hi this is so random but my class on performance in early modern europe has forcibly reminded me that enstars costuming is absolutely incredible. (if this has been pointed out before, oops. i don't play enstars i fear, i just take humanities classes)
i'm gonna do a deep dive into this costume from raison d'etre:
i think people (im people) have mostly theorized that this costume is a representation of shu and mika being each other's bride and groom, and while i 100% think that's true, i think it's ALSO an amazing reference to 17th century french burlesque ballet and shu and his grandfather's relationships with gender/femininity.
ballet back in the day was extremely gendered (in different ways than one might think, but...also in the usual ways), but there were always characters that didn't fit into the gender binary. androgynous characters appeared often in burlesque ballet, but they were often reserved for depicting "others" as opposed to the racially and binarily(?) uniform french monarchy. ballet was supremely political back then as well, with the hero often representing the king.
the androgynous character's political/racial role in dance history is a whole can of worms that i fear i'm not qualified to really talk about, BUT. what matters here is HOW they were depicted. nowadays, androgyny is often used in relation to an absence of gender, but in burlesque ballet, the word meant an embodiment of both genders--specifically in costuming, split down the middle.
(Mark Franko, From the Royal to the Republican Body: Incorporating the Political in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century France, 1998)
in other words, one half of the androgynous dancer was male, and one half was female:
(some mikas to demonstrate the masc/fem sides separately:)
this means that shu's costume in the event (which like totally also represents shumika marriage don't get me wrong) may primarily represent his acceptance of his own femininity/androgyny, and following in his grandfather's footsteps in awakening to his true self.
i read through the raison d'etre story (super engagingly translated by @twilightmalachite!), check out their page for more context n other translations BUT basically:
shu's grandfather had a feminine side (which he disguised in his diaries as a lady named "mademoiselle") and crossdressed in secret, which brought him a lot of happiness. shu sees himself in his grandfather, knowing this: "I am honored to say, my grandfather and I were truly alike."
(shumika is 100% real too btw)
(another note: burlesque ballet was often satirical or lighthearted, and shu and mika express that raison d'etre is part slapstick romcom)
haters will say that crossdressing was a major thing in old european performance art bc it totally was (i.e. "travesti," a type of character performed by an actor of the opposite gender), but like. his grandpa wasn't living in the 1600s lol. taking their story into account, this is such important representation of if not full on transness then euphoric, self-affirming explorations of gender beyond the binary line. this reference to androgynous ballet constuming sort of historically confirms that shu is both masculine and feminine. his acceptance of his true self, seeing himself in his grandfather, and having mika at his side results in his happiest performance like ever.
there is, of course, also the 100% chance that this is just a coincidence. but what with the importance of french performance art to valkyrie/shu, the ballet-like choreography in le temps des fleurs (go watch it again i fear i don't have the power to screenshot everything), and shu's relationship with gender, i choose to believe this was an active and brilliant choice.
one last note abt shumika bc this story is absolutely about them, too:
the white half has pink accents (representing boku/shu) and the black half has green accents (representing ore/mika) :')))) (and the white half still has a black stripe on it, interpret that how you will!)
tldr: enstars costume designers do their research and i respect them so hard for that. holy cow!! like They Did That!! they referenced 17th century french burlesque ballet for these costumes man!! AUGH
(Except for minors, minors will be shot on sight. Go away, this is an 18+ blog.)
☆Name's Void! I'm a queer fella who writes a lot of MLM (gay) or gender neutral x Reader content of mostly the dom/top variety since that's sorely lacking I feel. (It's. It's mostly Pierrot x Reader admittedly because I'm ill about him.)
☆I'm a hobbyist fanfic writer and am currently working on my Pierrot x Aromantic!Male!MC fic called "Limerence" on Ao3. It deals with a lot of heavy subjects and is about two heavily traumatised individuals being horrible for each other (at least at first). Pierrot is NOT okay and neither is MC 💔🥀
☆It's inspired by an amazing fic called "It's fine, it's ok, I'll die anyway (though not if Pierrot can help it)" by the ever talented @intermediatefanficenjoyer (you should go check her out!! She's super cool :]) but it has quickly devolved into its own thing oops-
☆I love a good character dissection and theory crafting! Esp when it comes to the psychology of these clowns. I also love to come up with headcanons! Here are some links to my theory posts sorted from most recent to oldest:
Jester's facade
The Moon Monster, the circus and an internalised fairytale (co-authored with @intermediatefanficenjoyer)
Why Harlequin torments Pierrot
The troupe's internal logic on how to avoid trauma
Jester's potential eldest daughter syndrome
Why Harlequin doesn't cook
☆I'd be down to write some requests if that's something people want! My inbox is open :] you can also just send random stuff as well lol I'm not picky (Unless otherwise specified, assume that I only write masc!reader or gender neutral x reader fics.)
