#but i think thats fucking incredible even without the other shit

[riderofblackdragons]

i feel like the most insane thing in star wars that im not seeing enough people using in their fics is that fact that, even under the chip, cody just fucking abandoned the empire.

dude's literally under a chip that commands him to be loyal to it, and he still ended up going "nah fuck this shit im out"

codys a fucking badass

[arolesbianism]

Eternal gales isat au except Bloom is the one looping and she never fucking escapes due to the curse of being 9 years old. Oh and also the middle aged woman actively sabotaging her at every step of the way ig

[imagine-shenanigans]

sighs dramatically.

Okay but the ghost distribution system as we call it is hysterical but can we tlak about how None Of The 141 are built to date.

Like, sure, Gaz is great at flirting, and he's charming, but DATES? He's the type who asks you on a date because he thinks youre pretty/handsome/adorable/etc but by the time the two of you actually go on a date he's ready figured out like. the whole rest of your lives together. He's already imagined up 20 different scenarios of different dates, stalked your front-facing social media and found your secret or hidden accounts that theoretically don't link back to you. Sure, he's scrounged through your discord servers and your private messages and texts and a thousand other things while he was bored on leave. He knows enough to know that he's happy with what comes next. All dates are simply... ritual at this point? Something obligational, other than the fact he gets to spend time with you.

You're not going anywhere, he's just the least heavy handed of them, the one who'll let you think its your choice to keep him around until he's got his ring officially on your finger. Life won't go according to plan but he's prepared for that too. In his head, you're already married anyway, he's just working his way up to that part. He'll manufacture any scenario to keep you with him, because he wants you to be. And he'll make sure you want to be too.

Soap on the other hand is WAY less tactful about it. He's charming, and he'll take you on dates, sure, but the moment he spots you it's incredibly easy to get obsessed. He immediately drops an arm around you, purring in your ear and talking to you. Doesn't ask you on a date so much as demands it, puts his number in your phone and presses a kiss to your temple, his fingertips squeezing your chin before you leave. God forbid you let him into your home - he'll never leave if you do. Johnny's SUCH a physical guy that while, yes, personality matters, it seals the deal for him the moment he's got his tongue down your throat and his fingers in your pants. Something about the way you settle in against him makes him feel like he's home, and you will never get rid of him.

He's willing to take you on dates if you need more proof, but he won't even pretend like he doesnt already have a copy of your key. Like he's not telling the guys about the bonnie little thing he's going home to - he slips into your apartment/house/etc and into your bed without changing, barely finding time to slip his boots off. Presses one hand to your mouth and just... holds you. He'll fuck you within an inch of your life later when you're less panicked, sure, but he just wants to press his nose to your neck and breathe you in. If his hips rut against your ass, ignore it for now. (Haha... unless? No? okay in a minute then)

Price is just as manipulative as Gaz can be, just as charming as Soap and Gaz too. But he just... doesn't care, just like Simon. There's a reason so many people have Price with like... mail order bride or a "one day you look up and hes your husband" scenario and thats because he's good at what he does. And by that I mean being a husband and pumping you full of kids whether or not its physically possible. (Btw check out Ceil's mail order bride western au its good shit, or Bo's Kingpin Price drabbles, makes me lose it every time.)

He sees you walking about and the MOMENT you do anything remotely domestic - pick up a neice/nephew/babysitting kid/etc and put em on your hip? Rock hard. play peekaboo with a baby across from you at a cafe? pick up after yourself just to be polite to the waitress? he's already stalking you on multiple platforms theres no goddamn way youre getting away from him. He'll figure out where you go in your free time and insert himself there as naturally as possible. He's not particularly hiding what he's doing either - he likes to test you, to see if you notice things missing or moved. If you do, he'll be a little more cautious, use it as reason to drive you into hsi arms. If you don't he jsut views it as all the more reason to take you away - poor thing, you just can't help yourself can you? You're lucky nobody else has got their claws around you, hm?

[moonlit-dreamers]

honestly im really enjoying the plot in mgafs but especially bc of eclipse and how he is as a character

hes become something more neutral. he isnt a villain nor a "good guy". hes just. a guy. he doesnt even want to be here but he doesnt have much of a choice. he tolerates ppls existence as much as he can without exploding. he does care about ppl but he hides it under a guise of "im doing this for myself and anyone who benefits from this is just a side effect" and honestly i love that so fucking much. like. he very much gives a shit about earth and at one point emphasized that she would not get hurt. tho when questioned about it he dodges the question. in fact, every time someone brings up earth and how defensive he is he avoids it. i feel like not even he himself wants to confront how he feels

then theres also puppet. their relationship is like the extrovert adopting the introvert type thing (its also like that with earth but puppet is more forceful and the more "ur never getting rid of me" type). he, again, doesnt admit that he cares. and honestly he probably didnt give a flying fuck about her in the beginning. the main reason he even went on the whole quest to help with the other puppet was bc he would also be effected, even if he was in another dimension (also bc he didnt want it to hurt earth but shhhh). but now he does seem to show some form of concern towards puppet at certain times. its also incredibly entertaining to watch puppet keep pushing at his limits. makes me think of that one video where a crow kept fucking with an eagle. just kept nipping and getting in its face then running away. thats what it feels like lmao

also like. almost every time he defended someone theres always been some kinda excuse he could make that gives him an out with saying that it was also for his benefit. probably the only time he defended someone and wouldnt get personal benefit out of it was when he confronted ruin and told him to keep earth out of it. tho, luckily for him, nobody was there to witness it and question it (unless moon was there bc i dont remember it exactly >.>).

which, yes, probably a lot of things that he does is for his own benefit. but he'd be completely fine with abandoning the ppl he was helping. in multiple situations he didnt have to help them. he wouldve been just fine and able to get out of the situation without them making out with him. and yet he did. and yet he purposely made room for them to follow.

idk man. just watching him develop as a character and going from someone who didnt give a flying fuck about anybody into actually giving a bit of a shit is fascinating. also even more entertaining to see just how desperately he tries to hide it

[melissa-titanium]

could actually genuinely watch this fucking scene over and over again its SO well animated & if you actually hear it and the dialogue without context its fucking hilarious like why is this kid losing his fucking mind over being told hes cool and normal . but its just so fucking good. i genuinely cant say i have a firm grasp on his character enough to properly analyze this scene with confidence but god its just. its so good. its SO GOOD. remembering shigeo when he was little being the last straw as well. fuckkkkk. kid whos been the perfect son perfect brother with perfect grades ever since the incident because he fully and sincerely believes if he lets that facade slip. if he lets his brother get upset. even for a second. he's putting himself and others into incredible danger. because unlike his brother, he has no special abilities of his own he cant defend himself. and hes THIRTEEN he has to manage that weight on his shoulders with no help from anyone else.

then. something something. after so long of hoping hoping hoping to get those abilities, putting himself in a position he despises just to make up for his perceived lack of self defense, he just. gets powers. powers that were supposedly lying dormant within him all his life. do you know how that must have felt? all of that festering, all of that fear was for NOTHING? i think. augh i dont have my thoughts about him cohesive enough to fucking say anything but just like. i dont know. ive seen one or two people be like LOL ritsu so overdramaticccccc in cleanup arc like NO dude when i was 13 i did something kinda similar i get him. i get him . my freakass little brother. thats just what it feels like. having to pack away such a traumatic event? something he experienced as a kid . must have been so much bigger in his eyes now. when youre small EVERYTHING is big to you. and he never quite grew out of seeing what shige did to him as something monumentally terrifyingly BIG. and it just festered and festered and festered and. i dont know. going way too deep into this rn but after building up SO. MUCH. RAGE. and all it comes out as is something arguably like. meager? it makes you fucking lose your absolute shit. i dont know if im making sense its 1 am bare with me dude. i really like ritsu i really like ritsu i think hes cool i GET him i promise i do i just cant articulate my thoughts on him. agggggggggggggh

[miasmaghoul]

wellll the only AU we have is dewther human!wedding AU 👀 something in that universe mayhaps . . .

u didnt say trick or treat 😤

thats okay i forgive <3

They haven't stopped talking since Aether slinked up to him at the bar, and Aether really couldn't be happier to have a good old fashioned aimless conversation. They'd discussed the basics over appetizers - where are you from, what do you do, are you single - and in the lull before the entrees are to be served Dew throws him a conspiratorial grin.

