#I don't think that thinking they're connected is a very popular opinion anyways but like. it needed to be said from my pov

[playgroundeyes]

I'm just saying I think that people saying things like that the new era is related to danger days or feels similar are just- I really don't see where they're coming from.

Like it is possible to have two different stories about evil governments in an unspecified dystopian future you know?? Like there's really no similarities once you go past that.

The feels and the aesthetics and the way it's being promoted is all extremely different, and if nothing else the black parade is nothing like the killjoys, nothing we've seen points to this era and danger days being connected at all. just saying.

[magnoliapromenadegalleria]

I take no issue with monetizing cc. You release good content and have an agreeable release window, I either choose to subscribe, or I wait. Cool. What I do take issue with is this

Perma-paywalls or ridiculous early access release windows. Anything exceeding thirty days is excessive. My opinion.

2. New creators setting up immediate early access. The skillset is just not there yet to put a price on your creations. You barely have a base to sell to. This includes creators who created for other games, then come over to The Sims and try to sell to us. For example, the creator that makes skins and admitted they don't even play the game. Simply here for profit.

3. Creators that do not qc their work, or steal from other creators. Girl.

4. Customer service. Once you start creating for profit, whether it be supplemental or your main source, you have to have a level of customer service and professionalism. You have now started a brand. A very niche brand, but that's what it is. You cannot be short with people for asking valid questions and catching an attitude with them. Like that one lady with the tree coming out in February. If you are one of those rare creators who is lucky enough money to hire someone to handle your social media, I suggest you do that. Or supply a friend with more patience with their favorite coffee or something and let them handle it. Something.

5. Not interacting with the community you are trying to sell to. Connect with people. Repost their edits, lookbooks, builds, leave comments, give a like. The creator mentioned above commented that no one comments on their stuff, at least not here. Fair. This community does not talk like it used to, but to each other like it used to, but you can go to creator pages and see that they are perfectly curated advertisements. Like a showroom. No reblogs of anyone using their content. If you want that for your main page fine, but at least have another side blog where you can do the outlined above.

6. Pushing something out just to push it. I think we have entered a space, both creator and follower/consumer, where everything feels so fast-paced. What's the new thing coming out, what's next, etc. So much so that I think it has made creators push out content just to keep up, especially if they rely on that income. This has resulted in some creators getting into hot water for releasing the same item(s) in different sets and in different colors. Or creators releasing duplicates of the same thing. It can be frustrating, but I question if it is because they're just trying to keep up, or afraid to try something new or different in fear of it not doing well. Some smaller creators who create different content don't get as much love and I question if they would receive more if they followed the wave, or were big enough to start one.

Now to this community

If a creator disrespects you or others or moves in a way that you don't fundamentally agree with, and you complain but still download and or advertise their content, you're moving counterproductive to your plight. Why would anyone reflect on themselves when you prove that you're going to advertise their content anyway?

2. Show love to these creators. Big and small, especially small, monetized or not. Everyone likes to hear or see that what they release is valued. Don't harass or disrespect creators if they take a break, or they don't get something out quickly. Especially the modders.

3. Interact with each other. Even if your aesthetics or different. This is a community. If you see something you like, LIKE IT. Share it, leave a comment.

4. Create the thing simmer. The edit, cc, build, lookbook, whatever. Create the thing and share the thing. Even if it isn't part of a popular trend or aesthetic.

I'm speaking about myself here too because I want to better about this.

I want this to feel fun again. Not just based on what is in at the moment.

This might be read. Might not. Just my two Abes. Anyway I'm about to make some soup from scratch. Toodles!

[saturnsbabyboii]

✨Astro Observations for those who think they're stupid when they're actually smart✨

✨Mutable risings are the "funny yet depressed" friend that is always trying to make sure everyone is okay and having a good time

✨Out of all the placements Aquarius is the only one I don't have a definitive standpoint on. Not a single one has something in common with another.

✨5th house placements are obsessed with reality tv while 11th house placements are obsessed with internet drama

✨Saturn in the 6th house natives are very likely to get plastic surgery for their weight

✨I keep reading on here that people know Taurus Moons that cook? I am sorry but since when instant noodles became "cooking". I have known five and my sister is one, and let me tell you, they can't cook for shit. They're such picky and particular eaters, they barely eat too.

✨My mother being an Aquarius sun with a Virgo moon means that I know the biggest catastrophizer alive.

✨Luminaries (sun and moon) opposite the rising, in my opinion, creates the most difficult people to deal with. They're so tone deaf and oblivious to how they come off.

✨Cardinal Lilith has conflict anxiety

✨Air Mercury thinks of an answer instead of listening to what someone is saying

✨Mars in the 11th house have many frenemies

✨Moon in the 11th are very popular among women

✨Angular houses (1st, 4th, 7th, 10th) at 0 degrees struggles to achieve milestones or feels behind compared to others

✨Scorpio risings are always referred to as an onion. To me, an onion is something with layers of the same shit that just burn your eyes.

✨ Whichever house of yours an artist's Ceres falls in is what their work is going to help you with.

✨This also applies to planet aspects, as to whether their work will leave you challenged, intrigued, feeling empowered, motivated, seen, connected, or just simply aroused.

✨Fire Mercury says the most random shit. But we are here for that crackhead energy.

✨Fire/Mars in the 9th house is very common among dancers

✨The sign of the 6th house can show how are you with apologies. Since along with that work ethic comes responsibility and integrity.

✨Anyways, you'll never catch a Sag or Taurus in the 6th apologizing that's for sure.

✨Lilith/Juno in the 10th house are very mistreated by men/masculine people and authority

✨Lilith/Juno in the 4th house was betrayed by the family, especially the mother

✨Aquarius in the 4th house is always looking for a mommy in someone else

✨The body part/s the sign of your 8th house rule indicates which sexual act gets your toes curled.

✨Having friends of the same Mars sign are people that match your energy

✨People that have Mars Square Mars got a friendship that needed communication and patience, however, they tend to create a stronger bond

✨It's ghetto out there with all of those unevolved Earth placements

✨First house stelliums are never grateful. The entitlement is real.

