#Former Bullies

[bandcampsnoop]

6/18/24.

Listening to The Sheaves the other day made listen to The Fours who released an amazing LP on World of Birds. I decided to listen to more from this Cleveland, Ohio label.

I settled first on Son of Dribble and pretty much stayed there for a while. There's a definite sound-adjacent feel to The Sheaves and The Fours. But this also reminds me of Former Bullies whose LP on Belfast label CF Records remains on heavy rotation for me.

Son of Dribble are based in Columbus, Ohio. Don't forget to check out The Fours (listen/buy).

[willowser]

aww, you agree to stay home with your son until he becomes old enough to go to school, but as the summer ends and time draws near for registration, katsuki starts backtracking.

your son has a quirk. it's not so fancy as his father's, but it's more exciting than what you have, and even though he's big into katsuki's heroism, he hasn't shown any more interest in becoming a hero himself than any other boy his age.

at first you think it's katsuki getting nervous about putting him in public school, but he still doesn't seem sold on any of the private teachers you find. you want to go back to work, and it's not that he's telling you no—but there's just this edginess to him, whenever you push the conversation.

"still small," katsuki defends, murming into your hair as you're laying in bed. "another year 'n he'll be a lil' bigger."

it's true—your son is a little on the small side, but he has all the energy and determination of a kid twice his size. it's never stopped him before, nor has it ever had katsuki pulling him off the playground in the past; you're not sure why it matters, now.

"you said that last year."

"yeah, but he didn't grow that much."

"i don't think there's a height restriction for learning, honey."

katsuki sighs, and you can feel the frown pulling his mouth down. it's rare that he ever tip-toes around what he wants to say these days, more common when you first began dating, but he's always been vocal when it comes to your son. always wanted what was best for him, and didn't hesitate to ask for it.

you shift, scooting your head up his arm so you can look at him. "what're you really thinking?"

he doesn't look back at you, but instead keeps his eyes on the wall across from your bed. you can't exactly see the depth in them this way, but something about the tension lining his body tells you he's thinking, hard, about something other than your son.

"kids are assholes."

you laugh, because it's not what you were expecting and because you don't like whatever this is that's bothering him. you want it to go away. "yeah, i know. our kid is an asshole sometimes."

"well, i don't want someone being an asshole to our kid."

your stomach drops at the very idea of someone being mean to your son, not appreciating him the way he should be. what if he gets hungry and they don't let him eat? what if he has to go to the bathroom but he doesn't know where it is?

if you think about this for any longer, you'll burst into tears, and that will only further katsuki's case.

"kids just..." he shakes his head and glances towards the door of your bedroom, down the hall to where your son is sleeping. "say all kinda' shit. hateful shit."

you hug him a little tighter, because you know how much he hates feeling powerless—and that’s exactly how you feel, when it comes to this topic, but if you focused only on the negatives, you wouldn't ever let your son out of sight.

"he'll make friends, though, like you did." your words only make his frown deeper. "and he wants to learn, he is so curious about everything. i think he's ready, honey."

—but katsuki only grits his jaw, the muscle in his cheek jumping as he looks away from you and towards the window.

"well, i dunno if i am."

[macchiatosdumptruck]

I am once again reminded that some of the nicest people I've ever met in fandom have been people who routinely write dark fic or problematic pairings and some of the rudest bullies have been people who only ship the most popular pairing and write coffee shop au's or whatever

[sadboyhrs]

Steve is the best ally-

Steve supports Nancy-

Steve is a great big brother figure-

Steve would always protect the kids-

Steve is a good fighter-

Hopper loves Steve like a son-

[buckybee]

It’s wild to me that in AOS Kirk is a smartass who gets into frequent brawls and goofs around whereas in TOS Kirk was canonically bulled in the Academy because he was a nerd.

[askchilchuck]

Heyyyyyy Chuck

sends you to Chuck E. Cheese’s ballpit

Wait! Hold on! What are you-

Chilchuck crashes straight into the ball pit. He’s too short to pop his head up to the surface. You all have lost track of him, rendering him lost in the pit.

[bipunkharrington]

There's something that infuriates me so much about people mocking characters that fall into the "not like other girls" trap, because the reasons girls take on that stance is because they exist in a society that tries to put womanhood and femininity in a restrictive box that tells them who and how they should be.

They're generally mocked and derided for not wishing to conform to stereotypical femininity, but when they lash out in entirely predictable but ultimately unhelpful ways (by being dismissive and rude about other women and femininity in general) instead of understanding that it's a product of growing up in a society that's restricting them and punishing them for not conforming (either by choice or inability) so many people who claim to be feminists choose to mock them or make them out to be the cause of the problem rather than a symptom. Whether its being mocked in real life, or watching people deride the fictional characters they relate to, this behaviour just alienates those girls even further into thinking that the issue is other women, and confirms their belief that women who are typically feminine will only ever be derisive toward them and that they're somehow fundamentally different from other women.

If you know someone who thinks along those "I'm not like other girls" lines instead of mocking them try directing them towards resources that can help them understand where that harmful rhetoric comes from, and when you're critiquing characters that fit that mold try to consider why they behave that way, and what girls who see themselves in those characters take from your commentary.

[viviandarkbloombartylusversion]

And what if I said Regulus, Remus and Severus were all gacha kids...

[itisiives]

NGL, the fact that queer Tumblr's and queer Twitter's hatred of twinks is barely distinguishable from cishet men's hatred of queer femme men is... funny... in a nastily ironic way.

