#also :) there was a certain part in that post that really grinded my gears and well. ill keep that to myself

[imminent-danger-came]

Macaque: "You did it for yourself! You've become like this, obsessive demon! I told you going against the Jade Emperor was a bad idea, but no, Wukong doesn't listen to anyone! He just does whatever he wants! You put yourself here, not me."

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

Macaque: "Still the same Wukong—doing whatever he wants with no regard for others!"

(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

Macaque: "You're really going through with this?" Sun Wukong: "Correction! We're really going through with this! Like always! Monkey bros getting up to some cheeky mischief!"

Macaque: "Look Wukong, I get you're excited, I do! But- crossing the Jade Emperor's going to have consequences—aaannnd you're not even listening."

(4x02 New Adventures)

-

MK: "Ah! The path of the good guy! Makin' those good life choices?" Macaque: "Every choice has consequences kid—for someone."

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

Not listening to anyone has it's consequences!

Sun Wukong: "I know I can never make it up to you. Honestly, I- I never thought I'd live as long as I have let alone be someone's mentor—turns out I'm not very good at it. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm sorry MK. For all of it." MK: "It's okay—I can always get another bowl of noodles."

Sun Wukong: "Wha! No! Not the noodles! Ugh! I mean, I'm sorry for being a bad mentor and making you clean up after my mess!"

(3x14 Destiny Fulfilled)

-

Macaque: "No that's YOU! You're the one always running off! Looking for more power, more sources of immortality—you're the one who wouldn't quit while were were ahead! Not the great sage, he's got to drag EVERYONE else into his mess!"

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

Wukong's Messes.

[heretherebedork]

Not to dwell on the fanservice issues since I also cannot engage with that part of BL for similar reasons, but I am truly concerned that the industry still doesn't have a way for brand pairs to end without causing massive harm to the actors, both personally and professionally. Sometimes I think we've made massive strides in fanservice, but then I see all the massive brand pairs currently in existence and how companies have not figured out how to let these actors move beyond them. I'll try to avoid using specific names, but there are some HUGE brands at GMMTV right now that one day might want to branch beyond BL . And we have seen how the breakup of a certain GMMTV pair caused fan devastation, harassment of a new actor, and frankly something that isn't talked about enough - actors now have to contend with a loss in job stability and probably income. Sure, their personal fans and casual viewers (me) won't care - but I am not paying money to go to their fan meetings or brand events or their concerts, and those pair fans won't either. And companies seem to just be sticking their head in the sand and hoping they can recruit the next big thing before a pillar explodes.

Even in a less controversial moment, it was just announced that a pair is ending as one needs a health break. And, thank god he's getting one. But it's also insane that their careers are going to have to undergo fundamental changes and potentially job losses (aside from dealing with angry and heartbroken fans, of which I've seen many) because they might have new onscreen partners.

I can only think of a handful of examples (I'm specifically thinking Max and Tul but there are others I'm sure) where actors have been mostly able to end their specific brand partnership (or move to other projects) without imploding the BL universe. But in those cases, I never get the impression it's because the company has a well thought out safety plan that they've discussed with the actors to minimize the impact on their careers and move them in a new direction. It seems like the lucky few have great working relationships with their co-stars and are basically able to leverage either their personal friendship or stellar working relationship to put the brand pair out to pasture with very gentle hands.

There's other issues about fanservice that really grinds my gears, but in light of the fact I believe some pairs will be ending soon, this has really made me extra angry. It feels like company negligence is going to stab some of these actors in the back when they feel like it's time to fly the nest. And fans are enabling their poor behavior.

This is all a very valid worry and one that I definitely share. Fan's response to actor pairs breaking is extreme and the ones who are really dating are even worse. I think of MewGulf every single time and the vitriolic response that people had to them and it's just... so scary, honestly.

I still see people on the some of these shorts and posts lamenting an actor pair that did one show together and never planned on doing another and people expressing how heartbreaking it is that they're not still together and just... yeah.

And having no plan for ending these pairings and their careers after does absolutely trap these actors in a portion of their career until or unless they're willing to give it all up in order to move on to something new. Which is not how it should be! Fanservice is meant to be fun and compliment to the shows, a fiction for the viewers that they enjoy, not the end all be all of an actor's career.

And there are just... there are so many actors that, right now, if they announced that they weren't dating... they would be destroyed. Utterly. Completely and totally and people would be rending their clothing and screaming about true love and it just scares me.

Fanservice has a place but I think there has to a pull back on them.

I, admittedly, don't know much about pairs that have moved apart in the longterm but I've seen people still mad about short term ones and making up longform fictional excuses for them not being able to work together but still being in love and it's just... it's wild. It's scary. They are actors! Acting! I promise!

I don't trust anything until or unless they're not working together anymore. They have to not be working on any shows together before I'll believe anything because look at what the shipping gets them. The dedicated fans, the hugely defensive fanbase, people so loyal that they will look for any sign they're in love and buy every single fanmeeting ticket, music event ticket or piece of merch based on their relationship.

Truly wild.

[arson-09]

I feel like a very good antithesis of the ACOTAR fandom is the Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss Fandom.

Everyone ships everyone there. Even when characters are asexual (ex. Alastor), most people generally agree that shipping does not form any basis of how it changes the canon nor have any real effect on real life. Even the creator of Hazbin Hotel has even stated she doesn't mind people shipping whoever and I think that's a very healthy fandom to be in.

There's also one group of characters called the Vees which are the villains and they've committed heinous crimes (like everyone has in the universe cuz they're in literal hell, duh) but there is a large portion of people who like those characters but agree they are bad 'people' in the eyes of irl morals. I would say that they are similar to Joker fans in DC, too.

As you can really tell from this post, I've grown up with a bunch of other fandoms. Which is why I think new fandom goers have such trouble understanding ships like Rhysta or other crackships or rare pairs. I believe Matpat made a video about this a year or so back talking about how fandom goers nowadays have a certain part of their personality (with the basis on the MBTI) that's not attuned to theory-making or being part of a fandom and I think that video can be used to analyse the difference between fandom ten years ago and now.

Here's the link to the video if you're interested, it's a really good analysis on mbti and how fandom spaces have changed: https://youtu.be/ILFfj2zYwHY?si=nCZcfAztcKX8HxNU

Side track: I really really miss Matpat.

i saw this, was going to respond and then forgor im sorry

honestly I have nothing to add, i am definitely adding that video to my watchlist! I also really miss matpat

The change in fandom, or rather in influx of these sort of people has been annoying but I must admit also entertaining. There's truly no better way to describe those people other than boring and I think that grinds their gears more than anything else.

[slimeciclecock]

need to clarify for my own peace of mind: most of these feelings are not because the actual person involved who didn't like what he saw even though he clearly stuck his nose where he shouldn't. It's completely fine to be uncomfortable (though his reaction was a bit aggressive)

this is just me being salty to that one fucking weirdo puritan post

purity culture so fucking stupid btw you can't hide behind a wall forever, if you go looking for shit you're obviously gonna find something and you can't police everything just curate your experience literally block a tag

also L moment "characters are an extension of ccs" no I think that's a skill issue that you made your dumb little oc exactly like you. change your skin and stay out of unwanted spaces

[sweet-beezus]

Hiya!

I'm Sham, they/them, and I'm an ✨artist✨

Welcome to my b(l)og, I hope the water's nice :)

I mainly post OCs and reblog fun posts that I can rotate in my brain, fanart is extremely rare 'round these parts unless I'm reblogging some.

I'm on MST, I usually reblog between 10AM-1AM, and queue my own posts for 1PM-2PM (so I have something to look forward to during work), sometimes I'll surprise drop a post if I'm impatient or being silly~

If you want tags to peruse, I have a few that might interest you!

▪︎#sham's art <- my art tag

▪︎#sweet memery <- my meme tag

▪︎#shamsbabs <- tag I use for bunching my OCs together, they are also tagged by fandoms and individual names!

▪︎#trope scope <- writing tropes that really get my brain factory gears grinding

▪︎#sham's favs <- thins it out to the things that make me giggle and live rent free in my brain, mix of both tags like a nice soup, though nowadays I tag anything as a fav... Might need a new tag-

#sham's inbox / #sham's trash posts <- for previous asks and my own silly posts, though these tags gather dust more frequently, since I never have an original thought other than about my OCs...

▪︎#other's art / #friend art <- art appreciation tags :)

I also have sideblogs!

@shams-kiddies <- OC art sideblog, it's better organized than my main in terms of tags

@the-briar-brigade <- AoR sideblog dedicated to an ongoing long form Kingdom Hearts roleplay, periodically mass updates because I'm forgetful!

@the-mighty-phoenix <- Iliana centric sideblog, I thought about using it as an RP blog but it's now just another art archive

I have other sideblogs, but I'm not quite ready to share them yet, so stay tuned I guess-

☆My ask box and DMs are closed for now, since I am getting a bit overwhelmed by donation asks and messages! I can't donate at this time, nor do I have a large enough platform to spread awareness or enough time in my day to fact check each ask or account sent my way, I hope you understand ♥

Currently, I am not accepting commissions, since I have a busy work life and chronic pain (plus I don't even have a commission sheet set up, alas-), however I'm open to art trades and conditional requests if my burnout allows!

For a more competitive art trade experience during the month of July, you can find me on Artfight as ShamSpam!

