#<- tagging this just in case because this is valid criticism of the team and him but that's not widely accepted is it

[things-methinks]

Lando Norris does not have a champion's mentality and it's going to deteriorate his passion for this sport in the long term, maybe even make him lose chances of achievement. At a gap of 62 points he has already crumbled under pressure and is surrounded by doom and gloom in his head.

Max said that both championships aren't a possibility at this point in time, and Norris dismissed Max's concerns and essentially said that "even if I win every race, he's [Max] is still in a better position". While that is certainly true, Max hasn't won a GP since Barcelona, McLaren has had a rocketship longer than that, it is entirely on the team to not snatch a golden opportunity.

Charles Leclerc, who got lapped in 3 out of 4 races, was still optimistic about winning both the WDC and WCC. Even before he won at Monza. His difference to Max is 86 points, but you still see that he's ready to fight for the title even if it might be a little unrealistic. The 2024 season has really shown why you need the fastest driver, even if you don't have the fastest car. Oscar has shown more resilience and hunger than his senior, who has 4+ years more experience in F1. Simply on logistics, McLaren and Lando could take the wins this year, but it will never be an earned victory, as simple as that.

[press-f1-to-grieve]

yup here comes the yapping. considering my blog also includes both landoscar content and what one may consider anti lando content, especially during singapore gp, i feel that maybe this will double as a sort of clarification on where i stand with lando for those who came across my blog and might have seen this as mixed signal.

tl;dr: no i don't hate him. i don't even hate mclaren. i still can relate to lando and honestly, by hating him i'd be too massive of a hypocrite. there will still be landoscar and lando content on my blog. stuffs i reblogged, i didn't see them as anti because to me they were just fun jabs or for reference or what i think is valid criticism/concerns, but i'll try to tag more mindfully just in case you found me from my landoscar posts and reblogs and these posts upset you. we are just here for fun mostly after all, and i want to be mindful of how much hate lando has been getting lately, and how what i view is a fun jab might not be fun for you if you are a lando/mclaren fan, especially at the moment.

so the clip i saw on here that alerted me to what happened was from @/ef-1 (not tagging them properly because this is just a random rant but if they find my post and wishes to be tagged properly, i will gladly do so). i did track the stream down and watched the entire moment play out along with everything surrounding it just to make sure i didn’t miss anything. full disclaimer tho, that i did not watch the entirety of the nearly 5 hours long stream, but i did skip around and i didn’t encounter any more words regarding this.

unfortunately, after watching, it actually made lando look worse to me personally, and it pains me a lot because i actually like lando, but health and safety is kinda a line for me (i image it is for many too). for some context, if i say i’m a fan, or that i actively ship two people together, it is automatically a given that i like both parties to certain extent. there is, of course, bias and hierarchy taking place. fact is i do adore max slightly more than charles, both of them more than oscar, and oscar more than lando, but ultimately, i do in fact, adore them all. i watch f1 for fun (insert laugh track here), and i would just personally prefer that i don’t end up hating or disliking anybody for my own sake. i could and would dislike their actions if i think it’s a dick move, but i don’t want to dislike them, the person. there’s a big distinction there for me personally.

now, i don’t think what lando said in the stream has turned me into a hater, but it certainly is bumping my view of him a little lower. the fact he saw news about the health and safety of his fellow drivers, but instead of feeling concerned, he reacted in such way, even after his friend gently reminded him that he didn't have full context, is kinda a red flag to me. i would like to think that lando, with or without knowing about the merc drivers’ state after the race, would understand that george (apparently is supposed to be his friend?), lewis, and mercedes, like them or not, have more professionalism than a bunch of school children trying to get out of class. that maybe, if it’s warranted an update, then it was justifiably fucking bad, and that people saw enough evidence to be worried about the state of the drivers, hence needing official words from the team to put their minds at ease.

but, i can’t exactly sit here and lie to myself that i am "the best person” material. his insecurity and the defensive shield he seems to constantly hold is something i certainly can relate. this here might be pure projecting, but i think he wants to be good, however, because he still has plenty to work on, it’s a constant tug of war inside himself, hence the fragmented way his image is. anyway, i was there once. it’s not a fun place to be in, so i hope he finds his way out. and while i personally believe that there is no time limit for when a person can turn themselves around, i’d say the sooner the better it will be for him, simply because he is a public figure. i just don’t want him to get any more hate (which, tough luck, public figure), he’s no doubt receiving enough already, because it won’t help with anything (also doesn’t mean i’m saying he should be coddled either). i just feel there is a risk of pushing him toward lumping both hate and valid criticism together and disregarding them both in an attempt to protect himself, but where is the turning point, only those he is close with will know and can help him in time, i’m just some dumbass online. i think he’s a little more fragile mentally than most if not all on the grid (there is probably a percentage of me self projecting here but i feel it’s a valid belief), so the quicker the people around him realize that and get him the help he needs, the better. the quicker he can get himself in check, the more it’ll benefit both him and his image, especially with the shit that has been going down this season.

[bloodgutsanengelskiss]

This is a part 3 / chapter 3 !

Ao3 account (full 4 chapters on there and I update first) :

Link to chapter 1 :

Link to chapter 2:

Scarlet Secrets

--

Fandom: Criminal minds

Relationships: Spencer Reid / Elle greenaway , Spencer Reid & Elle greenaway

Tags/ warnings : drugs | drug use | drug addictions ( not in this Chapter but main plot point ) | (drinking addiction in a later chapter too) | hurt Spencer Reid | hurt Elle greenaway | they both need hugs | sometimes they get them ,sometimes they don't | unsub team Elle and spencer | major Charecter death | graphic depictions of violence

Synopsis: Spencer Reid struggles with his addiction and isolation after being kidnapped and Elle is the only one looking out for him ( oh and she has a secret, a really big one )

A/N: This is my first ever uploaded multiple-chapter work, and English isn't my first language, so I'm extremely open to criticism. I hope you enjoy it!!

Chapter 3 : silence

-

A/N : hope you like the point of view switch (just for a chapter !) , also I'm so sad because I'm getting like zero engagement especially on ao3 , anyways , enjoy

--

Elle's POV:

Elle stood in the dimly lit alley, the cold night air almost blew her wig away and she fixed it. She looked down at the lifeless body at her feet, the man's face was contorted in agony, his blood pooling beneath him like a puddle of red wine.

She carefully lifted the body, the weight of it feeling heavier than ever before. Despite the chill in the air, sweat beaded on her forehead as she maneuvered the corpse into the nearby dumpster. The metallic clang of the lid closing echoed in the stillness of the night, sealing away the dead man.

Taking a moment to catch her breath, Elle's mind wandered to her next steps. She needed to clean up, to erase the traces of evidence.

Elle made her way back to her fake social services truck and made her way to her apartment. The weight of her actions hung heavy on her like the weight of the dead man, but she pushed aside any feelings of guilt or remorse. This was her mission, her purpose. She couldn't afford to falter now, especially not when the FBI, apparently the BAU, her own former team was investigating her case. She found it ironically funny and almost like a challenge.

Back in the privacy of her own space, Elle took off her bloodstained clothes in the sink, and cleaned her bat and knife, putting the knife in a rack in the kitchen. Then went back to the sink to wash the clothes with her baking soda paste. The familiar ritualistic routine brought her a sense of calm.

As she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, her reflection stared back at her, and she looked down to avoid her own eyes. She washed away the grime and blood, watching the water swirl down the drain until it was transparent. It was a cleansing ritual, a way to rid herself of the sins of her and her victims.

Once cleaned up, Elle sank onto her couch, exhausted. And she reached for the remote, turning the TV on. She scrolled through the channels, the news reports of her actions both unsettling and oddly validating. Finding nothing interesting she turned off the TV with a sigh.

Her thoughts drifted to Spencer. It had been weeks since she had heard from him, and a sense of unease settled in the pit of her stomach. She hated that he stayed in the FBI, she believed he had so much potential outside working for the government, but She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with him and she was just worried.

She picked up her phone from the coffee table and scrolled through her contacts, pausing when she found Spencer, saved in her phone as "dumbass genius", an oxymoron, as Reid had told her. She pressed the call button but was immediately sent to voice mail. Frustrated, Elle decided to go check on Spencer.

She lazily got dressed, cursing him under her breath, then got into her car and drove to his apartment. Using the spare key he had given her long ago, she let herself into his apartment. The familiar chaos of books and papers greeted her but the apartment was so messy she half expected someone else to be living there.

Elle quickly figured out that Spencer wasn't home and she made herself at home, settling on his couch after pushing his stuff to the side. She resisted the urge to tidy up the place, knowing that he would be upset if she moved anything out of place, and decided to busy herself by watching TV and eating some leftovers he had in the fridge.

After warming up a box of cold pizza in the microwave, she grabbed a plate and plopped herself onto the couch. As she leaned over to get the remote from the coffee table, her hands accidentally sent something tumbling to the floor. The room filled with the sharp shatter of glass, Echoing in her ears.

She glanced down at the shattered mess on the floor and confusion knit her brows as she puzzled over what had fallen. She crouched down and carefully picked up the broken pieces, her fingers tracing the outline of the glass vial. Slowly, realization dawned on her, her heart skipping a beat as she comprehended the implications of what she held in her hands.

Oh my God, Spencer .

-

Next chapter:

[transfemlogan]

oh my god he really said that?? ok like i can kinda understand on some level not enjoying seeing criticism, especially depending on how it’s phrased, but like,,,,,,, jesus, thomas mcdude, it is quite literally Your Fault jahddjjfk

like??????? idk im bad at phrasing so apologies for this mess of an ask but when you commit to creating something, like in this case a web series, you should actually take your work somewhat seriously?? and when you’re literally being funded by what? thousands? millions? idk how many patrons he has but anyway, treat it as what it is; a commitment

idk what the everloving fuck thomas does between episodes (god knows the years allow for so much) but it probably has very little to do with sanders sides. and that makes me so mad

like!!!! bitch you have a team of employees (is that the right word?) and you can’t even be bothered to allocate your resources and be like “hey i need help with the script” so that it actually gets done in a timely fashion??????????? im guessing he doesn’t, because if he does, that’s even sadder (i know he writes stuff cos he talks about it on twitter as if that gives him points in his favor 🙄)

and like. it’s so painfully obvious that he doesn’t take his work seriously. because if he did, he would actually do something about the hiatuses instead of saying he will and end up a liar in the end

sorry if this was unwelcome, i just don’t like talking about sanders sides on main and don’t have an outlet for my frustration jahddjfjf (i might make a sideblog just for ts criticism tbh)

YES! HE REALLY SAID THAT. There's something so, like, disgusting abt seeing a large creator tell people 2 not tag him in constructive & valid criticism abt his creation bcuz it "gets him down".

