#a lot of people talk about the effects like it totally changed their personality tbh even if they don't realise it
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(this is about trans stuff)
Probably need to get counselling about the fact that I’m so scared that my hormone balance is my personality.
#the cycle#so like i tend to associate my feelings with the Cycle position (menstral) that i happen to be in#so i feel strong and confiden and vivacious? upswing towards ovulation#sad and delicate? downswing towards menstruation#just being biologically essentialist or whatever some people say#thing is a lot of stuff about the effect of trans related HRT can read a little :/ if you're not feeling it#so the obvious example is gendercritical assholes saying trans women talking about feeling more emotional after starting hrt is misogyny#i actually think being emotional is not a bad thing tbh so they are tipping their own hands there#and also actually a lot of trans women seem to associate this change with positive things#but i'm talking about the way people talk about testosterone#a lot of people talk about the effects like it totally changed their personality tbh even if they don't realise it#it's scary like are our personalities our hormones????#someone on this ftm group i'm on said they were having difficulty forming romantic connections with people after a couple of years on T#and people were like 'well you're just aromantic it's fine! oh you weren't before HRT? well this is what your true#authentic self is then don't worry about it!'#like to be clear it was unclear from the post whether this guy needed reassurance that being aromantic is normal#or if he was bothered by it and wanted to change it#if first then the responses are fine#but if 2nd then .....wtf are the implications of this? is our sexuality and romantic inclination ALSO our hormones???#i don't think i'm wrong or crazy to feel weird about the idea of my personality changing and that my hormomes might be effecting it#kind of like how my personality is always shaped by depression and/or medication i'm taking for it#but it's scary like i only just got to know this brain i can't change it i'm FREAKING OUT#i feel like other trans people wouldn't want to talk to me about this because it sounds like i'm saying transphobic talking points. :(#but i really am scared of my personality changing.#if i go on t that is#can anyone talk to me about this on here?
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been putting this off for a while, but i'm up to a kira/odo episode and i wouldn't feel right posting this after watching it, so i'm just gonna talk about how bothered i am by their relationship in series 6 so far
so, odo sold out the alpha quadrant, basically because he was lonely and kinda horny. that's not ill-fitting with his characterisation tbh, his isolation's been a big part of his arc (and so has immaturity at times tbh). sure, he changed his mind and helped out in the end, but he's responsible for a helluva lot of carnage
more specifically, he sold out kira. and i love kira, but forgiving she is not. in wrongs darker than death or night she was willing to kill her own mother for collaborating! and her mother wasn't actively (or inactively) fucking her and her people over! i remember her face at the end of things past, when she found out odo had collaborated
what i did notice was that a few episodes later (i think in you are cordially invited?) dax didn't seem to know why kira and odo weren't speaking. so... do starfleet in general not know what odo did? that i can see. i can see kira being conflicted, keeping it to herself (quark and jake, maybe not but let's look past that), because she is fiercely loyal
but what she also is is black-and-white to a fault. you're either a hero or the enemy. look, i've been spoiled, i know odo and kira are getting together at some point, and frankly i don't like that at all at the moment. odo fucked her and every one she cares about over; sure, he changed his mind, but is that enough? in the time it took him to reconsider there was open warfare. and more importantly, if he hadn't sold her out, ziyal would never have had to rescue her, and she wouldn't have been killed. odo's effectively responsible for the death of kira's surrogate daughter
(and by the way, don't think i didn't notice that we saw dukat's reaction to her death, we even saw her gay bestie garak react! and we didn't see kira, essentially her foster mother, the person closest to her, who shared the most screentime with her, respond to ziyal's death. now that is fridging of an outstanding proportion, and ds9 is usually better than that)
but yes, with that, plus kira obviously blaming present odo for future!odo wiping out the defiant's descendants solely to save her life at the end of s5, well. maybe i understand her not trying to kill him, but a relationship? fuck no. they've had about five scenes together total since you are cordially invited; i don't think the show has put anywhere near enough work into repairing that relationship. and it's a shame, bc ds9 is normally so good with making its characters do the hard work
#star trek#star trek ds9#kira nerys#odo#maybe they will put the work in#maybe “his way” (i.e. the episode i have coming up next) is where that starts#but i'm more worried it's where they start getting them together#don't like that
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Subject Diaries #0 - Jockout the Subject, Part 1
In traditional Jockout fashion, I'm getting to this a little later (and differently) than I'd expected, but I've made it at last.
Initially, I was planning this first post to be a fairly blunt description of the files I've been listening to and the effects I've been experiencing; but I realised it's kinda weird to do that without ever really talking about my desires and what I'm into with hypnosis, lol. I will still give a little breakdown of what I've been up to (and that's what my future posts in this series will mostly be) but for the first one, I think I wanna talk a little more broadly first about my experiences/wants with hypnosis.
You've already met Jockout the hypnotist, so now let's talk about Jockout the subject:
As in my bio, I'm 22 (for a few more weeks) and live in Ireland in a suuper rural area, far from any population centers. I work as a freelance writer (AKA unemployed most of the time), so lots of time on my hands.
I've got extensive history with masculinisation hypnosis of all types and flavours. I first got into it fairly young via "Turn Straight" hypnosis (which is sad, looking back!) but it very rapidly transformed into all this. I was interrogating my sexuality and came to realise that more than being attracted to men, I was attracted to manhood, and I was into TF/mind control stuff. So falling into the masculinisation hypno hole was a pretty logical progression. Like many of us, I started on WarpMyMind but did get sick of that place quickly.
So that's setting the scene for who I am. What's my actual experience level with hypnosis?
Firstly, I am predominately a file subject. I've done some live trances and toyed with the Hypnosis4Guys circuit before but out of 10 people I've tranced with, 1-2 were ethical with me at most. I've dealt with people ignoring limits set pre-session, photos being taken of me without my consent, sessions being recorded, clumsy attempts to use triggers on me when I voice objections... I do have hypnotist friends I trust now who I could trance with, but tbh, I'm just more comfortable trancing on my own time nowadays. I feel strongly that hypnosis files can still have effect, despite what a battery of Twitter hypnodoms will tell you to the contrary. It just takes a different set of skills to live trancing.
As a subject, the files I've got the most experience with in total are Jack Drago's Masculine Conditioning series, Rigsby's Absolute Jock, and too many of @avissapiens' catalog to list, though I've spent the most time with Douche Gymbro, Perfect Muscle Bull, Painted Himbo, and Abyss Drone as a default "I wanna trance but don't know what file" option. I've done too many other random files to count, but these are the ones I stood by for the longest. (@hyphyphurray is the most recent addition to this staple rotation, someone I only started listening to sometime in the last few years... but more on that in my next post.)
The final thing bit of context I want to give, but haven't already, is my view of masculinisation/personality change hypnosis as a whole. What is it? Is it real? Does it work? How much of it is fantasy?
"Is This Kind of Hypnosis Real?"
Well, the answer changes depending on who you ask. My belief is that personality-change hypnosis is not "roleplay" in the sense we usually use that word in kink, so I prefer to think of it as role experimentation. It provides a chance for us to explore the fit of different psyches, mannerisms and thought patterns to our own defaults, which allows us to see how well they might fit.
For this reason, I often think the different masculine roles explored in hypnosis (himbo, jockboy, jock, bull, pup, bro, alpha, beta, slave) are kind of like mental outfits we try on during trance.
Some people feel more strongly than others that "there is only one of these outfits for every person and you must choose", but I take a looser approach than that. In my own trancing, I like to bounce around. I enjoy files that use the Himbo/Pup/Bro/Jock/Bull/Alpha labels all pretty well, with the only types I dislike being the extremely-submissive ones. I have a pretty varied hypno diet for this reason... and to extend the "outfit" metaphor, I kinda feel like a Disney employee who does Tigger for the morning shift and Gaston for the evening parade or something. They're both ostensibly outfits I'm choosing to put on, roles I'm choosing to play. Are either me?
That's a choice we all make for ourselves, I guess - imo, the "self" that we embody is inherently a kind of role, just one we've gotten very practiced at, so I see no reason the the roles we play within hypnosis are less significant. But I won't get into philosophy/psychology here because it's honestly kinda boring and I have no interest in trying to convert anyone into agreeing with me. But tl;dr, this kinda role experimentation does matter, and the roles it allows us to play with are no less real than others we perform socially, professionally, sexually, or etc., outside of hypnosis.
So.
That's enough for now, as an introduction to what I believe in as a tist/subject. In the next post, I'll be talking about what I actually want from hypnosis as well as what I've achieved thus far. And from then on, these posts will be more like status updates on how my own TF journey is going!
Hope you enjoyed!
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This post serves as the introduction to my broader Subject Diaries series, a blog series I plan to maintain on a fortnightly/monthly basis updating people on what I've been listening to, files I've been enjoying, and effects I've been experiencing. When I'm not trancing, I'm usually off being a mystical forest bro in the wilderness of Ireland, but I am always available for commissions here on Tumblr/Soundcloud if you reach out via DM. My flat rate is currently $55-80, but you can always check my pinned post for more up-to-date info. You can also support me with a one-time tip either via Paypal or Ko-Fi, but you'll have to DM for the first.
'Til next time!
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Hi, I wanted to ask your perspective on something happening in my local goth scene, if you're willing to give it. I'm really anxious right now because my favorite local goth night just hired their first gogo dancer and I'm really worried that it's going to change the energy in a way I don't like.
First I'm worried that this means that the stage is off limits for dancing. One of my favorite things is dancing on the stage with folks or watching other people really vibe as they dance on the stage. I'm really anxious about potentially losing that. Also, it serves as overflow space when the dance floor gets full, so less people would be able to dance.
Second I haven't liked the vibes of events with gogo dancers at them because it feels kinda hierarchical. I really love this goth night is because it's chill, it's mostly middle aged folks and it's a lot less performative/about the aesthetic than the other goth nights here. At the one goth night with a gogo dancer it felt like everyone was judging everyone else and I felt really out of place for wearing a more casual (but still goth) look. I just don't want to loose the one place I can truly dress however I like without caring what people think and don't feel like I'm lesser than anyone.
I just can't really tell if my concern is reasonable or if I'm overreacting/overthinking this. Like I said, there's only one regular goth night with a gogo dancer so I can't tell wether the bad vibe comes from the gogo dancers or is completely unrelated to them. I'm hoping since it seems like your goth scene has more events than mine that you might be able to tell.
Tbh I wouldn’t say your concern is unreasonable because I totally get what you’re saying—While this isn’t consistently the case (I’ve been to nights with dancers that were really fun!), I will say that all of the worst goth nights I’ve ever attended had gogo dancers as a major advertising highlight and I wouldn’t fully call it coincidence; I think this has a few effects I’m not a fan of, like 1. Bringing in normie men who show up purely to gawk at the dancers, which usually in turn means they have this weird “goth woman fetish” and no experience with the goth community so they don’t really know how to act around anyone there 2. It just feels like it changes the vibe of the event itself to be less oriented towards socializing and dancing and stuff? Like you’re there to “watch a show,” you know?
But that said, I also don’t think you need to worry just yet. I am personally friends with a good number of alt or goth gogo dancers. So many of them are fantastic people. Tons of fun and really cool and talented. For clarity I don’t interpret what ur saying as being disparaging towards them, I’m not defending them from you lol, but I guess I say that to say… it’s not inherent that having paid dancers at your events will bring the vibe down, and I don’t want what I’m saying to sound like I’m talking poorly of the dancers themselves. There’s a chance the vibe won’t change all, and you may even be able to connect with new people in the community this way too. Here in LA it’s not uncommon at all for dancers to be around for goth nights, so while it’s totally possible for nights that heavily emphasize dancers to suck, I’d say it’s by no means a guarantee at all. It’s gonna come down a ton to the vibe/atmosphere that actually ends up forming. EVERY goth night is so so different and constantly evolving as new people come in and out and the promoters make changes and the DJs either cycle out or start making changes to their sets, etc etc. I genuinely don’t view having gogo dancers as a curse, I think it’s gonna come down huuuuuugely to the broader atmosphere of the space. For all you know the vibe might not click and the promoters just choose not to hire her again—Or she ends up being really cool and chill and adds to the atmosphere and maybe you even meet some cool new people via her and her own friends and social circle. You really never know.
