#Community's fake clip show

[aurorabyler]

the significance of heroes by david bowie to stranger things + byler (finn wolfhard interview)

byler nation. i just found an interview clip of finn that i’ve literally been looking for since season 4 dropped. i remembered watching it but i couldn’t find the video afterwards and i also haven’t seen many people talking about it, so here it is:

transcript (finn wolfhard): “this is my life in songs. a song that reminds me of stranger things — heroes by david bowie. there’s a cover in the first season, but i remember when we were first shooting the first season shawn levy (one of our directors and executive producers) cut together a sizzle reel and put it to heroes, and that was kind of the first glimpse we got into the show. and it really just kind of blew me away and also made that song so important as well to me.”

if any of you are familiar with the way heroes is used in stranger things as well as some of the theories surrounding the specific lyrics that are selected and placed over scenes (especially related to byler) this is quite significant. it’s also significant that it was in fact shawn levy who put together the sizzle reel with heroes — he is known in the byler community to kind of be a byler champion, if you will.

he has directed some of the most significant byler scenes in the whole show — finding will’s fake body in the quarry in season one (WHICH HAS HEROES PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND), the rain fight in season 3, the byler scenes in dear billy (including the legendary “i didn’t say it — you didn’t have to” scene) among others.

furthermore, heroes is established as a theme/musical motif that is very explicitly related to byler in season one of the show, as the first time it plays mike literally breaks down at the sight of will’s fake body and bikes all the way home. the specific lyrics that play when he goes to hug karen in that same scene are (quite notoriously):

and the guns, shot above our heads

and we kissed, as though nothing could fall

and the shame, the shame was on the other side

it’s interesting that finn notes the song as being one that specifically reminds him of stranger things and that seems to (based on not only shawn but the fact that heroes has been used TWICE in the show over NEAR PARALLEL byler scenes) to have a very big role in the show.

anyways. what i'm saying is that leading up to season five, a lot of people are kind of expecting that the pattern of using heroes will be completed -- they used the cover in seasons 1 and 3, and it only really makes sense to kind of complete that in season 5 as the song has been used as a throughline for a very specific storyline for what will have been the almost ten years since season 1 came out.

lastly i just want to say that i am not implying finn speaking about a song that has personal meaning to him is somehow solely connected to byler. my main interest in this is the shawn levy bit and just the general significance of the song to the show, which has been spoken about in lots of theories ever since the show came out in 2016.

i'll link here some posts about byler theories related to heroes that might give you some more context to its significance:

[ennn]

I expect Billy is going to be an antagonist for a while and that's OK

Anti's for either Agatha or Billy are probably going to get more intense as I predict our boy Billy's gonna be antagonistic for a bit. And let's be clear, I'm not hating, or saying either are evil, or in the wrong.

That's way too simple a take for this show. In the words of showrunner Jac Schaeffer:

...we populated the show with similarly flawed individuals who are also selfish and self-serving, who are self-sabotaging, who are constantly standing in their own way. And then they were just in conflict.  Everybody is kind of an anti-hero in the show. That was really fun and felt very truthful there. 

No one here is meant to be a pure "good guy", which is I think kind of Billy's arc -- but more on that later.

And when I mean antagonist I'm talking about the characters roles in the story. An antagonist isn't necessarily a villain. Agatha is the show's protagonist as well as its main antagonist: as much as she claims she wants only power, deep down she wants a coven, a community, a family. But she is as Schaeffer puts it, "in the way of her own thing."

Billy being an antagonist simply means that his goals – or some of them at least – conflict with Agatha's. Rio has been described as a "romantic antagonist" as well because some of her goals are also in conflict.

Long text speculation post and mild promo spoilers under the cut:

Let's first get this out of the way: Why do I think Billy's going to take on an antagonist role? Aside from well, all the things that happened at the end of Episode 5, there's some clues Billy's not all who he's been saying he is:

There's a promotional video with audio lines, and you can hear Billy saying things like "Agatha Harkness can never be anything but a covenless witch" and "I do not trust you".

Billy claiming to be "obsessed" about Agatha and her biggest fan and going on the road for power should know that she is the world's most notorious witch-killer – why is he appalled about her killing and so against it? And if episode 5 is any indication, power is not what he's lacking.

Joe and Schaeffer have mentioned that Billy will be different in the back half of episodes.

A quick clip from a trailer has Agatha (covered in mud) telling Billy "Last one there is a nice person", implying that Billy at this point doesn't want to be nice. I assume, at this point, he wants Agatha to pay for her misdeeds. The yellow tint of the clip also matches with the current Road area they're on.

Now at this point I do not know if Billy was involved in what I believe is a fake trial in episode 5. I'm inclined to think it's the Salem Seven, and we get this truth of Billy as fallout. I believe he definitely didn't want Alice dead.

Now for reasons why I think it'll be okay–even interesting–to have these two in conflict and everyone should put away their pitchfolks:

They are going to come to an understanding

You know how in Hawkeye series Yelena wants to kill Barton because she blames him for Natasha's death? I think we'll get a broadly similar arc or vibe for Agatha and Billy here. And they will design it in a similarly emotionally satisfying manner.

Right now Billy's basically like everyone–including the rest of the coven–who believes that Agatha is truly what her reputation says. And that's not surprising! Agatha is masks and layers and theatrics and she's not opening up unless she absolutely has to.

It may take a few episodes but I expect we'll get that before the series end, with this sobering exchange we have from a trailer:

Why do you let them believe those things about you? Because the truth is too awful.

I don't think Billy will be the Big Bad simply because I expect at the end Agatha's going to have to choose between wanting her coven, her community of witches, and something else—power perhaps, or her son, and go back to her old ways.

And for that to happen Agatha will need to have formed enough bonds with her coven, including Billy, to make it a difficult choice.

Power, darkness, and anti-heroes

Look, Agatha is my babe and she definitely needs a win after all that awful that happened in episode 5, but if you think about it Billy being a lot like his mom is really interesting? More interesting than him just being a cute innocent fanboy.

Because if he is an anti-hero, with some darkness in him, it's an opportunity to explore some of the themes or ideas we touched on in Wandavision with Wanda and her power, and her sense of self.

Heroes don't torture people.

Agatha recognises the darkness in people, delights in it even: as touched on in interviews, it's one of the reasons why she saw herself as Detective Agnes in that spell, as an investigator exploring the darkest aspects of humanity. She's seen the worst in people, and knows how to play the villain.

For Billy to avoid making the same mistakes as his mom, he needs to understand not just his power, but his potential for darkness.

Power corrupts, and when you're born with that reality-warping level of power, it's dangerous. It's so tempting to make people do what you need them to. And it's a slippery slope once you start killing, even if it's for good reasons.

Agatha never wanted to kill her first coven, in that moment she only wanted to live. But she did, with a power she never asked for, that made it so easy to keep taking and taking.

It is kind of tragic given the circumstances that Agatha couldn't have been a mentor to Wanda at the end of Wandavision, given the events of Multiverse of Madness, because she made some valid points and they could have been a coven, given Agatha's deep-deep-buried desire for one.

And looking at all the mentor-kid pairings we've seen in the MCU so far (Parker and Stark, Clint and Bishop, Strange and Chavez, etc.), I don't think we've ever had this kind of dynamic.

Interesting power dynamics

I think Agatha is at her most interesting when she's on the back foot. As we've seen in episode one, she's not one to give up when physically outmatched, quite the opposite. She's a survivor, she's stubborn, and she's a performer.

Billy has been revealed to have the magical equivalent of a gun, and is capable of taking this entire coven hostage.

They're going to have to interact in new ways now. But now it's going to be more of a dance.

It's new danger, new complications, but also new ways to connect, and also the opportunity for a more honest relationship.

Knowledge, history, community

This point isn't specific only to Agatha and Billy but I'm reminded of Billy taking it out not just on Agatha but Lilia and Jen as well.

It's not surprising that Alice and Billy, the two youngest coven members are also the most idealistic and noble. The world has not been kind to witches over the centuries—Lilia's been chased out of villages for her visions, Jen has been attacked—and the older members of the group have done what they can to survive: How much can you blame them for being selfish in a cruel world?

Power isn't your problem, it's knowledge.

In this case I mean not just the knowledge of witchcraft, but lived experience as well.

Younger witches have to learn their community's history, and the older ones have to be challenged in their set ways of thinking, in how they've adapted, because they're not always good.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was an allegory to be made here to the queer community as well. Schaeffer has mentioned there is a large overlap between the history and persecution of witches and that of the LGBTQ community.

--

Good lord this post ran away from me. If you actually read all of that you do deserve a cookie.