Like ur works r not created in a separate little bubble where u cant b criticised ever. & the fact that u cannot handle seeing ur fans even asking u abt ur creation if it seems just too negative 4 u is... insane to me.

[socialjust-ish]

Hey so first with respect to your tags: I didn't take this as trying to start a fight at all, and thought this was a very thoughtful and fair response. I hope my tone in my post didn't come off as dismissive or argumentative - I also was just explaining my thoughts on the topic (and on mobile, where I hate typing, so was briefer/more curt than I maybe ought to have been).

I absolutely agree with points 1 and 2, above. HBomb's video is about being careful with what you consume, not falling into the same traps as Somerton if you want to make videos, and the importance of credit. Somerton was a useful example, but shouldn't be a target of hate - and HBomb even says as much in his video. Similarly, because it's the internet, it's very easy for valid criticisms to quickly slip into attacks - and attacks on things that aren't relevant to the quality of the video - like you said.

I'm going to put a very brief summary of the remainder of your points below, and if you feel this is an unfair summary, please let me know. I'm not trying to strawman you here, but just make it clear what parts of your post I'm responding to because it is fairly long. If you take issue, let me know.

So your first point under item 3 is, essentially, "Video essayists don't need to have high production values, it's okay to have a format with minimal visual flare, and act, essentially, as a podcast with optional video material in some cases".

I would agree - that's totally okay! You can enjoy that style and produce that style and be very successful - and "success" here doesn't just mean financial success - it can be there via creative fulfillment, personal satisfaction with your work, whatever. If the creator is happy with how it turned out, and their audience likes it, more power to them.

But, it's also important to acknowledge that "these videos have minimal production value" is a valid criticism. Tastes are subjective and one person can have "minimal production values" as a positive, while another person can have it as a negative. Both critiques are acceptable. No style is "correct", but because of that, people are allowed to comment on it as an issue they have with the format. It would be an equally valid criticism to say "I really like [youtuber's] arguments, but the visual flair is too over the top for me". Totally fine! A "valid criticism" isn't the same thing as a universal truth. It's just whether or not the point would be informative to someone who was interested in watching the video:

"Would I like this video?"

"Not if you expect high production values/like calm readings of material/don't want to have to do more than listen"

I think, with Somerton, the issue is that he was so consistently lazy. What did Somerton add to those articles that anyone else couldn't? Nothing. He provided nothing creative or original in the videos, his presentation, or anything. If your contribution to the material is, essentially, a text-to-voice reading, that's worthy of criticism. Other low-produciton-value Youtubers don't have this same issue because they're contributing something original to the work - their ideas/essays/etc. Somerton contributed nothing.

Like, at least with Internet Historian's video, as plagiarized as the words were, he (or his team) created an hour+ long animation with voice acting to accompany those words. If you plugged the article he plagiarized into a text to speech reader, you'd have a fundamentally different experience compared to the video. There's at least some editorial creativity in that video. Not enough to justify stealing someone else's work, but it's not just a verbatim reading of the article. Somerton just blankly reads into a camera.

And so, in that context of "well, if the words aren't his own, what else does he bring to the table?" and the criticism is "no production value, no interesting style, and an un-engaging, monotone voice" that's a totally valid critique. "What makes Somerton distinct from reading the article itself?" has no real answer. You know?

The next point you bring up, is, essentially Some people - for whatever reason it may be - do not have an innate ability to understand fashion/dressing nicely/etc. And by attacking Somerton for these things, it suggests to your friends/colleagues/peers/etc. that they, also, are required to dress nicely to be accepted.

And this is a valid point - again, if you're proud of your work and your audience enjoys it, then you don't need to match the "big leagues" in terms of production value.

But Somerton held himself out as one of the "Breadtube big leaguers". He actively and frequently compared himself to the likes of Contrapoints and Philosophy Tube in terms of the content he was making - getting upset on Twitter when they were invited to Nebula and he wasn't.

So it's not that "anyone making this much money is expected to invest in these things" but it's a matter of: If you present and advertise yourself as the same type of content as Philosophy Tube or ContraPoints or HBomberguy, it's fair for an audience to expect you to put in the same level of effort. And if you don't, then criticizing that is appropriate.

The difference between him and Shaun is Shaun doesn't hold himself out to be "like those other folks". Shaun doesn't go into a big twitter rant when other creators are more successful/have more subscribers/whatever. Shaun doesn't get upset when his videos don't do as well as those other creators. Somerton did. Somerton said "I"m just like these other successful youtubers, why am I not as famous?!" And so the answer of "Because you half-ass everything from your scripts to your wardrobe" is an appropriate answer to that question.

If we were friends in real life, and you dressed awkwardly, I wouldn't care. If we were friends in real life, and you dressed awkwardly and insisted that your videos deserved as much respect and prestige as the previously-mentioned creators, then I would probably sit you down and say "okay, if you want that, you need a set designer and a wardrobe and production value, just like those folks have."

That's the difference between critiquing Somerton and viewing people in real life. And it's an important distinction to be aware of.

Okay I've seen enough people starting to make fun of the way James Somerton dresses and that I think before this goes where it always goes we all need to take a step back and remember that making fun of someone's appearance is not acceptable, even when they're a shitty person.

He doesn't suck because he wears "unflattering" clothes or doesn't have engaging facial expressions, he sucks because he's a thief and a grifter who made almost $200k a year by screwing over his audience and queer creators/authors. There's plenty of things to criticize, his looks should not be on the table.

[huskymaine]

LOL... Even while writing this Ask, I simply couldn't stop smiling. Your Kakashi + Jiraiya + Itachi post was totally a Blast and I almost read it 4 times. I just wanted to write all of these as a comment under that post, But it's just Daunting with all those word limit and hence, here I am sending you as an Ask.

Firstly, I crave for posts like these. Like, A Post that could make you think and say, 'Hmmm, I never thought about this... It makes absolute sense'.

Secondly, I wish I should have sent you that ask sooner so that I would've got your response earlier.... Which would have made my life easier... Because couple of days ago, an Itachi stan annoyed the hell out of me and that person was saying... "Jiraiya was a pervert, pedoph*l* and Naruto follows the ideal of this kind of person... How good his Ideal must be?"... Am like... (????).... If Only I had your points few days earlier, I would've totally destroyed that person. Well, Good for them. Unlucky me!!!

Thirdly, Your points about Jiraiya... A+++. Like I inherently knew that he is Harmless (even though I know he is a Pervert... I've seen a fair share of harmful perverts in my life too)... But I don't know why I never felt hatred towards him... And your Answer made me realize... "Oh!!! So this is why I couldn't hate Jiraiya but love him none matter what???". And your last line, "Thank God, The Target was Jiraiya!!" was Chef's Kiss.

Fourthly, I want to re-iterate (Just in case you misunderstood me) that, I don't mind people hating/feeling uncomfortable with Jiraiya for Obvious reasons... They have very valid reason to. But what I don't like is.. People criticizing him for writing Smut but they themselves write R-Rated Headcanons, criticizing Fanfic writers as to why did they made XXX character to be Top/Bottom and claim themselves as Feminist... And preach other people that Jiraiya's ideals are non-sense because he is a Pervert. (Just say you hate Jiraiya and go!!!)

Fifthly, Kakashi's Anime only scene with Sakura might come off as downright sexist for some people... But I was glad that it was not in the Manga back when I read it for the first time (Man, Anime team shitted on so many characters). Even when I was watching the Anime, I felt like it was too OOC from Kakashi's side.. Like I knew that he isn't a person to pry on someone's private affairs. But People calling Kakashi as an Offender for reading Icha Icha is just REACHING.

Sixth and Finally, Your point about Itachi was the best one in that entire post. You could've tagged it under Itachi tags itself because I never felt like you were bashing him for no reason like Sasuke stans does. (Damn, Am I being so obvious that I like Itachi???) Sadly, like you said, that Genjutsu'ing that Girl thing was never brought up by anyone in this fandom and this is the first time I am also hearing it... AND I AGREE WITH YOU TOTALLY. Well, he is my absolute favourite still... But I don't like to apologize for him since I'd like to take a Character just like how he was written by the Author. Not my own perfect version. I never criticized him for putting either Kakashi or Sasuke in a Tsukuyomi... Because at the end of the day they are Ninjas and they live to fight. Period. But what Itachi did to that Girl is just plain wrong, no matter what. Even though he did that to exploit Jiraiya's weakness (a thing every Ninjas do to knock out their Opponents) And this also gives me a point to defend Jiraiya in a right way.

Anyways, Thanks for the Response. I totally enjoyed every word of it because it was Thoughtful at the same time it was Very Hilarious too.

Hehe, while reading the ask, I couldn’t stop smiling too.

Ask response for this post,

Firstly, I crave for posts like these. Like, A Post that could make you think and say, 'Hmmm, I never thought about this... It makes absolute sense'.

I am glad that my posts made sense because sometimes when I write meta post my thought gets jumbled and was like “wait, I am getting sidetracked, what am I supposed to talk again?” XD. 

Secondly, I wish I should have sent you that ask sooner so that I would've got your response earlier.... Which would have made my life easier... Because couple of days ago, an Itachi stan annoyed the hell out of me and that person was saying... "Jiraiya was a pervert, pedoph*l* and Naruto follows the ideal of this kind of person... How good his Ideal must be?"... Am like... (????).... If Only I had your points few days earlier, I would've totally destroyed that person. Well, Good for them. Unlucky me!!!

Haha, I know the feeling of frustration when you just lost the momentum on a debate. As I said in my post, Jiraiya’s flaws don’t absolve his goodness. And how good an ideal depends none other on how the recipient live up by the ideal. With the same principle, a supposedly good ideal will look bad if recipient use that ideal to do bad things (case in point, Danzo). Obito gave Kakashi “those who abandon one of their comrade are worse than trash” as a nice but naive 13 years old boy, then after he knows how the world truly rolls he lost his hope and became the bringer of chaos. Does that mean that ideal is not good anymore? If so, why Kakashi still used that ideal to face Obito in 4th War and even taught it to Boruto’s generation? (Anime only, Kakashi hasn’t appeared at all in Boruto manga and days by days I am not sure I want him to).

