#Getting Fed Up With Tumblr Being Dumb

[carmyberzattosjournal]

Entry 25: Some for the Chef

(No visual aid; Z is very tired)

Bearblr Promptober Day 25: Size Kink (sub: Praise Kink(?))

Summary: Carmy finally figures out the duck with apple pairing for the next month's menu, and his girlfriend (who he calls Darling) has some complements to offer him. Fluff

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of trauma, comfort, finger-sucking, Fem reader who is a trauma surgeon, she/her pronouns, does this count as a praise kink? Oh well (1162 words)

Notes: All journal entries will be titled as such and tagged with #cb journal.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to @carmenberzattosgf for putting together this prompt list. Sideblog for commentary and yapping: @m-z-shoroi

Also, if random letters or words are black/white instead of the colors they should be, that's Tumblr being dumb, I've been fighting it for days.

25 Oct 2024

I don’t know how to take complements.

I get weird about it, okay? World spends enough time beating you up for shit, then—what?—someone just says something nice about you? The fuck am I supposed to do with that? Where’s the insult? Where’s the backhand?

It’s worse when it’s something I have no say over. Like since getting the fuck out of that house, I’ve gotten maybe 40 or 50 complements on my eyes. I get it, they’re huge (kind of creepy, honestly, why do people like them?), electric blue—almost an unnatural blue, but my eyelashes fall off into my eyes constantly because they can’t do their fucking job, I’ve had dark circles since I was ten, my eyebrows give up at the halfway point, I have that annoying little mole right under my eye, and if they don’t look cadaverous, they look irritated from all the shit in the kitchen or straight up fucking psycho.

I didn’t make them. I didn’t have any input into my stupid fucking owl eyes. Stop fucking complementing me on them.

“Oh my God, this is amazing,” Darling mumbled, grabbing the knife to get another slice of duck breast.

My back killed something fierce, but the pain momentarily vanished. My face hurt, I was smiling so broadly. “Yeah?”

“Mmhm! Fuck me.” She hadn’t even finished chewing her bite and was already cutting another. “Carmy, baby, this is so good. I’m so proud of you.”

Food? Food I could take a complement on. That felt like a complement, like a recognition of the effort I put into learning this craft. I’d been working on this duck with apple pairing for well over 2 weeks. I needed it by the next morning. It was my last real shot to get it right, and in a spurt of anxious energy, I got home from service with a haul of groceries and got right to trying the next iteration. It kept getting too sweet, like candied ham—only candied duck breast, which wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t right. I wanted more of the gamey notes from the duck breast, that slight metallic aftertaste. Didn’t want it getting drowned by apple.

“Woah, woah there; leave some for the chef to try,” I said, rifling through the drawer for another fork.

“No, no, come here, sweetheart.”

She hooked my chin, brought the morsel of duck to my mouth. I did expect it to taste good—fuck me, it was perfect, moist, tender, savory, gamey, sweet, tart, rich but still fresh—but the abrupt sinking heat in the pit of my stomach, that burner-like flame that sparked to life when I met her adoring expression as she fed me the bite of food? That. That caught me by surprise.

She looked proud of me. Sure, I was still getting used to her saying it to me (it still felt weird as hell but also fulfilling whenever she said it. Or when Sugar said it. Wait, has she been talking to Sugar? Have they been coordinating?), but seeing it on her face, those little crinkles in the corners of her eyes when she smiled, that cute little head tilt—it fucking sent me. My face went hot like it did when I first talked to her, I got dizzy for a moment. My heart slammed into my ribs. I wanted to see that face again, her being proud of me. Maybe it says a lot about the shitty fucking life I’ve had, but I would chase that feeling, the flighty, floaty feeling I got when Darling looked proud of me to the ends of the Earth if I had to. I need it. I need it like I need water to live.

Joy? Is this what joy feels like?

“It could be the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” she murmured. She put the fork down, then picked it up, then put it back down.

It might be the second-best thing I’ve ever eaten. “Yeah. Yeah, the splash of apple cider in the duck stock when making the demi-glace was the last thing.”

Oh, and then the tension left. I didn’t realize how much being stuck on the last item for the menu change was weighing on me until the stress winding me tight as a pulled bowstring snapped, and I plopped into the nearest dinner chair. In an instant, my entire body felt heavy. It could’ve been made of lead. My eyes refused to stay open, stung like I got pepper in them, my temples throbbed, my hands ached from holding the knives and from washing them so many times. My back hurt so bad that I’m pretty sure I groaned in pain. My shoulders ached, the space between my shoulder blades and my spine prickled with pain, my ankles hurt. Why did my ankles hurt? And why was my face even hotter? Was I about to have a panic attack?

Darling nudged my knees apart and nestled herself between them, wove her hands in my hair, brought my cheek to her chest.

“Hi, sweetheart,” she whispered.

I tried coiling my arms around her, but my hands barely made it to her thighs. “Hi.”

“Aw, did you run out of power?” she cooed.

“Mmm. I’ve been up since 4.”

“I know.” She worked her fingers in circles over my scalp, setting off goosebumps. Cool. Mercifully cool. “I woke up because I got cold.”

I found the strength to pull her in, nuzzle into her sweater, and inhale her scent. “’m sorry, baby girl. Just couldn’t sleep.”

“Can you look at me?” she whispered.

Yes. Yes, anything, of course.

I peered up at her.

She traced her thumb along my cheekbone. “I’m never going to get over how blue your eyes are, pretty boy.”

I take back what I said about complements. Please, say it again. Please. Please, tell me what else you like. Call me pretty boy again. She brushed some of my hair off my forehead, cupped my face, and—I don’t know what came over me, okay, fuck off—I slid her hand down and sucked her thumb into my mouth. I just needed something, some kind of sensation, something to focus on as the noise of the day disengaged. Quieting down was still hard for me—maybe it’d be hard for my entire life—but fucking hell, I just needed something to trace with my tongue. It set off this hot, fuzzy feeling in my core, the inverse of a panic attack, that tightness I got when she moaned my name. No, no, it was that feeling I got when she made that high-pitched whine right before she tumbled into an orgasm. That deeply sated, yet still-somehow-starved brimstone that landed in the pit of my stomach as if dropped from the sky.

She cooed, kissed the top of my head. “What are you thinking, sweetheart?”

I’m thinking about making you whine for me, pretty girl. How’s that sound?

[shiftylinguini]

Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack:

@phoebe-delia asked in response to this fun lil ask game:

Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back? . (for the ask anything) Do you have any advice for getting out of a slump/getting writing confidence back?

Now THIS. This is a good question, and something that is very much on my mind and has been for a while, as I am currently absolutely in the midst of this and trying to army crawl my way out. I don't have any magic bullets (is that the saying? idk) but I have been here before and i do have a small arsenal of tips or methods that I find can help me. 

Here is my Fuck I Can't Write Crisis Pack (In no particular order):

Write anything 

This is hardly groundbreaking advice, and it's also the hardest thing to actually do (imo) so do not beat yourself up if it takes a while to get to this. Basically, write ANYTHING―it can be aimless, it can be pointless, it can be crap (crap is subjective!! don't let the brain gremlins win!!). 

Don't think about posting it, don't worry about anyone else ever reading it, just fling a few words onto a page and feel the rusty faucet turn on, proving to yourself that it still works. 

Try and sus out what it is that's blocking you 

Again this one is hard and annoying but functional. Once you can put your finger on the particular reason you're staring at a flashing black line on a blank page it can help you kick that reason off your lawn and into the bin. 

