#I just don't understand this specific reason

[captainclickycat]

I feel like a big part of the problem is that people (sometimes wilfully) fail to understand the difference between actual discipline, taking necessary measures to keep kids safe and model appropriate behaviour and so on, and just denying kids any autonomy whatsoever because you can.

I've literally seen people respond to "there's no reason not to let a child pick out their own clothes/have their hair cut the way they like/go by a name that's different from their birth name/not always prioritise the feelings of the adults around them" with "so I suppose you think it's ok for them to just MURDER PEOPLE then?? I should let my kid just STAB PEOPLE??"

Now, maybe those specific people are just trolling to be provocative. But there does seem to be this pervasive idea that allowing kids any autonomy or capacity to make decisions for themselves is some kind of slippery slope towards blithely letting them do whatever dangerous/cruel/unhealthy thing happens to take their fancy.

The point of the partner comparison isn't that you should treat kids in your care exactly the same way that you'd treat your partner. It's a bad idea to let your kid eat chocolate cake for dinner, but a fellow adult can make their own nutritional decisions, even if they're not always good ones.

But if a parent can't differentiate between "I am preventing my child from doing this because it's unsafe and will have bad consequences" and "I am preventing my child from doing this because I'm in charge, I don't want them to and they should just do as I say at all times", that's a problem.

Your kid is going to grow up one day and you won't be able to just tell them what to do all the time. Do you actually want them to have the knowledge and foresight to make good decisions for themselves, or do you just want them to bow down to your authority?

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

Gotta say I used to extensively comment on fics and not just a few words but did some fairly long detailed comments on what I liked but recently I started to get less and less replies on them despite authors (relatively popular ones) sometimes replying to others. And while I understand that author doesn’t owe me anything it did quite demotivate me from leaving as much comments. Why bother if nobody cares in the first place? I know its an unhelpful mindset but I can’t shake it. Any advices?

hi!

as an author who likes to comment on others' works but is notoriously bad at replying to comments I receive on my own works, I can guarantee that 99.99% of writers read the comments they receive and, even if they don't reply back, they love and appreciate your kind words more than you know. I know this may sound cliche and all, but I can wholeheartedly say this because it's true for me, as an author.

yes, I admit that I don't always reply to comments I receive, but it's not because I don't appreciate or care about them. I read them, mostly several times each, I screenshot them and save them in a special folder so I can always come back and read them again. there are just so many kind comments I receive that make me smile to myself for minutes even though I don't reply back. some of them actually make me shed a few tears of joy.

thing is when us authors don't reply to comments we receive, it's mostly because;

we don't know how best to respond that will let the commenters know how much we appreciate them. because if the comments are several paragraph long (we LOVE that!), and we only reply with "thank you so much", then it sounds too short for us. (I know this because I sometimes spend so long thinking about how best to respond that will let my commenters know how much I appreciate them that I sometimes end up don't respond back.)

sometimes we are overwhelmed by several comments from several readers, and responding to all of them are too overwhelming. but we read, love and appreciate each and every single one of them very dearly.

sometimes we reply to some comments and not the others, because maybe we have little free time where we can only reply to some people, or maybe there's something about some specific comments that makes us respond back. but this does not mean we don't care about comments we don't reply back.

sometimes we're simply exhausted from stuff in our lives and replying to comments take time and energy, depends on how long the comments are / how long we want our responses to be / how many comments we receive, etc

writing is hard, but sometimes finding the right words to reply back to comments can be even harder, especially when we want to write several paragraph responses back just to let them know how much we appreciate them. and unfortunately sometimes us writers just don't have enough energy left.

but rest assured that, even if we don't reply, we love and appreciate every kind comment we receive very, very much, and they help motivate us to keep writing.

when I comment on my fellow writers' works and don't get any response back, I know why (for the reasons listed above), and that's totally okay for me because I don't comment on their works just for them to thank me, I do it because I want them to know how I love and appreciate their works, and I believe they do know. and that's really all that matters for me.

so if your favorite authors don't reply to you, please don't think that it's because they "don't care" or that your comments "don't matter" to them.

I mean, of course, I can see why not getting a response back can be discouraging, especially when commenting on writers' works are so encouraged, but as a fellow commenter (yes, I'm an author and also a commenter of fics I love), I always think of it this way; fanfics are gifts we receive for free, we comment on writers' works as a way to thank them for giving us cool fics to read. we don't expect them to thank us back because they've already given us this lovely gift. we comment only because we want to let them know we love their fics. and they know.

your comments could now be saved in your favorite authors' folders and re-read by them over and over again, even if they didn't respond back. they could be smiling to themselves reading your thoughts on their works. who knows? their next 100k word fic could be motivated by you.

[thebibliosphere]

Hello! Feel free to ignore this ask, I just have a small question: I have joint hypermobility and possible EDS (I'm diagnosed with hypermobility and EDS is just something my doctors suspect) and lately I myself have been suspecting POTS. My reasoning is that every time I measure my pulse and blood pressure, my pulse is significantly elevated and my blood pressure is super low. Like that is something that is *known* about me even by doctors, they all remark that my blood pressure is low, and frequently make jokes that I must be scared to be there because my heartbeat is really fast.

After my friend said that that is bad and that it can be what's causing my chest pains (I had an ultrasound of my heart done when I was 15 due to the chest pains and they found nothing abnormal, and after that they called me a lying drama queen faking it for attention, and ever since then I've never brought the issue up again), I bought a smart watch to monitor my pulse and began to monitor both my blood pressure and pulse at home a lot more often as well, and it seems that whenever I'm lying down, my heartbeat is consistently about 90 (moves between 80-100) and as soon as I stand up it steadily goes up. Immediately after standing up it gets to 110 and if I wait a few additional minutes before measuring it it usually crawls up to 150 (140-155), while my pressure is usually 90/60 at this point. I understand that this is also the main symptom of POTS.

But what I don't get is this: my hands are constantly cold as all hell and I sometimes have to wear gloves in the summer to keep them warm (doctors don't care, I've mentioned this since I was a kid), which checks out, but if the blood was pooling in my legs, shouldn't they be hot? But my feet are constantly cold as all hell as well. Sometimes I experience hot flashes specifically in my feet and hands, but most of the time both my hands and my feet feel like they might freeze to death.

So my question is basically can that happen with POTS?

Oh for sure. There are lots of things that contribute to POTS and circulation problems is one of them, and blood pooling has never felt hot for me.

My feet and legs could be purple from blood pooling and they’ll still be ice cold because the inability to regulate body temperature is also a feature of dysautonomia for a lot of people.