☆Pierrot has consumed my mind. He's rotting my brain from the inside out. I hate him so much. (In a pitch♤ way). I am Not normal about this man.
☆I like writing and exploring darker and more uncomfortable themes like abuse, trauma, and mental illnesses, so heads up for that! I do put everything under a cut and with warning labels so that you can always skip it ^^
☆I tend to ramble a lot, so I use #Void Posting as a tag for filtering purposes. I also use "#Void being gay" for 18+ rambles (*cough* mostly ab topping Pierrot *cough*-)
☆I'm a very kinky gay guy, so I talk and reblog stuff about that sometimes. Some of my kinks are more niche, but I tend to put a warning in my posts so that you can skip them if necessary.
☆Be warned that I am autistic and very blunt. Sometimes I'll say things that may come across as accusatory when I don't mean to be. Please tell me so that I can adjust my language since I don't always notice it in time ^^;; I am fairly opinionated given my lived experiences as a queer male POC, so just be aware of that since I talk about it from time to time.
☆I suppose I should put some of my oneshots and headcanons here, huh? Ig this'll be the masterlist.
Genderneutral!Dom!Reader x Pierrot
Genderneutral!Dom!Reader x Pierrot part 2
Male!Officeworker!MC x Ticket Taker
Pierrot's kinks headcanon
Harlequin's kinks headcanon
Transmasc!top!Reader x Pierrot imagines
Genderneutral!Kidnapper!Reader x Pierrot oneshot
Natanael (café boss) x Pierrot (+ Harlequin) headcanons
What kind of Dom Pierrot is headcanon
Pierrot x Dom!Reader somnophilia oneshot
Pierrot preys on a straight man
Pierrot in a toxic relationship with the MC
☆Also be warned that I am a chronic contrarian (maybe bc of the ADHD v_v) so I intentionally try to strive to do things differently from everyone else x]
And yeah! That's it, I think! Thanks for checking me out :]
Feather's personal sans au ✨gender✨ headcanons part 1
first little pride month post, just my gender identity ideas of the main guys i usually use(plus some extras i either will or won't use at some point in time)
Sans (undertale): he/him, not sure if i vibe with cis or trans more. He could be either one and I do not know which. Maybe transmasc, to fit the "trans the skeleton meme". idk anymore, its Sans Undertale, what more needs to be said? He's the kind of guy who wouldn't correct a misuse of pronouns, he knows what he is, his brother knows what he is, that's all he cares about.
Red (underfell): he/him, cis male, but somehow even more lax about it that Sans Classic. This is a tumblr au sexyman, he already knows his worth, he ain't proving shit. He'll wear what he wants, do what he wants, this is the peak "happy with himself no matter what" male.
Blue (underswap, my vers.): transmasc he/they. no valid reasoning, just vibes, but at least for my version, transmasc for sure. He's also cool with his image, but will address any misgenders, mostly to capitalize on an opportunity to inform people about kindness and how to be nice to everyone.
Lust (underlust): any/all. Why? No clue. Assume vibes for any of my headcanons, that's what I survive off of. But I feel like Lust is, not genderfluid, but just every gender. Whatever gives him more money, man needs to pay the bills somehow. The funny part is when multiple people that know Lust meet up and everyone uses a different pronoun and then they take ten full minutes to figure out they're all talking about the same person. Lust finds this hilarious.
Outer (outertale): he/they. Every single Outer variant just gives me demigender vibes. Space enby skeles, all of them. Original Outer in particular perfectly embodies it. No further comments.
Nova (my particular outer au, which I've dubbed the Outer Limits AU): He/they/it originally, now just whatever everyone else calls him. Mostly because of the loose sense of self that he now has after five years alone, but he's always seen his identity pretty loosely. After being found, he just went with what the other Stars called him. It was easier than trying to acknowledge himself and figure out everything that kinda...washed away, over the years.
