#also op yes to everything in your reblog

[magnusbae]

One last visualization:

None of this is tumblr algorithm, all of this is user interaction!

Your reblogs have an astonishing power! This shows it better than any fandom curated post could have. Almost all of the reblogs come from my own reblog to my post. What it means, is that there's no tags, no algorithm, no search engine—only the people who reblogged from me, and the people who reblogged from them, and so forth!

I found reblog chains as deep as 40 reblogs deep! The amount of reblogs coming from OP is barely 1% of all the reblogs. (0.8997660608% to be precise, as I am precise). The majority of those reblog chains are 1-2 reblogs from a blog, that lead down the line to really big blogs, also.

P.S. I appreciate the thoughts and input so many of you added and I'm incredibly happy that you guys saw this post as positive and welcoming, as I too absolutely hate guilt trips!

To illustrate this post by @mayahawkse I would like to visualize to you the difference:

A post in 2023:

A post in 2014:

A zoom out of the same post:

This is what a community looks like.

See how in 2023 almost all of the reblogs come from the OP, from their few hours/days in the tag search. Meanwhile in 2014 the % of reblogs from OP is insignificant, because most of the reblogs come from the reblogs within the fandom, within the micro-communities formed there. You didn't need to rely on tags, or search, or being featured. Because the community took care of you, made sure to pass the work between themselves and onto their blog and exposed their followers to it. It kept works alive for years.

It's not JUST the reblog/like ratio that causing this issue, it's the type of interaction people have. They're content with scrolling and liking the search engine, instead of actually having a reblogging relationship with other blogs in their community.

Anyways, if you want to see more content you like, the only true way to make it happen is to reblog it. Likes do not forward content in no way but making OP feel nice. Reblogs on the other hand make content eternal. They make it relevant, they make it exist outside of a fickle tumblr search that hardly works on the best of days.

If you want more of something, reblog it.

[starboundsingularities]

good lird they did not make a gimmick blog about a real life murder

#someone fucking DIED but whatever who gives a shit it's funny i guess

7 notes

🥚 eggvidenced Follow

honestly with how suspicious and confusing everything on the dl-6 case was i wouldn't be surprised if it came out that it was that prosecutor guy tbh

🌟 rockliker270 Follow

date posted: june 23, 2010

1,834,853 notes

⚖️ courtofpublicopinions Follow

🌟 rockliker270 Follow

ok hear me out. what abt winston payne though

🧊 just--ice Follow

okay now they're just making lawyers up

#also didn't mvk die or something?

28,932 notes

🔥 triedbyfire Follow

why the fuck are you people still posting about the gavinners as if theyre not copaganda. didn't the guitarist get convicted of murder

🎸 guiltiest-lovers837 Follow

so fucking tired of this "um um didn't daryan get convicted of murder" YEAH AND HE'S LITERALLY NOT IN THE FUCKING BAND ANYMORE. dipshit

🔥 triedbyfire Follow

are you gonna address the copaganda thing or

1,092 notes

🌻 attorneybout Follow

he's so. 😳

📂 trialanderror Follow

why is he defending

📂 trialanderror Follow

OP WHY IS HE DEFENDING???

24,374 notes

🦈 giantlakemonsters Follow

i just wanna hear about another gourdy sighting thats all

🥜 liberdeez Follow

op. i'm so sorry op. gourdy isn't real you have to let her go. they had a whole trial about it.

🔐 wrightorwrong Follow

hi!! so this isn't actually the case as while gourdy was briefly mentioned in a trial, said trial had nothing to do with whether or not gourdy was "real" per se as much as. well. murder, actually. while gourdy WAS found out to be an inflatable steel samurai this was not brought up in the case at all as the veracity of gourdy wasn't really as relevant as the fact that the witness was looking for gourdy rather than at the murder she claimed to have seen. plus this was also a relatively small part of a MUCH larger trial which for those interested not only solved the dl-6 case but ALSO marked the end of prosecutor von karma's ~40 year long record and the court records are really a fascinating read through!!

🦀 mad_libz_87 Follow

net 0 information post

#thanks again lawblr

94,834 notes

🍒 cherriescoola Follow

btw i was at the park the other day and klavier gavin (of gavinners fame) was there and obv there was a huge crowd but this guy was there with him and at some point he (the other guy) waved to the crowd and someone still screamed like it was klavier??? who was that guy ive never seen him before in my life

2,284 notes

🩸 has-dl6-been-solved-yet Follow

December 28, 2016

YES!!!

702,947 notes

🪙 tellerlikeitis Follow

guys help i'm a bank teller and this guy just introduced himself as robin banks what do i do

🔪 violencekilling Follow

you gotta let him rob you that's the law

302,948 notes

👻 ghostesswiththemostest Follow

look if i ever get convicted of murder im just hiring the lawyer with the coolest sounding name

💼 courtofwaw Follow

bestie if you already got convicted it is Too Late

62,193 notes

📋 lawandwhoreder Follow

guys i know it's real fun to think people just can predict whatever but if you look at the earliest reblogs of that post that "guessed" the true killer in the dl-6 case it was actually a post about how they didn't want to go to the store. clearly edited

#stg nobody bothers to factcheck anything anymore

7,293 notes

🐺 lawnewolf Follow

i am NOT homophobic or whatever the fuck you guys are saying now i just think its weird to write fanfiction about realass people?? go touch grass ffs

🌈 lawsbian Follow

the fun police (this guy) putting me in yaoi court but the lawyers (phoenix witrght and miles edgeworth) just keep trying to make out (real court is like this too btw)

🐺 lawnewolf Follow

YOU HAVE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU.

#look idc what your enemies to lovers fic bullshit says #they're straight. and more importantly REAL PEOPLE. #there's TENSION because they are in COURT and there are LIVES on the LINE. #not because they wanna fuck. god.

12,293 notes

🔮 inhighspirits Follow

why dont they just ask the spirit mediums to ask the victims who killed them this law shit is easy

837,495 notes

💞 lawveyourself Follow

seriously i cant believe they gave this guy a law degree

💞 lawveyourself Follow

what do you mean evidence fraud

503,893 notes

🎧 instrumentalillness Follow

fuck you *unguilties your love*

384,568 notes

🎀 copiicat Follow

perjury isnt illegal btw in fact if youre one of tge witnesses youre legally required to lie on the stand. thats why everyone does it. trust me

[booksandabeer]

Stucky, Fandom Longevity, and "Primacy Bias"

There’s this post that's been floating around the past few days about how the Stucky fandom in its heyday produced fic and art masterpieces like they were all collectively possessed by an unprecedented spirit of creative insanity. It’s a good, fun post and I agree with the person who wrote it. (not rb'ing because I didn't want to hijack their post with something that's only tangentially related).

