#This also looks like it's the last snapshot with new or major features! So it's gonna be tweaks and finalization from here on out it seems!

[grayeet]

Just saw the new snapshot for minecraft and even though it's a really tiny change I cannot stress enough how happy I am that you won't get bad omen automatically upon killing the pillager patrol guys anymore and it's now optional through the ominous bottle which they drop instead. Literally this is a huge quality of life change. Now you can live in/around a village without having to avoid the patrols like the plauge just to avoid getting bad omen for 100 minutes and then accidentally triggering a raid.

[tomorrowxtogether]

TXT on Maturing, Packing for the Act: PromiseTour, and Skin Care Essentials

Snapshot! is a Teen Vogue style series where we ask artists to take candid pics and share a glimpse of their style and beauty routines. In this installment, K-pop boy group TXT takes Teen Vogue behind the scenes at the New York stop of their Act: Promise tour.

When the members of Tomorrow X Together (TXT) aren’t attending Fashion Week — whether on the runway or in the front row — they’re jet-setting on tour. However, it's an equally chic occasion — and their latest tour, Act: Promise, is proof of that.

Across the United States tour dates, the concerts’ carefully crafted stages encapsulated the K-pop group’s five-year journey in just a few hours for fans, known as MOA, to experience together. The styling plays a major role in doing so, from their grand entrance with “Deja Vu” to their low-key looks for the youthful anthem “Cat & Dog.”

While the members — Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai — make it look seamless on stage, touring isn’t an easy feat. Preparations for concerts may start months before in Seoul with fittings and dress rehearsals but continue until the very last outfit change backstage and even when the members are doing skin care after the show. To learn about it all and soak up the backstage buzz, Teen Vogue caught up with TXT before their sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in New York City on June 1, 2024.

Back in 2019, TXT was first introduced to the world with bright colors, playful patterns, and skinny jeans with their “Crown” music video. Now, the group is known to have a more elevated style with nods to punk and grunge aesthetics. “Because it's been some years since we debuted, I think I would describe it as a journey of growing and being mature, so we definitely see maturing changes in our aesthetics,” Taehyun tells Teen Vogue via an interpreter.

“I wouldn't say it was a radical change, but it was more like a gradual change and gradual being mature and growing. I would say after our second LP, our style definitely got a little more mature than before,” he adds, referring to their album The Chaos Chapter:Freeze, which features the hit single “0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You).”

On this tour, the setlist visits each of the group’s chapters, but rather than in chronological order, the arrangement and coordinating outfits explore a motif. “Each show has five sections, and each section has a distinctive theme,” Hueningkai explains. “Our look and our outfits also changed according to the theme.”

For their grand entrance, the group emerges on the stage clad in lace cloaks while wearing white trousers and gray blazers, accentuated by harnesses and chain links, combining their princely charms and pop punk sounds. Within the same section, the members make a quick outfit change to pay homage to their South Korean culture. “We have the song ‘Sugar Rush Ride’ rearranged with Korean traditional instruments, and we also dress in Korean traditional costumes,” Hueningkai says, referring to the hanbok.

The next section, marked by the hit songs “Magic” and “Trust Fund Baby,” showcases the members' more casual side. They are clad in relaxed-fit jeans and designer graphic tee shirts. Whereas they typically wear baby blue varsity jackets with bedazzled wings for this part of the show, for that weekend, the group wore New York Rangers gear, a nod to Madison Square Garden’s home team.

As the group splits up for their unit stages, the youngest members, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai, shed the jackets and rock out to “Quarter Life” in simple ‘fits. Meanwhile, the eldest, Soobin and Yeonjun, change into belted black and white tank tops, respectively, for their performance of “The Killa.” Promptly after the duet and before “Back For More,” they put on sparkly black jackets and rejoin the youngest members who are already wearing the same. Taehyun favors this part of the show for its versatility. “When the light gets dark, we can change the [jacket] really quick, so it gives more variations to the outfit,” he confesses.

As Taehyun notes, the members switch into a more grunge look shortly after. “We wear leather jackets for the third section where we perform ‘Puma.’ Because I think the leather jackets go very well with us all and it just gives off a really hip vibe, I like that one,” Beomgyu says.

The last look of the night comes with the encore, a time the group utilizes to engage and make more memories with MOAs. Their choice of clothing highlights this. Swapping their more extravagant costuming for more casual, fun looks, the group wears hoodies and T-shirts from their merch collection for the tour with classic blue jeans and a simple accessory or two. This look is Hueningkai’s favorite as the comfy, casual nature suits him.

When asked to describe his personal style, “hoodie and jeans” is Hueningkai’s response. His style prioritizes practicality, just like Taehyun, who adds, “I would say I like various styles, but I would say I would choose comfort over fashion.” Fitting for the early June climate in NYC, he explains, “For example, I don't wear long sleeves in hot weather.”

“Like Taehyun said earlier, I like a variety of stuff, but recently, I refer to the street fashion in the UK or Japan,” Yeonjun says. His off-stage looks this tour have consisted of chunky sneakers, layers, and baggy silhouettes for an effortless yet cool look. “I definitely refer to his style. I sometimes try to follow his style,” Hueningkai says in admiration of the eldest.

Soobin and Beomgyu lean towards a more preppy side. Both seem to have their wardrobe essentials figured out. “I like clean-cut style,” Beomgyu says. “Recently, I've been purchasing a lot of wide-leg pants.” Soobin adds, “I also like neat and clean-cut style, so most of my items are button-up shirts.”

Having a practical sense of style does have its benefits on tour. At this point, it seems like the TXT members are pros at the art of packing to be on the road for prolonged periods of time. “It doesn't take that long to pack because we're constantly on a tour,” Beomgyu says. “Sometimes I just leave my luggage packed and just add a little more items to them. For example, a few tops, a few bottoms, a few shoes. But I make sure that I do have my personal makeup tools or makeup items, like cleansers. For those things, I make sure that I do have my own stuff.”

For Hueningkai, it takes a little bit of research. “When I pack for a tour, I definitely make sure that I check the weather because you want your clothes to fit the weather there,” he explains. “For example, if you're traveling to a city where the temperature is high, you make sure you have short sleeves and really light materials.”

Yeonjun’s technique is classic for a fashion lover. “I overpack because I like clothes,” he says. “But I also make sure that there is a little bit of room, considering that you're going to shop when you go to a new city.”

The TXT members are equally sensible when it comes to picking essentials for their carry-on bags. Hueningkai, like many other K-pop idols, notes the importance of comfortable shoes when off the stage and says slippers are his must-have.

Soobin and Taehyun’s travel essentials allow them to have some fun when they can while traveling. Soobin selects a tablet, particularly one loaded with dramas. (On this tour, he chose to watch Queen of Tears.)

Staying active seems to be on the mind for Taehyun. “For me, it's a bathing suit because you stay in hotels when you're on a tour, and sometimes you find really nice swimming pools there,” he says. Similarly, his form of self-care on tour is exercise, so he says he carries a resistance band so he can work out anywhere, even in the hotel.

As for skin care, the group stresses mastering the important basics. “I've recently started to practice this, but I make sure that I wear sunscreen before going out,” Taehyun says. “So that’s my beauty tip.” Also, taking the late spring weather into account, Hueningkai adds.“For me, it's to keep hydrated, so drink a lot of water.”

While the hype and excitement of a concert may culminate before the show, it’s the youngest of the group, Hueningkai, who reminds us that a post-show routine is just as worthwhile for both artists and fans alike. “It's important to really remove your makeup thoroughly,” he says. “So I use cleansing oil — all those makeup remover items. And make sure that you moisturize your skin after that.”

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Apr 9th, 2015

Title: Beargguy III Vanilla

Here's another "Cuteness Mecha" drawing for Vanilla 🐰🎀 (glassfu's Chowder OC).

Well, I feel thinking and supposedly I was gonna draw Vanilla in armored Beargguy III (from Gundam Build Fighters) last year but nah, I kind a refuse it. So, I might as well draw it. 🙂📝🖌️🎨

Nonetheless, she's cute when she's in Beargguy III armor just like China Kousaka (owner of Beargguy III) → [CLICK ME!]. :3

KUMA-03 Beargguy III Vanilla Came from the original Beargguy III → [CLICK ME!]

Armaments:

• Mouth Beam Cannon - A beam cannon that is mounted on her bear mask, it can be fired after the mouth opens.

• Beam Cannon/Beam Saber - Mounted in both paws, besides functioning as ranged beam weapons, they can also generate beam sabers for melee combat.

Special Equipment & Features:

• Extendable Arm - Beargguy III retains the Acguy and Beargguy's extendable arms for striking down enemy mobile suits.

• Hardpoint - By removing the ribbon striker on the back, a hardpoint is revealed which could be used to connect various armaments and equipments.

• Ribbon Striker - A custom striker pack that looks like a ribbon, it can function as a flight unit.

• Cotton Stuffing - Beargguy's body is full of cotton fluff (including her shirt), which expands when the armor is pierced, allowing it to repel many physical attacks.

• LCD Monitor - Installed on her bear mask, above the mouth and nose, the LCD monitor allows the Beargguy III to change its eye expression during battle.

Vanilla (Chowder OC) - owned by ~GlassFu (dA) / SmileAhoy Armor (Gundam Build Fighters) - Gundam Series © Sotsu, SUNRISE ,TV Tokyo

[huskylluvr]

The newest snapshot is out!

(Here's the patch notes)

Highlights under the read more !

[Image ID] Hello there! We are now releasing the first snapshot for 1.19.3! You might have been thinking that this snapshot would be for 1.20, but times are changing. Going forward, we are taking a bit of a different approach to how we release minor and major versions for Minecraft: Java Edition. Essentially, we will be releasing minor versions more often. You can find out more details about this in a post over here. [End ID]

(Hyperlink in the screenshot)

I heard some people complaining they didn't want this to be a major update and just a smaller one. Looks like that's what's gonna happen!

[ID] ADDED CAMEL Camels are now available when Update 1.20 experimental features are enabled. • Camels can be equipped with a saddle and ridden by two players • Camels spawn naturally in Desert Villages • Camels are tall - Most hostile mobs will not be able to reach you when you are on a Camel - They can walk over fences without a sweat • Camels are very graceful, but grumpy mobs • They randomly sit down • While sitting, it is difficult to convince them to move • Camels can either walk slowly or sprint quickly - They can also dash forward but will lose stamina for a while when doing so. [End ID]

[ID • Camels are tall [End ID]

WOAG!

Bamboo woodset is in this snapshot

[ID]CHISELED BOOKSHELF A new, chiseled variation of the Bookshelf is now available when Update 1.20 experimental features are enabled. • Crafted with 6 planks and 3 wooden slabs • Can store Books, Book and Quills, Written Books, and Enchanted Books • Holds up to 6 books - Keeps the stories and lore of your world safe • Comparators can detect the last book placed/removed - Perfect for hiding secrets in your spooky library [End ID]

Chiseled bookshelves are here!

[ID] HANGING SIGNS Ever wanted to hang up your signs? Fetch a few chains, strip some logs, and now you can! Hanging signs are now available when Update 1.20 experimental features are enabled. Hanging Signs are a more expensive version of normal Signs - Crafted with 2 chains and 6 stripped logs of your preferred wood type Crafting results in 6 Hanging Signs • Can be hung up in the following ways: Underneath a block that can provide support in the center, like a full block or a fence • Attached to the solid side of a block • Attached to the side or underneath another Hanging Sign • Unlike normal Signs, they cannot be placed directly on the ground without support from the side or above • However, Hanging Signs that have a horizontal bar will not pop when the supporting block is removed [End ID]

So those are the four big things that they advertised in the live stream!

Here are some smaller things that are new (not all of them. Check the snapshot link for everything)

Here are some smaller things that are new (not all of them. Check the snapshot link for everything)

[ID]• Various wood types now have unique sounds when placed, broken, or walked on - There are three sets of unique sounds: Overworld wood types, Nether wood types, and Bamboo [End ID]

[ID] CREATIVE INVENTORY The ordering of tabs and the contents in the Creative Inventory have been tweaked to makethe experience of finding relevant blocks and items easier. [End ID]

[ID] • Some items can now be found in more than one tab [End ID]

[ID] • Petrified Oak Slab has been removed from Creative Inventory - It can still be accessed through commands [End ID]

[ID] • The game now contains built-in datapacks (similar to the "Programmer Art" resource pack) that enable features and provide associated recipes, advancements, loot tables, etc [End ID]

Thank you to @light-blue-stained-glass for the image IDs!

