#Which is crazy because IT IS THE CANON ENDING ITS LITERALLY REAL

[mcybree]

considering my brand is bitching about FH all day, sometimes I feel bad at convincing myself wcsmp didn’t end well for scott and milo. Like damn girl leave him with SOMETHING…

[umbrelladripdrop]

DPxDC Idea 2

This one I've actually attempted to write at one point but only got a lil over a chapter done before I moved on and while I do want to write it, I'm also being realistic when I say I probably won't so for a compromise I'll post it here:

Basicly after DP canon has run its course (sans phantom planet obviously) Danny is just chilling with Sam and Tucker when suddenly there's a snag in the conversation that Danny just can't handle. They've all been working together and been there for each other through all the crazy that's happened after the 'portal incident', but at the same time, Sam and Tucker, and even Jazz, can't quite be there for Danny for everything. More specifically, when it comes to the fact that Danny actually died and the effects that has on him.

In my attempt at a fic it came up with Danny complaining to Sam and Tucker about Jazz being overprotective, even if she has been getting better at not being so bad about it all the time, and Sam ends up actually agreeing with Jazz. The friction comes from Sam and Tucker saying how they wish Danny didn't have to be a hero which hurts Danny because he needs to help, he needs to protect the town, and yet his friends are saying that they wish he didn't. It's a bit of a miscommunication sure, but it's also that Sam and Tucker just can't get it and Danny does eventually realize this but not before he storms off and flies all across town.

And on that flight, is where he says those dreaded words:

"I wish that I could just- just talk to someone who understands for once!"

And *boop*! In a sparkle of green dust pops out a real confused Red Hood stranded on a rooftop that has now been thouraly left in Danny's dust as the teen said the words while flying at least 100 miles an hour and therefore did not see the sudden appearance of a person who was not there five seconds ago.

Yep, Desiree is here but literally only for plot stuff as she's the jumping-off point for this fic. She's like the 'big bad' if you want to call her that, but only because they need to fight and defeat her to undo the spell but other than that this would be a pretty chill fic with some nice Jason and Danny (and even Tim and Danny) bonding and shenanigans.

The premise is that, after this wish and first instance of Danny accidentally summoning someone, it keeps happening. After Jason finally meets up with Danny (Red Hood finds himself in a new area so after like a day or two of research and no contact with the bats [ghostly/GIW caused radio black out or something] he does the smart thing and seeks out the towns resident hero) he gets flashes of why he's here and now he knows he's here cause both he and the kid share the experience of death so yeah he's helping this kid now. After that he and Danny (and Tucker and Sam cause they all made up now) find out that anytime Danny states a fact about his life that's weird or slightly traumatizing, he ends up summoning someone who shares that experience with him. Some examples/possibilities I came up with are:

"Who else fights eldrich horrors and what are essentially God's on the regular?" Cue John Constantine popping up, taking one look at Danny, and giving an emphatic fuck this and teleporting out.

"Well- uh- I bet no one else has had their DNA stolen by a freaky billionaire who's weirdly obsessed with them and then cloned them!" Cue Clark showing up frazzled until he sees Jason and just sighs in acceptance of the Weird Bat Shit.

"No! I refuse! There's no way in hell that someone's had to go and fight their future evil self because they came back in time to stop me from making it so their timeline never comes to pass!" Oh and now Tim is here, now him and Jason can start planin on how to fix this mess (and Tim and Danny can start to be friends too. All the bat bonding).

Those are just the first few back to back ones that Danny spews out in his denial that this is even happening after that initial meet up and explination with Jason. Clark ends up dipping with a promise to tell Bruce that Jason and Tim are alright an are just on a mission now I guess, they're not stuck since both Clark and Constantine could leave but it's not like they were just gonna let this shit slide, so yeah they're staying to help out.

Cue plot/shenanigans/accidentally trauma dumping since the spell makes Danny more suseptible to spewing his guts that way the spell can work more by summoning more people. The summons are based off proximity in a sense because they pull in the person closest that can relate to whatever Danny said.

This leads to Jason and Tim end up getting re-summoned again with a few other points like:

"Getting kidnaped by some old creep on the regular is not a fun time." Tim gets teleported back to Danny and they just... stare at each other because didn't this already happen? Aka this is when they figure out the summoning can apparently stack.

"Yeah like I was supposed to know that getting kidnapped by a ‘father figure’ for ‘my own good’ and wanting to strangle said father figure on multiple occasions was a universal experience." Jason who was sitting in a chair ten feet away is now only two feet away and no longer sitting in a chair and falls to the ground with a waterfall of swears.

"None of you get what it's like to have an older sibling as overbearing as jazz!"Jason teleports again and absolutely flips his shit and goes to fucking gag the twirp because this is the third god damned time Danny!

After Jason's 3rd teleportation, they pause the search for what's happening in favor of trying to figure out why he seems incapable of keeping his mouth shut. Literally. Even Danny says that he doesn't know why he's saying all this. They head down to the lab, which leads to this:

"Oh yeah we can go down here all the time, comes with the territory of borderline neglectful parents." Tim who wasn't on the stairs is suddenly now on the stairs (Jazz was leading the way and therefore farther away) and tips head over tea kettle which makes Jason laugh his ass off all while going how does it feel now?!

There's a potential for so many more summonings and accidentally trauma dumping shenanigans/emotional comfort opportunities but these were just all the ones I could come up with.

The day is eventually saved when they trick Desiree back but Jason and Tim end up staying in touch with Danny and end off with everyone being friends cause I'm a sucker for good endings and fluff. Again I might get to making this an actual fic but I'm already working on a big one (and slacking on it a bit my bad) so who knows? But I at least wanted to get the idea out there somewhere in case someone else wanted to play with the idea.

[cosmicmordecai]

Im so tired of the Ki-Adi-Mundi hate just because he is not in direct favor of some fandom favorites here:

It’s not crazy he didn’t believe Qui-Gon initially like DAMN that does sound crazy and unlikely if you really thought the Sith were dead for a millennia. This also ignores the fact that the Jedi Council believed his claim had merit , something FANDOM ignores in general because people were too focused the Council dared to tell True Jedi™️ Qui-Gon “no” on training Anakin & how “mean” they were to Anakin to realize Mundi was the one to point out the events undergone would draw out the Queen’s attacker (Maul) & Windu tasked Qui-Gon on unearthing the attacker & believed it was “the clue needed to unravel the MYSTERY of the SITH”.

It’s not his fault Ahsoka looked hella guilty & he believed it. It’s really hard not to say Ahsoka didn’t shoot herself in the foot when she went through all of Barris’s traps to make her look hells guilty, which included:

Killing Leta whole hiding her presence to implicate Asoka while having also told Leta prior Ahsoka would help her should she get in trouble before the operation to set her up.

Leading Ahsoka to escape a detention facility while making it look like she killed guards on her way out (mind you, it’s Clones making this call that she’s doing this) [Had Ahsoka stayed in it, she would of saved herself a LOT of the trouble she ended up in.]

Seen later conspiring with Ventress, a known war criminal with ties to the Sith & CIS. Like given Ventress wasn’t even of interest to the case initially, it literally didn’t help Ahsoka because it made her look even worse. Her only counter to that on trial was they had a “understanding”

She both resisted arrest & then was found in the same place that made the nanotech bombs used in the Temple bombing.

Like i’m sorry, I would of thought Ahsoka was guilty too if she weren’t a protagonist and we didn’t watched that unfolded . That is not Ahsoka or the Council fault because that was some methodical planning & improvising on Barris’s part, which is the real problem or one of the big ones on that arc.

Also, Mundi’s marriage is not the result of anything Lucas did when he was still spearheading nor is it involved in the actual canon stuff. The fact it’s dubious even in LEGENDS & never hinted in any of the big media should tell you a lot.And even if it was, its not a legitimate argument for Anakin. The Council in that alternate continuity gave that exception with caveats & expectations which Mundi adhered too under special circumstances involving birth rates, which is weird but a hella lot different situation then the notion Anakin can shoot his shot & be both married & adhere to Jedi commitments.

I mean really, Mundi is hated for daring to be a character whose idea contrasts other “favorited” protagonists & thinking he is a case of exceptionalism in contrast to someone who gets it way more often than he should.

