#are we talking about the same marvel??????

[co-mixed]

Why I hate Reed 

Fantastic Four has a long history of disaster after disaster. Most of the disasters in question were caused by Reed. Bet you didn’t expect me to jump right into it. 

Okay, fine, let’s do an introduction first.

Fantastic Four has been a Reed-centric story since the day he broke ground on Marvel-1 (known at the time as just a rocket) and took his bff, girlfriend, and her tag-along brother on a ride, to the day his arch-enemy took over the world (that was last week). It’s all about Reed and everyone else just happened to get stuck with him. 

I hate Reed. Maybe not as much as Doom does, but it’s close. 

I have my reasons.

If you know Reed well, chances are, you also hate him. If you don’t know him, you’re lucky. If you don’t hate him… keep reading. 

Reed has always been always the intended protagonist of the Fantastic Four. They might have called it a family book but really, you tuned in every month to find out who is bugging Reed and whether he manages to fix everything this time. That’s who he is, he fixes everything. Mostly through the power of science, occasionally by stretching in the most ridiculous way. 

Reed is recognized by CB writers as a hero, not just a hero in a cape and mask sense (he doesn’t even wear those) but the cool-headed, smart guy, the focal point of the team and the narrative. You are supposed to see yourself in him and imitate his approach. 

Everybody cares about him, everybody talks about him, and in those rare moments when he’s presumed dead, everybody mourns him. 

But Reed just isn’t a good person. There are things about him that don’t just fail to align with heroism, they’re plain vile.

He’s a liar

Reed is a liar. It’s not just that he omits relevant details like, say, forgetting to inform the whole team that they are slowly dying, or warning them that he’s keeping a dangerous gate in the basement. This is absolutely a pattern with Reed and instead of getting mad at him, people just accept it as a part of his character. Even if they do get pissed off, they eventually forgive him. Then all of that repeats. To be fair, I probably should be more mad at the dysfunctional family that enables his behavior. 

But it’s still him. The logical path he loves so much to take inevitably leads him to the conclusion that it’s time for yet another lie. He’s not above covering one lie with another, and it comes off almost childish (not in the adorable sense). What I mean is, he is afraid of being judged because he knows what he’s doing is wrong but he simultaneously believes that he is right because he knows better. Again, this comes down to him claiming to be the smartest man on Earth. Which is ridiculous. The smartest man in physics is still the stupidest when it comes to art or magic. And he admits both things himself yet refuses to accept the fact that he knows almost nothing. 

Besides, both his daughter and Lunella are easily smarter than he is. 

He’s a hypocrite 

Reed is a terrible hypocrite. We don’t talk about that often, because the stories that allow you to notice that lie far apart. During the Civil War, he was all happy to serve the government. It is a big part of his life, he’s always been ‘public’ and ‘legitimate’. In the eyes of the law anyway. So when the question of whether or not to register appeared, he made a call for everyone. Happily so, and he went along with punishing everyone who opposed it. Except for his family, of course. It smells awfully similar to the way dictators operate so I guess we should be thankful Reed doesn’t have those ambitions. 

But when the tables turn and Reed has to answer for all he’s done, he believes that he is judged harshly. Of course, it turns out to be a villain’s plot but he never really stops to think how his actions were questionable at best. And he isn’t prepared to take responsibility the same way he expected others to. He thinks it’s unfair. 

He’s a garbage person 

Essentially, the problem is Reed not knowing when to stop. Reed is stubborn, we already know that. He is convinced that he knows what is best for everyone. He believes that his view of the world and how things should be is the correct one. The mathematically correct one, I mean, he did write all those equations on all those walls. This is what eventually led to the Civil War, and this is what eventually led to the Secret Wars. The two most notable events on 616. Reed’s math allegedly allowed him to predict the future, and in that future, he saw Doom. JK but he did see that superheroes will destroy the world if they keep on unchecked. And he did see the possibility of incursions. So he built 42 and threw his friends there. He experimented on Speedball to the point of torture because the government said it was ok. He got together with the Illuminati pre-Secret Wars convinced that they could definitely stop the incursions and they failed. They would’ve gotten everyone killed and, big shocker, the only ones he ended up saving were himself and his family (although Justice finally said “Hell no!’ and his family perished.)

But Reed sure knew what was right.

With that same attitude of knowing what’s best, he stomps around Latveria, trying to liberate it. He returns there every time and every time acts surprised when he discovers that Latverian people don’t want his liberty. They don’t want him, they like Doom. 

