#but it fucking sucks when you try to discuss something in good faith

[justanotherhornycatgirl]

the urge to defend myself when misrepresented vs the knowledge that i would be treated as an aggressor and dismissed

[riacte]

Yeah yeah TNT trap but one bit of the stream that absolutely fascinated me was the neighbours solidarity between Ren Iskall and Beef. Ren and Beef freaking out over Iskall running back and targeting False if they ever let sight of him. Ren's brain having dived into a "it's us against them" mentality and being anxious around the mountain people because of course he does that, it’s his favourite hermit’s life on the line. Of course he would see as some sort of war even though nothing happened. Ren naming their voice chat group something boring and nondescript like “neighbourhood planning” so no one would join. He’s both still Ministering and keeping up with the theatrics by pretending to be in a so painfully boring meeting. Neighbourhood mafia boys trying to kill Bdubs (for False). Iskall being like lmao you guys are stupid. Lol. Anyways.

And it was so funny how when the trap was done, they were like ahhaha lol see you guys later. Or never. We never knew each other.

AND THEN BDUBS LOGGED ON.

Which naturally freaked everyone out. And what was fucking funny is that other people like Grian, Joe, and Hypno were online and aware of the scheme. They even made references to it in chat. Grian and Joe at least were watching Ren’s stream, because of course he was streaming a top secret operation (and Beef later was like WHY ARE YOU EVEN STREAMING and Ren was like 🥺 this is why I’m a bad reaper). But I don’t think anyone snitched. Everyone acted normal, if not nosy.

The part of the stream that charmed me and gave everyone the impression of “oh, we’re REALLY in it now” was when Ren was alone in his Gigahut and someone whispered to him about Bdubs being on. And those three neighbourhood members met up in Ren’s hut and just sat there panicking and talking about Bdubs. It was so tense. They were the image of three scared whimpering people huddled together on a sofa in the relative safety of their neighbourhood (far away from Bdubs’ trap). (On a side note, I’m always glad when builds are somehow the backdrop for dramatic and tense moments because the build instantly feels lived in and the space feels used. Like there’s a core memory attached to the build now.)

And in the end, they decided to venture out to spy on Bdubs. Which they did for an hour. With spyglasses and crouching. And Ren, good old Ren, was pushed centerstage because he was the second reaper to ever exist and still hadn’t gotten a kill AND he was dead set on supporting his False, and since it was the final two, Bdubs has to go.

Watching the hermitchat go by while those three were intensely studying Bdubs like a nature documentary was hilarious. Seemingly nondescript discussions. The trio panicking and then Grian sent out “have faith”, which might be in reference to G’s own fishing thing but the trio took it as a double message for their own plan (since G was watching the stream). All the whispering. It’s killing me. And False logging on, mostly unprotected (because they were all away!!) and Cleo being like yayy I have no allegiance to False I’ll blow up whatever <3 And False saying she needed a miracle and those three were like WE ARE TRYINGGG (False was aware the three were trapping). Ren’s refusal to say something in chat because he’s a red name and he’s tense.

Ren had to be the one to activate the trap (even though Beef was the one who suggested it and Iskall laid out the redstone). SO the other two had to leave him alone while they engaged Bdubs in discussion so Ren could sneak in and blow them up. Our poor reaper had to fly solo with 2.9k people on his stream. “It’s just you and me, chat”. He’s sat there for three hours. He’s missing dinner.

AND BEEF YELLING AT REN TO ACTIVATE THE TRAP WAS SO STRESSFUL. Even when the ruse was up, and even when Beef and Iskall were like hahaha Ren you SUCK so bad, Ren continued with his last shred of hope and absolute last shred of dignity. He lied. And Beef was probably like 👀 Ren hasn’t given up yet! Gotta distract Bdubs more!

I haven’t watched much Beef before this but now I’m quite charmed with him. He’s great with improv, fucking hilarious to bounce off with, and kept calm and steady throughout the operation. I love how him and Iskall had to hold Ren back from charging in like a madman and blowing himself up because doggy self sacrificial tendencies. Beef was the brains and common sense. And I love how supportive he was of Ren the entire time.

🥺 Beefrenskall. The trappers. The neighbours. Flying high their banner for False. Wanting to be a miracle for her. 🥺🥺🥺

[imminent-danger-came]

Why do you think s4 lmk is sometimes seen as a drop-off in writing quality compared to earlier seasons?