[mazeinthemiroh]

If you feel comfortable can you do ateez being OBSESSED with reader's boobs

ateez being obsessed with their s/o's boobs

genre: fluff, suggestive ig?

warnings: not proofread, suggestive but not really - all boob talk in these headcanons are strictly fluffy and non-sexual. just some cute lil boob appreciation :D

a/n: yk what i don't usually do stuff like this but i WILL do this one because boobs need to be appreciated and loved :3

hongjoong

god, he loves them...

so he mainly uses them as pillows

will complain about the ache in his neck a lot because he's been tiring away and hunched over in the studio for hours bless 🤧🤧🤧

and he gives you shiny eyes

"you know what would really help me?"

you already know the answer

so you sigh in defeat as he happily snuggles his head on your chest and just lays there

and its endearing because he has never drifted off to sleep so fast before...

seonghwa

this is so funny because i have seen most to leasts of who is most likely to be a boob guy in ateez and seonghwa is ALWAYS< WITHOUT FAIL on top

like... is this canon??? where you guys getting this info from to collectively agree with each other??

anyways, the rumours are true. he loves 'em

just likes a soft they are

and how they look

and how they feel when he hugs you...

idk he just adores them, you get the idea

yunho

openly adores your boobs

he's a man who knows what he wants, yk?

"life's too short to not love boobs"

a new motto of his. charming.

likes it when you wear clothing that accentuates or complements your boobs

he admires them <33333

also he's tall so you gotta watch out for when he's trying to take a peak which is always

yeosang

will absolutely stare at them mindlessly or when he is bored

you know when some people just zone out

he tends to do that a lot. but why does he have to look at that specific area?? idk you tell me

he just thinks they're nice :)

gets a bit shy when you wear an outfit that shows cleavage

he's constantly trying to reprimand himself like "don't look it's not polite"

all i'm gonna say is that you can totally use his obsession to your advantage hehe

san

he's a very clingy boy

and yk what, idk about you but, i'm here for it

he is a cuddle bug and wants to cuddle into you 25/8

claims your boobs are simply the most comfortable things on the planet

and simply has to be in contact with them in some way whilst you guys snuggle up

he does like being on top of you and having his head on your chest. that's less of a boob-obsession thing and more of a comfort thing. he jsut likes being held and being close to you like that ;-;

idk he's a softie

mingi

i classify this guy as being the number 1 boob appreciator in ateez

there's just something about him

i can just TELL he lovesssss them

more than he should, probably

but we can cut him some slack cos he's cute :]

he tries to be subtle with his admiration for your boobs but he literally isn't fooling anyone

another tall guy to look out for because he can and will stare at your boobs

he can be so obvious sometimes it's actually embarrassing

wooyoung

every time he goes in for a hug, his head ends up on your chest as he hugs you

i have a friend who does that all the time like it's a real thing

it's kinda cute actually

and it's less to piss you off and more because he thinks they are comfy

will also use them as pillows

but likes it when he's the small spoon and he can feel them behind him

idk he's not picky when it comes to this so ��

jongho

he thinks he's so slick and prim and proper but the moment he catches a glimpse of your boobs it's over for him

he's surprisingly shy about his love for your boobs

like

he doesn't know what to do with himself

wants to touch them non-sexually but second guesses himself

'would you find it weird? am i going crazy?'

those are the types of things going through his mind

but he just stays a blushing mess while you're blissfully unaware of the effect you have on him

[eternalera]

realizing that there was so much missed potential between kate and immortal makes me lowkey mad ngl. cause i actually HATE them and they make the story so much worse when they could be making it better. lemme just- okay here

starting off with kate, arguably the worse between the two as her power in the series is literally just being canon fodder. she doesn't have any tactics for her abilities like her brother as well.

we all know that kate was raised by the government as her and her brothers powers made their dad go crazy, making it so that the only people in her life was the government and her brother. her brother then LEFT her and she was left with only the government (smth which you do NOT want to be raised by).

then there's her powers and the fact that she feels literally everything that happens to any one of her clones. making them all the real kate. as there's not one kate, she can duplicate a clone and then die, making the clone she duplicated be the next real kate. they would also feel the death of whatever happened to ANY of the clones that die.

yeah that's gotta fucking hurt. then there's the fact that she most likely can't retire unless she fakes her death (which fucking SUCKS but also they do it SO WRONG in the series) as the government probably wouldn't allow it (i feel like this was kinda the same boat rex was in before he yknow... escaped using... certain means but he's not in it when he joins teen team, at least as far as i know).

so lets put this up. she can feel the deaths of ALL of her clones, she's literally just government property, they probably won't just let her retire. "oh but she retired with the immortal!!" yeah but then there's the case of when should a hero retire? when they can't do the job anymore? When they've had enough? in battle? when is it possible for someone to retire?

when can kate retire? she probably felt like faking her death was the easiest way. NOW does it excuse that? does it excuse her saying she 'saved the world' that she 'put her life on the line' when she didnt? no. hell no. rex and rae were the only two in the fight against the lizard league who actually had their lives on the line.

so what couldve been done about kate? well first off they couldve made the fact that she feels everything her clones do a LOT more obvious and shown her bonding with immortal more. they couldve shown the trauma that she faced from the hero life and guess what? THAT WOULD BE FINE. one of the major things about invincible is how they show what the hero life is actually like. but with kate they dont do that and it makes her unlikable. it makes her REALLY unlikable and has her come off as entitled, bratty, and selfish.

then instead of having her faking her death with the lizard league they could've had her come back instead and maybe get mad at rex or rae for not helping her with her fight and mention that "hey if i was actually there i wouldve died" which would be a lot more reasonable to get mad at. as if she DIDNT have that backup she WOULD HAVE DIED and while neither rex or rae were in the position to help her, it was because they weren't fighting as a team.

this could be kates first realization of 'i dont think i wanna do this hero stuff anymore'. make her more anxious about going out, more of a wreck as she tries to keep things together only to end up snapping at the people around her. then show the immortal helping her keep it together as yeah, them being the only ones in the group who have DIED (actually died) would make them bond.

okay then we have the immortal number 1 fraud and what not. i think its pretty clear that the show wanted to do two things with the immortal.

show how traumatized he was after what happened with omni man

show that he wasn't what he used to be and that its affecting everyone around him negatively

and to some extent they do this but they don't make you sympathize with him. after all how can you sympathize with the guy who's actively making things go to shit and then DOESNT do anything about it, or take responsibility. it would piss ANYONE and i mean ANYONE off.

he's pretty much never won a fight, all he does it yell at people and antagonize them (especially our main character mark who DOES get things done), never truly takes action (when mark yells AND threatens cecil in front of him basically), and overall is a pretty shit leader.

so what could've been done? show him struggling, struggling to keep it together. have him drop the whole 'stoic leader' bs just for a minute. have him do it around kate who is also struggling. show them bonding. show him more shaken up and unsure of things each and every time he does and really (i mean REALLY) show it. dont just say 'oh ive given up too much' show that each and every time he comes back more of his stoic-ness drops or just SOMETHING. because right now the only 'personality' he's shown is just being an asshole.

there's so much that could be done with the trauma both of them have and yet the writers dont. almost like they want us to hate the characters (which idk if they do but it is going towards that direction). and if they did i can totally see that because for how good invincibles writing is (especially with writing hate-able characters like angstrome) the writing with them is just so... so bad and i cant stress that enough and it makes me wanna tear my hair out.

ALSO THIS IS NOT DEFENDING THEM!! I JUST THINK THAT THERE WAS MISSED POTENTIAL IN THEIR WRITING!!!

[aquamarinebich]

🦷🎪THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS EPISODE 3 SPOILERS🎪🦷

Okay i wasnt really planning to make this post but i really wanna. I know everyone is talking about Kinger rn n i would too, but i would just say the things everyone already mentioned, so i wanna talk about my bbg Caine again.

That may sound weird, but i REALLY wasnt expecting a character development for him, thats just always sounded crazy to me: AN AI. HAVING A. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. When im thinking bout it right now i think i shouldve expect it, with Gummigoo being an npc and having real emotions and feelings in ep 2, but i just always thought that Caine will be the same as character and wont get any character development through the show like everyone else does, yknow like in the 2nd ep we got Pomni's development and in 3rd — Kinger's and a little of Zooble's — i knew that we're gonna have that for every other human in this world (aka Raghatha, Gangle, Zooble and Jax (yeah i still think that jax is a human, theres no way hes an npc, that just doesnt make any sense, considering that Goose gave a canon age for him, so i dont believe in this stupid theory, sorry not sorry)) , but seeing Caine having other emotions besides happiness and sillieness (WHICH I REALLY DIDNT FUCKING EXPECT, I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT AN AI THAT WAS MADE TO ENTERTAIN VIEWERS AND HIS "OBJECTS" (i didnt know how else to call the humans in da circus, srry, english isnt my first language) WOULDNT HAVE ANY REAL EMOTIONS — ALL HED DO WOULD BE FOR ENTERTAINMENT), so seeing him having REAL emotions was something i expected less than anything. JUST LOOK AT HIM BEING ACTUALLY IRRITATED AND OFFENDED.