And then, take it out of the bin and be kind to yourself about whatever that reason is. Maybe you feel shit because you're comparing yourself to others, your last fic felt like a lead balloon, you can't muster enthusiasm for what you once loved doing and fear that it's gone forever, you're projecting in a Tumblr post―whatever it is, it's something all the writers you admire and aspire to be like have felt, and been annoyed with themselves for, and so you can wrap it up in a blanket and put it on a shelf and be kind to it so it, (respectfully) shuts the fuck up. 

(and remember, everyone feels insecure about their stuff. Like literally everyone, at some stage, feels like their stuff is rubbish)

Cheat on your OTP 

Okay this one might not work for everyone, but it really does for me lol. Ruts (not the sexy kind) can often come with not wanting to engage in my usual ships, being annoyed by my lack of ability to fucking write them/anything/all my ideas taste like cardboard/bleh, and stepping out on them and reading something new can snap me out of it. Just, an injection of new ideas or scenarios or words or even just a little reprieve from being fed up with myself, which ideally, is why we're all here anyway. 

(And then I come crawling back, and am welcomed with open arms haha)

In a similar vein:

Engage in media 

This subtitle is genuinely terrible, i am sorry, LMAO, but essentially: find a piece of media that makes you go "oh, helLO sailor", unhinge your jaw like a snake, and consume it whole. 

Let it nourish you, inspire you, excite you, making you feel SOMETHING, and then take that and think "fuck, what if i wrote bleepbloopblarp" and even if you write nary a single word, you've thought about it and that fucking counts. 

It might be an album, a book, a song, a show, gifs of a hot person, the wikipedia summary of a movie, literally anything counts here if it makes you feel a twinge of creativity. 

Ask yourself, what would Astolat do? 

No for real. @candybarrnerd and I genuinely use this haha.  

Worried your idea is stupid? Astolat would say write it. 

Worried it's too weird? Nah, just write it. 

It's dumb and no one will read it? Just write it for you *waggles eyebrows* (and then find out that yeah, nah, someone else will absolutely read this and be real fucking happy about it haha.)

Worried you're a one trick pony and have already written this fic before, like, and not even once before, and also you're projecting again in Tumblr post? WRITE IT AGAIN! As Astolat once said, "it's a fic so nice, I wrote it thrice". 

It's good advice. 

Make a friend or lean hard on the ones you have here

Misery loves company because it knows they'll come out of this together :). I know, I know, that's fucking NAFF, but fandom is all about finding like-minded freaks and blowing up their DMs because you saw a gif and now feel a kind of ways about it. 

And lastly: 

FUCK STATS! 

I mean I love stats (yay validation!), but god can they make you feel like a worthless shit (hey where did my validation go :((( ). It can be really insidious, so piss that right off when it starts to fuck with your confidence or outlook on your own writing.

Hopefully there is something useful here, even if it's just looking at this advice and thinking "no that's shit, it's writing POISON" cos then you can maybe do the version you think is NOT shit, and that might work. 

Good luck, fellow travelers!!

[faerrothinks]

Sexualization of Men on Tumblr make me feel... good?

Like, it's weird? I grew up on "Male Internet" so to speak. Spaces like 9gag, Reddit, funnyjunk. It was so goddamn horny for women. Well still are, just that some of them started to shift towards femboys now.

As I grew up, I kinda got lost about how I interact with women. Getting fed these weird culture war Boys vs Girls garbage does that. So, I do what every boy does, and ask your friends, both offline and online about how to actually interact with women. Well that went terribly, most advice was crap if I'm being honest. Not to mention the large amount of friggin doomers groaning about how horrifically high women's standards are about men. As a very anxious and depressed person, I obviously fell for this. For a long time I really did think only the most masculine guy was attractive to women. While I did leave that thought in my late teens, mostly due to being the one male in a group of women, it left a psychological scar. When I'd get depressed or was particularly vulnerable the thought would come in, and I'd feel like I wasn't masculine enough to ever be loved or wanted.

Nowadays that I'm on Tumblr instead of reddit due to the exodus, it feels kinda dumb that I ever felt that way? Tumblr is I guess very "female gaze" and it feels weiiiiiird as a guy that grew up in male dominated spaces. You guys post a lot of art, a lot of unfiltered thoughts on here and the thirst for guys is real. The funniest thing is, a lot of it is for well not the most manliest guys. Like if you asked me what women wanted, I would have said it'd be the annoying sigma/alpha male shit you see on reddit so much. But that's not what's here. There's so many types of guys you people are into and it is friggin amazing!!! I fucking love it here, I feel reminded that there's a huuuuuge spectrum of guys that women can be into and it is the BEST FEELING EVER!

It feels nice here, kinda like when I'm with my group of female friends, who just happen to be all a bunch of tumblr users. So idk, maybe I should have jumped a ship a long time ago.

[zeestarfishalien]

My Graveyard Song Ch. 14

(Totally got distracted and forgot to post this to tumblr. It's been up on ao3 for a few days now)

[Masterpost]

Jason looked at the two empty bowls and one empty plate of food Danny had polished off and promptly decides to take him to Rosa Lee’s Diner. They always serve extra large portions of food that stands up to even Alfred’s high standards.

As he urges Spooky into one of the jackets left by his siblings, he shoots a text off to Cass.

[BCC plz 4 Spooky u wel 2 IOU 1 🏠��� ur chc]

By the time Cass gets there, Danny is starting on his third plate. Mind you, she got here in under half an hour and Danny is not in fact a speedster, but at the rate Danny is going, Bruce is certainly going to think someone fed a speedster.

Jason is really not sure where all this food is going. By all rights, his spooky friend should be on the verge of exploding from eating more than his body weight in food.

Even the waitstaff are watching this little meta-looking kid down pounds and pounds of food.

Cass passes Jason an unmarked black credit card and sits next to him in order to better watch Danny scarf down his waffles.

Five minutes later when their waiter swings by, Jason orders a platter of beignets and Danny orders Rosa Lee’s own personal special, a breakfast that comes with four slices of ham, a mountain of cheesy scrambled eggs, two pancakes, four breakfast sausage links, two biscuits, and an apple turnover.

At this point, the waiter doesn’t even blink, just asks if he’d like anything to add or substitute.

He asks for 3 extra pancakes.

By the time he's halfway through his stack of pancakes -the last thing left of his Rosa Lee Special- it dawns on Jason, that maybe Danny shouldn't be eating this much when he hasn't eaten regular human food in a long time.

But then again, what does he know? The world is a great big mysterious place and you cannot treat every humanoid looking being by the limitations of humans.

Danny is watching him now, an openly curious look on his face. There's a question in the air between them, even Cass picks up on it.

Carefully slow, Danny sets down his fork and finishes chewing the bite in his mouth.

"You're worried," he croaks, tapping his index finger on the table to emphasize his words.

He pauses, distracted, and looks down at his hand, repeating the motion of tapping his finger on the table while studying it closely. Jason almost breaks into laughter when Danny’s head tilts in an oddly animal like fashion.

If he needed any other proof that Spooky the dog is Danny the spirit sitting before him, this would do it.

His glowing eyes flick back up to Jason.

"Amused," he rasps out barely above a whisper. There's still that unspoken question in the air.

It finally clicks. The emotions Danny is naming are Jason’s. The question he wants to know is 'why'.

"I wasn't sure if you could get sick from overeating. Humans need to ease back into eating normal amounts but you're not human so I don't know what standard to hold you to."

