#and it's entirely independent of my and me work!

[nonsensicalramblings79]

I found a paper that detailed one specific instance of a unisnail (not a unislug) in 2017, but it also lists some other published and unpublished occurances of unisnails!

They don't know exactly how these things happen - whether each individual case is the result of genetic mutation, epigenetic influence (genetic/environmental interaction), chimerism/conjoined twin anomalies, or abnormalities with regrowing damaged or severed eye stalks - but unislug here seems to be the result of at least some genetic component, given we have a Unislug Jr.!

In the comments of the facebook post, the OP shows a picture of unislug's egg clutch - it's smaller than the egg clutches of other leopard slugs (which could be a one-off thing, or it could be a pattern where unislugs produce fewer eggs). From what i could see, there only seem to be about 7, maybe 8 eggs? (someone correct me if I'm wrong!!)

Left: "Chubby's" clutch (a normal leopard slug); Right: Unislug's clutch

This is just speculation on my part, but I'd bet that this merged eyestalk phenotype is the result of the interaction of at least two different genes. Presumably, unislug mated with itself to produce this clutch - which means that if this mutation was simply one recessive gene, each of its progeny would be guaranteed to show the same phenotype. (If a homozygous recessive genotype is uu, unislug would have the uu genotype in both sex cells, which can only produce uu embryos).

If the phenotype is caused by a dominant allele, then unislug could either have a Uu or a UU genotype. Self-fertilization would result in only UU embryos if unislug was UU, and approximately a 1:2:1 split of UU :Uu :uu embryos if unislug was Uu. In this case, only uu embryos would have the normal stalk phenotype, about 25% at most (and 75% would have the mutant eye stalk).

But only one of about 8 embryos showed the mutant phenotype (~13%), so that makes the dominant allele theory unlikely (not entirely impossible, though, especially given how few eggs we're working with here).

So given the admitedly very little data available, my wild guess is that there are a couple of different genes that are inherited independently from each other, each of which needs to have at least one dominant mutant allele to result in the mutant phenotype. The embryos that don't show the fused eyestalk probably each have one or two of these mutant genotypes, but all of the proposed genes have to have the mutant allele at once in order to produce the mutant eyestalk, which is why only one of these babies turned out to be Unislug Jr.

I am unreasonably invested in figuring out exactly what causes this. I should go to bed.

Oh my god this person found a leopard slug with its eyestalks fused together??? One super long stalk but it still has two eyes on the end. That's the cutest thing in the entire world. And then it had a ton of babies but JUST ONE baby inherited the mutation!!

[imbecominggayer]

Writing Advice: Writing Authentic Dialogue

For @radiantmocha TL;DR: advice for writing combat and improving dialogue authenticity?

I'm sorry that this post is going to be so short but it's a really simple topic for me :D

A) Authenticity: Actually Talk To These People Or Read Their Books

When it comes to looking for authentic dialogue, especially in relation to combat, just trying to start up a connection with a professional can be the gateway into actual realism.

If you can, try talking to a veteran or someone actively serving in the military!

If you are interested in a specific time in history that no one is currently alive from, try talking to either a historian or a history buff.

If neither of those options work for you, try reading books and other stories that were written by veterans. My favorite book of this genre is "All Quiet On The Western Front" which is a semi-autobiographical book exploring what life was like for german soldiers in WW1 which was written by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of WW1.

I emplore you to explore stories, even fictional stories, that were written by soldiers!

B) Authenticity: Accounting For The Environment

What's the time period that the story is set?

Where is the story set?

What is the socio-economic status of the protagonist?

What is the personality of the protagonist?

Answer these questions (and more) to understand what a character will and wont say. Characters fighting in WW1 won't reference tanks pre-Battle of Somme.

This advice is true for everything. An innocent, rich kid will certainly speak differently, using different verbage, in comparison to a kid living in the slums. They will also prioritize different things.

What I hate most in stories is when characters, poor for their entire life, poverty-striken, starts wildly proclaiming ideas of justice, fairness, and equality while fighting bullies left and right. Most people in that situation need to keep their head down. They can't afford to go to the police station for "contributing to the a fight" Independent women can't get into the middle of a fight! Do you know how much medical bills cost? If they manage to survive, it's not going to be pretty. No matter how much self-defense classes like to tell women, most women understand that they can't overpower a determined man.