I ultimately think gogo dancers are a neutral component to a goth night, and the issue with their presence is almost always a higher-up promoter/management thing. They themselves don’t make the vibe better or worse, they can contribute to either. There are some AMAZING goth dancers who are super talented, super sweet, and help bring a great vibe to the night. Maybe this is controversial but I even think a small handful of annoying normie guys showing up for them isn’t the absolute worst since often they’ll tip, so the dancers get some extra money, and a lot of the time if it’s just a few guys they kinda keep to themselves or aren’t there to cause trouble or anything and they’re still gonna pay for drinks or entry fees and help keep the night going. Normies showing up will always be a thing, if they’re chill idc. But like I said, on the other hand it can totally lead to a sort of downward spiral in atmosphere, if the emphasis on the dancers threatens to turn it into functionally a Goth Woman Zoo for normies to stare and the night starts prioritizing actual goths less and less in favor of this weird voyeuristic “look at how crazy and goth these hot girls are” vibe. At the very least those spaces tend to be very uh… heterosexual, since the guys showing up to see the women are often the type that have one very narrow view of what “goth” is and it’s a thin, conventionally attractive, potentially sexually available, mildly kinky (but submissive!) cis woman with like, tattoos. So yeah. I also totally feel the concern about losing dancing space lol, there’s one club here with two goth nights a week, one that has gogo dancers and one that doesn’t, and the latter is way more fun in part because it’s fun to get up on the dancing cubes yourself or watch your friends and other people get up there haha.
Ultimately I wouldn’t say it’s overthinking to have some concern—tbh ANY time a club you love makes a major change it’s valid to be worried about the space’s atmosphere changing for the worst, and gogo dancers in my mind can sometimes allude to future changes that aren’t promising—but I would also say that it’s too early to tell yet. Gogo dancers aren’t an inherent negative and like I said it soooo comes down the rest of the space’s vibe and atmosphere, the other clubgoers, the handling from the promoters and event runners, etc. So I wouldn’t lose hope or get too stressed about it yet either. It’s really gonna be case by case, and if you want a bit of genuine optimism I’d say if the event has always been consistently good, adding a gogo dancer doesn’t really necessarily concern me too too much since implicitly that means most/every factor before was good before, like the DJs and the people showing up, and it’s not like that should change overnight because they hired a dancer. I’d try to stay open minded, if the right people show up and the right music is playing it should be a good time regardless. It also wouldn’t hurt if you’re really concerned to talk to the promoter or the DJs or someone else involved in the club’s production and hear their thoughts about the goal of hiring dancers and even voice concerns, but that would probably be something to consider after seeing how it pans out initially.
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DON’T - Independent Asian Short Film in the Making
Hi, I’ve been working for the past 8 months I’ve been working really hard for a short film called Don’t.
“ DON'T is a multilingual short film about a ragtag crew that fights for their community. The film celebrates women, genderqueer identities, and Asian cultures. “
A note from the project’s (and my ahhh!!) director, Vietnamese-New Zealand Filmmaker Sally Tran:
“ I didn’t realise how deeply effected by the Asian hate crimes that spiked last year. I had a hard time focusing on work. I was difficult to work with. I was not myself. And I thought I needed change in my life for things to feel normal. But what I really needed was support and be around people who could talk about issues that were important to me, and just ask me if I was OK. This film is the work in progress of a lot of social and personal issues that have swelled in my head the last few years. From the death of my grandma to policing problems and my AZN sistas feeling unsafe and needing to suit up at night. “
vimeo
The director has been really kind and understanding with me (a total newcomer to live action tbh), and it’s been such an incredible journey with this film for me. I joined because I resonated with so many aspects of the project. Badass magical girls, Wong-kar wai influences, found family, multiple Asian communities banding together, beautiful cinematography, and so much more. I feel lucky that my first film internship was with a collective as dedicated as this to making an safe space for learning, and for giving a platform to individuals like our Asian trans and genderqueer cast and crew.
We just launched our crowdfund page actually, where you can see this teaser + more content like BTS. We need to hit about $4200 by end of today, and then our $14,000 goal by mid-September. I don’t normally make posts like this but if you like what you see please please go check it out, donate if you can - TRULY every little bit helps - or if not any support & boosting is always so appreciated.
🌟🌟💙✨💙 ------ ! Crowdfund Link ! --------��💙✨💙🌟🌟
You can also check out our IG here.
With your help we can seriously make this film real!! ❤️
#DON'T#film#short film#shortfilm#reblog#boost#asian representation#stop asian hate#independent film#martial arts#vietnam#vietnamese#china#chinese#mandarin#taiwan#taiwanese#korea#korean#japan#japanese#asian hate#artists on tumblr#indie artist#my art#donate#kill bill#lady snowblood#kpop#suboi
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Re: that anon who asked about the shuffle step of the themes of sacrifice
I also found the ideological shift in the volume very interesting, and I think she most interesting bits are with Team RRAYNBOW. Like I think the dynamic between Yang and Ruby and their respective missions this volume is very interesting (if maybe a bit underdeveloped, atm at least). You said a little about it with Team JOYR in Chapter 7. Do you have anymore thoughts about the "shuffle step" in regards to that?
i’m gonna admit upfront that i find this question kind of perplexing, because i don’t know what “ideological shift” it could be alluding to when imo our heroes didn’t so much pivot (or shift, or shuffle step) ideologically so much as make a series of context-specific decisions according to what they felt in the moment they could live with, or would die for (don’t make me tap the sign, etc).
what i DO think might be helpful, though, is to lay out what was at stake in each of the weighty choices/discussions our heroes took part in, from the very beginning of the Long Night to the end of volume 8, to see what (if any) throughlines persist or change. so:
Cordially Invited (7.8) to Out in the Open (7.10): our heroes are all in accord. transparency (telling the truth to Robyn) and collaboration (working with/helping Mantle) are paramount, and Ruby specifically takes steps to remedy her own wavering in that earlier in the season, by letting Oscar tell the whole truth to Ironwood. what’s key about this run, though, is that our heroes aren’t calling the shots yet. they advocate for certain actions when advising Ironwood, but they still trust him to take charge of deciding Atlas/Mantle’s fate.
Gravity (7.11): the Big Shift in terms of status quo. our heroes (JNR more implicitly) remain in accord--abandoning Mantle is the line in the sand they refuse to cross. but what does RWBY advocate for, if not Ironwood’s plan? they all agree that the best thing to do is to stand their ground, but for what? Blake and Weiss are comparatively silent on that front, but Ruby and Yang are more explicit. Ruby makes her plea about Amity--that if they hold out long enough, they can do what they always planned, and unite the world, and get help. Yang’s argument is that Huntsmen and Huntresses don’t back down from a fight. (she’s also the first person to suss out that Amity isn’t ready for launch.) this difference is going to come up later.
The Enemy of Trust (7.13): Oscar makes his last individual plea to Ironwood. his reasoning, much like Blake’s (and presumably Weiss’), is simply that abandoning Mantle is a sacrifice of such magnitude that it becomes unconscionable. it’s wrong because it’s wrong, and Ironwood’s rebuttal that it’s pointless to argue about philosophy when Salem’s right on their doorstep, is dickish, but not incomprehensible. Oscar is still looking to retain the advisory capacity that Team Unwieldy Acronym has had for the entire season, and guide Ironwood to making the right call, but that bridge has already been burned. they have to decide the fate of Atlas/Mantle now if they want to save both.
Divide (8.1): The team is no longer in accord. Ruby and Yang recognize that though they agree about Ironwood, their reasons for not abandoning Mantle are different. Ruby’s looking at the big picture, both in terms of what they have to do for the world, and what the world can do for them. Amity looks to be the only obstacle to getting both and saving everyone. Yang thinks it’s pointless. Yang didn’t want to abandon Mantle because that’s just not what you do, but she has no expectation of fighting toward any good outcome. she’s gonna do what seems more readily achievable, which is saving whatever lives can be saved. Ren and Nora split along similar lines more acrimoniously, because Ren at this point is desperate for tangible success and Nora is...just as desperate for total consuming optimism. Blake throws her lot in with Ruby, Weiss abstains, remaining the most quiet on the fate of Atlas/Mantle despite being Atlesian. Jaune and Oscar, though they go with Yang, mostly go for pragmatic reasons.
Refuge (8.2) to Midnight (8.6), Yang’s Team: the plan to help with Mantle is almost immediately derailed when the Hound kidnaps Oscar. i’ve talked about JYR’s plea to Winter in War, but that of course is not the first time that team chooses the few over the many; they do that IMMEDIATELY after Oscar is kidnapped, when Fiona calls for their help and they--without even verbally consulting with each other--go for Oscar instead. in that moment the more proximal thing they can and need to achieve becomes rescuing their friend, whose captor was still in view. but crucially: as soon as they lose Oscar in Fault, and especially after they discover the Grimm River in Amity, JYR had been on their way back to Mantle, and presumably, back to the less impossible thing to do, the thing they promised the Happy Huntresses they’d help with. running into the AceOps and Salem’s invasion throws a monkey wrench into that plan. suddenly rescuing Oscar becomes possible (though not probable)...
War (8.7), Yang’s Team: but not if Ironwood blows up the Whale, whereupon the equation changes again because now doing nothing for Oscar means leaving Oscar to certain death. tbh the confrontation on the airship is about like fifteen different things at once, because the variables keep changing and everyone is having their own argument over whether to rescue Oscar, and why. Yang’s response once she hears about the bomb is mostly you can’t; it is once again just not what Huntresses do, with some personal stakes thrown in. for the AceOps it is about the weighing of lives, and how they can’t put the mission to save Atlas on hold for one life. Jaune is the one who thinks of an idea where they might be able to do one without delaying the other (the second time this season Jaune has suggested the “go for both” option), where they would be the only ones risking their lives, and no harm comes to the greater good. only then does Ren jump in and shift the argument to caring and friendship; that is to say, after the stakes have been lowered so it’s not Oscar vs. Atlas anymore. i don’t think it takes away from his big moment, though: we know from Fault that Ren has taken Yang’s challenge of “let’s do what we can do” and run with it, and come up with “and what we can do is nothing because we’re not ready and we get everything wrong,” so him vowing to do whatever we can here is important. the point is clear: Team Hero draws their strength from their friends, and they’re willing to die for each other...but the question of if they’d let the world burn for their friend is put off for now.
Strings (8.3) to War (8.7), Ruby’s Team: in contrast to Yang’s plan faceplanting at the first hurdle, Ruby’s plan...works. they accomplish their primary objective! but they had to pay a steep price, and the only immediate consequence of that victory was entirely negative. Nora threw so much of herself into Ruby’s optimistic gamble that she now has lasting scars, and if they had never gone to Atlas Command Penny would not have been hacked (so easily; she might have been regardless). Ruby successfully put the ball in the world’s court, but that the problem: the ball is in the world’s court, and the longer it stays there the less sure she is that help will come. and it IS just about the help they’ll receive by War; Salem batting away Atlas’ hard light shields has shifted the goalposts from “hope the other Kingdoms can prepare :/” to “BLAKE’S PARENTS CAN YOU PICK US UP???” the question of Atlas or Mantle rears its ugly head for the first time since Gravity, and this is the first time Weiss is the first one to advocate, and she says we can’t leave--which, not coincidentally, is also what RWBY said to Ironwood in Gravity. May’s argument, of course, is driven by far more compassion: the need in Mantle is greater, and having finished facilitating Ruby’s (and Robyn’s) plan she’s going to do what Yang decided to do, what Joanna wanted them to do, which is fight for every last life. there’s no longer any big wheels to turn, nor any big powers to convince; all they have to do is decide what they themselves will do, and who to fight for. and Weiss finally shows her hand here. she believes in not leaving Mantle behind, but when it comes to the faces she’d fight and die for, Weiss’ are still in Atlas. Blake and Ruby are the ones to abstain this time, and notably when Ruby tries to argue that they’re all in this together it’s much less effective, because...there’s nothing left for them to do together. Ruby is out of concrete solutions.