That's all for surface level stuff, I'll leave some more in depth looks about me and my work under the cut :)

I have no concept of a consistent social life or media presence, so I just post whatever and whenever I want to, usually mid afternoon for me because that's my time to Survive™ my day to day stressors. Whatever hits my dopamine reserves just right will probably end up here!

I am a self taught artist who only really picked up on certain techniques and styles in recent years, I have quite a few inspirations for the directions my art is going in and I actually adore how my style(s) look right now! Which is good because it's a lot of work maintaining and improving all the time-

I mostly indulge in art and writing of my OCs, and the occasional fan art here and there when I'm in a particular mood, and everything (I would hope) is made with the love in my heart for my creations, from the 6+ hours of work on a digital piece to maybe a 10 min sketch of my OCs smooching from the confines of my canvasses.

We can ignore the musician part for now, at this time I haven't really delved too deep into making my own tunes aside from some really rough drafts, but eventually I will! I am a sucker for orchestral pieces, but I need to relearn music theory-

I have a few fandoms and things I like to participate or indulge in from time to time, so if you're curious here's a list!

Music Artists:

▪︎Josh Groban

▪︎Thomas Bergersen

▪︎Marcus Warner

▪︎Celine Dion

▪︎Phil Collins

▪︎Ricky Montgomery

▪︎Citizen Soldier

▪︎Other varieties of orchestrals, whenever they crop up

▪︎The classics from an edgy teen's childhood (Linkin Park, Evanescence, Disturbed, etc. also including Christian rock, it was unavoidable you could say-)

▪︎Also classic artists from before my time (Journey, Michael Jackson, The Bee Gees, ABBA, etc.)

▪︎Folk-y music, nothing specific in terms of bands so far, just whatever hits my brain just right

▪︎Very weird pickings from a variety of places, I'm honestly too tired to list most of them because I'm in and out of listening fixations like a pendulum- Usually it's a select handful of songs that don't have a tremendous impact on my liking for the artist, y'know? Aside from vibes-

Current Brainworms (fictional media):

▪︎The machinations of my own mind (my OCs <3)

▪︎Kingdom Hearts (KHUx era mostly and, again, my OCs)

▪︎Ghostbusters

▪︎ARGs/Analog Horror

▪︎Wizard101

Things I Revisit Periodically:

▪︎Okami

▪︎Persona 5

▪︎Sonic the Hedgehog

▪︎Splatoon

▪︎Ace Attorney

▪︎Doctor Who

▪︎ABZÛ/The Pathless (later Sword of the Sea and Journey, potentially)

▪︎FNaF

▪︎The Dark Crystal

▪︎Various musicals (feel free to ask which ones! This includes concept ones too, there's way too many for me to list tbh)

▪︎Lego games (my childhood <3)

▪︎Celtic mythology (or mythology in general, I'm just obsessed with the Celts for some reason)

Misc. Items That Are Ever Present But Not Constant:

▪︎Sea creatures

▪︎Dungeons and Dragons

▪︎Frogs and turtles

▪︎Tragic love stories

▪︎The concepts of loss and love in general

▪︎Emotional catharsis as a whole tbh

▪︎Phoenixes (for some reason)

▪︎Red pandas

▪︎Moss (especially in ball form)

▪︎Religious imagery/history

▪︎Tarot cards

▪︎Vincent Van Gogh

▪︎Ravens

I have SO MANY OCs I could talk about for hours, so if you ever see one that interests you don't hesitate to send me an ask about them!!

And I think that's all for now, I'll probably add stuff on if I ever remember anything I need to add-

Anyway happy browsing!!

[lovejustforaday]

2022 Year End List - #8

Ugly Season - Perfume Genius

Main Genres: Experimental

A decent sampling of: Art Pop, Neo-Psychedelia, Impressionism, Ambient Pop, Progressive Pop, Post-Industrial

Perfume Genius is an artist I hold very near and dear to my heart.

Mike Hadreas (a.k.a. Perfume Genius) is an American singer/songwriter and piano player who consistently put out some of the most poignant and resonant art pop releases of the 2010s.

He is the epitome of queer art, with a central focus on homoromantic themes and queer identity as a gay man. Whereas some artists’ homosexuality is incidental to their music, for Mike Hadreas it is an integral part of how his music is to be understood.

In my early days of being an openly gay man, I listened to a lot of Put Your Back N2 It and Too Bright as part of navigating who I wanted to become. I had often, and still often do feel a bit alienated by queer art that celebrates only a surface level pride, confidence, and sense of defiance.

By comparison, Mike Hadreas has always been way more viscerally human and real. His vulnerability, and his willingness to explore all sides of how his identity manifests in different contexts (including lateral violence) are parts of what has made Perfume Genius an artist that has always really resonated with me.

Musically, Hadreas takes influence anywhere from Xiu Xiu to PJ Harvey. His early albums were mostly focused on piano balladry with emotionally heavy ambient soundscapes, before shifting gears at some point mid-career towards incorporating a mix of synthesizer based art pop, glam rock, and somber avant-garde music.

After not really loving his last full-length LP Set My Heart On Fire Immediately, I have to admit that I was a little bit worried about what the direction of this new record would be. But I was also curious as to what new emotional avenues he would interrogate with his art this time around.

In the past, Mike Hadreas had already given us fragility, despair, flamboyance, joy, and even philosophy. Now, on this latest project, he offers us sensuality, albeit one of a very unconventional sort.

Perfume Genius’s sixth LP Ugly Season is a dark, abstract, and intensely erotic affair. It is his most formless and impressionistic work of art; a mix of classical orchestration, velvety falsetto, steamy percussion, uncanny production effects, and occasional industrial elements. It is his boldest, most daring album yet, and a very far cry from the humble beginnings of his first record.

"Teeth" is a delicate gamelan waltz, wherein Mike Hadreas coos in his signature whispy, crackling upper register. The song prances along in a dainty and mysterious gesture, and is perhaps the first time a Perfume Genius song has truly managed the instrumentation to sound every bit as much like a rare tropical flower as Mike Hadreas himself does whenever he serenades in this manner.

I had already been a big fan of the track “Eye In The Wall” when it debuted way back in 2019 as a stand-alone single, and I must confess that it is still, to my ears, the best song on this project. This avant-garde, neo-psychedelic dance track is a twisted Dionysian cocktail of humid sweat and saliva mixed with absinthe. Alternatively, it is the consuming waterfall of desire and being desired, cascading the listener in erotic luxuries. All in all, a top three Perfume Genius track and his most successful experimental piece to date.

“Photograph” slinks its way through a slowed and distorted bossa nova beat with sinister undertones. The arresting mystique of its ambiance evokes ancient temples and places of worship, the listener an archaeologist attempting to decrypt the inscriptions of a lost civilization that was much more certain of its place in the universe. Monumental vibes on this one.

The album temporarily detours from sensual ambiguities to the juxtaposingly rigid “Hellbent”, a grinding industrial circus of high voltage sound and clamoring percussion. Sparks fly as the buzzing of this avant-garde piece reaches its aggressive climax.

The album definitely takes a while to pick up the speed for me. I must say that I greatly prefer the more daring second half of the record  to the sometimes meandering first half, which is more heavily focused on classical impressionism.

Nevertheless, what we have here is Mike Hadreas’ most uncompromising and groundbreaking record to date. Even if it’s not personally in my top three Perfume Genius records (which is certainly not an easy competition), I have to say that Ugly Season simply demands respect for its willingness to be a most authentic version of itself. Definitely a worthwhile listen, and one of the most fascinating records of the year.

8/10

Highlights: “Eye In The Wall”, “Photograph”, “Hellbent”, “Teeth”, “Cenote”

[rpclefairy]

yessssss omg. I can’t tell you how disheartened I’ve been lately about essentially being left on read every single time i extend myself, looking to either plot or even just chat with people. old partners and new potential partners both.

and yeah, like you said, people are busy/have health issues/etc, but i do too and i’m still out here doing my best to at least communicate. it really grinds my gears when i see people i’ve reached out to countless times complain very publicly about no one writing with them or talking to them when i Know im probably not the only one they are putting on the back burner. ive started unfollowing these people and i think its caused some drama in certain circles, but what is the point of me following an rp blog that i wanted to write with if they cant even bother to respond to me ooc after weeks or months?

mental/physical health breaks are ABSOLUTELY valid, but to expect constant effort on your partners’ parts, and to never reciprocate in turn is Not Okay. relationships of any kind cannot be sustained like that.

disheartened is a very accurate word to describe it.

obviously no one expects dms to be replied to in 32 seconds or anyone to be online 24/7, but as a whole the community has taken reasonable sentiments like "it's okay to take breaks and be slow with replies" as a free pass to never to reply to anything and refuse to engage with mutuals.

i've lost the count of how many people i've seen on my dash complain about having no interactions or reblog those "i'm a forgetful rper but i still want to write with you" posts when i KNOW for a fact i have sent them dms to plot MONTHS before they never answered, i've sent them memes they never replied, i've liked their starter calls but my like went ignored as well as i have wrote them starters that are still sitting in my blog without reply for months.

like, at some point we all have to take responsibility for our own activity. we can't all expect everyone else to carry us because we're "oopsie forgetful".

not only it's draining always being the one to reach out it also tells me they don't respect my time and energy as if i don't have irl shit to deal with too. like, i'm writing this with a broken arm and a full arm cast on my dominant hand. but i still find time to reply to people's dms because i'm not the center of the universe and other's people's time and energy is valuable too.

and it is very disheartening not being treated with the same basic decency.

