#100 push ups a day reddit

[fitnessmentor]

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[militarymenrbomb]

A supposedly true story from Reddit.

2 “straight” friends at the pool

100% true stories from my teenage years. Everyone was of age.

Little Background. I’m 40 and married to a woman. When I was younger (senior in high school) I had a close friend, Zach. He was 6’ blonde and average build. I was 5’8, and athletic. We spent most weekends together. Zach’s family had money and his parents typically were gone on trips or in the main house. Zach lived in the pool house.

I was at Zach house one weekend. It was summer and we were by the pool swimming. His parents were away for the day so we had the place to ourselves. The area was very private. As we were swimming, Zach asked if I wanted a beer. Not being 21, I jumped at the offer. We had a couple over the next hour or so and started getting a little silly. We ended up talking about girls at school and sex. I started getting hard through my trunks thinking about all the girls at school. Zach noticed and said “that looks uncomfortable. Just take them off and skinny dip!” I was hesitant but before I knew it Zach stripped down, tossed his trucks to me, and jumped in. I quickly stripped and did the same.

What was the harm is 2 guys swimming naked. It felt good and was fun. I could see though the water some and could see Zach was hard too. His was curved, unlike my straight shaft, and about 6”. He caught me looking and mention that I was pretty hung and asked if I had ever hooked up with any girls from school. I hadn’t unfortunately. I’ve had many girlfriends but never had sex with anyone. I had only fooled around with them a little. He admitted that he hadn’t done anything either. I thought nothing of it.

We got out of the pool, still naked, and went back to the pool house to change and eat some dinner. We ate at the bar, watching tv in our towels. It got dark as we finished and I hopped up deciding to get dressed finally. Walking away, Zach playfully pulled my towel away and I stood that bare assed. I covered up, embarrassed that I didn’t have the pool water to help hide me. Zach laughed it off and said “ we were skinny dipping. I don’t think it’s a big deal anymore lol.” That logic made sense to me so I relax and uncovered. Zach hopped up to and dropped his towel showing me that he was completely comfortable with us being naked together. Told me not to get dressed, that he enjoyed the freedom of being naked.

We sat in the bed to watch more tv. I couldn’t help but look at Zach’s naked body. This was so new to me whether man or woman. It was exciting and was turning me on! I knew my dick was growing hard again. I tried to turn so Zach wouldn’t notice. I didn’t want to weird him out but too late! He saw me trying to hide my hard on and reached over, grabbing hold of my cock. He said it’s fine! Don’t hide it! Its natural it get hard when you’re naked. I was frozen because no one had ever held my cock in their hands before. I slowly turn back unhiding myself. Zach smiled and said look, I’m hard too. Happens to everyone. He flipped around and his cock bounced at attention in front of me. I reached out and grabbed his too…..made sense since he still had a grip on mine.

Sitting there holding each other cocks we started to jack each other off. It felt so good and much better than doing it to myself. This continued till Zach, on his knees at this point, pushed my down on the bed. Told me to relax and enjoy. He bent down and started sucking me. It was amazing! Best feeling I’ve ever had! He rubbed my hairless chest and blew for for about a minute till I knew I was going to cum. I started convulsing and Zach sat up and jacked me off till I erupted on my stomach. Endorphins were flowing wildly through me. Without thinking I reached up and started kissing him. I was so horny I didn’t care. He kissed me back and we laid on each other in a deep tongue make out.

Zach stopped us kissing and directed me to suck his dick. I was still high on what just happened. I obeyed him got on my knees. I took his cock into my mouth happily and started sucking it like I had seen in porn movies. I licked up and down his shaft, spit on the tip, and back into my mouth it went! Zach was really getting into it and started to face fuck me, holding my head down so I couldn’t get away. Pumping harder and faster I knew he was close but I was stuck. Before I knew it he was cumming in my mouth. I had no choice but to swallow his load. He released his grip and bend down to kiss me some more.

We were both exhausted and ended up cuddling all night. Next morning we made out some more but that was the end of it. His parent were back and we didn’t want to get caught.

[therealalexhera]

Musings on: Walker Creek

Walker Creek is a project I haven't thought about in a while. Well, that's not true. It's a project that I haven't consciously thought about in a while, but it sure does cross my mind more often than you'd expect. And today is its fourth anniversary, so I feel like taking a trip down memory lane.

I grew up with the Slenderverse. I don't think that's really new information for anyone who keeps up with my work -- but I believe it was 2011 or 2012 when I first stumbled upon Marble Hornets and Slenderman, and fell in love with found footage, immersive storytelling, and horror (my only prior exposure to horror had been the original Alien and 'Blink' from Doctor Who). Marble Hornets and EverymanHYBRID were what pushed me into filmmaking and especially into ARGs from a young age. I proceeded to spend years wanting to make an ARG, until finally, mid-pandemic in October of 2020, I decided that there was no time like the present, and I spent basically all day every day for the following 14 months working on the project. What started out as, let's be real, a very Local58/Gemini Home Entertainment inspired analog horror series, turned into a sprawling transmedia horror project. 100 episodes, 7 websites, and a feature film finale later, in November 2021, I finally finished it. Walker Creek isn't a Slenderverse series, technically, but it's not just an analog horror series either. Nowadays, when I look back at its style and its inspirations... I know it's basically a Slenderverse series in every way except the presence of Slenderman. But one of the things I like about it is that it is also an analog horror series. It is also a web ARG harkening back to many of my favorites from the 2000s and early 2010s. Like most of my projects, I spent a few years observing what other artists were doing, and then synthesized everything I liked about it into a project of my own.

