#anyway I shouldn't talk a lot about it on my blog but now I'm super pissed right now fuck you M/arvel

[sophieinwonderland]

hey sophie. there's been a lot of sysmeds fakeclaiming my mutual @/snowchester-system for being a RAMCOA survivor and pro-endo. i thought sysmeds liked dx'd survivors

I got this ask over a week ago. I wrote up this draft the same day but I held off on posting it. Snowchester has now been revealed to be an anti-endo bait account organized by a former r/systemscringe member.

This isn't at all surprising to me.

Below is what I wrote at the time but never posted:

----------

I'm sorry. I'm not going to be weighing in on this.

As much as I want to stand by survivors in general, that account hasn't been up to two weeks and I'm seeing more red flags than a Soviet parade.

I would be suspicious of the claim to be diagnosed with ASPD at 15 when it's in the diagnostic criteria that you can't be diagnosed if you're under 18.

They claim that this is because their team decided they were a special case... but does that happen? Do doctors just decide to flat out ignore the criteria for a disorder in the DSM and diagnose it anyway even when the criteria isn't met? Because I've never heard of this happening.

The reason you don't diagnose certain disorders in minors is because symptoms of personality disorders could be things you grow out of. And especially if you're talking about someone who was literally just removed from a traumatizing situation, any rational person would realize that's likely to contribute to their behavior. The RAMCOA history should never be a reason to say "this is actually a super special case and we need to fast track their ASPD diagnosis." It should be a sign that you need to slow down and give them time away from their abusers to actually grow and process their trauma before diagnosing them with a lifelong personality disorder.

But fine, doctors are human, and humans are fallible. Maybe they shouldn't ignore a disorder's diagnostic criteria but I suppose it's technically possible they did anyway and diagnosed this when they shouldn't. Concerningly though, the user claims their "team" decided this, meaning multiple doctors were in on this bad decision.

I also find the mention of being diagnosed with "highly complex dissociative identity disorder" to be a bit suspicious as well since that's not a medical term. But again, let's say it's fallible doctors. It's technically possible they picked up a community term and just ran with it.

I mean, "multiple personality disorder" was never in the DSM, but it was commonly called that by doctors. (It was just called "multiple personality" in the DSM. Calling it "multiple personality disorder" created the weird misconception that it was a personality disorder when it was always categorized as a dissociative disorder. And I will find any excuse to mention this that I can because it's my favorite piece of DID trivia.) So yeah, technically possible.

Meanwhile, they're in the US witness protection program in Mexico. Something which, I suppose, could happen in the absolute most extreme cases if the feds decided nowhere was safe in the US, but is pretty difficult to setup since it involves cooperation between multiple nations now. Which is why witness protection doesn't usually relocate to other countries.

The fact that they're confessing to being in witness protection means they're already ignoring witness protection guidelines. Yeah, even if you are on an anonymous account, do you really think a dedicated hacker couldn't find a way to track you down?

What's worse is them mentioning that they're in contact with some of the other kids from the same cult, because THEY REALLY SHOULDN'T BE! Especially if this is an organization that is so sprawling and dangerous that Witness Protection moved them to another country, something which Witness Protection wouldn't normally do.

And at this point, I'd kind of prefer if they were lying. Because either they've made everything up... Or they are violating their witness protection deal and endangering not just their own life, but the lives of the other survivors they've kept in contact with. Because if somebody did track them down, they could then access their other social media accounts to track down the others.

----------

So that was the end of my draft as it was written. (The only edits I made being to add emphasis to certain words and correct grammar.)

I wonder if I did the right thing by not posting it. If I had, I might have been able to keep people from buying into very blatant lies.

But... I was concerned about the 1% chance.

What if they weren't lying? What if this was a real person who just happened to have literally the worst doctors in the world who blatantly ignored the diagnostic criteria of their patient? Who diagnosed them with disorders that were community-made terms? What if Snowchester really was just that stupid as to reach out to the other children from their cult? Because let's face it... kids can be really stupid sometimes.

Maybe the reason the story sounded so unbelievable wasn't because it wasn't true, but because literally everyone involved was just that unbelievably stupid and incompetent. It could happen. Sometimes in life, you run into people, even those with medical degrees and those that should be professional, who commit malpractice or are ignorant of things they shouldn't be.

So I held off, not wanting to risk fakeclaiming someone who could be telling the truth, however incredibly slim the possibility was.

Now, the problem with liars is that it can be incredibly hard to take anything they say seriously.

They claim that they organized this with u/Pomme-Pomme, the former owner of r/systemscringe. Is this true? I have no idea. It seems impossible to tell for certain. This could be yet another lie to cause infighting in r/systemscringe, since Snowchester seems to just be in it to create chaos.

But if they are telling the truth now, I just want to take a moment to comment on how hilarious the reasoning is for them going rogue from that group!

Hun, if you believe RAMCOA is an antisemitic conspiracy theory... why were you citing the ISSTD?

You do realize they're the group responsible for the so-called conspiracy theory, right?

If this is true, this is such an epic r/leopardsatemyface moment. Of course there was a falling out from you citing the group of doctor that you people have been demonizing and painting as conspiracy theorists the last year!!! How are you surprised by this???????

Anyway, this just leaves me with one final question for the anon. A question I've had in the back of my mind for the past week.

Was this you, Snowchester?

Because it feels like you. Or maybe someone from the same group.

On the off chance this was just a random person fooled by Snowchester, I'm sorry it turned out how it did...

But this ask just feels like an attempt at baiting me into this conflict.

And if it was... were you disappointed when I didn't respond?

You should know that I've ran my own anti-endo parody blog and have infiltrated an r/systemscringe Discord server. If you confused my willingness to give the benefit of the doubt with gullibility and picked me for an easy mark, I'm sorry to inform you that you've sorely misjudged me.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Please...

Alright...Is everything ready?

Ryuji, off-screen: Camera's been set up and everything is in place. I've started recording.

Wait, already!?

Ryuji: We can cut out the parts that you don't want left in...But I have to ask, Mahiru...Are you sure you want to do this?

Some things need to be said, Ryuji. It'd probably be better if it came from my mouth anyway.

Ryuji: Alright, if you're sure. Start whenever.

Alright...

*Mahiru clears her throat.

Hello everyone...As you all know, I am Mahiru Koizumi, the former Ultimate Photographer, Remnant of Despair, and agent of Branch 3 of the Future Foundation.

And yes, I am speaking directly to those who follow this blog. The anons. Nice to speak with you directly for once when I'm not answering your questions.

I do, deep down, wish that what I want to talk about could be something a little more lighthearted.

Not that this is anything TOO serious, but still something that's gotten to the point that I need to bring it up and...just ask people kindly for a favor.

Alright, so...I guess I should start by providing a bit of context.

Recently, we had a big wash out of the asks in the box. Answering everything that was stored in there before today so that we have a clean box for when we open it again this weekend.

Keep in mind that though the box may open, we no longer have a schedule for answering asks. We will likely only do it when we have availability to do so. I hope you guys can understand that, but...that's not what I'm here to talk about.

Something that we noticed...as we were going through the asks...is that there was an abundance of a certain type of ask...

Now, since this blog started to gain followers, many people from all walks of life have come to visit, ask, and follow our adventures. And I cannot enforce enough just how grateful we are for all of that, and for all of you.

But...we need to make sure that we're all on the same page here, so I'm here to talk about a specific group of people...who are sending these very horny, degenerate asks, prying into our romantic and sex lives.

Now, let's state the facts here. We have rules on this blog that we expect everyone who comes here to follow, but we do not have a specific rule saying these sorts of asks are forbidden. And they shouldn't be. We encourage people to speak their mind here, and even though we're not therapy central by any means, the purpose of this blog is to hear people out, and answer questions that they want to have answered.

That includes these sorts of asks, but know that we are not obligated to answer them. But we can, and we usually do.

The reason I'm here talking is, as you might have noticed, me and my...well, fiancé, I suppose...get these asks a LOT. People constantly picture in their heads the idea of us being a super freaky couple behind closed doors, and...constantly pry into that.

Do I like it when they do that? No.

Do I think I can stop it? Also no.

And I don't know if I would really want to stop it, since I don't like the idea of not giving the people who follow us what we want...However...

What you have to understand is...just because we exist on different planes than you, we are still living creatures at the end of the day. Even if you don't see us as such. It's fine if you don't, heck, you shouldn't be blending our world with yours but...I need to level with you guys...

When clearing out the box, there were...a lot...of horny, and/or otherwise super sensitive, explicate, perverted asks...SO many...and...I hope you can understand that even though we don't put restrictions on that kind of thing, no one here really wants THAT stuff to be the main content of this blog.

I mean, my friends tease me on my sex life all the time, so there's nothing wrong with what people are doing...

...Mostly...

See, the thing is...there are some asks...I don't know who it is specifically, because of anonymous questioning...who are sending these asks that...are a little over the top.

Stuff like asking me if I can get naked for Hajime or Izuru...Asking Makoto what his favorite sex position is...Stuff like that.

Now, if you are one of the anons, I want to ask you a question. Do you walk up to people that you don't really know too well, and ask them those sorts of questions in real life?

I bet you don't. And if in some cases, you DO? I'm sorry to say this so bluntly, but that's messed up and wrong.

To make matters worse, we have received DM's from some people asking about the ask box being closed, and whether or not their degenerate asks are being answered...and...

People are being...angry? When they hear that we won't answer them? Like, you sent an ask where you asked someone to slap my bare butt, and when we refuse to answer because it doesn't fit with the rules, that upsets you guys.

[lawbin-archive]

Lawbin Dressrosa Analysis 1: Dating while handing over Caesar team

Finally, I finished re-reading dressrosa! It's probably one of my favorite arcs. Maybe top 3 haha The other two are probably Wano and Enies Lobby. The pacing in manga is definitely way better, so I actually enjoyed this arc more. I might missed something because I was too immersed into the story and sometimes I forgot to jot down notes lol But anyways, let's start!

As usual, things highlighted in purple are my delulus.

Warning: It's my personal blog so don't read it if you don't like lawbin, include lots of delulu :D

~LAWBIN ALLIANCE PHASE~ why can't I choose yellow on tumblr anymore?! :(

Chapter 700: Law hates bread

Robin weird thoughts always live in my head rent free. I also like how most of the crew are complaining or interrupting Law but Robin (and Zoro) just listen to his plan. Of course it's also because their personality is similar (they mostly won't say anything unless something it's wrong), and I think they just trust Luffy hence they trust Law.

I love the fact that Robin's favorite food is sandwich but Law hates bread!! It's gonna be a funny debate between them about bread!! >< I also find Robin and Zoro just follow their captain and ignore Law's plan are so funny. (Remember this, it's changing in the upcoming plot *wink*)

Chapter 701: Adventure in the land of love, passion and toys [This is the actual title of this chapter] That's kinda obvious is it? That's where all the love starts *smirk*

Every time they are together is such a beautiful panel, (maybe I shouldn't said that people will say I ship them just for their aesthetic haha it's like that's a problem) The *aggressive* *calm* *calm* *aggressive* combo is also really interesting and entertaining, I can understand why Oda will choose Robin and Usopp to be Law's companion. Or maybe Law chose Robin himself to spend more time with her?! It didn't say how they assign the team but in any way, I'm sure Robin and Law realize they have similar personality. Robin even found Law's plan fun haha. Their mind just sync a lot and I think Law will appreciate to have Robin here because she's the only one that follow his plan without a complain lol. And from this point, Law & Robin started become a "I want to scare Usopp just for fun" team. (and also Caeser but I don't think they give a fk about him lol)

Chapter 705 ~ 711: Let's go to Greenbit

Again, the aesthetic is just ~amazing~. I'm gonna compliment it regardless, they look good together and that's a part of why they have good chemistry to me. I'm not gonna deny it! And I like it so much that Robin and Law are sitting across each other, they can see each other clearly!

They really look like they are on a secret date together! >< (minus Usopp and Caesar I'm sorry) I saw a newspaper poster (made by a one piece theme park in Japan, but it's closed now) and this "news" was saying they found out Law and Robin secretly meeting? (I'm just guessing) Literally create my vision of them getting caught dating haha And I like how they share a lot of common knowledge - they know how dangerous CP0 is and recognize them is right away. At least I think most of the straw hats won't recognize and realize who they are.

