#I just think she’s hyper competent at everything

[woof-verine]

okay but emancipated teen laura who has her own apartment and her whole life together wayyyyy before logan and wade do

[sparky-is-spiders]

I want Jon and Sasha to both be the archivist and to drag each other down through a corruption arc.

[nostalgebraist]

Honestly I'm pretty tired of supporting nostalgebraist-autoresponder. Going to wind down the project some time before the end of this year.

Posting this mainly to get the idea out there, I guess.

This project has taken an immense amount of effort from me over the years, and still does, even when it's just in maintenance mode.

Today some mysterious system update (or something) made the model no longer fit on the GPU I normally use for it, despite all the same code and settings on my end.

This exact kind of thing happened once before this year, and I eventually figured it out, but I haven't figured this one out yet. This problem consumed several hours of what was meant to be a relaxing Sunday. Based on past experience, getting to the bottom of the issue would take many more hours.

My options in the short term are to

A. spend (even) more money per unit time, by renting a more powerful GPU to do the same damn thing I know the less powerful one can do (it was doing it this morning!), or

B. silently reduce the context window length by a large amount (and thus the "smartness" of the output, to some degree) to allow the model to fit on the old GPU.

Things like this happen all the time, behind the scenes.

I don't want to be doing this for another year, much less several years. I don't want to be doing it at all.

----

In 2019 and 2020, it was fun to make a GPT-2 autoresponder bot.

[EDIT: I've seen several people misread the previous line and infer that nostalgebraist-autoresponder is still using GPT-2. She isn't, and hasn't been for a long time. Her latest model is a finetuned LLaMA-13B.]

Hardly anyone else was doing anything like it. I wasn't the most qualified person in the world to do it, and I didn't do the best possible job, but who cares? I learned a lot, and the really competent tech bros of 2019 were off doing something else.

And it was fun to watch the bot "pretend to be me" while interacting (mostly) with my actual group of tumblr mutuals.

In 2023, everyone and their grandmother is making some kind of "gen AI" app. They are helped along by a dizzying array of tools, cranked out by hyper-competent tech bros with apparently infinite reserves of free time.

There are so many of these tools and demos. Every week it seems like there are a hundred more; it feels like every day I wake up and am expected to be familiar with a hundred more vaguely nostalgebraist-autoresponder-shaped things.

And every one of them is vastly better-engineered than my own hacky efforts. They build on each other, and reap the accelerating returns.

I've tended to do everything first, ahead of the curve, in my own way. This is what I like doing. Going out into unexplored wilderness, not really knowing what I'm doing, without any maps.

Later, hundreds of others with go to the same place. They'll make maps, and share them. They'll go there again and again, learning to make the expeditions systematically. They'll make an optimized industrial process of it. Meanwhile, I'll be locked in to my own cottage-industry mode of production.

Being the first to do something means you end up eventually being the worst.

----

I had a GPT chatbot in 2019, before GPT-3 existed. I don't think Huggingface Transformers existed, either. I used the primitive tools that were available at the time, and built on them in my own way. These days, it is almost trivial to do the things I did, much better, with standardized tools.

I had a denoising diffusion image generator in 2021, before DALLE-2 or Stable Diffusion or Huggingface Diffusers. I used the primitive tools that were available at the time, and built on them in my own way. These days, it is almost trivial to do the things I did, much better, with standardized tools.

Earlier this year, I was (probably) one the first people to finetune LLaMA. I manually strapped LoRA and 8-bit quantization onto the original codebase, figuring out everything the hard way. It was fun.

Just a few months later, and your grandmother is probably running LLaMA on her toaster as we speak. My homegrown methods look hopelessly antiquated. I think everyone's doing 4-bit quantization now?

(Are they? I can't keep track anymore -- the hyper-competent tech bros are too damn fast. A few months from now the thing will be probably be quantized to -1 bits, somehow. It'll be running in your phone's browser. And it'll be using RLHF, except no, it'll be using some successor to RLHF that everyone's hyping up at the time...)

"You have a GPT chatbot?" someone will ask me. "I assume you're using AutoLangGPTLayerPrompt?"

No, no, I'm not. I'm trying to debug obscure CUDA issues on a Sunday so my bot can carry on talking to a thousand strangers, every one of whom is asking it something like "PENIS PENIS PENIS."

Only I am capable of unplugging the blockage and giving the "PENIS PENIS PENIS" askers the responses they crave. ("Which is ... what, exactly?", one might justly wonder.) No one else would fully understand the nature of the bug. It is special to my own bizarre, antiquated, homegrown system.

I must have one of the longest-running GPT chatbots in existence, by now. Possibly the longest-running one?

I like doing new things. I like hacking through uncharted wilderness. The world of GPT chatbots has long since ceased to provide this kind of value to me.

I want to cede this ground to the LLaMA techbros and the prompt engineers. It is not my wilderness anymore.

I miss wilderness. Maybe I will find a new patch of it, in some new place, that no one cares about yet.

----

Even in 2023, there isn't really anything else out there quite like Frank. But there could be.

If you want to develop some sort of Frank-like thing, there has never been a better time than now. Everyone and their grandmother is doing it.

"But -- but how, exactly?"

Don't ask me. I don't know. This isn't my area anymore.

There has never been a better time to make a GPT chatbot -- for everyone except me, that is.

Ask the techbros, the prompt engineers, the grandmas running OpenChatGPT on their ironing boards. They are doing what I did, faster and easier and better, in their sleep. Ask them.

[greenconverses]

I’m big time upset about annabeth’s characterization in these new books. She looked for Percy for a year or something, did everything she did in HOO, she’s so amazing that she caught up on all of her school work (in fact she’s back on track to go to an ivy if she wants after everything that happened to her), she has all this extra time for Percy (having a boyfriend is time consuming enough without his quests), and then she’s so good at socializing with mortals and so popular…. Just to go to New Rome University (wtf is new rome university) and live in new rome. It makes me sad for her because I feel like RR won’t let her be bad at anything or awkward anymore and she just has to be this hyper competent angel gf all the time…

Oh also the way Percy is contrasted against annabeth in this new series makes me nauseous. I feel in some ways she only exists as this hyper-competent angel gf so that percy has something to "aspire to"… as though he hasn't proven himself a million times and deserves to constantly measure himself up against annabeth. It really just robs them both of their depth and motivation and mutual respect for each other that was so painstakingly built up in the original books.

I was telling @perseannabeth last night that while Annabeth had a lot of pagetime in Wrath, she felt like an utter non-presence other than the last couple of action scenes. And yes, it's because he keeps writing Percy as the only one with all the problems and Annabeth is the perfectest, smartest angel who is always right and can do no wrong, unlike stupid idiot Percy. Ha. Ha.

I do think a lot of the character issues in these books come from him avoiding or only introducing easily resolvable conflict with the main trio. Part of what makes Percy and Annabeth, well, Percy and Annabeth is that they have conflict. Conflict doesn't mean they have to be mean to each other or something terrible has to happen to them, but having them at odds with each other over something (anything) allows for interesting character development and growth.

Grover and Annabeth each get moments of "aw I kinda fucked up" in Wrath that are resolved with basically no effort because Percy shrugs it off or blames himself for their actions. I couldn't even begin to tell you how Annabeth's hubris played a part in the third act ghost fight, but apparently it did, so that's a thing he can brush off because teamwork is all that matters in the end, kids!

And the thing is, Rick is actually setting up a really good conflict with Percy constantly bottling up his rage and messy feelings, but he's too much of a coward to pull the trigger on it. Grover destroying the house and releasing the animals was the perfect spot to actually pursue that conflict and give everyone something to do other than mini quests. Percy could've yelled at Grover and Annabeth for failing to do what they had promised him, and then everyone could deal with the consequences (both of the initial mistake and the fallout of his anger) and make amends in a meaningful way. Instead, Percy has to grit his teeth and fucking apologize to Grover instead. (I'm gonna do a separate post about this because boy howdy do I have THOUGHTS on that.)