I feel like deep down Reed believes that his unique intellect allows him to see things more clearly than any of us mortals. And because of that, everyone should sleep well, putting their trust in him. Whether he invents another doomsday device (and promises not to use it), keeps Ultimate Nullifier in his nightstand, or stores a gate to anywhere in his basement. Everyone is supposed to trust him until turns out that his 3-year-old accidentally opened it. That’s happened a few times and if anything, we should know by now that Reed is anything but trustworthy. 

He never stops to think “Should I?” Because the answer is pretty much always “No.”

He’s an awful husband 

Back in the day, Sue often ended up on the other side of Reed’s outbursts. His smug attitude toward her was always uncomfortable, to say the least. He diminished her and everything she did because he deemed it irrelevant. It barely changed until the writers elevated her almost to his level by making her a doctor of Archaeology. While I appreciate them giving her some interests other than making sandwiches for everyone who resides in the BB, does it mean that they agree with Reed? That everything she did, whether she wanted to be an actress, ran their company, charities, or simply stayed at home with the kids, is not good enough? It makes sense in terms of their shared interests, but the only thing it gives me is doubts about him even loving Sue. Unfortunately, it seems like he sees her as a trophy wife he never could’ve gotten. When he talks about Sue, he often says that he studied her, like she’s an object that fascinates him. This kind of explains why he can’t relate to her, refuses to trust her, and doesn’t always care how his actions would affect her. 

When Sue was Malice, everything she told him was pretty genuine. There is a trope where heroes say the worst things under the influence, yet these things are rooted in reality. And that’s what happened here. 

There was another piece of truth Reed got when Johnny had a fight with Sue (about keeping from him the fact that the whole team’s powers were deteriorating, and their bodies too), he told her “You’re treating me like he treats you!” Reed didn’t react and that was never addressed again. Too bad, we all know that’s true. Reed has no respect for Sue. Even Reed knows that, I just don’t think he gets it. 

Let’s not forget that Sue served him divorce papers. What a time that was.

He’s a terrible father 

He starts out as an oblivious parent who doesn’t really care. As long as the kid can’t speak it’s not his problem, right? Hence multiple babysitters and Franklin spending half of his childhood with Agatha,  in Attilan, and at Alicia’s place. Franklin is a creator, not a scientific one either and that’s something Reed can’t understand. That’s why he’s been having a hard time even connecting to his son. Okay, he might not be the easiest kid to connect to but with the constant neglect he’s experienced, no wonder he feels like a disappointment to everyone. 

Val has a good father, Doom. He’s actually more of a parent to her than Reed, even if she’s the child Reed actually likes. Unless that’s just him being possessive. Just like with Sue (whenever she had her Namor eras) Reed is jealous of Val’s bond with Doom and as soon as he feels like he’s losing her, he gets mildly irritated. That’s exactly it, he’s not even properly furious – he just gets upset and focuses on work. 

Even all the family adventures they went on, or that time after Secret Wars when Reed decided that Ben and Johnny should believe their family is dead (including the kids), couldn’t make up for that. After all, Reed probably spent more time in his mobile lab than with kids. And when he got bored he happily ditched everyone except Frank and Val. So much for calling them all “their kids”. They are better off anyway because Reed doesn’t consider their feelings. At least he treats them like adults, since he doesn’t consider them either. 

He’s unkind and a trash friend

There is no genuine kindness in Reed. It’s almost like he pretends to be a loving husband, parent, and friend. 

Reed has no respect for his family or friends. If he had, he would’ve considered them whenever he made a decision. Again, it comes back to him believing he can’t make a mistake (check how long he’d been agonizing over the first space mission). Yet the vast majority of Reed’s actions vary from mean to straight-up creepy. 

Even the seemingly selfless gesture of turning his team into celebrities was his pathetic plea out of guilt. He never asked any of them whether they even wanted to be famous or heroes. He felt guilty (that’s something, I guess) for turning Ben into The Thing, and complicating things for Sue and Johnny (although, they probably would’ve been fine). 

But that’s a pattern that follows Reed everywhere and everybody ends up getting hurt.

Despite claiming to love his wife and kids, care about his friend, and tolerate Johnny, he is unkind to them. He views and moves them as pawns to where he wants them to be, all the while faking the perfect family man and good friend facade. And that’s the new Reed, the old one barely pretended. 

