#but imo it has gotten a lot better in the past couple years

[teenagefeeling]

just finished a book i won in a goodreads giveaway so i felt obligated to review it there and man. i just like storygraph so much more. not a fan of goodreads' ui at all

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I told my dad how I feel about my stepmom?

🐍 ✨ <- For finding later

I (18X) have had a bit of a strained relationship with my father (54M) for the last few years. Part of this is due to political differences, my father is very right wing, and I am not. Recently however, we've agreed to stop discussing politics as it just ends up upsetting both of us. The other thing that has been getting in the way of my father and I's relationship is my stepmom, Jenny (fake name obv).

For context, my father is a military veteran and suffers from severe PTSD. And when I say severe, I mean severe. He is also physically disabled, and Jenny helps him a lot with day to day life. I know they love each other, and my dad wouldn't be able to do nearly as much without her around. However, her and my dad's relationship was a bit of a sudden thing. My dad and I were very close (we hung out one-on-one whenever we were able), then Jenny came around and seemed almost glued to the hip with my father. My dad was constantly around her, and even when I asked for us to have time alone together, he either ignored the request or had Jenny there anyway.

Jenny and I have never really gotten along. We've had several fights over the years (one of which ended with her having a fight with my dad for being on my side of the argument, where she left home and stole my dad's dog before returning the next day), and I still somewhat resent her for taking away my time with my dad. She has also said that she never wanted kids, so I don't think she ever liked my siblings and I very much. My dad always seems to be on her side as well, after the aforementioned fight where she stole his dog, he accepted her back home seemingly without much of a fuss (despite being very sad/upset after the fight the night before). They fight more than the average couple as well IMO, but maybe that's just how they function as people (idk). I understand that she helps my father a lot, but it was a rough adjustment when she came around. I've had almost zero one-on-one time with my dad in the last five-ish years (and yes, I've asked for it, multiple times), so that combined with our political differences has led us to not speak for a good while.

Recently, my father reached out to me and asked to reconnect. He apologized for things he did in the past, and asked what he could do to make things better. I was mostly honest with him, except for everything I've said here about Jenny. I want to tell him how I feel, but I think I'd be TA if I said I really dislike his wife and main support system. I definitely think it'd be unfair to make him choose between me and her, as no matter how you slice it, he very likely will still need/want her around. If I ask my dad to hang out (again) without Jenny there though, I feel like that'd be inviting that question. Still, I cannot stand having to hang out with her, and don't want to meet with my dad if I know she will be there.

So: WIBTA if I told my dad how I feel about my stepmom?

[echoesofbooks]

Hopeless by Elsie Silver (Chestnut Springs #5)

4.5/5 Stars

He doesn't believe that anyone holds her last name against her...so he offers her his.

Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past. Bailey Jansen is the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks. He's thirty-five and all man, and she's twenty-two and all...virgin.

He's also her fiancé. Correction: her fake fiancé.

It starts out as a bet, a point for Beau to prove. And it's a win-win: Beau gets a break from his concerned family's prying, and Bailey gets a chance to shed her family's reputation while she saves up to ditch this small town for good. All she has to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend she can't keep her hands off of him in public. Easy enough, right?

But it's what happens between them in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines. It's what transpires behind closed doors that doesn't feel like pretending at all. This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

Beau once told Bailey he'd never fall in love. She's determined to make him change his mind.

My review:

Overall, this was a good way to wrap up the Chestnut Springs series. Although I wouldn't mind a book/novella/follow-up story with Harvey's road to Cordelia. The bonus scenes we got were cute but it would be interesting to have those all together/the pieces in between.

Beau was pretty decent. I will admit that I was a little iffy about the way his PTSD was handled (felt like if the author was going to go down that path, should have actually gone all in rather than kind of shuffling it to the background) I did like the way he started standing up for Bailey even before the fake engagement. I was thinking he'd start working as a bouncer at the bar actually, rather than just watching out for her.

Bailey was also decent but I feel like half her issues were because she held onto her last name. Yeah, it didn't help that her family was shitty in general. But she spent so much time saying everything was because of her name and while it didn't help, there were a lot of ways she could have gotten around that. Not that it would have been easy, but she didn't need to clearly still help them or even minutely defend them (she had a couple times where she brushed off what they did because "it happened before"). She could have stopped paying the mortgage on the house and told them to f*ck off earlier. There were a lot of options so that she didn't need to dwell on it. Even if it was an in progress type thing, there were ways that situation could have been handled better. Again, acknowledging it's not easy to get out of a situation like that, but it felt like Bailey was spending all this time saying she didn't want it but wasn't really trying to do anything about it, beyond sneaking onto Beau's property and swimming in the river.

As a whole, the end conflict was okay but it honestly fizzled out. Yes, Beau should have said something sooner but he didn't really lie. Lie of omission to an extent but since the only thing he'd really done was make sure Bailey kept her job, and put down rules that made things easier for everyone IMO, the fact that she tried to turn it into "I couldn't even do this on my own!" was a little dramatic. I also felt like the blow up at her family needed a little more closure; yes, Beau kicked them out and she yelled at them but for 20+ years of holding back, it just needed a little bit more. I can kind of see why the author chose to gloss over it, but at the same time, considering it was such a driving force behind Bailey's choices, it needed more than "since she moved, they're too lazy to do anything."

[decepti-thots]

I was in the tumblr tf fandom for a hot second a few years ago and i just wanted to ask, is it still really aggressive here? because back then there was a lot of shipping drama, there were a few callout posts going around (can't really remember about what) and just...a lot of bad stuff. I personally had someone tell me to kill myself because I liked one of the villains. guess I'm just wondering if, in your opinion, things have chilled out? Cuz I'd like to get back into it but I'm a little hesitant;;;

I'm going to try and give the fullest answer I can in the best faith to this! For context, this blog is a couple years old now, I have enough followers that I get a lot of active engagement on my posts etc, I am very active in TF fandom here, Twitter, and IRL, and while I did not used to be active I have been lurking in TF fandom as long as I have been on Tumblr.

There is absolutely still some toxicity; all fandoms have their bad faith actors, their drama hounds, their shipping Diskhorsers TM. I have gotten hate mail, I know folks who have issue with weird anon haters who are persistent, whatever. But no, it is not as bad as it has been in the past, IMO, not at ALL, and it is 100% possible to have an active, sociable and nice time in this fandom so long as you curate your engagement, with basically no drama at all. Many of the worst folks burned out and left when the fandom got less active and their shitstirring paid lesser and lesser dividends, IME.

People sometimes ask how I maintain such a vocal presence without falling into the still-there drama, and I have some advice that I promise you will mitigate like, 99% of the possible issues you could encounter:

Block whenever you feel like blocking. If you get a bad vibe, if you just don't personally like someone and don't wanna see them, if you see them throwing what looks like a temper tantrum you don't want in on, just block 'em. Remember: blocking is nothing personal towards the person you are blocking. It is not insulting and doesn't need to be 'earned'. Block every single person you think not blocking might even just theoretically cause stress or drama. (I am blocked by several people for reasons no more serious than 'I hate your OTP', and I commend every one of them for doing it and having a better time on this site!)

Delete any and all anon hate. Block anyone and everyone who sends you hate. No exceptions. No witty comebacks. No takedowns. Nothing. You see it and the actual literal second you do, you block and delete. None of it is worth one second of your time. Deprived of the oxygen, they will leave. And you won't be tempted to re-read it and stress out.

In that same vein, if it causes issues, just turn anon off! Turn it off. Personally I keep it on because I simply do not care about the odd troll, but if you care even slightly? Fuck 'em, turn it off, anon is a privilege your followers need to earn by acting in good faith.

Find people you like and follow them, ignore blatant shitstirring in the maintags (again: block people!) and try to curate content and follows and mutuals based on what you do like and not what you don't. Curate positive engagement; do not rely on the general fandom slurry, find what you like and hang out in your own corner of things that bring you joy. If the maintag stresses you out: don't check it. Check the blogs of folks you know are cool instead. Stuff like that.

Fandom should be fun. Fandom should be finding people you like and sharing good times with them, not stressing about avoiding folks you hate, or who hate you. Tumblr lets you moderate how you engage, when, and where more than almost any current social media site; now you can even turn off reblogs and oh my GOD is that a lifesaver function btw. If you want, you can make your blog unsearchable! It means you will need to be more proactive in making friends. But TF fandom is pretty tight knit these days, and folks want to talk a lot of the time. You'll still be able to engage with cool people.

There's way less aggro losers around these days, but more to the point, you can absolutely avoid the ones that still insist on being annoying and starve them out without much effort, tbh.