Sci (sciencetale, i think?): he/she. Assuming the concept of Sci being a younger Undertale Sans, and continuing my "trans the skeleton" bit, this is around the era Sans, and by extension, Sci, starts to question himself. Is she a girl? Is he a boy? Fuck if she knows, there are more important things to focus on, like ✨science✨.
And that's all for now, I didn't think I'd be writing this much for each character, oops
I saw The Running Man yesterday. Glen Powell's career is a special interest of mine, I'm a past fan of Edgar Wright, and I'm avoiding other responsibilities in my life. So here's a really long rant. Like really long. For the void.
Cyberpunk dystopia, how I love you and wish capitalism did not subsume all critique.
Because it was so refreshing to see a hand knitted sock as a key symbol of the film!
What's more cyberpunk than taking the time to craft something by hand for your child, where only a minimal profit was collected by the capitalist miasma that surrounds you? When your time could have been instead be spent desperately hustling for more scraps of money, or numbing yourself with corporate slop entertainment? (I'm going to go ahead and assume the yarn was reclaimed from a thrifted sweater too.)
So this little sock goes the distance.
And then, at the close of the movie, our main character, who has kept hold of this little bedraggled sock the entire running time, reunites with his family.
And does not return the tragically stained and abused sock. Because instead, 30 seconds or so before this botched reunion scene, he snuck into a store, gave the cashier a bunch of money to cover the estimated grocery bill of his wife plus a new pair of commercially produced machine knitted socks insultingly similar the originals. I guess he told the cashier to keep the change?
You know what would've hit so much harder? They reunite, with the original sock, and it doesn't fit, because they had to wait so long for things to settle down and be safe. Boom. He survived, but his accomplishments were questionable and he missed invaluable time with his child.
Full fucking disclosure, I was knitting a sock while waiting for the movie to start.
Moving on.
Powell is not miscast, but mostly misused. The flashbacks to him in the oil rig (?) disaster when he catches a fellow worker during a storm? I am sat forward. Flashback to the mine flood? Same, though would've loved to see him also protecting other workers again.
The towel scene - he brings it. So why won't the camera linger? The editing darts away. Was it because it was decided to market the movie more as an action flick for the male crowd? What a waste.
Also, that towel had way too much of a constructed look. I love a low slung sweat pants look, but look, if it's a towel, you need to play up the precariousness. Have him grab at it; re-adjust it. I did love the use of the towel to break the glass to open the window. But again, the butt is there, for but half a second. Come on. I know I'm asking for ten times as much, but that's still only 5 seconds. At least Glen Towell is now in my vocabulary.
Now for the movie in general. There is no movie in general. There is three movies in a trenchcoat, two of them good.
Movie 1: The Gritty cyberpunk tale, with underclass struggles, a sick child, and Tough Choices™. Just mix in some gender roles and toxic masculinity (hero complex subtype)!
This is the bad movie, only because Wright is not equipped for it. Powell could do it, with effort, but would need specific direction to play up his charming buff dad vibes with the undercurrent of failing his family through a particular type of self-sacrifice.
To do this style of movie, you play up the wife hinting at hustling even harder at her "waitress" job, with him utterly believing in a false reality where she would never have to go "all the way" to provide for their family, let alone have him be able to conceive of a reality where he would have to consider whoring himself out, even while he spends extremely visible (sucessful) effort on maintaining his physique.
This movie continues much the same as the actual already does, where Ben is heroic for going the extra mile to provide for his family in a way where he does not have to be present for his family, and oops, the narrative has him forced to compete in the Running Man. "Daddy's not that crazy" as the script already has him saying, but if he needs go be badass, needs must.
Then you clean up the bit with the podcaster (what even are those line deliveries with the teenager, poor kid…)
We do cut Michael Cera McAllister out of this movie though: he doesn't fit. Cera the ACAB anarchist can remain. Amelia gets reworked but not removed, because all I could hear during her scene was Harrison Ford: you can write that shit, but you sure as shit can't say it.
Now tidy up some of the cross country stuff and the ending(s) a bit. You can even leave the character fates ambiguous, and congrats, you have a film.
