#Obviously this isn't aimed at OP

[bored-trans-orchidsexual]

Also like, we don't *know* there are no trans/hebrew people involved in the creation of the show, do we? Or do people really assume the players and DM are the only ones deeply involved in the creation of the show?

Needing to out the genders and ethnicities of an entire crew to please the internet sure sounds a lot more racist than just doing a show taking down HP without an affirmative-action level casting a trans person or hebrew person only to fill an arbitrary quota. ...I Typed before I remembered ERIKA ISHII is on the fucking cast are you *kidding me* their character literally transitions to nonbinary in the show god I need to wake up before I respond to shit

NON-BINARY PEOPLE ARE TRANS DAMNIT I'm sorry it doesn't slot into the clean "man become woman" or "woman become man" but my fucking god if you can't figure that shit out you're closer to JKR's mindest than you think

i think it's strange that D20 fans are/were upset that no trans women were involved in the making of MisMag because JKR is a TERF when JKR's primary targets were, for the longest time, AFAB trans people. that's where all this bullshit started. it was her fake concern for poor beautiful young women mutilating their bodies & taking evil hormones & becoming nasty ugly men.

I saw someone say the show needed a trans woman or a Jew. So people don't even think JKR harms AFAB trans and intersex people to the extent she does Jews with the goblins in her book and denying non-Jewish elements of the Holocaust.

[justagalwhowrites]

So those two twisted the OPs words though. Her post was about people who write a reader who's 30+ years old but feel the need to be all "but don't worry this isn't a regular 30 year old woman she looks like a teenager so it's fine". That is ageist as fuck and was the point before people turned this into a weirdly defensive age gap rant.

There are a lot of people in this fandom who don't think women over the age over thirty should be in the fandom. They only want twenty year olds (readers & writers) since apparently 30 is ancient.

Ray never said "don't write young readers" in fact she encouraged people to do so if they don't feel comfortable writing older readers. She was calling out ageism and people turned her post into something it wasn't.

Hi there!

I may have misinterpreted the OP’s post but that could be because I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make that kind of note on a fic. Also, as someone in their mid-30s, I (obviously) think there’s a place for everyone in fandom. Anyone who thinks otherwise has lost the plot IMO.

That being said, the post rubbed me the wrong way. For me, the initial post felt pretty condescending. I definitely think there’s space to talk about the portrayal of women - especially middle aged and older women - in popular culture, I just don’t think fan fiction is the appropriate venue. Creators are obviously influenced by popular culture and societal pressure around women’s physical appearance but fan fic authors are (hopefully, in theory) creating for themselves and sharing it out of a love for the original work. They’re not profiting off of it, they don’t have any influence on broader culture, they’re just individuals making something and sharing it. I don’t think hobbyists should bear the brunt of solving society’s problem with sexism just because they’re the creators who are most accessible to other fans. We should aim these conversations and criticisms at the people making these attitudes part of the zeitgeist, not fic authors.

I like to think I’m pretty receptive to criticism of my own work (I’m sure I could be better about it!) but I know there are plenty of creators who don’t seek out criticism and I don’t blame them. Hobbies aren’t there for you to get better at them unless you want to. They’re there to be enjoyable and cathartic and whatever else you want them to be! When there’s a fic I don’t like (or a trope or whatever), I generally try to not say much about it. Not everything is for me and that’s OK! I just seek out the stuff that is and leave it at that. There’s nothing wrong with having a preference, there’s nothing wrong with going “I’d love to see some more of Joel with older readers, anyone have some good recs?” My problem comes with comparing fic authors to predators because they’re writing an age gap story or have fallen into pervasive cultural messaging around women and aging (which, like I said, I’ve never seen a message like that on a fic that I recall. I’m sure they’re out there, I just have never seen one.)

I hope this gives some context! Thanks for reaching out!

[notthatcount]

Instead of working on the half dozen pieces i've promised people i spent all day making superheroes out of characters from medieval poetry, but anyway this is The Virago and Condwiramurs, I'll put character info, powers, and design ramblings under the cut-

I like the idea of doing more superheroes based on ancient/historic lit, if anyone has ideas for characters to pull from lmk I have one more in the tank but after that I could use suggestions, I'm aiming for pre 1200s ideally

The Virago (she/her)

Virago isn't based on a specific character, more just on the trope, but I imagine her as sort of a loner antihero, weirdly the first thing I'm thinking of as a reference is early Silver Surfer.

Design is pretty obviously based on the phantom of the opera and Batman. I wanted a dramatic, tailored look, but ultimately something simple. Went for a subtle "V" design on the belt and under the collar.

I imagine Virago's powers involve something similar to the abilities that the Virago trope tends to expound, so precognition, reality altering, op stuff like that. Her club isn't special or anything it's just a really heavy club.

Condwiramurs (she/her)

Condwiramurs is based on the character of the same name from Parzival, although I took most of the inspiration from the theorized translation of the name: "to guide true love".

Condwiramurs' design was obviously based a bit on Cupid, and I also wanted it to be more functional than Virago's. Her tunic/scapula thing is both a reference to early comic book archer designs (namely Hawkeye's original getup) and a reference to dress styles in the middle ages and how they're described in the poetry.

Condwiramurs' powers involve enhanced sight and hand eye coordination that come as a result of having the ability to see the best path forward. This is vague, but I imagined her being able to see paths of light guiding her- not quite seeing the future, just getting a nudge. Her arrows are non-lethal, mostly trackers, grappling hooks, and stuff like that.

