#this is also the main reason why I rarely work with colour so if anyone has any printer-scanner-copier recs I'm all ears | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hbcsource · 1 year

Text

Interview with Helena Bonham Carter and Russell T. Davies for Radio Times | January 2023

INTERVIEWER: Ginny Dougary WHAT A STRIKING entrance they make! Russell T Davies, an imposing 6ft 6in, with Helena Bonham Carter a little over 5ft, by his side, waist-high. He is in his customary uniform of work shirt, jeans and desert boots. She is all vintage vibes, Miss Havishamesque in a dark emerald satin dress, radiating sparkles from several shiny necklaces and a diamanté clip artfully placed to guarantee her dark hair is not kept in place. We are in a green room in the depths of Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s Southbank Centre, where the writer and the heroine of his latest television drama have been on a panel to promote the show – Nolly – and to explain why the main character of an almost forgotten soap opera is worthy of this stellar treatment. Nolly is Davies’s tribute to Noele Gordon (the drama took her nickname for its title), the star of Crossroads, the soap set in a motel in the fictional village of King’s Oak, near Birmingham. Known as the “Queen of the Midlands”, Gordon played motel chatelaine Meg Richardson and for those of us who watched it – at its peak it boasted 18 million viewers – she was the beating heart of the show. In its various incarnations, Crossroads ran from 1964 until 1988, but in 1981 fans woke up to the shocking news that its star had been sacked and four years later, Gordon died of cancer at the age of 65. Davies, who once wrote a trial episode for Crossroads in his early 20s, loved the soap and was always intrigued and saddened by Gordon’s removal and subsequent demise. In his skilled hands, what could have been a cheap crack at a soap whose tight budget was revealed when the walls visibly wobbled, has been transformed into something noble. It is an exploration of the apalling way women were treated, discarded seemingly on a whim and how anyone who didn’t fit into the expected mould was misunderstood. It is also the restoration into the limelight of someone who might otherwise have disappeared forever. Davies wants to show us the extent to which Nolly was a trailblazer and part of television history. Gordon was the first woman, for instance, to appear on colour television as well as the first female to interview a prime minister on screen (Harold Macmillan). STILL, HER LIFE is undeniably an odd subject, on the surface of it. As Davies says: “there are many reasons why you wouldn’t commission it. I mean, there’s nobody under the age of 50 who has heard of Noele Gordon. “I’ve been extraordinarily lucky to tell this story and that’s because of It’s a Sin [his critically acclaimed 2021 drama about the 1980s HIV/Aids crisis]. It’s one of those very rare moments in a career where people are saying, ‘What do you want to write?’” Was he concerned that his motivation might be assumed to be poking fun or ironic? “Very much so,” he admits. “Irony is paper thin. Irony only lasts two minutes. We’re proper drama makers and if you approach it to take the mickey, then the drama has no heart or soul. Why even attack a soap opera? You wouldn’t get three hours of drama from it.” Nevertheless, there will be people who are still mystified by the concept. “To be blunt, that’s when you cast Helena Bonham Carter because she lifts your standards and makes people look and say, ‘Well, that’s interesting!’” He turns to his star and adds: “you create an expectation of class and quality. Stop laughing! You know it’s true.” As part of Davies’s research into Gordon’s life, he read her autobiography and loved the constant barbs about how much the actors were paid on rival soap Coronation Street. “I used to work with Granada and they were treated properly there,” says Davies. “It’s got to be said that ATV didn’t treat the cast of Crossroads properly.” Bonham Carter’s accent flattens à la Nolly: “We had to buy our own costumes! We were only given £40.” He also spoke to the original Crossroads cast – Benny, Miss Diane et al – as well as floor managers and chorus boys who had worked with Gordon when she did Gypsy. “I’m not daft, I kept chipping away at the public front, but that’s when I started falling in love with her, because people kept telling me how much they loved her. I spoke to Tony Adams [who played accountant Adam Chance and along with Larry Grayson was one of Gordon’s closest friends. Mark Gatiss plays Larry Grayson in Nolly] and as time went on, I realised that they really adored her. She was strong and I’m not whitewashing her…” Bonham Carter chimes in. “She wasn’t easy but she had a lot of compassion and she treated people right. She was an impressive woman.” Davies is the son of two classics teachers and grew up in Swansea with his two sisters in a house where the TV was always on. When we first met in 2019 for his dystopian drama, Years and Years, he recalled that I, Claudius was the first time he had seen men kissing, which confirmed the way he felt about boys. BONHAM CARTER, who shares a son, 19, and a daughter, 14, with ex-husband, director Tim Burton, was brought up with her two brothers in Hampstead; her mother was a psychotherapist and her father a merchant banker. Much has been written about her illustrious forbears on both sides of the family (a prime minister, Lord Asquith, on the paternal side; Rothschilds and heroic figures who saved Jewish lives on the maternal). Her family also watched I, Claudius as well as Upstairs, Downstairs, The Forsyte Saga, Wings, Dad’s Army (“My dad’s favourite”), The Monkees, Happy Days and The Brady Bunch. As for Noele Gordon, “she was sort of like wallpaper, in the background”. What made her want to do the show? “It was a complete gift of a part,” she says. “With so many good scenes and story, she ended up being a very gallant woman. She has been mistreated but she doesn’t gloss over it, she says exactly what happened to her. There is nothing apologetic about her, I love that.” There is a strong scene when Gordon is talking to younger female cast members in the theatre about why she was sent packing, “Yes, ‘I was sacked because I was sackable’,” Bonham Carter quotes. Davies clarifies that this line, “was just me riffing on the role of women and how they were treated. “And it’s still true that women can be treated disgracefully, isn’t it?” he adds, turning to Bonham Carter. “Oh God, yeah,” she says. “I think when Sue Barker left A Question of Sport she said that she wasn’t given a choice…” Davies concurs with the comment, “and she had power and establishment and status…” “They keep on asking the opinion of people they never see and it’s such a cruel thing to do to your ego. All these likes and dislikes,” she finishes with a sigh. Davies is clearly as passionate about women’s rights. “We had Women’s Lib in the 60s and here girls are in 2023 and they think they ought to be slimmer with bigger busts, and sexy and on Love Island. Women, when are you ever gonna revolt?! Women, when are you ever going to say ‘Enough!’? “I look at my niece’s friends on Instagram and every inch of their faces is covered in make-up, fillers and extensions. Whatever happened to just having a good laugh?!” Davies is almost 60, Bonham Carter is close behind. They’re both sanguine about aging. Davies remembers his youthful concerns. “When you were young, you wouldn’t go out if you had a spot! Wouldn’t worry me now!” “It is liberating to be older,” Bonham Carter adds. “The skin isn’t necessarily as attractive but who cares?!” When Davies and I spoke last, it was six months after his husband, Andrew, had died. During his illness, Davies gave up work to be his carer. He said then that he hoped the loss would get easier – has it? “No and I don’t expect it will,” he says. “It isn’t killing me. I’m quite glad that I’ve gone back to writing Doctor Who because psychologically I’m thinking, ‘He knows what I’m doing now’. It gives me comfort. It’s when you do new things he never experienced that it feels odd and you don’t enjoy it so much.” “You don’t get better, but you get better at it,” interjects Bonham Carter, “that’s what my mum says.” The actor is no stranger to family sadness. When she was five, her mother had a breakdown, which took three years of recovery and led to her becoming a psychotherapist herself. When she was 13, Bonham Carter’s father was diagnosed with a tumour and during the operation to remove it, had a stroke that left him blind and half-paralysed. He died in 2004. Bonham Carter has been reading books about coping with death because she has lost friends and family over the years. She’s most anxious about how to prepare for her mother’s death. “I’m quite haunted by what life will be like without her, she’s been such a sensational mum,” she says. “It isn’t just the death, of course – it’s how much they are a part of you and how do you rearrange your sense of self without them? I’ve had a few friends who’ve gone and I really feel that I carry on with them within me. And when my dad died, I wrote a whole book to him because I had to keep talking to him.” “In some ways, it has got worse,” comments Davies, “because it’s ‘Oh, you’re still not coming back?’ Maybe it’s why Andrew keeps popping up in everything I write. Even in Nolly with the scenes of her cancer, I found myself visiting hospitals. There’s been death in a lot of the stuff I’ve written over the past few years. I don’t mind that. I’m glad. It feels richer.” Bonham Carter nods. “We have to incorporate it into our lives and talk about it. And even with divorce, too – people don’t talk about it. For those of us who are grieving a divorce or someone who has gone… our heads are full of that person. So this thing of ‘Don’t mention it…’” She shakes her head. HER FRIENDS DON’T tend to be actors but go back to her days at school, latterly Westminster. Several of her closest pals work as teachers in the state system. As we draw to a close, Bonham Carter looks down at my notes and reads out the name of her (younger) boyfriend Rye Dag Holmboe, a Norwegian writer, art historian and psychoanalyst. We’ve run out of time but she says she wouldn’t talk about him anyway because of his job. But what are we to make of the fact that both her mother and her partner are shrinks? Could she have been a psychoanalyst herself in another life? “I could still train,” she says. “It’s a possibility. I think I might actually have another life.”

#helena bonham carter #russell t davies #interviews #nolly #noele gordon #2023 #radio times 2023

11 notes · View notes

kallowrites · 2 years

Text

Android AU Character run-down: The D10s

It is SO hard to explain their differences in just words (imo) so I figured doing a little guide would help? With visuals? Basically, the ways their names are stylized are exactly to differentiate them in text but visually they vary (though not necessarily considerably hahaha)

Also don’t @ me - some of these drawings are old and ugly lmao

SO! Under the cut, here’s the boys and some lore/background about their roles:

Dio (Brando): (Referred to as just 'Dio' in most cases, as he rejects the surname)

A custom Gen-2 unit, able to be retrofitted with almost any imaginable upgrade due to his prototype status… although his code is rather unstable and prone to fluctuation. Effectively the 'main' (synthetic) Dio of the AU - He was designed to replace Diego Brando as Dario Brando's successor, but didn't take kindly to being molded to anyone's image, and ended up murdering both Brandos and the man who coded him (who only went by DOG). He's caught by the authorities, disabled, and shipped off to have his memory disc wiped clean to be resold or used for parts, but a (convenient) mis-delivery has him winding up at Miriam Amell's door. Due to a lack of proper, gradual introductions and ease into society, he's notably antisocial and lacks any sort of 'people skills', preferring extreme solutions to otherwise simple problems. He has zero issues with being blunt and stating things plainly, even if it offends the person in question, and as a result he can come off as very judgemental and pushy. Visually, he resembles Part 1 Dio Brando prior to his turn to vampirism.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

D.I.O.: (Referred to simply as 'DIO' for convenience)

A Gen-3 unit (formerly) used for police work. He was sent to pursue Miriam to safely retrieve or disable Dio (Brando) when his existence was tipped off by an anonymous source, but found himself fighting the chains of his suppression when he's treated like a person by her for the first time in his life... Even if it was initially a case of mistaken identity. He is eventually removed of his tracking chip and jailbroken by Raisa (a contact Dio made via the internet) at Miriam’s suggestion, and now possesses his free will to do as he pleases, though he willingly remains with her.

Following the events of the (shared) AU, he's had his body replaced with a much newer Gen-7 model which, among other things, has given him a newfound sense of smell (as well as many a bump into doorways). He's considerably more 'timid' than Dio (Brando), but shares his introversion with sharing personal details. Previously abused by his human partner (which leads to intimacy issues...), and holds a considerable grudge because of it. Has a strong moral compass but is particularly biased towards helping other androids achieve the same freedom he has. Probably the most empathetic & broody of the D10s, tbh.

Despite a vengeful side that rarely rears its ugly head, he’s quite reasonable and easy to get along with, even if he seems a bit detached. He’s far more acclimated to dealing people and existence itself than Dio is, partially due to his former profession/purpose. All he wants is to be treated with respect. Being very level-headed and considerate (if a bit soft-spoken), is a very large part of why Miriam is so torn between the two of them...

Visually, (especially after the bodywork) he resembles Part 3 DIO, neck scar and all, which he keeps to specifically keep himself distinct from Dio (Brando).

(yes, im allowed to pick the cute one because he IS a sweet boy) He shares his colour scheme with Dio though (blond hair, gold eyes), nothing new there!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EcciDiO:

Formerly a military unit, unlike many he did not turn during the revolt and survived. He was shelved when he was no longer needed and became outdated, only to be pulled off from it for some 'final use' for the government to get their money's worth out of him -- He was repurposed into a 'show-droid': An android used purely for the entertainment of others in what is essentially a professional android ring, which also doubles as a way for the government to flaunt their new androids by forcibly ""retiring"" old ones. While most androids that are left to this fate don't survive for long before being destroyed, EcciDiO ended up becoming a crowd favourite for his flamboyance and subverting the expectations and pre-determined outcome of the show. Both his design and software were updated, and he adopted the persona of 'The Grand Papillon'. Doing so well for the gov't's image, he was eventually reinstated for service as a government agent and was tasked with destroying Dio (Brando), as retrieval was deemed no longer viable after the disappearance of the previous unit sent after him -- D.I.O.. However, his zeal in his task ultimately led EcciDiO to kill Dio (Brando)'s contact, Raisa, terminated her android Ramses (another D10 unit) - both of whom were deemed 'obstacles', and almost destroy D.I.O., while severely injuring both Dio (Brando) and Miriam before he was ultimately disabled by the same man who created the D10 units in the first place (Professor Brando). Needless to say, he's quite the menace. (For the intents and purposes, any fic with him in it runs with the assumption he was repurposed and is functional again with less 'murder-happy' tendencies. Mostly.)

Also following said intents and purposes, repurposed EcciDiO is just as flamboyant as ever, but has a startling lack of understanding for anything beyond wrecking things and wrestling. In truth, he’s a borderline blank slate who has to learn everything from the beginning and is very emotionally flippant... and this process is NOT helped by one very troublesome Joestar he’s acquainted with...

(basically he’s STILL a shitpost but he’s fun and I love him and I’d love to share more but this is already so long wtf where did this bias come from??)

Visually, he has a similar build to DIO but has longer pink hair with purple roots and tips. He's very flamboyant and never dresses plainly.

(technically, this is him in an alternate costume for an idea I had - He returns to the ring of his own accord one last time to retire his former persona. I forget what he called himself, but basically he goes from the butterfly themes of ‘The Grand Papillon’ to a darker moth-related theme to show his transition from face to heel (which alludes to his freedom from gov’t control)!)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Prototype #13: (Referred to simply as 'Thirteen' for convenience)

Not much is known about him, aside from his existence... In truth, this is because I have no idea the role he’ll play in the shared AU yet hahaha (and since it’s spoilers for both u guys AND me... I’m not about to prod Mag about it lolol)

In terms of the old, solo (potentially not canon) AU though, Thirteen essentially had EcciDiO’s role of ‘hunter’. He has zero empathy for anyone, both android and human alike, but seems to have a particular revulsion to the latter. Though he’s restrained somewhat by his control chip, he seems to enjoy the punishment when he’s somewhat defiant, and he’s earned the reputation as a ‘last resort for a lost cause’. He’s sent to eliminate Dio (Brando), no ifs, ands, or buts, because the information he contains that can be freely accessed due to a lack of encryption is deemed not worth the risk any longer.

On the side, he also has orders to terminate DIO if located, and to bring Miriam Amell to the government himself for interrogation into her motives before likely termination herself. He has no qualms with killing civilians if they obstruct his orders. -- “Compliance is preferable to defiance, unless you lack the most basic of human instinct.”

During the android revolt a decade prior, he was noted to have turned against his own fellow androids, seemingly due to a simple urge to destroy, and some wonder if he’s simply been corrupted and never diagnosed at any point, or if this was done on purpose. Thirteen plays pretend all too well and knows exactly where and how to hide information to avoid detection.

