#but at the same time i could totally spiff it up

[randomositycat]

stares at the draft that gets deleted soon that i dont even want posted in the first place i just added it to be silly

[iwaisa]

request. Hi! I'm pretty new here and i really love your witing! (I hope to find time soon to binge your masterlist!) I saw you wanted some requests so i was wondering if maybe i could request a oneshot with akaashi x fem reader in which they are out at night and she's cold so he gives her his hoodie? They are best friends crushing on each other and maybe end up confessing? (I hope i requested this ok, i'm sorry if it's too specific 👉🏻👈🏻) Thank you so much!!💕 stay safe and have a good day/night!!✨ - @greywarenns​

a/n. i had so much fun writing this ugh. i love akaashi with my whole ass heart. i hope you enjoy ! <3 also, this was my first time using text messages in my fics! it was super fun to make even if the characters might be a little ooc lol.

► now playing...

- pairing. akaashi x female reader

- genre. best friends to lovers

- warnings. there’s one failed confession + angst, but it’s a happy ending :))

- word count. 2.3k+

movie nights with akaashi weren’t uncommon, so why were you damn nervous? 

almost every friday since your second year of junior high, the two of you continued the tradition of walking to your house after school and watching movie after movie until the two of you fell asleep on the couch in your living room. 

however, as years went by, you began to change. and so did akaashi. 

the first time you encountered him in your second year of junior high, you took note of his chubby prepubescent face and short black locks of hair that seemed to frame it perfectly. 

at the time, you weren’t aware of how beautiful akaashi really was, but as you watched him grow, you came to the conclusion that you began to have a crush on the boy.

now, his face was no longer chubby. instead, it was thin, and his cheekbones were more prominent. his hair had grown out as well. he was taller, and because of volleyball, his muscles were a feat you couldn’t miss. 

another thing that solidified your decision in liking the raven-haired boy were the mannerisms that akaashi portrayed.

whenever he was nervous before a test or a volleyball game, he would shake his leg in an attempt to get rid of the invasive negative thoughts that plagued his mind. in class, he would twirl his pencil in between his fingers, and occasionally tap the eraser end to his temple as if he was attempting to knock his thoughts onto the paper in front of him.

in the midst of your movie marathons, you would glance over to see akaashi wringing his fingers together, and over time you grew accustomed to the sudden sound of him cracking his knuckles. 

you would be lying if you claimed you didn’t find these fidgets endearing. you found yourself carrying out these mannerisms as well, which did not go unnoticed by the black-haired male, who would tease you for copying him.

akaashi too kept note of your mannerisms. he watched with piqued interest as you paid more attention to what was going on outside of the classroom than inside, which always earned you a scolding from your teacher. during his games or practices, you would bite your lip in concentration, making akaashi smile. 

“if you bite your lip too hard, it’ll start bleeding,” he teased. you swatted his hand away from your head as he reached down to ruffle your hair. 

he loved your hair. in fact, he loved everything about you. akaashi was never one to fall for girls purely based on looks, but you seemed to have it all. you were gorgeous to him, and not to mention incredibly hilarious. 

akaashi never had an interest in memes until the two of you exchanged numbers at the beginning of your friendship, leaving him confused when you texted a meme that had absolutely nothing to do with the current conversation. laying in his bed at an ungodly hour of the night, he found himself unable to stop his laughter as he read the same meme over and over. your voice on the other end of the phone was addicting, and he found himself wanting to call you whenever he could.

akaashi also found himself wishing to be around you during any free time he had. the two of you ate lunch together, studied together, had classes together, and you hung out around the gym to walk home together. hell, the two of you even had sleepovers every friday. 

this was another thing akaashi grew to be extremely nervous about. if he told you how he felt, would you stop being friends with him? that would mean awkward classes, no more eating lunch together or studying, he wouldn’t see you around the gym anymore, and he would lose the only thing he was looking forward to at the end of each week. 

the bell signaling the end of the day was the only thing that could snap him out of his intrusive thoughts. he began gathering his books and turned to where you were standing a few feet away, a fake frown plastered on your face. 

“you were so deep in thought, keiji. even when i was throwing eraser bits at your head you still wouldn’t snap out of it,” you crossed your arms. 

what you said was true, as he looked at his desk to see bits of pink rubber strewn across his desk. 

he clicked his tongue, “you gotta clean that up now.” 

you skipped past him towards the doorway, “nuh uh. we have to get home. that new movie you mentioned last month came out a few days ago, and i wanna watch it.” he sighed while chuckling, as he swiped the remainders of your pencil erasers into the palm of his hand, walking to the bin. 

another thing akaashi loved about you was your impeccable memory. not only did you remember his birthday each year, but you remembered every minuscule detail about him. small things about how his favourite food is nanohana no karashiae, to something he had texted you months ago.

each birthday gift he received from you he kept in the bottom left drawer of his desk. one year, you remembered his favourite author, and ended up buying him a signed copy of a book that had just come out. 

he’s not ashamed to admit that he’s read that book a total of seven times, just to reach the message at the back of the book that read, ‘happy birthday, keiji! love, f/n.’

akaashi loved your name. he loved the way it sounded as it rolled off your tongue when you first introduced yourself to him, and the way it remained in his head days and weeks and even months after. 

although, he hated how quick he was to snap his head up whenever your name was called in class. he hated the uncomfortable feeling of his palms growing sweaty and his mouth becoming dry whenever he heard your laugh echo throughout the classroom. 

most importantly, keiji akaashi hated how he couldn’t tell you how he felt. so, like any person with half a mind, he continued on as if nothing changed. he continued making weekly trips to your house, only to grow increasingly nervous whenever he would walk down your street. 

he continued having these sleepovers with you, even though most of the night he would spend staring at the ceiling. he knew that if he turned his head even a tiny bit, he would come face to face with yours, which was something he would not be able to handle. occasionally, he would allow himself to drink in your sleeping appearance from across the couch. you looked so peaceful while in a deep slumber, which was quite the opposite of what akaashi was feeling at the moment.

little did either of you know, you both hated the same thing; not being able to confess to your crush of five years.

“ready to go?” akaashi called out to you as you fell into step with him. you hummed in agreement, and the two of you started down the path to your homes. 

the two of you bid a temporary farewell before making your way to your separate streets. you didn’t waste any time in bursting through your front door and running to the bathroom to wash your face. you threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and continued to spiff up your living room while playing soft music from your phone. 

your music was soon interrupted by a ding which signaled akaashi’s arrival. you took a deep breath in through your nose and exhaled through your mouth before turning your music off. you quickly ran to the front door to let him in.

“hey. come here often?” you lightly punched akaashi’s stomach as you chuckled at his god-awful pickup line. 

“it’s my house, idiot.” he made his way into your house and slipped off his shoes. 

“oh. guess i was too lost in your eyes to remember.” you smacked his shoulder as he laughed at your flustered expression. 

“by the way, we ran out of popcorn and i’m craving ramune right now, so do you want to head to the store?” he smiled and nodded, following you to your front door. 

even though it was still technically summer, it was pretty chilly. you were quick to rub your hands up and down your arms in an attempt to warm yourself up. 

“that’s what you get for wearing shorts and a t-shirt,” akaashi sighed. you were about to retort, but you were quickly confused as akaashi began taking his jumper off. 

“wear this,” he mumbled as he slipped it over your head. you giggled as you waved the extra-long sleeves around. 

“come on, stop being childish,” he smiled. 

he grabbed your wrist and began rolling the sleeve until your hand was freed. he continued to do so for the other sleeve, but his movements were slowed as he looked up to see you staring at him. he let his hand linger on yours for a moment, still keeping eye contact with you. neither of you said anything, but your eyes said it all. you watched as his gaze flickered down to your lips and you felt yourself leaning closer to him. 

his thoughts of doubt became too suffocating for akaashi, and he quickly pulled away, leaving you confused and a little heartbroken. 

“we gotta get back quickly to watch that movie,” akaashi mumbled as he cleared his throat. you nodded slowly, continuing to walk behind him.

the two of you grabbed your fair share of snacks from the convenience store and you hesitated before stepping outside to meet up with akaashi. were your feelings not reciprocated? is the rest of the night going to be this awkward?

the five minute walk back to your house seemed excruciatingly long. you continued to walk behind akaashi, and you watched as he typed away on his phone. you sighed louder than you meant to, earning a glance from akaashi. 

he quickly slipped his phone into his pocket and slowed down to walk beside you. neither of you said anything until you walked into your house. 

“i’m going to use the restroom,” akaashi excused himself, leaving you to set everything up. you slumped down onto the couch with a frown etched onto your face. you heart was breaking with each second akaashi kept giving you the silent treatment. you wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t want to be friends with you anymore.

