#and he is teachable

[twig-tea]

Ryan in The Trainee is on such a satisfying character journey

Ryan as of ep3 of The Trainee is so frustrating to watch (as a people manager in my day job, watching him gives me work anxiety lol), but he is also clearly trying, and Jane has noticed. It is his attitude and effort that is being rewarded by Jane giving him more chances, and slowing down to explain things to him pre-emptively and more often.

Ryan was late when he was told explicitly what time he had to be there by, but he responded by finding his own way to the location and showing up to work mostly on time anyway. He was hesitant to tell the extra no the first time she asked to be able to leave, but he stood his ground the second time, after he was instructed to be more firm. When she circumvented him and left anyway the third time, he came up with a solution that worked to save the shoot. He fumbled with that phone ringing too many times, but after he was warned about it, he made sure to cover his responsibilities at his other job (which he understood better than the ones at the set), called his sister to say he was turning off the phone, and did so. He admitted he didn't know how to use the walkie talkie when asked, and later, when Jane called him on the walkie talkie, he correctly used it (after having been shown how), and came running even though Jane didn't ask him to rush--he is clearly eager to do a good job and be where he's needed.

My biggest frustration with him to date is that he has been proactive when there is a problem, but not proactive in preventing problems in the first place. But this comes with experience, is what Jane is teaching him, and we have seen that he knows how to do this and does it at his parent's print shop, so I am confident we'll start to see him do this as he builds confidence and experience in this new workspace.

This show is so well written so far, all of the character journeys are so clear and they are all moving at a pace that makes sense based on the circumstances of the show. It is such a satisfying watch week to week, even when the workplace drama spikes my blood pressure.

[homicidalbrunette]

I know he won't see this BUT.... Mama we love you so much and we'll be here no matter what so take all the time you need. ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[catinasink]

steam didnt fucking register that ive gotten some of the achievements for isat im gonna sob

[benbamboozled]

Bruce Wayne Headcanons

that I cannot reconcile with current/most/ALL of his comics characterization but I hold onto nevertheless

—Bruce Wayne!! trains each of his Robins with the goal of them becoming better than him.

—Bruce Wayne!! intends for the Robins to be his actual failsafe if he ever went off the deep end. (Fuck that weirdo robot lol.)

—Bruce Wayne!! 1000% blames himself for Jason Todd’s death I don’t care what the comics have had him say or what his dumbass inner-narrative has said…*handwave handwave* all of that was just him desperately trying to cover the hole in his heart from failing his son so completely.

[ectonurites]

Coming off Tim's Sixteenth birthday arc is so funny to me like- Robin 120: Batman is a terrible, abusive person and the only reason Tim doesn't cut him off right now is because he knows he'd loose all of the friends and family he'd made as robin in the process. Robin 121: And then he makes him go to bed on time- and then the next day he has him do his homework- and the worst thing Tim can imagine from him is his disappointed dad face <3 Like yea I do heavily prefer the latter and will accept the jarring as hell transition if it gets me out of the former faster but gosh golly is that some narrative whiplash

LMAO YEAH. YEAH. what a switch over of writers does to the General Vibe And Narrative of a book is so fucking funny sometimes

[stuffandwonder]

Does youtube select what comments you see like Instagram does? Cuz everyone saying people went to far calling Link out about the Monday dart incident and yet when I read the comments on Monday they were all pretty fair imo?

Yeah there were one or two completely unnecessary comments about his mental health (those are always gross and uncalled for) but pretty much all the others were a reasonable tone of 'uh wtf?!' And 'Link buddy, that was too far'.

Both of which are fair and totally true btw.

I have to think this is more a case of the tumblr fandom continuesly being overprotective and continuing to baby Link like he isn't a grown ass man who should be called out on his fuck ups the same as anyone else.

I'm the last person to want to escalate things to more than they warrant, and I do think fandoms in general tend to be way to over-reactive and make mountains out of a mole hill but I would like Link to learn where the line is (or indeed that it actually exists) and stop having near dangerous tantrums, which aren't even funny. So if takes a bunch of concerned comments to shake some sense into him so be it, he's a grown man, he'll get over it.

Also it's nice how concerned and caring the fandom is about the crew going from where a few years back ppl used to complain about them being on camera.

