#MAYBE THEY'RE A BY-PRODUCT IN NEW DAWN IDK-

[general-kalani]

... So what if I wrote the Trigens on the blog-

[n7punk]

What’s your beef with Spotify?

It's less beef and more just a product I don't like - because that's what Spotify is, a product. They really don't want you to think of it that way, but at the end of the day it's particularly invasive product packaging around the thing you actually want to listen to, and there are dozens of different ways to listen to music. As far as gripes, though, number 1 is that it doesn't really pay its artists for shit and its objectively kind of shitty audio-quality wise (I'm not a snob on this, but depending on your hardware it can be especially crunchy while other things like Youtube sound just fine). Number 2 is how much it spies on you and tracks your data. Number 3 is the ads. Number 4, and the actual reason I will never use it, is that it's the enshittification of media consumption.

I do, actually, have a Spotify account. I used it for all of a day before never logging in again or verifying my email. Spotify forces you to experience music the way it wants you to, with absolutely no benefit aside from cloud syncing cross-platform for your playlists that I don't actually need, and I'm used to the freedom from the dawn of the accessible mp3 era.

Better Kind Of Best Friend is a single. I bought it as part of the entire The Sex Was Good Until It Wasn't album, so it came with the album artwork. I wanted it to have its single artwork - so I changed it. And now, in MusicBee and on my phone, I see the single artwork because it's in the file metadata. Spotify doesn't give you that option. It's a little thing, maybe, except when it isn't, like when a song's cover art is graphic or otherwise upsetting to look at, or just plain doesn't fit it.

Sometimes I don't agree with a song's "official" genre (usually because the entire album classifies the songs one way while they actually span genres). The range of things that are classified as indie rock is insane. Anyway, other times I use the genre more specifically, such as "Dark Pop", which isn't actually a thing but if I played you Dark Pop songs you would understand what I mean. In MusicBee, I can change genres to be whatever I want, which is important for various auto-playlists in filtering.

I also have a custom tag for any sapphic songs that automatically populates my lesbian love auto-playlist as they're defined, and another playlist that automatically adds all music from my custom-defined list of queer artists to the "Gay Life" playlist. When I buy a new Reinaeiry song, it automatically gets added without me having to do anything.

I can't listen to demos or any music that Spotify has lost licensing to on it, which means that if I want a complete playlist with a demo song on it, I have to have all those songs exported anyway, and at that point why am I bothering to split my listening across platforms? Idk if you heard, but Spotify lost licensing to a giant catalogue of Kpop music at one point because one company pulled out, and all those listeners were fucked. I don't have to wait for an artist to upload their shit to Spotify (although right now I am waiting for Reinaeiry to put Too Sweet up for download - pls queen - this is luckily more rare of an occurrence than me seeing "please add this to Spotify" comments is).

I like music I can keep forever, listen to whenever, and do so without ads or paying three figures a year to hear uninterrupted. I'd rather buy one album a month with the Spotify premium money than pay for it. I like creating folder after subfolder worth of an unlimited number of playlists (admittedly idr if Spotify allows this feature. It varies by online listening platforms and I don't bother to track the ones I don't use). I like being able to drag and drop my playlists from MusicBee into iTunes to instantly listen to them on my phone (and thus cross-play isn't a concern for me as long as I remember to synch my phone). I like the feature of being able to instantly and permanently adjust the volume, as well as the beginning and end point, of any single song I chose (super helpful for when certain albums are inexplicably quieter/louder than others or have a stupid incongruous music or dialogue part in them).

If I want to listen to something without actually getting it, then I do it on Youtube, which has a wider music selection with more control. Don't like album art? Find a lyric video upload with a generic nebula background. Weird movie sample at the beginning? Someone might have cut that out in their upload (shoutout to the person who turned DICTATOR into a part 1 and 2 to match the two different mood halves), but otherwise Sponsorblock will skip the non-music segments. The only downside of Youtube versus Spotify is I can't share the playlists without exposing my name, but again I actually create those playlists in MusicBee 99% of the time so I wouldn't be sharing a link anyway.

[msnihilist]

what do you think about rook's character in ben 10 in general?you know I never really liked that he was this serious and workaholic partner from beginning to nearly the end,in Wikipedia says he's kinda ben's other best friend too but they hardly had a memorable scence for that together maybe except 1 or 2,and also he has scenes where he mocks ben seriously which I didn't like,idk it feels like his character is so unexplored he had more potential to him since he was ben's partner replacing gwevin in OV so just wanted to know your opinion👍🏻

I've already put all of my thoughts about Rook into my fics. Namely, Separately (S2-era Rook, who would disrespect Ben's boundaries purely for his own curiosity and then feels like shit for it), In All The World... (pre-canon Rook, and how/why I think he grew to idolize Ben and become a Plumber), Cross Your Heart (and Hope to Die) (puts Rook through absolute hell to break him down into one of the rawest character studies I've ever done), and Diamonds Are Forever (post-canon fic that explores the kind of person Rook is and how Ben has changed who he wants to grow to be/how Rook defines himself without Ben around).

But I know that's a lot to read, so here are the SparkNotes:

Rook mellows out a lot by season eight. This change is incredibly noticeable if you watch two episodes back-to-back.

Ben and Rook are very close, and this is something else you can see if you watch season one and then season eight to compare.

