#I mean if you follow my main blog then the last one should be obvious | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yanderefairyangel · 6 months

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I don't like doing this... and I was really seriously debating on whether or not I should do this ( and I really hope this time it's the last I ever have to) but

This blog has been running for quite sometime in tumblr, about a month if my memory is right. However, this blog had very.... very weird takes

Notably anti Brodian one. But then, I checked something in the AITA blog and found.. this

This blog, whose first post is a submit to the account about shipping regarding Alear and the Fell twins of the Xenologue. And then

This blog reblogged it. Except they aren't claiming to be a side account as you can clearly tell. Now, I don't like accusing someone, however I find it very strange that scrolling both blog, not only do they have the same way to express themselves and typing quirck but both blog's first post was an entry to that AITA blog.

Do you see what I mean by "same way of typing" ? Well, that's not all. After searching, I realize that the blog they reblogged "femalealeartruther" used to be active as well

For people already aware, I already pointed out that this person was the same as chaotic flower and timerra lover, two blog that became infamous for championing the idea that F!Alear is the "true canon one" and on hating M!Alear. Evidence as follow :

I really dislike saying that but after checking the blog of aleardivine dragonmonarch, I realized they answered in the same way as THIS blog to ask they receive

The same way they answered to a blog reblogging them and this time with the femalealeartruther account

And again. Those blog all have deactivated.

As I explained I have several reason to believe that not only is femalealeartruther the same person as aleardivinedragonmonarch, but also that they are the same person as timeralover and thus with chaoticflower.

Yes, the same blog who in the right order :

claimmed you were bing racist if you didn't like Timerra's singing

claimmed that Timerra and Fogado aren't popular because people are racist

Hate constantly on Brodia and try to villify it by any means and hate Alcryst in particular

Was being rude towards fanfic authors

Insist on shipping Alcryst with F!Alear even though they hate him

Call anyone who prefer M!Alear over F!Alear sexist

Admitted to have stolen an idea of fanfic for an Alearcryst fic that was shared on Discord and trying to make belive it was their idea first

Have apparently lied on their age multiple times

The thing is that each time they claimmed to be a different person who had nothing to with the person who deleted their account... despite the obvious

Each time they come back with a new obsession and a new way to stir out drama and this time, it's because they dont like the fact that they dislike seeing Alear being shipped with Nel or Rafal and won't block or mute the ship instead they tried to prove that this ship is "problematic" (which imo when you do that it's not a good look for you at all ngl it come across as controlling and mean spirited)

Also, I should say it right away but chaotic flower has apparently displayed such behaviour in other fandom such as genshin and twisted wonderland

I could be wrong but again I find it very strange that several account that hates Brodia, claim F!Alear is the canon one, hates M!Alear ship Alearcryst, insist that the Fell twins are Alear's sibling because of an headcanon and express themselves in the very same manner and keep intereacting with the AITA blog with it always being their FIRST post and regularly hosting polls to test which of F!Alear or M!Alear people prefer would all be run by completely different people.

Also.. again, searching, I realized that a lot of the reblogs that were taking side of OP were having the exact same type quirk and scrolling through their blog there is none to little content which are limited to intereaction with the AITA blog and rebloging from the same blog as aleardivinedragonmonarch and weird captions such as never mentionning which is their main account and all

The last one I am SURE I saw the account femalealeartruther at SOME point reply with the exact same arguments.

If somehow they are different person, then this must be one heck of a coincidence

What does Op says ? They are denying it

However I am clearly not the only one who noticed it

(so yeah they kept spamming the inbox of the blog with Alear related ask and F!Alear in particular)

(all of this because of ship I just can't-)

Keep in mind that those are just several thing I noticed and I am kinda worried to see that this person keeps comming back with a new identity pretending to be a different person and well, cause drama.

Also, OP if you read this. Again, I must reiterate. You are welcome in this fandom as long as you STOP doing this sheet right here. That's just baffling that each time you make a blog and then deactivate it all to come back with a new obsession. And each time you pretend to be someone else. Why can't you just run a blog without trying to spark the flame of discourse ? The block button exist, the mute button exist. It's up to you to curate your own online experience and if you are indeed a minor as you claimed several time you were yet keep insisting on having this behaviour, then maybe it's a sign that you are not mature enough to be on social media. Especially since you speak as F!Alear as if she was a real person and not just a fictional being. I am sure that if you properly apologized and admitted your mistake instead of having several blog running to pretend to be another person just to prove that you are right people would actually forgive you.

As for other especially Alear, Alcryst and the Fell twins fans, I am advicing you to block this person and avoid any intereaction with them. This isn't an invitation to harass this person, if anything just block them.

Update

Both account ended up deactivating.

AT THE SAME TIME !!!

#fe engage #fire emblem #fire emblem engage #since it's the fandom in question

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voxasks · 3 months

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– G U I D E L I N E S .

⭑ BLOG INFO.

this is an independent roleplay ask blog (wow that’s a mouthful) .

i close my inbox when it gets to 30 asks so i can get through them quicker and reopen asks quicker.

vox has an editor (me) who manages half of the blog and writes out his responses to send out. vox knows he’s speaking with the living world but doesn’t know he’s in the show called ‘hazbin hotel.’

⭑ CRITICISM.

i answer a lot of asks in the day meaning i’ll likely make typos so do be kind if you spot them! i will only be taking constructive criticism into consideration. this blog is my very first shot at roleplaying so apologies if there are any issues!

⭑ PORTRAYAL.

vox will be portrayed as i see fit. he can be professional, compliant and even kind to asks that don’t provoke him. inversely, he can be crass, loud and outright evil to those who do, but please remember to separate me from the character.

⭑ ASK RULES.

NSFW is okay on my blog, seeing as vox is also quite open to the idea. excessively troll / low effort asks (e.g. i have had TONS of asks just saying ‘bald’) will be ignored as it does take time and energy out of me to tap into the character’s voice when i answer these.

this one’s specific and it is actually the reason i had to do a heavy update on my guidelines, but; i have had people come into my inbox saying they take pleasure in indulging in the following : dr*gs, m*rder, ab*se, s*icide, sh, and more along these lines. asks like these aren’t allowed unless you’re clearly joking or using it as an expression. however, merely mentioning these topics IS allowed. i understand some people will still not be comfortable seeing it being used as such, but as someone who’s had experience in the last three topics listed, i’m not easily fazed and do not wish to censor this blog too much. here are some examples of what i do not allow :

asks with harmful phrases such as ‘k*ll yourself’ will be deleted, same goes with other phrases of a similar vein.

if you are stickler for canon, in all technicality, vox probably wouldn’t condone asks like these either to keep him and his brand highly professional / lighthearted to put others at ease.

the rest is only the obvious : i will not condone homophobia and racism, and will not be entertaining asks over political views.

however, if you are suffering from s*icidal thoughts or sh and you cannot refrain from sending me an ask about it, please at the very least provide me a way to contact you in private so as to not trouble others viewing this blog.

⭑ RESPONSE TIME.

to those who have been here since the beginning, i am so sorry i am no longer able to get through asks as quickly. i have a real life as well as my main blog to attend to so you ask might take a while to get to! i should not take more than a week to get to your ask, but apologies if i still do.

⭑ ART.

any art on this blog (as scarce as it may be) is drawn by the editor, me. please do not repost without my permission!

⭑ OOC.

some of my personal thoughts or comments to your asks will be in the tags labelled as ‘ooc’. sometimes i may also make announcements on this blog without using vox’s voice so do take not of that!

⭑ WARNINGS.

as mentioned above, this blog may contain mentions of m*rder, ab*se (probably because of val asks) nsfw, manipulation, gore, body horror, immoral views, etc.

⭑ UPDATE LOG.

03.04.24 — more clear guidelines hehe

03.07.24 — inbox closes at 30 asks .

#i used hellishradio’s rules as a guideline hahaha #.voxasks nav

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nobrashfestivity · 1 year

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I hope this does not resonate with some meanness that i do not intend but I feel i should make a brief statement here about who I *Ahem* block.

I want to say first that most of you are great, real art lovers, people with interesting facts and insights and personal stories that enhance everyone’s appreciation. I’m grateful my followers here are these people, many of you have great blogs that have introduced me to things I didn’t know about, but there are a couple of things I just don’t like to see here.

Most of these categories are obvious, bigots, hateful speech etc., but something less onerous that does get on my nerves after a while, are people that feel a need to talk about how bad the art is. I know this may seem minor and it’s a free country and all that, but it bothers me on couple of levels to the point where if it keeps on happening, I block the people doing it. I’m sure this is not great offense to them and most of them probably never even notice, but I’ll just explain why, not be grandiose, but to avoid further misunderstandings.

The main issue is a pretty broad internet trend, which is the idea that if you have an opinion, you must share it. There’s nothing wrong with your opinion and in fact i have posted art myself that I don’t particularly like but I find interesting or significant in some way. Thought provoking is a good category itself even if it does not check your aesthetic boxes. But i’d ask people to examine what is supposedly added, outside of ego satisfaction, by showing up just to try to knock holes in something other people enjoy. I’m not talking here about a discussion. I think discussions are great about why someone likes or doesn’t get something. God knows I have a long list of art I can’t stand and am happy to chat about it. But, what I don’t do is find Jeff Koons paintings on tumblr and reply to them all “Garbage”. As tempting as that might be, It’s not adding anything and it might be inhibiting to someone from discovering something new they might like, when they have to read random hatred about it. i know it seems like a mild thing but I think it’s good for all of us to remember we don’t hold the definitive stance on art.

I find this particularly absurd and egotistical when it comes to everyone’s favorite easy target, abstract expressionism. You don’t have to like it! But Mark Rothko painted his last painting over 50 years ago. I guarantee you every learned pro or con is already on the books. Your “My kid could do that” comment embarrasses you, not him. It’s an annoyance to everyone to get these “I’m an artist and...”. Trust me, everyone is an artist, it’s not a special taste license. And, it also brings up the obvious point that, formalistically, your argument on de Kooning has no merit. Basically arguing that the only good painting is the one that really, really looks like the thing it is supposed to represent is, at best, an intellectual house of cards.

So please let people enjoy what they enjoy. I came late in life to certain things like On Kawara, who didn’t make a lot of sense to me until I saw in person how beautifully he painted. In sense there was a line for me to Japanese art traditions of craftsmanship that I already admired and he was following. It lent weight to his presentation of conceptual art. It became not just the idea but the beauty of the object and that made me love him.

Mostly, artists are just trying to express themselves and if they don’t do it in exactly the way you prefer, consider chalking that up to a difference in opinion.

As Orson Welles said, “When in doubt, don’t do anything.”

#personal

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appleasks · 3 months

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– G U I D E L I N E S .

⭑ BLOG INFO.

this is an independent roleplay ask blog (wow that’s a mouthful)

lucifer usually types out his own replies and ocassionally as an editor over his shoulder (me). lucifer knows he’s speaking with the living world but doesn’t know he’s in the show called ‘hazbin hotel.’

⭑ CRITICISM.

i answer a lot of asks in the day meaning i’ll likely make typos so do be kind if you spot them! i will only be taking constructive criticism into consideration. this blog is only my second shot at roleplaying so apologies if there are any issues!

⭑ PORTRAYAL.

lucifer will be portrayed as i see fit. he can be silly and kind towards lighthearted asks. inversely, he can be serious towards other asks, but please remember to separate me from the character.

⭑ ASK RULES.

NSFW is okay on my blog, seeing as lucifer is also quite open to the idea. excessively troll / low effort asks (e.g. i have had TONS of asks just saying ‘bald’) will be ignored as it does take time and energy out of me to tap into the character’s voice when i answer these.

the rest is only the obvious : i will not condone homophobia and racism, and will not be entertaining asks over political views.

⭑ RESPONSE TIME.

⭑ ART.

any art on this blog (as scarce as it may be) is drawn by the editor, me. please do not repost without my permission!

⭑ OOC.

some of my personal thoughts or comments to your asks will be in the tags labelled as ‘ooc’. sometimes i may also make announcements on this blog without using lucifer’s voice so do take not of that!

⭑ WARNINGS.

as mentioned above, this blog may contain mentions of m*rder, ab*se (probably because of val asks) nsfw, manipulation, gore, body horror, immoral views, etc.

⭑ UPDATE LOG.

03.04.24 — more clear guidelines hehe

#.lucinav

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tutchando74 · 6 months

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Tomorrow's end of the year

This year was special to me. This was the year I entered social medias for real.

After years of telling myself that I should post my ideas, I finally took enough courage to do it, and voala, I even made friends along the way.

I don't know them enough to call them close friends, but I consider them to be. Of course I'm talking about Simple, Carleen and Shadeless.

I ain't gonna tag them (Load of bullshit, I'll do that down the line), since this is more of a letter to me, but thank you three so much for dealing with me. Granted, you haven't seen shit from me yet, but still.

I hope we continue being friends, but only time will tell this tale.

Now, to my blogs, I'm gonna leave here the statistcs of my blogs and AO3.

@tutchando74

Posts: 650

Quite a big number, huh? Never thought I'd post so many in my life.

Followers: 45

I'm so grateful to all of you who follow me. I don't what attracted you to my blog, but I'm thankful to all of you.

4 biggest fans: @carleenchoco, @ask-serial-designation-s, @shadelessanon and @the-simple-creature

What could I expect, I'm a simple man, always keeping his friends close.