Let’s face it, Reed and Ben don’t have much in common except the collective trauma of getting powers and fighting Doom. The funny part is, Reed wants to be friends with Doom but Doom sees through his BS (okay, I might be giving props to the dictator here but ain’t he right?)

He’s way too full of himself

The self-proclaimed smartest man on Earth, Reed lives in the world of science. He is obsessed with math and he believes that math will solve everything. Spoiler: it won’t. He knows that, too. When Doom kidnaps his family and locks baby Franklin in Hell, Reed wastes so much time arguing with Strange over his aptitude for magic, that the kid ends up traumatized. For a while Franklin couldn’t tell the difference between Hell and Reality, all because his father couldn’t accept that he doesn’t know everything. 

This is absolutely a pattern with Reed — he doesn’t believe in ghosts, vampires, probably even werewolves. Meanwhile, he knows actual gods and had a witch for a nanny. If anything, this is a sign of stubbornness and that’s one of the worst barriers for wisdom. So good at math he might be, a genius — I don’t think so. That’s not all there is to it, because there are absolutely people smarter than Reed with a more flexible mind. I have to give points to him for recognizing that eventually and forming Future Foundation but he still has ways to go. So far, math has been a source of trouble more often than not. His inventions and his equations that predict the end of everything force him to take the most ridiculous approach in trying to solve problems before they arrive. And if that’s how we see Reed, imagine how irritating it is to Doom. 

And while we’re at it, they might have changed the origin so that Reed’s original calculations weren’t incorrect but that was wrong. The poetic justice of math, the only thing he truly trusted, betraying him, that was beautiful. If only Reed could understand art. 

He’s dull 

Let’s face it, they can rewrite Reed’s history, they can try to make him fun, they can even hire a really good actor to play him, but Reed is incredibly dull. He’s boring and even his family doesn’t pretend he isn’t. He is not charming, has zero charisma, not funny, and really he’s extremely lucky he managed to get Sue to marry him (because with his other bad qualities and lack of charm idk what that was, unfortunate chemistry?) He’s even more lucky Ben was out of other options friend-wise, and Johnny was just around. Otherwise, Reed would’ve died alone which is frankly, what he very much deserves. 

That’s not even half of his misdeeds, just the ones that were on the top of my mind. But trust me, if you spend almost a year reading about this guy, you will likely hate him just as much. 

[son-justdont]

okay so here's the update regarding my mom's opinions on catws

she fuckin gets it, dude

i talked about how despite everything hydra does to make him look intimidating, you can see that he's very neutral, sometimes even scared. i showed her this gif:

and she said "it's like he's lost"

we talked about how he's extremely calculating and doesn't react emotionally even in high stress or when he's being bested, like when Natasha fucked up his arm, or even during the face reveal. and she said "because they didn't understand the science of it... the serum enhances everything about the person, and he wasn't bad. that's why they had to work so hard and wipe him so much, because he wouldn't ever actually want to do those things." i couldn't help but smile while she was saying this lmao

she also said: "to me, Steve always seemed... independent. it's almost like Bucky relied on him more than the other way around" which is the most stucky thing she could've ever said. she's so fucking right

she was like "wait, so he pulled him out of the water... and then he just walked away?? so now he's just wandering around... and the longer he stays unfrozen, the more he's going to remember everything"

we can't quite yet watch civil war but we are very excited for it lol

oh, and she loved nick fury and she didn't even know who the fuck he was. i forgot to explain beforehand but she understood pretty quick. and then she was very upset when he "died" as well LOL she said "THEY NEED TO STOP DOING THAT." she hated rumlow immediately as well and i was like yeah that's the correct opinion

now i wanna respond to some of the comments under the cut cuz ive been having such a good time lmao

@bucky-boychik-barnes @impetusofadream HERE U GO (one of them is from a different post where i talked about the same thing lmao)

@ilovemosss i read this post out to my mom including the replies and when i read this one she went "YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!"