And of course his almost breakdown scene. I WASNT EXPECTING THIS SHIT AT ALL. An Ai having a literal CRISIS because he realized that hes bad at the only thing he supposed to be good at is just...

And this is not only sad but also scary, you know why? Because when he started thinking about it, realizing it — the whole world started to glitch heavily.

And its DEFINITELY means something. My theory is that this world and Caine is kinda one isnt separating thing — if Caine is feeling good and happy - the world is also good, if Caine is having a breakdown and crisis - the world is also not feeling really good, if Caine is gone - the world is also gone, and now i think that we'll DEFINITELY get another moment in the future where Caine will be having a crisis (maybe even more extreme than that one) to the point where the world will become an absolute MESS of a glitches and the crew would have to deal w this somehow (and all of this probably will be made into a silly haha joke from Caine in the end). Idk how much of it will be the truth in the end - maybe some of it, maybe literally nothing, who knows, its just a theory.

Also this moment made me choke fr. Bro got so deep into his mind that he needed a therapist for HIMSELF

Holy shit that was a big ramble srry bout that, I just really REALLY love my silly goober Caine n i wanted to talk about him. Thanks for reading! And sorry for my horrible english lol

my sweetheart, my scrunkly, my babygirl💗💗💗

[conspicuous-clown-car]

what a morning,,,

here's a rant about the pressure community

I've been kinda lurking on pressure twitter for the past few weeks while all this shit went down and i just gotta say... jesus fuck.

I practically had a heart attack as soon as i opened my phone when i woke up and saw zeal was trying to sell pressure. Considering how he changed his profile last night to a strictly corporate one and then this? It seemed like a really hasty decision, and something serious was going on with him.

And yknow what, with all the hate being directed at him right now i don't blame him one fucking bit. I'd probably end up doing the same thing if i was in his shoes. Being autistic as well, i would just want to completely distance myself from this overwhelming bullshit. I think that's why he started to distance himself from the community in the first place (which unfortunately is kinda what led to some issues getting overlooked).

The tweet was deleted and pressure isn't for sale anymore thank GOD, but I'm honestly more worried about the actual people behind pressure than the game itself.

I agree that there's issues they need to fix, but its not an entirely black and white situation, and its pretty fucking complicated. With the sheer amount of people in the community its crazy to expect them to handle and manage everything themself, especially since they blew up in popularity in such a short amount of time, how the hell would they know how to deal with this???

Yes, there are certain things they need to actually address and take responsibility for that they sort of haven't, but attacking them to where it gets to this point isn't the fucking answer.

I wouldn't blame any of the devs if they never touch the game again, the way the community has treated them and has completely blown things out of proportion is insane. I feel like the main issue is the discord server itself but that's just me. From what I've seen its mostly just the community self cannibalizing, attacking each other, sending death threats, and doxxing people over shit that literally doesn't matter at all.

I'm not one to really delve into fandom drama, but this whole issue with certain possessive Sebastian fans and those who took it upon themselves to attack those fans is the stupidest fucking conflict I've ever seen in any fandom. Especially when this stuff reaches the people who work on the games who have nothing to do with it.

I agree that this is something the devs need to talk about head on with full transparency, no matter their feelings on it, because a main problem I've seen with them is lack of community management.

But again, y'all are forgetting the devs are REAL FUCKING PEOPLE, people who are bound to make mistakes, and get overwhelmed, and not know how to deal with suddenly having a giant fanbase. Harassing them and sending death threats is going way too fucking far and wont solve anything, because clearly all its done is made things worse.

Also god forbid they have boundaries and don't want to see certain things in the discord server. I'm not gonna get into the specifics, but as a queer trans person I think some of y'all are reading too much into the things they don't allow, seriously.

Reminder, I'm saying all this as someone who self-ships with Sebastian, and who's not entirely thrilled about him being canonically married. BUT PRIORITIZING A FICTIONAL CHARACTER OVER REAL PEOPLE????? THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YALL???

And to the people I've seen disappointed in zeal's response to all this on twitter, I'm with you, not seeing whats happening in the community doesn't mean these problems don't exist. But think about the shit he's going through, put yourself in his shoes and genuinely try to understand how fucking overwhelming this whole situation is, for him and the rest of the team. Especially after what's happened in the past 24 hours.

Tangent, but am i the only one who's seen a drastic change in the way fandom communities operate in the past few years? Like after lockdown fandom spaces have gotten more and more hostile, and people are just being so fucking mean to each other over the most trivial shit??? Listen I Get being chronically online, because i am, but at a certain point you just gotta log the fuck off and touch some grass, man. christ.

I really hope the devs take a break, they need it. I was excited about the update that was supposed to come out this month but I don't think it will now, and I honestly don't think we deserve it.

TL;DR: Pressure fandom, do better. Speaking from both points of view, no matter the various mistakes the dev team has made, the majority of this is on y'all.

And lastly, I'd honestly rather keep pressure exactly the way it is with no updates and no new stuff ever again than for it to turn into roblox slop like most of the games that are sold off on that platform.

[so-much-for-the-seashells]

The Strawberry, The Sheriff, and the Cartel Sheriff Beau Arlen (Big Sky) x PI!Reader

Chapter One: Welcome to Big Sky, Mt!

****************************************************

~Before we Begin~

A/N: this is part one of an ongoing series. If you like the story and would like to be part of a tag list: please let me know, either through dm or comments. Still looking for a beta reader, dm if interested! :) Icons are by me! As always, any and all interaction is appreciated!

I really love Big Sky, even for all its faults. And to be honest, I was genuinely hoping for a season four. Since we aren’t getting that, I’m writing this. I’m no expert on PI/Detective work, but I’m doing my best. This is a work of fiction after all.

Anyway, I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’m not going to give any background and let the story speaks for itself. :)

Content/Content Warning: Nothing too crazy yet, but I’d rather a 16+ audience on this series for what might happen later. References to drugs and kidnapping. Cursing. Canon typical violence will occur.

~Without further ado, Welcome to Big Sky, Mt!~

****************************************************

Who commits real crimes in Montana, anyway? I guess I’d always figured that there wasn’t enough of us to do so in the first place. But, as it turns out, no place is too small for shitty people. Go figure.

Part of me has always hoped for a big case. Something high stakes, something that might actually make me think. I had always been resigned to the throes of missing pets and cheating partners. Maybe a B&E or a purse-snatching here and there to spice things up. Sure, those are still crimes, but a kidnapping tied to a cartel?

Now we’re talking.

Wait. That sounds bad. Of course I feel bad for the victims, I’m not a jackass. It’s just that this is where things in my career finally get interesting. Where if I solve the case, I’m solving something bigger than Whitefish. Which would really make me feel better about myself, if I’m being honest. I don’t really feel like I’ve made a difference with any the cases I’ve solved. Sure, it’s good to see Mary-Jane get her cat back or tell Kathy-Lee that James was in fact cheating on her and seeing her so liberated after breaking up with him. But none of that is bigger than Whitefish, where I’ve been since I was born. I needed something important, something big.

And this certainly is that something big.

Something big enough that I’ve had to travel almost seven hours from my hometown to Big Sky. Bertha, my truck, needed to get out of the house anyway. But seven hours… damn. Especially considering Whitefish could be renamed ‘Small Town’- I don’t think I’d had driven more than two hours till then.

Something big enough that literal drug cartels were involved.

No one would expect Montana to have so many ties to cartels. It’s so random, right? I mean, who even thinks about Montana in the first place aside from hikers and outdoorsy people? I know I wouldn’t if I didn’t live here. But I guess that’s the draw for these weird mob families. There’s not much of a radar to be on up here.

Big Sky had barely cleared out the Bhullar family maybe six months ago. A friend of mine, a fellow PI named Cassie Dewell, had told me all about it. She had been involved; her friend Undersheriff Jenny Hoyt had been one of the major players in taking them down. But in the end, as I understood it, the family had more or less taken themselves down. Serves them right.

But when one pot empties you’ve got to fill it with something new, I guess. That’s where I come in.

See, I’m a PI because I couldn’t be bothered with the how rule-abiding proper detectives have to be. Rules don’t get things done in the justice system, in my opinion. I’ve seen too many people either go down or get off when they shouldn’t because of it.

Rules are good guidelines, but just that- guidelines. Something to guide you, but not something that’s always right. If you want to get things done, you need a little more independence.

But with that independence comes cases that folks in the Sheriff’s Department wouldn’t even have come across their desks. Like the cheating, or the missing pets. So be it: I get paid more; and anyway, sometimes the “dumb” stuff is what’s best to get you ready for the “good” stuff.

María Almería had been the one to reach out to me. Her and Felix, her husband; as well as her three kids, Anna, Josue and Carolina; are neighbors of mine. They’re good people, and I’m pretty close with the family. I like them a lot, from the parents to the kids.

