#also this version makes more sense than the one i posted earlier this year

[jcs-singular-slut-strand]

[mistakenot4892]

Disclaimer that this is a post mostly motivated by frustration at a cultural trend, not at any individual people/posters. Vagueing to avoid it seeming like a callout but I know how Tumblr is so we'll see I guess. Putting it after a read-more because I think it's going to spiral out of control.

Recent discourse around obnoxious Linux shills chiming in on posts about how difficult it can be to pick up computer literacy these days has made me feel old and tired. I get that people just want computers to Work and they don't want to have to put any extra effort into getting it to Do The Thing, that's not unreasonable, I want the same!

(I also want obnoxious Linux shills to not chip in on my posts (unless I am posting because my Linux has exploded and I need help) so I sympathise with that angle too, 'just use Linux' is not the catch-all solution you think it is my friend.)

But I keep seeing this broad sense of learned helplessness around having to learn about what the computer is actually doing without having your hand held by a massive faceless corporation, and I just feel like it isn't a healthy relationship to have with your tech.

The industry is getting worse and worse in their lack of respect to the consumer every quarter. Microsoft is comfortable pivoting their entire business to push AI on every part of their infrastructure and in every service, in part because their customers aren't going anywhere and won't push back in the numbers that might make a difference. Windows 11 has hidden even more functionality behind layers of streamlining and obfuscation and integrated even more spyware and telemetry that won't tell you shit about what it's doing and that you can't turn off without violating the EULA. They're going to keep pursuing this kind of shit in more and more obvious ways because that's all they can do in the quest for endless year on year growth.

Unfortunately, switching to Linux will force you to learn how to use it. That sucks when it's being pushed as an immediate solution to a specific problem you're having! Not going to deny that. FOSS folks need to realise that 'just pivot your entire day to day workflow to a new suite of tools designed by hobby engineers with really specific chips on their shoulders' does not work as a method of evangelism. But if you approach it more like learning to understand and control your tech, I think maybe it could be a bit more palatable? It's more like a set of techniques and strategies than learning a specific workflow. Once you pick up the basic patterns, you can apply them to the novel problems that inevitably crop up. It's still painful, particularly if you're messing around with audio or graphics drivers, but importantly, you are always the one in control. You might not know how to drive, and the engine might be on fire, but you're not locked in a burning Tesla.

Now that I write this it sounds more like a set of coping mechanisms, but to be honest I do not have a healthy relationship with xorg.conf and probably should seek therapy.

It's a bit of a stretch but I almost feel like a bit of friction with tech is necessary to develop a good relationship with it? Growing up on MS-DOS and earlier versions of Windows has given me a healthy suspicion of any time my computer does something without me telling it to, and if I can't then see what it did, something's very off. If I can't get at the setting and properties panel for something, my immediate inclination is to uninstall it and do without.

And like yeah as a final note, I too find it frustrating when Linux decides to shit itself and the latest relevant thread I can find on the matter is from 2006 and every participant has been Raptured since, but at least threads exist. At least they're not Microsoft Community hellscapes where every second response is a sales rep telling them to open a support ticket. At least there's some transparency and openness around how the operating system is made and how it works. At least you have alternatives if one doesn't do the job for you.

This is long and meandering and probably misses the point of the discourse I'm dragging but I felt obligated to make it. Ubuntu Noble Numbat is pretty good and I haven't had any issues with it out of the box (compared to EndeavourOS becoming a hellscape whenever I wanted my computer to make a sound or render a graphic) so I recommend it. Yay FOSS.

[dainahlai]

Wait I've been thinking–someone once posted about Xavier wanting MC to like just Xavier right??

But anyways, it got me thinking more in detail about his identities. Throughout his times on Earth, Xavier has had to make so many personalities for himself and create so many versions of himself just to make himself seem like a normal person. Btw this is so hard for me to put into words so bear with me here 😭.

But it's a well known fact among most Xavier girlies that he himself has probably had a few identity crises, and I just want to build up on this idea. Xavier himself doesn't view his other versions as him. He sees them as completely different.

Xavier: Whilst Lumiere is kind and gentle, I'm apparently harsh and cruel?

He doesn't see his other version as him, they're other people who he associates with, but nothing further. They're different personalities of him.

Xavier: And when you see Lumiere, you appear to be a lot happier than when you see me.

This just proves that even if the fandom sees Lumiere and Xavier as the same person (thus the jealous Xavier joke) he doesn't think Lumiere is him. Lumiere is a completely different person than Xavier, and that is why Xavier finds it so easy to get jealous over Lumiere.

But my main point isn't that–It's the fact that the Xavier we see might not even be the real Xavier (or in other words, is a personality made to protect his real self/a mesh of his dozens of other selves). Going back to Xavier's comment about Lumiere, it proves that Xavier can have different personalities, supported by the fact MC mentioned him to be a good actor. (Can't remember the exact line). He's familiar with this, my earlier words about us not seeing his real self was a joke btw. We see his real personality because you can compare him with Lightseeker (Pre time travel) and see that they are the same. But it just got me thinking about what-ifs. Xavier can create himself many personalities, the reason he's good at acting is because he becomes his other selves. So in other words, he becomes them, but they aren't him. Xavier can become one of his other personalities, but he will never see himself as them. And if we weren't MC, then we probably would have had to face one of his various other selves rather than the actual self he hides behind dozens of other personalities. And it shows, after a whole year, Xavier is finally showing us his true personality, and we're getting to see more actual sides of him than any mysterious fakes. And Xavier likes that this is happening. Whilst MC also has her reincarnations and versions, Xavier has his own personalities and identities. Supported by Xavier's line in the 21 days memory.

Xavier: Every version of me belongs to you, and every version of you, belongs to me.

So yeah in a sense MC and Xavier are kindred spirits. And whilst Xavier may not reincarnate or resurrect, he does live through lives and personalities. It makes him both difficult and easy to characterise.

God I think this went off the rails, and if you've read through, thanks. This is my rant for Xavier whom I love with all my life and soul. And sorry if this ended up offending anyone, or confusing anyone, or if I actually was wrong all the way. I'm human, and can make mistakes, please rather than arguing, just tell me my mistake so I can correct myself!

[spinchip]

So glad someone asked about Ninjago Finds the Way Home AU recently cuz I just found that and oh boy do I have questions, this au is so cool!! So, since the ninja never became a team, this means they never found the golden weapons, so the megaweapon and Garmadon's subsequent healing never happened. And since he's not there, and Zane was quickly sent to the dungeons by Chen, this means none of the other ninja are wary of Chen (minus Cole and Zane due to your previous post). This also means, besides Lloyd, none of them know Spinjitzu or have their True potentials. Does anyone unlock their true potential *during* the Tournament?

Oh!! Also cuz they don't have their true potential unlocked, does this mean Chen's spell is weakened in power? Or does it just take the power (no matter the skill level) as a baseline fuel? Cuz I'd imagine taking the literal Elements of Creation would be really powerful, but they're not as powerful as they could be.

Also, I'm very curious if Chen still gets to Kai in this, since in canon Chen mentions he knew Kai's parents. For Kai in this au, someone who wants to live up to his parents legacy of being blacksmiths and restoring their shop to glory, how would he take this info? You also said he wants to avoid the prophecy and that he's only here because of Nya, so does that mean he doesn't really use his powers or participate? Or does he still try? Also since I mentioned Lloyd earlier, what are the groups reactions to seeing a child in this Tournament? I know you said they warm up Lloyd and see parts of themself in him, but how does that go about happening? Sorry for all the questions, this au is just super cool! Hope you have a nice day!

Omg long ask thank you ! I'll put the reply under readmore aaa

You're right! At first, no one is that wary of Chen or Clouse. I think there might be a bit of "Wait, somethings not quite right." but it's pretty easily brushed off by attributing Chens strangeness to the fact he's a wacky reclusive billionaire. He says something a little off color and it's like well, he has been alone on this island for years so...? I guess that makes sense. I do think Zanes little outburst and dinner raised some eyebrows, and made some of the more attentive EMs a bit slower to trust the whole situation, but for the most part everyone thinks they're there to play the game and win the crown. no more no less. This AU would focus a lot more on clues and mystery and unraveling how everything is connected I think.