The small bickering they have are so cute, Robin isn't scared and she's super calm but she has her little complain that she expected fish to look like a fish (maybe that's the only complaint she has haha) and Law was like "Looks like a fish to me". It’s like she hates gum because she expects food can be swallowed.

I'm always wondering who's Law talking to here haha because Robin & Usopp are the ones who fight the fish after but from where he's pointing, isn't look like he's talking to Caesar either. So maybe he's telling Robin don't need to worry? If that’s true, that means Law cared about her haha I feel like the whole time, he just want to talk to her and teasing Usopp only

~LAWBIN FRIENDS PHASE~

From this point, I think Law and Robin started to trust each other more and treated each other as friends. At least you can see their interactions are more friendlier. I will explain a little bit more later.

They even sit together on the Caesar hot air balloon!! In my mind, it's probably Usopp scared to sit in the middle because he might fall and Law being a gentleman so he volunteered to sit in the center (less safe). If you think about it, this could be their date lol Going to a cafe, fight some fishes and sitting on a hot air balloon. Law planned the whole thing and Robin was like *I have fun with this* the whole time haha. Robin likes to explore and Law's hobby is wandering around. They just seem to get along so well together!

I think I already explained a few times that how they both get so investigative once they arrived at Greenbit they are so similary in lots of ways!! They both will analyze the situation and environment they are in.

Robin can see through him so easily. She probably can figure out how he did it anyways And see how Robin changed her attitude so much?! From distrusting him and observing him a lot in Punk Hazard, and now she's teasing him. If she didn't get close with someone, she probably won't say anything and just observe. That's definitely a sign that she got closer with him and a friendly behavior.

I like how Law already knew what each Straw Hat specialized with and ask them for help. And again, only Robin listened to Law. She looks like she enjoyed the adventure so much and I'm actually surprised Robin just followed Law here. I guess after Punk Hazard, she found he isn't a bad person so she just followed his plan. But also mainly because Luffy trust Law.

The first thing Robin woke up is to think about how to contact with Law (and also care about Usopp of course) When I was reading the Greenbit part, I actually thought Robin is gonna tell Law where she is and he can use his ability to transfer him and Caesar to underground, so Doflamingo couldn't find them there haha. But my delulu didn't come true ;'(

I also saw a person said the reason why they ship lawbin it's because Law treat Robin differently than others. And here is one of the evidences, when he was talking to other straw hats, he usually just order them around lol and for Robin, he's like *help me using your intelligence skills* *ok I understand* it's just seems he is so much calmer in front of her, like they can actually communicate without arguing. I wouldn't say he cared about her but at least he is nice enough to say good luck to her too. Robin actually treat him differently than others too. She said "Good luck" to him, something I rarely seen Robin did to other people outside of straw hats and Robin worried about him a lot in this arc (again I'll elaborate later on, there is so much to talk in this arc omg ><!)

When the whole Greenbit shaking, Robin worried about Law's fighting. Their relationship really change drastically here. Robin seems to care about Law a lot more. To be fair, I think the whole crew started to care about Law's safety in this arc a lot and of course it's natural to care someone that's an ally of you. But also if I really compare, Robin seems like she cared the most about Law maybe after Luffy.

I actually think Law is so similar to Robin here. He really gave me the Enies Lobby Robin vibe here. In my perspective, I don't think he really meant to use straw hats at this point (definitely yes before tho), I think he told Doflamingo he is using them to try to protect them. So Doflamingo will think it's useless even he threaten Law he is going to kidnap the rest of the straw hats because Law said he won't care about them. (the mind games). Law and pre-time skip Robin are so alike, they always try to take all the responsibility to themselves or sacrifice themselves in order to protect others. Law didn't even bring heart pirates to here is just like when Robin pretend to be betray the straw hats in Enies Lobby sigh :(

If Law is really using the straw hats, he is gonna betray them once Doflamingo is defeated, but he kept his promise to defeat Kaido. That's one of the reasons why Law is one of my favorite characters, even he looks so unbothered and sometimes mean on the outside, his actions always tell the opposite >///<

And it’s cute that during Dressrosa, Robin is the one who cares about Law a lot and once they get into Wano the situation switched haha the feelings are mutual!!!!

That's it for today! Thank you for reading! <3 I think I have talked too much again lol I will probably start writing about the rest of the arc soon! Hopefully I can finish writing the whole arc under 2 parts! (probably not) I actually have something to write about my thoughts on other ships during dressrosa, uhm maybe I will briefly talk about it next one.

[hot-take-tournament]

Goncharov shouldn't have been as big a meme as it was. The Goncharov meme is bad, especially for anyone with any unreality issues. Dead serious.

Yeah, you do make a valid point. Unreality memes are fun, but there are people with genuine unreality issues that were affected by the Goncharov trend.

That being said, I do think that a lot of the fan works - art, writing, shitposts, etc. - inspired by that meme were really fun, and clearly took a lot of effort - and the results were super impressive. So I think the fact that it served as a creative outlet for so many people shouldn't be discounted either.

But you're right, it wasn't a great experience for people with those issues with unreality - but my takeaway from that was the importance of content warnings and tagging things properly, not that the meme itself - or just unreality content as a whole - was bad.

I followed the Goncharov tag when it was at its peak, and I constantly saw people begging other users to tag their posts as #unreality - and while plenty of people were doing that, it felt like just as many weren't.

I don't believe for a second that people were seeing those posts and just choosing to ignore them, because one thing I have learned over the past 3-4 years is that the vast majority of people on this website do genuinely care about the wellbeing of others; and I know that for a fact because a) all you guys have been so supportive of me up until now (<3), and b) because I spent so much time in my shithead teen years sending fucking horrific abuse to those same kind, genuine people, and the way everyone rallied around each other against my scumbag ass is a testament to that kindness.

So I think it's far more likely that they simply weren't seeing those posts, and just didn't know that unreality content can be a trigger for some people - because I genuinely didn't either until the Goncharov meme came around and people started talking about it. It's the same way I didn't know until I started this blog that the things I originally wrote in the master post were triggering people's OCD to the point where they had to blacklist the URL.

At the time Goncharov was a thing, a lot of people were saying that people making content for it should've just 'educated themselves' and then they would've known to tag stuff '#unreality', so it was their fault their work was affecting people with unreality issues - but personally I think that just wasn't fair, because honestly you can't know to educate yourself on an issue that you don't even know exists in the first place. You first need to know what it is you don't know before you can actually learn about it and fill that gap.

I have no idea if any of that answered your question because I'm drunk out of my fucking mind, so I don't know if any of this made sense, and I probably won't remember it in the morning - so:

tl;dr - I don't agree that the Goncharov meme was bad, but I think it did highlight the importance of content warnings and tags.

...unless you thought the meme was just unfunny, which is a different issue - that's an entirely subjective opinion, but I can totally respect it. And that's coming from someone who learnt last week that they apparently Goncharov'd themselves on at least three separate occasions, and has yet to fully recover from that revelation.

Anyway, I hope that all made some kind of sense...

...you guys want a poll?

[crimson-ace-reviews]

Crimson Ace Reviews: Kamen Rider Gavv, Episode 1

Hey, it's been a while, hasn't it?

I'll admit, I've been busy with my other blog and a lot of real life stuff to put a lot of time into this one, but I managed to find a little compromise to still post without needing as much time as my other posts: weekly episode reviews. Starting today, I'll be taking a look at the new Kamen Rider series, and gradually include reviews of each episode of the next Super Sentai and Ultraman series as well.

With that being said, let's get into Kamen Rider Gavv's first episode: A Snack Kamen Rider?!

The series opens with our main character, Shoma, running away from some faceless goons. He tries to get out through a door, only to end up in what I can only assume is a rejected room from Labyrinth.

Let's hope none of the villains this season have massive codpieces like Jareth.

After a short scuffle, Shoma falls through one of the doors in the room and into the human world.

Yes, unlike other Kamen Rider protagonists, Shoma is an alien who has just arrived on Earth. This is something that has never happened before in the show's history.

Like I said, NEVER. HAPPENED.

After a boy finds Shoma unconscious at a beach (insert your own Agito joke here), Shoma wakes up and has one thing on his mind.

The boy, named Hajime, helps Shoma get up and takes him to his secret hideout, but not before Shoma has to save him from getting hit by a car. Unfortunately, he can't save the car from getting hit by him.

Look, just say you had an adrenaline rush, and everyone will believe you. Worked for the guy from Twilight.

Meanwhile, a freelance writer named Hanto interviews a woman about her missing husband, claiming the source is a monster.

Now I'm not a reporter, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't smile while talking to a grieving widow about her possibly dead husband.

Hanto's mentor chides him for his behavior and believes it to be her covering up a murder. After all, this is Kamen Rider. We all know monsters don't exist. So anyway, we cut to someone delivering shrunken humans tied up in Fruit by the Foot to another masked goon like the ones who chased Shoma, receiving a cube of some kind as payment.

Like I said, no such thing as monsters.

Shoma is taken to Hajime's hangout spot and is given some candy to eat. As soon as he tries a few gummies, he gives birth to something through a strange red thing on his stomach.

Shockingly, this isn't how Shoma's kind reproduces, and Shoma himself doesn't know what the hell this thing is (while it's not mentioned in the episode, these things will be called Gochizos). After telling Hajime that he's an alien, Shoma explains that the red thing is something his kind has called a “Gavv”.

Hajime goes home for dinner, so he tells Shoma to stay at the hideout and not break any more cars. Meanwhile, the shady man from earlier takes out his “payment” of a strange gummy cube as a large tongue shoots out of his stomach, revealing he's like Shoma.

What the hell, dude?! If you're going to play with your Gavv, at least do it in private!

We get a brief flashback with a young Shoma and his mother, the latter tells Shoma how he absolutely cannot eat human snacks. She doesn't say why because we still need to justify the show's gimmick and because it makes for better drama later on. Afterwards, Hajime is making his way home, only to be stalked by the same creepy dude, who says he wants to steal his happiness for something called a “Dark Treat”, the same cube thing he got earlier. Shoma saves him just as the man transforms into a hound-themed monster.

Shoma calls the monster out, revealing that like him, he's a Granute, the name of the alien race Shoma is a part of.

So after the two compare Gavv sizes, they fight. Shoma has super strength, but the Hound Granute isn't a car, so Shoma gets his ass kicked. This reminds Shoma of how it was impossible for him to save his mom, who was turned into the same Fruit by the Foot thing as the Hound Granute's victims. Right when Shoma gains the resolve to protect Hajime, the Gochizos come to save him, telling Shoma to put one of them, labeled “Poppin Gummy” in his Gavv. This allows him to transform into a Kamen Rider.

Base form's got a pretty decent design. Nice blend of colors here and there, but the bottom half is rather underdesigned.

As Shoma fights in his new form, we see how much his armor kind of sucks. Because it's made of gummies, it's easy for the Hound Granute to punch them off, so Shoma is forced to use more of those snack creatures to recreate his armor. As the two keep fighting, Hajime's mother appears out of nowhere to scream about the two “monsters”.

I'm guessing she went to call her American cousin Jonah afterwards.

After Hajime's mother takes him away to safety, the Granute Hound tries to get under Shoma's skin by calling him a monster. Shoma's response?

Yeah, Shoma may be a monster, but he's the monster who's going to kick your ass.

Shoma tries to break out his new weapon, the Gavvgablade, only for its finisher which shoots a Gochizo at the enemy to fail miserably. And I don't mean like it's not strong enough to kill him right then and there. It harmlessly bounces off the Granute Hound.

Maybe don't portray your new hero's armor and equipment as weak and fragile if you want kids to buy your toys.

Granute Hound escapes in a quadrupedal form, so Shoma gives chase on his new, ATV, created by another Gochizo and clearly CGI.

The next part of the fight is a very obvious CGI fest that's meant to get around Japan's dumb anti-customized vehicle laws and justify calling this show Kamen Rider Gavv. After that, Shoma unleashes the power of a different Gochizo, Kickin Gummy. This gives him a giant foot to use for his Rider Kick, ending the Granute Hound.

The next morning, Shoma leaves Hajime's hideout, eats all his snacks, and leaves a letter explaining why he'll keep his alien identity a secret going forward. Shoma uses the same Gochizo as last time to create a less goofy bike and rides off... only for the episode to end with him unconscious again only someone else finds him like this. I'm guessing the term “food coma” means something different for the Granutes.