I really like it when superheroes are used as a medium to tell deeper stories about marginalization and social structures (enigma, x-men, the watchmen show... even sandman a little bit), and I think any story I'd put these two into would be like that, but I don't have anything concrete yet.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

(GFL) WA2000, RPK-16, AN-94, M4A1, and M16A1 with a frontline Commander

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH TIME TO SIMP FOR THE GUNS

(WA2000) "You idiot, what are you doing here?! Do you want to die that badly?!"

Having the Commander fight alongside their Echelons is terribly distracting. It's already enough they have to worry about their own heads in a firefight, but now they have their CO on their mind.

WA supposes she should be grateful that they can surprisingly hold their own, on top of still being able to give orders to everyone.

She was already a deadly sniper, but having the Commander on the field focuses her aim tenfold, knowing she has to protect them.

After the battle, she plays it off as if she didn't care the Commander was there.

(WA2000) "Whatever, just make sure you don't get killed, moron. We can't have dead commander give us orders."

On the inside, she breathes such a huge sigh of relief, knowing the Commander is okay.

But if they're even remotely injured, they are going to get the screaming of a lifetime.

(WA2000) "You got hit?! Do you have a deathwish or something? WE are repairable, obviously that thick head of yours doesn't remember that!"

Despite her harsh words, she is always the first one to see them out of the Infirmary.

(WA2000) "D-Don't get the wrong idea, I'm just here for my debriefing. Now hurry back to your room so we can get this over with."

It doesn't take long for the Commander to notice the obvious relaxation in her shoulders as she checks their bandages, knowing they're safe.

(RPK-16) "Oh, now this is quite interesting. Welcome to the fight, Commander."

16 has to admit, she didn't think her Commander would oversee their ops personally.

Was it smart? Not really, but it was certainly an intriguing change of pace.

She doesn't change her demeanor much during the firefights, one wouldn't be blamed for thinking she wasn't even affected.

But there is only one subtle change, that being she and her team always stays in close vicinity to the Commander.

Once the op is over, she keeps her smile.

(Commander) "Thank you for directing us, sir/ma'am. Another successful mission, as expected."

She asks them why they feel the need of wanting to join the T-Dolls during their missions, but there's certainly no complaints.

Having their CO in the field made things all the more exciting. They certainly weren't like all their other humans, that's for sure.

If they were injured during the mission, 16 makes a note to visit them.

(RPK-16) "It's too bad that you can't repair yourself as easily as we can. Oh well, I guess I have to be with you as you recover~."

She doesn't mind being inside the room with them. Not that they have the option of asking her away, anyways.

(AN-94) "You're joining us, Commander? ...Acknowledged."

94 is horribly confused. Why on earth is their CO coming along with them? This was incredibly dangerous.

Though, AK-12 gives her the order to protect the Commander, which she happily obliges.

During missions, she goes back and forth from protecting AK-12 and her Commander, not even hesitating to take a bullet for either.

She does her best to ensure nothing even comes close to the Commander, and appreciates the extra backup. Besides, having the Commander there on the field boosted morale.

(AN-94) "Commander, objectives have been met, and the area is clear. What's our next orders?"

Her face doesn't change expression, but there is a noticeable shift in her shoulders slumping when she sees the Commander safe.

But 94 feels great shame when the Commander does manage to get hurt, feeling personally responsible.

After being ensured that she was not at fault, 94 patiently awaits their recovery from the Infirmary.

(AN-94) "Welcome back. Do you require any assistance? I'd be glad to help."

She's super glued to their side for the next few days after.

(M4A1) "C-Commander?! Why are you here, this area still isn't secure!"

M4 is thrown off when she sees the Commander fighting alongside her.

It's greatly appreciated, but it's the Commander's job to direct, not get down and dirty themselves.

She fights her instinct to worry and instead, makes extra sure that nothing in the battlefield can even zero in on them.

M4 orders the AR Team to focus on their objective, although she can't help but orbit around the Commander.

She's so glad to see them still standing, a soft smile appearing on her face.

(M4A1) "Area secure, sir/ma'am. Thank you for the assistance."

She gets visibly distressed whenever she sees or hears the Commander getting injured during the fight.

Her first thought is that it was her fault, but after a while she has grown accustomed to seeing them a little beaten after each mission.

She's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

(M4A1) "With all due respect, you should hang back. We are able to sustain worse injuries than a human. If you were to perish, I'm not sure what we'd do."

Even when they leave the infirmary, M4 is always worrying about her Commander.

(M16A1) "Alright! Now this is what I'm talking about, let's kick some ass, Commander!"

M1 is a bit headstrong, but seeing how her Commander is just as reckless as she is, it sends her morale sky high.

The Commander says jump, M1 asks how high.

She's having a quite a significant amount more fun on the field with them, being able to synergize well with the Commander's fighting.

(M16A1) "Good job, couldn't have done better myself! Now, let's go for a drink! You're paying, right?"

M1 isn't surprised to see the Commander injured after a battle, they fight like her after all.

She visits the infimary, Jack Daniel's in hand as if to tease.

(M16A1) "Too bad you can't drink this with me. Your medicine would get all mixed up and you would drop dead. I, however, don't have such weaknesses! Now, let's get to waiting."

She pats them on the head with her free hand, laughing at their reaction.

On the inside though, she is thankful nothing worse happened to them. She confides in M4 about the relief she feels after every successful operation that her sisters and Commander are safe and sound.

[courtana]

I finished the MWIII campaign and here are my thoughts 💭

Obviously, MAJOR SPOILERS below. Remember to filter #mwiii spoilers if you want to avoid them from me.

The Structure & Ending

I finished the campaign in one sitting, which I usually never do with games. So, my initial complaint that it felt short might be because I literally rushed my playthrough of it. But if others felt the same, l'd love to know!

