#two studios regionally | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eldritch-thrumming · 1 year

Text

i’m so in love that i might stop breathing.

i want to brainwash you into loving me forever, i want to transport you to somewhere the culture’s clever, confess my truth in swooping, sloping, cursive letters.

Eddie Munson is signed to a big-name label, one that monitors every move their artists make. The label practically runs half of LA, with so many artists under contract that Eddie’s not really sure how they can even keep track, let alone micro-manage every single one of them. But somehow they do it.

Eddie’s in the hard rock and metal division. Very rarely does he have to cross paths with artists outside of his genre. It’s not really an issue. It’s not like he’s going to collaborate with some bubblegum pink pop princess.

But then the label decides that they need to cross-market some of their artists. They’ve got lots of big names and Eddie’s on tour for his fourth studio album. He’s established, already done a world tour that was so successful the label had wanted to send him back out almost immediately, but he’d pushed back, asking for some time to write. So it’s been two years, but he’s written some of his best songs to date and the arenas are selling out.

Eddie’s so successful that the label decides that they’re going to pair him with some new up-and-coming singer-songwriter duo. The label wants at least one song, but hopes are high that Eddie will take them out as an opener for the last leg of the tour. Eddie’s given their EP a listen; he can’t really imagine that his demographic will ever overlap with theirs, but if this it what the label wants, then who is he to deny them?

It’s a sunny afternoon in LA when Eddie meets Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley at his favorite coffee shop downtown. It’s a safe place for celebrities, with a hidden back entrance and tinted windows, so he’s fairly certain they won’t be caught out together. Eddie’s ordered some lavender honey oat milk latte, something he would never admit to liking in a million years, but it tastes so good he makes the trip here at least three times a week. He’s sitting in a secluded corner, far enough from the windows that he won’t feel nervous, and he’s still got his sunglasses on, just in case.

He spots Robin and Steve almost immediately. They’re hard to miss, both beautiful and sun-kissed, smiling wide as they bicker before they both stop to look around the space.

“Hi!” Robin exclaims when she spots him, rushing over to his table. She grabs his hand between both of hers before he’s even had the chance to offer it to her and pumps it up and down a few times, like they’re shaking hands.

“Rob,” Steve mutters, placing a hand on her shoulder. Then, he turns his blinding smile on Eddie. Eddie had never believed in that whole ‘heart skipping a beat’ thing before but… he feels something happening in that region. “Sorry about her, she’s, like, a huge fan.” He offers his own hand to Eddie and they shake, the brush of skin on skin leaving Eddie just a little breathless, before Steve pulls out a chair and drops into it.

“Ugh, don’t make me sound like some creepy stalker, dingus.” Robin puts her hand on her hips. “What do you want?”

“Uh,” Steve squints at the menu before glancing down at the cup Eddie’s got between his hands. “What’d you get?” He directs the question at Eddie. Eddie tells him, only a little sheepish about it, and Steve smiles again. Eddie’s skin starts to feel itchy, too tight at his collarbones. “That sounds good. I’ll have that,” he tells Robin and she turns to head toward the counter, mumbling about having to order girly drinks.

Once they’re alone, Eddie slides his sunglasses off his face and up into his hair. He clears his throat before looking up into Steve’s face. Their eyes meet and something… happens. Something electric, something pulled taut between them. Eddie feels it and he’s pretty sure Steve does, too, judging by the way his lips part and his tongue darts out to wet them, quick and nervous. Eddie can’t stop staring. Neither can Steve.

Robin comes back with her hands full and glances between them. “Everything alright?” She asks slowly, cautiously, and their gazes finally snap away from each other, a blush rising in Steve’s cheeks.

Steve looks back into Eddie’s eyes like he just can’t help himself. Like he wouldn’t want to look anywhere else. “Yeah,” he says smiling. “Everything’s great.”

~*~

Eddie agrees to take them out on tour with him. The minute he saw Steve Harrington in the flesh, he knew he’d be taking them, but Robin turns out to be pretty cool too. He warns them that his fans can be pretty intense, that he can’t imagine they’ll be all that pleased with the kind of music the duo plays, but Robin and Steve assure him that they’re really just looking for some tour experience more than anything else. They’ll figure out the songwriting on the road, collaborate in a way that will bridge the gap between their style and Eddie’s.

When he gets home later that night, after a detour back to the label’s offices, Eddie can’t help but insta-stalk. He looks up Robin’s page first, upholding the pretense of ‘market research’ even in the privacy of his own mind. Most of her pictures include Steve and so it’s easy to be led away to Steve’s profile. It’s a natural progression. Totally normal.

Steve is… extremely cute. That’s usually not a word that Eddie would apply to someone he’s interested in—he tends to prefer the leather and chains variety much more than the sugary sweet type—but for some reason Eddie’s left breathless this time. He scrolls down Steve’s page, sees a picture of him with a herd of kids climbing on his back, another of him and Robin in matching sailor costumes. He hits the follow button without giving it too much thought and then slides back to his own page. Eddie is notoriously private, Instagram page consisting of only professional and promotional shots of him on tour with his band or in the studio recording. It’s not that Eddie is hiding anything, but he knows enough to know that the more you open up, the more that can be taken from you. He knows enough to know that the metal community can be somewhat closed-minded about some things, so he prefers to hide his personal life away, to keep some things precious and secret.

He wonders what Steve would think of his page, if he were to scroll through it. He wonders what it would be like to be open and honest about his personal life, about loving someone. What it would be like to not have to worry about losing fans, losing sales, losing bookings. To not worry about what the public would think of him.

He sighs and places his phone face down on his bedside table before turning out the light and drifting off to sleep.

~*~

Steve and Robin have been on tour with Eddie for two months and Eddie is almost positive that he’s falling in love with Steve. It was one thing to listen to Steve sing on their EP. It’s something totally different to watch Steve perform, to see his fingers slide up and down his guitar, the notes and his voice melancholy sweet. Eddie thinks almost anyone would fall in love with Steve if they’d just pay attention.

They haven’t done anything. Nothing has happened. But the green rooms and the tour busses have been full of lingering looks and soft brushes of skin. He’s pretty sure that Robin is close to saying something, clearly irritated by their pining. But Eddie’s still unsure. He knows it’s a lot, being on tour and in close quarters for the first time. It’s complicated and he doesn’t want to jeopardize Steve’s first big break. He doesn’t want to distract him. It’s easy to get caught up on tour, to mistake proximity for real feelings. It had happened to Eddie before; he didn’t want it to happen to Steve now.

Because this is a big deal, for Robin and Steve. Eddie had been unsure about taking them on, but, surprisingly, Eddie’s fans had embraced the duo. Their songwriting methods had complimented each other in a way Eddie hasn’t experienced since he first started writing with Gareth and the three of them had written five songs together already. Eddie would pull them both onstage halfway through his set to perform at least two of them and then again for one during the encore. The crowd went wild every time.

It’s the last night of tour when the space between them finally snaps in two. It’s the encore, they’re playing Eddie’s favorite of the five songs they’ve written together. They’ve made it through the complicated bridge, the final chorus, and now they’re closing out the last verse. The energy between Steve and Eddie practically crackles, almost visible under the harsh arena lights. Adrenaline is pumping, making Eddie feel invincible, and he can tell that Steve feels it too by the way he smiles across the stage at him. The final notes ring out and Eddie can’t help himself. He grabs for the strap of Steve’s guitar and pulls. Steve falls into Eddie’s chest, laughing, eyebrows raised, and Eddie can’t even think. His lips crash into Steve’s and it’s magical. Better than Eddie ever even dreamed it would be.

There’s a roaring in his ears as Eddie pulls back, reluctant. Steve’s eyes are still closed and he tries to follow Eddie’s mouth with his own, but Eddie laughs and gives him a little shake. Eddie glances around and realizes that the roaring he’d heard was the crowd going absolutely wild, screaming and cheering and clapping. Eddie looks back at Steve, who’s looking just a little dazed, blush on his cheeks and dopey smile on his lips. Robin’s screaming into her microphone, jumping up and down, egging the crowd on. Steve looks around the arena, still smiling, before looking back at Eddie and mouthing something in his direction. It’s too loud, Eddie can’t hear him over the crowd, so he shakes his head just a little. Steve tries again but Eddie still can’t hear him, so he raises his microphone to his lips.

“Finally,” Steve practically shouts, voice ringing out across the cavernous space. “Thought you’d never take the hint.”

All Eddie can do is laugh and pull Steve in for another kiss as the crowd continues cheering.

@grtwdsmwhr gave me “i want to brainwash you into loving me forever” and this is what I came up with i guess

#i wrote this so quick on my phone so pls pls pls forgive me for everything!!!!!!#steddie #steddie fic #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie fanfiction #steddie fanfic #stranger things fanfic #steddie ficlet #steddie blurb #taylor swift inspired Steddie

1K notes · View notes

rainbowsky · 7 months

Note

Hello Rainbowsky,

I know, hiking CPN can be washed by saying WYB went to Inner Mongolia to see the shooting location for his upcoming movie and may be went on hiking when he had free time.

But, WYB who never posts more than 1 personal picture in an entire year, decided to post his hiking pictures even when the picture location matches with the shooting location of XZ and there were heavy rumours of him visiting XZ.

Also, he went to Japan and other places for seeing shooting location but he did not post pictures from there. People are also saying that if it was for movie he will not spoil the location before movie releases.

Rainbowsky, what do you think?

Hi Anon,

It's true that there are people trying to wash this whole Inner Mongolia thing. It just goes with the territory. In fact, the bigger and stronger the CPN, the harder people work to wash it.

However.

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

It's not really washable. In part because there's not enough information available to independently verify or debunk anything, sure, but also for all the reasons everyone's been discussing lately.

The location

DD's filming locations are not known at this point. Somehow (and I can't possibly express how thoroughly impressed I am by this) the film set has been so totally locked down that nothing has leaked from it, to the degree that no one even knows for sure that the project is currently filming, or where. So people claiming he was there for filming... that's speculation.

The film synopsis solos are relying on to wash this CPN talks about the character we'd presume to be DD's (it's the only young man mentioned) being from "the heart of" the Great Khinogan Mountains.

The Wulanhada volcano park that DD was photographed by is not anywhere near that area.

We don't know exactly where GG is filming so we can't get too carried away about it, but it's pretty disingenuous for people to claim DD was there for filming when it's not anywhere near where his character is supposed to be from, and the terrain around the volcano park is totally different from the terrain where DD's character is from (would probably not make a good stand-in location for that region).

Wulanhada volcano park, left - Great Khinogan Mountains, right

Of course it's not impossible that he was there for filming, but given what little we know (the same information solos are trying to use to wash this), it seems unlikely.

It's also possible he went there directly from Beijing, but that's a 5 hour drive at minimum, so wouldn't likely have been a day trip. And DD isn't going to post a photo of himself at GG's filming location, he's going to post one that says what he wants to say while still maintaining plausible deniability. This volcano park is perfectly situated to provide all of that.

Aside from that - as turtles have already pointed out - why would DD share photos from the area where he's filming, when this film has been so very locked down until now? It doesn't make any sense at all. Keeping locations secret is what's been protecting this film from leaks and stalkers.

The content

It's pretty interesting that we've seen enormously popular photos from GG (his birthday post has over 33.7 million likes, while the Xiao Zhan Studio birthday photos post is at 4 million likes), featuring him hiking in the wilds and hanging out in campground areas, and then we get something similar from DD who, as you said, rarely shares personal photos anymore.

They both seem to be very outdoorsy lately!

For two people who - according to solos - are 'trying desperately to get out from under the tyranny of this delusional CP', they sure are making some big mistakes about how to appear to be very different people living very different lives...

His and his B&W Leicas

His and his credit card iPhone cases

His and his Gucci lion head necklaces

Yeah, they're really putting in every effort to shake this 'reputation destroying', 'horribly toxic' ship! 🙄

More on that here.

The timing

This is the biggest thing, and in my opinion what we should be focusing on the most. Because as far as I'm concerned, this post is a statement - a very loud and clear one.

DD is being (yet again) attacked with these horrible, laughably false (like, seriously - the photos are clearly of a woman who is much shorter and smaller than DD) rumors about him attending a concert with a particular actress, and suddenly the supertopic for that 'CP' is shut down and we get photos from DD that point to a totally different CP. One that he's supposedly trying to 'shake off'.

Then we see him partying it up openly, publicly, at a concert for his dear friend Da Zhangwei. Not even wearing a mask, so everyone is free to fully identify and photograph him.

It seems to me that DD is sending a pretty clear message:

I'm not dating an actress, I'm with GG

I don't need to disguise myself as a woman to go see a concert

And this is exactly what happened last time these kinds of inflammatory rumors were circulating about him with that same actress. People were claiming that the actress was wearing the same bone necklace as him (with a blurry photo where the necklace couldn't even be seen), so GG released footage wearing a Gucci lion head necklace that DD had previously worn for a race.

GG and DD don't fuck around.

So while I'll tag this with my regular "the mysteries of yizhan" tag that I use for all candy/CPN, there really is no mystery here at all. DD is fed up with this bullshit and won't stand for it.

In fact I was just saying to a friend the other day that the biggest mystery I have about GGDD these days is, how do solos manage to remain solos? They have access to the same information we do. 😅

#bjyx #yizhan #the mysteries of yizhan #solos belong to moling su sect #antis go home #ask

180 notes · View notes

tokidokitokyo · 2 months

Text

埼玉県

Japanese Prefectures: Kantō - Saitama

都道府県 (とどうふけん) - Prefectures of Japan

Learning the kanji and a little bit about each of Japan’s 47 prefectures!

Kanji・漢字

埼　さき、さい、みさき、キ　cape, spit, promontory

玉　たま、～だま、ギョク　jewel, jade; ball

県　ケン　prefecture

関東　かんとう　Kanto, region consisting of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures

Prefectural Capital (県庁所在地) : Saitama City (さいたま市)

Saitama is Tokyo's neighbor to the north. Much of southeastern Saitama is considered a suburb of Tokyo, but the western parts are mostly rural with mountainous forested areas, and include a castle town and the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park. Saitama has historically been a fertile agricultural region and is currently the major food supplier for the metropolitan area of Greater Tokyo. Some of the first currency in Japan came from copper discovered in the Chichibu area in the 8th century. Saitama's central location has made it a historical hub for transportation to all parts of Eastern Japan, and the modern radial roads and railroad system are designed for ease of transportation to all parts of Japan. Saitama is also the backdrop to the famous Miyazaki Hayao (Studio Ghibli) film "My Neighbor Totoro."