Conclusion and Final Thoughts:

Much like SF Debris, I'll be giving awards to certain cliches and recurring themes I've noticed are prevalent in tokusatsu.

Shiny New Toy: For Shoma's Gavv and the Gochizo he created.

No Parents Allowed: For Shoma's mother, who was captured before the series began.

Kenny of the Week: For Hajime, being a small child character who becomes important to the plot. If you watch Brandon's Cult Movie Reviews, you'll get it.

Death by Rider Kick: For the Granute Hound, obviously.

This was a pretty solid first episode, all things considered. It sets up the main conflict, establishes Shoma's character and has good action. Shoma is a very likable protagonist, and he's a fine middle ground from a Rider getting the hang of his powers and a Rider who knows about the conflict of the series. Unlike other seasons where the main character is a rookie who has to figure out how his powers work, Shoma doesn't have a mentor or confidant to help him like Aruto, Touma, Ikki and Houtaro did. He's pretty much winging it as he goes along, but he's still going to fight as a Kamen Rider.

The only real gripe I have is that Hajime is shoved aside at the end despite being set up as a major character. Maybe he'll appear later on, but it's really strange that we spent so much time with him in the pilot only for the episode to end with someone else taking him in, especially since the second episode preview shows this woman serving a similar role as Shoma's confidant.

But putting aside, this was a pretty sweet way to start Kamen Rider Gavv.

Next time on Kamen Rider Gavv: Shoma discovers Pringles. That might not sound interesting, but when you're one of the only superheroes in existence who gets his powers from junk food, it's a big deal.

[kades-rp-lore-hell]

i'm planning on recycling oliver's blog into something else soon, since that blog served it's purpose and then died, like i expected. (arguably the blog wasn't really alive in the first place, haha.)

but i wanna make ultra super duper sure that the oliver and sylvan reunion remains intact and stuff because it's important lore, so i'm pasting the whole thing here. if you've already read the thread where oliver and sylvan meet at vernon's house, this is just that again.

'Amarena' stands at the door of a house he hasn't seen in many years. Despite the vague sense of dread tugging at him, he knocks on the door. Here, in his hometown, his internet persona is dropped. Online, he's Amarena, but in the real world, he's...

"Oliver!" A man says after opening the door.

"Vernon." Oliver replies dryly.

"Come on in."

The two men enter the house and sit down in the living room.

"It's... good to see you." Vernon says. "How have you been?"

"Fine." Oliver replies curtly.

Vernon sighs. "Y'know, I... I'm real sorry about how things were between us when you were a kid. You were under a lot of stress, and I was supposed to be the adult, I shouldn't have stooped to your level so often."

"'Stooped to my level?'" Oliver responds, glowering.

"That's... not what I meant. I just mean... you were the kid and I was the parent, and I should've acted like it."

"You're not my dad."

"I know. But I agreed to act the part as well as I could... and I didn't do very well."

"Fine, yeah, whatever. When's Heather getting here?"

"Sylvan."

"Sylvan. When's he getting here?"

"Soon. I don't know when exactly. How about we watch some TV or something while we wait?"

"Fine by me."

Not much time passes before Sylvan arrives at his father's house, N by his side. Sylvan knocks on the door and then sighs nervously while he waits for his father to answer.

"I'm getting a sense of deja vu..." Sylvan remarks.

N smirks amusedly. He takes Sylvan's hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over Sylvan's. Then Vernon answers the door.

"Sylvan! Good to see you!" Vernon says. "...And you brought N."

"Yup!" Sylvan replies, grinning.

"Why...?" Vernon asks.

"Hello to you, too..." N grumbles.

"Moral support." Sylvan answers.

"If you say so... You two come in."

The three of them walk inside and make their way to the living room, where Oliver is waiting.

Sylvan and Oliver make eye contact, and within a split second Oliver is on his feet and eagerly enveloping his younger brother in a tight hug.

"Oh—" Sylvan says under his breath, taken off guard by the sudden embrace.

"Sylvan!" Oliver cheers. He backs up to look at his brother. "My, how you've grown, mon frère!"

"Uhh..." Sylvan is rendered somewhat speechless by this encounter.

"How old are you now, anyway?"

"Um... Twenty-three."

"TWENTY-THREE! Oh, it's been far too long!" Oliver once again pulls Sylvan into a hug. "I'm so sorry... For everything."

"Uhh. Yeah, um... don't... don't worry about it, man."

Sylvan mentally stows this away in a list of things to talk about in more detail later. It'll come up at some point, right...?

In this moment, Oliver and N catch each other's glance. Oliver stands up straight, eyes widened slightly.

Sylvan, confused, looks in the direction Oliver is staring.

"Oh!" He says. "Uh, Oliver, this is my partner, N!"

"Nice to meet you." N says.

Oliver's eyes have widened even further.

"N Harmonia!?" Oliver exclaims.

"Um." Sylvan says. He and N look to each other.

"Yes?" N says, looking back to Oliver in sync with Sylvan.

"Mon dieu!" Oliver gasps. "You're dating the king of Team Plasma?!"

"That's—" Sylvan starts.

"What?" Vernon interrupts sternly, raising his voice.

Sylvan and N freeze.

"You!" Vernon shouts, quickly approaching N. "I knew I had seen you before! What do you think you're doing hanging around my family!?"

"I— You don't understand!" N asserts.

"Damn right I don't understand! I don't ever want to understand someone with a warped mind like yours!" Vernon says.

"That's—"

"Shut up!"

N flinches away when Vernon gets in his face. His bravery in the face of this father's explosive anger seems to give out and he panics, faintly muttering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"You BETTER be sorry, you—"

"Dad, back off!" Sylvan says, attempting to come between the two of them.

"And what do YOU think you're doing, dating some Plasma scumbag?!" Vernon asks his son.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Sylvan responds.

"Oho, oh yeah, tell me all the reasons he gave you that explain why he's not a bad guy!"

"What happened with Plasma wasn't his fault!"

"Oh, is that so?" Vernon asks in a demeaning tone.

Sylvan silently glares at Vernon, knowing he isn't being taken seriously.

"What other lies has this insane freak told you!?" Vernon continues.

"SHUT UP!" Sylvan yells, his anger boiling over and his fist flying towards his father's face.

...But then he's stopped.

In a split second, Oliver inserts himself between Vernon and Sylvan. One hand pushing against Vernon's chest, and the other grabbing Sylvan's wrist.

"Both of you need to calm down before you do something you'll regret!" Oliver declares.

"YOU'RE the one who started this mess!" Sylvan hisses at Oliver.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm a little surprised Vernon didn't already know this, though?" Oliver muses.

"We didn't wanna tell him 'cuz I knew he'd freak out about it! Sylvan says.

"Who wouldn't freak out about that?!" Vernon retorts.

"Okay, okay!" Oliver shouts. "You guys need to, like, go into seperate rooms or something and cool off!"

"Hmph. Fine.” Sylvan says, yanking his wrist out of Oliver's hand, though he's only able to do so because Oliver releases his grip.

Sylvan looks to N, who's clearly still shaken. "I'm going outside." He says. "You coming?"

N silently responds by taking Sylvan's hand and following him outside.

Sylvan sits down outside. He pats the ground next to him, inviting N to sit. After doing so, N tilts his head towards the sky, taking in deep breaths of the outdoor air. It's silent for a moment, both of them trying to soothe their pounding hearts.

"Are you alright?" Sylvan eventually asks.

N shrugs slightly and says, "I could be worse."

Sylvan nods solemnly, replying, "...I don't know what to say. Um... I'm- sorry about... you know, my dad."

N shakes his head. "You don't need to apologize."

"You didn't need to either."

"What?"

"When we were inside. What on Earth were you apologizing to Dad for?"

"I don't know. I... I guess I just panicked..."

Sylvan wraps an arm around N's waist, and in turn N rests his head on Sylvan's shoulder. The couple go silent again, their minds individually wandering. A minute or two later, N breaks the silence.

"I just don't get it." He says.

"Get what?" Sylvan replies.

"Two years ago, I was able to confront Ghetsis while he had the power of Kyurem on his side. But just now... I practically cowered in fear when your father got angry at me. It doesn't make sense."

"Ah. Well, it's— just... the brain's inconsistent like that, you know? It's a weird meat blob, it's not always logical."

N laughs slightly. "Weird meat blob..."

Sylvan smiles, glad his silly remark was able to make his partner laugh. Then he thinks a little more.

"Maybe part of it was about like— preparation?" Sylvan ponders.

"Hm?"

"Like, back then, we came to Unova knowing you'd probably have to face Ghetsis, and it most likely wasn't gonna be pleasant. You, like, had time to be ready for it. Or... as ready as you could be for something like that. But you didn't come with me to meet my brother today knowing my dad was gonna scream in your face."

"Interesting theory... It does seem to make sense."

"Anyway. I wonder how things are going inside."

Meanwhile...

"...And uh, yeah. That's the whole story, I think. Thanks for finally shutting up and letting me tell it." Oliver says, idly tapping his fingertips on the dining room table.

Vernon sits across from him, deep in thought. After a moment of thinking, he speaks.

"That's fucked up." Vernon says.

"Yeah." Oliver replies.

"To be honest, I didn't really know much of anything about Team Plasma, except that they were running around taking people's Pokémon. I didn't know about... all THAT."

"Why do I know more about Plasma than you? I haven't lived here in years. Literally none of what I just told you has affected me in the slightest."

"Ah, I guess I just don't pay much mind to the news nowadays."

Oliver rolls his eyes. "You can say that again, sheesh."

Vernon sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I really made an ass of myself, huh?"

"Yup. Good thing you're about to apologize." Oliver says assertively. He gets up and heads towards the front door.

"...Hey. When did you get so good at breaking up a fight, anyway?" Vernon asks.

Oliver glances over his shoulder at Vernon. "I'm a bartender." He says. Shrugging, he continues, "It's part of the job."

Oliver continues to the door and opens it. He peers outside, Sylvan and N turn to look back at him.

"Hey." Oliver says. "We're ready for you guys inside."

N and Sylvan look at each other with a bit of hesitation in their expression. Then Sylvan looks to Oliver, nods, and stands up. He then offers N his hand and pulls him up as well. Everyone goes back inside and sits at the table. Vernon sighs.

"So. It seems like some apologies are in order." Vernon says.

"I... I'm sorry to both of ya, for blowin' up at you like that. And N, I'm sorry I insulted you and such. Oliver filled me in on what happened with Team Plasma... showed me how much of an ass I was being."

"Thank you." N says.

"So, am I forgiven?"

"...I don't know." N says, brows furrowed. "You haven't treated me well today, and you didn't treat me well last time I was here. So I suppose it's just a little hard to take you at your word."

"I gotcha. 'Actions speak louder than words' and all that. I'll keep it in mind."

"Good."

"...Sorry for trying to punch you in the face." Sylvan says to his dad, who shakes his head.

"Don't worry about that. No harm done. And I kinda had it comin', haha!" Vernon responds.

"Ha..."

A somewhat uncomfortable silence falls over the group, no one entirely sure what to say next. But then, Oliver gets an idea.

"Hey, Vernon, do you still have our old board games?" He asks.

"Uh... as long as Sylvan didn't take them, yeah." Vernon replies.

"Didn't touch 'em. Kinda forgot we had them." Sylvan says.

"Excellent!" Oliver says, before getting up to retrieve a board game.

In the midst of playing the board game Oliver chose, Sylvan has an epiphany.

"Hey, Oliver..." Sylvan starts.

"Yes?" Oliver responds.

"Why do you call Dad by his first name?"

Oliver looks confused for a moment, before looking to Vernon.

"You didn't tell him?" Oliver asks.

"...It never came up..." Vernon replies, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"What never came up?" Sylvan asks.

"Vernon's not my dad." Oliver says bluntly.

"...Huh?!"

"I was eleven when Mom and Vernon met. I'm not his kid."

"But— you— your eyes! You have similar eyes!" Sylvan says, pointing at his own eye for emphasis.

"And Laelia had similar hair. Mom had a type, I suppose."

"L-Laelia's not...?"

"Laelia's not my kid either." Vernon says. "It's... part of why your mother and I split up."

"I... I'm your son... right?" Sylvan mutters.

"Yes." Vernon replies. "My only son."

"Okay." Sylvan says with a slight nod, though he's clearly still distressed. "Okay... I guess this doesn't— change things that much."

Sylvan looks to Oliver and continues, "I mean, you're still my brother. And Laelia's still my sister."