Danny nods absently, his finger tap tap tapping away on the table.

"Hard to say," he says finally. His voice still sounds like gravel, not unlike Cass' own voice.

"Ecto fills in gaps. A temporary fix. Rebuilding with the right stuff now." He gestures vaguely to the empty plates stacked on their table. "Ecto is fast. I'm probably fine."

"Sorry," Jason half mumbles. "I just worry."

All movement from Danny freezes, like someone pressed pause on the TV. His eyes go wide in realization and alarm.

"Jazz..."

Jason blinks and then it hits him with the speed and force of a freight train.

"Oh shit! Jazz!" He scrambles for his phone. "Do you remember anything else about her that might help?!"

~•~

Bill would like everyone to know that he works very hard to be a good hench person.

He's not dumb. Now he may not be book smart like half the big baddies in Gotham, but he's not dumb.

He would have died long ago if that were the case. He's worked for the Red Hood for a couple years now —it's one of the best decisions he's ever made; the guy knows how to treat his hench people. What more can Bill say?— and he's avoided asking questions just like with all his hench jobs before this.

But he'd really like to ask one now that he's stuck watching years worth of security footage...

What even constitutes suspicious activity in a cemetery?

Now most people would automatically say, graverobbing, but Big Red is a Gotham native. In Gotham, no one is buried with their valuables, not unless your grave is in a super secret spot. Gothamites can smell money and anytime there's a possibility of it, people will dig up the grave in question.

Hell, the cops don't even stop for it anymore, they just keep on rollin' even if it's happening right before their eyes.

Point is, graverobbing can't be the suspicious behavior he's supposed to look for, but Bill really isn't sure what exactly does quantify as suspicious behavior to Big Red.

Everything here has been run of the mill, graverobbing, teen/young adult vandalism, or drug deals.

Yes, he considers goth teens/young adults having sex in a cemetery as vandalism too. Vandalism on his eyes, if nothing else.

He hits pause on a big white van and rubs his eyes tiredly. Perhaps it's time to call it a night. He's losing focus, getting caught up in his own thoughts.

His hand hovers over the mouse about to drag it over to close out of the program when his brain catches up to what his eyes are seeing.

The van, big, white, armored...

Now that IS unusual. Black or gray vans are the favored colors in Gotham and anyone, who knows anything about Gotham, knows that you NEVER armor up a suspicious color and type of vehicle. Not if you don't want the cops and vigilantes breaking down your door.

He can just make out two people in bright colors inside the van. They're grainy but not grainy enough for Bill to doubt the color of their outfits.

It's too bright for any regular gothamite. The only people in this city who dress like that are the big shot villains and their cronies.

The two disappear into the cemetery, out of sight of the camera with tools in hand. He scans forward a few hours (less time than he expected honestly) and slows back to normal speed just in time to watch them unload what seems to be some sort of coffin, except it's metal with glowing lines and patterns on it.

He pauses the video again and with elbows resting upon the desk he presses clasped hands against his mouth to muffle his sigh.

Well, if that doesn't constitute suspicious activity then Bill will hand in a letter of resignation and go flip burgers.

Well...time to let the boss know.

Yall thought I made up the part where Bill the Henchman comes in, but I definitely, absolutely had this planned from the beginning. [Lying]

Okay, gonna be honest, I may have had a plan for Bill, but it either was lost in the shuffle or there never actually was a plan for scenes with Bill. Considering I can only sometimes keep my dream memories from mixing with my awake memories, any hope of recovering any potential memories is nigh on impossible.

HOWEVER

I can always make new plans. AND I HAVE! So yes, we have Bill now and I'm going to pretend like this was planned all along.

Oh yeah! So Jason’s text at the beginning says: Black credit card please, for Spooky. You are welcome too. I owe you one homemade meal, your choice.

Also can you imagine being a vigilante? Bc you have at least 10 very important things you have to juggle on just an average Tuesday. This is not including sudden family disasters like a family member getting trapped in a burning building and having to go save them, plus more wild revelations about your funky supernatural roomie. So like, cut a guy some slack, I know I'd be floundering some days. Attempting to prioritize must really be a bitch some days. Just...oof...

[tasteofgummies]

ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖

Cw: mentions of murder and kidnapping

GN (fem aligned, kinda) reader! X JJBA

You could say JJBA was your comfort show, when things went wrong, when the world was overwhelming, you could always find a safe haven in the bizarre adventures of your favorite characters. Sometimes you rewatched your favorite episodes, or read some fanfic. And as sad as it sounds, you really feel close to them; yes, friends could help, but why bother? You know they won't be as great comforting you as fictional characters were. You weren't harming yourself or others, you were taking you meds and doing the things you were supposed to (most of the time) but you still feel alone some days, and you know that it's not a hole anyone can fill completely, wholely, perfectly.

You finished the episode, and went to the kitchen to grab something to eat before bed, you fed your cat and ate your snack while mindlessly scrolling through Tumblr.

Of course you had other interests, and liked other characters, but lately you had been in an extremely severe jjba brainrot, you didn't worry too much, it just happened sometimes.

However, this was the first time you had this inmese, beyond human desire, this crave for content, and it was the first time you dreamt of it so often, and also the first time you felt like they were watching you at all times, you found yourself doing all kind of silly things thinking that someone may be watching, how dumb, right? But the dumbest thing was when you saw shadows near you, or heard noises that disappeared once you went looking for the source, you even called your landlord to inform him about the noises in the walls, thinking it could be a rat problem, but you were left looking like a fool when no one else could hear them.

You put your used dishes in the dishwasher, thinking to yourself that you would finally wash them tomorrow (something you've been saying the whole week) and headed to your room. You put your phone in the charger, and think about meeting up with a friend tomorrow, you need to get out, this lonely apartment is messing up with your head.

3:06 a.m

You wake up scared, you vaguely remember your jjba related dream, but you're too frightened to pay mind to it. The noises, the noises are so loud, and so clear now. You slowly move to lock the door, trying to be as silent as you can be, and you sigh in relief when you notice your cat is sleeping in your room, safe.

Should you call the police? You can hear the loud footsteps, and the sound of your furniture being moved, of drawers being opened and rummaged through. You curse yourself, how could you be so stupid? The feeling of being watched was probably a thief stalking you to get inside your house, the noises must have been that too. You should definitely call the police, but what if they hear you?

🆃🅷🆄🅼🅿..

It's so loud, this thief must be a really big person, you have no chance if you have to fight.

🆃🅷🆄🅼🅿..

Did they hear you? Oh god, they're coming closer, you scan the room to try and find a weapon to defend yourself with, you fail.

🆃🅷🆄🅼🅿..

It's the end, it's the end, you're getting murdered, or worse, you're getting kidnapped, oh my god, you can feel it, they're seconds away

C̶̣̜̬̲̀̓̈̊̏r̷̡̢͚̠͇̺̻̟̪̃͊ͅa̷̘̼̯̪̎͒̌́̀s̵̡͈̥͕͓̘̱̲̀̈́͗̇̉͐͛͠h̷̖̟̻͙̲̺͈̐̉̽̓́̒̿!!

The door is forced open, you freeze, you cry, you can feel your heart stop. It's so dark, you can't even see the face of the person that will take your life, they're probably mad they didn't find anything too valuable

"It's you! I'm so glad I found you" they said, happily, getting close to you, he turns on the lights, and you can see their face. Otherworldly beauty, they look just like- wait,,,

"Wait- but you're not real..."