It was indeed a magical time and the creative output in both quantity and quality in the two-year period following the release of CA:TWS is—with perhaps a few exceptions—unmatched by anything that I’ve seen before and since. However, going through the notes on that post, I noticed something that left me a little irritated and quite frankly sad since it is in congruence with, and to a certain extent the confirmation of something that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

For one thing, there are so many people in the notes expressing sentiments along the lines of “it was such a wonderful time; I wish I could go back; I miss these fics; I want to read these fics again,” etc., etc., you get it. And it feels a little silly pointing this out, but…you can just do that? Almost all of these fics are still right there, waiting for you to be (re)read. Yes, a lot of people left the fandom after The Great Devastation of 2019, but their stories didn’t just disappear. It's not like there is now a big, black hole where the Steve/Bucky tag used to be on AO3. So, if you miss these fics and you want to revisit them—just do it. Chances are the authors will be delighted that people are still finding and enjoying their stories all these years later. And—since apparently this needs saying, too, judging from the notes on that post: A lot of people seem to be very concerned with losing ‘coolness points’ for openly admitting that they still miss the ship and often feel tempted to dip their toes back into the Stucky pool. I don’t know how to tell you this, but if someone tries to shame you for simply enjoying or missing something, they are an asshole. Not to mention that all this is happening on tumble.com—'coolness' doesn't exactly live here. And that is a good thing, to be clear. Fandom is not about being cool. It’s about being as enthusiastic, as silly, as absolutely fucking unhinged about the things you love as you want to be. So, stop caring what other people think and enjoy yourself.

The other thing is that there seems to be a pretty widespread misconception that the Stucky fandom hasn’t produced any good fanworks after 2016.

First, that is patently and demonstrably untrue. There is so much incredibly good fanfiction and fanart still out there. Not as much as back in the day, sure, but it still exists. And more is being posted every day! Even some of the OG Big Names are still around. One of the most beloved Stucky series that started all the way back in 2014 was updated as recently as December of last year. The artist, who I believe the op is referring to as creating ‘baroque’ paintings, posted their latest Stucky art not even two months ago.

Second, I find this “primacy bias” more than just a little insulting to the many hardworking and incredibly talented people who are still putting their blood, sweat, and tears into creating for this community. And it’s one thing if people who have long left the fandom believe or say something like this, but it’s frankly irritating when I see people who are still very much active—and therefore definitely should know better—feed into that same false myth. Yes, it sucks that the Stucky ship isn’t as big as it used to be, but that doesn't mean there isn't any 'fresh talent' to be found anymore. I’m also not saying we shouldn’t still celebrate and recommend older works—I do it all the time! And it sure as hell doesn't mean everyone has to reblog absolutely everything all the time, either. Your blog, your rules.

But maybe we should put a little more focus on the good things, on the creators and the community we have now, especially if we want that community to still exist in another ten years. I mean, imagine you’re a person who’s just gotten into the fandom (because yes, there are indeed still new people discovering Stucky all the time) and one of the first things you’re being told is “eh, nice that you're here, but you’re about 7 years late; the big party is already over.” Does that seem like a fun space to hang out in to you?

So. Let’s all—and I do not exclude myself from this because God knows, I love to complain—spend a little less time mourning the ‘good old days’ that are never coming back anyway, and instead focus our attention on enjoying and appreciating both the incredible treasure chest of an archive we have AND the wealth of high-quality art and fic that is still being created by this wonderful community every single day. With this in mind:

🥳🎊Happy Stucky Week 2023!!! 🎊🥳

*I want to make it very clear that this is a general thing that’s been on my mind lately and that I’m trying to work through here—probably not very coherently. I'm not trying to tell anybody 'how to do fandom' and I’m most definitely not vagueposting about any particular incident, person, or group in this fandom. This isn’t a callout post. It’s an I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this and I don’t know what else do with them post.

[yelow-heart]

Welcome twt immigrants or just newcomers o///

Every week a new wave of twt refugees arrive and so I decided to put together a tumblr 101 to keep ur experience the most stress free and safe as possible

So here it goes:

You can delete comments or plain out disable comments from your posts! So much control.

You can also edit your posts. It even was a meme back on the olden days where a post would go viral and then the op (original poster) would change the post to something silly and the reblogers would look like wierdos or dumdums lol

You can disable your asks or make a rule so people can't ask as anonymous

Report spams!! You can even get rewarded for it. But, even so, report it, they get immediately taken down temporarily

The report system work and the tumblr team is very responsible when investigating an account/post. It's not nuance and easy to make. No one will judge you for it, in fact, it's common culture to do so. It's how we battle pornbots, spams, hate blogs etc.

You have full control of your blog! What people can see, what it can show, block hashtags and the whole shbang.

The algorithm works! Only the things that YOU search for and like will be recommended to you. And if something u no longer has interest in shows up? Just click that u don't want anymore and immediately everything u don't want goes away.

There are many famous blogs that are fun to follow, specifically as newcomer, to really get u on the tumblr experience such as: heritageposts, thebootydiaries, hotboyproblems, showerthoughtsofficial, fartgallery, haikubotofficial and many others. These are just the ones I followed when first arrived back in 2016;

Yes, there are celebrities among us but they're just... here. Vibing, chilling. The most famous ones being Neil Gaiman and Taylor Swift. Here they are just people;

You might have noticed a lot of blogs with blue verification badges. Some with 20 of them. Some are rainbow! That's because Tumblr made a parody of the verification mark from twt and it was fcking hilarius. We loved it so much that it's a thing now. U too can feel very important if u want!

It's worth going the trending tags. Sometimes they are broken, but it's mostly memes or important world news stuff that are actually relevant and helpful. It's safe and you'll have a fun time lurking on other people's fandoms. That's actually how I got into some of my fandoms to begin with;

Crabs.

And there we have it! I might have forgotten something, but I not too worried as I know that people might add it later on. 😉

Welcome welcome!! You'll be safe here. No matter who you are you find a community for you here

It's a hellsite, but it's our hellsite

Remembered something:

It's important to have a profile picture and header image. An reblog a few things before following anyone. Or you will be reported because people will think you're a spam bot kkkkkkkkk so do nurture your blog a little bit before venturing into the unknown.

[fayeraa]

see you soon, love..

that was the last thing you said, adding a “be careful, i’ll be waiting for you!”

yes, you would wait for him but would he come back ?

no. he wouldn’t.

but you would still wait for him, patiently, sorrow growing bigger and bigger everyday.

you wanted him to come back, you wanted to believe it. but you already knew the sharp truth and the inescapable end that awaited him.

everything around you was enough to bring his presence ; the photo booth pictures on the vanity table or the ones hanged on the wall ; the toothbrushes, each one from a different color, his, being unused for a long ago now ; his scent, slowly fading away, never going to come back, or the sensation of him.

it doesn’t need to be physical because the most heart-wrenching feeling that you’ll miss, is his comforting and warm hugs on a bad day, his soft humming in the morning, the caresses, the silent stares, but also the pain. The juddering tears flowing through your eyes, followed by his gentle and bolstering touch, seeming to relieve the soreness of you heart.

It hurts. It hurt to admit your fate, but it’s even harder to admit his. None of this will happen ever again.

All the memories are gone with him, and yours are turning into ashes, as the time flies and the ache grows into you, burning the very last part of your being.