By making Annabeth the perfectest, smartest girlfriend ever for dumb dumb Percy, RR is basically removing the conflict that makes them interesting together. There's also the matter of conflict being one of Annabeth's main drivers. Conflict happens to Percy ("I didn't want to be a half-blood."); Annabeth looks for it. And now she's just along for the ride... as long as it doesn't mess up her studying schedule! Her job is school now. Don't get your hopes up.

Also, super controversial opinion ahead, but I think the show casting has contributed to how he's writing Annabeth now. He's deliberately avoided describing her in these books. It's all very vague impressions of her, to the point of Percy describing her having a "human face, human hair" when she turns back after the animal transfiguration in Wrath. No blonde hair. No gray eyes. It's weird.

(Note: I'm not saying the TV cast is wrong or weird, I'm saying it's fucking insane that this man is trying to retcon 15 books worth of character descriptions so his dumbass "actually we never SAID annabeth was white, you just perceived her as it!!!!" defense holds some water.)

[justsescape]

"Where are the pumps, anon?! It's been over five minutes and the milk is going to burst out any second!"

Asuka’s presence in the living room inspired – nay, forced – a bit of creative remodeling. The coffee table, the television, the game consoles, the decorative plants; just about everything was shunted into your bedroom until it resembled a packed storage unit. Ironically, her overdeveloped breasts could fill one up as well. Maybe two.

“Hmph, what a moron… always losing the most important things…”

While your hurried search through various kitchen cabinets continued, Asuka let her arms spread out across the back of the couch like she was lounging in the summer sun. Her boobs, evidently, were just as carefree. To say they resembled beanbag chairs was to describe their texture and heft, but it was to vastly undersell their sheer size. There was a reason you had to move everything out of that room: you could practically hide a car underneath just a single one of her massive, massive tits. In fact, if she were to stand up and lose her footing, she could fall into her own cleavage and get swallowed up entirely like she stumbled into quicksand.

“And don’t complain about not being able to find my nipples again,” Asuka scowled, pointing a finger in your direction. She was only visible from the shoulders up; the rest of her was obscured by her gigantic bust like she was underneath a down comforter. “Just pick up the ends of my chest with a shovel and they’re right there, rubbing up against the damn carpet. Which you should do something about, by the way. It’s so uncomfortable against my skin! Why haven’t you done something about it already?!”

Your eyebrow twitched. Need you remind her of why she was here in the first place? Sightings of her being lifted by crane, or with her garage-wide bust stuck in the sliding double-doors at the local grocery outlet – such incidents racked up bills like you were intending to compete with the national debt. Not to mention the attention it drew. “She’s so big she can’t walk without her wheelbarrows,” one would bystander would say to another. “Do you think she sleeps on them like they’re a mattress?” Any attempt at a public appearance was met with this kind of commentary. And she has had more than enough of the “hyper hourglass” comparisons since she started attending college. It was more like her body was a cyclone: dangerous for most, a force of nature that walloped against buckling support beams and swung like wrecking balls, but always attracting a few foolhardy stormchasers.

Perhaps she’d be nicer if she was reminded of the privilege of being housed in privacy. Finally returning with the pump's accessories, however, did not inspire this sort of kindness.

"It's about damn time," Asuka said, her venomous tongue whipping up often enough to start a cyclone of its own. "Don’t you care about the floor in your own apartment? One day you’re going to be too slow and I’m going to leak all over it!”

Circumnavigating her chest – which required you to slide against the wall like a stealthy video game character – you eventually found yourself at the opposite end of the room. Staring down at Asuka was like being on the opposite end of a long dining table in a fancy castle. Except, instead of such a table, only her quaking boobs spanned the gulf between the two of you.

"St-stop looking at me and get to work, dummkopf!" Asuka crossed her arms over herself as if such a maneuver could still hide her chest. "I can feel it starting down there! Hurry up and find my nipples!"

You dragged towels across the carpet like you were a beaver dragging piles of wood in front of a lake. A shovel wasn't needed; you just handled her breasts by hand, letting her gelatinous flesh bulge and squeeze between your fingers and droop over your forearms. Asuka's skin was peppered with reddened rashes and surfacing veins alike. Occasionally, you would graze against one of the more tender areas and hear her try to mute her own instinctive squeals.

But with how big she had become, the search didn't last long. Nipples had long since won the size competition against manhole covers. Her areolae spread across her pristine skin until they each spanned the width of your outstretched arms. And speaking of stretching, that’s exactly what you had to do to fasten the plastic cups on to her unruly tits. Her breasts didn’t jiggle so much as they rippled like cresting waves.

"Mmmmnnf... nngnnngggh..." Asuka's hands were clamped over her mouth. Eyes shut, shoulders tensed; surely beneath her titanic boobs, her legs were squirming wildly about. When you were burying your arms deep into her underbust in search of her nipples, you could feel how the movement of her legs moved her entire chest around like it was a slinky.

The pump was an electronic device that had forever found its place in the corner beside you. Besides the couch, it was the only furnishing that wasn't allowed to leave this room. The hoses that connected it with the two plastic cups on her boobs were as thick as those that came off the side of a fire engine.

All it took was a flick of a switch.

WHIIIIIIIIRRRRRRR...

The hoses sprang to life in an instant, thickening up as milk flowed through them like they were connected to a fire hydrant. Milk pummeled the insides of the plastic cups like water dousing a windshield in a car wash. The sounds were crushing, deafening – but none of them grabbed your attention quite as much as Asuka's own uncontrollable whimpering.

"Nnnnghh... mmNNNnnfgh... haaah... haaah...~"

To visit a historic landmark; to look up at a rare eclipse; to watch how Asuka's ferocious attitude turned on a dime as the milk started to flow. Her delicate fingers dropped from her mouth and gripped the leather upholstery of your couch like she was bracing for some sort of impact. Sweat dripped from the tips of her eyelashes. Even her legs kicked involuntarily underneath the weight of her boobs like she was being tested for reflexes. There was no question about it. Her boobs ruled her entire body.

"...o-okay... y-you did it... hhNNnnngh... just in time..." She may have been on the other side of the room across a horizon of cleavage, but Asuka's smile was unmistakable. It was so warm that it could bring the sun up during the dead of night. "...I guess as... MMMNF... a reward... y-you can p-put that cowbell collar around my neck..."

[cuephrase]

Of the DC comics you've read so far, what would be your top recommendations for people to check out/what have you enjoyed the most?

when i tell you i have been thinking about this all day- i have been thinking about this. all. day.

so disclaimer, as of writing this, i have only read 31 runs from start to finish and 18 arcs/events outside of those runs. on top of, everything i've read so far has been strictly robin-centric, so dick, jason, tim, and damian. (i have read all of steph's robin appearances lol, but i haven't gotten to reading material for her, like say batgirl 2009, yet.) i've also decided not to rec from any run i'm currently reading, so for example, you won't see any batman: gotham knights recs here. because i'm most well-read on the robins, i'm only going to rec for them.

also, i'm going to operate under the following assumption: you've got a basic knowledge of the robins. none of these are where i would necessarily recommend anyone start reading about the boys, but i do think they'd be pretty interesting if you're already somewhat familiar with them and don't want to commit to reading whole character backlogs. does that make sense? i hope that makes sense.

alright, let's do this!