[tio-trile]

Obligatory sorry if you're fed up with GO2 asks!

I'm a new fan of the show (like, a few weeks after season 2 came out a friend lent me their Prime acc to binge watch everything) and haven't read the book at all but!

It's like in S1 Crowley and Aziraphale exist in the world and in S2 the world exists for them kind of,, in S1 the point of view shifted almost constantly and at the end the plotlines converged together in a cathartic moment for all of our beloved characters, but in S2 it's just,, present Aziracrow and past Aziracrow,, which is fine, I liked that they showcased the way they were and are with each other but it would've been better if there were less of these moments.

Talking about these, I saw that a lot of people on Tumblr were excited to see Crowley as an angel and it could've been good but. I don't get why Aziraphale HAD to be here, or more like HAD to interact with him and remember/recognize him later, and I'm not really thrilled about the fact that Crowley is implied to be someone important! It just feels like Crowley and Aziraphale aren't equals anymore ; Crowley Always Knows Best he admittedly was someone pretty important in heaven before and he feels more Holier Than Thou than the literal angel he's with?? I get that he Fell so he already knows for sure that Heaven is corrupt but,, I don't know, I feel like Aziraphale lost agency and just Can't Do Anything Right anymore! (And Crowley Can't Do Anything Wrong anymore either??)

I found the flashbacks for ineffable bureaucracy quite adorable but it was all too sudden! It feels the Gabriel mystery just wasn't progressing at all during the season and at the last minute, ta-dahh here's an exposition dumb on what happened, no build-up for the now canon pairing. Not a big fan of amnesia in general but even less when the amnesic character just gets everything back for a dramatic reveal scene, maybe I would have felt like things actually happened in this season if Gabriel was slowly able to access some memories. We could have had the build-up of him and Beelzebub planning on escaping together in the flashbacks! (And I mean, I get that there was the fly and the song but,, It didn't really affect Gabriel/Jim so it doesn't feel,,, enough?)

I was completely indifferent to Maggie and Nina. Also could've worked better as a separate POV from Aziracrow. I just didn't get enough scenes to care for them or feel any chemistry. Nina was already in a relationship, and Maggie was just crushing on her. They didn't really get together at the end but they're involved enough in the idea of them getting together in the future to give Crowley love advice and for Maggie to wait for Nina. I just don't really get it? If the goal was Maggie and Nina getting together, then they needed more time and scenes. If the goal was that they would not get together because Aziraphale and Crowley were trying to force them to be, then why saying that they "only needed a little push," that Maggie is "willing to wait for Nina," why both give love advice to a guy they barely know when they barely know each other too?

Anyways, I really liked the show (and am still eager for a potential S3)! But I feel like Neil Gaiman's writing is missing a similar style to Terry's (though obviously I wouldn't know what his writing is like since I. Haven't read the book nor other books from this/both of these actually authors), and important reoccurring characters besides Aziraphale and Crowley.

Yes, I agree with a lot of your points! And it's very interesting for me to hear that we share a lot of the same opinions although coming from different places -- being an older book fan and being a newer show-only fan. "S1 Crowley and Aziraphale exist in the world and in S2 the world exists for them" is exactly right, and similar to what I complained about not liking them "being the main characters". And I completely agree with that even if we see Angel!Crowley, Aziraphale doesn't have to be there, and also not liking that Crowley was somebody important before. And yeah, I've said it before but the Gabriel mystery and even the Nina/Maggie romance have potential, but ends up falling flat. Thank you for the ask! Apology accepted.

[xenon-demon]

I fucking love pretty much every version of the “celebrity x Just Some Guy™” trope that there is for Steddie, but in honor of having a totally reasonable amount of wine I’m going to tell you about the version I’m currently thinking about all the time, one of my dumbest yet also funniest AU concepts: modern!AU with streamers Steve & Robin and Hardcore Fan™ Eddie who writes reader-insert fic about Steve.

Steve and Robin, aka EvenStevens and BirdBox_ on Twitch (“My name is spelled with a P-H, Robin, that’s such a stupid name.” “No, it’s actually even better this way! You don’t want to just use your real government name for something like this, and you would just make your username ‘SteveHarrington01′ or something equally uninspired-”) frequently stream together and have a shared YouTube channel. They got popular doing reaction videos that quickly devolve into the pair of them bickering on camera, and since the internet just loves the ‘snarky woman and her emotional support himbo’ dynamic, they got very big, very quick. Plus, it certainly doesn’t hurt that they had the combined might of Dustin and Erica to help them bend the algorithm to their whims.

While most people recognize their platonic-with-a-capital-P soulmatism, there are still some that are convinced they’re secretly dating - they can’t decide if it’s hilarious or absolutely maddening that every time they try to disprove the rumors, they somehow get stronger. Robin doesn’t feel comfortable coming out to the internet yet, and without that trump card some people just can’t understand why they’re not dating.

...there are other sections of their fandom, however, that absolutely do believe they’re not dating. Mainly because they’d rather be dating Steve or Robin (or both!) themselves, and write all the reader-insert fanfiction you could ever possibly need about it. Robin is largely ambivalent to the concept of fanfiction being written about herself as long as they’re not writing smut, since at least that way they’re not insisting she’s dating Steve.

Steve on the other hand finds it absolutely hilarious how despite how much he’s changed, he’s back to being the heartthrob he used to be in high school - and, he’ll be honest, he thrives on the attention. He’s given everyone the green light to write whatever they want - dared them to make it raunchier, even - to the point where it’s a running joke that Steve will read your reader-insert fanfiction about him unless you tag it with some form of ‘Steve don’t look’. He even used the prevalence of fic about himself to come out on stream.

(Steve’s in the middle of re-organizing his flower field in Animal Crossing when he’s interrupted by a donation. “Hey Steve, really sorry to tell you this but people are writing porn about you... and they’re making it gay. Like writing about you getting fucked by a dude. Just wanted you to know so you can say something about it.”

Steve stops dead, his screen freezing on his open inventory. “Hey, uh, why the fuck would I have a problem about a fictional version of me bottoming? Or- wait, do I seriously give off homophobic vibes? I’m literally bisexual. Hey Dustin, can you ban that guy please? Christ, the nerve of some people. If that’s how you feel about people being gay, or about people writing things that I’ve already said I have no problem with, you can leave this stream right now because I don’t want you here.“)

Many people lost their minds after that stream, one of them being popular tumblr blog whorefireclub.

Eddie didn’t plan on starting a tumblr blog for self-insert fanfiction about a twitch streamer. Really he didn’t, and every time he thinks about it in terms that plain he kind of dies a little on the inside. It’s really all Gareth’s fault, for getting fed up with Eddie’s dumb parasocial crush on a streamer and daring him to just “get it out of his system already”. So, using a bare-bones anonymous tumblr and many, many beers as his cover story, Eddie posted some of the most quickly written and unedited pieces of writing he’s ever produced in his life.

Except he wrote it with an AMAB reader character - and for those of you unfamiliar with the reader-insert sphere, that’s like fucking hen’s teeth. People are pretty good at making things gender neutral at least in their descriptions, and sometimes the anatomy is vague enough that it’s ambiguous, but the majority is written with AFAB genitalia for the reader character.

Eddie’s little drunken post blows up, and at first, he’s never regretted a life choice more.

