#and realizing that there's so much about the system that we DO NOT KNOW ABOUT

[himbosandhardwear]

He's managed to talk himself into - Robin thinks Eddie likes you and Wayne thinks it's about time - and out of - that's no guarantee of success and you just figured out you liked him four minutes ago, maybe sleep on it - asking Eddie out by the time he comes out of his room, finding Steve standing in the hallway like the twins in The Shining. At least that's what he assumes he looks like, based on the way Eddie jumps when he sees him.

“Jesus, Harrington, why save my ass if you were gonna give me a fuckin’ heart attack three months later?”

He moves Steve bodily to the side so he can pass by, hands to Steve's arms, and then heads to the kitchen to dig through the cupboard above the sink.

“Wayne, have you seen the spider cup?” He asks as he leans up on his tiptoes to reach into the back. His shirt rides up and gives Steve his own heart attack when he catches a glimpse of the dimples on the small of his back.

Fuck. Yeah, not the first time Steve's seen Eddie's waist and gotten flustered. He's never felt so stupid. And he'd once chewed and eaten not one, not two, but three plastic grapes before realizing something was wrong.

“Check underneath,” Wayne says, snapping Steve's eyes away from Eddie's skin.

He opts to return to Eddie's room and wait; if there's a spider somewhere in the room, he'll take his chances.

He still has no idea what he's going to say to Eddie by the time he comes back, empty handed and pouting.

He glances down near Steve's feet. “Oh, she's gone anyway.���

“Who? The spider?”

“Yeah, you must've scared her back under the bed.”

“Cool. Good luck with that later.”

He shrugs like it's no big deal. Steve supposes you don't tattoo a big fuck off spider on your chest if you're scared of them.

“You figure out your big epiphany?” Eddie asks as he flops back down next to Steve. The bed jiggles with his weight.

“Mmhmm,” he confirms.

Eddie waits patiently for Steve to go on and when he doesn't, he gets a dry stare. “Is it a secret?”

“..........no?”

Eddie snorts. “You know, as the resident freak, it's my duty and my pleasure to inform you that you're being weird.”

Yeah, he knows that already. He rubs at his eyes, praying for inspiration, and somehow, it works.

“I'm heading to the VFW, boys. Money on the table for pizza if you want.”

They make eye contact as Eddie yells his thanks.

“He knows we both have money, right?”

“Yeah but he's never been able to treat me before. It's kinda sweet. Don't tell him I said that.”

“Never.” It is sweet and it's the exact thing he needed to push him into… “Hey, so you said something about Mexican food earlier?”

He swings his head up from where he'd just laid it down on the mattress. “Yeah!” He goes up on his elbows next. “You interested?”

His stomach swoops like he's on a roller coaster. “Yeah. You know a good place?”

“Hell yeah I do. If you don't mind a drive, there's a little joint in Indy that has enchiladas the size of your head.”

“Awesome. Tomorrow?”

He drums his hands on the bedspread in excitement. “Hell yeah! Let's make a day of it! The Plex might be playing something good and my favorite record shop is right around the corner.”

Dinner and a movie! God, he's nailing this. It was so much easier than he imagined-

“I'll pick Rob up first and then swing by your place, say noonish? Maybe oneish, I shouldn't promise noon.”

“Oh.”

Eddie looks up at the tone of his voice. “What? You wanted to drive?” The longer Steve doesn't answer the more worried he gets. “Or Rob can't come? I assume that's why you called her.”

“No,” he drawls, slow so he doesn't have to confess the truth right away.

“Okay?” Twin lines bracket his mouth, not sweet like his dimples but deep set frown lines that immediately make Steve feel like dirt.

“I thought maybe…it'd be just you and me?”

It might be that Eddie can't parse why Steve is being weird about something as normal as two friends spending the day together, but Steve's nervous system interprets Eddie's silence as apocalyptically bad. He starts fiddling with the frayed bit of his cutoffs so he doesn't have to look at Eddie anymore.

“Sure?” Eddie eventually answers. “Any particular reason why Robin isn't coming?”

Steve rubs at his eyes in frustration, convinced he's about to blow this whole thing to shit before he's even started. “How is it that I was better at this at fifteen than I am now?” He mutters. Probably because he was young and dumb and everyone wanted him so it was easy. After a moment to collect his courage, he looks Eddie in his huge Bambi eyes and says, “Because you generally don't invite your friends to go on a first date with somebody.”

“Date?” Eddie coughs.

“Yeah.”

“Date?” He asks again

“Yes.”

“Like, a date?”

“Just like a date.”

“As in you. And me. On a date?”

“Ideally.”

“.........Date?”

This would almost be funny if it wasn't so frustrating. “Edward Munson, would you like to go to dinner and a movie with me? Otherwise known as a date?”

He's still staring at Steve like maybe Steve is turning into a blueberry. Which reminds him the whole plan for today was supposed to be ‘get high and watch Willy Wonka’, but they'd both got distracted, being consumed with each other's company. And then Eddie changed his life forever by explaining what liking something felt like. Steve's used to having to have things explained to him but being talked through having a crush on someone is a new low.

“Why?”

“Why?” Steve boggles at him. “If you don't understand that part-”

Eddie waves both hands. “No, why me? Since when do you even… You're not… I don't understand where this is coming from.”

“Right,” he agrees, since this whole thing would seem sudden to Eddie, “uh, I guess since you said your interests consume you day and night, you become obsessed, you want to spend all day with them, and the first thing I thought about was…you.”

‘Me?’ Eddie mouths silently.

“Yeah. You. You're my interest. Took me a little bit to catch up, but, yeah, I'm totally obsessed with you.”

Eddie cracks a disbelieving laugh and then slaps a bunch of his loose hair in front of his face, like a little kid trying to hide.

“Is that okay?”

Eddie laughs some more but it's just hysterical enough that he gets it's not at his expense, it's still in disbelief.

“I don't want to rush you to make a decision but I'm kinda freaking out over here-”

Eddie launches himself across the bed and lands heavily in Steve's lap, which is pretty great.

He takes Steve's face in his hands and jiggles him a bit. “You like me?”

“Yep.”

“What if I kissed you?”

He snorts. “I'm not sure what world you live in where I admit to being obsessed with you and wanting to take you out but somehow I wouldn't want to kiss you.”

“So….yes?”

Fuck it. Steve pulls him down and kisses him. He kisses him like his subconscious had been more than aware he wanted to for months now.

They fall back onto the bed, Eddie still straddling him, and make out like it's 2am on prom night.

Things are starting to really heat up when all of a sudden Eddie starts giggling into Steve's mouth.

Steve pulls back enough to scowl a bit. “Wanna share with the class?”

