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#source: adapted of a twitter post
jv · 7 months
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I know you aren't with Tumblr anymore but idk who else to ask. Why does tumblr make so many random changes AND never give any forewarning or a reasoning for why they made it, AND never give any data on the feedback we send or the results they get from those changes? I understand that tumblr doesn't make money so changes are necessary but it's the sudden changes with no warning or explanation combined with the fact that they ask for feedback and then ignore all of the feedback we send and never release anything related to that feedback we send in that gets to me and makes me not want to use tumblr and refuse to recommend it to friends.
Well well well...
this is a very difficult question to answer. Because... things... are complex.
I guess the gist of it is "the reality where a good part of the tumblr community lives is not the same reality that staff experience". Mind you, I'm not saying that Staff is oblivious or uninformed. Kind of the opposite. Staff manages a big extra layer of data we the users don't get access too. Things from "how long we have to achieve X or close" to "this change had very bad feedback but didn't make the usage numbers go down and it's bringing 0.03% more revenue".
There's a hard reality we tumblr users who like tumblr as-it-is need to start accepting: We are not making tumblr make money, so we are not going to be the 'client' here.
While I was in staff, we tried. We tried hard: Post+, the merch store, blaze, ad-free ... all those were attempts to make tumblr a platform funded by its community. The results were ... not great. Like, two orders of magnitude worse than they needed to be. That let tumblr in the hands of advertising money (that even if tiny compared with other sites, it still is the main Tumblr source of money by far). And for that, if you want to make the site stop burning millions per month you need way more people than we tumblrinas are right now.
Mix that with.. a certain disdain for tumblr as a platform from part of the top management. A big bunch of staff are hard-core users of tumblr who are more or less in tune with the feelings of the community, but in the upper management layers... there's only one or two persons I can think of that actually seems to like and enjoy tumblr. The rest of them are mostly users of other platforms in their personal lives, and ... they just don't get why tumblr is so hooking for some of us. They don't understand how it works, they don't understand the popular content here, they don't understand the people who already use this place.
Earlier this year I actually had a call with the CEO to try to explain him why tumblr was a great platform for a certain type of mindsets, how I have adapted to this boiling cauldron of feral goblins so quickly and become enthralled by it when I started using it four years ago. And I think I failed completely at trying to make him excited or even interested in either the site culture or its community. Or convince him that tumblr could expand vertically (bringing more tumblr-minded people in) instead of horizontally (broad the appeal of tumblr for the masses even if it dilutes the current essence).
So for management, it's just a game of numbers: The current tumblr community doesn't cover the costs of running the site, so they need a new community that does. And if in the process, some of the old community leaves forever, :shrug:, not a big loss, since they weren't making the company any money anyway. It's more important for them to get all those people leaving twitter or other platforms to actually come here and stay, and get those key metrics up up and to the right. Of course, this is just my personal opinion and I'm sure if someone send this post to those in management who I'm vaguepostingly mentioning here, they would be all "Of course we CARE about our community and tumblr's history!". But hey, you know you really don't.
"But Javi, isn't alienating the core community who creates most of the content in this platform a stupid and terrible idea in the long term?". Why, dear anon, of course it is. Or that's what I think. And that's what I ended arguing about again and again and again and again while I was part of staff. And that's, maybe, one of the handful of recurrent points where I wasn't "aligned with the direction of the company" that made me un-staffed (take that, tiktok kids!).
Why, then why tumblr management keeps pushing for this pace of rapid and alienating changes? Because Automattic, tumblr owner, is a private funded company. And there has to be smoke and mirrors showing that tumblr is actually moving fast and making the numbers go up up up. Every. Fucking. Quarter.
Do you know what's the most stressing time of the year for your random staff member? Is it eurovision with its peaks of traffic? april's fools with all the tomfoolery? No. It's the biannual Automattic board meeting. Because in every. single. one. of. them. we didn't know if that was going to be the day where tumblr's downsizing would be greenlighted. Literally, every six months the board would look at what happened at tumblr and say "ok, this is terrible but moving in a promising way, let's see if these things you are planning work and re-evaluate in six months".
Does this mean they are in the wrong and me and the people pushing to keep tumblr more tumblr were right? Well, no. Not necessarily. Tumblr has been under a very real existential thread for ... at least a couple of years. And the reality is that 'trying to monetize tumblr as-is' didn't work at all from a purely economic point of view, and tumblr wouldn't have survived for much longer without showing clear gains. So who knows, maybe by diluting tumblr they could manage to make it profitable and keep this site live for decades. I would be VERY happy to be in the wrong here.
At the end of the day, put yourself in staff shoes. You have been trying a lot of "sensible" things to try to make Tumblr sustainable. Your boss is reminding you that tumblr keeps losing money and setting dates for "lines of no return" where the company would need to deinvest on Tumblr if there is not a clear financial improvement. You know you are burning the midnight oil and the sensible changes requested by the community you have made barely had put you closer to the goal. So it's time to try the crazy stuff and see what happens. Yeah, maybe that makes the boat explode, but maybe it changes it enough to keep it afloat. The alternative is letting it slowly sink into the darkness.
So, as I warned at the start of the post, this is a very complex issue with a lot of factors involved. And of course, this is just my particular view on it, I'm sure other ex-staff members would see it in a different way. Staff members need to keep their voices 'aligned with the direction' so they don't get un-staffed, but I can tell you that a good bunch of them are in private slack channels saying things like what I'm saying here (hello friends from #********* and #******-****!). Some of them like the X change but hate Y. Others don't really care and are just doing their job and doing what their boss told them (which is a completely valid stance... this is a job).
So yeah, it's complex. Believe me, a lot of folks in staff listen to what the community says. Deeply. But right now I don't think management thinks that catering to the current community is a valid path. And given the constraints of time and money that staff needs to operate within, I'm not even sure it matters much.
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diasdelfuego · 1 month
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say a nazi walks into a bar (i'm not setting up a punchline). if you let that nazi buy a drink and hang out, soon you'll have a dozen nazis hanging out in your bar, and your bar will become a nazi bar.
the vampterview fandom is incredibly small: the number of 'active' fans —people creating and sharing fanworks or generally just posting and talking about the show, as opposed to watching without engaging— across tumblr/twitter/ao3 can't be much more than a couple hundred, the ao3 tag for iwtv 2022 has barely just broken 2k (and, in over a decade and a half, the vampire chronicles tag struggled to make 2k, with about a third of those works posted only after the show premiered), the most popular twitter accounts hardly reach 5k followers. yet i've seen bigotry in this space on par with the peak of the teen wolf or star wars sequels fandoms —fandoms with ~100k fanworks and over on ao3, with thousands of active fans across social media, with 'big name fans' with tens of thousands of followers; behemoths compared to iwtv. 
fandom racism is nothing new, but this fandom is something else. 
smarter people than me have already pointed to the primary reason for the particularly egregious bigotry in this space: anne rice herself. her work is ridden with racism, misogyny, homophobia and abuse apologia; her personal politics were just as nefarious as her writing; and she personally attacked anyone who dared criticize her, and encouraged her fans to do the same. it's no wonder that she spawned a fanbase as rotten as she was.
in the decades before the show, any criticism of the prevalent racism, misogyny, homophobia, abuse apologia and eroticization of pedophilia in the vampire chronicles was met with either dismissal or hostility; and that is still very often the case a year and a half after the premiere. 
from the moment the show was announced there was the usual racist backlash, including old-school vc fans review-bombing the show across platforms and posting all kinds of hate speech on social media. looking up iwtv on either tumblr or twitter would take you to a barrage of racism. back then, there was a small and loud minority of people who were excited, and any expression of such eagerness was likely to bring with it at least a few trolls in your mentions/comments/reblogs hating on the casting of louis and claudia. 