“boo,” akaashi whispered into your ear, his lips grazing your skin. you jumped, earning a laugh from him. 

“d-don’t do that,” you pouted. he sat on the seat next to you, eyes searching your face. 

“if you keep frowning like that, you’re gonna get wrinkles,” he jested, making your heart ache more. 

“how can i not frown,” you retorted. 

you stood up to walk to the kitchen to begin popping the popcorn. you hoisted yourself up onto the counter and waited for the microwave to beep. you watched as akaashi entered the kitchen, his eyes looking at everything but you. 

“y-you know...i didn’t mean to… uhm…” he trailed off, rubbing his temples. you tilted your head as you watched him pull his phone out of his pocket. he handed it to you, his eyes still glued to the floor. 

“the chat explains everything...i can’t seem to find the words i want to say right now,” he stepped back, twiddling his fingers. you held your breath as you watched akaashi. he was nervous. why was he nervous?

you glanced at the phone and began reading the texts.

you snapped your head up to look at akaashi, who’s gaze was still fixed on the floor. 

you placed his phone next to you and hopped off the counter, leaning down to look up at akaashi. he continued wringing his fingers as he made eye contact with you, a look of worry etched onto his face. 

“do you really feel this way about me? did you really want to...kiss me?” you asked slowly. akaashi sighed and stopped wringing his hands, bringing them up to rest on your shoulders. 

“yes, f/n. i’ve liked you for so long but...i never wanted this friendship to end. i’ve been dreading the day where i let my crush on you slip and you would never want to see me again, and it just broke my heart. i really hope this doesn’t affect anything,” he finished quietly.

“keiji...i...i really like you. i’ve liked you since junior high,” you smiled up at him, cupping his cheeks. 

the two of you stood in comfortable silence as you grazed your thumbs over his cheekbones, letting out a sigh of relief. 

“that’s good to hear,” he chuckled, with you humming in response. “will you let me do something?” you nodded.

you held your breath as akaashi moved his hands to rest on your hips and leaned down. you two tapped noses and chuckled, before he grazed your lips with his. 

“i really like you, f/n.” he mumbled before pressing his lips to yours. it was a sweet, quick kiss. you felt yourself smile into it, and you moved your hands to cup the back of his head. 

the two of you pulled away, and he softly bumped his forehead with yours. you chuckled, earning a smile from him. 

“that was amazing, keiji...” you whispered.

he used one hand to pull you closer, and he reattached your lips. you hummed in surprise, and melted into the kiss. you moved your hands to tug at his hair, and he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. he nipped at your bottom lip before pulling back, keeping eye contact with you.

“the popcorn is burning,” he quipped. 

you pulled out of his embrace and ran to the microwave, pulling the bag of burnt popcorn out. you turned around to watch akaashi laugh, and you felt your heart flutter. 

“be my boyfriend?” you blurted out. 

he stopped for a moment, before walking over to press a kiss to your temple. “yes please.”

[shini--chan]

Yandere america (+ russia?) x (fem) country reader. Who he Colonized her. And she wants now be Independently

I’ll take it that Russia is not a yandere in this post – it simply makes things more interesting. To not extend this into infinity, I’ll mostly focus on Russia’s side of the whole drama. I just so happen to have a lot of ideas on this because I once wrote a story with a similar dynamic with a former friend.

Yandere Hetalia

Yandere! America vs Russia

Alfred wouldn’t be one of those yanderes that would completely isolate their victim and shut them away so that you would never see the light of day. Since you’re also a colony, that would mean you’d have to make regular public appearances. He would see it as a chance to flaunt you off to everybody, have made spiff so that you’d be good arm candy. It would probably be during an post-meeting party that Ivan would first meet you.

Ever so gently, he brushed his lips against your knuckles and stared into your eyes. The sweet smile could only do so much to mask how jaded you were.

“A pleasure to meet you, (l/n)”, he smoothly said. Dimples formed around your mouth as you countered with brevity: “Charmed.”

Ivan had long ago learned that people spoke more with their bodies than with their tongues. You were no different. It was evident that you didn’t want to be here – you didn’t sway to the jazz that was coming from strategically positioned loudspeakers, nor were you indulging so merrily in the alcohol that was flowing in rivers tonight. Some of the other personifications were well on their way to getting properly smashed.

You on the other hand, stood there with hunched shoulders and a hand buried in the silk of your skirts.

The next logical step was to identify the cause of your discomfort – you had just aroused his curiosity in that way.

“Alfred told me a lot about you, but he failed to describe the true magnitude of your beauty”, Ivan remarked lightly as he released your hand. The way your muscles tensed even further gave him the concrete answer to many of his question.

The dynamic of an empire and a colony would be all too familiar to Russia, so much so that he wouldn't spill tears for your sake. It is simply how the world works and Ivan had learned to believe in the wickedness in people. Sure, your relationship with Alfred wouldn't match in violence as America’s had with England, or Mexico’s with Spain, but it would nonetheless be of the oppressive sort. Ivan would soon hear from his spies reports on your maltreatment – of how Alfred had quasi forced you into a pseudo-marriage, of how he was draining you dry and forcing you to assimilate his culture and way.

He’d have dregs of pity so if you’d go to him for help he would gladly do so. Ivan would see the benefit of baiting America into doing something rash and additionally flipping the bird at him.

He’d accommodate for you as long as you’d respect him. Should you not do so, then he’d be a bit lenient before totally kicking you out. Respect is the foundation for all good and healthy human interactions and if you wouldn’t comprehend that, then he wouldn’t shy way from showing you the repercussions.

You should have known better than to constantly disregard is advice, not heed his warnings and ignore his explanations as to why he was doing certain thing. Now you had run yourself aground and Ivan wasn’t keen on granting you a fourth chance. He was all snarls and fury.

“No, you're so proud of being a victim, so enamoured with your own suffering that all that occurred to you was that I view you as property. You just have to have a villain in your life. “

He was now standing in front of you, and you were trembling. Eyes as cold as ice and lips twisted into a snarl - he wasn't to be trifled with now

“My compassion and care are wasted on you. Leave.

“Leave and don't dare to ask me for help again. You could have just asked, said you wanted to go to another country. I would have even understood it. But your actions have led to this.“

He turned around, looking over his shoulder.

“I wish you the best of luck, scraping together enough money to survive for a few days in a place you don't know with a language you don't speak. Now get out of my sight!“, he barked and then walked away.  

On the flip side, such things wouldn’t come close to happening if you are polite and treat him with human decency then he’ll be more than glad to help you. He would help you set up an army, establish treaties, build infrastructure. You might even grow to like him – Ivan isn’t such a wide-eyed idealist as Alfred is, rather being cynically realistic, and also contemplative.

“You know, the whole matter is a bit ironic”, he remarked lazily one day. You were both sitting at your desk in your makeshift office – you stooped over documents, all logistics, and he had idled his time away with a book since he had already finished his part.

At least he hadn’t thrown up his feet on the table this time.

Tiredly, you looked up from another document entailing rations to stare at him. Violet-blue eyes were already trained on you, and there was that peculiar smile on his lips that was somewhere between sarcastic and amused.

“And what would that be?”, you asked with slight interest. Tension was hanging in the air; it was had in the past few weeks and it would be the same in the future ones. Alfred simply had that effect when he was angry. As a result, you were drained, with only minimal capacity to show interest.

His mind swept off again and he voiced some of his spontaneous thoughts aloud: “You’ve started talking more and also more freely.”

Indeed, you had. Being away from Alfred had given you the opportunity to breath more freely and it was showing.

“That wasn’t what you were referring too. So please, lets get back on track”, you pointed out. Your benefiter tended to switch topics frequently in a conversation and you didn’t have much of the headspace to deal with such convolutions now. You actually only wanted to be in bed at this late hour and following Ivan’s trains of thought could be like stumbling around a labyrinth.

Russia was strange on his own. Probably something about being stuck in the middle – between Western individuality and Eastern collectivism, between Southern hot-bloodedness and Northern stoicism. He took the fact about himself lightly and left you to cope with it.

“What I was referring too,” he elaborated, “was how Amerika was once in your position. So keen on squirming out of the control of England and so determined to dictate his own life. I gave him the one or the other helping hand all those centuries ago and now I’m here doing the say for you. History does have an odd way of rhyming.”

It made you halt in your thoughts, because he was right. Your current situation was so similar to what you knew of America’s teenage rebellion. He pulled and you pushed in opposition. He wouldn’t let go and firmly asserted that you belonged to him, that your rightful place was either at his side or at his feet. Alfred had even been as insistent enough as to repeatedly call you multiple times a day and try to harass you into coming back at him.