[blackbackedjackal]

I couldn't find anything online, but I'm wondering if I can freeze already-tanned pelts or furs? I've found five beetles (carpet and larder species) the past couple weeks so I'm a bit nervous that my pelts could be infested and they're hard to inspect thoroughly. So I'm hoping that maybe I can just freeze them in a plastic bag for a week or two to kill anything off that's on them but... not sure if I can do that or not. What do you think? (thank you in advance! I'd be happy to toss a kofi donation or two your way if you've got any advice, I'm a little desperate)

Heya! So sorry to hear that. Bug issues are insanely frustrating to deal with >:(

I've had multiple infestations of clothes moths as well as carpet beetles once that have gotten into a few of my furs/mummified bits. I called an exterminator and he recommended using Bedlam Plus since he has a friend with a lot of taxidermy who had the same issue. It has worked WONDERS. I sprayed the top and bottom of the fur side and leather side of the hides, paying close attention to the ears, paws, and tails as that's where carpet beetles and moths are more likely to lay eggs and cause damage. With the tails especially I've found the best way to deal with them is to comb them out a bit to make sure there aren't and larva/eggs at the base of the leather and saturate the leather very well. I've yet to have to freeze anything since spraying. I mist over my pelts and taxidermy every spring/summer since that's when you're most likely to have infestations, and I haven't had any major issues since then. You can also freeze tanned hides, but you have to freeze them for about a week, take them out for a day, and then refreeze them to make sure the eggs are killed since they can lie dormant when frozen. The Bedlam has just been easier and more reliable imo.

Also remember to wear gloves and a mask or ideally a respirator while spraying. It's not a super harmful spray but with chemicals it's always better safe than sorry. I still have the occasional moth get into the room where I keep my hides, but they've yet to cause any major damage since before I was spraying and absolutely 0 signs of carpet beetles since I sprayed them a few years ago.

[cinnamonest]

hi lena! if u used any sites for chinese, could u please reccomend them?

- a chinese person struggling to chinese 🥲

Ahhh sorry I had a couple of asks like these buried! Ok so since I'm in a university setting we don't really use a ton of websites, HOWEVER I can highly recommend Pleco! It's a dictionary app and it's literally gotten me through the past few years, and is even recommended by my professors to use for help with our work. It's highly accurate, contains some grammar constructions and not just single words, and most helpfully imo has example sentences which is a lifesaver, there's something way better about being able to see it used in a sentence.

As far as books, this series is used by most universities in the United States. There are cheaper versions available on sites like Chegg or amazon! Honestly as someone who dabbled in a lot of language classes before deciding on one (I took French, Spanish and Latin in high school, participated in a Dutch class, and tried Russian, Japanese and Chinese in college lol), this is by far the most well-constructed, easy-to-understand language textbook I've ever worked with.

[tonyglowheart]

okay the more I think about this, the more I like this idea

So, premise is that I'm not sold on Tim as Red Hood in reverse batfam AUs, since like if any of them Get why Batman can't kill (both as like the symbol/title bc otherwise GPD couldn't be friendly or tolerant of the Bat as an official stance, and as like a personal line for Bruce), it'd be Tim imo.

so I'm thinking, it'd be interesting if his death wasn't caused by Joker (passe, tired, society has progressed past the need for Joker), and instead the second Batlad's death was caused by a freak accident in the middle of a Riddler scheme. It's the kind of thing where, yeah Riddler caused them to be in the situation, but the death itself isn't *really* Riddler's fault. It's tragic and a lot of blame all around and a lot of ppl blaming themselves. Riddler retires from villainy afterwards out of grief and guilt tho.

Years later, when Jason is the new Batlad (I think he still tried to steal the wheels off the Batmobile, but he gave Bruce a much-needed wakeup call when he like hit him with a tire iron and shouted how everyone on the streets knows to avoid the Bat now since Batlad died, everyone knows he's gotten more brutal and less discerning and almost as bad as the villains, or even worse bc at least some of the rogues abide by honor amongst thieves/the street folk. etc etc Batman takes him to Bruce who takes him in, Jason is suspicious bc why would the Bat take him to Bruce of all ppl even tho it's an open secret the Bat is funded by Wayne, maybe even a rumor that the Bat IS Bruce Wayne, and he finds the Cave and extorts Bruce into taking him on as Batlad, partly so Jason can also give back and partly so he can keep an eye on Bruce, the big dummy)-

But years later, a new.... villain? vigilante? antihero? emerges, calling himself Enigma. He sets up these elaborate tests of morality for bad guys - not necessarily rogues but like. corrupt politicians, dirty cops, biased judges or prosecutors, etc. - wherein they're given an elaborate scheme, kind of like a Saw trap ig but it's always fair, there's always a chance for the person to make a moral choice/personal sacrifice that shows they're more than just corrupt or self-serving. Batman thinks it's Edward Nygma, come out of retirement to dabble in the antihero field, and tracks him down- but no, he is retired, and has been growing his business designing and selling escape room designs for years now. He has no clue who this new guy is or what his deal is. So back to square one.

The first couple times, this new Engima guy is pretty good at diverting Batman from interfering and his schemes go off, more often to the detriment/death of the guy being tested- tho a couple times it did work and the ppl in it came out changed. Traumatized, ofc lol, but like with a change in perspective and priority. But eventually, Batman starts wising up to the diversions, and eventually it's revealed that Enigma is Tim. And, well, the clues WERE there for Bruce to see, if he'd just seen them.

I think this works w Tim not being able to fully return to the fold, bc like having died himself he knows just how incentivizing for personal change the threat of real actual death can be. He may not be setting out to kill people, but he's also not averse to setting up situations where they may well die. Maybe as he starts returning more to the fold, he pivots to being sort of Oracle-like, where he deals more with information and giving the Batfam tip-offs and leads or info support, in addition to like patrolling on the ground maybe. But like, patrolling wouldn't be his main gig, I feel like he'd become sort of information mastermind/broker, the way Jason took on being like a mob boss so he could control the trade better to prevent kids from getting involved, etc.

But anyway, for me I feel like this works as a concept better, where Tim is the one who died and came back and then occupies a sort of Batfam adjacent but unable to bring himself back fully into the fold concept, vs a straight "Tim is Red Hood" concept.

[aelaer]

Hi friend! You seem vast in your knowledge of Stephen and willing to share so please enlighten me as I don’t read the comics but I do watch the mcu movies, and do love Stephen.

I know he’s erratic and impulsive and reckless sometimes but didnt we already complete this arc in his first movie? Especially since we’ve watched him deal with the consequences of his actions for the entirety of the film and end of the movie Stephen was a different Stephen from the beginning of the movie.

IW Stephen seemed like a more mature version of the man we’ve met at the end of his first movie, a linear progression of the character, more responsible.

The spider man trailer is just a few minutes so I’ll further reserve judgment till I see the film, but he seems.. silly almost? I’m aware he has his funny moments but I’m just nervous they’re gonna make him the joke instead of having him make the jokes.

Do you notice anything weird about how the adults act in these newer marvel projects.? (I’m thinking of loki specifically) they all have a silly undertone to them? I cant put my finger on it but it’s definitely new and ..off

Is this a constant characterization for Stephen in the comics? Is this what he’s like all the time?

Regardless, thank you for your time if you see this xx

Oh yeah, Stephen's my favorite subject at the moment so I'm happy to give my thoughts!

Note that my answers apply to MCU!Stephen and what we've seen in the four films he's been in.

I know he’s erratic and impulsive and reckless sometimes but didnt we already complete this arc in his first movie? Especially since we’ve watched him deal with the consequences of his actions for the entirety of the film and end of the movie Stephen was a different Stephen from the beginning of the movie.

In my experience of just living, there are personality quirks that can be tempered out and made better, but not entirely eliminated, even if it's undesirable. In my opinion, Stephen's need to push himself and prove that he can Do A Thing is a trait that won't ever go away--especially as that trait has helped him more than hindered him. Examples would include the more mundane such as getting through a combined MD/PhD program and inventing surgical procedures at what is still a really young age for a neurosurgeon. We don't have a canonical age for Stephen, but Benedict was 40 when Doctor Strange was filmed and released; even if he's canonically in his mid-40s, that's still very young for him to be at his caliber after the necessary years of med school and residency in the United States. He's young and nowhere near the end of his career when he gets in the car crash. So with that information in mind, we know that he's very ambitious and throws himself into doing difficult work with gusto. That doesn't even go into everything he did as a sorcerer.

