#THEY'RE SO MUCH MORE ADVANCED THAN WE GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR

[damnicantcontroltheweather]

I love you Homo Neanderthalensis. No one could ever make me hate you 💞💞💞

[tainbocuailnge]

we're told and shown very little of what shalem and phantom's bond was and is like, so there's a lot of ways to interpret it. but personally I think it's a bit of a waste to show them straightforwardly getting along when they're both extremely insane in conflicting ways. the only on-screen interaction they have is shalem reprimanding phantom, and then testing him, and phantom's response is that he'll do something really detrimental to himself if shalem asks. so to go with their first impressions as looming ominous guy and modest nervous guy and portray shalem as losing composure & getting all blushy at phantom's advances doesn't feel right to me.

shalem actually presents himself to doctor as the one you go to when /you/ lose composure. his profile is clearly written by the troupe instead of rhodes HR like everyone else, and it tells you "you don't remember meeting, but you trust him and rely on him," like a command for the situation to develop as such, rather than a report of how the situation developed. his colleagues think shalem is weirdly pessimistic sometimes, but he's capable and reliable. his role as "modest and gentle shalem" requires him to be composed. in those new CN lines where doctor hands him an outfit to put on he doesn't sound embarrassed about it either. I don't think flirtatious attention would get him to blush that easily.

all the glimpses of what he's like outside that role show him as pretty decisive. every instance of breaking character is him being more forceful than his image allows. if something needs doing and nobody is doing it shalem will go "this is stupid why are we letting this happen" and step in. when he loses composure in his oprec he tries to :/ through the pain before getting screaming mad. when he's scared he gets mad too. shalem tries very hard to be a meek person and his life would be easier if he actually was, but he's not. he's mentally stronger than a lot of people including himself give him credit for. he just doesn't like when it's quiet.

and phantom clearly trusts shalem enough to completely submit to his judgement. the one interaction they're shown having is phantom saying he'll sing if shalem wants him to. phantom will explicitly do what shalem tells him to even if he thinks its a bad idea.

his codename may be phantom and his cat's name christine, but lucian is the christine in this situation. he's the young actor kidnapped and forced to sing by his shadowy teachers. they're making him play the phantom of the opera but that doesn't mean he actually is the phantom. shalem is far more like the phantom of the opera than lucian. shalem can't exist without the mask that lets him pretend to be a real person or leave the theater that mask was made for. it's just that his mask is also salome, which makes him extra insane (love) because salome was a no-name normal girl used as a tool in political machinations until she got written into a play that reinterpreted her as insane and a willing participant. so shalem's nightmares try to convince him he actually did want that guy's head on a plate.

phantom's second module says he doesn't see any art in killing despite how much the troupe hyped it up to him, but he works as assassin and went back to kill the troupe. shalem does still see the art in it, but he works in logistics and ran away because he didn't want to kill. we know phantom left after he realized his teachers were villains and that he completely trusts shalem's judgement, so while there's no clear proof it's likely that shalem's betrayal is what inspired phantom to leave as well. everyone in the troupe was raised to look up to lucian, and told that they had no worth if they couldn't make it to his level. shalem didn't have what it took to become like lucian, but that's exactly what made phantom want to be more like shalem.

and again, we know very little of what their relationship was like, or is like now. we know phantom completely trusts shalem, but the only opinion shalem expresses about phantom is "we're certainly similar, but I'd like to stay away from all that" and their only interaction is shalem reprimanding and testing phantom. so it's possible that shalem doesn't like phantom at all, and is only saving him because the situation is stupid and someone has to do something. phantom is the only person who could begin to understand shalem, but shalem doesn't like being seen closely because he's scared he has no "self" behind the act, so phantom understanding him might not be a good thing to shalem.

I think that kind of resentment between fellow survivors is really interesting. they both left, but lucian is still the troupe's favourite while shalem is called a cowardly traitor. even if shalem does get along with phantom, that would still be simmering below the surface right? their experiences were similar, but lucian was the standard that the others were held to, and the punishment for not being able to live up to that standard was death. isn't it a sick joke to have to go back to save the man whose mere existence made yours harder?

phantom knows that he was the bait the troupe used to draw in fresh blood, and he feels deeply guilty over it. so I think his willingness to submit to shalem's judgement is also because he knows he's at least partially to blame for what's wrong with shalem. meanwhile shalem's nightmares taunt him by saying the troupe was wrong and he's a great actor, so I think part of him still wants to prove himself as an actor. he wants to escape the audience in his head, but can't fully let go of the promise of getting to be on the stage either. and while phantom is the more outwardly insane one, he's making new friends and picking up new hobbies in his oprec while shalem has to be in the eternal nightmare vortex. even in rhodes island phantom is the one who actually gets what shalem wants.

so you have shalem, who wants a normal life he can't have because he was raised to be an actor-assassin with no self, and phantom, who is willing to do whatever shalem says to make up for being the symbol used to ruin shalem's ability to live normally.

phantom in general tends to punish himself. he refuses both medical treatment and gratitude until folinic corners him and chews him out. he feels guilty over being a dangerous person to associate with, but also over rejecting the help he is offered in spite of this. he's willing to submit to shalem's judgement and accept any punishment from him, but shalem wants to be normal and just helps him because it's the right thing to do and this whole situation is stupid, but that only makes phantom feel even more guilty. that too is unresolved resentment.

there's a tension between them where phantom repeatedly shows a desire to leave his decisions to others, while shalem desperately tries to take his decisions from the hands of others. there's clear incentive for phantom to just hand all his agency over to shalem, especially if we assume that shalem leaving is indeed what inspired phantom to follow, and depending on how you read the scene it's phantom's willingness to do what shalem says rather than his reluctance to sing that confirms to shalem that phantom is back to usual. phantom through this respect for and trust in shalem gives shalem a lot of power over him that shalem doesn't actually want to have, because the only decisions shalem wants to be controlling are his own.

they certainly are similar, but they cannot recognise themselves in that mirror, because the part of them that wants to be like the other is at odds with their actual desires. phantom left the troupe like shalem did, perhaps even to follow shalem's example, but shows no indication of wanting a normal life. shalem is a valued coworker, and phantom is an elusive mystery that schwarz warns you as someone familiar with the underworld to stay away from. he speaks of guilt and punishment and truth, but not of what comes after, and he's largely dependent on miss christine to be his moral compass. he's making friends and getting hobbies only because miss christine pushed him to. phantom values justice, but struggles to make his own judgements, and seems to reason that since he's already a murderer he might as well keep killing.

shalem meanwhile values normalcy, but doesn't seem to care nearly as much about justice. his reasoning for defying the troupe and letting his target go wasn't that it was wrong to kill, but that the situation was ridiculous and there had to be a different way. what shalem's nightmares taunt him with isn't the morality of his actions, the way phantom stumbles over his words to justify himself in his own nightmares, but whether they were really his actions. violence excites shalem in a way it doesn't for phantom, and he has no hesitance about threatening murder to secure his agency.

so phantom values justice, and he values shalem's judgement, but he appears unaware that shalem doesn't actually share those values. a normal life just generally doesn't require or involve murder. so while phantom is frequently punishing himself out of guilt and is implicitly looking to shalem to deliver some of that punishment, shalem doesn't really give a shit, because he doesn't really want to think about let alone reckon with their pasts at all. what shalem reprimands him for is causing trouble for the doctor.

their relationship is, by virtue of both operating through externally imposed personalities, inherently somewhat out of sync. you might even call it somewhat parasocial. I think there's probably a lot of pity involved too, pity for the one made to chase your shadow, and pity for the one who cannot escape that shadow. as fellow survivors they're the only ones who could possibly understand each other, but their values and priorities don't line up, and so neither do their expectations and images of each other.

but crucially, i think if any moves are to be made between them, it has to be shalem who makes those moves. because phantom wants to leave his choices to others while shalem is far more decisive than he appears and in fact much of shalem's character tension is based in being forced to finally step up and do something. phantom has very decisively put the ball in shalem's court by establishing that he'll literally do whatever shalem says. all of which is a very long way to say. i respectfully disagree with some of the fanart ive seen on twitter dot com lately.

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Be Prepared

Voiceplay's full-length cover of Be Prepared was released on the 28th of September (or the 27th depending on your timezone, same deal as always), and in fact it's still the 28th for me as I type this! Yes, I'm getting this ready at least a couple of days in advance of when I plan to post it, 1 because I've waited long enough already, and 2 because VoicePlay's next release (their Halloween video) is meant to drop on Patreon before the end of September and I wanna get this done before it happens!

Anyway, this features Mykal Kilgore, who's an OG member, not technically of VoicePlay, but of "4 The Love", which consisted of Mykal, Geoff, Layne, and Earl, back when they were about 17 I believe? Then at some point they added Scott Porter as a beatbooxer and became 4:2:Five. Mykal appeared a little bit in Just Sing, but otherwise this is the first time he's properly reunited with Geoff and Layne and gotten to meet Eli and Cesar! He was definitely a great contribution to this video.

There's a lot to unpack visually in this video, and again, I've been dying to make this post, so let's! get! into this!!!

Honestly I can't even think of much to say about the overall set design right now other than yoooooo look how cool this is!!

They absolutely nailed the vibe/aesthetic of the original scene, while still keeping the set "simple" enough for plenty of movement and use of space!

Layne was in charge of the arrangement, creative direction, and video editing for this video, shocker to no one (a Disney song cover that places Geoff front and centre? Gotta be Layne's doing 😂 (and we love him for it!))

Oh yeah also I'm pretty sure the aspect ratio is a bit "narrower" than it often is for most VP videos? (Like the screen is more noticeably wider than it is tall.)

