#I literally cannot think about anything else

[dramadramallama]

Final thoughts and trying to organize my feelings around Heesu In Class 2.

It truly felt like a "regular," quality kdrama, except for one thing. One very important thing: two of the main characters are gay, and endgame. Like, I don't think we realize how unthinkable a (mainstream) Korean show like this was, just two or three years ago.

It might not be 100% faithful to the source material but it is 100% faithful to the story it sets out to tell. It had a clear direction from the start, hit the mark several times, and never lost sight of that finish line: @lurkingshan and @twig-tea put it very succinctly and pertinently when they said the drama had, respectively, "a legible narrative" and was "carefully calibrated."

On top of that, it has a great re-watch value with a lot of blink and you'll-miss-it details, and beautiful direction. A lot of care went into how the scenes are set up and shot and it shows.

I completely understand that some people might prefer a drama with a different, more "targeted" focus (i.e literally everything converging towards Hee-su narratively) but that doesn't mean anything else is automatically wrong/bad. I feel like you can find that elsewhere so easily; it's just not that kind of story. I also think it's such a restrictive way of looking at things... Gay romance does not need to be locked in the confines of your average BL. I don't want to watch the same arbitrary BL tropes being applied like it's the law. How boring. We finally have a high budget, high quality Korean drama with—I cannot stress this enough—A GAY TITLE CHARACTER that gets the same treatment a straight coming of age romance kdrama would... and I, for one, am delighted in, and celebrate the creative liberties they took. It was a risk, but it paid off.

It only feels like other characters take "too much space/time" away from Seung-won and Hee-su than they actually do because 1. the show has a longer runtime, and more episodes and 2. the show does not follow the "classic" boys love formula. Hee-su does not exist in a bubble where everything that happens happens only TO HIM. However what happens around him definitely serves to highlight his struggles, his fears, or his emotions in general. I'd go even further and say that not everything happening in relation to Hee-su has to be about Seung-won... Characters can exist outside of their love interests. It's one of the reasons the drama felt so well-rounded to me.

Hee-su is the hero of this drama, but the show does a wonderful job of reminding us the other characters are not NPCs, not puppets, not props. And they also are orbiting around their own centers, and that does not diminish Heesu's character or his relationship with Seung-won. In fact, the drama makes a point of underlining how extraordinary it is that they (tiny specks of stardust) could find each other (in the vastness of the universe).

I love metaphors and the cosmic theme threaded through the episodes was just the cherry on top. I don't want to focus too much on the criticism I've read for the show but I will admit that most of what seemed to rub people the wrong way is actually what made it special to me.

Yes, we get more perspective from different points of view, and we get to see the other characters struggle and grow up too, but the drama never loses sight of, or erase Hee-su. It's more like the narrative sometimes switches to a broader lens, and we have access to a wider spectrum of colors. Everything (Hee-su included) gets to feel more three dimensional. When ep1 and 2 aired, I said the show felt "full" but maybe a better way to put it would be that it's not flat.

I can argue about it ad nauseam, but the matter of the fact is Hee-su is The Main Character, and he's GAY, very GAY, and it's his story and his struggles being told. The actors did a wonderful job and made me feel so much. And it ends well!

It was lovely.

[cumulo-ghoulll]

Frater Imperator HC

(he hates Perpetua's album)

Peacefield

"Alright, Aether, I'm going to listen to this hyped up shit!"

"Alrighty, what's this first one? Peacefield? Sounds dreadful already."

*choir starts* "wait, i recognise that voice. IS THAT SALEM JR? WHAT A LITTLE SNAKE! I GAVE HIM RAVIOLI ON HIS 10TH BIRTHDAY AND THIS IS HOW HE REPAYS ME? BY SINGING ON MY BROTHER'S SHITTY ALBUM?"

"It is his job, C. He is the clergy choir's best soprano."

"I DO NOT CARE AETHER! WHY HAS THE WHOLE JUNIOR CHOIR STABBED ME IN THE BACK??"

"It is literally their job. I don't know what to tell you, Papa . . ."

*first verse starts* "'its not over yet'? What a shame, my ears are bleeding already. 'this is what dreams are made of'? more like nightmares! amiright Aeth? Hehehe!

*chorus* "'a black moon over the peacefield'? Aether! He copied my song! This is a blatant forgery of Hunter's Moon! He just changed the type of moon! See, he can't even write an original song!"

