#also this is more about the fandom anyway

[suzukiblu]

hi, question for you, have you ever experienced prolonged writer’s block before? do you happen to have any advice for getting a writing flow going again, that you’d be willing to share?

bc i don’t want to get too heavy in your asks, but between chronic illness/fatigue and longterm autistic burnout i haven’t been able to write a single word in several years now, and GOD am i tired of it. it’s like all the stories and words are stuck inside me and i can see it all in my head but the faucet is jammed and i just can’t get it OUT! i have been slowly feeling like the creative embers are maybe starting to spark again but it’s so hard not to get impatient with myself because it never seems to actually transfer to paper (or word document or notes app). any ideas or tips?

no pressure to answer this if you don’t want to of course, regardless i really enjoy your writing and i’m so glad that i can at least engage with fandom through other authors even when i can’t write my own stories! 💛

Oh god, yeah, I DEFINITELY have experienced that, hahasob. I have gone through at LEAST a year or two without, like, putting down a single word or even drawing anything, just total creative block/not there-ness. Like I feel u on that one, bud.

Good news: now if I write less than 2k in a day I think "oh that's kinda low, huh", so like . . . definitely "didn't write jack shit for [ INSERT TIME PERIOD HERE ]" has yet to sink me, and therefore fuck if it's gonna sink ANY of us. We persevere!!

So like, in my experience actually helpful writing advice is just SO wildly "you just gotta try shit 'til something works"-based that I'mma just give you a list made up of a bunch of, like, assorted tips and tricks that I use on myself to make my brain put words down when it's being stubborn about it, though different ones work at different times and obvi YMMV here anyway because for obvious reasons these are all approaches that I have tailored to my own needs, hah, and some of them are a bit facetious and some are also a bit heavy, but absolutely and unironically I reguarly use them all and they have all repeatedly worked for me.

Also, they're all gonna be goin' behind a cut because WOW there's actually a lot more of them than I realized I had, hahaha. The psychiatrist who recently used me as a case study told me I was very self-aware, so take from that what you will, friend.

Get up and do a chore/take a shower/eat a snack/literally just walk through a friggin' doorway, more often than not it'll at least make your brain reorient enough for you to realize you were just beating your head against a wall and need to do [ INSERT DAMAGE CONTROL/HARM REDUCTION BEHAVIOR HERE ].

Track your progress. Write to-do lists and cross shit off 'em. Keep track of your word count when you write; put it in a spreadsheet or a notebook or on a graph on your bulletin board.

Get a NEW way to track your progress. I currently use, like, three different "to-do list" apps to varying degrees in varying ways, not counting just my basic calendar app ( for the record: Finch, Structured, and just a generic notes app, but mostly Finch and Structured and seriously I CANNOT recommend Finch enough, go get yourself a bird buddy immediately. do you want a friend code, I will GIVE you a friend code, I think it gives you a bonus mini-pet or something if you use it. ), and also set myself MANY a phone alarm to remind myself of things that I need to do in case I space out or get distracted by somebody/something/the specific phase of the moon.

Did you take your meds? Take your fucking MEDS, self, good LORD.

Leave the house even if for literally, like, thirty seconds to just stand in some actual natural light. Or leave the house to go eat at a cafe or library or fast food place and just put yourself in a new environment for literally any length of time whatsoever.

Switch pens. Switch notebooks. Get a NEW notebook. Use your laptop instead. Use your PHONE instead. Get a nicer notebook. Get a shittier notebook. Use the scratch paper at work. Use the Procreate app on your friggin' iPad if you gotta, whatever, you do what you want!!

Don't write!!

Seriously just don't, go watch an actual scripted TV show or movie or read a book or a comic or some fic. Feed your brain something you didn't have to make up yourself.

Come up with a convoluted way to trick yourself into being accountable to someone else. Join a writing group. Make a Tumblr post about how you're gonna go write now. Ask Tumblr for their opinion on what you should write now. Ask Tumblr to spin this random wheel spinner game you generated and tell you what answer they got, and then write THAT.

HAVE you had a snack? Did you eat breakfast? Did you eat lunch? Did you remember to move around the house at any point whatsoever during the day? Maybe like, do that. Like, at least the snack part. Maybe a stretch or something wouldn't hurt either though.

Meal prep is so fucking useful and saves you SO much annoying time and also, like, makes you eat actual veggies and fruit and shit, genuinely actually works, the gym bros were not wrong, go figure. Also then you don't have to think about what you're gonna eat all the time and then cook it and then clean up and then--yeah anyway meal prep, god bless it. Once a week I make a batch of pasta salad and roast a pan of good-when-roasted veggies with like, garlic and salt and pepper and some olive oil and add bacon after, and then I portion it all into tupperware and in the morning I add spinach or crack an egg into that day's share of veggies for breakfast and maybe make some toast, and just grab one of the pasta salads whenever I want something lunch-like. It saves SO much time and distraction when you are hurting for free time/focus. So, SO much.

Unfortunately the gym bros were also correct about exercise, if that's doable for you. Exercise does in fact make you feel better and more energized and less depressed, fuck those guys for being right about that shit. Assuming you have enough iron in your blood to actually, like, do it, which admittedly I frequently do not, but the point stands.

Dude why are you even trying to write, you're so tired, go to bed and get up early, you write SO much better in the mornings anyway.

Hey, I know that's how you USED to write, but like, is that actually how you write right now? Is that actually even what works for you anymore? Actually maybe outlines COULD be helpful or maybe you don't need all those worldbuilding notes all at once; maybe your inner architect needs to let the building decay and go back to nature or maybe your inner gardener has developed a taste for trellises, metaphorically speaking and all.

Please eat something. Also please DRINK something. Like ideally water but we'll go for anything that involves a liquid, seriously.

Hey did you know actually if you ONLY eat instant ramen and microwave pizza you'll probably get scurvy and die instead of, like, writing your magnum opus? Like probably?? Put a fucking egg in that ramen, man! Slice up a scallion in that bitch!! EAT AN ACTUAL WHOLE FRUIT or at least, like, buy a smoothie with actual fruit involved somewhere in it on occasional. The whole fruit, unfortunately, is better. I like apples. Apples take a REAL long time to rot if I forget they exist for a couple weeks or whatever. But like, mango smoothies are also the shit, can't turn down a mango smoothie or a good strawberry-banana. Hey did you know the grocery store just, like, will let you just buy one single apple and they don't give a fuck? You're free! The cashier won't remember you in five minutes!! Buy your one single apple and work your way up to maybe two apples next time!! Also now I want an apple!!!!

Don't write. Don't write THAT. Write the other thing. No, the OTHER other thing. No, not THAT other other thing.

The rules are made up and the points don't matter.

Fuck it, we ball.

[ INSERT FULL-THROTTLE STIMMING BEHAVIOR HERE ]

Only God can judge me and I'm still technically agnostic.

God, that's the weirdest fucking idea you've ever had, literally NO ONE but you would read it. So you should write 180k of it and also make it even weirder and yes it will absolutely be the one fic that just about everyone in MCU fandom who knows you exist knows you for, don't even worry about it, this isn't based on a true story at all.

Actually you could probably storyboard this scene to figure out wtf is happening here. Or like just draw literally anything related to this story, a bit of that might work some kinks out of the whole process.

Did you get that snack yet?

Hey go pet your dog, she's very soft and wants attention and also her OWN snack. Pet your dog and eat an apple and idk watch some anime or a weird niche documentary or an even more niche reality show, have you seen Deep-Fried Dynasty yet, it's on Hulu and was surprisingly engrossing.

Why are you even following the rules, we've been over this, they are made up and the points do NOT matter, and also you're not even getting graded for this anyway.

Yeah okay that thing you wrote sucked, but it turns out that Dean Koontz somehow has a writing career and also Twilight happened to all of us, so actually even the suckiest thing you ever write is gonna be better than the perfect ideal of the scene in your head, because the suckiest thing you ever write is something OTHER people can READ. And again: Dean Koontz has a career. Colleen HOOVER has a career. And fucking good for them, they're killing it, they are fucking WRITING!! Who gives a damn anyway, fix it in editing if you're that worried about it, they call it a rough draft for a reason.

Hey if that thing doesn't work you can just, like, delete it. Or rewrite it. Or stick it in your back pocket and do something else for a while. The sunk-cost fallacy is bullshit and you don't have to listen to it.

Maybe drink some more caffeine, that'll calm you down. [ DISCLAIMER: THIS PIECE OF ADVICE TAILORED TO A PERSON WITH MORE ADHD THAN LITERALLY NINETY-FIVE PERCENT OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD; THAT PERCENTAGE IS ON THE ACTUAL LEGITIMATE DIAGNOSTIC PAPERWORK ]

Seriously you can just write anything you want, nobody can stop you. Only God can judge me and I'm still technically agnostic enough that that's like, thirty-seventy odds at BEST.

God that idea is so niche and weird and niche, better tone it the fuck down to--oh wait no mass appeal means you're writing popcorn and literally no one will remember it in five minutes anyway, stop reflexively censoring yourself for some imaginary audience that will just chew straight through your one-size-fits-all story for The Content(tm) and then immediately move onto the next one without even bothering to hit "kudos" or remember anything about it later. I have written shit so weird that people still remember how weird I was TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER, man, and that is why literally anyone will EVER remember that you exist or wanna read your stuff or follow you to a new fandom where they don't even know the source material, fuck it, they'll wiki some shit. And also who cares anyway, it's YOUR stuff and YOU wanna read it. Your agnostically-possible god did not make you this weird and niche for no reason, don't pussy out now!!

Actually you can just write in the bath/on the bus/while waiting for your roommate to finish up with the guy running this estate sale. You've got your phone, right? Fuck it, pack a notebook. Pack an extra notebook. Pack a smaller notebook. Pack a BIGGER notebook.

It's not stupid if it works. You don't have to do what literally ANYONE else is doing, you just have to do what works.

You can literally just skip to the good part and write that, actually. Nobody's gonna throw you in writer-jail. What are we, cops?? Actually do you even need this lead-up here or do you just need to write this one specific blorbo gettin' laid REAL enthusiastically kinkily and/or maybe having a nervous breakdown sobfest over their perception of their personal self-worth and everything else is kinda just window dressing??

I mentioned the snack thing, right? Also sugar rushes are fake but sugar CRASHES are real so maybe be a little careful on that one, maybe buy some trail mix/jerky/smoked salmon, smoked salmon is SO good, smoked salmon is just objectively delicious.