[sparksbet]

I get the joke here but this post grinds my gears bc the reason for this is that these words were transcribed from a non-Latin script! In Hebrew or Arabic script, these words are written one way, but the variation comes from trying to represent sounds using the Latin alphabet that it wasn't designed for. (This is also why you get accented letters in various European languages and it's part of why English and French vowels are written so strangely, but that's a story for another time.)

This happens to almost any language when it's transferred between scripts, though -- look at the various ways certain Russian names are spelled in the Latin alphabet. Or at the many different systems for writing Mandarin Chinese in Latin letters before pinyin became the dominant one. It's the same principle, really. Jews and Muslims are connected here by using terms from Hebrew or Arabic even if they speak other languages (such as those that use the Latin alphabet) day-to-day. The fact that Semitic languages have sounds that aren't trivial to write in the Latin alphabet doesn't help matters.

Here’s my contribution

assalaam alaikum as-salam alaikum asalaam aleykum vs hanukkah chanukah chanukkah hanukah

[russilton]

I don’t really know what people is on when they first shit talk Mercedes, Lewis, George and the team and then proceed to say “X driver to Mercedes in 2024 when Lewis leaves”! Dudes, Mercedes is incredibly selective on their drivers, You have not only to bust your ass to get a chance, but also have certain talents and qualities required. There’s a reason why they’ve had 5:6 drivers in there since their creation as a team. Now my rant is done, I’ll go lay down and drown in britcedes feels, goodbye

Yeah I have a lot of thoughts on this honestly. Some nice and some not so nice lmao but all agreeing with you.

Long ramble under the cut bc I guess I wanted to get some stuff out of my brain and I can just refer back to this later if asked again lol.

And let me say first of all that look, I get it, I would bend over backwards and lie to myself and god when it comes to my favourite drivers. Part of me deeply and truly believes George and Lewis could walk into any other car in the grid if they asked, I really do. I don’t think they’d want to, but if they did, they could. Because we are ALL delusional about our faves. Sometimes it’s what makes this site so fun, we’re all a little stupid for these dudes.

But I have a very salty view of people who people who think certain drivers could just walk into Merc without a Nico level fall out, or a Lewis level of skill in the sport*. ESPECIALLY when it comes to “problematic” drivers like Lando, Max, Carlos, etc.

* more on that one in a sec, spoiler alert: they’ve already got that, his name is George.

I think what really grinds my gears about it (and I mean the people who SERIOUSLY think their driver has a shot at Merc, not people having fun) is it comes down to three tracks of thought; people who think Lewis is genuinely about to retire, people who seem to forget George exists, and people who seem to profoundly misunderstand how Merc work as an organisation.

The first one is easy to be annoyed at and dismiss, Lewis has made it clear over and over he’s not going anywhere. I’m rankled by people who think he’s suddenly going to retire bc of his age. Alonso is still here and he’s fuelled by salt rather than skill, you think Lewis is gonna go just bc he’s 38? He’s insane, and there is nothing he is more buck wild about than F1. I also don’t like thinking about Lewis retiring. Sue me.

The second I get but hate a lot. I’m a George fan, I am biased but George is ignored by a lot of people; and the narratives about him being PR63, even by some Lewis fans, are flimsy and shitty. He’s got so much heart in his stick thin frame that it flows out his ears. You look at him, past the surface for a couple seconds, and god you can see it shine like a beacon. He doesn’t answer Lewis and himself when he’s asked for the perfect driver line up because of PR, but because he fucking adores Lewis. He adores the team. He goofs around with them, spends time with them, he’s embedded with the engineers and mechanics. He seems boring off track because he’s private, but he has been going to dinners with them and travelling with them for years, he’s boring because he’s an old soul who puts focus on his family and his mental health. He does try to be funny online and people scoff at him. He posts shirtless pictures and he’s teased for it. Like what do you want from the guy; if he’s genuine he’s cringe and if he’s reserved he’s PR boring. Fuck that, he makes Lewis smile and that’s enough for me.

But then It’s because of his less than popular off track self that people look past him on track, and you shouldn’t because this man is insane. This is what I was talking about earlier when I said Merc have got their Lewis 2.0. George is him. He drives like Lewis, he’s learning to approach the garage like Lewis, he knows how to restrain himself to the media just like Lewis. Talk less, smile more, because they want to bait you more than anyone, they’re waiting for you to slip. Don’t give it to them and then unleash a terror that leaves other drivers blinking in shock on track. Singapore this year SHOULDN’T override Austria, when George drove from the back in a garbage car to finish 4th. He copied Lewis in Spain like a text book because that’s the kind of driver George is. He knows how to manage his tires because Lewis taught him. He says over and over again how important he finds it to learn from Lewis because Lewis is his standard of greatness. Merc have trained him like this, because together he and Lewis mesh well. They both know where to put their cars to make overtakes others wouldn’t, they drive like their cars are an extension of their body. Nothing bothers me more than people who set team line ups at Merc without Lewis or George, because it often assumes Lewis would retire and Merc would just… throw George out?

George Russell is grit, spirit, positivity and determination, and I feel like the people who don’t see him as an insanely impressive generational talent like Charles or Max are choosing not to look, or were blinded by how trash Williams was. I’d you don’t judge Mick on where haas dragged him down; you can’t judge George.

(Yet another place george is like Lewis, is he let the hard times humble him and make him better. He will never, ever have to struggle the same way Lewis did and he’s been afforded privileges that Lewis won’t, he himself will tell you that. But they were both boys from families without much money who’s parents struggled to let them follow their dreams. Why do you think Lewis likes him so much? He’s said it himself, he sees the same instinct he had, in George)

And finally the third thing I’ve probably spoken on most: some people really only see Merc as a fast car and not as a team. Which I guess is fair if you aren’t a massive fan of either of the boys. You think I’m invested in how mclaren or RB or Ferrari behave as organisations outside of drama? Of course I’m not. I barely even cared about Williams outside of GR and NL. But Merc is another breed of team honestly. Not to suck corporate dick bc you know I hate it but there’s a reason they aren’t really ever involved in silly season. Why them CHOOSING to hire George was monumental. They are unlike anyone else in how they cultured George. He’s been in the Merc garage on race weekends since 2016. They watched and carefully primed him for it, they made him work so hard for every step. I’m not sure they would have ever got rid of Nico and hired Val if he hadn’t chose to leave. Do you know how resistant they were to put anyone other than George in their car? They were worrying about who would take Lewis’ seat in Sakhir if they couldn’t get him. Their reserve driver, stoff, WAS RIGHT THERE.

If George hadn’t gone above and beyond to prove himself ready for Merc, they would have stuck with Valtteri. Merc play it safe and close to the chest far more than they’ll admit, I think it’s why our number one issue with races this year has been emergency strat choices. We so often play it safe and panic when pushed. And that’s why I end up laughing at some driver move theories bc it’s like really? You think, safe playing, elitist weirdos Merc are gonna do that??

The only driver on the 22/23 grid I genuinely, truly think Merc would consider putting in their car if LH decided to split second retire, or George, idk, stabbed Toto in the leg, is Esteban Ocon or MAYBE they’d go back to VB if VaL would be willing to accept the pressure of the seat again. They like Ocon, he has history with the team, he’s got some real promise in his development, and he’s got a lil bastard in him they like their drivers to have. But that would ONLY happen if they had 0 prep time and had to pick another grid driver. Merc have their dream team right now.

[catintheruemorgue]

annoying things they do

summary: small things these guys do that just grinds your gears a bit.

characters: oda, dazai, kunikida, twain, akutagawa, atsushi, mori, poe, ranpo, fittzgerald, steinbeck, chuuya, yosano, gin, kouyou, higuchi, alcott and lucy

these are all based off things i do or have inconvenienced my life lmfao i’ll probs do a part two with everyone i missed this just got wayyy to long lol next im posting being friends with double black 

Oda:

If you're wearing shorts and have bruises he will poke them when you're resting your legs on him. He’s silent about it too and if you yell at him he pretends to act like he doesn't know what you're talking about.

Will smack your sunburn but this one is actually an accident. He just wanted to pat you on the back because you're amazing.

Will space out when you talk too long, sometimes certain objects are just so… mesmerizing

Dazai:

Loves to jumpscare you the only exception is if it was a trigger. In that case he will just call your name and whip something at you for you to catch at random.

When you're driving he likes to reach over and honk your horn. It's almost caused so many roadside fistfights.

If he sees a dog in public he will bark and growl at it.

Kunikida:

Won’t let you on the bed without socks on. You could be sick as a dog and he’ll still enforce this rule.

Cleaning is hard because he has a hard time throwing things away. You'll spend extra time as he holds two identical pens, trying to decide which one he wants to keep. He’s learned to plan certain days in his schedule for cleaning now.

Won't let you turn up the music in the car and will keep it at a level that's so low it's annoying.

Twain:

Walks around the house shirtless but then complains about how cold it is.

Blasts his music so loud when he wakes up in the morning and it's always early 2000’s hits. It's not rare for you to have Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield stuck in your head by 9 am.

Always has to climb something, this stems from his adventurous side. It's not really that annoying but when you’re in a crowded area and he runs off to go climb the tall statue, screaming at you to take a photo… Yes it is. Especially when children try and follow him and you're stuck receiving glares from the parents.