@sentowritesstuff @stuckydrewx @partofthefandom @musette22 @rillils @skullfragments

she really thought all these responses were so funny and sweet! i however will not be introducing her to ao3 lmfao. she's no prude but she's pretty shy. i'll have to just relay ideas i find myself, i think. if anyone has any non-M rated recs you think she might like based on what she's said, feel free to send them my way haha

honestly she'd probably enjoy herself but i am probably only be showing her Cap and Bucky related stuff LSKDJF we didn't even watch avengers and i sure as hell am not showing her AoU. i'm basically explaining the relevant information as to what went on in between movies. i was like "natasha is an ex russian spy that was groomed to be as a child. that's basically all you need to know" like i didn't even explain nick fury and she was SO UPSET WHEN HE DIED LMAO

and, i gotta spill the beans, but i haven't seen a marvel movie since the first black panther. yeah that includes IF and EG. i know what happens but my interest in marvel PLUMMETED back then and i never caught up. honestly i'm only back into this stuff because i rewatched jessica jones and then wanted to go through the whole MCU from the beginning, saw CA:TFA, went "oh yeah this was all that i liked," and went all in for them.

i have watched TFatWS and i loved it (it seems like the fandom doesn't though LOL) for what it was, so i'll probably show her that. she is gonna be so so so so so upset regarding steve's choice, just like the rest of us. and i'm not looking forward to it lol. but i'll update when that happens too

i'll have to make a post civil war mom thoughts once that happens haha

[masters-of-void]

woe, midnight anyu/aoi breakup & introspection upon u. i may add this to a drabble covering their whole one-month relationship but i just wanted to post some writing now cause i been so busy with it 🥲

xX GLIMMER Xx hey, can we talk? Driftin' Sure. Everything okay? xX GLIMMER Xx um. so listen, there isn't an easy way to say this, but I've been thinking. I hate to bring it up when things were going so well, but I think we'll do best as just friends Driftin' Oh. xX GLIMMER Xx I'm sorry Driftin' Was it something I did? xX GLIMMER Xx no not at all! it's me, I promise do u have that turn of phrase in the future? "it's not u, it's me"? Driftin' I... wouldn't know. xX GLIMMER Xx gosh okay look, ur AMAZING and I'm probably being REALLY stupid here. I'm just not ready like I thought I was. it's not fair to u to be expecting "Arthurisms" one way or another when ur just trying to be urself with me I don't want to string u along Driftin' Aoi, you don't owe me an explanation. xX GLIMMER Xx no, I do. u've been nothing but sweet and understanding. I can't tell u how much that means to me so again, I'm sorry. I truly did enjoy our time together Driftin' Yeah. Same here. Thank you for it. xX GLIMMER Xx ur gonna make someone really happy one day ^_^ friends? Driftin' Always. xX GLIMMER Xx ( っ˶´ ˘ `)っ xX GLIMMER Xx went offline

Drifter stared at the screen, unsure of what he felt. His gut instinct was to default to 'nothing,' so he knew that had to be wrong. There was definitely something he needed to feel about this.

Glimmer went offline.

He read the tag over again once. Twice.

It was a firm rejection. A...new experience for him, at least in this context, and it stung. Bitterly.

She'd said offhand a few days before he asked her out to go talk to Lettie if he ever went through a breakup, when he'd been curious about their friendship. She'd regaled him with the tale of how Lettie had helped her settle her feelings about ending her last relationship. That there was no one better besides, well, Aoi herself, if he also...had the opportunity to want help with that.

Well, they hadn't told anyone they were seeing each other. It was too early and "complicated because of Arthur and this whole situation," so they just didn't bother. Not until they were sure. Hmm.

It seemed she'd decided what she was sure of.

Eleanor probably knew, but it was so casual and now short-lived that it hardly seemed appropriate to talk to her or anyone about how 'heartbroken' he must be. Nope, this was a little thing. He could handle it on his own.

But digging deeper, he found...relief? Like a weight lifting he didn't notice was there before.

Her cheerful personality was what drew him to her almost from the start. Everything about her was a bright spark of color in the ancient gray of his life, and he'd reasoned after Kalymos gave him a second chance on that first New Years night that maybe this was it.

Maybe this is what I've been waiting for.

She was brilliant. Beautiful. A glimmering star to marvel at, just like her KIM handle implied. She'd said yes. And he thought he'd never felt so happy in his life when she did.

But if he were honest with himself, sometimes it seemed like her happiness was a mask she put on, even after they'd talked about it. And that reminded him far too uncomfortably of Mathila.

He loved Aoi's joy, that she wanted to share it with the world, with him, but if she also used it to shut him out, what could he do?

She obviously had an inner world she'd decided she couldn't trust him with, at least for now, so cutting him loose was a favor in some way. If she were only happy all the time and never let him look under the surface, then he'd just fall into another spiral trying to draw her true self out of her.