Witch (8.9): what goes easily missed here that in retrospect is very important is...Oscar kills Hazel. (which means that an Ozcarnation killed BOTH of the Rainart twins.) we all thought he doubled back to make a sacrifice play, and he did, but not for himself. he received Hazel’s verbal consent, and Hazel would have died regardless, but the point still stands. he had to kill Hazel to neutralize Salem, to buy them the time they desperately needed. an unsettling portent for what comes later, innit? it highlights what his own kidnapping, Nora’s injuries, and Penny’s hacking already illustrates, which is that they are now risking every inch of their body and souls in this fray, and it also illuminates the other part of that, which is that by continuing to throw themselves back into this conflict, they now control the fates of other people as well. Hazel trusted Oscar to make the right call, but Oscar had to make the call.
Risk (8.11): where we ultimately land with the splitting of teams is that: Yang’s team went out to achieve the easily graspable, and they ended up forging alliances they never anticipated and dealing a devastating blow to Salem. Ruby’s team went out to achieve what should have been much more difficult, and they did, but with little palpable impact beyond the negative. what comes out and blends exquisitely with their conversation about Summer is that yes, Ruby sent out the call to warn the world, because she believed in humanity and unity, but Ruby sent out the call because she wanted help. she wanted people--say, parental figures--to save her and tell her things would be okay, and she wanted back the innocence to believe them. Ruby didn’t ask to be the face of the war against Salem, and she most certainly does not want to be in charge of it; she has lived with the material consequences of her family being the centerpiece of that war for her entire life. the Hound reveal is the final twist in the knife of Ruby’s childhood, because now the figure on the highest pedestal in Ruby’s mind has been perverted to a malevolent specter, and if that’s the case there are no more adults. THEY have to be the adults now, and look what a terrible job she’s done with that. Yang’s response is that Ruby is not alone--either in her traumatic fall into adulthood, or in her choices not panning out as expected. all they can do is the best they can in the moment, and Yang’s probably going to keep defaulting to what feels more tangible to her, but that doesn’t mean she wants Ruby to stop going for pie-in-the-sky options, either. Summer is still Yang’s hero, which means Ruby is too. what matters most is that they remain responsive to the moment, and don’t get bowled over by despair when something inevitably go off the rails.
so given all these developments, what are we to make of the plan from Creation (8.12) to The Final Word (8.14)? we start with the archetypal Third Option, as championed by Ruby and Jaune: use the Staff to save Penny and Mantle, and Atlas along the way. but the priorities of the plan--civilians first, presumably even before the Relics or the Maiden powers (though the question of one of them or a Relic is really only answered by Winter, who does not speak for Team Hero)--have Yang all over them. we have to do this for Yang isn’t just because Yang’s gone, it’s because they know it’s what Yang would have wanted, and they will respect that. they made a Ruby n Jaune style Big Plan, but when that plan fell to pieces there was no time to think of a fourth, or fifth, or sixth option that would get everyone out, so they had to improvise and double down on what they all agreed was most important. the choice between their friends or the people could no longer be deferred, or augmented, so they chose. civilians, then the Relics and the Maiden powers, then each other. and when any of them wavered--Blake, Ruby, Jaune--someone else checked them, reminded them to trust and respect what they all committed to. they’re still drawing strength from each other, still dying for each other, but they acknowledge that they are not directing just their fates with their decisions anymore. they took a huge desperate gamble to save Atlas/Mantle, and it worked, but what they gambled with was their own lives. and they made themselves make peace with that--that they’d have to do what they can, everything they can, without hoping for salvation for themselves, even from friends or family.
in the end, what comes across just from doing a close reading of these moments is that RWBY’s views on sacrifice, logic vs. sentiment, the greater vs. the few, etc can’t really be plotted on a solid line. that’s why i can’t really think of what happened this volume as a palpable shift--because so many of these choices were context and character dependent. what i DO think happened with our heroes’ ethical beliefs (or “ideology” ig) is that they were tested across a sequence of stressful and traumatic situations, and as a result they had to compromise on a few things they hoped to never have to compromise in order to shore up defenses on what they were certain they could not live without, or would die for (or both! in the case of six of them). if they have to die like every other Huntsman in history so be it, but they refuse to be so cavalier with the lives of others. none of that is meant to be definitive, however: in-universe RWBY is far from over, and Team Hero is going to get to re-litigate and reexamine these questions from lots more angles, out-of-universe...RWBY is far from over, and the point of the show is not to provide an ethical rubric against which the audience can judge themselves and the characters. there are things--like y’know. genocide--that this show will always consider to be beyond the pale, but in terms of grayer complex questions it is content to simply feel out what is and is not allowable in each particular instance, without trying to resolve all options into One Correct Option.
because sometimes you do just have to sit with the discomfort of there not being one right choice or one golden rule, and sometimes you are awash in the consequences of not only your own actions but the actions of others. and then you have to keep going.
#Anonymous#rwby#helen writes meta#people often complain about how takes on rwby fights often rely on video game logic that doesn't exist#but i'm starting to wonder if takes on rwby OUTCOMES aren't driven by similar logics#where...idk paragon outcomes are supposed to always lead to good things#and our protagonists are always making their choices without the horrible telltale countdown bar over their heads#but it's...not like that. there is no secret golden ending to unlock and if this volume has driven anything home it's THAT#when i say 'rwby is a show about being kind' i don't mean 'rwby is actively providing instructions on how to be kind'#i mean 'rwby looks on all of its characters--even the worst villains--with a sublime and terrible compassion'
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@amphyn
fully, fully willing to be the internet's reader insert clippy in this regard if it means it's stop fuckin happening, please
@crytalstellar
there's like, a SPECIFIC way that third-person fics can work, and that's when there's a character thinking about 'you' but tbh it's damn tricky to do and i haven't seen it done very often, let alone done effectively. but first person? never. never ever.
@wasserplane
OKAY SO the thing about writing advice for reader insert stories is that the vast majority of advice falls under general writing advice. if you are a good writer, you will probably write decent-to-good reader inserts. if you are not a good writer (yet! we all start somewhere), then reader insert tips will help you write more accurate reader insert stories, but not necessarily good ones. but! that's obvious. actual tips would be.... hmm...........
this is not an exhaustive list and it's very rambly so i'm gonna put this under a cut, but --
don't feel like you have to make your reader insert character a total blank slate. it Can Be Done, but it is tricky, and personally i find it less fun! i'm sure some people prefer blank slate protagonists/reader inserts, but i think reader insert stories are best when there are (at least) some establishing details abt what 'you' DO and who 'you' ARE.
now, don't make things hyper-specific! don't talk about the color of your hair or eyes or even abt the style of your clothes, unless that serves a purpose (another character provided 'you' with a change of clothes, you're in disguise or in uniform, etc). but -- give 'you' a job! or mention the possibility of one! some friends, even if obliquely! it's great for character-building! scene-setting! plot devices! why not! you can do it in a way that's vague enough to be relatable to a bunch of people, and also not be so specific that it's offputtingly unrelatable to the rest of your readers! just maybe don't insist that 'you' work as the world's premier parakeet trainer instead of, like, working in the zoo gift shop or at a mall kiosk. or, as i most often find myself writing, at some unspecified-but-probablly-minimum-wage-job since swapping shifts was mentioned at one point.
also, remember that not everyone looks like you/a certain way! kind of obvious, right? and a lot of this is very easy to avoid. but you'd be surprised -- i've seen people write a description that mentions 'your pale skin' like 3 or 4 times in fics????? not that much, i guess, but still odd to realize the specific way an author is visualizing 'you.' and that's just in fics that i, personally, have stumbled across and read. all you gotta do to avoid that one is...... not do that. not assume all your readers have light skin. easy-peasy. (and this is kind of a dumb example, but similarly, while everyone can blush, not everyone blushes so visibly with their skin tone. 'you redden/your cheeks turn pink' may not be the most relatable way of conveying embarrassment or being flustered -- tho it's also not 100% definitely gonna be alienating -- but, like. even so. 'your face warms' and other such phrasings are options.)
other things are a touch less obvious, but still not all that hard to do, you just have to consider what may or may not be relatable to people. if a character "runs a hand through your hair" then 'you' must have hair long enough to run a hand through... and that you are willing to let someone touch like that. if 'you' duck to get through a doorway, 'you' must be pretty tall (or the doorway is particularly shirt!) and if 'you' have to climb onto something to reach an object, 'you' must be short enough to justify it.
there was a comment on a fic of mine once in regards to a scene where 'you' sat on someone's lap, and it was something like 'aw, i wish i could do that, but i'm fat, so i'd probably crush him, lol.' and that's stuck with me!! i failed that reader of mine by relying on skinny bitch privilege and that made my writing less effective and less fun for someone! jolting someone out of a scene they would otherwise enjoy is not something i wanted to do!!!
ever since that, i've really tried to consider the physicality of the actions i write -- to make sure that whatever 'you' do, it's written in such a way that it's believable for all my readers, whatever their height or weight or build might be. and you'd better fuckin believe that the next time i had 'you' sit on that character's lap, i tried to make it happen in a way that that original commenter would've been able to see themselves in.
and, like, listen. implying/maybe even outright stating that the reader insert character has hair that someone can run a hand through, or is kinda short or whatever, is not inherently bad.
you are not going to be able to create a reader insert that 100% of readers relate to 100% of the time -- at least, not for longer stories. it's easier for drabbles, lmao. but for longer stories or for a series, there will almost certainly be something that doesn't grok with someone, whether that's 'i wouldn't do that' or 'i wouldn't say that' or 'i wouldn't react like that' or any number of other points that are dissonant to someone reading. and aiming to be 100% relatable, 100% of the time is not only futile, it also tends to result in.... characters who are so firmly middle-of-the-road and blank that the stories are no fun to read.
but. as with anything else, people are willing to suspend their disbelief. give them enough things that they can relate to that if/when you slip up, they're willing to keep going anyway.
on that note, returning to the not-a-blank-slate idea, you can -- and i think you should -- give 'you' some personality!
i struggle to describe how i view this, but like......... you can justify most types of personalities. you can make it make sense. you can make it feel natural. you write the story, and if you want the reader insert character to be anxious, add moments in the story where that makes sense, where people nod along and say 'oh, yeah, for sure, i would react anxiously too if that happened.' bam! however you want the reader insert character to act, just keep weaving in justifications, scenarios that would draw out the desired behavior from a lot of people.
also maybe this is a cheat, but heaping on more personality in the narration than in the dialogue is a possibility! people are often more open in their thoughts and impulses than in the things they say! so then you can write weird shit and have people still relate!
"Oh, I'd love to chat, but I..." You readjust your bag and shuffle back a half-step, using the motion to buy yourself time to think of another excuse. "I really can't stay, sorry; my coworker needs me to cover her shift." It's not a lie, exactly. More like... two unrelated pieces of information. You really do have to go -- if you spend one more minute being ogled by some chucklefuck with no concept of personal space, you are really, truly, going to burst. And your phone has been pinging all day with frantic requests to please, please, please cover this shift, just this once, she thought she'd requested it off ages ago, honest, and the tickets were so expensive and they're nonrefundable, and you're the only one not already on the schedule, so please? He doesn't need to know that the shift isn't until Saturday.
not the best example, but you get the idea.
above all, all else, make it fun. seriously!
i got... a lot of comments about the reader insert character in my saeran fic. positive ones! really positive ones! some could relate to the reader insert, but others just liked them. thought of the reader insert as a well-developed character. does that mean i failed at writing a good reader insert? .........................well, maybe? or... maybe not? people had fun reading it and i had fun writing it, in the end. and a lot of people mentioned that the reader insert character did a lot of things they wished they could do RE: the plot or a character, so it still scratched that itch of wish fulfillment that reader inserts are designed to do, lmao. so maybe it didn't end up being The World's Most Relatable Reader Insert. but would it have been as fun for everyone if it was?
