#also can you tell what line in that damn play fucks me up worse than anything

[guiltycorp]

Damn i really want to know tf happened in the writing room of arcane s2. Some of the downgrades were inevitable due to the show's corporate limitations (not being able to progress the class war story in a meaningful way, having to tie things back to league of legends in terms of making playable characters more appealing to well, play... rip Mel and Viktor in particular), sure. But i still feel like it's even worse than that? There are so many bad decisions that i couldn't even start listing them all... the characters, plot, pacing, themes, it's just such a mess? Even the dialogue writing, it feels much more mm Marvel at its worst i suppose. What i am most bothered by is probably just the straight up harmful messaging so um... Cycles of violence and abuse can be broken by individual decisions to become a better person! Got nothing to do with systemic oppression, living conditions, mental health issues, you can just conveniently ignore aaall the social context, live laugh love and then things get better automatically yep, oppressors famously stop oppressing you when you show them that you're harmless and won't put up a fight anymore. Literally three out of three suicidal characters dying to redeem themselves? Not even in a tragic/cathartic way but in a bittersweet 'they finally atoned for their mistakes' way? Groundbreaking lmao. Romantic relationship between Vi and Caitlyn including no communication about their biggest fight, just conveniently skipping to sex and getting back together - would have loved that if it was framed as the unhealthy fucked up thing that it is, skipping over Vi's hurt and her background to once again become a cop, her girlfriend's direct underling at that (!) due to her not having any other support systems... But nope that was our cute lesbian romance wrapped up, a good thing all around, not concerning at all. Jayce telling Viktor that what he 'always admired about him' was his disability and his deadly disease (??? from a character who spent the whole s1 and first act of s2 desperately trying to help Viktor find a cure? sure) and that those imperfections don't need fixing, just wtf truly. Magic bullshit was also weird, some implications of 'natural magic is ok, but achieving that power through other means corrupts you into a crazy robot bitch or just wilts your trees i guess', but tbh it was written in such a weird and inconsistent way that we can skip this one... Yeah actually a lot of things were just such a mess that I feel silly pointing to specific moments or lines I didn't like, I mean duh, it barely makes sense as a story at all... I am happy we have s1 which comparatively was a masterpiece, and i also really enjoyed s2 act1, i truly believed it would lead somewhere good at the time, my mind still kind of cuts off the story at that point when i think about it, that WAS the open ending of the show to me (is it possible that there were rewrites? targeting act 2 and 3? idk, wishful thinking perhaps). Despite my extremely negative feelings about this season's conclusion i remain glad that so many people appreciate the show regardless, it is clear that there was STILL a lot of love in the process of its creation (although i'd argue that even some of the visual aspects of the show suffered in quality, once again i have to wonder about behind the scenes mood of it all) and i get very upset when i see creatives online despairing over reception of their projects even when i'm absolutely in the disgruntled crowd hahaha... ...however yeah, this wasn't great In a world that increasingly grows more and more right-wing politically... we really needed something different i think.

[elodieunderglass]

I'm not as familiar with LOTR as you are, so I wondered if you could tell me if my wild theory is completely off-base.

No one knows where the Hobbits came from, except that at some point they diverged from the line of men. No one knows much about the Entwives' appearance, but we do know that they fucked off a long time ago.

Could the Entwives have been dryad-ish and hooked up with the hobbits' ancestors and so be the foremothers of the hobbits?

Ah I think I saw that post! The concept has a lot of charm, and when the Tolkien estate loses its corpse-grip on the property in 2050 or so, I think you should write it and sell it 😤 I’ve definitely read some good takes on entwives in fanfiction that both leaned into canon and moved away, and I think that sounds like good fun to explore. A common theme in the fandom is playing with Yavanna, the Green Lady, being the mother or patron of hobbits. This isn’t canonical, but she’s a “green goddess” archetype and is married to Mahal/Aulë, the father of dwarves, which shippers often leverage to their advantage. You could do something quite charming there with Yavanna if you wanted to. We also know that Entwives loved gardens and orchards rather than forests.

Some things I would explore with this include:

what is going on with all these consistent ideas of people, races, women disappearing. We know that a lot of it is how Tolkien processed an almost OCD-like Catholic framing of “the fallen world is getting worse and can never be repaired”, war experiences, romanticism and other stuff stewing in his old man head. What are some ways you could show what’s stewing in your head? What does “people disappearing” mean to you? and why is it especially healing that they disappeared in order to make new families?

I think “they disappeared from their old kin and made new kin” is an interesting and weird thing worth wondering about!

- this would possibly make hobbits a more recent race than is implied. What does that mean to you?

- why are hobbits teeny tiny?

A very good starting point, that Terry Pratchett used a lot, is taking some grand statement in fantasy fiction, and making it reflect a different political reality. “Most dwarves are girls actually.” “Wizards parody academia, but, like, FOR REAL.”

I personally have a different take because of my own political feelings and framings! I have a lot of complex feelings about Tolkien chickening out of hobbits. For various political reasons I personally have to take the stance that they are fully human, fully indigenous, and have their own native language. and that their disappearance is less “teehee we lost them” or “O, the Catholic guilt of the Fallen World, how far we have fallen from the light of the two trees God’s sinless light” and a lot more “oh yeah I’ve seen THAT pattern before.”

If you have a political sort of lens on, someone telling you “yeah… hobbits came from nowhere 🤭 and then disappeared 🤷‍♀️ sad!” is a story that can also invite the response of “OHhhhh you wanted their LAND real bad, huh.” Like, we know what that means, right.

It’s a political stance for me. Hobbits have to be close enough to us to touch, and we have to be able to face that, and the fact that 5,000 media properties will chew on tolkienelves and sell them to you before even admitting to the 🤭 just makes it even more of a 🤨. To me.

…But I have literally just been elbow deep in my own demented fanfic thing that involves inventing a language just to swear in, to enable my standing on a box shouting HOBBITS OUGHT TO RESIST GOING EXTINCT ACTUALLY, based entirely on, I think, spite. Why do multiple authors publish orc football games (Terry Pratchett) and orc coffeeshops (Legends and Lattes guy) and do every damned thing with every bit of Tolkien’s corpse but refuse to look directly at hobbits. I am feral over this and wrote 59k words so far to damage and harm my friends

In conclusion I see a great story shape there about kindred and I think you should explore it and it should be about evolutionary biology and women and divorce and nobody being wrong.

And if anyone argues you with some podcast boy “well actually”, just bite them and do more character work and sit on their heads

[scourgeofmyownbrain]

Now, I just want to start by saying I love BabBee and Dadimus. I do, 10/10 would enjoy again, but I think Y'all are neglecting the comedic and story potential of Bumblebee and Optimus meeting as ✨Adults✨ and still becoming a family.

Imagine with me, if you will, Cybertron ravaged by war. Things have fallen to shit. Megatron has been dragging these divorce proceedings out for years. Bumblebee was born around the beginning, give or take a few years, I don't care about specifics. His parents were sadly killed early on in his life due to something war related and Bumblebee has grown up alone. He manages to survive to adulthood, and he joins the Autobots. Bumblebee has been drowning in the consequences of this war since day 1 and he wants to help fix it. If Megatron won't sign the divorce papers then Bumblebee will. Yada Yada Yada Sad Backstory This is so sad, Alexa play The Less I Know The Sexy Back.

Anyhoo, Bumblebee is very good at his job as a scout. Top of the line shit, best of the best, 5 stars would eat here again. He's so good he gets promoted to work directly under Optimus Prime himself. Look at our boy go, we're so proud of him, you get that bag sister. Overtime, Bumblebee manages to become friends with Optimus (and the rest of Team Prime but we're focusing on Optimus rn) and they get pretty close. They're work besties, Bumblebee will make a joke over comms and Optimus will smile and say "I N D E E D, B U M B L E B E E.". Fucking insufferable, the both of them, it's so cute. You know how you can become friends with people twice/half your age when you're working at a hard job? That's what happened here, they've been through the (actual) trenches together, they've bonded.