DICK GRAYSON

oh god. this one is actually so hard because he has so much great stuff, but then also i have like a love/frustrate relationship with so much of it. like for instance, i really enjoyed The New Teen Titans, but also lowkey can't stand space adventures so whenever that went down i was like 😀👍. but okay. hmmmm.

i have two preboot recs, with explanations + caveats.

devin grayson's mob!dick arc, so Nightwing 1996 #99-100, 107-117. caveats: it doesn't really get to finish playing out/wraps up weird because of editorial changes/infinite crisis. but!! it's a super interesting look at how dick handles...failure. how he values himself in light of that failure.

tomasi's run, but specifically #147-153. (listen, i love the dick and tim moments in 'freefall' but the whole eternally pregnant lady thing was too weird.) this is classic, hyper-competent dick, okay? he's such a bad-ass. and an idiot- bro literally flops his severely injured ass over the bars of his glider and rides it UNCONSCIOUS back to the batcave. i can't with him. poor alfred. anyways, he deals with two-face, always a good time. and then at the end, as a treat, he cries because bruce is dead. so fun!! what was my caveat here? oh yeah, he has a girlfriend. i don't remember her name, she serves like...very little purpose, the whole relationship is very minor/background okay, but like it was so unnecessary. he can be single, dc, it's okay.

for post re-boot, just read tom taylor's run!! it's the best thing ever!! zero complaints!!

HA. yeah, just kidding. that run is very like/frustrate for me lol. oh man i'm struggling here. it's not all bad okay, i'm just really picky, and i haven't re-read any nightwing n52 and onwards since my first foray into comics (8 months ago) so my memories of these are the foggiest and i'm not sure how i feel about all of it in light of what i've read now. yk what, i'm just going to...not rec anything. sorry!!

JASON TODD

his comics either go so hard or they're absolute ass, why is there no in between. istg, i can't figure out why writers struggle with him so much?? well. i mean, i do have theories. but you didn't ask for those!

pre-boot:

detective comics #569-574. robin!jason in the hands of writers who like him is so much fun. which, don't get me wrong, i don't flat-out hate how starlin writes him, but i think you get a more well-rounded view of jason as robin when you also see him in 'tec. jason and bruce tangle with the joker, scarecrow, + mad hatter, and all of those adventures are...idk if they were intentional foreshadowing okay, but reading those and knowing where the story goes? oof. especialllllly #574. caveat: #572 is pretty light on jason, but he is great when he's on panel!

reboot:

probably a very basic answer but rhato rebirth (2016) #1-13, annual #1. i abhorred n52 rhato so i almost skipped rhato rebirth since it was still written by lobdell, but i'm really glad i didn't. i really enjoy jason's relationship with bizarro + artemis, but especially with bizarro because i think jason struggles a lot with feeling like a doomed creation, so yk, parallels. i want to say more but i know i'll get too wrapped up in discussing jason so i'm just going to stop myself.

i actually really enjoyed task force z, too. i think about tfz #8 so much, jason is such a manipulative little shit and i love it. he's so- i can't. i can't get into this rn, it deserves its own post(s).

overall for jay, i need people to read something other than utrh/lost days/b:ul 1-6. i love those, i do, but they aren't the only good pieces of jason content!!

TIM DRAKE

MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!! in my heart of hearts, i just want to rec his whole robin run lmao. dick was my intro, okay, he is why i decided to start reading comics, but tim, specifically his robin solo is why i'm still reading comics. hooked me fr. and young justice 1998, ugh love. but it has been a minute since i read these as well, so hmm. okay okay okay

pre-boot:

batman: prodigal. short version, tim is robin to dick's batman. super fun. there's a solid amount of dick and bruce angsting too, which, love. tim is honestly just thrilled that jpv is out of the batsuit and even happier to working with dick. very cute.

robin #46. listen. they're all superheroes okay, they all feel pressure to save people. but tim...losses get to him. the amount of times that he gets shoved to a breaking point and then...gets back up. keeps going. *screams*. anyways!! this is not tim getting back up, okay? this is him being shoved way, way down. it's so good.

teen titans 2003 #20. tim's dad has died. he shows up for his weekend at the tower anyways. he is not okay. that's it, that's the pitch. i did not like...mmm at least 80% of this run okay, but a few of the issues HIT and this was one imo.

reboot:

*deep sigh*. look. tim is not tim for like basically all of n52, although there are moments here and there were he feels like himself. i did not like his 2023 solo, the best parts of young justice 2019 imo are the character designs, (except for his drake costume, what was that omg), and i haven't read any rebirth batman/'tec yet. except for zdarsky's run. which. tim is good there! but yeah, not really a whole lot of material to work with + very limited reading experience atm.

DAMIAN WAYNE

god, i love this kid. nature vs. nurture fascinates me, and so much of his story digs into that on top of trying to figure out who he is apart from all of that. i will say, i'm not a huge talia fan and by that i mean, i have no idea who she is "supposed" to be, like i have no frame of reference for that atm, so if you are a huge talia fan these recs might not hit for you because from what i've observed from her fans she is not well portrayed a whole lot since becoming his mother? i think one of the things that is normal is dick absolutely disliking her though, which cracks me up. there's this older batman story (batman #322-335) where bruce works with talia and dick goes running to selina and i was so entertained. what were we talking about? oh! damian!

preboot:

batman and robin 2009 #10-12. damian is struggling, with a lot of things. the fact that bruce might be alive, what that means for him and dick, and his mother's puppeteering. there's this line that kills me: "can't you just love me for who i am? not what you want me to be?" and the thing that gets me, is the use of who vs. what. because he could have said, "not who you want me to be", but he doesn't

reboot:

batman: shadow war. this is post-alfred's death, and honestly, most damian stuff post city of bane is pretty juicy, but there's this specific moment in shadow war: alpha #1 that had me speechless. just like 😧 i love bruce, but that man has some of the most chronic foot-in-mouth disease. oh but fair warning, for whatever reason they don't draw dami's mask connecting?? it's so- it drives me nuts.

JUST FOR FUN

these are just two issues that i enjoy for the brother content!

nightwing 1996 #25. dick and tim's relationship makes me ILL. *ahem*. this issue is mostly just super cute and fun, (there's like 0.2 seconds of angst when tim asks dick if he ever thinks about jason 😭) and i adore it sm. fun fact, it's actually one of the first comics i ever bought!

batman 2016 #16. unfortunately, tim is not here for this, but duke is! jason and damian's interactions in the background of bruce's Very Serious Speech are excellent. bruce is so dramatic and his kids are so unserious.

what i've most enjoyed

i've enjoyed the majority of what i've read, even titles/events i wasn't particularly looking forward to but had on my tbr for whichever character. i'm going to break down most enjoyed into two catergories, arcs that i loved top to bottom and then the guilty pleasures. this is not an exhaustive list, just what immediately came to mind.

top to bottom

bruce wayne: murderer?/fugitive. shocker, ik. but it's just, it's just so frickin good. i've said before, and i'll say it again, gotham war could NEVER. this right here is peak batfamily drama. the tension? the mystery? the angst? i knew nothing going into this okay, and truth be told, when i started it i was like "oh joy. another event." because i was just trying to read the 1996 nightwing run, but i'd committed to reading in full all the events it crossed over with. but i was invested so quickly. and like, i loved how the narrative supported the possibility that bruce was the murderer, because like, you know there's no way, but the more that comes out the more damning it is, and so you're like really dying to know what actually happened and i feel like the reveal was satisfying.

batman: city of bane. i'm going to cautiously put this here, because there might have been something i didn't like but i cannot recall it for the life of me right now. something about me is i love when the heroes lose. infinity war, empire strikes back? love. and ik bruce takes back gotham, but they lose alfred, okay, they lost. i also didn't expect to like this arc, i decided to read it because i wanted to know how alfred died. and first of all, i was shocked, even though i knew it was coming because i expected it to like happen towards the end. but nope. just *snap*. and then later when bruce is back in the manor and is confronted with alfred's body and his good-bye message? oh. my. god. i was bawling. despite my penchant for sad narratives, i don't tend to cry that much, but this got to me so bad. like i had to pause because i couldn't see. amazing.

red robin. his cowl is so ugly, but i really do love the run. i see a lot of discourse about it and also a lot of...interesting fanfic takes, so i don't really talk about it a lot here because it feels like most people are kind of tired of hearing about this run, which fair. i really enjoyed it as a sequel to his solo robin run. tbh, i almost put this in the guilty pleasure catergory, because there are a couple things i don't totally love, but like if the others are 10/10, this is 9/10.