Go talk somebody's ear off about what you're trying to write about. Bonus points if you can find somebody who matches your freak enough that you write, uhhhhh /checks smudged writing on wrist/ a 60k Overwatch fic in two weeks and also like 280k of Witcher fic in less than a year specifically because they're just a real good cheerleader. Wow. Wow that was a lot more Witcher fic than I was aware I had written. THE POINT IS LOOK FOR A WRITING BUDDY, WRITING BUDDIES ARE THE SHIT.

If the writing buddy doesn't work out though the first time I won NaNoWriMo I did it directly out of spite because someone said they didn't think I actually would. So like, spite is always an option, you can always keep that one on tap if you gotta.

Stephen King did not write "On Writing" because he didn't want you to write. Francesca Lia Block did not introduce you to the weirdest and gayest shit teenage!you had ever read so you'd grow up and be a fucking NORMIE about this shit. SIR TERRY PRATCHETT DID NOT WRITE LIKE SIXTEEN OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT YOU TO WRITE WHAT YOU WERE ACTUALLY FRICKIN' INTO.

Clean your room. No, better than that. Okay fuck it just set a ten-minute timer and do what you can in that time, we work with the spoons we've got.

Random number generator. Random color generator. Random "hey followers here's a very oblique poll, don't even worry about what it's about, just click a button please and thank you".

Did you know the internet will just GIVE you free graphs/trackers/bullet journal page designs and you can just print 'em out and do whatever the heck you want with 'em?? Yes my new little "color in the squares every day you do the thing" tracker IS just six daily writing tasks and two daily "just go pick some stuff up in this specific room" tasks and that is MY BUSINESS, MS. SIR AND MR. MADAM AND MX. [ INSERT BUZZER SOUND ]. And also, like, has done much better at getting me to do chores than anything else has in a minute, go fig.

You can actually just do whatever you want forever.

Literally, like just forever.

Fuck, how many times HAVE you done this? You'll never get better for good, it'll always go bad again, you'll always get sick again, you'll always get SAD again, you'll always fucking forget how to even DO this again and have to start all over.

Well yes, obviously, because you'll always have done it again. So do it again. One more time.

( seriously though did you take your meds-- )

[ghostiguro]

{lil ramble}

lately, i’ve noticed a bit of a concerning pattern in the fandom. i’ve seen multiple posts about people complaining about artists drawing particularly female or more femme presenting lambs. which funnily enough, i have not once heard a single complaint about male or more masc presenting lambs, but i digress.

there’s nothing wrong with having a preference, the problem is when you insist that the alternative is wrong or inferior. you can say you like something without also saying, “but this other thing is bad.”

there are so many different lambs out there, go find ones that you like rather than trash on the ones you don’t like.

this is less for the people who have been complaining than it is for people who may feel discouraged by it. i know that someone who goes out of their way to be an asshole isn’t gonna look at this & go, “oh shit you’re so right,” that’s generally not how those kinds of people operate.

it just really sucks to see such a negative attitude brought into a space that is usually really positive. i love that there’s so many different lambs in the community, & i don’t think any of them are bad or wrong by any means. just different.

-

on a much different note; i am working on art, i’m just a bit stuck at the moment. :,)

i’ve been working on designs for all of the mini bosses & all of my little cultists, which has taken me a loooong ass time. & then i want to eventually give my lamb & goat a proper introduction, cuz i haven’t really said a lot about them. i have endless notes about them & their story, i just haven’t figured out how to share them. so.. i’m working on that. <.< i still don’t know what their names should be either.. blah.

but anyway yeah, little update. :b

[ct-multifandom]

Big day for annoying people (me)

The two new eps of ML were good? Like wow it’s been great so far except ep 3 was comparatively a flop imo. Werepapas was so, idk, enticing lore-wise but I don’t have much to say that other people haven’t except that they’re clearly NOT neglecting past plot points, making the tone too silly goofy all the time, nor retconning important stuff like some people worried they would. We have been FED. I’m sure Felix is involved in that ring bs somehow, but idk if his intentions are pure or not.

Warning for the only salty thing I’m gonna say on this post: I’m so tired of going into the fandom tag and seeing people whining about “bad writing” problems that literally never happened based entirely on their own incorrect predictions they made up to make themselves mad. Ugh anyway. This post is gonna be about small details I latched onto in Daddycop!

We got to see glimpses of Sabrina and Max’s rooms this ep! Max’s room looks like a Star Trek spaceship but the books on his bookshelf are kinda giving those reference books at the library of like, archived government documents or research papers iykwim whereas the books in Alya’s room look like manga. An interesting thing I noticed in Sabrina’s room is that she has a line of framed certificates on the wall, maybe academic awards or something similar

Did they ever say if Markov can see Kaalki or not? I’m sure they will eventually but idk which option I like better. It’d be cute if they were friends but it’d be pretty funny if he had to watch Max talk to the secret floating ghost who lives with them now and not question it

List of things Sabrina dumps in the trash: yellow nail polish, the brooch Chloe gifted to her/bribed her with in season 1, the cat ear headband from her Chat Noir cosplay when she and Chloe were roleplaying as him and Ladybug in season 3, a beret, maybe the one Chloe tried to bribe her with in s1, Chloe-style sunglasses, a Queen Bee doll, a photo of them together in the old animation, and a mug/tumbler? Maybe a gift from her as well idk maybe they’re selling Queen Bee-themed Stanley cups over there.

:((((( Aw Sabrina nooo I hate seeing her so sad and the way she lied to her dad so he would think she’s happy and has friends

I think this might be the first time the show referred to Fire Captain Hessenpy by name?

Marinette’s scooter has the T+S logo on it and a sticker that says Boulangerie Paris

Between eps 2 and 4 I’m getting the sense that Sabrina uses Miss Hound as an escape kinda like CN where she feels like she can become instantly likeable, trustworthy, helpful, and useful through the inherent credibility of being a superhero. She has anonymity, can sort of start over on a blank slate, and is automatically implied to be a good person since Ladybug entrusted her. I’m guessing we’re gonna see more of that blank slate idea with other characters and what they’ll do with it, but it’s telling that Sabrina decides to transform to resolve people’s minor inconveniences, especially when she’s feeling bad about herself. It’s like she’s proving a point to herself but also giving herself something productive to do.

The GIRLS Ahhhhh let’s go lesbians

Noticing a clear absence of Alix. Ik the special implied she has to keep hiding in the burrow from Lila but she’s all normal-looking in the intro and they can’t shelve her forever. I feel like something is gonna change to make her be able to return.

^^^ ALSO she’s the only hero with zero design updates and my theory is that the purpose of that is so she can do contrived time nonsense like going back to earlier seasons and going forward without contradicting anything or revealing which time period she’s actually from

I gotta say the side character writing has progressively been better and better throughout the show. Atp they really feel like actual people with their own opinions and motivations. In the early days they felt more like lovable NPCs who talked occasionally but now they’re real characters? With free will? I feel like I just watched Pinocchio get turned into a real boy

The pro-healthy eating censorship/propaganda/whatever in this show is so funny omg. Juleka: I brought fruit tea Mylene: wow that’s so much better than the sugary soda we had last time LMAO. To balance out Rose holding a bag of popcorn they gave Zoe two burlap sacks full of oranges which tbf I’d rather snack on those during a movie than popcorn but still. I saw a vid recently about gravity falls adding random bowls of fruit next to characters eating junk food because they were getting flagged as promoting unhealthy habits. I keep thinking about that moment in Ikari Gozen when Mari asks Kagami out for “juice” when any normal teen would’ve said “coffee” like nope no caffeine in my good Christian miraculous

Love Kagami being a pretentious film nerd go hang out with Nino

RED ALERT YOU GUYS Mylene has an inclusive pride flag pin on her overall strap. Like the rainbow flag with the trans triangle and the black stripe. It’s not subtle or anything it’s just right there wow. Damn

The pin above it reminds me of Timebreaker’s logo. I wonder what some of these pins mean

Ok last season they seem to have established that Sabrina became friends with Marc and Nathaniel who were both explicit Sabrina Supporters since their akuma episodes, so it feels sort of convenient that they were written out of the narrative for this ep. I do see the whole Girl Squad thing and how she feels excluded when all the girls in the group hang out together without her, doing traditional girl things like movie night sleepovers, so I do think it’s totally valid. Her having absolutely zero friends is hyperbolized though.

On that note I have to wonder if the school might have several lunch periods because none of the male characters expect Adrien and Nino were there. Or maybe they just stage the scene with whoever is convenient. They might have flexible lunch schedules and all the other characters are off somewhere else.

Rose mentioned a girl whose name I didn’t recognize and after rewinding i can’t tell what she said. Aglie? New character? Maybe she’s that black girl with pink hair who was sitting with Adrien, Nino, and Sublime at lunch

KAGAMI AND ONDINE ARE CANONICALLY FRIENDS this is like the Superbowl for me. I’m so excited for Sleeping/Princess Syren I need to see her.

God the girls were so messy in that scene where they didn’t want to invite Sabrina lol I kinda love it I can’t even be mad

Zoe, your lab safety is atrocious. Not only are you taking your goggles off while still in the lab, but then you *leave the room* and *touch someone* with your gloves still on?! Diabolical. What are they even doing, soldering computer chips?

Marinette when I catch you Marinette

Roger’s relationship with Sabrina is actually so cute even though he’s kinda misguided as a person GOD when he’s on his way to console his crying daughter and Lila enters his mind space and he’s cradling his arms like he’s clearly seeing her as his baby 🥺 nobody talk to me

Alexa play I bet on losing dogs by mitski. Myyyy baby my baby…

We got a glimpse of the baddest bitch in Paris Xavier Ramier I’m so happy

Sabrina shapeshifted her necklace into a brooch. Huh. I guess you can just do that

The power of believing in herself allowed her to yassify her own character design into a cuter and more fashionable superhero! This is basically just like real life if you think about it

Her ball has a doggy nose on it awww

Lila telling Roger to turn around so she could back him up and fire the anti akuma was badass okay

I’m not sold on the loud ass makeup they have a lot of the characters wearing so I’m glad we got to see the girls with clean faces at the end there. Wow they look so normal! I’m also loving the pajama designs. I had to pause and look at all of them.