My feelings about it are complicated sometimes, though. On one hand, Walker Creek is a project I feel incredibly proud of; a project that is so vast I can't even comprehend how I accomplished it with so few resources. A project that gave me my first and second feature films, two online friends, a space to experiment as an artist and find my voice as a storyteller for the first time, and a foothold in the ARG & indie film space. Walker Creek was never 'popular', but I can't say it was anything other than a success; I grew an audience from nothing (by self-promoting as 'adamtheargguy' on Reddit - yes I'll finally admit that was me), gathered a dedicated base of players for the ARG elements, and genuinely impacted people. One of the most stunning aspects of that project to me was how much Walker Creek mattered to the diehard ~10 players who kept up with it 24/7, investing themselves in the story, making friends with the characters, making memes of me and my friends from the videos, and even moderating a Discord server (which, occasionally, still has people who send messages every once in a while). Inversely, it's also wild to think about how much that community mattered to me while it was running. There's a reason I came back to do a little mini anniversary sequel ARG in October 2022 (though nobody really knows about it!) and it wasn't because Walker Creek needed a story continuation; it was to celebrate the community. Walker Creek was a story and a playerbase for me to interact with, but it was also a social outlet. I think, for as much 'roleplaying' there was in the character accounts, there was a lot of the real me in there too. And as mentioned above, I am still friends with two of the people from that community; one of my most recent reminders of Walker Creek was one of them asking to name a character of theirs after a character in Walker Creek. And beyond that, Walker Creek spun off in so many other directions too. I have a Trailhead research post on the Night Mind Index about Walker Creek, and a video on his channel about that post (and even though I hoped for it for the entire duration of the project, NightMind never covered the series... but from my perspective now, I think being spotlighted in his Trailhead research project is actually way cooler). Also Nexpo watched the series and Wendigoon said he was going to make a video about the series and then just... didn't? LOL. God, I haven't thought about those things in ages. It's funny how big all of it felt at the time, and how inconsequential it seems in retrospect. It hasn't even been that long. I mean, I still remember the day that Walker Creek gave me probably the most important development in my career - in late November 2021, when I was invited into a Discord server with a bunch of major ARG creators because of the 'Making Of' documentary I made about the series. It was the moment where I finally felt like I was part of the ARG creator community. Without all of that, I might never have made The History of Analog Horror, or Slenderverse: A Documentary Film Series, or What I Remember, or my other unannounced projects. That's why Walker Creek still got a reference in the Slenderverse doc series, and in my upcoming feature. It's a core part of my journey as a creator, of the development of my skills as a filmmaker, and even of my knowledge base as an ARG historian/researcher.

And yet at the same time -- the 'other hand' I've been trying to get to for the last paragraph: I feel a dissonance with Walker Creek. A feeling of dread sinks in every time someone tells me that they watched Walker Creek, or the 'Making of' documentary that accompanied it. From time to time, I go back and rewatch bits of my old projects just for fun, but I never rewatch any of Walker Creek or the documentary about it. Hell, there's a part of me that thinks I might not even going to publish this blog post when I get to the end of writing it. I'm here because there's a part of me that doesn't want to forget it, yet another, stronger part has an intense aversion to revisiting it. There is so much that I would cringe at, yes, but beyond that, there are so many of my personal feelings bleeding through and so much to be reminded of regarding what was happening behind the scenes with all the former friends I made that project with.

It's shocking, in a way, how distant it feels to me despite how recently it concluded, a mere three years ago. In the intervening time, I've made so much more material, grown so much as a filmmaker, and have gone through so many seismic shifts in my life and my perspective as both an artist and as a human being. Like let's be real, I still thought I was cis when I made that series! But more than that, I've now gone from an amateur with almost zero experience to an indie filmmaker funding my own films and building a career, now with eight features under my belt (six released, two in post production). It's quite literally a different era of my life -- and it's not like that's something that's hard to conceptualize; I even said something almost identical at the end of the 'Making Of' doc... but it doesn't always feel like the end of an era when you're in it. Chapters in real life don't start and end cleanly like in a book. There's bleed. And so, as much as Walker Creek 'ended' in November 2021, it didn't feel like it was over in those next few months, when I was adjusting to no longer living in that imagined world every single day. It didn't feel like it was over when I made The History of Analog Horror, since I was literally using Walker Creek & its companion doc as a foundation to get resources and as the basis for exploring my own inspirations. I guess in retrospect, that doc was a bit of a personal sendoff for Walker Creek -- a full circle moment where I got to finally bridge my work and the work of those that inspired me into a single project. I was able to get some distance from it with that, but even then... it didn't feel completely over in December 2022 when I was writing scripts for a spiritual successor ARG taking place in the same world. It didn't feel completely over in February 2023 when I did an interview for the Ludic Society and, unexpectedly, half of the interview was about Walker Creek.

I think now though -- and part of the reason I'm writing this post -- is it does feel over. I don't know when that happened. I wish I knew what that exact moment was. But I just know that now, after my identity and life has changed so much, and after spending two years on the Slenderverse series, while simultaneously spending the past year working on my found footage feature, and now working on a new doc series and another feature screenplay, there's so much distance between me and Walker Creek. And yet, as I said, I don't want to fully let it go. My found footage feature has a reference to it, as will my next screenplay, as will the webseries I'm working on (Grimoire), as will my next doc series, probably. It's a weird feeling and Walker Creek feels weird to think about, but I'm so glad it happened. Its DNA is present in every project I do, because I wouldn't have been set on my current path without it. Even if its now only in indirect ways, pretty much everything I do has built off of Walker Creek in some way. Even my email signoff, 'kind regards', comes from a character in Walker Creek. And in the end, I think all of this is why I'm not really able to shake Walker Creek, even if it feels over, or distant, or dissonant to my current self. And one day, maybe I'll be able to revisit it properly.

One final note: today is the 4th anniversary of the series, but in-universe, yesterday, October 23rd, was the 'Harvest Festival' (chosen because it's the same date as the bombs dropping in the Fallout universe). So... happy (late) Harvest Festival to anyone still hanging around from that era who remembers why the Harvest Festival is important. And for one final deep cut reference... long live Yvrisil.

Kind Regards,

Alex Hera

[kallietell]

AITAH for Telling my Roommate She Got Fat? (WG Fiction)

*This post is written in the style of a reddit 'Am I The Asshole' Post, a forum where people can get advice from strangers about whether they were in the wrong in a given situation. I hope you enjoy!*

AITAH for telling my roommate how fat she got?

Throwaway account cause I don’t want my roommate to see this, but the title pretty much says it all. I’ve been living with this girl, let's call her Ellie, for about 3 years. She was overall a pretty good roommate (never really had anyone over, always did her half of the chores, etc.) but the kinds of habits she's developed lately are driving me up the wall. 

I don’t mind sharing my space (duh, I have a roommate), but to me, sharing a space should be 50/50, it should actually be EVEN. My roommate and I have a good amount of storage in our kitchen, but between the cabinets, drawers, fridge, and freezer, Ellie has slowly taken up more and more space with the insane amount of food she's been buying. We’re at the point where 90% of the stuff in the kitchen is hers, and it's literally so annoying to have to search through her mountains of junk food just to find my veggie straws. 

There's always piles of food everywhere, I swear she gets deliveries twice a day, and it's not that I mind the mess as much as I mind the fact that I barely even have any snacks and I have nowhere to store them. 

I was pushed past my limit two days ago when I opened a cabinet and a box of cookies literally fell on my head from how full it was, and I wrote her an email (we always have serious financial/practical conversations over email to leave a paper trail) explaining that her situation was getting out of control and she needed to be more considerate. 

Yes, I was a little mad when I wrote it, but everything I said was true and I feel like holding it back would’ve just been passive-aggressive. She got super upset after reading it and told me I was fat-shaming her. Was I wrong for telling her the truth and letting her know how I feel? 