In the end, that ideal from Obito is what Kakashi believes by heart, gave him hope, helps him on his shinobi lives with his comrades, and became one of Naruto’s motivation as the Savior. That ideal from Jiraiya soothed Naruto while he was reeling by rage because of Jiraiya and Kakashi’s death along with the destruction of his home, also what helped him to save Sasuke and unite the fricking 5 different villages. With that results, how could we say that the ideals are not good just because they came from somewhat problematic individuals? Not to mention we are talking about the very harsh Naruto world that makes everyone are somewhat problematic in one way and another.

(I think even in our real world everyone are problematic at certain degree). 

Thirdly, Your points about Jiraiya... A+++. Like I inherently knew that he is Harmless (even though I know he is a Pervert... I've seen a fair share of harmful perverts in my life too)... But I don't know why I never felt hatred towards him... And your Answer made me realize... "Oh!!! So this is why I couldn't hate Jiraiya but love him none matter what???". And your last line, "Thank God, The Target was Jiraiya!!" was Chef's Kiss.

Thanks for the compliment! And happy that it help you to realize your feeling toward Jiraiya more. On my post, there’s a quote  “A Saint can appear like a Sinner when they stepped on an ant, and a Sinner can appear like a Saint when they put down their murder weapon”, but I think the world is not that black and white. When the Saint stepped on an ant, they’re a Sinner ONLY TO the ant and ONLY WHEN he stepped on the ant. Vice versa for the Sinner part. So I accept Jiraiya’s perviness as one of his flaws but it didn’t make me not appreciating the good sides Jiraiya has.

Fourthly, I want to re-iterate (Just in case you misunderstood me) that, I don't mind people hating/feeling uncomfortable with Jiraiya for Obvious reasons... They have very valid reason to. But what I don't like is.. People criticizing him for writing Smut but they themselves write R-Rated Headcanons, criticizing Fanfic writers as to why did they made XXX character to be Top/Bottom and claim themselves as Feminist... And preach other people that Jiraiya's ideals are non-sense because he is a Pervert. (Just say you hate Jiraiya and go!!!)

Don’t worry, I understand what you’ve meant. I just emphasize that everyone’s tolerance of sexual stuff are different so those who read my post are not obliged to like Jiraiya if his perviness is too uncomfortable for them.

And the hypocrisy, I also understand it completely. Once a comic strip appeared on my dash, comedy comic that went like this : 

Kakashi reads Icha-Icha in front of his students, Sakura protested to Kakashi that reading porn like that makes him look sexist because it objectifying women. Then Kakashi said, “I read it for the men”. The end.

I was like, wait, what? That’s it? Isn’t porn objectifying the men too, but because he “reads it for the men” doesn’t make him “sexist” anymore? Then because I just don’t understand, I read the comments and they’re like “ That’s okay, Kakashi is gay, of course he reads it for the men”. Suffice to say my confusion is deepened. So if Kakashi’s gay (in their interpretation), reading porn for the women is sexist but reading it for the men is not?? Then before I got confused even further, I gave up and just, you know what? Let’s stop thinking about it so serious, the artist just made that comic for fun but the joke clearly flew over my head so let’s just keep scrolling.

There are 2 kind of sex (not gender) so criteria of sexist should apply to both, in my opinion.

Top/Bottom yaoi fanfic are definitely sexualizing men and sometimes even feminize men. I think that’s the truly sexist act, to think that in a relationship there has to be the “woman” one and sometimes equals with the “under” one. People like that don’t deserve to call themselves “feminist” let alone criticizing men for their smut contents.

Fifthly, Kakashi's Anime only scene with Sakura might come off as downright sexist for some people... But I was glad that it was not in the Manga back when I read it for the first time (Man, Anime team shitted on so many characters). Even when I was watching the Anime, I felt like it was too OOC from Kakashi's side.. Like I knew that he isn't a person to pry on someone's private affairs. But People calling Kakashi as an Offender for reading Icha Icha is just REACHING.

Well, just seconds before I made that post, I think that it’s a canon material. I am not manga puritist, because I think anime seldom mischaracterize Kakashi too much, even downright biased toward him (Kakashi vs Obito fight scene is nothing but love confession from animator XD). So I generally saw manga as the prime material, but will accept non-manga material as part of Kakashi’s characterization. For that scene, I kinda equalize it with the time when Kakashi said that Naruto should eat more vegetable or he will die, like he genuinely cares for his students’ health but he’s a little socially inept and sometimes his way of caring can look weird or downright insensitive XD

But yeah reading smut is not a sex offence in any shape or form, but I guess I can’t blame people who think like that too much when the anime generously gave us this kind of scene,

Whereas when Naruto saw Kakashi with his dirty book after 2+ years not seeing each other, his response is happiness because Kakashi doesn’t change at all. Aaanndd then gave him new smut book.

Even Sakura (a girl) hardly bothered by it anymore.

He didn’t harm anyone and he can be as serious as you want with the 18+ book on his hand, leave him and his quirk alone.

Sixth and Finally, Your point about Itachi was the best one in that entire post. You could've tagged it under Itachi tags itself because I never felt like you were bashing him for no reason like Sasuke stans does. (Damn, Am I being so obvious that I like Itachi???) Sadly, like you said, that Genjutsu'ing that Girl thing was never brought up by anyone in this fandom and this is the first time I am also hearing it... AND I AGREE WITH YOU TOTALLY. Well, he is my absolute favourite still... But I don't like to apologize for him since I'd like to take a Character just like how he was written by the Author. Not my own perfect version. I never criticized him for putting either Kakashi or Sasuke in a Tsukuyomi... Because at the end of the day they are Ninjas and they live to fight. Period. But what Itachi did to that Girl is just plain wrong, no matter what. Even though he did that to exploit Jiraiya's weakness (a thing every Ninjas do to knock out their Opponents) And this also gives me a point to defend Jiraiya in a right way.

Yeah I add Itachi tag after receiving your ask, little bit hesitant before because I don’t wanna offend anyone since I just wanna make a point for Jiraiya. Also yeah even if I haven’t read your top 10 favorite characters it’s clear that you love Itachi, so I was relieved to know that I didn’t offend you with that post. What Itachi did is indeed something a ninja usually did, a.k.a exploiting the opponent’s weakness, but using defenseless woman as a tool like that is, just like Jiraiya said, not a manly way of doing your things. I know that narratively they are portrayed as ruthless villain of the day as Naruto kidnappers but still on that scene, Itachi and Kisame deserve to have their manhood questioned.

Anyways, Thanks for the Response. I totally enjoyed every word of it because it was Thoughtful at the same time it was Very Hilarious too.

Thanks for your ask and response too!

[formulatrash]

I really love that you’re so active and open on here because I always wanted to work in sports journalism or similar and I always felt like I had to tone down my involvement in fan spaces sometimes because it seemed maybe like it was considered by some as unprofessional or that I couldn’t do both but I love seeing that that’s not really true

I think it's a case of looking critically at what we think of as "fan spaces."

The entire sports press is a fan space, all sports coverage is because people are fans of it and a race report or interpretation of an interview is a fanwork just in the same way a gifset or edit is. One is a legitimised industry, the other we tend to self-police into being regarded as lesser, shameful in case the boys come and make fun or whatever.

I've always participated in loving the things I love in a more traditionally female/queer fandom way. Obviously there are plenty of men in Tumblr-style fandom and I think the gender divide is less clear either way; there are plenty of women on Reddit, after all. But there's a history of either side being dominated by one gender and for the external perception to be Reddit bros vs Tumblr girls.

Autosport is fandom, curated and presented in the way it's expected to be; the same as fandom is curated and presented on Tumblr. We think one is legitimised and one has to be hidden because of respectability points scored against each other, not because there's anything particularly more inherently intellectual to a formally-written report on 750 Motor Club's race weekend than to a beautiful edit.

~Fandom~ spaces lack the validation of access. The reason people are desperate to put "FIA accredited" in their Twitter bio is because it gives you a weight of validation when like, it's Literally Just A Lanyard. The FIA don't check whether your takes are bad or else there'd have to be a sharp drop in accredited media.

I used to work in music journalism and cis, white, mostly posh, straight men who followed bands around got lionised as the pioneers of the field. Same as in motorsport - guys who went to tens of Grand Prix just because they were obsessive fans turned into journalists and were lauded for it. Their merch collections and old models are considered a valuable museum.

That's not particularly a criticism of them: they're just fans, expressing their genuine fandom and turning it into something that they share with other fans, that they bring greater illumination to the sport through. That's, after all, what we are all doing. And there's nothing dismissive or derogatory in describing it like that.

The problem is that other forms of fandom, although no less sincere, aren't treated the same. Women who follow bands around don't get interpreted as experts but obsessives and the same with sport or anything else. Queer people's enthusiasm for things is treated with suspicion. People of colour are alienated and sidelined and the more their identity intersects with any other marginalised group the worst it is.

Which is all a long way of saying: we interpret different parts of fan expression as different degrees of professional and that's almost always based on what's making money right now. Laptop stickers of fanart? Guess what teams and series are slowly getting into. Pin badges, custom merch, all the sort of things that have been bootlegged by fans - from beautiful edits on social media (and christ, have you seen the official F1 graphics? they could desperately do with someone from here) to artists getting commissioned for race posters because the brands have realised they want those social numbers.

Even all the way through to fanfiction. If a dude writes a speculative history of a fictional season (there's plenty out there!) it's called a 'what if?' and can be published on the F1 website. I have the dignity to put mine on AO3 but I don't think it's any less insightful, in the 'making things up' stakes.

Tumblr is an illegitimate platform, packed with pirated content and with plenty of feral spaces even I shouldn't look in - and I am quite hardcore about curating what I see, these days. It's less likely to be a screed against me than on Reddit but I'm aware people have the right to public comment on anything published.

I wish people had less internalised shame about what's created on here, though. Looking through the tags there's beautiful art, conscientiously-created notes and what on another platform would unquestionably be validated as journalism. There's analysis and insight and pure, unbridled enjoyment.

And yeah a few people who want to fuck the drivers but my god I can't tell you how little athletes are offended by the idea people think they are hot.

