#Ranting and rambling about Overhaul

[isabeauwolf]

Oh yeah, I have a problem and I ain't going back! XD

This yakuza birdman came on screen stole my heart, made me want him carnally and feral, and then, pooof, he's gone. I call hacks!

Kai, my birdman, my toucan king, dammit, I miss you! T-T

I think i have an issue

[isabeauwolf]

“My princess” and it’s a fictional man with an insane criminal record.

Found this on Twitter, and figured, I'd share it here we well as my answer. XD

Of course, I'm going to choose both Trafalgar Law, The Surgeon of Death, and Kai Chisaki, Overhaul!

[badwolfrose34]

Rambles about The Doctor and Rose

So I’m starting to realize my overall perspective within the timepetals ship is not the most popular one so I want to explain my reasoning. I ship Tentoo/Rose AND I also believe that every future incarnation still thinks of her and knows that no matter what she will always have been the great love of their life.

First I’ll talk about Tentoo. I do believe he is exactly the same man as Ten. Rose did not just get a cheap clone she got the real deal. He’s just as much the Doctor as any other incarnation of the Doctor, he just happened to exist at the same time as Ten. I also believe that the Tentoo/Rose ending is the happiest most unproblematic ending possible for the two of them. The Doctor watching Rose grow old and sick while he remained young would’ve been tragic. Rose becoming immortal also would’ve been tragic. The tragedy of these alternate endings does not, to me, diminish the fact that every Doctor is in love with Rose Tyler and Rose Tyler would’ve been in love with every Doctor.

I don’t take Rose’s reaction to Ten almost fully regenerating as proof that she wouldn’t be just as in love if he did change. I take that moment as a human reaction to uncertainty and fear. As Nine, the Doctor ranted about how dodgy the process could possibly be. Let’s not forget how much pain the Doctor was in last time he regenerated. How horrifying it was to watch him be virtually comatose. I don’t think Rose thought she’d stop loving the Doctor. She promised forever, not “until you regenerate”. She was in a heightened emotional state and was thinking worst case scenarios like headless Doctor who won’t love her anymore (I’ll get to why I think that kind of thought process of him not loving her anymore might come from a triggered emotional state but isn’t actually a possible outcome of regeneration later).

Yes, Rose specifically adored Ten’s face and personality and if he had regenerated she would have grieved for it. It would’ve been a traumatic change no matter what, but like any other deep romance, it’s the soul she loved more than anything. And yes, I said triggered because I think what we know about her relationship with Jimmy Stone would’ve created abandonment issues. Which is why Rose could’ve erroneously believed regeneration would change the depth of the Doctor’s love for her. Not because it’s actually possible for a reset of one’s genetics to undo the deepest love the Doctor has felt and will ever feel.

Moving on, I don’t think it’s possible that the Doctor moved on from Rose, forgot Rose, or had the depth of his love for Rose diminish in any way. This may come from my own perspective on regeneration. The person at their core and the soul does not change. If the most significant parts of a person do not change then, the deepest truest love that individual felt could never go away just because the genetics of that person got overhauled. I think the love the Doctor felt for Rose is deep enough to be one of the things that will always be part of the Doctor. In the Novelization of ��The Giggle” Fourteen reflects on how he still misses her despite knowing how well she’s doing. Yes Fourteen’s genes are probably almost the same as Ten’s but it is Fifteen who mentions her name as someone he loved. The only romantic interest he expresses love for. Besides, Wouldn’t it cheapen the moment the Doctor said Rose could spend her life with him but he’d have to live on alone, if he could ever just leave his feelings for her behind through time or regeneration?

The Doctor does try to recapture what they had with Rose to an extent but it never works and they know it never will because they know Rose is his soulmate and true love.

River feels more like something he pursues out of obligation, there never seems to be a genuine sense of love from his side at all. River knew this and said “you don’t expect the sunset to admire you back.” Yet, the Doctor’s love for Rose was so obvious he took comfort in knowing that Rose knew how he felt. He knew that she knew. It’s not that the Doctor is so beyond reach that they’re like a sunset. It’s just that their true love is Rose Tyler.

Eleven had a genuine attraction to Clara but that was over 200 years after Rose. It took that long for any attraction to anyone to form, and that attraction was part of his childhood regression persona. It seemed to go away when he regenerated to Twelve because he said “I’m not your boyfriend Clara.” Now that doesn’t prove to me that something as deep as the Doctor’s love for Rose would change via regeneration, only that a childlike crush would change. It was never anywhere near as deep as his feelings for Rose. (For any Clara fans out there I do believe the Doctor’s feelings later deepened into a strong queerplatonic bond, just not a deep romantic one).

Thirteen regenerated to look like Rose! I haven’t seen anyone mention this but she did. When the Doctor became a woman she used her true love as the blueprint. I did not see Thirteen and Yaz’s relationship fully but from what I gather, it was once again nowhere near as deep as the love the Doctor had for Rose.

Perhaps Rogue will be the deepest love the Doctor feels since Rose, but it will still never be as deep because Rose is his true love.

Yes it’s tragic for a character to live on for millenniums loving someone they can’t have, but I don’t think the Doctor is spending all that time sad they can’t have her. I think a lot of the time they draw strength from Rose’s love, even after all the time that has passed. Think back to when he said “That name keeps me fighting.”

Edit: To clarify I am not trying to imply that platonic or queerplatonic loves are less valuable than romantic. Or that the Doctor doesn’t have extremely meaningful platonic bonds throughout the show, but I am saying that the most impactful companion to him personally has been and always will be Rose. See my pinned post for more about why that is. I also think it is possible for the Doctor to fall in love again, but it just won’t be the same kind of soulmate love he had with Rose.

Edit 2: Rose’s significance goes beyond the romantic aspect—she was a transformative figure in the Doctor’s life, shaping his actions and identity in ways that are deeply personal. I fully acknowledge the importance of the Doctor’s platonic relationships, but in this post, my intention was to focus on the unique bond he shared with Rose, which I believe holds a special place in his life. Rose represents a transformative force, someone who shaped his actions and identity in ways no one else has. She is a uniquely important figure in his life. See my pinned post for a better explanation.

I chose to focus on the Doctor’s romantic relationships, not because I see romantic love as superior to platonic love, but because his most significant bond was a romantic one. As a result, the Doctor’s attempts to recapture this bond were in his later romantic relationships, but they fall short because she is his true love. It just so happens that his most meaningful connection is also a romantic one. This doesn’t mean I interpret every character this way, but it feels true for the Doctor and Rose.

[takendruid]

Apologies for all the ranting I’m about to do. This is the ramblings of an autistic guy who’s been overstimulated by being outside for like 10 hours, and also is running on 6 hours of sleep.

I want to draw Aimi (my oc) and Overhaul, but I’m so tired right now. It’s 10pm (almost 11 actually now, I’ve been writing this for over 30 minutes). I cannot draw them otherwise I will get sucked into drawing for 6 fucking hours.

This is my OC btw, just for quick context.

I want. To draw Aimi and Kai. After Kai and Lady Nagant are arrested. And Kai is so broken,, and has finally (maybe) been able to see his father, and also perhaps apologised in some form to Eri. The heroes know Aimi was close to Kai, and that she’s the only person that’s technically innocent but still kind of complicit in his crimes. But because she’s a sane person who denounced his abuse of a literal child, and left him because of it, (and also because he’s quirkless) the heroes are like “maybe. Maybe this woman can actually help him. Somewhat.”

So they bring Kai to Aimi, and he is a broken man. She is heartbroken by the state of him, and all she wants to do is help him (and hold him, but she doesn’t. She respects his boundaries). The heroes are like “being in prison, and also being physically disabled, kind of broke him? Mentally? So can we entrust you to take care of him and maybe rehabilitate him. He will be on house arrest, and there will be a hero on alert if he ever tries anything. But can we trust him to you?” And Aimi is like “yes. But also. Can I build him prosthetics?? He’s quirkless, so he’s essentially harmless (but stretching the definition)”.

Heroes say yes. She builds him prosthetics.

I just. I want to draw them together so bad.

I don’t know if anyone would care about this, but people seemed to really want to know more about her, and see more of her. I’m gonna draw them again soon. I just,, I’m so fucking tired. I’ve been out all day today, and got 6 hours of sleep.

They mean so much to me. I can’t.