(a few of the show's early detractors have "rebranded" and, after saying shit like "the show only made louis black to appeal to the woke mob" and ranting about "disrespecting the source material" for ages, decided to start seeking clout with new show fans by presenting themselves as old book fandom scholars and whatnot.)
when the show finally aired, and for weeks (if not months) afterwards, fans posting fanfiction based on the show using the vampire chronicles tag on ao3 had their comments flooded with slurs and all kinds of violent harassment —though nobody ever batted an eye when people used the book tag for movie fanfiction, despite the several crucial differences between the source and both movies, and the fact that both movies have been historically reviled as bad adaptations.
many people who tried to "come into" the fandom while the show was airing saw the state of the tags and were discouraged from the very beginning, and many of those who actually tried to engage were met with such abuse that they promptly stopped posting about iwtv, or even deleted their accounts altogether. fans have been harassed out of the fandom for nothing more than calling the domestic abuse in the show what it is, for acknowledging the themes that the show itself is setting up regarding racist and patriarchal violence, or simply for being black. black people who are just watching the show and decide to share their thoughts are met with a barrage of condescension and insults; and every other day fans are getting racist and transphobic hate speech in their inboxes, or in their twitter mentions. 
but when self-proclaimed 'fandom spokespeople' decide to speak up about "fandom drama" it's to falsely accuse black fans of harassment or bullying, to defend bigots' right to completely unchallenged speech and a platform, or to publish 'block lists' made up of mostly black people, sending further harassment their way. this blatantly racist targeting of fellow fans is allowed, but anyone attempting to criticize actual bigotry is labelled as an 'anti' and a bully. it has long become evident that 'anti-antis' are 'anti' critical thinking, 'anti' anti-racism, and overwhelmingly anti-black, and nowhere is it as blatant as in this fandom.
now the argument is being made that this is "about shipping", about people being "anti lestat" or "anti loustat", about an entirely made up subset of fans who are (supposedly) convinced that armand is the hero come to save louis from lestat. mind you, nobody who has read the books is under any illusion about what kind of character armand is, we are all aware of what armand has done/will do, and we know that he's, at best, a different kind of evil, but just as evil as lestat. we know that the show is headed towards a loustat 'endgame', we know that sam has talked at length about how much lestat will have to endure in future seasons in order to be 'redeemed', and the loser who was pretending to be a naive loumand shipper has long come forward to admit to being a troll; but people love to misrepresent the discussion as if it were an issue of shipping, and not a conversation about racism.
but make no mistake, it is about racism, and that's been the case from day one. 
the rabid defense of lestat's name and honor and the frantic rewriting of canon to cast him in a better light can't be separated from the racism that runs rampant in this fandom. the vilification of claudia, louis and armand can't either. the fandom has consistently villainized brown and black characters to lionize a white man —hell, quite a few people have suggested that miss lily was probably a thief, or using louis for her own ends, of any other number of reasons why she apparently 'deserved' to be murdered by lestat (as if johns, and particularly sex tourists like him, needed any excuse to inflict violence on black sex workers). 
not unrelated, the tendency to frame show!louis as macho, violent, dominant and sexually aggressive —when nothing in the show indicates that and, on the contrary, he explicitly tells us that the masculine bravado which we see dissolve through the first three episodes and disappear completely in the fourth was only a facade he put on because of the society he lived in— is another trend that can't be looked at without taking into account racist bias, particularly the "mandingo" stereotype; and that also needs to be examined taking the source material and its reception into account: rice herself (gender essentialism aside) called louis "the woman" in the relationship, and there was never any real dispute among book fans that lestat was the dominant partner and the "patriarch" in the relationship. as the older fanfiction on ao3 will easily prove, show louis is interpreted in a completely different way —simply because of his race. 
from the moment the show was announced and especially once it aired, there were all kinds of claims that it made louis rougher, less gentle, less emotional, less sophisticated, etc. (blatantly untrue and patently racist interpretation of this iteration of the character). 
likewise, criticism of claudia's casting pretended to be about age —ignoring the practicalities that made it impossible for claudia to be a toddler in the show— but the adultification of black girls was always wrapped all around it, with claims that bailey looked too adult and too grown, or that a fourteen year old black girl could move freely through the jim crow south. and from the minute that claudia was recast there were people saying that delainey looked older, less innocent, scarier, less likable, uglier, more monstrous, that she could never replace bailey and her claudia won't be as sympathetic, none of which can be separated from the fact that delainey is a darker skinned black girl.
and some people saw the possibility that rashid was armand coming before the reveal, and more than a few were already racist about it (i remember a particularly ugly post, from a person excited by the possibility that the white teenage armand from the books could be posing as rashid through a body thief style swap, as if the way david's whole thing goes down in the books wasn't bad enough) but of course that the racism (and islamophobia!) escalated tenfold once this was confirmed. the "armand is mind-controlling louis" and "he's the real big bad" and "armand is so much worse than lestat" takes are still everywhere today. 
i want to mention two particularly rancid takes regarding armand, specifically islamophobic. on the one hand i have seen a myriad of people say that armand is not really muslim, many hoping that he's specifically still catholic orthodox. on the other, and in this case a singular example, i saw a fic, comments full of praise, in which armand's book backstory (in which he is kidnapped for no particular reason other than being in the path of slavers, by characters who are arab but never explicitly singled out as muslim) was altered so that he was specifically kidnapped by muslims who killed his father for painting the prophet muhammad (which wasn't even actually taboo when armand was alive, you can easily check that in wikipedia). 
a common (racist!) take i still see regularly is that the show lessened the source material by addressing racism explicitly, as if the books weren't ripe with antiblackness and orientalism —the difference being, of course, that in the books white supremacy is the uncontested foundation of the whole narrative, while the show actually tackles racism and other oppressive structures as something to be discussed and problematized.
likewise, the abuse that the novels portray mostly uncritically, and often doing blatant apologetics (again, inseparable from anne rice's own personal politics) is directly addressed, in a much more nuanced and more respectful manner, by amc's adaptation, but many fans either dismiss this treatment as "ruining" the books, or pull up the "justice for j0hnny d€pp" playbook to excuse lestat's violence and frame louis and claudia as equally and even more culpable. 
the argument that the show "made up" the abuse or fundamentally "changed" lestat's book character by featuring domestic violence and implied sexual assault (the bite at the end of e5) is ludicrous —plenty of people have provided text examples of lestat's violence in the books, including the implied assault of louis in his turning, his turning claudia to hold louis hostage, his threats to claudia's physical wellbeing, his physical fights with louis, his physical violence against nicki, his implied assault (the nonconsensual turning) of david and his literal rape of a woman when he's in a human body in tobt. the fact that this abuse apologia and denial has been allowed to run unchecked for the five decades since iwtv came out is simply insane to me. 
after episode three, people were basically calling louis frigid and saying he should have put out if he didn't want to get cheated on (on top of calling a gay black man in louisiana during jim crow privileged, dismissing the racism he experienced, and even blaming him for the riots at the end of the episode).
after episode five, i saw people saying that louis's "emotional withholding" or his fighting back meant that the relationship was "mutual abuse" or that the abuse was somehow deserved, and the arguments got even worse when it came to claudia. a popular lestat fan account was literally on twitter talking about how they'd cheer when she died because of her ploy to kill lestat (which is, mind you, the last resort of an abuse victim literally being held captive by her abuser). people have said that claudia was "no angel" (literal quote), and even that she orchestrated the domestic violence, manipulating lestat into attacking them. hell, one of these self-proclaimed fandom authorities was out there saying claudia and louis "don't act like abuse victims" and, later, that the 'rough sex' at the beginning of e6 amounted to louis 'raping' (they literally used the word 'rape') lestat. to this day people are insisting that louis (and claudia in her diaries) are both liars who made up or distorted the whole thing, and that next seasons will "reveal the whole truth" or "tell the real story", excited to see the narrative prove that louis and claudia were "just as bad" —and excited, in their own words, to see "that crowd", "those people", "that subset", etc. "humbled" and "put in their place". 
likewise, people discussing louis's inability to give meaningful consent during the later sex scene in e6, when he textually says that he was dissociating at the time, have been labelled as 'antis'. any discussion of the canon domestic abuse narrative that the show is setting up —even from people who actively ship loustat!— is immediately and aggressively shut down. 
and not only is any kind of critical analysis of loustat's canon relationship met with aggression, but positive engagement with loumand is equally derided. on twitter spaces, any attempt to talk about loumand's romance is immediately derailed to talk about loustat or devil's minion instead. on posts about louis and armand's relationship there's always tags, reblogs and comments about how armand is actually more concerned with daniel, or louis is actually thinking about lestat, or how their sex life has no spice. the "loumand bed death" takes abound and their prevalence isn't accidental —counterpart to the brown man as controlling and violent prejudice that motivates much of armand's vilification, the desexualization of asian men is a long racist stereotype and the incapacity to imagine a romantic or sexual relationship between two nonwhite characters also comes from what's fundamentally an inability to decenter whiteness. besides villainizing armand to recenter lestat, the overwhelming tendency to sideline louis in his own story for a hypothetical daniel/armand relationship speaks to the same mindset. 