.........yknow what, maybe a lot of this is not actually the most helpful for writing reader inserts, actually. uh, if you want advice on fitting a reader insert into the world they're dropped in/among the characters they're now interacting with, or. like. any other coherent, salient writing advice, lemme know and i'll babble abt that another time but i've been rambling for an hour and i still have homework i need to do, oh my god
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Hi! I love your posts and want to ask your opinion on something. Who do you think in the batfam has the most and the least common sense of a normal person? If you can, can you also list how they are arranged? Thank you!
Ooohhh, this is a fun one! In my mind all bats lack common sense. Like obviously they're hella smart, after all they are a family of detectives, they just aren't very bright.
Here's a quick rundown (least to most): Tim and Dick tie for first place, both lack common sense in just in completely different ways. Then Damian (mostly cause of the whole 'being raised by league of assassins' thing), Bruce, Cass (controversial ik), Steph, Jason, Duke, Babs, and last on the list is obvs Alfred. (Kate is probs between Cass and Steph, but I've only really seen her in the DCAMU and need to get to know her better).
And Ima add a 'keep reading' cause this is gonna get long.
Tim:
Tim is one of the smartest in the family. He deduced Batman's identity as a child, majorly fucked up the League of Assassins, and has been honored (I say this v sarcastically just btw) with Ra's creepy obsession. He's smart, plain and simple. However, when it comes to just day to day survival and being loved, goddamn that boy is dumb.
He regularly mixes energy drinks and coffee. Sometimes he even mixes energy drinks, alcohol, and coffee.
In his mind warnings are optional. "Tim, did you just sniff that drano?" "Yeah, why?" "IT LITERALLY SAYS DO NOT SMELL" "Oops"
He regularly tests shit on himself. "Why is Tim on the floor?" "He mixed joker venom and fear gas to see what would happen" "HE WHAT"
Also if you try to compliment him or tell him you love him he will find a way to misunderstand. "Tim, I love you and you are an amazing son." "I don't know who this Tim is but he sounds great" "It- it's you, literally you. Timothy Jackson Drake." "I'm a bit confused, I didn't know you knew two Timothy Jackson Drakes. You should really introduce us."
Dick:
Dick in many ways is a total himbo. He's a complete sweetheart, super supportive, and very ditzy. His ditzy-ness directly correlates to how relaxed he is. Chilling in the manor? Peak himbo. A mission in space? Absolute genius and amazing leader. Just took down a bunch of thugs? Slowly reverting into dopey boi. He always has the ability to be super analytical, smart, and big brain, but he likes being whimsical and even airheaded. And that's not a bad thing, it's just him taking mental breaks, being lighthearted.
"YOU PUT DIESEL IN YOUR CAR?" "...Yeah, in my defense the nozzles look basically the same" "They're different colors?! Also the diesel nozzle doesn't even fit into your gas tank, how did you get it in?" "I'm a good pourer."
He always responds to the word dick and it always confuses him. "God Ra's is such a dick!" "What?" "Ra's is a dick" "I'm not Ra's!" "Wha- no! I mean penis dick!" "Ohhhh, yeah he is a penis dick"
Once Dick is safe he reverts into himbo pretty quickly, even after stressful situations. "Hey Wally?" "Yes babe?" "I forgot how to change my lock screen again" "Dick, you just hacked into an alien spaceship not even an hour ago??" "What's that have to do with anything?"
Damian:
Damian lacks common sense from growing up with the League of Assassins. He's an amazing warrior and super analytical but casual human interaction alludes him. He is getting better though, so eventually he'll be lower on the list than Steph. But for now he's a senseless bby.
The first time someone tried to give him high five he assumed it was an attack and flipped them. Same with a fist bump.
This is complete canon but his original treatment of Alfred, his brothers, and, well, everyone. Like bby boy please read the room.
His ego can easily override common sense. Like he wouldn't jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it, but if someone said he couldn't he'd immediately swan dive off that bridge.
Bruce:
For the world's greatest detective he can be a major dumb bitch sometimes. Some of it's growing up rich and some is being so wrapped up in his 'crusade for justice' that he just misses basic shit.
One time he walked in on Roy and Jason making out, the next day he saw them cuddling, then they mentioned moving in together. It took him three months to realize that they're dating.
He doesn't understand coupons, like at all. Jason has tried to explain them but Bruce just gets even more confused.
Bruce tried to make coffee once. He literally just poured coffee beans in water and microwaved it. He was surprised when it didn't taste good.
Cass:
Cass is similar to Damian in she lacks common sense from an unconventional upbringing. However she's learning way faster than Damian and depending on where in the timeline you're looking she might have more common sense than Babs.
Basic things like lines, turn taking, and speaking when spoken to aren't innate to her. Like, she knows and understands them, but often forgets about them.
There are many times that she blurs the line between civilian and vigilante because she'll do something that looks v stupid and dangerous for a civilian. The thing is she never notices when she does this.
One time she was in a restaurant and there was a cockroach on the wall across the room (cause Gotham) and instead of getting up and killing it like a normal person she threw her steak knife and impaled it.
Steph:
Steph is probably lacks common sense the most conventional yet slightly concerning way. She lacks common sense in the same way a cartoon character or sitcom character would. Like it's sorta realistic but at the same time damn bby girl why are you such a disaster??
She will do anything on a dare. Anything. There is a rule against daring Steph to do things while in the manor or on patrol.
Every time she hears someone say Red Robin she yells yum. This has gotten both her and RR shot.
Steph is v lucky that 1) she's a badass and 2) the batfam loves her because she annoys absolutely everyone just for shits and giggles and the only reason she hasn't been murdered is that Cass scares everyone.
Jason:
All common sense is lost when dramas at stake. Say what you will but Jason is the (second) biggest drama queen in the family. Also he, like most bats, lacks a sense of self preservation which leads to shit common sense.
He tried to steal Batman's tires.
Sometimes he listens to music during patrol and tries to hit people/shoot on beat. This has lead to stab wounds.
Jason loves to loudly quote classic literature while on stake outs. This is a problem for obvious reasons.
Duke:
Ok this is around the time you get to average common sense levels. But he still runs around Gotham beating people up in tights (or kevlar) so he doesn't get full points. Also he's still not Babs level common sense. One area Duke lacks common sense in is how to deal with the Batfam (which is v understandable tbh)
One time Duke was joking around with Jason and decided to steal a roll off of Damian's plate. This ended in blood.
Other than lacking Batfam common sense, most of his poor judgement moments are less notable but still concerning.
For example the time he challenged Dick to a hot dog eating contest then went on a roller coaster.
Babs:
Other than being a vigilante Babs almost has normal human common sense. However being a vigilante has negative side effects on ones common sense.
While Babs' sleep schedule isn't as bad as Tim's it's not a whole lot better. She's stayed up 72 consecutive hours multiple times.
She has accidentally poured coffee onto her computer instead of into a coffee mug.
One time she drank an entire gallon of milk before realizing it was a month expired.
Alfred:
Most assume that working for Bruce Wayne is a sign of him lacking common sense. But nah, it's him knowing, understanding, and challenging his own limits. Also it's him being a charitable human being. Like he has enough common sense to go around and tbh it's the only thing keeping the family alive.
"Master Bruce, you may not use Elmer's Glue All to close a wound."
"Master Dick I would encourage you not to teach Master Duke acrobatics on the glass coffee table."
"Miss Stephanie I would not advise trying to consume an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting, and no, I do not care if Master Jason dared you to."
Tada, there's the list! Sorry that was probably a lot longer than anyone wanted, but I enjoy talking about how ditzy the batfam is. Like they're all geniuses but at the same time they're just sooooo dumb.
#batfam#common sense#jason todd#dick grayson#duke thomas#barbara gordon#cassandra cain#alfred pennyworth#damian wayne#stephanie brown#tim drake#red hood#red robin#robin#the signal#oracle#black bat#spoiler#batgirl#bruce wayne#batman#ask#mypost
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Non-Controversial Loki Headcanons for These Trying Times
1.) Loki has had dozens of Midgard-based aliases over the years, for no other reason than the fact that he was bored and it was funny. DB Cooper was one of them. Hank Williams was another. He may or may not have even pretended to be a vampire at some point.
2.) Loki can definitely sing. Not just in a funny ironic way, but like.. he actually enjoys singing. It shouldn’t even come as a surprise considering he’s such a fine arts nerd, but yeah. He plays the guitar too. Surprisingly folksy.
3.) Loki’s rooms in Asgard literally look like a witch’s lair. I mean straight up spooky. All dark earth tones, spellbooks strewn everywhere, runes drawn on the walls to keep certain big brothers from messing with things they have no business messing with, vials of poisonous stuff sitting on every available surface, shelves full of strange little trinkets and talismans, a dramatic ass medieval-looking bed, a whole ass cauldron… and then in the corner on a stand there’s his Hank Williams Guitar aasdfghhjkl-
4.) When people call Loki a witch, they’re not joking. He’s. Like. An actual stereotypical, like.. witch. He doesn’t just do finger wavy magic- he mixes potions, he does rune work, he recites spells, he has a cauldron.
5.) He also used to dress super witchy. Used to. Past tense. I’m talking black nail polish, lots of necklaces, rings, eyes makeup (ok maybe I wouldn’t go that far, but Loki in eyeliner would be pretty hot, right?), clothes that were like.. 15% scarier yet more fashionable than the ones he wears in canon. The only reason he toned it down was because someone whose opinion he cared about (it was Thor) made a joking comment about his appearance looking “wicked” or “evil” and it made him feel self conscious, so he changed how he dressed. :(
6.) He was rocking the whole short hair look years before Thor in Ragnarok. In fact, by pre-canon Loki’s standards, his hair in Thor 1 was even a bit too long. He did this because a.) he hates how his natural curls soften him and will do anything to get rid of them and b.) in Asgard short hair wasn’t really worn by noblemen because it symbolised servitude, so this was Loki’s subtle way of being defiant and deviating from the norm.
7.) As Frigga said in Endgame, Loki is very good at sneaking. Even when he’s not trying to. There have been many-an-accident in the Palace of Asgard because he unintentionally almost gave Thor a heart attack.
8.) Loki and Thor weren’t always at each other’s throats. They actually got along pretty well up until Odin started planning for the coronation. Loki was still jealous of the way Thor was treated compared to the way he was treated, but he knew that wasn’t Thor’s fault- not really. And Thor was still arrogant and entitled, but that was mostly directed at other people and not his own family, so while Loki knew about Thor’s character flaws, it didn’t really effect him personally. When the planning started, though, Thor gradually became even more superior and insufferable than normal, and Loki became even more bitter and unsettled, and their relationship just kind of went downhill from there.
9.) Loki absolutely joined the Mile High Club with that flight attendant from the first episode of the show. Her name was Florence and she was adorable, Loki thought so too.
10.) Loki’s the only person on Asgard who can beat Volstagg at an eating competition. He has a giant’s metabolism, after all. And, contrary to his elegant and refined tastes in most other areas, he’s actually a straight-up carnivore. I mean he eats other foods too, obviously, but meats are by far his favourites. Boar, fish, poultry, steak. Just meats. He doesn’t know it, but this is because frost giants are mostly carnivorous.
11.) His relationship with the Warriors 4 was always split down the middle. He and Sif always hated each other. Hogun never trusted him and Loki never had any interest in spending time with Hogun. Fandral and Volstagg, on the other hand, were always much nicer and Loki always sort of considered them his friends as well as Thor’s. This is why they were more reluctant to believe that he’d let the frost giants in in Thor 1.
12.) I refuse to believe Loki doesn’t have at least one tattoo somewhere. Probably more. Probably of a snake. The only parts of his body we didn’t see naked in Episode 1 were his thighs, lower back, knee area, pelvic region, and the back of his neck. So it’s gotta be in one of those places. (Might I suggest: snake thigh tattoo, tiny nape tat, goth tramp stamp lol, rune tat behind his ear, Norse mythos leg tat, badass above-dick tattoo).