I didn't give much thought to true potential, but thinking about it now- I think only one ninja would unlock his TP during the events of the ToE, and it would be Kai. I think this version of Kai is really resistant to change and is very focused on him and nya vs the world. I think him reaching his true potential is when he accepts that he needs and WANTS to make outside connections, and accepts his role as part of something larger than himself. I think he would still reach it protecting Lloyd in some way! Perhaps he still gets his hand on the staff and feels that corruption, and ends up reaching TP by destroying it and giving everyone their powers back? Might have to workshop that one a little. What do you think?

Personally, I think that taking the powers no matter the skill level of the user will give Chen their Fully Recognized Power. It's not that the power isnt THERE, just that there's a mental block keeping them from accessing it. The staff doesn't really have an mental blocks so- full power from the moment they're stolen!

the question about Kai and Chen is really interesting. It's been too long since i've seen s4 i need to rewatch augh. Kai is really individualistic in this version of the story- he wants to take care of what's his and nothing else. i think Chen bringing up his parents would play into that, and I think Chen would bring up his parents earlier on to get Kai on his side earlier on. Though I don't think he would phrase it like he knows a Big Secret, just that he KNEW them, which would be enough for kai, who starved of any and all information on his parents. I don't think this would set off any alarm bells for Kai at first because Chen clearly has an interest in the elemental masters, so it's not that strange he knew his parents, right? But as things start to become more obviously nefarious Kai's willingness to listen to Chen would quickly sour. Especially once he realizes that Chen was fighting against his parents in the war. At first, though, he would be extremely interested in learning everything about them he can from Chen. ANd he might still use that interest to trick Chen into thinking he's on his side later on so he can act double agent and help the others from behind the curtain so to speak.

Kai doesnt have any idea about the prophecy at first, and he's kinda just of the mindset of like- I gotta get Nya and go home. there's a blacksmith shop to be run. i don't have time for this tournament stuff i JUST started getting good at the forge. But he's still a young man and i think the more he was around other EMs the more he's like OKAYYYY this could be fun. maybe. and heck, i'm stuck here... so why not try to win? For the heck of it? so he does end up participating a bit!

there's a collective thought bubble from everyone who sees Lloyd that basically boils down to "Man, I hope someone else eliminates him before I have to." WHICH IS TO SAY no one would actually try to hurt him, but they would try to defeat him in the tournament. There's a lot of money on the line, after all...

There's a lot of inertwined stuff that happens that leads to Lloyd becoming really important to the ninja team. I think the basic idea is that first the group as a whole takes him in when he's getting into trouble on the ferry ride to chens island, then Zane, who knows who Lloyd is, is keen on keeping an eye on him. He and Zane bond quick because Zane does not treat Lloyd like a child to his face (To elaborate, Zane isn't like unjustly shouldering a lot of responsibility onto Lloyd like he were a fellow adult. he just listens to lloyd and takes what he says with the same gravity he would if those words were coming from someone like neuro or wu. Lloyd feels very heard and respected, so he sticks close to zane.) then, because Cole and Zane are fast friends and cole has a natural paternal instinct, he and lloyd bond. Colke and jay are a package deal, so Jay ends up growing close to Lloyd too. Jay and Nya are flitring a lot, so now Nya's in the mix and where there's nya, kai is not far behind.

a game of connect the dots in a way?

tell me what YOU think!

thanks for the ask!

[chthonic-cassandra]

Tagged by my dear @awildwickedslip! I think I did this one a couple years ago and it's not like I've published much fic since then, but it's maybe an interesting exercise to do it again without looking at my earlier answers first.

1. How many works on AO3?

115.

2. Total word count on AO3?

320, 935.

3. Top five fics by kudos?

Shattered Mirrors - Jonathan in Dracula's castle, Yuletide story (2009) - 376

Make It Through the Wintertime - Hadestown!Persephone backstory, Yuletide story (2016) - 345

To Burn the Castle Down - Jonathan kills Mina angst, really melodramatic (2008) - 312

Compromise - Mina/Dracula/Jonathan darkest timeline train story, the start of my only completed novel length fic ever (2009) - 273

Minor Initiations - basically the same premise as Compromise with Mina and Jonathan's roles reversed. and the story is much more of a mess. (2009) - 231

I included the actual kudos numbers because I rather appreciated that @awildwickedslip did; there's something interesting about that demystifying transparency.

You'll see that these are almost all 15+ years old, with the one exception being the fluke of writing a Yuletide story for what was at the time about to become a pretty popular musical. 20 years of writing in extremely tiny fandoms!

4. What fandoms do you primarily write for?

Historically it's been overwhelmingly Dracula alongside scattered multifandom endeavors of which Shakespeare plays and various Greek mythology versions have been the closest to consistent. I now have substantial WIPs in other fandoms which for a change were created less than 100 years ago, and we'll see what happens there.

5. Do you respond to comments?

Somewhat erratically. I do try! I feel so fortunate with the comments I receive.

6. Angstiest ending?

I think most of my fics end with someone either dying or resigning themselves to some kind of life of profoundly restricted choices. Right now the one that's coming to mind is Enthralled By Destiny, one of my Sade stories which is also really a Bluebeard story.

7. Fic with the happiest ending?

I mostly write happy endings only when I get Yuletide assignments requesting them, and then I struggle all the way because it is just not my strength at all. This past year my assignment was quite literally to give Macbeth and Lady Macbeth a happy ending in which they didn't do evil things and I went sort of out of my mind about it but I did manage something. Caucus-Race, my 2019 Yuletide assignment for Alice in Wonderland, came more easily.

8. Do you get hate?

Not really. I'm lucky and write in tiny fandoms and also am pretty conflict avoidant on the internet. I've intermittently gotten some frustrating responses about the ways I write about abuse dynamics in my Dracula stories but not much for a while. I have a sense that in this post-Dracula Daily era there are some people who very much don't like the kind of fic I write, but that's fine as long as people keep it to themselves.

9. Do you write smut?

I do not!

10. Do you write crossovers?

Rarely, when I think there's something interesting to be said with them. I tend to get more crossover ideas than I actually write.

11. Ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge! I've read a few fics that seemed very clearly inspired by mine, but that's a sweet thing even if uncredited.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Well...

14. All time favorite ship?

To write or read or just to have exist in the world? To write, by my numbers, it's certainly Mina/Dracula/Jonathan. There are a number of other ships which really compel me conceptually and for which hopefully I will write/finishing writing more in the future.

15. WiPs you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

So many. Philomela's Tapestry and Furious Docility were both things I posted with the knowledge that they would probably never be finished, just making the judgment call that if even a couple people got something out of reading the parts I had written it was worth putting them up. Of the dozens of unpublished WIPs whose fate is not yet determined it is perhaps better not to speak.

16. Writing strengths?

Interior experiences of violence (perpetrating or experiencing); selecting telling details; complicated relational dynamics; bittersweet moods

17. Writing weaknesses?

Smut; happy endings; characters speaking in more casual/modern tone/voice; finishing things

18. Thoughts on mixed language dialogue?

I don't feel great about doing it in a language I don't know well, and Ancient Greek dialogue is just show-offy and rarely useful. I've talked about this in fic commentaries, but several parts of Compromise have highly plot and character relevant moments of characters switching between languages, and I ultimately made use of the choice to keep it all in English to what I hope was interesting effect.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Lord of the Rings. It was Sauron/Galadriel.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

For a long time to come I think it's going to be the Compromise series, taken as a whole.

Tagging, if they'd like to do it, @kareenvorbarra @child-of-hurin @mysikrolik @poorshadowspaintedqueens @tomatowrites

[expectiations]

The Husbands of River Song is not and has never been about the Eleventh Doctor being a deadbeat, distant husband (gross mischaracterization by the way) and the Twelfth Doctor being the "better, more mature, affectionate" husband.

It was about River Song. It was about River and how the events in Manhattan took such a toll on her. It was about letting us see River dealing with grief the way The Snowmen showed us how the Doctor coped after losing believing he had used up all his time with River.

Looking at THORS now with The Ruby's Curse in mind, I get the instinct (for lack of a word that I cannot remember) that the Manhattan incident Blue Roach read from River's diary was not the Manhattan episode that we saw in series 7.

