#and obviously you can write out IDs which I try to do but the fact that there's a feature there that's pretty much useless pisses me off so

[neil-gaiman]

Hi Mr. Gaiman, I'm not sure if you'll read this in time but I thought I'd try anyways. I'm not sure how familiar you are with US government and bills, but there's one that Congress is looking to pass that is only bad news.

It's called KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act) and the basis is that it's censorship and for people to use social media sites they will have to upload their government ID or drivers license to shows that they are over 18.

It gives the government unprecedented control over the internet. I'm sure you can see the consequences of this as it would endanger kids trying to escape unsafe environments, identify theft would skyrocket because all of this sensitive data can be accessed easily, this bill would also allow parents of minors to see everything the kid does online which is obviously not good and can be deadly for the child.

This bill would also affect people globally since any company from the US would have to Comply or be sued, so this isn't just a problem for people in the US.

Also fun fact! Tumblr is a US company.

I thought I'd try reaching out to you since you can reach more people than I can and I really admire you. With that being said, sorry if I made your day worse with this news.

I just feel like not enough people know about it. I've also included 2 links, one is a petition to stop KOSA which you can sign even if you're not in the US or are a minor. The other is a link to Bad Internet Bills, which provides more information on KOSA and other bad internet bills. The second link provides much more information, so you can understand it better. Also sorry if the links don't work, Tumblr didn't want them to be links.

Stop KOSA

Bad Internet Bills

I hope you have a wonderful day or night or whatever time you're reading this. Also how are doing? And do you have any advice on editing a piece of writing? For context I'm used to writing shorter pieces but I wrote a long one and I'm editing it but I'm not sure how to go about it since it's a long piece for me and I get stressed every time I try to edit it.

P.S. - Please ignore my bad grammar and sentence structure.

Thank you for the information.

[teagballs]

- dennis reynolds: nsfw alphabet.

a/n: heyyyy guys..... did u miss me.... it's only been 160 days LMFAOOOO. sorry for my absence, college is wild. not sure what my uploading will be like from here on, i have a ton of requests to sort through but nandor is on my radar !!!! got alot of nandor requests so expect fic soon.

thought id ease in with my fav lil bastard man. ive been meaning to do an nsfw alphabet with dennis for so long that it came really easily for me to write, but this isnt like my usually fics, very relaxed and lazy writing style. love u all as always and thank you for all the concerned messages I AM ALIVE!!!! just busy

cw: dennis shenanigans, some disrespect to woman ofc, smut smut smut cannot stress that enough, fem reader, not proofread, very casual writing style, 1.3k words, lowercase.

smut under the cut!!!

----------------------------♡----------------------------

A = aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

very lazy. will flip over, give you a kiss on the head, and then go to sleep.

B = body part (their favourite body part of theirs and also their partners)

on partner: boobs. there's so much evidence to support this. he's so a titty man. he's constantly trying to get his hands on them when fucking which is why he favours positions like cowgirl or missionary.

on himself: his dick. he's very gifted and very proud of it, cocky bastard (pun intended)

C = cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

dennis is a dick. he hates to get cum on himself but would happily see you ruined in it. he tries to convince you to let him cum on your face when you give him a blowjob. would love to cum inside you. not for the purposes of reproduction, but in a very predatory way of claiming you.

D = dirty secret (pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

i think he'd love to watch one of his tapes with you. fucking you while he fucks some other girl in the background is very hot to him. he doubts you would be into it however. he knows its unappealing for you to imagine him with someone else.

E = experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

say it with me: WWWWWWHOOOOOOOORRREEEE.

dennis is not shy about the fact he has had many, many sexual intercounters. he prides himself on how many women he's been with and uses that knowledge to get you and him off.

F = favorite position (this goes without saying)

like i said before, i think he'd been into missionary or cowgirl so he can grab your tits. although i think he'd opt more often for missionary and its plain and easy.

G = goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

dennis would definitely try to be super serious and sexy to a humorous extent. he would try to be all suave, but it would come off as just plain stupid. he'd try to incorporate music and a little dance into his foreplay and you would giggle, and he would get super offended. like "no take this seriously!" as two of hearts by stacey q plays.

H = hair (how well-groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

very well maintained. dennis definitely prides himself on his dick and spends effort making it look the best it can.

I = intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect.)

if this is a one night stand, he will try to fake some kind of deep romance into it, but truly it is not there. it is a one and done situation.

however, if this is an established relationship, i think he'd lose himself in the moment. he'd be more sappy than he realises, caressing your skin as he thursts or letting out a few "i love you"s that he would never admit to later as he cums.

J = jack off (masturbation headcanon)

i think dennis would believe masterbating is just something teenagers do and if he's horny he will just fuck. but occasionally if you are away from home and he's lonely he'll have to rub one out to that tape of you he has.

K = kink (one or more of their kinks)

bondage. obviously. love love loves the idea of you being restained and fully at his mercy. however, he doesn't just introduce this kink to anyone. you would have to be together long term before he brings out his "bondage shit." that's because it comes with him hiding the more insane parts of himself.

L = location (favorite places to do the do)

pretty vanilla and will usually want to do it in his bedroom. he feels most comfortable there, and mac knows not to come in. also, maybe because of the cameras he has in there. maybe.

M = motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

dennis is a simple man. short skirts and low-cut tops usually do the trick.

less traditionally, you telling him off can also get him going. either he's filled with the need to 'discipline' you or he wants you to take your anger out on him and ride him till the sun comes up, baby!!

N = no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

there's nothing he wouldn't do to you. truly. anything is on the table. for himself, however, i don't think he'd like to get hurt. he's a big ole baby, and it would bruise his ego :(

O = oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

definitely prefers receiving because he is a selfish bastard man. he's rough with it, too, grabbing your head and using you like his personal fleshlight.

and of course, he's shit at giving. you'll have to teach him how to properly eat pussy.

P = pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

starts off painfully slow and ends hard and rough. he makes an ordeal out of foreplay. he will tease and test you before finally entering you, and even then he's going slow. when he actually starts fucking you though he's unapologetically fast. he's chasing his own high and you'll probably cum along the way.

Q = quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

he prefers to take his time during sex so i doubt hed be down for full penatration quickies. however quick blowjobs? he loves. especially if there's a chance you could get caught, like taking you to the office and having you suck his dick under the desk before going back out to serve again.

R = risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

definitely prefers to fuck properly at home, however, like said in 'Q' up to take some risks.

S = stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

one and done, im going to be so real. he will come then turn over and go to sleep.

T = toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

so many. so. vibrators, ball gags, rope. you name it, he probably has it. but only for his partner. he doesn't like the idea that he would need a toy to get himself off.

U = Unfair (How much they like to tease)

like mentioned in 'P', he likes to drag sex out, making a performance. he likes to degrade you by making you wait, dennis is solely focused on his own pleasure usually.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

dennis likes to pretend he isn't a whiny bitch. he lets out swallowed groans and grunts as he grinds against you, but pathetic little whines and occasionally even whimpers will slip out. this will only happen in a relationship and usually when your being aggressive towards him, like pulling his hair and clawing his back with ever growing need.

W = Wild Card (A random headcanon for the character)

i think with enough persuasion, you could peg dennis reynolds. if you somehow frame it in a way that caters to his hypermasculine view, he'll be begging for it.

X = X-ray (Let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

dude, he's huge. as seen in "mac and charlie die" (ifykyk). it almost makes up for his huge ego, almost. i imagine he's around 9 inches hard.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

dennis acts as though he is constantly seducing women and bringing them back to his place, this is not true. when not in a relationship, he usually only brings like 1 or 2 girls home a month. there's so much rigmarole to using his stupid D.E.N.N.I.S system that it's usually not worth the effort.

when he's in a relationship however, this drive rises. when you are around all the time suddenly he's always eager to fuck. most nights, infact.

Z = Zzz (How quickly they fall asleep)

like mentioned in 'A', he falls asleep pretty quickly. he'll give you a lazy kiss and drape his arm across you as a sort of 'thank you'. an appreciation.

----------------------------♡----------------------------

[princess-of-the-corner]

Ended up musing on that "Chloe Knows & think Marinette as Ladybug sabotaged her life in purpose" angle. Specifically with a divergence set in Queen Banana that I discussed before but this one has a fresh new, feline like spin!

So, Chloe knows Marinette is Ladybug and has since around Style Queen, with meeting Pollen having reminded her of Tikki from Princess Fragrance.

Chloe "deduces" that Marinette has used her position as Ladybug & Class rep ETC, to string Chloe along and sabotage her life and steal everything she loves.

So she determines to defeat Marinette but to do it the "proper" way!

IE she wants to become a more beloved hero than her, defeat Hawk Moth, & win back everything Marinette took from her but by being "better" than her.

So she goes and steals several Miraculous.

She was going to steal them all but Sass was out and like:

"Yeah no, I'm not letting you do that, buuuut using my power to rewind time on you has consequences so I'll let you take some volunteers who want to explore and keep this secret unless you piss me off."

She gets horse (Cos Kaalki wants to live fancy), Trixx (Who wants to fuck around) and Roarr (Who wants to break shit)

I initially figured Trixx would go to Lila, but then had the thought.

What if Chloe tries to bring Adrien in on her scheme, thinking him manipulated by Marinette & pressured into betraying her?