Maybe with good critical reception, maybe not. Maybe Glen gets some respect for showing range, though I can't imagine any awards. Odds are though, it still doesnt do great, and is neutral for Glen's reputation.
Movie 2: What I hoped for when I read there would be an Edgar Wright's Running Man. Didn't get it, but here it is: A zany cyberpunk romp where the underclass has hubs of solidarity.
Leave the wife and kid out of this: This time Ben is the poor sap that got sterilized by the Preventable Workplace Incident™.
But he's a union man through and through. The buffness is actually a relatively healthy cope, and he does his best to stay positive as he works to help his community. Because you need a diagetic hand wave for his physique. It's purposely hard to ignore.
In this movie, he and his co-op hits some breaking point (school funding got cut?), and they decide to outwit the network at their own game. They ready their corner of the slums into a labyrinth.
As the movie proceeds to pummel Ben with darkly absurd setbacks, our hero cracks and we get some unhinged action à la Hot Fuzz.
Because in this flick, we move Cera to the city, and he keeps his whole shtick. It is glorious.
We cut the whole cross country slog of a trek, until we arrive at the finale, where things go predictably pear shaped and Ben makes a desperate run for the border.
The end plays out mostly as is, sans family drama. You want the happy-ish end, you show him adjusting to life in Canada. Make a joke where he wakes up in a hospital and struggles to escape, fearing the bill. Then some poor overworked Canadian orderly restrains him, and tells him to calm down, eh?
In my eyes, this has a route to success. True believers can bring their friends for a fun romp. With the SNL promotion and good word-of-mouth, you have the recipe for some box office legs, if not a great opening weekend.
Finally, the third film: Lee sets the pace as Sexy Class Traitor.
Here, put the focus on the psychological damage perpetuated by the oligarchic fascist media capitalist complex. Promote Pace to co-lead. His job as Hunter isn't just to hunt them on the show, his job is to hunt for potential runners.
Algorithms are used to identify candidate pools, but he has final say. "The human element can't be completely removed, to the networks annoyance", the movie already tells us. Expand on that. Show how the suits condescend at yet tolerate yet fear McCone.
Play up the cat and mouse aspect, heavily. McCone is absolutely letting Ben escape for ratings multiple times… and maybe (definitely) his own sick amusement. Lee Pace is perfectly built for this type of role, and in general.
McCone is driven by a mix of hatred of the whole system, that he considers himself seperate from, under and upperclass alike. Maybe he wants to eventually kill the network exec and burn it all down, including himself. But he hasn't quite had the chance, or he's not ready to die, or he's drunk on the limited power he has accumulated.
McCone delights in pitting Ben against other underclass people, destroying solidarity, and trying to break Ben's spirit. To see if he can make Ben crack like he did. Maybe he wants to try and turn him into a companion, out of deranged loneliness.
When McCone's origin as the first runner is revealed to Ben, it now hits a lot harder. McCones attempted seduction is filthily vile. Or vilely filthy. When Ben rejects it and proves himself the better man, McCone finds a spark inside him to spare Ben's life and then McCone takes down the Exec in a Pyrrhic victory.
You can cop out of the 911 by having the missile destroy the plane, but then he has a failsafe deadman switch that activates some other moderate doom for the Network.
Now add in some missing Wright flair without going too campy, and this movie does better financially then the current films trajectory, but perhaps not by much.
And the gif sets are treasured forever.
In all 3 movies, Katy O'Brian must be present. Turn the gritty-zany dial up or down as required.
Michael Cera is not allowed in movie 1. He is the soul of movie 2. He can be in movie 3, but make him more realistically manic.
Amelia … this character is a tough needle to thread. Most of the audience is going to be closer to her economic class than Ben's. But most of the audience is also men. So she is ripe for her thematic purpose to be overpowered by existing misogynistic social currents. If you market the movie less male-centric, keep her and rework her class. Don't have her consider herself a member of the elite. She's a hard-working white collar person on a deserved vacation to visit her hometown. The car is a rental. The scarf was a decided splurge or maybe gift. She's been scammed by poor people before. She knows things aren't great but she pays her taxes. What the hell do you want her to do? Show some solidarity when it counts. There: acceptably enough done.
Which movie would have been best? I guess the unicorn would be a critical and audience pleaser that delivered on it's anti fascist themes within its narrative, while still delivering sufficient profits for the studio to encourage further projects in the existing capitalist hellscape.