I think Ben and Rook had plenty of memorable scenes/moments. Their fake fight in season one, Rook being pushy during Showdown and later apologizing for it, "I don't always get him, but he's cool." "The feeling is mutual.", Rook physically holding Ben back from attacking someone (twice, lol), Rook fighting Lord Transyl's mind-control to warn Ben, "I have worked with Ben long enough to know that when he foolishly charged headlong into a trap, I should have foolishly charged after him.", Ben meeting Rook's family, literally all of their interactions in The Vengers, "Ben! I made a wisecrack!", acting like proud parents after Young One's tail fell off, Rook's promotion to Magister (and their successful fist bump!!), "It has been an honor to fight at your side," (Rook using his final words to tell Ben how important their partnership has been to him and that he doesn't regret a thing just does something to me), etc. If you don't think they're as iconic as Ben and Kevin, that's fair, but they do objectively have plenty of relationship-defining moments.

Rook has scenes where he mocks Ben. In early seasons, this is a character flaw. In later seasons, this is a product of the Omniverse writers thinking it's funny when the punchline to a joke is, "Ben's an idiot." If I held it against Rook, I'd have to hold it against literally every character... So I ignore it, lol.

Here are some episodes that I think do a good job of exploring Rook's character.

S2E6: Bros In Space

S2E7: Arrested Development (not a character-heavy episode, I just think Rook is really funny in this one.)

S3E2: Tummy Trouble

S3E8: While You Were Away ("You have become a hero while you were away," just makes me grin like an idiot every time.)

S3E10: The Frogs of War: Part 2

S4E2: The Ultimate Heist (I loved the scene towards the end where Albedo called Rook out on his willful ignorance.)

S4E8: OTTO Motives

S6E1: Catfight (Another one where Rook is really funny.)

S7E2: Rook Tales (Rook's fight with Kundo is iconic as hell to me. "You taught me everything you know. But we are not in your training hall anymore.")

S8E6: The Final Countdown

S8E10: A New Dawn

Rook is not an overly complicated person. He's a solid guy who gets character development and learns to loosen/open up. He's not as nuanced as Kevin. He doesn't have the history with Ben that Gwen does. But Rook is not a bad character by any means, and his bond with Ben feels earned.

But if you still aren't impressed with Rook, you can always rewatch UAF :p

[cobrakiin]

Ask memey thing, 001 Pokemon, 002 Cojeel, 003 Sokka

Send me a fandom, ship, or character ask meme!

001 | Pokemon

Favorite character Pokemon: Absol and Bulbasaur :)

Least Favorite character Pokemon: idk... Pignite?

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Kukui x Burnet, Archie x Maxie, Chloe x Dawn, Ash x Goh, Steven x Wallace (+ Bonus: Leon x Raihan)

Character(s) I find most attractive: ORAS!Archie is 👀 but Talia do be kinda cute

Character I would marry: idk

Character I would be best friends with: Leon or Brock seem fun? idk

a random thought: i'd like Nanu's job of sitting around with cats all day and getting paid for it

An unpopular opinion: I liked Tracey and want him back

My Canon OTP: Red x Blue. They were ON THEIR HONEYMOON IN ALOLA IN THIS ESSAY I WILL-

My Non-canon OTP: i think maybe,,,,, Adman and Warden!Ingo should kis... just a lil,,,,, uwu

Most Badass Character: Cynthia. She may not be my favorite champion but I respect her.

Most Epic Villain: it's ya boi GUZMA

Pairing I am not a fan of: Anything with Piers? He's ace? sorry i don't make the news i just report it

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Lance. No, I won't explain.

Favourite Friendship: Pikachu and every other electric rodent

Character I most identify with: I can't say I identify with any specific character

Character I wish I could be: When I was little I liked to pretend I was a Vaporeon when I went swimming :) . I, as an adult who has seen unspeakable things in greentext format, know better now.

002 | Cojeel (Cobra x Gajeel)

When I started shipping them: Been on this ship since 2012 babey!!!

My thoughts: punk bfs w/ a lot of chemistry, they've both been through plenty of traumas in their own lives and sorta understand where the other is coming from...... (also this ship is how i met you @zephiraz my loving partner of 8 years *heart eyes emoji*)

What makes me happy about them: they're not pretty boys except for when they want to be (SO much eyeliner and hair products, their bathroom is a MESS), their relationship feels natural for them, they very lovingly insult each other yet they also don't let the other get away with shit, but also sometimes they're just content being lazy gay snakes dragons together

What makes me sad about them: they deserve happiness but shit keeps happening, who would have predicted that past misdeeds would have future consequences :(

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I guess if Cobra's dialogue is hard to distinguish from Gajeel's? His vocab does get more relaxed post-timeskip, but not that much,,,,

Things I look for in fanfic: .... new fanfic. There's 15 works on AO3 and 4 of them are from ME. FFnet is practically just me.... oTL

My wishlist: More fic or art in general? Maybe some more canon teamups? <:3c

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Laxus x Gajeel x Cobra polyship... it's technically not just them ;)c

My happily ever after for them: They have a very private wedding or just straight up elope

003 | Sokka (Avatar)

How I feel about this character: this boy has adhd 100%

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: I like most ships with him, but I don't really have a favorite?

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I like his relationship with Katara. Especially when they pick on each other, because I will always be tired of the "siblings always get along perfectly" trope in fiction

My unpopular opinion about this character: He's obviously bi, but is a little nervous about the whole liking boys part bc of his upbringing. That being said, it's something he definitely gets over later in life.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish caffeinated beverages existed at that time period, because he definitely seems like the kind of person who should not consumer caffeine because then he sees all the time all the time

Favorite friendship for this character: Him and Aang are always fantastic idiots when it's no braincell day and it's great

My crossover ship: Sokkoya. (Sokka x Naoya Itsuki) It happened because of the rp that originally inspired Hiraethean Prophecy, and is one of the "canon" ships in the panfandom crossover fic version. :3x