Edit (11/08): Everyone keeps commenting that they need to see the letter, so I pasted it below:

Ellie,

I’m writing this over email because we’ve had this conversation a million times and nothing’s changed, so if it keeps being a problem I'm sending this documentation straight to the landlord and letting him know you’ll be paying a higher split of the rent. 

I wanted to make you aware that your super-double-chocolate-chunk-whatever cookies just fell out of the cabinet when I opened it and almost hit me in the eye, and this wouldn't be happening if every cabinet wasn't crammed full of all the junky food you’re always stuffing your face with. I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but you so clearly have a problem. When you moved in you weighed like 100 pounds and then you started eating like an absolute pig and just blew up. When my mom came to visit last month she didn't even recognize you, she asked me ‘Where's your roommate’ after you waddled out of the room with your bags of chips. 

You’re actually such a disgusting slob, just a few years ago you were thin and fit and now you sit on the couch with your blubbery gut hanging out and eat until you can't even move. Watching you explode while you gorge yourself on all the snacks you fill our kitchen with honestly makes me sick, it motivates me to go harder in the gym so I don't end up a flabby blob like you. 

Every part of your body is like a warning sign: your chubby, swollen cheeks and double chin, your pudgy arms and hands, the way your thighs are getting so thick you can’t even squeeze yourself into the loveseat anymore, it's just humiliating for you. Or it would be if you cared about anything other than stuffing your face with like 5,000 calories every day. You're actually starting to look pregnant, it's like your entire body was inflated with fat. 

You have to be real with yourself, cause the denial just isn't cute. You’re a fucking whale, and I tried to be patient with you cause you’re clearly going through something, but I’m sick of you waddling around this apartment and taking up all the space in the kitchen. Just because you take up so much more space doesn't mean your food needs to. 

I suggest you diet, immediately, but since I know you probably can’t, at least start keeping your snacks in your own room. Or like I said, I'm telling Tim. And you know he already reached out last month because of the downstairs neighbors' complaints. I covered for you and didn't tell him that all the stomping is just your fat ass waddling around like usual, but if this doesn't get fixed, I’m snitching about that too. 

I’m really just trying to help you, cause if I got that fat that fast I would want someone to tell me too. Watching you try to cram yourself in all your old clothes is just painful, and the bigger you get the more ridiculous you look, everyone thinks so. When my boyfriend was over to watch movies and you were getting a pizza (as usual), he asked why you never wear clothes that fit. It was so mortifying to watch you jiggle just from walking across the room. Your entire gut was hanging out and your whole body was wobbling like crazy, you looked like such a cow. 

Every time I see you you're fatter and every time I see the kitchen there's more junk food piled in the cabinets and on the counters. You need to get yourself under control. I literally got injured cause of how fat and greedy you are. Either stop stuffing your bloated face, pay a higher share of the rent, or just move into a buffet so you can eat yourself into immobility like I know you probably want to. 

Your enormous, fatty body is my worst nightmare and it should be yours too, but instead, you just keep eating and eating and eating. I bet you're eating right now while you read this. Wipe the chocolate off your face, get up, and reorganize the fucking kitchen. 

-Courtney 

Edit (11/10): Everyone voting YTA after I posted the letter needs to learn to read. I didn't ask if the letter was mean, I asked if I’m the asshole for telling her how fat she got. I constantly comment on her weight and give little hints that she’s getting big (in order to help her), but I’ve never told her just how big. I just thought maybe it was rude to describe in detail just how far she’s gorged herself into obesity, but I don't even care anymore, she needed to hear it.

*This was a little experimental flash-fiction in a really fun style that I loved:) For more fiction stories, weight gain POVs, and even weight gain audios, you can check out my Patreon, Thanks so much for reading!*

patreon.com/KallieTell

[foreverformula1]

These are 2 comments under this post on the Formula1 Reddit page with whom I share opinions and made their point better than I could have.

Personally, when I discovered about what happened, I was confused. Then I thought about it and I agreed with Williams’ decision.

Then I thought about it some more and I did a full 360°! Why? Because in past Albon has crashed multiple times in that same turn. Almost every season there - In 2019, 2023 (and maybe another year? But I can’t find/remember it). Unfortunately, he might be likely to do it again during the feature race. But I imagine he would be extremely careful (more than usual considering the situation) BUT, this extreme carefulness might hold him back from getting into the points and/or worse: make him crash again.

Therefore, it might have been a crude but good idea in another racetrack, but not in this one. Absolutely not. The Albert Park circuit might be his weak point.

I heavily disagree with people shaming the situation. Just because Williams didn’t choose Sargeant, who is at the start of his second season and did little to nothing compared to Albon in 2023.

They literally do not even have spare chassis. This is how “desperate” they are. There are many people and teams who work day and night for all that, not just the drivers. It’s a bit unfair to Sargeant but what is it to the entire team then?

This situation wouldn’t have happened if they were somewhat on the same level of points scored last year. But they weren’t, they had a drastic distance between one another.

Sometimes drivers have to make sacrifices for the better outcome. I am not referring to other times when driver Y is just protecting driver X’s position for the entire season (All those 1th and 2th driver stuff we all collectively hate). But if driver Y has a problem with his abilities or car and can’t be as fast as driver X that exact weekend; instead of messing everything up, why not do the most with what you have got instead of pushing the limits or pretending to? (This is the same if the drivers were the other: If Y was Perez and X was Verstappen, but V broke his wrist and can’t be as fast as usual, at least he can cover for Y and not harm himself too much). That’s what teamwork is.

This was not meant to be an easy decision.

Everybody crashes and makes errors, but the main difference between P11 and P20 is the amount of sponsors to back up the teams in hope that they get even higher. Sponsors that pay the teams and help them stay in the sport. If 1 chance might turn the leaf for them even if they don’t get in the points.

We all say it ourselves, all or nothing and that drivers and teams must dare, and that’s what Williams is doing.

I 100% am sure that no team would ever do that multiple times if the driver they give the seat to has crashed multiple times too. It would only worsen their image. This is a one timer thing and I don’t view how Williams might lie on that. Maybe it will happen again in 7 years with completely different drivers but that’s up to the future to reveal. It was never supposed to happen.

Once again though, for the reasons I already stated above, I believe that this is too risky of a choice, considering Alvin’s history with the Albert Park, the pressure and possible guilt, the hyperconsciousness (more than usual) that he must be careful with the car and the difficulty to enter the points in general in a Williams. I know that nothing is given for granted but this is too risky the more you think of it. I personally would have preferred Sargeant to drive his car. It would have been understandable in another racetrack but Albert Park.

Original post where I found the comments:

[weclassybouquetfun]

GQ has a nice profile on Barry Keoghan

where he talks meeting Daniel Day-Lewis, his son, dream projects and his friendship with Jacob Elordi which offers this tidbit about an obvious cut scene.