He’s still like,, mad germophobe. And she also has OCD, so she gets it and doesn’t judge him at all for his anxiety over her house being a bit messy. Their anxiety rivals each other, just over different things entirely. But also,, she’s a mechanic, so it’s also kind of hard for her to keep her house entirely clean, because she’s always doing shit and accidentally leaving the house a mess. But Kai gets on her case about it because “it’s dirty” and “it could attract bugs”

Taken try not to project onto every brown-haired OC he ever has challenge: Impossible. (The OCD part, not the amputee part.)

Overhaul cares about her so much in my silly little head, and the reason he could care about her so much is because she’s quirkless and “isn’t infected with hero sickness”. Also because she supported his desire for a quirkless world until he decided to bring a child into the fray, and torture and abuse a child. A YOUNG child. Aimi, reasonably, disagreed with that (as shown above) and left the Shie Hassaikai. He was so goal-focused and tunnel visioned that he immediately dropped the one person he genuinely cared about besides Chrono and his dad, and didn’t realise the consequences of his actions until it was too late and she had gone from his life. But he decided it was fine and a necessary sacrifice in order to move forwards, especially since he had other people to help him. But he missed her so greatly, but never let anyone know. Chrono caught on, but never pushed. All that mattered to Overhaul was his goal of a quirkless world, and then he could have Aimi back, not realising she would have hated him because he had tortured a little girl in order to get there.

These two had meant to much to me years ago, but I ended up leaving them behind since 1) I never gave Aimi a proper design all those years ago, and 2) I fell out of my BNHA hyperfixation. But me and my now ex-friend ended up associating this song with them:

This song is so them, please believe me guys. I swear I’m not insane. Specifically, SPECIFICALLY, this song is from Kai’s perspective

LIKE LOOK AT IT THAT’S SO THEM I’m insane. And tired. God please help me. Someone tell me to go to bed. If anyone read all the way this far and actually cares about my insane ramblings, tell me to go to bed. I’m so tired. But I love Aimi and Kai. I love them so much. They mean so much to me. The fact people have been loving them on here and saying they want more content has reminded me how much these two mean to me. I just needed to scream about them, and maybe someone will care and read all this.

Fun fact, Aimi didn’t used to be an amputee! But she’s always been a mechanic. Like she literally had her own agency at one point (I used to RP with my ex-friend my BNHA OCs, that’s how I got so attached to them). Aimi and Kai also had a kid, but that’s so OOC for Kai, I could never now. It would be so funny if he’s not even asexual, for so many reasons I won’t explain but you guys probably get. He probably is asexual (and he’s probably aromantic as well. I’m not projecting, I swear. Look at that silly man), and also probably very sex repulsed. Now I am projecting, but FUCKING LOOK AT HIM /ref.

Kai and Aimi would kiss on the lips and the lips only. That (autistic) OCD sex-repulsed asexual man would hurl at the thought of tongue being included. Me too, buddy. But also it would probably take a very long time for Kai to get to a point where he’s okay with even kissing on the lips.

Oh my god projecting onto this silly man has somehow helped me mentally disconnect him from my abuser somewhat. Accidental maybe trauma dump time? He looks like my abuser, so that’s mainly why I just abandoned Aimi. Because him looking like my abuser won out over me just loving him because of his character. But me going “yeah he’s autistic. He has OCD. He’s also asexual sex-repulsed, and probably aromantic too but let’s not talk about that” has helped. YAY healing!! It’s funny because my projection here isn’t just me being like “I love you, let me make you like me” my HCs are based on actual source material. I personally don’t fuck with characters being OOC, I like my HCs to be in-character. But that’s just a me thing :3

I need. To shut up now. It’s actually 11pm. But anyway. I’m gonna draw Aimi and Kai soon. Thank you to anyone (if anyone) who read this, reading the insane (not actually. I’m not insane, I’m just autistic and silly and tired) ramblings of me. I’m gonna make a Kaimi playlist because I love them. I’ll probably post it.

[socksonat3am]

BEFORE EVERYONE GETS ON THE "its good to require people to vote" TRAIN

You need to consider a few things.

What is meant by "require"?

How easy is it to vote?

Can you think of any reason someone might have conscientious objections to voting?

Instead of punishment why not provide an incentive?

"Require" typically means a type of punishment. A fine, jail-time, or otherwise. In the U.S. there are TWENTY STATES that do not have "time off to vote" laws. Meaning even if you wanted to vote, unless you have the ability to take off work, there isn't a law protecting your right to go and vote day of. So in those 20 states plenty of people will get that punishment. If there is a way to waive the punishment the U.S. doesn't exactly have a great history for being lenient about "Hey I wasn't able to do this thing can I get off the hook?" ESPECIALLY when you add in the numerous biases baked into the system. And even IF we ignore that why are you making people jump through hoops because they weren't able (or didn't want) to do something.

I don't know how easy it is to vote where you are but in plenty of places it is EXTREMELY difficult to vote (Partially due to the 20 states lacking time off to vote laws, partially due to other voter suppression tactics). This isn't exactly a thing AGAINST the "require it" thing but we need to keep in mind that if you were to implement this system you need to think about the people who would be disproportionately impacted by it. If its easy for you to vote, great! It isn't for everyone. Voting needs to be made permanently ACCESSIBLE before its made a requirement.

As for "conscientious objection" I can think of several reasons someone would object to voting. A prominent one would be relating to Indigenous peoples objecting on the grounds that participating in the system that forcibly colonized them would legitimize that colonization and/or nullify sovereignty treaties. Another reason can be that someone genuinely just might not care, and I personally would prefer voting to be made easy for those who WANT to vote than to force it (or a punishment) onto someone who doesn't.