Recommended Tourist Spot・おすすめ観光スポット Kawagoe - 川越

Kawagoe

The Edo-period castle town of Kawagoe is also known as Ko-edo (小江戸 or "Little Edo") because of its many traditional buildings dating from the Edo period. The streets have been maintained as-is since the Edo period (1603-1867). The weekends are the most popular times for visitors to gather here and experience the atmosphere, shops, and popular seasonal events. In the third week of October, the Kawagoe Festival is held with a parade of traditional ornate floats and a musical competition.

The Warehouse District is lined with old earthen storehouses, which are unique two-story buildings that have remained unchanged since the days when the city was a major transportation and commerce hub for Eastern Japan. The Toki no Kane, or "Bell of Time," has marked time for the town for centuries, and continues to ring four times daily. Candy Street is a street lined with stores where traditional Japanese sweets are made in the old-fashioned way.

For more recent history, the Taisho-Roman Street has old, retro western-style buildings from the Taisho and Showa areas. There are also no overhead power lines, which makes this a popular spot to shoot many Japanese period films set in these eras.

There are severable notable temples and shrines in Kawagoe, especially Kitain Temple, which was built over 1,000 years ago. This temple has 538 stone statues of Buddha, each with its own face and unique posture. No two statues look alike, and the popular belief is that there is a statue to resemble any visitor to the temple. Kawagoe Hikawa-jinja Shrine is a Shinto shrine dating back to the 6th century that boasts a torii shrine gate that is 15 metres tall. Kawagoe Kumano-jinja Shrine has fortunes, lucky charms, and also boasts the "stepping health road," which is a path to walk barefoot to stimulate the acupuncture points on the soles of your feet for health benefits.

Regional Cuisine - 郷土料理 Miso Potato - 味噌ポテト

Miso Potato (source)

Famous in the Chichibu region of Saitama, miso potatoes are a well-known winter treat in the area. This dish is similar to a baked potato covered in sweet miso sauce and is traditionally from the rural areas in the mountainous part of the prefecture. It is now a popular street stall snack that combines the sweet and savoury miso flavours with the earthy baked potato texture.

Saitama Dialect・Saitama-ben・埼玉弁

1. むじっけー　mujikkee　cute

むじっけー猫だね。 (mujikkee neko da ne)

Standard Japanese: かわいい猫だね。 (kawaii neko da ne)

English: What a cute cat.

2. ああみぃ　aahmii　no good, can't do it (also, ああみ, aahmi)

ごめん、明日ああみぃ。 (gomen, ashita aahmii)

Standard Japanese: ごめん、明日行けない。 (gomen, ashita ikenai) or ごめん、明日はダメ。 (gomen, ashita wa dame)

English: Sorry, I can't go tomorrow. or Sorry, tomorrow is no good.

3. かみぎっちょ　gamigiccho　lizard

庭のすみっこにかまぎっちょがいたで。 (niwa no sumikko ni kamagiccho ga itade)

Standard Japanese: 庭の隅にとかげがいたよ。 (niwa no sumi ni tokage ga ita yo)

English: There was a lizard in the corner of the garden.

4. うちゃる　ucharu　to throw away

そこにうちゃるなよ。 (soko ni ucharu na yo)

Standard Japanese: そこに捨てるなよ。 (soko ni suteru na yo)

English: Don't throw that away there.

5. こわい　～kowai　hard

このおせんべいこわい。 (kono osenbei kowai)

Standard Japanese: このおせんべい硬い。 (kono senbei katai)

English: This senbei is hard.

*Note: senbei is a Japanese rice cracker

6. えらい　erai　a lot

今日はえらい食べるな。 (kyou wa erai taberu na)

Standard Japanese: 今日はたくさん食べるな。 (kyou wa takusan taberu na)

English: Don't eat a lot today.

#japanese prefectures #日本語 #japanese #japanese language #japanese langblr #langblr #studyblr #都道府県 #埼玉県 #saitama

63 notes · View notes

jokeroutsubs · 2 months

Text

[ENG sub/translation] Bojan Cvjetićanin on WDR.de COSMO podcast, 8.3.2024

On 8.3.2024, Bojan was a guest on the 'Tvoj Korzo petkom' ('Your Friday promenade') episode of the German broadcaster WDR's COSMO podcast in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language. It's hosted by Boris Rabrenović. You can find the original podcast here. Transcript by @moonlvster, translation by a member of Joker Out Subs, proofread by IG GBoleyn123, subtitles by TWT pastellibianchi.

Bojan talked about the current tour, audience response, the band's history, this year's Eurovision songs, as well as the making of Everybody's Waiting and what kind of an effect the song has on him now.

The podcast is audio only; you can find it with subtitles on our YouTube channel here:

youtube

or read the full translated transcript under the cut:

Joker Out in Germany - Your Friday promenade

Host: Coming up, we're hanging out with Bojan Cvjetićanin, the singer of the Slovenian rock band Joker Out, who are currently on a big European tour, in which they will have several concerts in Germany this month, in Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich.

The band is well known to Eurovision fans because they represented Slovenia in Liverpool last year. Since then, they have numerous fans all over the world, sold out concerts, and they also collaborated with the famous Elvis Costello. Singer Bojan Cvjetićanin will tell us more about all this. Hello, Bojan, welcome to our musical promenade walk.

Bojan: Hello, hello. It's my pleasure.

Host: After Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, you will have the first of five concerts in Germany on the 12th of March in Berlin. What are your impressions from the tour so far?

Bojan: Well, I have to say that... this is by far the biggest tour so far for us. So far, it has been really spectacular both emotionally and physically. We are very happy, we are very satisfied, the audience is wonderful, we play well, we feel good on stage, we're full of energy, and we also can't wait to put that into a musical form when we go to the studio.

Host: You sing in Slovenian, English, Serbo-Croatian. How does the audience manage the lyrics in all these languages?

Bojan: Well, I have to admit that so far, we've already done a good number of concerts abroad, and most of our audience is actually from the countries in which we play. So it's not like I could say that much of our audience comes from the Balkan diaspora or from Slovenia. Of course, we would like to see as many people from our diaspora as possible, but it's strange, it's strange to see people singing in Slovenian and Serbian, who otherwise don't even know a word of those languages, so we're not used to that yet.

Host: Last year, you represented Slovenia at Eurovision in Liverpool with the song Carpe Diem. Could you have predicted everything that would happen after that?

Bojan: Honestly, I have to say that what is happening now was our ultimate wish, a goal we believed in, but whenever you believe in a dream, there is a 99.9 percent chance that it won't happen. But truly, what is happening now is like, the best possible result for us.

Host: And tell us a little about the time before Eurovision, how long has the band existed and did you perform in countries in the region¹ even before Eurovision?

Bojan: The band has existed since 2016 and we mostly played in Slovenia. We had a concert or two in the region and both concerts were for a Slovenian audience on, like, those student trips and so on, so we only encountered audiences from the region after Eurovision.

Host: And did you manage to listen to this year's representatives at Eurovision? Do you have any favourites?

Bojan: For this year, I told myself that I would like to hear the songs for the first time when I watch Eurovision, that is, in the first semi-final. Of course there was no way I could avoid listening to some of the songs, since my social media has been flooded with Eurovision content since last year, so I have heard some things. I heard the Serbian song, I heard the Croatian song. Of course, the Slovenian song, which I worked on. I have to say that I really like all three songs, Serbian, Slovenian and Croatian, this year. They're interesting, they're different, so it's going to be an interesting year.

Host: Last year, you released the English version of the song 'Novi val' with the famous British musician Elvis Costello, so tell us briefly how that collaboration came about.

Bojan: Well, that collaboration is... a pretty surreal moment in our life. Completely by coincidence, our former bassist's godfather is good friends with Elvis, and he gave Elvis our first album to listen to and he really liked it. Later, when we released the second album, Elvis listened to it on his own accord, and he liked the song 'Novi val' so much that he offered to write the English version of the lyrics. After two weeks, when we confirmed it, after two weeks, we received an email saying that if we wanted, we could do a collaboration, which of course we said yes to.

Host: What a beautiful story. Coming up, we will hear your new single 'Everybody's Waiting', which was released a few days ago. Tell us a few words about this song, which some rate as your best song so far.

Bojan: Well... 'Everybody's Waiting' is like, I would say, an experiment by our band, a song which, as far as the lyrics go, is actually the result of certain anxiety attacks and panic that I started experiencing at concerts after an unpleasant experience on stage. So it has all been very very stressful for me, honestly, and for these last couple of months, the stage has no longer been the safest place that it used to be for me, so I had to get those feelings out somehow, and I poured them into the song. The guys from the band felt it too, and the producer also felt it, so it showed in the actual arrangement of the song as well, that it's not just a song, but rather we all understood it as a story.

So absolutely, I would also say that as a song, it is the most varied, the most interesting so far, it has a special sound, a little different from what we have done so far. The song is in English, I think it was actually the first time that an English song worked out for me that way, that it sounds good and sounds original, and that it truly poured out of me. So there you go, I'm very proud of this song, and these concerts showed that people love it a lot, they sing it, so yeah.

Host: How much has it helped you in solving the problem with anxiety?

Bojan: Well, I would say that it absolutely helps in some way. On this tour, I also had a moment of panic, anxiety on stage, and it actually ended somewhere in the middle of the song 'Everybody's Waiting', so maybe it kind of works to calm me down, so it has an effect.

Host: Then perhaps it should be the first on the setlists.

Bojan: Yes, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and last.

Host: Bojan, thank you very much for being our guest. I wish you a lot of success in your future work, and a successful tour. And see you in Cologne on the 24th of March.

Bojan: Thank you, see you in Cologne.

Host: That was Bojan Cvjetićanin, the singer of the Slovenian rock band Joker Out, who are currently on a big European tour, during which they will have five concerts in Germany, on the 12th of March in Berlin, on the 13th in Leipzig, on the 19th in Hamburg, on the 24th in Cologne, and on the 16th of March in Munich. By the way, on the cosmoradio.de website, you can find our concert calendar for 2024 in Germany, with neatly arranged dates of all the performances by musicians from the countries in the (Balkan) region in Germany.

¹By "countries in the region" the host is referring to the former Yugoslavian countries.

#joker out #bojan cvjetićanin #bojan cvjeticanin #Youtube

62 notes · View notes

waitmyturtles · 1 month

Text

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: KinnPorsche, and Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist Edition (Part 1)

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, in a two-part series, I offer my thoughts on KinnPorsche, my very first Thai BL, and the impact that I think KP has had on the Thai BL industry since 2022.]

Hot damn! It has been a MINUTE since my last OGMMTVC review, so I'm glad to be back. I've been very much looking forward to writing my thoughts about my recent KinnPorsche rewatch: I enjoyed this ENTIRE process, especially in regards to watching KinnPorsche in the context and chronology of past Thai BLs, and man, did I ever see KP WAYYYYY differently than the first time I watched it.

Why's that? Welp -- *KinnPorsche was my first-ever Thai BL*. (Not my first BL drama ever; that award goes to the GOAT, Kinou Nani Tabeta?/What Did You Eat Yesterday?)

But when I joined Tumblr officially in July 2022, just about a year and a half ago (in the heat of passionately obsessing over Old Fashion Cupcake), my dash was awash, AWASH, in KP posts. AWASH.

I had no idea what the fuck the algorithm was telling me.

I went into KinnPorsche knowing absolutely NOTHING about Thai BL tropes, the history of the genre, the actors in the roles, what made KP so innovative by way of its storyline, NADA. Dudes -- I'm half-Malaysian, and I had never even watched a show from the Southeast Asian region, let alone Thailand, and I was unaware of how prolific the Thai drama industry was (at least compared to the Korean drama machine).

When I first watched KinnPorsche, my perspective was that I had watched a pretty good show, and I was left surprised back then in particular by the No Homophobia Bubble (well, almost no homophobia, Big) that I now know is so much more common in Thai BLs than I realized.

It was through KinnPorsche that I discovered Thai BLs, and it was subsequently through Bad Buddy that I realized that I NEEDED to understand the development of this national genre -- so back to the history annals I went, through my OGMMTVC project, starting from 2014's Love Sick, and here we are at this moment of the timeline, the hot hot late spring and summer of 2022, enjoying the ✨vibbbeeezz✨ between Mile Phakphum and Apo Nattawin, and leaving me wondering why there was a national shirt button shortage in the midst of a Thai mafia crime drama. I'm glad I have history on my side now as I think about KinnPorsche as a standalone drama, and as I also think about the impact it has had on the Thai BL genre and fandoms prior to its premiere, up to today's moment in time.

I took my time to draft this piece partly because I was busy watching Be On Cloud's second and latest serial drama in Dead Friend Forever. I think BOC is doing something very interesting by way of their acting and contracted scripting choices, which I want to ponder by way of the context and aftermath of KP's airing. As such, while I had intended to write just one post about KP, I have a bunch of thoughts that'll spill over to tomorrow. So here we go, a quick overall outline for the lovers for today and tomorrow on my ruminating thoughts:

1) My critical thoughts on KinnPorsche as a standalone drama in the context of the history of previous Thai BLs, 2) My thoughts on how new arrivals to the wider Thai BL fandom shaped the perception of KP vis à vis older Thai BLs, 3) How I think KP has impacted how other studios approach, market, and write Thai BLs now, and 4) A quick passing thought on BOC's own continued influence on the Thai BL genre and industry since 2022, particularly by way of Dead Friend Forever.

I'm going to concentrate on numbers 1 and 2 in this piece, and they're actually going to be a touch conflated, because I want to lean into a now-obvious fact that the BL Elder community knew all along about KP when it first aired in 2022: there was not much that was new about what KinnPorsche was doing. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I’ll get into below.)

When I was a newbie on Tumblr, and the algorithm was feeding my dash, I remember seeing posts about how Be On Cloud, the studio behind KP, was doing things differently than the rest of the Thai BL field -- I recall posts about the studio hiring the best acting coaches, how the cinematography was nothing like what we had seen in other shows, and how Be On Cloud was committed to creating safe environments for its actors, particularly Apo Nattawin, who had reportedly faced discrimination in his past acting career, reportedly leading him to leave the Thai drama industry for a number of years.

While some very early Thai BL studios were known to not have the safest or friendliest environments (the filming of What The Duck comes to mind by way of this lore), by the time of KP's airing, GMMTV had strongly established itself as the leader of Thai BL productions, and other players, including New Siwaj and Cheewin Thanamin, had produced quite the number of dramas under each of their respective studio outfits. The industry, by 2020 and 2021, when KP was in its development origins, wasn't new anymore. Acting coaches, such as Aof Noppharnach, were now also regularly writing, directing, and producing original shows, and major BL studios had introduced workshopping as a regular step to production. On the artistic end, studios and writers had established expected artistic tropes -- 2018's Love By Chance is the first example that comes to my mind of when the Thai BL genre crystallized in a structurally derivative piece of art by way of containing and using prior trope references and dynamics.