@ask-fell-drones

Posts: 144

Unfortunaly, this AU didn't get as much attention as the other one, but hey, that's a good number.

Followers: 31

Again, I don't know what attracted you to this AU, but you need help.

4 biggest fans: @tutchando74, @igothepanzerdivision (I can't for the life of me tag this guy), @brookiedaaroacecookie and @l0v3sickl0s3r

Yes, I like my blog's post, judge me. A thank to the three of you, even if Igothe there is kind of a fever dream.

@ask-shop-drones

Posts: 1180

By far my most famous blog. This isn't even a joke. I understand why it tracted more attention though.

Followers: 71

A thank you to everyone who got interested in this little AU of mine. Honestly, a thanks to all of you.

4 biggest fans: @tutchando74, @l0v3sickl0s3r, @hotmacsticks and @kitty-chans-art

A thanks to the three of you who have made RP's with my AU or just supported it. Thank you.

@ask-alphakill

Posts: 40

This AU hasn't grabbed much attention, but I'm okay with it. This AU was born as a joke.

Followers: 4

Thanks to you who follows this blog. Honestly, thank you. I'm glad you liked this little joke I made.

4 biggest fans: @tutchando74, @skyblueducky, @nani-w (also can't tag you) and @paintchipstastegood

Thank you three for interacting with this AU. It honestly means a lot.

@askrealityfalls

Posts: 5

Yeah, this one ain't a lot famous, probably cause of my drawings.

Followers: 2

I'm surprised someone follows this. Thank you a lot for this.

4 biggest fans: @tutchando74, @lentalguts-gingersnaps and @jthorpe96

Ain't even got 4. Nonetheless, thank you two for interacting with this little thing.

I'm sorry for anyone who was bothered by the tagging, but I wanted to thank you all for this. So, one last thanks everyone, and I hope you all have a great nex year, and I hope mine's great too.

Now for my AO3 account.

Even if it my account doesn't have a full year yet. Accomplished more than I thought I would, no joke. I expected that I would write things and they would get like 20 hits or something, but imagine my surprise when in around a week I got 100 hits on Split Drones. It was a surprise, and that was the first edition of Split Drones, one that doesn't exist anymore because I edited it, cause it was bad.

Hell, I even got a fanart, made by Clockwork. This is a dream come true. I even got a gift, made by InspiredDragonWriter. He decided to gift me back a very good work. Also got a related work made by Kingcrustnip.

This is insane! I'm still so happy about all of these.

I'm going to talk a little about each of my main stories here that I made this year.

Split Drone (on going)

One of my favorite stories that I have thought of. I'm happy that after the 3º chapter it got a lot more attention. And to think that it's not even close to ending.

Murder Drones Oneshots... Kind of (on going)

My most viewed fic here, for obvious reason. It's a oneshit book. Honestly, I don't like this one, but I still have to finish it. There are requests that have more than months on the waiting. The people who sent them don't even remember it anymore.

Rescue Drones (on going)

I'm glad the Twins allowed me to use their content to do my strange shit. Honestly, I really like this story, specially the world building I did with it. I just like the concept of different HQ's out there. I don't know if the Twin read that story anymore, probably not, but I'm happy that they let me use their universe to write my stories.

A walk and a discovery + We meet again brother (finished)

Two gifts for InspiredDragonWriter. I really liked his content, so I thought of making these stories. I like them, think I did a good job on doing a horror story. I hope he really did like these gifts.

Listening to music (finished)

This is just a fun idea I had. Glad some people liked it, but I don't really have any more ideas on what to do with it. I think Clockwork would have an use for this one on his musical oneshot though. Unfortunaly it's closed.

Mine (on going)

A request that turned into a full fic. Honestly, it's really fun to do it, and it gathered way more attention than I thought it would.

Downard Spiral (on going)

A side fic for Rescue Drones. I have a harder time writting in first person than in third, so the quality of this one is leagues worse than the main story, but I don't think it's that bad.

Greek HQ (on going)

This is a huge story I'm trying to tell. Hope the 10 people who read it like it. Things are going to become much worse, really fast.

Little Rescue Drones side stories

Just some fun fic ideas I have on my mind. Nothing more. Don't even know if I should make them cannon.

Brown and Son Playing (finished)

Just a fun little idea I had for these two.

Serial Designation S RP (on going)

I never expected to play a RP, specially on Tumblr. I'm glad I did though, met three pretty fun persons. It's hard to do the Rp through Tumblr, but it's very good.

Poemas (on going)

My first attempt at writting poems. It's really fun to do it, specially to talk about my culture.

Now, I saw the Twins doing this, and I really liked it. It is showing my final statistics, so I'm going to do the same. By the end of this year, my statistics were:

- User Subscriptions: 8 I'm thankful to everyone who liked my works enough to follow me on this site. I'm glad you enjoy my stuff that much.

- Kudos: 420 This is insane to me. I got this amount in less than a year. Going by dates, it's been around half a year. I'm fucking thankful to everyone who liked my stuff.

- Comment Threads: 88 That's a lot of conversation, and even if most are about the fics, I think I did make some friends here. Hope they think the same.

- Bookmarks: 56 I'm glad people liked my works enough to leave a bookamrk on them, and 56 bookmarks across all my 26 works. That's more than double.

- Subscriptions: 47 Across all my 26 fics, I got 47 subscriptions in each of them. I'm thankful to anyone who did this, trully.

- Word Count: 110,657 Honestly, why do you americans use comma to separate the decimals when most of the world uses dot? Whatever. That's an insane amount of words to me. That's more than I expected to write in all of my life, wich is funny that it turned into my hobby.

- Hits: 14,796 This is an insane number to me. 14k views on my fics. I never expected to have all of this in half a year, but I'm so glad and thankful I did.

It isn't much, but its more than I thought I would get in my first year. Well, it was fun writting everything and meeting new people here in this site.

My gratitudes goes to The_Twins_On_Internet, Kingcrustnip, LB_Clockwork, Shadow_Drone_N_Bryan78932, InspiredDragonWriter and everyone who read, kudoed, bookmarked, subscribed and commented on my fics. A huge thank you to all of you.

#thank you #sorry too #Don't really feel confortable tagging strangers #but it is what it is #end of the year

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ericleo108 · 11 months

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CosmicLuve.com July 2023 - The Main Thing

Necessary prerequisite posts:

108 The Story of Discovering Earth’s Consciousness (book)

Sentientism 2022

Cosmic Love Feb 2020 - Emma Watson

Cosmic Love April 2022: Cary Charlotte or Mary

Cosmic Luve July 2022 - Smoke Blunts Response Treatise

Cosmic Luve Aug 2022 - Coast

Cosmic Luve Sept 2022 - Hope

Cosmic Luve Oct 2022 - Folklore

Cosmic Luve April 2023 - Sun

youtube

Into

This is a pivotal post and touches on all relevant cosmic luves (as in persons, as well as ties in many posts). This post builds off the story developed in “Sept 2022 Hope” and especially “April 2023 Sun.” You won’t understand the theory or meaning of this post unless you read the Sentientism post and other log entries to see that these coincidences are common occurrences and how I interpret them. The fundamental understanding of all this comes from my book “108 The Story of Discovering Earth’s Consciousness.”

The intent of this cosmic luve log is to explain what I see as Gaia/Earth communicating. The basic theory is that the Earth and stars are conscious due to their magnetism. They have abilities like “telepathic randonauting” and “points of realization” to try and communicate which can affect things like evolution subtly but consistently. I show how Gaia could be manipulating our behaviors by influencing our cognition throughout the cosmic luve blog.

Where we left off…

When we left off I talked about the semantics of the sun in lil’dicky’s show, how I’m searching for Marcus Lemonis, and couldn’t afford help from Ryini. Well, I said screw it and signed up for Ryini even though it takes my whole music budget for the month. It’s been a couple months and I have found the investment worth it.

We have a personalized meeting a couple of times a month with a group chat twice per week. This has helped me focus on marketing like making vertical music videos. With their help, we have been breaking them down into segments and running ads through Instagram to get followers and plays on Spotify. They have done things that are invaluable like turning me onto Spotify’s Discovery marketing feature that gets me thousands of plays per month now. I feel like it been worth it and they’re here to help and gonna keep working until I see a good amount of success or at least get my money back. I’m practicing a 7 track set to perform online and at local venues. Hopefully, I’ll have plenty to point to by next cosmic luve entry.

Marcus and Dave

I stopped looking for Marcus Lemonis because I don’t think he wants to be found. It’s obvious to me he has to know I exist and is just ignoring my request for a meeting. I forgot to mention in the last cosmic luve post that my song called “Process, People, Product” which is taken from his quotes about business from Marcus drops on November 16th 2023.

It’s worth explaining and furthering the semantics in Dave’s yellow dress. I should of mentioned this in the last post “Sun” but it didn’t come to me until right after I published it. The semantic trope goes as follows and furthers the story of the sun’s communication. Our sun is exemplified as a male. Dave in his yellow dress (exemplifying the sun) came out the same time as my song “Bong hits for Jesus.” Jesus is gods son and based off the myth of the sun (click here for more) as I show in my Atheist Raps blog post. “Bong Hits” is about smoking weed. In Dave’s song about smoking weed “Too High” he talks and makes jokes about the sun (having a dick). This also is a callback to the first Emma Watson post where she is pointing to a letter E in yellow.

Looking back

I have a confession to make. Gaia has taught me that when one door closes another one opens. In February I made a tweet along the line of “When they say when one door closes another one opens is bullshit, I quit my job months ago and haven’t found anything.” I quit my job in August 2022 and said that in February 2023. Come to find out that I got my first big royalty check in August 2022 and hadn’t been informed yet and didn’t find out until March 2023. When it was May I have now received my second $1500 royalty check in 6 months. The second royalty check came just after I decided not to go to Marcus’s event. Even with the royalty payment I didn’t really have enough to go because it was $500 plus hotel and airfare. I used the money to pay off my credit card which is full of music production and promotion expenses.

It seems that financial security is coming slowly, but coming, I just need to focus on building momentum and doing the work. It’s just frustrating cuz I can’t afford anything else and forgo a lot to make all this music happen and I haven’t had real relief for years. The truth is I’m still struggling and have not even come close to breaking even with what I’ve invested, but it’s a start. I am currently desperate for more royalties or financial help.

Looking forward I want 100 tracks by December 2024. If you want to know about coming projects while hearing what I have to say about Big oil, global warming, and blue watch the July 16th 2023 sunday update.

Coincidences

The first cosmic luve occurrence I’ve had since last time was small but was with Taylor Swift. “Karma” is a song that was on The Chalice Mixtape in 2017, I’ve also had it remade and it drops October 6th, 2023. There was a small but unmistakable coincidence in Taylor’s “Karma” video. In my song “cosmic love brownies” that I uploaded months ago and comes out December 13, the lyric is “I got a Saturn in watching over you, cause you’re a supernova girl.” Here is the tweet I made about it. But this lyric reminded me of Taylor standing with Ice Spice lassoing the moon and Saturn in her “Karma” music video.

Then I had a small occurrence with Hailee Steinfeld when my song “We Make The Party” dropped. I talk about it in my “We Make The Party” blog post but basically, I didn’t realize I would be releasing the song so close to the official start of summer. It has the lyrics “Nothing feels good as her in the summer, we make it hot like global warming.” On the 22nd Hailee posted her magazine feature in The Laterals as their “summer girl.” Unfortunately, I didn’t get a screenshot so you’ll have to look it up. This reminded me of Hailee’s newest song “Sunkissin” which feels like a ‘call-back’ from the sun where Hailee sings “Come and catch a wave, Fade away like it rains in the summertime (In the summertime).”

Although I just published a song called “Vulnerable” responding to a Selena Gomez song by the same name I haven’t seen any coincidences. It's worth mentioning I have thought to myself on many occasions that these women are like the sirens of Greek mythology. Selena reminds me of the ocean and therefore has the strongest association with this feeling and semantics.

Other coincidences since last time include that Cornell West announced his run for President with the Green Party days after I dropped “Philosophy 101” which is based on his Masterclass. And Russ met Dr.Dre right before “Freaky naughty” dropped which is musically inspired by Dr. Dre. I feel like this is Gaia building off my July 2022 Smoke Blunts post.

Emma Watson

Finally, The reflections I got from Emma are so stark and can be interpreted so profoundly that it seems like Emma follows me and is doing it on purpose. But I maintain it’s just Gaia using her as a vessel to reflect my life and work because Gaia and the sun think Emma and I should be together for compatibility and acumen reasons. The truth is for Emma to be reflecting me on purpose she would have to know intimate details of my life which makes me believe it’s much more likely she is being manipulated by some unexplainable phenomenon that I am desperately trying to explain.

You can follow the tweet thread but basically, I’ve been responding to Emma’s Instagram stories through Twitter. I’m just gonna leave the tweets linked which have pictures of Emma’s IG posts. It started June 1st when Emma semantically reflected my poem in the Cosmic Luve Sun April 2023 post (click here for the tweet). It’s worth mentioning that I love otters, they’re probably my favorite marine animal, and I used to do horse videos on my Facebook page. It seems to have a cohesive message of “I’m loving you without possession” but Emma would have to know I love otters and did my horse videos.