Like father, like son, really. Arthur had also held a vindictive, sickening obsession for his eldest back in the 18th century.

A few of those times Ivan had snitched your phone to have a few choice words with your soon-to-be ex. That was before calls had been regulated and locations scrambled, and numbers suppressed.  

You had gone out of your way to remember those choice insults that were often yelled into the receiver shortly before Ivan had hung up.

Russia really was right.

[kirimono]

bnha secret identity au

a while back (like over a year ago) some friends and i were talking about a bnha au where theyre more classic Teen Superheroes With Secret Identities. that chatlog is under the cut.

ShriekingSisterhood

BAKUGO WOULD NEVER COMPLIMENT AN HERO BESIDES HIMSELF, EVEN IF HIS IDENTITY WAS SECRET

dataghost

lmfao yeah

cassetticon

bakugous identity would only be secret for like 5 minutes

starsinger

jsdfidksbgj

fuck

ShriekingSisterhood

Someone: Idk ingenium is kinda shit

starsinger

thats. reayyly funny to contemplate actually

cassetticon

"WOW KING OF EXPLODOKILLS WHOS THAT SOUNDS LIKEA  COOL GUY"

dataghost

exactly like the end of iron man

ShriekingSisterhood

Bakugo emerging from a nearby dumpster: ye totally but you know whos the fucking coolest LORD EXPLOSION MURDE

cassetticon

yeah

ShriekingSisterhood

In secred id au everyone knows bakugos id

not even bc he bragged about it or anything hes just his own #1 fan

cassetticon

yeah

starsinger

also he cant hide his hair

ShriekingSisterhood

WHAT IF HIS CITIZEN DISGUIZE IS HIS BEST JEANIST HAIR

cassetticon

holy fuck

dataghost

god hed just be. dead inside

ShriekingSisterhood

oh god, oh man, okay this might be dilly but

everyone in secret id au knows bakugo is lord explosion murder

)drmatic pause, lifts finger for effect)

except kirishima

cassetticon

WOW

starsinger

aughdshfjdfsdgh

cassetticon

YEAH,

ShriekingSisterhood

who  is so fucking cursed

THAT HE HAS A CRUSH ON BOTH OF THEM

dataghost

oh nooooooooo

starsinger

HHAHAHAHAHAH OH NOOOOOOOO

ShriekingSisterhood

WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING THEY ARE THE SAME AWFUL BOY

starsinger

EYAYHH

cassetticon

SCREAMS

ShriekingSisterhood

Kirishima to his jock pal Uravity: I dunno like I like both of them so much like, I can't figure out which one to like, ask to punch me??

cassetticon

jesus

starsinger

haugh.

dataghost

god unfortch

cassetticon

ochako is trying very hard to figure out how to tell him

ShriekingSisterhood

Kirishima: it's impossible to choose between them

dataghost

man bakugou is like . barely even disguised in his costume

and kirishima still has no clue

cassetticon

yeah thats the best part

ShriekingSisterhood

Kirishima: I love them both equally but for different reasons

starsinger

spiff this is the worst

i love it

ShriekingSisterhood

EVEN ZAP BOY KNOWS

BUT NOT KIRISHIMA

starsinger

god. i want to see the HIJINKS

cassetticon

same. god

ShriekingSisterhood

bonus points if Bakugo honestly believes he has most people fooled

starsinger

kirishima accidentally schedules a study date with bakugou at the same time red riot has a training session with king of explodokills

ShriekingSisterhood

FUCK

cassetticon

screams

starsinger

i dont know how this happens. i could see kirishima doing it but i feel like bakugou keeps better track of his schedule than that but

cassetticon

i mean bakugou is also under the curse's thrall

dataghost

wait so does bakugou know kirishima is red riot

starsinger

did he get........... Flustered

ShriekingSisterhood

omg

starsinger

its funnier if no i think

but

ShriekingSisterhood

he got flustered

dataghost

i feel like bakugou knows like no one's secret identities because he just doesnt fucking care

starsinger

yeah

ShriekingSisterhood

MAYBE HE THOUGHT KIRISHIMA WAS DOING IT ON PURPOSE

cassetticon

yeah

thats good

@ jane

ShriekingSisterhood

oh no i like that much better

he doesn't even fucking know

cassetticon

kirishima might be the only exception tho just bc of how obnoxious he is in and out of costume

ShriekingSisterhood

the only one he knows is deku and he hates that he knows it

cassetticon

wow yeah

ShriekingSisterhood

hes constantly trying to unknow it

dataghost

god

starsinger

wheich is really funny because, again, theres not even a DISGUISE COMPONENT to kirishimas costume

cassetticon

YEAH

HIS WHOLE FACE AND TORSO IS JUST OUT THERE

starsinger

YEAH FJKDFKJKJFD

ShriekingSisterhood

HIS ABS, OUT THERE

dataghost

okay i feel like in a real secret id au they would put SOME more efffort,

maybe he has a mask

cassetticon

i Guess so

but thats not as funy

ShriekingSisterhood

what if bakugo thinks tetsu tetsu is red riot

dataghost

but the abs are still Exposed

sdfllkfdajslkjsfdjlkfdsjlsfdl;kj

cassetticon

holy fuck

ShriekingSisterhood

bc he can't be assed to tell the hard boys apart

starsinger

bakugou finally figures it out when he finally sees kirishima shirtless when theyre at the gym

cassetticon

SCREAMS

ShriekingSisterhood

FUCK!!!

THIS IS THAT GOOD SHIT!!

cassetticon

HED KNOW THOSE ABS ANYWHERE

ShriekingSisterhood

BAKUGO GLANCING OVER AT HIS BRO WHILE THEY DO SOME CURLS IN THE GYM AND HIS CROP TOP RIDES UP AND BAKUGO'S WATER BOTTLE INSTANTLY BOILS AND EXPLODES

RIGHT IN HIS HAND

starsinger

i think the concept of 'its a secret identity au but that just means they slap a tiny domino mask on but it somehow works' is great. but so is the concept of 'they have their canon costumes with no fuckgin disguise components whatsoever but none of them know ANYWAY'

also concept tho: kirishima's superhero costume is his old emo makeup

dataghost

he just starts yelling at kirishima immediately and kirishima is just like "keep it DOWN we're in a PUBLIC GYM!!!! its supposed to be a secret!!!!! :("

ShriekingSisterhood

HFGDFH

cassetticon

holy shit vera

i love this

ShriekingSisterhood

okay but what if bakugo is like "if kirishima is red riot then he obviously figured out my secret identity way before all this"

cassetticon

i love ex-emogoth kirishima

starsinger

aAaaAAAHAHGHGH

cassetticon

OHHHH MY GOD

BAKUGOU JUST TAKES IT AS A GIVEN THAT KIRISHIMA KNWOS

ShriekingSisterhood

"How did he outsmart me, how did he figure it out"

KIRISHIMA DOESN'T KNOW A FUCKING THING MY GUY

dataghost

god what if bakugou assumes like. kirishima was doing study dates & stuff with him BECAUSE of his secret identity

starsinger

ghhh OD

ShriekingSisterhood

YEAH

cassetticon

im dying of thks

ShriekingSisterhood

"HE WAS SENDING ME A MESSAGE?? WAS IT A THREAT? A CHALLENGE"

starsinger

this is so ooo oo good

ShriekingSisterhood

NO, THIS HARD BOY IS JUST, A BIG MESS

OH MY GOD

WHAT IF,

kirishima: fuck now that bakugo knows im red riot what if he sees me flirting with lord explosion murder and gets pissed

dataghost

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

cassetticon

screams

starsinger

hhfdhdhfhfhHDFHFDHFHDHDFHDF

he stops flirting with lord explosion murder so much and bakugous like

pissed

ShriekingSisterhood

THE BOY IS SIMPLY TOO CURSED TO LIVE

cassetticon

god. yeah

bakugou: hes playing me like a fool again(edited)

dataghost

i mean we're assuming bakugou noticed the flirting in the first place

ShriekingSisterhood

kirishima, meanwhile a 100% genuine no playing about it fool ass fool

fuck, since bakugo thinks all interraction is rivalry

maybe he thinks like, kirishima  no longer considers him an opponent or something??

cassetticon

oh. my god

yeah.

starsinger

yah its something like that

cassetticon

"you think youre too good for me now huh"

ShriekingSisterhood

so his pride is hurt, and also the deep subconscious tender part of him thats gay is hurt too

starsinger

he cant quite articulate his actual feelings hes just like

Pissed

dataghost

yeah

ShriekingSisterhood

Kirishima: (stops flirting)