And why does it have to be a punishment? Why not have an incentive to vote? Like, by voting you become eligible for a reduction in your taxes? Or are entered into a raffle? You could do so many things to make people want to vote while not pushing people who don't want to into doing it.

~~~

Effectively, this single "solution" probably won't do much and if implemented in the current system would probably harm a LOT of people. The whole system needs an overhaul before "requiring" votes would be anything I'd agree with (If even then).

[girlfromthecrypt]

i don't mind the rambles, don't worry. but yeah, honestly trans people even when we're not shown in media as specifically unattractive, we're not like. depicted as attractive either. we don't get to be like objects of attraction if that makes sense? we get to be like side characters and shit. and top surgery or any surgical scars are generally pretty damn taboo because ooOOOOoooo we're mutilating something or other or whatever the fuck it is. even irl, we're generally considered a stereotypically unattractive group. when trans people are rarely represented, we don't get to be like objects of attraction. we're usually "and here's the lesson! don't be mean!" one off characters or best friend characters (assuming we're not horrible stereotypes). plus a lot of medias arent eager to add us in in general in fear of losing their more conservative audiences.

it's totally fine when you rant, I do it too (as demonstrated by the above), I've had quite a few VN/IF creators apologize to me about like rambling about their games and like, I'm asking questions because i love the media. I get the feeling, cause I get that about other stuff. but seriously, info-dumping about something you've created that people love is awesome for fans (not to speak for all of us, but generally it seems to be)

Ngl I'm blind to a lot of that media portrayal bc I'm not entrenched in a lot of media anymore. I "conceived" Basil as trans from the start (he was a LI/supporting character in a nosleep story [horror writing subreddit over on Reddit] I never ended up posting), and in my mind, he was just always "him" and always pretty cute. I was comfortable enough writing a trans character bc one of my oldest friends is a trans man, and he let me ask him just about anything I wanted to know. Ofc I researched most of the necessary info on my own, but having him around was still helpful and very reassuring. (In hindsight, this is also making me kinda sad bc that friend and I have kinda drifted apart since...)

I was kinda hesitant about sharing though bc I was afraid of getting things wrong, but hey, if what you're saying about the mainstream portrayal of trans folk is anything to go off of, I'm probably doing okay (nervous laughter).

Actually, have an excerpt from the original story Basil appeared in! [Note: he's WAYYY dorkier and socially awkward in this than in Such Happy Campers. He's also a landlord in this, so the vanlife stuff and spiritualism is part of his overhaul for SHC. But original Basil makes the same amount of horrible jokes.] [more below]

I was prepared to camp outside that house. That turned out not to be necessary, as right at that moment, a peculiar-looking youngish man appeared in the doorway. Pieces of striped tapestry clung to his threadbare tracksuit and glue coated a good portion of his hair.

I asked him if he’d just been in a fight, and he assured me he’d merely been putting up new wallpapers in one of the apartments. When I asked whether he had something for me to rent on short notice, he was surprisingly cooperative. He introduced himself to me as Basil, and enthusiastically welcomed me to the house and the neighborhood. When we shook hands, our palms stuck together. 

“Sorry… I had an accident with the glue,” he explained, grimacing awkwardly. “Don’t worry, I got something to wash it off. You’d best come in.”

With a glance at our entwined fingers, I told him I obviously had nowhere else to go, to which he replied that one could say my hands were tied.

Been meaning to share this snippet for a while and this seems a good opportunity. This was how he "looked" at the time/how the main character describes him:

I admittedly always considered him very attractive, albeit goofy-looking with his fluffy blond mustache and mullet. Something about his appearance inspired trust and openness, and the warmth he exuded was more than welcome.

So yeah, that's some of Basil's history. In this old version, he was actually kind of insecure about his surgery scars (which were fresher at the time, and he hated a lot of his looks in general), which I ended up discarding because I much prefer him with astronomic levels of smugness. Like, I want him to be fully aware of how good he looks.

I'm very happy with the current version of Basil, and I'm glad I "saved" his character for this IF project instead of posting his story back then. I just realized (while I was writing the nosleep story at the time) that I LOVED writing him and wanted to have him there in a bigger project, which ended up being SHC.

Okay yeah I'm about to be one of those IF authors you mentioned bc now I need to apologize as well. I went on a huge tangent here. Hope this particular infodump was at least somewhat interesting to you! Either way, thanks so much for the talk.

[loublu8]

can you just ramble? ramble for as long as you want. as a fellow late 00s brit who's into some of the same interests as you (specifically vida the vet, charlie and lola, me too, balamory, abadas, and literally just any other cbeebies show i grew up with) i'd love to hear it!

if it's a ramble you want, a ramble you shall get. In other words here's like, my complete history with CBeebies. As a 08' kid, I was born in a weird transitional period for the channel. This was one year after they introduced the now iconic blocks of Get Set Go, Discover and Do and Big Fun Time, and Chris and Pui were going to move on from pres in 09' to work on Show Me Show Me. Postman Pat was just fresh from it's big SDS overhaul, which people either loved or hated (I think I liked it as a kid but looking back on it, it's nothing to get worked up over IMO, I just don't get why Pat can do James Bond-esque stunts now and is perfectly content riding a motorcycle.). Oh, and there was this little show about a garden of the night that began the year prior, I doubt that you've heard of it. Yeah, In the Night Garden was probably the first major CBeebies show I remember getting obsessed with, and looking back at it? I honestly don't know why. It's not a bad show at all, don't get me wrong, but I don't know why I was so obsessed over it to the point of having this dancing Igglepiggle toy as a kid.

Also, I remember loving the Hahoos as a young'un, part because a CBeebies magazine I got ages ago had little Hahoo toys. I took them on holiday to Turkey with me, yeah can you tell I'm autistic? I don't think I have them anymore, and if I do they're probably all scuffed up and missing paint. But that's okay, I can easily buy them on eBay to fill a place in 2 year old me's hear- HOW MUCH FOR 5 SMALL PIECES OF PLASTIC?

Yeah I didn't know these things were going for this much until my mum saw someone on Facebook ranting on how stupid expensive they are nowadays about a year ago. Anyways, on the topic of CBeebies' Bedtime Hour (and A Quarter nowadays), there's one elephant in the room I must discuss, the closedown screen.

This slightly green thing telling you to get some sleep absolutely terrified me as a kid though, it wasn't on the same level as the Eastenders theme's doofs and Christmas crackers if I remember correctly, but it still gave me PTSD for years on end. (Hey, at least I wasn't around for when the channel started, I really wanna meet whoever thought it was a great idea to make this screen bright blinding pink right after the goodnight song settled everyone down, just so I can tell them how dumb that idea was.)

Like all things I was spooked of as a kid, I got over it when I was getting nostalgic for the brand. Speaking of closedown screens, how is the closedown screen for the 2023 rebrand really good? Like, it would make a great screensaver without the text. You can say what you want about the new logo (which I think is fine, it fits in with the rest of the modern BBC branding so it succeeds in that aspect), but you gotta admit they did a really good job with revamping the idents for the channel.

Anyways, onto more of my favourite CBeebies shows. Charlie and Lola is easily up there as one of my favourites. It'sMy mum distinctly recalls taking me to the live stage show (which, live stage shows are a whole other can of worms I can talk about), and I couldn't remember much about it so I researched it, and it looks like they did a ridiculously good job of translating the show to a stage play while keeping the show's unique artstyle.

Balamory, obviously as a CBeebies viewer prior to 2016, I know what a Balamory is. I don't need to explain it. Though one weird memory I have is I remember going past the local barbers one day and seeing a Balamory rerun airing. I dunno why they showed CBeebies in the barbers of all places. On the other hand, Me Too!, which to me always felt like Balamory, but a wee bit worse (because that's exactly what it was!), and I don't remember my exact feelings towards it as a kid, but as a teenager, I became obsessed with it after found the Me Too! YouTube channel after I was pretty much done binge-watching Abadas. It quickly became my main comfort show, like if I'm not in the mood for anything else, just stick an episode of Me Too! on, there's like 150 episodes and I'm not sure if I've even seen over half of them. I've seen more MT! eps than Balamory though, probably cause it's more easily accessible. With Balamory, you gotta go on the internet archive for episodes of that. Abadas was one of the shows I distinctly remembered the intro for, though I misremembered it with Baby Jake of all shows (they came out around the same time). I went and revisited it one January day in 2023, around the time I was starting to put my Bubble Guppies hyperfix on the backseat as the show was about to end, and instantly fell in love with it. Really wish the production company behind the show didn't go bust as there was a lot of cool supplementary material with the show as well, they did a bunch of shorts on Vimeo which I happily recommend.