“No.” He tries leaning in again but Steve stops him with a yank on his hair, which gets him a groan. He files that info away for later.

“Seriously, what's so funny?”

“Agh! Nothing! I was just thinking about how I used to fantasize about this but I always had this grand speech prepared first. You know, back when I had any pride. I was gonna tell you all about how I wouldn't be your secret and if you wanted me it had to be out in the open, but I'm realizing now I could not give two shits about that. I'll be your back door man. Hell, you could get married and have kids and I'll be the other woman for as long as you want.”

He tries to kiss Steve again but he yanks even harder this time. “Eddie, that is fucked up and I'm going to be so mad at you later for even saying it but first, that's not even an option considering Robin and Wayne already know.”

Eddie leans up on his hands, looking down at Steve in shock. “They do?! Wait, how the hell does Wayne know?!”

“Obviously I told Robin as soon as I figured it out and Wayne heard the whole conversation through the wall. He thinks it's about time I got my shit together, so I think we've probably been flirting with each other a little too much in his presence for him not to know.”

Eddie scowls, staring off into the distance as he contemplates this. “That’s why he left, huh?”

“Yeah. He's an ally.” Steve giggles.

Eddie looks back down. “Well then. Can't waste this opportunity. You're cool with kissing… How do you feel about blow jobs?”

Steve rolls Eddie onto his back and shows him how cool he is.

Tag List

@ravenfrog @disrespectedgoatman @grtwdsmwhr @pidgeaf7 @quartzandsundry @resident-gay-bitch @sheldarp @karakro @beckkthewreck @xocowilde @racer-reader @comedictragedy

Steve is rifling through Eddie's collection of magazines, while he's waiting on Eddie and Wayne to get done fixing the dryer(Wayne's fixing, Eddie's getting in the way it sounds like), when he realizes how insane the assortment is; Heavy Metal, Car and Driver, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, OMNI, MAD, even a copy of Good Housekeeping. It's all so Eddie though, to have so many varying interests. He's a little jealous, if he's being honest with himself.

"You have a lot of stuff," he comments when Eddie comes back, closing the copy of Rolling Stone.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, let me just..." He starts kicking a pile of clothes under the bed.

Steve huffs a laugh. "No, I meant you have a lot of interests." He waves the magazine. "Hobbies and stuff."

Eddie nods, continues to shove piles of stuff under the bed anyway. "I guess, yeah. I tend to jump from thing to thing though. Last night it was painting miniatures, tonight it could be writing a song. I don't really get a say in which one. Oh, nice, I've been looking for this," he says, holding up a random T-shirt.

He watches Eddie get distracted by the new discovery and leave the rest of the pile where it's at, smiling to himself as Eddie goes on a tangent about merch vendors at concerts being the real enemy of the people.

"How do you know what you like?" Steve inadvertently blurts out during a gap in Eddie's tale.

He turns toward Steve. "What do you mean?"

What does he mean? "I guess... It's just, I like cars and sports and girls. That's, like, kind of it. And since I started being friends with Henderson and Robin and you I've figured out that's, like, the most basic shit a guy could be into. Level One Dude Interests. So, I guess I just want to know how you find other things? And how will I know if I'm interested?"

"Hmm." He frowns softly. "I've never had to think about it before. I kinda just...fall into things. I like it or I don't."

"Okay, but what's it feel like?"

Eddie puts the shirt down, forgotten again in a moment, and sits. "What does it feel like when you think about cars and sports and girls?"

Steve really thinks about it. Nothing is as consuming as when he was younger, but he does remember a vague sense of excitement, a feeling of connection with the people he surrounded himself with, who shared his interests. But he hasn't felt that in a while. Maybe he wasn't as into those things as he thought, was only into the connection.

"You're having very deep thoughts over there," Eddie points out with a grin.

"Shut up." He grins back. "I think maybe I don't actually know what it feels like to like something because I like it, not just because everyone else likes it. You know what I mean?"

"Well, yes but no." He waves both hands to indicate his person and also the chaos of the room around them.

"See? This is why I'm asking you. If anyone can help me figure out what I like it's you."

Eddie slaps both hands together and rubs. "A project! Excellent idea!"

Wasn't his idea but sure.

"First we have to get you exposure to new things. Movies, TV, music, culture. Then we'll rate how you feel about each demographic. Your music taste is already improving so that's good. Movies, I'm thinking 12 Angry Men to start. Food? Authentic Mexican. We're gonna get you excited about shit!" He seems excited enough for the both of them, which is great. "Excitement is key! You want enthusiasm, yearning even. Your interests should consume your every waking thought. When I'm consuming a new hobby, I'm focused like a shark, I'm obsessed. I go to bed thinking about it and wake up thinking about it. Excited to get back to whatever it is. I wanna talk about it, share it with other people. Complete and total immersion. You wanna marry that interest. You know what I mean?"

Steve blinks at him, stunned into silence. Eddie's just described how Steve feels about him...

Oh.

Oh.

[coffee-in-rain]

there is no better feeling than getting kudos from my tumblr moots & tumblr followers on my second AO3 account designated for my dark fics. i wanna wail "omg hi, guys, i'm so glad you enjoy my darker fics, too!"

unfortunately, some people are very much against dark fics to the point they harass writers of dark content, so i keep those fics separate from my main account, but please know ily and am kissing you all on the forehead whenever i see you've left a kudo or a comment. people who can enjoy very different flavors of writing are blessings in fandom. <3

maybe one day, i'll post the link here if y'all are interested in reading them! feels a bit daunting tbh. fandom spaces have changed so much since i was a kid and the rise in purity culture / want for censorship on fanfic (literal fiction; nothing real at all) is something i never thought was necessary even as a kid when i found ff.net and then AO3 years later as a young teenager. i remember reading my first dark fic on AO3 when i was like fifteen.

i never assumed or thought the author condoned what they'd written. (that is literal common sense); do authors of published books / screenwriters of movies or shows condone the dark things they write? most certainly not; it's written because every aspect of human life is interesting to explore; even the ugly / taboo parts of humanity; take, for example, horror movies where characters are murdered in brutal ways, like "sinister" (2012); or movies that portray someone being sexually assaulted; or movies / tv shows based on published books, like 'flowers in the attic' & 'game of thrones' / 'a song of ice and fire'; those contain dark fictional explorations, and mainstream media doesn't think those writers condone what they've created because we understand it's only a work of fiction and an exploration of how people have behaved all throughout history, even if it is uncomfortable to read or watch; taboo topics are interesting to write about because it is so far removed from what we're taught is an acceptable way to behave in society; writers of dark fanfic don't condone what we write about; it's a simple exploration of a topic, and if certain people cannot differentiate fanfiction from reality, then they probably shouldn't be reading fanfic at all; especially if they're going to harass writers who write about topics they don't agree with being written, because it is entirely fictional and not a condoning of those behaviors; there are tags and warnings on AO3 for a reason and people pushing for censorship are doing more harm than good. most young people nowadays weren't in the trenches on ff.net being blindsided by shocking turns of events like non-con, assault, etc. (which couldn't be tagged because there is simply not an ability to do that on ff.net), so they don't realize what a blessing AO3's tagging / warning system is. they just see content they don't like, which they can literally scroll past (and also exclude with filters), and scream "ew, censor it! because i don't like the fact that it was written, even though it is no different than movies or books or tv shows portraying the same themes."

