#and it is so ridiculous and annoying to me and it is a phenomenon of every genre

[mamawasatesttube]

i understand that ... the whole. everything. that fanon t*mkon does is super annoying, but the way some people push back against it by insisting that tim and kon weren't close before tt03/the geoff retcon is so funny (read: annoying) to me. this is simply not true ♥ so here, have a brief, nonexhaustive list of examples of tim and kon's friendship from kon's side:

tim is kon's second choice for "who to learn nonpowered fighting from" when he loses his powers (sb94 #76).

when he has a power spike and freaks himself out with his own strength (dismantling every single gun in los angeles), tim is the person he turns to to seek comfort and advice (sb94 #85). (and also to bother him because "bothering tim" seems to be one of his hobbies.)

he refers to tim as his "ex-best friend" after their fight on apokolips (sb94 #92).

like... you don't have to ship them. you can be very annoyed with the way fanon has warped their relationship. but to suggest that they didn't actually have any sort of close bond before tt03 is... rather egregiously not true? and just feels like a spite response to me. idk man. they have very clearly been good friends for a long time, before geoff had anything to do with them.

[a-dash-in-the-middle]

going to music places with only knowing the genre and liking new songs, and singing the ones i knew, and singing them badly bc i missed half the lyrics and not having an encyclopaedia of the genre in my mind bc i always liked the music and the pretentious pricks from serbian turbo folk to punk metal and grunge will not stop me from enjoying new things and knowing nothing about the band who sings it

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

are Hanukkah sweaters a Jewish thing? i've seen them before but 90% of the time, they're people trying to make christmas displays more "inclusive." so are they legit Jewish or no?

Rating: Capitalism.

Hanukkah sweaters are a prime example of what I previously characterized as "capitalism's tendency to tepidly repackage any Christmas symbols in literally or metaphorically blue-and-silver wrapping paper to appeal to a Jewish market." As the "ugly sweater" phenomenon has grown more popular, retailers saw an excellent opportunity to widen their market by having "Hanukkah" versions.

That said, there's a wide range of Hanukkah sweaters out there, some of which are more problematic than others. Ones that are literally just recolored Christmas designs with a couple Jewish-y things tacked on, like this "Shalom Gnome" design or this "Oy to the World" design are more problematic than enthusiastically tacky designed-from-the-beginning-to-be-Jewish ones. The former says "Hanukkah! It's Christmas for Jews! Jews! They're just Christians without Santa or Jesus!" while the latter says, "Oh, you're going to walk around with an eyesore sweater full of tinsel and actual little jingle bells as though anyone could possibly forget that it's Christmas season in this country? I see you, I see you, and I'm just going to casually wear this sweater with a menorah and candles that actually light up because Judaism rocks, that's why."

Then there's a whole genre of Hanukkah sweaters with, let's say, more adult content, and people's mileage may greatly vary on how they feel about them. Personally, I find the ones riffing off more secular aspects of the holiday to be largely harmless, such as this "You Spin Me Right Round, Baby" design with dreidels. On the other hand, while some may find it amusingly subversive, I find ones making fun of the religious part of the holiday (i.e., the actual hanukkiah/menorah) to be in poor taste at best. There are a plethora of "let's get lit" Hanukkah sweaters like this one that genuinely annoy me. (For one thing, Hanukkah isn't even a drinking holiday! If you want a drinking holiday, we actually have those but Hanukkah isn't it!) Ones like this that make it into a creepy pick-up line actively disgust me. And this "gelt digger" one is genuinely antisemetic, given the stereotypes about Jews and money.

I would be remiss not to mention what I personally think is the best of the Hanukkah sweater subgenres: animal puns. My fiance owns this Meowzel Tov sweater with a truly garish design. What does "mazel tov" have to do with Hanukkah, you may ask? Absolutely nothing, but hey, cats! Can't be upset about Jewish cats! Similarly, llamas? Not Jewish at all! But Happy Llamakka? Okay, cute pun, cute graphic, I'm reluctantly charmed. Your Menorasaurus would not be kosher for actual use as the candles are all different heights, but you know what, that actually makes me smile.

So, basically: If you get joy out of being loudly Jewish during a season where everything is yelling about Christianity all the time, go ahead and wear your ridiculous ugly sweater to the company party. Just take a close look at the design to make sure it's not actually full of Christmas trees, not pretending something extremely Christmas is Jewish because it's a pun now, doesn't use Charedi men as a cartoon stand-in for anyone Jewish, and doesn't makes being Jewish primarily about not being Christian.

In sum: RIP my browser history, I'm going to be getting such terrible ads for the next several weeks. Click the links at your own risk.

~Mod Leora

[miss-tc-nova]

Big Kitty and the Ducks - Leona Kingscholar x Reader

Going for a straightforward title today.

Anyway, a couple months ago, when I visited my family, someone brought miniature ducks and hid them everywhere, so my brother and I had fun finding and re-hiding them. It got kinda silly but that's the inspiration for this nonsense.