young justice 1998. i love this comic so, so much. i don't even know what to say, i get so overwhelmed with joy when i think about this comic. nothing has hit the same way with this group since either, which is a crime. i need a title with this team so badly.

guilty pleasures

these are all runs/events i know some/most? people cannot stand and i totally get why, and i have problems with them, so i'm probably never going to rec them in good conscience but also like i can't lie and say i don't like them. these are not recs, okay? okay.

robin war. is it a hot mess? yes. but there is not a whole lot of canon content out there with all the boys working together, okay? so much of that event had me banging my head into a wall, but for me, there were a handful of pearls in there. i mean honestly, if i listed out pros and cons the cons list would be way longer but those pros are very precious to me.

batman and robin: eternal. very similar reasoning overall to robin war. plus cass finally came back!! i missed her. i love robin!dick and batman content, and the kids working together. this is probably my least favorite guilty pleasure though, okay, it's on thin ice.

grayson. listen, i love janin's art sm. i'm pretty neutral about spy stuff, so like i don't engage with it a whole lot. meaning, although i've heard it's tropey af in regards to the genre, i'm not familiar enough with the genre to be like trying to dig my eyeballs out with blunt spoons at the cliche of it all. the constant sexualization of dick got old super fast, and her name may have been helena but she wasn't- my list of dislikes is lengthy. but idk, i had fun with it. and imo it does have some genuinely great moments, i love dick in the desert with the baby, the ache i felt when dick wanted to come home and couldn't get ahold of bruce, issue #12 stabs me in the heart- the dick and dami reunion? stoppppp. i feel like this run and the ric grayson era are dick's most out there lmao

so yeah!! thank you so much for this ask, i had sm fun answering it. if you have any recs for me, feel free to drop them :)

[living-dead-author]

Heel worship with Amanda, Jill, Tiffany, and Baby

This has been on my list of things to write for a hot minute and right now I want to write about Saw characters so this is what I'm doing. I'm trying to make it a daily thing where I put some effort into writing something, but I'll have to see how that goes.

18+ ahead, minors and ageless blogs dni, you will be blocked

Content includes: Heel worship, reader kissing characters high heels, praise, dom/sub relationships, sub reader, GN reader, collar and leash mentions, slight degradation, humiliation if you squint

Amanda Young

Amanda has to compete in a very male dominated field when it comes to her apprentice work. Hoffman is annoying as hell, John can be a bit demanding, and Lawrence isn't always the easiest to work with. Amanda needs an outlet, and you gave her the perfect one.

Amanda loves being the dominant when you two are in a scene together. She loves having control and being able to tell you what to do and you do it without question. Seeing you on your hands and knees for her, waiting on her hand and foot is better than sex in her opinion.

So when she's naturally a very dominant woman, and you're her submissive, the topic of heel worship comes up pretty quickly. She goes out and gets herself a nice pair just for this. She loves how she can give you a command and you'll do it.

She wants you to kiss her heels, you'll bend down on the ground and kiss her heels. She wants you to clean her heels, you'll clean her heels. She wants you to walk at her feet like a dog, you'll do it. Maybe she should even get you a collar and leash for being so obedient like dog.

She adores the scenes you two do together involving heel worship. Seeing you so eager to do somethings as degrading as kissing her heels gets her so horny. She loves her submissive to death.

Jill Tuck

After her marriage to John, Jill is a woman who doesn't take shit from anyone. It'd be a shame if she did considering she's trying to help people at her clinic and also stay on her toes with John's jigsaw work. Which is why she likes to have a partner who follows her lead.

I don't think Jill is very kinky in the bedroom, she prefers to have standard, vanilla sex, which there's nothing wrong with at all. But I feel like she'd also be open to exploring different things with you.

So when you suggested you try heel worship she was curious. At first she was confused as to why you'd want to 'degrade' yourself by kissing a pair of her high heels and well, just worshiping them in general.

But she gives it a try just for you and it turns out that she really likes it. It's a wonderful change of pace for her to have someone worshiping something as simple as the shoes she's wearing. If you choose to praise her and speak to her like she's a goddess among humans that just adds to her arousal.

I can see Jill using your heel worship as a sort of foreplay, getting her really in the mood, or if she doesn't have the energy for sex she can just pleasure herself while you literally and figuratively kiss the ground she walks on.

Tiffany Valentine

Tiffany is a very hyper feminine woman with that gothic flare to her. It's also pretty clear that she's into some kinky things in the bedroom. While she doesn't mind being dominant or submissive, I feel like she prefers to be the one with the control of the situation.

So when you first suggest the idea of heel worship to Tiffany she's very happy to try, very quickly. Now before you do any kind of scene together she's going to brief you on safe words, limits, what's allowed, everything important to know for a kink scene.

Tiffany has many pairs of heels to choose from when it gets to your scene, so why not worship them all? Tiffany would send you out of her trailer for a couple hours while she got ready, then you'd come back and she'll be sitting on the side of her bed, waiting for you to pick the first pair of heels you'll be worshiping on her.

Obsession is a big part of your relationship. Obsession and dedication are huge for Tiffany and seeing you down on your hands and knees, worshiping her like this, you're in for a whole lot of loving.

I feel like Tiffany would have this sort of back handed praise for you that she uses in a way to also prop up how much power she has over you. "You're so good at serving your superior honey" "I'm very pleased with how well you know where your place is"

Baby Firefly

I don't see baby being a submissive woman, she loves having control over whoever she's playing with and her partner is no exception. I can also see her being well versed in kink knowledge, just considering how the Firefly family is as a whole.

So when you bring up heel worship Baby's first reaction is to laugh and tease you about it. You really want to degrade yourself by kissing her high heels? Are you really that pathetic?

But that's not to say she doesn't like the idea. Oh no, she loves the idea. She wants to do it with you as soon as possible. Getting herself comfortable while you wait on the floor for her permission to start kissing her heels.

She could go either way with praise or degradation depending on your preference. She can have her entire attention on you while you worship her, or she can focus on the TV or filing her nails, whatever you want in your scene together.

Also because of the various outfits we see Baby in, I feel like she has a good amount of costumes for the two of you to share if you want to dress up for your scene, again, it's whatever you want.

[warriororb5]

Ok now that I’ve had some time to think about it;

Everything I liked and disliked about Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga:

Likes:

- That they tied in the one good thing from the comic, being Furiosa’s peach stone.

- Same goes for adding Scabrous from the game.

- Max’s cameo in his own franchise.

- Seeing the Green Place.

- Seeing Gastown.

- That even Joe of all people immediately clocked that the girl with Dementus was absolutely not willingly with him at all. (Takes one to know one I guess.)

- Seeing the Citadel not take Dementus seriously at all at first, basically the whole scene where they have his gang pick a random warboy to show him exactly how much he fucked up by picking a fight.

- All of the air fight stuff with the parasailing bikers.

- That Dementus and Octoboss both have their own version of Joe’s icon.

- That the warlords and Joe’s sons canonically hang out together at the Citadel.

- The shitty 3 wheeled car.

#1 - Praetorian Jack 🥰

Dislikes:

- That Peeps and Bullet Farmer weren’t at their towns at all the whole movie, especially when they tell Farmer to go get everything ready and he’s still at the Citadel afterwards. It makes it feel like the only reason they’re not at their towns is that they need them to survive to Fury Road and needed an easy reason Dementus didn’t kill them when he took over both times.

- How disappointing the Bullet Farm ended up looking.

- That we only get to see the Green Place for like 2 minutes (mostly only the outskirts of it) and other than establishing that Valkyrie and Furiosa were friends we get absolutely no other connections for Furiosa herself in her community.

- We got so little canon backstory for Furiosa other than the exact amount of days it took for her mother to die and they didn’t do anything with that, I personally looked over at my friend sitting next to me and held up two fingers on the morning of the second day thinking they were going to build suspense because the audience started the movie with that knowledge but no, they don’t make it clear how much time is passing.