[becomingbts]

Time heals (sometimes) - 1

Summary: 6 years ago, (Y/N) thought that she was finally taking her life into her hands, leaving behind a toxic and abusive relationship with a man who taught her she’d never be worthy of love. However, it became hard to ignore his words when she met her seven soulmates who rejected her without even giving her a chance to prove herself. It took (Y/N) 3 years to realize that it wouldn’t be her end. She would live on to prove them all wrong; she would become what they all thought she wasn’t: someone worthy of love. And as she stands proudly on the stage, under the  burning spotlights and the applause and  the cries of the delirious crowd, she feels alive. Alive, just like the bond she believed to be broken.

Pairings: Y/N x OT7

GENRE: Soulmate AU!, Idol Y/NAU!, semi social-media AU!, ANGST (mainly), fluff, romance, maybe smut in the series.

Ask or comment to be tagged!

1.5k

Warnings:  The series is going to be heavy with a lot of personal experiences  mixed into the fiction, so this is going to be kind of therapeutic for me. Please, consider not reading the series if you are not comfortable with: abandonment issues, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, self-harm (not descriptive and only part of MC’s past), suicide thoughts (in the past), toxic behavior, toxic and abusive relationship (in the past), depreciating self-talk and low self-esteem, a lot of curse, physical and mental pain, near death experience situation (in the past), and maybe smut scenes (happy ending though, but it will probably be quite the ride).

NOTE: So hello everyone, welcome to Time Heals (sometimes). Thank you so, so much for the warm welcoming, it has been my first time getting so many asks, I was honestly overjoyed. I still don’t really know what to call this part; is it a teaser? A note? A full chapter? I believe we’ll get some snapshot of memories like this one throughout the series because there is going to be a lot to unpack on both sides. I think it will be a chapter nevertheless because I have to establish some kind of order as to which parts should be read first, and I think this one is extremely important.

Thank you for reading,

-Dolly

Profiles #2 - here - part 2

Her scream pierced through the air while cries broke in the frenzied arena while a single blond-haired man froze, emptily staring at the stage. It felt like his senses heightened; his skin was shuddering, his eyes were frantically searching for one specific figure while his voice was lost in his throat. The screams resonating in the stadium would have been too loud for his voice to be heard anyway. 

Jimin knew he shouldn’t be there. 

Namjoon had told them more than once that none of them should try to go to one of (Y/N)’s events. It could be dangerous and they could be overwhelmed; anything could happen to them and they would still remain a nobody who fainted in the howling crowd. Would they want to take this risk? No.

So, Jimin would have had to admit that going to her very first concert in Seoul since the pandemic sounded like a very, very, very bad idea. And to be honest, it still didn’t seem to be a bright idea now that he was actually there. 

But he still went because he needed to see her for himself; to see how she was. He had so many things he dreamed about asking her. Are you okay? Are you sleeping well? Did you eat before coming to the arena? Are you nervous? Do you... remember me? 

Maybe he was torturing himself. He kept on watching her lives, following her on all social media, always made sure to leave a sweet comment, and never miss any of her new updates... Maybe he even had a folder of pictures of her on his phone but he’d never admit it to any of his mates. Taehyung would probably take his phone away from him and delete everything and Jimin couldn’t let that happen.

He felt like it was cheating. Don’t take him wrong though. When he thought that, he was not really thinking about the boys. They did collectively agree not to follow her activities as an artist but it was getting harder and harder with how popular she got anyway. Moon was everywhere. In commercials, on the radio, her songs were on the TV… Even if she was known for refusing most of the promotional contracts that were offered to her, her image was still constantly in the media despite her avoidance of it. Ironic, but the media were trying their best to find anything about her, be it positive or negative. One day she was seen on her bike, the next, she was in a coffee shop, and it kept on going on, overstepping on her privacy as if it was just a meaningless word. 

The lockdown had admittedly played a major part in Jimin’s obsession. Being in their apartment meant quickly running out of activities, and his job as a dance teacher was not really filling his free time (a lot of his classes were also canceled). It was also during that time that (Y/N) truly blew up as an independent artist. Advertisement on YouTube started being around her channel and her music, the recommendations he kept on seeing were about also her… Jimin’s resolve honestly broke easily. It was hard not to be curious about his lost soulmate even though he didn’t feel like he had the right to be hurting. 

Anyway, to come back to his main point, if Jimin felt like he was cheating; it was mostly for her. After all, (Y/N) had no means of letting the curiosity get the best of her, to know what they were doing; to simply see or contact them. He had, at first, not really thought about that. Watching her content seemed a very innocent thing to do in his opinion; billions of people were watching her content, why should he prevent himself from doing so? Yet, Jimin could still remember one of her live she did soon after that interview she had given on this damned radio show where she had revealed who her title track ‘TIME’ was about… She had gone live the next day-Jimin had jumped on his phone because of the notification-and one fan had asked her what would she do if she knew that her ‘ex-soulmates’ (and those words left a very sour taste in Jimin’s mind) were watching her. The question had silenced a previously restless Jimin, replacing his initial excitation with dread while a lump formed itself in his throat. He had not even noticed it; he was so focused on her live and her upcoming answer that Jimin had completely missed the sound of a glass breaking in the apartment. Jimin had been home alone, so even if had indeed heard it, he probably wouldn’t have bothered to check what had happened, thinking that the wind knocked it over or something. Jimin had been so absorbed by what he had been watching that he even got surprised a few hours later when Seokjin came home and yelled at him for breaking something when he had been clearly innocent, engrossed in (Y/N)’s live (not that he could tell his soulmates about that part, but yeah). (Y/N)’s live would always be more important than some random glass breaking again in their apartment. Every object was doomed with Namjoon living here anyway.

On her side of the screen though, (Y/N) had seemed taken aback as she had read the question and had gritted her teeth gently. She had seemed to be pondering about her answer even though a lot of people in her chat were telling her to forget about the question if it made her uncomfortable (a lot were even scolding the person who asked). Yet, sighing softly, she had looked up at the screen: 

“I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from asking questions on this topic. It’s not taboo but I’d rather not remember everything that comes with it. However, to answer this-hopefully-last question about it, I’d ask them to turn off my stream and to stop watching any of my content. It would only be fair after all. I’ve been denied access to their lives six years ago, why would they get a free pass into mine now?” She had not smiled nor had she seemed hurt by her own comment, yet Jimin’s heart had shattered in pieces, unable to press the cancel button. 

Her voice had slowly faded into background noise while her words had been stuck in his head. 

I’d ask them to turn off my stream and to stop watching any of my content. 

How could Jimin ever do that? He realized that he truly should. Namjoon would even agree with you, as ironic as it sounded for Jimin. Namjoon had been one of the most adamant ones about rejecting your bond, after all. Jimin was shaking with bitterness while ‘Moon’ continued her stream peacefully with music. Jimin could only try to gulp his anger down as he remembered her crumbling features on that fateful day. 

“You’re not our soulmates. This name on our arms means nothing to us. You are nothing to us if not a hindrance. Leave us alone.” 

If Jimin could go back in time, he’d prevent Taehyung from spatting those words at her. Yet, he couldn’t do anything. Playing the scene over and over in his mind wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t change that she probably hated them. It wouldn’t change the song she made about them. 

And worst of all, it wouldn’t change the fact that Jimin had let himself believe that their choice had been for the best, trying to console and reassure himself, even if he had already known that it was wrong. Tears were pooling up in his eyes even if none escaped as he finally caught a glimpse of her on the stage. Suddenly brought back to reality after his subconscious memory trip, Jimin finally connected back to the world, looking around while he was still frozen on his spot. People were still screaming around him and he wondered if he looked like an intruder. Because, after all, wasn’t that what he exactly was? She said it herself that she didn’t wish for them to watch her; so what was he doing here? 

Jimin couldn’t help but stare; she looked ethereal, dressed like a queen in the middle of a sold-out arena. People were screaming her name as she yelled her infamous ‘hi people’. It was an opening sentence that Jimin heard way too many times in her vlogs and suddenly hearing it in real life seemed surreal. 

Jimin could only watch in awe, entranced with her everything. 

Screw the boys and what they would think once he’d be back from her concert. 

He had been the one to find her six years ago anyway. He had been the one to bring her to their home six years ago, hoping for the boys to change their mind once they’d meet her.

Comments or Ask to be tagged!

Uploaded : 09/04/2021

Taglist: @sweetmoonlight9, @mickmoon, @dreamer95, @loveyoongles, @spicetouched , @jikooksgirl19, @summerevelyn , @springjade , @clevercoley, @prooteus, @sehun096rainbow, @ainsle-e, @ifyouareme, @sunshinee0-0, @fangirl125reader, @sea-nevermind-enthusiast, @atlantis-atlas, @thequeen-kat, @naajix, @skyys-universe , @sichajeon , @yukiehyukie, @amxranthinesworld , @bunzom, @potate-oh, @mawwnsterr​, @ celaenaelentiyavox, @dvoz-writes​ , @honeybaby-94​ ,

[redwinterroses]

I hear you're a hermitcraft fan, and sorry if this is a dumb question but I've been considering watching them and don't know where to start because it seems like there's a lot going on. any suggestions? thank you ^^

Oh my friend!! Absolutely not a dumb question! Thanks for popping by. <3

There IS a lot going on, but you have two things going for you right now:

a) season 8 just started, so you don't have a lot you'll necessarily want to catch up on and

b) everyone is using a proximity chat mod this season, and living very close together (ironic for a server called Hermitcraft lol) so they all appear in each other's vids a lot -- which means you don't have to watch everyone or even most of them to have a good idea of what's going on.

Now -- that said, where you start and which hermit you watch is a personal preference thing, and I highly rec clicking through a bunch of them just for a few minutes to see who you like best. There is no "best" hermit! They're ALL delightful, and they all do amazing content.

A quick breakdown of some of MY personal faves:

Grian: everyone is going to recommend Grian to you, lol. He's definitely the most popular hermit, and for good reason: the guy makes quality content and he's a fun chaos gremlin to watch. If you like a good variety of hijinks and fun builds, Grian is a good go-to. This season, he's interacting a lot with Mumbo Jumbo, ImpulseSV, PearlescentMoon, and GoodTimesWithScar, so that gets you practically half the server right there XD

ImpulseSV: Impulse is currently one of my top-5 hermits. Major dad vibes, cool redstone projects (he's one of the more technical players, lots of massive farms usually), and he JUST went to full-time content creator (or...well, he's going to. He's 95% of the way committed, but it's a big leap to take for a guy with kids) so I definitely want to send support his way.

If you want good story stuff, check out DocM77 and/or Renthedog this season. I am so not sure where this is all going, but between Doc's incredible technical skills (he's the Doc who's being referenced in the Minecraft menu splash text "What's up, Doc?" He's an actual legend and lost an arm [in character lol] PvP fighting Dinnerbone. THE Dinnerbone. No, I'm not making that up) and Ren's amazing storytelling ability, whatever this mystery is they're working on will be A Real Trip, Baby.

If you're looking for something a little more chill, check out someone like Welsknight (I say "chill"... guy has chill vibes but he also went and got two full netherite suits in like, the first week of the season sooooo... #respectthegrind) or GeminiTay (suuuuuper sweet but also will cut you. Has two modes: preschool teacher and mafia boss. Building genius going hardcore into cottage core right now. Also one of the youngest members of the server) or VintageBeef (Beef is building a massive spaceship this season, which is a blast.)

For more goofy, funny players, check out Iskall (the man is brilliant but also deliberately a derp and his comedic timing is on point), GoodTimesWithScar (disabled gamer representation! also a derp, but this time With Story. And like... insanely beautiful builds), BdoubleO100 (feral cartoon chihuahua man in a midwestern dad's body, makes a lot of wild noises and builds mountains between episodes), or Tango Tek (Tango is also in my top five, I love him, and the man is an absolute redstone genius. Has been inventing iron farms since before iron farms existed, no exaggeration. He built a working (mostly) version of Among Us in survival last season. Insane.)

And last but not least, even if you decide Hermitcraft isn't for you, I highly encourage you to sub to Xisumavoid. He's the server's main admin, and also keeps up with Minecraft updates -- does a lot of snapshot preview testing vids, mythbusting about new update features, and generally is a great person to follow to keep up with Minecraft as a game.