[memoryboy]

I understand the pain going into a main fandom tag only to see stuff you don’t want to, truly I do, but if you are going into a main tag of a content creator and see only negative stuff maybe it’s time to do some thinking and research on if that content creator is actually objectively a bad person or if it’s one small thing that’s gotten completely blown out of proportion. Also main tags aren’t only for posting positive things especially in the case of real life people, take a break from the tag if it’s really hurting you that much.

hey!

the content i’m talking about is mostly people being critical of things like tales from the smp or the way that the content creators joke with their friends rather than something objectively bad. and i’m not talking about things like “this creator made an objectively iffy joke.” i’m talking about going into the tag and seeing that all the posts in the tag are going “this creator teased their friend and because that friend of theirs is my favorite cc, i’m going to make a negative post about them and slap it in the main tag.” it’s mostly caused by people being biased toward their favorite content creators and mistagging their posts. i’m just here to see cool art and fan theories, you know? go ahead and be critical, but you have your own tags for that. it’s just another kind of cross-tagging.

it’s a problem i’ve seen a lot. tftsmp critical posts put in the karl tag that aren’t constructive and c!philza negative posts put in the main philza tag are what i see the most of in the tags. obviously i don’t see every tag, though. most of the blogs i follow seem to have no problem not putting their dream team critical or smp writing critical posts in the main tags. it’s fine to make posts like that, but it doesn’t belong in the main tags.

and like i mentioned in my original post, some of that criticism is valid! i definitely see the flaws in tftsmp and i’m following multiple tftsmp critical blogs. i’ve made a couple of lightly critical posts myself. it’s possible to like something and see the flaws in it, and it’s possible to see the flaws in something without completely hating on it. a lot of people seem to have trouble with either extreme.

the thing is, though, most people who are going into a main tag are going there because they enjoy content about that person/character/thing. i don’t think the people who are posting critical content are going through the tag about that person or thing because they don’t like or care enough about it to do so. they’re advertising their post to people who are coming into the tag hoping to see the exact opposite. but their critical posts are showing up in the main tag, often untagged as critical. just please tag your posts correctly. please. that’s all i ask.

[arthur-rex]

TAGS for this post

#i adore this!!#the colours!!!! go green team!!!!!#i love how you formatted this: two influences on the core four that in the end they ultimately have to choose between #merlin's is interesting though because even though he becomes a slave to destiny he never forgets his mum #(although we DESERVED more s4-5 hunith content) #maybe after camlann merlin was finally able to find peace... it's unlikely but we can always hope #green team 😎💚💚

@oswinsdolma​ ...aww Ellie. Come here. Let me hug you.

Yes, now then. Your tags are precisely what I’m talking about with that piece. The choices we make between advice given and how WE CHOOSE to act upon it are critical. 

But we must get into the habit of accepting responsibility for our actions.

Many people in this fandom (I have noticed) are choosing to hate on certain characters as if to absolve their favourite characters of blame for their actions. Errr, no. It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid. Merlin, Arthur and co. when they fuck up THEY fuck up THEMSELVES. 

It’s actually damaging to externalise that frustration and place it onto the Dragon or to Uther (he’s a messed up human being but he’s not the Devil people), or to blame anyone else for the decisions our favourite characters choose to make for themselves. It’s not the mature approach.

And c’mon, let’s be honest with ourselves. The reason why we are all attached to certain characters is because they remind us subconsciously of real people (or wanted people) in our lives. There, I’ve said. We’re all doing it. Subconsciously for some, actively for others. My people of fixation are Merlin, Gwen and Morgana for entirely different reasons. I RP as Arthur because my life most resembles his minus a crown he is the one that interacts with these three the most, and in the most meaningful ways.

Now. your points. Yes, Merlin needed more time with Hunith. He definitely did, and I think the majority of the Merlin fandom from what I can make out (self-made confident young women / maybe single mothers?) needed to and would have appreciated more Hunith time too as well.

Yes, Merlin became a slave to Destiny... but Destiny does in this case, (in my hc at least) have an answer to all of this. I am writing Avalon fic this evening. I am going to have Arthur rise again as the Prophets foretold. There is no point in writing/continuing Arthur’s journey post-Camlann if I’m going to be brutally honest, unless we do this. Just to repeat the canon verse model again in another modern verse (or verses) without an endgame is just... well. It’s not daring to be different and brave and new. It’s not the story I want to write anyway. 

Good luck to other Arthur writers if that is the case. I sincerely mean that; if you get closure by having the same thing happening to Merthur again that’s fine and valid. But there is another way. It’s traumatic and transforming and full of angst like you would expect from those two, but it has hope and a bit of comedy thrown in there to balance the tone out. And I’m sure when I get on ao3 I will spot other writers who will have done a similar idea to this too (but I haven’t started consuming any fanfic really yet)

Anyway, this is just wordy old writer me here, keeping positive despite the increased amounts of hate I’m seeing on my dash (you have a problem with the Beatles, really? They were singing about unconditional love, the authorities shot John Lennon dead because he was urging for peace over war, he married a POC woman and gave her agency you gonna hate on a man like that??? What the-)

Anyway. Remember to still be kind to the people who hate you. It’s the hardest thing to do, but actually, hateful people cannot stand being met with people who are not mean and spiteful back. It exposes them as bullies. I’m talking about my RL family who hate me, relaaax Tumblr followers and friends.

Take care all.

[orchidbreezefc]

OH SHIT YALL ARE WE PUBLICALLY TALKING ABOUT THE SHIT THE KFAM CREATORS PULL? IS THAT A THING WE’RE TALKING ABOUT NOW? I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR THIS YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

first: im not going to go into issues i have with the show itself. yall heard the helen keller episode and the walt storyline/the character voice a white dude used for him same as i did--my input won’t be necessary there i think. i also recommend the blog @kfam-tea​, thank you for your service, for being an archive for creator-based shit, the current snafu and their history, etc.

this is about my personal experiences with the creators. there’s plenty of behavior by the FANDOM that i don’t appreciate, especially in the official discord--where it’s specifically encouraged and cultivated--and maybe i’ll indulge myself with that in a separate post, but this i think will be more relevant to more folks’ interests and the current climate.

so. remember ep90, “if you’re hungry and you know it”? it’s the one where maggie calls in to apply and gets treated like shit by our protagonists for 15 minutes. comments are made about her breasts. they try to dissuade her from applying for the job posting they’ve been advertising because chet would sexually harass her and rather than address that they’d rather just.... warn off every female applicant? maggie through the conversation is trying to make amends for her wrongs (i.e. high school drama and attacking a guy who sexually harassed her so badly for years she quit her job) and talk about her efforts at recovery, and she is mocked, both in the way she is written and in the way sammy and ben talk to and about her.

it was bad. it was very sexist and bad, and nothing was said about it for a month (7/15-8/15), at which point ep92, “words: greater than pen, greater than sword” aired, which contained lily tearing sammy to shreds over it. ben wasn’t there, which was interesting, because it did create a dynamic where our resident socially aware lesbian (who solely bears the burden of educating people when they are being shitheads and is richly rewarded by being widely regarded as an unlikeable bitch by the fandom and many of the characters) rightfully confronts and gets an apology from a gay man for being half of an extremely misogynist shutdown of a woman. meanwhile, his hetero counterpart and unassailable purehearted fandom darling is not yelled at for his misogyny, and gets to have this Very Important Lesson relegated to him offscreen later. i mean, presumably? i’m pretty sure we never hear whether that actually happens.

still, it was a pretty thorough discussion of how gross that conversation had been, and it was addressed and apologized for in the show itself by the characters (or one of them), which was more than i expected. it regained some lost trust. it was clear to me that the kfam team had received the same sort of outcry from the fandom that i had seen in more private servers, and these were their amends. i decided to tweet at them applauding the effort. this is how that worked out:

[ID: a tweet by me that reads: “@ KingFallsAM hey.... today's episode was good. this was a good way to respond to fan criticism and the apology is appreciated. thanks.”

the official kfam account quote tweeted this to respond: “This was an intended storyline, we don’t course correct. We have ALWAYS had imperfect characters that learn and grow and will continue to. Also... we only saw one tweet even mention it. But thanks?“

a fellow fan, whose username and icon have been redacted, replied to the official kfam account’s response with: “I feel like there’s a less sarcastic way to respond to this tweet. I’m a diehard fan, however I saw quite a bit of criticism about thesexism[sic] in the recent episodes. I too was under the impression that it was a course correction, regardless I am glad that there is character growth“]

so. that was a cool thing. like, i do owe that other fan my life and will show up for them in their hour of need for being the only one to publically stick up for me despite being a stranger, but that sure was a quote tweet that a multi-thousand-followers account used to dunk on my under-100-followers account for trying to pay them a compliment!

i mean, really. the passive-aggressive ‘but thanks?’ at the end? and them saying not that they didnt course correct in this case where followup (a month later) was planned, but that they don’t course-correct, as in they never do that--was a clear statement of ‘we don’t accept fan criticism or feedback on writing OR representation and take it into account, ever’. hey kfam, pro tip: when you say 'thanks for accepting our apology i guess' it really sounds like you didnt feel like you needed to apologize in the first place. which is a pretty bold attitude to take about an episode where a character apologizes for being sexist.

like no wonder you only saw one tweet about it if that’s the attitude you present toward criticism (and, as @kfam-tea​‘s blog thoroughly proves, it is and has been, consistently). i know the risk of backlash is definitely why i hadn’t said anything about 90 in public up to that point. but yeah, 'nobody told us that episode was disgusting in our samebrain discord server that contains the literal creators who have a history of backlash, so can you really say there was fan criticism at all? maybe it was just in your head. after all, if we did something wrong with the intention to correct it a month later, did we really do anything wrong in the first place? checkmate'

tl;dr im not surprised by the new developments. my hearts go out to the MINORS, who are specifically cultivated as an audience by the sfw policy of the official server, who were publically chewed out by the grown ass author on twitter for requesting tags, warnings, or really any sort of discretion or consideration at all on nsfw content.

p.s.: here’s something kyle said on the discord in response to a conversation in which i criticized ben’s behavior during an episode (i.e. said he should apologize and take responsibility for a hurtful thing he did even though he did it by accident, or at least have it acknowledged in the show or the fandom that he did a hurtful thing--another post, perhaps) and the rest of the discord dogpiled me until i cried and shut down and stopped defending myself or speaking at all because i couldn’t deal with inviting any more argument:

[ID: a discord message from kyle that reads: “Thank you all for talking about this maturely and with your words. I’ve personally never seen that heard[sic???] of this scene with that POV attached but that’s the beautiful thing about this show and shows like it, is[sic] that we all kinda copy & paste ourselves on these characters and situations at times. Everybody’s opinions on the situation is[sic] valid with their own personal context of the scene.” two people have reacted with blue heart emojis.]

how magnanimous, kyle. wouldn’t have described the preceding argument as civil even if i did understand how anyone could possibly do anything on a discord text channel that didn’t qualify as using their words, but thanks? somebody literally DM’d me to ask if i was okay because without having ever talked to me one-on-one before they could tell i was deeply distraught by the end, but i’m glad you got to be the benevolent author and shake hands with both sides for a swift shutdown of dissent well executed. /s

[thecuriousblitz]

I caught your amazing post summarizing the whole Fairgame issue and RT's corporate responsibility but can't find it in the tags anywhere. everyone should read it! particularly because there are so many people who are like 'CRWBY did nothing wrong'

Ah the Tumblr blackhole strikes again? Original post here, and reposting below, just in case. And thanks for reading. Hopefully it injects some much-needed nuance into the mess.