After thinking about it, and seeing just how many people left comments with their reblogs or came into his askbox directly to thank him for giving them the representation they wanted, he starts to feel a bit better about the whole thing. In fact, it kind of tickles his “protector of the outcasts” instincts; there are people who can’t enjoy the content they want to because it doesn’t gel with their anatomy or gender identity. Eddie could, hypothetically, if he wanted to be absolutely insane about this one hot streamer guy, help fix that problem somewhat.

A couple of months later and he’s become “the guy who writes inclusive reader-insert fic”. While a fair amount of his work is gender-ambiguous, both in anatomy and in avoiding gendered language, more than half is written for anyone who finds themselves underrepresented in the usual reader-insert scene; anyone AMAB, AFAB people who can’t do female language, he’s even written a few oneshots with intersex reader characters. He did research for it and everything. It’s certainly not how he planned for this to work out, but it’s actually kind of... nice. He’d written a lot of fanfiction in his youth, mainly about Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, and while this isn’t how he’d imagined returning to the hobby it’s actually really fun. (It’s making his celebrity crush on Steve a million times worse, of course, but he’s in denial about that so it’s totally fine.)

He’s a little shit, so his blog header has - underneath his personal details - a PSA that reads “Steve, don’t look at this unless you have the balls to shout me out on stream ;)”. Eddie thinks he’s absolutely hilarious.

Right up until he wakes up to find his following has exploded overnight, and upon checking his DMs from his mutuals realizes that - oh shit - that bastard actually did it and talked about his blog on stream.

And Steve said he liked it. Steve likes the porn that Eddie wrote about him. Jesus H. Christ, Eddie is so unfathomably fucked.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

if this were to exist as a fic it would be told through social media posts/DMs. one of those fics that uses unconventional (i.e. non-prose) formatting, you know the ones. the concept actually came from the fact I fucking LOVE fics like that, I’m a slut for any of that House of Leaves-type shit. one time I read a fic that consisted of 8 short stories and each one had a HTML puzzle you had to solve to be able to read it, e.g. one you had to highlight because the text was in white, another you needed to hover your mouse over to make it scroll through the text - I can’t remember the rest but it was SO COOL.

(or, to put this another way, I read homestuck at a formative age and it forever changed how I feel about formatting stories.)

[anonymouswarriorhumanist]

Most Irritating Sanghi on Tumblr

The name is @rhysaka after all. She is a dumbfuck. Her sources are her blackboard lectures and she thinks being nice to your maid means not being casteist. And thinks Aryan Migration theory doesnt exist over some bollocks fed to her by her sanghi cult.

I have done nothing but present valid sources but she is nothing but pathetic. Hope she finds her peace and gets rid of the internalized casteism and misogyny.

I pray for her and that crass dumfuck creep called @ghost-of-the-wind. Rhysaka is dumb but that creep is an asshole and deserves to be thrown in jail for legit sucking up to young girls on this platform. He is a creep and even sanghi girls dont deserve to come near him.

[rivangel]

I'm interested to see how the vagueposting on levi tumblr will go /pos

although I personally have no idea who everyone is referring to (I mostly mind my business), it seems that a lot of members of the community have complaints about this person. someone will likely get fed up at some point and probably make a call out post

it sucks because staying quiet might be doing more harm than good. again, I have no idea who is involved or what is being said/done by this person. I've only picked up bits and pieces from other vagueposts in the community. you don't have to be a mind reader to know that if someone is brave to make that post, they will receive so much unnecessary backlash for exposing this person 🫤

at the end of the day, we're all just here to talk about levi cock. we are grown adults with lives outside of the internet for fucks sake.

most of us don't want to engage in immature drama in the fandom space, but of course SOME PEOPLE just have to go and ruin it for everyone 🙄

numerous complaints is seriously unsurprising and it’d be nice to keep it up because:

i agree with you except for the last bit.

yes 100% we’re a fun collective interacting and having fun, but being on the internet doesn’t make interactions on here any less significant, or less-than. i’ve made a lot of my closest friends here, and got the bravery to start my transition here just for instance.

i don’t think it’s an issue of an immature person(s), but a horrible, toxic human being doing real harm to real people with real friends in this fandom space. my jokes aside, it’s really upsetting how such a vindictive narcissist can put on a shiny clean mask and come off as the opposite of who that really is. even if i didn’t have the displeasure of interacting with that, it’d be disheartening knowing that behavior and person exists. (but it’s kind of funny when it has to do with levi when levi would despise such people.)

so with people like this there’s really no way to compromise bc they will never be friendly back to u lol. not genuinely, ever. if they do something wrong, they’ll apologize because you’re mad at them and that could fuck up their reputation.

i’ve never felt this way about anyone on here before, and i hope this gets its comeuppance.

idk. don’t be a prick under the guise that you’re tOo hOnESt. be genuine. have empathy, literally just care about people besides yourself. dont be acting like you’re towering over peers you’re actually standing with. don’t act dumb when you know exactlyyyy the messed up stuff you’ve done and said. don’t shit talk and be surprised by what happens later. just be idk. normal.

[columboscreens]

i was asked recently about my top three and top ten columbo murderers who i think most deserved their fate. after wrangling with the tumblr post editor undoing my text changes and fucking up my photo placement, i finally finished the post. everything looked good in the drafts, in the queue, and in the blog preview.

then for some ungodly reason tumblr published the rough draft version of the post i'd written weeks ago anyway. i got so frustrated i yelled expletives and nuked it. so i'm starting anew. without further ado,

here are the top ten piece of shit columbo murderers who absolutely deserved it:

justin rowe & cooper redman, columbo goes to college: truly, i hate these two scum-sucking motherfuckers the most. they're brats, yes, but look at the absolute dogshit stakes at hand. all the other murderers in this show are killing for true love, power, multimillion dollar fortunes, careers of great prestige--usually for that upon which they've staked their entire lives. these two tar pits blow their professor's brains out because they Got Bad Grades, which was their fault to begin with! they bully columbo mercilessly. i can't even look at them without wanting to throttle them

dr. barry mayfield, a stitch in crime: though his reasoning for murder starts out with at least some comprehensible amount of dignity, he quickly devolves into one of the most evil murderers of the series, not only by trying to off his research lead, but for causing so much collateral damage. he kills his nurse for knowing too much, sure, but killing her poor vietnam vet ex who's trying to shake his perc addiction while working at the petting zoo is…almost comically evil. it's no wonder columbo gets visibly fed up with his shit.

commissioner mark halperin, a friend in deed: god this guy is such a huge piece of shit. he's a spectacularly corrupt cop, covering for his friend's manslaughter and then using it as an excuse to drown his own wife for her money--to make it worse, his wife is somehow an absolute sweetheart angel darling who spends all her time working with underpriviliged children and people of color. then he's dumb enough to let columbo, the star detective with a 200% solve rate, work on the case, while also openly disparaging and discouraging him. utterly contemptible.

nelson hayward, candidate for crime: in typical politician style, so plastic and two-faced that he's not even a real human being. cheats on his adorable wife with a 20-year-old floozy and then gets mad at his clearly fantastic campaign advisor for wanting him to get a grip and fix his fucking marriage. then he shoots him about it. then he tries to make everyone think he's in danger--and he's such a rutting, lying pig that his own wife clearly believes columbo more than she believes him.