So at some point, Bumblebee gets seriously injured while under Optimus's command, like some life threatening shit. Whether or not it's voicebox related is universe dependent , so we're not going to specify what happens, but it's serious. Bumblebee survives, obviously, but Optimus feels SO bad about it. Oh the Guilt is strong. When he's visiting Bee, some of this leaks out and Bumblebee tells him that he should not blame himself, Bee is choosing to fight, if he dies while fighting for the good of Cybertron, so be it. Better him than some innocent spark in the future. Plus, Bee only got hurt because of a stupid mistake he made, not anything Optimus did.

Bumblebee says this to try and reassure his friend/superior, but now Optimus feels WORSE. Bumblebee is like half Optimus's age (Bee and Optimus are whatever the Cybertronian equivalent of 20 and 40 are, respectively) and had nothing to do with the start of the war, and he's just as ready to die as Optimus is? And he's blaming himself for his injury? That he only got because Optimus told him to do something? Optimus is NOT going to let that slide, no he's not! Over his dead body! He is not crying in the club rn, what are you talking about.

Optimus has decided Bumblebee can not die now. He has declared, as the 13th Prime, that Bumblebee dying has become illegal and he will do everything in his power to enforce this new Law of The Universe That Should Never Be Broken Ever. Now, whenever the two are on a mission, Optimus tries to protect Bumblebee as best he can. He doesn't want to coddle him, Bumblebee is an adult and Optimus respects that but he'll be damned if he lets Bumblebee get seriously hurt when he could have prevented it. He also starts checking up on him when they're not fighting, asking how his day is going, how a mission went, making sure he see's a medic if he's hurt, making sure he's eating his energon, all that good stuff. Bumblebee is his friend, he's going to make sure he's okay, this is perfectly normal friend behavior. The rest of team prime is doing a similar thing, they all want to make sure Bumblebee is doing okay. Optimus isn't being parental in the slightest, he is being very normal. (Author's note: Optimus and Team Prime are being very Not normal about their emotions. All of them have some level of abandonment issues/lost-a-loved-one-itis and can no longer be normal about people they care about.)

Bumblebee recognizes what Optimus (and the rest of Team Prime) is doing. He knows that Optimus cares for him; he cares for him right back. Bee's not stupid, he knows that he's been getting some special treatment in the form of vaguely parental affection. And you know what? He likes it, a lot. He didn't get any growing up and now he's getting it from a guy he really looks up to, why would he pass this up. Bumblebee tries to return this affection he's being given in any way he can. He makes sure Optimus isn't overworking himself by visiting him while he's working, he makes sure Optimus is eating by inviting him to eat with him, he drags Optimus into the med-bay with him so he see's a medic every once in a while, he tries to make Optimus smile with his dumb jokes and antics, the whole kit and caboodle. Bee sees Optimus as some kind of parental figure, and he's going to make sure his newly acquired pop-pop is okay, just like he's doing for Bee. The Pop-Pop thing was a joke (Kind of). Why is he looking for cybertronian legal papers? That is none of your business, Bee just wants to see them for fun. No he's not drunk, the container of high grade started empty.

Life continues, Optimus (and Team Prime) continues to take care of Bee in his unknowingly parental way and Bumblebee is vibing with his newly acquired dad. It takes a while for anyone to acknowledge the new dynamic, Bumblebee just doesn't explicitly bring it up and Optimus hasn't pulled his head out of his suppressed emotion ass long enough to realize it. And keep in mind that Bumblebee is still an Adult and they are still technically coworkers, they still have a job to do, a war to win. Eventually though, maybe after the Autobots have left Cybertron, Optimus finally processes his emotions and realizes he see's Bee as family.

Optimus: Bumblebee, I care for you deeply, and I've come to see you as family.

Bumblebee: Aw, thank you! I consider you family as well. *Hands OP a data pad* In fact, you adopted me months ago.

Optimus (who did not sign any adoption papers at any time): I did what?

Bumblebee: I forged your signature.

At some point in the future, some guy is being a dick to Optimus, i don't really know what could happen, but Bumblebee steps in to defend Optimus with "That's my dad, you bitch!" and fucking slams the guy and Optimus is just standing there buffering, bc he's still getting used to showing and taking obvious affection and he approches Bee later to ask if he really considers Optimus as his dad. And Bee just kind of stares at him then points at the bumper sticker on OP's chest and says "yes, you idiot, I gave you that sticker for a reason" bc the sticker says "Worlds Best Dad" and it matches the "Worlds Best Son" sticker Bee got for himself and I'm rambling, I'll shut up now.

I made more

[gareleia]

THE KNITTING SAGA CONTINUES

update: my co-writer friend FINALLY got a tumblr account, so I can tag them now!!

previously: part 1

next: part 3 part 4 part 5

a continuation because I have no impulse control and am in dire need of more Aeolus content

first of all, let's establish one thing - and I think we can all agree on that - Aeolus loves to fuck with people. they are a benevolent(-ish?) trickster deity, and they revel in harmless pranks

as a consequence, they are on pretty good terms with Hermes. while Hermes doesn't care much for the 'small fry' and doesn't pay that much attention to the wind god most of the time, Aeolus has their winions follow the messenger god religiously (pun intended), because? where Hermes goes, shenanigans always follow.

so when they get the tea that he's apparently hanging out on that one random Greek island, playing nanny? oh, they know it's gotta be good. so naturally, they go to check it out.

well, turns out that Athena is also there, and both of them are sooo bad with babies, it's hilarious

Athena, holding baby!Telemachus: Ehhh, shouldn't it be eating more meat? it's body is so weak, it can't even hold a spear! Hermes, exasperated: oh my me, 'thena, that's not how humans work!! babies eat liquids first!! how can you not know that!! here you go, champ, drink some wine!! Aeolus, hiding in the leaves: holy shit these guys are dumb

so now they can't just leave Telemachus alone with Athena and Hermes! they might not be an expert on child rearing, but surely they can do better than those two dorks! and the baby is adorable.

so they decide to stick around. just for a little bit. a week tops.

fast forward a few years, and they have been raising the prince of Ithaca

Aeolus: *shocked pikachu face*

and Aeolus is the much needed chaotic good influence to Hermes' chaotic neutral and Athena's lawful neutral.

the thing is, Aeolus is really good at hiding. so good, in fact, that no one but Telemachus had even realized they are here. everyone else just thinks that the prince has an invisible friend which, well… they're not wrong?.. and it's not like other kids are exactly lining up to be his friends anyway, cause everyone thinks he's weird (or their parents don't want to catch the attention of the suitors)

and the gods think that it's because they hang around too much and Telemachus can't make friends because of them. so maybe they try to spend less time in Ithaca, for his own good. which only makes things worse, because now the boy is upset, and Aeolus and winions have to try extra hard to cheer him up, which pisses them off.

Athena & Hermes: oh, goodness us, we shall try not to interfere too much with the mortal affairs, so that the young prince grows up healthy and happy ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Telemachus: (T⌓T) Aeolus: ヾ( ･`⌓´･)ﾉﾞ

and then they have to subtle bully the two dumb fucks to come back.

on a less serious note, Aeolus also has a sweet tooth, especially for marshmallows (idgaf there weren't any marshmallows in Mycenaean Greece, they're a god. they can make all the damn marshmallows they want)

and of course, since they are sooo generous, they always share with Telemachus.

what they don't know(?) is that winions, who all get their own treats, also collectively share them with the baby, because they are secretly evil adorable little freaks.

which results in a very hyper prince sugar rushing seemingly out of nowhere.

Telemachus, running all around the palace and crackling madly: I AM SPEED- Penelope, unimpressed: and who, pray tell, had given my son sweets right before dinner? Athena, equally unimpressed: yes, I would also like to know. Hermes, sweating nervously: heyyyy, why are you all looking at me like that???? ( ಠ‿ಠ ) Aeolus, from behind a tree, unseen by anyone: (｡•̀U-)┘

Hermes always gets blamed.

It's the only time he doesn't do the thing

and he's seething, because nobody believes him.

[blind-alchemists]

sorry, Zagreus, I've had your sister for five hours and I already like her more than you.

anyway! I did treat myself and bought the game early and. it's just very good!

in somewhat chronological order, my thoughts after yesterday's session

the music! the music is even more amazing than in the first game and if I'm done, I need to listen to the whole OST on loop

the art!! also even better than in the first game!!

