#Bill harken

[vino---delectable]

It's going to be awhile before something will make me laugh as much as this has

[shes-a-badkid]

Just remembered the show Alphas existed and now I know what I’ll be doing with the rest of my weekend

[vino---delectable]

Love this show so much (•.•)

She can read The New York Times from 10 blocks away. Let her roll.

[tubbytarchia]

Traffic/Life series roster as dinosaurs

A lot of these don't make for very good hybrids unless you wanna get into freaky territory or full on centaur but... Hope it's a fun scroll nonetheless!

Grian - Novialoidea

A small birdie... The name also means "New wings" which I find fun. New lives and death games to be part of, new wings to accompany him... (Honorable mention to "Shuvuuia" the "desert bird" who unfortunately is not a pterosaur (doesn't fly)) (Yes we're including pterosaurs! Just using "dinosaur" as a conveient blanket term)

Tango - Aratasaurus / Pyroraptor

Fire raptor! Either works just fine and Tango as a skittery little raptor is perfect for a creature like him

Scar - Apatosaurus

"Deceptive Lizard" harkening back to Scar's scamming tendencies. Though I've always liked the idea of him being some larger gentler animal in any hybrid scenario and a long-neck fits the bill well. He can poke his nose into people's conversations easily to start marketing something useless to them and swishes his tail to ward off anyone who's about to stop him

Impulse - Nasutoceratops

Ren - Regaliceratops

Horns. COOL horns. I don't know what else you want from me ceratopses are just way too awesome. Nasutoceratops is a wicked cool dinosaur for having its horns point so forward much like a bull and I for one can jive with some Impulse bull symbolism. Bulls are often viewed as strong, sturdy and loyal, traits also assigned to Impulse a LOT of the time. But though he IS intensely loyal in many cases (+ Ceratopses are also known for how they defend their own!), and he's not very outward about the following traits, he can get quite petty and bitchy and hold grudges. Still, you don't think of that when you look at him and he seems to agree! Eg him feeling like he should be accepted into Cleo's alliance in 3rd life without actually proving himself when Cleo was rightfully hesitant, at which Impulse more or less rolled his eyes. And him proclaiming "betrayal!" when killed by Bdubs when their alliance was as firm as a rat's tail

(And I feel the need to point this out too just in case: "bulls are also known for their temper" yeah but they're not like that! Bulls like many animals become defensive when exposed to aggravating behavior or movement! Which you could work into Impulse's grudge holding and intense loyalty...? I don't know enough about him sorry but do with that what you will)

Regaliceratops! Regal!! Crown shaped frill!!! Need I say more?

Gem - Therizinosaurus

Theris are so bad bitch coated to me and I would love to have one as my wife I mean um I couldn't decide on a less generic specimen so Gem can just be a Theri! A herbivore - often associated with the belief that herbivores are gentle passive creatures, but far from it, especially with Gem! She bares her claws like it's no one's business

Martyn - Stygmoloch

A Pachy with a tough head and a tendency to bonk people - I think it fits Martyn's tendency to perpetuate drama haha. The Stygmoloch's name though more or less translates to "demon of the styx river", the river of the underworld representing loathing of death. To me this makes sense with all the watcher lore (that I have a hard time understanding but whatever!!) especially with how Martyn became in LL. The watchers themselves don't loathe death (??) of course. They're death games. But someone within the game trying to stay alive and win? Probably loathes the idea of themselves dying. I have no clue what Im saying

Pearl - Carnotaurus

Ok maybe a hot take not to make her into a pteradon or even a raptor with wing-like features but those just didn't fit that well in my opinion. Rather I wanted her to have some kind of horn motif in place of her wings as visual symbolism for her character. I'd like to imagine her having fine horns, to then have them damaged (one broken off) and simultaneously the other more grown out. Think of how domesticated goats for example have their horns trimmed. I think human hybrids with horns would do the same to keep them from becoming a bother but Pearl would neglect to after her heartbreak in DL. I was heavily considering the Diabloceratops for this, especially because of the name (Devil horned face - good ostracizing material) but Pearl strikes me a lot more as a carnivore and there are only two horned carnivores out there so... Carnotaurus it is haha. And even now I'm making her horns unrealistically big but.... We can suspend some belief

