#I don't doubt there'd have been issues either way

[skania]

i get losing interest in the free series after utsumi left because its the same for me. S3 was just shit and the writers didn't care about writing a story, just wanted a way to force every character to have a role in the series and neglected the main characters. high speed was eh but i enjoyed my RH angst. the movies had potential but execution wasn't good. i enjoyed my RH moments but i know utsumi would've made those moments even better. its a shame since i dont care about her new series SK8.

This is more or less how I feel too, and I feel terrible for saying it because I've been trying to keep it to myself all these years 😭 But I think it's time to let it all out.

I think the current Free! stopped working for me because when I watch it, I don't find in it the same heart that blindsided me when I watched S1. And it's funny you mention SK8, because I don't care for it either, but a friend forced me to watch it, and it had heart. By the time I was done watching it, I couldn't help but feel sad. Because you're right anon, Utsumi would've taken Rin and Haru so, so much further if only she kept working on Free!

I know Utsumi had her issues, the biggest one (for me) being how neatly separated she kept the Samezuka and Iwatobi storylines until it was time for the RH climax. Which was kind of ridiculous because they lived in a small ass town and they all knew each other.

But I feel like the new team has the exact opposite problem.

We have a bazillion characters in a huge city but they keep running into each other for no reason whatsoever, simply so KyoAni can say that every single character interacted with each other at least once. Characters run into each other into the middle of nowhere, literally materialize into each other's cars for no apparent reason, every time Haru breathes you have 15 different characters talking about it without really contributing anything... it's all so disingenuous?

It's like the franchise has become a merchandise-selling machine, so they go out of their way to create scenarios that will allow them to sell merch of 50 different combinations of cute dudes. And they achieve this by doing the same thing over and over again except slightly different each time, because if it worked for Utsumi it'll work for them. And this is an issue that's been there since S3, which honestly had zero originality, but sadly the last two movies failed to fix this for me.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the RH from the last two movies as much as anyone else. There was some genuinely brilliant stuff there, like all the imagery with the level crossings stopping Haru from reaching Rin? Imagery that they've been using since the S3 opening? That was fantastic and it had me in tears. Haru trying to tell Rin that he wants to keep swimming by his side forever? The literal marriage proposal I've been waiting for since S1, because this is as close to a confession as one can get in Haru-speak. Haru thinking of Rin when he is asked about what changed his life? Stunning, breathtaking. Rin admitting that he has been deliberately playing dumb about Haru's feelings? A huge game-changer that literally had me stopping and staring because holy shit the fanfic potential for that line alone is astronomical. Probably the best line in the entire movie for me because it's the one thing that felt genuinely new.

And that's the thing, because the rest—while great, because RH has always elevated the story and that will never change—felt... terribly safe? It's like they didn't dare to do too much, so they just rehashed stuff that's already happened in S1 and S2. Rin hugs Haru? Already did it in S1. It'd have been incredible if we finally had Haru initiating a hug, but nope they don't dare to go beyond what Utsumi already did. Rin tells Haru he admires him? Already did it in S2. Haru tells Rin he taught him lots of important things? Already happened in S1. There are SO many things Haru has yet to tell Rin, you could fill an entire phonebook with it. But instead of everything Haru has yet to tell Rin, they chose to have him say... one of the few things he has already told him? Why??

It’s like they don’t dare to go out of the dotted lines Utsumi already traced, so instead they just end up adding the same colors over and over again. And Rin and Haru do end up globetrotting together, but... we already knew they would? That’s never been at stake. The important thing was to see how they got there, but they wasted an entire movie on drama that they resolved within the first 30 mins of this second movie, only to then add even more drama in the form of Haru getting injured.

The movies should have been about Haru and Rin getting used to the professional world and getting to form a relay team. Instead the relay team is a second thought and formed in a rush. And for what? The drama felt like it was there only for the sake of drama, because the conclusion Haru reaches after all of that is just a combination between this S1 and S2 conclusions. The main difference is that S1 and S2 alternated between showing and telling, while now we get some forced showing so they can do the telling.

So while there's some really cool stuff there and I am and will always be happy that RH got their happy ending, the last stretch of Free! just really pales in comparison to S1 and S2 for me 😭

[bitterrobin]

Exploration of Lance Bruner's Post-Crisis AU resurrection (Taxonomy!verse)

So Jason and Lance are dead. Superboy Prime punches the shit out of reality. They get resurrected around the same time. Jason escapes his coffin, is hospitalized, wanders Gotham for months, and gets the help of Talia, pushed into the Pit, trained, set on his revenge path. Lance...doesn't have the chances Jason did. He resurrects in his coffin and he's severely screwed.

By virtue of having died multiple years before Jason, maybe his coffin is older, more fragile, and not nearly as secured as Jason's more modern grave. His coffin is more breakable, but Lance just can't make it. It takes him days for Lance to dig himself out. He's tired, terrified, starving and actively bleeding from a gunshot wound. (Considering Jason's wounds re-emerged during his resurrection, easy to say Lance's wound would also reappear). Eventually, dumb luck maybe, Lance gets out. Then what? He doesn't have the issues Jason had with his trauma/memory, so he's just...alive again. Maybe something interesting could be explored if he remembers everything prior to his death and doesn't remember actually dying idk. Either way, there's the mention of possible grave robbers in UTRH that makes me think: okay grave robbers weren't the cause of Jason's grave disturbance, but what if there were grave robbers to find Lance?

Lance emerges from his grave, maybe the dirt is already being dug through by the grave robbers so he's saved from the effort. He comes out and scares the shit out of them. Perhaps they shove him back and run, maybe they yank him out thinking he was buried alive until they see the blood on his chest and panic. Grave robbing is enough of an issue that Jason's grave is secured by sensors, so I think Bruce would just place sensors on all of the graves at Wayne Manor. Lance gets out of grave and the sensors are tripped. He's bleeding and worn down. I doubt the grave robbers would actively try to help him but he can't be left alone. Even if he makes it out the graveyard, who's to say he doesn't just die again? To prevent this, I'll have to really think about it more. One of the grave robbers panics, maybe they feel bad or just don't want get caught as a murder suspect, so they just...take him. They take him and just dump his rapidly dying-again body on a hospital step, where he's quickly put through the Emergency ward. His GSW gets treated surgically and he spends a lot of his time recovering in the hospital.

