#It just feels like a throwaway gag

[penwrythe]

After seeing the recent II episode, I've seen ND fans discussing how Cabby is treated in the episode. I also saw Justin comment his thoughts on the discussion as well.

Part of me want to share some insight into how I rewrote a scene in my script for Rise of Relics to remove an ableist implication of Nicodemus' behavior towards Nikey (see this post here about it). There's also another scene I plan to rewrite as well that has a few ableist implications and I want to show how to improve it with research and listening to those with physical disabilities.

I'm not sure if it's alright for me to share this, as some of the II fans have similar symptoms to Cabby's memory issues, I do not want to speak over them as I do not have any memory symptoms as they do. What I do have, in reference to the scene in Rise of Relics, is anxiety and (possible) undiagnosed OCD, and Nikey is written with the implication of having both of these. The other scene I want to later rewrite is also in reference to how Nikey finds comfort in others, sometimes invasively due to having poor coping skills, and Nicodemus is often the person who helps ground her.

I think it's best for me to listen to those who are most affected by the episode before I say anything. But, one thing I say is that condemning a character's aids and accommodations they use to cope with their symptoms is wrong. Showing unhealthy coping mechanisms is okay (carefully saying this while keeping in mind my own experience coping with anxiety), but I do think this episode should have been written with more care.

To Justin and the Inanimate Insanity team, please consult sensitivity readers for your scripts in the future, please.

[traaanskimkitsuragi]

yooo tlovm season 2 is actually so good so far 👀

[syluscore]

I'm a Loser, Baby

~loser, creep, disgusting, vile! König x fem! Reader~

Word count: 1103

Content warnings: harassment, cyber-bullying (digs at reader's personality, appearance, dead loved ones, and telling her to kill herself), stalking, nonconsensual touching(while sleeping), gross stuff (involving a toothbrush, silverware, and menstrual blood), male masturbation, fantasies about period sex, defiling corpse mention

!!!!!!STRICTLY 18+ BLOG! MINORS DNI!!!!!!!!

He’s obsessed with you and you never really pay attention to him. At first, you were intrigued by the giant masked man, but he’s so awkward and says the most unsettling things that you’re completely put off.  And it irritates the shit out of him.

It’s his personal mission to knock you down a few pegs. He starts anonymously bullying and harassing you. So many mean messages from random numbers and throwaway emails. You block every single one, but he always has more at the ready and makes more as needed. Apps such as TextNow have made this so much easier for him.

Fucking stupid. Useless woman. No one wants you around.

Ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.

No wonder you have no friends. Bet your family hates you too. 

Your laugh makes me gag and your teeth are disgusting. Cover your mouth, tramp.

I hope you hate yourself everyday, and if you ever forget, I’ll always be here to remind you. 

Ever thought of just killing yourself? Doing the world a fucking favor.

Your body is the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen. Seen whales built better than you.

If you blew your face off, you’d be a lot more attractive. 

If you hung yourself in front of everyone, they’d just watch. Wouldn’t even try to save you. Worthless.

Personality is about as good as unseasoned chicken. Waste of space.

You ever stared at your side profile? Obviously not since you haven’t killed yourself yet.

He finds people online to send you messages and even call you too. All he has to do is send a little money their way and your contact info, they do all the rest. 

He watches the light slowly fade from your eyes as the messages get more and more elaborate. People online can get really creative. When you change your number and make a second email, he chuckles to himself and immediately forwards them along. 

You’re in your head a lot more now. Not paying attention much to everyone around you, fucking up in training which only makes you feel worse. Gives him extra time to go through your things and watch you in your oblivious state.

You don’t notice the little chew marks on your toothbrush. Him sneaking into your bathroom at least twice a week to suck on the object while he jerks himself off into your skin. You set your dirty spoon in the sink and the second you’re gone, he’s sucking and licking on that too. Groaning knowing your saliva is inside of him.

It continues to escalate until he finds himself going through your things. All of your things. He rummages through your trash casually. Your bathroom trash isn’t safe from his dirty hands either. 

Your monthly cycle is his favorite. He’s always enjoyed the sight of blood and yours makes him fucking feral. He keeps himself from outright touching or tasting the blood, but when he finds a pair of blood stained panties that you couldn’t be bothered with trying to clean or keeping for another cycle, he loses his mind.

It’s probably one of his favorite keepsakes of all time. Using the piece of fabric as a fidget toy of sorts. Whenever he’s alone in his room, he has them in his hands just rubbing them between his large fingers. Jerking himself off with the blood stained fabric numerous times. Always wondering what it’d feel like to fuck you while you’re bleeding–how much blood would coat your thighs and his cock.

In a locked drawer in his own room, he has almost a shrine dedicated to you. Little things he’s stolen from you and so many pictures of you. All taken when you’re unaware of them. An obscene amount of them from when you’re sleeping. Of him touching you when you’re sleeping. Of his cock touching your face and hands when you’re sleeping.

One day he’s leaned back in a kitchen chair, arms crossed over his chest while he thinks of what to do to torment you next, when you walk in eyes bloodshot. Like you’d just been crying. Which you had been thanks to a really nice message getting under your skin. One about defiling your dead relative’s corpse because it’d be more desirable than you. 

König stares at you, not moving a muscle or making a sound. You avoid eye contact as you aimlessly stare in the fridge.

He finally speaks up. “Okay. What’s wrong?” You try to brush it off, telling him it’s nothing, but he keeps pressing. And soon tears are falling from your eyes again and it has his cock hardening in his pants. 

You spill your guts. The harassment. The constant texts and emails. The bullying. The threats. The thing about your loved ones corpse. And König silently listens until your sobs finally stop. 