Hopes for RWBY Vol. 8: A commitment from RT to do better by their queer mlm fans

I waited until the end of Vol. 7 to put this out there, in case there was a Hail Mary fix-it that, while not able to erase how Fairgame was handled, would at least shed some light on certain narrative decisions.

And so when RT started peddling paired Qrow/Clover pins and a ‘Born Unlucky’ Qrow drinking cup after weeks of radio silence, I said to myself - calmly - well fuck.

Having worked as both a writer and marketer for a games company and several creative agencies, I know it takes gallons of blood, sweat and tears to make a show like RWBY shine. For that, CRWBY has my utmost respect. I also know that the directors, writing, animation and marketing departments of a commercially significant project are typically very connected and cross-communicative - for many reasons, but mainly to avoid preventable shitshows.

That’s why the idea that no one important knew about and therefore can’t be held responsible for the prolonged queerteasing engaged in by several animators and marketing staff is friggin’ bizarre.

In criminal law, the severity of the punishment often hinges on the presence of mens rea, or a ‘guilty mind’. For example, if it’s proven you both intended to and did kill someone, you go down for murder. If you’re drunk and run over someone, it’s manslaughter - a lesser crime, but a crime nonetheless because harm was caused through recklessness or negligence. ie. You should have fucking known.

I don’t think there’s enough to prove intent to harm, but holy shit if it was your run-of-the-mill agency, there would have been someone tripping over their balls to shut down the weeks of ‘we gave you bumbleby, now how bouts some Fairgame wink wink’ marketing and your ‘I ship Qrover hardcore/CLOVER IS A TOP’ animators, knowing where the narrative was going. Either RT operates on some alien plane of existence where common sense/corporate liability isn’t a thing, or some serious soul-searching and a company-wide policy change needs to happen. At the very least, please have the fucking talk with your marketing and animation teams, for their sake and that of your company’s.

Additionally, anytime we were working on something that could even remotely touch on minority or sensitive issues (eg. those concerning people with disabilities, indigenous peoples, LGBTQI, potential trauma triggers), we would hire external subject matter experts to extensively comb through anything that might cause problems. The writing, character design, animation, VOs, marketing, every fucking end-to-end detail.

Once, our design team had to completely re-do the hairstyles of several minor NPCs in a game for kids because they were too ‘phallic-like’. I lead with that example because it’s my favorite ‘wtf’ workplace moment (you really had to squint to see it), but in all seriousness, there have been many times where the input of qualified experts saved our collective blind asses. When it comes to representation, details matter - even if you personally don’t see a problem.

Note the use of ‘external’ experts. We never relied on having minority members on our team to pass muster. One, that puts way too much fucking pressure on the crew member who happens to be part of that minority group to speak up. Two, and this might be shocking for some, not all members of a minority group think and feel the same way about everything.

If you can manage to sweat the details, hire experts, and have (what I thought were normal) cross-department communications, you avoid situations where individuals who are part of an underrepresented group are forced to defend the validity of their pain.

By virtue of queer/mlm being a minority, the majority of the fandom won’t see a problem. Hell, not all queer/mlm will see a problem, and that’s totally fine.

The problem is this: Once your product is out there, and your rogue animators/marketing team have at it with the baiting, you’ve just provided the perfect storm for a barrage of censorious attacks against a vulnerable group, all of varying degrees of fallaciousness, and all of which were completely preventable: ‘You’re just overreacting’, ‘You just hate that your headcanon didn’t work out’, ‘It’s sad, but no one’s to blame’, ‘I’m gay and I thought it was fine’, ‘The show has queer wlw rep, how can you criticize’, ‘I know what queerbaiting is and that wasn’t it’, ‘It’s just a fictional character/SOME BLOODY PINS, get over it’, ‘CRWBY didn’t encourage this ship’ (most people will not make the effort to dig into super shady tweets, comments and fandom interactions from months ago), etc. etc.

And by the immutable laws of internet fuckery, what should have been a beautiful opportunity for representation - whether it would have ended happily or not - gets turned into a convoluted shitstorm where argument from ignorance wins the day.

In short, RT, please, please do better. You have every right to freely create, but with freedom comes responsibility. You have a really good thing going - as a fan, it would be the ultimate tragedy if nothing is acknowledged or changes after all this.

[dreadwhoop]

Reviewing the All Elite Wrestling personnel (Part 2)

Part 0 - https://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/631091725056835584/reviewing-the-all-elite-wrestling-personnel-part Part 1 - https://dreadwhoop.tumblr.com/post/631092482075148288/reviewing-the-all-elite-wrestling-personnel-part

Wrestlers to Release

Let's start with an easy one. Chuck Taylor is damaged goods. Is he the worst wrestler? No. Is he unmarketable? Yes. What's his standing? Currently one of the top tag-teams in the company and personally ranked 8th in the overall scoring. Are you kidding me?! This guy makes you change the channel - bush league dime-a-dozen goof with bad gear, bad promos, and abyssmal credibility. The worst is how badly he holds Trent? back from being a break-out star. Eliminate this idiot.

Another popular choice for removal - he may be kind backstage but I never want him on TV. Carnie Hick. People constantly compare him to better wrestlers and the fact he was self-trained makes sense why he's so horrendous at fundementals, ring psychology, and stardom as a whole. We already have a 'Superbad' boy! This guy needs to go to a real school to learn the holes he's got and take every criticism to heart to return as a unique talent. Until then? Get rid of this glorified fan.

I finally have a legit reason among opinions - liability. Imagine if he took Matt Hardy's bump. He's not concussed. He's dead. What's more to say? This isn't a case like Riho in the women's division - Marko Stunt looks like the average untrained and out-of-shape wrestling fan could kick his scrawny ass. If you can't believe he'd kick your ass how can you believe he could kick the ass of any professional? He makes Rey Mysterio look like Andre the Giant. Toxic to this company - he doesn't deserve a single victory and I can't believe people can defend him beyond sympathy. He's a moron and attitudes of a child, gimmick or not, which makes people change the channel. Heel booked as face and a charity case. Same as Janela - go train and if he comes back then return dignified and not as a lost cause. Please stop leaning into the child-like persona and validating every criticism levied against you. THE FLOSS! !!CRINGE ALERT!!

AEW needs to get rid of their gimmick low-tier wrestlers. This isn't DDT or Chikara. This is national TV. If you want to keep Michael Nakazawa then I'm sure you're also happy with wrestling never being popular or you being called an idiot for watching it. This is their attempt at having a Toru Yano - a genuinely amusing comedy act who gets unexpected wins. The best thing he can do for talent is by not being involved at all. Considering AEW got rid of Jimmy Havoc for his real-life sexual misconduct, how the BTE YouTube show distanced itself from Joey Ryan, and the whole Jake/Brandi segment, it's unwise to have a wrestler whose main schtick is to joke about sexual assault and weaponise it.

I changed my mind and rules just this once for this guy - this friend of Tony Khan won't be released but every time he's on TV it's like releasing a wet fart into my face. He sucks! I can't believe how incapable he is at conducting interviews or even stringing complete sentences together. Why else would he be taken off commentary? The more you see someone else do his job in the same company the more you realise he has no place in the company. Dasha is a Buenos Días.

What a total failure. He's the modern day Billy Gunn and Billy is in the same company still wrestling! I mean it - Shawn Spears is the guy with a Million Dollar Body and a Ten Cent Brain. His manager has given up on him after he couldn't find a tag-partner, called Dustin a wash-up and then lost to him, and looks so stupid when he's with MJF running circles around him. Shawn Spears is a loser. A big loser. He's the embodiment of mid-card hell and he's a walking mid-life crisis. The only thing I can see even saving his career in AEW right now is if he teamed with Adam Page against FTR because it would be unexpected and interesting and would play into the whole 'Teambreaker' clause.

Where to even begin. The biggest indictment to her is how she was niche and needed when the women's roster had so few talents. Now it's growing she's shrinking in usefulness and we know her character or wrestling won't evolve - it's going to stay as bland and cliche as her looks and attitude. I hate she represents a stereotype and not a role model. She got over her disease? Good for her. She acting like she's hood-life and all? Change the channel.  

If you glanced at the Dark Order and saw John Silver, Alan Angels, and Stu Grayson, you may mistake one for the other. The difference though is John Silver has degenerated his value as a performer by being the absolute butt of every joke. The whole point of the Dark Order was to make people better so being a little servant and whipping boy is better than what he had before? Why isn't Alex Reynolds doing this? Oh it's because it's garbage. Fecal matter in the form of a human. I want 'long' John Silver to be 'long gone' Silver.

QT Marshall. So I say this name with reverence and think "wow this guy is going to light the world on fire?". Let's picture the scene - he's the hand-me-down MJF/Shaun Spears, teams with Dustin to get some starpower, and adopted DDP's move because he has nothing original to show. His entire arc is being a goofball tragic loser who got hair plugs and hangs with Allie...Allie, who incredibly has a better record than him! It's just bad bad bad throughout. Diet-Arn Anderson. He's not in the shadows he's just in the shade.

This will need a bit more explanation. Moxley is, at best, hit-or-miss with his promos and very specialist in his matches. AEW's executives have put a lot on him to see this company's growth and yet it feels since he beat Jericho it's been the opposite. Now you could blame the lockdown for this but it's an excuse. The truth is Moxley is always best being a chaser to the title not the title holder. Do I think he should be AEW Champion? Eventually, but this is AEW's biggest issue - they book for short-term gains and not long-term gains. The losses will be creeping in if his loyalties are questioned. When he loses the AEW championship, and the lockdown is over, he's jumping back to NJPW or WWE. Why would he want to elevate talent? He's not there for AEW he's there for himself and tell me I'm wrong. Everything about him was booked wrong - he should of never beaten Jericho, continued to chase for the title, had to deal with Hager, Brodie Lee, and then when Brian Cage became FTW Champion, go after this to make it a more legit title. The fact Moxley thinks he's Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan, HHH, Cena, Lesnar, and Roddy Piper all in one, is a complete embaressment to the legends. He tries too hard and it shows. His wife not joining AEW is a bad omen for his loyalties. Mox is Pox - a parasite of every proportion and we've seen his type before play to the ruination of companies.