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Xia Meng, also known as Hsia Moog or Miranda Yang (Sunrise, Bride Hunter)—For those who are familiar with Hong Kong's early cinema, Xia Meng is THE leading woman of an era, the earliest "silver-screen goddess", "The Great Beauty" and "Audrey Hepburn of the East". Xia Meng starred in 38 films in her 17-year career, and famously had rarely any flops, from her first film at the age of 18 to her last at the age of 35. She was a rare all-round actress in Mandarin-language films, acting, singing, and dancing with an enchanting ease in films of diverse genres, from contemporary drama to period operas. She was regarded as the "crown princess" among the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall", the iconic leading stars of the Great Wall Movie Enterprises, which was Hong Kong's leading left-wing studio in the 1950s-60s. At the time, Hong Kong cinema had only just taken off, but Xia Meng's influence had already spread out to China, Singapore, etc. Overseas Chinese-language magazines and newspapers often featured her on their covers. The famous HK wuxia novelist Jin Yong had such a huge crush on her that he made up a whole fake identity as a nobody-screenwriter to join the Great Wall studio just so he can write scripts for her. He famously said, "No one has really seen how beautiful Xi Shi (one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China) is, I think she should be just like Xia Meng to live up to her name." In 1980, she returned to the HK film industry by forming the Bluebird Movie Enterprises. As a producer with a heart for the community, she wanted to make a film on the Vietnam War and the many Vietnam War refugees migrating to Hong Kong. She approached director Ann Hui and produced the debut film Boat People (1982), a globally successful movie and landmark feature for Hong Kong New Wave, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Award. Years later, Ann Hui looked back on her collaboration with Xia Meng, "I'm very grateful to her for allowing me to make what is probably the best film I've ever made in my life."

Susan Strasberg (Stage Struck, The Cobweb)— In Stage Struck (1958) she performs Annabel Lee and the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet and there are no words for how mesmerizing she is while doing it (I wish I could find a clip of it to show you!)

This is round 2 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Xia Meng:

[sissa-arrows]

I've completely given up on Morocco rn tbh, that country is dead to me now, like i was shocked beyond belief but it was a needed reality check.

Macron goes to visit Morocco, right? Okay, who cares, not our business , it's like he said they had always been thick as thieves and nothing can ever come between them, we already knew that; imperialist colonizers stick together. But apparently they want to make it Algeria's business bessif lol, both the French&Moroccan media and lobbies relating everything to us. Moroccans seem very proud of the visit of the ex colonizer that we are pratically ghosting at this point (after we cut any kind of link with their country mind you)

It's ridiculous when you finally see the content of the visit, Macaroni declared -under parlement applause- that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas's terrorist attacks since the 7th of October (Morocco has the center of the Quds committee), that Morocco spared itself from the Indochina and Algerian war, he even called it WS not MC and just said they should stick to UN decisions (the US having not long after lobbied against WS just when a huge file dropped in their favor at the international court)

The whole joke of a colonizer legitimating other colonizations aside, the hypocrisy of the media is shocking, the same people who were lynching Algeria for receiving Macron much more coldly, are now happily sharing cute clips of Macron eating Tagine or walking among ppl or receiving gifts. They attack Tebboune for going to Egypt when you know what he said there, while ignoring what that french bitch said? Yes, proves again how nuts they sound and the Hamas bit proves why those relations need to stay cut, i think we need to do more actually as a community. What is happening is very concerning, i'm mortified, i think now more than ever Morocco needs to be boycotted, we need to ignore Moroccans like pest and not engage anymore as a people because it is giving them the effect they want.

(and yes i'm not talking only about the governement, the people are completely indocrinated, if you engage they'll try to convince you the opposite and it'll just be a waste of time.)

Anyways, sorry for rumbling, Free Palestine, Free WS.

When I saw that Morocco accepted Bernard Henri Levy’s presence I realized that this country is beyond saving.

When a diplomatic visit like this one happens it is customary to give a list of the people who will come. It means that Macron asked if he could bring Bernard Henri Levy and Morocco said yes.

For the record BHL said that the hijab was “actually an invitation to rape women” because it’s hard for European men to consider a hijabi as human so it’s harder to respect her and to not rape her. He also showed support publicly to actual pedophiles and rapists. He insisted on how right now is the worst timing for France to recognize Palestine and how he was happy that the vote failed. He constantly supports “Israel” in its genocide against Palestinians. Last week before going to Morocco he was tweeting about how all the horrors happening in Gaza are actually staged and fake. In October he was also supporting the ground invasion on Lebanon saying “Israel is freeing Lebanese people”

Macron wanted to bring this man with him and Morocco happily accepted like the lapdogs and colonizers they are.

And Algeria wasn’t giving a flying fuck about it all we were not even involved but the medias in France and the Moroccans online feel the need to bring us into it because we live rent free in their heads. Like French medias saying that Morocco is “more welcoming with us French people than Algeria is” and that “Morocco is more open to conversation thanks to their normalization” and the Moroccans online who are celebrating and bragging?! Sweety being praised by the colonizers is nothing to be proud of.

Western Sahara will be free just like Palestine will be free and these normalizers and colonizers will pay for their behavior in front of Allah.

P.S: As usual if you wanna talk to be about fitna you will have to provide me with links to your posts where you call out Moroccan fitna when they normalized and then let “Israelis” officials threaten Algeria from Morocco. Or your posts calling out the fitna when they call us Algerians “children of rape” or when they insults our shouhada. Or your posts calling out the fitna when they use “Israelis” drones to bomb the Sahrawi people. Or your posts calling out the fitna when they rape Sahrawi women. I’m nice so you have loads to chose from but if you don’t have a post calling these things fitna but come to my post to accuse me of fitna you’re a hypocrite and a piece of shit.

[algebraicpizza]

If the Straw Hat Pirates were on social media:

this has probably been done before but idc

Luffy doesn't have an account (he doesn't know how to use a phone) but Nami and Usopp run a tiktok where they take videos of him getting into street fights, climbing on top of statues in public, or running all-you-can-eat buffets out of business. He has no idea he's become popular online. There's a subreddit that compiles every sighting.

Zoro streams his workouts on insta but often forgets to turn off the stream, leading to everyone seeing his completely empty apartment. His chat is full of simps but he doesn't actually know how to open it and never connected it to his bank account to receive donations. He's been invited onto various podcasts but has never responded to any of their emails. Most of his workout advice is just to lift heavier weights.

Nami is actually not a hot tub streamer, but she constantly jokes in her just chatting streams that the next stream will be one. Clips of her raging in Valorant have gone viral several times in spite of how she preaches kindness and respect, but she's always managed to get away with an apology video. She secretly posts on 4chan to argue with her haters.

Usopp is a variety streamer who's an absolute god in every shooter he plays. He trash talks like crazy in voice chat and several of his questionably true rants about how he's the best player ever or going to show up at his opponent's house have become memes. Sound clips of his terrified screams while playing horror games have become memes as well, and he hates it. He's actually active in his community discord, and frequently reacts to its meme channel.

Sanji posts recipe videos, clips and screenshots of which regularly do numbers on twitter for how amazing they look. The restaurant he works at requires reservations six months in advance because of how much he's boosted it's profile. A reality show once did an episode on him that revealed not just the way he belittles chefs who fuck up, but the biased treatment he gives to women. He can't shake that reputation, but is trying to be better. He's recently moved to tiktok and gotten a brand new boost of fans.

Chopper first appeared as an expert guest on various podcasts, and then started youtube videos explaining basic medical concepts. But somehow, fan comments convinced him to start making videos like "Doctor Plays MINECRAFT for the first time?" He believes every single fake rumor about Herobrine.

Robin posts her history lectures online and is beloved by students around the world for how understandable she makes complex topics. Her videos are very popular as unintentional ASMR. Otherwise, she mostly avoids social media, but you'll occasionally see her networking on academic twitter and vagueposting about how hard she works and how much she wishes things were easier. Secretly, she's active on AO3 and is known for her hundreds of angsty hurt/comfort fics in just about every fandom you can imagine.

Franky runs a DIY engineering youtube channel where he posts the most insane inventions. His titles are all along the lines of "POLICE SHOWED UP AT MY HOUSE? SUUUUPER TRUCK WITH MOUNTED CANNON BUILD!!!" He does AMAs on reddit every year and ends every single comment with SUUUUUUPER.

Brook is a popular musician online, but doesn't have a youtube channel of his own. He's known for rock covers of classical pieces and his concerts sell out completely, but the only videos of him are posted by fans. The only way he actually communicates with fans is on facebook, where he's active to this day, mostly to post puns.

Jimbei hosts a political podcast where he talks primarily about minority rights, but he takes on guests with a variety of views for the sake of open debate. He's ratioed political figures on twitter many times. He travels frequently and posts about it on his blog.

[bengiyo]

Knock Knock Boys Ep 5 Stray Thoughts

Last week, we squarely sorted our housemates into two pairs and gave Almond a proper shake to make him get over Jumper. Almond spent the first chunk of the episode following Latte, and watched him give a talk to a club about pansexuality. He and Almond had a good moment after that, and Latte found himself getting jealous of Jumper at the barbecue they hosted later. Meanwhile, Thanwa is still looking for work but had an excellent moment with Peak in a closet where Peak apologized for taking a kiss from him earlier and asking for a new one. We left at Jane reentering the picture.

