#but I have such a good support system here

[this-user-is-new]

nah, actually i can say that here. many people agreed with me.

but anyway, ekko is just a boundless well of compassion who exists solely to make vi look good, right? his entire life shaped by the violence, oppression and systemic cruelty of the enforcers is completely irrelevant when it comes to how he should feel about vi actively choosing to become one. because apparently, his trauma and lived experience just disappear when it’s about her. none of that matters when vi decides to throw on an enforcer uniform. he’s just here to be vi’s emotional support, right?

even if you want to use ekko to make vi look better with how he put everything aside for the greater good in the finale—fine (i'll go back to this tho). he can save her life. he can even work with her out of necessity. but let’s not pretend that means he agrees with her choice or respects it. his entire worldview is built around resisting piltover’s oppression, and the enforcers are literally a tool of that oppression. acting like he’d just set all of that aside for vi’s sake is incredibly stupid *cough* sorry, i meant reductive.

and don’t even get me started on the jinx argument. season 2, as plenty of people have pointed out, skips over a massive chunk of character development, and now you’re using their rushed resolution as some kind of "gotcha" moment to prove ... what, exactly? that because ekko forgave jinx off-screen, he’d do the same for vi? that logic is incredible. not in a good way. you’re actually using a literal writing flaw, one that leaves a major gap in ekko’s character arc to push your agenda. because yeah, let’s take a gaping hole in the show’s writing and use it as proof that ekko would just roll over and be totally fine with vi working for piltover. genius. but acknowledging that would require you to admit that season 2’s writing has issues, and unfortunately, i don’t think you’re there yet because that would require actual critical thinking.

i'm sure you’re fine with how ekko is abruptly removed from the storyline, how the oppressed are suddenly fighting alongside their oppressors, how the show prioritizes an alternate-universe ekko instead of developing the one we’re actually supposed to be following in his own universe, and how ekko and vi don’t exchange a single conversation—not even for him to confront her.

anyway, i recommend reading more about ekko’s actual lore. he’s so much more than what arcane shows you. hell, just listen to his LoL voice lines and then tell me if this boy "understands" vi becoming an enforcer. i’ll wait.

[arceespinkgun]

Elita-1 and Lugnut from the Earth Wars Mobile Game

Pyra Magna: Elita... help us! The Prime Core's bleeding us dry of energy! Life support systems... failing...

Jumpstream: Get... us... out... of... here...

Lugnut: You have a choice, Elita-1. Fight me and maybe grab the Prime Core... Or save the Rust Renegades.

Elita-1: Looks to me like you've got the exact same choice, Lugnut - the Core or the Stunticons.

Lugnut: Ha! That's no choice at all. I would gladly give my life for Megatron and they should do no less. Farewell, Motormaster, you'll be remembered... As a footnote, maybe.

Motormaster: You... miserable... jumped-up... I'll- Unhhh...

Elita-1: Without the Core, Optimus Prime may die. But... he'd never forgive me... never! Not if others paid the price for his life!

Pyra Magna: H-Hurry... we're running on fumes here!

Lugnut: Tick, tock, Elita... Time's running out for your Rusty Regenades. While my eyes are on the prize!

Elita-1: Optimus... I'm sorry...

Lugnut: Haw! This is like taking cyber candy from a protoform! The Prime Core is mine... all mine! In the name of glorious Megatron, naturally!

Elita-1: Hang on, Rust Renegades - I'm coming. Tow cable away! I'm going to haul you clear of the danger zone... one at a time.

Motormaster: Lug... nut... come... back. Don't... leave... us...

Dead End: Too... late... boss. He's as good as gone. They... all... left us... to rust...

Motormaster: No! Never! I may be critically low on energy, but I got reserve tanks full'a rage! I'm... gettin' us out of here! An' when I do... they're all gonna pay! Lugnut and the Renegades!

Megatron: Lugnut - you have done well. I am pleased. Unlike some of my underlings... You do not fail me!

Starscream: Pah! Creep!

Megatron: Keep the Prime Core, Lugnut. You will be my... talisman. With you at my side, no force on Earth will lay me low again.