when i read a dark fic for the first time at fifteen, i never thought the author was deserving of my judgement, hate, etc. because i knew it wasn't real at all. i was only reading words on a screen. when the content started making me feel uncomfortable, i simply stopped reading and i never considered leaving a disparaging comment because i'd willingly clicked on the fic after reading the tags and warnings. i really shouldn't have been reading that type of content at that age, but it'd piqued my curiosity. then i realized dark fics weren't for me at that time, but it was not the author's fault when i chose to read it. and i reminded myself it wasn't real and moved on with my life. i really wish that line of thinking returned in fandom spaces.

[asexualperversion]

I fi may request a dad!Ace x mom!reader where they teach their kid to punch bad guys using a marine or enemy pirate. Ace, in complete shock, yells like, "Why would you do that?" but the reader points out 'its better to start early,' and references his childhood, much to his annoyance. This video/clips of a character from Zenless Zeno Trifger, where she lets a kid punch someone while she's so proud, made me giggle so much, and I need this to happen.

Ace x Fem! reader Teaching Their Child Young

ACCEPTING REQUEST

Au but the only different is that Akainu's dead. This is a world were ace LIVES FOREVER

Ace, while nervous, loved the chance to be a dad. He respected Gold D Roger as the king of the pirates, but we saw in his backstory that he hated him as his dad. His relationship with his father was very lacking. The only thing his dad left him was the stigma of his blood. This is something Ace had to grow up with. While he was fending for himself, he also had to tackle the impact of Gold D. Roger. This led Ace to become a pirate and fight against what society said about him. It's also what led him to find a family with Pops and the white-beard pirates. Whitebeard wasn't a name that brought shame to his existence. He provided a family and support system outside of Luffy and (as far as he was aware) the deceased Sabo. It probably combated a lot of loneliness Ace didn't realize he felt. Pops probably became a genuine father figure. (highkey and unnecessary trauma dump rn, but I am so jealous of Ace bc I wish my dad was not present and despite my need for independence I still oddly crave a father figure despite how I push them away) That's where a lot of his healing came from. He learned to embrace who he was and live as Fire Fist Ace, Division Commander of the White Beard Pirates. Not the damned Gold D Rogers bastard son. His sense of self and individuality. But he had a chance to maybe make up for it. With the woman he loved. When you got pregnant, he saw another future. One where he could do right by being present. Of course, there's the fear of what his child may think of him as a pirate. But it wasn't going to stop the baby on the way. Ace would provide a life for you and your baby. He would also be very attentive during pregnancy, given how his mother passed. And you had a baby girl, he was outnumbered by you. She's as rambunctious as her father. The toddler phase brought out the will of D. His baby could never hate him, but she could turn into him. Dealing with himself is something Ace was not prepared for. Especially as he walked onto the deck of the moby dick to see his darling girls and … some pirates. "What?" he stood there stunned before walking over to get a better look "What are you doing with our daughter?" You smiled up at him, holding a raggedy and bruised pirate in a full Nelson "ya know, just teaching her young" Right in front of you was your little girl. Dark hair in a ponytail and band-aids on her knuckles. "Look Dad I knocked out his tooth," she said holding the tooth up in her little hand. "That can't count honey, I think it was loose" you teased at her. Ace sighed, picking up his little girl and grabbing the tooth out of her hand. "I don't think she needs to be learning this so young" Tossing the tooth away and looking over at you. "Garp taught you young; you turned out just fine." He opened his mouth and closed it, squeezing his daughter closer to his chest, holding her desperately, scared of the idea of her growing up. "That old bag just wanted me to be a marine." "Yeah, and well, he left you with mountain bandits." At that, he chuckled, looking between you and your child. "Maybe we should visit Grandpa soon?"

[mystycalypso]

Hello, me again. This time for your Actor AU, what was it like for the couple to realize that they both got casted in the same show, and these roles in particular.

I can see Jonh as a semi-well known actor who got Mr. Boxx role. Meanwhile his partner, despite his appearance, was just a supportive guy who wanted to see the acting process at the studio and ask John if he could tag along.

While being there to support Boxxer, around the same time whoever originally was gonna play Laserblast quits or is a no show. Desperate for a new Lazer, this turned into a blessing I disguise when they found the myth himself. To the director, he looked too good to be true. But after getting to know him a bit and have him say a few lines. He ended up getting the role of Lazerblast.

(Do with my made up story as you will, I just wanna see how this couple works as actors in these roles pretending they don't like eachother.)

I do like this idea, however, not exactly what I'd had in mind, but tbf that all has to do with- why I made the au designs in the first place

Laser started out acting as a teen. He was much shrimpier, very young, pretty boy, young, Zach Efron, typa thing. The kind of actor that was probably a lot of people's teen crush way back when. He wasn't in as much as he got older and mostly continued acting as a 'projects I find fun first' job (like Nick Cage basically) , which is when he got his role as Laser. He really enjoyed it, especially since he didn't have to do things like wear flippers over his tooth gap, and despite not having kids of his own, he clicked really well with the bodega trio's actors. He and John met on set, John's acting career being more irregular/small roles normally, and they bonded over the years the show was airing, getting married before filming of season 3 started. (Kind of inspired by how Spiderman's actor almost always ends up dating the MJ actor)

But anyway, here's the- entire reason I made these designs haha (I couldn't break it all into drawings so be sure to read the text in between for context)

He grumbles about how audience manners keep dropping year to year

Dynamite Watkins: Oh my, seems like our audience is raring to go! Why don't we just jump into our Q and A section?

"Yeah. Sure."

The first questions are innocent enough, whether or not he likes fingerless gloves normally (he doesn't mind them, but he prefers not to wear them off set as his hands get sweaty), what his relationship is like with K.O. off set, etc. Until someone asks him to clarify his name as they want to know what other work he's been in. In the middle of him answering, someone else jumps in to ask if he enjoys being referred to as Laserblast by fans.