The only thing I'm surprised about that hasn't got called out is the frankly perplexing choice to AIR the damn thing. Why didn't they just cut and reshoot after Link stabbed the chicken suit? Given the tone shift it was pretty clear no one in studio thought that was funny or looked good. And I would at least expect Stevie or Rhett to be bold enough to say something tbh.

[bklynmusicnerd]

Hating Curtis is as natural as breathing for me but I do enjoy his friendship with Laura. That said, it feels weird to me that Laura felt the need to let Curtis know that "nothing" would change their bond in the aftermath of him becoming disabled.

There's nothing about that situation that would suggest that their bond would be interrupted. Again, need them to tighten up this Curtis disability writing cause it's very 🥴.

[fionarara]

still randomly remembering that one time i attended the creator of Minecraft's annual house party even though i've never even played that video game lmao and after getting to watch Skrillex dj in such an intimate setting (surreal), we all hung out and he had like a harem of cute girls surrounding him on the couch, haha it seemed super platonic though and he was really respectful,,, literally he was so kind to me and everyone,, by far the nicest celeb i've ever met besides elijah wood.

[c0rpseductor]

also i'm gonna say this every time but we can like...move on with our lives now in 2023 and stop saying "aww krem so great character best boi uwu" bc he is truly just like a cardboard cutout with "TRANS GENDERED FTM AMA" stapled onto him. and i feel like people only like him bc they feel like they have to bc he's trans (and are weirdly babying about it bc he's trans). we can do better as a society

[coyoteuugly]

trying to do my best at this job and sometimes i still mess up

[mauesartetc]

A while back I got a comment that demonstrated a misconception as to what the character design process actually entails, and I thought it had real "teachable moment" potential. So let me make this perfectly clear:

Drawing a character is NOT the same as designing one.

Let's say I wanted to draw a guy. No backstory, no defined personality traits or preferences, no details about his current life, just doodling some random, generic guy who popped into my head.

That's just a drawing.

But what if I decided to flesh him out more? What if I wanted his appearance to reflect his lifestyle and inner life as well? Here's where the note-taking comes in.

And now for the visual research:

I thought the bodybuilding angle would provide a fun contrast with this guy's profession. The mental image of a huge, burly dude working on a clock or watch with tiny, precise movements just makes me smile. Perhaps I could give him small, nimble hands that would suit his line of work.

Now that I have a better idea of how Mikhail's face and body will look, it's time to establish a pose.

Of course, I never expected to employ all the personality traits I started out with inside this single pose; those were just a jumping-off point. No one drawing will ever be able to encapsulate every single facet of a character, unless they're extraordinarily flat and generic (see also: random guy I doodled at the start of this post). If I wanted to write a story with this guy, I'd have to figure out how all the traits play off each other and how they'd cause him to react to different situations. There would be a lot more note-taking and development involved, but for the sake of keeping this post (somewhat) brief, let's just focus on visuals for now.

On to color!

I decided to give Mikhail a carnation in his pocket (for its round shape), specifically a red one, which represents deep love and an aching heart. Thus, the flower needed to maintain its red color for the symbolism to come through.

For some reason I initially pictured this guy wearing a pink shirt (perhaps as an offshoot of the "romantic" angle), but I wanted to try some different colors inspired by the 70s catalog pages I found. I ended up really liking the contrast of the cool blue shirt with the warm red pants, and that option made it into my top three as a result. I lined them up next to each other to compare them, and in the end, blue won out over pink. I think it also reflects the "colder", more cerebral, less-emotional parts of his personality well (namely "systematic", "stern", and "callous"- one from each column!). Just goes to show that you shouldn't get too attached to your first draft, as better ideas are just around the corner.

I then lightened the blue of the shirt so it wouldn't compete so much with the rest of the outfit, and wouldn't be quite as loud and "in your face". Mikhail strikes me as a bit of an introvert, so the calmer, quieter blue is a better fit. I added a darker belt and watchband and de-saturated the flower just a bit to make the values feel more balanced, and I think we've got it!

Let's see the final result!

Y'all, I was not expecting this process to make me emotional, but there's something special about fully realizing a little guy you've spent hours working on. All of a sudden you look at him and go, "Oh my god, there he is. That's him." This man wasn't even a twinkle in my eye a couple weeks ago and now I'd protect him with my life.