Zoe had to stop and hit Sabrina with that rizz stare to make sure Sabrina wouldn’t be coming up with any platonic explanations for her behavior

I never thought I’d say these words, but I think a love triangle between Sabrina, Zoe, and Max would be fun. Imagine Zoe is into Sabrina, Sabrina isn’t exactly catching the hint and sees Zoe as a really nice friend, Sabrina kinda likes Max, and Max is like damn these bitches gay. Good for them.

The end card is so baby omg

I TOLD YOU GUYS Sabrina was gonna get a makeover and people were like uH No iTs JUsT An aNimATioN eRroR oF a ScRApPEd DeSiGn girl why the hell would they leave a scrapped design in the intro, and there’s no way they would accidentally not notice that much less repeat it

Mark my words white haired Caprikid is not an error either he’s real and he’s gonna collect all the chaos emeralds to get that way

A new diabolical twink has hit the scene. Ray’s pompous ass immediately reminded me of Preminger from Barbie. He looks like he rides horses. Like he tells people he’s into sports but then you find out the sport is just horse riding. Immediately invested. Who is this diva. I want him to get hit by a bus.

Ooooo Zoe was up to some Delinquent Shit in America this is so juicy. I looove when suspiciously perfect characters get revealed to be secretly fucked up that’s the best. I’ve always loved those types of headcanons, that she was expelled from her last school and moved to a different country all of a sudden for her mom’s PR. If you think about it, that’s exactly what happened to Chloe damn. Daughter commits PR disaster, do zero parenting about it, relocate daughter far away to start over with little consequence! I wanna see some parallels. I feel like she made it sound like she moved because she was getting bullied at her old school, but what if that was a lie, or at least a partial lie? You know shit’s serious when the exposition is in the post-post-endcard scene

The pacing of these episodes has been satisfying compared to previous seasons, especially 5. They aren’t trying to shove too much in, but there’s still a lot happening and fiiiinally a nice mix of plot and fighting. I was getting irritated by how rushed a lot of the fights were last season like might as well just not have them at all

Excited to see more yay! I love the little details. It’s kinda a bummer that Sabrina spent most of her hero focus ep sobbing but we ball (see what I did there) and the end was so cutesy. So excited to probably watch episode 11 before episode 6

[pixiecactus]

first day of having my laptop back, and what's the first thing i see in the arya tag?

arya is ugly and how her stans can't accept it and make up excuses to find "evidence" to call her pretty. (how we all have a problem because we can't like an ugly character)

my brienne knowledge is more rusty than rust itself, but mfs can't seem to understand and compare the differences in arya's experiences with brienne's experiences.

the most simple statement i can make about them is:

brienne is called ugly by pretty much everyone, even her love interest, while arya is called ugly by two mean girls who delight themselves in bullying her and the most stupid fandom to ever exist, i guess.

hope that helps!

also beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so what's up with the insistence that a little girl is universally ugly anyway...

(also can tumblr give me a "block this user in your main acc and all your side accs" option)

[faerie-critical]

ok i know the sparklecare fandom is up in flames rn but i think this is the perfect time to explain why i hate sly/slite li ill !!! 😸😸😸

if you’re a major sly fan and defender (like most of the fandom) and you think this post will upset you, just keep scrolling because there’s no point in you reading this /lh

anyways now that everyone is here let’s go !! :D

⬇️⬇️⬇️

my biggest issue: she is a disgusting stereotype!!! i think it’s amazing that sparklecare and it’s aus have so much trans rep, especially transfems, but KC doesn’t always portray it properly!! and before you all come at me for being transmisogynistic or whatever, i am transfem.

let’s start with the hygiene thing. now, from personal experience, i completely understand how hard it can be to keep yourself clean and healthy as a trans, disabled, or mentally ill person!! i have gone long periods without showering or brushing my teeth, and i understand how much it can affect a person. however, my issue lies with how sly’s hygiene is treated. i’d get if it was mentioned once or twice as a character trait, but it’s genuinely almost her entire character. from the first chapter she’s constantly being made fun of for being unhygienic, stinky, etc, by both her family AND the askers.

a huge stereotype that transphobes associate with trans people, especially transfems, is being unclean. if you look at caricatures of trans women, they’re more than likely to be sweaty and dirty. this is a huge problem, as it can seriously affect real trans people and their reputation. and to have a transfem character be constantly scrutinized and laughed at for being unclean? that really sucks. like i said, if it was mentioned once or twice how she struggles, that’d be fine, but it is CONSTANT. there’s even multiple 5+ page updates of sly literally sobbing over needing to shower.

this isn’t the mentally ill representation you may think it is, this is just disgusting and extremely stereotypical. maybe im being an asshole but i really don’t think 99% of a transfem characters personality needs to be that she’s unhygienic.

my next point is the sex jokes. i get it. KC looooooves to turn everything into a sex joke. i have the same issue with uni, another transfem character who is constantly objectified, but im not gonna get into that. sly is Nothing but sex jokes, even from day one. she is constantly sexualized, or being painted as a pervert, which i shouldn’t have to say is a MAJORLY offensive transfem stereotype. transfems are constantly seen as perverts or even predators, and it’s fucking sickening to see transfem characters be sexualized so much in these comics. i don’t even have to explain what im talking about here, because if you’ve read cometcare you’d know how much of a walking sex joke sly is. also her paws are literally covered in burns from jacking off too much. that’s fucking insane.

also. this entire scene. (below) it wasn’t fucking funny at all 😭😭😭 also unrelated but i hate how often KC makes the joke of “barry embarrasses his kids by talking about their sex lives!!” it’s kinda weird!!!!

also a minor complaint but she’s just fucking annoying. like oh my god she’s so fucking annoying. im gonna sound like a major asshole but she’s such a crybaby it drives me insane holy fuckkkkkkk. Anyways i also hate how she’s treated as an uwu cinnamon roll who can do no wrong. but that’s just all the transfem characters

that’s all i’ve got for now. but my opinion will probably be 10x stronger as the comic progresses. im a hater and im proud! i don’t care who doesn’t like it :3

[augustuscaesarsalad]

I love fandom, I love making shit up, and I love evil characters. I love morally gray characters, nuisances, losers, and villains! I love completely inventing backstories and character motivations and all that jazz.

That all being said, I find something profoundly frustrating about the Marauders fandom and their view of Snape. If you choose to believe that Regulus was lead astray by the Death Eaters, then you have to think the same about Snape, because it’s true! If you think that Regulus is a hero for betraying Voldemort, cool! But he did it for even MORE selfish of a reason than Snape, and then he died. Snape lived the rest of his life working to defeat Voldemort, he is also the reason that Harry survived ANY of the books, and is the reason Harry found out he was a Horcrux. Was Snape wrong for calling Lily a Mudblood? Yes! Do you honestly believe that Regulus, Barty, Evan, and Bellatrix weren’t calling people Mudbloods left and right? Be so fucking fr right now. Snape was groomed to join a cult, he was a completely vulnerable member of society with nobody supporting him, no rich family, no one standing up for him, and the people on the so-called “Light side” were tormenting him nonstop. To me, that’s much more sympathetic than “his rich family told him to join the death eaters so he did!” Fandom Regulus is kind of repackaged Snape tbh, and I’d be fine with it if it didn’t come along with so much Snape hate. Snape is mean, vindictive, and spiteful, and I love him for that. I also love Regulus for being Kreacher’s number one supporter and having a homemade Voldemort collage in his bedroom! It’s fun! And that’s what fandom is about! Also, about Snape being a mean teacher, when I was a kid and I read the books for the first time, I straight up never thought he was that mean. I was raised doing ballet, and any Vaganova technique teacher is wayyyyyyyy more mean than Snape lmao. (Not that Snape wasn’t mean, don’t get me wrong, he was, but I can still like him lol)

I guess in conclusion, people need to stop hating on Snape tbh it’s getting really old. Why are any of the Death Eaters (former and otherwise) fine and good in Marauders fans eyes except for Snape? He’s the one who actually contributed to the good of the world. If you can like Barty fucking Crouch Jr then you can like Snape lmao, one of them was a complete creep and it’s sure as hell is not Snape! Snape serves cunt too.

Anyways lol

[anghraine]

#It's so wild to see this be a new post in 2025 tbh#Because I VIVIDLY remember in the heights of the 2009 ST:TOS renaissance that this theory was the most popular#The idea that Kirk was selected for elimination and escaped with the other survivors#And I remember also that there was a really interesting variation ppl played with where TOS!Kirk was selected for survival#based on his smarts and Starfleet connections etc#but NU!Kirk got selected for elimination based on his extensive autoimmune problems#And I remember at least ONE fic where Jim asks TOS!Spock if the other him went though Tarsus too and being surprised he did#Because he thought of the other him as being so exceptional he probably wouldn't have been slated for elimination/been there for Space Juvi#ANYWAYS good meta (via @weresehlat)

Thank you very much! It's a new post because I personally only watched all of TOS over the last few months, honestly.

I was not at all involved in the 2009 ST scene, so I can't say anything about that—I was primarily a TNG kid and never had much interest in the AOS stuff (enjoyed the first movie but not in a way where it stuck in my head), or even in the original ST movies (which I liked better, but wasn't into fannishly). But I just marathoned all of TOS and I fell in love with TOS and TOS K/S in a way I hadn't for any other ST. So I've been combing through ... ah, a great many K/S fics on AO3 without regard to when they were posted, just filtering out subfandoms I'm not interested in (AOS, SNW, crossovers, etc) and sorting by kudos or bookmarks given the embarrassment of riches. Reading that way, I noticed that while a lot of fics engaged with the Tarsus IV backstory, there seemed more angst about thousands of people were slaughtered so I could live than, nope, Kirk and Riley were supposed to be genocided too. And some of the meta I read also tended to assume or mention a general assumption that Kirk was assigned to the survival group.

(I didn't get the impression that Nu!Kirk had been on Tarsus IV at all tbh and after watching TOS was kind of baffled at the choice to make him angstier while also downscaling his tragic history so drastically, but I'll admit I don't recall it that clearly, so I am completely oblivious to the fandom approach on that point.)

Anyway, thanks again!

Okay, so this is the Tarsus IV post I vaguely threatened alluded to a few days ago. I wrote most of it before last night's grumbling about movie Kirk, btw, so it's not a result of that; I was already thinking about what we know about Kirk and the Tarsus IV massacre from TOS, and what speculations and headcanons make the most sense to me in the context of TOS. I just waited until today to post it because I wasn't quite done yesterday.