Be On Cloud, in picking up the KinnPorsche script from Filmania during the pandemic (I use these posts here and here for my non-primary sources of KP lore) clearly knew it had something innovative on its hands by way of producing the genre's first mafia-based BL romance.

But 2020's Manner of Death had already introduced crime and mystery to BL, and 2021's Not Me continued a multi-genre perspective somewhat successfully around romance. And regarding sex and heat: KinnPorsche didn't do that first, either. MaxTul brought it first in 2017's Together With Me, and MAME has owned this corner since 2018's Love By Chance and 2019's TharnType. (Props to MaxTul for being in both Together With Me and Manner of Death; MileApo owe those dudes some beers.) By way of cinematography, which KP does extremely well: we had already begun seeing prestige cinematography in 2020's I Told Sunset About You, and 2021's I Promised You The Moon and A Tale of Thousand Stars.

It was natural, I think, for much of the KP fandom to think that KP was innovative in a lot of these categories, because, like me -- KP was our first-ever Thai BL. By way of money clearly spent on the show, the directorial purview of the show, the utterly gorgeous cinematography (man, that nighttime pull-away shot when the guys are in the roof pool, oof, why couldn't I find a gif), a new fan might think, geez, this has never been done before! But it had, and not just in Thailand, but for years prior in Japan, and more recently in Korea.

This is ALL not to say that KinnPorsche “suffered” because of what I'm uncovering by way of KP's misunderstood innovation. I think a perception of KP being entirely “new” in the BL field has contributed to its lore and enduring influential status. On this rewatch, I appreciated the mafia-based storyline as a support system to the central KinnPorsche romance. Yok being centered as an important mentor to Porsche, played by the inimitable Sprite Patteerat, was refreshing to see. Porsche accepting his bisexuality, especially with Yok's support, without the typical BL head-spinning queer revelation, was a welcome element to the show. And, frankly -- I had, on my first watch, missed, of course, the clear references to Thai BLs of the past in this show, references that I really loved seeing this time around.

From the old school, we got Kob Songsit, the OG BL dad, no longer Tong's dad in the seminal movie, The Love of Siam, nor Dean's dad in Until We Meet Again. This BL veteran is now a damn dad don, weapons and all.

We've also got Na Naphat, who played important side characters in IPYTM and UWMA. We have former BL lead guys in Jeff Satur and Perth Nakhun. We've got guitars and singing, we have underwater smooching, we have a cute-cute first date. We arguably have questionable kabedon in Kinn's and Porsche's first intimate moments. We have cooking for your lover, we have feeding your lover, we have the towel-drying of the hair. KP, by 2022, keeps up with Idol Factory's Secret Crush On You in prominently featuring a femme-presenting side character in Tankhun, PHENOMENALLY ACTED by Tong Thanayut, who we had seen previously in TharnType.

KP was, in part, directed by Pepzi Banchorn, who served as an assistant director on 2019's Dark Blue Kiss and 2021-22's Bad Buddy, and had a quick guest spot in 2022's The Warp Effect. KP was also, in part, directed by Khom Kongkiat, who played Uncle Tong in Bad Buddy, and subsequently directed The Promise in 2023. AND, finally, one of the KP screenwriters is Bee Pongsate, who has co-written so much flippin' BL: Last Twilight, Bad Buddy, Dangerous Romance (😬), Vice Versa, My School President, A Tale of Thousand Stars, 2gether and Still 2gether, and that's not even scratching the list -- you get it.

KP's supporting cast and crew was simply stacked with BL vets, who clearly knew the scene, and who helped to support Mile Phakphum's rookie acting and Apo Nattawin's return to the screen. I'd posit that this group of people knew EXACTLY what references they were putting into KinnPorsche, from actors to tropes, and also knew when, where, and how to innovate around those references to still make this show unique.

Certainly, KP's approach to sex and heat -- by way of Kinn's and Porsche's first drunken encounters (hi again, MaxTul), the uncut intimate scenes between them, and Vegas's and Pete's union by way of, well, semi-torture and/or kink -- was bold enough to be overall quite notable. But again: Thai BLs had been pushing that envelope for years past, and it has continued to do so in shows like MAME's Love In the Air and GMMTV's Only Friends.

In other words: after this rewatch, with the history of the older Thai BLs I've watched under my belt, I don't see KinnPorsche as firstly innovative. But I appreciate the show differently now, in particular for how very obvious it worked to include past Thai BL references in its production, and I actually gained a different appreciation for it.

I also want to made a quick tangential note about Apo and Tong specifically by way of innovation. Dr. Thomas Baudinette, a long-time BL fan and academic researcher on Thai and Japanese queer media, notes in his book, Boys Love Media in Thailand, that an ideal trajectory for a Thai BL actor is to debut in BLs in order to transition to more popular primetime het Thai dramas, as Gulf Kanuwat of TharnType, and Ohm Thitiwat and Kao Noppakao of UWMA and Lovely Writer, respectively, are notably doing at the moment. Apo Nattawin did this the other way around: he had established his career in het lakorns, most notably in 2015’s major hit drama, Sut Khaen Saen Rak, and subsequently left the Thai drama industry after reportedly being discriminated against for his skin tone and fashion choices. And his way back to the industry was through BLs. Taking the lore of Mile Phakphum recruiting Apo for KP out of the picture for a moment: I think this indicates a shift in how BLs are increasingly perceived in Thailand, and even globally, as being a career-worthy genre of content on its own for actors. (Apo's exploding fashion career is proof of this.) And BOC has now recruited another lakorn vet in Jes Jespipat for its third upcoming drama, 4 Minutes.

As well, Tong Thanayut’s very public coming out after the conclusion of KP’s airing is notable for how Be On Cloud has continued to center Tong in its productions after that fact, most notably in 2023’s film, Man Suang, while other out BL actors are not as lucky by way of guaranteeing and attracting future work.

I have a lot more to say about KinnPorsche's and Be On Cloud's impact on the current Thai BL industry, and how I think that impact has affected the marketing and creation of more recent shows like 2023's Only Friends, and 2023-24's Playboyy. But this first post has gotten long, and I actually haven't written much about the actual show itself, HA. So let me say this:

I think it's notable that the first shows that played around with themes outside of romance, like 2020's Manner of Death, and 2021's Not Me, were not perfect shows. We see now how multi-genre BLs are just exploding, what with Dead Friend Forever and the upcoming slew of vampire BLs that are going to drop (and let's not forget the first omegaverse BL drama in Pit Babe -- or should we forget it, I dunno). Not all of these shows are perfect, but the genre has only been around for a decade. There's a lot of time, and a tremendous amount of interest and funding, that upcoming shows can leverage to become better, especially these multi-genre shows that we're seeing more of.

KinnPorsche as well, was not a perfect show. I have some thoughts particularly on VegasPete to offer tomorrow, and I think, overall, that KP could have easily been a shorter series with more impact.

But I'll still give the show some of its flowers, because I think, unlike MoD and Not Me, that KinnPorsche did a better job of centering the Kinn and Porsche romance for dramatic effect, particularly by leveraging comedy. Were there many moments of hibbly-jibblies? Oh, totally. Dudes, also, Kinn fucking forgot about Pete! Pete coming back to the house and reminiscing about Vegas while holding his neck? Eeeeyikes, no thanx. There were a number of these weird bumps that I think could be explained by way of intentional camp (which I think KP did pretty well), but I do believe the show could have been tighter with more editing.

But, I gotta admit: I had a great time re-watching KP. That says something. Was it the heat that tiddled my dopamine cycles? Probably, somewhat. (No shame in my game.) Or -- a more reasonable theory, ha, is that Apo, as a veteran actor, demonstrated more range than I originally remembered. He can really do comedy well, and he timed his comedy perfectly for the absurdities that peppered KP through the series (the bread crawl, the constant throwing of hands, the jumping-on-Kinn when the ghost of Pete showed up, oh shit we're in the forest now, etc). Apo and Tong, in particular, stayed true to the bit many times during the show, and I think the series benefitted greatly from their collective comedic talent and timing -- which I thought was nicely refreshing for the genre.

With that, I'll have more ruminating tomorrow about the show itself, about how I think the impact that KP and BOC have had on the genre after KP's airing, and other thoughts about the cultural moment that KP demarcated when it aired -- see you tomorrow!

[MORE MORE MORE KP tomorrow! And I'll have more thoughts about the watchlist then. But for now, here's the classic OGMMTVC list for you to chew on!

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) (and notes on my UWMA rewatch here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (re-review here) 27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review here) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review here) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review here) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (review here) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) (review here) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch (Links to the BBS OGMMTVC Meta Series are here: preamble here, part 1, part 2, part 3a, part 3b, and part 4) 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) (review here) 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For the Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist

...interrupting the OGMMTVC list here to watch War of Y (2022) (watching) in chronology to decide if it gets listed...

37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) The Eclipse OGMMTVC Rewatch to Reexamine “Genre BLs” and Internalized/Externalized Homophobia in GMMTV Shows 39) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 40) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 41) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 42) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) 43 La Pluie (2023) (review coming) 44) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 45) Wedding Plan (2023) (Recommended as an important trajectory in the course of MAME’s work and influence from TharnType) 46) Only Friends (2023) (tag here) (not technically a BL, but it certainly became one in the end) 47) Last Twilight (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as Thailand’s first major BL to center disability, successfully or otherwise) 48) Cherry Magic Thailand (2023-24) (tag here) (on the list as the first major Japanese-to-Thai drama adaptation, featuring the comeback of TayNew) 49) Ossan’s Love Returns (2024) (adding for the EarthMix cameo and the eventual Thai remake) 50) Dead Friend Forever (2024) (thoughts here) 51) 23.5 (tag here) (2024)]

#kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #be on cloud #mileapo #mile phakphum #apo nattawin #kinn x porsche #porsche x kinn #tong thanayut #bible sumettikul #turtles catches up with old gmmtv #turtles catches up with thai bls #turtles catches up with the essential bls #the old gmmtv challenge #ogmmtvc #pond krisda #dead friend forever #kinnporsche meta #kinnporsche the series meta

63 notes · View notes

pickles4nickles · 24 days

Text

So I’ve been watching playthroughs of Yakuza games for a while now, but when I saw that the newest game takes place in Hawai’i, the place where I was born, raised, and have lived in for nearly 30 years now, I knew that this was something I had to have first-hand experience with and not let some guy tell me how to feel about it, to put it bluntly.

I went on a month and a half long journey to finish this game, so I sat around for a bit like

Jesus Christ I should write a review on it.

So if you’d like to read about 5k words on what I thought about The Video Game™, here you go.

Overall, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a really really good game. However, as Hawai’i local it was kind of hard for me to turn my brain off to some of the cultural inaccuracies and as someone who tends to play smaller indie games, I clocked in about 110 hours on this and I burned out a little towards the end.

GAMEPLAY

Let’s get into Gameplay first because I think I have the most positive thoughts about it. If you haven’t heard my thoughts about Pokemon lately, it mostly boils down to “It’s the only RPG I’ve really been playing in recent years and the gameplay has been very watered down and I yearn for a decent PvE experience.” This game definitely scratched that itch in more ways than one.

Infinite Wealth’s turn-based combat system revolves around positioning. Some moves have an AoE of either a straight line or a circle. Positioning a character next to an ally will proc a combo move with them and positioning them near items will proc an item attack where you can beat a guy to death with a traffic cone or something.

The job system is robust. Every character starts off with a default class- Ichiban’s is Hero, an all-rounder that can pretty much do anything; characters like Nanba and Eric (I know the game calls him Tomi or Tomizawa, but I’m not the game and “Fuckin’ Eric” sounds way better than “Fuckin’ Tomi”) are magic-oriented, so they’re basically wizards by default. You can change their class to other jobs (Desperado is my favorite because it’s basically gun mage), which unlocks new skills as you level them up. You can also change jobs as much as you want and skills carry over between them, so there’s a bit of moveset mixing and matching that makes my brain feel good.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, (the Yakuza devs, which we’re just gonna abbreviate to RGG from here on out) have always been REALLY good at asset reuse (again, I cast a dirty look to Game Freak). They’ll make a whole-ass map of a region and reuse that same map for several games down the line. Not only do you spend a significant time in Ijincho again and not only do you go to Kamurocho for little bit… AGAIN, but there are two… what I can only call “macro” games that have the best asset reuse I’ve seen in, like, maybe anything ever.

DONDOKO ISLAND

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes with a whole-ass Animal Crossing clone that’s also kind of The Sims called Dondoko Island. In this, you rehab an island that’s being used as a dump for some trash pirates (no, seriously, they’re actually pirates, yar har and everything) back into a five star resort. There’s a whole-ass crafting system where you go around the island, harvesting resources, to build furniture and facilities, which include whole-ass buildings which have appeared in past Yakuza games. The crafting system is GREATLY improved over Animal Crossing: New Horizon in that you can skip the goddamn animation and craft multiple of the same items at once. You don’t even have to have all the materials in your inventory, it’ll take it from your storage. Placing items in the world is also in an overhead view and the only grievance I have with the system is that placing paths is really weird and you can only place a limited number of them. But overall, Nintendo, was it really that hard to put into the video game. Why did you make AC:NH disrespect my time in that way?

Once the island has been cleaned up enough, you can start inviting guests over, which all have their own set of preferences for the vibe of your island (rustic, pop, sleazy, etc), their lodging quality, and how much of the island’s flora and fauna (and minerals, I guess??) you’ve discovered.

I really really liked Dondoko Island because who am I to say no to a management mini/macro game with decoration elements. I mostly really appreciate that it doesn’t waste your time. I wanna say I finished it in like less than 20 hours… which is not short for a game within a game (actually, that’s insane for a game within a game), but for a game of this genre, it’s pretty short.

There’s also an entire separate mini-island that further helps you with efficiently running your island by passively collecting resources over time and just being a general stockpile of bugs and fish to catch. But I can’t talk about this part without talking about…

SUJIMON

A returning character voiced by Keith Silverstein in the English dub – yes, that Keith Silverstein, who voices Masayoshi Shido of Persona 5 and Zhongli of The Genshin Impact™ is a professor who documents the behavior of weird and often hostile middle aged men, called Sujimon. When Ichiban goes to Hawai’i, he asks him to also document the native Sujimon there as there’s a prominent Sujimon scene there. Mans wasn’t kidding as there is an underground, more or less ilicit Sujimon fight club called The Sujimon League with its own Elite Four called The Discrete Four.