That's like when I went to a Q&A with the artisans of SALTBURN and the editor says they shot a scene where Oliver does answer the question of whether he was in love with Felix, but they decided to just leave ambiguous (it's not ambiguous to me...) but I'm glad they left it out because then what would everyone on Reddit talk about because every 9th post is asking that question.

I mean it makes sense that they would shoot at least one kiss. Even cinematographer notes Linus Sandgren says of Oliver and Felix's dynamic.

Creasing that GQ went as far back as MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO for that comparison as if the CALL ME BY YOUR NAME press push wasn't that times 100. Call me when Barry records Jacob urinating next to him in the urinal like Timothee Chalamet did Armie Hammer.

The SAG Awards nominations will be announced tomorrow at 7am (PST). Hopefully, Barry will get a nomination and have the chance to meet more of his heroes like he did at the Golden Globes.

Two Jokers

-Jacob Elordi's look for Paul Schrader's OH CANADA starring Richard Gere,

Uma Thurman and Michael Imperioli. The film centres around "Leonard Fife, one of sixty thousand draft evaders and deserters who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam, shares all his secrets to de-mythologize his mythologized life."

Elordi will also be seen (who knows when) in HE WENT THAT WAY with Zachary Quinto.

What is is about? Based on a true story, HE WENT THAT WAY is, "...a wicked spin on the buddy road trip pic, the film is set in 1964 and follows 19-year-old serial killer Bobby (Elordi) as he is picked up by a celebrity animal handler, Jim (Quinto), on a desolate stretch of Route 66, with priceless cargo in tow: his chimpanzee, Spanky, an American TV darling. As stress between them rises and their fiery personalities combust, the road only becomes more treacherous the farther they go.

[hero-israel]

The attack 100% will push Israeli society further right, further toward mistrust, trauma, and retribution. The attack will also 100% fail and have devastating repercussions for the people of Gaza. Maybe the Hamas losers know this, maybe they intended it to happen. A violent chaotic cathartic release with no real plan or attempt at achieving any kind of goals... were they that delusional? Did they think they would start the next Arab Israeli war and bring Israel down?

Or were they fully intending to fuel their own martyr complexes and to martyr hundreds of unwilling Palestinian civilians in a desperate attempt to make Israel lose the optics war? It's probably this one, and it only proves that they are LOSERS, they are sad pathetic losers and their greatest triumph is shooting grandmas and trying to capture Jewish sex slaves to prove what big manly men they are, while the women and children in their towns are being bombed to pieces. Disgusting pieces of shit.

But about that optics war... Mass executions and rapes and kidnappings by Hamas militants have done more to repair Israel's image in normal (I repeat and emphasize: NORMAL) people's eyes than any amount of sharing graphs and documents and educating people, or state sponsored tweets could ever have. This is the true Mask Off moment for Hamas and Gaza. Even antizionists are taking to social media to say "stop the violence innocent people are dying this is so bad we stand with the people of Israel." Like this is such an utter disaster for Gaza it boggles the mind how they greenlit this attack.

Like I truly think if Bibi orders a ground invasion most people aside from internet leftists and Arab nationalists would be alright with it. I hope he doesn't, I think a measured and careful response is crucial right now, but that's how badly Hamas fucked up whatever goodwill they had today.

It will push Israeli society further toward the right in terms of military / security crackdown and generally bleak attitudes towards coexistence with Palestinians (moreso). I would like very much to believe that Israelis will notice that the current government of right-wing channer trolls is totally talentless and lazy and that their incompetence and unnecessary cultural divisionism directly made possible this tragedy, and will then replace the right-wing channer trolls with right-wing skilled leaders. Note that by "right-wing skilled leaders" I no longer include Netanyahu, who should be as permanently discredited as the rest of them. The structure of Israeli electoral politics has let me down before, and I don't think Netanyahu has enough human decency to resign when he so blatantly ought to.

We are going to see something in Gaza that we haven't seen before; there is really no choice. I'm just not sure what that "something" will be.

I've seen several posters on Jewish Reddit argue for a full land invasion and lasting re-occupation of Gaza. This would be a Carter-Iranian-hostage-rescue level catastrophe. Gaza has been prepping for an Israeli land invasion for 15+ years, it is the basis of multiple Hamas and PIJ battle plans, we can assume every street and alley is boobytrapped and every window can hold an RPG launcher and every room can become a hostage site. Lasting military incursion with boots on the ground seems doomed to fail - and then if it succeeded it might be even worse, Israel would have to bleed its military and economic resources into managing the day-to-day lives of 2 million Palestinians. Of the options for eliminating Hamas, that would be the one that was worst for Israel in the immediate term, so it is the one I don't expect. Other options are terrible too, but less so for Israel itself.

To be very frank, I'd almost rather they skip Hamas and launch a decapitating strike on Iran directly. Terrible repercussions of course, but it avoids the usual script, the obvious boobytrap aspects, and puts a final "bookmark" on the threats that both Hamas and Hezbollah could represent.

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

Hi, I have huge gratitude and admiration for your posts and updates on OFMD, I always find them so comforting and informative! Especially as I'm only on Reddit and got a Tumblr account 4 days ago to keep track of OFMD (Twitter/X is just too overwhelming for me lol). What was your take on Rhys Darby's Cameo video in regards to making you feel more hopeful/less hopeful/neither but it was still lovely? With the deafening silence from David Jenkins and worrying that the morale is dropping, it's irresistible not to start feeling a bit of doom, you know? Any response appreciated, but regardless, thank you so much for the work you're doing ❤️

Hello my dear! Welcome to tumblr, we're so glad to have you! I really should get on reddit sometime (I get notifications when certain posts get busy but I just always forget to check them). I totally get that Twitter is overwhelming, it's a tornado of information--and thank you! I'm so glad you're getting something out of the updates!

My take on the Rhys Darby cameo, ay? Well I'll be honest, I thrive on even a little bit of feedback so I was 100% pumped after that yesterday. It sounds silly but I went and cried in the shower for 20 mins because I was feeling torn between the sadness for Rhys and what he lost and was feeling and then also the beautifully kind and positive advice he was giving us.

After that-- I basically felt like someone called Gondor for aid and I was a raging pile of need for action. I actually feel more hopeful now, but I think Rhys has that affect on people. Like that man could tell me the sky was blue and I'd grin like a toddler with a lollipop and nod and feel like I could take on the day.