"Papa, it's not theft just because he mentioned a moon? Primo sang, 'a moon shone bright above her trial' in Stand By Him, and Secondo sang, 'the moon is full and shines an evil, blinding light' so they could say you copied them!"

"Whose side are you on, Aether?"

"The guitar solo's good, I guess."

"And the keyboard solo."

"Basically, any part where that fucking V isn't singing is good."

"Ah, finally! The outro! Almost done, thank the dark lord!"

"Bit repetitive hey, Aeth?"

"Quite catchy though, Papa?"

"Whose side are you on, Aether? Seriously?"

Lachryma

"Hmmm, the intro is okay. I guess."

"'like a vampire should ' you know he's not a vampire, right? He's just some poser who thinks he's a Dracula! Unbelievable.

"Copia, do you not also remember your vampire phase during Prequelle?"

"Whose side are you on? I was a better vampire anyway."

"'i can never run and i cannot hide' i wish he would run and hide so i didn't have to see his face again. Hmmph."

"'im done crying' what a whiny loser! I can't stand this guy, how do the fans even like him? All he does is complain!"

"'over someone like you' ME? OH HE SO WROTE THIS ABOUT ME! AETHER CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS GUY?? GET OVER YOURSELF."

"I don't think he wrote about you in particular, C . . ."

"He definitely did, who else could it possibly about? It's not like he has any friends or anything."

"'im done!' Thank Satan, it's finally over! 2 down, 8 more to go. Lord give me strength."

Satanized

"' There's something inside me' hehe yea right! That loser's never had anything inside of him! The V in his name stands for virgin!"

"I don't think that's what he means, C"

"Who's side are you on, Aether."

"'I should have known not to give in' he should have known not to release this shitty album!

"'Im satanized!' I'm getting a headache, never mind getting satanized!"

"You have to admit, it's a pretty good song though!"

"It's alright. Obviously, if I sang it, it would sound heaps better but I guess it's fine."

"Wait a minute. IS THAT CORINTHIANS 6:19?? WHY WOULD HE PUT SUCH WORDS INTO A SONG ABOUT OUR DARK MASTER? WHO LET HIM RELEASE THIS SONG? IT HURTS! IT'S BURNING MY EARS!"

"I can't believe this guy! How have the siblings of sin been singing this song all week when it has such heinous lyrics!"

"'I have begged God for the remedy' there's no way this guy is a true Emeritus! Why is he singing about our Dark Lord's enemy?"

"You do realise he's not singing in first person, right? He's singing from the perspective of the monk in the music video? You did know that right?"

"Seriously, whose side are you on Aether?"

Guiding Lights

"Ah, so this is meant to be the one to make me cry, huh? Well, not a single tear shall fall my eye, Aether! Not a single one!"

"Oh yeah, of course, couldn't make me cry either!" *already wiping a tear from his eye*

"Who even likes sad songs away? I never wrote any, and that why people love me! I'm always happy, me!"

"Life Eternal? Darkness At The Heart Of My Love? Some could even argue the end of Respite On The Spitalfields is sad at the end. . ."

"What even are these lyrics? 'the road that leads to nowhere is long'? How creative!"

"The guitar solo is pretty good, I'll give him that. It's only because Dew's playing it. Even if V wrote it, i dont care."

De Profundis Borealis

"Damn this ones good, eh C?"

"It's okay, I guess. Would you stop tapping your foot? You're getting too into it, it's not that good!"

"You have to admit, it is quite catchy!"

"Seriously, Aether? Whose side are you on??"

"'And a glow within you dies' I wish the glow inside him would die so he'd step down and i could be frontman again."

"Is Mountain not exhausted? This sounds really repetitive for him? Someone needs to write my poor ghouls some better parts."

"Mount told me he had a whale of a time recording this one. The whole pack really like this one apparently!"

"Oh great! So they're all turning their back on me, huh?"

"It is quite fun to play."

"You've learned it already? Traitor!"

"Phantom gave me the tabs! I couldn't help but learn it!"

"Ugh, finally, we're at the end. Wait. IS THAT THE SENIOR CHOIR?? WHY HAS HE TAKEN BOTH THE JUNIOR AND SENIOR CHOIR FROM ME?? WHAT'S NEXT?? THE GHOUL CHOIR??"

"You do realise that the choirs are legally obligated to perform on an album if asked, they don't just sing at mass, C"

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!"