There he is!!! (It was at this point on my first watch-through that I had to take a moment to steel myself because I was like "nope nope nope hang on wait I don't think I'm actually prepared for this" 😅

As to be expected, Eli is credited with lighting, but he also helped out with the fog machine things shown here in this image (the one on the left is more visible here). VoicePlay hadn't worked with these things before, but they worked amazingly, and it's another thing to give the video similarities to the original movie scene. However, these things were actually Quite Loud

Not the clearest image but look at Layne and Cesar being all sneaky/creepy here! (Layne does a little skip-step thing in this shot here that's brief but kinda reminds me just a touch of his little run in This Is Halloween)

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rick Underwood the man that you are, please, let me shake your hand, I love you (whether I'll still love him after the Halloween video remains to be determined, but anyway)

I mean honestly this is a Whole Look and I adore every part of it. The "facial scruff", the eyeliner, the freaking awesome jacket, the hair... I'm gonna stop myself from rambling too much too early ^^;

"I know that your powers of retention... are as wet as a warthog's backside."

A couple of things here:

1, You would probably expect Layne to just be another hyena (after all, there's many more than just Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed in the original scene), but it's possible that he might have intended to be a warthog, given this moment here (and also at the end of the BTS there's a clip of Layne messing around with one of the smoke/fog machines in a very Pumbaa-esque manner, lol).

And 2, credit to @ambular-d who first noticed this and pointed it out in the Discord server: Layne dips his shoulder here, "like Geoff's casual disdainful little swipe has some strength behind it." (directly quoting them here)

Okay now let's pay attention (ayyy) to our "main hyena trio" for a moment

There is no real style coordination here and yet somehow it works (well they're all in black/dark grey so they've got that in common). But like Cesar's got a grey leopard-print jumper/sweater (kinda cute ngl), Mykal's got a black fluffy (fringed?) shirt/sweater thing, and Eli's got a black leather jacket on (he looks very cool in it though - definitely suits him)

Mykal's the only one of the total five who isn't wearing some sort of necklace, but I guess he makes up for it with the bones hanging from the top of his head (and for all I know that actually might be a necklace that he just wrapped around the base of his hairbun)

ALSO I just went to go check my post for Friends On The Other Side because I was wondering if Cesar's necklace here was one of the ones worn by Geoff or Layne in that video, and I don't think it is (too short), but I'm 90% certain that Eli's necklace here is one of the same ones that Geoff was wearing!

Dramatic lighting flash! Low-key similar to Hoist The Colours (another video featuring scruff, guyliner, and heavily colour-tinted lighting), and also Geoff's recent Song Of Durin video!

(Also man I'm gonna hit image limit aren't I, lol rip)

"It's clear from your vacant expressions, the lights are not all on upstairs"

It's a blurry image, but I couldn't help but be tempted to do a Screenshot Comparison for this moment (plus another one a bit later in the song) because Layne absolutely understood the assignment and I was quite pleased that this bit got recreated!

(Also yes, Cesar is Ed, lol)

This moment in the video with Geoff and Cesar (including the second half of the line) got turned into a meme gif on the Patrons Discord server to represent VoicePlay and the audio distributors that they've been having issues with 😂

"And where do we feature?" "Just listen to teacher"

I don't remember it looking like that in the original scene! 😝 (but seriously, I love how Geoff and Cesar can't help but be cute together here - you should see their dynamic in some of the BTS videos, it's the best)

Pfft, this moment also got memed in the Discord server XD ("ask me to sing a G-1 one more time!" (credit again to @ambular-d) or alternatively "I said there are ants in the coffee again!" (that one's a reference to one of the BTS videos))

I'm honestly a little jealous of how cool Geoff looks while doing the sort of lifting motion he does in this moment here

Oh yeah that's definitely one of the Friends On The Other Side necklaces that Eli's got on

Also it took me an embarassingly-large amount of watches to realize that Cesar had painted nails for this one (in my defence, I was very distracted 😂)

Sure go ahead Eli, have your moment, stare into my soul, go on (affectionate)

"Of course quid pro quo you're expected, to take Certain Duties on board"

Again, not a great screenshot, but again, another moment recreated (at least in a general sense) from the original scene!

This is also a good place to point out how the lighting has changed from green to yellow, just as it does in the original scene, and it changed at the same spot as well (right on or just before the "it's great that we'll soon be connected..." line)

Oh rip it is tough to get good screencaps for this one (probably at least partially due to all the fog)

Anyway I wanted to point out that Layne's a little over an inch taller than Geoff (possibly two inches if you count the hair, lol), but in this one he mostly stays at least a little hunched, at least when Geoff's next to him, making Geoff look equal height if not taller (and from a storytelling perspective, it's great!)

"YOU WON'T GET A SNIFF WITHOUT ME!"

A quick shift to red colouring, again just as the movie scene (and also now the video looks crystal clear as well!)

(Also goddamn Geoff is really working the crazy evil villain look... like man 👀)

Mykal and Eli vibing, I love it

Cesar, Mykal, and Eli's reaction to the growl/roar 😂

Cesar is shook! Literally! XD

Nothing much to say here, just that Geoff looks amazing and is amazing

(Also shoutout to his white-grey hair, which was looking wonderfully-prominent in this video and I adore it)

(woof) HELLO THERE GOOD SIR 😳👉👈

This is a rare case of me not having a "he's so pretty" moment with Geoff in a video, but that's because for this one, it's more a case of "he's so hot" 👀

*insert evil laughter here*

And that's Be Prepared! Man, what a video!

Next on the list is of course VoicePlay's Halloween release for 2024, whatever that turns out to be. I'm both excited and nervous (or scared, even), but hey, I have no doubt it will give me plenty to talk about! Until next time!

[misc-obeyme]

I didn't realize Lesson 19 was happening today, but as soon as I figured it out you can be sure all my other plans for the evening got tossed out the window.

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I had more to say than I thought I did. And I'd already wrote the whole thing, so I was like I don't wanna break it up into multiple posts now!

Spoilers below the cut as always.

I'm going to lose my whole mind. There is no way that this isn't the "visiting and kissing every brother" scenario that happens before the end of a season. And yet I still have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

I am very much under the impression that we are not going to be leaving the past by the end of season one. Which is ANNOYING. I keep thinking about the brothers in our present timeline. I might have to write some angty story about it to make myself feel better.

But also, what're they gonna do? Send MC back to the human world? I mean, every other season has ended that way...??? Maybe it's different because we're in ~Nightbringer~ now. We'll see I guess!

Anyway, this lesson certainly wasn't bad and there were a lot of interesting things happening to these past versions of our bros.

AUGH THE BROTHERLY LOVE IN THIS LESSON THOUGH.

Okay, so this is not really the same as how they were in the OG, but I think this makes sense considering how much time has supposedly passed between the two timelines. I mean, think about how siblings are when nothing's wrong and they're all just getting on each other's nerves most of the time. Then think about how those same siblings might band together when things get dicey. That seems to be the family dynamic we have going on here.

Leviathan, my sweet boy, I really loved how he reassured all his little bros that everything was going to be okay. He was so confident and firm in his decision in this lesson, too.

And then the way they were all surprised about it was so cute, too.

I just loved this whole moment.

Okay. And obviously we have to talk about Mammon.

This whole part really showcases Mammon and Lucifer's relationship, I think. To me, it seems like Lucifer is very much going to lock himself away, not talk to anybody about his feelings, and possibly prepare to do something drastic because he thinks it's what's best for his brothers without actually asking them. But Mammon knows this. He knows exactly what's going on with Lucifer. He doesn't have to talk to him to know. And he also knows what's going to help Lucifer. Not just the pudding, but sending MC with it, too.

Honestly, Lucifer does not give Mammon enough credit in general. Mammon is always doing stuff like this. And then throughout the rest of the lesson, he's being the big brother, too. It's like Mammon thinks that Lucifer is the one who carries all the weight on his own, but really Mammon is the one keeping that family together, I swear.

The thing about it is, none of them will do anything without Lucifer being on board. And Mammon knows that, too. So he's like okay I'm gonna send this human with some pudding to talk to Lucifer and because those are two things that Lucifer really likes, he will probably get it together enough to make the decision we all want him to.

And I think Levi understands this, too, to a lesser extent. He's over here trying to make the younger bros feel better while Mammon is trying to make Lucifer feel better.

Okay now we have to talk about Satan.

First they hit us with the Satan telling everybody to leave him behind and go back if they want to.

And then this part where they all call him out on saying he's not their brother.

And then when he finally admits he wants to be their bro and Asmo hits him with the I'm so proud of you... when I tell you I was tearing up...

I want to point out how Asmodeus and Beelzebub are the two who chimed in with these lines after Satan says he wants to be their brother. Because I think these two are the most open with their feelings in general. While Belphie will be quick to call someone out if he's annoyed with them, both Asmo and Beel are quick to praise someone. It isn't just that they're happy he finally said it, they understand that he needs their reassurance in that moment and they have no problem giving it.

And all of this was so good! It was such an excellent culmination of all the stuff that had been leading up to this point regarding Satan and his relationship with his brothers. This is exactly the kind of understanding and closure I want to have for all the other weird junk that we have no answers for yet! I should be grateful we at least got this, I suppose!

And then Lucifer makes it all crazy with an explanation I thought we'd never get about what it was like when Satan was "born."

I think it's pretty clear that they're saying exactly what some people were pointing out in the vampire event. Because Satan got vampiritis even though it only affected fallen angels. And I was definitely like that doesn't make sense! But some people said well considering he came from Lucifer, Satan probably has angel in him. And you guys were right! Because I'm pretty sure that's what Lucifer is saying here.

He may have never lived as himself in the Celestial Realm, but Satan has that same angelic power in him.