"I think we could use a treat, don't you?" Aether raises an eyebrow, but catches on real quick when Dew produces a worn mint tin. It's contents rattle, plastic on metal. "You indulge?"

"If that's what I think it is, absolutely."

"Thank fuck." Dew stretches when he stands, brushing crostini crumbs from his tie. "C'mon, there's a fire door by the bathrooms. I can rig the alarm not to go off."

Aether doesn't bother asking why, exactly, a tattoo artist has that knowledge. Especially not when he offers an elegant hand for Aether to use to stand. The edge of a tattoo pokes out from the edge of a well-tailored sleeve and it makes his belly warm.

They make it outside without incident, the sun sitting low on the horizon. They find a nice little spot at the corner of the parking lot, and in no time at all they've burned through more than half a joint.

"Good shit," Aether coughs, handing over the stubby end for Dew to finish off. His head has started to swim in the most delightful way, limbs gone heavy and skin tingly. Dew hums his assent, reddened eyes crinkled at the corners. He really is handsome, especially with the way his golden hair glimmers in the evening light. "Been a minute since I had the chance to smoke with good company."

"Sweet talker." Dew puffs out a smoke ring, snuffing out the roach and tossing it under a nearby car. He winks, and Aether gets that funny warm feeling again. "They're gonna start missin' us soon," he sighs, cracking his neck. His long, pale, incredibly kissable neck. When did Aether's mouth get so dry? "Shall we?"

Aether blinks and finds Dew standing before him, one hand in the pocket of his slacks and the other extended once more. He smiles when he takes it, lacing their fingers together without a second thought. Dew stares at their joined hands for a long moment, and Aether doesn't miss his crooked little smirk.

[narwhalandchill]

spicy take incoming but i kinda wish ppl werent so desperately attached to and protective of this moniker of Great Big Brother 100% Perfect So True And Real when it comes to childe bc honestly. he really isnt (perfect or even that good at times) and to me acknowledging the ways both he and his family (for enabling him) are in some ways kinda just. doing teucer incredibly dirty in the long term but only with the best of intentions in the short term is so much more interesting than just pretending hes a flawless brother?? like it only adds to the drama and irony of it all man like theyre rly so dysfunctional as a family unit its great. even if hoyos likely never exploring that shit in its true depth it still lives rent free in my head for sure lol

like. you rly dont have to turn ajax into some sort of unfeeling uncaring monster of a shit brother to acknowledge that he does, in fact, repeatedly make incredibly reckless and selfish choices during his SQ with teucer and in general by choosing to obstruct the truth of who he is from lil bro so completely?

like this stuff can be nuanced and coexist with his absolutely 100% genuine commitment to protecting teucers bubble of a worldview (and w the theme of childlike dreams and wishes being so prevalent in general who knows what could be cooking w that one in particular) and his loyalty and love for his family without just having to whitewash the dumb shit he does lmao

like just bc hes capable of and willing to face the potentially grave repercussions of absolute bangers (🙄🙄) like teaching an actual fucking child to consider ruin machines fun besties and 100% insta ready to fuck himself up by protecting teucer at the cost of aggravating his still-unhealed injuries from the liyue AQ when dottores abandoned lab turns out to be more lively than expected doesnt. make that choice not a very irresponsible one yall im begging 💀

like. hes the adult here . the entire situation unfolding as dangerously as it does in the factory is Absolutely all on HIM for not being able and/or willing to disappoint teucer by just . Doing the mature thing and sending him away to safety because HES gotten too attached to this idea of being his lil siblings' loyal knight and perfect brother that Always finds a way to surpass the expectations no matter the cost its a role HE wants to keep playing despite the risk

like its So obviously a pride thing for him too and thats so fucking interesting because Of how flawed and questionable the logic is!! like yes he truly cares about teucer and ensuring he has a great unforgettable time during this impromptu escapade in liyue like thats not up to debate but the point im trying to make is that the choices he makes are Still very much intertwined with his ego and overconfidence and not really based all that much on Whats Actually The Best Approach Here. he improvises a way to give teucer the best mr cyclops outing he has ever seen bc HE wants to be the one offering him that experience and ends up biting off a bit more than he can chew and he can only blame himself for that one and This Isnt Fucking Sustainable

like i dont think that makes him evil but i do think it showcases his arrogance and flaws in a very concrete way and is a part of why calling him a perfect brother or at least one without an asterix just. rubs me off wrong lmao

like idk feel free to keep calling him that if its important to u and all if u want idc (and i do to some extent get why this defensive narrative of insisting hes great no issues at all emerged bc i remember 1.1 some ppl acting like hes childcare satan for how he treats teucer lol) but. at least like . Be willing to chip in to fund the therapy teucers going to need for those lifelong trust issues in the future man 💀

Bc Thats The Other Thing. now tonia and anthon i dont consider a part of this bc at least they Know hes in the fatui and hiding the gory details of ur harbinger job from ur baby sibs is like. fair enough and reasonable. but. crafting an Entire different AU version of yourself and feeding it to your baby brother as what constitutes actual reality surely is a choice of all times like ajax ily but genuinely . What the fuck if you were real id throttle you

AND HIS FAMILY ENABLING IT THE ENTIRE TIME ITS CRAZY LIKE. As a person with multiple siblings both older n younger with some similar age gap cohorts involved. God id snitch so fucking fast i dont think ppl rly stop and think much abt how objectively horrifying this shit is from teucers long term pov 😭 in the best way obviously given its fiction like its so scrumptiously awful and dysfunctional .

(& just in general man im just so obsessed with the way ajax 14 basically broke the eggshell of his past life and emerged to rise towards his destiny drowned in the guts and gore of the place and people and community he once called home unconditionally. Bro he fucked that town UP and now his family relations will never ever be the same its so fucking Delicious. those 3 days missing and what followed are just Actually a literal fucking horror movie when you stop blindly stanning our ginger menace, forget ajax' side and take the pov of his family and morepesok in general Why Are People Not Talking About This)

like. its not that i dont understand Why this is sth childe ended up doing as i said Thats The Point. its human. teucer is the only one in the family who wasnt there during that fateful 3 days/months . Like yea anthon and tonia were prolly sheltered from most of the carnage back then too but they still Know where he was sent when he became literally uncontrollable and almost killed the neighbors (everybody & their mom loves demonizing his parents as if his demon spawn ass left them a fucking choice JFEJSJSJSKDKS) . like its at least Known.

but then theres teucer.