Cenotaph

"It's very jovial for a sad song, huh?"

"Just be quiet, Copia."

(*Copia and Aether sit and cry quietly to this, processing their own grief*)

Missilia Amori

"Ooh, this one will cheer you up, C!"

"I wasn't crying! I just had some dust, um hayfever. It's hayfever season isn't it? Some pollen just made my eyes itch, y'know?"

"'So you want out now, don't you, love?' Damn, so dramatic."

"Someone's obviously broken his heart . . ."

"Hehe what a loser, can't even hold down a relationship!"

"It's a good breakup song though, don't you think?"

"hmm I guess. Damn! I should have written a breakup song!"

"It's a bit late for that now, C"

"Don't remind me, Aeth!!"

"'excite me with your demise' ha yeah! That's what I'm saying! When can we get rid of this loser, eh?"

"'a man of faith is hard to find' well if he wants a good Satanist boyfriend he has the whole of the ministry to pick from . . ."

"C, i dont think thats what he meant. Also, he can't even get in the door."

"I may have locked him out on purpose. . ."

"'you showed me yours, I'll show you mine' what a pervert! Unbelievable, who even is this guy! He's only been on tour for less than a week and he's already too big for his stupid little boots!"

Marks Of The Evil One

"'Rides a steed, white' HES TALKING ABOUT MY HORSE, DEATH! I swear to Satan, if he's taken him on tour or for a stupid music video I'm going to go insane!"

"Death is still in his stable, I literally saw Cumulus sat with him this morning. Also, I think he's talking about the four horsemen, so the first one is Conquest, right?"

"'The fourth rider is Death, rides a steed, pale' well at least my horse got a mention.

"'the marks are spreading everywhere!' eww sounds like he's got a type of a disease. . . what a loser!

"I quite like this one actually, C!"

"Seriously, Aether! Whose side are you on??"

*singing along* "there! there! disciples of the evil one!"

"Okay! okay! It's not THAT good!"

"The guitar solos pretty good . . . again."

"V's pretty good at writing guitar solos, eh?"

"yeah well I could do better but, y'know, it's not bad for a beginner, I guess . . ."

"I like his voice in this one, it's a really catchy song, don't you think?"

"He sounds like a cat with the flu to me but sure . . ."

Umbra

"Ooh this one's gonna be good! I've heard people say it's the next Mummy Dust!"

"hmmm its okay . . . IS THAT A COWBELL?? IS COWBELL GHOUL BACK?"

"Yeah he came back from Scotland to play for the recording. Did you not see him around the other week?"

"Oh so not only is this fucking V taking my ghouls, my choir, my fans, my clothes, my songs, he's taking Terzo's ghoul too!! Next he'll want my rats! Unbelievable!!"

"'I put my love in you' ugh what a slut!"

"Shouldn't you be happy about that, Cardi? He is promoting lust to the masses?"

"Well yes but I hate it!"

"You can't hate something just because you're brother made it!"

"Yes I can! And I will!"

"Damn Cirrus and Dew going wild! At least the ghouls sound good! Can't say the same for fucking V!"

"There's so much cowbell!"

"I know! Isn't it awesome?!"

"Alright, alright, Aether. Just remember whose side you're on."

"this one's going on the gay sex playlist."

"What?"

"nothing."

Excelsis

"'it is the end' THANK THE LORD!

'"its the end of your sadness and pain' well it will be when this song's finally finished"

"'everybody leaves one day' Copia, just sit and listen to this one. I think you need to hear it."

*Copia silently cries through the rest of the song*

"'I am afraid of eternity, too.' You alright, C?"

"ahuh, hyeah. yup. just a little dust in my eye. damn hayfever again. *sniff*

"what do you rate the album out of 10?"

"3. It was shit."

"You cried twice!"

"Okay 6/10. And I didn't cry! I have allergies!"

"Sure."

"My albums were better though, right?"

"Sure, Copia."

[bougiebutchbinch]

clicked on ur blog from the awesome surgical theatre post and saw that u don't practice as much now adays bc of disabilities! if u ever want to write about it, i'd be interested in hearing what it's like to be disabled in the healthcare field bc i don't see it being feasible for me but it's lowkey a dream

Healthcare is honestly an AMAZING career!

For... some disabilities.

If you're autistic and have adhd but aren't SUPER sensitive to Lots Of Sensory Stimuli (it is. very noisy. and very bright. and everything stinks) it is the best field I have ever found for getting into the hyperfocus zone while also flitting between a million tasks at once!

