#The straw that broke the camel’s back [RANT]

[cryoverkiltmilk]

I hate Reels.

I hate TikTok.

I hate Shorts.

I hate the amputation of visuals for some perceived notion of a better more marketable perspective.

Stop butchering video.

[crinj-central]

Imma be real the only op youtubers i enjoy watching are just reactors at this point lol

[cafeleningrad]

As much as I love the medium, I mean heck I'm writing page long Utena metas, sometimes the most hyped titles remind me why I'm also not this deeply involved. So apparently Oshi no Ko is good but a movie length set up where the protagonist's background and motivation is so mindbogglingly wild and unbelievable, clashing so hard with a story trying to be cutthroat honest about the entertainment industry. And no one in the movie length set-up acted like their age, or like any kind of realistic human being for that matter... Also made the mistake to google who Ai's baby father is and um... this character just sounds so stupid and over the top I can't believe that this story thinks it's going to tell me anything resembling a human experience.

EDIT: What even bugs me more about the set up is Ai getting murdered for the protagonist to be motivated to become an actor. Like... he could've had thousands of personal reasons to become an actor. If I would need to drink the reincarnation-coolaid, first reason being not wanting to go through the hell that is medical studies again. Or maybe he always wanted to work in show-biz but alas was born at the deepest country side. Also absolute anime mother bingo for her getting fridged for protag motivation, she dies in devotion to be a mother, and dies gracefully, and is emotionally articulate.

No but for real why does this show want me want to believe that it wants to talk about some dark "realities" of show-biz when no one of the characters behaves like any sort of a human being?! Gosh, sometimes I hate this industry and the no cricicism allowed fandom financing it.

(I mean some folks find a liking in characters from Kimetsu no Yaiba but sometimes hyped titles really are beyond my comprehension.)

[demi-queen]

TW: discussion of threats of sexual assault/rape, rape, and physical assault

Rant time! So I just got finished reading a fanfic where the MC got threatened with sexual assault, and when they refused to be raped, got beaten up (due to Reasons, no rape actually occurred). Now, when the Love Interest learns about this, they end up kissing (which then transitions into making out) the MC in an effort to comfort them, and for some reason, it works. The MC calms down and wow! It turns out both the MC and the Love Interest have liked each other for a while and this is the perfect moment to discover this! My guys, in what world would this 1. Be an acceptable response to learning your crush almost got sexually assaulted and 2. End in anything other than (at best) the Love Interest getting slapped/pushed away or (at worst) the MC silently letting it happen while someone they trusted reaffirms that their comfort and happiness is not the priority? And this isn’t even the first fanfic I’ve read where this or something similar happens. In fact, this isn’t even the first piece of media I’ve ever seen that has similar themes or messages? It happens in fanfics, YA novels, James Bond movies (according to my mom, who expressed a similar grievance when she told me about the only James Bond movie she’s ever seen), and probably almost all romance adjacent types of media (not that every piece of romance media has this in every single thing, but if a type of media has a romance genre, then some of those probably have this in it). Why? Seriously, why does this happen so frequently? (Idk how frequently it actually happens, I could be experiencing some Confirmation Bias, but the fact that it happens at all is gross). Has anyone else experienced this same frustration? Idk it just made me mad and I had to get it out of my system

[strangefable]

'[stream mod]: x game isn't my favorite. it has issues. i still like playing it a lot but xyz don't work right'

'[well known chatter]: can't believe a mod for this streamer would say such hateful things about my fave game. makes me not feel welcome.'

'[another chatter]: that's a bit overblown mate'

'[well known again]: they represent the streamer they can't voice a negative opinion of my favorite game!!!!'

'[another mod]: [mod] is allowed to have opinions that are different from yours. no one is being mean or hateful because they have some criticisms of the game. none of this is a personal attack on you'

'[well known again]: @[othermod] ok bye'

and then they left the stream. and apparently even noped out of the discord. this is a person who's been in this stream community longer than even i have (and i've been here for like 5+ years). they were even an integral part to maintaining one of the streamer's longest running let's play challenge series. and they threw an entire tantrum because a mod said 'it's not my favorite game ever' (they had also been gifted a sub ten minutes previous to this little outburst)

THIS. this shit is why i fucking. CAN NOT. with the s*ms community any more. this is absolutely ridiculous behavior. ever since ww sold to ea, the community's been in decline. but now it's just. this kind of sensitive overblown nonsense all the time. not to mention all the people paying for mods and tsr being... somehow respectable now?!!? plus ea managing to convince people that outsourcing their job to modders for a pittance is... like... great. jesus fuck i'm so angry that this is what's come of what was once one of the most creative, innovative, egalitarian, and welcoming communities on the internet in the early aughts.

[nando161mando]

The straw that broke the camel’s back [RANT]

[sadlittleratboy]

Today I proved to my boss that when I say "If you tell me to shut up and do what you want me to, I am going to do that whether I like it or not, and I can stay mad Bout it the whole time if I want. That's my problem." I fucking mean it. I'm just not going to immediately agree with something when I have a grievance.

We were having a slightly heated but very professional (I'm so proud of myself that even though I was upset I was still able to clarify that I would do as she told me to I just needed her to understand where I was coming from) disagreement, and she cut me off to say "let's stop arguing about this". Which, while phrased like an offer, is not.

I immediately shut up mid-sentence, sucked all of my frustration in, and asked for clarification. I wanted to know if her final decision was just that she didn't want me to do it, but that I was allowed to make my own decision, or if she was telling me what I was going to do and I just needed to say yes ma'am. Unfortunately it was that one.