That isn't evil, that's survival, that's practicality! Ideals have always been prioritized by people privileged enough to have the time to think while the poor and always working need to be always working!

Sorry, that was a rant

In Conclusion:

Read stories that real people have written that are either semi-autobiographical or autobiographical! Keep in mind the time and place!

And so sorry for that rant!

[pigeon-behavior]

Pigeon Puberty

There’s many challenges surrounding introducing a new pigeon into your life, and one of the most difficult of them is something that simply can’t be avoided.

Puberty.

We’ve all been through it - or, depending on our age, we’re going through it, or are doomed to go through it. And pigeons are much the same.

The famed rebellious attitudes and antisocial tendencies of human puberty are apparently not confined to us. Pigeons in their first year go through this too! And it’s miserable. Don’t want kids? Surprise, you get a taste of being a parent anyway.

It’s very hard to prepare for puberty. Even if you’ve already been through it - even if you’ve been through it multiple times - it’s never easy, and it never feels good. It’s easy to feel like it’s your fault. That you failed.

But you haven’t. I promise.

This guide is about surviving your pigeon’s puberty: what to expect, what to accept, and what you can do about any of it.

Baby Steps: Independence Day

Most of you will never need this section, but just enough of you will that it’s worth including.

A scenario I’ve seen on several occasions now is “This baby pigeon in my life was cuddling with me, and now wants nothing to do with me! What happened!”

This is really normal. Baby pigeons, somewhere around 7-12 weeks (maybe earlier, maybe later), will decide they don’t want to hang out with you. They’ll suddenly be afraid of your hands. They might try to snap or bite or slap you for the first time in their lives.

This is just a phase they go through. Not all of them will, but it’s extremely standard that it’s not at all a mistake to expect it. Don’t take it personally. They’ll come back around.

During this time, limit handling and any forced interaction. You can make them hand-shy by intruding too much on their personal space in this time.

Any interaction they initiate is fine, just allow them to exit if they want to. Instructions down below on the “DON’Ts” of “Hell Period pigeons” will also apply here.

Overall, just be patient and understanding. They’ll come around.

Puberty Part One: The Precursor To Reproduction

Before animals can produce offspring, they have to sexually mature. They might not be totally mature after they are capable of reproducing, but what matters to evolution is passing on your genes. And pigeons can pass on their genes very early.

It’s not at all unusual for pigeons to be entirely capable of having their own babies by the time they’re 6 months old. Or earlier. The earliest I have personally seen a hen reach sexual maturity (laying an egg) is a few days before she turned 4 months old.

That’s not necessarily always the case. Some pigeons won’t sexually mature until they’re a year old. But that gives you an idea of the wide window we’re working with.

Any pigeon who has sexually matured has completed the “Hell Period” of their puberty already. This is the time period you are most likely to notice. So what is the Hell Period?

The Hell Period will contain some or all of these “symptoms” in most pigeons:

-Extreme anti-social behavior

-Endless window-gazing

-Intense, unpredictable moodiness

-Unusual flightiness or being easily scared

-Aggression or biting too much (beyond driving)

-Spending a lot of time on top of cabinets or ceiling fans

-Ignoring any previously taught commands

-Lost interest in receiving treats

-Higher-than-usual stubbornness

-Greater need for personal space

-Hating hands suddenly

-Nervousness displayed to adult birds (even parents) or other young birds they don’t know well

It’s also not unusual for them to begin to molt at some point during this significant chunk of their maturation. Molting already can make them moody, but obviously in this case it’s sort of one more straw on the camel’s back for them.

It’s possible I’ve missed or forgotten an aspect of the Hell Period, but I think you get the gist.

We’ll call the portion of their maturation that contains the Hell Period and leads up to them producing eggs and sperm sexual maturation, just to be clear.

So how long does this sexual maturation process last?

Well, that can be a little difficult to tell. The process begins and ends with an on-and-off ramp (think a parable graph, or a bridge), and that means that it’s difficult to tell when the process is starting, and it’s difficult to tell when it is ending.

Generally, it seems like the Hell Period lasts maybe a month to a month and a half. It’s hard to give a more concrete answer without concrete data. I have to do my best with guessing.