I do totally get that doom and gloom feeling that comes with the silence. We need that feedback from the people we're fighting for to keep morale up. That being said though--- I've noticed a trend over the past few weeks since cancellation, and that is that when we start feeling down, someone in the cast/crew starts poking their nose out. Usually its Chaos Dad (David Jenkins) but all of a sudden when things are slowing down again this week, Rhys puts himself up on Cameo, two days before the UK launch of s2? I just don't believe in coincidences in most cases, especially when we're all watching things so closely. It may make me sound like a conspiracy theorist but I do truly believe that a huge chunk of the cast and crew is watching our actions and reactions to things very carefully (Hell, Alex Sherman is over on twitter liking a bunch of fan art and porn, so at least we have our little perverted guardian angel!). They just seem to keep popping up at the exact right moments to help rally the troops for them not to be.

The difficulty with negotiations in any industry is the whole Non Disclosure Agreement that comes along with people potentially taking on new clients/funding new projects. Legitimately, there could be a contract in the works right now with a network and we already have our s3, but we just can't know about it because that would damage / threaten negotiations. It could be the other way too, but with how supportive Chaos Dad and Rhys and the rest of the crew have been just popping in and out like little bubbles of positivity, I really feel like we have still have some hope here. It's just really hard to be patient when we're all pushing so hard-- which is why breaks are so important. Anywhoooo, I've had my coffee so I'm obviously rambling at this point-- thank you so much dear for writing into me! I hope that answers your question... I am feeling overwhelmingly positive after Rhys' videos and feeling very mama bear on wanting to protect that man by doubling down on efforts, lol. So glad you're will us on tumblr friend! Always feel free to reach out :D <3<3<3 Ty!

[craftingcreatures]

Spectember 2023

For this year’s Spectember I present to you the world of Earth, about 15 million years in the future, during the Ultracene epoch. This is a little project I’ve been working on on-and-off, and which I often use as a kind of “dumping ground” for spec concepts that don’t fit into any of my other projects. It’s a mixed bag of good, bad, and mediocre, and over the course of this month (weekends excluded; I do have a schedule, but it’s anyone’s guess if I can keep to it) I’ll be showing you some of my favourite concepts from this project.

DAY 1: Welcome to the Ultracene

15 million years in the future, the world has changed. The Anthropogenic mass extinction has brought an end to the Pleistocene Glaciation, and the world is now hot, wet, and verdant, much as it was in the ancient Paleocene. The deposition of massive amounts of greenhouse gases by humanity irreversibly altered atmospheric composition, and the subsequent high global temperatures melted ice sheets and caused sea levels to rise by nearly 100 meters. Vast tracts of South America, Eurasia, and Australia are now underwater. As a result of the increase in the ocean’s surface area and temperature, the atmosphere has much more water vapor in it, leading to higher precipitation across the globe; deserts like the Sahara are much wetter, sandy wastes replaced by rolling savannahs and grasslands.

The continents have changed, as well. Tectonic activity has led to the collision of western Africa with southern Europe, closing the strait of Gibraltar and raising up the Castillian Mountains where the western Mediterranean used to be. East Africa has broken away from the mainland to form a new island continent, Somalia. And Arabia has crashed into Iran, opening the strait of Suez into the Indian Ocean and pushing up the Zagros Mountains until they rival the Himalayas in height. In the western and southern Pacific Ocean, volcanic activity has led to the generation of new island chains and the enlargement of old ones. Australia has drifted north and collided with New Guinea. And so on and so forth.

The changing climate and colliding continents, combined with the action of humans in the modern era, have had serious effects on the biogeography of animal species. North America, for example, is now home to old-world pythons and monitor lizards. Descendants of the hippopotamus thrive in the swamps and coastlines of South America, and Elephants and Hyenas once again range across the palearctic, from Spain to Siberia. Humanity itself has succumbed to the ravages of time, having been devastated by mosquito-borne illnesses in the aftermath of the apocalypse; but the world they created lives on, forever bearing the indelible mark of the upright ape.

Over the next month, I will take you on an adventure through the wildlife of this strange new world. From Arctic Macaques to Arboreal Sharks, from the austere grasslands of Greenland to the stormy Argentine Sea, this world is at once intimately familiar and undeniably alien. Come with me, my friends, on this journey to the future. Welcome... to the Ultracene.

(Map modified from one created by Reddit user m4nu. I moved the continents around according to my basic understanding of tectonic plate movement speeds and directions, and added biomes where I thought they should go. Take it with a grain of salt - I study ecology, not geology or meteorology.)

[blizzardsuplex]

WIP Fic Snippet

tl;dr: @rosabellebelieve's ask about a coffee shop AU led to me spitballing idea #4 (the Adam/Roddy one, natch) with @mobiblackout for a couple of hours last night. I have now written 2k words for it in a day (though I rewrote a large chunk of it after brainstorming a better idea with my bf so draft #2 is so far 1.26k). Enjoy a snippet of this dark comedy influencer AU under the cut! :')

“You literally scrolled through the Twitch top 100 and said…wait, let me find the most upvoted post on your new subreddit in the past month.”

“I got a new subreddit?” When did that happen? Adam didn’t pay much attention to Reddit, on account of being a cool nerd instead of pathetic. “What happened to the old one?”

“Got turned private.”

“Why?”

“Not important right now.” Kyle’s eyes scan the screen, stopping right in the middle. “Oh, here it is.” He clears his throat before beginning to recite what seemed to be a comment verbatim. “‘Chugs almost scrolled past it, but eventually went back up, saying “a pushup challenge? People watch this crap?” Mod Alyssa then told him in chat “he’s doing one push up a sub lol”, to which Chugs laughed (I think he was a bit drunk at this point) and said “oh, really? Well, why don’t we hop on over there and help him work out—what do you say, Chugs Army?’”

“...okay,” Adam says, worming his way into the briefest of pauses Kyle has left behind, “you have to admit that’s kind of funny—”

But it’s an overly desperate protest, even for him; he stops without thinking twice when Kyle raises his hand and continues reading. “‘Rodman1’s subscriber count doubled in the span of an hour. He also collapsed after his 1253rd push-up and had to have his roommate drive him to the hospital, LMAO’.”

[golden--doodler]

So I messaged @drawthethingdoppelganger today and it ended up being so long and fun to write that I want to share it (I modified it a bit, but it's mostly the same as when I sent it):

Also shame on everyone who keeps vitriolically hating on Jimmy Jr.! He's a middle schooler, come on. Sure, "V For Valentine-Detta" was not a great episode for him, but that doesn't make him an awful, toxic person who's manipulating Tina.

It's super frustrating how people keep saying things like this to justify why Tina should 100% be with Zeke or Josh instead. Sure, I ship Tina and Josh the most, but that doesn't mean Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s relationship is toxic, especially considering how young they are. Also, let's not forget that Tina's not totally innocent either, she's done her fair share of (lovingly) being mean to J Ju. Like when she got high on caffeine in "The Unnatural" and made fun of his lisp. That exchange sends me every time.