Visually, he resembles DIO quite a bit, but has dark hair with a light streak through it, and a rather torn-up arm, revealing the mechanical workings underneath. He’s also got very ominous, cold eyes...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ramses:

The first ‘D10′ (though he had a female counterpart) Professor Brando created, his former right-hand man who’s seen it all and been through everything over his lifetime. His status as a ‘beta’ model means his A.I. is drastically different from the run-of-the-mill D10 models that came after him, with most of his code not even being created by Professor Brando’s own hands. This was sufficient enough, however to (in Mag’s own words): “ sell the entire idea to the filthy rich conglomerate overlords.”

He is curt, polite, and rather stiff in his communication with others, coming across as rather robotic. He obeys everything Professor Brando asks of him without question, though does possess his own sentience and holds a healthy respect for him. He was given to Raisa after she was adopted by Professor Brando as a gift, and she thought of him like a brother. Ramses’ own feelings on the matter are... complicated.

He shares Professor Brando’s face, though the coincidence that his features so closely resemble that of the late Diego Brando (whom Dio (Brando’s) own features were based on), is entirely coincidental and genetic. Raisa altered Ramses appearance later on to separate him from his creator, and he now has dark skin and dark hair.

**Unfortunately due to EcciDiO’s actions while under government control, Ramses has been permanently terminated and his memory disc completely corrupted and unsalvageable, thus removing the only ‘beta’ model left in existence, much to Professor Brando’s immense grief.

(I’ve only attempted to draw him once with this updated look (and I never ended up liking how it was turning out, so it’s unfinished), so I v highly encourage you to look at Mag’s drawing of him instead:)

(Also PLEASE give love to the OG post here if u haven’t already: https://magthemage.tumblr.com/post/682429790479876096/android-au-meet-ramses-the-first-functional )

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay there’s two additional D10′s here, but neither of them have confirmed/updated designs I care to share pictures of so I’ll just toss a quick tl;dr: about them in case ur still interested somehow hahaha:

Dionysus - an android sex worker Miriam encounters early on. Technically the second android she meets with Dio’s face, but the circumstances under which they meet only serve to confirm to her that she’s attracted to Dio for more than just his looks. -- He has a trio of female androids that linger around him.

Despite seeming enthusiastic and complacent, Dionysus himself is rather frustrated with his situation. His ‘harem’ doesn’t seem to know any better, but his sentience is merely suppressed - his monthly reformatting does little to stop his bitter feelings from returning all the same, trapping him in a cycle and a life he can’t escape from on his own...

AuDio - a mysterious android that Miriam only knows about through the internet. He’s popular in the ‘ASMR’ world for his looks (despite hiding his face), and even more so when he starts speaking. He disappeared after some time due to some rather severe scandal involving a decidedly not safe-for-work account passing off as him is linked and makes the rounds... Despite all the interest from his fanbase, it damages his reputation with sponsors (and likely whoever owns him) to a point he simply stops posting altogether and vanishes without a trace.

Miriam comes to realize later the culprit for the scenario was her own Dio, who thought it would be ‘funny’. This ends up kicking off his own side-gig but still frustrates the hell out of her for ruining a stranger’s life on a whim.

...Though that’s not to say that fate won’t find a way, given how many of these ‘exceedingly rare’ androids she keeps crossing paths with...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And with that, I’m p sure that covers them all! ...Unless Mag and I add more D10s, but it’s getting hard to keep track of them all as it is xD

I did not include the Professor in this because... he’s human. D10 units are the androids that look like him and that he created.

Each one still retains qualities from the “original” (as in, the source material), but to varying extents due to how they were brought up and the experiences they had. That’s the joy of sentience! You can take an android, “raise” it under the exact same conditions, and no two will come out exactly the same!

Or, in some cases... Some fare out better/worse than others. Best example would be Dio and DIO -- while DIO has (debatably, in Dio’s mind, im sure) gone through much worse treatment, he’s still come out kinder for a variety of reasons. He could have very easily gone the same route as Dio and gone out of his way to kill everyone connected to him, but he actively chooses not to, and only punishes those he feels are responsible (and hence, he has much more empathy towards other androids than Dio as well, who couldn’t care less)

BUT I DIGRESS. Hope this clears things up, at least a *little* hahaha

Also there ARE other androids in this AU besides just D10 units 8D I’m not sure how many we’ll have in total that are relevant, so I don’t think they warrant their own post... Nero is probably the most important one though!

4 notes · View notes

purplesurveys · 1 year

Text

1640

Have you ever lied to a person of authority? What did you say? Erm yeah I guess, but I make it a point not to lie about big things because that shit has its own ways of getting found out in the end anyway. The lies are always just like, “Yes it’s clear, I have no questions,” “Yes, I’m okay,” “No I’m not doing much, what can I help you on?” lol.

What’s your favourite type of pie, either sweet or savoury? I don’t really have pie much...but let’s just go with chicken pot pie as I’ve never had a bad bite of it. Do you have a Netflix subscription? Yes, we have a family subscription. I’m not one for movies and TV shows these days, but I do use Netflix for my Friends and Twilight Saga rewatches and the rare times I want to explore a K-drama in its entirety.

Have you ever parked in a disabled parking space even if you aren’t disabled? I’ve never done that. How long does it usually take you to get ready in the morning? All of like, two minutes. All I do is get dressed, splash water on my face, brush my teeth, let the dogs out so they can roam around the whole day, and prepare my coffee. This entire routine is clockwork at this point which is why I take really quick to accomplish all of them.

What colour is your favourite shirt? I don’t have one at the moment.

When was the last time you saw a photo of yourself? Last night. A college professor I had recently passed away, so I posted a photo of myself and my orgmates with him back when we hosted a workshop for us in like 2018.

Does your laptop ever overheat? Not so much these days because all I do with it is literally take these surveys, lol. Occasionally the fan will turn itself on which is more a matter of the battery’s lifespan, but then again even that has never resulted in my laptop suddenly dying out on me.

Are you wearing a dress today? As a matter of fact I am, yeah! I have a black dress on, with slits on either side on the lower part.

Do you use your phone during class or at work? I do use it a lot at work but part of it is because there are some tasks I can do better through the phone, like texting or looking for influencers on Instagram and TikTok. The other reason is I’ve stopped give a fuck and I just want to go through social media and play In the Seom lol.

How many times a day do you check Facebook? More than 10 times, but it’s also because I check my feed for a grand total of 5 seconds and immediately close it after haha. Facebook continues to be super popular (and the main social media) in the Philippines so I’m on there a lot.

Do you hate it when people on airplanes recline the seat in front? If it gets to the point where it affects my personal comfort or like my legroom and all, yeah absolutely. I’m not confrontational though and I am more likely to suffer silently throughout the trip than call out the over-reclining person.

Are you the type of person to press a button just because? Nah, buttons are dangerous y’all. My mom once accidentally set off a fucking FIRE ALARM because her hands were wandering about too much, lol.

Would you ever volunteer in the case of a natural disaster? Probably not for a natural disaster, but I am likely to donate instead.

Do you check your emails daily? Only from Monday through Friday. My work email is absolutely personally off-limits on weekends.

Are you inside or outside at the moment? I’m inside a Starbucks outside of my home.

Why did you last have to see a doctor? Can’t remember. Might’ve been my UTI issue still. Have you ever been pulled aside for a random bag search at an airport? Nope.

Are you happy with how much you weigh? Sure. I’ve pretty much stayed the same weight since I was like 13 and it’s something I have little to no complaints about.

What’s your favourite flavour of Jell-O? I’ve never had Jell-O and it doesn’t sound appealing to me at all.

Do you pick your nose? C’mon, be honest. Yes.

What was the last thing you bought from a supermarket? Jin Ramen, for obvious reasons.

Do you know anyone who is highly allergic to anything? Angela’s entire face turns red and feels hot after like two sips of alcohol. I also have another friend allergic to egg and seafood.

When was the last time you had a nap? Last Sunday. Such a good nap, too – the kind where you wake up and think you’ve been transported to 2088 LOL.

Are you hot, cold, or just right at the moment? It’s a little cold. The aircon here is out to kill hahaha but at least I’ve got a thick jacket on. Do you have a Spotify Premium membership? If not, do you want one? I do, I’m listening to music from it right now as I take this.

What’s your boss’ name? Bea’s my immediate superior but I’m not sharing my higher bosses’ names.

Have you ever eaten caviar? Yeah, a few years ago. I could tell it was the super cheap kind though so I’ve never really count it as caviar lol.

Are you a nervous type of person? I can be, depending on the context, scenario, what I’ve found myself in the middle of, etc. For the most part though I try to hold my own.

Do/did you collect anything currently or in the past? I’ve collected before and I still collect now; the things I’ve collected have just changed over the years.

On average, how much money do you usually put into savings every week? I usually do it in one big transfer every time I get my pay, not weekly; and these days I try to transfer half of it to savings. Partly because I’m trying to save big for my upcoming Thailand trip but also because I’m in a position where I earn enough to be able to allocate half of it for savings.

Do you prefer sweet or savoury foods? Savory, any day and every day. I’m quick to turn down desserts.

Do you have any games on your computer? Which ones? Nope.

What are your three favourite fruits? Avocado, andddddd that’s it.

Have you ever received a speeding fine? No. I don’t think we have anything against speeding here actually? People in the Philippines will drive as if they’re the spawn of Satan and you’ll never hear anything about it from traffic enforcers/the police.

When was the last time you shaved any part of your body? This morning.

Have you ever had a cramp in an odd place? I ALWAYS get finger cramps when I use chopsticks.

Would you ever go overseas for cheap medical treatment? No, I don’t know if that’s an option. The amount I’d save for the treatment would get eaten up from the airfare anyway.

How many hours did you sleep last night? A good amount, around 7-8 hours.

Are you good at writing stories? I am terrible at writing stories and poems, but anything else I can most definitely take a shot at.

What have you eaten today? An omelette and rice; three donuts; and this unique takoyaki bun thing from Starbucks.

Do you watch House of Cards? Nah.

Did anything exciting or interesting happen to you today? Seeing one of my favorite K-pop idols have a vape on him was definitely a hilarious twist to today. I’m not saying who and from where I caught it so it doesn’t have to blow up more than it already has, but that was definitely a funny thing to catch. People need to calm down and realize idols are fucking just like us and can do whatever they want.

What’s your favourite type of fish to eat? Tuna sashimi.

Who else is in the building you’re in right now? Baristas and customers.

1 note · View note

stardusthalos · 1 year

Note

[eyes] all muses?

[eyes]: not just the colour, but the shape, the length of their eyelashes, whether they’re alert or usually half-closed, large or small, sunken into the face, ringed by bags, etc.

*cracks my knuckles* here we go. I'm just gonna do the main 9! Also here is where I admit that my doing the picrews was to assist in understanding their eyes lmao.

Raziel

Raziel's eyes shift between being: Black Holes and full of stars.. The full of stars are in his human form, and though they appear to be black, when he wears glasses, you can see what appears to be brightly colored, flickering flecks within and occasionally shooting across his irises (he's got no pupils). Those are, for all intents and purposes, stars. Just in there because he contains multitudes. The black holes come about when he's in battle mode, or when he needs to be a little terrifying. You can shine a light on those bad boys and not a single reflection will be there.

In general, his gaze is relaxed, jovial even. And when he's working he's got that kind Librarian air to his looks, and when he looks over his glasses you know you need to shape up!!!

Rhemiel

Rhemiel's eyes are a dark dark brown, almost black. And they look such a lush color in the light. They're slightly deeper set, but no less comforting. The reason for this is because it's very rare that his gaze isn't just calm or soft. Being looked at by him definitely feels like you're the only focus he has...and that applies even more if you're the reason why he's upset or angry. Eyelashes are lovely but not especially long or thick.

Kariel

Her eyes are almond shaped and a beautiful hazel, mostly with green and a ring of amber around the pupil. Whenever she goes out she does do kohl liner and it makes her eyes even more prominent. I would hazard saying that her natural gaze is neutral, but that's mostly because it's just...one step above that in the intensity category. Even though she's shorter than you, the feeling that she's looking down at you is palpable. However, if she loves you, her eyes seem to brighten just seeing you.

Athriel

Athriel is an interesting one. They have sweet, honey colored eyes that always seem to be happy to see you, even if they're meeting for the first time. Because the apples of their cheeks keep their eyes almost eternally half or partially closed in a smile, to see their full, wide eyed stare is more of a rarity than one might realize. They do have long lashes, and they take very good care of themselves.

Maroon

Oof. Maroon is...a lot. They decided to keep their eyes from Home as a reminder of who they were, what they've done, and that's what they hide behind their bangs. A set of four eyes that seem to be glowing, bright gold, yellow and white, swirling and prone to actually getting set aflame whenever they experience intense emotion, but especially intense anger. Most people (note: mortal) who look directly at them cry, or feel overwhelmed.

Uzzeth

Okay this one takes the cake for longest, thickest eyelashes. Uzzeth has eyelashes that are the envy of anyone who sees them. I cannot stress enough how pretty this man's eyes are. They are downturned, a little hooded and have a bit of bag under them, but my god. Fucking stunning. They are a bold, deep emerald green and because of his internal flame there seems to be flecks of iridescent color within them. 90% of the time they seem to be focused nowhere in particular and are almost in a thousand yard stare, but when they focus on someone or something, the intensity can catch you off guard.

Atem

Can we get another oof for this bad boy? Atem used to have stunning golden eyes, but since his fall they appear to be tarnished, faded in color and hazy. There's intense scarring around them as well, thankfully faded some but still nasty looking. Atem is one that has chronic resting bitch face, and so his eyes are almost always giving the vibe of being annoyed. If he cares for you, or about you, his eyes will soften and give way to an extremely expressive side that very few get to see. His eyes are still the windows to his soul, as they were a big part of his job when he was in heaven, and so they remain even now.

Austen

We had to have one heterochromatic nerd and here he is!! His left eye is the Hazel one, and is a good blend of soft, pale green and amber, the right one is a lovely brown. He does have thick lashes, and is prone to fluttering them to get his way when he's definitely done an oopsie. He cannot look at someone in the eye whenever he talks to them, not to be rude but because it makes him uncomfortable, and that is the number one expression that comes through them, nervousness.

Xi also has dark brown eyes, and they look eternally tired. She's got gucci bags under her eyes and a slight pink tint to them from the amount of time she spends not sleeping, and prominent eyelashes she got from her father's side of the family. They are a little more wide set than others, slightly upturned, and always watching. Even when she is by herself she is scanning whatever space she's in. When she's not making sure there is nothing pressing in her environment, she is lazer focused on her spells and projects to the point where if you disturb her, her next gaze can probably kill at ten paces.

Yarrow

Yarrow has the funky little trait of seasonal eyes! During the spring and summer their eyes are stunning shades of green, in spring the accent color is what appears to be pink, while during summer it's a deep yellow. During fall and winter their eye colors go from amber to black, no accent colors to be had with these. If you've ever wondered how an author can ever overuse 'their eyes narrowed' when writing, this is the character that does it. Yarrow always has an air of studying and incredulity coming from them, and that never really changes. They use glamours to lengthen and thicken their lashes as well as add little decorations and glitter to them, but normally they're pretty average.

#asked & answered #nykrose #im patting myself on the back for this one lads #raziel related #rhemiel related #kariel related #athriel related #maroon related #uzzeth related #atem related #xi related #austen related #yarrow related

0 notes

manipulatedimage-annakernahan · 2 years

Text

Ziqian Liu - Self Portrait Photographer

Born in 1990 in China, graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 2015, started photography in 2018, based in Shanghai.

All of her work is a self-portrait. In her work, she combines her body, plants, and mirror images, constantly exploring the balanced state of peaceful coexistence between humans and nature. In terms of visual presentation, she is keen to create quiet images with a sense of rigour and order. Her works intentionally rarely show her face because she wants the viewer to imagine that the body in the picture can be anyone. Different viewers will have different perceptions of her works, which is what she finds most interesting and exciting about photography.

