#being autistic is interesting

[archerbeans]

So, I finally watched the Archer finale..

WARNING. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR INTO THE COLD!!!

So, Archer has come to an end. Its a lot for me to process, this is a hard one for me, the past 6 months have been exclusively Archer for me, I've fallen so far for a fictional character. I'm going to try my absolute best to collect all of my thoughts in one post for this. I'll try not to spoiler too much. But I think this is necessary for me so I can help process this loss for me.

To say I'm happy is an understatement. I'm beyond relieved and grateful we got the proper Archer ending this show so badly deserved. The season 14 finale was a disgrace, and the way it could have ended would have been tragic. This show ending is tragic enough, but thats just my view on it. Hyperfixations are hard ya'll.

I think the way they ended the plot for this show was very cleverly done. While I don't think Adam Reed would have went in this direction, I'm still satisfied with what the writers did. Seeing everyone band together was wonderful, and there were a couple twists I wasn't expecting at all, but it goes without saying, nothing can be perfect.

Some initial thoughts, pros and cons if you may, but not really.

The growth the characters go through is really really cool to see, notably Archer. When he says he doesn't need to know who his father is, that's a huge milestone and a step towards some emotional maturity. Sterling has so much trauma and is overall a very impulsive character, but letting him have his moments of clarity is always nice to see. There is a good balance between his impulses and realizing that his actions have consequences. I don't think there was any way Slater could have been saved in the end anyways.

There was no main focus on any specific character. Every main reoccurring role in the show got their own moments in this finale, which I am super grateful for. Season 14 had a hard time dedicating specific episodes to certain characters like in the earlier seasons, so this finale did a great job at giving everyone a bit of spotlight.

Focusing on the main characters instead of random one off characters was super cool and something I appreciate as well. Katya, Barry, and Slater were all characters who made the biggest impacts on the show by far, not to mention they're also fan favourites. But seeing Rip Riley was super exciting as well!

The early season throwbacks!! In the elevator shaft you can see the old ISIS sign and an old Cherlene album :3 If there was anything else I probably missed it as there was a lot of clutter, but I always get so so excited when there's early season callbacks. It shows that's the writers really do care about these characters and their stories. I was happy to see Milton!! Milton supremacy!!

The ode to Malory was wonderful, I'm so so happy they did that. Lana's speech at the end was a good way to wrap everything up for the crew.

There isn't much to say negatively, these aren't necessarily things that make this finale bad, just things that made me sad and were a surprise to me that I'm not sure how I feel. This is completely opinion biased and you can disagree all you want!

Slater dying. I'm really sad that one of my favourites ended up dying. I loved the very erotic moments between Slater and Archer and their initial fight was really intense and fun. But seeing Slater die wasn't really all that satisfying for me, except it allowed Archer to grow more and let go of some of that trauma. RIP Slater </3 You were a son of a bitch

Morphing Barry and Katya.. This is a weird one for me. I'm not sure how I feel about this at all. I guess the only fun thing I can say about this is that we got some fun classic enemies to lovers. I dont particularly LOVE that trope, but with making Katya a antagonist, it was quite the choice.

The settings.. I think it was fitting to have some of the settings back in Russia, but Rio was quite the random choice. There was a lot going on and at one point I kind of got confused as to where everyone was at one point, in one scene they're at the Agency, the next they're in a safe house, the next they're in some other random area, that was a bit hard to follow, but a lot happened in an hour, and there was a lot going on. The title "Into the Cold" was clever. Also I hated the whole crypto thing. That genuinely felt like a cheap cop out for some plot holes. Cyril doesn't seem like the type of person to be interested in crypto as one would figure he'd be pretty knowledgeable on how that stuff is shitty. If Lana saw those mines you know she would lose her mind LOL

Overall, I am happy with how things were wrapped up. I was very worried near the end because we hadn't seen AJ at ALL, or had any mention of her, so seeing the scene at the end with her and Sterling made me really happy, knowing that Archer kept in contact with Lana but not anybody else really stung, but Sterling saying he "hates goodbyes" really stuck with me after this finale finished. Saying goodbye to this show is not easy whatsoever, I have such a strong connection with these characters and cast, and my love for Cheryl is eternal. Its hard for neurotypical people to fully understand, and this is a grieving process for me, but I have the support and friends to help me through this, and I will always have these guys around, since I can rewatch this show as many times as I want. I will continue to make content and hopefully start writing more maybe. This world is so expansive and so many things can be done as it falls on the line of realism, slice of life, and science fiction. I love everything this show had to offer, and I'm so grateful for the dedication and work that went into this show.

If you read this far for some reason, thanks for reading.

[xitsensunmoon]

My first ever comic con! And first cosplay too. Of course it's gonna be my boy :] Ramblings about the process are under the cut(Let me know if?? You would want me to elaborate with process images for any of the steps?)

The costume took me forever to make, as I've never done any machine sewing, sculpting, fabric dying or spray painting before but learning all of these was so fucking fun!! I never realised just how many different skills go into making a cosplay but it was so worth it!!!

Almost all of the clothes(except the hat) were purchased first as bases, but all of the detailing was added by me. All of the fabric used was originally just scraps that I was given for free so I needed to learn how to dye and dye all of the stars, they were originally white.

The sewing machine was its own beast that brought me tons of frustration from the lack of skill and knowledge (it was devastating to find out that 95% of fuck ups were my fault and not the machine's lmao). But as a result, a hat sewn from scratch, all of the fur trims, embroidery on the corset, stars and the collar(which is very hard to see on the pictures unfortunately) was all added manually. The stars and the stripes(on the back of the cape) were attached using heat-and-bond adhesive (I WISH I knew about such thing just when I started working on this. It would save me so much time and nerves.)

