#I can’t wait to get downvoted

[barbie-nightmare-house]

I just finished my (???) rewatch of season 1 and I’m restarting season 4 and I genuinely think I have developed a narrative that explains the supernatural elements and it started because I WAS GOING THROUGH MY BOOKSHELF TODAY FOR INSPO TO WRITE THIS FUCKING FIC AND I OPENED A BOOK I HAVE NEVER READ— WHICH I BOUGHT IN A CREEPY SECOND HAND STORE YEARS AGO BTW— AND UPON SKIMMING I OPENED TO A PAGE WITH A HORNED GOD

AND THEN I STARTED RESEARCHING AND I SWEAR TO GOD I HAVE A THEORY I SWEAR TO GOD IM ON SOME SHIT RIGHT NOW IM PROCESSING BY SPEWING NONSENSE AT MY FRIEND BUT I SWEAR ITS GONNA MAKE SENSE

[syoddeye]

ill-advised

simon x f! reader | 1165 words cw: simon being a gross creep, terrible advice, slimy internet culture, bad usernames, unsolicited nudes a/n: wrote this silly thing on my phone. lightly edited. been thinking about how simon would be the world's worst agony uncle. enjoy a few easter eggs.

Simon doesn’t have a God complex. No. He leaves that to the Simulation 5 streamers who build complicated dungeons beneath their character’s cottages, forcing others to labor on paintings or crochet projects to sell and support their captor’s livelihood. Not that he…watches those. No, no. He’s simply seen more than his fair share of depravity. Some of it at his expense, some at others, and more than a chunk of it dealt by his own two hands. He knows how the world works. How people work. He knows his shit, plain and simple.

So when his schedule allows, he logs on after midnight. His username and password are two alphanumeric strings, but people recognize the cluster of digits and letters. Wait for his comments. Follow his account. Send him stupid digital gifts, some useless currency to dress up his default icon. The amount increases daily, as does his following. His own little cult.

He doesn’t care about the numbers. Not really. He just loves dishing out his honest opinion, and nobody’s safe.

AN [Advice Needed] Family forgot to invite me on a trip, expect me to go last minute Hi, it’s like the title says. I (25 M) live across the country from my parents, siblings (all all adults), nieces, and nephews. I am the only one who lives on this coast, but I try to visit twice a year. I recently reached out to my brother to see when he thinks I should come visit in June and suggested some dates. I know it’s only February, but I want to save money on airfare. He responded: “Isn’t that when we’re going to Hawaii???” It was the first I heard of it. It turns out my parents invited my siblings to Hawaii and planned a family vacation without me. I confronted my parents about it, they swore they invited me too then said I could send them my share of the bill for the resort and book a flight. Like it’s no big deal. I can’t afford to go and I don’t want to go, but I feel really pressured. And sad! They forgot me! Who am I, Kevin McAllister?

> 35J0G39GH6: Find out the resort name. Cancel the reservations. Cease contact.

Within seconds, a dozen upvotes. A minute later, a hundred. Up, up, up. And the replies? Oh, the replies. He smirks at the cracked phone screen.

>> michaelEthelcaine: Fucking brutal as always >> c0y0t3fug1y: LMAO it’s this simple OP - this dude is never wrong >> patcemetery79: I DID THIS BACK IN 2003 FOR A FAMILY REUNION. A REAL RIOT! HAVEN’T BEEN INVITED TO ONE SINCE@ HILARIOUS!!!!!! I LOVE YOU 35J

Simon receives a fair share of downvotes, too. Negative comments. He doesn’t give a shit, but some of them are fucking hilarious.

>> grasshopperwhirlpool: Not funny. Be better than this asshole, OP. I’m sure it was a simple mistake. >> thewildrumpussy: really mature advice. who shit in your coffee?

Every few weeks, a morally righteous do-gooder encourages people to mass-report him, and he gets a slap on the wrist. The idiots come out in droves after some of his more choice replies, like worms after a heavy rain. The most recent offense?

AN [Advice Needed] My husband (35 M) forgot my (33 F) birthday My husband of three years forgot my birthday. No flowers, cake, or gifts. When I came home from work he asked about dinner. I lost it, turned around, and left. I’m at my sister’s house now (and she started baking when I called and told her what happened!) but he won’t stop blowing up my phone. He says it’s because he’s been so busy but here’s the thing: he forgot last year too. I really love him but I’m tired of this treatment.

> 35J0G39GH6: Have your friend take you home between 3-4 AM. Cut his brake lines. Go back to her place. Wait for the inevitable.

>> 6polyesterbutthole9: i dont care if this is illegal its funny af >> passtheaggression: Hand to god, you need your own forum dude.  >> gordonramsme55: Where are the mods on this??? This shit is going to get someone killed. Report this psycho. >>> puffalo: Agreed I think this breaks Rules 3 & 5, reporting now >> austrianPrincess: not saying i did this but when my boyfriend’s brakes failed, i got a big check, OP!  >>> gordonramsme55: This is what I’m talking about!  >>> 6polyesterbutthole9: get that check >> tech60nyneme: WOW someone check this guy’s crawlspace. reported and blocked

That one earns him the most severe ‘punishment’ yet: A month-long commenting ban. No skin off his nose, he's deployed days later, anyway. If anything, the radio silence winds his followers up, their excitement a palpable thing when he gets out of forum jail. He rewards them with another series of blunt, to-the-point pieces of advice. 

His absence makes one particular fan particularly hungry, and a little desperate.

He’s no stranger to unsolicited dick and cleavage pics from his followers. They flood his inbox, giving him a side hobby of delivering pithy degradation the sick fucks seem to love. Saves the best for his private collection. 

But then he gets a picture from some cute thing with a comment about him being her favorite person on the Internet. Knelt all sweet in front of her mirror, haloed by a ring light, white lace barely hiding the goods. His eyes snap to her tits—where his ridiculous username is scrawled in sharpie. There’s nothing to critique except maybe the laundry in the background of the shot. Tugs his cock to it, then clicks her username to check her comment history, and wouldn’t you know. Her location is public on her profile. She’s a couple hours away from her idol and doesn’t even know it. 

>> 35J0G39GH6: Perfection. >> YN10282022: Oh my god, I didn’t think you’d reply. >> YN10282022: You know, a few months ago, you gave me good advice about my creepy boss. >> YN10282022: I posted about the stuff he’d say to me. >> YN10282022: It took some time, but I was able to record him. Sent it over to his wife on their anniversary. When he accused me, I told him HR was getting the next copy. >> YN10282022: I got a promotion and a raise, and sent the file anyway. >> 35J0G39GH6: Good girl. >> 35J0G39GH6: I’ll be in your neck of the woods in a week for work. >> YN10282022: Really?? I’d love to meet up! >> 35J0G39GH6: Probably shouldn’t. I’d advise you against meeting me. >> YN10282022: They do say you should never meet your heroes. :) >> 35J0G39GH6: Shouldn’t meet strangers off the Internet, either.

She still sends him the address of a cafe. It matches one he finds on her social media an hour later. She seems to be a frequent customer. Simon grins at his screen, the sole light source in his dark room. He taps back to her pretty picture.

She looks like an angel.