Lucifer's relationship with him is really quite interesting. I know he says he thinks of him as his brother, but... the way he talks about him... to me, it still sounds like he thinks of Satan more as his son. But I think it's easier for the game if he's one of the seven brothers lol. I personally headcanon it as Lucifer just doesn't want Satan to feel any more out of place than he already does. Also, that's kind of the familial relationship that all the former angels have in mind when it comes to each other, since they have a collective Father figure and I know Lucifer doesn't want to be seen as anything close to that entity.

And then Lucifer talks about how his decisions have caused the others to suffer. And I think this comes back to what I was saying when I was talking about Mammon - the rest won't do anything unless Lucifer makes the decision. Mammon knows this and Lucifer does, too. He talks about how he almost made a huge mistake because he was thinking about sending the others back to the Celestial Realm.

And I have two things to say about this:

One: Lucifer shouldn't have made any decision without talking to his brothers first. He needs to stop shouldering all the responsibility himself.

Two: If he really thought they would have wanted that, he really hasn't been paying attention. Sure, they've had some conflicting feelings about being in the Devildom. But they've all said they made their own choice to follow Lucifer. Does he really think they would want to leave him now? And everybody says Mammon is the idiot.

But then he surprised me by admitting that he was ashamed for almost doing that. And he apologized to them all. I couldn't believe it!

And one of my favorite parts of the whole thing:

PFFFF if that isn't the Satan we know and love!

Anyway, all in all, this lesson gave us some things that I have been wanting. Very specifically, Lucifer told us what he remembered about falling and Satan's "birth." And I can't believe we got Lucifer finally being open and talking to his bros at the end. It makes me annoyed because why hasn't present timeline Lucifer done anything like that, huh?? But yeah, it's because a billion years have passed or whatever and he's older and crankier in the present lol.

[jamiefeelsdandy]

I'm currently seeing a lot of people in the destiny 2 community unironically saying that ACTIVISION, the company that is notorious for overworking employees was exposed for protecting sexual predators and doing nothing about the mistreatment of its employees, is better than Bungie cause "at least they gave us content". I made a comment calling this out in some yt replies, and had people say "stop defending a multi billion dollar company Bungie doesn't care" whilst failing to see the irony in the fact that they're the ones giving credit to the company that protected abusive workplace culture. People really prioritize "more content" over the safety and wellbeing of workers but then have the audacity to call you a corporation defender for calling them out on it. There's also people acting like Activision was consumer friendly in any sense of the term. Bungie absolutely should be called out for its increasingly non consumer friendly practices (raising the prices of expansions and seasons as well as the whole dungeon key thing being the main issues) but calling ACTIVISION of all companies consumer friendly, even in comparison, is not only wrong it's straight up disingenuous. I feel like I'm going insane trying to be reasonable in this community with takes so wrong on so many levels like "Bungie is worse than Activision cause Activision gave us more content and was more consumer friendly" floating around. People are really forgetting how truly despicable Activision/Blizzard was exposed for being just cause it's popular to shit on Bungie right now. We do not need to be propping up companies that are known for treating employees like shit and protecting sexual predators in order to criticise Bungie. It's insane that this needs to be said, but this community with every passing day just keeps proving that it values being angry over being helpful, so much that it's stooped to the level of acting like Activision was any better for Destiny 2 or Bungie despite us knowing how bad Activision really was and how deep that awfulness was, and knowing that it had been a big issue for a while. Do not ever brush aside or forget about what they did, cause I assure you their victims absolutely won't forget it either. And their victims surely wouldn't take too kindly to seeing gamers prioritize "more content" over the potential safety of workers. I apologize in advance if I worded anything confusingly but I'm so incredibly disappointed with this community and frustrated that there's nothing I can say to open people's eyes up to how harmful people are being.

[sigynsilica]

Conservatives be like "tHey'Re tRyiNg tO dEcOnStrUcT tHe fAmiLy uNiT"

Yes. Exactly. That is exactly my goal in life.

Then they be like "wElL yOu mUsT wAnT tHe wOrLd tO bE fUlL oF siNgLe pAreNtS"

No

You think it's LESS family I want? You have it backwards. It's MORE.

Let me explain.

One of the most integral parts of humanity is community. Humans are pack animals. We do better in groups, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Everything humans have accomplished, they did via teamwork.

This is a leading reason why I'm a socialist, because Capitalism is, by definition, the advancement of the individual over the collective. That's a concept that goes against human nature. Capitalism gives credit to one person for what a team of people did, and allows that one person to decide for themself what portions of the benefits of creating something goes to who. This despite the fact that the creation would not and could not be possible without the whole team of people. Even if one person creates one thing, they could not do it without materials harvested or tools invented or concepts thought of by someone else. Somewhere down the line, someone was pushing the buttons.

It's a very isolationist way of thinking, to claim that a CEO deserves more money for producing a product than the assembly line workers who actually made the thing.

This mindset has then been projected onto basically every single aspect of American life. (I can't speak for other countries because I've never been anywhere else)

People are their own human, and that means they can't ask for help. Collaboration is a myth, and the credit for anything really only goes to the head of the endeavor.

Enter the nuclear family.

One mom, one dad, and an assortment of children. The mom stays home and raises the kiddos and cleans the house and makes sure everyone has clean underwear and also finds time for sanity somewhere, while the dad works his butt off at a crappy corporate hellhole of a job. Add in some fundamental Christianity, because America Is A Christian Nation apparently, and you have pressure to homeschool. This only further enforces the isolation, the individual, the Doing Everything By Yourself as the only way to go.

This is why so many conservatives and fundamentalists like the Duggars so much. Think of it! Twenty homeschooled fundamentalist Baptist children, all raised to believe in God, while the dad does Politics and Mission Stuff at the church and the mom homeschools All of them.

And of course you have friends, right? But woe upon thee if your house isn't spick-and-span or the children are being disruptive when they come over. They can't see your mess. They can't see your imperfections. Nobody actually goes to their neighbors to ask for a cup of sugar. You should buy your own sugar. Jeez.

In this mindset and mentality, if your children are "unruly", that reflects badly on you as a parent. Your children are seen as an extension of yourself, and if you don't have everything in your life put together, you're getting judged by randos in the grocery store, now. If both parents need to work, just send your kid to the local daycare. What's that? You can't afford daycare? Hire a babysitter. What's that? You can't afford a babysitter? Hm. More judgement. Get the kid's granny to watch them or something.

So here's the facts. The more adults a child has in their life who show them support and are a safe environment for the child, the more the child will be likely to succeed in their adult life.

And by that definition, yes. I want to destroy the family unit. I want it gone.

The notion that if the two people who were directly responsible for the child's existence can't adequately provide for their child, that's it's a moral failing on their part? That's bullshit. I want it gone. If you need help raising a child, so does everyone else, and it should be socially okay to reach out to a trusted member of your community for help. It should also be socially okay for someone who you trust to want to care for a child with no financial compensation. Children are delightful.

Taking care of a child is hard work. Someone has to be on call 100% of the time for at least the first ten years of that kid's life.

Of course, in making the decision to have children, a parent should consider their capability of caring for the kid. But it shouldn't be their capability of caring for a kid ALONE. No one should have to raise a child alone.

Every parent should have a full support system to fall back on. Every person, let alone parent, should have a community of people who would be willing to help care for other people in their community, especially vulnerable people in that community, like children.

This is what I mean when I say I do want to destroy the family unit. I don't want any child to have to grow up in an environment where the only people who feel responsible for their safety are their parents.

Of course parents are responsible for a kid's safety, more than any other people on the planet, because the parents were the ones who chose to bring the kid into the world.

But they are not the only ones. They should not be alone. There should be no more talk of "well, your parents ought to teach you how to behave," because children learn from everything and everyone around them. You can't stop that. Not even if you try.

The thing is, parents should not, and cannot be the ultimate authority on life for their kids. My parents tried, while simultaneously insisting they weren't perfect, but if you grow up thinking only two people who are Biblically one person are the only ones who are right about things, you're going to have a lot of unlearning to do, no matter who those people are.

Humans, all of us, have a responsibility to look out for each other. Community is our greatest strength, and it's founded on the principle of all of us in a community having each other's backs.

So no more Two Heterosexual People being an island and a solitary beacon of what a family is supposed to be. A family is a community, and we all look out for each other. We all make sure we're safe and we have what we need to live. And we all teach each other things about how the world is.

[tnbc-thoughtsandheadcanons]

Do you see Jack or Sally ever getting jealous if anyone tried to make advances on either of them/ especially if someone already knew they were together?

Whenever I think about jealous!Sally and jealous!Jack, I tend to think of some of the Disneyland videos where guests flirt with them, where the results can be a little different. Of course, there's the video where someone straight-up proposes to Sally, making Jack walk off VERY stressed-like, and comes back relieved when she says 'no'. LOL.

I saw someone on deviantART who got away with giving Jack a kiss on the cheek; Sally wasn't there at the time, so I don't know how that reaction would've gone down, but we can use our imaginations..! In one of BriannaCherryGarcia's videos, I remember a guy posed with Sally for a picture, and Jack noticed he was using HIS pose and adamantly told him to change how he was standing, LOL. And in another video, Sally was talking about plans she had with a 'friend' in Valentine's Town, and Jack got quite suspicious of that.

These are little reactions/details from the Disneyland actors that I have closest to how Jack and Sally would act if they were jealous. But in the movie-verse, I think she's used to seeing Jack getting admired and complimented/flirted with by the citizens every Halloween, so it's nothing really new to her, as much as she may not like it. But I like to think he puts more boundaries with that as soon as he's openly courting Sally, which puts her discomforts at ease.