BigB - Oryctodromeus

"Digging Runner"! I've already talked plenty of why BigB is very rabbit behavior to me and my reasons for assigning this burrowing dinosaur to him are similar. Tldr he is fidgety and cautious yet clever and constantly buries himself underground

Lizzie - Anurognathidae

I don't even fucking know man it made me think of Lizzie and then I wasn't able to assign anything else to her. Lizzie often claims to be confused and if any dinosaur looks to be in a perpetual state of confusion then its this one. I know a lot of people like to portray Lizzie as a butterfly also so there you go, wings!!! And it's quite cat-like too for those who like to draw her as a cat

Mumbo - Leinkupal

I really struggled with Mumbo... So many different dinos fit him imo but I figured it should be at least something moderately large (so "Technosaurus" was out of the question lol). Then I rediscovered this dinosaur whose name translates to "vanishing family" and then I thought about LL and SL and how Mumbo went out quickly after the initial death/s and left a very felt absence in someone's alliance and then I became really emotional and forgot what I was doing

Joel - Nodocephalosaurus

Bdubs - Psittacosaurus

"Knob Headed Lizard"

Joel as an Ankylosaur has been stuck in my head from day one of assigning dinosaurs to the Lifers and I'm frustrated that I can't truly explain why. You'd view an Ankylosaur as a slow and docile creature, even compared to other herbivores, but...

1. Maybe not so much nowadays, I don't know what non-dino nerds think, but I feel like ankylosaurs were largely believed to be HUGE back in the day, much like velociraptors, when in reality they're not that big. The Nodocephalosaurus is especially small even among other ankylosaurs. But, well, we all know what Joel loves to say about himself

2. Joel is or likes to make himself look well in control, just as ankylosaurs have little to worry about as far as predators go. Especially in earlier series where he was content basing mostly by himself. It's always when things get dire and he enters his red life that he becomes very impulsive and erratic like an ankylosaur flipped on its back

3. I know there's a distinction between Traffic Joel and Empires Joel and whatever other Joel but... Even in death games his more charitable traits shine through here and there. He really becomes a dangerous rascal for a large majority of the time and he's very good at it, he's not putting on a mask or anything, but I like to remember that underneath that tough spiky armor is gentleness and caring. His care towards Lizzie and Pearl and Etho etc etc

4. The image of Joel as a hell of a spiky creature is just really fun to me. Yet heavy and blunt ones! And someone once proposed the idea of him having a club tail but having chiselled it to be sharp to mirror him being a menace. (Added benefit also that it's lighter that way haha) To me he's always been an obvious heavy hitter rather than stealthy or particularly creative etc. Him as a carnivore just doesn't work as well for me

The name bares no fitting meaning but when I look at Bdubs I think of Psittaco. All other species close to it in looks are already ceratopsians and we have like... 3 of those already lol. Im sorry Bdubs you look so stupid

Cleo - Lythronax

There's so few predators in this roster lol oops, but Cleo deserves to be an apex one! The name translates to "Gore King" because you know, zombies... and you know, Cleo is very king so true. If any of the Lifers should be able to boast rows of razor sharp teeth to gore others it should be ZombieCleo

Scott - Theiophytalia

I've been really struggling with Scott but how about the dinosaur whose name translates to "Belonging to the garden of Gods". There's only one known specimen of this species and it's an Iguanadon looking dinosaur which I think a lot of people would regard as the most basic, possibly boring type of dinosaur (if it weren't for the Allosaurus which already takes the title of "basic straight white guy") but that further fits Scott imo. It's always been a strong point of appeal to me how MUCH there is to his character that so often goes under the radar or unexplored, and how he's very often portrayed as just some handsome looking guy as opposed to a hybrid etc. He's not at all extravagant yet has mastered his craft of bending fate in his favor, he so often has things perfectly under his control just as he wants them, etc... reflective of the name "Theiophytalia" even if you wouldn't think such a dinosaur to sport one of the most prolific names a dinosaur can have. Also garden something something flower husbans. Basically whatever Bree's take on Scott is lol. I don't wanna blab for 5 paragraphs about that blue mf here but. I hope this makes sense