The ending felt incomplete. I feel like it's basic/traditional writing knowledge that you don't end the story on the climax unless it's like a major cliffhanger. This was not a cliffhanger. We ended it after Soap being killed in cold blood by Makarov, and we see the rest of the 141 mourning and spreading his ashes. The only way I could be nice about this, is if we just describe the story not as a triumphant story of military victory and defeating evil but as a tragedy. A story that ends in failure (a la Ghosts [2013]). But the rational part of my brain says, no, this was just the writers cutting the story in half so that they can bank on a Modern Warfare 4 in the future—and use MP seasons and co-op/raids to tell the rest of the story.

Still, I'm glad we're actually moving along with the Makarov story and what was actually the story for MW2. The reboot timeline is so slow and slow delayed because of adding Farah's backstory and Los Vaqueros. We're finally getting to the good stuff from Modern Warfare, that classic story that everyone loves. So, that's a plus.

Los Vaqueros & El Sin Nombre's Absence

My major complaint about MWII (2022) was that for a game that bases itself on a lot of real-life geopolitical conflicts, the inclusion of Valeria's storyline as a female narco boss in relation to Hassan, an Iranian villain, didn't really make sense (and this is from me, someone who has multiple degrees studying Latin America). So I'm glad Valeria and her cronies did not re-appear in this campaign. They just do not fit.

I liked Los Vaqueros in MWII, but I think the writers were right not to include them either—at least for this installment—just because they would've had to juggle too many things at once. Already, we have to juggle a lot with Farah's forces and Shadows being our allies. Having to deal with additional characters would've made the game lose its pointed focus. I wouldn't be surprised though if for "modern Warfare 4" both groups make a comeback.

It's just funny how much fans and Activision were hyping up Valeria so much, including in MWIII's live-action trailer, just for her to not make even one appearance.

Open-Combat Missions

Not gonna lie these missions stressed me the fuck out. I could NOT stay in stealth no matter what. But I think that's somwhat good, since a lot of grouchy fans who follow COD complain that every campaign is essentially the same—just move up, aim, and shoot—with just a slightly different plotline about either some Russian or some Arab villain. And I think we can commend COD now for try to shake up the campaign a little, even if I'm not a fan of Warzone (lol) and OCMs are essentially Warzone-ified campaign missions.

But mixing traditional campaign missions with these Open Combat Missions felt like a bad idea. I get that they're trying to gradually gauge our reaction to them by slowly introducing it. But it also felt disorienting switching between just following directions in one mission to in another having total liberty to do whatever by scavenging for guns or certain field-upgrades.

Either make them mainly all OCMs or all traditional.

Makarov as a Villain & Soap's Death

Yuli's work as an actor is totally praise-worthy! It's hard to step into the shoes of Makarov after the notoriety the OG Makarov gained in the original games. I think he isn't as cartoonish and weak as some of the other COD villains have been so far in the reboot—a complaint I once again have of how the narco villains were written in MWII. He actually generates fear and intimidation and we can see his power and resources—unlike villains like Hassan and whoever the generic Russian general was in MW2019. They were not memorable at all. If MW4 gets developed, it'll be great to see Yuli work with that character more.

Now, Soap. I AM HEARTBROKEN as well as PISSED. I'm pissed because we got to see Soap in the OG games grow & develop so much. Hence why so many veteran COD fans love Soap, perhaps more so than Ghost even though the latter has gotten more popular recently. We saw him going from just entering under Price's wing to becoming a Captain; and that growth of him as a character made his death so much more painful. It warranted Price yelling out in horror and shock when he realized Soap was dead before his eyes in the OG MW3. Even the background music to his OG death has become so iconic too.

We only got introduced to reboot!Soap last year with the release of MWII. We did not get to see him in the campaign in MW2019. He's still a very new character and the writers did NOT develop him properly enough in my opinion to warrant a tragic death/killing scene. I think that's part of why his death here hurts so much for me. Because it was also a killing of his potential as a character. And it sucks that Neil won't get to work with this character more in a MW4 storyline unless they do more memory/flashback scenes.

Hell, Farah gets more development and more screentime than Soap and the rest of the 141 task force aside from Price. I understand she's a main character now, but it sucks that first in MW2019 we sidelined Price as a character (in my opinion) for Farah's storyline. Now, Farah is taking up a lot more of the agency and space in the story once again at the expense of other characters taking less charge. This is honestly just me having a hard time accepting this new dynamic with Urzikstan with the rest of TF141 that the writers have been trying to cement with the rebooted series.

-

In sum, it does feel like some of the grouchy COD fans who were saying off before release that this was going to be a glorified DLC were right in hindsight. It's clear they put a lot of work into the geography, the missions/game-play, and I genuinely enjoyed playing it. And of course, the VAs put a lot of work into their craft. But plotwise it does feel like they gave us only a partial campaign with a very abrupt ending... but I also liked it anyway and had fun. And that’s what matters :-)))

[dadumtss]

Hii I'm new here I love your slenderman au it's so fascinating!

OK OK HEAR ME OUT!! what IF shapeshift cryptids exists in this au?? & if so that must be very rare right? powerful!!? dangerous!! unknown to most? UNKILLABLE EVEN??? & possibly be unwanted in the cryptid society?? the capabilities of its powers could out-matched the greatest? the real form undescribable?? possibly doesn't come from earth even? dimension, universe?? it just pop into this universe & be like: Ah, yes. my new home now, I be here whether you like it or not lol.