Why get into all of this? Because while we, the viewer who has seen the multiverse open at... some point (possibly, in a rewritten timeline, it's always been open now with what happened in Loki!), we have seen just how nuts it gets. We have seen the consequences. Stephen's smart, but I don't think it's a matter of strictly recklessness and more a combination of ignorance on this specific subject (erasing memories across the world or slightly rewriting time-- we don't know how he's doing it, but a memory spell makes more sense to me), hubris (of course), and the real desire to help Peter out. The latter two traits combined in intelligent people have proven bad in both fiction and reality.

The reason I don't think it's pure impulsiveness is because in the trailer, we see Stephen doing some meditation type thing in the underground area before the spell. He's also always doing research and as he tells Peter he'll help him, he clearly knows of a spell already and has some working knowledge of how it works. The conversation with Wong wouldn't have happened otherwise. But I personally get the vibe off him that he'd not do it without being very confident that he can do it -- and his history in the films has shown 0 failures in any of his spells once he's past novice-level, so in that aspect, his confidence makes sense. If he *should* do the spell due to the risks of failure, and lack of practicing precaution in the face of his confidence, is where his flaws lie, IMO. And in that sense people could say he was reckless for deciding to perform a complicated, dangerous spell, but that follows his M.O. completely -- he performed a very complicated, dangerous spell consistently with the Time Stone again and again, from how the sorcerers spoke about the Infinity Stone (and he casually just... throws himself into a time loop, then to look through time. He takes calculated risks, but they are very much risks).

One last thought on this statement - the biggest, biggest lesson that Stephen learned in his first film was that it was not about him. There was more to the world than his glory and his brilliance and even his happiness. He started doing things for the greater good rather than himself. And he started doing things for others -- fighting for the Sanctum in his own film, and protecting the Earth. Serving something greater than himself. But that doesn't make him suddenly humble, and it doesn't suddenly take away his strange (hah) sense of humor.

IW Stephen seemed like a more mature version of the man we’ve met at the end of his first movie, a linear progression of the character, more responsible.

He was more serious in that film. So was Tony. They still had some quips and arguments, but they were very serious. And it makes sense as to why -- it was the end of the world. So the mood of the setting would change anyone's demeanour. But he had very little chance to unwind in that film, considering that he was trying to protect one of six items that would destroy the universe, and also got freaking tortured in the middle of the film with little time to recover. But nearly every Avenger was super serious in that film, and for good reason.

It's a completely different setting from what is now Stephen's life which, from what little we've seen in the trailer, is weird enough that he got a magical snowstorm in the Sanctum. It's safe enough that Wong's off on vacation. It's been nearly a year since he returned from the dead. He's either figured out how to move on in the last year or, as some prefer, has gotten good enough to put on a facade and bury the trauma so far down that he's putting on a normal act - but that's up to debate until MoM. And we have no idea if old traumas are going to be brought up there or if it's just the new things.

I think the point is that it's possible to be both a responsible person and also to make colossal mistakes due to either emotional connections or hubris (or both - we don't know which way the film will go, if they'll explain it at all). They're not mutually exclusive. He can be protecting reality fantastically, while also believing that he's skilled enough to pull off the ability to pull off a dangerous spell which he did in his own film and in IW. He's guided the timeline down a specific path in IW/Endgame, after all - what's a little identity item compared to the fate of the universe, after all? Removing the Spider-Man/Peter association is, in comparison, child's play I imagine to a man like Stephen.

The spider man trailer is just a few minutes so I’ll further reserve judgment till I see the film, but he seems.. silly almost? I’m aware he has his funny moments but I’m just nervous they’re gonna make him the joke instead of having him make the jokes.

Do you notice anything weird about how the adults act in these newer marvel projects.? (I’m thinking of loki specifically) they all have a silly undertone to them? I cant put my finger on it but it’s definitely new and ..off

He was definitely silly in his own film. He was constantly trying to get Wong to laugh and there was a banter between Stephen and Christine after he gets stabbed. He's always been a bit awkward and a bit jokey--I think Thor showed that combination of humorous snark and good research rather well, though he was flippant in a way that didn't get to show his kinder side that is better established in his film. And now we get to see that sympathy in his agreement to help Peter (at least, in my opinion).

Because he was doing an amazing awesome spell not once, not twice, but *three* times in the trailer alone, I am not worried about Stephen just being a joke. He seems just as powerful as he was in IW and Endgame. The rest of the world is just getting reminded that he's definitely a bit of a socially awkward duck at times (or, if you prefer, Putting On a "I'm Fine" Front And It's Coming Across As Weird). So him being a big joke is not something I am personally worried about.

Situational humor has been a staple of Marvel films since Iron Man. I watched the films casually before 2016 when I fell head deep into Stephen Strange (or well, 2018/9 is more accurate as that's when I *really* went nuts), and my viewings before that time and after that time was a lot more analytical. And it's very easy to see where the silliness started, all the way back when Tony crashed into his own car and Dum-E sprayed him with a fire extinguisher. Thor was the butt of the joke in the "fish out of water" scene in a good, good chunk of the film. Even Captain America had some situational humor. And remember that Guardians of the Galaxy was back in 2014, which was halfway through the MCU's time thus far. The stars of these films are almost always the butt of some joke a couple times and do things that could be viewed as childish.

I don't know your age at all, but if you were born after 1990, what might be happening, rather, is that they are not getting sillier, but that you may be getting older. I was an adult (legally, at least) in 2008, but the way I view the adults of the films throughout the early 2010s as compared to now is night and day. It's just come with my own life experience, and wider understanding to media tropes. The jump is even more significant if you were younger in Iron Man/Avengers days and are an adult now. If you're an older adult than me, then I'd argue it's the matter of life experience adding to your overall knowledge of media plus, potentially, rose-tinted glasses giving you a better vision of the older movies while forgetting that the older movies had plenty of their own flaws (and silliness). Could be a lot of things- it's too individual to really say why your perspective has changed. But I don't think the MCU's largely changed their comedy formula since 2012/2013.

Is this a constant characterization for Stephen in the comics? Is this what he’s like all the time?

Oh the comics are a mess of characterizations. It's very difficult to find full consistency across writers, and some writers did him much better than others. At the moment, Jason Aaron's 2015 run is viewed as very good by a large amount of fans, while Waid's 2018 run is viewed with mixed reviews. It's largely a matter of preference as you'll see traits that are just so uncharacteristic in an arc and then it never happens again. He takes on secret identities, he kills billions to save trillions (along with the other Avengers!), he sells his soul, he's in a steady relationship for 30 years, then he's sleeping with a new woman every arc he co-stars in-- it's just so dependent on the writer over the decades. What Marvel thinks will sell. Right now Marvel thinks his death is gonna sell issues, so yeah :P You pick and choose with the comics and build a personality from there.

Thank you for the thoughtful ask. I hope this wasn't too much of a drag to read through; I get rambly on my favorite subjects. Or anything, really.

[ln4wins]

I've been thinking a lot about your last "Lando sucks 😡" anon and I need to talk about something. I'm a member of a huge McLaren group on facebook, it has over 40,000 members. It can be categorised into three groups: McLaren fans, Lando fans and Daniel fans. I'm part of the first two, and as a McLaren fan I want Daniel to do well. I don't go out of my way to look for gifs of him or spend hours watching anything DR related on youtube, like I do with Lando 😅 The past couple of years were a lot of fun in this group. There were a lot of Carlos fans that migrated back in 2018 but everything was civil and the atmosphere was great. Fast forward to 2020 when DR fans migrated over and the group is a war zone. People make posts legitimately criticising DR and they're slammed as disgusting fake fans (some of the posts are def too much but those are called out by everyone). No one can post anything about Lando without being told they're plastic fan girls who don't support the whole team. 50% of the comments on Lando posts are: "Danny will wipe the floor with him when he gets used to the car" (Is this the only phrase they know?), "The car is designed for Lando, ofc Danny is having a hard time", "Danny has won SEVEN races, talk to me when Lando has won anything" (Just for comparison it took DR 4 seasons to get his first podium which also happened in a Red Bull which was a top 2 car through his stint there. With this I'm def not saying he wasn't real good back then because he was. Red Bull Danny was top tier imo), And the new favorite of the group, with 5 articles being shared every hour is ---> "Lando is a pay driver. His dad pays him so McLaren doesn't have to. That's why he's at McLaren, because it's cheap for them. He wouldn't even be in F1 if it wasn't for daddy dearest. He couldn't even win in F2, Russell is much better than him" (and they always manage to bring Russell into it like??? ok? and has he not grown since then?? is he not a better driver now than he was in 2018?? Russell won F2 and Lando is currently doing better in F1, can two things not be true at the same time? George had the better car in F2, Lando has the better car in F1 🤷‍♀️) "McLaren are giving Danny a much worse car than Lando, they're sabotaging him!!!!" Like sir or madam, you think a team is paying DR £15,000,000 just to put him in a worse car so a 21 year old gremlin (who is allegedly being paid ��2,000,000!!?) can one up him? Isn't it possible, even just slightly possible that yes Lando has been in the car longer, and yes he's helped design it but that also he's gotten better? That he has the drive and desire to become the best he can? That the thought, and reality, of having DR as a teammate actually made him push himself more? Or maybe, god forbid, he's actually better than DR? Let me tell you, I've learned to spot an Australian a mile away in any comment section, and they're not as laidback as they'd like you to believe, at least not F1 fans. Oh, and the newest thing (and it's on twitter and tumblr also) is that DR is being emotionally abused and exploited by the engineers and the social media team. I'd be more concerned about Checo and the way he's being treated at RB than DR any day of the week.