So, I said okay, told her I would make the necessary changes over the weekend, and she was so pleased by that she literally flipped from angry to pleasant. She sounded almost happy, actually. So, while that super fucking sucks for me, at the very least I won serious brownie points with my supervisor. I also very intelligently asked myself the question of whether or not I was willing to make an enemy out of my supervisor who has openly admitted to and very clearly holds grudges, and is beloved by the company, having been around for years, and whose opinion could make or break whether or not I move up in the company enough to go above her head (something she will take as an attack) about something that will make me very uncomfortable at first, but in a couple of months I will probably be acclimated to enough that it rarely bothers me.

The answer to that question is fuck no.

I'm finally learning to not be Myself about everything lol. When I was in high school I read this old Chinese poem that has been translated, written by a woman about choosing your battles, and about how she chose them all. The only part I remember is the end, "I make my warhorse sweat". (Not important, but I actually put it together with other poems to read for an assignment in my AP literature class, and my teacher, who is also my debate coach, liked it so much she had me run it in competition.) I have been like that my whole life, and I'm so proud of myself that I was professional, and despite the fact that my voice quivered a little at the end, because I was about to angry cry, I kept it together until I could walk away and go back to my office to seethe for the last 10 minutes of my shift.

Anyway, I'm very blunt and I say exactly what I'm thinking to the point where it shocks people, I'm stubborn, and I don't tend to have a problem making it known that I disagree with something even to the point of bringing my grievances forward and arguing my case. I have always been unapologetically myself, and I am very Myself about things, and this works in my favor, because nobody I work with realizes how inauthentic I am capable of being. My supervisor is probably never going to think about this altercation again, but I am never going to forget. I hold a fucking grudge in a way that seems diagnosable. I will fucking remember this shit, as I remember every other slight against me, and it will contextualize every interaction we have moving forward.

Unfortunately office politics is a game and I don't think they realize I'm playing, but like... This is a "they are playing checkers I am playing chess" level of distrust and scrutiny that I bring to every professional relationship. I don't see anything wrong with playing your cards close to your chest and being ever so slightly manipulative when it comes to corporate work environments. I have ADHD, so sometimes I say things without thinking that get me in trouble, and I have a hard time shutting the fuck up. Pair that with the way that I don't always catch things, and people think I'm oblivious to this sort of thing.

It's a fucking superpower, because nobody is going to suspect the dipshit that can't keep their goddamn mouth shut to save their life. It's the same way that I always find the fuck up that I'm okay with admitting to, and immediately throw it out there. I have lied to supervisors faces about what happened, because I immediately admitted to doing something else wrong that would explain what happened but would get me in less trouble. Usually it's just about my reasoning for things, because people don't always understand how ADHD affects you, so I come up with a problem they'll like more that I can "solve".

And everywhere I work I have had supervisors say "Rat will be the first person to tell you that they messed up" or "Rat's going to be honest whether it's good for them or not" and like...no I won't, but I grew up in an abusive household and I learned how to stay out of trouble and manipulate people. It sounds terrible, but I don't do that in my personal life, because I don't have to. If I have a problem with somebody I'm going to tell them, and if I have enough of a problem with them we just won't talk anymore. In my personal life people don't have control over whether I succeed or not. I feel like it is at least understandable to be a little fucked up about trust issues when it comes to work, especially a cutthroat corporate environment.

[barbaracleboy]

Bluh...Y'know what? Three strikes, I think I'm done with Tumblr Tournaments. First I joined one (submitting a Character and paying attention to what was going on) and I thought it would be enjoyable, but then there was some bullshit right at the beginning that soured the whole thing for me.

Then there was one that I didn't even choose to join for fear of drama, and while there was next-to-no drama (to my knowledge) there was a Character I disliked getting shoved down my throat often. And then said Character I disliked won so :/

And now I tried again at having fun with one, and due to bad luck and I suppose bad choices on my part all but one of the Characters I submitted were dropped in the Qualifying Polls, and the one that did make it was put into what I genuinely believe was the most unfair position it could possibly have been in. Seriously, I'm not sure how the luck could have been worse there. And I know it was luck, I won't get mad at anyone over it (especially because the tournament host is a nice person), but damn, my fucking luck fucking sucks. And with how the actual polls are set up I feel little-to-no-reason to actual care about the polls, not just because I don't care about most of the Characters taking part but because most of the most popular Characters are on the right side, and based off the kinds of people submitting to the tournament I know at least one of those Characters are gonna have obnoxious campaigns led by assholes that're proud of being assholes pulling randos from wherever they can to add to votes. That's all assuming that one of the Characters involved doesn't win another tournament, with the same theme to boot.

I'm just so tired. I'm not even getting into how there's apparently been other kinds of drama with other tournaments that I haven't really kept up with, but even ignoring drama I'm just so sick of the tournaments in general. It feels like every other day there are two or three more tournaments and they keep making more and more arbitrary categories like "Best Blue-Haired Character!", "Best Character with a Stutter!", "Best Little Brother!" And, I mean, people are allowed to do what they want but I'm also allowed do dislike what I want and I just don't get how people can get invested in one Tournament, let alone the half a dozen I see when I'm just browsing peoples' blogs.

Tournaments just suck, honestly. At best it's praying that a Character you like has a big enough fanbase and/or isn't put up against someone from one of the most fucking popular indie games in the world. At worst you're dealing with people that are extremely annoying about the Character they like because that shit seems to be encouraged in this situation. The most annoying person I know keeps getting wins with their Characters so whatever.

I'm just gonna mute any Tournament Tags I see from here on out and just try to ignore that side. It'll suck ass when people don't actually make unique tags for their Tournament posts (I know of at least one like that right now) but it's the best I can think of.

...I'm gonna bury this. I was already pretty frustrated lately so that may or may not be making me more upset about this shit than I otherwise would be but whatever.