Eventually, I fell out of CBeebies around 2014 or so as, well, I was getting older and was ready to move on to more grown up shows (this is coming from the same kid who kept actively watching Nick Jr. well into his teenage years). But then I was channel surfing at my nan's around October 2019 or so and decided to stick CBeebies on for fun after deciding whatever was being shown on Challenge was too boring, I guess. Something Special was probably the show that launched me back into my CBeebies hyperfix, yea of all shows. Completely forgot the show used Makaton and as someone who was interested in sign language I went on a binge-spree to study all of Justin's signs. I became fairly competent at it. I got into Hey Duggee for a a bit as well, known as every parent's lifeline apparently. The game show episode is one of my favourites, mostly due to all the fun references they crammed into the episode. As a fan of the shows we people call game, it was a fun surprise. I also rediscovered some of my old childhood favourites that were still getting reruns. Swashbuckle was a bit too recent for me to have recalled watching it as a kid but my brother was certainly around for it and Tree Fu Tom, which was still rerunning at the time. Charlie and Lola still aired reruns, and back in 2019 I kinda just glanced at without much thought before realising a few years later that it was actually really good. Night Garden made me cry of nostalgia, and I also thought Baby Jake was the biggest feverdream ever conceived on television. I even was one of the weirdo's who listened to CBeebies Radio, though honestly there's no point in listening to it live as you can find all it's content on the Sounds app. Admittedly, I haven't gotten super into Bluey. Y'know, the most popular preschool show of this decade that didn't begin in this decade? Yeah I watched about 10-15 episodes of it, said "wow, this is one of the best preschool shows ever crafted", and then moved on to watching the same 40 Blue's Clues & You! episodes again. I'm sure if I force myself to binge watch it more I'll fall head over heels in love with it though. So if I haven't gone crazy for Bluey, what modern CBeebies shows have I gone crazy for? Funnily enough, two that released within the span of around 5 months. The Game Catchers was the first one I got into. I just kept binging episodes and instantly fell in love with it. Always thought the show's main concept was really, REALLY good. Teaching kids about outdoor games in the day and age of iPads is a really smart move. Don't really see many people in the fanbase yet unfortunately, it's certainly one my favourite CBeebies shows from the last 5 years. Also it has absolutely ruined me as any time I hear or say the phrase "so cute" I immediately have to connect it to Nina.

Vida on the other hand I pretty naturally got into. I checked it out, watched the first few episodes, and thought it was pretty good, but never intended it to become my next big hyperfixation. I was sooooooo wrong. I've always had a soft spot for shows with cute animals (Was a big LPS 2012 fan way back when) so naturally this was always destined to be a show I'd fall in love with. I also love all the characters in the show too. Pippen's my personal favourite, but Zigzag is a REALLY close second though. She's a cute bunny who canonically has ADHD. What's not to love.

Okay I think I've talked enough and I've been typing this out for like, 2 hours, I really need some sleep. I could talk about all sorts of other CBeebies shows I enjoy (LazyTown, Tish Tash, JoJo & Gran Gran, Carrie & David's Popshop's a more recent one I've binged from the days of old) but I've talked enough so yeah.

[cheeto-flavoured-pasta]

Okay, I haven’t actually made a post in a heck of a long while. I’ve just been reblogging stuff, some of it being writeblr but most of it being off-topic. So it’s time to change that! I’m gonna rant about my writing progress for the next few paragraphs and subject you, my poor followers, to my rambles.

I'm taking a break from APS because working on it for two years straight with little to no off-time is giving me serious brainrot. Besides, I want to write more dystopian stories that touch upon important problems today. While APS does touch on some societal issues, it's not as emphatic or relevant to what I really want to talk about. I'm still going to be continuing it (and doing another slight overhaul on the book soon, because the first two times just weren't enough to satisfy my gremlinized brain) but I think it belongs on the backburner for a while.

In the meantime, I decided to expand on a new WIP idea that was intended to be a short story, but never got written and would work better as a series anyway. I feel like it focuses on issues that I really want to talk about and implement into my storywriting, and while I might not be the most advanced at using the dystopian genre to make nuanced, subtle critiques, this is definitely a step in the right direction. I'm going to talk more about this new (and untitled) WIP later, once I develop it further.

I've also been thinking about either self-publishing or traditionally publishing (probably traditional, because I'm broke as shit for self). Of course, this is definitely a bit of a stretch, so I'm still keeping online writing platforms in my pocket if needed (and it probably will be). Plus, taking a big leap like that is pretty scary, so I'd rather work my way up by submitting short pieces to, say, literary journals first; that way I can get a feel for what it's like.

That about wraps up everything I have to say. I'm gonna be more active on writeblr (hopefully, fingers crossed) because I feel like I've missed out on a ton.

So brace yourselves. Once I get my shit together on this blog, it's over for you all. (/j)

[isabeauwolf]

Overhaul turned the tables of MHA in season 4.

Yes, his arc felt short, but his introduction and everything he did was both impactful, planned out and his goal, although unethical made sense.

Yes, him putting Pops into a coma and hurting Eri over and over again to make the their erasing bullets is inhuman, what he did to Mirio and NightEye is unforgivable. but it showed that he did what he thought was right.

Think about all the lives that could have been saved if certain people in MHA lost their quirks?

I'm happy that we are getting more backstory for him and I'm hyped for Kai Chisaki to comeback! Overhaul is a really cool villain, cold blooded and driven, but calm and calculated, and yet, imagine the good things he could do with that quirk?

Destroys and restores things, able to reshape anything he wants to. He’s The Fullmetal Alchemist without the equivalent exchange! Remove body fat, add reinforce muscle, he could even remove cancer cells, he could have been a great doctor. I imagine he needed to learn biology and anatomy, years of medical practice; he seems to be the kind of man who once he's obsessed with something, he focus' on that interest and runs away with it. Pops said he had a bad habit of taking things too far.

Overhaul is hands down the most simply the horrifying, strong, well-made, intimidating and handsome looking villain in MHA. Such an interesting character with a badass quirk.

if someone hates on you for liking chisaki just send them this 🔪

heheboobies

[dainesanddaffodils]

Friends, Romans, Countrymen. I did it. 

I rewatched Strange Magic late last night on a whim.

It’s been, as far as I can determine, at least four years since I had last seen this movie. Probably closer to five. It’s been. A Minute. And I was so horribly worried that I would find all of its faults far more glaring than I had when it first consumed my life back in 2015. That I wouldn’t find the magic in it the way I did before. 

I was both right and wrong. 

I did, indeed, find some things more flawed, to the point of genuinely cringing in a couple places. However, I also came out remembering exactly why this movie captivated me for as long as it did.

I’m going to ramble in more detail about both things, if you’re so inclined to read more.

Things I found as bad or worse this time around:

The pacing. Dear lord, the pacing of this movie is a fucking trainwreck. I knew it the first time I watched it and it was the one critique I would always agree with. It’s just, it’s so bad. I can’t even tell you how I’d fix it but it just. It needs an overhaul please. 

Like, in my memory it was just the first half that was paced poorly. Once you got into the second half, things improved. 

My memory was wrong. It’s a mess the whole way through.

Tragically, Griselda. I always found her character a little grating but at least sort of endearing...  but it has. gotten worse. The matchmaking was only good in providing the backdrop for Bog and Marianne to rant about how much they hate romance but every other scene with it made me feel like Bog must. I lowkey wanted to put my head through a wall. 

Plum, too, was a little more annoying than I remembered. In general the whole “Love is Strange” scene is probably the one I struggled with the most on this rewatch. 

The kaleidoscope bit at the end. Which again, I was always kinda... unsure about but like, everything else about the ending is so good and then that just really. throws the whole groove off and it’s sad. 

Also, I wouldn’t necessarily call it bad but like, all of Bog’s scenes in the first half of the movie are so melodramatic and I know that’s the point but I was still like ‘christ my dude we get it you’re ~evil~ now please chill for five seconds’ 

- and that’s really it. All told, while these were definitely more noticeable faults upon watching this movie again, I don’t think they were enough to truly hamper my enjoyment of the rest of it.

Speaking of...

Things I found as good or better this time around: 

Marianne. My beloved punk rock fairy princess. I absolutely adore how three-dimensional she is as a character. They give her the whole badass makeover training sequence and then spend the rest of the movie showing you its cracks. Showing you that she never fully outgrew the romantic she was at heart. She was just scared of letting people see that side of her after being hurt. She’s bitter and angry and touch-starved and sympathetic and caring and she’s allowed to be all of these things and none of them contradict each other. 

Marianne and Dawn’s relationship. Holy shit I forgot how good that was. We see only glimpses of it but every single one of them is perfection and so realistic. This is how sisters behave. They drive each other crazy and point out each other’s faults and make each other want to tear their hair out and if anyone hurt them there would be hell to pay. All of their conversations feel so... grounded in reality for a fairy rock opera musical. 

On that note, a lot of the dialogue is just, well delivered and sounds incredibly natural. It took me by surprise. 

Sunny! Sunny also surprised me with how much I liked him. His humor is one of the things that has aged the best in this movie and I really enjoyed his character. You can really see how he is a good guy who was just, very easily manipulated and spends the rest of the movie trying to fix his fuck-up. 