“You know, I know some people who can deal with this sort of thing. Could make a couple calls and make this disappear.” He fails to mention it’s because he’d call off his specialized force of internet dickheads. 

“Oh,” you speak quietly. “You don’t have to do that. Just feeling sensitive today. I’m sure I’ll feel fine again tomorrow.” Right. Your period should be here within a couple of days. PMS will do that to you–it always does. Best time to pay his people a little extra to be extra mean and consistent. 

“No. I insist. You’re being harassed and that is unacceptable.”

Your eyes soften, your lip continuing to tremble as you finally meet his eyes. “You’d–why would you do that for me? You’re willing to do that for me?”

König just barely nods his head. “Of course.”

You let out a sigh and wipe your tears, smiling widely at him. It has him completely rethinking his motives. You’re the cutest thing he’s ever seen when smiling up at him like that. 

Before he can process it, you’re wrapping your arms tightly around his waist and nuzzling your face against his chest. “Thank you, König!” You say happily, having full faith in him that he’ll accomplish this for you. 

That’s when you feel it. His fully hard cock. Pressing into you. Not a weapon, not a phone. His erection. You slowly take a few steps back from him, a look of disgust on your face. You stare at him for a fat minute before turning on your heels, storming out of the room. But not before yelling, “Pig!”

König does a full 180. Goes from smirking under his mask, to rage filled eyes. Have it your way. His efforts will now double in fucking with you. Self-righteous little bitch. 

~masterlist~

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[appleoranch]

EVERYONE BADK UP DASH IS YURI ON ICE POSTING AGAIN!!!!!

Yuri on ice is so important to me because it was one of the first things that really showed me queer people as just people existing. Like yes yuri and viktors relationship is a big part of the show but it’s not the main plot. The main plot is Yuri overcoming his anxiety and trying to win gold at the Grand Prix. Yuri and Viktors casual displays of affection toward each other (while they may feel very loud and out there) were so important to me as a young queer in 2016. Seeing their relationship be something serious and not a throwaway gag really ignited something in me and it’s just so special. They’re so in love I’m SICK!!

[daezedglownut]

I thought I’d already found all the possible little hints in XI that Sylvando/Sylvia is trans-coded.

There’s the throwaway party chat line at the French private school:

Ah, to travel from place to place collecting mini medals, learning all about the world and blossoming into lovely young ladies! The students of this school are so lucky!

If we find any mini medals on our travels, we should bring them back here right away so that we can blossom into lovely ladies too! Wouldn’t that be wonderful, honey?

There’s the fact that Sylv in Act 2 bends down to pick up items in the exact same way the girls at the academy practice with mini medals, echoing the statue at the gates of ‘La Collectrice’ - “an elegant young lady picking up a gold medal in a distinctly dignified fashion”.

Very demure. Very mindful.

There’s also the name angle to consider. Though it could be argued that if you leave home and don’t want news of where you are getting back to your dad, you’d probably go by a pseudonym or a stage name. So I don’t think that Sylvando/Sylvia not going by Norberto is a very strong piece of evidence at all.

Adding to that, the fact he ran away from home could yet be seen as a gay young man running away because he didn’t feel accepted at home. But it could also be a trans character doing the exact same thing, so I’d say it’s still very plausible. Not to mention Sylvando inadvertently following in his mother’s footsteps during Act 2 with his gang of gay little ducklings, as mentioned by the Ringmaster is actually a really cute detail, however you want to slice it:

I saw her when I was just a child. She was simply the most incredible performer… She led a parade of people out of a kingdom destroyed by monsters, and on to a new home and a brighter future. And she kept them smiling from start to finish! You can’t imagine how inspirational it was for those of us who were lucky enough to wave them on their way.

You remind me of her, you know. The look on her face as she proudly led all those people out of danger, spreading joy and laughter wherever she went…

Then there’s the fact Sylvando/Sylvia goes by female pronouns in the JP version of the game. Again, not concrete evidence based on the fact that “extremely flamboyant gay male characters” in JP media are often (sadly) treated in the exact same way, reducing them to a comic relief sort of “hodgepodge mix of everything queer” Okama stereotype. This doesn’t erase their cisness or their homosexuality. But I can see why from a western viewpoint it might seem like really strong evidence of their transness when it’s something particular to Japan that got lost in translation. The closest comparison I can think to make to “make it make sense” is in the west where gay femme—but entirely cis—males call one another “she” and “her”.

However, I found what could be the most concrete “HEAR ME OUT” evidence completely by accident:

Boxer shorts are a common suit of armor in the Dragon Quest series. They are generally considered a gag piece of equipment notable for their low defensive properties and they can only be worn by male characters.

And wouldn’t you know it, only the Luminary, Erik, Rab, and Hendrik can equip the boxer shorts in XI…

I checked.

Now. I don’t want to say this is canonical or 100% proof by any means. Sylvando could just be a flamboyantly gay man who has too much self respect than to be seen dead in those striped monstrosities. After all, I can’t imagine someone like Jasper would deign to equip them either lol

What I love most about Sylvando/Sylvia is how open to interpretation the character is. I’ve seen so many conflicting theories that are all written beautifully, and all hold merit. (I myself enjoy dabbling with how I interpret the character depending on the needs of the story I’m writing, and whatever tf my gender is doing on any given day…)

And the best thing about Sylvando/Sylvia is the overwhelmingly positive reception to the character from fans. How Sylv could’ve been a cheap throwaway gag without substance, yet arguably became the character who ‘stole the show’ at every turn and got some of the best storylines.

