren't as into the boy, she would've been hated for being frigid. I know the "god forbid a woman do anything" meme is a joke, but ... man, god forbid this girl do anything. She gets a level of hate entirely disproportionate to what she's actually like. As I said with Eom Dada, it's not always sexism, but sometimes, yeah, it's sexism.
(Real talk: Her character is also fighting both how she's definitely not written as well as the boys are and how the plot sometimes needs her to be artificially stupid and jealous for Straightness Drama Reasons, so that's a legit problem on a structural level. Also, she's dubbed by someone else and the boys aren't, which gives her voice an annoying not-quite-there quality that's hard to ignore. The deck is stacked against her real hard even before she steps onscreen.)
So here's my advice: Go into this show wanting to like her. Embrace her terribleness as a positive, intentional quality. Don't be mad at her for straightening up an endgame that was never going to be gay, even without her. Welcome her contributions to the chaos. Realize that she is exactly as entertainingly irritating as her boys are.
Truly, this is a story of three terrible people in love. They're all just awful, and you wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for longer than you had to. Left to right up there, Bai Youning is spoiled and self-absorbed, Lu Yao is arrogant and lazy, and Qiao Chusheng is suuuuuch a fucking cop. If you're into the kind of dynamic that can only be described OT3: You All Deserve One Another, then this one's perfect for you.
3. Do you really miss '00s queerbaiting?
Like, really? Are you just super-nostalgic for being able to see the showrunners go, ha ha, girls, we know you're watching and we know you want these cute boys to kiss, which they never will -- but what if we pretended for just this one scene??? Do you just carnally ache for that with every fiber of your being?
Yep.
Now, why am I calling the occasional really gay moments between these two gentlemen "queerbaiting" and not "bromance"? Because these moments are a) obviously intentional, b) completely sporadic, and c) never spoken of again.
For example: There's a scene (which you can see a gifset of here) where the two of them are at a restaurant frequented by the cop, who brings a lot of ladies there on dates. When the waiter points this out, useless noodle boy says, I'm his date. The waiter looks mildly surprised by this, the cop says not to listen to his bullshit, and that's the end of it. The scene moves on. There is no further discussion of this comment. It does not affect their relationship.
That's the essence of queerbaiting: that little on-purpose nod to the homoerotic tension between the two, in a way that isn't a joke but also isn't not a joke, and either way is never going to happen. (In fact, the show is going to go out of its way to make sure that ship gets sunk, so, uh, get your fanfiction lifeboats ready for that.)
A true queerbaiting move is something that should make a difference in a relationship, but doesn't. It should make a difference that our cop is so comfortable in the noodle boy's personal space that he invades it at will. It doesn't. It should make a difference that noodle boy keeps getting real weird every time the cop has a date with a girl. It doesn't. Those are some real romantic moves the two of them keep pulling, and then nothing comes of them.
I had this show sold to me as being incredibly shippy, to the point of being even more so than its censored-BL contemporaries. And ... well, it is and it isn't. It has textually gayer individual moments, but it is much less pervasively gay. It's clear from the start that it's going to throw all its actual relationship points into its canon het romance. When it comes to these boys, the show is toying with you. It knows you want to see those boys smooch, just as much as it knows (and it knows you know) they're never gonna.
How you feel about this is entirely up to you -- and indeed, it may be a dealbreaker on the whole drama for you. If you are inclined to pitch a fit when your ship does not become canon, you'll be happier somewhere else. If, however, you see this as a delightful opportunity to do whatever the hell you want with the situation as it is presented, all the while enjoying little moments of startlingly blatant homoeroticism between two handsome dudes, well, here you are!
(I mean, if you want my take on it, what needs to happen is that the cop and the girl need to fuck while the useless noodle boy watches with asexual bisexual interest, and then they all need to snuggle with the noodle boy in the middle so they can both annoy him appropriately, but your mileage may vary.)
4. The multicultural extravaganza!
1920s Shanghai had a lot going on in terms of cultures and languages, and this show actually does a fair job of representing that.
By now, I've seen a number of shows set during this era, and they all at least acknowledge the international nature of the city -- usually by mentioning the French Concession and having a handful of evil Japanese characters. However, this is the first time I've seen a show go to such lengths to actually show so many non-Chinese characters onscreen, even to the point of making one a recurring character supporting the main squad.
Salim is the best. Whatever he is being paid, it's not enough. He's Qiao Chusheng's right-hand man, which means he is also the dude who most often has to put up the main trio's bullshit. (The actor himself is also a dude with a pretty cool backstory, which is another great layer.) He's sharp, he's loyal, he's patient, and he looks great with his shirt off. He's got it all!
Other non-Chinese characters include a white Jewish art collector (I'd issue a warning for period-typical antisemitism, except … honestly, it's mostly just confused), a sadistic priest who maybe is supposed to be Italian, a completely different priest who [last episode spoiler], and three whole sinister white dudes behind it all.