He was very acquainted with how that always turned out, and he still didn't know what he was supposed to do about it -- to stop someone from turning into a great murderous Orowyrm when faced with the part of themselves they didn't want to change. It was something he'd need to learn before he tried again, and he simply counted himself lucky that she pulled the plug before it got that far. Maybe she'd seen it coming already.

And how exactly would he 'try again'? Would he reset the loop and go about their relationship differently?

No, he probably shouldn't. That was a power he reserved only for fixing the mistakes he'd made alone, and it sounded like part of Aoi's decision was because of things that had nothing to do with him. He wouldn't rob her of her free will like that. He'd have to find another way to fight the Indifference then.

He stopped short on that thought.

Ah, maybe that's what he did wrong. What she wasn't telling him.

If it wasn't about her, then it wasn't for her either. And maybe she'd picked up on that from him. So this did indeed circle back to being his fault, but that wasn't her problem.

As much as he wanted to indulge in these feelings normal people got to have for each other, maybe he wasn't ready either. If it was even in the cards for him at all, he knew that if he were to have a relationship with someone, it needed to be completely real. Both parties had to be, regardless of what the void planned for their world.

No masks, no tangential intentions, nothing that would put his mind and soul separate from the person he loved. He couldn't do it otherwise.

It was a strange sensation, to be ashamed, relieved, and hurting all at the same time.

He sat there, hands in his lap, meditating on it, adapting it to his psyche to hold onto when-- if, IF the loop here turned gray.

Eventually, he caught himself tracing his thumbnail over his lip absently. Enough time had passed that the screen went dark, snapping him out of the meditation. He shook the mouse to power down his computer properly and read the tag one last time.

Glimmer went offline.

Shit. He was going to miss her kisses.

[goodluckclove]

A Laundry Guide for People Who Have Obvious-Sounding Questions They're Too Afraid to Ask

Maybe you’ve never been taught how to use homemaking alchemy to transmogrify dirty clothes and linens into clean ones. Maybe you brute-forced every interaction with a washer and dryer, resulting in something that seems passable – but you’re pretty sure it’s wrong.

It is so easy to look into the process of doing laundry and immediately fall down a spiral of anecdotal information and razor’s edge-precise rules. There’s something ritualistic about engaging with laundry, some eldritch dread in looking at all the compartments of your average Laundry Device and wondering what the fuck you’re supposed to do with them.

I might be projecting at this point. Let’s break it down.

How Often Do I Wash The Things???

This is. Strange to look into. I’m pretty confident in my Laundry Wizardry, but as soon as I started looking into the arguments of how often people say you should wash certain linens and fabrics around the house, I was immediately overwhelmed.

Like, I trust Good Housekeeping. They’ve been around for over 100 years, so I think if they were an unreliable source of information someone would’ve caught it by now. But after looking at their posted guide breaking down laundry frequency depending on the article of fabric?

Fucking hell. God damn.

I believe them, okay? I believe there’s merit to their suggestions. But at the same time, I’m not about to wash my hand towels and wash clothes every goddamned day that’s insane.

I can try and translate it into something that’ll maybe be a little more comprehensible to people who either don’t have access to an in-unit washer and dryer, or are just a little frazzled in the head when it comes to executive function. Maybe you can see this and get some ideas on how to adjust things for your own lifestyle. I do my main wardrobe once or twice a week, and here’s how I work it out the special cases in my brain:

These are kind of gross pretty much immediately, so make sure you have enough to get you through a week: socks, underwear, smaller towels,

Things I aim to wash these like 1-2 a month: sheets, pillowcases, blankets, bath mats

These should also be cleaned, but there’s enough nuance that it requires special consideration: pillows, comforters, certain sweaters or jackets

In my house we stay real cozy and have  a stockpile of massive blankets we’re wrapped in pretty much anytime we’re at home. If I only washed these blankets every three months, my wife would dissolve into dust like the climax of a Marvel movie.

Also, flat-out, I don’t wash my pillows. The steps to do that are unfathomable to me, even though I see the purpose. I’ve also read enough to grasp that it’s pretty easy to mangle a pillow by putting it in the wash. It sounds much more accessible to spot clean with a solution of mild dish-washing liquid, spritz them with a disinfectant spray (Lysol makes one, the off-brand ones are likely just as good), and maybe using baking soda to deodorize.