He'd play along, not wanting to lsoe Chloe but obviously planning to go and tell Marinette that he now knows se is Ladybug and where the Miraculous are so they can sort everything out!

But the fact she told Alya her ID, (Which he deduces) and then lies to his face about losing the Miraculous, along with Chloe's rather… Fragile state (In the way broken glass is fragile) and relative benign goals; as be a better hero than Ladybug isn't exactly evil.

& well, his natural pretension to avoid conflict flares up and he decides to try and thread the needle of these social interactions with the intent of getting the ideal good ending for everyone!

I think he'd actually get Kaalki, claiming his schedule and controlling father mean he can't easily participate in battles, but he can serve as Chloe & Sabrina's exit and entry point. This lets him continue operating as Chat Noir, at least at first.

How well this all works out in the end is anyone's guess XD

GOD one of these days I gotta go back to writing Forged lmao

[buttfishfan]

People aren't completely wrong about Kara's story being really weak, but i also feel like people dont realize the amount of missed opportunity in her section of the game.

Kara's story could've been AMAZING if only David Cage knew what he was trying to write.

Sooo here's some ideas ive been mulling over for a couple weeks about how id fix Kara's story.

1. Making Alice human

Even when i was blind to a lot of the bad writing in Detroit this plot twist made me so agitated and confused because there was no plot twist it was seriously just david cage lying to the player for 12 hours 😭 making Alice human would fix many inconsistencies in Kara's story like how she just chooses to ignore the fact that Alice is an android and acts shocked when she finds out. Having alice be human also opens up the story to a more interesting themes about the bonds that can be formed between humans and androids like holy fuck david did you forget the story you were writing midway through 😭 If Alice was human it could also lead to new game mechanics or plot where kara would need to take care of Alice's human needs like food and water which then leads into Kara being put into situations where she is forced to do the "moral" thing and sacrifice comfort or to fight for Alice's survival.

2. Giving Kara's section of the game an actual overarching choice

The biggest reason i believe people think Kara's story is so boring is because in a game that prides itself on letting its players choose their very own story Kara's story allows for the least amount of choices. Both Connor and Markus have overarching distrinct choices that lead to VERYYY polar outcomes. Connor has the ability to deviate or stay a machine and markus has the ability to lead a peaceful or violent revolution. The only distinct outcomes in Kara's story is if you make it to Canada or not and even that is just if you chose the /right/ choices instead of the choices you consciously made. I wish there was more opportunities for Kara to be really evil and fucked up but all in the name of giving Alice the world. I know you're able to steal and lie in various chapters but it never felt like it had any true weight to how kara or the story progressed.

3. Give Alice an actual personality

Throughout the entire game Alice kinda doesn't do or say anything of value like I've seriously lost count how many times she's said "im cold". It makes no sense to me how you get the relationship status of family with her as Kara when you genuinely know nothing about Alice. She doesn't talk about anything. Even as an android she like must've had some sort of interest programing to act like a child but she just never shares anything even with the people that are supposedly the closest ones to her?? I feel like her personality should've been dependent on the way youd approach Karas story. If kara is willing to do immoral things for Alice's sake I feel like Alice should also be fucked up and evil cuz like, shes a kid and kara is her role model of COURSE she'll try an be similar to her mama. If Kara chooses to sacrifice comfort for morals then Alice takes after Kara in that respect too. So not only would you be responsible for how Kara acts you'd also be responsible for the way Alice acts which gives the player the choice of do they want this little kid to follow in the wrong steps or not?

Some ideas i have for how the story should've gone

Todd brings Kara home after she gets fixed and she meets Alice for the first time. Alice obviously knows Kara but after attempting to make Kara remember her she realizes that Kara's memory has been wiped. Since Kara would've probably been the only person to care for Alice before she was broken this would lead to Alice having a breakdown where she realizes her only protection and source of comfort is gone. Alice would probably resent or be distrustful of Kara a little in the beginning because of this.

I feel like running away should've been a more difficult decision on Kara's part. She's just come home from being fixed and she's already deviated i don't think she fully knows what she wants to do with Alice. Especially when they've started off their relationship with nothing i don't think Kara should've been leaning into the whole mom thing. It would've made more sense if their interactions started off as Kara just making sure Alice stays alive and then over time their relationshio actually has room to develop instead of starting off as mother daughter and ending off as mother daughter.

These are only some ideas. Im obviously not a writer but i just really care about this game and feel like it had too much lost potential 🙏🙏

[freakenomenon]

IDK if u have mentioned this much but i love your analysis posts and I wanted to say something that’s been on my mind. AM calling both Ted and Ellen by petnames in the game like love or sweetheart to be condescending, with Ellen it’s more obvious because she’s a woman and talking down to her when she’s clearly a strong individual who is reduced to just her gender and stereotypes a lot, or maybe offering mock affection to make her feel worse. Idk it can be interpreted however

But also the way he speaks to Ted and calls him sweetheart, I know that’s been TedAM fuel for a while but that doesn’t even make sense because AM talks to everyone like that, and I always saw it as AM mocking how Ted would speak to women, like he’s trying to emasculate him and mock how he used to flatter women like that idkk anyways. Ty for the influx of ihnmaims lately I love my two little freaks. So tired of them being reduced into closeted gay and token female because fandoms are bad at media literacy 🙏

one. THANK YOUUUUUUUU SOOO MUCH <333333 two. god you are going to regret mentioning this to me of all people i am going to be so annoying. i wish i could say AM calling ellen petnames had more depth than her being. a woman. but truly i cant say that with ANY certainty considering the other writing....choices...within the game. BUT. within my own fucking delusion. id like to think its also because ellen is constantly talking about love ( at least from teds perspective in the short story ) and the fact that its remarked several times in her psychodrama as well as in the others descriptions of her. that she isnt as experienced socially as she is with her work ethic and her studies in general. not only because of her own beliefs, but likely because of societies view on her as a black woman as well. remarking on moments in her childhood where she felt mistreated because of it. "I curl up my lip, the way I practiced in the mirror for days when I was in seventh grade, so I could tell the kids in school to go to hell when they teased me."

"What purpose could you have here other than to steal something?"

" The question stirs up a lot of bitter memories from when I was a little girl. Sometimes, I'd go into a convenience store, and the clerks would think I was a thief just because of the color of my skin. " ( side note, alongside her being pushed aside and metaphorically spat at obviously for being a little black girl. ellen also gives me the vibes of an autistic person who was never told that they had any mental conditions simply because their parents, her grandparents in this case, didn't want them to "use it as a crutch" .. but thats just me )

perhaps even growing anti-social because of this, struggling with human connection and often seeing her own emotions as illogical, getting angry at herself for wanting to cry or for rushing into things. which are just. generally very humane things to do. and implied to render others as illogical for "wasting their minds" . her character background stating "she knew in a deeply superficial intellectual way that "a mind is a terrible thing to waste," i imagine that after her being assaulted, losing her husband , and their child. alongside the trauma within her childhood, LITERALLY watching people she loved die whilst in "the ghetto" ( its still so crazy to me that they never mention this in the GAME. ) , and her incredibly flawed views on emotional status. she detatched herself from personal connection more and more. not only out of a belief that she didn't NEED it , but out of a fear of being incapable. being undesirable unless the other person wants something out of her. after losing so much because of it, rendering herself as incapable of connection. running away from it as much as she did her emotional problems. they're illogical, hysterical, why should she waste her time with them? why should she waste her time with people. but, under AM. completely powerless with nowhere to run away. all she can do is take in everything and let it consume and destroy her. even if it is something that isn't initially meant to hurt her. words of love, of care. being treasured. alongside furthering her paranoia by telling her she should be afraid of the others. being reassured, with the wrong message. being coddled and warmed by words of affection, but still with the wrong intentions, by the wrong person. and she cant run away, she cant fight, she cant redirect her attention. kill em with kindness, i suppose. or torture them. that works too. oh and ted too i guess... this post is too long for me to scream about the ,, weirder TEDAM likers who generally dont gaf about anything that makes them actually interesting and just like the haha gay stuff. i would get too mad

[dangermousie]

Farscape rewatch 2x04: Crackers Don’t Matter

One of my favorite eps and the most quoted one in the Mousie household.

You know what I am struck by, this time? How crazily Farscape works. I am faced with the next to last scenes of this ep: John with green face-make-up, shiny cover, attacking a bug-looking alien with a sword as it gibbers, screaming 'humans are superior' and marvelling at the fact that somehow, it all works. How crazy is it? It works, works brilliantly. Farscape took some odd risks, some strange choices, but IMO, they almost always worked out.

 And the way the humor (and this episode is bona fide hilarious) can coexist with cruelty and darkness because the ways the Moyans turn on each other is just vicious and what makes it horrible is that it’s their darkest ids, worst selves exposed - so it is them, even if the worst version of them.

And they have to live with it, with all the stuff they said and did, no easy solutions...

This is long and cap-heavy so behind read more...