Akutagawa:

Will not let you throw any food products out. He tells you it's a perfectly good meal (even if it's not) and that he will eat it tomorrow. It’s sad because you know this stems from childhood but it’s still annoying.

Reuses the same gross, musty ziplock baggies. You keep buying new ones but he doesn't get it lol.  

Will tell you if your breath smells, hair is messy, outfit is ugly. He does not see an issue with this and it's nice knowing someone has your back but he doesn't have to be so rude about it..

Atsushi:

If he drinks he's one of those drinkers who will not let you take it from him. Keeps an iron grip on the cup. He finishes it no matter how drunk and always throws up. Thankfully he rarely drinks.

He stops to help everyone, literally even if they just look like they need help. You've been late to so many things.

Will eat anything. Once you made steak and somehow forgot about it. It was hard as a brick yet he still almost broke his teeth eating it. You think you saw some tears as he told you it was delicious.

Mori:

Listens to people's conversations in public and isn't afraid to comment, loudly, about it. You know it's loud because they either stop talking or try and confront you guys.

Comes up to stops fast and brakes so hard you feel like he does it on purpose.

Sometimes if he and Elise get into a “disagreement” he’ll try and rope you in to take his side and you always do, knowing it would probably give him more satisfaction if you chose to side with her.

Poe:

Asks for constructive criticism but will then argue with you about why you're wrong.

Always humming a song he heard Twain singing and then it gets stuck in your head too.

Will deny stupid things like why your favorite mug is in the trash or why he just let out rather loud scream in the bathroom. You know he's lying because he looks away and makes sure his bangs are covering his eyes.

Ranpo:

Will call you out on any lie even if you don't mean to lie you just forgot about some of the details.

Don't take him grocery shopping if you have a set amount you want to spend. He won't even sneak, he will just say he wants something and throw it in the cart.

Such a backseat driver even though he can't drive.

Fitzgerald:

Likes to act like he's still in his twenties and will somehow get the two of you invited to college parties where he will attempt to do a kegger in front of everyone. You end up being the one to hold him up and he always ends with a, “LETS FUCKING GO!”

Likes to ask for the senior discount even though he's not that old, he just likes to hear the women validate that he's not old.

It’s scary how he used to buy without looking and now will scream if the price on a price tag is too high.

Steinbeck:

Always looking at the grass for wheat to chew on. It's so cheesy when you walk into the city and he's got it sticking out of his mouth.

He gets weirdly intimate with nature and you feel like you're third wheeling.

Has the mentality that he has to provide for you because he is the man. He gets so shocked when he finds out you still want to work.

Chuuya:

Has a hard time making decisions you could ask him what he wants for dinner and his mind will just break.

Gets way too pissed at movies and will actually get up and walk away. Once you were kicked out of the theater because he wouldn't stop yelling at the screen. Another time he walked out you waited a whole ten minutes before you realized he wasn't coming back.

Sometimes activates his ability at night and it's so scary waking up to him floating halfway across the room.

WOMAN TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Yosano:

Will glare at you so intensely if you say something she disagrees with.

Always tries to rope you into drinking with her even if you’ve said no the past ten nights.

Will describe wounds or injuries in such detail and just won’t stop, almost like she’s trying to fuck with you, but she’s not.

Gin:

Claims to be nothing like her big brother but then will go on to make the same facial expressions and do some of the same mannerisms as him.

Will spend hours trying things on just to put it all back, leave the store and change her mind when you’re almost home. Then she’ll have you run back with her to buy it all.

Is used to sneaking around so scares you a lot. Also on the topic of being silent sometimes she just won’t respond, thinking you can just read her vibes / mind.

Kouyou:

Will judge what you eat, especially fast food but will try and steal a fry in private when you're not looking.

Will say things like, “Well that's just the way the world works.” If someone tries to share their baggage with her. You understand she’s had a pretty rough life but it's caused you to almost spit out your drink multiple times.

At functions forgets about you for about an hour while she mingles with everyone else, you could tap on her shoulder and she'll dismiss you like you're a subordinate. Until you clear your throat again you'll see the slight blush as she apologizes.

Higuchi:

She has no sense of privacy. If she hears a crash or loud noise she will bust down the door. It’s sweet but not when the noises are usually from you knocking all the shampoo bottles down again.

Horrible road rage actually puts you on edge to be in the car with her. She doesn't even have to be driving.

Likes to act like she's a professional at everything and people usually believe it because of her suit. It's so nerve wracking when she giggles when they walk away with false information.

Alcott:

Will agree to everything you suggest but you can only tell when she doesn’t want to do it when you’re currently doing it.

Yet she’s not afraid to grumble about how annoying it is when someone bumps into you and doesn’t apologize. It’s sweet but you’re left dealing with the situation if the person is aggressive enough to say something.

Always corrects your spelling or if you say something like “I could care less.”

Lucy:

Will fish for compliments in a very obvious way like, “Wow. Wish someone would call me pretty..” and then just stare right at you.

Kicks you so violently in her sleep but won't let go of you so you cant get away.

Constantly stealing from restaurants. You're banned from a couple restaurants because she got caught trying to steal a cup or salt shaker.

[marvelhero-fics]

Snowman

Series - Chapter One

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You’re a HYDRA assassin that’s worked closely with the Winter Soldier, to each of your dismay you’re reunited with Bucky after the blip. 

A/N: I haven’t posted in like 300 years, but I hope you guys enjoy this new series! This follows parts of TFATWS so expect spoilers! (Also I’m sure all the Russian is absolutely wrong, if you’d like to correct it please send me a message!)

Word Count: 1,815 (future chapters will be wayyy longer)

Snowman Masterlist || Full Masterlist

New York

2023

“So tell me about this-” the therapist looked down at her notes briefly, “(Y/N).” She finished.

Bucky paused momentarily, “No.”

“James, for these therapy sessions to be effective, you need to open up to me. I can’t help you if I don't know what’s wrong.” His therapist responded, laying her pen carefully on her small notebook.

Bucky thought for a moment, taking in the ambience of the room. What would he even say about (Y/N)? He hadn’t seen her in years. Bucky was kicking himself for accidentally bringing her up in his session last week. “I- uh-” he stammered, shifting his weight on the couch, “I met her in 2011. At least I think it was 2011. Date’s get kinda fuzzy sometimes, with all the cryo.” Bucky’s hand pressed against his head, feeling dazed as he tried to think back. “It was at the big HYDRA base outside of Moscow. We had to go on a mission together-” he was cut off,

“Did she work for HYDRA?” Dr Raynor interjected.

“Yea. She was an assassin too. She went by the alias the Viper.” Bucky pretended not to notice his therapist tense up. Anyone who knew anything about HYDRA knew who the Viper was. She was one of the most prolific assassins after the Winter Soldier.

“Tell me more about when you met her.”

“We were instructed to take out a terrorist organisation forming against SHIELD. Which was ironic because we were working for a terrorist organisation. But at this point SHIELD was being run by HYDRA and they couldn’t risk any slip ups, so they put 6 assassins on the job. HYDRA usually didn’t have their assassins working together, we were all too volatile. But we had to take out over 70 people in one night. It was (Y/N), a few assassins from the Red Room, and a few agents that HYDRA had trained personally, and me.” Bucky stopped.

“Where was (Y/N) trained?”

“At a secondary facility run by HYDRA. She was trained from a really young age. It’s all she’s known.” Bucky seemed somber. But his therapist continued,

“What happened on the mission?”

“Nothing. It went exactly to plan. The targets were taken out and we all left without a trace. But (Y/N), she- she kept trying to talk to me, or get to know me. I was the Winter Soldier. No one in their right mind ever tried to ‘get to know me’.”

“Why do you think (Y/N) did that?”

“She told me she was bored.” He replied bluntly.

Moscow

2011

The poorly lit conference room was filled with a myriad of assassins and officials. The only illumination came from old LED lights hanging from the concrete ceiling. The mossy green paint on the walls looked as if it hadn’t been patched up in years. The only new-ish part of the room was the large, oak conference table, surrounded by black, leather seating. It was difficult not to notice the red HYDRA symbol holding a spot on almost every piece of clothing in the area.

“TITAN terroristicheskaya organizatsiya, formiruyushchayasya protiv nas. (TITAN is a terrorist organisation forming against us.)” Kuznetsov spoke, “Izbrannyye budut otpravleny segodnya vecherom v Ukrainu dlya vypolneniya postavlennoy zadachi. Uberi ikh. (The chosen ones will be sent to Ukraine tonight to complete their given tasks. Take them out.)”

That was all it took. You stared at the file in front of you. You had read through it multiple times, going over every single name, every single skill set your targets had. You were more than certain you could complete this job on your own. But you had no choice on the matter.

Your eyes darted around, taking in the faces of the assassins that were to accompany you on your mission. Two youthful females, dressed in black leather sat next to each other. The older, grimacing woman behind them was Madame B., the head supervisor of the Red Room. You moved your gaze to the two agents in dark green uniforms and red, soviet berets. Neither looked particularly menacing.

You finally landed on the last assassin. His dark hair fell like curtains around his face. Gloomy blue eyes searched their way through the room. His sharp jaw seemed tense through his stubbled cheeks. He was large, extremely built. Covering his frame was an amplitude of black clothing and gear.

“Play nice.” Your mentor spoke softly over your shoulder, breaking you from your train of thought.  