Jimmy - Yinlong

I struggled with this mf the most because he's another very hashtag deep character. I felt really bad to remove his bird motifs completely because the canary is so essential to him, but a raptor nor a pteradon fit my image of him at all. I spent so much time looking into various species but it just aint it, but Yinlong was possibly quilled and we can still cover him in feathers, even if he has nothing close to wings haha... BUT ANYWAY. Yinlong is a small kind of pathetic looking dinosaur, and Jimmy definitely isn't small but he'd sure be made to feel that way. Yinlong translates to "Hidden Dragon" however, a rather thought-provoking name for such a dinosaur. Given his character, it sure does feel like there's a soul of a dragon laying dormant somewhere in him, buried by all the self deprecation and curse labels. Honorable mention to Tianyulong, a very similar dinosaur who was named after a museum, but "Tianyu" also translates to peace and content. Something that Jimmy can't yet but deserves to be

Etho - undefined raptor

Already made a loong post about raptor Etho haha which I assume yall have seen since the support towards that post is the only reason I'm even making this post

Skizz - Olorotitan

"Titanic Swan" close enough to an angel right. I feel the whole angel thing is a bit overdone when Skizz can become a malicious little creature every now and then, but swans much like angels do get viewed as beautiful and taken as symbolism of love. Much like Skizz is largely viewed as an angel and often as someone who can do no wrong. But mostly I wanted Skizz to be a hadrosaur/duck-billed dinosaur, because those are dinosaurs known for their speculated vocalizations. And what is Skizz good at? Talking and voicing his love and appreciation? Yeah? Yeah... I'm so sorry Skizz btw this hybrid idea does not work out

Again, a lot of these don't work so well as hybrids... Some like the long-neck ones I cant imagine to have more than a spiky spine back and a tail, but! These picks aren't based on hybrid potential but rather what I think genuinely fits. I did really work on this all day looking through a bunch of dinosaurs and research haha, but I do love dinosaurs a lot... If you disagree with any hey thats cool! Feel free to give me your opinions if you've any and I hope this was fun to scroll through regardless

[ckret2]

"If it switches based on your age, then the fact that he never got old enough to switch would be one of many examples of the way his biological age has been in stasis since his dimension was destroyed." Oh I do like that avenue as a physical reflection of his emotional immaturity (though saying 'emotional immaturity' doesn't feel like a term that encompasses even half of what's going on with him). It also harkens back to like... the eternal summer vacation ideal. I remember Mabel being worried about getting older and things changing-- here's yet another way Bill reflects the consequences to a shallow, albeit heartfelt wish.

And like... cheers to being the generation of missed adult milestones. Sure you outlived your entire species and are this immensely powerful nightmare god-- but you never experienced one of the things that marked you as an 'adult', and you never will.

...although the drawback is that SOMEONE could misinterpret it as "What do you mean Bill's actually a CHILD?!?" and get Weird and Annoying about it. But to be fair, there's always someone in a fandom who's gonna be weird and annoying about things.

I respect What If Bill Was A Kid headcanoners but i'm sure not going with that in the fic where Bill's scheduled to fuck 6 to 12 named characters lmao. If Euclideans did switch reproductive roles at a certain age, presumably that would mean BEFORE the switch evolution expected them to be actively performing that role. So they'd have to spend a span of life sexually mature before the switch takes place. So yeah definitely not a child. I imagine that this hypothetical switch would prob take place at, like, equivalent to age 30?

Even that headcanon aside tho, I'm so leaning into the Missed Adult Milestones on Bill. I've got a whole mini plot arc around it. Even if it's not a milestone you WANT for yourself it can be easy to be haunted by a vague sense of failure if you never achieved it yknow? And there's so many milestones Bill does NOT regret missing, and those grapes are probably sour too.