I do love their cold opens that are for a later scene in the episode. It feels so assured every time. I like the anticipation of paying attention to the moments so I know what that cold open is meant to provide as payoff.

I love Latte so much. He wakes up from sleeping on Almond and only gives a pleased smile about it. These two faking sleep are ridiculous. I know Almond was gonna toss his ass when the Now Kisstm moment started

Using the shirt to provide a barrier during a pratfall kiss is novel. I’m glad the first time their lips actually touch won’t be accidental, and that Latte got injured. We’ve only seen someone bleeding after a pratfall kiss in a few instances (Love Stage!! TH comes to mind).

Fiancée? I am ready for the drama.

These boys are nosy as hell!

The energy Jane gives off is so knowing. I am compelled.

Almond, the rich kid, took his shirt off to pretend to clean the walls with it after rolling away from the door. Incredible.

She is so ready to fight this man. They do not feel like they are romantically involved.

I feel bad for Thanwa. He’s staying out of the way, and even waited a bit for answers before calling.

Finally, someone acknowledged that every goddamn mosquito would be flying in through those open doors.

Morning wood in my BL? It’s more likely than  you think.

Almond, we see you still smiling about what you saw.

I’m with Almond. I wouldn’t want to eat breakfast at this tense table. However, I am also with Latte just trying to get some food in before walking to class.

Thanwa feels so properly gay to me. He’s being so careful about being neutral in his interactions with Jane.

I don’t like Max.

I like Lukpeach taking her offense to their sexual health club and talking about how improper it is to film people’s private moments and post them for clout.

Almond, focus please!

These two have a fun dynamic. Almond is still clearly thinking about Latte’s dick, and I love Latte being upfront that he’s down to play if Almond wants.

An unfortunate t-shirt choice there, costuming department.

This framing with the bed scene is excellent. Thanwa is still willing to offer Peak shelter, but he’s made it clear that they can’t have any more closeness while this situation with Jane remains unresolved.

Yes, put on your glasses so you can see his back properly. This show is very good at communicating that the characters are feeling multiple things.

Baby’s first dildo!

I don’t think they’re talking about the job anymore, guys.

This boy is skipping home to use his new toy! I love that for him.

You’re gonna need more Vaseline than that, baby boy.

I really love that Almond is allowed to explore his body this way. He lucked out on his roommates, too. Latte was worried when he heard him scream, and I love him teasing Almond about helping. It’s so cool that Almond is made to feel like he is desirable in some way.

And now Jane is covering for Peak, and didn’t react much about Almond saying he kissed Thanwa. She knows.

Oh no. Almond, do not go check that locker room. You are gonna get your little heart broken.

Glad I called that Jumper was already with his friend.

Almond….no… You were just at a meeting about consent.

That’s interesting. I thought we would find out about Jumper and Shawn via the clip, not that Almond would have already seen them together.

Wow, that’s a difficult cliffhanger. You could see Latte pulling away from Almond.

The preview is not promising!

Wow, I was not expecting the show to go beyond the “don’t film people” PSA aside. Having Almond overstep that boundary in a moment of jealousy and be caught for it is ripe with tension. I like that it’s Latte who catches it first, because he’s been dealing with Almond overstepping boundaries with him for multiple episodes with him following him places and trying to see his dick. Even if there’s been brewing sexual tension between them, Almond has been very firm about saying no to Latte. To have him then film and post Jumper like this is egregious, but in line with his earlier behavior. I’m excited to see where we go with them. As for Thanwa, I love that he still likes Peak even if he’s holding on his own line as well. This show whips ass.

[phoebepheebsphibs]

Hide & Seek references compendium

I put so many little easter eggs and hidden things in my Hide and Seek fic, so here is my little ongoing list of references I purposefully put in the fic for those of you who like this kind of thing idk man

Chapter 1, Disney's Hercules: "Hey, Mack! Ya wanna buy a sundial?" Disney's Jungle Cruise: “Trader Sam’s! Come shop at Trader Sam’s! He’ll give you a great deal on shrunken heads! Two of his heads for one of yours!” the Holmes Hotel, Hugh's Pies is a reference to Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron series, Lilo's Stitches and Embroidery is a nod to Disney's Lilo and Stitch, "Crusty the Crab" is a nod to Spongebob Squarepants, Chell's Portal Stop is a reference to the game series Portal, and the final scene is from the ROTTMNT episode "Hidden City's Most Wanted".

Though this is not technically a reference or Easter egg, I wanted to add this note… I made a point of referring to Splinter as Lou Jitsu when he was mad or angry or selfish, and as Hamato Yoshi when he was scared or sad.

Chapter 2, Leo's determination to have Raph call him "the world's greatest ninja" is a reference to the film, Leo's quote "Land safely!" is taken from the episode "Mystic Mayhem" as well as the episode "The Evil League of Mutants", Leo's complaining to be leader is a nod to his future role, Raph referring to his father as a "sewer monster" is a reference to the episode "Man vs. Sewer", Splinter has a flashback from the episode "Goyles, Goyles, Goyles" and the line "OW! Why, you little--!" is also taken from that same episode.

Chapter 3, Mikey's dream is obviously a nod to all that he will do in the future.

Chapter 4, The origin of Lace Face from the episode "Man vs. Sewer".

Chapter 5, Phineas and Ferb "Escape from Phineas Tower": "That's some mole!" The line "Raph! Your enormous body is crushing me!!” is a reference to Disney's Lilo and Stitch, "sweater town" is a reference to the Gravity Falls episode "The Hand that Rocks the Mabel", the line "I didn't want to believe it, but... *sigh* science." is taken directly from the ROTTMNT film as well as a moment when Leo mentions that Donnie was wrong, Donnie uses two really's, a reference from the episode "Breaking Purple", Donnie gives Leo the comic seen in the episode "Jupiter Jim Ahoy!"

Chapter 6, Splinter's tv flips through several channels which include clips from media. These include a Thomas Sanders vine with "Weatherman Al", the quote "My leg!" from Spongebob Squarepants, part of the Fairly Odd Parents' theme song, Mrs. Cuddles' catchphrase "Let's be friends forever!", "I've got bad feeling about this" is a quote from Star Wars, the fake show about "Goosey" is an easter egg to @gooeseyleo and her Gooseyleo series. When Leo goes onstage, he does "a few improvised dance moves", which is a nod to Ben Schwartz and some dance moves he did in the Netflix improv comedy special "Middleditch and Schwartz”. The Lou Jitsu play the boys perform is a parody of the Godzilla franchise and the Pacific Rim films. Donnie's line "I strive for accuracy" is a reference to @sleepis4theweak 's comic (which I think about every gosh darn day), Horsebot-3000 and Splinter's line "I liked Horsebot-3000" are references to the show Community, season 3 episode 7: "Studies in Modern Movement".

Chapter 7, in the illustration Leo and Donnie are wearing Transformer and Decepticon t-shirts, respectively, and in the background you can see spray paint that spells out "Atomic Lass", as well as a drawing of the turtles' weapons.

Chapter 8, a young BEBOP AND ROCKSTEADY make an appearance, as does a very young Harvey Hokum from the ROTTMNT comics. When Bebop tries to sell Leo, he calls him “Shelly”, a reference to my pet turtle of the same name. In the illustration you can see a goldfish on the shelf, which is meant to be Piebald.

Chapter 9, How It's Made, APRIL O'NEIIIIILLLL, Harvey Hokum, Warren Stone and Kendra are referenced, "Operation Blue Suede Shoes" contains the title of a song, a reference to how in the show there are several similar code-names used for the characters ("Purple Rain" for Donnie, "Yellow Submarine" for April, etc.) Leo says that Mikey has empathy amplified, a reference to the fanfiction of the same name written by @filsa-mek on AO3.

Chapter 10, the boys watch "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit". Leo promises to never leave Raphael alone and to always find him. Raph offers several scenarios that actually happen in the future where Leo searches for Raph - sewer monsters (a reference to the episode Man Vs. Sewer), getting captured by bad guys (the episode Bug Busters), and aliens attacking (the events of the film). The chapter as a whole is also based off of a few sketches I made - one of which shows the boys watching the film with Splinter, and one where Raph has a bad dream and wakes up to seeing he hurt Leo, who offers to help and gets the bros together for a turtle pile.

Chapter 11, the episode is heavily inspired by an episode of the audio drama series Adventures in Odyssey, specifically the episode "Mandy's Debut". The line "Wow, the shortcake of death" is a reference taken from said same episode! During Leo's flashback, a reference to the meme "She knocked that smug look off my face, but fourtunately I had a smaller smug look underneath" when Leo takes off his sunglasses to reveal a cooler pair of sunglasses underneath. Leo and Raph make a note to the fact that Leo is not the eldest in this universe.