I stopped doing the word of the day rhyme on July 3rd was the last day. Then on July 11th I retweeted about Global Warming emissions and how I no longer was going to create an album to berate the oil industry. On June 11th, the original June 29th post that I made due to the smoke blanketing Michigan from Canadian wildfires that are happening due to global warming, came full circle. This is because that’s when I found out the EPA could cut 90% of emissions.

The next day Emma posted a cosmic luve response of the “Elementals” movie. I wrote her a poem and said Emma was the “main thing” because she had a picture on her story that also said, “Keep the main thing, the main thing.” Emma has been the whole purpose of my music as Eric Leo 108 since the beginning in 2017 (when I dropped the Chalice Mixtape) and before (Click here to see the tweet). It’s worth noting that my best-performing track in the week she posted this became “Hey Emma.” Keeping with the “Elementals” theme the hook to “Hey Emma” exclaims that Emma can “make it hot, being oh so cool.”

youtube

I just want to mention that also during this time I put out a call out for a videographer saying I need help and I just wanna say I wish Emma was my videographer. In keeping with the notion Emma would have to know my personal life otherwise, it’s Gaia… about a week or two prior to the Elemental post, I went kayaking for the first time and got drunk on the river in Michigan with some friends. I loved it and have been asking them to do it again ever since. Maybe Gaia and the sun are telling Emma and I that we should go Kayaking for our first date if we ever get there.

#Emma Watson #hiphop #rap #Selena Gomez #taylor swift #Hailee Steinfeld #cosmic luve #love #cosmic

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beautifulpersonpeach · 5 months

Note

bpp sorry if this isn't the content you want on your blog after yesterday but is it ok if i ask for clarification on sth? i know youre army you don't like solos but i like reading solos for a wide span of info. i don't like to be in a bubble of echo chambers

i saw a post and i'll send the link right after this ask but the person was criticizing a post you made but it confused me bc what you wrote didnt match what they said. they didn't post your name but i know its you because you always start your answers with 3 dots

***

many armys say they like jimin but they pretend. i don't think youre like that but your answer is confusing so can you clarify? its like you allow jjks to shit on jimin but you drag out pjms only. armys do this over and over. its sad if youre the same bc i like your blog.

***

Please block me.

Actually, you know what? Don't. At least not just yet. Let's do this instead.

I checked the link you sent. I'd received that link a couple other times today accompanied with more hostile language, so I ignored it. But I checked out yours because I wondered what was so serious you couldn't add the link to your main ask, so if you're all in fact the same person sending that link, kudos for getting my attention.

And thank you for sending that to me, because now I'd like to use you and that post to make an example of what I'm talking about when I say solo stans think differently and are just less intelligent. In my opinion.

For other readers, I'm not going to link it directly so as to not draw more attention to them, and since they're stalking my blog to make an example without directly mentioning me or showing my blog name, I think it's only fair I react in kind by also not making a direct mention.

Here’s the post (mine) in question:

Here is the akgae's takeaway from the post above (mine):

Already, the dissonance between the first and second screenshot should be obvious. I’ll explain in any case just so everyone can follow along.

Shortly after Jimin released Closer Than This, I received an ask from someone who calls themselves a PJM (a Jimin akgae), who said they hate the song and also hate his voice. But that they are his solo stan because he’s “talented and hot”.

I responded that they, the Jimin solo stan who hates his ARMY song and voice, isn’t exactly a rare breed. And that Jimin has ARMY supporting him anyway. This is within the context of me always saying solo stans don’t actually like the person they choose to solo stan (if they did, they wouldn’t be akgaes), and that an akgae’s experience is more about them and their personal insecurities than anything Jimin (or any other BTS member) is actually doing.

Months later (present day), another Jimin solo stan quotes that ask and my response, as proof of me (1) going “sameee you’re so valid”, (2) not correctly identifying that person as someone who actually antis Jimin a.k.a. his akgae, and (3) as proof of me believing “one is more talented and more deserving than the other” re: Jungkook vs Jimin.

…is there even anything more for me to say?

Y'all, I bet you something like 90% of the shit that has solos constantly bouncing off the walls starts from things like this: a complete lack of reading comprehension coupled with gaps in logic and pre-conceived notions/insecurities. If I wanted to be really mean, there's so many places I could take this post right now, but I'll stop here for now.

That post made me laugh because the entire thing is a comedy of errors. The OP Anon in that akgae's post, is actually talking about another 'blogger' (who I know and generally like but that's besides the point), but the akgae responding to them mistook OP Anon's 'blogger' to be me, and then proceeded to write what's in the second screenshot...

It's just sad.

I've lost count of how many times I've been the subject of callout posts on Tumblr and each time it's been something like this lmaooo. Each time it's been by akgaes (and their exile varieties) and shippers. The last time this happened, I was a taekooker, and now someone has essentially embarrassed themselves with a lamentable lack of reading comprehension to spin a pretty innocuous post into... alladat.

This is how drama is manufactured in fan spaces out of plain stupidity.

There are many reasons I don't like akgaes, but one top reason is because they dumb down the quality of conversation in whatever space they're in. It's part of why I have such a disdain for 'discourse' in k-pop spaces in general, because oftentimes, the people most eager to write paragraphs on end while being hateful and/or victimizing, are people who don't know what they're talking about or lack basic skills in reading comprehension, among other things. ARMYs and k-pop stans are guilty of this too, but you're more likely to run into culprits in akgae 'discourse' spaces or adjacent ones.

I've given examples of this many times but here's a couple here, and here.

I'm not even trying to be condescending, I don't actually think I know all there is to know about Jimin, BTS, and k-pop, I just no longer have the patience for people who choose remain in spaces filled with akgaes and who keep bringing their nonsense into my inbox. And what's worse asking me to clarify sentences that a grade 5 student should be able to parse in any language.

Anyway Anon, now, you can block me.

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protect-daniel-james · 1 year

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Heyo! I'm a Croatian NT supporter. I'm queer and I love football so much. I always said that I would watch the national team of the first out queer international player.

Wich happens to be Czech Republic as of this week. No joke I nearly cried when I watched Jakub's coming out video, I am so happy for him, even tho my only memory of him is me yelling at his team 2 years ago.

Him coming out means that I'm gonna support Czech Republic besides my Croats. I have followed your blog for a while on my main and I remember during Euros 2 years ago, that you post alot about Czech NT.

Now I don't know anything about the Czech NT. So I was hoping if you could teach me a bit about the NT, so I don't go in blindly next month lol.

I could research myself but i know that supporters know more about their team than the internet! So here we are. I'm humbly asking your help on the Czech NT.

I'm a bit scared to ask with my normal account so this is a burner acc.

-a queer football fan

Hi! First of all, I loved the Croatian NT from 2018, and I still have a soft spot for them now. I'm happy to explain a bit of stuff about the Czech NT. And most of all I'm happy for Jakub, and honestly, the response has so far been overwhelmingly positive from the fans, which is great.

One thing that is not talked about (but should be mentioned) is that like two weeks ago, one Czech journalist (Luděk Mádl) made a tweet saying "a Czech footballer is planning to do a public coming out"

He didn't say the name, but people in the comments started speculating, and it turned into a convo of "I have a friend who has a friend who knows a cleaning lady who knows the kitman and he said that the lads in Sparta's dressing room say it's Jankto". Of course, it wasn't confirmed, but still... A lot of people criticized the journalist for posting the tweet and starting this whole conversation when IT WAS NONE OF HIS FUCKING BUSINESS before the player announces it himself, so he deleted the tweet and apologized. Anyway, Jankto came out this week, in a very nice manner I would say. Now everyone is kinda curious whether he will assume the role of a role model, and speak about his decision to come out etc., or whether he will just keep doing quietly his job. We will see.

The current NT is very likable. In the past, we had some shitty coaches, and some shitty (behavior/character-wise) players, or just not very memorable ones, being carried by Petr Čech and Tomáš Rosický (when he wasn’t injured lol). And our previous teams also had some scandals, like drunk driving and prostitutes at hotels etc… This all seems to be a thing of the past, and the current team (including the manager) carries itself with a lot more dignity. The last shitheads left seemed to be Krmenčík (diver) and Kúdela (if you remember the whole Kúdela-Kamara incident from two years ago, where Kúdela allegedly racially abused Kamara during a match between Slavia Prague and Rangers. It’s not my place to speculate whether he did or did not, but Kúdela later mocked the whole situation, so it’s obvious he didn’t understand why it was a big deal. Yeah I don’t like him.) They are both now playing in Indonesia so hopefully they’re not getting a callup again. The rest of the team seems to be likable.

The coach, Jaroslav Šilhavý. He comes across as a gentleman, a really good guy, well-spoken, calm, collected, and approachable. Kind of nice dad vibes. He said a couple days back that sometimes the players are shocked when he uses vulgar language because he just seems like such a nice person who would never say “fuck” or anything. He seems to be reasonable, maybe too conservative in football tactics, but really a good person overall, polite, and fair.

The most known players are probably Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal, and they both represent well what we love seeing in NT players. Hard-working, passionate about football, no celebrity bullshit. Souček is the captain, and probably leads better by example and stamina than by motivational speeches, but I am happy to see him as a captain. Sometimes people say he’s kind of “simple” (he does speak in a way that gives the impression XD), but I think it’s true in the sense that he really just genuinely loves running and kicking a ball and that’s all he wants to do. He’s literally a cinnamon roll.

Coufal is the no-nonsense soldier, who “dies on the pitch for the team” (as he himself says). I admire him a lot, he worked hard, he got to the Prem from the thirddivision of the Czech league (where he was getting “paid” in beer and sausages). And the best thing is, he is no stupid "red card collector" or "just a fighter". He can look like that on the pitch, but off it, he comes across as an intelligent family man. He really embodies the heart and spirit.

Now onto the star. Patrik Schick, he really shined at the Euros, and then last year in Bundesliga. He’s kind of the poster boy, very handsome as well (and his sister is a model; I think he was kinda considering that career as well?). I was pleasantly surprised when I listened to an interview with him that he’s very grounded, down-to-earth, kinda shy, doesn’t enjoy posting on social media too much etc. Plus, he is best friends with Jankto (and I hope he’s being supportive). They usually room together and play FIFA haha, they also did a couple of interviews and challenges together.

(I lowkey shipped them, now I feel kinda bad about that)

I really like Antonín Barák, who plays in Italy (Fiorentina); he commented on Jankto's instagram post, he also distanced himself from a presidential candidate who was using the NT's shirt (with Barák's number) in his campaign, he seems to be one of the "socially responsible ones" in the team.

the rest of the team is kinda meh, i don't know enough about them to really say much - some of them just seem to be boring and with no interests or personality (Vydra), some of them are predicted to be stars (Adam Hložek, he's the starboy, 20 years old, but hasn't really stepped up in the NT yet)...

And about Jakub himself: he comes across as very determined and focused. I listened to an interview with him some time ago where he spoke about how he went to play in Italy at 18, and how he learned to "take care of himself", cook, speak Italian, live on a budget etc. Then he decided he would like to play in Spain so he learned Spanish. He's also into esports and owns an esports team (but apparently he's not very good at them himself, as Patrik Schick always beats him - at least that's what Patrik said). He seems to be approachable, e. g. he appeared in a video quiz done by a Czech football-focused youtuber (who's not super famous). Also, he likes to draw/paint, and did a drawing of Paulo Dybala some years ago. He always seemed to be a very driven person with various hobbies, and I felt a bit sorry for him coming back to the Czech league (and not performing very well). The thing is, he used to play for Slavia years ago, then he was in Italy and Spain, and now he's in Sparta (Slavia's biggest rival), so a lot of people hated on him for that. And he wasn't performing well for the NT and for the club in the past months - which could be related to him sorting out his personal life. He went through a divorce, then his ex-wife sort of alluded to him not paying the child's support (they have a son) in kinda cryptic Instagram posts, the situation around him was a mess.... Now the ex-wife spoke of her support for him, and said that she hopes he can be at peace, safe and happy.

I really hope Jankto's coming out will help people - the players and fans alike - realize how much homophobic banter still goes "under the radar" most of the time here, and that they will become more aware of how difficult it must be for Jankto to be constantly in such environment.

#czech nt #jakub jankto

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write-now-or-else · 1 year

Text

Wip Wednesday: A Fighting Storm

Here's what I have for chapter one of my book "A Fighting Storm" so far! I mainly talk about the characters on my main blog, but I'll be sharing what I have so far on here. This is only going to be a first draft of the book that I'm posting so there will be many errors/inconsistencies.

-------------------------------------

A Fighting Storm is about a 17 year old named Aquari, who after running away from home is transported to a magical world after coming in contact with The Wishing Tree, a tree that both grants a person's deepest wish and transports them to the magic world (If the person's deepest wish harms themself or others it will only transport them, and not grant their wish). After meeting a band of rebels Aquari joins them to help them stop the tyrannical rulers from killing others.

(Wip under the cut, feel free to tell me if theres anything in need of fixing, you guys are kinda my beta readers)

Chapter 1: The Wishing Tree

They ran as fast as they could through the forest as their mother called out for them.

“Aquari! We just want to help!” She said,

“It would help for her to see how horrible her boyfriend is…” Aquari said under their breath as they kept running.

After their father died their mother seemed to immediately start dating a man named Brandon, he was always mean and rude to Aquari, never called them by the right name and always called them a girl even when they told him they were non-binary. And yet their mother just looked the other way. Even if things ended up physical. Aquari hated Brandon but there was nothing that could get their mother to back down on marrying him. So they ran away.