In the end, I didn’t want to save the world for the rest of Erdrea - I just wanted to do it so Sylv could go home and make up for lost time with his adorable, crotchety dad! 🥺💕

[total-drama-brainrot]

Thoughts on Owen? I’ve been rewatching the og 3 seasons and seeing the change from finalist to gag character is weird

Owen is my Roman Empire.

He started off as an actual character in Island, which is a given since he was pre-determined to be a finalist from the get-go. Owen's always been a big personality of the series, with his (sometimes overbearing) friendliness and boisterous attitude, accompanied by his many many character flaws. But, at least in Island, he was realistically written- or as realistic as the show could do, given its parameters. He gets to have moments where he actually forms bonds and friendships with others on screen, and where his character flaws actually impact the challenge instead of being played off as jokes (like him luring in a bear with his hunting stories).

Owen's character traits were gradually reduced from being an optimistic and somewhat naïve, but otherwise standard teenage boy (of the time) to being a flanderisation of a golden retriever. In World Tour especially, he's rarely given any lines that don't somehow relate to his love of food, his flatulence or his fear of flying. For the span of an episode or two, he gets to focus on his feelings for Izzy (and he also gets some throwaway lines about his friendship with Noah and his trust-turned-distrust of Alejandro), but otherwise he's pretty self-contained as comedic relief.

He stops being a multi-faceted character and starts being a one-dimensional imitation of himself. And it's a shame, since Owen's one of the funniest characters to both watch and write for, so stripping him of a lot of his substance for the sake of delegating him to the role of background character, instead of just eliminating him early (since he didn't really have any use in World Tour outside of his aerophobia "plotline" and Izzy's elimination), seems like a waste of both his character potential and the potential of others.

And, one thing I noticed upon re-watching Island, even his voice becomes a sort-of mockery of what it started out as. No shade to Scott McCord, he does a fantastic job with his VA work- especially on Total Drama, where his characters are all distinctly different sounding. But really, go back and listen to Owen in early Island, and then listen to him in WT or RR- that's an entirely different cadence. He loses a lot of the scratchiness in his voice, and it raises a solid three or four semitones into something almost childish- once again playing into Owen's erosion from a fairly normal teenage boy into the caricature of naivety he eventually becomes.

We do get to see some of his original characterisation shine through in certain moments- there's a few lines he has in WT where Owen gets to be a little sassy or even somewhat confrontational, which is such a breath of fresh air from his usual airheaded happiness or aerophobia-fuelled terror. But he loses a lot of his season one charm with his delegation to the background; show me the Owen who's fun-loving, sure, but also a bit of a menace! Show me the Owen who's more than just the butt of a joke (pun intended)!

[certifiedtrashmouth]

Oh gosh I don’t wanna repeat someone and I’m not sure about Xmas traditions but what about ridiculous stocking stuffers w Eddie? Fluff/humor.

oh, god. this one also got out of hand. started in light-hearted fun and ended in fluff that had me screaming into my pillow. i'm sorry for the length.

good for one kiss (eddie munson x reader)

warnings: none really. mentions of penis??? (eddie makes a joke about his dick and there's mention of a blowjob but no description lol), mentions of cigarettes, idiots in love. best friends to lovers.

“What am I supposed to do with a single piece of gum?” 

“What am I supposed to do with a single cigarette?” 

“Smoke it, idiot.”

“It’s broken, idiot.” 

“Oh.” 

You and Eddie sit cross-legged across from each other on his bed on Christmas Eve, partaking in your annual gift exchange. But there was a catch; each year, you exchanged stockings, only gifting each other what you could fit in the glorified, fleece-lined socks. There had only been two exceptions to the rule of the years - the year you’d gifted Eddie his first professional-grade amp and he’d bawled like a baby (once he’d dried his tears, he’d threatened you and Wayne both endlessly about ever letting the story leave the room. The two of you had exchanged a look, though, knowing neither of you would ever let him live it down.) and the year Eddie had bought you your first acoustic six-string with the promise of lessons from him (it was onyx black and shined with promise as Eddie explained the two of you needed to use paint markers to decorate it). 

It was going on five years of the tradition that had stemmed from both of you never being able to afford much for each other, but still wanting to show you care nevertheless. And as the years had gone on, the gifts had slowly found their rhythm. There was always a perfect mixture of cliche throwaway gifts, gag gifts, and gifts so sentimental that some tears were sure to be shed by one of the parties. 

“I didn’t think it would break,” you scrunch your nose slightly as Eddie holds up the cigarette, limp from the crack in the middle of it. 

“What did you expect, just throwing it in here like that?” Eddie laughs, not bothered in the slightest. He had a pack of Camels snug in the pocket of his leather jacket slung over his desk chair. It was the thought that counted, after all. 

“I expected it to be absolutely fucking invincible for how expensive the pack was,” you whine, and he can’t help but watch you with bemusement, “I spent my last dollar from my tips on that damn pack.” 

The mention of that softens the look in Eddie’s eyes. He knew the two of you struggled to come up with enough money to even keep up this tradition; he had hardly seen you due to how many spare shifts you’d been picking up at Benny’s the last few weeks. 

You catch the look, immediately straighten up, “No, no, no. Don’t even go there, Munson. I can see you going there. Come back to me, idiot.” 

Idiot. The term of endearment you’d coined for him since you’d first met in sophomore year of high school. He’d heard it in a dozen different tones - elated, annoyed, exhausted - but not a single one held an ounce of genuine negativity towards him. You made idiot sound like my love. 

He wasn’t your lover, though. He kicked himself in the shins every morning over it, always telling himself that today was the day and I’m going to tell her how I feel finally. 

Spoiler alert. He never did. 