I’ll touch on that more on a separate, dedicated cleaning guide – which is where I’ll also talk about stains. I can’t get into that here without making this far too long and frightening.

It is Time to Do The Laundry Now. Hold My Hand. It's Okay, We're In This Together

Step One: Figure Out What You're Washing

Resist the temptation to overload your machine. If you’re using a laundry room or laundromat, it might seem like a good strategy to save a few bucks. Honestly, whether or not it's worth it in the long run is up to you. It'll increase the likelihood of certain materials getting damaged, as well as decrease how clean some things get. But if every load of laundry costs you like two bucks, sometimes you gotta' do what you gotta' do.

How do you know you’re overloading a washing machine? There are a few obvious signs, like if the door struggles to close, or if the washer is noticeably shaking and buzzing during the spin cycle. If you also notice your clothes are still dirty after washing, or speckled with soap residue, that usually indicates you're washing too much at once.

That’s why separating loads is so useful. You may have heard people mention separating their light and dark fabrics. The reasoning behind that is because darker fabrics bleed their dye at hotter temperatures, so if you wash darker clothes in cold water they keep their vibrancy for longer. With newer detergents and washing machines, though, this is much less of an issue.

Even when I was using far older machines – in my second apartment’s laundry room, for instance – I never prioritized this. I instead separate loads based on need and use. I try and reserve bedding and bath towels for their own loads, because they take up a lot of space. If I had more delicates I’d probably separate those into their own thing too.

If the laundry’s really piled up because my brain exploded, I will also go ahead and make a load or two of just underwear, bras, and a few core outfits I feel comfy and cute in. It’s not glamorous, but it works!

Step Two: Get Your Goos. It's Goo Time, Baby

The following is a breakdown of the basic goos and liquids you can use to make your clothes good. How you use them depends on whether or not your machine has a detergent compartment, which is usually seen as a small drawer in the front of certain machines that can be pulled out to load detergent, bleach, and fabric softener as needed.

If a machine doesn’t have them, you put all your Laundry Potions directly into the drum – that’s what they call the main tumble pit that washes and cleans your fabrics.

Stain Remover: If you're treating a fresh stain, the right time to do it is before you throw it in the wash. The heat of the dryer sets the stain, so you want to douse it in that Good Good as soon as you can. They sell dedicated stain removers (Shout and Oxyclean are pretty good). If you don't have those, using an old toothbrush to scrub the area with a small amount of dish soap before sponging it down with a little bit of white vinegar helps with a lot of basic stains. You might want to let treated clothes sit for fifteen minutes or so before you throw it in the wash. If using a spray stain remover, consult the instructions with more faith than me.

Detergent: Comes in powder, liquid/gel, and pods. How the fuck do you choose between these options, you might be asking? Depends on what you can afford and what you value. Powder is usually the cheapest, and often the most environmentally-friendly, but it can be slow to dissolve at lower temperatures. Liquid and gel detergents are the best for colored fabrics because it tends to be bleach-free. Certain cities also have refilleries, or zero-waste shops where you can often get bulk detergents and soaps. The pods are are also bleach-free, and usually multi-functional, but they tend to be the most expensive variety and leave plastic waste.

Bleach: Bleach comes in two main varieties: chlorine/oxygen-based, or non-chlorine/color-safe. In laundry, it's used to remove stains and brighten clothes. I'm putting special emphasis on these varieties because I have a longstanding, unreasonable fear of using bleach in laundry. Chlorine bleach will stain the fabric of colored clothes, so don't use it if you don't want that to happen. If your machine has a detergent compartment, it’ll have a separate place for liquid bleach. If it doesn’t, or if you’re using powdered bleach, you can put it directly into the drum. With liquid bleach, you’ll want to start the wash first and let the drum fill partway with water before adding the clothes. How much bleach you use will depend on the brand and size of the load, but it’ll usually be around ¼ cup.

Fabric softener: I'm gonna' level with you - fabric softener is weird. It’s generally considered to be useful on cotton and natural fibers (Excluding wool and down). It’s also acknowledged to be a product of an age where laundry strategy was a lot less efficient, so most will say it’s optional, if not entirely unnecessary. In fact, it’s been noted that excessive fabric softener use can cause mildew buildup in certain machines. If you’re wanting a better, fragrance-free alternative that’ll also help remove soap residue and leave your towels and fabrics softer, you can use white vinegar in place of fabric softener (Either in the softener tray on the detergent compartment, or about a ¼ cup in the drum). But you can also skip this. The Ghosts of House-Spouses Past won't look down on you in disdain. They'll probably be jealous your equipment is so much better than what they had access to.