Reynauds is also common in POTS so that could also explain any mottling while you still feel cold.

I’m so sorry the doctors dismissed you like that. You deserved compassionate care. You still do.

[runby2]

i needed to put my two cents in because i've seen a post going around with 90k notes that made me somewhat frustrated. it was saying that " private discord servers" are ruining tumblr's fandom community and that you're going to be lonely and alone when the servers die and that you should be posting to fandom community tags to keep it alive.

and first off, no, you're not a bad person for having private discord servers. that's ridiculous. yes servers die over time. that's just how it is. it doesn't mean it was pointless to enjoy a small group of friends even if you drift apart. and it definitely doesn't mean it was pointless to share your content with them.

my main point, no, private discord servers are not "killing tumblr's fandom community"

the real reason fandom communities are dying is just that we're all growing older, and fandom communities on tumblr are hostile towards creators that don't fit a certain niche.

i don't blame anyone for making private servers for friends for their specific creations. safety and peace comes first with creation. as someone who is traumatized from certain fandom communities not accepting darker content or personal takes on characters, i 100% understand why anyone, mostly neurodivergent creators, would want to not post their art publicly in those tags. hostile environments birth isolation.

also consider art theft, and the ai boom, and the lack of ability to post mature art or content in tags for adult creators trying to share their works.

so no, you're not bad for having a discord server of private friends to share your work with. no you're not killing tumblr. no you're not going to end up alone and sad because you chose to protect your peace.

and just because someone posts their art in a place you weren't invited to doesn't mean someone's hiding it from you. you are not entitled to someone's content just because "it could have been posted on tumblr"

this also applies to people who prefer private communities on this site.

enjoy your day and rest easy.

[sparrowlucero]

I'm a lil confused, which line exactly did they confirm that the midnight creature causes you to kill other people?

I understand that the doctor suggested aliss's deafness made her immune to whatever the creature was saying (I understood this more as her being immune to becoming full on possessed a la midnight but idk), but Belinda didnt seem to have any murderous urges when it attached to her and neither did mo at the end? also why would the creature force you to physically kill ppl when it was having more fun inciting paranoia to get people to kill eachother and using the "behind you" gambit thing to kill people itself?

idk maybe I'm misreading things, there was a lot of confusion in ep for me over the exact rules the creature was following, esp wrt the switcharoo at the end. much to think about.......

yeah the episode says that everyone on the base went crazy, with aliss being the only one unaffected by this since she can't hear it; my understanding is that, rather than the uninfected people ganging up and killing the infected one out of paranoia and becoming infected themselves (rinse and repeat), the infected person (like her friend) became violent in some way and started trying to kill each other, and the reason she isn't also behaving this way is because it thralls people verbally:

but then they also repeatedly suggest that everyone was murdered out of paranoia over seeing the parasite until only aliss was left, as we both understood the premise:

(side note, I'm actually not sure of the significance of the half broken/half shot thing - they play it like a twist, but I can't really conceptualize the specifics of what happened at the mine before the soldiers showed up? I think maybe they wanted to have that beat where it gets killed by its reflection but in getting there lost a bit of clarity)

It's all pretty rough; the immunity aspect really moves it from 'they killed each other one by one out of fear to try to off the creature until it was just aliss left' to something I don't think really coheres together. I do strongly suspect the whispering was probably a messy last minute rewrite after the actress was cast to incorporate the character's deafness in the plot in some way, hence why it doesn't actually show up in the episode wrt belinda and mo (it's possible that this replaced some other immunity in an earlier script, but it seems more likely to me that this aspect simply just didn't exist at first and she was meant to be alive just because she was the last one left, as she directly says) And yeah I'm pretty positive something in the switcharoo ending got changed and that's why it feels kind of confusing/the rules of the creature are a bit different out of nowhere. Who knows what lol, I think they probably initially wanted a reveal that the captain jumping down the well was all for naught because it never left aliss at all and wasn't even in the room during the episode's climax; there's even a punchy shot specifically showing that there's 4 individuals on the lift (despite there only being 3)

[plaidos]

hi! I 100% understand your post on how both Caliborn and Calliope are trans, and I’m not sure if what I’m about to say is smth you specifically headcanon since I’m not super familiar with your blog, but what do you think of ppl calling specific trolls trans? Like Kanaya/Vriska. if we are to understand all trolls share the same set of genitals, then aren’t all trolls sort of trans for choosing to present/become a certain gender? where and how are they assigned a gender at grubhood if they’re raised by lusii and mass made propaganda? do they have a female/male tag when approved by the mother grub jadeblood assistants? I genuinely thought it was a personal free for all instead of a 1:1 human mirror of cissexist society

so first of all, quick correction -- Vriska is canonically trans, that's not a headcanon -- it comes up in both Pesterquest & Homestuck: Beyond Canon so i'm assuming that tidbit is here to stay: Vriska is trans.

but speaking of headcanons, i think you're making a lot of assumptions about Alternian culture & troll biology here. first of all, your basic assumption -- that all trolls share the same set of genitals -- isn't canon; we actually know only a very small amount about troll genitalia (that they don't have two dicks [Meat 12] and that trolls & humans seem to be able to have sex without much effort [Meat 31, among other places in the Epilogues])

secondarily, transness isnt based on "choosing a gender identity" -- inarguably, cis people are also choosing to keep performing their gender presentations & identities; the gender roles that cis people on earth engage in aren't like... innate to their physicality.

similarly, even if somebody on Earth is born in a forest and nobody is around to say "it's a boy" that doesn't mean that baby is without an assigned gender -- because it still lives & grows up in a world where a particular set of traits is categorised as male, and another is categorised as female. imo, there's no reason to expect troll culture to work differently; we know that to some degree trolls are sexually dimorphic because, according to the posters in Karkat's hive, or the cover to his trashy romance novel, cis male trolls generally have flat chests & cis female trolls generally have breasts, much like humans [HS 4712]

(ok this is kind of a bad example because those boys have mega titties and you can't really see the girls. but there are other examples. trust. i just wanted to include the trashy romance cover.)

furthermore, according to Porrim in Openbound [HS 5263], alternia has a patriarchy despite having an empress (much like another empire y'all might be familiar with...) with different layers of the caste having different percentage demographic of "male" and "female" trolls; Porrim specifially points out that the legislative castes & other highbloods are male-dominated -- and to be fair, that totally lines up with the canon we see. between Terezi and Feferi's positions on the haemospectrum we only have one girl, and she's trans!