But on the physical side... it's gruelling, ngl.

I have a million Reasonable Adjustments in place. Half the time they get ignored because of understaffing, and I have to put my own very fragile body at risk to help patients. That's entirely because of shitty management, but I've heard it's a pretty endemic problem.

Also because of understaffing, if you have a lot of sick days, it's a problem. It shouldn't be your problem, but it winds up being that - again, because of shitty management.

I'm very, very lucky in that I am incredibly driven to do the ridiculous necessary amounts of physio/take all my meds/do everything 'right' as a patient. It's kept me working in the field far longer than I would've been able to, but it's also Very Fucking Difficult and does require, for want of a better word, a grindset.

I have a specific five-year plan that will get me into what is essentially a desk job, but where I can still make all the diagnoses (and hopefully still have some patient communication T^T) that I love. I've been told by my specialists that I might not even have five years where I'm able to walk even at a stagger and use my arms, but uhhhh. We'll worry about that when we get to it, lol.

If all else fails, I will become The Enemy (a manager) and pray that the hospital I'm moving to is more accessible to staff than my current one. Where the managers' officers are all up a steep flight of stairs and you literally cannot reach them by lift. Because fuck disabled people I guess.

All in all: yolo attitude mixed with reasonable expectations and strong ambitions/drive will get you far! But like. It's difficult. Really fucking difficult. I won't lie. I don't regret it, and I genuinely LOVE working in healthcare - it energises me and I have a passion for it that I've never felt for anything else except writing!

But if you're considering this career as a disabled person, I think you need to be very realistic with yourself regarding not just your own physical capabilities, but what reasonable adjustments will actually be put in place and how management will try and skirt around them. Shit sucks but it's reality, and at the end of the day, the patients are your priority.

You shouldn't be put in a position where you have to choose between your health and theirs, but you might be. What decision would you make in that scenario? I think that's a good question to ask yourself, before you take the plunge!

[elainsgirl]

Lol your previous anon is completely unaware of how gwynriels like to romanticize every single thing gwyn does and what happened to her.

Their side literally make fanarts of Azriel craddling a traumatized gwyn (theres one fanart where she was still in her torn up clothes half naked and looked comfortable leaning into Azriel WHAT THE F*CK). Yeah completely scratched canon where its actually Mor who carried gwyn lmao Azriel only covered her w a cloak.

Not to mention how they made the cutting ribbon scene about Gwynriel Lmao. Elriels actually respect Gwyn's character more than gwynriels. We elriels acknowledge that the cutting ribbon scene is a pivotal scene to show the valkyries friendship and growth, how they surpassed the challenge and NOT about a freaking man.

Somehow gwynriels made it seemed as a foreshadowing where gwyn n az would cut the ribbon during their mating scene.

Alrighty then. Tell me why we never saw any official illustrations of ribbons and truth-teller? Oh right, because theres no such thing as gwynriel. Theres only ever roses and truth-teller. Theres only ever Elriel.

Then again some claimed that Gwyn is also associated w roses based on their theory that Gwyn is from the spring court just to make the rose and truth teller abt gwynriel.

Gwynriels are on another level of delusional its sad to see it.

”whilst Gwyn was in the library after Savangh, she would think about Azriel and it would bring her some comfort 🥺”

“OMFGGGGGG Gwyn just loved challenging Az in acosf!”

I mean, this same crowd proudly reduces Gwyn to a Li and compares her role in acotar 5 to Cassians role in acosf. They do not like that woman beyond the gwynriel ship and it literally shows. They’ve changed Gwyns personality, randomly fitted her into plotpoints and want her to become something she isn’t. Want her to be with someone, she hasn’t even shown attraction too or interest in aside from his powers. What is it with that side shipping women w men they don’t want? that is so disturbing to say the least…to potray Gwyns most traumatising moment into anything romantic. The amount of gwynriels that would tell me how Az had carried and cradled gwyn too and I saw fanarts of it too that I actually believed this was the case until someone pulled up with thr quote and he just leaves her with Mor, they also romantacise the cloak Az gave Gwyn. If thats not giving desperate, Idk what else does.