There are two main themes in Ziqian's work. The first theme is about the symbiosis between human beings and nature. To some extent, it can be said that human beings and the rest of the natural world are equal - we live in the same world, breathe the same air, mutual tolerance. In her work, she tries to find a state of harmony between humans and nature, full of peace and emotion, because, in this state of symbiosis, beauty will be most embodied.

The second theme is perspective. Things we are familiar with often remain in a fixed image, but what she is trying to convey through her work is to look at the same thing from different angles to disclose different findings. This is not only for things but also for understanding others and our hearts.

On the other hand, her deepest desire is for symmetry and perfect order, both in the appearance of things and in the patterns of human interaction, but this is too idealistic, after all, society is not balanced, some imperfections make it real. In her work, the image in the mirror represents the idealised world she wishes to live in, and the integration with the outside is just a reminder to respect and recognise the imbalance in the real world, but also to adhere to the order and principles of our hearts.

In her work, she wishes to give the audience a small world that is calm but not flat. She wants to show women outside their soft and delicate inner strength. This is one of her expectations. One reason she chooses self-portrait is that it is the best way for her to communicate with herself and to get to know herself better.

The other reason is that she wishes to slow down time, integrate herself with the things around her, and discover and observe their changes, which is why flowers and fruits became derivative parts of her body in her works. Nowadays, the pace of people's life is getting faster and faster, and the surrounding environment is always very noisy, so it is easy to ignore the small details around and the true feelings in the heart. In her opinion, fusion is acceptance. To be able to perceive and recognise the subtle changes in things around us is to accept the new self.

Reference:

https://www.ziqianqian.net/about

My Notes:

There appears to be a strong focus on composition, colour and minimalism, a lot of her shoots are earthy and neutral tones with pops of colour, and you get snippets into portraiture with never seeing the entire body in any of her works. I really like this as it makes the audience think and use their imagination. i think this would be a strong inspiration if i were to follow the route of the food composition ideas i have sketched out earlier in the semester.

0 notes

danteinthedevildom · 3 years

Text

A Royal Pajama Party “Analysis” - Part 1 (of 7)

I mentioned (a while ago, oops) that I had a lot of thoughts on Diavolo’s character as revealed in the A Royal Pajama Party Devilgram. I ended up with so many screenshots, I couldn’t contain them all to a single post - so I’ve had to split it up into seven parts (ironically).

For this first part, I’m focusing on the free chapter. Spoilers under the cut, of course!

To start off with, I’m going to focus on this one, single screenshot. Despite how short it is, there’s a lot that’s revealed in just six words.

My main point of focus? Diavolo is so genuinely excited to spend time with you - actual time, not time he’s tried to slot in with some pretend event to trick you into hanging out with him - that he’s been actively waiting for you to turn up.

This is something I’ve noted before, but we know from previous Devilgrams that Diavolo doesn’t often get to spend time with other beings simply because nobody really wants to. He openly admits that he has to trick his friends into it by planning parties - as seen in the Concealed in Colour Devilgram - and that he struggles to get out of that habit now that he’s found someone (you) willing to visit the castle just to see him. No other alterior motives required.

And here he is, finally setting something up without trying to trick you into it! He doesn’t feel as unsure about your friendship with him anymore; he’s aware - and accepted - that you are there for him, to see him, and that he really can just ask for your time and have you willingly show up. So he’s created this little, private sleepover just to hang out with you. That shows a heck of a lot of improvement in his confidence with you and the strength of your friendship (or relationship, depending).

It also just shows the sheer excitement he has towards it. He’s anticipating the moment you arrive with such ferver that he’s been actively waiting for you. I’ll go over this a little more beneath another screenshot, but this really does highlight A) just how much it means to him that you’re coming over for a hangout and nothing more, and B) how rarely this happens for him that it’s an event worth waiting for.

This is, mostly, just exceedingly cute, in my eyes.

Firstly, the onesies are canonically a gift from Diavolo due to his enthusiasm for the concept of sleepovers and his enjoyment at having everyone wear one (which he believes makes it feel like a festivity). He’s so into the idea of everyone doing something together that, even if they aren’t specifically there with him, he’s had these outfits made for the beings he considers friends to unify them in fun and merriment.

These are things he’s never been able to do before. With his isolated and sheltered childhood, the experience of sleepovers with friends - something more than normal for most (if not all) of us - would have been something he completely missed out on due to the impossibility. He couldn’t get anyone close enough to him to even make friends, let alone have them spend the night with him playing games and having fun.

So, this act of making onesies and sending them out? This is probably his own way of replicating that experience. He’s aware that a lot of the demons - and possibly the angels - won’t be too enthused with the events he has planned, and might begrudge even showing up. Doing this instead - letting them have their own sleepovers but with his gift - is like giving them that freedom and distance from him while still being involved.

It also shows the sort of relationship he wants to have with them. Yes, he canonically needs to send everyone an outfit since that’s how outfits in these events work - but the devs could have just as easily come up with some other reason for them all having onesies. Considering the main event, it could’ve literally just been “these are outfits forced on them as part of the curse, and are retained afterwards as a reminder of the experience”.

To state, then, that Diavolo had these made for everyone - and combined with another screenshot I’ll show later, where Diavolo announces that he believes onesies to be part of the sleepover experience - shows that he wants the other main characters to be the kind of friends comfortable and happy enough in his company to willingly spend extended time with him.

(It also shows, I think, that they’re the friends he always hoped for as a child. You often find that people who were isolated as children or forced to grow up too quickly try to recreate moments they never got to experience in their childhood once they’re adults. I fully believe Diavolo is doing this. He’s always doing this; it’s why he can be so immature at times. He wasn’t allowed to be a normal kid, so he’s being a big kid now to make up for lost time. It’s why it’s so important to him that he does this sort of thing with others.)

Secondly, I love the wording of the second screenshot: “I’ve had yours specially tailored”.

This is a way around not showing MC with a onesie, and allowing all of us to create our own, sure. However, it’s also Diavolo openly admitting that he’s put extra work (and no doubt time and money) into having MC’s outfit created. After all, it’s not likely due to us being human; Solomon’s a human too, and he got his onesie without issue (Simeon explains that Purgatory Hall get theirs at the same time in his SSR Devilgram, Purgatory’s Pajama Party).

The implication? Diavolo didn’t just want to give us a onesie; he wanted to give us the perfect onesie.

Do you recall that I said I’d come back to Diavolo’s waiting later? This is why. (Please excuse the shoddy editing to remove my own MC’s name-)

This exchange says so much about Diavolo’s relationship with you. Not only is he anticipating your arrival, he’s anticipating it with such unrestrained glee that he - the Prince of the Devildom; most powerful demon in his entire kingdom - ignored typical royal protocol and sat down in front of the castle entrance, impatiently waiting for your arrival, so he could be the first person you saw as you entered.

The way he words it, you can imagine him bubbling with excitement, eyes constantly flickering over to the clock, shifting in his seat until the need to pace drew him to his feet, counting down the minutes until your scheduled arrival. Then, maybe fifteen minutes early - or thirty, or an hour - he can’t contain himself anymore. The sheer excitement - the knowledge that you’ll be there soon, there of your own free will, there to spend time with him - finally gets the better of him, and he sneaks away to stand before the grand front doors, eagerly awaiting the moment they open to reveal your much-loved form.

I’d definitely say it was a substantial amount of time, too. Fifteen minutes at the least, and maybe an hour at the most; Barbatos seems genuinely shocked, and the fact he says “all this time” implies Diavolo’s been guarding the door for a while. Longer than any reasonable demon - let alone a royal one - should have been.

This childish excitement really does show just how much of that lost youth Diavolo is getting back through MC. You let him experience things he never got to; things that were utterly normal for everyone else. He gets to replace those memories of loneliness and isolation with these moments of exhilaration and unrepentant joy - all because you treat him like someone normal. Someone worthy of care.

Additionally, the extent to his feelings towards you? Fully encompassed in that screenshot: “For [MC], no amount of time is too long.”

He cares about you and enjoys your company to such a degree, he’ll wait however long it takes just to see you. Every moment spent counting the minutes and seconds is worth it if, at the end, he gets to spend time with you. You - the one being he’s fully confident enjoys his presence as much as he enjoys yours - mean so much to him, you’re fully capable of making the Prince of the Devildom wait for hours, and he’ll be perfectly content to just sit there until you arrive.

What other being in all the Three Realms can claim the same thing? That they made the Prince wait for their arrival, and rather than be met with annoyance and disregard, they walked in to a veritable man-puppy so overwhelmingly enthused to see them he had to be scolded by his butler for breaking protocol?

The best part, of course, is Barbatos’ response. He sounds so resigned, so disbelieving; like a mother sighing over their child’s ridiculous behaviour.

This isn’t the first time Diavolo’s done something like this. This isn’t the first time Barbatos has had to reprimand Diavolo for acting in an un-princely manner over you. It’s something we’ve seen before, of course - in the aforementioned Concealed in Colour Devilgram, Barbatos teases Diavolo for constantly inviting MC over just to see you - but in this instance? When it’s not just Diavolo making up some scheme to lure you to the castle? It implies something else.

Firstly, it implies Diavolo’s behaviour regarding you is completely different to his behaviour regarding anyone else. That sort of childish, gleeful, almost puppyish excitement? The enthusiasm that makes him lose his poise and authority, and drives him to do such expressive things as wait to greet you at the front door? That’s very likely reserved only for you. It’s only you that he so wholly loses his shit over, to be absolutely blunt about it. It’s only you he feels so strongly for as to make such a bold declaration over.

Secondly, though? It implies this sort of... length, I think, is the best way to word it; the lengths Diavolo will go for you, even in really small, insignificant ways. “Whenever anything concerns [you] in the slightest”, Diavolo will forego all set boundries and standards. That feeling of resignation is Barbatos chastising Diavolo’s utter willingness to do... pretty much anything for you.

He’s just so excited that you’re there, he overreacts. From the tone, the sprite, and the wording used, I could fully imagine that, when it comes to you, Diavolo isn’t above diving out windows just to keep good on a promise. He isn’t above going the extra mile for your sake, whether asked for or not.

And though it’s done in a humorous way here - really just implying that Barbatos is a bit done with Diavolo’s sillier antics when it comes to you - it does make me wonder just how far that goes. It’s when anything concerns you “in the slightest”. Not just directly, but anything that has you in it even tangentially.

How much has Diavolo done, or planned, or changed, solely because it might have a glancing side-effect that makes you smile? How many times has Barbatos had to mention your name in something to get Diavolo to take an active interest in it? How many times has, “I believe MC would benefit from this...” actually worked to get Diavolo to consider a proposed deal?

More than that, however; if these are the lengths Diavolo goes to when you’re only slightly involved... what lengths would he go to if you’re more directly involved? What lengths would he go to if your involvement was something dangerous? Something that could have a rippling effect across the Three Realms?

You’re the only true friend Diavolo really has. He’s admitted before, more than once - both in the main game and in Devilgrams - that he’s aware both Lucifer and Barbatos don’t consider him as much of a friend as he considers them, and although we know of someone like Queen Rose, we don’t actually know the full extent of their friendship. Certainly not all too close, if the Dame event was anything to go by; it still felt stiff and formal, and Diavolo was still putting on airs.

You’re the only friend he can really let loose with; can laugh and play and spend time with, without having to do so through a veneer of formality.

He can be himself around you. Not the Prince, but Diavolo.

How far would Diavolo go to preserve the only friend he’s ever had?

+++

This post is the longest one of the lot, so if you made it this far - thank you! Hopefully it’s been an enjoyable and easy read.

The next set of screenshots are a bit more clear and don’t require so much in-depth thinking, but still provide plenty food for thought regarding Diavolo and his relationship with MC. They also go into content that you have to use Story Keys to unlock, so if you’re unwilling to see spoilers, you’ll have to end your reading here.

That said, if you’ve already unlocked the Devilgram (or are curious about what happens next/how much we learn about Diavolo in the next chapter), you can hop right over to part 2!

#obey me diavolo #obey me analysis #Character analysis more like but... you know #obey me

30 notes · View notes

jokertrap-ran · 3 years

Photo

(未定事件簿) EVENT! 「眷然恋影」 [Tears of Themis] EVENT: Zuo Ran Birthday 2021- Days to Re-Live Forever (4.26: Birthday Celebration)

*Tears of Themis Masterlist / Mobile Masterlist *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *Will also be filed under Zuo Ran’s tag #Tears of a Lawyer *The tracking tag for ALL Event Stories will go under: #Tears of an Event

4.18 / 4.20 / 4.22 / 4.24 / 4.26 Messages / Investigations / Call

On the day of Zuo Ran's birthday, I asked sister Zhao Xing for her help beforehand to arrange his schedule so that he got off work right on the dot.

And, using the reasoning of "The volunteers need more hands to finish setting up the set", I invited him to the Film Museum.

I explained what I did as a volunteer along our way there, doing my best to avoid the topic entirely, for fear that he'd pick up on my intent.

Very soon, we found ourselves at the Live-action Studio.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Live Action Studio

Zuo Ran: Is the place that requires help still up ahead?

MC: Yes. Soon. We'll be there soon, just a little more!

I did my best to suppress the nervousness that nagged at me, turning at the curb together with him up ahead before reaching a did. I knew that what laid behind the door was none other than the set that I'd painstakingly decorated.

▷Choice: Push the door open

Tugging at his hand, I took a deep breath and opened the doors.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Set

MC: Happy Birthday, Lawyer Zuo!

I cheered right as we entered.

Zuo Ran: You… This...

All we could see around us were the streets that gave off a foreign vibe, the light shining through the windows comforting and warm.

This was the set I chose— This was where Mary and Tim had their first date after he'd time travelled.

In the film, Mary stood in front of the shop's entrance after dinner, asking if Tim could see her off. This was also where their story had truly begun.

Be it the signboard atop the entrance, the hanging plants, or the colourful street decor, it all made people reminiscent of that one beautiful, destined night.

Zuo Ran: This is the Restaurant on the corner that Tim and Mary had their first date at?

MC: That's right, I knew you'd recognize it at a glance!

Of course, I'd also done a couple of adjustments to the set itself by adding a couple of birthday decor.

For example, the row of lights hanging from the roof, the colourful flags the spelled "Happy Birthday", and the many gifts stacked beside the coffee table.

And hidden among those gifts, was the "Collector's Edition: The World-wide Film Script Collection".

This made Zuo Ran, who'd remained calm and unfazed in the face of all that has happened, express a rare moment of surprise.

Zuo Ran: So, that's why you...

I knew that it was going to be hard to explain everything to him immediately, so I decided to sit him down first.

MC: Okay, okay, I know that you must have a truckload of questions; but first, have a seat and try the desserts and coffee that I made.

MC: I'll slowly tell you about the secrets of this place after that.

Zuo Ran: So, you recreated the scenes in the movie "About Time" because you saw how much I loved it…?

Zuo Ran's expression gradually grew fonder as he heard the reasoning behind how this set came to be.

MC: That's right! Besides, birthdays are meant to bring happiness to the birthday star, so obviously I'll have to choose the movie you love best!

Zuo Ran: Thank you.

He surveyed the surrounding decor, gently stroking the shop window beside him that had been fully decorated with plants.

Zuo Ran: Tim invited Mary away from the boring party, bringing her to this restaurant with a transparent window instead.

Zuo Ran: Here, they had dinner with each other, shared their most heartfelt sentiments, and walked along this path after.

MC: Yes, that's a classic, and very memorable scene!

Zuo Ran: Even the small chef miniature on the storefront looks almost exactly the same. I never thought that you'd manage to recreate even that— To such perfection.

MC: You'll have to thank the Film Museum for those. They were the ones who made replicas of the original; all I did was to exchange for them with the points I earned.