This really turned into an essay, I should've bought a diary instead 😭

yeh ive always found that dan fans seem to be the most argumentative and rude if you even say one negative thing about him. or even if you just compliment lando without even mentioning dan they get offended, i constantly have anons come to my inbox telling me how much better dan is than lando but unfortunately for them they can waste their breath as much as they want the talking is done on track as all the drivers like to say. and while lando is barrelling down the road screaming dan is listening to classic fm driving like my nan.

i always find it a stupid argument to be like oh well dan scored 7 wins over 10 years so he’s clearly better than lando who has never won but only been in the sport 3 years even though dan has had 2 podiums the past 3 years and lando has had 4, 3 of which have been while dan was his teammate. like they pick and choose when they want the argument to be valid.

the whole mclaren sabotage thing i just find hilarious because as you say the team spend so much money on him and for what just do they can sabotage and lose more money and get lower in constructors cause yeh that makes a lot of sense. i reckon part of the reason lando has improved so much on last year is because of the fact dan came to mclaren and not in a “the teams favouring him” way but because EVERYONE thought dan would beat him so he got his head down over the break and during game the season and worked hard so that he could be the best he’s ever been.

also last year carlos was beating lando in the same car that dan can’t and i know drivers have different things they like on the car but the mclaren isn’t only drivable by lando which is what lots of people try to make it out to be. and it’s always “when dan gets used to the car” as if it’s not been 11 races already and then “oh he’s back on form” when he scores a p6 or higher which is mad to me cause like that’s not the “on form” dan that his fans seem to constantly go on about since he’s future wdc but then they think p6 is his “on form” which makes zero sense. and then he’ll go back to being “off form” and it’s “oh mclarens sabotaging him” “he could have won if xyz didn’t happen” they’re all just delusional with they’re arguments most of the time too

also i wanna clear up i’ve never once sat here and said dan’s a shit driver cause that wouldn’t be true but dan fans are stuck still believing dan’s in his prime when it’s just not true anymore. they need to realise that other drivers are coming into the sport and with that dan needs to grow as to not just be a midfield driver who’s past his prime.

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

MTV Masters 2004 Rammstein - thoughts

After doing the translation of the MTV Masters 2004 set, i was left with some lingering thoughts and miscellaneous rambles, so here goes.. ❣in no particular order.

Even though it was primarily a collection of snippets from other/older interviews and some making ofs, i liked how it was put together as a sort of "History of Rammstein up until now", too bad part 2 was missing.

Olli might be just as direct and outspoken as Paul, just not as eloquent, and not as bothered to try and get his opinion out (maybe should do a post on Olli alone...probably..).

The Mutter drama

very likely started with Richard (greatly helped with a bunch of cocaine), but after it also everyone says they didn't want to go on with the same type of music, but wanted to experiment...

afaik Richard is one of the more experimental of the band, so while at some point (understandably) they wanted Richard out, I think he was also needed for the new direction...a "can't live with him, can't live without" situation?

because of that shared feeling, i guess a bandcrisis was unavoidable at some point, and maybe it was brought to a head when it was and they worked through it...if it had lingered another few years maybe they'd have said "we've been doing this long enough now, let's quit"

the years after were better, but i think it's only in the recent 2 or 3 years that the band-together-vibe has really returned, but without the corset they all hated, good for them for hanging in all that time

Paul's occassionally shows his sunny smiles when saying a pointed or sharp remark. If you didn't understand the text you might think he just said something really cute, and all the while is dissing something or someone ☀️ not just a ball of sunshine, but one with stings..

Till often doesn't finish sentences, leaves part of it hanging in the air, starts his next thought. I could imagine he prefers to express himself in writing (his poetry and lyrics) instead of talking, especially talking with a journalist where he probably half expects to be misquoted anyway.

The parts about Germany are all the more interesting knowing that 15 years later they did a song on pretty much exact the topic as it is discussed here. I wouldn't be surprised they had rewatched these old interviews and then came up with using the theme for a song. I also agree that the nazi-era, apart from the atrocities and unspeakable harm it did to people, also very much crippled the germans with guilt, making it impossible to look further away in the past without linking it to the later nazi years (a lot of harmless things from before get a connotation it originally didn't have because the nazi era tainted it) and not being able to move on in the future because the guilt couldn't be let go. If only they'd ever do a 'making of' or interview about the song "Deutschland" i'd be very interested on their thoughts...but i don't have much hope anymore for that...

The scenes with Schneider and Paul on a couch, Paul telling Schneider he's the best actor, Schneider sort of embarrassed reacting and then Paul reconsidering and coming to the conclusion that he's not sure about actor Schneider and talking, but concluding he is really good at looking in certain directions 😁 that must be a prime example of Paulinist remarks, on the one hand cute and funny and generous, and then with one sentence basically pinpointing what Schneider can't do ☀️

Richard admitting having to be unhappy to "create" and sometimes creating drama to trigger that is very revealing, self-aware, unsettling and in a way very sad.. i hope he has come to terms better with it later in life and can also use music from a happier core (like when he writes songs for his children), but deep down, this is his drive and probably still is..

Love Paul's metaphores, he always has one (or three) at hand on any topic. When interviewed along bandmates he's quite restless though, moving around a lot..

Felt sad for Till when he talks about writting stuff off of his soul and afterwards "feeling a bit better, a tiny bit" I wanted to reach in and hug him ❣

At this point in time the Mutter drama is forgiven but not quite forgotten, I think especially Paul will be one to regularly have referred back to it in the first years after the crisis. At least the last couple of years it seems to have been really layed to rest (apart from maybe a little inside joke like old friends have).

Although I always think Schneider is the most levelheaded of the bunch, he does seem to occassionally not "get" what is going on, he seems occassionally vague. That too changed later on, nowadays he seems the most stabil one to interview (well, Flake as well but you can have Flake just reminisce old bandstories and don't have to ask questions 💓)

Schneider for that matter also seems to, by the time of the interview, still remember there was a crisis, but is starting to forget the details, that is probably for the better, no use rehashing everything, but i'd bet some of the others took longer..

Richard is very analytical about what happened and also imo very honest, like mentioning when in the early days they did something funny, that wasn't their intension and only later learned to laugh about themselves. Other people would just have twisted a story like, but he just says it as he thinks it was. He seems very much to say what he feels at the time (not that a next time he won't say something different, but then *that* is what he feels). This must probably also have gotten him into spots of trouble over the years.

Till just lights up (no not like that 😊) when he hears the pyro guys, next time someone manages to catch him for an interview they should just let him give a masterclass on pyrotechnics and ask the questions in between so he doesn't have to bother with the standard interview-situation and just do his own thing.

There is not a lot of Flake in these interviews, while we know now that Flake is actually one of the better storytellers, maybe he was used to let others do the talking at the time, or maybe he was strugling with his alcohol addiction that he talks about in his books and his happy to let tune out.

I think Richard once mentioned in a different interview that he likes to work in a team but isn't a teamplayer; what i take from these interview snippets that he loves the band and very much wants the band to be well.. later he wrote an Emigrate song for them (a band he doesn't tour with, afraid he'd like it better than Rammstein..😙 he a worrier at heart i think..).

Paul gets interviewed in various combinations with bandmates at the time, but i don't think from those years there is a combination of him and Richard. But much much later (2016), when they are interviewed together at the Rammstein in amerika premiere, they completely make up for it and have loads of fun. Ofcourse that's exactly the difference 10+ years can make, but good for them to have given it a shot and finding common ground after all (and even managing to be soft to eachother...aaaww those two 💕)

Schneider casually calling Paul 'Paulchen' as an endearing term and Paul not even batting an eye is very cute, but also shows that they regularly call him that (nothing much to do with his size imo)

Paul having the last word is probably typical, but what a sweet way to end this show, saying he really likes all of them, empasizing again 'really' and he is glad they are all still alive 💗 apart from that that is very cute, i also think they did worry about one or the other bandmate and their lifestyle (in keeping with the interview not naming names here) i hope that part of their wildness has mellowed down by now...the first remark also is a foresight to a 2017 interview with Paul where he mentions they have really nice chemistry at that time...so glad their bandlife did become better over the years.