It's not just the world coming to China, though! A large number of the Chinese characters are said to have spent significant time outside of China, whether for business or for schooling. Near the end, when some characters are discussing moving away from Shanghai, they consider a number of foreign cities as potential destinations.
Here's a delightful detail: When Lu Yao and his sister speak English, they're dubbed by actors with posh British accents who sound like native (or near-native) English-speakers. This makes perfect sense, because both of the siblings did a lot of their schooling in the UK. When Bai Youning speaks English, she's dubbed by someone who speaks English very well but also has a noticeable Chinese accent, which makes perfect sense for her character's background. And Qiao Chusheng never speaks English at all, because he's a street tough who has no reason to know more than three words.
...This is also kind of weird to say about something literally made in China, but go with me on it: Everything's kind of got that Art Deco Orientalist vibe to it. It looks like China's idea of what Britain's idea of China during that period would have looked like. The result comes across less like what 1920s Shanghai would actually have looked like, and more what an ad for 1920s Shanghai would have looked like. It's a fascinating aesthetic, and more so for how it's mostly pretty subtle. The show isn't some visual extravaganza, but it's always very nice to look at, and I appreciate that in a show.
5. A wonderful horrible protagonist
A lot of mystery-themed prestige television involves an asshole genius detective who gets away with being a dick to everyone because he's sooooo smart, while all his long-suffering friends and colleagues spend a lot of time doing damage control for him because, sigh, he's an asshole but we need him, genius excuses all dickhead behavior, we'll always make exceptions for him because he's just ever so special. (Watch histrionic sage hbomberguy's video on Sherlock if you're unfamiliar with the trope.)
Lu Yao is an asshole genius detective, but one who winds up spending most of his time being an asshole to a) people who deserve it, or b) his horrible friends who will be assholes right back at him. When he is awful to the people who don't deserve it, the show smacks him pretty hard on the nose for it and makes him apologize.
This is a show where you'll figure out pretty quckly if you'll love it or hate it, because if you love Lu Yao, you'll love it, and vice versa. He carries most of the show himself, with his goofy charm and his incredibly bendy slenderman body and his ability to make the one competent person he knows both protect him and give him money.
Like so.
For my own part, I find him intensely charming, and I think a lot of this has to do with Hu Yitian's ability to play him as an affectionately bullyable weenie who needs to get shoved in a locker for his own good. He's the worst, and it's comically endearing instead of offputting because at the end of the day, he really does have a good heart. He's just also lazy as heck and disinclined to do anything that he does not want to be doing, and really, aren't we all?
As I alluded to in point 3, he comes across as real asexual. He's just not that interested in sex, and he is in fact pretty uncomfortable in situations where he finds himself the subject of someone else's sexual desires. He's perfectly capable of romantic feelings! I mean, not only does he get Bai Youning as a love interest, we actually meet one of his ex-girlfriends. He's just not partciularly horny about them -- which is even more noticeable as a sharp contrast to how extremely horny Qiao Chusheng is for just about everyone, but this exasperating little dork in particular.
(Like seriously, 90% of the time, Chusheng is about to explode with sexual frustration at Lu Yao's skinny oblivious ass.)
This isn't to say you couldn't get Lu Yao into bed, because you absolutely could, and he'd probably have a good time. You'd just have to remove all distractions from the room, lest his ADHD ass wind up running off to solve a crime mid-coitus.
Twiggy little nightmare man. Garbage-animal boy. Love him.
sidebar: A word about the ending
I'm going to be vague and talk about general vibes instead of specific events, but you should still skip this section if you want to remain completely unspoiled. Jump to the picture of Chusheng holding the sledgehammer.
Okay, so, a lot of people do not like the ending, and I'm including myself in that number. I honestly don't know if they got rushed and had to wrap everything pretty last-minute, or if they thought they might get a second season out of it and were leaving things open-ended accordingly. Either way, it's incredibly unsatisfying.
I think there's a clue that the show didn't actually want to end this way, and it's not actually in the text of the show itself. Every episode, between the last scene and the start of the credits, you get to see a couple still frames from the episode (usually some of the queerbaity ones). After the very final shot of the series, you get two images: the boys hugging goodbye, and Chusheng's upset face. That's not a resolution! That is at best a "to be continued..." ending!
But no, that's it. That's all, folks.
It's not quite an ending so bad it ruins the rest of the show, mostly because it doesn't feel finished, so it's less like you're watching a car being deliberately driven into a wall because someone thought that was the best route to take, and more like you're watching someone leave a car on the railroad tracks because they figured they'd have time to move it later.
As far as I know, there has been no noise made about a second season. These 36 episodes are the entirety of the narrative. It had the distinct misfortune to start airing in March 2020, which wasn't exactly prime time for planning sequels, and that seems to have been that. (There is a 2022 show called Checkmate that stars the two main guys in extremely similar roles, also adapting Agatha Christie stories, but it's apparently pretty meh? Somebody else who's actually seen it, go ahead and weigh in here.)