Usually I get hunches about people- its why I’m good at my job. When Kathy-Lee asked me to investigate her husband, I could’ve told her off the bat that he was cheating. Not because I’d explicitly seen him, but for whatever reason I could read it on him. It’s like a sixth sense.

That sense must’ve been dormant every time I went to the Almerías’, though, because I had never once gotten a bad vibe about Felix. María’s husband was always kind, a good father- his kids would attest to that, a good husband- María never once had anything bad to say about him, and he actually carried his weight around the house. Cleaned dishes, did laundry… yes, the bar is low, but he is certainly better than most of the fish in the world’s hellhole of a sea. Not to mention that he was always genuine: never a bad word about anyone or anything, not even about cockroaches (those damned things are my mortal enemy). And you could see that genuineness his eyes, which are usually what gives someone’s story away if you know how to look at them.

Honestly, he was the last person I was expecting to go missing. I couldn’t even fathom the thought of him having enemies. With most people in cases like these, there’s at least one aspect about them that makes their disappearance make sense. Maybe it’s in how they act, or maybe it’s in the people they were most often around. I could rule out the first one: Felix has never had any senility issues, nor would be one to be prone to just run away from his family with no explanation. But that leaves the second option, the harder one.

When you know your client and the person that’s gone missing, things are immediately both easier and harder. Easier in that you know the client, and they know and trust you. Sure, that’s not every case, but in this case I was 99% sure that María nor her young children had anything to do with his disappearance. You’ve always got to have that slight doubt though, even if it’s just one percent. That’s detective work rule #1.

But in the same breath, it also makes it harder- the expectations and the stakes are higher. And also, you realize just how much you don’t know about people.

I had exhausted my every resource in Whitefish for a week, but there was absolutely no trace of Felix. María had even called him in missing to me before she could to the police- damn the wait 48 hours rule- and yet I still couldn’t get the jump on the blues.

The story was that María had taken her daughters clothes shopping while Josue was staying over at a friend’s for a sleepover. When they came home, Felix was gone. However, his phone was sitting on the table and his wallet and keys still on their kitchen counter, and the idea of him not taking any of those things was preposterous. He was one to always have them on him. That was why she called him in as missing after he didn’t return for a few hours. Her and her kids’ alibis checked out with both me and eventually the Whitefish Sheriff’s Department.

While researching Felix I had come across the name Bobby Ramirez. They had been in a news article together, set in Big Sky. And something about this Bobby, even from the pictures, didn’t seem right. His smile was just a little too crooked, his eyes betraying something stronger than mischief.

When I had asked María about his next of kin, she had said there was no one. But this Bobby looked so similar to Felix, to the point that I just had to ask. Apparently Bobby Ramirez’s real name is Roberto Almería, and he’s Felix’s estranged brother who lives in Big Sky. Never would’ve guessed.

Apparently the brothers had had a terrible relationship because, in María’s words, Bobby is “a nightmare.” I didn’t really get much more information than that, but the look in her eyes told me more than enough, along with the fact that she was visibly trembling. And the last time she saw him, before she even had kids, he had talked about going into a lucrative business (presumably drugs- fentanyl, maybe?) and promptly dropped off the grid. He’d asked Felix to join him and he had given a hard no, and I guess the falling out was so bad that the kids didn’t even know they had an uncle on their dad’s side. Once she had even gotten the feeling that Bobby could be involved in this, she begged me to back off. Even though her beloved husband was at risk, she begged me to back off. But I couldn’t: this family had shown so me far too much kindness in the past for me to just give up on Felix.

Bobby Ramirez apparently owns a repair shop in Big Sky. Bob’s Motors. Super creative, I know. It’s been open for about ten years- probably since around the time of the falling out. But from the shitty reviews online I have a good feeling it’s a front, since it’s still open, and the best lead I’ve got. María had mentioned that Bobby was in with a weird crowd, and that he was friends with Kory Jefferson. That’s where the presumed drug involvement comes in.

Kory, or KJ as he’s known on the streets, was and is bad news. He’s managed to weasel his way out of at least five arrests despite being a part of multiple drug cases. You know how? By being a CI for the police against his own employers in exchange for full immunity. It’s honestly impressive how many times he’s gotten away with the stunt, but I guess people wrongly figured him to be unimportant. Bobby being tied to him and Felix going missing just as KJ was buying mass property in Big Sky… it’s too much of a coincidence not to investigate.

Hence, the seven hour drive in the truck I’ve had fifteen years. Got it at the end of high school, a gift from my dad. But she was only supposed to last ten years. Emphasis on supposed to, cause my intention is to run her until she drops dead.

Thankfully my dad was a mechanic and he taught me how to fix just about any problem with the engine and the car in general. So, just like a truck that’s actually within its warranty, the only thing I usually have to worry about is me being a dumbass.

And a dumbass I am.

I had wisely decided to test the limits of the infamous last bar of gas- look, I only had to stop once so I was thinking maybe I could make it.

I thought wrong.

“Whoops,” is what I most definitely did not say when my car actually stopped just a few miles beyond the “Welcome to Big Sky, Mt!” sign. What I really said was a string of profanities so colorful and vulgar that I genuinely would rather not repeat them. I had smacked the hazards button, and then stepped outside and kicked the tire with enough force to almost break my toe, because one dumb decision wasn’t enough for me that day.

So yeah, that’s about where we are right now. I’m standing outside of my car with one hand on my hip and the other holding my phone, weighing my options. The nearest gas station is naturally twenty miles away, and one thing’s for sure is that I’m no marathoner. It would probably take me until tomorrow to get there. On the other hand, I could do the normal thing and call a tow truck. But if there’s anything my frugal mother taught me, it’s that you shouldn’t pay for anything unless you absolutely have to. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but it’s sort of ingrained in me, and in this instance, I don’t really want to call a skeevy tow trucker.

Of course; there’s always the third, very rational option: I turn into the Hulk and push the truck. Obviously that’s the most plausible of the three.

Just as I’m getting ready to be a normal person and figure out a towing service to call does a sign of life appear. Up until now, somehow, literally nobody had passed through this road. It’s another truck, burgundy and bulky.

I wave, my face still stuck in a scowl as the driver approaches. It rolls to a halt near me on the opposite side of the road, before the hazards flash and the driver steps out.

“Car troubles, I’m assuming?” a strong Texan drawl greets me.

“You’re assuming correctly,” I smile sarcastically, taking in the stranger. He’s handsome, classically so, and he sure does fill out those Wranglers. Looks straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie, sans the cowboy hat.

“What seems to be the issue?” he cocks his head cordially, taking a step closer. Normally I’d be one to back away, but I don’t have a bad feeling about this guy. He’s wearing sunglasses, so I can’t read his eyes, but something tells me I don’t have to.

“Ran out of gas,” I mumble, more than a little embarrassed to be admitting it out loud.

“Hey, we’ve all been there,” he assures me. “Do you want me to take you to get gas?”

“I don’t usually step into stranger’s trucks,” I tell him warily. As kind as he seems I can never be too sure. Ever.

“Well if it helps any, I’m the Sheriff around these parts.” He pulls his jacket to reveal more of his belt, showing off his Sheriff’s badge pinned to it. He taps it once, for emphasis. Oh, wait, this must be… “Beau Arlen,” he introduces, interrupting my thoughts. He outstretches a hand and I shake it. His hand is huge compared to mine, callused but still soft somehow.

“Your reputation precedes you, Sheriff Arlen,” I tell him, letting go of his hand.

“That so?” It’s endearing how he perks up at that.

“I’m friends with Cassie Dewell,” I explain.

“Oh! Cass is the best! How do you know her?”

“I’m a PI- we all know each other.”

“Huh, y’don’t say.”

“What, you sheriffs aren’t like that?”

“Can’t say we are.”

“Shame,” I say melodramatically. He chuckles.

“Can’t all be PI’s, now can we?”

“True that.”

“Soo, that ride?” he tilts his head towards his truck.

“Yes, thank you,” I say sincerely.

“Anytime.” I follow him back over the middle line of the road to his truck, where he opens the door for me and offers an arm to help me step up. Huh, chivalry. Refreshing.

He stars his truck and drives a little down the road to make a u-turn before presumably heading towards the nearest gas station

“So what brings you to Big Sky?” he asks, making small talk.

“A case, actually… it’ll probably be on your radar soon enough. I’m thinking cartel, not a hundred percent sure yet.” I decide to keep the details to myself; there’s just too much at stake here.