Anyway, I was going over the finer details of "The Conscience of the King" to figure this out, and ended up with a ton of thoughts about the Tarsus IV backstory. So here are my (many) personal takeaways:

Firstly, there's a vague reference to some kind of local coup or uprising that put Governor Kodos in power, I think shortly before the food supply crisis. We don't get any details about the uprising from TOS, though the next to last version of the episode's script did mention Kodos setting himself up as a messianic figure once the coup succeeded. In any case, his power grab was certainly reinforced by the starvation crisis, as revealed by Spock's research:

"there were over eight thousand colonists and virtually no food. And that was when Governor Kodos seized full power and declared emergency martial law."

As far as we know in TOS, the crisis was set off by chance: an exotic fungus happened to destroy most of the colony's food supply, and it wasn't clear when relief would arrive. In fact, the Federation did send relief to the colony, per their usual practice, but it took them long enough to get there that the situation had become dire by then. Nearly all food was gone and the colonists were starving; the episode implies that some had even started committing suicide. Nevertheless, the Federation relief force arrived sooner than expected.

Kodos tries to argue in "The Conscience of the King" that the Federation's relief showing up so soon was just luck and he couldn't have guessed it would happen. But given what we know about the Federation as an institution, and given the urgent pressure the Federation puts on the Enterprise crew in multiple episodes to get food/supplies/medicine to some colony or another, it seems like there is a pretty competent, long-established Federation infrastructure for addressing crises like this. In reality, Kodos used the circumstances to justify something he already believed in and wanted to try implementing.

That thing was eugenics. This isn't ambiguous; the aired episode explicitly describes his atrocities as based on eugenics. The starvation of the colony gave Kodos the opportunity to put his theories into action.

He declared that half the colony would be executed, and the remaining food distributed among the other half. Moreover, the assignment of each colonist to either group was determined by Kodos's conception and judgment of genetic superiority. The genetically inferior half of the population, according to Kodos, was executed, and the genetically superior survivors (again, according to Kodos) were given all the food supplies. Kodos's exact words at the time to those slated to die included these lines:

"Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony."

Kirk says of Kodos's full speech to those chosen for death:

"I remember the words. I wrote them down. [...] Are you sure you didn't act this role out in front of a captive audience whom you blasted out of existence without mercy?"

In the episode, Spock condemns Kodos in similar terms as "without mercy" and "ruthless," and is clearly horrified by what he's discovered:

"Children watching their parents die. Whole families destroyed. Over four thousand people. They died quickly, without pain, but they died."

The means by which Kodos had thousands of civilians killed isn't stated in the episode. As we see in the above quote, though, it seems to have been done very rapidly.

In an earlier draft, there's mention of some kind of re-purposed anti-matter chamber as the mechanism, and Kodos deliberately "sparing" Kirk while making him watch as the chamber switch was flipped. In that version, Kirk seems to be personally targeted for some reason, where in the episode as it is, he's just one of several random eyewitnesses who survived. I personally prefer the episode's version, which I think better fits a narrative around a mass-scale atrocity.

Anyway, there's another take on the massacre where the thousands of civilians slated for execution were gunned down with phasers, but I find that more difficult to reconcile with Spock's description, which sounds more mechanized and efficient to me. I do think there's reason to believe phasers or some other form of advanced weaponry did get used in the course of events, but not in the executions—more on that later.

As I mentioned in my poll, Kirk is established in TOS as being only 33 during "The Conscience of the King," and thus was only 13 when he personally saw all this (the episode repeatedly insists the atrocity took place exactly twenty years earlier—I think the emphasis on this time gap is important). There is no explanation in TOS of why 13-year-old Kirk seems to be the only member of his family who was present for this—and certainly the only one of the Kirks to personally see Kodos—though earlier drafts do have various explanations that make sense.

For instance, there was an idea floating around the drafting process that Kirk might have been a young midshipman stationed on Tarsus IV during the massacre, not a child. His exact age in TOS was up in the air until the second season explicitly established his then-current age as 34. So that idea is not at all canon, but did internally make sense, since there'd be no reason for his relatives to be posted with him.

There's also a fairly late script in which Kirk's father was among those killed. I believe Kirk Sr was already envisioned as a Starfleet officer at that point, and had been assigned to a post on Tarsus IV some time earlier, which is how a boy born in the Midwest ended up living in a remote colony as a child. However, as I understand, the writers were forced to remove the reference to Kirk's father getting killed because higher-ups didn't want to nail down Kirk's history too much in S1, in case they later wanted to take his family in a different direction.

IIRC, TOS never did do anything with Kirk's parents and we're never even told in the show if they're currently alive or dead, much less told anything about their roles during the massacre. His brother Sam Kirk was envisioned as 10 years older than James (I think the new shows shrink this, but that's irrelevant to the TOS production process), so it also made sense that Sam wasn't there, since he'd have been in his 20s and early in his own career elsewhere. (Sam and his family are mentioned in both earlier and later S1 episodes, so "they hadn't invented him yet" isn't the reason for his absence.)

Beyond all that, another detail I find interesting is that Kodos's speech announcing the impending massacre is preserved in some kind of audio file that Kirk has access to on the Enterprise. Kirk gives "Karidian" a copy of the exact words of this speech and orders him to read it aloud, and has the computers run a vocal comparison between that reading and the original recording. The computer analysis strongly indicates that both speeches were delivered by the same person, but lacks 100% certainty—perhaps due to vocal changes over the last 20 years, perhaps to a difference in the quality of the recordings or some other reason.

However, we don't actually know who recorded the original speech; since so few survivors ever got near enough to even see or hear Kodos in person, maybe the recording was done by Kodos himself or one of his people, and recovered later by Starfleet. The speech only addresses the colonists slated for death, suggesting that the 4000 chosen for survival had already been separated out. But it's possible that it was one or more of the colonists themselves who managed to record the speech.

Only nine of the survivors ever personally set eyes on Kodos (this seems to again imply that those selected for survival were mainly not present during the speech). There's a preserved photograph of him from that era, but that's all, and one of the reasons he's able to evade discovery for so long is because of the vanishingly few people involved who had ever seen him—this is not only canon but a major plot point in "The Conscience of the King."

I read on the wiki that there's a book about the whole thing, and in that version, Kirk never actually saw Kodos and just found a picture in a database, which honestly I think is stupid as fuck and makes no sense in terms of the episode as written (though very typical of corporate franchises watering down the horror of some element of an original, less sanitized story in later byproducts). In "The Conscience of the King," though, Leighton, Kirk, and Riley are explicitly stated to be among the nine survivors who saw Kodos personally.

It's never explained why they were among this small group of eyewitnesses, especially considering that Kirk and Riley would have been children at the time and Leighton was quite young.

Another intriguing data point is the fact that half of Leighton's face is very heavily damaged, and it does seem strongly indicated that this happened during the massacre. We don't know why, though, or how old he even was at the time—he seems older than 33-year-old Kirk, but they're good friends and rough contemporaries, so not that far apart in age.

There's also some interesting phrasing in the episode

"There were nine eyewitnesses who survived the massacre, who'd actually seen Kodos with their own eyes. Jim Kirk was one of them."

This description is also from Spock after his research dive, someone unlikely to be loose with his phrasing. The general assumption, I think, is that the nine eyewitnesses (who I'm going to call the Tarsus Nine for convenience) were among those chosen for survival for eugenics purposes. The reason such a small number of them had ever seen Kodos is, presumably, that most people who'd seen him were deliberately assigned to the genetically unworthy group and killed. The Tarsus Nine were just the tiny fraction who flew under the radar.

That was my original impression, and it is possible, but there were some things I found puzzling about that scenario. For one, if the Tarsus Nine were separated with the other survivors, why are they persistently presented as the only eyewitnesses? If Leighton was separated into the survivor group, why was his face so heavily damaged in all this? Did he try to fight? Would he have been spared from death if he did? And the episode is clear that Leighton, Kirk, and Riley all heard Kodos's speech and witnessed the massacre in person.

Leighton:

I remember him. That voice. The bloody thing he did [...] Jim, Jim, I need your help. There were only eight or nine of us who actually saw Kodos. I was one, you were another.

Kirk:

But I remember. [...] I remember the words. I wrote them down. [...] All I understand is that four thousand people were needlessly butchered. [...] I saw him once, twenty years ago. Men change. Memory changes.

Riley:

He murdered my father, and my mother. I know that voice, that face, I know it. I saw it. He murdered them.

I had been considering possible explanations for the uniqueness of these nine people as the only direct eyewitnesses among some 4000 survivors + the fact that the three eyewitnesses we meet would have been so young at the time (and Spock talks specifically of children seeing their parents die) + Kirk saying he remembers hearing the speech and that he only ever saw Kodos that one time + the Tarsus Nine knowing that nobody left alive except themselves saw Kodos as governor + their very accurate estimates of how many eyewitnesses survived + Leighton's facial scars.

And then I tripped over an ancient post (on livejournal of all things—I was linked to a post unrelated to the massacre and then followed another link) that collected some of the relevant Tarsus IV quotes and offered a very simple and elegant solution.

What if the Tarsus Nine weren't assigned to the "genetically more valuable" group? What if Kirk, Riley, Leighton, and the other six were in fact considered genetically unworthy and assigned to the group slated for death? What if they're the only direct eyewitnesses because everyone else was either removed from the massacre (and never saw the speech) or killed, and that's why there are so few of them?

me: oh damn, I didn't think about that and ... whoa, I don't think the episode ever does say what group they were actually assigned to. It's possible. Holy shit.

So, here's an alternate possibility/headcanon:

4000-odd colonists including the Tarsus Nine were gathered without any knowledge of the intended massacre. They didn't know where the other colonists were or what was going on beyond starvation and martial law. None of them had ever personally seen their reclusive governor. They were just waiting with their families to find out what was going on. Kodos came out to speak to them, at last, and delivered his speech to those slated for death (hence Kirk saying in TOS that he only ever saw him once, 20 years earlier). The "survival" group didn't hear it and never saw him. But Kirk, Leighton, and Riley did—because they were supposed to die.

Kodos's description of 33-year-old Kirk is, uh, let's say intriguing in that context:

Here you stand, the perfect symbol of our technical society. Mechanized, electronized, and not very human. You've done away with humanity, the striving of man to achieve greatness through his own resources.