If Edgar Wright is directing and injecting the comic flair that developed his cult following, then my clear choice is movie 2. With more towel. Or possibly less towel.
One idea that took hold for me as the movie was flopping around the finish line, is that this film is begging for a pirate fan edit. Or, more in line with our stage of capitalism, a re-release as "the punk edit", or maybe the "extra crispy fried pork edition". More flair and fuck the power, 70% less convoluted ending montage.
Now, back to Glen.
I grow frustrated with continued calls to compare him, positively or negatively, to the previous generation of movie stars. He can stand by his own merits.
He has a charisma based on privilege: the privilege of being raised and living in a time and place where he was cared for and nurtured with love, where success was apparently achieved through fierce familial support, determination and dedication to the social contract (also known as kindnes, a.k.a. "being easy to work with").
The current level of horrors may make this type of charisma unpalatable to some, and very consumable to others. I guess I'm in the latter camp. (For the haters, why are you reading this, also you may have a small addendum at the very end of this rant. As a treat.)
Charm aside, I would argue that his current hyper muscular physique is attractive in that he never gives the impression he has used it to threaten the weak, or possibly even have had to use it to defend the weak, or even to threaten to defend the weak. The strength is there for its own sake, an embrace of physicality for show business, for overcoming mundane obstacles, and possibly for its own sheer sake. Again, I think this is based in a privilege he enjoys that too many are denied.
But having him as an examplar of this employment of strength is no bad thing. He looks like he would be happy to hold up a giant picture frame the width of his wingspan for 20 minutes while the indecisive hem and haw over its exact placement on the wall. I would love a world this would be a primary use of strength.
Leaving that aside (oh what sides though…)
I hope this won't too negatively impact his further career options and trajectory; I want to see more of him, insert joke here. I see complaints he's being pushed by a bigger machine, but I'm not sure to what extent that is really true.
I do believe he shines brightest when he's in a supportive lead role, allowed to joke and be the connective tissue for an ensemble. I see this in Twisters, Everyone Wants Some, Top Gun and Hitman. I saw glimmers of it in the Running Man, but they felt actively suppressed.
I'm most hopeful for the upcoming untitled firefighter movie that is definitely unrelated to Backdraft. (Abrams has just burned too much of my goodwill in comparison.)
I know what I desire will likely not be what is, but I like to picture something grounded in the tight bonds of people that entrust their lives to each other as they work to save other lives. There's an obvious space for him to lead an ensemble performance in that type of team environment.
Bonus: Nobody likes their firefighters extra crispy (unlike some other professions); they much prefer them glistening in sweat.
Maybe they could actually do something innovative with marketing, and offer an open collaboration with local Fire Departments to help them make charity calendars. Something like funding support for a photographer and printing costs, and providing a template, matching donations to some limit, hell, make it a little competition! The top fundraisers get a special appearance with him and the cast, or an advance screening, or something of the sort. Make the winning categories be absolute dollars and Top3 per capita served by the FD, so you can build up rural interest. And for the love of all that is holy, make sure Katy O'Brian is there.
In closing: Clown on, you magnificently chiselled hunk of sweet goofy dork.
Ok, detractors: Indeed he is a human being in show business, and made some dubious personal choices. I'm sure the story there is both more and less complicated than it seems, and there will likely be no further resolution to it. But if that level of shittiness is the only thing to have come out at this stage, I'm honestly impressed.
To be honest, f/f and female characters fans are quickly becoming the most insufferable type of fans.
They believe that f/f is superior and pure because neither woman has been tainted by disgusting, dirty men. But if you write them as anything more intimidate that kisses and braiding each other's hair, you're obvious a disgusting man who just wants to fap to women.
Same with female characters in general. If a man likes her, he's objectifying her. If you write her as anything but the perfect Main Character who hates men, you obviously don't know a thing about women or just hate them. They state that writing women is so easy but in the next breath create a 100 point checklist on how to write said female character correctly.
They also complain about the lack of f/f but the majority of them refuse to make any content themselves. They just want to control what others write or have them stop writing the stuff they don't like.
" You don’t need someone to hold your hand and tell you it’s okay to be straight "
Did this person just assume op was straight, merely because they had m/f ships and didn't want to see them bashed on the basis of them being m/f? Ohhh boy, is that ever depressing.