[monkey-wrench-series]

In a post you reblogged, it said "we could lose Monkey Wrench already if not enough eyeballs get on it."

Does that mean you would halt production on the show entirely if views don't pick up? Or would you just have to release episodes at a slower pace?

There are two contingency plans I have set up in case things still don't pick up;

1 - We release eps over a much longer period. Like with Ep 2, I only had money for our voice actors, sfx and music. I did about 95% of the animation (with Greg and Wright pitching in because they're great folks) that 18 min ep took around 7-8 months solo (on top of doing NDA freelance work). The only reason ep 3 is coming out so fast after 2 is that we actually had the money saved up from merch sales and new patreon pledges to be able to hire 50+ people to be able to make it.

2 - We go the animatic route. And honestly I'm really favoring this one as I'd only have to animate the really fun parts and everything else can be keyframes, similar to those simpson/MW shit post vids I posted a while ago. It also harkens back to my old OCT days. Mmm the nostalgia~ This method is much more affordable (we'd still have voices and music), I can tell this story faster and move onto the other two stories I'm working with on the side.

Indie animation is brutally expensive and it really does suck that fans have to foot the bill with either patreon, merch purchases or just showing it around. Youtube ad rev is dirt nowadays and I'm not resorting to sponsorships as that'd completely deflate and devalue what we're trying to do. I have been considering doing a kickstarter type thing for ep 4, like what the good folks at Lackadaisy did, though I'm doubtful we could raise the $150k needed for one 25-30 minute episode. Could be worth the risk, though, we'll see.

This stupid story will be told one way or another! Either way, at the end of the day this IS just a cartoon show. We're not curing cancer or anything, it ain't that serious.

[vino---delectable]

That's such an interesting (and true) way to put it!

Alphas was such an underrated show. I mean, it’s basically a show about six super-powered people and their therapist trying to save the world and help people while driving around in a minivan. 

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1973 Buick Century Hardtop Coupe

In 1973 Buick renamed their Skylark as the Century, a name harkening back to 1958. With the all-new Colonnade body, it would be one of noted designer Bill Mitchell's last designs.

Going back to 1965, Buick had their G.S. models, which were certainly an answer to Pontiac's GTO. Adding a larger engine to their intermediates along with a list of performance enhancements was sure to lure at least a few younger buyers to their showrooms.

G.S. models would always hold their own at the stoplight races, and with their nicer interiors and added trim, offered an alternative for those looking for just a bit more.

1973 was Buick's last year of production of a 4-speed in intermediate cars.

This G.S. Stage 1 is one of the last true muscle cars produced by General Motors. Only 728 Stage 1 Gran Sports were built in 1973, and this is one of just 92 equipped with a 4-speed manual transmission. This prime example of a Stage 1 G.S. is the highest option example known to exist, loaded with accessories. It has been fully restored to factory specifications and features the original engine, transmission and rear end.

This national award-winning example retains all of its' original sheet-metal, and the original color is Harvest Gold.

This was once a Buick dealer demo and is an all-numbers matching example with original body and glass. It is one of nine 4-speed Stage 1s that are known to exist.

[toytanks]

You asked for billford prompts. Could i request something of them meeting while ford is on the run in the multiverse? Maybe them meeting while bill is possessing someone and ford doesnt realize at first that its him.

done!! i got a little carried away so its a bit bill heavy haha 😅 read on ao3 here!

So here Bill was, minding his own business, actually doing something good for once (he knows, lame, right?) and of course Stanford “dreamboat” Pines had to show up and ruin his fun the one time Bill didn’t want his Fordsy around.

See, how it started was Py and the guys told him they were ‘worried’ and ‘concerned’ and ‘wanted to know if he was okay’ and all that performative stuff. Apparently he hadn’t come out in weeks and that they thought his feelings towards his Fordsy had gotten a little ‘obsessive.’ He’d tried telling them the obvious that obsession was beneath him like all mortal emotions but they wouldn’t budge. An ‘intervention’ they called it.

So, he promised that he’d do something different, go outside and set his mind to something else.