Oliver nods. "Of course."

"Alright, I... I guess I can process all that later. Whose turn is it?"

"Yours, sweetheart." N says.

"Oh! Right." Sylvan responds. "Let's see..."

With that, the game continues. The group talk, joke, and share stories together... and their worlds quietly grow bigger.

[bananonbinary]

Hey, I just wanted to send you an ask apologizing, because I may have accidentally caused/added to some of the vitriol accusing you of being a terf.

What happened is that I saw your post get blazed and clicked on the person who blazed it instead of your heading— it directed immediately to the blog of greater-than-the-sword, where I was greeted immediately with some of the most horrible vile shit I've seen said about trans people. So when I reblogged a post talking about how we shouldn't give Tumblr money unless they focus on accessibility— I'm disabled myself and have had several really bad experiences because of flashing ads, which they haven't fixed— I added that the person who started it is a Christian fundie anyway, so why are we supporting it. At the time I didn't immediately link to the blog of the person who'd blazed that post, because I didn't want to be the subject of a hate campaign (It's happened to me before on here) but in hindsight that was irresponsible.

Since then a Couple christian fundamentalists seem to have gone Whole Hog on supporting crab day— And they are big users of blaze, as a demographic, So I think people have been seeing more of their posts and it's gotten worse where it's caused more anger from other people, but I think my addition to the accessibility post spread rather further than I intended it to— and I'd meant more to highlight discomfort with the way that Christian fundamentalists are going All In on the crab day thing. I'm still not in support of it while the website is rolling out changes that are aggressive to disabled users, But your post has been one of the ones gaining the most traction and obviously you do not deserve to be lumped in with the idea being co-oped by a horrible demographic, and I hope you're doing alright.

this is very kind, but i don't blame you. there ARE horrible people talking about crab day, and it is NOT My Concept, i'm just someone whose post about it got blazed, so a lot of people are assuming i'm The Leader of it. and while i obviously think crab day sounds like a fun idea and that giving money now is the best way to motivate tumblr to make the necessary changes, i don't really think it like. matters that we disagree on that point, on any sort of moral level. there's a huge difference between disagreeing with someone on the best way to solve a problem, and disagreeing on whether the problem exists in the first place, and we definitely agree that tumblr has Problems.

i feel like people think i'm getting a ton more hate than i actually am; its mostly relegated to the replies on that post, i haven't gotten any genuine harassment in my inbox or callout posts or anything. there's just a few people going into the reblogs and insinuating that everyone who talks about crab day is super suspicious and probably transphobic, and one or two people just blatantly lying and saying "this op is a terf" in the notes. which is obviously frustrating, and i worry that some people will block me pre-emptively because of it, but it's far from a Serious Harassment Campaign.

[the-beleza-muscadine]

💎I have eyes like diamonds💎

Hi there! Welcome to my blog!!! I'm your host, Beleza Muscadine, but you can call me Bel

I'm a fashion designer and makeup artist who lives with my husbands, Vanilla and Tippy, and our son Ramón 😊

💎Passions and interests:

• Art

• Makeup and fashion

• All things snake 🐍 I literally love snakes, but you have to respect the animal too, okay? My stand is a snake, his name is Gilded Cobra, he's very sparkly and blue with gold! But anyway, I just think snakes are super cool and interesting, plus they help get rid of unwanted pests, and they're super fun to study and watch and I like everything about them! I'll post about snakes and stuff, but I'll always tag it as "tw snake" or "snake tw" and all that, you know? Tell me if I forget to tag something!!!

• Space

• Woodworking and sculpting, especially when there's a man with a sculpted figure ahuhuhuhu 🤭

• Medical science, yes even the yucky stuff interests me. I don't even know why though, like, I shouldn't even want to see more, but I guess it's just morbid curiosity? I don't know but I can't just look away, and then I get curious but grossed out at the same time and it's just a whole big thing!

• Scary stories and Creepypastas! Especially video game Creepypastas! Oh, and horror games. Tippy and I have a habit of watching YouTubers play horror games before bed and our husband scares the heck out of us when he opens the door 😭

💎Stuff about me:

• I'm 6'2" (188.976cm) tall

• Birthday is March 25

• Favorite colors: aqua, periwinkle, gold, white, and pink! I love bright, fun, and pastel colors 🩵🩷

• Favorite Food: ramen with two over easy fried eggs, extra points if it's spicy!!!

• Some people say I talk too much and tend to ramble but honestly I think I talk just enough!!! I just have a lot to say and I'm not really bothering anybody I don't think, unless I actually do start bothering people when I talk too fast or too much or maybe too loud? Am I a loud person? I don't think so, I think I just have a lot to say, yeah, like I said before, that's all!

• I used to be pretty mean and kind of a "bully" or whatever, BUT I'm recovering and learning to be a better, nicer, more thoughtful person and stuff. I know I can slip up and say something unintentionally mean, but I will apologize and catch myself........ I think it started back when I was a kid, I felt kind of like an outcast, you know? I was bullied a lot too because people thought I was ugly and so they were mean to me, but then I started being mean back and it was a huge mess. That, unfortunately, started becoming my personality and I would get what I want by being mean and manipulative. Instead of actual confidence, I was arrogant and insecure. But now I'm legit more confident in my appearance and myself as a person, and I understand how others feel when I hurt them and whatever! So yeah

This is a blog for me to post about my thoughts and feelings and whatever!

💎More info below💎

Although Bel started off as just an original character for JJBA, they are not strictly attached to JJBA. Bel is my character and will most likely "follow me (my self insert)" to different franchises.

Beleza Muscadine is an original character created by me: @sapphire-heart-tippy . This is a roleplay and "just for fun" blog. He is not a real person (although, he feels real to me in a certain way) and everything that's posted here is part of an alternate universe called The Sapphire Heartverse: Sugar Crash Void Bash, which is an alternate universe for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Unfortunately, xe cannot "like" posts, but xe can reblog them and comment/reply to comments. The reason for this is, because this blog is a sideblog for my main blog.

There will be more info to add later

There is even a slice of life alternate universe called "The Bellflower AU" where Beleza and I meet in college and fall in love.

Long story short, although Bel is "just an oc", he's more than that to me. So while he "isn't a real person", he's very much real to me in my heart and will be treated as such for the most part (as in: they have their own thoughts, feelings, likes, dislikes, and independence from me)

I love xem very very much and xe's extremely important and special to me, that's why I treat xem this way.

He pretty much taught me how to love myself and express myself without caring about what others have to say.

[fictionalcharacterlovetimes]

Welcome!

This is the selfship blog of @projectdivamegamix. My name is Atticus, I'm 18 years old, and I mostly use he/him. I am trans and queer. I have a thing for strange fictional men (and women but usually men).

Other Stuff You Need To Know:

I share some F/Os, but not all. I will list which ones I do and don't in the F/O list section of this post.

I don't gush a lot! I'm trying to do it more on here because tbh I really want people to appreciate my ships (lmao).

I'm not always super active. Sometimes I'll come on here, post an imagine, and then disappear for a couple months. There's no consistency.

I like having friends! Please don't hesitate to send me an ask or something if you wanna talk.

I have an IRL partner, which is partially why I'm less active than I used to be.

I shouldn't have to say this but I know some people wanna hear it: I am deeply critical of all media my F/Os come from.

DNI:

Proship/Comship

TERFs (I'm literally trans. Why are you here.)

If you share the F/Os that I specifically say I do not share.

Aphobes of any kind (Ace- or Arophobic.)

Fandom blogs who don't selfship (unless it's your main and you have a selfship side (which is what I do)).

Major Tags

🎀 | general || stuff that fits all of my f/os or none of my f/os

🎀 | funny stuff || exactly what it says on the tin (memes, posts, whatever)

🎀 | community/events || posts from others in the community/about the community or event announcements!

🎀 | creativity || art, writing, etc, mine or otherwise

🎀 | gushing || me being absolutely feral about my f/os (romantic or otherwise)

🎀 | venting for all it's worth || vent tag, which i'm hoping i won't have to use much

🎀 | your f/o loves queue!! || queue tag

Anyways, now for the good stuff.

F/O List

Major Romantic F/Os

Howl Jenkins - Howl's Moving Castle (Movie)

Boyfriend (I share him with Sophie) (September 9, 2023)

I am okay with sharing him.

Tagged with 🐦.

Goro Akechi - Persona 5 (Royal)

Boyfriend (March 2023)

I am okay with sharing him.

Tagged with 🪶.

Rinko Shirokane - BanG Dream!

Wife (June 12, 2023)

I am NOT okay with sharing her.

Tagged with 🎹.

Minor Romantic F/Os

Yusuke Kitagawa - Persona 5 (Royal)

Boyfriend (November 2022)

I am okay with sharing him.

Tagged with 🦊.

Platonic F/Os (there's a lot of these so strap in)

Yukina Minato - BanG Dream!

Tagged with 🌹.

Lisa Imai - BanG Dream!

Ultimate bestie tbh

fun fact! I also majorly ship her with Yukina. Do Not Separate Them

Tagged with 🍪.

Sayo Hikawa - BanG Dream!

Tagged with 🌿.

Ako Udagawa - BanG Dream!

I can't find a better quality gif...

Tagged with 😈.

Eve Wakamiya - BanG Dream!

Another ultimate bestie, albeit a recent one

Tagged with 🥷.

Himari Uehara - BanG Dream!

Childhood friend-ish dynamic

I also struggled to find a decent gif of her

Tagged with 🪷.

Saki Tenma - Project Sekai

Tagged with 🛏️.

Mizuki Akiyama - Project Sekai

Also childhood friends

Tagged with 🎀.

Kanade Yoisaki - Project Sekai

Tagged with 🖥️.

Emu Otori - Project Sekai

Tagged with 🍬.

Ryuji Sakamoto - Persona 5 (Royal)

Tagged with ☠️.

Ann Takamaki - Persona 5 (Royal)

I definitely didn't forget her surname while typing this

Tagged with 🦋.

Familial F/Os

Rin Kagamine - Vocaloid

Younger sister.

Tagged with 🍊.

Len Kagamine - Vocaloid

Younger brother.

Tagged with 🍌.

Miku Hatsune - Vocaloid

Younger sister.

Tagged with 🥗.

MEIKO - Vocaloid

Mom

Tagged with 🔴.

Alright, that's way longer than I thought this would get. Congrats if you read through all of it /gen.

[twotangledsisters]

Hope you're feeling better! I just wanted to say that maybe try to remember that many of the big or notable names of content creators, specifically artists on tumblr for the tts fandom, are also active on other sites. I know people say over and over to not compare your art to others, but some of these people have been online for yearssss, thus building a community for those years as well! And also with your recent art doing so well, I have no doubt you'll be right up with those groups of names in the future!

Oh wow, thank you so much for these kinds words! I'm not exaggerating when I say I teared up! I always feel amazingly touched when people take the time to be this nice!

And I completely agree and understand! I don't really compare myself to big names in the fandom. I do (and shouldn't) sometimes end up comparing myself to smaller creators who I'm mutuals with.

But a lot of my anxiety comes from a series of overthinking. 'Oh, nobody re-blogged this piece, is it because I posted it at a bad time? Is the art ugly? Or is it because they can't be seen interacting with me because somebody somewhere is talking about how I'm a horrible person?'

A very unreasonable and sudden jump. I am 100% working on it!

It's just a lot harder for me to get back into tumblr compared to other sites, both because of an experience I had with it when I was a teenager... and because of the more recent hate I received on this account (the anon asks for those who remember...).

I don't really aspire to be a big name! Mostly cause big names aren't as approachable and my goal is more to chat about the show I love? Something that I think would be harder if people weren't approaching me?

But the smile it brings to my face that you think I could be one! See, now you're inspiring me to want to draw even more!

But anyway, ending on your first statement (order, what's that?):

Hope you're feeling better!

I am! I'm still limiting my access to tumblr. It's off the phone and I have to log in every time on pc so as to make sure I'm only coming in when in a good mindset.

But I'm still making sure to log in every so often to check messages and stuff I've been tagged in, post art if I have some and feel up to it.

I am definitely feeling better. And I hope to keep on track and be back to my usual self sooner rather than later :D

I'm in a bit of a shy bubble right now but I do look forward to talking to people on here again soon!

Thankyou again for the kind words! I know this answer was long and... well, a bit rambly! I probably should work on that too! But I'm super grateful!