13.) Loki’s prickly and insecure and has layers like an onion, but once you get to the point of actually being friends with him, he’s a total sweetheart. I mean a literal smol dork. A bit hyperactive and excitable, but still very very soft. It’s because he’s had so few actual friends in his life.
14.) Sometimes Loki only goes a few days before his gender changes, sometimes he stays one gender for years at a time. And he tends to shapeshift his body to match. That being said, one of his biggest pet peeves is how his other-gendered clothes get all dusty and musty when they have to stay in the closet for long stretches of time. So he’s taken to wearing luxurious gowns around the house when he’s in his male form. You know, just to air them out.
15.) Loki hates sleeping with people. Sex is fine, but he’s just so solitary and paranoid that he’s never been comfortable sleeping in a bed with another person. This may or may not have gotten him in trouble a few times when his partners woke up and found him gone lol.
16.) Laufey is actually incredibly similar to Loki, the way Odin is very similar to Thor. He prefers smaller blades (ice daggers), he’s very analytical and calculating, he’s very calm and non-confrontational even when he’s in a stressful situation, and tbh he seems like a better king than Odin- much like Loki probably would’ve been a better kind than Thor. (Whoopsie this one’s a bit controversial)
17.) Loki adores animals! …But he’s also a bit obsessive about keeping his environment clean. Not organised, per se, just clean. And animals tend to be hairy and slobbery and feathery and slimy and poopy and dirty, so he’s never been able to have a pet. He just takes a lot of nature walks to compensate :)
18.) All jotuns are naturally intersex, including Loki. This is a bit unusual for Asgardians, but because Loki is genderfluid and a natural-born shapeshifter- and has always had a tendency to change his body parts around as his gender changes (male, female, both, neither)- he’s never had a reason to find it very odd. In hindsight, that was one of the many eccentricities that should have made him realise something was a little fishy with his “asgardian” genetics.
19.) The snake + stabbing story from Ragnarok was nowhere near as nefarious as Thor made it seem. What actually happened was: Someone accidentally mixed a real knife in with the blunted practice knives. Thor and Loki didn’t know this, of course, and when they were playing a battle game, Loki ended up with the real knife. When Loki “won” and went to “vanquish his enemy” he ended up actually stabbing Thor for real. They were both hysterical and it took longer to calm Loki down than his brother. It ended up just being a flesh wound, though, so everything turned out fine.
20.) A lot of people think Loki discovered his “secret passageways between worlds” from TDW through some sort of inter-realm questing or magical study or something, but in reality, he discovered them when he was like 16 and desperately trying to find a way to sneak out of Asgard without Heimdall telling his parents.
Tagging @natures-marvel & @little-s-creampuff for expressing interest. Thx for listening to my mad ravings lmao <3
#I have so many more of these it’s unreal#my musings#loki headcanons#loki laufeyson#frosty bby#long post#loki series#Thor ragnarok#thor the dark world#thor 2011#Thor#language tw
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Thinking about the effect that the Scooby Doo legacy and stereotypes associated with it have had on the friendships of individual gang members other than just Shaggy and Scooby.
(Some negativity and a lot of personal opinion below, also running on 3hrs sleep so do what you will)
Like this post was actually written after my rant in the tags but in newer Scooby media (with newer counting as everything after the change in art styles and entrance to the 21st century in my mind) it always has to be a spectacle when they do something against the "Laws of Scooby" like they decide to switch up the clue finding pairings for an episode? Suddenly it's the focus of the whole thing, and people are clashing, and blah blah clap the writers on the back for being so self aware!
It's like: listen. Take that one what's new episode for example, in the mall where the toys come to life. They decide to split up the pairings, putting Fred and Shaggy together, and leaving Scooby with the girls. And instead of it being a fun and interesting change, it's just... awkward. Like suddenly Fred and Shaggy can't even have a conversation together? Like they can't even find a common interest to relate over for small talk and I'm supposed to believe that they're friends? And they ARE FRIENDS! First and foremost, friendship is the strongest binding factor in Scooby Doo! These teenagers basically live together and drive around solving dangerous mysteries together. Like for Pete's sake! There's your common intrest right there! It just rubs me the wrong way honestly
This same thing was done (I think I remember) in a few be cool, scooby doo episodes although like a lot of stuff in be cool, they handled it much better, and normally presented a resolution of the gang's friendships at the end of the episode, and would occasionally break the status quo with other team ups.
But still, compared to older, hanna-barbera era (hey, that rhymes!) it felt almost performative, like they were telling us that We, as an Audience had to acknowledge that they were being Different (TM).
Just when you compare it to older cartoons, specifically those where many of the iconic hallmark gags and catchphrases of scooby doo weren't fully cemented, it's a much more chill and relaxed affair. Like Velma can go look for clues with Shaggy and Scooby in WAY, no problem! But if it happens now, there has to be some sort of reason or conflict behind it other than them just being friends, and wanting to hang out!
It's just very interesting, and while an occasional trend, It's one I can find appearing more in Scooby properties I don't like as much, and less in those I do. Like some of the more recent straight to DVD movies! (Can they still be called that tbh?) I love those, and most of them, I've noticed, puts greater emphasis and care on the friendships of the gang than other properties do.
I've especially seen this with the more "popular" or mainstream Scooby media. Like the ones like Mystery Incorporated, the Gunn Movies, etc. try and do something different with the plot (most of the time to great acclaim) but do so at the expense of the characters and their friendship with each other
Like I appreciate what they're trying to do! I do! I like branching out, I loooove changing it up plot wise! But when you don't preserve the heart of the franchise (the scooby gang) it just feels uncomfortable, or flat to me as a Scooby fan.
Like to a more casual fan I can totally see how they can LOVE Mystery inc, or the Gunn Movies, but as someone who watches old episodes and owns and loves DVD releases, it doesn't always feel like the same characters or same story. Like I adore SDMI and what it tried to do with it's plot, but I can have a hard time having fun with it when the gang are arguing and neglecting their real friendships over bullshit relationship drama for the 15th episode in a row. It just makes me a little sad and it's hard to watch as someone who cared about them. It just... I'm a fan who would take a repetitive, carbon copy scooby story with solid and considerate versions of the characters over a story with an amazing plot, but horrible characterization (to the point that you could not PAY me to believe these people are friends) any day
Anyways this got much too long plus my rants in the tags, and I STILL haven't nailed down my point here and I don't think I will so I'll just wrap it up with the fact that Scooby Doo is character driven, and it has survived off those characters for over 50 years. And sometimes it seems that executives have a hard time remembering that when the adaptations most ingrained in the public consciousness seem to show the opposite of this. But I don't know, characterization and character dynamics are something that has changed and evolved a lot over the course of the Scooby Doo franchise's lifetime, and appears in many different forms at different times, making each show and movie (nay, each episode) almost hit or miss in the mind of each fan and their own version of the characters. And I think you can get your best glimpse at what other people see in Scooby through their version of the friendships it involves and how it stands as a central theme
#just mmm YES#the old series when a lot of the tropes and in gags and stereotypes werent set so they really had freedom to explore other dynamics n ideas!#like SO GOOD#like they DONT always split uo the same way shaggy and scooby doo want to solve the mystery and help its just... so good#there arent certain points they always hit each episode its so nice#like i was watching something and i actually think it was way later than WAY bc it was scrappy era but still original art style but ANYWAYS#they had a flashback to a fred and scooby team up! JUST fred and scooby! catching a bad guy together! do you know how awesome it is!#i swear nowadays anytime they switch up the teams at all its always a huge thing the episode has to point at like SEE SEE WE'RE ORIGINAL#and theres some bs plotline abt it being hard for people to get along in the new team ups#like the wnsd episode where its shaggy and fred and they cant find shit to talk about or like the bcsd episode where scooby and velma team#up (this one was better than the wnsd ep at least) and its like NO NO NO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THEY ARE FRIENDS#it shouldnt be awkward or played off for the studio to get brownie points for doing something different with scooby doo like no! nonononono!#just ugh the older episodes had their own little things but im just thinking about the weight that the tradition of what constitutes scooby#puts on the episodes#also this isnt a blanket statement because non classic era scooby can do gang dynamics really well at times!!! like holy shit! but i find#that it being done badly can turn good episodes into uncomfortable ones and okay episodes into boring ones#like sdmi!! the plot in sdmi can be the best thing ever but it sacrifices gang dynamics to do that and adds in artificial drama so#i have the most complicated feelings on it as a series and how it portrays the gang#same with the gunn movies! like i hate them because of the scrappy slander and shit but no matter how good they can be plot and comedy wise#i just cant believe the gang are actually friends in it and it takes a lot of that joy out of it and makes ut suffer in my eyes#SO TO SUM UP bc these tags got long as fuck for a one sentence post: the thing that turns good scooby into great scooby is defined in the#relationships of the main characters and their friendship above all else#tdlr: if they dont love each other youre doing scooby doo wrong#anyways wb hire me i would love to create character driven scooby shows and movies for you : )))#scooby doo#this is gibberish#you can tell im sleep deorived but whatever#anyways i didnt mention the 90s quartet when talking about mainstream interpretations and that was on purpose bc its Complicated.#and honestly deserves a full rewatch and another post before going into my opinions on them#hhhhhggggggg brain mush now okey bye
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Is it normal to start disliking a member, but still loving them? Like i dislike a bit of their personality, but i still deeply love and care about them.
Does this make me a hater? I'm really confused tbh.
This is a real story; when I was 15, a girl from Washington DC came to my school because of a cultural exchange program. She was older but I had older friends so we all became friends with her. I was sitting with her on the bleachers and we were talking (in English) about our families and at one point she asked me "do you like her?" about a family member, and I said "of course, I love her". And she was like "...but do you like her?" And she changed my life forever 😭
It was legit a man out of the cave moment for me. It's just that English is a language that offers the possibility to talk about the difference between liking or loving, while my language we don't have that chance at distinction between liking and loving. It's assumed that if you love someone, you like them. But it's not always like that! It happens a lot with families, or even with friends from childhood with whom you're not really close anymore.
Over sharing time over-
In my opinion, it's totally normal to feel like you don't like a member or part of their personalities and no, it doesn't make you a hater.
I've always looked at BTS as just people. They're not "idols" to me, I've never had the intention or the need of idealizing them or seeing them as my saviors. When I started liking them, they were simply people that were doing something I liked and were entertaining to me. Getting to know them was just a collateral effect of a lot of things, so from the beginning I was able to recognize what I liked and what I didn't like about them. And it's still like that for me.
For a long time I felt about Jimin exactly the way he talked about in that festa 2021 video when he said he was confident about his personality but then he also said he was embarrassed by his personality. I liked Jimin almost immediately, but a lot of times I would be close to covering my eyes while watching him do some stuff and I would be like "nooo why is he like that". Because I felt too much secondhand embarrassment.