“I always do.”

~

Your padded snow boots ripped through the thick snow covering the ground. The six of you had hiked your way to the set point on your GPS systems, the clouds of snowfall covering your vision held the illusion that there were absolutely no structures nearby. A large helicopter had dropped the group a few miles out from the hideout to ensure nothing was compromised. The trek was in utter silence, fighting against the harsh temperature in mid February.

The waypoint became closer on your map, a tiny building slowly appeared in your vision against the foggy downfall. It was a small, wooden cabin. Everyone hustled their way through the unlocked door. It was barren, it held no furniture, no blankets, no means of any life. There appeared to be a few doors that led to small, empty rooms. The entrance only held a small fireplace, filled with old cut down logs that had been eaten by bugs.

The group quickly dispersed, you headed to one of the rooms alone, throwing down your belongings onto the floor. The bag you carried was mainly filled with weapons and ammunition, along with a very warm sleeping bag. You knew too well you wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, but you would need the extra heat for now.

There was no chatter anywhere in the house. Your mission would begin in 6 hours. Everyone was likely putting together their artillery. You decided to cozy up in your navy sleeping bag for a moment of comfort.

Someone had lit the fire in the lounge. A warm, orange light crept through the cracks in your door. The ambiance was strangely calming for a shitty cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Snow continued to fall against the tiny glass pane of your room. You weren’t a fan of assassinating in the snow. It was low vision, harsher climates, and it lessened the ability to move. Snakes weren’t creatures of the cold. Conveniently you’d been grouped with someone who called himself ‘The Winter Soldier’. I’m sure he loves the cold, you thought.

You’d heard a lot about him. Everyone had. He was the perfect assassin. He never failed a mission, his body didn’t reject cryo, every form of enhancement HYDRA had used on him had been a success. He was what every assassin had aspired to be.

Without thought, you grabbed the glass bottle laying next to you and walked off to the room the Winter Soldier had claimed for the night.

“Privet (Hello)”. You announced, pushing his door open with a creak. His head didn’t turn towards you. He sat on the floor, the sound coming from him indicated he was sharpening knives.

“Khochesh' vypit'? (Want a drink?)” You asked, motioning the bottle towards him.

He stayed silent for a moment. Finally he turned, looking up at you from his position on the floor. “What is it?” His dark tone asked back. The amber light from the fire crashed against his features. His strong jaw was covered with a dark stubble, his brunette hair tucked behind his ears. His most obvious feature was the hauntingly blue eyes that sat in sunken sockets, he looked drained.

“It’s vodka.” You stated, honestly. You were surprised to hear he wasn’t Russian, he sounded… American?

“You’re drinking before a mission?” He queried.

You shrugged. “Alcohol doesn’t freeze.” You sat down next to him. “Plus it takes the edge off.” A faint clinking noise announced as you placed the bottle on the floor between you two. He stared at you for a moment, before quietly going back to his knives.

“Wanna play 20 questions?” You interrupted the silence.

“No.”

“What about truth or dare?”

“I’m not 14.” the soldier replied, his eyes not leaving his handy work.

“How old are you?” You shot back,

“Why are you trying to get to know me?” He dodged your question.

“I’m bored.” You shrugged, taking a deep swig of the vodka. “And by my calculations,” you peered down at your watch, “we still have 3 hours and 27 minutes until the mission starts.”

He gave a shallow sigh, “93.”

“What?”

“I’m 93. How old are you.”

“93?! You were born in 1917?”

“Mhm. How old are you.”

“25. You look great for 93.” You chuckled.

“You look old for 25.” He jabbed back. His knife sharpener still grinding across a 6 inch blade.

“You flatter me.” You replied sarcastically. “So what’s your story? How’d you make it to 93?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“Why would I ask if I didn’t want to know?”

Bucky looked over at you. “I’m telling you, you don’t want to know.”

“C’mon old man,  I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.” You smirked. He once again, went back to his knives. It almost seemed as if he was trying to threaten you, pulling out larger knife after larger knife.

You huffed, opening your mouth to speak, “I was born in Hungary to a drug abusing mother, and an absent father. I was kidnapped and sold to HYDRA when I was 6. I was placed under the care of the Kraken. Not sure if you’ve met him, he’s this large guy-”

“I’ve met him.” Bucky stated, interrupting your spiel.

“Right, well, he trained me for years. Eventually HYDRA got involved again and I was tested on, experimented on, messed with, ya’ know, all that fun stuff.” You explained.

“Are you enhanced?” Bucky asked, almost as if he was actually interested.

“Yea. I have this whole snake venom trick. It’s great for up close combat. The experiments really should’ve killed me though. But maybe that’s what makes us so good-” Bucky looked over at the woman next to him, her bright eyes stared back at him as she spoke “ya’ know, the best assassins are the ones living off borrowed time. Because we’ve met death before, so we’re not afraid to do it again.”

Bucky quickly grabbed the Barrett M82 rifle next to him, his metal arm making faint whirring noises. “I’m going to scope out the base.” He stated bluntly. And with that, his large black boots walked him out the bedroom, and out the door.

You let out a faint sigh, creeping back to your room to sort out your weapons. You were sure it was something you said that scared him off. I guess at 93 you have to be living off too much borrowed time, you speculated. You absentmindedly set up your pistols, your mind not being able to wander from the Winter Soldier. Maybe annoying the Red Room girls would get your mind off it.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Hoo boy, that post really grinds my gears. I don't want drama with OP so I rather write this here. After a cut, because it got super long!

The Accords were prepared long before Lagos even happened. I mean, the clue is in the name. But anyway.

To claim that it's easier for an American to like Steve is completely ridiculous. I'm not getting into the comics here, but in the MCU (even though they had no guts to show him being entirely political) he's clearly shown as a leftist, which already means there's a rather huge portion of Americans who are going to hate him. I'm in Spain and besides Spider-Man, Steve is the most beloved MCU character here by a HUGE mile. And I remember a few posts a while ago where we discussed just that and he has fans everywhere in the world. So that crap about "Cap is only liked by Americans"? lmao not even close.

Then to say that the Avengers are a US team and their prime motive is to serve the US is so dumb it's almost funny. No, that's what the Accords wanted to turn them into, NOT what they were. Steve made that clear more than once ("The Avengers were supposed to be different than Shield", when Pietro asks if the helicarriers over Sokovia are Shield, Steve replies "This is what Shield is supposed to be".)

It was laid out rather clearly in CW that Steve wanted to be free to choose where and when to act precisely because he was not thinking of helping only the US. He never, not even once, spoke of frontiers -- not because he thinks he can go anywhere he wants, but because he understands their help is needed everywhere regardless of where the fight is going on. Oddly enough, the only one who ever thinks of the US and the well-being of Americans first and foremost… is Stark.

The easy explanation as to why most things happen in the US in these movies: they're American movies! Shocker, I know. That's why we always joke that whenever the aliens come, we'll all be safe because they only ever show up in the US.

But this line: "It doesn't matter how many countries they save". Huh? I thought that was the point though?

The post is full of "there's the potential of this or that", "they could attack other countries, if they decide to do x who will stop them", etc. And that kinda sounds like Minority Report to me. Yeah, precautions can be taken to avoid certain incidents, but punishment comes after the crime for both enhanced and non-enhanced individuals. IDGAF about "what if they do (x)". If they do, they can face justice. But having the potential of doing something is quite simply not a crime, especially when that "potential" is quite literally their body. Or what, are we going to start picking what civil rights apply to whom? Hm, that sounds familiar...

Also it's kinda funny that OP is so sure there are no other teams in other parts of the world. Why not? Because we haven't seen them yet? We haven't seen the X-Men either and yet we know the mutants are there.

Then that whole thing about Wanda and Lagos. If the deaths are so important, shouldn't OP be mad at Rumlow? And yet, not a single mention of him in the post! He's the reason the team was there in the first place and the only reason he didn't manage to escape with a biological weapon is that they intervened, but I suppose that doesn't matter, right? Why blame a nazi when you can use a scapegoat instead!

But I gotta admit the funniest part of this whole post is "Steve told Wanda the death of the Nigerians didn't matter because it was an accident". He never said that.

What he's telling her here is that she needs to pull herself back together because there's always another mission, there's always someone who needs help and by the nature of their work they have to be prepared to be there for them. If they fall down and lose hope, next time nobody gets saved because they won't be there to help them. This doesn't mean he thinks they're the only ones helping people, but he understands the nature of the job and the responsibility that comes with it. How the fuck does any of this turn into "he doesn't care about the victims"?!

And besides that bullshit of "things changed when Bucky was threatened" (yeah, because Steve wasn't against the Accords before Bucky was in the picture + this was the CIA ordering to kill an American on foreign soil with no evidence of crime, that's not an issue? They're okay with the CIA going forward with it?), this line is unbelievable: "Steve’s anti-Accords stance stems from a quite frankly self-righteous belief that he and his crew can do no wrong."

Nah, Steve wanted accountability:

Shut up, Rhodey

Who's trying to avoid taking responsibility here? Because it's not Steve. He knew the moment the team agreed to that and the UN sent them someplace, anything they did would be swept under the rug and they wouldn't be held accountable because that would force the UN and the governments to publicly share where and why they had sent the team... and I think we're all adults here, they would NEVER do that. So all actions by the team would go under that umbrella, what a wonderful way to shift the blame if something goes wrong.