But if I have to estimate, I wouldn’t be surprised if the process as a whole lasted more like 2 and a half months (maybe less, maybe more), and we just can’t accurately see the beginning and end.

So how do you handle it?

It can be very hard to emotionally handle the Hell Period. Everyone finds it difficult. A tiny, tiny number of pigeons have sexual maturations so tame they aren’t even noticed at all, but they aren’t common enough that you can reasonably hope you just happened to get one.

It’s easy to feel rejected, or like you’ve done something wrong. I want to reassure you that you haven’t. It will get better. Your pigeon will come back around. I promise. Someday you will hardly believe they ever were like this.

As for what you can do in the meantime, well, it is pretty simple.

Not much! But that’s okay.

Your best bet with a pigeon going through Hell Period is to simply make yourself available. Don’t force interaction. Don’t push into their space. Just hang out in the same room, and give them the opportunity to come to you.

I know, it’s sounding a lot like human parenting once I put it down on paper. But I promise, it’s your best option. You’ll avoid increasing any reactivity, and create opportunities for positive associations. You’ll also notice better when they’re pulling out of their raging hormones - they’ll come to you more often, and you will see a light out of the darkness.

Here’s a small list of Don'ts for pigeons in their Hell Period, to preserve your bonding progress and their wellbeing down the line. Don't create a hand-shy bird!

DON’T:

-Put pants/flypers/harnesses on a HPP (Hell Period pigeon)

-Overhandle a HPP

-Try to force a HPP to spend time with you

-Try to desensitize a HPP to hands if they’re scared - it can wait

-Force a HPP to take treats from your hands - just put them down where the HPP can get to them comfortably

-Try to continue training with an HPP that previously worked but now doesn’t - just wait, they’ll become reasonable again

-Be impatient

-Take it personally

There’s not a lot you can do except avoid mistakes and preserve your own feelings. And that’s okay. That’s normal.

It’s unfortunate that most people don’t get adequately warned about how hard puberty is before they get a pigeon. They’re fantastic animals, and great pets, but it’s so hard to be prepared for the Hell Period, and it’s even harder if you just don’t know about it.

What are signs the Hell Period is ending?

It’s not very easy to tell the Hell Period is ending. Like I said above, the off ramp is hard for us to see. But I’ll do my best to offer some things you can look for.

Signs:

-HPPs (Hell Period pigeons) tend to molt during this time, and I think they tend to molt closer to the end of the Hell Period than the beginning

-More good days than bad days, however that exhibits

-Less window-gazing

-More interest in social behaviors, whether with you or other pigeons

-A decrease in how easily they are startled

-Spending more time on the floor

-Regaining some food motivation

-Decreased unmanageable aggression

-Increase in courtship behaviors

You may be uncertain whether or not your pigeon is pulling out of the HP for quite some time, and then one day realize that it happened while you weren’t looking. It’s a strange process.

The Hell Period is the hardest part of maturation, but it isn’t the only part.

Puberty Part Two: It’s Not Easy Being Beautiful

When the Hell Period ends, it is at about that time they are sexually mature - they can reproduce, have offspring - way more than you think they should be capable of, in fact.

But they’re not done yet. Which is normal. Many species do not stop “baking” the second we become physically capable of producing offspring - humans are one of them. We continue changing years after we check that capability box. The same for dogs (which can take years to drop their chests) or deer (who don’t reach their physical prime well past being capable).

So what’s going on, then? How does this affect us?

The short of it is this: it’s mostly the boys, as far as I can tell. And it makes them bastards.

What’s their deal?

I don’t know exactly what is happening in there, hormone wise. But males change significantly in their first 2 years - they don’t seem to hit their full size until sometime around then. And that’s a bit conservative. It may be a bit more like 2 and a half to 3.

But at the very least, by 2 years they have enough nailed down that they’re not so much.

A young male is a handful. He needs to be managed. He needs attention at all times, and if he doesn’t get it, he may be unruly. He follows the rules less. He’s generally more aggressive for no reason. He shows off all the time.

This may sound familiar.

But an adult male is more reserved. He spends more time in his nest box with his spouse. He causes less problems in the flock. He is doing the managing. And, at his age, unless he’s tragically outmatched, he has the body mass to back it up.