I am also struck by how tight the writing is. It's obviously an organic show: it didn't have every plot detail worked out years in advance. But when things come up, they get so incorporated for later, they get brought up again, it all just fits. Just think of the little throw-away comment by Maldis in S1 that John lost his virginity to Karen Shaw, and how it comes to play in Kansas in S4. Why am I thinking of this for this ep? It's the fact that here is Harvey (his very first appearance), telling John that revenge is a dish best served cold, his whole attitude, his whole statement is so in line with the whole late S3 ep 'Revenging Angel' which echoes it so well. In RA Harvey fails to understand what makes John tick, what makes him stay alive: he is limited by his creator Scorpius. He fails to realize that what keeps John alive is hope and that for John, Aeryn is hope. (That is why chip!John in Scorpy's head in Incubator is so intractable, so final: he is post-loss-of-Aeryn, he really has nothing). What Scorpy fails in (and by extension Harvey) is to understand John on a very basic level: they don't really fit, like two odd pieces of a puzzle. Grayza of course makes the same mistake on Arnessk. It's going to sound corny, but Scorpy fails to understand goodness (not surprising considering his upbringing) while John has one-up on his opponent because he understands evil, because his face has been rubbed into it until it's raw.

I kept thinking, why is John the least affected by Traltixx in this ep? I am sure the eyesight has something to do with it (I love how Farscape turns on its head the old trope of humans being saviors because they are better. Crichton is 'better' because he is handicapped, because he doesn't see so well). But I think there are other issues here: for one thing, Crichton is a researcher, someone who must be analytical by nature. More importantly, he is attuned to oddness not just because of his post-Scorpy paranoia but because he is a stranger in a strange land, sensitized. And the thing is, just as with the chip later - knowing something is off is different from being able to put breaks on it. He periodically, alone among the rest of them, realizes something is wrong with his behavior but he is unable to truly stop it - the ugliness and the violence just come pouring out; the only concession to control is that he doesn’t kill anyone. The crew is horrifically ugly to each other in this one, but the ep is also mind-blowingly hilarious. Not like Out of their Minds, which is just plain funny. This one is funny with a hell of a sting. Some pretty bad things are said. I am struck not even as much by the Aeryn-John showdown (they know each other the best, so they really know where to hurt. Though I am still wondering how you can be both frigid and a skank :)) but I think it's because Aeryn and John cause each other such universes of pain, exactly when they are not trying to, but only trying to protect themselves or even do what is best for the other, that this is small fry. What is a little exchange of gunfire and a hit at Aeryn's being a traitor or John not measuring up to his father in comparison with Die Me Dichotomy or the coin toss or so much of late S3 or S4? Still, ouch ouch ouch.

What I am really struck by are other interactions: D'Argo with Rygel, flopping the little guy around like...well, a puppet, force-feeding him crackers. It's ugly. We haven't seen D'Argo attack a helpless being since DNA Mad Scientist, and we've forgotten, and it hurts. Though it does show a difference: here it's Traltixx doing an equivalent of drugging him. The inner savage is much further from the surface. The crew from early S1 would have succumbed to Traltixx in ten minutes flat.

 And keeping with the fact that actions always have consequences, there is no magic forgiveness at the end (though also like Farscape, there is hope of one later.)

And Crichton with Chiana. It's an unnerving scene, horrible to watch, precisely because normally John is so protective of her, because for Chiana, John is in many ways her safe harbor, her surrogate big brother, someone who she would always feel safe in the area of sex with (i.e. he won't, with her). But he turns that protection on its head, something ugly (though luckily, a bunch of the horrible stuff comes from Harvey, not John, so she doesn't hear it). 

 Yikes.

Pretty telling tho that even messed with by Traltixx, any sexual threat is not from John but is suggestion of the chip, which is doing whatever to get Crichton to kill his shipmates so he’d be easier to capture. John himself is horrifyingly cruel but does not see Chiana this way at all.

The idea he ends up liking is tying her up next to the rest of them so he could try to talk without everyone shooting each other, not anything else and thank GOD.

This is such a reversal of his attitude in Taking the Stone so I think it's interesting that the attitudes in here and TtS are juxtaposed (in TtS Crichton is losing it a bit, slowly, but it makes him more protective, not less. That is the natural 'insane' Crichton, not the one where someone took over and brought out the darkest id; when he is himself, however utterly mad and irrational, he is never wantonly cruel to his loved ones.) And then of course, later, when he is back to sanity and tries to apologize, she blows it off, acts impressed. Chiana is queen of repression in some ways, however open she is in others.

 You know, there is another reason why Crichton was the one to pull it together. (And no, I am not just referring to stubborness). He already has that edge of insanity to him and it's growing slowly larger. So has he figured out how to cope under weirdness while maintaining some control? He's had to persevere through some horrid stuff and had his head messed up with, so he can temporarily put aside distractions. But the thing is - this is only the start of Scorpius messing with his head. He can fight it on the margins for now (Harvey the Chip clearly wants him to kill everyone so he can be captured easier) but he can fight it even under the stress but we all know how it ends...

Oh yes!

He tries to tell Aeryn about seeing Scorpius but she’s also affected by the light and pays no attention and even John himself assumes it was some of the stuff Traltixx did (and I believe when they first had Scorpy show it was supposed to be a one off, not a chip) and oh boy, the misery that is going to eventually follow.

(the little correction she makes, heeeee...)

Oh boy, and eventually he will make you do that and this will be one of the worst moments of your life.

The thing is - having your mind hijacked is horrible but long before that happens to any significant degree, the layers of horror of it all are there because it’s not just John thinking he’s losing his mind and having his mind sorted through and controlled; it’s the fact that he now lives with the constant presence of his chief torturer in his head - it’s a somewhat literal metaphor for aftereffects of torture yes but also there is the sheer body horror of it which is incredible.

Yikes...

Side note - the ugliness with John and D’Argo bothers me least because they are evenly matched but also it’s pure physical violence, no emotional cruelty involved. 

Also, cool bit of foreshadowing, Chiana aligning with D'Argo here but also, the way Aeryn and John still want to jump each other in this little scene tho they were shooting at each other and have not too much rationality. Heh.

God, those two must have some truly spectacular sex once they finally get to it.

Oh, and the sheer unhinged anything goes vibe of this is so perfect. I don’t know how they manage.

And of course Zhaan just spending the whole episode orgasming and show making no bones about it - I love how just genuinely out there the show was.

Just wild...

Crichton barreling through insanity to save the day but everyone emerging a little or a lot worse for wear is a lot of the modus operandi of this show and this episode really distills it down so concisely in the most gloriously insane way.

[no1maddoxfan]

Y'all

ITS THE MOTHER FUCKER!!!!

IMMA START SHANKING PEOPLE!!!! SO HAPPY THE BASTARD BITCH IS BACK FUCK!!!

Love Kuaiduol obviously.

So imma guess Yuamu wants to ensure she's Otes so Yuga doesn't have to take that role??? Right?? I don't fucking know. But if she was being literal during S2 final then, I guess that means we know who Otes is. I mean I had a feeling but, I didn't feel good about it.

It's probably Yudias.

I don't even wanna put that in the air. I hate it. Id rather it be Manabu at this point. You can't do this to my boy he's so good he's never done anything wrong fuck them Ohdos fr!! But the fact that Yuamu is going this far AND Yuhi joining her, even if it's to try and stop her, kinda solidifies that it ain't either of them, cause they the villains rn. So either it's 1) Yuga or 2) not Yuga. While Yuga makes more sense, if it ain't him, who's left??

Or is it Yuna??

I just thought of that rn holy shit it's Yuna!! Y'all be so fr its Yuna!! 1) Owns Goha 2) I can't think of anything else. Look, I just don't want it to be my boy, he's too good for this 😥😥😥.

It doesn't make logistical sense, but if people are out here wiping memories then 🤔🤔. It's a mega reach though. Most things that relate the 2 can easily be explained by the Earthdamar thing. And Yudias is the only character the doesn't work due the the current shows rules, not just actions done in the last show.

Things That (kinda) Relate OTES and Yudias:

Color scheme. White outer coat with the red inside and the black turtle neck with yellow accents. Except Zwijo's coat lining is also red, Myuda's coat is also white, and all the Velgearians in turtle necks are black with yellow accents.

Relic shit. If Yudias and Kuaiduol's fusion is permanent, there's no reason why Yudias shouldn't be able to pilot it. Except that with Kuaiduol scenes we know there's a control panel in there, anyone can use it.

Seemingly omnipresent. Not a Yudias thing, but since Kuaiduol can watch shit via the relic, anyone who can use it can. Previous point still applies.

TLDR I forgot why I was typing this. There's probably better reasons but I'm not good at this kinda shit. I mean, all the theories I spent so long writing out were wrong, girl just wants to be Otes.

Liked the duel, kinda iffy on Yuamu's motives, but I'll probably change my mind when Yuga shows up. Which he will. When not if.

[freyjas-musings]

I don’t get why people say elains book is safe the next ? Sjm said she will write for all sisters but she never said they will come out right after the other? And for why she didn’t said yes immediately after asked if we know elains love interest and said it would be lucien, well why would she? What author already tells people what is going to happen in their book before it even comes out?

Its not obvious to me that elain will be next because in the last acotar book their was more of azriel and gwyn then elain?

Nesta and cassian had a bonas chapter and they got their book, azriel has a bonas with both elain and gwyn but who in their right mind still thinks az an elain are “soulmates” after that bonus chapter. The whole time i got the ick while reading how he behaved will elain it was just fuckboh behavior. Rhys is his brother i think id azriel would be sooo in love with elain he would find a way for them? But azriel couldn’t even say anything, he didn’t think about a future with her, just where he pleasures himself to the thought of her and who does that? Fuckboys who don’t want a future with someone sorry but i wouldn’t want to date someone who thinks like that about me.