I'm ace. I'm agender. I'm in a wlw relationship. I have tons of m/f ships. Tell me you have a ton of internalized bigotry to unpack without telling me.
They also kinda just, well, missed the point of the OOP if you ask me, but yeah.
You're obviously a troll, but in all honesty, you're probably one of those f/f fans the OOP was talking about. No one said anything about gay people in real life, dumbass. F/F fans are not all lesbians. Look at M/M shippers; they're mostly straight women.
This is such a "hit dog hollering" reaction that severely underestimates how gross people can get about het and m/f ships.
It's not just "I think this ship which happens to be het is boring".
It's "this ship is boring BECAUSE it's het or m/f. No other reason."
It's "ew how could someone like a het or m/f ship."
It's "only straight people would ship this trash lol."
I shouldn't need to go on. I know multiple people who have been "accused" (because too many damn people on this hell site think being het is a sin, whoops) of being het just because they like a m/f ship, and I've witnessed multiple m/f ships of mine being shit on strictly on the basis of them being m/f, even though the characters and dynamic is incredibly, obviously rich and people like the same exact dynamics in gsy ships.
It's a fucked-up kind of "too far in the other direction" social justice wank.
There are so many posts floating around where people who are heavily, heavily invested in f/f ships outright accuse everyone who doesn't have an f/f ship (even if they've simply... just... never seen media with female characters they could ship) as lesbophobes. And they'll say they should die, wish death on them, and so on.
As someone whose fav media is heavily, stupidly male-centric, where the few female characters don't have much opportunity to bounce off each other and accrue little "ship bunny" ideas in the first place, it's just so fucking stupid to me. But it happens so often.
That "its giving homophobia" ask is so wildly off base, I just can't, lol. So many assumptions. No one said anything about ships just being called "boring". Op said "bashed". And there are myriad incidents where people will, in fact, hate on and bash ships, and people who ship them, just because the ships are m/f! Fandom is about celebrating creativity and sharing our passion, for ships among other things, and who the hell cares if a ship, oh noesies, isn't m/m or f/f?! And you don't need to have the same orientation or identity as the ships you ship, that's just a truly sad way to look at things and assume in other people. So many straight women love gay and lesbian porn, and so many ace people love the kinkiest kind of allo shit imaginable, among so many other examples.
This is why a lot of f/f shippers with that kind of mentality scare me. It smells like radfemmy "gender essentialism" rhetoric. I usually block them, because the vibes just aren't good. If you actually look at some posts where the mentality you describe is on display, a lot of the reblogs are people with "radfem" or "radfem learning" and other stuff in their descriptions.
So it's already been pointed out that between Guinevere and the Sir Arthur mecha, we might have some round table shenanigans going on in the background. Mind you we only have the pilot to work with, so this is very much just baseless speculation and unrepentant slapping roles around.
Guinevere is Guinevere, nice and clean. The main aspect of her character in arthuriana stories is her courtly love affair with Lancelot while being married to Arthur. It could be that the unnamed male character from some of the promos we see in the pilot is called Lancelot or smth like it, but there is another character who is very very close to Gwen.
Frankie! It's also been pointed out that she has a bit of a Disney princess vibe going on with her robots and doodads, and even has the "animal sidekick" in Boombox. Lancelot is the orphan heir to a lost kingdom, making him effectively a prince, so that's one possible connection. He was also raised by fairies as a child, and her hallucinations of the Star Pups feel rather poignant. She also seems to have an aggressive streak when called for, and Lancelot was known for his fits of anger.
(also can i be even more of a pusher for it, but the unnamed Ken guy has brown fluffy hair, earrings, and his circlet also has a star like Frankie's knight hairtie. Frankie also has a purple cap to his purple circlet. their noses are also kinda similar too?? alright moving on!)
I won't go further on the plot beats involving Lancelot cus it's unlikely to be a one-to-one retelling after all, and I won't do Dana and the team the disservice of going there either. this is themes and vibes mostly.
I will say however, that besides Guinevere, Lancelot's closest relationship in the mythos is with Galehaut.
Galehaut was a half giant, poised to usurp Arthur's throne and kingdom, but he becomes so enraptured by Lancelot's skills, he gives up his goals for the kingdom just for a chance to being Lancelot's friend. They are so close, that Galehaut dies of grief when news of Lancelot's alleged death reach him. Yes, those chapters sometimes feel like they were written with rainbow-colored pens.