Aquari soon came across a large tree that was certainly not there the last time they were in the woods. They heard their mother call out for them again and decided to climb the tree to hide, but when they touched the tree there was a bright flash, and they had fallen out of the same tree but in another place.

“Hey kid, you shouldn't be here, this area is for Royal Guard patrol only, we’re looking for a dangerous criminal,” An elven looking man said.

“Royal Guard…?” Aquari asked.

Before the guard could say anything, he noticed Aquari’s round ears.

“A human! Oh the queen would love to speak with you,” The guard said.

It was obvious to Aquari that they were not wanted for a nice chat with tea by the way the guard spoke. So they tried to run. The guard followed and grabbed Aquari by the arm and threw them down.

“Alright, we’ll do this the hard way” The guard said, raising a sword.

And as quickly as the sword came up it came down, and clashed against a magic shield.

“General Aymon. Why are you wasting your time with this creature?” A tall elf cloaked in green asked.

“Commander! I found a human, that means The Wishing Tree-” Aymon began.

“Was open. If a human was brought here, that means The Wishing Tree is closed now, and will remain closed for another 100 years. You did nothing in finding this human, now get back to base, your patrol group is waiting for you,” The tall elf said.

After General Aymon left and was out of earshot the tall mysterious elf had become a fishlike person. He had grayish blue skin, fins on his head instead of pointed ears like the elves, and Maroon hair.

“Name’s Scarab,” he said looking around as if hoping no one was around.

“I’m Aquari…” Aquari said nervously.

“That’s a nice name, we should head over to my place before the general finds out he was lied to,” Scarab said.

“I think we better hurry then! I hear someone coming!” Aquari urgently said.

“Better hang on then!” Scarab exclaimed as he scooped up Aquari.

As Scarab started to run his feet became wheels and he began to skate through the cleared path. Soon enough they came to a small cave.

“This is your home?” Aquari asked, trying to sound as non judgemental as possible.

“Ah, not quite,” Scarab said as he placed Aquari down.

He extended his hand towards the opening of the small cave and with a few ripples the cave became a large house.

“I call it the Rebel’s Alcove,” Scarab said, “oh and by the way, I was the ‘dangerous criminal’ they were looking for.”

“What!?” Aquari said, jumping back.

“Sush, you don’t want them to hear us, the only thing that could be considered ‘dangerous’ that I have done is impersonation, I mean I have to use my shapeshifter powers for some mischief right?” Scarab said, with a slight laugh.

The two of them entered the Rebel’s Alcove. Inside was an elf with brown skin and a gradient of dark green going up her hand. She looked to be about Scarab’s age (which Aquari guessed was late 20s, early 30s). She was asleep on the couch with a small green dragon plush on her chest. “That’s Thera, she was screwed over by the royals too,” Scarab said.

“How so?” Aquari asked.

“She said the prince wasn't hot,” Scarab said.

“Damn so they really don't tolerate any slander?” Aquari asked.

“Mhm,” Thera said, sitting up, “and it isn’t a matter of homophobia either, they don’t care who you kiss, or what your gender is, they just care that you’re obedient.”

“And what’s the punishment for being disobedient, or speaking out…?” Aquari asked.

“Death,” Scarab said.

“So even saying something as harmless as ‘the prince isn't hot’ can get you killed?!” Aquari exclaimed.

“Yeppers,” Thera said.

Just then a younger kid in a wheelchair rolled into the room.

“Oh, hey Ruven!” Scarab said.

“Who’s the kid?” Ruven asked.

“Oh, this is Aquari,” Scarab said as he patted Aquari’s head, “found ‘em being attacked by a guard general after falling from The Wishing Tree.”

“The Wishing Tree was open?” Ruven asked.

“Yeah,” Scarab said.

The Wishing Tree was the only gateway between the human world and the magic world. And the Queen of the magic world, Queen Siraye, wants to make The Wishing Tree permanently open. That may sound nice, but it would drain a lot of resources from both worlds, and behind closed doors Queen Siraye wishes to spill the blood of humans for no discernible reason other than thinking that humans are lower than magical beings, despite them being more so equals.

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theadventuresofamuslimrevert · 2 years

Text

Its been a while since my last blog and i apologies for that but i have been concentrating on my children and i have just given birth to another baby Alhamdulillah ill try to post weekly from now on.

One misconception many Muslim youth hold is they view Islam as a rigid/extreme religion and as a religon that is tough to practice. Because of that, many youth shrink away from Islam or abandon it altogether in their teen years or early adulthood.

However, one thing we must remember is that Islam is not a religion of extremity. In fact, when Islam is practised in the way that it is intended to be practised, it is not a difficult religion to immerse yourself in because Islam actually adheres to basic human psychology and human nature. This concept of making religion easy is shown in the following saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which is called a hadith in Arabic:

Narrated by Abu Hurairah: The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, “Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself in his religion will not be able to continue in that way. So you should not be extremists, but try to be near to perfection and receive the good tidings that you will be rewarded; and gain strength by offering the Salat (prayers) in the mornings, afternoons and during the last hours of the night.” (Bukhari)

There is quite a bit to unpack from the hadith, and there are four main learnings which we’ll discuss below. However, the obvious lessons are that we should not make our religion difficult by overburdening ourselves, going to extremes, or expecting perfection. Instead, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advises that we simply need to do our best, keep our hopes in Allah, and utilize prayer as a means of gaining strength.

One thing to remember is that making our religion easy does NOT mean that we become lazy in our practising of Islam or that we use this hadith as an excuse not to improve ourselves. What making our religion easy means is that we do not become too lax or too extreme in how we worship Allah, fulfil our social obligations, or try to grow as people and Muslims. Instead, we should try to find a middle ground in how we live our lives and in how we practice our religion.

1. Religion Should be Easy:

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “The best of your religion is that which is easiest, the best of your religion is that which is easiest.” (Musnad Ahmad)

Islam is not meant to be a burden on our lives. It is meant to be something that we integrate into our lives, not something that we compartmentalize. Following Islam should make us happier and more fulfilled. If a person is neglecting their family, health, or well-being in the name of Islam, then that is not true Islam.

An example of this is the famous story of when some women of Medina came to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ complaining that their husbands were spending their whole night in prayer and were neglecting them. The Prophet ﷺ responded by chastising the husbands of these women and telling them that their wives had a right over them.

Think of this analogy. Imagine a horse rider who rides their horse so far without giving it any rest. Of course, the horse will perish at some point. In the same sense, if we don’t make religion easy on ourselves, we will lose the joy of Islam and our faith will perish like the horse whose master rides it too hard without giving it any rest. We need to find a middle ground in how we practice religion, one that will help us grow as people without consistently over-exerting ourselves.

Some Muslims stretch themselves too thin and overburden themselves in the name of Islam. Because of this, sometimes their personal lives suffer as a result.

However, we should remember this famous hadith:

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was asked, “What deeds are loved most by Allah?” He said, “The most regular constant deeds even though they may be few.” He added, “Don’t take upon yourselves, except the deeds which are within your ability.” (Bukhari)

The deeds Allah loves best are the good deeds that are done on the regular basis, whether big or small. Even the small deeds we consistently do will Insha’Allah be a mountain for us on the Day of Judgment. Therefore, we should focus on creating the habit of doing daily good deeds that can be integrated into our normal routine. Remember, we never know which good deed will be the one that allows us to enter Jannah, and even a small deed can reap an immense reward when done with pure intentions.

2. Allah does not Expect Perfection:

Another factor that causes stress on Muslims is the idea that they are not doing enough to please Allah. Muslims are often taught to “fear Allah” and taught to be afraid of His wrath. However, this concept of having to be perfect and the fear of making mistakes is not true Islam.

Nowhere in the Qur’an and in no authentic hadith is it ever even hinted that Allah expects perfection. Instead, Allah and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ have told us time and time again that Allah actually expects us to make mistakes and falter.

One hadith states this plainly:

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “All children of Adam are sinners, and the best of those who sin are those who repent.” (Tirmidhi)

Allah expects progression, not perfection. Notice the above hadith does not say that the best people are those who don’t make mistakes. No, it says that all of humanity will make mistakes and commit sins; however, “the best of those who sin are those who repent,” meaning that the best of mankind are those who recognize their shortcomings and repent.

Repentance is synonymous with self-improvement because repentance involves trying to undo the sin/mistake if possible, asking for forgiveness, making the intention to not repeat the mistake and then compensating the mistake with a good deed. Therefore, repentance is a way that we build our character and progress as individuals. It is something shown in our actions, not just in our words.

3. Keep Positive Hope in Allah:

Making our religion easy also means that we keep high hopes in Allah’s mercy. One hadith that explains this idea is:

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said: “Allah says, ‘I am as My servant expects Me to be.’” (Bukhari)

The above quotation is the first sentence in a long hadith; however, just this sentence holds an ocean of knowledge. It shows us that we get from Allah what we expect. If I expect harshness from Allah, then that is what I’ll get. However, if I expect good things from Allah, if I have high hopes in His mercy, and if I have high hopes that he’ll accept my good deeds and multiply my reward, then that is what I will get. To put it plainly: our expectation affects what we receive from Allah.

We need to maintain humble yet positive expectations with Allah. Remember that the majority of Allah’s 99 names/attributes deal with His compassion, His love, and His mercy toward humanity while only a handful of His names/attributes describe His wrath. This shows that Allah’s mercy outweighs His anger. Allah is a benevolent Lord who wants the best for us, and our attitude toward Him should reflect this.

Another hadith explains:

Abu Huraira reported: Prophet Muhammad ﷺsaid, “Call upon Allah with certainty that He will answer you. Know that Allah will not answer the supplication of a heart that is negligent and distracted.” (Tirmidhi)

Again, we need to have the right expectation when we think of Allah. Whenever we do our best, do a good deed, repent, or supplicate to Allah, we should have the full conscious expectation that He will accept our good intention/deed or accept our supplication.

This does NOT mean that we become entitled or complacent. Instead, it means that we have high hopes that Allah is always listening and will always do what is best for us.

4. Prayer (Salat) gives us Strength & Patience:

The Qur’an states: “Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for Allah is with those who patiently persevere.” (2:153)

There are several places in the Qur’an where prayer (Salat) and patience (Sabr) are mentioned side-by-side. This demonstrates that the two naturally go together. The purpose of our daily prayers is to keep us safe from evil acts, and one definition of Islamic patience is it’s the efforts and energy we put to staying on the right path and not falling into evil temptations. Since prayer is how we build restraint and patience is how we exercise restraint, the two go hand-in-hand.

With that being said, prayer helps strengthen our faith in Allah and therefore gives us strength. Patience is how we exercise that strength. By keeping us safe from evil deeds, prayer helps us build our patience because patience revolves around not falling into temptation.

Exercising prayer and patience in our daily lives allows us to build good hope in Allah, which allows us to build positive expectations in how we view Allah, which allows us to practice our religion in the way it was intended (i.e. positively, stress-free, and with ease)!

In conclusion, the main learnings are to find a middle ground in how we practice Islam and to not be too extreme or too lax. Islam should be integrated into our daily lives, not something we compartmentalize. We should not be too hard on ourselves and not expect perfection from ourselves. However, we should maintain positive expectations in Allah and use prayer as a way to strengthen ourselves and increase our patience.

I’d like to end by saying that anything good I said came from Allah. However, anything incorrect I said came from me, and I ask for your forgiveness if I said anything incorrectly.

#islamicpost #prophet muhammad #hadith #positivethinking #beautiful quote #manifestyourlife #motivational #selfreminder

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edgyval-archive · 2 years

Text

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ valentine's interaction boundariez

(pls interact, thin ice, dni)

last updated 8/14/2022

figured i should make one big post for this instead ov sporadically updating my pinned.. note that this is subject to change,, and you should probably check in like once a month to see if you still do/dont fall under the dni!! >_<

when i say dni i mean do not at all interact.. don't follow me,, reblog my terms*,, follow my main blog, nothing. however you may still use my terms if you're comfy**,,

* (unless you have an alt account for xenogender hoarding,, then you can reblog on that account specifically..)

** (obvious exceptionz come in here.. like,, terfs/swerfs, enby skeptics,, anti-mogai,, bc like why the hell would they use xenos in the first place..

i also do not want endos using my terms,, for my own comfort

(exceptionz will have an asterisk & parenthesis explanation down below.. idk how to explain it)

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ PLZ INTERACT >w<

plz interact w me if any ov the following appliez 2 u!! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

"cringy" ppl (furriez, emo, scenekidz, xenogender hoarderz, etc)!!

hexd/nightcore fanz!!

sparklecare hospital fanz!!

nonhuman (otherkin, therian, etc)!!

voidpunk!!

autistic!!

goreshit fanz!!

evaboy/figure skater/miya lowe fanz!!