Sorry for rambling but i just had to get that of my chest 😂😂

Elain hasn't been set up enough to have the next book , I am not sure what popular stuff people are on these days but it must be potent in order to come to that hallucination but its really ok , it's not the worst assumption or theory out there. People can assume whatever they want and have fun while it lasts .

Personally I believe it will be Azriel's book. I often have people trying to pull me into debates but its just obvious its silly to argue about it.

Also, I do condemn Azriels thoughts on Elain in the bonus , it's never ok to treat anyone like an object you feel entitled to. It's still beyond me how someone can read that bonus and think it's romantic, reading badly written books and inexperience in life would explain it though. Clearly they both barely know each other and its not love . As an Azriel stan I would like Az to find that epic , intense , all consuming love that doesn't need to be hidden , for a guy that was locked away as a child for 11 years like some dirty secret it would just not make sense that he has to be a part of " forbidden romance " its just cruel.

Also, I think this fandom takes it too far with the "Fuckboy" image of Az , he is desparate and lonely , he also has a whole lot of unresolved trauma that has left him feeling rejected all his life, Elain lead him on , made her interest obvious so he would obviously think it was worth a shot. I don't think Az even knows what a healthy relationship looks like and Elain clearly has her own set of issues she is dealing with , they are at the best each others rebound.

What makes Az look worse is the fact that SJM changed from a Moriel endgame in ACOMAF which compromises the way the characters look in ACOWAR and I mean both Az and Mor. I am hoping after his book some of that will be amended.

Azriel is a grey character but he certainly is a lot more interesting compared to some other characters from the series who often seem very one dimensional and lack complexity and depth and seriously lack appeal . I truly believe Azriels story will the most intriguing, complex and satisfying journeys and I look forward to it .

And as for the whole Elain book or Az book? As long as people realise it's one OR the other who cares ? We will eventually get both the Gwynriel and Elucien book 🤗

[badchoicesworld]

Ok this might be too niche, and if so I totally get it. Its a bit similar to the one about post top surgery (which I loved, by the way)

So I don't know if you've ever heard of transtape, but it's a type of binding. And boy it can be REALLY itchy. So I was wondering if you could write a noir fic where the reader and him are eating out somewhere, or even at home, and the reader is (trying to hide it but kind of hardcore failing) itching at the tape like they've got some sort of allergic reaction.

But noir is obviously concerned like "what's wrong are you having an allergic reaction???" And the reader is like "oh Nono it's nothing-". Either because they didn't tell noir they were trans yet, or simply because they don't want him to worry and flip out.

But then noir is like "absolutely not" and he goes into full "gotta save my partner" mode, because he thinks there's gotta be some sort of obscenely serious allergic reaction here, and he's doing a full medical examination while panicking. The reader finally tells him what's up when they see just how worried he is, and he's relieved but also still concerned. Cute hugs included please.

Thanks so much! I don't know if this completely ridiculous, but thank you!

noir finds out you wear trans tape

yknow, i love spider verse so dearly but if i ever became one it’s incredible how fast id become past tense, my arachnophobia could not live w the fact that i’d be part spider

established relationship

warnings: none, don’t think

pairing: spider-noir x transmasc!reader

requests: check out the masterlist !

★⋆ ⋆☆⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆☆⋆⋆★✧

ever since you invited noir to your dimension, he’s been wanting to try out all of the new food places that he’s never heard of before

he mostly sees a sign that he really likes, something usually glowing and neon and immediately assumes the food has to be incredible

admittedly, a lot of the food is better in comparison to 30’s cuisine

it’s like a tradition for you guys to get takeout once a week, something like that, just to try out new foods and see if you can find anything you like

this is one of those instances, later in the week where you two decide to order some takeout and kick back in your place

you also happen to be three days deep into wearing trans tape, right around that mark where it starts to get irritating and itchy if not maintained properly

of course, you’ve done pretty well at keeping this little detail about yourself private, for your own reasons

that of course includes from your partner, peter parker/spider-noir

wether he knows you’re trans or not, he’s unaware that you bind with trans tape and if you were ever to explain that to him, he’d be fuckin clueless

trans tape ? the tape is trans ? what ?

so yeah i don’t blame you for keeping it a secret

anyway, you two are settling down with your food from this new joint that noirs had his eye on for a bit

it slaps, food slaps, food is amazing

and it’s a pure coincidence that your trans tape starts to really irritate you, the adhesive or maybe one of those annoying as fuck loose fibres that’s just barely grazing ur skin

at first you just try to discreetly readjust your body while trying not to spill food all over you, easy enough

but then the itch doesn’t go away .

try as you might, there’s no way of discreetly dealing with an itch . give it a scratch, lest it haunts you for the rest of your life

you again, try to do it as discreetly as possible

but after a while, even noirs oblivious ass will notice how thoroughly you’re trying to scratch at yourself

at first his head is completely empty, he’s just staring at you cluelessly until he thinks that it could have something to do with the new food you’re both eating

immediately voices this concern, doesn’t bother to beat around the bush if he thinks your health is at risk, straight up “what’s wrong? are you allergic?” with no context

now you’re both confused cause, no, you’re not ? but then ah, right, attempting to discreetly scratch an itch can look awkward

assuming your allergic is probably the smartest thing to do

insist you’re okay with no further explanation, and noir will just assume you’re attempting to downplay it

takes it into his own hands, sets his food aside without hesitation and does the same for you

starts a full scale investigation, he is a PI

starts to gently pull on your arms to get a better look at them, rolling your sleeves up if you’re wearing them

checking your temperature, getting up close to see if you’re breaking out in any sort of rash while asking plenty of questions, like a real detective

he doesn’t start to panic until he doesn’t find any of these symptoms at all, now he’s perplexed and worried

the whole time you can be trying to spew reassurances or excuses, but he’s not convinced until there evidence to suggest you’re NOT having an allergic reaction to the food

you’ll be here forever unless you spill what’s going on

so, in your time, you eventually will

you’ll reassure him once again that you’re fine and go on to explain to him what’s going on, that you’re binding and your trans tape is starting to irritate you

the concept of being trans is a little confusing to him, but the physical act of taping your chest down is a lot easier for him to understand since it’s a like, an action (does that make sense)

so while it might confuse him why you do it at first, especially if it’s gets irritating after a while, he can understand the actual action of doing it

in his head it’s like “oh. okay.” idk man it’s ur appearance he doesn’t have a say in that shit, he doesn’t wanna, he just acknowledged that this is a thing you do

but then he gets curious

he’ll ask about the details, why it irritates and if there’s things you can do to avoid it

explain to him that, yeah, it can suck to bind and there’s instances where it can be a risk, but you do it for the sake of your wellbeing

he’ll insist that you don’t have to bind around him if it makes you uncomfortable

in his head, if something bad has happened while you bind once, it could happen again

now he’s just kinda bummed that this is something you have to endure at all, just for the sake of your own comfort

he’ll probably hit you with a “Well. Do you have to?” a few times in one sitting, in the least insensitive way possible

he just doesn’t want you to be uncomfortable

seems counter productive to him, to do something that causes discomfort to BE comfortable

but he’s just having a hard time understanding the importance

still, he’s not feeling great about it now and wants to show you he’s there through plenty of TLC

grab ur takeout and pick a movie with some bright ass colours

he’s notably a little more delicate now around your chest, especially the sides

for future reference, he’s happy to help you tape up if you ever need the extra pair of hands

but you will have to teach him how to do it properly, if not, he’ll think ur supposed to go as tight as possible

also willing to help take it off, is for some reason the one wincing

he’s checking up on you constantly now

ESPECIALLY after he’s done his own research and learned about how dangerous binding can be if it’s not done right

he’s over dramatic, let him have his moment

he is the type to physically stop you from doing certain things you shouldn’t while binding- will give you one of those disapproving looks while he waits for you to do the right thing

he’ll hit you with a “what do you think you’re doing, mister?” and u just know it’s over

★⋆ ⋆☆⋆ ☠︎︎ ⋆☆⋆⋆★✧

bind safely freaks

[trans-leek-cookie]

Thinking about geto because I want to pour milk on him and throw him against the wall. Imo his beliefs are inconsistent and self serving (which makes sense because he developed said beliefs at age 16/17 while his mental health was at an all time low). Because while he seems to have the primary motive of "only sorcerers = no curses" taking into account how he treats Maki, who has no cursed energy, it shows that the "no curses" thing isnt the main focus- bc while he decided on tbe "forced evolution" thing, theoretically he should not be Opposed to ppl w heavenly restriction bc. They still fuckin. Don't contribute to curses from what I can tell. Also heavenly restriction is pretty obviously something that is punished by uh. Is it just the Zenin's who have it. Anyway they hated Maki and they Hated Toji so he clearly isn't standing for "oppressed sorcerers" bc if so Maki should be like. The kind of person he wants to help more, as someone who would be oppressed by ppl who aren't sorcerers as well as the powerful clans.