To gather him on his grave his a hard task. Having to buy flowers he’d probably bought to you, and decorating his death. Having to go back to home, with no one to welcome you.

Yes, it’s hard, but despite everything, the mourning has to start.

Ace (op), Nanami, Yuuji yes (JJK) and any other dead chars honestly..

feel free to shoot an ask/suggestion/blurb that crosses your mind <3

reblogs are welcome 🫶🏼

[professional-benaddict]

part 19 of the omegaverse au🖤 and previous part by @winterspiderpurrs in the reblog here

everything is being posted on AO3 so follow the story here 🖤

“All right, let’s get started. Calling Doctor Stephen Strange to the witness stand.”

The doctor in question stood up and straightened his suit as he headed up to the wooden witness stand.

Tony had mostly spent the day at court keeping his head down a bit. His lawyers adviced him to try and seem as non-threatning as possible. Luckily, the judge wouldn’t cave into OPS’ lawyers demands to have Tony handcuffed, so he was free to move around.

The shaved patch on Tony’s head had started to grow again, and his scar was mostly covered by hair now, but still a bit pink and soft. He had gotten to shave his facial hair before the trial, so he was back in his beloved goatee. He felt more like himself, but not entirely. He didn’t have much of an appetite, so the suit that Ben and Harley had brought him from home sat a little more loosely on his frame.

The Alphas hands, and whole body frankly, ached for the feeling of having his Omega close. Peter’s scent from behind him gave him some comfort, and hope. As did the fact that Stephen was going up there to defend him. Even if he had a bruised jaw which he could have used to get Tony in prison, easily.

Tony’s lips twitched upwards in a shaky smile as he met Stephen’s eyes from where he now sat on the stand.

The judge had the doctor go through the formalities, stating his oath to speak the truth, then his full name and profession. And, his relation to Tony.

“Tony’s a good friend, an old friend, and now very recently he was also a patient of mine.”

“How did you first meet the defendant?”

“Oh… At a party, when we were in college. Then we started hanging out more and more. We were friends for many years before he even met Peter, and have been ever since. I love their three kids as if they were my own.”

“And then he was your patient?”

“Yes. Tony started showing strange symptoms, changes to his behaviour.”

“What kind of changes?”

Stephen paused a little, looking over at Tony, and the man nodded a little.

“Increased aggression. And protectiveness towards his Omega.”

“And you, Doctor Strange, you were a victim of his aggression, correct? The defendant attacked you, in the hospital.”

Tony nodded towards Stephen again. It pained the doctor to say these things, even if they had all talked it through with the lawyers.

“Yes, your Honor. Peter was having surgery, and there were some complications, so Tony and the boys weren’t getting updates for a while. I went to find out what was going on and came back to tell Tony that Peter was okay, but- but he became upset. He punched me. I didn’t press charges, and I won’t- I told the police and the OPS, because Tony was sick.”

The OPS lawyer, Samson or something, stood up.

“Your Honor, we have Doctor Strange’s statement from that incident, as well as the nurses who were on call. They told us that the defendant had threatened them multiple times, yelling and harrassing them. Even if altercations between Alphas are not our concern, we cannot ignore how the defendant harrassed and threatened the Omega nurses. Who knows how many other Omegas the defendant could hurt if he goes unpunished?”

Tony swallowed thickly and turned to look at Peter behind him. The Omega gave him a sad little smile. He mouthed “it’s okay” and the Alpha felt a bit better.

The lawyers argued back and forth for a bit longer until the judge grew tired of it. He told them to sit down again, and directed another question at Stephen.

“Doctor, I have all the paperwork from the hospital that the defendant shared, as does the jury. We will have time to read through them thoroughly concerning the defendant’s health. But, in your professional opinion, was the defendant sick and does it explain his behaviour?”

“Yes, Tony was sick. The tumor in his brain was releasing excess adrenalin and also messing with his hormones. Tony’s testosterone levels were off the charts, which explains his aggression. But, once I removed the tumor a month ago, Tony has shown no signs of that aggression. He is back to his normal self.” Stephen paused a little, looking over at Peter and the boys on the first row of benches behind Tony and the lawyers.

“A loving father and husband. An Alpha who will protect and love his family and friends, but he would never hurt someone.”

The judge hummed a little, and all eyes were on him.

“Thank you, Doctor. The court will be on break for an hour. Dismissed.”

[crossbackpoke-check]

the world at its beginning, dustin pearson // mosaic, linda pastan [Link to IHL’s Solar Bears connects NHL Draft prospect to Orlando] // Goin' high: Hughes chooses No. 86 with Devils // twice your size, declan mckenna // jeff bassett // blue is beautiful amy but the story is so the '90s, farrah field // what it means to be alive at the time of the resurrection of the dead, michalle gould // Quinn Hughes impresses youngest brother Luke with All-Star play // mozart songbook, joan larkin // siblings, paul klee // closeness lines, olivia de recat // andrew hancock // brother's keeper, young the giant // jason e. miczek // michigan athletics // "he ain't heavy, he's my brother", the hollies // luke hughes can follow brothers as first-round pick at 2021 nhl draft // genesis (from music for the dead and resurrected), valzhyna mort // jack hughes once had his braces 'ripped off his face' in a moment of sibling rivalry //

After Abel, Dante Émile // sportingnews // Cain, José Saramago (trans. Margaret Jull Costa) // Dave Sandford // Kin, Clan and Community in Proto-Indo-European Society, Birgit Anette Olsen // ESPN // Wikipedia // ESPN // Jeff Vinnick // Genesis, Valzhyna Mort // Puckprose // I Cast It Away, My Body, William Bearhart // Puckprose // Cain slaying Abel, Abraham Bloemaert (1590) // NHL // Clive Baker // Puckprose // NHL // Murder Ballad in the Land of Nod, Traci Brimhall // Freep // The Changes of Cain: Violence and the Lost Brother in Cain and Abel Literature, Ricardo J. Quinones // penticton western news // The Book of a Monastic Life, Rainer Maria Rilke (trans. Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy) // "A Brother Named Gethsemane", Natalie Diaz // NHL // NHL // Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on 16 November 1581, Ilya Repin (1883-1885) NHL // Brothers, Dan Pagis (trans. Shirley Kaufman) // Fox News // NHL // NHL // Wikipedia // Fox News // NHL // Cain, José Saramago (trans. Margaret Jull Costa) // Allaboutthejersey // Allaboutthejersey // Jewish Literacy, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

[drconstellation]

First-Order Archangels

Part 2: Foils of War

This post follows on from Part 1: Maybe You'll See An Archangel

In Part 1 of this meta we looked at some parallels between Gabriel and Crowley that were being shown to us in S2. This time we are going to focus on the differences, as well as some parallels between their partners, Beelzebub and Aziraphale.

A foil is a character who contrasts with the protagonist, to highlight or differentiate certain qualities between the characters. Crowley and Gabriel do this because they have come from essentially the same place, and share some story elements, but they still end up in different places.

Lets start with their first meeting in S2.