On that note, I'd also like to bring up the fact that the Doctor grounds River and River grounds the Doctor. As Tree talked about in one of her tags, River's empathy is more cognitive than emotional and after musing on it for a bit – considering that the Doctor can no longer go to Manhattan (which may have changed in later series but I wouldn't know at the moment because I have yet to overcome series 7b) and that River does spend time with her parents in Manhattan post-TATM, would the latest Manhattan incident in River's diary be the funeral for Amy? Amy's death? Perhaps even Anthony's? I mean, we already know Rory died five years earlier than Amy. So, knowing how deep River's love for her mother is, it's not too farfetched to say that River spent that time with them. River was by their bedsides as they drew their last breath.

Then Rory's gone, Amy's gone, Anthony's gone. Where does that leave River? Where is the Doctor? (sulking on a cloud on top of Victorian London? trying to figure out the mystery of his newest companion? all while constantly mentioning a certain Professor Song who actually turns out to be his dearly sort of departed absolutely beloved wife?)

Without her parents (and her husband) to ground her, she goes on this maddened, grieving space Robin Hood spree. She seeks fun to fill in the void and takes up marriage as a hobby/side quest. Does she look for the Doctor? Perhaps. Yes, actually. Considering she crashed her latest sort-of-husband's ship onto a planet where she purported the TARDIS to be.

But... she's stealing the TARDIS. She could have just called the Doctor, yeah? So, she doesn't want the Doctor to know then. Well... yeah, considering she has two sort-of-husbands in hand.

So, River would just have gone on from one space Robin Hood spree to the next had the TARDIS not sort-of-stranded herself on Mendorax Dellora to make sure her Water stopped being stubborn and reconcile(?) with her Thief?

Also taking note of how River has read stories about them and knows that Darillium is purported to be their last night together (I could also bring up the fact that this is why I find it easy to digest the "River meeting regenerations of the Doctor younger than the Tenth Doctor makes sense and doesn't break cannon nor ruin SITL/FOTD" but that would take a whole other post). Does this River believe her time with the Eleventh Doctor has ended? The same way series 7b Eleven believed his time with older versions of River has ended? Is this all part of some grand fuckup in communication all thanks to their tangled timelines?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But has River not just been running from her family's death? Has River been running from her supposed last night with the Doctor?

"But River doesn't run." Oh yes. Yes, she does. She knows when to stand her ground. She knows when to charge. And she knows when to run.

"That's out of character for her." No, it's not. She's not invincible. She's this well trained assassin, yes. But invincible? No.

Invincible from the tendency to be blinded by their emotions? Obviously not.

River lies. And River runs.

She is not afraid of her death. She is afraid of the day when her husband, her Doctor, looks into her eyes and looks right through her. And it shouldn't kill her but it does. It did.

So she ran and ran until her bigger-on-the-inside Mum gently reached out and put her back together with the only person left who could ground her. Who she didn't recognize at first but still fell in love with (and would have loved even if he hadn't been revealed to be her actual, long missing husband). Who finally found out their last night wasn't just any night – it was a twenty-four year long last night. Who finally gave her a breather from all the running she'd been doing.

And oh what a night that was (it was the talk of the universe).

[physalian]

8 Signs your Sequel Needs Work

Sequels, and followup seasons to TV shows, can be very tricky to get right. Most of the time, especially with the onslaught of sequels, remakes, and remake-quels over the past… 15 years? There’s a few stand-outs for sure. I hear Dune Part 2 stuck the landing. Everyone who likes John Wick also likes those sequels. Spiderverse 2 also stuck the landing.

These are less tips and more fundamental pieces of your story that may or may not factor in because every work is different, and this is coming from an audience’s perspective. Maybe some of these will be the flaws you just couldn’t put your finger on before. And, of course, these are all my opinions, for sequels and later seasons that just didn’t work for me.

1. Your vague lore becomes a gimmick

The Force, this mysterious entity that needs no further explanation… is now quantifiable with midichlorians.

In The 100, the little chip that contains the “reincarnation” of the Commanders is now the central plot to their season 6 “invasion of the bodysnatchers” villains.

In The Vampire Diaries, the existence of the “emotion switch” is explicitly disputed as even existing in the earlier seasons, then becomes a very real and physical plot point one can toggle on and off.

I love hard magic systems. I love soft magic systems, too. These two are not evolutions of each other and doing so will ruin your magic system. People fell in love with the hard magic because they liked the rules, the rules made sense, and everything you wrote fit within those rules. Don’t get wacky and suddenly start inventing new rules that break your old ones.

People fell in love with the soft magic because it needed no rules, the magic made sense without overtaking the story or creating plot holes for why it didn’t just save the day. Don’t give your audience everything they never needed to know and impose limitations that didn’t need to be there.

Solving the mystery will never be as satisfying as whatever the reader came up with in their mind. Satisfaction is the death of desire.

2. The established theme becomes un-established

I talked about this point already in this post about theme so the abridged version here: If your story has major themes you’ve set out to explore, like “the dichotomy of good and evil” and you abandon that theme either for a contradictory one, or no theme at all, your sequel will feel less polished and meaningful than its predecessor, because the new story doesn’t have as much (if anything) to say, while the original did.

Jurassic Park is a fantastic, stellar example. First movie is about the folly of human arrogance and the inherent disaster and hubris in thinking one can control forces of nature for superficial gains. The sequels, and then sequel series, never returns to this theme (and also stops remembering that dinosaurs are animals, not generic movie monsters). JP wasn’t just scary because ahhh big scary reptiles. JP was scary because the story is an easily preventable tragedy, and yes the dinosaurs are eating people, but the people only have other people to blame. Dinosaurs are just hungry, frightened animals.

Or, the most obvious example in Pixar’s history: Cars to Cars 2.

3. You focus on the wrong elements based on ‘fan feedback’

We love fans. Fans make us money. Fans do not know what they want out of a sequel. Fans will never know what they want out of a sequel, nor will studios know how to interpret those wants. Ask Star Wars. Heck, ask the last 8 books out of the Percy Jackson universe.

Going back to Cars 2 (and why I loathe the concept of comedic relief characters, truly), Disney saw dollar signs with how popular Mater was, so, logically, they gave fans more Mater. They gave us more car gimmicks, they expanded the lore that no one asked for. They did try to give us new pretty racing venues and new cool characters. The writers really did try, but some random Suit decided a car spy thriller was better and this is what we got.

The elements your sequel focuses on could be points 1 or 2, based on reception. If your audience universally hates a character for legitimate reasons, maybe listen, but if your audience is at war with itself over superficial BS like whether or not she’s a female character, or POC, ignore them and write the character you set out to write. Maybe their arc wasn’t finished yet, and they had a really cool story that never got told.

This could be side-characters, or a specific location/pocket of worldbuilding that really resonated, a romantic subplot, whatever. Point is, careening off your plan without considering the consequences doesn’t usually end well.

4. You don’t focus on the ‘right’ elements

I don’t think anyone out there will happily sit down and enjoy the entirety of Thor: The Dark World.  The only reasons I would watch that movie now are because a couple of the jokes are funny, and the whole bit in the middle with Thor and Loki. Why wasn’t this the whole movie? No one cares about the lore, but people really loved Loki, especially when there wasn’t much about him in the MCU at the time, and taking a villain fresh off his big hit with the first Avengers and throwing him in a reluctant “enemy of my enemy” plot for this entire movie would have been amazing.

Loki also refuses to stay dead because he’s too popular, thus we get a cyclical and frustrating arc where he only has development when the producers demand so they can make maximum profit off his character, but back then, in phase 2 world, the mystery around Loki was what made him so compelling and the drama around those two on screen was really good! They bounced so well off each other, they both had very different strengths and perspectives, both had real grievances to air, and in that movie, they *both* lost their mother. It’s not even that it’s a bad sequel, it’s just a plain bad movie.

The movie exists to keep establishing the Infinity Stones with the red one and I can’t remember what the red one does at this point, but it could have so easily done both. The powers that be should have known their strongest elements were Thor and Loki and their relationship, and run with it.

This isn’t “give into the demands of fans who want more Loki” it’s being smart enough to look at your own work and suss out what you think the most intriguing elements are and which have the most room and potential to grow (and also test audiences and beta readers to tell you the ugly truth). Sequels should feel more like natural continuations of the original story, not shameless cash grabs.