The fact that Jason was Robin means all circumstances around his death had to be obscured/hidden. Lance may have died in the Robin costume but he wasn't Robin. His background in delinquency and the whole thing with Stark could've made it easier to blame Lance's death as an unfortunate consequence of his troubled life. It'd be easy to see Lance's death in the media set as a life cut short by teenage delinquency and Gotham's past-mob problem just before the teen could really make a permanent change with Bruce and Dick. There'd be records showing the transfer of his care from Prof. Bruner to Bruce and Bruce's adoption of him so they can't hide that. Officially, Lance's death is a typical tragedy of Gotham.

In the hospital, Lance remembers living. He remembers Stark and Bruce and Dick and Batman and Robin. While Jason wasn't able to reveal or respond to anything, Lance would get questioned about his suit, his wound, his identity. This go could go two ways: 1) Lance is still kind of an asshole and he tries to admit to the whole Batman and Robin thing. He could be angry that Bruce forgot about him (ha), he could just misremember the events and blames Batman for his death. Detectives and hospital staff question it, since by then theres been Jason and Tim and (maybe) Stephanie as Robin. Dick is a full adult now and Bruce is older but Lance is still a teen. Maybe they dismiss it as trauma/mental illness, maybe Lance keeps insisting hard enough he's put into Pysch care. 2) Lance adheres to his redemption, remembers everything correctly, and doesn't confess to anything. He makes up a half-truth about getting involved with the mob out of misguided intentions. Lance is probably malnourished and worse for wear, and Lance Bruner died at least 20-something years ago - so he isn't recognized immediately. But there's still fingerprints and records and the grave sensors were tripped. Lance is kinda fucked in this scenario. He keeps the secret but just by being alive he's jeopardizing everything about Bruce and Dick. The saving grace? The Cataclysm.

See, all of the above hinges on the fact that Wayne Manor plus it's graveyard is kept unchanged from the era of Robin!Dick. But it wasn't. Wayne Manor was utterly destroyed by the earthquake. Maybe all the graves in the family graveyard had to be actively searched for, recovered, and reburied. Maybe that's when Bruce puts in the sensors in place. Bruce's parents and Jason are taken great care of, but Lance is but many of the dead. Maybe Bruce never finds him, and with the chaos of No Man's Land he doesn't have the time to spare to look for every individual family member. Lance's corpse is massively displaced by the quake. The earthquake brought on thousands of deaths. There's movements and pushes for mass gravesites, a larger city graveyard in remembrance of the quake/No Man's land.

Maybe Lance's coffin (or just his corpse) is recovered by a charity or some bereaved family and he's placed in the public graveyard. No fancy Wayne coffin, no sensors, barely a gravestone. By then, his corpse isn't recognizable enough to be identified. His records are old and few, the adoption papers lost in the earthquake, the reform school record, the military school records, the police rap sheet are either destroyed or completely forgotten about. Lance resurrects in a sea of graves. The grave robbers still find him, he still gets put into the hospital, but theres nothing to connect him to Lance Bruner - adopted son of Bruce Wayne and biological heir of Professor Bruner. Lance has to take on a new name, but at least he can't endanger Bruce/Dick. It's a relief when he finds out, but also genuinely disorienting. Gotham isn't what he knew. Bruce, and Dick and the Titans are all wildly older than he remembers. Gotham has been destroyed and rebuilt countless times. There's more and more vigilantes around he has no idea about. For now, Lance's new life is uncertain.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Slight musing on rude not mean AU, but I wondered how the re-framed dynamic would influence Chloe's character.

Overall, she's meant to start out much the same, but I think the big notable thing would be in the instances where either Adrien discusses her behavior & she can chime in or, she is expected o apologize.

Rose's Letter:

Adrien's issue is less that she destroyed it, Nathalie & Gabriel destroy gifts from fans all the time & both he & Chloe watch Audrey destroy Chloe's gifts in real time. His contention is that it was not diplomatic and that clearly Rose's letter had merit given Ali liked it.

Which does actually hit a nail on the head for Chloe, and she apologizes to Rose without prompting but in a very... Chloe way.

IE, "Clearly there was factors I didn't consider when judging your letter, and I erred by destroying it, sorry Rose."

Which Adrien thinks is cool & normal, & while Rose accepts, she & anyone who heard it is like, "So wait she was apologizing for not realizing Ali would like it, not for hurting Rose, the hell?"

Juleka & the stall:

As noted, this one would actually get to Adrien as its physical and if there'd been a fire or the like Juleka could have been seriously hurt. But also because it genuinely wasn't a contest, it was a class photo, and Chloe removed a member of the class.

Seeing she's upset Adrien & rationalizing the actions from her own perspective, but then looking at the class context...

Yeah she'd apologize in the sense of, "I shouldn't have removed you from a group photo, that undercuts the whole point of the photo, and its clear now you weren't competing to be near Adrien, so I shouldn't have treated you as a threat."

Juleka: ... Thanks?

Basically, much like how Chloe can turn on customer service smile at the hotel, she does know that there's some lines you don't cross. The big issue is, at least early on, that she kind of doesn't know & doesn't bother to find out where other people's lines are, let alone realize they aren't even using the same rule book as her. Cos again, cruelty is normalized.

This would ideally just be her starting out on the whole redemption process & more pointedly serve to drive home just how warped she & Adrien's perspective is to everyone else.

In this regard, Adrien might have his first real like, gut instinct empathy with the Kim confession. In the sense of, "Ooh if I confessed to Ladybug, got splashed & covered in a chip bag, then she laughed & posted it on social media... That would really hurt."

But like, its just a casual prank bro, the TV everyone in class watches has stuff like this all the time.

So why does he feel bad?

GOD

Honestly I doubt the Kim thing would even register either like. Remember when Audrey rejected Chloé's gift on live tv because the wrapping paper was tacky?

[cru5h-cascades]

Side Order Theory #8: "We Go Way Back" (dedf1sh + Marina Theory)

"As for Marina and me, we go way back". This quote from our favorite octarian DJ dedf1sh has caused a bunch of theories online. Since we don't have much to go off of when it comes to dedf1sh and Marina's relationship (as a matter of fact we have NOTHING to go off of 'cause we're only finding out about this relationship now), I kinda want to share a theory I've had in mind.