Chapter 12, Raph, Leo, and Mikey teach April a game they play in the episode "Late Fee". When using sign language, Donnie tells Leo to "Stop yelling at me", which is inspired by a moment in Spy Kids 4. April introduces Raph to Ghostbear's starting career. Mikey repeats a line from the episode "Bug Busters", which is "Remind me not to ask questions anymore." Mikey uses the phrase "hydrate or die-drate", which is taken from a meme but is also something I say constantly as well. When in the Hidden City, Splinter hears people calling out to customers, one uses the lyrics to the Fairly Odd Parents' theme song, another is selling Mary Poppins' umbrella, a third is selling the three mystery journals from Gravity Falls, the fourth is selling Cinderella's glass slippers, and the last one is selling the Stanley Parable bucket of reassurance. Ochimizu is a Japanese mythical elixir of eternal life. The introduction and origins of Loathsome Leonard and the Mud Dogs. Malicious Mickey uses the "creepy doctor" line from "Stuck on You".

Chapter 13, Donnie delirium is directly based off of my own experiences with delirium, as well as his and Leo's conversation about whether or not Leo would miss him when he dies (which was an actual conversation I had with my mother when I was sick with croup as a little girl). The second half of that conversation was adapted from a scrapped fic called "The Kids Are All Dying". Donnie references the song "Big Yellow Taxi". The seven-tailed fox comes from Japanese folklore, but specifically this one was a reference to Naruto! Mikey sings the first line of the "Wonderfilled" song by Owl City. The secret ingredient being a discontinued soda was inspired by the ending of the musical "Be More Chill". The toad yokai becomes Heinous Green.

Short story, in the illustration you can see several signatures and sketches on Leo's cast, such as Raph signing "Mad Dawgs" and Mikey drawing his stickers. On the wall behind Leo is an eye exam that has the words "RISE" and "PHOEBE" on it. There's also a computer monitor in the back with Leo's vitals on it, as well as a notification about the trackers, and a list of all Hamatos Donnie tagged.

I will update more when I post new chapters... ;)

[demonqueenart]

Hello another latam fan here, I just wanted to ask, you addressed the last anon about them ignoring the third world country comment and not apologizing but do they know? has the fandom being very vocal about it on twitter or places they frequent? About the demand for shows too? I am only in dnp online spaces when they are active and I ask cause I was unaware people felt hurt by that comment up to today reading through your tumblr which was quite a shock to me cause I never even registered it as an insult, just like that Mexican fan anon you received, in my country its also a term that’s still used colloquially. And please forgive me if you gotten a lot of anons like me I tried to scroll as far as I could into your tumblr ( I been here for about an hour 😅 ) I am just now learning there’s a petition to ask them to come to latam ( and Asia and Africa I believe ) to be honest I saw they had not sold out in the US and I thought well there’s no way they sell even half a venue somewhere in latam unless everyone from Mexico down to Argentina travels there but that was only my opinion because in my country we have really big local YouTubers and no one I ask has seen Dan and Phil content 😅 I hope these questions from everyone aren’t weighting on you too much I am a latam fan that never felt a need to have a tour date or an apology and was unaware others did so I been out of the loop and I feel like I am late to all these conversations taking place but I hope I can be of service from now on to help all other latam fans feel welcome in this space. ( Also I am sorry for the length of my message! it’s difficult for me to be concise in English than in Spanish, but I am working on it! )

It’s alright anon :) I don’t mind. As for the question: has the fandom been very vocal about the third world comment on twitter? yes. Yes they have.

Mirian and others from twt have been very vocal about it from the start. She has recorded a sound clip when it happened and showed it to people when she’s addressing this issue. She and a bunch of other people have addressed this again when the fake apology video happened, saying they refusing to acknowledge and apologize for the real thing. All those instances were, of course, got shunned down by people. From what I’ve heard, every time someone tries to bring it up, they’ll be silent by other twitter users. Dnp surely must have seen this for a while now, they have yet to address it. They probably won’t if we were to not call them out again.

It’s completely valid for you not to feel offended by this, we all have a different experience after all. You don’t have to be mad about any of this to still enjoy this space. I’m just hoping to bring this to light for those who’s affected by it. Because it’s not fair to keep shutting people up when they’re hurt, and it’s not okay to not do anything about it now. I hope this doesn’t weight down on you much too :)

Auto-message: This ask’s purpose is to acknowledge dnp’s past/present exclusivity, not to cancel them! But to embrace mistakes that they’ve made so that 1. we won’t exclude people in need in this community, and 2. we can normalize bringing up exclusivity so that improvement can happen. Hopefully this will one day help dnp realize that this is a safe space for them to talk about their mistakes, so that this space can become safe for people of all kinds too <3

*If you don’t understand what is happening, scroll through my blog for context. And I’ll be taking time to answer my asks, so don’t think I’m ignoring youuu*

[lullabyalikpoptarot]

Jin and Taehyung Dynamic Reading

Now to this requested duo for this week. I actually don't remember much of this bod, maybe except that one little argument they had for the concert. I was going to look up clips of them but decided to go in neutral and see what I get here. So, let's take a look. Okay, this energy is interesting, especially on Tae's end.

Overall energy: So, three cards came out in my astrology deck. I did keep one, but the other two cards that came out make sense with the spread I got as well, so they got the House 4 card, this is about home, comfort and family. I feel they do see each other as family and they are very comfortable with one another. They also got the House 2 and Saturn card. I think this shows they both enjoy the lavish lifestyle and understand the hard work and struggle it takes to get it. They both may relate on that level.

Now, they also got the King of Pentacles, which goes along with the House 2 and Saturn card. They are both businessmen looking to achieve financial gain and stability. They are both about that money and material wealth at the moment. These cards don't give me a close connection, but there is a comfort, family unit they do have. I do believe they are both on the same wavelength of finding ways to make money and be successful. I am getting they both can be stubborn, so that can have an effect on their dynamic at times.

Jin's energy: I feel like Jin is fair when it comes to Taehyung. He seems pretty levelheaded and objective in this dynamic. He is able to learn and grow when it comes to Taehyung, so although in the overall energy they can be stubborn. I can see him yielding a bit more and being more understanding of Tae. I think he is very good at seeing his point of view on things.

He may kind of shift his personality a bit to fit with Taehyung's energy. Not to be fake, but he does it to better work with Taehyung. This is hard to find the words. Jin doesn't communicate well sorry. He got the Shape-shifter card and this is someone who can evolve and adapt to different situations, so he could be good at that when it comes to Taehyung.

He got the Empress card, so he has a Mother energy, loving and nurturing energy when it comes to Taehyung. He may be protective of him as well. And tends to his needs when need be. With this 10 of Swords reversed, hard to understand reversals, but it came out that way, so took it that way. Jin may be the type to repress or move past things that mentally strain him. He may not share his darkest troubles with Taehyung. He likes to protect him, so he may not want to burden him with his struggles. This goes along with the Page of Swords rv, which gives me a lack of communication or sharing details with someone.

There may be a lot of things he knows that he may not share with Taehyung. I also see him not really learning anything or gathering information about Taehyung. With this 5 of Pentacles, once again, this gives me someone who isolates themselves and doesn't seek help or support from others, so he kinds of keeps his burdens to himself. He may not seek him for support very much. I guess this makes sense with him being the oldest and not wanting to burden him.

So, his guidance is the Turkey spirit with the message give with gratitude and grace. This card may be urging him to show more appreciation for Tae and maybe share more that he appreciates him. And to give more of himself to him. It seems Tae may give more, and Jin holds back, understandable, but this card urges him to prcatice the art of giving to another.

Whew his energy is hard to gather information from. He doesn't really like to share much.

Taehyung's energy: He comes off a little more emotional and sensitive here. With this Child Divine he is pure and full of love and positivity when it comes to this bond. There is a innocence he has as well. He just radiates love and light.

Now, once again he shows the Prince card, he is very loving and giving in this bond. He has a charming energy around Jin. He may be the type that shows him love and offers him things, maybe to cheer him up. Although Jin doesn't share things. He can feel things are not okay and help cheer him up.

With this Queen of Cups, he seems to have a lot of love for him and understand him on an emotional and intuitive level. Now, this is weird, there could be a woman here, are they both into the same woman? Because I see the Queen of Cups, the 2 of Swords and then the 3 of Swords. This is about a 3rd party situation. Now with the Prince card, that goes along with it.

He also got the Pisces Card, there is a keyword romantic and the Prince card talks about Romance. I don't think there is romance between the two, so what is this? Taehyung just seems to be all over the place emotionally when it comes to this bond. He could also be stuck between Jin and someone else. The Mediator card also popped out for Tae and that is being in the middle of 2 people. I am just getting stuck between two people. But I don't see much of that on Jin's side, so this makes no sense.

He may share his emotions and feelings with Jin and express his hurt a lot to him. He may be the person he goes to about his problems, maybe he is talking to him about this woman and how hurt he is about her. I say in this bond for Tae he isn't as stable, much more emotional, confused, gullible, he can be very moody as well. He just seems hypersensitive with this bond. Jin brings out his more emotional nature. Honestly, I am so confused with this bond. It is hard for me to understand the cards and energy here.