Bakugo: I don't know what this is but i know how i feel about it: furious beyond articulation

starsinger

god i just thought about tsuyu for a second and im fdjkfdjfd

shes just a frog

ShriekingSisterhood

god,

starsinger

in both civilian and superhero forms. but its liek. no one thinks its weird

ShriekingSisterhood

good

dataghost

yeah sometimes youre just a frog, nbd

doesnt necessarily have anything to do with you being Popular Hero Froppy, nope

ShriekingSisterhood

sometimes 2 people are just frogs and that doesn't mean anything

maybe people assume tsuyu got into being a frog bc she likes Froppy

dataghost

just unrelatedly, frogs

starsinger

yeah! exactly

oh my god spiff

ShriekingSisterhood

and shes like (internally flustered) KERO

maybe its just like how there are, horse girls and dolphin girls in ever high school

dataghost

are you implying horse girls and dolphin girls are literally part horse & part dolphin in the bnha universe

ShriekingSisterhood

Is there are reason for them not to be

HEY THO... WHAT ABOUT THE BNHA STUDENTS LIKE GOSSIPING SUSPICIOUSLY... ABOUT THE FACT THAT THEY NEVER SEE ALL MIGHT SENSEI IN HIS CIVILIAN FORM

like, assuming the teachers/adults are open abt their secret identities at the school

they're like "we've seen everyone out of hero mode except all might.... does he not have a civilian life"

Deku: (sweating)

dataghost

all might is extra secretive bc he's so like...."Gotta Be The Symbol Of Peace!!! No one can know i am a real human EVER!!!!!!"

ShriekingSisterhood

Student sees Greeblin Might like: "Oh are u that zombie hero"

yes but also in my head its that, they expect civilian all might to be buff

theres no extremely fucking unbelieably buff guy roaming the halls or in the teachers lounge or in town or anything

dataghost

yeah but even before his injury maybe he was like,

projected a super-super image like superman, like ~im not a civilian when im not heoring i live in My Special Secret Lair~ or soemthing

starsinger

god now im thinking about the logistics of this and its SO FUNNY that like every superhero in the entire town is at taht school. either as a teacher or as a student

dataghost

what if its not even a hero school

its just a regular ass school but everyone just HAPPENS to go there

starsinger

oh yeah like superman being like 'oh yeah i live in the fortress of solitude at the north pole'

YEAH EXACTLY

dataghost

yeah yeha

ShriekingSisterhood

oh my god

All Might: I live in a fortress of solitude in the alps and no once can see it with eyes

dataghost

all-might trying to live his civilian life pre-injury when he was always buff is so funny then tho

people keep asking him if he's all might and he's like no! look my hair doesnt stick up!

starsinger

KJFDJSDG

GOD

ShriekingSisterhood

All Might, ten minutes later: (buying milk at the local grocery  and fucking up the self checkout)

oh my god... secret buff all might is so good

its the superman glasses type effect

starsinger

'that cant be all might hes not smiling real big'

thats the extent of all mights acting skills

ShriekingSisterhood

maybe he gets a giant tshirt that says "pessimism" so no one can possibly identify him as a civillian

dataghost

sdaljkdjsakljlaksd

starsinger

akjsfjdjf

ShriekingSisterhood

"bad mood" t shirt

dataghost

i feel like he does a bunch of comics-type secret identity stuff to cover up his civilian id but its all super flimsy

like, obviously fake glasses, a shirt like that

maybe a fake mustache

starsinger

FDSDJKLFSDKJLKJL

NOOOOOO

cassetticon

and it all works

starsinger

ALL MIGHT WHIT A FAKE MUSTACHE IS AWFULLLL

dataghost

the glasses dont even have lenses theyre just a frame

cassetticon

he gets a mustache like mics bc he thinks its Cool

dataghost

its not even a blonde mustache. its like brown and OBVIOUSLY doesnt match his hair

everyone just assumes he dyes it

starsinger

he bought non-prescription glasses but one of the lenses got knocked out but he keeps wearing them

they have One Lens

dataghost

fsljdljdfs;jlfsd;

cassetticon

i love him

god

starsinger

m2

ShriekingSisterhood

what if the mustache is attached to the glasses like groucho style

dataghost

(i thought for a second about nighteye being one of the first outside the One For All lineage to know all might's civilian id and . augh)

starsinger

god i was like 'ok i have to think about todoroki now' but now i have feelings and im lie k. Put It Back :arrow_lower_left: dot jpeg

augh jane

ShriekingSisterhood

phantom of the opera shit

thats todoroki's hero disguise

dataghost

there's a fake nose on the glasses too and it barely fits overhis actual nose

ShriekingSisterhood

actually hes just covered half in ice

starsinger

oh nevermind i remembered his caonn hero costume is like

ShriekingSisterhood

so thats fine

starsinger

a plumber suit

dataghost

a plumber

starsinger

post sports arc

dataghost

what if thats his civilian job

and he just doesnt change clothesx

starsinger

gadhdhfg

noooo

ShriekingSisterhood

what civilian job does all might have

maybe he pretends to be gran torino's home health aid

starsinger

if eel like he Didnt Have One until meeting izuku. true to canon

dataghost

i was like "office job" but then realized i was literally just thinking of mr incredible at the beginning of the incredibles

starsinger

at which point he became an absolutely awful teacher

dataghost

o h noooo

starsinger

ghjdkfujfj

ShriekingSisterhood

god,,,m wow

what does he ever teach if its not a hero school

PHYS ED

dataghost

omfg

ShriekingSisterhood

HES THE SCRAWNIEST GYM TEACHER OF ALL TIME

dataghost

vjlgsdjkldfskljfsjsfj;kf;sdkjfsdkdsk;jflk

he gives GREAT inspirational speeches tho

starsinger

hujks FUK

ShriekingSisterhood

BUT LIKE AT THE SAME TIME, HE CAN LIKE LIFT AN ENTIER POMMEL HORSE WITH ONE HAND

god

what if they don't even have a sports team

so theres no games to give relevant inspirational speeches at

so hes just like, doing them at random

when he sees an in

dataghost

just at the beginning of each class

or whenever The Mood Strikes

question: is class 1b at the same school or are they Rival Schools

ShriekingSisterhood

fuck,,, both are so good

dataghost

imagine Rival School Student Monoma sneaking into their school to ~infiltrate~

ShriekingSisterhood

i like rival schools

because monoma like, steals their mascot

and kendo brings it back

dragging him over to apologise

but also i love the idea of him trying to infiltrate his own fucking school

starsinger

the concept of 'rival schools but aslo they dont have sports teams' is SOOO good

mathletes competitions get REAL intense

ShriekingSisterhood

just because A1 got the better homeroom classroom

and he wants it

oh my god intense matheletes

starsinger

science olympiad. band and choir competions.

cassetticon

MARCHING BAND AU IM HERE

ShriekingSisterhood

I WAS ABOUT TO SAY, LEE SUMMON

starsinger

ok whats the funniest sport to have if you can only have One Sport at ur school

ShriekingSisterhood

frisbee

starsinger

fall sport: ultimate frisbee

winter sport: fencing (? probably there is a funnier sport but ive got nostalgia)

spring sport: ultimate frisbee again

no

winter sport: ultimate frisbee... on ice

ShriekingSisterhood

fencing is too dignified is my concern

cassetticon

i love this concept

ShriekingSisterhood

YES

starsinger

eyah exactly spiff

ShriekingSisterhood

maybe winter sport was like curling

but no one liked it so they turned it into ice ultimate frisbee

starsinger

altho like. one time my friend spilled gatorade on the mesh of his mask and had to fence with gatorade on it and couldnt see shit

and won the bout

so

dignity is relativw

ShriekingSisterhood

wow, amazing,

OKAY BUT

TODOROKI KILLING IT AT ICE ULTIMATE FRISBEE

starsinger

HAHAHAHHAAHAHAGUHGHFDHJFD

cassetticon

WOW

starsinger

ok no

ShriekingSisterhood

BUT BEING LIKE MEDIOCRE IN THE FALL AND SPRING

starsinger

consider

ShriekingSisterhood

AND NO ONE CAN UNDERSTAND WHY

starsinger

todoroki.... being really disappointed

that curling isnt a thing anymore

ShriekingSisterhood

OH NO,,, HES BE SO GOOD AT IT....

his bitterness drives his ice frisbee prowess

starsinger

yeah not even using powers hes ujust like You Have To Understand The Ice

cassetticon

aw....