All in all...the really are a 6-man-marriage...aren't they 💖

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for being harsh to one of my group mates?

(📳🎓)

For context, this is in uni, and most of us are between 18 to 20 years old. We've been assigned a group project we need to do basically, and while there were originally 8 of us, for the longest time there were only 5 of us. The other 3 were unavailable for a variety of reasons - until within the past two or so weeks, one of them (I'll call A) started showing up to some lectures. Not all of them mind you, but a couple of them.

Initially I was a bit 'ehhh' on A, simply because he hasn't shown up until now. However the rest of the group wanted to give him a chance, and for the sake of fairness we did. And for the most part, imo, he's been unreliable. He showed up recently to one of our more important sessions (the session essentially being producing a bulk of the work we'd need to do) and was genuinely helpful, but for me the pressing issues I have with him are that

1. He's inconsistent. He only got to that session because we prodded him about it on WhatsApp, and I'm sure that if we didn't he wouldn't have turned up at all

2. He rarely if at all communicates with us. He responded to one person (who I'll call D) twice and another person once. While in person he's a lot better, getting in touch with him otherwise is essentially impossible.

The kicker recently is that in person, we agreed to have a one on one meeting where we'd talk about what we've done so far and what he'll be able to help out with in the future. I arrived to the location, and waited... He never showed up. I texted him multiple times to let him know that if he's late he needs to tell me, and as I'm writing this he still hasn't even bothered to read the messages at all. I let D, who's our group leader, know and they believe he shouldnt share our grade. I agree.

However, the reason why I feel I'm the AH is because he says he's been having some mental health issues. He didn't specify what, just that it's 'been hard getting out of bed' and the like. He may have mentioned depression, but I also can't 100% confirm it. The rest of the group believe we should give him another chance, saying that depression is hard and that we can't expect him to be fine 100% now, and they've even said that D themself is inconsistent when it comes to showing up to meetings, which is true. They say that they themselves have had similar struggles in the past and they sympathise.

While that's fair, I'm also of the opinion that well... He hasn't even done a lot of work. Like at all. He helped during that session but has otherwise done fuck all. From a practical standpoint he doesn't deserve a grade simply because he's done essentially nothing since we started, even if it is because he's been having a bad time. However, he also hasn't had much time to prove himself that he is capable of helping, so it could be that I'm just pre-judging him out of cynicism.

It might also not help that I'm a very practical person when it comes to mental health - I deal with my own shit, tend not to burden anyone with my issues if I can, and just get on with things. My anxieties were rough before uni, and while it's gotten better in some areas it's gotten worse in others. Yknow, stuff like money, if I'm even eating properly, general life, personal circumstances, all that shit. However it might be that A is the type to get buried in his feelings, and my more practical viewpoint is me being way too harsh on someone who is struggling.

While I understand where my group is coming from, I still don't think A should share our grade. Imo he hasnt shown much initiative if at all for the group, and even if he was struggling the fact that he just generally hasn't done anything means I don't think he should share our grade. AITA?

TLDR: Guy in a group has done not much in terms of participating in our group project, because he's been struggling mentally up until now. Group is mostly sympathetic and wants to give him another chance, while I think otherwise, believing he's had enough chances already.

What are these acronyms?

[dontshootmespence]

Which Fic

I was tagged by @stusbunker and @there-must-be-a-lock!

I’ll do a mix of CM and SPN fics.

Which of your fics…

…did you think would get a bigger reaction/audience than it got?

For SPN, I think Never Saw Blue Like That Before. It’s Destiel, which is obviously a big SPN ship and I was really happy with how it came out.

For Criminal Minds, basically any series I’ve done that isn’t smut. But the three I’m happiest with are Upheaval, a season 13 ender fix it fic.

After a rollercoaster year filled with departing friends, jail time, and one of the most notorious killers the team has ever faced, the last thing anyone needs is this. A truck barrels toward a group of them, leaving their future uncertain, while others stand by unable to help in any way. What crosses their minds when their lives flash before their eyes? Even if the physical injuries don’t kill them, will they be able to recover?

Coercion - Started from a one line challenge.

You are just about to start your new job at the BAU after years of working to get there, when a man you don’t know approaches you with an evil plan and knowledge of every sordid detail of your past. What will you do? Will you give into the man’s demands? Or will you be able to find another way out?

And Caged

Years after Spencer’s wife is kidnapped, there’s a break in her case and she comes home. Or does she? Is she the same woman she was before her ordeal?

…got a better reaction than you expected?

For SPN, it’s probably The Perfect Storm, an Alpha!Sam x Omega!Reader. It has about 260 notes but it was my first ABO fic and I was so fucking nervous about posting it, so I was surprised at the success it had.

For CM, honestly there are a bunch of smuts that I’m like...okay I wrote that and they BLEW UP. Most recently was Phone Calls Be Damned. I wrote it in like 20 minutes...it has nearly 900 notes. I work for ages on some pieces that BARELY get a tenth of that.

…is your funniest?

For CM, a lot of my general CM fics involving the whole team tend to be on the funnier side. I love Prank War, Secrets of the Bullpen, Pics Or It Didn’t Happen and In The Middle of the Night.

For SPN, I don’t have a ton of funny. But I think You Win or You Die is pretty funny.

…is your darkest or angstiest?

For CM, I’d have to go with Candyfloss and Novocaine, which was a collab with the lovely @cherrybombs-and-rabbitholes. 

For SPN, I’m working on what I think will be my angstiest to date, but the current one is Salvation, a Sam x Reader. I don’t really do angst super well. IMO, it’s my worst genre.

…is your absolute favorite?

For CM, it is impossible to pick. After 6 years writing CM, I have 1,000+ fics to choose from. Anything I’ve written as a request to “help” someone or make them feel better about themselves is important to me though.

For CM, it’s a Cas x Reader fic called Beauty In Stillness.

…is your least favorite?

Again, it’s hard to choose with Criminal Minds because I have so many, But I have a couple crossovers that I wrote early on in my writing that I don’t think are that good.

For SPN, it’s probably Searching for Oblivion. It was a Dean smut and one of my first forays into SPN writing. I don’t think it’s awful, but I can do better.

…was the easiest to write?

For Criminal Minds, the easiest to write was probably Passive Aggressive Partnership. I remember that one flowing pretty quickly.

For Supernatural, it has to be Cherry Red.

…was hardest to write?

For Criminal Minds, the hardest thing to write was Article of Faith.

For SPN, the hardest was Teetering on the Edge, another ABO, but I’m SO FUCKING HAPPY with how it came out.

…has your favorite lines/exchange/paragraph? (share it!)

For Criminal Minds, I am proud of a lot, but out of all the stuff I’ve written, a section from chapter 5 of Coercion stands out.

With the floodgates open, you couldn’t stop yourself from screaming. You stood up and got right up into Spencer’s face just as he’d done to you. Hotch had gotten up from his seat, thinking you were going to attempt to hurt Spencer, but you couldn’t Of course they couldn’t believe that under the circumstances. “I’ve been beaten! I’ve had my bones broken by the men that paid for me. I’ve been raped. I’ve had knives used against my skin because the rush of torturing and raping a 15-year-old girl got my clients off. I’ve been left on the side of the road with my thighs and vagina in too much pain to walk! I’ve been used as a drug mule! My only friend on the streets was murdered in front of me because I asked for a break and she had offered to take my client to let me rest. After all that, I tried to kill myself!” Your throat was raw, but you couldn’t stop. “But I had nothing. I had no money. So the only way I could think of doing it was to swallow the half a bottle of sleeping pills I had found in the trash. The next morning, I woke up in a pool of my own vomit. I took it was a sign that I was meant to do something with my life, so I pushed myself up. I walked away from the town I grew up in. Hid in sewers and pipes and abandoned buildings to make sure my pimp wouldn’t find me and kill me, or worse, rape me too, because he liked to do that if I haven’t mentioned it already, and send me back to my old life. I clawed my way up. I begged and cried and bled to get where I am now, and then that bastard came up to me and threatened to take it all away or he’d expose my past and kill you.

For SPN, there’s a section of Teetering on the Edge that JUST...I did it, man.