According to OP, Steve started "a Civil War in a protest against being held accountable". I don't know how many times we've had to repeat this: the accountability angle was propaganda. Nothing more. The Accords were never about someone overseeing the Avengers, they wanted to control them. Also, it would be great if people could remember that those documents not only affected the team, they were meant for everyone in the world. Forced conscription, folks. You're okay with that?

And just two more things because this got long enough. First, "Stark saw Lagos mattered"? Is that why he was there or he was seen talking about it? Because I only remember him mentioning Sokovia and more specifically the death of an American kid.

And the other thing is the reblog. I find it absolutely mind-blowing, and this is not the first time I've seen someone saying this: why are the Wakandans and the Doras treated as "mouthpieces" for the Americans or assumed to follow Steve or Bucky's orders or... basically, there are people out there assuming they have no agency whatsoever? Like, I've seen so many people claim to defend POC by "denouncing" that a King is following Cap because he's Cap and it's like... WTF are you on about? You are the one removing T'Challa's agency by saying that.

Lagos wasn't the inciting incident for the accords it was last straw. The Avengers are already being pushed a full document to sign when at most only a week or so had past. The inciting incident was Ultron making a crater of Sokovia. Maybe you could argue it was the Hydra reveal. Unless they weren't give permission to go there at all the accords would not have changed what happened Lagos because it was an accident when Wanda was trying to get a bomber away from civilians.

Also I hate to be the one to point this out but agreeing with the accords would have made the Wakandans hypocrites. Because they act all the time with no permission but their own. The first Black Panther had T'Challa and Dora Milaje rescue a bunch and they keep it a secret and ask the rescue people to tell no one. The entire investigation of Klaw and Killmonger, they were doing whether any other government wanted them to or not. Any action T'Challa did as the Black Panther is one he is suppose to have the council of important permission of first, but Wakandans were never going to do that.

My problem of the Civil War and the Accords was never that I think oversight is bad it was A) Tony is controlling in places he has no right to be while continuing to do things that the accords should be preventing and B) I don't approve how the accords extend to any super powered individual even if the are not heroes or how the accords can be misused for people who act in moment of crisis.

You have plenty of great points. To be honest, I can't really think of anything to add at the moment.

If anyone wants context, I randomly stumbled across this old post:

https://www.tumblr.com/bikamalas/185464831246/ussthunderquack-punkpopfeministscribe-i-know

And decided against reblogging it because I didn't want attract the attention of the poster, but I still figured it was worth talking about.

[pendraegon]

hi ellian, I recently started trying to get into arthurian legend a bit and like, i'm working my way through some of chretien de troyes but sometimes I just want something a bit more modern and easy (I've read cliges and erec and enide.. oh my GOD erec is a dick), and if you feel like getting into it at all, why do you hate t.h. white / the once and future king ? whenever I look for recommendations its the first anyone recommends ! i'm so unsure whether to read it ?

hi!!! okay okay okay i legit got SO excited reading this because arthuriana ask<33 but also holy shit dude WHAT?? YOU READ..CLIGES AND EREC AND ENIDE FIRST?????????? cliges and erec and enide like oaisklfdjosadjfas they suck so much oh my god (anyways yeah welcome to the “we all hate erec” club on tumblr dot com, i think almost everyone who has read that text hates him with a passion) but holy shit if i started out with cliges and erec and enide i would never ever read arthuriana again. for chretien de troyes the only two things that are worth reading are yvain: knight of the lion and lancelot: knight of the cart. lancelot is significantly harder/more difficult than say yvain but also because de troyes fucking HATED lancelot and you can TELL through the text.

oh man..toafk...okay christ so we actually got into...a little bit of discourse, or as much discourse as you can GET in the arthuriana circles on tumblr, over this. i am hesitant TO call it discourse because i don’t believe it is at all but rather that me and a few friends were informing people just of...well..... it was a matter of a fact of the arthurian circle here on tumblr skews VERY white and toafk has a lot of racist/homophobic/misogynistic/ableist content in it that is either actively or unconsciously skimmed over and instead is just blatantly praised without ever getting into the nuance of discussing the fact that toafk by all means is NOT the end-all-be-all arthurian text. (personally it REALLY grinds my gears when people use toafk to cite their sources but that’s another matter aoisdjfoas)

th white is...well, th white himself and his works are incredibly racist in that there are SO many racial slurs used to the point that i remember being distinctly uncomfortable reading it, th white’s portrayal of palamedes (a muslim knight who is often portrayed as a “conversion fantasy”) is deeply upsetting, and the fact that th white uses a specific dialect FOR certain characters as well that gets even more skin crawling due to it. i cannot find the post for it but if i do i’ll update it but there are these “notes” of th white’s for toafk in which he says that lancelot (who toafk portrays as a gay man but lancelot, despite being one of the greatest and handsomest knights in legends, is portrayed as grotesque and ugly....the classical western thought of beauty = good, but also equating homosexuality to ugliness is. uh...not great) preys on younger men/squires (such as gareth, gawain’s brother). there is a lot of linking between homosexuality and pedophilia in toafk and the fact that toafk is LAUDED for this portrayal of lancelot makes me genuinely ill. similarly, mordred is shown to be the only disabled character but he’s villanized to the point of it being sickening. his portrayal of women especially in regards to guinevere is strife with misogyny (there’s this one specific part about how gaudy guinevere looks now that she’s old and applying makeup) and in regards to elaine of corbenic it’s uh. somehow he made elaine of corbenic WORSE than she is already.

that being said, toafk was published in 1958 and by all means i firmly believe that [1] no books SHOULD be banned ever but [2] that being said you MUST be aware of the author’s biases that seep into the text because of COURSE that happens. and [3] as long as you are AWARE of said biases (and th white has many and once you’re AWARE as well of th white’s family’s history in india you can’t unsee it in his work) and you KNOW what it is you’re imbibing, then by all means, use critical thinking skills -- there is still something to be taken from BY toafk and by what it is th white wrote but do not praise it as “the best” arthurian modern novel when it falls flat on so many levels. i feel similarly about mists of avalon which is another highly praised modern arthurian book especially in its portrayal of female characters, but lots of people simply do not want to talk about or KNOW that the author herself is a rapist and a pedophile. i’ve read both of these books and like, i wouldn’t recommend them at all because personally i also think that the writing sucks, but IF you read either of these works, it’s good to be aware exactly what it is you’re getting into. especially since arthurian circles, which again are predominantly white, often tend to keep these things very hush-hush or get VERY antsy if you speak out badly about toafk/mists of avalon.

arthuriana HAS and IS used as a dogwhistle online and in alt-right spaces. arthuriana HAS been used historically to promote islamophobic and antisemitic sentiment. arthuriana HAS been used to villainize people who don’t fit a particular “mold” of “normality”. arthuriana HAS been propaganda itself -- but that doesn’t make arthuriana bad or evil. arthuriana is a LIVING tradition, an evolving body of work -- for me, as someone who adores the medieval lit side of arthuriana, it’s extremely troubling to see just how the works from the 1900s and onwards has, instead of uplifting the genre as a whole to become more inclusive, has only become more entrenched in racist and misogynistic and homophobic thought. arthuriana deserves better, we deserve better, and arthuriana CAN be better.

here is a link to a discussion post that goes deeper into it!

[ruby-whistler]

(quicksandblock) hi! I just left you a giant wall-of-text response on your Dream post, and though I think it came across well enough, I just want to state my lack of hostile intent over here as well lol. I know stuff like this that people feel strongly about can get very tense so I just wanted to make doubly certain you know I'm not trying to pick a fight or anything. it kind of sucks that I feel like I need to clarify that but that's fandom culture for you sometimes :P

also, I would love to talk to you about Dream characterization. I think I disagree with you on a lot of different points and I love his character, so I'm very interested in understanding your perspective!

hey, hello! found a c!dream enthusiast/enjoyer, that’s cool, hi! :]

[copied part i put in front of each reply, hence different capitalization]

Alright, so first as a quick disclaimer, I’m going to put a summary of the original post’s points, just to ensure that we’re on the same page;

The post does say:

- don’t dehumanize c!Dream because it continuously hurts people who relate to and/or sympathize with him, also dehumanization in general is an inherently wrong mindset

- don’t attack people who sympathize with him because he’s a victim of abuse besides other things

The post never says:

- you cannot hate c!Dream and not sympathizing with him is wrong

- the things c!Dream has done are to any degree excused

- don’t dehumanize c!Dream because he’s a good person

- people who dehumanize c!Dream are real life abuse apologists

If you read the post and didn’t get these points from it, i advise you to reread it as I made pretty much all of these abundantly clear.