i also think -- though this is conjecture -- that a lot of the facets of troll biology that we see were not evolved traditionally but genetically modified into the population by the empire -- we already know that they used to have more blood colors, and that there are examples of blood colors uncategorised by their caste system [HS 4962]

plus, even Dirk mentions that the Empress tried to modify human children to have different blood colors to recreate her Alternian haemospectrum. [HS 4850]

i don't think it's a stretch to say that the haemospectrum, trolls' reproductive system & their symbiotic relationship to alternian fauna could very well be imposed onto the species by the Empire (perhaps even before HIC's time) rather than evolved the old-fashioned way. the fact that trolls are able to even have sex & have desire to do it similar to humans (again -- proven & reiterated time and time again by the Epilogues) suggests that there may be still some (perhaps vestigial) analogue way for trolls to reproduce or at least perform the physical motions of reproduction (which i believe the kids these days call "fuckin")

beyond that, bonus lore from Andrew (YMMV on its canonicity) suggests that Sollux's lusus was more accepting of a trans child than Eridan's, which ended up shaping Eridan's distaste & jealousy of him. also, at least in Beyond Canon, we get mentions of Old Aternian "schoolhives" [HSBC 75] which would imply some kind of formalised education -- the perfect place to disseminate cultural gender propaganda!

and to answer your question "where and how are they assigned a gender at grubhood if they’re raised by lusii and mass made propaganda" -- well, presumably the brooding caverns (which are manned -- or trolled? -- by teenagers) is where they're assigned their gender, but i don't know what you mean about the propaganda -- propaganda makes this sort of thing easier. a good deal of the beliefs about gender on OUR planet are soley reinforced by state propaganda! surely Alternia's regime would make that easier instead of harder. we get various mentions of information dropped in by drones, too, so i'll bet all of that was super reinforcing of cisgender society.

you're right that Alternia is kind of a "free for all" and isn't a direct 1:1 mirror of human society... but it very much is meant to be a reflection of human society!! all of the stuff about Alternian children being raised into a violent, colonialist culture with rigid views about reproduction , relationships & sexuality -- that was always supposed to be a reflection of the violent nuances humans raise THEIR children with. lots of the troll stuff in Homestuck is meant to be a massive deconstruction of the idea that Earth & Alternia are all that different. Trolls aren't "biologically predisposed" to polyamory or quadrants any more than humans are "biologically predisposed" to be a homosexual :B -- they're culturally coerced to.

great question though.

[kittyyclysm]

ok i have a bone to pick with these clothes (no actual spoilers just mentions of small things that happened in the ep)

I don't think Adrien should have this marketable design this far back. Personally I've always thought the reason Adrien has to wear the same thing everyday is because it's a "marketable" design so Gabriel makes him wear it. It makes him recognizable and iconic, and... apparently these multicolored stripes are the most marketable design Gabriel could come up with. But let's just pretend this is the case (since I could be wrong). Writing-wise, I don't think he should have started marketing Adrien as a model since he popped out of the womb.

It would be SO much more interesting and make a lot more sense if Gabriel only started this whole marketability stunt when his ideologies about fashion changed and we could slowly see this design take over Adrien's wardrobe. This 6-year-old shirt could have been a picture of how Gabriel used to treat Adrien and how Adrien used to actually be able to express himself, and it would've gone so well with the Papa Corn thing to show that Gabriel used to be a decent dad.

In Representation in Felix's little theatre-kid play, he described Gabriel's clothes as "clothes so magnificent that they revealed the beauty of anyone who wore them" (12:57). In that case, we can assume he has a fashion ideology similar to Marinette's: fashion is meant to let people express themselves. But we see that that ideology has changed in Pretension, when Gabriel and Marinette talk over pancakes... Gabriel says, "Life is like fashion. You think you have a choice but all you have is the illusion of choice, and I decide what choices are given to you. [...] Fashion is a product, a marketing strategy, an industry that relies on an uninterrupted trend renewal that forces you to either throw away everything you have and buy more or, worse, be out of fashion" (6:41). That last bit is after Marinette describes fashion as understanding people and creating things that will help them express themselves, which, again, seems to be the old ideology Gabriel had.

That being said, Gabriel's old clothes for Adrien should have reflected that ideology rather than totally... contradicting it??? Forcing him into that marketable clothing would have reflected his current ideology of fashion. Now, what pushed him to that new idea? I think that's probably when he wanted to start making more money. Specifically, I think he would have locked in on designing fashion as "a product" when Emilie started to get sick and he was going on all those trips to find cures. It couldn't have been cheap and it would make sense he would lock in for that... and we also know he wasn't a fashion millionaire before since, again in Felix's little play, we find out that he was still poor when he and Emilie married. He could have started corrupting the idea of fashion before Emilie started getting sick, but really I don't think that would happen for no reason unless Emilie had that same ideology. That's completely up in the air, though I doubt the show would go for that complex take of "Adrien's mom actually wasn't that great either" with its Marinette Mary Sue problem and all... I'm not sure what her ideology on fashion would be though, or if she even has a solid view of it. Anyway, I really think Gabriel would have only picked up on that ideology to make bank to try and save Emilie, and I think Adrien would be one of the last things he'd turn into a product since he's an extension of Emilie.

So yeah!! I think the shirt should have been different. A hint of the past where Gabriel treated Adrien as more of a kid instead of a product and those old ideologies he used to have, since one of the huge points of his character is that he used to be some normal, assumedly reasonable guy, but he went off the deep-end. It also would've went well with the Papa Corn bit. And it would have shown how his life was better with Emilie, even if it was something as subtle as wardrobe choice. AND (last and) given that little timeline of him having to lock in on designs in a desperate attempt to save his wife!!!

And likeeee... how cute would a matching frog onesie be????

rant over!!!

i have a lot more thoughts i have to post on the earlier series and even the current series but i may go back through and rewatch to give those!!! but these thoughts stand on their own so i decided to write it down

obligatory thank you to my roomie @baldisfan for getting me into mlb and watching this ep together 💞💞💞and for letting me yap this idea to her as she lets me yap all my ideas tehe

anyway would love 2 hear ur guys' thoughts on this too!!!