The forms they take might not look exactly identical to another already existing creature, but rather a form of how they could look as that cryptid species.(or any species)

with very noticeable (or not)

markings/symbols all over the body (colours whatever readers choice) that could glow when exposed to moon light, or while using magic, or other? it can give themselves away.

they could be fertile to all? or unfertile for whatever reasons. doesn't have exact gender because it can be whatever it wants, even possibly learn a magic traits, that's only possible through that particular species, & could use that magic OUTSIDE OF THAT FORM?? this.. would that be considered the most rarest cryptid species, MAYBE NOT EVEN A SPECIES BUT ONE OF A KIND!!??,

the slender brothers meeting someone like that? & possibly having love interest? or try to kill it??

the possibilities are endless. sorry obviously I LOVE OP things, is it to much? idk do whatever with it, it's your au <3

Hello, anon! I did a little explanation of shapeshifting in the AU followed by matchup headcanons / scenarios for each of the brothers. Feel free to skip straight to the matchup scenarios if you like and apologies if that wasn’t what you were looking for.

Thanks so much for your ask and your kind words! I'm so happy that you like my AU and I love the enthusiasm you have for your OC!

(I use it/its pronouns for the OC and call it a “creature” instead of a “cryptid”. Hope that’s ok!)

______________________________________________________________

Preamble

Shapeshifting cryptids do exist in the AU! There are cryptids that can transform into animals or other beasts, cryptids with monstrous forms that can alter their appearance to something more appealing and trickster cryptids that can take the forms of others. The ability isn't very rare or dangerous in-and-of itself and there are magical safeguards that protect against more mundane issues that can arise with shapeshifters, like identity theft.

I have a feeling that's not what you're going for, however.

If you're talking about something like an Eldritch God who's true form is unknowable but takes on a 'baser' form to walk among us lesser creatures; An unfathomably powerful creature that regards all on the mortal plane as mere playthings; Nyarlathotep come to life or the great Yog-Sothoth in all his might given form on this physical plane…

Then that changes things.

I can see all the brothers being wary of such a powerful creature, regardless of its intentions.

If this creature is looking for a relationship, its best bet is to hide the extent of its abilities. If it does I could write cute headcanons about how the brothers trace the creature’s markings as they cuddle, how they go on midnight strolls just so they can watch their S/O light up (literally) under the moonlight or how they pepper the creature’s face in ‘kisses’ whenever it expresses loneliness for being the only one of its kind. I could even write spicy headcanons about how their shapeshifting adds to their sex life.

But that’s not as fun. So…

_______________________________________________

Slender Brothers X Super Powerful Shapeshifter

Slenderman

He’s extremely wary.

A creature that strong is a threat to not only himself but to cryptid society, the society he fought to establish and one he helped build. This creature could do whatever it liked and no one could stop it.

Even if its intentions were innocent and its only aim was to live peacefully in society he would spend ample time and resources researching ways to destroy it.

Depending on how cooperative the creature is he uses the registration of a new species as a guise to learn more about how it functions and possible ways to kill it. He oversees the study himself, spending long hours in the labs with his best researchers as they work on collecting information on the creature.

The creature seems to pay him extra attention, giving him strange looks when it thinks he’s not looking and sometimes when he obviously is. What does it mean? What game is it playing?

Then one day it approaches him in the hallway when no one else is around. He tenses, ready for an ambush that he knows he can’t win…

It confesses its feelings for him and asks him out?

?????????????????

Is it a ruse? A ploy? Why would it need one when it could just kill him here? Is it just some kind of game? Does it want something from him? Should he go along with it to find out more about its weaknesses? Will it retaliate if he says no? Is it actually sincere? It’s certainly not bad to look at in its current form… but what if-????????????

He short circuits.

50/50 chance on whether the date happens or not.

Offenderman

He’s reckless but not a complete idiot. A creature that powerful should not be trifled with.

At first he keeps a weary eye on the creature and doesn’t engage as much with it as he does others. Then when he feels he has a better grasp on its intentions and demeanor he approaches. He’s casual and friendly though he’s not as bombastic as he usually is since he’s cautious about setting it off by being too direct. He’s also curious, trying to get a more direct read on the creature’s intentions.

The more ‘chill’ the creature turns out to be the more he opens up and lets his guard down, returning to his bombastic self around it.

Offender is curious about how strong the creature actually is and asks for a spar. He gets his ass handed to him and he knows that this person could kill him easily yet here it is, offering a hand to help him up.

That gets Offender to trust it more.

Thus, the seduction starts in earnest. Railing a super-powerful entity that could snap him like a twig but chooses not to? Extremely sexy.

Trenderman

Also extremely wary.

He tries to avoid the creature and has uncharacteristically little to say about its fashion choices or overall looks.

He acknowledges to himself that it would be very fun to make outfits that compliment the markings, both when they glow and when they don’t, but he does nothing with those thoughts.

The creature comes to him to talk (perhaps about design perhaps not) and he complies, less obviously irritated about being approached by this stranger for conversation because he knows of its vast power. The conversation moves to fashion and the creature asks for clothing help.

Trender complies. While he’s usually irritated at people asking for his services so brazenly, he’s fearful of what would happen if he says no and a little bit excited at the possibility of designing for someone that looks so unique.

Through the process of making the creature a new wardrobe, he looses some of his wariness. The creature not only has a respect for fashion in general and his abilities specifically, but is a delight to talk to and inspirational to design for.

The creature becomes a friend and his muse, as the ease to which it can shapeshift making it a never ending source of inspiration.

Eventually, the creature admits its romantic interest in Trender, admitting to trying to get his attentions in other ways that Trender overlooked in his focus on his work or assumed was playful banter.

Trender is taken aback but not against it. He says yes to a date and they see how things go from there.

Splendorman

Wary but not unfriendly.

He knows that a creature that powerful is dangerous to him, others, and the world as a whole; whether or not it says that it just wants to live in cryptid society.