[rememberingnayarivera]

Can someone explain why I keep getting this? My karma is 647 but I still can’t post any comments just because one comment I posted, last night, got -8 downvotes. I understand wanting to prevent trolls but my comment didn’t get that many downvotes because I was trolling 8 people just didn’t like what I said. How long am I gonna have to wait before I can post comments again?

[icouldntfindquiet]

Are you asking for silence from the LA Reddit girl? Honest question. This whole fanbase is an emotional wreck and wants answers. Speculation based on industry history and knowledge is going to be the only way to make things understandable, at best. She’s getting hounded for private information that she literally can’t post by fans who aren’t nearly as understanding as most CATB blogs about privacy and it’s leading to her wanting to stay quiet. I think she’s somewhat pissed off and regrets saying anything. She wants to help and loves this band but some people are being legitimately awful to her. If she’s right I honestly think she deserves an apology. I fully believe her and recommend you send her a message and get your questions sorted privately cause she’ll def answer and explain. I don’t want to speak for her. She’s explained her side every time she’s been questioned. She didn’t know what was going on and contacted people she knows worked with them as a last resort and they told her what they know then talked to fans. There’s comments she left still up. This was her explaination about how she knows what’s going on https://www.reddit.com/r/thebottlemen/comments/13td8j9/another_one_after_he_deleted_the_last_image/jlve2ea/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3

The mods would so call her out on bullshit but hasn’t and believes her as well. Her side lines up more than most of the rumors that have previously been posted. She’s also said since this comment was posted she’s gained a lot more information. We’ll just have to wait.

I’m not asking her to stay silent. She can do whatever she wants. I mainly lurk on Reddit and haven’t interacted with her at all. I haven’t messaged her, commented on her posts, or even upvoted/downvoted her posts. I leave her alone because I know a lot of people are messaging her, and I’d message her as well but the information I want is something she can’t give so I’m leaving her alone.

I’m sorry if she’s being harassed. I can’t stop people from harassing her but I hope they’ll use good judgement and treat others how they want to be treated. I’m not sure what you want me to do. I just read what she says, hope for the best, and wait for something to happen. I’m not telling her what she should and shouldn’t do and I’m not telling people what they should and shouldn’t believe. I’m just taking in information, analyzing it, and forming my own opinion. I’ve done nothing to her! 😟

[throne-of-crows]

I braved the comments (died a little inside reading them) and have left a long comment if anyone is interested in reading it. Also if anyone feels like upvoting it please do as I can sense the downvotes from the milkvans coming.

Anyway this is the comment I left, thought I'd post it here as well where the people who see it are going to have a much more positive reaction:

All the people commenting that Will won’t get a romance because it isn’t a romance show need to remember that every other relevant character has had a romance at some point. Do you really think the only character they won’t give a romance to is the gay one? Especially when a big part of Will’s character arc is feeling like a mistake for being gay and thinking he will never find love (S4: ”When you’re different sometimes you feel like a mistake”, S3: “I’m not going to fall in love”). If he doesn’t find love then the show is proving his negative perception of himself and confirming his belief that he doesn’t deserve love just because he is gay.

The show has always been intended to be about outsiders and those who don’t quite fit in society. The original four boys are all bullied for some aspect of who they are. Shawn Levey (one of the directors) has said “our show is an anthem for the marginalised and imperfect”. An anthem is supposed to be uplifting, considering how Will has been bullied his whole life for being gay, I wouldn’t exactly call it an “anthem” if his story ends with him alone, brutally rejected or dead.

Also lots of people have been commenting that they think they’ll just show a meaningful glance with another boy at the end of the season to show hope for the future, or something like that, however is that really enough? For a character who has been there since season one, who is going to “take centre stage” in S5 according to the Duffers, I don’t think an implied future romance is good enough. It would be a complete cop out.

The idea that there isn’t time to give Will a romance is bullshit. In previous seasons they have built multiple romantic relationships, while the supernatural plot takes place, which add to the story not take away from it. They could give Will a romance with a new character in one season if they wanted to though I highly doubt this is the route they are planning to take. Especially since they have claimed they aren't introducing any new major character next season.

The plan has always been for Will to be gay so why would they wait so long to give him a love interest. (Before anyone says they haven’t been planning it from the start the character pitch for Will says he has “sexual identity issues” and in S1E1 Joyce says Lonnie calls him queer and the f-slur. They very clearly have always intended for Will to be gay.) Even Robin who we only find out is a lesbian at the end of season 3 is immediately given a love interest in season 4. But for Will who has been there since the start they haven’t.

Except they have, they have been building up his relationship with Mike the entire time. (I know I’m going to get a downvoted because of people’s attachment to Mileven however think for a second about why they have written them the way they have). From the start they have made it clear that Will and Mike’s friendship is different. It was always Mike’s reaction which was focussed on when Will was missing, it was Mike who was extremely protective of Will and always by his side in season 2. If this was just supposed to show close friendship then why have Mike start to pull away from Will when they get older? Why is he so awkward with him in season 4 to the extent he can’t even hug his best friend when an episode prior we see him enthusiastically hugging Dustin when they win D&D. Mike sees Will differently to his other friends. It being the 80s isn’t proof against them getting together, it is the explanation for why Mike acts the way he does. He doesn’t want to feel that way so he tries to suppress it which is why his behaviour changes so much in the later seasons because he’s trying to force himself to be someone he is not.

If they were going to make Will’s plotline falling for his best friend, getting rejected and then moving on, then Will would have been rejected in season 4. Will has been in love with Mike for years, it isn’t a small crush he’ll get over overnight. There is no reason to have drawn out the unrequited love for so long unless it wasn’t actually unrequited. They would have at least introduced the new love interest for Will in season 4 and have the audience know they’ll get together even if Will himself doesn’t know it yet.

Not giving Will the love he thinks he’ll never have would be a complete dismissal of his character. He’s suffered the entire show and deserves a meaningful ending to his story which (considering a big part of his story being about his sexuality) is impossible without him being given a romance. I’m not saying that every character has to have a romance, obviously not, however it is very clear that in his case you cannot end the arc of a character struggling with their sexuality without allowing them to actually address that sexuality in a meaningful way. That cannot be done with a single glance at another boy at the end, and a sense of hope for the future. That would be incredibly lazy writing and personally I have faith in the Duffer brothers that they will do their character justice and follow through on what has clearly been there from the start.

Absolutely terrified to check the comments on this one

[justamessedupdisneyprincess]

Rant/vent about Dreamlight valley and how Disney and gameloft are shit companies.

I just need to let this out, I’m sorry. I’ve been having so many anxiety dreams about it lately and it’s driving me mad. The sad thing is the game could be fun and I wanna enjoy it but it’s hard with the troublesome time glitch. It makes my anxiety nuts! Also the devs are very nasty and so is the community.

First of all, the staff it toxic AF! I was part of their discord and whenever ANYTHING goes wrong in the game and you report a bug they pin the blame on the player. I am not kidding!

Many of you probably heard about the time travel glitch right? Well that has been going on the day it was released back in 2022 and they STILL didn’t fix it. As usual they pin the blame on the players and there’s been literally hundreds of complaints about it. I tried to time travel because I just wanted more furniture and had a major panic attack when I first broke my game. I explained what happened as politely as I can and begged for them to try and fix it at some stage. They said “It is your own fault for breaking the game, not ours! We did not make the game to be played like that. Everything works as it should.” I told them I can wait for months and months while they worked on fixing it but they still refused and kept blaming me.