I'll say that if you turn off the episode right after Lu Yao gets out the handcuffs, you'll save yourself the worst of it the awkward and unsatisfying moments (though I'm impressed at your willpower to stop watching something five minutes from the end). That's not all of it, though. Structurally, there are several situations rushed to a resolution and loose threads left flapping untied in the breeze. I guess stopping before the last five minutes simply saves you the hope that it'll pull a good ending out of the fire, because it won't.
And let's be real: The more you hate Bai Youning and her romance with Lu Yao, the more you'll hate the ending. (Not that liking those elements will necessarily make you like the ending, of course, because I'm a fan of hers and I still think the ending is butts.) The ending is already like a pair of uncomfortable shoes; if the het romance especially makes you grind your teeth, the ending becomes a pair of uncomfortable shoes that also have a rock in them. A lot of the comments online indicate plenty of people dropped the show when they learned the het romance would be endgame. It's a pretty common dealbreaker.
Oh well. Bring on the fanfic, I say! Those of us who are used to taking a sledgehammer to canon are unafraid.
Smash it, baby.
Still want to see some of these mysteries?
Both iQiyi and Viki have the answer to your sleuthing!
It's not a perfect show -- as evidenced by my digression about the ending -- but it's a lot of fun. If you can handle the occasional foible and some eyebrow-raising moments, you're in for a good time with some attractive people that occasionally tastes very gay.
Every roommate crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed man
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50 Days of HypnoKink - Day 49: Hypno in Media
My heavens... we made it to the finish line. Tomorrow is the final day.
I wanted to save an obvious one for the end because I do so enjoy MC in fiction so very much. So much, in fact, that I made a Twitter thread with 110 recommendations and never even came close to emptying my resources.
I know so many of these scenes, both that Twitter thread and this page are skimming the surface.
I'll be using some of those recommendations here but let's divide by category:
Film
So let's get the obvious out of the way. You have
Trance
A Danny Boyle thriller with a terrible plot and Rosario Dawson as a hypnotherapist trying to get hidden information from James McAvoy's mind. Silly movie but one that doesn't get brought up a lot. Dawson learned hypnosis to get into the role.
Candyman
Horror movie in which the director literally hypnotized the actress so any time she was being stalked by the titular killer she looked completely entranced. Link above is an interview discussing this.
Hypnotic
HORRIBLE movie on Netflix but Sleepyhead and I have hosted a number of watch parties and let me tell you, this is the PERFECT movie to watch with a bunch of rowdy hypnokinksters. The therapist is unethical to a laughable degree and his office looks like it's inside of the Death Star. He's a living breathing red flag. The movie does have a really hot freeze scene, a good ragdoll and the dollification sequence. It's just enjoyable because it's terrible. Check CWs first though, this movie has a bunch of things that can make it an uncomfortable viewing experience.
The Great Hypnotist
This is a Not For Daja movie. A Chinese movie that doesn't get brought up a lot. Like Trance above it is a thriller with some twists and turns that I don't really want to spoil.
Stir of Echoes
A visualization of a dissociation induction designed to make a person view events on a screen so they are separate from the memory. It's a remarkably well done scene.
Now You See Me 1/2
The hypnosis in these movies is STUPID and I love it. The first movie has a punchline that every time Mark Rufallo's character makes a frustrated comment people who Woody Harrelson has hypnotized will start acting as if they're in an orchestra. Second movie has a twin Woody Harrelson as an evil hypnotist and he uses a pizza box as an evil induction. It's amazing.
Sherlock Holmes Woman in Green
This induction is one of the coolest I've seen in a film and I try my hardest to channel the energy of this when I am doing a relaxation focused scene.
TV
Charlies Angels
This is bar none my favorite hypnosis scene in any fiction. The typewriter induction is amazing, the hypnotist has such a smooth voice, the entranced gazes are lovely. It's just perfect. Heck, the link above is "hypnosis scenes" from the episode and is 26 minutes long. From a single episode of television.
Doctor Who
Sarah Jane gets hypnotized so often that I could make a list purely from her.
Legion
youtube
I just wanna link this one as it's one of those scenes that works so much better without context and the aesthetics are incredible. Plus who doesn't like Aubrey Plaza?
Quick Bonus Animation Round
Carmen Sandiego (Neflix) has a ton of mind control including the bad end to the interactive movie.
Totally Spies is a meme for a reason
And this one is a reason many of us are here <3
Comics
DC vs Vampires
I think the page speaks for itself. "Hypnosis isn't lying, Diana. It's speaking to your vulnerability."
Korra
This sequence of Asami, brainwashed to hate the avatar, being deprogrammed is so good that someone on AO3 did an incredible fan-fiction which may well be one of my favorite hypnokink stories of all time.
Super Mario Comic
I bring this one up as it was one of my earliest moments of "...oh... this is kind of making me feel some kind of way."