But that’s no reason to be rude.

He makes friends immediately. He asks about the creature’s day, how it’s settled in, how it’s liking cryptid society. He recommends foods, shows, activities and experiences that one new to the moral realm should try and offers to be there as it tries them.

Initially, Splendor is definitely jumpy around the creature and is quick to soothe it whenever there’s so much as a possibility that the creature may react badly. However, even though it’s obvious that Splendor doesn’t fully trust it, the creature can’t help but open up to him.

Splendor listens earnestly to its thoughts and opens up about his own experiences eagerly, making it easy for the creature to confess its feelings about being the only one of its kind while they look up at the stars from Splendor’s meadow; makes it easy for the creature to think of Splendor’s feelings when someone insults it and it gets the urge to harm; makes it easy for the creature to appreciate all the smallest insects, plants, snowflakes and rocks that Splendor points out excitedly as they walk together;

Makes it easy to fall in love.

For the both of them.

[sqbr]

In Pursuit of Ethical Argumentativeness

Assume I follow you on tumblr, and you have posted an original or reblogged opinion that I wish to express a strong disagreement with. It's not anything super personal, nor likely to cause horrible Discourse from other people (I already try to avoid those sorts of reblogs).

NOT arguing isn't an option because I have tried that in the past and it was Bad For Me.

But I know some people can feel REALLY hurt to have their posts reblogged with disagreeing commentary by someone they are friendly with, at least the way I do it, and I don't want to make people unnecessarily unhappy. But also I just have all these opinions!

I am SURE I have forgotten some obvious option but so it goes.

More rambling thoughts under the cut.

So I already sometimes use methods other than directly reblogging people if it feels like the right choice. But I largely base this judgement on what I would want, and afaict I am more comfortable than most when it comes to being directly argued with in a good faith way by people I know. I enjoy being able to have an open back and forth where we share ideas and opinions and I know where people stand with me. Also, I don't like the idea of anyone being afraid to argue with me. On the other hand, sometimes it DOES hurt my feelings or make me anxious, and I'm always a little worried I'm misjudging my tone and would actually feel bad if many people argued with me the way I do with other people. Also, even though it's not my intention, there's always the possibility that my reblog will put your opinion in the path of Discourse and Mean Strangers etc.

When people vagueblog me it sometimes feels passive aggressive and sometimes like politeness and I'm never sure where that line is so just avoid doing vagueblogs myself.

I don't mind the idea of people arguing with me in places I don't see, especially if they're expressing intense but petty annoyance (I take that stuff off tumblr too) But idk it feels uncomfortable to do that ALL the time, like I'm being duplicitous and only able to be friendly with people by hiding my real self.

This is tumblr specific since I avoid arguments on microblogging sites (mainly by heavily curating who I follow) and dreamwidth doesn't have reblogging.

My aim with this poll is just a general vibe check. Obviously individual opinions will vary, and will depend on whether you're a close friend or we have literally never spoken directly before etc. If you have strong personal opinions one way or the other let me know and I will do my best to follow them! (Except maybe private messaging, I included it because if that IS what people want it's good to know, but I'm too shy to do it much)

The ethics/expectations for strangers are different, so I made this post unrebloggable to get a vaguely representative sample of relevant people. But it's fine if you vote even if I don't follow you, if you're seeing this post at all you're in my radar enough for your opinion to be relevant.

[thehollowprince]

hi! you weren’t the OP and i don’t expect every person who reblogs a cute pic to be the one to identify someone they don’t know. boysappetit and the other blog that get hundreds of notes didn’t even credit her for the pic when they obviously took it from her insta and her name was right there. it was aimed at them not you. enjoy your day!

Just for the record, you're telling me that it's targeted at these other creators, but you didn't put up a picture of their tags. You specifically used mine because I tagged her as "a girl" because I didn't know who she was. Kept my name attached and everything because you wanted to play at having some sort of moral high ground on Tumblr, of all places.

It's a public platform, and you are more than welcome to do what you did, but in the same breath, maybe just reaching and saying, "Hey, this is who that person is" would be better than trying to publicly shame people because we didn't stalk someone's Instagram. Because that picture, isn't immediately obvious on her Instagram. You have to actively look through a sideshow to find it.

Oh, and out of basic human decency, I'm not going to tag you in this and let you remain anonymous, even though the entire reason you're sending me this is because I commented on your post.

[irrealisms]

i have to disagree with your read of the op, even as i agree with everything being said-- the thing that i read op as saying isn't "You cannot [believe things about a fictional story] [if those things diverge too greatly from that fictional story]" or "You cannot expect others to agree with the things you think about a fictional story if those things diverge too greatly (and that point of divergence may be different for different people, [etc.])". ; it's something more along the lines of "You cannot use (for example) Diverse Headcanons to make a story progressive, if the story's themes are regressive and bigoted and you are leaving those themes unexamined + unchanged." or perhaps "You cannot use headcanons as a way of avoiding the idea of the source material needing to be criticized." it's not that you physically can't headcanon things that are too divergent from the original, which is obviously false, or even that people won't always agree with your headcanons, which is so blandly generic as to be meaningless; it's (to my reading) about the fact that many headcanons that aim to "fix" something about the original text (and which often get deployed to ~dismiss criticisms of the source) are in fact slapping a layer of paint over it without at any point meaningfully engaging with the problems in the original text that they want to fix!

you cannot headcanon your way out of overt thematic structures on which the entire narrative is built

[thestickbin]

Initial Research

I see this game as a 3D Pikuniku. The entire game is built with the player's enjoyment in mind. They're aiming to create a game where you can just have fun with you're friends. The gameplay it's self is just a bunch of little activities you can do to get bones, rather than a solid story. At it's core, it's a playground game that uses strange physics to make everything more fun, which is exactly what we're trying to achieve with our own game. The other thing I love is that some of the things you can do in this game completely take you by surprise. You could be on a completely separate mission and a dog will do something you've never seen before and you'll start trying to copy or follow him around leading you to something else to do. love the movement and the art and the sound, but it would be nice to have some semblance of a story for the story based unit. I also think the timer wasn't needed and slightly contradicts the rest of the gameplay but I understand them trying to add some structure to an other wise, extremely chaotic clash of mechanics.