Premise: Ducks are infesting the school and Leona's not thrilled

Words: 1,314

~~~~~

               Duck.

               Duck…

               …Duck

               …

               Duck.

               Goddammit.

               Huffing, the lion turns his gaze away from the front of the class to the windowsill. It takes all of a single second to spot the little round body and bright orange beak basking in the sunlight.

               Duck.

               What the fuck?!

               There’s been a wild phenomenon emerging at Night Raven College in the form of water fowls the size of marbles. These miniscule birds have been popping up literally everywhere. Light switch: duck. Commons potted plant: duck. Potion vial: duck. Spelldrive goal: duck. Ceiling: duck. Duck duck duck! Hell, he even found a duck in the soap dispenser in the bathroom.

               And the whole damn school was fascinated.

               It started out with a handful of birds being found around the campus. Students laughed and collected them, but then more appeared the following day and then the next. Soon, it became a whole thing that ducks found were to be documented on magicam and relocated to another, equally ridiculous location.

               Yet while the rest of the school seemed fascinated by their sudden arrival, Leona is getting sick of seeing the little, yellow demons. Even his usually blunt, brutish dorm were enjoying the duck hunt. He can’t even begin to count the number he’s spotted in his dorm alone and it’s annoying.

               “Yo, Leona.”

               As class lets out, Leona finds his gold-digging hyena waiting for him in the cafeteria. The underclassman places a tray on a table, having already obtained the lion’s lunch for him.

               “How’d history go? Get a decent grade on that exam?”

               A fork stabs at the cut of beef. “If yer looking for next year’s answers, forget it. Trein didn’t let us keep the graded copies.”

               “Damn,” he sighs. “I didn’t really expect the exams to be the same, but an old exam would’ve been good study material.”

               “Sounds like more hassle collecting old assignments than just doing the work.”

               “You’d be surprised. Some of your second-year assignments are the exact same as this year’s.” The sophomore’s smug demeanor turns suddenly distracted. “Oh look, a duck!”

               With a toothy grin, Ruggie plucks the trinket from the table center piece. As he does, he apparently notices Leona’s annoyance and offers his finding.

               “What? You wanna take ‘im?”

               “Get that stupid thing away from me,” Leona growls back.

               “Ooo, spicy. Shishishishi.” He earns a glare. “I figured you wouldn’t be into it, but I didn’t think you’d care enough to hate it.”

               There’s a pause. Then another laugh escapes the younger student.

               “Especially for a guy who has one in his hair.”

               Leona’s eyes widen, his mouth pursing to contain the shock and fury. He’s lying—Ruggie must be lying.

               With that devious smirk, the second year gently tugs at one of his housewarden’s braids. There, wrapped into his hair with his hairtie, is one of those stupid, yellow, unassuming, miniature, goddamn ducks.

               Exhaling all his indignant fury, Leona rises. Not another word leaves his clenched jaw as he promptly leaves, ignoring all questions. From the cafeteria the lion stalks, in search of the one single individual who could’ve done this. Other students quickly clock in to the dark aura and provide a wide berth on his path. His rage leads Leona from the main building of the college down to the little rundown dorm tucked neatly in the shadows of the castle. A swift kick slams open the front door but no one is there to greet him. At least not until half of the dorm’s residents come rushing in from the kitchen.

               “Leona? What’s wrong?”

               “C’mere,” he demands, closing the gap himself.

               The Ramshackle prefect goes tense at his quick approach. A hasty hand takes hold of that adorable face, fingers pressing into the soft flesh of the cheeks.

               Low, dark, Leona’s voice rumbles. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

               The response is somewhat muffled. “Huh?”

               “You did this—you started this stupid duck thing, didn’t you.”

               Recognition sparks. “How did you find out?”

               Eyes narrowing, Leona shows the figure wrapped up in his hair. A smile works across warped lips. Despite Leona’s ire, the prefect giggles, thoroughly pleased with the ordeal.

               “Where the hell did you even get that many ducks?” he snaps, not even bothering to ask why

this whole thing even started to begin with.

               “Sam.”

               Of course it was Sam.

               “You menace.” With a growl, Leona pushes the magicless student back a step. “Now fix it.”

               Eyes roll, smile still intact, while the student motions towards the sofa. The grumpy lion flops onto the couch, his head falling into the lap of the offender, as had occurred some few times before.

               Fingers play with the end of the braid. “I wondered when you would notice.”

               Huffing, Leona elects not to engage in this line of conversation.

               “It’s only been there a week.”

               Eyes snap open, his body goes rigid, lips purse, and ears flatten. There’s no way he went a whole week with this damn bird tied into his hair, mocking his disdain for the frivolity. That giggle burns in his ears for more reasons than one.

               “I found this giant bag of little ducks at Sam’s a couple weeks ago. At first, I was just using them to bug the other first years, but I didn’t expect the whole school to get in on it. You should’ve seen Sebek’s face when he found one stuck to Hornton’s horn. Of course, I asked first and he was happy to be part of the fun, but man was Sebek mad. And Ace freaking biffed it when he spotted the one I stuck to the basketball hoop. That was funny. And—”

               As the prefect prattles on about misadventures, Leona feels all the tension seeping from his muscles. Yes, the ducks were still stupid and, yes, they infested the school like locusts, but it was harmless after all.

               And it made the prefect happy.

               “And oh my gosh, I think it was Jade who managed to put one on Crowley’s hat! It’s been there for like a month and—”

               “Hey.”

               Leona’s interruption silences the freshman.

               “You done yet?”

               “Oh, one sec.” The end of the braid is tied with the golden tie. “There.”

               Before he can sit up, the prefect reaches down, placing the damned bird on his chest, staring him down with its stupid, unblinking eyes. Sneering, Leona swats the plastic from his shirt and sits up. It clatters across the floor, making its way somewhere beneath the coffee table.

               “Aww. Oh well. Guess Grim will get to find that one.”

               Leona’s nose scrunches at some pungent scent wafting in. “What’re you burning?”

               “THE COOKIES!”

               The prefect could almost apply for the track and field club for the speed used to rush back to the kitchen.

               Now on his own, Leona simply sits in the Ramshackle commons, his thoughts slowly wandering beneath the table. A string of curses slips his lips as he gets to the floor, feeling around under the table until he finds the figure. He scrutinizes the trinket in his fingers before his gaze begins scouring the room. The chandelier finally holds his gaze long enough for a quirk to tug at the corner of his mouth.

               With a steady hand and careful concentration, the flightless bird levitates its way to its new nest on the light fixture. Surely, it’ll be weeks before anyone finds it there.

               The lion’s admiration is snapped by the return of the prefect.

               “Good news! I saved them!”

               “Aren’t you supposed to be having lunch?”

               “Hey, do you want a cookie or not?”

               A brow quirks but Leona accepts a treat from the offered plate. “Might as well. It’s your fault I’m missing lunch.”

               “Huh?”

               “Nothin’.” Turning on heel, he heads for the door.

               “Wait! What did you say?!”

               His back to the prefect, Leona smirks to himself.

               “That furball’s never gonna find that duck.”