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ THIN ICE X_X

you risk being blocked iv these apply to u,, but we may be able to sort something out.. >_<

doesnt understand neopronounz/typing quirkz/the like

use the > symbol when quoting thingz

imagine dragonz fanz

find "fatherless" jokes funny

make fun ov pplz death (not including queen lizzy)

think furriez r "weird"

bnha fans

gacha life users

uses slurs A LOT

dislikes my special interestz

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ DNI OmO

do not interact with this blog if any ov the following applies to you;;

note that this is just stuff that applies to the mogai space.. my full dni (on my carrd) has some info that,, while unrelated to mogai,, could be pretty important..

dsmp fans regardless ov iv u support the creators or not (doesnt include fictives/introjects that are heavily critical of the media)

(pro-) endo/demo/tulpa*

anti-mogai (tf u doin here??)

fans ov the boyfriends webtoon (irls who r critical ov their source r fine but pls specify that on ur profile or smth)

truscum/transmed

unironically use terms like traumascum/sysmed

against typing quirks

terf/swerf

aspec/arospec exclus/think aros or aces shouldn't be in the lgbt

think pronouns=gender

(pro-) maps/p3d0s

(pro-) z00s/b34st14l1ty

proship/comship/anti-anti/profic/whatever else yall mfs call urselves**

nonbinary skeptic/think ppl need dysphoria to be trans

anti-self dx with research (they're only trying to figure themselves out..)

autism speaks supporter (im autistic myselv & hate them with a passion..)

anti-blm/acab/support the p0l1ce

cringe/flop blog

nsfw blog

against trans boys being feminine

pro-abuse/abuser, harrassers, people who think "kys" (and related) is an acceptable thing to say to another entity in any case

send anonymous death threats/support toyhouse drama blogs

if you have a typing quirk that involves putting right arrow brackets (ex.. "> hi can you do a gender based on X?" "hi, im looking for a gender based on X> thanks>>) ***

* (im uncomvy with endoz themselves using my terms,, but supporters can if theyre comvy doing so..)

** (people in recovery from proshipping, that are minors, are fine.. i was recently informed that most minors who do it were groomed into the mindset and i wish them a good recovery..)

*** my ex had that same typing quirk,,,,,, it just reminds me ov him.. ,,,,, please stay away,, as its a trigger.. sorry.. /gen

additionally,, for your own sake pls dont interact if youre uncomfy with my views on certain topics.. (here's the masterlist)

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐ my current banner

it doesn't have everything but it has most ov what someone would need,, i guess..

#⚠️⚠️#🐬🐬#dont rb or like or anything

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popculturebuffet · 2 years

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Gay as a Fox Finale: The Great North: Pride and Preju-Dance Adventure, As Goldie as It Gets Adventure and Say It Again, Ham Adventure: Love and Acceptance (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy people! It’s the final day of pride which means i’ts the final pride month review for yours truly and the conclusion of Queer as A Fox, my monthlong look at Animation Domination’s handling of queer characters and subjects. And i’ts been a roller coaster: We’ve had highs from the simpsons with classics like the simpsons meeting John Waters and Patty coming out, all time lows for this blog with Family Guys sterotyping and open transphobia, and some middling middles with American Dad keeping the steroyping but at least er trying. All thanks to WeirdKev, my consumate buisness partner and friend.

So for our last one we go out on a high with The Great North. It’s also the only show here i’ve covered before, and no doubt will again, having both made my best episodes of 2021 list and having reviewed the pilot as a patreon sign on reward.

As a refresher for those not familiar with it the Great North is an incredibly recent addition to Animation Domination, coming for Bobs Burgers vetrans the Mollenux Sisters that debuted in 2020. It’s in my humble opinon the best show in the lineup right now, and one of the best family adult sitcoms running alongside Close Enough. So naturally it was my idea to cover it though Kev was fully on board. The Great North follows the close knit Tobins of Lone Moose alaska and the stuff that insues whne you live in a small isolated town.

It’s also, unsuprisingly given it’s youth, the show with the best representation: For starters it’s the only one of the animation domination lineup to have a queer character in the main cast: Ham, who is easily one of my faviorites, a teen who often misses the point, is an expert baker, and in general seems off in his own world while still being deeply loving and empathetic.

He’s also very gay, with his sexuality established in what’s easily the best gag of a fairly strong pilot, announcing during a fairly tense family moment he’s gay.. only for him to be reminded he’s come out a bunch of times and that as his dad puts it “We love you just the way you are dammit!”. But what’s notable about the joke.. is that it’s not on ham for being gay. It’s that due to his nature, he’s apparently FORGOTTEN he’s come out multiple times. The show bathes the jokes around Ham in his character, never making his sexuality the joke. Which should be obvious but given I had to watch 5 episodes of Seth Macfarline assuming all gay people were Jack McFarlane, it’s still fucking refreshing. Decades later and not only does fox have a gay main character, as great north is very much an ensembl epiece but one whose just gay and while two of today’s eps have very important queer aseops, and one just a general one that happens to involve a gay teen and his boyfriend, they don’t feel as Very Special Episode as episodes like this once were. The Great North didn’t go out of it’s way to have these eps, they just naturally came from the characters involved and just happen to have good messages and while I grant the first two gay simpsons episodes slack for when they came out, it’s nice we’ve evovled to the point gay issues are tackled because the characters are who they are and not because they have to build it around the issue to even adress it. So join me one last time as we live and stay from longest night to longest day in the great north.

Pride and Preju-Dance Adventure

Look this one had my attention even before it came out. I love romance, and I love dance episodes, and it was clear from the descreption what this would be about and it didn’t disapoint.

This one centers around the Lone Moose Equvilent of a “Girls Ask the Guys” dance... which itself feels very antiquated and it feels very much the point that it is, the Thomas Wintersbone Memorial Dance. Thomas was a popular loone mooser in the 1800s who wanted to marry his fiance but her father, feeling an intellectual school teacher wouldn’t be a good provider, challenged him to spend a week in the wilderness before the two could live in seperate cabins because their love couldn’t be contained by just one. He died.. almost immedietly and this dance was created in his honor with Girls asking guys in from the cold. The unteitonal imbalance for queer students is also addressed as Ham, while not bothered by it, admits he’ll be left in the cold even if he did have the date, but thankfully his cousin Rebecca coming up with her dad Brian. And I was just as delighted by that as I assumed it’d be some time before we saw Beef’s brother Brian, after he was brought up in the second episode, but nope Brian not only comes up just two episodes later but is the star of his own subplot.

And we’ll go ahead and get said subplot out of the way. The Great North usually has an a and b plot, sometimes linked sometimes unrelated but usually intersecting at family dinner or what have you. I do appricate that kind of continuity and when you look closesly it’s clear where scenes take place in relation to each side of the plot, making the episodes feel that much more alive knowing where everyone is during it. As such Brian’s visit takes place alongside the lead up to the dance and the climax of said plot, the client meeting he’s here for , takes place the same night as the dance and it never feels contrived.

Said subplot is also engaging. Ther’es a funny enough subplot about fiances, married at the end of the season , Wolf and Honeybee trying to pitch Brian their buisness ideas but the main heart is Beef himself, who expects to spend time fishing with his brother whose instead busy with emails and the actual meeting. Beef is worried his brother has changed, now wearing what they all call wedding pants and working a white collar job selling hot tubs, though we do get a cute scene of Brian comparing emails to fishing and the brothers sending them together. Things get less cute when Beef crashes the meeting and muddles it, and the resulting heart to heart makes the subplot: Beef admits he was worried thigns had changed and Brian admits not only that’s true.. but he wasn’t fully HAPPY here. He loves his brother, the town and his family, but he’s far happier selling hot tubs and wearing wedding pants than he was fishing for a living and that dosen’t make him or beef any less brothers. It’s a touching moment and also nice considering i’m very diffrent from parts of my family and can understand that disconnect.

The meat of the episode, isn’t beef but Ham.. and Judy, ham’s sister who decides to ask out her crush Crispin, failing a lot due to nervousness.. and again I can relate. Honestly I relate to judy a lot: being talkative, awkward, and very in her own head, while at the same time being expressive. As such she makes one final run at it with Ham with her.. and given what month this is and what you saw above, you can probably tell where this is going: Crispin is gay, and is immeditly taken by ham and vice versa. And the show makes it clear from moment one some part of Judy is aware of this.. but she’s supressing the hell out of it as admitting it means loosing her crush. And while I haven’t actively supressed the idea someone i’m crushing on is gay, I have fallen for people who aren’t into men or anyone and it’s not a great feeling, so I sympathize.

That sais the episode , while feeling bad for Judy, also makes it clear that Crispin ISN’T leading her on: he never shows any romantic intrests, agrees to go assuming it’s as a group and a means to get him in from the cold, something Ham dosen’t pick up on right away, and it’s very clear like Ham and myself and even Judy, Crispin misses some social cues. So he’s clearly unaware Judy has feelings for him. But the show also dovetails from other shows by not having the humor being in her crushing on a gay man or her being “dumb” for being oblvious but just how obvious it is.. and once she finds out her pain is played very real, with her finding the two kissing.. whcih is the only part of this that feels a tad cliche.. but also feels necessary as let’s face it, she woudln’t of got it any other way. And ham respectfully backs off as not to hurt her, having likely also not realized Judy was into crispin.

It takes a ghost/hallucination whatever of thomas for the obvious to hit Judy: Thomas Wintersbone..was gay and the attempted marriage was one of convience so two gay people could be with who they really wanted without supscion. He died, and the dance was clearly made up to cover for it. It also features Leslie Jordan as thomas which is just awesome and his frustration with judy’s oblviousness is great “You would’ve gotten there eventually.. that’s not true I really had to walk you up to it” And thus is the aseop: i’ts okay to feel a bit hurt but you ultimately can’t force a romance, especailly with a queer person and i’ts not good to get in the way of someone elses romance just because you feel it shoudl’ve been yours. Judy accepts it, gives the two her blessing and tells the school the truth: that they should just dance with whomever.. or in the case of Judy’s friend and one of the shows best character Bethany, make snow demons in the parking lot instead. So Judy ends up dancing with her platonic friend adn worst character of the show gill... who we thankfully don’t have to see again. Horay! It’s a decent episode, not the shows best, again it feels mildly melodramtic, but on rewatch and after all those others it still has a good message and is a good time.

This also features what might be the first kiss with a main character on fox and one of the first incredibly romantic and lingering kisses in Animation Domination history... which it probbaly is so good going to this ep.

As Goldie as It Gets Adventure

WE jump into mid-season 2, and this one is more casual like I said: Ham’s romance with Crispin is important but it could be with any sexuality.. and that’s wonderful. This time the two are very busy, Ham volunteering at the old folks home and Crispin with his promotion at Smoothie Boss, so the two are only commuincating through text though both are being mature about it. It’s a throughline through the episode as Ham’s new friend goldie worries about time getting away from them.

And her reasons are valid as the episode centers around Goldie, one of ham’s retirees who is a delight, a fun old woman who used to hold freakouts (basically wild parties with disgusting 70′s style dishes), with her husband paul till he died and who cons ham into holding one at her old house.. which she sold but lies to him about still owning. But she still feels sympathetic, just wanting to honor her husband, and with ham rightfully calling her out for nearly getting him arrested. Plus her casual mentions of wanting to get some coke for the party (it falls through because her dealer is going to art school now and she’s proud of him) appeals directly to my love of cocaine themed humor, so it works.

The two’s friendship is also just heartwarming, with Ham geninely wanting ot help her and sharin ga dance with his pal and goldie giving ham solid advice: to not let the moment pass just because he’s young: he seems to have time but time is gone before you know it and thus he and Crispin should enjoy it. The episode is about not letting moments pass you by as you never know when they’ll be gone and ends with the two teens having a sixteen candles style moment on the roof that’ sutterly adorable.. even if they end up throwing out the geletan they brought because it’s gross. It has liver or something there were a llot of hilaroiusly gross dishes and a whole MUSICAL number to them in this episode.

The subplot really barely factors in, but is still highly entertaining as Judy gets into pottery, which leads to a great bit with her teacher gently telling people not to expect him to “ghost” them as he’s in a commited throuple with his patners wintergreen and mike, which likewise is some nice poly and gay rights. The shows queer rep as a whole is just nicely casual: ham and cripsins relationship just shows up a lot and casually as hell with the two using pet names and being cute, Judy is HEAVILY implied to be bisexual starting with season 2 and gay characters just crop up.

Judy turns out to be bad at pottery and her family, knowign she gets discouraged easy, let her run rampant with insane creations such as a plate that not only defies gravity but has several holes in it, a ceramnic shirt moon has to be cut out of and a fork that’s actually a candleholder. I didn’t think a show could get so many good jokes out of “character is bad at pottery” and was wrong. The family then tries to talk the guy into getting judy out of the class.. and all end pu singing instead because he’s that charming. Judy is absent because she’s helping ham with the party. All in all a solid, wholesome hilarious episode.

Say It Again, Ham Adventure

And so we come to the penultimate episode of season 2 and the last one of this marathon, and one I was honestly going to cover anyway, but rolled into this with two more fitting episodes.

This one uses Ham’s previously mentiond habit of having come out a bunch as a plot poitn and cleverly at that: Ham and Crispin watch the hilarious film within a film Danny Vroom: Gay in the Fastlane, which is over the top from Danny’s partner being named Buisnessman Greg, whose defintely not a cop, and feeling just as over the top as an actaul insprational story.