[smtmsthnk]

the more I think about, the more i realize that maybe the problem all along was not that some reader don't understand the conflicts in mdzs (sometimes, that too) but that they don't understand the sheer scope of conflict

it is easier for readers to comprehend internal conflicts and while there are internal conflicts in the story they are ultimately not the reason behind the tragedy of wei wuxian's first life and the wen remnants' fate and consequent slaughter. to put it in other words: the first siege was not the result of wei wuxian's direct action or inaction, it was a part of systematic issue of the jianghu and their ostracization of wei wuxian and the wen remnants

and i also know that many ppl want wei wuxian to have a happier ending in his first life. wouldn't it be better if he and everyone who he loved were alive and safe and unharmed? and it is far easier to imagine a fix-it plot when the problem is on the actions of the individual. wouldn't the situation change if only character A did this? won't there be a happy ending if only the villain died earlier?

and don't get me wrong: i love myself a fix-it fic and i like a lot of them for mdzs. but this post isn't about fics

so, returning to the previous point: it is far easier to blame the individual. but the main conflict in mdzs is not an internal one, it's an external conflict: a man vs the world, a man vs society. and mxtx shows us that in this kind of conflict, the man and his ambitions will always perish: whether it be wei wuxian or xiao xingchen or even mianmian and lan wangji who tried to defend wei wuxian (lan wangji spoke in wei wuxian's defence several times, but did anyone listen? no). she is very realistic in this, actually, and i love her messages and ideas specifically in mdzs as they are the closest to my own

mdzs is a very realistic novel in general: even though headcanons and fanons about "modao" and how it was corrupting wei wuxian and the yin hufu being a cursed artifact with its own mind are very prevalent in the fandom, it's not like that at all in the novel. there are no voices coming from the yin hufu which want wei wuxian to kill anyone and everyone and drive him mad. wei wuxian doesn't even use modao and guidao isn't the reason for his unstable mental state but rather all the truly horrific and terrible situations that he was faced with in such a short term i'm left wondering if there is anyone else who could have lived through all of this like he did

but i digress. my main point: i don't deny that there are internal conflicts in mdzs, but the reason behind the tragedy of the first siege, the slaughter of the wen remnants, wei wuxian's death — the reason for all of this is a systematic issue born from the privilege and hypocrisy of the jianghu and its ruling class, not a consequence of an individual's action or inaction. the system put in place will always be much more sturdier than one person's claims

wei wuxian in front of all the clans accuses the jin clan and specifically jin zixun of kidnapping and using violence against the wen clan remnants, and no one bats an eye. mianmian speaks for wei wuxian, saying that killing four guards who were abusing the prisoners is not senseless slaughter, and she is put down and her words are dismissed as she is just "a maiden madly in love". lan wangji also speaks for wei wuxian, and without anyone's support, not even his clan's or brother's, his words are silenced and spoken over and dismissed without further notice

hell, even wen ning: jin guangshan organised a public execution and no one questioned jin guangyao why wen ning was alive and well and summoned on dafan mountain!

the main external conflict is the jianghu's hypocrisy and blindness and prejudice and "at least it doesn't happen to me so it doesn't matter" mentality and how the characters choose to conduct themselves and what choices they make in this kind of society and how it reacts back on these choices

[www-bestiemme]

I realized i never posted these!! Here's my mlp founders redesigns :]

Under the cut notes, individual pictures compared to their og design and the bases for each drawing ^_^

Princess Platinum's outfit the same but i have changed her to resemble more medieval European unicorn.

l also added a bit of a red gradient to her to contrast Clover the Clever

More brown eyed horsies for my soul

I wanted her to look more regal, hence the royal bodytype

Her base is this drawing of Luna!

Clover the Clever was genderswapped with Private Passionflower (we'll get there) and the palette swapped with Smart Cookie.

The reason she was genderbent that the founders had 3 girls and 3 boys, but since i wanted to give Smart Cookie's colour palette to Clover that'd mean degreenify a girl, and we get so little green girls! So i gender-swapped but maintained the 3 girl 3 boys thing

As per her outfit, i found it weird all of the founders had pretty elaborate clothing except a ROYAL advisor, and the show was also indecisive of Clover's cloak as his original design shows the cloak from the Heart's Warming play but in the episode The Haunted Spell-venger hunt (a Matter of Principals)" they show a COMPLETELY different clock. So i redesigned the whole thing inspired loosely by some medieval depictions of me

The base is Saffron Masala

Commander Hurricane is now coloured after hurricane heat maps :]

I changed his symbol to be the ACTUAL hurricane symbol, I don't understand the lighting dash OR the twilight ass cutie mark

I wanted him to look more gruff. Im assuming hes around the same time as Flash Magnus, which means the hearts warming tale wouldn't be his first rodeo yknow?

Here's his base

Private Pansy is now Private Passionflower, since he was originally a girl it didn't cary any implication. But now he's a dude, so it does

Also i wanted to get inspired off my childhood passion flowers!!

His outfit is more akin to the play one then the historical one

I struggled a lot with his colours looking spike-like, but i think they still do look like that :,)

Private Pansy was more akin to fluttershy's personality, I wanted Private Passionflower to be less shy and more Generally Awkward

I liked the heart’s warming play outfit better, so i based his off that

This is the base i used

Chancellor Puddinghead is now less-pudding more panna cotta, i just really like panna cotta. My favorite is the caramel one but he's frutti di bosco

The play outfit was once again SO MUCH CUTER compared to the historical one. I decided to keep it the exact same

I kept the bodytype the exact same!

Face marking kindaaa meant to resemble a mask like in the Commedia dell’Arte specifically pulcinella

The base is a screenshot I took of the praire dog trainer from Las Pegasus

Smart Cookie is not green anymore! She gave her green to Clover and is now a cookie like pingo horse

I changed her outfit from brown to blue for better contrast

Her eyes were originally blue with the yellow and orange being place holders but i really liked it

Her base

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hey miss Raven! I hope your recovery is going well. Make sure to not over exert yourself. Wishing you good health and fortune!

I wanted to ask about your honest feelings regarding Grim and more then often obnoxious behaviour especially during events. This is coming from someone who loves cats and one of the things that got me into Twst was the fact that there was a talking cat in it (I still love the little shi* and look forward to his new outfits. I'm basically the meme " i still love them but sometimes i just want to get in a car and run them over".) For me it was annoying but a little cute like the first few times but now that we are done with 7 books of main story and a buckload of events his obnoxiousness is starting to feel really annoying. His character feels like it had no development at all. I know events are not canon nor take main story progress in to consideration but come on! Yuu's motivation to rescue Grim in book 6 didn't felt genuine either. Even now his antics in eternity float didn't come across adorable but exasperating instead. How do you feel about Grim?

Also, curiously if you ,as in you the author not your OC, were in yuu's shoes what would you do? How would you interact with grim? Do you think you can handle him realistically? I know you don't self insert yourself but just hypothetically speaking how would you feel about him?

Hihi ^^ Thank you for the well wishes! I think I've made a full recovery (or close to it?) at this point, but there's some lifestyle changes I made in the aftermath. Thankfully, it's nothing too bad!