[tracking-these-wolves]

Blog #2 --- October 19th, 2024

I'm baaccck! I'm so happy I remembered to write here.

Today, I got my nose pierced! With the boy (I'll call him Otter, since he basically is one) lol. It was so much fun --- I was a little nervous it might be awkward, but honestly, we had a blast!

I started my day by walking to the barn to give Inka his meds and retrieve my bike. It was really cold today, so my hands were pretty numb when I got back. Then, I went to a bagel place to pick up sandwiches for Otter and I. Then, I popped into Trader Joe's to pick up a protein shake that I've been craving (I'm on my period, so it's been a little rough). I don't know why I was craving the protein shake --- it's.... not very good lol.

Then, I went back and changed quickly. I met Otter by my car -- we hugged, and he had brought me a bagel with cream cheese! We laughed a little about how we both got each other food, and then hopped in the car. We had a lot of fun talking and joking around. The conversation flows really easy with him, and honestly? I think I like being friends more than I liked dating him. There was this pressure removed --- this pressure of wondering if he still liked me romantically, or if I looked pretty, or if I was saying the right thing. Not dating him just... Made it easy. I think I'm going to start as friends with potential love interests from now on.

Anyways. After a little detour to follow the river, we got to my piercing appointment in MP. We walked in, and my pierce-er got me set up. His name was Ari, and he was super friendly --- and very sweet! I was really, really nervous though. I don't remember much of the appointment, but Otter said that I was being really funny. I'm so happy I can make him laugh. When I make people laugh, it makes me feel good.

After that, we walked around town a bit. We went to a super cute record store (I'm considering getting a record player now... and a cd player lol), then to the rock store. I got us pendants! Mine has a unicorn on it. I like it a lot. We then went to a bookstore, where we talked a lot about kids and how we both love/want them, and then about the books we read as a kid. We then went to a bookstore, where Otter saw a book he really liked, but it was $32... I learned later that he was going to cop it, but didn't want me to frown on him. I laughed at him, because I wouldn't have given a shit. I honestly would have encouraged it. Anyways, at least now he knows haha.

We sat in a graveyard for a bit, where I tried to teach him how to loon call. He got a few hoots! Very proud of him. We then went and had lunch at a Napal/Indonesian place, where we watched people try to parallel park and talked about our past relationships and what went wrong with them. He got pork chow mien and I got chicken momos --- both very good! After this, we went to NBNC and walked around for a while. We found a cool bench, he harvested some flowers, and we just talked in general.

We were talking about something I had said at the piercing shop --- I had started talking about my IUD (I was so out of it) and I half-jokingly told him he should have told me to shut up. He laughed, but shot back that he would never do that. I almost cried lmao. The amount of times that I've been told to shut up, or that I'm annoying, or this that and the other by people who were supposed to be my friends is (as I'm realizing) not... Healthy. It was kinda funny. I just had a moment of realization that I shouldn't have been told those things, and that I am okay --- I don't need to feel bad about being talkative or anything. I'm okay, I'm not annoying. I might cry just thinking about it.

That came at a good time, because the past couple weeks the things one of my closer friends (we'll call him Fox) has said to me had been weighing on me. Sometimes, when Fox gets jealous of me, he has a tendency to snap and say something really mean. A few examples would be when I made a joke (and added onto it in my head) and he snapped that "you aren't as funny as you think you are". Another time, he told me I was being annoying, and another time that I could apologize 1,000 times and it still wouldn't make up for how stupid I am. Along with this, there's always some little comment (at least once a week) where he calls me stupid/idiotic, airheaded, etc. It makes me really sad, because he knows that I'm sensitive about these things. But it's okay. I think I trust Otter's judgement more.

Anyways, then we drove back -- we listened to some great music, oo'd and aw'd over the mountains, and yapped more. When we got back, I came to his room while he gathered some supplies (he was going to meet some friends). I flopped on the floor and he gathered his things. I asked for some ibuprofin, and when he said sure, I said 'I love you'. Didn't mean to, but I've never been able to hide when I love someone (and no, not romantically --- I'm not my ex LMAO. Maybe one day I'll add the context to this blog, but I know what I mean). I'm so happy that he's my friend. He's so awesome, and apparently might also be switching into the education program? I think he'd make an incredible teacher.

Then, we went to Lowe's (where he snagged some firewood for free --- good for him), and then I helped him carry his stuff to the beach where he was meeting his friends. We said our goodbyes, and I came home to clean my septum. It was a GREAT day. I can't tell you how many beautiful trees we saw, and we got to pet three dogs, and see so many adorable kids. It was truly one of the best days ever.

I'm really tired, but I'm going to crochet.

[lcdybonbon]

Temporary semi-hiatus on all my blogs due to my life being a mess!

indie oc rp blog for Bonnie "BonBon" Gillanders!* fandomless and with a backstory + a bunch of very specific verse adaptations.

*Note: this character is disabled and disfigured even if icons cannot portray it: she limps and walks with a cane, her left cheek and chin are scarred, and usually hidden by a veil depending on the fandom. Alt fc (when Karen Gillan is already there) in the about.

MUTUALS ONLY! People who ignore this first rule will be blocked.

I also write @smiletimeisrunningout & @savingthrcw (multi) & @re-regeneratedanomaly & @faetorvic (bg3 only) and take commissions.

Links: memes (if you follow me on my multi consider the memes I reblog there as doable here too) // all starter calls // open starters //open to ship call // reverse meme calls // plotting calls // headcanons // self promos

rules under readmore

I'm Ele, 35+, will write with 20+ yo rpers. Italian (time-zones are hell), with a bunch of chronic illnesses and ptsd, so some days I'll be super active and insta-reply and other days everything is shelved except for one reply or two that I can tackle, and my angst is pretty vanilla. Mutuals only, as I said. I'll send passwords AFTER being followed. I don't want silent followers, I'll block you if after we become mutuals you don't respond nor start anything.

If you don't see any threads I probably don't owe anything and I don't rush rp partners, but I'm still active! Link to check out threads here. To me rp is the equivalent of playing with dolls, I respect the real people behind it, but if your doll is a Bad Guy I won't think you are a Bad Guy (I might just not want to write that sort of story, that's all). We write when we can, what we want, as much as we want.

Some communication is a must to keep threads going (and I match enthusiasm). If you send me a thousand memes, chances are I'll reply to like... 700 of them. Don't feel forced to keep them, but know that you can, we'll just naturally stop writing the ones who don't have anything special left to add to the story.

Having multiple threads is my fave thing! The more the merrier! She's an oc and I'm picky, so I don't anticipate having a LOT of mutuals, you won't be bothering me if you want to interact more!

Bonnie is straight. I only ship with people who are 21+. I LOVE shipping but I'll NEVER forceship, so dynamics are 'he's my friend unless allowed otherwise', even if she can flirt as a joke (some talk between our muses may be needed to look past her experience of being unlikable). She doesn't expect men to be interested anyway, so she won't even notice if she is. Now, with canon compliant ones that I know I can guess and be very quickly okay with it, but with canon I don't know, OCs and AUs, I need a bit of writing.

I'll fade to black unless I tell you otherwise (tagged as nsft), because my repulsion goes up and down. And listen, I'm a big shipper so I get if it's not your cup of tea, but if you are interested in writing female friendships too, then give her a shot!

She's not submissive in ANY aspect of her relationships, including on/offscreen smut or hostile interactions (though she might be scared of your muse and act accordingly). People in the past went way too far or showed some legit misogyny through it. In fact: if your muse is like 'ugh go away' straight out of the gate, she'll go away*. End of thread. Plot with me why she shouldn't but the answer can't be: "because she's friendly so she'll keep trying and embarrassing herself". *If you write one of those canon villains who hang out with the good guys and/or you are okay with writing one of those casually fight-y relationships (see Lae'zel and Shadow.heart fighting in bg3, or Spike and the Scooby gang) let's plot and go for it!

I never do exclusives, I have enough interest, time, and energy to give to dozens of the same muse (given that all portrayals are different) in my semi-healthy days.

Please tag images of horror/gore, daddy kink references, and all sexual stuff (written or images even if fanarts) and that means wishlist and headcanon AND ooc posts too.

I will tag written topics outside of ns.ft IF they are detailed (general violence, references to past abuse etc), and references to no.ncon in canon backstories. I can't promise anything different because I know I'd forget if they are just mentions. I cannot tag ableism because it's a permanent part of her life.

I WON'T WRITE: abusive relationships, r.ape outside of backstories, or Bonnie being your muse's 'therapist' and being hit with never-ending negativity. I HATE bad endings (death, permanent hate).

I have a hard time with canon muses I don't know, unless you wrote a bio so I know what they are about. If your bio is a link to their wiki and nothing more, I might say no on account of not being sure of who they are and if I'm comfortable/interested. I need a bio for ocs too.

I won't write WITH (due to me being uncomfortable, traumatized or not interested): 

deities/myths/religious figures especially if worshipped in real life (with rare exceptions because this triggers me, but BG3 and aliens that are called gods are fine. I'm talking about Zeus or Christian angels etc)

vampires and similar creatures outside of B.uffyverse or BG3

anything that has the power to attract my muses against their will. I hate it.

children/teenagers with RARE canon exceptions (the 'bratty' teen trope stresses me, mother/literal-child threads bore me).

No H.arry Potter, no ga.me of thrones, no as.oiaf.

fully "evil" characters who require her to also be evil to interact or to be imprisoned (not because I judge you tho!): why would someone like her hang out with a serial killer? many canon exceptions can be made due to how you write your character, especially because not lal villains are child murderers or have body parts in the car trunks (maybe you write a canon divergent villain, maybe they are an 'acceptable' level of evil for that fandom, maybe your villain is helping the good guys).

[superfluouskeys]

May Madness

May-hem? Whatever. Anyway.

I have been freed from the clutches of law school for the summer and I have many personal goals and projects I would like to work on, so I thought I would shout about them here!

Writing Goals:

scorched earth (7/11-12ish) -- Prisoner-verse (OC-focused) -- still surprisingly on-track with the original outline I made! I was hoping to get this done over winter break, but I ended up working literally the whole time and then being super burned out. I've kept the structure of this story deliberately simple, so I think I might be able to finish it within the month!

ghost of you (2/4) -- Wheel of Time (Moiraine/Lan) -- part 3 is legit almost done but I need to get back into the Mood and the Vibes you know LOL. and I think it absolutely needs a part 4 to be paced the way I want it. next chapter very soon; 4th chapter idk but shouldn't take too much longer!

original thing (registered trademark, available by scrounging around on my blog for an untagged mess of nothingness) -- since I completely failed at making any progress on this last month due to school nonsense, hoping to make another big push next month! (not that I WON'T work on it before then, just that the above have priority!) completely insane goal would be to push for an extremely messy completed first draft by the end of the summer. but that would be insane. right. right,.., , ,,

still thinking about ways to share this as I work on it for those who are interested, as I am too insane to keep quiet about it forever! I have some other ideas, and there's always the chance I'll spontaneously become insane about something else, but the above are my priorities for now!

If this is all you care about feel free to stop reading here LOL the other goals are more personal ones!

Fitness Goals:

I've been unhappy with my level of fitness for a long time now (made especially bad by my situation during the pandemic) and while I've been able to make some major improvements even with the stresses of grad school, I think I can do a lot better with a little extra time on my hands!

In a few days, I'm planning to start the Insanity workout program (I have my workout class for the next two days lol), which is a two-month HIIT-based program with fit tests every two-ish weeks, so I'll probably post my results here since this is basically the only social media I use and it's nice to keep track LOL. I've also started doing a 20-30 minute brisk walk on an incline in the evening, and while I'm currently just aiming for my daily 10k steps, I'm hoping to push that up to a 15k minimum soon. As I acclimate to the Insanity workouts, I'll also try working in some other activities in the afternoon in the hopes of fostering an overall more active lifestyle. I'm also making changes to my diet, but I'm being very chill about this so I don't become miserable and insane LOL. My main goals are weight loss and building core strength.