(obligatory disclaimer that saying that a fandom-wide trend plays into, and is likely motivated by racist prejudice or stereotypes doesn't necessarily equal saying that every singular person who, for example, doesn't ship loumand, is being willingly and maliciously racist. but, at the same time, unconscious bias is real and if you don't ever stop to wonder if you might be falling into it, you will never break out of it.)
on that note, the amount of racist fanfiction in the tag is actually crazy. some of the most blatant examples include a fic equating louis bottoming for lestat to slavery, a literal rape porn fic in which louis and claudia are systematically tortured and raped by armand, and a fic which had louis referring to a black person as a gorilla. not to mention several inmate/prison guard fics, which i'm genuinely baffled to see posted completely unchallenged. other trends, like the aforementioned "armand is mind controlling louis" fics, are arguably more "subtly" racist, and for that reason all the more pervasive. 
meanwhile, in fanart, louis is drawn as taller, bulkier and darker than he actually is, especially when paired with lestat, but also with armand. 
on the other hand, armand is drawn slimmer, smaller and lighter, which necessarily has to be interpreted in light of emasculating stereotypes about asian men, as well as the pedophilia and grooming apologia in the vampire chronicles themselves. 
particularly egregious examples of this later trend are a few fanfictions where daniel is still an elder man while armand is a teenager, especially a few in which show!daniel is paired with book!armand. likewise, there's plenty of fanart where lestat is drawn with sam reid's face, but paired with a white louis, white claudia or white armand. in another specially disgusting example, a popular fanartist drew "armand" with the clothes that assad was wearing in the trailers, but the face of a light-skinned arab man, and several big fandom accounts jumped to defend this blatant whitewashing (ignoring, or not minding, that this same artist regularly draws erotic and explicit art of marius/armand in which armand looks not like the seventeen years old he's meant to be in the books, but a twelve years old child). 
artists who draw marius/armand erotica get shared far and wide, by some of the 'biggest' accounts too, and of course that, if you take issue with the rampant pedophilia apologia, you'll be labelled an 'anti' and told that you should leave the fandom altogether, that you don't have the range for anne rice's work, or that you should go read young adult romances instead. about a year ago, when the end racism in the otw campaign was going on, fans who discussed the need for a stronger ao3 policy against racist harassment were told that if they wanted a fandom space without racism, they should 'make their own'. 
perhaps most concerning, some of these marius/armand shippers are little more than children themselves. it's truly disheartening to see anne rice's pedophilia propaganda so effectively take root on teenagers, and i can only hope that these young people will come out of the other side unscathed and eventually figure out that what they were being sold was nothing but grooming apologia. 
because sure, fiction isn't reality, and i'll be the first to tell you everybody needs to read a fucked up book every once in a while, but at some point we gotta acknowledge the double standard. representation is so very important when it comes to white gay men, but racebent characters are 'appealing to the woke mob'. anne rice's 'gay vampires' changed so many gay kids' lives, but her pedophilia apologia is completely harmless. please, pick one! 
the last couple days have proven (as if it needed proving) that these rotten ideologies don't exist in isolation, that there's not even a degree of separation between online bigotry and 'real life'. these 'big' accounts are now rallying around fans who believe in 'reverse racism' and 'anti white racism', who think that affirmative action is 'the only real' racism, who consider that being called racist is 'a slur'. the loudest voices in the space will happily tell you that it's a worse offense to dislike lestat or be indifferent about sam reid than it is to spout blatant abuse apologia or be overtly anti-black. 
at some point we all gotta realize that it's not just ignorance or complacency that allow these people to remain in our fandom, it's that many people are more than content hanging out with racists. and the racists in question are not just being allowed to hang out, they're welcomed with open arms. their hate speech is defended and amplified, while any detractor is swiftly demonized; you have nothing short of white supremacist rhetoric being posted to the fandom's main tags, and in the comments everyone clapping. 
call this an attempt to balance out the discourse on the fandom tags, if anything.
sure, i try to 'curate my own space'. i use the block button liberally. i add these losers' usernames to my list of filtered words to make sure i am never extending their platform, not even to the few people who follow this account. but still, i'm not happy to sit at the bar with nazis. i don't want to be rubbing elbows with abuse apologists, i don't want to hang out with white supremacists, and i don't want to share a space with people who think that kind of bullshit is acceptable. 
i said, some months ago, that i believe there's value to transformative fandom. i still do, and a few dozen racist cunts certainly won't change that. 
i have seen quite a few fan communities —the scott mccall defense squad, iris west's candycanes, finn stans under the hashtag #rebelfinn, raven reyes fans, sambucky shippers— coalesce around antiracist ideas and foster wonderful spaces, and i'm hopeful that the same thing can happen here. 
i love the show and i have seen the creative potential in the fandom and i hope that, just like that first flood of loudest and most overt hate speech was eventually drowned out by the sheer number of new fans, this discourse will be crowded out as well and make way for smarter conversations. but we gotta start somewhere —at the very least, we gotta kick the guy who hates 'critical race theory' out of the bar, and all of their pals.
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Sunny Day Jack Report 07/11/2023
Wednesday means it's time for our weekly development report, and this one's a nice big one for everyone to enjoy! Those of you who have been following us on Twitter may have noticed that we redesigned our logo for SDJ. The majority of the devlog will talk about our process behind that, so read it for free on Patreon or click the readmore for the important bits!
Unity Demo Version 0.03
Changelog:
Fixed video rendering while playing on the Steamdeck (via Windows Proton Compatibility)
Added missing CGs
Game extended slightly past the kissing on couch scene
Select narration from Y/N reworded for clarity
Macintosh OS compatible version has been added
Known bugs:
Certain voice lines may be missing or cut-off
This update was largely focused on ensuring stability before adding in more content. Those who backed the SDJ Kickstarter can access their beta testing keys via this link, while SnaccPop Patrons who pledge a minimum of $12/mo can access their beta testing key over here.
For our MacOS players, you may encounter issues launching the game due to Apple security, so please follow this tutorial to temporarily disable Gatekeeper (we recommend turning it back on afterwards). We're investigating ways to avoid Gatekeeper flagging the game, so please bear with us! As for our Linux/Steamdeck players, for the time being, please use the Windows version and use Proton Compatibility to play the game.
Logo Graphic Redesign
Like with the previous SnaccPop Studios logo, the SDJ logo was due for a makeover. For starters, the old logo was tiny.
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Yes, that's literally the largest size we have on hand for the original SDJ logo source file, and everything else is just blown up bigger in size if need be. Astute viewers may also notice that the Something's Wrong With portion of the logo was also slightly off-center this entire time, as With was hanging off the edge a lot more than Something's. Another issue that came up as we continued working with our translators was the fact that we'd most likely need logos in the target language too; adapting the old logo was near impossible because all we had left of it was a .png file. At this point, making a new logo just made sense.
The new logo largely retains the important elements of the original one. Using the Buddy Belt motif as the background image and the use of two distinct fonts, a formal serif for SWW and a more bubbly sans-serif for the SDJ that essentially captures the essence of Jack's dual personality, were ideas Sauce carried over. Additionally, his signature primary colors palette is much more clear in the text, making this logo more easily identifiable. After nailing down a good foundation and centering the text, Sauce overlaid faint scanlines reminiscent of old CRT display monitors then splashed some blood here and there; all in all, the new logo is a nice visual of the ludonarrative dissonance the game itself aims to achieve.
We'll pass the mic to Gureii here when it comes to the localized logos!
Translation & Localization
Hey there! Gureii (she/her) here. You might know me from one of the previous devlogs posted here on Patreon not so long ago.

 I’ve been asked by BáiYù to present you a tiny (okay, not that tiny) little treat for both the Russian and the Japanese-speaking folks out there who are interested in our upcoming game, Something’s Wrong With Sunny Day Jack.
Let me introduce you to the new localized logos real quick:
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One of the most interesting aspects of working on these was the brainstorming session behind both of them. As the Lead Russian translator of this project, one of my main concerns was to come up with the title translation that would be both both simplistic and catchy, hence the name change from a statement to a question. The localized version of the title - «Что с тобой, Джек?» - includes both the questions a player would ask to Jack himself: “What happened to you?” and “What’s wrong with you?”, either depending on their opinion towards him or both of these at the same time.
The Japanese translation team, on the other hand, opted for something much more laconic, to which I was happy to comply! They're only using Katakana to translate the commonly abbreviated title into【サニー・デー・ジャック】, which will be easy for Japanese speakers to read (it'd be pronounced "Sanī dē Jakku"). It's short and punchy, and it's not unusual for Japanese logos to have the English text as well.