ShriekingSisterhood

the best thing about this is bakugo is so competitive that he'd join every sports even if it sucked just to win

starsinger

I Understand The Ice. and just not understanding why everone doesnt think curling is the best

ShriekingSisterhood

so bakugo is essentially Forced to play frisbee

cassetticon

yeah. god

ShriekingSisterhood

im crying.... ice understanding hand crusher

starsinger

i think hed be legit way into ultimate frisbee but fuckign hate ice frisbee but

play it anyway

he and todoroki were like the only people on the curling team and bakugou was AWFUL at it and HATED todoroki for it

ShriekingSisterhood

wow thats some real shit there

cassetticon

im crying  this is so good

ShriekingSisterhood

actually i would add iida to the curling team

he also likes Understanding The Ice

starsinger

awwwwww

ShriekingSisterhood

and its a lot of speed and velocity and such considerations

which is actually relevant for his power

starsinger

mmmm true

ShriekingSisterhood

hey does iida just wear bigass pants to hide his engine legs

dataghost

was Iowa's bro also on the curling team....he joins cause he was Inspired and Wants To Live Up To Him

ShriekingSisterhood

like all the time, in v=civilian form

starsinger

sjffjdk.

maybe so.

ShriekingSisterhood

does he wear leg warmers in the summer

starsinger

AUGHGHDFH

dataghost

but then the curling team gets cut off before iida can win The Big  Trophy and :(

starsinger

i feel like long skirt is more practical for this

oh noo

ShriekingSisterhood

honestly yeah

i love bnha: shittiest sports anime ever au

cassetticon

same

ShriekingSisterhood

hey is present mic supposed to be secret identity in this au too

bc i honestly cant see that

cassetticon

definitely not

dataghost

I feel like he's one of those like, celebrity heroes

cassetticon

yea

ShriekingSisterhood

besides the overall distinctiveness

he just, could not shut up about it, on his public radio show so,

cassetticon

yeah exactly.

dataghost

EYAH

plus like. it only gets the show BETTER ratings so why hide it

ShriekingSisterhood

what if hes married to  Aizawa but Aizawa made him choose between being maried to civilian guy Aizawa or Eraserhead

starsinger

what if hes a celebrity hero with a radio show. and then has a civilian identity as an english teacher

ShriekingSisterhood

bc Aizawa's identity is mega secret

dataghost

god aizawa would hate all the attention either way

ShriekingSisterhood

omg

dataghost

I feel like he doesn't even want eraserhead to be a super well known hero

cassetticon

i mean thats just real in canon

ShriekingSisterhood

Aizawa, sick of the attention, tells Mic to fake his death at the hands of like a villain

"it will be good for ur show ratings"

cassetticon

he canonically does hate publicity and does not want to be known by anyone

ShriekingSisterhood

"no one bothers the dead"

dataghost

omfg

ShriekingSisterhood

or maybe the relationship is still secret but they can't ever go out anywhere bc Mic gets so easilly recognized

dataghost

Mic has so much fun pretending to be dramatically mourning his dead civilian husband

ShriekingSisterhood

"PRO HERO CELEB PRESENT MIC, SPOTTED BUYING DINNER FOR LOCAL HOMELESS MAN, AMAZING GENEROSITY"

dataghost

egjbvjjgb kon k

starsinger

FGHDJAFJ AUSFJG NOOO

ShriekingSisterhood

Re: mic mourning his dead civilian husband

hes like,

"OH IF ONLY HE HAD BEEN A SUPER TOO"

"IF ONLY HE HAD THE POWER TO, SAY, ERASE OTHER PEOPLES POWERS, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE COME TO THIS SAD FATE"

dataghost

Aizawa is just glaring Murder at him

ShriekingSisterhood

"ALSO HERES THE NEW TOP HIT FROM POP GROUP  "Q 5" ITS QUITE A BOP LISTENERS"

"ITS HELPING ME GET OVER MY DEPRESSION, FROM THE, EAD HUSBAND"

starsinger

god

ShriekingSisterhood

What if present mics so bad at acting that people think he murdered his fake dead husband

cassetticon

holy fuck

starsinger

now im like. ideeply want to see the many subplots that are jsut 'iida has to deal with the time conflict between mathletics and curling'

hfdjkf

ShriekingSisterhood

what if thru some hilarious misunderstanding all might applied to be the gym teacher but it turned out he was accidentally applying to be the masthletics coach

starsinger

its shenanigans because he tries to do both of them at the same time because hes like 'i have superspeed itll be fine' its Not Fine

IJADIJ;LDFSAJLKDFKJLFDJKL NOOOOOOOOO

ShriekingSisterhood

"I thought you meant you needed a Male Athletics Coach??? M Athletics"

dataghost

he doesnt know shit about math so his only coaching contribution is like Pep Talks

starsinger

yES

all might giving INSPIRING PEP TALKS

to the mathletes

ShriekingSisterhood

"GUYS, SOMETIMES THE SINE OF A NUMBER, IS THE FRIENDS YOU MADE ALONG THE WAY"

starsinger

which end up being coached by. iida

dataghost

beuatiufl...

iida ends up stepping up as like, Team Captain Who Actually Can THelp People Train  Math

starsinger

momo is in charge of the science olympiad

and also the science bowl

ShriekingSisterhood

"REACH  FOR THE LIMIT, WHICH THERE IS NONE, BUT I GUESS IN MATH SOMETIMES THERE IS, BUT OTHERWISE"

starsinger

the ONLY LIMIT... IS THE LOWER LIMIT!

dataghost

theres only 1 sport but there's Many different Nerd-Offs

starsinger

yea exactly

its really funny bc its the opposite of canon where everyone is jocks even if theyre nerds

ShriekingSisterhood

everyone is nerds even if theyre joks....

finally balance

starsinger

yea...

dataghost

kaminari tries to start some kind of Movie Club as an excuse to just slack off and watch movies during club time

but then the nerds invade it and it turns into a big Trivia Game thing and kaminari just puts his head in his hands

cassetticon

He Tried

starsinger

uhghfjfd

ShriekingSisterhood

the one jock-exclusive

starsinger

and kirishima  i think

ShriekingSisterhood

yeah,,,, god kirishima

cursed boy

dataghost

pats him

starsinger

i love him so much'

ShriekingSisterhood

i love him also....

dataghost

remember how bakugou joined all the sports teams just bc he could. kirishima joins all the sports teams independently bc its manly

and then bakugou assumes he's like, trying to compete with him

ShriekingSisterhood

ooooh my god

starsinger

sdfghj

ShriekingSisterhood

real

starsinger

kirishima tries to bond w bakugou abt not being good at curling and bakuogu is like hOw Dare You

ShriekingSisterhood

THIS IS THE WORST NEG OF MY LIFE

starsinger

'man how is todoroki sO good at this i dont get it'

'DIE'

dataghost

god rip kirishima

Too Cursed To Live

ShriekingSisterhood

the best thing is that when bakugo is like "ill destroy you, ill punch ur face" kirishima is just like "fyes uck me UP bro"

he 100% knows what hes getting into

starsinger

i really like the idea of bakugou bein g like ill fuck you AND todoroki up. about curling

when he cant like

skate yet

ShriekingSisterhood

hsfhdjh

hes still holding on to the bar at the edge of the rink

starsinger

ok i just looked it up and curling does not actually use skates

but

ShriekingSisterhood

talking about how hes going to be indispuitable number one curler

starsinger

eyah

dataghost

while lying on his face having fallen down

starsinger

hey guys. guys. guys does a villain attack the ice rink

and somehow it means they have to cooperate and learn a leson about teamwork

and skating pysics

but it doesnt SUPER work but it works a little bit

dataghost

god they have to ~work together~ but also not let any of the others see their powers

starsinger

fcfuki tho they dont know its them so like king explodokill is like 'maybe now i have a mmodicum of respect. for red riot. maybe. a tiny bit' but is still like KIRISHIMA MADE FUN OF ME ABOUT SKATING THO AND I HATE IT

ohhhhh thast good also fdjfdjkdfjk

maybe they have to work together to get to the locker room but wont say why (its bc their costumes r there)

but then the final fight is as hero guys?

dataghost

oo that makes sense that's good

none of them even like, stops to think about the Coincidence chdmxm

except Maybe todoroki

and even he only does like way after the fact

starsinger

yae

fuck i just rmembered izukus hero name and am having a fucking freakout

dataghost

god!!!!!

bakugou is fucking. haunted by it

does he know izuku's secret id when he picks it or does he find out later

starsinger

?

dataghost

like . when izuku picks the name "deku" does bakugou know yet or no

i guess this question makes less sense in this au

cause like how could he be a hero if he doesnt have a hero name yet

starsinger

i think maybe its

izuku introduces himself as the hero deku for the first time and thats when bakugou realizes that that new hero whos been running around........ is . izuku

and obvsly Flips the Fuck Out

dataghost

ghhhhhgggghh

starsinger

i think. u kno the flash onto bakugou and urarakas faces

i think id want to keep that

but with the added 'oh shit thats izuku'

context from the au

dataghost

goddddd

for uraraka too?