As for seeing someone infatuated with Sally, I think it gets more on Jack's nerves than he credits himself for, and he tends to react very strongly when he sees it happening. They both have faith in each other and when they're married, I don't see a huge cause of concern for jealousy, buuuuut I think it does happen from time-to-time, when anyone's bold enough to do it in front of the other. :P

[queen-of-deans-booty]

Hibbing 911: Final Part

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.8k

Warnings: canon angst and violence, extra angst

Summary: A case brings you all the way to South Dakota where Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum are. Jody has to remember not to mention that your kids are with her in fear of what you might do with that information.

Season Ten Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Supernatural. All credit goes to their respective owners. I love seeing any and all comments <3

x

Sam and Dean head over to the rooms where the cops are staying and easily find room 304. Sam jimmies the lock open and barges in, not expecting to see anyone inside. However, Jody and Donna are, and the blonde jumps out of her skin when she sees Jody pull out a machete.

"What the heck is that for?!" Donna gasps at Jody.

"Y/N told us what was going on."

"Sheriff Cuse is a vampire."

"She just pulled out a machete," Donna says at the same time as Jody.

"Donna saw his teeth."

"What the cuss?! A vampire?!" Donna cries out.

"Shh, lady, the grown-ups are talking," you say. Dean slaps your arm and you pull back with a frown. "Ow!"

"You promised to behave."

"Sorry Donna," you roll your eyes.

"I don't think you meant that."

"Do you want to give her the talk?" Dean asks Jody.

"Yeah, we'll meet you out there."

You, Sam, and Dean give the two women some time to talk everything through. Jody is going over monster after monster so it takes some time for Donna to wrap her head about this. When they're done, they meet you three outside in the parking lot.

"Are you good?"

"Wait. So, when we were at the weight-loss spa--"

"Monsters. Sucking on your fat. We took care of them."

"Ah, jeez. I knew losing ten pounds that fast was too good to be true." She turns to you. "You're a witch?"

"Ex-witch."

"You're soulless?"

"You're perceptive."

Donna takes out a piece of paper from her jacket and hands it to Sam. It has an address on it that she got from the room.

"Here. Maybe this is where Sheriff Vampire went."

"It could be anything." Sam takes out his phone and puts the address into his maps. "What's there?"

"It looks like it's an old farm outside of town."

"It could be something," Dean shrugs.

"It's the only lead we got," Donna says.

"We? With all due respect, Sheriff, vampires are far more dangerous than the Johns you throw in jail. You're gonna sit this one out."

"Stuff you, Dean!" Dean's eyebrows raise in shock. "Or whatever your real name is."

"Hanscum's good."

"Jody--"

"I said she's good," she cuts your husband off.

"Don't blame us when she dies. It's on you, Miller," you say and walk to the car.

Everyone piles into the car, leaving the two brothers in the front and all the ladies in the back. You're squished between both of them but it beats being stuck between two Winchesters. You're looking at the road in front of you but you can feel Donna's eyes on you the entire time.

"Stop staring at me," you finally say and look at her.

"You were much nicer at the spa."

You choose not to say anything to this. You really don't want to hear about it from Sam or Dean. It takes Dean thirty minutes to get to the farm where they grab their weapons from the trunk.

"If you're gonna swing, swing hard. Heads gotta roll with vamps," Dean says and hands her a machete.

"Got it," she nods.

You advance toward the barn and peek through one of the windows. Sheriff Cuse is sitting at a desk doing something. You look back at Sam and Dean and nod twice to let them know he's inside and when you look back, he's gone. Two seconds later, his head pops into view and you jump back in shock.

"Run!" he warns.

Before you know it, you're hit on the back of the head by something hard, causing you to fall to the ground knocked out. When you wake up, you're tied to a wooden pillar inside the barn. Sam and Dean are tied up next to you, Donna is tied to some tractor machine, and Jody is tied to a chair.

The youngest one who looks like a hippy chick walks over to Dean and runs her hands down his chest. He struggles to get away from her but she just laughs.

"It's all love, pretty boy. All of you will become all of us. We won't waste one bit."

"Okay, Mufasa, enough with the 'Circle of Life' shit. You're a vampire. You're scum. End of story." She runs her hands down his body and starts to remove his belt. "Yeah, I'm not in the mood."

"It's not enough that you kill people. You've got to rob them, too?" Jody asks.

"We scavenge. We don't sip and go. We use every part of the buffalo." Hippy Chick looks at you and notices the necklace you have on that represents your first daughter. She slinks up to your side and touches the jewel. "Pretty necklace."

"Don't you touch that!" Dean shouts.

Hippy Chick smirks and yanks the necklace off your neck.

"Take it. I don't care about it," you shrug.

"Starr, please, let them go," Sheriff Cuse begs. "I helped you out. I ditched that video of Catfish killing that man."

"We didn't want favors, Len. We wanted you," she glares.

"What use am I now? I don't even kill people. I'm on bagged blood."

"I beg your pardon? I saw you with your vampire face standing over Sheriff Goodhill!" Donna accuses.

"No, I found her," he stutters. "I smelled her blood. I couldn't help myself. My fangs came out but I didn't bite her."

"Aren't you a hero?" Dean scoffs.

"It's your nature to eat people. A vampire who doesn't feed is like a tiger eating salad. We're not gonna stop, Len. We'll take down every person in your sweet, little Hibbing till you come back to the nest."

"Why do you want him so badly? What did he do for you?"

"Len found me crying on the curb after my daddy kicked me out. I got in Len's van and the rest is wavy gravy."

"What, Len's like your Charlie Manson?" Jody asks.

"Charlie couldn't hold a candle to Len. He taught us everything. It was liberating. Then one day he's gone. We only found him because he got his picture in some newspaper for running a police retreat, of all things. You didn't just go straight. You became a damn cop. Now, that is wild, man. Are you feeling dirty, Len? Because we're about to have ourselves a bloodbath."

"Don't you want to know why I left?"

"I know why. You got boring."

"I got a conscience. Prey that begged for their lives... It was like even if I used every part of what I taught you, it's still wrong."

"You walked away?" Sam asks.

"I tried to protect people after so many years of gutting them. That's why I'm here. I'll join your bloody caravan if it means you won't kill these people."

"We aren't killing anyone. You are."

"You don't have to do this," Jody begs.

"Kiss my ass," Len glares.

"We love you, brother, but we don't know who you are anymore." Starr takes one of the machetes and beheads Len. "Can't say we didn't try."

While they were talking, Donna and Dean had been trying to get free of their binds. Your husband breaks free and swipes one of the machetes to attack the vampires. He is too skilled for the vampire to react to his attack, so he didn't see him coming... literally.

One of the male vampires hisses and charges after Dean just as Donna breaks free. She grabs a machete and starts swinging. Between the two of them, they are able to kill all the vampires inside the barn including Hippy Chick.

"Hakuna Matata, lady," Donna smirks as she slices Hippy Chick's head off.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about!" Dean smiles.

You, Sam, and Jody are released from your binds. All of them leave the barn to start the clean-up process while you stay behind. You watch them get far enough away from you before you look at Hippy Chick's body. Dean cleans off one of the machetes when he notices you're not with them. He frowns and walks back to the barn and peeks inside to see what you're doing.

You walk around her body before kneeling next to it. You reach inside her pocket and pull out the necklace she ripped off your neck. You stare at it for what seems like hours when it's only been seconds. You stand up and place the necklace back around your neck.

"Don't ever touch this again," you glare at her body.

Dean can't help but feel at peace when he sees this. He doesn't think no one is ever completely soulless. When Sam didn't have his soul, he felt like some part of it was still stuck inside of him. It was a small part otherwise he'd have killed Dean the second they met again. He truly believes some part of your soul is still stuck inside your body. Memories of the past are still stuck inside your head, and he believes that if they worked hard enough, they can influence you to do good.

You're in there somewhere. He just has to get that part of you out.

He leaves the bar before you see him and rejoins Sam's side. Donna and Jody are at the front of the car while the brothers are standing by the trunk.

"Are you okay?"

"Other than feeling like I want to hurl, sure. I just chopped off a vampire's head."

"You were great at that," Jody smiles.

"Thanks. I don't know, knowing that these things are out there makes the world seem bigger... darker." 

"You know, if you want any pointers on how to fight this crazy shit, I'm willing to fill you in on what kills what."

"I'd like that," Donna smiles.

"Are you okay?" Sma asks his brother.

"Yeah. You know, for the first time I've been back, I didn't feel like the Mark was pushing me."

"First time?"

"All I know is, back there, killing those vamps... I felt like me again."

"That's good, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's step one. We'll take it day by day."

Everyone but Dean finishes up and piles into the car. Dean looks around for you and finds you leaning against a tree in thought. You look at the necklace and rub your thumb across the jewel. 

One of the nurses brings your daughter wrapped in a pink blanket. She isn't crying anymore, but she is hungry and desperate for her mother's affection.

"Here you go," the nurse smiles and lays her in your arms.

You just sob in happiness at finally feeling her in your arms. She has a beautiful head of hair, and you can only imagine what it's going to look like once it grows out. Her eyes are a dull blue, but they will get their color in a few months. Freckles softly dance across her cheeks and nose just like her father has. She is perfect in every sense of the word.

"Hi, baby. You're my little angel," you cry and finally give her, her very first kiss on the head. "I'm your mommy."

"I'm your daddy," Dean says emotionally from right next to you.

"She's absolutely gorgeous. Do you have a name for her yet?" the nurse who brought her to you asks.

"Joanna Beth Winchester."

"Are you coming?"

Dean's voice pulls you away from a memory of the past.

"It's about time," you sigh. "I thought you were going to chick flick moment forever."

Just like that, the past stays in the past.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[togglesbloggle]

I was tagged by @wellmetmat in @perdvivly's ask meme that's going around- thanks for the interest! A few questions, they shall be answered. I won't tag anyone else for now, but anyone who sees this should absolutely respond if they're so inclined.

