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musical-shit-show · 10 months ago

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bad idea, right?

Pairing: Adam (Hazbin Hotel) x Sinner!Reader

Inspiration: Prompts #47 (“you’re so fucking hot when you’re mad.”) from Prompt List 1 and #34 (“hate is not the word. i loathe you.”) from Prompt List 3

Warnings: Spoilers for Season 1 of Hazbin Hotel, heavy cursing, homophobic language, Adam is just generally an asshole (duh), mentions of murder, depression (?), angst, digital stimulation, choking, general kinda rough smut (18+, minors DNI!!!)

Word Count: 1,657

Author’s Note: So ever since that Hazbin finale, I’ve loved the concept of Adam getting sent to Hell, mirroring how Sir Pentious was redeemed to Heaven. So, since it’s Hell, I figured this would make sense to have it be a little darker and more mature than my typical stuff. So yeah, minors DNI (for real, I don’t want to have to block anyone). If people like this, I might try my hand at other Hazbin characters if I feel so moved (or if anyone sends in a request). As always, check out my Masterlist, About Me page, and Prompt Lists if you do want to send in a request! Happy reading, you degenerates.

“Would you get your hands off me? I just stepped in the door, asshole.”

“Did anyone see you?”

The door slammed behind you, shaking the walls of the seedy motel room on the west side of Pentagram City. Needy hands were already roaming over your figure, and you groaned in frustration.

“No,” you hissed, shrugging away from Adam’s grasp, taking off your overcoat. It was raining heavily that night, so most of the denizens of Hell had confined themselves to the indoors for the evening. That is if they weren’t working the corner or trying to find their next fix.

“As if I want to be spotted here anyways,” you huffed, “I have a reputation to uphold too, ya know.”

“Reputation,” he repeated, his golden eyes glowering beneath the horned mask that he still insisted on wearing. He chuckled darkly, “If I was seen cavorting around with a fucking sinner, there would be zero chance of me getting back to where I rightfully belong.”

Adam couldn’t fathom how this happened to him. He was then first man, the first human, and wielded unimaginable angelic power beyond comprehension.

But he was taken out by a two-foot tall, one-eyed maid with a penchant for stabbing. It almost would’ve been badass if it didn’t result in his untimely demise.

Next thing he knew, he woke up hours later, his angelic form altered into a tacky red and black cloak and broken wings. He still maintained his gold pupils, a haunting reminder of his previous afterlife.

And now he was a fallen angel.

Fallen.

Fallen. All because of that clit-licker Charlie Morningstar and her merry band of misfits. Which, at the present moment, included you. You had decided to take up residence at the Hazbin Hotel, and it made his blood boil.

So why did he still feel so drawn to you?

“Newsflash, but you’re down here too, dickwad,” you spat, taking offense to his comment, “You fucked up big time going after Lucifer’s daughter, and you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.”

Before you could launch into a tirade, Adam grabbed you firmly, pulling you flush against him, “Ya know,” he purred, “You’re so fucking hot when you’re mad.”

“Pig.”

“Talking back will only make you pay for it later, dollface,” he growled, his dick twitching under his robe as he eyed you hungrily, “And if you didn’t like it, why do you keep coming back for more, hmm?”

You glared at him. The truth was, you didn’t know. He was the antithesis of everything you were trying to work toward; ever since the Princess of Hell had let you seek refuge in her hotel, you felt like you actually could be on the path to redemption.

That is, before you had a chance encounter with a fallen angel—and not just any fallen angel, but Earth’s first man—who also happened to be a massive shithead. You almost felt bad about lying to Charlie and the rest of the crew, but there was something about Adam that made it impossible for you to stay away.

You felt your insides twist as Adam spun you around so your ass was pressed against him, his form much larger and intimidating than your own. You let out a groan as his fingers weaved through your hair, giving it a slight tug as he pulled it back to expose your neck.

He nipped at the sensitive skin by your collarbone, while his other hand deftly palmed around the front of your skirt until it was hiked up to expose your panties. You should’ve been disgusted by the thought of him—and oftentimes, you were—but that didn’t stop your body from tingling with arousal.

He could sense it, the anger radiating off of you. It only turned him on more. These days, he only felt this kind of thrill when he was taunting you, teasing you until you came undone around him.

It was almost as good as when he would come down for his yearly visit, slaughtering sinners with his faithful lieutenant by his side.

Almost.

“Can’t hate me that much when you’re wet as fuck for me, huh hot stuff?” he said, his voice low in your ear. His grip tightened, the discomfort of his clawed fingers becoming almost unbearable.

“Hate is not the word,” you muttered, venom laced in your words, “I loathe you. I should do all of Hell a favor and kill you for good.”

You both knew your threats were empty. Having been an angel, Adam possessed more power than half the overlords of Hell. There was nothing special about you. If he wanted, he could snap you like a twig.

But despite his best efforts, Adam was incredibly lonely. Despondent, even. He didn’t know who he was without his legion of exterminators and Lute.

He had no plan to take over even a measly quadrant of Pentagram City, because he was struggling with the point of it all. Most overlords were now armed to the teeth with angelic weapons, which meant one more stab to the back and he was done for good.

Maybe an end to this misery would be good, but he so desperately wanted to claw his way back to Heaven that it wasn’t a risk he was currently willing to take.

He felt like a pathetic coward. But at least he had you to torment. At least when he was with you, he could stifle the cacophony of melancholia in his head. For a little while, anyways.

“Ugh, I love it when you talk dirty,” he mused, unphased by your aggression as he removed your shirt, exposing your breasts. His fingers moved your clit as he stroked you through your underwear, making you flinch, “Face it, toots. You might not be as fucked up as I am, but you have to admit this is adds just the right amount of spice to your miserable fucking existence.”

“If you’re gonna monologue all night about me being demon scum, I can go,” you shot back, glancing back at him with an annoyed look splashed across your face. “Besides, I told you last time, I’m not fucking you if you keep that stupid mask on.”

The digital façade he wore fell into a scowl, but Adam caved almost immediately and tossed the mask aside, revealing his tousled brown hair and piercing eyes. A five o’clock shadow adorned his face, and you’d almost consider him handsome if you knew nothing about his personality.

He pushed you onto the bed, his fingers threading to grip your hair again, making your back arch. Your comfort was the last thing on Adam’s mind. A part of him actually liked that you fought back against him; being challenged made fucking you even more interesting.

You could feel how hard he was against your ass, and the pit in your stomach started to tense as you felt his cock rub against your folds, your panties now hanging pathetically from your ankles after he ripped them away from your waist.

Satan forbid he actually take off that stupid outfit of his; he had no problem disrobing you, but you didn’t have time to protest. With a sudden thrust, he sheathed himself into you, making you moan involuntarily.

You could almost hear the smirk coming from behind you as Adam began to pound into you almost immediately, his pace steady and rough. “You’re gonna take it like a good little slut, aren’t you?” he mocked, not letting on how perfect you felt around him, “You know there isn’t demon dick in all of Hell that’s as good as the original.”

How this guy got into Heaven in the first place, you’d never know. “Wouldn’t be too sure of that,” you needled as he pulled you to him again, his strokes getting deeper and making your abdomen tighten, “I’ve heard Lucifer is amazing in bed.”

You knew this would set him off; any time you invoked Lucifer’s name, you knew you were playing with fire.

Adam growled in your ear, his temper flaring. His rhythm quickened, becoming more frantic and desperate. You felt your eyes starting to water as he slammed into you, causing your pussy to throb around him.

Before you could utter another insult, you felt his hand finally loosen its grip on your hair and rest on your throat, squeezing the sides of your neck as he continued fucking you from behind.

He wasn’t going to forget that comment, but he could bitch about Lucifer later; he had more pressing matters at hand.

“Doesn’t matter, babe,” he said, his breathing starting to get ragged as he inched closer to coming inside you, “Your cunt is mine.” Adam might’ve been a sadistic asshole, but he was no idiot; he knew you were just as wretched and alone as he was.

You had to be if you were willingly sneaking around with God’s former favorite on a regular basis.

Which suited him just fine. If he was really damned, he might as well fill his time filling someone else.

His grasp tightened around your throat, and you felt your climax building inside you as he rutted against you at a now punishing speed. “Fuck you,” you squeaked out, trying to sound intimidating, but it was hopeless.

You unraveled around him a few moments later, spasming as you gasped for air, the constriction around your throat deliciously agonizing. Adam spilled into you soon after, a low hum of pleasure emitting from him. Him coming inside you was the most intimate he’d get as far your hookups were concerned.

Feeling equal parts disgusted and satisfied, you pulled your underwear back on, resting on your elbows and finally able to look him into the eye again. Even in the lusty post-sex haze, you could feel the sadness in his stare.