MC: Oh yes, I've got another special gift for you apart from all of these. That was one of the main reasons why I'd decided to become a volunteer in the first place.

I handed him a small booklet.

MC: This is what the guests of the Film Festival have said about "Robin".

After obtaining permission from the Film Museum, I picked out all the answers pertaining to Robin from the survey and bound it into a small booklet as a special gift for Zuo Ran.

And now, I was eagerly anticipating his reaction to this gift.

Zuo Ran: ……

He tensed a little at the mention of "Robin".

Zuo Ran: "Robin"? Why are you giving this to me?

MC: Well… I felt that "Robin" was different from the other Film Critics out on the net that you'd probably find a little distasteful.

MC: His reviews all give off a vibe similar to your own. So, I think you're… Probably acquainted with him?

Zuo Ran: So you're saying that you really like this guy?

MC: Yeah. I've reread all of his reviews a good many times now. The only unfortunate thing is that he never did share anything about his person, and neither did he leave any contact details.

MC: And even though the organizer wants to invite him for the closing ceremony if the Film Festival, they have no choice but to attempt contacting him through online means. Otherwise, I'd really have wanted to know his true identity.

I scrutinized his expression, trying to find any tells that he might show when trying to debunk my guess about his other identity. But who would have thought...

Zuo Ran: ... I'm Robin.

He'd admitted to it, unwavering, driving his point straight home.

MC: So.. Does this mean that you admit to it?

Zuo Ran: And I'm presuming from your reaction that you've already long since guessed it?

MC: Yeah, I did.

Zuo Ran: Sorry, I should have told you earlier.

MC: I probably guessed it back when I saw the picture of the shadow puppet that you sent out.

MC: And then, I slowly came to realize that you and Robin happened to coincide more and more frequently, so much that the answer to it all was pretty much already set in stone.

MC: This present is the reason why I specially added questions about Robin into the questionnaire, and also because I wanted to know a little more about you.

Zuo Ran: You're the first person...

Perhaps it was the trick of the light, but Zuo Ran's face had a faint red tint to it.

Zuo Ran: You're the first person to have gone through so much trouble for me. This present gives me innumerable joy.

MC: Yeah, I'm glad you like it...

His eyes appeared soft beyond words, unconsciously sucking me into it's enchanting depths.

Zuo Ran: It was never my intention to hide it from you, but I'd rather my Film Reviews to be just that; a pure and unhindered exchange of personal opinion.

Zuo Ran: And that might be harder to achieve if my real identity becomes associated with my identity as Robin.

Zuo Ran: ...I've always thought that I managed to keep it well under wraps since I've never let anything slip with my real life, and neither did I post any personal info.

Zuo Ran: Even acquaintances. It’s hard to find even a single connection between any of us even if you tried.

Zuo Ran: I never thought that you seriously re-read everything I wrote over and over again that many times...

MC: I just...

Zuo Ran: I suppose that’s why you’re probably the only person who’s capable of finding out my other identity.

MC: Don’t worry, Lawyer Zuo. I won’t tell anyone about your identity as Robin. Just treat it as our little secret, okay?

Zuo Ran: Okay. Our little secret.

Suddenly, he gently held my hand.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Zuo Ran: Thank you for preparing so much for me, for my birthday.

Zuo Ran: Recreating a movie, preparing presents, carefully planning everything up till today… I really like this surprise of yours.

Zuo Ran: It is only thanks to you that I truly know now, what “Every moment in life brings innumerable joys” really means.

Zuo Ran: “Every day of our life is a journey in time. All we can do is to do the best we can to cherish this beautiful and wondrous journey of ours.”

That was the same exact line of the movie that he’d just murmured ever so softly.

MC: Isn’t that Tim’s final monologue on “About Time”?

Zuo Ran: Oh? You still remember it? He finally had an epiphany, realizing the value of an ordinary life after his countless journeys through time and space.

MC: I remember. He finally understood that time-travel was not the most important thing in the world; but what was most important, was for him to cherish everything he currently had,

Zuo Ran: That’s right. Even if living life like this will give birth to some regrets.

Zuo Ran: I watch this movie several times a year; and every time, I’ll get a new experience through these lines.

Zuo Ran: I too, once longed to Time-travel just like the hero; to change the past that could no longer be turned back in time.

Zuo Ran: But I don't think so anymore. Especially ever since I met you.

His ears were slightly red, but the sound of his voice that had reached my ears were firm and as clear as the day. I felt my cheeks warm.

MC: ……

Zuo Ran and I both immersed ourselves in the scene of the foreign street that we were in for a while. The night waxed, the colourful lights shining bright.

And he'dheld onto my hand throughout it all; across the stars and till the end of time.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Location: Home

After the Film Festival had ended, the popular and renowned Film Critic among the masses, named "Robin", turned down the interview for the column and ended up not showing for the closing ceremony.

But he'd still heeded the organizer's request, releasing a long article to express his thoughts about the Film Festival and its many different movies.

I carefully read through this article; and unsurprisingly, I spotted a particular line.

"Every moment in life brings innumerable joys."

So, "All we can do is to do the best we can to cherish this beautiful and wondrous journey of ours.”

MC: (Yeah, I'll do my best to cherish what I have now too.)

My eyes lingered on this line for a long while, my lips curling into a knowing smile.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Previous Part: (4.24: Exchanging Movie Reviews)

#Tears of Themis #Zuo Ran #左然 #Translations #Otome #Mihoyo #未定事件簿 #眷然恋影 #Days to ReLive forever #Zuo Ran 2021 Birthday #Tears of a Lawyer #Tears of an Event #weiding shijian bu #tears of themis translations

51 notes · View notes

kiingocreative · 3 years

Text

The Structure of Story is now available! Check it out on Amazon, via the link in our bio, or at https://kiingo.co/book

Every author starting out will know how important reviews are. If you’re yet to be convinced, here are some fun facts about reviews*:

1. 88% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.

2. 72% of consumers will take action after reading a positive review.

3. Positive reviews tell Amazon and Google you’re worth ranking and can boost search results for your book by feeding into SEO (reviews account for almost 10% of total search ranking factors).

So reviews aren’t just a nice to have — they’re critical to the success of a book.

Now, amongst the writers community, we talk a lot about receiving reviews, but less so about giving reviews. I enjoy writing book reviews immensely, because it makes me think about what I’m reading on a different level, and forces me to learn how to articulate that opinion. This is actually one of the main reasons why I got into professional BETA reading.

I was asked recently how I structure my book reviews (all of which can be found on my blog), so here you have it: all the secrets to how I go about writing book reviews, along with some concrete examples!

Start With Why.

The most important question to ask yourself before you even start writing a review is this:

Why do people read book reviews?

In essence, they want to know whether the book is good, what it’s about, and — more importantly — whether they should read it. They generally like some context and detail to back the review so that they feel it’s genuine and trustworthy.

If you can keep in mind what people generally want to get out of a book review, this will help you keep your review relevant and useful. It’ll help you figure out what’s worth including and what isn’t. If in doubt, ask yourself what you would want to read about in a review when you’re trying to decide whether or not to buy a book.

Some Key Questions.

Before you start writing, you also need to ponder a few things. It may not always feel natural to reflect on a book on this level of detail — it didn’t for me at first. I either liked a book, or I loved it, or I didn’t, but I rarely spent a lot of time critically thinking about why I did or didn’t like a read.

If you’re also finding this uncomfortable at first, I say stick with it. I found it extremely interesting to make myself think these things through. It’s made my writing so much better, because I’ve developed that objective evaluation muscle that activates even when I’m with my own work. It’s also made me much better at forming and formulating an opinion, which is something I didn’t use to be good at!

Here are some questions to start with before you start on your review:

• Did you like the book?

• What did you like about it?

• What didn’t you like about it?

• Are there any themes that were particularly well handled?

• Were there any characters you liked above others, and why?

• Would you recommend the book to a friend?

These few questions will start shaping your view of what you’ve read and provide the main elements of your review.

To take your critical reading to the next level, you may want to ponder the various elements of the story and the writing as a whole. Think about:

• The plot / storyline — is it strong? Consistent? Original? Enticing? Are there gaps?

• The characters and character arcs — are all characters well developed? Multi-layered? Do they make sense? Are they relatable?

• The key themes — what are some recurring topics through the story? Are they well handled?

• The pace and timeline — is the story progressing at a good pace? Where does it lag? Does the timeline make sense?

• The writing style — how was the writing style? Did it flow well? Did it feel unique or original?

• The dialogues — did they feel natural? Were they believable? Were they engaging? Did they add to the overall story?

• The editing — how was the editing? Were there any typos or formatting errors?

Example Review Outline

Once you’ve spent some time with those initial questions, you’ll find it gives you the best part of your review content. At first, you may want to note down your answers to each of these. With time, you may find you can process these in your mind faster than you did before, and you don’t need so many notes. Whichever way is right for you, once you have this, you’re ready to start structuring your review.

I tend to use the following outline (though, of course, this isn’t the one and only way to write a review!):

1. Star Rating:

It’s most common in this day and age to include a rating in your review. There are talks out there about not leaving a rating on a book, because these can be extremely subjective — someone’s three-star rating may mean they loved the book but for others it’s a negative rating, some people don’t leave five-star reviews out of principle etc.

If you’re reviewing the book on Amazon and Goodreads however, you don’t have a choice but to pick a rating out of five stars. Have a think about how that rating system relates to you. For instance: would you leave five star ratings? What rating do you use for a book you liked versus a book you absolutely loved? What kind of book would warrant a low-rating? etc.

2. Opening:

Start with a short overview of what you thought of the book. This should give the reader a concise view of what you thought of the book, in two or three sentences. The idea is that, if they read only this opening part of the review, they should know your view on the matter.

Here’s an example opening paragraph I wrote for Heart of a Runaway Girl by Trevor Wiltzen:

‘Heart of a Runaway Girl is a breath of fresh air. As far as crime and murder investigation novels go, I only ever read Agatha Christie, so my standard is high. But this book did not disappoint.’

3. Synopsis:

The next section of the review is a short summary of the book, which should give the main elements of the plot. I tend to keep that part really short because I find that, if anyone wants to know the specifics, the book blurb the author so diligently wrote for the back cover is a much better place to learn more about that. Yes, you need to give a sense of what the book’s about, but it shouldn’t be the bulk of the review.

I think this is a matter of personal preference, I’ve seen reviews out there with a much longer synopsis section, but I always find myself skipping those bits to get to the nitty gritty of the review, which is what the person thought. There again, go back to the why — people who read reviews do so to find out whether or not they want to buy a book, so the more valuable pieces to help with that (in my view) are your opinions, more than an in-depth summary which they can find elsewhere.

For instance, when I reviewed Counter Ops by Jessica Scurlock, the second opus in the Pretty Lies series, I kept the synopsis paragraph to:

‘In Counter Ops, we meet a familiar duo, Ivy and Nixon, as they face the aftermath of the Elite Auction, and each endure its painful consequences. We follow their journey as they try to escape their fate and attempt to come to each other’s rescue — in more ways than one.’

4. Highlights:

The next part is what I call the ‘highlights’. This is where you talk about what you liked most about the book, or what you thought the strongest parts of the book were. This can focus on one element of the book (a character, a part of the plot, a theme etc.) or cover multiple elements.

See, for example, the highlights I picked for my review of Age of the Almek by Tara Lake:

‘I loved the author's ability to give every character their own voice and a distinct perspective on the world around them. I loved how involved I became with every character's fate and woes. I loved the precision with which the Almek world has been created, with such minuteness you can picture it down to the finest details.

My favourite part is the portrayal of the many facets of human nature, be it through the reactions of the masses to the barbaric ways of their rulers or the individual views of the protagonists. In every Almek citizen is a piece of the great puzzle that is humanity at large, and the author has a gift for writing it as raw and real as it gets.’

5. Mitigate your view:

Right after the highlights is where you’d add anything that mitigates your view. That’s anything that wasn’t quite as strong as you’d want it to be, or anything you weren’t a fan of.

You can skip this part if there’s nothing you didn’t like about the book — you don’t have to go nitpicking if nothing comes to mind. And it doesn’t have to be a bashing of the author and their work either. Keep it constructive and explain why you felt that way. There’s never a need for insults or expletives, and these wouldn’t enhance the quality of your review anyways. Formulating constructive criticism takes practice, and requires tact and subtlety. It’s a valuable skill to have if you’re willing to invest time in honing it.

Here’s how I phrased that part of the review for Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan:

‘But - and there's a but - my qualm with this book is that, for a story that revolves entirely around Nick and Rachel... There's actually very little Nick and Rachel in it!

Yes it's all 'about' them and it talks 'of' them loads, and we're told theyare happy together and want to be together... But it's all 'tell' and no 'show'. Their intimacy is sorely lacking, so I was left missing that added colour to convince me that they, in fact, do love each other. And I'm not talking saucy passages — I 'm talking about basic things suchas them actually talking to each other and spending time together.’

6. Conclusion:

The final part of the review is a short paragraph with closing remarks, such as a short summary of your view on the book, whether or not you recommend it or some indication of what readers the book may be for (e.g. ‘if you liked… you may like this book’).

When I reviewed Collision by Kristen Granata, I ended the review with:

‘Readers used to intricate, far-fetched romance plots may find this book too straightforward for their liking. In my mind, this is what makes the book's key strength: it's real and honest, it takes the reader through difficult situations and complex emotions beautifully, and that makes it all the more relatable.

A great read overall - and the moment I finished the last page, I was on Amazon ordering the next book in the series!’

How long should a review be?

I don’t think there should be a minimum or maximum word count to a review, though I find that mine end up being around 300 to 500 words. I feel this is a good length because as a reviewer this forces me to be concise and clear in expressing my opinions, and as a reader it’s long enough to give people a sense of the book, but not too long that they’ll drop off before the end.

Final Thoughts: To spoil or not to spoil?

My view on adding spoilers in your review is simple: DON’T.

Try as I might, I can’t fathom what could be gained from adding spoilers to a review. Once again: back to the why. Someone reads a review to find out if they want to read the book themselves. If you ruin the plot for them in that review, what’s the incentive to pick up the book?

It just hurts the author’s chances of making a book sale, and it robs a fellow reader of the joyful rollercoaster of finding out those plot twists at their own pace. Don’t do it, it’s just rude.

*Sources:

www.bookmarketingtools.com

www.searchenginewatch.com

www.dealeron.com

#writingtips #screenwriting #creative writing #writers on tumblr #writers #writing #writerblr #writing advice #writing community #writing resources

11 notes · View notes

animehun7er · 3 years

Text

TOP ECCHi ANiME TO WATCH FOR

It’s sexy time now or in anime terms, it’s ‘ecchi’ time now. After doing a list about some of the popular harem anime out there, why not compile another list, this time with popular ecchi anime. The ecchi genre has been a fan favourite for a long time. So much so that there are special fanservice episodes in anime from other genres. Though I am not an avid watcher of ecchi anime sometimes I do tend to dwell in them. If you are looking for some sexy anime the here’s a list compiled just for you. So, let’s see what are some of the top ecchi anime out ever. You can watch some of these best ecchi anime movies on Crunchyroll or YouTube. Most of these anime are erotic and hot

10. No Game No Life (2014)

‘No Game No Life’ is a fantasy, ecchi anime. It has been made bright, colourful, and is filled with fan service. I liked the premise of the movie (though it has been done before). The base theme is that you have to play high-stake games to make critical decisions. Thus, this removes all kind of action, bloodshed, and war. So, if you are into that action anime then I suggest you skip this one. Sora and Shiro are one of the best online gamers. They are siblings who are not currently pursuing any sort of education or doing any jobs. Their online game username is ‘Blank’ which has achieved a sort of legendary status. They don’t go out much and feel that the real world is nothing but a lame game.