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he offers up his own loving nickname for you, “I just know you’ve been busting your ass at Benny’s-” 

“Yes, I have, because I want to spoil you for the holidays. I don’t regret a single second of it. Even when those creepy old men tried to shove the dollar bills in my shirt rather than just hand them to me.”

You both laugh at the memory. It hadn’t been very funny when it happened, leading to you calling Eddie crying and him coming to your rescue, but enough time had passed to see the humor in it all. 

The rest of the gift exchange goes as expected for the most part. The gag gifts pull the appropriate amount of laughter, and the more genuine gifts pull a softness out of each other that nearly had each of your eyes’ pupils forming hearts. 

Eddie fawns over a pack of pics you’d had customized with Corroded Coffin’s logo, and you react just as bluntly as expected when you pull a long red candle from your stocking, looking up to Eddie blankly. 

“For when I finally sacrifice you in the woods,” he explains with a cheesy grin, “Gotta have candles if we’re going to worship Satan, sweetheart.” 

“Ha-ha,” you dead pan, tilting your head slightly as you keep a straight face, completely unimpressed, “You’re hilarious, Munson.” 

“Hey, I could have made a sex joke,” he throws up his hands in a defensive manner, shrugging his shoulders and looking to the ground in faux shyness. 

“Yeah, yeah - you could have made a sex joke,” you mumble as you shove the candle to the side, a smile still escaping the corners of your mouth. 

“As a matter of fact, I still can. Don’t think I didn’t notice the fact that you replaced my stocking this year, darling, and that it’s noticeably larger. Finally big enough to fit over my massive dic-” 

“You’re disgusting,” you interrupt, grabbing the candle and now whacking one of his knees with it, making him fall victim to an uncontrollable giggling fit, “Have you ever been told that? Let me be the first to tell you - you’re absolutely vile, Edward Munson.” 

You don’t mean it, and he knows you don’t. You’re both laughing too much over it. 

You’re starting to get to the bottom of the stockings now. You each have an odd arrangement of candy that had been included in each respective stocking - Eddie is socking on a blue jolly rancher, being sure to make annoying slurping noises to get a rise out of you, as you nibble on a miniature candy cane. There’s only one gift left in your stocking, a small box that you only reach for once you rewrap the candy cane in the plastic wrap it’d come in that you’d saved to avoid getting sticky fingers. 

“What’s this?” you ask, pulling it out and letting the empty stocking fall into your lap. 

Eddie looks up from where he was preoccupied with attempting to open another jolly rancher. His eyes light up from the present in your palm, “Oh, only saving the best one for last, sweet thing.” 

You look at him questioningly, but begin to slide your finger under the delicate edge of the small box regardless. It takes concentration to pry open the box without tearing it, but you do, you gasp. 

In a bed of cotton, there’s a necklace. 

It looks like a copy of Eddie’s signature pick necklace. But instead of the dark swirling black between clouds of burgundy red, it shines with pearlescent opal white and ruby red, glimmering on a silver chain as if it were made of jewels. 

When you gently lift it from the box, it’s clear it’s not a real pick. It’s heavier - Hell, it might actually be made of gemstones. 

“Eddie-” you gasp, cutting yourself off, mesmerized by the beauty. 

He’s nearly shaking with delight, “It’s a locket. Look, open it.” 

You see what he means immediately, realizing that the weight was from the thickness of the faux pick. There’s a subtle seam, with a silver lock on the side that clicks gently when you press on it. The locket swings open, and inside is a snug photo of you and Eddie. You can pinpoint exactly when the photo was taken; it was at your birthday party two years ago, both of you laughing with cake icing on the tips of your nose. The photo is in dramatic black and white, but you can still picture how obnoxiously red your cheeks were with Eddie’s arm slung around your shoulder, pulling you into him as you two lost it over God knows what. 

You feel yourself beginning to tear up, completely stunned, “I- Oh my God, Eddie. I don’t know what to say.”

“You can start with how I’m the best friend ever,” he cheekily grins, wiggling his eyebrows at you as you let out a breathless laugh. 

“It’s…God, it’s beautiful. This- This is too much, Eddie. I can’t imagine how expensive-”

“Nope,” he cuts you off quickly, waving his hands frantically, refusing to listen to your lecture. He didn’t care if it had cost him everything he owned, down to the clothes on his back - it was worth it to see that look on your face. “Don’t even start, sweetheart. One of Wayne’s friends at the plant has a wife who makes jewelry for a living. We got the family discount because she thought the idea was so dang adorable,” his voice pitches to mock the mystery woman, and it makes you tearily laugh some more. 

You look back down at the open locker, finger tracing over the opposite side from the photo. 

E. It’s engraved in cursive. As if you’d ever forget the initial of the boy in the photo - the boy in front of you. 

“You really had to choose the photo that made me look like a dork, didn’t you?” you softly tease under your breath, staring at the memory in unfiltered fondness. 

“Someone’s got to keep you humble,” he retorts. 

You ignore his comment, standing quickly and holding the necklace out to him, “Help me put it on?” 

He doesn’t hesitate to leap off the bed to your side, taking the chain gingerly before you turn and face your back to him. His movements are careful and deliberate as he brushes your hair off to the side, cold fingers skimming over your skin and sending shivers down your spine before he loops the necklace around the front of your chest. You can feel his warm breath on the nape of your neck as he fiddles with the clasp for a few moments before finding success. 

“Aha! Perfect,” he claps as you spin around, grinning giddily at the weight that sits naturally between your collarbones. It gives you a sense of security, a sense of comfort, a sense of home. 