...okay, that's probably WAY more info than you ever wanted, lol. And I left off sooooo many worthy hermits -- check out hermitcraft.com for a full list of all of them with links to their channels. Like I said, I definitely recommend clicking through to everyone for a few minutes, just to see who you kind of vibe with. There's no pressure to keep up with everyone, and if you really start liking what you see but don't want to try and watch a ton of vids every week? Check out the Hermitcraft Recap, run by Pixlriffs and ZloyXP. They're not hermits directly, but they do a weekly rundown of server shenanigans that can be an absolute lifesaver for those of us who like... actually have other things that have to be done. XD

Hope that helps!!

[traincat]

I know that everyone is pretty sure that the FF movie will mean that Johnny will now never be officialy let out of the closet but personally I feel like since the FF are so unpopular and ppl have been bugging Marvel and Disney for an actual canon & 'important' gay character that they may just? Use him? I'm absolutely losing it and its not going to happen (and if it does, good god, its going to be handled so badly) but imagine. Tho as long as they dont bring lyja in im ill count the movie as Ok

So I am going to go Full Conspiracy Theorist out here for a minute because when I and a couple others I personally know have been kind of saying “Johnny’s never coming out now” it refers to a very specific recent incident that we were kind of side eyeing for Possible Movie Interference even before this announcement. Saying up front that I don’t know that this is true, and even if Someone Did Change The Script it’s just as likely to be comic editorial pulling the plug than Kevin Feige coming down from on high to stuff Johnny back in the closet like he’s the Plant Man and it’s the ‘60s:

And then they never let him out of there again. (Strange Tales #121)

So here’s the deal: we know that there are several creators involved with Marvel who hold the belief that Johnny Storm is not the bastion of heterosexuality he’s very often been pushed as. Marjorie Liu (and most likely Daniel Way but we only have Marjorie Liu’s word on this last time I checked) intentionally wrote the relationship between him and Daken in Dark Wolverine as sexual. When I reviewed Marvels Snapshot: Fantastic Four for Women Write About Comics I received some very nice commentary from the creators and a retweet from Kurt Busiek, who is in charge of the Snapshot collection -- and I spend the majority of that review pretty openly talking about the subtext of Johnny’s sexuality and the history that has. So like, this is out there, it goes beyond fandom circles. People know, and you can tell, because a lot of the time multiple creators don’t spend decades making jokes about a character being gay if they don’t kind of think that character is gay. (I am looking at you, John Byrne.) But anyway, fast forward. It’s 2018 and the Fantastic Four are back on the shelves after their Film Rights Mandated Banishment (that Jonathan Hickman leaked as being a Real Thing and not another conspiracy theory). And while I have some significant problems with the 2018 run so far, I have to say, that first issue starts off strong, not in the least because it also featured the return of Wyatt Wingfoot, Johnny’s best friend and former roommate. Turned current roommate again, since apparently they were living together. They were also touching a lot.

Like a lot lot. Love a boyfriend leash. (Fantastic Four v6 #1) And like, look, longtime Johnny readers can tell you all about his long relationship with Wyatt Wingfoot and the subtext you can read into it, but a lot of casual readers noticed this too. People were talking about it. It was noticed. It was pretty obviously paralleled against Ben and Alicia, who were getting engaged at the same time.

Fast forward a couple of issues, all of which Wyatt sticks around for -- he was pretty obviously living with the Fantastic Four after their return for a couple of issues there -- to Ben’s bachelor party, where he and Johnny have this particular conversation:

“When you know -- and you’ll know -- take that leap. Don’t wait fer stronger shielding. Be brave, Johnny Storm.” (FF v6 #5) There’s a lot to unpack here in general, but the “be brave, Johnny Storm” sentiment continually sticks out to me, along with how ungendered this speech is -- not when you meet the right woman, blah blah blah. It’s not a big jump to imagine this as leading out to a coming out narrative, and that’s before we factor in this solicit for Fantastic Four #7:

“Plus a strange new development in the life of the Human Torch.” If you’ve read the issue, however, you know literally nothing of note happens to Johnny in it, let alone anything you could consider a new development, strange or not. It seems pretty clear, if you pull the clues, that there was originally some kind of plot involving Johnny -- and likely his romantic future -- in the original plans but then at some point that plot got pulled and likely replaced by the current Sky soulmate plot that has literally left Johnny shackled by heterosexuality. So it’s clear that at some point in early 2019 something shifted and this Johnny plot got pulled, for whatever reason. And I have no proof beyond all this circumstantial evidence that they were lining up anything that was actually going to concretely within the actual Fantastic Four book address his sexuality, but I think given the circumstantial evidence it is a valid theory. I don’t know if I specifically believe that the reasoning behind whatever this plot getting pulled was MCU interference, but it’s likely that the Fantastic Four project was seriously in development by that point to be able to announce it now, and if, by whatever chance, my “Johnny was going to come out” theory was true, we also know that the MCU has a serious problem with actually handling queer representation within their universe -- see Tessa Thompson’s bisexual Valkyrie scene getting cut, the entire Gay Joe Russo incident. They’re, what, 20+ movies in now and there are no actual queer main characters, right? I know Eternals is apparently changing that, but Eternals is not out yet, and also has significantly less name recognition than Fantastic Four. It’s not a great record, and while I would like to think that maybe that could change either with the Fantastic Four or by the time a Fantastic Four movie rolls out, I just don’t have that kind of faith. But if I’m wrong I’ll totally donate double the cost of the ticket and large popcorn to a charity that actually deserves it.

So there’s my conspiracy theory! Some people do this with celebrities, I do it with Johnny Storm. It’s probably equally unrewarding either way.

[veliseraptor]

Down in the Yi City Pit: A Recs Post

So as anyone following me may have noticed, I’ve been spiraling ever deeper into a pit called Yi City Feelings. I’m down at the bottom and I’m still digging. This also means I’ve been doing a lot of fic reading, and I figure it’s about time that I wrote a recs list, since I said I’d do it and some people expressed interest.

Heads up that I am a dirty Xue Yang stan first and foremost, so this list is going to skew in, uh, that direction. Just so we’re all aware.

Divided these into canonverse recs and modern au recs, since apparently this is the only thing I’ll read modern aus for! It’s a brave new world out here. 

Also like. blanket warnings across the board here for The Inherent Dubiousness of Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen as a Pairing, Generally. I’ll offer more specific/major ones as they’re relevant/I remember, but please check the tags/authors notes as well.

CANONVERSE

lover to your nightmare by Zaatar (@ameliarating) . Xue Yang uses Xiao Xingchen getting sick as an opportunity to fuck around a little. Second person POV sickfic, except XueXiao flavored sickfic which means it’s messy and full of good things like “delirium” and “people taking advantage of other peoples’ confusion and disorientation to mess with them psychologically.” This fic also does the thing I love really well where Xue Yang’s internal monologue/self-justification is full of indications that he’s having Feelings that he neither recognizes nor acknowledges. Crunchy, delicious.

Samsara / 輪迴 by ForgivenMemes. Upsetting fic full of every content warning ever alert! (Off the top of my head: violence, rape, suicide, self-harm.) I keep going back to this fic and rereading it because it hurts so bad and I love it, because it hurts in the best worst self-sabotage recapitulating-mistakes-over-and-over way. Like, I am a sucker for a time loop fic always, and usually I read them as a route to fixing things - but honestly I’ve always loved the part of time loop fics that’s “everything getting worse first.” And this is a whole fic of “everything getting worse.” Aka, the one where Xue Yang has thousands of chances to get it right, but there’s no getting it right.

compromise by Sectionladvivi. Xiao Xingchen convinces Song Lan and Xue Yang to kiss. (aka, obviously Yi City AU where Song Lan gets folded into things, Xiao Xingchen still doesn’t know about Xue Yang being Xue Yang, and an uneasy detente where the two of them don’t touch each other gets interrupted by Xiao Xingchen Wanting Things, which is, of course, a priority always). 

til dawn by Sectionladvivi. Xue Yang takes care of Xiao Xingchen’s body after his death, and mind the tags. This is that perfect Yi City level of “horrifying and also very sad, I feel bad for my boy but also he is sort of defiling a corpse (though it is just kissing).” This might not sound like a recommendation but it is absolutely a recommendation.

Our Antebellum Innocence by spockandawe (@spockandawe). First time XueXiao. Xue Yang lays the groundwork for his first time with Xiao Xingchen with meticulous care.  This author always delivers, both in terms of excellent porn and in terms of characterization, and this is no exception. 

life’s illusions I recall by Sour_Idealist (@souridealist). The basics of this fic is just “outdoor sex at a river” and it is delicious for that, but what I love about it in particular is this author’s Xue Yang voice. It’s always good (they are the genius behind the incredible Jiang Yanli/Xue Yang fic - no, really), and this is a fic I come back to a lot for that reason. I also love the tag “two characters experiencing two very different fics” which feels like a very apt description for the XueXiao dynamic, generally speaking.

Selenographia by lightningwaltz. A lovely, short-ish fic about the Yi City years. I don’t feel like I have a good description for this one - it’s just one of those beautiful character/moment portrait pieces, very well done.

Stories from A Lonely City by blackwatervial. A series of snapshots/vignettes from the three years in Yi City. Sweetness, bittersweetness, and of course, ultimately, a sad end. This was one of the first Yi City fics I read.

yi city depression hours by glueskin (series). Just. You know. Some feelings. There’s two fics in this one, both short character study type fics making me feel feelings.

a bird caught in this winter blizzard by cherriru. I do love a good grief/mourning fic, especially featuring someone realizing slowly the sheer miserable depths of their fuck-up. Aka, Xue Yang after Xiao Xingchen’s death. It’s just sad. 

all I ever knew of love by Sour_Idealist (@souridealist). See what I said above about the Xue Yang voice and this author; this one also featuring blistering hot porn (first time), a little light praise kink, and huddling for warmth as an excuse for sex. It’s a perfect blend of filth and tenderness and I love it.

revelations wallet wood burn art by Sectionladvivi. This one describes itself in the summary as “grim pwp” and yeah, that fits (and also! is such a XueXiao vibe, whoop whoop); it’s based off the simple premise of ‘Xue Yang tells Xiao Xingchen who he is, in the middle of sex.’ Honestly, one of my favorite things about this fic is the ending, which is horrifying in the best possible way.

Your Heart Inside My Hands by williamshooketh (@ectoplasm-james). This fic is fabulously made for me in the specific subgenre of “Xue Yang thinks he knows what he is getting into when having sex with Xiao Xingchen and, it turns out, does not.” This one featuring some of my favorite things including praise kink and Xue Yang getting extremely fucked up by someone being very nice to him.

Sleep Until the Sun Goes Down by spockandawe (@spockandawe). Love me some Xiao Xingchen seducing Xue Yang with candy. First time fic, second person POV, absolutely delightful.

pass the time by short_tandem_repeats (@yiling). A-Qing and Xue Yang bonding hours. I am actually such a sucker for their weird relationship (I don’t poke at it enough in my own stuff, should work on that) and the way they recognize each other in ways that Xiao Xingchen doesn’t, and also a-Qing having to reckon with the ways in which she’s more like Xue Yang than like Xiao Xingchen. Just a very good fic with a delightful a-Qing.

Three Springs by Verbana. Just a really excellent Xiao Xingchen POV of the three years in Yi City and a developing relationship between Xiao Xingchen and Xue Yang. Beautifully written, a lovely escalation, and I’m absolutely delighted by the gentle loneliness of the Xiao Xingchen POV here.

Red Azalea by CeNedraRiva (@cenedrariva) (WIP). A longfic in progress following the continuing adventures of the Yi City Crew after Xiao Xingchen survives his suicide attempt and Xue Yang reconsiders some life choices. Recently got tag-updated to SongXueXiao which has me absolutely thrilled. Updates every Wednesday.

ephemeral by im_krying (WIP). Xue Yang, traveling around wearing Xiao Xingchen’s face, decides it is time to go looking for the last remaining part of Xiao Xingchen that he doesn’t already possess. That is to say, the eyes in Song Lan’s head. I’m really curious where this is going - it smells up my alley at this point though it’s been a bit since the last update. 

Heaven Has a Road But No One Walks It by Silvestris (@silvysartfulness) (WIP). Things I love: beating on Xue Yang, SongXueXiao, terrible road trips, fix-its where there’s a lot of suffering involved. Things this fic has: all of the above. I’m in love.