One day they receive an e-mail which challenges them to play a match of chess. This starts their adventures in another realm where every rivalry and problem is solved by games. The ruler of this world, Disboard, is Tet, who is the God of Games. This system of settling disputes and discord via high-stake games works pretty well for one particular reason. Both the parties must wager something equal in value to the wager of the opposite party. Now, the gaming genius duo Sora and Shiro has got a reason to play games. They must unite all the races of this world to play against Tet so that they become the new God of Games.

9. Kill la Kill (2013)

‘Kill la Kill’ is an entertaining anime. There are two ways of watching this show. You can watch it as a parody of sorts and enjoy how it satirically criticizes the stereotypical anime paraphernalia. You can also watch it as a common ecchi, action anime with strong female leads and lots of funny scenes. Whichever way you choose you will end up having fun while viewing this show. Though at first, the series might feel a bit confusing and clichéd it matures gradually as the series approaches the end. Ryuuko Matoi is the protagonist of the series. Her father was an inventor. One of his inventions is a scissor-like weapon. It is the missing half of this weapon which serves as the only remaining clue of his murder that Ryuuko has.

With the remaining half of the scissor blade, she ventures out to find the killer of her father and avenge his death. Her investigation takes her to Honnouji Academy. It is a prestigious academy at the top of which is the cold and heartless Satsuki Kiryuuin, the student council president. Four people serve her and are known as the Elite Four. They have been given God Clothes by Satsuki which grants them superhuman powers. Ryuuko tries to fight one of them but looses and retreats to her home. There she finds a rare God Cloth which after coming in contact with her blood latches onto her. This gives her immense superhuman abilities.

Now, armed with power Ryuuko ventures once again to the Honnouji Academy to face Satsuki and her underlings to uncover the culprit behind her father’s murder.

8. Highschool of the Dead (2010)

The only reason I decided to include ‘Highschool of the Dead’ is that I found it quite entertaining. Mind you it is nowhere close to some great ecchi anime like ‘Shokugeki no Soma’ but it is entertaining nonetheless. It is an erotic zombie apocalypse anime with lots of fanservice. There are some steamy hot scenes in this anime. It does not plan to intrigue the viewers with a complex and interesting plot or relatable characters (though at times you can relate with some of them) but rather let them enjoy a sexy little zombie apocalypse anime. So, if you are a fan of the genre then you might enjoy it.

The plot starts with the world suddenly amid a zombie apocalypse. People start turning into the undead. The entire social structure is experiencing a great demise as humans start feeding on each other. Takashi Kimuro is the protagonist of this anime. His friend, unfortunately, turns into a zombie. Takashi takes the harsh decision and kills his friend before he can harm anyone. He promises to protect the girlfriend of his friend. As they navigate through their school campus they meet a bunch of other students and a school nurse. All of them are trying to escape this predicament. They decide to bundle up together and work as a team so that they can survive this apocalypse.

7. Sekirei (2008)

‘Sekirei’ is a popular ecchi genre anime and like lots of other anime in this genre, it too uses the supernatural theme. The series has some funny scenes and some over-the-top action sequences. The female characters, who are the centre of attraction for all ecchi anime fans, in this anime are quite pretty and sexy. They are nicely endowed and have voluptuous figures. Though it is common in these types of anime I felt that ‘Sekirei’ was somewhat misogynistic in its approach. It is one thing to make women wear skimpy and tight clothes (which is quite staple in any ecchi anime) but it is another thing to treat them as objects. This was one of the most obnoxious things about this anime. If you can get over this fact then it will become a fun little anime which you can either binge or watch an episode or two once in a while taking a break from your regular stuff.

Though Minato Sahashi is not an idiot he keeps struggling with academics. He tries hard but ends up failing the college entrance exams a second time. He and people around him lose their hope and think that Minato is a failure. But suddenly his life changes when a beautiful human-like extraterrestrial-being falls into his life (literally). Her name is Musubi. She is a Sekirei, special beings who kiss humans who possess a special gene to unhide their secret powers. Musubi brings out Minato’s hidden powers but now he is paired with her to compete against other similar pairs. What Minato doesn’t know is that there is far more danger regarding this than he thinks.

6. Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san (2018)

Up next is another supernatural ecchi anime. If you fantasize about sexy supernatural or fantastical beings then you will enjoy ‘Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san’. There are 12 episodes in this series and each episode is around 23 minutes long. If you have ventured into the ecchi genre after watching anime like ‘Shokugeki no Soma’ then I will suggest you not to hang around this genre much, since most anime are not remotely like it. They are filled with lots of fanservice and buxom beauties and that’s mostly about it.

Fuyuzora Kogarashi is a medium and has been troubled by spirits since his childhood. He has been possessed many times but as he grew older he became more resistant towards the spirits and can now even exorcize them with just a punch. But he is poor and in need of a cheap boarding house to stay in. He finds it quite cheap to stay at the Yuragi manor. The main reason that this Manor is cheap is that it is haunted. But having dealt with ghosts most of his life Fuyuzora has no problem with it and starts staying in the house. The other tenants of the house are beautiful and sexy females. There he meets the ghost of the girl who is haunting the house. After Fuyuzora vows to help fulfil her lingering wish, the other members of the house reveal their supernatural nature.

5. Sankarea (2012)

The next anime is an odd one. ‘Sankarea’ had one of the most unusual plots. The main character is Chihiro Furuya a boy obsessed with everything ‘zombie’. He is so into them that he even wants a zombie girlfriend. One day Chihiro’s cat Baabu dies. This makes him determined to create a resurrection potion. He finds one of the main ingredients in Rea Sanka’s, a girl who wishes to die, house. After the potion is complete Rea decides to drink it thinking that the potion will kill her. But the potion was successful and when Rea, dies in an accident she is resurrected from the dead thus, becoming a zombie. Though this situation may seem ideal for Chihiro he faces a lot of trouble to deal with Rea.

4. Mayo Chiki! (2011)

Kinjirou Sakamachi had developed gynophobia, a fear of women, thanks to his mother and sister’s wrestling obsession. One advantage did come out of this though, his body has become very resilient allowing him to even brush off bumps from vehicles. But his fear is quite abnormal so much so that even a touch from a female can make his nose bleed. He ends up discovering that Subaru Konoe, who is the butler to his headmaster’s daughter, is a female. In exchange for secrecy, she promises to cure his phobia.

3. Prison School (2015)

Hachimitsu Private Academy is a popular all-girls academy until very recently when it decided to let boys enrol. After the first enrollment process, only 5 boys are selected. This puts them in a very awkward position as they cannot converse with almost any of their classmates since they are all female and ignore them. They try to find recluse in being peeping toms. But they are caught and thrown in the school prison for one month. Will they be able to survive or will they break?

2. High School DxD (2012)

Issei Hyoudou is your everyday pervert who wants to own a harem someday. He enjoys peeping on women. One day he is asked by a girl. Unfortunately, the girl is a fallen angel who wants to kill Issei and is successful in doing so. End of story, right? Wait! Issei is then resurrected by Rias Gremory, a devil, who makes him her servant. Now, Issei must adjust to this new lifestyle and survive in the vicious world of devils and angels.

1. Shokugeki no Souma (2015)

Souma Yukihira has been working as a sous chef under his father in their family restaurant. He is quite creative in his cooking style and entertains the customers with skilful culinary creations. His dream is to one day become the head chef of the restaurant. His dream is however cut short when his father closes down the business and enrols Souma in Tootsuki Culinary Academy. Now, he needs to work hard since only 10% of the students can graduate. Will he be able to survive the academy and its famous food wars?

12 notes · View notes

jwillgoose · 3 years

Text

The record is finished... what now?

We finished our fourth album last week, so I thought it might be interesting (spoiler alert: it probably isn’t) to do a quick post about what happens once a record is ‘finished’ these days, and why it can seem to take so long between an album being completed and actually being released.

Before I stumbled upon a career in making music, my attitude would’ve been similar to that of many fans, I imagine - why not just put the record out as soon as possible? It’s done, you spent (presumably) ages on it, surely you just want people to hear it and shower you with praise and damning reviews? After all, that’s what Radiohead and Beyoncé seem to do, and they don’t mind if the vinyl follows several months later.

Well, Radiohead are Radiohead and Beyoncé is Beyoncé, and both of those artists (and only a handful more) releasing records is Big News in and of itself. Smaller bands and artists need to use their new record as something to build around, to try and fight desperately for attention in a very competitive industry, to route tours around, even simply to remind people that you still exist (often, admittedly, to their distress). Otherwise it’s all too easy to put something out only to see it burn out very quickly, for it to fall to the bottom of people’s ‘recently played’ streaming algorithms and swiftly fall out of the public consciousness pretty much altogether.

That's why it’s better for 99% of bands and artists to wait until everything is ready and to try to go for one big, focused ‘bang’ (often still a whimper, admittedly), rather than trying to hit the front page of Pitchfork with a near-instantaneous release. And the main thing we’re all waiting for these days, especially with its continued resurgence and importance to artists, labels and fans, is vinyl.

Vinyl lead times pre-pandemic were already a bit ridiculously long because a large number of the pressing plants from back in the day went under or severely reduced their capacity, so we’ve been left with a relative handful of potential suppliers and an awful lot of demand from all corners of the music industry. I think The Race For Space (released Feb 2015) was mastered at the end of October 2014, so made it out there in just over 3-and-a-bit months, and that was with two test pressings after the first failed. By the time Every Valley rolled around (released July 2017) we were already at four-months-and-counting, and don’t even get me started on the White Star Liner EP (tail end of 2018, and the vinyl was late because of test pressing issues).

Anyway, you get the picture, and that’s all pre-COVID, which obviously has done precious little to improve any aspect of the economy, besides enhancing Jeff Bezos’ already undignified / obscene wealth. We were initially quoted 7 months for this album but have managed to get it down a bit from there - still, you’ll no doubt have noticed a lot of delayed releases recently and I am taking nothing for granted, on any level, with this record.

We might seem like a modestly successful band but we are also still very much a small team of people. The sheer amount of work it is to get everything ready, besides ‘just’ the music itself, necessitates a bit of a delay between completion and release. Even now, the artwork, liner notes, credits, administrative aspects (PPL IDs and so on) are queueing up for attention; that’s to say nothing of band photos, press releases, updated bios, pitches for various media features (often with ridiculously long lead times of their own), music videos, remixes, instrumentals... in short, a lot.

Then for a band like us there’s the whole tricky chicanery of designing, building, programming and rehearsing a quite fiendishly complicated live set, all while navigating the risks and uncertainties of doing so during what we hope is the tail-end of a pandemic. It normally takes me about 2-3 months to get an album ready to play live, and that’s just the music side of it - then I need to edit videos to run concurrently, give various assets to Mr B so that he can have more to play with than just an on-rails video, then all get together in a room to see what works (hint: not much) and what needs more work (hint: nearly everything). Mr B also needs a lot of time - justly so - to put together his fiendish set creations as well as creating a lot of original video output himself. Popping up on the radio to do a quick session somewhat belies the amount of work it takes to get new material ready for that stage (should it arrive - we certainly don’t assume it will).

But the main thing, still, is to try to garner as much attention, wake as many people as possible up to the fact that yes, you still exist and yes, you’re still flogging the dead horse that is your band and creative output in a perhaps vain attempt to try to prolong an unlikely career and yes, you can order the Amazing New Record soon in at least 5 different colours to ensure its safe arrival in your homes at the very second of its official release. Hello! We’re still here! Hello! We have a new record! Er.. anyone?

Anyway, that’s just a few items from the very long list of things preoccupying me and the other denizens of PSB Towers between now and release. Hopefully everything will run smoothly, the record will come out when we say it will come out and we can even entertain modest hopes of another reasonably-well-charting album. On that note, a brief aside - chart positions are still incredibly important, if only within the record industry itself. A high chart position makes a lot of people sit up and take notice - bookers, agents, festival promoters and so on - which is another reason why it’s important for those of us who aren’t in Mr Yorke’s merry gang to try to get everything out all at once (in its right place, if you will) rather than staggering digital / vinyl release dates.

Hopefully you found this mildly diverting. It’s mostly served as a nudge in the ribs for me to remind me how much I still need to get on with, so without further ado, off I will go, and on with I will get.

Yours pre-releasedly,

J. Willgoose, Esq.

(PS I’d like to make it clear I love Radiohead, and none of this is even a mild dig at them. They are one of the most wonderful musical outfits ever, and they also have the rare privilege of being able to do what they want, when they want to, which really must be lovely.)

20 notes · View notes

ripjaws · 3 years

Text

Ben 10 Survey Results!

Huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response, it was really fun looking through them all and I was genuinely surprised by the results of some of the questions.

Hopefully this will work under a read more because it's quite long and I don't want people to have to scroll a hundred years to get past it.

If anyone has any questions or anything please feel free to ask! :)

Thanks again!

General

Q1. How would you describe your gender?

36% - Female 25.3% - Male 24% - Non-binary 8% - Prefer not to say 4% - Agender 2.7% - Genderfluid

Q2. How would you describe your sexuality?

32% - Bisexual 20% - Heterosexual 20 % - Asexual 8% - Lesbian 6.7% - Prefer not to say 5.4% - Pansexual 4% - Gay 1.3% - Demisexual 1.3% - Questioning 1.3% - Polysexual

Q3. Current age

48% - 20-24 39% - 15-19 13.3% - 25-30 1.3% - Older than 30 1.3% - Younger than 15

Q4. Age when you first became interested in Ben 10

86.7% - Younger than 15 9.3% - 15-19 2.7% - 20-24 1.3% - 25-30

Episodes and season

Q1. Which series did you watch first?

88% - Original Series 9.3% - Alien Force 1.3% - Omniverse 1.3% - Reboot

Q2. Rank the series in order of preference

[IMAGE ID: Five separate groups of five vertical bar charts. The individual columns for each group are coloured in the same order and corresponds to what ranking they recieved on that question of the survey. According to the key at the top of the image the order is; blue = 1, red = 2, orange = 3, green = 4 & purple = 5. The Y axis of the graph goes from zero to thirty in intervals of ten.

The first group is labelled ‘Original Series’ and shows that it got twenty votes in blue, seventeen votes in red, sixteen votes in orange, ten votes in green & twelve votes in purple.

The second group is labelled ‘Alien Force’ and shows that it got nine votes in blue, eighteen votes in red, twenty-one votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & five votes in purple.

The third group is labelled ‘Ultimate Alien’ and shows that it got thirteen votes in blue, ten votes in red, fourteen votes in orange, twenty-two votes in green & sixteen votes in purple.

The fourth group is labelled ‘Omniverse’ and shows that it got eighteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seventeen votes in orange, fifteen votes in green & ten votes in purple.

The fifth and final group is labelled ‘Reboot’ and shows that it got fifteen votes in blue, fifteen votes in red, seven votes in orange, six votes in green & thirty-two votes in purple. END IMAGE ID]

Q3. Favourite season (Original Series)

40% - Season 1 18.7% - Season 2 18.7% - Season 3 17.3% - Season 4 5.3% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Ken 10 (S4E10) & Kevin 11 (S1E7)

Q4. Favourite season (Alien Force)

52% - Season 2 28% - Season 1 16% - Season 3 4% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched

Most popular episodes were Alone Together (S2E2) & Save the Last Dance (S2E4)

Q5. Favourite Season (Ultimate Alien)

36% - Season 1 25.3% - Season 3 20% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Forge of Creation (S1E16) & Duped (S1E2)

Q6. Favourite Season (Omniverse)

18.7% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 18.7% - Season 2 16% - Season 5 12% - Season 6 10.7% - Season 1 9.3% - Season 8 8% - Season 4 5.3% - Season 3 1.3% - Season 7

Most popular episodes were And Then There Were None (S6E1) & And Then There Was Ben (S6S2)

Q7. Favourite Season (Reboot)

60% - Don’t like/Haven’t watched 17.3% - Season 4 10.7% - Season 3 6.7% - Season 1 5.3% - Season 2

Most popular episodes were Omni-tricked (S1E37) & Innervasion (S2E36)

Q8. Which live action movie did you prefer?