“So,” he drawled, leaning down to close the gap between you, “Same time next week?”

~~~~~

thanks for reading, depraved sinner! as always, please like/comment/reblog if you enjoyed! <3

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batsplat · 5 months ago

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your top 5 fave motogp races? or alternatively what races you’d show to a newbie to get them into the sport or smth

one of those things where it's painful to pick five, but at least this ask gives me the chance to hedge my bets and pick five different races for each category (most of these races will be featured in the recs lists; 27, 4+93, 46)

laguna '08: works wonders to bring both that season and the rivalry alive. delightfully visceral and vicious, there's few duels that tell you quite so much about both participants. I have lap-by-lap notes for this race. I have points tables assessing how much of a turning point it was in the season. I have read the bit in casey's autobiography about this race about a million times. how their expectations going in influenced the dynamics of the race, how the slower man won the race, what valentino was attempting to do to casey, casey's response... I could quite literally talk about this race forever

phillip island '17: idk I don't think this is objectively 'better' than the other two infamous dogfights of that era (pi '15; assen '18), but sometimes you just notice which one has the most rewatch value for you... I really like races where risk/reward calculation is a big deal, where at least one of the riders is having to actively judge how much they're willing to do to win... with the hard style of racing in this one, those calculations feel particularly present. phillip island is in such a perfect calendar spot for generating maximum drama

misano '17: maybe the quirkiest pick. marc is too good and too successful for me to ever really have been 'stressed' watching him in his prime, but bloody hell did he run me close here. something so satisfying about being so adept in wet/mixed conditions... love the spite element of this race, love the risk/reward calculations, how marc just needs to go for it in the very final lap, his dogged determination... a race where he doesn't have a massive margin over the field but just wants it so so badly that he goes for it. he's making a statement, bouncing back from a low point in the season, super compelling stuff

mugello '04: just love races that are kinda a mess! lots of twists and turns... bunch of riders fighting it out, the sete duel, the rain interruption, bunch of riders fighting it out but now on a way more slippery track... I don't know, there's just something charming about a race that has a bit of everything! of course it's also part of my beloved 2004 season, from which I could have easily included five different races (and if you're ever looking for a full season to watch, 2004 2006 and 2017 are the holy trinity - mix of title fight drama and banger races)

okay listen I'm gonna cheat here because I wrote out the word 'catalunya' and then had a crisis staring at this post. '07 I need to include because it's my favourite casey win and it's how he establishes himself as an all-round threat and is so important in the overall context of the valentino rivalry, but '09 is like... right up there with laguna as season lynchpin races and also somehow jorge has been left out from these picks... I love big momentum-switchers I love races that have so much meaning in the context of a rivalry AND season. I also love how they're connected! that valentino did the same move on casey (just not on the final lap) and had basically already rehearsed his coup de grâce two years in advance, before visualising it the week before the race... casey joking about it in the catalunya '09 presser, jorge knowing he kinda should have seen it coming, casey kinda ragging on jorge for not having seen it coming... idk!! I like this little legacy they built there together

for newbies

phillip island '23: you need to include something a little more current to give new fans a reason to watch now... phillip island races are reliably great - this one introduces you to two of the major protagonists of the current game in a way that kind tells you a lot about both of them, gives you a demonstration of one of the best types of races (the multi-rider dogfight), and it also is the most brute force way imaginable of explaining how tyres work in motogp. pedagogically pleasing! it's the kind of race new viewers will be able to enjoy in the moment, but have a lot of questions about afterwards - the sweet spot

assen '15: easily makes my top five rewatched races too, but I put it under the newbie header because again... tells you a lot! it's very likely this hypothetical newbie will have at least have SOME knowledge of who the two protagonists are and know they've fallen out, though I suppose it'd be funny to go in completely blind. obviously a great duel and a very nice introduction to the two big names plus their respective riding styles... what you really want is some late drama and a controversial finish that you can immediately have a hot take about

donington '05: we need a full wet race, not just mixed but wet wet... this one's got one hell of an attrition rate but also proper tussling between the different riders, rather than everyone just riding out on their own. it really gives you a feeling for how these kinds of races work... lot of riders wobbling around, saving near-falls, trying to get a sense of how much they can risk, riding behind each other to have somebody else test out their conditions... plus, the valentino performance kinda slaps

austria '17: got to be a marc/dovi duel in here, and this one has the clear edge not as much for the race itself but a) the novelty at the time, and b) the significance in the title fight. in dovi you've got somebody who is emerging as a threat and is providing a new flavour of challenge.... there's also that fun tension between how marc logically very much should just be happy to be there as a result of what a ducati circuit it is and he's simply supposed to be limiting the points damage... but he also really, really wants to win... actually either this or motegi 2017, almost want to change my pick. one of those two!!

brno '03: sneaking in an old race as a gateway drug, and I think this one is quite 'accessible' to the uninitiated. I considered other ones like phillip island '01 (valentino's first premier class matchpoint race, classic dogfight) or welkom '04 (first yamaha race and one of the duels) - but I think you don't need much context to get absorbed in this one. the race commentary already gives you the most important information... valentino's struggles that season, the criticisms he was facing from the italian press, how badly he wanted to win, the haircut, all of it... and then you get to see the post-race prisoner's celebrations, a flavour of the proper classic camp dramatics

slightly silly number of honourable mentions, each of which I was extremely tempted to include: motegi '10, jerez 2005, misano '19, laguna '11, jerez '10, assen '04, catalunya '04 '05 '16, mugello '05 '06, sachsenring '06, assen '04, phillip island '04, le mans 2005, qatar 2005, suzuka '01, thailand '19, austria '19, qatar '18, silverstone '19, sachsenring '10, qatar '15, mugello '16, sepang '10, assen '07 (and ones I did already kinda mention above: phillip island '15, assen '18, phillip island '01, welkom '04, motegi '17)

#race rec tag #almost died making this. if i made this tomorrow they'd be completely different races #motogp #//#brr brr #batsplat responds #is phillip island 2017 actually that good or do races get rewarded in my mind if I wake up early and they make it worth it #best lil sequences of races are '19 [austria silverstone misano] '04 [mugello catalunya assen] '17 [motegi phillip island sepang]#'04 [qatar sepang phillip island] and 2015... y'know #that's what it's all about... little runs of back to back fun races that are also narratively compelling

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raisin-shell · 8 months ago

Note

I think I’ve spent most of my night going through your blog, I love your writing so much! Do you think you could do kind of like a kink list for the boys on what they’re into overall? Either that or maybe something like what qualities they seek in an SO/if they have a type etc. Whichever you feel would be more interesting! Thank you :) ❤️

Oh my gosh that’s so incredibly sweet to tell me! I was opposed to masterlists for a while but I made one so it’s easier to find my stuff. And AND there will be more to come. Thank you love! This made my day. 🥰🥰🥰 Now then let’s get kinky! And this is LONG OMG I’m so sorry for everyone’s feeds! 😂 my boys are all pan too so, it should get interesting!

Leonardo

Boy blue loves his bondage. Not BDSM in general, but restraint as an art form. He practices kinbaku or shibari. He likes restraint so he can sexually tease his partner

Speaking of tease… nothing turns him on more than you flashing a little more skin or tracing your toes up his inner thigh beneath the dinner table then pulling away and paying him no mind

Tease and denial. Once you’ve caught his attention he will get even by the end of the night. Even if that means you can feel the heat from his breath against your soft petals yet he refrains from taking a taste

Male dominance. With a female he is the dominant one. With a male he’s not

Orgasm denial. Nothing gives him a bigger head than when he fucks your body into the abyss only to rip your orgasm from you just as you’re about to combust

Collaring. Should you present him with one ohhhh buddy. Hell chain you and pull back causing your neck to crane from behind

Wax play. Listen the man loves his candles. Dripping the heated wax on your bare lower back will have him soaring

His favorite fabric for you to wear is satin or silk

He loves anal, giving or receiving

Will not turn down a threesome as long as it’s your idea and you’re okay with it

His favorite position is any position which places you face to face with him

Raphael

Spanking and whipping. Nothing and I mean nothing gets his gears going better than seeing your ass ripple from a his firm slap

Rimming. This man lives to eat your ass and doesn’t mind his own eaten either

He will allow you to peg him (females) and prefers to be a top when with a male but will lower his inhibitions should it be the right person… he’ll receive anal

Oral sex and deep throating. Raph loves to part your petals with his tongue. He also enjoys taking a males cock down his throat just so he can prove that he is a soul snatcher

This is a man who likes his prostate milked or massaged and will do so for his partner as well

Loves cream pies. He has so much cum you’ll be drizzled with it

Prefers to go bareback. Let’s face it what condom on this green earth would fit him

Loves double penetration. His thick rod can feel the other object inserted inside of you

Squirting. Like I said prior… he’s a soul snatcher and nothing makes his cock harder than watching you spirt up his arm

It’s a no brainer that Raphael loves a good strip tease. His favorite material is leather or metal

Will squeeze your neck while fucking you silly sending you flying over the handle… quietly to

Favorite position is doggystyle. He likes to watch your ass bouncing against him

Donatello

Hide your sister, your momma, her sister and your grandma… this guy is a MASSIVE FREAK

Bondage. This man will strap you to a table by your wrists and ankles. He’ll sexually torture your nipples, clit or head and testicles

Slave training. Only when intimate does this normally mellow fellow need a touch of masochism. When with a male he’s a bottom therefore making him the sex slave

Spanking and whipping. He’ll tan those cheeks good and red then softly kiss the tender flesh sending your senses overboard

Anal, pegging, rimming, prostate massage and milking. Donnie knows that his back door is there for a reason and it’s not just to well you know

Electro sex, temperature play, wax play. Not only does he get off to your bodies reaction to stimuli, but he will jot it down in his notes

He also likes douching and enemas only if you’re comfortable. He likes to watch your abdomen fill with fluid and also he likes to work with a clean slate if you know what I mean

Squirting. THIS IS THIS MANS MIDDLE NAME. YOU MAY LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS

Donnie also likes snowblowing. If you don’t know what that is, google it