5. You walk back character development for ~drama~

As in, characters who got together at the end of book 1 suddenly start fighting because the “will they/won’t they” was the juiciest dynamic of their relationship and you don’t know how to write a compelling, happy couple. Or a character who overcame their snobbery, cowardice, grizzled nature, or phobia suddenly has it again because, again, that was the most compelling part of their character and you don’t know who they are without it.

To be honest, yeah, the buildup of a relationship does tend to be more entertaining in media, but that’s also because solid, respectful, healthy relationships in media are a rarity. Season 1 of Outlander remains the best, in part because of the rapid growth of the main love interest’s relationship. Every season after, they’re already married, already together, and occasionally dealing with baby shenanigans, and it’s them against the world and, yeah, I got bored.

There’s just so much you can do with a freshly established relationship: Those two are a *team* now. The drama and intrigue no longer comes from them against each other, it’s them together against a new antagonist and their different approaches to solving a problem. They can and should still have distinct personalities and perspectives on whatever story you throw them into.

6. It’s the same exact story, just Bigger

I have been sitting on a “how to scale power” post for months now because I’m still not sure on reception but here’s a little bit on what I mean.

Original: Oh no, the big bad guy wants to destroy New York

Sequel: Oh no, the big bad guy wants to destroy the planet

Threequel: Oh no, the big bad guy wants to destroy the galaxy

You knew it wasn’t going to happen the first time, you absolutely know it won’t happen on a bigger scale. Usually, when this happens, plot holes abound. You end up deleting or forgetting about characters’ convenient powers and abilities, deleting or forgetting about established relationships and new ground gained with side characters and entities, and deleting or forgetting about stakes, themes, and actually growing your characters like this isn’t the exact same story, just Bigger.

How many Bond movies are there? Thirty-something? I know some are very, very good and some are not at all good. They’re all Bond movies. People keep watching them because they’re formulaic, but there’s also been seven Bond actors and the movies aren’t one long, continuous, self-referential story about this poor, poor man who has the worst luck in the universe. These sequels aren’t “this but bigger” it’s usually “this, but different”, which is almost always better.

“This, but different now” will demand a different skillset from your hero, different rules to play by, different expectations, and different stakes. It does not just demand your hero learn to punch harder.

Example: Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2 does have more influence than Tai Lung, yes. He’s got a whole city and his backstory is further-reaching, but he’s objectively worse in close combat—so he doesn’t fistfight Po. He has cannons, very dangerous cannons, cannons designed to be so strong that kung fu doesn’t matter. Thus, he’s not necessarily “bigger” he’s just “different” and his whole story demands new perspective.

The differences between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are numerous, but the latter relies on “but bigger” and the former went in a whole new direction, while still staying faithful to the themes of the original.

7. It undermines the original by awakening a new problem too soon

I’ve already complained about the mere existence of Heroes of Olympus elsewhere because everything Luke fought and died for only bought that world about a month of peace before the gods came and ripped it all away for More Story.

I’ve also complained that the Star Wars Sequels were always going to spit in the face of a character’s six-movie legacy to bring balance to the Force by just going… nah. Ancient prophecy? Only bought us about 30 years of peace.

Whether it’s too soon, or it’s too closely related to the original, your audience is going to feel a little put-off when they realize how inconsequential this sequel makes the original, particularly in TV shows that run too many seasons and can’t keep upping the ante, like Supernatural.

Kung Fu Panda once again because these two movies are amazing. Shen is completely unrelated to Tai Lung. He’s not threatening the Valley of Peace or Shifu or Oogway or anything the heroes fought for in the original. He’s brand new.

My yearning to see these two on screen together to just watch them verbally spat over both being bratty children disappointed by their parents is unquantifiable. This movie is a damn near perfect sequel. Somebody write me fanfic with these two throwing hands over their drastically different perspectives on kung fu.

8. It’s so divorced from the original that it can barely even be called a sequel

Otherwise known as seasons 5 and 6 of Lost. Otherwise known as: This show was on a sci-fi trajectory and something catastrophic happened to cause a dramatic hairpin turn off that path and into pseudo-biblical territory. Why did it all end in a church? I’m not joking, they did actually abandon The Plan while in a mach 1 nosedive.

I also have a post I’ve been sitting on about how to handle faith in fiction, so I’ll say this: The premise of Lost was the trials and escapades of a group of 48 strangers trying to survive and find rescue off a mysterious island with some creepy, sciency shenanigans going on once they discover that the island isn’t actually uninhabited.

Season 6 is about finding “candidates” to replace the island’s Discount Jesus who serves as the ambassador-protector of the island, who is also immortal until he’s not, and the island becomes a kind of purgatory where they all actually did die in the crash and were just waiting to… die again and go to heaven. Spoiler Alert.

This is also otherwise known as: Oh sh*t, Warner Bros wants more Supernatural? But we wrapped it up so nicely with Sam and Adam in the box with Lucifer. I tried to watch one of those YouTube compilations of Cas’ funny moments because I haven’t seen every episode, and the misery on these actors’ faces as the compilation advanced through the seasons, all the joy and wit sucked from their performances, was just tragic.

I get it. Writers can’t control when the Powers That Be demand More Story so they can run their workhorse into the ground until it stops bleeding money, but if you aren’t controlled by said powers, either take it all back to basics, like Cars 3, or just stop.

—

Sometimes taking your established characters and throwing them into a completely unrecognizable story works, but those unrecongizable stories work that much harder to at least keep the characters' development and progression satisfying and familiar. See this post about timeskips that take generational gaps between the original and the sequel, and still deliver on a satisfying continuation.

TLDR: Sequels are hard and it’s never just one detail that makes them difficult to pull off. They will always be compared to their predecessors, always with the expectations to be as good as or surpass the original, when the original had no such competition. There’s also audience expectations for how they think the story, lore, and relationships should progress. Most faults of sequels, in my opinion, lie in straying too far from the fundamentals of the original without understanding why those fundamentals were so important to the original’s success.

[zahri-melitor]

Finished Batman: The Knight.

Oh my god is this a good comic. It very much reminded me that Zdarsky and I are on very similar wavelengths in terms of what we look for in a story. This felt like, no joke, someone had picked my brain of what I expected to see and had envisioned existed during the events of Bruce's training quest, and presented it to me on a platter, divided between 9 separate masters, each chosen and elaborated out of various hints and suggestions over the years.

It wasn't perfect; some of these mentors and masters were in effect standing in as a summary of multiple known characters with these skillsets, while others altered and shifted earlier versions of this history to fit better. But it made for a coherent update, and cleaned up a lot of pre-Crisis and early post-Crisis conception of this period that no longer fitted together as neatly, and sorted out the timings, and made it make sense.

For instance, we know there are multiple single blow techniques, from various secret masters. Shiva knows most if not all of them, and we know of several different masters and traditions who have them (O-Sensei, Richard Dragon and Ben Turner: the Leopard Blow; Legless Master: the Whispering Hand; Master Kirigi: the Vibrating Palm Strike). Shiva also knows The Scapel, The Wind Through the Reeds, The Lion's Paw, Wave and Shore, and the Skullcrack.

But Bruce doesn't need to learn all of those in the course of this story. He needs to learn one, as a representation of that period of his education. And so Master Kirigi got pulled forward to be the representative of the set.

We got more Henri Ducard, and a Ducard that was back to his pre-Flashpoint version. We had Giovanni Zatara and Zatanna. We had Lucie as a stand in for Selina's teachers. We actually got two teachers in the realms of 'stupid shit Bruce has done to his brain': but in this case we got to offset Hugo Strange (who could not trick Bruce, and who must always fundamentally know who Bruce is even as nobody believes him) with Daniel Captio, who is allowed to train Bruce in weird mental techniques and stands in for everyone else (Professor Milo. Dr Hurt. Whoever convinced him to do the Thögal Ritual. Etc etc)

It was elegant. And I don't think it needed any more of Ra's and Talia in it than it had; indeed what we got was a tight compression of some Denny O'Neil and some Mike Barr Ra's story themes into the underlying fundamental origin of the relationship, but not a full discussion of all its features. There are so many more stories out there further elaborating on their many conflicts.

Also Zdarsky does love Tim so much and had fun with parallels and I laughed several times in issue 10 because apparently we were playing Like Father Like Son. Love some good family theming going on in Al Ghul conflict.

It's just been such a while since I had the experience of sitting down and reading a story that in many ways felt like something I had already believed, but had never seen spelled out, and knew that how I wanted it to go in my head contradicted some known comics beats. This smoothed those contradictions out and gave me how I had wanted to conceptualise all of this.