His guidance is Wolf Spirit with the message turn knowledge into wisdom. There are a lot of things he learned from the past that he can use when it comes to his dynamic. I also hear don't repeat past mistake. You live and learn, so there is useful knowledge he has gained that can help him grow and prosper in this bond. I also get from this is for him to use more logic and not to be too overly emotional about things. He is smart, use it when it comes to Jin.

On Jin's end he just doesn't share much and on Tae's he just seems confused and way too emotional to share details and make sense of this spread. It was a bit hard to grasp this dynamic fully. This one was hard, sorry if it doesn't make sense, but their energy makes much sense to me, more so Tae.

[jharu-thalren]

The new phenomenon of Young Men commenting "Fatherless behavior" and its deeply harmful roots in already well established Misogyny in Patriarchy:

Comments like "Fatherless behavior" under harmless videos of women and girls enjoying hobbies, expressing themselves, or simply existing—reflects the harmful impact of reactionary misogyny, "alpha male" ideologies, and incel/Redpill worldviews. These movements perpetuate a toxic framework that dehumanizes women and polices their behavior according to regressive gender norms. Below is a breakdown of the issue and its implications.

1. The Root of the Problem: Misogyny and Reactionary Ideologies

Incel and Redpill Ideologies: These movements claim to expose "truths" about gender, portraying women as objects to be controlled and evaluated, often through shallow metrics like appearance, modesty, or behavior. In these spaces, women's hobbies, creativity, or autonomy—such as gaming or cosplay—are mocked or policed as signs of rebellion against male dominance.

Alpha Coaches like Andrew Tate: Figures like Andrew Tate popularize the belief that women who enjoy "male" hobbies (e.g., gaming) or engage in expressive activities (e.g., cosplay) are acting out due to a lack of proper "male control." This mindset underpins comments like "Fatherless behavior," framing women’s joy as improper without a male's "stern hand."

Religious and Conservative Patriarchy: This ideology blames fathers for failing to "discipline" daughters who express themselves creatively or engage in public-facing hobbies. It promotes the idea that women must adhere to modesty, quietness, and submissiveness, invalidating pursuits like cosplay or gaming, particularly if they involve any degree of visible skin.

2. The "Fatherless Behavior" Insult

Underlying Assumption: The phrase "Fatherless behavior" implies that women and girls pursuing hobbies like cosplay or gaming, or dressing in ways deemed "immodest" (even if entirely normal within the context of the activity), lack male guidance to keep them "in line." It reduces their self-expression to a supposed failure of patriarchal control.

Targeting Visible Skin: The criticism often intensifies when women show even minimal skin in cosplay, despite such designs being common for both genders in many fantasy, anime, and gaming genres. Men portraying shirtless or hyper-muscular characters are typically praised, while women are accused of seeking attention or behaving inappropriately.

Double Standards: Men enjoying gaming, cosplaying, or self-expression face no comparable judgment. For instance, a man dressing as a heroic, scantily clad character is celebrated, while a woman in a similar outfit is condemned.

3. Emotional Impact on Women and Girls

Invalidation of Hobbies: Women in gaming communities or cosplay are often accused of "seeking attention" or "trying too hard," as if their interests are inherently performative rather than genuine. This erodes the joy of participating in these hobbies.

Policing of Bodies: In cosplay, women are disproportionately criticized for costumes that align with canonical designs or popular aesthetics, leading to shame around their bodies. Men rarely face equivalent scrutiny for costumes that show off their physiques.

Denial of Fun and Autonomy: Women playing video games, sharing clips, or streaming are accused of being "fake gamers" or "trying to impress men," stripping them of the right to enjoy gaming for its own sake. Similarly, women cosplaying popular characters are met with skepticism or outright hostility, as if their enjoyment requires external validation.

Emotional Exhaustion: Facing constant criticism for harmless behavior—like dressing as a favorite character, gaming, or posting lighthearted videos—can cause women to feel unwelcome, unsafe, and unmotivated to continue participating in these hobbies.

4. Societal Implications

Normalization of Harassment: Comments like "Fatherless behavior" create a toxic culture where women and girls expect criticism or harassment as the price of participating in public-facing hobbies. Over time, this drives women out of gaming, cosplay, and similar communities.

Enforcement of Double Standards: By perpetuating the idea that women must meet stricter behavioral and aesthetic standards, these ideologies reinforce gender inequality. Women are discouraged from engaging in activities deemed "male-dominated," narrowing their opportunities and potential.

Silencing Creativity and Joy: Young girls interested in cosplay, gaming, or other hobbies often withdraw due to fear of being sexualized, mocked, or harassed. This stifles their personal growth and self-expression, impacting their confidence and long-term development.

Encouragement of Toxic Male Behavior: These movements validate and reward men who degrade women online, creating environments hostile not only to women but to any form of inclusivity or equality.

5. Counter-Arguments to Misogynistic Narratives

Women Are Autonomous Beings: Women’s enjoyment of hobbies like cosplay or gaming is a reflection of their individuality, not a failure of male control. Policing their behavior reduces them to objects rather than recognizing them as full human beings.

Rejecting the Policing of Visible Skin: Cosplay often reflects existing character designs from games, comics, or anime. Criticizing women for accurately representing characters with revealing costumes ignores the creative and artistic skill involved in cosplay. The same criticism is rarely leveled at men.

Gaming Is for Everyone: The idea that gaming is inherently "male" is outdated and exclusionary. Women and girls enjoy gaming for the same reasons men do: challenge, storytelling, community, and fun.

Double Standards in Attention-Seeking: Men engage in cosplay or gaming for various reasons, including self-expression and visibility, without being accused of "seeking attention." Women deserve the same freedom without judgment or harassment.

6. Broader Harm to Women and Girls

Erosion of Safe Spaces: Communities like gaming or cosplay become unsafe for women when misogynistic ideologies dominate, leading to fewer women participating in these spaces and perpetuating male-dominated cultures.

Stunted Personal Development: Young girls internalizing this negativity may avoid exploring interests like gaming or cosplay, fearing judgment or harassment. This limits their opportunities to build skills, networks, and confidence.

Societal Regressiveness: The resurgence of traditional gender norms as a response to women’s growing independence harms everyone by reinforcing outdated stereotypes that limit both women and men.

Perpetuation of Misogyny Across Generations: When young boys see such comments normalized, they may adopt these harmful views, perpetuating cycles of sexism and discrimination.

7. How to Push Back Against This Harm

Challenge Sexism in Communities: Call out comments like "Fatherless behavior" as misogynistic and baseless. Explain how they undermine women’s autonomy and perpetuate double standards.

Support Women in Gaming and Cosplay: Amplify women’s voices and achievements in these spaces. Encourage their participation and highlight the skill, creativity, and passion they bring to these hobbies.

Educate About Gender Equity: Promote awareness about the harm caused by these ideologies and the value of inclusivity in all spaces, from gaming to cosplay.

Celebrate Women’s Contributions: Share examples of women thriving in gaming, cosplay, and other male-dominated areas to inspire and validate others.

Conclusion

The rise of misogynistic ideologies from incel culture, Redpill rhetoric, and figures like Andrew Tate has directly contributed to toxic commentary targeting women enjoying harmless hobbies like gaming or cosplay. Insults like "Fatherless behavior" not only perpetuate double standards but actively harm women and girls by invalidating their interests, undermining their autonomy, and creating hostile environments. Combating this requires collective effort to educate, advocate, and celebrate women’s rights to express themselves freely without fear of judgment or harassment.

[pinchinschlimbah]

Hi, something is bugging me today and I need your input on it. You wrote something about Kyo and drag, and I have the same feeling. I've been back to Dir the last 6 months after almost 15 years gap. During this gap, I came to terms with my queerness, took a deeper interest in queer culture and (tried to) educate myself. I have a sweet spot for drag artistry that tends more to the fraeaky side. Because of my taste in general, let's say I'm more a Dragula entouthiast than a Dragrace one. I'm sorry if this is long and twisted, but I like to provide context... I also have to "hide" this interest at home, because my partner is a transwoman, but she's also stopped hormones and tend more and more on the NB side of transition (long hair, not shaving beard, non gendered clothes, going with "any pronouns is fine" but still using the female name she picked). And she's not really a drag fan, in fact, it's a little transphobic for her. And I get that, some dragqueens (gay cis male ones) do have a little problem portraying female figures... I guess you get what I mean.

Back to Kyo. Maybe it's because every Kyo fan I met was a problematic person (lol)? Very, very obsessed with him, almost religious to anything he does, like he's the fucking messiah! So I started to pick on him, making jokes, just to piss off these women I used to hang with. Turns out, 15 years later and even if these women are not in my life anymore, he's still the butt of the jokes, my lolcow, the target of my bullying. In a strict circle of choosen people who get my sense of humour and never online or to his face (like I could harrass him IRL lol). I just don't like the guy and he's doing a perfect job at fuelling my despise. He comes off as arrogant, acting like his shit doesn't smell, gathering a circle of followers who will fistfight you if you dare to criticize or question anyhing coming from him.