There's a couple of things about this scene worth noting. The first is Crowley's reaction. In my honest opinion, this is seems a a bit of an overreaction, even considering what happened during the body swap scenes. The reaction is more about something that happened to Crowley himself, not to Aziraphale, and my guess is its something to do with Crowley's Fall. But what exactly happened at that point, I can't say.

The second is the white bust. It does look like it is passing some kind of judgment on Gabriel there, and they are perfectly aligned in the shot-blocking, just as they were aligned over Crowley's shoulders before he turned around and saw Gabriel in the GIF above. (Yep. Go back and take a close look - Gabriel sits on Crowley's right shoulder, and the bust sits right on his left.)

I talked about what it represented here in Part 1 of Gabriel as a Shoulder Angel: S2 Study

This bust is identified in the meta A. Z. Fell & Co. bookshop and its statues by @youryurigoddess as the Head of the Victorious Athlete. The op applies an interpretation in context to Aziraphale but seeing how we get Gabriel posed next to it twice, perhaps we should have a closer look at what it might be trying to tell us about this angel as well. The op says: "The presented athlete is victorious because he’s the epitome of the Platonic Triad of higher Forms: Truth, Beauty, and Excellence, understood in the wider context of the Greek Aretē."

Arete is a nebulous concept, and while it meant one thing in the earlier post it is trying to convey a slightly different message here. Its about combining a number of qualities to live up to your best potential of excellence. Such a person would be displaying the highest levels of strength, courage and wit. Having been confronted with Gabriel unexpectedly, Crowley has just lost his wits and courage - for a moment, at least.

Gabriel, still stripped down and presented to us in a basic, classical style of robing, is dealing with one of the other aspects of arete. "See, told you I looked like a Gabriel," he says, standing on the angelic right-side. Truth is virtue, truth is knowledge, and in arete virtue is knowledge as well.

In vino veritas means "In wine, there is truth." It refers to the fact that people under the influence of alcohol tend to speak without filters.

We've already talked about one meaning for the red horse on the wine bottle Crowley obtains to do some thinking with once he's hit with Nina's comment about people's love lives in S2E5. Yes, everything on that table right there is about love. But if you read all the reblogs on that post-thread, a number of people also mention that red horses are connected to War (as in the third Horseperson of the Apocalypse that didn't happen - their horse, if they had one, is supposed to be red.)

Firstly, the date on the bottle impossibly old for reality (believe me, you will not find a bottle that old in a little cafe like that, not matter where you are) so it is more likely a fictional date to refer us to the year before WWII started, the last peaceful year for most people before widespread war broke out (hmm, a bit of foreshadowing there, maybe?)

Secondly, and more importantly, Crowley pauses to pick up the bottle with the passionate red horse of War* on it to take it with him when he goes to talk to Gabriel.

Oh, I'm not here to make peace, Crowley declares as he enters the room - look at the way he turns the label to face Gabriel as he enters - I'm here to do battle. Isn't that what you wanted, Gabriel?

(If you go back to the scene blocking for the following sequence, you'll notice that Crowley starts on the right-side, the side of Heaven, that wants to re-start and hopefully win the War, but Gabriel, who has changed his mind, is more on Crowley's usual left-side now, wanting peace instead.)

In S1 Gabriel was the one all for starting, or more rather, continuing a war that was never concluded, but now seems to be backing away from that, and Crowley just can't work it out.

The recording of the trial in Heaven gives some explanation as to why, but not the whole reason for Gabriel's back-down on war.

He is removed from the office of Supreme Archangel for the reason of "[refusing] to exercise your celestial authority." I'll come back to this shortly.

On the other hand Crowley will fight on the spot if required but would rather avoid a prolonged war if at all possible. And he doesn't hesitate to lay down his own authority to achieve that. Astonishingly, no one in the bookshop disputes this, and he quickly takes control of the gathered celestial councils.

CROWLEY: Nobody's at war. You idiots sent an idiot to lead a gang of idiots to attack a bookshop. Those idiots there want their Archangel back so they can fire him.

Then:

MICHAEL: [clears throat]If it is to be war… CROWLEY: No, no, no, no, no war. Aziraphale, let's sort this out. Where's the cardboard box?

Crowley gets Gabriel back to his true self, rescues the mortal humans from being turned in pillars of salt, asks Aziraphale to take over from him as he leads Maggie and Nina outside, and kindly remembers to retrieve Mr Brown from wherever he was being held in Hell (he was not killed, Neil commented on a tumblr post he was merely taken to Hell and held in a cell overnight; Crowley just retrieved him from that hell hole.)

(OK, so I had something else here at first but discussion on another post at the time of writing has led me to delete it. The main aim of my argument was to show that Crowley naturally took control of the room to avert war before the Metatron showed up - and no one disputed or objected to it.)

The word "authority" is used multiple times in Ep.6, so there is some emphasis on it being important. Once the demons left, and it was just the angels talking, Michael tried to take over:

MICHAEL: I am authorized to remove the name of anyone who helped Gabriel from the Book of Life. You will never have existed, Aziraphale. In the absence of Gabriel, I am the Supreme Archangel. URIEL: Duty officer.

It wasn't the first time Michael tried to claim the position of Supreme Archangel on their own - with Uriel pushing back - and it brought to mind the famous saying "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." I like to check the exact wording of well-known sayings such as this, because they tend to get misquoted, and I know I myself misremember them, so I was interested to find out the context behind its origin, because I think it offers an insight into one of the cut minisodes for S2 - the one that would have been set in the Vatican. The writer of said quote, Lord Acton, was making a comment on how historians should judge the abuse of power by past rulers, especially popes. Unchecked power tends to lead to abuse of said power. The Metatron arrives to put a check on Michael's grasp on power, but who's keeping a check on the Metatron if God is not talking to anyone at the moment?

Control is something Gabriel feels he has never had, even though he is nominally in charge.

BEELZEBUB: Well, you didn't win. GABRIEL: Tell me about it. Everyone in Heaven is all like, "Well, you're the commander-in-chief, can't you just make the war happen anyway?" Like, I make the rules. BEELZEBUB: [scoffs] That's exactly what my lot said. GABRIEL: Well, it's good to know there's someone who understands. Thank you. It's a pity we'll never speak again.

In S1 when Aziraphale asks Gabriel who summons the Four Horsepeople for the Apocalypse, he doesn't know, and doesn't really seem too phased about it either, as long it happens. And there are a few other times in S1 he just seems to be going with the flow as well.

The trial was probably the first time Gabriel ever got to say "no" to anybody, and ironically he was exercising his celestial authority, even though he was accused of not doing so. Up until then, he'd always been more of a yes-man.

GABRIEL: I told you you could ask. However, I am the only First-Order archangel in the room, or, you know, the Universe, so I'm not gonna answer so much. But you feel free to knock yourself out with all the asking. Anyway, Armageddon the Sequel, that's a nah.

And there is Gabriel also saying no to answering questions!

One thing I've often wondered - can Gabriel's trial offer us a look back at what happened to Crowley before his Fall?

Something, some link between Gabriel and Crowley, is implied when Gabriel states he is the only First-Order Archangel in the room. I'm not just talking about the prince of Heaven comment, but Crowley could have been put through a similar trial before his Fall and shown similar defiance? Who would dare say no to the Metatron?