1. What virtue do you most often see in other people that you feel comparatively deficient in?

Easy one for me: diligence. Consistency, commitment, patient sustained focus on moderate challenges. Being there not on day 1 but on day 1000.

It's a skill I greatly admire in others, and I'm often drawn to those who can practice it successfully and consistently. The virtue of diligence has a way of making the world around oneself a dramatically better place, so being attracted to such people really works out well for me in the long run. Good parenting is perhaps one of the ur-examples here; the stakes of consistency get about as high as they reasonably can, and the rewards are just as clear. I've heard parents say that it's a time of very long days and very short years, and I often strive to give my days and my years the same quality- with not as much success as I'd like.

2. Show us an object in your daily life that you have an emotional attachment to - tell us a little bit about it if you want! (a favourite mug perhaps? socks with a cute pattern? dealers choice)

I actually live more-or-less surrounded by little curios that meet this description, so I had a lot to choose from. It's a lifestyle, or at least a method of interior decorating, that makes me really happy. I grabbed these three more or less at random. From left to right:

Every geologist has a collection of boring-looking rocks with cool science attached; this is the star of my collection. It's a microbialite, meaning roughly that it's a 'fossil' of an ancient microbial mat. This one is from the Buck Reef Chert in South Africa, basically a piece of flint. It's 3.42 billion years old, from the Paleoarchean. It's nearly seven times older than multicellular life, and even predates oxygenic photosynthesis (which is the pattern where plants or green algae uptake CO2 and release oxygen); the organisms that created this fossil breathed iron instead. So it's the sort of organism that was common in the shallower waters of Earth's oceans back in the most primordial ecosystems we have a record of. A relic from an alien world, older than a full third of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. I find it very beautiful to be biologically related to it, and to be part of the same uninterrupted organic chemical reaction.

In the middle is my orchestrator badge for a university class which conducts an elaborate simulation of the papal election of 1492 and its aftermath, run by a professor in the history department- this is last year's. You may recognize 1492 in the Italian peninsula as 'interesting times'. It's taken for class credit, but the heart of it is a LARP that plays out over the course of about two and a half weeks, with full costuming and set-dressing. Every student is assigned a particular period character; most are voting cardinals, some are monarchs ruling over France or Spain and trying to get a favorable pope for themselves, a few are invented minor roles like vote counters that wouldn't have been recorded by history (so that clever cardinals can bribe them, among other things; we have rules for how much the vote-takers can cheat). After suitable prep, we let them loose, and watch the poor bastards chase incentive gradients far enough to burn Europe to the ground. I myself pretend to be a mere orchestrator for the first three days of the simulation, and act mostly as a custodian for the monarchs, but then I dramatically reveal myself to actually be Sultan Bayezid II, of the Ottoman Empire, and then proceed to menace Europe with my impossible wealth, vast armies, and advanced technologies. It is, without fail, a delight.

The right is a watch given to me as a birthday gift some years ago by my dear sister, one of the marvelous transparent ones where you can see finely made gears and springs all working. It's effective for being taken seriously in Europe; combined with brown leather shoes and a thoughtful choice of shirt, it's enough to elevate you above the 'slobby American tourist' first impressions. The watch's finest hour was when I wore it to the front row of the Penn and Teller production of Shakespeare's Tempest. The show was full of stage magic to supplement the play itself, because of course it was, and this watch was irresistible to them during the audience-participation bits. Ariel the wind spirit made a great show of stealing it off my wrist, and of disappearing it and so on multiple times.

3. If you could choose, what level of fame would you want? How many people would you want to recognise you?

There's a level of demifame that I think is just right: enough respect within a widely-spread subculture to earn a comfortable income from fans, and relative anonymity outside it. Jo Walton is at about that sweet spot, for a concrete example. In practice, I think this translates to a few tens of thousands of people around the world that would recognize you, but the key is that they're not randomly selected: they're the people that you share that subculture with, so there's a baseline of mutual regard and shared values even when you're greeted out of nowhere by a stranger in a strange city.

4. Where do you feel language is least adequate to capture, communicate, or express your experience?

What a mean question to ask by text! Ha.

There's a set of experiences you can reach, which I happened to find both through scientific literacy and mindfulness meditation, involving the conditionality and contingencies of personal identity. You may have felt it a little bit when I was talking about my favorite rock, just now; you might not have. I have a powerful and sustained sense of myself as an expression of natural processes, or perhaps of the role of consciousness in illuminating the full depth of that process. It's quite comforting, I suppose, though even that's not a particularly apt description really. I think I called it being 'deep okay' a while back, though I don't recall where; I don’t think I came up with that label myself though. It was here!

5. If you had to come up with a question with the following criteria:

a) it should disuade knee-jerk reaction answers (i.e. it shouldn't be something people are likely to have spent a lot of time considering before)

b) it shouldn't be too specialised (the audience should be general, don't ask about people's top 3 byzantine spice merchants opperating between 754AD-816AD)

c) it shouldn't be needlessly emotionally charged or divisive

d) it should be a question you expect people to have lots of varied opinions about

What would your question be?

What are the kinds of magic you most wish for, or the laws of reality that you most wish could be overcome? What would this allow you to become?

---

Actually I lied I'm tagging @ritterum @femmenietzsche @eka-mark if they haven't been already.

[torchickentacos]

Every Opportunity Pokemon Missed by not having Drew in Destiny Deoxys: A Non-Comprehensive But Still Long-Ass list

Art above- credit to the lovely @salon-maiden-anabel ! So. This is a topic that, if my sister mentions, she knows I will go off about it at the dinner table while my mother stares on confusedly. This is a topic I feel very strongly about, and I decided to put it into words for this post-and I KNOW I'm not the only one with strong feelings about this topic! @raich-raichu I know you showed interest in this topic when I said I'd do it so hope you don't mind if I @ you! THIS GOES FOR EVERYONE: PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REBLOG WITH YOUR OWN OPINIONS AND/OR ADDITIONS ON THIS. I thrive on hearing everyone's takes and opinions. Images are included which makes it kind of long, each number on my list has a corresponding image below. For funsies. Also, I imagine this happening right before the last grand festival, though I know that’s incorrect. It just gives me more developed characters to work with since advanced and battle frontier Drew are pretty different development wise. This is with late AG Drew.

Some background. Why do I think Drew should be in Destiny Deoxys (which will be referred to as DD for the sake of my carpal tunnel)? What is the connection? Why DD and not, say Temple of the Sea? The key is the location. Drew is canonically from LaRousse City. And DD is the ONLY time we ever get to see it. Connection has been established. So... what would he even do in the movie? I'm glad you asked! Let's get into it. A numbered list of every missed opportunity the writers had by not including him.

1.) Character building through backstory. We know little to nothing about Drew's backstory, and this would have been a really natural way to learn more about it. We could have had a scene where we learn, oh, this is the flower shop his mother worked at and he grew up helping tend to the plants or whatever. This is the garden where he met budew. Just little things here and there would have been fascinating, and this movie's setting was a PERFECT opportunity for it. Plus, here's the vision. We get a semi emotional, nostalgic scene with his favorite place as a child, right? Rare Drew emotional moment, maybe sharing it with May and co.? And then, later in the movie, we see that place destroyed by the conflict in the city and we get an emotional sad moment there!!!! And in the ending credits with the song??? WE SEE HIM AND HIS POKEMON STAYING BEHIND IN THE CITY AND STARTING TO REBUILD IT (after waving at Ash and co. on the train back to mainland Hoenn). Guys, my vision is CLEAR AS DAY. Greenhouse time.

2.) Seeing him interact with other characters. Drew isn't the most extroverted guy out there, and we only ever really see him talk to Ash, May, Solidad, Harley, and Brianna. Also, May is the only consistent one in that list. That's literally five people, for those of you keeping count at home. In DD? A large cast of interesting characters for him to interact with, possibly childhood acquaintances that know him! We have Rebecca, purple hair metagross trainer who likes her computer more than most people. Sid, a human golden retriever. Rafe, who's basically Drew but with brown hair and none of the redeeming qualities. The two twins, whose names are never spoken and are only in the credits as Audrey and Kathryn (one of them also has a masquerain iirc, or at least a Surskit!). And Tory, kid who is scared of pokemon and tbh I wouldn't change Tory's role or screen interactions much. I would, however, say the others have a lot of potential for interactions with Drew. Rafe taunting both Ash and Drew at the same time? Rebecca and Drew getting along well because they're the only two who appreciate silence as a form of hanging out? Audrey and Katherine taking little sibling roles, possibly? Tons of possibilities here.

3.) Shamelessly plugging the contestshipping agenda here, but why else do you all follow me? Anyways, Sid from Destiny Deoxys has a sweet but entirely blatant crush on May (who actually knows and does not give much of a shit, though they get along well anyways). Now, I usually do not like jealousy tropes. I think they're easy to do poorly and for them to come across as posessive, which I am not a fan of. HOWEVER, I am a fan of Drew being all moody and bitchy /affectionate. I can see it going either one of two ways: one, we get asshole Drew back from season one of Advanced, who makes snide remarks at Sid who would likely brush it off as fun banter, further annoying Drew who literally cannot get under Sid's skin due to Sid's overwhelming optimism, or two, we get the Drew that has all of his walls up, hiding behind this cool facade of professionalism and aloofness, sort of emotionally overcompensating for trying to hide how much it irks him. Either way, would have been fun. Could have been used for comedy, too, since May is dumb as shit with the guy who has genuine feelings for her, but clocks the puppy love crush from Sid immediately. Would I have trusted the pokemon company to do this trope well? No, but it could have been funny as hell in the right hands.