The singing. Similar to my point about line delivery, the... way the characters sing in this movie is really well done. I don’t know how to explain it but the way they use songs in this movie really feels like they’re using it as dialogue. Like, there’s plenty of meta jokes about people breaking into song but it also feels like it’s a natural part of this world. People just sing their feelings here, and it feels believable. It’s fascinating. 

 The animation - specifically the character animation. (Like, the movie has gorgeous background shots, we all know this.) I won’t deny that the detail in the faces gets uncanny valley in places but it’s worth it for the expressiveness that it allows. There are so many incredible face journeys, so many subtle shifts in body language, so much that gets to be said without words - either spoken or sung - and it’s just as good as I remember it.

Speaking of things that are just as good as I remember. Yeah, you guessed it. 

Bog and Marianne’s relationship is still just, top fucking tier. 

Like, it goes back to what I said about expressiveness in the animation. I remembered the big things about these two. I remembered the sword fight flirting; I remembered the ranting about hating love together; I remembered the declaration of love at the end set to “Wild Thing” which perfectly encapsulated their personalities. 

I had forgotten how much of their relationship is progressed through small gestures and lingering looks. Things like Bog leaving his staff behind after their fight, and later returning her sword to her - both shows of trust and respect that Marianne is clearly unused to. Things like the way he looks at her throughout the entire “Strange Magic” sequence as he shows her his home and hopes she’ll find beauty in it. Things like the whole face journey she goes through when it’s revealed he survived his castle collapsing, realizing that she loves him. Things like how you can see on their faces that they’re constantly torn between hope and absolute terror at their growing feelings for each other. 

All of these things are done wordlessly and it’s very well done.

(also man, having re-read a bunch of my fics ahead of this I was kind of like ‘wow a through-line throughout all of this is Bog being just, like, absolutely whipped by Marianne from the start’ and friends, upon rewatch it hit me that that was not just some romance novel tropes sneaking into fic - I took that shit straight from the source. My goblin man really was enamored with her INSTANTLY. It was fucking hilarious.)

- 

Anyway, thanks for coming along with me for this journey. I came out of it just kind of accepting, yeah, this is not what I would call a Good Movie. But it gave me so many things that I loved, and still love, and really, that’s what matters. 

Also now I wanna fucking draw fanart again. That’s wild. 

[alittlemxchievous]

I can never let my mutuals know I'm not just horny 24/7, but the ranting about systemic oppression and my struggle with mental illness post is literally me bestie.

About this time last year I was literally in the psych ward chatting with the nurses about how they deserved better pay and how we all thought the cost of living was just soo high and the system needed an overhaul.

Also realized after the fact that I was unintentionally being way flirty but I didn't seem to make anyone uncomfortable so maybe they just like talking with flirty autistic lesbians idk.

Sorry for rambling but it was a good post, I hope you have a great day ❤️

Based as fuck bestie

[isabeauwolf]

Alright.

Since it's been days since we've gotten to see our beloved birdman Kai Chisaki one more time in the manga, we've all let our feelings out about his ending, either you hated it or not. Felts depressed and sad.

I gotta ask all of my fellow Overhaul, Kai Chisaki stans and fans: What made you pick Overhaul as your favorite character/ Villain in MHA?

What made him draw you in?

Fascinate you?

Fall for him so hard, he drew you away from your previous anime/manga husband or wifu?

Where you a manga or anime only before his handsome villainous yakuza birdman came into your life?

Was it is character design? Mannerisms? His powerful quirk? His plan to erase quirks, his serum and determination to restore the Shie Hassaikai into power? His godly voice by both Kenjiro Tsuda and Kellen Goff?

(Pst, honestly, I love it all ;) His man's got my heart is a death grip; even if, he's competing with Trafalgar Law for my attention and affection, and now Dabi.)

Instead of throwing around all the hate surrounding this man. Let's send him off with a bang! Love, support, the whole she-bang, even if, you still high disagree with his actions towards Pops and Eri.

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

(If every seems out of order or all over the place, I'm sorry! Please be, patient with me, and thank you!)

I've give my personal thoughts on Kai Chisaki, Overhaul. My yakuza birdman husband here! (huge breakdown/ summary, rant about this man; spoilers ahead!) Not like, I haven't been doing that the whole time, I've been on here XD I've talked with other Overhaul/Kai stans and fans on here, giving my two cents, which I love and appreciate to everyone who's talked and fangirled/boyed with me!

Be warned that I might to ramble, and this whole thing might now make sense, or is all over the place, again, I'm sorry! But if you don't mind, I thank you!

I started off as an anime only, and watched on my own time. Even if I heard AFO's introduction, and All For One's and All Might's battle at Kamino Ward and All Might saying goodbye One For All in subbed first; my husband was watching it the living room while I was on my laptop watching a different series. The music drew me in and I couldn't look away, watching the whole battle with baited breath until it was over.

Then I watched the series by myself since I couldn't sleep months after. Cheering for Deku, smiling and crying with hm.

I watch in dubbed first, since it's hard to focus on subbed while having a toddler running around. XD Then rewatch it in subbed form.

Anyways, at the end of season 3 we get a tease of Overhaul's introduction. His voice, golden eyes drew me in, hook line and sinker.

I've always been a sucker for bad boys and I love a man that wears a suit. lol So it gave Overhaul some brownie points. I know it isn't just me! Don't lie, haha.

The fact that Overhaul straight up challenged Shigaraki for the spot as the next King of the Underworld, pointing out his mistakes and lack of motivation once more; the same as Stain had in the previous hard, showing that Overhaul himself had been in the game a bit longer than Shiggy.

Overhaul while insulting the younger villain was indeed asking the right questions. Shiggy had misused and lost his powerful NPC's during the Training Camp attack with the Vanguard Action Squad, Muscular and Moonfish.

He had every right to question his motives.

Overhaul is blunt and spoke the truth about Shiggy's leadership skills, even if it ending with Magne's death. As sad as it was she did attack him first when if she was defending her belief's and the league, she didn't have to die. Compress didn't have to lose an arm.

The confrontation and damage done on both side makes you see that Overhaul is a dangerous man, with an equally dangerous quirk on top of being able to bring someone back to life if he wanted to, showcasing the quirk erasing bullets. We hadn't really seen an onscreen death before then, or at least, not that I remember.

Overhaul is cold blooded and driven, but calm and calculated; he's a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty when he needs to, despite his quirks drawback and hate of the aftermath.

When we meet him again with Shigaraki at the Shie Hassaikai underground meeting room, and the bits given by Sir Nighteye, it's clear that Overhaul has the means to til the scales of Villain and Hero society, if he was given more time and wasn't fighting against the clock. He still needed more funding and man power to mass product both sets of bullets.

Had he succeeded and gotten away with his arms still intact, despite losing Eri to the Heroes, we might have seen him and the right bullets again down the line, but it wasn't in the cards.

(We finally get to see Kai, our birdman unmasked and his poor man get's done soooo dirty! First it's his stoic and impressive, criminally handsome face, then Shiggy took his hard work, him and Mr Compress tag-teamed taking his hands away, leaving him quirkless, helpless, in despair and he's terrified! Not for himself, but because without his quirk he can't reverse the damage he's done to pop's, he can't wake him up or talk to him again.)

Underestimating the Heroes, The League, and being overly cocky and arrogant played a major part of his own fall. His isolation from others and seeing his subordinates and closest friend as pawns to be used and thrown away didn't help, yet the men closest to his inner circle were indeed the most loyal of his followers.

It wasn't outright said, but shown that Overhaul himself was forgiving and understanding when Chrono or Nemoto made mistakes, he didn't scold them or yell at them.

( If I missed anything in this summary, let me know. XD )

He's a well written character and villain. A man possessed and obsessed with fulfilling his goals, repaying Pops, the man who took him in and gave him a home, a place to be himself.

The way Pops found Chisaki as a boy, alone, covered in filth and I imagine he was hungry, always made me feel as if we were missing something from his past. He wanted more than anything to replay the man who saved him and rebuilding the Shie Hassaikai's former glory and reputation along with returning people quirkless.

Might have saved so many lives who were eventually lost, but at the end of the day, he still choose the darkest route and solution.

If the Quirk Doomsday theory we've heard about and snippets we've seen so far. Different combinations of quirks are getting stronger and stronger, people like Touya who's bodies destroys itself while using his fire. There may come a time where not even support items could save a person from their overly strong and destructive quirk.

Could you imagine what he could have done with his quirk, if he was a doctor?! He could have replaced recovery girl's position as UA's school nurse or even a Doctor since healing quirks are so rare.

Of course, I'm not saying what he did was justified by any means.

Kai Chisaki, Overhaul is practically The Fullmetal Alchemist in MHA without the use of Equivalent Exchange! Yes, he threw away his human name, becoming, "a demon with no heart" as Pops says.

As we see him fuse with Nemoto and Rikiya Katsukame, each fusion he becomes more monstrous, a much more darker version of himself; fulling giving into "Overhaul," his villain persona, not carrying who he has to hurt to get his way.

I will admit that I'm down bad for Kai/Overhaul and his Monsterhaul form, Nemoto version, but the giant monster form, lol