“Thank you, Eddie,” you earnestly say, voice crumbling with emotions as your smile shines and you lift a hand to pinch the necklace between two fingers. The locket is smooth as you rub over it, “I love it.” 

His face reflects your happiness right back before you suddenly throw yourself forward, wrapping your arms tightly around his shoulders and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. He returns it immediately, squeezing you back just as strongly. You both melt into the hug, comfortable as you eventually beginning to just-barely-sway in the middle of Eddie’s room, chests pressed together as hearts beat in sync. 

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” he murmurs against your hair before placing a chaste kiss on your temple. 

“Merry Christmas, Eds.” 

You finally pull away, both of you returning to your original positions on the bed. Gifts are scattered around you, mixing with candy and wrappers, as Eddie pulls up his stocking and begins to shake it upside down. 

“There’s not any more gifts, Eddie, you already opened them-” you cut yourself off, the smile that had your cheeks aching still fading when a piece of paper flutters from his stocking. 

Oh no. 

“No more gifts, you say?” he smirks in your direction, picking up the folded note, “What’s this, then?” 

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

You’d forgotten about that. When you’d been wrapping Eddie’s gifts the night before, Robin had joined you to keep you company. The two of you had broken into a few bottles of wine around the house when you had a bright idea (at least, at the time it seemed bright. Now, it was the dumbest idea you’d ever had. Ever.). Coupons for Eddie, ranging from redemption for kisses to redemption for more… explicit acts. To be fair, Robin had egged you on, knowing of your hopeless crush of two years on your best friend. You’d folded each ‘coupon’ and sealed them with kisses from red lipstick the two of you had dug out of your desk drawers. You’d chickened out when the buzz from the wine faded, and pulled all of the ridiculous notes out before properly filling the stocking with his actual gifts. 

Or at least, you thought you’d gotten all of the notes out. Clearly, you hadn’t. 

“Don’t open that!” you blurt out, lurching forward and attempting to snatch the paper from Eddie. It only makes his smirk grow, hand shooting out away from you, glancing wildly between you and the kiss-stained paper. 

“Now you’ve really got me curious,” he mocks, pulling a face at you as he brings the paper back to his face, beginning to unfold it. 

“No, Eddie, seriously, don’t read it. Please. It was so stupid, I- Robin and I were drinking, and I just…” you trail off in your explanation as he completely disregards you and his eyes trail over your scribbled words. 

You didn’t even know which one had been left behind. You could only hope it was one of the less vulgar ones. 

“Is this a joke?” he asks softly. You’re shocked - you’d expected merciless teasing. Not whatever look was currently in his eyes. 

“What?” you ask, trying to peer over to see what the paper said. Depending on which dumb coupon it was, your answer would change, “I- Sort of. Maybe. No. I don’t know.” 

You begin to wring your hands in your lap, waiting for him to respond. You felt so nauseated you considered escaping to the bathroom. Maybe you could die of embarrassment in the Munson men’s bathtub. 

But then you remember it’s the Munson men’s bathtub, and decide the better fate may lay here, Eddie glancing up at you with moving curiosity, eyebrows furrowed. 

Your cheeks burn crimson as you wish for the Earth to swallow you whole. 

“Yes or no? Is it a joke?” he asks again, a stern tone that manages to not come across angry. 

Your stomach and chest twist in sync, “No. It isn’t a joke.” 

Suddenly, Eddie is taking the note and thrusting it towards you, eyes blown wide and chest heaving. 

“Then I’d like to redeem it now, please.” 

You don’t realize it, but the room had started spinning the moment Eddie had read what was written down. It felt like a dream - a dream he’d indulged in with no hopes of it ever coming true for an embarrassingly long amount of time now. 

Your hands shake as you reach out to take the note from him, and you look down to see just how much drunk you had screwed you over in this moment. 

In your messy handwriting, it reads: Coupon for Eddie Munson - good for one (1) kiss. To be redeemed at Eddie’s discretion. 

You breathe out a sigh of relief, thankful it wasn't a vulgar one, before the reality of what Eddie had just requested hits you.  

“Did you just- did you just say you want to redeem it now?” 

Eddie nods, a determined look crossing his face, “Yes, please.” 

You both stare at each other for a moment, letting the emotions in the air sink in. It takes a moment before you both break out into withheld, shy smiles. 

“Okay,” you sigh. 

Before you can overthink it, you’re both leaning forward, Eddie’s hands cupping your cheeks as his lips meet yours tenderly. It’s just a peck, nothing more, but it sends your heart into cardiac arrest. You can still taste the jolly ranchers on his lips, and he tastes the sweet mint of the candy cane on yours. 

You both pull back slightly, his hands not leaving your face, knees pressing together. Your eyes had fluttered close, and you don’t have the guts to open them quite yet and face the consequences of what had just happened between the two of you. 

“I like you,” you admit quietly, your entire body tensing as you await rejection.

It doesn’t come. Instead, you’re met with the sound of Eddie’s gentle voice, “I like you, too.” 

Your eyes finally spring open to already find him staring at you with adoration. “You do?” 

“Of course I do, sweetheart. I let you touch my first sweetheart. I only give that privilege to the prettiest of girls,” he laughs, eyes flickering to your lips but still keeping his distance. 

“You’ve only let me have that privilege.” 

“Exactly.” 

He finally closes the distance again, lips slotting against yours as if they’re meant to be. Something clicks in the Universe, something that says that this is right and meant to happen. Two years of silent and hopeless pining, only to find out both your feelings were returned. It leaves the two of you delirious as you both deepen the kiss. Somehow, Eddie ends up scooting up his bed until his back meets the wall where his headboard would be if he had one, you straddling his lap. It’s all still so innocent; just the two of you, soft and sickly sweet kisses as you hold one another as if you expect the other to vanish. 