Oral sex and deepthroating. Donnie is a master at oral with his deep long neck and an equally long tongue. He can give head like a champ. However he tends to be a bit shy about you doing this too him. His length is nothing easy to swallow

His favorite materials for you to wear are latex, nylon or spandex

Has invented his own sex toys and several for you too

His favorite position is spooning from behind. With a male he would do a reach around

Mikey

Food play. Hide the syrup and the whip cream because baby boy is HUNGRY

Forced orgasm. Nothing turns him on more than to know he is in full control of your pleasure… and there’s nothing you can do about it

Spanking, paddling. Mikey won’t chap your ass but he does love the way it jiggles when he paddles you

Cream pies. This man will not only watch but want to taste. You’ll be cooing in a goopy mess in no time

Loves to go bareback because of how it feels. Not a fan of latex

Loves to give you money shots. His cum on your face is gold to him

Be prepared for lots of tickling, nipple play and clit or head play all whilst being restrained with fluffy handcuffs

Will masturbate in front of you or want you to do it so he can watch

Mikey likes strip teases in playful lingerie

His favorite materials for you to wear is metal or fur

Tentacle sex. He’s got several dildos with tons of lube waiting for you. He likes to watch the slippery appendage disappear into your cavity

Is not opposed to group sex especially if it’s with his brothers

Loves having sex in public. The risk of getting caught is just too thrilling to him.

His favorite position is woman on top. Doggystyle top for males.

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt bayverse #tmnt #tmnt raphael #tmnt leonardo #bayverse #tmnt 2016 #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #answered asks #tmnt kinks

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the-90s-music-colosseum · 1 year ago

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Round 4 Match 4

propaganda below the cut! (massive wall of text warning)

Miki Berenyi:

"shes the most beautiful woman i have ever seen. her hair is amazing and she's just gorgeous idk what else to say or how to fathom her beauty"

"I met miki berenyi a few weeks ago and shes the coolest and nicest person I've ever met so down to earth and nice and lovely which imo makes her incredibly hot"

"Founding mother of Shoegaze"

"I want to hold miki so tenderly and tell her jokes that make her laugh like we’re childhood friends and have a sleepover where we do each others makeup and then fuck so nasty the neighbors get alarmed and debate with each other whether or not to call the cops"

Brian Molko:

"Gender"

"IM GOING TO EAT HER. He is soooo beautiful and freakish and small and weird and girlfriend and tiny like a little princess bug fairy. Literally gorgeous she has to win"

"When he flipped over the table with the little limp wrist.... someone find the video"

"1998 woman of the year"

"Brian Molko is peak gender envy, gender bending and being yourself without caring about other people's opinion, on top of all that he is a great guitarist that writes amazing songs"

"Brian’s gonna win this. I think we all kinda know that."

"Tumblrinas would be nothing without Brian molko"

"Kills her kills her kills her kills her kills her kills him kills her. He's my everything <3"

"He came 10th in the list of hottest women sometimes in the 90s. Gender goals."

"No one in the world can sound so nasal and look so angelic....."

"don't you wish you had his gender"

"Single-handedly took my gender by the scruff of the neck and threw it in a washing machine at full speed. He talked about not expecting to "get away with" passing as a woman to the degree that he did when he started purposely presenting feminine. He talked about the importance to fuck with people's heads through his appearance and behaviour, the importance of ambiguity. About how being in the band allowed him to do stuff he couldn't have done otherwise, to exaggerate some of his traits. He had the fuck ass bob makeup nail polish dresses stuff down, but not in an overly sophisticated way, especially in the early career 90s days the vibe was more shabby punk rock chick. Also he fantasized about being in an all-girl band called Skirt and playing guitar and singing backing vocals in drag. According to a 1997 melody maker interview bandmate steve hewitt called him "the most confused woman he's ever known". And if you go down that rabbit hole there's just more of this. Lots of material to focus on if you like genderweird bisexual unclean libertines (song ref) who will just say Anything in interviews. It's fun."

"I've drawn him as saints and martyrs such as saint sebastian and joan of arc. Or all bloody lying in a wet alley after being thrown out of a club. Or unconscious on a snowy road. Or dying in a glue trap. Or shocked after seeing a dead body. Also as a nun and as rose mcgowan in the doom generation. This is because I'm normal."

"She's a sick little angel faced freak. My theythem girlboy queen. He reminds me of an ant. He's like 5 foot 4 or something. My goth girl boyfriend. <3"

#most attractive 90s musician #poll #polls #90s music #tournament #miki berenyi #lush #brian molko #placebo

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uboat53 · 18 days ago

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Here we go, in no particular order, here are some of my thoughts on what we'll see in the next year or two based on the election results:

THE ECONOMY

Unless something pretty serious happens, it's very likely that Trump will make good on his promise of massive tariffs on all American imports. Given that we import a lot of stuff from the rest of the world (check any manufactured item in your house, I'll bet it doesn't say "made in America"), that means prices will likely increase substantially. The predictable result of that is probably a pullback of consumer spending and a recession. If we're really unlucky, we'll have inflation and a recession at the same time, the dreaded "stagflation".

More broadly, it's likely that the only thing Republicans will do economically in terms of legislation is pass a massive, deficit financed tax cut for the rich. Again. Honestly, this is an easy one to guess because it's what they do every time they have power. It's direct effect will probably be minimal (though any effect is likely to be inflationary) although it remains an open question how long the US can run up the credit card without any major economic consequences.

We're also likely to see a wave of deregulation. Expect the new administration to try to roll back all of the consumer protections that Biden has put in place, end the lawsuits against big corporations that are exploiting their market power, and generally tilt the playing field back in favor of big corporations and wealthy people.

Oh yes, and let's talk about the immigration thing here. Trump is promising to deport millions of illegal immigrants (by current estimates there are about 11 million of them). And, look, I'm not a professional economist, but I think it's reasonably easy to guess what happens when you remove millions of people of working age from the labor pool. Again, this is likely to be inflationary (less workers available, so pay and, thus, costs, go up) and recessionary (fewer consumers buying things) at the same time.

PUBLIC HEALTH

With a knowledgeable public health expert like RFK Jr. leading the government's public health efforts, what could possibly go wr… sorry, couldn't finish that with a straight face. Yeah, Trump's gone off the deep end public health-wise ever since the public health people kept pointing out how badly he was screwing up his last major public health emergency, so now he's only listening to quacks and nut jobs.

The odds are pretty good that vaccines are on the target list and the administration will reduce or eliminate programs that encourage them. It's a good bet that, in the next decade or so, we'll see a resurgence of diseases like measles and polio that we thought we'd eradicated. Of course, if we get another pandemic like Covid, I'd bet on a high body count and massive economic impact as well.

We're also likely to see more and more women dying due to pregnancy-related complications. Biden was pushing hard to enforce a federal law that requires hospitals to save women's lives, but it's doubtful that Trump will keep doing that. He'll also likely not enforce any other protections and allow even stronger crackdowns on abortion in states that are eager to do so.

MINORITIES

If you're not a straight, white, cisgender, Christian man, things are likely to get a lot worse for you over the next four years. Look for the administration to take every opportunity to attack gay and trans people and to promote Christianity over other beliefs. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is also likely to be neutered, as it has been under every Republican administration since at least Reagan, so many states will happily violate the rights of racial minorities without any federal pushback. The same is true of laws and regulations that protect women.

Beyond the official, though, we also have to face the societal effects of another Trump Presidency. Despite the loud protestations of his supporters, Trump is beloved among the racist far-right, and for good reason. His administration borrowed heavily from their ideas and their language and even used their personnel and there's no reason to expect a second term to be any different. There is a reason that right-wing terror surged in our country in Trump's first term and it'll probably do the same now.

Expect more shootings of black and brown people and more attacks on Jews and Jewish places of worship. The racists believe the President is on their side and he's given them no reason to think otherwise.

THE NEXT ELECTION

All right, I'm going out on a limb here and this is my longest range projection, but it's a fairly reasonable bet that Democrats will take/retake the House of Representatives in 2026. I can confidently predict this because the party that controls the presidency has lost House seats in nearly every election since the Great Depression. Based on current results (which may change as western states count more votes), the Republicans will have a 4 vote margin in the House and the average midterm loss is 27 seats. Heck, they lost 47 seats in 2018 the last time Trump was in office. Even the Democrats who had a good year in 2022 still lost 10 seats. Seems like a pretty good bet.

As for the Senate, that's a bit harder to predict. At the moment, Republicans will have anywhere from 52 to 54 seats when all the votes are counted from this election. Based on the 2020 Senate elections map (that's the class of Senators that will be up for re-election in 2026), I'd count anywhere from 2-4 seats that the Democrats might be able to flip, the rest are probably safe. So is it possible that Democrats could retake the Senate in '26? Absolutely. Is it likely? Good question. Ask me in a year or so.

CONCLUSION

It's likely that life in America is going to get worse over the next year or two, how much worse depends a lot on how we react. At best, we'll likely face further inflation (every economic policy Trump has voiced support for is inflationary), increased sickness and disease, and increased attacks on the lives and well-beings of anyone who isn't a straight, white, cisgender, Christian man. At worst, well, all of those things but much more intense.

If we're fortunate, Democrats will take the House and serve as a much-needed check on the worst impulses of President-elect Trump. If not, at least the next election will likely do it, though a good deal of damage will be done between now and then.

#politics #us politics

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kaz-oooo · 9 months ago

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I’ve already done music recommendations so, you can check out these posts (playlists and list of artists) if you’re looking for that specifically. But Wilbur made a lot of content over the years and idk, i figured I’d make a a list of recommendations for similar content to fill that void as well :)

Minecraft SMP’s (specifically DSMP)