Another aspect (a tricky one this time!) was looking up the Cyrillic and Kana fonts that would match the mood of the English logo we got: it gets quite tricky when we talk about anything but Latin fonts, and it gets even harder when we talk about something that is as bold, youthful and bright as it is. For example, with the katakana transcription the Japanese translation team and I had to search for something that would not scare the person interested in playing the game, something much more inviting than the crimson lettering used on the English logo. The bloody Buddy Belt portion of the logo will still indicate to potential players that this is a horror game, so it works out.
By the way, you might be asking yourself, "Why isn't there a Spanish version of the logo?" Both Pierre and Nana expressed that translating the title wouldn't sound nearly as good as the original English title (a literal Latin Spanish translation would be "Algo Malo Pasa Con Día Soleado Jack"). Luckily, both English and Spanish share similar alphabets, so it's as big of a difference compared to Russian or Japanese.
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And that's all we got for this week. Thanks again for your continued support of SnaccPop Studios!
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absolutebl · 23 days
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New Korean BL - Jazz for Two
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Tae Yi (Song Han Gyeom?) hears a familiar melody filling the empty halls and makes his way to the old music room. He knows his brother is dead, but he can’t help but hope, maybe, just maybe...it’s his brother playing his favorite song. When he slams open the door, however, he finds Se Heon (Kim Jin Kwon), a new transfer student, at the piano. Disappointment comes crashing down and Tae Yi can’t control his anger. How dare Se Heon play his brother’s song? How dare he smile? How dare he say he loves jazz?
“If I ever catch you playing the piano again...that’ll be the end of you.”
And with that begins Tae Yi and Se Heon's story, as unpredictable and visceral as jazz. (Source: BLUPDATE2022 Twitter via MDL)
Adapted from the webtoon "Jazz for Two" (재즈처럼) by Keul Ra Jyu (클라쥬)
Stars
Song Han Gyeom (prev A-Day), Omega X (rapper)
Kim Jin Kwon, Newkidd (leader, sub-vocal)
Byun Sung Tae - lead in Happy Merry Ending
Ko Jae Hyun - side in To My Star
Thoughts
With two active idols in the leads (we think), odds are not great on this one. So far the only truly successful execution of solid BL from active idols has been Semantic Error (and frankly KNK barely counts). Plus this is the production team/director behind A Shoulder to Cry On which I HATED, so yeah...
I'm excited to have anything new from Korea but I'm keeping my expectations low.
My idols in BLs tracking is here (possibly not updated). This won't get on the list until after it releases. Never count your idols until after the BL has hatched.
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inkdemonapologist · 15 days
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nobody asked but since I've seen a lil chatter on the DCTL Graphic Novel on tumblr too, here's the thread I posted on twitter, speaking as someone who's done a little freelance work as a comic artist, under the jump:
Main thought about the DCTL graphic novel preview is: yeah, I've made designs like that when I was being paid by the page and expected to just throw in extra design work for free and I have a deadline and no time to scour the source material or really put my heart into the design No shade to the artist; every complaint I have about the pages we've seen is that this looks like someone who was just working (quickly) from a script. The artist is likely not a Big Fan, so they only know the info and descriptions they're given. And the artist's portfolio shows they're capable of the kind of designs and dynamics this comic needed. its possible they phoned it in for no reason, but feels more likely to be "not enough time/not paid enough/not given enough info to give it that level of care." Which, don't get me wrong; an important level of craftsmanship and care is missing and im not gonna blame the artist but i AM gonna be a hater abt it lmao It's not just about designs; the convo with Joey is another good example. It's a literal illustration of the things Joey said and did in that scene, but it's missing the point -- that scene is our introduction to the way Joey throws Buddy off-balance. That energy is missing. And that's the sort of thing that needs the script to convey this purpose well to the artist, that needs the artist to have time & freedom to invest in portraying it, that needs time & investment & knowledge to ask for adjustments at early stages and get the page right one more note: begging batim fans 2 think abt the plot of DCTL and realise why "maybe we will not make the creepy guy who dies at the end a black man in this" is perhaps a reasonable choice. like im a fan of poc norman headcanons too but pls recognise this would be a tough call!! anyway, genuinely cannot wait to see how off sammy is gonna be in this lmao. will he be a mid non-design like norman or will he be conventionally handsome or will he get graphic novel dave miller vibes b/c hes an antagonist? will we get the fabled black hair sammy??? i cant wait
TL;DR I strongly suspect this was an issue of not enough time/not enough money. That design looks nothing like the description of Norman, right? Like, there's hundreds of different AU designs of all shapes, colours and sizes that you could create that would still look like Norman Polk, but somehow they managed to make a character that isnt ANY of them, lmao??? So... how could that happen, unless nobody gave the artist a description of Norman? Or if they did, how did that design make it past anyone else, unless there wasn't time for revisions or a system worked out for revisions, unless whoever was managing the comic project thought it was fine if the designs didn't fit with the descriptions in the book? If everyone is doing their job, then the artist is given the information they need without having to go do unpaid YA novel research before they can start drawing. That's why you have a writer adapting it!!
("they should hire fans, a fan would've done a better job" OK BUT THATS B/C FANS ARE MORE LIKELY TO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE EXPLOITED AND DO EXTRA UNPAID WORK B/C THEY CARE!! THATS NOT A SOLUTION!!!! THATS A JOEY DREW STRAT!!!!!!!)
Anyway I could yell about this for 15 years so I'm going to shush for now BUT I JUST FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT IT LMAO.
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secretmellowblog · 8 months
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I hope tumblr doesn’t die because No other social media site is as good for long, thoughtful, nuanced analyses of media. Yeah tumblr is also full of dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts, but you can make dumb shallow hot takes and shitposts anywhere —-there are no other popular social media sites that let you easily format and share long essays on the media you enjoy, and then have conversations around those long essays.
Fandom on all the other big social websites just seems so utterly …shallow. And it’s not because people on other websites aren’t thoughtful or don’t have deep things to say, but because these sites’ formats do not allow for any kind of long nuanced conversations.
Tiktok? Things have to be crammed into a super short video with an attention grabbing headline, and you can’t hyperlink sources. Instagram? Everything has to be in an image format with strict limits on length, and nothing will be shown to your followers anyway because of how Instagram’s algorithm works, and also no hyperlinks. Twitter? Strict character limits, and if you split it into threads it means someone can retweet a part of your essay completely out of context, and also very little freedom with formatting.
It frustrates me so much. If I go into the Tumblr Les Mis fandom I’ll find really compelling long essays on the original novel (including essays being written for the ongoing book club) on the story’s historical context, or the parallels between different characters and their narrative foils, or the way the politics were defanged for certain adaptations, or the way Victor Hugo’s personal life and failings affected the novel. But on tiktok I’ll get the same five shallow stale jokes from 2013 over and over, or maybe the same “DID U KNO THAT IN THE MUSICAL JAVERT AND VALJEAN SING THE SAME LEITMOTIF” style of basic Intro To Les Mis 101 For Babies media analysis (which is what Tiktok considers deep media analysis), or stale “LOL JAVERT ACTS GAY” style jokes as if we’re living in the early 2000s and calling a character gay is still a funny punchline. And it’s impossible to have any kind of deeper thoughtful discussions than “DID U KNOW <x Kool Fact>” or “lol <shallow observational joke>” on tiktok because the platform just isn’t built for building niche communities around in depth conversations. it’s built to churn out bland generic content for as wide an audience as possible, which means pointing out a small detail like an Easter egg and calling it “cool” is deep media analysis, because you cant have longer more in depth conversations without alienating people. And I hate it. Bc like, it’s not because there aren’t smart clever thoughtful people on Tiktok— there are—it’s because Tiktok isn’t built for these conversations, and anyone who wants to have them has to really fight against the things the website encourages or prioritizes!
Or like, if I go into the LOTR fandom on Tumblr, I’ll find tons of extremely long analysis and fanfic, and analysis of queer readings of the story. On Instagram people will still shriek in terror if you suggest the characters are gay, and most of the popular lotr posts are stale memes recycled from like 2007. There’s really no room for thoughtful media analysis, and even if you did create it, instagram’s algorithm would make sure no one saw your post anyway.
And everyone’s going to say “the algorithm shows you what you’ve seen before so maybe it’s your fault ~” or whatever but i do look for things I want! I do! “The algorithm” doesn’t know me or what I want or value or care about beyond this meaningless surface level.
The only thing that was worthwhile about these sites was the great visual art people were creating, but now the websites are overwhelmed with meaningless soulless machine-generated AI glurge, and it sucks. It just really, really sucks.