“Merry Christmas, Eds,” you repeat your earlier statement and reach up to his gifted locket on instinct now. It feels right. You and him this close, you and him kissing, the photo of you resting against your chest where it belongs. 

“Best Christmas ever,” he chuckles before he captures you in another kiss. 

He’s right. It’s safe to say the two of you struggle to ever top that Christmas. You make it a running joke to always include coupons in his stocking from that year on. Each year, the coupons get better, sometimes raunchy and sometimes just downright adorable. 

Good for one cuddle. 

Good for one blowjob (don’t waste it).

Good for one surprise date night. 

They’re always fairly clever, and each year, he thinks you get closer to topping that first note. 

But it’s not until years down the road, when the two of you sit across from each other in your now shared living room, in some big city you now call home, that he knows that he had finally topped that year. The look on your face when you dig into the bottom of your stocking, finding the small box that contains the diamond ring he’d been saving up for ever since that first kiss, tells him everything he needs to know. 

It’s still pretty nice when he hears you squeal yes out loud, though.

[disventurecamptakes]

I fucking hate Connor

This is gonna get a bit personal and for my privacy I’ll spare all of the big details of this situation, but in short I had an employer that I worked a seasonal position for 3 summers in a row. Last summer due to some circumstances of poor treatment about half of the employees who worked for this employer banded together to start a union and not only did this lead to them treating us even worse but they also refused to rehire any of us they knew were involved for this summer (I found another job that treats me much better dw.) Now, I understand that line Connor made about “keeps my employees happy, or at least from unionizing, but let’s keep that between us” to Jake was likely a throwaway gag and the writers didn’t mean much by it. But it is quite literally a confirmation that Connor has canonically partook in union busting. Now I was willing to give Connor the benefit of the doubt because I genuinely believed that he had worked really hard to start his company from nothing and ultimately become a successful person. But no, that was a fucking lie, the asshole inherited the company from his parents, has advisors do everything for him and thus has probably never worked a hard day in his life. Call me a bad person, but I have felt absolutely zero empathy for this guy with the Riya situation and I really, really hate how ONC tries to make us feel like we’re supposed to root for this “good” guy when in reality he’s a slimy asshole (not to mention, remember how much Ellie, a character who’s had to work two jobs just to stay afloat, was demonized to hell and back for doing some very very minor mean things to Jake??? For the love of god ONC do not repeat these mistakes in DC4 im begging). I’ll be dead honest, watching Riya kick Connor off the horse and getting his ankle sprained that badly made me cheer a bit, and subsequently boo when he said he didn’t need a medevac and was going to continue with the game regardless. If this fucker wins the season, congrats ONC, you’ve officially created probably one of the worst seasons of a cartoon I’ve ever seen in my life. I still hate yul ever so slightly more because I don’t think anything can top a character who’s canonically racist and homophobic for being awful, but yeah, needed to rant a bit

-🐈

I’m so sorry you had to go through that cat anon :(

[swan2swan]

So, spoiler thoughts:

So, a good season. Pretty decent, but I'm a little worried that they blew everything by making Season 1 so good.

Definitely had some of the best scenes in the franchise, but the way Season 1 ramped up felt like it was a little...shallow of a splash on Season 2. 8/10 season, maybe a 7/10.

Arguably my least favorite season of the cartoon, and that includes Season 4 of Camp Cretaceous....okay, no, I think this was much better.

I felt like the Brooklynn Alone episode didn't quite match the power of the Ben Alone episode, and that was the first issue. But that also feels like an episode where they had to cut some stuff down with Brooklynn--in fact, there's almost half an episode missing, it felt like. Woulda loved to see her adjusting to public life with her limb difference, and the DLN. Woulda made thee moment where Soyona gently comments on her limb difference all the better.

Speaking of Soyona, I'm glad thy kept her just as much of a menace. I was worried at a few points, but in the end, it was clear that she had complete control the whole time. Probably knows that Brooklynn is spying on her, too....but she's letting it happen.

The episodes with the gang also didn't hit hard enough. It really felt like they waffled around too much with the whole "Kenji Wants to Kill Himself" plotline for too long, and then missed the window. That's indisputably my biggest issue with the seasons: I hate when shows forfeit the essentials of their episodic format and just keep kicking the ball down the road. Kenji risks his life. Yaz gasps. Kenji risks his life. Yaz gasps. Kenji risks his life. Yaz gasps. It's a disservice to BOTH when you don't get to the point and do it five times over.

Then there was Zayna--a delightful character, more than welcome, but I felt that we deserved more of an exploration of "Hey, we're taking on someone who was the same age we were when we were Traumatized. Let's keep the same from happening to her, okay?" And then they could have focused on that a little more than one throwaway gag from Darius.

There also wasn't a lot of introspection on the group, and Darius's infatuation with Brooklynn and Kenji's falling-out with her also seemed a little diluted...meant to be products of odd happenstance and Bad Timing, a Malevolent Coincidence, rather than stagnation and an inevitable reaction. Such is the consequence of a backstory, though.

HOWEVER...the scene in Soyona's apartment was among the best in the franchise. Tense and powerful, wonderfully acted and perfectly paced, it was only matched by Brooklynn's return later. Soyona and Brooklynn played off each other in a way that made them the most engaging part of the season--both a praise and a criticism (the second-best part was possibly Sammy and Zayna, though, again...if they'd gotten into the "Keep Her From Experiencing What Happened To Us" part, it mighta been better.