✨Neptune/Pisces in the 1st house and 12th house ruler is in the 1st house depersonalize as a full time job. Existing is very draining for them, and at times painful.

Bye.

[bonefall]

I love the new retool of Stormpaw's Demon because it so neatly slots into what happens later on. Of COURSE Hailstar made Crookedjaw deputy. Even ignoring the fact of Crookedjaw being a great warrior, he's got the ghosts of Volestar and Darkstar by extension breathing down his neck. Of COURSE Mapleshade gets Silverstream later on. After the way Rainflower treated him, Crookedjaw would want to break the cycle of abuse any way he could. Going through his daughter is the best way to punish him. I could sit down and think about it for a few minutes and come up with ways that the consequences of all this echo through Riverclan to this very day. (They still seem to not be super great at believing young cats standing up to abuse, if the whole Frostpaw debacle is any indication)

ASC is ALMOST done we're ALMOST there, the idiot plot's life ENDS on November 5th. I'm holding a VERY large mallet and waiting patiently

I've always seen RiverClan as the Clan that does the most gossip. ThunderClan might be famous for their group-wide arguments, but that's just because the people aren't aware of the absolute psychological warfare that's going on in every RiverClan meeting. Mousefur's Bigotry Ballyhoo has absolutely NOTHING on the Long Island Housewives Tier bullshit that can kill a grandma on the stump where she stands.

So when it comes to how I handle RiverClan's political drama, I approach it with a vibe that their culture is very "cliquey." I won't be completely removing the way that a lot of RiverClan took Splashstar's side, but I will be dividing the social groups into actual alliances. Not EVERYONE in RiverClan turned on Frostpaw.

Just like how here, in Stormpaw's Demon, not all of the Clan felt any one way.

There's cats who are more inclined to take Rainflower's side. There's a growing clique of cats who made a stand with Shellheart. Because Rainflower was the deputy, which comes with a lot of social capital, many warriors don't quite know how to feel because they don't want to update their mental image of a cat they greatly respected.

You might say that compared to ThunderClan, RiverClan is more individualist. When the tide turns on an idea in ThunderClan, cats are a lot more likely to "get on board" with popular opinion without examining it. Especially if they're shocked by something (like Tigerclaw's reveal), they can shift pretty quickly if they're rallied by a cat with enough passion, like Firestar and Goldenflower managed to do. That's not the case in RiverClan, if they're surprised by something, they'll gather into their clique and talk about it.

BB!Splashstar, for as much as an edgelord as he is, has an idea of how this works. He's no master manipulator, just clever.

Anyway. Glad to see it's noticed that everything's connected in BB. I ALWAYS try to make sure that history and culture trickles down to the current events!

[velvetvexations]

transemasculation: for when you think freud was right about penis envy but ONLY for dirty little trannies (but seriously what the fuck is with this term? who thought this was a good ide- oh, right, ASSHOLES!)

it's really funny because I would make jokes about how TRFs don't want transmascs to make their own language without sending it in for approval to the Transfem Council and now the famous self-identified transradfem is like "here you stupid little boys I made you a word to use if you want one so bad."

That transemasculation shit is the most obvious set up to just keep making fun tmascs because people generally think emasculation is a funny and harmless nonissue maybe even #feminism. Like whats the bet if we did start using it how they want us to people would just immediately start connecting it to our “toxic transmasculinity” to dismiss it / continue to paint us as whiny MRAs anyway ?

it's so fucking belittling

One of the most frustrating parts of when a trans fem posts transandrophobic stuff openly for the first time is how any disagreement harsher than silence gets taken as "men abusing women" and held up as proof that she was right to be wary of trans mascs all along, because look how quickly we will turn on a trans fem and attack her—any negative feelings she has over the incident are just more evidence that she is a victim under siege and right to feel this way.

the wounded gazelle gambit is very popular

The thing that bugs me about transmasc on this site who called themselves TME is that I never see them doing any actual activism for trans women, they specifically just talk down on other transmasc users. Like it comes off so fake-

that's Feminist in Bio men for you

Kinda crushed to see bee/movie/erotica post that? Like??? Yeah white trans people can hold power over me but what the fuck do you think you're doing calling my maness the same as whiteness. my maness cant be the same as whiteness because I am not fucking white. hellworld.

I'm very sorry they let you down, anon. <3

You can tell TRFs are terfs because they do the same thing that terfs do where they point to people who call them baeddels and say that their critics are calling them slurs, and then a few days later will self-identify as baeddels again

they complained so much that I very generously got people to almost entirely saying TRF instead and immediately they just go "TRF is a slur to silence me :("

"the nefarious genderqueers think they're so much more radical and valid than us while the whole queer community actually caters to them, we need more representation for Real Binary Transsexuals" is a recurring theme in Whipping Girl so no wonder it's a common refrain for the "read a singular book" crowd

they do as they are taught

i really like your sense of humour btw

Thank you!

anyways all this patricia taxxon stuff is kinda just making me more motivated to make autistic transmasc therian video essays.

as you should honestly

because i love answering questions not aimed at me, re: is cheating abuse no, but it's a dick move that can be a part of abuse. abuse in a relationship is, for the most part, long term and actively emotionally/physically harmful to at least one person. cheating can be a part of abuse (for example, the fact the abuser cheated in the past, can be held over the abusees (? idk if that's the right term) head.) but alone it isn't. i hooe this made sense. i woke up two minutes ago and have thoughts! i would love to hear yours, because peoples opinions differ a lot in subjects like this

I think I agree with that.

Tall fat hairy women <3

<3

WOOFWOOF... HELLO BEAUTIFUL

;)

I’ve seen a few of your anons discussing the proposal of ‘transemasculation’ to replace ‘transandrophobia’ but I’m not sure that anyone has shared this info yet: https://www.tumblr.com/weepingfireflies/770239720162738176/im-not-even-transmasc-or-transfem-but-the essentially, ‘transemasculation’ was coined years ago by a transmasc user alongside other terms for related and adjacent discrimination/bigotry/etc.; the user who is trying to speak over transmascs about our our terminology and experiences apparently didn’t even bother to do a cursory check that what she posited was actually a new concept

I think it's been brought up but that is very funny, in a cosmic sort of way.

