#Guys guess who my favourite character is (impossible)

[johanna-swann]

Post 8x16 thoughts nobody asked for:

Starting with the positives: The episode was solid and it did make me quite emotional. I really liked the flashbacks and ghost!Bobby. It would've felt incredibly weird if we'd just never got to see him again and I miss him so much already. Bobby is probably my favourite character on this show. Was. I wonder if there are going to be many more flashbacks in the last two episodes.

Kenneth Choi FINALLY got a plot that actually revolved around his character again, not Maddie. It wasn't about her trauma or their marriage, their child, their future as a couple, it was about Chimney as an individual outside of his relationship with Maddie. (It's been 84 years, etc.) He did such a good job too. Chimney is usually the peacemaker, now he's the pot-stirrer. A few lines seemed somewhat over the top and illogical: On the one hand he insists he blames Bobby for giving up on finding a way out and that he doesn't really blame himself (he wishes Bobby had lived, he thinks it's unfair he got to live and Bobby didn't, but he doesn't believe it was his fault), then again he says stuff like "I already killed my last Captain". Idk, seems like they were forcing the drama here a little. But all in all I'm glad they focused on Chim again for once. They already gave us a very beautiful Buck&Chim scene and I hope they follow up on this a little more.

Athena being a little all over the place yet still trying to stay on top of things and doing her lone wolf thing was very in character. (Also a great opportunity taken with the fight between her and Chim.) I kinda wish she had gone to someone and admitted she needs help/comfort/support instead of everyone having to chase after her, but oh well. Her scenes with Hen and her kids especially were amazing.

On to the questionable stuff: I did not expect there to be a time skip this big (Hen back at work? Chim back at work? Maddie much more visibly pregnant? It's been a month at least I'd guess, but it kinda worked.) and I didn't expect the funeral to just be a montage at the end of the episode. Look at all the trucks and ambulances, the street had to be closed down, there were dozens of extras and everything. This must've cost the show a fortune AND it got spoiled weeks and weeks in advance. For an end of episode montage. Not worth it, very much not worth it. No wonder this show has budgeting issues. Who needed this? We already know Bobby was a hero. You don't have to convince us by squeezing a few more trucks and engines in one frame in a montage at the end of the episode.

In general I wish we'd got a little less pizzazz around the funeral and instead a little more focus on the characters. Athena and Chimney got their chance to shine and it looks like Hen will battle her grief through the Captaincy question next episode, but between the burning water and end of season earthquake disaster - when will the other characters have time to grieve? Bobby's mother was there, but she didn't have a single line. Buck was... extremely well put together (for now). Eddie had very little to do in general.

Also, why did they bring back Gerrard AGAIN only for him to play grumpy but sympathetic grandpa AGAIN? He got to show more of his grief than Buck, Eddie, Ravi, Maddie, Karen, Tommy or Hen. Why do they keep bringing him back and why do they keep writing him as a bit of a drill sergeant, but otherwise harmless? That is the same guy who called Tommy a fairy to his face last season, right? At least this time they confirmed upfront a different Captain will be taking over soon and I guess we should be grateful Brad was only there as a foto on that shrine.

The episode also didn't answer any of the burning questions that still remain with other loose ends. Like what will happen with Eddie? He was barely in the episode, he came to LA alone and had next to no dialogue. It was impossible to read the vibes here one way or another. I still have no clue whether he'll move back during the finale or leave the show after season 8.

They still didn't adress the Bucktommy situationship. And let me be clear, I didn't want or expect a full love confession / reunion or confrontation / closure subplot, but they didn't even exchange so much as a glance. Buck voiced his intention to call Tommy, talk things through and apologise for lashing out in 8x11. 8x16 is over now and they still haven't talked even though we had a few time skips and months have gone by. They're not only dragging this out for us as the viewers, a huge amount of time has also passed in universe.

Again, there are only two episodes left, both of which seem to have big emergencies and there is a lot of ground they still need to cover. We need an answer to the Eddie question, they need to make a decision about Bucktommy one way or another, they need to name a new Captain, they need to let the other characters grief, Maddie needs to give birth at some point (they could let this happen between seasons, but why would they?), there will possibly be more flashbacks and they only have ~90 minutes for all of it.

So yeah, 8x16 by itself was fine, love how they involved Peter Krause and Athena working through her grief by working a case was interesting to watch. But I'm growing more and more agitated about the things they haven't addressed yet.

(I mostly worry about Buck's plot(s) tbh. For Hen they already confirmed she'll have to think about stepping up as Captain. Maddie and Chim will have a second child. Athena and Chim had a lot of screen time this week. The Texas arc is almost over, they can just have Eddie move back and give him a bigger plot again next season or give him a heartfelt goodbye and be done with it. All of that seems manageable even in 2 episodes. But Buck has two big unfinished businesses NOW that are somewhat complex and I hope to god they don't plan on dragging them into season 9. They already didn't let him have feelings about Maddie's abduction in a way that was absolutely ridiculous and only made an off-handed "oh he handles it rather maturely" comment in an interview to explain it, if they now also gloss over Buck's grief and have him handle losing Bobby "maturely" then I will lose it. Also they either need to give us at least a hint at a Bucktommy reunion or finally let Tommy go. I can't handle a second summer break like the last one.)

[a-coolrock]

“the past is a grotesque animal” 8” x 10” canvas with acrylic paint, crayon, oil pastel, posca pen, & nail polish

i started this one the same day i started the last one if it wasn’t obvious by the theme of fan being the focus and an of montreal song being the inspiration,,, i just finished this one later because it’s bigger & i WANTED to use clay on this but i don’t know where my clay is….. MAYBE I’LL FIND IT NEXT TIME!!!!!! (HOPEFULLY) ALSO i know this one’s more choppy and messy and not as clean/flat colored as the last painting but that was SORT OF the point and also I REALLY DONT LIKE PAINTING LAYERS IT TAKES TOO LONG AND I AM VERY IMPATIENT … so i use crayon instead heheh

other versions as well!!!!! this time i put the non-shiny/glittery one as a secondary variation because the quality is SO BAD AND IT SCREWED THE COLORS UP . also kind of figured out how to get the glow in the dark to show up on camera … it’s brighter in real life & i had to use SO MANY FILTERS just 4 that 2 show up…….

[catocappuccino]

U zee being cool and allat... like she always is

+ two random doodles

[moldy-flowers]

Sometimes I wonder who Sasuke is. Who he would be if everything that made him himself wasn't erased or sanded down into a blade

[temis-de-leon]

Obey Me and Streamer!MC

Characters: gn!MC

Main Masterlist

A/N: I wrote this in half an hour because I couldn't get it out of my head. It's not proofreaded (at all), so the grammar is weird.

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While most people are ready to forget the quarantine due to Covid-19 and all related loses, it would be borderline disrespectful for you to ignore how much of a goldmine it turned out to be in your situation.