4.) On that note, THE PASSPORT PHOTO SCENE. May isn't the most photogenic person in the world. Does he tease her about it? Does he make some offhand remark about how he thinks she looks nice before aloof-ly and deftly moving on from the topic, leaving her with the rare compliment as she tries to figure out if he was serious or not (or was it for her beautifly)? Does he show her how to retake it? DOES SHE GENUINELY SMILE IN THAT RETAKE PHOTO, LOOKING AT HIM BEHIND THE CAMERA ROBOT THING???????ASDFGHJKL so much potential with this already gold scene.

5.) More location-based character building. LaRousse City is home to the (or at least a) Battle Tower, and no mention of contests. This means, likely, that LaRousse is a very battle-enthusiast city. Did this make Drew feel like an outcast as a kid, being interested in something different from his peers? Could have been interesting.

6.) Let Drew have his hero moment. Let's be honest- most of the times that we see him, he's being either a jerk (affectionate), head-over-heels in love, or pathetic (see: Who What When Where Wynaut drowning incident). And in what I would categorize as an adventure anime, he has remarkably... little adventuring, save for a traipse in the woods with On Cloud Arcanine. This can be his moment to actually shine! He's obviously a great battler, though he prefers contest-oriented formats. He beat Ash with a type disadvantage. He's a strong trainer- let him put it to use and try to hold off the Deoxys clones (bonus points if he's holding them off from May, not that she needs him to save her ass).

7.) Forced togetherness with the crew. We know Drew has no issue spending time with May, and he's at the very least quite tolerant of Ash. But... Brock? Max? Fun fact, Brock CANONICALLY does NOT like Drew. At all. Calls him nails on a chalkboard. Makes this face at him (pictured below). Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want more of that. Tell me to my face that you don't want more of him having to socialize and of Brock being... like this. Shit's hilarious.

Look at him.

I need more of this in my life.

8.) The angst. He has his entire city destroyed, let him have a grieving moment for it. Hell, let him have a moment where May tries to reach out and he has to decide if he's going to let her in or shut her out. Does he snap, like he did in May, We Harley Drew'd Ya? Does he let her in, like The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing? Do the other LaRoussians reach out to him and let him know, hey, we're in this together? DO THE PLUSLE AND MINUN TRY TO CHEER HIM UP??????

9.) Let him get separated from the group, or let the group get separated from him. Let him have panic, uncertainty, worry for his newfound friends. Humanize him a little bit for casual viewers who know him as 'that asshole with the roses'. You know how Pokemon loves shots of people reaching out to save someone? Give me that. Let him not reach their hand in time as Deoxys clones pull them away or as they get lost in a swarm of security bots. Give me a Drew that thinks he’s failed, that it’s his fault. It isn’t of course, I just like putting him through it. Then… give me a reunion scene. An “oh my god, you’re all safe, I thought I had lost you” scene. Did you guys know we don’t get a single contestshipping hug????? Ever???? No, her keeping him from drowning doesn’t count. I think that’s a crime and I think a “thank god you’re alive” hug, from either end, would be amazing. Ship mode activated. Imagine. May, spotting him from across the city plaza once the dust settles, and sprinting to him, nearly knocking him over with a hug that he hesitantly returns, before realizing he doesn’t want to let go. Alternately, the other way around: he lets his walls down long enough to hug her, to feel safe to break down for a minute in her arms because he was so fucking worried. May, short-circuiting slightly because wait, is this really the same rival that she accidentally threw a frisbee at and hated so long ago? Give me Sid reacting forlornly in the background too fhdhhf. I love Sid, he’ll be ok. (Also: Brock having a moment of “Oh. You’re still alive. Great.” Kidding, mostly.) also… Brock giving Sid a “yeah, I know how it feels” pat on the back???? Just a concept.

10.) More Roselia teasing him. She's the biggest contestshipper out there. I love this little green rose gal. We need more of her being snarky to her trainer. She had so much personality with so few appearances, I love her. GIVE HIS OTHER POKEMON PERSONALITIES TOO!!!! Give them time to shine! My own takes here, but I like to think Absol is over Drew's bullshit 24/7 and is the serious one of the group. Flygon? no thoughts head empty, like most reptiles. Ft. a picture of my own no thoughts head empty reptile, who made friends with a cricket in his cleaning bowl below under Roselia gif. The others, no idea but there's my takes.

[ystk-archive]

Forgive me in advance for the weird question, but given that Nakata's career seems to be winding down, what, in the end, do you feel his legacy was/has been/will be? And perfume's legacy/impact, if any? Do you know anything about how/if perfume had a role "gakkyoku-ha" idol phenomenon (e.g. the rise of other genre-dols like bis, babymetal, maison book girl, sora tob sakana, etc.)?

Perfume definitely helped usher in the genre-dol trend of the 2010s -- down to being the template for Babymetal (also from Amuse). Though I want to emphasize that Perfume aren't underground idols, which usually have a lot of overlap with gakkyoku-ha...I think. I'm not a big J-idol otaku, lol.

Legacy/impact questions are very complicated to answer even though they're things I've thought about a lot over the past four years, and it gets more confusing when you're talking about Perfume and Nakata as separate entities because there's some overlap there... Like his legacy -- and Perfume's by proxy -- in Japanese pop culture is predominantly going to be a Valentine's Day song and sometimes Polyrhythm. I think it'd be disingenuous to claim he hasn't inspired any younger musicians in Japan (though I often think they didn't study him hard enough), but it's equally misleading to act like he was some sort of boon to the music industry; looking at the way things are now, I believe ultimately his impact on J-pop was quite weak. He was an early adopter of the "bedroom producer" format (though he never made music in his room that I'm aware of lol) and it's likely that amateur laptop-based producers in Japan are more aware of him for that, but his do-it-yourself approach and aesthetic hallmarks are definitely not followed through in mainstream acts. If anything, pop music in Japan has become more inward-facing over the last ten years; Nakata started out looking elsewhere.

On a global level -- because we still have to separate the self-imposed petri dish that Japan tends to be from the rest of the world (namely the monolithic west, though on the flipside they ignore practically everything that happens in Japan that doesn't fit into neat and tidy fictitious genres like "city pop" and "Shibuya-kei" or that isn't anime/videogaming; this is a separate rant lmao) -- I do get the impression that his music may have helped precipitate what became "hyperpop" and that his influence on the style Sophie developed is the biggest measurable impact he's had, because Sophie wound up becoming a much more known artist in the world of electronic music. In terms of Perfume I've wondered if they had a bigger effect on the maturation of K-pop than I give them credit for, as K-pop took its early cues from J-pop; K-pop fans tend to namedrop them as their token Japanese music at any rate, so I'm not hallucinating the similarities in appeal.

I could probably talk myself in circles about this all day so I'm curious what other people think on this topic. Definitely not weird questions, they're actually the most thoughtful ones I've gotten in a long time, thank you.

[breithenua]

Ok I'm just gonna say it, whoever says Boruto sucks probably hasn't given it half a chance, for any combination of reasons. Be it just to be contrarian, or them expecting it to be the same as Shippuden despite it taking place in peacetime, hating slice of life, or not trying to understand Boruto's frustrations with his dad at all.

He's a kid whose dad was present in his life for a while, and then all of a sudden was a lot less present because his dad's now the Hokage. Of course he's gonna be resentful. Of course he's going to have disdain for the position of Hokage, and want to be his own person. Of course he's going to be desperate enough for his dad's attention and approval to cheat during the Chunin exams. Of course he's going to not understand as much at first the value of hard work versus shortcuts. And of course, he's going to be immature about a lit of shit in general *because he's a kid*. It's ok if that's too annoying for you, kids can be fucking annoying, but don't tell me it isn't realistic of Boruto to be such a little shit. Naruto was a little shit too, for his own reasons.

All that being said, Boruto shows a lot of growth during the course of the series. He doesn't stay as much of a little shit. He learns the value of hard work. He resents his dad a lot less, he becomes a little less impulsive and stupid. Sure, he's still impulsive as hell. But that doesn't change overnight, and he's still around 12. You expect him to be as mature as Naruto was at the end of Shippuden when he's only 12? Come on now.

Putting aside the complaints with Boruto himself for now, let's talk about the characterization, because dear god they are doing that well. From Sumire being a victim of her former Root member father's hatred of the Leaf, to the kids of the previous generation being such a good meld of both their parents (Inojin being a combination of Ino and Sai not just in abilities, but personality as well), to Kawaki being distrustful of everyone because of how he'd been abandoned, neglected, and mistreated by everyone he'd known up until that point. There's numerous other examples as well. Ao's reason for his face-turn. So many shinobi being resentful of a world in which they're afraid that their role is no longer needed. Etc etc.

And then, there's the world-building. Starting off with the more negative (as in depressing, not badly written) we see that just because it's peacetime now, that doesn't mean everything is great for everyone outside of the 5 great nations. Or even some inside them, for that matter. A lot of smaller nations are still in poverty, still suffering. Naruto for as benevolent of a Hokage he is, he isn't capable of helping everyone. He doesn't have the time, the land of fire doesn't have the resources to help everyone, and because of bureaucracy, it isn't always possible to give help even when it's available.

On the more positive side of world-building, we see pretty-rapidly advancing technology. From the Kamanarimon company heir straight up using a laptop in combat to survey the battlefield and be the team analyst, to the new generation playing actual video games, to there being machines that can use ninjutsu for the user without seals, and there being actual trains to travel not just around Konoha, but between nations. Hell where I'm at in the story rn, I'm seeing actual flashbang grenades, chakra lightsabers, etc etc.

We also still have a looming threat to everyone in the form of the Otsutsuki clan. We're getting a logical continuation of the Kaguya storyline and her legacy, we're finding out more about where she came from and how it not just impacts, but endangers the shinobi world as a whole. Not just directly from the Otsutsuki invaders as a whole, but from organizations linked to them somehow, as is the case with the Kara.