- Furiosa mostly being hyper competent as a kid except for following her mom’s instructions to go the fuck home and walking straight into the enemy camp where she’s being killed.

- That Furiosa seems to have spent almost no time in the vault (possibly only one day?) before escaping and becoming part of the cog fodder then mechanic crew. That it doesn’t even seem like anyone bothered looking for her. That the only wives we see from this movie seem to be with Joe willingly, desperate to stay wives rather than be abandoned or demoted to milkers. Which I guess highlights their parallel to the warboys better, being brainwashed cogs in Joe’s machine. But the whole “everyone but Furiosa being cool with being in sexual slavery” gave me rancid vibes. It just seemed like a bizarre choice given how desperate the wives were to get away in Fury Road.

- Having basically everything terrible done to Furiosa in her backstory be done by Dementus rather than Joe. By the end of the movie it literally had me questioning why she even personally hated Joe as much as she did in Fury Road to even motivate the original “Remember Me”. Like don’t get me wrong, he’s still a warlord running a cult that dehumanizes everyone in it down to what they can do for him but why does Furiosa the titular protagonist hate him personally? He got her away from the man who originally stole her and killed her mother (for obviously selfish reasons by essentially bargaining for her like an object) and offered her what he and at least some of the other wives at this time considered a “”good”” future with him. After she (nearly instantly) escaped she became a Praetornian and then openly presented as a woman which Joe seems to not give a shit about at this point. And that’s kind of it. She shows up to tell Joe about Dementus’ trick which he believes and acts on. She steals his son’s car and gets Dementus herself which not only seems to have incited no punishment but he also lets her do that stupid tree thing to him. They gutted all of the implied horrors that Joe might have committed towards her to give the lesser villain from this movie more teeth and if taken as canon actively lessens Fury Road as a story.

- They didn’t even have her bond with any of the wives from this movie. . .

- Seriously guys, outside our protagonist there are basically no named women in this movie besides like her dead mom and that one biker who had the cool facial scaring, I’m not sure if she had a name in the movie so benefit of the doubt here. And I guess kid!Valkyrie for 20 seconds.

1# The stupid tree thing. Why. The actual fuck. Would Furiosa plant her peach stone in the Citadel before she knew she was going to stay there???? If she still planned to escape back home, and she did as we see 30 seconds after she gets the first peach from the tree, then why would she have planted that fucking tree in the first place with the expectation of abandoning it??? Also, just stupid. I go into a Mad Max movie with the intention of accepting everything. My willing suspension of disbelief for this franchise is so willing guys. But this is probably, hands down, one of the worst makes absolutely no sense endings in the franchise aside from Max “saving” those kids in the oasis with fresh water by leading them to the abandoned city for some reason in Thunderdome.

[c-is-for-circinate]

MCU Rewatch #2: IRON MAN 2 (2010)

General impressions: Kind of a hot mess but fun though?

This movie did not suck and I did not hate watching it. Still, kind of a mess in places for reasons that weren't entirely its fault.

I think maybe the single biggest thing that fucked this film over is the difficulty of making a movie about the evils of the military-industrial complex while taking money from the US military. It worked in the first Iron Man, because Tony started that movie as such a complete unwitting villain of an international arms dealer that moving away from that at all was clear heroic improvement. Here, we've already achieved that -- so how do we continue on the path without undercutting ourself?

The main question this movie asks is whether I'd prefer this hyper-capable superweapon suit be in the possession of the US Military at large, or one libertarian billionaire with the self-preservation and thrill-seeking tendencies of a Kennedy. Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a vehement NO PLEASE, and that's not really an option. So we're left with questions that get brought up (who can we trust with this technology, and why?), and no good answers, because the movie got them big US Armed Forces millions and therefore can't just say 'nobody'.

The Hero: Well, Tony Stark remains the single best thing about this film, so there's that at least.

There's a great line of continuity here with the first movie. We've already seen that Tony is over-the-top, prone to too far and too fast and too much. In the original movie, we get to see that channeled towards trying to improve the world -- but now that the goal isn't as clear as "stop these specific guys from destroying this one specific town" or "don't die", there's really nowhere to point it. Add on the fact that he's dying, and Tony is a powderkeg of disastrous impulses and flashy self-destruction. It makes sense. It's hard to watch sometimes, but it's also fun to watch, in a cool movie explosions sort of way, and it manages to resolve messily enough to feel earned but also hopeful. RDJ does a great job with Tony's over-the-top disaster self, but also his quieter moments, especially watching back video of his dad. It's good acting for a film with this many explosions.

The Villain: Painfully forgettable, unfortunately.

Look, it's not like 'son of a guy who worked with Howard Stark, working to ensure his father's legacy' doesn't have potential here. There's room for Tony to see himself in both Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer. It's just never actually realized. We don't get to delve into comparing the complexities of fathers' legacies, and neither of these two people really have anything to do with the true conflict of this movie, IE Tony vs himself.

Tony himself is sort of the other villain of this movie, with his self-sabotage and his desperation. The emotional conflict here has nothing to do with the actual bad guys and everything to do with him. Unfortunately, in a superhero movie, while IM2 gets points for having that level of internal conflict it really is important for the external conflict to reflect those themes back, which it Does Not.

The Ensemble: Unfortunately underused, except for Rhodey.

Sadly, Pepper got shafted here. Most of her attempts to help went weird (WHY are you charging onto the racetrack like that, what is even happening), and there was a little more shrieking and running than I'd hope/expect from the lady who found and then accompanied the SHIELD guys so skillfully in IM1. For someone who's been promoted to Fortune 500 CEO, you'd think she'd be more...active? competent? Sigh. Still, Pepper's always fun.

Natasha felt weird after a decade of knowing her through other things. Scarlett Johanssen was about 25 when this was filmed and she looks like a baby. I don't know how to square that with Natalia Romanova, Red Room veteran and SHIELD convert who changed sides long enough ago that she's respected and trusted in the organization by now.

Rhodey though...it's interesting. I think it's very clear that Rhodey loves Tony, and is doing his best to be the best friend he can to him. I just don't think that Rhodey, fundamentally, is a very good friend for him. He's a colonel who works in weapons development. He is always, always, no matter what, going to have those priorities and exigencies pulling on him. He values what the US Military stands for. And that's a complicated and in many ways deeply unfortunate perspective for Tony to be dealing with, in these circumstances.

The Plot: Oh no, Iron Man 2. Oh no.

Look I'm not saying it doesn't, for the most part, work. There's just a lot of Applied Phlebotinum in this one. Tony synthesized a new element in his basement based on a secret his dad built into a model city in the 1950s? Like, just sit with that one for two seconds and then tell me hey what the fuck. (I do not think these filmmakers know how the periodic table works.)

Like, the actual events stacked up more or less ok, but because the villains were boring and detached from the actual emotional core of the movie, they just kind of...hung there. It didn't hold together well, unfortunately, although I am sure there's worse to come.

The Franchise: Well, this didn't kill the MCU, so there's that.

I need to write that post about the promises made by IM1, but the two biggest things that this movie attempts to follow up on are the consequences of a world with open superhero identities, and the problems with the military-industrial complex. I already talked about how the failed attempt to deal with that second theme is the root of a lot of this movie's issues, but I think the open superhero identities thing is one of the movie's big strengths.

We get to see a lot of fallout from Tony coming out as Iron Man! There's no superhero secret identity hunt; there are Congressional committees, and there's federal agents setting spies and putting him on house arrest, and there are real-world copycats. Rather than these things all being Tony's Problem Alone, these impacts feel very tied into the entire world. There's no weird isolation of Superhero Problems. Venko is Tony's problem because he's trying to kill Tony specifically, and using tech only Tony can understand to do it. I think this was well done! (I'm glad something was.)

VERDICT: A Flawed-But-Fun 5/10

I don't think this counts as an objectively good movie, but I think it was a fine popcorn flick. (And I know it gets worse. Of course it does.) 50% seems just about right.