He seems visibly more annoyed the more this happens. Always being cut off by an audience member. The last question was the same person from before, awkwardly asking for clarification again, this time, the B roll footage they'd prepped began blasting from the sound systems, much louder than he can manage to yell over them

Finally, after they get it mostly fixed, and the credits are rolling, Dynamite accidentally calls him Laser, and he loses it, standing up and accidentally blocking his own name, the entire time it's on screen.

"...I uh- I don't think we're gonna be able to air this one, Cam..."

(Yes, I created these entire designs and stuff just for a joke about Laser not having a real name again. I like this bit that much wheeze)

[hopefulmuffins]

I have conflicting feelings about the most recent To Be Hero X episode. But I feel like that was the point. Spoilers for episode 4 underneath the cut.

I wasn't hyped when Lin Ling started getting cheered on by the public. All I could think is that he was falling into the same trap all the other heroes fell into.

Like, the few origin stories we've had so far show them having a true moment of heroism, a moment where they genuinely wanted to save people. But it was after they went public and gained the 'trust' of the people did he truly gain enough strength to defeat God's eye. Essentially trapping him into the people's will all over again. Soon enough they will start to shape who he will be and what he can do because he won't be able to do what he did that day without the power trust gives.

Then there's the fact that someone else was spurring on God's Eye. He was given the means from an outside force to go up against 'Nice' and expose him. But it's bittersweet if you think about it because he exposed someone who he wasn't truly aiming for. The wrong Nice. Plus, it's been shown that a lot of the big baddies and moments are manufactured by the companies that run the city, every hero and villain has been monetized to some degree and the head corporations are the ones keeping this hero business alive. Both Lin Ling and God's eye are victims of the same system. Just from two different view sides of it. It just felt a bit like someone knew that Lin Ling had the capacity to realize that he could shed the 'Nice' persona by just deciding to go back to being himself, but didn't want the lost revenue that the 'Nice' franchise would lose them. So they found a way to entrap him more fully into said system to eliminate potential loopholes for his freedom. After all he still put on a show. Can a good deed done with an audience be truly heroic?

And the fact that he claims that it was moon that made him want to be a hero, made him want to give up his life for her was very... parasocial of him. He only recently got to know who moon is and even then I feel like he wasn't paying as much attention to who she was. Like no offense but I wouldn't be myself if I was forced into captivity with someone I was slated to marry for public clout. Plus it was only a month in a sterile environment. Him being willing to die for her with no regard for himself made me a bit sad. But he comes off as a very lonely individual who idealized Moon whether he realized it or not. And honestly that was probably used against him as well.

The fact that moon got what she wanted in the most literal sense feels like she was being punished. Like, you wanted to have your 'freedom' and to be 'left alone' well here you go you ungrateful bitch. We gave you everything and now we will give you exactly what you wanted. She was expecting to go back to a type of luxury she didn't realize she profited from and was met with the absence of both physical and emotional comforts. She ended up being trapped in a completely different way. Hate that she died, but I find it very interesting that she died in the same way that he had that vision of her. I'm not sure what purpose her death serves yet, but I am intrigued to see where it goes.

Maybe the whole hero schtick is a huge façade to keep the public from paying attention to the true villains. I'd argue a whole system dedicated around manufacturing scenarios to keep the people feeling 'safe' in their everyday lives is a great distraction. Don't you?

Sorry, I feel like there is just so much to dissect here and I'm a pretty stupid person so maybe this isn't ground breaking analysis. But I just like putting my thoughts out there and see if anyone else can add better/more context.

[semi-imaginary-place]

"We're told time and time again by Cullen himself that he has to be better, has to do better than before, and I don't think it's unrealistic to expect that to apply to his past opinions and actions against mages, too. But as the game goes on, as more of his personal quest progresses, it becomes devastatingly clear that very few of his regrets and desire for redemption have anything to do with mages; it’s all about the Templar Order’s shortcomings, the betrayal he feels toward them, and his addiction. You don’t really see in his actions that he thinks much better of mages than he did before. You don’t even really hear him say it, except for one or two throwaway lines, and the most important one is hidden within his romance." (amellderiva)

His arc is about him consummed with guilt but that guilt has little to do with the actual people he has harmed with his actions and decisions and more about how the system has finally failed him after failing everyone else for decades.

"I have to argue that wanting him to be more pro-mage than pro-templar isn’t realistic. It’s only been 2-3 years between DA2 and DA:I. Dude’s barely had time to process let alone jump ship. ... And I don’t see how pretending to be somebody else and doing good deeds as them totally qualifies as redemption? When Thom turns himself in, that’s the redemption. Everything before that was running away. ... And this is where BioWare shot themselves in the foot. Everyone forgets that the Inquisition’s intended role was to restore order between the Mages & Templars and challenge the Chantry’s tenets—including the views on mages. Instead we throw all of the build up to the Mage-Templar conflict out the window for Corypheus and Fen’Harel. So Cullen’s “redemption” gets cut off at the knees and half-baked because the catalyst through which it should have happened gets completely removed from the story and replaced with a mage romance. ... Instead, we get pro-templar Cullen who’s disillusioned from the system, but the system never gets addressed because the whole narrative shifts to Corypheus and Solas. He’s pro-templar because he sees magic tearing the world apart and and templars are the ones equipped to deal with that. He knows what they *should* be, but sees how easily they can be corrupted. And that corruption comes through lyrium. Through the compulsion dependency upon the substance brings. They follow orders without question because they don’t want to face withdrawal. They don’t want to risk being deprived. But they don’t realize all it’s taking in the meantime. That’s why he stops taking it. So, while he should have been more vocal about changes for mages as well, his focus is on templars and lyrium because that’s a problem he knows how to fix. And he knows it needs fixing. ... Once that’s over, the world no longer wants the Inquisition and so their original purpose (peace between Mages & Templars and challenging the Chantry’s tenets) never really gets realized. So, he goes to focus on a problem he knows he can fix: helping other templars break the addiction. It’s a redemption, but not the one he needed. 3 things BioWare did wrong (IMO): 1) Made him an advisor instead of a companion 2) Shifted the narrative before dealing with the mage/templar conflict to a conclusion 3) Made him a romance. And I adore Cullen, but he really wasn’t ready in the context of the story we got. ... This is the problem of having 3 different writers for a character, making him a romance at the end of development and changing him from companion to advisor that has to fill a certain role (pro-templar). You get inconsistent writing and a pulling of punches. If he’d been a companion AND romance option, he could’ve had more nuanced opinions and a more fleshed out story." (the-arcane-archivist)

Cullen was pretty young and impressionable when Kinloch Hold happened at around 19-20 which was very traumatic and further radicalized him as many young men are. Then within 1-2 years before Act II of DA2 he's been promoted to Knight-Captain which is really young for the second-in-command of the largest Circle in the Free Marches. Others have speculated Meredith chose him over someone with more senority because he'd be easy to manipulate and shape. Which doesn't excuse his actions just helps explain them.