It's likely that these colonists and other residents didn't all go meekly to their entirely unexpected deaths. If we go with the concept of Kirk's father as a Starfleet officer serving on a post on the colony, some of these people were in Starfleet and might well have still had weaponry of some kind. They were just as hungry as the rest, but I suspect would have fought to the death against an undisguised atrocity. I think others also would have fought back against Kodos's people, despite being starved and much less well-armed (if armed at all).

In all probability, none of them expected to win, but hoped to buy time for others, especially their children, to escape (hence the conspicuous youth of the eyewitnesses). The resisting residents would have been massacred by Kodos's troops as he took control of the situation, even before thousands of more people were sent to their executions, but I imagine this resistance created enough havoc for nine children and young adults to escape with their lives (Leighton's face getting seared in the process—perhaps by a phaser set to kill that barely missed him).

Most of the literal children among the Tarsus Nine had seen their parents killed as Kodos's people took control, as had other children who didn't survive (hence Spock's description of children watching parents die and of the nine eyewitnesses directly surviving a massacre). The Tarsus Nine may have seen the other colonists forced into the execution mechanism, whatever it was, either during their escape or if any snuck out afterwards to see. Regardless, I headcanon that the Tarsus Nine found each other and hid out together (I'm assuming they ended up cooperating because they're so accurate about just how many of them there were and because I'm guessing literal children wouldn't have survived alone).

We don't know a whole lot about what was going on psychologically with them at the time. But something else I've been thinking about is the interesting ambiguity in Kirk's statement to Kodos about the original genocide speech. Kirk says, "I remember the words. I wrote them down," which seems a reference to Kirk writing the speech down during the episode to force Kodos to read it. However, something I find fascinating there (/Spock fistbump) is that Kirk's statement that he himself wrote down the speech follows so directly from "I remember the words."

I think the implication is that he wrote down the exact words of the speech from memory (indicating that Kodos's genocide announcement that Kirk heard at age 13 is still seared into his mind). Or possibly, the causality is reversed: he perfectly remembers Kodos's speech because he wrote it down at some point in the past (likely not long after surviving the massacre). The former seems a bit more probable to me, but either case would suggest quite a lot about how deeply this affected him.

But whatever the Tarsus Nine were up to, they lasted long enough for Starfleet to arrive and take charge of the situation. We don't know the details of how that happened from TOS, either, though the fact that Kodos got the hell out of Dodge and left a burned body to be misidentified as him suggests that it was obvious enough what Starfleet's arrival was going to mean well before any fighting began.

Afterwards, well ... some of the Tarsus Nine maintained ties, for sure. Kirk and Leighton seem to be trusting friends; they address each other by familiar nicknames, Kirk knows Leighton's wife, and he regards Leighton's deception as something of a personal betrayal. Kirk is a bit vague on Leighton's professional life and dismisses his suspicions at first, so I don't think they're super close, but it's a trusting and familiar relationship in general.

Meanwhile, others among them lost contact. Kirk clearly has no idea that the Lieutenant Riley he knows on the Enterprise was a little boy among the other eyewitnesses, which seems probable enough. Riley likely ended up with caretakers who wouldn't have been all that keen on him being reminded of the horrific trauma he'd experienced. Him ending up on the Enterprise by sheer chance is a hell of a coincidence, but that's not unusual for Star Trek, let's be real.

A minor point: I'm guessing Sam Kirk had a hell of a week as the information about what was happening on Tarsus IV leaked out. I'm guessing from the outside, there'd be the official alert of the food crisis -> the colony's communications going dark -> Starfleet arriving and discovering what had happened -> their updates as they searched for survivors and those responsible -> their reports of finding the 4000 chosen for survival and the Tarsus Nine.

Moving forwards chronologically, I think the next "version" of Kirk we know anything about via TOS is him as a very young man at Starfleet Academy. This Kirk is repeatedly described as bookish and solemn. In "Shore Leave" (which follows very shortly after "The Conscience of the King," though it's far lighter), we get this exchange:

KIRK: I know the feeling very well. I had it at the Academy. An upperclassman there. One practical joke after another, and always on me. My own personal devil. A guy by the name of Finnegan. MCCOY: And you being the very serious young— KIRK: Serious? I'll make a confession, Bones. I was absolutely grim.

Yeah, I wonder why.

Even as late as his time as an instructor at the Academy, when he was Lieutenant Kirk, he seems pretty recognizably "that" Kirk. He taught a notoriously challenging class (the subject not stated, but implied to be philosophy) and was known as a demanding teacher. In "Where No Man Has Gone Before," his friend and former student Gary Mitchell says:

MITCHELL: Well, I'm getting a chance to read some of that longhair stuff you like. Hey man, I remember you back at the Academy. A stack of books with legs. The first thing I ever heard from an upperclassman was, watch out for Lieutenant Kirk. In his class, you either think or sink.

Mitchell jokes about how he only passed by orchestrating the campaign of a "little blonde lab technician" to distract Kirk from his usual severity. And even this was not a fling; Kirk's relationship with the lab technician reached the point that he almost married her. So even that suggests someone who was taking every part of his life deadly seriously.

The personable, dutiful-but-easy-going charm and good humor of Kirk in much of TOS seems to not have been much in evidence for many, many years of Kirk's life. And even by the time we meet him, this runs much less deep than his powerful sense of responsibility and his commitment to the ideals of the Federation and his own philosophical convictions. We often see his outwards charm switch off like a light when it doesn't serve his purposes.

This is especially apparent in "The Conscience of the King" itself, which includes one of Kirk's most cold-blooded charm offensives—he can't immediately reach Kodos, so instead he deliberately charms Kodos's nineteen-year-old daughter Lenore in order to dig up information on him (not realizing Lenore herself is a murderer). There is a chasm between this calculated charm and his manner when he finds Kodos and drops the front:

The last thing I wanted to say about "The Conscience of the King" and this particular backstory for Kirk is that, after all of this, what exactly is the point of the backstory revealed in this episode? It's Star Trek, there usually is one, even when it's executed badly or clumsily. What is it gesturing at?

There's a repeated emphasis on the twenty years between the present moment and Kodos's atrocity. He is now an old man living a normal life, and doesn't seem to be a particular threat to anyone. One of the major subplots involves Spock trying to figure out what the hell happened twenty years earlier, then trying to convince McCoy of the threat, then Kirk and Spock and McCoy having this fraught discussion about it.

Spock is not dispassionate; he is horrified by both the past atrocity and current threat to Kirk, and quickly reaches a point of certainty about Karidian's/Kodos's identity and what should be done about him. Kirk is more anxious and unsure about getting it wrong and about his own motives, despite simultaneously wanting to just kill this guy on the spot. McCoy doesn't want to believe at pretty much every turn, and even when he does, is wary of acting out of potentially questionable motives so long after the fact. It leads to this great scene between all three:

SPOCK: Why do you invite death? KIRK: I'm not. I'm interested in justice. MCCOY: Are you? Are you sure it's not vengeance? KIRK: No, I'm not sure. I wish I was. I've done things I've never done before. I've placed my command in jeopardy. From here on I've got to determine whether or not Karidian is Kodos. SPOCK: He is. KIRK: You sound certain. I wish I could be. Before I accuse a man of that, I've got to be. I saw him once, twenty years ago. Men change. Memory changes. Look at him now, he's an actor. He can change his appearance. No. Logic is not enough. I've got to feel my way, make absolutely sure. MCCOY: What if you decide he is Kodos? What then? Do you play God, carry his head through the corridors in triumph? That won't bring back the dead, Jim. KIRK: No, but they may rest easier.

Of course, the matter of "oh hey, we keep finding elderly people who committed atrocities some 20 years ago and we've got to navigate how to deal with them now in a way that honors their victims" was not at all metaphorical at the time. In the 60s, the architects of atrocities who made their escape twenty years earlier and were discovered as ostensibly normal aging people were just literal Nazis.

While the Tarsus IV massacre is on a much smaller scale, obviously, Erin Horáková has a good explanation of the topicality here:

In “The Conscience of the King”, we learn that Kirk is a survivor of a colony-world genocide that occurred during his childhood. As an adult, Kirk attempts to determine whether an old man, now an actor, is actually Kodos, the mass murderer who perpetrated this genocide. “Conscience” is a complex, shifting episode made in the wake of the arrest of aged Nazis in South America by Mossad agents (again, it’s subtextually important to this episode that Kirk is played by a Jewish actor).

For further context, plenty of people involved in TOS had themselves fought in WWII, so "what do we do about elderly Nazis" was not a distant issue. Also, while Roddenberry himself was unfortunately antisemitic (a quality presumably related to "Patterns of Force" ever seeing the light of day), there were a lot of Jewish people working behind and in front of the camera on TOS, most famously including both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy (both are/were Jewish actors from Jewish communities, though this tends to be much more present for many fans with Nimoy—it's hard not to think that is at least partly related to their physical appearances). So the whole premise is complex and fraught in real world terms, as well, which I felt was also worth mentioning as a significant element of what's going on here.

[pynkhues]

Another fanfic writer got ran out of the fandom this weekend because of a 'guilty by association' harassment campaign. She wrote fic of Loustat switching and having a very Canonverse relationship, and a teenager started insulting her writing and inciting harassment by others until she quit writing. The allegation was she was mutuals with someone else who was assumed to be racist, which is flimsy enough, but the real reason was obviously that she wrote popular, beloved fics that did not subscribe to the Hypermasculine Daddy Lestat and Hyperfeminine Housewife Louis Fanon.

This fandom is a horrible place and I am so glad you're still with us and haven't let these people bully you into silence, Sophie. It's so awful.

I'm really, really sorry to hear that, anon. Can I ask who the author is? I'd like to have a look and maybe send them a message or a comment if I can. Hopefully they might be a bit like me though and come back after giving themselves some time and buffer.

It's all pretty hideous behaviour though, and mm - - okay, you know. It's been a few weeks since it all went down with me now, and I've had a lot of people reach out very kindly in DMs, and also had to have y'know, I guess I'd say offbeat, haha, and awkward and heavy conversations with people in my real life, both personally and professionally (although I will say it's kind of been a relief, and half my family has already turned it into a running joke. My mum, who was the first person I told, watched Disclaimer after I recommended it to her, and she keeps texting me photos of the Kevin Kline stalker character with 'your erotic fanfiction haters' and asking me if I'm sure I didn't kill somebody's son, lmao), but I've been thinking about it all a lot, and - - yeah.