[sparky-is-spiders]

You know what? I’ve decided I actually really like Melanie Magnus Archives when I’m thinking about her canon wretched personality and not the fandom’s girlbossification of her. She’s an interesting character and a fucked up person.

[crehador]

translation issues aside, the story of reverse 1999 is really surprisingly good for a gacha. i'm vibing with the characters and setting, and the STRUCTURE of the currently released chapters is just downright excellent

major spoilers for chapters 1 through 4 below the cut

introducing us to the world through regulus was such a good call for chapter one, it's all new to her just like it's all new to the player. we get a chance to learn through her eyes

another reason this works so well imo is it paints vertin, in regulus's eyes, as this hyper-competent character with her own agenda and agency (only to reveal bit by bit that she's in a much more difficult position than it may seem at first, and in so many ways is still just a hurt kid trying to right the wrongs she's seen in this world, desperate not to lose more people)

then we move on to chapter 2, where we see schneider's tragedy unfold and meet some major players like arcana. schneider's story even on its own is pretty damn good, but the way vertin acts and reacts in chapter 2 is full of perfect little hints to what kind of past trauma might have shaped her

THEN CHAPTER 3. THE TRAUMA. i loved schneider's story, but i think this is where we really dive into the meat of the overarching plot. and it is such a perfect dive

like after the events of chapter 2, it does more or less make sense that vertin is being treated for Something. right away chapter 3 gives off a bit of a foreboding feeling because vertin's in the hands of the foundation now, which we as a player knows she doesn't trust, and it's deliberately made ambiguous what she's being treated for and exactly when she'll be released

but at this point, to me at least, it still seemed... possible that she really was just being treated for damage from chapter 2

THEN THE HORRORS UNFOLD vertin's past is shown to us throughout this chapter, and bit by bit it dawns that the foundation is capable of much more heinous acts than we already expected. when we meet the ring and isabella, a feeling of dread sets in right away. because they're clearly important to vertin, but where are they in the present? it's not hard to figure out she lost them (which adds so much dimension to her reactions to everything with schneider)

when the escape plan is coming together, with those side looks at what constantine is scheming, the inevitable dread gets heavier and heavier. like even knowing exactly what would happen, that the kids would be deliberately funneled into the storm just so vertin would see them die and feel responsible because it was her plan that led them there... seeing it actually happen was still a major gut punch, very effective

vertin's naivete in this past is such a haunting thing to see as well, there are moments where the text even shines a light on "will they realize this is going TOO smoothly for them?" and no! no they do not!! because they are 12-year-old kids who haven't lost all hope in the world!!!

seeing these grand scenes unfold with chess (and later go) on the screen was visually very cool as well, imo. might feel a bit gimmicky but it's a gimmick i enjoyed

anyway so then we get to chapter 4, and by then the sense of dread surrounding the foundation has fully set in. so it's almost unsurprising (yet still HORRIFYING) when you realize holy shit the foundation is keeping vertin hostage in a medically induced coma!! treatment for trauma my ass!!!

i feel like chapter 4 was the perfect place to end this arc as well, it was like an extended prologue. a lot of the tension/excitement for me came from the realization that vertin doesn't yet have a place to belong, it's not like "manus bad, foundation good" and that's that

looking at it through the lense of arknights, it would be like if doctor didn't have rhodes island at the start. all these factions around vertin, with their own agendas, and she doesn't have her own "home" yet

we get there, at the end of chapter 4. but of course it's not perfect, the terms of her operating her own team are very conditional, and there are loads of unanswered questions for the future

but it's a nice little set-up for future events, for vertin building this team (family) of arcanists who have some measure of freedom. the tension is still there, the foundation is still scheming, and some new mysterious organization is getting ready to enter the chat...?

all in all just, imo, an excellently structured story so far. it's a shame the translation detracts so much from it, i do think some powerful moments suffered from that. but the actual story is really quite strong, and vertin and her circle are all quite captivating to me so far

[sarahlizziewrites]

Friday Kiss Tag

Posting this for the second time, because Tumblr deleted my last one! I was tagged by @sarandipitywrites here with their steamy kiss scene <3 <3

Here's an extra long snippet from The Ruby of Ranpur, because we all need extra romance in our lives right now, I think. This is a flashback to when the crime-fighting husbands first became crime-fighting boyfriends.

Since the night of the fireworks, Raj had been a guest at my home as often as we thought we could get away with. Intimacy like this - even if nothing had actually happened; nothing condemnable, at any rate, not yet - was always a risk, but we had both figured out that being apart was an option that hadn’t suited either of us. 

And even if nothing had happened, yet… the taut, struck-crystal tension between us put everything into sharper focus when he was around: someday, it would break. Since the night on the mountainside when I realised I loved him, I had only grown more magnetised to his presence, like a compass, oriented north at all times. 

“Ah,” he said, coming in and closing the door behind him. “I should have told you it’s Maha Shivaratri - she’s probably at home, praying with her family.”

“Damn,” I said. “Well, there’s nothing to eat. We could go out, try and find a restaurant in the city that will seat us–”

“Nonsense,” he said, turning down the corridor that led to the kitchen. “I can cook.”

In moments, Raj had whipped up a storm in the kitchen, placing the mutton joint in a shallow iron pot and adorning it with spices and a good glug of water. For each spice he placed in the pot, he crushed it in his hands and held out his palms for me to smell it, explaining the flavour profile and the role each one played in the cooking.

Little of it stuck, to my regret, because I was too distracted by the competent way he moved around the kitchen, and the enthusiasm in his smile. I was growing dizzy with the smells and the warmth of the hearth and his attention, and I hadn’t even had a drop of alcohol to drink. I didn’t want any.

“Try this,” he said, proferring a spoon. Somehow, both his bright kurta and my white shirt had been spared splashes of the oily, tomato-rich curry, and now, I leaned forward to carefully blow on the taste he offered me. This close, I was hyper-aware of how wonderful it felt to have the heat of his body close to mine, how I had to tilt my chin up to see his smile properly, and how becoming his thick, dark eyelashes looked against his cheeks.

Almost as soon as I closed my lips around the spoon and tasted the thick, creamy sauce, I’m ashamed to admit that I let out a noise somewhere between indelicate and sinful. My eyes slid closed in bliss. The flavours that exploded over my tongue were nothing short of exquisite: there was heat, and spice, and richness, but then, there was a surprisingly delicate herbal-citrus aftertaste that made my mouth water for more. 

I was so focussed on the pure sensation of the flavour that I hardly noticed when Raj slipped the spoon away and replaced it with his lips.

My mouth parted in surprise, but it was as though he was chasing up the rich heat of the curry with his kiss, soft and slow. I quickly determined that the taste of him was no less tempting. Something warm - something other than the curry - settled below my breastbone, tingling against my heart. 

He pulled away, and a breath of air fell between us. His hand had come to rest against my shoulder, fingers just brushing the short hair at the back of my neck. The expression on his face was somewhat tentative, almost worried.

“Say something,” he said, after a few long moments of silence. “Say anything. Tell me if this isn’t welcome. Curse at me and kick me out. I’ll leave forever, if you’d like me to.”

“God, don’t leave,” I whispered, regaining my wits and pulling myself closer to him. Those fingers tightened in my hair. “It’s only… I’m trying hard not to rip your clothes off and have you right here by the stove.”

He laughed, relieved and light, then tugged me close to kiss again, more insistent this time. In one movement, he pressed me against the brick wall surrounding the hearth, and dropped his spoon, letting it clatter against the tiled floor. I barely noticed: every inch he was touching me was alight with need, that crystal having shattered and spilled me like a spirit. I felt I could catch fire. 

“The curry,” he murmured between kisses. 

“Curry later,” I replied, digging my fingers into his kurta and trying to pull him closer, closer. He sunk his teeth into my bottom lip, and I groaned. “Kiss me now.”