I’m honestly confused about why people don’t use tumblr….There’s no character limits! You have freedom with post formatting, and can insert images throughout textposts to illustrate specific points you’re making beneath the paragraphs where they’re necessary! You can add hyperlinks, linking to your sources! People can reblog your entire essay and share it, and then add on with commentary that then becomes part of a larger conversation! People can find your stuff through the tagging system! Reblogging means posts stay in circulation for years instead of being dead 30 minutes after they’re uploaded! If you want to have genuinely interesting text conversations about a piece of media, there really isn’t a better social media website for it anywhere.
To be clear, I’m definitely not saying Tumblr media analysis is *always* clever and thoughtful or etc etc. there are shitposts and nonsense here too (plenty of which I’ve created lol.) I’m saying that Tumblr gives people the tools for in-depth insightful analysis to happen. Whether people choose to do it or not is their own decision XD. But the reason lengthy in-depth conversations and book clubs are even possible here is because Tumblr is built for allowing these conversations to happen, in a way other sites simply aren’t.
It’d really suck if it died, because it’d be a huge blow to…being able to easily find long insightful in-depth media analysis written by fans. I currently don’t think there’s anything that could replace it.
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nellasbookplanet · 9 months
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Book recs: sapphic romance for people who like Hannibal and Interwiev with the Vampire, aka fucked up and toxic
Enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, fucked up power imbalances, manipulations, plain bad people doing bad things - if you like your sapphics a little bit dark check out these books!
Some of these end happily, some tragically, some are more will-they-won’t-they than full on romance, some focus on healing while others focus on Getting Worse, but they’re all very juicy.
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For details on the books, continue under the readmore
Feel free to recommend more books in tags and comments!
Othe book rec posts:
Really cool fantasy worldbuilding
Really cool sci-fi worldbuilding
Mermaid books
Vampire books
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The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
Young Adult. tumblr classic back in the day! A trainer of sea monsters genetically engineered to protect ships from pirates is kidnapped by, you guessed it, pirates, one of whom happens to be very hot.
Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden
While my feelings on Escaping Exodus were mixed, it cannot be denied that the dynamic between the two leads and the way they go from childhood best friends to enemies on different sides of a class and power struggle is very delicious. It also features some really cool worldbuilding of living, alien generation spaceships and the human culture that has developed inside them.
The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
This book fucked me up when I read it. It’s weird, it's gross, there’s So Much Viscera, there are literally no men, it has living spaceships and biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable. Had I to categorize it I would call it grimdark military sf. It’s an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one.
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The Lumionus Dead by Caitlin Starling
Possibly one of the most unsettling books I've ever read, and definitely the most claustrophobic. Gyre, a caver on an alien planet, ventures into the dark and dangerous underground, guided only by a woman who has no compunctions on using and manipulating Gyre as she sees fit to obtain her secretive goals down in the caves.
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri
On the less toxic and fucked up side of the spectrum, but still pretty juicy. A princess held captive by her own brother, who wants to see her dead, tries to trick a servant into helping her escape, but with undeniable attraction growing between them and the servant having her own goals things quickly get complicated.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Listen, if you're on tumblr I probably don't need to explain this book to you. Trust me when I say it's exactly as good as people claim. There are indeed lesbian necromancers in space (quite a few of them, actually), but also incredible worldbuilding that keeps growing with every new installment, interesting political commentary, morally complex characters with fucked up dynamics, and well-thought out plot that keeps you guessing until the last.
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They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
Listen, sometimes you just want to read about a vicious bisexual lady professor who murders predatory men and falls for the woman trying to solve her crimes and that's okay.
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The source of not one but two movie adaptations, Fingersmith is a story of trickery and manipulation as a young conwoman works to gain the trust of a heiress. I don’t want to say much more because the twists are some of the best parts, but trust that it doesn’t take long for things to get real complicated between them.
The Unbroken by C.L. Clark
Tourraine, who was stolen as a child and trained as a soldier for the empire that conquered her home, is recruited by Luka, the future leader of the conquering country to route out a rebellion. A game of twisted loyalties and attraction is soon to develop.
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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Again, if you're on tumblr (or twitter, apparently) you have in all likelihood already heard of this one, too. Just like GtN it lives up to all expectations. It features two women on different sides of the titular time war, who starts leaving letters for the other to find as they chase each other through time. A quick read, slightly surreal, and absolutely beautiful, I cannot recommend this enough. Pretty mild on the fucked-up-scale.
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
In a world where the rich drink blood to preserve their health, Marion applies to a position as bloodmaid in a notorious noble house far from home. Suddenly showered with luxuries and debauchery, Marion soon gains the interest and favor of Lisavet, countess of the house. A fresh take on the idea of vampires.
Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon
A young pregnant woman flees a cult that left her body strange and changing in terrifying ways. Hidden from the world, she does her best to raise her children while trying to find out the truth of the cult and being pursued by a hunter in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. In no way a romance, but certainly has some fucked up sapphic shit going on.
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The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
After her home was conquered by another land, Baru is determined to join their forces and climb the ladder until she’s in a position to free her people. To prove her loyalty, she’s sent to bring order and quell rebellion in another conqured region. Baru is set to succeed, but also has to struggle with her feelings for Tain Hu, a duchess of this region.
Ice Massacre (Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy) by Tiana Warner
Young Adult. A small island is forced to defend itself against intruding forces of vicious mermaids. As all men trying to fight them get lured in by their siren song, a ship filled with warrior girls is sent instead. However one of them, Meela, had a complicated past with one of the mermaids, which is brought back to life when the two reunite on the battlefield. This one is also available as an ongoing webcomic!
Borderline (The Arcadia Project trilogy) by Mishell Baker
Urban fantasy mystery. Very much of the will-they-won’t-they variety, with a bisexual lead who has a male love interest as well as a female without falling into the typical pitfalls of a love triangle. Plays around with various fucked up power dynamics. A year after a failed suicide attempt that cost her both her legs, Millie is recruited by a secretive organisation that works to control traffic to and from Arcadia, the land of faries. Bear in mind that while the sapphic-ness is present throughout, it has a much smaller presence in book 1 than books 2 and 3.
Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool
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The Hunger by Whitley Strieber
Ancient vampire is on the hunt for a new partner, none of which tend to last long.
Codename Villanelle by Luke Jennings
Precursor of the famous Killing Eve tv series. While I don’t know much of the books, I did enough research to know this: their endings differ.
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luckystarchild · 5 months
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STOP SHARING THIS TWEET.
This is 99.99% likely to be fake. As someone who works in the anime industry, let me tell you why.
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This has been sent to me dozens of times over the past few days, and it's pretty obvious to me that it's fake.
I work in the anime industry. Here's why I don't put any stock in this "official" announcement at all.
1. THE 'SOURCE' IS A TOTAL RANDO
The source is a random Twitter/X account. It isn't a studio or licensor. It's not even one of the "reputable" leakers. It's just some random person making a claim with zero backing and slapping the words "official" and "confirmed" on it.
Accurate leaks have happened, but they're usually accompanied by some kind of source claim (a leaked press release, a leak within the company, etc.) and a claim that an announcement is coming soon. This has nothing. This is just a random person saying shit for clicks.
Every one of their posts has "FOLLOW FORE MORE" in a subtweet. They're just farming for followers. The rest of the account is just random anime edits and posts + promotions for a discord they run.
I could literally write anything in a tweet and slap "OFFICIAL, CONFIRMED" on it, but if you see those words, you need to be asking, "Who confirmed it? What makes this official?" And in this case, it's NOTHING and NOBODY in the world of anime.
Media literacy, folks. It applies to Twitter/X. It ESPECIALLY applies to Twitter/X.
2. THIS 'SOURCE' DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE ANIME INDUSTRY
"Studio has not been announced" is a WILD thing to suggest here, because YYH's rights are LITERALLY OWNED BY AN ANIME STUDIO. Studio Pierrot is still a license-holder for this IP, and it would be weird as hell for them to not handle a remake.
(Also, "studio not announced"... NOTHING has been announced. The wording here is very sneaky, as it implies an announcement was made but the studio was just left out of it. If an announcement had been made, it would be Pierrot/the studio/Shueisha doing it.)
Not only has Pierrot made animated content for the series as recently as the 2018 OVAs, their copyright info is on literally every piece of YYH merch being produced this year (alongside Shueisha and Togashi). They still have some rights. They (in part) hold the IP. They still make art for it. They will be the studio for any remake unless they willingly let go of that license. Considering they're still making money off of it through merch sales and the liveaction adaptation (tho that's another can of licensing worms we could discuss), that's highly, HIGHLY unlikely.