Lugnut: This... This is the most glorious day of my existence!

Elita-1: Optimus, I'm sorry, I... failed you.

Optimus: (shaking head) No, Elita. You remained true to the ideals we both hold dear. Thank you.

Jetfire: Optimus! I've been experimenting with the Prime Core that Hound recovered. When supplied with the energy signatures Elita-1 experienced on her mission...

Optimus: Short version, Jetfire.

Jetfire: Don't say your goodbyes just yet, Optimus. We have a cure!

...All I could picture at the end there when Elita-1 and Optimus were spouting the very Autobot duty, responsibility, sacrifice thing:

Also I firmly believe transformers can feel all emotions and I'm a shipper, but I kind of love Elita-1, Optimus, and Lugnut being seen as like... abnormal for their romantic feelings LMAO

[serperioranimations]

I felt sad. Have homeless future Edd.

I originally posted this on instagram with a long lengthy depressing description.

If you would like, you can read it below. But I won’t make you. I might delete it later.

I’m gonna be really honest. I haven’t been doing that great.

It’s for a lot of reasons.

I feel inadequate because my peers around me on instagram (and tumblr) are constantly creating, and I can’t even finish anything nowadays. Believe me, I want to. But I can’t. I don’t know why. I keep getting consumed by other activities and wasting my time when I could be looking for jobs and creating. Perhaps that’s the depression settling in. I start projects but I can’t finish them. I have too many ideas and I end up doing nothing.

I’m graduating this year. From college. After that I’ll have to find a job, and eventually my own place. I’m an animation major and want to go into… well, animation. And most animation opportunities are both scarce, and on the other side of the country. I’m not sure how I’m gonna find housing.

Luckily, my parents are here to support me. I have a support system and I am eternally grateful for that.

But I also am consumed by the guilt. The guilt that I have this support system and… so many of my online and real life friends don’t. They don’t get the financial stability that I do.

The political stuff… it’s so bad. My mother, who used to constantly watch the news, can hardly turn on the TV anymore because there is no good news. She says “we just have to wait it out, ride out the storm.” But what happens when some people don’t have a boat to ride it out on? What happens when boats capsize?

I do want to hopefully have children one day. I want to be a parent one day. I want to be able to look back on my past and laugh knowing that my current hardships are behind me. But sometimes it feels like there’s not going to be a future.

I apologize for the sudden vent post. I’m just kind of going through it.

Hopefully this will make someone feel… not as alone.

I think I might take a break on instagram. Maybe on tumblr as well. I can’t guarantee I’ll stay away. But I want to try.

[a-murmur-of-a-prayer]

I am going to move away from my college town, the state I've lived in for almost 20 years, and most of my friends in a week. I've known it was coming for a while, I've known I needed to move out of the state for longer (the climate makes my mental health worse and my town kind of sucks) but now that it's so close I don't know how to feel. On the one hand, this means I will be able to get a longterm job I enjoy, enjoy warmer weather, meet new people and be close to my family...but on the other hand, my friends I have here have sort of become like another family, and I'll be leaving everything I'm used to.

Plus there's the fact that I'm leaving now because I was laid off, so it sort of feels like it's not really my choice.

[astrxlfinale]

"Consider it particular circumstances. Supplying just enough to keep you 'well off and on your way' can't exactly apply, no?" He doesn't bother offering much thought beyond that. For its the question drawn with that latent eagerness that makes his expression squint the moment it escapes. Side eyeing her, that hope within the Trailblazer was practically radiating.

Why does life love giving him the tricky jobs? That eagerness in her tone, how she's just about bouncing on her heels?

"March--" His voice tests the waters, thankful that not too much of his disbelief is shining through. "By Bangboo years that's a grown man. You can't just go adopting them all willy-nilly if they're not looking for anyone."

Baddieboo's lore on the other hand could wait. Right now, there's that measure of confidence as they preens about her accomplishments taken into consideration. This idea only burgeoned due to their conversation at the dining table. In the Champion's eyes, this could be considered the final test for her validity. At her apprehension to the outright bold declaration, it prompted him to scoff.

