#REMEMBER TO TAKE WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

[incorrectquoteswwdits]

HELLO SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP PLEASE ENJOY THIS MASSIVE SPOILER LIKE I JUST DID

A big thank you to Anon for this!!!

SPOILER BELOW

“hello this is a short continuation of spoilers i got from someone who attended the screening so u can post this in a separate post. SO we see angel crowley creating the universe right and aziraphale was there with him . apparently crowley started gushing like oh you are so gorgeous! and aziraphale was like “oh!” thinking crowley was talking to him but then he looked at crowley and crowley was looking at the stars he made HWKSHWHD and crowley was really excited making all the stars and apparently aziraphale can't hide his heart eyes HEKDHJWJSW THAT'S ALL IM GOING INSANE JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS”

[kroosluvr]

welcome to the phantom express (?!)

[greenfiend]

On the topic of Band-Aids…

Sure Will “ripp[ed] off [the] Band-Aid”, but where did it leave us? It left us with an enormous wound, spreading all across Hawkins.

A heart shaped lake ripped apart in the centre.

Obviously, that wound needs to heal, and somehow I doubt Mike and El’s “love” for each other will help matters. Especially since Mike’s “love” speech to El occurred right before this wound opened up.

People who simply study scripts and script writing only know a portion of what’s going on. A lot of clues come from the visuals and subtleties that are not written on a page.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

if i had a nickel every time magneto, charles, and amelia were all featured on a cover that framed them as having a wack love triangle then im sure im missing more than just these two but im still baffled i naturally found two so easily anyway

[nightwings-robin]

If Jason is responsible for the death of Felipe Garzonas then Bruce is equally as responsible for the death of Felipe's father, José.

I've seen so many arguments and counter-arguments about whether or not Jason actually pushed that guy off of a building to his death, but I have literally never seen anyone talk about the very next issue which involves his father blaming Jason regardless. I didn't know this was a thing that ever happened in the comics until I started reading them in earnest.

This event is often talked about as a defining moment in Jason's time as Robin (and it is) but I think this little arc actually says a lot more about Bruce and fan's interpretations of Jason's actions than it does about Jason himself.

Like just look at this panel from Batman (1940) #425:

Batman is on top of a pile of cars, José shoots at Batman, the tower of cars falls down on top of José and he dies. It's sort of an accident but then Bruce goes on to imply that this guy's death is also Jason's fault:

Bruce is saying here that actions have consequences - the name of this issue is even titled "Consequences" - but the way he says it to Jason implies that these are the consequences of Jason's actions. In Bruce's mind, Jason "killed" Felipe, so his father wanted to get revenge and ended up killed as well. Bruce lays both of these deaths at Jason's feet but I don't think that's totally fair to Jason.

Regardless of whether or not Jason really did kill Felipe, José Garzonas believes Robin is responsible. This sets off a chain of events that leads to José's death. And one could argue that Bruce is actually the one responsible for Garzonas' death as he was the one on top of the tower of cars that falls and crushes Garzonas. I find it interesting that Bruce doesn't hold himself responsible for that, even though it's an accident. He seems to blame Jason for this death that he himself had a hand in because he seems to blame Jason for Felipe's death that started this all.

Maybe Bruce doesn't even think that Jason pushed Felipe off of that building and that he really was just "spooked" off. But Bruce still blames Jason because Jason didn't try to save Felipe from falling. No matter Jason's real actions or intentions, Felipe still died and his father still blamed Robin.

If we go off of the theory that Felipe really was just spooked by Jason and slipped off the building by accident, then Jason didn’t kill Felipe so much as he didn’t save him. Which Bruce has done to KGBeast for example multiple times (no seriously there's AT LEAST two separate times when Bruce may not have killed KGBeast but certainly and purposefully left him in a situation in which death was eminent, but whatever I digress.)