Now, I might be drawing some inspiration from Stup Jam's animation Takostubo Heartbeat, but I have a feeling that dedf1sh and Marina might've actually been a duo before Marina went to the surface, either that or dedf1sh & Marina were really good friends (I'm going with the musician route, personally). This is really the only way I can see this dedf1sh + Marina storyline going. Some might say that the two could potentially be siblings but I doubt it but hey I'd be fine with it being revealed in Side Order.

So, as far as we know people Marina used to know, including Agent 8, Pearl (to some extent; we're not sure if Pearl herself's in this version of Inkopolis Square we just know a drone that looks like her is there), and dedf1sh got trapped in the alternate reality Side Order takes place in. Pearl most likely got captured because I mean she's Marina's bandmate and Agent 8 got captured because they kept in touch with OtH after the events of Octo Expansion. As for dedf1sh we still don't know why they're here to begin with. But I have a feeling that the Splatune 3 interview with Marie, Big Man & Marina might help figure this all out. In the interview, Marina says that her and Pearl had a "musical clash" before the formation of Damp Socks & Pearl basically ghosted Marina for a while. Considering how much Marina cares about Pearl, you'd think she'd feel absolutely horrible during that period of time. Now how does this connect to dedf1sh? Well, what if this thing about Marina feeling the worst while Pearl was ghosting her is true. There'd have to be a reason why she'd feel like this. This is where my theory comes into play.

What I think is that Marina and dedf1sh originally were a duo before the events of Splatoon 2. The two would probably do electronic music specifically. Since we know that dedf1sh also experimented with all different sorts of genres of music, dedf1sh (pre-sanitization) might've wanted to branch out to other genres of music but probably didn't want to dissapoint Marina or something like that so she kept making electronic music with Marina until eventually dedf1sh's doubts got the best of her and dedf1sh turned to sanitization. Perhaps dedf1sh left Marina without warning and caused Marina to get some trust issues, which ultimately leads to Marina getting super close to Pearl because she doesn't want to lose another friend.

But hey, that's just me thinking out loud. I might tweak this theory if we get any more info on dedf1sh's relationship with Marina before Side Order releases (might call the follow up to this theory Side Order Theory #8.5). Anyways, what do y'all think Marina & dedf1sh's relationship is supposed to be? Tell me in da reblogs/comments!

[melrosing]

Do you think Jaime could carry out the Riverrun threat if Edmure wasnt complying or called him on his bluf even? (based on Jaime's insecurity, impulsiveness and spite that made him want to get in combat with blackfish the moment he provoked him) usually people aproach this issue from the angle that Jaime isnt like tywin and wants to prevent the bloodshed and uphold his vows, which I agree, but could some of his other shortcomings trigger him to do something this stupid and unnessesary to prove himself, while in turn forgetting about his long term goals (like the blackfish example)?

If Edmure had called Jaime's bluff I imagine he would have taken arms against Tullys. As much as I agree team Lannister is plainly in the wrong on this one, they still have a lot to lose - and that's what Jaime is constantly wrestling with. The good people of the Riverlands would probably still happily put his son's head on a spike if Jaime were to hand them the war, so he can't. He's essentially entered a lose/lose situation in the Riverlands, where either he hands power back to the Tullys and invites violence upon his own family, or he abandons his own moral code and enacts violence on the Tullys.

Except Jaime opts for a secret third thing, which is the rhetoric of violence - and I think he's deluded about how far that was ever going to get him in terms of ending the war, but again, Tywin botched it all and then fucked off to hell. There was never going to be a way for House Lannister to salvage this situation, peaceful or otherwise.

So I do think Jaime would've ended up storming Riverrun if it came to it, but as I always say, I think we're meant to sincerely doubt the extent of his threats. When Jaime launches into his own Rains of Castamere monologue, it's when he knows he has Edmure - the threat has been implicit, but Edmure wants him to say it to make it real. So Jaime dials it up to eleven because that is really what Edmure's asking to hear - I think he and Jaime both know that if it were anything less than that, Edmure might choke on his pride and hold out.

So again, yeah, if Edmure had declined to surrender there'd have been violence, but the rabid extent of Jaime's threats only come when they both know the deal's as good as done - it's hardly even a bluff, it's more Jaime writing the signature for both of them on the terms of surrender.

Anyway as ever I know there are a lot of people who take Jaime if not literally then at least semi-literally with these threats, but I just don't think it makes sense to do so - hence this incomplete essay which I swear I haven't abandoned lol but fr I really want to write conclusively what I mean it's just gonna take a lot of words

[icy-watch]

Alright. Episode 13, the final episode of the season.

Garmadon has taken off with the weapons, Lloyd needs to train, dragons are back, Wu is alive, the Great Devour is gone.

I don't think they'll jump right back into the Garmadon vs the Ninja storyline with the next season. It's going to be a hot minute before that gets resolved.

The Serpentine are still an issue, so something has to be done there. That might be what they decide to tackle in the next season, but I feel like they'll step away until the last few episodes of season 2.

I'm genuinely surprised that I predicted that they would end the season with the Great Devourer creating an Ouroboros, while the Ninja played Snake. I actually laughed out loud at that. I don't think I would have predicted that if I didn't have some knowledge in alchemy and 80s arcade games. My childhood was weird but it pays off in the weirdest ways sometimes.

If you're interested, I'm going over what I predicted correctly and incorrectly.

Incorrect

Learn more spinjitzu to save Nya. I actually thought they would drag out the "saving Nya" plotline a little long.

Nya will join the bad guys. She will realize that she's being mislead during a big moment of betrayal. I was so wrong with this. So, so, so, so, so wrong.

Garmadon will attack a village to kick off the main series. I am disappointed with myself on this one.

The Serpentine will work with Garmadon. I could not have been more incorrect about this one if I tried.

The dragons will carry the boat around or they'll get to sea somehow. I was not expecting the boat to be able to fly like it would in Peter Pan if it had been made by Nicholas St. North from Rise of the Guardians (2012).

The boat will be important. It was the ninjas' home but not as important as I thought it would be.

The rescue mission for Lloyd will be the next episode. It actually took a couple of episodes.

Kai won't reach his full potential until the final battle. He reached it by saving Lloyd.

Getting the last fangblade will be a challenge for Pythor and the Serpentine. They managed to get it without the ninja interfering.