"trans men are men first!" gender essentialism is going to ruin us all like yes you're quite right if you're born a man no matter what your life experiences are, you are inherently more likely to be self-absorbed assholes who hate women. absolutely. the only thing terfs are wrong about it who counts as a man and who counts as a woman yep 100% i see no issues with this clearly our Man Brains make us evil

it's like yeah people who identify as men clearly have skull shapes that show an inclination towards misogyny

i rly appreciate seeing someone else who uses similar referential terms b/c i'm bigender and i honestly really like calling myself a male manwoman. it just feels right in a way nothing else does

I'm glad!

[jdorian]

Unfortunately true because there are so many 1000+ notes from popular blogs 'explaining' that buck needed to be with at least one other man before he could be with eddie. Like.. what?? And a lot of them are buddie shippers. I didn't expect buck to wait around for eddie (who knows if they'll ever act on buddie anyway) but people 'justifying' bucktommy to themselves by saying buck needed to get ready is crazy

Same with people who expect buck to be 'perfect' representation when no, actually he should still be allowed to make mistakes even when he's dating tommy

mm the thing is for me... I don't see why it needs to be justified to begin with. Buck found someone attractive, who in turn found him attractive and now they're dating.

I just think it's very telling how differently fandom treats a male love interest that they see as an actual competition to Eddie, rather than the women that we just all expect to be gone at some point. Tommy is the most fleshed out love interest to come on the show since Maddie; he has connections to the main characters, a backstory we're familiar with and a personality that complements Buck's really well.

now I'm not saying that people must ship it, but anyone can ship whatever the hell they want and don't owe jackshit to anyone about it — I think these blogs with the 1000+ notes justification posts are just afraid that it'll decrease their engagement, if they didn't defend their opinions and didn't clarify that they are still rooting for buddie... which, okay, whatever calms your mind, you know?

but personally, I just think it's ridiculous to put such emphasis on who I imagine fucking my favourite fictional character. maybe that's just me.

and in the case of bucktommy... ship it or don't, it's currently canon. plus, it is definitely a good thing for Buck.

he's finally in a relationship (or getting into one) with someone he can rely on, someone who understands the risks of his job and someone who reassures him about his affections — Buck needed this, not necessarily to be "ready" to be with Eddie, but to grow as a person and heal emotionally, so he could become a better partner in general.

[simplepotatofarmer]

Hello!!! Would absolutely love to know if you have any personal headcanons of each dsmp character appearance i.e the hybrid types they may be? (Is Dream human? Or is he some kind of goat-hybrid? Or shapeshifting blob??!)

HM.

for c!dream, he's either human or a rabbit hybrid to me! i tend to think that 'just human' is more canon, if you will, but rabbit hybrid is kinda my favorite. i think it's very fitting, as someone who has a rabbit! i specifically see him as a light brown flemish giant or a palomino rabbit, leaning more towards the latter!

c!wilbur is usually also just a guy but if i give him animal features, in my head he's based off a secretary bird!

c!bad is a very tall demon man. c!ant is basically just a cat except a little bigger. think puss in boots. that's ant to me.

c!puffy and c!schlatt are both sheep! a cotswold and a jacob's sheep respectively.

c!tubbo is a goat i guess because it's popular headcanon but honestly? i see him as his minecraft skin. he is just some blonde teenager to me. same with c!tommy. you could find both of them at a mall or whatever.

c!skeppy to me is like.... a diamond construct thing. or at the very least, some kind of diamond based imp. but generally i see him as this small construct! kinda like a copper golem but skeppy.

i dig the idea of a pig hybrid c!niki (i love pigs) but generally she's either human and pretty buff or i'll go with the cat hybrid thing!

c!tina is a jackalope demon thing masquerading as a cat girl. c!hbomb is, hear me out, a cow hybrid also masquerading as a cat girl. this makes sense in my head.

then a lot of my opinions do fall in line with fanon opinion for the most part. like, yeah, phil is a blond dude with wings. techno is obviously a pigman. same for the rest of the dteam (though i kinda have a thing with c!george being part warden 'cause of how much he sleeps, don't ask but they're also both blue coded so). c!sam is obviously a creeper hybrid of some kind.

i want so badly to have c!eret be a swan or peafowl hybrid because those are so elegant and especially peafowl have some amazing colorations that scream royalty but i do dig the herobrine lore connection.

if i had my way, c!jack would be a cyborg donkey hybrid, specifically a mammoth jackstock. it would look so sick.

anyway. my favorite websites are livestock ones, can you tell?

[p-redux]

I'm finally home from work. Let's dive into ALL the C.M. info I've been holding back on...

As promised, more on C.M. Soooo, Chloé, if you ever find my blog, please know that I'm not the one that posted your name--it was a known Sam Heughan hater blog. But now that SHE posted your full name publicly, I'll just clear up some things for people. I come in peace and fully support Sam Heughan and any woman he dates. As long as he's happy, that's all that matters. For those who have been waiting patiently for the C.M. info and the dots that connected her to Sam, here you go...

So, a few weeks back, I got this Anon below, stating that they had seen Sam and Chloé Montana at a hotel restaurant in Paris. It's a very popular restaurant and people go there to eat, even if they aren't staying at the hotel. Anyway, I wasn't sure the Anon was legit, but I requested to follow Chloé so I could see if anything connected her to Sam. (BTW, her account has always been private).

👇

Then, I got more info, and a different Anon, saying they'd also seen Sam in Paris with an "exotic looking blonde." Chloé definitely qualifies as an exotic looking blonde, in my opinion.👇 These were around the time Sam was filming The Couple Next Door in Belgium, so he definitely could have made a quick trip for a romantic rendezvous in Paris.