[dead-lights]

trai-lore!

because ya know. trailers. with lore.

i'll see myself out

but! before i go - I went and compiled all of the Vampires trailers I could find! I wasn't familiar with all of the shorts and I'm not 100% sure I found them all. There are a lot of contradictions, but aside from the gameplay trailer they can mostly be stitched together.

Also, I recognize I'm trying to wring blood from a stone, reading into things that EA never intended, but ya know. That's the point of exploring lore!

this is mostly validated by werewolves - Lily's dialogue confirms that Caleb was turned by Miss Hell, and the 7 years unlucky mirror confirms that Vlad ambushed her while she was brushing her teeth.

It looks like the bar Miss Hell attacks Caleb in is supposed to be in Forgotten Hollow. There are plenty of reasons he could've been there, but to me that implies that Lilith turned first, and he was there because that's where she hangs out now.

It looks like you're supposed to be able to see the normie parts of Forgotten Hollow from that cliff with the bench, rather than just more of the mountain. There's definitely supposed to be more than just those 5 lots.

I'm not sure if the person behind Miss Hell in the bar is anyone specific? they feel slightly familiar but I might be thinking of Leila Illes from island living, which came out afterwards.

It's unclear how Caleb ended up in the bathroom or whether he asked to turn - the animation is the same either way. In game, I've had a lot of success with both bat-form bathroom ambushes and the good ol' "ask for woohoo and then cancel the order as soon as you're alone together" maneuver so either is plausible. To me, it looks like she's reenacting her transformation, with her as Vlad, so she would've wanted unwilling prey. I've generally thought that Caleb followed her into the bathroom thinking he was going to get laid, but with that in mind it does make sense that she would've just ambushed him when he got up to pee (poor humans and their bladders can't handle their nectar). @charsimsalot has a lot of interesting things to say about how being forcibly turned would have affected Miss Hell in this excellent post about the apartment they built for the rebellious vampires!

That bathroom door is on backwards. I checked - that door only has a sign on one side. Maybe they really wanted to hammer home the point that this is a bathroom? the sink and toilet do a pretty good job of that...

Caleb is not a daywalker in this trailer - since this seems to show him in his earlier days, that 100% checks out. It takes 15 skill points to become a daywalker, which... yikes.

note: I know the sims is very gay these days but do keep in mind that vampires was released January 2017. Gay marriage wasn't fully legalized in the US until June 2015. It was a big deal that Caleb suave kissed a guy in the trailer!

fun fact: the song used for this, deadly flo, seems to be either very cheap or free to license. It is used in a few episodes of the Baking Championship franchise. Y'all, that franchise got me back into baking and directly inspired GOBC. I lost my absolute shit when I heard it playing! There are also parts of Holiday Baking Championship that sound suspiciously like the sims 2 theme... I kinda wonder if there's a simmer in their sound department.

Not really that interesting - earlier versions of their outfits/vlad's dark form. Lilith cannot actually turn into a bat in-game.

vlad bloodvein can use "deprive needs" (must be a master vampire at minimum)

brandy can turn into a bat (should be a minor vampire at minimum)

based on the view outside Brandy's bedroom window, it looks like the virtuous vampires might live in an apartment in San Myshuno? Newcrest! ty charsimsalot

vlad uses supernatural speed to collect figurines

Not very interesting - just Brandy and Elle eating.

↓↓↓ WARNING - jumpscare below ↓↓↓

lmao what

this one doesn't even seem real, but as far as I can tell it was in fact released as a teaser for the full trailer.

This is the official trailer - it lines up reasonably well with other lore. Also the song is so fun.

Most notably: this trailer shows that Caleb is the one who turned Inna. No context is given. Other promotional material & the in-game paintings show that she was a thrall, potentially for hundreds of years before Caleb turned her.

The exterior of the house where Caleb turns Inna looks exactly like Wolfsbane Manor. However, Inna's bedroom doesn't match any room in the manor. It looks like there is a nearly identical house where Widowshild Townhouse currently is, so either Inna was in that house, or Wolfsbane Manor has since been remodeled. It would be kinda interesting if Caleb and Lilith decided to buy Inna's old house when they moved...

When Caleb turns into a bat, he's in the graveyard to the left of Vlad's house. Maybe he and Lilith lived with Vlad for a time? It kinda looks like Vlad had a lot of vampires filtering in and out of his place.

Elle real horny. I wonder what happened to that guy - he isn't a gallery vampire but he shows up in a lot of the paintings. As far as I'm aware Elle doesn't show up in any paintings. He has since been identified - he's this guy. Thank you charsimsalot!

This trailer is an absolute mess. It contradicts enough existing lore that it shouldn't be taken as any sort of canon, but it's a decent source of inspiration to fill in the gaps, and I pulled heavily from it when I was choosing powers for the gallery vampires.

Elle uses her mist form (I checked the animations) - she must be a grand master. She can use Command.

Markus Crow has supernatural speed - must be master+

Lilith is using a computer at the beginning of this, which feels weird because this is supposed to be at least 50 years ago. That said, technology doesn't advance in the sims, so, sure.

This makes it look like Vlad just broke into her house and turned her like he did with Miss Hell, but to me Lily makes it sound like Lilith was a more active participant: "I remember when my cousin, Lilith, first told me she'd met a fascinating man named Vlad. After that, she started spending a lot of time "training" with him. I thought she meant they were workout buddies. It wasn't until later that I found out she'd been lured to the dark arts."

Lilith's bed is a reward from the painter career - not sure if the implication is that she earned it herself?

I can't really see outside Lilith's windows, but it does kinda look like Forgotten Hollow? Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me - why would she and Caleb have to move to Forgotten Hollow if they already lived there? That said, that isn't Lilith. And that isn't Caleb. This was from when their names were Gina and Raylan. Apparently this is Willow Creek! ty charsimsalot again.

Note that "Raylan" doesn't have the good vampire aspiration, and his traits are completely different. The others aren't quite the same as the gallery sims, but at least they still have the same names.

Looking out the window, it looks like the Virtuous Vampires are in Forgotten Hollow with everyone else. In one of the shorts, it looks like they live in a big city. I'm not sure which I like better!

Lilith is used as the example for supernatural strength. While she doesn't actually have that in-game, this is part of why I like to make her fitness 10 brute with vampiric might.

Elle continues to be real horny. Who is that guy? I like the implication that they had to go get it on as bats because Vlad was taking a nap and they couldn't fuck in his coffin :( Mystery has been solved - seriously tho the model used for him was in this trailer and it is HILARIOUS to assume he's the same guy.

Bonus! While this isn't a trailer, exactly, it's a promotional blog post from Vlad's point of view and it is the best. Every last part of this makes me happy, from Caleb and Lilith ganging up on Vlad to Vlad referring to sparring matches as "epic duels" (or, in this particular case, what seems like a pretty good training sesh for Caleb).

Nothing about Lilith makes it seem like she doesn't feed on people except a) her household description and b) this post. That said, those two things about as primary as canon can get.

Vlad claims to own 100 gray coats

Vlad only fought Caleb. There could be so many reasons for that - was Caleb the one who made the challenge? Does Vlad not want to fight his offspring?

Vlad claims that the Encyclopedia Vampirica is mostly based on him. Make of that what you will.

Second bonus: Did you know that Vlad has a normie cousin??? There was a bit of promotional content for seasons involving the Climate family. This is that time they invited Vlad over for Harvestfest.

Please let me know if I missed anything! There's a lot of material out there, much of it no longer available on EA's site, so it's definitely possible there are things I didn't find.

[wanyouzi]

For the new saga, I have some of my own ideas, well, I hope many people will accept them, but unfortunately, in my country, many fans don't listen to what I say and just want to hear what they want to hear(My English level is not very good, the following are machine translatisee):

What I'm saying is that everyone has assumed Jay's goofy animations (which I would consider goofy enough) as the official established plot (note that plot and storyline are different, the storyline serves the plot). But in reality, Jay's first album did not have the long animations found in his new album, at most there were some short clips to help understand the storyline. The animators at the time drew their animations based on their own interpretations of the lyrics and their own imagination, creating excellent works one by one. Later albums saw Jay adding more and more long animations, it is likely that he did so because he saw more and more animations and wanted to try it himself (or at the request of his fans) to create his own animations. Jay has also said that he is not good at visual design, so he may have known that the animations he designed would not be good. (It seems that they were used to help understand the storyline, telling us that we're going to drown here, or that we're about to fight here.)