People playground is almost exactly how it sound concerningly. It's a sandbox that allows you to attack ragdolls. The reason I've chosen to research this game is that it uses a lot of the mechanics we could be using in our game. Firstly, the active ragdoll; You don't see a lot of active ragdolls in 2D games so it's quite useful for us to look at as many examples as possible. People playground uses it's physics partnered with gun crime to create fun for all players. The active ragdolls are arguably the most important part of this because ragdolls are funny. The main thing I'd like to take from this game is exactly that. The stupid physics and ability to use them against your friends.

Although this isn't a co-op game, our game is pretty obviously going to share a lot of similarities to stick fight. This is the general gist I want for our game. Active ragdoll stick people, stupid physics, simple but really cool level design and the ability to hit your friends. The only difference of course, that ours would focus entirely on puzzles and story.

[thatstormygeek]

Hooray. It's time for all the posts telling people who are not doing a thing that they are somehow even more evil than the people actively working to make things worse. And this is somehow a good, progressive message.

Look, I get it. Voting is a thing we should all do. I have been voting longer than a lot of people on this site have been alive. And I've voted in the vast majority of elections in which I could (yes, I have missed the occasional oddly-timed special election). Believe me when I tell you that the get out the vote messaging has not meaningfully changed in four decades.

For my entire adult life, every big election has been The Most Important World-Changing Election of All Time!!!! (tm)

Are things bad right now? Yes, obviously. Is the upcoming election important? Of course. Is human nature suddenly going to change in a way that makes the same, threadbare Panic! At The Voting Booth line suddenly much more effective? I have my doubts.

If you want to blast out some epic, over-the-top threat against nonvoters, or tell them they are responsible for the actions of people they didn't vote against, it's not like I can stop you. I do wish you would admit (to yourself, if no one else) that your post is more about virtue signaling than actually increasing the percentage of people who go to the polls.

It'll be like "if you don't vote, unfollow me!" And then half the notes are op adding clauses. So if your post isn't aimed at people who are kept from voting by the various barriers thrown up by the system, who is it for? The people who just don't care? Think a lot of those folks are gonna re-examine their actions so they can keep following you? (assuming they'd even do as asked anyway)

And why don't these people care? Did their education fail them? Are they burnt out on the endless election cycle? Do they just not give a shit about other people? Each of those scenarios would call for a different approach, but that would require getting as far as actually talking with nonvoters. And, well, that's hard.

It's much easier to make a self-righteous post about how not voting us the evillest of all evils.

It's also emblematic of how we put the most responsibility for effort on those with the least power. Rather than demanding the Democratic party do more to show people why they should vote blue, folks are out here yelling at people to vote in the hopes that maybe the party will decide to do something that helps them. If we can just get 60 62 64 Dems in the senate. You have to VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO and we'll push them to the left once they win the election but once the election is won we'll tell anyone who dares criticize a Dem that they are the reason things suck and actually everything is good and fine thanks to the Dems but there's an election coming up so we can't risk implying the Democrats aren't perfect and give the GOP ammo so hold your criticism until after this election because it's the most important election of all time and if you don't vote blue you might as well be murdering trans kids yourself but we really promise this time that we'll push them to the left after the election...

So yeah. Vote. It's the most basic way to exercise your voice. But maybe, just maybe, some of you diehard Dem defenders could swivel your cannons 180 degrees and use some of that energy to actually agitate for meaningful change from your party instead of screaming at random individuals about their personal decisions.

Or not. After all, what you're doing has been working so well.

[everythingshinesunderthesun]

There's this post I absolutely hate that starts going around every once in a while where the OP talks about how "all of these GAME DESIGNERS and CRITICS that dare SPEAK ILL OF GREAT DADDY NINTENDO obviously don't understand that the reason their controllers are cramped and suck is because they're aimed at children!!"

Which like, hey, fair, children should have gaming peripherals aimed at them, I acknowledge I'm not the target audience of Nintendo's products. It's still a stupid argument to make though, because

The main criticism the Switch controllers get isn't over their size, it's over the fact they're made of paper mache and dreams and break if you look at them funny.

The GC controller, which many believe to be the pinnacle of ergonomic and intuitive controller design, was created by Nintendo back in 2001. I was 5 years old and already combing mofos in Melee like it was nobody's business. Incidentally, I can still use that controller today and find it perfectly comfortable. Clearly this isn't an either or situation.

Anyways, the multi-billion dollar mega-corporation doesn't need you to put the mean critics in their place for them lol trust me people can objectively state how much Nintendo sucks for a multitude of reasons until they're blue in the face and it's not going to affect them in the least.