And like. teucers the Only one with whom ajax can even pretend to have that delusion (ha) of normalcy and a family that hasnt seen him gaze into the abyss and stare back bloodied and grinning ear to ear . like. hes the only shot childe can have at even playacting some crude imitation of normalcy before Everything and even That comes with an expiration date hes fully aware of. so theres just lies after lies after lies and the fact that even his family just. if not actively partaking in the charade then at least silently allows the entirety of it to happen to teucer whos the Only fucking one out of the loop is just..... dude its not fair on him At All

Misleading teucer THIS much is just. its fucking horrible man but i GET it. thats why its so delicious man i GET it but god its just . imagine being teucer in this situation.... thats his entire fucking World shattered once the truth comes out. Everyone close to him has been lying to him his entire time. They all knew and they let him be misled. Like sure he might be happier Now with ajax dutifully protecting that childhood dream of his but after that. Just. sit on this for a bit. after everything do we Really think teucers just going to understand why it came to be and see it as worth it???? Will he really????

yet at the same time as awfully cruel it all is its just So human!!!!! Its so human of both ajax and his family to use the innocence of the only child that was spared the aftermath of worlds best/worst 3 month abyss training camp to indulge in this flawed false reality where their third son didnt walk into the void and come back hungry for More until only the fatui could take him and even then it only spurred him on further on that path. Like its all an act and a lie and its just. Not fucking fair on teucer but hes still doing it and theyre letting him even tho they Know it wont last theyre all looking teucer in the eye every day and letting him believe like man....

like in both the entire ruin factory sequence And in general hiding the truth from teucer as extensively as childe does hes being incredibly selfish but at the same time its selfishness only rly in the way all people are when it comes to Wanting to be seen a certain way by the ones they love and care about. and thats what makes it so interesting. bc as much as the choices he makes are dubious (or like. this decision makes sense to him. a morally bisexual total omnivore ethics-wise narwhalpilled since 14 who sees exclusively in abyss shrimp colors and acts accordingly) both they and the motivations behind them are also just. So very human ones . as terrible as the implications and eventual inevitable downfall of those choices can (will) be.

like. is it not that much more fascinating to consider all the ways that childe is neither a particularly exemplary nor an egregiously bad brother just one that. Happens to be wired weird in the head and proud and flawed and with a track record of heavily suspect decision-making but that also very much genuinely loves his family man. Like i can love that about him without dismissing the fact that theres parts to how hes treating teucer that 100% can and imo rly should backfire horrifically bc. It really just is that fucked up

hes not a good brother hes Worse AMD better than that and also not alone in this like. his family is an active fucking part of this . But like still . Is he trying his best with his abyss shrimp colored vision ? Yes. Is his love genuine? Absolutely. What are the marks? 3/10 meet me in the office after class mister youre just actually horrible (affectionate) 😭

A perfect brother? Not My Ajax man 🗣🗣 and like theres SO MUCH to explore in that it makes me so sad you just. Never see any of it p much in fanworks bc we all just call him best bro and whatever and thats that like its so sad. this family is terrible horrible awful and no good and they deserve it but also didnt deserve it it was misfortune it was fate it was inevitable . justice for teucer man i need to get him in therapy asap

[bl3ss3dbyt1amat]

misc bg3 companion hc

this is so much. i have no idea and im also sorry. all of the origin companions included under the cut

astarion:

i feel like he claps funny. like hes clapping but its that specific way thats meant to be like quieter? like clapping on the palm of his hand. this might be projection but i feel like hes also the type of person to do like a little clap or a spin or his trademark ridiculous giggle whenever hes happy.

i think that hes prone to dramatics like. like pretending to fall on the floor and die if you say hes actually not on your mind 24/7. oh whats that? you dont think im the prettiest princess in the entire world? well astarion has dramatically fallen to the floor

in the early game astarion most definitely practiced his lines loudly and publicly (in camp). he cant even see himself in the mirror but hes trying to look all suave and being like "shall i compare thee to a summers night" while lae'zel and shadowheart both shout "NO" from across the camp. (can be interpreted as bloodiedblade/wyllstarion but i think wyll would be amused and even finish the quote).

wyll:

this man is probably good with basic medicines and ill die on this hill. hes got aloe vera type shit on him at all times. sure, hes not a cleric or healer or even a bard, but he'll stay with you and try his damned best to cheer you up when youre hurt or sick.

on a related note i feel like wyll would be absolutely DELIGHTED by a bard tav. he would just be so amused and filled with whimsy. never gonna complain about playing, even if its like 2am. just occasionally putting in song requests. hes so incredibly enthusiastic like spinning tav around like "THAT WAS BRILLIANT!!!"

wyll probably keeps houseplants. (minor blazingblade but i feel like karlach would accidentally kill one of the plants and actually begin weeping. once she gets her engine fixed wyll tries to teach her how to garden. this goes weirdly) furthermore i think he like goes around his house like humming merrily and watering his plants and crap

gale:

i dont think hes coordinated at all. like this man is tripping down the stairs on a daily basis. he is dropping his tea, his book, his body, ect. to the point that hes got a habit of just hugging the railing for dear life every time he has to go down a staircase. this made traversing shit like the underdark actually literally horrible. every time he falls karlach is so overly concerned and probably offers to carry him. astarion, to everyones dismay, dies laughing each and every time

pretty sure wyll and shadowheart have a conversation about weird book porn. i am here to say that gale was holding back his power while that conversation happened. gale has read so much book porn and if you knew the real scale of it you would be concerned. tara is concerned at least.

shadowheart:

especially during early game, i feel like shadowheart was literally clenching so hard to avoid admitting cute things were cute. like "oh.. a stray mutt... charming I MEAN IN LIKE A GROSS WAY". she was trying to hard to be all scary and into shar and shit but she just really likes puppies and other animals and crap

if she were modern i feel like she would really like pixar movies (inside out comes to mind for reasons i cannot explain) and wear long jean skirts. i cant explain any of this but it is fact in my mind. even in the bg3 setting i do feel like she would wear very long boxy type skirts. sort of plays into her whole "dark priestess" sort of vibe

shadowheart was sitting in her tent with scissors fucking losing her shit with anxiety trying to cut her own bangs without a mirror. it is a literal miracle from selune that they dont look like complete and total shit. no wonder halsin was surprised. (minor silverheart/shadow'zel: when she first like actually properly noticed what shaodwheart did with her hair, since the initial joke is she cant tell what changed, i think lae'zel was very impressed. she even likened it to like a sort of war paint against shar. also we KNOW lae'zel likes silver)

(can be interpreted as bladeheart/,,, do wyll and shadowheart have a ship name yet? HM. well anyway i think that in conjunction with the previous headcanon about wyll gardening, he and shadowheart garden together and he specially grew her night orchids)

lae'zel:

ever since i looked at her stupid little mindflayer training dummie in camp ive had the image of her in my head very angrily and intensly carving up a turnip to look like a mindflayer. draws a little mean face on it like the worlds most violent six year old. every time she messes up on her little DIY project shes muttering curses in tir'su.

lae'zel will take any opportunity to infodump about githyanki culture. specifically red dragons. if she met a red dragonborn or even maybe a follower of tiamat or some shit she would be so hype. in her "i hate everyone SVAH" way ofc. but like. trying to casually slide trivia into battle conversation or party banter with all the subtlety of an owlbear. "yes... the battle preparations are proceeding as expected... as expected a red dragons hibernation cycle..." and everyone just has to turn their head and ask what the fuck shes talking abt