Anyway, he's just a dumb teenager who has commitment issues! I genuinely believe he will mature as he and Tina grow older, no matter what their relationship status eventually turns out to be. It just makes me upset when people are so mean to him, it reminds me of the few people who are super mean to Gene.

Gene is also a dumb middle schooler (said with love) and sure, he's not perfect, but isn't that what makes him a lovely, compelling character? He has flaws. The only episodes I don't really enjoy him in are "Beefsquatch" and "Mommy Boy". That is it. And even in those episodes, he learns his lesson and comes around in the end, so they're not completely devoid of value either. He is actually so sweet that he doesn't even want to prank anyone on April Fool's Day! And let's not forget how in "It Snakes A Village", he quickly pushed through his fear of snakes to save Tina and Louise's lives! He's clearly still scared of them after that episode because of that one episode where he gets terrified of Steve in Nat's limo, so he did all of this for his sisters. I mean 🥺

Still crying that someone on Reddit said he should be killed off because he's annoying and doesn't add anything, like no! 😭 Does that person understand how strange and empty the show would feel without my precious baby boy? He may be the Middle Child, but he's so crucial to the show and its humor! He basically invented it from episode one, I'm telling ya. Like his cute lil' burger suit and his weird sound effects machine thingy? Yes. There would be something missing and everyone would feel it.

I adore the rest of the Belchers too, I really do, but no one has ever said that any of the others should be killed off? Because that's such a ridiculous notion?? I can't think of any characters in the show I would even think this about because I love all of them so much, every one of those side characters has a special place in my heart too.

One example I can think of where the show would feel so empty without Gene was that one scene (I can't remember which episode) where Tina tried to be like Gene and tell a joke, and then Gene said the same joke a second later, and Bob actually said, "It was funnier when Gene said it." It's unexplainable, but it's true. Somehow it was funnier when Gene said the joke! I love you so much, Tina girl, but Bob is right. He just fills a certain niche for the show, like Jimmy Jr. does. I feel as if we're in the same boat @drawthething so much because I think Jimmy Jr. might be the one character some people are as mean to as Gene? Like, come on! They're our precious dumb middle school boys (who are definitely LGBTQ+) and their flaws make them such fun characters to follow. They're not perfect, but that's what kind of makes them perfect.

[aorish]

🔥 something about food (you've mentioned that you cook a lot but you don't foodpost that much)

I do need to foodpost more. Especially recipes, which I almost never remember to write down after I come up with them. Maybe I'll make up for lost mileage here on the rest.

The problem is it's hard to "Post" post about food because 100% of food snobbery is bullshit. When I dunk on New York pizza and say New Jersey's is better there's no more substance to it than when I make fun of the way Manhattanites say "bodega," I'm just being neighborly. Few people who e.g. decry pre-jarred minced garlic can tell the difference, most people who snob just like to seem like they're in on something.

The truth is that most people aren't bad at cooking, and it isn't really something you can be "bad" at. There's no great secret to it except the knowledge that all of the barriers that people have to getting "good" at cooking are psychological, and the faith that these barriers will be easily overcome with repetition.

You just have to do it more, by making a habit of it, and slowly work your way out of your comfort zone. Yes, I won't sugarcoat it, if you do take way too big a risk and fuck up a big fancy dish that's above your skill level that took hours of work, yes it will suck and if you're like me you will then order pizza or chinese food when you can afford to so that you'll be crying eating something other than a peanut butter sandwich for dinner. Yes, these things do happen, but much less often than you think. The real skill you develop in cooking is learning how to not take on more than you personally can handle, everything else is vocabulary and muscle memory.

This is why the most important thing is to start out simple as you build a habit of cooking and reprogram your brain first to believe that it feeds itself by making things not by scavenging them. You need to pick something where you are less likely to stress out about whether you will fuck it up and not eat dinner. If you like eggs, fry a lot of eggs until you can do it easily. I ate a Gaston number of eggs as a teenager. They're hard to master, (which you don't need to do) but also hard to render inedible after the first few tries. If you don't like or can't eat eggs there are other foods like this that are good to start out with, and generally soups, stews and chilis are also easy and a good way to ingratiate yourself with your roommates. You don't need to make the mother sauces or push yourself to do anything else french in order to make the other people around you happy, in fact I've seen no evidence that it even helps.

As you cook more, learn to take the easy way out when you can, e.g. buy a rice cooker if you believe it will mean you cook rice more often, but otherwise don't. If that sounds unhelpful to you now, know that a lot of this is as much self-knowledge as general cooking knowledge - i.e. what sort of things are you going to be lazy about? As you get more practice, you can focus on how to structure recipes in your head that work with your worst impulses. For me, I can't put up with more than a few minutes of chopping vegetables on most days, so I've started throwing raw onions, garlic, and other aromatics in a blender whenever they're going to fully cook down anyway. Some people apparently find chopping vegetables relaxing, and others might not feel comfortable deviating this much from a recipe at first, so they might not do this. But it's not a life hack, it's a personal idiosyncrasy. My setup works for me, etc.

As far as materials, it's also mostly all marketing bullshit. Don't go to reddit buyitforlife for product recommendations, you don't need a $200 chef's knife to cut tomatoes for a sandwich and you don't need anything with copper or cast iron in it. Get a good stainless steel saute pan, a sheet pan or two for the oven, and a heavy bottomed soup pot, if you don't already have them. Don't buy anything that costs more than $50. If you're worried about burning your house down, buy a fire extinguisher and keep it in your kitchen. If you're not worried about burning your house down, buy two of them, because you're the type of person who might burn their house down. If you're still worried, don't deep fry anything, keep a lid near your pan while cooking as a saftey blanket and learn what the word "saute" means and you'll do just fine.

tl;dr: it's not complicated

.

(but in all seriousness this is mostly a pep talk)

[lady-azarashe]

I miss the old Internet.

Back when I was younger I frequently visited dozens of different websites. There were countless forums and websites worth spending your time on, and clickbait wasn't a thing as much as it is nowadays. A decade ago my browsing habits were much more varied: Cracked, Gaia, Youtube, ICanHazCheezburger, TGWTG, Instructables, at least four different forums, game/animation portals, etc. I only hit F5 whenever I was waiting for someone's forum reply or for something to be uploaded.

Nowadays stuff is so centralized (and so much stuff from back in the day has either disappeared or gone bad) that my Internet browsing habits are a loop of Tumblr-> Youtube (mostly for music) -> Reddit -> Reddit again -> Tumblr-> Youtube -> Reddit. Doesn't help that most social media seems to be composed of screenshots of the other social media sites. Back then I felt like a digital adventurer, discovering new places by following leads found in random places and that felt genuine. I remember discovering Neopets when I was a kid and I was over the moon because I had discovered something so amazing to me. Or small forums where, after posting for a while, everyone was like family. Now I feel like a disinterested tourist, accompanied by a mass of thousands of users indistinguishable from myself, who is carted around by whatever shows up on the front page; and whose group arrives, mindlessly consumes the content, and leaves feeling mildly entertained yet profoundly unfulfilled.