MODERN AU

(There are other recs to this one but for various reasons (pwp reasons) triggered my self-consciousness slightly too much to put on this post. Go check my bookmarks, you’ll find stuff there.

Most of these are PWP to greater or lesser extents (Rewritten and Misalignment are, I’d say, the exceptions); all very hot and fantastically written.)

circling like vultures by brawlite (@brawlite) (series). Truly quality porn, featuring mostly Xue Yang/Song Lan both pining for Xiao Xingchen, which is a thing that it turns out I really like. The sex is rough and mean and I’m really into it. (Okay, mostly the sex in the first one is mean, the second one is actually XueYao, and the third one is actually verging on nice. Wow! Growth. Anyway, it’s all very good and very My Scene.

Rewritten by incendir (series). This series is like. Everything I want from a modern AU and that was true even before the most recent fic gifted me a beat up Xue Yang suffering, so you know. I don’t have a good summary for this series other than that it’s basically a married Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen adopting Xue Yang as a third partner and it’s just. So well done, such good writing, such good characterization, I would read 20,000 more words of this and probably still be hungry.

catalyst by Ajaxthegreat. If there is a porny fic I’ve reread more than this one, I’m not sure what it would be. I’ve reread this one a lot. It’s very good. It’s very hot. I’m trying not to be self-conscious. SongXueXiao first time rough sex and boy is it tasty.

biting the bullet by Sectionladvivi. Xiao Xingchen doesn’t want to have to choose between his two boyfriends and so he doesn’t. Sectionladvivi in general writes some very sexy modern au PWP (including a few different Xue Yang/Lan Wangji fics which...didn’t see that one coming! But it works when they do it), so general rec for author but this one (as, you know, SongXueXiao porn), is one of my favorites, probably. 

sxx configurations by rynleaf (series). This is a SongXueXiao series on AO3 based off of @kevinkevinson‘s modern reincarnation AU and I am in love with both the art for that AU (go look!) and these fics, they’re so good, I’ve reread several times. 

Misalignment by Kasasagi (WIP). The one with a reincarnated Xue Yang and a Xiao Xingchen who arrives in the modern world from the past, fresh off his suicide.

And Once Again, if I’m Allowed to Rec My Own Fic

a kindness you can’t afford. Early days in Yi City after Xue Yang wakes up.

lick your exit wounds. I wanted canonverse-era bottom Xue Yang praise kink, so I wrote it for myself in the hopes others would also find this an interesting prospect.

this place could be beautiful. Xue Yang vs. domestic living.

tear out all your tenderness. Xue Yang gets turned on by murder and makes it a project to get Xiao Xingchen to lose control.

the beauty of your repair. PWP, modern AU SongXueXiao; there’s not an inkling of plot here, it’s really just an excuse to get Xue Yang wrecked, but nicely.

[cruciatusforeplay]

Do you know of a comprehensive list of Hawkeye appearances in the comics, with summaries?

So when I first saw this ask I thought "a comprehensive list of Hawkeye? With summaries? That is absolutely madness, who would have done that?"

I had a quick glance at Marvel Unlimited and found there was over 500 issues listed under Hawkeye (and that's not considering his time spent under other names, or alternative universes, or Kate Bishop doing her thing) and confirmed to myself that a comprehensive list would indeed be completely unmanageable. So obviously I decided to give it a go.

I absolutely cannot give you an entire rundown, because ya boy's been busy, but I can try to give you a little bit of an overview. (Head's up, I said "little" but that was a lie. This is a BIG post and I'm hoping it might give you some key points for Clint's comic career and his background which will hopefully be useful for figuring out which comics to read or anyone writing canon-based fanfic)

A not-so-brief history of Hawkeye in Comics (spoilers below the cut)

First appearance: Tales of Suspense #57 (1964)

We run into Clint working at Carson's Carnival, where he is being underappreciated by the audience and very unhappy about it. He's a proactive lad, so he makes himself a new costume and arrows to be utterly unforgettable. He accidentally gets himself implicated in a crime and meets the Black Widow. They become allies and he uses trick arrows and nearly manages to take out Iron Man, but must abandon his plans to save Black Widow from a blast of his own arrow. He kicks off as an enemy to Stark basically. There is also a bunch of Iron Man shenanigans happening here and it's a fun read.

He sticks around as a villain for two more issues in Tales of Suspense #60 and #64 (1964 and 1965).

First appearance as an Avenger: Avengers #16 (1965)

Clint shows up about halfway through and has determined that he'd like to be an Avenger instead now, thanks. He tells them a little about his doomed love with Nat and how she paid the price and they decide they're on board. He is introduced to the press. There's a bunch of other Avenger member swapping around in this issue (and if you want the most of it, you should start with issue 15 because it's a direct follow up story wise)

He's a key member of the Avengers from hereon in and features in most issues. He spends his time shooting arrows and having problems with authority (particularly Cap)

Key background: Avengers #19 (1965)

This issue gives us a bunch of background on Clint. The Swordsman shows up wanting to be an Avenger (because he wants an Avengers ID - yes really). Clint objects and we find out Clint's an orphan and that the Swordsman took him in and trained him at Carson's Carnival. Clint then caught him stealing from the circus and they fight where he leaves Clint for dead. It's a big old betrayal. The Swordsman then spends the rest of comic kidnapping and trying to kill Cap, so all round that's a no on the Avengers ID.

Hawkeye quits the Avengers: Avengers #109 (1973)

Hawkeye doesn't like that Scarlet Witch and Vision are in a relationship, and essentially he plays the jealous jilted lover who throws a tantrum (door slamming included). He quits the Avengers, immediately realises he didn't actually love Wanda after all. He spends his fresh downtime teaching The Champion archery, who then promptly betrays him. The Avengers come to the rescue.

His involvement in the Avengers is spotty over the next decade.

Hawkeye gets Hitched: Hawkeye #1-4 (1983)

This is Clint's first solo run. It's important for two reasons. He meets Mockingbird who he marries by the end of the run, in what can be described as an enemies to lovers speed-run. This is also the series where Clint is originally deafened; he has to make a sacrifice play with one of his own sonic arrows which is how he ends up deafened. There are some other classic Clint moments: he starts the run by getting dumped, he rides on the skycycle/sky-sled and he ends up with his outfit getting mostly ripped off more than once. We also get some background about him and his brother Barney running from the orphanage to join circus, how Barney got him to hospital after the incident with the Swordsman, and we find out that Clint didn't speak to his brother for years and that he's dead now. Honestly this run is great fun and I have a big soft spot for it.

The West Coast Avengers: West Coast Avengers #1-4 (1984)

Clint helps found and then leads the West Coast Avengers with his wife Mockingbird. This is another mini series, but it led to a much longer run starting the following year that ended in 1994. Real talk: I've only skimmed this iteration of WCA but what I've seen is campy fun, the skycycle is back, Clint really settles into being a leader and the sun is always shining. Special shout out to Tigra who is a bad-ass in this mini series. During the longer run, Clint and Bobbi's marriage is put through the ringer amongst other things, and they eventually separate. Truthfully there is a lot of other stuff going on regarding their relationship in that run and onwards. If their marriage is something you want to know more about I recommend checking out the full summary listed at the back of Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1 (2010) - it starts on page 22 of that issue - be aware it contains major spoilers for later stories.

Key background: Solo Avengers #1-5 (1987)

We get to meet Clint's other circus mentor here: Trickshot aka Buck Chisholm. You'll be shocked to hear that Clint gets betrayed. We kick things off with some circus shenanigans where his charity performance/showing off opportunity is interrupted by mercs sent to kill him, by Trickshot wanting to settle a debt. The second issue presents us with a lengthy flashback where we find out Hawkeye's dirty secret: it wasn't actually the Swordsman who taught him archery, but instead an actual archer called Trickshot. We see Clint get trained up only to be immediately pushed into a life of crime where he ends up shooting his own brother. Buck then shoots Clint when Clint wants to take his brother Barney to hospital. Trickshot is shown to have an unsavoury taste for killing for pleasure and promises to kill Clint when he's got something to lose. In addition we also get some flashbacks to Clint's abusive home situation and his time in care before joining the circus. The next two issues cover a side story that honestly doesn't lead anywhere or get resolved by the end of the run. Issue #5 (which is the first of this run available on Marvel Unlimited if that's how you're reading) then brings you into the real action. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, Clint spends this entire issue in only his undershorts. There's some fun archer Vs archer antics, before an emotional reveal where Trickshot begs Hawkeye to end his life because he has cancer and doesn't want a slow death. Trick has a cry, Clint refuses to kill him and instead they have a comforting cuddle on a beach under a sunset. It's an unusual run, but Trickshot will show up again later in Clint's arc, and it's got a lot of fun quips and action sequences.

Quick note on the 90s

In my opinion, the 90s weren't real good to Clint. He had a couple of solo runs, but imo nothing with major substance, or character development so I'm skipping them. If you want to know what you're missing check out Hawkeye #1-4 (1994) aka Clint broods in Canada and there are wolves, and Hawkeye: World's Mightiest Marksman #1 (1998) aka Clint is stubborn and goes head to head with Taskmaster.

Key background: Hawkeye #1-6 (2003)

This series, which has Clint travelling on a motorcycle in order to find the best chilli and sporting some 90s boyband hair, also gives us some really great insight into his and Barney's relationship. We get snapshots in amongst the rest of the story of Barney being the moral compass for Clint. We see Barney getting his GED while Clint works on archery, and later we see Buck encouraging Clint into crime and Barney telling him it's wrong. We get another retelling of the Swordsman story, this time with both Buck and Barney coming to rescue Clint. While Clint's broken leg is healing, Barney tells him he's joining the army and Clint should come with. Clint says no, then changes his mind, but ends up missing the bus. We again see Clint on a job with Buck where he shoots a guard only to realise it's Barney, and is subsequently shot by Trickshot for wanting to help Barney. They both make it to hospital. Clint asks what happened and Barney tells him "guess you are what you are." Years later we see Clint at Barney's grave and are informed that he was involved with the mob. Clint is upset, only to then be informed Barney was actually working undercover for the FBI. These snapshots are my favourite part of the entire series. The rest of the series focuses on Clint doing some detective style work and shooting arrows. If this is the first run you've checked out since the WCA or Solo Avengers runs, you'll note this is very different in both art and story style. There was a definite shift in the 90s that brought us closer to the style we have today.

Clint doesn't have any solo runs for a while, but he is involved in a bunch of bigger stories which we'll take look at in part two of this post.

The MCU push and key background

In the lead up to the movie premiere of Avengers Assemble (2012), Marvel produced a lot of content for the Big Six as promo to their preexisting market. Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1-6 (2010), Widow maker #1-4 (2010) and Hawkeye Blindspot #1-4 (2011) follow on directly from one another, though you could read any of them independently and the first two are less about Clint. Avengers Solo #1-5 (2011) also featured during this time. All but Blindspot are simple action comics without any lasting impact for Hawkeye. Blindspot has a pretty comprehensive rundown on Clint's history including his abusive dad, the circus, the Swordsman, Trickshot, his relationship with Cap and the Avengers, him becoming Goliath and some very important information regarding his brother and their relationship, all woven into a well paced plot. Additionally, he's going blind. There is a lot of story in these four issues. It also provides the foundation on which Fraction set his run, so it's a good story for anyone who had any unanswered questions regarding the start point for Hawkeye (2012).

The Fraction/Aja Run: Hawkeye #1-21 (2012)

This is the big one. Either you're here because you've read it and now you love this idiot, or you want to start reading Hawkeye. This is where you start. I'm not gonna summarise this one because everyone deserves to read it without spoilers. But I'll say this: this is Clint when he's not being an Avenger. He's messy and relatable and he loves dogs. This is a character defining run and it is one of my all time favourite comics. There is so much good stuff in here and I could talk for hours about it. Go forth and feast your eyes.

If I've missed anything major, or listed something incorrectly or you just have some Clint related opinions that I need to know about, do hit me up.

I've run out of images, so this post will continue in part 2 which you can read here.

[ivy-min]

a snapshot into ivy’s life

a/n: so this is a little outside the realm of what I typically do for practice challenges, but I needed something creative to motivate me into doing some writing stuff. please enjoy the very extra edits and bits in between. the pictures in each edit are some that I imagined either her taking, someone in her family, or just something that fit her life altogether. I have elaborate backgrounds for each image in my head but ofc I will not burden you all with that. an easy 1.9k

also, there are definitely some Korean words I wanted to use and researched but was afraid of doing the culture a disservice. however, it is very prominent in her life! and if I had a more reliable source than the internet I would include more terms but I do not, unfortunately. doing my best to learn. ANYWHO here is ivy!!