"Wouldn't make a good protector of the Outer Ring if I was out here being conniving, no? On the honor of this Red Scarf." He begins, briefly twisting some of the fabric between his fingers before holding it up.

Whether it was a trick of the eyes or actuality, what looks like small flicks of flame briefly sparks across the article. "I have no intention of getting you set in peril. A lot of my current work involves me taking regular jobs in these locations. Lost homes, resources, there's no shortage of wishes people carry but can't execute all on their own."

"You've talked about holding your own with no shortage of dangers, right? Between this fact and how I've come to feel-- something from you." Strength that's alien, disconnection from New Eridu's current affairs. "We'll have to put it to the test. You'll be underneath the support system of the Sons of Calydon to see it through."

Trick question? She thought for sure he'd accuse her of something audacious but no...he made sense. There might be some more adorable little one or slightly less...she hoped they came in different shapes and sizes.

"Two weeks of covered rent? Oh this almost sound too good to be true." Free housing? Almost like home except she gets to decide on the chores...though does this means she gotta do more of the laundry? And cooking? Right cooking. That was a thing, which even if she were to kidn-borrow a bangboo she don't think they'd be too helpful.

After taking a few more pictures of her wonderfully posing friendly bangboo she couldn't help but lean in towards Lighter to whisper a little question into his ear.

"...can I keep him? Or does uh...he have an owner? Parent?"

She leaned back away again and gave a big thumbs up to the Baddieboo, to showcase to him he had done an excellent job posing.

"With my camera skills, hat'd be the best thing ever! I'll have you know I've recieved great praise by a famed director from where I'm from." She was a natural talent in picture-taking and would undoubtedly become a local photography star if she used them to gain some Dennies.

"But uh...did you say in those hollows? It sounds like you're just trying to chuck me into a black hole...that sounds like it'd not be very good for my health." She had never been in a Hollow before, whatever that meant but...she didn't think they looked like they'd just be something she can just walk into safely.

[inkskinned]

you were raised in comparison.

it wasn't always obvious (well. except for the times that it was), but you internalized it young. you had to eat what you didn't like, other people are going hungry, and you should be grateful. you had to suck it up and walk on the twisted ankle, it wasn't broken, you were just being a baby. you were never actually suffering, people obviously had it worse than you did.

you had a roof over your head - imagine! with the way you behaved, with how you talked back to your parents? you're lucky they didn't kick you out on your ass. they had friends who had to deal with that. hell, you have friends who had to deal with that. and how dare you imply your father isn't there for you - just because he doesn't ever actually talk to you and just because he's completely emotionally checked out of your life doesn't mean you're not fucking lucky. think about your cousins, who don't even get to speak to their dad. so what if yours has a mean streak; is aggressive and rude. at least you have a father to be rude to you.

you really think you're hurting? you were raised in a home! you had access to clean water! you never so much as came close to experiencing a real problem. sure, okay. you have this "mental illness" thing, but teenagers are always depressed, right. it's a phase, you'll move on with your life.

what do you mean you feel burnt out at work. what do you mean you mean you never "formed healthy coping mechanisms?" we raised you better than that. you were supposed to just shoulder through things. to hold yourself to high expectations. "burning out" is for people with real jobs and real stress. burnout is for people who have sick kids and people who have high-paying jobs and people who are actually experiencing something difficult. recently you almost cried because you couldn't find your fucking car keys. you just have lost your sense of gratitude, and honestly, we're kind of hurt. we tell you we love you, isn't that enough? if you want us to stick around, you need to be better about proving it. you need to shut up about how your mental health is ruined.

it could be worse! what if you were actually experiencing executive dysfunction. if you were really actually sick, would you even be able to look at things on the internet about it? you just spend too much time on webMD. you just like to freak yourself out and feel like you belong to something. you just like playing the victim. this is always how you have been - you've always been so fucking dramatic. you have no idea how good you have it - you're too fucking sensitive.