In the previous game, Sujimon was just your bestiary (literally called the Sujidex), but now it’s a whole-ass game, which I can mostly only describe as simplified Yokai Watch, but a glorified card game. Just so we’re not here for forever talking about middle-aged men cockfights… because I can talk about the mechanics and inner workings of middle-aged men cockfights for a hot minute, Sujimon League basically operates on a 3v3, with an additional bench of 3, rock-paper-scissors kind of system. You’ll need strong Sujimon to get through this macro game and you’ll recruit new guys through four ways- through random fights on the map, through literal Pokemon GO raids, through a gacha system, and through combining Sujimon of the same type into stronger Sujimon (don’t think too hard about that one). I had a LOT of fun with this and, again, it scratched an itch I’ve had for a while. Almost all of the Sujimon are just guys you’ll fight in-game, so, again, an excellent use of asset reuse.

Sujimon smoothly integrates into Dondoko Island in a way that makes Palworld look even more balls-less than it already is. You know that little island I was talking about a few paragraphs back? That’s Dondoko Farm. You can put your Sujimon to work on it! As you’re running around on Dondoko Island, letting it consume your life, your Sujimon will grow crops, scrounge around for resources, and earn some cash for you. The island also has some resources to help with Sujimon League by leveling them up with a small investment of some dondoko bucks and your time, but also a Pokemon-Amie type mini-mini game that helps strengthen the friendship of your current Sujimon team.

Yes.

This game lets you pet-

The sweaty, weirdo middle-aged men.

Don’t think about it too hard.

Especially don’t think about it too hard when you have a Sujimon on your team that uses Xander Mobus’ voice clips.

Anyway, there’s also another minigame called Sicko Snap, which is basically Pokemon Snap with Sujimon. It’s a good one, too.

STORY

I guess… the best way I’d explain my feelings on Infinite Wealth’s story is

Objectively, this is an okay story. Like, it’s par for the course for a Yakuza game. I have a lot of personal grievances with this plot which I’ll fully unsheathe my blade for in the next section, but for now I’ll just say… this game is basically Hawaii Five-O crammed into a Yakuza game and that was an emotional rollercoaster ride that I’m not sure I enjoyed.

Like a Dragon’s main theme is “Even if you hit rock bottom, it’s never too late to get back up again” and that’s something I hold near and dear to my heart.

They have used this theme to my benefit and to my dismay as this also apparently means it’s never too late for ~*Romance*~ which, sure, yeah, okay, true, but did it have to be Ichiban and Saeko?

I’m trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt because… to me, it’s mostly one-sided (as in, like, Saeko’s willing to give him a chance, but isn’t as crazy for Ichiban as he is for her) and, like, dude is allowed to have a crush. But from what I have seen… because I never got around to finishing her Drink Link (I was gonna but I’m like really burned out on the game), they kinda strap C4 to the Bechdel Test and raze a village to the ground with it when it comes to Saeko’s character arc because most of her dialogue and interactions are about The Incident with Ichiban, which sucks because she had more character than just a romance interest for the protagonist in the previous game. If you’re also REALLY not into this plot point like I am, the story DOES NOT let you forget that this indeed happened as it seems to be a plot thread that might continue into the next game as well.

Needless to say, I don’t ship it, and I don’t get to block tags and just walk away from this one.

The game also kinda keeps nudging at, “Hehe, Chitose’s pretty cute too, right?” to which I say

Yes I understand she’s of legal age but she’s only like 21 AT MOST and Ichiban’s like 40-something you stop with that.

It doesn’t feel like Ichiban really had a character arc in this… unless you count “proposing on the first date” to “saying I love you on a redo and then being weird about it again” as character growth. He went to Hawai’i, had some shenanigans, found mom, got backstabbed again, fought the cult (which I’ll be really salty about in the next section), went back home to help Eiji’s character arc. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just… Ichiban went on another adventure. And it was ok. I think maybe the game was sizing him up to, again, take Kiryu’s place and be The Hero, but… we already did that already? And I’m not even sure if the game was able to complete that message by the end of the game.

Kiryu probably got the most character development out of this game and talking this over with my friend Andrew, he brought up that it kinda wasn’t fair that this is supposed to be Ichiban’s game, but he had to share half of it with Kiryu. And I agree. His sections were also really hard to get into if you haven’t been a longtime fan. Again, I have a decent amount of Yakuza knowledge, but with Kiryu’s memories, a LOT of it went over my head. It seems like RGG’s been trying to retire him as a protagonist for like three games now and MAYBE this time they’ll actually do it after this victory lap they’ve given him. But he did learn that “my friends are my power” and “never ever give up, you still have time to do better.” And you know what, that’s rad.

As far as the villains go, just, I dunno, they’re fine? Ebina and Eiji are very “okay bitch, stay mad, then,” and it’s. Fine? My only complaint is that Ebina’s arc felt like it was under-seasoned before they put it in the oven to cook and they could’ve peppered it on a little earlier in the game or something. Bryce’s entire deal I may have taken a little too personally, but that’s for later. Dwight was literally just Danny Trejo doing a villain role and I have absolutely no qualms with it. He was fun to watch.

The supporting cast was fun as always. Eric I hated at first, but he grew on me in the same way that, like, I’d bully a friend. Chitose I also kinda hated at first, was very sus of, but then she had a character arc that was pretty good. The Yokohama gang didn’t really have character arcs to them, but they were still fun to hang out with nonetheless. We got to learn a little bit more about Seonhee and she’s really fun. Both her and Zhao, who is my favorite for several reasons, are really really fun characters as they are both crime bosses (former, in Zhao’s case) who are BIG FUCKING WEIRDOS and I love them for it.

Joongi Han becomes a party member WAY too late in my opinion that, in a way, he’s technically an optional party member, or at least like getting a Dratini right before the Pokemon League in Gold/Silver/Crystal. He had some fun character moments, but felt kinda like an afterthought.

But also, ain’t no way he got his Hawai’i clothes at Hilo Hattie. There’s no way.

To wrap up my thoughts on the main story, I’d just like to say: the plot point that they sailed to Japan on a little tugboat in a handful of hours as opposed to WEEKS is peak Hawaii Five-O vibes and it infuriates me, but everyone kept telling me “it’s okay, the coast guard picked them up, like, halfway” and I will sit down and not start a fistfight over it. And just. That was the vibe of the game for me. Just… alternating between a J-Drama and Hawaii Five-O.

I don’t really have much to say about the substories except that they’re either almost Oscar-worthy material or they’re a snoozefest that I just tabbed through. I can really only think of three substories off the top of my head that were EXCELLENT, though - Nancy and Olivia, the artificial snow quest (THIS ONE IS EMOTIONAL WHIPLASH), and the traveling aquarium one. The rest I mostly just tabbed through because they were just……. Eh. But I think I’m okay with that since we have Sujimon and Dondoko to make up for it.

THE CULTURAL GRIEVANCES

So as I type this section out, I run my hands over my face to remind myself and say

This is a game that takes place in Hawai’i from a Japanese perspective, written primarily for a Japanese audience and I assume that certain things may come from a place of ignorance, but not maliciousness.

Hey Tumblr.

I want you to read that first bolded sentence again.

Because I know how you guys are with reading comprehension.

But that being said, as a Hawai’i-born Chinese person, there’s quite a lot about the Hawai’i cultural aspects of this game that I have problems with. If you wanna see me roast this game, you can stick around, but if not… Here is your chance to bail.

I’ve tried my best to write this in a way where I look at the thing that pissed me off and ask myself, “Am I taking this too seriously or do I actually have a problem with it?” and write more or less objectively, but some of it might still come off as overly caustic. Just. I tried.

And after a deep breath,

Ho brah,

We go.

WHAT IS HAWAIIAN CULTURE, ANYWAY?

To start off, I’m not sure if RGG knows the difference between being a Hawai’i local and actually being of Hawaiian blood…? The game mentions at the very beginning that Akane is half-Japanese… and half-Hawaiian, which makes Ichiban one-fourth Hawaiian, which makes ME kinda… squint. Like, we’d need to know more about Akane’s backstory, but if you know anything about indigenous cultures, finding someone who’s half native is HARD nowadays. Akane also looks pretty light skinned for someone who’s allegedly half-Japanese, half-Hawaiian but that’s just my tiny nitpick?

I’m also… not sure what kinda research RGG did on Hawaiian last names because some of the ones I see on random enemies are kinda…

Who is that

What is that

I have never seen anyone named that in my entire life

Sure, my worldview is a little shut in, but, no, what IS that?

Mililani is not a last name, that’s a neighborhood, why’s she Lani Mililani?

WHAT IS THAT?

The pidgin in the game is also there, but… small kine hit or miss. For those of you who don’t know, pidgin is Hawai’i’s creole, which came from a bunch of cultures who don’t speak the same language eventually falling into a kitbashed language system that works for everyone. Looking at the VA listing in the credits, they did hire some local people (they have Hawaiian names) and some of the VO performances work really well like Obispo in the restaurant side story and the cab driver dialogue that ONLY comes up in the Japanese audio version of the game for some reason. Others… are… hm (I don’t know what’s going on with Jeff the taco truck guy). I feel like the voice director got the intonation on the line reads down pretty well, but on the localization side, the syntax and grammar are a little off. Pidgin tends to come off as “broken english,” but it’s technically not since it’s its own language system with its own rules. So you have a lot of line reads that are in the right inflection, but the way it’s written is wrong for pidgin dialogue.

And it just doesn’t sound 100% right to me.

There’s also some… small pronunciation nitpicks that I have. Ukulele is pronounced the white way - it’s not Yooka-Laylee like the Chameleon and Bat, it’s ook-oo-leh-leh like Tapu Lele, the Pokemon. Some characters pronounce Hawai’i as huh-why and not ha-wuh-ee, which is more right (it’s SUPPOSED to be ha-vai-ee but I’m not native Hawaiian and this is kind of an axolotl situation so, y’know).

But shout-outs to the “Whatchu lookin’ at?” line guy.

Because that one is just, no notes, perfect.

NOTHING CAN BE NORMAL, I GUESS

Something that rubbed me the wrong way in this game is the mystification of a culture that’s foreign to you, that is, taking a culture that’s not yours and describing or representing it in such a way that it sounds so deviant and hard to comprehend compared to the one you’re used to. Think of that one tweet where someone describes hamburgers like a white person would describe asian fruit.

There's the lei substory where the girl needs to make a lei with blue plumerias (which does not exist by the way) because there’s an urban legend that if you give a blue plumeria lei to someone, it’s a way of confessing your true love. Lei are just… things you give as, like, a “congrats!” kind of a thing. Or if you wanna be touristy about it, a “welcome!” kind of gift. There’s nothing mystical about it, most grocery stores stock a few that you can just pick up, grab and go style.

The entire game mechanic of “shaka to make friends” was so?? Like maybe after 8 hours into the Hawai’i map, I was like, okay, I’ll just… fine. I’ll accept it. But my god did I not appreciate it when Kson came up to me and was like “what’s a motherfucker gotta do around here to make some friends” and told me how FRIENDLY the Hawaiian people were and how you can just throw a shaka to make friends; while me, probably the saltiest, introverted Hawai’i local that throws stink-eye at tourists who can’t watch where they’re going, playing the video game on that day was like, “We don’t fucking do that, hello??” I don’t even know why we shaka?? Most people you ask that question will just be like “idk it’s the local thing, they do it at the end of the 5pm news on KHON2.”

There’s a substory in this game with a character named Nathan, but we were all calling him racist Alpharad because he kinda looks like him (ALPHARAD HIMSELF IS NOT RACIST OR IN THIS GAME I WANNA CLARIFY THAT) and he’s basically, like… a weeb. He’s recording what seems like a PBS special on Japanese tourists in Hawai’i, but he’s kind of a shitter about it. He makes Ichiban choose between local foods and cold-ass rice and becomes upset when he chooses kalua pork over the rice since it wasn’t The Japanese Option. It escalates to making Ichiban play darts with shuriken and when he loses, he tells him to “live up to his dishonor,” slides him a knife and board, and asks him if he wants to take a finger or hara-kiri. To which Ichiban goes “dude, I get you like Japanese culture, but you can’t treat people this way”

To which I look back at the game like

You clearly understand how this feels, so why are you doing this to Hawaiian culture?

Again, I understand that a lot of this game was written with maybe just ignorance, and not malice, and this isn’t really a call-out post to RGG or anything, but BOY…

Okay.

Now we get to my biggest gripe with this game.

PALEKANA CAN SUCK MY NUTS

I’m kinda disappointed in their choice to use a Hawaiian cult as a plot point. It’s not quite a native savages kind of a vibe, but… In the year of our lord 2024, I thought we would know better than to portray an indigenous religion as a bloodthirsty cult? I also don’t like how they’re conflating the Hawaiian religion with what’s more like a Christian/Catholic cult in this.

Palekana is portrayed as “cultists who worship a goddess who lives in a mystical land, forbidden only to her chosen and maybe one day we’ll be worthy of her blessings.” Hawaiian religion is… not… like that at all? They did get the part about “giving back to the community” correct as a part of Hawaiian culture is mālama ‘aina, meaning, you need to care for the land you live on, which is… reasonable? I guess the other basic idea of Hawaiian religion is that certain places, things, and times that are important, and you shouldn’t touch it unless you wanna fuck around and find out. But the game just kinda wildly overboils this.

Like, I don’t claim to be an expert, I’ve only scraped the basics from what I learned in school (a year’s worth of Hawaiiana lessons in middle school, a semester’s worth in college; went to a private Catholic school, took two world religion classes in college), but Palekana has a very Catholic European religion kind vibe instead of a Hawaiian one. And I really, really don’t like that the game conflates the two. The Palekana cultists wear hoods, which is a distinctly European thing (it’s too hot for hoods here!). The beaded necklaces also seem more like rosaries, which, again, very Catholic. The idea that a god-figure will save you is also a VERY Catholic idea. I’m also assuming the goddess Nele that they use in the game is an expy for Pele, which… okay, like, you can do that with locations. Ala Moana Shopping Center represented as Anaconda Mall in the game hurts me a lot, but… to change up the name of the most prominent deity in Hawaiian religion is like

Dude, I’m not Hawaiian, but I know better than to shit on Pele?

Maybe I’m taking this a little too seriously, but it comes off as a little(??) disrespectful.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, maybe RGG wrote this plot point in this way to be like, well, they’re the villains, so we’ll write them so hyperbolically evil and wrong so people won’t mistake that for the actual culture? But my gut reaction is that they’re only writing from what they’ve seen in the movies and they wanted to make a story like that.

This was my least favorite part of the plot because not only does the cult aspect feel like it’s in bad taste, but it’s SO MUCH of the story and you REALLY can’t get away from it.