Because of the size difference a male can experience between the different points of his life, if you are putting a harness, flyper, or pants on him, it's important that the fit be monitored as he grows larger. That, or wait until he reaches full size to get him one.

The body mass difference between a 6 month old, 1 year old, and 2 and a half year old male at different points in his life can be pretty staggering.

So people can wonder: why can’t my boy calm down? How do I make him relax?

When will my boy chill???

The tentative consensus is that it takes at least 2 years for a male pigeon to finish baking, aka, let his hormones settle down. Again, it might be quite a bit more than that.

Theoretically, he should be getting better and calmer that whole time. Maybe he will backslide here and there when his hormones jump.

But in my experience, a 1 year old is more tolerable than a 6 month old, and a 1 and a half year old is more tolerable than a 1 year old, and a 2 year old is more- you get it.

He will calm down. He won’t always be so excitable. I can’t say that I have a lot of advice for you here. But maybe it will help knowing that like any bouncy puppy, he won’t stay that way forever.

Other fun facts:

The temperaments of pigeons are not the only things that change through their physical maturation!

As I mentioned, their body mass/weight increases with age - up to a certain point.

The feather quality of adult birds is also markedly different (and better) than that of juveniles. With an experienced eye you can sometimes guess between under 3 months old, 6 months to a year old, and above a year, by the difference. Adults are much sleeker than babies, who look more “fuzzy.”

Eye pigment brightness apparently reaches peak brightness at about a year old, but you can tell what it is pretty early on. A couple months. Of course, this brightening only occurs in the wild type (orange) eyes and pearl eyes, and not bull eyes.

If you enjoy my posts, please consider tipping me on ko-fi!

[breadvidence]

I'm going to table a two-pole concept as a useful tool when evaluating what you're building when you write meta/literary analysis.

So: say there's a distinction between what you can read out of a text and what you can read into a text: or, I'm going to use those prepositions as convenient shorthands for this post as I talk about one of many patterns in literary analysis. Both are the bread and butter equally of the academic industry and fan work, though I'd bet the former would pretend it uses reading into texts less, and I've seen fan work fail more genuinely to see the difference.

When we read out of the text, direct quotes, context, historical facts, etc. come together into a more complex idea or conclusion: one of my favorites in Les Misérables is the murder-suicide implication of Marius bringing Javert's pistols with him to his final (missed) meeting with Cosette at the Rue Plumet. It hinges on the context of Romantic tropes surrounding the death of lovers, his direct association with Ulbach via the Lark's meadow, his insistence that death will follow their separation, the fact of there being two pistols, and answers the otherwise puzzling question put to us when the narrator says "It would be difficult to say what vague thought [Marius] had in his mind when he took [the pistols] with him." (4.9.2). Now, whether Marius would have shot Cosette—or solicited her to commit suicide with him—is beyond what we can read out of the text, in my opinion, but the potential is inarguable.

What we can read out of a text is, I will note, haunted by the question of authorial intent. There's this guy named Barthes, I think it is, who fucked us up on that one.

"Why are you bringing up prepositions to talk about basic literary analysis, Bread?" I hear you ask. But wait! There's more. A preface this with: per my opening, I'm laying out a concept with two poles, and there's a gradient between them, nothing fits perfectly-neatly, and any analysis might be a blend of in and out—and almost all things read into a text must somewhat come out of it. That qualifier being said, I'll still argue for:

When we read into the text, while quotes, context, historical fact, etc. may spark the idea, ultimately the analysis begins with its conclusion, and we are seeking to find material to shore up a structure we've already built. So, so much professional queer literary criticism of works created without explicit queer intent fall into this category, bless 'em, and so does a lot of fan meta. Reading into a text is the entire game of fanfic, and it's a space in which creators can enrich the works of others. Often, what we bring into the text is ourselves—which is neat as fuck, particularly for a queer person like myself whose understanding of the world radically differs from an author like Victor Hugo (though of the ideas that I freely admit to reading into the text, my real darling is fear as Javert's primary emotional motivator [Hugo tells us at length about Javert's emotional motivation: I just think it's neat to ask why do we hate?, and find an answer that is less painful than for its own sake]). Analysis that has been read into the text can be intricate, built upon extensive evidence from the text and history, but ultimately it varies from what can be read out of the text in being indefensible: some portion, however compelling, relies upon an element that cannot be found in the text and its context: if the analysis could not be independently built by every reader possessed of the same basic facts, you got something read in. What we build this kind of analysis with often includes, without value judgment, our emotion, identity, and personal investments (ever-present in analysis of all types, but in these specific cases structurally integral). For a second example: to me, it's incredibly important that the bourgeois marriage at the end of Les Misérables is meant as a failure of the sociopolitical ethical argument made by the book as the whole, but I cannot read that out of the text. Trust me, I have tried to build that analysis, and I always find myself having to lean on feeling and inference and implication in a way that's so much air. To make Les Mis meaningful for myself, I stick to this idea of that failure: but I can't defend it to someone else.

I can still write an analysis of Javert motivated by fear or bourgeois marriage as failure, share that, have people read and (hopefully) enjoy it—that's meaningful fanwork (or academic work, for that matter; that's a thin line in literature). What I won't do is defend those points as definitive readings of the text, and I definitely ain't going to argue back if somebody tells me they have a different reading. Sometimes analysis can tip-toe right along the edge of being out of and into the text, but I can tell you when I'm doing the latter.

There are times when you can read into the text in a way that is fully indulgent in fan work in a way that academia generally avoids (or pretends to avoid): take, for example, building trans Enjolras out of canon material. There is precisely zero way to read out of Les Misérables that Victor Hugo wrote the novel imagining Enjolras had anything other than a dick—I am not altogether married to the question of authorial intent, but me and it are on friendly terms, and I'm dead confident here—but as fandom has made abundantly clear, you can read transness into the novel (which is not to say Hugo doesn't play with androgyny and gender in Enjolras' character—he's just not flying the pink-periwinkle-and-white). This is something that means a lot to a lot of people, and that's valuable. The fact that it's not in the novel does not invalidate the meaning. It simply means it's built on different ground (and, when we talk about the ways in which a text lacks or fucks up or can do more, we find going into it results in a more fertile reading than simply getting out of it).

There's no have to in meta or literary analysis—it's a game we're playing with stories that are themselves games—but I think this framework has a couple benefits as a tool to analyze analysis, particularly in a social environment. (1) If your goal is to make arguments about what can be firmly concluded from a text, recognizing that reading into it is a different style of analysis with a different level of portability to others is useful and (2) recognizing that what you have read into the text is refutable and idiosyncratic strengthens your ability to remain engaged with others who don't share or agree with your analysis. Now, sometimes you think you're reading out of the text, and additional information or a counterpoint prove you wrong: that's fine, inevitable, we all got our days where we didn't know the historical usage of a certain word or something, eh? On the other hand, if you're perfectly aware you're reading into the text, if someone tables a counterpoint or additional information, you can say: Yeah, cool, thank you, my investment in this idea is playful or personal or what-have-you, and its defensibility is irrelevant to its existence.

From personal experience? All beneficial.

[cumulohimbus]

Personal-ish vent below, but it's very in line with this post. Okay to reblog.

I can't work but I can't quit my job. My autonomous nervous system has given out on me. I need to quit my job but before I can do that, I need to move into subsidized housing. Before I can do that, I have to be on waiting lists for years. Before I can do that, I need to be on disability and/or be receiving other forms of government assistance that will allow me to cover rent and other basic necessities, including in-home care workers. Before I can do that, I need to have a case manager through my county and go through hours upon hours of grueling paperwork, appointments, and evaluations to prove my need is legitimate. Before I can do that, I need to get a power chair while I still have decent insurance through my employer so I can try to keep working while everything else gets processed. Before I can do that, I need to have a diagnosis. Before I can get that, I have to spend years undergoing various tests under various doctors with various levels of taking me seriously to try to figure what's wrong with my body. Before I can do that, I need to schedule appointments. Before I can do that, I need to look at my work schedule and bank account, and talk to my coworkers to figure out what days and times I can afford to take off work to make it to said appointments without inconveniencing anyone else too much. Before I can do that, I need to document as much as I can ahead of time because my health is already so bad it impacts my cognition and memory.