The same SMP’s but other POV’s — I’ll just start with this cos it’s the most iffy. There’s plenty of enjoyment to be had with these fandoms still, and I personally don’t think we need to let the actions of a couple shitty guys ruin the silly Minecraft roleplay we all enjoy. That said, if you aren’t comfy watching these anymore that’s perfectly valid as well, especially since Wilbur’s character will be lurking around in the background of plenty of these. But yeah, we can also uplift other creators by watching the fun stories they made, especially those who got buried by bigger creators at the time. So Dream SMP, QSMP, Origins SMP, SMP earth, SMPlive all have content you can enjoy.

Different, completely unrelated SMP’s — hermitcraft, the life series, empires SMP (shubble was involved in this one, I’m planning on watching her POV when I find some time) etc. I’ve had plenty of people recommend these to me before, from what I’ve seen they’re very enjoyable :)

Hamilton — not even joking, if you enjoyed the L’manberg era of DSMP and you didn’t watch Hamilton, I’d heartily recommend it. Great music, lots of politics but all in a fun and silly way, also tragic endings!

Editor Wilbur ARG (I’m a massive ARG fan so I have tonnes of recommendations here)

Generation Loss — Ranboo’s very awesome Horror project that they’ve been working very hard on!!! Ranboo’s been teasing new content lately as well so that’s exciting

Analog horror series — Local 58, Gemini Home Entertainment, Mandela Catalog, Kane Pixel’s Backrooms videos, etc. All very good and spooky videos, definetely an inspiration for Gen Loss, and I know Wilbur enjoyed this content as well (though the editor Wilbur arg predates a lot of this genre) those are some of the biggest on YouTube atm, and some of my personal favourites, but there’s plenty more to find (I recommend channels like Nightmind and Nexpo who do analysis videos for all this horror and ARG stuff if you wanna find more)

Marble Hornets — gets its own category! One of the original analog horror genres (predated the genre actually) it’s basically one of the biggest and most comprehensive Slenderman series out there. There’s a LOT of content here and lots of lore and mystery (though a lot of the game clues have been lost to time) (Jack Manifold also reacted to this on stream, it was very chill and good fun)

Horror podcasts — Magnus Archives and Magnus Protocol, Malevolent and Archive 81 are some of my favourites, but there’s plenty more out there to find and enjoy :). Also very spooky with lots of mystery to involved, the Magnus Protocol is very new as well so great time to get into that!

Just Chatting / Geoguessr / other chill content

Geoguessr streamers / YouTubers — honestly I genuinely didn’t watch much geoguessr content outside of Wilbur’s streams so, I don’t have many recommendations here. I know Eret has been doing geoguessr streams lately and their content is very good and chill. Jacksuckatlife plays as well and last I watched he was fairly good at it (like similar skill level to Wilbur), otherwise Rainbolt is a geoguessr legend, he terrifies me a little ngl.

Other streamers — I think the thing with the just chatting streams is that we watch for *that specific streamer’s* personality. It’s hard to really make recommendations other than just saying go watch more of the streamers you enjoy. Personally I enjoy Phil’s hardcore streams, and Sneegsnag’s Crime Time the most, but there’s plenty of other people both in this MCYT space and outside of it that you’ll probably enjoy :)

Sorry boys (unlike horror I don’t watch much comedy so, sorry, this’ll be lacking)

Just Roll With It — Charlie Slimecicle’s DND podcast. I’ve only listened to a little bit of this but it’s really good and REALLY silly (oh, and emotional sometimes, gotta have a bit of angst y’know) Wilbur was a guest on a couple of episodes, but you can always skip past those if you want.

Tommy’s videos — so Wilbur features in a lot of the early vlogs and *minecraft but* videos, but Tommy’s content has always been good fun, his recent stuff is excellent as well! He’s been doing a lot of comedy content lately, specifically a live show so definitely check that out if you want :)

Smosh pit — not something I’ve watched a lot of, but I’ve seen clips of their try not to laugh videos and they’re definitely on par with the bat shit improv you get from Sorry Boys.

Game changer — again, not something I’ve watched much, mostly consumed through osmosis, but the show is funny, the cast is always silly and it’s a lot of fun all round

Whatever else Sorry Boys make after this — judging by some of the responses to Wilbur’s “statement” I think it’s fair to assume if Sorry Boys do continue making content Wilbur will be cut from the group. Of course don’t feel obligated to stick around if you don’t want to, but Wilbur won’t be compensated if he’s kicked and the rest of the guys are still fun :)

YLYL and similar goofy stuff

Just… other streamers again — Jack Manifold does YLYL streams with his friends. James Marriott does a lot of reaction videos as well, sometimes YLYL, sometimes reacting to content his viewers send in (like TikTok’s and break up texts), those are my favourites atm.

YouTubers — that niche between video essay and reaction content, people like Danny Gonzales, Drew Gooden, Kurtis Conner, Pinely, all good fun YouTube channels that make good, silly, and easy to consume content.

Other gaming streamers and YouTubers — Slimecicle, Ranboo, Games Grumps, RT games, and SneegSnag all play a wide variety of games, they’re all relatively chill but none of them take the games all that seriously either so it’s fun and goofy as well :)

And of course Fanfiction!!!

I might be a little bias here cos I write myself but fic is created by and for fans and it exists to give you even *more* content about the stories you love, whether it be reimagining canon events or just dumping your favourite characters into a silly au.

I know a lot of authors (myself included) are feeling super conflicted and weird about writing Wilbur in the future. Plenty of authors have been moving onto new fandoms so if you find something you enjoy make sure you check out the author’s other work and who knows, maybe you’ll find some cool new fandoms that way!

And do the same for artists and other creators, or even go check out some of your mutuals fandoms, you guys might have more in common than you originally thought!

#wilbur soot #dsmp #the sorry boys #editor wilbur arg

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venusvity · 5 months ago

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Making her great return to the Waterbomb stage, Baebi gave a show stopping performance and drew in one of the largest crowds on Friday! Despite having one of the most viral performances, fans were confused why she didn't perform a single track off her latest solo release: PULL THE TRIGGER (AGAIN). Despite the debatable tracklist, Constellations were elated to see their "Waterbomb Princess" back on the stage!

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫ ( LOOK BOOK ! )

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫ SET LIST !

GASHINA

OPENING MENT

DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY

TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN

PICTURE

LIPLOCK

ENDING MET

BUBBLE POP!

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫ THE HOT RUNDOWN !

Oh, she was the talk of the town. You could not go online without seeing Baebi at Waterbomb 2024!

The setlist was a hot topic, truly. A lot of fans liked that it was a throwback, but also...They were just confused as to why she wasn't singing new stuff. At first, they thought maybe she didn't have the rights to the album since it was released under Flowerbank, but that just wasn't the case, as Mydol owns all of Venus' discography. So, like...What gives? Where's Baebi's Revenge? Where's You and Me? Where's—

Then the behind the scenes vlog came out and it all made sense. When I tell y'all, Son Jinhwa curated this entire performance from start to finish...I mean it. Down to the last second, it was his vision. He was barely even seen in Chloe's behind-the-scenes vlog, but you could see that man in almost every frame of Yoonah's. To the shock of no one, he picked out her outfit as well and even had the makeup artist redo her makeup before the show because he didn't like what she originally did.

So, yeah, no wonder there were no songs from the album where Yoonah had complete creative control and basically told him to kill himself. Yeah, Constellations did not like that realization. It got even worse when it was revealed Chloe got full creative control over her performance while Yoonah didn't.

But, despite all that, Yoonah had fun! And that's all that matters! She smiled the whole time, did amazing crowd work, danced like it was the last thing she was going to do, and kept her goodies from falling out the whole performance! She did great, guys!

BAEBI OPENING MENT TRANSCRIPTION: "What's up, Waterbomb? I'm your Baebi! Ah! I can't believe I'm back here! Oh my gosh! I missed you guys! Did you miss me?" Yoonah playfully leans toward the crowd and then laughs. "Sounds like it...I'm so happy to be here with all of you and to be wet with you guys! I hope you all enjoy this next song. It's been years since I've performed it, but I really like it, so...Get ready to–Okay, this joke won't really land because the sun is out, but–Get ready to dance the night away!"

After her performance, Baebi and the other Venus girls were spotted in the crowd for Fromis_9's set as well as Hyo's set! The girls are massive Girls Generation's stans and never miss a chance to see the members perform.

You could really tell Yoonah had a blast performing. She really loves her job, guys!

#BAEBIWATERBOMB would trend, and a fan cam of her set would reach 3.4 Million views in 24 hours. A massive hit with everyone! But that's nothing new for Miss Baebi!

.ﾟ۪ ♡ ۫ WAIT! TAKE A PICTURE !

#╰ * VENUS : development ⧽ burn it to the ground .#fictional idol group #fictional idol community #kpop fanfic #idol oc #kpop oc #fake kpop oc #kpop au #idol au #kpop addition #idolverse #oc girl group #bts addition #fake kpop girl group #fake kpop idol #oc kpop group #stray kids addition

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bonesandthebees · 1 month ago

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HOW DO YOU WRITE SO WELL

like, the general way you write omfg i was hoping to get some tips since i want to get into the type of writing you do (idk the name lol)

your fics have just not left my mind at all and i wanna learn how you make them stick

aw thank you that's so sweet! I'm so glad you enjoy my stories :D

as for your question, I always say this and it's not really the 'fun' answer or the one that people want to hear but the truth of the matter is that I got good at writing by writing. a lot. I've been writing on a near daily basis since I was 13 or so. I started writing original stories, but later when I was 15 I got into fanfic and really thrived using that as writing practice. regardless of whether or not you post what you write, just the act of putting words down is going to help you. whether that be rewriting movie scenes with your favorite blorbos or coming up with the most self indulgent fluffy stuff that you never want to see the light of day, or plotting out massively expansive stories with grand plots and worldbuilding, no matter what it is it's going to help you gain a natural sense for rhythm and word choice and all that stuff.

besides practicing writing, reading is also very helpful for improving your writing. and I don't mean reading fanfic. while of course there is some amazing fanfiction out there, you do actually need to read published novels as well. now I'm not saying you have to go out and read the entire book list from your 9th grade english class (although classic novels are incredibly important and beneficial to read), but just read any books. try to branch out into new genres. if you're only interested in reading YA romance, sure go for it, but once you get in the swing of reading regularly you should look for recommendations in other genres. there are a ton of lists online that will tell you "if you like X book then you'll love Y-" so try to find those. don't limit yourself to books only meant for one demographic. you'll get the most benefit for your writing from reading widely and seeing how many different types of authors do things. you can pick apart different writing styles and figure out what you like about each, then try to emulate that in your own work. do you like when descriptions are kept short but use very vivid language? try doing that in your own writing when setting a scene. do you like when a characters thought process starts rambling on and on for multiple paragraphs, really giving the reader a sense of their inner mind? try doing that yourself.