But what to do? Bill’s restless at the best of times so it was a difficult choice. While considering his options he got (very rudely) snared by a band of rampant energy. He ripped the offending thing off of him, snarling, before being struck with an appealing idea.

See, when dimensions explode violently and into pretty fireworks, some of the energy holding them together gets spaghettified into long strands of unbridled force that ping across the multiverse like a snapped rubber band, destroying everything in their path. This is, of course, hilarious, except for when they hit him. Unfortunately, due to his current preference for the physical plane, and the staggering size of the Nightmare Realm, they tend to hit him a lot.

Thankfully, it's little more than time consuming to beat these strands into submission. In a process not too dissimilar to human weaving (although he’d never admit the similarities) he can wrangle the energy into a more useful and less (fun) volatile form.

All this to say, he was removing a minor nuisance in his own self interest, and if it happened to also make the multiverse safer and happier, well Bill would just have to deal with it. After all, he could make the multiverse plenty unsafe and unhappy on his own terms later.

The form he chooses is not one he’s been in in a while. It is long and serpentine, with hundreds of thousands of short, stubby legs, harkening back to the human notion of a millipede. Although he came first, of course. The only resemblance to his more snazzy form is a transparent triangular mask hovering over his front end.

Using longer arms not directly connected to his main body, he pulls out and sets up his loom.

Certain foolish amphibians and seven-eyed brats would not think he’d the patience for such a task. Bill thinks they should try shutting their mouths before they talk about something they don't understand.

Rolling his eye, Bill had set to work.

Now, back in the present, he finds himself staring down at the very human he’d been trying to take his mind off of. Great.

It's not particularly a surprise-- he’d known it would happen like he knows that in 15 years the human will almost be the death of him. Hard to surprise an all-knowing being, you know? --but it's a nuisance all the same.

Ford, for his part, doesn’t seem to have the good sense to notice his annoyance and run away pleading for his life. This does not surprise him.

What does, is the fact that Fordsy doesn’t seem to even realize it's him, either.

It's almost insulting. What kind of devotee doesn’t recognize when his God is standing right in front of him? It is, of course, a simple thing, that Bill can’t possibly fault him for (not that he won't try). He simply figures Fordsy didn't spend enough time with him on the upper planes to recognize him on feel alone. So be it, he’s not too heartbroken about losing that future. Especially since Ford’s awed expression promises that this route will be fun too.

“Hello there.” Bill says to him, making sure he doesn’t sound too much like himself. Wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise too early!

And then Fordsy goes the most adorable shade of pink at being noticed by something so otherworldly, and Bill decides right then that maybe he doesn’t ever want Ford to learn the truth.

[myxomat0s1s]

money rock is definitely the most divisive season of schoolhouse rock. chances are you haven't seen it if you don't have the series on dvd or didn't tune into disney to watch, but the people who have seen it seem to hold a similar opinion.

on one hand, there's songs like tax man max and the check's in the mail that are top 10 material for songs in the whole series(which is ironic since they're both the most outdated in the season). a lot of them have very distinct instrumentals that hold an even wider array of instruments than songs of the original series- a good example is the steel pan drum in this for that. they really toy with fun musical genres, such as a bossa nova/elevator music vibe in 7.50 once a week that features a strange but catchy cowbell breakdown, or the showtuney feel of tax man max, or the country twang that adds some nice spice to dollars and sense. they were really willing to stretch their horizions a bit here, and that's also obvious with their experiments with the schoolhouse rock artstyle. you have the ones that stay faithful, like this for that, tyrannosaurus debt, and tax man max, but some slight departures that feel true to the originals yet very fresh. 7.50 once a week and where the money goes are stellar examples of that. the character design is still very shr, but the lines are cleaner and the animation is a little more adventerous due to their slightly bigger budget. becky sue of dollars and sense as well as her animals on the farm are good examples: still obviously schoolhouse rock, but a little more stylized in a different direction. then there's walking on wall street and the check's in the mail, which have extremely distinct animation that barely harkens to old schoolhouse rock. it's choppy, lineweight is played with lots, and character designs take larger departures from the old seasons. and it looks stellar. especially in the latter. everything feels fresh but familiar.