“Don’t you fucking dare pull that neanderthal bullshit with me, Alpha!” You yelled your throat hoarse. Sam dipped out of the area and back toward his bedroom. It didn’t matter. Whether he was here or not, you’d be seething. “You don’t get to decide my life for me! Have you ever thought that maybe I’d rather be in danger with you than safe without you?” He readied himself to respond but you pushed against his shoulder with a force that startled even you. “Did you ever stop to think that I’ve waited my entire life to find the person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with? And that now that I found him, I’ll be damned if I let him go?”

You were on a roll. Dean wanted to speak, but you wouldn’t let him. “No! You didn’t fucking think about what I want! Because your number one priority is to make sure you don’t have anymore blood on your hands. Well, guess what. You don’t get to do that. Not with me! When you care, you get blood on your hands. That’s just the way it is. I get to make my own damn decisions!” It all just exploded out of you. You kept screaming and crying and drinking to the point where you weren’t even sure what you were saying anymore. As you kept going, your arguments shifted from his demeanor to your own health. “You claimed me,” you said, pulling your sleeve aside to shove the mark in his face. “You know what’ll happen to me without you? I could fucking die!”

Dean waited for you to stop ranting, steadily finishing his beer. Once you were all yelled out, he chose his words wisely. “There’s medication. You’ll be fine. You’re not going to change my mind,” he said flatly, trying to keep any sense of emotion out of his voice, even though you could tell he was right on the edge of acknowledging every amazing and shit feeling he was feeling in this moment. “I need you to get out of the bunker as soon as possible. For your own good.”

Without thinking, you reeled back and slapped him, open palm to cheek, relishing in the sound of the crack that reverberated throughout the bunker. “Fuck you, Alpha! Fuck. You.”

…have you reread the most?

For CM, I tend to only re-read things rarely when other people reblog. I’ll read something that they liked from a while ago and go, hell fucking yea. I wrote that.

For SPN, I re-read a lot of my Cas stuff because he’s my fucking angel :D

…would you recommend to someone reading your work for the first time?

For Criminal Minds, read all the general fic. I think it gives a taste of how I write the entire team. Though given how much I write Spencer I think I have his characterization down most.

For SPN, I think I’d go with Beauty In Stillness for fluff, Salvation for angst and Satisfaction Comes From Sharing With Others for smutttt.

…are you most proud of?

For CM, overall, I think I’d go with Upheaval.

For SPN, it’s definitely, Beauty in Stillness, Salvation and Teetering on the Edge.

Okay, this was BALLS hard, but I enjoyed :D

I’m tagging @heycasbutt @impala-dreamer @because-imma-lady-assface @covered-byroses and @illegalcerebral 

[petekaos]

What did you think about the last episode!!

hi hi! so uhhh... this is going to get long and i’ve combined like 10 other asks i want to address, so your ask may be answered here! if you want Rahul’s Take On The 2gether Finale, then brace yourself.

...I didn't really like the last episode, I feel like it could've been a lot better/more emotional

I dunno if it's because I didn't like the last 2 episodes but even though the show literally finished I'm not emotional? The last episode I felt actually really happy watching was ep 9 but now I'm just 'ok, that show finished.' I'm sad bc I thought I would have a stronger reaction to the ending and them getting back together but I'm just meh :/

Really don't want to sound like those annoying people but damn really no kiss scene

I liked the ending, it was okay I guess but gmmtv better prepare for a shitstorm bc so many people didn't lololol

Honestly the best and well written episodes were ones where they still weren't a couple, like 8 and 9 were amazing

Although the finale was good, I feel llke in the future when I want to rewatch my favorite moments from this series, I will go for the first 10 or so episodes more often than not. It kinda feels like 2gether peaked around episodes 7-10, which is perfectly fine!! It was all in all a great series that did what it wanted to do and I’ll always cherish it but, I probably won’t rewatch much of the last two episodes

They made pam even worse!! Before she had her talk with tine anyway!!

My thoughts on the finale: could've been a lot better, could've been a lot worse

2Gether really felt like a giant inflatable castle that was carefully blown up for the past 12 weeks only to let it rapidly and poorly deflate in the end

The ending was fine and was expected but for me it's underwhelming in the sense that the past episodes, especially 4, 8 and 9 were really written in comparison so the finale is kinda meh bc I knew there was gonna be a happy ending. But still the YouTube comments and what some people on tumblr are saying is ridiculous, I don't want to even think about Twitter but imo I don't think any of gmmtvs other shows can top dbks ending like that ending was perfect,

i honestly love that 2gether focused so much on the story and the emotion and became so successful without all the usual fan service. i hope the whole industry takes something away from that! but i still felt like the finale was a little emotionally stunted when it came to tine/sarawat. i just wanted a big YES, I CHOOSE YOU moment, and tine's reappearance and the bracelet scene just didn't do it for me. you know what would have, though? a kiss. or a hug, or holding hands, or something sweet

okay, my friends! here is my opinion on the 2gether finale first, and then i’m gonna address what i personally hold of the more negative response the fandom has shown. i generally thought the finale had... a solid ending. i went into it with absolutely no expectations apart from sarawat’s song and a happy ending, because i knew it would be messy and not as good as ep 4 or 9 etc, considering the sheer amount of open storylines that were left to be resolved in one episode. i knew it would polarise the fandom--but i personally thought the ending was fine! a bit cliche, a bit rushed, but it was okay and it was a good enough ending for me to put 2gether behind me, the first season at least. the bracelet scenes and shots were amazing, the song was incredible (although i wish they would have had sarawat sing a bit more), the conversation pam and tine had was solid as well! there were a lot of things i liked about the finale and bright and win killed their solo acting as always. however, there are some things i wanna get into more detail about that i feel could have been done better, not only as a finale but as a show itself.

time allocated for the storylines. or: plotlines in general. this has been my bone to pick ever since episode 10. not gonna lie, this wasn’t good, especially from ep 10 onwards. there were so many storylines and plotlines that were dragged out further than necessary, and so many plotlines that should have started earlier. best example for this is mil and phukong, the mil redemption storyline should have started in ep 10 and should have had him be sincere for once, and the mil/phukong storyline should have actually made sense from the beginning and started in ep 11 at the latest. the mantype storyline should have also started a bit earlier than that and given us an explanation as to why type was crying at the retreat. however, mantype did pull it off!

writing! this ties in with the first point. the writing felt a bit inconsistent in the last two episodes and it’s a pity, really, that this is one of the downfalls :/ all the actors in this series, from the mains (bright, win, mike, toptap, frank, drake) to the side characters (gunsmile, love, gigie, film, etc.) are such good actors and it’s unfortunate that the last three episodes were a bit :// in terms of writing and plotlines. they all did the best they could with what was written and that... yeah.

conflict. this has to do with the first two points. the finale felt rushed. that’s something that i don’t think anyone really can argue? and i expected that, so i wasn’t too disappointed by it or anything. obviously it would have felt rushed considering the fact that they had to wrap up 3 or 4 episodes’ worth of storylines in one episode, which was a blunder on the writers’ part. the conflict fell flat, then. if they had had pam come in earlier and had tine and sarawat spend more time away from each other, we would have gotten an explosive reaction. i really do think that after they got together for real, the writers struggled to find conflict to keep the story going, jumping from tine’s insecurities to mil to pam for no reason whatever. i think it would have been much better done if we had mil as an antagonist wrapped up and on the road to redemption in ep 10 and had pam come in there, with tine’s insecurities as a b plot. i feel that would have been a bit more gripping. but, hey, guess that’s just me!

order of filming. this has to do with people saying that brightwin’s chemistry was off in the finale. i don’t think it was off, per se, but it was definitely lacking when we compare it to their chemistry in ep 4 or 9 or 10, y’know? that’s because i believe the finale was filmed earlier, when bright and win were still getting to know each other and figuring out how well they could improv. and they can improv, from what we’ve seen! so there really is nothing i can say apart from the fact that it’s a bit disappointing that they decided to film such a pivotal scene at the beginning. if it had been filmed in the end, it would have definitely been better!

flashbacks. the finale needed all the time it was gonna get, and i am disappointed by the amount of flashbacks they used, honestly. i would have cut down on the number of sarawatine flashbacks and used them sparingly when they reunited, because that just... makes sense and evokes emotion in the viewer, you know? the only flashbacks that served well were type’s view of everything and phukong and mil, because they were new. it just... felt a bit inauthentic.

pam. or: the girls in general. there is nothing i can do here but SCREAM. pam should have come in way earlier and replaced mil as the centre point of conflict for ep 11 and 12 to have been as good as the rest of the show, or ep 4 and 9 at least. her character fell so flat and the conflict she brought with her fell so flat as well, honestly. the girls should have been done better--more of earn and sarawat! more of pear! they could have tied into the plot effortlessly!