I begged them to try and fix it at least at some stage, years later still nothing. Tbh I think it’s a scam so players don’t use this to unlock more in game free furniture so they purchase their IRL money store online furniture packs out of desperation because Scrooge is a bitch who never has anything new. I have a major anxiety disorder so this bothers me greatly that I can’t time travel without these freakishly HUGE consequences. Time travel aside I have seen so many cases where players had the time wrong on their switch or had to travel over seas so they tried to adjust it and it broke their whole game. They angrily asked for a refund and rightly so but got nothing but been blamed by the devs themselves. I also want to time travel so I can talk to my villagers more often as you can only have one discussion once a day. I even asked if they can just allow us to talk to them whenever we want at will yet STILL nothing. How can I enjoy my favourite characters if I have to wait 24 hours to have ONE discussion with them?!

Also I had been bullied and had huge meltdowns in the discord sever and the devs did nothing to help and just got the shits with me. I really wanted Barley and Ian to be added but for some reason a lot of people in the sever hated Onward and openly harassed me and tried to downvote me as much as possible with rude emojis, some said mean things to me like how it would be pointless for them to do that. Some even said it was a bad movie to me and shouldn’t be in it, some claimed “we already have fantasy like furniture so it would be a waste.” I got violent emojis more times than I can remember like this: 😡💀👎❌🚫🛑🙅‍♀️ and it would be spammed! Like 20 of them! It got so out of hand I even got back into self harm as a result and the devs once again pinned all the blame on me.

I am talking about this because I’ve been having bad anxiety dreams lately. I wish I could just enjoy the fucking game but unless they get their shit together and fix those insane bugs I don’t think I ever will. I have grown used to the idea of my boys Ian and Barley never making it into the game because why would I want to see them in a shit game that causes nothing but anxiety for me anyway? If they do get added I’m just going to be all anxious about the time constantly and thus ruin any enjoyment. Worst game ever. Cozy game my ass.

[otterskin]

I didn't like the LOKI show, no matter how hard I try, and it's messing with me.

My mother died at the end of December. A lot of other bad things happened as well, like the severe brain injury of my father.

I didn't cry. There was so much to do. I did it. And even then, when there was nothing left to do, I didn't cry.

I found distractions.

Today I went to see the Green Knight after a tough week at a new job that had me leave my father in another province even though he still needs help. I was trying to get back to the life I'd dropped.

I loved the Green Knight. The Arthurian Legends are as dear to me as Norse Mythology, and my copy of them had the Green Knight on the cover. The film was truly excellent, evoking the feel of the story whole still doing something unique and very A24. I cried at one point, like I did when watching the first THOR, because of how much it meant to see something I'd loved since the very first years of my existence finally make it to the big screen and be...right. It's own thing, it's own artistic product, but right.

Then I opened a tab in a browser and saw I had some messages on a website I comment on. It was just some minor criticism of the LOKI show I'd posted beneath an article and how it handled certain things.

I was downvoted. Berated. Hated. Lumped in the ad hominem twitter users who attacked the director and writer (I'd never, ever!) Told I was biphobic because I wanted to see more of a queer lens (I even addressed how difficult it is for bi people in queer cinema and society in general in my criticisms of the romance, but even that wasn't good enough - just disliking it was 'bad'.) I was told I just wanted my 'fanfic' made (I never made any laundrylist of plot points I demanded). I was accused of being a begrudged shipper (ha! If anything I'm an anti-shipper). I was told that I should love the show, it was awesome, and I was bad for not thinking so.

And I started to cry.

I don't cry. Only at movies. Not at real life. I didn't cry at my grandparents's funerals, I didn't cry when I was left with the body of my mother in the hospital room and my brother cried on my shoulder. I didn't cry when working through my dad's severe new disabilities as I realized how much he had lost. I didn't cry while realizing how messy my parents' finances were. I didn't cry when my mother's friends called me in the middle of the night and cried into the phone. I didn't cry when saying goodbye to my dog and going back to a rundown apartment with a terrible smell so I could go to work in a dark room for hours at a time.

But now I'm crying and writing this.

I've realized why. During everything, I looked forward to the LOKI show. The first THOR is deeply nostalgic to me and I watched it often in my first year of Uni when I was away from home. It tied in thematically to what I was going for. Thor 2 came out before I went on exchange, and while I disliked it overall, talking about it was a welcome distraction from my anxieties. Thor 3 was nerve-wracking, but it also came out during my first major job which I was struggling with, and I saw it so many times in theatres...it was such a huge comfort.

Looking forward to LOKI wasn't just a distraction. It was like a promise. A promise that I'd make it till then and see it and maybe it'd give me some comfort.

That's on me. That's a personal thing. It's an unreasonable expectation.

But I needed it, all the same.

Then it came out.

I tried. I really tried to like it, to forgive it, but the problems are things I've criticized for too long in so many other things. I always try to be respectful about, I never go ad hominem and attack the creators, only critique their work and I always mentioned what I liked but...

I didn't like it.

I have no urge to rewatch it.

And the Green Knight...the Green Knight was everything I wanted and needed it to be. It didn't let me down, though I've been anticipating it about as long as the LOKI show. They're very different, obviously, but in my heart they share the same compartment.

And after a very trying day...I realized how badly I needed to rewatch a Loki show I liked. But I can't even enjoy THOR or Thor:Ragnarok anymore. It's like everything I did like has been poisoned.

This thing that got me through immense pain is causing me pain. I don't want to be toxic. I'm sure it's in me. I try so hard not to wallow in disappointment, but to not even be allowed to talk about my problems without being lumped in with abusive online monsters...

I can't do it. I just can't.

This is supposed to be an escape, not another trial.

I needed the LOKI show to be good, so I could come out of the dark into the light, or at least walk through the night with a lantern ahead of me. And instead it was just more darkness, and it's not even entirely its own fault. It's the online discourse. It's the uncalled for harassment of Herron and Waldron. It's the taunting jabs at people who didn't have a good time as if we're all jerks. It's having people roll their eyes when you point out things that made you uncomfortable in the story, it's feeling slightly gaslit when you find something gross that the story intended to be gross and then being told it's not gross, actually.

I'm sorry. I don't want to cause pain. I just...

I needed it to be good. And unlike Thor 3, which delivered me respite in a dark time...it let me down. Worse, it's hurt me.

I said I don't cry, only at the movies. Something about them lets me cry in a way nothing else does. I can't cry at a funeral, but I can cry in a movie theatre at the drop of a hat. It's a release valve, a way for me to process things.

I think I was waiting for LOKI to give me permission to cry. To give me something that could release this pain in me. And instead, it just gave me more.

I never should have given it that power. I didn't want to. But I had to, to get through this.

I'm putting away the few THOR pieces of tat I have. I feel foolish. I always knew it was a capitalist piece of art, chucked from creator to creator with no creative shepherd, which in itself was stressful.