Instead of celebrating Gwyns moment making it onto the brackets, what did her “stans” do? Try to twist it as some foreshadowing/hint for gwynriel. BB could have included the scene where Az looks at Gwyn w admiration, but they didn’t. Why? Because that wasn’t important nor the point. Gwyn cutting the ribbon was significant and history-changing. Im not even a Gwyn “Stan” yet it seems like elriels understand the purpose and point of that scene more then gwynriels who again, can’t seperate Gwyn from a ship they’ve literally forced her in.

Yes. Because Azriel leaving his traumatised mate alone moments after is fully giving Mate vibes. When he didnt gaf about his mate being taken into a deadly rite, I think that was the strongest play of mate instincts in action we’ve ever read about in the massiverse. I mean, Mass rlly just made it so obvious didn’t she? His mate was right there and Az was pleasuring himself to thoughts of another woman - I mean. C’mon. You cannot get more of a romantic love story then that. “Why not make them (elriel) mates?” Was obviously just there for funsies, it’s obviously not guiding you to wonder why elriel weren’t made mates nonononono its just there as a word filler, pretty decoration. What you’re meant to actually think about is the impact Gwyn squealing loudly had on Azriel who half turned at the sound. Gwyn staring down the ribbon as though it wS an enemy…no yh. Thats strong foreshadowing for how she’ll be with the mating bond ribbon.

🗣️ there is no such thing of gwynriel

Gwyn and Az are never paired together in the books. There is nothing between them. Az leaves training which makes sense because its not his official job, and thats the end of gwynriel. No matter Gwyn and Az interactions. It doesn’t disrupt the flow of the story. In fact, it affects nothing. Thats how stupid gwynriel as a ship is - seperate these two and nothing in the story changes, it doesn’t push the story forward. It doesn’t add or even contribute to the story.

Omfg don’t get me started on Gwynriels trying to claim roses for Gwyn. All bcs of her vague heritage. And its the SAME PEOPLE that say Elain should go to spring bcs there’s roses and flowers there, acknowledging her connections to the plants. Gwynriels are never beating the copycat allegations or the stealing content from other ship allegations either.

It was sad at first to see their level of delusion but ngl its hilarious now. Its something I look forward too bcs Ik im going to get a laugh out of it, “what stupid bs can they come up with today?” “Can it beat their last ridiculous arguements?”

[grandwretch]

I get where you're coming from OP but this is not a new attitude at all. You're just seeing this take more bc more people are aware of what fanfic is, thanks to the centeralization of the internet and such. I was not around in the 90s for the mailing list era but I've known people who were, and I think they would confirm this. I started writing fanfic in '04 and at that point most people who didn't read or write fanfic didn't even know what it was. From '04 -'12 I basically got two reactions from non-fandom people; from teen girls my age and with the same interests, I got interest and they started reading my writing, but only my writing and never online.

From literally everyone else it was dismissal or disgust. I had people tell me I was wasting my time and talent. I had people tell me I was going to hell. People in fandom who weren't into fanfic weren't any better. On fandom forums you would either be completely segregated between shippers and non shippers or ppl who wrote fanfic would be treated like mentally ill fangirls who only cared about sex. The most pleasant interaction I ever had with an equally nerdy man about my fanfic was that he "hated crazed shippers" but he liked me because I "carried it well". This was a guy I went to school and played D&D with. This was a peer.

This isn't a new phenomenon by any means. If anything, the world is more kind to and accepting of fanfic. The difference is that thanks to the centeralization of the internet, these people are on the same websites as us and cannot really be avoided. And they can't really avoid us.

god i really hate that fanfiction became mainstream mostly because now i have to see the most dogshit takes to ever dogshit on the internet and it kills me

[ninjaaa-go]

how does one be normal about anything ever again after experiencing lord of the rings?

[isnt-that-wizardd]

there is just something about the difference between edwin's love interests and having the cat king's reaction to edwin in hell being "i'll be waiting when he gets back" vs charles "no version of this where i don't come get you" rowland convincing a powerful trans-dimensional being to open a door to hell just so he could get him back

i am insane

[dennisboobs]

standing in front of a firing squad would have been easier than reading this script i need to be shot

[engenever-beaver]

Oh my fucking god. This is my last chain of response, since I'm no longer interested in conversation:

1. russia isn't scared of nuclear weapons, since EVERYONE ELSE IS. And even if they bomb half of russia into smithereens, this still won't matter, since the people who control are kilometers underground in soviet bunkers, and those on the top will be send to die anyway.