experiment! practice! have fun with it! write what you want and try not to get too caught up in what's going to 'get popular' or anything because then you'll just make yourself miserable if you don't get the hits you want. of course that's easier said than done but try your best to hold onto the mindset of writing for yourself first and foremost. make the stories you want to read.

hope that helps!

#also if you ever want more specific tips #I put all of my writing tips under the tag bones writes on this blog #ask #bones writes #andy-from-twitter-not-x

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neonfretra · 2 months ago

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PSA: please for the love of god do your research before buying pet fish

TL;DR: DO NOT REPLICATE PET STORE CONDITIONS FOR FISH.

my friend shared a picture of a pet betta fish inside a plastic cup in clear view of a pet cat trying to get it and im really upset :( i wrote a bit about fish care below the cut :)

disclaimer: my familiarity begins and ends with smaller freshwater fish, there are different needs of different fish ^_^ this is not an exhaustive list of what fish need, just some fast and loose observations to better understanding fish!

are fish right for you?

if you dont like pets you cant directly interact with (ex. pet, pick up) or cant watch do exciting things (ex. climb, play), fish might not be a good match!

when properly cared for, fish can live long and grow large (think your massive goldfish and koi), which might be more than you signed up for from first purchase! if you think you cant keep up with the needs of a big boy like that, consider a different species!

if you take death badly, block my fish husbandry tag. oh god dont even look at it.

if you think "i pay enough on the water bill," ill be real with you. a box full of water sounds like the opposite of your solution here.

stress

the big takeaway: EVERYTHING LIVES WORSE AND DIES FASTER WHEN THEY ARE STRESSED.

including you! aint that fun

the general rule of pet keeping is you um. dont want to be responsible for pet neglect <3 ignoring what your fish (singular or plural!) need easily stresses them out!

here are some big ones i see overlooked:

tapping the glass: while tapping the glass means your fish move and scatter, it also means you are scaring them! dont do that. goes out to the little ones too, please?

overpopulation: i see this one more often with fish collectors as opposed to more casual keepers. as a general rule of thumb, its a gallon to every inch of fish! you might need even more with more aggressive fish. its not their natural environment to be tail to mouth with fish, this will often increase aggression among fish for territory.

coverage: many fish need hiding spaces to feel safe. this is where decorations come in! some fish need leafy plants, others like holes to duck into. many stores will carry all sorts of cute themes and colors, just look out for rough or sharp edges!

stress cant always be avoided! this isnt life advice, i mean you gotta transport them and clean out tanks LOL

tank size

dont keep your fish in cups man. betta fish need 5 gallons minimum. male bettas are territorial and will kill each other in the same tank. its cheaper and space efficient to keep them in cups. this is unhealthy for the betta fish. please buy a tank or dont buy the fish.

you want to see your fish do more than look like a floating corpse? give them space to swim. please.

i hate to compare fish to other animals because their needs are completely different but heres something i need to stress: if the idea of keeping a dog in a cage all hours of the day sounds bad, can you imagine how this might translate to fish?

tank cleanliness

dont play with stagnant water.

dont make YOUR PET play with stagnant water. get a water filtration system to keep your water cycling.

depending on the tank size and the fish you keep, expect to change anywhere from 10-20% of the water like. ehhh a month LOL. theres stuff for that you can buy! this goes great with any plants you might keep!

water gets nasty when anything lives in it 24/7. i would not live in a swimming pool myself, no.

if you dont think it sounds possible for you to do yourself, what are friends for! dont pull anything moving that water, lift with your knees, not your back.

i personally feel this is where most of the upkeep in fish husbandry comes from. if you got this down, youll be set for long term! :)

also, algae is actually a good sign! your tank is a good environment for life to grow and some fish eat it, you can also just. stick somethin in there and take it out if the growth gets too much, its not too hard

tank mates

some fish are aggressive. some are community fish! some even school! do your due diligence trying to find what fish are compatible. (your safest bet will always be similarly sized communal fish)

dont get any kind of fish that are too small! they will get eaten.

often you will come across advice on ratios of sex of one species. this is because male fish may:

harass each other for territory

harass female fish and stress them out (more females mean the attention is more widely spread)

some fish thrive with their own species, they are called schooling fish! the amount of fish in a school changes by species

other fish will kill each other. dont put two male bettas in a tank.

other fish may be beneficial for your wider tank health! bottom feeders are a personal favorite fish of mine :)

sometimes, you can even have other kinds of animals cohabiting! :) snails, shrimp, frogs are all possibilities! (cant do frogs myself, tank too deep) (there are some genuinely gorgeous shrimp though)

again, the amount of fish you have should be proportional to your tank size. dont get too many fish for a tank, you will run into overpopulation issues

out of tank mates matter too! please be considerate of your other pets and whether they can do stunts like hit the tank or fall in.

conclusion

fish are great pets! theyre gorgeous and honestly a great if stressful (<3) experience personally! but they are pets and not props that need to be properly looked after if you want your fish happy and healthy.

do your research before buying a fish and it will save you a lot of grief and surprise! its a fairly well covered hobby, i can promise any question you have was probably answered in a forum five years ago. again, im just a tumblr blog with one fishs experience.

if you buy a betta fish please dont keep them in the cup you buy them in, i might cry for real this time.

#the watergate scandal tank

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pebblysand · 3 months ago

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Why’s fan fiction so bad these days.

hi anon! i can't tell if this is a dig at my fics, a dig at other people's fics, or just a standard observation. having said that, i typically don't answer asks that don't say hello/thank you/some sort of minimal human acknowledgement but i did find this an interesting question to raise, so.

i don't necessarily think fanfic is "bad" "these days". IMO, the ratio of good v. bad fic has been pretty much equal in most of the fandoms i've been in overtime. about 30-40% are so bad they're unreadable (i'm talking: awful grammar, terribly OOC, plot that makes no sense, etc.). about 50-60% are "a bit meh", meaning that if you're in a very small fandom where there is nothing else to read, you'll probably read them out of sheer content starvation, but they won't really give you anything of substance. if you're in a big fandom with loads of content, you'll probably pass on them. then, you have probably about 9% that are really good. this, to me, is the stuff you would recommend if you were building a rec list for others, which you believe everyone should read. and lastly, you have the top 1%. those are the fics that have taken your breath away, are imprinted in your brain forever, you've re-read them ad nauseam and have written love letters to the authors about.

i find this ratio pretty much invariable. it was the same when i was writing for Silk, for The Good Wife, and now for HP. it also seems to be the same per HP niche. to me, there's a top 10% of post-war fics, there's a top 10% of harmony fics, etc.

but the major thing to note here is that what is top 10% for me might not be top 10% for you. that's why you don't have everyone reading or reccing the same things, and that's the joy and the beauty of diversity of taste and opinion, as far as i'm concerned. it's why i disagree with your general assessment that "fanfic is bad" "these days". that's something you think - not necessarily something someone else would think, on the basis of the content published. to give you an example, in hinny circles, i see floreatcastellum and northumbrian recommended a lot. on tiktok, i see manacled recommended a lot. having skimmed through these works, they -- personally -- do not do anything for me. but that doesn't mean they're "bad" fics. i'm sure they're great fics. they are loved by many, many people. they're just not something i vibe with, and they're not in my top 10%. just like loads of people think my fics are not for them. and that's absolutely fine. as long as you don't come in screaming in all caps insulting authors whose works you don't vibe with, we can all very happily coexist.

having said that, i have to admit that as far as my taste goes, i'm currently building a massive Google Sheets rec list (yes, coming soon, i promise ^^). one of the things i'm tracking in this rec list is the date of publication/completion of the work. and from what i can see at this stage, the average date of publication of my top 10% works is 2016. which, i think, does also say something. while i do still find loads of fics published semi-recently that i like, i also do have to acknowledge the fact that if we're looking at my own personal taste... you're probably kind of right.

so, why is fanfiction so bad these days?

i think a large part of it is that my personal taste doesn't necessarily align with that of the wider public. i'm not on-trend, let's say. AUs are pretty much the gold standard now, and particularly what-if AUs (e.g. what if Harry was a Muggle? what if Ron was in Slytherin? what if Sirius survived? etc.) you see tonnes of these recommended on reddit/being published all the time. loads of people are also interested in more exploration of characters and niche ships i'm personally not interested in (marauders, death eaters, etc.) there is also a prominence of fluff (or low-stakes romantic angst), particularly in the hinny, dramione and drarry fandoms. it's escapism from canon (and possibly, escapism from the harsh reality of our world), that i just personally don't vibe with/am not looking for. we see this in original fiction as well, with the drive towards fantasy/romantasy in recent years, and more recently still, with "cosy" literature. i don't particularly enjoy these genres in original fiction either, so i think that's probably also why i don't particularly vibe with the fanfic in that same trend.

i also think, just overall, there is less content being published in the HP fandom in general. thus, proportionally, less fics people will vibe with. this is in part simply due to the age of the source material (this happens to TV shows a lot: once a series is over, people tend to gradually drop out of fandom). it's also, i believe, due to the fact that there was a boom of fandom involvement during covid (as people had nothing else to do), and that people have now gradually dropped back out. lastly, it is probably also due to the fact that a large portion of people who used to be in fandom have dropped out due to JKR's controversial opinions. all of these things combined means that there is less overall content, and thus less content you're going to like as an individual.

additionally, globally, many countries are currently experiencing a cost-of-living crisis. this matters because, as i always say, "fanfiction is a rich person's hobby". meaning that: if you're going to truly make an effort in writing, and truly get involved in fandom, you need to have time on your hands. time you won't have anymore if you're struggling, having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. writing at a high level is a massive time suck and very few people, right now, can afford to spend hours upon hours producing free content. it's sad, but it's true. so, of course, that's inevitably going to drive good writers out of fandom. and, sadly, it will disproportionally impact good writers, because they will be the ones who will spend the most time on their craft. it's very quick to write shit fic with loads of grammatical mistakes, much harder/longer to write something high-quality. it also disproportionally impacts, of course, marginalised communities, who will then not produce the high-quality content that represents them.