Before I give my thoughts on Grim, I want to preface by disclosing my biases so you can understand where I'm coming from. While I definitely prefer cats to dogs, I've realized recently that I don't actually like cats?? I just tolerate them better than dogs. This is mostly on account of the fur, which I generally find very gross and messy. (One of my friends jokes this is because I'm just a Mammal Hater 💀) I do happen to be a pet owner and my (non-specific) pet very much has Grim's personality. They're loud, they're needy, they love to eat, they cause trouble, they act like they're the boss around here--so I'm sort of used to and desensitized to most of Grim's behaviors.

Now, about Grim! I generally like him (mostly because he basically acts like my own nonspecific pet and has cute ribbons). He's unfortunately always going to be my annoying little fur baby, but I totally understand why some people don't like Grim. His voice is admittedly kind of grating, and he always seems to be causing Yuu/the player grief. I disagree with those who dislike Grim for "stealing" screentime from Yuu; I think he's a suitable stand-in for them, since the game has to take measures to keep Yuu vague for self-insert purposes. Grim did nothing wrong, he is just serving his function. I also disagree with those who find it demeaning when Grim calls us "minion". To me, it doesn't feel any different than a friend ironically calling another friend "idiot" or something of the sort. Additionally, several other characters in the Twst cast have derogatory or arrogant nicknames for Yuu/the player or for their peers, but for some reason those have largely been adopted and interpreted as signs of affection by the fandom??? Which has always been super odd to me. I do see a point to be made about being annoyed at Grim for not taking responsibility for his actions (Yuu is often demanded to control him), but I’d say that’s intentional to move the plot along, clunky as it is. This doesn’t feel different to me than your pet, child, or sibling is being a nuisance and you having to get them under control in public. It’s also difficult for me to stay mad at Grim for this when other NRC students arguably act similar (causing trouble but not apologizing or taking accountability) + are ruder to Yuu but they get excused or adored for it while Grim catches flack. Why is there this bias? Is it because Grim isn’t a conventionally attractive anime boy?? 😭 Is it because we are forced to spend more time with Grim so he has more opportunities to be pointed out? I don’t get it.

That being said, that doesn't mean I think Grim is necessarily a well-written character, especially not for most of the main story. As much as I love book 6, the kidnapping + tearful reunion ring hollow if the player isn't already invested in Grim before then. The issue is that the prologue, plus books 1-5 do very little to show moments of Yuu and Grim genuinely bonding. Most interactions between the two involve Grim making trouble, his skipping responsibilities, or generally being cocky, and Yuu having to clean up after his messes. That doesn't endear him to us. We don't really get moments of Yuu and Grim seriously getting to know each other or points where we get to see his good traits. Book 6 would have worked a lot better if there had been moments dedicated to Yuu and Grim being more intimate beforehand. You don't have to make Grim a completely new character; work off of his existing traits and give him scenarios where he is allowed to shine and support Yuu.

Maybe in the prologue or book 1, Yuu is having trouble falling asleep because they're so anxious about being in a new world and Grim tries to act all tough to reassure them they're safe by his side, and this finally helps Yuu drift off. In book 2, maybe Leona's picking on Yuu a little too hard during their practice game and Grim feels he must stand up for his minion against a bully. For book 3, there could be a scene where Yuu scolds Grim for trying to take the easy way out and Grim confides in them about not wanting to flunk out because being a great mage is all he has ever wanted. Then when Yuu asks why this is his dream, Grim can't come up with an answer (which calls attention to Grim not really knowing much about himself or his past). As for book 4, expand more on Grim trying to break them out of Scarabia with a spoon. Play up Grim acting like he has to be the hero and do what he can to help his minion out of a tight spot! In book 5, have Grim help Yuu with coaching everyone or maybe getting a little jealous that there's so many people he has to share his living space with. Then Yuu can reassure him he's irreplaceable!! And sprinkle in more scenes where Yuu and Grim just connect over being outcasts, alone and unsure in this world but able to find solace in one another. By the time book 6 comes around, we'll have all these moments to look back fondly on and motivate us to rescue Grim, who cared so much for Yuu. Grim, whom we've developed a friendship with over the main story... Grim, who is now locked away in an unfamiliar face with no friends around...

For events, I'm willing to be a little more patient with him since 1) they're not canon to the main story and 2) Grim is obviously used just to shoehorn Yuu's presence into several events, especially the hometowns (through his whining about wanting to do something fun/to eat lots of tasty food). I can't recall a specific instance of Grim being super annoying in events... but I will say that I do find Grim annoying in Eternity Float. Grim seems a little overwritten here, if that makes sense??? He's acting more cartoonish and childish than usual... Like, Grim comedically chomps onto a large ham hanging from the ceiling with ZERO understanding that he needs to pay for it first?? And he wants a bigger slice of pizza (but Riddle tells him it's rude to reach across the table), so he tries spinning the plate instead, only for the pizza to go SPLAT on Malleus's face??? Then he hoses people down with a water gun... SORRY, did Grim mentally regress a few years???? OTL

Mmm... If I were in Yuu's shoes, I think I'd deal with Grim similarly with how I deal with my irl (non-specific) pet: sternly yet fairly? I'd try to train Grim, make sure he eats a balanced diet, gets exercise, and keeps stimulated, bathe him, take him out on walks, give him treats and toys if he's well-behaved, put him in the corner and have him think about what he did if he doesn't, always keep a first aid kit on hand... Oh, and I'd carry him everywhere either by the scruff or in a carrier bag. One hand on him at all times, or else he might wander off and cause trouble. I think it'd be hard dealing with his fire magic and rashness but 💦 I've been told I'm pretty patient, so I think I could handle it if I had to. Whether I'd LIKE it or not is another matter entirely. Grim is basically a little kid or a toddler, and I'm honestly not a fan of children. An animal being feisty is... fine, even cute. But the instant the animal starts giving me lip in complete sentences, it's a lot less charming. I still feel like Grim has the potential to grow on me over time though... There's a weird charm to his attitude, haha.

P.S. My (non-specific) pet says hi.