This is her on her public IMDB account. 👇 Her full name is Chloé Montana Rash, but she goes by Chloé Montana. She's from Toronto, Canada originally, but has lived in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris. She travels a lot all over.

This is her Instagram account, which, like I said, has always been private. I wish she would change this pic, she's way prettier than this. She posted it because heavy make up was done on her for a photoshoot, and I guess she thought it was cool. She is actually one of those rare women who look better without any make-up. 👇

This is her public professional Linkedin Account 👇As you can see, not only is she beautiful, but she's also very intelligent. You don't graduate Magna Cum Laude if you're stupid...you just don't. And from what I've seen on her IG posts, she also has a great sense of humor. She's cheeky and irreverent, more like a Brit, dare I say it, a Scot, than the stereotypical polite Canadian. The girl's funny.

Soooo, what links her to Sam besides the Anon pointing her out by name? Well, I kept watching her IG account, especially her stories. She doesn't always post in real time, and she does do regrams and later grams. BUT right when Sam showed up in Miami for his birthday, Chloé also posted from there. Sam was seen out with guy friends in Miami, but he later said in an interview that the guys had surprised him in Miami. So, my thinking is Chloé and Sam met in Miami for his birthday, and his dumbass friends "surprised him" so she called up her female friend, who lives in Miami, and hung out with her while Sam had dinner with his guy friends. Then Sam and Chloé met up later. Obviously this means they're just dating casually, and aren't exclusive.

Right after Miami, Sam was scheduled to go to New York to do promo for Love Again. Guess who also posted she was in New York after being in Miami? Yep, Ms. Chloé Coinky dink, after coinky dink, right? 👇

She ALSO posted these IG stories during the time she was in Miami and New York. Sam's an actor. She's a Virgo and Sam's a Taurus. 👇More things that make you go "hmm."

But so far, there was nothing indicating Sam and Chloé even knew each other, other than the Anon saying she saw them together at a romantic dinner together kissing. They don't mutually follow on social media. But, as we now know, this is the same thing that happened when Sam dated Anna Modler and Monika Clarke. He didn't mutually follow with them either. This seems to be his new dating M.O., so as to not tip off fans that he's dating someone.

Soooo, does anything directly link Sam and Chloé? Yep! Looky, WHO has liked some of Sam's IG pics! Now why would she be liking his IG pics when she's not even following him? She has to purposely go to his account to do so. If they weren't dating and she thought he was hot, she would simply follow him, and like his pics like the thousands of other women, including celebs, who do. But, nope. So, there you have it---she for sure has been liking his pics, but not following him. 👇

I didn't search far back enough maybe, I'm tired, but it seems the FIRST time she liked his pic was was 15 weeks ago. So, she's definitely new in his life. They've both mentioned being on Raya, the exclusive celeb dating app, so my bet is that is where they first connected.

C'est tout, mes chéries. I see people following her already with VERRA obvious Outlander related accounts I'm looking at you, grandma Jojo aka Randi. 😏 Please make your accounts private. But, I guess this is the point where I just give up, and throw in the towel. Que será, será. Let's hope Chloé is made of steel.

As always, and tongue-in-cheek, with nothing but good intentions, what should their celebrity couple name be? Samhloe? ChloSam? Heughtana? Let me know in the comments. 🤗

[crazykuroneko]

What I like about IWTV is it forces me to re-evaluate my relationship with media and fandom as well. Through S1, I learnt how far I want to distance myself from the media yet still be able to enjoy it (too lazy to link my old post, but it thanks to S1E5). Now, I find myself paying attention to the connection between the media and the fandom's "voice".

Back then, I went into S1 completely blind, and I have to admit I wasn't (am still, I think) that familiar with Black media, Black stories, or Black history. I literally didn't know even one (1) individual in the fandom. So a lot of my initial conclusions and impressions of S1 mostly came from what I saw on my timeline/dashboard aka the things people reblogged/retweeted the most, the "popular" contents. And as the time goes by, I realized those contents are actually fanon; They're made based on someone's interpretation and expectation of canon, and they get blown out, and they eventually shape the fandom's "consensus". And I found that to be so misleading. Especially in a lot of cases they're contradictory and feel like an overcorrection to another. And it took me like months of curating my own timeline - blocking and being blocked, applying my newfound distance with media, reading/watching opinions from different kinds of people and rewatching the series until I could say this is my core opinion/beliefs of this media and these characters.

And it's happening again this season. IWTV is a very rich story which is open to very different interpretations, and it's easy for you to just want to "go with the flow". Go with the metas you see the most on your timeline. But as much as I appreciate good metas, and I have shared them all here, sometimes there are nuances that I can't agree with. So, I don't want to read them too much. I feel like the writing in this show deserves to be judged as itself - free from previous fanon, book canon, theories or expectations. I don't really know where I am going with this actually, but I think "let the tale seduce you" is really the right way to process this show. Like, watch it, write down what you take from it, stick to what you wrote, and see how the show evolves your perspective. Anyway, idk, I'm just looking forward to rewatching S1-S2 and making my own conclusion.

[fourfeetteninches]

write me an essay comparing and contrasting chaserflower and bellamione

hi so i have been pondering this for a long time and i realised a lot of my thoughts have been about my own opinions on the ships rather than the actual ships. however

so the main difference. to me. is that of all the wlw bellatrix ships, bellamione has always been The One its the most popular, most fics, also bellatrix barely interacts with female characters in canon so hermione makes sense from the interactions point of view, but for chaserflower they're the opposite. there's like 3 chaserflower stans and one of them is me and the other is you, like i think bellamione is the gateway drug to wlw bella ships and chaserflower is the niche underground drug that you can only get by sending a fax to someone who legally doesn't exist. that sort of thing.

but as ships they're sooo similar. you have the age gap, you have being on opposite sides of the war, you have the fact that bella and narcissa are hot. I also think neither ship realistically works in canon. like I'll dickride both ships but realistically you have to have at least some level of au for them to be plausible. more so for bellamione. i think for bellamione to work you either need to do a complete au or severely editing canon (like no voldemort aus and stuff) but chaserflower i think people could get behind with maybe some shifting of canon ages and maybe emphasising pureblood family connections and things.