(can be thought of as silverweave: lae'zel and gale talk in draconic about dragon history and the celestial plane. hes so tickled to have a mutual interest with lae'zel)

no one hears lae'zel laugh but when they do its so weird. like its some weird like hissing sort of sound and everyone has to do a double take and make sure theyre understanding what the fuck is going on for a second. lae'zel is incredibly defensive when people notice it but theyre not trying to be mean

karlach:

before her engine gets fixed but like early on to where shes not used to it, karlach keeps trying to touch things and keeps breaking them. this fills her with genuine despair and she will start crying (everyone in camp has to go on a group effort to calm her down). she just thinks the world is so beautiful and is so sad she cant interact with it

she likes to dance but in like a boot stompin way. karlach is probably just an absolute party animal when she gets her freedom back because honestly in her situation who wouldnt be. SHE JUST GOT TO NOT BE ON FIRE LET THE GIRL PARTY

once shes been fixed to the point where she can touch people, she just never stops. manhandling everyone in the party constantly. oh whats that? tav is on low health? dont worry karlach is sprinting over to put tav on her shoulder. literally any problem can be solved by karlach hugs and i wont be taking feedback on this

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 37

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. Fade to Black by @yokohogawa

Things between Keith and Lance are changing but Keith is restless, especially with Shiro still weak, and ends up taking a bad decision: he leaves Lance alone in the Castle with a Lion he cannot pilot. Unable to form Voltron without the newly appointed Red Paladin, the four Paladins left struggle against the sudden attack of a Galra ship and later on take damage from the explosion of a star in close proximity. Lance, on the other end, is left to defend the Castle by himself and has little time to succeed: without energy, the Lions have only 6 hours of breathable air. Beyond that point, his friends will be dead.

okay yes technically this series is unfinished. HOWEVER the first two works ARE finished, and they are amazing showstopping incredible etc. tbh im not much of a black paladin lance fan, i genuinely think solo leadership is not what he is suited for, but this fic made me way more open to it. the way he handled severe crises was as fear stricken as it was awe inspiring highly recommend

2. once again i am a child by @lilaclavenders

“You’re not a spare tyre,” Adam interjects.  “I know that,” Lance says, too unsure to sound completely defensive.   “That almost sounded like a question.” “No... it didn’t,” Lance says.

Lance and Adam talk.

i have always been a fan of lance and adam even tho its the most evidence lacking fanon thing in this fandom. its truly just so interesting. and to have lance as a young cadet getting slammed so badly just in so many different directions being given at least one grownup in his corner...its a good read.

3. Lance the language man by @irish-vampire-blog

Lance didn't really try to learn a language. He just, kind of, picks up the basics and then works from there. Its usually unintentional. Ish.

He isn't stupid though. He isn't an idiot. He just isn't the same kind of smart as his friends are.

this kind of smart for lance is so REAL bc no he cannot do like quantum physics or whatever probably but the way he seems to have a pretty innate ability to successfully do many things that he tries. he just can u know?? thats the autism with the gay audacity i would imagine but i love seeing fics like this

4. my boyfriend's back (and you're gonna get in trouble) by teacupfulofbrains

hey la, hey la, my boyfriend's back

Keith Kogane has never heard of Vine. Lance McClain takes personal offense to this, and makes it his personal mission to teach his boyfriend to meme. Keith is confused, mostly.

(OR: several instances of Keith not getting the meme™ and two times he did)

I LOVE THIS FIC SO BAD I CANT BELIEVE I HAVENT RECCED IT BEFORE. yes i am a cringe zillenial who still finds vine funny and quotes it on the internet but truly idc idc. this fic is funny. this fic is cute. established klance my love and light. also keith comparing lances eyes to the star of bombay is some of the gayest shit ever and also the only time i will entertain blue eyed lance

5. The Most Dangerous Thing is to Love by running_downn

Last time something like this happened to Lance, Keith wasn’t there. He’d thought he would have been able to do something if he had been there, or at least if he was, the guilt wouldn’t be so heavy on his chest. But this time he was there. He was right fucking there and he decided that it was infinitly worse.

~

Basically there's a new threat after the Galra and it almost kills Lance. Desperate making out ensues, but it's okay to recognize when it's not the right time for it. Keith cries a lot cause he's older and grizzled and therefore not as emotionally stunted.

green sock reality? team still out fighting as adults and lance isn’t a fucking farmer while the rest of the team isn’t? keith’s abandonment issues treated with respect and dignity and also the acknowledgement that he’s older and therefore mature enough to handle those issues in a way that doesn’t risk a relationship that is important to him? lance understanding all this and using the supportive nature he is known for??? yes yes yes. stellar fic that should have way more hits than it does

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[jaydenix]

20 years on, Sokka is still one of the best male role models in all of media

We need more young men written like him

What's there not to love about Sokka? As ATLA's resident comic relief guy, crazy shit that happens to him is always a good laugh. He's full of himself and overconfident which combined with a stellar voice acting performance by Jack DeSena makes for a very fun character. But one of the most intriguing things about him is his relationship with manhood.

Sokka begins the show very close-minded on the subject of gender, he believes he's just innately better than woman (especially Katara) because he is a man. At this point he thinks he's on top of the world and he knows everything. After all, he has been put in a great position of power in protecting his tribe after the men left to fight. For what his world currently is his quite on top of things, but his world is about to expand 100 times over.

Once Aang arrives he's tasked with coming along with him and and his sister to head to the North Pole, but early on they arrive on Kyoshi Island and meet the Kyoshi Warriors, this is what begins to break down his superiority complex where he challenges his later girlfriend Suki to a fight and she fucks up his shit. This causes him to unravel what he believes about gender, that he is better than women because he is a man. But his adventure with becoming a man has only just begun.

Throughout the rest of the show, we uncover more about Sokka having to be left behind by his father, he was just barely not old enough to go away to fight and that hurt him real bad, he feels his ability to fight made him a man, but this robbed right out from under him due to his age. Though having spent 2 years stuck without seeing his father and having spent several months out flying around on a bison taking on the Fire Nation, of course he becomes way stronger and way smarter perhaps not dissimilar to how he would've done if he was able to go off and fight 2 years prior. Eitherway, when he finally sees his father and the men of the Southern Water Tribe again at the end of book 2, he's understandably incredibly nervous because he's unsure of how they'll respond. He's left wondering whether they will see him as a man? And of course, they all do, they shake his hand and one of them is comparing heights as he's gotten a lot bigger, he's now an equal to them. They left him a boy, but they reunited with a man. And the classic moment where Hakoda says to him "aren't you listening? I said the rest of you men get ready for battle" like FUCK yeah man Hakoda doesn't even give a second thought here to his son's manhood he just knows his boy is all grown up I love him.

Now, you all know this, so why am I talking about it? Well, Sokka is such an incredibly positive representation of masculinity: his journey to manhood doesn't involve being better or putting down women or anyone for that matter. It even challenges him on this when he thinks thats what it involves. Being a man to him is knowing where you're needed the most, and he fulfils that by trying to bring about peace in the world and helping his friends and others. This is what masculinity should be.