[electriccleric]

Noah Schnapp is literally beyond evil. Like, spawn of satan level of evil. He only deserves to suffer for the rest of his existence. How dare he have empathy for innocent civilians in Israel and Palestine. First of all, there’s no such thing as innocent Israeli civilians. Second of all, you can't have empathy for both. Especially if he is a Zionist. All the Jewish people who identify as Zionists are evil. Israel has absolutely no right to exist and Jewish people have no right to exist in Israel. So many Jewish people who are Zionists claim that’s what Zionism means to them but they’re wrong. Zionism is pure evil. You can’t be Zionist and want peace and self determination for Palestinians. I’m not Jewish but I definitely know better than the Jewish Zionists who claim that. They’re all evil lying monsters. They want every Palestinian wiped off the face of the Earth. Hamas would never want such a thing. It’s not like they had a charter that said that about Jewish people. Even if they did, they supposedly recently changed it to Zionists instead so it’s all good now. Hamas is totally accepting of Jewish people now and would welcome them with open arms as long as they aren’t Zionist. Noah, if you’re a Zionist, don’t be anymore. You can change your evil ways. Hamas changed. Yeah, they may have killed civilians and taken hundreds hostage, they may have said October 7th was just the beginning and that it was going to happen over and over again, but they’re no longer antisemitic. They’re just anti Zionist so they’re good people now. You can change and be good too. You’re so young. There’s still hope for you. Stop lying and telling us how you want peace and self determination for Palestinians. We all know that’s not true. It can only be true if you aren’t Zionist.

You liking something like this makes absolutely no sense if you’re Zionist. I bet you don’t even agree with it and just liked it by accident or something. It’s crazy how I even managed to come across this months ago considering nobody talked about it or brought it to light. You liking that sketch of people in the LGBTQ+ community simping over Hamas got so much attention and caused so much outrage though. Funny how the internet works. Anyways, as a bisexual, I was so offended by that video. Hamas are well known LGBTQ+ allies. How could you like that video as someone who’s gay? It’s probably because you’re lying about being gay too. Shame on you.

Last thing I’m gonna say is fuck Israel and fuck Israelis. That country and all the people living there are evil. They’re all colonizers and occupiers. It needs to cease to exist and all the people currently living there need to go back to where they originally came from. All of them came from Europe, right? That’s what I’ve been hearing. They all need to return to Europe. Gosh, why’d they ever leave there in the first place? I know Jewish people say otherwise but they’re wrong. They’re either lying or in denial. They’re not indigenous to Israel. They’re indigenous to Europe. Us non Jewish people really need to educate them more about their own history, religion, ethnicity, etc. We need to teach them what antisemitism actually is. A lot of them don’t seem to understand what it is. We do that to every other minority group that we aren’t apart of, right?

[lemongrass77777-moved]

I will never be over the fact that Lily Potter was the one who defeated Voldemort in 1981 and she was never given proper credit for it in canon. We barely even know anything about her and she was the one who defeated the snake faced bitch the first time around. It drives me insane. Lily deserved so much better than what the books ever gave her.

[bandcampsnoop]

11/27/23.

"Mirtils (Catalonia, Spain) sound a bit like a band out of time. I hears the sounds I associate with Strum & Thrum era 1980s jangle rock (listen to "So Weary" or "Needless"). "

They also sound like some great mashup of Stars on Fire, Former Bullies and Versus. I'm looking at their Bandcamp page, and they just don't have much traffic. How can this be with music this good?

They must worship at the altar of Big Star - there's a cover of "I'm In Love With A Girl" as well as a single that uses the cover of #1 Record as its artwork.

This appears to be self-released. Mirtils also has a new album, Fall Off, due in January. They have a great offer for both of their records for only $20 euros + shipping.

[waitineedaname]

something that will never fail to be amusing to me is when an mdzs college au needs the name of a professor, and then suddenly shen qingqiu is there

[strang3lov3]

Whilst I LOVE step daddy!roman

I need a good old romantic fic with childhood bestfriend!roman who hates seeing her on dates with other guys

I’m flattered you thought of me! I’m not a very good romance/fluff writer but I’ll keep it in mind 🩷 lots of Romey stuff on the list though. More stepdaddy, gyno!roman, implication boat sex, Roman Roy paying for your virginity.

[pinkprettycure]

thats the thing about girly hobbies, is that girly communities love to position themselves in direct opposition to the toxic male man boy communities. like the whole thing about how a female president would save the world and if girls were in lord of the flies they'd make flower crowns and sing or whatever.

girly communities are just so wholesome and pure, doubly so if its a nerdy girly community. So you get ppl talking about how wholesome and loving and accepting everyone always is, and how nobody fights about dumb things and they're so drama free and kind, as women often are. and that anyone who complains is an outsider of some sort that just doesnt Get It and doesnt Belong and actually? you just must hate women!

you see it in jfashion but also like, shojo manga fans do this so frequently while positioning themselves as better than shonen fans, magical girl fans? you don't get it, magical girls are about girl power and female empowerment there is no place for masculinity here duh. otome fan spaces are particularly nasty about it bc if they're not going terf mode on that "stop invading womens spaces!" shit they just say bar for bar the shit that anti-woke dude bros say about anime "go away and play your indies if you don't like it" "asians don't need to cater to you"

[vampirecatprince]

One of my favorite things about this band is even with it being a high concept masked band with lore, the music is so unabashedly sincere? And Vessel's messages are as well? This band really wears it's heart on it's sleeve and that really refreshing?

The fact that he's so open and vulnerable about his emotions onstage, I completely understand why he feels the need for the barrier of a high concept persona.