[shircganes-a]

i don’t feel good at all and you know what that means: TIME TO RAMBLE ABOUT NAOTO’S SHADOW SCENE IN THE ANIME BABEYYYYYYYYYY

FIRST OFF. let’s talk about when naoto’s shadow first appears on the midnight channel. unlike the other ones, theirs is noticeably darker. why? because you barely know anything about naoto. a good chunk of their character is about them being an enigma, because they don’t talk to others. shadow naoto mentions that nobody cares about naoto; which could also tie in as to why it’s so dark when their shadow is first seen on the midnight channel.

then again, it could be because those strobe lights aren’t on. who knows.

SECOND OFF....... this isnt in chronological order BUT. ‘i want a reason to stay alive’--which technically replaces the line ‘i want a reason for me to stay’ that is in the game, but they both have similar connotations. this line pisses me off because NONE OF THE OTHER CHARACTERS CARE WHEN IT’S SAID. what the actual fuck. the team only cares about the basic shit with naoto’s character: ‘wants to be an adult’, ‘is lonely’ (though they don’t exactly Care Too Much for that one), and ‘oh haha i’m a girl’ (the MAIN THING THAT THE IT WON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT LIKE WE GET IT THEY HAVE OVARIES). i’ll ramble on about the twist later but. god DAMN it pisses me off that no one seemed to give a shit about the implications of suicidal thoughts. yosuke nor rise, the ones who are the most likely prone to those alongside kanji, didn’t even say a word about this. like i understand that naoto ‘comes to terms with themselves’ but those thoughts don’t just GO AWAY. it takes TIME, especially for someone like naoto.

naoto hasn’t--and still completely refuses to for quite some time--relied on anyone for help. as stated multiple times, they suck at socializing. asking for help is the last thing you want to do when you’re not good at socializing; not to mention, naoto had built up an ego and personality to those like dojima and adachi. they want to be seen as the hero who doesn’t need help from anybody; the person who just shrugs away emotional problems and locks them in a safe.

THIRD. the lack of naoto’s shadow ranting about their parents. as we all know, naoto’s parents died in a car accident when they were young. YET WE DON’T HEAR ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THAT. naoto’s shadow is completely based off of the most ‘major twist’ with their character--that they are biologically female. the sub-plot of their shadow is that they want to be a hard boiled detective. that’s it. that’s most of their character. it’s implied that naoto’s parents dying is the stem of their loneliness, but that’s about it. atlus could have done so much with that information, but they didn’t. i’d get it if naoto doesn’t remember much about their parents; however, that isn’t outright stated, nor is there any ramblings on them that say such a thing.

tl;dr let naoto grieve for their fucking parents atlus

FOURTH. the strobe lights and cameras in the dungeon. i have a feeling the lights are there to make it seem more like an operation is going on, but with the cameras, i feel like there’s also an underlying factor.

naoto is deemed the ‘detective prince’ due to their skill in solving crimes. this is heavily mentioned when they take part in the interview on the news. therefore, the lights and the cameras that allow the team to SEE what was going on could show that naoto was always being watched--the critics, the police, fangirls, the news, etc. of course, this could also be ironic; naoto doesn’t want the spotlight. they never wanted anything of the sort--hell, they didn’t even want to do the interview, they only did it to become bait. naoto only cares about solving crimes, they don’t care about fame.

which leads me toooooooooooooooo

FIFTH. the critics. naoto’s shadow continues to repeat what the critics have complained about naoto: that they’re a kid, not an adult, which is why they are thrown to the side more often. this leads to where naoto starts to break down, and i believe that it’s because that is all they ever hear. especially from those like dojima, because he’s livid that naoto is working with them on the inaba case.

because of this, i believe that naoto is genuinely afraid of critics. HOWEVER. YET AGAIN. THIS ISN’T GONE INTO DETAIL BECAUSE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

like seriously they’ve apparently fucking SOBBED OVER THIS and NO ONE CARES???? bonks the investigation team on the head bonks the investigation team on the head bonks the investigation team on the h

anyway.

SIXTH. the big one. the whopper. the discourse having motherfucker. the one that has fucking RUINED THE TAG ON BOTH TUMBLR AND TWITTER LIKE COME ON YOU GUYS THIS IS A FICTIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHARACTER THAT WAS MADE IN ~2008.

gender.

two posts have fueled me on this, one being from y///osukesheadphones about naoto’s english va, and the other being from a user i don’t remember.

it’s not portrayed well.

i fully believe that they completely switched naoto’s ‘big twist’ mid-game plotting/development, which is why them being a child is so heavily made a point during their shadow’s reveal alongside the grand gender debate. because, apparently, naoto was supposed to be a boy in the first place, when they had this beta design.

besides being called a child, naoto is pointed out to be female, which is why they cross dress. which is fine! once again, this game was made over twelve years ago. things in japan have definitely changed since then, as they have in the US.

although, there’s just one thing that was pointed out by the currently unknown user: naoto still wasn’t ridiculed after that reveal by the police. yeah, it’s pointed out by STUDENTS, but the police don’t care. the whole ‘midnight channel’ has many plot holes, and this is one of them. naoto is still treated the same; however, by this point, they were taken off of the case. that is the only reason why i could see the police not giving a flying fuck after the reveal.

otherwise, naoto’s fear of being looked down on for being a girl isn’t valid, unless it was, yet again, the critic’s fault. because chie easily declared that she wanted to be a cop; though, i do acknowledge that they are two different branches, they still work closely together.

SEVENTH. naoto’s shadow acted like they genuinely wanted to help naoto because that’s all they know. they only know how to help themselves.

anyway to make a long fuckin story short i need a therapy thread for this bitch

[strawberryybird]

Me sees the character songs post, immediately wants to know what character songs you have for the characters and why.

ok so. welcome to the rabbit hole that is my music taste and what is my no.1 most frequently done activity.. plastering emotions i have for fictional characters all over my music taste. I restricted myself to ¾ songs for each character & then to Edie, Hubert, Dorothea, Lysithea & Byleth because otherwise we’d be here all day (and those are the Primary Daydream Candidates rn)

under a rm because as im sure we’ve all seen.. i just don’t fucking stop.. also i got weirdly deep about some of these topics. i don’t know how to tag it. tread careful?

Here are some songs.. welcome to my (notoriously bad) music taste. alsoi go in Very heavy handed about it all. i make only a few apologies:

Edelgard:Everybody wants to rule the word - tears for fears. (ucan go with Lorde’s cover but i prefer the original bc im like that.) i meanit’s pretty heavy handed but it’s such an Edelgard song it !!!! fuels my ficwriting. if it’s not so very Edelgard’s relationship with twsitd then idk whatto tell you. plus it’s an iconic song

Medicine - daughter. (daughter is My Favourite Band. Ever. I cannot articulate how much ilove their (and ex:re’s) music!!) anway. this is a hegegard song & i don’ttake constructive criticism. I’ll reiterate this better in other descriptions,but please don’t take my inclusion of a song about such a topic as adevaluation of it in any way, that’s not my intention. The reason I go so feralfor Hegegard is because im no stranger to watching someone you care about hurt themselvesin a way you can’t stop, and that’s what the AM ending evokes in me. Hence: asong I love that one can read the same story in. And then the lyrics ‘You couldstill be / What you want to / What you said you were / When I met you” just !! parallelsEdge of Dawn’s lyrics about regret & overall I’m very feral about this.

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper - blue oystercult. this is PRIME Edelgard telling freshly-awokenbyleth she’s been waging war for 5 years. also !!!! “Seasonsdon’t fear the reaper / Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be likethey are” >>> “The Edge of Dawn (Seasons ofWarfare) (フレスベルグの少女～風花雪月～,lit. Girl of Hresvelg ~Wind, Flower, Snow, Moon~)” .. the link is tenuous but coincidence?? is it, fuck.

Seneca - Novo Amor. this is another one of those songs that could mean something different to everyone. very easy to project onto, is novo amor. I like the story of being prepared to run and break ties at any given moment, but ending up - emotionally or physically - in the same place one always was. apart from the glaring tie of how Edelgard returned to garreg mach, this song is a lot of me trying to repatriate Edelgard’s lack of emotional arc in the game by saying . well. this song. 

You can call me Al -  paul simon. am i projecting edeleth thoughts onto my favourite song? it’s morelikely than you think!!! but also i like the chorus and all the exasperating ‘call me el’jokes i can make.. i may be half writing a fic based on this song.

Dorothea:Agnes - glass animals. so i have significant emotions about edelthea at the best of times !! and this song !!! really bloody hits it home !! yes I knowit’s got a really heavy and real subject matter and I’m not trying to devalueit or minimise it.. but the story - about watching someone close to you hurtthemselves/get hurt, and doing so in ways you can’t stop them from - is adamn real one. And a Lot of why I love Dorothea’s character in the gamebecause she’s the one who can’t stop her friends from getting hurt – through exposureto warfare .. or  stopping Edelgard becomingthe monster at the end of the story. Even though she’s one of the healers onthe beagle’s team. And I feel that.

Ex’s and Oh’s – Elle King. So you know that one spn fanvid featuringthis song about all of dean winchester’s relationships? That, but for my flirting Queen Dorothea Arnault. (and I have the dumbest most fun little headcanon thatonce Dorothea and Sylvain derailed a lgbt+ society meeting whilst Edie wastrying to go over the budget by blasting this song and dancing on the table.The idea makes me laugh)

Hold My Girl – George Ezra. The whole thing about wanting just that onemoment to cherish the people you love for one moment more before you have goout face the world? If that’s not the timeskip’d Dorothea Arnault Aesthetic, Idon’t know what is.

(Call Me Out – sea girls. On a much lighter note, this song is fueling the later half of mydrafts of road trip au. And it’s literally because of that one verse. im gayshut up.)