ALSO what i find really fun actually is that the aus are so on brand. like a chaserflower au is probably going to be some kind of sports au, and bellamione usually is bellatrix as a ceo of something and hermione working for her/otherwise meeting in a power imbalance situation. this is not to knock any of those aus I eat them the fuck up

then you have the popularity of bellamione making them suuuper polarising. there's people who die hard bellamione and hate straight bellatrix ships and then there's hardcore bellamione antis. btw shoutout to the person who sent me anon hate re bellamione and then one minute later sent me an anon bellamione question trying to act like a bellamione shipper. girly i am NOT that popular those were my only two asks. anyway i think with chaserflower its less polarising. I guess because the dynamic is different. if you don't care for them you just go oh ok whatever. but i think to be a chaserflower shipper you cant just be into the one ship because there's so little out there especially compared to bellamione, like you gotta dip your toes into other narcissa or ginny fics if you want to be constantly having new stuff to read.

and so i very much am a bellatrix multi shipper. you know how there's discourse about the fandom treating hermione like the town bike and shipping her with everyone. that is what bellatrix is to me. not because I am self inserting myself as bellatrix (because I know that's how people view hermione multishippers) but because bellatrix is hot and I like to put my blorbos in situations. anyway so i'm not as invested in bellamione as I was before purely because I found a million more bella ships that I enjoy. possibly its the abundance of fics because I still enjoy a chaserflower moment when they happen even though i am a narcissa multishipper too. perhaps because narcissa isn't quite as popular as bella so there's less overwhelm in the tags

also this is not relevant to the question but while i'm on the topic of shipping it really annoys me when people take the approach to fics that its all self serving in the way of only writing something because its hot or its a fantasy. like with both ships the puritans are like 'you write age gap so you support pedophilia' fuck off. i don't think anything else applies to these ships other than age gap. but like sometimes characters do bad things to other characters in a fic not because the author finds it hot but because they're thinking about the impact said bad thing has on both characters lives or what led to that bad thing happening. its fiction its stories its what the author finds interesting and not in a 'they're fucked up and perverted' way

[yesloulou]

I mean if the rumours are true and he actually cut Michael off, I dont think Daniel would not do the same for Dax if he truly was unconfortable with his podcast or how much Dax talks about him. So maybe as with his relationship to Michael we don't really know if Dax is taking advantage of Daniel being a people pleaser.

Like I am all for babygirlyfing Daniel but he's been in the spotlight for a long time so I assume he knows where to draw a line when someone is taking advantage of him/his popularity.

re

anon i see where you're coming from! i also wouldn't say daniel is in a 'wanting to stand up for himself and say no to being taken advantage of but can't' situation, at all. for me their dynamics is more nuanced. (for mixing personal life with business). they're friends. on top of that dax obvi monetarily benefits from befriending daniel (views/publicity), and i think daniel has his reason to be there too (for starters the shepards are both well connected people). soo i too wouldn't say daniel is being taken advantage of, at least not like that

what i would say tho, (and this is my personal opinion although i do feel very strongly about it lol) is that daniel is the type of person who, when feeling uncomfortable/offended, he'd laugh even louder, appear even friendlier, as a disguise.

exhibit a: him on that god awful misogynistic podcast blake somehow okay'd exhibit b: on dax's podcast when he realized it was an erotic novel about himself exhibit c: that time crofty asked him a stupid question during press conference. max could be seen getting more and more annoyed by the second. meanwhile daniel smiled bigger and bigger. and when max interrupted to defend him daniel was NOT SURPRISED AT ALL even though he had appeared totally ok with the question up until that point. he just made a face like welp i tried to be civil but i do have a boyfriend max that will bite your face off

it might feel counter intuitive that someone would try to seem even friendlier when they're uncomfortable but imo it's the same as when he wasn't sure if dax was joking about the existence of that erotica book, he said 'im very gullible' instead of something more direct and inquisitive. to me daniel's way of conflict resolution is to show friendliness and harmlessness in hopes of the other party returning his good faith. (which is also why mclaren was able to take advantage of him like that imo)

anyways, this is why i rlly don't like seeing daniel interact with this particular kind of people (people who take other people's sincerity as a sign that they can push for more. for example apparently dax now thinks it's okay to read that daniel erotica book to daniel on his podcast). ik daniel has been in the spotlight for a long time and im not trying to babygirlify him when it comes to serious topics, but i do think he's vulnerable in this particular aspect

[seriousbrat]

I saw your post about the love lives of boys, and I have a question: do you think James and Lily were each other’s first when it comes to sex and related things?

They were described as popular and attractive (at least Lily, for sure), so it's likely others would have their eyes on them.

I feel like it’s possible that Lily might have had a boyfriend before, but as a Muggleborn living during that time, I imagine she would’ve been very cautious about relationships to avoid being taken advantage of.

With James, it’s even harder to picture him having a girlfriend before Lily. Before puberty, he was probably too caught up in his friendships, moreover James and his friends became Animagi when they were around 15 or 16, so he had plenty of secrets to keep. By fifth year, he had a major crush on Lily (he was even doodling her initials on his exam paper — what a loser). Despite the common belief that he asked her out constantly, canon paints it differently. It seems like he wanted to ask her out for a while, but his Gryffindor bravery didn’t quite extend to girls, and when he finally did during that lake incident, it came out in the worst way possible.Since we know he went to the Dursleys' wedding before the end of the first semester of seventh year, it suggests he and Lily started dating at the beginning of their final year. For Lily to agree to date him, I think they must have developed a solid friendship in sixth year, which makes it doubtful that James would have risked losing that chance by dating other girls. I think it’s more likely that he went on a few dates or kissed a girl or two, but never really had a real girlfriend before Lily.

One of the most important things to remember is that wizarding society tends to be fairly conservative about relationships, and the UK in the 70s was generally quite traditional as well. So, I highly doubt that either James or Lily was casually sleeping around before they got together at 17. In fact, I think it’s completely normal to have your first real relationship at that age, even if that’s not a popular opinion nowadays.