Then I found out about polymorph(mouldable plastic) and it has become the next thing I wanted to learn, to sculpt the claws and the fangs(yes, they're handmade jfksjs). The claws I then primed and painted in trillion coats because I wasn't satisfied with the colour of the spray paint. The fangs I moulded to my own teeth and then stained with tea to match the colour of my teeth :)c

As for makeup, I used Mehron Paradise water activated paints. At first I wanted to try to save money and bought myself Snazaroo instead, which unfortunately turned out to be a waste. Snazaroo didn't hold on my face for longer than 2 hours, cracking and peeling awfully. Mehron on the other hand survived 11 hours of me smiling, talking, emoting and such and didn't even crease at the smile lines(I'm actually shocked about that). It obviously works like any other makeup which means your skin texture and wrinkles won't go anywhere but Mehron's elasticity pleasantly surprised me. It did obviously smear from sweat and saliva(if you're eating and licking your lips) but if you don't touch the skin it just dries again, self setting. But if it's dry it's fully smear-proof. Highly recommend!

And last but not least, I've decided against painting my hands as it was very risky that I will stain everything I touch at the smallest hint of sweat. So instead I got myself gloves-tights(? Not sure how they're called but it's made from the same fabric as tights) and painted them with normal acrylic paint(did you know you could dye fabric with acrylic paint? I personally didn't), then heat set with an iron and voilà, they're reusable, my hands are not stained after an exhausting day and I don't stain everything I touch. It worked wonderfully which honestly was a surprise as I was really sceptical that acrylic paint will somehow stay in place.

I think this whole thing took me minimum of 6 months with big-big breaks for my school and life in general. But I'm really proud! This project taught me so many new skills and I couldn't have been happier about learning new knowledge, even if it sucked to fail in the meantime.

Everyone at the con was really nice and gave me a large confidence boost even tho it was my first time and I had no idea what I was doing. Taking photos with other people was really awkward/new for me as I hate cameras so I really had no idea how to pose/behave in front of one. But that's okay I think. This whole experience definitely made me want to do this again, so I think that will come with experience. Thank you for reading this far, hope you enjoyed this little summary :)

[ejbuckley]

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, being autistic is like playing a board game without knowing any of the rules.

[catmask]

it is insane how normal i am medicated like. you mean this was an option the whole time. what

[finally-got-a-diagnosis]

Black Autistic Culture is people not believing you're autistic while also critiquing you on everything you said that was "disrespectful" and "rude" as well as telling you to learn how to talk right.

[flimsy-roost]

Falin Touden is an example of the manic pixie dreamgirlification of autistic girls

the same traits that made Shuro actively resent Laios (strength in noticing details, specific unusual interests, weak social skills, propensity to daydream/get lost in thought) made him fall in love with Falin because they were repackaged in a cute girl

[robininthewindow]

“Autistic sniper” “autistic engine”’”autistic medic” BIYCH THEYRE ALL AUTISTIC!!!!!

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Autistic and ‘Needing to be Right’

Neurodivergent_lou

[a-place-to-exist]

not all autistic behaviors need to be talked about as a problem but sometimes i do feel like my niche and restrained interests isolate me from the world. sometimes i do feel like it’s a problem. i’m not interested in the world around me. i only like and get excited about very specific things that i can’t share with everyone. it makes me sad

[555bunnies]

Something about being a girl and a bunny and other related things

[fumifooms]

Kaka compilation

Because everyone is sleeping on him. Witness his greatness!! First two Kaka colored icons were colored by me, lineart by Ryoko Kui though!

Kaka & Kiki are kinda like Laios & Falin… Kaka being stoic and giving repressed energy like early Laios, Kiki being cryptic and always smiling and kinda soft-looking. Autism siblings 2, ostracized and othered as kids and have a deep bond due to sticking together through it all, though unlike with Laios their parents are very loving so Kaka developed family as a big value more than Laios (bc asides for Falin Laios doesn’t care much about it).

In the gnome festival comic you can see Kaka is more emotive than he seems! Full with a :3 face, and he’s the one crying at the end. He’s insecure about his legs and being tall… It really got to him. Conceal don’t feel. In the gnome festival comic you also see him sensing others’ gaze on him and that something is off unlike Kiki, again Laios-like in the way that judgement from others gets to him more than her.

[youling-the-ghost]

Hey just a friendly PSA: you don’t need to have a special interest to be autistic. It's perfectly fine to not have a thing that you've been obsessing over since you were a kid, it doesn't make you any less autistic.

[cb-writes-stuff]

“You can’t enjoy being neurodivergent/disabled/having X disorder if it makes you suffer so much! How dare you be making jokes about it!!!” Well you see, your bad days only suck a little bit so you don’t appreciate the good days very much. My bad days suck so much worse, so I only appreciate the good days that much more to compensate.

[riverrunscold]

Death Note plot really is just an autistic person who's constantly masking vs an autistic person who has never masked in his life

also ryuk's there

[dragonagitator]

We REALLY need more fanfics that explore this side of Gale.

But, like, in a smutty way.

Please.

[breawycker]

Enid sniffing Wednesday repeatedly before proclaiming “you’re about to have a vision” then catching her before she hits the ground

Oooh I love this and her like growling at anyone who gets close to Wednesday when she's out. I've seen some angst-y art of Enid laying next to Wednesday worrying while Wednesday is in a vision and I just want to write something where Enid is just ready for her to wake up with some water because she knows that Wednesday's visions are often intense and having water and seeing Enid's face helps ground her. I like the idea of Enid's like inner wolf falling for Wednesday before her human self even realizes and then it hits her and she's like "oh wow 😳"