~~~~~

Just some pics of our fun we had

~~~~~

Nova’s Twisted Wonderland Masterlist

[alicerosejensen]

What about uhh Leon with a playful gf? Like in a childish endearing way. A child at heart and likes adventure :D

So, I’m slowly clearing out my inbox and answering old requests. In this case, I decided to make headcanons (I have writer's block).

There are no special warnings. Any version of Leon you want (for me it’s most likely Leon!Re4).

💙 Perhaps sometimes he will be annoyed by your behavior but rarely. His negative attitude will only manifest itself in moments when he is emotionally vulnerable (especially after a mission).

💙 Loves to fall asleep with you under these plush bedspreads but in a dream, he will involuntarily pull it over himself.

💙However, you will not stay without warmth. Leon loves hugging you very much, although you can already sleep, sleep won't come to Leon for a long time, so he will just hug you and look at all these plush toys and various little things that he gave you or that you bought yourself.

💙 I don't think Leon will fall in love with someone who behaves just like a child, but some mischief would give him hope that in this world he has something worth fighting for.

💙 He will buy all these cute stockings to please you.

💙 Leon doesn't really like different adventures because of his job, but if it's something harmless, then no problem. Sometimes he also wants to make a joke and cheer himself up by remembering that he is still a man and not just a slave to the government.

💙 He may sometimes feel uncomfortable in your apartment because of the abundance of toys, but again this is a temporary phenomenon. I'm more than sure that later he will buy you these giant stuffed animals himself.

💙 Leon will always be ready to go to fairs and various festivals with you (provided that he does not eliminate another threat in the form of bioweapons).

💙 If you have a little dog, Leon will even try to get along with him. Maybe he doesn't really like dogs, but from this little miracle he will also be touched and ask you to take him for a romantic walk together.

💙 Without any problems, he will allow you to make all these masks, scrubs, peels on it as a joke and even make some funny photos with you, but on condition that they are stored in personal archives.

💙 Leon will even help you realize your childhood dreams that you did not have time to realize at that time. It may be a small thing in the form of some kind of trip to a place that you have always dreamed of, or a thing that may no longer have any value and usefulness, but you still want to get it since you did not have it in childhood.

💙 He wouldn't have a problem shooting for you in a regular air rifle range, but if you really want to win on your own, then go ahead, baby. At least if you screw up completely, then Leon can save the day.

💙 You may even ask him to let you shoot with his gun (under his supervision, of course)

💙 He doesn't mind when you throw an arm or leg over him in a dream. Over time, Leon will get used to it so much that he will feel uncomfortable sleeping without your body parts on him.

💙 Leon S Kennedy are constantly teasing. This will often lead to him being hit on the head with a pillow, which can eventually turn into a soft battle.

💙 He likes quiet or slightly noisy evenings with you. He likes these old movies with delicious food or some sweets while the movie is on and you're sitting or lying next to him and gently fingering strands of his hair laughing or at least smiling at his ridiculous comments or jokes.

💙However, sometimes while watching, you can seriously start a dispute with him on any topic and take offense at not agreeing with him in opinions.

💙 Although these quarrels never last long.

💙 In any case, he loves you anyway and will most likely be the first to reconcile. Even if you act like a real kid sometimes.

[ravers8fantasy]

The convo in coment section inspored me. Could you please write some headcanons about how the other boxers reacted to Don's new emo look? Please I need to see him ridiculed by the more mean ones😭. Also im to lazy to come up with headcanons myself-

Im so sorry it took me longer that usual to do this 😭 my motivation is coming back to me, trust we are slowly gonna be so fucking back

If there are any spelling mistakes or just mistakes in general, im so sorry

Anyway lets gooooooooooo ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧

Reactions to Don going dark mode:

Glass Joe:

Didnt think much of it at first, until he saw Don redying his toupee in a sink using temporary dye which is when he realised "mon dieu is this guy serious?"

Is a little concerned, because Don just looks upset 24/7 (his eyeliner keeps smudging so he looks tired)

However, he is just letting Don do his own thing since he seems pretty happy with himself

Von Kaiser:

Since being the oldest member of the WBVA means he has seen fuck all go down, Dons sudden cosmetic change was just kinda there, Kaiser didnt mind it nor did he really care💀

Told Don to get better fucking eyeliner because his kept smudging and it was annoying Kaiser

Thinks Don is just going through a phase so he is letting him brood it out until it washes over

Disco kid:

Thought Don was being silly and laughed at him. He got yelled at and realised he was in fact NOT joking

Got worried because he thought Don was going to stay like that forever

Told Don about hot topic because he genuinely didnt know what else to say to his emo ass

King hippo:

King kinda gave 0 fucks, saw Don and offered him some snacks since his rbf lwk ruining the vibes

Didnt really react, just kinda groaned and walked away

Has no idea what emo is, just think Don looks moody but then again King doesnt really care

Piston hondo:

Didnt know wether to laugh or cry, he always knew Don was dramatic and sensetive but he never would of thought he would end up emo

asked him what was wrong like a good person... But secretly couldn't take him seriously

Had to consult the others in the major circuit to discuss (gossip) about the phenomenon (don)

Bear hugger:

Thought Don was just changing up his look for a fresh start

"hey pal! I like your new look"

"no you dont... Dont lie to me, my heart has already gone through enough pain..."

"....what? your heart hurts! Have you been to a doctor?"

Was really curious about this whole 'emo' style so he kept asking the others about it

Was the most confused during the emergency meeting Hondo held because he just thought Don was being Don (dramatic)

Great tiger:

He says he isnt a hater buuuut, sometimes he lets it slide, in this case when he saw Don he couldnt help but raise an eyebrow

Was trying to show concern to Don, but mid scentence he ended up cracking and lost it, bro started giggling in his face

Is not taking Don seriously, if anything he is trying to persuade him to go back to himself before

Aran ryan:

Did a double take, said "what the feck", and started cackling at Don brooding in the corner of the locker room

Realised halfway through flaming him that his hair was dyed darker, that only added fuel to the fire.

Now he gets called 'rosie posie' even more by the little shit since it counters his 'mysterious' exterior. Dont worry, Aran eventually got bored ofmaking fun of him. that changed when he saw his goofy ahh '6'5 mysterious alpha' stance in the ring

Soda popinski:

Thought Don was in mourning and suggested he should take a break.

Got told by Hondo he was 'emo' and Soda was just like oh ok im gonna take the piss out of him now!!!

Kept annoying Don by asking him to sing my chemical romance or fall out boy, to which Don obviously said hecks naw to

Bald bull:

Took one good look at Don and felt greatful he wasnt in the major circuit because to bull, Don gen looked like some sad moody teenager

Just avoided him because the last thing Bull wanted was a 6'1, 23 year old spaniard complaining about how dark his soul is or smth

Obviously, once yknow over coming the uh 'shock?' of seeing Don all emofied he stopped avoiding him but yeah. Bulk found it strange

Super macho man:

Said something along the lines of 'rock on crazy dude- black isnt your colour.'

Kept trying to make him confess if it was the little mac toupee incident or the rumored break up which made him go emo

joked and told Don to buy fishnet leggings (promptly got punched in the face afterwards by Don)

(btw, carmen and don are endgame dont even play with me rn /lh)

Sandman:

Saw him, turned around and left because he honestly was speechless and not in a 'oh!" way but more like an oh Wait what the fuck was that way-

Like Kaiser, he also told Don to use better eyeliner. He also told Don not to use so much other wise he will have severe panda eyes by the end of a match

Just didnt have alot to say about it really😭

・*:..｡o♬*ﾟ・*:..｡o♬*ﾟ・*:..｡o♬*ﾟ・*:..｡o♬*ﾟ*:..

This was alot of fun to write about!! Again sorry it took longer than usual, school has been kicking me up the arse 😭😭thanks for the ask! BRING BACK GUYLINER. 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[knoxvillesjackass]

hello! I had an idea of No Nut November with Johnny x female reader. The jackass guys all dare each other to do it and the winner couple is who lasts the longest. When his girlfriend finds out, she keeps teasing him and it all ends in smut!! Love your stories!! ❤️

𝐧𝐨 𝐧𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 - 𝐣.𝐤

im so happy to finally see a smut request!! pls, send some more, because i want to get better at writing it! also, do you guys enjoy reading it or do you like fluff and/or angst better?

warnings! edging, oral sex dom!johnny x sub!reader? ( reader receiving and giving), dirty talk, very dirty hihi

words; 3.375

It was bizarre. Annoying, really. You’d given him every opportunity in the world to rail you, blow your back out and make you incapable of walking for the day…All of your attempts were shut down, which was new for you.

Usually, all you had to do was send the smallest signal to Johnny, and he would be ready at any time, but the past two weeks had been different.

He’d been avoiding you, it seemed. He only kissed you when he left for work, and he’d even slept on the couch for some nights.