Anyway. While getting rid of curses is for sure part of his motivation, as well as helping sorcerers (see Nanako and Mimiko) id honestly argue that his main problem that lead to him spiraling was. How do I put this. Being knocked off a pedestal

Because he was one of 3 people given the ranking of "Special Grade", and he and satoru are grouped as "the strongest". And consider that satoru comes from a powerful clan and literally has some weird omniscience and invincibility shit going on so that's a whole fucking. That's gotta be a wild ego boost, especially for someone who comes from a family of ppl who aren't sorcerers. Like you spend all this time being a fuckin weirdo and then someone finds you and it turns out you're actually incredibly special and strong, given the same rank as a fucking God Child? You're gonna have some wild self perceptions after that

Anyway then you get to watch your invincible friend get stabbed, watch the girl you became friends with and feel shitty about kinda ruining the life of get shot, and get your whole shit rocked by some guy who can't even use the magic power bullshit you have. (Though he's got a whole physical thing going on because of the trade off)

Also writing all of this out actually makes me understand the Cult Leader progression more, like besides the fact they killed ur friend and you want em dead. You're probably struggling with your ego (especially since your weird God like friend got a whole power boost from the situation) so you create a fucking eugenicist cult where you can consistently prove your superiority to yourself (surrounding yourself with people who will agree with everything you say).

Anyway in a similar vein I wholely believe in "a loving father is not inherently a good father" Suguru + Nanako & Mimiko dynamic

Final thought is roughly I feel like looking at Suguru thru the lense of "this character had a level of privilege that they felt they truly deserved, and after experiencing events that are genuinely traumatic and horrific for any person, they develop reactionary beliefs to try and regain a sense of superiority and control" rather than "oppressed minority who killed oppressors and wants to do eugenics"

[cleromancy]

still thinking about mia!

in particular i found the deliberate and thoughtful way ga01 approached the concept of a plucky teen sidekick refreshing... because sidekicks are a staple of the genre, right, and moreover most of us *like* them, so how do we justify the "good guys" *having* them when we're also writing stuff with way more realism than the old stuff?

and to be honest i don't really need that when im reading, i can suspend my disbelief. but you have to commit to the bit when you're the one writing it, you have to believe it. and a lonely place of dying... it did ok for what it was and im extremely fond of it, but i also think it was already walking away from like... the fact that batman got robin killed, yk. it was walking away from what that meant. and like i said thats fine. if they never brought robin back i never would have gotten into comics in the first place, yknow?

but i think the exploration of some of the thorny concepts around mia sidekicking in ga is great because like. this is *emphatically* not an omelas situation. green arrow definitively does not "need" a speedy and it is also emphatically not speedys job to provide a counterbalance or whatever.

ok this got long. putting in a cut here

and both dinah and roy absolutely tear into ollie about his decision to let mia sidekick with him--and i feel like ive read a fair few kid/teen sidekick stories which have the kid wind up in danger (or whatever) regardless of the adult trying to discourage them, and the adult at that point figures if theyre going to sneak out/disobey/whathaveyou its better to do it where the adult can keep an eye on them. and there are times when this is presented like the adult literally cannot convince the child not to do those things, which. yknow. we understand how fiction works so we also know if the writer says the kiddo wont listen to any reason, that the adult just doesn't have the power over them to stop them, then thats what happened... but the implications about the power dynamic and the adults ability to set reasonable boundaries dont paint a *great* picture.

but GA doesn't do that... i would argue mia was being set up to be the 2nd speedy all the way back to dinah and roys conversation in that plane where they just learned ollie might be alive and cant stop bitching about him lol. and iirc this is within the first 6 issues. and dinah and roy are both throwing around unfair accusations at the time, but roy says smth to the effect of what do you want to bet he's already training her to replace me. and i don't think he really believed that but it obviously planted the idea in readers heads if it wasnt there already! but yknow after that, mia doesn't debut as speedy until ga 46, or thereabouts im not looking it up, several years later both IRL and in-universe (or well in-universe its almost 2 years. iirc.).

(i can't even imagine how it must have felt if youd been following that series the whole time *finally* seeing that enter speedy cover. id have been screaming my damn head off.)

anyway. i already talked about comparing and contrasting the man mia killed during her test run vs the jason and felipe situation but i also wanted to say that i think it was great that the whole conversation pretty much *opens* with that. like forget physical danger the kid might be in--what about the psychological toll? what about the choices hes putting her in the position to make?

despite ollie very much being the protagonist of the series and mia very much being a supporting character, the focus of the emotional impact is on her, and the focus of the *responsibility* is on him. (now compare and contrast batman with robin...... listen, i absolutely do not believe it wasn't set up as a deliberate contrast, ok.)

and you would naturally think that would mean she doesn't... get to be speedy. she doesn't get to be a hero. she doesn't get another chance. but then she gets her HIV+ diagnosis, and the focus for mias character turns specifically to *living* with HIV.

and i think that's what makes it clear, to me at least, that the whole... fighting crime thing is supposed to be a metaphor. at least on some level. its a power fantasy, its a metaphor, its about the *good guys winning.* heroes being heroes. and i think a lot of the discussions around representation have gotten so overblown for what they are, but--unironically--sometimes its really meaningful and important just to see yourself. and to believe that no matter what youve lived through, you can be good, you can be wanted, you can make a difference.

which is why mia gives her presentation in the auditorium about her diagnosis, and i feel like this was also a deliberate callback to roy "only you can prevent forest fires" harper and his anti-drug PSA. because roy decided, after snowbirds, he was going to go public about his addiction because he wanted to help other people going through the same thing he did, or prevent other people from going through it yk. and there are two incidents i can think of where, years down the line, he feels some regret over it because now hes just known as the heroin guy, the guy who used to do drugs. but i also don't think he would ever have chosen to do anything else. both speedys are actively choosing to bear that stigma openly in the hopes of reducing it, you know?

speaking of which! i thought it was a *fantastic* - and no doubt deliberate - contrast to how roys drug use was treated, to have mia only talk about it *once* (this is in the HIV+ issue. 45ish?) that she regularly did meth when she was on the streets, and its explicitly clear she did it to survive. and it never comes up again. there's no condemnation, there's no literal war on drugs propaganda here. (the first roy comic i ever read was the mini ntt one in the mandatory fucking D.A.R.E program in middle school, btw.) it was a fact of her life because her life was *fucking dangerous,* and meth helped keep her alive until she managed to find her way out of it!

so this is another concept mia becoming speedy explores--the fact that the people who should have kept her safe as a child did the opposite. mia has never been safe her entire life until moving in with ollie. and the people who hurt her left permanent damage in a physical way in the form of HIV. so now ga is exploring like... what it means to be safe. what it means to be mortal. what exactly is a childhood. and it doesn't dig *too* too deeply into these because its not that kind of comic book, its the kind of comic book where the good guys shoot glue arrows at bad guys and stick them to the floor. but it approaches it and sits you down with those questions and i mean, for me at least, even putting aside exactly how hype i was for mia to take on the mantle, it felt *right* that ollie would say yes.

and the next issue i think or the one after that (its the teen titans one! tim is there later). is the one where roy reams ollie out for this, they talk about it, roy lampshades the different... contexts of having a speedy. like its not like how it used to be. the bad guys are worse, its not safe enough for a kid anymore. and this is where ollie relays mias diagnosis (<- she had already decided to go public about it as i said before, so ollies not sharing information that isnt his to share here). and roys like that could have been me. its a good issue! i like what it does with what its doing.

and then some 20 issues later, once mia is reasonably well established as a superhero and a titan....... Enter Jason.

(🥰)

i have so much to say about this arc i love it so much. let me preface by saying none of this is a condemnation of jason, hes pretty much my favorite fictional character of all time. im not interested in wagging my finger at the guy styling himself as a supervillain at the time and going Naughty Jason! Thats Not How We Make Friends!, yk. im also not endorsing it, bla bla bla, whatever, this really aint about him right now. right now we're just talking about what he does for the story, the questions he poses about mia and sidekicks and shit.

god, where to fucking start.

i guess ill start with jasons "were not so different you and i" villain speech. and yknow at least on the surface level theres like. a certain join-me-be-my-robin element to it or like he's encouraging her to cross the line or whatever. but honestly, jason was less there because jason todd the fictional character wanted to be there, and more because winick as the writer thought it continued to explore the concept in an interesting way.

because we've talked about green arrows responsibility vis a vis letting her be a sidekick bc of the psychological impact of it, about the choices she's put in a position to make, about HIV and what it means to be a hero and safety. all of those things. and jason shows up to *demonstrate* that--

--it really is not fucking safe to do what they do.

and Jason is, i think, at his most terrifying here, and thats on purpose. it is *visceral*. it is so, so incredibly well done. and it throws ALL those questions of safety and responsibility and mortality and heroism and do-gooding into a new light because you really feel like, oh my god, her life is in danger.

tbh i think some of the reader anger at jason for this arc--and titans tower, just to a lesser degree because it wasnt NEARLY as good lol--is the fact that he *is* challenging us, the readers, to think about our beloved kid/teen sidekick trope. he brings back the element of realism that GA was drawing away from somewhat, the element of *real consequences.* and as a reader it is so much easier to just be mad at jason because well hes the villain of the story...... and ignore the fact that hes demonstrating--both by being the dead robin cautionary tale, and by being ~red hood, the scourge of the underworld~ lol--that if this is not something she's prepared to face, a possibility she's prepared for, then she shouldn't be wearing that uniform.

and that the person she relies on to protect her can't always be there to do it.