IS IT REALLY. That's so funny, I personally think s4 elevated lmk's writing to unbelievably high levels. It recontextualized previous seasons in ways that cemented my faith in lmk's writing team, and proved to me that this wasn't just going to be good, it was going to be GREAT, an honest to god masterpiece.

I find that the more complex the writing, when things like love and devotion aren't put into "good" or "bad" boxes, when characters are hypocrites and things develop in a way people don't like (it doesn't make them "feel good" but the writing itself is solid), that's when people start to say things like "the writing's gotten worse". I've seen plenty of takes for characters like Wukong and Viren (from The Dragon Prince), where folks want to boil down the mess and the complexity into "the writers don't know how to write this character," when the truth is the opposite. Sometimes, characters say one thing and do another and that's on purpose, thank you. Sometimes, characters mean well and have good intentions, but they still suck. Writing like that is fucking awesome.

(Big Owl House rant incoming, turn back now if you're not interested in that)

It's not really a surprise to me that something like The Owl House, where the characters are fairly one note and everything is said out loud and the themes are much more simplistic, is/was far more popular. Obviously, I don't want to shame anyone or make people feel bad for loving toh—like it's great if you love it, keep doing that—but I do think that objectively, toh has pretty weak writing (which honestly doesn't/doesn't have to determine how much you love it).

I was discussing this with a few friends last night, how with toh, the implications are hardly thought through, and characters aren't viewed beyond the role they can serve in the episode or the arc. Like, I think of the beginning of Hollow Mind, where King says "No one wants to believe they've spent their life following the wrong person", which is fine, it's something that could be interesting given the proper execution, but when you analyze it deeper, try to find the consistent character thread...it doesn't make any actual sense for King or the development he went through at the beginning of s2. Had he said something along the lines of "No one wants to believe they've spent their life following a lie", now THAT ties directly into the lie he believed for his whole life, and to King as a character. But that's not what happened, and that's never what happened in toh.

Even with Belos, the main villain, it's clear the writers wanted Grim Walker angst for Hunter, but they didn't want to explore the implications of Belos recreating his brother over and over again. So at that point, it's like...why not just have Hunter be adopted? Why have him be a grimmwalker at all if it's not something we're going to explore deeper on Belos' end?

Needless to say, lmk isn't like that. If a character has dialogue or a scene, it's going to contribute to our perception of them and their internal motivations. If Pigsy is worried about his relation to his ancestors in s4, and what that says about him, we can actually trace that back to 2x04: tradition matters to Pigsy, and it's a huge part of his heart, identity, and life. Of COURSE Pigsy is affected when he learns his ancestor was someone he doesn't like, someone who tried to eat the love of his life. He even tries to comfort MK with what he thinks is a shared experience, and it's AGH. It's so good

If something is established in lmk, it's expanded upon. Hell, even the Mayor of all characters was given his own spotlight outside of LBD. He even has a direct parallel to Azure—following and giving service to an Emperor before becoming disillusioned and changing loyalty to the person that will bring about real change: their Lady and their King.

Anyways,

I went on a super long tangent. I can't truly know why some people think of lmk s4 as a drop-off in writing quality, but those are some thoughts from me to you!

[monstersinthecosmos]

I know you probably don’t want to dwell on the show and the negative but I absolutely hate what has happened on here and how hateful people are in the VC fandom it’s just very demoralizing and makes me want to retreat from anything besides the books completely. The discourse was spicy before the show but everything is just even more divisive now and it has sucked the fun out of it. Not really an ask more of a vent sorry

Hi there!

You’re correct that I don’t particularly find it fun to dwell on the negative stuff – as you said yourself, SOMETIMES THE DISCOURSE SUCKS THE FUN OUT OF IT. But I do understand how you feel and I want to say a couple things and I hope this helps you find a groove.

First of all, I did my best not to acknowledge it too much because I didn’t want to validate the folks who were being cunts to me lol, but please know that this fandom (at least on Tumblr) has ALWAYS been kinda fucking violent towards me LOL. I started VC tumbling back in 2016 and it’s ALWAYS been a fucking trash fire. It is hard out there for Marius stans lmfao.