And the thing is, the only reason I'm calling this design "done" for now is that I basically just brought it into existence to make a point. But if this dude were attached to a larger story, he'd be nowhere near finished. I'd have to make a ton more iterations and go a lot more in depth with my research than I did (especially with the Armenian cultural stuff). Overall, though, I hope this quick project properly highlighted the difference between a single drawing and a more fleshed-out character.

Later!

[razorblade180]

So I’m rewatching the Arlecchino animation and they did something that reminded of a topic I wanted to talk about. I would love for the anime to actually go through how some characters decide to manifest their powers cause from a gameplay perspective it’s tied to their weapon; but any vision holder could more or less do the same tricks as another

Amber in the WEBTOON just uses her hand sometimes or ignites rocks. She even lit Jeans sword on fire which all seems pretty simple, but then in game text talks about how Barron Bunny explodes because she’s using targeted pyrokinesis to ignite the powder inside. How did that thought occur?

At one point did Diluc think “I can throw out a phoenix.” And at any point he can grab a bow if he wanted and do flame arrows. So many moves are teachable to varying degrees!

They can make swords and shields pretty effortlessly. I would love episodes of the anime where the characters just practice doing things because they saw someone else do it. You can’t tell me Bennett didn’t see Jean make a healing circle and think “Hold on…that’s a thing? Can I do that?” If I was Collei the first thing I’m learning is a dendro shield. It’s all fun and games until Sara just decides to lightning punch you in your throat because that’s an option.

[animereaderinsertwriter]

Which MHA men know where the clit is and how to use it:

tags/warnings: sexual themes and stuff

•Deku- knows where it is and how to use it because he's done his homework. he's literally interviewed people. it's so cringe but def worth it when he destroys u utterly.

•Iida- knows where the clit is but NOT how to use it. he will try to use it like a fucking joystick in smash.

•Bakugou- this man is fucking pathetic, he will be so moody and awful and avoidant because he knows that he doesn't know where it is or how to use it and he's so fucking ashamed that he won't have sex with u until u cry bc u don't think he likes u anymore and he finally admits it and then u just look at him like "and u didn't think I'd teach u?? what???"

•Todoroki- doesnt know what tf ur talking about when u bring it up. once u get him to understand, he's still like "but. but why is it hidden. i don't understand." eventually he gets over it and is an excellent lover but good GOD is it an effort to get him untangled

•Kirishima- clueless but teachable. he makes it super fun because he's just so happy to be there leaning you and touching ur body, exploring so that he knows ur pleasure just as well as he knows his own

•Sero- knows where it is and how to use it. please don't make me elaborate, im trying so hard not to simp for him

•Kaminari- doesn't know where it is BUT once he learns? he's a fucking menace.

•Shinsou- instead of going thru the awkward process of asking and talking about shit, he just murmurs in your ear that he'd like a show and makes u get urself off while he strokes his cock and studies what u like

•Dabi- doesn't give a fuck where the clit is and doesn't want to find out. he's there to get his rocks off, not fuck around with the pussy labyrinth problem

•Hawks- this man is such a slut he knows exactly where it is and how to use it and he'll leave u fucking shaking in bed like "see ya later" as if he didn't just destroy your world

•Aizawa- knows where it is, how to use it, and honestly ur shocked bc he doesn't seem like he gets a lot but in his younger days he absolutely fucked

[odinsblog]

Can we please get something straight here??

Mitch McConnell has supported Donald Trump and will support him again if Trump wins the Republican nomination. I have never supported Trump and I never will.

Mitch McConnell has been a willing tool of the NRA and helped pass countless stand-your-ground laws, he has helped pave the way for laws like permitless carry, and he has helped make guns easier for anyone to get. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped pass laws that intentionally suppress the votes of millions and millions Black people. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped write or pass laws that deny millions of women access to reproductive health care. I have not.

Mitch McConnell has helped write or pass laws that deny basic healthcare and living wages to millions of poor people. I have not.

I AM NOW AND I WILL ALWAYS BE BETTER than Mitch McConnell and Republicans, because my wishes do not have any material impact on anyone, unlike the myriad of hateful draconian laws that Mitch McConnell has helped to pass.

I could continue, but hopefully I’ve made my point: people sending Mitch McConnell “ill wishes” IS NOT being “just the same” as Mitch McConnell and Republicans, and it doesn’t make anyone “as bad as” McConnell and the GOP.