“Another cartel? In this county? Y’know the last one ended with the boy killing his pops. And the pops had left the kid for dead too. Not to mention that the daughter was a pain in our ass, moonlighting as a real estate agent… but don’t get Hoyt started on that Tonya ‘cause she still can’t stand the sight of her… sorry, I’m ramblin,’” there’s a faint blush on the apples of his cheeks, and it’s adorable. But frankly I don’t mind his chatter, he’s nice to listen to. I like how he gets lost in his own stories.

“No worries, I like listening,” I shrug. My dad always said ‘listening lets you hear the things you wouldn’t’a heard if you weren’t.’ It’s sort of a ‘no shit’ phrase, but it’s true.

“There’s a first- Cass and Jenny like to get on me for talking too much,” he muses, no offense in his voice.

“That’s ’cause they don’t know ‘too much.’ I once had a client who told me his entire life story from birth to present day,” I reminisce, not even hyperbolizing. “I learned all about the std he got from a prostitute back in the 60s at Woodstock, and about his five wives: Maryanne, Georgia, Gina, Kevin, and Sade.”

“Kevin?” he laughs incredulously, taking his eyes off the road for a second to look at me.

“Yep. That was during the eighties though, so apparently it doesn’t make him gay,” I laugh, knowing how ridiculous it sounds.

“Wait, what was the STD?”

“Chlamydia,” I answer, without missing a beat.

“Wow, you have a good memory, huh?”

“Just for cases.” Which is true: in my daily life I would probably forget my head if it wasn’t attached to the rest of my body. I genuinely couldn’t tell you what I ate yesterday, but I do know that at 11:25 am I booked the motel I’ll be staying at. You know why I know that? Because I had just made the KJ break. See?

“That’s damn useful in your line of work,” he compliments.

“Yeah.” We ride in silence for a little bit because my dumb ass can’t hold a conversation. It’s not my fault that my only friends are my mom. Well, and Cassie Dewell, I guess, but I don’t see her all that often.

“Okay, so the accent- Texas?” I ask. Trying to bring back the conversation.

“Born and raised,” he confirms, emphasizing his drawl. I smile at the effort. I like his drawl, it compliments the deep and roughness of his voice.

“Cowboy country, nice,” I say.

“Hey, not all of us are cowboys!” he defends playfully.

“The first thing I thought when I saw you was ‘cowboy,’” I tell him matter-of-factly.

“Touché,” he laughs. “Truth be told I was literally raised on a ranch, so I can’t really be talking. Y’know, I had a really nice dog named Juniper. She herded the cattle, while I would pretend to “help.” By “help” I mean stand towards the side, scared of getting stomped on cause I weighed little more than a plastic bag from the grocery store.” More stories- I have a feeling he could write a book.

“Puberty must’ve hit you like a truck,” I mused, referring to the last part of his story.

“That or the gym,” he laughs.

“You a gym rat, Sheriff?”

“More or less,” he takes one hand off the steering wheel to flex his jacket-covered bicep. I wolf whistle, and he laughs. He’s a very large man, from his stature to his statuesque physique.

“Is there even a gym around here? I feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere, and I’m from fucking Whitefish,” I joke, referring to the fact that the only signs of life we’ve encountered are the gorgeous trees bordering the open road.

“Preaching to the choir,” he smiles.

“So, why’d you stick around, then? I heard you were just an acting sheriff,” I inquire, wondering why the cowboy-or anyone, for that matter- would want to stay here.

“I’ve got my ghosts in Houston,” his voice turns subtly melancholic, telling me not to pry. So I don’t, knowing the feeling. “But back to your question, there is a gym,” his tone returns back to its lightheartedness.

“It’s abandoned, isn’t it.”

“Well, there’s me. And uh, me. And sometimes Denise, who I think just wants an excuse to see my ass,” he laughs.

“Denise Brisbane? From Dewell and Hoyt?” I only know the name, nothing more.

“Yeah, she’s sweet- she cooks for me too, even though I’m a grown ass man.”

“Someone’s got a fan club,” I tease.

“Population one,” he retorts.

“Well maybe I’ll see you or you and Denise there at some point.”

“I’d like that… hey, you’re not joining the fan club are you?” he raises a brow from behind his sunglasses.

“In your dreams, Sheriff,” we both smile, and sit back for a second, the silence less awkward this time, at least for me.

“Y’can call me Beau, y’know. If you want to, anyway,” he tells me, breaking the half a second of quiet.

“Mk, Beau it is.” I like the way his name feels coming out of my mouth. And what a fitting name it is… he is objectively gorgeous.

“Hey, I just realized I never got yours,” he says suddenly.

“Huh? My what?” I say confused. Look, the road trip’s got me exhausted.

“Your name,” he clarifies.

“Oh. It’s Y/N. Y/N L/N.”

“Y/N- that’s a really nice name,” he compliments.

“Thanks,” I can’t help but be flattered.

“Where’s it from?”

“My dad- it was the name of some book character.”

“Cool! That’s a lot more creative than how my kid got named,” he laughs.

“You have a kid?” I ask, mildly surprised. Not that I think he’d be a bad dad after the half hour of knowing him, but just because since I don’t have kids I don’t usually expect people my age to either.

“Mhm. Emily- she takes after her mom, though.”

“You’re married?” I don’t see a ring, that’s the only reason I’m asking.

“I was.” There’s that melancholy tone again… something tells me there’s more to this cordial cowboy than meets the eye.

“Well in any case, Emily’s a pretty name for what I’m sure is a beautiful daughter,” I say, changing the subject.

“You callin’ me handsome?” he teases.

“All I’m going to say is that your mama was real on the nose with the name… Beauregard.” I decide to mix the compliment a little bit.

“You really think that’s my name?”

“No,” I confess, giggling.

“Good, I was hopin’ I didn’t come across as a”-he shudders comedically-“Beauregard.”

“Cmon, it’s not the worst name,” I chide.

“Well it’s certainly far from the best,” he retorts, and I shake my head with a smile. “Alright, we’re coming up on it now.”

I look up ahead, taking in the sight of this gas station that’s literally the only building in sight. It’s a bit on the dinghy side, half of the letters in the neon sign don’t work, so it says “De Ass Ton” instead of Del’s Gas Station. Go figure for this town.

But wait…

“What the fuck?” we both say in unison, taking in the sight before us.

****************************************************

Until Part Two, dear reader! <3

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Propaganda why Dean Winchester is insufferable:

"This man is racist against anyone other than humans and abused the people he was supposed to love the most. He literally abandons Castiel at his most vulnerable and never lets Sam leave the whole hunting monsters thing. Worst part is that the fandom will get behind him and defend him because what, he’s pretty? Pretty much a terrible person, more like. I sympathize with his backstory but Dean has ZERO character development during the course of 15 whole seasons. When he DOES have development it involves abusing someone. Sam tries to be a normal person and always gets punished for it. The only hint we have that Dean might’ve been trying to change is a piece of paper in the final episode AFTER HE DIES. then guess what? Sam lives out his whole life and has a family 😭 that’s very, very telling."

"misogynistic scumbag. theres also a few different times that dean finds teenagers sexy with the most recent and prominent example that i can recall being the scooby doo crossover episode in season 13 where hes super into daphne who in the version they chose for the episode is 15-16 and is interacting with her as if shes a real person cause they got magicked into the episode. he treats everyone around him like shit and the only time the narrative agrees that thats a bad thing is when he has the mark of cain put on him and hes acting no differently than he does usually its just now acknowledged that hes treating others like shit. ive been rewatching the show for shits and giggles with a friend and wow he really does not treat anyone well but i wanna focus on how he treats sam for a second cause dude's hobby seems to be ignoring what his brother wants and lying to sam about doing stuff that directly concerns him the demon blood and souless things are reasonable cause those were both Bad for sam but theyre still part of a wider pattern and the most prominent example of this being when dean tricks sam into letting gadreel possess him and actually gaslights sam about it with the whole ordeal ending when its revealed gadreel lied about who he was and while possessing sam murders a friend of theirs. his voice is just also stupid as fuck im sorry this is just petty but he just sounds like hes trying so hard to be gruff n intimidating but he just sounds like a kid pretending to be batman"

"Dean’s list of sins is crazy long because of how long the show ran, but the key thing for me is that post-locking Sam in the bunker (season 4 I think?), I just can’t enjoy their relationship anymore. I normally love their sibling dynamic, but Dean’s ultimate worst past-the-point-of-no-return moment for me was demonizing (pun intended) his little brother for being “addicted” to demon blood, which only happened because of a series of events that were either Dean’s or someone else’s fault, not Sam’s. I also really dislike how the fandom treats Dean like this angel (pun intended) who has done no wrong and even tries to justify the MULTIPLE times he’s beaten up and otherwise abused his little brother. Canon Dean is like the polar opposite of fanon Dean: he’s homophobic and racist (jokes about a Black man being sexually assaulted in prison), misogynistic (take a shot every time he calls a woman a slur and you’ll die of alcohol poisoning), and abusive."