Like, when I was first posting on Tumblr and acclimating to the Tumblr culture it was so much of like, me feeling brave enough to share meta only for someone to be RB’ing me to tell me I’m wrong, or me talking about how much I liked something about Marius only for someone to vague me, or it was me hosting the huge fandom Discord back in 2017 only for people to then come on tumblr and complain about how the Discord was way too Marius Friendly as if like, a drama-free space where we can discuss the books makes it a harbor for predators.

Of course I also had the gaggle of fucking morons who were constantly stalking me, catfishing their way into my servers to try to take screenshots and write call outs and cancel me, who would not stop preaching about how “all these big blogs” are “actually such terrible people” because “look at the things they ship” even when I’d never been unkind to them, even occasionally donated to their GFMs. These are folks who think they’re morally in the right for protecting the virtue of Armand’s poor teenage asshole and executed this justice by stalking and harassing an ACTUAL PERSON LOL. Like, listen. I’m sorry to burst ur bubble, but Armand doesn’t exist. He’s letters on a paper. I’m actually a real person and you’re up my fucking ass because I don’t’ even fucking know why, you’re jealous of my fucking Tumblr engagement or something? Which one of us is actually the creep here lol?? Is this a race to the bottom to be the valedictorian of clown school on the website for homeschooled clowns?

I’ve also had the pleasure of being on the receiving end of acephobic discourse, being told I don’t do enough to protect every individual in fandom from their own bullies as if it's my job to do that, being called ableist for how I wrote Daniel in my fics even though I was projecting and discussing my own personal experiences – I’ve also had a project collaborator have a tantrum and try to steal my work until I had to threaten with legal action, I’ve been put on block lists, I’ve had many people consume my fics in secret without actually leaving comments because I’m too toxic for them to communicate with in public.

BLAH BLAH BLAH.

This was all before AMC showed up LMFAO. It was not easy for me! It’s still not always easy!

And so yeah like, by nature of the fandom EXPLODING we are going to see more drama. More people is more drama. The nature of the discourse often hedges into real life issues that people are very opinionated and passionate about and there are conflicting needs inside the same space about how to hold conversations. Even just the other day I RB’d a joke about Anne Rice and OP got upset with me because they didn’t want actual fans interacting with it. Whoops! I didn’t know! I just thought it was funny. ;.;  

Even in good faith and with the best of intentions we’re going to step on each other’s toes, and we’re gonna find people we don’t vibe with. And that’s normal and it’s fine.

What ISN’T normal is this inability to disengage that I think we see often in online space, and I don’t want to get into a whole side essay about all the reasons why I think that happens. But sometimes you gotta be the bigger person and take it on the chin.

Like, yeah, it sucks. It sucks the fun out of the room when you share a space with such bitter people who can’t be kind to each other. But like. THAT’S A THEM PROBLEM, YOU KNOW? And I think we gotta remember that sometimes people like that do it for the attention or the spike of dopamine when they can pick a fight and honestly like, you don’t need to waste YOUR OWN time on it, but you’re also doing that person a kindness if you don’t enable the bad behavior.

And it sucks that Tumblr’s mute tools are awful!!!!! It would make navigating so much easier to be able to curate the dash a little better and keep the bad actors out of your space. I sometimes just fuck off and don’t even come online for days if I know I’m not in a good headspace and won’t have the strength to just fucking ignore it, because sometimes drama catches my eye and I get nosy and go down the rabbit hole, too – having ADHD makes it really hard to avoid sometimes LOL – but like I try to be reasonable and love myself enough to avoid it when I can help it. I’m not willing to make my own problems everyone else’s problem, and I hope that some of these shit starters in fandom will get there, themselves.

So yeah it blows when the vibes are fucking atrocious, and it REALLY blows when it’s a fandom this small where you can’t avoid it. Even when it’s a vocal minority it really just kills the fucking mood.

BUT WHAT I WILL SAY.

Whenever I say shit like “write what you want to read” and we’re talking about fanfic, or even meta or even silly headcanon posts or jokes, that also means draw what you want to see, it also means make what you want to hold, apply it to any creation you can think of. Put the thing you want to see into the world. And it counts for fandom, too.