40% - Alien Swarm 22.7% - Race Against time 22.7% - Didn’t like either 14.7% - Haven’t watched either

Characters and aliens

Q1. Favourite main character

45.3% - Ben Tennyson 28% - Kevin Levin 17.3% - Rook Blonko 9.3% - Gwen Tennyson

Some ‘Why’ responses:

Ben -

I know it's a really basic pick but I enjoy Ben alot as a character. Even though I feel like he took an extremely sharp turn into immaturity in the final season of Alien Force onward (from what I've heard it was due to ratings), it still fit well after a bit of time of adjustment. Him being rash and selfish at times while still having a good heart feels...very human. I'm a huge fan of flawed protagonists and Ben is a prime example of such, imo! Plus I hradcanon that he has autism and it's a big comfort for me :)

I love his potential as a character and the way he hands having such power and responsibility thrust upon him. Ben has done so much for the people in his life and the universe, and I absolutely adore him.

I think of him like a kind person who tries his best to the right thing, he's pretty chill and optimist and in my mind he's a chaotic bi and i can relate to that

Kevin -

I like that he's always been an antihero in the original series. And in the reboot I really like the direction the showrunners are taking his character. He has a different backstory, motivations and I'm really enjoying his character development. It's a fresh take on his story and they're treating it with care, which I really appreciate. His Antitrix aliens also have some really incredible designs.

Cool powers, uncommon character in children's media, especially as a primary character often cast in a good light (ex con, high school dropout, masculine, not emotionally mature). His character development is some of the best in the series.

Gods, we could be here forever... Okay, short version- 1) I can relate to him on a mental health level, especially in the OG series we seemed to have similar issues and to handle them in similar ways 2) there's a lot of depth and variance to his character, he's angry and aggressive and dangerous but also a dork, a sweetheart, and very affectionate once he lets his walls down, he loves cars and supernatural romance, violence and magical girls, he'll rescue an aggressive dog for no reason other than it needed help but also he might consider how much he could get for selling you, he's a complex character and he's allowed to be in a way the Tennysons can't because of how firmly they sit in the Hero seat 3) for all of this, we never really know all that much about him and his experiences, at least in comparison to what we know is there- we never learn about his time traveling the galaxy, we haven't heard anything about his time stuck in time, it's only in the reboot we're getting trustworthy information about his background and even then it's rare tidbits- he's ripe for exploring in fic, headcanon, and so-on 4) his powers in the OG series, his status as mutant or alien or both who knows anymore leaves a lot of doors open to play and to look at the world through different angles 5) dude has turned into six different monstrous chimera forms over the course of the franchise and honestly you have to support that sort've shit in media otherwise they might stop

Rook -

Alien catboy with a glorious voice and have you seen those arms??? And he's so polite while also being hilarious when he gets a little rude/snarky and his character development is amazing!!

While I would normally say Ben himself, Rook is his only friend that hasn't tried to kill him. Additionally, he provides Ben with guidance as well as support the Gwen and Kevin are fickle about.

Having an actual alien joining the cast and serving at Ben's foil worked well to me.

Gwen -

Smart, talented, funny, snarky, confident, and super cute. Jock-prep-nerd energy all in one. Deserves the world. Criminally ignored by the majority of the fandom. Knows karate and judo?? College at 16?? Icon.

Angel, can do no wrong, was capable of so much more than the show let her do, potential to be the most powerful member of the team if they'd just let her go a lil feral sometimes :/

She was a good voice of reason most of the time. Her powers were really interesting and overall I think she had a lot of wasted potential having to be sidelined since the series was about Ben ultimately

Q2. Favourite minor characters

40 votes - Paradox

22 votes - Max Tennyson

18 votes - Tetrax

17 votes - Argit

16 votes - Julie Yamamoto

15 votes - Azmuth

12 votes - Ester

10 votes - Looma Red Wind

9 votes - Glitch

9 votes - Kai Green

7 votes - Alan Albright

6 votes - Jimmy Jones

4 votes - Cooper Daniels

3 votes - Eunice

3 votes - Helen Wheels

2 votes - Elena Validus

2 votes - Manny Armstrong

1 vote - Cash Murray

1 vote - Driba

Other votes went to Penny Bennyson, Kenny Tennyson/Spanner, Lucy Mann, Rook Shar, Eddie Grandsmith, Myaxx and Pakmar.

Q3. Ship or Zed

64% - Ship 36% - Zed

Q4. Favourite main antagonist

20% - Albedo 13.3% - Kevin 11 12% - Vilgax 10.7% - Charmcaster 10.7% - Zs’Skayr 9.3% - Malware 5.3% - Forever Knights 5.3% - Eon 4% - Highbreed & DNAliens 4% - Aggregor 1.3% - Servantis & Rooters 1.3% - Khyber 1.3% - Dagon & the Esoterica

Some ‘Why’ responses for top 3:

Albedo -

When I first saw him during the airing of Good Copy, Bad Copy, I was scared that Albedo might be a one-and-done evil clone that doesn't get much development. These fears went away, and I was pleased to find out about his backstory and motives, just a sour soul in an unpleasant situation. Even in Ultimate Alien with his reappearance episode, he tries to work on his own to cope in a horrid human world. He isn't necessarily malicious until Ben gets in his way, he just wants to return to his own body and leave, even stating that he wasn't going to fight Ben anymore while he had temporarily returned to his Galvan form. I know DJW stated in some interview that Albedo could never be redeemed, but I believe there's some hope if he gets help. And I'm a sucker for those redemption arcs :)

Tragic frog man that could have been helped but nobody helped him and he doubled down on his hatred which led to him getting stuck in a cycle of revenge and punishment and it's the tragedy of how much better things could have been for him if someone just helped him that I love so much!!

Kevin 11 -

He’s very dangerous and has a terrifying power to absorb electricity and living DNA to have the same powers of who he absorbed it from and even turn himself into a mutant with all those powers combined leading to destructive power

Kevin was a good antagonist and a good protagonist, although i feel the transition was rushed. Anti-hero kevin in the reboot is great!

Vilgax -

He was always the endgame villian for Ben, despite how many battles they've had, despite countless losses, he always tried to stay one step ahead, and plan everything.

"Speak with care, Psyphon. Your counsel is valuable...not irreplaceable."

Q5. Favourite minor villains

38 votes - Animo 20 votes - Hex 18 votes - Michael Morningstar/Darkstar 14 votes - SixSix 13 votes - Zombozo 9 votes - Vreedle family 9 votes - Vulkanus 8 votes - Rojo 5 votes - Inspector 13 5 votes - Billy Billions 5 votes - Will Harangue 4 votes - Fistrick 4 votes - Nyancy Chan 3 votes - Lord Decibel 3 votes - Simian 3 votes - Subdora 3 votes - Viktor 2 votes - Addwaitya 2 votes - Fistina 2 votes - Kraab 2 votes - Psyphon 2 votes - Steam Smythe 2 votes - Sunder 1 vote - Liam 1 vote - Ssserpent

Other votes went to Maurice & Sydney, Bugg Brothers, Alternate evil Bens, and the Mummy.

Q6. Favourite canon relationship

66.7% - Gwen & Kevin 13.3% - Max Tennyson & Verdona 5.3% - Ben & Kai 4% - Rook & Rayona 1.3% - Julie & Herve 1.3% - Max & Xylene

Q7. Favourite non-canon ship

36% - I don’t have one 30.7% - Ben & Rook 6.7% - Ben & Kevin 4% - Ben & Julie

Other responses included Ben & Rex, Kai & Julie, Looma & Attea, Alan & Cooper, Ben & Looma, Kevin & Manny, Gwen & Cooper, Ben & Ester, Max & Phil, Azmuth & Paradox, Cooper & Elena, Kai & Ester, Ben & Zak Saturday, Ben & Eddie, Ben & Albedo, Ben & Kevin & Gwen, Kenny & Devlin, OC & canon, and Ben & a therapist.

Q8. Favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

18.7% - XLR8 17.3% - Upgrade 13.3% - Ghostfreak 10.7% - Diamondhead 9.3% - Heatblast 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Snare-oh 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Four Arms

Q9. Least favourite alien introduced in the Original Series

22.7% - Eye Guy 18.7% - Spitter 8% - Articguana 8% - Frankenstrike 6.7% - Upchuck 6.7% - Stinkfly 5.3% - Buzzshock 5.3% - Snare-oh 4% - Four Arms 2.7% - Blitzwolfer 2.7% - Ditto 2.7% - Wildmutt 2.7% - Grey Matter 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Diamondhead 1.3% - Ghostfreak

Q10. Favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

46.7% - Big Chill 17.3% - Rath 8% - Goop 6.7% - Lodestar 5.3% - Swampfire 4% - Chromastone 4% - Spidermonkey 2.7% - Alien X 2.7% - Echo Echo 1.3% - Humungousaur 1.3% - Jetray

Q11. Least favourite alien introduced in Alien Force

18.7% - Lodestar 17.3% - Brainstorm 13.3% - Alien X 10.7% - Humungousaur 10.7% - Spidermonkey 8% - Jetray 8% - Chromastone 5.3% - Goop 5.3% - Echo Echo 2.7% - Rath

Q12. Favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

18.7% - Juryrigg 16% - AmpFibian 14.7% - Clockwork 12% - NRG 8% - Armodrillo 8% - Shocksquatch 8% - Terraspin 8% - Water Hazard 2.7% - Chamalien 2.7% - Fasttrack 1.3% - Eatle

Q13. Least favourite alien introduced in Ultimate Alien

30.7% - Fasttrack 18.7% - Eatle 13.3% - Juryrigg 9.3% - Chamalien 8% - Shocksquatch 6.7% - Terraspin 5.3% - Water Hazard 4% - Clockwork 1.3% - AmpFibian 1.3% - Armodrillo 1.3% - NRG

Q14. Favourite Ultimate Form

38.7% - Echo Echo 24% - Big Chill 10.7% - Swampfire 9.3% - Way Big 8% - Wildmutt 6.7% - Spidermonkey 1.3% - Cannonbolt 1.3% - Humungousaur

Q15. Favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

29.3% - Feedback 13.3% - Pesky Dust 12% - Gravattack 9.3% - Ball Weevil 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Whampire 5.3% - Bloxx 4% - Atomix 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Gutrot 1.3% - Crashhopper 1.3% - Kickin Hawk 1.3% - Toepick 1.3% - The Worst

Q16. Least favourite alien introduced in Omniverse

24% - The Worst 14.7% - Bloxx 12% - Mole-Stache 8% - Bullfrag 6.7% - Astrodactyl 6.7% - Kickin Hawk 5.3% - Atomix 5.3% - Gutrot 4% - Crashhopper 4% - Walkatrout 2.7% - Toepick 1.3% - Ball Weevil

Q17. Favourite alternate Ben timeline

29.3% - No watch Ben 24% - Gwen 10 17.3% - Ben 10,000 8% - Mad Ben 6.7% - Dimension 23 6.7% - Eon 4% - Nega Ben 2.7% - Benzarro 1.3% - Bad Ben

Misc.

Q1. Favourite watch design

37.3% - Original Series 29.3% - Omniverse 17.3% - Alien Force 9.3% - Ultimatrix 6.7% - Reboot

Q2. Favourite alternate watch design

29.3% - Biomnitrix 20% - Gwen 10 18.7% - Negatrix 17.3% - Antitrix 8% - Power Watch 6.7% - Hero Watch

Q3. Favourite planet visited

32% - Anur Transyl 20% - Revonnah 13.3% - Mykdl’dy 10.7% - Galvan Prime 9.3% - Vilgaxia 6.7% - Piscciss 5.3% - Petropia 2.7% - Khoros

Q4. Favourite locations

34 votes - Undertown 23 votes - Ledgerdomain 23 votes - Null Void 22 votes - Bellwood 19 votes - Friedkin University 18 votes - Mr. Smoothy 16 votes - Forge of Creation 15 votes - Los Soledad 7 votes - Burger Shack 7 votes - Plumber Headquarters 4 votes - Incarcecon 2 votes - Mt. Rushmore Plumber base 2 votes - The Perplexahedron 1 vote - Plumber Academy

Q5. Favourite Vehicle

33.3% - Kevin’s car (Original) 25.3% - Rustbucket 18.7% - Proto-TRUK 13.3% - DX Mark 10 5.3% - Kevin’s car (Omniverse) 4% - Glitch

Q6. Favourite Kevin mutation

40% - Original series 20% - Ken 10 future 12% - Ultimate Alien 8% - Omniverse 8% - Alien Force 6.7% - Omniverse flashback 5.3% - Reboot

Q7. Favourite Omniverse redesign

66.7% - Ben 26.6% - Kevin 6.7% - Gwen

Q8. Least favourite Omniverse redesign

76% - Gwen 18.7% - Kevin 5.3% - Ben

Thoughts

(Putting every single response here would make this insanely long so I’ve just put the most detailed/most echoed responses & include all sides of opinions when possible.)

Q1. Thoughts on the Osmosians retcon?

Okay, first up, do you know how much work I had already put into building shit surrounding those fuckers by the time of the retcons? I had been working on this crap since AF season 2! But no, they gotta go ruin that in one fell swoop, thank you, much appreciated. Second up, I wibble on it? Like, working with mutants is fun and interesting and I've done plenty of shit with them as well, but in the end I'm always going to be a pro-Ossys person. Mostly the retcons left more questions than they gave answers (how, if Osmosians never existed, did everybody and their mother know Kevin was an Osmosian? why, if Osmosians never existed, did none of the people not-involved in this whole disaster with Servantis's mindfuckery look at Aggregor being reported as an Osmosian and go 'wtf that's not a thing'? do they really mean to tell me that not only did Kevin never bother to look into his heritage, but neither did research-happy Gwen? or am I expected to believe the Rooters made enough fake information and put it out publicly that they fooled literally everyone? and if they did then why? when it would've done the same thing with less effort if they'd just, let Kevin be a mutant with a Plumber father who died) and I feel like they didn't really give enough to justify them. One of those cases of 'making your work less interesting to make it more 'accurate''. Personally, I forever keep working on Osmosians (where's the line where it just starts becoming your shit, I think I may be heading there) and I love on mutants and I flip between or combine the two as needed for whatever story I want to tell.

While the fake memories plot isn't great I think it's for the best because the original series meant for Kevin to be a mutant while UAF changed it to alien. I like him better as a mutant human. Too much alien connections in UAF.

I could scream for hours. Easily one of the worst decisions they ever made. Omniverse picks and chooses what canon to follow from AFUA + the original run and throws it in without care or concern to what it means for the timeline. Retconning something and keeping the effect it had is just bad writing. Kevin coming to terms with not being human and that’s okay was important to me when I was a kid. Knowing that he’s just been on an unending series of brainwashed nonsense all his life deprives him of his agency. I hate this decision more than several dozen essays could ever convey.

I wasn't mad about it. Mainly because I liked the idea of Kevin being a mutant than an alien. Alien Force really was pushing that aspect even with Gwen. To the point where she called her powers 'not spells' because of her heritage. Stupid that the rooters and fake memories were a thing, but necessary.

I was never a big fan of the Rooters Arc, but this doesn't bother me too much. It makes UA a little weird with Aggragor, but again, it doesn't really bother me, as most of Omniverse didn't explore Kevin (While UA Did), and was mostly about Ben.

Osmosians were such a cool idea, and it would've allowed for more exploration into what Mike Morningstar was as well, but just writing them off as mutates is so boring. As well as it makes Aggregors whole part not really make sense, like who is he then.

While well executed, it was unnecessary. You could have had the same story line where Kevin was used to mutate other kids and still had him an Alien. You could have had it where it was another alien species that used Osmosians to morph other species to theirs; a call back to the DNAliens if you want.