The Fen'harel storyline is very interesting, but I do agree Corypheus is the worst part of DAI. Inquisition in general would have been far more interesting centering the Mage-Templar War instead of limiting it to a recruit and Divine choice. Without it it's harder to write something meaningful for Cullen and the writers choose the easy way out.

thewardenisonthecase: #bc 1) he's literally written by 3 different people#so the consistency is not consistent#which leads to 2) he FEELS like different characters#but not in a he changed and it made sense#but in a wow if i changed your name you'd be someone else#like#da2 cullen and dai culle are not the same man#and the thing is hes supposed redepmtion happens BEHIND THE SCENES#like. i have 3 different opiniond on cullen bc it changes between each game BC ITS SO ALL OVER THE PLACE MAN

I also noticed that his writing ends up being disjointed. The writers between games don't pick off where the other left off and instead try to write their own individual ideas for this character. Problem is this happens three times. The side effect of this is that the parts that incidentally end up consistent reinforce the characterization of a man self absorbed and unwilling to take responsibility for problems which I don't think was the intented characterization of the DAI writer.

ikarons: #can we add to his list of crimes that his not flipping until hawke is threatened directly (i have talked about this elsewhere.) also means#he is absolutely on board with and even gunning for the annulment of the circle even Knowing that the circle mages Did Not Do#what they’re hypothetically being punished for (bc anders did 🎉)#making that the Second total annihilation of a blameless and helpless mage population he’s ardently supported in his. max ten year career

ikarons: #in both games he leans on the idea that he’s really nice and empathises with mages! to cast himself as rational and correct —#in dao he puts the warden in the position of comforting Him about how he would absolutely have killed them if he’d decided they Looked Off#and specifically he wants them to tell him he was just doing his job and obviously he’s a nice boy and they don’t blame him#for that or the fact that he Also kills mages outside the circle and drags children In. as his job#in da2 the call is I Was Too Nice. I Was Led Astray By My Empathy And Taken Advantage Of#and now i know better! but i’m right because i TRIED nice#and that feels like a very natural development for this character who has been violent towards these people from the beginning#and then in dai like. HONESTLY IT IS LIKE HES THE SAME GUY BUT WE’RE JUST NOT ALLOWED TO SAY IT ANYMORE#he’s STILL vocally anti mage he’s STILL a templar loyalist despite everything. we just can’t say that’s Bad!#and his redemption seems to be driven mostly by everyone loving him and saying what a good cool guy he is

ikarons: #but 2) i am… uncomfortable. with the pattern. of which characters are granted Redemption in media and which aren’t#how often dignity and redemption is extended to characters who perpetrate systemic abuses and act as agents of oppressive systems#and not to characters who are their Victims and who are cast as violent and evil for how they respond to being victimised#that is: uldred has to die. zathrian has to die. marethari has to die. And Et Cetera.#and though zathrians thing is treated as tragic ultimately none of them get much grace or sympathy for what they did/What Violence Made Them#and i do think even samson goes here bc even though he does ultimately express a lot of the same views as cullen#well. he’s introduced as a homeless addict. and the lack of sympathy he gets from the narrative stems from here#while cullen gets to pick up that Exact storyline a game later and be treated like a poor tragic baby and the only person whos ever suffered

here's some more posts I got tired of thinking about cullen. I don't even particularly hate him very mixed feeling about him, his fans are just so absolutely annoying I felt the need to counteract some of that

https://www.tumblr.com/celestialastronmy/773349970291179520/cullen-rutherford-redemption-arc-or-pr-stunt

https://www.tumblr.com/squirrelwithatophat/683193910443507712/the-lies-of-knight-captain-cullen-rutherford

Redemption comes from counter acting the wrong action that requires the redemption.

Thom Rainier led an assassination mission during a civil war that killed one noble family before he fled Orlais. After fleeing Orlais he was recruited to be a Grey Warden and when his mentor was killed, he took his name and went around Ferelden and the Free marches fighting Darkspawn and rescuing people. We meet him training farmers to fight Bandits that are harrassing them.

Rainier is redeemed before we even realize he's done something that requires redemption.

Cullen was directly and indirectly involved in the abuse, tranquilization, and murder of dozens of mages in Kirkwall. He is second in command to Knight Commander Meredith and believes in her convictions that all mages are weapons. He plainly says to Hawkes face (possibly a mage themselves) that Mages are not people. He goes along with on and off screen crimes against mages and doesn't change until Meredith makes a move to kill Hawke in the finale, regardless of Hawke's choice on who to support.

In Inquisition, he vehemently argues against recruiting the mages to seal the breach, contradicting the Inquisitor and other advisors at every positive mention of the mages in Haven. He claims to not be a member of the Templar order but pushes to recruit them despite the Lord Seeker telling you to fuck off in Val Royeaux.

He tells the Inquisitor about how templars become addicted to Lyrium and his character arc is fully revolving around his own relationship to taking lyrium for his templar abilities. His "good" ending is helping other templars break their lyrium addiction.

This is not redemption. He does not counteract his behavior from kirkwall. He does not aim to save mages from the abuses he and other templars inflicted on them. He wants the Inquisitor to leave them to their fate with Alexius. At no point does he aim to change how templars operate, just that they won't fall into addiction to a substance they willingly consume for power.

That is not redemption.

[bananonbinary]

as a certified Diagnosed Autist(TM) i cannot stress enough that i am not only pro- self-diagnosis, but also pretty anti- legal medical diagnosis. it is, at best, a cruel hoop we have to jump through so privileged people will deign to give us what we need. don't fucking do that shit unless you have to, it was disgustingly expensive, fucking humiliating, infantilizing, and dehumanizing, and would probably actively cause problems in my life if i didn't have some really good allistic (-passing) people in my corner and also wasn't so fucking disabled that it mostly doesn't matter.

literally get that diagnosis if you need it for job/school accessibility shit or SSI or whatever, and otherwise dont tell the government SHIT about yourself. there is zero good reason for them to want that information. that's between you and the people you want in your life.