The fandom is no sanctuary for me either, since I'm primarily interested in the family dynamics and I'm sick of 'Odin is an ABUSIVE MONSTER' stories or even unrelated fics and posts just dropping in hate for him that's not at all canon but seems to be very popular to the point where people think it is. Especially since I often read these stories when I need to think of home and my father. Or, most pleasantly of all, when I get called an abuser or abuser-enabler because I say I like Odin as a character. I also can't really bear to deal with anything to do with Sylvie, whom I had high hopes for as someone who wants more female tricksters, but instead I got this...this Mary Sue that's very hard to criticize without being yelled at. I swear I'm coming at her writing as a feminist and I don't hate anyone, I don't, I just...sigh. She's just personally frustrating to me and not being able to discuss it without being called names sucks.

Not to mention I'm asexual, and I always struggle with romance in media being pushed as the 'ultimate relationship more important than any other'. Part of the reason I liked THOR so much was that romance was not the main feature of THOR and definitely not THOR 3 (while my disliked Dark World was all about it, and so is LOKI). And when I criticize the romance, I get called a prude (guilty, I guess), a troll, or, my favourite, just 'a hater'.

I don't want to hate. Who wants that poison in their veins? I'm here because the Thor series HELPED me because I LOVED it. And now I look at the things I used to love and I...don't, anymore.

So much is asked of me right now. I can't willingly invite this painful thing to sit on my chest as well, especially since the world is already shoving it into my face without my doing anything, in ads, in news, in everything.

I suppose that's why I've leaned even more into Odin lately. He was untouched by the LOKI series (though not the Simpson special, which worries me). He's a trickster, he's queer, he's nuanced, he's 'misunderstood' (that old cliche, but he's misunderstood and misrepresented by the people always yelling about how this or that character is misunderstood, which amuses me, except when it gets to me), and he's in many ways free to make my own.

I still have some stuff I'm going to publish that's practically finished. Finnesang has a lot more written for it but needs some major sit-down time for re-writes and edits. Lokabrenna is practically done, just needs tweaks and Beta. I'll be here a little longer.

But I think I'm going to have to step back for now and put my passions into other things.

I will be back. After all, after Thor 2 came Thor 3. Maybe Love and Thunder will right the ship and Thor can still be awesome, and maybe eventually a creative I love will come to work on the franchise. Really, that's the key for me - I loved Branagh before THOR, and loved Waititi before Thor, and disliked Waldron's work (though I gave him every benefit of the doubt and hoped and prayed to be wrong - sadly, it was what I expected.)

But...if LOKI season 2 is more of this, more romantic tropes I hate and Loki being an afterthought in his own show and his family being devalued for new characters...I can't do it. I can't watch something I used to love just throw that all away for something I dislike.

My tears are finally drying. I wrote a lot of this while the screen was blurry, so I hope there's no grammar or typo too embarrasing. I'm not sure I have the strength to re-read it. Sorry for the rant. It helped me feel better.

Thank you all. I hope I feel differently someday.

[chirpsythismorning]

I feel like there’s a good chance they will, simply for the fact that the writers have spelled out other storylines that were fairly simple for the audience figure out, without them even needing to spell it out in the first place. And yet they’ll do stuff like that all the time, even incorporating flashbacks of scenes we’ve already seen before to get the point across.

So, in the case of Mike’s feelings, something 99% of the audience hasn’t really picked up on, it would be a massive disservice not to go into it deeper, and not just with flashbacks but preferably with scenes we have seen, but where we didn’t see mikes reaction. And there’s at least one known scene of Mike’s pov in relation to Will that we haven’t seen…

been wandering on the st subreddit and GOD if byler ever happens the writers need to write it in a way that not only explains mike’s character change in season 3 but also shows his actual feelings for will because nobody in the ga sees it, like… the ga mostly don’t like mileven but are certain mike loves el romantically and that they’ll be endgame, that mike just became annoying, and that will doesn’t need to tell his feelings. there will obviously still be people complaining but i hope they spell it out for people to be like « oh that’s why he acted like this? now i get it. i should’ve seen that coming ». because if his romance/breakup with el is his arc… wouldn’t it be so boring? like… that’s it? it would be a huge waste of character because mike was so great in s1 and 2 and there must be an underlying reason on why he acted like this after and the public KNOWS it

[ask-jumblr]

Proposed blog changes: move to Reddit

While I enjoy personally blogging on tumblr, it has many disadvantages for this blog’s format... For some time, I’d been thinking about moving this blog to another platform and I keep coming back to Reddit.

What does this mean?

I’m going to wait 7-10 days for people to comment on the idea of a Reddit move before doing absolutely anything.

If you have used Reddit as a regular user and/or as a community moderator: Do you think it would be a good fit? Do you have any tips?

If you don��t have a Reddit account or would want to make a separate one: Would you be willing to make a new account to engage with this community?

If we proceed, think on: What are some ground rules we might want to set for users? for moderators? What might be a good name? Would you be interested in being a moderator?

The ask box is staying open, and I will still be queueing asks. However, it may take me a while to catch up, I will not be reblogging asks, and I won’t be trying to keep a super consistent queue. The ask box will remain open unless and until there is a clear transition plan.

I intend to keep my personal tumblr. I like it here--I just don’t think here is the right home for this blog.

Why Move to Reddit?

1. Better community tools around banning

It’s hard for me to stop someone from using this blog to spam and harass others. (1) On Tumblr, my only tool is blocking. In Reddit, there are some more nuanced tools. (2) On Tumblr, it can be tricky to message people to discuss their behavior, and any resulting warnings or consequences. On Reddit, there are some built-in tools for making sure admins and moderators can reach out in these cases.

2. Better community tools for informing new users

On Tumblr, there isn’t a great way for me to introduce new users to how this blog works. On Tumblr, I can’t pin a post, I am limited to a fairly tiny description on the homepage, and people on mobile can’t always find the pages for rules, guidelines, explanations, archives. etc. On Reddit, there are better ways to inform new users of how the community works, including community descriptions and pinned posts.

3. Better mobile interface

I am yet to hear any concerns about Reddit mobile limiting features. If I’m wrong about this, please let me know.

4. Easier collaboration for moderators

Reddit is built for multiple moderators and approving posts/comments in ways that Tumblr just isn’t. There are whole systems for approving outside posts, for moderators to chat as a group, and for reminding people of rules.

I am not expanding the moderating team on Tumblr, but with a move to Reddit I would try to bring in some new moderators. This would have some added bonuses:

Content can come out faster!

More perspectives and fewer insulting goofs when handling Jewish people who aren’t me! I so often don’t know about different Jewish groups, perspectives, and overlapping identities. With a bigger team, more perspectives and identities could be represented.

No weird conflict from me of Should I answer a question on a post I’m also moderating?

5. Less Repeating Ourselves

We get a lot of repeat and semi-repeat questions, but archiving and search are pretty awful on here. I never know whether people have seen those similar asks and still want answers to their own question, or whether those asks were enough.

Often, on mobile, people can’t view the archive I’ve been building. I’m under the impression that a subreddit’s pages are still viewable on Reddit mobile.

Tumblr’s search is also terrible--I regularly can’t find a post on here that I know exists. I’ve played around some with Reddit's search and have found that it actually works.

6. Better Conversations on questions

When reading this blog, people rely a lot on the notes. In Reddit, the platform is the notes. While up/downvoting have some downsides, I believe that we can find ways to work those out.

7. Retain anonymity from ‘outside’ identity

I know that many users appreciate their account being separate from their life ‘outside’ this corner of the internet. For some users, this is an important safety concern. For better or worse, Reddit is known for being separate from ‘real life’ and its connected internet activity like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Linked-In. While brings me to my next point...