The likelihood of Pierrot letting some other studio handle the remake is very, VERY slim. It's one of their hallmark, legendary series. Why would they ever let that go to a competitor?
The "studio hasn't been confirmed" bit tells me this person doesn't know who actually owns the rights to YYH, and when they don't even know that basic piece of information, it puts everything else they say into question.
3. THE TIMING IS SUSPICIOUS
Anime series are in production long before they air. How long in advance depends on the project. You can't keep a lid on a high profile project for an extended period. For big projects, studios want to start the hype train sooner rather than later. (Obviously there are exceptions to this (see the Fruits Basket remake) but we'll get to that later.)
This tweet claims the project is coming out in 2024. We are at the VERY TAIL END of 2023. It is basically 2024 already. That tweet isn't an official announcement (despite the word "official" on it), which means the studio/license holder would have to announce it even LATER than this tweet did. The latest anime seasonals begin airing in Q4/October/the Fall Simulcast season. That gives Pierrot less than a year of lead-up time to market the anime before its latest possible air date in 2024, and for this particular property, that does not seem realistic OR wise.
Let's examine Pierrot's recent treatment of the latest Bleach installment as evidence. They announced the project in March 2020 via a livestream event. They began airing the project in October 2022, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. That gave them two years to market the series.
YYH, like Bleach, is one of Pierrot's hallmarks. The idea that they'd give it less than a year of marketing is just not realistic. They'd likely give it the same kind of treatment as the new Bleach arc, given it's one of their past tentpole titles getting revived.
(Also note that Pierrot animated the new Bleach installments after years of no new Bleach. They didn't let go of those rights. They held on and made more content later. Now apply that logic to YYH, and arrive again at: To suggest another studio would handle a new series is farfetched.)
If the tweet had said the series was dropping in 2025 or later, it would be much more believable. But the details they gave, again, discredit their claims from the jump.
If a new YYH was coming out in 2024, btw, the series would already be well underway and likely have been in production behind the scenes for quite some time. They probably would've announced it last year if they intended a 2024 release.
4. THE LIVEACTION OF IT ALL
A liveaction adaptation for YYH is about to drop (December 14 on Netflix).
I can already hear the argument of, "Oh, well maybe they'll announce a new anime for 2024 when the liveaction comes out," and while that might be a possibility, I think there's another, far more likely alternative.
If the liveaction does well and the license holders make a fuckton of money on it, or if they at least see a large resurgence in interest in the IP, THEN I think the license holders/anime production committee would start thinking about a new anime adaptation to cash in on that interest. But I do not see them making that decision before the streaming numbers for the liveaction come in, and I do NOT see them working on the anime before the liveaction has even aired.
The anime world moves slowly. The execs and committees behind the scenes like numbers and sales figures. If they see good numbers, balls might start rolling. But it's unlikely they're already in production NOW, let alone far enough into production to support a 2024 release for a remake.
If the Netflix show gets the ball rolling on a new YYH anime, that anime won't come out in 2024. There just isn't time.
And I can now hear some muttering the argument of, "Oh, well they probably just held the news to time it with the liveaction," but see again their habit of announcing projects with lots of lead-up marketing time.
CONCLUSION: THIS SEEMS FAKE.
BUT...
Given the details above and the COMPLETE LACK OF EVIDENCE supplied by the tweet, I do not expect we'll get an ACTUAL "official, confirmed" announcement for a remake anytime soon.
In the event that I'm wrong, what I'd predict is the announcement of a remake (one made by ACTUAL official sources, AKA Pierrot and Shuiesha) sometime in Q1 or Q2 2024. Pierrot would be the studio, and the project would be slated for late 2025, or even more likely, sometime in 2026. (And yes, projects slated for 2026 and later are in the works right now.)
I think the above is a longshot, but it's possible. The timing suggested in the tweet everyone is sharing isn't realistic at all, however.
Long story short:
DO NOT TRUST RANDOM TWITTER ACCOUNTS.
ANYONE CAN SAY "OFFICIAL" or "CONFIRMED"
THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR ANIME NEWS ARE STUDIOS AND LICENSORS
QUESTION EVERYTHING
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poomphuripan · 3 months
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Professional Body Double // My Stand In - a Masterpost
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Series Title: My Stand-In (ตัวนาย ตัวแทน)
Director(s): Khom Kongkiat Khomsiri, Pepzi Banchorn Vorasataree (KinnPorsche The Series)
Executive Producer: Yuan Wan Thabkrajang (I Feel You Linger In The Air)
Episodes: 12
Aired: Apr 26, 2024 - Jul 12, 2024. Every Friday 8.00 PM.
Original Network: iQIYI
Original Novel Title: Professional Body Double (职业替身)
Author: Shui Qian Cheng (水千丞)
Genres: Adult, Drama, Mature, Romance, Supernatural, Tragedy, Showbiz, Angst
Content warnings: Abusive lover, noncon, house arrest
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Official Synopsis
Joe, the stunt man of famous actor Tong, happened to meet Ming. Having developed a deep relationship, Joe didn’t realise that Ming had always seen him as Tong’s replacement. When the truth is revealed, Joe has to take work on a foreign set where an accident takes his life. When he wakes, Joe’s in the body of a young man named Joe who’d met with an accident on the same day. With help, he’s soon living the same life as he was before—with the same people—and he meets Ming once more. In this life, Ming wants Joe back at his side as before and Joe doesn’t know why. Ming, who’s kept all memories of the old Joe, tries to find the truth about Joe’s continued life in order to return Joe to his side and give him the explanation he never had the chance to.
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Main characters
Joe (Zhou Xiang/周翔)
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Height: 181 cm
Birthday: October 20
Age: 29
Zodiac: Libra
Occupation: Actor, Stuntman, Martial Arts Body Double, Martial Arts Instructor
Personality: Gentle and generous, optimistic and open-hearted, mature and considerate. Independent. Easy going, not very ambitious, caring towards people around him. His parents and sibling passed away when he was 8 years old.
Ming (Yan MingXiu/晏明修)
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Height: 188 cm
Birthday: September 6
Age: 24
Zodiac: Virgo
Occupation: Actor, President of a Mechanized Heavy Industry Company
Personality: Haughty, selfish, lacking in patience, stubborn and persistent towards things he has decided upon. Extremely attractive, cold, indifferent. Youngest of the three Yan siblings. Comes from a wealthy, prestigious family with millitary background.
Supporting characters
Sol (Lan Xi Rong): Young attractive popular actor who was once close to Joe. Sol likes Joe. Played by Porsche Tanathorn.
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Tong (Wang Yu Dong): A popular action movie star. Tong is Ming’s crush. Tong is dating Ming's sister, May. Tong eventually marries May and becomes Ming's brother-in-law. Played by Mek Jirakit.
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Cai Wei Zhou (actor undisclosed): Joe's brother-like close friend, who's also his boss.
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Jim (Jiang Yuan): Ming's personal secretary and right hand man. Played by Billy Possathorn.
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Mike (Yan Mingsu): Ming’s older brother. Played by Inntouch Naphat.
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May (Yan Ming Mei): Ming’s older sister. May eventually becomes Tong's wife later on. Played by Shu Nunnicha.
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Where to read the novel
Chinese raw
English translation
Indonesian translation
Vietnamese translation
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Where to listen to the audio drama adaptation
Season 1
Season 2
Season 1 & 2 on YT with Vietnamese subtitles (Note: OP gonna private this video once the series has finished filming, so if anyone wishes to grab a copy/listen to it, now's the time 🤗)
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Production
Director Pepzi and Executive Producer Yuan first posted a photo captioned "Our new series project" hashtagging the Chinese novel title on 16 February 2023 so pre-production starts around February 2023. Yuan tweeted that My Stand In is the series that took longest to cast (8 months). 6 October 2023 was the fitting for My Stand In. Production begins filming on 16 October 2023.
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For latest updates on My Stand In series, you can follow YYDS Entertainment on Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, IG, Tiktok.
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Source
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david-talks-sw · 6 months
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MORE evidence that George Lucas wasn't involved in the Expanded Universe...
Almost a year ago, I wrote a verrry detailed post that explained just how little involvement Lucas had with the old Expanded Universe. There were 109 quotes used as sources, back then.
Recently, I came across 17 more so I figured I'd share:
George Lucas quotes:
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So the above is him saying he doesn't actually get involved too deeply, that the EU stories were done outside his universe, that he didn't follow up on them and tried not to think of them.