Alright. So now that I’ve aired that out of my system, I’m finally capping off this section with the part of the game that hit the closest to me and that is

CHINESE IN HAWAI’I

Listen. Again.

This is a story about Hawai’i, written by a Japanese team, for a Japanese audience.

Yakuza is a series that often talks about the racial conflict between the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. And I don’t expect them to portray any of these groups in anything more than a neutral light in this game about Gang Crime.

But ohhhhh my gooooood did they get the Chinatown section so wroooooooong.

Right off the bat, the big glaring problem I have with this game is. All the guys speak Mandarin. I think they might just be reusing voice clips from Yakuza 7, which, sure, fine, I understand that video games are hard to make and expensive.

In Hawai’i, like, real-world Hawai’i, not the bizzaro Hawai’i this game takes place in, we’re definitely starting to see more Mandarin-speaking immigrants show up, but most of the town speaks Cantonese.

Most of the people here a generation or two above me come from Guangdong or Hong Kong, which are Cantonese-speaking areas. It’s an entirely different dialect that’s really only been represented in small bits in media I’m familiar with, like in Jackie Chan Adventures (the uncle’s chant is basically “no more ghosts, get out of here” in Cantonese) and Digimon Tamers (“Moumentai” is “it’s okay/don’t worry about it” in Cantonese), and it seems really hard to get VAs that speak it, so I’m not… really that mad about it.

BUT. Then there’s Wong Tou.

Wong is the Cantonese pronunciation of 黄 , Huang or Hwang in Mandarin.

So like… clearly they knew?? But?? Decided not to go all in on it??

(And then Daniel Dae Kim is his face model and I just??? Bro’s Korean, hello?????)

And then there’s the name of Wong Tou’s gang. The Ganzhe.

Which is a stupid name.

The Chinese dictionary gives me 甘蔗 which translates to sugarcane, which. I get it. The plantation times. The Chinese and the Japanese and the Filipinos and the Portuguese and whatever all used to work on the cane plantations.

…But you’re out here calling your BIG KNIFE GANG “Sugarcane??”

My guy, you could start a reggae band with that name instead.

SPEAKING OF REGGAE-

No one knows how to pronounce Ganzhe properly besides Eric’s VA apparently? All the other VAs pronounce the gan closer to “van” when it’s supposed to be more like a “gone.”

Yes. That’s right.

Ganzhe is pronounced more like ganja.

You know.

The Marajuanas™

I’m a Hawai’i-born Chinese, first-generation local on my mom’s side and third-gen local on my dad’s. I grew up in Chinatown, so this was a section of the game that was near and dear to my heart. So I THINK and HOPE you’d understand my frustration to see that work needed to be done on the representation of my culture in this game. It was definitely a little fun to see my hometown modeled in this game- they got Maunakea Marketplace and Keikaulike Mall down pretty accurately and some of the motifs on the buildings made me do a double take because they were so familiar to me. BUT, man, this cultural aspect of the game needed A LOT of work.

SO TO FINALLY CLOSE THIS OUT

Japanese people love Hawai'i a lot.

I think Japanese people love Hawai'i more than Hawai'i locals do.

But as for portraying it accurately, I understand that no one can do it as well as a local islander can. Did I personally think they did the best they could?

………………ehh

Like, if you turn your brain off, it's fine??

If you turn your brain off and not let Palekana get to you, this game is fine.

It can be a little campy.

It can be a little Hollywood.

It can be a little Disneyland.

And despite my four pages of bitching about it, at the end of the day. It is fine.

So with that, I’ve hit like ten full pages on this Google Doc. Despite half of this review being me complaining about what they got wrong about Hawai’i culture in this game, I liked it a lot! When the game didn't have me strapped down for an episode of a J-drama or Hawaii Five-O, I liked running around town, fighting guys, making other guys fight other guys, and managing a resort island. If anything, this game actually motivated me a little to make more local-themed stuff, because as I notice people getting older, there’s less and less people to correctly preserve highly specific culture stuff like this. So a lot of that responsibility falls on me, y’know?

Thank you for making it to the end of this review! I know it was a lot. I don’t know what happened. I do recommend this game, but I ask that you do NOT finish the game with the takeaway that you have learned everything there is to know about Hawai’i.

I’ll fight you with a lawn chair (in Minecraft, for the FBI agent reading this) if you do that.

Other than that, I think you’ll have a lot of fun but also take your time because this game is, like, a 100 hour commitment. Not Persona 5 Royal long, but a commitment nonetheless.

#like a dragon #like a dragon infinite wealth #pickle art #sure uhh I guess I will put this in the tag #IF YOU FOUND THIS VIA THE TAG AND YOU REALLY LIKE THIS GAME #HI HELLO I DO TOO I JUST HAVE SOME STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT THE CULTURAL ACCURACY OF MY HOMETOWN #PLEASE DON'T YELL AT ME YOU CAN STILL ENJOY IT #anyway I've had this sitting around for like... most if not all of march #and I finally got the spoons to put the finishing touches on it #and come to terms that I'm probably not opening the game back up anytime soon

51 notes · View notes

pastelcheckereddreams · 1 year

Photo

我做梦都想回去... Even in my dreams, I want to go back… The Untamed locations: Lotus Pier 莲花坞/Liánhuā Wù

It’s finally here! The third installment in my ongoing Chén Qíng Lìng drafting saga, Lotus Pier! As the residence of the Yúnmèng Jiāng Sect, Lotus Pier (莲花坞/Liánhuā Wù) is arguably one of the most important locations in the narrative of Mó Dào Zǔ Shī. Built among sprawling lotus ponds in the lazy shallows of a vast, meandering river, Lotus Pier shapes the halcyon days of the Jiāng siblings’ youth. It is a warm and lively place, its people welcoming and carefree.

The complete diagram:

(Full set details/meta below.)

Part 1: The Jingshi Part 2: The Hanshi

Prints now available at ✨ INPRNT! ✨ You can also support me on Ko-fi ☕

Honestly, the few gifs I have used do not come close to showing you the huge scale, or the level of detail and care that has evidently been put into this set by the CQL production team.

Before I attempt to describe the place that shaped much of our main characters’ lives, let me first share with you the set layout with reference to some aspects of traditional Chinese architecture (and please bear in mind, I’m not an authority on the subject. Links to sources/appropriate references are provided).

Understanding the set layout:

The main compound of Lotus Pier is set out loosely following the typical, traditional layout for residences containing a courtyard.* Rooms are placed at the four cardinal points, creating a central axis and a secondary horizontal axis. With the courtyard facing south, the most important buildings are placed to the rear (north), such as the parents and grandparents’ bedrooms and the ancestral hall, while the siderooms (typically for the sons’ families) are placed to the east and west according to auspicious philosophies (like fēng shuǐ) and social hierarchy:

* At least, in the northern regions of China. Although Héngdiàn World Studios, where most historical and xiānxiá dramas are filmed, is located in Zhèjiāng, it seems a lot of the sets at Hengdian are based on northern designs.

In true “courtyard houses” (sìhéyuàn or sānhéyuàn, depending on whether the courtyard is fully enclosed), this quadrangle layout would then repeat along the central (N-S) axis if the residence contains one or more ‘inner courtyards’ (Fig.3 below):

However, I would not call Lotus Pier a true “courtyard house” as it is freer and more spacious in form than, say, the Hanshi’s courtyard design** and both sets are part of a larger compound anyway, rather than a standalone residence for a single family - so the comparison may be redundant. For instance, Lotus Pier’s stilt foundation and large, sloping roofs also bear an interesting resemblence to the wooden storied houses of Yúnnán, which is a completely different type of vernacular architecture.

** That being said, there is a wealth of research on the different variations in this type of vernacular architecture [x] [x], which does include differences in siheyuan design based on climate (wherein the buildings are quite generously spaced apart, and the courtyard much larger, to deal with the warmer climate in southern regions of China).

Nevertheless, we can see the cultural and cosmic philosophies which influence these courtyard homes used at times in the design of Lotus Pier.

For instance, we see in episodes 14 and 18 that first Jiāng Chéng, and then Wèi Wúxiàn lived in the eastern room - both seperately and together - in their childhoods. (We can assume that Yànlí would have lived in a room nearer her parents, located in the back of the residence so as to lessen her appearance in public as an unwed daughter.)

(Although the two rooms have been dressed differently, the raised platform, reused props, and WWX’s running shot from the inside to the outside in episode 14 show that it is the same building. Additionally, you can head here for some ramblings on the interior of WWX’s room and some analysis on camera angles.)

You may also be able to see from these gifs that these siderooms are divided into three sections, which relates to the construction of traditional buildings in three or five ‘bay’ structures:

A ‘bay’ is the space between columns of a building. An even number of bays, or jiān/間, was thought to be unlucky, therefore the three bay structure was the basic layout of a commoner’s home, with additional bays added based on the need for space or the wealth of a family.

Interestingly, the room on the west side of the courtyard is shown to be Jiāng Fēngmián’s study, rather than another bedroom as I originally assumed - one that may have been for an older Jiang Cheng, although as the son and heir of the Jiang famly, his room would traditionally remain on the eastern side of the house (where WWX’s is). Then again, the main courtyard is an odd place for a bedroom in the first place, so perhaps we might be looking at a conflation of public and private spaces due to constraints on the set designers.

As a sidenote, JFM’s study appears to back onto a private lake, seen through the rear viewing window. I think this must be CGI, however, as I can find no angle of the set that shows this exists as part of the structure.

With all this said, let’s not forget that this is a xiānxiá drama: historical accuracy is not the goal. Instead, the producers took their time finding a ‘cultural location’ for each Sect, through which they could develop a more artistic aesthetic by drawing on the atmosphere and charm of their desired location. This brings us to the set’s design, and what it may represent about the people of MDZS’s Yunmeng.

The set’s design:

For the Yunmeng Jiang, producer Yáng Xià states in the link above that the showrunners drew inspiration from Húběi province, particularly the Jiānghàn plain that now lies in the heart of Wǔhàn. It is here the Hàn river joins the vast flow of the Yangtze as it meanders its way through the eastern provinces of Central China.

Just as Wuhan has been a major port city since the earliest dynasties of Imperial China, it’s fair to assume that the river that flows through MDZS’s Yunmeng has likewise influenced those living on its banks:

One of our first, and repeated, impressions of Lotus Pier and Yunmeng is how lively and welcoming this busy harbor and its people are. A major transport hub in its own right, with links to Lánlíng, Yumeng people are at home on the water.

The Jiang are unrestrained and easy-going, open-minded and generous. To reflect this, Lotus Pier was likewise built to be “broad and open”, the easy curves of the roofs and the wide, open walkways creating a sense of transparency and openness; the fluttering gauze curtains soften and compliment what otherwise might be an imposingly broad structure of warm-coloured wood:

The marketplace that sprawls from the main landing likewise tells us that Lotus Pier and the wider Yunmeng area is a place of trade and craftsmanship.

We see lotus seeds and pods harvested frequently, and as strong swimmers and talented fishermen, we might assume that the Yunmeng people are also skilled at weaving fishing nets and other such tools from the abundance of natural materials the fertile floodplains afford them.

As an aside, I do wonder why JFM decided to decorate his seat of power with rolls of reed matting/blinds.

I like to think they’re wares from the market, to display his peoples’ craftsmanship. You have to admit, the effect is impressive, immitating an unfurling lotus:

The one area that intrigues me the most in this main courtyard, however, is the kitchen. The private dock in the kitchen really exemplifies how the river has had such a huge influence on the design of Lotus Pier, by virtue of the waterborne livelihood it has curated among the Yunmeng people:

I like to imagine that fresh produce from the market would arrive by boat early in the morning, and Yanli would be there to help unload the goods while she prepares breakfast for her family...

What struck me most, though, during the course of this whole study was the dreamy, almost fantastical quality to the set. As I said above, the xianxia genre allows much more creative license with the aesthetic of the Sects and their domains, as the genre does not need to replicate a time or place with rigid historical accuracy. As such, much care and ingenuinty has been taken by the show’s designers to merge the Pier with the river, giving the impression that, like the lotus flowers that give it its name, the Pier also floats on the water itself.

To that end, let’s lastly think about the lotus imagery we see around the set, and how it applies to the role of Lotus Pier as a place in the narrative.

The symbolism of the lotus

Revered for its beauty and much loved for its versitility in Asian cuisine and traditional Chinese medicine, the lotus holds significance in Chinese culture for many reasons. As one of the 'Flowers of the Four Seaons' (四季名花, Sìjì Mínghuā), the lotus flower represents summer, blooming through the season in the shallows of slow-moving rivers and river deltas.

「出淤泥而不染 / chū yūní ér bù rǎn」, an idiom meaning “growing out of mud, but remaining untainted”, is often attributed to a poem by controversial Confucian and Neo-Confucian scholar Zhōu Dūnyí called 'On the Love of the Lotus' ( 爱莲说, Ài Lián Shuō). Zhou calls the lotus flower a "gentleman among flowers" (not to be confused with the Four Gentlemen) as, rising dignified from the mud, it exemplifies the cosmic and spiritual harmony all humans should aspire to achieve. As such, it represents a moral ideal of dignity and integrity for a Confucian gentleman. As Zhou writes, “I love only the lotus, for rising from the mud yet remaining unstained; bathed by pure currents and yet not seductive.”

We cannot wholly attribute this idiom to Zhou, however, as this metaphor of the lotus flower, symbollic of purity of mind and body as it rises out of the muddy waters of worldly affairs, actually has its roots in the religious teachings of Buddhism and the Lotus Sutra. In it, the sacred lotus symbolises spiritual enlightenment and self-actualisation, where one is able to detach themselves from worldly affairs and overcome personal sufferings.

N.B. 18/04/2023 Edits have been made to reflect more accurate context regarding the prevailance of Buddhist thought in China since its introduction in the Han dynasty, and how Zhou’s ‘On the Love of the Lotus’ drew upon its teachings. See here for the original text and a review of its inaccuracies, as well as further resources.

How can we relate this back to the setting, Lotus Pier, and the Yunmeng Jiang? I think the most obvious parallel has to be the burning of Lotus Pier.

The event is the catalyst for a number of tragedies that occur throughout the narrative, and the Jiang siblings' attempts to reconcile the many layers of guilt, blame and grief they each feel with the enormity of losing their entire Sect, their home, their bonds with each other - the lotus emblem of their Sect is perhaps a reminder that there is no happiness without hardship.