like is she Also just finding out

starsinger

mmmmmmaybe

maybe not actually

yeah idk depends how deep the hijinx run lol. how long izuku was determined to Not Tell Anyone About Hero Shit

dataghost

feel like it could be A Long While cause he'd feel like he'd have to be secretive For All Might

starsinger

yeahhh exactly...

altho if superheroes are a big thing but secret identities are a bigger thing it might be Less secretive

bc like. theres no inherent connection between 'a new superhero appears' and 'all might'

dataghost

but I feel like izuku would be nervous anyway

starsinger

yeah for sure

dataghost

and he's v strategic & thoughtful so I feel like he'd Understand The Importance Of Secret Identity and be like "no one ever!!!!"

starsinger

yeahh That rings true for me ithink

i was just like 'if 'quirkless izuku' and 'hero deku' arent inherently connected bc Every Civilian Secret Identity Is Quirkless then its not as big a deal

dataghost

yeah also fair

so are quirks way rarer in this au?

starsinger

but ur right that all might def has the No One Can Know Im Human thing

and izuku would also probably

i dont know if quirks are Rarer or if theyre just hilariously secret even tho literally most of the population has one

and many of them are very visible

dataghost

what if like. quirklessness is rare but everyone's civilian id is still quirkless

and everyone just. d oesnt notice

starsinger

tsuyu: yeah im quirkless. kero.

dataghost

also like. Basically everyone who's quirkless is actually a hero in disguise

but no one puts the dots together

starsinger

just had the thought 'i really like bnha superhero au' and fuckgin died

[yogpetshame]

I don't know if this is just me being super sensitive, but I kind of feel like Spiff making a video about Plague Inc. during a global pandemic that's already killed tens of thousands of people, and in which he even mentions the ongoing pandemic, seems just *slightly* massively fucking distasteful, and there's no chance in hell he just decided to cover that 8 year old game right now as a total coincidence.

It’s in a weird position. 

Humorwise, to jump in with both feet, I think if you compare it to making fun of 9/11 it’s not the same. 9/11, if you didn’t live there, happened to someone else. It wasn’t yours to make fun of. You weren’t to make jokes about it because, despite the fact you felt distant enough from 9/11 to laugh about it, odds were high someone else in the room was directly impacted by it.

Since we’re all in the pandemic, I don’t think we’re in a position where we can judge how other people cope with it emotionally and how irreverent they are about it. Everyone’s stressed. Not everyone processes stuff the same. There were tons of comedians in the late weeks of February who were making jokes about like, “why am I standing in front of a huge audience of people, am I stupid?” it’s not really “distasteful,” they’re all going through the same thing you’re going through. Every Jackbox game (I still hate that game but whatever) I’ve been in in the last week has referenced either toilet paper, coughing on people or produce, or defending your six foot radius with violence. If you’re making fun of something that isn’t happening to you, like “ha ha imagine working a customer facing job right now,” fuck off, but the overall pandemic atmosphere is shared and fair game.

Now, does it stink of opportunism? Heck yeah. That’s definitely on the board. But given the way the movie “Contagion” blew up last month, you could just argue you’re meeting demand. I would call foul if the title was like “CURE FOR CORONAVIRUS? PLAGUE INC’S SECRET TRUTH” or some insane gimmick but

UNLOCK ALL DNA? IS BROKEN! Plague Inc Is A Perfectly Balanced Game With No Exploits - Unlock All Genes Instantly

just fits his usual format. On top of that, he starts the video with

I would like to say that this video is of course going to put a very tumultuous time in the real world there's a lot of crazy and scary stuff going on and I strongly advise all of you to stay home as recommended. And hey if you are, hats off to you, give yourself a pat on the back and go grab yourself a nice warm celebratory cup of tea, and also consider looking up as to how you can help your friends, families, and neighbors in this very trying time. After all it's a very spiffing and gentlemanly thing to do to assist those in need, so be kind to each other we can get through this very easily.

which is very reasonable and commendable. You could counterargue that he’s just using Plague Inc as a vehicle to get people’s attention so he could make his PSA.

I guess it’s just a very long rant to say I don’t think you’re super insensitive at all, but the situation is just weird and unprecedented and it’s hard to judge what other people are doing.

[vintagegeekculture]

Top Misconceptions People Have about Pulp-Era Science Fiction

A lot of people I run into have all kinds of misconceptions about what pulp-era scifi, from the 1920s-1950s, was actually like. 

“Pulp-Era Science Fiction was about optimistic futures.”

Optimistic futures were always, always vastly outnumbered by end of the world stories with mutants, Frankenstein creations that turn against us, murderous robot rebellions, terrifying alien invasions, and atomic horror. People don’t change. Then as now, we were more interested in hearing about how it could all go wrong. 

To quote H.L. Gold, editor of Galaxy Science Fiction, in 1952: 

“Over 90% of stories submitted to Galaxy Science Fiction still nag away at atomic, hydrogen and bacteriological war, the post atomic world, reversion to barbarism, mutant children killed because they have only ten toes and fingers instead of twelve….the temptation is strong to write, ‘look, fellers, the end isn’t here yet.’”

The movie Tomorrowland is a particulary egregious example of this tremendous misconception (and I can’t believe Brad Bird passed on making Force Awakens to make a movie that was 90 minutes of driving through the Florida swamps). In reality, pre-1960s scifi novels trafficked in dread, dystopian futures, and fear. There was simply never a time when optimistic scifi was overrepresented, even the boyish Jules Verne became skeptical of the possibilities of technology all the way at the turn of the century. One of the most famous pulp scifi yarns was Jack Williamson’s The Humanoids, about a race of Borg-like robots who so totally micromanage humans “for our own protection” that they leave us with nothing to do but wait “with folded hands.”

“Pulp scifi often featured muscular, large-chinned, womanizing main characters.”

Here’s the image often used in parodies of pulp scifi: the main character is a big-chinned, ultra-muscular dope in tights who is a compulsive womanizer and talks like Adam West in Batman. Whenever I see this, I think to myself…what exactly is it they’re making fun of?

It’s more normal than you think to find parodies of things that never actually existed. Mystery buffs and historians, for example, can’t find a single straight example of “the Butler did it.” It’s a thing people think is a thing that was never a thing, and another example would be the idea of the “silent film villain” in a mustache and top hat (which there are no straight examples of, either). There are no non-parody examples of Superman changing in a phone booth; he just never did this.

In reality, my favorite description of pulp mag era science fiction heroes is that they are “wisecracking Anglo-Saxon engineers addicted to alcohol and tobacco who like nothing better than to explain things to others that they already know.” The average pulp scifi hero had speech patterns best described as “Mid-Century American Wiseass” than like Adam West or the Lone Ranger. 

The nearest the Spaceman Spiff stereotype came to hitting the mark was with the magazine heroes of the Lensmen and Captain Future, and they’re both nowhere near close. Captain Future was a muscular hero with a chin, but he also had a Captain Picard level desire to use diplomacy first, and believed that most encounters with aliens were only hostile due to misunderstandings and lack of communication (and the story makes him right). He also didn’t seem interested in women, mostly because he had better things to do for the solar system and didn’t have the time for love. The Lensmen, on the other hand, had a ruthless, bloodthirsty streak, and were very much like the “murder machine” Brock Sampson (an attitude somewhat justified by the stakes in their struggle). 

“Pulp Era Scifi were mainly action/adventure stories with good vs. evil.” 

This is a half-truth, since, like so much other genre fiction, scifi has always been sugared up with fight scenes and chases. And there was a period, early in the century, when most scifi followed the Edgar Rice Burroughs model and were basically just Westerns or swashbucklers with different props, ray guns instead of six-shooters. But the key thing to remember is how weird so much of this scifi was, and that science fiction, starting in the mid-1930s, eventually became something other than just adventure stories with different trappings. 

One of my favorite examples of this is A. Bertram Chandler’s story, “Giant-Killer.” The story is about rats on a starship who acquire intelligence due to proximity to the star drive’s radiation, and who set about killing the human crew one by one. Another great example is Eando Binder’s Adam Link stories, told from the point of view of a robot who is held responsible for the death of his creator.

What’s more, one of the best writers to come out of this era is best known for never having truly evil bad guys: Isaac Asimov. His “Caves of Steel,” published in 1953, had no true villains. The Spacers, who we assumed were snobs, only isolated themselves because they had no immunities to the germs of earth.