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty.

Knowing about him being in Dr Garaki's/AFO's orphanage and that Shigaraki has a copy of his quirk. They more they parallel each other so much more after that reveal.

It explains so much about his character!

Kai Chisaki won't flat out say it or address it, neither has Horikoshi but its clear that he was heavily traumatized and abused as a kid before Pops found him.

Oh yes, the trauma bucket! Like our beloved characters in the series doesn't have enough trauma as it is. Let's see how far that habit hole goes for Kai? -_-

The lack of remorse for his victims, justifies his action, manipulative, lack of physical response to violence, deception, and hostel, his acts are usually well planned in advance, irritability and aggressive behavior when provoked, reckless disregard for safety of others - antisocial and sociopathic tendencies.

Lack of empathy, believes he's special and the only one who can cure the world, need for admiration from Pops, his abandonment and self-worth issues go hand-in-hand with his fear of his father figure throwing him out of the Shie Hassaikai with his final ultimatum of dropping his plan.

Out of everything, we only get sprinkles here and there that Kai had done before snapping.

You can see it, the way he tenses and his hands ball into a fists, no doubt, surprised, shocked, hurt even before redirected into anger and violence.

Putting his father figure into a coma, and taking matters into his own hands. Become the villain, we all know and love, adore, praise, however you see him as.

Before becoming "Overhaul," Kai used to get into brawls with anyone who dared disrespect the Shie Hassaikai, and wants to help the boss; protecting the honor of the yakuza and protecting them from being called, "Villains." (Classic delinquent behavior, I imagine he did it in high school since we've seen him do it as an adult.)

We see him wear normal clothes: black dress pants, blazer and purple dress shirt, no gloves and a black duster mask over his face. (I'd honestly, love to see Kai in more civilian, classy outfits! More unbuttoned shirts and all, please!)

Even if Pops scolding him and explaining that they must protect civilians instead of hurting them, the old man still affectionately pets the top of his head and praises him for protecting their honor. Which in itself is a kind gesture, but something I think he took a little too much into his heart.

The scolding for doing something dishonorable, but praised for his intentions has overtime been taken form into the most cold and logical extreme actions.

Nobody can deny that Overhaul's got drip! XD

Overhaul's more professional outfits: the red and gold plague doctor's mask, and white gloves. Borrowing inspiration from All For One, he uses his quirks name as his alias, his Villain name and quirk ability, the idea for his quirk erasing and serum, as "Overhaul", he can kill and wants to change the world.

To preserve the past, he must engage with the present and became a villain out of necessity.

What's the difference?

The differences between a young Kai standing up for his father's honor and the snarling demon he has become. All of it against a world that had clearly outgrown him and the old ways of the Yakuza, but he refused to accept it and to protect his only family and most precious person, Pops.

As we've been in the latest chapter of MHA, without his quirk, without his arms and plague mask, and the last time we saw him. Kai Chisaki, inside is still a boy who wants to make his father figure proud and wants attention and praise.

As Pop's said before he took things too far again, shoving the older man's wisdom and wishes aside, taking action into his own hands, not only crossing the line between the gray that Pop's held against the Villains' and Heroes, Black and White, Kai instead, erased the line and jumped over it, making his own line and walked into a dangerous and dishonorable path.

======= What I missed last minute, sorry guy's.... I'm almost done, I swear! =======

It's clear, that he's smart and well educated, he could have studied as a medical student, read medical journals during his free time or just because he was a huge science and medical geek, we will never know.

My bet's on the ladder, practicing how to control his quirk and for the fun of it. He's the type of person to obssess with something and run away with it, a concerting amount.

You can't tell me that Pop's didn't walk in to Kai's room or living room, seeing Kai asleep on the couch or floor with a book either on his face or on his chest! Or Kai geeking out over a first edition or rare medical journal he found or Pop's and Hari had given him as a birthday present!

The birdman is such a workaholic that he's no doubt forgotten about his birthday, if Pop's or Hari didn't plan something for him!

If Kai is such a health nut and germ, wash your hands after every speck of dusk lands on your hands, then I need to know his skincare routine!

Do you think his hands is soft?

We know he works out from how jacked he is from his back and abs, fuck, I'd gladly claim him like a tree X////////////x

I'm not the only one who wanted him to have those traditional tatts, right? Of course, it's optional and traditional, but come on! I excepted to see the Shie Hassaikai's embalm, sakura or at least, a raven something! Anything! Hell, all three! Well, in my fanfic he does.

Also, Lady Nagant, you lucky woman, getting to touch and dress Kai!

Wish, I could trade places to pamper and comfort this man.

Screw you, AFO, Kai comes first.

I don't care if Kai comes off as stuck-up, spoiled rich brat, a bubble bath princess, narcissist and a asshole. If given the change to rock this man's world and fuck his brains out, you bet your ass I would!

If he could put up with my ditzy, clumsy, sassy, way too honest and smart-ass mouth, then fine. Baby needs to laugh more! I wanna see him smile!

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

Well, it's almost 2am and I'm going to be. XD If you've had to through my rant/rambling of Kai. Share your thoughts with me... again, sorry for it being too long and wayyyyy all over the place.

Of course, I always forget something...... XD

[isabeauwolf]

I know Kai Chisaki, Overhaul is the villain for My Hero Academia Season 4. I can't help, but not root for my villain husband can I? Screaming at my computer, "Hell yeah, gett'em honey! Kick their asses! Show'em who's boss!" *my dumbass fangirling self while holding Eri against my chest, then booking it away from the fight to get my clumsy ass out of his way.* X////////x Seriously, why am I like this? It's ain't just me, right? Right?!

[zuffer-weird-girl]

Hey I just wanted to let u know that i love your writings especially those for Overhaul .. and I wanted to ask if you're taking requests .. and if u do what are the rules? I might have some ideas for Touya and for Kai as well cause... Bitch who doesn’t love these two men like ... .. let me just stop here before i lose myself in ranting.

Is alright! There is literally no shame here on rambling about these two honestly :D

And yeah I am taking requests ^^ but again, it will take a while to answer it and I am already apologizing for that

[lightningarmour]

SUPERMAN: MAN OF TODAY or SUPERMAN: FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

Every 10 years or so they do some kind of retelling of Superman's origin story to reestablish the details of his mythos but updated into the modern day. This is simply a symptom of serialized comic books with 80 years of continuity, sometimes things get old and you need to update them. I'll admit I haven't paid much attention to DC comics since the end of Doomsday Clock, which actually uses Superman's origin as a kind of meta-narrative thing in which the entire DC Universe specifically changes itself around Superman, which I thought was a kind of neat idea, though that event was a let down. So I have no clue when the last time they did a major overhaul or update of Superman's story. They did one during DC Rebirth, There was Superman Earth One, Superman Secret Origin, but my personal favorite is still Superman Birthright because I'm a Mark Waid fanboy. For all I know maybe DC has done a Superman retelling recently and maybe it even does all the things I'm about to suggest, but as far as I'm aware they haven't.

I've been thinking a lot recently about how best to bring Superman into the modern day. To make him feel alive in this current political and cultural moment. Superman recontextualized for the 2020's. A big debate that rears up now and then is whether Superman is relatable, if he's marketable, if audiences want to go see a movie about him. In recent years it's been a lot of hand wringing from DC/WB because they just don't know how to make a Superman movie that people will like! But I think that Superman is almost perfect to meet the moment and really engage in stories that people can connect with.

I was late to find this article about DC changing Superman's motto from "Truth, Justice, and The American Way" to "Truth, Justice, and A Better Tomorrow," but I was instantly in agreement with the message being expressed. Now obviously the article is not doing any in depth political analysis of the concept of "the American dream" and while the material I am brainstorming is intended to be much more overtly political, I don't want to get too bogged down in this with a bunch of like, Marxist analysis of US Imperialism and the role of Liberal Democracy as a facilitator of Bourgeois society and yadda yadda. Suffice it to say for the purpose of this giant rant about Superman I am doing, America is a shithole and has been for basically it's entire history. It's like probably the worst place on Earth, full offense.

I bring this all up because I think that for Superman to really remain relevant in this modern age, he cannot exist as an apolitical character. If you think of the words "truth" and "justice" are those apolitical terms? For many people, myself included, things have been feeling increasingly more and more "political" over the last number of years, and many people who previously could blissfully ignore the world around them are finding it harder to do. The Hitherto history of the world is the history of class struggle, and as the contradictions of capitalism become more and more irreconcilable, greater and greater social and economic issues arise, and people try so hard to confront those issues. Racial Justice, climate justice, social justice. I think that for a character like Superman who we understand to be someone who wants to use his powers for good, for truth, for *justice,* there's no way he can do so without getting involved in the struggle.

I'm already rambling too much, this is supposed to be about Superman, so let's talk about him. Most of this is going to be broad ideas covering various elements of the superman mythos.