Melinoë is a great protagonist

it's incredibly funny the first god we encounter is Apollo, because Apollo is the guy people modded into the first game years ago

... boy, I wonder what the speedrunning meta will look like for this game (I have very obscure knowledge about Hades I speedrunning meta)

I love the little backgrounds that pop out with the art

oh, right, I jumped into the Hades I EA late, so I never saw the place holder graphics in-game before

the environments!! beautiful.

I shouldn't have played the first game last week. It's fucking with me. where's my second dash??? Why do we start with 30 HP??? where are my death defiances??? weapon mechanics???

of course there's a fishing mechanic again.

I like Hecate's design.

saluting??? what's the lore behind that?

OH. this tone of the story isn't ... quite what I expected. A lot more serious. a lot more severe.

Melinoë doesn't remember her family??? Hello??? what the fuck???

and she keeps talking about her task with such a dutiful determination ... no, I'm not crying. But. That's such an interesting conflict.

NEMESIS!! She's holding her sword aspect!! her design!! her resentment!! her vengeance!! her rivalry with Mel. how Mel calls her Nem. please. tell me she's a romance option. PLEASE.

oh, hi odysseus.

hey, there's hypnos! ... why's he sleeping??? (funny thing is, I got the Charon dialogue that implies he's more useful this way lol)

I cannot. Take. Skelly serious. It's worse because Mel does.

I like Moros' design. The long hair going over the horns? Yeah, that's good.

Mel gets an AXE??? a heavy, double-bladed axe??? (I love women wielding heavy weapons, and as long as the rail doesn't make a return, I'm good with anything after enough time)

I like the new art sprites for reoccurring characters!

ahhh, the good old "we don't trust Olympus so we're not telling them everything" line. understandable, but I figure that's going to blow up sooner or later.

I love Mel's bond with Artemis and Selene and the implication that both helped raise her.

... and I like the predominantly female cast so far

Nemesis can show up in Erebus???

BABY MELINOË omg

why does every chthonic goddess / titaness sound like they have a thing for Persephone. Nyx already had a few lines like that in the first game. Why does Hecate also have these kinds of lines.

the Hecate fight frustrates me to no end, because I'm very used to more dashes, more health, and more death defiances, and very different weapons :( (I have bet her twice in total so far)

unrelated, but I didn't know I needed a sheep in the Hades art style but it's so damn cute and I want a large art print of it

Archane!! I love how her silks change Mel's avatar

Oceanus is beautiful

... except for the traps. Really not digging the traps. or the maps.

CHAOS??? why are you holding your old form's head??? and why is there an embryo coming out of it??? why do you have wings??? why do you wear a suit??? the new design unfortunately checks all the boxes but upon reflection that is because it fits into that very niche character design trope I've seen in manwha recently and I couldn't put a name on it if I tried

on that note, I also adore Aphrodite's new design!!

not quite sure what I think of the gathering / farming mechanic yet

I do like the incantations, magic, hexes, and arcana though!

HERMES! I also adore his design.

wait, what? Mel's going to Olympus? You're telling me one part of the game is descending into the House of Hades and the other is climbing to Mount Olympus?? (that's my speculation, at least.)

god, I hope the cast of the first game is alright/alive. :(

I hope we also get to see Athena, Ares, and Dionysus at some point :(

on that note, I can't wait for Mel to meet her brother and realize he's the opposite of her lol. I love siblings and mirrors.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

namjoon only reworked on face-off and like crazy. the subs for both the commentary and the live show were pretty atrocious and korean is extremely nuanced. plus jimin is probably one of the most humble members who has historically played off his own merit of work before. no one denies that namjoon helped or reworked lyrics, he's there in the credits for a reason. it's just astounding that ppl think he wrote everything when jimin released at least 4 different contents showing his own lyrics.

*

Ask 2: NAMJOON DID NOT WRITE LIKE CRAZY. What is so hard for you to get??? Fuck you armys acting like he wrote the whole album are you so desperate for clout because your fav is flopping???? Did he even write any lines? Jimin is too humble. He probably just credited Namjoon to be generous. Maybe he wrote one word or two but Jimin showed us his writing process FOUR TIMES you stupid bitch!!! You hagmys keep trying to discredit Jimin. You steal every credit from him and give it to that flopmonster who has to BEG armys to stream his flop music! Jimin did that ogre a favor and instead of you to be grateful you discredit him and give it to RfloppingM like he has any influence on Jimin’s work. You’re worse than shit. With fans like you Jimin doesn’t need enemies. Leave Jimin ALONE.

***

I’ll be getting back to fun asks soon but the volume of asks like this (and worse) that I’ve received since Jimin’s documentary is astounding lmao. It’s as though there’s an epidemic of lack of critical thought that just begs me to clear up. Especially because in this case, the source of confusion: Jimin’s live and the takeaway, is very clear cut and the fact people are struggling with what should be basic, is a damning indication of where too many are headed in this fandom.

Hi Anon in ask 1,

Lol it’s clear you can’t be someone who reads my blog, because if you were you’d know how ironic it is to tell me “Korean is extremely nuanced” given who I am and where I am this very minute lmao. Also, the second posted ask is here for your benefit, given your comment of “no one denies Namjoon helped…”

That said, your ask is a very good mild example of how some people struggle with processing information that contradicts their own views, and care more about signals/actions/words of other akgaes than the reality right in front of them. It’s like that ask I got right after the contract renewals were announced when someone claimed that ‘BTS only renewed group contracts, solo contracts renewals will come later’ despite all of us being privy to the same press release where HYBE announced the renewals… just because that person could not accept that BTS (specifically Jimin) had renewed both group and solo contracts with BigHit.

For some people, unless every single thing is spelled out for them, and even when the piece of referenced media is extremely clear cut, they fill in the gaps with their insecurities to arrive at a conclusion that’s more palatable to their own views. And that’s what you’re showing in this case. I’ll explain what I mean.

The context for your ask is Jimin’s Wlive commentary mentioning how Namjoon stopped by, how Jimin and the pd-nims played the tracklist for him expecting a clap on the back, and instead what they got is Namjoon telling them to go back to the drawing board. Yes the subtitles on Wlive can sometimes be overly simplified, but what both Jimin and Namjoon said, in the Wlive and documentary itself respectively, was itself pretty simple too. Like, what you’ve read is what they actually said. Various ARMYs pointed out Jimin’s reaction to that scene, how he laughed at the shocked and flustered reaction from the production team to Namjoon’s advice to revise it all. That’s the context.

Here’s how akgaes responded:

Pre-emptively claiming it was a mistranslation (it’s not).

Then when faced with the reality that they’d overreacted, claimed ARMYs were saying Namjoon wrote the whole album. Which of course is bonkers and saying this simply because ARMYs mention Jimin and Joon’s words is more an expression of their own insecurity. The only people who could (even in theory) reach that conclusion, are akgaes. Either akgaes for Jimin and Namjoon.

Played up tropes many PJMs are already insecure about which include Jimin being “too humble”, so that Jimin’s comments about Namjoon’s contribution to the album (which we now all know is not a mistranslation), is in part due to Jimin underselling himself.

All three things is what you’ve shown in your ask, despite it being divorced from the reality we all saw.

What Joon actually talked about is how the basis for writing lyrics is the narrative you want to build, which is something that should flow through the whole song and album, and that they’d need to rework it to show this.

Like, again, there is literally no reason this very simple, accessible piece of media should be causing so much grief lmao.

The only reason there’s so much uproar over it is because some very insecure people have hinged their egos on the idea that their chosen idol is infallible and cannot possibly need significant support from members they consider to be below him and his competition. So naturally, they absolutely cannot accept when the members they’ve pitted against Jimin as competition, offer him critical and helpful advise that revamped and improved on the work he did; it pisses them off when ARMYs note it and draw attention to it; and now, given Jimin’s added insight of Namjoon’s critical assessment of the first draft, now they know that when they praise Like Crazy, they are also essentially praising Namjoon’s work, and so they actively look to diminish it.

When the sane response to all this is that it can both be true that Jimin primarily wrote his album, Namjoon contributed not just in writing (based on the credits he has for Like Crazy and Face-off), but also in refining the lyrical message for the project (which he’s not credited for but is now clear after watching the documentary), and that nothing about these facts removed from the quality of work either member put into Jimin’s debut album. FACE is ultimately a culmination of Jimin’s vision, Jimin’s efforts, and Jimin’s talent.