lastly, i also think that one thing that demotivates writers at the moment, is an overall drop in community engagement. i was very reluctant to buy into this up until very recently because, tbh, i always get the ick when people try and argue that things were "better before" but i have to admit... i've been getting loads of comments/DMs lately from people telling me things like "i never typically comment on fanfic, but...[your fic is great]" or people coming out of the woodwork telling me they've been reading castles for years, without ever making contact before. and, not to criticise any of these people, because i truly cherish every single comment, and i understand people might feel very nervous engaging, but you have to admit that if So Many People do the same thing, you end up in a situation where many good writers get demotivated thinking no one is reading their fics because they're not getting any engagement. and, while yes, people should write for themselves first, it's easier said than done when you're just posting into the void.

so, yeah, idk, maybe instead of complaining, we should be looking at making writing conditions better for online writers and encourage more diversity in fandom. you're always going to have trends and writing styles that you more ore less vibe with, that's immutable, but creating the conditions for more voices to be able to participate is definitely a very large factor in that.

#asked and answered

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opiopal · 5 months ago

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So I’ve decided that I’m going to into dump about my Mc(since like four people mentioned they’d read it lol), with the inclusion of pictures, I’ll try to keep it organized, making a list that goes, basic info, details, relationships, and add on’s, but I’m not that best with organization especially when it comes to my own characters.

This will be a mixture of canon stuff to the OM universe and my own stuff, I’ll go into my own personal headcanons and junk to. Fair warning this IS going to be long. Sorry if she seems a little bit to much of a main character lol. I tend to go overboard a lot of the time.

(ALSO I did redesign her basic look because I wasn’t really feeling it)

Basic info: so to start out, My Mc’s full name is Opaline L. Shards, though she introduces herself as Opal, since she thinks Opaline is a mouthful. She uses she/they pronouns, and is Pansexual. Throughout the series she is 21-24 years old, she was born and raised in Oregon state. She is about 5’5, 5,7 with her skates on. Her family consists of her mom(divorced) and her two other siblings. She LOVES anything and everything colorful and shiny and is generally curious.

Details/facts:

Opal is mostly blind, as in she is missing an eye and already needed glasses before losing said eye, so obviously it’s hard for her to see things. She prefers to work off of muscle memory and the blobby shapes that are people to her, which that is also why she likes/prefers things to have color to them. She though of course does have glasses, but prefers to wear them when she’s alone to work on things in her room so then no one can see her full face.. so she has a lot of homework. But is still fortunately a straight A student. Upon her very first night staying in the HOL, she waited until everyone was asleep to just, walk around and know her surroundings, who’s rooms were who’s and what was where. She removes her skates and anything clanky on her person before going, to avoid being caught ofc.

Her and her sheepiness

I like to imagine she isn’t a 2ft tall sheep 100% of the time throughout(because imagine trying to work at a desk or navigate massive school hallways as a stuffed animal), and that it’s really just a little enchantment that was put onto her to keep her safe, like a spidey sense, if there is danger around in RAD or in town or anywhere at all, she’ll POOF! Into a sheep. But instead of it working off of if they themselves feel threaten it just works off of if there is something that plans on hurting her around. So when that first day scene of over hearing two demons talking about eating her right then and there it’s just,

“Hey isn’t that the human exchange student? Let’s go eat then there’s no one arou-“ POOF! Scitter scitter “… what”

Speaking of RAD, clearly she isn’t wearing the uniform in its full-couch cushion looking entirety. She had texted with Barabatos to ask basic questions about dress code and asked if she could do add ons or remove a piece or two, and I’m guessing since thirteen basically mangled her uniform and didn’t get any shit for it, her wearing a sweater instead of the jacket is more then ok.

Speaking of her uniform, her hair is tied up, which isn’t really that big of a deal, but I like to imagine Lucifer does her hair, why? Well, her hair is a fluffy mess, and she really only brushes it in the morning, so Lucifer stops her from leaving first day and tied her hair up so then she looked presentable as to not embarrass him. Why did I make this a thing? Because I think it would be funny as hell that during the events in the beginning of season one, no matter what happened the night before, no matter how much they hated each other at the moment, every morning she went, knocked on his bedroom door, he opened silently, she handed him a hair tie and her hair brush, turned around, he did her hair, then she left silently and he continued to get ready to leave. Because I’m a sucker for the whole “we hate each other but we’ve made a routine and we’d rather die then not follow a routine”. (Opal also cannot handle when there is a change in any part of her unwritten routine or else she’ll be off for the rest of the day.)

Her pact Marks:

So I guess I have a reason for each of the placements/designs for the marks, for starters they’re so big because I can imagine since it’s pacts with the avatars of sun themselves the pact marks are a bit more dramatic(also I can imagine the pact marks are usually black/grey, they only glow with their sin when that magic is being used or the sun is being felt, ex: opal is pissed off, wrath glows, opal feels prideful of something she did, pride glows, ect.)

So Pride is placed on her chest, like puffing one’s chest out in pride. I just added on more stars and stuff to make it look fancier

Greed is placed on her right hand, or her stealing hand since its her dominant hand. The dots within the ribboned design represent gold coins and stuff, the mark swirls all the way up to her elbow then stops.

Envy is on her lower back over her tailbone, it’s a spot that’s a bit more out of place and is most likely to be covered by clothes then the others, so even the mark as a reason to be envious. I just added onto the water droplet and arrow design and made it stretch more onto her front as if it’s trying to be noticed more.

Wrath is on her left hand, being left handed is associated with the devil and junk so by default I think it would be cool it it landed there. And also it’s for throwing hands. The triangle design represents satans spiky tail. The mark trails up to the elbow then stops, just like greed

Lust is placed over her uterus and creeps up her stomach, I think that’s obvious. But the mark itself is in the shape of an upside down uterus. I tried to make lust look like the more elegant of the pact marks.

Gluttony is on her upper/center back because it’s a place where fat tends to accumulate more. (I promise it’s not a “big back” joke btw, I’ve had this mark placement way before it even got to be popular), a lot of the add ons are just to match the others, BUT I added four k-nine teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom. cause, yk, you need teeth to eat.

And finally sloth is on her outer left thigh, I… don’t have much of a reason as to why I put it there, apart from the fact I had nowhere else I could think of. I could say that it’s because you don’t use your legs when you’re lazy or it’s the plushest part of the body, but yk. The add ons I did was just add two more stars and two crescent moon shapes.

Relationships:

So for relationships with the other characters I did this chart I used off of google since it was the only one I could find with all the characters(I wanted to make my own but by the time I moved onto making the chart it was around 2 am and I was tired). I will explain every relationship going from brothers, demons, angels, then thirteen and Solomon.

Lucifer: she personally views Lucifer in a fatherly way, she grew up with her dad only in her life for her first 5 years of being alive and he wasn’t great. So when she did meet Lucifer for the first time not only did he vaguely look like her dad but also acted a bit like him. Which to her was more then enough reason to not like him. But over time it went from “ugh he reminds me of my dad…” to “oh! That’s my dad!^•^”. He is the first person she goes to when she needs assistance or guidance and she cares about him a lot, she has forced him to take breaks through bringing him tea or a few snacks and sitting down with him to have a conversation. And it doesn’t really help that he clearly favors her, she is very honest and polite, so I can imagine that warmed him up to her.(honestly I kind of wish there were more platonic fics with Lucifer Bc in my own brain he’s literally mothering, but alas,)

Mammon: so just from the chart, he is her best friend and also partner. I know it was probably unnecessary to add the best friend and partner arrows because your partner should be your best friend, but I added it anyways. Opal is probably a little to in love, but so is he. She goes along with pretty much everything he wants to do because she either one: wants to have the learning experience, or two: want to spend time with him. They often sleep in each others rooms, they rotate out, some days they sleep in his and others they sleep in hers. When they want more privacy or just to be alone with each other I can imagine they go to his room most of the time. She absolutely steals his clothes for herself whenever he’s gone during the night because she can’t help but be clingy, and you know she’s tackling him the moment he walks into the HOL. Overall they are both stupidly in love with each other.

Leviathan: levi is definitely one of her best friends, she loves his room since she really adores anything ocean. She likes to go to his room when she’s feeling overwhelmed or like to go find him during social events when overwhelmed since it’s most likely guaranteed he’ll also be hiding. She loves listening to him ramble about anime and stuff that he bought recently, and of course she likes gaming with him. And that one morning when levi was complaining about opal constantly shooting him in game is definitely common for her to do. If she see’s he’s on a online game she will join and mess with him. Mammon has probably woken up to her on her laptop cackling because she keeps killing levi in game.

Satan: once again someone she’s close with and would consider a best friend, I can imagine they do homework together often, and he wouldn’t mind reading things out for her. She is kind of an animal magnet, so whenever they both go out there is a high chance she’ll suddenly be holding a stray cat and they’ll both stop for like an hour to give it so much attention.

Asmo: another bestiee, after gaining a pact with asmo she definitely gets a little closer to him because of the fact that he does more “girly” things. They go shopping together and she lets him dress her up and style her hair. He is actually the only other person apart from mammon that knows she’s missing an eye, why? Well because her natural hair color is actually black, and she thankfully befriended him before her roots fully started to grow in so one melt down later she asked him for help with dying her hair, which, he’s also the only one that knows red isn’t her natural color.