Even more, we actually HAD nuclear weapons. But we agreed to USA and russian demands of surrendering them, because USA wasn't trusting us not to use it(probably against russia). So then USA, russia and Britain all agreed to defend our sovereignty, probably with threats of using their nuclear weapons.

And yet we are here. When US and russia both oppose our sovereignty and territorial integrity(just as you are btw).

Buuuuuut, there is actually a good part in this paragraph. You know, we had nuclear weapons. But we can have them again. We know both how to manufacture rockets AND payloads. In fact, I'm basically "sitting" on a bunch of old soviet equipment for that purpose. And there are some facts that show, that we actually might already have the technology for that, and having much more resources than Iran, Pakistan or even Israel, all of whom made their own nuclear weapons, Ukraine might soon get some.

But it won't change anything, so like, who cares. In future nuclear weapons would be basic level of defense for any independent country.

2. If you think that you will have elections in four years, you are an actual brain dead slug. Go read about project 2025 and look how much progress they've made ALREADY.

3. I'm not talking that European armies are useless, and in real conflict I think russia wouldn't be able to grab more than up to Kaliningrad and some territories further north. What I am saying, they will be forced to fight a positional attrition war(probably through means of genocide), and that's precisely what Europe cannot afford.

4. Oh my fucking god, this one pissed me off. I'm not saying European armies are gonna run, but that's the point, they fucking SHOULD. russia lost maneuver warfare at the start of full scale invasion, and that is PRECISELY what Europe is trained for.

Guess what russia did then? Kherson, Bucha, Irpin', Mariupol were all examples of genocide, the only difference between them was how much of actual resistance Ukrainian army could have provided. If not much, then the city will be cleared out by FSB, and everyone remotely speaking Ukrainian will be tortured to death. Anything more than that? Then total massacre of civilians. And if you're stubborn enough to not be massacred, you will get turned into dust with the whole city.

This is what is waiting for Europe. Every city they try to defend in range of russian artillery and bomber planes will be turned into nothing. This means, smaller countries like Lithuania will have to either surrender or have EVERY population centre destroyed, with massive civilian casualties. And when they surrender, everyone remotely connected to government, every teacher not willing to learn and teach russian, every person still speaking their national language on occupied territories will be tortured and probably killed.

Because that is what Ukraine went through. Literally everything I mentioned here has already happened in Ukraine. And there is nothing stopping russians from repeating this tactics.

Unless European forces will be able to take large portion of russia and Belarus in order to protect the Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, they WILL HAVE to repeat every step Ukraine did, but on a larger scale.

5. russia, in fact, DOES have allies. It's not alone anymore. They are using drones from China and Iran. They are shooting North Korean rockets and artillery. They have a lot of allies in Africa and Asia, who can provide them with soldiers, and some of them, like North Korea, already do.

And even more, russia is not isolated anymore. It has limited political and trade support from China and India, and unlimited ones from North Korea, Belarus, and now from USA as well. Not to mention bunch of russian puppets inside of EU, like Orban or AfD.

I wish we were fighting russia, but in fact, we are fighting global alliance of fascism and that really fucking scares me. Because no matter how hard we fight, there always will be dickheads who see their egg prices too high and decide to invade their neighbors for some fucking reason.

Okay this is the last one, I don't want to talk with you anymore. Goodbye.

Ukraine needs to get real on Crimea

They're not getting it back. It's wrong that Russia has it, it's a serious crime, but that doesn't change the facts on the ground. As awful as it is to say this, Ukraine needs to acknowledge that it's gone, because the war won't end if it doesn't. And the war's outcome isn't changing-Russia can't be dislodged from the territory it holds without Ukraine magically solving its manpower shortages, and since it can't do that Russia can't be dislodged. I understand that this is an issue of pride and not wanting to betray those still suffering under occupation, but I don't see how those issues can compare to the innocent Ukrainians dying every day in the war. If saying some meaningless words, meaningless because all they're doing is acknowledging what is already reality, is what it takes to stop those deaths, shouldn't Ukraine do so?

This all, of course, assumes Russia will go along with it and also acknowledge the reality that they're not getting more than what they currently have, which is sadly not guaranteed. So it is possible that Ukraine doing ^^^ wouldn't stop the war because Russia thinks that throwing away thousands more of their own people's lives to claim a few more empty villages is a good idea. But even so, Ukraine ought to at least make the attempt-if it succeeds, then there's peace and innocents stop dying. If it fails, then we know there wasn't a scenario where peace could've happened sooner but didn't.