[quibbs126]

A random lore thing I made up for TF One, solely based on that “we’ve got torture labyrinth tomorrow” thing for whatever reason

So basically, there’s this type of Energon that forms that’s basically like, super Energon, where a single cube of that would equate to like, 100 normal cubes. So it’s incredibly valuable and used to better help power Cybertron throughout the Energon drought during Sentinel’s reign (I mean he might be just giving it to the Quintessons, but like, that’s as far as people know)

But also, it’s very rare and only grows incredibly deep within Cybertron, with tunnels that could reach deep enough to where it grows only appearing for brief windows every half cycle. They’re only open for like, 1-2 hours, and while in every period they reopen for that same window a few days later, once that period ends, they don’t reopen again for another half a cycle

Not only that, but those deep tunnels are where the Dwellers reside. And while the occasional Dweller appears in the normal mines, they’re almost always just babies exploring outside the bounds of their homes, and basically harmless unless directly attacked. But down there, that’s the Dweller colonies, full of adult ones who are far more dangerous and aggressive when bots come into their territory

But the Energon down there is incredibly valuable, and even a couple hundred cubes would be an incredible amount of energy, so Sentinel has miners sent down there regardless

Every half cycle or so, whenever the tunnels open, a lot of miners are deployed to go down into the deep tunnels to retrieve the rare Energon. And it’d be impossible for them to go in, retrieve it and come out within the brief windows the tunnels open, so instead they’re meant to stay in the tunnels and keep digging until the tunnels open back up again, at which point they try to evacuate as fast as they can to reach that window

Unfortunately, plenty of miners end up either dying from the Dwellers or dangerous tunnels, or they weren’t fast enough to escape the tunnels before they closed, at which point they’re most likely going to die before the next reopening. Someone’s probably actually survived the waiting period and been rescued, but I don’t know who would fit

I’m also unsure now if it should be that the majority of miners are sent into the deep tunnels during these periods, or if it should only be certain groups, and like they get some sort of reward for doing it. The miners probably don’t have much choice in being assigned to it regardless, but I don’t know what would make more sense for Sentinel to do

To try and mitigate the high risk, the deployed miners are probably required to work in at the very least, teams of two, if not more, to help one another in case of danger and try to lower the risk of death, or loss of the rare crystals

Then once the movie happens and Energon flows freely once again, there becomes little need to go through these tunnels with the new abundance of Energon, which the former miners probably celebrate; the only people that might go down there now are researchers looking for those rare Energon crystals to study, or idiot thrill seekers

So basically, no more torture labyrinth for the miners

[cinemaocd]

For my UK mutuals

As requested I'm not interacting but I have a lot to say about surviving extreme weather as American who has survived half a century of extreme weather in the midwest.

I lived in uninsulated attic bedroom without ac as a child and these are things I learned to do when I was little:

Close up the windows and shut the blinds as the day is heating up. Wait to open things up until after the sun goes down. Use fans to circulate air into the house early in the a.m. when it's colder outside than inside. Use your fans to circulate air around the house during the heat of the day. Use your fans to push air OUT of the house again in the evening. If you push air out an upper story window it will draw some colder air from below.

Save activities/errands for evenings and early mornings. Stay out of the sun as much as possible. Use umbrellas for shade. Wear a hat. Lose fitting clothing in a breathable (cotton, linen, light weight wool) fabric is much better than exposed skin if you have to go in the sun. If you want to go to the beach go early in the morning or in the evening. Don't swim in the heat of the day. If you are in charge of when you work, avoid doing it in the heat of day. If you run a shop, cafe or other business, change your hours to avoid being open during "siesta hours" (2-5 p.m.) If possible try to work from home to avoid commuting during the heatwave. The more people on the Tube the hotter it's going to be down there.

Cars left in the sun are subject to the greenhouse effect and will be much hotter than outside temperatures. Open your car windows and doors before you drive and run the fan to push the hot air out. If you are traveling carry the following: Cold drinking water, a sports drink, nut milk or cow's milk are preferable to soda, coffee or tea but any of those three are preferable to nothing. Even if your vehicle has a.c. you still need more hydration to deal with the heat.

Also useful for travel: bandana or towel (more on that later), sun hat, handheld fan (for when you are stuck in traffic). In America they sell these shields that you can put over your windshield to prevent the greenhouse effect. Not sure if they sell them in the Old Country, but here is a tutorial for making one out of cardboard. All of this stuff (minus the sunshade) would be useful on public transport.

That other post talks about how its bad to wear wet clothes in the sun because water acts as a lens but wet clothing can be your best friend in the shade! A bandana dipped in cold/cool water and wrapped around your neck will keep you cool until it dries. For sleeping I often place a cold bandana or washcloth on my face or forehead. You can dampen a towel and sit on it (this is a great trick for long car rides in the heat) Alternatively: Hot water bottles can also be COLD WATER BOTTLES. Just add ice. They make ice trays that make skinny little shapes to fit into water bottles, and they can help turn your hwb into an ice pack.

Cold/cool showers and baths especially right before bed if you have trouble sleeping in the heat. Kiddie pools or animal troughs in the shade are great for keeping people and doggos cool.

Cranking your fridge to its lowest setting will make it cool more but the heat that is pumped out of the fridge goes right into your house. Keep your fridge at the warmest temp you can get away with. Likewise televisions and computers pump out of a ton of heat when they are running.

IF YOU LOSE POWER

The temptation to rely on your refrigerator/freezer is obvious but the first thing that happens in a heat wave in America is the power grid goes down.

Think about buying a solar powered fan now, before the grid goes down...

Make sure you have batteries charged ahead of time.

If you rely on candles or lanterns for power outtages, consider a source of light that doesn't add heat to the environment, like a solar powered LED lantern.

Another piece of equipment that could literally save your life: a marine cooler.

If/when the worst happens: take some large frozen items out of freezer/deepfreeze and put it in a cooler with some essentials from your fridge. Deeply frozen food will keep those other things cool for a day or more (depending on your cooler). Try to keep the fridge and freezer shut then after you have filled your cooler so that the remaining cool air will keep things as long as possible. If you go multiple days without power you may need to throw everything out anyway, but you might get away with it if you are careful and have a good cooler.

A marine cooler kept out of the sun will keep ice for days. We started camping with one and we no longer have to do any kind of mid-trip ice stock up. Also: block ice will stay frozen so much longer than cubes. If you have the space in your freezer, buy some now and stash it before you need it.

Fresh fruit and vegetables that don't require cooking are a great way to get more liquids and feed yourself without making your house any hotter or using electricity. If consumed quickly they don't need refrigeration either.

This is a wacky one but hear me out: hammocks. If you can hang a hammock do it! Sleeping suspended like that air circulates around your body and you will be so much cooler. I was in tropical Mexico a few years ago and all of the houses had hammock hooks built into the walls to take advantage of the cooling effect. Bonus: you can pretend to be Captain Jack Aubrey while you're lying there...