Crowley has nearly always been ready to say no when necessary, since the very beginning. He said no to killing children, he said no to taking up a Duke of Hell position (so far 😉) and he said no to Armageddon, amongst other things.

The scene down in Hell with the two thrones in S2E1, where Beelzebub offers Crowley "anything [his] nasty little heart desires" has a lot of parallels with the Metatron's offer to Aziraphale and is jam-packed full of other good stuff, but I'm just going to pick out a couple of aspects here, because I promised some Beelzebub-Aziraphale parallels.

One is the implication that Crowley was an equal to Beelzebub when they were both angels when Crowley responds to the threat about the Book of Life.

The two of them sitting together, side by side, reinforces this impression of them being equals of some kind. And just as Beelzebub is an Aziraphale parallel, so Aziraphale is Crowley's equal as well - in the present day. (They're a team, a group of the two of them, an Us.)

But what about when Beelzebub gets up to face Crowley, and leaves the other throne vacant? Hmm.

So we know the second throne was supposed to be for Gabriel, who never arrived. During the course of the series it gets pushed to one side, then disappears altogether, and Beelzebub appears on a cushioned white and gold chair reminiscent of Aziraphale's chair by his desk (see below.)

Ah, on second thoughts, I'm going to leave the rest of what I was going to say here for another meta (sorry!) because it pertains more to speculation about Crowley and Aziraphale in S3. Let's move on...

BEELZEBUB: Do you ever think, wouldn't it just be nice if someone told you what a good job you're doing?

@vidavalor already covered most of this parallel here, but while Aziraphale has Crowley to fall back on, and Crowley is happy to oblige with a few words of - lets not call it a "praise kink," isn't the love language term Words of Affirmation? - now Aziraphale is not reporting to Heaven, Beelzebub hasn't. Well, Demon Josh really isn't the appropriate person to be delivering that, anyway! And part of the problem lies with the next item to be discussed. I'm wondering if Gabriel is going to need to a bit of work in that department.

We need to have a talk about the following exchange between Beelzebub and Shax towards the end of S2E4:

BEELZEBUB: Can you enter the bookshop, without permission? SHAX: Not technically, no. But give me a legion of Hell's finest troops and see what I can do. It's a chance I've been waiting for, Lord Beelzebub. To be clear, you are hereby authorizing me to storm the angel's bookshop, sending wave after wave of demons to besiege it until it falls and capture the Archangel, destroying anything and everything that stands in our way? BEELZEBUB: No. I am not authorizing you to do that. SHAX: Oh. BEELZEBUB: I am commanding you to do it. I want you there, Shax. On the ground. Bravely leading the attack into the bookshop, leading the army of the damned.

I've already mentioned that there is a bit of emphasis on the word "authorize" and "authority" in places in S2, and this is one of them. But here it has a particular context. You need to ask what the difference is between commanding someone and authorizing someone, and it turns out there is a significant difference in meaning. (No, it doesn't mean pulling out a hand-written permit from your back pocket ...)

An authorization is mere official permission for something, but a command is a directive that implies there is a hierarchy in place, and the one giving the command is the one in authority who expects compliance. This was Beelzebub reminding Shax where her place was.

Later, Aziraphale takes command of the bookshop...well, somebody has to. Or, if you don't agree its here, perhaps it will be in S3. He's definitely not at the top of either hierarchy here but this is his domain.

I think I will wrap up this meta with one last example - the two parallels reaching out for their significant others.

There are probably a few more examples that could be discussed, if enough come up in discussion I'll do another post. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this look from a different angel - er, angle.

"Enemies, as well as lovers, come to resemble each other over a period of time." - Sydney J. Harris

*There have a been comments lately on other posts linking Nanny Ashtoresh's name with the ancient goddess Astarte, a goddess of both Love and War, amongst other things.

This meta is part of a series on Gabriel

Gabriel as a Shoulder Angel: S1 Study

S2 Study Part 1: Ep.1 The Arrival and Ep. 2 The Clue

S2 Study Part 2: Ep.3 I Know Where I'm Going and Ep. 5 The Ball

S2 Study Part 3: Ep.6 Every Day

First-Order Archangels Part 1: Maybe You'll See An Archangel

First-Order Archangels Part 3: Seeing Eye to Eye

[mad-scientist-showdown]

By general tags I meant something broad, like "tournament poll", which yes would work perfectly for this, and using it on poll posts only should be fine

As for what shows up when you block a tag and someone reblogs it and puts it on your dash, if OP has tagged it with the blocked tag then it'll be hidden

Thank you so much for being willing to help with this

Thanks that clears everything up! I'll try to share it with as many poll runners as I can :)

Starting now: Hi poll runners! please spread this around: let's all use the same tag in our poll posts: #tournament poll so that people who don't want to see this kind of posts can easily avoid them. It would also make all of the polls easier to find.

@autismswagsummit @besttship @baldguy-fight @aroaceswagcompetition @best-overplayed-song @handsome-girl-competition @pinkhairswagtourney tagging a few blogs but especially @thecompetitionshowdowntournament and @ultimate-poll-tournament because tournament blogs should be following you!

[bossymarmalade]

I generally don’t write much in the way of serious topics on tumblr because I don’t find it a useful platform for that, but I’ve seen a number of posts/talked with mutuals lately about what we’ve been noticing in the erosion of feminist theory and how it’s discussed.

To me the culprit is the nature of tumblr itself. There’s no one stationary place for a conversation; people reblog a conversation that has branched off in a bunch of directions. They argue a point that could’ve been addressed by the OP except the conversation continued without the OP. They end up in places that were never intended.

Add to that: a) the way a pithy phrase captures attention faster than a thoughtful analysis and b) the number of ppl reblogging to point out that their particular group was not specifically taken into account, and you have an attempt at discussion that’s hobbled from the start.

I wish we could have discussions here like we used to on lj/dw but we can’t. So instead any discussion of feminism has its teeth cracked out one at a time with “but men can be abused too” and “what about transmen” and “eyeliner so sharp it could kill a man” and “WOMEN!! She!! Her!!” and look. All of these things have their place in the discussion. 

But when people generally don’t even know what the core tenets of feminism are, don’t understand the kyriarchy, or multiple axes of oppression, don’t understand second- and third-wave feminism, and just choose to make everything binary all over again? Right now in tumblr discourse, either critique of Men is wrong bc it doesn’t take into account these particular men, or All Women are Right All the Time Actually. And neither of these is useful in dismantling what feminism is intended to dismantle.

Feminism is for everyone, yes. But feminism is also an ideology intended to make people uncomfortable with and outraged at the status quo, the kyriarchical messages we grow up with and live under. It’s all right if your feminism isn’t mine, but if yours doesn’t actually stand for anything and is more concerned with empty virtue signaling or pat catchphrases, then does it actually benefit the cause? Or is it just lip service in between nitpicking? Is it just window dressing for oppressive systems? Is it doing those institutional systems’ work for them?