[minniesmutt]

☾ ━━━━━━ 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭

☾ ━━━ PAIRING: LEE KNOW X READER ☾ ━━━ CONTENT: READER IS STRESSTED AND BREAKS DOWN CRYING, COCKWARMINGM SUB!READER, SOFT DOM!MINHO, CRYING, NOTHING REALLY SPICY, SUB DROP, MENTION HANDJOB AND FINGERING ☾ ━━━ WC: 0.6K ☾ ━━━ repost from old blog ☾ ━━━ 18+ work!! minors and ageless/blank blogs DNI! you will be blocked, put an indicator on your blog somewhere that you are 18+ before interacting with this work/blog

     Minho hated seeing Y/n upset. Y/n hated how perceptive he was to her feelings. Even when she tried to hide her stress. Minho knew though. He always did, even when he was busy with his own life. 

     He knew all the signs of her stress building and building. He never made her tell him, just did little things to help her out and lessen the stress she had on her. 

     Minho made sure he got off and home before her tonight. He’d sensed she was about to hit a breaking point all week. He picked up some things from the store on his way home to cook her favorite. Knowing she was probably worrying about it while working. 

     He started cooking right as he got home, their playlist playing through the apartment. He kept an eye on his phone in case she texted him. Nothing came until the front door unlocked as he was finishing up. 

     “Min?” Y/n questioned as she slipped her shoes off, hanging up her bag and keys

     “Kitchen,” Minho called back. 

     Y/n joined him in the kitchen as he made a plate for her. 

     “Hey kitten,” he greeted her and gave her a peck on the lips.

     “You made dinner?” Y/n noticed 

     “Yeah. Got off early so I figured why not and that you probably didn't wanna cook tonight.” he wasn’t telling her he planned his whole day around making dinner for her. 

     But either way, the gesture had her tearing up. Minho noticed and pulled her in for a hug— the straw that broke the camel’s back. Y/n held onto his shirt as her tears started flowing. Minho did nothing but comfort her, rubbing her back, kissing her head, etc. 

     “I’ve got you kitten,” Minho helped guide her over to their couch. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap. Just letting her cry it out into his chest for a while. 

     When the whines turned to hiccups he called out to her. “Look at me kitten.”

     Y/n peered up at him. Eyes all puffy from crying. His heart hurt for her. He hated seeing her upset. 

     “Do you wanna eat?” he offered

     “‘M not hungry.” Y/n wiped her eyes

     “What do you want kitten?” His hands held her thighs and rubbed circles into the fabric of her bottoms that covered her skin. 

     “Can I… cuddle with your dick in me?” Y/n hiccuped

     “Of course baby.”

     Mingo didn't dare make her do any of the work. He pulled her bottoms off and wet his fingers. He worked her open just enough for it not to be uncomfortable when he slid in, while he pulled his cock out of his sweats and pumped himself till he was hard. 

     Y/n laid her head against his chest. Minho knew she was on the verge of dropping. He saw it in her eyes. Once he was sure they were both ready enough, he slowly sank her onto him. Y/n wrapped her arms around his neck as her walls parted for him.

     Minho rested his hands on her ass as he bottomed out in her. 

     “Thank you,” Y/n mumbled

     “Of course kitten. Wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

     And so she did. There wasn’t a reason not to. Minho was her safe space after all. his warm hands rubbing her skin as she ranted about everything that had been going wrong. Tears started up in certain parts of her babbling, and Minho made sure to wipe the tears away. Reassuring her everything was gonna be better and that he was with her to handle stress with her

☾ ━━━━━━ M.LIST    TIP JAR

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© 2024 MINNIESMUTT. DO NOT COPY, REPUBLISH OR TRANSLATE MY WORK ANYWHERE

[jasmineandcedar]

Stepping away

I have written and rewritten this so many times it now turned into a full-blown incoherent ranting essay but I don’t really care anymore. I am trying to remain my usual level-headed self but I will allow myself one rant before I’m out. (Proceed with caution—I will be mentioning the pliant bones pile of shit below)

Until recently, I hadn’t fully grasped how vile this fandom can be. Blocking and filtering kept things tolerable for a while, but the closer we get to the announcement, the harder it becomes to escape the vitriol.

This has been my first fandom experience. I enjoyed ACOTAR offline for six years. It was a peaceful, enjoyable part of my life. Nothing about my love for the series has changed. The only thing that’s changed is that I no longer want to be part of this fandom.

(I have edited down this post a little since I first posted it, because I just don't want to be involved in any of this. I wanted it to be clear that I don't think this has to do with ships at all and I dont mind at all who people ship together. I also don't really want any of this to be seen, but I didn't want to just disappear.)

With the resurfacing of the ‘pliant bones’ garbage, the past few days have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. And that camel had been struggling. Holding itself together through sheer willpower. I’m surprised it lasted this long.

I am sure that most people in this fandom don't agree with the implications of this 'theory' but every time it resurfaces, it spreads in ways that make it impossible to avoid. It has become one of those cyclical shipwar debates, and ‘women with fertility issues’ are caught in the midst of it. Women who do exist and deserve better than this discourse. It is, in fact, more common than some might think to either struggle with fertility or not be able to have children at all.

I joined this fandom excited about Elriel. I never thought that excitement would turn into being constantly reminded of one of my life’s biggest pains. I never thought I’d have to filter the words ‘womb,’ ‘children,’ ‘pelvis,’ just to be part of the ACOTAR fandom. Because I could never have imagined a scenario where a couple that want each other being separated due to perceived fertility issues would be considered part of the basis of romance between another pair.

It’s the foundation of tragedy.