So, I think that what Jay thought of can be considered just one of the countless works, and if you don't like it, you don't have to watch his works.

In summary, the plot was something that Jay had thought out in advance, but the storyline was not. His animation was simply his own idea of the storyline, so if you don't like it, you don't have to watch it. (I think there will definitely be an animation where Ody has an epic battle with Poseidon, both of them getting badly hurt in the process, and Ody just barely wins in the end. Even if there isn't one, we can create our own, again, to reiterate, the plot is predetermined, but the storyline is free.)

Regarding the plot where a mortal defeats a god, and in the end, Poseidon is injured and says "Please," if you simply cannot stand this scene, then you can stop reading here and leave (thank you for your cooperation).

Epic, in essence, is a large-scale, adaptation and re-creation of the original work, rather than being completely based on the original classic. Why could Ody defeat Poseidon? It's not about who is stronger or weaker, it's about skill counter! Skill counter! Didn't Jay post his setting for the gods earlier? In his setting, even Hermes can fight Poseidon. Then, it makes sense for Ody to wear a windbag like Hermes and use speed to fight Poseidon. If Poseidon were as powerful as in myth, the fight between Hermes and Poseidon would be a joke, let alone Ody. (Of course, the jetpack is a little bit unrealistic.)

There's also the fact that Ody is fighting with Poseidon directly, which is just not realistic. Does Ody have to be the same wise and cunning as in the original? I think a human, no matter how powerful, is still just a human. After going through so much pain and suffering, he would break down, lose his mind completely, and give up. Let's not talk about the original here. In Epic, Ody is already a completely different person from the beginning. Epic's Ody would feel guilty for killing a baby, would he? He would, right? He would just pat himself on the back and walk away without any burden. Epic's Ody is suffering from the goddess's harassment on Calypso's island, would he? He would, right? He even had a child with the goddess.

For me, I would rather accept the epic version of the Odysey. If the epic version of the Odysey, which has endured all the sufferings over the past 20 years, can go home immediately, but then be stopped again, and still be able to play mind games with Poseidon as before, then I suggest abandoning the epic version and going back to the original work. The original version of the Odysey is more in line with everyone's mental standards.

Finally, I ask loyal readers not to curse me 🧎🏻‍♂️. If my opinion has made you uncomfortable, you can simply exit. Please don't curse me, I really fear it. Thank you for your cooperation 🙏����.(However, I welcome friendly discussions.)

[newlabournewromantics]

did you guys know tony blair actually wrote supercut by lorde?

this is dedicated to @tonyblairwitchproject thank u for enabling me

the process of putting together a supercut, of rewriting and reimagining an (artificially) positive version of a particular storyline, is eerily similar to what tony blair does in every aspect of his life. this is especially noticeable when it comes to his relationship with gordon though — he rarely goes into detail as to just how ugly their interactions were, and his public statements about why they grew apart are always imbued with soulless language about “professional” and “political” disagreements, rather than any honesty about the deep personal betrayal that was actually going on. plus, whenever tony does express any sense of anguish over the breakdown of the relationship, he’s always incredibly quick to defend his own behaviour (denying granita even happened… what the hell), erasing any responsibility he might bear. he is LITERALLY creating and playing a supercut, one which only has any traction in his own head.

journalists have written about new labour in 1997 being drenched in a certain magic, offering the public something to believe in. “gave” is past tense though, as the tbgb relationship began to deteriorate just months after getting into government, and newlab’s popularity would only dwindle as the years went on.

remember that one clip in the gq alastair campbell interview where tony refused to say he didn’t dream about gordon? yeah i remember it too, isn’t that funny!

two things to say here. one, tony can’t reach for gordon because they are not on speaking terms like whatsoever not even remotely. two, i truly think that tony has repeated his own version of events concerning gordon, both in his head and in public, so many times that he’s come to view them as reality — even if tony did interact with gordon properly, he would only be able to see the version of gordon that he’s created.

1994-2005 (ish), they wanted to reconcile and ease the tensions, but external pressures (teams around them, pressures of the jobs, emotional blockages etc) prevented them from truly fixing anything.

Tthese lyrics give me the impression that the speaker would twist themselves into any shape, fashion themselves into any persona, just to hold the attention of the person these lines are directed at. Very much reminds me of accounts re the 1994 leadership discussions, where it’s said that tony was promising gordon anything and everything to get him to swing behind him, then making similarly wild promises about succession later in government just to keep gordon playing the game. Also, it reminds me of that absolutely fucking awful (positive) rawnsley quote that goes something like “tony would cajole, plead, argue, rail against gordon”, just to get him to talk to him.

in my head, this section relates to his immediate post-pmship period, where he’s taking on international roles left and right to try and recreate the pure magic of newlab (and ultimately failing! lets’s not be dishonest here).

THIS IS THE MOST TONY BLAIR SET OF LINES IN EXISTENCE!!! PAY ATTENTION HERE!!!!!!!

first line relates to the nonsense (very sensible accurate analysis) i was spinning about tony rewriting his and gordon’s history, erasing his own culpability and capacity for TREACHERY! the lines about calling… such an obvious parallel with the infamous three hour phone calls, the “endless circular conversations”, the screaming fits down the telephone line…….

another dreaming reference? more likely than you’d think

this outro, although repeating lines i have already covered is actually very important to cover separately. the way that it just repeats itself, over and over and over and over, until the song finishes is actually incredibly aligned to tony’s mentality when it comes to tbgb. as i said earlier, i truly think that tony has repeated his own narrative regarding the way that he treated gordon — and his responsibility for how their relationship played out — enough times to view it as reality. he is insane and i understand him like nobody else.

[cypreus-and-willow]

Can I ask for more on that X-Men centric AU, with the 3 Summers brothers and Loki being the dad of the Phoenix Force, please?

Sure thing! sorry this is late

I can't remember which comic issues had it but this is all based on the whole Ragnarok is a reset done by the ones who sit above in shadow.

Sometime in an earlier life, they (Loki, Odin, the Aesir) manage to protect Midgard from the reset. (This is why there are multiple surviving versions of the mythology on earth - all the versions are just different timelines)

The early versions of Loki had bright white to red hair, depending on where the light catches. As each reset happens, Loki's hair gets darker.

At the time they were born, Loki has red hair and green eyes which is why the Phoenix Force seems to be obsessed with red heads lol. 

(I swear Loki as dad of the Phoenix Force makes more sense than her being mother of Thor )

There’s also five daughters - each holding authority over one portion of the phoenix - dark phoenix, blue phoenix, phoenix raptor, etc… I just need to find my notes on it)

I some scripts on his mythology to match w my AU

Daughters of Fire:

The Boy and the Giant

(this one is about the start of the Summers curse - with the one ancestor that met Loki)

As for Alex and his dreams:

There's an out of the way orphanage in Alaska. The caretaker is one of the original fates until the ones who sit above in shadows decided she cast her away, she now resides in Midgard

She was once known as Urd - one of the three Norn sisters - the past, the maiden. Her sisters continue to serve the ones in shadow. But she still holds the memories of the past, no matter if they've been forgotten (especially if they've been forgotten)

The brothers Alex sees in his dreams are actually just vessels where Urd stores the forgotten memories of their original counterparts (memories stolen by telepathy, amnesia, etc.)

Also, the nexus is still w Alex so any memories from multiverse counterparts stretch time and space to reach him in his dreams

It all sounds like a lot of nonsense but it makes sense in my head 😅

This AU has been brewing for 16 years and I didn’t know where to start. Feel free to ask more questions though.

[scrapyardboyfriends]

Yes i completely agree. If they are going to go with the hero complex explanation for John being a killer I think it will be very very boring. There is no way his character can stay on the show after killing Nate, chaining him up and dumping him in a lake. John's a goner one way or another and Oliver will be gone by the end of the summer when his year contract is up so they might as well go all out and make him a male version of Meena at least that would be more entertaining. I'm also thinking Cain might blame Aaron for getting involved with John, bringing him to the village in the first place and not realising what John was really like.