[sageandred]

I've been thinking about where these characters will go IF Bobby is dead

Eddie- Ryan Guzman has spoken in an interview he did, saying Eddie may face consequences or something to that effect of the entire storyline for seasons with Chris. I was thinking about what @ johanna-swann said in this post (about Eddie being disconnected from everyone in the 118 except Buck) & where the other characters are in life circumstances and emotionally + the fact of Eddie's absence during Bobby's death. He's going to feel guilty, no doubt, I mean I assume (can't trust Tim or Ryan Murphy), but he's got his son back and it's a 1 win, 1 lose situation. But everyone is grieving. Everyone will also have their connections they've been building up for seasons. Buck will have his (ex-)boyfriend, Hen has Karen and her kids; she's also especially connected to Chim, Chimney has the same and his family, and Eddie just has Buck, who's keeping his emotions hidden about the Bobby situation. I'm thinking, this could be a direct consequence of all Eddie's been doing for all seasons (and where his focus lies-Chris (understandable), women and relationships that go no where); I think this could be an opportunity for Eddie to have more conversations with other characters besides Buck and how we could actually get relationship-building with Hen, and Chimney, and now Ravi, that should've happened a long time ago. How is this a consequence you ask? I could see Eddid really struggling before the comfort of it all and him having panic attacks again. I could get into a whole in-depth talk on the ins and outs of Eddie, but basically I think he will really be operating between emotions of guilt, regret, and also gratitude surrounding the complex scenario of getting Chris back at this time, feeling like a bad father, and all that's led up to this point (his mistakes and all that).

Buck- struggling a ton in silence; this is going to mature Buck, for better/for worse; Athena/Buck connection (that's basically his stepmother even more now)/they're eerily the same that they most likely won't talk about their real emotions at first. I think Buck, specifically, is going to think/have some kind of crisis about where his life is going at some point, and it could make him more responsible, for the lack of a better word (stepping up to more situations and standing in leadership, idk)

Chimney- guilt/he could've saved him; a LOT of survivor's guilt; possibly depression; probably will be him struggling after the birth of he and Maddie's son, now; might question his role/compare himself to Bobby in every aspect (career, fatherhood, things of that nature)

Hen- very similar to Chim: guilt, "what could've been; if she becomes captain at some point, she won't want it/will feel very guilty about it; she'll probably be the glue though ultimately (her or Ravi-see thoughts on him below)

Ravi- I could see him wanting to quit again, either go to a new station/change professions, or more likely could push him more into being a firefighter/a reason why he wants to continue doing it and stepping up for his team after some time of the initial immeasurable grief that ensues

Athena- she is the most I'm unsure about; they're going to put her through obvious pain, so Angela can act for these episodes, but I don't know if she'll be honest about it, or hide the way Buck will; May and Harry will have to come home and help her out; I thought she'd talk about/mention Emmett, but after Angela's comment, I'm not as convinced even if she's trolling. I really don't know where they'll go with her specifically if he's dead (read my denial), because I can't see her finding love again while the show is airing, because she's already come to this realization 2 times, 3 if you count younger handcuffed-to-the-bed man (as Hen's laughing).

[canonizzyhours]

I'm so glad this blog exists because this is perfectly serious meta I would never post on my own blog because of the discourse it would invite.

There's a common take on Izzy that basically goes like this: Izzy does not have any problem with homosexuality, in the sense that he doesn't specifically think there's anything wrong with men fucking other men AS LONG AS IT'S CASUAL SEX. But he DOES have a problem with men experiencing romantic love, because he thinks that's effeminate, or because he doesn't want someone else to take his place in Ed's affections, or something. (Obviously this is still homophobic, just in a slightly complicated way). This isn't a canyon vs gb thing, a lot of the fandom both in and out of the canyon believe this take on Izzy. As far as I can tell it's Con O'Neill's take on Izzy! And, up until a very recent rewatch of season 1, it was my own take.

However I've realized now that it's wrong. There are multiple valid takes on Izzy but that fully just isn't one of them. It simply cannot make sense of Izzy's actions in season 1.

1. If Izzy thinks it's fine for men to have casual sex, then at some point when he's flipping out over Stede he would give some sign of at least considering the possibility that Ed just wants to have casual sex with Stede and that's fine. At no point is there even a hint that he thinks that's what's going on or that it's ever occurred to him or that it would make any difference to him if it was. When he catches Ed & Stede doing the consensual stabbing thing nothing he observes gives him any reason to think they're tenderly making love as opposed to having a casual fuck. Sure, he's seen them flirting before this so maybe he might SUSPECT this is a case of cooties, but there is absolutely no sign that he's even CONSIDERING the possibility that this is just casual sex which he would be fine with. (This is almost a shame because I think it would be a super funny AU if Izzy decided he just needed to wingman for Blackbeard so he could get laid and get back to normal.) This makes much more sense if he would not, in fact, be okay with the sex as long as it were just casual.

2. When Izzy catches Lucius blowing Pete? That's causal sex! It's EXPLICITLY casual at this point - they don't start going steady until Pete gives Lucius the wooden finger. The dialogue afterward has a bunch of "well that was nice we should do this again sometime" stuff, which strongly implies this is their first time having sex ever and that they hadn't discussed whether they would ever do it again. But Izzy still has a big fucking problem with it. Now I know there's a popular canyon interpretation of this scene where Izzy is upset that they're neglecting their chores, not that they're fucking, but I assume everyone who reads canonizzyhours understands why that's clearly absurd so I won't go into that since it's a whole other meta essay. But this scene is clearly part of characterizing Izzy's whole deal regarding his opposition to queer joy and it is specifically telling us that he did not like catching two men having CASUAL sex.

3. What does Izzy threaten Lucius with AFTER catching him having casual sex with Pete? That he'll tell Pete about Lucius flirting with other men. THIS ONLY MAKES SENSE IF IZZY'S DEFAULT ASSUMPTION IS THAT SEX HAPPENS WITHIN SERIOUS MONOGAMOUS RELATIONSHIPS. He has no reason to assume Pete would be jealous of Lucius' other partners other than the fact that he knows Pete and Lucius had sex one time. This is COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE with Izzy being a guy who's used to being surrounded by casual gay sex and has no problem with it.

FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE:

So are you saying Izzy's a straight up homophobe?

Actually no. I think he COULD be a straight up homophobe, that's an interpretation that makes sense of his actions in season 1, unlike "he's fine with gay sex as long as it's casual." However there's at least one other possibility I can think of: we never see how Izzy would react to heterosexuality, so it's possible that he just disapproves of all sex full stop no matter who's having it and no matter if it's casual or not. Maybe he thinks a real manly man ought to be above being led around by his dick.

What about Calico Jack? If Izzy doesn't like men having sex with other men on the ship, why would Izzy invite Ed's fuckbuddy back to the ship?

There are several potential answers here but the simplest and funniest, since we've never actually seen Izzy interact with Jack, is that Izzy never figured out Jack and Ed were fucking and he thinks "Whip my balls, Jack" is just guys being bros.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this thesis but I want to emphasize that I am completely serious about it. I was wrong about this before. Con O'Neill is wrong. "Izzy is fine with men having sex as long as it's casual and non-romantic" is fully non-viable as an interpretation of Our Flag Means Death season one.