Even if one does not struggle with this oneself, it should be possible to imagine the pain of not being able to have children with the one you love. But people throw this argument around like they’re discussing the weather. Over a fictional ship! For some people, this is not just a hypothetical. It isn’t just an abstract concept. It isn't a dainty little literary device. It is a reality, and it is damn hard pill to swallow. In many cultures, the ability to have children is considered the very essence of womanhood, making the inability to do so an existentially painful reality to come to terms with.

I’m leaving. I don’t know if I’ll come back. Maybe if the hostilities die down, I will. I wanted to have fun alongside others who love Elriel and the other characters. I wanted to anticipate Elain’s book together. And I have had fun, but at a cost I’m no longer willing to pay.

To those who stay and continue creating—writing fics, poetry, theories, headcanons, and doing art—you’re the ones actually fighting the good fight, trying to make this space fun. Those who ride at dawn for the fics and the art. I tried to do the same. Five months was all I could manage. Now, I surrender. I’m no Elain. I’m not a rose in a mud field. I’m a miserable twig drowning in the dirt, who just wanted some goddamn memes and joy in life.

So, I’m going back to my peaceful offline existence. Enjoying my ACOTAR memes and inside jokes with my fiancé.

I’m going back to peace and quiet.

(Sorry for ranting)

[skydigiblogs]

I'm Mad About Appmon in the TCG

And not for the reasons you might think.

A rant about Digimon Card Game art under the cut. It's long, and I brought visuals.

When BT-21 was announced, I, like many other Appmon fans, ate so fucking good at the news that we would finally be getting a scrap of recognition after so long. Inclusion of Haru in the Anime PB Set already had many of us excited, and we were very excited to see what would come of things once BT-21 was shown with Globemon on the packaging.

With spoiler season almost over for BT-21, however, I want to vent a frustration that's only been getting worse with every card spoiler for this set. Specifically, the Appmon ones.

That's to say, why the fuck does all the Appmon art feel so phoned in?

To no surprise for anyone who knows us well, this was prompted finally by the straw that broke the camel's back. Today, if you weren't paying attention, Satellamon BT21-074 was announced, and... well...

You might notice that the artwork is just a 1:1 pose redraw of the reference art, which is also what the 3D cut-in from the Anime references. And I'm kind of frustrated by that, because it shows a lack of creativity that I haven't really seen this consistently in the Digimon Card Game.

(A friend of ours who also likes Satellamon also pointed out that Nakano Haito miscolored the buttons on Satellamon's scarf here, which. Woof.)

In the above image, I decided to also show the other chip that many folks might not know about for Satellamon, as well as--- and this was a surprise to plenty of people I know at my local gaming store--- a card from the Applimon card game.

The reason I include the second one is for a topic that will become clear as we go: composition. Something I want to really hammer home through this post is just how generic a lot of the Appmon cards for the DCG feel. And while you could say that the ACG card on the right is rather generic, there's something to be said that the pose isn't just 1:1 that of the Appmon Ref Book Art.

Something similar happened with Charismon when it dropped earlier this spoiler season. Notice how the artwork once again is just a simple redraw of the Charismon Ref Book art! I find this less egregious than Satellamon at least, since the inclusion of the energy ball shows that some further research beyond looking at said art was done!

But again, it's reusing the composition of previously existing artwork.

I also wanted to highlight a specific piece of Charismon/Globemon artwork from sasasi here. Keep that in mind when we get to Globemon.

Timemon is another Appmon whose DCG card is done by Nakano Haito, and yet again we have a rather frustrating piece of art. Unlike the previous showings, however, it is not a 1:1 redraw of the ref book art, which is better than nothing, I guess...

That said, I also struggle to be interested in the Timemon artwork knowing the personality of Timemon in the anime. Again, it's a lack of creativity here.

While I was trying to nail down why the Appmon artwork bothered me so much, I had started to wonder about what could have been (something that, I acknowledge, is unfair to what we do have). I find it an achingly missed opportunity that nothing was done to reference Timemon's behavior in the anime, something which I am certain even non-Appmon fans would've appreciated, especially considering he's a walking Jojo reference.

That's to say, why not reference the scene we meet Timemon, where he freezes time, drinks five cups of tea, and then beats the everlasting shit out of DoGatchmon? Why instead give us Timemon in a generic digital background?

Something I'll give Sasasi's card art for BT21's Appmon is that it at least isn't a 1:1 redraw of Appmon Ref Book artwork. However, I'm still somewhat bothered by the generic feeling of the backgrounds, which detracts from the artwork as a whole for me. This is something that usually the Digimon Card Game excels at, which is why it feels all the more disappointing to see backgrounds like this in nearly all of Gatchmon's line!

I think it would have been nice to see some more visual references to the series itself. Maybe we'll get some in an alt artwork, but considering the alt Haru artwork we saw revealed from Bandai Card Fest, it's looking unlikely.

We could've easily seen something referencing Globemon's debut episode--- one of the best episodes of the series and something that, visually, hearkens back to one of the franchise's more famous visual scenes (that being Omnimon's fight with Diaboromon in the web). Instead, we get these strange digital backgrounds that feel like they're more at home in a Cyber Sleuth themed card set (but we're not at BT22 yet!).

The disappointing part is that we also have cards for less popular Appmon that sell the design much better than most of previously-existing Appmon media!

Look at how goofy Shotmon looks next to Beelstarmon! This artwork from Yuuki also gives us a dynamic pose for Shotmon that highlights its eyes--- something I never even noticed as an Appmon fan who's watched the show a few times!

And of course, I want to highlight a few other Appmon whose card art did excite me! Gossipmon and Watchmon especially are superlative examples, as we yet again see Appmon interacting with the world around them.

In the first example, Gossipmon is interacting with Diarimon (you can tell because it's green), an Appmon that I will be surprised if we even get a card for in the future! And it's from a newcomer artist to the DCG that I'll talk about in just a sec...