Korean Learning Goals:

For the last few months I've been in the frustrating position of an advanced beginner, meaning there are a lot of learning materials that are either way too easy or too hard for me. So, since I have some time, I'd like to put in the hours and push for a major improvement--I want to try to get myself to a low intermediate level of proficiency. I think this will open up a LOT of learning materials for me, and hopefully allow me to hold simple conversations without feeling like I'm dying. There's a lot I need to tackle, but for now I think my main goals are building vocabulary, improving reading speed, and massively increasing my output. I'm aiming pretty high--I'm hoping for about 25 hours/week of active studying/practicing, along with other passive/fun input. I'll be working my way through the first 6 textbooks/workbooks from Talk to Me in Korean (I theoretically know most of the material through level 3 but can't use it on command), and just generally trying to write and speak a lot. I've also been using HelloTalk sporadically to make little journal entry-type posts, so I'll be doing that more frequently, and also trying to track my progress and how I'm feeling at the end of each week.

I tend to aim high when I set goals for myself because I find doing this means I'll definitely accomplish at least some of what I set out to do, and I personally don't really mind not reaching goals as long as I feel I've made noticeable progress. I also think it probably says something that while I was thinking about these goals I legitimately had the thought, "oh, and priority number four, relax and have fun and stuff" lol like okay girl. But I have high hopes, and I think having these goals will actually help me enjoy and get the most out of this downtime! Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for listening to my rambles! 💪🥰

[talkingpointsusa]

Of Rubes and Rubins; Debunking the December 13th 2023 Episode of the Rubin Report.

After how furiously I reacted to Matt Walshes episode on Wednesday, I figured we should take a break from the current crop of talking heads we feature on this blog and talk about a new person, and that new person is Dave Rubin.

For those who don't know Dave Rubin, Dave was formerly a member of the Young Turks before leaving and starting his own show. Since then he has been a massive source of embarrassment to himself and others. From basically begging Ben Shapiro to go to the anniversary party for him and his husband and then being shocked when he realized that this new crowd he is hanging out with is deeply homophobic to giving us galaxy brained quotes like "Authoritarian's love authoritarianism." Dave is both a source of amusement and frustration to myself and others.

I truly believe that Dave Rubin is a pure grifter. While people like Matt Walsh and Charlie Kirk seem to be true believers, Dave here basically did a complete 180 on his political views overnight. Coincidentally that 180 happened to be when he got a truckload of money from the Koch Brothers (Source; The American Prospect, Why Should We Care About Faux Free-Speech Warriors? Because the Koch Brothers Are Paying Their Bills).

He tried his hand at making money off of the left but when that didn't work he decided to become a right-wing grifter. I don't like calling people liars and con-men but in Dave's case it is blatantly obvious.

On the 13th, Dave was also talking about Dana White saying the right should end the Bud Light boycott. There is no way his take could be worse than the dreck Matt Walsh was throwing up on the 13th....right?

I guess we shall see. Let's get into it, shall we?

Transphobia Warning. God, I hate how many times I have had to write that so far;

2:38: "But what you don't wanna do is snatch victory away, you don't wanna snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

Dave Rubin: Master orator. I'm sure he was quite proud of that one.

If you saw my right-wing figures tier list and wondered why I put Dave Rubin under "accidental comedy", this is why. This kind of thing happens a lot on Dave's show.

2:55: "As you guys know, a couple months back Dylan Mulvaney, this dude who puts on a dress and it's unclear if he or she had all the surgeries, doesn't even matter. Calls himself uhh, well wait. He's Dylan Mulvaney, he calls himself what? What's the girls name?"

Here we have Dave struggling to understand somebodies identity. Starting off strong here.

If you are transgender you don't legally have to change your name, that should be obvious. It's your identity and your body so it's your choice at the end of the day. Dylan has decided that she is keeping the name Dylan and that's perfectly fine, her choice at the end of the day and really as long as she's happy it's a good choice.

What I find hilarious about this clip is that I don't think Dave realizes how dumb this comment makes him long. The right has been talking about this person for months and you're just now realizing that Dylan kept her birth name?

Dave gives some more "backstory" for the boycott, don't care, we've talked about why it happened what feels like a million times. He then plays the Dana White/Tucker Carlson Bud Light clip. As said previously, this is fully because Dana was given so much money by the company that it would be unreasonable from a business standpoint for him to not take the deal. Anyway, all of that isn't important. What is important is Dave's hot take on the situation. Let's listen (or in your case read).

7:36: "Now look, regardless if you are a patriot, super patriot, or a regular patriot, or a half a patriot, nobody should be drinking gallons of Bud Light. You shouldn't be drinking a ton of beer in general."

Dana wasn't literally saying you should be drinking gallons of Bud Light, he was just saying you should be drinking it again if you are participating in the boycott.

Also, let's unpack the levels of "patriot" here. I guess half a patriot is someone who is a Trump supporter but isn't fully into the cult of Trump. But what I am confused about is how does one graduate from a regular patriot to a super patriot? I guess the guys who stormed the Capitol were super patriots in this hierarchy, I'm not sure.

Man, we're only seven minutes in and this is already really dumb.

8:16: "He keeps saying that Bud Light is more in line with your values but he never lays out what that means, how is Bud Light more in line with your values than these other companies?"

Well, as Dave later astutely points out, it's completely for the money. Golly, imagine changing all your values over money. I wonder who would do that, eh Dave?!

8:31: "But in essence what he's saying is 'Bud Light gave us a shit ton of money.'"

As I hinted at earlier, Dave Rubin has absolutely zero right to criticize somebody for selling out their beliefs for cash for the reasons I explained above. The absolute lack of self-awareness is astonishing.

Dave then plays another clip of Dana explaining why he went with Bud Light. Dana makes some claims about the charitable things Bud Light has done. It's absolutely still about the money but Dave decides to "engage with this argument" and gives what might be one of the dumbest takes of the year.

11:57: "Alright, so they employ 65,000 people and you don't want those people to suffer. Of course you don't. Actually, when the Bud Light boycott happened we played a video of a guy who was just like a local distributor in a store saying 'Hey, nobodies buying Bud Light anymore, my job is in trouble.' Of course you have sympathy for those people for sure but there's tons of other beer companies."

So what Dave is essentially saying here is that 65,000 people will be out of a job if Bud Light goes under because the right is throwing a tantrum over an Instagram post, but that's A-OK because "they'll just get a job somewhere else."

WHAT?!

Does Dave not realize how hard it is to get a job in todays market is, let alone the mental toll being laid off causes?! These employees have families to feed and bills to pay. The effects of being laid off can destroys somebodies life. They can lead to people not being able to afford healthcare and even basic things like food for your children. To just flippantly say that they should "just get a job somewhere else" is completely ignoring, well, reality!

12:37: "Also the idea that you shouldn't boycott a company because they have a lot of employees, the government has a lot of employees. So something is not good, inherently, because it has a lot of employees."

First of all, that's an apples to oranges comparison because you can't boycott the government! Comparing a private corporation to the government is insanely stupid!

Secondly, I am not anti-boycott but the boycott has to be for a good reason. "I didn't like an Instagram post because it had a trans person in it" isn't a good reason to boycott a company and put those jobs on the line. If the company is doing something objectively bad than you can boycott them.

13:51: "I mean, look at the stories that we've told you in the past couple of days about Harvard and Penn and what you see happening all over the whole world right now in terms of the wrong ideas getting into institutions and what that does."

Putting aside the Harvard and UPenn stuff, which we already touched on before and probably will again when it's more relevant, I would like to point out that Dave Rubin is gay.

I normally wouldn't point to somebodies sexuality and say that it should inform their political beliefs, but in this case I feel like it's justified because a couple decades ago people would have been saying that Dave marrying who he wants to marry was one of those "wrong ideas."

This, in my opinion, makes his lack of empathy towards transgender people more stunning and disgusting. Dave, of all people we have covered on this blog so far, should know the most about what it's like to be othered because of your sexuality. So the fact that he's willingly spouting hateful rhetoric against transgender people for money is all the more disgraceful.

14:10: "I was at Busch Gardens when I was a kid. Saw the clydesdales, great horses. I don't want them to suffer but that's not a reason to drink Bud Light."

If Dave wasn't talking out of his ass he would know that Anheuser-Busch hasn't had anything to do with Busch Gardens since 2009. It's currently owned by SeaWorld.

14:23: "Or perhaps what Dana could have done is say 'Ok, you know what? You guys are offer-' Like, they must have offered him a crazy amount of money, I have no idea. At one point it said they were gonna triple their marketing budget. Let's say they offered him 50 million bucks, I don't know what the number is, I'm completely making that out of thin air. He could have said to them 'Alright, you want me to put my reputation on the line. I'll take your cash, that's pretty good and I can do good things with that cash and build my brand and all that stuff and everything else. But your gonna have to apologize first.'"

Again, Dave Rubin; master orator.

If Dana did that, InBev realistically would have said no to the deal and found another sponsor who was more willing to play by their rules. Like I said when I covered Matt Walsh's response to this, InBev's best move is to ride this out and wait for these guys to get distracted by some new culture war related nonsense. If they apologize they will have pissed off the LGBTQ community, well everyone in that community except for Dave, and the left as a whole. They would have an even worse fallout to deal with.

15:19: "So I will remind you in just a moment about what Bud Light actually did and then we're gonna connect it to a bunch of wider stuff because this is much bigger than just about crappy beer that I used to drink upside-down from a keg when I was in college because I was a pretty cool dude."

You aren't anymore and I would pay to see you do a keg stand on your show.

And I'll say it again, it was one bloody Instagram post and it wasn't even on the Bud Light account, it was on Dylan's. The only broader issue that conservatives have with this is "I hate trans people."

17:06: "And I promise you people, if Gravity Defyer offers a sponsorship to Dylan Mulvaney I will not work for them. And if I came in here and suddenly I was like 'Oh, I like Dylan Mulvaney, isn't he and or she wonderful in her Gravity Defyer shoes?' And I was doing that, you might think 'Dave, how much did they pay you to say that?'"

Awww, look at you pretending to have principals. That would be almost as crazy as you being a relatively progressive commentator for most of your career and then all of a sudden, coincidentally around the time the Koch Brothers started paying you, you became a hardcore conservative. And you know what would be really dumb? If the only explanation you gave for this sudden dramatic change in ideals was "the left became too left-wing".

I personally think Michael Knowles is painfully disingenuous and smarmy which is part of why I really don't like listening to him, but Dave Rubin takes disingenuous to new extremes.

Dave then plays a clip of the VP of marketing at Bud Light explaining the decision for the ad.

19:05: "Frat guys drink beer. You know who doesn't really drink beer? Trans women!"

Dave is wrong yet again. As a matter of fact, alcohol abuse is pretty common among trans women specifically. This is an awful fact and it is probably in part due to the attitude of hatred around their sexuality that people like Dave Rubin have exploited for money and views. However, we are here to talk about the the claim being made here that "trans people don't drink" which is completely false.

Now let's look at the other group he's mentioned, people in college.

What he was saying was absolutely true back in the day, but not so much anymore. For the past two decades the trend (source, Cleveland Clinic) of alcohol consumption amongst young adults in college has been going downwards with 30% of college students saying they don't drink beer, wine, or spirits in 2018.

So from that standpoint, college students are starting to drink less and transwomen are starting to drink more.

19:13: "Trans women, whatever that is even, is such a tiny, a ridiculously tiny percentage of the population that to market to them would be insane."

They weren't just marketing to transwomen specifically. If the broader LGBTQ population, which when you factor all of them in becomes a way larger chunk of the population, were to see trans representation in an ad they might be more inclined to buy from that brand.

19:38: "When you're out on a date. If the girl, your sitting at the bar, you order something and then the girl, I mean before this whole Bud Light thing, if the girl said 'I'll have a Bud Light' what would you have thought of that girl? Red flag right?"

Or "Oh, she likes Bud Light. Ok."

Like, who cares what your partners drink of choice is? As long as they like it and it isn't a danger to themself and others it doesn't matter at all!

19:55: "But, like, it's not for girls."

This show is so dumb. Sure, females aren't Bud Lights target market, but who cares if a female likes Bud Light or not?

That's like a twelve year old telling his little sister that she can't play with his action figure because "It's not for girls". Man, this is so dumb.

20:03: "You see how I'm connecting this to everything else. Once woke gets into the system, whether it's Harvard (and) the next thing you know they're calling for genocide of Jews. Whether it's Bud Light and instead of marketing to frat guys they're trying to get chicks to drink their shitty beer. It destroys absolutely everything."

Protestors calling for an end to the war in the Middle East aren't calling for the genocide of Jews but that's beside the point. Also, I have asked this before but what the hell even is wokeness?!