Generally I don't like to believe they were each other's firsts-- personally I just don't find that idea at all romantic-- but also to be perfectly honest it wouldn't be that weird if that was the case, for many of the reasons you've outlined. It's just that I personally dislike the "being each other's firsts" trope so much that I can't write it lol

Usually, the way I write them, they've each perhaps dated a couple of people and have each had sex with one other person before they start going out, which I think is fairly realistic. Especially because they were both popular, outgoing, and lived in the very insular community of a boarding school. I do think that, considering their age, it would have been the first real sexual and romantic connection either of them had, which to me seems more important anyway.

I also doubt either of them was casually sleeping around previously to that-- not that there's anything wrong with that (i mean, I certainly can't talk lol) but like you said, by and large this would not have been very socially acceptable at the time, particularly for teenage girls, and considering the age they got married they both seem pretty traditionally monogamous lol. In my fic Lily doesn't have sex with her previous boyfriend Alfie at all, which is not abnormal for a teen relationship, but has her first time with an older muggle boy. I guess it depends how you see the characters-- although I do sometimes feel they're portrayed a little too adult in their approach to relationships and dating. Like there needs to be 10x more insecurity and awkwardness there haha

Weirdly a criticism I once received of my fic was that someone told me they preferred for James to have had a girlfriend during sixth year that Lily would be jealous of, and they disliked that I hadn't gone that route. While I actually did consider it at one point (it's such a classic jily trope) and I totally get why people like that as a plot point, it just didn't really feel right for his character in the end. And to me it felt quite realistic that he'd only have had one girlfriend before Lily. Also, like you, I tend to think that at the first whiff of Lily possibly being interested in him James probably wouldn't risk that chance by dating someone else lol.

So I guess my answer is somewhere in between; to me it doesn't feel realistic for them to be super experienced with multiple serious relationships under their belt, but personally I do prefer them to have "dabbled" a bit I guess. I think there's a balance between treating these teenage characters as adults with adult dating lives vs having them be completely inexperienced.

[bonefall]

Looking for advice since you're great with stuff like this: I'm struggling with how to have a character fundamentally change. A character in my cat story loses his memory and ends up working with the main characters to stop his own plan he made to destroy the world (and after the plan is stopped, he regains his memories). I want his time in the Starless to change him, make him less obsessed with power, but I'm really starting to struggle with whether or not that makes sense and how to work that.

Hmm.. well, first bit of advice I always give is that characters are not people. They are writing tools. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be "realistic" or that connecting to the human traits in the audience isn't important.

It means that a character exists to tell a story.

By "tool" I mean "machine." Every trait is a piston, and ideally they work together to drive your story along. What are you saying with each trait? What is your beginning point for the story, and their end? What do you want to explore? What do you want the audience to take away?

So if you feel stuck on a character, find the larger message you want to impart with them. The job they're doing in your narrative.

What do you want to say about power?

What do you want to say about why Character X wanted to destroy the world? Why was he wrong? What feelings and information lead him to that conclusion?

What is his redemption arc doing for your themes?

Every writer answers those questions differently. For example, I feel strongly that power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. When you finally have the influence to make others do what you want, you make them do it. I don't see "power" as being like... a magic, abstract thing, it's influence over other people, and those people are ALSO individuals with their own reasons for following the leader.

Digressing; what I'm getting at is that, as a writer, I have a lot of thoughts on power itself. I got this way with a lot of reading and interest on the topic. You might find it insightful to experience more art, essays, and commentary on the subject, if you ever get stuck, and develop an opinion you feel strongly about.

Not just about power, as broad writing advice.

Anyway.

If I was writing the character, these are the things I'd be thinking about specifically and changes I'd be making on personal taste. I don't know your full story enough so, hopefully it's insightful;

First of all I'm always SUPER wary of the "correct but demonized radical" trope. Does my villain have a point?

Am i just giving them a Kick-a-Baby scene to make them wrong when they should be completely right otherwise

What are my themes and tone? This is VERY important. Steven Universe is about family and emotions with low stakes violence; the Diamonds are essentially abusive grandparents that Steven is coaching through intergenerational trauma. They fit the universe they're in. Jack Horner does not belong in SU.

So I'd look at Character X's purpose.

Knowing me, I'd actually take out full amnesia entirely. I have memory problems related to trauma so I'm a lot more familiar with major, important details blotting out RIGHT when I need them. Enough that I can put myself in the shoes of someone like BB!Fallenleaf who remembers a lot but the details are fuzzy.

So personally I think I could write this villan to be VERY funny lmao

"Hello. I am Gnagnathor the Destroyer."

"No you're not. He has three horns. You have two."

(DID I USED TO HAVE THREE HORNS?????)

I also just find it more resonant when a character still remembers what they did, why they did it, and is able to refute themselves with their own growth.

To me like... when a character remembers NOTHING to the point where they're not informed by their actions or history at all, how are they really still the same person?

in general though I find total amnesia uninteresting. I wish it was less popular.

What did Gnagnathor DO with his power? What did he WANT from it?

The simplest version of this I know is "Gnag was hurting and wanted everyone else to hurt too. Now that he has a happy place, he doesn't want that."

TO BE CLEAR THATS FINE. That's a REALLY common power fantasy and it's not automatically a bad story. It's popular for a reason.

Personally I feel strongly about the idea, though, that people with power don't change unless they lose it. There's no reason to.

People don't change until you break the environment that contributes to the behavior.

Especially with victims unfortunately-- the ugly truth is that a lot of problematic behaviors exist because they protected the victim from their abuser's actions. You need safety to really start to unpack that.

You can personally identify it and address it as much as you want, when your abuser starts to use That Tone you will still seize up. Just try to yank yourself back into your head when you're disassociating during a screaming session; your reward is raw distress.

That said, not all villains HAVE to have tragic motivators like that, or be ex-victims at all. Leveraging power to get what you want can be as ugly as just being taught the people you're hurting are subhuman.