With that in mind, when I saw this pic https://www.instagram.com/p/C-XoBeES7Wo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== my brow raised... I see wig, fake eyelashes, overdrew lips, everyhting is drag coded! And the MFing lolita headpiece??? After the infamous clip of him and Die poking fun at gothic lolitas! It was too much for me. I don't give a rat's ass it was like 20 years ago and they might have change minds about gothic lolitas, cross dressing or whatever! I felt angry, like, I don't know why but I was pissed. And here is why I'm bothering you on Christmas' eve while I should be working.

Is this bloody cultural appropriation or not? I'll die on the hill that drag is for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color or whatever. But, where do you draw the line between hommage and plunder? Inspiration and deadpan lootering of the art of a discrimlnated community? Artists who takes risks when performing, in clubs targeted by gunmen and bigots? I KNOW Japan has a different aproach to male impersonating females on stage, kabukl and everything. I KNOW "it's not that serious, Mary!" I KNOW it's Japan and Dir will never acknowledge any personal infos. But it's twisting my guts he's only showing and not talking. At least, can he say somewhere he's paying hommage to a culture that inspires him. Somewehere everybody can read it, not in a magazine interview that will only reach japanese speaking people. Just share something on IG. It's getting personal, I need Kyo to tell me he's not the arrogant asshole I think he is since 2000. Because everything he does is sending me redflags, from the day I listened to Mazohist of Decadance I question his opinion on abortion, from the way he acted toward fans I dread he hates women, which is rich considering he built his career on the back and the purse of women. And now he's queerbaiting? Because he's not an idiot and saw where the potential was? Yes, I'm getting too emotional. Sorry for the rant, the mispelling and the bad english. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say, here and if you feel like it answer to my void shooting. But I'd understand this is an overwhelming message and you don't have time or interest in it.

Have a great day, celebrating or not, I'm going to lie in bed with a book and try not to hyperfocus on the crap in my head.

Hello! First of all, thank you for taking the time to write out all of this. I'm going to try my best to answer all the aspects here but if you think there's anything important I've missed, feel free to follow up. Also necessary disclaimer that all of this is just my opinions garnered from my best understanding of following Kyo's work, at the end of the day Kyo is a stranger on the other side of the world speaking a language that I have to rely on third party translations to understand, and I can't ever truly know exactly what's going on in his head.

So first of all, it seems the main question you're asking is, do I think Kyo's usage of drag imagery and culture is appropriation or queerbaiting? Personally, I do not. Based on everything I've seen and heard from him, it's clear to me that he's got a deep appreciation and understanding for the culture of drag, and has done his homework as someone who is looking to be part of the drag community. I myself am someone who is deeply involved in my local drag and queer community, and every drag person I've shown Kyo's recent work to has recognized his appearance and mannerisms as drag, as one of us rather than an inauthentic imitation for some sort of clout. The couple of friends who I've pulled down the diru/vkei hole with me, have felt the same way I have of resonating with Kyo's work in part because the kinds of drag he does reminds us of ourselves and our friends and the drag artists we look up to, and it's exciting to see someone who looks like that and performs like that also making such good music (drag queen music, as a genre, is unfortunately usually uhhhhh not great hahaha) and being so highly recognized for it.

[As a side note, I'm sorry to hear that your partner has had such a difficult time with drag! I think RuPaul in particular has unfortunately had a heavy hand in trying to separate drag from transness in a very ahistorical way, especially in the earlier seasons of Drag Race which then filtered into the popular opinion about what drag was or should be. But luckily I think most people in the community have since come around to the idea that drag is more about an exploration and celebration of all types of gender expression and identity rather than just "men pretending to be women" and while I think you're much more likely to find people with more in-between expressions in more local communities who aren't concerned with being palatable for television, Dragula has been good about showcasing people all over the spectrum and even Drag Race has come around more recently to featuring openly trans, female, and nonbinary people on the show!]

While I do think it would be really cool to see Kyo give acknowledgement to the specific drag artists who he appears to be directly inspired by, I don't think it's accurate to say he hasn't given any acknowledgement to the drag or queer community as a whole. Of course there are the magazine interviews, which yes they are created for a Japanese audience but translations are available online and digital autotranslate features make it infinitely easier for these interviews to be accessible to wider audiences than in previous decades. In these interviews [here and here], he has expressed support for queer rights (something still very controversial in Japan!), repeatedly brings up queerness and his support for it even when it's not super related to the questions asked, stated that he aims to title and write his songs from a place outside of gender, refers to himself as effeminate, said that he names his songs after drag queens and other queer people, that he modeled Candis (song and video) after Showa era gay icon popstars and that his intended primary audience for the song is gay men, that a show he watched when he was younger about a trans woman had a lasting impact on him, and that he has incorporated queer imagery into his shows with the goal of showing support for the queer community and to display queer love as something beautiful and important.

Even outside of magazine interviews...I think Valentina and the media surrounding it is a perfect example of him being as outright as he can without saying the quiet part out loud. (as I've been yelling about recently, the fact that there are so few officially Out queer Japanese musicians is a whole complicated issue but long story short I don't blame him given the oppressive culture there for not outright identifying himself as queer. I think it would be cool if he did, but I'm not holding my breath even if I do believe him to be someone of queer experience) The song is named after a drag queen. The song is from a feminine perspective. Kyo is in undeniably feminine drag in the video and using feminine/draggy mannerisms. He's holding a "Melty-chan" doll which, thanks to Kyo sharing a post about this on his instagram story when the promo photos first dropped, we know this doll is from an art exhibit specifically about navigating life as a queer person. While not exactly textually related, he also posted on his insta story about Catwoman being his girlfriend AND the Joker being his boyfriend, at the same time he was posting teasers for the shoot.

And also, importantly, the interview where he's wearing lipstick and lingerie begins with the interviewer's shock at Kyo presenting this way, and Kyo responding with "Really? The truth is I wanted to do it earlier, but the timing now ended up being perfect. It's a worldview not possible for DIR EN GREY, but I thought it's fine with sukekiyo." I think a lot of what you're interpreting to be insincere or malicious intent is actually just growth and letting himself be who he always wanted to be but felt he wasn't allowed to explore after a certain point and turned to lashing out at those things instead during that time. It's very very clear looking at Dir en Grey's chronological history that they got caught up in a particularly ugly bout of toxic masculinity/internalized misogyny/queerphobia in the early-mid 2000s, and I don't blame you for being put off by things they said and did during that time- I also bailed around then because I was at best uninterested and at worst actively upset by those versions of themselves. And that's part of why I've found their turnaround so exciting- looking at everything, to me it seems pretty clear it wasn't a sudden pivot as a cash/attention grab now that queerness and drag are trendy to a certain marketable audience. It was a gradual process over the past decade of the whole band learning to love those parts of themselves again that they started with in the early days and then abandoned and admonished, to get to the point of again being as flamboyant and theatrical and feminine as they are now.

I'm curious where you got the impression that present day Kyo is arrogant and full of himself and seeking out mindlessly devoted followers when I've honestly been frustrated with the exact opposite impression reading his interviews. He consistently gives the impression of having incredibly low self-worth, going on repeatedly about how he doesn't think his talents or skills are particularly impressive and he doesn't believe others when they tell him he's amazing or that they're a devoted fan of his and so on. It's made me want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him and tell him to be kinder to himself because his work is, in fact, incredible and he is deserving of love as much as anyone else. I do think he has the tendency to often be intentionally obtuse or annoying in interviews and appearances (such as wearing a bag over his head at the M&Gs on this year's European tour or the infamous film screening appearance from a few months ago where he sat on the floor eating snacks and putting tape on Shinya's shoes instead of answering the questions) which is not going to be everyone's cup of tea and might not be yours! But I personally don't find these actions to be coming from a place of arrogance, I genuinely just think he thinks it's funny and is trying to amuse himself and others when for someone who does those types of appearances often, they can end up feeling redundant and uninspiring after a while just by nature of doing it so many times.

I admittedly have not read many interviews from the toxic masculinity era which may be where your primary impression is coming from, but this one (from a western metal magazine, in I think 2008) stuck out to me as particularly interesting, where the pull quote significantly twists what he actually said and paired with the chosen photo makes him look like a huge dick, but the actual sentiment in the textual quote is that the band is trying to act more tough and "bad" than they actually are because they think they're supposed to, which I feel like really encapsulates what was going on with them at that time and their desperation to be taken seriously as heavy metal musicians outside of the vkei costumes and theatrics.

I do think it says a lot that no one in the industry has had anything bad to say about any of the members (other than poking fun at them for being too shy offstage) and that they've had no personal scandals that I've seen, that they've been able to remain an active and successful band for nearly 30 years with no lineup changes, and that Kyo has two other active bands who he seems to get along very well with. I don't think any of this would be the case if he was actually as miserable and annoying to deal with as he likes to pretend he is, since artistic talent only gets you so far if you're insufferable as a person. I think there's a good chance that under all his bristling, he is actually just a nice guy haha. I hope some of this has been insightful or helpful for you, and as I said at the start, please feel free to circle back if you have more to say!