Just like with real people, nobody likes everybody. My closest friends have had boyfriends that I didn't like, or other friends that I couldn't stand... None of that ever turned me into a hater and those were people that my loved ones loved. But they didn't force me to spend time with them or looked down on me for not liking them or cut ties with me or them for not getting along. We're all grown ups. I can be in the same room or even sit next to people I don't like
There are also millions of celebrities that we don't like, and none of that makes anyone a hater. It seriously seems to happen only in BTS and/or kpop spaces. Imagine telling someone "I don't like panic at the disco" and the other person going "SO YOU'RE AN ANTI KYS" imagine 😭
The allegory of the cave has been on the back of my mind for a few days for some reason, and I just looked for it and came across this nice summary. I'm going to link it in case you're interested, there are Many Many aspects of it that can be used to understand fandom and I guess these parasocial relationships with celebrities, all while we're mostly having these "relationships" with shadows-like images of said celebrities. I bet Plato would've never seen that one coming 😂😂
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i’m jealous of your big heart when it comes to animals lmao. i’m arachnophobic and it can be so annoying to have sometimes. i haven’t been able to tie it back to astrology, as much as i would like to. i asked because i was wondering if there was a clear indicator based off certain placements like how 6th house rules animals, 6th is ruled by mercury so i jumbled them even though i probs shouldn’t have lol. and with venus it ties to personal taste so i wondered if it could indicate a liking towards a certain animal. i have sag and sag venus in 6th and embarrassingly enough, i was obsessed with horses. like i came out of the womb adoring them. as soon as i learned to talk i was a walking horse encyclopedia. my obsession died down. i’m not a horse girl, i swear on my life.
i agree with you about the cancer loving animals. animals are babies and momma cancer loves to nurture the babies. i feel like cancers are the most likely to hate the “are you a dog or cat person” question. they’d get offended because how dare someone assume their heart isn’t big enough for both. more than both, really. throw a turtle in there. a rabbit even. cancer asc peeps usually have a shit ton of animals. it’s probably the sag/abundance in the 6th. or they either own a horse or Great Dane. but this is off topic because i forgot i had a follow up question.
if you could tie an animal or a couple animals to each sign that you think best represents that sign? or just seems like one they’d like? some are so easy and others just leave me blank. my arachnophobia thinks scorpio’s deserve better than scorpions but my terror blinds me. but i was looking up the symbolism behind animals and tying them to signs. so far, i’ve concluded that while horses should go with sag, their highly intuitive and empathetic animals. their behavior is like a mirror so if you’re nervous, they are too. so pisces or cancer actually seems to be a better fit. and to stay on topic of cancer with animals, i always tie wolves and dogs in general to cancer. the wolves are tied to the moon and familial dynamics and also i think they’re a great symbolic opposition to leo and how leos tend to resemble cats. sun and moon, dog and cat, night and day, that sort of thing. i realized i’ve rambled but i’m looking forward to your opinion because i’m so lost on what other signs would have. it’s been a year old question in my brain and it’s time for help from the master.
I'm sorry to hear that, I'm had a friend once who was arachnophobic and having phobias like these is really no fun, I can't imagine what it feels like really having them. And omg don't feel bad for liking horses when you were a child, literally so many children, especially young girls, like horses simply because people decided horses where a 'teenage girls only' thing somehow?? (and I will have to dig deeper into this at a point because here where I come from the horse girl thing is soooo painfully real and I want to understand the phenomena). And if I'm not mistake, arachnophobia (like most types of phobias), stem from some kind of trauma right? I absolutely don't try to get to personal but if we look at phobias in that way, maybe it's good to also include looking at planets/asteroids that point to trauma or aspects that can represent/indicate traumatic experiences in that sense! And I agree wholeheartedly to the 'dog or cat' question, I don't get offended by it but I hate this question in general because every animal deserves my love and empathy adfghj and yes, mother feelings definitely play into this haha! I think cancers enjoy (to an extent) having that occasional (or constant) outlet for their nurturing side and the bound you have to animals is also very intuitive and requires a lot of patience and getting educated as well as being observant and reading between the lines somehow and all that dedication paired with emotional knowledge just really speaks to water signs in general (and animals don't judge openly with words, just your energy asdfgh) Uhh, I like the question regarding the animals and I agree with your takes on it so far!! I think one animal can not represent all the core traits of a sign alltogether, but I'll try my best here! and psdfghj no need to call me master because I'm literally so far from anything close to that but thank you so much still, I feel honored really!!
The Signs as Animals:
Disclaimer: some of them are inspired by my ‘the Wild Unknown Animal Spirit’ tarot deck.
Aries: House cat. I know, I always thought cats actually link pretty well to Aries! Cats are just the perfect mixture of intelligen and curious, reserved, stubborn, aggressive, senstive as well as playful/impulsive! They are quick to learn and not afraid to face off against any other, bigger animals, but also can live pretty well together with other pets in the house, as long as they don‘t bother them too much. Especially when it comes to intimacy/pda they are very picky, but forceful when demand it. Seem flexible and unbothered at first but actually have the firmest boundaries when it comes to their personal freedom. Will let you believe they need you but give it a few weeks and the neighbor has better treats than you and gone they are asdfgh, but it's actually a harmful stereotype to believe that cats don't need you because they can become extremely fond of you and grow very attached.
Taurus: Elk. Based on the interpretation of my tarot deck. The elk represents earth energy, it is grounded, is established in itself and knows their core values and acts according to them. They show consistency, coherence and care. Dedicated to who they love and what they care for. Can become narrow minded due to knowing what's best, based on their perception of what's right and necessary, which can effect their ego negatively. Very Taurus for me. Gemini: Dragonfly. I refer to the interpretation of the Dragonfly based on my tarot deck. The dragonfly represents the mind: everchanging, quick, fascinating, a reflection of the world inside us and aroudn us. As the dragonfly is very quick (refering to Mercury's fast and nervous energy) the dragonfly also calles for paying attention to what quality our mind has and to become mindful, because on first glance things always appear different tahn on first glance (Mercury floats between detail-oriented and paying attenetion and being too fast, impatient). The dragonfly is joy and magic, as well as impatience, restlessness and being unable to concentrate. Cancer: Killer Whales (but also whales in general)! I thought especially about Killer Whales, because I once watched a documentary on them and they went in depth about how they have different cultures and different languages even (if I remember correctly) in their familys. Cancer often gets associated with the home life, but I think I wanted to look at it from another perspective, as in how does family 'become' family and how do those family roots develope, what do they consist of, how do we define family and what holds it together (and especially: how do our roots shape our own emotional patterns and nature in life?). I think the mystery of the Killer Whales but the whole complexity that lies behind the fascination of how these animals function and also how deeply affected Killer Whales are by their emotions/when they are absent from their kin, just opens up another big question of family dynamics and how we relate to one another and how principles we always condoned to human beings now apply to animals too. I think the whole part about the Killer Whales relation to emotions and their family's cultures just really made me link them to Cancer. Leo: Otter. I refer o the meaning of teh Otter based on my tarot deck. The Otter resembles the energy of the inner child: it's pure bliss, playfulness, they love to live and live for life itself, and out of this eagerness to enjoy life comes also a contentment and completeness towards life itself. To reconnect with otter energy, it is advised to step into settings of celebration, or total creative self expression and from the outside looking 'unproductive/selfish' indulgence. But actually, this energy is what makes life so enjoyable in the first place.
Virgo: Octopus. Highly intelligent beings that can quickly adapt and take the initiative. Self sufficient by nature, they aren't aggressive unless provoked, they like to mind their business unless they get curious (then they cling heavy onto you because you are their new object of interest). They can change color if it's needed (Virgo is a mutuable sign and can blend in perfectly in social occasions/new situations) and tbh the inking part about octopus just reminds me of the fact that most Virgos have a really quirky side to them you only get to see when you annoy them long enough (aka you are a long term friend). Libra: Gazelle. I refer to the meaning of ten Gazelle based on my tarot deck. The gazelle combines the creation of beauty and harmony, creativity and hyper awareness of it's surroundings, very affected of the imbalances in it's environment, but in it's try to remain this beauty around them, they tend to forget their achievments and stay in the present with their thoughts, as they constantly wheigh out the 'what if's'. A very perceptive animal in the tarot deck and this attribute is equally it's strong suit and downfall. Scorpio: Tiger. I refer here to the meaning of the Tiger based on my tarot deck. Waits in stillness and darkness to reconnect to their own inner power. Healing in isolation with the help of the lunar forces, waiting to regenerate. The Tiger energy shows itself in being passionate, sensual and stepping into ones own power, recognizing ones strength. For me, this is very Scorpio (Moon) for me. When the Tiger in unbalanced, it becomes overstimulated and acts according to this hyperawareness. Sagittarius: Zebra. I refer here to the meaning of the Zebra based on my tarot deck. The Zebra stands for an open mind, visionary and eccentric, new thinking, as well as being young at heart and expansion. I personally connect horses with passion and drive, because they are truly powerhouses. Based on the meaning of my tarit deck, the Zebra also is sociable, at least people find themselves drawn to the energy of the Zebra because it triggers their desire to learn, and I think this is something very beautiful Sagittarius symbolizes when they come into your life: be prepared to broaden your horizon for more.
Capricorn: Camel. I refer to the meaning of the Camel based on my tarot deck. Camels here represent absolute dependence on self and being able to find the answer to problems in oneself. This self reliance and capability reminds me of capricorns, the camel is finding the 'cool' aka water inside of them and Capricorn is traditionally also symbolized as the sea-goat (which I seriously think should really be considered when anaylzing this archetype) and Capricorns have (imo at least) a rich emotional life, but it's just deeply locked within. The Camel represents showing responsibility for their own actions, regulating the self and circumstances around them as best as they can, which makes sense for Capricorns, ruled by Saturn they usually are confronted with task in their life. If the Camel energy is out of balance, it shows a lack of vitality, with Capricorn representing the senior age in life makes sense, especially since Capricorns can tend to feel very old (exhausted)- Aquarius: Platypus- and no, I’m not using the Platypus because ‚wow all Aquarius are so weird like straight up aliens 🤪🤪’ I think the platypus is a good representation because it makes us question what we’ve known so far about animals and Aquarius too is a sign that introduces us to new ideas and perspectives all in the favor of progress and considering alternatives, leaving the status quo. Pisces: Raven/Crow. I name these two in particular because as far as I know it’s only the ravens that have been documented intimating people’s voices and tones, but crows are definitely more known for their bright mind. For me people often forget Pisces mutable nature and how quick witted they actually are. These birds are hyper intelligent and their observational skills are truly amazing. In my Wild Uknown Animal Spirit deck, the crow is an animal carrying 3rd eye energy. Here, the view is clear, the crow is moving through different dimensions and sees what other’s cant. For and the emotional depth (void) Pisces is conencted to it just seem to make sense.
#i swear i will be more active the next days#replies#anonymous#astrology#zodiac#the signs as#the signs as animals
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Ok so I finally got caught up on CMM (anon, I have a lot going on right now, maybe don’t send me over ten asks with spoilers in them… I pinkie promise I’ll post once I read it) and thoughts-
Obviously the big one is Shannon and Hope. I would’ve paid all my gems to talk to either one of them, but I’m still a little salty that we did have to pay. For such a short scene, they recycled 30% of the dialogue towards the beginning and that was annoying. It would’ve been so easy to make them unique. Hope absolutely would have been insecure and said ‘did anyone ask about me’, but Shannon wouldn’t. Shannon doesn’t care, she could’ve said something like “lol does anyone even remember me?” or “it’s totally fine, sounds like it was an original islanders only party”. The reasons they gave for not being there were pretty good, and it makes me feel better than in-canon they weren’t un-invited. Hope’s part was much longer than Shannon’s but I liked Shannon’s more.
My big issue with the phone calls was that Hope’s call was just… flat. In the villa, Hope was smiling all the time, super expressive and warm, and her call just seemed really… flat. It lacked a warmth that being BFFs with her merits. And the conceit, that she’s at a stuffy wellness retreat trying to schmooze a client with her boss, would’ve been really ripe for her being expressive. Like “omg thank god a normal person, I’ve been doing nothing but smiling and agreeing all weekend”. I did like how she expressed insecurity and then corrected herself, it showed a lot of growth. I just wish there would’ve been more sincerity and personality.
I’m not mad about Chelsea and Rocco. I kinda don’t think they’ll last, because Rocco will eventually move on and Chelsea is desperately trying to cling to the experience of the villa through him. But I feel like it was effectively foreshadowed, and seems pretty in character for the both of them. It’s not the redemption arc I was hoping for Rocco though, I still hope Rocco sits down with Lottie or Priya and properly apologizes.
Chelsea’s password being BRA? Jesus christ, give it a rest, FB. She has more than one personality trait. The CMM writers really just latched onto 1-2 cute moments with each character in the main season and decided “this is all they think and talk about”. Same with Hope saying pacifically again and Priya’s gauche sunflower print.
The escape room bit was fun, but I wish the riddles hadn’t been multiple choice (instead the typing in thing and if you get it right Chelsea’s excited but otherwise has stock lines like ‘not quite… it’s a mirror!’). Also it would’ve been more fun if another character was trapped with MC, just to see them try to solve it. The humor in that section was good though, I especially liked the reaction to throwing the box at the wall.