Dana has stated that there won't be a romantic line between Franki and Andi, so that's a scratch off, but we don't need them to be romantic for this connection to be still possible.
For one, Andi and Frankie have always been close friends, and the broken sword/shield symbolism around them make them a codependent duo. Likewise, Andi has been shown to "borrow" from Frankie's knowledge in robotics, since she's clearly the one with the skills to handle the job of engineer.
Part of me believes this is in part because Andi is an enabler for Frankie's rose-tinted idealism. The truth of the park's labs and likely the cutthroat inner machinations there would likely demolish Frankie's love for the craft (a grim mirror of how the entertainment business chews you up into irrecoverable burnout and spits you out), thus her taking on that job despite being unwilling seems more for Frankie's benefit than her own.
Regardless, her closeness to Frankie and willingness to help her with the Gwen droid mirrors how Galehaut not only swears companionship to Lancelot, but also wields Lancelot to Guinevere as her champion and lover.
And it has been pointed out that Andi has blue lung, or the beginnings of it, and Galehaut does die in the myths so um. oops??
Oh! I also wanna point out that in Arthuriana, there is the False Guinevere arc, where the evil half-sister of Guinevere turns Arthur against the real Gwen, and sends both the real Guinevere and Lancelot away, and they are both sheltered by Galehaut. make that what you will <3
Mingi was actually the last ATEEZ member whose face I was able to consistently put to the name, I have to admit it was right after I bought my tickets for their concert last year that I was like "...I should probably know who all of these people are 😳". TBF since I started listening to them in late 2022, up to that point, I'd been mostly just listening to their music and watching a few of their MV's and familiarizing myself with The Lore a bit, and hadn't really dove into their performance vids or side content much at all. From their music alone I'd already placed them in my top 3 groups, but I finally fell deep into the rabbithole of everything else in the couple weeks after the concert when I was laid up with COVID that I'd gotten at the concert (😳) bingeing instagram reels. (tbh I am ECSTATIC that they're already having another tour bc although I LOVED the last concert, as soon as I realized how much I didn't know about them, I was immediately like HI I NEED A DO-OVER NOW)
this bit specifically awakened many things within me.
However, it's been a long time coming but especially now since I started this series and also have been reading work by other ATEEZ meta writers, I feel secure in declaring that Mingi has ascended beyond bias-wrecker status to fully-fledged double-bias. (I maintain that all other members are still S-tier wreckers though. Having a bias in ateez is HARD. i keep thinking i'm set but then every week a different member comes waltzing by wiggling their fingers at me and its SO RUDE. anyways).
this has to come with a lot of defensive caveats of NOT LIKE THATTT bc of certain...stereotypes surrounding mingi ults. i mean it's not entirely NOT that...i do have eyes...but it's also so much MORE than that. i swear.
It's so hard to put things in words (extra LOL at this like 6 weeks later) but here goes.
oh i can use readmores lol
Okay so. The Duality. It can be more than a little cheesy when kpop fans crow all day about ~THE DUALITYYY~ like yeah. first off everyone has duality. you're not the same person in the crowd at the show as you are at your 9-5 on a monday. imagine if idols who had intense concepts just like. walked around in character for those roles 24/7 like what in the daniel day-lewis.
but sometimes the discrepancy between the different "modes" of a performer can still be impressive to see and fun to compare. and wow there sure is a discrepancy here.
mingi's on-stage/performance, FIX ON energy has been heavily discussed. he's got a way of working a crowd that's awe-inspiring, a way that's known to incite "bringing a pen to the concert just in case there's an NDA that needs to be signed" type moods. the way he can get an entire stadium of people BARKING LIKE DOGS, literally, with just a flick of his fingers? enviable. (and potentially terrifying to the uninitiated.) OKAY i was going to say this but i just went to a day6 concert and it turns out that fans will just Do This without any prompting. i stand by mingi still having a particular Way of doing it though and overall a power over crowds that's kinda scary.