It seems right now a lot of young men are being radicalised into far-right red-pill ideologies which promote masculinity as mistreatment of others. How on earth do we solve this issue to prevent men diving head first into the brazen misogyny of people like Andrew Tate? I don't know, but a lot of people are increasingly frustrated with hardships in this modern world and look for some kind of scapegoat. Now, don't get me wrong, it's really easy to not be a flaming misogynist, and the grievances that the MRA/manosphere lobby enjoy highlighting like idk men being more lonely supposedly? Or not being able to find "ideal" partners because of the woke anti-men feminism mob or whatever? Whereas feminists point to you know things like rape? And abortion restriction? And domestic violence? Real actual issues that affect millions of women all over the world every single day? Undoubtedly I think a lot of men need to do a bit more critical thinking. But perhaps a small part of solving this problem might just be more shows and movies and media portraying young men like Sokka who learn to embrace a non-toxic and healthy form of masculinity. Maybe this will help even just a few young boys not be pulled into these dangerous ideas as they have their own independent idea of how to be a man that was guided through well written and interesting characters. Though of course there's a lot more to it as well, this is just one thing I've thought of.

"One is not born, but becomes a woman" is a common quote thrown around in feminism, and to me Sokka is the perfect example of someone who wasn't born, but became a man through his own good actions.

👏 More 👏 Young 👏 Men 👏 Like 👏 Sokka 👏 Please 👏

[remusawoooo]

anon here, excited to read the essay! i asked you because i really like your takes and i see people in the more canon-adjacent parts of the marauders fanbase to complain about the extremes of the fanon one, though personally ive never really seen anything Too extreme, tho thats probably just tantamount to how well i curate my spaces i suppose (ive seen people say that fanon makes remus really “alpha” or makes sirius “bimbofied” and while ive seen hints of those extremes here and there, mostly it looks like it varies from person to person. ive just seen remus be more assertive than he probably is in canon, or sirius being more dramatic and “fem” than he probably is in canon). from what i know people like exaggerating events (the prank, etc.) or shifting some personality traits, but i dont really think thats a bad thing - i personally enjoy it. as long as they dont completely turn characters into stereotypes (though its a pitfall of every fandom, i fear), then whatever its just camp.

people are allowed to criticize stuff like that though, not taking that away from anyone, i personally just dont really care enough to be totally accurate esp since this hyperfix is kind of the bottom of the barrel for me LMAO. but i ask mostly bc im just curious to see what other peoples opinions are, and bc i think - especially in a fanbase like this - that its incredibly important to be at least a little critical with your media experience and reflect on it. saying “oh fuck canon we’re just having fun” is fine and all, i dont think anyone is stopping you, i think the personalities people have made up for characters that have zero screen time are super fun and the little ships are not everyones tea but like its fine. but even still, people should be way more aware of what characters theyre dealing with and from what franchise, and like reflect on any biases you may have. if youre making shit up for a random DE character, or retconning some sutff, okay, whatever, but be sure to not defend or like suddenly turn to really weird rhetoric. idk i think its the bare minimum in a fanbase like this

i definitely rambled way too much here, super sorry op! i hope this doesnt bother you, feel free to reply or feel free to not. i just really like hearing peoples thoughts on things, and i like your takes and your blog so i hope i didnt catch you by surprise. i really am just an outsider trying to look in LOL

hello anon, I'm sorry I lost your ask. I was writing on my laptop and saved the draft (but apparently had to press on alt, and didn't do it) so I basically lost your question and half of my initial response. Ty for sending in another ask!! Not a bother at all, i find this very lovely :D 

I was mortified to find that someone who isn't really a part of the fandom was perceiving me while I was complaining about fictional characters ahahaha. still, thank you for validating me and asking my thoughts on the mischaracterization of marauders!! I do talk about it daily, unfortunately, and without any prompt too. I'll try to gather all my thoughts here. I don't necessarily come across fanon as much as I did when I reentered the fandom and honestly, I can not be more with you about curating your space !! at the end of the day, I am just here to have fun, and really, pointing out these issues is not a good time at all! But I do post a lot about these, I can't be bothered to bottle up any thoughts lol.

I think the major issue I have with current interpretations is the underlying bigotry that comes along with it. There is a lot of unchecked problematic content that doesn't sit right with me.

Flanderizing characters in fandom interpretations is not limited to marauders fandom obviously. any popular media will face this because so many of us want to interact with one character so their traits are simplified for easier consumption and to find a common ground. this is also not limited to new marauders fandom. even in the older era, leather jacket-wearing, motorbike-driving quintessential bad boy siruis was a thing. so I won't nitpick on silly simplifications.

I just want to say that this isn't about me wanting everyone to have the same interpretations as I do about the canon. I follow so many lovely people and I don't agree with all of their posts. But, we all just simply share the love for these characters in the text and form an imaginary community. So, if we were to remove all the issues I will mention, it is still very well possible to have different personal takes.

Here are some of my issues:

Queerness, Gender roles, and misogyny:

My biggest problem is the representations of queer relationships. the fandom packages these couples in a strange and obvious heteronormative mold where the individuals fit into male and female gender roles. mlm and wlw are now an “f/m”* stereotype and characterization gets affected by the ships. Heterosexual relationships shouldn't have these limitations either, anyway. There is no one way to be a woman or a man. With queer relationships in particular, we have reclaimed the word queer now but it was used to describe the unconventional weirdness in the relationship. We didn't fit into the normal portrayal of a loving relationship. So, it really bothers me, even in fiction, that queer ships are popularly consumed in a way that represents a traditional template. (*this is not about gender itself but the gender roles! f/m can very well be queer!). 

Let's take the biggest victim in this fandom: sirius.

Sirius’ portrayal concerning his gender and sexuality has heavily changed his characterization in the fanon. We have a character who is popularly headcanonned as trans and is it a coincidence that all their traits have changed from the og material? Sirius is suddenly vain, whiny, and dumb. Canon doesn't suggest this interpretation, it has to have stemmed from somewhere. It's the implicit bias. Sirius becomes a caricature of what a woman “should be”. When we focus on sexuality, there is the suddenly short twink sirius who has the same new traits- proving the point of fulfilling gender roles. These characteristics are a stand-in for the “female” role of the traditional relationship and it becomes more clear in the example of new age wolfstar. Remus is now the big alpha stoic manly man- the obvious stand-in for the “male” role. I could go on, it is apparent in the way you can see remus becomes a caretaker and sirius is taken care of.

The point I am trying to make is not to discourage gender/sexuality hc. I love them, keep them coming. But, why is female sirius not tall suddenly? It is not inherently bad at all to have a feminine and masculine pairing! But why do we need to change the constitutions of these characters to consume their relationship?

I'll keep dropping disclaimers because I hate being misinterpreted: I don't obviously mean every single person is doing this or that doing one of the things means doing the other too. 

Race:

It is related to the point above. I was personally so excited to see the popular desi james hc. Even in fanon, I have never seen such a prevalent and encouraged brown rep, it was quite sweet to come back to that. But the problem is the change of characteristics that comes with race hc. Desi james is also a manly dude who is big and buff as opposed to the white petite and delicate regulus within jegulus ship. The melanin is directly proportional to the manliness here. 

This is a propagation of race stereotypes. Maybe jegulus was a bad example because usually there are seen as blank templates. I will raise the argument that this can't be all we can come up with for blank canvases then. Either way, my point about race still stands when you repeatedly design interracial queer relationships so they fall into heteronormative roles. Anyway, same issue with wolfstar when there is a brown remus.

Canon, JKR, and hypocrisy:

Refusing to engage with source material is funny when we are picking characters out of it. the interpretations of the characters will be from their book. otherwise, they are just original characters with the same name. you can add onto the traits and a lot of the time fandom comes to a consensus regarding a few things! This is common in every fandom but I don't think I have seen such reluctance to not only critically engage with media but also shame others who do. We are surely in special circumstances with this fandom but I really do think jkr and how we navigate the fanon should be two different things.