LOVED the new outfits, they’re all super cute but like… Why did I spent 10 gems when literally no one’s going to acknowledge the costume change?? Like surely someone would be like “what… happened? Why did you change?” or even “you changed because you’re the murderer and were getting blood off your clothes!”. But nothing.
I’m not super invested in the mystery, and I don’t really mind that. The characters and their reminiscing is more important. But like… I don’t think the clues were handled very compellingly. The clues aren’t really tied to any one specific person, and they’re not insight into how the murders took place or what enabled the person to get away. It’s just… Here’s a note Chelsea gave you, here’s a thing that was at the scene. I’d like it more if it was things like ‘a bare footprint, a half drank wine glass, a cypher with a puzzle attached’. Something that you could be like ‘x character wouldn’t know how to do that, x character likes wine’ etc.
Also I don’t love how it seems like the murderer changes based on your choices? Like if they’ve coded it so that everyone’s possibly the murderer and it’s just revealed based on player choice who it is that’s not… A mystery… Like I’d much prefer if only 1 person was the murderer, or there was a pre-set killer for each victim.
Lucas died in my game (I’m romancing Priya), and there was a chance to flirt with him before he died. I know other people had Lottie die if Gary was the LI, so who dies if Bobby is your LI? Can you romance Lottie and the other person?
My eggs are still all in the ‘Noah’s the murderer’ basket.
I really hate how explicit the switch between the mystery and socializing has been. Obviously that’s a facet of everyone playing characters, but like three times now there’s been “let’s get back to the mystery!” or “let’s stop the mystery to socialize” and it just feels clunky and breaks up the story. I’d prefer if all of the characters collectively disregarded the characters they’re playing, except when clearly delivering dialogue in reaction to things, so that there’s less “are you in character right now or are you you?”. I’d also change it so that everyone really casually talks about their theories and the mystery but for the most part isn’t super invested in it. That way the player can choose to be the only one who cares about the mystery and solving it, or we can do away with the back and forth about it. I don’t know, I’m just not a fan of how we keep interrupting GOOD scenes like MC/her LI bonding, reminiscing with people, or Chelsea announcing her relationship to be like ‘lol let’s talk about a mystery’.
I’m shipping Lucas and Priya more than MC and Priya because when romancing her, Priya really doesn’t have any personality outside of ‘interested in MC’, versus when she’s roleplaying with Lucas or around everyone else she’s back to being herself. It’s creating this weird dynamic where the writing makes it seem like Priya is /uncomfortable/ or not herself when romancing MC, to the point where I feel guilty?? Like she seemed more in-character and excited when talking about a guy who dumped her than she has been when kissing and doing the nasty with MC all night. Like honestly you could replace her with Rahim in all her romance scenes and it would be more in-character for Rahim.
Overall I’m... Enjoying it. Like I’m not stopping mid-episode to do something else like I was with S3. But tbh I think I enjoyed Boat Party more, and I’m really only thinking about specific scenes and headcanons after putting my phone down (as opposed to S2 and S1 which lived in my head rent free after playing an episode)
Maybe part of that is I have a really poor working memory and prefer to binge consume media instead of playing it week by week, so I lose interest each week. Once it’s fully released I’ll have to play it in one go and let yall know if it’s actually bad or I’m just bad.
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so... I tried salvia
Yup, I finally did it. I smoked something for the first time. After a lifetime of not being a smoker, I inhaled that shit. It wasn’t easy, I coughed, a lot. I still don’t like smoke. But what I do like is salvia. Damn. People aren’t fucking around when they say that salvia is strong... and weird as hell.
My first experience with salvia was actually chewing it, the taste sucked hardcore and I really didn’t find the effects to be strong enough (granted, I only used a small amount to test how my mind and body would react to the new substance), it went well enough but I wanted to move to the next level: smoking.
It was a few days to a week later that I was finally able to try smoking it, and I had to look up videos on how to even use a bong. I had this tiny cheap thing that I bought off of Amazon because I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for in a bong. I started by putting some plain leaf in the bowl and smoked it, it was truly awful from a physical perspective. Mentally, I definitely felt... different. I tried a few more bowls and closed my eyes and in my head I got some interesting faint 3D tunnels formed out of static. They were spinning. But I also got an image of some evil face grinning maniacally (tbh it looked kind of like the jerma sus meme but it wasn’t super funny because I’ve gotten an evil grinning figure before, off morning glory seeds)
I wanted to smoke more but there was another person in the house, she was going to leave for a few hours soon though so I waited until after she left to continue my experiment. I put on a long YouTube compilation of music from one of my favorite artists. I smoked a little bit more plain leaf but I quickly decided I wanted something more intense. I have a gram of both 10x and 20x, so I got the 10x out and put a pinch of it it into the bowl, lit it, and decided to put my mind into the hands of this new substance. I wasn’t expecting much... but then it hit me. Yeah, it hit me and I was pretty amazed by how quickly I went from mostly sober, to diving into deep hallucinogenic water. It was like DXM and nitrous all at the same time but way stronger than either one.
I kept pulling my hood over my eyes to block the light out, and I took my glasses off, which felt amazing and natural, like scratching an itch and that it was exactly what I needed to do at that moment. I pulled my hood over my entire face but I kept thinking I didn’t want to somehow make it hard to breathe. My entire vision morphed into this three-lobed formation of the little bit I could actually see, repeated on continuous lines in a clover shape. I felt a little overwhelmed, like I had done something that I wasn’t really supposed to do, since I told the other person I wouldn’t try 10x by myself. But at that point I could feel myself sink back, and I felt like I was on a boat in the ocean being rocked gently by waves. I moved my hands back and forth in front of me, mimicking the feeling.
At the end there were these faint 2D panels with these cartoon ape characters looking back at me, like I was supposed to follow them. It started to fade and I opened my eyes, sat up, and the first thing that came into my mind was some nonsense about “hairy gorilla soda bottles”. After it faded a bit more, I looked at the bong just thinking “holy shit!” I felt really good but it was way more than anything I’d experienced before that point. I knew immediately that I wanted to do more.
The second time around, when I started to enter I got a faint vision of a purple cartoon hippo looking over a book that was also a farm with a sunrise, I was a part of a class but I kept disturbing the class by moving around too much. The vision changed and became a lot more vivid, there were these purple and white teddy bears made of hollow rolling tubes, and I was one of the tubes. The tubes were rolling but also moving like on a conveyor belt or something. I was going to get pulled into the “inside” of the teddy bear and I was annoyed by this because I knew it was going to be too dark to see anything in there, and I wanted my “outside” time to be longer.
After I was sucked in there was this version of a house made of those rolling tubes, it was flat, and two of my family members were in front of it, they were also made of tubes and their arms, legs, and bodies were super thin and featureless, I don’t think they had distinct faces either, and they were both reaching into the middle of the front of the house with their “hands” touching. I just wanted to go inside the house. Then I was on this pinched oval type thing, I could see the whole thing and one part looked closer than the other, where there were repetitions of the room I was in, linked to this bicycle chain structure, with gaps between them, on a black background. This was all I could see, but I was also on/in it and it was my what I felt my face was. It kept looping over and over and there was this word/sound/concept that kept repeating and it was really frustrating for some reason because I had to keep repeating this loop. I felt stuck during this part and didn't know when it was gonna stop.
The final scene was this neighborhood of cartoony 2D houses made of thick, round, rubber looking tubes. They were soft and squishy looking. There were families in the houses and grey metal doors underneath each one. I called this place Book Land because it reminded me of a children's book, where everything is gentle and pure and bright. I talked to the dad of the first house and he told his wife about how I wasn’t able to get through because I had to pee too much, but my door was open a little bit. I asked him if he could see me and he said no, he had never seen me even though he knew about me before because the door is open sometimes. There was a close-up of a cartoon purple kid, who looked like from a child’s drawing, but made of the round tubes. She was smiling and looked happy. I was able to open the door enough to get my hand through, it was all purple and blobby and made of tubes like everything else. It stretched across all the houses and I felt like I was doing some kind of educational lesson about sharing “my kind” with the people of this world.
After I came out of it I had to piss really, really bad, so I rushed to the bathroom as quickly as I could, I’m not sure if I just drank too much water while trying to smoke or what, but it was way more intense than usual for me. In the bathroom I was still pretty in it because I kept thinking about Book Land like it was a real place, and I wasn’t sure if me using the bathroom was real or just a particularly normal/realistic part of the trip.
I went back to my smoking spot to go in one last time. I knew I was reaching my limit, though, so I didn’t want to go overboard. Very shortly after smoking it, I got up to pee, I don’t even think I had to at this point, I think I was just unconsciously repeating something I’d done several times before. I kept thinking about Book Land and I also felt like I was in a weird cycle and that everyday life was just a weird cycle and getting up to pee was a part of it. I could see repeating rainbow fractals on the carpet as I walked to the bathroom and I was super happy about it and thought it was totally normal. I remember when I was in the bathroom I kept trying to talk to myself, but it was pretty much only mumbling and partial words that came out.
When I was done I sat down but got up again right after to look at the carpet, because I could see this 3D simple three-lobed snowflake like pattern repeated on the carpet wherever I looked. I kept moving around to see it at different angles and it looked totally, convincingly 3D no matter where I looked. I loved this to no end and just kept looking at the patterns for several minutes. I thought that I should put my glasses on to see the fractals better, but when I did they simply disappeared. At one point an advertisement came on since the video with the music I was listening to had ended, and I became really angry and paused it, saying “NO!” really loudly. I thought to myself that “the children in Book Land cannot be exposed to corporate propaganda like advertisements. The children in Book Land can only be exposed to pure information.”
After that, I admired the carpet patterns a bit more, then I wanted to go outside. As I went to go outside, I kept looking at the floor the whole time, searching for more patterns, and when the flooring switched from carpet to a flat, wood patterned floor the fractals disappeared. So I was a little annoyed at this and continued making my way outside. I saw one of the cats and thought she was cute, but she didn’t have any fractals on her so I wasn’t super interested in that moment. Then I saw a clover leaf and said “Yes!! There it is!! That’s it right there!!” and sat down on the step to admire this leaf, which really did resemble the three-lobed vision from the start of my adventure, and it looked like the patterns I saw on the carpet as well. I sat there looking at the leaf and looking around, thinking to myself as the salvia wore off more and more.
Over the next couple hours I sat down, thinking about my trip and how intense everything was. I felt really good and at that point I knew exactly why people said that salvia was weird as hell. I kept thinking about the visuals, the feelings, and about Book Land. I hastily wrote some notes down on my computer, which I referred to when writing this, as despite the typos and weird wording, it had the most raw translation of my experience that I could get. In all honesty, I felt pretty accomplished for trying something new and not shrimping out over smoking for the first time, or shying away from how daunting salvia can seem. I knew what I was getting into before I started and I wasn’t taken by surprise at any point.
I know I’m going to try it again at some point, but I’m definitely not going to rush my way into it and push myself too far too fast. I have a huge amount of respect for this drug and the last thing I want to do is screw myself over by getting cocky.
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Mia, episode eight
1. I know I’m just a grumpy oldish person and all, but ugh. This whole ‘walking into school and holding hands while everyone gapes as if it’s amazing’ thing seems so stupid. I work in a school, and maybe it’s different in Germany but this sort of thing just doesn’t seem to happen. People just turn up together and it’s part of life (and also they break up again in 5 minutes so Plus, I’m annoyed that I was right and that Kiki seems to be 100% entirely okay with Mia and Alex now. Her entire story appeared to be that she felt like she wasn’t good enough for Alex and so the whole eating/exercise thing was tied into that. But now a) she’s totally ok with this whole Mia and Alex thing and b) getting together with Carlos has fixed all of her issues? I’m not sure I like the message we’re getting here.