You already had a Twitch account in which you streamed religiously from three to four times a week, and that gave you a small, yet loyal number of followers. From Just Chatting to Gaming and even a couple of amateur events, people liked the way you played and how you interacted with the chat.

It wasn’t enough to make a living, but you saved enough to improve your setup and buy more games to amplify the variety in your channel.

By the time everyone was forced to stay inside and discovered you, you had managed to have your own aesthetic, some niche memes and harmless beef with your subs.

Everything went up from there, and in a couple of years you reached 3 million subs on Twitch, and almost the same amount on YouTube and Twitter.

It’s easy to say you were more than happy and content with your life. You had plans for the future and for your channel, and life couldn’t seem more perfect.

And then you disappeared.

Out of nowhere.

Your family, irl friends and online friends knew nothing of your whereabouts, and as much as they wanted to keep everything under the radar to not raise suspicions, it was impossible to fool the internet forever.

Only a month passed until Twitter went insane with theories and multiple YouTube channels uploaded videos describing “what really happened to you” and “the dark secrets that led to your disappearance”.

Of course, all you had to do was ask Diavolo to give you your human phone so you could give your loved ones an explanation and keep the police uninvolved.

Your first tweet after three whole months consisted of a selfie surrounded by a bunch of unknown, handsome men.

People went absolutely batshit crazy.

It was the ‘I lived bitch’ meme, but with even less context.

You needed to start a threat or post a couch video for your hardcore fans so they didn’t get unnecessarily worried. After all, they went from seeing you almost every day of the week to nothing at all for months.

You said that you took a very “in the spur of the moment” decision and that you were living abroad for the time being, for a year. The guys in the selfie were your roommates, and no, you weren’t dating any of them.

Fanmade edits were being made as you recorded that update video.

As months go by, you only stay present on Twitter, sharing memes and daily moments of your life and interacting with your fans and whatnot.

They learn that one of your roommates is a beauty content creator, but they can’t find his channel anywhere. Another one of them is a hardcore otaku, who, despite the surprising amount of fans amongst your subs, doesn’t like sharing his face on the internet.

The one dressed in a suit that watches you with bedroom eyes is a favourite, but so is the one that can’t admit how much he likes you. However, some people prefer the radically different twins or the book-lover blonde boy with a serious obsession with cats.

There are literal fights about the brothers in the comments and replies, and some of them are kind of worrying.

You guess that’s what parasocial relationships do to people.

One of the best days in your Twitter, which will probably be remembered forever, was when your dark-skinned friend posted a picture of his little brother and his roommate making a mess in the kitchen.

You apologized and said he didn’t know much about technology, that he did it on accident, but the tender moment will remain as iconic for as long as you allow it.

Another time to remember is when you posted a picture with the man that started it all.

The day your mysterious coordinator and his soft-spoken assistant appeared in your feed was the day you hired more moderators for your Discord.

All in all, it was a weird period for your channel.

You organized a comeback stream, not expecting much to happen, but lo and behold, your follower amount almost doubled.

Some conspiracy theorists accuse you of faking everything for views, but what are you going to do about it? Cry? You know the truth, and so do the most important people in your life. You left and now you’re back, let the haters cry about it.

It’s obvious in camera that you’re happier than ever, anyway, so your fans are content.

And then the donations start coming.

At first it’s your usual subs, ecstatic to see you back, but also newcomers who’re just discovering your channel thanks to the Twitter threads.

After a short while, the new donations grow. It goes from several 100 bits to some scattered 500, to a couple of 5,000 every now and then and to a steady 25,000 donation every stream.

People are wild, wondering who TheRealKingOfHell6D6 could be and why he’s giving you so much money so often.

It’s obvious that you changed after your absence, but you’re still healthy and very obviously thriving, so no one says anything of substance.

It all adds to your new mysticism.

The day you make a stream with your new friends, you break records.

Suffice to say, that stream is one of the longest and most chaotic of your channel, and not much time passes before you start seeing other streamers react to the best moments.

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Taglist: @ilovecandys2010 @ollieoven @kingofspadesdelusion @whimsybloom @mia4gotcookiez

[directdogman]

Each Dialtown cast member shares their favourite Muppet!

Idea: Characters from the cast of Dialtown are asked to share their favourite characters from The Muppets, in order to get the Muppets fandom on board with DT, which winds up being a largely fruitless ordeal.

Gingi insists that Grover and Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street are Muppets when asked, and takes it badly when Gingi is instead asked to name a character FROM The Muppet Show. The ensuing discussion that follows is much too rancid to be published online, making the time spent trying to calm Gingi down entirely in vain.

Karen's comments are not published as she refuses to do ANYTHING other than vent frustrations about Kermit the Frog, making her comments unusable as they would undoubtedly piss off a large section of the Muppets fandom, who largely venerate Kermit the Frog.

Randy tries to make an argument for Scooter being the 'best one', feeling that he, himself, is the scooter of the Dialtown cast, and thus, must stick up for one of his ilk. This answer is NOT published because the internet would tear him to shreds for playing devil's advocate for the worst Muppet.

Randy is then given another opportunity to pick a favourite Muppet, provided he selects a different Muppet. Randy picks Pepe the Prawn. When asked why Pepe is his favourite, tears well on his screen and he asks if he can leave to get a glass of water. Upon leaving the room, Randy never comes back. The answer isn't included in the article, as it's impossible to discern whether Randy feels that Pepe the Prawn is truly a kindred soul or if he was simply put on the spot and felt pressured to simply name the first Muppet he thought of.

Oliver answers by explaining Gonzo is his favourite but every time he's given an opportunity to explain why, his explanation inevitably transitions into a rambling endorsement of anarchism. Each time, after he's been given an opportunity to explain himself, Oliver is asked to rephrase his answer to be less political and he accepts, apologizing for his mistake and swearing that he understands what the blog is looking for now. Oliver then proceeds to somehow transition back into an endorsement of anarchism until the interviewer gives up and decides to leave him out of the article.

We're not actually sure who Norm likes the best from the Muppets cast because before we could get to Norm, Gingi (irate that Grover/Oscar the Grouch were rejected as its answer) told Norm about Big Bird dying in the Challenger explosion (which happened in DT's timeline), prompting Norm to get really upset and leave before his turn came up. Norm's favourite character is PROBABLY Sam Eagle, but now, we'll never get to know for sure. Thanks, Gingi.

Mingus, when asked, declined to answer out of sheer disinterest. Upon being shown a photo of the extended Muppet cast, she arbitrarily pointed to Robin the Frog and said "That one, I guess." Upon being asked why she would pick Kermit's nephew of all characters, her response was: "It's no business of mine who this frog is related to. Nobody is well-connected enough to ensure they'll live if I deem them a threat to my success." After being reminded that Robin is canonically a child, Mingus retorted by pointing out that Robin is, in fact, a fictional frog puppet. Not sure what to do with this answer, but we certainly can't include it.