Video Games
A note that a full directory of video games featuring Mind Control can be found at mindcontrol.fun the MC Games Wiki, run by @soveryverytired
Nyx Gaming (Featured game: Enthralled)
Nyx do incredible games which are designed to hypnotize the viewer and their consent practices are wonderful. They recently teamed up with Secret Subject to release a vampire enthrallment game and let me tell you, there is not a single word in that synopsis that doesn't make me happy.
Mind Melting Massaging Machine
The best tool for VR hypnosis. Upload custom files and program spirals, subliminals and chose between static spiral or headtracking. I have had so much fun with this over the years. There's a desktop version too but VR is optimal for this experience.
Spiral Clicker
It's such a simple concept. Click on the character and watch their will go away. Spiral Clicker is backed with a fun little universe, fun characters both original and community sourced, amazing art and a clever little gameplay loop that is quite addictive. Careful, the game features a constant spiral, you may find yourself falling in to trance. Don't worry. The game will wake you up. You can even ask the game to include suggestions for you :)
The sequel is being worked upon now and I cannot wait <3
Music Videos
Anna Soares - Hypnodoll (NSFW)
youtube
Straight up just a song and music video about hypnokink. If you click anything in this thread, click this one.
Little Big - Hypnodancer:
youtube
Silly antics but a fun music video.
Pharrell Williams - Hypnotize U
youtube
It's just Pharrell hanging out in a mansion with his hypnotized harem.
Grimes - We Appreciate Power
youtube
It's dronekink baby.
Andamiro - Hypnotize
youtube
Maid hypnotizes their employer.
I could do so many more in all areas. But the point is, media is hypnohorny. I never went over advertisements (UK ones especially), books, musicals (Phantom and Next To Normal for instance), anime (Sailor Moon) or manga.
But I write about a bunch more in my Twitter thread.
---
Day 48: Stealth Inductions
FULL SCHEDULE MASTER POST
FINAL Day 50: Presentation
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When opla was announced I was guarded, but trailers and learning that Oda would have first and last word about everything made me hopeful.
But I knew that live action are never for the actual die hard fans.
Too much need to be cut because of time, as real actors cant look like they only age two years for 26 years, and some cartoon stuff doesnt translate well to live action *cough* garps fist of love *cough*
So I was able to convince my friend to watch opla with me.
She had read the manga when she was little, up to syrup village, so she was excited to see Kuro because she actually liked him back when she read it.
I was mostly there just to observe my friends reaction to it instead.
My favorite moment was watching her freak out after the "grandpa?" reveal.
I dont like that Garp was included that early on, I didnt mind him being there at rogers execution. But more than that seemed too much. I watched some Netflix guy explaining that they wanted to add a reason why the strawhat had to keep moving from island to island, but no marine would do because who would bother chasing a pirate crew with no bounty. I understand that reasoning. Still dont like it, but I understand.
But my friends reaction made it all better.
Did you know netflix wanted a romance between Nami and Zoro? Thank god Oda was there to stop it.
Also my friend and I quote "Oregano is for savages!" a lot now.
I'm truly glad you liked it anon and I do understand the excitement that came with it, but I honestly could not stand it. Nearly every scene and every line was like "Sanji wouldn't say that. Nami wouldn't do that. Why is this happening? Luffy definitely wouldn't say that."
An adaptation must adapt to its medium, true, but that is not what this did. This was an insanely loose reinterpretation that took so much charm away for me. I've talked about it on this Tumblr tons now but I've finally had the time to watch through all of it now that the hype's died down, and it just made me angrier per episode?
They had to shorten things down, but they included so many new scenes that added nothing? They had to explain the Strawhats going from island to island... WHY? They literally had a spine to go off, the original property had them going from island to island to find a crew and get to the grand line. That's literally a very solid reason. WHY did they need any marines chasing them? It just sounded like an excuse to add a fan favourite character so the Garp fans could scream about it.
And I've said this many times, but Oda being part of the process genuinely means nothing to me. Netflix infamously do not listen to their creators, and not only did they admit Oda HATED the Garp addition and they STILL added him, you can tell so much of his original vision was thrown aside for non-anime fan audience convenience. Usopp and Sanji felt like side characters for god's sake, Buggy felt comically evil for a LIVE ACTION, Mihawk's fight was literally so empty due to the fact no one was THERE? NAMI was the one who yelled she believes in Zoro and they'll always be friends??
I truly do not believe Oda would agree to most of that, and considering we know he was ignored for Garp, we know for sure he was definitely ignored for many other things.
As always, if you loved it, great! I'm glad the excitement was met. Maybe I'm cynical, maybe it's not to my tastes, but it screams Netflix cash cow to me and the whole time I watched it I thought "This is not One Piece at all."
As a reinterpretation? Great!