What is important is that Dave Rubin thinks that a company *GASP* expanding their advertising to try and appeal to an untapped market will lead to the literal end of society! Even if we use his argument this is stupid for a massive reason. How is a company trying to expand to different markets even comparable to calling for genocide?!

Dave then plays the ad and the clip of Kid Rock shooting Bud Light cans. Once the clips end, it becomes time once again for more of Dave's ever so brilliant insights.

22:15: "But there's something interesting going on here. As Brock just mentioned, just what was it? Two weeks ago? When Trump walked out at a UFC event with Dana White and Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock was with him too. So there's this strange thing where these people are sort of taking every side of everything."

I feel like Dave is coming to terms with the fact that everyone else on the right is as much of a money hungry grifter as he is.

Dave decides to give us his take on the satanic statue in Iowa. Again, this was last week Wednesday so this was before the mural was decapitated. He plays the clip of Ron DeSantis saying that the Satanic Temple got their tax exemption during the Trump Administration. He doesn't really have a take on it, just boring crap of him saying so much without saying anything. Dave plays another clip of Ron DeSantis, he's apparently a DeSantis guy. Considering he lives in Florida, this makes sense. Considering that he's gay and DeSantis is a giant homophobe who claims that Trump was too sympathetic to LGBTQ+ people, this makes no sense. Then he delivers this gem.

30:09: "Everyone with their head on straight knows that Florida is now the model for whatever America can be if America's gonna succeed."

Bahahaha. If Florida is the model for an ideal America, that country is doomed. Florida has had 28 mass shootings this month and accounts for nearly 12% of all mass shootings in the states.

Florida is also the third most dangerous state for violent crime, with 2,087 homicides being reported so far this year.

Florida's track record with LGBTQ+ people and passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is so bad that the Human Rights Campaign issued a travel advisory to Florida.

So yeah, if Florida is the model for a successful America you'd get an extremely bigoted nation with a shit-ton of violent crime...which to be fair is the trajectory that America is headed down.

Dave plays another DeSantis clip. Whatever.

32:13: "Intrinsically, telling the truth is the right thing to do."

I agree, too bad this is coming from a guy who is being paid to lie about everything.

Dave then talks about Ukraine funding and border security. There have been a record number of migrants heading into the US and the Republicans have refused to approve more foreign aid unless Biden does something about the border. Essentially, the Republicans want to make it harder for migrants and refugees to get in if they fear persecution in their home countries (New York Times).

34:18: "What does Ukraine funding have to do with defending our border?"

They are two entirely separate issues and the only reason they are being equated here is because the right is making that an issue. Nobody on the left is saying "defending Ukraine is defending our borders".

Also, for a guy who is super pro-Israel, Dave really shouldn't be defending this. The Republicans are withholding aid to Israel as well!

34:22: "If we cannot defend our border why should we be giving money to Ukraine?"

Same argument can be made for Israel. Also, because multiple innocent Ukrainians lives are on the line due to Russia's invasion. They need our help.

36:23: "We don't know who the good guys and bad guys are."

Hmmm, we've got the military superpower that is invading a tiny country and has committed multiple war crimes and the country that is being invaded. Man, it's so hard to figure out who the good guys and bad guys are.

36:31: "By the way, I would say that's starkly different than whats going on with Israel and Gaza because there's a very clear win there which is the toppling of Hamas."

There is also a very clear win in Ukraine and that is Russia stopping the invasion and withdrawing their troops from Ukrainian land.

38:15: "How about we deal with problems related to prices of food and things of that nature?"

Again, this appeals to Israel funding as well. Plus, Israel is a nation that is way more powerful than Ukraine without American funding so an argument can be made that funding should be slowed for Israel and more focused on Ukraine if you want money to deal with problems in America.

Also, the Republicans haven't provided an effective solution to inflation.

Dave then talks about the colleges a bit more, and then drops this gem.

42:08: "I'm just not hiring college grads anymore. If you do not go to college, if you have virtually no education, we want you here at the Rubin Report."

Can't make that up. I would imagine that college graduates aren't banging down Dave Rubin's door as most of them will realize within five minutes of a show how flimsy everything he says is.

And with that, the show ends. What a fitting note.

Conclusion:

So, what have we learnt today? Well, Dave Rubin thinks 65,000 people being fired over one ad is fine and he just generally doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. Since I wrote this on Sunday, the next episode will probably cover how one of these guys responded to the senate gay sex video, might even do multiple of these guys Monday shows just to get an idea of the full spectrum of reactionary's reacting.

Cheers and I'll see you in the next one!

[rapifessor]

Pokéchronology, Volume I: Yellow

Day 14 (FINAL DAY)

It's time.

Today is the day that I beat Pokémon Yellow, marking the end of the first volume of Pokéchronology. It's been a while since the last update. I've been busy and I wanted to make sure I had the time to push all the way through to the end of the game for the final post. I haven't yet completed the Pokédex, in fact I'm decently far away from accomplishing that still. But covering that in Pokéchronology doesn't seem quite right. There wouldn't be much to say about it, it's just running around catching Pokémon that I don't have yet. Maybe I'll talk about it in a generic blog post later on. In any case, I'm done with Pokémon Yellow for now.

For those of you who have been reading this series, what did you think of the first volume? What things do you think could be improved, and how can I make this series more interesting going forward? I have some ideas of my own, but I'd like to get some feedback so that I know what works and what doesn't.

With that out of the way, here's what happened. The final spoilers for Pokémon Yellow that you'll ever hear from me (probably):

Elite Four

Well, this is it. Time to run the gauntlet. I gather all the healing items and Elixirs I can muster up, with some X Specials and X Accuracies for good measure, in case I need them. I also use up all the vitamins I had stored away: two Calciums and three Carbos for Holy, and two Proteins for Mycoboss. I'm as ready as can be, without buying a ton of stuff or leveling up more.

Lorelei

The first challenger is Lorelei, the Ice type specialist. With Holy in front, this battle shouldn't be too difficult. She opens with Dewgong, who I swiftly dispatch with two Thunderbolts. Next, Lorelei sends out Cloyster, who is dealt with similarly. Her third Pokémon is Slowbro, who is not Ice type, but once again falls to two Thunderbolts. Jynx, her fourth Pokémon, proves to be a bit stronger against Holy due to her lack of weakness. I wasn't sure what moves she could use, so I kept in Holy to play defensively. Thankfully, Jynx doesn't have much HP, so three Surfs are enough to take her out.

Finally, Lorelei sounds out her Lapras, who takes three Thunderbolts to defeat, and the battle ends without me ever changing Pokémon. Her Pokémon were surprisingly tanky, but none of them were especially threatening either. It's kind of weird to me that one of the Elite Four is only packing five Pokémon, like come on. Take off the kiddie gloves already, I can handle trainers with full teams at this point.

Bruno

Moving on, the next of the Elite Four is Bruno, who again... has only five Pokémon. He opens the fight with an Onix. Lol. Lmao, even. Hitmonchan also fell to one Surf from Holy. I get that they're Fighting type, but god damn their Special is shit if they can't even survive one non-super-effective move against them. Hitmonlee is the same, although Hi Jump Kick does a lot of damage to Holy and they used Double Team, so Holy missed the first two Surfs before one-shotting them. After that is... Onix again? Really dude?

Bruno finally brings out his Machamp, so I decide it's time to bring out Miles and destroy them. For some reason, Bruno uses an X Defend. He did that on his other Pokémon too. Come on, dude! That's not going to save you from a 90 Base Power Special move with STAB and super effectiveness against your Pokémon! Long story short, I OHKO'd all of Bruno's Pokémon. Damn that was disappointing. But I suppose I should have expected that from the guy who only uses Rock and Fighting types in his team.

Agatha

Maybe Agatha will be more of a challenge. At first she looks like a Ghost type specialist, which should be interesting... except the only Ghost types in Generation I are the Gastly line, which are also all Poison type. Anyway, she sends out ya boi Gengar, who can really take some hits, even from Miles. But all Agatha does is spam potions while I spam Psychic moves and eventually take out her Pokémon. Next is Golbat, so I guess Agatha's more Poison specialist than Ghost, and I switch to BIG RAT but she immediately switches out Golbat for Haunter. Thunder does a good chunk of damage but I quickly switch back to Miles to finish them off. Golbat is back, takes one Psychic to defeat. Then comes Arbok. I could Psychic again, but instead I choose to have Prinzessin take care of them with Earthquake.

Down to her last Pokémon, and guess what? It's ya boi Gengar again, but this time they know Psychic for some reason. Whatever, Miles go brrr. Man, Poison types kinda suck don't they? At least against my team, they do.

Lance

The last member of the Elite Four is Lance, a Dragon specialist, who's poised to be the greatest challenge yet... I'm kidding, he starts with a Gyarados who hits Holy with a Hyper Beam. Really spicy move, but now Holy attacks, and Gyarados has a quad weakness to Electric. Surprisingly, Gyarados TANKS it with a sliver of HP left, but now they're Paralyzed and Holy outspeeds them to finish them off with Surf. Here come the actual Dragon types: Dragonair. Gets one-shot by Ice Beam, oops. Then Lance sends in another Dragonair, and you don't have to wonder what happens to them.

Aerodactyl on the other hand is a little spooky. I don't know what moves they have and they outspeed my entire team. The first move they use is Fly, so Aerodactyl dodges Holy's Ice Beam. I switch to BIG RAT to tank and hopefully deal some damage, but Aerodactyl is still faster, so BIG RAT eats a Hyper Beam and faints. Back to Holy, I manage to land the Ice Beam and it OHKO's Aerodactyl. Lance's ace is Dragonite, which does a fair amount of damage with Fire Blast as I heal up Holy to take them out. Once again, a single Ice Beam is enough to defeat them. Ice may not be a very strong type overall, but when it's strong, it's STRONG. Ice moves are pretty powerful, man.

The Champion

The Elite Four defeated, there's only one trainer standing in my way before I become the Champion myself, and that's Gary.

I knew I was more than capable of handing his team by now. That much was made clear in my last battle with him, so even with his team at their strongest, there's not much they can do to stop my.

The battle begins with Holy versus Sandslash once again, and Sandslash is too slow to do anything before Holy's Surf drops them.

Alakazam is next, and they prove to be somewhat formidable. Mycoboss does good damage still, but it takes three Leech Lifes to fully deplete Alakazam's HP. Unfortunately, Alakazam kept spamming Recover, resulting in a stalemate, before they get a cheeky crit and one-shot Mycoboss with Psychic. Well, time for my backup strategy: physical Mr. Mime. Miles Body Slams his way to victory.

Exeggutor is much more tanky than Alakazam though, so Body Slam spam doesn't work as well against them. I could switch to Holy here and probably one-shot Exeggutor with Ice Beam, but I didn't for fear of potentially dangerous Grass moves. Instead I choose to revive Mycoboss. They duel Exeggutor and eventually emerge victorious, despite Gary's use of healing items and Hypnosis spam.

Oh, hey Cloyster old buddy! They're literally weaker than Lorelei's Cloyster, what the fuck. Can't even survive one Thunderbolt.

Ninetales comes in and Fire Spins Holy. With Holy being unable to move, Ominous is the obvious choice. Ninetales barely survives a Hydro Pump, leaving Ominous to finish them off with ease.

With all but one of his Pokémon soundly defeated, Gary has no choice but to accept his fate. He can't beat my Pokémon. Despite being 15 levels ahead, having a super effective move at his disposal, and a massive speed advantage, Jolteon has no chance against Prinzessin. The fight ends with a single Earthquake.

Ending

And there you have it. Gary is in disbelief at his loss. Professor Oak comes along to tell him how shit he is and that he lost because he didn't love his Pokémon enough. Very supportive! I'm congratulated on my victory and admitted to the Hall of Fame, where my winning team is shown off one by one, in all their glory. I watch the credits, and it's revealed that I beat the game with a total play time of 47 hours and 9 minutes; just under two real-time days.

But this is not where it ends. There is still one thing left to do...

Cerulean Cave

That's right, it's time to beat the postgame dungeon and catch Mewtwo, the true final challenge. I get organized and set out for Cerulean City. There's one trainer that I missed just past the entrance to Cerulean Cave. You need Surf to get to her anyway so it's not like it would have made sense to come here before now. Before entering the cave, I ensure that I have the Master Ball in hand, as I will likely need it to catch Mewtwo.

