#and keep being as awesome as you are

[lifeof-pink]

i think the way the book became 3rd person pov when kim dokja got off the train is one of the most fucking genius literary moves ive seen in years

[spenglernot]

STORIES TELLING: NED LOWE AND THE DEATH OF POOR REPRESENTATION IN OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

In history, Ned Lowe was one of the most sadistic and violent pirates in the early 18th century, so he’s an obvious choice for a villain for season 2, episode 6 – Calypso’s Birthday.  What is interesting is what the OFMD writers chose to do with him.

Lowe announces himself to the crew of the Revenge with great fanfare (cannon ball attack) and gets right to the point.

Ed is thoroughly unimpressed.

Cut to Ed and Stede tied up while Ned attempts to set the mood so he can monologue about why he wants to kill Ed.

Ed knows what’s coming. He is going to suffer but he still can’t be arsed to meet Ned with anything but vaguely bored dismissiveness (and Stede is happy to play along).

Up on the deck, Ned prepares the crew for his big, dramatic moment of symphonic torture.

Note that the Revenge crew is tied down, braced by vices and generally unable to protect themselves from imminent torture and possible death, but their spirits are up. They don’t seem terribly fussed.

Then Stede uses his people positive management style to happily orchestrate a worker uprising in Ned’s crew.

Ned’s crew responds instantly; severing their allegiance to Lowe and telling him off.

The crew sails away and talks profit sharing while Ned dully threatens to hunt them down.

Ned is now a prisoner of the Revenge crew and seems entirely disinterested in his own survival.

And Ned sinks to the depths, without struggling at all.

There is a lot going on in this episode: pay and labor equity direct action, gay love engagement bliss, kink humor, Stede being a hero and saving his crew by playing to his strengths, then having to decide whether to kill in cold blood and feel the consequences of that choice. Ed having one more reason to be done with piracy (while being so impressed with and fond of Stede), and then watching his man make a fraught choice and having to deal with the fallout from that. (And, damn, I haven’t even mentioned the passionate sex bit.) Anyway, back to the point.

Now for the the meta part

The Ned Lowe sequences are perfectly in keeping with OFMD’s signature blend of madcap violence, humor, and big emotional gut punches. But something about Ned Lowe just strikes me as off for this show.

Ned is seriously threatening the crews’ lives, so why don’t they take him seriously?

Why does Ned have such a boring, throwaway backstory?

Why is Ned so nonchalant about his own death; like it’s a foregone conclusion?

Why does Ned have a silver violin and silver spurs on his slip-on dress shoes?

Why is Ned sartorially monochromatic?

And then I realized who Ned reminds me of.

This guy,

Earnst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever (1971)

And this guy,

Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994).

And this guy,

Xerxes, 300 (2006).

And it sure seems like Ned Lowe isn’t just an episodic villain. He is an archetype of the one-dimensional, stereotypical queer-coded villain that has been endemic in film and television throughout history. The OFMD writers have a lot to say about what to do with this kind of character:

Don’t respect him.

Feel free to openly mock him.

Don’t let him take your joy, even though he will hurt you.

He won’t disappear on his own. You have to throw something at him (take action) to make him go away.

Once he’s in the water, he’s content to drown. He’s not into what he’s doing any more than you are.

Oh and, just to be clear,

The LGBTQIA+ community has a very long history of turning shit media into better stories. So, hey, big media, prepare to have your crap characters wrecked (improved).

Now, back to our transformative pirate show with rich, complex queer characters and a multi-layered plot that surprises me every week and makes me feel big feelings - most of all, joy.

Final thought: I do wonder if Ned Lowe is monochromatically silver as a tribute to/poke at, Hollywood and the silver screen.

This meta was written before OFMD season 2 has fully aired. No idea what’s going to happen in the finale (and I’ve generally fled social media to avoid spoilers). I’ll be back, looking at everyone’s fascinating posts after episode 8 airs.

[guitarhero-3]

even if i am not aromantic or asexual in the future i really really appreciate the aspec community. all of you are so wonderful and welcoming and i am so thankful for all of u every single one of yall

[mizzyislost]

so i heard it was a certain silly slug game's birthday

[mothhue]

Happy trans day of visibility everyone :D

[creatively-cosmic]

in loving memory

or: what did @pkmn-monochrome mean by this

[momentomori24]

Surprisingly, hearing Vox and Val technically (I love how technically needed to be added) aren't dating didn't upset me as much as I thought it would. It did... for like a minute until I thought about how painfully much it fits them.