Correct

Sibling rivalry and tensions will be pervasive throughout the whole series. I haven't been wrong about this one yet.

Lloyd is the green ninja. While Nya was definitely in the top contenders -- even Wu thought so at one point -- Lloyd was always right there. He made sense.

Lloyd will join the group. He did. As the green ninja.

The samurai is Nya. This was very obvious to be once I saw her bangle on her arm. The only other person it could have been was Nya and Kai's mother, who hasn't really been mentioned at all in the show so it was doubtful that it would be her.

The boys won't get the next fangblade. They only managed to get them because they infiltrated the secret hideout and escaped with Garmadon and the Skulkins' help.

Pythor would raise the Great Devourer. With as much hubub as they made about bringing the Great Devourer back, I should have known there'd be a big battle.

Pythor gets eaten by the Great Devourer. He did and everyone celebrated.

Something bad will happen to Wu. He got eaten as well, but he's fine now.

Partially

Lloyd and the Serpentine will be the big bads this season and the next as well. I'm giving this one a partial correct. Lloyd started out being not so great and then grew as the season wore on. The Serpentine were bad all the way through. We don't have any confirmation right now whether or not they'll be the bad guys next season.

Cole being controlled by the Serpentine will be revealed at the worst possible moment. This one gets a partial bc it was at the worst possible moment, but I thought it would be later in the season. Not the very next episode.

Lloyd will free all of the Serpentine. He technically released 3 of the 5 tribes.

Pythor will either take the fangblades from them or they will manage to destroy the fangblades in Torchfire Mountain. I wasn't sure which way this would fall.

[sima-the-unwary]

So I agree with Reagan but assuming that's not an option here are the follow ups:

9. Romulus. If Romulus dies then Rome just becomes ruled by remulus and is named reme. This changes next to nothing otherwise as I'm assuming the brothers were somewhat similar, and probably both would've ruled in broad strokes similar ways but there's no real way of knowing.

8. William the conqueror. This is mostly a convenience thing, as William modified English to be closer to norman, which means when I come back English would be very different. This being my primary language I'd find it challenging to communicate. Also too old so there'd be effects that would be too hard to predict.

7.Julius Ceasar. Although he destroyed the republic and was an undeniably bad guy, he also stabilized the empire fairly well by switching it to an empire rather than the republic that was on the brink of falling as it was. Early fall of the Romans would cause issues for me along the same linguistic issues as before.

6. Martin Luther. Dude was pissed at the church for valid reasons, and if he did not exist people would still have been pissed at the church for valid reasons. He didn't so much create Anti-church sentiment as he did ignite it, and as such there'd have been some form of reformation without him. As to whether the new reformation would be less violent than the old is unpredictable but unlikely.

5. Franz Ferdinand. His death was the spark for WW1, however the bomb was already there. The war was inevitable and his death was less the cause and more the excuse. If not Franz than someone else would've caused it.

4. Mao Zedong. He was a real bad guy, but given the timeframe he'd have simply been replaced with another very bad guy. Yes he killed millions but I have no doubts his replacement would be equally bad. His opponent for example was a really violent authoritarian nationalist, which would hardly be an upgrade.

3. Benito Mussolini. As bad as he was (and he was really bad) I don't think he created fascism so much as he did name it. Nationalism and racial superiority where already popular before he got there, and alot of the facist ideals both he and the Nazis supported where imports from the US, not so much from each other. The main issue I have here is that the outcomes are such: either Mussolini is replaced with a non-facist which is a huge win or he's replaced by a more competent fascist who can actually rule a country, which would be disastrous. The risk is too big that he's replaced with another authoritarian who's better at winning wars.

2. Richard Nixon. Although his effects on global politics are mostly negative, and many of his policies barbaric, he wouldn't be my first pick for American presidents. That's hands down Reagan for a very large number of reasons. But, it's hard to find a likely replacement for Nixon that would've been worse, and it would mean the fragility of American institutions wouldn't be tested until years in the future. I believe removing Nixon before his rise, especially in the hopes that a less insane or less charismatic man replaced him.

1. Stalin. Stalin killed a lot of people and co-opted the communist movement to be an authoritarian nightmare. Furthermore his method of spreading communism primarily through force and oppression of most of eastern Europe under Russia was poorly conceived as it didn't last long after his death. I believe by removing Stalin, he'd have been replaced with less overtly cruel and shortsighted men who may have created a form of communism that is far less authoritarian and brutal. Now this is still Russian communism so we'd be picking from the party that overthrew their own election because they lost so they'd still probably be fairly authoritarian, just hopefully less so.

You are granted a time machine and the ability to prevent one birth (or commit a murder up to you), don't worry about the butterfly effect, we want the butterfly effect that's part of the point. Your actions will prevent them from ever rising to prominence. No he's not here, because it'd be too much of a sweep, pick your second choice if you're wondering where he is

[perpetual-fool]

-

Random thoughts regarding feeling bad about feeling horny and associated feelings.

Catalyst: ran across a 'double standards' story, woman deliberately got a man drunk to pressure him to agree to sex, then later shared it as a funny story.

Context: I've been raised to think that finding someone attractive was in itself a sin deserving of eternal torture. And I know that that's hypocritical and insane. But how the issue is treated in the secular culture isn't much different. Here, a prevalent version of it would be top/bottom-posting, I guess? Like saying you want to be dominated is cute, but saying you want to dominate is akin to admitting you want to commit sexual assault.

The point: I have no good reason to think the people telling me I'm wrong aren't morally bankrupt. Like, sex can't be innately immoral, as horny is involuntary and sex is necessary for the ongoing existence of humanity. For the condemnation to be valid there'd have to be an acceptable version of sex and horniness. Almost in a 'government approved porn' kind of way. I don't think I need to argue that that doesn't exist? But yeah, except if you're the woman/bottom/sub then none of the rules apply and you can do no wrong. (Supposedly. Personal experience has just been people telling me I'm wrong. (Except Cat, she's nice.)) So there's a very good chance that my accusers are guilty of exactly the same things and worse, but either it's not bad when they do it, or it's defined as something else when they do it.