2. Oh, skateboarding and Alex of course gets all hyper aggressive. I mean, obviously this is from the og and so a lot of the fault lies there. But honestly I cannot stand these types of guys who think they need to act like this. I don’t get why he can’t just say ‘he’s bad in this way...’ rather than totally blowing up at Mia and effectively accusing her of being an asshole by association (I mean, after last episode I think she is kind of an asshole - but that’s by association with Alex not this Bjorn guy). William blaming Noora for all the problems in Skam was an issue and it’s not better here. What’s the reason for attacking the guy with the board? We have no idea and he seems super unreasonable. I know that’s the point, but it’s not a good plot line and I don’t see why we had to keep all the really shitty stuff from the og. And tbh, while I usually like Alex’s acting, here I don’t find him convincing at all. He actually doesn’t look worked up enough yo go after the guy, and afterwards there’s nothing, no hint that he might feel like he went too far.
3. I do like this opening on the next clip with Mia clearly stewing in the things she saw and conflicted about it all. It’s these little quiet moments that really make for a good interaction with our characters imo, and I’m always a little sad that we get so few of them with Mia. It was one of the things that I found best with Hanna, Matteo and Amira - these moments sitting with them in quiet and solitude where you get to see them unguarded. It almost feels unnecessary to have this little chat with Linn and Hans’s guy because we clearly see what’s going on with Mia even without the dialogue.
4. Interesting. The last thing we’re asked in the previous clip is ‘what about this guy now’ but here we are and Mia is only concerned with Alex? I genuinely don’t care about him (partly because ugh this character is not one I like anyway and so I have very little sympathy for him when he harms someone else), and I would actually like to know how the guy he hit is. Now, again, I know this is coming through from the og and I know Bjorn is therefore really shitty but at this point the characters don’t know that and so I’d expect to see a little more interest and concern for him. I’m sure that on the day, this was probably very poignant for viewers. It’s Valentine’s day after all. But the lack of any resolution of Alex being violent means I don’t actually care here. Mia would be better off without an asshole. violent boyfriend, and as shitty as it would be to be alone like this on Valentine’s, she’d still be better off. Plus, she could easily go hang with her friends. Speaking of which, this thing with Jonas and Hanna is weird. As if he has any claim on her now that they broke up????? I’m starting to revise my opinion of them getting back together - this isn’t healthy behaviour from him at all and I don’t like what he’s doing here.
5. Interesting choice to have Bjorn telling Mia about Alex’s sister (I only watched the og once but from memory it wasn’t his counterpart who told Noora? I think?), but this ‘Alex has told you something different - that figures’ is such a weird take. Because yeah we KNOW Alex has been keeping stuff from Mia. We saw that last episode and we were made very aware of it in the ‘spin the bottle’ scene among others, so making this like a big reveal and making it as if Bjorn is being a manipulative dick here is odd. Like, it’s the truth? Alex has been keeping stuff from Mia. This show has spent a lot of time trying to make some moments real ‘gotchas’ for Mia, when actually they’re just genuinely telling us the truth about the character. Alex does have this side, he always had it and he hasn’t really changed at all.
6. The use of this really annoying buzzing, whining noise is good though. It works really well to put us in a space where Mia is out of sorts and finding it all overwhelming. Alongside the brightness of the light, we do get a sense of dissociation, and the harsh glare of the light even after the moment is over really shines on how harsh this news is for her. For most of the last 2 episodes we’ve seen Mia is softer, muted lighting so this is new and different and it really does play up the change that’s happening here. ‘I got to know a different Alex’ - yeah, except she didn’t really. Or we never got to ‘meet’ him alongside her. It was told in montage and it wasn’t enough for me. And the bits we did see of him being vulnerable also came with clearly hidden parts, and so this idea that she knows ‘the real Alex’ falls flat because (like I said a thousand times last episode) pacing was so off and things happened so fast that I don’t believe any of it. Because we never really got to see anything very ‘real’ from him.
7. I’m also not sure why she’s believing this guy that her boyfriend clearly told her is an asshole. Okay so Alex isn’t very available rn, but there are surely other people she could talk to. Even if he hasn’t been the greatest, Sam for example is at least someone she knows. This Bjorn guy is a dick, but unlike in the og when Noora went to William’s place and sort of fell into the issue, here Mia has chosen to go see him. She’s deliberately put herself in his way. And also, she’s literally being told that Alex kept stuff from her and held stuff back to manipulate her. Why on earth does she just take this guy’s stuff at face value? I know it’s supposed to be a whole ‘woah - falling for the thing he’s warning her of while he warns her’ moment for the audience, but it doesn’t work for me. This guy isn’t charming or believable enough for her to not even consider going deeper into this. But it’s an interesting call back to Mia’s phone call with her parents and how rigid they were, so you can sort of see why this part resonates for her. Even so, dismissing Alex’s attempt to see her because of this is a choice. Make it make sense! It made very little sense with Noora and even less with Mia.
8. One thing I really dislike about this Niko/Bjorn character is how cartoonishly evil they are. Where’s the motivation for this guy to say all this to Mia? He saw her exactly twice, barely knows how she’s related to Alex, and yet he decides when she comes to visit him that he should manipulate her? The biggest flaw in the William/Alex story imo is the way they can only make him seem ‘good’ in comparison to a literal villain who has no depth. Or I mean I guess we have 2 episodes to give this guy more depth but somehow I doubt it’s going to happen. Everyone I’ve read talking about this has said this guy is worse than Niko, so I expect him to remain this weird cartoon with no reasonable motivation for any of this.
#druck#og druck#ugh I am NOT enjoying this season#alex is barely in this episode#but I still can't stand him so not much is still too much
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You made a tag comment about how Buddie wasn't planned from the beginning. And therefore what we got in Season 2 wasn't (at the time) the groundwork for a love story. I agree completely! Much of it I can see as either a bit of fun (the Christmas elf, the instagram girl) or that kind of hyper-masc heterosexuality that loops around itself and becomes gay (Buck's whole...thing with Eddie in the beginning, the focus on Eddie's body/hotness/physical appearance). But sometimes I step back and look at the whole and I'm all 🧐 🤔.
I don't even know what I'm asking lol. Would just love your thoughts/feelings on the confusing spectacle that are Buck and Eddie in season 2. And when/how/why did the show change their mind?
Thank you so much for the ask and you know what? Let’s talk about it.I recently had an in depth chat about this pretty unpopular opinion with a friend and I tried to explain to her why I don't see buddie as an actual pairing or having any canon potential until early s3 and why I don't believe they were planned from the beginning.This will be long and all over the place of course lol
The first and the most obvious reason is the way 911 deals with main characters and their romantic arcs.They don't actually drag it on for long because there is no need or time for that since every single main character has a strong storyline of their own and any romantic development between any pair as an additional combined storyline. Relationships happen fast on 911 because they are planned ahead and the only relationship that took longer than usual few episodes was Chim and Maddie and they were already kissing and planning a date in 2x11.
Also when shows enter their second season there is never a way to predict how long it will stay on the air and because of that it is impossible for me to believe that buddie was planned as some epic old school slowburn that is nowhere as close to be resolved after 3 seasons.When I say old school slowburn I mean shows that have this one heterosexual romance at the center of the universe that is usually stretched across seasons and builds up sexual tension between characters and it takes literally years for them to finally get together.We have these two characters that where made for each other and you KNOW that they will eventually get together because of some ridiculous pining that will eventually end in a kiss and everyone will scream and cry.And maybe that’s how buddie feels to me now after years of careful build up-but the way I see it they as a potential something didn't happen in s2.
We all joke about how character introduction of Eddie is the gayest we have ever seen and Buck's reaction to him as true bisexual and I do that myself too because I am a bisexual too and tbh its hard to unsee (also I don't want to) but lets remove our rainbow glasses for a second. What really did happened in that scene? Eddie's perfect abs on display,Chim and Hen fun comments on how beautiful he is,Bobby's praise and bragging about getting Eddie and his Silver Star on the team and Buck's insecurities flaring up as a reaction to all of this.Buck immediately feels threatened.At this point we of course have no idea how deeply his insecurities run or why,but as episode progresses we witness Eddie on his first call making a better decision to how to handle a medical situation and backed up by Bobby.It has sort of a devastating effect on Buck,who suddenly starts acting like we have never seen him before.Then there is a that scene at the gym where Buck tells Eddie how he is his problem. And later we of course have the scene in ambulance when Eddie asked what exactly they are measuring. Because that's what it looked like - a usual macho men measuring context. But the thing is 911 doesn’t toxic masculinity when it comes to main male characters and we saw many examples of that already by then,but the biggest one was supposed to be BuckandEddie. Equals,partners and best friends.
911 was already pushing boundaries with cast,characters and relationships diversity and I strongly believe that what they wanted to show us was a male equivalent of what we are used to see in female bffs -a different kind of a friendship between men. Men who care about each other,who talk about feelings,discuss sex,dating or why they don’t,who again openly acknowledge that they find each other attractive and giving advices on how to take a more flattering selfie,who are not afraid of crying, admit they are struggling or heartbroken or loving their kid.Honestly when was the last time any of us saw a male friendship like theirs?Men are not allowed to be like that on TV (I am still shocked that its a Fox show tbh) and especially with each other.We are not used to see such a development so no wonder people started paying attention-which was what writers wanted,of course.
But that also brings us to that important question about queer undertones,subtext and do what we actually see in s2. Are there queer undertones?Absolutely. Subtext?It’s right there but you will probably not get it unless you’re reading between the lines.Before we get to Christmas Elf,there was ‘’He is cute!/He gets that a lot,you should’ve seen his kid...’’ Maddie and Buck scene that is once again reinforces that Buck finds Eddie attractive and it shouldn’t be a surprise because we already know from 2x01 he has eyes - but they mention it AGAIN and that personally made me raise a brow or two.By the time we get to that Christmas episode,we already have Shannon back and Buck finally moved on from Abby with Taylor and then Ali and then we are given another queer coded scene-with Christmas elf.And its very cute and to an average heterosexual viewer its a nice little joke,but any queer watching that scene was probably taken aback a little.
So why imo did Tim&Co do it and when they realized they can actually see where they can take BuckandEddie and when they started becoming buddie?My answer is ship teasing.It’s what a lot of people actually mistake for queer baiting,but we are not talking about that rn.Ship teasing works like charm and if shows can get away with that-they will totally use it to their advantage.It’s usually not always malicious,but it IS always intentional because that brings in a category of people that were overlooked for a long time-online fandom.Now I have seen some opinions that fandom doesn’t really matter,it’s the ratings that count and that is NOT TRUE.You can have your ratings,but if there is no buzz online?Your show is going nowhere.For at least a decade now every self-respecting production has teams to monitor fandom activities because it gives them better ideas about how consumers(fans) are interacting with their product (show).Fandom is important because we generate the buzz.So I do believe that BuckandEddie and that sweet ship teasing were to get a certain part of the fandom pay attention.
I wasn’t here when S2 aired so I don’t know if that was the case,but it is obvious that these scenes I talked about above made fans pay a LOT of attention. And maybe that was the reaction writers needed to start changing course from ship teasing to start building up to something else.They maybe didn’t plan it at the very beginning and on paper,but lets also not forget the insane chemistry between Oilver and Ryan,which imo is another big reason-it's impossible to ignore.
Because S3?Is light years away from S2 in terms of BuckandEddie-they became buddie.In s3 Buck and Eddie become each other’s significant other,they are in a primary relationship. ’’Buck invites Eddie...’’?!!!!! It is not yet romantic and probably won’t be until ending of s5 if we are lucky-but it is in your face,they are not subtle anymore.I personally saw buddie only at the end of 3x03 when Eddie came over and said that there is noone in the world he trusts with his son more than Buck, looking like he did into Buck’s eyes,while ‘Photograph’ played in the background right before Buck’s overvoice about being seen and found and a raft to bring one home. After S4 ending tho...we all know that something is about to happen and its like there is electricity in the air as we are waiting for s5!
Probably a lot more thoughts than you expected,but I have many feelings about these two and when buddie goes canon this post will become completely irrelevant lol 💖
#what i was trying to say#is that s2 still can be read as heterosexual#but s3? no way#s3 was different#it was impossible to ignore that something is going on#911#buddie
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