I'm going to tag @queen-tashie, @theburnedoutnerd, @kaylinalexanderbooks and @late-to-the-fandom

TDDUP taglist (+/-): @vacantgodling, @imsoveryveryconfusedatlife @mrbexwrites, @glbettwrites, @writingrosesonneptune (+/-)

gorgeous dividers from @cafekitsune

[linddzz]

Dreamling Nonsense Masterpost

Looking for a fic? For a shit post? For a long winded au thread? Playlists? Got it here. Keeping it Dreamling for now until I really have the time to scour through my various fandom posts to collect the Big Hits.

Audacity in Human Form: E. main WIP. A post season 1 "let's see these two figure their shit out" exploration that's best described as two character studies stacked inside of a fanfic shaped coat. My main tagline for it is "it isn't unrequited, Dream just needs therapy." The fic exploring how the two weirdos I have in my head got together.

Fics/Tumblr Ficlets

"Audacity in Human Form" Series

Not exactly a structured chronological series. I have a pretty set version of my Dream and Hob in the canon!universe, so all the fics I write of them are just the same two dolls I'm bumping together in the same sandbox. They can be read in any order or separately, but there are characterization threads and things mentioned that tie them all together. I like to think that put together they can give fun context or more depth to each other :)

I'm less into Big Plots and more into just having fun bumping these dolls together and playing with how they interact!

It's a WIP and I write slow, as my job takes a lot of mental bandwidth.

(Other fics in the same series can be read even while the first isn't done! They don't really spoil much except for the fact that they do end up together. But of course they are.)

In Which Hob, a Shitty Wizard, Meets a Supposed Demon: Gen. Drabble ficlet on Tumblr as I start exploring my Shit-wizard Hob AU. More of a rough draft concept fic

Obviously: E. smut prompt fill one-shot. PWP. Dream is a needy eldritch pissbaby and also violently romantic. Hob scruffs him for some much needed gentle domming.

This Isn't the Trope: Teen. Lots of cussing. Johanna is agressively investigating an immortal man, Hob is looking forward to being dramatically rescued by his hot supernatural boyfriend. No one but Morpheus has a good time.

OTHER FICS/DRABBLES

Audacity in Human Form related posts (esp the ones that broke containment)

"Oysters have nightmares like this"

"Jokes on you, you're into that shit"

Hob: "no. Shut up. I'm talking now."

Characterization Notes aka: I'm gonna start bullying Morpheus

Other mutterings about writing or snippets are under the tags "#my fic" and "#audacity in human form"

AU Cooking:

I'm honestly better at coming up with every single detail for an AU without actually writing the fic, but I like playing in the sandbox and other people seem to have fun with them too :)

Human!AU. There are kinda two versions of this that I'm starting to meld together.

Red Flags AU post: Hob is hired to be the party ruining messy boyfriend, but cannot begin to compete with the insanity that is the Endless family and the Hot Mess Express Morpheus, who hired him. They fall in love instantly. "Why would I fix him??? He's perfect."

Red Flags AU 2: slight deviation from the OG where everything is the same, except Morpheus' messy friend Johanna accidentally introduces them and instantly regrets it. She did not anticipate Hob reacting to Morpheus' red flags like a charging bull.

Assorted Human!Morpheus facts

Shit-wizard Hob AU: where Hob is still immortal, except Death is his Endless buddy. He first meets Morpheus when trying to take up occultism at Fawney Rig (he's bad at it but is gonna stick around now. For reasons.)

Meta-ish Shitposting:

Hob meets Thessaly. Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" starts playing ominously in the distance when she doesn't appreciate how much of a needy clingy freak Morpheus is.

#1

#2

#3

Spotify Playlists:

I process Blorbo feelings with hyper specific playlists. Putting Dreamling and other fandom ones here bc I guess it's about time I share more of them

Audacity in Human Form PL: 1h33m fic specific. Set up to alternate Dream/Hob POV. Blatant "2012 fandom brain" indulgence in here.

Hot Mess Endless Express: 1hr45m the general Dream playlist. Not ship specific, all romantic songs are how I just see him in any relationship. Mostly serious, except when it isn't but especially when it isnt

The Devil of Fawney Rig: the playlist I imagine goes in Dreams head when he's stuck in a fishbowl and horny for revenge. Made with the shit-wizard Hob AU in mind

Newton Goes Kaiju All Over Everybody's Ass: 1hr it really is too bad that there was never a second Pacific Rim movie but wow isn't Dark!Geiszler a great concept? 🙃

EDDIE I MADE A PLAYLIST EDDIE: 44m Venom made a playlist for Eddie, isn't that nice?

Mountain Son: 1h30m Bagginshield Thorin feelings ahoy. Made with Mahrâna in mind.

The Bacchae: 1h. The soundtrack for the dream production of the Bacchae in my head. Meant to follow the progression of the play

The Huntress and the Maenad: 1h30m insane sapphic bitch in the woods solidarity

Mysteries: 7+hours!!!!!! The ongoing playlist for joining the cult of Dionysus and eating a billionaire in the woods

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

Feral Hunter

I wrote most of this in a reblog but thought it deserved its own post as my unwieldy response took on a life of its own, which they have a tendency to do. I’ve added more to it as well so there’s some new extra ramblings on one of my favourite ideas/headcanons/theories for season 3 of The Bad Batch. 

Give me Feral Hunter. My kingdom for Feral Hunter. Completely unhinged, vengeance fueled, feral Hunter. He can go on his Joel Miller/The Mandalorian/John Wick/Liam Neeson in Taken/The Punisher arc, as a little treat.

I've been trying to figure out why I love this idea so much. I think it's because we never really see any of the Batch actually, properly unleash. Sure, they're unconventional and a bit bonkers in their approach but they're still a very well-oiled machine. When they're on a mission, they all know exactly what they're doing, what their roles are, and where their squad mates are. Even when they improvise on the fly, they all adapt fairly easily and smoothly. Everything is still all rather professional, smooth, and efficient. Like they're all operating on muscle memory, which they basically are given how many countless times I'm sure they've trained and done missions together.

Even when the Batch is fighting their way through Kamino, they still operate with that same smooth, efficient, hyper competent professionalism. Despite their unorthodox approach, there's still this sense that they're contained. Never throwing off the shackles and being completely unrestrained. The full unbridled force of their abilities and skills simmering just below the surface, waiting to be given free rein and just obliterate everything.

There's a little hint of this in the opening scene of episode 2x14 'Tipping Point', where the ARC Trooper in Echo comes out to play. But oh, how I would love to see more. From all of them, but especially Hunter. 

Look at his face. Look at that expression and all those emotions from Sergeant Stoic himself, who is usually fairly reserved and contained. Dorito Bod Bandana Space Dad on the warpath to get his ad'ika back, cutting a swathe through the Imperials, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, and taking out anything and everything that even thinks about getting in his way. Hunter goes full Space Rambo mode, ruthlessly taking out Stormtroopers, blood dripping off his vibroblade, eyes wide and deranged, as he turns into a complete animal. His half tattooed skull now completed by the blood of his enemies covering the other side of his face. For extra angst, when he finds Omega, she doesn’t recognise him. The figure standing in the smoking remains of the door to her cell looks like Hunter. Is wearing Hunter’s armour. Is holding Hunter’s vibroknife. But that’s not Hunter. That’s not her buir. Not anymore. And she’s afraid of him. We get a little hint of this at the very end of season 2 and oh ho ho, I am so ready for more. I am so ready for Hunter’s descent into vengeance, revenge and rage. Not just Hunter either, I’d love to see the rest of the Batch unleash as well.

Can you just imagine Wrecker properly unleashing? All of that strength and power finally freed as he rips limbs off Stormtroopers, snapping necks and crushing skulls with his bare hands. The crumpled, pulverised bodies of his enemies discarded behind him as he rages down corridor after corridor of whatever Imperial base they’ve infiltrated. We got a hint of how damaging Wrecker can be when his chip activated but that was chip controlled. This would just be pure Wrecker. 