[shiraglassman]

Hey, I know this is kind of a dumb question, but I came across a TikTok about a month ago suggesting that dragons (the western, fire breathing, princess snatching, treasure hoarding ones) were rooted in antisemitic in the same way something like goblins are. I couldn’t tell if it was a joke or not, and it kind of sent me into a tailspin, since I’ve always loved dragons (I read the WoF series ONCE and wouldn’t shut up about it for 3 years), and I was worried that I would have to drop them entirely for fear of offending someone. I can definitely see the similarities between common antisemitic tropes and dragon tropes, but I’ve always heard that the origins of the western dragon were that it was just a scalier of the devil and not meant to represent any marginalized community. However, I am not Jewish in any way, and I’m aware it’s not my place to dictate what is and isn’t harmful, so I was curious as to what you thought. (Sorry about how long this is TuT)

I held on to this ask for a few weeks to try to make sure my response made sense, so here goes. Disclaimer that I'm just one Jewish woman who loves dragons, and I claim no expertise or position of authority. I can't guarantee that someone won't look at your special interests and judge you unfairly. I also can't guarantee that you'll be hyperaware enough and careful enough to catch dogwhistles if they're subtle, compared with ordinary fictional dragons. What I can guarantee is that your average Jewish person is not going to assume you are more unsafe to be around than other unknown gentiles just because you like dragons, but fandom spaces and Tumblr spaces sometimes represent a skewed or specific cross-section of the population and may react differently. I can't make any of those calls. I don't want to tell you to start tuning out marginalized people when we speak about our issues including bad representation, but I also don't think "every Western dragon" is a problem the same way the entire perception of Halloween witches is, for example. For "some reason" (antisemitism) we've decided that big hooked noses are a thing you strap to your face to fake being a witch, or the way witches look in clip art. This is an issue because it takes a simple, neutral feature that some of us have and exaggerates it to the point of looking nonhuman. "Ha ha," says the trope. "Wouldn't it be funny if this trait that these Others have was so different and so jarring in appearance that they looked as different as they truly are, from us, the In Group?"

If the same group of folks who had anxiety about us coexisting alongside them created the witch aesthetic as created the Western dragon lore, and indeed much of old-fashioned European fantasy, it's easy to see how their feelings about us an other marginalized groups (disabled people etc.) creep into the stories. HOWEVER, it's also incredibly easy for dragons to not be us. Or have anything to do with us. If you're nervous when writing your own stories that someone is going to mistake your greedy characters for Jewish-coded, try to establish that real (human or otherwise) Jewish characters coexist with the greedy dragon or whatever to show that you're not using the dragon as a subconscious Jewish reference. But if you're talking about just "can I continue to buy dragon merch from creators who draw cute art", the only thing I can tell you is that there's an intense diversity of opinion among the Jewish people and even though I'm saying it's fine and probably most people at my temple would say it's fine, I can't account for strangers on apps I don't even have. Personally, I think you're safe as long as you avoid dragon things that evoke the trope directly. And many MANY dragons don't even evoke the trope these days, because so many millennials and younger grew up adoring dragons so we launched media where dragons are good. And don't even always hoard wealth. Much of modern dragon media seems to ignore the greedy and/or hoarding tropes entirely or have replaced greed as a motivator for the collections with "this dragon has a special interest", which is cute and doesn't evoke antisemitic tropes at all. You'll probably be able to make good judgments about what does the trope and what doesn't, but for some additional help here is a post Meir and I did on @writingwithcolor, which is where we'd prefer these questions be directed (yes, I know we're closed currently but we're reopening soon.) P.S. If this was sent to my personal specifically to avoid the WWC ask box being closed, please don't — that's an amount of volunteer work I simply can't take on. But I also know that it's possible and likely that you didn't know about WWC at all, so now you do — feel free to peruse our vast archives of past posts. @im-tired1124

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Omg someone got love letters from their boyfriend i wonder who it could be 🤔....oh it's meeeeee 💅💃

I was sure we'll get his weverse post cause if there's one thing he's gonna never stop doing is thanking fans for showing him love. He might not flex his b'day, his achievements but he'll always come to say thank you.

Okay but the way he said "But it feels like time has both flown by and dragged on at the same time. When I look back, it's fast, but when I look ahead, it feels slow" is exactly what i feel. Was supposed to leave when they both enlisted but 10 months later here i am lol. Never felt anyone's "I love you" the way i feel jimin's. Like i genuinely feel I'm loved when HE says i love you idk man. Too pure, too genuine never feels like he's saying it for the sake of it.

Anyways, last day of being in Fandom, hopefully when i see him on any sns next time the first thing I see is his solo concert like that's what i wish for so bad. I know it's coming for every member, when idk. So when i see him next time it should be from his solo concert similar to how i found him years ago through their clips on my ig of their variety show n all. Also hope if I open this acct in future I'll find you here but idk if that's happening or not bug hopefully.

If you get any asks from jm's partner in future letting you know already that's a fake one 😓 take care and keep loving jimin and jungkook both till however long you are here.

Anon, you stayed for a birthday letter and now it's time to move on. Perfectly understandable. The moments in which there's actually nice things happening are quite rare now, so no need to linger in the misery that is an online fandom.

Getting a lot of notifications from Jimin yesterday felt really nice, especially since communication from his side is barely existent now. Muse and then AYS?! helped, but now that there's not project on the horizon, I guess this is it.

I'm not like you though, lol. I'm hoping to see Jimin when J-Hope has his military discharge and maybe all the photos he took with his disposable camera during the trips will somehow be released and Keep Going is still an odd thing with no explanation yet....

I'm gonna still be in this limbo, while reblogging random stuff in the meantime.

Maybe we'll get to talk again in the future. Take care as well!

[castlebyersafterdark]

ALLOW ME TO ELABORATE on static kiss lore

so no one knows the provenance of the image itself, but this is the background. i am an accidental static kiss truther, as ive said before its the one irrational thing i believe with insufficient evidence and this is because im an artist at heart and when i look at the image i can't not see them kissing. i am well aware of how it could be nothing though. i can't explain how illogical this is haha

so the provenance: during the countdown to s4, they officially released a video vignette set up of a real grandfather clock somewhere (atlanta?) in a city. it was cordoned off but fans could come and photograph from a distance. a live stream video of this clock counting down (24 hours possibly idk) was put out on YT. during this stream, the video buzzed periodically in and out with clips of the show and white noise static.

word is that a fan got a screenshot of one of the transitional white noise parts of the video, the 'interruptions' of radio static, and within this, the shapes of two people appearing to kiss appeared. i've seen early screenshots of the static itself and couldn't find mike or will within them, but seeing as the stream was removed from online immediately, there's no way to see the original again.

so this image then appeared online. it could be fabricated. it could be edited. it could be nothing. but because part of the ST experience and early screenings of s4 included moving photos of the characters/scenes where static interrupted them, people think it's become a thematic possibility that alludes to time/radio communication in the show.

so basically only insane people believe it haha! but something about it seems like something they would do, and i also believe that the filmed a decent portion of s5 during s4, so mike and will could have already kissed (even as a pre-filmed vecna vision that flashes back to s4 era within s5). i believe this because the way finn and noah acted during press seemed like two actors who are finding the byler speculation funny precisely because their characters have already kissed but it won't be revealed for years.

so yeah, it's irrational, but to me it's more feasible than other vague theories relating to byler or foah lol! even if there's no true evidence, it seems like something that the duffers would do.

Finally 😭 The lore... 💋⚡💋⚡

I always thought it was from some trailer or some promo but I could only ever see static kiss mentioned in lists of "gates" but since I missed this one and so much was happening all the time, by the time I got curious info was just buried. So. Fascinating though. Based on the screencap I'll share below, how tf did someone even notice this? So, def could be faked but it's so random?

I mean, this is such a fun conspiracy, I don't think I believe it totally necessarily, but it's more plausible than most wild ramblings (mostly revolving around some h.creel and his not-so-evil twin theories to be honest) 🤭🤭 Shade intended.

I do believe there has been footage filmed during the season 4 filming that will show up in season 5. I am standing by being 75% sure there was something extra filmed using the roller rink set we haven't seen yet - tying into Birthdaygate. Maybe a kiss is part of some taunting vision or nightmare Will faces reliving that day!! That's the only way I think this frame could be something real and WILD if it was caught and they added this tiny tiny easter egg into some random promo. It's like the dick frame spliced into the theater scene (and in the movie itself) in Fight Club. "No one really knows that they've seen it. But they did."

[wwwwaaaaazzzzzaaaapppp]

Hopefully making this post will help me find more people in my situation, so here’s my TV adventure of me being forced to watch shows only with actors that I am familiar with. This all started about 2 years ago when I started watching the Afterparty a hilarious mystery show that I will forever love, this show introduced me to the actor Ben Schwartz I loved his character he was funny he was very interesting as *SPOILER* the villain and I wanted to watch more stuff with this actor.