8. More functional balance of anonymity and privacy

I very, very often, wished I could just message an anon to clarify. For understandable reasons, that just isn’t possible. However, taking the anon feature away would make it much, much harder for people with sensitive questions to send them in:

On Tumblr, people can’t send in an ask from a ‘sideblog’ created just for that purpose. If I turned off the anon feature, people would have two choices for relative anonymity from their main blog (A) message me with a sideblog using the tiny chat and hope I post it or (B) make a whole separate account with another email address.

In Reddit, option A (message a mod) is a little easier. The chat function simply works better.

And Reddit provides a much improved parallel to option B (new, separate account). Reddit allows one person to make multiple, independent accounts under the same email. In other words, you don’t need another email address to make an independent account to send in a question.

9. Not any worse?

While Reddit is notorious for being unchecked, Tumblr is also a cesspool of Nazis...

Some Final Notes:

There are already some corners of Reddit with features similar to this blog, but they aren’t an entirely question-based environment like this blog. This blog was in part made (spoiler alert?) to be a non-terrible version of “God Save Us From Your Opinion” on Facebook. Reddit would be a much better platform than Facebook or Tumblr for that purpose.

This blog was also created* to provide an outlet for the many asks that I and other Jewish blogs get on tumblr. Moving platforms would...not be ideal for diverting those asks...thoughts?

* mild clarification edit

[sturdy-nerdy-stitchery]

This is going to be a personal post because I have a very very very very very very very very rough night last night. That resulted in two very bad anxiety attacks that left me shaking, hyperventilating, and crying.

Because an instagrammer with 12K followers (I think it was 15 at the time last night or I could have been mistaken) decided to drag me through the mud and tag me "@sturdynerdystitchery They have an Etsy shop don't shop there" All because I accidentally down voted on one of their stories that was talking about another Instagram And how they are a bad company because they make holsters.. for tazers... And those holsters could be supplied to police and thus used to harm people with police brutality.

no, when this particular story came up talking about that company, I'm new to Instagram. I had no idea there was a slider that you could vote with. I had no idea whatsoever... Well, and unattended phone... The slider got clicked and it got clicked in the downvote position...

And it was on pure accident! And I kid you not, as soon as I saw that they tagged me... I went to go check and all I saw was the words "Do not shop" plus my Instagram name... And then my phone died.

And by the time I plugged in my phone and rebooted it, they had already blocked me so I couldn't even message them to explain what happened and that I dow voted on one of their posts on accident and not because I disagreed with the post.

I finally found them through Facebook and messaged them there. (Which now... And hindsight. I wish I had just waited and not message them on Facebook)

And then on my personal page for Facebook... I made a post about how the whole situation... And how someone with tens of thousands of followers just told the world not to shop at the sturdy nerdy stitchery... And that it was giving me a really massive anxiety attack for a solid 20 minutes.

But! My friends got my back commenting "what's their Instagram!" and one of them messaged the instagrammer to explain the situation and explain that it was an accident. The Instagram lady then messaged me to apologize that I got caught in the crosshairs, They deleted the post they had my name in it, and they would be happy to feature me on one of their stories.

This is where I put my foot in my mouth and I should have just stopped while I was ahead. I should have just said thank you for the spotlight but no thank you. I was already still feeling the anxiety symptoms from earlier and when I have anxiety, sometimes I tend to ramble when I shouldn't. And I rambled. I got on my soapbox and I merely explained that thanks but no thanks to being featured on the spotlight... But that I was reading through some of the stories again because I was legit curious on which one had accidentally got a down vote... And just the content of the particular story and the few that followed... And the way it was presented... didn't sit right with me. I never ever once specified what exactly did not sit right with me. I just said it didn't sit right with me, and they assumed what it was that didn't sit right with me. Which by the way was clearly off the mark but I'm not even going to bother explain to them the thing that didn't sit right with me.

There's more to it than that and I took screenshots... But pretty much, it wasn't the topics that were being discussed when we were chatting back and forth, it was the way that she was discussing those topics with me. The wording that was used. It made me feel uncomfortable again and it triggered a second anxiety attack. Especially when I feared that they would screenshot it and share it to their stories like they did with a few other people when they put them on blast.

I was having such an awful anxiety attack that at 12:30 a.m., I'm calling my husband who is out of town for work so that I could video chat with him because talking with him would make me feel better. And it did.

There is permission from the first mentioned the company... To drag them through the mud because they don't care anymore especially after this Instagramer called them a racist company...

And I'm debating if I should care considering that for at least a good hour and a half, they told the world not to shop at my store. All because I accidentally clicked a button wrong.

It was not a very fun experience and I'm hoping that when I told them that the direction the conversation was going was causing my anxiety to rise again... They take that to heart and they don't do anything further. Because I don't want to get dragged through the mud either. I am just a small cottage business and I don't need my reputation ruined just because a narcissist decided to spin the story as narcissists always do... And make it about them and how they are the victim.

Hell, I even apologized if my words hurt them. I even apologized that I went on my soapbox. I explained that I was still having anxiety issues from the affirmation tag that I caught way too late because my phone died. I explained that sometimes my anxiety makes me ramble and I shouldn't. That's no excuse I know... And I hope they understand that I was merely giving a reason.

I told them that I am sorry that my words hurt you but on the other side of the coin could they admit that their words are hurting me? They pretty much equated it to saying that they have a right to express their words however they want... Which to me means that they don't care if their words are coming across hurtful. They feel upset and therefore they are entitled to spewing hurtful words.

My soon to be 4-year-old watches Daniel tiger a lot and one of the things in an episode that they say is "It's okay to feel angry but it's not okay to hurt someone" And I totally validate their feelings. They had every right to feel upset or uncomfortable when I got on my soapbox and I shouldn't have. I even reread my soapbox to make sure that I didn't say anything mean and all I said was that certain parts of the story i was reading just didn't sit right with me. And that it didn't sit right with me that because of an accidental button click, I get an Instagram tag and a mention saying not to shop at my store. All because I accidentally clicked the button that correlated to a disagree.

I also said "It doesn't sit right with me" Because what they did in another story was "putting someone on blast like that? And calling them the b word whether or not they deserved it?"

That's pretty much it. on three points I just explained that it didn't sit right with me. And therefore thank you but no thank you for putting me on the spotlight because I don't feel comfortable being in the spotlight when there are certain things that just don't sit well with me. And if those particular words upset them, I apologized. They had every right to feel upset or uncomfortable by what I said, even if I said it plainly, politely, respectfully... how they interpret that message is up to them and I can't control that. And if they interpreted it in a negative way and it hurt them... I own up to that. However, they did not own up to the reverse. They felt that because they had a right to be upset, that gave them the right to take the discussion in a way that was upsetting to me. Rather than take it in a way that was more adult, and amicable. Just because they were hurt and upset, they felt that it was within their right to hurt back. Because what do they say, hurt people hurt people?

There is more that I'm not explaining and I just don't feel like getting into that right now. I'm just trying to explain this as plainly as possible... I am trying to explain it in a way that validates how they felt but also validates how I felt.

So... I just don't know. Do I drag them through the mud because they were pretty much being a big meanie to a custom prop maker on Instagram as well as being not so nice in their wording when they were chatting with me?