Naru also shows Watchmon interacting with Clockmon, something that I'm overjoyed to see as an Appmon fan! A lot of Appmon visually reference Digimon, and calling attention to that in the card game feels like it's attempting to make the inclusion of Appmon more cohesive.

Of course, I also have to shout out Yamuretsu's fantastic color work as always. They also did the Appmon egg for this set, which is equally lively. While it's busy and I can hardly tell what's going on in the background, and the pose is very similar to the ref book art, at the very least it is more visually interesting than the unfortunate showings of Satellamon and Charismon.

Something you might be thinking is that I am unfairly critiquing these artists, but I would like to highlight a smattering of their work in this next section.

Nakano Haito has been an artist with the Digimon Card game for quite some time, and here I've chosen to highlight primarily work from the last year or so. While the backgrounds (something I greatly complained about above) are fairly generic, most of these cards show off the personality of their subjects quite well.

I'm especially a fan of the EX7 Impmon, which I think exemplifies how one could use a fairly "generic" background in an interesting way, here incorporating them as a prop that Impmon is seated on.

Sasasi's Appmon cards frustrate me perhaps the most, however, as we know they are capable of much more visually interesting pieces than the bulk of their cards for Gatchmon's line. Gatchmon, Navimon, and DoGatchmon especially have the same issue with generic backgrounds that I've railed on Nakano Haito for, which is something Sasasi usually doesn't struggle with!

I've included Zephagamon Ace here as an example of one of Sasasi's more simple backgrounds, comparable to Gaiamon in terms of artistic quality I would say.

But also, remember that artwork I said we'd talk about later?

Hey, so, this was also done by Sasasi. Can we take a moment to appreciate the expressiveness of both Globemon and Charismon here? Can we take a moment to also appreciate the quality of the colorwork? This is a gorgeous piece of artwork, and I'm surprised that Sasasi wasn't tasked with doing a pair artwork like they so regularly do for Charismon and Globemon.

Sasasi is a phenomenal artist. So why do Gatchmon, Navimon, and DoGatchmon feel so... stiff?

And of course, I want to highlight the artists whose Appmon card art I actually like!

Biru Yamaguchi is a newcomer to the DCG, and has only done Cyberdramon's line aside from Gossipmon and Scopemon. I wasn't a fan of their Monodramon art, if I can be honest, but the dynamic poses and coloring in the rest of the line look phenomenal! I'm especially glad that they were allowed to do something interesting with Gossipmon.

And yes, I can admit the Cyberdramon background is a little generic. I get the feeling that might be a WS game reference I'm not getting though, considering it looks like a literal circuitboard.

Yuuki meanwhile has a prolific portfolio in the Digimon Card Game. I especially love their colorwork, and have picked a few superlative pieces from the most recent sets. They have been with the DCG since BT1 though!

Next, another newcomer(? I think?), Naru! Their use of contrast in their colorwork is gorgeous, and pretty much all of their card art makes the personality of their subject Digimon shine! I'm glad they got to do the Palmon line for the upcoming Starter Decks.

Yamuretsu meanwhile has been with the DCG since at least BT12 as far as I can tell. Their artwork has a distinct style, and while sometimes I find it a little too messy to read, I also would rather something messy and colorful than bland and stale.

Why Does This Matter?

I'm sure some of you might've opened this post wondering why I even care that much, besides the fact I'm an Appmon fan. After all, we're finally getting Appmon recognition after so long! The DCG, after 5 long years, is finally adding Appmon!

But the thing is, for a lot of people, this will be their first interaction with Appmon.

And I gotta say, it feels frustrating that so many of the pieces do little to inspire my friends at my LGS to actually watch Appmon. There is no intrigue, no bite to many of these cards.

It also bites thanks to the fact that, usually, I am excited to collect the cards in a set, because even Digimon I don't care about always have wonderful artwork! You think I give a shit about Shamamon? NO! But by god Naru's artwork of them is pretty as all get out!

So seeing Appmon art that feels like it was phoned in just makes me sadder than it should.

The reason I highlighted the potential of all of the artists (including those I praised), is that the Appmon card art suggests to me a failure in the art direction of the set. We've seen a lot of amazing artwork from these artists, and yet nearly half the Appmon cards feel like these artists weren't given any information on the series or its characters.

It just feels like giving us expired food, on Bandai's part, while Adventure gets yet another banquet out of the cards in this set and the new starter decks alike.

-Satty

[theycalledhimastar]

if you are comfortable with writing Nikolai :

Can you write something similar like Neithboir price but with Nikolai?

Maybe reader being IT assisnat for 141 and having their car broken ? Or reader being new 141 Solider and needing help with something in their office?

Also bonus points if reader will be masc 👉👈

>w< anon~

Aaaaack! Absolutely! I have no clue why I didn't get a notification for this, tumblr is stinky like that! Let's get some Nikolai love up in here >:3

Nikolai x M!reader (Fluff!)

(Likely inaccurate but whatever, we ball you guys)

☄. *.

Your day had already been a total shitshow, from the moment your alarm failed to wake you up. Tumbling out of bed, you already had a creeping feeling that today was going to be... a long one. Your boots just didn't feel quite right, your sleep posture probably wasn't right so now your neck was sore and stiff, and your mood was positively foul.

Morning Training wasn't any better, truth be told. You felt like a rookie all over again, practically embarrassing yourself with your clumsy performance. The fresh bruises attested to the morning's lousy work as you trudged to the showers. Where, of course the water was cold, you couldn't complain, but you wanted to.

The shitty breakfast felt worse than normal, the coffee more bitter and gritty than it was supposed to be. The coffee grinds trapped in your teeth making you cringe all through your afternoon routine. Why couldn't you catch a break? Nobody else seemed to notice what was so horrible, that only added to it all, really.