Now we enter the dungeon. Cerulean Cave appears to be somewhat maze-like, but in reality there's only one path to follow with a plethora of items tucked away in corners and secret spots. Most of them are Ultra Balls, Max Elixirs, or Full Restores, but there are also several PP Ups here. I used one on Holy's Ice Beam, one on BIG RAT's Thunder, and one on Prinzessin's Earthquake.

While progressing I fight a lot of wild battles against powerful level 50+ Pokémon. There are a few that I hadn't caught yet, so I made a point of catching as many as I could. Got a Ditto named Ittledew, a Venomoth named Mothra, Danksta the Gloom, and Bleleleh the Lickitung. Not much else goes on, it's just a straightforward path to the end of the cave.

Mewtwo

Enter Mewtwo, the true final boss of Pokémon Yellow. They're level 70 and EXTREMELY powerful. Now, I could just toss the Master Ball and call it a day, but I decided to try and catch Mewtwo the old-fashioned way, as if I had used the Master Ball on a Pokémon already.

My first thought was to send in Miles to do some tanking and try to Paralyze Mewtwo with Body Slam, but Mewtwo takes out more than half of Miles' HP with a single Psychic, and that's saying a lot. I don't think any of my Pokémon take less damage from Psychic moves than Miles, which is kind of a problem.

I figure Mycoboss can at least do some damage, having a super effective move and a high Attack stat, but Mewtwo uses Barrier and Leech Life barely makes a dent in their HP. Things aren't looking great here. I have to disable Mewtwo because they're just too strong, so Spore time it is. Mewtwo recovers and undoes what little damage I had dealt to them before, but I try to make this a war of attrition with Sleep and Leech Life. It doesn't work, and before I can put Mewtwo back to sleep they one-shot Mycoboss with Psychic.

Being in a tough situation, I figure what I need to do is get Mycoboss revived to put Mewtwo to sleep again, and switch to someone else to deal damage. I had Miles pop back in to take the fall while I used my turn to revive Mycoboss. Miles doesn't get KO'd, so I switch to Mycoboss and they manage to survive long enough to land the Spore. From there I switch to Holy to deal as much damage as I can with Ice Beam.

I manage to drain Mewtwo's HP enough that I can start trying to catch them now, but I need to put them back to sleep. I heal up Mycoboss, tank Mewtwo's attacks again, use Spore, and start spamming balls. It's only a matter of time before the Genetic Pokémon is caught, thus ending the battle, completing Cerulean Cave, and completing Pokémon Yellow.

Some Final Thoughts

As my first experience playing traditional Pokémon, I found Pokémon Yellow to be surprisingly enjoyable. The game is overall very easy, though there were some moments where I felt the difficulty was decently balanced. I was worried I'd find the game barebones and archaic, but instead I was surprised by the amount of depth and intrigue that this little Gameboy game had. Satoru Iwata really was the GOAT for making this game possible. RIP legend.

Pokémon as a series really rewards you for good thinking and knowledge of its mechanics and intricacies. Adapting to its challenges and figuring out how to overcome unexpected difficulties, turning the tide of a battle is very satisfying. It's a very cerebral game at times, and I was thoroughly entertained by its problem solving aspects. I was never really bored at any point during my time playing.

Like I mentioned in previous updates to Volume I of Pokéchronology, there were plenty of things that irked me about Pokémon Yellow. Most of them are technical limitations, but there's nothing that can be done about them. From a game design standpoint, Pokémon types are pretty unbalanced and some the Pokémon themselves just get completely shafted by this.

Psychic types specifically are way too strong thanks to the Special stat determining both damage taken and received from Special moves, and their sheer effectiveness against a huge percentage of Pokémon in Generation I. This isn't helped by the relative weakness and small move selection of the Bug type, the only real counter to Psychic. The only reason Bug still performs decently against Psychic is that most Psychic types have garbage Defense and HP.

But ultimately, none of Pokémon Yellow's faults really soured my experience, as it's very possible to work around them and build a team that's prepared to deal with anything. I'm very much looking forward to the next game, Pokémon Crystal, and my journey through the Johto region. I imagine it will be even more entertaining as it ramps up the complexity with a host of new Pokémon, new types, and new mechanics.

Expect the debut of the next volume of Pokéchronology soon. It will be much longer and hopefully more interesting than the first.

[fakeshibe]

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!! giving some recommendations back!! everything is like, online or computer based because i can't think of anything irl! Also! i tried to find things that are free, because everything costs money now and it sucks so free resources are always good :)

Does The Dog Die? (Totally free, donation optional) A crowdsourced database of content/trigger warnings for film, tv, books, comic and just general media and entertainment. It gives a yes/no for triggers as rated by users, and lets users add comments describing what exactly happens so that you can fully understand why it might be triggering. It covers a lot of stuff, from really common triggers like abuse, to more specific triggers like misrepresentation of autism or specific injuries (like i really hate teeth stuff, and this site gives me a heads-up of if anything happens, and how I'll know it's coming up). Everybody deserves to enjoy films, triggers and sensitivities shouldn't get in the way of that. https://www.doesthedogdie.com/

JustWatch (Totally free, Ad supported) A database of where films and television shows are available to stream/purchase online. It's also built into letterboxd, which i'm not gonna put on the list cause it's already fairly well known, but letterboxd is super useful for building watchlists and keeping track of what films you've seen!! Anyway, JustWatch will show you every location a film is streaming, if it's free, and you can change location to see if you can get it anywhere when you are definetly on holiday and not changing your location any other way :)

SIGNALIS (Normally £16, £11 in steam winter sale) Play signalist please oh my god. An incredible survival horror with PSX visuals and gameplay inspired by Silent Hill and Resident Evil. It has a genuinely touching and devestating story about love and loss, and visuals inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion (Especially the last 2 episodes), Ghost in the Shell and every other good sci-fi anime to exist. It's got the depressing hopelessness of Evangelion plus the Exestential horror of lovecraft and a dash of doomed lesbian robot angst to top it all off. (And just a tip, the end is not always the end. Even when it really, really feels like it is)

This specific SilvaGunner rip (Totally free)It's a mash-up of Everything is Going to be Okay from Prey (2017) and Fresh Static Snow by Porter Robinson and when you listen to it it really does feel like everything is going to be okay.

Prey (2017) (Normally £25, currently £2.50) I talk about Dishonored a lot but I'm just as obsessed with Prey. It's just that posting almost anything about Prey is spoiling Prey, and I think it's better to go in blind. I love that game with my whole heart. I could say so much about this game but I don't wanna spoil it so I'll leave it at that.

In fact fuck it, every Arkane game (Normally £200+, currently £33) they're all on sale on steam till Jan 4th. You can buy almost every arkane game ever made in a bundle for less than £10 atm. Dishonored and all it's DLC, Dishonored 2, Prey, Dishonored: Death of the outsider, Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah are in the Arkane 20th Anniversary collection which is currently £8.26. Deathloop is £10 and Redfall is £15. You can buy every Arkane game for £33 at the moment which is genuinely ridiculous. It'd normally be like £200!!! if you've been thinking about trying any of them, now is the time!! :)

Dither Me This (Totally free, donation optional) This website just dithers images for you, which makes them look really cool and also means they take up far less space. So if you wanna run an old tech style blog, you can make all your images look the same way they'd be displayed on an Apple II computer or a commodore 64. v cool little site! https://doodad.dev/dither-me-this/

MyNoise (Totally free, donation optional) You wanna generate noise? this website is for you! what type of noise? well there's the usual rain, white noise, oceans, brown noise, distant thunder stuff. But also! Cafe noise, forest noise, dungeon noise, tavern noise, oblivion?, spooky ghost singing??, exam hall noises??? literally any soundscape you can think of, bam there's something for it on there. And best of all? it's customisable! here are sliders to change the elements each soundscape is made of. So if your dungeon is a little too much water dripping and not enough clanking chains, well you can just move those sliders till you're happy with it, for literally every pre-set soundscape on the site. None of the pre-sets match what you're looking for? well, make your own! you can copy the sliders from other soundscapes and add them to your own composite soundscape to create a new soundscape. It's a little complicated and can only be done on desktop, not their app, but it's great!! Does your medieval tavern need more whimsical siren song, sorted. Your peaceful beach needs some bird song? easy. It's really great. Some stuff is paywalled, but honestly in my entire time using the site I've never been blocked from anything, it's only things like guided meditation and downloads that are blocked. If I used it more often I'd absolutely donate to their Patreon tbh. You can't use these soundscapes in creative stuff without permission because copyright and human decency obv, but they're excellent for writing/reading atmosphere or for ttrpg stuff!! and if you're a patron you can get them to send you an mp3 version of any soundscape, including your custom ones :)

merry christmas and happy holidays again!! I hope some of this is useful or interesting :) honoured to be part of your tradition this year!! I said in the comments already but there's definitely stuff in there that I'm gonna find super interesting!! especially the doc and the comic, they definitely seem like my thing :D

No obligation to also add things, but there's a couple things I think you guys would find useful/interesting in both posts so I'm tagging you!! @adammonoscore the sound generator especially might be useful for ttrpg stuff, @brittleboneless and @sevententv the £200 of games for £30 might be of interest to you, @exoticotter @hamtv12 and @crunchysaladx the dithering tool and art doc might be of interest to you!! (i haven't watched it yet though so i can't say exactly why other than it's art) also!! @idkhbutillendupranting i’m tagging you because i think you’d find a couple of things interesting, the yo ho ho suggestions, gaming and just general holiday vibes i wanted to tag you for

i wanna hear your recommendations!

a list with some stuff i like + a request for you to share yours :)

as a godless queer who spawned on earth randomly one time, my only holiday-season tradition is charity + passionately enjoying things. in lieu of passing my followers & mutuals $100 cash, have a random variety of things you might like to try - i know we're an international bunch so your mileage may vary on what you can access. in the spirit of giving i am hoping for some recs 🎁♥

disclaimer these are just things i like i am not paid. would be great. but.

yo ho ho if you read comics & manga but always found it to be a pain in the ass to source online, here's the aggregator app of your dreams: tachiyomiJ2K. real. not clickbait. android only tho. the extensions mangacute, mangadex, allanime, and mangareader, are good places to start. as a creator, i'm always iffy about recommending this kind of thing because i'd much prefer you went out and brought the things you're reading, however i'm not under any illusions about which era we're in, media-wise and economy-wise

gemma! - webcomic what if corvo was a woman and young emily was a dragon and they went on adventures in a fun fantasy/adventure way that is Extremely Gender. pictured: gender. god i want to be her > is this the greatest webcomic of all time? no. is it that sweet spot between 'mindless fun' and 'good'? yes. you get me

laksa noodles the more intl friends i have the more i realise that laksa isn't common everywhere. don't let that stop you from trying it. ultimate comfort food. hearty noodly soupy goodness. worth seeking out fr

ways of seeing - mini-documentary so profoundly changed the way i think that i had been wanting to revisit it and so was delighted to find its all on youtube. if you're an artist or want to improve your ability to critically think about what you're seeing in media, this is a must-see. link or embedded>

FUCKING GOOD AND CHEAP GREEN TEA price comment won't apply to everyone this site offers great prices for high quality tea direct from the farm. been buying from here for years and its always amazing - i love the houjicha/roast green tea, and if you like green tea but always wish it was stronger without sacrificing taste or becoming bitter, i recommend genmaicha matcha-iri, which uses matcha to intensify the flavour. yum

incense body powder being a perfume nerd who is prone to migraines sucks. if you like spices and good incense - not the $2 kind that you use to hide cigs from your parents but rather the kind that smells like wandering into a forest temple - you'll love incense body powder. it lasts well and i'd most compare it to a softer, more gourmand comme des garçons Incense series 3 kyoto. shoyeido is the easiest to source as far as i can tell, but other brands make it too. USD$11 - cheaper than even cheap perfumes tbh - the bag will last you years. if you try this please tell me i'd love to know what you think!

anyway!! i wanna hear your recs if you have any! can be any type of thing that has recently improved your mood or changed your life or you think someone else might like?

anyone reading can go for it, consider this a carte blanche for recommendations. gonna tag a few people - you don't have to of course thank you love you <;3 @lapinneok @dangerousdan-dan @arosebyothernames @headcrabrave @corvidad @neznoodles @retired-crow @corpseprince @i-really-hate-creating-usernames @geminison @fakeshibe @skemford @loveofdetail + please feel welcome if not tagged! edit OH @nekon-ron i tried to tag your old URL. ha