Of course, more important than its cosmic symbolism, for these siblings lotus ponds represent home, and are a way the three siblings can remain connected as they travel seperate paths in life, forming new families after the tragedy of their own:

In the scene pictured above - where WWX, after many months in self-imposed exile, succeeds in cultivating his lotus pond in the Burial Mounds - the pond represents his longing for Lotus Pier while also bringing him some comfort and connection to what he has lost. Just as Jīn Zixuān seeks to bring comfort to Yanli by planting a lotus pond for her, too:

(Bonus gif of a different type of "gentlemen rising from the mud”):

But as an aside, it's also interesting to note that WWX tells A-Yuan in that above scene, that the lotus seeds are not to be eaten because they are grown in the soil of the Burial Mounds. Instead, they are 'the perfect thing to protect from evil spirits'. This may be a simple child’s tale for WWX to discourage A-Yuan from eating the tainted seeds, or it may refer to the spiritual purity the lotus symbolises. But as an interesting coincidence, lotus plants actually have the potential to filter nitrogen, phosphorous, and heavy metals from watersources, so it’s possible they taste bad because they are literally cleansing the soil of the Burial Mounds.

It seems appropriate, then, that WWX is tied closely to this lotus motif, perhaps even moreso than Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng. This is especially poignant when we consider that the lotus is also symbollic of resurrection and rebirth: the blooms, closing and opening with the sun in a daily cycle, can be compared to the cycle of reincarnation.

A great deal of the narrative focuses upon WWX’s decision to forge his own path through life, a ‘single-log bridge’ that sweeps him away from convention and propriety that governs the rest of the cultivation world as he struggles to maintain his own integrity and compassion. He suffers for this choice, especially once he gives up his golden core and is thought to be actively choosing an ‘evil’ path. Yanli even dreams of him floating away from Lotus Pier, carried on the rapid current of the river:

After his resurrection, however, it seems WWX has been able to finally rise above the Sects’ biases and political machinations. Once the Yin Iron has finally been sealed away, and the mystery of the Fierce Corpse solved, he no longer has any obligation to stay in those muddy waters of the cultivation world. He is free to wander, as his parents did - the single log bride widening to encompass the whole world.

Although still tied to the world by his love for his family and friends, we could say that WWX is close to that enlightenment the lotus represents. He has risen from the mud and, despite all his suffering, has remained untainted.

Bonus details!

If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! This got... so long... But of course, I had to do Lotus Pier justice as such a beautiful and thematic set. As a final point, here are some small details you may have missed or that I couldn’t fit in the main analysis!

Here is a cute interior shot of WWX’s room, and a view of the rear courtyard that shows the moon gate entrance, which presumably provides access for boats to dock in the kitchen:

Also join me in appreciating how detailed the design on the door panels is! So much so that I couldn’t do the finer details justice in my sketch:

Special mention to the fish doorhandles on the main hall, as well. As a Pisces, this brings me joy.

And finally, some reference shots for the gate:

As always, thank you everyone for your continued support and encouragement - and your patience! Lotus Pier was a massive project, that has taken me over a year to complete. I am so proud to finally present it to you, and bring you the news that I have finally opened a print shop! As always, you can also buy me a coffee on kofi to show you support.

1K notes · View notes

xoxoladyaz · 4 months

Text

Krampus Baby

Me: we should write a cute little holiday blurb to publish on Christmas Eve, maybe something Hallmark-y, maybe some mistletoe -

Also Me: KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE KRAMPUS EDDIE

So that's what we've got for you today, my lovelies!

CW: BDSM, allusions to punishment, brief descriptions of sex, implied future monsterfucking

“Babe, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh, really? And what exactly does this look like, Eddie?!” Steve stood in the doorway to Eddie’s all-purpose-game-room-slash-music-studio-slash-office and glared at him, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Eddie shot a frantic look at the guys. Gareth and Phil were very conveniently looking elsewhere (the traitors). Jeff, who was the only one brave enough to make eye contact with Eddie, just shook his head slowly. “You’re on your own, dude.”

Well, shit.

The truth is, Eddie knew he was the only person to blame for the situation he’d found himself in. But in his defense, it’s not like there’s a manual that you get when you become a Krampus that says “hey, here’s how you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/spouse/whatever that you’re a Krampus, meaning that you spend all of Christmas Eve travelling around your assigned region and birching people that Santa/Jesus/someone says needs to be scared onto the straight and narrow.”

Well. Maybe he could have just led with that and gone from there?

Fuck, this would have been so much easier if he’d just agreed to be a Santa but no, his dramatic gay eighteen-year-old born-in-the-North-Pole ass just had to pick the more flamboyant career option. And sure, it was fun for a while – he’d always had a flair for theatrics and performing and every December 24 he gave the performance of a lifetime – but after about ten years of birching undeserving creeps he’d realized hey, maybe something like this could be fun the other 364 days of the year with humans he actually liked (or, ya know, that he at least thought were hot and wanted to get off with.)

And so Eddie the Krampus became Eddie Munson, training Dom at the Hellfire Club, and after twenty-seven years of walking this earth, he finally felt like everything in his life had fallen into place. Naturally that’s when he met Steve Harrington, a bratty little prince with perfect hair and an even more perfect ass and fell madly in love – far past the point of no return, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. He’d never really given a lot of serious thought to love or dating or anything like that because, you know, the whole Krampus thing, but from the moment he laid eyes on Steve his entire world had shifted to orbit around his beautiful, delightfully dorky, somewhat clueless human. Even more incredibly, Steve seemed to feel the same way because he'd given Eddie a key to his house after only four weeks of dating and happily reorganized his home so Eddie could have his own space and fuck, Eddie was going to marry this human and make him immortal and traipse all around the world with him until it was time for him the next generation of Krampus’ to take over.

(Krampusses? Krampusi? Krampussies? There really wasn’t a great plural form of his job title, was there?)

Right, it was a great plan, no, it was a perfect plan, because nothing could be better than almost-eternity with Steve. There was just one teeny tiny minor flaw with his plan, that being the fact that he, uh, forgot to tell Steve.

And now it was December 24th, and Eddie and the guys had finally gotten home from a long night of birching (which wasn’t really fun anymore now that Eddie got to punish someone he loved in a very, very fun way almost daily) and were unwinding with a beer when Steve had stormed in – Steve, who was asleep when Eddie left.

Steve, who was now seeing Eddie in his Krampus form for the first time (along with Jeff and Gareth and Phil). Steve, who looked angrier than the time that Eddie tried to experiment with forks in all of the electrical outlets in their house.

Steve, who was probably the first human to ever cause a Krampus nightmares.

“I can’t believe this. I seriously cannot fucking believe this, Eddie - ”

“Look, baby, I know this looks kind of crazy,” Eddie started slowly, extremely conscious of the way his horns protruded out of his hair, of the soot on his furry legs and the loud clopping sound his cloven hooves made as they tapped nervously on the floor. (He’d never felt bad about how he looked in this form; hell, he even thought he looked kind of hot. Not everyone can pull off the whole “burning-red-eyes-and-weirdly-long-tongue” thing like he could. But now that he found himself caught in Steve’s fiery gaze, he wanted nothing more than to disappear into a tiny ball, to make Steve forget that he’s ever looked like this.) “And I was meaning to tell you, I really was, but - ”

“Oh, really?” Steve scoffed, narrowing his eyes at Eddie even further. “You were meaning to tell me that you were punishing other people, is that what you’re trying to say?”

“ – wouldn’t believe me anyways, I mean, most people don’t believe in Krampus – wait, what?” Eddie cut off as Steve’s words worked their way into his brain. “I – what?”

“You heard me,” Steve scoffed again. “You just forgot to tell me you’re punishing other people? Even though we’ve been exclusive for almost a year? Even though you moved into my house?!”

“I – Steve, wait, it’s not like that - ”

“Oh, really,” Steve repeated himself, “so you didn’t spend Christmas Eve running around and whipping people who aren’t me?”

Eddie shot another look at the guys, all of whom looked as shocked as Eddie felt. (Except for Gareth, that little fucker was grinning like this was the funniest thing he’d ever witnessed.) “Steve, it’s not - ”

“It’s not like what, Eddie? It’s not like you threw a fit the one time someone else tried to Dom me but apparently that doesn’t go both ways! Apparently, I have to share you! You better not be fucking them, Eddie Munson,” Steve seethed, “because I swear to God – ”

“No, no, no! Steve, I wouldn’t, I would never,” Eddie raced out, cautiously stepping closer to his boyfriend. “And it’s not – it’s not like us, okay, it’s literally just punishment and nightmares and stuff. Most of them won’t even remember me tomorrow!”

“Oh, but some will?”

“I – maybe?”

“What Eddie is trying to say,” Jeff saved him by jumping in, “is that this is just a job for us, man. It’s literally just a job. We really don’t get that sort of enjoyment out of it. Hell, most of us aren’t even in the lifestyle outside of this.”

“Yeah, Eddie’s just weird,” Gareth snickered, although he sobered somewhat when Eddie turned to glare at him.

“He loves you, man. He wouldn’t cheat,” Jeff finished. “That’s not what this is.”

Steve huffed, although the crease in his brow had softened somewhat. “You’re really a Krampus, then? And the horns and shit are real?”

“Yeah – yeah, super real, see?” Eddie said, grabbing hold of his horns and yanking them as hard as he could. Ouch. “This is just my Krampus form. I, uh, don’t wear it out all that often.”

“But you have horns.”

“Uh, yeah,” Eddie replied nervously.

Steve’s face went through a few emotions before settling on angry. “You mean I could have been holding onto your horns the entire time we’ve been fucking?”

Eddie heard the sound of someone choking loudly behind him, but he didn’t have the brain space to care about that; in fact, the only brain space he had was completely overrun by images of Steve on his back, hands gripped around Eddie’s horns as Eddie drove him further and further into their bed. “I, uh - ”

“Well,” Steve cut off his blabbering with a cold look, “since it’s Christmas Eve and all, I might as well do a little punishing of my own.” He turned on his heel and stomped out of the doorway, pausing briefly to yell back over his shoulder. “You’re sleeping on the couch!”

“BABE!” Eddie whined back, stomping his hoof on the ground. “Until when?!?!”

“Until I say so!” Steve hollered as he disappeared out of view.

“That went well,” Gareth said drily once Steve was out of earshot. The sound of their bedroom door slamming echoed into Eddie’s man-cave and all four Krampus’ winced.

“Yeah, good luck getting out of that one, man,” Phil said, and with a nod he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Gareth snorted and followed suit, leaving Eddie and Jeff standing alone.

“Honestly, I really think it could have gone worse. You might need to speed up the timeline on that ring, though.” Jeff clapped Eddie on the shoulder. “Unless you have another plan.”

“Oh,” Eddie replied slowly, quietly, a maniacal grin spreading across his face. “I have a plan, all right.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t worry me at all,” Jeff rolled his eyes. “It’s your funeral, man.”

“Mmm,” Eddie hummed, thinking about the brand new switch he’d purchased for Steve – one of his many, many gifts for the man. “At least I’ll die doing what I love.”

“And that is?”

Eddie smirked even wider. “Why, punishing Steve.”

#let me know if you wanna see steve get punished #because I am having some THOUGHTS let me tell you #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steddie fanfic #steddie fic #steddie holiday fic

58 notes · View notes

luciddreamingcrow · 1 year

Text

"The Tsaritsas Painter"

Sumery: After the reader being exiled from their former art school the Tsaritsa takes a great interest in them becoming their painter for a eternity

Btw im sorry if there will be any spelling mistakes, since english isnt my first language!

Genere: Fluff, bit occ or occ in general, first impresions and how they realized they like you/how the relationship stars,light angst in la signoras part!

Characters included: Pantalone, Sandrone, Dottore, La Signora, Tartaglia.

Prologe

Reader was onese a respected art student and was considered one of the best in the region, heavenly praised for their talent and unique way of painting, executing and representing the final products message but after studying about the heavenly principles in Sumerus Academia they realized that the principles that they were made to follow and submit to were flawed and corrupt, resulting in them to represent that belief into their drawings and quote on quote ruining the art schools reputation resulting them getting banned from the art school that they studied in because on their controversial views of the heavenly principles and how they were against them, later on these "rumors" spread to Snezhnaya, wich lead to reader being commissioned by the Tsaritsa herself, not to create more of those paintings that brought nothing but chaos, but portraits, more specificly for the harbingers, knowing that because of their similar believes, they'll get along just fine.

Pantalone

First impressions/meeting:

Pantalone was the first one to getting his portrait because he didn't need to move around as much as the other harbingers, spending more time on filling in documents in the fatuis headquarters, the first time he saw reader it was when they were at their studio, tiding up the plase before he had to pose for his portrait and he was really happy to meet the troublemaking artist and in his nature he teased them about it, making pointless remarks just to start a convo with them (of course not having the intention to insult them, rather to start a convo with them about their interst, where they are from ect, just to get them more comfortable and let loose) By the end of the first section the two of you would have small talk while you paint, creating a nice comfortable environment for the bought of you.

How they realized they like you/How the relationship started:

Tbh it started of small, from caching you making small doodles of him during "important meetings" and of course teasingly commenting about it later, to admireing you working on his portrait, by the time you started to run out of supplies he would buy new ones for you with twice the quality, leaving small pouches with "a tiny bit" of mora alongside with a note saying to buy yourself something nice （^__^ ) and sometimes he would let you relax into his office when commissions and painting gets you overworked. It would be one of those days where you were burned out and while Pantalone was comforting you with his soothing voice, he let his confession slip hopping for his compliments and gifts to mean something more than just him being polite

Sandrone

First impressions/ meeting:

She really didn't have time for anything besides her work, she was always concentrated in the construction of her next machinery and other working on big progects, and having to pose for more than a hour at least onece a day didn't really excited her all that much seeing it as a waste of time and often felt frustration that she couldn't do something more productive, but after some time after getting familiar with your presence and the studio, she didn't held a grudge against you for that long, and she even started looking forward to the next painting section, now seeing it as a opportunity to take a break from her work and started to enjoy your company.

How they realized they like you/How the relationship started:

After the portrait was done, she yearned your presence even though at first Sandrone did everything to ignore it but atlas she found herself in your studio more oftentimes than she would like to admit, and after some time she would invite you over in her office so she can do something productive while still enjoying your company, she would ask you to review some of her beta designs on some of the machinery she worked on, asking what you liked, disliked, what would you change because to her you are the artist and have a better understanding on what looks more appealing. Sometimes you would be the one working on some of the beta designs and after they were done she would name them after you and that was a way of her saying that she genuinely likes you.

Dotore

First impressions/meeting:

Similar to Pantalone he was really excited to meet you, and whats a better way to introduce himself by showing off his office and all the questionable experiments hes working on, of course even though he wouldn't experiment on you (even if he wanted too) he still would be making jokes of you being his next patient to experiment on, but whenever he would pose for the portrait Dottore would admire the other creations on your studio genuinely interested whast the meaning and story behind them letting you ramble about them for hours on end.