Stabby + Shooty are asked for their favourites and they pick Statler and Waldorf respectively. When asked why, they explain it's because they're cool, wear suits, deliver CUTTING jabs, and each hang out with their best bro all day, not unlike themselves. The blog operator remarks: "Oh. I figured it was because, like you guys, they're kinda interchangeable and are pretty much overlooked by everyone", causing Stabby to angrily flip a table and storm out of the room. Shooty apologies meekly for his outburst and leaves to calm his companion down. The answer is not published as the interviewer had no clue which was Stabby and which was Shooty, thus being unable to accurately attribute the answers to either of them.

Bigfoot's favourite character turns out to be Animal, and this is the only answer that ends up being published.

Here's the finished article:

DIALTOWN ARTICLE, EACH OF THE CAST'S FAVOURITE MUPPETS: BIGFOOT'S IS ANIMAL.

The article only gets 3 likes.

[folkwhoreberry]

Leo valdez x tutor!reader fluff with a bit of smut

Exposition Of Love

leo valdez x reader

or... the one where lines are blurring together

word count : 870

warning : none, english is not my first language!!!

on the radio : adore you by harry styles

part 2

🔨🌻

who would’ve thought that leo valdez, the nerdiest looking person in camp half-blood is in need of a tutor?

certainly not many, but here we are, with you sitting at a desk with hephaestus’ son, attempting to explain the concept of exposition in literature to him.

“you see? it’s just the first few sentences of the story, it gives you the basic information about the story, like main character, time, place, and the general topic of the story.” you said, pointing to the first paragraph of the (not so) short story you were reading in literature class.

“ohhh,” leo drawled out, tapping his pencil against the edge of the desk. “so it’s like the part where the hero gets his dramatic entrance?”

you couldn’t help but smile at his attempt to understand the material through his own perspective. “yeah, sure, something like that.”

he leaned back in his chair, the corners of his lips lifting into a playful grin. “got it. exposition. dramatic entrance. I can work with that.”

you shook your head, laughing softly. “you’re impossible.”

“impossibly smart,” he corrected, giving you that mischievous smirk that always managed to make your heart skip a beat. he stretched his arms above his head, his t-shirt riding up just enough to show a sliver of his toned stomach, and you quickly glanced away, focusing hard on the page in front of you.

you could feel his eyes on you, though, and it was hard to concentrate when he was so close. this wasn’t the first time you found yourself in this kind of situation with leo. ever since you’d started tutoring him, your sessions seemed to blur the lines between study time and whatever this was - lingering glances, teasing touches, and a whole lot of unresolved tension.

“so, does this make me your favourite student?” leo asked, leaning in a little closer, his elbow nudging yours. his voice was softer now, teasing but with an undertone of something more.

“you’re my only student,” you said, trying to keep your tone light and neutral, though your pulse quickened. “so technically, yes. but it also makes you my least favourite as well.”

“hmm, I’ll take it.” leo’s fingers absentmindedly played with the pencil, spinning it between his fingers. “but seriously, thanks for this. I know I’m not the easiest person to teach. I guess I’m more of a ‘hands-on’ kind of guy.”

there it was - that classic leo flirtation, wrapped in a joke but carrying just enough weight to make you wonder if he meant more by it.

you decided to play along, leaning in a little yourself. “well, I’m happy to help. but if you keep slacking off, I might just have to let you fail you.”

leo’s eyes flickered with amusement, but there was something else there, too - something a little more intense. “you wouldn’t do that. I’m too charming for you to let me fail.”

“charming?” you raised an eyebrow, pretending to consider it. “I don’t know, leo. I think you’re going to have to prove it.”

“oh yeah?” he leaned closer, his face now just inches from yours. you could feel the warmth of his breath on your skin, and your heart sped up. “how do I do that?”

you swallowed, suddenly very aware of the shift in the atmosphere. this was new. this was different. and for a second, you forgot all about exposition, literature, and camp half-blood. all you could think about was the way leo was looking at you, the way the space between you seemed to be disappearing by the second.

“leo…” you started, your voice quieter now, unsure of where this was going but not wanting it to stop.

he didn’t move away. instead, he tilted his head slightly, his eyes flicking down to your lips for just a moment before meeting your gaze again. “yeah?”

for a split second, you considered closing the gap, letting this thing between you finally tip over into something more. but before you could make a decision, someone cleared their throat from the doorway.

you jerked back in your seat, heat rising to your cheeks as you turned to see piper standing there, a knowing smile on her face. “am I interrupting something?”

“nope!” leo said quickly, straightening up and pretending to look intensely at the book in front of him. “just, uh, learning. you know, literature.”

piper raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying it, but she didn’t press the issue. “right. well, I need to steal leo for a minute. cabin leader stuff.”

“oh, thank gods,” leo muttered under his breath, shooting you a quick, teasing glance. “saved by the bell.”

you rolled your eyes, trying to ignore the lingering butterflies in your stomach. “you better study tonight, leo, or you’re going to fail the next test.”

“I’ll study, I’ll study,” he promised, standing up and tossing his pencil onto the desk. “maybe you can quiz me tomorrow? same time?”

you bit back a smile, nodding. “yeah, sure. same time.”

he gave you one last grin before following piper out of the cabin, leaving you alone with your racing thoughts and the memory of how close you’d come to crossing that line with him.

————————————————————————————

© all rights reserved to folkwhoreberry. no stealing or copying will be tolerated.

a/n : sorry nonnie I couldn’t find the right place to put smut here :// but I’ll do might do a smutty part 2 so what do we say about that

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Hermitcraft / Life Series Fic Recs

Because I love so many of them...

I'll split the fics into completed and updating fics, and try to only recommend currently updating fics (i.e., not abandoned). I'm going to write a little about why I like each fic and what the general vibes are - so this is also a kind of review I guess?

I've tried to @ the authors if they have a public tumblr. Sorry to anyone who didn't want to be tagged, I can remove any @ if you ask (or if I have embarrassingly tagged the wrong person). Anyway, enjoy, and I appreciate reblogs because I want as many people to see these fics as possible!!

This ended up being incredibly long so I'm putting a divider here. Click to keep reading!!! Also, fair warning: shipping ahead! Some fics will have mild sexual content, please read the tags if you are unsure <3

Updating Fics

I have already recommended Help Me To Breathe, lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart), and There Are Monsters Nearby in this post, so I won't explain why I like them a second time, but definitely check them out!!

Death's A Good Gig by @mawofthemagnetar is probably going to be finished by the time this post gets to you, reader, but I'm putting it here anyway. It's short and sweet, one of my favourite representations of Zedaph (or, Zedeath) I've read, and just a joy to experience. If you like grim reapers and discussions of unions, this one is for you. Also I need more Zedaph in my life.