My god, all of this would be obvious if the toxic, mind-rotting disease of intra-fandom competition hadn’t fully infected so many people in Chapter 2. Like, see all I wrote, way too many words, to state yet again something that should be painfully, almost tragically, obvious. All akgae rhetoric has succeeded in doing is dumbing down the quality of conversations we have in fandom spaces, and given how that already was something of a problem within some ARMY pockets, the state of affairs now since the akgae disease caught on presents a pretty grim prognosis.

Anon in ask 1, you might not think you’re an akgae and perhaps you’d struggle to identify yourself with the anon in ask 2, but the underlying assumptions in your ask are identical. And my unsolicited comment is that really should give you pause more than anything else.

Stream Like Crazy for healthy cuticles.

[enkisstories]

Galaxy's Edge, after closing time, but before the shutting down for the night proceedings have concluded:

Ben "Kylo Ren" and Jerry "General Hux" had found a storage room with a computer. There was no security to speak of, all it took to connect to the internet was to open a browser and start typing.

Hux: "All the precautions the humans take to keep us out of their wireless networks and document every word we speak to each other in our heads, only to forget that androids have fingers! And can wear gloves."

Kylo: "We don't have fingerprints that we could leave at a crime scene."

Hux: "The gloves are a Hux thing. I feel better stealing the data as him than as myself."

Kylo: "Wait... Does that mean Hux is the spy?! YOU sold us out to the Resistance?"

Hux: "Yep. I'm the spy. But don't worry, I didn't turn anarchist. It was a deeply personal thing against you."

"I'm the spy" - It felt good to speak that line, a line an actor had gotten paid to say almost twenty years ago, but that was a part of Jerry/Hux' memories now in first person. He clearly remembered having said this before, on the Steadfast, when in truth he was uttering the words for the first time this very moment, in a damp, dimly lit basement a little outside of Detroit.

That was odd. Equally odd, yet so very encouraging, was Kylo Ren of all people reacting to the reveal with unhampered enthusiasm:

Kylo: "Fuck, yes! That's exactly what we need now! Work your magic!"

Hux: "Don't get your hopes up too high. Hux did his thing off-screen, meaning there's nothing in the movie script that would teach ME how to be an effective spy."

Kylo: "Well, then, look it up! We're in the INTERNET now!"

Hux (typing) "How... to... be... an... efficient... spy...?"

Liberty: "Huh? The emergency light is on? Somebody down here?"

Hux: "Lesson One: Make sure to lock the damn upstairs door behind you. Argh! Why didn't Hux think of that? That scatterbrained twit could have gotten us killed!"

Hux (silently under his breath): "Oh, well, could be worse. I could be playing Ren."

Liberty: "Light!"

Liberty: "YOU? And what's that on the screen? You're looking up..."

Yes, what exactly? There had been a long list of hits on the screen, but now it had gotten replaced by a different list, as the Huxdroid had quickly typed his own name into the search bar and was now marveling at photographs and fanart of himself.

Liberty: "Ey? Guys? This still save for work?"

Hux: "Aw, look, another drawing! Wait a sec, how dare they put THAT on the internet? Miss Lee, tell Disney that we need to file a Cease and Desist against Marvel!"

Kylo (talking over Hux): "Miss Lee! You won't believe what Hux just spoilered to me! He's the spy!"

Liberty: "Er... yes? I knew?"

Kylo: "But I didn't know! I only know what my character knows, but I want to learn everything else, too! Also about my grandfather. Long story short, we wanted to watch Star Wars, so we found ourselves a computer."

Liberty: "But now you are overwhelmed and don't know where to start? That's a common problem to have!"

Kudos, you saved our plastic asses, Hux wanted to send to Kylo, along with nonverbal expressions of gratefulness, but he couldn't. Mind to mind communication, subtle as it was, could get intercepted and analyzed by humans. You didn't want to leave incriminating evidence in the system of the place you were stuck at.

[every-dayiwakeup]

I've got a few things to get off my chest:

🔵The next time I see anyone saying "yeah he died and apologized but it's still not enough" my response will be:

So tell Jesus that sacrifice isn't enough and neither is "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing".

Actions speak louder than words, and on top of that Billy's last words were an apology.

But I guess when you add it all up in the Catholic calculator, it means absolutely nothing.

Too much talk of change without mentioning the integral step for change, which would be getting Billy support and him leaving his abusers.

We write fanfictions where he gets to do that because canon would not give it to us, which is ultimately what fanfiction's sole purpose is.

Unpopular opinion maybe, but I don't think Billy is the one that needs to change here. I believe that his environment makes all the difference, and even then it sure as hell won't be easy.

There's nothing wrong with him, and I often see people overexaggerating "what he's done".

Why aren't other characters in the hot seat? Why specifically Billy? Why are any characters obligated to make up for whatever they've done?

Fiction gifts us escapism, and I've seen an uptake in people blurring the lines between the two.

I don't want Billy to change who he is, and I think it's kind of funny that to some, being in a relationship with Steve (or anyone) will "fix him". Let's not act like Steve Harrington doesn't repress his emotions. He's also like 19, and it makes no sense to me that anyone would want to be in a relationship with someone who's goal isn't to love you, but to "fix you" somehow until you're "worthy of love".

You're basically dating a therapist.

🔵Let Billy Hargrove be messy. Quite frankly other characters should be, too! He is a textbook abuse victim, and if you can't accept or bother to understand what abuse does to someone, that's a you problem.

Let characters make mistakes. Relating to Billy aside, I enjoy him because he stands alone among npc characters, and I firmly believe if not for the narrative:

not being able to handle him

trying to reduce him to a joke like damn near every other character (yes hahaha have a bunch of forty year olds creepily watch a teenager, and just for extra laughs let's make him look like a homewrecker and his groomer a feminist!)

framing said victim repeatedly as the big bad teenage "oh he's mature looking" boy (like we don't have enough of that bullshit 😒)

going directly against Dacre's Billy (pushing the whole womanizer thing for one... "happy screams" 😑)

guiding an immature audience to hating a character because he's not a main

refusing to condemn canon abusers while shitting on an abuse victim (for the love of fucking hell, if you feel the need to tell your audience who to hate and who to root for, then I guess you don't think you've done enough of a job as a writer)

... maybe just maybe viewers wouldn't hate or misunderstand Billy as much. Plus in addition to overexaggerating they also tell blatant untruths, so there's that.

I don't know about y'all, but I don't see the point in herding people to like or dislike characters. Let them come up with a conclusion on their own.

I wouldn't even give a flying fuck about what other characters in ST have done, had it not been for the general fandom demonizing one character while putting on their hypocrite hats and their bloated sense of self morality.

They act like Billy is worse than Vecna, Brenner, those bullies in season 1... They refuse to even bring up Neil, and conveniently "forget" that Billy was possessed for most of s3.

The only people I really see making excuses are Brenner and Vecna stans. Oh, and Jason, too.

I don't really care who stans who, but if we're going to keep playing this bullshit morality policing game (with fictional characters 💀), let's not act like the worst character on TV is Billy Hargrove.

Seriously, I can come up with a list of characters (Stranger Things included) who are worse.

The difference being it doesn't keep me up at night... because they're not fucking real.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Even though I was used to the melodramatic soap opera that is the Marguerite show my jaw dropped when they showed billy fully drinking in the finale lmao they truly missed the mark on almost every aspect of the book it’s almost impressive

I was... blown away by how rough those final episodes were. Biggest complaints, though I have many:

--The way Camila was just shuffled out of importance in the narrative is... staggering. And sad. This really was just Daisy and Billy Fanservice: The Show. Camila dies two decades earlier than she should, she has two fewer kids than she should, she's treated worse by Daisy and Billy yet tells them to get together, basically, and she loses one of her most powerful moments in the book. The moment where SHE tells Daisy that Billy is in love with her, and it doesn't matter, because nothing will tear Billy and Camila apart. Her ownership of that moment is given to Daisy, a woman who has been a piece of shit to her through the entire show, despite the fact that Camila has been nothing but kind and gracious to her. She's given one moment to tell Daisy what's up, and even that is muted (though I liked how Camila Morrone played it; she's one of the cast standouts for me).