and, mini tangent, there's absolutely no way jason was trying to kill her here. he terrified her, he kicked her ass, but he didn't do any permanent damage and he didnt "lock her in" (<- real reading i saw once 🙄 try reading it again with your eyes next time genius) he stabbed his knife into her cape. if jason were being written by anyone else i would entertain the idea but it was winick, who knows exactly how smart and thorough jason is supposed to be *because he was the one who made him that way.* there's no doubt in my mind that jason was perched somewhere watcging to make sure she got out before the place went kablooey but you know what, in fairness, thats not on the page. BUT, like. the reason mia *thinks* jason was going to kill her--before she realizes he could have if hed wanted to, and purposely let her go--was because he wanted her to think that. he wanted to scare her and he wanted to warn her and he wanted to make her think.

really really love this arc.

anyway. i mentioned in my other post that winick tweaked mias backstory so she was also homeless like jason, which i sort of have mixed feelings about. in smiths version, her dad trafficks her and later she winds up as one of the "girlfriends" (euphemism for victims) of his associates. and that was ... not really the picture of child trafficking you usually see in comics, the more common real-life scenario rather than the sensationalized version of quote-unquote child prostitutes on street corners. but at the same time i think winick kept the most important part (the familial trafficking) and i also think he changed it in order to explore all the aforementioned topics in an interesting way. it doesn't feel like it was just an arbitrary change, or to make it more exciting or whatever. like he was exploring stuff with it, it was purposeful.

for example--going back to mia and meth. the more you read of winick the more you notice that intravenous drugs and illnesses associated with them (so including but not limited to HIV/AIDS) are something of a... recurring... motif, i guess? they're something he regularly comes back to explore. and thats interesting in the context of mia for a lot of reasons but well. when mia defensively says to ollie that she used meth, the reason she gives is they used it to stay awake on the streets. and i do think winick deliberately--and *effectively*--explored the pre-existing (and historical) parallels btwn batman and green arrow in a bunch of other ways, so i don't think im off base in saying the fact that *robin* 2.0 famously lived on the streets *probably* had something to do with the backstory tweak for speedy 2.0, particularly again bc of jasons "we're the same" villain speech. but also, like i said, she mostly used to stay awake(/alive), which is something of a harder sell if she hadn't been homeless, and also like i said, winick likes exploring drugs and wanted to write a hero living with HIV.

before i get into the comparisons with jason and mia, i also want to say that i think jason--who im constantly affectionately calling a revenant--is such an effective contrast for mia because the emphasis for mia! was always on living. it was always on healing. despite having a *distinctly* non-everykid origin story, mia absolutely embodies something i think was very characteristic of her generation of teen titans, or at the very least early days cassie and tim, which was this simultaneous like... they're normal kids, they're *relatable,* but they're also superheroic in determination, and resourcefulness, and they want this, and they know they can do it, so they will. and thats what its all about, man.

...actually i just ran out of steam, ill write out some thoughts on jason telling mia theyre the same later lol sorry. im toired!!!!

anyway mia is soooo good.

[cactusringed]

i WILL sleep soon but im having too many thoughts

the fact that etho decided that he was just going to be Very Nice To Bdubs.

bdubs? he must have been euphoric. he was finally given a spot in ethos heart in the way etho always has one in his. this was some sign that said hey, i matter to him too!

which only made it worse for him when etho did things for grian and cleo he would never do for him.

bdubs wondering if it meant anything at all to etho, or if it was some big joke. if he and his stupid big heart was some joke to etho. if etho understood that all itd take to get bdubs on his side was the slightest attention that way, dropping the act once he was satisfied with bdubs devotion.

to bdubs, it sure would be looking like he didn't ever matter to etho, only what he could do to keep etho alive did. nothing about his wellbeing or even happiness mattered to etho

bdubs told him he would not kill him, no matter what. even when etho told him he wouldn't blame him if we did. and etho couldn't even bother lying about failing a task for bdubs' sake

its not even that bdubs would care if etho attacked him for a task. if there was anything he could do for etho he'd do it in a heart beat, including losing a few hearts. but the fact that etho didn't even care enough to go 'yeah sure id fail a task for you' after bdubs proclaimed his loyalty

then, seeing how etho treats grian and cleo...

anger

i need bdubs to be furious

i need him to be angry on his own behalf. to recognise his self worth and realise he deserves better.

he would give everything to etho. what more does etho want from him? what more could he give to make etho care about him? how DARE etho build him a place in his home, pull bdubs in close, only to treat him like shit?

i need bdubs to be furious

and im going to be completely honest, i need to see him snap and kill etho. hes a man being pushed to the brink, and etho needs to learn that bdubs isnt some sidekick thats going to follow him around. that bdubs would give him the world if etho had bothered to give him even a shred of loyalty and care. and that etho FUCKED IT UP

IM SORRY WHEN YOU GOT ME INTO ETHDUBS I DIDNT EXPECT SUCH AN ANGSTY FUCKING RELATIONSHIP I

AAAAAAA

ok im falling asleep while writing this if i got anything wrong thats why. bed time. nighnigh

Brother when I tell you that the be nice to bdubs day episode makes me sick after what etho did. Oh my god. Oh my god.

The thing is about etho is that, he doesn't lie to bdubs. I don't think he does, anyway. All that kindness he offered bdubs - well, it was obviously a bit to embarrass him, but it was also all true. He doesn't like to lie to bdubs. He's haunted by the time he promised something (a life) and didn't deliver, to the point where when he did it again (promised to help bdubs with anything he needed, then laughed at his face when bdubs sought out his help) he felt SICK

Etho doesn't like to make promises, because he hates not to deliver on them. Bdubs loves to make promises he wholeheartedly intends to deliver on, or that he hopes the receiving party will know he'll try his heart off to deliver on. Bdubs values, so much, the very act of trying, the intent behind it. Etho values results. It's a dissonance neither can really see. So it leads to miscommunication and misunderstandings

Bdubs has promised so much to etho, so many times - etho must believe the words empty, no matter how earnest bdubs is. Meanwhile, because Etho is so careful about managing expectations, he comes off as... Aloof. As not returning even half of bdubs' earnest feelings. It's such a difference in their expression of love.

Etho felt bad, and thus he pushed himself to express love in a way bdubs would understand - through words of adoration. But then he immediately returned to his old ways. Immediately withdrew, as if scared. Because he is scared. In truth, he's terrified of the feelings he holds for bdubs, and how much it can hurt the both of them. But instead of seeing that, Bdubs can only see it as Etho playing a sick game with him. Bdubs, so starved for Etho's attention and love and devotion.

I doubt he would've promised cleo or grian he would protect them against the boogeys. He's told cleo before, that he's not a protector. He doesn't want to give the impression he is because he hates the idea of betraying that impression. But in the moment, he did become a protector. But it's that seed of doubt that it plants that hurts so much.

Because now, Bdubs will always see etho and remember that he refused to vow his protection to bdubs, whilst turning around and protecting his allies. He'll always see etho and remember that heartbreak.

He feels like he's been throwing so, so much love to a complete brick wall. Somethings gotta snap.

I want bdubs to either kill etho or try to hurt him - to genuinely go after him. But also if he does - if either of them do - I'll have a category 10 ethubs meltdown I s2g

This can only end in tragedy I swear I swear I swear I feel so SICK it's late and my head hurts so this probably makes no sense but. My god

[sannylity]

hi boss just chekcing heres the list of aus youve made up that i know of but id love to hear if you have any more/what theyre about

teachers

toxic/infidelity

president and his maid

prince (omg ur writing this one :0)

coffee shop

vampire

artistic director and prostitute

assassin and civilian

am i missing any?

-💫

Hello! Hmm, I’ll try to break down a few things I can think about for each AU. But I feel like this post will be long so I’ll break it down into three posts if that’s alright😁

Teachers AU:

Charlie vents to Wilbur about Mariana, while Mariana vents to Quackity about Charlie. Both of their friends individually think, “wait, that sounds familiar…” because that’s how Quackity and Wilbur started off as before they started dating and then inevitably being heartbroken. So respectively, they’re the two people trying to keep Mariana and Charlie away from each other because they don’t want them to end up like Quackity and Wilbur who barely even acknowledges each other’s existence despite being up all over each other a year ago😔

A teacher from a different department has a crush on Charlie and that teacher would often try to get his attention or even join him for lunch or breaks. Mariana will not admit the fact that he’s jealous

And at the same time, a lot of senior students have a big crush on Mariana and Charlie will not admit that he’s jealous, that he might be a little harsh on them when he sees them not following dress code or something

After a tough hell/exam week for students as well as teachers having to grade papers, they decided to unwind at a bar. With Charlie being new, they quickly discover that he is a lightweight and also an emotional drunk. He cries over Jaiden giving him fries and Mariana secretly thinks it’s adorable. But then, Charlie started over sharing, he tells them about how he had to fight his dad just to defend his siblings, how he never liked being walked over because he had to endure most of his dad’s abuse before he could finally stand up for himself and his siblings and it makes Mariana feel like shit and he wants to hug and kiss Charlie’s forehead and tell him he’s safe now

Roier gives Mariana another piece of advice, to be a little kinder to Charlie because he’s been trying. Mariana eventually does, and at first it weirds Charlie out, but he soon finds that he likes this version of Mariana, the kind and sweet, which who she really is