sean brantley, columbo cries wolf: i'm not sure if there exists a more smug columbo villain than sean brantley. uniquely repugnant in that he uses and abuses columbo to generate a media frenzy, then mocks and embarrasses him on international television. uniquely moronic in that when he actually DOES do a murder he hides his partner's body in…his own wall? with her smart watch still attached to her wrist. actual dirt man

dale kingston, suitable for framing: total piece of shit who always thinks he's the cleverest person in the room. says the absolute dumbest shit about art all the time; as in, literally everything that comes out of his mouth makes you want to curbstomp him. the girl who loves him gets kind of scared about being an accessory to murder, so instead of being reassuring in any capacity, he brains her with a big rock. this man deserved impalement

paul galesko, negative reaction: starts off the episode SO sympathetic when we see how bitchy and abusive his wife is, then immediately vanquishes all sympathy by being the most annoying, insufferable fuckhead at all times. fucked around with yet another 20-year-old floozy, killed an ex-con who was trying to rebuild his life, and planned everything poorly. is terribly mean to columbo…

milo janus, exercise in fatality: a complete fucking slimeball with vanishingly few redeeming qualities. kills a guy with his bare hands for even suggesting cooked books and then taunts his estranged widow about it by...asking her to fuck? (in all fairness--he has to maintain Quality. when he grows? you grow). it's no wonder that columbo loses his shit and yells at him

emmett clayton, the most dangerous match: seldom talked about in these conversations but he is so smug and killed one of the least deserving columbo victims because…he's a massive fucking coward who is incapable of losing. pathetic! get over yourself! plus this guy was like Ooo i am so Extremeley Jeanius but when columbo diverted his attention for like five seconds he lost to a fucking fool's mate. literally the quickest way you can lose a game of chess. real bobby fischer swag you big goofy ass bitch. grow up moron

harold van wick, playback: just the most abrasive fucking asshole the entire episode. insufferable proto-tech bro who is mean to beautiful radiant sweetheart gena rowlands and not even in the smug columbo murderer way, just an old school ableist/misogynist who openly says shit like why should i allow my dumb disabled wife to Make Decisions. doesn't even pretend to be nice to columbo at any point and not in the charming robert culp way. loathsome garbage heap of a man.

honorable mentchies go to jack cassidy nazi magician, evil french chef, pedophile johnny cash, weird italian polycule artist, and both william shatners. fuck you

[superectojazzmage]

Imma be honest, this whole situation with the Vulture article about Spider-Verse and the working conditions behind it are saying less to me about the industry’s very real problems and more about Twitblr’s tendency towards absolutely ridiculous overreaction, jumping to conclusions, poor fact-checking, and tendency to care more about making themselves mad and upset then actually helping anybody. And also kinda makes me feel like “crunch” might be about to go up on the shelf of “words that Tumblr has made completely meaningless”.

Actually reading the article and not just pissing and shitting with rage in the comments over the headline leads to a somewhat nuanced and honestly not-especially-damning-or-dramatic context:

Four animators (on a team of over a thousand) claim that Sony asked animators to work bullshit hours on this project and lowballed them on pay, which is something Sony has been accused of before with other projects and is a common criticism of the big studios in general. However, they also say that a lot of these bullshit hours were made up of low periods where they weren’t really doing a lot of work.

There’s some complaining about Phil Lord’s loose and improvisational approach to filmmaking not gelling with an animation project of this size and nature, leading to dumb mistakes like redoing already completed sequences that exacerbated some of the deadline crunches that Sony pulled.

These four animators found it disheartening to have their work cut from the finished project, mainly because they couldn’t add a lot of it to their reels, but they also feel they were properly compensated for the overtime and down periods.

100 animators left the project for various reasons over the course of production, but this doesn’t actually say much because, again, the animation team had over a thousand people on it; this is actually an impressively small turnover rate for a production of this size.

All of this is presented without any actual proof of the claims beyond the word of these four animators, who it should be noted are giving it anonymously. Literally the only evidence they even exist is that the Vulture writer says. So, like, not exactly a smoking gun. Sony has denied the accusations, with Amy Pascal giving a rather snappish and testy response to it that pretty much amounts to “if these people are really who they say they are, they’re full of shit and need to get over themselves and accept how filmmaking works”. Phil Lord and Chris Miller have not commented at all to my knowledge.

All in all, it seems like kind of a nothing burger story. More talk about the crappiness of the entertainment industry’s way of doing things and how poorly the big studios treat animators, more talk of the importance of unionizing, but nothing especially major, not very dramatic compared to other horror stories that have come out over the years, and there’s not even any REAL evidence the claims are true (sorry if my standards of proof are a bit higher than “anonymous person said so!”).

The main conclusions to draw are that Sony sucks, there’s a lot institutional problems in the animation industry that need to be fixed, unions are good, and Lord and Miller can be major pains to work with when put in the wrong environment. Pretty much all of which was well-known prior to this.

And yet, the reaction has been so needlessly strong. Like, I understand that people are fed up with this kind of shit and it’s justifiable to be annoyed about crunch or to sympathetic to the supposed plight of these animators… but Jesus Christ. The way people are despairing and throwing sobbing fits in comments about not being allowed to enjoy anything and “no ethical consumption”. The way these somewhat mild problems are being described as “ANIMATORS MADE TO WORK TO DEATH IN SWEATSHOP CONDITIONS”. The way Lord and Miller are being instantly turned on and called narcissistic abusers (something the article never even ONCE approaches). The hyper-cynical, masturbatory, and snooty “disappointed but not surprised” pessimism. The exaggerated crying for the animators like they’re dying crack babies made to toil in a radium mine and not normal people complaining about a crappy job.

It all feels very… well, pathetic at best. Performative at worst. Because I genuinely don’t know how many of these people complaining are actually gonna, like, do anything about it, nor how this complaining into the void without doing anything is helping anyone. And it’s plainly apparent from a lot of the comments that many of the people posting these rants have not actually read the article, just the headline and other comments. At the very least, it says some very bad things about the internet’s current, corporate-and-social media-encouraged zeitgeist of constant misery porn, melodramatic hysterics, purity culture, needlessly angry and confrontational activism, and convicting by public opinion before all the facts are in (or even willfully ignoring facts for the sake of fueling the complaining train).

I also feel like this is all very counterproductive to the effort of workers rights, as it’s kind of making the people involved look bad and making their complaints look petty and overblown, when in reality there’s absolutely a lot of real problems that need to be addressed.

I also also feel like we’re really reaching a ridiculous point with the whole “no ethical consumption under capitalism” bullshit, where people are acting like even the slightest bit of pain in any industry taints everything about it and means every person who buys the product is complicit and there’s “no escape from the sin” which is a completely batshit stupid way of viewing the world. But I digress.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I think I realized what an impossible task I have at my job to accomplish, and how the teachers view the library staff as a parasite.

Some of it is my fault.

But in retrospect, it's as if I sneezed loudly at a wrong moment, and now the Staff there treat me like a batman tier war criminal, and it's entirely unfair.

Example and dumb rambles of Teacher staff drama under the cut cus I'm fed up and just making this Tumblr post to vent if anything.

Today, there was a buffet potluck for Teacher staff. So I asked if I could have some. They said yes. But once I had food, they were upset I was eating "teacher staff" food and it wasn't for Library Staff.

They even sent the Elementary Guidance Councilor to tell me this. And they spoke in the same voice that they use for five year olds having a disagreement.

But this wasn't a disagreement, more of a misunderstanding.

I mean, did they think I'd eat the whole potluck? Did they want me to contribute?

I gladly would have. Heck, I could have given the parent teacher association money if that's what this was about.

I know why they treat me this way. It's because I took a few small foods from the PTO breakroom in the past without paying for them. Planning to pay back once I got my paycheck. (I'm not the only one to do this. The few teachers who I am friendly with do this all the time and assured me it was fine.)