As an adaptation? It failed miserably. None of the characters felt like themselves and the additional scenes were so nothing. Sorry for the sour reply anon but for those on here who know, I indeed have a sore spot for that entire production.
I honestly think a lot of people got blinded by the pretty actors and the millions of dollars that went into production and promotion to really look at it for what it was trying to be.
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HOly fucking SHIT-
Guys I just had a complete Shellstrop style “holy motherforking shirt balls” moment at work about Donnie’s unusual speaking patterns. You know, when he does this:
This tendency to narrate his actions in the third person or verbally say onomatopoeias in place of the sound is uh… well it’s autistic right? Look it features in literally every compilation but no one knows why other than “vibes, sometimes it just be like that 🤷”
But NO. No it NOT be like that. I finally know what this fucking nerd is doing, hear me out…
… he’s scripting.
Think about it. You know what else describes action, emotion, and sound in purely words? Books. He has these little speaking quirks, yah, but if you actually zoom out and see the whole picture, Donnie talks like he’s a narrator. This makes a SHIT ton of sense considering we already have textual evidence that he engages in scripting behavior (more specifically some possible echolalia. See: saying “New York! What a Town!” in any situation something kind of abnormal happens after he hears Splinter say it with the exact same infections and everything.)
And we also know from the mystic library that Donnie actively seeks out and enjoys reading. So it stands to reason an autistic 14 year old who likes to be left alone to work on complex machines a decent amount and takes pride in his intellect would model the way he communicates off of written media as opposed to tv or his brothers. He could fill his social tool box with lines from Jupiter Jones and Lou Jitsu movies, but he may think it would give him less of a chance to properly express his capabilities.
Books are also the only form of media that can literally just tell you flat out what a character’s expression or emotion is supposed to be without it being awkward, which would be really appealing for Donnie. What solidifies this for me is the fact that at least once he verbally says “sad face emoji”, which could not have come from a novel or textbook. But we often do flagrantly use emoticons as tone indicators, and Donnie is constantly on his phone.
I think he’s definitely aware that this is not a regular way of communicating, but he’s clearly also self aware of his issues in getting his emotional meaning across and receiving input back. So it stands to reason he would accommodate this in a way that, yes, makes him sound odd, but is at least effective.
Now for my final little “I’ve connected the dots. I’ve connected them” moment, I headcannon that Donnie learned to read before he fully got the hang of speech. Aside from… literally everything I just said, he uses sign language to tell the squirrels to blow up his treehouse in that one episode. But he does the sign for “make” a bit incorrectly (there should be a slight twist in his upper fist), which leads me to believe he was probably taught baby sign out of necessity rather than being fully proficient in asl. This is fairly common for autistic children with speech delays.
#oh look Elliot’s being autistic about autism again#this has been sitting in my drafts for eons#bicera#rottmnt#rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles#rise donnie#rise donatello#autistic donnie#meta#analysis#scripting#echolalia#biceratops
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Psycho Analysis: Freaky Fred
(WARNING! This analysis is... NAUGHTY!)
Hello dear reader, this is Fred.
You hear the words that are in his head.
To Courage the dog he is a threat,
because he’s very… naughty.
In Courage the Cowardly Dog, you see,
Fred appeared and definitely
left a mark on you and me
by being very... naughty.
So let's take a look at this creepy man,
and hopefully you'll understand
why this guy has garnered tons of fans
despite him being... naughty.
Motivation/Goals:
Fred’s a man of simple needs.
He wants to cut hair, indeed!
And his efforts would likely succeed
if he weren’t so… naughty.
He has a compulsion, you know.
He sees hair and it’s time to go!
And so he spends the\is episode of the show
being very naughty.
Performance: Paul Schoeffler is the man, you know!
He voiced Le Quack, Katz and Big Toe!
The Cajun Fox, Zalost, the Snowman, oh,
he played characters who were… naughty.
He was quite good at what he had to do,
even playing Dr. Vindaloo!
And he played our boy Fred, it’s true,
with a performance that was… quite naughty.
Final Fate: After shaving Courage’s hair,
the orderlies escort him out of there.
One could argue the ending’s unfair.
Fred was only… a little naughty.
Evilness: Is Fred evil? Who can say?
I certainly don’t see him that way.
Really, at the end of the day,
the worst you can call him is… naughty.
He shaves off hair against people’s will
because it gives him perverted thrills.
He doesn’t maim or harm or kill,
he’s genuinely just naughty.
So I suppose a 1.5/10’s the score.
I can’t really justify much more.
He’s not cruel or deadly to the core,
he’s a weird guy who’s naughty.
Best Quote: The opening lines of his sole appearance of course,
which he delivers with no remorse
as he outlines his action’s course
and explains that he is… NAUGHTY:
“Hello, new friend. My name is Fred.
The words you hear are in my head.
I say, I said my name is Fred,
and I've been... very naughty.”