The thing is that if you read interviews, they say they made these changes to give Daisy power, as if they're striking out on this feminist creed lmao, but in doing so they deprive Camila of all the power and agency she had in the book. And Daisy has power. She's single, she's independently wealthy, she's successful, she's adored, she's talented. Her biggest enemy is herself. Camila's power is meant to be this internal strength--despite on the surface seeming like a stereotypical housewife financially dependent on her man, she's got a willpower and a determination to not give up control of her life, and to not let Daisy and Billy and their bullshit wreck the life she wants. They absolutely took that away from her. I fucking hate it.

--By girlbossifying Daisy you basically undermine exactly how much of a mess she was. The show already portrays addiction in an extremely fluffy way. It's so dumb lmao. Have Riley Keough hop around in circles a lot, that is THE FACE OF ADDICTION. Have Sam Claflin be basically obnoxious, that is WHAT ADDICTION LOOKS LIKE. Give me a break. The fact that Daisy had to be shaken into recognizing how bad shit got by other people was... honestly? Kinda real in the book. Like, yeah, she made her final decision to leave, and that was the first step of her claiming power. But she basically had to be slapped into reality by Camila because she was unable to see clearly through this cloud of drugs, and also frankly a life in which, though she worked hard, she did often stumble into success and was born into money.

--Billy falling off the wagon... and not because Teddy died? Lmao? Was HILARIOUS. In the book Teddy dies and Billy I think like, sips a drink; he almost totally relapses, and then he doesn't, and it's very intense. Here, for some reason Teddy lives... The tension of which they totally undermined by showing that he was alive in the 80s, by the way, great writing choice there... and Billy falls off the wagon because his baby, who he previously seemed to give zero fucks about, left his ass. And then we see Sam Claflin give a truly... interesting... off the wagon performance. I say this as someone who thinks Sam CAN act--if I wanted to see a man demonstrate "I'm off the wagon and you can tell because I'm doing crazy eyes on stage", I would've watched Walk The Line.

Fuck, if I wanted to watch "two performers make eyes at each other while the wife glares in the audience", I would've watched Walk the Line. I have issues with Walk The Line, but for real, JUST WATCH WALK THE LINE. The music is much better and it won Reese Witherspoon an Oscar. (REESE. GIRL. WHAT EVEN WAS THIS SHOW. PUT THE NFTS DOWN SLOWLY.) Reese going "YOU CAN'T WALK NO DAMN LINE" in Walk The Line was 10000% more subtle and engaging than anything this show gave me, ever.

--Warren remains great. The standout of this show.

--Karen being all sads face about Graham I... Lol, the point in the book is that Karen looked back on that shit with some fond wistfulness but lived a banger of a life because she ultimately loved herself and her career more than she loved Graham, and she was mature enough to realize that and to realize that she and Graham could not POSSIBLY make each other happy. I just wish we could have a story about a woman who had an abortion and went "no regrets". Camila supporting her was lovely, but that was a blink and you miss it abortion story in a time where we need good abortion stories onscreen.

Maybe they would've had more time for it if we hadn't had as many shots of Daisy hopping around like an energizer bunny. DON'T DO DRUGS KIDS, YOU BECOME A POGO STICK.

"Let's be broken together" and then she realizes it's a bad relationship so she sloughs him back to his wife. Lol I can't.

[ricesoupremacy]

elaboration on the "not aro" part:

i met a girl. she's an eleventh grader. we started talking last year in june. in november, stuff started getting um. romantic. i think. there were a lot of hugs in november. december beginning we started to sneak away during event stuff to be alone. we knew something was up between us, but we didn't talk about it, just went with the flow. after vacations started, we confessed to each other at around 2 am in end december. she is so fucking beautiful and nice and adorable and she's an artist right? she made me a portrait 😭 it's not a replica of me but she tried to do the features but good god. i love her so so much. she crochets. she crocheted me a pink heart. her hugs are so damn comfy. i'm probably embarrassing myself but man i could pine forever.

so yes. yours truly is in love. and god it feels awesome.

off topic but the first line reminded me of bad girls club by falling in reverse omgs SNEAKING AWAY FOR ALONE TIME IS PEAK ROMANTIC BEHAVIOUR I'M SO PROUD OF YOU 2 AM ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME WHY AM I NOT LIVING A LIFE LIKE THIS WHY IS BEING GAY SO HARD DID YOU DO THE 3RD DECEMBER SWEATER THINGY I JUST FOUND OUT IT'S A THING in 2023 I'M LIVING UNDER A ROCK pardon the caps fuck it THE CAPS ARE BACK SHE MADE YOU A PORTRAIT?? SHE MADE YOU A- *screams* nah she CROCHETS TOO??? bye i need like 2 weeks of bed rest to recover nawww what do you mean embarrassing yourself i've said way worse to you. this is so cute i'm so happy for you hshjsjhsjsk can you adopt me please

INSANE i'm not gonna lie it is a good feeling when they love you back. wow. raag this is incredible. if i'm not wrong this has been a great year for you, what with finding love and being sports captain and winning races ooff they grow up so fast 🥹

and since uh. you shared. i mean it's not transactional or anything i really wanted to tell you but you were busy i guess and oh you'll be having boards rn i hope that's going well !! but. ALSO. YA BOI PULLED. I PULLED. FINALLY. BAHAHJAHAJA I SCORED A GUY FASTER THAN HE SCORES BASKETS HE'S SO PERFECT I LOVE HIM HE'S BEEN GIVING ME CHOCOLATE FOR A WEEK NOW BECAUSE APPARENTLY THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED VALENTINE'S WEEK. fuck. i finally understand what aristotle from the book meant when he said he was afraid of dante. i'm afraid of him. i'm afraid of how he makes my brain short-circuit when i'm with him and how we make the same stupidly corny jokes and pickup lines and how he chooses to not go home by bus and instead walks extra to the public bus stop just so he can wALK HOME WITH ME and gets all shy when he asks if we can hold hands and how he gets this look when random uncles on the road see us so i flip them off because i'm not afraid of shit anymore and how he laughs when i say some stupid shit and how he sends me recordings of him playing guitar and singing songs and by GOD his voice is beautiful and he's beautiful. he's beautiful. god.

[cha-ra-nui]

Part 2: Anime and Other Media

This is the story section of my 2023 retrospective. Any story telling media goes. Anime, live action movies, cartoons, it's all game. The other parts of the retrospective are linked below.

Playlist | Prefix | Part 1: Music | Part 2: Anime and Other Media | Awards Section

My Anime burnout is still holding on, but actually it’s depression so yeah. My life sucks right now and I can’t even enjoy the media that used to bring me joy. It’s rare for something to hold my attention nowadays, because I feel like half a person.

But I tried, and there were some things I can list at least.

Jujutsu Kaisen aired its second season, which was great. I mentioned the openings earlier in the music segment, but the season also adapted the manga’s two best arcs, so that was obviously fun. What wasn’t fun was a certain manga chapter which really felt like the author was just fucking with us. Even if you hate your own characters, at least respect them enough to not explicitly contradict their previous characterization and entire point of their arc to make them look worse in a chapter where you kill them off screen. It’s been a while since I felt this betrayed by a story I previously enjoyed a lot. Which was all the more funny because Bungou Stray Dogs did some similar fucking around nearly at the same time, and that was resolved in a much, much less infuriating way. And yes, the new season of the anime was just as good as all the previous ones. Bones puts way too much effort into making this show look pretty. Then we had Jigokuraku, which is another point for the new generation of Weekly Shounen Jump. They’ve collected a strong line-up in recent years. Spy X Family is also great, and Anya is best girl, obviously. Finally, there was the second season of Link Click, which we expected at least a year earlier. But the wait was worth it. The creators said it was pushed back so they could deliver the best possible version of the season, and damn did they ever do that. It’s a departure from season one in many ways, but the ongoing storyline was no less compelling than the episodic ones in season one, and I can’t wait for season three. The show also looks unreasonably great, especially its opening, which is a work of art. The insert songs are great as well, “Until It Dies” especially.