The Leucistic Baryonyx was a fine addition, but I do wish they'd had the budget to bring in another new dinosaur. Maybe a Megaraptor of some sort. It worked, and the HORROR aspect was definitely there, but...eh. The part where Red figured out "Oh, clicking noises make you happy?" was PHENOMENAL THOUGH??? I FORGOT THAT RAPTORS WERE SMART? I WAS WONDERING HOW THEY WERE COMMUNICATING AND THEN I REALIZED THAT IT WAS JUST RED FIGURING THINGS OUT?????????? BECAUSE SHE'S SMART?????

But also, this felt very much like the Quarry Season. A lot of stuff is happening, there's a nice big group of people, but it's very enclosed. You can even see it in the concept art: the village in Episode 2's credits, the tarmac in Episode 10, this world shoulda been bustling, but they could only afford so much. Less an indictment of the show and more of the budget given to them. Suchomimus coulda been chasing villagers instead of schlorping water, and there coulda been some guards on the tarmac surrounding Brooklynn for that final meeting.

I was very delighted when she went with Soyona, though. And when her PTSD got her in the WORST moment.

Anyway. Hoping next season takes it to a new level. This one had the spunk of Season 1, but it didn't have the reach. But maybe a rewatch will help (it won't, most of my criticisms are Set In Stone, I'm just Correct).

[pathologicalreid]

On the subject of maeve and reid I always felt like all these personal plotlines involving the characters could have been much better developed had the show dedicated more time focusing on the characters personal lives.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the cm episodes where the plotwists have me gagged or at the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. But sometimes I wish there could be whole episodes just about the characters you know? I feel like they give us so little fluff that whenever there's any sweet bau bonding scene, you best believe I'm eating it up like a starved woman.

I feel like this may be controversial, but I would still watch every season even if there were zero criminals in it lol. Shows like brooklyn 99 mastered the personal to professional ratio and I wish that criminal minds was the same even though brooklyn 99 is a much light hearted show and the amount of screen time given to the bau characters personal lives probaly reflects thier work life balance anyway

you're so right criminal minds never had a consistent balance with personal to professional, but i will say that b99 and cm is maybe not the best comparison. my understanding is that b99 is a sitcom (i've never seen it) and cm is a crime procedural. (more under the cut)

i think the cm writers always flopped when it came to writing love interests. they'd introduce great people and they'd fall off the face of the earth or have the most abrupt exit. i love beth clemmons. i love hotch and beth. but when they break up all we get are a few throwaway lines between hotch and rossi.

i have a lot of problems with season 15 of cm but 'saturday' very easily makes my list of least favorite episodes because it's just bad. they needed to continue the trend of fun scenes and instead tried to make a fun episode. (and i'm choosing peace and am not going to talk about spencer's hair in that episode) we should've had more softball games and karaoke and cookouts at rossi's.

for all other personal plotlines, a major grievance i'd like to bring to the writers is that they'd have a character mention something or do something and then it's never mentioned again or only brought up when it's important to the plot.

[roxynychus]

There’s a small moment at the end of the Barbie movie that's stuck with me. Literally a blink-and-you'll-miss-it gag, yet it just resonated.

[Fairly major spoilers if you haven't seen Barbie yet] [Also note I'm writing this in a half-conscious frenzy at 2 am so I hope it makes sense]

It happens after the Kens return from their war turned homoerotic musical number to find the Barbies have retaken Barbieland, and Main Barbie gives Main Ken the speech that he’s Ken-ough just being himself without her. One of the other Kens says something like he doesn't care about patriarchy anymore, he just misses his friend Barbie. It's a throwaway line, but it hit me.

Like it reminded me being a kid and having friends who were girls, and how easy it seemed to do that when we were that young. We were all just kids having fun together. Like yeah we registered that we were different genders, but it hadn't really sunk in for us yet what that "meant".

But then as we grew up, society's weird gender dynamics got forced onto us more and more. We couldn't just be friends anymore, not without some kind of romantic/sexual undercurrent being assumed. Suddenly it was "complicated". After all, men and women can't just be friends, right? Someone's gonna catch feelings, right? You're the man, you gotta impress a lady and start a family and be the big strong breadwinner, right? It was weird as fuck, suddenly being told that it was somehow improper to be platonically close with people I'd known for my whole life. Especially as a queer man who has never felt comfortable trying to be traditionally masculine.

And that's just how it was for me as a cis dude. Learning more about what women and girls experience has especially driven home how harmful this enforcement of strict gender dynamics is.

Same, Ken. I don't care about patriarchy either, I miss my friend Barbie, too.

[milkdreamspecialmix]

i was thinking of the strip in which italy loses the iron cross given to him by germany today. it was a bit of a throwaway gag but the necklace always remained in a lot of fanart as a representation of their friendship and bond. i think it’s cute, but even italy losing the damn thing aside, it doesn’t have much of an appropriate application or use in modern day settings.

though the iron cross predates WWII and isn’t technically an offensive symbol on its own (i most commonly see it being used by punks and other self identifying anti-conformist subcultures) it’s also likely still used as a dog whistle in conjunction with other things. it just doesn’t work beyond WWII settings in my opinion.

i’ve thought that maybe modern-day germany could give italy a new necklace, removed from any symbology related to nationality or pacts/alliances and instead related to their own humanity and friendship. the regular cross/crucifix is an obvious choice, because it is commonly worn by men (catholic and otherwise) and can be an understated design. but it lacks a more personal meaning.

beyond that, germany sometimes lacks taste (tomato ring?? i mean it’s cute but like wtf) so we can only hope that maybe he bought something italy was already eyeing or got help from romano. perhaps he’d think it was too personal of a gift to give and instead opted for something like a rosary. he’s a sucker for acts of service and gift-giving, i feel like he just wants to adorn him in all sorts of pretty and/or practical things.

unless we’re talking about established gerita. i think germany would propose with a ring that compliments the undertones of italy’s skin, but wedding rings are an entirely separate can of worms. collars too.