Final Thoughts & Score: Alright, time to drop the rhyming act so I can actually really talk about Fred. And boy, is he ever interesting to talk about! Courage is really a cavalcade of amazing one-shot antagonists, but Fred is easily one of the best and most memorable.
A huge part of that is probably down to his single appearance being narrated from his point of view. He’s the rare Courage villain that gives us explicit insight to his thought process and why he does what he does, and what he does is… extremely strange and even suggestive. His compulsion is so strange and how he narrates it and refers to his actions really build him up to feel worse and creepier than he actually is. He’s not trying to hurt Courage in any way, he’s just trying to exercise his bizarre fetish like a G-rated Yoshikage Kira. There's a lot of ways you could read into this compulsion, but t really does make him stand out as a character due to how unique it is and how it's implemented into the story.
I think what also helps is Schoeffler giving one of his best performances on the show. Like yes, Katz and Le Quack are great, and Vindaloo is a funny meme man, but Fred is just a truly iconic character with such a bombastic and sophisticated narration that I really think he’s a contender for the best character the man played. On top of that we have a fantastic design, with his crazy hair and way-too-wide grin; literally every aspect of this guy is perfect.
But at the end of it all, you have to remember that Fred isn’t actually evil, no matter how much he seems to insist he is. At worst, he’s an anti-villain, and even then it’s in name only; the dude is just a freaky weirdo who looks like Betelgeuse and has a strange fetish he can’t help but act out on, and at worst his actions are annoying and inconvenient as opposed to horribly destructive or deadly. Like, oh no, your hair’s gone! It’ll grow back, whatever. He may be Sweeney Todd for kids, but this barber ain’t a demon; he’s just a fucking weirdo. And I love him for it.
A 9.5/10 is the score he gets,
A memorable antagonist, one of the best.
His narration will never leave your head,
and isn’t that just…
NAUGHTY?
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ok, this has been burning a hole in my notes app and i’m just gonna send it out there:
Why (i think) the Finale was Like That:
to preface, if you liked the finale, good for you!! that’s totally valid and i’m not trying to bash that. but i know a lot of people were left wanting more, and i’m one of them. anyway, to my point:
as silly as it sounds, this show is not written for us.
we’re fans. the producers already know we’re gonna watch the show. they don’t need to convince us to give them our attention, they already have it. why waste time digging into random side characters in the larger Star Wars saga when the average person doesn’t even know who that is?
their real job is to convince outsiders to watch. to get hooked. to see an element they like, probably from the main movies, and tune in, even for one episode. if they can get them hooked with fennec or ventress or hell even rex, that’s a win for them.
the plot lines wrap up in such an unsatisfying way because honestly? they cant waste time focusing more on these characters than they have to. the people writing and designing the show might love them and want to include more meaningful resolutions, but that takes too long and costs too much money. you know what’s cheaper and will satisfy the average viewer? kill the mystery clones, cut off the “trauma hand”, and wrap it all up in a nice little “look, she’s joining the rebellion, guys!” moment because the more bland and broad the ending, the more people will understand it.
i mean, remember the Fives mention? Echo didn’t react, he didn’t even stutter, he literally moved the conversation along like they were talking about where to go for dinner like HELLO. we already know they cannot be bothered to show real important emotional scenes because that would take too much spotlight away from the whole star wars politics plot or whatever were supposed to care about. (honestly, who is watching bad batch for the og trilogy implications? woah tarkin and a couple other empire dudes are talking about project stardust definitely gimme more of that and not any meaningful connection between these characters i love)
it’s scummy, it sucks, it especially kills me that the story is basically lost to corporate greed but let’s be honest, this is Disney’s Star Wars. i could literally just leave it there. meaningful moments will always be sacrificed for shock value and character cameos because the random guy seeing an ad is only gonna watch the show if he thinks “oh cool, tarkin, i didn’t know he was in that show, maybe i should see what that’s about.”
and yes, i know, there absolutely is a ton of love and care poured into this show. i appreciate the effort that went into it. i’m just sad they didn’t have full creative freedom under Disney to give us the story we wanted.
but you know who won’t sacrifice story for money? you know who’s guaranteed to have the fans’ interests in mind? you know who does have full creative freedom and is equally pissed about bad show moments and want to do them better? FANFIC AUTHORS. Fan artists, theorists, even roleplay accounts and every other type of dedicated fandom blog is here for that shit and will reshape things however they want a million different ways because that’s the point. the show simply cannot give us what we want, but we can make it ourselves.
your support, your creativity, and your determination to give these characters what they deserve is how we can solve the problem.
i didn’t really mean to turn all “we’re all in this together” here lol but yknow what i really do mean that. i think supporting the community around you is the best option we have for truly enjoying all of this show’s potential.