mil and phukong x mil. yeah this is a... whole ass bulletpoint, unfortunately. call me a clown all you want for expecting him to have at least a half assed redemption arc in the finale but goddamn was that... not good. really bitter over the fact phukong was straight up okay with being a “replacement” for tine even though... that doesn’t even make sense. i just... yeah, this wasn’t good. i feel super bad for frank and drake because they deserve a well written show or at the very least a well written storyline for all of their chemistry and work they put in, considering the fact that they are so so young. i could go on about a good mil arc for ages but i just... yeah i’m writing a fic, so y’all will see.

the reunion. this stems from the flat conflict and the rushed-ness of it all, but yeah. it wasn’t particularly hard-hitting, but i still enjoyed it because it’s sarawat and tine. this has to do with when they filmed as well, and just... because the angst didn’t start early enough for it to hit home. and i really do wish we’d had a scene after that with the both of them, alone. a lot of their things happen with a lot of people around them... and nah.

one year later. bro. bro. bro. the music club thing was cute! but i would have just... loved to see them alone, y’know? a scene of them being alone and intimate, just sitting next to each other on the couch or at a football game or sarawat continuing bringing the cheerleaders snacks, even a year later. them going to another concert. anything where they were just... alone. i wanted to see them together! we got that with mantype and we even got that fucking... scene on the roof where mil and phukong were just fuckin around? yeah? i would have loved to see that with sarawat and tine so much. (also btw pretty sure the rooftop scenes with mil and phukong is also where drake and frank took this photo and it made me so happy dhsndh like... the shot where mil took his hand off phukong’s eyes? i called it immediately and my partner was like ???)

intimacy. chemistry. the biggest thing everyone is talking about. now comes the part that y’all all wanted to know if you’ve been reading this far lmfao, my take on the fact that was no kiss in the finale! and my take is... i expected there to be no kiss in the finale somewhere deep within, and honestly i’m fine with not having a kiss. my only problems with all of this are first of all, that we didn’t get a proper kiss in the entire series and had sarawat kissing tine one-sidedly. secondly, i would have loved verbal intimacy as well! an i love you, or y’know, some hand holding, anything! this is also due to the fact that i believe the series was filmed relatively early on. i just wish... again, that they would have been alone one year later and we could have just seen them being domestic, as we have already seen them!

so those are some of my thoughts on the finale. considering the fandom’s response... i can see why people are upset or disappointed but i don’t think it’s, like, that justified to throw the whole show away as well. yeah, the ending wasn’t perfect, but if you’ve enjoyed the show as a whole... maybe it’s okay, y’know? like, personally, i don’t think i’m ever going to rewatch the finale. but i do love the earlier episodes and i am gonna watch them back at some point, probably! it’s all well and good and valid to criticise the lack of intimacy and kissing in the finale i guess, but if you’re a straight girl then maybe... watch your words. 2gether has portrayed a wonderful love story between two men and to see straight people throw it away as “bromance” or say it’s the “straightest bl of all time” or whatever because of the lack of kisses is kind of hurtful. i am completely open to discussing this with lgbt people, mlm specifically, and you can come talk to me about your thoughts if you’re a straight woman as well. all i’m asking for is that you maybe show a little bit of empathy and respect, y’know? i also do think 2gether peaked around episode 9/10 and i’m fine with that! it gave me so much more than characters and relationships--it gave me the fandom and everyone here and words cannot express how grateful i am for all of you. maybe the last few episodes were poorly written and the finale wasn’t everything y’all hoped for... but i did and do love this show. i cannot wait to see where brightwin go next.

[bigskydreaming]

I was about to say, I can't see Jason letting his guard down as much as intoxication would. I CAN see Jason drinking apple juice and pretending to be drunk. (Funny how I can remember Dick drinking, never more than one or two drinks, and Jason refusing wine, but the fanfic writers get it al wrong.)

Yeah, tbh, I don’t really see any of the Batkids ever being or becoming even casual drinkers. They all value control too much, and have too much experience with mind and mood-altering substances for it to be appealing to them in my personal opinion. 

Just my personal headcanon is like, they tend to treat drinking as like, another skill to acquire. They try it to maybe just have enough experience with it that they can fake it undercover and know what they’re doing, or that if they end up in a situation where they have to take at least a quick drink to sell their cover like, they’re not going to be totally blind-sided by the taste or sensation, especially because most of their reputations don’t or aren’t likely to lend themselves to being completely unfamiliar with alcohol. And maybe they occasionally make an point to build up a tolerance in case for some reason they need it, but I honestly can’t really ever buy any of them as casual drinkers.

I mean, I focus a lot on Dick’s times brainwashed or under someone else’s control, and also his rigid insistence on self-determination in his life, and I just can’t honestly see any mindset where he’s like yes, lowering my inhibitions and lessening my ability to be in control of myself is exactly what I’m looking for. Its kinda like how I drastically disagree with takes on him as submissive in any kind of dom/sub fic, lol. Its not about the partner, its about the fact that Dick isn’t the kind of control freak who looks for opportunities to take a break from the stresses of holding such an iron control over his self.....rather, IMO, Dick is that way BECAUSE of how often he’s had virtually NO control of himself or what happens to him, and how much that always....sucks for him. 

He tries to maintain self-control and control stuff in his life wherever and whenever he can because he’s not about to lose any of the basically rare opportunities to not HAVE to push back against someone else’s will or expectations for him, where he can just be uncontested in being in charge of his autonomy and own destiny. And I honestly have never seen anything in his character that suggests he’d ever remotely be looking for or welcome to opportunities to basically just....willingly hand over the control of himself that he fights soooo damn hard to obtain and maintain....because when has that EVER ended well for him, you know? So I just....don’t buy sub Dick and never have, and I don’t buy Dick as a casual drinker even, for pretty much the same exact reasons.

Jason I see as a bit more complicated, because of a couple factors. First, there’s the presence of drugs and alcohol in his early life and how much that affected his life as just a bystander, essentially. And its not like every child of an alcoholic parent grows up to be hostile to alcohol, etc. But in Jason’s case I feel that he would be, like he’d almost personify drugs and alcohols as an actual antagonist in his life that have made him suffer, been the actual enemy that prevented him from having a real go at a family with his first parents. And thus he’d just be viciously opposed to them in their entirety, like even as a expansive, nebulous concept of them and everything related to them. Which would also play into things like his insistence that drug dealers in Gotham not sell to kids, etc.

Also, there’s the fact that Jason kinda ended up with....gap years in his development, where the normal linear timeline of developing as a teenager was derailed by his death and then supplanted by a very unorthodox later development that was guided by assassins and influenced by an external-turned-internal force that had a definite influence on his emotions and thought patterns at times. So Jason kinda missed out on a number of years where he could have potentially worked through a lot of his childhood issues with abuse, his parents and drugs and alcohol to a degree further than he did in canon, but just......never got the opportunity to. So it was like....hitting pause on all of that and then unpause when he actually came back to Gotham and rejoined society in his own way, as that put him around these kinds of things again and forced an internal confrontation with how he felt about them now.

And then there’s also the matter of the Pit itself.....much like Dick, but in entirely different ways, Jason has been extremely impacted by things that are not his fault or choosing, that originate OUTSIDE of him and end up controlling or influencing him internally, again through no choice of his own.....and thus, same as Dick, I don’t see how any substance that lessened his control over himself during the times he actually HAS it, would like....remotely appeal to him.

But then again on the other hand, I do think Jason is very self-destructive at times, not more so than Dick, as he can be very self-destructive as well, but just in different ways. Like, Dick IMO is someone who self-destructs quietly and over time. Suffering in silence, not availing himself of any of the opportunities he has to get help from others in various matters because he either doesn’t trust that they’ll prioritize him or he doesn’t feel that he deserves to be, or a combination of both. Jason, IMO, is neither innately more self-destructive or less, its just that....his tendency towards self-destruction manifests pretty explosively, like, in singular burning bright kind of instances that flare up, are just colossally bad decisions that he very quickly regrets, but then die back down and leave him cleaning up the aftermath, but at least having gotten whatever caused that particular turn towards self-destruction like, kinda out of his system.

So his means of self-destruction tend to just be LOUDER, and more.....in your face...but they also come and go more quickly, IMO. And one of those are pretty much the only time or reason I can see for him ever engaging in drinking or voluntarily giving up control.....like, the appeal specifically is a kind of self-punishment, and thus makes for an ideal weapon of choice at least once.....BUT again, the caveat there is like I said, I view Jason as someone who cycles through periods of self-destruction, but then he like...moves past it (or at least on a surface level, like, he FEELS like he has, though the initial problem often stil remains under the surface). But the point is, I think he regrets these instances of self-destruction soon after they happen....and I also think he’s someone who believes very strongly in not making the same mistakes twice. 