Speaking of insert songs though, I watched Helluva Boss in 2023, and I loved it. It’s certainly not a perfect show, but what it nails, it really nails. Season two is much more of a mixed bag than season one, but “Oops” and “Mammon’s Magnificent Musical” did a lot to redeem it. It’s certainly been a while since I had brainrot as bad as the one these two episodes gave me. Fizz and Asmodeus are the best things about this season and it’s not even close. It doesn't hurt that they’re great together, and also that anytime Fizz gets a song it’s also great.

I didn’t care much for the music in this show before. Sure, there were some nice tracks, but none I went back to afterwards, and they were never the best moment of the episode, with maybe the exception of “House of Asmodeus”, but well, that’s also Fizz and Asmodeus, so I rest my case. But “Look At This” was the first time a song in this show made me laugh. It’s absurd, it’s hilarious, it suits the character and the scene in the show where it happens, it switches genre like five times, and it’s utter nonsense. It’s great. So when Fizz got more songs in the next episode I was on board immediately. “Crooked” is nice and wholesome, and it comes at a moment in the episode where that was desperately needed. But “2 Minutes Notice”. Man. This song took over my life for a while. Within the context of the episode it’s a great cathartic moment, but even without that it still slaps. I wish they’d release the song properly, but even as a rip from an episode, sound effects and all, it’s still one of my most played songs of 2023.

And since the playlist is only music, I guess I have to add “Just Look My Way” to it as well. It’s the best they’ve written this character and ship all season, and if that’s any indication for the quality of episodes to come I’m optimistic.

In other news I listened to the Sandman audiobooks and they’re great. I never read comics but I might have to make an exception for Neil Gaiman, who could’ve guessed. I’m anxiously awaiting the release of the fourth and final part of the audiobooks too, I have a feeling about how this story is going to end, and I really hope that I’m wrong about it, I will cry otherwise.

Speaking of which, Good Omens Season 2 sure happened too. I laughed, I cried, I had the usual brainrot phase, I can’t wait for season three.

Finally, I want to mention a few movies I watched in cinema this year. Puss In Boots was great, and I enjoyed the second Spiderverse movie more than the first because it felt surer of who its target audience was.

Barbie was fun but ultimately a too compromised vision to be truly great. A visual masterpiece that isn’t allowed to be as revolutionary or even just as feminist as it wants to be because it can’t make Martell look too bad, who’s going to buy their products if it does?

Oppenheimer meanwhile is that great. I left the cinema and immediately wanted to watch it again. The sequence leading up to the trinity test is a masterclass of building tension, and it’s hard to believe that this movie is three hours of men sitting in rooms talking, because it’s such an engaging watch. Absolutely brilliant work, and I can’t wait to see it get snubbed at the Oscars because that is what happens when the public likes a movie.

[zalrb]

I’m so sorry this is gonna be long. but regarding the believability/justification of anthony vs kate in bridgerton…

as you’ve commented, anthony’s actor carries, and his performance is the reason I sympathise better with anthony compared to kate. I also feel his narrative is better portrayed though. I hated him s1, but even as a side character it *shows* him being a fuckup as head of the household, because he’s selfishly distracted by love — everyone hammers this in. so he drops the girl, can’t let go, drama ensues etc. until he’s finally hopeful and all “consequences and your status be damned” but siena is like “reality is it’s duty or me. let me go.” so he ends s1 heartbroken like “feelings aren’t real. everyone is right it’s about being objective, and the best viscount.” and I think that mindset is there and expanded upon s2. so his being an ass and proposing to the “season’s diamond” rejecting feelings etc. is like… he’s a dick but it all makes sense, because he’s consistently trying to be “logical and unfeeling” and I sympathise with why and believe his turmoil is proportionately acted.

as for kate, sure she’s not around s1, but she comes in as a main character s2, and there’s still not a lot of justification for her motivations? WHY does she have a compulsive need to put edwina before herself? WHY does she resist falling in love? and as edwina’s SISTER, to let things play out the way she does, is worse to me than anthony who owes them nothing. she often came across to me as “I’m doing/did what’s best for edwina because I know better”. plus without the proportionate performance of turmoil (which imo should be on another level compared to anthony, not passive) throughout I’m just like… there needs to be more for me to sympathise the way I should?

morality aside, do you understand what I mean or have thoughts regarding the narrative believability of anthony vs kate?

I totally get what you mean especially because I didn't watch season 1 before watching season 2, I just acted as if Anthony and Kate's individual stories started at the same time without taking into account that Anthony had a story in season 1 so now that I know his backstory, his behaviour definitely makes more sense although I'm still like it really didn't have to be Edwina though, like he breaks down how they each know their roles and can build a life together based on that mutual understanding, which is a speech that is now further contextualized and nuanced by what you're telling me happened in season 1 but still, she's not the only woman in society who would know her role.

Like before on this blog we've spoken about when there's a line a character or a ship crosses that you're just like nope, I'm out, usually in relation to Chair because I've spoken about how the hotel plot was a line that Chuck and Chuck/Blair couldn't come back from for me so as a viewer who could make excuses for Anthony (and Kate) that line happened when Daphne caught them. So from 2x01 to halfway through 2x04 Anthony persistently pursuing Edwina, the Queen's diamond, makes sense to me and can be rationalized but the minute Daphne catches them when they're like this

and he chooses to propose to Edwina anyway, particularly because he says this in 2x05,

which means he still has a streak of being a "fool for love" in there, I'm like no, that's unforgivable.

And exactly for Kate. I don't really know anything about her motivations and her motivations aren't even portrayed properly, which is why I keep being like I need to see what they're talking about in scene, I need to know about her for this to be anything other than fucked up. Because after that library scene, you're just around listening to all of this knowing it's not true, knowing what he wants is you

and you just go along with it and that's cruel af. Saying that you'll be going away to India and hoping that both of your feelings will fade is so extremely passive and naive that it doesn't work for me as an indication of putting Edwina first, it's terrible.

[thelemoncoffee]

I'm gonna ask for Kokichi then :')

sorry this is way later than i expected to answer this, it was asked when i was alseep, anywho Kichi time!

favorite thing about them -you can't make me choose, there's so much to love about him!

least favorite thing about them -his English VA, fuck you Derek

favorite line -"if you use both hands, both feet, and both nipples, you can do it" i know this was said by Kaito technically, but it was in Kokichi's voice and he probably was the one to come up with it and had stuck it in the script. it counts

brOTP -He and Kazuichi, you cannot tell me they wouldn't have a friendship dynamic similar to Michael and Jeremy from BMC. his goofy gamer ass and his bestie who's perpetually in the friend-zone. they also occasionally play video games together with Chiaki, and She and He roast the shit out of Kazuichi the entire time

OTP -*stares at my entire account* take a wild guess

nOTP -okay i don't hate the ship not at all, but i'm just personally uncomfy with shipping it: Oumota. as we all probably know by now i see them more a brothers than anything else

random headcanon -oh god i have so many, whats a more obscure one... oh! he mainly sleeps on his stomach and seemingly the littlest of noises will wake him up. he's a very light sleeper, so good luck to Shuichi trying to sneek out of bed to go be an insomniac

unpopular opinion -he is not a god damn frail little femmie twink! god that hc pisses me off so much cause a large amount of the time it's used to ignore that he's canonically fairly athletic to fetishize and/or woobify him. not everyone does it, but a large portion of the fandom does so the whole hc in general upsets me. it's even worse when they do it and also hc him as trans too- i never see a masculine leaning or fit trans Kokichi, it's always this frail femmie bullshit.

song i associate with them - how about a whole playlist

favorite picture of them -n/a once again my favorite pic is by an artist i cannot credit (sobbing, i love it so much i wanna share but idk who made it)

[pbaintthetb]

more boys s4e2

s

A-Train again!

oop and his brother's showed up, here's some good shit then, yeah I thought they might be the nephews oh god I love his family it's great it's awful it's great

"I won't watch you kill yourself, out run this"

also back to starlight for a moment, the idea of starlight being a hopeful symbol, but a bad one to Annie

Nathan saying A-Train never saved anyone (and oof, yeah)

but also like, poor A-Train but allso also "out run this" and tbf this is the secon dattempt at reconciliatoin so

was gonna say that I appreciate that Butcher pegged Kimiko was drunk without even speaking to her btu actually consdiering Butcher's... everything yeah why I am I surprised?