I don’t have any concrete suggestions about this; like I said, I don’t think tumblr as a platform can provide any repair. But who knows. Maybe a bunch of like-minded feminists talking about it more (and by like-minded, I just mean “invested”; the faces of feminism are legion) will help rejuvenate something that’s been pretty good to a lot of us (or at least offered a helpful framework to build our senses of self on). Maybe I’ll go back to talking about feminist topics myself. Maybe that’s not quite a bridge called our backs but it’s more than being the second sex. Maybe maybe may be.

[miscling]

about miscling (v3)

This is a horny blog for horny blog things. Please don't interact if you're a minor/under 18, go away, shoo. if you follow me, make sure to have some indication of your age in your bio or pinned. i will block you if you don't and you'll miss out on *gestures at self* all this.

call me misc! i am a miscellaneous changeling. a fae creature that is also a doll, girl, toy, kitty, and mama. i'm trans, non-human, queer, kinky, subby, poly, autistic, ADHD, and from the UK. i'd like to meet others who are like me to chat with. i'm particularly keen on developing more t4t connections for play and adventures. for the record, i am a post-op trans woman with a cunt.

this blog is all about engaging in kink. i play regularly and post about the play i engage in. i also post about the play i want to engage in, adventures i go on, and about the weirdness around my own self and identity. i love talking about kink and i love talking about doing kink. i post writings about kink, post pictures with kink, and reblog so many kinky posts about so many different kinks. this blog is so much fun for me.

i love getting asks so send me ideas and fantasies and i'll happily bounce off them and write my own takes on them, or name any kink and i'll infodump everything i know or feel about it. i post about hypnokink, dollification and dronification, masochism and tickling, kitty petplay, mommysub play, edging and chastity, CNC, and monsterfucking with a fae preference.

i am an good girl who loves being obedient and getting lots of praise. i'm an exhibitionist, submissive, and easily controlled by others who make me feel safe and appreciated. i am a wonderful toy for others to enjoy and make an excellent pet and plaything.

if you've got this far then like this post, and then send me an ask with your favourite kink or fantasy, a confession, a task, or a question!

Below the readmore: Tags and Links, Limits, and my ask task list!

Tags and links:

About Miscling contains every post that's about me.

You can find pics of me in Miscling Appears. (it's okay to go on a reblogging and liking spree through them) i make original posts under Miscling Rambles and posts about my lactation journey in Miscling Lactates i also make polls, which you can find in my Miscling Polls tag. you can hear my voice in the Miscling Speaks tag and over at my soundgasm page!

You can send me tasks with my ask tasks meme! I will take tasks from literally anyone ^^ you can see tasks I've done here! If you like or follow my blog, think about sending me a task as a little gift!

I learned to edge last year and was broken by a poll I ran to get permission to cum here then here and here. i hope to never cum again without being forced. i can't be forced to cum over the internet. i kept an edging diary for a while and the last time i came was 1feb24.

I love to write, and I especially like to write about kink. Read bits about my play with Miscling Plays and stories I wrote with Miscling Writes.

Use my ask box liberally, anon or not. i'll answer near anything and you can use my ask meme tag and miscling answers to find questions to ask me (scroll the tag and use any meme you like, but copy in the questions or link the meme!)

I have a lovense wishlist (long distance remote vibrators)

I have an amazon wishlist (lingerie and random kink things)

I have a ko-fi link! (please don't reference anything nsfw on kofi if you use this)

I'm trying to tag my kinks so i can find them when i want them, this is no guarantee that i'll tag things though. mommysub for posts about being a mommysub, goddess thoughts for religionplay where i'm a subby goddess, Bind Miscling for bondage, hit me for masochism, moo for hucow things, lee mood for tickling, oh my circuits for robot/drone things, maid day for maids, tidy up tuesday for my maid day, monsterling for monsterfucking posts, hypno gif, spiral, hypno txt, and hypnaudio, for hypno play, and hypnoslut for general hypno posts, preyling for primal play, latexcellent for rubberwear, and as i figure out others i'll add them...

Also, I have some limits:

i have a nest partner, i won't let anything come between us, i also play with a lot of people and i am not looking for anything remotely monogamous.

i do not like misogyny, transphobia, racism, or bigotry. This applies to kink too.

i don't like unearned possessive language, only people i trust can own me

please don't try to make me cum or ask/tell me to

don't call me a bitch or a puppy. i like puppy petplayers a lot, but i am a kitty petplayer.

i should be treated with care and respect, even

sissy blogs dni, i am a woman, do not reblog my pics to your sissy blog, i will block you if i spot you.

Finally:

i am a toy for others to enjoy!

(Most tasks recieved and completed in one day: 18) (Most tasks recieved on a special occasion: 48)

ASK TASKS: OPEN

use my ask box to send me tasks to do! i'd love to entertain and perform for you all! i am a good and obedient girl, and i enjoy getting tasks to do!

choose one or more task emoji and send them to me! include instructions if you send complicated tasks

tasks can come from anyone, even anons!

i'll do tasks as soon as i can! basic tasks i'll do on my own, but i'll need help for the slightly more complicated ones so they might be a little while!

Mutuals can DM me, and if i'm available we'll play ^^

BASIC TASK LIST!

🗜️ make me wear nipple clamps for 10 minutes! 📦 make me wear 10 pegs on my cunt for 10 minutes! 🤚 make me slap my cunt 10 times! ⚡ choose a part of me and make me use my TENS unit there for 10 mins. 🤐 make me gag myself for half an hour! (tell me what kind of gag to use and if I have it I'll use it, otherwise I'll pick) 👗 make me get undressed and be naked for the next 30 mins! ✏️ make me write what you tell me on my body where you tell me! 💖 make me draw a little heart on myself where you tell me! 🌻 make me write about anything that's on my mind at the moment! 🗣️ ask me anything, name a kink or give me a topic to write about (kinky or otherwise) and make me infodump about it. 🔊 send me a post or a write something for me to record saying, and i'll post the recording. 🫴 make me edge for 10 minutes (Send me instructions, porn, a post to edge to, or a mantra to repeat while I do it, you can use my mantra tag for ideas or my spiral tag.) 🕳️ make me plug my cunt for 30 minutes! 💋 make me go practice deepthroating for 10 minutes! 🍇 make me go get a snack and a drink! ❌ make me go take a break outside for 5 mins! 😴 make me go lay down in bed for 15 mins, no screens allowed.

[jellybeanium124]

ngl I fucking hate this post:

yeah coz goyim wouldn't've done shit for the jews (we know this because they didn't) and non-japanese people wouldn't've done shit for japanese americans (we know this because they didn't), but what happened to japanese americans and what happened to the jews is not equivalent and op should fucking know this, but holocaust denial is fucking trendy these days. another person also added links in a reblog that looked like:

THEY WERE NOT FUCKING CONCENTRATION CAMPS!!!!!! WE GAVE THEM A DIFFERENT NAME BECAUSE THEY WERE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. wikipedia says we should call them "concentration camps" but wikipedia editors are notoriously antisemitic and I think giving them the same name is ludicrous and leads to completely incorrect ideas about these two different situations.