Ham feels coming out in films is usually overdramatic, though Crispin himself admits his had some flair as while his parents were accepting they also set off fire works and burned down their mailbox and had to pay a fine. Ham honestly can’t remember WHICH coming out was the first.. and soon realizes with Crispin’s help it’s because his coming out LACKED drama. Everyone was just .. cool with it and casually accepted it.. which is what really happened to me. While it was at the end of a long night for other reasons, my mom and brother both acccepte dme easily, as while I feared they woudln’t my fears were unfounded and I deep down knew they were. Even with my dad who I expected to reject me.. it wasn’t. He was perfectly lovely about it.. if then talking about protection. As of this review i’m still a virgin and have come nowhere near sex so.. yeah. Kinda pointless and mildly offensive but still better than I expected. So while I didn’t feel the need for a big coming out, I do feel this is something a lot of queer people might run into: because of media, assuming a coming out has to be this big dramatic teary moment when sometimes it just.. happens.

The family is supportive though in helping Ham find someone to dramatically come out to, as is Crispin, and Beef suggests his Cousin Danica who is HILAROIUSLY awful and a great one off character, being judgemental of everything to an extreme and not all exagerated by beef degree, to the point he cut off contact with her after her response to Moon’s birth announcement was “please make it stop”. His response to it is also graet “Ten years later and i’m still going.” Gratend Ham has to be TOLD this despite it being obvious sh’es who beef means, because i’ts ham, but still it’s great and she lives down to the descrption, telling moon to leave her rabbit collection alone , despite only having one “There’s only one lincoln memorial” “Not sure that’s how that works”, calling Judy a floozy which delights her in how offensive it is, for her leggins, and even can’t get the coming out thing righ tas before Ham can, it turns out she’s wanted by the police, two delightful sisters, one played by kat dennings who banter is a higlight of the episode and who are inept at their job, assumign they should keep their guns in the glove box. They do manage to disarm her at least

Wolf and Honeybee are busy in their own fun subplot doing a true crime podcast, getting hot dogs and finding out the crime was solved and they just didn’t finish the page. not much to comment on there, but i’m pleased to say all three subplots are great.

And of course we get payoff as Ham apologizes for this (and to the shows credit Beef offered an out if it got too intense), and admits he was just told by the media and just wanted a big moment to be seen, but admits having a family who just acccepts him is better. Though he gets his cake and eats it too as his family stages a coming out for him that night and they all hug. IT’s a wonderful episode, going into the pressures to have a big coming out, which to be fair hollywood DOES overdramatize een when the parent fully accepts as while many coming outs can be dramatic or traumtizing, they all aren’t, and just being plain funny

So that does it for gay as a fox and I have tenative plans to return it again next year with more shows, some returns to one here.. and hopefullyt his show. we have a whole season to go so hopefullyt here willb e more. Till then, thanks for reading, happy pride, and thanks for all of you who read all of these. It’s nice to see fox has come this far and hopefully it’ll only sail further as we go.

#the great north #ham tobin #fox #animation domination #pride month #lbgtq+

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wordsnstuff · 4 years

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20 Mistakes To Avoid in Enemies To Lovers

PLEASE REBLOG | Tumblr suppresses posts with links :/

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Weak Conflict

There should always be a strong, compelling source of tension between two people who are considered enemies. Even if their rivalry stems from external sources, such as bad blood between families or competing for a number one spot, there should always be a concrete reason why they hate each other.

Not Explaining Forgiveness

When one of these conflicts subsides, or a tense moment resolves, it should be justified. Tension and emotions shouldn’t disappear because you’re trying to stuff romantic moments in here and there. If one of your characters crosses a line and the other character chooses to forgive them, there needs to be a clear and understandable reason. It doesn’t always have to sit well with the reader. Your character can make a blatantly stupid decision, but it needs to serve the plot.

No Tension To Be Found

If your characters have to verbally or physically assault each other to demonstrate the tension between them, you’re doing it wrong. If they have to kiss for the reader to see that they like each other, you’re doing it wrong. Tension is in the little things. It’s in the instances that most people would overlook, but your characters zero-in on because the subtext is too thick to gloss over. Tension is the most important plot device in enemies-to-lovers stories, so it requires a lot of time and attention to minute details.

Conflict Solved Too Easily

If the rivalry between your characters is one misstep after another, with immediate forgiveness following, the tension won’t build correctly. You’re working your way up to a boiling over moment. A moment where everything comes out and then, once resolved, makes way for the romantic feelings to enter. If the conflicts don’t slowly build on each other, that boiling moment will come out of nowhere and be less satisfying to read. Don’t let your characters off that easily. Enemies aren’t constantly letting things slide.

Characters Changing For One Another

People don’t need to be exactly the same to see attractive qualities in one another. It’s true that relationships shift your perspective and that it occasionally results in outward changes in behavior, but one or both characters shouldn’t mold their personality around their partner.

Stupid Potion

If one of your characters has to become oblivious or avoid critical thought to maintain a relationship with that character, you haven’t made the two characters compatible enough. This is especially true when one or both of your character’s identity revolves around a higher intelligence. They should have enough in common that there doesn’t have to be a giant shift in one or both personalities to work as a couple.

The Relationship Brings Them Down

The thing about enemies to lovers stories is that the happy endings are usually an indication of the author’s view of what is and is not forgivable in a potential partner. The acceptance of someone’s past mistakes, current flaws, and future struggles. When a love story ends with a couple that repeatedly lower each other or hurt each other, that sends a bad message, and that is your responsibility to avoid. It doesn’t need a happy ending, but it should never have a destructive one.

Writing Abuse Instead of Rivalry

There is a big difference between writing two equals who have a rivalry slowly falling in love and putting aside their differences, and writing an abusive, predatory love interest who repeatedly hurts, manipulates, and gaslights the main character. Just because you can imagine the character forgiving them doesn’t mean they’re a good partner. Cheating, physical abuse, isolation, passive aggression, and manipulation are not character flaws. They’re not “mistakes” that the character needs to forgive in order to save their relationship. It’s abuse, and when you write a story between an abuser and a victim that has a happy ending, that has consequences.

Revealing Feelings In A Cliché Way

This is very subjective, however, there are also a plethora of tropes to choose from and an infinite amount of alterations you can apply to make them your own. The objective, however, is to build up to it in a way that creates a satisfying payoff, and an interesting moment that serves all of the work you’ve done to build to it. There’s nothing worse than reading chapters and chapters of build up, anticipating a big moment where sparks fly, and then having all of that tension result in a sad sputter of mediocrity.

Instant Trust

Trust is difficult to build between two people, especially when they have a complicated past. Trust is earned, no matter who you are or what you’ve been through, it’s always a process. It’s never inherent. When two characters have a history of betrayal or hurt, trust is going to be even harder to develop between them, and that process is an opportunity for more tension, character development, conflict, and eventually a satisfying resolution. Trust development is a major plot device, and I recommend you take advantage of it. It’s also a huge opportunity for building romantic tension amongst the angst of trials and tribulations.

Why Do They Hate Each Other, Though?

There’s a thin line between love and hate, and that line is infatuation; obsession. So, what put the two of them on the bad side of that line? This reason is the main conflict. The overarching plot begins with the point where that rivalry either begins or is challenged after a long while of stagnation, and it ends with the two characters crossing over that line into love. You need to make that beginning point very clear.

Rivalry Shouldn’t Just Dissolve

There needs to be a transitionary period that is tense and awkward with scattered moments that make the effort worth it to both of them. There should be a “Well, we hated each other last week and then they did some really sweet things and now I’m not so sure. Maybe we’re starting to become friends now? I feel really excited when I see them, so I must not hate them anymore, right?” period.

Complete Opposites

Yes, opposites can attract. Yes, completely different people can fit together very well and have a happy relationship, but this is a cliché and is, in most cases, poorly thought out with little to no originality.

Love With No Reason

Just like your characters need a reason to hate each other, they need a reason to love each other. There has to be something that makes them work. Not just a common hobby or characteristic or exterior aspect they share, but something that makes them fit together. If they love each other because... they can, your reader will feel like they’re watching two stupid, lonely people tolerate each other’s flaws in the interest of sex or companionship for 100 pages.

No Actual Conflict Resolution

Relationships are built through conflict resolution. Communication, empathy, effort, and understanding between two people who work to make each other happy. Hollow forgiveness is not apart of that process, and if that’s all there is, you’re not developing a realistic relationship between compatible people, you’re depicting a toxic relationship that, in the case of these origins, can be abusive.

Underusing Sexual Tension

Sexual tension is great. It’s easy to develop, it has a satisfying payoff, and it doesn’t take up a lot of space on the pages. It doesn’t have to result in x-rated material, especially if you’re writing for a young adult audience, but it’s simple and effective.

No Awkward Transition Period

A large chunk of the plot should be awkward and uncomfortable to watch. The transition should be organic and make sense for your characters, but all organic movement contains struggle. Nobody goes from hating each other to loving each other overnight, and relationships are complicated and require hard work. Show this.

Catalogue Characters

There are enough stories out there with cardboard characters and self-insert protagonists, especially in romance. Make your protagonists unique and individual. Make your characters diverse and interesting to read about. Readers should have a bit of wiggle room for imagination, but that doesn’t mean they should be filling in the blanks like your characters are Mad Libs. Don’t close your eyes and point at character archetypes to form your cast. It’s obvious and lazy.

Stagnant Tone

The tone of these stories often falls flat because in the interest of building tension, writers ignore purposeful tone shifting, scene-to-scene. Change it up, make it potent, and make a lasting impact during important moments. Suspense and anticipation shouldn’t just build during the climax and resolution.

Bad Pacing

When your readers spend hours reading a story that promises a romantic payoff, they expect to see some of it. I think that a three act structure is really effective with this type of arc, with the first third being devoted to building rival tensions, the middle third being the shift from rivals to friends, and the last third building that romantic tension and ending with a happy resolution.

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lwt28brave · 3 years

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LT2 masterpost

If it was up to me, we would get an autumn or winter EP. Since it’s not up to me at all, here, enjoy this post with everything we know so far of LT2, which is to say, not much at all. Everything here is hypothetical. I’ll be updating every time I see something relevant. A little disclaimer that while this is a masterpost (kinda), it could be read as discourse (duh, it’s also a theory), AND it’s also by me, and you shouldn’t expect me to be serious at this point.

Due to me restraining myself, there’s no reference to any of the times he’s mentioned his guitar skills and him improving but I hope you know I cried every single time.

I’m also linking my old pinned here. It was written before AFHF and around the free merch thing that didn’t lead to much, but I still think I made some good points.

Possible tracks:

Copy of a Copy of a Copy

Change

Faith in the future??

369??

Possible names:

369

Faith in the future

When is the album coming out?

Your guess is as good as mine

Friday 28th of January 2022. Almost two years after Walls. It’s a Friday. It’s a 28th. What else can I say?

Here you can find @want-to-be-loved timelines for every month.

Here you can find @berlinini’s timeline of what Louis has been up to this year (2021).

The rest is under the cut. And here you can find a PDF version where Tumblr can't tell me how many pictures I can add.

2020

He said back on May 2th 2020 he wasn’t writing anything new yet.

(x)(x)(x)

Interestingly enough, he’s said many times after that that the album’s not ready cause he has no new experiences to drawn from. I won’t call him out because he does it himself.

May 4th. He liked a tweet from DMA’s Johnny Took saying they had to go write together again. Louis has been credited as an influence for them and (kind of) participated in their previous record, so I’m assuming he meant for their music and not his, but you never know.

Nothing(literally nothing??? how did we survive) until 11th of July. We all know what happened that day. We all celebrated it. Nonetheless, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

(x) So, by the beginning of July 2020 he was working on concepts and ideas for the new album. That was fifteen months ago. I know perfection takes time but…

Brief summary of important things that happened from then until the next mention of new music:

Louis left Syco!!!! 10 days later he rescheduled the tour for the first time. He followed Matt Vines on Twitter, probably so we could publicly shame him into doing something. Also, the 10thanniversary. He followed more people I wish he hadn’t.

Then more nothing until September. Not even a single tweet. The first merch drop was on the 28th of August but he just RT’ed the tweet. He first mentioned Free my Meal on the 25th of September. Then on October 1st Walls hit #1 on a lot of countries and Louis was incredibly happy and excited about it ^^

And then, that same day, October 1st, 2020, he dropped this bomb:

(x)

He also said it was too soon to be sharing new lyrics with us (x)

And, obviously, this tweet which is actually what made me start this whole post. I would hope you know mate.

(x)

He also told us he was cooking "banger after banger" and that he was incorporating more social themes into his music (x)(x) (I believe any social issue is a political issue but that’s not the point rn).

COPY OF A COPY OF A COPY?!?!

These next paragraphs are brought to you by my mind not remembering things and me not having any links. I’m assuming COACOAC came from those writing sessions that supposedly happened in October. Or in LA but I have no idea if he actually was in LA at any point other than a Daily Mail article putting him there on December which would have been too late, but I do remember that someone said he was in the studio in LA last autumn???? A rumor. Maybe. IDK. Did I mention already all of this is very hypothetical?? Well, this is it. I can’t even remember if this was October or November or what. So, take this with a grain of salt.

I’m also… taking the liberty to assume, if you must, that Copy wasn’t meant to be a Walls reject because it sounds more mature and darker and it has a vastly different tone that Walls songs. I know he’s said that song probably isn’t getting into the album, but I want to have faith (in the future) that I’m getting a studio version. (But also, Louis, if you’re reading this, first of all GET OUT OF MY BLOG second of all, please don’t ever feel pressured again to add a song to the album because we have already heard it before. It’s your art and it should always be under your own terms).