Look, this is going to sound off topic, but bear with me for a minute, alright? Over the last two weeks, purely by coincidence, I listened to the Behind the Bastards episodes on Rush Limbaugh. I love that podcast in general, and those two episodes are fascinating, and really worth listening to if you're at all interested in the media landscape's pivot to the right in the last few years. They really explore who he is as a person, his ascent in radio, how he managed that ascent, and the space he created in media which would after him be filled by Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan,et al.

One of the ways that he did this was by being loud, but also presenting himself as trustworthy, and really the only person anyone needed to listen to. He was a smart guy, anyway, anyone could hear that, and if people listened to him, they'd be smart too. One of the first majorly successful runs of this was his campaign against the show Murphy Brown, which is about a woman who is a single mother and a lawyer, successful, bright, and who interacts with a lot of gay people in different capacities in her every day life. Murphy Brown is famous for being one of the first shows to normalise both successful single motherhood, and LGBTQI+ people as varied members of our communities.

Now, Limbaugh positioned the show as offensive, and anyone who liked it as morally wrong, but more than that, he positioned his opinion as the only right one, and he would actively tell people not only to not watch the show, but to not engage with anyone who might have an opinion of it that wasn't his own. He did this by telling people they would be stupid, or 'missing something' if they didn't follow his obvious intellect, that they didn't need to think about it themselves, because he would do the thinking for them, Smart Person That He Was.

And so I'm like, y'know, listening to the podcast on my commute to work, and I just kind of think - - huh. Because it's kind of familiar, right? And I got thinking about how all those people were reblogging my 'vile anti black post' and telling all their followers to block me, thus trying to control their followers ability to see my posts, and presumably the posts of others, since they seem to do that a bit, and then I noticed that those same people trying to ensure everyone blocked me.....didn't block me themselves. And it suddenly just clicked into place.

Fascist rhetoric has come to fandom. Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

In simplest terms, fascism refers to a specific way of organizing a society: under fascism, a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people in that society, and allows no dissent or disagreement. 

Fascism is more than just political, it's a philosphy and a mindset. Rush Limbaugh was a media figure, and he was a fascist, and interestingly - importantly - he did not believe in most of what he said. What he wanted was power, success, control, an audience, and to dictate the rhetoric in the media landscape because that granted him that power, success, control, and audience.

And look, I'm not saying these people attacking others with different opinions in the fandom are fascists, but they're using a fascist playbook. Their criticisms, harassment campaigns, threats to dox, actual doxxing, threats to not only involve but criminally endanger children (which I have since learnt my nephews were not the first target of - someone in this fandom who I won't name reached out to tell me they'd similarly threatened to send things to her children) (also I've seen posts that the people who initially were vocally strawmanning my arguments wouldn't do that, and sure, maybe they wouldn't, but all I can say is that if I knew members of my own corner of the fandom were threatening to find and send porn to any minor, let alone children as young as 7, I would be loudly and outspokenly condemning it), and attempts to suppress anything they don't agree with, is fascist behaviour.

They are allowing no dissent, no disagreement, and actively interfering with people's real lives to achieve that.

I don't think this will make any difference to them, I think some might not know what they're doing, but I think a lot do at this point, and I guess what I want to do in this post is just to share what I personally think that it is, and I guess - - mm, not offer words of advice exactly, but perhaps offer some gentle encouragement. I'd encourage anyone in this fandom - hell, everyone in life right now, given the state of things - to approach anyone who tells you there is only one way to create, only one way to enjoy something, or interpret something, or only a select group of people that you should listen to, with caution at the very least.

Fandom - again, hell, community - has always, to me, been about encouraging others to explore and engage with it on their own terms. Diversity of opinion is good, it's healthy, different takes on characters should be exciting, different iterations in fanart and fanfiction is a celebration of the fact that we bring our own stories to, well, stories, and anyone telling you who you should or shouldn't engage with without having a healthy, equal conversation about why you shouldn't engage with them, should be given respectful, reasonable doubt.

Anyway, I'm sure this'll piss people off again, but y'know, I don't really care about them at this point. I think their behaviour is ugly, antithetical to what fandom has always been about, and frankly, I think it's antisocial. I do care about you guys though, and I don't know. I hope this perhaps sheds a little bit of light for you in the same way that I felt it shed a little bit of light for me, or at least makes you think a little bit more broadly about what this desire to control is a part of, and how to engage (or rather, not) with it. But more than anything, I hope that author's okay, and that they've made friends in this fandom like I have who can offer their support.

[bloodonmysqueegee]

I HAD AN EPIPHANY. I COULD BE TOTALLY WRONG BUT LISTEN

I'm pretty sure we're headed in the direction of the new guy being Copia's twin brother. It's what it all points to. But then why show hints of Secondo so much?

I also remembered that theory about V being Secondo's child, but what if both things were (kinda) true?

Maybe instead of actually being Sec's child, he was just RAISED by him (possibly along with Copia??)

Because we know damn well Sister and Nihil never did much to help

WHAT IF the whole fandoms idea that "the brothers raised each other" IS ACTUALLY GOING TO BE CANON!!

This means that V could've adopted a lot more traits from Secondo just by virtue of seeing him as a father figure

This could also mean Perpetua and Copia really did spend a lot more time with the other brothers than we thought (especially cuz terzo would've been on the younger side too so he could've helped/ also had to be raised by his older brothers) THINK OF THE POTENIAL STORIES YOU COULD TELL FROM THIS!! THIS COULD BE RE AL

Anyways go look at my art while I evaporate

[shorthaltsjester]

I’ve been enjoying reading your takes on c3 and I’m curious about your take on the whole Vax and the Raven Queen situation in the finale. It’s a relationship that is heavily mischaracterized by the fandom, and I’m on the fence about how its conclusion was handled.

thank you! i am doing the work of excising the demons that finale awoke in my soul so i can enjoy the silly goofy parts; the good vm stuff, and the m9 moments. im still kinda parsing my feelings on the vax situation — i’ve been bracing for impact and preparing for the worst since bh came up with their mortal gods ‘solution’ and i accepted that bh wouldn’t be met with anything but agreement, so I will say I think it could’ve been much worse! i like that vax is still inextricably tied to the duty that He’s Chosen, and given the circumstances i certainly prefer vax and keyleth ‘starting over’. but i mean, fundamentally there is something that’s just like…. really? it wasn’t enough that bell’s hells never met an action that had a real consequence, campaign 3 also had to take some of the weight out of one of the heaviest consequences of the first campaign as well? i also have some :/ feelings about the fact that vax’s presence was something we only see dealt with in terms of how it effects keyleth, obviously i understand that they were at the end of an already far too long episode but and i actually do think vax and keyleth’s scene works as a good narrative wrap on the campaigns as a trilogy. but it does tap on a tlovm-shaped funny bone of mine that we don’t see any glimpse of his platonic relationships or. yknow, his relationship with his sister who he struck a deal with the raven queen for in the first place.

anyway sorry anon tldr: i too am on the fence. i think there’s strengths and weaknesses and i think if c3 was stronger i’d be more forgiving of changes it makes to the weight of previous campaign choices but. as it stands, i’m more on the dislike side than the like side, but i haven’t veered into hater territory re: that decision (but things can always change, for better or worse)

[cl0wnbytez]

Hlvrai but it’s marine creatures I think they’d be with an unnecessary amount of explanation

Basically an autistic dude rambles about what fish these guys would be with very specific reasonings. I’m a lot more certain on some more than others, some are just “yeah he’d be this lol” and others are a paragraph of explanation based on very specific behavior(s) of the creature.

Gordon

Clownfish

Now I don’t really know how to explain this one besides color lol, I suppose the common aggression they exhibit can be compared to him in a way, besides that just look at him that man is a clownfish

Benrey

Broadclub Cuttlefish

Okay for Benrey I had quite a few creatures in mind but I ultimately settled on the broadclub cuttlefish. Their mischievous nature for one can automatically be seen in Benreys character, but that is not the main reason I chose them. The main reason I settled on cuttlefish(and more specifically the broadclub cuttlefish) for Benrey is because of a specific behavior seen in the gif above. Broadclub cuttlefish will ‘hypnotize’ their prey into calming down and staying still. I mean if I didn’t compare this to Sweet Voice no one was going to. Also Benrey could be pretty much any fucked up deep sea creature, or if you wanna be really basic, a shark lmao.

Dr. Coomer

Mantis Shrimp

This one speaks for itself, I’m not even the first one to say this that’s how obvious it is. On top of being the sea creature he would be, I think mantis shrimp would also be Coomers favorite animal(at least when it comes to marine life). Once again I am definitely not the first one to say this.

Bubby

Blue Ribbon Eel

Honestly this is the one I have the least explanation for, they’re opportunistic hunters I guess. I really wish I had more to say for Bubby because he’s one of the most overlooked characters in the fandom in my opinion. But alas, he is eel coded to me, and he is blue, thus, blue ribbon eel.

Tommy

Yellow Stingray

Couldn’t find a gif for this one :(

Not only are these silly guys yellow, they are known for their kind, curious, and playful temperament, but they will not hesitate to sting when they feel threatened. Very Tommy. I also picked a ray specifically for reasons you’ll see in a moment, just keep reading. ;3

Forzen

Porbeagle Shark

Couldn’t find a gif or even a good picture for this one so fuck it, porbeagle side eye

I have the stupidest explanation for this one. Forzen is shark and dog coded, porbeagles are known for their playfulness and dog-like hunting style. Porbeagle Forzen.

Darnold

Parrot Fish

I’ll have a gif for the last one I promise

I know all of these have brought up behaviors of the animal for reasons why I associate them with that specific character, but this one is specifically for aesthetic reasons. I associate Darnold with colorful stuff because potions and parrotfish are underrated just like him leave me alone.

Gman

Manta Ray

I told you Tommy was a ray for a reason. Anyways, I mainly associate hlvrai Gman with manta rays because of his menacing aura despite him being much less of a threat and practically harmless by the end of the series(so far). Yes I know he threatened Gordon but literally everyone has so shut up, he mainly just told Gordon “take care of my son lol” and brought everyone to Chucky Cheese at the end. But basically yeah manta rays are menacing but harmless, they also just generally have Gmans shadowy vibe.

Idk how to end this bye

[spiritsglade]

also 8, 12, 22, and 26 for Jason!

[character ask game]

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Oh dear. Hard to choose one thing. I think my least favorite is that progression where Jason sees proof that Bruce grieved him -> reconciliation immediately happens. The things Jason is upset about in Under the Hood go deeper than just "Bruce wasn't sad enough when I died :(" and I feel like going with that just... eh. It's not my thing. (Also it generally comes hand in hand with Talia was evilly manipulating him into hating Bruce narratives, which I fundamentally reject.)