Hubert:Red Right Hand – nick cave and the bad seeds. Is it on the nose? Is itheavy handed? Oh u fuckin bet but that won’t stop me!!! A) it’s a good song. ItIs. B) I like narrative songs. C) Any ‘red right hand’ symbolism in Anycharacter has me love them immediately and also plonk this song in the middleof any playlist about them. sure, the artic monkeys version might be a bit more on hubert’s brand.. but my mileage varies about it lmao

I had fortress by bear’s den earmarked for Hubie, as I think it’s easilyread about boundaries and a one sided intense relationship & that’s! Hubiebaybee! But I can’t possibly cover unhealthy relationships without shoving thealbum Hospice by The Antlers into every which way of it. It’s by no meansdirectly translatable to Edelgard and hubert’s relationship and it’s arguable ifI should even mention it in the same sentence as a bloody fictional character… that beingsaid, I’ve been having emotions about:Shiva – the antlers. This song specifically reads to me to be a really goodarticulation of my own thoughts about Hubert’s perspective of Edie getting experimentedon. heavy but damn. I like that. I just see a lot of what their teen years togethermust have been like in Shiva.

Time – Pink Floyd. Ok so.. it’s like Hubert in parallel bc I think thissong is a lot about searching for a purpose/reason or a quote unquote bloodyred path in life. And I may have been listening to it when I watched Hubert/DorotheaA support & now it’s just permanently associated with it bc it complementedit so well. And I like it. So . it stays. It’s very much a beagles song to meas well.

Lysithea:The Beautiful Dream – George Ezra. Ok so I read this Edelysithea ficwith this on repeat bc the title reminded me of it, and then I stuck it onrepeat because it worked too well and now.. im crying.. and i like the inflection of Lysithea’s bitterness over the titular lyric. (but also, it remains one of my steadfast edeleth songs.. sorry lys)

Secrets (Cellar Door) – Radical Face. Another Edelgard&/Lysitheasong!! I really like their relationship ok. And given the song itself can beread straight or an allegory for whatever you particularly want, but the storyis just too on the nose for me not to mention it here.(also general advocation of listening to the whole of radical face’s musicbecause I’ve loved it for years now & the work is beautiful.) (also it’swonderful for fe awakening projection. Or ur own.)

Oh Children – nick cave and the bad seeds. there’s a million different interpretations of this song, but to try nail a few onto Lysithea.. there’s the harry potter use of making/finding a light in the depths of tragedy & i love that for Lys. there’s the whole ‘the kids aren’t alright’ theme and it’s various depths. and i like narrative lyrics to plaster my large fictional-character-caused-emotions onto, so make of this one what you will.

Marianne (and Lysithea too if you like)Bad Blood – Radical Face. Ok so. This is one of my favourite songs in bloodyexistence, and it���s so loaded with meaning & it has a metric tonne of it. Icould wax lyrical about how much I love Radical Face’s work. I don’t want myinclusion of this song (specifically this one) to in any way devalue it. Butmusic is ofc incredibly subjective, and so is my reading of a lot of threehouses – in case it’s not bloody obvious by now. There’s a Lot of stories onecould take from Marianne’s character (and none of them are More Valid^tm thanany other), and I do see a very personal story in her – as I do in this song. Hgghhghive just spent 10 minutes trying to find an impersonal way to talk about twovery personal and relative stories, which naturally doesn’t work. That, and theway I read her story is Real Fucking Dicey for tumblr.com. so if this song is about accepting rejection because of parts of yourself so deep they’re in your blood, i think.. y’all can see.. where my neurodivergent gay self is going with this..

Byleth:Something to Believe In – Tom Walker. Yeah. You’re bloody welcome. If this isn’ta completely on the nose Byleth song, I’ll eat Dorothea’s hat.

Don’t Let the Man – Fatboy Slim. ~ And the sign said green-hairedpartially possessed emotionally void mercenaries need not apply for aprofessorship at the country’s most prestigious academic centre… ~

Emigrate - Novo Amor. this just fucking Got Me in the ‘actively choosing crimson flower’ feelings. im an emotional wreak but its aight. the lyrics just matched up too well for me to let it go !!!

Alps - Novo Amor. this hit me in the ‘i miss the gremlin child sothis’ feelings one day and now it’s permanently stuck that way.

Make Them Gold – chvrches. (this is very much associated with awakening’sfuture past kids and also the Carmilla series in my mind But!!) I love a story about‘if we’re all falling, we’re going down together’ and the magical power of teamwork, and how it brings out the best in people.. & that’s what this song& Byleth kinda bloody stand for ya know??

woooh.. oh my god . i need another cup of tea.

[mxliv-oftheendless]

The Shocking Case of O.J. Simpson (Part 2)

And we are back! So in Part 1 we looked at an overview of the case; here in Part 2 we’re gonna look at the suspects! I’m thinking this is how it’ll go for true crime episodes in the future. Speaking of which, if any of you guys have an idea of an episode for me to do next, whether it’s supernatural or true crime, feel free to suggest it! 

Now that we’re getting into suspects, I feel I should reiterate my warning from Part 1: we’re gonna get into some of the... heavier details in this part. If at any point you feel uncomfortable or distressed by what you read, you are totally free to stop reading. I personally had no problem with what is addressed, but I realize not everyone is me. Your feelings are valid, and you are not a lesser person for wanting to stop reading. 

And now, without further ado, enjoy!

Tag list: @cosmicrealmofkissteria​  @ashestoashesvvi​  @kategwidt​

VINNIE [voiceover]: Now that we’ve covered the timeline and important events in the case, let’s get into the suspects. Unlike our other cases, this case has one clear top suspect: O. J. Simpson. So we’re going to break this down into two sections; why O. J. is the killer, and why O. J. is NOT the killer. Let’s start with why he could have done it. First off, let’s start with a possible motive. O. J. and Nicole Simpson had been going through a break, and at the time of the murders were living in separate residences. Also at the time of the murders, Nicole and Ronald Goldman had grown increasingly close, leading some to speculate that they were perhaps more than friends. Though Goldman said this was not the case.

That is obviously a clear motive right there.

Yeah, obviously. Even if Goldman said it wasn’t the case…

O. J. could still think he’s lying and they’re getting romantically involved.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Now, let’s return to the timeline. If the murders did in fact occur around 10:15 PM, the time the dog barking began, that would give O. J. enough time to commit the murders, clean himself up, and be back at his house by 11 PM, in time to greet the limo driver.

[cut to the three driving in the car in Brentwood. It is now night]

VINNIE: Right now, we’re headed to O. J.’s Rockingham Estate, which, not-so-fun fact, was only six minutes away from Nicole’s townhouse.

PAUL: Oh man, really?

GENE: So it’s definitely feasible, especially if he was booking it.

[car stops, and they all look out the window]

PAUL: Is that it?

VINNIE: That is it. [camera pans over a gated entrance as Vinnie speaks] So this the former site of O. J.’s Rockingham Estate. It was demolished in 1998, but… probably very happy to leave.

[screen cuts back to the slideshow]

VINNIE [voiceover]: Going into DNA evidence, O. J.’s blood, as well as Nicole’s and Goldman’s, were found on the glove left at the scene of the crime. Further damning is the fact that this glove matched a glove found at O. J.’s estate behind the guest house, near the area where O. J.’s friend Kato heard loud thumps at 10:40 PM. Both gloves had blood on them that matched Nicole, Goldman, and O. J. O. J. also had a cut on his finger the day after the murders when the police interviewed him. The knitted hat contained hairs that were proven to be O. J.’s by the FBI hair and fiber laboratory. Also found at O. J.’s residence was Nicole’s blood on a sock, and blood was also found in his driveway. The bloody shoeprint found at the crime scene matched O. J.’s size, and the sole pattern matched another pair that O. J. owned at the time. O. J. had also purchased a knife matching the type the coroner predicted had been used. Though, the knife and the shoes were never found.

I’m sorry, how is this an unsolved case again? Because it seems pretty obvious to me that he did it.

Well… *sigh* I don’t know how to answer this question…

I’m pretty sure this is where most people draw the line and say, “Yep. He’s guilty.” I think this is where my grandfather was convinced anyway.

Wasn’t your grandfather kind of a dick, though?

Okay, regardless of whether or not Gene’s grandfather was a dick, I will say that yes, this is where many people draw the line.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Another key detail was the fact that O. J. had been a perpetrator of spousal abuse against Nicole Simpson in the past, reportedly resulting in nine police visits to the Simpson residence responding to domestic disturbance calls. In 1989, O. J. was found guilty for spousal abuse, and plead no contest to the charges. Bizarrely, in 2006, O. J. himself wrote and published a book called “If I Did It”; a hypothetical account of the murder. Though the book was first cancelled due to public outrage, it was still later published, with all profits going to the Goldman family.

Wait wait wait, hang on a sec.

Uh huh?

So O. J., the man everybody thinks did it…

Yes.

…after getting acquitted for these murders…

Yes.

…writes a goddamn book on what could have happened if he did it?

Yes.

…

*wheeze*

*laughter* What the fuck, man?

This guy’s got some balls on him, that’s all I’ll say.

VINNIE [voiceover]: For those that are new to this case, O. J. Simpson was found not guilty. Despite the DNA evidence found at the crime scene, the defense team called to the attention of the jury technical mistakes made by the forensic team, which created some doubt over the evidence. Evidence was not packaged correctly and even left in a van to overheat. This ultimately led them to suggest that the crime scene may have been contaminated.

So, do we have any commentary on this?

*sighs*

Nope.

I got nothin’.

Okay then.

VINNIE [voiceover]: During the trial, the defense team had O. J. try on the glove found at the crime scene, and it was too small, leading to the now famous line by his lawyer, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Though, it’s worth mentioning the prosecution team was against having O. J. try on the glove, because it had been frozen and unfrozen multiple times as a preservation method, and it also had been covered in blood.

Oh, THAT’S where that line comes from!

Yep, this is where it’s from.

I was wondering what line they were parodying on that one Rick and Morty episode.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Many also believe that race played a factor in O. J.’s acquittal, due to the events that surrounded the trial. In 1992, race riots occurred due to the LAPD’s senseless and horrific beating of a black man named Rodney King; a beating for which the assaulting officers were acquitted of all charges. The defense strategically used law enforcement racism as a reason for O. J.’s charges; they showed a video of Simpson handcuffed as soon as he returned from Chicago, demonstrating the rush in judgement by the police. Perhaps one of their biggest arguments was centered around Detective Mark Fuhrman. During the trial, the defense played for the jury a tape of audio in which Detective Fuhrman was recorded using racial slurs over FORTY times in one recorded sitting.