poor day6 were so confused it was hilarious
but actually, to my eyes, it's like Fix On is SO over-the-top it's bordering on camp? (i stole this observation from someone (although i'd kind of independently registered it) but forgot who it was. if you wrote about this speak up!). but yeah it's like. almost veering into drag king performance. male impersonation type shit. it's a full on character. this may be one of the secrets behind the mysterious mingi/seonghwa synergy, in the way they get so deeply immersed in character onstage. i'd probably be a little or maybe a lot scared to run into either of them immediately post-performance (but also 🥵).
and then we get moments when this persona will be "broken" by something suddenly and mingi just bursts into that big cheesy smile and it's SO CUTE.
about that cuteness.
ymmv ofc but seeing this guy...
stalking around pelvis-first (I can't find it but that clip of the members making fun of the way he does the driving dance sums it up) on stage, then turn around and INSIST that he's actually Princess Minki, baby chick, aegyo world champion, just intensifies the cuteness. it's the way he's so emphatic that he's CUTE that makes it inherently true, but not directly as a result of the aegyo itself, rather it comes from the intention. if fixed-off mingi really wants to make us believe this, l'm making the decisive choice to take the bait and take him at his word. clown makeup ON, peace and love on planet earth.
who the FUCK are you to deny this man his god-given right to be cute as fuck? get outta town.
to name one example of a behavior that draws me to him in a very leftatlondon "haha, i do that...🥲" way: the way he'll do what I think of as kinda, vocal stimming? with song lyrics (like this whole video oh my god). idk if that's what it is but like, I ALSO sing a lot as self-regulation like when I'm anxious, bored, waiting or a combination of those things.and settings where i see him doing this fit the bill of moments when I would probably be doing the exact same thing. for instance, if i was doing a live in front of thousands of viewers and had run out of boyfriend-RP material and vague platitudes to give but still had time to fill. i would probably also resort to random asmr/vocal percussion. anyways i just Know he paces around whispering various words and phrases to himself.
sidenote, i have to say from experience that the kind of earworms you get when you've been practicing and performing pieces for a concert/etc especially when you do more than one show, are unlike any other kind. they are insidious. i cannot IMAGINE doing this for dozens of shows on a tour or a comeback. i'd lose my mind. idk how they don't end up utterly sick of title tracks by the end of the comeback period. so anyways we do see other members randomly singing a lot, but I haven't really heard anyone playing with the words in the way Mingi does.
i'm not gonna directly comment on the neurodivergency thing but will just say, i See Behaviors 👀. i won't outright say there's Nothing going on.
others have commented on mingi's apparent lack of interest/ability to self-censor his speech, actions or affect even in very public settings. excuse the possible projection, but i recognize this behavior not as coming someone who doesn't know or care about social norms, but due to whatever reason is unable to perform Normal Behavior consistently enough that they've developed a strategy of pointedly abandoning the public pretense of even attempting to do so. if you fuck up at being a person it's because you weren't even trying and you don't even really care :) (but actually you DO care, a lot and you WERE trying).
leaning much more extraverted than myself, mingi seems to do this more automatically and externally than i do.
this type of attitude can have both healthy and unhealthy applications but in mingi's case it seems to be working out pretty well. i'd be interested in seeing a comparison of his persona over time, especially pre- and post-mental health break.
but yeah basically us socially weird and anxious babes yearn for the days of lol random xd tacos. mingi baby u would have thrived in 2007.
and he just comes across as super sweet and sincere and the members clearly adore him. and mingi laugh attacks (a la this vid at around the 14:40 mark heyy look foreshadowing for jonghoposting) are truly soul-cleansing, skin-clearing, crop-watering etc.
i adore this like default awkward closed-mouth smile/grimace he does it's another very "i do that...." thing
anyways also mingi's super captivating to watch onstage and a fucking fire rapper and musician. not just onstage. i LOVE his singing voice too. but i can't spend a second more on this post and i have a whole musical analysis series planned where i'll definitely touch on this stuff more.
just an example of the power of Mingi. this is a challenge for sb19's own fucking account but it's actually impossible to keep your eyes on anyone but mingi
okok shhh don't cry here's a close up version
anyways i've been sitting on this post for far too long and needed to remind myself that these were never supposed to be comprehensive character dissections, just off-the-cuff impressions based on vibes and THATS MY OPINION. so i'm ending it here bye i will be writing about our dear wooyoung next.
again im not gonna discuss ship stuff on these posts its TOO MUCH