「 the min sisters at large 」

Looking back, Ivy isn’t sure she could say her childhood was idyllic. There was love and family and creating new worlds with Kennedy, but there were heartaches too. Watching struggle of her father as he built Min Industries from the ground up in Illéa. Witnessing her mother battle against the harshness of her grandparents (though in particular her grandfather). Pleading with each one of them to stay just a little bit longer at bedtime instead of going back to work.

She understood why they left. But it got harder to watch them go each time.

She was well taken care of, given the best of education and opportunities. Swim lessons at two years old, horseback riding lessons at seven. While Ivy stood steadfast at her parent’s side, Kennedy was always the one to pull away. Ivy wanted to make her family proud. Her little sister cared more for finding life away from pesky lessons and the family’s reputation. She believed there was more to discover beyond the walls their parents had created. “Don’t be such a suck up! You really think all this is going to matter in the end?” Kennedy had asked her once. Ivy didn’t have an answer. Not when she yearned to be a part of both sides of the Min coin. Parents or Kennedy. Parents or Kennedy. She wondered if there would be a day when she would have to choose.

Nevertheless, Ivy loved Kennedy and Kennedy loved Ivy. Different in motives but similar at heart, they never strayed too far from one another. If there was one defining feature of Ivy’s childhood, it was her spirited little sister. 

↳ exposition

「 the shoes of parents & grandparents to fill 」

Seo-jun Min and Ha-eun Yoo had nothing to offer one another when they first met. Ha-eun was a quiet, demure oncology nurse working at a small hospital in Seoul. Seo-jun had just graduated from university loaded with student debt and a degree in business he had no clue what to do with. When they found each other, suddenly they had everything to offer. Life moved quickly then. After only seven months of quaint dates between Ha-eun’s long shifts and Seo-jun’s failed business ventures, they eloped. A year later, they had a son. Jae-sung. Another two years passed and they were blessed with a daughter whom they named after the lilies that bloomed outside their home. Nari.

At three years old, Leukemia was all that was left of their daughter. She passed in her sleep, cradled in her father’s arms.

In their path to healing, Seo-jun and Ha-eun packed up their son and moved to Illéa where opportunity and a fresh start called to them. Together, they knew what they could devote their lives to: a medical research company dedicated to provide medical care to all in need and to find a cure for pediatric diseases. By the time Jae-sung was 18 years old, he knew that his legacy was to carry on his parent’s dream of avenging Nari’s short life. He honored that legacy.

Then he met Kathleen.

Kathleen Adair was the most intelligent, strong-willed woman he had ever met. He trailed after her their freshman year at Brown until she finally relented and allowed him only one meal. Just one. “Then it’s going to be the best meal of your entire life,” he declared rather confidently. He didn’t know she had watched him as often as he watched her. The meal was terrible, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “Alright, Jae.” The nickname only she had ever managed to pull off. “I’m yours.”

His parents vehemently protested. “She’s not suitable. She doesn’t understand what it takes to be a part of this family.” He knew what they really meant. She’s not Korean. He thought small mindedness had been left behind after the last war, but he understood them too. Still. Nothing was going to stop them from marrying as soon as they graduated.

At 25, Jae-sung was pronounced CEO of Min Industries. At 25, Kathleen was announced as the youngest graduate professor of biomedical sciences in the history of the University of Allens. They liked to compete with one another.

Their daughters became their lives. They also became the lives of their grandparents. Though it was never said aloud, Ha-eun and Seo-jun could see Nari in the softness of Ivy’s smile and in the light of Kennedy’s eyes. Respecting their family’s traditions and honoring the legacy of the work put into the family’s company was often emphasized. Legacy. Kennedy was smothered by it. Ivy was enriched by it.

↳ conflict & rising action

「 an energy unmatched 」

Death was always unexpected, always tragic. One person could have the breath stolen from their lungs, yet it was the people left behind that sank under the weight of their grief. That ached for years and years to come.

If Ivy could describe the year she turned 19, it would be with one word: grey. The grey of the clouds that taunted the guests of Kennedy’s funeral with rain that never came. The grey pallor of her mother’s expression just before she fainted after barely eating for a week. The disappearance of Ivy’s best friend had shaken her spirit in a way she never thought was possible. Were daughters destined for such an untimely end in her family? It felt like it. Nari and Kennedy. The grey of their portraits displayed on the mantle above the fireplace.

Ivy would sit in front of that picture for too long, furious at how her parents had chosen to memorialize the life of their second daughter. Kennedy was light. Yellow and orange and pink, fiery and beautiful. How could she have been reduced to nothing but a dull, humiliating grey? How could she be... nothing?

In a fit of emotion blurred by tears, Ivy snatched the picture and threw it to the floor. Pieces of glass flew everywhere and the portrait lay folded under what remained of the black frame. Seconds later, Ivy was on her knees trying to gather the broken fragments. Smoothing away any wrinkles on her sister’s face and ignoring the blood that seeped from where the glass had begun to cut her legs.

When she was found crying, bleeding, clutching the picture to her chest, Ivy was rushed to the hospital to have 12 stitches placed on her knees and shins. Her grandparents blamed her parents, her parents blamed her grandparents. “Why weren’t you with her?” “Why do we need to be together every second of the day?” “Because daughters need their mothers!” Amidst the arguing and cries of her family in her small hospital room, Ivy stayed quiet. She knew what they were really blaming each other for anyway.

Ivy never again lost herself the way she did that miserable afternoon. She didn’t want to be another reason that made her family yell the way they did. Instead, she found different pictures of Kennedy to keep with her and around her home.

Pictures that helped everyone remember Kennedy’s unmatched energy in vivid, beautiful color.

↳ climax

「 vassar & beyond 」

In August, the eldest Min sister was gone to school. In November, the youngest Min sister was gone forever. Not an ideal start to an undergraduate career. Instead of letting Kennedy’s death hinder her education, Ivy buried herself in her courses. A distraction from horribly sleepless nights and not a friend in sight. At the start of sophomore year, Ivy’s roommate Alba took one look at her and declared her hers. With a new friend in tow, Ivy found people exactly when she needed them. They brought a part of her back to life.

Alba. Leo. Wren. Dimitri.

Though Ivy was strongly encouraged by her parents to choose the major of Science, Technology, and Society, she found that she enjoyed her studies. Learning about the effects of global pandemics, health inequalities, or bioethics opened up her world to ideas she’d never considered. (So did her film minor, but even then she was too afraid to consider growing that passion into something more concrete.) Alba had been skeptical of Ivy’s predicament. “Your parents can’t force you to work for them. You’re an adult.” Perhaps not, but losing another daughter was inconceivable. Not when Kennedy almost broke her family apart.

Approximately one week after celebrating her graduation, Ivy began her prompt employment as a junior associate within her father’s team of business heads. The whispers of nepotism behind her back never bothered her, comforted by the knowledge that her takeover of the corporation wouldn’t take place for years to come.

By July, those hopes were squashed by Jae-sung’s proclamation that within the month, she would be announced as the next head of Min Industries. Interviews were organized, contracts were drafted, all faster than Ivy could come to terms with. Set to take the mantle by the time she was 24. 

One year. One year until she was thrust into a world she felt she had no business being a part of. She was deeply frightened of the beyond and frantically searched for any way out.

July 27. The announcement of King Raphael’s Selection.

↳ falling action

「 a wayward path forward 」

Running away from family was new for Ivy. That had always been Kennedy’s expertise. Ran straight to her grave. Filling out the Selected application was even worse, from laughing with her parents at the absurdity and throwing the envelope away to digging in the trash bin at 2 in the morning. Submitting it during a feigned trip to the library. Even afterwards, she had convinced herself that the likelihood of being chosen was practically inconceivable. Vizzini would’ve been proud.

The leak was the tipping point. The office had been abuzz with the news of King Raphael’s extremely public error, but Ivy was none the wiser until Alba’s incessant video calls forced her into lunch. It took two sentences for Ivy to slam ‘end’ and dive straight into Tweeter. “Did you see? King Doof-ael leaked the Selected names.” If Ivy had stayed on the call, she would’ve discovered that her name was safely tucked away on a slip of paper until that evening’s Report. Instead, she panicked. Her father noticed. The truth was revealed. All before her name was even officially announced.

Screaming in the Min and Adair household hadn’t been heard since Kennedy’s accident. Neither parents or grandparents thought Ivy would be the one to bring it back, drowning out the poor voice of Justin Timberpond once her name had been aired for verbal confirmation. “Why have you chained yourself to such an archaic tradition?!” “You’re bright! Capable of greater things instead of a meaningless throne!” “That man has already proved himself incapable of leading a country if he needs to find a wife this way!” For once, they were a united front. Against her. And for once, she didn’t care that they yelled.

Each day leading up to her sendoff had been a battle. Long talks with her mother that always ended with, “I’m making a different choice. Different does not mean wrong.” Jae-sung pleaded for her to let someone else go, her grandfather all but ignored her. Even Ha-eun came to Ivy with her renowned mandu dumplings and naengmyeon as a scapegoat to discover the real reason as to why her granddaughter had up and unsettled every plan set in motion.

Ivy kept her truth to herself, as she almost always did. She didn’t know what her life would look like a year from now and it thrilled her, despite the pain buried deep in her chest. All that mattered was that she had taken every possibility and turned it into a wayward path forward. Forward.

↳ resolution rising action

[winterisakillerwrites]

Becoming -Part Two

Title: Becoming

One Shot: 2/6

Character: Tom Hiddleston

Genre: Realistic(?) fluff; Angst

Rating: T

Summary: Learning about his son was only just the start of the story. As Tom Hiddleston struggles to adapt to this sudden change in his life, he comes to learn that becoming a father might be the biggest role he’d ever taken on. *Sequel/Continuation of Lovers’ Eyes*

Authors Notes/Warnings: This story came about because I knew there was still so much about Tom and his son that I wanted to explore. I fully intended this to be a quick flash forward into their lives, a snapshot if you will….They had other ideas and so here we are. This is technically all one story but has been broken down into parts to make the reading easier.

Thanks so much first and foremost to @ciaodarknessmyheart who has dealt with me throwing all of these ideas at her and has helped shape them into something coherent and wonderful.

Thanks as well to @tinchentitri who also helped provide wonderful insight.

Hope you all enjoy!

Tag List: @tinchentitri @messy-insomniac-bookgirl @noplacelikehome77 @blacksuitofdoom @nonsensicalobsessions @theheartofpenelope @ms-cellanies @nuggsmum @inkededucatednnerdy @redfoxwritesstuff  @just-the-hiddles​ @wolfsmom1​ @theoneanna​ @hiddlescastle​ @sabine-leo​ @alexakeyloveloki​  @echantedbytwh @finchbaggins

PREVIOUS

Things seemed…If not easier, then certainly less dire after that evening. Tom still found himself questioning just what he was doing but the contact with Jaime, seeing his son smile and laugh made the distance easier to bear. They’d settled into a routine, speaking twice daily, once in the morning as Jaime started his day and once in the evening as he settled to bed. Even with several thousand miles between them and the relationship between them still new and fragile for it, Tom allowed himself a cautious hope that maybe, just maybe this could work. Or at least not fail completely.

 When filming wrapped four weeks later, it had taken everything in Tom to keep from running from set, to his hotel, and then straight to the nearest airport. The last thing he had any desire to do was hang about at the wrap party, but as one of the film’s stars his presence wasn’t negotiable in the eyes of his agent and majority of the crew. In the end he’d stayed long enough to make what his agent called “a respectable appearance”. He’d smiled and shared a drink but it was clear his mind was every much elsewhere.

 The flight home, only two planes and a five hour lay-over this time, was nerve-wrecking. He’d called Jaime during the layover, grateful to hear his son’s laughing voice, even if the boy was thoroughly distracted by whatever was currently on the television screen. Tom smiled as he recognized the theme playing and sighed.

 “Uncle Tom? You’ll be home soon right? You can come over and then we can play!”

 Tom swallowed thickly, trying to not let the hope in the boy’s voice overwhelm him. “I’ll see you maybe tomorrow, I’ll have to talk to your Nan to make sure.”