I think a lot of people don't know that that story is actually a two-parter and that the next issue after Batman (1940) #424 deals with Felipe's father trying to get revenge for his son's death and he very clearly blames Robin for it.

Thoughts and opinions?

[total-drama-brainrot]

Total Drama World Tour Assistant Noah AU…

Where Assistant Noah warns Owen before the London Challenge, but Alejandro had heard him…

Alejandro: So, you think that I’m like an eel dipped in grease?

Assistant Noah: Yes, I do. What are you gonna do about it, pretty boy? I’m not a contestant, you have no power over me, Eel!

Alejandro: Maybe so, but I can still use my charms to mess with you, while you’re working.

Assistant Noah: Don’t you dare! >=O

Alejandro: (Smirks and blows Noah a flirty kiss!) ;)

Wasn't it already a pre-established fact that Alejandro was actively flirting with assistant Noah before London? Why would him upping the ante make any difference here?

If anything, have Alejandro seethe over the fact that, despite his best efforts to seem as suave and charming as possible, Noah sees him as an "eel dipped in grease". He's consistantly pulled out all the stops to get a reaction out of Noah - the same tactics that worked flawlessly on the rest of the competition - and yet his best efforts are rewarded with the one person he's trying to get to like him, actively disliking him.

It's a massive blow to his ego and his confidance. But one he can learn from.

Have Alejandro condeed defeat to himself; if he hadn't won Noah over by now, there's little chance he ever would (at least, that's his justification for giving up). Have him stop flirting with Noah - stop interacting with the assistant completely, since he's so obviously disliked by Noah.

And then. Then, you have Noah notice the emptiness in his day-to-day.

You have the both of them turn to make snide comments or backhanded remarks about the goings on in the competition, only to be met with silence and a blank space at their side. You have the both of them cycle through active denial that the miss each other, until the weight of their loneliness crushes their combined stubbornness.

Have Noah sheepishly apologise to Alejandro in the (relative) privacy of the cargo hold, trying to explain that his distrust of Alejandro doesn't necessarily translate into dislike. And have Alejandro forgive him. Not entirely, but enough for the two of them to settle back into a sense of normalcy.

That is, Alejandro habitually trying to flirt with Noah once more, only to be completely blindsided when the other laughs at his attempts instead of brushing him off.

Because that's a sign of progress, right?

[tarmac-rat]

Something I think perfectly encapsulates the early days of Cyberpunk 2077's launch so well was at one point, once you completed the bender, the game would unceremoniously drop a copy of Johnny's holo-arm in your inventory without telling you. It was equipable, meaning you could put it on whenever you wanted (but I don't believe you could unequip it without trashing it) and it would show up in the game whenever you used your weapon or were in a cutscene. So it was almost like the game was giving you the option to make Johnny's silver arm a permanent feature of your V, implying that it was a part of the Relic's progression, and that you could use it for story immersion or lore purposes, or even just as a cool feature to have in your inventory if you wanted it for the aesthetic

And then CDPR came forward, said "actually this was 100% a bug you're not supposed to get this", patched it out, and we never got it back.

[aster-blogging-dracula]

Damn bro Imagine how dire the situation as a closeted middle aged man in the late victorian times must be that you express your desires by creating a vampire with your boss' face.

(for the sake of accuracy, this a joke)

[blackbatcass]

actually the funniest flash character in history is mason trollbridge. he was just some bland carpenter dude. he was wally’s old man best friend. they moved across country together. wally LIVED with him. he had a supervillain son that was never followed up on. he was in almost every issue. then waid took over and he disappeared without a trace and was never heard from again

[their-name-is-fake]

Hey y’all! Just to give some insight into what we are seeing in the states. This is going to be close, like reaaaaallly close. Kamala would need to win Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin from the looks of it. So, where does that leave us? Who’s to say all three of these states are very volatile. There’s a high chance she loses Michigan ( I mena she fully fumbled it there so it depends on if the people choose to over look that), so that’s already bad news. Georgia would have been a good alternative but gerrymandering needed any chance of that.