The straw that broke the camel's back, was when your computer simply refused to cooperate in the middle of your paperwork. Of course, because why the hell not? You buried your face in your hands, wanting to scream and throw the stupid device. Unfortunately, you couldn't do that, you needed it for other work matters. So you were forced to ask around to see if anyone could help you with the slow, laggy, uncooperative piece of shit.

Naturally, nobody really knew what exactly to do, offering a choir of "try turning it on and off again". That, or they just didn't care and opted to shrug off your issues. You were ready to give up, practically banging your head against the wall when a gentle hand on your shoulder interrupted your meltdown. You had seen Nikolai around base a few times, chatted a little bit here and there and you liked him well enough...

A normal amount...

Totally...

"What's wrong sergeant?"

That alone was enough to make you start ranting about the horrible day you were having. Your alarm, training, breakfast, the showers, your computer, everything that had plagued you all thrown onto the older man. Nik just took it like a champ, nodding and agreeing every couple of sentences while gently ushering you back to your office so that he could fix your "stupid computer".

"I cannot help with the coffee, that stuff is always horrible. But I know a thing or two about computers if you would like some assistance."

You stand to the side, watching Nik type over your computer. You try not to let your gaze linger too long on his dexterous fingers as they swiftly move over the keyboard. Now is definitely not the time to make things awkward, but you can't help yourself. The fatherly figure has always been your type, and that accent has become your weakness the more time you have spent around him. You knew it was futile, he probably barely noticed you. You were new to the force and barely spoke to him for fear of embarrassing yourself horrendously. But still, one could daydream.

Meanwhile, Nik was more than aware of your not-so-subtle staring. He tried to attribute it to you trying to watch what he did to try it yourself next time. But when he realized you were staring at his hands and not the screen, he knew that wasn't it. While he was flattered by a young, fresh sergeant like yourself taking such interest in himself, he wasn't going to entertain the thought himself. Problems came about when you thought too long about that kind of thing.

"Alright, that should do it I think. These things are touchy sometimes. You just have to have that magic touch I guess."

He held up his hands with a grin, turning to stand up fully from his hunched over position. The way you stared at his raised hands sending a pang of pride straight to his chest. Maybe he could entertain it a little bit...

You stumbled over yourself to thank him, offering a favor of some kind, but he just brushed it aside. Ever the generous one, he wasn't going to expect anything for some simple computer fix. You silently wished that he would have accepted, you would've had an excuse to talk to him again later on. Alas, you would simply have to gather up the courage for another time. Although, when he patted you firmly on the back to leave and get to his own work, you very quickly decided that the day wasn't so bad after all...

[koopageneral]

INANIMATE INSANITY SEASON 2 EPISODE 15 SPOILERS. PLEAASE GO WATCH IT

Omgaaa I need to EXPLODE cuz of Taco’s Tirade. Gonna go on a rant analysing it prty much line-by-line so STRAP IN!! (Shout out to everyone who worked on this masterpiece omfg)

It starts off with what might be considered ‘normal’ Taco. Her making fun of the contestants. There is a little bit of hinting at her sympathy towards the contestants, although it’s incredibly shrouded in her mastermind facade. Calling them ‘pathetic’ and comparing them to blindly obedient dogs with ‘how they run to fetch their sticks.’

We get a little bit more with ‘Sure, call me polemic, unsympathetic.’ It shows how shes aware that she’s a problem, although at this point in the song it’s unclear to the audience whether she’s saying it in a way of ‘yeah call me it cuz it’s true, I don’t care.’ Or if it’s ‘call me these things, yeah, but I’m more than that.’

‘Look at me and all you see is the debris of some defective outcast.’ Feels like it’s getting into the meat of the song, and the episode as a whole, of how Taco has realized how she’s pushed everyone away for the sake of the game. The fact she has her arms tucked away during it gives another interesting interpretation, of it actually talking about before her big reveal, and how she was treated differently because she was, in her words, ‘defective.’

‘A frenetic, antithetic (if poetic) iconoclast.’ Frenetic means wild and energetic, probably, again, referring to her season 1 persona. Antithetic means opposite of something, and iconoclast means someone who attacks cherished institutions. This gets into her want to tear this entire show to the ground for the suffering it’s caused everyone.

‘I wont live in the past. I almost won this game once, you know.’ I’m just gonna parrot what @lemonxlimee said cuz they put it pretty succinctly with two words. Taco. Girl.

Then we get to the lines that got me started on this tirade (Pun intended.) ‘History is rearranged just to credit those who win the glory. So reality has changed in the edit when they spin the story.’ AUGH. Her fucking staring down at the hotel made of the money she spent SO HARD and lost SO MUCH to try and get. I. I want to scream about this. I don’t know how to put my thoughts on this line into fucking words.

‘And we choose to feel this pain.’ Going off the last line, Taco, out of almost anyone in the cast, knows how much you have to go through just to get a chance to win, which goes right into the next line.

‘We lose more than we gain.’ She lost Pickle. You might say that she didn’t actually care, but I’m not sure if I believe that. I feel like she might not have at first, and maybe even never when they actually were playing together. But you can’t convince me she doesn’t hate herself for using him on a plan that resulted in nothing. She also lost Mic, and it’s incredibly clear how much that affected her. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and showed her the flaws in this system.

‘I will break this cycle of mistakes unlike all of these snakes whom I call to condemn.’ She is fucking DETERMINED to make everyone see what they’ve sacrificed. She speaks with a level of contempt towards them, yes, but I feel like it’s more her projecting her feelings about the contest onto the contestants.

Then we’ve got MePad being best therapy boy. ‘You are incapable of starting over.’ She wants to be better. But she doesn’t feel worthy.