I'm not saying japanese people didn't suffer. I'm not saying they didn't face discrimination. I'm not saying they were treated well in the internment camps. you know how many people died in the internment camps? 1,862 (according to wikipedia). ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO. that is 0.003% of the number of jews that died in the holocaust. these were not places where people were sent to work until they died. or GASSED ON ARRIVAL. I look at the pictures of people in the internment camps and they are not dirty and skeletal like the people who were liberated from the concentration camps in europe. there were schools and sports teams (yes the schools were wildly understaffed and underfunded). 4,000 students were able to leave to go to university. 5,981 babies were born (all wikipedia again). no the living conditions were not humane. just because the people didn't look like skin stretched over skeletons like holocaust survivors did doesn't mean they had enough food. I'm not fucking saying these were good or human conditions to live in. I'm not saying that the us government did anything less than a fucking travesty. but it is not on the same god damn level as the genocide of the jewish people, and equating them is disgusting and wrong.

stop fucking comparing everything to the holocaust. shut the fuck up if you think it is at all comparable to the japanese internment camps. goyim on this website shut the fuck up about the holocaust in general unless you are prepared to give me a comprehensive timeline of how the shoah occurred, from 1933 to 1945, with a prologue explanation of the millennia long history of antisemitism in europe, the middle east, and north africa. if you don't feel confident you can do that for me keep your goddamn mouth shut and listen to jews.

[yawnderu]

I only have the courage to ask this because it is a good 1:30AM as I am writing this and the sleep deprivation is hitting me hard so I am sorry that you have to suffer through my ramble

Anywho, I think we should encourage more people to make COD OCs because it is so fun to see how people would interpret how their OC would react with the in game characters. I feel like most people do not one to do it due to the stigma associated with it and self inserts but OCs can be so fun

For example, I want to know more about Stray and learn everything I can but that may just be my Autism and my hyperfixation on talking about OCs I find interesting. I remember reading the post you had done for her after you reblogged it and it made me want to redo the biographies I had done for my two major COD OCs as I just loved it

We also need more trends for OCs. When I get round to posting about mine I want to try and make a trend where other creators can post ideas about skins their OC or self insert would have if they were in multiplayer since I myself love thinking of outfit designs as they can show so much of the OC's personality. Or a trend where we get to see OC voice lines if they were in the games and voice lines of them talking to other characters as I love when OCs have beef with the in game characters as it is just so fun

Since imagine if Stray and König had a matching skin set similar to how König and Horangi have a matching skin set

I just wanted to bring it up to you because you are one of the only few creators I follow that have a COD OC and I thought you may like a ramble. As you can probably tell I have a love for learning and talking about OCs, mine and others

Also for the ask game I want to know the answer to question 11 as I love hearing about OCs and their weapons especially if they customise their weapons

Have a good night wherever you are and please get some rest and I apologise about this ramble

I was literally laying in bed watching Naked and Afraid but this got me so excited that I got back on my PC to answer BHJEHBKEFKJHB

Yes yes!! I'd absolutely love to see more people creating their COD ocs, I have quite a lot of fun creating mine. OCs are definitely a lot of fun, you're basically creating a character from scratch AND you get the choice to make them look and act the way you want, as well as giving them any backgrounds and relationships you could possibly want!!

You can ask me anything about Stray!! I absolutely adore talking about my OCs, that also includes K-9, though I haven't made an official Military Personnel Profile for her yet!

AHHH yesyes!! Especially the skins would be interesting to see since the military has quite a lot of regulations, but I adore seeing characters in more casual clothes and what they'd dress like normally, little details such as masks and even weapon attachments could give them so much charisma.

Funny thing about the voice lines thing!! I was actually planning on making that for Stray since I have a professional microphone, but I got kinda lazy on creating voice lines to do the VA work HBJEFBHJ

Ahhh absolutely!! Even if it's something small, she definitely enjoys matching with König, so I can imagine her wearing a similar mask or maybe even a mask created by him because at the end of the day, they're spec ops and they need to maintain their privacy.

Question 11!!

What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it? As it is used by both the German and British military, her weapon of choice is the AWM sniper, as it has a pretty precise and effective firing range. Although with the 141 she doesn't get the chance to be a sniper much and has become more hands-on, she used to work with the AWM quite a lot back in the German military and after being recruited as a KorTac member.

You too!! Don't apologize, I absolutely adore talking about my OCs and as someone who's also autistic, this itched a special part of my brain<333

[damnfandomproblems]

To 4992

Alot of people in the reblogs are missing the point.

OP isnt saying no one can write the things they are complaining about.

Regardless of if they were or not, the points op has made and "do what you want forever" are both things that can and should co-exist.

Everything has become about representation now. Ive realized this alot more recently due to my own planning to make an original game with an original story. Everytime i think about an OC of mine i always have to remind myself to take a step back and ask myself if this character is actually interesting or if they are starting to exist solely as a representation checkbox for people that think they matter too much.

Its hard. Its grown so prevalent to just react to things and care only about these certain things, that ive found myself, everytime i think of something story, character, lore, setting, ect. I begin to think about how certain people would react to it and automatically try to change it. And i do that without realizing thats what im actually doing and at some point i just realize.... Wow this is so tiresome. This is not what i wanted this to be like at all. This has become something else entirely due to made up "problems" hypothetical people might have and i no longer enjoy this.

And in a way its a good thing. Now that i realized my mistake i can learn from it and know what i should not do

But a lot of other people dont realize this. They want to make stories like what OP has described because they think they have a moral obligation to do so. Because its what will get them views and praise. And if they dont do it "right" they risk being shunned or worse harrassed and driven out entirely... Sometimes out of living too.

Yes you can right whatever you want. But you also cannot deny that it's become "write what you want, so long as it contains *things we like* written in a way we don't find offensive or else you can rot in a ditch" because we all know how much the fandom purity police actually care about letting people do whatever they want in fiction.

To fandom these days, if your fan works dont fit some kind of agenda then you may as well not make anything at all.

And if you cant see the problem in that then you are most likely part of the people perpetrating the problem

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[chipped-chimera]

I enter the cyberpunk 2077 tag. I see a post about the game not being 'punk' because of all the triple A gaming company typical shit 'means it's not punk'. I roll my eyes so hard I exit the tag.

Points, context, rebuttal, whatever beloooow (I am not reblogging post because I don't want to attract hate to OP, but I am writing this cause I'm sick of seeing it).

Yeah triple A dev treatment fucking sucks. It sucks CDPR vowed to do different and didn't but that is missing a bunch of context. Here comes the context -

I've been following CDPR since about 2010-ish. They've always held onto older era gaming attitudes and respect their consumers. I guess in a way they were still made for an older era around the Cyberpunk release for the following reasons.

They shot themselves in the foot with their own marketing. Hiring a big name may have done that. If you look at the teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 on announcement it basically says release date wise 'its done when it's done'. Being part of that older era they want to put out a COMPLETE game. Well tested. They came from a time where game updates were a LUXURY and that's why I trusted them to release a good product.