There is an ever increasing chance that Trump is able to pull what he did in 2016 so y’all need to be prepared for that.

And even if he doesn’t win there is a high chance there will be riots so

[nientedal]

On Constructive Criticism.

Hey friends. You ever want to leave a critique on a fic, and the author says they like constructive criticism/"concrit," but then you leave your critique and you try to make it complimentary but the author still seems less than thrilled with you? You may have missed the point of "constructive!" Don't feel bad, you aren't alone. Took me until I started writing and receiving feedback to really figure it out.

The key to remember is, "constructive" doesn't mean "nice." It doesn't mean phrasing gently, or doing a compliment sandwich (although those are fine things to do as well). "Constructive" feedback is feedback that would make the story as the author has already written it stronger.

"The execution of this character's decision to do XYZ felt a little bit out of nowhere, to me. Was that your intent? It didn't seem like it was meant to be a big twist, either. Maybe some extra foreshadowing would make it stronger, or some shock on the part of the other characters." THAT'S constructive criticism.

This is NOT constructive criticism: "This character doing XYZ thing really doesn't make for as strong a story as it could. I think he should have done NQD thing, instead. That would have been better."

The first example offers some ideas on how to help a character's decision land better when the reader couldn't tell what the author's intent was. It's possible the reader didn't like the decision and that's why they noticed - maybe some foreshadowing would have helped them accept it better, or some indication that it was meant to be shocking would have validated the reader's surprise & displeasure. But, crucially, the reader did not suggest anything that would require a massive rewrite to change. Some tweaking, sure, maybe the addition of a few paragraphs. But not a change to the character's decision as a whole, the way the second example suggested. The second example does describe something the reader thinks would make for a stronger story...but it is not something that would make THIS story stronger. It is describing a different story than the one the author has already written so far, so it's just plain ol' criticism. Constructive criticism makes the existing story stronger.

That's the difference. You aren't workshopping. You are commenting on something that is already being written, that is already planned to the point where someone is already posting it. Or it's already complete!There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between helping workshop a story and simply giving concrit. Unless the author has specifically asked for workshop-style help, offering things to do differently from what was already written is worse than useless. Don't.

Rule of thumb: if what you're saying can be boiled down to "I think this cake would be better if it was pie," say something else. The cake is not pie. It's not GOING to be pie. I didn't ask what you think I should bake, I put cake on the table and asked what you thought of this cake. Tell me what would make THIS cake better. Not the pie you were thinking of, and not a different cake you might have liked better. THIS CAKE.

[yellow-the-monster-girl]

whyyyy is no one talking about the replicators???

there's literally so much stuff that I feel like it could be explored, I mean, I don't like fifth that much either but like. the struggle of feeling for the first time. the struggle of feeling differently than your "family" and being seen as weaker for it. the struggle of feeling at all and it still not being enough for the Good Guys to see you as human. the struggle of knowing you're Different. too human for the machines and too machine for the humans. you know???

and repliCarter, no I didn't forget her, like girl has all the memories of regular carter right? imagine there's another you. imagine asking the other you for help even if it's just a ploy to kill fifth and make your bug siblings immune to Destroy Beam and they say if it doesn't work they'll just destroy you. imagine knowing, every second that you stay there, that everyone knows you're not Like Them. you're something Other. like, I'm well aware she's evil and stuff, the point she had to feel something while at the site alpha.

same goes for reese with the horrifying bonus that she basically had the mind of a child. like, imagine those evil dangerous things are your toys. they were supposed to protect you. you never wanted to hurt anyone. imagine you're the Other, you're not human, you're a machine to them, except you're also a child.

and I could go on and on about the asurans and elizabeth weir but that would be a whole another post in itself

tldr: give replicators some love please. and some fanfics. especially the fanfics.