Most of us don't condone jkr or even remotely agree with any nonsense she spews on the daily. Most of us can see the problematic nature of even consuming this media and staying in this fandom. It is one of the reasons I even left the fandom. Most of us are simply doing our best to engage carefully while distancing ourselves from her. So, it is quite laughable when some love to take the moral high ground for rejecting canon while still engaging with the same characters. (the rejection of canon in question being sirius’ height, lol)

(Sirius' height is quite a polarising fact apparently. Unfortunately, the point about height is also discussed so disingenuously. When I talk about sirius’ height, it is not really about him being 6 or 7 feet. It will not really impact my life. It is about what it represents. He is bimbofied as he becomes short. It's an issue of "WHY" again.)

Of course, this isn't an accusation of intentional bigotry from everyone here. The problem with this fandom is that the people in it tell themselves that it is progressive and to run away from the problematic creator as much as possible. We are not progressive if all we do is co-opt queer and racially diverse identities on such a superficial level. The bias manifests in subtle forms. I just wish we check ourselves from time to time, that's all. 

There is a lot of hostility when we try to discuss issues in the fanon. Things are interpreted in the most misguided way to just win the argument. Like I said in the beginning, we all just want to have a good time. That also means creating a welcoming space for vulnerable groups (especially when the same identities are used to pat yourselves on the backs for inclusivity points). I didn't even cover everything btw, I just wrote about the issues that concern me. queer and poc also partake in biased representations, I also probably have some biases that I didn't identify yet. I just think it would be super neat if everyone tried to make an effort to unlearn and engage with media without hurting anyone. 

I have other issues but they are all just super subjective opinions and smth I can ignore when others do. ex: I really don't like giving tragic backstories to bigots in the story. Not every supremacist loser has a trauma that forced them into oppressing people! There is also "tropeyfication" of all major ships. Just an overall issue in the reading world I think, though.

Anon, I didn't mean to make it preachy in any way btw. You probably asked for a silly little rant and I went full lecture mode, so I apologize for the tone shift!! I mentioned these because every other issue can be brought down to these imo. Like you said, I also don't have any fixation on everything being canon-compliant. I only complain by asking about the thought process behind certain kinds of changes, if that makes sense! I hope this wasn't a drag really and you can see where I am coming from. If I misspoke anywhere, pls lmk. Thanks for sharing your opinions too!!

This is a long long rant, anyone who read everything, you are wonderful and patient. Thank you for taking the time. This huge post and the content can make you think, “who cares this much?” or “it's not that serious” and yaa it really isn't that serious. The characters aren't real but we all are. the identities projected are real. so, it does matter to talk about this.

Everything said this is a fun place to be once you find your own corner in the playground.

[triglycercule]

it must get boring as hell doing continuous repetitive genos like dust does. he probably constantly questions how his human can keep on going and like not get bored (me too tho ngl because what type of person is out there that's trying to minmax every single undertale geno route interaction???) so i say he changes things up during his own process for a variety of reasons

sometimes when he's feeling REALLY apathetic he might just view everyone as stats and precoded scripts and lines and he just goes about the geno as if he was a player playing a video game (this is incredibly hypocritical because he's acting like the player but also this is dust sans we're talking about. pinnacle of hypocrisy. he'd deny any sort of human like actions because he's not the human and what he's doing is for the greater good). also its kinda fucked because it just means that there's been so many resets that he doesn't view his friends and family as simply people that he's taking the lives of but more as just npcs and numbers. but yk of course he moves on from that episode (and refuses to acknowledge the fact that he was acting very much so like the human. nope nope nope)

or maybe whenever he feels really really really shitty about himself he just lets the human kill him sometimes. he purposely interacts with other monsters before he kills them so he has to hear them beg for mercy. he just lets himself wallow in as much guilt and pain and misery as possible because its really really addicting to be sad and upset and feel bad. and dust is never like "hey i should stop doing this because its getting in the way of be killing the human" because he knows damn well it ISNT. he's still gonna be on that him vs. human grind no matter what even if he spends a few resets fucking around and being miserable and the humans always gonna reset anyways. ALWAYS

even if he's not at lvl 20 or something but still above the human in lv then maybe he'd kill them. but then that also means that there'd still be some monsters left because he nor the human maxed out their stats. so then that's just more suffering for dust (because i really think he'd like to make himself suffer because he feels so much guilt for what he did. his suffering is self inflicted and he knows that and still does it. good for him) because he has to walk around the underground knowing that there are some people hiding in corner or something watching him and scared that he's gonna kill them because thats what he did to everyone else. some nicer monsters might go up to him and try to talk to him but dust doesn't have the chill welcoming friendly vibe sans does anymore so it's just creepy and awkward. angrier monsters might try and yell or fight him and dust just sits there and takes it because theyr totally right. to them it might just look like he killed monsters just for shits and giggles one day and theres no way for him to explain the resets without people just forgetting it in the first place so theres not much he can do except accept the suffering. what in the mental masochism

[just-antithings]

proshippers r funny to me because of the degree to which yall just lie. "we always tag our content correctly" no the fuck you dont ive been in the world you cannot trick me, trying to filter out all the ""shotacon"" when i still used ao3 was a nightmare because even when it wasnt split between 2293809 different euphemisms which changed frequently as everyone else started realizing "old man/younger man" was being used for like a 6 year old kid instead of age gaps between adults which outside of your roleplay most people do have a different stance on than pedophilia, and people constantly just posting 5 yr old/20 yr old porn ageddown porn of canon adults with zero relevant tags. this has been my experience in all of fandom, telling a proshipper that they need to avoid posting untagged graphic rape porn in tags for shounen is apparently as painful as having your leg sawed off from how people react to it. you have posts insisting that it is at all reasonable for an ao3 user who doesnt want to see pedophilia should simply filter out every possible shotacon ship which is what i did so i can tell you thats incredibly unreasonable because that number is generally in the thousands, doesn't count as "tagging correctly", and also DOESN'T WORK because again people will just not tag shit or do agedown porn without tagging it so you can be in the tag of a ship for characters who are 50 and 60 in canon when lo and behold AU porn where the older one is babysitting the younger one and theyre 20 and 10, no tags except "Au - babysitter". like tbc i do think that even if you have the minimum balls to tag your adult raping a kid porn "pedophilia" you should still be criticized for that which i know the main conceit of the anti anti movement is pretending is worse than murder, but its wild how often people let yall just lie that tagging correctly is the universal or even a common standard. thats not even getting into the fact that ao3 doesn't let you select tags to automatically filter so you have to type in every individual tag you want out every single time you do a search. but no everyone should have to spend 4 hours theorizing every possible way you could weasel words your way around describing an adult having sexual intercourse with a child and then individually type em all in just so they can see read old men fucking without one of them being turned into a middle schooler. like with every other anit anti talking point it runs into the ultimate problem that yall are lazy assholes who are in this community in the first place because youre so allergic to compassion you can only tolerate people esp children if youre jacking off to them and so any measure yall claim you take for the good of others is ultimately a lie. also i still havent forgotten all those times you defended irl pedophilia or that one time you said you had a kneejerk reaction to discredit someone talking about a case study of irl csa by defending the pedophile and blamed "antis" instead of the fact that you spend all day every day defending being attracting to children. which is much worse, obviously

[thefirstknife]

Getting real sick of a certain subset of Destiny players complaining that it’s a baby game and crying to Bungie to nerf exotics and abilities when their ENTIRE POINT IS TO BE STRONG in specific ways as if they are being locked into using them.