"Misogynistic asshole and too many of the things he does get treated as not actually bad or even good by both fans and the show when he violates peoples autonomy and is incredibly abusive to the people he loves the most. And it wouldn't be as annoying if people didn't justify so many of his behaviors or if he ever changed or even just was seen as a bad guy in the show more than he is."

">Was a misogynist (loved to call women skanks, bitches, hoes)

>Used gay as an insult multiple time during the show's run (idc if he's gay an homophobic, that's still insulting)

>Beat up his brother for being possessed

>Beat up his brother for losing his soul (not his brother's fault)

>Used dubious consent to get his brother possessed in a different unrelated possession incident after possession was being used (badly...this is supernatural after all) as a metaphor for SA

>Threatened to murder his brother when he was hallucinating (yay we aren't ableist)

>Locked a child up in a box

>Threatened to kill the child he locked up in a box

>Made a creepy, sexual comment about a barely-legal high school girl

>Got the woman and kid he was living with memory-wiped"

"Really mean to Cas (called him a child, zero respect for him, calls him family and casts him out when the angels are looking for him), and an absolute dick to Jack (threatening to kill him CONSTANTLY)"

Propaganda why Batman/Bruce Wayne is insufferable:

"Always has to be right. Does the most janked up stuff and doesn't care who it hurts. Imposes his will on others to the point of willing to bodily harm them if they do not comply (and yes, this does include his children)"

"I’ll also support Batman as a candidate because of the slapping Robin meme, which is annoying, and because he is just way too much. Too much all the time."

"Has to always be right, regardless of situation. Because somehow the billionaire has knowledge of how middle class people think."

"Obviously it's the writers who have screwed him over, but my gods the fact that he can do whatever he freaking wants and still be "the hero" bcs hes the main character is insufferable. He killed his son (slit his throat) in one canon, in the canon where said son survives, he’s beaten half to death by Bruce, who of course is "in the right" because B thought J had tried to murder someone. He can hit his kids, he can be a total asshat to people, and yet he's still framed as being in the right for doing so, simply becaude he's the protagonist. There's no character development, no "whoops maybe I shouldn't have hit dick/punched tim/beaten and exhiled jason" - and it's so damn infuriating. He used to be fun. He used to be a good dad.

Now he's just an insufferable prick."

"Oooh look at me, I'm brooding in my cave because my parents died and this gives me an excuse to be a bad father, he's SO ANNOYING"

"Always has to be right. Will literally alter the makeup of his kid's brain because said kid doesn't live the way he wants him to. Acts like his worldview is the only one that matters."

"he is always portrayed as good and right by the narrative even if objectively he's a pretty terrible person"

[chocolate-apple7]

Spoilers for 911 8x15

Ok, I'm actually so mad at 911 right now. Like I don't even want to recap what happened because if you read this post you know.

Way to ruin 8 seasons in 1 episode. Bobby was the glue of the team. We tried going without him in the beginning of season 8 and I remember counting down the episodes until he was back as captain. Now we're expected to go the rest of the series without him?? Like I am sick and tired of this show trying to up the stakes every other week. This show was fun when there were crazy emergencies like a shark on the freeway or a tsunami with no one in the main cast getting hurt. But not this, anything but this.

Like it or not this will fundamentally change the vibe of the show. I liked watching every week and clowning over Buddie or be entertained by whatever the crazy emergency will be. Now we have to watch the entire cast of characters feel endlessly guilty about this and be forever changed. Not to mention anything with Buddie just feels inappropriate now considering that Bobby is dead.

I don't know if this is intentional but I am so tired of shows writing themselves into a hole when it comes to queer ships then feeling like the only way to get themselves out without it going canon in some capacity is to do something so extreme that it makes the fandom forget about the ship for a bit. I don't know if that makes sense but this isn't like Supernatural where you can just retcon the death if it doesn't go well (aka Castiel in season 7). There are no miraculous resurrections on this show so this makes this death extra bad in my opinion.

Also one final thing, making Buddie canon would have been just as much of a risk as killing off Bobby. But which one do they choose? Of course the latter since this show can't just take an actual risk when it comes to a popular queer couple that people like and want to see get together, but I guess that is most cable shows.

Anyway I am mad if you couldn't tell. I will still watch the rest of this season and season 9 (especially since I do still like discussing this show with my friend!) but I no longer have the same level of excitement for each episode. It lost its fun campy vibes and I won't be able to forgive Tim Minear for this. When the literal cast and crew begs you not to do something, maybe it is not the best creative decision.

I am still in denial. Will they retcon this in episode 16? Probably not but I can at least live in hope until then. The ratings for this episode are so bad though they would be crazy to not do anything (but then again they were crazy doing this in the first place).

Sorry this is so long and if you got to the end you're a real one. Stay strong soldiers, we'll get through this together.

[luvo27]

If you had the Power of Editorial for one decision in the DC writers room and one decision only, what would you push?

gnome my friend i have to imagine you would not have asked if you were not prepared for the possibility of a very long answer!!

ok look look look so before i answer this you have to understand that jokes are one of the most important things to me in the world, especially jokes that are also something true and genuine and meaningful because those things are not mutually exclusive and often when put together can make something extraordinary. like the barbie movie you understand

the short answer: make Connor Hawke aromantic so a Green Arrow can be a Green Aro

the long answer!! i've talked a bit about my feelings regarding aro/ace representation in media and especially fanfiction before, so i'll try to keep this brief, but the thing i want to bring up here is that there is not a lot of aro/ace rep that can be explicitly confirmed within the media the characters are from. maybe it wouldn't be in character, or they don't have the word aromantic in the setting and let's be real a character saying they don't want to date is unfortunately still going to be regarded as being only aromantic coded, if that. Connor is already explicitly asexual, so (quick disclaimer that i haven't read a lot of his more recent stuff) it's already believable that he both 1. knows the term aromantic, and 2. would use that as a word to describe himself if he was.

moving on, Green Aro is probably one of the best missed out puns of all time i'm literally foaming at the mouth thinking about it, but it's also a pun that is genuinely meaningful. first of all, the aro/arrow wordplay isn't new, and the joke is a reference to and acknowledgement of aromantic community and history.

second, in terms of character relevance, i'll start with showing you something I found funny: last year for pride month, dc universe infinite (the terrible official dc comic reading platform) did a little pride round up. Connor was in there! i ended up taking this screenshot and sending it to my friends because the text cut off is hilarious:

like haha yeah celebrate dc pride. this guys got daddy issues. but for real, he has daddy issues!! he was getting bullied and getting into fights and the brilliant solution that he ended up going with to resolve all that was to go to a MONASTARY for the reason of HIS DAD WENT THERE. like my guy became a whole entire monk because his daddy issues were so bad. anyways, he continues to deal with his daddy issues by taking up the green arrow mantle after ollie dies the first time. and we all know about chuck dixon's habit of writing characters with such an insane agenda that he ends up unintentionally making them undeniably queer, connor is such a massive offender that he gets asked if he's gay genuinely so many times. like actually so many times. eventually i plan to make a full list of exactly how many times and also rank them because that would be funny for me, but its so many times.

anyways, he gets asked if he's gay because of his disinterest in women, which is a trait that im pretty sure multiple characters including connor himself bring up with regards to how that makes him different from his father. oliver queen is, or at least has been, canonically a womanizer. he slept around enough before he became ga that he didn't recognize connors mom when she told him he was pregnant, and he cheated on dinah which is crazy why would anyone cheat on dinah, and his relationship with dinah is such a long running and significant relationship in dc history. he is undeniably both romantic and sexual, while connor has brief relationship with a ghost which is. look that's just so aroace to me i dont know what to tell you. (im ignoring shado on purpose thats a whole other conversation)

being aromantic often means feeling pressure in some kind of way to find or want a romantic relationship. a lot of the time this pressure will come from family or friends telling you to find a relationship or being in relationships themselves. The entire world at large often puts pressure on people to have this great and grand and sweeping love story, whether people are inspired by fictional stories or real life examples. for connor, looking up to his father with his grand and sweeping love story, i mean like. to me this sounds like an amazing pressure pot for comphet.

so, to me, the green aro joke has a deeper and more specific meaning for connors character: it's about how he wants to emulate his father, and it's about how he's different from his father. It's about how there aren't a lot of examples of happy aromantic endings, and it's about the struggle to forge our own happy endings without those examples, and it's about how even though it might be difficult to find them, happy aromantic endings exist. and it's also a joke that makes me laugh.

anyways, thanks for reading all that!! and thank you for giving me the excuse to ramble about my guy!!! :DDD

[13thdoctorposts]

I hate that RTD and Tennant and crew can't leave the show alone, that not only does RTD act like his formula is the only/best and not only is Tennant incapable of fucking stepping back from the role even after a grossly egotistical first run in the 00s, but a generation of fans only recognise/like Who when its in that image. And that hurts the show massively, it hurts other actors both in the sense that they aren't allowed from out of his fucking shadow and in that literal workplace abuse and media smear campaigns are excused when it happens around them.