tagging a few people cause i value your input!! and let’s be honest i’m probably leaving a few things out that you might be able to expand on: @the-bi-space-ace @inkstainedhandswithrings @phantom-of-the-501st
#once again no shade if you liked the finale#it was basically a happy ending!! that never happens in star wars!!#i was pretty happy with it right up until they killed off CX-2 and i started seeing all the loose ends they just cut off#sometimes literally lol#i’m sorry that was a really bad joke don’t kill me—#saturn sends thoughts#tbb spoilers#tbb s3#the bad batch spoilers
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I really appreciate The Amazing Digital Circus for not overly relying on jokes with 20 million cusswords or using slurs or even just making really violent or graphic jokes
There's the gag where cussing is censored of course, and Pomni tries to use literally every single cuss there is immediately upon being told its not gonna work (which is doubly funny because you can KINDA guess which ones she uses if you pay attention)
But unlike most other indie animation projects out right now, it doesn't lean on the crude or violent humor aspect so heavily to the point where it's in every other spoken line.
Physical humor sure, there's tons of slapstick (Jax popping off Zoobles arm to scratch his back and getting choked out for it for example)
But it mostly goes for meta jokes (Zooble pointing out the escalator, Caine and Bubble in the restaurant), it makes interactions between characters the basis for humor (Jax and Raggatha were top tier, Pomni having a silent mental breakdown the entire episode and it affecting every character interaction), and there's little moments where you have to rewind and watch again (Kinger's still frame "Oh!") to really catch it
And there's fun visual gags like how Caine's "mouth" is also his eyebrows and face and how his eyes roll out onto his tongue a few times or how Raggatha starts glitching about like actual 3D models do after being slammed around like, well, a rag doll
It's a great show concept and I'm really excited to see where it goes
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“It’s crooked.” Emmett frowned from the couch.
“Okay, that’s like the fourth time you’ve said that.” Travis turned around. “If you think I’ve done such a bad job of it, you hang the damn mirror.”
Vic let out a loud, barking laugh from where she was assembling the dining chairs. “Dude, he literally can’t.” She called over.
“He makes tea!” Travis shouted back, completely ignoring the ghost on the couch.
Emmett cleared his throat. “He is right here and he finds it easier to move some things than others.”
“And yet you can draw.” Travis muttered, rolling his eyes and turning back to face the mirror. He paused for a moment and adjusted it, tilting it to the left.
“Okay, you just made that way worse.” Emmett disappeared from the couch, only to reappear right beside him a split second later. “You need to move this side down at least two inches.”
Travis obliged, following directions as Emmett called them out.
“Oh hey, looks good.” Vic walked through the living room as they finished, carrying an armful of trash to the designated pile by the front door. “You guys think I’ve got time for a shower before heading down to the woods?”
“Yes, but why?” Travis asked as she sorted the trash into what could and couldn’t be recycled. “You’re just going to change and then spend all night rolling in the dirt.”
She paused for a moment. “Fair point. In that case I’m going to the store and buying a ton of raw meat. Do we still have the cat cage for me to stuff it in?” She said standing up.
“Nope, you destroyed it last full moon.” Travis told her, turning his head to follow her as she walked back to the dining room. “Do you want me to go and get a new one?”
“Please, the woman at the pet store keeps giving me weird looks.” She stuck her head back out of the kitchen a moment later. “Are you good for feeds?”
“Considering you had a slow day yesterday, he’s going to need another couple of blood bags. Or he’ll be unbearable.” Emmett answered for him. “I should be able to steal some from the hospital now you’ve shown me where they are. It’s not like I’m going to be seen on security cameras.”
“Great.” Vic said, carrying another armful of stuff to the pile. “Sounds like we’ve got a plan.”
“Do you want me to check on Hot Doctor while I’m there? See if he flirts with the other paramedics when you’re not around?” He teased, putting on a bad impersonation. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m tall and blonde and perfect and I only like girls who act uninterested then tell me they can’t have a relationship because they’re sick after I fix their dislocated shoulder.” Travis tried and failed to contain his laughter as she shot them both a glare.
It was a poor imitation of the man Vic had been on a handful of dates with, but she let it slide because the boys didn’t mean anything by it. Neither of her roommates really knew him, as he’d only been to the house twice and both times she had made it very clear that there were to be no supernatural gate crashers, especially not the sort he couldn’t see. He’d met Travis a little at the hospital and Emmett had definitely spied on him a few times, but they didn’t really know much about him.
“I still can’t believe he bought that lie.” Travis chuckled as he put the hammer and unused spirit level away and closed the toolbox with a loud click. “He’s a doctor, and he just believed you when you said you had a non specific medical condition that caused you to black out every full moon?”
“I didn’t phrase it like that.” She groaned loudly. “I might’ve been less specific about the frequency and implied it was due to the trauma of being attacked a few years back? I think he thinks it’s some weird kind of PTSD.”
“He’s going to realise your ‘episodes’ line up with the full moon eventually.”
“Uh, no, he isn’t, because moon cycles are not something most non supernaturally inclined people pay attention to. And I highly doubt he could tell the difference between the full moon and the night before or after.” She stopped in between where the two of them were stood looking at the mirror it had taken all afternoon to put up, resting her elbow on Travis’ shoulder and looking at the reflection.