“Racism was endemic to the pulps.”

It is absolutely true that the pulps reflected the unconscious views of society as a whole at the time, but as typical of history, the reality was usually much more complex than our mental image of the era. For instance, overt racism was usually shown as villainous: in most exploration magazines like Adventure, you can typically play “spot the evil asshole we’re not supposed to like” by seeing who calls the people of India “dirty monkeys” (as in Harold Lamb). 

Street & Smith, the largest of all of the pulp publishers, had a standing rule in the 1920s-1930s to never to use villains who were ethnic minorities because of the fear of spreading race hate by negative portrayals. In fact, in one known case, the villain of Resurrection Day was going to be a Japanese General, but the publisher demanded a revision and he was changed to an American criminal. Try to imagine if a modern-day TV network made a rule that minority groups were not to be depicted as gang bangers or drug dealers, for fear that this would create prejudice when people interact with minority groups in everyday life, and you can see how revolutionary this policy was. It’s a mistake to call this era very enlightened, but it’s also a mistake to say everyone born before 1970 was evil.

“Pulp scifi writers in the early days were indifferent to scientific reality and played fast and loose with science.”

 FALSE.

 This is, by an order of magnitude, the most false item on this list.

In fact, you might say that early science fiction fandom were obsessed with scientific accuracy to the point it was borderline anal retentive. Nearly every single one of the lettercols in Astounding Science Fiction were nitpickers fussing about scientific details. In fact, modern scifi fandom’s grudging tolerance for storytelling necessities like sound in space at the movies, or novels that use “hyperspace” are actually something of a step down from what the culture around scifi was in the 1920s-1950s. Part of it was due to the fact that organized scifi fandom came out of science clubs; Hugo Gernsback created the first scifi pulp magazine as a way to sell electronics and radio equipment to hobbyists, and the “First Fandom” of the 1930s were science enthusiasts who talked science first and the fiction that speculated about it second.

In retrospect, a lot of it was just plain obvious insecurity: in a new medium considered “kid’s stuff,” they wanted to show scifi was plausible, relevant, and something different from “fairy tales.” It’s the same insecure mentality that leads video gamers to repeatedly ask if games are art. You’ve got nothing to prove there, guys, calm down (and take it from a pulp scifi aficionado, the most interesting things are always done in the period when a medium is considered disposable trash). 

One of the best examples was the famous Howard P. Lovecraft, who published “The Shadow out of Time” in the 1936 issue of Astounding. Even though it might be the only thing from that issue that is even remotely reprinted today, the letters page from this issue practically rose up in revolt against this story as not being based on accurate science. Lovecraft was never published in Astounding ever again.

If you ever wanted to find out what Star Wars would be like if they were bigger hardasses about scientific plausibility, check out E.E. Smith’s Lensman series. People expect a big, bold, brassy space opera series with heroes and villains to play fast and loose, but it was shockingly scientifically grounded.

To be fair, science fiction was not a monolith on this. One of the earliest division in science fiction was between the Astounding Science Fiction writers based in New York, who often had engineering and scientific backgrounds and had left-wing (in some cases, literally Communist) politics, and the Amazing Stories writers based in the Midwest, who were usually self taught, and had right-wing, heartland politics. Because the Midwestern writers in Amazing Stories were often self-taught, they had a huge authority problem with science and played as fast and loose as you could get. While this is true, it’s worth noting science fiction fandom absolutely turned on Amazing Stories for this, especially when the writers started dabbling with spiritualism and other weirdness like the Shaver Mystery. And to this day, it’s impossible to find many Amazing Stories tales published elsewhere.

[optimisticfuninternet-blog]

Forbes Welcome

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This ensures your self-reliance from large brand name producers and provides you the opportunity to form your very own range with special products. In this method, you can create affordable yet high-quality private labels. Whether can, glass bottle, reusable bottle or versatile PET bottle. Your beer can likewise be provided in timeless kegs if you like. So you, too, can fulfill the exact requirements of your own consumers, we offer you the flexibility to produce a personalized item. We will supply you with the needed competence and professional assessment throughout the process. A. Yes. Our minimum amount order for a custom-made formula is 144. We provide low minimums for you to minimize the investment needed and enable you time establish an entire line. When you're attempting to initially get a brand name off of the ground, this is much more cost effective than having to purchase 1,000 unit minimums. The expansion of products has actually happened, in part, since of the FDA itself, which has actually had relaxed policies throughout the years. While homeopathic treatments are technically needed to meet the very same approval rules as other drugs in the U.S. market, a 1988 FDA policy required enforcement discretion" to enable circulation of homeopathic remedies with policy however without FDA approval. Private Label is positioning your label on our item. Personal Label ADAM tea makes a statement for your business. You don't cut corners, nor do we, the teas we produce to bear your label are the best hand selected Ceylon teas available. http://build-your-own-brand.com/ 's not just the economic downturn that caused the present spike in personal label needs. Merchants are growing progressively advanced about placing their own-brand products. We assist you complete.

[tastytwink-life-blog]

Cheap Custom Sweatshirt

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[mahtewtwook86]

How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video

With the average business email account receiving over 100 emails per day, anything that gets more responses is a welcome change. And adding video to your prospecting emails can increase response rates by up to 8x! Not only that, but 75% of late-stage prospects that received a personalized video became closed deals. Sounds awesome, right? But this post isn’t about convincing you that video is the best tool for your sales team to close more deals. That’s what this post is for!

So with that in mind, how do you get the video ball rolling for your sales team? And most importantly, how do you keep them doing it long enough to see real results? I sat down with our sales team leaders to get their take on how to motivate salespeople to start using video, and how to measure and reward them for video selling success!

Land and Expand

Ellen, the manager of our BDR team suggested starting small when it comes to video and working your way up. Pick a pilot group, and help them find success to show your broader team how easy it is. Whether they’re sending webcam selfie videos as a first-touch, or going more in-depth on the prospect’s website to show off how your solution could benefit them directly, showing a few key sales people the ropes is probably easier than trying to get 100 of them going at once.

Ellen also added that a big part of this is practicing what you preach. Even if you’re starting with a super small group, it’s time for you – or your team manager – to join the ranks and start doing some cold outreach yourselves. This provides two big motivators:

  Your team sees that you are learning this new tactic alongside them, so they’re even more motivated to get better at it.

You get to experience any pain points your team is having in real-time and start coming up with solutions and new strategies right away. That’s win-win for you and your team!

  If you’re not in a position to get down into the trenches with your team, there is still a way you can motivate them with your own video experience.

At Vidyard our executives send out company updates via video using the same technology our sales team uses to reach out to prospects. It cuts through the noise in everyone’s inbox, and our executive team can see metrics on whether or not their videos were really engaging. They aren’t high-budget productions either – here’s a screenshot of one our CEO, Michael Litt filmed in one of our meeting rooms:

Is there a meeting or weekly update that you can replace with video?

Tracking Progress & Rewarding Success

The cornerstone of any successful sales program is keeping the team motivated. While I won’t go into suggestions for spiffs — the team at LevelEleven does a fantastic job of that — it is sometimes hard to come up with a way of challenging employees to use a new technology or strategy. Katie, the manager of our business development team, told me she rewards employees based on a few criteria to get them excited and energized about using video.

First is looking at engagement on videos from the people her BDRs are targeting. Early on, she focused on rewarding members of her team based on the total number of seconds watched across all videos. This is a great starting metric as it focuses on getting as many videos out the door as possible, but it falls short as your team gets more comfortable with video, and starts sending out shorter content.

Now our BDRs are rewarded based on the average percentage viewed across all of their videos – so if a BDR sends out two videos, and one is watched until the 50% mark and one is watched until the 100% mark, their average score would be 75%. Building challenges like this gives your team an incentive to put quality over quantity, as it puts the onus on the sales person to make watchable content. This, in turn bubbles up in quantity as sales people get more comfortable with producing their own videos.

Dan Wardle, who manages our SMB team added that his team uses more of a show-and-tell process for their most successful videos. Everyone submits their best video and they discuss as a team what made the video successful. Spiffs are awarded by vote from the team, and the videos are stored in a separate hub for team members to refer back to. The big added bonus to this technique is that you slowly build a library of successful video content that can serve as an internal resource for new hires.

Giving Your Team the Right Tools

Getting started with video doesn’t have to be difficult for salespeople. Whether it’s their first day on the job, or they have been a quota-carrying sales leader for decades, video has never been easier to create, share and track. Our team uses ViewedIt to record selfie-style cold call emails, create micro demos, and measure the response of their video content. The recent Enterprise expansion to ViewedIt plugs this data into our Salesforce instance, allowing our team leads like Ellen, Katie, and Dan to measure the results of their team. The spiffs I mentioned above depend on it!