So yeah, I believe that Copy is either one of those four songs (then imagine the other three??!!) or was written around the 1st of October date.

---End of the Intermission---

Then not much important (other than sharing more about Marcus Rashford fight against food poverty and the 2nd merch drop) until he announced the livestream on the 24th of November. (x)

It wasn’t until a few days before the livestream date we even thought again about new music (jk, I know we’re always thinking about new Louis’ music). So, December 9th/10th, 2020. Nine months ago. We got our first taste of new music!

He made sure we knew Copy of a Copy of a Copy isn't a cover! (x) (x)

(x)

Ok, so that’s it for 2020. (I feel like I’m missing something from September 17th because tweet was deleted but maybe he was still talking about cucumbers. We might never know. Unless I understand how Tumblr tags work). Expected, cause Walls was released in 2020. We needed to let it sit for a while.

2021

Another Summary: Louis third tweet of the year was telling the UK government off. So was the fifth. What a good beginning. On the 26th of January, he said he prefers pancakes over waffles. I hope he meant pancakes other than his own. More importantly, he tweeted the infamous “you lot read into things too much”. Don’t get me started, Tomlinson. Don’t. Then the 31st came around and Walls was one. He tweeted this. How wise. And Project Defenceless happened!!

15th of February!! Who cares about Valentine Day when the next day we got this? ♥

(x)

So…AN EP?? AN EP?? PLEASE RELEASE AN EP.

“I’m sure I will have something out this year but unlikely that will be the album”. Unlikely but not impossible. Also. A single would be good. This is the second time he mentions releasing something in 2021 and he sounds surer about it than the first time around.

He also said that he isn’t sure we will get a studio version of Copy. And that the best bridges from Walls to LT2 are Walls, OTB, KMM and Copy. Can’t wait!

Then we jump to March 6th when he announced he was going to create his own management company. “Sometimes action is needed first to encourage the motivation and belief”. As we can tell he was already manifesting some stuff which will lead us to the numerology stuff/Tesla… kidding. Or not. We might never know.

On the 22nd of March he answered some questions:

He told us music was still his main focus ♥ mwha. (x) I included this tweet to guilt-trip him into giving us music in case he’s reading this even after I told him to leave. ILY.

(x) I’d love to get a visual EP this autumn. Just saying. It sounds like a lovely concept.

(x)

…next (I will get into it, I promise. I’m just mad).

On the 25th he left for Mexico until April 10th. You could assume it was just for the documentary where we got ten seconds of footage or admit the obvious: LT2 its a Mexican baby!!

On the 26th (so, not so far apart from that first 369) we got the first Faith in the Future mention: (x)

Back then we were innocent people who had no idea what was coming upon us. We still have no idea because what the fuck does he mean with these. Please explain. I have one braincell and I don’t use it enough for this. I’m linking some theories.

On the 30th of March he confirmed he was already working on the documentary. So AFHF was already on the works. Will it take this long for us to get the Veeps numbers? We also got this tweet: "Got a decent chorus idea down" (x).

Same person that got the “something out this year” exclusive. If you know something share with the class. Also. Is this Change? I feel like this could be Change but I also assume he wrote Change after hanging out with his friends or being in Doncaster. But who knows.

(x) And the second mention to 369.

(x) 15th of April. The second "Faith in the future".

On the 19th of April he announced that he had something BIG for us later on the year which turned out to be the Away From Home Festival ♥♥ (x) I love him so much.

Then on the 28th he announced the 369 merch drop (which it’s probably the Walls drop? Except that the TOU and KMM ones were “drop 1 and drop 2” and this was drop 369 which, again, makes no sense) but we still don’t know what 369 means.

Into May’ 21 we go.

He rescheduled tour again. And dropped another bomb (x).

He announced he has signed with BMG as an independent artist by RTing this tweet on May 10th. The article also says that he’s already working on writing and recording LT2. The timing… we don’t know. What this deal involves… we don’t know either. Bear with me here because I have a lot to say about this.

I think the deal is only a distribution one, but that BMG are interested in Louis and what he (us) could bring to the table. They were either present at the festival or watching it, but officially they had no involvement at all with it (everything is credited either to Louis own company, 78 Productions, or Charlie Lightening’s company). That’s the case for both giveaways too; the vinyl one and the tickets for the festival.

I think it would be an unbelievably bad move not to test the waters with BMG now or soon-ish. At least a single, to see how it performs. Due to the circumstances, it’s obvious there’re certain limitations on place but I want to see how they push it, whether the radio play exist this time around and if the song is playlisted and promoted and all that… I would also love to know, since it says he signed with BMG UK, but it also states it’s a global deal, how things are going to go on the US and other countries.

Yes, yes. I know those are all questions and no answers. But I know the same as you, sadly. If any of you know more than you’re letting on… again, share with the class.

Where was I? Yes, on the 25th of May Louis had a great day writing (x). Since the first time he had mentioned he was officially writing to this date there’s almost eight months. And I believe he was writing before October’ 20.

He followed Robert Harvey that day and, on the 28th of May (why is it always the 28th???) he was spotted at the studio for the first time.

June was an interesting month for the fandom ♥. Lots of LHL content which I will love and cherish for the rest of times. On June 4th, June 9th, and June 10th he was spotted at the studio, but I believe he was there more days.

(x)

This was posted on June 6th and captioned Studio. Charlie also shared it with “Mega tunes being put down, can’t wait for this @louist91 #louistomlinson #LT2” as the caption. This gives me 2019 (Elton-Joint) vibes. I like it. Feels like we’re getting closer to something.

He added the Milano date on the 9th too which I’m mentioning because I’m going alone. Anyone wanna go with me please? I’m nice and I never eat anything before a concert so you can have my food. On other news. It didn’t come home.

During July he was at the studio at least three days too. Probably more. Feels like more with all the fan pictures we got. Or was that June? Anyway, July 1st and 9th we got some videos from Robert Harvey and wearesuperhi, which is who Louis has been working with the most, that we know of. I don’t know for sure they’re from that day. And on July 5th we got an article and lots of pictures of Louis looking really good outside the studio.

On the 12th of July the first fans started getting the free, 369 bucket hat and print. We still don’t know what the purpose was other than to thanks fans. Maybe that was it. I want answers and I still think it relates to a future project (see theories above), but it could also just be a bridge with the Walls breaking.

He didn’t tweet about anything interesting for a while, mostly because he lost his phone (he either throwed it in the air or smashed it who knows). Then on the 29th of July he announced the festival!

I’m glossing over it because there’s already been a lot of talk about it (rightfully) and while it was a wonderful thing, it doesn’t have much to do with LT2.

Let’s talk Change!

On August 3rd he tweeted this about the setlist.

(x)

And this (x) on the 28th! I can’t stand him.

We didn’t get it, obviously. Because who was going to get that. But we read too much into things. Alright.

On the 16thof August Dave Gibson shared this post tagged #LT2 with the eyes emojis 👀👀👀. I believe this has to do both with Change but also with whatever else came out of that Mexico trip.

(x) Last relevant tweet related to LT2 is this one.

So, on the 30th of August we got Change and we cried, and we know that Change is going in the new album. He said it. With those exact words. He also said he was “getting a feeling for it”. This has to meant he already has a general idea of the vibe of the new album and what’s going in it!!!!!! (Right? RIGHT?).

Anyway, let’s go back a few weeks because some other things happened on August. He was at the studio a few more times. Or it was suggested that he was there. On the 17th and the 18th. (Why was it so time-pressing to be at the studio instead of rehearsing for the festival? There was no studio at all on the documentary. Which makes sense, but again, then why?).

On the day of the festival we got another mention of Faith in The Future that made me feel part of a cult ngl. The words were flashing on the screen for less than a second. Okay.

And then he tweeted those words again after watching the livestream/documentary on the 4th of September (x). This is what makes me suspect it's either the name of the album or of the single.

On the same day, we got some interesting quotes about LT2 on the documentary.

“Soon I’ll have to think about me second album, which in my head I’ll get the tour out of the way and then I’ll address that. So, I hadn’t really given it much thought, to be honest”.

“When every day is the same is hard to feel creative and it’s hard to have any kind of proper inspiration”.

“As season started to come back, I started writing again and it was great and some of these songs turned out alright”.

And I think this is it. I might be overlooking some important details but that’s what we know and what we don’t know.

So. Conclusions. That’s what you missed on Glee. I do believe the album is, if not mostly done, partially there. And yes, this post is pointless and never-ending but it’s all in here if you need to tell Louis “Hey, you said this, mate”.

#LT2 #Louis Tomlinson #Faith in The future #369 #Louis #LT #new music #idk what this is #but it's long #pinned

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doycetopia · 12 years

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Mass Effect, Tolkien, and Your Bullshit Artistic Process

It may seem a bit odd that I’m posting this here rather than on my gaming-related blog, since it is about the Mass Effect game series and other related geekery. I debated where I should post it, but ultimately this is about writing as much or more than it’s about gaming, so here it is. Everything that follows is my opinion and, further, is infested with spoilers for both the Mass Effect series and, I suppose, The Lord of the Rings. Reader beware.

In late February, I said (on twitter) that I thought the Mass Effect universe was probably the most important science fiction of a generation.

Since then, the executive producer for Mass Effect 3 has been working tirelessly to get me to retract that statement.

If you follow gaming news at all, you’ll already know that there have been great clouds of dust kicked over this particular story — the gist of it is that Mass Effect was brought to a conclusion with the release of Mass Effect 3 (note: not brought to its conclusion, just brought to a conclusion — more on that later), and while 99% of the game was the same top-notch, engaging, tear-inducing stuff that we’ve come to expect, the last five minutes or so is a steaming, Hersey’s Kiss-sized dollop of dog shit that you are forced to ingest at the conclusion of the meal, like a mint, before they let you out the door.

It’s fair to say that it’s soured many players’ impression of the experience as a whole.

Now, I realize that many of the folks reading this may not have played through the Mass Effect series. First of all, that’s really too bad, because it is very, very good both in terms of play (which steadily improves from game to game) and story (barring one steaming exception) and (I think) completely worth the time.

But secondly, I’d like to keep you non-ME people involved in the conversation, so I’m going to draw a comparison that I think most anyone likely to visit here will understand, so that we can all proceed with reasonable understanding of the issues.

Let’s pretend for a moment that The Lord of the Rings was released not as a series of books, but a series of games. More importantly, the company behind the series decided to do something really hard but rewarding with the game — they were going to let you make decisions during play that substantively altered the elements of the story. That means that some of people playing through this Lord of the Rings story would end up with a personal game experience that was pretty much exactly like the one you and I all remember from reading the books, but that story is just sort of the default. Whole forums were filled up by fans of the series comparing notes on their versions of the game, with guides on how to get into a romantic relationship with Arwen (the obvious one), Eowyn (more difficult, as you have to go without any kind of romance option through the whole first game, but considered by many to be far more rewarding), or even Legolas (finally released as DLC for the third game).

And that’s certainly not all of possible permutations. Some players actually managed to save Boromir (though he leaves the party regardless, but gets you a whole extra army in the third game if he’s alive, and makes Denethor much less of a pain in the ass to deal with). Some folks don’t split up the party, and spend most of the game recruiting supporters through the South and North, from Aughaire down to Dol Imren. For some, Gimli dies at Helms Deep; for others only Merry escapes into Fangorn (which makes recruiting the Ents all but impossible). Hell, there are even a few weirdos who chose NOT to recruit Samwise back at the beginning of the story, and actually play through the whole first game without him (though the writers reintroduce him as a non-optional party member once you get ready to leave Lothlorien).

And what about the players who rolled the main character as a female? That changes a LOT of stuff, as you might well imagine. (Though, thankfully, all the dialogue options with Legolas are the same.)

Are you with me so far?

Okay, so you’re playing through this game — you’ve played through parts 1 and 2 several times, in fact, sometimes as a goody-two-shoes, and sometimes as a total bad-ass. You’ve got a version of the game where you’re with Arwen, one with Eowyn, one with Legolas, and one where you focus on Frodo and his subtle hand-holding bromance with Sam. You’re ready for Part Three, is what I’m saying, and out it comes.

And it’s awesome. You finally bring lasting alliance between Rohan and Gondor, you form a fragile-yet-believable peace between elves and dwarves, and even manage to recruit a significant strike-force of old Moria orcs who don’t so much like you as much as they just hate the johnny-come-lately Uruk-hai.

The final chapters open. You face down Saruman (who pretended to fund all your efforts through the second book, but then turned on you at the end of the Two Towers), which was really satisfying. You crawl up to the top of Mount Doom, collapse against a rock, and have a really touching heart to heart with Sam. It’s over. You know you have all your scores high enough to destroy the One Ring with no crisis of conscious and no lame “Gollum bit off my finger and then falls in the lava” ending, like the one you saw on the fanfic forums last year.

And then out comes this glowing figure from behind a rock, and it’s… Tom Bombadil.

And Tom explains your options.

Oh, and you're totally going to die too. And all the roads and horses throughout all of middle earth vanish. And by the way did you know that Sauron and the Nazgul all actually just work for Bombadil? True story.

Now, let’s just ignore the fact that the company behind this game has been quoted many times as saying that the game will end with no less than sixteen different endings, to honor all the various ways the story could go, and focus on these three options.

None of them have anything to do with destroying the ring, do they?