Q2. Thoughts on how the Ultimate Kevin situation was dealt with in UA?

Terrible. They wanted to go far. They wanted to go dark. But they didn't think their viewership could handle it so they dialed it back. I will always be curious to know what they would have written if they didn't have those constraints. Because the final product was a mess of contrasting tone and unsure footing about how far to go with questioning our hero's moral compass. They wanted to push Ben to see what he would do and apparently, we got that he would kill Kevin and maybe Gwen if she got in the way of saving the universe.... but not really because he didn't. And then the gang is happy all back together like none of it ever happened. They wanted to explore dark themes but have it leave no consequences on the characters. Also... it was so ableist and awful and Kevin deserved better than how Ben and Max (and the writers) treated him.

If they did everything the same but the argument was 'we need to capture him and lock him away' instead of 'we need to kill him'? I would be fine. It's the fact that they slipped so quickly into murder, into murder by his 16-yo bestfriend, that gets me. Like, there's apparently no space between 'recklessly risk our safety trying to talk him down' and 'Ol' Yeller his ass' and that just does not sit right with me.

Ben should have looked for alternate solutions before jumping on the "Let's kill Kevin" train. I understand why he did (this took place immediately post-Aggregor so Ben was still traumatized about having lost so many people and because he failed and "let" Kevin get turned into Ultimate Kevin, he felt as though every person Kevin hurt would be on him) but I wish he hadn't.

Pretty good actually. I like Gwen's emotions becoming a hindrance to the job, I like Ben putting on his big boy pants and I like Kevin going up to Aggregor and saying "y'know, I was a big boy villain once and I'm tried of just getting kicked around" (obviously paraphrasing)

Other than the scenario being overplayed, I think Ben was right. Kevin was eventually going to end up killing Gwen and he'd already put others in the hospital. He needed to be stopped.

Ben jumping straight to murder, yikes. Kevin dismissing Gwen to hang out with Ben almost as soon as he turned back to normal, yikes. Otherwise, it was an interesting plotline.

Really bad. Really shows how awful max and the plumbers really are. I mean , the guy saved the universe and now he clearly needs help but all they wanted to do was kill him.

it really felt like Ben just wanted to murder Kevin because he saved the universe that one time and Ben couldn't stand someone else being the hero for once

The worst, Max straight away wanting to put him down makes u wonder how long he's been waiting for that kind of opportunity.

I'm fine with it, maybe they could have spent some time dealing with the consequences of Kevin's actions, possibly even the ramifications it had on Ben and Kevin's friendship, but overall I'm ok with it.

Q3. Thoughts on the Plumbers

Plumbers ain't shit. Individuals can be acceptable or not but the organization as a whole has too much power, not enough oversight, utilizes child labor, uses a deathtrap of a hellscape dimension as a penal colony, has been shown onscreen sentencing people to imprisonment in said dimension without a trial, and I'm sorry the fact that a Plumber official could walk into a base with his team, assault several members of staff, attempt to kidnap a boy, admit to having and planning to continue to run illegal experiments on him and others, admit to having altered the memories of other Plumber officials, all in front of the entire base, and nothing was done until he tried to kill the golden child Ben 10 and failed, got his ass kicked by one of his victims, and in a place where presumably there were security cameras? And that the response was, again, to sentence him and his team without trial, take all the evidence, and peace out without so much as looking at nonetheless apologizing to his victims? Yeah, that don't fly. Doesn't sound like an organization that has it's shit together. Either the Plumbers don't have their shit together or the higher ups were in on it until it became something that could actually damage their reputation, and either way I Do Not Approve.

They're pretty cool. I know everyone's talking about how Plumbers are space cops and therefore absolutely corrupt and bad but this is a fictional universe in which corruption in organized forces isn't a necessity. Plumbers don't function the same way real cops do, they don't follow they same chain of command, they don't have the same motivations and they definitely don't have the same biases. Plumbers perform an essential function in the Ben 10 universe, which is to capture and contain aliens who aim to hurt anyone (or those who Ben defeats).

My knowledge of the Plumbers' unfortunately doesn't go beyond UA. They're not my favorite thing ever. Some of my least favorite episodes were the ones where the Plumbers or Plumbers' kids are involved, except for the episode "Everybody Talks About the Weather". The way Alan is introduced is really cool and very X Files-esque, and it ties into the DNAlien plot very well. But throughout the series I stopped caring about the Plumbers in general and I think that concept was given too much attention.

They don't do what they're meant to. They act like heros yet I don't think I've ever seen them do anything heroic. The DNAliens situation, the aggregor situation, dagon etc etc. Where were they??? Why did they leave the fate of the universe in the hands of a 16 year-old boy? Ben has the omnitrix sure , but he's still just one guy, how much can he fight? They showed up every once in a while but that's it. They were useless.

Of course the Plumbers have their problems, but looking at most characters we've met that were plumbers seem to be pretty good people. Max, Patelliday and Rook (and even Kevin, technically) are great examples of Plumbers, Servantis being a bad example of one.

Honestly liked it when it was disbanded. It’s cool they introduced Rook but like there’s so much wrong with how they run most things. My favorite version of the plumbers was tbh the first live action movie. Where it was just a bunch of old people watching out for Ben cause they actually cared about the people they protected (in this case Ben).

Q4. Thoughts on Grandpa Max

(The responses to this one were way more divided than I thought they would be omg)

He said Kevin was a mad dog that needed to put down. He's terrible. Military. Secretive. Kept his kids out of the loop and probably told the grandkids not to tell them about a huge and extremely dangerous part of their lives. Thus creating a gap between them and their parents that didn't need to be there. Child endangerment. Other than that....? He's important to Ben and Gwen so I tolerate him and he had some good life lessons to share. Also legendary adult figure in a kids cartoon who had relationships with multiple aliens.

He’s incredible, he worked in the Air Force, was going to be one of the first people on the moon (But he refused because he joined the Plumbers) had children with an Energy Being, he has a few grandchildren, and not to mention knows how to still kick butt despite him being in his 60s and was there to help Ben grow

He’s a complicated old man. Love him to bits in the original run and I love him in AF! He’s a utilitarian doing what needs to be done and suffering the consequences when need be. He does what he thinks is going to lead to the best possible outcome for the most people in any situation.

Needs to get knocked off his pedestal more often, both in and out of canon. He's got good traits, they're very nice, but there's other shit that gets glossed over, ignored, brushed aside, too easily forgiven, and just. They really needed a character who served double duty being a counterforce to him. Somebody to go 'wtf is wrong with you?' or 'yeah, no'. Ideally this would've been Patilidae, but no. We couldn't be so lucky.

Conflicted. Was he grooming Ben for plumber work, or just trying to support him in a situation he knew would be dangerous? It’s not made very clear...

I think he's got some sort of narcissistic personality disorder. I just can't forgive him for making Ben carry the burden of the Omnitrix at the age of 10 without ever explaining anything, and for not letting Ben and Gwen know he was alive after the Null Void grenade incident in AF. He clearly could have, if Helen could reach Gwen so easily. I think he views Ben more as an asset than a grandson at this point and that's really sad.

I love him! The progression from family hero to questionable old man felt kinda natural, like learning about a family member as you grow older and realizing they aren't perfect

He's awesome. He was a good role model for Ben and he was very supportive to both his grandkids. I hate that they made him mute in Omniverse and changed his design so drastically. I loved Max in every season from the original till Ultimate Alien. After that, he was pretty much just a prop.

Q5. And finally, give me your most controversial Ben 10 opinion!

It seems to be the worst thing to say that Ben isn't perfect and that Kai isn't demonic. And it's pretty standard for the women of color characters in every fandom to get the most hate so to me all the hate towards Kai when her personality is so close to Ben's AND she's also more hated than the ex-villain and the actual villains that tried to kill Ben multiple times just seems- hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. But really, and really I've needed to say this for a long time but I'm afraid of being strangled. Some fans will denounce incest/pedo shippers and people that interact with them and then reblog from a proud Bwen shipper with no self-awareness. Please I have the tags blacklisted are you safe to interact with and you just don't know? Or you're just saying you hate Bwen shippers to give yourself an out for reblogging their content????? Or are you all closeted incest shippers trying to maintain a public image???? I'm at my limit.

I do not think the reboot should have existed tbh :,D I know that it has a ton of fans and all due respect to them, but from what I've seen of it I don't think it was worth tossing away four interconnected series' worth of development and starting from scratch to end up with what we have now. I would be fine with it existing if we got an Omniverse continuation alongside it, but CN screwed OV over by the decisions they made near the end of it's run. So it's probably impossible it would return, even moreso because of the reboot already airing, and it would probably confuse younger audiences that don't know about Omniverse if two Ben 10's were running separately. I just really miss Omniverse, it had more potential and the reboot placed the final nail in for it to ever return.

The Ben 10 reboot is fun and meant more for kids rather than the ones watching for nostalgia. I didn’t like how Gwevin were sidelined and downplayed to make Ben look better. Sometimes it felt like Gwen was a bit naggy towards the two of them. I didn’t like how the fact that she was the only female lead how she had sometimes act like a parent or that they put Gwen and Kevin together just because. Their relationship felt forced and awkward a lot of the time. Omniverse’s designs while controversial were fun and unique but I didn’t like what they did with Gwevin, especially Gwen.

Kevin is totally smart enough to figure out an Omnitrix with the blueprints in front of him, we see him do amazing shit with technology- including the Omnitrix- in the OG series, people just don't notice he's as brilliant as Gwen because the show never made it as big a point that he and Ben were so very smart like it did with her before the reboot, so now they're being forced to acknowledge that Kevin might have two braincells to rub together and they're pushing against the supposed 'change'.

idk if it's controversial but there should've been way more episodes of just gwen & kevin & rook without ben or ben having a very minor role in the episode. just more time for those three to shine and show off how capable they are without ben always having to come in to save the day at the end

Gwen and Kevin aren't good friends to Ben. I mean they were initially, but once he got famous and they didn't, they stopped putting more than a half-assed effort to help him. They also don't really consider his feelings nor really care about the toll heroing takes on him.

The Reboot has the best jokes in the entire franchise and I don't why people give it so much crap.

Kai Green is an abuser and I refuse to find anything redeemable about her character. "Worthy to wield Excalibur," my entire ass. And Ben and Julie's breakup was good for them both, as people, and just as much her fault as it was his.

Ben 10 is an incredibly flawed show and people need to stop getting butt hurt when the blatant misogyny, and copoganda in the show get pointed out or when any even minority critiques Ben's character.

Ben is the worst character in Ben 10 and the whole franchise would be better off without him.

Azmuth is fine for the most part and malware was not exactly the most understanding person

I think Ben should've stayed single. Every episode where romance (or the girl Ben was dating) was the focus of the episode was pretty boring to me, personally.

Ben's parents were right to try to stop him from being a hero, so were Gwen's.

Ultimate alien force season 2 and 3 were amazing.( not comparing the OS since obviously that's the best, or omniverse since I haven't watched all the episodes of that)

Pierce deserved to die for being a boring character. I just wish his death had actual consequences.

The reboot is a genuine improvement over the original continuity in MANY ways!

Oh geez, um, Kai was a good character, just her and ben were obviously toxic. Not everyone needs to like Ben and she isn't an abuser, they just don't get along and that's fine but by God, why did the writers have to force them in a relationship? That's all I could really think of on the spot. Oh! And that the first two season of AF were a watered down version of Ben and the plot focused more on Gwen and Kevin than it did Ben. He felt like a side character and I'm not mad about that, but I don't understand why people praise that characterization of ben when I remember more about gwen and Kevin then Ben. Dude, I've been watching the show for the past week and I can name more about kevin and gwen because they're memorable.

Azmuth's hot af, but y'all aren't ready for that conversation...

----

If you’ve made it this far then thank you!

Again huge thank you to everyone who submitted a response and if you have any questions/comments please feel free to leave them in the replies/send me an ask/dm/whatever ^^

#ben 10 #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 omniverse #ben tennyson #b10 #gwen tennyson #kevin levin #rook blonko #WE DID IT LADS #looking back there were SO many questions i couldve added like more directly fandom related ones but ehhhhh live and learn i guess #it was fun to do anyway :3

45 notes · View notes

primergon · 3 years

Note

*slides in on knees* hellow there :] i was wondering if i could get an idw and tfp match-up?

I’m rain, 21, 5’’9, infp-t, tan skin tone and have short brown curly hair with a mind of its own and sexuality/gender wise non-binary (afab), pansexual and open to polyamory :D

i’m not sure how to word it but i think i’d describe myself like a kinder egg? hard shell on the outside while soft and gooey on the inside (i dont know what that metaphor is supposed to mean) but i tend to seem quiet and intimidating and but in reality i’m just anxious and introverted up until i open to someone. then the floodgates have opened. i tend to make a lot of jokes since i revel in the sound of someone’s laugh and can have a bit of a wicked sense of humour at times. while i do revel in others company, i’m still an introvert at heart and take comfort in having my own time and space. i truly enjoy people infodumping about the things they like to me and can tend to take on a caretaker like role in a relationship even if i sometimes struggle to verbalise my own feelings. i’m definitely the therapist friend in most of my relationships but it’s more out of concern and looking out for the people i care about. i can have a tendency to be stubborn and headstrong when it comes to the people i care about taking care of themselves while i’m a little lax towards self-care for myself. i can be a bit of a night owl but that’s just a ~thing~.

when it comes to things i like and am passionate about i truly adore literature/poetry even if i have the attention span of a gnat. among other things writing, astrology, videogames, collecting figurines and books and especially i’m currently working on my art career to possibly look towards a career in comic colouring or game design! i’m especially passionate about aiming to create with the intention of letting the person who’s reading feel like at the end of it all, there’s someone who feels just like they do and that no matter how big and intimidating the universe May seem that we’re not alone in it. coming back to something familiar and safe after being out in the unknown. kind of like the feeling of coming home at the end of a vacation, y’know?

i hope this wasn’t too long but thank you so much for your time and effort in advance!! i’m looking forward to see more of your work, love!! ^_^

A/N : Hello Rainy! I'm so sorry this took forever. I can be indecisive at times so I hope you don't mind if I give you multiple pairings!

TFP Ratchet 01 | You and Ratchet have a lot in common. Both of you are caring nurturers who feel passionately about your values and purpose in life. That's one of the main reasons why Ratchet enjoys your company. Although both of you can be headstrong at times, conflict is usually resolved quickly between the two of you. Ratchet may have a difficult time opening up, but when it comes to you, he's willing to set aside his stubbornness and confront his feelings.

02| As an INFJ, Ratchet also appreciates some time to himself, especially after a long day of helping team Prime. Although he enjoys talking to you about your interests and the team's progress, sometimes he would choose to invite you out for a long drive to clear his head. The comfortable silence and your company are enough to give him clarity and comfort in an otherwise hectic life. IDW First Aid & IDW Rodimus 01 | Being in a poly-relationship with Rodimus and First Aid means that you are never short on love and support.

02|First Aid appreciates your creative ideas and encourages you to look after yourself better. He knows more than anyone that even if it's rewarding to act as a caretaker, it's not uncommon for you to forget to take care of yourself in the process. You can help First Aid find creative ways to fix a problem (especially when members of the Lost Light always come in with creative problems ) while he can help you to accomplish your goals, which is why he enjoys reading your poetry and giving you honest insight.

03|Whereas Rodimus boosts your confidence and helps you grow to your full potential by listening and affirming your ideas. He appreciates you because you are open, caring, and seek to create personal connections with your partners. Whether it's on pursuing your art career or in playing video games, Rodimus is always brimming with positive encouragement.