Yeah, considering the most questionable things seem to happen under RTDs watch but the media never has anything to say negative about him compared to the level of shit levered at Moff but then even more so at Chibs, especially when Chibs seems like the most humble of the 3 is crazy.

I've read a lot of comments that Chibs wasnt good enough to Showrun as big a show as Doctor Who he didnt have the skills for it, but lucky RTD is back because he has the skills to do it, the cope from people is crazy!

Especially considering the shit show that seems to exist now, leaks, upon leaks, upon leaks, Ncuti's announcement almost instantly being over shadowed by Tennant's announcement, and the fact that Ncuti's happened on a red carpet... they would have known it was about to be leaked and couldn't have come up with something a bit better even if it was on a short deadline? Didn't really matter I guess Tennent coming back and being announced the following week seemed more important to them. The Bi-regeneration, which within the show lore I don't care about, do canon braking things, but of course that left the 14th Doctor out there doing his own thing with his own TARDIS completely overshadowing Ncuti, the number of comments I've seen about 15th not being the 'real' Doctor or being a clone Doctor etc. and for what to keep Tennent around off camera? So that people would question 15th legitimacy? To make sure Ncuti couldn't have his time alone to shine? Then we have the recent articles saying Millie was dropped/axed... with no evidence spread across the internet and front pages of papers across the UK saying she was dropped/axe for inappropriate behaviour with no elaboration, just trying to ruin a 19 year olds career with nothing to corroborate or evidence given and neither Bad Wolf or The BBC bothered to come out and clarify anything even though these stories also unofficially announced a new companion... one that even Mandip Gill said she has kindly messaged and Radio Times has spoken about, but Bad Wolf and The BBC haven't even announced her and given her that moment. And a side note to that is the new white companion got introduced with the TARDIS by the New Doctor as an official announcement the woman of colour companion got announced in a bunch of papers bad mouthing the former companion, guess like Ncuti not everyone gets to have the same treatment. So Chibs wasnt good enough to Showrun?! No one knew Jodies casting announcement that didnt get leaked, even Dan got his own video announcement as a new companion, nothing to do with his writing but Showrunning the show with the limited BBC budget he had even though he was able to keep his house in order for over 5 years while RTD, with his big BBC/Disney budget doesnt seem to keep anything in order, and Chibs is the one who supposedly doesnt have the skills to Showrun.

I think we really did need a brand new show runner and Tennent should have only returned for the 60th if it was a multi Doctor story, Multi, not as in just with 15 in the last ep but with previous Docs. All the 60th did was give the 10th Doctor a happy ending that was seriously weird for all the Doctors who came after him, so narratively was just a WTF, like you just told a companion you had feelings for them and couldn't settle down and 3 days later settle down with a friend from 1000 years ago (in the doctors time) talk about jarring to watch, the episodes were not celebratory in anyway, wasn't written any better then 13 era despite what we were told we would get and left 14 there so people could make countless videos and write countless blog posts about how 15 isnt legitimate. what a celebration!

I think we needed a brand new show runner, no having 10 and 14 to make Tennent even more special by putting him in every Doctor line up from now on twice and had Ncuti come in. I understand He couldn't film for the 60th, but they managed to put a Christmas Ep out with him 3 weeks later maybe instead of the 60th and Christmas ep it could have been a movie length ep with Ncuti so filming could have started later.

Thats a pretty long rant sorry. But in conclusion we should have just moved forwards instead of bothering to look back, and given the new actors the lime light in the way they deserved.

[staringdownabarrel]

One of the other points Insurrection never gets enough credit for is that in a lot of ways, it really is the perfect test case for to what extent the Prime Directive should apply.

This is especially the case given how broadly it gets applied during The Next Generation. While in the original series, and to a lesser extent in Strange New Worlds, it's applied exclusively in the context of prewarp societies, the actual wording of the directive (as established in the animated series) is "No starship may interfere in the normal development of any alien life or society."

Why this applies to prewarp cultures is pretty clear cut. If they don't have the capability for interstellar travel, then they probably wouldn't ordinarily encounter alien life. Even governments other than the Federation seem to agree on this well enough that it's a near universal constant. Once they've achieved warp, it becomes inevitable that they'll encounter alien life eventually no matter what, so first contact is fine then.

During the TNG era, the Prime Directive also gets applied much more broadly. This is one of the reasons why The Hunted ended like that. It wasn't just that Angosia had to sort out its internal issues by itself before it could join the Federation; it's also a question of whether or not the Prime Directive would allow for Starfleet to be involved in what is an inarguable natural consequence of this society's recent previous decisions.

This is also one of the reasons why Admiral Shanthi was hesitant to give Picard a fleet at the start of Redemption Part II. The Klingon Civil War was an internal affair and a natural consequence of their issues with succession. It's only when Picard brought up the Romulan issue that it stopped being a purely internal affair.

So while this may not be how the Prime Directive got applied in previous times, it was how it was applied in TNG. Regardless of Dougherty saying the Prime Directive didn't apply, previous canonical precedent says maybe it is. Not only was this an internal dispute of a culture, in some ways it was quite literally a family feud between the Ba'ku and the Son'a given some of the Son'a were literally the Ba'ku's children.

While Dougherty wasn't commanding a starship when he got involved with this, the actual legal argument would probably go, "Sure, but this is clearly meant to apply to all Starfleet operations. That's how we've been applying it in practice for decades now." The actual sticking point on a legal level may have been whether or not the Ba'ku could be considered native to that planet. On a literal level, they weren't.

However, them being there didn't bring with it a lot of the issues real world colonialism did. As far as anyone knew, nobody had lived there prior to them, so they didn't commit genocide just to be there. They also didn't seem to have destroyed the local ecosystem, even in the three centuries they lived there.

What Dougherty and the Son'a planned on doing actually counts as genocide, though. This isn't just me going off to crazy town, either. The current legal definition of genocide, as per the UN website, means that deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, which is what Dougherty and the Son'a were planning on doing to the Ba'ku, meets the legal definition.

I feel like this is something a lot of Insurrection's detractors tend to get caught up on. They'd like to do this very cynical moral calculus where getting rid of the Ba'ku was fine because the Federation was at war with the Dominion and the medicine they could extract from the rings could potentially save millions.

The trouble with that is twofold. Firstly, the calculus assumes the Son'a were right when they said they could do this. That's not guaranteed. Maybe they'd worked out how to make it work for themselves, but that didn't mean it'd work for anyone else and they'd just falsified the results. Maybe it didn't work at all and this was just a hail Mary attempt by the Son'a because they thought it was either this or extinction.

You also have to account for how the effects of the rings seem to kick in pretty quickly. The Enterprise's crew was there for a few days and they were already starting to see the effects. It's not really clear how long you'd have to be there for the effects to be permanent, but I doubt it'd be as long as the Son'a made it out to be.

Basically, a lot of this depends on taking the Son'a on face value even though they've been proven to not be completely honest, and even though they have every reason to have concealed more than just their heritage. Why would you buy into the sort of narrative they're setting up?

Secondly, whether or not it'd actually save that many lives depends a lot on where Insurrection fits in the timeline. That's not exactly clear, either. It's probably somewhere in DS9's final season, but which episode you'd put it near or between is ultimately just guesswork.

Personally, I tend to assume it probably happened during the events of It's Only A Paper Moon. That episode didn't feature Worf heavily, and it could have happened over the course of weeks or months, so it'd fit neatly without too much hassle.

Still, you know, that's not a given. It could have been further towards the end of the season, too. By that point, the war is much closer, and the "untold millions" the medicine derived from the rings--which still could be the pharmaceutical equivalent of vapourware, by the way--were much more limited.

So ultimately, I don't find the more cynical moral calculus the detractors bring all that convincing. It's based on a lot of assumptions that aren't necessarily in line with what happens in the movie itself, and are on shaky ground based on where the movie is in the broader arc of canon.

Even if you accept the premise that the Prime Directive is sometimes broken to secure the Federation's security, and that does have a lot more canonical credence, you still loop back to the cynical moral calculus problem. What specific security issue is the Federation having that it justifies the genocide of a people uninvolved in the Dominion War? If people in Starfleet correctly have issues with genociding the Founders, who actually are involved in the war, why shouldn't they also have issues with it here?