[quiteunpersuadable]

Your quippy tagline to get viewers encompasses my job. Congratulations. 💯

[unproduciblesmackdown]

the way that randos seem to have learned a tiny bit more about autistic people and are using this newfound power to give their ableism more range, like [inspiring: this gender-respecting bully will only give victims swirlies in bathroom that aligns with their identity] and [guy who researches your identity so that his microaggressions are more accurate] like oh radical that now you're throwing around the word "autistic" more comfortably as meaning shit like someone's "clueless" or "has an interest or perhaps talent" or what nonsense will follow when someone's breaking out the term "social skills" like oh nice, people accessing all the abilities of Autism Parents without having to be a parent

[madonnawhorecom]

Gave him the boot

Ended it with my fwb today bc the steady realization i have been in love with my ex best friend who i blocked and ghosted a year ago is too much for me to bear, even tho Johnathan was going to be a lot of fun bc he was into the exact same kinks as me in the exact same way and matched my freak to an eerie degree

So im gonna just kinda settle into maybe becoming one of those professional yeaners who still pine over their homoerotic object of affection like 70 years later. Wish me luck, I might become a published poet in like 5 years if i can channel whatever this is constructively!

[insomniacs-keyboard]

Bruh

[absolutedestinyapocalypsse]

i love how as you read more into tlt, the ninth house seems more and more normal. Like if i'm at an immoral evil government competition, and i use human fat as soap and animate skeletons to do menial labor, i'm gonna LOSE if my competition is the third house, represented by ianthe "who HASN'T eaten human flesh and fucked a corpse" tridentarius. My weird skeleton thing seems normal, suddenly. Well-adjusted, even. It's recycling. They're using resources in a sustainable way. Normal and regular and productive for a post-climate change apocalypse universe.

People go on and on about how Muir drops you into gtn hearing from the person who knows the least about whats happening, and does not hand hold the reader through the crazy shit that occurs, and that's all true. It truly is a crazy writing decision to make your first pov character come from the universe's equivalent of amish fundamentalists. But the reader is actually done a huge favor being dropped into the ninth house first, because we already understand that space is cold and what catholic nuns are, and what goths look like, and what lesbians are. Very little time is wasted in the first chunk of gtn ripping hair out of your head wondering what the fuck is going on, because for all of its strangeness, the ninth house is already the most familiar thing we're gonna get.

Because THEN we learn that this whole universe's medieval chivalry system is designed to groom people from CHILDREN to not only be exploited and used as human batteries for necromancers, but to LIKE it. to wax poetic about it. to confuse it for love, to write fucking academic papers about it! Then we learn about planet flipping, an act so horrific and violent it turns the planet's soul into a massive vengeful monster capable of killing GOD. Like what do you MEAN the animals "change"? Is this why noodle has six legs? I would MUCH prefer to wear skeleton makeup and repent forever if the alternative was to witness my family dog grow TWO EXTRA LIMBS because the planet he lived on fucking died. Suddenly, living in the asscrack of a planet where no light gets in seems like a sweet deal when the whole solar system is lit by a sun that MAKES YOU GO CRAZY. The ninth house's WORST sin, killing 200 babies to make Harrow, a waste of resources and an act so terrible it haunts Harrow for the entire span of her life, is like a BLIP compared to the death count Jod's empire. God even hears about it and he's like, no big deal! The cohort probably kills that amount of people in a DAY.

And its ALSO tragic because you realize that all of this trauma and abuse that Gideon goes through is not really because of the ninth house at all. It's really just an individual skill issue that she wasn't treated with compassion. Nobody hated her because she's jesus or a bomb, nobody even KNOWS she's a bomb. It's just Priamhark and Pelleamena being deeply guilty and scared people that motivates her treatment, and absolutely nothing else.

They did something bad, and they know it, and Gideon survived it, and they can't kill her to cover it up, and that's IT. They killed themselves for pride, because they were afraid of the consequences of their actions (both the baby killing and Harrow opening the tomb) coming back to bite them. You can argue this is the catholicism of it all, and I wouldn't say you're wrong, but compared to the cavalier system, where exploitation is in the very lining of the house's institutions, the ninth house is really removed from the space empire's blood factory. This is compared to the fourth house where they have tons of children to be CANNON FODDER to join the cohort at fucking 14, compared to the eight house uncle nephew fuckery, even the fifth house which actually does seems nice to live on but also seems to have the fourth house in some sort of fucked up political bear hug??? (maybe the fourth house has so many kids in order to fight the fifth's battles? which is EXACTLY what jod's whole empire is about; politely stirring your tea and acting nice while you destroy everything) compared to ALL OF THAT, the cruelty that Gideon faces is really more a bug of the ninth's system than a feature.

There's nothing baked into the culture and everyday life of the ninth house that necessitated that cruelty; in fact, for such a pragmatic and resource-scarce place, it's WEIRD that a strong able-bodied young person was treated like a waste of space and resources. It could just have easily not happened, if Harrow's parents had been different people. Maybe they were products of their environment, but so was Harrow, and she values Gideon's life SO MUCH that she'd literally rather carve out parts of her own brain than exploit her. Gideon grows up knowing really NOTHING about cavaliers, so remote from the horrors of the empire that she develops an idea of what the cohort is from porn magazines. And in a lot of ways, that upbringing was desolate and terrible, and in a lot of other ways it literally DID NOT HAVE TO BE.

Gideon's MAIN THING is that she wants to be useful, to be needed, to be loved and it SUCKS that she couldn't even get it in the one place where she was actually an invaluable resource, where the death empire had the weakest reach. Gideon can't even blame her lack of love on the fucked up chivalry system like everyone else can because it JUST WASNT REALLY RELEVENT!?!?! This is like if i rolled up to the trauma competition and everyone else was raised in a nuclear warzone by wolves or something and i grew up in like, the suburbs and was raised by teachers and i somehow STILL WON. truly what the fuck guys.

[nochepsicodelica]

"All those drinks are gonna do you dirty, ma. You're gonna throw up if you don't get some food in your system, so eat," Toji says, pushing the box closer to you.

You giggle at his serious face, before standing up from your chair for the fourth time, trying to go around him. Toji's used to this by now and stands up, bringing you back down to your chair.

"Stop getting up and eat your food. You literally begged for this. Why aren't you eating it?"

"Why aren't you eating it?" You return, raising your brows at him, seductively. It doesn't come off too sexy when raising your eyebrows makes you immediately squint because of the light going into your sensitive eyes, but it does lure a chuckle out of Toji.

"I'm ignoring that. Just eat. I don't wanna hear you upchucking in a couple hours."