Val throws tantrums and is ready go out and kill people to let off steam, but decides to stay put in his room and sulk instead while he waits for his flat-faced prince to come and comfort him before he does anything drastic. He's killed and abused people for the slightest hint of non-compliance, which he sees as giving him an attitude or questioning his authority, but he doesn't so much as flinch when Vox raises his voice and starts shaking him in frustration more than once. He doesn't lash out or get angry when Vox tries to talk him out of marching towards the hotel, but instead listens to his points and takes his words to heart even when they weren't what he wanted to hear. He's not interested in Alastor, but is willing to sit through watching the extermination broadcast because Vox is a passionate football dad about his one-sided rival getting dunked on. He doesn't even act jealous towards Vox's obsession, just weirdly amused and supportive even tho he hates not being the center of attention any other times. And then there's Vox, who acts like he's annoyed to have to put up with Valentino but still does it anyway. He acts disinterested about Val's ranting over Angel until he hears that Angel might've quit because he's an jealous, insecure loser that wants that mf's attention to himself. He lights his cigarette and decides to call up their lowest earners for him to terrorize without being asked just to lighten his mood a little (unrelated but i feel for their employees). He keeps his eyes on him both in his room and when he's at the pub through the cameras he's got everywhere. He takes his hand like one would with a princess and smiles fondly at him before disappearing when noticing they're being watched. He's the only person that Val trusts enough to calm him down when his temper gets the better of him. And Val-- despite his volatile temper and obnoxious quirks-- is someone he respects and cares about, both as his business associate and romantic partner.

And they aren't dating. Val and Vox clearly have a connection and understanding and attraction yet are unable to confront those feelings in fear of being vulnerable. So they aren't dating. Val obsesses over Angel and Vox obsesses over Alastor to distract themselves of the other only to fall back into each other's arms at the end of the day. Even tho they aren't dating. They celebrate, dance, sing, support and shamelessly make out with each other. They're the only ones that would put up with each other's bullshit no matter what-- but for some reason, they're still not dating. They are two of the worst Overlords in Hell, capable of committing so many despicable acts and jumping to immoral tactics for their own gain without any regrets, but opening that door into genuine emotional vulnerability? Acknowledging their softness for each other? That's where they draw the line. They're clearly made for each other, but neither of them dare to step over that line to commit to something more.

Which means that we could get to actually see these changes take place. We could get to see more sides to these two we still haven't seen before. We could get to see them actually start dating and the complicated journey it took to get there. We could get to scream and kick and seeth as these two morons continue to dance around admitting their very much requited romantic feelings for every stupid reason under the sun episode after episode. We could get to see these two fix each other and make each other worse simultaneously. Mostly make each other worse. We could get to see them have a romantic duet. We could get to see them be happy together-- officially together-- while they make life worse for everyone around them.

All this mumbo-jumbo, sleep-deprived ranting will likely not happen, but the potential character growth, the dynamic development, the resolved romantic tension, the SONGS we could get??? I'm clinging onto this hope for dear life until it's ripped from my cold, dead hands.

[milolovesbmc]

Art for @understance 's fic "More racquetball"!!

Hi Sammie!!! Sorry for making you wait so long to find out what I was making, finally here it is though!!! Hope you like it :3

I seriously love this fic so much, it made me sob, so obviously I had to make myself sob EVEN MORE by drawing my fav part from it!

[feelingtheaster99]

Oh my goodness the Barbificer subclass is so fucking cool, I’m SO GLAD this man crit earlier to be able to unlock this subclass

[crescentfool]

the persona 3 protagonist 25th anniversary nui in food appliances!

[front-facing-pokemon]

[observerkaine]

It Spreads is a lovely comic created by the legendary @foxxology and in celebration of its 1 year anniversary they did a dtiys that I absolutely had to participate in!

Go check out the comic if you haven’t! Seriously, it’s a really good read with great art, go read it! (I linked it twice for further emphasis!!)

[booasaur]

2023 World Athletics Championships - Women's 100 meter finals

[skidar]

Pride can be a tough month no matter where you are on the LGBT+ spectrum.

It can be mental whiplash online and off seeing big queer positive parties and parades and then right wing backlash, to see rainbow capitalism, and then a huge article on how Trans rights are being stripped away in many states/countries, how you can see business promoting love is love and the next second find some fucknut trying to ‘debate’ your life.

There can be a lot of pointless internal conflict within the community too on how to act or present or celebrate etc that can really divide people and stress folks out.

Pride isn’t just a party, its a protest, its loud visibility and for a lot of folks it can be exhausting.

If you’re one of the folks where June is a hard month for you, I’m glad you’re still here, quietly celebrating your life. You don’t need to show off yourself to anyone for any reason. You don’t need to prove anything to anyone.

You don’t have to come out if you don’t want to, you don’t have to touch or buy anything rainbow colored ever whether or not its safe for you to do so. You don’t owe the public a damn clue about you.

I’m still glad you’re here.