“Damn.” She said after a moment. “We look good.”
Both of the boys tried to brush off the compliment, clearly flattered, before they realised that neither of them could actually be seen in the mirror.
They both started talking over each other, getting progressively louder as she got further away, the noise of their complaining about what a bad joke and how unfair it had been as a comment echoing after her as she ran up the stairs to get changed.
- Being human!AU
#I’m honestly kind of obsessed with this au#being human!au#Travis as the vampire Vic as the werewolf Emmett as the ghost#(ripley as the love interest because I couldn’t not include a nina/nora character)#station 19#being human us#being human uk#being human#I took elements from both shows because they are different (past season 1) and I do like both#travis montgomery#vic hughes#emmett dixon
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Continuity and Tonal Shifts in Season Ten
This is gonna be a really long meta describing some of my frustrations with the current writing decisions. I'm approaching these as someone who loves the show and wants it to succeed, and I'm not making any sweeping "the show is problematic" or "the writers are bad" statements, just that the writing decisions lately have been poor in my opinion and I need to express my thoughts on that.
So as a lot of people may or may not know, Fink and Cranor alternate writing episodes, and according to Patreon, they have minimal communication about what is going to happen in the next episode, giving the other relative creative freedom. This often works when the style of Night Vale is random, disjointed, and with a lot of left-field plot devices, but with this current plot line so grounded in literal stuff and reality, it is SO FRUSTRATING. Especially because Fink mentioned in a patreon post that he only backreads the past five episodes to maintain continuity - something that clearly does not work when your show is over 230 episodes long, has had tons of live shows, and expanded into three books. I feel like the last three episodes have had a very off-putting disconnect, and that makes this writing decision REALLY REALLY OBVIOUS in a glaring can't-overlook-it-anymore way.
There's no way to know which writer wrote which episode, but we'll say "odd writer" and "even writer" for continuity's sake. I have my personal opinion about which writer wrote what, but I don't want to share that here. It could be that Fink is odd writer and Cranor is even writer, or it could be the other way around, but what matters is that odd writer and even writer didn't communicate.
227, written by odd writer: Blake lures Cecil away with a made-up sob story and Cecil departs the station. Lubelle comes to the radio station and gives a long speech about Night Vale, condescends about Cecil's hold over the town, explains away the weather, says outright that she's taking over, and leaves with the ominous "show over, Night Vale, show over" closing tag. What's going to happen? Find out in two weeks!
228, written by even writer: Actually she just briefly broke into the radio station and left without a struggle and Blake was just tricking Cecil and let him go, and now Cecil is back and Lubelle hasn't taken over anything yet, nor kidnapped him. But science is going to be made illegal to stop Dr. Lubelle and the Univeristy, and that will really mess with Carlos! What's going to happen? Find out in two weeks!
229, written by odd writer: Science is illegal but the University decided to just straight up ignore it and continue with all of their stuff using a bunch of technical work-arounds and sheer numbers to overwhelm the town, so it doesn't really affect anyone other than Carlos, who by the way is barely in an episode that's supposed to be about his struggles. Anyway, Lubelle brought all of her faculty into town, so that's probably bad. What will they do? Find out in two weeks!
It's starting to feel like we're reliving the Star Wars sequel trilogy, except there's two JJ Abrams and neither of them is talking to each other. Every episode ends on this intense buildup and then it immediately fizzles away at the start of the next one. It's like getting edged by someone who keeps pulling their hand away so they can go on their phone and type "actually everything is fine now" before they get back to it.
There's one other thing I want to mention about this odd writer/even writer dilemma, which is episode 225. This was an odd writer episode, and in it, Lubelle asks Cecil to come down to the University for some "tests", an offer that he finds very offensive, but one that's punctuated by Dr. Jones snickering that Station Management has been explained away. It really feels like odd writer is trying to set up plotline where the University becomes interested in Cecil, whether that's for his connection to the town or his relationship with Carlos, and even writer just does not want to let that happen.
There's even a bit of a tonal shift, where odd writer paints Dr. Jones as cunning, "Couldn't be station management. They don't even exist. They've been, well... they've been explained." (episode 225) "Looks like Blake succeeded in tricking that fool away from his mic," (episode 227) and then even writer does an about-face and makes him cowardly instead, forcing odd writer to go along with that characterization; so odd writer decides to just write him out of the story without really doing anything.
The lack of communication between the two writers is becoming more and more obvious, and for the fans, more and more frustrating. There are also so many great fan-assembled resources that demonstrate every episode a character or plot point has appeared in, so I feel like it shouldn't be that hard for the writers to find their own system of continuity - or hell, just borrow ours and then throw in a "extra thank to the contributors of the Night Vale wikia" in the credits or something. You guys do this for a living! Is it so much to ask if we'd like you to be good at it?
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