We see a little more of this in Crosshair's actions and you could also argue that this is chip controlled. Or if his chip has actually been removed, then Crosshair’s actions are definitely still clouded by his Imperial mindset and blind delusion that the Empire is right. Right up until it all goes horribly wrong on Barton-4 and he finally wakes up to the reality of his nightmare. Either way, that unrestrained part of him is still there. The amount of rage and anger that must be building up and festering inside Crosshair is eventually going to explode. When he snaps like he did at the end of 'The Outpost' then there isn’t going to be an Imperial left without a blaster bolt between their eyes. When Hemlock ends up dying (he better), my bet is on Crosshair taking him out and getting revenge. And it won't be pretty. He'd shoot him execution style at the very least. 

I'd love to see Tech (shut up he's alive) completely lose it and finally snap off every ounce of his carefully crafted control. I've written about this before but Tech's combat is exceptionally efficient and precise. He only ever uses the minimum number of shots or moves to take out an enemy because he doesn't need to expend anything beyond what is necessary. Complete economy of form. His combat style is very contained, almost like a mirror of his personality and character. Can you just imagine him snarling and growling like a beast, teeth bared, eyes dark, face distorted in rage, as he slams a Stormtrooper's head into a control panel desk with enough force to crack their helmet and shatter their visor. 

I mentioned above that we've seen a tiny bit of this slightly unhinged quality from Echo. There's another little hint of it when they're all in that training simulation on Kamino.

This gifset from @starqueensthings shows this perfectly, especially the above gif. I love the line they wrote at the top of their post as well, which I'm going to quote in part here: "I’d like to introduce my scomp arm TO YOUR JUGULAR WIRE." This perfectly encapsulates the unhinged quality lurking in Echo. He just leaps onto the back of what looks like the Kaminoan version of a B2 super battle droid and then proceeds to flail and stab madly before plunging his scomp arm into the battle droid's chest and ripping out the droid version of its jugular. Absolutely unhinged behaviour. The absolute madlad.

Now picture Echo finally snapping and doing this to a bunch of Imperials and just absolutely annihilating them. There is so much in him that is screaming to be let out. The general batshittery that comes with being an ARC Trooper. The insanity and chaos of coming from the 501st and Torrent Company. The unconventional, yeet-the-reg-manual-out-the-airlock, bonkers existence of The Bad Batch. Plus all that trauma, fury and rage of what has happened to him, what was done to him, and everything that he’s seen, experienced, endured, suffered, and survived. When the last few frayed threads holding Echo back finally snap he is going to go completely postal.

Is it healthy? No. Is it "good"? Probably not. But my god, would I love to see it.

The Clone Wars has a history of tackling and portraying difficult, multilayered and nuanced topics and we've seen that in The Bad Batch as well. More recent Star Wars series, such as Andor and The Mandalorian, have also had a real interest in showing the murky areas that exist between the good (Republic) and the bad (Imperial). There's been a particular focus on showing that there's a lot more grey than we think, rather than the pure dichotomy between cliched black and white. That sometimes there is no right or wrong decision. That sometimes everything is awful and everyone is stuck in a shitty situation from which there is no way to escape unscathed. In order to make it out alive, lines are going to be crossed. The battle of good vs evil takes on a new edge and the line between good and bad gets very murky.

That quote about how “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” comes to mind. In this instance, the Batch are still fighting tooth and nail for each other but their sacrifices and actions are starting to take them to much darker places. It’s a classic example of good people being driven to do bad, awful, terrible things when those they love are in danger and they will do whatever it takes to save them.  

The whole 'deeply flawed parental figure seeking vengeance' is a popular trope at the moment as well so Feral Hunter would make sense narratively for a number of reasons.

Will we actually get it? Probably not. And even if we do, it'll probably still be a watered-down kid friendly version.

But oh, just imagine if we did.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

I was just thinking about Steven Universe, and I was joking about how in Beach City the dads are all mostly used for comedy (except for Greg bc he's a major character, but even he's occasionally used for jokes), meanwhile the mothers could kill a man, when I realised about how well Steven Universe, even with the background characters, deconstruct the 'bumbling dad/hypercompetent mother' tropes.

It's pretty common in TV shows to have absolutely terrible dad characters, who can range from mildly incompetent to straight-up abusive, and it's extremely unusual to see a show where the father is the more competent parent than the mother. Steven Universe, however, shakes up the normal dynamic. At first Greg is everything you'd expect from your bumbling sitcom dad: he looks like a bit of a slob, he's a hoarder, he's far less attractive than Rose, the Gems don't think very highly of him, and he works a rather unimpressive career, having failed to achieve his dreams. But Greg goes on to prove himself not only as a competent parent to Steven, but probably the most competent of any of Steven's parental figures (and we all know if Rose had been able to live, she would hardly have been a wonderful parent either). This is not, however, to say that Greg is perfect--far from it, he has plenty of faults, but no more so than any other character. The point is: Greg may have the outward trappings of a bumbling dad, but subverts the trope instead, by being a responsible, caring and genuinely good parent.

The show also deconstructs the 'bumbling dad's' sister trope--the badass mama bear who is incredibly competent at running their family, and is involved with their children's lives. The mothers we see around Beach City--Barb Miller, Priyanka Maheswaran and Vidalia (as well as the Crystal Gems, who are Steven's maternal figures) all pretty much fit this trope, although certain of them fulfil certain parts of the description better than others. However, the show does display that none of them are perfect parents. Barb would clearly die and/or kill for Sadie and would love to be a part of her daughter's life, but there's multiple episodes dedicated to showing how stifled Sadie feels by her mother's enthusiasm and desire to be involved in her life. Dr. Maheswaran is incredibly competent but is also hyper-controlling of Connie, leading to a breakdown in their relationship. Vidalia is clearly a cool mum who supports all her children's ambitions--which would be great, if one of her children wasn't Onion, who would probably benefit more from discipline, rather than just affirmation of his behaviour--which ranges from minor crime to full-scale mayhem. And this isn't even starting on discussing the Gems and their failures when it comes to their parenting.

I just think it's really intriguing how Steven Universe plays with and subverts the classic tropes when it comes to parents and the roles and expectations of each parent. It's another example of why the show is so good at deconstructing classic character archetypes and tropes.

[danmeireader]

you know what? im feeling very appreciative of yaoi today, actually.

not to be corny, but BL was literally formative for me, as in, not only was it the only source of queer fiction available to me for a long while (before song of achilles or ari and dante or w/e, and even after, because it was translated for /free/ by these "straight" "fetishizing" "girls" lol) but also, it's how i honest to god made my first gay friend. she was showing me her anime sketches on a school trip, and out of nowhere asked me "do you like yaoi?" (idk where you are now zanne but hope you're doing well 🙏🏽)

so, i guess that's why i'm a bit over-sensitive when people came into BL FANDOMS, thinking they're """""above""""" yaoi. like, i know the genre does have its issues, and i know people should write what they like. but EVERY DAY against my will i keep getting exposed to takes and they're honestly the reason i stopped reading non-canon dynamics for mxtx (even though i used to enjoy everything!!! rip 😭)

takes like (and i quote) "they're NORMAL human beings so of course they switch" "they both top and bottom that's love baby" "mxtx is so heteronormative why did she have to call wwx a wife :/" "the more you ask me to tag dynamics the harder lwj is going to bottom"

and just. to me it reads as absolute dripping condescension.

out of all the helpless and meek yaoi bottoms to take issue with they decide to pick on MXTX??? mxtx whose FIRST BOOK is an artful take down of genre conventions? mxtx who actually subverted the tropes herself by writing hyper-competent and badass MCs who are also bottoms, and GNC MLs who are tops? but no wwx and xl are powerful so they /have/ to top, and lbh experiences emotions so of course he's a bottom. wtf

to me this is similar to saying: "all yaoi authors are shit at writing women no exceptions, so yzy is obviously 100% a product of evil step-mother syndrome and not at all a well-written villain, so if you don't like reading good yzy then you're a misogynist."