Point being that Boruto is way better than people give it credit for, if you don't go in expecting the exact same thing as Shippuden, and keep an open mind for all the changes. It's not the same as Naruto was, it was never going to be the same. And if it was, it wouldn't be believable. I'm not saying the series is perfect by any means, it isn't. But neither was Naruto. I'm not saying you have to like it, but at least give it a chance yourself before writing it off, and don't just listen to what other people say about it.

[pyrousred]

The dehumanizing, invisible Body Horror of Hamburger Lady...

So recently I 'discovered' the band Throbbing Gristle after hearing about them and having them recommended for a long time. It goes without saying they're shaping up to be a new favorite band of mine. I loved Pink Floyd and Nine Inch Nails as a teen, so hearing 70s psychedelic British rock that is ALSO a predecessor to industrial rock has me fuckin giddy (and terrified).

Right now, though, I am really intrigued by their song Hamburger Lady, and moreso, the poem? Short story? Pre-internet creepypasta? - that it's based on. For those who haven't heard the song - go listen right now! Here's a link to it.

Can you see it? The pristine hospital hallway? The dim room full of moaning and rattling breaths? The rancid smell that hits you when you open the door? The heart monitor confirming this is in fact a living thing lying on the hospital bed in front of you? The blurry fading in and out of consciousness in the grip of unending agony...

For those who don't know the story, here's the lyrics to the song and the original poem, according to Genius:

Sit with it for a sec, if you can. It really tickles modern horror tastes doesn't it? In a way that feels uncannily ahead of its time. I'm tempted to compare it to one of the better creepypastas or posts from r/nosleep, but it reminds me of a bigger phenomenon that encompasses those things. The internet-era Pandora's Box of personal experiences, particularly the ones showcasing the rare and/or hidden away fringes of human society. The extreme and awful things that happened in someone's hometown, at someone's job. Often dubious in their truthfulness, such stories are numerous enough that some HAVE to be real.

In fact, let's give some credit. As many edgy tall tales as there may be on the internet, it's not hard to find completely real descriptions and images of the most shocking things imaginable online, so in that regard its fictitiousness makes it more impressive to me. It's a product of human artistry, made with intent, with a message - perhaps to encapsulate real events, but nonetheless built from the ground up to be an ambassador to some particular corner of the twisted and awful. And indeed, like any good scary story, there really is a grain of truth.

The writer of the work, 'Blaster Al' Ackerman, was a Medivac in the Vietnam War - note the narrator bringing up 'viet napalms' - and, according to Arthur Magazine's 2009 piece on him, did in fact work in burn wards in the late 60s. So undoubtedly the horror is based on very real experiences.

Kim Phuc, a napalm survivor who was famously photographed as a child in the Vietnam War after she was covered with the substance.

Hamburger Lady, then, is not really about a person. It's about the horrible fragility of the human body, and the perhaps even more terrifying ability of modern medicine to keep an utterly ruined body alive. Breathing, eating, shitting, even if with the help of invasive surgeries and tubes and round-the-clock care. And to what end, the story seems to ask, so that the patient can live on in unbearable pain?

And to me, part of the horror of this story is the utter dehumanization of the titular Hamburger Lady. Burned from the waist up, the features we recognize humans by have been reduced to charred meat, with only her legs to remind us that this has happened to a person. The narrator seems disinterested in the plight of the Hamburger Lady, rather she is a terrible thing that happens to our protagonist - a grisly thing he must interact with.

Some might call this callous, but I think it supports the horror much more than any graphic description - that this person who seemingly still has thoughts and internality, has been reduced to just a disgusting task. Some kind of burn ward wraith that showcases suffering and disfigurement perpetually. There is no chance of recovery, only suffering extended by medical innovation, and eventually death. '...thanks to medical advances, there is no end in sight,' the text says.

unrelievedly, the song repeats hauntingly.

Ultimately this is why, to me, Hamburger Lady moreso represents the experience of encountering this horror as an outside observer. Real burn victims recover. Or they die. One way or another, they leave the hospital. Hamburger Lady is an unending visage of suffering, forced to live as a creature who can only frighten and disgust others, while also being hopelessly dependent on these people to continue living. She is not a specific disfigured patient, she is the idea of one. She represents the task of coming in to work day in and day out and seeing all the unspeakable shapes a human being can be twisted into. She is a sort of deity of disfigurement, of the moans and screams of patients and the unbearable sights that lay stretched out in their beds.

And what a horribly mundane inciting event to this nightmare - a car crash? Something that could happen to anyone? The ease with which she was un-personed, turned into a gruesome spectacle without even a real name, only a nickname based on her appearance, leaves the reader or listener with a sort of paranoia that must come with the job of taking care of her. That this thing who the narrator refuses to even treat as a person, could easily be you one day.

---

When I started writing this post, I fully planned to accompany it with my own drawing of Hamburger Lady. Some fanart, I guess you could call it. If you search online, you can find other artists' take on it and they are all pretty impressive and creepy in their own way.

But, I found myself unable to start. I realized that although there is ample inspiration for making terrifying visual art, what inspired me in the first place about both these art pieces is how graphic and scary they are without showing anything at all.

I first heard Hamburger Lady by Throbbing Gristle on my phone. It was scary, and intriguing enough that I listened all the way through, but it was tinny and stripped of its detail. When I listened to it on my headphones, I was in broad daylight, the white midday sun streaming through a window right beside me. And even then I could not shake the feeling that if I dared look to my side, I would see her standing there, gasping for breath, begging to die.

I could have drawn what I thought I'd see if I turned around, but I could never draw the certainty I felt that she was right there watching me.

[liebgotts-lovergirl]

Cast your mutuals as Easy Company >:)

Ooh, thank you Anon!! This is gonna be so fun!!

(I have a lot of mutuals so the cast list will be under the cut for the sake of convenience!)

(Also, I'm so sorry in advance if I forgot anybody!! My PTSD has really fucked up my memory so this was just off the top of my head💀)

In No Particular Order:

♥ Dick Winters ~ @iambasilgnome You are the most dedicated & on-top-of-things person I know & if anyone has the makings of our fearless leader, it'd be you! Not to mention, Dick is soooo much funnier than we give him credit for! (Was this also an excuse to write your URL? Yes, yes it was. 😆)

♥ Lewis Nixon ~ @lieutenant-speirs Snarky, self-destructive king fighting his demons & forging lifelong bonds of friendship along the way! Speaks for itself 🤌🏼

♥ Bill Guarnere~ @latibvles The chaos is unparalleled & you never fail to make everyone laugh but also, like Bill, you are extremely talented at what you do & great at bringing people together!! Also those specifically Northern vibes 🤌🏼

♥ Eugene Roe ~ @softguarnere You are the sweetest, most caring soul who is always there to lend a supportive ear & a helping hand, but you also won't hesitate to speak up when necessary!

♥ Babe Heffron ~ @mccall-muffin You are always so full of positivity & are absolutely hilarious! So full of love & loyalty, you make everyone feel like they're your best friend!

♥ Carwood Lipton ~ @holdingforgeneralhugs You are so warm & kind & such a vital part of the fandom but you consistently underestimate your own contributions!

♥ Ronald Speirs ~ @brassknucklespeirs You come off as intimidating at first but when you begin to open up, we get to see the heart of gold underneath!

♥ Don Malarkey ~ @indigo-luvers You're both talkative & sensitive, working through trauma, natural leaders who needs to take care of themself too!! It just made sense to me

♥ Skip Muck~ @bellewintersroe The natural choice as you're both exuberant, upbeat, & generous to a fault with a fantastic sense of humor!

♥ Skinny Sisk ~ @chaosklutz Dude was literally chaos incarnate & I respect that about both him & you for that 🤣🤌🏼

♥ Buck Compton ~ @hxad-ovxr-hxart You both attract friends super easily but also have a tendency to get drained bc you're a sensitive soul who cares a lot about what goes on around them!

♥ Shifty Powers ~ @aerokriegs So kindhearted & far too modest when it comes to your abilities!

♥ Smokey Gordon ~ @sleepisforcowards Both of y'all are sweet, funny, & extraordinarily creative! The vibes are immaculate tbh

♥ George Luz ~ @parajumpboots Literally so many fantastic memes cross my dash because of you, pls consider this my thank-you note 😆

♥ Harry Welsh ~ @wwhatev3r You are so kindhearted, down-to-earth & dedicated to those you care about but you're also absolutely Hilarious, primarily in a sarcastic way!

♥ David Webster ~ @vibing-away Literally so nice & I feel like you definitely have at least one (1) cool shark fact!

♥ Ralph Spina ~ @ourmiraclealigner So apparently Spina was only a Private when he became one of the medics so like you, dude had A LOT on his plate but still managed to make it all work somehow!

♥ Floyd Talbert ~ @auroralightsthesky Floyd is not only a sweetheart and super friendly but also a smut king & an animal lover so I see it!!🤌🏼

♥ Frank Perconte ~ @ax-elcfucker-blog Hilarious but also sweet, chaotic good vibes!!

♥ Johnny Martin ~ @rogue-durin-16 Literally such a cool person with a unique sense of humor! Too cool!

♥ Alton More ~ @multifandomlover01 You seem super cool & really nice but alas, I am Shy-ish & keep forgetting to introduce myself 💀

♥ Pat Christenson ~ @cody-helix02 You're both very artistically-gifted and creative; idk, I just see it!

Thank you so much for the Ask, Anon!! 💖

[shivunin]

Hullo!

Here's some characters for you too!

Sera, Flemeth and Anora :3

Thank you, Arja! 💗Ooh these were interesting ones c:

(Character Ask thing)

Sera

First impression: Alas, at first glance I thought she was a manic pixie dream girl.