Look, I'm Sorry, Please Stop Scaring Everyone by @cat-in-the-desert reminds me a lot of a particular TV drama I liked when I was younger, which followed a similar premise. This fic follows Mumbo (vampire) and Grian (ghost) as they get up to various housemate shenanigans and meet their local magic-expert and salesman Scar. This fic is fun, but still includes a nice amount of Feelings and hinted-at Angst which I really love. It's lighthearted, but never boring.

It Hurts To Hope by Inquillitory is my favourite of the "Grian crash lands into Hermitcraft and causes problems for everyone" genre. Seeing how many fics there are with that premise, I think that says a lot. It handles Grian's weird Watcher stuff really well. Honestly, I just want to know what happens next!

killing the boy in the tv by @raspberrystruck is like a sickfic on steroids. If you want Grian with so much past trauma he forgets how to function in society, this is basically the fic for you. I really love how hybrid traits affect the characters' interactions in this fic, and how everyone is kind of messed up because of the imbalance Grian brings. It is wonderfully descriptive in all the right places!

Love Me Like I'm Dead by @daniofcrows is such a gem. You know how hard it is to find good Xisuma whump? It's impossible. I absolutely love how Xisuma and Evil X are characterised in this, and I am obsessed with the unique take on hanahaki disease which I have never seen handled in this way before. The balance between flashbacks and present day is maintained wonderfully and I cannot wait to continue reading this one. Wow.

Oh, you wanted me to do a verse? by @bugbbear is... kind of indescribable. It's horror. It's comedy. It's the apocalypse. It's boatem. Scar eats someone. One of the most interesting and unique apocalypse stories I have read. Slowly updating but worth the wait, in my opinion. This one NEEDS more attention.

So Much For Stardust by @a-plethora-of-peters is basically one of my all-time favourites. Which is a damn good achievement seeing as I don't usually read ZITS fics. Like, ever. In this fic, Skizz is a human abducted and hurt badly by aliens, now recovering in the care of good aliens who don't know how 'sentient' he is. Every update of this one makes me smile, it is wonderful. I love how the characters are written and how the different perspectives are shown. It is just great.

Solar Waltz by @raspberrystruck and aroundtheclock is a brilliant and very very sad regression fic. I love fluffy regression fics as much as the next guy, but this one just... hits different. The hurt/comfort levels are off the charts. Grian is so damn cute the whole time, while also being harrowingly complicated and sad. I am so ready for whatever comes next.

Tango's Castle of Cards by @evilrat-sabre is the one where Tango is a BUG. He's just a little guy (horror). This one is so beautifully written, with poetry-type interludes and perspective changes that really make everything feel so much more impactful. Finding out your buddy is a murder bug isn't the easiest thing in the world. I love this so much.

Traveling Thieves {Dark Fantasy AU} (series) by @amethystfairy1 is basically one of the series of all time. I know I keep saying that but it really really is. I love a good fantasy au, and I love an au with hybrids even more. In this world, hybrids are treated like slaves, but it isn't all doom and gloom for the main characters of each installment. There is a lot of hurt/comfort and the different stories feed into each other in really interesting ways. I try to read as much as I can, though I've missed a few because my emails are buggy. Definitely worth reading these fics, especially since now they're all starting to come together!

Completed Fics

Solving Counting Sheep by @theminecraftbee might have rearranged my brain chemistry a little. Another strong contender for 'fics that inspire me to kill Grian', this time with a more concrete notion of "replacement". Three is my favourite fucked up living weapon. It's so rare to find Evo fics in this day and age, too. This fic had me immediately clicking on every update as soon as I got the emails.

Rescue Fire by @imaginethat0327 is one of the most unique takes on a fictionalised life series game that I have ever read. The whole concept is explained in a realistic and easy-to-follow way, as we learn what's happening with the characters. There are several brilliant storylines happening in this one, but my particular favourites are Jimmy & Tango, Joel, and of course Scar & Grian. This fic is full of whump and, well, read the tags, it isn't always pleasant, but those are my favourite things ever. Definitely worth checking out this fic and its currently updating sequel.

don't you know about me? by takenbadgering is a wonderful comedy of errors with just the right amount of angst for a realistic setting type of fic. If you enjoy polyamory miscommunications, rave aesthetics, kandi, school teacher dynamics, and a lovely blend between grumbo, cubscar, and mumscar, this is the one.

Eventually the Birds Must Land by @milo-hypno follows a polyam ship I would have never thought of, and I cannot believe how much I loved it. This married-as-friends fic premise is wonderful, and captures the main trio (Grian, Mumbo, Impulse)'s personalities so well, while balancing them with the incredibly terrifying descriptions of the Watchers and their power. There's a lot of angst here, but it is ultimately hurt/comfort to the maximum degree. I loved reading it as it updated. Yay for gay marriage!

From The Archives (series) by @sixteenth-days was the absolute inspiration for my own Comms AU, and I will never forget its influence on me. As someone basically unfamiliar with TMA, I thought this series might be hard to follow, but it was not! I read all 57 parts in the span of two days, and I think it altered my brain chemistry. Please read it, even if (especially if) you don't know anything about TMA. The Cleo and Grian storyline lives in my head rent free. I mean it. This is horror at its finest. Also there's an audio series of this fic being released rn, which is very cool.

SUPERCRITICAL by @masque-of-plague hits different. It is such a wonderful take on the superhero/HotGuy trope, and it gets so super dark at some points! This one really takes swings at it's fictional government, which of course I love, while at the same time building this brilliantly emotional relationship between Scar and Grian. I do enjoy a bit of enemies to lovers, but the actual plot mixed into the story makes this one extra special. It is thrilling, with action that I don't get to see too often! Great work.

I am weary with contending! is one of the mumscarian fics of all time. From 'this house has people in it'-type horror, to magic gone wrong, to childhood trauma, to attempted assassination, to gender fuckery, this fic has it all. Usually I don't go for convex siblings, but this one is good enough to get a pass from me. Amazingly detailed worldbuilding alongside a brilliantly creative story.

It Spreads by @foxxology may not count as a fic, actually. It's a comic. But it's posted on ao3 so it counts. I was obsessed with this one as it was updating, honestly. It rocked me to my core. The art is phenomenal. The writing is brilliant. I love sculk.

Luck of the sea by Sleepy_Duck is a lovely take on mermaid and human interactions, with Grian as a marine life conservator and Scar as a very neglected mer. This one takes us emotionally in all sorts of directions, and offers lots of hope for the future of the characters. I heavily enjoyed this fic - if you like mermaids and marine biology, check it out.

there are many downsides to being a marine biologist by donnerstag is another mermaid fic but with a pretty different vibe. First of all, it follows what I would consider a rarepair Doc/Martyn. Second of all, reading this as it updated was a thrilling experience that nearly made me cry at certain points. I love how the relationship builds in this fic. It is honestly amazing. The whole idea of experimenting on a sentient sea creature, learning that he can communicate, then losing funding and having to save him from being dissected?!?! It's crazy. I love it.