We could stop right here. But let's keep going.
Quotes from other people:
People repeating that George was barely involved at all, that EU writers could pretty much write what they wanted beyond a few minor limitations, that EU stories weren't canon to the films:
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(note: did a typo on Brett Rector's name, in the third one)
Similar ideas from Lucasfilm's Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo. Chee, in particular states something that encapsulates the whole Lucas/EU dynamic: Lucas wasn't beholden to the EU, but the EU had to adapt to Lucas' story. By and large, it was a one-way relationship.
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(note: I revised the prompts Hidalgo was responding so they're easier to consume, for the unrevised thread you can go on his Twitter page).
This next one is interesting, because it shows Lucas was indeed less uninvolved during the 90s, what with answering 'OK/Not OK' questionnaires and such... before he became too busy with the Prequels, The Clone Wars and revolutionizing the film industry.
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Here's just a collection of Tim Truman interviews where he explains how he created the lore surrounding the Tuskens' and their way of life, A'Sharad Hett, and the backstory for Aurra Sing.
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None of that lore came from Lucas (and you'll notice that Aurra Sing's EU backstory wasn't acknowledged in any way when she appeared in The Clone Wars, which Lucas did oversee).
Finally, here are Karen Traviss' statements regarding the reason she stepped away from Star Wars. It's interesting to look at this because it's a prime example of just how little the EU's lore factored into Lucas' creative decision:
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(note: this is a heavily condensed version of way longer blog posts, in which she also explained that business reasons factored into her decision)
This case is also interesting because it reinforces the fact that the narrative content of the EU didn't align with Lucas' intentions, as illustrated by what both Sam Witwer and Henry Gilroy had to say about Traviss' outlook on the Star Wars universe.
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We also explored the subject in this post where we compare the rhetoric Lucas and Traviss use when referring to Dooku and Yoda.
Aaaand that's it, that's the new stuff!
BOTTOM LINE:
Just because the EU content came out while George Lucas was in charge does not mean that it aligned with his views on Star Wars. You can't use "Lucas owning the company" as an authority argument to validate the EU because:
It doesn't need validating, they're great stories.
He wasn't really involved in the development of those stories. He barely gave a crap.
For the original post with the 109 quotes, you can read it here:
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ventique18 · 1 year
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Twst: *releases new card
Twst twitter: Milking whales?? END OF SERVICE?! 🤨
Twitter is so annoying with all the doomposting wtf. At this point most of us already know that they're trying to catch up to JP, but not many people actually bother to think of why.
So why? Simple: they're trying to synchronously finish Book 7 so that the anime can run smoothly without making up a random ending for Diasomnia arc. An anime adaptation should not be ahead of the main source material.
Twst's anime is going to release in all of Disney Plus countries, so it's naturally their goal not to spoil or ruin the game's story for everyone, not just JP players. Any anime adapted from gacha games are primarily promotional-- to get you to play the game and spend. If they're gonna shut down the game anyway, isn't it a braindead waste to release their advertisement across Disney Plus global?
Another hint is that they've been keeping silent on any Twst anime news. Why? Because it'll cause unnecessary hype that'll die down fast. If they really plan to simultaneously finish Book 7 at one point-- with EN releasing faster and JP slower, it'll be smarter to hold back for now and only create an explosive hype when Book 7's about to conclude.
I can't predict the future, but it's always good to stop and think for a minute before running your mouth on baseless negative assumptions. Whatever you post on the internet affects other people too.
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littlemonstert-blog · 6 months
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I cant help but to laugh at twitter.
I honestly can't deal with people getting mad about some of the changes Castlevania Noturne.
I think Castlevania Noturne is alright besides a couple of cringe dialogue in certain episodes & a couple of moments felt off. Other then that its ok
Like a soild 7.5-8/10
This isn't the first time they changed something about the story or character in this franchise and it won't be the last.
Like I get that want to stick to the "source material"
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Its basicaly the same as last castlevania kill vampires
NOUTURNE theme is about freedom for almost every character.
Let's be honest here...
All they really did was put more emphasis with the french evolution compared to the game it was based around that time.
Recycling the dracula plot line like the game isn't gonna work bc of the show he doesn't hate humans anymore.
Even castlevania has gone off the rails and add stuff to their game that really doesn't fit in.
The videos I've seen have said they are loosely adapting Rondo of Blood into Symphony of the Night.
The show clearly explains why Annette & her friend are here for.
Then there's Annette the race swapping. People are upset about this so much.
Once in game she was just richter girlfriend & damsel n distress (which isn't bad if written correctly)
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Idk why it that upsetting bc she didn't have much of a major role in the story
I get the wanted them to follow the "source material"...
(The writers to have some fault in this & could have handle it better)
But... as for the fans...where was all this energy for Issca
He still throughout the series became one of the best characters.
I didn't hear too many complaints about him.
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A story about belmont vampire hunters fighting Dracula over and over again...but a something a bit different mixed in they throw a fit.
It fantasy with magic & monsters but as soon as you see a black person all hell is gonna break loose
The comments are ridiculous too.
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The irony in this post is that JAPAN based game and manga have done this before with approval.
DMC Morrison
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One piece live action with ODA's approval
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I go on but i got limited images i can use but the FINAL nail in the coffin
What the netflix castlevania account tweeted out.... It didn't go so well a post and delete.
About Annette(joking out of context) saying Richter was basically useless after a certain event had him running away. (Something about the belmonts)
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This person didnt even watch the show yet they judge an out of context scene.
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I do see alot of people defending the netflix post heck some people that are fan of the games enjoy it too.
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I gonna be honest if you don't like the show that's fine. But if you haven't watched the show just stop talking. Let people enjoy it.
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savethegrishaverse · 3 months
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Hello Third Army members! By now, you’ve probably seen our twitter party adverts on how each day we will celebrate a different piece of the Grishaverse - And now, we are bringing this party to Tumblr!
We at the ‘Save Shadow and Bone’ Coalition are going to spend each week giving out prompts and boosting content about our Grishaverse, and we need your help! Come join us, send us your fanfics, post your art, and make sure to use hashtag #Third Army so we can see each post!
This week (January 7th to January 13th) we want to talk all about parallels! Between Shadow and Bone ships like the slowburn of Kanej, to other fandoms ships Like Locklucy or Wolfstar. Let’s compare characters like Kaz Brekker to Yennefer of Vengerberg, and draw parallels between Alina Starkov and She-ra! I want to hear all you have to offer on the subject! Under the cut are more prompts for you to check out!
Writing prompt: “As the cut sliced through the heartrender with such ease, with an efficiency that she had only seen from the Darkling’s own hands, Alina wondered if she had actually destroyed the Black Heretic - or merely become him.” Continue the story! Write what you think would happen to Alina, now that she has used merzost and can summon shadows!
Writing prompt: Suddenly, your favourite Grishaverse character is stranded in another universe! How do they adapt?
Art prompts: Many Saints in our culture have stained glass windows depicting their stories - Saint Michael, Saint Agnes of Rome, Saint Peter, etc. Draw up your own stained glass window for our Sankta Alina!
Art Prompts: draw chibi or anime style SAB characters! Cross them over with popular shows like Jujitsu Kaisen or Death Note!
Photoshop Challenges: Edit the Grishaverse cast to look like they're in another fandoms show! Or, throw your favorite characters from other sources of media into the Grishaverse!
Photoshop Challenges: Let’s play a round of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’: dress up a Shadow and Bone character in costumes from other shows/movies!
Video Edit Prompt: Do a Shadow and Bone or Six of Crows spinoff intro in the style of another show?
Engagement prompts: Analyzing Alina’s story, we see several moments where she shows true compassion, but also true anger and grief. She shows that there cannot be light without darkness, but there also cannot be darkness without light. Hope has no weight without fear, but fear cannot extinguish hope. This seems to be the theme of how Alina and the Darkling exist throughout the bulk of the story, and once he is gone the balance is taken with him. How would this affect Alina going forward?
Just as Inej has her knives, what other characters stand out when picking their weapons?
Share your happy or hopeful stories about Grishaverse as a fandom space, and tell us how the campaign has effected you! Tell us all about the friends that you've made, and the kindness you’ve seen within the fandom!
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reallyhardy · 12 days
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Sorry what’s up w the Ethan slater stuff? I know him only from your posts / SpongeBob stuff
HI HELLO please buckle in
yep -- the same guy from the spongebob musical, and my posts abut the spongebob musical.
he blew up completely and now the general public knows him as 'ariana grande's new boyfriend' - their relationship seems to have started off the back of co-starring in the upcoming wicked musical film adaptation.