#503.

[stuffn0tthings]

> Half of them are the reason they're late, and the other half made sure they'd get out alive.

(Idek even know what specific ass criteria I used, I just based them all of Max) (Totally did not geek out while assembling these weirdos) (There's a tag limit so here we are) (It's 1 fuckin AM and I had meatballs for all three meals) (I don't even mentally understand that caption, I don't even find it funny)

[nutashall]

Hound Symbolism might not be 'deleted'

MINOR DEMO SPOILER

Throwing my short analysis/observation here, hope it make sense

RSS has removed 'all' hound symbolism in the new demo. - MC Hound backstory is removed - Leander's group name got changed, from Bloodhounds to Adderstone. Probably to make his ties with snake symbolism stronger. BUT there is a guy who still have this 'Hound' vibes + tentacle Ais heck even his pet, Princess is based of a dog. So MAYBE the Hound/Wolf symbolism is not removed, But the devs put it into Ais. Probably will be merged with Ocudeus because of his Octopus imagery, tendrils, tentacles, and so on. So hound = dog, they're related to wolf. VISUALLY Ais haircut is a wolf-cut. I'm sure this is intentional and not just for his intimidating gang leader vibe. Then dogs and wolf, most of them lives in a pack, a group. Chasing each other, sometimes in circles are one of their common traits. Soulless in TS universe are solitary creature, but Groupmind-Soulless managed to live in a pack because of the Seaspring. Their form vary, we know that Princess are the dog-like Soulless. But for some reason, these Groupmind-Soulless behaves like a dog/wolf.

Source : Ais first meeting

Source : Exile background Then there's Ais, the 'leader' of Groupmind. Another Hound/Wolf vibes from him, because why they specifically use the word "'wolfish grin" for this monologue?

Source : Choose "Glare at him" Probably it will play a part in his lore? like in the future, can he keep his individual identity (wolf-demon with snake like pupil ,lalala) ? or no (Ocudeus-octopus took over) ?? That's all for now I can understand the appeal, but if the devs read this pls don't make his character a typical A/B/O-alpha male 😭😭

[sadmailman-02]

Is privacy important to you?

So recently, I've seen an uptick of people interested in privacy regarding electronics (phones, pc, what have you). When I say people, I'm referring to non-techy people, like myself. I know my way around my computer and can do some basic troubleshooting for hardware/software, but beyond that, I'm sort of helpless. I don't know anything about hacking or cybersecurity and the only coding I can do is some html. I'm below a novice haha. So, if you're that sort of person, then maybe this could be of interest to you. What I am about to discuss involves no coding or really any in depth knowledge regarding technology. You don't have to be Elliot Alderson for this.

>Why does privacy even matter?

The answer to this question will vary from person to person. I, for one, do not like the idea of any corporation hoarding my data to sell or store or do fuck all with. If this does not bother you, I'd consider asking yourself if you're comfortable with, let's say, something like Google knowing everything about you. And I mean everything. Suppose that doesn't bother you, then okay. Maybe think about how it would feel if your classmates or coworkers knew what Google knows about you. Corporations also extend to governments because they're jerking each other off, so something to keep in mind. And individuals, people like you and I, work for these entities. And these people can abuse your data. For any reason.

Your data is a tool for them to control you. You might not realize it until it's too late. I'm being a little vague here because this point alone could be an entire wall of posts.

Additionally, something to consider is the level of privacy that you may require. If you are someone who attends public protests or is part of some sort of organization that criticizes your government, you are at risk of potential scrutiny or harassment. Obviously, but I mean specifically from a lack of privacy practices. Maybe from your government or somebody who opposes your views, etc. And depending on how you've been communicating about these gatherings or communities, you're potentially putting others at risk as well. If you're one of the people who's in charge of organizing or playing a large role, some of the methods I will be going over will likely not be enough to protect you. Activists and journalists need a different level of privacy that I can't begin to match.

Listed below are some videos that I watched that really helped me to understand why this is important.

“I Have Nothing to Hide” – The Dangerous Myth About Privacy

Is it impossible to be private online? (Eric's channel has been very helpful for me personally because his explanations do not alienate the tech illiterate)

>So...Where do I start?

Luckily, there are small steps you can take to prevent some information about you from being hoarded. And I say some, not all. Unfortunately, the only way to completely avoid all of this is to live out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and never use the internet ever. Which I can assume you don't want because you're reading this on a website right now! You will have to make some compromises for some of these options, and if you can't replace all of these and only some, that's fine. Most of these can be adjusted in just a few minutes, if that.

General

Oh my god, stop using chrome. I'm serious, please stop. If you are using chrome to read this, close out of this and download firefox. or brave or chromium or whatever. I use firefox, and the second you download firefox, download ublock origin. Ads on the internet are completely out of control. Firefox is not foolproof either, other add-ons can provide not just a more private experience, but also a much smoother one. ClearURLs removes tracking elements from urls. And it's open source. There are a few others, but I don't know everything lol. There are VPNs you can use, but I only ever use one if I'm away from home and using the Wi-Fi at work or something.

Stop using google search engine. In firefox, you can set something else by default. I just use duckduckgo, but there are alternatives. You can also turn off the ai bullshit. Find one that works best for you and your needs.

Email. So this is one I have not moved yet. I still have gmail for my youtube account. I also have to use gmail for my university. I do have a protonmail, though, that I've been slowly moving over to. This could be an easy fix for some people, while impossible for others. This is something that I am willing to compromise on. Again, you can't have it all with how things are set up. I'm sure there are some ways to circumvent this, but I am not aware of it. For things like drive and docs there are also some alternatives, but I don't use drive all that much, so finding an alternative isn't that pressing for me. There's proton drive, which functions similarly, and several paid options, but I'm trying to keep this process free for people just starting to be privacy-conscious.

Signal is a good messenger especially if you're moving from something like facebook messenger, instagram, whatsapp, whatever. It's end to end encrypted and pretty modern (so stuff like emojis, reactions, voice messages) You do need a phone number though, but again, better than just whatsapp. More people are moving to it now, so you might have an easier time introducing friends to it.

Cellphone

Alright, so this is going to depend on a few factors, mainly whether you have Android or iOS. I had an iPhone for a long time, up until last year. I was never an Apple fanboy, it's just what I had, but I wasn't deep in the ecosystem by any means. I've always used a Windows computer, so I didn't have a Mac or apple watch or whatever. I had an ipad but sold it to a friend last year because I transitioned to using my Wacom full time on my PC. I only say that because if you like your apple products just keep in mind that while you are secure (apple does have great security), you may not be private. iOS is closed source, so it's more difficult for third parties or hackers to get your data, but apple has it. And apple can do whatever. Also, you are limited to the ways you can customize your phone.