[knowlessman]

beggo no heggo acabamia (bnha) s2e1-3

I know he technically isn't going "ho ho ho" but I still swear all might sounds like santa clause when he does the laugh -- I thought I skipped the recap episode

random pull/shoutout: I love Shady Cicada but these intros remind me of his "how to do an anime intro" videos (affectionately meh, if that makes any sense)

…hm. 100% thought we were watching one of the villains read a stolen letter but I guess not; the establishing shot (?) of, I think, the bar from the last episode confused me

ohey mccrassidy's here again -- I guess it is good that we have a prominent quirkless character in the detective here (unless he turns out to be Rampo in disguise) -- "a man-child that oppressed-feeling villainous people listen to" …something something trump

bird man has teeth. fancy that

"we're already seated" iida what did I tell you about spongebobbing it 'XD

"hello, this is my other pokemon cosplay, dusclops"

…I never went to high school, is "homeroom" usually just one announcement long?

-- also I think I can see how this's gonna be a good arc 'XD

uraraka have you been watching kill la kill

-- …speaking of kill la kill. is uraraka just whatserface. best sidekick. mako mankanshoku, that's her name. …googles to see if they have the same VA; they don't

yup. he put too many chips in, only got some back. (I did learn how to play poker once; didn't retain a thing)

no pressure, huh. anyway next one

"those who are always aiming for the top, and those who aren't." beh. ambition.

"that's kacchan in neutral" alright.

-- "move, fives. a ten wants out."

idk why this blue hair guy is giving me homestuck troll vibes but he is and I wanna like him

DAGOBA BEACH. IS THAT A COINCIDENCE.

I still wanna know how invisible girl beat deku in the fitness test. deku was training to beat saitama, was she training for goku???

what is Korg's ability? I don't think we know anything much about him.

(kyoka is fucking around with darts) holy fuck did kyoka wander in out of naruto? o_o

lol whotf is that with no shirt and the pikachu helmet

wait you're giving vegeta the mic? wtf for, do you guys not share notes or something

(random-minigame-looking thingy is on the screen) is this fucking mario party. wait what am I saying, obviously it's gonna be fall guys.

-- correction: mario kart? …uh, on foot? idfk

…this fucker is like if zuko was saitama but also carrot but also cooler than any other character I can think of. just like matter-of-factly hypercompetent with no humility but with dignity but on his own side. like "yes I'm OP and I hate it but differently than saitama." I know, like, SOME spoilers about his general deal but like… damn.

-- …is he sasuke if sasuke didn't just come across as an edgy idiot?

dang, next?

okay quiet can just make a mortar bc why not

I was wondering if they had gadgeteers.

ohey it's gamzee again. I knew those eyes and that hair were making me think of someone in particular. we about to see some motherfucking miracles?

(deku's gambit) WHAT? 'XD

-- (deku's gambit part 2) WHAT

vegeta's not gonna like that

get a chapstick, you weirdo

cavalry whut

-- …??? so, it's not like a three-legged race but carrying somebody then. wtf is a cavalry battle

oh goddammit, "cavalry battle finale" isn't til the episode after next. gonna cut it here, then.

[cuntylouis]

#the use of the slur is still incredibly normalized in Europe and has been used to refer to and describe non-Romani people#that ''look'' Romani......that's why it doesn't automatically mean Armand is Romani#but obviously faced racism in connection to the way Romani people have been perceived in the past because of his skintone#also this isn't aimed at OP but I wouldn't be surprised if some people don't understand that it's a slur that you SHOULDN'T usr#mainly because the dehumanization of Romani people is still so rampant in connection to that slur and their history in Europe#not to mention how normalized it is as a way to describe the negatively perceived stereotype of Romani people#moving from place to place; therefore being described as 'wanderers' despite the fact that this is also a product of them#now being literally chased out of countries because of racism#interview with the vampire (via @fayevalcntine)

Including these tags because i thought they were a good addition. It's common for people to use that slur even if they know it's a slur, because many people think that Romani deserve to be called with slurs. I've had experiences where even when i try to very politely call out someone doing that they only double down. Racism against Roma people often isn't perceived as real racism but something Roma deserve for being inherently bad people with 'bad culture'. Even though it's almost impossible in many countries for Romani people to get a job or rent an apartment because of racism. I'm not really 'out' about being Romani to anyone i know in real life because i know many people would have a negative reaction to learning about it. It's hard to even explain the type of dehumanization that often goes with living as a Romani person, and sometimes even just as someone who 'looks' Romani, especially in Europe

After this most recent episode i'd like to remind people that the word g*psy is a slur. Some Romani people have reclaimed it but you shouldn't use it if you aren't Romani. I wasn't personally angry (though slightly taken aback) that it was used in the show because i felt it was realistic, not excessive and was portrayed in negative light, while also telling us something about both Nicki and Armand as characters. I still don't want to see it used by fandom in everyday language and discussions. Many different names have been used to refer to Romani people but 'Romani' and 'Roma' are what communities around the world generally accept themselves.

Nicki calling Armand a g*psy doesn't necessarily mean that he is Romani (though he easily could be since we don't know much about his background yet), but it tells us that people in-universe assume so when meeting him. The way the society treats Romani people is extremely hostile and Romani have been widely hated and discriminated against for the entire recorded history. The Paris timeline of s2 also takes place in the immediate aftermath of the WW2 and the Romani genocide. Regardless of is Armand actually Romani or not, being perceived as such would have a major influence on him, his life and relationships, and how he moves through the world. I don't know will the association with Romani be addressed in any way in the future, but i hope that people are mindful of Armand as a character existing in this framework

[reallyneedsalife]

Headcanons Part 2

James Bond knows and has a fatherly relationship with Alex Rider. They met on a join mission between MI6's Double-Oh branch and the join MI6-MI5's Special Operations Branch that is the only branch capable of operating both inside and outside of the United Kingdom. James was assigned to play the role of Alex's father on an op and, well, he never really stopped playing the role. James and Q have plans to adopt the kid once they get enough time alone to sort out the paperwork and talk to Alex about it. Jack and Eve also get along in a way that none of them really understand.