I can't work but I can't quit my job. Before I can exist without a job I need to prove that I can't work. And unfortunately, the best way to prove that I can't work is to not work. But in order to not work, I need to have done all of the above or I need to be entirely reliant on the stability of someone(s) else. I am single, live alone, am estranged from my family (with good reason). Among my friend group, I am someone who's actually fairly well off and independent, financially speaking. For all intents and purposes, I still live paycheck to paycheck.

The system is such that you must strip yourself of your own agency and let yourself fall into an even deeper state of emergency before you maybe sometimes potentially get some help.

I can't feed, bathe, or dress myself consistently anymore without it grossly overexerting my body. I can't do any of the crafts or activities I used to love doing. I can't cook beyond boxed microwave dinners, bowls of cereal, and fast food. I am struggling with looking after myself, my space, and my relationships. I am frequently begging for any sort of help with activities of daily living (and receiving little to nothing for it unless I pay my friends out of pocket -- and they do deserve payment but it is expensive). My mental and emotional health is abysmal because of all these things I can't do anymore.

But at least I can work, right?

“no job is worth your physical & mental health” i hauve. Bills.

[supercantaloupe]

deeply fucking embarrassing presentation.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!

[lucky-clover-gazette]

vent

did not expect kissing and realizing i’m lowkey dating a guy to send me down an existential spiral of reminding me that i have only one life to live and then i am going to die without living any other different lives

[steinbit]

i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i WILL get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i Will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i Will get a job i don't wanna die in i w i l l get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i w i l l get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wanna die in i WILL get a job i don't wanna die in i will get a job i don't wan-

[lesbianlenas]

so many young women recently desiring to be stay at home mothers….the ironic part of it is that all of those women that do become stay at home moms will one day understand why the women before them fought so hard for them to not have to fulfill that role at the point at which they realize that their personhood has been entirely sacrificed in the name of motherhood & there is no going back on that. all women who are stay at home moms are forced to put themselves aside to take care of their children and husband & are forced to make that their entire identity & that is exhausting and dehumanizing. that is how betty friedan started second wave feminism w the feminine mystique. bc women finally realized that all women hated being housewives & there wasn’t smth wrong w each of them individually as they had all believed. but those that do not learn history etc etc……

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent game related things .. hrmm...

[punkrockisafulltimejob]

Bleh

[girlivealwaysbean]

it would feel so nice to work towards a career that has meaningful impact and makes millions of people happy

[lord-squiggletits]

Do you ever read a post online where someone complains about how "IDW never talks about this [idea/character/plot/theme]" and you just think to yourself... this person hasn't read anything besides MTMTE have they?

Really sad when you see people complaining "the story never talked about this!" and act angry about it as if it's some oppressive flaw that the writer (JRO) was evil for never talking about but it's like. Bud if you just read exRID/OP or maybe Windblade/TAAO you would have read plenty about that.

The two worst ones I can think of off the top of my head are "Optimus is always treated like a saint, I hate how he gets away with everything just because he's a Prime" (wrong, read literally anything Barber writes) and "the Decepticons never get a sympathetic perspective, they're always just villains and the narrative is totally just treating them as if being revolutionaries makes them evil" (wrong, read several side stories that Barber wrote). Like literally the moral of the story is just "read something besides MTMTE."

And I'm not complaining about people who are just curious or don't know. I'm talking specifically about people who complain, or say MTMTE is bad, or generally act as if JRO's writing/MTMTE/LL represents the entirety of IDW1 and basically act like, if JRO didn't write it it doesn't exist and clearly since he didn't write it that means no one else did. Like please I'm begging you to read the other less popular but still good series in IDW1 and you'll find multiple stories/ideas that they tell that MTMTE/LL doesn't.

[mosspapi]

My mother really likes the rug I'm making for my apartment and said she's genuinely considering commissioning some from me. And like. I seriously deeply appreciate the thought and the fact that she likes it so much that she not only wants one of her own but will pay me for it too, but I don't think she realizes that actually doesn't do anything. "My" bank account is still owned by, managed, and accessed by her and my father. She can put money in or take money out whenever she wants. She sees all of the transactions that go thru it. If she pays me for it she's just moving her own money from one of her accounts to another one of her accounts but this time I know it exists. It's not MY money even if she pays "me".