[destiny-in-the-universe]

Beetlejuice x Wordgirl AU

So. I could've just done this on the Wordgirl blog, but I decided not to- oh, and this was inspired off of a post aka this!

@rinnie-marylin I'm tagging you so you can see my thoughts and ideas and whatnot!

Now most of you who've seen Beetlejuice know that Beetlejuice attempted to marry Lydia as part of his schemes. However, this is not something which will be happening in this AU (because for one, no- and for another, this also has vague elements from the tv show!)

For one thing, Beetlejuice must be Dr. Two Brains - it's weirdly fitting; at first, I was going to keep him the same (as in literally just Beetlejuice before ultimately not doing that-) but someone I talked about this au too suggested it should be D2B. Also, as much as I love Becky as the lead - she doesn't fit what I'd been going for, hence why... Lydia's role is being given to Victoria Best! The Botsford's (as in Tim and Sally, probably the kids too maybe?) are going to be the Maitland's!

Though we're now getting to the fun parts, so read below for the cut/additional information.

Beetlejuice AU Guide

Victoria and her family move to a new house but fail to realize a couple used to live there and passed away under mysterious circumstances. I feel like the Maitland's (or the Botsford's in this case-) would still have died from likely a car crash or simply mundane accident - they refuse to accept their deaths and continue haunting their old place of residence. Victoria is not happy in the slightest about having moved, but of course she's trying to paint a certain image to her parents especially with their treatment of their daughter.

I do need to rewatch the first movie, but Victoria meets Tim and Sally - almost by chance - at one point; things are a bit tense and awkward at first especially when they don't treat her in the same way as the Bests (aka less like a prized pet and more as a person pfft-). She's wary but slowly begins warming up to them but at some point, the plan to chase out Victoria's parents is made and shenanigans ensue.

Things are not as developed here because again, I haven't seen the movie in a while but I couldn't not make this AU. Or I might grab a slime tutorial later!

As mentioned before, Dr. Two Brains plays the part of Beetlejuice and I like to think there's more of a familial and/or rivals dynamic between him and Victoria rather than he wants her to be his bride. I know it's like a throwaway gag in the movie, but I decided No.

so-

I might consider a spinoff where for some reason, Becky calls Dr. Two Brains or something but it won't be considered canon to the universe! At least not until I find some way to watch the movie again tbh-

I'll revisit this idea at a different point, but for now you can have this nonsense!

[ponpox]

Why is the silly Vampire Dies anime the one show with such stellar continuity??? I expected at least 80% of the characters to be cheap throwaway gags but no, they remember EVERYTHING and I feel like that makes the anime so much more solid I love all of these idiots 

Because yes I do remember the random police officer from season one episode two or whatever where Tsujigiri Nigiri sliced a guy in a flashback I just didn’t think that would matter one season later but here we fucking are and I do appriciate it

[total-drama-shark]

ALRIGHT FINAL NOTES FOR EP 1

Hard to say how good the season will be from just the first episode but I have some opinions?

Having a squid game and murder hornets reference first episode makes me a bit worried for the originality of the season, like I’m truly hoping it’s not just filled with references to other media or 2020-ish events, or like, slightly outdated pop culture in general.

I feel like the episode didn’t do much or really anything to set itself up as different from the first season, specially since the teams are actually mostly the same so It’s not like we’re getting many new dynamics.

Very glad some of the early boots got chances to expand on their character, very excited to see where Nichelle’s and Caleb’s characters go, RIP Scary Girl tho ig, never got to be more than a one note character.

MK and Julia content!!! Their dynamic is so good from the get go and it’s easily the one I’m most interested in seeing the development of.

The team names suck this season bro, they’re usually a small highlight for me but this one like a throwaway gag that we’ll just have to deal with for like half the season.

So general thoughts so far: bit worried but it’s too early to tell

[etaleah]

In all honesty, I feel bad for Kirk Thornton.

He plays a fantastic Orbot and seems like a good voice actor overall. He does an amazing job in the Takeovers, his Shadow voice has gotten much better over the years, and he seems to be making a real effort to give us some good stuff. I mean, that one line about eating the coffee beans straight was probably just intended as a throwaway gag and it’s practically become ingrained lore at this point. That’s the only Takeover line I can think of that actually made it into a game because it was so memorable. And it was, presumably, something Kirk came up with on the spot. He gives Shadow more personality than SEGA does. He references previous material too, so you know he took the time to get familiar with the character and his history. From what little I’ve seen of Kirk as a person, he seems like a nice guy.

But everyone in the fandom can still tell that he’s miscast as Shadow. It’s one of those shitty situations where a good voice actor suffers from poor direction and being given terrible material to work with. Even the best voice actor can only do so much with a bad script and bad directing. I saw an interview where he said that when he asked what they were looking for in Shadow’s voice, they said, “Tough guy,” so that’s how he came up with the voice that Shadow has now.

And that’s…not how I would describe Shadow’s voice. I would have described it as cool, quiet, aloof, a little stern, mysterious; otherworldly, even. “Tough guy” is the phrase I would have used to describe Rough and Tumble.

I do want Shadow to have a different voice but at the same time I don’t want Kirk Thornton to be fired because voice actors already have such a tough time finding work and I do think he cares about the characters he plays. And it sucks that there’s not really a way for both of those things to happen unless maybe he can change up the voice, and I’m not sure if that’s possible. 😔