You’d been left confused and a little hurt by it all. Had you done something wrong, or was he perhaps just not attracted to you anymore?

The thoughts killed you, but it killed him even more. If it hadn’t been for that stupid bet….

“A month without sex? You’ve gotta be shitting me,” Johnny shook his head as the room erupted in laughter, but he was totally serious.

He couldn’t believe that he was the only one objecting to this nonsense. The concept was idiotic and frankly childish.

Steve-O had been the one to bring it up during lunch break. Everyone had shrugged it off, but as the tension grew thicker throughout the day, everyone suddenly began to take it very seriously, Johnny included.

So, as stupid as he thought it was, Johnny was knee-deep in the ‘No Nut November’ phenomenon, even though he hated the idea.

You and Johnny had sex a lot. No shame in that. Just two adults, who loved each other very much. What Johnny did feel off about, was that all of his friends knew just how much sex you had. How? Well, at every given chance to escape the craziness of the crew, the two of you did. And you didn’t do it to have conversations and drink tea. No, you did it to fuck.

Johnny had been labelled as the guy to fail the quickest, and it didn’t sit right with him one bit.

Luckily for him, his self-control was a different ball game. He had more control than all of the jackass guys combined. If there was a will, there was a way, and Johnny never let himself down once he had a goal.

“Oh, y-you’re participating?” Steve-O asked Johnny, who shrugged and nodded. “Yeah,” he huffed, and the room once again erupted in laughter, this time, it sounded more ridiculing than anything.

“What?” He asked confused and scoffed as he stared back at his wide-eyed friends. “Dude, you’re not going to last for two days,” Pontius grinned, Johnny returning a simple growl. “Let’s just fucking see, shall we?”

-

“Hi, baby!”

You grinned excitedly as Johnny entered your shared apartment. You wrapped your arms around him tightly, furrowing your eyebrows at once when you didn’t feel him embracing you.

“Are you okay?” You asked and unwrapped your arms around his waist, looking up at him innocently. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine, Y/N, I’m just tired. Think I’m gonna go take a shower,” he commented, his eyes focused straight ahead and not down at you.

“Oh, okay. Well, I could join,” you smirked and winked at him, but he merely shook his head and smiled politely before disappearing to the bathroom.

Well, that sucked, you thought.

He was probably just tired. He’d been working long hours, and maybe all the man needed was some space.

You’d attempted to be the understanding girlfriend, even when you felt ignored by Johnny.

The first few days went by okay, although the hours seemed to get longer as the days went by. The week overall was manageable but when the second week struck, Johnny was beginning to struggle.

The day of your anniversary, you'd made everything really special for Johnny. Dressed up nice, cooked some good food, and made the bathtub the perfect place to end the night, together.

When he'd come home, he'd acted just as you'd feared.

Distant and seemingly blind to the effort you'd put into making your fourth anniversary a special one.

The dinner was awkward and you hated the tension. You broke the silence every minute, asking him questions to which he answered with simple and short sentences.

"I have a surprise for you," you smirked. Maybe what he needed was some extra spice, and that was what you were going to give him.

"A surprise?" He asked as he was washing the dishes. He jumped when he felt your arms snake around his waist. Johnny moved away and coughed. His boxers were starting to feel tight, uncomfortably tight.

You grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bathroom. You'd scattered rose petals on the floor and lit some candles. It was the most romantic bathroom you'd ever seen, but Johnny didn't seem to agree.

"O-Oh, Y/N," Johnny coughed nervously and slowly backed out of the bathroom.

"Did I do something wrong? Are you trying to punish me or something? Please, tell me what's going on!"

"No, Y/N-"

"Then why won't you FUCK ME?" You shouted and sniffled. Johnny's heart tore a bit. He wanted to tell you, he really did, but with the mood and how you were feeling, it didn't seem as if it would've been a massive help in his eyes.

The next days were rough. You were upset, understandably. Johnny continued his odd behaviour and you were just about done with it all.

“Just tell me now; when did you give in and how was it?”

Bam stood like a little child next to Johnny and giggled, but Johnny rolled his eyes underneath his sunglasses and sighed.

“I haven’t given in yet, and I’m not going to, so you might as well quit bothering me.”

Bam scoffed at the answer he got from Johnny, but he hadn’t expected much else, considering Johnny’s recent behaviour.

He was in a pissy mood. He was at conflict with himself at all times. The whole dare had transformed into something beyond his control. He was so competitive, sometimes it scared people.

Johnny sat down in the conference room, where the crew held their weekly meetings. He cursed to himself and looked around. Pontius, Steve-O and Jeff sat and looked at him with smug grins.

“How’re you holding up over there, Knoxville?” Jeff asked, to which he received a middle finger from Knoxville.

“It’s been a long time since I've seen Y/N around? When is she coming by again?" Pontius pouted. Just the thought of your name at this point, could get Johnny hot and bothered.

"I-She's not," Johnny mumbled and rubbed his sweaty forehead. Was it just him, or was it starting to get super hot?

"That's weird. I talked to her this morning. She said, she's dropping by to say hello," Jeff said and immediately, Johnny tensed up.

"What?" He asked. He hated to even think it, but you were the last person he needed to see now.

"Y/N!" Wee-man yelled as soon as he saw your figure in the doorway.

Johnny hid his face in his hands as soon as he heard your voice. He imagined you saying his name, moaning it, screaming it.

"Hi, guys," you smiled and entered the conference room, greeting all of the guys with a hug, moving your way around the table until you reached Johnny. "Hi, babe," you smiled and leaned down to plant a kiss on his lips, although he moved away almost immediately.

You scoffed and stood up. What had you expected? He'd only been treating you like that for the last two weeks.

"Well, I can see that I'm not wanted here," you mumbled but were quickly met with reassurance from everyone but Johnny.

"Why would you think that?" Jeff asked, "we love having you here, Y/N."

"You might, but I think Johnny feels a bit different," you hissed and glared at Johnny, who slapped his forehead.

Suddenly, Ehren began laughing hysterically, to everyone's surprise. "Wait, you haven't told her yet?" He grinned and the boys slowly caught on and joined Ehren's laughing fit.

Johnny was so not having it. His fists were curled and his jaw was clenched. And you, you were utterly confused as to what was going on.

"Told me what?"

You raised your eyebrow and looked down at Johnny, who refused eye contact at all costs, the guilt weighing him down like uranium.

"We dared each other do the no nut Novem-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," you said and cut Ehren off. You were quiet for a few moments, trying to assemble yourself before speaking up.

"You wanna explain yourself, asshole?" You spat and looked down at Johnny, who sighed and looked up at you.

"Y/N, I'm so so-"

"Do you guys know how long it's been since I've had sex with my boyfriend?" I asked into the room and the guys all chuckled.

Of course, they knew. They were a part of it too, after all.

"Two weeks!"

It didn't sound like a lot, but anyone who knew you and Johnny understood that this was totally out of the ordinary.

"You're telling me I have to wait two weeks before he can bang me? How many of you guys are still in this bullshit?" You asked loudly to which Pontius, Jeff, Ehren and Wee-Man's hands went up.

"Fuck this," you sighed. You knew just how competitive Johnny was. Nothing could get in his way. Literally nothing, but then again, if anyone had the slightest chance, it was most definitely you.

-

"Y/N?"

You sighed at the sound of Johnny's voice.

Your fingers were curled inside of yourself as you lay spread across the bed.

You continued, although the sound of Johnny's footsteps came closer and closer.

You closed your eyes and began rubbing your clit, letting out a quiet moan.

"Y/N-fuck," Johnny breathed out when he walked in on you pleasuring yourself. His cock was throbbing at the sight of your naked body, but he denied all of those feelings and shuffled out of the room. The sight had made him hard as a rock.

"Johnny!" You called out. An idea had popped into your head.

He opened the door and peeked in. Your legs were spread open and they were trembling with anticipation.

"Huh?" He asked you. His eyes were almost closed. He couldn't bare to see more.

"Look, I know you're not allowed to cum or whatever, but I'm horny and I need your help," you stated and Johnny's eyes opened wide. You might be on to something, he thought.

Pleasuring you always brought Johnny pleasure, he didn't even have to pull his dick out for this one.

He smiled and rushed over to you.

He wasted no time digging his two fingers into your cunt, plunging them in and out of your wet entrance. His head rested between your legs as his tongue made contact with your clit. You reached down and grabbed a handful of his hair. God, he loved it when you did that.

What he loved, even more, was the way his name sounded when you screamed it out of pure pleasure. "Fuck, Johnny!" You cried and grabbed his one hand that wasn't fucking your cunt and pulling it up to your breast, signalling for him to massage it, which he did, gladly.

Johnny smiled against your folds and licked them up and down, ever so often pinching your sensitive clit between his lips, which drove you crazy.

"I-I think I'm g-"

"Look at me, babydoll," he ordered and you followed, looking directly into his dark brown eyes. You couldn't contain the eye contact for long though, because your eyes rolled into the back of your head and you let out a loud cry as you reached your awaited orgasm.