[marbit-enthusiast]

MAR-BIT!!!!!!

(normal version under cut)

[front-facing-pokemon]

[tiddie-taylor]

This is actually becoming a problem

My brain 24/7

[lord-squiggletits]

Reread/skimmed my oldest Pharma apologism posts (mainly the ones about Pharma not being a functionist) and it just occurred to me that possibly another reason the fandom saddled Pharma with the "functionist bigot" label is because his introduction by First Aid says that everyone hates Decepticons, but Pharma really really hates Decepticons. Mix that with the portion of the fanbase that lionizes and whitewashes the Decepticons, and I can easily see it entering common fanon that "Pharma hates Decepticons -> the Decepticons are freedom fighters wrongly maligned by the Autobots/the franchise -> Pharma must be a bigoted functionist since he hates Decepticons who represent freedom."

The simpler explanation is just that Pharma is an antagonist and therefore gets the "everything about him must be evil and wrong" black-and-white analysis so common in fandoms in general, but given some of the bizarre Decepticon takes I've seen I can also easily see Pharma's Decepticon hatred being taken as a sign of him being bigoted and evil.

Though AGAIN in this case it would still be singling Pharma out as a bigot for crimes/flaws that multiple other Autobots are guilty of like.

Oh, Pharma hates Decepticons? Well a lot of other Autobots hate Decepticons too, First Aid's narration about Pharma even says "we all hate Decepticons"; for that matter, there are a lot of Decepticons who hate Autobots. It's a massive civil war that's lasted for a lifetime causing two groups of people to be stuck in a near-permanent blood feud, you can't assume that every Autobot who hates Decepticons (and vice versa) hates them because they're a bigot. Maybe there's been a war where both sides have been building an ever-increasing mountain of reasons to hate each other, so hating the opposite faction is a social problem caused by war and politics rather than a sign of individual moral failing.

Pharma worked at the New Institute so that means he must be evil/bigoted? Chromedome and Brainstorm also worked at the New Institute, but there's no widespread fandom shunning of them or headcanoning them as bigots.

Hell, even the very premise of assuming Pharma is a functionist bigot for hating Decepticons is ignoring the very premise of Pharma's motives, which are, uh... being blackmailed by the leader of the Decepticon Justice Division, who represents the ultimate form of Decepticon ideals to the point of literally wearing their symbol as his mask? So how were we jumping straight to "oh Pharma hates Decepticons bc he's a posh bigoted functionist" when there was a far more immediate interpretation/headcanon of "Pharma hates Decepticons because he's being tortured and blackmailed by one."

That's not to say that Pharma couldn't have hated Decepticons before Delphi, and I think you could make interesting headcanons/extrapolations based on either idea. But still. It kinda feels like people saw Pharma and just wanted to make him the Token Evil Autobot who's the opposite of our Good Heroic Autobots regardless of whether evidence from canon supported it or not.

Good riddance to bigoted functionist Pharma fanon, I'm so glad that the majority of Pharma fanon these days actually gives him a chance and puts him on equal footing as other Autobots.

[supersecretmetalocalypseblog]

The only way Charles could be safe from Salacia is if he died, and once he does, he learns about the prophecy, and The Church of the Black Klok. So... does that mean that MMA beating Charles in Dethrelease/Black Fire Upon Us not only drives me insane, but is a crucial moment in the prophecy?? Idk if it HAD to be MMA or if it could've been anyone who "kills" Charles. I am of the personal belief that MMA's role in prophecy is to guide (albeit accidentally) Dethklok towards their destiny. It's when he's first hired to kill DK that the metalocalypse begins, according to Cardinal Ravenwood. it's only after his attack on Mordhaus that CFO learns of his role as The Dead Man, it's through rescuing Toki and Abigail that the band first uses their powers, the Dethlights. Without ever realizing it, he's caught up in this ancient prophecy, actively being a pain in the ass for everyone involved, inching towards the precipice of an apocalypse. Listen to me, waffling on about prophecies n shit. Fire alone will save our clan, or whatever, amirite,,

[inseparabiles]

that meme about how many times a day you think about the Roman Empire hits so different right now

[chicago-geniza]

Please make me put my groceries away and edit this chapter instead of meditatively rotating these fuckass vampires in the palm of my mind like Baoding balls