[end of disclaimer]

i never said anyone could infringe on his human rights! i… literally never said that! i said “they ignore” when characters do it, but that was a run-on sentence, i get how that might’ve been easily misunderstood. but yes, he’s a fictional character, i’d never said people could actually hurt him or anything in that sense.

the thing is, i still find them saying they enjoy it… wrong? the people yelling in tommy’s chat for c!dream to hurt him more were freaking victim blaming pricks, and if what they did was the widespread fandom opinion it would be hurting actual people with trauma. i ask people to look at the c!dream situation with the same severity, because it’s actually happening and it’s highly disturbing, not just from principle, but because of what it leads to within the community.

sorry for comparing his situation to c!tommy, but narratively i believe the prison arc is a deliberate parallel to exile, and comparing his situation to someone they’ve not dehumanized seems to be the only way to knock sense into some people.

i am happy you don’t seem to be one of the people who dehumanize him. you’re not the target audience of this post - neither are abuse victims who project onto him. i know people who c!tommy reminds of their abuser (because of personality traits), or even c!quackity, that’s fine. they’re totally free to hate their respective character, of course, without being,, actually right about them. that being said, majority of this fandom is dehumanizing c!dream and being mad at people sympathizing with him “on behalf of the abuse victims”, not actual victims themselves, and by doing this they are unknowingly hurting other people rather than helping anything, and spreading misinformation as well as making a lot of fans in general uncomfortable. i believe this is something that needs to change in the community.

hating him is fine, but group-based dehumanization in my mind is not. if you go on twitter and search “c!dream” and see 100 people saying they wish the abuse victim you project onto is hurt more (this is not a twitter thing, c!dream tag is the same thing, a majority of the crit is untagged but it,, doesn’t really matter because even tagged hate riles up more people) that freaking sucks and is something that the community needs to work on, not shoved under the rug and pretend it wasn’t there because some people tag it.

“the abuse victims who are hurt by people saying they should be sympathetic towards Dream are in fact just as hurt as the abuse victims who relate to Dream and are hurt by people saying his evil.”

this is not wrong. it’s right actually, but i’m not talking about this fandom calling him evil/unable to be sympathized with/irredeemable. i mean, that’s hurtful dehumanization as well, but this community doesn’t “say he’s evil” it “says he deserves to keep being horribly abused and/or die”.

and… i wasn’t talking about/saying abuse victims should sympathize with him either? i’ve said like five times that people can hate him as much as they want, but dehumanization is another thing. it’s the majority of this community (this post wasn’t targeting abuse victims in the slightest) taking away his positive human qualities, hence believing he doesn’t deserve human rights, and turning him into some sort of punching bag or personification of evil, which i find deeply disturbing since he’s being related to by abuse victims, and also blatantly incorrect to the character.

so, you’d be right, if the situation was what you described. it… really isn’t. the dream smp fanbase isn’t populated by abuse victims in any corner. it’s two small groups, one of them hurt (undeservingly) by a few and the other one hurt (no more or less undeservingly) by a majority of the fandom without anyone batting an eye.

and this post isn’t even about abuse victims in the first place; it’s about dehumanization. while its impact plays a big role in why i wrote this, things like these being widespread in the fandom makes so many people uncomfortable or pressured not to sympathize with a recently made sympathetic character that they might (but could not) relate to. relating to him myself, i might not have a say in this, but my compassion in general made me switch over to the c!dream sympathetic people, not anyone in the community or projection.

the results i relayed here weren’t the only results of the survery. people mentioned pandora’s vault as their reasons for being dream apologists,, over and over and over again. a lot of them mentioned the fandom response specifically.

it’s making the fandom not only unsafe to a small group of traumatized people, but also fans in general, who are equally as important to feel comfortable. hell, the reason dream apologists are such a tight-knit community that accepts little to no outside feedback is because of the hatred that is endlessly nurtured outside, that makes people feel anxious or not safe just for sympathizing with a victim of abuse.

i myself find this a problem that people should attempt to change beyond using crit tags more. feel free to not agree with that, but a lot of affected people do.

i agree the disc finale was actually cathartic! well, that’s a lie, i used to hate c!dream’s guts before that but that was the very instance where i saw a person behind the mask and went “oh, this is a whole mess isn’t it”, but it was,, cathartic to a lot of other people that didn’t use to have intense empathy to inanimate objects as children djskdjsk (i was a weird kid and still am, don’t mind that)

do you know what is cathartic? when a dog terribly bites a child, gets kicked away and gets put in a cage. do you know what isn’t cathartic? …that dog getting repeatedly beaten, starved and abused while trapped in said cage. even in fiction, and i say that as someone who was terribly bitten by a dog.

i don’t mind fictional characters suffering - frick, angst is my jam, i’ll write a character dying over and over again and have fun, but people justify that or make fun of people who don’t by saying openly that they enjoy it,, because he’s done bad things.

here comes the double standard. the exile arc wasn’t cathartic just because tommy burnt down a house, because hell, that wasn’t fair retribution. same goes for dream.

there is a difference between enjoying dark media (something i do frequently and is something i like doing) and open dehumanization and often normalized harassment of people who don’t do the same or condemn that. that is something that in my mind shouldn’t be a mainstream thing in the community.

to be fair, people saying an abuse victim no longer being hurt is “bad writing” or “insensitive” as i’ve seen people say would probably piss me off, but i’m,, not going to harass them. maybe a passive-aggressive vague-post if enough big accounts do it, but i think that’s justified. feel free to disagree - i still respect abuse victims who wouldn’t like that, but people who just don’t want the writers to humanize a character they’ve dehumanized will probably grind my gears.

this community,, isn’t working like this. i wrote this because people are repeatedly being hurt by the community or feel bad in it because of widespread opinions and dehumanization of a character that is as of late written to be sympathetic to the audience. that’s not a disagreement, the people who are actually sympathetic are a minority in the fandom, which would be fine with me, if they weren’t constantly invalidated, triggered and harassed as a direct result of the dehumanization discussed in this post.

besides the fact that the principle of dehumanization applied to c!dream is wrong - and if people find themselves doing that, it’s good for them to find a way to realize that, such as this post, because projection =/= dehumanization, and this post is targeting one, not the other - this is why i wrote this post. i still believe my points are valid and important for this fandom to consider.

you know, we could talk about the characterization right now - but after this i’m going onto a two month long hiatus for the sole purpose of studying the character. i’m not joking, this is what i’m dedicating my summer to. since i’m also closing my asks because of this, i can write this down and @ you when i’m done? :D i’d love to talk about him but i’m going to have so much more evidence after this, so maybe we can put this off for a while if you don’t mind! of course feel free to continue the dehumanization debate in a string of reblogs since it’s pretty much a different debate entirely.

( @zrenia @caketexturepack just tagging some people who responded to your response and might be interested in the continuation of the debate - also curious anon i saw your two asks i was just busy djsjdks please don’t spam about people who replied to me, i have a bad memory but i write this stuff down, actually )

[osakasshitpit]

I love Final Fantasy XIV

So I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV, and after playing for around 180 hours, I haven’t even finished A Realm Reborn. Normally, 180 hours is an insane time frame for a game to manage and hold my attention. Persona 5 Royal was 180 hours of game time, and that was slowly outstaying its welcome. FFXIV must be doing something right, because just recently I went to a convention and bought a Y’shtola Keychain in a heartbeat. I haven’t had time to play XIV a lot prior to this, since I was stupidly grinding Praetorium for days and got burned out. I haven’t played much in 2 months, and Y’shtola only really has a minor role during A Realm Reborn’s Storyline. Despite that, I started in Limsa and Y’shtola stuck with me since then. I just had to buy that keychain. My girlfriend asked me about it and despite me staying away from the game after being burned out, I explained to her in great enthusiasm why I loved Y’shtola and why I loved the game so much. I think that’s the first time I really realized how attached I was to this world, these characters, this game.

I came to FFXIV after having played WoW from Vanilla through WotLK, after having barely ever touched a MMO since quitting WoW. Honestly, I was very skeptical of XIV but holy fucking shit did it ever win me over. They are completely different games, mind you, but that is a good thing in my opinion.

So here is the longest tumblr rant post I have written so far, I think.

To be fair, the first 20 levels or so were kinda slow. You get thrown into the deep end and get bombarded with lore and characters, terms and phrases that you don't understand. For fucks sake, the opening cutscene shows Louisoix fighting Bahamut front and center. Its this big, epic moment of sacrifice, but to someone who has not played 1.0 and who doesn't know anything about the lore, this just zips right past you. During the main story of ARR, they keep talking about Louisoix and how important he is, but you haven't even seen the guy because he died before the game even started. I only really realized this today, it took me 180 hours and a look at the wiki to connect the dots. It really is a slow burn, but that slow burn was okay because everything else was so fantastic.

While the world can arguably be more subdued than Azeroth in parts, there is still this distinctive style that I quickly fell in love with. It’s fantastical, but it still feels grounded. Part of that has to do with how the game introduces you to the world, and how the main story quests explain to you the lore bit by bit. I feel like much of the world design of WoW was down to “the rule of cool”. Now, I’m not saying XIV doesn’t have that, but I feel like XIV always goes the extra mile to explain why this cool shit is here. Everything you see out there in the world feels like it has a purpose, a reason to be there and an explanation on how it works. The factions make sense, the political conflicts you get entangled in are believable. I feel like I am kind of biased to be honest. What got me to play FFXIV in the first place was seeing that Viera are a playable race. I’m a sucker for Final Fantasy, not in short part to my memories of Playing Final Fantasy Tactics and XII. XII is still my favorite game in the series, and much of that has to do with the world, Ivalice. Viera were always my favorite race of the ones seen in Ivalice. Seeing as you can play a Viera in XIV, I just had to try. Thinking about it, XII and XIV have a lot in common when it comes to world building.