You tugged at Johnny's hair and breathed in loudly, trying to gather yourself.

"J-Johnny, just fuck me already, please," you sobbed and looked at Johnny.

The offer was so tempting, but he just couldn't. He snapped out of his thoughts when he felt his jeans tightening to the point of it being uncomfortable.

"O-Oh, shi-" he hissed and suddenly flew away from his position. You looked him up and down, eyes landing on the massive boner, he had packed. You held back an evil laugh as Johnny stormed out of the room. "Where are you going?" You yelled as you stood up from the bed.

"I-I'm just gonna go for a drive!" he yelled back and slammed the door. He wasn't angry with you, and you knew that. He was angry with himself. This bet was starting to get really fucking old.

The next days were seriously awful for Johnny. After helping you out, he realised that it might've been a bad idea.

The only thing on his mind was the feeling of your pretty cunt against his fingers and the sound of your screams still rang in his ears every now and then.

And you'd, of course, been making his life a living hell. Walking around naked in the apartment or dressing up in your sexiest lingerie.

Johnny kept himself together, though, and you had to give him credit. He'd handled it all very well, better than you ever could.

(random a/n; this same-ish story, but where the reader is dared?)

The end of November was just around the corner, thankfully. Sure, Johnny's hands were equivalent to magic, but nothing beat the feeling of his cock ramming into you.

You couldn't wait, quite literally. Johnny was so much better at staying committed to a dare than you. You needed him. Like, really needed him.

"Johnnyyyy," you whined and threw yourself at him like a little toddler,

He wasn't as sensitive as before. It seemed that the roles had taken a 180 because you were hornier than ever.

Johnny was sitting with his computer when you suddenly planted yourself in his lap and hugged him tightly.

"What's going on?" He asked and rubbed your back.

"I want it so badly," you whispered and bit your lip. Johnny stiffened up and shifted uncomfortably around on the couch. "Three days to go, Y/N," he comforted you, but that wasn't good enough. "No, but like, now," you said and reached down to straddle his cock. He let out a yelp and lifted you from his lap to the seat beside him as he stood up and paced around.

He was frustrated. It was really not fun anymore. Actually, it never was.

Johnny hurried to his phone and put the phone to his ear.

"Chris, you tell me now and be honest; who's still a part of this November bullshit?" Johnny asked. You smiled to yourself and crossed your fingers.

No one, please say no one.

You couldn't quite hear the rest of the conversation. You didn't really care either, because when Johnny came out, he had darker eyes and a wicked smirk on his lips.

"Go to the bedroom and take your clothes off. I'll be up in two minutes."

You squealed with excitement and ran up the stairs faster than ever.

You stripped out of your clothes and threw them to the side, feeling a knot in your stomach, waiting to be untied.

Johnny entered the room. He'd taken his shirt off on the way up the stairs.

"Get on your knees," Johnny ordered and you did so immediately and without protest of any sort.

The room was pretty dark, but you could still see Johnny's crooked smirk.

He approached you, stopping when he stood right in front of your kneeled figure.

He brushed some hair out of your face and cupped your cheeks as you stared up at him, batting your eyelashes.

He gathered your hair into a ponytail at the back of your head and tied it with the hair tie he had around his wrist.

"Fuck, I've missed your mouth," he moaned and unbuttoned his pants, not even bothering to pull them all the way down. And you were just as desperate to please him again, so without waiting any longer, you took a hold of his rock-hard length and gave it a few pumps. Johnny threw his head back when you put just the tip into your mouth. Impatient and understandably needy, Johnny skipped your slow tempo and grabbed the back of your head, pushing his cock into your mouth fully.

After four years of dating Johnny, your gag reflex was pretty much non-existent.

He began gently thrusting himself into your mouth and then sped up until you eventually could feel his tip at the end of your throat.

You watched with tears in your ears as your boyfriend had lost himself in you, thrusting himself into your mouth again and again until he was a mumbling, moaning mess, cumming down your throat.

You swallowed and Johnny watched you in admiration as he offered you his hand to help you stand up.

Your lips crashed together for the first time in weeks, and you moaned into the kiss when you reached the bed. Johnny put a hand behind your head and the other one on your back, slowly lowering you on the bed as he hovered over you with a hungry, lust-filled gaze.

You were merely wearing his t-shirt and a pair of old shorts, which Johnny quickly tore away, your underwear following. He pulled the shirt from over your head and admired your naked body for a while, before snapping out of his trance to return to his duty.

He began placing kisses down your chest but you pulled him up when you saw where he was going. You grabbed his hand and forced it down to your dripping cunt. "I don't need anything, I just want you to fuck me," you nodded and Johnny smiled. Foreplay was always a big thing in your relationship. It was a way to ensure that both parts were 100% ready, but there was no doubt in your mind; you were ready.

"You're still on the pill despite this stupid bet, right?" He asked and you nodded. He knew how bad you were at forgetting it, and he often scolded you for it.

"Good girl," he whispered raspily. That made your heart melt.

His tip was at your entrance, and you wondered if the three weeks had changed something within you. Was it going to hurt after that long with no sex?

You shook every thought off when Johnny placed a kiss on your forehead and slowly pushed into you.

"Ah-!"

Johnny looked at you with wide eyes. You apologised quietly.

"It must be because it's been a while," you said and Johnny nodded, understanding what you were feeling.

He continued pushing his member into you and watched you closely as you clenched your eyes shut and dug your nails into his wide shoulders.

He rested for a while, waiting for your sign to move, and when that sign came, he began pumping in and out of you slowly but deeply.

You grasped onto him and pulled him as close as possible while also wrapping your legs around his waist. "F-Faster," you moaned with closed eyes and Johnny grunted as he sped up, fucking you at an impossibly fast pace.

Everything seemed to go dull for a short moment. Your pussy clenched and your belly contracted tightly when a wave of pleasure hit you like a thousand bricks.

"I-Oh, my God!"

Your nails dug deeply into Johnny's back and you scratched them up towards his neck, where they rested, fiddling with the ends of his brown hair.

"Look at me, baby," Johnny ordered and continued his thrusts. You had to collect yourself before even listening to his orders, but Johnny was impatient and close to an orgasm, so he didn't have much time.

"Y/N, I said look at me," he repeated. The tone made you look at him immediately and you bit your lip and moaned loudly as you watched him orgasm for the second time that night.

"Fuuuck-urgh, baby!"

He trembled and with one last thrust, he pulled out of you and fell down beside you with a heavy but satisfied sigh.

"This November has been the best and worst of my life," you sighed and Johnny laughed in agreement as he kissed your forehead and snuggled you closer.

-

probably my favourite smut i've ever written, but what do you think?

[theerurishipper]

It’s so hard being an Adrien stan in this fandom. People are constantly nitpicking every little thing he does. He can never do right by them. It’s so frustrating. And that’s not even mentioning how he was treated in canon

I feel you anon. I wasn't actively posting for the fandom during the major salt periods, like right after the airing of Syren and then Chameleon, but I was around to see the ridiculous salt fests that would go on. People love to pick on Adrien for every single little thing that involves him making a decision that doesn't cater perfectly to Marinette's whims and needs, but woe be upon you if you say anything about Marinette that isn't praising her. It's not even like I have a problem with Marinette as a character. Some of her writing in Season 4 and 5? Yes. But in Seasons 1-3, I really loved her. She was such a breath of fresh air for me as a character. She was so full of charm and life and energy. But she got ruined for me by her stans who jumped to salt on every other character for not exactly agreeing with her every decision and for having minds of their own and having desires that weren't about her.

And another annoying part is their insistence that Marinette is treated oh so cruelly by the narrative and poor Marinette is always suffering and everyone is treating her so cruelly and she deserves better than people who aren't willing to be her faithful slaves. Then Seasons 4 and 5 brought this into canon, and then you saw people who were salting on Adrien for being upset about being neglected by his partner, and they were blaming him for "feeling entitled to her" despite never calling her out for her treatment of him. Lemme tell you, the chimney discourse was wild. And all that bullshit ass "discourse" about him harassing Ladybug, while ignoring all the stalking Marinette did and pretending it was nothing. I generally ignore anyone who says either of these things because they are clearly meant to be jokes, and I think calling Adrien a harasser is just as ludicrous as calling Marinette a stalker, but the double standard of taking the joke seriously for Adrien but not for Marinette is annoying, to say the least.