Impression now: Soooo much more depth than anyone gives her credit for. So much internal tension and so many contradictions. I think her struggle with her own identity as an elf is so fascinating, especially through the lens of the way she talks to a Lavellan at the beginning of the game vs the things she says in Trespasser. The way she talks about the "little people" is so necessary and at odds with the opinions of the rest of the inner circle, her relationship with Dagna is precious to me, and some of the things she says to a befriended Inquisitor during Trespasser bring me to tears. I don't know that she will ever be one of my favorite characters, but I respect and love her anyways. So glad she is a companion.

Favorite moment: Her monologue after the Winter Palace is soooo good, I love it every time.

Idea for a story: Hmm I've thought about writing some things about her and Elowen, actually, because I think their dynamic is interesting. They love each other, they don't want to be around each other, when they're sad they want to hang out, Sera gets her drunk when she's being mopey...they're a hot mess and at some point I'm going to explore it better. Eventually.

Unpopular opinion: Errr idk. I think Sera fans have big brains and nuanced opinions (from my limited exposure). I'm not sure what the popular opinions are?

Favorite relationship: Sera and Dorian. They have some of the funniest dialogue, and though the companions do not exist solely to entertain me (or, wait, i guess they do) the dynamic between these two is so goddamn funny.

They fascinate me

Favorite headcanon: Idk how much is headcanon and how much is canon, but this is twofold: 1) Sera takes the painted box from you in Origins for the Jennies and 2) when Amethyne (the little girl sitting on the ground in the alienage, whose mom dies in the Cousland origin) talks about Sara going away she is actually talking about Sera and they were besties before Sera was adopted by human woman (whose name escapes me)

Flemeth

First impression: OH MY GOD??? AND SHE TURNS INTO A DRAGON?? WHO THE FUCK IS THIS LADY? SURELY SHE MUST BE A MAIN CHARACTER (and then she wasn't)

Impression now: Terrible mother, but oh my god is she serving cunt

Favorite moment: The scene between her, Morrigan, and Keiran. I just think it's an illuminating aspect of the dynamic between the three of them.

Idea for a story: Hmmmmm so....someday I might go back to the Scourge of Sundermount AU and if I ever do there will be a sort of apprenticeship thing with her and Ilriane. Otherwise, I don't necessarily feel the urge to write her.

Unpopular opinion: I think her weird, cryptic manner of speaking in Origins is hilarious and I wish she kept doing it.

Favorite relationship: I mean, limited options, right? Morrigan by default (we see so little of her and Solas/Fen'Harel). Very fucked up dynamic. Morrigan becoming the mother she never had is *chef's kiss* so good though.

Favorite headcanon: She taught Morrigan to talk Like That on purpose because it reminded her of a more familiar time OR for the lols. Her speech patterns aren't super similar in 2 or Inquisition, so it seems like an intentional affectation to me.

Anora (Arja, if you love Anora, I am so sorry in advance)

First impression: Oh, interesting! I guess maybe she's supposed to represent the conflict between having power, keeping it, and doing what's best for the country. I wonder if she'll act against her dad on the Wardens' behalf. Also, great outfit/nice hair.

Impression now: :/ Unfortunately, I take fictional betrayals very personally, so my opinion is clouded by blind rage at being sold out to Cauthrien and then again at the Landsmeet. I'll leave it at that.

Favorite moment: When Loghain is about to die and he says the thing about her being a little girl with skinned knees and for a moment she is just a daughter watching her father about to die. Extremely effective moment of storytelling.

Idea for a story: Well! If I finish writing the scene where Wen breaks her out, Anora will inevitably be there. So probably that.

Unpopular opinion: Oh geez. Well. Idk what the prevailing opinion on Anora is because most of the people I follow seem to like her in general. It's unpopular with myself that I dislike her so intensely, if that isn't a total cop-out to say? She's all the things I usually find compelling (calculating, kind of heartless, extremely competent) and yet...in my first playthrough she fucked me over so thoroughly that I can't get past it or see her any other way. She cannot girlboss, gatekeep, or gaslight her way out of pissing me off.

Favorite relationship: Her and Loghain. No idea what's going on there, but I want to squish them into a glass slide and look at them under a microscope.

Favorite headcanon: 😬 (Again, I'm sorry if you like her, but in my head Zev kills her post-game to avoid any succession issues and as a gift to Wen, who promised Alistair she wouldn't do anything herself. Not that it was a "won't somebody rid me of this upstart priest" situation; I think he also took Anora getting Wen thrown in prison personally, so it's sort of a win-win for him. So by Awakening she is definitely dead; that's the headcanon. But really she poses an issue to succession if she's not queen or dead, because she refuses to forfeit a right to the crown)

[presdestigatto]

Hey how long have you been following f1? I started following in 2023 and I honestly got so shocked about lewis coming to ferrari. I didn't even thought this would be a real possibility.

It made me pretty upset in general, because I kind of feel charles was cheated lmao. He is there working hard to make them succeed and now they just bring Lewis out of nowhere, paying huge amounts of money to him and making him the ambassador of ferrari.

And like I saw in some of your posts now everyone is already giving lewis the credit for all the changes. I even saw someone on twitter say that maybe they brought Vasseur already thinking on bringing Lewis, since they also worked together in the past. Like Oh of course who cares about chuck. In their minds its like these.

So even if ferrari gets better in the next years everything will be attributed to him.

This is why I kind of hope he doesn't win the wdc. Honestly, maybe its because i'm new in f1 but I don't understand the hype about him getting the 8?? Like he already have 7!!! Thats a lot. I would much rather see the young generarion getting titles. I know he wants to break Schumacher records, but it doesnt seem like such an important think to me? Feels more like an ego trip. And even if you break the record, its not like Schumacher its going to be less than an icon. Senna, Proust, Lauda nobody cares if they have less championships, they are icons. And who knows, a few years later another driver might break this record, so then what? (Kind of hope for max to be the one breaking just for the funsies, since he doesn't seem to care that much about status)

So yeah I think i'm a bit angry with this lol. Like Lewis got his time in dominant mercedes winning titles with Bottas as second driver. Max is having this right now with Checo as second. I wish charles could have this, not have another first driver fighting for priority in the team. And who knows if they're going to develop the car more to his liking than charles. Since they're giving him such a fortune

anon you come into my inbox with such bold and controversial words you are going to get me cancelled /j

i started following f1 in 2023 as well actually!! i was similarly shocked, but i’m chronically online and have family members who were in this longer than me so hopefully im caught up enough to respond to this properly. i don’t quite agree with the parts on Lewis and i’ll explain more below the cut

first, honestly i think its very fair to be upset for charles. in terms of public perception, the move does not currently reflect well on him and i’ve seen incredible amounts of slander, though that’s also on me for not blocking and muting enough, lol. the timing, after we all assumed the first driver war was over with the 4lyfe contract extension could actually not be worse and i believe that’s a big reason for the dismayed response. there are like ten thousand opinions on whether this is good or bad, im more inclined towards it being beneficial eventually because i believe charles can beat a 40yo lewis. i doubt i can add something that hasn’t already been said by countless others haha, this piece here is especially good. ultimately, the team dynamics of a ferrari 1644 pairing will be decided with their on track performance, so it comes down to having faith in Charles’ ability.

now onto Lewis, i’m actually quite invested in him getting his eighth, which is why i, personally, wanted to cry when i first heard the news. as for why fans want that eighth title for him so desperately- uhm. AD21.

additionally, we’ve talked a lot about the ferrari mythos, but Lewis’ personal brand also cannot be understated. for many, many people, Lewis himself is a dream. a black man from a working class background who uses his platform and prestige to advance inclusivity, having his name etched in history as the most successful f1 driver of all time is to me the best thing to ever come out of this racing series. i know its irritating to see Charles be dismissed like his past 5 years at ferrari is nothing, but that’s a fan response, likely not what’s happening behind the scenes, and it’s honestly very difficult to begrudge fans of a driver for wanting their driver to win more titles.

tbh, the hype toward Lewis’ move is in large part because of how successful his sudden jump to mercedes in 2013 was. there’s a belief that he can spot a competitive package before it presents itself, and i believe in it too. this also is a good thing for Charles. i think recency bias with regards to his bad luck and the frankly bizarre media favouritism shown to Carlos has made most people who don’t follow Charles like we do underestimate him.

lastly, no comments for the redbull situation and Max lol, but historically it isn’t true that a championship winning team needs to have a strong first driver and weaker second. one example would be Seb and Mark Webber in redbull. Mark Webber gets overshadowed a lot because of the 2010-2013 Seb dominance but he was a strong driver who helped redbull dominate those years. the other examples are actually all Lewis pairings, i think it’s recency bias again driving this narrative that Lewis had an easy time with his teammates. Lewis’ teammates have been like, incredibly stacked? let’s not engage in Nico Rosberg erasure even though he’s currently pretending like he has absolutely no stake in what’s probably the biggest move in Lewis’ career. there’s this post going around about how 1644 isn’t even a top3 Lewis pairing and unfortunately until Charlie wins that championship with ferrari i am objectively unable to disagree. before Lewis got Valterri as a teammate he was partnered with Alonso, Jenson Button and Nico R. he pretty much had incredible teammates for his first decade in f1. and we all know he rates Charles highly, so all respect to him for deciding to throw himself into a new challenge w ferrari.

i think actually the fact that pundits and reporters are suggesting this could be a all time great pairing is a sign of how highly Charles is rated even though he’s not a world champion yet.

at the end of this Lewis and Charles would have shared the rare experience of having multiple, multiple wdcs as teammates and that’s incredible. let’s not forget that Lewis named Charles as the young driver he sees the most of himself in. honestly, if i had to pick a world champ for Charles’ career to resemble, i’d rather it be Lewis who has come out on top of so many strong teammates than Max.