you were like, maybe too good of a kid. unwilling to make a real fuss. and the whole time - the little points, the little validations - they went unnoticed. it isn't that you were looking for love, specifically - more like you'd just wanted any one person to actually listen. that was all you'd really need. you just needed to be witnessed. it wasn't that you couldn't withstand the burden, but you did want to know that anyone was watching. these days, you are so accustomed to the idea of comparison - you don't even think you belong in your own communities. someone always fits better than you do. you're always the outlier. they made these places safe, and then you go in, and you are just not... quite the same way that would actually-fit.

you watch the little white ocean of your numbness lap at your ankles. the tide has been coming in for a while, you need to do something about it. what you want to do is take a nap. what you want to do is develop some kind of time machine - it's not like you want your life to stop, not completely, but it would really nice if you could just get everything to freeze, just for a little while, just until you're finished resting. but at least you're not the worst you've been. at least you have anything. you're so fucking lucky. do you have any concept of the amount of global suffering?

a little ant dies at the side of your kitchen sink. you look at its strange chitinous body and think - if you could just somehow convince yourself it is enough, it will finally be enough and you can be happy. no changes will have to be made. you just need to remember what you could lose. what is still precious to you.

you can't stop staring at the ant. you could be an ant instead of a person, that is how lucky you are. it's just - you didn't know the name of the ant, did you. it's just - ants spend their whole life working, and never complain. never pull the car over to weep.

it's just - when it died, it curled up into a tight little ball.

something kind of uncomfortable: you do that when you sleep.

[compaculaaa]

Please excuse my attempt at being funny

[whatdoinose]

as a osdd system i feel incredibly isolated in system communities not only cuz theyre so alter-based but also. every fucking OSDDID specific space is founded because they don't like endos and not cuz they just wanna have a nice supportive place for OSDDID folk. its incredibly stupid. like what are we even doing atp?

[statementlou]

So I see folks pointing out that Louis' circle A tattoo is more likely an aesthetic choice than an announcement of a political commitment to anarchism, and saying basically that that maybe makes him a bit of a poser and I mean- I GUESS. But I don't like to look at things that way and I don't think it's useful. As I see it the subversive sexiness of the symbols of resistance have ALWAYS been gateways for people who are drawn to the struggle in vague ways and that's GOOD. Aligning yourself with those values is good no matter the reason, in my book, especially given the wretched options available out there, but also the journey doesn't necessarily stop there. Gatekeeping queerness victimizes people who are just trying things out and starting to discover that it may run deeper than just trying on a new look who should instead be welcomed and helped along their path, and I fail to see how gatekeeping political affiliations is any different (plus how counterproductive to actual movement building is that?)

ANYWAY. What I really want to say about Louis is that while I KNOW that Louis is probably not secretly a theory reading anti-state communalist anarchist, I think that actually Louis' optimism and idealism (and his unwavering commitment to allying himself with the working class and embracing those roots) are a perfect fit for the philosophy and always have been. I know that anarchism is mostly understood as being about throwing molotov cocktails and fighting the state (and the allure of its symbols are that they signify this, a terrific aesthetic for him to choose to sign on with in my book), but that's honestly largely cartoonish stereotyping that comes directly from anti-anarchist state propaganda. That resistance is necessary in this hellscape of oppression we live in and is super important, but in its heart anarchism is only about the state in that the state and capitalism currently stands in the way of its goals. The whole point of anarchism is that it's NOT about the state! It's about being able to imagine something better than a state, it's about how we live and about how we SHOULD live, it's about HOPE and picturing something utopian and something free of the ways capitalism pits us against one another! What could be more Louis than that?

"I need you and you need me and I love that" is as beautiful a way of talking about the cornerstone of anarchism that is mutual aid as any long winded essay I've read (even if what he meant was contextually different), and I think when he talks again and again about how special the space fans have made around him is he is expressing an intuitive understanding of the importance of autonomous zones, places and moments outside of the shitty life imposed on us by the system (also a huge part of anarchist thought). Maybe I'm just being an optimist but I think that Louis DOES understand that caring for people and wanting self-determination and freedom for all and allying himself with the working class involves a certain amount of resistance to and positioning yourself in opposition to the state. Thinking the symbols of smashing that state are cool isn't meaningless; it's a CHOICE. There are other cool symbols out there and I just happen to think that feeling a resonance with certain ones is something in and of itself, even if at this moment he does not choose to start a fight with the media about it all.