I also like to think Ian Rider was OO2 and the go between for MI6 and Special Operations - hence why he was one of the few Double-Ohs cleared for operating legally on UK soil.

All the Double-Ohs see each other as more or less siblings - which when added with the idea that Silva was OO7 before James was all the more painful. The parallels work, their messed up childhoods because there is no way Silva didn't have childhood trauma, being Ms favourites and the personal meetings between the two - Silva meeting the his new 'baby brother' who took his place as 'Mummy's' favourite.

The Double-Ohs also play very competitive games whenever most of them are on shore leave. Things such as poker, manhunt and hide and seek. R has shot OO5 at least twice because she scared them and of course they carry?

Tanner could have been a Double-Oh. The only reason he didn't qualify is that sadly he suffers from asthma. Instead he took up the role of Chief of Staff, and Ms personal body guard. Most didn't know that about him, until that one time someone made a run past security and Bill took them out in less than 2 seconds. Even some of the official Double-Ohs are afraid of him - especially after he becomes Chief of Staff.

People seem to forget Q isn't just deadly with a laptop - as well being proficient in hand to hand combat, the Quartermaster is deadly with a sniper rifle and has startlingly good aim with a pistol. Good enough to rival James'. After all, MI6 wouldn't let him build the Agent's weapons if he didn't at least know how to use them.

James cannot watch spy flicks without tearing them to shreds - Eve and Tanner enjoy them because the pair love tearing them to shreds. Q enjoys the obviously impossible plots but by god will he point out the plot holes and rant about how things could have been done better. R loves them because they're easy to watch and so unrealistic they help to unwind.

MI6 as a collective will bet on literally anything. Will it rain tomorrow? £5 on at midday. Will OO7 bring his gear back? Is our darling Quartermaster related to the detective that faked his own death a few years back? Are Tanner and M dating? Does Eve know Dame Maggie Smith? (spoiler alter: yes she does.)

Eve and Tanner have very quietly-aggressive games of chess. The set lives in Ms office, he plays too sometimes but mostly its the Secretary and the Chief of Staff. Current score is 127:112

Expanding on my Q curses like a sailor headcanon - he frequently does do in other languages but never ever around kids. One time he swore in Spanish in front of Minion 27s kids and didn't forgive himself for 3 months.

Q rarely sleeps, but when he does it's usually on someone. He has a habit of sleeping on James' shoulder even before they were together - once they were that shoulder nap became a lap nap. James loves to play with Q's hair when that happens, Q can't really object. Even if it does make, as Eve put it once, him look like a "disgruntled kitten".

Everyone assumes Eve is the Gossip Machine of M-Branch and the higher ups and boy are they wrong. Sure, she'll share a lot of it, but most of her gossip isn't Moneypenny sourced. She gets most of it from Bill. As Chief of Staff with exceptional field and espionage training, its hard to find something that Bill doesn't know in the building. He has a list of questionable people who might maybe be up to something.

[96percentdone]

Laughing about the dm I got from op about the moe post. Buddy I didn't miss shit. I read the notes. literally TWO notes in you have people making generalized sweeping statements about the genre as a whole based on your misinformation, and it just took off from there. I have someone who @ me after you edited the post to tell moe fans to kill themselves, presumably to tell me something about pedophilia in anime or whatever, and your literal tags on your edit are also about pedophilia, but sure I misread everything, and you have the moral high ground.

Anyway. @skydalorian, since you @ me but I can't read it. Assuming you didn't also try to tell me to kill myself for allegedly being a moe fan (I'm not, but sure believe what you want OP), I'm just gonna tell you upfront.

You saying shit like this is exactly what I was talking about in my tags. I find this sentiment reprehensible. The way you have condemned other people for liking 'media that perpetuates pedophilic-intent,' a statement that is only backed by the OP flat out lying and using deceptive tactics, while you misuse and misunderstand what pedophilia is, is absolutely repugnant to me.

This is not pedophilia. Pedophilia is not when character designs in shows aimed at teenagers about teenagers are cutesy. It's also not making those designs either! Pedophilia is the sexual attraction to real children. Got it? Are we clear? Because if you're not clear on this, you are absolutely not qualified to talk about the subject.

Now, there are moe anime out there that deal heavily in sexualizing their cutesy character designs, that lean extremely heavily onto making child characters lewd or sexy. There is also straight moe hentai. If people want to criticize that, about how this trend can contribute to the sexualization and objectification of young girls (or children over all) in the culture (a thing that is bad, but is not pedophilia, because pedophilia has a specific meaning), that's fine.

But a post that's full of bullshit examples where one character is a dude in a show that's also moe, the top half contains a diverse array of genres marketed to demographics of different ages, while the bottom half is nearly all romcoms and all intended for teenagers, that uses still images of anime girl faces doing nothing sexual is not how you make that point or have that conversation.

I don't know if you watched every single show in the original post. You probably haven't. I haven't either! But that's all the more reason you shouldn't be so eager to use these examples to talk about the subject, isn't it? It should absolutely be enough to make you stop and think before you call anyone who likes any of those bottom shows 'close to being garbage.' Really? You're that confident about your assessment? Based on your misunderstanding about what pedophilia is? From a OP that could not more obviously be bad faith and unfounded?

How dare you. Truly, how dare you. How dare you accuse a bunch of people you don't know for 'supporting pedophilia' because they took even the smallest amount of issue when a post that was flat out lying mischaracterized a thing they like.

I've disabled the reblogs on this; I don't want this to leave my blog. But I am absolutely begging you to think before you make statements like this. Please stop relying on bad faith bullshit posts to condemn people for things they're not guilty of.