Tangentially from this if we're gonna go with a story where Jason is angry about Bruce replacing him with Tim, I want to see Tim go 'no no I figured out his identity and made him make me Robin because he was borderline suicidal and Batman needed a Robin,' I want Jason to react to knowing this information like he did in canon. I want him to be like 'do you really think you figured it out on your own. Bruce doesn't make mistakes like that. He did this on purpose to drag you in.' I'M JUST SAYING, look at what he was saying in Teen Titans #29 (because he somehow knew that Tim figured out Bruce's identity):

You spent weeks tracking the Dark Knight. Solving a mystery no one else could. You discovered who he was behind that mask. […] If someone was really trying to find out who Batman really was. If someone was trailing him for weeks. He'd know about it. […] He let you find him."

Let Jason (incorrectly) call Tim a lying liar 2k25.

Anyway the writing where Jason is appeased by learning that (1) Tim figured out Batman's identity independently and convinced him to make him Robin, (2) Bruce did try to kill Joker but Superman stopped him, (not what happened in that comic, for the record,) and (3) Dick killed Joker temporarily that one time is just... not very interesting to me. To me, their conflict is not one that can be easily cleaned up by clearing up a couple misconceptions. And I feel like this reading also ignores the much more irreconcilable moral divide between what Jason and Bruce believe these days.

Of course this also ties in with the whole Lazarus Pit Madness headcanon which... I flop around how I feel about it but I don't like most depictions of it.

Speed round other things I don't like:

Making Jason a brawler or someone who acts before he thinks. He is a planner!!! Yes he gets angry and lashes out but let him premeditate the lashing out. He's honed it into something that will hurt the other person the most first.

Jane Austen is not his entire personality let him read other books let him enjoy other media let him have other interests. What happened to his love for Poison Idea.

Replacement <- stupid fucking nickname. Jason can do better.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

IF HE HAS PIT SIDE EFFECTS THEY ARE GOLD COLORED !! I AM A GOLD LAZARUS PIT TRUTHER AND WILL BE UNTIL THE END OF TIME

(ignore every time i've written a fic involving green pit water. i had yet to see the light, then)

I have can't shut up disease about Jason so hang on here's a list.

Hair: Black with white streak. Curly. I am anti-ginger Jason I'm sorry

Eyes: Sheila Haywood blue for the angst of it. Brown is a favorite for aesthetic reasons. Juni Ba white, normal UTRH movie green, and Lazarus Pit gold are acceptable. Lazarus Pit green... thin ice.

Scars: Batarang scar necessary and important he always has it UNLESS specifically fanon Lazarus Pit healing nonsense took it away, in which case the fact that it isn't there makes his mental health even worse. I reject the autopsy scar but I see the appeal of making it a vivisection scar. The J brand/scar on his face I also disagree with.

Lazarus Pit erases scars for me, so vivisection scar also wouldn't exist in my heart.

Jason being unable to die permanently is canon in my heart.

Okay bonus here's a silly headcanon that I think I discussed with you before but: a reading of Jason pre-Pit as a Hollow (a body without a soul,) similar to how Oliver Queen was during Quiver (the first arc of Green Arrow 2001). Since Oliver saw Robin in heaven... just saying. Jason's soul was there.

Jason post-Pit has a soul that the Lazarus Pit fabricated and gave him. Pit Madness episodes are actually just when his new Lazarus Pit soul being imperfect, thus allowing demons to temporarily possess his body. But also sometimes his real soul from before gets his turn with the Xbox. You can play this for comedy. You can play this for angst. I think I'm explaining it bad but I think of this concept often and one day I will do something with it.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

Honestly just see my answer for question 8 with regards to what I don't like, that still holds true here.

I like it when he's competent and smart and also when he gets to be a bit of an asshole as a treat. I really enjoy interpretations where he takes care of Crime Alley (I know it's a fanon thing). Him being able to flirt up until he actually likes someone, at which point he will forget every communication skill he has ever gained. His compassion esp for victims is the most important thing ever to me. I like when people remember that he was about two millimeters from blowing Bruce the fuck up in the Batmobile. Him believing in his own code of ethics separate from Bruce is also a very key part of who he is!!

LOVE IMMORTAL + ALL-CASTE + [SELECTIVELY] MUTE JASON TODD HEADCANONS. WRITE THEM MORE.

Okay hang on hot take: I don't really... agree? with how people usually write his death trauma flashbacks. Like I am very much an original Death in the Family comic arc truther with how everything went down there, which means:

He was not tied up. The Joker did not spend hours upon hours torturing him and verbally taunting him. (Sorry I am so sick of reading the words forehand or backhand?) Joker beat him up for like... 20 minutes at the very maximum and it's implied that he didn't even intend to kill Jason.

He was not alone when he died. Sheila was there. Even if you want him to hate Sheila forever and ever I think them dying together is soooo important. He wasn't alone.

Jason was not staring at that countdown. I don't think that would be a trigger for him. Even ignoring the fact that he was in and out of consciousness at that point, he spent those last few seconds launching himself to shield Sheila from the blast. Wasn't looking at the countdown.

Smoke inhalation didn't kill him I don't care what Mortimer Gunt's shitty incorrect death certificate says. It also says that he died in Bristol, Gotham. It also says that he was 4'6" (he was 5'4" according to NTT #55). The explosion murdered the fuck out of him. (The original comic says that his body was already cool when Bruce got there, which is nonsensical, but does imply to me that he was already dead dead in the explosion. It wasn't the smoke that got to him.)

I also don't like when fics reveal the Batarang Incident by having Jason use it as ammo when he's lashing out. He would not do that. That is a secret that would have be pried out of him with a crowbar.

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

THROWING A BOMB OFF THE WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. AND, WHILE HE WAS ACTIVELY TRYING TO DISARM IT BEFORE THEN, TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE FUN OF THE CONSTABLE'S BRITISH ACCENT FOR THREE PARAGRAPHS STRAIGHT.

"Hush up, Constable. Daddy's busy." "Bloody hell." "Yeah, 'bloody hell', 'bollocks' and 'bob's yer uncle.' Back the hell up twenty feet. I need both hands to do this and I can't keep the gun trained on you. Step up on me, I'll draw and you'll be having crumpits with Mary Queen of Scots." "What are you doin' there?" "Playing Mah Jong, Mary. Almost got me four melds here--aw, crap. I just found the timer. Looks like it's tea time."

^this entire exchange. I'm never recovering from it. Jason you are seventeen. (Red Hood: Lost Days Issue #5)

[goldenlionprince]

Turning up the heat

Another one for @sorenphelps The Bodyguard AU where James tries to get to know Sirius a little better after the Gala and also get a little closer in the progress ;) (also tagging the other fandom crack dealer @neverenoughmarauders)

--

“So,” James says and flops down onto the couch next to Sirius.

Sirius looks up from his phone but doesn't move his legs to make more room for James. James doesn't mind.

“I thought we could play a little game.”

“A game?” Sirius raises an eyebrow at him. “I thought you have work to do.”

“The program is running,” James says with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I can't do much right now so I thought we could fill the time with me asking you some questions.”

“An interrogation?”

“A game,” James insists with a bright grin. “Don't worry, I won't ask you any classified information like your birthdate. I don't need to, Mr. Scorpio.”

Sirius tilts his head to the side like a dog who picked up on an interesting sound. “How do you know?”

“You're not the only one who notices things,” James says and taps his finger against the one on Sirius' right hand that has a small star sign tattooed on it. “And I asked Remus. By the way, you should tell him to update his firewall.”

Sirius sighs and pinches the brink of his nose.

“He didn't budge on the name thing, though. So you'll still be Soldier Boy.” James leans in a little closer to Sirius and waits until he drops his hand again. “For now.”

Sirius looks at him, the eyebrow raises again. “You're very sure about that.”

James just grins and doesn't comment on it. He flops back onto the couch and swings his legs into Sirius' lap. “So, questions.”

Sirius sighs and puts his phone away. “Shoot.”

“Favourite colour?”

“Red.”

James tries and probably fails not to preen in his red t-shirt. “As a kid, what did you want to be when you were all grown up?”

“A palaeontologist.”

James grins. “Did you have many dino plushies?”

Sirius shrugs. “A few.”

“Cute,” James laughs and readjusts his legs on Sirius' lap until Sirius grabs his knee and stops him from wiggling around so much. “I wanted to be an astronaut. Or a hacker.”

A grin tugs at Sirius' lips. His fingertips draw little swirls and patterns along James' knee. “I get you reaching for the stars but where does a child get the idea of wanting to be a hacker from?”

“My godmother,” James explains with a matching grin, full on enjoying the little touches. “She's coding really difficult stuff for the UN. I've learned everything I know from her.”

“And your mind immediately went to how can I apply that knowledge to criminal activities?”

James laughs and shrugs his shoulders. “It sounded cool, okay? And I kind of do it now anyway, I'm just doing it to point out security risks. I still get to have the fun part without the jail part.”

Sirius just looks at him, amusement sparkling in his grey eyes. “Shall we forget about all the times you use it for other things than pointing out security risks?”

“We shall,” James nods. “Next question. What's your favourite food in the whole world.”

“Dino nuggets.”

James frowns. “What?”

Sirius only shrugs. “Dino nuggets.”

“Yeah, I've heard that. I just wasn't aware I'm talking to a five year old.”

Sirius smirks at him. “I thought you knew my birthdate.”

“Yes, which is exactly why I don't know how this is matching up.”

Sirius only shrugs again. “I'm just not that much of a food person.”

James shakes his head in disbelief. “You're going out to eat with Remus once a month.”

“And why do you think that is?” Sirius says with a grin and pokes James' knee. “You're not the first person who finds my food choices questionable and in need of boarding my horizon. Didn't really work so far since I will still choose nuggets.”

“It's pressed meat,” James says offended, pulling his legs out of Sirius' lap and sitting up. “You can't be serious!”

A grin tugs at Sirius lips. “Oh, believe me, I am.”

James pokes him in the ribs. “This is outrageous.”

“It's just food,” Sirius laughs, twisting away from another jab of James' fingers.

“It doesn't deserve to be called food!”

Sirius shakes his head at James in amusement. “It's quick, it's easy, it has a fun shape. It does the job. It's really not that deep, James.”