[uefb]

A Wild and Precious Life — Chapters 1 & 2

Summary

In early 2024, Newt Scamander is injured during a conservation project in Burkina Faso. As usual, he gets better, but then… he doesn't. Meanwhile, Tina Goldstein is head of the auror office within the UK’s Department of International Magical Cooperation. Her sister and Jacob have just moved to London; and she and Newt are meant to be married in a matter of weeks. When Newt’s routine checkup suddenly turns concerning, the news comes hurtling at a speed they aren't prepared for... It turns out wizards aren’t impervious to everything; and now Newt and Tina are stuck between a wedding and a timeline that's determined to change their lives.

Opening Scene (Chapter 1)

Newt pounded up the stairs from the basement and screeched to a halt in the kitchen, hiking boots squeaking on the tiles as he dropped his [perfectly unordinary] briefcase onto the floor just a wee bit harder than he’d meant to... His eyes scanned the room for wherever he’d last left the tea kettle and – invariably – his ever-missing, godforsaken phone.

The sound of Tina’s hair-drying charms buzzed from the bathroom as he cast a location spell for both:

A bright ping!! drew him to a stack of papers by the stove (which, shuffling through them, revealed his half-charged phone, already stacked with notification banners…); while a gasping hiss! led him straight to the kettle in the sink, where he’d apparently left it the night before when they’d hurried to the bedroom.

(Monday night had been Tina’s 28th birthday and—after a well-deserved get-together at her favourite restaurant with their her various friends and colleagues… Well… Upon returning home, Tina had simply needed celebrating.)

But now, in the light of day—(as Newt struggled with the inevitably stubborn lid on the top of the kettle)—he caught sight of a pale gold band beside a maroon-stained pair of wine glasses, the ring’s warmth contrasting subtly with the brush-stained silver of their kitchen sink...

He gave up on the kettle and charmed it open instead, shouting over his shoulder (always a battle over Tina’s clatter in the bathroom — gentle mornings were not her forté):

“Tina love!”

But he paused then, swearing under his breath, for he’d enchanted the water in the kettle to boil before even thinking of setting it on a trivet, and thus his hand—

“You’ve left your ring by the sink again!”

He shook out his burnt fingers with a huff, pulling a battered green travel mug (Central African Conservation Conference - 2018) from a cabinet just as the drawer in the bathroom finally slammed shut—

“I keep telling you…” he muttered absently, and Tina’s routine morning noises suddenly died out. “It’ll get knocked into the drain. Or Teddy’ll run off with it. And I haven’t got another royalty check until after the wedding, so if you could –”

But he stopped mid-sentence then, for Tina was suddenly beside him with an abrupt and unexpected tenderness, slipping the citrine ring back onto her finger and pressing a firm kiss to his cheek. She dropped a fragrant Earl Grey tea bag into his mug before nudging it toward him and suggesting firmly, crossing her arms–

“Add honey to that, Newt. Your cough sounded terrible this morning.”

Newt flicked his eyes up to her at that, summoning the honey with an acquiescent but mildly amused grimace. “It did, didn’t it?”

For good measure, he squeezed a half lemon into his travel mug with a half-smile (the tagline ‘I survived erumpent mating season!!’ still made him laugh, even six years later); and Tina moved a step closer to brush a lock of unruly hair from his brow.

“And ask about it at the healers, won’t you?” she prompted. “ When you go in for your check-up? At your final examination this afternoon.”

“Oh - um - right… ”

He most definitely hadn’t forgotten about his second [three-month] follow-up for his January runespoor bite. (There was a reason Tina had merged their calendars the moment they moved in together the year before, and it certainly wasn’t because Newt was the superior timekeeper...)

“It’s been two weeks and the pepper-up’s not working,” Tina continued from where she’d crouched in front of the refrigerator, eventually selecting a Pyrex dish of leftovers to shove into her bag. “Maybe you picked somethin’ up in Spain last month?”

