bipolarediaz

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pantone + pride flags

eddie diaz - asexual

cred.

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eddie and chimney as shane and ryan (17/?)

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Following up from the Teatime checks off all the boxes for tumblr sexyman post that some have called “cursed,” and “forbidden knowledge”

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Listen. Listen. The only concern I have about the Discworld fandom expanding is that Mr. Teatime checks off all the boxes for a tumblr sexyman

The man acts and looks like an edgy Christmas-themed Onceler. He’s skinny, likes knives, dresses dapper, and is very, very white. The size of the Discworld fandom is the only thing keeping him from going full sexyman

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every watcher show is ryan/shane going on a weird random tangent while the other patiently waits for his turn to tell his own weird random tangent in their own show

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in honor of the glorious 25th, this is The Super Special Personalized Discworld Reading Order that I made for myself last year when I wanted to reread all of the books in a row (note: this isn’t FULLY the order I’d recommend if you’ve never read any of them before, but it was a fun way to organize them for myself since I’d read them all already) complete with my reasoning on why I read the books in the order I did (reading individual series chronologically, but putting those series in a specific order that allowed them to flow into each other in a way that made sense to me)

1. guards! guards! -- I started off with the city watch, because I’m obsessed with those books and also because I think guards! guards! specifically is one of the best possible first books to read, since it introduces the world, concept, and themes so well 2. men at arms 3. feet of clay 4. jingo 5. the fifth elephant 6. night watch 7. thud 8. snuff -- the final watch book, and also has a lot of the themes of the industrial revolution section of the books, so it seems like the perfect bridge to lead into those next! 9. moving pictures (note: I know the collector’s library lists this as a wizards book, but I really think that’s a stretch and it fits more as the first industrial revolution book despite being written much earlier) 10. the truth 11. monstrous regiment 12. going postal 13. making money 14. raising steam 15. pyramids -- since the industrial revolution books are (with the exception of the moist books) mostly one-offs, I decided to follow that through line and do the remaining one-offs at this point, chronologically just like I did with the industrial revolution, so I started out with pyramids here. 16. small gods 17. the amazing maurice and his educated rodents -- since maurice and the rats came from the university, this feels like a great time to move into that! let’s transition to the wizards from here 18. the colour of magic 19. the light fantastic 20. sourcery 21. eric 22. interesting times 23. the last continent 24. the last hero 25. unseen academicals -- since this doesn’t focus PRIMARILY on the wizards and instead MORE on the one-off quartet of characters in it (trev/jules/nutt/glenda), you could definitely argue that this isn’t a “wizards” book truly in the way the others in this section are, but the focus on the university as a setting (and as a character itself) makes me more inclined to keep it here, unlike moving pictures 26. equal rites -- while this is technically a witches book, I agree with most other people on counting wyrd sisters as the “first” of the series proper there since it’s the first to focus on lancre witches as a whole. but, equal rites is the perfect book for a transition, since it shows both the wizards/university and the witches! 27. wyrd sisters 28. witches abroad 29. lords and ladies 30. maskerade 31. carpe jugulum 32. the wee free men -- obviously, I’m going to follow the witches directly with tiffany aching, since the books are designed to lead into each other like that, so while they’re two separate series, they do go together in my mind. 33. a hat full of sky 34. wintersmith 35. I shall wear midnight 36. the shepherd’s crown -- as the witches and tiffany series in general, and this book specifically, deal a lot with death as both a concept and a character, that’s the very obvious next choice even if it wasn’t the only remaining series. the witches books and death books are more closely intertwined than death is with any of the other series, despite showing up in all of them 37. mort -- finishing on the death series also feels weirdly poetic, and I love it as the final bit of the journey here 38. reaper man 39. soul music 40. hogfather 41. thief of time

so that was how I worked through the series the last time I did a big reread, and honestly I think it worked out really well! I’m interested in other people’s thoughts on it, and if you have a preferred order if you’ve ever done them all in a row like this, or if you exclusively reread them at random just one or two at a time. normally, I do that, but this particular time I really wanted to read all 41 in a row, and this seemed like the most logical order that wasn’t just chronological (which I might try to do the next time I decide to read 41 books straight, just to be able to watch how the writing evolves, since that was admittedly a very interesting side effect of this order that the writing level jumped a LOT every time I transitioned to a new series)

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WE’RE TRENDING #1????

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I’m pretty new to Discworld, what’s up with May 25th?

Hi mate! Great question!