When it comes to educating your sales team on how to find success with video, we’ve got that covered for you! Check out the Video Selling Success Kit for resources on personalizing your content, and a cheat-sheet with 7 practical ways to use video to close more deals!

The post How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video appeared first on Vidyard.

from http://www.vidyard.com/blog/get-sales-team-using-loving-video/

[logancfrench]

How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video

With the average business email account receiving over 100 emails per day, anything that gets more responses is a welcome change. And adding video to your prospecting emails can increase response rates by up to 8x! Not only that, but 75% of late-stage prospects that received a personalized video became closed deals. Sounds awesome, right? But this post isn’t about convincing you that video is the best tool for your sales team to close more deals. That’s what this post is for!

So with that in mind, how do you get the video ball rolling for your sales team? And most importantly, how do you keep them doing it long enough to see real results? I sat down with our sales team leaders to get their take on how to motivate salespeople to start using video, and how to measure and reward them for video selling success!

Land and Expand

Ellen, the manager of our BDR team suggested starting small when it comes to video and working your way up. Pick a pilot group, and help them find success to show your broader team how easy it is. Whether they’re sending webcam selfie videos as a first-touch, or going more in-depth on the prospect’s website to show off how your solution could benefit them directly, showing a few key sales people the ropes is probably easier than trying to get 100 of them going at once.

Ellen also added that a big part of this is practicing what you preach. Even if you’re starting with a super small group, it’s time for you – or your team manager – to join the ranks and start doing some cold outreach yourselves. This provides two big motivators:

  Your team sees that you are learning this new tactic alongside them, so they’re even more motivated to get better at it.

You get to experience any pain points your team is having in real-time and start coming up with solutions and new strategies right away. That’s win-win for you and your team!

  If you’re not in a position to get down into the trenches with your team, there is still a way you can motivate them with your own video experience.

At Vidyard our executives send out company updates via video using the same technology our sales team uses to reach out to prospects. It cuts through the noise in everyone’s inbox, and our executive team can see metrics on whether or not their videos were really engaging. They aren’t high-budget productions either – here’s a screenshot of one our CEO, Michael Litt filmed in one of our meeting rooms:

Is there a meeting or weekly update that you can replace with video?

Tracking Progress & Rewarding Success

The cornerstone of any successful sales program is keeping the team motivated. While I won’t go into suggestions for spiffs — the team at LevelEleven does a fantastic job of that — it is sometimes hard to come up with a way of challenging employees to use a new technology or strategy. Katie, the manager of our business development team, told me she rewards employees based on a few criteria to get them excited and energized about using video.

First is looking at engagement on videos from the people her BDRs are targeting. Early on, she focused on rewarding members of her team based on the total number of seconds watched across all videos. This is a great starting metric as it focuses on getting as many videos out the door as possible, but it falls short as your team gets more comfortable with video, and starts sending out shorter content.

Now our BDRs are rewarded based on the average percentage viewed across all of their videos – so if a BDR sends out two videos, and one is watched until the 50% mark and one is watched until the 100% mark, their average score would be 75%. Building challenges like this gives your team an incentive to put quality over quantity, as it puts the onus on the sales person to make watchable content. This, in turn bubbles up in quantity as sales people get more comfortable with producing their own videos.

Dan Wardle, who manages our SMB team added that his team uses more of a show-and-tell process for their most successful videos. Everyone submits their best video and they discuss as a team what made the video successful. Spiffs are awarded by vote from the team, and the videos are stored in a separate hub for team members to refer back to. The big added bonus to this technique is that you slowly build a library of successful video content that can serve as an internal resource for new hires.

Giving Your Team the Right Tools

Getting started with video doesn’t have to be difficult for salespeople. Whether it’s their first day on the job, or they have been a quota-carrying sales leader for decades, video has never been easier to create, share and track. Our team uses ViewedIt to record selfie-style cold call emails, create micro demos, and measure the response of their video content. The recent Enterprise expansion to ViewedIt plugs this data into our Salesforce instance, allowing our team leads like Ellen, Katie, and Dan to measure the results of their team. The spiffs I mentioned above depend on it!

When it comes to educating your sales team on how to find success with video, we’ve got that covered for you! Check out the Video Selling Success Kit for resources on personalizing your content, and a cheat-sheet with 7 practical ways to use video to close more deals!

The post How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video appeared first on Vidyard.

from News By Logan French http://www.vidyard.com/blog/get-sales-team-using-loving-video/

[peterjcameron]

How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video

With the average business email account receiving over 100 emails per day, anything that gets more responses is a welcome change. And adding video to your prospecting emails can increase response rates by up to 8x! Not only that, but 75% of late-stage prospects that received a personalized video became closed deals. Sounds awesome, right? But this post isn’t about convincing you that video is the best tool for your sales team to close more deals. That’s what this post is for!

So with that in mind, how do you get the video ball rolling for your sales team? And most importantly, how do you keep them doing it long enough to see real results? I sat down with our sales team leaders to get their take on how to motivate salespeople to start using video, and how to measure and reward them for video selling success!

Land and Expand

Ellen, the manager of our BDR team suggested starting small when it comes to video and working your way up. Pick a pilot group, and help them find success to show your broader team how easy it is. Whether they’re sending webcam selfie videos as a first-touch, or going more in-depth on the prospect’s website to show off how your solution could benefit them directly, showing a few key sales people the ropes is probably easier than trying to get 100 of them going at once.

Ellen also added that a big part of this is practicing what you preach. Even if you’re starting with a super small group, it’s time for you – or your team manager – to join the ranks and start doing some cold outreach yourselves. This provides two big motivators:

  Your team sees that you are learning this new tactic alongside them, so they’re even more motivated to get better at it.

You get to experience any pain points your team is having in real-time and start coming up with solutions and new strategies right away. That’s win-win for you and your team!

  If you’re not in a position to get down into the trenches with your team, there is still a way you can motivate them with your own video experience.

At Vidyard our executives send out company updates via video using the same technology our sales team uses to reach out to prospects. It cuts through the noise in everyone’s inbox, and our executive team can see metrics on whether or not their videos were really engaging. They aren’t high-budget productions either – here’s a screenshot of one our CEO, Michael Litt filmed in one of our meeting rooms:

Is there a meeting or weekly update that you can replace with video?

Tracking Progress & Rewarding Success

The cornerstone of any successful sales program is keeping the team motivated. While I won’t go into suggestions for spiffs — the team at LevelEleven does a fantastic job of that — it is sometimes hard to come up with a way of challenging employees to use a new technology or strategy. Katie, the manager of our business development team, told me she rewards employees based on a few criteria to get them excited and energized about using video.

First is looking at engagement on videos from the people her BDRs are targeting. Early on, she focused on rewarding members of her team based on the total number of seconds watched across all videos. This is a great starting metric as it focuses on getting as many videos out the door as possible, but it falls short as your team gets more comfortable with video, and starts sending out shorter content.

Now our BDRs are rewarded based on the average percentage viewed across all of their videos – so if a BDR sends out two videos, and one is watched until the 50% mark and one is watched until the 100% mark, their average score would be 75%. Building challenges like this gives your team an incentive to put quality over quantity, as it puts the onus on the sales person to make watchable content. This, in turn bubbles up in quantity as sales people get more comfortable with producing their own videos.

Dan Wardle, who manages our SMB team added that his team uses more of a show-and-tell process for their most successful videos. Everyone submits their best video and they discuss as a team what made the video successful. Spiffs are awarded by vote from the team, and the videos are stored in a separate hub for team members to refer back to. The big added bonus to this technique is that you slowly build a library of successful video content that can serve as an internal resource for new hires.

Giving Your Team the Right Tools

Getting started with video doesn’t have to be difficult for salespeople. Whether it’s their first day on the job, or they have been a quota-carrying sales leader for decades, video has never been easier to create, share and track. Our team uses ViewedIt to record selfie-style cold call emails, create micro demos, and measure the response of their video content. The recent Enterprise expansion to ViewedIt plugs this data into our Salesforce instance, allowing our team leads like Ellen, Katie, and Dan to measure the results of their team. The spiffs I mentioned above depend on it!

When it comes to educating your sales team on how to find success with video, we’ve got that covered for you! Check out the Video Selling Success Kit for resources on personalizing your content, and a cheat-sheet with 7 practical ways to use video to close more deals!

The post How to Get Your Sales Team Using — And Loving — Video appeared first on Vidyard.

from Peter Cameron Business Consultant http://www.vidyard.com/blog/get-sales-team-using-loving-video/