And ultimately they just want Adrien and everyone else to be Marinette's sidekicks/yes-men who will never disagree with her and will always do whatever she wants and will never think for themselves. And you unfortunately can see this attitude seeping into canon too, with how Adrien isn't allowed to have independent thoughts outside of how he can be of service to Marinette. Nothing matters for him, the only thing that matters is her and what he can do for her. She's allowed to yell at him and throw him into trashcans, but fuck him if he disagrees with her on something and isn't happy to just sit by and accept being replaced and ignored. And canon Adrienette is such a good example of this phenomenon.

But the salters will whine and rage about how Marinette is such a victim of the narrative and how she suffers so much that we should all excuse her less than perfect actions, while also raging at Adrien for any small slight and denying that he also suffers. I guess Marinette can be excused for being traumatized and stressed, but being a victim of horrific abuse is too less of a reason for Adrien to be excused, and I guess it means he isn't suffering. To them, only Marinette's feelings and suffering matters. And this has also become true for the show, because Adrien's feelings don't matter, only Marinette's feelings about him matter.

And the worst fucking thing I've seen from this fandom is the occasional post about how Adrien is "spineless" and "cowardly" and "doesn't have a backbone" because he is non-confrontational and doesn't get up in arms about everything. And, aside from the fact that there is absolutely nothing wrong with not flying into a righteous rage about everything, this is some fucking heavy victim blaming bullshit. Like, y'all know that Adrien is like that because he's a victim of abuse, right? That his actions are a trauma response, right? It's called fawning. How awful of Adrien to have been conditioned into being non-confrontational by an abusive father who wants him to be subservient to his every whim! How useless is he for being traumatized because of the abuse he suffers! What a loser!

Honestly, the deranged Marinette stans are the worst. If someone says that shit about Adrien, they can go fuck themselves honestly. The gall to accuse a character who is an abuse victim of being "a spineless worm who can't grow a backbone" (someone legit wrote this word for word). Acting like he's the scum of the earth for not agreeing with Marinette 24/7 and victim blaming him for not rising swords drawn the moment someone does something mean to her.

So yeah, I understand you anon. It's really annoying to see all these "hot takes" going around. But there are still many Marinette fans who are nice and don't say all this goofy shit about Adrien, and there are plenty of Adrien stans who love and defend our boy. My advice is to block the salt tags, follow the right blogs and curate your experience the best you can. Trust me, it took a while for me to learn to stop putting myself through the agony of looking through these salt posts and to start blocking tags and salters' blogs. But I'm better off for it now. It won't stop some of these posts from popping up here and there, but it'll massively improve your fandom experience.

Thank you for your ask!

[metanarrates]

i havent read the books in ages and i never even watched all the movies, but my take on the hunger games as a Phenomenon is that having it spawn so many empty, vapid copycats (like divergent) retroactively made it come across as a lot deeper than it actually ever was.

i do like it and the message its meant to convey, and if nothing else i do think it manages to make that message come across just fine (even if its not particularly explored or nuanced), its just that the writing in the books isnt particularly exceptional. iirc its fairly dry and surface level, and it lets itself get too easily distracted by the romance despite katniss explicitly being supposed to not be someone who gives a shit about any of that. i think i was especially annoyed by that in the third book, but that might also just be because i never particularly liked peeta and having so much of it be about katniss' angst over him felt kinda grating.

all in all, definitely a ya book, definitely more interesting than most other things in its genre that came out during that period of time, definitely not the masterpiece it's sometimes talked up to be

I have a worse opinion of it than you, since I just don't think its messaging even is all that consistent most of the time, but yeah I agree with everything else. people remember it as deeper because it at least tried to have things to say. upon examination, it's just... not all that good. interesting to examine, sure, and once I finish reading the books I'm going to be looking at its cultural phenomenon because that's also fascinating, but the actual quality of the books is not great.

i think what's really knocking me on my ass about this series is that it keeps using an awful lot of very Genre Fiction stuff that is conceptually not all that serious, and then keeps asking me to look at it as a serious work with educational and political merit. i read an interview recently where suzanne collins discussed "writing about war in a way that is accessible to teens," which just feels absurdly jarring in the context of a series where a core premise is that an evil government needs a pair of teenagers to pretend they're in love in order to quell revolutionary stirrings. I'm not saying that ridiculous genre elements and serious topics can't be blended well (I fucking LOVE a lot of stuff that does that) but you can't have what is fundamentally treated as a romance novel plot serve as fuel for a serious story about actual war. there's not even a well-thought out metaphor to make it stick. it just asks me to take it seriously and I can't because it's hilarious.

[paragonrobits]

i'm trying REAL HARD to figure out what I actually want in an OC species for me to make my Transformer-inspired characters into, but i keep having problems with it being too complicated or figuring it out so here's a few thoughts.

They need to transform. Obviously! However the exact means is unclear; is it an inherent power or innate ability? Or is it a literal power granted to them, through magical means or physical modification?

In general, I am not leaning towards the classic binary main mode/alt mode, but instead they tend to have multiple forms, usually primary form (not necessarily bipedal), a beast mode (animal form), a vehicle mode (something that moves), another mobile form (to expand options) and possibly a monstrous form that's similar to RID's animalistic robot modes, unless that's just the primary mode or something.

Lately I've been leaning towards the idea that each transformation possibility is unique to each one, and that it is specifically a POWER, at least at this extent. They could naturally have the power to alter their own forms in a more limited way, explaining why they tend to have this gimmick so consistently. (Alternatively, this transformation is a form of shapeshifting and a particularly common variant; in-story its an established technique which is why it consistently takes this form. Possibly all beings can do it.)

Alternatively, they might be a species analagous to DND mimics, and this power is what happens with that ability gets tons of magic poured into it, unlocking specific forms that resonate with them.

Are they an actual species of robots that can reproduce, or unrelated robots who develop this power? This is another hard one. I usually imagine Transformers as able to reproduce, so it might be easy to translate that, but i also worry about the logistics of how much that might make sense. I might be leaning towards the idea that they're not related and are something that tends to pop up with robots who achieve genuine sapience, and the ability to physically reproduce is something granted to them (perhaps in the form of an interior factory, so to speak).

Do they have Sparks? Not sure if I should translate that or not.

Connection to OC Gem-like species? I've had an idea for a while that the Gem equivalents from SU in my OC settings are functionally the same species as these Transformer-types. Their central mind being a power core; inserted into a mechanical frame, that frame becomes their living body. Otherwise, it congeals ambient magic into a physical form, becoming something more like a Gem? But is this a good idea? It sounds like it might get complicated and I don't know if that makes sense or not.

Are they as tough as Transformers? Transformers in a lot of continuities are ridiculously tough, to the point that Waspinator famously was crushed into a cube and it was just annoying for him. So are these guys that durable? That feels like it makes them too powerful. I think it might work better that in GENERAL they're tough but not to that extreme.

Don't make these inherent aspects, make them powers. This is one possible solution that, in turn, leans another way of dealing with it that might work okay; they're not a species, they're a phenomenon. Perhaps when robots develop sufficient intelligence enough to be considered truly free-willed, they tend to develop a lot of physical capabilities that are broadly similar. With training and magic or empowerment rituals, this is turned amplified into being full on mode shifters. So these are not physical traits, but powers; otherwise they're not that different from humans or other species, in the broad scheme of things.

so from this, here is a possibility: they are not a species in a conventional sense, but they're becoming one. Robots are fairly common, and a large number have learned magical tricks to mimic structures or objects to avoid harm, and they teach others like them. Recently, in-story, allies have refined magical techniques or physical modifications that grant them the ability to mystically expand their sense of self into specific forms that resonate with them; their different modes.