Marketing however got so big that it exited the realm of core fans and into the general public (derogatory). When they announced another delay, I was chill. I trusted them. Shit takes time man, whatever it takes to make it good AND treat your employees well bro. General public however was out for blood, sending death threats, pulling preorders.

There's this fine line you have to tread in marketing. Too little hype, no one knows about your product. Too much hype, you skyrocket expectations. Hype at the wrong time - you end up peaking at the wrong moment and end up losing momentum for release. You can see the conundrum here. They were arguably in the skyrocketed expectations and the losing momentum risk region.

So they did crunch time for release. In a way they had to. I mean sure they could have been 'punk' like OP suggested and said fuck you to the non-core fanbase but unfortunately punk doesn't pay bills. It doesn't keep the lights on. It doesn't keep your employees employed. It doesn't stop them from getting sent death threats for a delay.

So they rushed it out, it bombed. That sucked BUT it brought them peace. Because while everyone was making fun of them and quickly forgetting about it to go laugh at the next bomb of the month - it meant they could actually get onto fixing/finishing their game because people like ME knew them. It wouldn't be left as is. Also let them work at a less insane pace.

I started playing it (I finally had a PC that could handle it) right before the Edgerunners release and the public reboot. It was a fucking. Solid. Game. I studied game design and if I didn't get sick and had to stop this game would have been my goddamn final paper. There are so many good choices narratively and mechanically to the point you can't separate the two. It was everything I expected.

They worked hard to get there. We currently live in an era where entertainment is treated like fast food and people can be fucking incoherent when they're told to have patience. Why do you think so many games release in a scuffed state? Why do you think this new 'redemption arc' story in the game industry has become increasingly common? Because Devs keep getting sent DEATH THREATS just for doing work. That's fucking insane. No wonder they're working overtime and sleeping at the office because the general public has turned gamedev into an industry that basically uses psychological torture as a whip to get your game out 'on time'.

Yes there are absolutely horrible triple A gamedev companies, usually under the stable of a larger company (EA, Activision etc. take your pick) but CDPR ain't that. In my eyes their hand was forced.

You know what is punk? Going with a little, 'unpopular' (basically not DnD) ttrpg written by a black man and building a new IP and experience from it - AND having him on board and getting his active input during development. Because dear lord current media in general seems to be allergic to taking risks and new IPs.

You know what else is punk? Releasing free DLC updates that would be a micro transaction otherwise (no I am not talking about Phantom Liberty and I argue that's an 'expansion' though I guess no one uses that word now) and putting the goddamn pdf of the ttrpg handbook they based it off with the game download. Putting stickers in physical releases (going by my witcher experience), giving you goddamn HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES of in game posters to print for yourself FOR. FREE. No one DOES THAT anymore.

Also arguably putting out Cyberpunk is punk just in the narrative it tells in the goddamn first place - especially in the current climate, but I think I've made my point here.

Also my last point, in big letters because it's driving me fucking insane:

CYBERPUNK. IS. A. GENRE. A GENRE. THEY DID NOT INVENT CYBERPUNK. BLADE RUNNER. NEUROMANCER. ALTERED CARBON. IT'S A GENRE. THE PUNK ELEMENT IS IN THE NARRATIVE. IT'S NOT SOME KIND OF 'STATEMENT' ABOUT THEMSELVES, IT'S A GENRE AND ALSO THE LITERAL TITLE OF THE TTRPG THE THING WAS BASED OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Anyway I'm sick of seeing CDPR being thrown under the bus and being treated in ways that will actively end up affecting future development. I really, really hope they haven't been too affected but if they end up feeling forced into modern day gamedev cycles and all the bullshit that goes with it ... well I know why.

And it starts with people who spout shit like this.

[idoodlestuffsometimes]

Brother's Keeper AU:

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How did Caleb live so long? How can he still be here after 400 years?

A: Belos wanted him to stick around and so he made it happen. As for specifics: *shrugs* your guess is as good as mine! This is something I've preferred to leave up to the readers. I will simply confirm that he isn't hiding any goop powers or OP palisman-given magical abilities. He is, for all intents and purposes, a regular human who is somehow really, really old.

Q: If Caleb is still alive, where did Hunter come from?

A: The full story here hasn't been told yet, but you may notice Caleb is missing quite a few bones...

Q: Caleb's ears are pointed! Did Belos cut them??

A: Correct

Q: Does Caleb know about the Collector/the basilisks/Belos' plans?

A: Probably! He's been Belos' sounding board for 400 years. Access to things that could "further corrupt him" or provide him a tool for escape, however, are off limits, so there are many things, like the Collector, that he's heard about but never seen for himself.

Q: Where's Flapjack/Amity/Darius/etc?

A: This is basically a canon divergence. If you haven't seen a particular character, it's safe to assume for now that they're up to whatever they were doing in canon.

Q: I don't get it. Why is Caleb insane?

A: I suggest you reread the first few story posts, my friend! You have fallen for Belos' lies.

Q: Do you have a posting schedule? When will the next part come out?

A: There is no posting schedule. I draw (mostly but not always) traditionally in my free time, for the fun of telling a cool story, and some posts are longer than others. That means the timing of the next post depends on how long it is, how much time I have, and whether or not I'm at home with access to my scanner. Sometimes this means I post quickly. Sometimes it means you'll see me next month. Sorry about that.

Just know that if I know there's going to be an extended wait, especially one where I'm not actively working on the next drawing, I will make an announcement about it. If you haven't seen an update in a while but I also haven't said anything, it's almost definitely because I'm actively chipping away at a part of the story that's taking me longer.

Q: Why do some of the story posts have a letter after the number? Are these less important than the regular story posts? Can I skip them?

A: No, I Do Not Recommend skipping them! They are just as important as the others. They have a letter on the end because they were added later and I use letters as a way to avoid renumbering everything. If you see story posts labeled something like "3, 3A, 4", they are meant to be read the same as you would if they were "3, 4, 5".

Q: Can I make art/fic/cosplay of this au?

A: Knock yourself out! If you post it somewhere, please include credit, but otherwise I don't mind, and actually love seeing what you do with it! If it's NSFW though, please keep it in appropriate spaces with proper warnings.

Q: Wait there's fic/fanart?? Can I see?

A: If you look through the tag on my blog "BK fridge gallery" you can browse any content shared with me that I've reblogged. :) People are free not to share it with me too though, and there are some I don't reblog, especially if its gorey or suggestive, so you might be able to find a bit more elsewhere under the Brother's Keeper AU name if you look for it.

You may also notice I have a featured tag called "BK Soundtrack." That's for songs that people have suggested to go with the AU. You are welcome to browse or suggest songs of your own ;)

Q: :( I sent an ask but you didn't answer. Did you get it?

A: Probably, yes. Sometimes it takes me a few days to get to it. However, if it was theorizing about future plot points, I may actually be holding onto it with plans to answer at a more appropriate time. I like to keep many of my plans for the story close to the chest, so don't be surprised if your theory ask disappears only to show up many months later when the story has progressed to a point where I can give you a more in depth answer.