Conclusion: moral judgment shouldn't have the benefit of the doubt. At a glance, you could probably check whether they're offering any correction or just telling you that you're bad. And if it's just shaming then they're just talking shit. And if it's not just shit, then it needs the full explanation. And I need to not be credulous? Like, people will happily just make shit up for the explanation, they're going to cheat no matter what the criteria are. It's up to me to not just accept that. Which I guess is a whole thing? I feel like no matter what people say, I have to respond in a way that they will accept. Like everything they say is just true by default, and if I have a problem with it then I need to prove that, extensively, to them. That's uh, probably the reason I'm having so much trouble resolving my feelings around this issue.

M'kay, so I'm inclined to ask how I can accept that others are just full of shit. But the answer is just that I need a good explanation for that behavior. How can people be that full of shit? In this case, how can people genuinely believe in a double standard? If you know the answer, let me know. That's most of my whole problem.

It would probably help if I knew what the 'good' version of horny looked like. I mean, I guess the 'bad' version not actually being bad was a major point here. But what about that is desirable? What qualities would a bottom want out of their top? What qualities would an attractive person want in their admirer?

[possumsinpeoplesuits]

This is gonna be a long post, but... I'm coping with some thoughts on being, well, an Alter. I just wanted to get it all out in case I don't get to front for a while, and also because I don't want to sleep yet. So, without further ado...

I heard someone call me by my own name for the first time today, and got so emotional afterwards I ended up crying. It was my therapist, who I officially introduced myself to for the first time. At the start of the day, he was only the third person to know outside of one friend and my roommate. By the end of today, around ten people know, and I haven't really encountered any doubt, which I guess is a good thing?

I honestly never expected to get this far. I've missed so many years where I've barely ever fronted, to the point it just got confusing whenever it happened. How do you explain to someone that you're suddenly dysphoric in the complete opposite way, or that you can't remember how to do your job? How do you explain to someone you'll probably need to ask their name on three separate occasions before you can consistently remember it, when you're not even sure why?

Theeen the long run up to our breakdown last year started. I tend to front more when there's a lot of stress, which doesn't exactly help things when you then have to figure out what the hell you're even doing, but only being around one or two days a month doesn't really make for a very firm identity, even if I used to be the host for most of the teenage years. Well, most people don't react well to not controlling their thoughts half the time. Less so when they start to remember that, well... Kay's the most recent one of us. Hell, I'm not the original, either, but my social skills aren't exactly the best, so I got written off as a hallucination.

Then Kay hurt herself, and we ended up in a psych ward for a while. There were other things happening, too, like the whole adrenal gland fucking up because that thing burned out from overuse, we think. (What, a system with lots of trauma? That unpossible!) Point being, we were fucked up, and the more fucked up we got, the more I started coming to the front. It was just hard to articulate it right, because surely it couldn't be a disassociative disorder, right?

Yeah, my psych'd talked about CPTSD, and every time I tell one of my childhood stories as a joke everyone gets reeeeal quiet and says things like "Oh my god, I'm so sorry that happened to you" and stuff like that, but there were only a few times I got beat. I only got shot with an air rifle twice, and it only broke the skin once, and two rounds of conversion therapy just left me with a phobia of religious figures and a need to know where the door was to any given room, but it wasn't like I was traumatized or anything, right?

Back to the ward, I remember not being entirely sure how long I'd been there the first day, but some of the other days, I kept trying not to sleep because I had this indescribable feeling that I wouldn't be the same when I woke back up. (there was a fucking reason for that, god I was in denial.) So things got vague for a bit, the adrenal issues were causing some hallucinations, which just fed into the belief that I wasn't, you know, a real person.

And then, about five days into this, me and Kay disagreed harder than we had before, which was the first time in a while there'd been such a stark line between us when it's usually something like a spectrum. See, Kay's usually a bit of a pushover. Nice to a fault, just quietly going along with an ineffective treatment plan because a five minute psychiatrist appointment each morning isn't really long enough to figure anything out, so, uh... I made a suggestion.

Just leave. Despite the self harm, this was a voluntary commitment, we could just leave. She couldn't bring herself to ask. Okay, don't say anything and just ram the door. She thinks it'd hurt because they were locked. So I say grab a keycard from someone, but she watched them restrain someone the day before, so I started losing it and just suggesting getting violent, because, well... last time I was this dominant was when dealing with a meth addicted stepdad who had a habit of hurting my mom, so maybe I had a shitload of anger to get out that I wasn't coping with very well.

Well, it turns out that, if two sets of thoughts are butting heads like that, it gets a little hard to tell which ones are yours anymore. So, all this starts bleeding into her inner monologue, she interprets it as some sort of demonic possession (I was not helping matters) aaaaand asked one of the nurses to be sedated with everything they had.

Yeeeah... we're pretty sure I started as a trauma response, which... yeah, no shit. Still it just... wasn't fun being me, or productive or anything, so I just kind of stayed quieter. Inpatient ended, and a lot of it's just a blur. I know the little fainting spell we had on intake became a recurring thing, and I'm pretty sure running out of cortisol regularly and substituting adrenaline is probably why I didn't just go fully dormant again.

The thing I've learned with OSDD (the low calorie diet alternative to DID) is that there's a bit of bleedthrough. Lines aren't quite as strict, so even though memories do get fucky sometimes, it's not always easy to tell when a switch happens until it's far enough in one direction to make recalling things hard. So I think I was still there somewhere; we bought a binder despite Kay being transfemme, finally donated like two and a half feet of hair, and basically just rationalized it as being more butch as we got more comfortable in being recognized as a woman.

I know there were a few times I just felt insanely dysphoric, or angry out of nowhere, which... yeah, after that inpatient visit, Kay basically walked back in to a hostile as fuck work environment, I learned my lesson about suggesting punches to the throat from earlier, and uh, oh yeah, my dad died by suicide. Y'know, the one who didn't have a giant record of traumatizing us.

I didn't realize this until December, nine months after it'd happened. I have to dig for memories I wasn't really around for, it doesn't come immediately, but I tend to pop up to absorb some insults from mom over the holidays, so I drove up, realized why I wasn't visiting dad this time and just... broke down. Stress vomited in the bathroom, too. Didn't keep a bite of food down the whole day.

Obviously, I wasn't feeling very well. I hadn't slept much, either, but rather than sleep in a recliner in my mom's house, I just turned around after exchanging presents, made the whole five hour trip back in one go, and when I got out of my car, I realized I'd been up for forty hours because I was seeing things out of the corner of my eye, but just... couldn't sleep still.