Anyway, as I was saying, the Ba'ku being on that planet doesn't have the same moral issues as real world colonisation brought. It's also accepted as a given that this is a thing that will happen. Even colonies that broke off from the Federation much more recently than the Ba'ku settled will be granted their independence and be allowed to operate with as much or as little input from them as they'd like.

So really, the question becomes even though the Ba'ku aren't biologically indigenous to the planet, when do they become culturally indigenous? That becomes a much murkier problem because of how these people are effectively immortal due to the effects of the rings. There isn't going to be the same sort of cultural drift from their original species, whoever they may have been, that you'd otherwise expect in three centuries.

Still, there would still be some. It'd be at a slower pace, but it'd be there. Given that the Ba'ku have been on that planet for nearly as long as humanity has had warp drive, their response to being told they aren't an indigenous culture to that planet would probably be something like, "We've been here since before you were able to get to the next system and back reliably. Who are you to lecture us on who belongs here?"

If you took the argument that because they weren't indigenous to the planet biologically to its logical conclusion, the Federation would have to forcibly retake all of its splinter colonies, too. While that's militarily viable with Ba'ku because it's only 600 people, that's not really going to be viable on Turkana IV, for example. You'd have to keep a heavy military presence there for decades, if not a century or more, for it to really work.

This is ultimately the kind of thing the Prime Directive is meant to prevent. Yeah, it is better for everyone who isn't the Federation if there is some legal limits to what it'll permit itself to do, but it's also better for them, too. Starfleet can bring so much power to bare in an instant that any precedent a rogue officer sets can potentially cause neverending problems for everyone else.

[mike-haters-dni]

Scalding, unnecessary take that I'm going to use as an excuse to yap about my hyperfixation characters more than anything, but El's character is actually impossible to stick into coffee shop fanfiction No Supernatural Shit AUs. That's Jane you're writing about. Jane and El are not the same person. At all. And like, Jane is interesting to think about, don't get me wrong. I have thought about Jane. I love Jane. She's adorable and vaguely autistic. But Jane != Eleven.

Eleven is the way she is almost entirely because of her experience/trauma of growing up in the lab and having supernatural murder powers. Her main characters traits are being a self-sacrificing hero and not being sure who she is due to the fact she grew up in an isolated sterile inhuman environment. Unless you're directly translating those things into something unsupernatural (like growing up in a fucked up cult or something and like fighting her way out and now she'll fight to protect other people from similar experiences or something idk) you're writing about Jane the normal gorl who got to grow up with a normal personality in a normal world. And like, you can do that. It's fine it's fandom do whatever u want. But personally, the first thing I come up with when I birth an AU is what crazy powers and fucked up backstory we give Eleven here. Also how do we make her and everyone else really fucking cool but that...might be beside the point idk.

The powers have to basically ruin or have had ruined her life at one point. They have to be a curse that she either reclaims or gets rid of at the end. If she isn't tortured she isn't Eleven Stranger Things lmao

And then yeah yeah my next step is to figure out how Mike AND THE OTHERS OK but mostly Mike get involved in this. Which brings me to my next point: Jane and Mike have no real reason to talk to each other. Mike x Jane is just Normal Gorl x Normal Boy which is like, fine sure if that's what you want, but also you kinda just erased everything interesting about their dynamic. You wanna know what makes El and Mike's relationship so compelling? Objectively? I'm objectively right about everything I'm about to say here? Ok their dynamic is this: Eleven is the most important person in the world, and Mike is the only boy who will ever love her. And yeah that second one sounds really sad but 1. yeah it kinda is :) 2. its not really true that's just what El thinks which is like a major theme for her character TO ME, her underestimating how 'normal' she is esp in her later years 3. it also is kinda true because he's the only boy romantically interested in her who actually understands and experienced all the supernatural/lab trauma bullshit and is actively fighting beside her through the plot of the show, and 4. he's literally perfect and also the only boy she'll ever love and need so it all works out.

And to explain the first one, I mean, you know she's saved the world twice right? She kinda literally is the most important person in the world considering its up to her to stop the apocalypse probably in the end? But its not the being important exactly that makes Mike love her ok, that's more of a meta character thing. Like she doesn't have to literally be the key to saving the world and the most powerful being in the universe. Its more that she has to have something really special about her that draws Mike specifically to her and binds him to her permanently and inseparably and he belongs to her forever and ever and they die in each other's arms. Like she deserves. In canon I imagine objectively and correctly that it went like this: Mike is a natural outcast collector and protector due to his pervasive unconscious need to be needed and his fear of losing the few people who like him, who meets the ultimate outcast girl who literally has nothing and needs him in a very real way, and this gives him an excuse to just pour his entire self into her, fulfilling one of his deepest interpersonal needs. The best part is that she's super selfless and amazing and she loves him the same right back so its actually a beautiful thing they get going. Basically the idea of being anything less than perfect for her is so sad and horrible due to how fucked her life was that it drives the already caretaking Mike into overdrive to make her happy. Not at the cost of him still being an individual person, mind you. But that's the vibe. Also let me just say, all the self-sacrificing vibes and obsession and desperation can become toxic under certain circumstances and that is absolutely a feature not a bug. Sorry you don't like watching your faves yell at each other but we are not the same.

Anyway what the fuck was I talking about? AUs? Yeah ok so when translating Mike (AND THE OTHERS...and the others) into other stories there's more flexibility u kno because he's mostly just Some Guy. He really just needs (TO ME) an excuse to be fighting with Eleven (she has to be fighting something with the powers I know you gave her). He shouldn't be directly involved with whatever gave her the powers but he should generally know of and be somewhat affected by it. Or become aware of it/involved with it over time. Like in the show. You get it. Honestly his only real consistent character traits are being kinda moody and being the leader of the party in whatever vague or not way. And being intelligent. Like he has to be leader for a reason. I guess that's a decent base for a character right there.

oh right side note: you have to do something fun with her name. like she was basically branded Eleven by the freak that gave her the powers so u gotta take that energy and translate it into another branded name that has el in it because she needs to get the nickname ofc. unless its a cyberpunk au in which case Eleven is a pretty normal name and she can just go by that lmao.

So the point ig is Jane and Mike break up when they go away to different colleges and don't talk to each other again until their next high school reunion, while Mike and Eleven are...well you should know by now.

[the-bitter-ocean]

oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.) 

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

[oneshortdamnfuse]

Major Ragnarok Spoilers for Final Episode Discussion

The Ragnarok ending only makes sense if Magne’s delusion is half true. It all being a delusion makes no sense, because doing so would pretty much erase any character development and plot points unrelated to Magne. Whereas, Magne experiencing delusions because of his loss and it becoming stronger because of his obsession with Thor and his embrace of that role is believable. That’s why when the main conflict ends, he can’t move past it. He still sees Ragnarok as inevitable, but his Ragnarok is allowing Thor to die so that he could live as Magne. Putting down the weapons was a way for everyone to process their grief and move on, but Magne needed more time to truly be comfortable with himself and properly mourn Isolde. With that said, it is just completely unbelievable for all of it to be a delusion. It’s just not built into the plot to deserve that ending with the interpretation that is was fully a delusion.

This isn’t like Mr. Robot where all the pieces come together to create a picture that was there right in front of us all along. If it was, then literally none of the conversations and conflict that happened outside of Magne’s view would have happened the way that they did. So, in order to incorporate the ending at all into my understanding of the canon, I can only accept it as half true which is fine. That’s how Legion dealt with the schizophrenia of its main character - some of the superhero fantasies were real and some weren’t. He is a superhero with schizophrenia, not just a man with schizophrenia. We’ve known Magne is neurodivergent, but it was also shown that he was being gaslit into thinking he’s crazy after Isolde’s death because of that neurodivergence. So, maybe it’s a balance of the two. The gods and the jotnar are real, and so was the conflict between them and the impact of that conflict on the town. But. It was distorted in Magne’s mind.

Anyway, I’m going to choose to go the Legion route with this one and interpret it as Magne being both mentally ill and having a special connection with Thor just as Laurits has a special connection with Loki and so on and so forth. It makes the most sense. As I said before, if you want to reject the last episode entirely then you could easily stop at episode five of season three and preserve the integrity of the show. Again, if you were satisfied with the ending then that’s okay too but it really isn’t proven throughout the show that this is all just the fantasy of a sick young man who lost his only friend. It can argued that some of it may be, but definitely not all of it. That’s not congruent with the past two seasons, or anything in season three leading up to it. In order for it to be, other characters would have to play a more active role in dropping hints that it’s not real and that doesn’t happen.

So, yeah. I understand the show was only given three seasons to wrap up. I get that. However, that was a cliché I didn’t expect and it’s not a “wow, they got me!” moment - it’s a wow, that just doesn’t vibe with the rest of the show I’m afraid.