I will link a video on someone who discusses privacy on iphone but aside from the few things I listed above I can't really help you much further than a few other points. Sorry.

A brief guide to privacy for iPhone

If you have an Android based phone you are in luck. Most Android phones allow you to put a different os on your cellphone since you can access the bootloader (unlike iphones) BUT your phone in most cases has to be OEM unlockable. Phones from carriers like Verizon aren't able to be unlocked because Verizon is weird and kinda treats their consumers like shit lol. I own a Google pixel 9 and I will admit I splurged on this phone by buying it brand new. It was on sale, I got a bonus at work and hey what can I say... Also my iphone 12mini was shitting itself so it was time for a new phone. The money must have been burning a damn hole in my pocket. In retrospect though, the smarter thing would have been to buy used or an older model. Which I will be doing in the future. Back on track though.

You're probably scratching your head here: if he was just complaining about google why the hell does he have a Google phone?

I'm glad you asked, hypothetical voice in my head.

Grapheneos is a os that is only available on Google pixels (I believe from 6 onward). What it does is basically degoogles your phone. So removes google services. And the thing is, you can redownload these services but refuse network permissions and limit what they can and cannot do or have access to. Or tweak settings that you would not otherwise have access to. You have control over your device and it actually somewhat feels like your device. It's easy to install...like, modding a ds takes longer than installing graphene on your phone. Here is a video that I watched that goes over specifics and installation.

Here is the grapheneos website

For non google phones there's calyxOS but I have no personal experience with it. But both of these OS give you back some ownership on your device by letting the user control how their cellphone functions and not a company. Also, it can help your phone feel a little smoother because it removes a lot of proprietary apps that companies like Samsung add to android. If your phone can't be unlocked, then start by switching to alternative apps and delete as many proprietary apps as possible. Watch this video on fdroid.

Remove face ID if you're able and remove fingerprints as well. It might be a bit inconvenient but it's much safer. I understand that these may be great accessibility tools for some so just do what you can. Turn off location when you're not using it. With graphene, you can give map applications your approximate location, not your exact location. There are also map options that can be disconnected from network, and you can save routes, but I use public transportation and really need to see when my bus is going to arrive. My cities bus app is so shit sometimes. Again, another example of compromising that is going make you ask what's important to you, and if you're willing to risk your privacy for it.

If you watch most of these videos, you'll hear a lot of these points are going to overlap.

I was considering discussing what you can do for your PC, but I'm a complete noob. I've been using Linux mint for a little bit now, and I avoid the terminal most of the time because I'm a little baby. Even still, I recommend getting away from windows if you're able. Especially if you have a windows 10 computer since Microsoft is dropping support this fall iirc. Linux mint is super beginner friendly and much lighter on your computer, so even better if your PC is older.

Some videos that might help you decide if Linux could be a good alternative for you.

Switching to Linux: A Beginner’s Guide

Why Linux is Better Than Windows 11

Linux Mint 22: Excellent Distro for Windows Users

Linux Mint for Gaming (2025) | Linux Gaming Setup (for Beginners) Pt. 1

This privacy stuff can go so deep and you'll feel kinda crazy lol. Once you learn about what people can do with this data, and read about how people's lives have been ruined by it getting into the wrong hands, it'll never leave your head. But it's important to start small. And start sooner rather than later.

Social media was something I considered discussing but I think it could be added to a later post since this is kinda long already. I hope this is somewhat helpful, I tend to ramble a lot of the time. If you're someone who is a bit more savvy than I, then please reply with any info that you think could be important. But remember that this post is for basic beginners who are just now learning about this stuff so keep it simple. Thanks for reading!

[junesend]

This may be a hot take but I'd like to speak my peace

I don't ship Frodo and Sam. I really just can't see it.

*Just to be clear, you can ship whoever you want within the realm of reason, I just want to share my confusion on the conclusion a lot of people have gotten to since I can't personally find that perspective*

I haven't read Lotr yet, but so much of this shipping context is derived from the films so I think I'm safe to say that they (the actors and writing) don't at all act with romantic subtext.

Throughout all of the films Frodo and Sam's relationship is very much that of close friends who bond differently during the journey due to dependency on each other and hardships.

Sam is the closest person to Frodo through this intense burden and psychological/moral turmoil. Sam carries our boy to the mountain because he's been with Frodo the entire journey from start to end, and has seen the toll it has taken on him. He carries Frodo with an air of camaraderie, loyalty, care, and emotional strength.

Anyhow, the fact that Sam and Frodo don't exist in a romantic context together is cinematically supported, and I can't find it at all in the way that the actors portrayed them or even in dialogue.

Personally (and you can metaphorically sue me for this if you want) i have one specific friendship of my own that I very much see in Frodo and Sam when I watch The Lord of the rings trilogy, and this is my lifelong friend and platonic soulmate. We tried to see if dating was for us since everyone said we should and it didn't feel right on either side (this was middle school, mind you, and now we're in college).

I see our friendship and our type of platonic love in Frodo and Sam because of the sheer amount of obvious love for one another present without any romantic influence between the two.

And, I also see the crowd calling for queer romance just because of two same gendered friends with a deep bond. To me it looks like people have blatantly ignored a prime example of positive and strong friendship between two men in favor of the ever present gay-ship fandom fodder. It also is concerning as I see women primarily vouching for this ship specifically.

Mind you, I am a queer woman, and I have a multitude of queer ships that I'm a fan of, including mlm (like merthur, which is my personal favorite). I just can't see what others are seeing when it comes down to Sam and Frodo's relationship type.

Frodo loves Sam, and Sam loves Frodo, this much isn't even up for discussion, but it's important to distinguish between the love you share with a friend and the love you feel for a romantic partner.

It's very clear that Sam loves Rosie, as we Begin the trilogy with Sam admiring Rosie from afar and Frodo encouraging him to be a little bit more brave. We end this series with Sam marrying Rosie and Frodo is happy for him. Frodo himself is depressed because of how the journey changed him and his perspective of the life he once had, which is unrelated to the fact that Sam found happiness and he couldn't after the shared journey.

Again this is just an opinion, and also kind of a vent post in a way. I really just don't understand how this conclusion is so popular. People are bound to get to a conclusion of shipping two characters that don't really mix in a fandom, I know that to be very true. It's just strange that this one is so popular, since it's got such little usable context to support the ship with.

I'd love to know what others think tbh