I was home alone, so I took the time to just... break down until I felt like I could sleep, then sat in my bathtub aaaaand... there were three of us. Like, I said the lines are a lot more defined when there's a lot of stress, right? Well, sleep deprivation seems to really be the only time all our internal monologues can coexist. Also I downed an edible, but it hadn't had time to really kick in yet.

So there was me, then Kay (who was stressing because her last conversation with dad was about the psych ward stay), then the original, core one of us that we've dubbed Alice, who I can only describe as the kid who doesn't know why mom's hitting her and won't remember in the morning. I think I kept asking Kay if this is how she wants to be, but we got a little distracted with the other one who, uh... was a fucking surprise?

But again... we were fucking delirious and slowly getting high enough to finally sleep for about 14 hours. It wasn't until she was describing it to the same therapist (with the preface "Obviously I don't have OSDD/DID") that he was like "Actually, that sounds exactly like what that is." and that was the theme of the session.

There was still a bit of denial, though. I mean, I was an absolute dickwad who only came out when things were going terribly wrong, so it felt like the best thing to do was to hunker down each time and hope a nap would hit the reset button.

I'd occasionally talk with my friendly neighborhood @lizardywizard who helped field possible names, since I was still using our deadname, and it seemed like another little spur in everything going smoothly.

Then this week, there was an electrolysis session that was a looot more painful than it should have been, and I was fronting again by the end of it. Then woke up, still fronting. Then another day. Then Friday wasn't for a bit... and then someone kept startling me by SCREAMING at the top of their lungs somewhere in the mall, and wouldn't you know it, fronting again.

So I've basically had a week where there hasn't actually been any specific emotional turmoil, but I've just... existed, and been conscious of the fact it's me. There's loads of dysphoria, though. I'm not sure how I'm sandwiched between two transfems and still a guy, but it probably explains why I've felt so much kinship with transmascs lately, since, well... twelve years of transitioning medically has got me at the point where I'm not able to pass as my assigned gender at birth, but I'm sure as hell not detransitioning, so I'm having to get some tips for making it a little more bearable to effectively wake up almost fully transitioned?

I obviously already had the binder, and I tend to wear loose clothes anyways, plus the undercut looks very femme down, but looks masc as hell when I tie it back. Even the FFS I've been recovering from is pretty okay. I wear a mask all the time anyways, and it just made me even more twinkish than before, which goes great with the goth look.

I'm still figuring a lot of things out, but suddenly having all this time to not be, well... a scary voice in someone's head has given me enough time to think things over. I never wanted to exist as someone's trauma response like a sacrificial doll anytime there's pain. I've been so confused on what to do, though, because that's really all I've been since, what, ten years old? But I'm not getting tossed through conversion therapy, I'm not in a religious school that hates queer people, the meth addicted fucker is long long gone, and I barely have contact with mom. Without those things putting me on edge, I'm... normal. I'm alright to be around, just a goth twink who likes music and, I'm finding, is INCREDIBLY GAY, like painfully gay and I kind of love it because it's just another way I stand out in my own head amongst the asexual bambi lesbians.

I don't know how long this'll last. I haven't fronted this frequently since, well... before Kay. So, sinceI don't seem to be going away anytime soon, I figured I'd introduce myself here:

I'm Noah. I'm looking forward to meeting some of y'all, and to the scalie buddy who helped me figure out the name... thanks for making me feel real, man. It really means a lot to have someone I can talk to when I'm still hiding almost everywhere else.

[strangertheories]

Hey, I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories and how Jancy will resolve their issues, or fail to do so, and if there's any difference in your expectations based on if/how much time skipping happens in S5 since I've heard everything from none to a few weeks to a few years, not sure what the 'current' theory is there.

I got another request to do a Stancy post from @webuserspam and a Ronance post from an anon so I think I'll just do them all at once. So in this post I'm still going to discuss Jancy endgame, Stancy endgame, single Nancy and Ronance endgame and I'll say my thoughts on which are most likely at the end. Full disclosure, I don't really like Stancy, I like Jancy and I love Ronance but I'm going to try and write them all in a satisfactory way. Just in case I sound biased.

In terms of the time skip, casting websites are asking for cars from 1988 meaning there'd be a time skip of 2 years. This would mean after the first few episodes they'd skip ahead to where the kids would be 16/17 and the teenagers would be 19-21 (I know they're all teens but it's easier to differentiate that way). For me this pretty certainly spells out a Jancy breakup because they will be at separate colleges so Johnathan will have to admit they can't go together which means breakup.

However, this season is described as post apocalyptic so maybe they both decided to stay in Hawkins, although I doubt that. I feel like Hawkins is going to be taken over so the group flees Hawkins but something happens and they all have to come together again to defeat Vecna once and for all. Kinda It Chapter 2 esque, where he's been defeated for now but he's coming back. Either way, I'm going to talk about it as if they do go to college because I don't know why that conflict would exist if they were never going to go anyways.

Ok first of all, Jancy endgame. Early on in the season, Johnathan is going to have to tell Nancy that he isn't going to Emerson with her. They're both pretty awful at communication, especially since they're long distance, so I don't think the relationship will be sustainable. This means pre time skip, I think they'll break up. However upon reuniting, Johnathan and Nancy are working together doing investigative work. It's a bit awkward but amiable. Spending so much time together reminds them that they love(d) each other and as all hope seems lost and it seems like the world is going to end, they turn to each other and rekindle their romance. They know where they went wrong last time and they're prepared to make it work.

Next up, Stancy endgame. Like aforementioned, after realzing they won't be together at college, Johnathan and Nancy break up. Steve will either be at a (community) college or still working. Either way, Robin will probably be there with him which is irrelevant for now. Steve has given up on casual dating and is now trying to commit to someone. Who knows, maybe he even had a serious relationship at some point in these two years. As a result of this, Steve has moved on from Nancy but he knows he's never loved a girl more than he used to love her.

When Nancy comes back to Hawkins, she's been broken up with Johnathan for two years. She's more concerned by the inevitable doom than romantic relationships. Similar to Jancy, Nancy spends more time with Steve and they're reminded of why they were such a good match in the first place. Previously, Nancy couldn't bring herself to love him because of Johnathan, but now she's able to commit to him. When all hope seems lost, she shares a final kiss with Steve but shockingly they survive.