Thus concludes my fic recommendations. I hope you enjoy at least some of these, and consider reblogging to spread these wonderful fics around <3

[six-of-crows-again]

Correct me if I'm wrong but out of everyone Wylan's morals are the most unstable but "correct" if that makes sense. Like, he won't ACTIVELY be VIOLENT but sometimes he does such unhinged and out there shit. He's morally gray but the shade of gray really depends. The bullet bomb thing. He was scared n stuff but he went out there bomb and all and BOOM bullet bomb. And the sleeping men thing. Sometimes they're out the window just because he's had to let go of some of them so fast. I mean think about it your dad sends you away but actually hires people to kill you so you end up in the barrel working at a dye shop until a guy with very nice lips comes and asks you if you know what demolition is and you say no but now you're a demolition expert for a team that's going to commit the world's most impossible heist commissioned by your dad so you're about to get on a boat and then it blows up so you have to get on to another boat and use a bomb to help in a fight and then you're on the real boat and you watch some guy pull out another guy's eye and send him overboard and- wow, all this just because you couldn't read. Damn.

"I didn't need you angry, I needed you righteous."

YEAH OF COURSE YOU DID CAUSE WHEN HE WAS ANGRY HE WAS ALSO SCARED AND A LITTLE BIT UNSTABLE. HE DID THINGS WITHOUT A COMPLETELY THERE CONSCIENCE. I can't make it make sense but please try to understand. Cause of course he HAS a conscience but when he was mad and scared it was slightly skewed so things were a bit OUT THERE. Also bonus points that when he's mad at Kuwei they go especially skewed lol. It's a certain type of anger. Idk. I just love Wylan getting angry and threatening to push Kuwei into a canal. Guys guess who my favourite character is

[vern-circuits]

Guys guess who my favourite Arcane character is (IMPOSSIBLE)

[hallowknighttt]

the dayshift at freddy's fandom has a big misogyny problem actually. people entirely forget about impactful background girl characters in favour of the fandom-favourite yaoi, and i kinda wish they didnt. i would love to see more caroline, dee, martha, and scottie/rebecca content!!

i hardly even see any art of caroline, who was revealed in the second game, anywhere. and the art of dee is just as sparing, and most art involving her usually is accompanied by another male character. rebecca is only ever drawn alongside the other 3rd game phone guys, and practically no one talks about martha despite her literally being married to henry before her and her son's death. they all have interesting parts to them that can be expanded on, even if martha and caroline lack canon personalities

while not my personal favourite headcanon, even het headcanons drive people away from characters. people dont even care about male characters it they're just married to a woman (ie, peter kennedy). people prefer steven just because hes gay, not for his own character. people only started caring about peter when the roger route for dialtown came out because they could ship him with roger, and in early dsaf when people shipped him with steven.

davesport isnt even beloved for the dynamic of the two characters, people just like gay ships. some people water down dave and jack an impossible amount. dave is a victim of manipulation & multiple lobotomies, and jack is someone who abandoned his younger sister at a restaurant & when given the knowledge, doesnt even entertain the idea of informing dave they've been lobotomized.

once again this is not to say ships are bad, i just kind of wish people cared about dee, caroline, martha, & scottie/rebecca. theyre all compelling characters even if we dont know much about people like caroline or martha.

but its whatever i guess

[thousends-of-eyes]

some kin drawings,,,

trying to experiment with a dragon appearence that i like but i don't know yet....

also long rambling about how i represent myself otherkin wise under the cut !!!!

since i have a hard time representing myself in a single entity, i have many many things i'd call forms ,,,

so um !! this is my ((or at least one of) my fallen angel form thingy,,, meant more as an ""embodiment"" of like. my vibe ??

a sort of concept of the glitch(tm)) based off of the guy i mentionned up there ((he's my glitchkin self !!!!!!

also !! i have many ocs based off of my own kins,, as in they do represent me in some ways but they aren't completely me,, mainly because, as aforementionned, i have a hard time representing myself 😭😭😭

respectively:

"intersect" (his two forms) which would just be. my computerkin ((strange !!! but the guy's brain is literally a computer,,,

asmael !!!! which is how i used to represent myself as a fallen angel,, i don't have a better image of him so here's a silly ms paint doodle lmao,, he still is me in some ways but not as much as before ?? if i can say it like that ?? whatever !!!

respectively:

marshatak,, my silly !!! to be fair i wouldn't be able to tell you to which kin i associate the guy but ?? it does feel like i associate him with my kins.. maybe i just kin him, i don't know 😭😭 (send help) but like. he shares some of my vibes,,, i see what i mean,,

terrora !!!!!!!!! same thing as marshy. probably more for my dragonkin though ??? dragon monster guy,,, and i kin the song he's based off of so i guess it helps lmao !!!!!

nicéphore,,,, also my dragonkin,,,, i should note that he was supposed to be my ""main fursona"" but like. yeah,, i still love him deeply though,, has many of my own characteristics,,

respectively:

martyre,,,,, raven//bird guy,, i love love birds,,, i might be birdhearted tbh (?) so yeah. he has a lot of themes i associate with myself,, ((like. the night. ravens. evil guy !! (half joking)

antechor. AUGH this guy ... well. he is probably one of the closest to me ((both physically and in character i'd say,,)) he is another form of my former truesona so yeah.

religion !!!!!!!! based off of my all time favourite album, the guy's a hyena/wolf/thing hybrid,,, and i'm kinsidering a hyena kin.. also i kin the album slash song he's based off of ,,, ,, misery

respectively:

amphibien, misérable & malvelut,, the three fish guys/creatures,,,, ☝️i'm also kinsidering the flukeman from the x-files so yknow,,, also i love sea creature,,, water creature,,, augh,,

and lastly,,, i do have one (1) guy who's very much me, and that i use as a representation of myself,,,

behold,,, the silly,,, la terreur !!!!! he technically has no name since before naming myself terreur i couldn't find a name that really fit me,,,, but whatever,, he's me, i am him,,,, yeah 🙏🙏

although kin-wise id say he'd be almost entirely just my fallen angelkin,, which is my highest kin right now but that's something to note,,

i was. not supposed to talk so much woah !! but yeah,,

asmael try not to ramble for an entire hour under a post that was supposed to be simple challenge: impossible

[writingmia]

In defense of Jason Grace

I have seen many people through the years say they hate Jason, that Jason is their least favourite character in the series, etc. and all of their reasoning is because he's 'boring'. I admit, when I first read those books, I was feeling the same way. I wasn't the biggest Jason fan and I didn't think I would be. I even judged my friends for liking him, when there were other 'obvious' choices for favourite characters. Now, years later, I'm no longer 12 reading those books for the first time and I see Jason in a completely different perspective I would like to share.