How they realized they like you/How the relationship started:

He would send one or two of his clones to "borrow" some of your works in progres so whenever you would look out for them he would claim that he knows here they are, but he would tell you only give them to you, only if you accompany him from some time and that time being around a hour or so, or he would drag you to a meeting that he doesn't really feel like going so he can watch you draw on your sketchbook. Whenever he would have to go to a expedition Dottore always makes sure to buy exclusive vases, items, statues for them to be drawn by you, though sometimes he wishes if he could be the center of your new masterpieces.

La signora

First impressions:

Amused but impressed to say the leased, she would suddenly look and admire the way your hands flew acros the paper, sketching whenever you were uninterested in a meeting and it became a habit of hers to make sure you were sitting besides her so she could watch you draw, and always kept a loving and gentle look despite her judgmental personality.

How they realized they like you/How the relationship started:

The time she would realize that she saw you more than just entertainment its when you'd give her a small but genuine compliment while you were making her portrait, and for context she knows that she looks good but having someone say it with a sense of honesty and genuine intend, just made her heart warm, but also this sensation made her dizzy, she felt like she was drowning but in the best way possible, and from this day on Signora chased that rush you gave her, always wanting just a little more. And by that she frequently took you to walks on forbidden parts of Snezhnaya for you to take inspection, took you to expensive dinners to discuss "fatui related plans", etc. Before she had to go to Inazuma Signora gave you a gift, a companion, more specifically a fire moth made by her own hands to keep you company and she made a promise that shell come back as soon as possible. You realized that she was lying when the moth that she gave you, one day became nothing but dust.

Tartalia

First impressions/ meeting:

To be honest, similar to Sandrone, hes not that hyped about it since he travels a lot it would be more tiering to have another person with him but Childe didn't dare to exprese it, because he didn't want to make you fell uncomfortable or unwanted. Of course he wound be the one that decidet on a schedule that would be comfortable for the bought of you.

How they realized they like you/How the relationship started:

You two of you would spend time mostly in Liyue because of his packed schedule , and when he had free time he would insist to get you to dinner cuz " You most likely have been eating the same cheap food sience you joined that art school of yours and I might as well get you something good while you are here with me^^". Tbh at that moment you felt SO blessed cuz he was so damn right, in your first dinner together you mostly talked about surface level things because he wanted to let you eat in pease after not having a proper meal for ages. For the rest of the "dinners" he took you in, you mostly sketched and practiced his facial features for the portrait while he talked about adventures that he had with his siblings, latter on, you would most likely start commenting on some of his features that you havent noticed until that moment, and like the first time you casualy compliment him, he was in shock because hes so used to him being complented for his strength and battle skills basically hes being complimented for being a weapon for others to use, but when you complimented HIM and not hes capabilities, he felt his heart skipping a beat while hes face started going red, and from that moment on he doesn't think that you being alongside his isn't that bad after all.

A/n: OMG Ive had this fanfinc in my notes for SO LONG, because I wanted to write abb all of the harbingers in one go, but I eventually burned myself out so yeaaaah, if yall want a part two just tell me, tbh Im glad that I had the urge to finnish this in 1 am cuz Im so tierd of seeing this fanfic in my notes, but I love it so much omg, also Im having the time of my life learning 3d modeling in blender and crying over it in 5am 😎

608 notes · View notes

eris-snow · 1 year

Text

𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐲

Tags: bakugou x gn!reader, jealousy, Band AU, drummer bakugou, Quirkless AU, fluff,

Drummer Bakugou would be hot as hell. Disclaimer: The song Good 4 u from Olivia Rodrigo is in here so all props to her for this song because I am incapable of writing a single note.

God, he pissed you off. Bakugou can be one hell of an asshole, anytime, anywhere. You blew out an irritated scoff as you fixate your eyes on the blinding lights glaring down on the stage, determined to find a way to make yourself go blind so that you could stop looking at that emotionally-exhausting human named Katsuki Bakugou.

Unfortunately, his aura made it practically impossible to ignore him.

Your band had picked him up about a week after you guys formed. Jiro said she knew a guy that could fill in your drummer's vacant spot. After all, you needed a percussionist. Bands couldn't last long without one.

So when an angry, explosive and loud blond was dragged into the rented-out studio the very next day, you were hesitant to believe that this was the man that was going to solve all your problems. He proved you wrong though.

"Why the hell do you want me in your stupid little band anyway?" He snarled, trying to pry off Kaminari's arm that was clamped around his shoulders. "Can't you just ask Icy Hot or something? I'm sure even Damn Deku learn how to do it if it meant helping you guys until you got a replacement!"

"But that person won't be you, Bakugou!" Kaminari moaned, determinedly and successfully getting the blond into the room with the help of Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu. "Please, man! You're the best there is close to campus! The school band won't even let us take anybody!"

"And I can see why!" The blond spat, still fighting the mass of limbs that blocked the door. "I didn't want to do this shit!"

You frowned from your spot, clicking the microphone to the stand as you folded your arms. "Are you sure about this?" You whispered to Jiro, who had her head cradled tightly in her hands. "Isn't he the one always getting the top marks on all the weekly tests the teachers give us? You sure he can play?"

Bakugou's neck jerked so hard that you thought he would get a whiplash. "Hah?" He stopped resisting, sharp eyes snapping to you. "The hell do you mean 'can I play?' I'm the best fucking person you'd find in this entire country!"

Tokoyami, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu slumped down in relief, winded.

You blinked, taken aback. Then, your lips curl into a sly smirk.

"Prove it."

He decimated any thoughts of getting another person the second he held those drumsticks.

Since those high school days, the 6 of you matured into a band that wrote and performed original music, posting it on any social media platform to let it gain traction.

Thankfully, with Jiro's parents being music producers, it was infinitely easier to learn what was in and find the direction your band was going in.

Even after years of performing, you were still a bundle of nerves before performing.

Not this time though.

Now, all could do was to remind yourself to stay calm, get into the zone, and channel all this irritation into your vocals to make your performance more realistic and impactful.

Your relationship with Bakugou would be described as...chaotic at best. As the main vocalist in the band, you were mostly in charge of the lyric writing and overseeing what was the chords and rhythm for each song.

Bakugou was the one who dwelled the most on each section to make sure your lyrics were nothing short of perfect.

There were times when it would be just the two of you in that studio, rehearsing and replaying original albums or favourite covers before the others came. Even if Bakugou and you would yell and glare at each other, both of you held begrudgingly respect for what each of you did.

Bakugou annihilated any competition for a drummer in your region, just like he said. And even though you never brag, Bakugou knows you have the confidence and lung capacity of a whale. Your technique was unquestionably better than Jiro's.

That's why Bakugou knew every habit and quirk you executed in or out of that studio. He'd gotten really good at observing especially you.

The way you would fidget when someone would tell you how amazing your singing was, obviously flustered. That incoherent laughter that you think sounds terrible but one that Bakugou absolutely adores because it enforces the genuinity of your reactions. The blond is proud to know that he has drawn that laughter out of you the most times out of all the people he's seen you interact with. The way your words can change from throat-ripping rasp to velvety smooth to fit any one of your songs.

Fuck, you're so clumsy and stupid and irritatingly mind-racking all the time, but he can feel his feelings slamming harder and harder against that bedrock wall of control he so desperately built to keep his mind clear.

You don't make it easy though.

Bakugou is obnoxious at times, and this was one of those occasions. There was a slip-up backstage, and he just wouldn't stop yelling. You get that he was angry, you were too, but this was one of the times to be professional and suck it up. You'd get to perform anyway, it was just a little hold-up because one of the lights stopped working. One of the male assistants even came up to you to offer you a drink in apology.

Still, Bakugou just had to make a scene.

He ripped gently took that beverage out of your hand and threw it away the second you got it. Snapping at you in his temper tantrum, lashing out a tired "whatever" as if he were a child. The nerve of this guy!

Control now, let loose later, you remind yourself behind those velvet black curtains. Ignoring the looks of concern from your bandmates and the pressing scowls of confusion Bakugou was giving you.

A practised smile frames your face as the curtains part, and that's when you were greeted by your ever-enthusiastic fans.

It's showtime.

Maybe your sneaky attempt at revenge went a little too overboard.

After all, almost half of the female fans of your band were always fangirling over the great Lord Explosion Murder that killed everyone with his music. You wanted to make him feel how you did for once, even in your own narcissistic way.

There's no way he'd like you anyway.

It was easy to get lost in the song you wrote about heartbreak, getting lost in the frenzy of emotions, the strumming of the electric guitar, the rhythm of the drums...

you could feel the music thriving in your bones today.

As you sang, you noticed a guy in the front row grinning so broadly that practically half his face was plastered with that smile. "I LOVE YOU Y/N!" You heard him shout, jumping along with the crowd as you transition into the bridge.

Maybe you just felt neglected with all the feelings bottled up at your throat with Bakugou. It's hard to say anything when you know it's not your place, after all. Maybe that's why you did what you did next.

Smiling alluringly, you lock eyes with that man in the crowd and sing.

"Maybe I'm too emotional

But your apathy's like a wound in salt

Maybe I'm too emotional

Or maybe you never cared at all"

His eyes light up so bright that it almost makes you chuckle. It felt nice to be reciprocated for once.

At the back of the stage, Bakugou stares at you in utter confusion. What the hell did you think you were doing? He thought, finishing his section and letting you transition back into the chorus.

"Well, good for you

You look happy and healthy, not me

If you ever cared to ask"

Twirling the drumstick between his fingers, he watches, stupefied, as you continue to blatantly flirt with the audience, looking so innocent even though Bakugou knows you know exactly what you're doing.

You smile at-some guy in the front row, the blond can't make the extra out-and-did you just wink at him?

Bakugou's nostrils flare, eyes burning with jealousy.

This was what he get for being an unceremonious idiot. Karma is having a field day today. He watched you flash that flirtatious smirk to that bastard one more time as he clicks his tongue and raises his drumsticks in the air.

Tch.

The symbols clang loudly under his aggressive playing style as he lets spiteful jealousy take over his actions. He strikes the drum harder than necessary, unable to do anything but express how he felt through his playing, and it certainly gets your attention because you just sing louder above his drumming.

Kaminari, stunned, racks up the volume as Tokoyami supports Bakugou's drumming, letting the vocals and the rhythm take charge with a hint of the main melody from Kaminari to tie the entire performance together.

The performance ends with you and Bakugou panting, having used so much energy up to prove a silent point to each other you both couldn't voice at the moment.

The crowd roars with applause. Jiro exhales in relief, grateful both of your childish reactions only fueled each other and didn't tear down the entire show. You all bow, and practically hurtle off the stage. Shit. Bakugou was not going to be happy.

"What the hell were you doing back there?!" Bakugou growls collapsing on the couch as if dropping a dumbbell, vermillion eyes fixated on you in pure, raw fury. The minute you got of the stage, Bakugou had dragged you away from your bandmates and flung you into some random room to 'talk to you privately'. You right. He was fuming. "Flirting with the audience like that...are you begging to cause problems?"

"What's wrong with engaging the audience, hah?" You fire back, eyes lit aflame. "My pitch was perfect today!"

"And my rhythm has never been better!" Bakugou flings, eyes locked with yours as you glare each other down with searing stares. "But does that mean I make those fucking pretty eyes to anybody? I fucking don't!"

"Maybe it's because it's nice to reciprocate for once?" You yell without thinking, voice booming. "You don't even know who those lyrics are for, asshole! They were meant to be for you!"

Stunned silence enveloped the room. Bakugou recoils, taken aback...

"Run that by me again?"

Your eyes widen, only just realising your mistake. The red in your cheeks swelled from anger to embarrassment, bite dissolving the minute he called you out.

You messed up. "I-" You run an exasperated hand through your hair, sighing. "That song was for you, Bakugou. I was just fed up because you were acting all cranky before the performance started. And the fact that your fans have been vexingly clingy lately. it was just a mix of things that bothered me for a while now that blew up all at once."

Bakugou replays the lyrics in his head, realisation hitting him like a truck.

You like him.

He takes a bold step forward, closing the space between the two of you.

He likes you.

"Bakugou-?"

"Your fans," He leans in a hair away, breath tickling your face. "They piss the shit out of me too."

Your breath hitches. Was he really-?

"You gonna leave me hanging or what?" Bakugou grumbles, the fury in his eyes seeping out to make way for a softness you're not used to seeing.

You close the gap between you two.

Bonus Part:

When Kaminari sees the both of you come back with joint hands, he immediately pumps his fists and high-fives Tokoyami. "Finally," He groans, "you've been dancing around each other for years now. I thought you would never get together!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP DUNCE FACE!"

#mha #bakugou katsuki #bakugo x you #bakugou x y/n #bakugou katuski x reader #fluff #bakugou fluff #my hero academia #mha fanfiction #katsuki bakugō #bakugou jealousy #jealousy

269 notes · View notes

hearts-4-tomkaulitz · 22 days

Text

ALL ABOUT TOM KAULITZ

Tom Kaulitz is a German guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work from 2001 to the present as the guitarist of the band Tokio Hotel. He has an identical twin, Bill Kaulitz, who is the lead singer of Tokio Hotel, and his best friends are Georg Listing and Gustav Schäfer. He was born in Leipzig, German Democratic Republic. Tom and his brother, Bill, used to live in Hamburg but moved to Los Angeles in October 2010

He grew up in Leipzig with his second-born, identical twin brother Bill. His parents, the painter Simone Charlotte Kaulitz and the truck driver Jörg W., separated when he was six years old. The mother then moved with her two sons to Loitsche near Magdeburg to live with her new partner, the musician Gordon Trümper. As children they were seen in the Radio Bremen production "Verkehrt nach dir". Both found their passion for music as children, which they worked on together from then on. Tom learned to play guitar at the age of ten, while Bill Kaulitz concentrated on singing. They were supported musically by their stepfather, who was himself an active musician in Magdeburg. While performing at a club in Magdeburg in 2001, Bill and Tom Kaulitz met Gustav Schäfer and Georg Listing. Shortly afterwards they founded the band "Devilish" and performed their first regional performances.

In 2003, Bill Kaulitz took part in the "Kinder-Star-Search" talent competition, after which the band was discovered by music producer Peter Hoffmann. In the same year they received their first record contract through Sony BMG under their new band name "Tokio Hotel". Shortly before the release of the first single, Sony BMG canceled the contract, and in 2005 the band moved to Universal Music Group for their second contract. In June 2005, Tokio Hotel celebrated its first TV appearance with Bill Kaulitz as lead singer, Tom Kaulitz as guitarist, Gustav Schäfer on drums and Georg Listing on bass, with their debut single "Über den Monsun". The piece reached number 1 in the German charts in August and Tokio Hotel became one of the most popular German pop bands within a few months. In September 2005, the band released their first album entitled "Schrei", which once again dominated the top spot in the charts in Germany and Austria. In France, "Schrei" reached number 19 in the album charts in the first week, making Tokio Hotel the first German band to enter the French top 20 directly with a debut album.