One of the weirdest things to acclimate for me was how FFXIV handles story. I was used to WoW, where story was basically non-existent and you did what you did to see numbers rise and to unlock now content you could do. You are basically never involved in the story of WoW, you are just kind of there for the ride. In FFXIV, you are the main character. You are involved in what happens at all times, and that is kinda strange coming from WoW. At first I thought I wouldn’t like it, but the game made it work in my opinion. I also didn’t expect there to be so much of story to begin with. Kind of ironically the moment I realized just how much there was to experience was when I went through Ul’dah and saw a blue quest. Now, blue quest markers mean there is some content you can unlock by doing this quest. A lot of these are kinda short, with a bit of dialogue and some bits of lore for you to enjoy and I thought this one would be no difference. After all, the hook is basically just to help this lady mourn for the death of a friend. What I got was a fabulous detective adventure that spanned over the entire continent, where in I had to help the worlds most manly detective uncover the secret behind a mysterious phantom thief. To say the least, this 21 quest long quest line brought be hours upon hours of joy and had me in stitches throughout. And it was completely optional. I don’t think I even remember a single moment from any quest in WoW that made me this excited for it, optional or otherwise.

Ultimately these are very different games that try very different things.

Dungeons and Raids were a different thing. I remember when I rolled a new character for WotLK and wanted to do karazhan because I used to like doing that raid with my guild back in TBC. I could not for the live of me find a group willing to do it, because everyone was way more focused on the new content, so they could get better gear. Regardless, it just wouldn’t have been the same experience anyways I fear, because the new gear from the new Dungeons outclassed the raid gear from TBC, so karazhan would be way easier and a much different experience. In FFXIV, every dungeon is level synced by default, meaning if a higher level character joins, they get basically downgraded to the level the dungeon was designed for. Couple that with the Duty Roulette feature and suddenly, there was always someone to do any given dungeon with. I remember when I had to do the crystal tower raids and thought “why would they tie main story progression to a raid, I will never find a group to do that properly” but low and behold, I found a group within 30 minutes or less and raided through the entire set of raids within a day. Dungeons and Raids are generally a very pick up and play thing in FFXIV. To be fair, dungeons got easier and more pick up and play in WoW too, but Raids were always the endgame thing where you had to gear up and learn to play. In FFXIV, much more lenient. No corpse walking required. I say this, but I have yet to do the Coils of Bahamut or any Savage Raids. I have only heard that there is plenty of hardcore raid content for those who want that.

That’s nothing to say about the actual gameplay. FFXIV is a tab-target MMO, like so many others, but it manages to keep this kind of gameplay fresh by introducing a lot of mechanics that make the game more active than the typical “I stand here and hit my rotation a lot”. For starters, most enemies have special abilities that you can actually dodge by moving out of the way. There will a area marker on the floor and everyone within that area will be hit. It starts out easy, but later dungeons really start kicking your ass with this mechanic. You really need to say on your toes. In addition, every class is extremely different. They all have special mechanics unique to them, special meters and resources they will have to manage during combat and so on. For example, a Red Mage (the class I’m playing currently), has two meters that fill up as you cast spells. They generally have two types of spells, white and black magic. Each type fills its respective bar. Once they are both full enough, you can go in and do a more powerful melee rotation. However, if one bar is fuller than the other, the other bar will fill up slower. Since you need to fill both, you want to balance that out. You get instant casts for spells after performing a damaging spell, and you have some spells with a short cast time and good damage output that you want to cast and then use the instant cast of to cast a more damaging spell that has a long cast time. But these short cast, good damage spells require a you get from casting a spell of the respective type. So, in essence, you want to balance your use of black and white magic, but you also want to use the proc you get from casting your white and black magic, which means you cast more of the type which inherently unbalances your gauges. It becomes this micromanagement game you play with your procs and instant casts, so you can go in and do the big, flashy sword combo. And that’s just the red mage at around 50. Every class has something like this, and it’s all unique to them. Learning a class is not just learning the rotation and spells you have anymore, it’s really learning how to effectively play your class. Also, positioning. Some abilities do more damage from certain positions, so you will have to dance around an enemy to hit all the sweet spots with classes like monks. These complexities get introduced slowly as you level up, so you have plenty of time to learn the mechanics. My favorite feature might be the class system itself, though. In FFXIV, you aren’t limited to one class for the entire duration of your characters career. You can, from a certain point forwards, choose any class you wish and level that up instead. You can freely switch between classes outside of combat, too. If you are dedicated enough, you can level them all up to max, even. This means if you don’t like a class or the direction a class is going in, you can switch. I for my part started as an arcanist, so I unlocked Summoner at 30. I played Summoner up to 50 but I was just not meshing as well with the direction the summorer went in. So, I switched to Red Mage and after some getting used to, Its now my new favorite. Arcanists are special, because you actually unlock two classes at 30, so I also unlocked Scholars. Scholars are healers and that became my main dungeon class, since queue times are way shorter for healers. This would be unthinkable in WoW, and love the fact this is a thing here.

If I had to describe it, WoW is an MMO with RPG Elements, while FFXIV is a JRPG with MMO elements. I didn’t know I needed that, but in retrospect, it makes sense. The thing that really killed my progress in WoW was that I didn’t have anyone to play with anymore. My friends all dropped from the game and while I generally like doing solo content from time to time, I’m pretty introverted, after all... MMORPGs are usually most fun with friends. Final Fantasy XIV is a JRPG first, an MMO second. There is so much to keep your attention as a solo player, its nuts. All my friends who play this game, play on a different data center, so I can’t even visit them. Despite that, I had a lot of fun in my time with the game.

My experience with the game was incredibly positive, and I don’t think it will get worse from here. Everyone keeps telling me how great Heavensward is. I just have to finish 16 more quests and I’ll be able to see for myself what the fuss is about.

Honestly, if I had to say anything negative, it would be how longwinded ARR is. I mean, its not bad by any means, but I can see how someone could be turned off by this huge storyblock. Worst of all is, after you hit 50 and reach the end of ARR’s story line, there are 80 quests before you can even start with Heavensward. Since everyone keeps going on about how great it is, it’s kind of annoying how long you have to work to even get to it. In retrospect, it kinda makes sense though. These quests are meant to be played over months and months throughout a update cycle and bridge the narrative gap between one storyblock and the next, but holy fucking shit why did it have to be THAT long. They even cut like 20 of the quests from this already insanely long quest line. What the fuck. This is supposed to be an epilogue to ARR and it feels like I played a whole fucking JRPG in between ARR and Heavensward. Oh well. Thankfully, they learned from this and made the post-story blocks shorter.

I will just say that I can recommend this game. You should give it a try. Just... try not to drop the game before it gets really, really good.

[ablednt]

something that really grinds my gears is when ppl pick and choose what si’s to condemn tho. like obviously there’s a hierarchy of harm on a large scale, w/ hp being rlly high up due to rowlings influence. but they’ll be talking about that while consuming lovecraft (whose antiblackness and antisemitism we can’t ignore just bc his works are public domain), jjba, star wars etc. and barring something huge like hp everyone is going to have different standards for what they can consume critically.

like i’ve watched white ppl harass black ppl for liking garnet from su bc THEY thought she was an antiblack stereotype + there are some black ppl who feel she is, it isnt a white person’s place to condemn black women who do like her. same w connie and going after desi ppl etc. like white ppl go out of their way to harass autistic poc who like media that other poc have issues with. how many times do we have to say we aren’t a monolith. nothing is above criticism but theyre outta pocket.

Yeah that's understandably really frustrating and I agree that the way a lot of media discourse goes is just bizarre given the double standards like most people don't want to accept that yeah at some point they're going to get attached to media that has problematic things in it.

Personally, the way I look at it is the harm done by the media needs to be measurable for a full boycott to be necessary. Like, with stuff like HP giving jkr and affiliated people money or free advertizing via fandom does measurable harm that's going straight to transmisogynist groups and efforts and in addition to that hp fans claim to be critical about said media but they only ever seem to do that about the transmisogyny and not the plethora of other issues within the text itself. Like, truly, deeply I don't care if someone still enjoys aspects of hp like certain characters or the different houses or whatever like so long as the aspects of it they enjoy aren't the blatant bigotry and they aren't giving it PR I am not going to care that's not what's doing the measurable harm.

With stuff like SU I honestly don't even think it's an issue for someone to post about it or enjoy it so long as they're willing to acknowledge that there's a lot of legitimately fucked up stuff in it (and of course, like you said, people of color almost certainly are fully aware of the negative aspects considering it literally targets them) and in the end it completely failed in the messages it ultimately wanted to send by adding in fascist propaganda. Like, personally, I'm always going to have a soft spot for the parts of it that resonated with me and that weren't particularly harmful and I also think it's okay to point out the places that it did succeed and resonate with people the same way that people do, like you said, with stuff like Star Wars which is just as heavy with its flaws (and marketed towards impressionable children the same way)

I also think we can really blame fandom culture for a lot of this issue just because the standard for enjoying something has changed so much like there is in fact a difference between "I enjoy this thing and sometimes I talk about it" and "I'm in the fandom, giving it pr, recommending it, and pouring money into it. This is my hobby." Like not that the latter is bad inherently but I really do wish people would like see the separation there.

And then one last thing I think is important, especially with children's media that is going to inevitably be a part of actual children's lives is that we learn to actually discuss a media for both its flaws and its successes because I really don't think your average like 10 year old is going to understand giving something up completely without even fully understanding what issues people have with it it's much better, in my opinion, to be able to seize on a cultural moment and use it for discussion than the way a lot of people just instantly condemn things. Like Idk we can have nuance once in a while...as a treat.