Jason Grace was a child without childhood. He was taken from his family at two years old and taken to the Wold House, where he couldn't show weakness because then he would be seen as food - you cannot show weakness when you're being trained by Lupa. Which immediately strikes us with a, frankly horrifying, thought - Jason's first memories won't be of his mother, who wasn't the greatest parent anyway, or his sister Thalia, who loved him so much. It would be of what he was taught in a life-or-death situation, that you cannot show weakness. That's important to remember for later.

Jason also has had to carry an incredibly heavy burden since he first joined Camp Jupiter - he's the son of Jupiter, the King of the Gods. We have experienced first-hand what it felt like for Percy to have to go through being a child of the Big Three, but please keep in mind that when that happened, Percy was already 12 and he was a child of Poseidon. I'm not trying to say one of them had it harder than the other, because context is very important, but simply putting things into a perspective - Jason, a child who can't remember his family is put on a pedestal because of who his father is, with expectations being placed upon him immediately, as a, presumably, young child who has just been taught that life is either be strong or die.

And then, despite all of that, he decides that he will join the Fifth Cohort because he wants to write his own destiny, and because he wants to restore their honour. He's not only going against what others would expect from him, including his father, but he's also claiming a goal others perceive as impossible just to prove a point. Not a very boring thing to do, is it?

To continue adding to the list of things that Jason has done to prove that he isn't the prince-like, spoiled boring white guy some people in the fandom see him as, I want to talk more about the things Jason cannonically does at Camp Jupiter. He becomes friends with the 'least popular kids' because everyone else expects they would have to treat him like royalty, he goes on small quests that don't mean much because he doesn't want to be that hero and savior that's expected of him. He follows rules as to not appear spoiled, and even with his rule-following he appears to be 'unconventional' by Roman standards. He's the son of Jupiter, who's doing everything in his power to not conform.

And despite all that, he still manages to use his status to do what he thinks is right. Despite his efforts, he still ends up being the undoubted leader while everyone else is a follower. He listens to all sides, he tries to mediate to the best of his abilities. In his attempts to make everyone else an equal, he puts himself above them and makes them look at him for mediation and decision-making. For the twelve years he spends at Camp, he has eyes constantly on him, judging him, expecting things from him.

Now remember when I said that Jason tried to go to meaningless quests? Yeah, you can guess that didn't really work for him. Canonically, he has gone to many quests, including some that had been appointed to him by gods, such as Bacchus, so he was fairly unsuccessful there as well. And remember when I said that he was raised by a wolf to not show any weakness? I feel like at this point it should be pretty clear he internalized that, a lot.

I get why the debate 'who's stronger, Jason or Percy' happens in the fandom, but it doesn't mean it annoys me any less. Because most of the time, the only arguments are pointing out Percy's strengths and we're forgetting that Jason does some pretty incredible things as well. Jason, like Percy, also fought a Titan single-handedly, and won. What we know from canon about it, it's that he did it with sword-fighting and, interestingly, hand-to-hand combat, which is what the books mainly focus on when talking about his feat. Jason went up against a Titan and smacked him with his bare hands enough times that he won. And in the entire fight, Jason using his powers is not mentioned once. Which is a pretty constant thing, if I might add, but I'll delve into that more later.

Again, a common mischaracterization I see in the fandom is that Jason is this strictly rule-following, rigid, stick-in-his-ass guy, when he really isn't. One of the main things about him is that he's too relaxed for Camp Jupiter. After the war, when he tried to change things about Camp, he was unsuccessful because Camp Jupiter is too traditional and Jason's ideas weren't conforming to that.

And of course, it was Jason who welcomed the two kids of Pluto (Hades for Nico but you get my point) to Camp. I feel like it should be pretty clear to you why at this point, but let me repeat - Jason knows the pressures of being a child of The Big Three, and Jason isn't afraid to be friends with the 'not cool' kids, with the people who are looked at as weird or that are treated as outcasts. He does some of it out of spite, yes, but he was what, fourteen? Thirteen? At the time. That level of emotional maturity for a barely teenager is surprising as is.

Also, can we note that Hazel describes Jason as closed-off, hard to read and 'more of a legend than a man'. This thirteen/fourteen year old? This should be enough to tell you how Jason was treated and raised and why he is the way he is. 'Boring', because this child needs to be an example for an entire camp that has placed him in that position he didn't want in the first place but felt guilty and responsible to take. When Percy was thirteen-fourteen, he was being an ass to Tyson (which he later regrets, yes) and fights with Thalia (which they stop doing, yes) and Camp Half-Blood still sees him as more of an annoyance than a hero at that point. That doesn't change for Percy until The Battle of the Labyrinth. Jason never had that. He was spotlight leader from the second he was at camp.

He also didn't have an Annabeth and Grover, at least that we're explicidly told about, and his closest person was Reyna, who also had a crush on him, so who was Jason's platonic best friend in Camp that he could rely on for anything? We don't know. Maybe because he didn't have one? I'm just putting that idea out there.

Now, I will try to be more brief on Jason in the series, but with the speed with which we're going, that is kind of unlikely. First and foremost, Jason is an amnesiac who never gets his memories fully back. I want to focus so much of your attention on this. Jason wakes up and he doesn't remember, excuse my swearing, jack shit. He doesn't know who he is, what's his favourite colour, what music he likes, nothing. Nada. He is then told, again, he's the son of Zeus, he is sent on a quest with people who don't actually know him but have expectations for him, while he still doesn't remember anything. He is also fifteen. He is a child that people are judging for being 'too boring' of a character. Well excuse him for not having any memories so he can have a proper personality!

Excuse me, I'm getting a bit heated here. I feel I'm making valid points though. Because Jason's story keeps repeating - he goes to Camp, people start looking at him like he might become the new Percy or some variation of that, he has these friends with false memories of him, he is also trying to save the world in the meantime. I'm very sorry he doesn't have time to figure out his personality in the meantime.

This is what I think is the most tragic about Jason's character - he doesn't have the time to figure out who he is truly is because he's too busy helping everyone else, even if what he's helping with is stopping the end of the world. He is a hero of the Great Prophecy, which again links with his destiny and how there's no escaping it and he, again, doesn't have any choice in what happens. He was unconventional for Camp Jupiter because of his disregard for tradition, but he's not fully accepted in Camp Half-Blood either because he's still a Roman demigod.

And then the Burning Maze happens and we don't talk about it because Uncle Rick hates us. I refuse to read that book because if I don't, then Jason is happy and alive.

We should note, though, that Jason and Piper have broken up. And I believe the only reason they ever dated was because Piper had that expectation of Jason, and we've already established how he was raised. He is a people-pleaser because that's what he's had to be for his entire life. He can't disappoint people, because then he would feel guilty, and so I believe he gaslit himself into thinking he liked Piper romantically because otherwise he would have to hurt her. And I do believe Leo and Piper are the first real friends Jason has made, at least those who see him as truly human, and so he didn't want to lose Piper. So, he made her and himself believe he liked her and started dating her. I think he would've done the same with Reyna if he'd remained in Camp Jupiter, for the same reasons - expectations. He also has raging abandonment issues, so. Double fuck there.