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it's just been like. a monkey's paw curling sort of a way for him to get catapulted to fame, as i had always really enjoyed him as a performer (as spongebob, yes, but also in the other roles i'd seen him in,) and my biggest hope back around 2017 was that he would continue in and be really successful in theatre, get a lot of broadway roles, maybe take on some existing parts i thought he'd really suit, like seymour in little shop or ogie in waitress.......... but instead he booked the role of boq from wicked in a massive hollywood film production instead, where he met ariana grande. THE ariana grande.
and then yeah. at some point, he and grande broke up with their respective partners, (slater leaving both his wife AND newborn son) jumped into a new relationship, and now the whole wider internet knows who he is but certainly not for the right reasons.
there's been speculation regarding whether or not grande and slater had cheated on their previous partners before their relationship began with various sources coming out of the woodwork saying "yes they did" and others saying "no they didn't" -- humans are all perfectly capable of making stuff up, the media especially, so i simply don't know who to trust and i admit it had completely shattered my whole good impression of him - PLUS it gave the wider internet an absolutely awful first impression of him, resulting in, yeah, the (frankly, unflattering, sometimes downright cruel) memes of him popping up on twitter and, as i discovered yesterday, in non-theatre youtubers' videos who would literally never have heard of him if not for the slater-grande romance 🥲
FULL COVERAGE of the situation as it was happening can all be found on the lovely @notasimpleslater's blog under the tag 'ozgate' if you want to delve deeper!
#loren talks#ethan slater#months later let's call this my actual full response/reaction lol#i think at the time this was going down at the end of 2023 i was sort of just Freaking Out like my blood was boiling lol#i was parasocially furious with both of them#ofc now i do realise i'd put him on something of a pedestal#having seen his cute posts about his then wife an former childhood sweetheart plus posts welcoming his new son#AND having watched a youtube mini-series he'd made with his then-brother-in-law. i was SO invested and then.#i was like OH. he really DESTROYED his family huh.#but ofc! every situation is nuanced. we don't know what went on behind the scenes#wrg to his relationship. or what grande's was like with her ex-husband#since everything came to light there's been articles stating that slater wants to work with his ex-wife to share custody of their child#and that he's been spotted backstage WITH his son at spamalot on broadway (his current production)#so it sugggests he's not trying to be an Absent Father#which tracks with some of his own artwork as he and nick blaemire DID write a whole musical about the strained relationship between#a father and son and i just feel like. that suggests something about his personal character. and makes me HOPE he'd want to#be a present and loving parent regardless of circumstance.#anyways.#it's simply not my business BUT. seeing his face#popping up every now and again#it does just. feel extremely weird haha#there's a part of me that's like oh but that's musical spongebob my bestie what's he doing here#as for ariana i really have never had a strong opinion of her#but i have to say hearing her songs out and about these days...... :') i could do without it
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thenanamisimp · 4 months
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This isn't something I've really done much since I started this blog but I really wanted to discuss this week’s TGCF episode.
This is your spoiler warning!!
Heaven official's blessing season 2, episode 6 spoilers but there are also discussions of the respective scenes from volume 2 so if you haven't finished reading the novel, I'd suggest maybe not reading this post.
For context, I saw a user on twitter discuss how the donghua has been adapting Hua Cheng's display of emotions towards Xie Lian.
Source
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I also saw another user discuss the difference between how the novel/audio drama and the donghua have been showing Hua Cheng expressing emotions.
(I can't share the source as the OP is now private on twitter)
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While I haven't actually listened to the audio drama and I'm only on my first re-read of TGCF, these posts inspired me and I have thoughts and opinions that I need to share before I implode (one day it’ll happen I swear).
The scene the posters are talking about is after hcg saves xl from the heavenly Xianle palace, where they talk about what happened at paradise manor (aka xl apologising for burning down the armoury and lying to hcg about the earth master and hcg apologising for hurting xl’s arm).
In the donghua, we see hcg very obviously upset. He appears obviously and genuinely very sad about having hurt xl, even with the whole incident having been an accident. The distress in his eyes and voice is evident and clear-cut, seeming perhaps even a bit childish. In contrast, when reading this scene in the novel, while hcg definitely comes across upset, his distress appears a bit more calm and collected and he instead truly seems like a responsible adult who made a mistake and is sincerely apologetic for it to xl.
I believe that there’s multiple reasons why the dongua team chose to show hcg’s emotions in the way that they did. In my opinion, a reason why they could’ve chosen to do it this way is because of censorship. Now hear me out; clearly as a western fan I can’t speak much on Chinese censorship as I’m not highly knowledgable on the subject. However, I’d like to believe that the producing team is trying to work around the censorship laws in their own way. By making hcg’s emotions a little more over-the-top and obvious, it’s a lot easier for us as the viewer, especially queer fans that might understand queer dynamics better than others, to see and pick up on the subtext of what those exaggerated emotions mean while never having to be said out loud. And yes, we could argue that for those of us who have read the novel, it’s easier to recognise those subtle moments of vulnerability even if hcg’s reaction was made as ambiguous as it is in the book, because we have a lot more context. We have to remind ourselves that Hualian’s love story is never gonna be shown in the donghua in the same as the novel and people who are new to the story won't pick up on their relationship as easily.
As someone who hand’t heard of TGCF until Netflix licensed the donghua in my region (in 2021 I think?), I actually highly appreciate this difference in hcg’s character in the donghua. And while I don’t appreciate queerbaiting, watching season 1 made me search for the original source material and ended up with 8 very expensive books on my shelf (it took me 2 years to find volume 2 in stock somewhere…. 2 YEARS because I refuse to buy from amazon). San Lang (specifically referring to hcg’s form in volume 1 or season 1) is definitely slightly more aloof and energetic than hcg in his real form, so I do believe that his adaptation in season 1 was a lot more true to the source than season 2 seems to be.
My personal opinion is that, we need to view the donghua with a little more leniency as they have limits to the scenes they will be adapting later on (if the donghua doesn’t get dropped. Let us all pray together) and they have to make some things a little more obvious (but still no homo) to keep as much of the gay factor as they can without getting, you know, arrested. At the end of the day, it comes down to us what we prefer to consume and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people preferring one over the other. It's valid to prefer hcg in the novels and it's valid to also enjoy hcg's donghua adaptation, even if he's different and not completely true to the OG material.
Now when it comes to the whole “making xl seem oblivious thing”…. The jury is still out on this one I’m afraid. This was the final scene of the latest episode meaning, we don’t actually know how they’re gonna adapt the following scenes and this could very heavily affect the way xl reacts from here on. An adaptation is just that and like mentioned before, the donghua team has to make decisions on how to adapt things due to censorship. And at the end of the day, I think this is an interesting take on xl’s character as one of the biggest parts of his character is how he struggles to accept love and care from other people so one can argue that… He actually is oblivious in this scene? Especially at this point in the story considering he’s known hcg for like, a week, 2 weeks max (do not quote me on that, I haven’t actually calculated, I am lazy. Point is, he hasn’t known him for very long at this point in time). And while I would for sure be a bit disappointed if he still is presented like this later on in the story, we’re still too early into it to criticise the donghua over this and future scenes that haven’t even been touched yet. It’s not in any way fair to base our opinions on the upcoming scenes on a singular 2 minute clip of Hualian’s interaction.
So, I have said my peace. Please remember that everything I’ve discussed is purely my opinion and not fact, so take this post with a grain of salt. I’d actually love to discuss this further with people so please send asks if you have anything to add!
(This is also another good post to read about the censorship stuff I talked about in this post. I like how this user phrased it.)
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Once again, thank you for reading a (lengthy for once) ramble!
theNanamiSimp
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Given how well Dracula Daily has worked out, and how important the passage of time and multiple concurrent POVs are to the pacing of the book, in conclusion I think the best possible media to adapt Bram Stoker's 1897 Novel Dracula that isn't directly reading the source material (go listen to Re: Dracula holy shit) would be internet unfiction/ARG.
Jonathan has a recipe blog. Lucy has a twitter. Seward runs a podcast. Mina has a tumblr where she almost exclusively posts about trains until it suddenly becomes a chronicle of what's happened with Dracula, including posts that have previously been posted in real time to the other characters' online presences juxtaposed with DMs and correspondence that the audience hasn't seen yet. There could even be a video component--the gang goes to fight dracula and livestreams it to one of the characters' youtube (really a prerecorded/edited film of course) so that more people can know about what they've been facing.
I have Ideas
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