SUPERMAN: MAN OF TODAY or SUPERMAN: FOR A BETTER TOMORROW

A young, socially conscious Clark Kent goes on a journey of political awakening, and we see how Superman must grow and adapt to his increased understanding of politics and the way he can affect change in the world. He must develop and evolve tactics for combatting major social issues such as wealth inequality and climate change. We are in a time when there is a growing awareness of the ways in which the working class is exploited by the wealthy & how capitalist industry is primarily responsible for the damage to the environment so the public perception towards billionaires and the like is turning sour. Superman is an immigrant who fights for equality and his most iconic nemesis is a Rich corporate CEO. I feel like it is not too much of a stretch to have him meet this moment.

This is by no means a well constructed story pitch so I have sectioned off the various areas of Superman’s mythos below and my thoughts on how you would incorporate them into a left-wing Superman reboot.

MAN OF THE PEOPLE

If we accept that Superman's space pod lands in the United States of America, and he is raised as a US citizen, I think it is necessary to reevaluate his relationship with the nation. I think the only way to do justice to the character is to write him from a left wing perspective. Social Justice Superman, if you like. I will take a moment to recommend the recent series IMMORTAL HULK written by Al Ewing. It does a lot of things with the Hulk that I am basically saying should be done with Superman. Recontextualizing the character in a modern framework. In it, the Hulk becomes a kind of eco-warrior who wages a terror campaign against an oil company and like, protects protesters from being shot by the police. Obviously no art made under an American publisher is going to be truly revolutionary but it can still say *something.*

Now Superman doesn't necessarily have to become a terrorist, but this is the kind of shit I want to see. Clark Kent, raised by farmers. Working class. Salt of the Earth. You adjust his background somewhat so that he has a strong influence of labor solidarity in his upbringing. Maybe the Kents are part of a farming co-op? Maybe they had to sell the farm because they were being squeezed out by some corporate agrobusiness, and Pa Kent goes to work in a factory and tries to Unionize his workplace and gets bumped off, or maybe he dies on the job and Ma Kent then becomes a labor organizer or etc. There are many ways of going about this. When Clark grows up and decides he wants to be a journalist, he's interested in being a labor reporter, or doing human interest stories. Writing about social issues. Poverty, LGBTQ rights, racial discrimination, migrant rights, so on and so forth. If this were ever a story that got published it would have to be non-canon so we can assume this all is a world that can be changed by Superman's actions. The story could start out with Clark being a plucky socdem kind of self described "progressive" leftist, but as he learns more and shifts further down the line until he's a full on Marxist Leninist. You see him struggle along the way with how he can best use his powers to try and help and whether it is ultimately necessary for him to employ violence and lead the workers of the world in a proletariat revolution and yadda yadda.

A scene that has been running through my mind is something along the lines of: Lexcorp employees are trying to unionize, but Luthor calls in the cops to bust up their drive, or maybe it's a full on walk-out, whatever. Superman sees these workers being beaten by the police and so he flies down and joins the picket line, standing shoulder to shoulder with striking workers, almost daring the cops to fuck with him. Then later you have Lois Lane, labor reporter, typing up a piece about how Superman's presence at the picket line ultimately undermines the workers power which is derived from withholding their labor, not simply by being strong and able to shoot lasers to intimidate their way to victory, and Clark is left feeling confused and kind of embarrassed. He's coming to terms with how he can use his powers as a force for good in the world without invalidating the class struggle that he believes in.

I find it funny to think about Superman engaging in leftist twitter discourse. Like, in the course of his superheroics, maybe he stops an armed robbery or some kind of small scale, but still potentially deadly crime. The perpetrator ultimately ends up being arrested & Superman sees a bunch of posts online calling him a tool of the carceral system, claiming that he's basically nothing but a cop, etc. So he starts like, engaging with people earnestly. Like "Hey yeah it's me @therealSuperman I'm sorry that I am contributing to the further subjugation of impoverished people to the unjust prison system, I'm really just trying to help out however I can, does anyone have any advice on how I could better handle these kind of incidents in the future?" But then he is just like, utterly overwhelmed by responses and realizes that very few people have actual actionable advice for him that doesn't involve him waging literal war on the United States.

I am picturing Superman having a youtube channel where he addresses things that people yell or tweet at him like "hey superman why don't you end world hunger if you're so powerful!" and he does like a response video explaining the like, historical and material reasons why world hunger is a thing and that it's not just as simple as flying a giant bag of hamburgers to the third world and tells his followers to read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

CLARK KENT: MILD MANNERED REPORTER

A common element in a lot of Superman retellings is the Daily Planet struggling to survive in the internet age which I think has been fairly overdone by now, and doesn't really reflect the current state of like, major American newspapers. The whole "Internet is killing print media" thing doesn't really apply to the big publications like NYT or whatever and we are assuming the Daily Planet is like, one of the biggest papers in the country so they're doing fine. The difference is that Lois & Clark wouldn't be on-staff there. They met while both applying at the Planet, but neither landed a job. They'd probably work freelance at best, and I'm picturing them maybe operating their own like, independent left-wing substack blog or podcast or whatever, & obviously through being superman Clark is able to get them good scoops and they break some decent stories and get their work featured in the Planet from time to time. Jimmy Olsen is the Daily Planet's social media manager, but moonlights as Lois' producer on her podcast.

ORIGINS

I've already touched a bit on the background with the Kents, the farm, etc. Those are the things that are most important to who Clark is as a person. His upbringing. See, Superman's personality and mannerisms and whatnot are all things that can vary from writer to writer, actor to actor. A character who has existed for 80 years will have been interpreted differently. But the truth and justice, the ideal, the values. Those are the things that inform the character. You start with those and work backwards. We know what Superman believes, now what led him to those beliefs. So the important part is in the Kents, in Smallville, in how his life has developed. Krypton is less important to *who* he is, but has everything to do with *why* he is. Krypton. The Doomed planet. Doomed how? It doesn't matter, really. It's been done a dozen different ways. Sometimes it's the sun exploding, sometimes the planet blows up? Sometimes it's destroyed by war, sometimes it's a natural disaster. The Planet's core is unstable or some shit. Ultimately it doesn't matter WHY the planet is destroyed, only that it has to be so that Jor-El can put his baby in a rocket and fire his ass into space.

I think that, thematically it would make sense if the destruction of Krypton was ecological in nature. You recontextualize Kryptonite as an energy source. Highly unstable, dangerously radioactive, that sort of thing. Kryptonian society devastated their planet to mine deeper and deeper for more kryptonite, the waste from which was toxic to the people and planet. Extinction events occurred. Perhaps Kryptonite is volatile, and some kind of mining accident triggered a chain reaction that caused an enormous geological fracturing that split the planet into pieces or some shit. Could be even Phantom Zone related. Or that at least leaves a door open for later Kryptonian survivors to appear. Like in the dying gasps of the planet, people were evacuated to the Phantom Zone. Could lead to possible Zod, Mon-El, etc.

However it happens, it has to be predominantly man-made. It must be understood in no uncertain terms that the destruction of Krypton was brought on by the people and their unsustainable resource extraction. This information is, as usual sent with baby Kal-El in his space pod so he knows where he comes from and can keep the legacy of their race alive. It could serve as an extra super special motivation that makes both Clark and the Kents far more conscious and sensitive to climate change, and maybe you could even work in some little details about how the Kent farm is operated as sustainably as possible & yadda yadda. Either way it leads to Clark being passionate about climate change from a young age and as he gets older and sees more & more how bad the world is getting it drives him to want to use his powers to help fix it all.

ANTAGONISTS

LEX LUTHOR

Lex Luthor is a challenge because he is a character that can only reinforce the mythical figure of the genius-billionaire-inventor-industrialist who is so rich and powerful because he is just so darned smart and developed groundbreaking technology on his own that clearly deserves to be rewarded with riches. So while this is comics and you can certainly have super-intelligent people as like, a thing that exists, I would want to recontextualize Lex Luthor's villainy as inherently bourgeoisie. By that I mean everything he does that is "evil" should have material motivations. He does not want cartoonish things like "world domination" or whatever, at least if he did it would be more in the sense that he wants to dominate the global market to increase his own wealth and influence, and whatnot. It should be made explicit that Luthor comes from money, generational wealth, and that the reason he continues to get richer is through the exploitation of the working class and natural resources. The kinds of crimes he commits would largely be the kinds of crimes that real life capitalists commit, but with some like, killer robots and whatever thrown in for flavor.