I just want there to be a point to it all. I want there to be a point to John being a Sugden. But even more than that, I want there to be a point to him being with Aaron. And a point to all of this for Aaron as a character. And I feel like I'm really going to get disappointed on that last front.

If John is just a guy with a hero complex gone wrong and he really is a Sugden and there's no more to this, then truly, what was the point for Aaron? He's barely gotten to react to this relationship like a normal person. This relationship has done absolutely nothing for his character. He's not gaining anything from it or building anything. He's not even really getting over his Robert feelings because they keep having him brush them aside. And what does he get out of this reveal? Other than some possible screen time, which he needs because he's not on much these days. But what does he get out of dating a serial killer?

I've said before that if this was his first post Robert relationship it could have been a good buffer relationship between Robert and a newer developed relationship. But now this is his third post Robert relationship that he's going to end up back at square one after. And he's gotten nothing out of any of them and they still won't let him deal with his Robert feelings.

And if you look at those involved in the Meena story, David was dating her but he was also getting close to Vic and he got a relationship out of it. Billy and Dawn got together because of Meena. Meena killed Manpreet's competition for Charles so they could get together. She got rid of Ben and fractured Aaron's relationship with Liv for his ext. They at least made some attempt to have there be some purpose to her being part of all of their stories.

Even if you look at something like the Belle and Tom story, at least they were able to claim that it was an awareness story. They're not going to have that luxury here.

It just makes me sad because Aaron has had virtually no character development in the last 5 years. Other than finding out he has the breast cancer gene, there's just nothing. And this John relationship is going to amount to nothing because we don't even really know how he feels about it. And everything else that they do with Aaron all hinges on the past. He came back with his angry at the world, pushing everyone away story. And that was all based on his past relationships and losses. His relationship with John hinges on the past with the Robert connection and some of the early interactions like the lay by and the barn etc. They certainly used it to bring Robert up. When Ross came back they brought Robert up again and Seb so that they could once again use his past to give Aaron scenes. And now with all of this Anthony stuff, they're relying on the Gordon story. And don't get me wrong, if they're going to do a csa story, especially within the family, it makes sense for Aaron to be a part of it. It's just yet another example of them using Aaron's past to give him content instead of building anything new for him. Even the stuff they gave him with Mack and the car stealing and such was just reverting back to an earlier version of his character.

I just want them to build new things for Aaron, especially if Ryan's not coming back. And I don't see how this story is going to do that.

Sigh...

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Hemant Mehta at Friendly Atheist:

Over the past few weeks, a couple of the children of Christian hate-preacher Steven Anderson have gone public about the physical abuse they suffered growing up. Given that Anderson routinely tells Christians to marry young and have as many kids as possible, the revelation that abuse may be rampant in his own home isn’t as much shocking as it is long overdue.

Who is Steven Anderson?

If you’re not familiar with Anderson, he’s someone with a long history of saying vile things. The Tempe, Arizona-based preacher celebrated the deaths of murdered LGBTQ people and called on the government to execute gay people with a firing squad. Anderson’s sermons have been so outrageously awful that 34 countries won’t allow him to step foot within their borders. His acolytes include Jonathan Shelley and Aaron Thompson, both of whom I spoke with this past summer. More than anything, he’s the de facto leader of a movement called the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptists. New IFB preachers are, on paper, all about following the word of God as written in the KJV translation. In reality, they spend their time gleefully trashing LGBTQ people, Jews, “effeminate” men, and everyone else they deem heretics.

[...]

The troubling posts from Isaac Anderson

About a year ago, we learned that one of his kids, Isaac Anderson, was somehow taking his father’s hate even further. The second oldest of 12 children, Isaac admitted to being a full-blown Nazi, complete with a tattoo of a Nazi War Eagle across his chest.

[...]

Isaac Anderson’s interview led to his brother speaking out

That interview had an interesting consequence, though. It spurred one of Isaac’s siblings to go public about his childhood. In early September, John Anderson (the third oldest son) reached out to Dead Domain because he wanted to share his own story and make the case for why his parents shouldn’t have any contact with his siblings (specifically the eight who still lived at home with the Andersons). John spoke even more bluntly about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Steven and Zsuzsanna Anderson. The allegations in the interview involved “closed fist beatings, whippings with electrical cords, insulting and belittling children as young as six, starvation as punishment, and exposure to the elements.”

[...]

Another Anderson child speaks out

And then, this past Thursday, Dead Domain posted an interview with a third Anderson child. This was Miriam Anderson, the oldest daughter in the family, and the one John brought up earlier because she had been “trying to get away.” Many of Miriam’s terrifying recollections echoed what her brothers said earlier about how abuse occurred at home, including mentions of specific pieces of equipment in their kitchen that were used against them. She talked how she had suicidal thoughts from the age of 11 onward because of everything she endured at home. Her brothers’ stories, she added, were “100% true.”

The takeaway… for now

In a way, these stories, as heartbreaking as they are, are also uplifting. Uplifting because at least two of these kids don’t share the worst characteristics of their father. They want the public to know what their lives have been like, bursting the bubble their father has kept around them for years. It turns out his version of Christianity has been the nightmare outsiders always suspected. His theology isn’t just awful to his ideological opponents but also to his own flesh and blood. If they can escape that environment—and they sure as hell are trying—perhaps there’s hope for others in similar situations. At the same time, it’s awful that they still have to play it cautiously because of Steven Anderson’s wrath. No one should have to fear harm from their own parents. But when their parents place their idea of God’s Word over common sense and decency, we can only hope they find solace and safety somewhere else.

Fundamentalist kook pastor Steven Anderson has at least two of his speaking out against the abuse they suffered at the hands of him and his wife Zsuzsanna.

[seaofreverie]

Sparkstember Day 12: In Outer Space (Cool Places)

Oh boy, it's finally here!! Having been a Sparks fan for nearly a year by that point, I finally got to an album I just straight up don't like! I honestly forgot by then that this was even a possibility. But a world where I can enjoy everything in such a vast catalogue of a favourite band of mine would be too perfect. It would be pretty strange and unsettling even. Not to always make it about my other favourite band whenever I'm talking about the first, but with TMBG also I eventually got to that one studio album release that I just couldn't bring myself to like, no matter what. So I think I discovered a bit of a personal repeating pattern here.

Alright then. My verdict on this album, which already got a pretty mixed response from fans as far as I know, is that it's not very good, or at the very least, it's not for me. Even the songs I like here I mostly like in the sense of, well, this one I could listen to again outside of the album every once in a while, but they're nowhere near being an actual favourite (besides one song, or two, mayyyybe four if I'm feeling particularly generous).

So I think that my main problem here comes down to how the arrangements / instrumentals seem rather empty to me but not in a cool minimalistic way. And, dare I say, they're pretty damn uninteresting - very few elements of suprise or anticipation to be found here. This is the only Sparks album that just... doesn't feel Sparks to me. (And that's coming right after Angst, which might really just be one of the most Sparks-like of Sparks albums in a way). Something is TERRIBLY missing here and a couple catchy melodies and fun synth lines aren't enough to make up for that. It drags on quite a bit and is underwhelming to listen to as a whole. With only a couple moments of change and something more interesting and engaging. It's this sort of situation where I feel like the whole time I'm waiting for some kind of resolution that never happens ultimately. First instance of me putting on a new Sparks album and forcing myself to sit through the whole thing. And last one I hope! (and expect...? well, better not jinx it)

Ok, having said all that... This will be a historical event because I can't finish this post before I have my obligatory listen to the album of the day on its day. So, time for some real time documentation of my changing opinion, or lack thereof. Time to hear IOS in it's entirety for the first time since april!

...Ok, I'm glad that I didn't say all this in vain at least, LOL! Because I'm still underwhelmed! No major change here. Definitely still not something I'm going to return to more often than very occasionally and the "waiting for nothing" effect was very present and real once again. And it just dawned on be, but do most of these songs not have a bridge?? Maybe that could be part of why it all feels pretty predictable! But alright, as per tradition, let's look at some highlights anyway.

Favourite songs (and other highlights):

Cool Places: never felt in any strong way about it but repeated listens made it an enjoyable little ditty over time, lol. One of my first impressions here was how LOW Russell's voice is, this must be the lowest he's ever sung, right?? And oh, quick shoutout to the 21×21 version of it too

All You Ever Think About Is Sex: ok, this one's really cool and exactly what convinced me that the rest of the album would be enjoyable in the same way. Not for me unfortunately!!