Or making up justifications for why This Is a Good Thing Actually.

Some people will lash out violently when these justifications fall apart, because accepting it would mean they're Being Bad

Most people have an innate desire to Be Good. Like... the vast, vast majority of people. Some sense of morality is observable in all intelligent social animals; dolphins, chimps, elephants.

Tangentially, if you understand that people don't WANT to be bad and that the natural response to a scolding is defensiveness, you understand that convincing people of something is a LOT easier when you approach with kindness.

AND IN TURN: be wary of those who are flattering while trying to convince you of something. This is Manipulation 101.

So back to Gnagnathor

Do I want to talk about environment and how it changes him to be away from power? How traits that previously earned him wealth or influence are suddenly incredibly taboo, so he can't use them here?

On that-- HOW did he get his power in the first place? Re: I'm very wary of the "correct but demonized radical" trope.

Were his minions following him because they have serious issues and he exploited their desperation? .....are you centering the experience of the poor, sad abuser over his victims

Or are they ALL united over something important and legitimate? With the redemption of their villainous leader, how are you planning for that to frame all of their former followers?

(This is why redeeming minions is usually a lot more productive than doing it to the leader, imo. Redeeming Zuko means you can explore the familial legacy, the indoctrination of the Fire Nation's children, their justifications, the way systems make monsters out of people. Redeeming The Firelord would probably have caused Azula, one of his victims, to pick up his slack and now, suddenly, you have a VERY uncomfortable situation where Ozai is thrashing one of his abused children but Good This Time.)

(Not to mention that, again... why would he do this. He has power. He's doing what he wants and is used to this situation. It would be a numbskulled narrative choice.)

Aaaand that's about all I can say without essentially being a cowriter or editor. It's on you to figure out what you're trying to do and say here. I'm a good writer on this subject because I think about it a lot, which has lead to my strong opinions and point of view. Your art is a reflection of you.

[psychelis-new]

thank you very very very much for my reply snd so sorry for my very long ramble. I guess I dont know what else to do atp, I couldve done much more had I not felt the need to fit in like everyone else is currently doing even memes are less entertaining as well as a lot fo it relying so much on the internet i just want to escape all of this nonsense i really do. like just yeet me into space then if anything. i dont care anymore for my life really. ik im probs just making excuses or sounding dramatic but it seems many others at leasdt have talents or something that they care deeply about. i just seemed to have missed the chances and since we didnt have any of this stuff when i was a kid

I dont particularly care for wealth yet at the same time that too is everywhere so its like fomo and inability to simply be satisfied in anything i like or do bc someone else has more or better things they are doing and its so easy to fall into the trap of comparisons, like so and so is posting their whole life online or so and so is exceedingly popular online and irl. i dont know lets just simply say that i keep feeling lkke a nobody and all anyone else on here seems ro say manifest xyz things and how age is just a number without knowing peoples past experiences or lack thereof skills and so on. i just dont even know what i want anymore either. its like im just a soulless blob in a pile of other blobs and everyone else is blobbing about stuff i dont particularly care about online.

i regret being born in my generation, i really do, theres almost too much going on at once but itd all digitalised rather than in person. even celebs dont seem to realise their devices can have an off button maybe if they werent online so much others would be inspired to do that as well but even if you go out anywhere people on their phones or go to concert let say people on their phones again how else to gsin connection with others when its all done via a horrid little screen which i regret buying but once again it is much required in todays society. theres certain things i wouldve loved to have done in previous generations or maybe had i been a different person of a different nationality but i still wouldve had to adjust to needing to be online for the most part. even just typing shit into google feels so soulless like i havw a brain but i dont need to think or feel and i dont need opinions cause someone online will end up hating me for it so thats out the window

As I was suggesting you, you need a break and find yourself again. You're too focused on what others do, who they are, and compare yourself to something that doesn't even exist (online world is pretty much like movies these days) and try to act the same as them to fit in (no but fr, who cares what celebs do online or how long they are online? it's their life, let them do what the heck they want -plus, they're often a brand with legs, they're making money that way...). But anyway you cannot fit in something if you don't know who you are and what you're searching for and if you don't know where you want to fit in (and where you actually can fit in without losing yourself -which you probably already did, in order to not feel left out).

You are worthy, your life is very worthy, but your worth is not outside, your worth is inside of you. Same as your talents and whatever good you possess (and don't tell me you don't cause everyone does). You cannot find it online or in strangers online, and for sure you won't seeing if you keep comparing with others and what they seem to have... so stop trying to do so. If others have fun online and have found their own place there, let them. Who cares what they find of so cool there. But if you don't, then it's time for you to find what you find funny by taking a break. Put in effort (the one you were calling for so much in the other ask) and find in yourself and what you want and like. The only way to find your soul inside of your blob is to look in that blob that is you and finding your voice. You cannot let others tell you who you are: only you know.

But it's useless if I keep repeating myself and you can't see you are worthy and not caged (you know it but still, you cannot leave the comfort zone you have created: you feel like you won't ever fit in and you keep finding comfirmations of it out of any interactions you have online. If you don't work on how you see things and yourself, nothing will change for real). You can think with your mind, you can believe other things than what you're told by society or people that only want to sell a product/gain from what they do (I already answered an ask or two on this... were they yours?). You can do what you would have loved to do in any other time: it's not about this generation, it's about you and what you want... don't find excuses to keep yourself out of what you desire to do or how you desire to live. Don't blame it all on this society, where you live and the times we're living in. You still have a choice, you can act differently and who the heck should care about it? If it makes you happy, do it. But if it's really so, if you know you'd feel better out of it, it's not the internet the problem, it's you caging yourself in a cycle that doesn't even exist (but was well created to sell products again)...

For real, take a moment for yourself. Maybe journal about how you feel, what you want and what you're searching for and then go find it. It may take a while and some effort, but you will make it. Maybe your people aren't online but at the supermarket you usually visit, or at the library or they share any other interest with you offlline. Idk. If you need connections, first of all connect with yourself. Then, you'll be able to connect also with others the way you need.