This was over five months ago and I have since payed back the money, apologized for my mistake and misunderstanding, and have been trying to move on. As my job revolves around having good working relationship with the staff there.

So I will admit fault for my slip ups of work related hunger and poverty.

I can take responsibility for my actions, and I have sense been trying to build my relationships up since.

What I didn't appreciate was that they told me I was allowed to potluck functions, something I double checked and asked about, and made sure it was absolutely okay for me to have this food, which they said alright, then got mad when I took a small amount of food, locked me out of the breakroom, despite me having a key, and treated me like a war criminal or a Snorlax that'll eat the whole damn potluck.

Not to mention, my boss also wants me to "come up with something" to organize the library in a new way.

When they admitted personally that they don't know what they want.

So I don't know what to research.

But since I'm on probation on yet another job, I will get fired if I don't find or come up with something they want by the end of the month.

The task is impossible.

Partially self inflicted. I know I did some of this myself. But I don't think it's all self inflicted. I think it's also part of the Teacher Staff being very catty and clichey and just treating the library staff like unwanted parasites or outsiders.

And I don't think I deserve a lot of the isolation that they put me though. (I either have a choice of eating in the hallway where the library is located or a broom closet these days. And yes, the superintendent was the one who made this "compromise" so their food doesn't get "stolen" Granted, the custodians can't use the breakroom now either.... But the substitutes can.)

Either I'll quit or be fired by the end of the year.

I think I'm too autistic to have a job where building relationships and have everyone like you be part of my job description.

I feel I'm too autistic for a job anymore in general.

Anyway, long story short:

Me: oh cool. Nice food. Can I have some?

Them: sure.

Me: (eating) them: no, no. Bad girl. That's teacher food.

[femmefeedist]

*Read me first* FAQ:

-----

💓 What are your pronouns, gender & orientation?

I use she/her, I'm a cis female & I'm queer 🥰

❤️ Are you dating anyone?

I'm madly in love with my girlfriend @in-love-with-fat 🥰🥰🥰 We're both lil tumblr s!uts so feel free to flirt with either of us but we're not poly so we're not looking for another committed relationship.

🔥What kind of k!nks are you into?

I'm a switchy feedee/feeder princess into all sorts of hot things, especially feedism and power play. I'm still exploring my k!nky side so this isn't exhaustive at all (& tumblr keeps flagging my pinned post so some of these are descriptions rather than the actual names of what they are)

My subby side:

getting (over)fed/stuffed

*ntox

getting teased for gaining weight

turning off my brain and going dumb

being bred and claimed and used

getting dressed up how you want me

calling you daddy

My princess side:

teasing you

overfeeding you

dom*nating you

getting worshipped by you

draining your wallet

General:

pet play

some consenual non-consent

✨ How much weight have you gained since becoming a feedee?

I used to be 120lbs at my lowest when I was a model and an athlete but I've definitely filled out since then. I have a fast metabolism and I don't gain weight easily naturally, so every bit of pudge I put on is extra hot for me. I don't reveal my weight on tumblr, just on OF, and I only weight myself once a month at most so I don't obsess over the numbers. I will say my new baseline weight (where I hover if I'm not trying to gain or lose) is around 140lbs.

🍀 How did you get into feedism?

I've literally *always* been fascinated by weight gain, overeating, feeding others, and fatter bodies since I can remember. I'm definitely one of those people who didn't use the word "belly" or "tummy" as a kid because it felt so *inappropriate* and I remember distinctly wondering (as a child) how I'd look if I gained weight and I couldn't wait to get fat "when I grow up" 😅 (I think I assumed everyone just got fat when they got older and I couldn't wait lol). When I was in college I saw a youtube video about feedism and everything clicked. I was "just" a feeder for awhile until I realized I'm a total switch and started gaining weight myself. Now I indulge both sides and I love it!

✉️ Can I DM you?

I'm super friendly & I don't bite so feel free to comment on any of my posts or send asks! I don't reply to DMs on here unless I message first or unless you want to feed me/sponsor/donate/buy a clip/etc - I get too many tumblr messages so I have to be very discerning with replies. I have an ~0nlyFans~ where I *do* reply to every message & make spicier/more personalized content (and longer videos, clips, gif sets, etc).

✨ Any specific boundaries?

Do not message me if you're under 18. Do not send me photos of your body parts without asking first. Do not ask to meet/feed me IRL - I'm just an online girly! Do not get mad at me if I don't reply to your DM or ask.

I'm very very open with k!nk talk and there isn't much I won't talk about/fantasize about, and I'm totally ok with you calling me names when you tease me so no need to hold back 🔥

[queenhawke]

ok here’s all my Thoughts about mq s3 and why it’s probably the weakest season so far.

tl;dr It just feels like they wrote themselves into a corner with how s2 ended and then didn’t know how to continue on from there. And it’s disappointing! It’s back to how it was in s1 where the only real strong character arc is Ian and Poppy’s, and the rest of the characters are just kinda… there to do funny stuff. And it’s not the worst thing in the world and they kiiiinda pull it together a little in the finale, but it’s disappointing because we know they can do good character arcs for all the characters simultaneously, because they did that in s2! Also fuck NFTs

Rest is under a read more bc I told y’all I’d write a novel

let’s compliment sandwich this so good things first:

The GrimPop storyline was good! Easily the strongest aspect of the season, tho I feel like Ian Winger-speeching himself out of the conflict was maybe a bit too easy? It was a good speech, I liked it, it fits their weird toxic codependent relationship well, but I would have liked to see him doing more for Poppy. Ah well, still good.

The bad is uhhh a lot. I don’t even know where to begin.

Actually let’s start with the metaverse/NFT shit, because it was shit and really soured me on the first half of the season. I get why these topics were included, it was a hot issue when they were writing the season, but it sucks how they were implemented. First off, it’s aged like milk, what with the multiple crypto crashes and NFTs kinda disappearing out of the collective consiousness (thank christ). Second, the fact that there’s no talk of the negative aspects of NFTs. Atrocious, especially concerning Rachel, who, being ostensibly the leftist of the group, should really at the very least have brought up the negative impact on the environment that NFTs/crypto has. Unfortunately, it does make sense why this happened. Ubisoft was one of the first game companies to use NFTs in their games, and Rob Mcelhenney owns one of those ugly fucking apes (I hope for his sake he’s sold it already), so he’s clearly invested in this shit. Obviously neither was gonna shittalk NFTs when they have such a big monetary stake in them. Hugely disappointing, but not surprising.

Now the characters... let’s start with Dana, because her “character development” was easily the most baffling to me. Like. Who is this? Where did this mini-Ian come from? This isn’t who Dana was. She had confidence, sure, but not Ian levels of delusional confidence. And like, what was the point of making her so much like Ian? How did that serve her character? Most she did was act like a kind of mediator between Ian and Poppy, but what did it do for her? The last ep kinda wrangles this into her being fed up with them and starting her own thing, but like, she was happy to hang out with Ian for most of the season. I dunno, I can kinda see what they were going for, but it doesn’t feel like there was a proper build-up to that final episode.