Washing Machines Have a Lot Of Settings. What - Uh - What Do I Do About That?

Yeah, man. I know what you mean. There’s a designated  “Normal” setting that I tend to stick to. Sometimes I'll do like Sanitize or Heavy Duty if shit's extra gross. We don't have a lot of really finicky fabrics in our house, and there are absolutely settings on my washer and dryer I straight up have never used and don't understand.

It helps to check the tags on whatever you want to wash. It'll say if you need to care for it in any weird way. It'll also say if it's okay to dry it, and the best heat setting to dry it if needed.

Step Three: Dry Time Baby

Fabric sheets exist and can help with static cling, as well as softening clothes and providing a nice scent if needed. A cheaper long-term alternative that’s actually more useful are dryer balls. Their default is unscented, but you can add a few essential oil drops if you want to. They do everything fabric sheets do, but they also bounce around your clothes, keeping them from getting tangled in each other and giving you a more even dry.

A dryer has a lint trap, usually on the front wall near the door opening. It’s smart to check and clean it before every load, but if it’s your own machine you can get away with doing it maybe once a week. The lint and pet fur or whatever gathers there, and if it gets too full it’ll dry less efficiently or even act as a fire hazard.

Load your clothes from the washer and dryer. Once again there’s a normal setting, but you can also adjust temperature or time if needed. I only really do that when I’m either putting something clean directly in the dryer to get rid of wrinkles, or drying clothes that are only slightly damp. In both of those cases, longer time with lower heat is very helpful.

Dry your clothes. You did it! Good job.

Oh wait shit what now.

Putting Away Your Clothes???

So the person who asked me to look into this also wanted some insight on how to fold clothes and put them away. This is a complicated issue for me.

I might get called out for this, but when it comes to the best way to put away your clothes, I strongly believe it is virtually whatever sustainable method that works for you to find clean clothes.

My wardrobe is literally into four baskets. The first is for what I dub “easy clothes”, so t-shirts, shorts, soft pants and the like. The second is for my button downs, sweaters, and slacks. The third is where I keep my dresses and jumpsuits – pretty much anything more prone to wrinkling. The fourth is my briefs, bras and socks. I am at a point in my life where I accept that I often do not have the brain space to hang or fold things a bunch of things consistently. I don’t really dress in anything prone to wrinkling, and anything that proves an issue I just toss it in the dryer for like ten minutes before I go out. I hear hanging it up in the bathroom while you take a shower also works to steam out the wrinkles, but I personally haven’t tried that.

I’m not even going to suggest different ways other people fold clothes. They exist. The “life hacks” are out there, but if you know in your heart of hearts that you will not be able to LARP as an Old Navy employee every time you put away clothes, these tips will not help you.

There is no wrong way to put away clothes if it keeps your clothes clean and accessible for you. If you’re freaked about wrinkles you can try rolling your clothes. Or buy a handheld steamer. You can get one from a big-box store for like less than twenty bucks and they’re great for bedding too.

Be free be clean my friends.

Do you have a request for an in-depth guide like this on something you think you should already know? Reach out to me through DM or ask box and let me know!n

[metalcorebarbie]

i can’t stop thinking about this article that i saw yesterday about one of the russos (i don’t remember which one, it’s not relevant khjafsf) say that the reason why marvel movies are flopping is because of the audience and that the kids are so impatient now and want everything immediately and they don’t want to wait for new content that long… and i thought that was stupid but then i looked at the comments and some guy was saying that the actual reason why marvel movies are not succesful anymore is because they are so woke now and then the comment ended with him saying ”get woke, get broke!!!!!!” and like. where do i even start. i’m ben affleck smoking dot jpg.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

long ass arms he could slap you from across the goddamn room

they made Miguel dummy thicc then gave our boy the ol stickbug build. He's built like the hands of a clock 😩😩

He got saladfingers hands. Got on the bozo the clown shoes.

No zipper so them shits must take so long to lace. bro get some Jordans already. Gwendy give him back the chucks cause we don't have time for this 😭😭

I love him. I Love Him to Death

[quadrantadvisor]

My Jason Todd meets Venom au is, V gets stuck in an alternate universe and bonds with Jason. It's like, he would be a perfect host, but the Lazarus pit side effects are hostile to symbiotes, something like that. They get by well enough. Red Hood is also a lethal protector, so after a rocky start (being possessed is never a picnic) they get along pretty well!