 Seeming satisfied with that, Jaime continued to babble on until Tom had needed to end the call when his flight was announced as boarding overhead. He’d been reluctant to end the call, not wanting to part from Jaime. It scared him, honestly, how much the little boy had come to mean to him and in such a short span of time. At times it still felt surreal, the idea he was someone’s father. That he was Jaime’s father.

 But was he even that really? Yes, he was biologically Jaime’s father; he had the paperwork and lab results to prove it, but as far as the boy was concerned he was ‘Uncle Tom’, his mummy’s silly friend who played pretend.

 And the knowledge of it burned far more than he had ever thought it would. It shouldn’t. He should have been grateful to even have a place in the boy’s life at all. It shouldn’t matter what Jaime called him. It was clear he adored Tom, clear he seemed to think the world of him. But it did. He was the boy’s father and Jaime didn’t know. And he wasn’t sure how long he would be able to honestly live with that. Tom scrubbed his face with his hands before shoving his mobile back into his pocket and running off towards the gate.

 He’d made the call to Keira in the late morning after he’d arrived home and had settled as well as he could manage. It felt strange, having to ask permission to see his own child but he knew it was her right as Keira was Jaime’s legal guardian. He could press the issue, take the matter up in the courts and take full, legal custody of the boy but at what cost? Keira was the only stable thing in Jaime’s life and as much as Tom wanted to be, he knew he couldn’t be that for the boy. Not now, not when his life was so unsteady. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone involved.

 Keira had agreed with minimal fuss; Jaime had apparently talked of nothing else from the time he’d finished speaking to Tom, throughout his bedtime routine, and well into breakfast after he’d awoken the following morning. “I figured as much,” she answered with a soft laugh, “Jaime is very much looking forward to seeing you.”

 “I am too.”

 Things fell back into their familiar new routine after that. Tom found himself spending whatever time he could at Keira’s with Jaime, ignoring the tearing at his heart whenever the boy called him ‘Uncle Tom’. It didn’t matter, he told himself. He was part of the boy’s life the hows shouldn’t matter. He wouldn’t let it matter. What mattered was he was a part of Jaime’s life.

 And that worked for a while.

 Tom did his best to balance the time he spent with Jaime with the demands his life placed on him; he did as much of the prep work for pre-production of his next project at home, only flying out at the last possible moment. He made sure to only be a phone or video call away from his son. It wasn’t ideal but it worked well enough. Tom found the work this time around grueling; when in the past he could let himself escape into the role he was playing, Tom couldn’t let himself now. Not when there was someone who needed him to be as present as possible.

 One afternoon months later, during one of Tom’s brief but desperately needed sojourns home, while they were both settled in the living room playing with Lego Jaime asked the question Tom had both longed for and dreaded with equal measure.

 “Uncle Tom, why don’t I have a daddy?”

 It was as if a pin had dropped. Tom found himself staring at the boy sitting beside him, confusion painted across his features. “What…Jaime, what’s brought this on?”

 Jaime shrugged, fidgeting with the Lego sitting before him. “Charlie’s dad takes him to the park and they play. I play with Nana Keira and you…But not my daddy. Mummy said he was away and couldn’t stay with us. But why?”

 Tom blinked at him, unsure of what to say. Jaime’s hazel eyes were large and full of question. God, how was he supposed to explain any of this to a five year-old?

 “I’d like to play in the park with my daddy like Charlie does,” Jaime continued, oblivious to the older man’s distress. “I like the swings and the slide. They’re fun and I can go high in the air. I like going high in the air. Mummy didn’t like going in the air but she always pushed me higher when I asked. Do you think my daddy likes going high in the air?”

 Again Tom felt his throat tighten as the enormity of Jaime’s questions overwhelmed him. “Maybe,” was all he could manage to whisper, though he knew it would do little to ease the questions he could still see burning in the boy’s eyes.

 “Jaime, my boy, come and get washed up for tea.” Keira’s voice echoed from the hall pulling Tom from his thoughts and sending his heart very nearly into his throat. Jaime pouted, clearly not ready for his playdate to be over.

 Tom smiled warmly at him, hoping it reached his eyes. The absolute last thing he wanted was to hurt or confuse the boy more than he already was. All he had done, after all, was ask questions that must have been rattling inside his head for a while.

 “Go listen to your Nan,” he urged, grabbing bits of Lego and dumping in back into the bin. “Go on, don’t you make her ask you a second time.”

 Jaime sighed, reluctantly got to his feet and dashed out of the living room.

 Footsteps in the hall pulled Tom’s attention from the mess around him. He dropped the pieces of Lego from his hand into the bin by his side and looked up to see Keira standing quietly in the doorway, an unreadable expression on her face. “I take it you overheard.”

 Keira nodded. “He’s been…Quite curious as of late. It was honestly only a matter of time, really.”

 Tom pushed himself to his feet. “I didn’t say anyth…I didn’t know what to say to him.”

 “I know you didn’t, but maybe it’s time you should.” Tom blinked at her in confusion. “He already adores you, Tom, and I know you feel the same. You aren’t good at sticking around, at being there for people, but I can see you trying. For Jaime. For yourself. And I can respect that.” She laughed softly, shaking her head. “I may never like you, Tom, but I am starting to respect you. Just keep trying, you never know what may come of it.”

 She smiled once more and walked from the room, calling out. “James William, those hands better be cleaned with soap and water.”

 Gods above, he still didn’t know what to make of that woman.

 Starting at his hands, Tom resolved to not bring up the subject with Jaime again unless, or until, the boy brought it up himself. As much as he wanted to her the boy call him ‘daddy’, and gods above he did, Tom knew he couldn’t just come out and say it. The words sat on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t force himself to say them aloud. It was fear, pure and simple. He was afraid of disappointing the boy. Afraid he wouldn’t be enough, wouldn’t be the kind of father Jaime deserved.

 “Uncle Tom! Are you staying for tea?” Jaime’s voice proceeded him as the little boy darted back into the living room, eyes bright and shining.

 “I…If it’s alright with your Nan.”

 Jaime reached out and grabbed Tom’s hand, dragging the tall man behind him as he raced back towards the dining room and his waiting grandmother. The question comes out in a flurry of excited words and Keira had to ask Jaime twice to slow down and repeat himself before she understood. She smiled warmly at the boy before turning her attention towards Tom. “Of course. Hope you’re alright with tomato soup and cheese toasties.”

 Tom smiled brightly. “Tomato soup and cheese toasties sounds divine.”

 Places set, the three sat around the scarred wooden dining table with bowls of steaming soup and warm toasted sandwiches sat before them. Jaime dug into the meal with the kind of abandon Tom himself tucked into pudding. “Pace yourself, Jaime. This isn’t a race,” Keira scolded.

 Jaime looked up completely unabashed, pausing to take a deep drink of his glass of milk. Tom laughed heartily at the sight. His told him many a time over the last thirty odd years that he had been a cheeky little lad growing up and that if there was any justice in the world and he had children one day they would be just like him. Gods above, he thought, Mum was right.  

 “What’s funny?” Jaime asked, his mouth full of cheese toasty.

 “Something my mum told me.”

 “Oh?” Jaime’s eyes were wide with expectation. “What?”

 Tom wiped his mouth with a napkin and folded his hands together, resting them on the table. “She told me many a time that I was a mischievous little imp, always looking for trouble, always trying something new.”

 “Mummy used to call me her silly little imp.” Jaime’s smile faltered slightly at his own admission. “I miss Mummy.”

 Instinctively, Tom reached out, resting his hand on the boy’s shoulder, squeezing it gently. “I know you do. I miss her too. She was a very good woman, your mummy.” He smiled softy at Jaime. “And I know she loved you very much.”

 Jaime blinked up at him. “You do?”

 “You were her silly little imp, Jaime. Of course she loved you so very much. She told me, just the once, how you were her whole world and I know she meant it.” Tom sighed, letting his hand ruffle through Jaime’s sandy hair. “You are a very lucky young man, Jaime lad, to have a mummy like yours.”

 “Is your mummy gone too?”

 Tom blinked at Jaime’s quiet question, caught completely off guard by it. He coughed once before speaking. “No, my mummy is still here. She lives in Suffolk though and I don’t see her as much as I should.”

 Jaime nodded, looking at Tom curiously. “Does she live with your daddy?”

 Tom shook his head. “No, Jaime,” he answered as truthfully as he could. “My mummy doesn’t live with my daddy. My daddy lives far away, all the way up in Scotland.”

 “Oh.” There was slump to the boy’s shoulders that tore at Tom’s heart. “Do you think my daddy is there too? Mummy said he lived far away too.”

 Tears burned in Tom’s eyes. “Oh Jaime…He doesn’t live in Scotland, but…But he did live far away for a time.” He didn’t know why he was saying it, didn’t know just what he was saying. But he knew he had to say something.

 “You know my daddy?” Jaime’s voice was laced with such naked hope that Tom felt his heart clench. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Keira tense. They both knew this was coming, that it had to come, but so soon?

 “Jaime…I…” He fumbled over his words. Why was this so difficult?

 “He does, Jaime,” Keira cut in, ending Tom’s nervous rambling. She shot him a knowing look, as if to say, now or never.

 Jaime’s eyes widened as he stared up at Tom with unbridled hope. “You know my daddy?”

NEXT

[catalysisrp]

As mobile tumblr no longer likes to let people click page links ( 😒 ) we've decided to drop today's preview in a post for all our mobile users' viewing pleasures!

PERDITION, NV POPULATION 1,974

Sitting stubbornly in the southern tip of Nevada, Perdition is 111 miles north of Las Vegas in rocky, sparsely habited Lincoln County. It sits in a scorched valley between the South Pahroc Range and the Delamar Range. Big Rock Wilderness stands directly north, across highway 93, so from any point in town you can see the teeth of jagged desert mountain ranges jutting up from the horizon. Its population is a small and ever-shrinking 1,974. Despite the harsh surroundings, a variety of flora and fauna surround the small town, digging out life from the feet of the mountains. Mesquite, creosote, greasewood, yucca, and more than 30 varieties of cacti dot the landscape. Sheep, foxes, coyotes, bats, wild horses, owls, tortoises and reptiles are among the hundreds of species co-existing in the rugged landscape. Check your shoes before heading out the door: three different types of scorpions live in the deserts of Nevada. Emergency rooms are also frequented by those bitten by local snakes: sidewinders, the Great Basin rattler, the western diamondback, and kingsnakes are all venomous and common.

WEATHER & CLIMATE SOUTHWESTERN USA

Perdition enjoys highs from 100 degrees in the summer to as low as 50 degrees in the winter. On average, they get 159 days of sunshine year-round. It is a semi-arid climate with very little precipitation.

NEIGHBORHOODS & RESIDENCES

King’s Canyon Estates - Home to the ever-shrinking upper echelon of Perdition, patrolled by a security guard and watched by hawkish blue bloods out of gleaming windows. The lawns are unsettlingly green and the manses are polished and opulent. Rebel Creek - Perdition residents call this run-down, burnt-out neighborhood ‘the wrong side of the creek’. Populated by shotgun houses and a few poorly maintained trailers, Rebel Creek is where the down-and-out lurk. As more of the city falls on hard economic times, more residents find themselves washed up here. It’s not advised to walk through at night. Steptoe Terrace Apartments - Close to downtown, reasonably priced, utilitarian. Nothing fancy, not run down; lived-in. It’s a step up from Rebel Creek, at least. Sunridge Court - Middle class Perdition residents live here in their modest but well-built houses and small but pleasantly tended yards. It’s close to the schools, the small city library, and most of downtown proper. Alta Vista - ATLAS employees have brought an unusual white-collar wealth to Perdition, driving up property values and forcing some people out of their homes altogether. This new development sprung up shortly after the ATLAS compound’s arrival, built on land wrenched from the impoverished hands of ranchers and homeowners on the outskirts of Perdition. Eminent Domain and skyrocketing property taxes have left a small but not insignificant portion of residents relocating to Steptoe and Rebel Creek, unable to afford to rebuild and unwilling to move away from the town their families have called home for so many generations.