From here, each individual one is free to define themselves more freely; some become gargantuan giants, some are close to human size, and others learn how to change sizes or eject their minds into smaller bodies to interact with small beings. Others have many more forms, others less. These are specifically techniques, not really biological in nature. Other beings, even organics, can learn these tricks. And in recent times, a few have dedicated themselves to becoming stronger and more powerful, achieving immense toughness and size (becoming closer to the most powerful depictions of Transformers). A very common modification has allowed them to physically reproduce, creating children that don't necessarily have any of those traits, but can learn them over time.

Not a species, but a spectrum?

[no-psi-nan]

👍🏾 No beef here! I didn't feel bad, because I know what I'm about and I've been around a while.

But there are a lot of people who are nervous, aren't native English speakers, haven't been on the net as long, don't know too much about queer norms etc etc who would have gotten scared of misstepping with an ask like that.

And while you were really nice about it (appreciate it!) I've seen a lot people be a lot more aggressive about stuff like this, so I figured I'd make a general post about it.

Especially since somehow it's become more and more accepted for people to analyze any content related to queerness with a fine tooth comb to ensure it's all 100% up to the very latest in niche discourse and it's like.

WHY?? Literally the fact that it's queer and exists is pretty cool, considering that a lot of countries don't even allow any sort of queer expression today.

And of course there's a difference between a random person on the Internet and Disney's 100th "first gay character" — the amount of scrutiny should be proportional to the production value, or something like that.

But it would just be nice if everyone got into the "X is a little confused, but they got the spirit" mentality instead of mounting the Spanish inquisition at the tiniest hint of ignorance or deviance from the latest "established" norms (<- which are often still hotly debated anyways).

But yeah, not mad at you, just annoyed at this kind of thing as a phenomenon. Like I get that you were more likely warning me that my post *could* have been taken the wrong way but like. It's ridiculous that that should even be a concern, y'know?

[iwonderwh0]

The only example of disinformation I encountered that I can think of when thinking of tiktok is the type of videos with "interesting facts" with some eerie music on the background and some dude basically re-telling some years old "facts" from reddit, but that's my side of this platform, I'm sure there is a huge deal of some far more harmful examples.

I do however keep seeing a lot of hateful nationalistic propaganda on tiktok when it shows me something from my region, and this radicalising shit that creates this "Us vs Them" mentality is indeed scary and is far more dangerous imo than what I described above. But It's just a tiktok alternative to echo chambers that are a common phenomenon on every other major platform like facebook, Instagram, twitter, reddit and yeah, Tumblr too. Especially Tumblr, but with a slightly different flavour. Tumblr culture is honestly insane and it surprises me how people keep denying that it may as well be toxic and harmful and deceptive to your perception of the world. Like people in here be witch haunting and accusing each other in some bizzare bullshit assuming absolute worst things about each-other based on something ridiculous, and here on this platform it's considered to be just part of the culture that the majority of those who has been here for a while don't even recognize anymore as bizzare. Have everyone forgotten how tumblr Steven Universe fandom bullied fan-artist into attempting a suicide after being relentlessly bullied for drawing Rose thinner than she's canonically? Is this not a wild example of how Tumblr culture can desensitize people into being absolutely insane all while justifying it by some right cause of "attacking the enemy"?

I keep seeing accounts on this platform who wish people to kill themselves in case they support some fandom take/ship/whatever minor thing that in real world isn't at all such a big deal to get this agressive. Am I only seeing this shit because I've been here for less than a year and haven't yet got used to it?

It's just fucking annoying to see people turning a blind eye on tumblr having the same kind of problems as tiktok and facebook and all the other major apps that people here criticize so much.

[resistanceisfeudal]

me in my feelings about trek fandom:

so, that star trek confessional blog that's been going around the last few days? and the mini discourse about possible rage-bait on it? and then the new rule that they won't post anything that feels like it's attacking a specific subgroup of fandom? That whole thing?

Cursed discourse. Rotted, rancid, stupid shit. And not even the top five worst discourses I've seen this week.

I actually kind of am mad at a lot of trek fandom and do have a lot of honest opinions that would read as an attack on people...

I guess the thing that has been rising to the top is this phenomenon where people who are clearly intelligent and thoughtful in terms of how they engage with stuff in general end up having bizarre blindspots when it comes to trek.

People who thoroughly acknowledge cultural biases and the ways in which opinons are shaped by bigotry when it comes to talking about how, say, Voyager was received at the time, will turn around and flatly deny the roles of racism, misogyny and transphobia in the reception of Discovery, insisting that "it's bad because grimdark" - which a) isn't even true and b) a cursory glance through the comments on a stream of a disco episode would prove that "grimdark" is not the thing that audiences are mad about. You might have a good faith criticism (which "grimdark" isn't because it's not accurate, but idk some other good faith criticism) but that's not why the show is less beloved than snw or picard s3.

Or people who constantly reblog posts about how episodic "filler episodes" are so great, and how they build the characters and make up the heart of the shows... and then talk about characters and their relationships in ways that only make sense if you cherry pick random disconnected moments from across seven years of television.

Or someone how can talk articulately about fandom culture, stanning, and conspiracy theories, and shows insight and cynicism into phenomena like those sherlock truthers... and then says that garashιr would have been canon if it weren't for ezri, or that it would've been canon if they'd got an eight season. Like, these are ridiculous opinions that basically rely on you not watching the actual show.

Ok technically the last two were just me bitching about a ship that's popular and therefore sometimes the fans can get obnoxious. I shouldn't complain about that... while we're here, I also find spιrk annoying at this point. This is silly, back to snw.

Fundamentally, a lot of snw's popularlity is the same as picard s3: it's nostalgia heavy and the leads are white men. Overall, taking the entire audience in mind, that is a significant part of what's going on.

Now, obviously, snw is a lot better than s3 of picard (which i will die mad about). It's not a bad show, but I do feel that s2 didn't really improve on s1 and perhaps felt weaker at times. I thought the musical episode was genuinely bad and struggle to even believe people when they say they liked it. To be clear: I love musicals, I love musical episodes, I hated this one.

It's shit like this, the insistance that it's amazing when, as a show, it's just fine, sometimes a little bad, mostly pretty good, occasionally very good - it's shit like this that makes people accuse fans of being inauthentic when they praise it. It's claims that snw is "saving nu trek", when no, no it hasn't. Discovery has been prematurely cancelled, Picard ended in disgrace, and Prodigy was cancelled, then rescued but its future past s2 is unclear. It didn't save anything.

It feels like the future of trek is going to be more naval gazing, more nostalgic pandering, more meta references and a distinct lack of new concepts... possibly even a lack of new characters at this rate.

I made this side blog to post about picard s2, because I genuinely had a lot of feelings and thoughts. I felt like, while there was some annoying shit and bad takes around, it was fun to participate and I was enjoying myself. For the last few months, really since snw s2 aired, I've been having a pretty bad time here. So much of it is petty shit that sounds bizarre to type out: small posts and variously tiny infuriating takes. This entire post is stupid and pointless, when I put it like that.

But, yeah, trek fandom has been making me pretty unhappy recently.

I'll still be here and will watch the new disco when it comes out, and hopefully feel something again. I want to be able to re-enter the headspace I was in back when S2 picard aired, and I felt free to just express my opinions without being hyper aware of everyone else's pre-conceived stuff. We all have loaded opinions and strange baggage with trek, it comes with the territory.

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Episodes 7 + 8 Thoughts

Spoilers for TBB Season 2

79's!!! 🍹

Haha, emotional damage *cries*

You know the drill, bullet point thoughts down below!

(Also, I'm writing this a few hours after I saw the episodes so I may be missing some stuff/this may be in a ridiculous order).

Love how the last time we saw that was during the Fives inhibitor chip arc. Love that! (Also, I miss Fives ☹️).

None of the Batch this ep but I still really enjoyed it!

Riyo and Bail!!! We love them both. 🥰

The shear amount of bullshit that came out of Rampart's mouth.😤

Tipoca City destroyed by a storm? What sort of excuse is that?!

Ah yes, this building (designed to withstand harsh weather) built on a storm-weathered planet was completely destroyed by a freaky weather phenomenon that just so happened to coincide with us wanting to get rid of the clones. 🤨

Coincidence? I THINK NOT!

Man, I love the clones so much. 😭

More clones with beards is something I appreciate. 🥰

SO MANY PEOPLE GOT SHOT IN EPISODE 7 WTF

Poor Slip. ☹️

The number of times I said "IS IT REX?!" to myself in the first episode. 🤣

Eventually I was correct!!!

PONCHO REX

I miss his armour so much, but the rebel outfit... damn.