This was when TikTok introduced me to Rise of The TMNT. I remembered seeing a comic of the show when I was younger so I was already intrigued during this time my parents had also decided to start watching Our Flag Means Death as a family during dinner and I was super thrown off when I found out that the lead actor in OFMD Rhys Darby played one of the main villains in ROTTMNT and it was really cool and I found it intriguing.

Just to quickly say this might become a little out of order because my brain struggles with keeping 3 years perfectly accurate in my brain.

Later on after finishing both of these shows I then watched the I think sitcom (if that is the accurate way to describe it) Fresh Off The Boat with my mom because I kept seeing clips of it on TikTok and it looked really good and I was completely shocked when Rhys Darby randomly ended up playing a character in an episode in the show the main focus is a family moving to Florida and if you watch the show you will know that there is a son in this family named Emry. Keep him in mind for later in this story he becomes important.

After a while of watching random shows that are not important to this story like Owl House I came across another show on TikTok that looked good and had just come out on Netflix due to it being said to have a movie on the way weirdly enough just like ROTTMNT This show is called Community, I started watching it and I became obsessed I loved the characters I was constantly making references to it and accidentally got my family hooked too. I think in season 5 there was an episode where it was entirely GIJoe themed and there were fake commercial breaks where there would be kids playing with the toys from the show including one very familiar boy by the name of Forrest Wheeler aka EMRY FROM FRESH OFF THE BOAT. I know it doesn’t sound that interesting but it felt very weird at the time. Community also has a reoccurring joke which is a parody show in the universe called Inspector Spacetime poking fun at the show Doctor Who somehow this was my first time getting an idea of what Doctor Who is and I just kind of laughed it off. Considering community has 6 seasons it lasted me along enough time without having to look for another show to watch.

I think a very long time after I finished Community I started getting clips from a show that I recognized. Good Omens was finally getting a new season after 5 years. I wasn’t very interested because when the first season came out I was young, apparently stupid, and had a short attention span I was also discovering the idea of having a phone for the first time if that’s an excuse. But I was spoiled on the fact that there was going to be a kiss seen and I was very excited because I desperately wanted find a show with LGBTQ+ representation and I was actually interested in so I convinced my family to watch. And the season was great and after finishing it I was constantly looking at good omens stuff online. During this I was slowly becoming more interested in the happenings of the actor David Tennant so I ended up stumbling upon a treasure trove of new shows to watch and I started it with watching staged which I was having a fun time with until I felt like I had experienced whiplash and saw Ben (mister blue man) Schwartz goofing around on my screen and I had no idea what was happening but it was fun and everyone was funny and entertaining.

If only I had know what was in store for me coming in the form of aquatic birds.

FREAKING DUCKTALES

ALMOST ALL OF THE ACTORS THAT I LOVED WERE THERE. Dani Pudi aka Abed from community was playing Huey Duck, Ben Schwartz was was Dewey Duck , Bobby Moynihan who I knew from SNL but didn’t really care about at the time was playing Louie Duck, and the crown jewel, the focus of it all ✨David Tennant✨ was playing the adventuring Scrooge Mcduck. I was driven mad this was getting too much I can’t just watch a show immediately because of these actors. This was very much a kids cartoon I can’t humiliate myself like this…

So I watched it anyway

and

I

LOVED IT

I thought it was funny weirdly angsty at points and it was perfect and even better there were so many more people from Community in it. But it was always supposed to come to an end so I finished it and continued my hunt for content.

That was months ago but David Tennant’s acting still has a chokehold on me so I am now a self proclaimed Whovian and watched of anything David Tennant related that my parents will let me watch and my Mom is along for the ride.

I have also found a deep love of Newsies because I am now playing Albert in my school production just to put it out there for people to know how far my love of random stuff goes.

Thank you for reading.

[whumpbug]

Oc question: How would all four of your whump ocs go about answering "how are you" or "are you okay" in different phases of okayness?

Or in simpler terms (in case what I just said made no actual sense) How would Archie/Simon/Gene/Cassidy respond if he was asked...

"How are you"/"How are you doing" on a GOOD day?

"How are you"/"How are you doing" on a BAD day?

"How are you"/"How are you doing" on a TERRIBLE day?

And as a bonus (to end off with something positive) how would they each respond to "how are you" on an absolutely showstopping fantastic day?

anon i am SO sorry this took so long to answer but i got so so sobusy and then i got on a drawing kick so i wasn't writing as much BUT this is such a fun question. i LOVEEEE exploring character voices/what they would say to certain questions. i'm gonna answer with dialogue/small actions and add a tiny little explanation!!

i hope you enjoy!! long post incoming!!

✮⋆˙

"how are you doing?" on a GOOD day

simon: "who, me? oh! i'm doing well. and you?"

[simon is just hard to read period. you'll notice a lot of his responses are similar because he is just. naturally very monotone. BUT THERE ARE SUBTLE DIFFERENCES. archie knows. this is him just being calm, which, in comparison to the rest of his life, is a good day]

archie: "i'm doing great! i went to go get some bagels downtown, and they were perfectly toasted, and then i found $10 on the floor! then, my friend, simon, went to the store and got oreos, just for me! then, i--"

[cutting him off because he will just ramble about exactly what made his day good. he's a talker. he can't help it when he's excited.]

gene: "can't complain." [said with an easy expression on his face-- he's not Brooding for once. he seems more relaxed and open]

[gene is a man of few words, equally if not more inexpressive than simon. he is also a little bit awkward. BUT its endearing and he's getting his point across]

cassidy: "doin' peachy! whatta 'bout yourself?" [said with a flashy smile, but its clear that for once, its not for show. its not one of his fake smiles]

[cassidy is cassidy. simple as that. he walks a delicate balance between being a Silly Goober and Deeply Traumatized.]

✮⋆˙

"how are you doing?" on a BAD day

simon: "shitty."

[short, clipped, and to the point. if simon's having a bad day, chances are that its because he has too much on his plate. no time for small talk]

archie: "oh! i've uh.. i've been better. but it's okay! how are you?"

[oh archie. ever the deflector. archie does let himself show that he has "bad days" because the city needs vigil to be Strong. he needs to learn to dodge punches as well as he dodges questions]

gene: "alright."

[he's Not in the mood for small talk. not in the mood to pretend to be fine. he just wants to get whatever he needs to do done so he can go home and brush calliope and sleep.]

cassidy: "well, i'm alright! and you?"

[you didn't think cassidy would admit to having a bad day, did you? especially because the person probably causing his bad day is someone he Will Not bad mouth. ever.]

✮⋆˙

"how are you doing?" on a TERRIBLE day

simon: "i don't want to talk about it, okay?" [said somehow in a tone thats half-rude-half-desperate]

[simon is blunt. he'll say what he means, and if he says this, he really doesn't want to talk about it. to whoever is asking, at least. archie's a different story of course. anyways, best to let him be.]

archie: "me? oh.. i'm.. i'm okay.." [followed immediately by bursting into tears.]

[vigil can only stay strong for so long. even he has limits. he needs a hug and a cup of hot cocoa and a fluffy blanket immediately chop chop simon]

gene: "hm."

[look at that guys. gene has trancended words. his day is SO shitty that he has taken to communication using grunts and nothing else. best to leave the deputy alone, just like simon. maybe be careful around him. it's been rumored he has a short fuse.]

cassidy: "i'm doing fine, alright?" [and then cassidy storms away, of course]

[oh cassidy. he's tired of being fussed over. if people see that he's Not okay, it makes him vulnerable. he can't have that. he'd rather remove himself from the situation that have to keep pretending.]

✮⋆˙

AND BONUS!! "how are you doing?" on a FANTASTIC day

simon: "i'm doing great." [his voice may be monotone, but he has that smile. the one that archie gushes about in this post.]

[again, simon is straight to the point. his face still tells more of a story than his voice and demeanor. when hes happy, he's all gentle smiles. his face practically emits light with how warm it is]

archie: "i'm doing amazing!! what about you? oh! we should go get some ice cream! i know this really good spot! my treat!"

[archie my precious. when hes happy, he LOVES to spread the love and find ways to make his and other people's day even better.]

gene: never been better! [follows by a clap on the shoulder in the way dads do.]

[wow. multiple syllables! its a miracle! i think gene is just affectionate when hes happy. its almost too much to bear. he needs to hug someone. chop chop cassidy!]

cassidy: "fan-fuckin'-tastic!" [said, surprisingly non-sarcastically, with one of those little cowboy whoops, probably while riding scotch]

[he's hyperactive when he's REALLY happy. i'd imagine it would be after he just finished a job taking down some crooked millionare. adrenaline is high and so are the Good Emotions. just makes him wanna whoop!]

✮⋆˙

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FUN QUESTION! this made me want to repost a character voice ask game again i love Getting Into The Minds of my sillies! hope u enjoy!!