Has ‘destroying the ring’ (alternately, destroying Sauron) been pretty much THE THING you’ve been working toward the whole game? Yeah, it has. In fact, it mentions “Rings” right there in the title of the series, doesn’t it? Rather seems to make The Ring a bit of a banner item, doesn’t it?

But no, none of these options are about the Ring; they’re about one of the b-plots in the series, and one which you pretty much already laid to rest a few chapters ago.

So… okay, maybe this isn’t the END ending, you think, and you pick one of the options…

And that’s it. A bunch of cut-scenes play, Mount Doom explodes with fiery red light, you die, and the credits roll. The end.

Ohhh-kay. Maybe that was the bad ending. Let’s reload a save and pick option 2…

Same. Exact. Cut scenes. Except Mount Doom’s explosion is green. What?

Alright… umm… let’s check #3…

Nope. Mount Doom’s explosion is Blue. That’s it.

And, absolutely inexplicably, every single one of these cut scenes shows Gandalf, Aragorn, and SAMWISE escaping the explosion on one of the eagles and crash-landing somewhere in Lorien where they all pat themselves on the back and watch the sun set together.

What? But… Sam was with you. Aragorn and Gandalf… did they start running away halfway through the last fight at the Black Gate? Your boys abandoned you?

So, given this example, it’s possible — even for someone who didn’t play Mass Effect — to understand the fan’s reaction. The ending has no real connection to the rest of the story; barring the last scene and one conversation with an unnamed Nazgul in Book 3, it would lift right out with no one even noticing. It completely takes away your choices at the end of a game about making world-altering choices. It effectively destroys the Middle Earth that you were fighting for 100 hours of gameplay to preserve — no magic? Maybe a completely wiped out dwarven race? No one can travel anywhere without painstakingly rebuilding roads for a couple hundred years and replacing horses with something else? Also, no matter what, no matter how much ass you kick, you’re dead? Yeah. No thanks, man.

And that’s not even paying attention to stuff like how (and why) Sam and Gandalf and Strider ran away at the end. I mean… even if you’re going to do a shitty twist ending, don’t be so goddamn lazy about it. Don’t sit there and claim that criticism of the ending is an attack on your artistic product, because frankly that ending is full of holes and needs a rewrite and probably two more chapters to flesh out. (More on that in a bit.)

So… that’s where the Mass Effect franchise was after ME3 came out. A lot of confusion. A lot of rage. Some protests of a very interesting sort, where the gamers against the terrible ending decided to draw attention to the issue by raising something like seventy-thousand bucks for geek-related charities.

Now, let’s go a bit deeper.

Let’s continue with this Lord of the Rings video game analogy. Let’s say that after a bit of digging, people realized that Tolkien actually left the company to work on other projects before the game was complete. He wrote up a detailed outline, though; something that clearly spelled out exactly how the main arc of the story was supposed to play out, in broad strokes, basically laying out what we would expect the ending to be, pretty much.

But Tolkien left. So they get another guy in. Someone else who’s written stuff about some kind of powerful ring…

They get Steven R. Donaldson.

(Those of you who know me and my history with the Thomas Covenant books can guess that this analogy is not going to be a positive one, because seriously: fuck Thomas Covenant.)

So they get this Donaldson guy in to helm the end of the series, and it turns out he’s the guy who comes up with the Tom Bombadil, fuck-the-continuity-of-the-series ending.

Why? Maybe he’s pissed about being the second choice. Maybe he’s not getting paid enough to give a fuck. Maybe he just really wants to do this kind of story, but can’t be arsed to write a series of his own for which it makes sense. Maybe the original ending outlined by Tolkien got leaked on a forum the year before the last game came out, so people decided it had to be changed, even if the alternative makes no sense. I don’t know.

What I do know is the there was a different ending written out for the Mass Effect series, the short version of which is that the Big Reveal in ME3 is that the Mass Effect itself — the magical black-box technology that allows interstellar travel and powers a ton of other things from weapons to expensive toothbrushes — is causing a constant increase in dark energy in the galaxy, and that’s causing all kinds of bad things (like the accelerated death of stars).

The Mass Effect — you know, the thing from which the name of the series is derived — is the secret behind the Big Reveal. Who would have thought?

So, in the end of the game-as-envisioned, you’re given a choice of saving the galaxy by sacrificing the human race (making humanity into a biomechanical, synthetic-life, communal-intelligence “Reaper” that can stop the Dark Energy decay), or telling the Reapers to screw themselves and trying to fix the problem on your own (with a handful of centuries left before the Dark Energy thing snowballs and grows out of control on its own).

Which, in a word, would have been better. Certainly FAR better than some kind of stupid Tom Bombadil/Star Child explanation where we are told that the (synthetic AI) Reapers destroy advanced organic civilizations every 50 thousand years to prevent organic civilizations from… being destroyed by synthetic AIs.

Now we don’t just have some gamer complaints about the terrible ending, we have a demonstrably better ending that was actually supposed to be the one implemented. Complicates things, doesn’t it?

But Why All the Hate?

The simple fact of the matter is that Mass Effect is a story, and it’s a very good story — in my opinion, it’s one of the best stories I’ve ever experienced. People can hem and haw about what constitutes a story — about whether a game can really be a story if people can play it — as though a story is only a story if it’s spoken or written or projected up on a movie screen. That’s like saying a person is only a person if they walk or ride a horse or drive a car… because we all know the vehicle in which the subject is conveyed changes that subject’s inherent nature.

Some people say it’s not a real story because the player’s choices can alter it. I think they’re full of crap, and I say the proof of its power as a story is right there in the story-pudding — it affects me as a story does — and that’s all the criteria met. Walks like duck, quacks like duck, therefore duck.

But the problem (if you’re BioWare) is that human beings understand stories; we know how they’re supposed to work, thanks to thousands of years of cultural training. Mass Effect (until that conclusion) is a nigh-perfect example of how a story is done correctly, thanks in part to the medium, which allows (if you’ll permit me the slaughter of a few sacred cows) a level of of immersion and connection beyond what a book or movie or any other storytelling medium up to this point in our cultural history can match, because of the fact that you can actively take part in that story from the inside. Heresy? Fine, brand me a heretic; that’s how I see it.

And since it’s such a good story, people know how the thing is supposed to proceed, and they know how it should end.

You start out in ME1 trying to stop a bad guy, Saren. He’s the guy who gets us moving (because he’s a bad guy, and that’s what they do — bad guys act, and heroes react to that and move the story along). As we try to stop him, we find out there’s something bigger going on than just a rogue cop on a rampage. The picture keeps getting bigger, the stakes keep getting higher, and we keep getting our motivation and our level of commitment tested. Are we willing to sacrifice our personal life? Yes? Okay, will we sacrifice one of our friends? Yes? Okay, how about the leaders of the current galactic government? Yes? Okay…

It goes on like that. You fucking invest, is what I’m saying, and that’s just in the first game.

In the second game, the fight continues, as we have merely blunted the point of the spear, not stopped the attack. Our choices in ME1 had consequences, and we start to see them play out, for better or worse. Meanwhile, we’re trying to stop Evil Plan #2, in a suicide mission that could literally cost us nearly every single friend we’ve made. In the end, we get the joy of victory mixed with the sadness of the loss of those who didn’t make it, and it’s all good, because it’s a strong, healthy, enjoyable emotional release.

And now it’s ME3, and the stakes are even higher. We’re not recruiting more individual allies — we’re recruiting whole peoples — whole civilizations. Planets are falling. Worlds are being erased.

In the words of Harbinger, this hurts you.

Why? Because you know these people who are dying. You’ve spent over a hundred hours traveling this setting, meeting people, helping them, learning about each of their little stories; building relationships with, literally, hundreds of individuals. Every one of these planets going up in flames has a face (even if it’s a face behind a breathmask), and no one falls in this final story that wasn’t important in some way to you or someone you know.

(By contrast, the enemy is faceless and (since the reapers harvest your former allies and force them into monstrous templates) largely indistinguishable from one another — as it should be in this kind of story. You do not care about a Husk, though you might mourn the person killed to create the thing.)

In short, you aren’t just playing this game to get the high score. You’re fighting for this galaxy of individuals you’ve grown very, very attached to; to protect it and, as much as you can, preserve it. You’ve spent several hours every day on this, for months. It matters.

"Hard to imagine galaxy. Too many People. Faceless. Statistics. Easy to depersonalize. Good when doing unpleasant work. For this fight, want personal connection. Can't anthropomorphize galaxy. But can think of favorite nephew. Fighting for him."

(Best of all, you get to shoot bad guys in the face while you’re doing it, which takes this heavy topic and makes it engaging at that level as well. It’s like soaking up all the gravitas of Schindler’s List while enjoying the BFG-toting action of Castle Wolfenstein at the same time.)

The end comes. We talk to all our friends. Everyone’s wearing their brave face, talking about what they’re going to do afterwards, which beach they’re going to retire on. You start to think that maybe the end is in sight and maybe, just maybe, you might even be able to see some of that ending.

The last big conflict starts. You fight some unkillable things and kill them. You face off against an old nemesis and finally end him.

And then…

And then you’re given three choices, none of which result in anything any different from the others, and none of which have consequences that have any connection to the goals we’ve been working on for the last hundred hours or so.

Those people you were just talking to? They’re gone. Or stranded on an alien world. Or dead. All those planets you helped? They’re gone too — cut off, or starving, or maybe just destroyed in manufactured super-novas. Nothing you did or accomplished in the last three games actually matters — it’s all been wiped out by one of three (red, green, or blue) RESET buttons you pushed, because pushing one of those buttons was the only ‘choice’ given to you at the end.

As a species, trained for thousands of years in the way stories work, we know this is a bad ending. Not “tragic”. Just bad. Poor.

This isn’t about a bunch of priviledged gamers complaining about a sad ending, because there are well-done sad endings that make contextual sense.

This is about a mechanical ending to the game that doesn’t end the story — that provides no emotional release — one so disassociated from the previous 99% of the story that the fans of the series collectively hope it will later be revealed to be a dream (or, in the context of the setting, a final Reaper Indoctrination attempt).

Dear writers: If you create something, and your readers hope that what you just gave them was, in reality, an “it was a dream all along” ending, because that would be better than what you wrote, you seriously. fucked. up.

Is the ending, as an ending (taken out of context with the game we’ve been playing), a bad one? No. It’s an interesting theme that was explored extensively in a B-plot within the series and which could certainly be the central thread of a series of its own.

But it’s not the ending of this story. Our goals — the one we’ve been fighting for — are never addressed. There is no closure, either happy or sad — we want our emotional release as it relates to the game we actually played. Maybe that means tragedy at our own stupid hands — maybe victory wrested from the biomechanical jaws of defeat (and at the cost of a greater looming danger ahead).

The ending we got? It didn’t make me angry or sad or happy. It left me unfulfilled, because it ended the game talking about something I didn’t actually care about, and left me waiting for that emotional release that ME1 or ME2 pulled off so well.

The idea that the player’s should just deal with the ending, because it’s Bioware’s ending and not theirs is one of the interesting points in this debate, simply because it rides this weird line where we don’t really have a cultural context for what the Mass Effect series is: Is it a game? Is it a story? If if it’s a game, then who cares about the story, and if it’s a story, then treat it like a book and stop pretending you get to influence it, stupid consumer.

The answer is more complicated: Is it a game or story? Yes. Moreover, it’s a game that’s welcomed player input into the narrative from the first moment, and as such, should be committed to honoring that input throughout. It’s a story, but it belongs to everyone telling it.

But It’s Art! There’s a recurring tune being played by Bioware in response to this outcry, and it goes something like this: “We might respond to these complaints, and we might flesh out the ending we presented, but we’re not going to change anything, because this is art — this is the product of artists — and as such it is inviolate and immutable in the face of outside forces.”

Which is, speaking as a working artist, complete and utter horseshit.

If you make a movie, and you put in front of focus groups, and they categorically hate the ending, you change it. If you’re writing a book and your first readers tell you the ending is terrible, you fix it. (Ditto your second readers, your second-draft readers, your agent, your editor, your copy editor.)

Or maybe you don’t — maybe you say “this is art, and it is inviolate and immutable in the face of outside forces”, which is certainly your choice — but don’t expect anyone to help you bring that piece of crap to print.

Anyone can tell a story. You can sit in your special writing nook and turn out page after page of perfectly unaltered, immutable art and be quite happy — you’re welcome to, in fact.

But when you decide you want to make a living off it? Even if you want to just make a little spending money?

Then the rules change. Then it’s work. Then it’s a job. More importantly, then it’s part of a business model, and those golden days of your art being inviolate and immutable blah blah blah are well and truly behind you. Name me a story that saw print, or a movie that saw the Big Screen, and I’ll show you art that changed because of input from someone other than the the original creator — from someone looking at it from the point of view of the consumer.

Bioware is a company. Making their stories into games is their business model. Hiding behind some kind of “but it’s art, so we’re not changing it” defense is insulting, disingenuous, and flat-out stupid. Worse, it perpetuates the idea that the creator’s output is in some stupid way sancrosant and, as art, cannot be “wrong” or “bad”. If you as a creator imagine that to be the case — if you think that kind of argument is going to defend your right to never do a rewrite or a revision or line edits or to ever alter, in any way, your precious Artistic Process — discard that notion.

Or become accustomed to a long life as an “undiscovered talent”.

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#crosspost #mass effect #randomaverage

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