Again all the best! I know you're now writing me cause I am making you feel less alone, but I am not the answer you're seeking. It's only within you.

[fruit-sy]

Hello hello, it's the fellow Sampo's anon person again. I've literally just logged in and saw you answered my shapeshifting delusion/theory

Regarding the cat thing, well its like multiple theories connected into one so i will try my best to explain it. Firstly, there are folks that think Sampo could be a member of the Masked Fools OR Stellaron Hunters(or both even but I don't want to make this even more complicated). The highest evidence towards the Stellaron Hunter Sampo theory is that besides the three members we've seen in the game aka Kafka, Blade and Silver Wolf, there's two more confirmed ones. Firstly, there's Elio and then there's Sam. And I've seen people speculate that Sampo could be Sam because of the name similarities, (Although apparently they use different letters/symbols in Chinese version for writing those names so that's important to note) but also some folks think he might straight up be Elio because of 4th wall breaking stuff and Elio knowing everything basically.

Now on top of those speculations, there are theories that the cat in Kafka's art could be again, either Elio or Sam and therefore, maybe they are Shapeshifters. (Or maybe they're just a cat. Imagine having a playable cat. That would be wild)

So basically, because some people think that Sampo could be Sam or Elio (Sam I think is definitely more popular opinion in the Stellaron Hunter theory), and other people think that Sam or Elio could have been a cat, then, following this logic:Sampo=cat.

...gosh i sound so insane huh. I'm really sorry for this but I've dug so deep into so many different theories that people might have about this guy, that now if i get any opportunity to share a bit of the craziness I've seen, I'm taking it.

Coming really quickly back to Qingzu, you're making some great points there, I literally have no idea if he was possibly pretending to be Qingzu since we arrived in Luofu or what I-

There's so many questions but not a lot of answers.

I'm sorry

(Sorry for the late reply!)

Ahh, if the chinese characters for Sampo and Sam are different, that kinda settles it for me already. Also in Silverwolf's story IV there's a metal humanoid that follows Blade, Kafka and maybe Elio?

Either the metal humanoid is Elio, or it's Sam. Or it could be someone completely different lol

Hmm, as for Sampo = Elio, I personality don't see it. Elio so far has only been revealed to see various different futures and not outright know they're in a game.

Going to the stretch-zone for this;; But I think his fourth-wall-breaking fits more with him being tied to Elation than with the Stellaron Hunters, just bc we have more evidence that he's linked to Elation than the SH for now.

Some people speculate that because he can break the fourth wall, Elation members might also be able to break the fourth wall. With this in mind, some people speculate that part of the reason why Elation thinks existence is a joke is because they know they're in a video game. The simulated Aha in SU immediately knew they were just an equation in a computer, which leads me to believe the real Aha is equally, or possibly even more self aware, which might apply to their followers as well.

... Though, I will acknowledge that Silver Wolf is able to break the fourth wall. But I'm not sure why exactly she can ^^;

As for the cat -- as much as I'd LOVE to see a playable cat, like not a cat girl, just a walking-on-four-legs-real-ass cat -- I think this is a bit of a stretch. We barely know what Sam and Elio look like, let alone the scope of their abilities. All we know about Sam is that he takes his job very seriously

As for Qingzu, I tried to think if she was in on the plan. As in, if she was a Masked Fool as well. But I really think this is a stretch. I'm not sure how tightly government officials in the Xianzhou hold on to the beliefs of Hunt, but I just can't imagine her also being in cahoots with Elation.

If not that, then maybe it's a tavern buddy of Sampo's.

Anyways, its okay!! We are still early into the story, so it's natural that there are more questions than answers. But while we wait, it won't hurt to speculate! 👀 so lets be crazy together hahahahshajk 🤪🤪💫😜🤪💫

I've dug way too deep into this rabbit hole as well, like Sampo is so sus, there's NO WAY he's not appearing again in the story.

[voxofthevoid]

For the ship game: Chad x Ichigo, Ichigo x Uryu, and maybe OkkoIta?

Chad x Ichigo

Ship It

What made you ship it?

It's not something I actively ship, more like it's one of the many relationships Ichigo has that I'm happy to bite into. His relationship with Chad is pretty sweet and wholesome. The "bro I might jerk off" vibes are impeccable.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

It's their initial meeting/bonding moment that I really like, the way they kind of connected over their mutual desire to protect. Visually and emotionally, it's very well done, and I especially enjoyed how the way it's manipulated in the Fullbringer arc highlights its significance. In terms of relationship dynamics, they're fluffier than my preferred fare, but a bit of uncomplicated sweetness now and then is very nice.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't know what's popular or not with this ship, and I don't have strong enough opinions anyway.

Ichigo x Uryu

Ship It

What made you ship it?

A fic, funnily enough. This story was something I read because I liked the author's Naruto fics and was vaguely familiar with Bleach. The romance in it is very minor, but I liked the dynamics. And I liked the setting enough to actually get into Bleach...and then I fell dick-first down the grimmichi rabbit hole. Still, Ichigo/Uryū was technically my first Bleach ship.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Their personalities spark in ways I find interesting. Work in both their canonical partnerships and enmities, and it makes for a very fun cocktail.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't think so! Same as above tbh.

Yuuji x Yuuta

Ship It

What made you ship it?

I'll ship Yuuji with anyone (well, any guy, unless we go the genderbend route with fem!Yuuji, in which case, bring in all the ladies) he has even the slightest bit of chemistry with, and Yuuta fulfills the criteria. They don't interact a lot in canon, but when they do, it's a nice mix of funny and cute and mildly fucked up—a good flavor.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I think they'd be the kind of people who'd hang out together with low conflict levels and develop an amiable, if not particularly deep, relationship. Just something nice. Come to think of it, I don't care for Yuuji/Yuuta much as a serious ship, just as a fun, casual fling type of thing.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Let's be real, my top!Yuuji agenda and the fact that I'm primarily a porn peddler make every Yuuji ship I dabble in (except itafushi ig) an unpopular take. I regret nothing.

Ask can be found game here.