[lygma-nygma]

The genuine struggle of being a Riddler fan when all three of his most popular incarnations are different levels of deeply ooc for completely different reasons and you find all three insufferable but they're his most talked about because they're the only non-comic versions of him that aren't Jim Carrey, in three episodes of an animated series, or made of lego. You still reblog stuff about the ones you don't like though because the art is nice but god damn does it ache a little.

[akkivee]

the latest camping event in ARB sounds really interesting! May I ask for a brief summary of what exactly happens? 🥺

sure lol

so the bros are on summer vacay let’s goooooo lol!!!!!!!! school’s out for jiro and saburo and ichiro’s elected to take a week off so they can take a trip!!!! ofc jiro and saburo can’t agree where they should go lol jiro wants to go to mountains and saburo wants to do an escape room but ichiro finds a nice middle ground by suggesting they do both; they’ll camp in the mountains and then hit up an escape room on the way back home 🤗

on bat minus kuukou’s end, the three of them had intended to go camping together but kuukou got held up by shakku lmao. while out fishing for their meal, jyushi was jumpscared by ramuda!!! turns out ramuda was in the area for inspiration for a fashion collection!!! hitoya’s not the happiest about the straggler but he lets it slide lol

we see the bros work together to whip up a fire curry, and afterwards they head out to see a nearby lake!!! thing is tho, something about the lake is kinda giving ichiro and saburo bad vibes 😕 jiro happens to see a shrine for what the bros assume is in reverence for a minor god, despite the creepy look its got going for it. someone suddenly shouts at them from across the way and!!!

it’s ramuda with jyushi and hitoya in tow!!!! crazy coincidence lol

the six of them spend time bonding at the lake; jiro saburo jyushi and ramuda were in the water, splashing each other (saburo was grouchy about it tho, saying this was childish and jyushi caught strays tbh lol), while hitoya and ichiro talked camping out on the shore. their fun was interrupted by the locals demanding them to stop disturbing the sacred land. ichiro apologised on their behalf but as the villagers left, hitoya overheard them muttering something about being fine for sacrifice???? but all that playing around makes people hungry so ramuda proposes they all eat together!!!! so the bros, jyushi and hitoya cook up bbq and pizza!!!! ramuda was mostly there to look cute lmao (ichiro chewed him out lol, saying he needs to do his part) bellies full, their day ends playing some games saburo brought over and fireworks jiro probably brought 😌

the new day dawns and we start with bb’s camp, ichiro’s got some morning tea ready. jiro wakes up and questions where saburo went, to which ichiro responds he was already gone by the time ichiro got up so he assumed saburo’s on a walk somewhere. a little weird for saburo but that’s cool except ramuda and hitoya suddenly run up to their camp asking if they’ve seen jyushi since he wasn’t at their camp when they woke up and he wasn’t answering his phone

that’s when they know something’s wrong

the four of them scour the forest and eventually hit up the village and the place looks as creepy as the that shrine does. hitoya ran up to a local, phone pic in hand and asked if they’d seen saburo and jyushi. the villager replied he hadn’t and warns them to steer clear of the village since it’s an important day for them (hitoya: …??), but jiro calls the fcker out bc the guy’s wearing the wristband saburo was wearing. jiro demands to know where they got it from, and the villager says they bought it. y’know like a liar, bc that was a special edition wristband saburo won in a game tournament. the villager escapes but that lie tips ichiro and jiro off that they need to search the village

we cut to a run down house where jyushi is frantically trying to wake saburo up. he’s slow to awake but when he does, despite initial confusion over where tf they are, he keeps a level head assessing the situation. which is good, jyushi’s panicking bc they’ve been kidnapped lol. saburo suggests the others will be searching for them so the best they can do is use a spare firework he had in the fire place as a smoke signal. tragically, they were found out by the villagers, and ichiro, jiro, hitoya and ramuda were too late. jyushi tho, left behind one of his rings to let hitoya know that they had been here. hitoya finally puts two and two together and deduces the villagers intend to use saburo and jyushi as sacrifices. they remember that creepy asf shrine and in a panic jiro starts off for the shrine, the others not far behind

they arrive just as saburo and jyushi learn they’re to be human sacrifices and the villagers explain that every year they bring a sacrifice for jyajyakou-sama (the name consists of primarily the kanji for snake) in order to stave off disaster. it’s a honour they say. but obviously we not letting saburo and jyushi be sacrifices so ichiro jiro hitoya and ramuda break out the mics and rap them into submission. with the villagers down, they’re able to free saburo and jyushi from their constraints but it turns out the villagers were still able to move. they begin to call out to their god, chanting about the cost for life and no matter how many bars the six of them throw, the villagers get back up as if they’re undead. finally, the six decide to run away

a little while later, back at yorozuya yamada, we hear from ichiro that hitoya sent the cops after that village. turns out tho.

there was never any village. no people, no records of it, nothing.

hitoya called bullshit so he went with the cops out to that village himself and there really was nothing there

and the bros are stunned to silence