And this isn't even counting the amount of bullshit we gotta deal with these past few years, such as

manipulative practices from our content providers and their algorithms,

insane amounts of "enshittification" that's hitting every single social media site,

megalomaniacal CEOs constantly screwing over their own users in the name of ego and shareholder profit,

active and passive privacy loss,

the whole clusterfuck of AI-generated content,

astroturfing and manipulation to pit people against one another for a myriad different reasons,

and more!

I had spent over a decade on Reddit and left after the dumpster fire of last year's API changes and subsequent blackout. I feel like Tumblr's current state of affairs will push me out as well eventually. I don't think I'm going anywhere else after this, I'm just gonna join the ranks of the offlines.

Back when I was younger I felt like I had "a home on the Internet", as well as an identity. But now that I don't belong to any online community anymore, and now that I'm slowly withdrawing unto myself and keeping only nostalgia as company, I feel more alone and adrift than ever before. Hell, I'm not sure that's 100% nostalgia there. That's just straight-up loss.

[miradanii]

MTMTE/LOST LIGHT First Time Read

Short time text text because it's 4am. I had to finish it...The Lost Light was short and I had 4 chapters left. Had heat exhaustion twice in one week, lack of sleep for days but I couldn't help but finish just so I can go back and reread parts I didn't understand/have an excuse to finally look up this comic without massive spoilers.

I had never read a lot of long ass comics. But wow have I just had a wild ride. I think it took maybe two and half months to read this? Maybe more. One of the few things I had difficulty with reading but pushed through because how captivated I was with the story and its insane cast of characters. I have tons of new favorites I will now create powerpoint slides to present to my friends now on how much I've enjoyed my time with them.

I am so thankful for the internet due to these comics being out of print. And my past self just happening to own volume 1 of Dark Cybertron and never donating it despite not fully understanding what it was until this year. I hope these comics get reprinted one day but I guess for now I'll hunt down copies because I think I want to do these comics a service by having physical copies...

Anyways I 100% recommend this series as a first time reader for reading any Transformers comics. It was pretty difficult at first but I got the hang of it for a while. Not sure it helped that I was already familiar with a lot of the characters already like Rodimus, Megatron, ect. ect. ect.

Here's a link to a reddit post about the order for reading MTMTE/Lost Light. Though, when you come to Dark Cybertron it comes it two volumes so you don't have to switch between MTMTE and RID issues. Like I said I have the physical copy for Volume 1 of Dark Cybertron but mistakenly went back to reading MTMTE and had not realized the issues were alternating.

The reddit post mentions it but I was dumb and didn't fully read it. I just kinda kept going to the next page with a jarring lack of information thinking a lot of stuff was happening off screen.

Immediate ending spoiler nonsense thoughts down below:

Yeah the ending note made me tear up. I am in the mist of consuming a lot of Transformers Media before Transformers One comes out...I had decided to read MTMTE because I think I wanted something that I felt when I watched Transformers Prime. More detail in the characters. I think I flipped when I found out Ratchet who I've seen 3 iterations of on tv has a love interest. Megatron and Optimus have like....just...yeah it's gay. Unhinge divorced but never married gay interactions, then there's more gay, then idk I just started learning more and more about it all from just doing research all for a powerpoint party I hosted and because it was my birthday I was able to go up to 45 minutes due to birthday privileges.

Like I can go from liking Megop to MiniMegs? Is that the ship name? Idk it's almost 5am. But it's not even about pairings at this point, I'm going on an insane fucking adventure. I'm reading this shit in a King's Hawaiian parking lot now being part of my core memory. Actually that part does have a pairing. I'm seeing this:

I went through emotional toil in a restaurant parking lot with my friends to see and not understand the shock I'm having after I get out of the car.

I understand the flowers. That's a fuck ton.

I technically got spoiled about who Rung actually was but it had been so long I actually was STILL shocked when I found out at around 3am. Though...I didn't know he fucking died. Guys he fucking died. I think he came back or its one of his children idk man he fucking died and there's a character with a very similar color palette to him in Cyberverse.

On a random note I guess they weren't that close but Im surprised there wasn't a conversation between Nautica and Chromedome about forgetting Skids in a sense of grief. And it just kinda happened to her...Though I am glad she was still prioritizing Velocity.

Okay so Terminus just dies off screen and Megatron never finds out that he gave him the wrong location?? Damn. But I guess it was no hard feelings when he reunited with the Lost Light so that's all fine and dandy.

This is the one of the few stories where I am proud bullshit with no further explanation reunites tragic lovers. This series lets me live. I mean there was a very simple explanation why Tailgate didn't fade away from Cyclonus' arms but when that moment happened I was like yeah fuck it let them be happy. Of course Kaput was gonna go Kaput but rip can't believe it had to get Tailgate involved.

Ah Anode and Lug were cute! I think it took me a bit to warm up to them but I think I start to like characters when they start having fun dynamics with the rest of the cast. Anode and Swerve pranking each other on the shrinking ship with all hell breaking loose with the rest of the Rod Squad is just...yeah that whole chapter was paced so well.

Okay Whirl didn't just win me over, he snatched my heart and made a clock out of it with his lil pincers. I love this fella. He's such a homie. Top 10 in my list of characters with best character growth.

Okay okay...so the ending right...I knew Ratchet died in the end. Or a portion of the end. But it still caught me off guard. Not to mention I thought Tailgate had died in the end too. I mean it was technically true. But still...ouch. I saw the panel with the Rodimus Star and thought it was so dumb. Had no idea that it was so much more impactful than I thought. Legit before knowing the context I thought Rodimus didn't want to give his most inner energon and gave a Rodimus Star instead. Oops.

I've seen panels of Minimus and Megatron interact and had no idea that it was from the final issue.

5:31am

This series has given me a small portion of joy I couldn't feel for the past few months without it. A boost in creativity and expanding a range of wow that's a lot of fucking insane shit that can happen and still be fun huh?