Lex Luthor should be the stand-in for the Bezos and Musks of the world, representing the insidious ways that the bourgeois destroy people and the world for their own enrichment. Rather than being the kind of mad scientist schemer he typically is, Lex should be just a cold, bloodless machine of capital and his "villainy" is represented in the way he uses capital to exploit people, resources and the media. Less maniacal genius, and more ego driven and relentless because he has never had to face real hardship in his entire life. He's had the money that he's basically been able to get everything he wants and Superman represents a threat to him because he is the first obstacle Lex has ever faced that he cannot simply buy a solution to. This gets wrapped in with the typical xenophobic angle that is common in portrayals of Luthor. He hates Superman for being powerful in a way that Lex can never be, and finds it repulsive, and uses Superman being an alien as the object of his hatred. By making all of Lex's wealth and privilege much more pronounced and explicit, you get the nice little irony of Lex hating superman because having all that power must make it so easy for him, not like, me, a Human who has to strive and struggle to succeed, but of course Lex would never reflect on the self and see that his wealth makes him to an average person what Superman is to him.

CYBORG SUPERMAN Hank Henshaw is a hot, young charismatic astronaut, and he is also the poster-boy for the commercial spaceflight department of Lexcorp. (SpaceLeX)(lol) He is piloting a new Lexcorp rocket launch and due to cost-cutting measures, something fucks up and Superman has to save the day. In the whole catastrophe, Henshaw is still seriously injured. He is like missing an arm and an eye and whatever. Maybe it's actually not like, *that* bad initially even, but either way it ends his space career. That coupled with Lois & Clark doing an investigation into the faulty spacecraft which results in Lexcorp losing it's space contracts, Henshaw's reputation is also ruined. He blames it all on Superman, and Luthor says well if you want to fly again, maybe I can help you out. He augments Hank's body with cybernetics, possibly needing to like, remove more parts of his body than he was even missing before in order to fit all the tech in there, so like, because of his thirst for revenge, he is willing to sacrifice MORE of what he thinks made him human in the first place for the sake of being powerful enough to destroy superman.

So Henshaw is now a cyborg and Lex outfuts him in a rip-off costume and presents him as like, the Lexcorp brand Superman. Superman isn't like, a legal citizen or whatever, so it's not like he can trademark his S symbol or sue for infringement or whatever. So Lex very specifically dresses him to look like superman but uses him as basically private security and as like a publicity tool. Eventually that'll go tits up when Hank loses his shit and kills a bunch of people & all that stuff.

MR. MXYSPTLK Now honestly I don't think you really even need to change him up because being a 5th dimensional trickster genie or whatever is just a premise that can work for any tone. But I recently re-read the Jasper's Warp arc of Captain Britain by Alan Moore and I thought wouldn't it be interesting to kind of do a twist on Mxysptlk where he initially appears in the story as just a regular looking guy. He's a politician who is on a kind of Anti-Superman crusade, and as the story goes on it becomes clearer gradually that this guy is manipulating things on more than just a political level but he is actually changing reality too. There would be an eventual reveal where he transforms into the little gremlin with the hat that he normally is, and when Superman asks why he did it, he just kind of laughs and says because he was bored or whatever.

MAXWELL LORD Not traditionally a Superman exclusive villain, but I figure a rich entrepreneur who wants to use his money to like, buy his own personal superhero team and also he can mind control people? Seems like an easy villain to work with.

CREEPER Once again not traditionally a Superman villain, but thinking about him from a different angle, Creeper would be more of an antagonist to Superman as Jack Ryder than as Creeper. Part of all of my ideas is that Lexcorp would be the parent company for some kind of FOX News style media outlet that exists entirely to launder Lex Luthor's image and shift the overton window in America so that rich fucks like him can influence reactionary policies. So Jack Ryder exists as a kind of Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannity figure in this version of Metropolis and his number one goal is to make people hate Superman. Any fucking outlandish bullshit accusation he can make against Superman he will. He could also serve as like, the antithesis to Clark Kent as the upstanding journalist with integrity! Ryder is the like, dark side of the news and holds a candle to how it is a tool of the bourgeoisie to control the working class. I can see Jack Ryder like, going on tv and making salacious claims that Lois is whoring herself out to Superman for interviews and shit.

RANDOM PLOTLINES AND STUFF Now all of this is incredibly loose brainstorming, it's not like I am sending this as a pitch to DC comics or anything, so I don't know if this would all theoretically be part of one ongoing story or like, chapters of a limited series or whatever so this is all just random fluff to make me feel like this version of superman could exist.

Lex Luthor is strong arming the Metropolis city council to give him the permits to transform Metropolis into a Smart City and Lois and Clark have to dig into the corruption in city hall as well as the unethical business practices involved in the Lex city project, surveiling residents and harvesting their data and blah blah blah. Then somewhere along the line Superman has to punch a robot or something.

Facing greater scrutiny for the role of corporations in causing and accelerating the climate crisis, Lexcorp releases data that suggests , based on his approximate age, that global average temperature has increased every year since Superman first arrived on Earth, and suggest that since his powers are the result of absorbing solar radiation that it is in fact Superman who is drawing more heat from the sun into earth's atmosphere or some shit, and the media starts a campaign of demanding that Superman leave Earth. There's a hashtag. Superman decides to step away from the spotlight for a bit while the bad press is on him and it's up to Lois & Clark to disprove Lexcorp's claims

Superman defends an all-ages Drag show. Superman Disrupts a proud boys rally. Superman vandalizes a US Senator’s car or other property after the senator refuses to pass a social services bill Superman sets fire to a KKK clubhouse May add more as I come up with them.

So yeah, I dunno. I have just had this all on the brain and needed to get this all expelled out of my head or I wouldn't be able to sleep. DC, feel free to DM me.

[alltimefail-sims]

More asks in my inbox means more rambling from yours truly!!

Questions and replies below the cut ↓

"A cool person" omg?!?! You're so sweet, I'm bubbly over here! Thank you so much!!

YES I love to hear that for you!! That's great that you could save some of your favorite sims at least; I am attached to my sims too, there are several I would be gutted to lose, so I totally get where you're coming from. They sound like an adorable couple, and I love occults so that alone is a great selling point haha.

I think it's okay to talk about your sims/take pride in them like they're your child lmaoooo. Basically,

I don't have a lot of thoughts on the EA refreshes; I think they're just okay. I end up making all my townies over anyway, so really it doesn't matter what EA decides to do lmao. It might just be a personal preference, but I would like it better if they would just drop one big batch refresh instead of doing these little ones here and there. I didn't love the Goths aside from correcting their skin tone which was absolutely necessary: I felt the same rage with whitewashed Bella and have ranted about it multiple times on this blog lol.

One thing that bothers me: if you age Alexander up he looks horrendous...like unworkable and not even favoring either parent. They definitely still aren't being mindful of what children will look like when you age them up and that is...wild to me. As for the Caliente household, I thought their refresh was an improvement and I totally agree that the refreshes as a whole provide a far more workable base for makeovers than their previous looks did. In fact, I didn't even touch the old Caliente household because I thought they were too far gone lol. It wasn't until the refresh that I decided to add them to my Pleasantview dump! (Sans Katrina because I do not know that woman!) Only complaint about them is I thought they reflected Nina's personality poorly in the makeover - she would never be a villainous valentine!

That is not lame!! Chaos is what keeps the game interesting and no one brings the heat like Nina and Dina!

I don't, I only know the one by MizoreYukii thepancake1. They haven't updated it yet, but keep an eye on their Patreon - they're usually pretty quick to get it back up and running after a patch.

That's so tough, I mod my game to hell and back lmao! Here's a few of my faves that I can think of off the top of my head in no particular order:

UI Cheats Extension

MC Command

Granny's Cookbook by @littlbowbub (I make a lot of families and foodie sims, so having a large variety of foods is important to me!)

Healthcare Redux

Relationship and Pregnancy Overhaul by Lumpinou

Wonderful Whims by Turbodriver

Honorable mention to LittleMsSam for their mods - I have so many of them I couldn't pick just one, but I think they're one of the best modders in this community. I especially love the random small bug fixes such as "Strangerville Scanner Battery Lasts Longer" or "Buy Pet Treats via PC." Those tiny things make a big difference!

I'm a coffee person, I love all types of coffee really but the darker the roast, the more I enjoy it. My favorite kind of coffee would be a hot, dark roast made fresh in the French press with a light amount of creamer - preferably something vanilla or caramel. My favorite bagged coffee right now is LavAzza, but I've been working on a bag of Starbucks Cinnamon Dolce and it's been surprisingly good! (A lot of their bagged blends taste way too bitter, almost burnt to me, so I don't typically go for those despite the big name.) During the holiday season I'll admit that I love a little sweet treat coffee here and there that is really more dessert than drink though lmao.

As for tea, I am trying to like tea more but it's an uphill battle I'm afraid. I love a hot apple and cinnamon tea when I'm sick or when I need to heal my voice though!