“Oh, it is!” James gets up from the couch and makes his way to the front door, pulling on his shoes.

“What are you doing?” Sirius asks, getting up from the couch as well.

“Making sure you know what real food tastes like.” James answers and grabs his wallet and keys. “Since Remus apparently does a horrible job. But first we have to go shopping.”

“Right now?” Sirius asks but already follows James to the door.

“Right now,” James confirms and pulls the door to his apartment open.

**

It's over an hour later when James finds himself in the kitchen of his apartment, cooking his mum's curry for the first time since she passed away. It doesn't hurt as much as he expected it would.

He actually really enjoys it. He always liked helping his parents in the kitchen whenever they let him, but doing it on his own is just something else. Concentrating on the process helps his mind not to spiral. Seeing the ingredients turn into something his mother would have made makes his heart a little lighter.

Still, he really needs to text Remus a few restaurant suggestions because what the hell is that man doing?

James stirs the pot and lifts the spoon to try the curry, bracing himself for the wave of grief, but it doesn't come. Instead warmth spreads through him because the curry tastes exactly like it should. It's almost like his mum is here with him, just for a fleeting moment.

When James realizes Sirius is watching him, he makes a show of licking the spoon clean, his tongues travelling the whole length before he pops the spoon into his mouth and then slowly pulls it out again, winking at Sirius.

Sirius shakes his head at him and James grins, dropping the spoon into the sink and grabbing a new one. He dips the new spoon into the curry and holds it out to Sirius.

“Try it,” he says and holds eye contact with Sirius when he leans in and closes his lips around the spoon. James watches his every move so he won't miss his reaction.

Sirius takes his time, chews slowly and licks his lips. “Not bad,” he says finally.

“Better than dino nuggets?” James asks and rinses off the spoon before dipping it back into the curry. Sirius hums in thought and James holds the spoon out for him again. “Maybe you need a second try.”

Sirius leans in once more. At the last second though, James pulls the spoon a little further away, closer to himself so Sirius has to follow, then uses his chance to lean in himself and brush his nose against Sirius'.

Sirius frowns at him. “Last time I checked you weren't the curry I was supposed to try.”

“Oh, you can try me if you want,” James says, his eyes dipping down to Sirius' lips. He licks his own and leans a tiny bit closer but Sirius pulls back and clears his throat.

“I'll just get the table ready,” he says and grabs glasses and spoons from the counter, but James can see the faint blush on his cheeks before he turns away.

James grins. He can work with that.

[marzipanilla]

RAGE ! heh. yah.

To just veer off bc I have been rewatching this channels stuff lately - Batman stuff ! (x)

On to the rambles.

Yeah it just felt like every single character came out of the woodwork JUST to say 'wink wink nudge nudge we KNEW you two crazy kids would figure it out eventually!' and ?? why ??? why ?? why did you feel the need for their EXES specifically to give them the go ahead, to even shove them towards it even?? I just ?? surely they have other shit to talk about? Not to mention Rex and Eve's we are traumatized teens bonding was way more interesting then their very shitty romance!

I hate the fucking while I was dying I was thinking of you line too. Yes Mark. When you are panicking and freaked out, clearly that is when your mind is most clear. please. dear god. amid the ethics courses you should have been taking, a few ones about psychology and trauma response would also be good, yes?

lol Hannibal. Yeah. I agree. I love Mads' interview where he like Hannibal is the happiest man I have ever portrayed : ) and its like. he's right tho. That man IS having the time of his life and his falling in love, he is having a GREAT time. beautiful show. need to rewatch it soon.

I was talking to someone else and they compared the whole Eve and her parents situation to 'I wont be gay in the house but you can't stop me from being gay outside' and like. ugh. it really is tho. WHY are you still there. WHY are you so determined to make THESE people your family. You know you were (unknowingly adopted) they AREN'T your only option anymore. You aren't 12. You had TT ! (supposedly) You have NEW friends now!! Stop going back to these people!!

The UTTERLY SILENT (I do like the choice but it is also funny that all that happens is literally without a voice) and completely undiscussed by the main 'moral' force of the show maybe villains have REASONS for what they do opening ??? yeah it was great but it also feels so 'lol look at whats going on in the background! no one will ever realize how complex these situations can be!!' anyway here's Oliver being fucking stupid.

Like yeah, I loved the GoG breakdown/breakup in ep 3, as like a we all need to discuss autonomy and accountability and the messed up world we live and people are both right and wrong- but any of the personal-ness to it is ABSENT bc again.. we have rarely seen these people do anything. Stop calling them your family Samson! NONE of you know each other !! Also him calling out Rudy for playing the odds and then acting like he's all fond of him is wild. Amanda being so thrilled this 19 year old girl is marrying her boss is insane. AND Immortal just invited his own ass back, that shit is hilarious. You know that fucker would make anyone asking to come back jump through hoops.

I have played a bit with the idea of danger blind Debbie and it just.. it makes enough sense to me. Her response to terrible shit happening just being like 'well this is annoying : /' while everyone else is freaking out. I feel like Nolan would have been like ??? squishy human not afraid ??? and Debbie's response like ?? you think you're special bc you can kill me?? literally anything could kill me ! Why should I be afraid of you just bc you're fast and strong? A slow person with an air filled needle could get me !! and Nolan just having to be like : / Okay. I guess I see your point.

Look I find the over all narrative and some of the characters fascinating enough that I WANT to engage with and talk about this media, but honestly, I am such a hater and I don't even try not to be xD Invincible is my BUT YOU COULD BE GOOD IF YOU WERE GOOD fandom fr. 'star wars would be great if it wasn't star wars' is a thing I've seen half-jokingly get thrown around and for me its 'Invincible could be good if they weren't adhering it to the comic' lol

TBH I started a 'Cecil basically becomes Mark's parental figure' story that would take place in my Liar Liar/Man Who Played Wolf AU, but I ended up disliking it so I never really went back to salvage it. Maybe I just need to refocus and honestly just make it about Cecil : /

Honestly given a number of the dumb things the GDA gets up to I wonder how good they are at strategizing lol Like.. I really hoped they would leave out the 'we knew Nolan was lying FROM THE START!' thing, bc.. okay... he's a viltrumite. You have only just recently barely found anything that could hurt them... but... like... 20 years on the planet... and not only did you find nothing you didn't WARN anyone ? like ? where's the contingencies ??? Also I will never get over them not giving that astronaut a medical check up, just so he could go puke up more aliens into his sink. Sometimes I also think they deliberately prevent heroes from getting access to education bc the moment one of those fuckers learns how to strategize then you're ACTUALLY fucked, bc they really do make some dumb decisions in battles. constantly.

Yapping bug ! time for the yappings !!

While I'm not too familiar with the DCU- your batfam meta posts are intiguing- so in transfering some of the broader strokes from them- I think you tackling a 'Mark isn't Nolan's biological son' fic would be fascinating. Sort of a step to the side of the 'what if Mark never got his powers' fic that sometimes pop up in the fandom

OOOOOO chewing on this currently, hm, the much a distinct flavor of exactly what you’re talking about, but the potential for more family drama depending on WHO knows. Does Mark know?? Is he waiting every day only to be crushed? Does he confused non-Debbie features with Nolan’s? I suppose I’m not the most enthusiastic about non-power AUs, but I think there’s something very fun to explore about Mark having to settle with, if he knows all his life, he will never have powers? I think the trajectory of his dreams will obviously shift, I can see him still having that distinct fatherly idolization, but perhaps embraces being useful to the GDA? Cecil’s number one intern—only intern—curtesy of nepotism, ha! There is something tickling me about Mark taking the Robin Route/Role for the Teen Team in terms of having no powers, just insane skills, BUT there’s something way more delicious about intern Mark when s1e01 happens and Mark tries snooping around to find out the truth about what happened to his Dad.

I wonder if, with Mark having a whole another father, if they’re more or less distant relationship, depending on WHEN Nolan entered Mark’s life? Like if Debbie met Nolan later for this, or just for fun, they dated once, separated (Mark being born during then), then they happened to stumble into each others lives again and Mark’s already been born, anywhere from tween to teenager so there’s a gap in how close they are. I feel like one important aspect of the whole Family Drama is how close they’re supposed to be, a functional, loving family turned upside down? So I wonder what more distance does. I wonder how Nolan copes when his family is entirely human and he can’t project onto Mark.

I love thinking about these, omg.

[petrichormore]

!! The following is a rant and is slightly fandom critical, it’s also over-exaggerated and half joking !!

!! I’m just expelling frustration it’s not serious I’m just being silly rn so beware all ye who enter here (and also read the tags) !!

the only character that is allowed to kill an egg without repercussions is q!badboyhalo because this fandom treats him like a glorified nanny and they only care about him when they’re yelling at him to take care of their fav egg. he ain’t that egg’s government-assigned parent and he isn’t responsible for constantly keeping every egg alive but i damn well know if an egg dies on his watch, or if an egg dies of neglect he’s gonna get blamed - especially if an egg dies of neglect since he’s the only islander that cares about that apparently lmao (mostly joking). And the worst part is he’ll probably blame himself too but it honest to god is not his problem.

Bro needs a vacation - an actual one where he’s not taking care of an average of 3 eggs daily lmfao

[frownyalfred]

I'm seeing a lot of "ugh, so we can't even criticize fic authors anymore?" posts popping up on here and the ao3 subreddit and I just want to say, for the record: No one's saying you can't criticize (fanfic) authors publicly. They're saying it's rude and antithetical to positive fandom experience. And, yes there's a difference.

If this website was a conference and I had just spent a whole afternoon listening to a presentation on [unpopular fic trope] and after that was done, I got up on stage and very publicly told the audience that [unpopular fic trope] was illogical and anyone who writes it is woefully misinformed and should be banned from writing [relevant character], that would in fact be a dick move.

"But the canon character would never--" it doesn't matter. You're shouting down the hall at the person who just happily did a whole seminar on their OOC version of that character. "But I don't like that the author chose to make them--" good, you're well-acquainted with your likes and dislikes, time to find another fic.

We all run into fics and interpretations we don't like. But there's a huge difference between loudly talking about it on Tumblr where the author can see it, and just venting in a private discord or other group. Also, gentle reminder that this is a hobby for most writers and something they do purely because they enjoy it. Stop being massive dicks just because you feel entitled to a certain flavor of fanfiction you will probably be chasing until the Reformation of Krypton.