Toxic/Infidelity AU:

Charlie knows he’s risking losing his friends, his reputation (it’s a small town), his value as a person for intruding on a relationship but he doesn’t care. He has endured and struggled for so long yearning to return to Mariana and it can’t all be for nothing

Charlie had set out a plan to seduce Mariana. He’d try to isolate and keep themselves alone, use all the things and tactics that he knows would rile him up, surprised to find that he could see it working. At first, Mariana would push him off and avoid him, but he can only take so much before his patience snaps and he gives in

When pent up lust and frustration wears off, Mariana is mortified by what happened. He tells Charlie that they keep this between them and it will never happen again. But then they have mutual friends and they end up attending this formal suit and tie event and Charlie looks so good and he is obviously doing things for Mariana to break his own words and it works. They do it in a supply closet of the event venue next, Charlie taunts him “last time, huh?” and Mariana pushes him off and walks away

From then, Charlie knew a part of him won, because he gets to have Mariana all over again. So, they continue having this arrangement

But Charlie gets a rude awakening when Foolish hosted a party celebrating him and Mariana and he sees how happy their friends and family are for them. He sees that he Mariana doesn’t belong to him at all, not really, so he leaves the party early. Comes up with some poor excuse

Charlie tried to stay away, he really did. For days he ignored and avoided Mariana, he tried going to a bar and picking up men he could go home with because in his head, maybe he was just horny and it didn’t matter. So, one time he goes home to this guy, and halfway through, he doesn’t want to do it anymore and the guy wouldn’t. So he punches him and dressed himself back, going outside to do the walk of shame. He ends up calling Mariana to at least take him home

Mariana asks him what happened, Charlie doesn’t say anything. He drives him back home, Charlie thanks him by the doorstep with a kiss on Mariana’s cheek. He doesn’t invite him in, he doesn’t jump him like he normally would. It’s the first time they’ve seen each other without ending up with sex

President and Maid AU:

Charlie’s favorite part of the day is when he has to get ready because his maid always helps him. It’s not even in her job description but according to Mariana, “You can’t wear your suits correct. A president always have to look his best.”

Charlie being an unmarried president has a couple politicians turning heads, so during function events, they mostly try introducing women to Charlie that he could be linked with. Fellow politicians, businesswomen, public figures. Mariana would see them and would get jealous, insecure because she’s neither a woman or in any position of power, but Charlie does their secret sign and in the end, the president only has his eyes set on his maid

In exchange, fellow staff members would often tease Mariana if she’s in love or if she’s seeing anyone. Mariana is considered to be one of the most attractive staff members in the palace, so he can’t be single, right? Mariana often brushed those questions off, lies through his teeth saying he’s too busy working to think about love and romance. But when Charlie calls for him, he drops everything that he’s doing and staff members share looks

When Charlie has to work late in his office, Mariana would always come go to him with his favorite drink in hand. Charlie would motion for her to sit on his lap, and that’s really the only time he feels himself relax, with the only person he holds dear in his arms

When rumors first started breaking out, a paparazzi photo was taken of Charlie making with a tall figure on a balcony. It was a dark and blurry photo, so it cannot be mistaken to be Mariana, but regardless, it has caused unwarranted attention. Charlie’s publicity team proposed that they release a statement saying Charlie is seeing someone and that he would like to keep things private, even going as far as to hire some random person to act as the person Charlie is seeing

What happened had freaked Mariana out so much, he thought ignoring and avoiding Charlie would be in his best interest. But the palace is not as big as everyone thinks, not unless you know where to look, and Mariana can’t run away forever. Charlie confronts his maid, forces him to answer why he’s being ignored and such. Mariana ends up confessing his feelings, it’s the first time he has said he loves Charlie

I’ll do parts two and three for the other AU’s soon. But I hope this was helpful!! Part 1/3

[w1f1n1ghtm4r3]

followup fun facts about together, to that promised aquarium

this is gonna be just kinda a disorganized post of random things so uh. dont mind that.

the event title is actually a double reference ^^ its both a callback to 1dt with 1c promising to find time to do things as friends despite getting busier (even if theres no ichika this time), and also a reference to harusakis first kizuna!

colopale you still havent given us that aquarium they said theyd go to. theres a reason i had to do it myself. the fact that theres not an aquarium event in general is a crime tbh i know theres some romantic connotations with a pair going to an aquarium but theres very easy solutions to avoiding that? sending a group of 3+ characters together, having them run into other characters while there, inviting someone else along (even if they cant go, it helps make it feel more like a friend thing i think). i did a bit of the latter two, as you mightve noticed! in general though its just SUCH an obviously fun event theme i cant beleive we havent had one yet

while i am a known harusaki shipper, i kept the story pretty light on the stuff that could be read as explicitly shippy, since when im trying to make fake events, i like to think about how itd work in canon, which means keeping it low on explicit ship content. plenty of stuff that could be taken as ship food (as id like it to be!) but nothing that would alienate non shippers from enjoying the story too.

i actually didnt write shizukasas presence as intended for ship content at all though, but im definitely okay with people taking it that way lol they can be on a date too if you want them to be. my plan with them was simply theyre childhood friends too but dont get to spend time together that often anymore -> their schedules line up with a free day and tsukasa heard about the aquarium from saki, decides to invite shizuku to go there with him as a part of hanging out together -> surprise encounter with harusaki!

also both of them were scoring quite high on the form when i decided to lock in the lineup (tsukasa was absolutely sweeping the 2* category, and while shizuku wasnt winning anything, she was a pretty popular choice) and theyre very easy to work into a story together and also into a story that is focused on harusaki (╯▽╰ ) the benefits of siblings and unitmates

(tsukasa 2* poll sweep at the time of me solidifying my lineup)

the event and gacha names actually both came to me one night while i was about to fall asleep. struck by inspiration so strong i had to grab my phone and write them down in my notes app. and they actually worked very well! also heres the transparents of the logos if you want them i guess

the card/skill/costume names also mostly came to me in similar ways, in the last couple nights before i finished everything. i think only saki, luka, and shizukus skills didnt come to me that way.

while the rui fish in tsukasa card might be obvious, theres actually more animals referencing other characters too! theres a group of three fish in sakis card that are the colors of the rest of leoni, the sneakiest of the bunch, and also not quite as sneaky but maybe not as obvious as the rui fish is the airi and minori sea slugs :)

i did think about giving tsukasa fish to be emu and nene too, but that many differently colored fish in a 2* seemed like too much, so i didnt do it... at least of the units involved, 2/3 of them are fully represented in some way!

and now most importantly probably, is that this is in fact my second pass at an aquarium event! the original one i started back in 2022 and......... i think you guys can figure out why i couldnt just reuse it when i decided to go for making an aquarium event again this time.

yep, youre seeing that right. 4/5 of the characters i chose are the same as what ended up being 1dt, all i got wrong was the vs. thats pretty crazy, honestly. im still not fully convinced colopale isnt just stealing my ideas after val3 happened too /j

it was also saki focus actually! i had written out a rough idea for the story back then too, and while theres some similarities to the current one, it obviously went through a lot of changes when revising the lineup and also with everything that has happened in the story over the past two years. it was definitely a bit more explicitly shippy than my new attempt, although i still tried to keep the shipping stuff toned back somewhat

i only ever made one card for that set though, just lukas 2*... but thats the original reason i made the old 2* backgrounds! its always those fake events throwing me into the graphic design trenches (fist shake) i had been trying to do a more canon-accurate style to......... mixed success. its not terrible, but i definitely could not have done the full set like this. theres a reason i did promised aquarium in my own style!

the original theme for the set was kind of like..... performers at an aquarium? along with living water sculptures of animals. it was a fun idea, but i think i was much better suited to doing the underwater scenes of promised aquarium and also we have plenty of performance themed trained sets already ^^

considering i also technically kept her from the original set (plus she was also winning the vs poll), i gave her a higher rarity card this time around for fun. and also because i knew none of shizuku tsukasa or luka would have super significant roles in the story, and i thought it would be fun to design a lim hairstyle for her!

one final random fun fact: the thing that kicked me into gear making promised aquarium was the fact that haruka wasnt on beautiful sound. i was just a little mad that they had an underwater set WITH A PENGUIN COSTUME and there was no haruka. sometimes petty beef brings out my craziest motivations and then i proceeded to spend the better part of a month planning and making it happen.

[denimbex1986]

'Well gosh, that was nice, wasn’t it?

More than anything, I’m just delighted that Davies bothered. Like, the three specials structure could have been all big ones. This slot could have been a big scary Cybermen one or something, and the Fourteenth Doctor era would still feel complete and varied across the three. By most reckonings that would have even been the better idea. But no, instead he decided that this should actually feel like a season of Doctor Who and have a weird one in the middle. There’s something absolutely decadent about spending a third of your big Tennant-Tate reunion trilogy doing something that feels as though it’s overtly striving to be described as “proper Doctor Who.”

I remember, way back on the Forest of the Dead podcast commentary, which is legitimately one of the best forty-five minutes it is possible to spend on being terminally That Sort of Fan, Davies, Tennant, and Moffat enthusing about the first episode of The Ark in Space and how you could just shoot it with no changes to the script and it would still sparkle. And now here we are, with Davies doing an episode that begs for comparisons to Heaven Sent and Listen in its “a cheap one proving I can still write” ostentation—a weird spooky two-hander on a spaceship.