IF YOU WANT AN EXTRA CHALLENGE STOP BEING SUCH A DPS GOBLIN AND JUST EQUIP SOMETHING THATS NOT TOP TIER META AND STOP COMPLAINING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

MOOD. Go off.

It's incredibly annoying to me. They always use the argument of "the game should FORCE me to do things, I should not SELF-IMPOSE challenges." And like. ? I'm sorry but what? It's a video game for a big audience, it's here to be playable and accessible to the widest possible playerbase. There are plenty of ways to make the game difficult for yourself, so knock yourself out if that's your thing, but don't force others into it.

Like, I enjoy hard content, I regularly at least attempt day 1 raids, I do master raids, GMs, solo and solo flawless content and all that. But only when I want to. Sometimes I don't and I don't want to suffer in a patrol zone or struggle in a seasonal activity I'm doing for the story. The majority of the players don't want that. Designing games for the professional gamers only has NEVER been a good idea and never will be. Fifty streamers can't sustain a video game. It needs casual players who will want to come back to the game instead of feeling defeated.

One of the reasons I really enjoy helping others is because I know that casual players tend to struggle in stuff that's basic activity for me. I've seen people unable to get through a strike. I've sat for 10 minutes rezing someone who couldn't do the jump in a seasonal activity. I want those people to be able to play basic content without feeling frustrated and I want them to know that there are people out there who will help them out.

And this doesn't apply just to basic content, although it should start with that. I think all dungeons and raids and everything should be things that all players can complete. Fine, doing a master raid with all challenges should be tough, but it should be achievable with time and practice, not impossible. What a lot of these "pros" want is just completely divorced from reality.

It takes days and days of practice every time a new master raid is out for me and my team (all with thousands of hours of playtime) to get comfortable to finally finish it. We're far from casual players and it still takes a lot of time to be able to finish hard content. Making it even harder is insane to me. Like, if something is so hard that my team full of people, each with 5000+ hours of playtime and a coordinated team that's been raiding together for years now can't finish it, that means it's absolutely impossible for probably 90% of the playerbase. That's wild to me. Raids and GMs should have more people playing them. If master raids are too easy for you, Mr. I-Play-Destiny-For-A-Living, that's on you buddy. Unequip the super god tier god roll meta guns and loadouts or play something else.

And ofc, another excuse they make is "if I don't use meta, I am not going to win a raid race!" Then don't. Idk. Let me play you the tiniest violin. This affects literally nobody except a grand total of 50 people. Run your meta in day 1, and play with random shit otherwise. Play raids with all white weapons. Play without mods. Play without a HUD. Do things solo only. I don't know, make up a way to spice things up for yourself. I'm not interested in that and neither are 99% of the players out there. The game is genuinely hard enough for the majority of the players. On top of that, I am here to feel like a powerful space fantasy superhero. I am NOT here to die to dregs in patrol zones. If there's ONE thing that I know for a fact that put people off from Lightfall (as in this year of Destiny), it's the difficulty changes. They're annoying, frustrating and for some a barrier to entry more than anything else.

[raecaw]

hi okay i was meant to sleep like an hour ago this is going to be so fucking incoherent you have been warned

first off the timeline divide in the epilogues into meat and candy is so fucking interesting to me because its like. its so clearly a reference to the meat/candy binary of storycrafting that hussie talks about in the [s] descend author commentary iirc - meat as action heavy content that drives the plot forward, and candy as lighter less heavy content (usually focused on shipping which matches with the candy timeline being represented with the sucker juju or whatever the fuck its called). caliborn is meat calliope is candy this is simple this is basic.

*BUT* - if you look at calliope and caliborns roles in the narrative of homestuck itself theres some really interesting shit there right - caliborn is the meat. he drives the plot forward he wants nothing but action he literally tries to steal the narrative and recreate it in his own image. calliope is the candy the focus on shipping. in universe shes explicitly written to be a fandom stand in, especially obvious in how she draws fanart of the kids right. caliborn = meat = canon (also side note i cant fit anywhere else - the meat timeline is the one where john kills lord english, which has to happen to preserve the timeline, arguably making it the 'canon' timeline). calliope = candy = fandom. obviously the two timelines are representative of those two binaries, and alt calliope controls the candy timeline (which has a much heavier focus on shipping/fan kids/relationship drama/generally the type of shit you see in fanon content) but theres no caliborn right? hes dead.

enter dirk. unfortunately one of the most interesting fucking characters in this entire shit heap i hate it here. hes clearly the caliborn stand in for post canon - he controls the meat timeline, he and alt calliope keep trying to kill each other, he hijacks control of the narrative homosuck style and arguably pushes his friends and family to act out of character to 'fix' the narrative (second side tangent here but to me thats why everyones so. gestures vaguely at post canon. not themselves yk. theyre either in the fanon timeline or the 'canon' timeline thats being hijacked and controlled just like homosuck i swear theres a reason theyre like that guys- (<voice of a guy desperate for post canon to have anymeaning)). not to mention all the connections dirk already has to caliborn theyre basically splinters in law at this point

so everything lines up pretty well so far right. candy is the fanon timeline, the focus on shipping and interpersonal drama as established in the meat/candy storycraft binary, controlled by the character written as a stand in for fans. meat is the canon timeline, the focus on action and conflict, controlled by (a stand in for) caliborn. its all normal and great and fantastic if you just ignore the burning trash heap that is the actual content of post canon.

and then the dirkjohn propaganda kicks in /hj

but fr though this doesnt even have to be in a shipping way its just. jesus fucking christ these two have so many parallels its insane.

winding it back to og homestuck for a moment - john arguably *is* homestuck right. hes the audience surrogate, the first character we meet and the last we see, the guy that gets retcon powers and literally rewrites the entire narrative around him - literally leaving his mark permanently on the rest of the comic (the arms and oil retcons on the early pages). john as homestuck is i think a fairly common reading and also makes the rest of my argument work so lets just accept it and move on okay <3 okay. also, the way he becomes the narrative is incredibly heir of breath coded - he literally inherits/becomes the narrative, and the narrative changes around him to protect him (all ways heir interacts with aspect), and he does all of this almost without realising it. he never wants the narrative, and he barely uses it once he has it - honestly, hes pretty detatched from it, just kinda... breezing through yk. breath coded behaviour

so. johns homestuck - or homestuck proper at least. and what does john do in the epilogues?