Beel: she was very close with beel pretty much right off the bat, since she was already feeding him. She’s a bit of a picky eater, so she separates some foods from the foods she will definitely eat, she feels bad about leaving a bunch of left over food so beel is the garbage disposal friend. So every single “are you going to eat that?” Is always met with a cheery “nope! You can have it!”. And canon Bc of the chats, she helps him when he works out, like sitting on his back during pushups or just simply hyping him up.

Belphie: she is still very unsure with him. Though she knows he feels guilt about LITERALLY KILLING HER. She hasn’t quite forgiven him, though she is still polite and helps him out when he needs it. She isn’t close with him in the slightest though, if you asked her to describe him she would just say “uh… he sleeps!” And that’s it. Though of course she’s probably still around him often due to beel and belphie being twins and the anti Lucifer League

Dia: another best friend! Despite the fact that they don’t hang out often, they still try their hardest to chit chat! Like her going over to have tea with him occasionally on his free days, she talks about how things are going at the HOL, with school, and other little hobbies, and she lets him complain about work and talk about other things. They are literally sunshine character+sunshine character. It’s inevitable that they would be close! She had also used her first bit of grimm to buy him roller skates! She got them custom made and surprised him with them because he mentioned that he liked hers and was really intrigued by them, so after buying him the skates they skated around for a while, linked arms and her teaching him the basics.

Barbatos: barbatos is someone she felt like she could trust right away but she was also intimidated by him. Though she ignored the intimidation and just continued treating him as normal. She constantly wants to help him and feels a little bad whenever he does something for her or gives her something. She really loves fruit so whenever she’s visiting dia there’s always a plate out for her, and whenever Barb refills it she’s always like “oh! Thank you- you don’t have to though I’m probably eating to much anyways” “nonsense, please continue to enjoy yourself” “ok:,)”

Mephistopheles: they are both unsure of each other, though he is very open about the fact that her, I am a strong believer that it’s probably just a mask. Despite rarely seeing each other she is very respectful towards him and offers assistance with smaller things, if he ever asked for help with anything relating to the news paper club she would absolutely be HYPED.

Simeon: she loves seeing simeon when she can! She thinks he’s really chill and likes being in the presence of another creative, they’ll often talk about things related to writing or drawing, really it’s just back and fourth questions. But whenever she goes down to purgatory hall she loves to just sit and talk about whatever comes to mind while drinking tea.

Luke: that is her little brother and no one can tell her otherwise. But in reality she knows what it’s like to be the youngest in a room and not be taken as seriously, so she makes sure his voice is heard(or at least he feels like he is heard.) and she is decently protective of him. Her mom actually owns a bakery so she also knows a lot about baking! I like to imagine that when they both bake something they exchange their goods with each other, and other times when she’s at purgatory hall they bake together.

Raphael: she doesn’t know him very well but still finds him pleasant!

Thirteen: she thinks thirteen is super cool! She definitely unintentionally boosts her ego, a lot. Opal is the type to speak her mind(or just think out loud), so it’s very common that when thirteen show’s off something she made or something she plans to make it’s met with a “oh! You’re so cool thirteen,”. Opal really enjoys having another fem presenting person around to, though they don’t see a lot of each other.

Solomon: she definitely appreciates having another human around(even if solomon hardly even counts as a human being anymore,) she sees him as more of an older brother to be completely honest, an older brother that’s MUCH older then her, like an older brother that already had a wife and kids when she was born kind. So she introduces him to trends and stuff and they reference random things to each other randomly. I can imagine they both like to mess with demons by basically doing improv in public. “Hey has your skin started shedding with month yet?” “No… but I can feel the skin on my face starting to dry up, I only have so much moisturizer,” “here I can get you some extra lotion if you need it,” “Aw, solomon you’re such a Girls girl!” Or “Solomon, was it batman or Superman who helped in ww2?” “Superman,” “thanks, I always forget” BUT they do have a mutual respect for each other, solomon is more then aware that opal may turn out to be stronger then him, and opal is aware that solomon has more knowledge then her and is strong.

Add ons/more background on Opal:(some violent stuff is mentioned and a very main character ass backstory fyi so be ready)

So let’s talk about her family and what life was like before RAD, there’s her mom and her two siblings. Her mom’s name is Mary, she is a shorter women but is very sweet, she owns a bakery called “charlottes web”. then her two older siblings who are twins, Diana and Travis, they are her half siblings, so they don’t share a father. Both of her siblings dabble in magic and area little well known. Travis is more silent and looks menacing but is secretly just a very anxious person. He looks very gothic but underneath every hoodie is a bright pink anime shirt from an anime he likes called “origami kittens”(my own thing), an anime about a teenage girls origami kitten coming to life and being her friend! Every episode a new one with a new personality is made. Diana is very rough and tough, she is rowdy and very tomboyish, her and Travis bicker a lot but are literally inseparable. They both love their little sister to pieces. But, none of them are apart of the descended bloodline of Lilith, her dad is actually one of the descendants.

Her dad was originally very kind and curious, like her, but when Mary was pregnant with Opal, he started to get into some shit he should have and suffered a head injury that caused a whole personality shift, he got very boastful and prideful, and wanted everything his way or no way. He still loved his family dearly but grew very violent very quickly. One night when opal was five Mary and him got into an argument in the middle of the night, opal had walked downstairs to see what the noise was about and in a fit of rage her father threw her through a closed window, causing a mild concussion. Of course nearly immediately Mary divorced his ass and that was the last time Opal ever saw her dad, no one ever ended up learning why he had changed. He passed away when she was about 12.

Growing up she was very curious and also energetic, but, because I love this kind of stuff, she indulged in the seven sins. She had a short fuse, she had a bit of an ego, she shop lifted sometimes, that kind of stuff. But one summer when she was 14 she went to stay with her grandma out of state and met her girlfriend Elora, and let me tel you they were IN LOVE, though the town in which Elora lived in had a lot of supernatural drama, so they both kind of became ghost busters/mystery inc type people. Though they had a lot of fun doing so and had a blast learning about that kind of crap. Eventually opals family moved in with her grandma and opal started going to school with Elora, unfortunately by the time that they had both turned 17 they were more public about their relationship, which is unfortunate because it was a very religious town. So some assholes had harassed them for a while before attacking them, Elora sadly did not make it and Opal in turn had lost her right eye. So she walked out of that experience with no girlfriend, no eye, and plenty of different types of trauma.

It took her a while to recover and she started to dye her hair and let it grow out, originally she had short hair with blue tips, but a lot of her hair was cut off, representing being stripped of her pride. Eventually once she was recovered physically and mentally she decided that she wanted to go back to school and decided to respond to a really good college that offered her a scholarship. But of course once she was classified as a student she ended up being picked for the exchange program and of course we all know what happens from then on.

Now onto some more light hearted stuff,

Obviously as I’ve stated she naturally dyed her hair red, mainly to separate herself from both her father and her past. She prefers to cover most her face with her hair and that simply just works because cartoon logic.

She is very silent, maybe even a little dumb at times, as in she has a hard time with things like social cues and when to quit. She is a straight A student because she easily jumps right into each class because she finds it very interesting! Like hell yeah she wants to learn about different demonic species! That’s so cool!

She doesn’t like drama though she loves talking about it, her and asmo definitely gossip to each other often and they keep tabs on everyone they talk about, one time they were both sitting at dinner, opal checked her D.D.D., gAsped, sent whatever she saw over to asmo, then made eye contact with him and motion for him to look at his own phone, he also gasps, and immediately they both leave the room to start talking.

I can also imagine that it was not KNOWN that she couldn’t see that well for a little while, until eventually there was maybe a small dinner party at dia’s castle, she mentioned that she was going to the rest room, then barbatos offered to lead her there, which in turn made a few of them look confused like “but they’ve been here before, why would you need to show them to the restroom?” “Ah, because they can’t see, why else?” “BARBATOS NO-“ then she has to awkwardly explain that she’s blinder then a bat after he apologizes to her. I’m sure some of them already knew but she did NOT want the other brothers to know because she knew damn well they would make a big deal out of it.

Alright, let’s get some pictures in here,

Starting off this is her bag! It’s older and she’s torn it a good few times, so she patches it up herself, obviously there’s a little sheep mc key chain that’s totally not a lesson 16 reference, she also has a little mc sheep pin, a random :3 face pin, a set it off pin and a destroy boys pin(two of my own personal favorite bands)

Next we have her D.D.D. And her headphones, she probably won both the case and headphones in a give away for some astronomy thing she is into, of course she added the Kirby sticker herself. But yeah.

Next is her ominously labeled journal, why did I label it as such? Well because she writes and draws some interesting stuff. The way she learns about things is to draw and dissect them in her brain along with a series of “what ifs” so one thing she ended up doing out of her own curiosity is pull a dungeon meshi and think “what if i drew the boys as different foods?” Which lead to her making detailed drawings of different parts of them as foods. Obviously she would never ever even think of doing such a thing, but her mind wanders. Apart from that the rest is a little normal, doodles of people and animals she’s seen, little diary entries, that kind of stuff.

Lastly there’s this necklace, seems a little random BUT, this is a reference to one of the beach events from the OG game, when mammon finds a shell and gives it to MC, obviously it wasn’t stated what type of shell it was, only that it was spiky, but opal most definitely kept it and turned it into a necklace she rarely wears.

Smaller stuff is that she loves fruit(as mentioned previously), like LOVES fruit. If there is cut fruit at a party she’s going to beat beel to it and eat as much as she can handle. And it actually sometimes works to her disadvantage, if for example, mammon wanted to go “look” around the demon lords castle, but opal is over here like “mams you know lucifer doesn’t want you to do that since you can’t keep your hands to yourself” giving her a plate of fruit not only will stop her from snitching, but will also keep her in one place silently until she’s done eating, because her brain is just “fruit fruit fruit fruit fruit- oh no more fruit- wait where’s my boyfriend- oh no.”

She also makes it her personal mission to pet everything that she can, street cats, people’s dogs, horses, you name it. So she makes it her mission to befriend that silly three headed dog in the basement, which she eventually does successfully by offering raw steaks and treats.