Like, he knows not to take things for granted better than anyone. Shit doesn’t go according to plan, my personal headcanon for him is his ideal followup is the immediate realization well, that didn’t work, time for something completely different....and then he does something completely different in the hopes of getting closer to his actual desired result. So I could see him doing something like getting black out drunk, etc, as one of these bouts of self-destruction....but the key in my mind, is I could only see him doing that ONCE. Once he’d done it and regretted it, it’d be crystallized in his mind as a Mistake and like, nope, not doing that again. Even when having another tendency towards self-destruction at a later date....I think he’d do it in a different way.

Also, I’ve never bought Jason as a smoker, like, I could see him faking it for The Mood or whatever, lol, but like.......this is a kid who grew up malnourished and thus had to take on criminals as a very under-sized Robin. He comes back after the Pit like, over six feet tall and well-oiled muscle that makes it SO much easier to kick ass as a vigilante? Why the FUCK would he ever screw that up by messing with his lungs or anything else, you know? If anything, I see Jason as being like, as much a ‘my body is my temple’ kind of guy as Dick is, just for different reasons.

I’ve always said I see Dick and Jason having a lot more in common than they’re usually credited with, and all of this is a huge part of why. They both just have HUGE issues with control in regards to themselves and their lives, and just being able to HAVE it and to take advantage of it, do what THEY want to do rather than constantly being moved about by the whims of others and having to always adjust or adapt to whatever everyone else was doing or the box they were being forced in by situations, etc. They’ve BEEN without control, self-autonomy, in ways and to degrees most people couldn’t imagine, so, like....its IMO more likely to be that much more precious and valuable to them than it is even to most people? Like, these are two men who I don’t see ever giving it up without a fight, and thus, they’re just like.....I’m gonna hard pass on the alcohol, etc.

And its got nothing to do with judgment on their part, I don’t think, like, other than the fact that they can’t personally relate to seeing the appeal. Its just the end result of lowered inhibitions/loss of self control or autonomy that they’re like...yeah, that’s what we’re not on board with, thanks but no thanks. Not for us.

I don’t have as strong of headcanons about the other kids just because they’re either too young or it just doesn’t come up as much, such as with Cass (though you can probably guess my headcanon for Cass there given that I talk about the similarities ALL three of the eldest Wayne kids share in a lot of ways, lol) but honestly I think it’d be more of the same with all of them, even if not always for quite the same reasons or quite as strong of reasons. Like, they’ve all been raised with too much reason to value self-control and too little cause to see lowered inhibitions as appealing, so the Batfam as a whole I personally headcanon as being nah, we get our highs from adrenaline and being weird as fuck, thanks though.

[edenstorm]

Guess I’ll put this out there since the game’s been out for a few weeks.

Honestly? I don’t see DV lasting long as a site. At least not as it is now.

This is just reiterating a lot of sentiments I’ve seen elsewhere, but... I see it going the way of Aywas, Sylestia, FV, and sites like that. After the launch hype dies down (in 3-6mo) there’ll be... maybe a couple hundred people tops online at a time.

Why? Well I mean. I’m not sure exactly how much content DV has at present and how much they plan to release in the next couple months, but unless that amount is much higher than I suspect it is (one, maybe two towns past the obvious underwater place no one’s gotten to yet) there just isn’t enough content to keep people around. Once people start achieving their goals and the actual content of the site runs dry, and later town stuff becomes available to everyone via the speed runners, I suspect the site will start to die. There’s just not enough content to keep people engaged, and the constant grinding to get anywhere past the stat gates gets boring after a while.

As much as I hate to admit it, FR does just have a better formula. The content is user-made, goals are set by individuals, and because of how the breeding/geneing system is, there is *always* new content if you just look for it. It’s almost impossible to run out of things to work towards. Sure, I grew bored of FR, but it wasn’t because of a lack of content. I didn’t quit out of boredom (like I did at the Sylvie’s Mine stat gates during DV’s beta) or frustration with the mechanics/community/staff (as I’m seeing a lot of people do now with the premium gacha) but instead because I just... grew out of it, I guess. Even then, it took me *6+ YEARS* to do so, just because I was never bored or confused on what to do next. There was always new content and 9/10 times I was excited about it.

Dappervolk doesn’t have that going for it. The way I see things going down is a new town added once, maybe twice a year, seasonal events a few times a year, and new premium items once a month. You can collect all the items, all the pets, maybe save up for the really expensive stuff... but beyond that (very limited) set of things to do, what is there? Besides the forums of course, but you can find forums on every other petsite. The community would have to be truly outstanding for it to draw in any number of users on its own merit, imo.

Really, besides a short story and an (inconsistent) art style, what does DV have going for it?

I think the best comparison I can make here is that DV plays like a Pokémon game and FR plays like an MMO, and that’s why one is a success and the other is almost doomed to fail.

Pokémon games have short stories and a limited number of tasks you can complete (of varying difficulty) before you’re just... done. DV only differs in that there’s a forum instead of replayability - you can’t reset your DV account just to play through the story, at least not with any level of ease. They’re limited because they’re meant to be played for a short time before they’re dropped and the next game in the franchise is picked up. This tactic, unfortunately, does not work for a browser game, because there is no next generation of games to buy.

MMORPGs have a story, usually, though by and large it’s optional to the player’s enjoyment of the game. There’s a lot of customization and nearly every character is unique. Everyone has a different playstyle and aesthetic, and new content is released frequently. They don’t want you to put down the game and pick up another, they want to keep selling you things from *this* game, so their goal is to keep you actively engaged. This tactic works well for a browser game, or really any game that aims to stick around for a while.

That, of course, isn’t even touching the fact that DV DARED to add a premium gacha to the site after the backlash that they got during beta, or the fact that the art style they promised isn’t even really what was delivered, or the fact that customs still aren’t open and I haven’t seen anything as far as an ETA on that... but then again, I also haven’t said much about the issues with FR’s management, so fair’s fair I guess.

Anyhow, soapbox rant over. I’m personally enjoying the game thus far, I just suspect it’s not gonna end up staying like that for very long if things keep going the way they are now. I sincerely hope DV gets better because I think the concept is cool and the art has potential (if they’d just go back to the more painterly art style from the beta...) but I’m not gonna hold my breath.

[princesscas]

My ao3 bookmarks has about 1050 fics in it, which isn’t a lot of bookmarks for ao3, but it is too many to comfortably search through in my phone :( I’d need to have all kinds of folders set up, and I’d also need to regularly keep on top of sorting newly downloaded fics - and I can’t honestly see myself doing that. :/

(my old cracked iPods, my kindle and my three old, broken laptops also have fic on them. And yes, I also did the bookmark-in-your-Browser thing and I, too, heartily regret it lol. It’s a graveyard)

I tend to bookmark rather than subscribe to fic, too, so while a lot of fic I adore is in there, there are also a couple that I want to see where they were going, more than wanting to reread as they are. More emails = worse, IMO, and bookmarks are easier to search in than subscriptions on ao3.

And yeah, I’ve been trying to put the title and summary of fics in when I bookmark them, but I have a massive backlog of fics to do that for too, which always bugs me. I could just go and fix it, but hmmm. Me and doing things I could also just... not do? Hmmm. Lol

I’m getting close to 300. I see some point have over 5000 and that’s...yeah a lot to organize haha. 1000 alone is a lot. Every other folder is just a ‘dump and go’ kinda thing but when I started reading Stucky fics earlier this year, I started organizing them (somewhat) into categories/by series. Plus all my favs are marked with a heart, not that I won’t know which one’s are my fave lol. 

Interesting! I don’t rely on notifications either (my emails are...so disorganized, I agree with you there lol) instead, I’ll still subscribe to the fic but check every day/so often whenever I'm on AO3.  

It feels like a lost cause doesn’t it? A lot of old fics I bookmarked on chrome/safari are either deleted  or stuff I don’t even remember reading. (Insert Galdalf ‘I have no memory of this place’ gif here) I *tried* going through a bunch of short fics I have bookmarked into one folder but I quit by #10 lol. Graveyard...yup that’s how I would describe it. 

Another thing I’ve gotten SOOO much better at doing is commenting. Ohmygod whyyyy *why* did my past self not comment more?! I’ve found some amazing people because of it. Especially since I started posting my own fics. Getting engagement is...huge. Like a simple ‘I love this’ gets me every time but those lengthy, ‘lemme tell you how much this fic touched me’ should be put in a museum. <3 Which is also why I love (not always, sometimes my brain goes *poof*) writing up comments like that. 

I’ve had so much fun talking to you about this kinda stuff! Kind anons get a virtual cookie from me <3