...he either dies or becomes a depressed repressed mess going through a midlife crisis that basically just drifts through life doing fuck all. yyeah. homestuck aint doing too great in post canon (Which. checks out). him dying in meat specifically though is really fucking interesting to me, *because*-

i think. ult dirk is post canon. or at least, he is to post canon what john was to homestuck. he literally kills john (homestuck) and takes his place as the bearer of the narrative - and hes entirely fucking aware of what hes doing (yet another fun parallel between them - john never has to face himself (not even an alternate self - one of very few characters in the comic to not have one), and if you consider him the narrative then he never has to face the narrative. dirk *constantly* has to face himself, which means if he is post canon, hes constantly aware of it. theres also potentially smth here with heirs being a passive class while princes are active but i could be wrong ive never cared about +/- alignments LMAO). dirk's also the narrative in an incredibly prince coded way - he destroys the narrative, and he destroys *through* the narrative. he kills the very thing he wants to become more than anything because thats the only way he *can* become it.

so. dirks post canon. he and calliope had split control over the epilogues, but now hes almost completely taken over control of post canon (and im tempted to say thats commentary on how much influence the fans had on the epilogues, following the calliope = fandom reading, but im not gonna put much weight into that because i have no fucking clue how things went down behind the scenes). calliope can definitely still be read as the fandom in post canon though, which makes her hatred of ult dirk and everything hes doing even better because like. yeah! look at the fan reception to everything in post canon! we do want it dead the way she wants ult dirk dead! (also really fun in how it matches up with cherubs fighting for domination - dirk being the caliborn stand in and alt calliope being the calliope that *did* fight her brother and win). also ult dirk (canon) hating alt calliope (the fandom) lines up really fucking well with how bitter and cynical post canon was towards the homestuck fanbase but again thats probably not intentional

so. ult dirk is canon and fighting to 'fix' the narrative/continue its relevancy (could be seen as a metaphor for how capitalism insists creative properties continue on into infinity with pointless sequels < absolutely a fucking reach). alt calliope is the fandom and would Really like him to fucking stop please. john is homestuck and is just fucking dead

(side note pt 3 electric boogaloo but i dont think its a coincidence that the only surviving jegbert (the only one that can crack her egg barring any weird corpse revival bullshit) is in the candy/fanon timeline. it also might not be a coincidence that the only strider to not be ascended and/or turned into a robot is roxy (also transed gener in the meat timeline). ult dirk gets his ass kicked by the power of transsexuality real)

anyway tldr because its 2 am but post canon is just an extended metaphor for sequels killing their sources, mocking their corpses and then trying and failing to fill their roles while the fandom tries to murder them and everything after the paradox space comics was a mistake thank you and good night

ok firstly: who are you and what are you doing on my blog. secondly: thank you for this it's everything i was hoping for when i asked for you to hyperfixate on BC in my inbox.

i fully agree with this reading + appreciate the nuance that BC brings to the table. I think Hussie coined and embodied the term "suicide of the author" by explicitly turning canon over to the readers and allowing the concept of canon to become dubious. it was an extremely risky move that paid off in some ways and flopped in others. much like most other risks hussie took with hs. i find BC so compelling because it is simultaneously flogging a dead horse and creating interesting arcs and futures for beloved characters. Like thats the thing i cant say i love BC and I can't say i hate it, compelling has been the most descriptive word i can come up with for it lmao.

I want to extend and highlight the calliope/caliborn(dirk) metaphor in regards to the ultimate fate of canon. we know that cherubim have the double sided childhood where one is active while the other sleeps, and we've explicitly seen that calliope represents candy and caliborn represents meat. also i could be delusional but i feel as though there's been foreshadowing for a while that the timelines will at some point converge. there are many unanswered questions about the state of the new universe and the cracks in the sky, and i feel this is representative of the cherubim reaching maturity. at some point i think the meat universe and the candy universe may crash into each other so to speak, and perhaps one may destroy the other. again this parallels dirk and calliope's fight across both timelines.

i also heard a theory some time ago that in the meat timeline, dirk and rose on their quest to create a new session of SBURB to continue the reproductive process of the universe (lowkey a noble pursuit sans the evil controlling shit) , will create the 48 player squiddle session thus completing the giant time loop theyve been slaving under this whole time. and as we hear enough about from dave, serving time loops can be an exhausting feat of self fulfilling prophecies stacked on top of each other. It seems that the characters were under the impression that the great time loops were complete (or at least escaped from) when they created Earth C but I believe they were mistaken. What happens when the loop is truly complete? does True Free Will finally begin to take effect? Do our protagonists travel to the new universe too or are they destroyed with the old one? does the story end or does it loop back around forever and ever?

I think that the decision John made at the beginning of the epilogues had that ultimate outcome. Both decisions led to the characters escaping the time loop, but for the meat timeline it means they have to complete the time loop and for the candy timeline it means they have to escape the time loop. Is the candy timeline a doomed timeline? perhaps. but we know from Davesprite that it is possible to escape doomed timelines and enter the alpha timeline, you just have to change yourself somewhat so from a narrative perspective you're a different character from your alpha counterpart.

much to think about.

[terraliensvent]

r we saying its problematic to post sfw artwork of a character with a nsfw alt cause thats rlly stupid

i agree the toyhouse should not have been linked without that art being maturity locked but as long as the art sent in the server wasnt nsfw which it appears it wasnt i do not see the issue.

not allowing sfw art of characters who have anything nsfw on their th seems rlly strict for no reason when they could just don’t allow the nsfw stuff or not allow the th to be shared

i would like to see both sides here fully bcuz no offense vibez is petty and aggressive af even if some of their points r valid and this feels like it could have been solved by asking them to just maturity lock the art in the th

post related

i think the bigger issue with it is the sheer hypocrisy of it.

smile demons is a species that has a history of being unsafe for minors and not taking proper action when dangerous people are reported, there are strong connotations to nsfw themes like leather play and bdsm, but its perfectly fine to post them in terra server because its (wrongfully imo) a “16+” species, yet symps (which are arguably more sfw) arent allowed because you cant advertise 18+ species. i find it pretty irresponsible that youre allowed to advertise a species that minors really shouldnt be playing around in (again, because of the suggestive theming and nsfw connotations, the fucking thumbnail for most of the myos is a character in leather gear), especially considering the fact we have proof of minors owning and interacting with others that have these fetish oriented characters

theres also the hypocrisy of being allowed to post characters/species with nsfw connotations when terra staff is so insanely strict about the nipple rule that you cant even post reference images without getting a warning

its, again, incredibly irresponsible to have someone on your mod team who argues leather gear and BDSM imagery is sfw, and who blurs the line to the point where they will link to a toyhouse with blatantly suggestive art and art where the character is wearing a GIMP MASK, with none of it being mature locked.

if youre gonna have a “minor friendly” server with adults in there too, you NEED to be as strict as possible with these things, the line shouldnt be blurred when it comes to NSFW shit because its incredibly easy for predators in discord servers to use plausible deniability to push the boundaries of what is and isnt ok to have around kids. ask yourself, would you be okay with seeing your 13 year old child be shown characters with gimp masks?

i think its one thing if youre just posting a normal sfw pic of your fursona who also has MATURE LOCKED nsfw on their profile. but its another thing entirely when youre posting a character with direct connotations to BDSM, who is part of a species that has heavy ties to BDSM and kink and has had issues in the past with minors, and linking that profile where none of the images are mature locked (and again, in the screenshot where they link the TH profile, a minor directly replies to them). you can bring up the hypocrisy again here, because terra staff HAVE taken issue with people posting th links in advertisements that contain art going against their nipple rule or other rules in the terra server. i also think its an problem that, when the issue is brought to tycho, he deflects and tells vibez to directly talk to the person theyre making the report against. thats just irresponsible from a moderation standpoint as well, and the cherry on top is banning them over this. they made a reasonable point, this character shouldnt be posted in the server, but because they bothered the mods enough in other situations this constituted a ban.

i said it in the og post, you can feel however you wanna feel about vibez being a bit of a dick lately with starting fights in terra server, but they shouldnt have been banned for bringing up the fact that characters like this should not be posted in the server. it seems like blatant loopholing around “no posting nsfw” and “no posting 18+ species.” like, in a fucked up alternate universe where succubuns was 16+ instead of 21+, would you say that should be allowed to be posted in a server full of minors that might want to join upon seeing the art?