In summary, because of his personality and parentage, Jason has never had the choice to put himself first. He hates the framework in which he's put by being the son of Jupiter, but he swallows that for the sake of others.

Well that was quite the rant. I have more to say, but this is already too long. After this post, I have become a Jason Grace stan. If, one day, he has no fans, it's because I have died. Jason Grace is my son and he's very much alive, thank you (not you, Rick Riordan. I don't thank you). Anyway, please like this post? I would super appreciate it. I would also love a discussion! - mia

[theblueeyedfirebender]

for the question ask!

🍦🎨

Thanks for the ask! 🥰

🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate

Oof. It’s hard to even think of a character I hate. Even the ones I dislike ultimately contribute to the stories I love.

*spoiler warning for ACOTAR*

I guess I’ll do Tamlin from ACOTAR. Kinda boring because we’re supposed to hate him, but yeah he’s not my favorite.

1. He’s doing his best. He’s not a good guy, but I don’t think he knows how to be a good guy.

2. He has room for growth. He is not evil or cruel or sadistic. He’s emotionally immature and broken but I think he has the desire to do better, to be better, and I honestly hope we see that from him in future installments.

3. His house sounds bomb. Very classic, regency era vibes. Checkerboard tile floors? Hell yeah. I would live there.

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

Oh man, it's impossible to pick just one.

Twice now, I have been blessed by artists who have created pieces based on my fanfiction. It's such an honor to have someone use their time and talent bring my story to life, and these works will forever hold a special place in my heart. There's this one by @kangdae95draws, and this one by @mienaime.

On top of those, this piece by @littlewitchbee lives in my head rent-free. Not only is it stunning, but the layers of meaning are just so powerful.

Writer’s Truth or Dare Ask Game

[marcy-magnolia]

Alright I’m giving an honest review of Dreadnought by April Daniels, a book about a transgender superhero, and her coming of age story.

i think i’ve become too much of a commie to like superhero stuff anymore because any narrative where the answer to “how to use your power responsibly” is “the world is wrong and the culprits have to be beat back into submission to set things back to the status quo, which is always better than attempting change” and who has to either make their villains Incoherent Evil or Doing Change Wrong is bound to make me feel an immense amount of dread. I can’t enjoy it uncomplicatedly, the heroes morals are anchored in such a wild way that it weighs on the whole story.

Dreadnought by April Daniels is exactly like this and i hate it. Here’s the thing- the main character, Danielle, I love her story, it’s nice to have a character that can just have a journey that involves coming out as a trans woman, it’s incredibly sweet and it’s a cool power fantasy while still remaining grounded.

But then we come across moments i can’t get over-

1. Doc Impossible, the Big Superhero Team’s doctor is studying neurons to see if they can edit brains to get rid of alzheimer’s and MS, and i don’t know who COULDNT see that that’s like, bound to lead to eugenics.

2. Calamity, my second favourite character from the book, talks about how the Big Superhero Team arrested her dad and framed him for murder and tricked him to do this, because he was on a lead about the CIA distributing illicit substances to minority communities. When Danielle talks to the BST about this, they say it’s more complicated than that, that Calamity’s dad killed a CIA agent who was aiding the distribution, that they saw it on video and that that’s bad no murder, but they also say that they know most governments are corrupt, but what are you gonna do? and i’m like, i dunno, fucking something, you guys have superpowers??? if you know the government is hurting people and all you do is help them, im pretty sure you’re a bootlicker, and granted we aren’t supposed to think the BST are paragons but after this point this is never brought up again so i do actually see it as an excuse or at least an exit from the narrative.

3. Calamity robs drug dealers? I know she’s a kid and she doesn’t have perfect morality and everything but the book doesn’t actually ever take her to task about the fact that this is also a bad thing to do. I don’t think the book knows that, I think that it was written in with the intention of this being the more moral option for the writer to give her. Drug dealers are the scapegoat for morality, viewed as an uncomplicated well of cash.

4. Why does all of Danielle’s sympathy disappear as soon as Gerald starts hugging his knees and making noises? And i’m not talking just like, she gets tougher on him, i mean this is an actual quote “A plaintive whining noise starts to leak out of Gerald, and he begins to rock back and forth on the couch. Welp. There goes my sympathy,” like cool it, Danielle, you just showed up to this guys house like a god and started interrogating him, why is this the thing that loses your sympathy? Also, this is ableist right? Right? We can all move on now? We can all agree this is a mockery of autistic traits? Cool, good.

5. How come Danielle gets the body of a super model? Like yeah, instant transition + bottom surgery is already a little weird for a story about a trans woman but ultimately, the story still deals with a lot of the transmisogyny regarding transition so it strikes a balance between power fantasy and relatable coming out story, but… i dunno. not many trans girls are going to look like super models, i guess? I guess my problem isn’t that she’s beautiful but specifically that the book constantly says she looks like a super model. Specifically. She never really experiences dysphoria post transition and that just, really doesn’t feel honest. sure it’s a power fantasy, but how much of the transfem experience do you have to jettison for that? I dunno, it’s an especially weird choice for a book that claims to be for trans girls still in the closet.

even with all of this, I still think that if you just focus on the journey Danielle goes on, it’s fun. It’s really good, even. It’s a guilty pleasure, I know this book sucks, but hey, it’s got a power fantasy that actually appeals to me, so, whatever. It’s really a 2 star book, I cannot ignore the reality of it, but damn. You got me, I’ve got hurt i’m still harbouring from coming out and this spoke to me. It still doesn’t get above 2 stars though, I can’t have Danielle’s journey without the profoundly liberal-aiding-fascism worldview.

[schismusic]

Æon Flux and the end of all things

I don't remember the first time I heard of Æon Flux but I sure as hell remember the first time I watched it, and it wasn't too long ago which would technically not warrant the level of obsession I have for that shit, but here we are anyway.

I was knocked the fuck out on painkillers, two of my wisdom teeth freshly removed, not even remotely worried about the exam that I had coming up in like two days from then. So I was barely moving away from my swivel chair and sleeping on a whole ass armored pillow to prevent from tossing and turning and shit felt so surreal to me. It was like the eating chair from the last Cronenberg movie. So I delved into Æon Flux essentially blind and bingewatched the shit out of it. Twice. Ended up downloading the whole thing from some sketchy ass 1080p remastered torrent, rewatched it again, and spread it around personally in a more cauterized Google Drive folder (so if you guys got a nasty ass virtual STD from it, my bad I guess), not even a month after watching the series. Shit was fucked, in short, and every rewatch just fueled this obsession even further.