What the fuck?!

Jesus…

VINNIE [voiceover]: This is noteworthy, because Detective Fuhrman was also the first person to step inside O. J.’s Brentwood Rockingham Estate after the murders occurred, a feat he accomplished by jumping over the wall of the estate. This is a critical detail, because according to Fuhrman’s own testimony, it was during this time after he jumped the wall that he alone discovered the notorious, matching bloody glove behind O. J.’s guest house. With this information, the defense was able to suggest that Detective Fuhrman planted the glove and perhaps all other evidence found at O. J.’s estate, effectively tainting the evidence regardless of whether or not it was true. Christopher Darden, a deputy district attorney assigned to the O. J. case summarized it in this quote: “It will do one thing. It will upset the black jurors. It will say, whose side are you on, ‘the man’ or ‘the brothers’?” The jury was made up of eight black people, one Hispanic person, one white person, and two people of mixed race. All these things considered, the jury reached the verdict of not guilty, after only four hours of deliberation. However, it’s worth mentioning that O. J. lost the eventual civil case for the wrongful deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, with the jury awarding their families $33.5 million in punitive damages.

[cuts back to the office]

PAUL: This episode is gettin’ me down, man.

VINNIE: Yeah, I— [starts laughing]

PAUL: This sucks.

GENE: I agree, this is the worst.

VINNIE: Yeah, it is not fun.

PAUL: Jesus, I’m getting JonBenet Ramsey flashbacks. This is the fucking worst.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Though, if O. J. Simpson didn’t kill his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman, then who did? Let’s get into some alternate suspects. The first suspect is convicted serial killer Glen Rogers. In an investigation discovery documentary, Clay Rogers, the brother of Glen Rogers, said that while on death row, his brother Glen confessed to murdering Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Though, even if this theory is true, O. J. would still be guilty. Glen Rogers had reportedly been hired by O. J. to steal a pair of earrings from her condo, but was told to kill her if she got in the way. However, it’s possible that Rogers was serving a six week jail sentence at the time of the murders, and therefore lied about his involvement.

So O. J. hired a serial killer to steal a pair of earrings?

Yeah, that… that doesn’t make a lot of sense.

No, it really doesn’t.

Those must’ve been some pretty damn expensive earrings.

VINNIE [voiceover]: The last suspect is Jason Simpson, O. J.’s son, and is the sole theory of famed private investigator Bill Dear, one of the few private investigators to be inducted into the Police Hall of Fame. Though, it’s worth mentioning that people have discredited Dear’s case as entirely circumstantial.

I already am suspicious of this theory.

Oh, just wait.

Is it bad?

Well, I don’t know if I would call it “bad” per se, but it’s… it’s kind of fucked up.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Nonetheless, Dear presents his theory in a book, and the highlights are as follows: At the time of Nicole and Goldman’s murders, Jason was on probation after having attacked his former boss with a knife. According to Dear, Jason had also attacked a former girlfriend named Jennifer Green. Dear also spoke to another former girlfriend of Jason’s named Dee Dee, who claimed Jason almost broke her back after throwing her into a bathtub, and perhaps even more suspiciously, cut off her hair with a knife, giving Jason two reported assaults involving a knife. Dear also reportedly obtained medical records of Jason’s—illegally, some might add—by dressing up and impersonating a doctor at Cedar-Sinai Hospital, where Jason had been a patient, for two weeks.

Okay—wow.

He, *laughing* he impersonated a doctor for two weeks just to get this kid’s medical files?

*wheeze* It does sound ridiculous when you put it like that.

Why didn’t he just ask the hospital for the records?

Well, there were probably a ton of hoops he would’ve had to jump through if he did that. Like, I know there’s a law protecting doctor-patient confidentiality for one thing.

… Okay, that makes sense. But still… weird.

Definitely weird. The Police Hall of Fame didn’t seem to think it was weird, though.

Is that really a thing?

Yes.

Okay... I dunno how to feel about that, but okay.

VINNIE [voiceover]: According to Dear, Jason had been diagnosed with Intermittent Rage Disorder, and around the time of the murders, Jason stopped taking the prescribed antipsychotic drugs. This was also during the time when Jason reportedly told doctors he was “going to rage.” Jason’s alibi was that he was working at a restaurant that night. Dear feels this is a flimsy alibi, due to the fact that his timecard is reportedly handwritten, which could suggest it was written after the murders. This reportedly handwritten timecard is even more suspicious when you consider the fact that the electronic time clock was fully functional that night. Dear also reportedly has pictures of Jason wearing a knitted hat that bears resemblance to the hat found at the scene of the crime, pictures taken before the murders and not after. To cap this off, Dear suggests that O. J. was only present at the scene of the crime to protect his son, and that this would explain his bizarre behavior such as the famous Bronco chase. But as mentioned before, many have discredited Dear’s case as almost entirely circumstantial.

I will say this: he does make a solid case.

Yeah, but… I dunno…

I hesitate to say this theory is good, because unlike with O. J., there’s no definite, hard evidence that he did it.

Yeah, there is that.

There’s no DNA evidence, his theory on the alibi is kinda shaky…

It’s almost as if he’s twisting around facts to support his theory…

It really does.

Which as we all know is intellectually dishonest.

Very intellectually dishonest.

VINNIE [voiceover]: Unrelated to this case, on September 16th, 2007, O. J. was connected to a robbery in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the 2008 trial that followed, O. J. was found guilty for twelve counts, including armed robbery and kidnapping, and was sentenced to 33 years in prison. According to a CNN survey, the overall percentage of Americans who believe O. J. did murder Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman has increased from 66% in 1994 to 83% in 2014. Perhaps one day we will have a definite answer to the question of who murdered Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. But for now, the case officially remains… UNSOLVED.

[as the credits roll, we cut back to the office set. Paul, Gene, and Vinnie all look unsure of what to do next]

PAUL: Jeez… Well, thanks for this, Vinnie. This has been fun.

GENE: Yep. We got into some heavy shit this episode.

VINNIE: Well I’m sorry for heeding the request of the masses. [gestures to the camera] They’re the ones that kept suggesting this case.

PAUL: I will say, this did not bum me out as much as JonBenet Ramsey.

VINNIE: I mean, all of us were bummed out by the JonBenet Ramsey case.

GENE: You guys are givin’ me flashbacks.

[beat of silence]

VINNIE: [sighs] I need a drink. [stands up. Paul and Gene follow]

PAUL: I feel like I need a shower.

GENE: I’m gonna go watch some Looney Tunes. I need some humor after all this heaviness.

PAUL: Good idea. [looks and points at the camera] All you guys, go watch some Looney Tunes. Give yourself a laugh. Self-care is important.

BUZZFEED UNSOLVED TRUE CRIME

What unsolved mystery do you want to see next?

[dyketectivecomics]

Your opinion on Young Justice (cartoon)?

(possibly unpopular & especially critical opinion incoming. friendly reminder that I tag my hate with the tag “#whyj” bc I've seen someone cleverer than me using it and am totally using it from now on)

tl;dr - It’s overrated. (if u stan YJ & read any further past this and get Big Mad, its on u lmao. final warning, you might wanna turn away.)

-The character development is nearly nonexistent or relies too much on fans already having preconceived notions/understandings of their comic counterparts, and failing that, the fandom’s developed their own Idealized Fanon versions of all of them (which completely ignore the DECADES of comic canon to be pulled from in some cases). Which is another reason why i nope out of any work that takes YJ canon into consideration.

-The plot only runs cleanly as a binged drama, and even then, it’s not.... As Good As You Think. which was likely why it suffered in the first place since even seemingly ‘standalone’ episodes end up having some kind of overarching relevance. Watching it weekly and trying to connect what happened 6-8 episodes ago was a nightmare back in 2013, it’s a nightmare now, and its time we all admit it.

-The line-up is WACK and an INSULT to what Young Justice was. At least Teen Titans had the decency to follow ONE partial line-up that actually existed in the comics. The YJ team line-up is a poorly chosen one, and now the subsequent team-ups are all suffering for it.

-Aging issues too! De-aging Zatanna has always been my biggest pet peeve. but considering they thought it necessary to make Dick Grayson the Youngest of the crowd, aging up Kon & M’gann when they should be in Tim’s age group, it just further highlights why there’s such a disconnect between the stuff from comic canon that they’re suddenly trying to cram into their own, and what’s already been established, and why it’s just become a mess that fans who actually read & keep up with comics can’t connect with.

-that being said, it’s a cool way to make non-comics fans to understand some aspects of comics culture that i’ve been picking up on. Mostly due to the fact that these can be similar issues to be found with team books, especially when there might be Events that they may miss a key element of, or with the timeskips, which can be a necessary and SOMETIMES an interesting storytelling device (but only when its properly used. which it rarely is both in the show and in comics themselves)

-moving onto This Season all of the ‘representation’ that they’ve been trying to give comes across as strictly performative. (but this should be no surprise really, considering their #Feminist!!1!! moments from the previous season) They’ve introduced or hinted at development for side characters only to have them set aside for the main plot & come dangerously close to spreading the cast too thin by introducing so many characters, almost exponentially each season.

-they’re great at throwing around Ideas and then not.... completely following through with Satisfying payoff (bc most of the time when they DO follow through it’s just.... not Great Scoob)

-there COULD be brilliant character moments, but they all fall flat, because again, not a lot of meaningful follow up for those developments.

-its just.... a mess. I'm honestly trying to find one (1) good thing to say about it but I'm gonna end up talking in circles now. any one might be wondering ‘well gosh, randy, if you hate so much about it why are you watching it?’ and thats honestly a valid question. at this point i just want to see what’s happening plotwise with it because i AM invested there, but that’s honestly it. all signs are pointing to them introducing raven for SOME DAMN REASON in the 11th hour (i mean what the FUCK ELSE COULD ‘NEVERMORE’ BE A FUCKIN REFERENCE TO) but i think i might drop it right after that. or just binge it in one fucking go when they bring the 4th season around. I'm honestly still just so salty that they gave em a 4th fucking season. did y'all REALLY ask for this? i mean really? do we really deserve these barebones SCRAPS of rep and character development? no. we deserve better.

-also phil bourassa’s style is overdone, tiring, and not as Inspired as YJ fans want to pretend that it is. say what you will about the Timmverse style, at least it had panache & a timeless aesthetic for each cartoon. YJ/animated 52 universe movies just.... rely too much on being ‘wow! americanime!’