And then MePad’s slightly naive optimism with ‘I do not know who you lost, but is it not possible to get them back?’ He’s programmed to see the best in everyone. He wants things to work out. He doesn’t see how hard it might be to just make things better after a relationship exclusively built on lies.

This naivete is immediately contrasted by Taco’s all-encompassing pessimism. ‘Clear the slate, start again, do you hear how preposterous that sounds? How do you not comprehend that for someone with my monstrous background, the whole slate has fallen apart.’ To Taco, the bridges between her and Mic or Pickle are nothing but smoldering piles of rubble after all the pain she’s put them through.

This contrast is even more stark with the duet of ‘It’s too late’ and ‘It’s not too late.’ I don’t even know what to say about that, it’s pretty black and white.

For the duet, gonna go one character at a time for simplicity. Starting with Taco.

We see taco’s turmoiled feelings on whether she’s to blame, with ‘It’s not I, it’s they who deigned to play.’ Even after all of this internal conflict and deep personal realizations, there’s still a part of her that wants to cast the blame of the pain she’s caused onto the ones she’s hurt.

Another deflection she throws out is, honestly, probably more fair, if still not great. ‘This game, so cruel and inhumane, base and uncouth.’ This really gets into her main philosophy for the episode. She’s afraid to take responsibility, and pins the blame on the show for pitting everyone against one another. I want to make it clear, her point is incredibly valid. We see during THIS EPISODE how much it turns people against eachother. The challenge is entirely built around making the contestants spill their true feelings about each other, and using that to fuel drama. Suitcase literally has to choose between two people she cares about over who she’s bringing into the finals, pitting Baseball and Knife against eachother. While the show is ‘cruel and inhumane’, I don’t think that should just be a het out of jail free card for Taco. Yes, she did it because she felt there was no other choice to win, but she still did horrible things. She manipulated 2 people into actually believing she cared.

‘They’re too afraid to bear the bed they made, can’t bring themselves to face the awful truth.’ This is pretty much just her saying that the other contestants are too blind to see how much pain they’ve gone through to get to where they are.

NOW. Baby boy therapist, MePad.

‘You’re no menace, Taco, how did they hurt you?’ He agrees with Taco on the grounds of how much pain the contestants go through, but he’s just a little more concerned about the tact needed to show them. He knows that Taco wants to change, but she’s afraid to. He knows how much she wants to apologize to the people she’s hurt. He feels that there has to be something external she’s dealing with to have this level of spite in her, even if there isn’t, and all of her hate is towards herself.

‘Please think this through’ is pretty self explanatory. As I said, he agrees with Taco about her basic ideals, but feels like there are better ways to deal with the issue.

‘Feeling double crossed is part of dealing with the loss, yes, but the healing is a process, that’s the truth.’ He wants to see Taco get better, and he’s trying to get through to her about the fact that her feelings are entirely valid, but she has to, at some point, let go.

I also feel like the sound mixing is very purposeful. Taco’s voice rings through clearly, able to be heard without much difficulty. MePad’s vocals are softer, and a little quieter and harder to make out. Taco is so in her own head about the pain she’s gone through, she refuses to listen to any outside voice.

Then we get to Taco trying her best to cover up her emotions again and put on her mastermind persona with ‘I’m turning up the heat to sauté, I’ve some beef to get grilled. But I guarantee that today all the beans that get spilled won’t be mine.’ I love how this foreshadows the challenge, but doesn’t make it obvious.

We see one last crack in her facade in the penultimate ‘I’m fine.’ Again, the ‘mistake’ in this line feels incredibly purposeful. It’s incredibly pitchy and bad, to an almost ear-splitting level. Taco knows she isn’t actually okay at ALL, and has trouble telling such a blatant lie.

And then the last line, ‘now it’s time’, is her fully donning the mask once again, ready to expose the show for what it is.

ANYWAY. Uh. Thanks for reading all this bs. I fucking love this song so much, and I think Taco’s motivation in this episode is fascinating. Any comments or constructive criticism of my analysis is MORE than appreciated, hope you all have a wonderful day/night/whenever.

[mochinomnoms]

Hugging Jade to say hi and totally not smoosh your titties against him and see his thoughts go mad.

Private Thoughts y/n has such the potential to be a little shit, it's great. I, personally, would be cheeky and grab onto Jade's arm, just to hug it tight and close to my chest. Specifically so I could hear him mentally screech.

I think it would be much funnier tho if that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Instead of screams, rants, or any sort of information you'd come to expect from Jade at this point, his mind's gone completely blank.

It's like one of those wild west movie scenes with the isolated desert, a single tumbleweed rolling by.

You broke him. Fix this, give him a kiss or something, idk.

[ilikekidsshows]

Ok. Something I see in the ml fandom sometimes is really starting to bother me. It's not common, per se, but I've seen it enough times now that I'm about to lose it. But people don't deserve me yelling at them/on their fics, so I'm venting here instead. XD As always, feel free to ignore this/not respond if you'd prefer. I'll try to be vague, but I also understand if this is...too specific.

So. With that out of the way. I get near livid these days whenever I see an 'Adrien as an abusive romantic partner to Marinette' AU. Like to an extent I understand, it's an alternative universe. Non canon. Exploration of a "what if." Don't like don't read, yadda yadda. And generally I just...move on.

But also. At the same time. It just makes me so ANGRY. To know this exists. That multiple people can have the absolute gall to take a *canon* abuse victim. Who is sweet and patient and kind (genuinely, but also because he has to be, if you subscribe to the fawning interpretation). And turn him into a manipulative abuser, the unambiguous villain of a story. (And yeah, I've seen the argument that abuse victims can sometimes go on to become abusers themselves, but that doesn't really justify writing Adrien specifically this way? It's still...grossly out of character? Not to mention a bleak and insulting trajectory for his journey as a victim?)