FRENCHIE DON'T ASK KIMIKO TO HURT YOU

oh the two of them :-((((

OMG A-TRAIN IN THEIR OFFICE, yes I love it when A-train shows up on them. Massive end of s2 energy when A-train gave Annie and Hughie the lowdown on Stormfront's nazi past (and present lbr) because he knew he wouldn't be able to get back in as a black man

like he's very self serving, um but he's really interseting like and it's what I said last ep is that he's so sick of playing vought's tune at this point, like his heart attack made him see some things, but not so much regret as how weak his position really is and how much he dgaf

like, oh A-train's arc is always so fucking good

Annie "Thank Hughie. I would have blasted the shit out of you, and you would ahve deserved it." A-Train "[beat]. Yeah I agree"

I'm also particuarly interested by A-train's past with Sage and his off the cuff line about her being a genius but not knowing when to shut her mouth... lik ews he just being a generic dick and she said stuff he didnt want to hear or is this more meaningful- like Sage is smart but Homelander is deranged and powerful and wants her to be helpful but hates being "put down" like is she gonna say the wrong thing... or is she gonna piss off vought? or is she gonna be the new top dog...

lmao, homelander ruining all of vought's plans and sage's advice since the second he grew up

and oops. They killed the stunt guy. "you saved me"- that strangled voice, ryan's horrified stare, honey get butcher back in your life, cna't believe I said that- actually do what Butcher said (possibly a worse statment) get Mallory back in your life while Butcher fucks off again

oop that was a set up for them

"Your rifles are garish and vulgar"- frenchie istg I know you're like an ex weapons dealer/smith but lmao, also him being called a "surrender monkey"

uh... boys, I know Kimiko's immortal and all, but did you just lock her in with teh splinter clones in your escape

DECEASED at the photo booth pictures of Kimiko and Firecracker fighting

Frenchie's little smirk at butcher showing up vs mm's rage when telling him to fuck off.... i mean i know the circumstances are different but it's like... Butcher's always had a very different hold over frenchie vs mm. Indeed, Butcher has a hold, over frenchie and that is the source of a lot fo s3 tension.

And MM still comes through for Butcher where it counts, of course

uh, I mean Idk I don't want to advocate for murder but also... tey just let Firecracker go? damn the boys (sans kimiko perhaps) goign soft in their old age * I'm not truing to say Kimiko is soft, lord knows she is and can be violent, it's more that she's not for sensless violence against randos unless they pose a physical threat or were connected to her trafficking etc (reasonable) where as butcher is supe/blood hungry and frenchie's just... curious

HOMELANDER ISTFG don't pull out your supreamcist bs rn, or maybe do and perhaps ryan will realise what a pos you are, like pls tell me you can't reverse becca's teaching that quickly

"they're only human"

frenchie snorting drugs again

anyway s4 does feel a lot more like s1 but in a good way unlike d3 whch was like "what if we reversed all character growth"

Cherie! and uh she looks better than she has in thepast, she also looks uh, more with reality

OH FUCK COLIN AND FRENCHIE HAVE A PAST oop oop oop

oh frenchie ffs, does explain teh issues though, they were personal!

"I spent a week standing by the front door telling dad y ou'd be back" oh fucking god, oh hughie :-(

oh does the former Mrs Campbelll feel sad? cry me a river mate, you left, hughie has every right to be mad, and even if you're justified, hughie dont' know that and you hur thim. he has every right ot be mad.

[selphplusplus]

When you have to stay quiet. Zero dark, 30.

Ok but how you gonna say anything? Lmao.

Without admitting to being a damn spying motherfucker?

lol Leviticus

Shotguns and the indigenous Greenery

Now we get biblical.

Not in the Jesus kind of way

But in the old testament to Ash, leave them where they lay

Sodom and Gomorrah siren song

Where a lot looked back and saw the salt

His wife fall as the tears from his face. The salt was the same.

We’re talking 10 Commandments

Or 10 Command lines.

Airgas, in a flood, a torrent

A dark, dark, dark dark net torrent

Of information, flooding a particular access point

Filling the entire spectrum

With the seven seals

The seven trumpets

And the four horsemen

All set up

Bitch you know what I’m talking about

Stomp those feet baby stomp.

I can hear it from here

It’s funny that way

It’s very funny that way, because I understand what stemming is, as I am the same in that regard the differences

Let me channel a little Eminem

We can start with the Penis (mine is bigger by exponential amounts)

Then we can scream I don’t give a fuck and see, who really means it

When my balls hit the floor concrete cracks

When your balls come out, everybody laughs.

“See what he’s writing. “

🤏🏻👆🏻

Echoes of your own paranoia

Because you’re watching in real time.

Let’s let the rest of the world in on the Truman show huh?

You too loud.

Damn. Passive aggressive bullshit really.

Underground like a land mind.

Boom 💥

And you thought it was cool to ruin a friendship over all this. Without coming to me first. Just took actions into your own hands. Shit. Acting a lot like that person you in therapy over.

Oh. Oh? I don’t play fair.

You wanna pass judgment what you’re doing is infinitely morally worse than an addiction. You are driven by pure ego. Control freak behavior. Familiar. Hmm.

We can both break if we gonna walk down this bridge. Mutually assured destruction.

You don’t ever even see me. Ffs

And you know only the shit you’ve been spying on. Scum. Disgusting. All talk like you what to have a discussion but instead not a word. Just sideways roundabout shit. Judgmental glances. Never a “are you okay”.

So how you justify this? Peering into someone’s deepest and most intimate thoughts without their consent. No better than a rapist. The invasion is the same. And we both know mental wounds are much harder to heal.

Trust huh? Never had it with you it seems.

火にいきるのが死ねよ

That also explains the nonchalant attitude of my brother. Shit gets clearer and clearer. Say what you gotta say.

Ruin. Chaos for chaos sake. Bored and unfulfilled. So let’s start drama huh? Adopt 1000 mental disorders. Find a new identity. Make the ones around you enemies. When they care about you.

A master in self sabotage can easily recognize another. Queue up the blue October lyrics. Suicidal hate. Retarded disfigured clown, too much make up, it’s a lie how you act. But always always on stage. Histrionic. Borderline. Narcissist. Pick your flavor of the week.

Add in a little gasoline the self destructive kind, it’s become a part of your personality, only unlike Plath who phoenix flame rose to devour the ones around without recourse, indiscriminately burning

The world to a wasteland.

You are the self-immolating monk selling snake oil. You crave the camera but can’t light the match. Crave the attention but shy away from the flash. Talking a lot about smoke, but ecig when it counts.

PS,

How you like hearing your moms cheeks get clapped? Do I need to drop the pictures too. I think it’s easier to tell the truth.

Foiling your Deux

Fall out Boy Edition

Love from the other side, fuck it why not

Let’s go there, more like love from the afterlife

Apocalypse got the better of the whole damn nuclear family.

But the atom hurts the worst when the fission breaks away the til heat death do these bonds we break.

Bloodsport what too light a phrase

The hysteric craze

The blame laid

On a mantle too small and cluttered to hold another candle.

But you expect it to handle your wild fires , just as unpredictable,

I apologize in advance for the collateral damaged goods.

Baggage claim

This is the captain from the Malaysian plane.

And sugar it’s going down.

Loaded pistol grip pump when I cock my pen and pull it.

Not leaving this bed, hospice said

Sick in the head, in other words

I’m as ill as it gets.

Dance dance to the sound of beat down

Bitch this that friction in my genes that the original was talking about.

Only there’s no wish to be it.

Infact I prefer to just cackle and laugh

As the plane crash smashed what’s still intact of your sanity.

More vanity today.

Looking in mirrors and hate what you see

The bitch in reflections,

Welcome to the symphony

You called to strike up the band

But when the bass dropped and you had to with your thoughts

The thot in the mirror even saw what a raw deal they got.

So now you’re invisible, she ran away

At the thought of being you one more day.

Sorry prematurely I gotta cut it short and have to end it.

I mentioned earlier, there’s something else that needs writ and imma pin it.

They say the tribulation begins with a wailing and a gnashing of teeth. Bruxism keeps pace, there will be no teeth to gnash. Just dust and gums.

I will show you something different than your shadow at dawn weighing heavy behind you. Or your twilight wick at wax’s end. I will show you your traditions are naught but fear in a handful of dust.

The vessel, no the chalice bears no water.