Along with that she likes to garden, but not like a normal person with fruit or flowers, but instead carnivorous plants. If she learns that there is a man eating plant that she can buy in town she is getting that plant, slapping a bow on it and falling it princess. I like to think that Lucifer eventually lets her take over a small part in the backyard of the HOL for her plants.

And she is very very clingy, but also hates being touched. So it’s kind of torture for her, because she would LOVE to get a hug from beel or let asmo paint her nails, but within her first year there she just doesn’t trust any of them enough to not hurt her. But mammon ends up being the exception, because as they get closer to each other she just can’t let go of him, ever. They’re always holding hands or linked arms, she’s always pressed up against his side or lowkey cuddling when they sit, and of course mammon would love the attention and would be equally as clingy.

Another thing is that she eventually learns shape shifting magic, mainly because she thinks it would be funny. One morning lucifer is acting weird, then all of a suddenly a second Lucifer walks in?? Lucifer #1 Bursts out into giggles and suddenly is opal.

She also binds her chest, cause anxiety and self confidence issues, along with anxiety she has a few scabs on her fingers at all times from digging her nails into the skin.

I am done as far as I’m aware, but I’ve been writing for like two hours with breaks, I appreciate if anyone actually read all of this all the way down to the bottom! I would’ve been more detailed in some areas but I realized that Opal feels like such a main character, I don’t want to change her lore but that doesn’t mean i’m not a little embarrassed about her lol. She’s my silly and I love her but I probably went overboard with all her fine details. Also here’s the full drawing of her

#obey me mc #obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me diavolo #obey me barbatos #obey me luke #obey me simeon #obey me solomon

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moghedien · 1 year ago

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Okay so to be clear I have no stake in this since I haven't seen any of the shows you mentioned in your post and I'm not asking you to defend your point. That being said, because Legend of the Seeker has been on my "to watch" list since I was like 16, I have to ask - is there an extra bad reason why it shouldn't be compared to Wheel of Time or is it just general "just because it's middle fantasy doesn't mean it's similar" vibes?

Gonna answer both your asks separately just to avoid going too long on either

but yeah, there's reasons not to compare Wheel of Time to Legend of the Seeker, and its because the guy who created Legend of the Seeker is a piece of shit

basically Legend of the Seeker is based on a book series called the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. Terry Goodkind was a libertarian shitbag who definitely seemed to plagiarize a whole lot of other fantasy series of the time period, including of Wheel of Time (which was published first), but at best just happened to write a lot of things that were very, very, very, very, very, very similar

Now you can argue that both series have inspiration from Dune, and sure, they do. But there's a difference from being inspired by stuff (which Wheel of Time upfront is) and outright stealing plot points and worldbuilding aspects and pretending like they're wholly original and groundbreaking (which Terry Goodkind tried to do). And its not just that Goodkind didn't acknowledge that he was inspired by things like Wheel of Time. He outright talked shit about fantasy as a genre and hated his books being called fantasy because he thought they were elevated literature that should be held above fantasy. He didn't just deny that he was inspired by other fantasy works, he was outright offended at the suggestion and called people stupid for pointing it out. Also if you asked him who his favorite author was, he'd always say Ayn Rand and basically no one else.

But the absolute worst thing with Wheel of Time specifically is that when Robert Jordan (the author of Wheel of Time) was literally publicly known to be dying and unable to make convention appearances he was scheduled for, because he was literally dying, Terry Goodkind decided that the best thing he should do as an author was show up at those conventions and make fun of Robert Jordan's health and talk about how he personally as so healthy and his heart was great (Robert Jordan died from a heart disease)

He was also just like massively disrespectful to everyone, including his fans who he thought were all idiots if they did things like had simple questions about his work or categorized his fantasy books as fantasy. And one of the last things he got attention for before he died was mocking the art work for the covers of one of his books publicly online for being poorly done (it was literally fine) only for the artist to come out and point out that they did the cover exactly as they were directed by him and his representatives.

So yeah, fuck Terry Goodkind and Legend of the Seeker and Sword of Truth. There's a bad history between WoT and SoT and its all because of Terry Goodkind being a shitty excuse for an author

#wheel of time

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arminreindl · 1 year ago

Text

Prehistoric Planet Croc Ideas

So this was a thing I did on Twitter in anticipation of Prehistoric Planet. Obviously crocs (in this case meaning crocodylomorphs) were a pretty massive part of earth's fauna during the late Cretaceous, and seeing as the first season featured NONE I came to speculate which taxa could hypothetically make an appearance. Now part of the challenge for myself was to come up with a new, interesting contender every day in anticipation of the show's release, each based around the confirmed episides we had and restricted purely to taxa from the Campanian and Maastrichtian. While it took a lot of energy, I did manage to do so. Hell, halfway through they dropped the reveal of Simosuchus, which I had saved for later.

Obviously we didn't get much still, but I'll regardless post my list of candidates and ideas here, perhaps third time's the charme for a lot of these (tho for convenience I'm still ordering them by S2s episode titles). I'll also try to break them apart roughly by biome, starting with islands. PS: I'd love to hear which crocs people would have loved to see themselves. Any on this list or stuff I didn't even mention? Let me know I'm curious.

We got a shit ton of island crocs from the Cretaceous actually, which you can broadly divide into two categories. The crocodiles of the European archipelago as seen in the top row. Featuring the small, possibly shellfish eating Acynodon (art by Adramelech89), the incredibly widespread Allodaposuchus which did have some possibly semi-terrestrial forms (art by Alejandro Blanco, Aina and Agnès Amblás) and Aprosuchus, a tiny terrestrial critter from Hateg (art by @knuppitalism-with-ue). They already give a nice diversity between tiny durophages with blunt snouts, large, more traditional crocs and lanky land species.

The other island category concerns Madagascar, which had a lot of attention in season 2. Discounting Simosuchus, we got Araripesuchus tsangatsangana (art by Scott Hartman) and Mahajangasuchus (art by Mark Hallet). Both are really cool. The former is yet another smaller terrestrial species that may not actually be part of Araripesuchus, while the later is a massive, 4 meter relative of the famous Kaprosuchus that took to the water independently from all other crocs and has been nicknamed "Hippo croc" for its weird skull. Really I'd have loved to seen an episode entirely dedicated to this place.

Next up we had the badlands episode, which oh boy has a lot of contenders from the clade Notosuchia. Brace yourself.

Here again I could split these in two categories. The first is just general badland taxa. There's Ogresuchus for example, from Spain's Tremp Formation (art by Aina and Agnès Amblás). A relatively small sebecid found in a sauropod nesting site. And we all know what PhP does with baby sauropods. Or the long-necked Gobiosuchus (art by @yoofilos) from Mongolia, which may look like its related to the other ones in this category but actually is a far more ancient type of croc.

The far bigger group concerns South America's Notosuchians. ALL OF THESE are from the Bauru Group, with some even from the same single formation. You got Stratiotosuchus (again by Joschua Knüppe), a large terrestrial baurusuchid that filled the nische of mid sized carnivore in an environment shared by sauropods and abelisaurs. There's Pissarrachampsa (by Felipe Alves Elias), another baurusuchid I decided to feature because we have evidence of a nesting site that shows they only had few eggs. A great opportunity to show their tender side. Uberabasuchus (justin_an74), part of the bizzarly proportioned peirosaurids. Adamantinasuchus (by Deverson da Silva), a small, lanky Notosuchian and of course the heavily armored omnivore Armadillosuchus (by the ever talented Júlia d'Oliveira). Hell you could do a full episode just on the foodweb of the Bauru Group (Godoy et al. 2014).

Then there's swamps, which I'll just use to dump all the crocs that don't fit into the other categories.

As you'd expect, freshwater would be ideal for crocs with a more traditional semi-aquatic lifestyle, here represented by three forms. Jiangxisuchus (image by Li et al. 2014) is a paralligatorid, which are tiny crocodilians from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of east Asia. We honestly don't know what they are, some say alligator relatives, others say they are closer to crocs. But its small and cute. Then there's Roxochampsa (artist of the model I couldn't find), which looks suspiciously crocodilian but is actually a relative of Uberabasuchus from the badlands, hell it appeared in the same formation. Still, I reasoned that I'd throw it into this category because I already proposed so much for badlands (none of which came true but hey). And then there's Denazinosuchus (art by Andrey Atuchin). Again it looks deceptively like a modern croc, but is actually the last remnant of the goniopholids, crocodyliforms that were prominent animals in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous. It could have brought both taxonomic diversity nad highlighted croc resilience till the end.

When it came to picking out crocs for Oceans, it got tricky. Obviously season 2 tried to differentiate itself by being set more in the open ocean, not the coast, and true pelagic crocodiles weren't around by the end of the Cretaceous. So I had to settle for coastal animals. There's Sabinosuchus (Schiller II et al. 2016), a cousin to Sarcosuchus and, like Denazinosuchus, one of the last of its lineage. Also its from Mexico which is rarely talked about for its fossils. Rhabdognathus (Ghedoghedo) is a distant cousin, a slender snouted dyrosaur. Unlike pholidosaurs, dyrosaurs actually did really well after the KPG impact and spread around a lot, living way into the Eocene. And finally Chenanisuchus (art by artbyjrc), which like Rhabdognathus was found both before and after the impact that killed the dinosaurs.

And the final two I shall talk about, both of which I thought/hoped would appear in the North America episode. Again, there's certainly overlap, both would have just as much fit into swamps, while many others would have also suited North America. Regardless, here's Brachychampsa (Tom Parker) and Borealosuchus (Chris Masna), both iconic animals from the Hell Creek Formation. One closely allied with alligators and caimans, the other more basal with a head-shape more similar to todays crocodiles.

Now obviously there'd have been a lot more. Part of the challenge to myself was to try and be as diverse as possible, rather than just listing 10 different baurusuchids I went with only two, tried to include as much of the world as possible, etc.... There's also the fact that some really awesome taxa, Titanochampsa, Brachiosuchus and Eurycephalosuchus, all incredibly unique or interesting, were published too late to have been considered for the show. And now, in hinsight, we obviously know that with the exception of Simosuchus none of them made it in. Which is a shame, but maybe next time.

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