But even better....they take a character who is canonically being gaslit, more or less, by his girlfriend into glorifying his abuser and downplaying the abuse he experienced (I know the term isn't exactly correct but gdi calling it mere "lying" is also an understatement). And then say, you know what. What if we do a switcheroo! And make that same girlfriend -his- abuse victim instead! Let's once again make it about how terrible *she* has it, because canon doesn't already focus on Marinette being upsette enough apparently. It just...leaves such a poor taste in my mouth???

To be clear, these aren't Marinette salt fics, some sort of weird "see how -you- like it" thing. No, these are "Marinette is a victim who will ultimately triumph" stories, not necessarily written by people who even dislike Adrien (if the stories were explicitly Adrien salt I wouldn't have read/come across them in the first place).

And yeah, I understand fan-fiction is often OOC and/or can be a way to deal with one's IRL struggles. But dear GOD does it piss me off like nothing else when someone chooses the *canon victim* to be the Big Bad that the self-insert character gets to overcome. It's plain insulting, is what it is. Long story short, leave Adrien alone and choose a different freaking character to be the abusive jackass!

....you know, I'm think ultimately it wouldn't bother me so much, if it weren't for fandom's much more widespread tendency to indulge in Marinette wangst and act like she's the epitome of human suffering, often at his expense or while ignoring his struggles. So I guess this sub-genre of abuser!Adrien is the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

Anywho, rant over XD I think I've calmed down a bit, so if you read this, thank you for providing a space for me to vent and I hope it wasn't too annoying!

---

This blog does double time as an analysis and vent blog, so sending in pet peeves is completely allowed and even encouraged. Yeah, like, even if Adrien wasn't an abuse victim, seeing a trend of “abuser AUs” for any character you're a fan of is annoying. When something annoying gets combined with this fandom trend being basically the culmination of things pushed in canon, it turns downright aggravating. 

Because that's really the thing that makes it more than just another case of basic “well, we need someone to mistreat our lead so that she can overcome hardships”; it has its roots in something actually harmful going on in the show and fandom. Adrien's victimhood constantly gets sidelined, or he's demonized for his trauma responses, so a fic trend where he continues the cycle of abuse just comes across as even more victim blaming.

Meanwhile, Marinette's petty grievances are treated as signs of how she's the biggest victim on the block, she's suffering so much more than the literal abuse victims, so a fic having her be literally victimized by the very abuse victim whose victimhood she commandeers in canon is both very expected for this fandom but also really aggravating.

I’m saying I get it.

[kirasworldofwords]

I feel like it’s pretty damn easy to name something bad about any F1 driver, idk why it has to be an Olympics? Yeah they’ve all done bad things at some point, they’re out of touch rich men, that doesn’t mean people can’t be upset about racism and erasure their driver faces??? Idk if this wording makes sense but I am on your side

It does make sense, don't worry, lol. Thank you for the support! I have genuinely no idea why people are so pressed that I'm just trying to protect a ship fandom's established name, so much so they have to harass me over it.

Yep, they're all out of touch. You know why? Because they're literally the 20 richest men driving the world's fastest cars in one of the most dangerous sports that has the potential to kill you at any given time. They got the looks, they got the money, they got the girls... Why should they care what they talk about, laugh at and do?

And yes, I'm mad as all shit that Checo is just getting erased. Because this wouldn't be the first time, but it for sure was the time that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Now, I'm the whitest white to ever white, coffee creamer and Irish people are jealous of me, and I'm nowhere near being Irish. Still I find it to be important to stand up against the sheer waves of hate POC drivers get, even if one's own nationality and/or race has dogshit to do with the driver's nationality and/or race. I will not sit by idly and watch as fans from some mediocre white guy from yet another first world country (I know, I know, rich coming from me but don't lose me here) just go like: "Oh, look, this name over there fits our pookie-wookie-bear and the other person we ship him with!" - and then it's a name that has already been in use for another fandom's ship for perhaps already more than a decade (which is the case for Chewis, mind you, their journey started in 2012). It just so happens that the other person their special little corny coffee whiter snowflake is being shipped with in that fandom is no one of significance to them - in their eyes, to anyone because they're not as popular, not as "good-looking", which is subjective anyway, I mean, have you seen Checo? There's a very good reason why he has five kids, and you can't say it's all solely for the money, I'm begging you.

They're also not significant because they're not white, oftentimes. We can't deny that a subtle whiff of racism and prejudice is in this mix as well - we do, after all, still have a significant racism, sexism and queerphobia problem in our community as a whole. You cannot tell me in good faith that none of the Lewclerc shippers knew that Checo has been the actual second part to Chewis long before Charles even debuted in F1 and thus made an honest mistake, because I call fucking bullshit. It's well-known that Checo's been getting shit from all directions, especially the racist directions and especially especially towards the end of his career with Red Bull due to his lack of podiums (which I'm by the way still convinced were not his fault, the RBR mechanics have admitted it themselves that he had a worse car than Max - I shall die on this hill, and if I die alone there). So to be fairly honest, a revelation like that would not surprise me in the slightest. Not at all. It was another well-known fact that many Charles stans hated Checo's guts, too, for whatever fucking reason. Many hardcore fans of other drivers hated him, regular fans, too. I don't differentiate, because why should I? But this isn't about others, this is about Charles stans who don't know when to drop it.

So if you're a regular fan of Charles and you made it to this point, congrats, I don't mean you. Don't feel attacked.

This still doesn't justify just erasing his name and substituting it for Charles' name in the ship name Chewis, however. Have some respect for other fandoms. Rant over.

Now I hope I made sense here, because this turned out to be much more word salad than I intended it to be, lmao. Oops.