Are you fucking kidding me??

Saying that my wishes = McConnell’s actions is a false equivalence. It’s false, it’s offensive and it’s gaslighting.

Mitch McConnell is an elected politician who has a very long history of using his political power to actively harm the poor, marginalized communities, women, LGBTQ people, and non-Christian, non-white people. If you cannot differentiate between the words and the unenforceable “wishes” of the oppressed vs. the actions of an oppressor, then you have some serious problems to unpack.

I could ~almost~ see it if there was some chance that a Republican would go, “Oh wow, those progressives are being nice to Mitch McConnell, maybe I’ll stop being a racist and vote for a Democrat now.” But that almost never ever happens, does it??

You are not going to win over a Republican by being kind. Their entire ideology is based on racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and cruelty.

Look, I’m not tryna write a dissertation here, but please believe me when I say that this neoliberal knee jerk Pollyanna reaction of, “turn the other cheek” and “be kinder to your oppressors” is very much rooted in Christofascism + white supremacy. It’s a weaponization of the “hate breeds hate” trope and the “forgiveness narrative” meant to tame slaves, and I refuse to fall for it.

I absolutely positively do not wish Mitch McConnell well, and HELL NO, I am not being a bad person for hoping that a racist, evil, old white man suffers a fraction of the pain he has inflicted on others for decades and decades.

I am a proud member of the #MitchMcConnellDieChallenge community.

That all said, at the very least, Mitch McConnell has unintentionally provided us with a teachable moment: please learn to spot the warning signs of someone having a stroke

[rwrbmovie]

Forbes: Taylor Zakhar Perez Discusses A Bright ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Future: ‘It Could Be A Trilogy’

With the much-anticipated Prime Video announcement last night that a Red, White & Royal Blue movie sequel is in fact happening, what could possibly be even better news than that? Well, one of its stars, actor Taylor Zakhar Perez, sees a real possibility of this story going even beyond two movies.

“It could be a trilogy,” Zakhar Perez told me on Thursday during our Zoom conversation. “I mean, could you imagine having the first queer trilogy for young people to login and see themselves on TV?”

He added: “I would love for it to be a staple for Amazon and for people to come login and go, ‘Oh, this is my happy place, this is a teachable moment, but I also am going to laugh...”

Read the rest of the interview

[karaonasi]

BaxterMc Week Hosted by @minthe-drawings

Day 2: Date Night

Art of Kit and Baxter by @rui-drawsbox

Movie Night

The story idea behind the art:

Baxter and Kit planned on going to the Boardwalk for a date one day. Unfortunately, it was raining that day and was forecasted to do so all day. Disappointed, Baxter cancels the date. Kit decides it's a good day for a teachable moment: that you don’t have to have some grand plans or venue to have a meaningful time together. So Kit pitches the idea of staying in for a movie marathon. Despite Kit’s slight annoyance that Baxter insisted it would be best done at his family’s house, Kit arranges it with his moms who agree to retire early for the evening to their room to give the boys some semblance of time alone together.

The movies chosen are all black and white comedies in the vein of The Philadelphia Story, Some Like it Hot, It Happened One Night, Bringing Up Baby

At some point, Kit fell asleep, pulling Baxter against him. “You really are rather sweet, aren't you?" Baxter commented before dozing contentedly as well.

Kit was bashful when he came to. "God, I didn't do anything embarrassing like drool on you or anything, did I?"

Baxter laughed. “You called my name in your sleep.” He gave Kit a sidelong look. "Were you dreaming about me Kit?" he asked coyly.

Kit was slightly mortified, but couldn’t deny the truth. “...yeah…” Not that it was only just then. Kit had been dreaming of his Fae Prince since that single dance when he was thirteen years old. Not that he was about to admit that out loud. Instead he defaulted to his usual when things got slightly uncomfortable: joking or teasing. “Shouldn't I be dreaming about my boyfriend?"

“You're very sweet, Kit,” Baxter repeated his earlier thought aloud.

Kit snorted. " I didn't say what I was dreaming about.” He leveled a playful mock leer at his boyfriend.

Baxter barked a laugh, then smirked at the younger boy. “Oh, you had me snuggled rather close. I didn't need words to be able to tell.”

When they finally noticed the TV, the prior movie had ended some time ago. So Kit put It Happened One Night on as the next feature.