Meanwhile, in 2005, the musicians, who were still of school age, were awarded the "Bambi" in the "Pop national" category and the "Comet" in the "Best Newcomer" category. In 2006, Tokio Hotel was awarded the "Echo" as "Best Newcomer", the "BRAVO Otto" as "Best Rock Band" and the "Golden Tuning Fork" as "Best German Pop Band", among others. Tom Kaulitz dropped out of school in 2006 in the 10th grade of high school. In the spring of 2008, he and his brother completed their secondary school diploma at an internet school. The twins were awarded the "Distance Learning Youth Prize" in April 2009 for their "exemplary academic achievements". The second album "Zimmer 483" was released on February 23, 2007. Shortly afterwards they were awarded the "MTV Europe Music Award" in the "Inter Act" category. In the same year, 2007, a major European tour followed from March to November. In 2008 they received the "MTV Video Music Award" in the "Best New Artist" category. At the beginning of October 2009, the band's third studio album "Humanoid" was released internationally at the same time for the first time.

In 2010, the band received the "NRJ Music Award" in the "Band Of The Year 2009" category and the MTV Europe Music Award in the "Best World Stage Live Performance" category. That same year, the twin brothers moved to Los Angeles, where they worked on their fourth studio album. In 2012, Kaulitz and his brother Bill were a jury member for the tenth season of "Deutschland sucht den Superstar". On October 3, 2014, the band's fourth studio album, "Kings of Suburbia" (Island Records), was released; the first album recorded only in English.

22 notes · View notes

suzuran777 · 2 months

Text

Review: Lamento stageplay

I've been waiting for a Lamento stageplay since the DRAMAtical Murder stageplay in 2019, so I'm really happy that it's finally real and that I got to watch this one! Since I also wrote a blog post about the sweet pool stageplay, I wanted to write one about the Lamento one too. I really enjoyed it! As usual the pictures I used in this blog are pictures posted by the staff and the official Twitter account! Please check it out if you want to see more.

First of all, this stageplay is pretty long! It's almost three hours long, an hour longer than Nitro+Chiral's previous stageplays. As usual, the first 45 minutes were a bit of a common route in which all the characters appeared. This was mostly the same in every route, but it did change a bit near the ending. After a short 10 minute break, it split into three different routes, so I had to watch three different shows to see all of the endings. It's technically a "musical drama (音楽劇)" which means it combines elements of a stageplay and a musical. I was kind of expecting only the Sanga to sing, but the main characters (Rai, Asato and Bardo) also sing together with Konoe sometimes! My favorite song was probably the opening song, when all of them sung a new version of Itou Kanako's "Lamento" with different lyrics! They also sang a slightly different version at the end of the stageplay. The common route also has two duet songs sung by Rai and Konoe, as Konoe learns about his power as a Sanga.

The new music was really nice, especially the background music. I love how they brought back the composers who made the game's OST to create new songs! I lowkey wish the devils had more songs because whenever they did sing during the opening and ending song of the stageplay, they sounded amazing together! I think it would also be great if they released studio recordings of the songs, as they are always a bit better than the live versions. So far they did already release an album of the instrumental songs which you can buy here, Ototoy shouldn't be region locked, so I think anyone can buy it!

The stage This time the venue was the same as the DRAMAtical Murder stageplay (Shinagawa Stellar Ball), which I've actually been to before, however it looked completely different this time! I liked how they turned the stage into one big forest. Whenever Leaks used his power on Konoe, they used this effect which made the stage look strange and trippy, it was really cool! I also really liked the green light effects they used whenever Konoe would use his Sanga abilities. The screenwriter Uchida Hiroki posted this picture on his Twitter account which kind of gives you an idea what it looked like!

Plot I was curious how they would turn a rather long game into a stageplay, but I think it worked surprisingly well. They kind of skipped over some of the stuff that happens early in the game when Konoe is still in Karou, but they do explain the general story, like the problems caused by the Void and the Sickness. Shui's character also kind of functions as a narrator in the stageplay, similar to Kamiya in the sweet pool stageplay and Virus and Trip in the DRAMAtical Murder stageplay, which is always a nice addition. It's not unusual for fans of the actors to watch stageplays without knowing the original source material, so I think this makes it possible for everyone to enjoy the show, no matter if they're familiar with the game or not.

Now for the different routes, I think all of them were great and the actors definitely put a lot of effort into their roles. Bardo's actor was really funny, especially in the scenes in which he teased Konoe (when he wanted a kiss lol), but I think he also did a great job during the serious scenes! I think Bardo's and Rai's actors had a lot of fun messing around with each other, like jokingly pushing each other, or fighting each other with their tails, which happened during one of the curtain calls people were allowed to record. Asato's actor definitely was a lot more calm compared to these two, but he did a great job at showing Asato's gentle personality! His actor mentioned listening to the drama CDs too including Lamento Love Love Gakuen, doing some extra research! (And for some reason he suddenly got into Togainu no Chi if I look at his Twitter account now...). They ended the stageplay performances on Sunday with Rai's route. Rai's actor, Katou Shou, did an incredible job as Rai during the more emotional scenes, like when Rai insists Konoe finds another Touga because he's afraid he will hurt Konoe. That scene in which Konoe realizes Karou (his hometown) had been completely consumed by the Void was also incredible.

I should probably mention that they showed the good ends only, so no devil endings in this one sadly. Razel's actor agreed that Razel should have his own route because every devil gets quite some scenes depending on the route, but Razel is always kind of left out! Also, can I just say that I absolutely love Froud's stageplay actor, he did such a great job at making the character look intimidating (he's also very tall...) even his voice sounds similar to Froud in the game. I also really liked Leaks' actor, he has a nice deep voice, and Shui's actor liked teasing him sometimes!!

I'm just happy that Lamento has been getting new content again lately, first the webtoon and now the stageplay. You can find lots of pictures and recordings that were taken with permission if you look for the ラメステ hashtag on Twitter! I saw that both Froud's and Konoe's original voice actors (Sasanuma Akira and Hatano Kazutoshi) actually went to watch the stageplay in person. Slow Damage's artist Yamada Uiro, who's also in charge of lots of other official Nitro+Chiral illustrations, also watched the stageplay and drew some new art of it! Always happy to see new Lamento art in the year 2024, I've been enjoying all of the new fanart posted on Twitter as well.

I wonder what stageplay they're planning on doing next, only Slow Damage and Togainu no Chi remain (unless they're planning on bringing Itsuwari no Alkanet or World End's Nightmare back). Next year is Togainu no Chi's 20th anniversary, so I am curious if they are going to release anything new! The director of Nitroplus (Digitaro) also mentioned that N+C is currently working on a new project, though it's currently unknown if it's a new game, Slow Damage fandisc or something else. I guess I will be patient!

#lamento #lamento beyond the void #nitro chiral #review #visualnovel

39 notes · View notes

myrddin-wylt · 3 months

Note

My friend dragged me back into hetalia but I offer you- in-universe meme thought of just Alfred's tiktok. He's linking an 40 page google doc of Matt's crimes in his bio. Gilbert also has one but it's literally just Britney Broski's tiktok but Gilbert.

haha, I've had the headcanon for awhile that Alfred is legally not allowed to use tiktok or any other social media site that isn't American-owned and operated. there's already a federal law banning installation of tiktok (specifically tiktok, not just foreign social media) on government devices, and imo re: hetalia Alfred would be explicitly included in that bill. it would be the' No TikTok on Government or Alfred F. Jones's Devices Act' lol. sorry baby boy, the Senate said NO.

he could have other social media though, and he's probably a very regular user. he also likes to livestream a lot; he'll go down to the National Mall in DC and basically do a livestream tour of the Smithsonian and federal buildings/monuments etc. and the zoo. and wherever the hell else he feels like provided the Department of Defense doesn't yell at him for it.

also he has a podcast with Matthew except instead of it being a proper podcast in a studio, it's just a recording of their conversation during fishing trips. one episode was two hours' worth of Alfred trying to convince Matthew to go catfishing with just his bare hands or, as it is regionally known, noodling. I think Matthew would prefer the bio link to a 40 page document of his crimes tbh.

I can't comment on the latter for Gilbert because I don't have tiktok and don't know any tiktok content creators ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I like to portray Gilbert as largely blind, so I'd have to go pester the visually impaired community with questions before answering because I'm really not sure the details of how some social media sites compare to others when it comes to accessibility.

#ask #anon #hetalia headcanons #hetalia hcs #hws america #hetalia hc #alfred f. jones #there's something to be said irl for congress being so concerned about Chinese-owned social media companies but not domestic ones #but that's for another time #hws canada #hws prussia

28 notes · View notes

jokeroutsubs · 3 months

Text

Joker Out ‘Live From Arena Stožice’ - A triumph of unquestionable talent, youthful enthusiasm and dedicated work

ORIGINAL INTERVIEW BY ILKO ČULIĆ FOR RAVNO DO DNA, PUBLISHED ON 08.01.2024 ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY @moonlvster, PROOFREAD BY IG @GBOLEYN123

“Aha, that Slovenian band from Eurovision. Cute guys, but their music is for kids.” Nearly every attempt at explaining the quickly growing phenomenon Joker Out to those older and less informed gets stuck on this kind of reaction.

After the concert album “Live from Arena Stožice”, published by Virgin Records, and a rockumentary of the same name, directed by Mark Pirc, everything will be much clearer and hopefully there won’t be anyone who needs convincing that this Slovenian five-piece have emerged as the most exciting young pop rock band in the wider region, for now maybe even the only ones of their generation capacitated for the biggest venues in the post-Yugoslav area. This is a complete 90-minute recording of their triumphant concert in Ljubljana with 12,000 backing vocals and the right material for a major label deal, which nobody from these parts has been able to do in such a short period.

Yes, of course, Joker Out makes music for kids, or more precisely music for girls, as they always make up a majority of their audience. Photo and video documentation obtained from Stožice doesn’t differ from what was recorded a few weeks later at the Zagreb concerts in Tvornica Kulture, where the only older faces in the crowd were the security guards, accredited reporters and some caring mothers who didn’t want to leave their darling alone in the crowd under any circumstance.

Everything that happens with this band looks like an endless highschool party fueled by high-spirited youthful rock. However, the fact that Joker Out’s music is magnetically attractive to only girls isn’t a handicap, but a huge initial advantage, both in Ljubljana, Zagreb and Belgrade, as well as London and Manchester. The mass teenage hysteria once similarly helped Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, the early Beatles and T.Rex, and more recently Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, with whom rock was briefly youthful again.

On home turf, the famous new wave became quite an important factor of pop culture when it won over a highschool aged audience, and became an exceptionally profitable discographic investment when in big cities it reached even the upper classes in elementary school. In later stages, due to the unlucky combination of unfortunate demographic and discographic processes, we ran out of young bands as well as the youngest audience. Since there were no adequate regional responses to Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, a defeatist way of thinking prevailed in the rock world, saying that new generations are generally uninterested in bands with guitars.

Joker Out sprinted into that empty space and simply smashed it. Eurovision was the launching pad for their international career, but the foundation for a sold out Stožice Arena was built two years prior when the band filled Cvetličarna, a venue with a capacity of up to 2000 people, with their debut album ‘Umazane misli’. In terms of the Slovenian rock scene those were already big numbers and irrefutable proof that the winners of Špil Liga in 2016 became serious players in the meantime.

After a phenomenally successful regional and European tour it was Arena Stožice’s turn, so by October Bojan Cvjetićanin, Jure Maček, Kris Guštin, Jan Peteh and Nace Jordan had the required number of played matches and enough confidence in them to transfer all of their current published songs to a concert album, meaning 23 songs in total. So, that includes the complete material from the ‘Umazane misli’ and ‘Demoni’ studio albums, two last years hits,’Carpe Diem’ and ‘Sunny Side of London’, as well as their first song back from their highschool days, ‘Kot srce, ki kri poganja’. When planning some kind of festival gig, they could make a selection and pick out their hits, but at an ambitiously planned 90-minute solo performance they had to play all they have and be very careful not to make a mistake in the song setlist.

For a furious opening, effectively complimented by the guest brass players, the chosen song was their recent single ‘Sunny Side of London’, the only song performed in English. Live it sounds like a final confirmation that Joker Out is an international band and like an excellent announcement for their upcoming spring European tour. The next song is ‘Gola’, the first out of many old favourites and the ultimate Slovenian teenager hit, which started a rarely seen euphoria in the audience.

After that the whole arena thunderously sings along with Bojan to ‘Bele sanje’, ‘Plastika’ and ‘Dopamin’ and ‘Demoni’, and the accumulated energy is just transferred from one song to the next without any oscillation. In the middle part of the concert, however, you can feel that Joker Out’s repertoire lacks a few more punchy songs. At least the fans won’t mind that at all, because with a flashback to their debut song ‘Kot srce, ki kri poganja’ they got an exclusive opportunity to watch and listen to the ex rhythm section with the drummer Matic Kovačič and bassist Martin Jurkovič. Less impressive are the extended versions of ‘Metulji’ and ‘Vem da greš’, where the compact three-minute forms from the first album are extended with guitar solos and stretched out into the too long six-minute versions. The ending of the concert, in which ‘Tokio’, ‘Umazane misli’, their new concert single ‘Ne bi smel’, generational anthem ‘Novi val’ and their biggest hit ‘Carpe Diem’ were incorporated, was performed flawlessly. Joker Out is at the level of the assignment, and ‘Live from Arena Stožice’ is the most complete edition. This concert album represents a triumph of unquestionable talent, youthful enthusiasm and dedicated work, but there’s something else at play.

Fifteen years ago the run-down Kino Šiška, a former iconic meeting place for punks of Ljubljana, was thoroughly remodelled and turned into the city's alternative culture institute. Ten years ago Kino Šiška announced a competition for highschool bands and started Špil Liga, regularly funded by the city. In the third season, Joker Out won Špil Liga. Today, Ljubljana has a band that it can proudly send to every European metropole. Their concert in Helsinki sold out three months in advance. That’s not crazy luck, but a smart cultural strategy.

Rating: 8/10

#joker out #bojan cvjeticanin #bojan cvjetićanin #jan peteh #kris gustin #nace jordan #jure macek #kris guštin #jokeroutsubs #stozice

39 notes · View notes