however, it's not without it's drawbacks. there's more forgettable songs than a normal schoolhouse rock season; i watched all the episodes in a big blend when i was little(i owned the dvd, hah) and couldn't tell the difference between old and new shr since i was a dumb lil baby. however, i could hum at least a few motifs or mention at least a couple interesting moments in the animation for every single song in every season. except this one. the only ones i could give you more than one thing on were dollars and sense(obviously, since that one was the big episode of the season), 7.50 once a week, and walking on wall street. and as much as i sing the praises of tax man max, it is the only shr episode i watched when i was younger and as of a month ago, before i rewatched, i could tell you nothing on. gun to my head i could at least remember the tuba opening to where the money goes or the first chorus to the check's in the mail, but i wiped tax man max from my memory. it's just not a sticky season, and i think that just comes down to the fact that it's teaching money. it's literally called money rock. those lessons have to be taught far more straightforward than any of the other subjects. it's very tough stretch it into anything really cool or revolutionary, a problem similar to a few songs in america rock. you can't personify the concept with a character like bill or verb or the prepositions, and you're hard-pressed to be able to twist and morph the concept like in telegraph line or conjunction junction. tyrannosaurus debt does it well enough with equating national debt to a dinosaur monster eating the money, but there's not too much wiggle room. this is little fault of the creators and just comes with the subject matter, however it negatively impacts the season. some instrumentals are also really bland, too. tyrannosaurus debt is a big offender, and while the steel pan drum in this for that is cool for a few seconds, it gets unimpressive quickly. the characters also aren't super memorable. like, i've not seen people putting the caveman from this for that or lester the investor from walking on wall street on a pedestal like lots of other characters(though becky sue and tax man max are icons). sometimes they get a little boring.

in conclusion: i yapped for about 30 minutes? holy crap. this is a long post. anyways, money rock good(but not great). feel free to tell me what you think.

[inventors-fair]

Prodigious Products: Creation Contest Winners

~

Our winners this week are @curiooftheheart, @izzet-always-r-versus-u, and @nine-effing-hells!

@curiooftheheart — Endless Drafts

I'm sure making this felt like going through endless drafts, but I digress. This is a fun twist on the typical "draw X" spell in a lot of ways, so let's break it down. First, the free cast does a lot to smooth over the main issue with these kinds of spells; namely, that if you want to get value out of them, they require you to sink an entire turn's worth of mana. On the flipside, though, being sorcery speed means you can't spend that mana during an opponent's end phase and actually have to commit, so there's a definite sense of tension there. We've seen effects that count copies in a graveyard before, but always as the sole decider of the value of X and not simply a discount off of the X cost, which is an interesting permutation. You're unlikely to cast multiple of these in the average game, so it'll likely require other methods to land copies in the yard. Plus, the flavor is just very fun. I do wish the flavor text didn't also use the word "drafts," but that's at best a minor gripe.

@izzet-always-r-versus-u — Stellar Cradle

Close on the heels of the first ever enchantment land is this fun little number. While not directly, it does somewhat harken back to the Theros-born association of dual type enchantments with the stars, which I always enjoy. The actual design is very reminiscent of Temple of the False God, though much more extreme and, more importantly, capable of actually doing something before the threshold is reached. Seven lands is a tall order, but it really does kick your mana production into overdrive. But even then, it doesn't feel unfair, as it's all still colorless mana. Fuels a mean X spell, though. The last ability is an excellent way to grease the wheels without making it wholly self-sufficient, too. I'm also just a sucker for this kind of flavor, and you pulled it off wonderfully here. You didn't include any art description, and yet I can vividly picture what kind of art this card would have if it was printed; the mechanics are just that evocative.