Steve and Nancy talk afterwards and decide they'll keep the relationship long distance because Steve wants Nancy to follow her dreams but it's on an optimistic note. That or one of them dies (Steve most likely) and the remaining person (probably Nancy) is able to say I love you to their grace as a sad tear jerker moment. Especially considering Steve's whole dream for their future that he never got to achieve because he died so young for his actual "nuggets", leaving behind Nancy and the kids.

Next up, single Nancy. This one is a bit more simple than the other options. After breaking up with Johnathan, Nancy throws herself into journalism at college and is doing very well for herself. She drops this to come back to Hawkins. The town is now famous for whatever the hell is going on with it so Nancy claims it's to write a crazy article. Nancy spends time with both Johnathan and Steve but ultimately she tells them that she has to pursue her dreams without romance holding her back and maybe when she's older they could get together, but for now she's got to be alone. This isn't to do with romance, but I think if Nancy is writing an article on Hawkins it could be a big exposé and could be used in voice over to cap off the series. If we're being really cheesy, she could even name drop the series.

Finally, Ronance endgame. When we see a scene of Nancy at college, they could drop a hint about Nancy liking women, like her blushing at someone or something along these lines. Nancy and Robin have been sending each other letters whilst Nancy was at college and their relationship is strong. Robin still isn't out to Nancy and has a whole will they won't they thing going on with Vickie.

When Nancy arrives in Hawkins, their feelings for each other become abundantly clear as they spend time together. Robin wants to tell Nancy that's she's a lesbian but she doesn't want to damage their friendship because she's scared Nancy won't be as close with her if she comes out. Robin is smoother with Vickie than she was but the minute she's with Nancy all of that smoothness goes out of the window and there's this kind of flirtatious awkwardness that hangs over the relationship. Eventually, Vickie asks out Robin but by this point, Robin has realized she's much more interested in Nancy and politely turns her down. Robin then goes to Nancy in some sort of "the world's ending so I might as well say it" thing where she fully expects to get rejected but instead they kiss instead and the series ends with them both together.

In terms of likelihood for each scenario, I think that Ronance is unlikely because of the fact they're really pushing Robin and Vickie as well as the whole love triangle thing with Nancy (I hope to be proven wrong though). But in terms of the other options with Nancy? I'm not too sure. Single Nancy doesn't seem likely because they're pushing her into choosing between Johnathan and Steve. Jancy is so cute but they just can't communicate and I don't get what the point of Steve being all flirty with Nancy in S4 would have if they weren't pushing for Stancy. I also think that they're planning on killing off Steve so giving him a love interest would make it even sadder.

Thanks for the requests! Hope this was interesting. I can make a follow up one with Robin and Vickie if anyone's interested as well.

[robotnik-mun]

Seeing how Sonic the Comic gave Doctor Ivo Robotnik somewhat similar circumstances to Dragon Ball’s Majin Buu, where both he and his original self, Doctor Ovi Kintobor, had specific forms and personalities in spite of being the same character in the first place, I can imagine that if they completely merged a la Dark Danny, then Sonic the Comic would’ve officially had a true Doctor Eggman in name and appearance.

More so, Robotnik’s maliciousness would be balanced out by Kintobor’s moral restraint, which would make that Eggman more pragmatic yet still evil than his “components” were beforehand.

As for the Archie Sonic depiction of Julian Kintobor/Ivo Robotnik/Eggman, I think that if the Super Genesis Wave didn’t happen, and Archie were going to stick with the whole “original Robotnik replaced by alternate universe counterpart” shtick, then I can imagine that continuity would resolve itself in the event Eggman regained his roboticized form and was then put through the Death Egg Mark 2’s Roboticizer, which would explode and take him with it, ending his threat to the multiverse forever.

However, since Zonic indicated that a conflict between a Sonic and a Robotnik were needed for Mobius Prime’s stability, I can imagine that sooner or later, there would be indications of another variation of “Julian Kintobor/Ivo Robotnik/Eggman” showing up to continue the series. It would be kinda comparable to how the Shredder was more of a title than an epithet to be used by more than one villain in the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

On that note, though, who would be Eggman’s successor in antagonizing Mobius Prime? If it has to be someone who’s past matches very closely to Robotnik Prime’s, I doubt it would be a Warden Zobotnok turned to evil and I’m uncertain for the Moebian “Robotnik’s” chances as well.

Thoughts?

That's certainly an interesting way of looking at it, though I'd think the situation with Kintobor and Robotnik in Fleetway was more akin to Jekyll and Hyde or the Incredible Hulk- either Robotnik is the evil parts of Kintobor being ripped from inside him and put on the outside, or he's the end result of the Chaos Emeralds warping Kintobor's good traits into evil. Buu's circumstances are a vastly different story to Robotnik's given that his various 'selves' only came about as a result of him absorbing other beings into his own person and taking on aspects of them as a result, with his true self as a being of pure and utter destruction… whether that qualifies him as 'evil' given his lack of ability to be anything else is up for debate, but moving on.

That is certainly an interesting idea for where to take Robotnik in a Fleetway context, though I'm not sure how it'd come about. One of Robotnik's bits of characterization there is his resentment/terror of the fact he's not 'really' his own person. I don't think he'd ever willingly become merged with Kintobor, if it meant losing who he is in the process. Though hey- the Chaos Emeralds changed Kintobor once. Who knows what else they might do under the right circumstances…

You do bring up an interesting point and a rather glaring, terrifying implication behind the Archie Sonic Universe in that being the excuse for Robotnik always being around in some form or the next, that if anything DOES happen to Robotnik or Eggman or whatever, then sooner or later there's going to be another one to take his place. I can't say for sure who his successor'd be within the canon of the comics. Personally I kinda wished there'd been Robotniks based on those backup bodies that had appeared in issue #75 who might have gotten a bit of play.

Otherwise I really can't say for certain- I suppose a rather grim possibility would be that, in the name of maintaining that 'balance' the Zone Cops themselves might pluck an Eggbotnik from another zone to carry on the 'good' fight. Or heck, maybe Eggman had already perfected the process of mind transferrence into new host bodies and simply planned ahead for his resurrection, even after getting turned fleshy. And then there's always the ever mysterious Dr. Nega… in a world of super science fiction, there's nothing that suggests a 'descendant' strictly comes about through the traditional way.