Well. “Cheap.” Obviously this continues to luxuriate in the stupidity of its budget from the moment they step out into that corridor set, which of course looks fantastic. The CGI body horror is genuinely startling. You suspect it still did come out cheaper than The Star Beast, but it’s still being ostentatious in its quality across the board. There’s ambition and confidence in every shot of this, and like Isaac Newton it’s frankly sexy as fuck.

What shines for me is the character work. The parallel scenes of the Doctor and Donna trying to figure out who the fake is (and note the very sly decision to do a deceptive shot-match so that the fake Donna comes out of a green corridor like the one we just saw Donna in) in which Donna gets it and the Doctor doesn’t, which sets up the subsequent beat of the Doctor IDing the fake Donna based on the fact that she volunteers to insult her own intelligence. Or even just the ways in which the not-things (as the subtitles charmingly call them) work—the grinning sadism with which Tennant delivers “when something is gone it keeps existing” is beautifully chilling. Davies has always been strong when he lets his nihilistic streak shine, and he uses it here—along with two phenomenal leads—to make cosmic horrors feel at once convincing and charismatic.

It feels significant, then, that it’s the not-thing version of Donna that relates so emphatically to the devastation Flux. And I don’t mean that as snark about Chibnall. For all that I deadpanned “yeah man, I felt that way about the Chibnall era too” during the Doctor’s frustrated tantrum, the thing that’s really striking about Davies astonishingly gracious salvage job on the emotional desolation of his predecessor’s tenure is the not-thing’s awed “you have owned it” and the way it sells the horrified tumult of this new version of Tennant, reeling from a trauma to rival the Time War. It works, right down to giving the Doctor a reason to seek the comfort of returning to this face. And it’s a point that’s clearly going to carry through into The Giggle given the precise structure of the cliffhanger, the TARDIS landing just in time to get the Doctor out of talking more about it. You can just about see the precise contours of the line that’s being drawn under all of this. More to the point, the ones that aren’t quite clear yet feel terribly compelling.

Which brings us back to the sense of relief that Davies is actually trying. The thing about the late career Moffat stories this is trying to edge out in the 2033 Doctor Who Magazine poll is that they’re the creative renaissance of a man who’s decided that he has something to prove. And frankly, that remains the only reason any of this would be worthwhile. For all that I’m insistent that Doctor Who should be forward-looking, that’s never only meant new voices, and it’s never precluded skilled veterans. I mean, for heavens’ sake, that kind of thinking would have meant no Caves of Androzani. Fifteen years is more than enough time to become a new person with new ideas on a topic. I’m certainly not the same person I was when I started writing about this show, and that wasn’t even thirteen years ago. Once the hazy bliss of novelty fades away and it’s not enough to just have competence again, what this is going to come down to is whether or not Davies is still hungry for it. And frankly, this isn’t the episode you make if you’re here to fuck around. If Davies is willing to push himself this hard during the big frothy nostalgia tour—the part of his return that’s aimed at a BBC One audience that fondly, if vaguely, remembers Journey’s End (where it’s a smash hit, btw, with overnight ratings on The Star Beast rival the +7s for Power of the Doctor)—then one shudders to imagine what he’s going to do when he’s aiming for a Disney+.

* If you’re not one of my Patreon backers, the bonus podcast on The Star Beast has gone up for them. This one’s got Sean Dillon and Ritesh Babu, and is a good time. We manage to get off topic and into Phineas and Ferb so early on that it might be in the five minute preview. Next time I’ll be joined by Christine and Jack, who should be a grand old time for this one.

* Obviously the “superstition at the edge of the universe” thing is about letting the Toymaker in, which will also surely hinge on the fact that Rose makes toys. And I assume they’re going to pay off the otherwise inscrutable “Wild Blue Yonder” thing. But I honestly can’t tell whether “mavity” is supposed to be setup for something or is just Davies shitposting, nor can I decide which one I hope.

* I can’t say I’m especially persuaded that a non-white Isaac Newton is meaningful or productive representation, but it’s hard not to enjoy the trolling. And I suspect that making “Doctor Who is woke now” old news before Gatwa shows up is a savvy approach.

* Speaking of the promotion of the show, interesting that this is the episode where Davies adopted a sharp no-spoiler policy—something I’m on record as not usually being a fan of. In one sense there wasn’t actually anything to hide, and there’s surely a chunk of jilted fans upset that we didn’t get Matt Smith or whatever. (Which, of course we didn’t—David Tennant is the past Doctor here.) But there wasn’t anything to promote either—none of the headlines are here. Knowing it’s a two-hander with evil doppelgangers wasn’t going to bring anyone new to their television. More to the point, this is an episode about exploration of a mysterious place—one where real effort has been expended on the procedural aspects of the Doctor and Donna figuring it out. It invites the viewer to play along—to see when they notice that something’s wrong with the Doctor that’s just come in to talk to Donna, or that the Doctor’s real plan is to get the TARDIS back. That’s one of the things that actually does benefit from secrecy. The opening sequences would be robbed of something if the entire audience knew that the thing peering at the Doctor and Donna through the grate is a shapeshifter from outside the universe. Which is to say, hats off to Davies for writing something that was actually worth avoiding spoilers for.

* I quite liked the way the episode follows the by now cliche “no sonic screwdriver this time” as a way of flagging “the Doctor and Donna are on their own with nothing but their wits” with taking the TARDIS translation away too.

* Hats off to Chrissie at chakoteya.net—a resource I have used countless times for countless things—who is going to have an absolute time of it getting the transcript of this together tonight.

* Delightful to see that, however poorly he may have been faring, Cribbins was still clearly sharp and able to play his character to a tee. It sounds like this is all we get of him, alas, but it’s a solid use of him—a comforting delight that goes eerily wrong, nicely setting up next week. * Which… so, we’re the Toymaker. I note that we’ve dropped “Celestial” from his name in all the promotion, along with the Mandarin trappings. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious what Davies is doing with him. And, for that matter, if I said “evil clown played by Neil Patrick Harris” wasn’t a compelling option. But more on that next week.

* We all knew Davies was adapting “The Star Beast,” but who saw “Tlotney Throws a Shape” coming?

Rankings

1. Wild Blue Yonder

2. The Star Beast'

[gorgugplushie]

(paceplace) / honestly ttcc writing is very messy i agree. i love the game to bits and dissecting it but the flaws in it are as enriching to pick apart as it is frustrating to discover. it really, truly does break my heart that toons aren't as appreciated as the cogs and i wish there were toon characters you could focus on in the same way the mgrs are. the NPCs you meet along the taskline are charming and i adore every single one of them but as much as i personally like them i don't think its enough to capture people's attention in the broad sense.

irt my qualms w/ how ttcc handles its game i think one of the many main issues boils down to the fact that they're disorganized. their issue w/ how lore has been distributed has been addressed twice by the team itself iirc (once in th same tweet where they confirmed fire\\setter as canon and once in their writers backstage post from around a yr ago). their writers backstage post helped give a little more perspective on why the lore was scattered around Like That.

as all over the place as the lore is, i do feel it's important to mention that they said in their backstage writers post they plan on eventually migrating all of their social media comics to the website so things like the rain\\diver comic is very likely to still be canon they just haven't added it in yet. idk why they don't add it around the same time its posted on social media my guess is maybe they're still trying to organize all the lore or redo some of it since its so all over the place (a couple of the comics we have rn on their website that are considered canon has info that was technically retconned) but yeah. i have hope that the way they handle their lore and (hopefully!) their taskline when they get around to rewriting it will improve in the later updates. i try very hard to stay on top w/ clash's lore esp since i have ppl come to me w/ questions regarding clash's story, characters, etc. but sometimes it is Very headache-inducing so i sympathize w/ how confusing/frustrating it is to a casual player. or just any lore-enjoyer tbf. i swear on my life i almost went crazy trying to make a timeline with btl

anyways you don't have to answer this if you don't want (i gen. apologize for the wall of text i really tried to get straight to the point w/ what i'm saying. and even then there's still a lot i wanted to say) but i'm really glad to see discussions on it. oftentimes criticism gets mistaken for hate and it shuts the entire convo which Peeves me. even if w/e's being criticized turns out to fall flat its better to address or talk about it than it is to not, imo.

Yes, exactly! I agree with all the points you've made here.

It's so strange to me that ttcc doesn't really lean into more how the cogs affect the toons, or toon society for all that matter, its a wonder people are so baised with cogs because we really dont get anything about toons. Their less part of the game and more set peices for this war, which sucks!

Theres obviously alot more room to write about toon lore and it would be easier to implement it in game, yet it gets brushed aside to further characterize the cogs and thats sad bc alot of the toons are cute and unique! Ttcc has great toon designs!

I also have to agree with the way the lore is handled, id even go as far to say big updates themsleves are handled in a frankly. Unprofessional manner. I mean, compare the update live streams done in jokey powerpoint slides to ttrs panles where they talk about progress on the updates. We really get little to no inside information until it's already ready to drop. Sure the game updates more regularly but all these updates are starting to feel like filler and padding. I at least can hope that hammerspace and mix and match at least come with some toon lore?

Its a shame that alot of what drew me into this game ends up weighing it down : (

Also yeah lol i didnt main tag this for a reason i do want to keep the discussion open! But all great points!