(image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

One thing about me: when I obsess over stuff I want to draw something at the very least inspired by it. Happens to me a lot with Autechre, who are actually one of maybe three bands I would not hesitate to call my favourite based on an absolutely objective principle which is absolutely not up for discussion and which might be the object of a future post at this point. But the point is fucking Æon Flux is essentially impossible to replicate because Peter Chung's character designs are so recognizable that you start seeing them in literally every other movie that came out in the late '90s/early 2000s - and for reference, Æon Flux was brought to an end in 1995. Consequently, all attempts at drawing Æon Flux-inspired stuff end up either feeling very derivative or looking like fucking trash. Artistry is a weird thing because sometimes it inspires other people, other times it just inspires man-slaughtering rage.

Somewhat many of my friends are or have at one point tried to be accomplished visual artists. Some have made it to professional/teaching level, some others have an art school diploma or degree - and I'll be using this space to shout out @coto-letta aka V., who has recently rejoined Tumblr after years of absence. We met on here, when her handle was much different, and I mistook her for an ex of mine (whom, surprisingly, we are still on relatively good - if quiet - terms with) so I slid into her DMs as you do, and she was like "yeah actually I have no clue who the fuck you are I just think your blog is neat and dropped a follow" which was quite a fundamental moment in understanding that while my life was written like a dodgy soap-opera, that didn't mean I was the centre of the entire world. Anyway, the reason I'm shouting her out is because sometimes something deeper and older than you remember has a way of finding you again when you least expect it and that's what happened when in January 2023 (after V. had left Tumblr for at that point about two years and we had exchanged Instagram accounts) I somehow ended up on her Insta and found out she had been tagged in a picture taken somewhere that looked suspiciously like my university's conference hall and I could not fucking believe she was in my city. I slid into her DMs again, as you do, and found out that no, that wasn't my uni's aula magna, but yes, she was in fact relocating in my city for her master's. So we met up after maybe seven years of on-and-off Internet friendship. It's a neat story, sure, but how the fuck do we tie it into Æon Flux?

(image taken from Episode 3, Season 2: Leisure)

Not trying to be overly dramatic here, but Æon Flux to me is just about a condensation of everything that "art" can mean. Not just visual flare or style, not just deep meaning or interesting ways of putting across one or more questions and never a definitive answer to any of them (more often than not, it's sets of possible answers - usually two, neither of which ends up covering the whole array of possibilities, both of which actually leave a lot to be desired in a number of different ways), not just this insane fucking music that toys with everything you expect from animation courtesy of Drew Neumann who may just rank as one of the best soundtrack artists ever in virtue of this single work. It's the whole package. You would think it'd work taken in pieces, and it does, no objection to that: but it works even better as a whole package. If the moral questioning (and the philosophical musings of season 3, which is unjustly underrated because "it's too normal" by hipster wannabe critic dilettantes who like to think that they could do better than that. Everybody else on the other hand is generally able to stop pull their head out their own ass and recognize, at the very least, the excellent craftsmanship and talent that went into the ten long episodes) wasn't accompanied by the weird fetishistic sex it'd be somewhat less impactful, almost like a cauterized Tenshi no tamago made into a series for mainstream late-night TV audiences. The twist was that MTV's executives, at the time, "didn't understand [the double entendres], they didn't even notice them. So, we were okay", in producer Japhet Asher's own words in the short documentary Investigation: The History of Æon Flux. The network was, in fact, trying to break into the mainstream - they simply couldn't keep their creatives at bay. No wonder they turned to Jersey Shore as they went along.

(image taken from Episode 5, Season 3: The Demiurge)

Even just the main characters' purported edginess, clearly something "of its time", is never played entirely straight. Both leads are way too complex, and very clearly presented as such, to be just summed up by "Æon Flux is an anarchist/Trevor Goodchild is a dictator". Both of which are true, by the way, they're just one part of a full picture. Even within the context of its necessary linearity - this is still an animated short and as such moves only in one direction, even though a number of episodes (specifically Mirror and Chronophasia) deliberately fuck with the viewer's perception of times on varying degrees of diegesis and extradiegesis - the series could be perceived as, indeed, a sandbox: consequently, the viewer could set sail and explore it. This is further encouraged by the series's active weirdness to whoever would want to try and make sense of the world's story. There is no history, there is just the story at hand: an eternal present which you can't understand ("un eterno presente che capire non sai": Ferretti knew his shit, regardless of how it went after CCCP) and which Æon and Trevor are not interested in even trying to contextualize. Not a surprise then that they'd be into each other: their closeness in body and heart doesn't exist at the mind's level, and the whole thing falls apart miserably every time it looks like they could be finally let their weapons down. But as Æon completely understands, and as Trevor seems to actively try to ignore, the fight is already the whole point: star-cross'd as they may be, the entire act of playfully hunting each other for sport both in the bedroom and on the battlefield is what Trevor Goodchild and Æon Flux thrive on. Trevor wants stability but an Æon who doesn't fight back is simply not Æon; Æon does not want the stability, but she definitely likes Trevor to an extent and finds more in common with him that she would probably be willing to admit (I would like to thank Tumblr user @brw on thons very good analysis of the episode A Last Time for Everything, which heavily inspired this section of the post!). In short: if Trevor seems to embody Pier Paolo Pasolini's idea that "there is nothing more anarchistic than power" ("non c'è nulla di più anarchico del potere") then Æon flips the statement on its head: "there is nothing more powerful than anarchism". That is, of course, until we once again confront my signature ad-hoc elephant in the room that this statement just summoned.

(Image taken from Episode 1, Season 1)

No spoilers intended, but if you so much as google the name of the series you will easily find out that Æon Flux dies a whole lot throughout the series*. Season 1 and all the shorts from season 2 end with her dying ungrateful deaths and a couple of the long episodes leave much to be desired in the way of positive closure, with Ether Drift Theory representing a peak in bleakness for season 3. Most of the shorts where Æon dies imply that either absolutely nothing changes in the world around when she's lost or that Trevor Goodchild literally just succeeds in all of his goals (see Season 1's finale), and one could make a case that even if she did carry her missions through there would be absolutely nothing to show for it: somebody goes up the chain of power, everything is restored, there is one more tyrant to murder. Not to be that one guy who quotes Nietzsche about everything, but the eternal recurrence of the same is the first thing that comes to mind when watching Æon Flux, especially exemplified and even literalized by the episode War, possibly the best of the short ones: it's the same fucking story four times over a five-minute run time and nothing ever gets better for anyone. The body count in the episode is unquantifiably large - every one of the fallen a potential new Æon Flux or Trevor Goodchild. But this, in a way, implies that Æon keeps being reborn, and one could argue that the act of capturing a fly with her venus-fly-trap eye could simply be her coming back to life, as it were; stopping the most evident sign of decay, turning her eyes outward yet again, to face the eternal return of the same again and again and again…

(Image taken from Episode 8, Season 3: Ether Drift Theory)

You can find Æon Flux for free on the Internet Archive.

*as I was discussing the final draft of this post with my friend @oldshittydog we had a pretty interesting discussion which I thought should be added here for an even clearer, fuller picture: