#also that plus how the show gets so much shit for nOt ResPectInG thE SourcE MatERiaL

[endiness]

me, when fics have all of the witchers in them but meanwhile coen ~mysteriously doesn't exist:

[mana-jjk]

BEATS VIOLENTLY ON THE SITE

i think toge was so happy to have the first-years join them 🥺 after yuuta left, i think he feels a little empty not being able to take care of him. so when the first years join they might not fill that void but they definitely act as a bandaid I PROMISE YOU

megumi likes to say that the only upperclassman he can openly respect is yuuta, but i think he has a soft spot for toge. he’s silly, and sometimes megumi has to do that emo kid thing where he forces himself not to smile because that would be losing the war. but more than anything, i think toge is one of the few that actively shields the first-years and tries to protect them. he tore his throat to shreds trying to protect megumi from hanami, but he also immediately stepped in when todo was giving him shit. and the fact that megumi is fluent in his safe words and understands him so well tells me that he’s known him for a long time so i just think !! little kid megumi practicing sign language by himself and then acting like he’s known it forever and it’s just by chance really ! but toge knows <\3

we haven’t gotten much yuuji and toge interactions but i INSIST they are cooking buddies who delight trying new recipes together. everyone else? incapable in the kitchen. yuuji and toge? certified chefs that have repeatedly talked shared recipes and methods together. i also think yuuji reminds toge of yuuta if yuuta was somewhat mentally stable, could sleep for more than 30 minutes, and wasn’t the shyest boy you’ve ever seen. knowing what it feels like to be a danger to your loved ones is so awful but it’s something they can share. plus toge cares so much about not letting yuuji know about his arm it makes me so ☹️ he’s so caretaker coded it physically hurts. but yuuji also sees him as so reliable, just like yuuta in his first year. i can imagine sometimes he sounds just like him when he’s gushing and praising toge during training that it almost feels like he’s there. toge is also a good source of physical contact. the other first-years ‘tolerate’ him (they love him but can’t show it) and maki would sooner kick him. panda is tolerant but it’s like hugging a stand-up mascot. so toge who ruffles their hair, bumps their shoulders together, and gives them gentle high-fives is like a balm over an open wound.

nobara… do not get me started here i swear to god they are so bestie coded and i died reading the light novel. i think they get so excited about fashion together because everyone else is boring and they make maki and yuuta come to dress them up, clap over their fits, and carry their bags. nobara always says that toge can do better than eyebags, but inwardly she’s just happy to see him happy and secretly looks up to yuuta too. she cares so much about toge’s opinion and he hypes her up and looks after her self-esteem. she felt so guilty getting toge hurt but he didn’t even hesitate !! she also started off not understanding a thing he said but ended up understanding him so well that everyone was surprised 🥺 and it always tears me apart that he stopped her from killing that guy so she wouldn’t have to live with it. especially with little hints from canon that suggest he’s either hurt or killed someone before. maki is 100% her favorite person ever because they’re girlfriends and they kiss, but toge is a close second because they’re besties. they gossip together and are on speed dial and watch crappy reality shows. toge is one of the first people she was vulnerable with and i think he reminds her a lot of saori and it GUTS ME.

then yuuta comes back and after spending so much time thinking about him as a first-year and then taking care of the other first-years, toge expects everything to go back to how it was. except it doesn’t, because yuuta is not only bigger now but he’s stronger too. he comes back, a head and a half taller and it’s a struggle to convince him that no toge doesn’t need to be taken care of that’s his job ?? toge stumbles and suddenly yuuta’s hand is on his arm, toge cooks dinner and yuuta already put his plate on the table and washed the dishes, toge takes a hit for him and not even a breath later he’s being carried like he weighs nothing. and it’s hard to deny him and it’s hard to push away because no one has ever treated him that gently before. like he wasn’t dangerous, like he was something precious. he still has the first-years to take care of, and yuuta was still the same pathetic boy in a lot of aspects. but when he was awake with phantom pains and nightmares, yuuta was there to soothe the worst of it and remind him that there was still a future for him, that he was worthy of being cared for, worthy of living, worthy of being happy.

y’all i have so many thoughts it HURTS someone ask me something before i explode

[stardust-moth]

Hey there! What's your take on why Mike keeps his eyes open and just limply stands there when El kisses him at the end of ST season 3? Bylers claim it's because Mike doesn't love her and idk about that... that definitely wasn't my read. But I recently rewatched the whole show, and I can't really figure out what that moment is supposed to convey?? Like, watching that scene, there isn't the feeling of a great love being fulfilled, or of grief at losing her to the move. He just kind of seems... idk, confused? Perturbed? idk! I can't wrap my head around what I'm supposed to take away from that moment!

Ok. I almost didn't bother writing out a long, detailed post about this, because it's one of those things that (in my mind) shouldn't need to be explained, since (to me) it's presented so clearly in the source material already. So much of this show is so wildly misinterpreted all the time these days and it's getting to be exhausting-- half the time my reaction is just:

BUT! Why would I ever pass up an opportunity to yap about my favorite things, namely my dear my son my boy Michael Wheeler??

So! Let's consider all the context pieces going on here, shall we?

Things we know about Mike:

Struggles to say the Big L Word in general. Feelings are big and scary. (This is not a new concept, mind you. It's a very common romance trope. It's also a real thing that real people struggle with, especially among men and boys. Remember the cultural setting, everybody.)

he has low self-esteem and Big Insecurities about the validity of his feelings and his relationship with her (insecurities which are constantly reinforced by the people around him)

he is ALWAYS visibly startled/surprised when ANYONE expresses that they care about him to ANY extent (surprised that his mom empathizes with him and isn't angry about staying home from school when his best friend is missing, surprised when Dustin points out that he and Lucas are close best friends, surprised that Nancy runs out to hug him and says she was worried about him, surprised that El doesn't judge him for being bullied and says she understands, surprised when she tells him she was listening all 353 days, surprised when she tells him she missed him at the pizza shop, surprised when Will tells him that he's the glue that holds the party together and that they all need him, surprised when Karen goes on a mom tirade about how she was worried sick and never wants to let him go far away ever again, etc etc etc... idk what you expect at this point)

here, he is clearly bracing himself for saying goodbye and putting on nonchalant fronts to protect himself from experiencing that grief again (see my pinned post for more in-depth analysis of why Mike is scared of his feelings)

Also take into account: 

He TRIED to tell her he loves her in the supermarket, like really genuinely tried, but they were interrupted by ALL the shit hitting the fan. There is a LOT going on!! El's powers are gone and no one knows why! She's grieving the loss of her father! She's about to move across the country to somewhere entirely new and unfamiliar! Mike doesn't want to be selfish right now given what she's going through, making such a move now would be pretty tactless, and he's trying so hard to be a good respectful boyfriend (after literally everyone told him off for things like caring too much/spending too much time with her). Plus, if she doesn't reciprocate, well then fuck, some of his last moments with her will be stained by disappointment and guilt and awkwardness. And if she does reciprocate, well then fuck, now that just makes this goodbye even harder for both of them.

So yeah. He's fuckin shook. And, like the awkward noodle he is, Mike is slow to process it.

There are SEVERAL emotions going on right now-- the most apparent one being shock/surprise/confusion. Of course it's massively validating to hear "I love you, too", the same way it's massively validating to hear her say "I understand" and "I heard". But whatever happy feelings it brings are definitely overshadowed by the sinking realization that despite it all, he's still losing her. They still have to go separate ways. Remember that while we the audience know they're all going to come back to Hawkins and be reunited by the end of the story, the characters don't know that. As far as anyone knows in this moment, they're moving away for good. (And btw, distance is a lot bigger of a deal when methods of communication are limited-- remember the setting, everybody!! No instant messaging!! Letters take weeks to mail, no way to see each other's faces except through mailed photographs, only one landline phone per household and you have to factor in time zones and family members' working hours... long-distance relationships are hard now, imagine how hard they would be for teenagers in 1985!!)

Bottom line: He wasn't expecting her to say it. He wasn't prepared to hear it now. He wasn't ready for it to be such a mix of hurt and happy all at once. All he could do is stare in awestruck bewilderment.

His first love, the most important person to him in the whole world, truly reciprocates his feelings. And he's about to lose her forever again.

Unfortunately Finn's face is kind of obscured from view during a lot of the actual kiss, which can understandably make it hard to read, but he is most definitely kissing her back-- it's very hesitant and subtle compared to El's confidence, but he does lean in to meet her.

Every single indicator (in the music, the blocking/camera work, etc) is purposefully framing this scene as a positive moment and the resolution to their relationship arc for the season.

Further conflict and further resolution that we see in S4 supports/confirms this as the correct interpretation. His confession monologue spells it all out word for word for christ's sake.

Narratively, the scene would make ZERO sense if that was meant to be a negative reaction. Their romance subplot goes through all the story arc steps and all the buildup, why would it fall so flat right at the final piece of the resolution? That would just be poor writing. (And frankly, that entire take is evidence of poor media literacy and comprehension. You just... you can't cherry-pick the details, guys, I'm sorry.)

If that kiss was meant to be a nail in the coffin, a realization that everything that the story has established and everything these two characters have expressed thus far is, in fact, not so... then we wouldn't have seen a moment like this with such intimacy right afterwards:

Tell me you can't read his face now. He's in tears and clinging to her. That is heartbreak! And just by looking at how she touches his face and presses their foreheads together, you can tell she feels it too and understands.

So yeah, that's my take on it. I hope this provides some clarity! <3

PS, on a lighter note, allow me to present to you a directly comparable confused-open-eyed kiss scene that absolutely NO ONE questions:

[vashti-lives]

My unpopular and uninteresting mandalorian season 3 opinion is that Bo Katan is fun and I don't hate the thought of a Din/Bo romance. Its not my favorite but I actually prefer it over the show writers clinging so tightly to the status quo, which is what they did for all of season 2 and what it looked like they were going to keep doing for season 3. I suspect it won't happen, but I wouldn't be mad if it did.

My unpopular but potentially more interesting hot take is that I don't think the Children of the Watch's actual behavior shows many signs of actual destructive cult shit and people's reaction to them as if they were a harmful cult is purely based on a) the line of a character who is clearly unreliable and has an axe to grind* and b) all the aesthetics that make them uncomfortable.

*and again I like Bo Katan, but she's not an unbiased source here.

When you look at their actual behavior? The first thing that happens is that Din shows up with a baby Jedi, the Armorer recognizes him as Jedi, and tasks Din with returning him to his people EVEN THOUGH the Jedi have been at odds with the Mandalorians for centuries. They must return him to his people, it is the morally correct thing to do, and they believe this SO MUCH that they straight up sacrifice everything to make it happen. They could just commit a little light cultural genocide and say, oh the Jedi are gone so he's a Mandalorian now. But they don't! Some of them straight up die to help a child OF THEIR ENEMY. I can tell you right now that fundie christians would fucking never. Even Paz Visla, who is constantly clashing with Din, is on board with helping the baby.

And yeah, the whole exile thing once Din removes his helmet sucks, and is definitely the closest they get to really negative cult-y behavior but even that kind of falls apart under a closer look. Like, even after Din is considered apostate he is allowed 1) to keep his ENTIRE SUIT of beskar armor even though it both has SIGNIFICANT religious value AND actual monetary value 2) KEEP THE FUCKING DARKSABER and 3) to take a fucking-- again beskar-- CHAIN MAIL BABY ONESIE for Grogu even though as far as they know Grogu is a Jedi now. Plus the task the armorer gives to Din is so easy its literally accomplished in one episode. I kinda low key think she knew the mines were accessible already and only said they weren't as a test.

Then once he left he was pretty clearly still in contact with them because the covert in season 3 is really obviously not located where Din shows up in BoBF. Like... this is not how being shunned from the group looks in fundie christian circles.

Once Din completes the task and proves it he's back in, no questions asked, no recriminations, no guilt trips. Not only that but Bo Katan is welcomed as well even though we know that previously the armorer knew of her and did not like or respect her. Bo Katan completed the ritual and that alone was enough. And yeah, she's in a vulnerable place right now that might make this sketchy but the invitation is extremely straightforward, includes immediately the fact that she can leave at any time, there's no reason to believe they know about the night owls leaving her, and they absolutely don't know her home has just been blown up.

They are absolutely pretty fanatical and aren't perfect by any means but I think a lot of the really negative impression people in fandom have about them is not actually supported by their actions in the show. This is a group of people that have been deeply traumatized by genocide and are reacting to it in perhaps unhealthy but honestly very logical ways. The DnD alignment chart has its issues but its hard not to see them as really hardcore lawful good here.

Also, although there's less textual evidence for this, I very strongly believe that they are a splinter group from Death Watch that left for moral and religious reasons, probably including rejecting the practice of kidnapping and indoctrinating children. (And I don't know how much of the legends backstory they're going to keep for Bo Katan but uh... yeah not an unbiased source of information about Children of the Watch IMO.)

Also I am aware that there are fundamentalist religious groups that aren't christian but since most of the fandom is western/American that's what I see people pull from the most and Children of the Watch are one million percent more ethical and less hypocritical than even the most mainline of evangelical christians are, let alone the ultra fundie groups.

[aquilamage]

Looks to the Moon is such a good character and I love them so much.

cue ten miles of rambles <3:

you're playing a game where you (the player, and the character) are thrown into a world that is unfamiliar and frightening and all the other beings are at best neutral but mostly want to make you dead. It's a lot. So to give you someone who is safe is such a relief and a comfort! It's a really good game design choice for endearing you to them instantly and also for making everything else a little more bearable.

(It makes me think of how hk did a similar thing with cornifer and quirrel being a nice reprieve from the stress of the game every time you ran across them, except instead of a random (at least the first time you play) moment you stumble on every so often Looks to the Moon is a safe base to return to. If rain world had a more easily useable (and non-limited) fast travel system I'd be playing it like my first albw playthrough where I went back to visit Ravio at the end of literally every play session)

Plus the fact that they're a loredump character is. mwah! extra nice on top of that

And then on top of the mechanical endearment her character is so good! She's your friend!!! they're so niceies!!!!! getting to see them greet me every time I show up is so!!! Like for sure some of it is the fact that you're the only one who visits and listens to them etc but everything in the way they act suggests that would be the case anyway

and their enthusiasm with the pearls and the fact that they give you the cutest little term of endearment about bringing them!!!!!

"Big Sis Moon" is soooo good and important because not only does it say that she's the kind of person you would call that affectionately but also that she had at least one person who called her that! a sibling! a loving affectionate connection!

but they're also not just nice and nothing else! I really really like the fact that they're very firm about boundaries and such while still being polite. Obv with the neurons (if you touch one they ask you to stop either verbally or with the overseer if you can't understand yet, and she then says that if you do that again she won't talk to you. I've never tested touching one again and saving but I don't doubt she would go through with it) although I don't count that as much because that's like. mega-serious situation version.

But also like with the pearls there's some instances of not wanting to read/discuss contents of one. And in one of the Sky Islands pearls they have a bit where they're just like "please be respectful when speaking of the Void Sea" and then move on. Idk it's a very nice touch.

plus of course the iconic bit from the Wall pearl where they're like "none of us miss the ancients. they were like if parasites were also annoying." It's surprising and hilarious because it's just so extremely mean in comparison to anything they've ever said before and I love that.

firstly because of an admittedly very me thing of feelin like 'the fact that she's always nice better not be a weird Gender writing thing going on.' But also like. As I said before I think it's funny when the nice character has a Very Rude Outburst moment ("we have saved your life before, you witch" anyone?).

PLUS just. The Ancients suck so much and were terrible to the Iterators and Looks to the Moon has so much shit that's happened to them. She deserves to be mean about it one time! She mentions several times about other Iterators having frustration and anger about the everything and while I can definitely believe that she's less like that I also believe that there's gotta be at least some of that there for her too! So of course it's gonna leak out at some point!

and the fact that they immediately follow it up with the 'I'm sorry, that was disrespectful' says sooo much too. Not just that they're nice and polite and trying not to break that but also like. their personal views on the Ancients which might have been a source of conflict with some of the other iterators

adn then switching to something else: the tragedy of their situation with being broken down and helpless and isolated and her relief at being helped! but also leaving me wondering if it really is a kindness when you abandon them with the ending and they're basically in the same state but with a slightly better memory of what's going on and there's nothing more you can do.

the ending line of the dialogue about the pearl in their area being, after all the background information of everything that happened with Sliver of Straw, "I make the case that maybe she should be allowed to rest in peace now." It's compassion on her end but also deeply sad to hear and like. maybe it's just me but I feel like there's something else there that either I'm not grasping or we just aren't given the full information for.

the drainage system pearl about the Ancients thinking that trying and effort was bad and the iterators being for offloading that and Looks to the Moon ending with "I know I have tried very hard." like fucking!!!!! rip out my heart and stomp on it why don't you! that would hurt less! it's but one of the many ways the ancients were messed-up with how they treated the Iterators but that specific statement is so personal!!! AUGH!

...Despite how Much I've said here I still feel like I'm forgetting something Important but of course idk what it would be. But yeah Looks to the Moon is The Character ever so cool so stunningly pretty their voice is so cute and I love her.

[talkingpointsusa]

Debunking the Utah Furry Protest and Tim Pool's extremely stupid take on the Utah Furry Protest

Yeah, this is an important news story. Deeply deeply important (source: Tim Pool on YouTube)

Tim Pool is freaking out about furries, yes really. Unfortunately for society at large he's also pushing the debunked claim that there are litterboxes in multiple school bathrooms for children who identify as cats. Lets get into it.

00:00, Tim Pool: "A video appeared on YouTube, it was picked up by LibsofTikTok, students were protesting at a school in Utah over furries, people who dress up like cartoon animals, in their school."

So, what's going on here is that 75 students and parents at a school in Utah went on a protest due to a change.org petition called "Students for Humans at School, not animals aka furries". The protesters allegations of students scratching them and litterboxes in the bathrooms line up perfectly with a lot of right-wing rumors about public schools.

I don't believe for a minute that there are litterboxes in the bathroom of this middle school or that there was any scratching or biting. If that's true, every single student in that school has a cellphone equipped with a camera. How come no photos of the litterboxes have been published? Hell, how come there are no photos of students with scratch marks or bite marks? How come nobody has filed a report with the local police?

According to the school board, this protest started after a message to the parents that was sent out after a bunch of kids wearing headbands were bullied by another group of students. This email encouraged respect for everyone and was generally pretty inoffensive, however it led to rumors of furries spreading around the school, probably by the kids doing the bullying in the first place. I seriously doubt that a school in an extremely conservative state like Utah would go to the effort of setting up litterboxes for what would at most be two or three students. There could be a grain of truth in this story in of that some kid could have worn cat ears to school and maybe batted or hissed at someone but the story of how this school was taken over by furries and the school put in litterboxes in the bathrooms to accommodate them does not make much sense. Plus, it seems likely that a lot of the parents were probably more or less driving the bus on this protest and regurgitating talking points they heard on shows like Tim Pool.

When you listen to what these kids and parents are saying there's a lot of speculation and not a lot of direct testimony. "Oh, I heard another kid got bit by one", "I heard there was licking and biting", etc. That's not concrete evidence and this whole protest lacks that concrete evidence that a news story needs for any serious journalist to give it their attention.

00:31, Tim Pool: "I don't know that there are actually litterboxes in the bathrooms-"

Really? Because the title of your video sure does!

00:32, Tim Pool: "But at this point I've personally been told that this has happened by someone who is a firsthand witness - not at schools though, I'll explain that story."

Yeah, my back is already raised high in the air here. Not only is this another one of Tim's stories starring his unnamed friends that he never seems to be able to interview on camera but it apparently isn't even related to schools.

Tim Pool has so many unnamed friends that if you take what he's saying at face value you'd easily draw the conclusion that this guy is the single most popular guy in the universe. I already covered Tim's extremely believable and not at all suspicious story of him "owning a lib" at a poker game but this is something that he does so often. It's the journalistic equivalent of a 7 year old boy bragging to kids on the playground about his girlfriend in Canada that you can never meet. "Just trust me bro" isn't a source, it's talking shit.

00:42, Tim Pool: "Joe Rogan said a friend told him that their kids school did this."

Great, more of this broken telephone my friends cousins dog told me that this is true bullshit. Also, Joe Rogan admitted that his litterbox claim was false. Interestingly enough you don't hear people like Tim Pool bringing that part up.

00:47, Tim Pool: "Now we have students, several dozen, saying this happened. I do not believe there is an organized conspiracy theory, it's possible that there are rumors, I can only say that for myself."

Has Tim ever been to middle school? Rumors spread so quickly in that environment that it isn't even funny. I also wouldn't be surprised at all if the parents are driving the bus on this. Take the ABC news segment I linked below. If you watch the video a majority of the people at that protest appeared to be adults and all the claims started with "I heard". When you make a claim as extreme as "furries have taken over our school and are peeing in school installed litterboxes", I'm sorry but the burden of proof falls on you.

Tim Pool babbles about the difference between furries and therians and I can feel myself losing braincells.

02:45, Tim Pool: "Before we get started, I just wanna say if you wanna support the work we're doing here head over to Timcast.com, click join us, become a member so that you can hang out in our Discord server with likeminded individuals. Share ideas, build a network, and Timcast.com members is how we fund the entire operation so we do need your support."

Well that's new. Tim usually doesn't plug his crap during the videos, at least in the Tim-centric news stories because I haven't really watched "Timcast IRL". I'm guessing that either Tim is starting to see the writing on the wall since YouTube recently removed a couple episodes of TimCast IRL or he's turning into a full-on Alex Jones tier grifter. Who am I kidding? It's both.

Also, there are few propositions less appealing than spending actual money for the privilege of being allowed to be in the Timcast Discord server.

Tim reads the ABC article and plays the LibsOfTikTok video. As is the case whenever Chaya Raichik/LibsOfTikTok's name is brought up - here's my full post where I talk about how much of a liar and a flip-flopping idiot she is as well as touching on some of the real-world consequences of her posts. Anyway, the video is of some kids being interviewed by a self-described journalist named Adam Bartholomew about their meaning experiences with furries at school. This smacks of the McMartin pre-school trials of the 1980's where children claimed that there was satanic sexual abuse at the pre-school they were going to. These claims were later found out to be complete fabrication that was created by leading questions and questioners telling children about other peoples statements. One has to wonder if this Adam Bartholomew character did similar things with these kids to get the response that he wanted.

What makes Bartholomew even more questionable is the fact that his wife Cari Bartholomew is currently running as a candidate for the Utah Board of Education in District 13. This is a glaring conflict of interest and is a throbbing middle finger to the notion of journalistic ethics that automatically makes pretty much any testimony that Bartholomew dredges up questionable at best. After all, he could have told those kids what to say or fed them leading questions in order to help his wife on the campaign trail.

Now it's time for the Tim Pool story hour.

06:54, Tim Pool: "I was at a hotel, man this was years ago, and a guy who was a fan actually told me that their hotel had similar requests. And I was like 'get out of here', they're like yeah there was like a furry event and they requested litterboxes in the bathrooms."

This is even less believable than the story about litterboxes in middle school bathrooms. If it happened at a hotel it's almost certain that an employee would take a picture, post it on Twitter, and we'd be off to the races.

I'd like to meet Tim's unknown fans by the way. Maybe him and Alex Jones (who as the Knowledge Fight podcast has documented is constantly getting mobbed by his screaming fans) should team up and walk down the street. If they're telling the truth they're combined fans would probably create a human stampede.

Tim talks MORE about the difference between furries and therians. I have a feeling that Tim has furries in his audience and doesn't want to piss them off. Matt Walsh covered this story as well (I might cover his take on it, we'll see) and he was way less generous.

Tim then reads more of the article. He then digs up an NBC news article about litter boxes in school bathrooms entitled "How an urban myth about litter boxes in schools became a GOP talking point".

11:55, Tim Pool: "How is it a myth?"

No photographic evidence for one.

12:46, Tim Pool: "NBC News, the conspiracy theorists, think that Joe Rogan, the GOP, hotel staff, and comedians all made this up."

I love how Tim threw his alleged friend in there and split "Joe Rogan" and "comedians" into two distinct categories. Still no mention of Joe Rogan walking back his claims about litterboxes by the way.

Tim then reads from THAT article. That's really what Tim's show is now, riffing about TikTok's and articles that don't say what he thinks they say.

Conclusion:

Tim Pool is basically just making shit up on the fly at this point. The minute that you look at this Utah protest with a critical lens it falls apart like a house of cards. Like similar moral panics like the previously mentioned Satanic Panic, this is just a case of adults freaking out over things they saw in the media and kids getting caught in the middle. Plus, the main "journalist" covering this story has a political axe to grind! This is clearly a massive load of nothing.

But hey, we learned about another one of Tim Pool's unnamed friends so that's fun....I guess.

Sources:

Original Video;

“Students Protest LITTER BOXES in BATHROOMS, Media LIED, Furries Get School Protection.” Www.youtube.com.

Utah Furry Protest:

“Fact Check: Nebo School District Responds to Claims about Student Protest over “Furries.”” The Salt Lake Tribune.

“Students Walk out of Utah Middle School to Protest “Furries.”” Www.youtube.com

Litterboxes in schools is a bullshit claim:

“Joe Rogan Admits Schools Don’t Have Litter Boxes for Kids Who “Identify” as Furries.” The Guardian, 4 Nov. 2022.

[thessalian]

Thess vs the Sons of Prometheus

Had to leave off last night because the migraine was too bad to start in on the hyperfocus. Feeling somewhat better today, so I figured to just get a few side quests going.

Right. Runda's Rollerback salvage. And then maybe I'll go do Handa's stuff because it feels unfair. Granted, Runda really needed help whereas Handa's just ... erm ... Handa, but y'know. Fairness in all things? I guess?

Oh. Except if I'm really being fair, I should probably check on that rebel camp the delvers have been on about.

This is ... actually useful. Show myself juuuuuuuuuust enough to lead people out of camp, and then shoot them when they're out in the open. I am such an ambush predator.

Only problem is knowing exactly how much or how little is "showing myself juuuuuuuuuuuuuust enough" because now I'm in melee. Oh, fuck you, rebel shithead.

...I ... do not know how I did that thing where I rammed Aloy's knee into her attacker's face but I doubt I will be able to repeat it. No matter how much I want to. This is part of why fighting games will never be my thing. Well, that and the fibro.

And we're in the camp and ... where is everybody else? Oh. Right. I lured them all outside and killed them.

...Oooooooh, so this is how they're overriding machines. I mean, respect to them for figuring out that whole deal of pulling remote override cores out of Corrupters and then trapping machines with the intent of performing surgery on them, but still, yeesh. Also they can't be doing very well at this if there are this many machine corpses lying around.

Welp. No more of you. Stabby-stabby.

Okay. So. Where is everybody else?

Ah. There's like three of them behind this wall. How do I get in?

Oh. Okay. Gate.

And you ... and you ... aaaaaaaand you. Sorry, Son of Prometheus sniper; I am a waaaaaay better sniper than you. Now. Let's have a look.

Focus that I need to deal with back at base. Right. Okay. I had to go back there for a couple of bits and pieces of quest anyway. I guess this is important enough to drag me back there fairly soon.

Also ... can I just pretend in my head that the Oseram going along with this were just caught by the possibilities of the tech, and aren't blatantly evil? I usually like the Oseram.

...Well, there was Ulvund. Like I said; usually.

.........Maybe if I tell Erend about this, he can crack some Oseram heads and tell them to stop being shitheads. That'd be nice.

Anyway. Rollerback salvage. If I actually have to kill a Rollerback for this, I'm going to be pissed.

Oh. Okay. So it's just picking salvage out of a field and--

OFUCKSHELLSNAPPER DODGEROLLDODGEROLLDODGEROLL!

Right. So much for you, you subterranean pain in my ass. Now. ROLLERBACK. SALVAGE. Plus some extra Shellsnapper bits.

Oooh. Shiny close-range bow. This will be useful when I've upgraded it a little more. I should put together a shopping list.

(Honestly I'm really glad that whatever arbitrary time limit I've been given to get main quest shit done isn't really worth beans. I'd hate to think I doomed the world because I was trying to help an Oseram lady win an armour contest and upgrade my gear Because Reasons.)

Okay. I should head in a Handa-ward direction, but again I'm going for campfires and ... oh. Ruins. I should check those.

If there's a metal flower in there I am going to scream and punch things.

Nope. Just Firegleam. Now ... how am I doing this?

Huh. We're playing with water physics today, are we? Okay. A-swimming we will go.

Y'know, I didn't even look at what symbols this stupid holo-whatever was giving off. I have ceased to care. I am soggy and I would like out of the water hole, please.

(Why can't we go tell Drakka that, hey, if they want to go south a ways, there's a whole flooded ruin that might be a source of potable water while they wait for the Wound to fill up again? This feels like a waste.)

Right. More campfires and ... okay, that Thunderjaw looks upset. Oh, look, Oseram are baiting it again. Lemme see what I can do about this.

STOP. MOVING. NO. STOP. YOU ARE GETTING IN THE WAY OF MY SHOT-- uhoh.

SO glad I'm getting better at dodge-rolling. Smoke-bomb, dodge-roll, INTO the bush I go.

Okay. There. That's dealt with. Oseram, STOP BAITING THE THUNDERJAWS. YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR DEPTH.

What's all this now? Oh. Rebels. It's dark, I'm stealthy, and you're all doomed. Bye, rebels!

Ooh. Spikesnout. I can always use bits from them.

Okay. Just going to collect this shelter, because shelters are awesome and it's the best place to pause for the day. Though I should consider going back to Base later to drop shit off, and also to a settlement to dump some vendor trash.

Also I need to see if I can upgrade anything-- Huh. One upgrade on the shiny purple short-range bow. What do I need for upgrade 2? Ah. Greenshine cluster. I have fragments and slivers a-plenty, but no clusters. Lemme check my map.

Okay, new order of proceedings. Stop game, have food, see how much time I have before D&D, and then possibly go hunt up that greenshine cluster up in the mountains to the east.

I have more to-do lists for my video games than I do for my Being A Motherfucking Adult sometimes and it's weird. Ah well. At least it's more fun. And takes up fewer spoons.

On that note, food.

[melodyofthevoid]

❛ what? no witty remark? nothing clever to say? ❜

❛ i just wanted to say i’m sorry. ❜

with the robo blorbos hehe

(Hehe, of course of course)

Olli believed in two things above all else: being prepared, and keeping a cool appearance. 

Of course one made the other possible. After all, acting as though you knew everything came much easier if you did actually know everything. Olli could afford to be aloof and snarky and distant because she’d planned for every eventuality. She’d honed her skills, she had backup plans upon backup plans, and she had Milo. 

Well. They’d had Milo. 

For the 44th time that cycle they’d disassembled and reassembled their pistol. Removing the charge-bolt battery, the excess charge heat-sink, the custom amplifier. Checking them over. Putting them back together again. Rinse and repeat. Cycle through the cameras to his hideaway and occasionally throw a knife at the printout of Harv. Or what remained of the printout. 

Given their accuracy? Not much. 

But what good did throwing knives do when their best friend for all intents and purposes didn’t fucking EXIST- 

The mechanical reflex of reassembly paused midway, moving too fast not to cause some damage to the trigger mechanism. A jam might ruin her prized piece and that? Well that’d be the cap on a shitty series of events. So they eased the cartridge in, setting it down. 

Olli stood up, walking away to recalibrate her joints and get her head on straight. All of this served no purpose, other than to let her mind wander back to the fresh horror and betrayal that brought her here in the first place. 

He’d trusted Harv. His mentor, his teacher. Who’d paired them up with Milo in the first place and for what? To sell him out to Pricilla? To sell himself out- and- 

And all of this for what? One half-decent pop-bot? Sure, she knew how to put up a fight but if Iliana had left? What changed? Not enough to warrant the crackdown the city faced and certainly not enough to justify the complete violation of Milo’s code. 

All roads led to ill-advised actions and Olli’s sense of self-respect and preservation kept them from seeking out any revenge. But they also had no plans. No routes to righting the situation or settling the score. Killing Harv? Impossible, too many layers of security plus Milo. Getting through to Milo? Not a chance, with her level of self repair knowledge she’d probably break him. Caving in Illiana’s thick skull? Tempting but required them to cross the city and risk the wrath of Fin. 

What remained then? 

A whole lot of nothing, that’s what. Nothing, and a restless anxiety that Olli wanted gone. Anxiety was Milo’s thing, not theirs. 

They missed him already. 

Clattering from an upper window demanded Olli’s immediate attention, and they snatched the (fully assembled, as it should be) pistol from the table. Creeping towards the source of the noise. The milliseconds that they’d stepped away from their cameras something managed to get in. 

Just their luck. 

The signature coming off of the figure already rang alarm bells because this room took at least several feats of acrobatics to get to in the first place. Meaning whoever this was either had a death wish or wanted Olli. That, and no one else should know about this aside from- from Milo. 

Who’d give up his location with no qualms. Because it was an order. 

Shit. 

Olli’s hands never shook, too new to accumulate any bugs that might interfere with the servos or corrosion to wear down their wires. But their courage wavered, which unsettled them enough that their hands nearly trembled. 

Several knocks against one of the stray pipes rang out in quick succession, forming some sort of rhythm. A… song’s rhythm. The pauses lining up just right. Aligning with a song that Olli heard only once and only with a certain performer. 

Mild fear turned to annoyance turned to a finger just over the trigger trying to find a reason not to press down. Their slight tick of amusement overshadowed by the fact that she bothered to show up here at all. After everything. 

But Olli could be generous. They’d at least give her a head start before they pummeled her. 

“Come on out princess. I won’t shoot you, but I’d appreciate if you stopped lurking.” 

Out of the darkness, a pair of hands raised, followed by the rest of Illiana. Not looking any worse for wear. Hopefully that meant she took enough caution to not be followed, not that Olli cared to place any bets on that. As expected her landing from the upper pipes went off without a hitch, her wires not even tangling when she somersaulted to the ground. 

Irritating in its own right. 

“Were you followed?” 

“No,” Illiana checked back over her shoulder, “I made sure. Would’ve gotten here sooner if I hadn’t but- I wanted to talk.” 

Olli made a show of nodding and “considering” Illiana’s words. As if he weren’t melting from the inside. Coolant trying its damndest to perform. He put his hands on his hips, turning from the ground to her, and back again.

“Mhm.” 

Wasting no more time, Olli rolled their shoulders. Flexing their hand a few times before walking up to Illiana, and winding up for the first blow. Her optics widened, not out of fear yet

“Wait- wait hold on-“ 

Metal connected with sapphire glass, the thin layer clacking but not quite shattering. Of course Illiana got the expensive stuff in her construction. It’d take nothing short of a bomb to leave a dent. Or several dozen shots. 

Either way Olli didn’t do all that much damage. Which worked with her, she spared no feelings, especially not her own. There was more where that came from. Plenty more. 

“I’d ask how you managed to find me,” Olli snarled, “but you’re here. So it doesn’t matter. ”

In the back of their mind, they made a note to abandon this hideout once they’d dealt with the popstar. Careful or no, the location’s compromise was almost certain. Which really sucked, they’d gotten quite comfortable here. 

Too comfortable in retrospect. 

Not that they didn’t already prepare a list of alternate locations, Olli more than made sure to do that cycles ago. Moving and hiding the evidence just took so long. In any case. More pressing matters took priority here. But it piled onto the list of pettier grievances. 

“So, are you here to make me even more involved with your mess?”

Illiana’s wires fell like a curtain over her faceplate as she turned away for a nanosecond. Grimacing before facing Olli again. Olli barked out a laugh, throwing her hands up and spinning on her heel. 

“What? No witty remark? No ‘Oh it’ll be fine trust me’? No ‘Come on you can believe me, the wanted criminal who’s dragged everyone else into her nonsense’?”

Illiana winced, but kept her back straight. Not quite proud, but not shrinking either. 

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.” 

“Well- wait what?” 

“You’re right, I did drag Milo into all this. I- I thought this all would be easier. Prissy’s more desperate than I gave her credit for and… He’s been on the receiving end now. Twice.”

Olli examined Illiana again, closer. Scanning her body language. Every time they’d interacted prior, she’d exuded a near obnoxious amount of cheer. A battery made of optimism and showmanship. It even came through in her fighting, which for all of its flash did work. She knew how to move, when to move. Always with a smile. 

Now that grin hid somewhere else. Her optics unwavering. Open. 

There wasn’t a doubt in Olli’s mind that she practiced those words before this. The odd part was that he didn’t exactly mind. It at least meant she put some forethought into this. 

“Alright. So why’d you come here? You got something other than an apology?” 

“I think we can get Milo back.” 

They froze. Thoughts stuttering to a halt before their fans clocked overtime. 

There’d better be an explanation. Not blind “can-do”. Not some flimsy hope that things might improve because Olli didn’t work with might. She needed certainty, security, because only a handful of bots mattered enough for them to stick their neck out. And one of them just betrayed her. 

“Explain.” 

She needed to know. 

“Vex managed to break some of the firewalls in the AEGIS database,” Illiana crossed her arms, “ We didn’t get everything, but we did get some of Dell’s logs and code. With that, they can reverse whatever they did to him. I know they can.” 

Something dangerous sparked in Olli’s core. A grin peaking up at the corners of their mouth. 

Not that they’d give Illiana her full trust just yet. She needed more information. To plan, obviously. Not for any other reason. 

“And I assume you came here to tell me because…?”

“Because I can’t get him alone. I’d risk seriously injuring him, or myself. Right now, he’d try to destroy me. And he might even succeed, we both know that he’s more lethal than he lets on. WIth you, we’d have a better chance of catching him, getting him back to Vex, and- and getting your best friend back.” 

Olli looked Illiana over one more time. Loathe as she was to admit it, Illiana did know how to handle herself, and clearly wanted to make things right. She had a plan, which meant more than knives against a printout and another reassembly. With Illiana’s start, Olli could steer the rest to smooth victory. As they always did. 

They’d let their anger go. For now. 

“Well, let’s get started then.”

[arecaceae175]

Hi!!! I love this question!!!

So first of all, I made an LU character guide here that might be helpful!

Ok the rest of this got reeeeeally long so I’m throwing a read more in lol.

Hyrule Warriors isn’t technically like, Zelda canon, but Jojo (the creator of Linked Universe) added Warriors in because they love that game.

The girl you’re referring to is Cia. I also don’t know a ton of details about her tbh, but she started the war because she’s unhealthily obsessed with him and in love with him. There’s also a plot line in the game where a significant portion of Warriors’ army betrays him and he has to fight them, so he has a lot of trauma from that.

And Warriors is a Captain in the Hyrule army. So, he’s a soldier through and through. That’s where a lot of his personality traits stem from, I think. I wouldn’t say he has an ego. He’s confident, but when I write him a lot of that confidence is for show. I write him as insecure and traumatized, but he knows how to put on his Captain Face ™ for his soldiers, so he does the same for the other Links- especially since he is the second oldest and de-facto second in command. I also write his ‘ego’ as a show by making him care a lot about his appearance. If Cia started the war because of him (he thinks it’s his fault, as heroes do) then if he looks perfect, people will be less disappointed in him when they find out that he isn’t actually perfect. That kind of thing

The war was called the War of Ages because there were a lot of time traveling shenanigans. None of this is technically canon to LU, but enough people love it and include it as fanon that it’s canon to me hehehehe: A lot of people from different timelines (meaning different LoZ games) were brought to Warriors’ Hyrule through portals to fight in the war.

The most important two is Time and Wind were present! Time was fresh out of the Majora’s Mask plotline, so he showed up as a traumatized and snarky little kid with a shit ton of masks. He was called Mask. Warriors became his big brother and they were very close. Wind is older, so he’s already gone through the events of Linked Universe by the time he gets to the war. He’s called Toon.

Tbh, most of the fanfic stuff that focuses on the war of ages doesn’t mention Wind. It’s mostly focused on Time and Warriors’ relationship dynamic: Time used to be Warriors’ little brother, but now he’s a middle aged man and in charge of the group of heroes. It was a long time for Time, but not for Warriors. Plus, LU Wind hasn’t been to the war of ages yet so he doesn’t have those memories and experiences.

Here’s what most fanfic sources do for Warriors’ relationship with the other Links:

Wind: Wars is his big brother. They’re buddies

Legend: they’re besties but they show it through snark and light-hearted arguing. But they’re besties I promise hehe

Twilight: a very brotherly relationship, including the teasing

Wild: Wars respects Wild very much because of his time as a knight and because he survived such horrible injuries

Four: they don’t interact a ton :((((( I just realized I can’t think of a fanfic of Wars and Four. Does anyone reading this know of one??

Time: I LOVE THEIR DYNAMIC SO MUCH!!! In the War, Warriors was Time’s big brother. He was probably the first Hylian authority figure Time ever respected. But now in LU, Time is older than him, the leader of the group, and group dad. So they have to juggle that. Usually when I write them, Time acts like dad in front of the group but when it’s just him and Wars he acts like Warriors’ little brother again

Sky: they also don’t interact a ton. Warriors respects Sky as a knight and as his predecessor I imagine. I bet they would spar a lot for practice, especially since Sky is the best with a sword in the group

Hyrule: they also don’t interact a ton. I can’t think of any fanfics with Hyrule and Warriors either. I imagine Hyrule would be slightly intimidated by Wars since he’s such an accomplished soldier and one of the kind of authority figures of the group. OH in the comic there’s a really awesome scene of the two of them fighting together. Hyrule let his confidence show through a bit and Warriors encouraged it and they defeated a ton of monsters.

Despite being one of the few official soldiers, Warriors very much respects all his fellow heroes. He would probably track their strengths and weaknesses and put all their strengths to good use during battle.

@silvercaptain24 @echoing--stars and @hyah-through-hyrule Are three Warriors experts I know, so if you want to get a feel for his personality I would recommend reading their fanfictions. I also have a few Warriors centric fics on my AO3 :)

I didn’t know much about him when I got into LU either so I learned his personality through fanfic. And now he’s one of my favorites!!

Feel free to ask any more questions!!! I hope this helps!!! :DDDDD!!!

Regarding Warriors Link…

So I’m familiar with about every Zelda game EXCEPT Hyrule Warriors.

I had it years ago and remember starting to play it but got confused because I was just constantly… fighting? It’s not canon right? Not mainline game…?

So I was surprised when seeing Warriors as a character in this LU stuff.

Like I saw him in the fanart and was like “who is that??”

I tried looking into it a little. I guess some witch girl has a crush on Link… so there’s problems…? As for his personality in the game, he seemed to have a little…. Ego? Maybe just more confidence idk.

Can y’all tell me more about him or link me to more stuff about him bc I wish to understand this mystery man 😭

[apocalypse-shuffle]

TONY STARK | IRON MAN (the mcu | let’s say after Avengers but before AOU | time placement’s a bit iffy)

—

“Happiest With You” (Tony Stark x Gn!Reader)

| Reader isn’t fond of Steve, and for good reason.

| Reader is always black unless I say differently

| SFW, maybe 16+, no explicit sex but heavy making out & mentions of sexual acts towards the end half - jealous!reader (but it’s unfounded) - you’re cute together

| 4k+ words

You’d only just gotten to the gala and met up with Tony, since he’d invited you to be his plus one, when Rogers ran off and the crowd swept with murmurs in his absence.

Normally this wouldn’t mean much for you, or Tony for that matter since he wasn’t Steve’s goddamn keeper, but it was bad for everyone’s publicity if the leader of the Avengers just ran off without a good reason at a Veterans Ball he was the guest of honor at.

So naturally someone had to go after him, and as all eyes shifted to Tony (including Pepper’s) you both knew it was gonna be him.

You watched your partner go with a huff. With the way Rogers went on around Tony you wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted the man as much as you did. He’d been cool as can be before you showed up, but then Tony had kissed you, the press had gone wild, and he had disappeared outside.

You were a big CEO in your own right so you could recognize the necessity of always sending Tony to retrieve Steve (all eyes were on him after all) but you were also very familiar with what bullshitting looked like.

And Steve Rogers was a very good bullshitter. The man wasn’t that unstable.

Investors tended to try to pull the wool over your eyes constantly, like you were stupid or something, and Rogers tried it just as often.

The looks he gave you were always tinged with poorly hidden jealousy before he caught himself.

You honestly didn’t know how people couldn’t see it. Including your partner.

You trusted Tony unwaveringly, fully well knowing he wouldn’t cheat on you with anyone. If Tony wanted out he’d just fucking break up with you, he was blunt like that, and respected you too much to do anything else. Unfortunately though, you also trusted that Tony wouldn’t immediately shoot Steve down because he hadn’t yet caught on to the man’s feelings about him.

You knew how Tony was with social cues. It’d taken him until the second time you’d asked him out to realize you weren’t messing with him even. With Tony you’d had to learn to be much more direct with your words to lessen communication issues, which had initially proved challenging. You were used to your silver tongue getting you places. When people fucked with you, you fucked them right back and took their place on the ladder. The business world was cutthroat and you didn’t plan on falling off anytime soon, so rewiring your brain for Tony didn’t happen overnight, but it did happen.

That level of openness though is what makes Steve’s shit grate on you. Your relationship was public (too public sometimes); you were Black America’s golden child and even if Tony wasn’t quite in the same place image wise with any one group he was still a Stark so you both had your respective eyes on you.

Tony was both simultaneously higher and lower than you on the food chain.

If Tony was black he’d have been kicked off of the chain years ago, fuck who his father was or how he’d advanced technology, and if you were white. Well…the Black America’s golden child specification wouldn’t have been necessary.

You’d sourced your parents oil business, once they retired, into green energy and it was slow change but it was still steady going and people recognized that. Respected it. You were known for cutting down big oil that was damaging small towns and you were good at it.

So people knew you, some adored you and some really didn’t, but you were in the public eye regardless. You’re also with somebody that’s in the public eye even more than you are. So there was no reason for Rogers to always be finding ways to end up alone with your partner.

To be touching him like he was doing right now.

“Oh fuck no.”

You straighten up from your semi-relaxed perch near Rhodey, who was also a guest of honor, and he turns to cut a confused look at you.

Tony’s best friend is great, you’d gotten close to both of his friends during the duration of your on and off relationship (admittedly Rhodes more so than Potts), and so you try not to be too short with him as you push yourself up.

“Rogers is doing it again,” you grumble.

Rhodey sighs as he no doubt looks in the same direction you are and sees the sliver of both men through the balcony doors.

“Oh yeah, that doesn’t look good.”

You nod your head and only turn to briefly catch his gaze before he waves you off.

“We both already know you’re gonna do whatever you feel like, so I’ll save my breath,” his eyes track something across the room and you raise your eyebrow before following his gaze.

He is right though, Rogers is pissing you off and you’re going to do whatever you feel like to handle it at this point.

You’re curious about Rhodey right now though.

“What are you watching?”

Rhodey gives you another sidelong look before smirking and starting to walk off.

“Maybe you’ll figure it out eventually,” he starts beelining towards a very pretty black woman and you chuckle. “Try not to mess with him too badly,” he calls over his shoulder before he disappears into the crowd.

Well, now that he’s after someone, it’s your turn.

Your shoes clack against the marble floor as you pick up two glasses of champagne from a waiter passing by you. Your eyes are dead set on the double doors your partner went through when someone steps in front of you.

You don’t spare them much of a glance, going to sidestep the person until they match your movement and you’re forced to actually look at them.

It’s your assistant.

You groan and roll your eyes, throwing your head back a little.

“Come on, Carmen.”

Her eyes narrow as she shakes her head at you.

“I’m not going to stop you from getting Tony. Lord knows Rogers has been stressing him out enough.” She points at you, “But do not cause a scene. Our resident American Icon is giving Potts enough grey hairs as is, I don’t need you giving me any too.”

You roll your eyes.

“I’m not going to fight him.”

“I didn’t say you would, but also…” she raises an eyebrow at you to finish her sentence and despite everything you lick your lips and laugh a bit.

The tall woman’s dubious look isn’t exactly unwarranted, Rhodey had told you to go easy on Rogers for a reason. People were always all over Tony and you were both jealous and protective, but you didn’t blow up so much as you got revenge at a later date.

Your targets rarely ever knew where their misfortune came from, but that wasn’t the important part. People didn’t purposely get in your way and get away with it. Them being messed with was the important bit.

“I’m not going to do anything drastic,” You look back at the door. At the very least Rogers isn’t touching Tony any more. You glance back at Carmen with a small smirk. “Besides. If I hit him I’d just break my own hand, and that’d be much too counterproductive. I’m a plotter not a fighter.”

Carmen’s nostrils flare, and you get just a little satisfaction in riling her up, but you take pity soon after.

“I’m just going to get him to stop, Car. I’m good with my tongue,” You wink at her and she huffs out a begrudging laugh. “I can get him to screw off without causing a scene.”

Carmen only raises her eyebrows at you for a few more seconds, all of which you watch Rogers for, before she steps aside. You distractedly nod your head at her in thanks and then move forward.

“Try not to fuck him up too badly,” she says.

“Funny, Rhodey said something similar,” you answer right before you push through the balcony doors.

Both men, leaning separate against the railing with an awkward air, whip their heads around to look at you.

It might just be you, but Rogers looks a little devastated, and as he turns to you the look on his face only seems to get funnier. Now you’re genuinely curious about what they were talking about.

You clock Tony’s expression in a similar fashion as you close the door behind you with your foot. He looks equally as awkward but his face is rapidly shifting with relief as he takes you in.

You toss him a cute little smile and he reciprocates it tiredly. The change from how honestly energetic he’d been while bragging about Rhodey’s accomplishments with you to the socialites inside grates.

You give Rogers an easy look, consciously making sure your eyes don’t narrow, before you plaster a smile on your face. Rogers is fidgety but the large man is mostly non threatening as he steps a little more away from Tony.

Good.

The smile you’re wearing feels like stone.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but I thought you two might like something to drink before they close the bar for the night.” (A bold faced lie)

You lift up the two flutes of alcohol and watch as Steve looks away when Tony steps towards you to take one of the drinks and then makes a move to kiss you in thanks.

The smile falls off of your face entirely at the awkward way he aborts the gesture though.

You give him a look and he smiles at you with a panicky expression on his face. His eyes flutter to Rogers and you glare a little and shrug as you watch Tony. You could not give a fuck if Rogers was uncomfortable by your partner giving you the smallest amount of affection.

Tony’s lips thin and he gives you a pointed wide eyed look. Despite yourself you huff and roll your eyes before turning back to Steve.

You hold out your hand, actively offering him the other glass this time.

“You whisked my boyfriend away for so long I figured you could use something to drink,” you force the smile back onto your face. “I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”

“We handled something kind of important before you got here, but we’re finished now.” He smiles while rubbing at the back of his neck, but there’s that flash of jealousy.

You nod. “Hopefully nothing too important.”

“It’s private.”

The corners of your smile twitch a little and you feel Tony put a hand on the small of your back. “Oh, I bet.”

Steve seems to take in the way Tony purposefully steps towards you, the way he only has to brush his hand against your shoulder to get you to relax, and the way he eases himself comfortably at your side before finally deciding he should get going.

“Thank you again for the offer, but I should really get back in there,” He murmurs as he passes up your outstretched hand and sidesteps the both of you so he can go through the door.

“See you later, Tony,” he says right before the door closes behind him.

Tony grumbles something vaguely nasty under his breath as he pushes away from you. You cackle shortly at his words before watching as he rubs a hand down his face.

You give Tony a false bashful look when the door closes on Steve that quickly turns into one of mirth the longer you both look at each other.

“Ah dang, I ruined the moment didn’t I, Tony? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean-”

Tony cuts you off with a snort, “You are so full of shit.”

He still looks tired but the smile on his face is real.

You take a sip of your drink, only grimacing slightly at the taste, before grinning back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t,” he jokes. “I needed a break from Rogers, anyway, and you saved me from more awkward back and forth so thanks.”

You give a cocky shrug as you sidle up close to him. The playfulness Tony naturally fills you with dissipates some as you do.

“Are you okay?”

Tony nods before looking back at the door with a disgruntled look, “You could’ve told me he had a crush on me you know?”

You give Tony a small smile that the man can’t help but reciprocate.

“I could’ve, yeah, but you were making a friend.”

Tony rolls his eyes.

“Some friend. He apparently had no problem admitting his feelings for me even though I’ve been in a committed relationship for two years.”

You feign shock and Tony flicks you on the arm.

“It’s not funny. He admitted to wanting to fuck me, Y/n!”

Despite the biting edge to his words Tony’s whole stance relaxes as you get close enough to wrap your arms around his waist.

He smiles hopelessly as you rub your nose against his.

“Oh yeah. And I officially think that conversation can be added to some of the worst of my career, if I’m being honest.”

You nod at him and give him a kiss on the cheek. “At least it’s out in the open now and he can finally get off your ass,” you murmur.

Tony leans into you with a sigh and gives you a knowing look.

“You are such a jealous person,” he murmurs.

You scoff, “Oh absolutely. Now drink your juice.”

“It’s champagne,” he teases back but he still takes a sip of his drink. “Your insistence on calling it juice will never not astound me.”

“It tastes like shit regardless, Tonio, doesn’t really matter what I call it.”

Tony laughs, and you watch delightedly as his dimenior relaxes.

“I do feel kind of bad that I had to shut him down the way I did though.”

“You do that,” you murmur. “But you’re mine now. His delusions would have had to be rectified eventually. And better me than you, because I wouldn’t have been half as nice putting his ass in his place. Especially if he’d admitted to wanting to fuck you.”

“The things you say to me, darling.”

NOTES: You know what? I don’t really know how I feel about this one, but I’m posting it anyway.

And also Steve’s role in this is simply catalyst, don’t take it personally.

Hope you enjoyed!!

[absolutebl]

So one of my favorite things in shows with multiple couples is when the semes are friends and commiserate or strategize together while their bfs are off doing whatever uke shit they get up to. I just think it’s funny. Is this common enough to be a trope, and if so do you have a post about it?

OMG I love this one too. But I never thought about doing a post about it. Thank you for asking!! (I do have one on My Queer Bestie). 

Shows With Multiple Couples, Where the Seme’s Are Friends 

Specifically this trope with them sharing relationship thoughts, commiserating over difficult ukes, etc... Series that do this often also include the uke characters doing the same. 

Dean & Win in Until We Meet Again

It’s more that they talk about romance and love and past lives and risks to take with honesty and communication in a relationship. Rather than managing their boys. But they do talk about this stuff. 

Yu Zhen & Zhao Gang in Be Loved in House: I Do

Similar to the above, plus it’s Taiwan so not entirely seme/uke, but I’ve decided it stands. 

Tharn & Cir in TharnType 2: & Years of I Can’t Even 

I don’t like this show very much but there is a really cute scene were Cir and Tharn talk “troublesome boys.”

(They later conspire with Leo to kidnap Fiat. Seme crime syndicate! They didn’t go to jail be cause “he’s just too cute.”)

*sigh*

Wat & Man in 2gether 

They are so cute together about everything, including their troublesome boys (who are also brothers).  

The 2 Hias in Cutie Pie 

It’s currently airing and just started as I type this, but it has a real clear sets of conspirators (uke vs seme). 

Saki Giichi (Gii) & Akaike Shouzou in Takumi-Kun 2-5

Sort of. There are both strict semes who are friends, but they don’t really talk about their respective ukes all that much, it’s a bit more heavy than that. Or maybe I’ve forgotten bits. It’s been a LONG time since i watched this series. 

Bo Xiang & Hao Ting in HIStory 3: The BL That Shall Not Be Named

As usual with this BL it satisfies all your criteria and could have been AMAZING. But ya know... 

Sea & Tan in Friend Forever

There’s at least one phone call between them kinda about their respective prospective boyfriends. It’s sort of there, but then this whole show is only sort of there. 

Mark & his P’crew in Gen Y, Thanu & Pha in Gen Y 2 

There’s not all that much convo, but we given the impression that there would be. 

Nuea & Sky in Secret Crush On You

Both of them are total confident kings too. Except that one time they were confronted with that one even hotter and more confident older seme who SCREAMED threat because he was very much OUT. I love how both traditionally yaoi and hella queer this show was. 

Bonus...

Uke conspiracy in Thai BL Love Stage!! 

OTHERS

So Pure and Itt are friends (My Gear and Your Gown) but we never see them actually talk about their respective love interests (although we know they conspire against Pai). I think So Much In Love has some of this too. Tan and That in Manner of Death. Kong and Tew in SOTUS S. Various of the boys in Y-Destiny. 

Honestly, as established by Love Sick (Noh & Ohm), Make it Right (Fuse & Frame) and 2 Moons (Mark & Wayu, Pha & Beam, Pha & Kit) it’s a lot more common to have a seme friend taking proprietary and protective interest (non-romantic) in their uke friend. 

(source)

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

do you think the jedi prohibit 'frivolous uses of the force'?? because i see it a lot in fic but i swear i distinctly remember obi-wan using the force to pull a literal chair over lmfao

Yoooo, I've been wanting to write a post about that for like a week xD Okay, so here's the thing: I started answering this one, confident that I knew where the use of the word 'frivolous' came from - but it turned out that I was wrong, so I'm actually a bit baffled about its origin. But here goes:

(@cacodaemonia I know you were interested in this topic?)

No, I don't think the Jedi prohibit that. I don't think the Jedi even have 'frivolous' use of the Force as a concept. The idea that they prohibit it, or at least frown upon it, is very likely rooted in the AotC scene of Anakin levitating a piece of fruit.

Wookieepedia cites that scene and that scene only on the topic of frivolousness in the page on Telekinesis.

But the word frivolous isn't used in that scene! Who came up with it? Obi-Wan being grumpy about Anakin levitating the fruit could mean just about anything. Maybe Jedi frown upon showing off in front of a diplomat you're meant to be protecting in a professional way. Maybe Obi-Wan and only Obi-Wan disapproves of Anakin levitating stuff because he kept doing it around the apartment as a kid, just to be a little shit. Maybe Jedi frown upon playing with your food with the Force, which wouldn't necessarily be linked with it being 'frivolous' but just with 'don't be gross.'

Now I thought it came from the novelization using that specific word, but it doesn't! The novelization is based on the original script as opposed to the dialogue in the movie (it actually came out before the movie, so that's why) and the scene is longer in them both and seems to confirm what I said about how it could mean a lot of other things (because he isn't just levitating it originally, he's playing with it):

(novelization)

PADME: You did that? [ANAKIN looks up - wide-eyed innocence.] ANAKIN: What? [PADME scowls at him. PADME jabs at the fruit - ANAKIN subtly moves his hand and it lifts up from the plate and hovers in front of her.] PADME: That! Now stop it! [PADME laughs. ANAKIN laughs. She reaches out for the fruit - it loops.] PADME (continuing): Anakin!! [ANAKIN moves his fingers. The fruit flies into his hand.] ANAKIN: I'm not really supposed to do that... for fun, I mean. If Master Obi-Wan were here, he'd be very grumpy. [ANAKIN is pleased. He cuts the fruint (sic) into several pieces and sends one back to PADME. She bites it out of the air and laughs.]

(script)

Even taking Anakin at face value, this does not say there is an Order-wide ban on 'frivolous' uses of the Force. Again, maybe Force-assisted food shenanigans are frowned upon. Maybe Anakin isn't supposed to mess with people with the Force for fun. Maybe it's just Anakin assuming, as he sometimes does.

I think 'frivolous' might come from one of the EU books - it's not from No Prisoners (the Karen Travis TCW book) though, so I have no idea who might have used it in that context first??

Anyway, the issue in fic is that 'frivolous' is often confused with 'casual.' Hence the Obi-Wan thing imo.

One, 'frivolous' is judgy - it gives it a sense of sin, something that the Jedi... don't seem to have that much of a concept of? Dressing 'immodestly' isn't condemned, for example. I don't see the Order as a whole (there are sticks in the mud everywhere) having a thing against a concept as vague as 'frivolousness.' I mean... Yoda? His whole idea of fun is to mess with people and cackle, and his teaching methods include massive trolling, teasing the grown-up Masters with his gaggle of kiddos and whatnot. You cannot tell me Yoda never tugged on somebody's cloak to make them trip.

Two, frivolous and casual aren't the same thing. Obi-Wan pulling the chair falls into the casual use category imo - and yes, we do see him and others do this kind of casual stuff many times! (Off the top of my head: Obi-Wan grabs the map-ball thingy from the map-reader in AotC - in front of younglings, so there's no fear of a bad example being set - Yoda calls his stick to his hand in AotC, Obi-Wan pulls a chair in TCW s2, Jedi call their lightsabers to them all the time - though it's usually in combat settings, so it doesn't necessarily count, Obi-Wan closes a door in AotC - I think Ewan was the one who thought it'd be neat to do it? Idk...)

And I don't agree that "it goes to show their hypocrisy" or whatever. What, because we assume that's what Anakin meant in the AotC scene and because we assume it's 100% an Order-wide thing, and we assume that the Jedi would view using the Force for daily tasks as frivolous, then every single instance of Jedi using the Force for simple every day stuff is hypocritical?! Even though floating freaking fruit around somebody's head and pulling up a chair are absolutely not the same thing? The latter is something you would do no matter whether you use the Force or not - pulling a chair is a normal thing to do. Playing with fruit around someone is a rude thing to do. There's a difference whether or not 'frivolous' stuff is frowned upon.

And also, using the Force is a natural thing. The Jedi do it like they breathe - it's all around them and they're aware of it constantly, and it's not always something they can turn on or off. It's natural that they would use it for daily stuff, and the level of respect that comes attached with using it would necessarily vary from one Jedi to the other. Just look at Quinlan. What, jumping out of a gunship to make an entrance isn't frivolous? Well, Quinlan is a Master, so his views on it are just as valid - just as Jedi - as anybody else's. (Plus Obi-Wan - the Council Member - gives him grief for being late, not for just for being ridiculous, so again - rudeness.)

I can see some Masters being against using the Force with carelessness - and yeah, I can also see some Masters being against using it in a 'fun' way - because you have to be careful with that stuff, but it probably would generate debate. There wouldn't be a definite consensus on what is too much and what isn't.

If "the Jedi all frown upon casually using the Force" is something that Lucas intended to convey in the movie, please correct me and give me a source.

Though it is also entirely possible that Obi-Wan was meant to be a bit hypocritical about it - because he and Anakin have their tensions, and as somewhat of a parental figure it's only natural that he would scold Anakin for stuff that isn't that big of deal, or that he himself has done, because that's what every person who's ever been in charge of a younger person has done at some point. So sure, maybe Obi-Wan scolded Anakin for being too casual with the Force? But I still don't see it as a Big Rule that is in the Jedi Code That Must Not Be Violated and that get you Shamed and Shunned if you dare to have fun with the Force.

(Honestly, it reminds me of 'your Lightsaber is your Life' thing, and Ahsoka and Anakin both separately whining that their Master was going to kill them for losing/breaking theirs. There's a certain level or respect and care expected, the Masters (or... only Obi-Wan and Anakin, lol) nag a bit, aren't always careful enough themselves, the kids make a big deal out of it in front of other people, but ultimately there are zero repercussion whatsoever for actually failing to follow the Master's nagging. Like, Jocasta tells Ahsoka Anakin would totally understand, and it's Ahsoka who insists he wouldn't and makes it into a big thing.)

Again, having Masters tell their students to be respectful of the Force and not to treat it like a joke? Sure. Showing off with the Force in a rude manner being called 'frivolous,' and it being a bad thing? I could see it. Having Masters get pissy about pulling chairs, closing doors or whatever - about doing things you can do with your hands with the Force instead? Maybe, but it wouldn't be an Order-wide thing.

One thing's for certain, we never see a Master directly scolding a student for using the Force casually in the Prequels, the OT or TCW, much less calling it 'frivolous.'

So yeah, gimme Jedi levitating stuff to clean up under the furniture xD

[kinterdimez]

okay hi name’s sym/anthem, or any kin names. current shift is always MUCH preferred but anythin goes.

pronouns by default are he/they/it but in the context of fem-aligned kins you can she/her me (will star those on the kinlist), feels good when its for kin reasons. i’m transmasc nonbinary (anarchogender if we wanna get xenogender level of specific) on a general basis, but also genderfluid and kin fucks w gender stuff sometimes and there WILL be occasional contradictions but queerness is like that

send asks. please. i fuckin love getting asks. even if it isnt abt kin stuff. you can ask questions abt my canons or sources or whatever i’ll answer even if it doesnt relate to me. or you can just share thoughts. or you can just send the sillest shit to my ask box i dont care

PLEASE if you are a sourcemate reach out to me. i dont care if you did somethin bad to me, i dont care if i didnt even personally know you, i dont care if you’re not even a canon character (i know how that feels thats so fuckin lonely). or even if youre not a sourcemate at all and just wanna talk to your blorbo go ahead and message i am down for that. also doubles are totally cool as long as its not one of my own OCs.

i follow back from @winterdimez my kin blog name is a pun on my main blog’s name. also @pianopanicattack is my second kin blog which also kinda doubles as just a gorillaz sideblog because 2d is such a high kin that i felt i needed an entire separate blog for that, not very active on it outside that shift but if you’re lookin for 2d you can reach me there as well (please do, yes that means you too murdoc)

basically, INTERACT WITH ME. /nf

kinlist goes here:

- Frisk (Undertale)

- Dragon (Good Omens OC)

- Gueira (Promare)

- 2D (Gorillaz)

- The Lamb (Cult of the Lamb)

- Kwazii (Octonauts)

- The Doctor (Doctor Who) **

- Static Grayson (OC)

- Crowley (Good Omens) *

- Hiro Hamada (Big Hero 6)

- Wednesday Addams (Wednesday 2022) *

- Lantern Snowdragon (The Sims 4, OC)

- Sympathy “Sym” Parker (Spidersona)

- Gregory (FNAF SB)

- Jaylen Hotdogfingers (Blaseball) *

- Riz Gukgak (Fantasy High)

(* she/her pronouns accepted in the context of these kins, ** accepted usually only in context of 13th regen)

tags:

#anthem sings - my text posts, the occasional image

#anthem’s art - my art and moodboards

#anthem duets - answered asks

plus tags for each kin ([character name] tag), and sometimes canonmates

dont see a point in a DNI anymore because the people who’d be in it would not care to respect it anyway, so i’ll just block if any bigots or creeps show up, other than that whatever. everyone else enthusiastically ENCOURAGED to interact

[bts-teaspoonff]

Fangirl pt. 1

Genre: Romance, Slow Burn, Idol A/U

Pairing: BTS OT7 x reader

Rating: PG

Summary: Y/N, being a huge fangirl, finally got her chance to work alongside her favorite idol group as a backup dancer. She gets to know each member personally and realizes that her feelings may be more than fangirl-idol attraction.

Word Count: 3K

PARTS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | .... masterlist

“It’s finally here!” I shouted as I bolted from my room towards the front door to greet the delivery man carrying my package. Even without looking at the mirror, I could feel my smile going up to my ears and my heartbeat furiously echoing through my chest. The delivery man handed me a medium sized box and stared at me as I reach out for the box with a huge smile plastered on my face. I signed the delivery form, closed the door and ran back inside my unit.

I ran to the living room and placed the box on the floor. I turned to my left and hurriedly rummaged for my cutter inside the drawer beside the sofa. I also took my phone on top of the said drawer and placed it on my lap. I swiftly sat down on the floor in front of my package with the cutter ready in my hand when I remembered something. I unlocked my phone and proceeded to video call my brother who’s at work. My brother’s name and his photo appeared on the screen as I wait for him to answer the call.

“Hey Y/N…” His face popped up on my screen. I silently giggled at the angle of his front camera when he answered the call. Not really flattering despite him being good looking. He must have placed the phone on a table directly below his face. “You know I’m at work right? Why did you call? Emergency?” I could hear keyboard sounds in the background. He must be busy typing on the computer as he didn’t bat an eye on his phone while talking to me.

“Yeah I know. I just wanted to share some good news” My camera is facing towards me with just my eyes peeking through screen. I was worried that maybe he’s with some people at work that might see me when he answers the video call and I’m not decent looking right now. “My package has arrived!” I low-key squealed as I pressed the ‘rotate camera’ button on the screen and directed the camera at the package. I could see my brother looking now at the phone. He placed his phone in front of him and leaned it on a stable surface for him to see me properly. He continued to type slowly on his keyboard as he steal glances on his phone screen.

“Don’t tell me…. You bought another merch?” He giggled as he looked at his phone screen and continued to type on his keyboard. He looked back at his computer screen after a second, with a smile on his face. I opened the package with my cutter on one hand and my phone on the other. Tearing through the tape, I can’t contain my excitement as i shrieked when my cutter got through the end of the tape. I released the cutter from my hand and pushed it aside.

“BTS Merch! Oh my god, I have been waiting for these for weeks. I got the latest album, more Tiny Tan figurines, and some concert goods from last tour.” I proceeded to open the box and showed my brother the contents. I felt accomplishment as I look at all the merchandise that has just arrived at home. My ARMY heart couldn’t contain the joy that I have right now. I shot my eyes back on the phone screen and saw my brother smiling as he looked at me through the phone screen.

“Hey, I’m happy you are happy but you know I work in Big Hit right? I work for them?” He stopped typing, took the phone back in his hands and brought the phone close to his face. “I could just easily buy these things for you with my employee discount.” And now his whole face is occupying my phone screen. 

“Jiyong, I know but where’s the fun in that? I want to buy these items using my own money. Well, an employee discount is nice but I don’t want to abuse your privilege as I buy too much of their merchandise.” I snorted at the fact that I really do buy too much of their merchandise. Besides, when I use his employee discount, the items are delivered directly to him as he works inside the Big Hit Building. With the amount of merchandise that I buy, I don’t want to embarrass him and label him as a big fanboy especially with him working so close to the boys.

“If you weren’t my twin sister, I would totally laugh at you. Not that I think you’re crazy but you’re…. loyal” He puts emphasis on the last word. He respects my deep profound respect for the 7 boys but he thinks that maybe I have gone too far with the purchases. He placed his phone back in front of him, leaning on a surface. “Oh before I forget, did you read my email?” I was taken aback with topic change but I’m used to it as he does this all the time. I pressed the ‘rotate camera’ button once again for him to see my face. 

“No, I haven’t opened my email yet. I went home so late last night. My last client in the gym arrived late so we finished late as well. A bummer.” I scoffed as I remembered the fatigue that enveloped my body yesterday. I work as a gym trainer/physical therapist full time and a dance teacher/choreographer as my sideline. I work at my friend’s gym located in the heart of Seoul as a gym trainer. I currently handle 7 clients, some who I have worked with for a few years already. I also teach dance classes at a small dance studio just a few blocks from where I live. Mainly, I handle BTS dance classes because duh, I am a full-blooded ARMY. I really tried to make my passion as a source of income and it warms my heart to see people having fun when I teach them those dances.

“Check it. Anyways, I gotta go. I still have a lot to do. As you know, the company is busy since BTS will be releasing another album sometime this year.” My brother currently works as a Recording Engineer in Big Hit. He used to brag to me that he’ll spend hours with BTS and TXT. I was jealous of course but I am so proud he’s working for them. Whenever I listen to songs from Big Hit artists, I try to think that he has contributed to a lot of songs despite not knowing what exact songs he has worked on. Another reason why I listen and support them.

We both said our farewells and dropped the call. As I took out all the contents of the package unto the floor, I used my phone on the other hand. I opened my mail and saw few unread emails. Some of them were from my subscriptions on Netflix and Spotify, which I barely read. On top of the list was my brother’s mail. I saw the subject “READ THIS FANGIRL!” and I laughed. Here I thought he sent me something urgent or important that needs my utmost attention. Must be another event or merchandise that they’ve yet to announce to the public.

I opened the mail and my eyes were glued to the first line of the message body.

“Big Hit is hiring backup dancers. See the forwarded email below, sis. I think they’re meaning to assign whoever they’ll hire as part of BTS dance team.” Did I just receive this email? It came from my brother so it must be true. He won’t prank me like that. If I apply, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be hired right? That’s too bad if I won’t be hired but there’s nothing to lose if I try to apply.

I left my package scattered throughout my floor and ran towards my laptop lying on my bed. I sat down on the floor beside my bed and opened my laptop. I felt like a kid but here I am, rushing to find my resume to apply for a new job that might eventually change my life.

….

It’s been a week since I applied as a backup dancer for Big Hit. I sent in my resume and a few videos of me dancing to some of their artists’ songs. I’m lucky to have known a lot of BTS’ songs and choreographies by heart and I might have tried to study some of their label mates’ songs as well. I haven’t received a reply back from them and I’m worried that I may not receive any response ever.

Apparently, BTS is known for having only male backup dancers as far as I know so it’s news to me that they’re hiring female backup dancers now. It got me thinking that this might also attract fellow fangirls like me to apply but knowing Big Hit, they wouldn’t want anything scandalous to happen just because they hired female backup dancers. I’m not saying that female dancers lack professionalism but how the boys are the top rank boy group in the country, female fans would be green with jealousy if they see female dancers dancing with them. Some Armies are really protective when it comes to the boys so it’s really shocking to hear that the company is finally considering this.

The day that I got the mail from my brother, I spent half of my day planning what dances to shoot and submit. I chose BTS’ Idol and Singularity, TXT’s Crown and a freestyle dance to Beyonce’s Yonce. I wanted to showcase my range in dancing by carefully choosing a variety of songs. I admit that the reason I may have applied to this job is partly because I’m a fangirl but nonetheless, my passion for dancing is bigger. I have been dancing since I was a kid but I was not this confident at the start. It’s hard to convince me to perform in front of a bigger audience, let alone a stadium full of fans. I slowly got over my fear little by little when I started teaching dance classes at the dance studio. The fear is still there and you may wonder why I am applying for this job when I’m scared shit in performing for a large audience. BTS taught me to love myself and I am really trying my best to go out of my comfort zone. I figured that this may be my best chance in doing so. Also, I get the benefit of working alongside them which is a big plus.

I couldn’t really focus on my job for the whole week. I find myself regularly checking my mail in the hopes of getting a response from Big Hit. 5 days and there’s still no mail. Maybe my email just went to their spam folder or maybe I typed in the wrong mail. On the 7th day while I was pulling out my clothes in the dryer, I heard a ping from my phone from across the hall. I left my phone on my bed and the laundry room is right beside my room. I noticed that the ping was my assigned tone for mails. I hurriedly took out all my warm dry clothes and unto the basket, closed the door of the dryer and turned the lights off in the laundry room.

“New Mail. Subject: Dance Team Application” I saw the notification banner and my heart just jumped out of my chest. I felt my forehead sweating profusely, fingers shaking and my throat closing up as I try to open my phone and check my mail. I silently and swiftly read the contents of the mail. After two seconds, I shrieked at the top of my lungs and threw my phone across my bed. I ran out of my room and in circles around the living room. Good thing I live alone so that I could just celebrate and make loud noises like this. I jumped up and down on the sofa while etching the image of the mail into my head. I buried my head on my pillows and shouted once more, emptying all the air out of my lungs.

I ran back into my room and read the mail again.

“Good day, Miss Y/N.

We have received your application and we are glad to say that we are impressed with your resume and skillset. We would like you to come in our office tomorrow so we can meet and talk personally with our dance team. We are glad to have you join our current dance team. Details of our meeting are expressed below.

Time: 10 am

Address: 42 Teheran-ro 108-gil, Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Attire: Comfortable Casual

Please look for Mina at the front desk to escort you. Thank you.”

I still can’t believe what I’m seeing. Did I just got accepted? As a backup dancer? For Big Hit? Maybe for BTS? I’m such a lucky fangirl. I can’t wait for tomorrow.

….

It’s a good thing that my schedule is free today. I don’t have any clients in the gym scheduled for today and the dance studio is closed for today. I was so nervous and excited at the same time. I woke up at 6 am as I feel my jitters bothering my sleep. I tried to go back to sleep but I trashed the bed and rolled side to side for about 30 mins so I decided to go for a run. I turned on my Spotify and played my ‘Intense Run Playlist’ which mostly consists of high bpm BTS songs. There’s a jogging path near where I live and the scenery is filled with trees. Very calming, which I really need right now.

I arrived in front of the Big Hit Building around 8:30 am. I made sure to arrive early as I don’t want to be late for the meeting. I’m so anxious right now if I’m allowed to go up as early as 9 am or should I just arrived on time. I lingered outside and paced back and forth at a nearby shade. I wondered if I could visit my brother and stay with him for the mean time.

“Is she a stalker?” I heard whispers coming from my right as I slumped back at the pole where I’m taking shade just across the building. “That’s scary.” Three schoolgirls were standing a few meters away from me. They were staring and smirking at me. I wondered why they would think of me as such then I realized that I wore my hoodie up to cover half of my face.

“I’m not…”

“Good luck stalker-nim. You won’t get a glimpse of the boys.” They giggled and ogled me with judgmental looks with their arms across the chests. “Can you get away from the boys? We don’t want stalker armies like you.”

“As I said, I’m not a stalker and I’m older than you. Why are you talking to me in an informal tone?” I pull my hoodie off my head and slowly tread towards them. They laughed and ran away at the sight of me making my way to them. Sheesh, do I really look like a stalker?

I looked at my watch and it’s still 9:10 am. I guess I could try and visit my brother. The fresh morning air blew gently in my face, as if to welcome me, and be my merry playmate, and the sun looked at me with a warm and tender smile. What a nice start to my day, I thought. I put up my hoodie again and I was comfortable once more with the warmth my mere hoodie gave me.

“I have a meeting in your building today. Do you want to meet up? I’m not due until 10 am. – your adorable look alike” I texted my brother and inserted my phone back in my pocket. I breathed in the fresh breeze and not a second later, my phone pinged. I pulled out my phone to see my brother’s name on the screen.

“Lucky, I’m on a coffee break. I’ll be down in a sec.” he replied. A grin was present on my face as I stood up from where I was leaning. I skipped from across the street towards the building. I looked above at the sky and towards the top of the Big Hit Building and when I returned my gaze back in front of me, I was met by a dark haired man in his mid-twenties. I bumped into him and was knocked down at the side of the street. I exclaimed in pain as I rub my backside.

“Hey look where you’re go…” I looked up and immediately recognized the face. The man was wearing a grey Fear of God shirt paired with black baggy pants. His face was half covered by a black mask and his hair was kept away from his face with a black headband almost occupying his whole forehead.

“You should be the one watching you’re going. Crossing the street while prancing around like that.” He scoffed and continued to make his way towards the building. He didn’t even help me up. I sneered back.

“I’m sorry. I assure you that he’s not usually like this. He’s in a bad mood.” Two hands were suddenly around my elbows, propping me up from the ground. I turned my head and saw a woman around mid-twenties as well. She was carrying an opened big black bag propped on her right shoulder with filled with piles of unruly papers stuck inside. When I finally was able to stand up properly, she took off her hands from me and bowed in apology. She swiftly followed the man and shouted, “Yoongi, wait. I can explain.”

So I was right. It was Suga. All the images of a funny and loving Min Yoongi ran through my mind. Just like a scary movie, it was replaced by a disgusted look he shot at me a while ago. Did he…. Maybe he thought I was a stalker or something? I guess if I really looked like one then I don’t blame him for shooting those looks at me. However, a decent person would help anyone up in that situation.

I beat the dust off my hoodie and slowly treaded towards the building’s entrance. Not a really good way to start my first interaction with anyone from BTS, I thought.

Next part: 2

[ladyyatexel]

I Went On A Manga Binge

So you don't have to

For those of you who have wisely avoided the shreds of it I've left around the blog thus-far, I had some weird notion to go re-experience Yu-Gi-Oh uuuuuh a week ago? We'll go with that. Time is meaningless.

I'd been able to read a good portion of the early manga at the end of highschool, and somewhere in my stacks and stacks of paper is fanart from this dark time, so you know I cared. I also still own a Dark Magician action figure somehow, so. I'd also watched a large portion of the anime with my brother because it had been laced with some kind of crack and we couldn't look away? I remember when we both were just like shit, wait, don't change the channel, I can't stop looking at it. And the next thing we knew we were waiting for new episodes and I was doing research on the Japanese original because I was that kid.

Anyway, unnecessary backstory out of the way, here are some... let's call them Observations and Consequences of having read somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 chapters (and growing) of a manga primarily hinged on card games from a spectrum of sources ranging from boringly lawful to sketchy as fuck.

Surprise actual character that develops in typical shounen fashion being Jounouchi. My limited experiences with the 4Kids dub and only early manga had not painted him in a particularly good light. I don't know if episodes were being aired out of order or if I had just missed the ones that established that he was making shit up as he was going along, but Wow I liked him a lot more going through the manga than I ever did watching the (dubbed, heavily edited and censored and thrown into a slurry machine) anime. I'd managed to come out with the impression that he was just as reasonably experienced with the game as Yugi back in the day. Wild.

I'm now reading every single comic-style post on Tumblr backwards.

Striking inverse to first point, wow, I don't like Seto Kaiba. Though he gets points for his general philosophy of the future, and the line I read in my sketchy online combo of scans and scanlations in which he said, "If God is in your way, you run him down," was Metal As Fuck. I somewhat shame-facedly admit to enjoying him a lot more as an Abridged Series character. (I watched Abridged as it came out back in the day! The experience of watching the anime with my brother had been so fresh that I got all the in jokes about the way things were edited and dubbed, it was great. Series remains influential part of my life to this day, which is hella weird.)

I almost understand how Duel Monsters works now. I don't want this.

That said, wow a lot of the decisions made in the anime made everything a lot more ridiculous than the admittedly already ridiculous original. I got the distinct feeling in the manga that the Duelist Kingdom stuff we were seeing was designed to be used and exploited in ways that don't make sense in an actual cardgame just played on a table like a normal person and this was part of testing everyone to think higher, differently. Maybe this is obvious to everyone already, I don't know. I had always liked that it was very, 'Not so fast, I'm going to blow up the moon to change the tides,' but I'm not really sure the anime gave enough explanation that this was an extra layer added to things for that event? You can see people actively getting used to it in the books, and people who aren't considering the real or 3D nature of it getting owned, but my memory of anime version is everyone just like, 'oh, shucks, fuck me, I forgot to consider the phase of the moon before i played this card, can't believe I forgot.' No one calls Yugi on any of this stuff because it's valid play in that situation. Plus Yami Yugi had mad trickster energy in the beginning and it suited him to think of ways to do things inside these little simulation boxes the way it suited him to set perverts on fire. I imagine the real card game trying to emulate this element as something that would be to its detriment, but I neither know nor particular care haha

Ryou Bakura.

Really, though. I think he became kind of casualty of 'wow, we have a lot of characters who really aren't able to do anything in this story anymore,' despite the fact that his whole inner life could have been as interesting as Yugi's. I always like thinking about the possibilities of stories in which main character falls into magical world and is given magical item and told they're the hero and then they find out they've been the bad guy the whole time. The first several volumes of manga were about the quiet weirdo kid that no one talked to who was always blacking out and turning into a fucked up version of himsef because he was so attached to his ancient Egyptian jewelry, so like, Bakura could have much the same shit going on. I want to know what's happening with him so much. He clearly doesn't love being possessed, but he's also so drawn to the ring. Despite it having stabbed him at least twice and him knowing it's a danger to him and his friends, he keeps being pulled back into it. You see so much more of him being like, 'Oooh, a creepy thing, I love that! :D' in the manga than ever in the anime, which I'm all about. Also more blood. I'm very about that as well. Though my memory of the anime also made it look very much like normal regular daily Bakura was just a weird facade in places before he ever would have been. I think that was it trying to compensate for what people didn't see from the Toei anime, but okay whatever, that I love everything about this guy is not news, I don't need to talk about Bakura excessively here, I'm pretty sure that's gonna show up on my blog by itself

On a related note though, damn, more of these people need to talk to each other. Can we have some existential crisis support clubs or something. Can we get like some apologies or something? "I respect you as a duelist." "Cool, but you literally built a tower designed to specifically assassinate me and my friends? You were supposed to get Better after I retaliated by putting you in a coma, but you kinda didn't." "Why would the coma have made it better" "I just told you it didn't" ---- "Sorry I went along with the plan of your evil parasite stabbing you, misled you, and then also jumped in and took up some real estate in your head too." "I understand, I also have an evil thing inside me that does things while I'm blacked out." "...no, I was conscious for all of that." "Oh." "..." "..." "..." "Do you like Ouija Boards?" "sure okay" ETC. Like damn we are reading shounen manga because no one is talking extensively about their feelings here and I'm tapping my foot angrily.

Holy shit there are so many mythologies happening at once. The ancient family guarding the Egyptian Pharaoh has a surname that's a Mesopotamian goddess. None of the god cards make any Egyptian sense except Ra, and just like. Baaarrrrely. Somewhere either Evil Ring Bakura or Mar/lik makes a reference to cremation and spirits being taken to heaven with smoke which several things, but definitely not Ancient Egyptian. Marik/Malik meanwhile is clearly trying to head Arabic, along with Rishid, but then, hey, our sister is just Isis. Goddess McGoddess. Sometimes they're the same goddess! Her name could be Isis Isis or Ishtar Ishtar. Meanwhile, all the obviously 'occult because Christians think it is freaky' stuff. ~ancient egyptian pentagrams~~~This isn't a complaint, I guess so much as a 'Wow, I can kind of see the cultural spot the author was coming from and where he was aiming' kind of thing.

Wonder where things would have gone if the card games had not been latched onto the way they were.

Managed to forget how gross the pre-cardgames stuff was on the sexual harassment front. I'm glad there was a sort of explanation of everyone drifting away from being dick heads and that that decision was made. It got way more comfortable to read after no one was bringing Yugi p*rn on VHS.

Yugi looks better with a nose, glad we got that upgrade.

Interesting to watch the series style shift as it goes away from being horror to being over the top cardgames and friendship (with blood!). The first picture of Mokuba is fucking Jarring. Also noticed that the nicer a character is, the less their teeth are defined.

Glad manga did not go as completely off the fucking the rails about Marik's face. I never got as far as seeing him back in the day because college occurred, but I remember seeing pictures and stuff and being like, "what in the Fuck happened to that dude, I think the house style has collapsed in on itself"

Things the author Really Likes: motorcycles, belts, SHOES, holy shit the shoes. These are some of the most lovingly rendered sneakers I've ever seen. All the detail on his characters goes straight to their feet and then it's stretched upward until it forms stiff peaks. Gently fold in 3000 years of trauma and bake face down in a crumb coat of scattered mythology. Remove when you roll two zeros.

Where the fuck am I going to put the extremely large omnibus volumes of this comic I purchased in order to balance out how much I would be reading for free on the internet. I should have grasped that a three in one edition would be Thick and yet somehow I was still :O when it arrived. Have I strategically purchased volumes that contain my favorite parts, maybe, what's it to you will i eventually get the whole thing because incomplete book series gnaw on my soul? yes

Wish the transition from "I've murdered several people in delightfully karmic ways" to "all you need is friendship in your heart and cards in your hand" Yami Yugi/Pharaoh had been discussed more/transitioned better. Buddy, where did you get this approved for television high horse? Please go back to strangling people with yo-yos or at least tell me why you stopped.

I still can't tell anything that looks like a big robotic monster apart from any other big robotic monster. My dude, I can't tell cars apart, all these monsters look the same.

Yami Yugi fascinated me way more in highschool? Maybe because it was still super early and the anime was like 'we need to torture you about his origins WeEkLy. Now I'm just like 'wait hold on, can we go back to Bakura and Marik for a minute, there's some extreme unpacking to do here?' Those two are paying so much more in baggage fees here my guy wow

Violently uninterested in any of the spinoff media

[thevindicativevordan]

Any thoughts on Grant Morrison's Action Comics run? Beyond T shirt-and-jeans Superman being great.

That whole run reinvigorated my love of the character.

There have been numerous thoughtpieces about New 52 Superman, how he worked and how he didn't but these two entries really do a great job of summing up why Morrison's take on Superman was great. Morrison laid the foundation for a new generational Superman that DC completely fucked up and ran into the ground. I'll always be bitter about that, even if I had tapped out of reading the New 52 Superman books by the end due to how bad they got. Editorial and their idiotic mandates were what screwed over the potential of this take in my eyes.

Now I get that it wasn't to everyone's taste, but I cannot fathom how anyone could ever claim that Pre-Flashpoint Superman was better. If you liked Byrne's reboot better, your guy already got rebooted after Infinite Crisis. For someone like me who really enjoyed the Johns/Busiek era, that era's potential got spoiled after Johns & Busiek left, with New Krypton imploding and the awful Grounded taking it's place. When you get to the point where the best Superman book is the one starring Lex Luthor, it's time to reassess the franchise and figure out where the hell it went wrong.

Which is exactly what Morrison did. For this new Superman, Morrison mined all the best ideas of every Superman era to really give what I consider the ideal "base" for Superman. They also took pains to address common criticisms about Superman, working to correct his pop culture image. People have been complaining that Superman is "too perfect", "too unrelatable" for a long time, so Morrison addressed that. They gave Superman his balls back, and let him reacquire that Golden Age edge he had originally.

There are a lot of complaints you can make about Morrison's Superman, but I don't see how you could accuse this guy of being "flawless" or "bland". He definitely had a personality that you could describe, love him or hate him. Compassionate, but not a pushover. Clearly holding himself back, but unafraid to occasionally let loose. Flaws that were patently obvious, Clark had a temper here that could get him into trouble. There was a real showcase of anger here, of Superman being furious at the way people were treated by the rich and powerful, then doing something about it that I ate up.

I read this run just as I was coming into my teens and it hit perfectly for where I was in life. Did not want a Superman who would smile and tell me it gets better, I wanted a Superman who looked you in the eye and told you he felt that same anger, and then encouraged you to go out and do something about how you felt. That was what this run delivered in spades, and it expanded what I believed could be done with Superman.

While it totally blew my mind to see Superman acting this way the first time I read Morrison's Action Comics run, in retrospect it really isn't that different from how Superman has acted even under Byrne. One of the few traits I've seen carry across Superman incarnations in the comics is that he has a temper underneath that affable nature. "Don't tug on Superman's cape" as the old song goes. This run simply elevated that to the forefront of the character again, for the better in my eyes given I believe "Wrath" is Superman's Deadly Sin.

In fact, one of the strongest features of this run is that Superman gets actual character development over the course of the run, analogous to what Batman underwent in Morrison's Bat-Epic. While the Bat-Epic was merely Morrison re-canonizing Batman's entire history, and applying a retroactive character development storyline that culminated in Morrison's current Batman work, their Action Comics run had them attempt to craft something similar for Superman from scratch. What that meant was Morrison attempting to draw on the most important traits of every Superman era and incorporate those into this new take. So Superman had the Golden Age temper, compassion for the oppressed, and cockiness. The Silver Age supergenuis, proud scion of Krypton who cherished his Kryptonian nature, member of the Legion of Superheroes, and participant in stories that weren't afraid to get weird. Superman's wrestling with his place in the world, the importance of Clark Kent, and making journalism a key part of the character strike me as all being hallmarks of the Bronze Age. From Post-Crisis we got that Clark views himself as human and loves his adopted parents, considering them as equal to his birth ones.

One of the big frustrations for me with the endless origin stories for Superman, is that so many of them follow a predictable and stale formula where Clark puts on the suit and is essentially ready to go. Doesn't interfere with human affairs, is modest and humble, restrained in usage of his powers, it's like Clark has meta knowledge of what he "should" be, despite that he shouldn't have any foreknowledge of what a "superhero" should look like. He operates the same way at the start as he does in the modern day, and that's really boring to me. This Superman, because of the difference in powers and attitude, operated extremely different from his "present day" incarnation. Dangling Glenmorgan over the edge of a building isn't something a fully powered and mature Superman should do, but it works great to make his early days different and exciting to read about, it makes returning to that era something you can do different storytelling with. This run is the only time where I really cared that Superman is "supposed" to be the first superhero, because figuring out what that means here is a big part of how he develops.

We all know the common complaint that Superman is "too powerful" and that "nothing can hurt him" (funny how Thor never gets hit with those accusations), so Morrison made sure to show that this take on Superman could be beaten even if he could never be defeated. Events conspired to force Clark to use his brains as well as his powers to overcome the challenges in front of him.

Examples include him using his heat vision to fry Lex's equipment and escape the military, using his rocket ship to defeat Brainiac, and rallying the population of Metropolis to banish Vyndktvx. Not to say that Clark never used his brains before to win, but this run was very upfront and in your face about how important Clark's intellect is to triumphing over his foes. Can't take seriously the complaint that Superman is too overpowered when Morrison constantly showcased how even a very powerful Superman could get his shit wrecked by his Rogues.

Another example of Morrison addressing criticisms is Kryptonite. A lot of people poke fun at how convenient it is that pieces of Superman's homeworld follow him all the way to Earth. Isn't that a bit of an asspull? So Morrison made Kryptonite the power source of Superman's rocket, giving it a perfectly natural and believable reason both for it to end up on Earth, and for Lex & the military to get a hold of it since Pa Kent gave the military the rocket. That's still my preferred explanation for how Kryptonite ended up on Earth.

It also provides a better explanation for all the different Kryptonite variants. DC can handwave away the different types as a result of Lex experimenting or the different "forces" on Earth such as magic or the Speed Force or whatever creating the different variants. That to me is much more believable than Kryptonite travelling all across the galaxy yet still ending up on Earth somehow.

There have also been a lot of complaints about Superman's villains, and Morrison diligently set about reworking them. By far one of my favorite aspects of the run, was the villain revamps. Nimrod felt like a clean revamp of Terra-Man, making him into Superman's Kraven the Hunter struck me as a patently obvious route to go, wild no one has followed up on that or used him since. Metallo felt like a good synthesis of Johns take of him as an Anti-Superman weapon, and the sympathetic aspects of Corben's origin that are always there, I liked that Morrison didn't make him a total bastard before his transformation like Johns did. Brainiac got some sympathy added to him in that the collected worlds that were already marked for damnation, thus he was "saving" them in a fashion. Clay Ramses embodied toxicity as a wife-beater even before becoming Kryptonite Man, and I thought his backstory was a great way for Clark to still deal with "real" issues via a manner he could punch. Ramses is still the best take on Kryptonite Man. Vyndktvx felt like the greatest realization of the threat Mr. Mxyzptlk could pose should he decide to get serious since Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, plus I'm a sucker for stories where superheroes fight the Devil. Drekken and Superdoom took the only interesting aspects of Doomsday (his ability to evolve and that he can kill Superman respectively), and were much more interesting characters.

And oh my God, speaking of Superdoom, that part of Morrison's Action run has aged like fine wine. I don't know if they caught wind of DC's plans for the character, or if they were just prescient, but everything that Superdoom is playing on is still sadly all too present. What Superdoom is as a character is a condemnation of what DC keeps doing with Superman: killing him off or making him evil.

When you realize what Superdoom (demand for a more violent and "realistic" Superman) and Vyn (WB/DC) stand in for, it makes the frustration Morrison is channeling much more palpable. Those two plotlines are all DC can think of to do with the character, returning to those again and again. Endlessly attempting to recapture the high of Batman and Doomsday beating the shit out of Supes in The Dark Knight Returns and Death of Superman. Overcoming these two obstacles is Superman's greatest challenge as conceived by Morrison, because both are out to corrupt and ruin the very idea of him. It's not just a physical death he faces, but a metaphysical one as well. Sadly it's a threat Superman just can't seem to lick in the real world, with more and more takes on "Evil Superman" coming.

Lois and Jimmy are great here, because Morrison actually made the investigative journalism aspect of Superman important. Lois is an active participant in the story, trying to break in to the base where Clark is being held by her father, competing with Clark for stories (I love how Morrison writes the banter between the two of them), and generally being classic Lois. Jimmy though benefitted from being positioned as a peer rather than as a kid in comparison to the two, something I wish the comics had carried forward. It looks like My Adventures With Superman is going with that interpretation at least, so I hope others do as well. Jimmy being Clark's roommate really adds to their bond, and I wish we had gotten more stories with that status quo.

Investigative reporter Clark Kent was so actively used here that it feels jarring reading other Superman runs where they tend to downplay and ignore it. Following Clark as he travels to different areas of Metropolis and actually interacts with people, instead of hovering above them as Superman, makes him feel human. Watching Clark actively pursue stories aimed at bettering peoples livelihoods, and seeing how those stories crossed with the superheroics, was one of my favorite aspects of the run. It's one unfortunately few other writers seem all that interested in, especially the New 52 writers who followed Morrison (I know editorial probably bears a lot of blame for that though).

Besides all that, this run was a lot of fun! The Legion of Superheroes showed up, their connection to Clark restored, and they got to play a big role in Clark's adventures! Krypto the Superdog! Martian colonies! Memorizing all of medicine, Superman performs a lifesaving operation! Lex using a "bullet train" to knock Clark out! 5-D imps! Rampaging robots from beyond! A Phantom Zone Halloween story! John Henry Irons suits up as Steel and kicks ass alongside Clark! Every Superman Rogue teams up to try to kill him, but Lex Luthor saves his life because that's a privilege he reserves for himself! Showcasing their trademark love for the Supermythos, Morrison took us on a tour of Superlore that demonstrated the depth and width of what could be done with Superman. Meanwhile the backups by Sholly Fisch excelled at giving us smaller, more human stories about Superman (the one where Clark meets Pa again via time travel "after" Pa has died always gives me a lump in my throat to read).

Ultimately this didn't get to be the foundation for the next generation of Superman stories as it deserved. Johns made New 52 Superman the scapegoat in Doomsday Clock for a lot of storytelling choices he did over in Justice League, something that pisses me off to no end. You want to tell me that this guy "didn't relate" to people, didn't inspire "hope"?

Like hell he didn't. This guy was Superman in every way that mattered and he deserved better than to be framed as the scapegoat for all the stupid decisions DC made about what to do with him. Greg Pak was able to do some great work with this version after Morrison, and just like how Gene Yang got a redemption work starring Superman, I hope to one day see Pak return to the character. Would love to read a Black Label Superman story by Pak that follows his take on young Superman.

All wasn't lost however. Against all odds, and Rebirth trying it's damndest to sweep everything under the rug, it looks like parts of this era have actually survived to the current Infinite Frontier era. With Morrison being heavily involved no less, both as an ideas guy and as an actual writer.

Superman & the Authority is explicitly Superman coming full circle back to the attitude displayed by his young counterpart under Morrison. Janin has outright said that the costume Clark wears here is reminiscent of the t-shirt and jeans era of Superman, and this book so far feels saturated with an energy level from Morrison I haven't seen in their work for hire since they left Action. Reaching old age and realizing he never really delivered on the high ideals of his beginnings, it's Superman putting together a team to hopefully succeed where he couldn't alone. Scathing in how it criticizes the superhero status quo, this has been extremely entertaining to read. Wish Morrison was writing 12 issues with this team, and that ultimately it will be up to PKJ to deliver on the potential is a drawback (although I've loved PKJ's Action run so far), but I'm glad to see DC finally treating Morrison and their ideas with more respect than was shown during Rebirth.

Jon meanwhile feels like an even more explicit attempt at redoing New 52 Superman. There's the updated new suit, designed to appeal to a new generation with it's streamlined look. Positioning Jon as a Superman who wants to tackle the "real" issues, with Taylor explicitly comparing him to Golden Age Superman which as I mentioned was an era Morrison tried to reincorporate into their reboot. There's the Legion of Superheroes connection which played an important role in Morrison's reboot. The rumors about Jon's sexuality are interesting, hinting that DC is willing to go outside the box with him in a way they never would with Clark. I'm excited to see what kind of Superman Jon ends up becoming, if he can deliver on the promise of the New 52 Superman all the better.

This run deserves to be remembered and to have the lessons it tried to teach respected. Probably my favorite mainline run on Superman, I hope more people come around to liking it as time goes on.