Oh, not only that... But then they went and gave my friend the second degree. The friend who actually messaged them to say "hey... She down voted on accident". And that she was pretty much a racist by proxy of me.

They have 12,000 followers on Instagram. My Instagram only has 84 followers. (@sturdynerdystitchery If anyone wants to go give me a follow even though I don't post as much as I should).

Whoever, I have almost 2,000 followers on Tumblr... And it's not as big of a reach as they have, even though a lot of us suspect that their followers are bought... But at least this is a platform where I can express my feelings on the issue and possibly get word out to a not so nice instagrammer who could have handled the situation a lot more respectfully and amicably.

So, to my followers who made it this far...What do I do? Should I share their Instagram name and drag them through the mud because the first company just said "fuck it. they're calling us a racist company now so go ahead and drag them through the mud" Or should I leave this instagrammer out of it so I can take the high road? I mean... If you message me... And we keep a private I can share their information... As long as it doesn't come back to me that I was the one who's shared their name all over the place.

I just really don't want it to come back to me and to get negative feedback from this instagrammer. I really don't need her to put me on blast or anything because that's just going to trigger my anxiety all over again. I am still mad at what they did, and how they handle the situation... And I'm still filled with a rage... But I really don't want any more anxiety attacks.

I'm hoping that in the hour and a half before they removed the post with my name in it... I didn't take a huge hit to my little business and I'm hoping they don't share any screenshots and put me on blast...

[arlakos]

Miraculous New York Special: First Trailer Impressions

I’m gonna be brief with this statement: I’m not really looking forward to the special. Sure it’s a new episode, but i got burnt out on canon long ago, and the ao3 salt-fest has left me in a state where i haven’t really quit, but haven’t been motivated to make a lot of ML posts.

That being said, its got the fandom excited for new miraculous content, as well as myself, so lets talk about the trailers. Here are the trailer vids that I’ll be referencing in the video and be talking about.

(For reference, this was made on the 22nd of September, so this is all speculation and first opinions. Don’t flame me if one of my speculations are proven correct.)

First of all, every single hero released for the trailer thus far has so far been female, with knightowl and sparrow being unconfirmed. That being said, if its anything like the comic its based on, im pretty sure the New York Hero team will push the message of ‘Only girls get to be heroes/heroines, while the boys are regulated to be side kicks’ - justliketheactualshow heyyyyyyyyy!~

Also, its been confirmed that one of the heroes Names is Snowflake. Either Astruc really likes lame puns, or he didn’t hear the memo about the marvel comic hero with the same name. 

Or he did hear about it, but thinks its good and that people who downvoted it are ‘fake fans’ 😒.

Chances are Snowflake will have a sidekick named Safe Space, and if she does im gonna need a ice pack for my forehead cause i already want to slam my head against the desk.

Also RIP my boi Doorman. You had only one role in the comic and even that was taken from you by the show. 

F in Chat for my boi Doorman :(

And his partner, Uncanny Valley

Oh, and Victory too. She seemed like a cool characters.

Actually, just and F for all the ret-gonned heroes. At least the Quantic Kids have company now in the shiny light of shelved ideas.

Back on the Topic of Sparrow, i reckon he’s going to get the short end of the stick this episode. Considering that he has no actual powers in the comic, and the fact he can’t run from a swarm of a rockets and has to end up being saved by Ladybug, I reckon he’s going to be Chat Noir levels of usefullness. That is to say - he’ll probably be made by Astruc to be incompetent in the face of the ‘better’ female heroes.

SPEAKING OF LADYBUG HOLY HELL I AM ALREADY ANNOYED-

Look, i read the comics (unfortunately) and chances are Ladybug is going to be the main focus of the episode again. 

Yeah, i know, Ladybug is the main character and all, but ideally I’d hope to see an avengers situation where all the heroes partake in the battle and contribute equally, and it would be nice to see Ladybug (and Cat Noir) get some mentorship from older and more experienced heroes...

Chances are though, the actual heroes will treat Ladybug and Cat Noir like sidekicks and ignore them, only for there to be a situation where Ladybug can fix everything while the other heroes cant, or for Ladybug to have on option on how to win the battle where its the only right one while the other decisions the other heroes make and wrong and Lila-levels of evil and... 

Yeah im getting a bit to mad at this, but long story short, Ladybug is gonna steal the spotlight from the other heroes, and everyone will adore her like the Mary Sue she already partialy is.

“Nothing is impossible for Ladybug” Yeah, like talking normally to a boy to a boy you like, instead of relying on convoluted plans to make him fall for you.

Oh, Hawkmoth is in the episode? Damn... I was actually really hoping that we would get to see some new villains this episode, and not just more stinking akumas. 

The hell does he want with antique guns though....

Oh damn... Nevermind... It seems he found a new miraculous, considering the pendant around Gabriel’s neck and the white glowing Kwami. Shit just got a lot more interesting...

Looking on the trailer now, it could also be likely that Hawkmoth will have his own side story that will be going on while the heroes are fighting the New York villains, so it would mean we will get to see actual new villains in the show. 

I’m actually hoping Gabe story involves him teleporting to Paris...I like the idea of him using his time away from Adrien to further his plans and not being there as a result of Adrien.

In any case, I’m hoping for Hawkmoth to only appear towards the end of the show with whatever plan he has cooked up.

Speaking of akumas (and moving on to the 3 eyed girl), its a high chance that with Hawkmoth in new Yorks, she’ll be an akuma in disguise based on the trailers alone. With her being a possible fan of the american heroes, she’ll probably want in on the heroism, making her a perfect target for Hawkmoth. I mean the purple eyes are quite notably creepy, and the skin looks altered like other akumatized villains. Yeah, i expect this to be a Volpina situation all over again.

On a side note, my friend @twin-books​ said that she looks like a monster high character, and I honestly cant blame her. At first glance she looks like a mummified Cleopatra. XD

On a more positive note, I really like the orchestral Version of the Miraculous Ladybug theme. Its really great, and has an avengers vibe to it...

...but on that same note, Astruc probably deliberately made it that way, considering he has an ego the size of Ego from MCU, and probably thinks he can make movies better than most Marvel creators. He thinks himself on the same writing level as the Russo Brothers, but in reality he’s on the level of Kathleen Kennedy. Which is to say...very low 😈.

Actually wait, I just realise Zag does all the Miraculous music... nvm its really goddamn good, but my previous point still stands.

I don’t know if this is just be being annoyed at the Captain Marvel film, but Majestia reminds me too much of said heroine. I dunno, she rubs me the wrong way. I hope Majestia’s attitude wont be the same as Captain Marvels, but its likely considering Astruc’s idea of ‘good female heroes’

That being said, I like the other heroes designs, even Artica (im not calling her Snowflake). Considering I don’t know much about the heroes in the show, im gonna try to be positive and like them before I judge them.

So this has been my speculations/ first opinions on the New York special! I really hope the episode will be good, but if it isnt... well I’ll try to enjoy the good parts at least.