Are Riyo's bodyguards voiced by Noshir Dalal or am I just hearing his voice in random places because Rampart is haunting me?

ALSO HOW ARE WE PRONOUCING RIYO?!

Did I just get that wrong this entire time or...?

The person shooting clones was another clone. The pain is real in these episodes. 😭

But dark purple is totally Rex's colour. 😏

GONKY! 🥳

Wholesome Echo and Omega moments making me cry again. 😭

Interesting that Omega has taken up meditation. 🤔 It might be playing into the idea of her being Force sensitive but she doesn't seem to connect to it on the same level as Gungi.

Echo doesn't like solitude because of Skako Minor. 😭😭😭

As soon as he brought up what the Batch did for him, I was like "oh, that's interesting considering Echo might be thinking of leaving. I wonder if they're going to play into that this episode. 🤔"

... I was not emotionally prepared.

Rex and Echo actually have more than 5 lines of dialogue with each other this season! 🥰

Echo pushing Omega back so she can't see the body. He's such a good mum. 😭

Wrecker's fear of heights OMG 😭🤣

"This is him doing better." I'm crying. 🤣

Rex saying that they need more people for the Rebellion and Echo considering it. 🥲

Also Echo volunteering to be Riyo Chuchi's witness?! He just wants to help people. I love him so much. 😭

PONCHO OMEGA.

I thought they were going to steal a wholeass Venator for a second.

Love Echo being so intouch with the Batch's plans now and Rex is just like WHAT IS HAPPENING

Tech being annoyed with himself for being 6m out.

Palps is back!!!

Hahahaha Rampart getting arrested makes me very happy. 🤣

BUT THAT PLAN BACKFIRED BADLY

R.I.P all the clones. 😭

...I cry just thinking about the end of this episode

I find it interesting how they have the Batch clustered very close together on one side of the shot and Rex and Riyo close on the other side. But Echo is kind of floating in the middle. Am I looking too much into the framing of this shot? Maybe. But I think it's interesting. 🤔

I thought Echo and Hunter might have talked about this on the nugget mission but Wrecker and Tech knew as well??? 😭

AND THEY'RE ALL SO SUPPORTIVE OF HIM 😭

THEY KNOW THAT HE NEEDS THIS 😭

I KNOW THAT HE NEEDS THIS 😭

I DON'T NEED THIS PAIN THOUGH 😭

Him crouching down and putting a hand on Omega's shoulder.

Him telling her to keep training (I'm convinced Echo taught her most of her combat).

He's so soft around her I can't do this 😭

OMEGA HUGGING HIM 😭😭😭

He looked so surprised but then he hugged her back and I'm literally dying inside

They way he steps forward a bit when be watches them leave

HIS FACE 😭

I remember seeing the trailer and thinking "I don't like the fact that he looks sad there"...

The last shot of Omega hugging Lula 🥲

I WAS NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED

So erm, yeah...

If you couldn't tell this episode completely destroyed me. I am lacking all coherent thoughts. No, I will not be okay.

How do I go on from this??? DO WE GET LESS ECHO???

I'm kinda hoping for an Echo and Rex centric episode, but I don't know if that's going to happen. Maybe, but I think we may just not see them until a Batch reunion later on or something.

I feel like I should have more to say but I am struggling to process emotions right now. Might watch episodes 6-8 again later but I need to work out if I am willing to cope with that. 🥲

[sophiemariepl]

Me: the HotD fandom focuses too much on black-and-white thinking and dividing into Team Black and Team Green, while there is little to no sense in doing that, because:

1) both of these sides are composed of flawed figures who either make mistakes or do awful things to advance their political position;

2) this is NOT the point that George R.R. Martin wants to make with this story. A Song of Ice and Fire universe, in the end, was never about taking sides but about seeing the greater political game.

Some random Team Black fan: Okay, I see your point, it is about flawed people, blah blah blah… but let me explain to you why Team Black is morally superior and why the Greens are awful backstabbing snakes…

Me: No, I’m not gonna listen to any of what you intend to say. I’ve seen enough of this type of narrative. The fact that you still stick to sharing this, pardon my French, bullsh*t, shows that you understood nothing of what I wanted to say. Your behavior is literally the epitome of the phenomenon I criticized.

Why is it so hard for so many people these days to admit that they like a certain character and at the same time, to admit this character is flawed or lacking in morality?

Like, because if I wanted, I could have found a counter-argument to this very weak argument about the moral superiority of Team Black (gosh, how ridiculous this even sounds) very easily. I could have said that ur literally defending Daemon, a man who literally m*rdered his first wife just because he did not want to fulfill his marital duty, and a man that gr00med his teenage niece (not to mention other evil stuff that Daemon has done during his lifetime). I will not delve into further details, because as I mentioned before, I don’t see the sense in arguing - because it is always possible to find a counterargument. We could argue like that until the f*cking Apocalypse.

I don’t know why, but I’ve seen this trend more among Team Black fans rather than Team Green fans. I swear, most of the Team Black fans I’ve met feel this need to whitewash the actions of Team Black members and it’s so annoying. Perhaps I know only one person who told me that they like Team Black specifically because they are toxic and unhinged, especially Daemon 😆

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Taskmaster s15e01 was an exciting start to the new season, and capped off with a top quality podcast episode, one of the best. Dara O’Briain is an excellent podcast guest for the same reason he was an excellent contestant: he’s ridiculously, genuinely competitive. Like in his previous podcast appearance, he analyzed the whole thing like it was an actual sport, took it seriously, got annoyed about things, had good insights, just everything I want in a contestant.

I love how much of this episode was spent on Dara just trying to settle his own scores. Throwing them in there even when Ed Gamble didn’t specifically give him the opportunities to do so – Dara just had to get that in anyway. Arguing with something Sarah Millican said on this same podcast months ago. Talking shit about John Kearns. Complaining that no one else thought it was as big a deal as he thought it was when he won Taskmaster.

Okay, that bit actually got me because, like, I know he was joking. I know he does understand that Taskmaster is not actually a thing where it matters who wins. But he described that phenomenon so accurately that I think he must have genuinely experienced it, at least a bit. The phenomenon where you win something you’ve wanted to win so much, and when it happens, no one will ever care as much as you did. And then you just have to go about your life the next day, as though it didn’t happen, and it feels weird, as though the world should have changed now that you’ve accomplished this, but it hasn’t. That’s a common thing to happen to athletes after they win a major championship, I’ve seen it a lot and experienced it a couple of times myself. And okay, okay, I know that didn’t literally happen to Dara O’Briain after he won Taskmaster, because it’s Taskmaster, and I know he’s aware that it’s only a comedy show. I’m just saying, in his rant near the beginning about being annoyed that people didn’t care enough that he’d won, he described that phenomenon pretty accurately for someone who was completely joking.

You can also hear the ambition in everything Dara said in that podcast, linking so many things back to Champion of Champions III. Doing it more often than would make sense, by just enough so you can see that’s genuinely on his mind, not just a thing he was putting on for the podcast recording. Watching this season to scout the competition.

So I love that Dara O’Briain sees the show pretty much exactly the same way I do, as a substitute for high-level sport to be approached and analyzed in a similar way. But I really liked the clip I uploaded here, because it shows he’s on my wavelength in another way as well. Last year when Mock the Week got canceled, I knew that my instinct to shape everything into a narrative was kicking in a bit too much, as I talked about Frankie Boyle, after every fucking thing that happened there, outlasting them in the topical comedy show game after all. I like playing “look where they started and look where they are now”, that’s an especially weird game to play with old Mock the Week episodes, when you consider that Russell Howard is just about the only comedian left with his own topical comedy show at this point. He should not have been the one to win that battle.

Because Frankie did outlast them, but not for long. And Dara’s right! Oh, I could tie so many narrative threads together if those two ended up together in Champion of Champions. Were both there for this whole thing on Mock the Week years ago, Frankie works his way back to rival Mock the Week at the top of the topical comedy show game, both shows get axed within a few months of each other by the BBC, now they face each other again on a very different battlefield.

Really, Dara thinking along the same lines as I am when it comes to this isn’t all that different from him thinking along the same lines that I do when it comes to the how competitive Taskmaster should be. They both come from the same basic idea of wanting to fit the show into a sports narrative, and it’s always a powerful sports narrative if it follows the basic structure of “these two people started out together, went in different directions, grew and developed and passed each other, traded off who was most successful at given times, and now they come up against each other”.

I mean, it would be a shocking turn of events if Frankie Boyle did win this season and get into Champion of Champions III, which is where this whole idea falls down. But I just like that Dara thought of it. I’m not the only person putting that stuff together for no good reason.