“Ah - no - I couldn’t have,” he murmured, flicking his wand to imbue Hello Newt!!! St. Mungo’s! 12.20! on his hand with waterproof ink and a buzzing reminder spell so he wouldn’t forget. “I mean, apart from pox, humans can’t catch things from dragons, can they? Their diseases simply aren’t zoonotic. And none of the ones I was working with were even sick. Breeding consult, you see,” he clarified.

“Fine, Mr. Scamander,” Tina harrumphed goodnaturedly, and then she was back at the counter, reheating coffee to pour into her own simple travel mug. “But – honey – coughing up a lung under the chuppah wouldn’t be cute, so maybe humour me this time.”

“Well. When you put it that way…” he conceded, returning to the whirlwind of his own morning preparations to get out the door. “Yes, I’ll ask. Of course.”

He had just finished attaching a leather strap to his briefcase to make travelling easier when he suddenly – (actually) – caught his fiancee’s eye, fully registering her striking comportment and demeanour for the first time that morning.

He immediately paused (frozen), for Tina stood particularly straight-backed, in an uncharacteristically well-polished outfit, having apparently swapped her casual slacks and button-ups for a fitted maroon pantsuit, a crisp white dress shirt, and a pair of no-nonsense (but brightly shined) chunky black oxfords.

She raised her eyebrows as Newt continued to stare at her. “Yes, Newt?”

“You - “ He paused to swallow. “You just look very nice today, Tina…”

A beat.

“Thank you.” She smiled and blushed, adjusting the lapel of her cropped suit jacket before taking a step closer to smooth out a wrinkle on Newt’s—conversely—well-loved summer cardigan.

In return, he ran a gentle thumb over a spot on her neck, dissolving the light love bruise back into the creamy tone of her skin with a subtly murmured wandless spell.

“I’ve got planning for that international summit—the one in Vienna—this morning,” she explained with a slight frown. “And then meetings with the French consulate all afternoon.” A huff. “Like, all afternoon, Newt… It’s a pain! But Queenie insists I’ll be taken more seriously if I look my best, so—”

She gestured at her outfit –

“Here we are, I guess.”

Newt tilted his head with a frown, rocking on his heels before patting down his pockets to check for keys, notebook, phone.

“You ought to be taken seriously because you’re the best international auror they’ve got,” he argued haltingly, shoving his wand up his sleeve. “Not just because you dress better than them.”

She guffawed and patted him on the back (in such a way that he would have been offended if it were anyone else), flicking her wand to turn the lights off.

“It might be 2024, Newt, but I’m still a witch under the age of thirty in international magical relations.”

And then they both wove through the slightly cluttered front room of their flat (currently littered with various wedding paraphernalia) toward the door, travel mugs clutched tightly in hand, as she concluded:

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park.”

“Yeah, yes, that’s true,” he acknowledged, when they paused on the stoop. Tina fumbled for her keys and then cast a subtle protective ward on the door behind them. “S’not exactly a walk in the park as an autistic scientist either, I suppose.”

“No, it’s not,” she laughed, and then he leaned in—accidentally bumping their mugs together—to press one hand to the side of her face and soundly kiss her.

“And that,” she murmured against his lips, as they pulled slightly apart, “is precisely why we work…”

Newt smiled, and then shoved Pickett back down into his cardigan pocket when he began to peek out.

“But please don’t lose track of time in the highlands and miss your appointment again!” Tina suddenly pleaded. “I just want everything cleared before the wedding, before our honeymoon…”

“Look,” he countered flatly, “I won’t forget as long as you don’t forget the takeaway.”

“Deal. Thai. 6PM,” she agreed, taking a step further away from him and then looking both ways to check for any particularly attentive Muggles… (They’d at least long ago charmed the front of the flat to be resistant to technological recording devices.) “All clear then.”

A beat.

“Be safe, Newt!” she insisted with finality, and he rolled his eyes.