P.S. If you like, please reblog

[they-dont-get-my-back]

There’s something really important I need to tell you guys. This might come as a huge surprise for some of you, but.... ~ 1. THERE ARE OTHER SINGERS/BANDS/GROUPS/PERFORMERS YOU CAN LISTEN TO ~ Shocking, right? It’s not just NCT in the whole sheer world and you are free to go and listen to whatever floats your boat, if you’re no longer satisfied with what NCT’s making. But wait, there’s more! ~ 2. BEING A “-- STAN “ DOESN’T MEAN YOU NEED TO ACTIVELY HATE ON OTHER MEMBERS/UNITS ~ What’s up with all those dislikes in their recent videos? It can’t be just people who don’t listen to this kind of music, right? I don’t listen to Taylor Swift, but you won’t see me watching her videos and hitting that dislike button. Does it mean that actual NCTzens are downvoting the videos? For what?? “I mean it was an okay song, but I don’t want Markie to be back in Dream!!!” - “I don’t want Wayv to get mixed up with the rest of NCT, they should be a separate unit!!” Please stop. Get some help. I don’t know how hating on a video that includes your bias will help their situation, but if you really are that desperate, ignore the parts you dislike and patiently wait for their solo work. ~ 3. YOU ARE FREE TO VOICE YOUR OPINION OR OBJECTIVE CRITICISM, BUT PLEASE DO IT WITH RESPECT ~ Some members are better singers than others. Some are better dancers, better rappers, better entertainers. Some have years and years of experience in one thing, others in another field. If you compare Mark or Taeyong with any other member from the Misfit track, their performance will naturally lack the finesse and certainty of the MarkYong duo, because these two are miles ahead. But you can’t go comparing Hendery or Johnny to Eminem and say “Lol he ain’t a rapper, his flow is embarrassing.” HOW IS THIS EVEN A VALID ARGUMENT. You’re comparing a kpop boy who went through SM training to one of the rap legends???? Not even Mark with all his talent would pass this test. ~ 4. “OH MY GOD, HE’S SO USELESS, HE’S SO UGLY, UGH, HE CAN’T EVEN DANCE, WHY ARE THEY STILL PUTTING HIM IN THIS UNIT, HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY TALENT WHAT-SO-EVERRRR” Yes. That’s why he’s in a group that sells out international stadiums, while you’re sitting at home.

[crosbytoews]

on r/hockey i said that the national anthem at the uc is overrated i can’t wait to get downvoted into hell

[bongaboi]

Stop enabling/rewarding/ putting up with lazy and inconsiderate playing. Toxicity isn't just salt in the party chat.

From  u/GrayIntent on reddit

====

I feel like I'm going to get downvoted to hell but whatever I choose to die on this hill.

If I am in an alliance raid, and we notice there is one player (a healer btw) "afk" for ALL the fights not contributing, and rolling on loot so they don't get kicked, please don't tell me to put up with it and just finish the raid so we could get out the instance. You're damn right I'm going to be petty and wait out the loot-timer to vote kick, they do not deserve the completion rewards.

If you cue in to a lv.77 dungeon(ilvl 380) as a tank or healer and all your equipment is lv.70(ilvl 310-330) gear, and you are wondering why you can't survive the wall-to-wall pull, and I patiently and kindly explain to you why it isn't working, AND you have the NERVE to argue, telling me I'm not doing 'xyz' good enough. You're damn right I'm vote kicking you.

If you are a healer in a level 80 dungeon, and you keep silent, you don't request the tank to pull small, but complain about the tank running out of your range AND YOU NEVER ONCE pressed the sprint button. Instead you call them a bad tank? You're damn right I'm vote kicking you. (Like a chef claiming he can't cut the food even though he has a perfectly sharp knife)

How could you be a lv.74 Tank and NEVER use defensive cool downs (not even a little Rampart) when there's 10 mobs attacking you? and instead you say, "Healer needs to heal me more". (It's a like a soccer goalkeeper not attempting to use his hands to save a shot). You're damn right I'm going to vote kick. (LIKE HOW DID HE EVEN GET THIS FAR IN THE GAME????).

Too many people in game are shouting "deal with it and just finish the instance." NO. Stop tolerating it, because then it becomes the norm. The game is easier than ever now. Stop being so effing passive when someone is being TOXIC. TOXIC isn't just salt in party chat.

UPDATE: holy sh*t this blew up. Allow me to clarify something I noticed from some comments in respectful disagreement. I ALWAYS defend a sprout and flower. I'm always patient to new players. THE POINT I AM MAKINGGGGGGG, ISSSSS.. What I am asking for is COMPETENCE, Im not asking you to min-max, or be a pro at the game. If I tell you "hey use rampart it will help :)" and you reply with "No its not me, the healer needs to heal me better" <-- that is toxic and it should not be tolerated. You are level 70- 80, you have 20 something spells and actions and you never read the tooltips for them??? You don't need to be a professional MMO player to simple press a button that will make it better for you AND your party.

UPDATE2: I'm blocking my DMs because while there are hundreds of messages in agreement with me there also plenty just flat out cursing me lol. If you have something to say about this thread, SAY IT WITH YOUR CHEST AND POST IN THE REPLIES. Don't try to metaphorically "jump" me, 1000 ppl are in agreement with me. piss off lol

UPDATE3: for god's sake I can't believe I have to keep coming back to this. All the examples (which I really experienced btw) were all in the high levels. NOT ONCE have I brought new players into this. Every time I see a new player in a dungeon I kindly explain mechanics and slow down to accommodate them. In this posts I am CLEARLY making 2 points; pt1.) If you are lv 70+ you should have an understanding of your toolkit. Use it. No excuse at that level to not use rampart or other def CDs. pt2.) If someone suggests an a definite better way to play your role/job don't get defensive and screech "I play however I wanna play".

/rant I'm done if you are mad at this, stay mad

[puthyflapps]

If they really start doing vlogs I can’t wait to see what bullshit they come up with and to downvote their videos

It’ll just be videos of them playing legos and occasionally he’ll let her speak.

I’ll report their channel to YouTube. Abusers shouldn’t get a platform

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

finally. i decided to do this. anyways hello there, i am jake and today i want to talk about something; you see, if you are in the tf2 fandom, you probably know about heavymedic. Wherther you are a hardcore gamer who resents f2p’s or a person that never played the game but has trillions of notes on their art- you know heavymedic exists and most of all you probably ship it.

And I find that weird. In the few fandoms in my life I have been in I had never seen a single ship be so widely if not shipped, then accepted. Sure, maybe everyone in the GF fandom knows what Billdip is - for better or for worse. Sure, maybe the HS fandom is 70% shipping.

But I have never ever seen such a phenomenon in a prominent multiplayer game fandom. A fandom, sadly, oftentimes filled with toxicity. Overwatch is very similar here - yet ships are either a hot topic of discussion or straight up ignored. But TF2? In here for whatever reason we ship these two mercenaries. And in this essay I will try and find a reason or two why is that.

Apologies for any mistakes or incoherency. English is not my first language, I need to ramble, and my vocabulary is all over the place.

Content warning: mentions of homophobia, blood, death, mentions of WLW fetishization, nsfw mention. Also MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE TF2 COMICS.

Part 1: Canonical Evidence and Interactions

Let’s be honest: I could ramble about this one for days on end. But I’ll try and keep it short.

First and foremost we have the official videos. And of course the first thing that comes to mind is Meet the Medic.

At the very start of the part where Medic himself appears, we see him telling a joke about a particularly gruesome situation to Heavy.

He laughs along with him, visibly enjoying his company. He even smiles as he waits for another joke. Heavy only shows genuine fear a lot later.