Please, Baby, Please: my definitive fav here that I like a whole lot and that for whatever reason doesn't seem to have any of this album's problems that I described earlier. And I'll always be partial towards songs that I can interpret as being aspec-coded, thanks to my predisposition to do that as often as possible

I Wish I Looked A Little Better: very similar case to All You Ever Think About Is Sex

Dance Godammit: it's funny. It's fun to listen to sometimes

[qiriex]

Why do DnP have such a large transmasc/lesbian following?

Hi! So I put out a general feeler post about this, and it seems like y’all are interested in a big ass post about Dan and Phil’s relationship with their LGBT audience. Click on the read more for a bit of unhinged analysis.

I have… a lot to say on this matter, and tbf I warned you it would be long. This will mostly be focused on the wlw (specifically lesbian) and transmasc experience with DnP. Before I get into it, I wanna state that I am NOT transmasc. I’m a he/they afab lesbian, but I am in no way talking over any transmascs who have differing experiences. This post will mostly deal with the AFAB experience, as I am not AMAB and can’t speak for our lovely transfems/enbies/cis men! I love you guys, and I would love to hear about your experiences too, though! I’m going to be using as much non-gendered language as I can, however I’m talking about some pretty gendered topics so bear with me. One more thing to note is that when researching this, I found a lot more examples of Dan shouting exact communities out. This is a post about them both, as they are both extremely important to queer communities! It’s just that Dan has generally done more press runs relating solely to his sexuality, so there is more content there. I’m sure I’m missing a lot, though, and if anyone has more Phil focused clips/screenshots I would love to link them here. This is very much a work in progress post, I’m sure I’ll be adding more later and if you have screenshots/clips/anything, my dms and my submissions are open! Okay, done with disclaimers for now, I think. This post will be split up into a few sections: DnP talking about the LGBT community (both pre and coming out), how they empower their wlw following, how they affirm transmasc identities and what they mean to the LGBT community as icons. I would like this post to be free of any in-fighting drama, both from the Phandom and LGBT side of things. We are all awesome! 

Dan and Phil are both queer men who came out after acquiring a large fanbase that was predominantly AFAB (love you transfems and cis dudes going strong btw). However, a community that started out as a common “fangirl” fanbase over the years has shifted into a predominantly LGBT fandom with a disproportionate amount of specifically transmascs and lesbians. The word fangirl was often thrown around as an insult to people like us back in the day, but I think it makes perfect sense that a group of disenfranchised, young, queer AFABs would be drawn to DnP. Both of them were, for obvious in hindsight reasons, vocal supporters of the community. I can’t find an unedited version of the clip, but this clip from 2017 is a great example of that. Correct me if I’m wrong, but not a lot of non-out YouTubers educated their community in the way that Dan does in this clip.  I think sometimes it’s lost to time how bad YouTube used to be, that 2013-2017 time period was peak anti-SJW era. As basic as what he said was, somebody with his level of influence taking the time to educate his audience on queer issues as a presumed straight man was very meaningful. This not only created a safespace for young, queer AFABs but also made their specific audience more saturated with us than your typical “straight” YouTuber of the day. Their audience shares more demographic similarities with someone like Tyler Oakley than someone like Zoella, which makes sense in recent years.

This tweet from Dan from before he was out displays my point perfectly. To my enby ass, things like this meant the world to me and I can imagine it’s much the same for my transmascs out there. Going back to the clip earlier, though, I think that how willing to break gender norms they both were had even more of an effect in attracting transmascs who hadn’t yet fully discovered themselves. This isn’t denying that a lot of transmascs who were already out were drawn to DnP! Most of my Phandom friends were actually transmen back in the day. However, I think in retrospect there’s a huge pipeline from going into the fanbase as a cis person to coming out of it as… not. It makes perfect sense to me that a generation of transmascs would be drawn to and model themselves after the two of them. Going back to the YouTube landscape of the time, even their contemporaries had a much meaner edge that DnP just never had. This unfortunately made them targets of their fellow “vaguely emo relatable YouTuber” scene; people like Shane Dawson and Onision immediately come to mind, at the time they would have been in a similar category but in retrospect are nothing alike. There was an air of cruelty that Dan and Phil never fed into, consistently remaining themselves. I think that as a baby transmasc, people who stayed loyal to their principals even when it wasn’t the cool thing to do was really empowering. In a time when my friends were all fans of LeafyIsHere, Dan and Phil weren’t afraid to be kind. To be soft, even with the context we have now of how scary that really was. After BIG/COTY dropped, it was easy to see why they were great queer role models.  But I’d argue that they’d always been this, even before we knew they were queer.

This one will be a little bit more personal, but I would like to start this section out with a personal anecdote. I grew up in a fairly liberal household, in which I was told being gay was just fine. However, my mother just so happened to use the word ‘lesbian’ as a descriptor for any woman she thought was “unsuitable”. Ugly, boyish, mean, it didn’t matter; to me, lesbian was an unmistakably bad word. I knew that the word didn’t mean that, but intrinsically I had never heard it as something positive until I heard Dan simply shout out the lesbians on a YouNow stream. Simple, right? Four years later, and BIG came out. I identified as a bisexual “who would never actually date a man ahaha” at the time, and it was life changing. Dan and Phil have frequently shouted out their lesbian fanbase over the years to the point where it’s developed into a bit of an inside joke. This is meaningful for a multitude of reasons, one of which being just how demonized not only the word but the group can be. Even when poking gentle fun, neither of them ever lean into hurtful stereotypes. I went to We’re All Doomed last November, and when Dan took his jumpsuit top off the audience screamed. He yelled into the mic “I thought you were all lesbians!”, to which the crowd screamed even louder. You can poke fun at each other without playing into things like the mean lesbian stereotype, for example, and I think it’s things like this which show that they have a genuine appreciation for their lesbian audience. I can only speak from my own experience when I say that I was originally drawn to them for their authenticity even in a hostile environment. I was a closeted lesbain who had grown attached to closeted gay men, because on a level I didn’t understand yet I related to them. It was a parasocial relationship that if I never had, I wouldn’t have come out. This section is a lot less objective than the others, because for me it’s impossible to look at this objectively. A lot of the reasons that transmascs would be drawn to DnP are why lesbians would, especially in a less than LGBT friendly era like the 2010s. They were never afraid to be perceived as weaker than their peers if that meant being kinder, and from a lesbian lens this wasn’t how I modeled my new relationship with gender off of but what I wished the world was like. I grew up with a deep, fundamental fear of men that is still there, but when I would watch actual sunshine Phil Lester and Winnie the Pooh ass Daniel Howell it made me realize that there are people out there who have your back.

I think this is where the conversation turns to now; we are mostly all adults, DnP have been out and proud for four years now. The pair have returned to YouTube (gloriously, might I add) and can talk openly about even the most mundane parts of being queer. Dan has been a very outspoken part of the community, doing a really lovely bit of standup about it. Watch it if you haven’t. I don’t think either of them are obligated to be spokesmen for the community, in a way I think one of the most powerful things they’ve done after BIG/COTY is to just continue living. Watching two queer people thrive how they have is incredibly important. They’re still just as great role models as they have ever been, just with nothing to hide this time. I think now that most of their younger fanbase has grown up, we’ve been very reflective of our past with the Phandom. Certainly not me (lie). It’s not a mystery to me, though, that two groups of closeted AFAB children would attach themselves to figures like DnP. The pair’s content encouraged a level of creativity, of believing in yourself against all odds that was and is unmatched to this day. We can moan about how much of a demonic fanbase we used to be, but the fact is that we turned out alright. People wonder why our fanbase feels like the most healthy parasocial family this side of Tumblr, and that’s because in a way we are. We were raised by these two British dudes to be how we are today; smart, funny and creative. All kids have a rough teenagehood, don’t they? It’s no wonder why queer kids would be drawn to a culture like this, one in which despite everything there is still hope that we will one day grow up to be our honest selves. Dan and Phil did, and so will we.

Thank you if you made it this far! I know this is a bit over sentimental, but they mean a lot to me. They did back in the day, and they definitely do now. Like I said in the beginning, feel free to add on. I would love to hear about this from a transmasc perspective, or any other perspective! I just love talking about these two lol. Love you guys.