They squeezed one another’s hands one last time before dropping them into pockets and – on the count of three – they each disapparated to their respective jobs: one to a stuffy conference room in the Department for International Magical Cooperation, and the other one to a crevasse on the highest mountain in the United Kingdom.

[waitingforsecretsouls]

Forget about Celegorm hair colour discourse, my controversial take (in the sense of going against the main depiction found in fandom) is that Maglor and Curufin are brunettes (as is the Noldorin standard*).

Maglor is the only son of Fëanor without any kind of physical description whatsoever, implying he doesn't deviate from the norm in that regard, and Curufin is only ever said to resemble Feanor "very much in face" (HoME XII), i.e. sharing his fathers facial features, but is never noted for black hair the way Finwë ("he had black hair", HoME XII), Fëanor ("his hair raven-dark", The Silmarillion VI) and Caranthir ("he was black-haired as his grandfather", HoME XII) are.

The same also goes for Fingolfin and his children.

*I take dark brown (at most) as the "default", since every instance of black hair is specifically mentioned, similar to the other deviations from the norm such as Mahtan, Maedhros and the Ambarussa, or Míriel, or the Arafinwëans. So I find reading a simple "dark" (or lack of any description to the contrary, regarding Noldor) as "brown" the most plausible.

[pathos-logical]

hello! saw that you add image descriptions and I was wondering if you think the alt text feature tumblr has is good for image descriptions or if it’s better to just write it out in the post? I’m not the most knowledgeable on how to do good image descriptions but I wanna start making the habit of putting them on things

Hello!!! This is a great question, thank you for reaching out!!! The alt feature is great for descriptions, but the most recent consensus I've seen is that doing both alt text and plain text (body text) IDs in the post is actually the most broadly accessible way to describe a post!! Here's an example of what I mean (you'll notice there's some more detail in the plain text, and that the alt isn't appended by brackets or extra ID formatting):

[ID: My icon, an emoji fish carrying an emoji love letter in its mouth surrounded by hearts and set against a pink gradient. End ID]

The blind community has competing access needs, which means there isn't a one-size-fits-all format, and your final choice comes down to what you prefer on your blog, as long as your IDs are useful and clear :)

Some bullet points to help you get your bearings:

Alt text is occasionally plagued by glitches and is sometimes considered less accessible to people who may not use a screenreader. It's still the most useful form of ID for screenreader users, from what I've gathered!

Plain text IDs should be written in fully plain text-- no small text or excessive italics/caps lock! However, I've seen that bold is generally more acceptable as special formatting. Utilize line breaks if necessary, but try to emphasize clarity and conciseness rather than exhaustive detail. Also, IDs go directly below (or above) the image, not at the end of a post!

People who do use both forms of description will frequently, as I did above, write a relatively bare-bones alt and a more in-depth ID so screenreader users can choose whether they want to sit through repeated information or not!

And last: Thank you again for reaching out!!!! Every person who chooses to make their spaces accessible makes the world a better place :))))

[total-drama-brainrot]

Scuttles up to you hey do you have any jomaria thoughts?

Not really but I think they'd be very cute together.

Jo and Anne Maria are both different flavours of hater so you know they'd be talking mad shit about everyone together. Jo in an "I'm gonna wipe the floor with these losers" kind of way and Anne Maria in a "these guys are literally the most dysfunctional human beings I've ever had the displeasure of meeting" sort of way. They have a mutual respect for each other as the only relatively sane and reasonable bitches on the island.

Also I think Anne Maria would be a perfect counter to Jo's control issues; i.e. she'd challenge Jo's authority without making herself an outright rival, which is something Jo needs to overcome her innate need to be large and in charge. In turn, Jo would also challenge Anne Maria's prioritisation of her looks over the competition/the money.

They'd definately feed into each other's competitiveness though. Potential for an in-competition alliance-turned-romance perhaps?