The answer is that the 25th May is the special day within 'Night Watch' (one of the books towards the later end of the Discworld series). I won't spoil anything but a lot of it has to do with an attempted revolution and founding of a republic. Sam Vimes was there, as was Fred Colon, Nobby Nobbs, Reg Shoe and Vetinari.

After Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, many Discworld fans chose to wear lilac on the day (it's a reference to the characters doing the same in 'Night Watch') and help raise money for charity. Since Pratchett's death in 2015, every 25th of May each year is marked by Discworld fans as a celebration of his life and works (and, yes, many still wear lilac on the day).

Hope that helps explain!

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Let’s talk about younger Vimes in Night Watch and his interactions with Vimes-as-Keel, because there’s a bit of subtext there that, when I think about it, shoots me right through the soul.

So imagine you’re younger Sam Vimes, and this man Keel arrives from Pseudopolis, but your coworker Ned Coates doesn’t seem to think he’s really from Pseudopolis, and he seems to know the city well— surprisingly well. He has much to teach you and the other watchmen, but takes a bit of an interest in talking to you, personally. You look up to him. He’s noble. He believes in things being better. He has a moral code. You don’t have a father. You both like your eggs exactly the same way. You invite him to dinner with your mum. Your father died when you were little. Your mum says your father died hit by a cart in the street, but you suspect she’s a champion liar. Keel looks like you. He looks a lot like you.

In that situation, what would you assume?

And having assumed that, how would his death affect you?

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ankh-morpork is so great. awful fucking city. all the worst parts of every city you've ever visited (but mostly london). horrendous. i love it. 100/10 would never visit

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i would say i’m sorry to the people who followed me for other fandoms now getting spammed with discworld but actually i am not even a little bit sorry. please read discworld. they’re my favorite series of all time, even my brainrot fandoms pale in comparison to the constant brainrot i have for discworld

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It’s not a Discworld joke unless you read it, don’t parse it as a joke, and then carry on with your life for ten years until someone stops you to say something like “It’s a pavlovian response because the dog ate a pavlova” and you scream Terry’s name with enough indignant rage you hope it rattles the pillars of the multiverse so wherever his soul is he’ll hear it.

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oh! Also I should take this opportunity to air my crack theory about Night Watch, to wit: Ned Coates is a time-traveling grown-up Young Sam.

My evidence: 

Ned is the only other Watchman who is new to the squad, and new to Ankh-Morpork.

He is supposedly the only person who knew the real John Keel, but he never calls Sam out for it. If there ever was a real Ned Coates, and he really knew John Keel, we only have Ned’s word for it.

When he and Sam spar, he fights just as dirty as Sam does, and claims John Keel taught him the tricks Sam uses himself. 

He’s protective of Vimesy, moreso than other Watchmen though he’s known them all for the same length of time.

He is clearly up to SOMETHING; Sam thinks he’s one of the real revolutionaries plotting to overthrow Winder, but none of the other revolutionaries interact with him or seem to know him that I can recall.

When Sam admits he’s a time traveler, he’s unfazed; his question “From how far back?” would make perfect sense as “from how far back in my timeline, where you are my dad?”

He supposedly dies in the last fight, but Sam doesn’t see it, and Sam supposedly died in that fight too.

Lu-Tze is 100% good enough to have two time-travelers operating at the same time without breaking the timeline; he does, however, worry about the unusual strain he’s creating.

So, let’s say an adult Young Sam has a time-travel accident. Possibly after some sort of major falling-out with his dad, one that’s got him still pissed off at him. And now he’s stuck in a vastly more shitty version of the city he grew up in, and the versions of his dad he has met so far are a) a dumb kid and b) kind of a dick. He is not having a great time. He really, really wants to go home, but first he has a revolution to see through.

Viewed that way, Ned Coates makes a lot of sense.

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We get, rightfully imo, pretty sad and somber and naval-gazey about Discworld and Sir Terry on the 25th of May but I need everyone who might be discovering this series through this annual outpouring of love and sadness that these books are mostly just really fucking funny. Like, they're heart-wrenching and poignant but really they can only pull that off because they're also the funniest books ever written. There's a line near the end of Hogfather that, when I read it, made me feel more deeply connected to, like, the concept of humanity then I ever have before, but the book was only able to deliver that because the rest of it is about what if Santa Claus got kidnapped and a Big Skeleton had to take over his job? It's a patently ridiculous series but that is absolutely also where it's power comes from.