"You won't hold my hair back?" You pout. Your feigned little flash of sadness produces real tears in this state, so it's a little confusing for Toji when you start giggling while wiping at your reddened cheeks.

"Your food's getting cold. I know how you are about reheating fast food, so eat it before it goes to waste."

You smile at him, your eyelids almost completely shut in your drunken daze. Toji can't even lie, it's cute. It's the only reason he's not up the wall about this little situation. Then you decide to drop a bomb on him.

"I'm not hungry anymore. Too tired to eat." You rest your chin on your palm, shutting your eyes. It feels nice. It would take less than thirty seconds for you to fall asleep.

Fuck. Think, think, think...

"Hey." Toji pokes your forehead, lightly, earning a hum and a furrow of your brows. "What if I feed you?"

You laugh, giddily. "Ooo, you trying to romance me?"

"Sure, if you eat."

You laugh again. "Toji, you dog, you. I'm not putting out." You shake your head, eyes closed with a dumb grin on your face. "No, sir. It's food and then goodnight for me."

"You already put out for me, earlier, doll." He smirks at the way you blush, clearly having an 'oh, yeah...' moment. "Eat some more so we can go to sleep."

"Hm?" You hum, rolling your eyes open after your blink of sleep. You crack a grin as soon as you look at Toji. "You wanna kiss me sooo bad. Look at you."

"I'm not gonna kiss you. You're not listening. You think you deserve kisses for that?"

"Uh... yes? I mean no. Pshhh, nooo. Of course, not."

"That's right. So eat, or you'll go to sleep without kisses, tonight."

"Noooo," you whine, dramatically. "Wait! Fine, fine. Look." You take a huge bite of your sandwich, your cheeks puffing up as you chew. "Oh, this is really good," you say, muffled by your mouthful of food.

"Don't choke, doll. Small bites are fine," he says, picking up a napkin and wiping the excess condiments off your face.

You push through it and gulp down the bite. "That was a lot. Got bread stuck on the roof of my mouth." You take a sip of your drink to wash it all down. "Did I look so pretty for the party, today?" You ask, your lips curling as you put the cup back down.

"You did, mama. Stunning. Swept everyone there, off their feet."

You smile, the gesture transitioning into a giggle. "Even Shiu?"

"Yup. Even Shiu said he wanted a piece of you."

You gasp. "No... Did you fight him?"

"Nah, I wanted to, but I kept my cool. If he had put his hands on you, then I might have, but I had my eye on you all night, to make sure nobody did more than look at you."

"I wouldn't have followed him anywhere, anyway." You roll your eyes, suddenly so hostile against the host of the party. "Probably would've kicked him in the nuts and gone to find you."

"Yeah, that's a smart idea, doll."

Toji's elaborate answers to your questions kept you awake long enough for you to mindlessly eat while he talked. You were at the end of the sandwich when you realized how much you had eaten and how full you were.

"Can't... do it..." You groan, lying on the arm you have extended on the table. "Too full." You sigh, heavily, setting the rest of the sandwich down on the scattered fries in its box.

"That's good, ma. You don't have to eat it, anymore. We can go to bed, now."

You let out another heavy sigh, sluggishness washing over you before you force yourself to stand up from your chair, this time with Toji's 'okay'. He looks at your little belly as it protrudes from your dress, proof of how full you actually are, and pokes at it. Your usually soft tummy is temporarily stiff and it's adorable.

You grab Toji's hand so that you don't stumble as you walk. Before leaving the table, he finished the remainder of your sandwich in one bite and threw out the container with the remaining cold fries.

"Damn, you were right, baby. That was good."

"Mhm," you mumble, waiting for him to lead you to the room.

Toji helped you brush your teeth and wash your face, and when you finally made it to the room, he helped you dress down into comfier clothes. Now, you're in bed together and you're in his arms trying to doze off, but you can't with the way he's smothering your face with kisses. It's just kiss after kiss with him and you can't focus, but it is what you wanted. After all, you stuffed your face for this.

[ponett]

Any opinion on the Pokemon Gigaleak or nah?

I think seeing some of the WIP assets from when gen 3 was in development is kinda neat, because Game Freak is normally so secretive about that kind of thing. But beyond that I mostly just find this whole situation tiring.

Fans have a tendency to almost treat scrapped material as "more canon" than whatever actually made it into the finished product, in a way. It's treated as this pure, unfiltered insight into the creators' true vision. In reality, most of the time this stuff gets cut for a reason. Sometimes they very quickly realize it was a bad idea that was never gonna work, and they don't go very far with it. Sometimes it's a pitch from just one guy on the team that was never gonna get accepted. Sometimes they're just spitballing. Experimentation and iteration and knowing when to cut things are integral parts of the artistic process.

And hell, a lot of the time creators will just mess around with an idea purely as a creative exercise, or to get an idea out of their system, or to explore a crazy what-if scenario, or even just as a joke, with no intention of ever actually using those ideas. We recently saw this same thing happened with those leaked Rebecca Sugar sketches, where people were like "OMG Rebecca ships this, this is what they REALLY wanted to do with the show, this is canon, this was happening off-screen!!" And it's like, y'all have no idea how much crazy shit your favorite artists draw with their characters just to amuse themselves. The crew on Clarence had a not-so-secret Tumblr where they redrew scenes from Evangelion with Clarence characters. That doesn't mean they wanted to turn Clarence into Eva. They were just screwing around. This happens all the time, and with way more extreme examples than these. Lord knows how many Disney animators have drawn Mickey Mouse with his dick out over the years. That doesn't mean they ever actually wanted to make an official Mickey Mouse porno.

And, of course, there's the response to those myths that were never supposed to see the light of day. Anyone who's even passingly familiar with mythology from just about any part of the world shouldn't be surprised to hear fables about humans and animals having babies or whatever. But now people are responding to those unused stories and going "OMG Game Freak is a bunch of gooners who want humans and Pokemon to have sex!! This is canon!!!" It's so fucking tiring. So much of the modern internet, particularly Twitter, is driven by people who just want an excuse to whip out their favorite shocked/disgusted reaction image and ham up their reaction to something that isn't actually all that shocking. Everyone just wants to get their funny dunks in and feign moral superiority. It's childish. And it's because of reactions like this that this stuff was never supposed to see the light of day in the first place. But fans feel like they're owed every single shred of info from the development of their favorite franchises, so these leaks happen and people run wild with them.

(It also doesn't help that this is all just sourced back to a 4chan thread, so people were posting fake shit between the real leaks and muddying the waters. And also most of it is in Japanese, so people are just sticking documents through Google Translate and going "whooooaaaa this is canon")