04| While you and First Aid are naturally introverts who need time for themselves, Rodimus often feels anxious when left alone. As an ENFP and the co-captain of the Lost Light, Rodimus may sometimes bring unpredictability to your relationships. While he enjoys the excitement and rush that comes from the unexpected, it may bring stress to First aid who would prefer to avoid chaos and disorder. So when Rodimus had decided to parkour into the medbay and knocked over a vial of liquid that permanently bleached a patient's (whose name is undisclosed for personal reasons ) groin area blue for three weeks, you were exceptionally helpful in resolving the conflict.

05| As a natural peacemaker, you were able to diffuse the tension with your witty humor. Your polycule helps its members grow into the best version of themselves, showing that your personalities truly do complement one another. Thankfully the patient was forgiving enough to let it slide, but the moment you said it really gave new meaning to the human term " blue balls", even Ratchet had let out a laugh with the rest of the medics in the medbay.

IDW Windblade 01| You and Windblade are both empathetic, conscientious, and enjoy communicating emotionally. Windblade is a practical problem-solver, so combined with your creative thinking, obstacles in your relationship were rare as communication is something valuable between the two of you. Besides, you often joke about how you don't want to risk keeping secrets from someone who has telepathic abilities ( even if she insists that she can't read your mind.)

02| Windblade adores listening to you info-dumping. The city-speaker lets you read some literature to her while she rests her head against your lap, preferring to displace her mass so she can be close with you. Windblade may come off as reserved, but when it comes to romantic partners she craves physical intimacy. She was the type to stare lovingly into your eyes and running her hands through your hair before kissing you. Words of affirmation and affectionate nicknames are a one package deal with Windblade. 03| You help Windblade feel seen and understood. Often she is torn between multiple responsibilities. She knows her duty as a city-speaker yet her heart longs for her sisters back on Caminus. Often, she would find herself conflicted and lost. You are the anchor that keeps her grounded. Also, you were there to stand up to Starscream when Chromia is busy snogging Ironhide in some broom closet, even going as far as to challenge him even if Windblade insists that won't be necessary.

04 | Stargazing is something Windblade loves to do with you. Just watching your eyes light up as you passionately talk about astrology is enough to make her fall in love with you all over again. A/N : i hope you enjoy this ! xx

16 notes · View notes

not-xpr-art · 3 years

Text

Art Advice #2 - How to beat art block!

Hi again everyone!

This is the second instalment to my Art Advice tag offering hints and tips for artists of any skill level!

This time I’ll be going into ways I’ve found that help me to combat art block or creative ruts. Of course, these may not work for you, and a big part of art is learning about what things do and do not work for you, but I hope it at least offers some advice to anyone who struggles with art blocks!

How to beat art block.

Getting into an art block can be one of the most frustrating things as an artist. Especially if you’ve tried to dedicate a window of time to drawing something, only for your brain to ‘nope’ out and give you no motivation. I’ve found it can often make you feel worthless as an artist, particularly when you see fellow artists continuing to produce countless amazing artworks, and this kind of self depreciation only adds to your inability to produce anything.

And I’m not about to suggest some magical cure of art block, since I don’t believe there is one, but I hope that my advice can at least help lead you towards getting out of these vicious circles of art block & self deprecation!

Tip #1 - Explore other mediums

I feel like as artists we get incredibly ‘comfortable’ in the mediums we’re familiar with. For me, that’s digital and pencil drawing. I’ve been doing pencil drawing for as long as I can remember, and digital for a little over 7 years, so I’ve become very comfortable in using them.

However, I think that a good way to not only help combat art block, but also to expand your art horizons, is to step out of that comfort zone into a new field of art.

Of course, I’m not saying that I expect every artist to go from pencil drawing for 10 years to suddenly picking up a paint brush and doing some oil painting. But instead that every so often maybe just try and dabble in mediums you’ve not used as much, or haven’t used before at all. A lot of shops sell pretty inexpensive paints, pens or pastels nowadays, not to mention a quick Google search will give you tips on how to use the particular medium if you’re not sure how to start.

A thing I want to mention here, too, is that I think it’s important to not to expect yourself to be automatically ‘great’ at a particular medium. For example, last year I did my first embroidery piece. I had wanted to do embroidery for a long time, and did actually enjoy it a lot (even if it was incredibly time consuming lol). But I found myself dissatisfied with the finale result.

And in a way this is because I expected myself to be perfect at embroidery after just one attempt, which is ridiculous of course, since any kind of art takes years and years to ‘master’. And when I look back, I can’t help but think ‘why does it have to be good in the first place’? Why did I put this pressure on myself to be a sudden Master of Embroidery, when surely the main goal of any kind of art is to some extent the enjoyment of the process?

This is still a mindset I think a lot of artists will relate to, and is something I’m trying to combat myself.

Recently I painted some fake plastic eggs inspired by the Polish folk art tradition ‘Pisanki’. They took a long time, and my neck hurt a lot from being hunched over and painting little dots, but honestly I really loved the whole process of them! Painting on 3D objects isn’t something I do a lot, and I also rarely do purely pattern-based work like this, so it was a real deviation from my comfort zone.

In a way, exploring other mediums is like a creative respite. Giving yourself a break from what you’re familiar with not only helps you to be inspired by a wide range or arts, but when you return to the mediums you enjoy the most, I’ve actually found you appreciate them even more!

(Really, nothing makes me more appreciative for digital art than painting a wrong dot on the surface of an egg and not being able to rub it out...)

Tip #2 - Try different styles

Another tip, similar in many ways to the first one, is to try different styles of art every once and a while.

Like with materials, I think we as artists can get overly caught up in ‘our style’ of doing things. Whether this is a particular stylised or cartoonish way of drawing, or doing realistic art, or even sticking to a particular colour scheme. And I think especially in the world we live in, where artists have to make themselves as ‘consumer friendly’ as possible, which often means having a ‘recognisable brand’, it can feel like we have to do our art in a particular way, otherwise people will lose interest in it.

I think this is harmful for a lot of reasons. Partly, I feel it stifles artists creativity to force themselves to do one style and one style only. I also feel it assumes that non-artists are so single-track minded that if an artist were to post works of art that involve different styles, then they would immediately lose interest.

So my advice to any artist who has a particular style is to once in a while try out some different styles. It doesn’t have to be big pieces, and it also doesn’t have to be the polar opposite of what your style actually is. But instead if can be as simple as doing a ‘style challenge’ (something I’ve done in the past), or even just trying a different way of drawing or painting!

In a way, changing your medium and changing your style occasionally go hand in hand. I particularly find that how I draw people will change with the kinds of mediums I use, or even when I start using a new brush with digital art.

For example, I recently did this super quick sketch of Kiki Layne, because I really loved the reference image, and it came out a lot more stylised than my art usually is. And this is almost entirely down to the brush I used (which was an ‘ink’ style brush, in comparison to the ‘pencil’ or ‘pen’ brushes I usually use for sketching).

This isn’t a drastic change in style for me, but I do think even trying to do rougher or messier styles of art like this can allow you to see your art in a new light!

(A side note here, but I already pretty much change up my style with every piece because I have no interest in being ‘marketable’ lol... But I’m definitely not suggesting everyone should be like me, just every so often changing up your style I believe can be really beneficial!)

Tip #3 - Changing subject matters

This one is essentially the same as the other two, and I’m sorry if this comes across as repetitive, but I think another great way to help beat art block is by changing up the kinds of things you draw!

Being predominantly a portrait artist, I rarely go out of my way to draw things like trees or birds or cups or whatever. But I know that often when I feel myself entering a kind of creative rut or art block, it’s because I’ve been drawing too many people & my brain is sort of all people-d out lol...

(this is a tree I drew in oil paints midway through last year because I was feeling particular people-d out at that point)

So I think occasionally drawing other things, and going out of your art comfort zone, can help to improve your creativity. And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll end up incorporating something you drew randomly into a new artwork!

TL;DR (/conclusion)

So, remember that exploring other mediums, changing up your regular style and choosing other subject matters can all help in beating art block! Of course, you don’t have to do them all at the same time, but instead just dipping in and out of them as you produce your regular work can be highly beneficial!

I mainly wanted to make this post not to say that by doing all three of these things, you’ll magically be free of art block forever, because that’s just not true. (I’m someone who does a lot of these things pretty regularly, but still gets into art blocks every now and then). I instead wanted to inspire you to deviate from what you are usually drawn to as an artist.

The world is your creative oyster, so don’t be afraid to explore it!

I hope you enjoyed this post about ways to beat art block! I may make a part two if people are interested since there are a lot of other things that I think can help in improving creativity!

#art advice #art block #how to beat art block #creativity #art discussion #artists on tumblr #this is about 1300 words long btw #i honestly DID try not to ramble pffffft #anyway i hope someone found this at least slightly useful!

16 notes · View notes

chcnce · 3 years

Photo

guess the TWENTY FOUR YEAR OLD OCTOBER baby just arrived to dallyeog! it makes sense, because HWA YOHAN / CHANCE HWA is just as CRISP as the month of OCTOBER. wait, why do they remind me of BANG CHAN? beyond that, they seemed RELIABLE AND PASSIONATE upon first glance. i heard someone say they’re sort of SELF-CONSCIOUS AND CAUTIOUS though. i hope they get acquainted here in COMPLEX # 4 / APARTMENT # 1 / FLOOR # 2 ; HE seem(s) to have a lot going on with HIS job as STREAMER.

hi! i’m lu and i’m really happy to present to you to my mess of a son. he’s certainly a hard pill to swallow but he’s not as bad once you get to interact with him. chance is his real english name, but also the persona he’s crafted to remain popular and relevant to the masses. he’s blunt and brutally honest, but mostly when he’s streaming. all in all: a whole ass mess, i insist.

without further ado, here are his basic stats, a trivia and wanted connections under the cut. however you can find his background and plots linked accordingly ( i’ll add other pages eventually ). i’m really fine with talking either here or discord, so whichever works fine for you, works fine for me too! i’ll be reaching to everyone go gives this a like soon enough <3

basic information

― full name: hwa yohan / chance hwa ― nicknames: yohwa ― age: twenty four ― date of birth: october 3rd, 1996 ― birthplace: cheonan, south korea. ― hometown: sydney, australia ― current location: seoul, south korea ― living arrangements: dallyeog / complex # 4 / apartment # 1 / floor # 2 ― ethnicity: korean ― nationality: dual, korean (natural born) and australian (naturalized) ― gender: cis male ― pronouns: he / him ― orientation: demiromantic, heterosexual. ― religion: atheist ― occupation: streamer ― language(s) spoken: korean (fluent), english (fluent) ― accent: heavy australian accent

physical appearance

― faceclaim: bang chan / christopher bang of stray kids. ― hair: naturally brown, though he often dyes to a variety of colors, mostly black and blue. right now, it’s a purple color that’s already fading. ― eye colour: coffee brown ― height: 171cm ― weight: 56kg ― tattoos: none at the moment. ― piercings: lobe and upper lobe on both ears. anti-tragus, orbital and rook on the left one. double helix on the right one. ― clothing style: regularly techwear when he goes out and athleisure at home.

personality

― label: the cynical ― positive traits: attentive, dependable, reliable, passionate, brave, energetic, honest, humorous, clever, versatile, truthful, affectionate, sociable ― negative traits: self-conscious, cautious, opinionated, arrogant, detached, critical, tactless, stubborn, loud, quick-tempered, harsh, unfiltered, cynical, restless, ambitious, ― hobbies: baking, collecting enamel pins and funkos, jigsaw puzzles, skateboarding, reading, listening to music, curating playlists when he has time, learning origami. ― habits: obsessively organising, borrowing books and rarely ever returning them (he forgets who they belong to ok), really bad road rage, awful at keeping track of time, people watching, always wears a black ring on his left index finger, always hugs something when sleeping, gets easily impressed by things, quotes movies and shows in regular conversations, knuckle cracking, snacking between meals, eye rolling without noticing, squinting when concentrated, crossing his arms over his chest, running hands through his hair, slouching, rolling his shoulders. ― zodiac sign: sun libra, moon gemini, ascendant libra. ― mbti: infp-t “the mediator” ― enneagram: 8w7 “the nonconformist”. ― temperament: melancholic ― hogwarts house: ravenclaw ― moral alignment: chaotic neutral ― primary vice: greed ― primary virtue: diligence ― element: air

trivia:

― he’s played all kind of games and his twitch channel was created 9 years ago (whew) and it currently has over 5 million subscribers. currently, he streams mostly genshin impact, valorant, league of legends, overwatch, spider-man: miles morales, cyberpunk 2077 and the witcher iii. every now and then he makes charity streams. he also makes special lives with other gamers and figures where they play games like among us, minecraft, fortnite (though he absolutely hates it), party animals, fall guys and other party games. ― despite the rumours around him and his parents, he’s never talked about them to the media. it’s not like chance hides the information, after all it’s online, but he swerves questions about them and pretty much decides to not say anything about them just to avoid controversy. his parents didn’t mind until last year the company they worked at offered him a sponsorship and yohan turned it down. it’s safe to say they were pretty hurt over this and they haven’t talked much recently. ― yohan is, in his words, the biggest fan of spiderman (not really) but he’s his favorite heroe of all times and he collects everything and anything that has him in it. his biggest collection is funko pops with over 30+ figurines. he collects funkos of various other interests of him as well as enamel pins. ― lowkey a weeb. he likes watching anime in his spare time and if he likes it too much, he’d buy the manga and read it as well. his latest obsessions are kimetsu no yaiba, boku no hero academia, haikyu and jujutsu kaisen. ― won’t ever admit this out loud, but almost every ghibli movie makes him cry his eyes out, even when he’s watched the same one over and over again. he prefers to watch these on his own. his favorite one is grave of the fireflies. ― it took him a while to get used to korean culture, a part of him is still trying to. luckily, his family would speak in korean in their household most of the time and this helped him not struggle as much when it came to the language. his streams are most of the time in english to cater to a bigger audience, but recently he’s got himself a small team of an editor and a translator that’s helped him add subtitles to the videos he uploads in youtube. ― his current setup is completely sponsored except for a few extra things he’s bought himself and he has minimal experience when it comes to builds, though he’s really interested in learning and has recently researched more about the whole topic, hoping to get his first custom build by the end of the year. ― has terrible road rage and this is the reason why he doesn’t own a car or a driving license, even being in the backseat makes him anxious and would much rather prefer to use the bus, a bike or his skateboard to commute between places. taxis and other rides are his last option, if he’s quite honest. ― as a neighbour, he’s polite and tries to be mindful just to avoid needless problems. the first thing he did was soundproof his office in order to not disrupt others, but sometimes this doesn’t work as well due to how loud he can be. chance will try to greet every neighbour he encounters either with a wave or a simple nod. ― loves dogs but doesn’t feel he’s responsible enough to take care of one yet, though he will certainly volunteer to pet-sit his friends’ dogs.

wanted connections:

― life in seoul: he’s been wanting to start a podcast that has nothing to do with his main channel, aka a podcast about the culture in seoul from different perspectives, he wants to know about other people’s experiences. can be people that have lived all their life here or foreigners that, like himself, are pretty much new or can’t get enough of the city. it’d be a pretty chill podcast and anyone can participate! ― people that know about him and lowkey follow his streams (or just play them in the background while doing other stuff) ― or people that know about him but dislike him because he’s said stuff before about other public figures you’re a fan of. or he just simply rubs you the wrong way. ― people who absolutely hates when he streams late at night and he’s full on screaming at the screen (he tried to soundproof his streaming room but someone he can be way too loud, sorry) ― he’s always up for a good collaboration regardless of the topic: food, art, random tags and challenges. even if it's not up to his alley, he's likely to always say yes just for the laughs. ― the group of friends yohan met in different ways. they're not all strictly gamers, streamers or anything of the sort, but whenever they get together to play some games, it's a total chaos. and he wouldn't change it at all. ― the one person that always gets his packages delivered by mistake to your place instead of his. or the other way around. ― more: friends, enemies, a penpal, a platonic soulmate, workout buddies, etc.

#dallyeog:intro #𝐜: \ \ ooc

23 notes · View notes