PERDITION PROPER & LOCAL BUSINESSES

City Hall - The administration building of local municipal government, like everything in Perdition, has seen better days. Not many folk in town are particulalry pleased with their mayor, but no one ever seems to run against him. Sheriff’s Department & Perdition Jailhouse - Sheriff’s office, a small dispatch office, and a few jail cells for penning any rowdy drunks from the Widowmaker. Red Rock Elementary School - Pre-k - grade 6 Perdition High School - Grades 7 - 12, home of the Fighting Mules! Pike’s Food & Drug - The only grocer & pharmacy in town, owned by the Pike family, six-generation Perdition locals. It’s a snapshot in time, especially the functioning-and-fully-stocked cigarette vending machine and the soda fountain that’s still in service. Golden Oasis Casino - With the promise of a major highway to connect Perdition to the rest of the world, eager investors saw dollar signs and poured piles of money into a brand new casino in 1952. When the highway development fell through and the money dried up, it decayed into what it is today: a place for locals to pull the creaky levers on old penny slots and ignore the indoor smoking ban. Silver Strike Diner - While its silvery accents and vinyl booths are dinged and sunbleached, the food is just as good as when the Silver Strike opened in 1950. Cheap, greasy, open 24/7. The jukebox hasn’t worked since 2002. The Widowmaker - This saloon, built in 1902 and originally named The Silver Dollar Saloon, stands right on the edge of Rebel Creek and decent society. It’s an utter dive: dark, dingy, cheap, and rowdy. Look out for bar fights and pickpockets. Sandman Motel - Its peeling-paint neon sign can be seen from the highway, a symbol of bygone days (and missing the ‘T’ on one side). You have to be pretty desperate to stay here; all-sorts roll in off the highway to rent out these rooms. Last Chance Gas - Local gas station open 24/7 selling cold beer, cigarettes, essentials, and lotto tickets. It’s the ‘last chance for gas’ for the next 100 miles down America’s Loneliest Highway.

OUTER PERDITION & SURROUNDING WILDERNESS

Professor Chromium’s Monster Museum & Creature Feature! - Just off Highway 50! Come, be amazed! Mysterious creatures great and small from the world over; creatures as you’ve never seen! In the time-honored tradition of now-defunct circus freak shows, Professor Chromium’s Monster Museum is a sprawling old warehouse made into a maze of clever taxidermy, creative Frankensteining of stuffed creatures, jars of mysterious claws and limbs. Locals serve as tour guides for tourists and cashiers at the wildly overpriced gift shop stuffed with kitschy souvenirs. Some even say a few of the creatures are genuine horrors, but who would believe them? Perot Mine - There’s a saying around town, and it’s ‘all the money in Perdition comes from Perot’. The mine opened for operation in 1902 when prospectors were hunting for new veins as the mine in Delamar had been providing dwindling returns for a few years before the fire ravaged the town in 1900. William Perot founded the mine and the town of Perdition sprung up nearby. All of high society in Perdition is related to, or married to, a Perot. It employs a huge portion of the Perdition population, but its returns are now dwindling, too. Quarter after quarter, less and less gold and silver ore has been hauled out of Perot. There are whispers of lay-offs on the horizon and even the upper crust of Perdition is starting to get nervous. Perdition Uranium Mine & Mill - from 1951 to 1968, a uranium mining boom swept across America. Spurred by the Atomic Energy Commission and the Cold War, Nevada was a focal point for substantial uranium prospecting and mining. Just outside Perdition, a uranium mine and mill cropped up, employing hundreds of locals and bringing an additional economic boom to the small town in addition to the long-standing gold mine. It was shuttered in 1972, boarded up, and now stands as an ugly relic littered with radioactive warning signs all along the perimeter. Curious teenagers have gone missing inside, and sometimes strange noises can be heard across the flat desert from within its neglected depths. The ATLAS Compound - In 2015, after a flurry of federally funded construction activity behind high chain link fence, a collection of bureaucratic government buildings cropped up like a deposit of hard, shiny minerals along the horizon just outside of town, near the old Perdition Uranium Mine and Milling site. Its perimeter is gated and the gatehouse is always manned by armed guards. This government compound includes a huge lab, offices, and a medical wing. Officially, it is designated as an arm of the Department of the Interior. Delamar - A ghost town dubbed ‘The Widow-maker’ due to deadly dry milling techniques that killed dozens and dozens of the men who worked at the Delamar mine. Established in 1891, the mine operated lucratively until 1900 when nearly the entire city burned to the ground. After a difficult recovery, the mine closed in 1909 and by 1914 the town was abandoned. Nothing but the skeleton of old buildings and lingering ghosts remain in Delamar. Big Rock Wilderness - Fully encompassing the southernmost portion of the South Pahroc Range, this gorgeous national park includes steep and jagged mountains, canyons and an expansive field of large, jumbled boulders loved by rock climbers all over the state. Recreational opportunities include climbing, camping, hiking, horseback riding and hunting.

[chaospanics]

February roundup! This time with a graphic oooo (this is also the cover of the spotify playlist I made collecting all the tracks I posted to this account this month).

I kind of dropped the ball listening to new releases this month and my backlog is already out of control. My full list of February releases is pretty short so I think that providing the whole list of what I listened to in a month is not going to work as I tend to be playing catchup every month after January lol. I’ll think about a better solution for March, maybe a google doc?

Anyway, here are my highlights: 

Bathe Alone - Last Looks

Last Looks is Bathe Alone's debut full length LP. While writing the majority of the music over the course of a year in 2019, Bailey's ultimate goal was to write a sonically cohesive experience you could lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling to.

Black Country, New Road - For The First Time

Recorded with Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine) during the early part of this year and then finished at the end of the nationwide lock-down, the album is the perfect capturing of a new band and all the energy, ferocity and explosive charge that comes with that whilst also clearly the work of a group who have no interest in repetition, one-note approaches or letting creative stagnation set in. Featuring six new songs including reinterpretations of early tracks "Sunglasses" and "Athens, France," For The First Time is a sonic time capsule that somehow manages to bottle the past, the present and the future... Indeed the band found they had to stop themselves running too far ahead in order to document this album in a way that felt as truthful as possible.

Cal Fish - Plastic Flag

Plastic Flag as an effort began in Berlin in the summer of 2017. Admittedly listening to Calling out of Context most mornings, Cal was carefully piecing together loops from cassettes found on the streets and beats made on an iPad. Over the next year Cal built the songs through performance and experiment and when they returned to Europe the following summer began sewing together discarded and gifted polybags into flags to be shared and used in performance. The album plays with eclectic combinations made possible by bringing together the idiosyncratic clock of tape loops, highly quantized beats, and seemingly endless drones pursuing and freezing Cal's vocals and flute remarks. In content Plastic Flag is a whimsical snapshot of an earth filled with Plastic, Cars, Power, Dance, Love-Attempt, Poisoned Ecosystems, and Longing!

Mogwai - As The Love Continues

Scottish post-rock band Mogwai have released their ninth album As The Love Continues. The band has been a pioneering staple of the genre for over 25 years, expanding into soundtracks for documentaries and TV shows around the world that have allowed them to expand beyond just the dreamy rock music they create. Though their soundtracks can be intertwined with their regular artist albums at times, this has the feeling of a proper album to build on a legacy cemented among the greats...This isn’t an album where they completely rewrite their playbook and that is fine. They don’t need to do that. It is nice to feel relaxed with a new Mogwai album. Like most of their projects, the pacing is measured, but there are moments of exaltation where every element bursts with the energy of a kid at the end of a sugar high. (Magnetic)

White Ring - Show Me Heaven

With their DIY ethos while dwelling on the outskirts of pop music, White Ring have developed a unique style while pushing the boundaries of accessibility and musical genre. They have created a piece of art that is brimming with symbolism and underlying tensions, that seduces, scares and comforts in equal measure. (Darla)

And a couple leftovers from January:

Crystal Canyon - Yours With Affection And Sorrow

On its second LP, Yours with Affection and Sorrow, this Portland dream-pop quartet isn’t interested in the kind of hooks that reach out and grab you by the ear. These musicians are more concerned with creating atmospheres using shoegaze tempos, hushed vocals, enigmatic lyrics and layered guitars. If it takes a while to reach us, that’s OK. (Mainer)

Divide And Dissolve - Gas Lit

Gas Lit is our fight for Indigenous Sovereignty, Black and Indigenous Liberation, Water, Earth, and Indigenous land given back. Gas Lit is fighting against the dispossession of our people, land, water, and spirit. Gas Lit is a call to transformation and freedom. Gas Lit seeks to make a contribution to undermining and destroying the white supremacist colonial framework.

Albums I’m really looking forward to in march include releases from Pierce With Arrow, Xiu Xiu, and Ben Howard.

my last.fm ～ spotify 

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

Journey to Manila w/ my Paper Dolls [Recorded Jan 8th, 2023]

Hello, my secret friends! Here's what I'm promised. A journey to Manila, featuring my family & my paper dolls. 🙂🌃🇵🇭

If you haven't seen my 1st episode of "Take a Taste" 2023, then please [CLICK ME!].😉

So, without further ado, let's get started:

1st to 5th Image(s): ↑

• This is before we go to "1919 Grand Cafe" for some delicious sweet treats, and also after we ate at the "Delicious Restaurant".

• Before we proceed to another eating established, let's take a look at the "New Binondo Chinatown Arch". ⛩️🇨🇳🏙️ Isn't it pretty, you two? Love the changing colors! 😊💡

Fun fact #1: Did you know, that "Binondo's Chinatown" in Manila was considered the most oldest Chinatown in the world? That's right! It was established in 1594; 182 years before the United States of America declares their independence (July 4th, 1776) 🇺🇸📖🪶, and 304 years before the Philippines (my country) declares our independence (June 12th, 1898) 🇵🇭📖🪶. That's old! 😁 Know about more "Binondo's Chinatown"? Then please [CLICK ME!].

6th to 8th Image(s): ↑

• And this is after we're leaving the "1919 Grand Cafe".

• Here are my last three photos, as we stroll along at the new improved "Jones Bridge" 🌉. Yes, I said it "new improved" because of Mayor of Manila (Isko Moreno) order the officials to renovate the bridge into a nostalgic looking reminiscent of the past, and it amazed us. Don't ya think, you two? 😊 Love the scenery w/ the Philippine iconic structure; the "Manila Central Post Office". ✉️🏛️🇵🇭

Fun Fact #2: The original name of this bridge was "William A. Jones Memorial Bridge", It is named after the United States legislator William Atkinson Jones [CLICK ME! #1], although, Mr. Jones didn't architect the bridge, but rather a Filipino designer named Juan M. Arellano [CLICK ME! #2]. The original style of the "Jones Bridge" was the "Neoclassical arch bridge", from 1919 to 1945, where the latter was bombed by Japanese Army forces during WWII. A year later, they revived the Jones Bridge w/ several alterations until 2019. Which, I've already mentioned before.

Final Overall:

• My entire family are satisfied our stroll & eating delicious food from two establishments, at the same time. We're haven't done this since the pandemic, and we're missing out some great places in Manila (and other parts in my country). Here's hoping, that we planning another bonding, someday. 😊 And don't worry, we're always wearing face mask & arming some sanitation sprays. 😷😉

Well, that’s all for now. More journey moments, coming soon. 😊

And If you haven’t seen my previous episodes of "Take a Taste", then I’ll provide some links down below.↓😉

Take a Taste 2022:

• Popeyes U.S. Spicy Chicken Sandwich [Dec 6, 2021]

• Jollibee Chick'nwich & Crisscut Fries [Dec 21, 2021]: Part 1 [CLICK ME! #1], Part 2 [CLICK ME! #2]

• Mini Stop Chicken Fillet XL Sandwich [Feb 7, 2022]

• Minute Burger Cheese Burger(s) [Mar 1, 2022]

• Pepper Lunch Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice w/ Egg (& Honey Brown Sauce) [Mar 5, 2022]

• Bacsilog’s Sulit Combo Bacon-Tocino & Samgyup Day’s Pork Herbs [Mar 12, 2022]

• Burger King Whopper w/ Sides & Drink [May 6, 2022]

• Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca-Cola Zero [Aug 26, 2022]

• Cheesy Burger McDo with Lettuce & Tomatoes Meal [Recorded: Sept 16, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s PH McSpicy & Apple Pie (featuring their World Famous Fries) [Nov 14, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s McCrispy Hamonado Sandwich [Dec 31st, 2022]

Take a Taste 2023:

• Foods from Delicious Restaurant & 1919 Grand Cafe [Jan 8th, 2023]

Tagged: @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @leapant

[girl4music]

My review of the XBOX Series X

So I’ve had nearly a full week with the XBOX Series X and here is my honest opinion on my experience with it and this is my initial review of it. I’m not gonna talk about the technology or go into anything about the console’s hardware too deeply. I will talk about the features and benefits it offers. Going into some things that work and don’t work as well as promised by Microsoft and XBOX. Finally, I will talk about all the bugs and issues that I experienced and found most annoying. Most of which have already been identified and reported. 