[spymeister]

"i wish you'd take better care of yourself."

He snuck on board the Lost Light for reasons that had nothing to do with the fact that he absolutely wanted to be away from Cybertron, and Optimus Prime. He knew that Rodimus would take anyone, and there were a startling number of Special Operatives already on the ship. Most of them had been part of the Autobot Diplomatic Corpse- which made them a special brand of crazy that even HE didn't deal with. He'd already managed to refuse Getaway's crazier ideas, and hide away from Atomizer's glee. They'd been so excited to see him that he'd almost felt bad about setting some slag right.

Almost.

There'd been something malicious in Getaway's field that had rankled him the wrong way. For the most part, he'd been able to be ignored except for the occasional side-eye from Magnus in his direction, going on about basic stuff and reconnecting with Blaster. Getting Megatron on board the ship had been... an optic opener, but like others he'd followed the trial with a measure of interest.

But also, a measure of disgust.

He knows those words were false, knows they were not Megatron's when they were spoken. He knows what a mechanism looks like under duress, having been the cause of it more times than he can count he won't think about that human he won't he won't he won't he won't. He'd shut it off after the sentence had been read out, and had avoided the ship's scuttlebutt after a while for that.

What did surprise him was that out of all the mechanisms that had come to see him after this issue, had been Ravage. While on the opposite sides of the war- he and the panther-mech had always had a sort of understanding each other. He'd tried to harm them as little as possible, and Ravage had kept their damage to a minimum. Being around Blaster and Steeljaw so long, had helped him understand some of the bonds that hostmechs and their smaller deployers share.

To be honest, he'd had taken a stupidly amount of time to actually meet back up with Megatron. Even longer to actually establish a rapport. However, somewhere along the lines between the occasional arguments- helping clean the mech's door and going being forced to go, Goddamn it Megatron he's GOING HE'S GOING to therapy sessions with the ship's resident therapist.

So, one of the things Rung had suggested was repairing old ties. During the War, while he and Megatron hadn't been any great companions- he had worked with the then-warlord for a while on some of the espionage missions he'd been doing with Soundwave. He doubts anyone actually realizes that he had been a 'Con once, and he doesn't know what they make of his friendship with him now.

Not that he cares.

Either way, it's led him down a strange, weird existence that somehow exists despite his past attempts to get rid of it. Today, amusingly enough- is one of the days he's glad he's made it this far.

Even though he's having to slap a large pair of servos away from his plating as the miner-poet-tyrant-revolutionary-captain attempts to pin him down so he can polish him.

"Ah don't need i'-" he slaps at those servos again, this time playfully. "Whom ah gonna look good fer! Mah platin' is fine. Y'need i' worse'n'me so ya can look good for Spectacles."

[epikulupu]

Hey I am asking around because I want to see different ideas... I would appreciate it but if you don’t want to there is no need to answer... What’s like the origin of gender? When did it evolve or otherwise arise? How? How does that relate to human sexuality evolving, given our orientations like homosexuality are about gender? Did it evolve in other species and does it require consciousness (i had assumed so because it’s self image)..? Do the species without gender lack orientations or are theirs based in sex not gender unlike humans? Is it appropriate to call, say, penguins gay, if they lack gender? Or does it confuse the issue and either anthropomorphise them OR tacitly support an essentialist and transphobic view of gayness being about sex (eg oh look two MALE penguins, assigned based on dicks, fucking, that’s what being gay is) etc ... Sorry this is a lot.:: I feel very lost working it out :( every questions answer pops up like 100 more questions

OKAY so i feel thoroughly unqualified to answer these questions but i will try . im gonna try to answer the best i can under the cut

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What’s like the origin of gender? When did it evolve or otherwise arise? How? How does that relate to human sexuality evolving, given our orientations like homosexuality are about gender? Did it evolve in other species and does it require consciousness? well, that's an anthropological history question, and it varies greatly from culture to culture. for example, in jewish, indian, and native american cultures, there are differing ideas of gender, what it means, and how it affects people. the idea of only male and female comes from western culture, specifically christianity, i think. it would be very hard to prove or disprove any guesses to when gender identity evolved, but i would imagine gender has been a part of the brain for a very long time. i have no idea how, but that's not a surprise since there's so much we don't know about the brain. as far as i know, one's gender in relation to their sexuality is a very personal thing, and since talk of this has only very recently (in the grand scheme of things) been talked about, so i doubt there'd be much historical records about it.

Did it evolve in other species and does it require consciousness? Do the species without gender lack orientations or are theirs based in sex not gender unlike humans? Is it appropriate to call, say, penguins gay, if they lack gender? Or does it confuse the issue and either anthropomorphise them OR tacitly support an essentialist and transphobic view of gayness being about sex? however, some species of animals have shown to show both gay and trans 'characteristics'. and with regards to consciousness, it depends on how you define that, which is a very philosophical thing to decide. with 'is it okay to call penguins gay if they lack gender' i see it as. if we can't communicate with animals, see if they have an idea of gender, etc, then sex would be the only way we would tell. i honestly haven't thought about this much, so i'm not super set in my opinions on it.

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i had a hard time answering this, so i asked some people what they thought about it, here are some things they said :

" the idea of sexuality and gender is a human thing but it is very important to humans for us to have this language bc trans ppl have spent many many years trying to find a way to communicate our experiences and to take that away from us is yuck

idk where exactly it evolved from but it has existed for quite some time. likely existed differently in many societies but yeah!! ik there are 6 in the torah alone each based on sex and stuff but like… it also includes trans identities as well ^^ that’s existed for so so very long "

" tbh we are imposing human social norms onto animals Constantly, but just saying “aw look, gay penguins” doesn’t hurt the penguins, while it can help gay humans "

" gender evolved in humans do to gender roles and society based roles, at some point people started to separate based on the idea of sex which is the start of the current western idea of gender

i think it has realted because of the fact that attraction exists and people contuined to find ways to describe said attractions which the easiest way to would be gender as that was such a big defining point in someones role, idenity, and status

i think nonhuman creatures could experience something gender or sorts but not the way humans have defined it and i dont think giving animals gender is inherently harmful

i think it can be and does but i dont think its inherently harmful depending on the context ya know? its not rlly a black n white thing "

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this is not a perfect answer, as im not educated on a lot of this enough to answer questions properly. that said, i hope this helped at least a little bit :]