@nine-effing-hells — Tales of Strange Sightings

As you admitted yourself, this is a fairly unorthodox interpretation of the prompt but given that was precisely what I was looking for, you won't hear any complaint from me. It definitely fits the bill, though. That's how it always how it goes with these kinds of stories: a strange phenomenon here, a glimpse of something you couldn't quite make out there, and suddenly a creature has sprung whole cloth from the minds of a community. This card is a magnificent use of Duskmourn mechanics, and yet still feels as though it comes from its own world (with maybe a bit of overlap with Innistrad, to be honest). Manifest dread to reference the enigmatic nature of the suppose creature and the Eerie to represent the story spreading amongst people as it's retold are both phenomenal touches. As well, although the idea of a self-recursive Saga is quite spooky, it takes care to both not do anything unreasonable and also not make it all that easy to loop.

~

Don't go anywhere, because runners are coming right up! —@spooky-bard

[vino---delectable]

Ugh... Only have 3 episodes of alphas left :(

[edgescience]

Easily the most underrated dinosaur group are the hadrosaurs. I can sort of understand that lack of appreciation if all you are familiar with are the most basic of facts about them, or only know about the most boring of them. There’s no shame in that of course, but there is A LOT more to these animals than that. They are just as interesting as any other dinosaur group, or perhaps more so once you start down the hadrosaur iceberg. There are sauropod-sized behemoths that would’ve given every tyrannosaur a run for their money, there were gorilla-armed spike-thumbed varieties, and a parade of helmeted varieties that would’ve made the most unworldly sounds we’ll never hear the way they were meant to be heard. But unfortunately, these guys have been stamped with the label of Duckbills. I dislike that name. It’s a very old name that harkens back to the days when people thought these wholly terrestrial animals were amphibious dimwitted soup eaters that sifted soft water plants from the swamps with their bills. Turns out, Duckbilled dinosaurs really aren’t duckbilled at all.

[madamlaydebug]

Happy Birthday to "Malik" Yoba (born September 17, 1967).

He is an actor and occasional singer. He is known for his starring role as NYPD Detective J. C. Williams on the Fox police drama New York Undercover and as Yul Brenner in Cool Runnings. He also appeared as former FBI Special Agent Bill Harken on the Syfy drama series Alphas, as Jim Hudson in Revolution as well as Vernon Turner in Empire.

Yoba has starred in many movies with some of the most popular being, (2007) Why Did I Get Married? & (2010) Why Did I Get Married Too? as Gavin.

[drgstrcowboi]

random modern outsiders hcs pt. 2

it’s just too funny not to imagine what they’d be like today.

Darry

reluctantly took the whole gang to Barbenheimer and unconvincingly pretended to hate every second of it

listens to NPR religiously on his way to work and secretly carries his lunch in a New Yorker tote turned inside out so he doesn’t seem like a sissy

thinks it would be prudent to put solar panels on the house to save money on the electric bill

Sodapop

still uses BeReal and obnoxiously stages the photos every single time

uses crest whitening strips way more than 9 out 10 dentists recommend

got into online sports betting because of Steve and actually wins a surprising amount of money doing it

Ponyboy

it was his idea to go to Barbenheimer and he tried unconvincingly to seem more interested in Oppenheimer but fell asleep 30 minutes in

has a very aesthetic desk that harkens back to the peak of studyblr complete with one of these cute little silicone duck lamps and stabillo highlighter sets

listens to the 1975 and is internally conflicted about liking the music bc of matty healy’s politics

Steve

still uses reddit and is actually excited about twitter rebranding to x

has one of those basic white boy pine tree tattoos on his forearm but it kinda looks good on him

collects air jordans and never wears any of them ever

Two-Bit

loves theo von and listens to his podcast after discovering him on TikTok

goes to open mic nights and tries stand-up comedy in hopes of going viral but never prepares his material in advance

has the absolute most chaotic notes app you’ve ever seen in your whole life and he reads from it at open mic and one time accidentally started reciting his grocery list

Johnny

planted the idea of Barbenheimer in Pony’s head bc he talked incessantly about the Barbie movie for weeks

has been contemplating a septum piercing for a few years and even got Dallas to take him to the tattoo parlor to get it done only to chicken out at the last minute

keeps his white Air Force Ones absolutely pristine with a magic eraser and walks funny to keep from creasing them