V: I miss Eddie…..

Jason: I know bud. Do you wanna go eat a rapist? Would that make you feel better?

V: …….yes.

I'm imagining a point in time in which Jason has a truce with the Batfam but doesn't contact them regularly. Most of them are feeling pretty okay about Red Hood and then suddenly he starts turning into a giant monster and eating people. They are freaking the fuck out. Every time one of the bats shows up to check on him Venom is like "these people are bothering you. can we eat them? can we pleeeeeeaaaaaase eat them?" and Jason has to take several deep breaths so that he manage a "no"

[cherriiramen]

Okay… hear me out. HEAR ME OUT.

DO YOU SEE IT. DO YOU SEE ITTTT.

[annabelle--cane]

josie really lived the best life. pulled a successful beauty and the beast gambit, spent years with a hot vampire boyfriend who stayed good For Her™, broke up with him amiably some time later, lived a full and normal human life in the interim decades, met up with her hot vampire ex by happenstance in her 60s while undergoing treatment for terminal lung cancer and he was clearly still into her, helped save the world by telling george that the vampires were up to no good, helped save the world a second time by donating her blood to get mitchell out of the hospital before too many red flags were raised, and chose to die quickly of heroic and sexy blood drinking over waiting for the lung cancer to take her. in a show full of tragedy and doom she had nothing but win after win after win. "but there are so many plot holes surrounding her" god forbid women do anything.

[byfulcrums]

i've been thinking about lesbian scott summers because the other day i made a jeanscott drawing where scott was a girl and like. how would it affect her, as a character, and how would it affect her relationship with other people (namely jean)?

scott's already canonically 'nervous' when it comes to his attraction to women. he's always like, "is this safe? it's not, it's not safe" until actively proven otherwise and EVEN THEN he's still like that (whyyy), and sure it might be because of his deadly eyes but add the lesbian into it. this shit takes place in the 60s, 70s, add the lesbian into it

[secondstar-acorn]

and while we’re on the subject. Anthony Mackie deserves better from not only the marvel fandom but marvel itself

[bat-gwuck]

i just want everyone to know that i recently watched the film that was quite possibly my first ever hyperfixation for the first time since i was 12 and it has had disastrous consequences (i used to watch it every single day and one time i watched it six times in a row and tbh i would gladly do it again)

[gwydionae]

Rewatching through the old X-Men cartoon has reminded me that if Nightcrawler is onscreen for more than 30 seconds and hasn't yet jumped into a sermon, it must be an imposter.

[un-pearable]

oh yeah saw blue beetle last night and one million thumbs up. going into having heard it’s very tokusatsu and comic booky made it one million times better. goofy and stupid in fun ways. i’m so glad we’ve looped back around to comic book movies being like comic books: confusing chronologically and catered to fans willing to put up with wildly specific nonsense. also heck of a great job making a movie about gentrification and colonization out of the chaos of blue beetle lore and corporate blandification i genuinely had fun

[msue0027]

Why couldn’t I get into something normal, or at least something with consistent canon? Now I am digging into depths of Whoniverse (and we all know the canon doesn’t exist (it is what you want it to be (a bit like Schrödinger’s canon: it both exists and does not, and a bit like a Young Experiment, different when observed, and in 3 places at the same time))); and I am studying Arthurian legends – where every source gives you different facts. And I’m trying to make sense out of it. And create for those universes. It’s fun. And the greatest torture.

[codecicle-archive]

hellloOOo Ashton codecicle I'm thinkjbg abt chuckle sandwitch and jrwi and I think ted nivison should be in jrwi so he can kill people :3 also also fave guest(s) on chuckle sandwitch?

HELLO CUPID SCUCHARLIE !!! you're so right man schlatt was already a guest we need ted to finish the trio out :-) and god the real answer is all of them but ill try to narrow it down

1/2 of my robotics autism

2/2 of my robot autism

JAIDENNNNNNN MOTHER FUCKING ANIMATIONSSSS

[guy who's normal about Tommy and Charlie voice] you should watch the episode where they all make fun of each other for an hour

CHEERING ! JUMPING FOR JOY ! ☝️ an honorary mention because I love their comedy chemistry together