Let’s go to everyone’s favourite tumblr sexyman, Brad. Again, the last episode blatantly states his “arc” (working his way up to being in power again), but like. All the stuff inbetween doesn’t feel like it really adds up to anything. I mean, what did him being the janitor really... do. He acts like he’s up to something, but then he isn’t, and by ep 3 he’s already just doing HOMIE stuff again. I think it could have been so much more fun if he’d actually used his position as a janitor to weasel his way back into monetization. Like, digging up dirt on people and stuff. And again the build-up to the finale wasn’t really there. Oh, he wants a challenge now? He never talked about that. Where did that come from? Why not seed that more? Also, would have liked for his eating disorder to be addressed more. It’s so rare to see men with eating disorders on tv, it could’ve been something special. Maybe next season.

Rachel... I’m highly skeptical of her suddenly being “dumb”. Like sure, she was always shown to be a little airheaded, but it feels like they really turned it up to 11 and like... for what? It reminds me too much of how Britta was treated in later seasons of Community, and that was shitty then and is shitty now. It’s just wild to me that they’d have this whole arc in s2 about her finding her passion, and then they just throw it away. She could’ve been the new writer instead of the new HOMIE! Also, if she’s so dumb, how can she be made the new HOMIE at all. That’s a high fucking position, and you expect me to believe they just gave that to some rando ex-tester? I know MQ isn’t realistic, but I have my limits. And then they kinda lampshade that by having Brad be like “oh I engineered this” but that just feels lazy. Like my brother in christ you put her in this storyline, don’t act like it all meant nothing now. Also I know capitalism is a hell of a drug and I love me a corruption arc but could we for once have a leftist character on tv who like. Sticks to their guns and isn’t a massive hypocrite. Please.

THE LACK OF REAL STORYLINE BETWEEN BRAD AND JO. Hello he went to jail for her??? Hello?? Can we address this? Even a little? Maybe in the ep called TO CATCH A MOUSE?? It wasn’t even a mouse but you named it To Catch A Mouse and then you don’t have some sort of conversation between the mouse and the shark hello? Do I have to do everything myself around here??

Also, C.W. @kaitcake1289​ already wrote a good post on this but I’d just like to reiterate what a disappointment it is that his death seemingly has zero impact on anyone. And it could have been such a good way to tie all the characters together, which I think was sorely needed with how divided they were between MQ and GrimPop. The grief they would all feel from losing the studio’s weirdo grandpa could have been such a nice overarching theme. And it could all impact them in different ways and drive their arcs this season! Just a missed opportunity, and frankly a weird way to treat the death of one of the major characters. Even Pierce’s death in Community was more impactful, and he left because there was major beef between the actor and the showrunner.

I’m a bit hmm about the idea of Dana/Jo/Brad in their own studio, bc I just don’t think splitting the characters up like this worked out this season, but we’ll see. I hope they have an actual plan this time lmao.

Okay other end of the compliment sandwich uhhhhh. I think David’s arc was decent. It was nice to see him get along with Jo and to see him stand up for himself. Um. The Christmas ep was very good. Sarian was another banger backstory ep. In general there were loads of jokes I liked! I’m just disappointed with how the characters that weren’t Ian or Poppy were treated.

[animentality]

Can we all agree that Twitter was the worst social media even before Muskrat bought it?

It's always been demonic. Tumblr and Reddit and Facebook and Instagram might be fucking cringy and harmful in their own special ways, but Twitter is literally where people go to harass celebrities and organize riots.

Twitter's like system is bullshit, its algorithm is random. Even people who are saying something so fucking far removed from the general populace's opinion and morality can blow up and become Twitter famous.

It's so fucking stupid that your entire feed is just fed to you by an algorithm. You could be the most liberal person in the world and still get fucking conservative politicians all over your feed.

At least Reddit is subdivided into subreddits so if you really want to avoid stupid shit, you just don't use r/all. At least Reddit lets you DOWNVOTE people and let them know their opinion is considered shit.

At least on Tumblr you just follow who you want to follow and never have to be subjected to anything you would really hate (for the most part). The chronological algorithm is one of the most freeing things about this place.

Plus you can get your ass obliterated by Tumblr, even though we don't have downvotes.

The reblogging system lets you obliterate the OP's bad opinion in a way that quote retweets never could.

And sure, Tumblr chased off John Green and xkitguy. Tumblr has definitely been the Bad Place before, harassing small artists and creatives and starting truly awful discourses.

But it's NOTHING compared to Twitter harassment like where do you even fucking start?

There are so many celebrities who have gotten harassed on Twitter, to the point where they just had to delete their Twitter or stopped responding to any comments.

There are literally too many to name, I'm not even going to bother. I might argue that every single celebrity has been harassed at least a few times for something dumb!!

Celebrities don't have to name themselves here!

Celebrities are less likely to be harassed on Reddit too.

Twitter is where all the fucking branding and marketing people go because it's like a fucking lottery system, where you never know what'll go viral, but when it does, it goes big.

But the negative side of that is the fact that the WORST FUCKING PEOPLE go viral and extremists become the norm.

And you have yourself a gas echo chamber, where everyone is being poisoned by each other's bad faith discourse.

It is the fucking worst.

Not to mention that their bot problem is worse than any fucking where else.

Russian bots were here too, but more people use Twitter, so the bots there are much more influential.

Also think of this bullshit right?

Twitter is swarming with narcissists. Celebrities, pseudo celebrities, streamers, stock traders, nft bros.

All kinds of people who have to hock their products.

I myself joined Twitter so I could promote my books and try to reach out to literary agents. But there are so many people doing the same shit that you get lost in the white noise of desperate, begging people, who are all trying to make themselves something.

It's fucking sad and depressing.

People on Reddit don't care about being followed. Tumblr hides your follower count from your followers.

I don't know about Facebook because I haven't had one since 2013, but I assume you still have to friend people.

But Twitter is just this out of control mess of narcissists and echo chambers and no matter how rancid your opinion, people will still like it if it goes viral, and no amount of counter points or ratios matter, because in the end, you went viral.

and it's honestly only fucking fitting that Elon Musk bought that vipers' nest.

He's so fuckng egotistical and narcisstic that they go together like peanut butter and jelly.

[kaesaaurelia]

An employer would absolutely go to jail for hiring an assassin to kill somebody. A ton of very wealthy mobsters have gone down for murder.

[Context, I assume, is this post I reblogged and added to about the Boeing CEO confessing to workplace retaliation, which is being widely interpreted on Tumblr as being a straight-up murder confession.]

Sorry, anon, I'm laughing a little because you are sending these asks to someone whose hyperfixation (and thus the inexplicable setting of many a fanfic not actually about a canon set there) is late 19th and early 20th century Chicago history, so I am pretty familiar.

I do agree that generally if you make a habit of doing or contracting murders the Feds will probably try to get you on something, but I don't have a ton of faith in the justice system for a number of reasons, and I'm not willing to concede with absolute certainty that the CEO of a large corporation would get prison time if they participated in a conspiracy to commit murder, depending on how well they had their shit together. But even habitually corrupt politicians and public figures seem to fuck up and get caught because they forgot about fucking phone taps (my old boss and I used to make fun of these guys for not doing their negotiations in-person like sensible people, and I had a job interview recently with a guy who was convicted of ripping up his competitor's election yard signs, which is like... buddy you could have paid someone cash to do that and probably had a 100% less embarrassing wikipedia page, or just.... not done it???), so yeah, I do think your average murderous CEO would probably fuck up and get caught.

It's still safe to say that barring extraordinary circumstances a CEO would still get prison time if he confessed to this under oath, to Congress. Don't get me wrong, I can think of half a dozen CEOs dumb enough to do this either shamelessly or by accident, but a. yeah, it would definitely mean jail and b. Dave "The Boeing Guy" Calhoun is not one of those guys.