First up, be aware that I am coming from an XBOX 360 as my last XBOX console experience so I may say stuff that applies to the XBOX One as well.

1. BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY AND AUTO HDR: Microsoft promised that the XBOX Series X and S would work right out of the box with 1000’s of gaming titles across 4 generations. This promise holds up… However, they do not run anywhere half as well as they also promised they would. They do run better than their native platform, that is true. But it’s not a groundbreaking difference. And AUTO HDR doesn’t really work with most games that never had it to begin with. It makes the colours and textures look really odd and you don’t get that nostalgic feeling of playing an old legacy title because of the “updates”. Which is something I was very much looking forward to. It’s pick your poison I guess. You can either have a legacy game running better and looking greater on a platform that can take the graphical fidelity and framerate boosts, or have a full reunion with your beloved legacy games from your childhood. You can turn AUTO HDR off via the main console settings, but this still doesn’t really give you the latter. Not in my personal opinion anyway. It’s not disappointing as it’s not something I really expected. I just would have liked to have it. Nostalgia >>> Shiny any day.

2. QUICK RESUME AND LOADING TIMES: The XBOX Series X (can’t speak for the S) has significantly improved on speed thanks to the custom lightning fast and functional SSD. So much so that you can now travel between multiple games fully loaded up on the SSD within the time of a few seconds. However, quick resume is not only useful to be able to play between 3 or 4 games (more according to YouTube influencers who have tried and tested this out far more than me) in one sitting. You can also effectively use it to save your game. Or rather… Replace save states IN a game. What quick resume allows you to do is keep your game saved at ANY point, and completely SHUT the console down and UNPLUG it for several days (or longer, again, never tested it that far) and then PLUG it in and switch it ON again, and come back to exactly where you left off in the game. And I do mean EXACTLY WHERE YOU LEFT OFF!

For example; you could be in an all-important boss fight in ‘Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla’ and be so frustrated with not being able to beat this boss after trying many times. You could indeed just pause the game, come out to the dashboard, turn the console off and walk away from it all…. And when you came back to have another go at it, you would not have to restart the boss fight and just carry on with where you left off in chopping down their health. I did this several times because I suck at boss fights… And every time, this worked and it was the strategy that got me through them all. So a little cool off time is more than affordable with the XBOX Series X. And if you hate boss fights, suddenly you won’t hate boss fights as much anymore if you do the same. It makes a world of a difference to your experience. Believe me, quick resume is a literal life-saver.

To add to that, you also benefit from much quicker load times both with booting up the games and in-game fast-travelling or level-entering. Instead of 5 minutes waiting for a game to boot up into the main campaign or wherever,… It will take at most up to 50 seconds for the most power-taxing of games. 'Grand Theft Auto 5' for instance, known for it’s notoriously long boot into story or online mode… Now only takes 10 seconds from the company title advertisements to get into the area of the game you want to play. It is so fast that you do not have the time to read the tips and tricks dialogue that takes up the screen during the initial loading. It’s honestly a quality of life you never even knew you needed or was missing until you had it.

3. BUGS AND ISSUES: Being that I bought the XBOX Series X at Launch (November 10th), I very much expected it to come with a plethora of bugs and issues to discover and be witness to as a consumer and user of newly developed and released hardware and software. And these bugs and issues have already been identified and reported to Microsoft and the respective console and game developers. Bugs where you cannot play games that offer 4K at 120 hertz (4K/120fps) without visual and audial distortions or even without turning the game off altogether. I particularly had trouble with this in trying to play ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider' 20 Year Celebration edition. Once I downloaded it from the XBOX Store fully, (which took a LONG FUCKING TIME, we’ll get on to that in a bit), I immediately tried to play it and because my display settings were set at 4K/120 because I have a TV that supports that setting, it was having all sorts of problems in booting up. There was all this distortion happening on screen both visually and audially that I thought my ultra high speed HDMI cable that came with the console was broken or faulty. I also remember specifically that it kept turning my Game Mode on and off rapidly and I didn’t know how to stop it avoiding a full reset of the console. This game was the worst for it but it also happened in other games I tried to play too. Including those I had as physical disks.

Speaking of… I did not encounter the “black/blank screen of death” issue other next-gen XBOX consumers and users did where you would enter a game disk and be met with a black or blank screen. BUT I did have trouble with downloading the “updates” for the games I had bought physically. I expected the games I downloaded digitally to take a long time to download fully, but I figured that it would be much quicker for the “updates” for physical games. This was not the case, and for some games, it actually took LONGER. I don’t know why this happens or if it can even be fixed in a firmware update, but it has put me off buying games physically for it, which is certainly not a good thing for store game retailers. And I’m someone who actually cares about that and would want to help them out as much as possible since they are a dying breed. But if it takes longer to download physical games than to download digital games, I’m not sure I can hold up that promise. The time it takes to download is a major frustration for me. I’ll be leaving my console on for long periods of time doing nothing but downloading that I otherwise wouldn’t. And I’ve got to say right now that I am glad I do not have an OLED TV where this would be much more of a problem due to burn-in risks. I would highly suggest anyone who is buying a new TV for their XBOX Series X or S with all the bells and whistles to not buy an OLED for this reason. Leaving an OLED TV on with a display picture that never moves for hours at a time would severely decrease it’s life and usage capacity. I recommend a Samsung QLED TV instead. That’s what I’ve got. I bought their Q95T 55inch 4K TV for gaming alone and it has not disappointed in the slightest. But I won’t go into why it’s the better TV to buy for next-gen gaming since this is not a TV review. You can look that up for yourselves at your leisure.

Another issue the XBOX Series X has is with its sharing image snapshots and video clips feature. The new controller for the console has a dedicated share button and that works really well. I’ve had no problems with it capturing the content that I want to share. But sharing to social media and to XBOX Live itself is the issue. And this happens with video clips more so than image snapshots. For some reason, when I go to share a video clip to Twitter, the load bar moves forward partly but then it immediately stops and gives me a black/blank screen. And sure enough, when I go to check my Twitter on my phone, it has not posted the video clip. And trying to share it to XBOX Live first and then share it to Twitter from my phone via the XBOX app doesn’t work either. The same issue applies here too. Black/blank screen when trying to share it to XBOX Live. Snapshot images also has this issue but every once in awhile it will allow you to share to both XBOX Live and social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch ect…) whereas it will not allow you to share video clips at all. This is an issue Microsoft are aware of and are apparently fixing in a November firmware update at the end of the month. To what degree they fix it though is the real question because this feature is buggy as hell. So much for promoting and hyping up that dedicated share button on the controller, eh Phil Spencer and Co?

Well, that’s it. That’s been my experience with the XBOX Series X so far. Of course the pros of quick resume and loading times cut in half far outweigh the cons of faulty 4K resolution at 120 hertz gameplay and buggy sharing content features. I say do not let that put you off buying this fantastic piece of hardware because those bugs and issues can be fixed easily. The extremely long downloading for digital and physical games might not though and you might want to reconsider buying a next-gen XBOX console if you have an OLED TV. Or if you have the console already but not the TV to get the most advantages out of the console, consider buying a Samsung QLED instead. Thank you.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#1yrago The Death of Tumblr

Tumblr will ban 'female-presenting nipples' and other content beginning December 17, 2018. Photographer and writer Nate 'Igor' Smith is a longtime Tumblr user whose work straddles the boundaries of art, editorial, and adult. Here, Nate explains why Tumblr's decision to censor is devastating for the Tumblr's longtime users, and the rest of us. — XJ

THERE WAS A TIME when Tumblr was my favorite place to post photos. It was a social network that you could customize in so many ways that you could create a blog or a mood board or hide a secret project behind a password protected gate. It was used by so many people in so many different ways. You could posts .gifs on Tumblr before they worked on Twitter and you could post uncompressed images that looked good on desktop or smartphone without having to know any code.

I used it as a great place to post images that I could then send to Twitter to get around Twitter’s terrible compression and constantly flowing feed. I used it as a place to organize my images because of Tumblr’s tagging system. I could search for a person or subject or send someone a link to just a specific tag so they could see all my favorite photos of juggalos for example. It was a fantastic tool and my most popular social network until Instagram really exploded.

My career as a photographer took off right around the same time as Twitter and Tumblr and Tumblr really felt like a place where I could post my more personal work alongside my more commercial stuff. I would shoot digitally for my clients and then post my 35mm work to Tumblr’s fantastic film photography community. My road trip photos didn’t feel out of place with my nude work on Tumblr. The band photos I shot for Rolling Stone didn’t feel strange next to the outtakes of work that I shot for Hustler or Playboy. My nightlife work for the Village Voice worked with the snapshots of my friends that I took with a point and shoot camera. The journalism I shot for Vice worked with the terrible Dos and Don’ts I also shot for Vice.

The photographer Corwin Prescott put it perfectly when he said “I think the saddest part for me is Tumblr was the only place that all my work could be displayed side by side.”

His Tweet featured gorgeous photos of a buffalo in the fog and a mountain reflected in an icy pond next to two equally beautiful erotic images. Tumblr was a perfect place for us, photographers who crossed the line between commercial and adult work many times over.

Tumblr had some problems of course; content was constantly posted and reblogged without a source, tags like “#thinspiration” became upsettingly popular and porn was everywhere which was clearly a problem for a social network that had a younger audience. But it was also a place for people to explore their sexuality and gender and find adult materials without blame and find communities of people dealing with issues they were going through. Like Facebook with “Fake News” and Twitter with Nazis Tumblr faced these issues with the grace of a pigeon nubs for feet.

When Tumblr was sold to Yahoo! for over a billion dollars in 2013 Yahoo! did what they do best, they destroyed the company. I don’t really want to go through the history of Tumblr’s downfall, there’s plenty of stuff you can read about it, but let’s skip to 2017 which is when they lost me.

Last year Tumblr started filtering “adult” blogs. Instead of giving you an option to mark specific content adult or not, they just marked any Tumblr account with nudity as adult and the only way you could view these Tumblrs would be to log into your Tumblr account and turn off “Safe Search”. This meant anyone without a Tumblr account, or without being logged into one, wouldn’t be able to see anything I posted. So that means sharing to Twitter was done and it meant I could no longer send people links to my work via Tumblr. It gutted me. That was the end of Tumblr for me.

A year later I decided that I should maybe go back to Tumblr. I wasn’t going to share that stuff with Twitter anymore, but I had 20,000 people following me on Tumblr and I felt I could post the occasional post for them. I didn’t update a lot after that, but it was actually fun to see feedback from Tumblr because the few people left were actively engaging with my content. I had missed Tumblr.

In March of 2018 a bill called FOSTA-SESTA was passed. The House was called FOSTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) and the Senate bill was called SESTA (Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act). They passed with wide bipartisan support and were hailed as some great achievement in stopping sex trafficking. In reality what they did was destroy the Internet as we know it.

The bills make websites liable for sex trafficking and child pornography on their platforms. Meaning if someone uploaded child porn to Tumblr, then Tumblr could be responsible for that. (This also had major implications for consensual sex work because a platform like Craigslist is liable for escort ads published on their site. I could write a much longer article about that, but for the moment we are talking about Tumblr.)

In November Tumblr was kicked off the Apple Store because of child porn reports and less than a month later Tumblr decided that they would shut down all adult content on the site (meanwhile Twitter is still filled with Nazis) including “female presenting nipples”. It’s like killing a fly with a rocket launcher.

I went to my Tumblr today and I found that the majority of my posts over the last couple years had been flagged. They missed some stuff, but more often the flagged things that weren’t adult. They flagged women in underwear, “male presenting” nipples, and even images of alcohol and smoking. Clearly some of these were a mistake like an image of my friend eating ice cream and Tumblr has created a review process, but if click to “Learn More” about the review process it opens up blank browser window. Impressive.

This has been a disaster for Tumblr and instead of fixing their platform, it’s just putting the final nail in their coffin. I have been wrong about a lot of things in my life, but I would be very surprised if Tumblr is as relevant as MySpace a year from now.

If you have a Tumblr with adult content (or really any content) make sure you download or export your Tumblr before December 17th.

If you want to enjoy some of the incredibly offensive things that Tumblr flagged please enjoy this Twitter thread at least until Twitter blows itself up a few months from now…

https://boingboing.net/2018/12/03/the-death-of-tumblr.html