“Clark Gable?” Baxter asked, lifting a sculpted brow, obviously recollecting their conversation on their first sideways retroactive date.

Kit nodded. “Did you know that this movie single-handedly decimated the undershirt industry?” He gently pushed Baxter back so he could rest his head against the older boy’s chest.

Baxter laughed, “Aren't you the one that picked out the movie? Don’t you have any intention of actually watching it?”

“Nope. I’ve seen it four times. ‘S’why I picked it,” He answered contentedly from his position.

“So you planned this movie event, banishing your family to their rooms to not even watch the movie?” Baxter asked, though he was mostly teasing.

“Well, there is a perfectly empty condo across the street that we could have used,” Kit mostly teased back.

Baxter’s hand stroked his cheek. “You know that isn’t the best idea.”

Kit thought it was a perfect idea, actually. But he did understand what Baxter meant. A kissing session in a house alone together could turn into a full on make out session…or more…very easily. Not that Kit would have minded testing that theory. But Baxter seemed to think their movie watching should be where they could be walked in on at any time to keep things under better control.

“Well, I’m the morning person, not the night owl,” Kit changed my tactic. “And since we started late…“ he snuggled further back against his boyfriend, pillowing his head on Baxter’s very toned but slender chest, wrapping his arms around his tiny waist.

Baxter let out a low chuckle. “You are an affectionate one,” he observed with amusement (not for the first time).

“Mhm…” he smelled wonderful. And while his body was toned and firm, there was still a bit of softness that made him comfortable to lie upon.

But after their prior nap, neither was terribly tired. Kit slid up to nip at Baxter’s bottom lip, which transitioned into the younger boy leaning over Baxter to kiss him more insistently. Baxter’s hand slid cautiously under the bottom edge of Kit’s shirt, drawing from him a gasp. “Is this okay? Or should I stop?” the purring voice inquired without Baxter’s lips parting from his partner’s. In answer, Kit slid his hand up a wonderfully toned dancer’s thigh.

“Ahem! You two need to get a room.”

“...frak me…” Kit groaned softly as he recognized the annoyed tone of his sister.

A low chuckle sounded in Kit’s ear, “Is that a proposition, Darling?” Baxter turned to the door as if nothing was amiss while his boyfriend went into .exe failure. “Good evening, Miss Elizabeth. We were just having a movie night. You are welcome to join us, of course.”

“Yeah. don’t mind us. We’ll just continue what we were doing,” Kit added with a wide, devious grin.

Kit watched her shudder to his great satisfaction. “Ew. No thanks.” Kit could see the wheels turning, his sister just itching to get a dig in about Baxter and his unique fashion sense. But she behaved. “Good night you two. Behave.”

Kit snorted as he watched Liz retreat up the stairs.

“So what would you like to do now, Kit?” Baxter asked, looking at the movie in progress that they hadn’t paid attention to in the slightest.

“More of the same?”

Baxter paused. “I’m not sure that is the best idea.” His eyes traveled from where Liz just disappeared up the stairs, then to the closed door leading to Kit’s parents’ master suite.

Kit shook his head. “We could have gone to your place, you know.”

The college boy nodded but it wasn’t a convinced one. “And I still maintain this was the best option.” He must have been able to see the ‘why?’ question in Kit’s expression because he continued. “The best option for you. You said you wanted this to be a real relationship. I would rather not take the chance of treating it as a one night stand.”

“--oh--” Kit’s blush was burned all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Exactly. Here at least~” he waved toward the shared living space and trailed off, reconsidering again.

Kit shook my head. “They aren’t late night people--”

He snorted. “That explains some things about you, Early Bird.”

The Californian rolled his eyes and continued. “They aren’t coming out until morning unless there’s some emergency.”

“And your sister?”

Kit laughed, remembering how she shuddered. Twice. “She’s looking for brain bleach about now to remove what she already saw. No way is she gonna come even close to those stairs.”

Baxter tilted his head and he could watch that very busy mind of his at work. Then one side of his mouth tilted up. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

The younger boy smiled at him bright and playful, though his heart was racing. “Bring it!” He challenged, remembering that little quirk of Baxter’s personality that he didn’t like to leave a challenge unmet.

Several minutes later, Baxter pulled back, chuckling with amusement as Kit lay panting and dizzy on the couch following their latest session…