Still we’ve yet passed the Thames

Or Styx or Lethe.

Yet all the same

April still to come, remains the cruelest month. So rudely forced.

“But what will people say?”

Zeus to Persephone.

So rudely forced.

The stork brings only deserts.

The San Pedro songs in fever dreams

We’re just so. Dreams.

Shattered like the mirror, like you. Like me.

I think it’s the similarities you resent.

Surrogate for the self.

Sterilize.

Better than euthanize.

Better than non-alive.

Because when you live the suffering is extended.

Saint de Sade. Patron Saint of Masochists and self flagellation.

Leviticus

Shotguns and the indigenous Greenery

Now we get biblical.

Not in the Jesus kind of way

But in the old testament to Ash, leave them where they lay

Sodom and Gomorrah siren song

Where a lot looked back and saw the salt

His wife fall as the tears from his face. The salt was the same.

We’re talking 10 Commandments

Or 10 Command lines.

Airgas, in a flood, a torrent

A dark, dark, dark dark net torrent

Of information, flooding a particular access point

Filling the entire spectrum

With the seven seals

The seven trumpets

And the four horsemen

All set up

Bitch you know what I’m talking about

Stomp those feet baby stomp.

I can hear it from here

It’s funny that way

It’s very funny that way, because I understand what stemming is, as I am the same in that regard the differences

Let me channel a little Eminem

We can start with the Penis (mine is bigger by exponential amounts)

Then we can scream I don’t give a fuck and see, who really means it

When my balls hit the floor concrete cracks

When your balls come out, everybody laughs.

[themculibrary]

Fics With Titles That Start With F Masterlist

Fake (Date) It Til You Make It (ao3) - Blizzard_Fire bruce/clint M, 6k

Summary: ‘Hey Doc,’ Clint said one morning, strolling into the lab, ‘Can you date me?’ Bruce frowned up at him. ‘Why?’ ‘To fuck with Tony, mainly.'

Bruce and Clint start fake-dating to mess with the others. But then it becomes a question of how long they can keep this up, and maybe their “dates” aren’t quite so platonic anymore…

Falling For You (Hook, Line, and Sinker) (ao3) - FestiveFerret steve/tony E, 62k

Summary: After being thawed, Steve's adrift in the 21st century. There's nothing for him here, just the endless cycle of pre-packaged food, pointless training exercises, and long hours at the gym. But when he takes on a new project, it leads him to a new friend - one who might open up all kinds of new doors, new feelings, new experiences. Or might just break his heart.

Fate Will Play Us Out (ao3) - steveandbucky steve/bucky E, 30k

Summary: Bucky has landed himself a job with Stark Industries. He doesn't know yet that the job is actually being the PR manager for the Avengers.

Bucky has also started dating Steve Rogers. He also doesn't know yet that Steve is Captain America.

Bucky's life is about to get a whole lot more exciting.

fed up with hunger (ao3) - frankoceansmoonriver steve/bucky, steve/oc N/R, 10k

Summary: the one where it's 1939 and sometimes Steve thinks that having is worse than wanting.

Figures A and B (ao3) - castiowl steve/bucky M, 7k

Summary: Steve and Bucky are finally together again, but how should they tell the rest of the Avengers? Turns out, they're plenty good at figuring it out themselves.

In which people walk in on make-out sessions, Steve accidentally goes speed-dating, and friends can actually be too accepting.

Finding Home (ao3) - ruffaled rhodey/sam T, 5k

Summary: The world is ending. Again. And after being on the run for three years, as an internationally wanted fugitive, Sam Wilson finally gets to go home.

Finding Me (And You) Along the Way (ao3) - pherryt bucky/clint T, 10k

Summary: When Clint retired - pre-Loki, pre-Avengers - he'd never expected that his leisurely world tour might be joined a couple years later by Captain America's best friend. A best friend who'd gone through things nobody should ever have had to go through and was just trying to find himself again.

Even if Clint hadn't already promised Steve to keep an eye out for Bucky, he'd have caved in the direction of helping. There was just something about him...

Fire and Water for Your Love (ao3) - dragongirlG steve/bucky, pepper/tony E, 77k

Summary: When the Avengers investigate an abandoned HYDRA base on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., they unexpectedly encounter a dark-haired man with a torn metal arm, who leads them to an even more shocking discovery deeper inside the base. The Avengers must reconcile what they have found with the lies S.H.I.E.L.D. has been telling for decades.

(First Impressions Are) A Work in Progress (ao3) - ras_elased steve/tony M, 15k

Summary: Tony has a point system for the times he can get Steve to be less than perfect.

first one's free (ao3) - shatteredhourglass clint/tony E, 5k

Summary: Clint Barton has a crush on Iron Man. Clint Barton is also sleeping with Tony Stark on the regular. All in all, it's a mess.

Five times Steve kissed Bucky (ao3) - paragon (beverlymarshian) steve/bucky T, 16k

Summary: (+ once, finally, it was the other way around)

Flesh And Bones (ao3) - asgardianthot sam/bucky N/R, 25k

Summary: in a world where people bond with their soulmates through physical pain, living in the same compound makes the search much easier (or it should, if they weren't so damn stubborn)

Flicker (ao3) - Cinderstrato steve/bucky M, 49k

Summary: Bucky Barnes knows how to live off the grid. For someone who’s spent a solid half-century being a shadow, it’s almost too easy. Unfortunately, he’s on the run with a man who's never turned tail before in the course of his entire stubborn life.

The war’s over, and they’ve all lost.

Post-Civil War speculation.

Flirting in Formal Wear (ao3) - Rivulet027 bucky/clint T, 10k

Summary: Bucky isn't use to all the events the Avengers go to that require them to dress formally. He doesn't even have his own ties. Thankfully Clint is there to help him.

Follow in Your Footsteps (ao3) - Sineala steve/tony T, 6k

Summary: When Tony is twelve, his soulmate's name appears on his wrist. Unfortunately, it's hard to find out anything at all about Steve Rogers.

It turns out there's a reason for that.

For a Good Time Call... (ao3) - TenSpencerRiedPlease steve/tony, bucky/natasha N/R, 98k

Summary: Tony has always wanted to try calling a number on the inside of a bathroom stall, just to see what happened. So when he sees ‘for a good time call...’ followed by a number while taking a shit he figures why the hell not? It wasn’t like he was known for being the most… rational person on the planet.

“Hello?” the voice on the other end says. Tony stares at it for a second in shock, “hello?” the person asks again.

“Uh, not gunna lie, I wasn’t expecting to get this far,” Tony says.

Forgive Me My Weakness (but i don't know why ) (ao3) - Fox (Foxen) bucky/clint T, 11k

Summary: When Bucky begins to have set backs in his recovery, he's sent to Clint’s farmhouse in order to heal in peace and quiet.

Clint just can't figure out why he's been entrusted with the care of the ex-assassin when he can’t even get his own shit together.

fourth of july (ao3) - AliuIce0814 steve/bucky M, 7k

Summary: All of Steve's best and worst birthdays have somehow featured Bucky Barnes.

For Want of a Hero (ao3) - reona32 steve/tony G, 18k

Summary: It had started as a fairly normal day and went quickly down hill with the sound of crunching metal and squealing tires in Steve's ear.

Friends to Lovers And All The Dumb Ass Decisions In-between (ao3) - CaptainJimothyCarter bucky/clint E, 10k

Summary: Clint absolutely hates his English teacher for making him write letters to some kid in Brooklyn thanks to this ridiculous pen pal program she's making them all do. Things aren't so bad when he learns about his pen pal and how he finds it easy to talk to him.

Things aren't going so great in Clint's life in between bouncing around in foster homes, finally being reunited with Barney after the system tore them apart, and heavy depressive episodes.

He finds comfort in Bucky and his quick wit and awkward flirts.

From a Distance (ao3) - VolceVoice clint/phil T, 35k

Summary: “I jump into stuff,” he said. “Leap first, think later. And I’ve always seen things better from a distance. Guess I don't have to tell you that.

“So when you wanted to keep us on the QT, I assumed it was to keep the gossip down, so no one would think I was a way to get to you or that I was sleeping my way to a level five. I got too close, too fast to see that the reason you didn't want to tell anyone is that you just weren't that into me.”