Dallas

is blocked by most US senators on Twitter for cyberbullying them with poorly edited memes riddled with spelling errors

actually enjoyed the Barbie movie more than Oppenheimer and tries convincingly to make it seem the other way around

watched Dahmer on Netflix with Pony and Johnny and got really grossed out by every single episode

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mira Lazine for Assigned Media:

For years, a beloved talking point among the far-right is the ‘gay agenda.’ It goes back decades, and has the implication that there is some greater conspiracy behind LGBTQ+ rights advocacy, forcibly turning innocent people and their families into an evil gay cult. There has never been any real evidence to support this, of course, and the concept of a ‘gay agenda’ has always been extremely nebulous at best in its exact claims. Nevertheless, its impact cannot be understated. The ‘gay agenda’ is a precursor to the modern variation of the ‘trans agenda,’ and both serve the same purpose in promoting a right-wing populism, serving as a small but important rhetorical tool for convincing the masses that marginalized peoples are out to get them. A great example of this comes from some of the most prominent people to popularize these terms - Alan Sears and Craig Olsten.

[...]

Sears used to be the president of the ADF, and his influence permeated into cases the group advocates for. As the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) details, they’ve advocated for the criminalization of same sex marriage and for the right to discriminate against gay people on religious grounds. The concept of the gay agenda permeated into the broader homophobic advocacy sphere. ADF has used this term in opposing gay rights in Belize, and the organization has openly described itself as opposing the ‘homosexual agenda.’ Other organizations have widely used this term as well. ProPublica details how the Family Research Council has weaponized this concept in their work taking down laws criminalizing hate crimes. The term is widely used among conservatives – the Daily Caller used it in a headline just within the last week, the Evangelical Christian magazine Decision Magazine published an article focusing on the concept, and multiple schools have faced parental and faculty complaints about specific books harkening to a ‘gay agenda’ that seeks to indoctrinate kids.

These terms slowly became more normalized among mainstream culture, with it becoming a more acceptable view among the right-wing to refer to a vague agenda among gay people. The agenda is believed to be inducting kids into a cult that forces them to adopt a “lifestyle” that perverts traditional, Christian values. In other words, the exact thing we hear used against trans people today. The gay agenda is really just a precursor to the modern concept of a “trans” or a more general “LGBTQ+” agenda. Sometimes this uses the same exact terminology as the ‘gay agenda’ claims, but even when it does not it ties back to a vague conspiracy among the left-wing to harm people’s children and change the foundation of society.

We can see how normalized this type of terminology is through individuals like Chaya Raichik, also known as Libs of TikTok. She talked about an “agenda that’s being pushed” in regards to kids identifying as trans, referring to “the Left’s agenda to groom your children.” The conservative think-tank The Heritage Foundation has been releasing articles talking about how a trans agenda is trying to take over America, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who is notorious for promoting QAnon conspiracy theories alleging a pedophile cabal is running America, said that queer people are groomers aligned with the “pro-pedophile” Democratic Party.

Anti-trans Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) famously said that if you oppose specific bills of his that ban discussion of LGBTQ+ topics around children, you’re a “groomer,” a particularly dangerous formulation during a time where QAnon conspiracies were running wild. Elon Musk has also boosted these conspiracies, and has used his platform as the CEO of Twitter to normalize discussions of them on the website. The link between the concept of a gay or trans agenda and conspiracies about pedophiles running America is prominent, as the SPLC writes, with anti-LGBTQ sentiment as a core element of these conspiracies. While the grooming conspiracy and QAnon are not intrinsically the same, they do share strong links - enough that they elevate each other and can become indistinguishable in how the rhetoric plays out.

These conspiracies thus tie into other forms of bigotry. The SPLC continues in saying that anti-Semitism is a core element of QAnon, tying into concepts of all-powerful ‘blood cabals’ that seek to indoctrinate children to harm them in some way, often alleging that they’ll get sexually abused.

Mira Lazine writes for Assigned Media about the history of the right-wing’s obsession with conspiracies about the “gay agenda”/”homosexual agenda”/”trans agenda” to whip up anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.