[a-la-folie-et-plus]

Liveblogging my first time watching SAW II

- oh wow this starts even faster than the first one

- wait I’ve seen this trap before

- I mean isn’t Jigsaw literally just an informant, he just also makes the consequences himself

- eww I don’t wanna see this bit I’m gonna look away

- yeah no it’s 100% slamming shut on him

- is this one about learning the power of fatherly love

- glad he stepped up his knife skills, you can actually tell that’s a jigsaw now

- Reddit said this film is ‘significantly gorier’, which makes me…fucking nervous

- that creepy fucking clown

- so they’ve already caught him like 5 minutes into the film, this is awesome

- ooh, he has hair this time

- that’s 100% a dead body

- okay I was wrong

- I am not above torture for extracting info

- she found that tape player WAY too quickly

- they only have 2 hours, that’s better (last time felt like they had a whole day to fuck around)

- stop pushing that door stop pushing that door stop pushing that door

- ohhhhhhhh my god I could not look away but GOD I wish I could

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I'm sorry I left this bitter ask earlier on. I didn't mean to rain on your parade. I'm just trying to work through my feelings and I really wish I could go back to enjoy a comeback. BTS really was my comfort place and I need it with everything going on my IRL. I miss them so much, I fear I'm never getting that feeling again, even when they comeback. I already have been pushed away from the fandom because I couldn't express how uncomfortable I felt with Seven and now I feel so lonely. I'm trying to just enjoy the older music, but letting go of keeping up to date and being 100% invested is hard. Really hard.

I'm happy for you that you can enjoy this comeback, but he lost me for good. "These are love songs, to comfort ARMY" and then he goes on to perform 3D Jack Harlow version. What's comforting in being compared to a dead body? Before release maybe he didn't get it, but we know he monitors fandom reaction, and there is an alternate version. He just wants to be cool and edgy but banks on ARMY blindly supporting him no matter what. I feel betrayed, not because he went explicit, I was fully expecting it, but because he's doubled faced. Comforting ARMY my @ss. Just admit you wanted the fuck boy image. He's so talented, but he just throws BTS legacy out the window. Namjoon sit next to the SK president and explained how he consulted scholars to avoid misogynist lyrics ffs. And 3D isn't the only song I have a problem with, just the worst. "It's just lyrics and images" and what are BTS songs? It just feels like a slap in the face.

I think he performed the Jack Harlow version because the alternate version is not in Golden, which he was promoting - it's the feature that opens the album. I also doubt he saw fans objecting to the lyrics, unless the Koreans fans were complaining as well, and a lot of them probably don't speak English well enough to be as bothered by the lyrics as the international fandom as a whole was. Although a lot of Armys didn't like Jack Harlow, the song still did well, and tons of people did the TikTok challenge. Jungkook probably concluded that, while Seven was better received, people still enjoyed the song. BTS may monitor what Armys say but there is ton of stuff they miss, or ignore...

Jungkook isn't doubled face. "Comforting Armys" doesn't mean lyrics like Spring Day. He brings comfort to Army by delivering cool songs, performances, and content which distract Army from their daily lives, providing them with comfort and entertainment. Also, Seven is chill and relaxing - just hearing his voice in the track is comforting. There are three ballads in Golden as well, and all songs except for SNTY and 3D are rather chill and comforting. Jungkook's voice is comforting to me regardless of the lyrics or genre. He wasn't lying when he said he wants to comfort Army. Giving back the love we give him is one of his biggest motivations. He wasn't fully sure that he wanted to release an album, but I think Army was a huge factor in him doing so.

Jungkook doesn't want to be "cool and edgy". I mean, yes, in a way, but he isn't counting on Armys blindly supporting him. He trusts we will support him because we have so far, and he's also confident in the songs he's putting out because he's making music he'd like to listen to, and expects Army to be big fans of pop - kpop is pop after all... He's not interested in lyrics or a message, so he doesn't get that fans might be. Is he supposed to live in fear? Is it not his career and his life, his choice? Armys for the most part have liked his solo career. There was only a somewhat negative response to 3D. Obviously, Seven divided a few Armys, but the reaction was generally positive. Same for Golden - even on Reddit it's mostly positive. Plus, like I said, he is much more aware of K-Armys' response to his music, and, from what I've seen, they are even more positive than international Armys.

Jungkook is not RM, and I'd say you're giving RM too much credit. BTS have performed Boy in Luv and Danger in recent years, despite acknowledging how sexist their early music was. Girl of My Dreams has some disturbing lyrics from Juice Wrld yet Suga is on it. Jimin was in a song with a rapist. Bad Decisions featured Snoop Dog who defended Bill Cosby. There are plenty of examples of BTS, including BTS, collabing with, or expressing admiration for, very problematic artists. MJ, for example, was a pedophile, yet Jungkook and Jhope in particular are big fans, as are the rest of BTS (and the world...).

I don't understand how Jungkook is throwing out BTS's legacy. He built that legacy too. Sure, the "fuck boy" image that he pushed a bit with Seven and 3D, but not really with SNTY or Golden as a whole, contrasts a little with BTS's image, but it doesn't contradict it. The sexist lyrics in 3D were not his. RM and the rest of BTS get along with Bang Si-hyuk and support New Jeans and are okay with MHJ despite both being objectively terrible people. They also support brands that are unethical (they support consumerism, aren't environmentally conscious, and the brands they endorse are corrupt and built on labor rights abuse and the inhumane treatment of workers). BTS's legacy is a mixed bag and always will be. It's build on fans mass buying albums and merch, and spending their money recklessly just so a bunch of millionaires can top the charts. Also, if we're talking about meaningless love lyrics, V didn't write his own lyrics either, and BTS didn't write the English trilogy.

I feel like you're romanticizing BTS too much, even if I understand that a big part of BTS's selling point, and what I love about them as well, is them writing their own lyrics. But that was mostly always RM, and the rap line, and BTS could only give their input on concepts that the company wanted and never had the freedom to freely pick the songs on their group albums. A lot of BTS's songs are just "lyrics" and "images". Their early music, for example, had a lot of romantic lyrics that RM wrote because Bang PD wanted them to have a softer concept that appealed to fans (eg., I Need U).

Anyway, thank you for the follow-up ask. I've been harsh about BTS, and particularly Jungkook, before too. I understand that when you're upset everything seems worse than it is, and I understand that it can be really isolating in the fandom because everyone's aggressively positive all the time. I had to unfollow tons of people after Seven because I was so disappointed in the song but kept seeing everyone praise it. On Friday I also blocked out the fandom because I couldn't relate to their reaction to Golden. I also struggle with wanting to be up to date with everything BTS do and not having enough time or even interest. This is especially worse with Jungkook (that pressure).

I could tell you that it's okay to let go of BTS, but it's a bit like giving up on a huge part of you - like losing a limb. I get it, that's what it means to be Army, it's sad sometimes too. If you feel lonely you can talk to me. If not for my anons, I'd feel really lonely in the fandom as well, which I don't even consider myself to be a real part of. I'm Army but I'm not in the fandom, if that makes sense.

It might take time, but perhaps after they've all enlisted, you, and I, will have time to reconnect with BTS without the pressure of keeping up with them. The constant releases and content fatigue me too - it can be overwhelming. When BTS reunite, it won't be the same, but hopefully we'll all come together again, even if for the last time...

Thanks for the ask!