[getvalentined]

Got an email to fill out a survey on the concept of tumblr Premium and related features, and while I'm assuming that I'm not supposed to talk about it too specifically in case some things mentioned in the survey aren't fully implemented, the features listed as possibilities sound pretty solid. Limit increases, monthly benefits (both for the user and as gifts for others), special badges and decorations, etc.

There were no features listed that are already available for free, so they're genuinely looking at offering new features for paid users rather than following in Xitter's footsteps and locking existing features behind a paywall. Likewise, nothing listed would be obtrusive to the current tumblr experience or unfairly favor a paid user over a free user any more than dropping a few bucks on a Blaze already "favors" the person being Blazed. (Which is up for debate, since that whole feature is literally "LOOK AT MY POST, BOY" and is one of the most tumblr things that tumblr has ever done.)

I was extremely leery going into the survey, because "premium" features these days are generally not premium at all, but I'm feeling very positive about the upcoming features now. Overall—and I say this as someone who has worked in webdev and digital marketing, used to pay for icons on LiveJournal for multiple RP accounts, currently pays for ad-free here, and has been doing beta testing for so long I once had the personal email addresses of both the founders of deviantART—it sounds genuinely good! Nothing anyone can't live without, but a good number of fun things that would actually be of interest to the tumblr userbase.

Now I'm just waiting to see how many of the features floated in the survey wind up in the final package, and how much that package is going to cost.

[uncanny-tranny]

By implying that children are too stupid and rude to learn about the world and learn how the world works and how to interact with others, you are casting responsibility away from the people who are responsible for that child's upbringing and placing the blame on the children (who don't have the autonomy given to them to be allowed to decide what they want) who can't help what they do and do not learn, often.

If the children aren't okay, then investigate why before turning to thought-terminating clichés of, "Well, the kids are just stupid and dumb and aren't even worth the effort because they're lazy!"

[gotyouanyway]

in a hell of my own making or whatever

[a-couple-of-notes]

hey sorry i wanna talk some more about no one mourns the wicked.

when glinda's introduced, her first celebratory lines slide into a question:

Isn't it nice to know that good will conquer evil, the truth we all believe'll by and by outlive a lie for you and - [I]?

and in a song full of double meanings, glinda isn't asking that question (only) to the ozians. she's asking it to elphaba, who has always been that other half of "you and i." even though glinda has promised not to reveal the truth, she's still hoping that it will come to light someday for her and elphaba. and it's also a heartbreaking call-forward to defying gravity, because just like that moment where glinda almost gets on the broom, there can't be a "you and i" here--it's cut off by the world they exist in.

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[supjello]

bold move honestly to have all the characters yell every argument they knew fans would have at ted for why he should stay, and not have him say they’re wrong, or offer anything to counter it. Because at the end of the day it was his son. It was only his son. His son was the period at the end of the sentence, and always was going to be. Nothing else mattered, he was going home to his boy.

Literally if they were right I'd agree but it's them they know, not me. Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away. I know I have to go.

[cuteniaarts]

@katkastrofa, circa 40-ish hours ago: Hey, what if our newest bunch of OCs adopted a baby from one of the other brothel girls who knew she couldn’t afford to raise one? That would make for some fun shenanigans :D

Me, with a notoriously non existent sleep schedule, instinct of self preservation or concern for my poor wrist: Alright, bet. Watch how fast I can make you fall in love with this hypothetical baby >:)

Daneli as a gentle and loving caretaker-turned-adoptive-mother is something that can be So Personal, actually, and originally I was going to leave it at this quick sketch, but then I got carried away thinking about what this child will grow up to be like raised by this little gang of misfits, so…

Here she is!! A little older and so, so beautiful, I need more of her in my life immediately, she’s way too precious

And, because I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t also add a sapphic element to this absolute cinnamon roll, a small crack ship that I’m only half serious about for when she’s a little older still:

All in all, we may be getting impossibly far from canon, but I for one already cannot get enough of sweet darling Kumisai <3

(I fully drew three pieces from scratch in 9 hours I cannot feel my brain or my hands anymore send help)