And of course this damn scene always cracks me up. Medic slightly pinches Heavy’s cheek and strokes his lip gently (the other part is almost not noticeable unless you play the video at slow speed).

Of course we all know about the Hand Hold that happens somewhere halfway in the vid. I don’t think I have to explain the gayness in that. The fact their hands stay interlocked even after Medic helps Heavy up. The deep breath Medic takes because even he cannot handle the emotions. That few seconds is unresolved sexual tension manifest.

Overall the short shows a strong feeling of trust between these two. Medic confides in Heavy and reverse. Yeah he puts a baboon heart into his friend’s chest cavity but the fact (as proven at the end of the video) that Heavy was the first one to have an Ubercharge implanted into him shows that Medic at the very least considers him a lab rat.

I treat End of the Line as non-canonical, as do many others, and as such won’t discuss it here. But it will forever crack me up that Valve endorsed such levels of homoerotic subtext.

These two have some short moments in other videos, like for example in Invasion Heavy helps Medic up (CINEMATIC PARALLELS) but it’s nothing major so I guess I’ll skip forward.

Second is their interactions ingame. You might call me a weirdo for trying to find stuff in there but holy shit I have things to say and I’m going to say them.

You thought I was going to fanboy over the “i love this doktor” voiceline huh? Well not really. I wish these two had unique lines if they assist one another.

Heavy is literally listed on the official wiki as the “ideal medic buddy” and multiple pages on that exact wiki say some pretty interesting things.

I have to say something about the Gentleman’s Ushanka and/or Pocket Medic. They are both community cosmetics - but the fact they both got accepted by Valve says a lot. Above is text snipped from the actual wiki.

Last but not least: The Comics. Darned comics. The pair of mercenaries has basically no interaction - unless you count issue 6.

Heavy getting absolutely PISSED when Medic is killed by Ch*avy. Their reunion. Medic referring to Heavy by “my friend” in a totally straight way. Kind of sad Valve wasted an opportunity for them to hug. Maybe they knew their comic artist ships them and wanted to avoid having to answer the Question™.

Part 2: Dynamics

This part’s a bit trickier, mostly due to the reason that I’m new to this whole dynamic analysis thing. Yeah I’m good at spotting canonical evidence but very specific shipping dynamics often escape my gaze.

The most obvious one is Big Guy, Little Guy. Quoting the TVTROPES page:

[…] This trope describes a pair of guys who always fight together, are best friends forever, and quite often have a very obvious hierarchy: The little guy is often in charge […] The little guy is usually listed first, since he’s the leader, and they are always listed together, as if they are one entity. In fact, some episodes may center on the fact that they can’t live without each other. […] If this is a case of Brains and Brawn, the Big Guy is usually the Brawn, and the Little Guy the Brains. It’s almost never the other way around, but in some cases the Big Guy can be rather smart too. […]

A sub-type of this, a common favorite here on Tumblr is known as “small chaotic big calm” and hoo boy if that isn’t these two. I don’t really have much to say here - again I am not an expert.

Part 3: Fandom Impact

So you don’t think Red Oktoberfest (as Heavymedic is sometimes called) is super popular on anywhere else than Tumblr? Wrong.

It’s hard to find TF2 fics on Archive of Our Own not tagged with Heavy/Medic. Of course most of them only contain hints to their relationship but go in the main tf2 tag and I can guarantee you, you’ll gonna see “implied heavy/medic” all the time.

But these two go further than AO3 or Tumblr or Instagram or whatever. They are recognized even within the wider circle of the fanbase. Take this SFM, for example. (I am using the Saxxy Awards version of Secret Lives here mostly due to the fact that the Heavymedic moment is much gayer. In the normal version, the dialogue isn’t changed, but they simply hold hands.)

But it gets deeper. (WARNING: THE GAY MOMENT IN THIS ONE IS NSFW. NOT EXPLICITLY SO BUT JUST A HEADS UP TUMBLR PLEASE DO NOT FLAG ME)

And the best part? The comments are extremely positive. You’d expect hoards upon hoards of homophobes screeching but no, the comments are supportive. Even on places such as Reddit or Youtube, comments like “yeah they’re gay and in love” do not get downvoted/disliked to hell; in fact the opposite.

Part 4: Canon Status

Let’s be real. Most ships are shipped because people want to explore the dynamics in fanfic, fanart or something else. But Heavymedic is shipped because… well, I have no idea.

Actually, I kind of do - but only theories. You see, while the canonical evidence is here, the creators have never said anything about them. No confirmation, no disproval, no hinting, nothing.

But the ship is so prominent! There has to be something causing this!- you say. And to that I present you 2 theories on why Heavy/Medic is so popular.

Theory number 1 states that we simply all choose to interpret their interactions as homoerotic. And this is very easy to disprove - there’s simply no way we just collectively agreed on these matters out of nothing. There has to be something bigger.

And theory 2 states that, well, our interpretation is the desired interpretation. But this is even more ridiculous than theory 1 for a number of reasons. If they are in fact gay, why hasn’t Valve made them canon yet?

A Theoretical Scenario

I am going to ramble big time on this one, so buckle up lads. I’ll discuss a theoretical scenario in which, well, if that was not obvious, Valve confirms Heavymedic as canon. Maybe then we will see why they will probably never do so.

TF2 is considered by typical capital G, alt-right Gamers as a “non-political” game. This means no women (in the game itself, at least, and if even, sexy women only), no queer folk and no minorities (for some reason they accept Demoman but throw a fit if someone draws any other merc as not being pearl white). Team Fortress 2 was around before Gamergate and other things like Gamers Rise Up. It’s a classic and Valve is regarded as the good guy to Epic Game’s bad guy. If Valve did anything to confirm doubts, wherther it be clearing up popular fanon or confirming ships, these people would throw hands. (Although they seemed to ignore when one of the writers confirmed Miss Pauling is a lesbian. Huh.) Even those that don’t play TF2 would come to the aid of their bros.

Let me illustrate with two very similar examples. In both cases these confirmations were the first made by the company as a whole, both are fairly recent and both confirm a character as gay.

First we have the confirmation of Tracer from Overwatch as a lesbian. It was done in one of OVW’s comics. Tracer is the FACE of Overwatch as a whole and while most of the fanbase accepted it (thankfully the Gamers are reluctant to infest ow), some people threw what I can only describe as a hissy fit. At least her girlfriend’s a background character.

Second is Neeko from League of Legends. Unlike Tracer she was added a while before it was confirmed she was gay. LOL is much more toxic and filled with Gamers than OW and holy shit people smeared LOL so much.

Of course these are not accurate to Heavy/Medic. In both of the cases I listed it was girls being wlw and we all know how much cisgender heterosexual gamers LOVE yuri porn. Apparently only girls can be gay because they can jack off to it - if it’s two guys then it’s disgusting. Nevertheless I think these are good approximations - in every case the company gets “shat on” on social media and other sites. With the community that Valve has, I think even if they wanted them to be gay, they would never ever confirm it.

Conclusion

I’m sorry for that ending. I had to theorize a bit. Regardless I’d love if you shared this on other sites, reblogged or whatever - I wasted at least 1 and a half hours of my life on it. Feel free to cite this as a source if someone asks you why you ship the big heavy weapons expert and the feral battle medic.