I don’t want to be part of a fandom that’s constantly infighting and attacking people, so I don’t fight and attack people. I don’t want to be called a predator for being a Marius fan and so I don’t engage in posts that say as much, not even to argue, because I don’t want my followers (who might also be Marius fans!) to have to see that on their dash. I want us to protect our peace and create a space we want to be in.

Like I have a policy that any time someone says I’m a freak or any time I see truly godawful word salad discourse, I go out of my way to post something kinky and offputting about Marius LMFAOOOO  because I want to be surrounded by reasonable fun people who share my sensibility for fiction. AND SOMETIMES IT’S CRICKETS, AND SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO WORK HARD TO FIND YOUR PEOPLE. But at the end of the day I know I’m being my most sincere self and I’m trying to have a good time and just post fun things that I enjoy. And like, the book fandom is small as fuck and we’re all famished, but I think if more of us did that, we’d build a much more productive and tolerant space.

And for all the shit I’ve mentioned, all the drama and attacks and all the times people have harassed me or tried to make me feel small, you know what? I just got back from @apoptoses & @cup-of-lixx 's wedding and they met in VCblr! We spent all week with our VCblr friends! We all went to New Orleans together last Halloween !

When I used to work on ships it was like a fandom friend world tour! I had so many coffees in port with my vampire friends!

I’ve learned so much about writing from all the time I’ve spent here and the community of writer friends who supported me! There’s folks I met on VCblr that I talk to LITERALLY every day! They are such huge parts of my life and genuine life-long friends!!!!!!

Sometimes it seems like the ROI is garbage but like, so much of finding the joy is also learning to protect yourself from the negativity.

It IS out there. It DOES suck. And it’s lonely when you haven’t found your people yet. But fandom doesn’t have to be the 500 angry assholes arguing with each other about a fucking TV show, it can be your 3 besties in a private group chat having a great time.

Like I just drove @hekateinhell to the airport (met THROUGH TUMBLR!) and on the way back I was listening to an episode of Last Day and they were discussing the concept that “community is a life raft” and it hit me so hard man!!!!!!!!!!!

Find your people! Block the shit starters! Mute discourse buzzwords that you know are going to upset you!

Keep! Posting! What! You! Want! To! See!!

Fandom is self-generating, we can do this!

My inbox is always open and BELIEVE ME I have been motherfucking persona non grata in this place before and I know how rancid the vibe can be so please come talk any time it's grinding you down, I got you!!!!!!!!!!!!

[takami-takami]

I truly don't mean to be disrespectful or engage in bad faith. But I wanted to ask, are you/why are you surprised that Kamala Harris sucks? She's a cop. Always will be. She has never been for the people and never will be. Fucking Dick Cheney endorsed her. Doesn't that tell you everything you need to know?

If I'm misinterpreting what you're saying I truly don't mean to, so please let me know! I'm not trying to attack you or think you're stupid or something. Trying to come from a place of curiosity (and frustration, but not directed at you specifically; that comes from my just as biased opinion as anyone else's). If you're not wanting to discuss this (understandable) feel free to delete.

I never liked Kamala Harris.

I am aware she was endorsed by Dick Cheney. At times I have talked about the bloodsports aspect of political shitslinging between the democrats and republicans being entertaining in a shallow sense, and I think I may have talked about the things she's doing correctly in terms of electibility— but I have never liked her.

I criticize her heavily; though, admittedly, not as much as Biden considering we have seen more from him as President. And not as much as Trump for obvious reasons.

When I urge people to sign up to vote, it's not because of Kamala Harris or democrats or anything like that. It's because I believe in the fundamental right to vote. I think there is a reason why voter suppression exists. Anything that has that much effort (and money) poured into it from people in positions of power is cause for alarm.

I think election cycles are very, very good oppurtunities to get people excited about politics. But I don't vote because I'm excited about Kamala Harris. I'm not surprised.

[sayyourprayers]

You're a fucking pussy mainly because you stand for nothing and have no real input on the matter and to make yourself feel better about it, you assume everyone who does stand for something is a "performative activist". It doesn't take a lot to stand against an ongoing genocide and occupation of Palestinians.

You're adding your own unnecessary input and dialogue into a matter that you also have no real stake in and posturing around like you're above it all, like you some "voice of reason" when you haven't said anything of real value or anything new. You're so cool and different for recognizing you don't understand the full compacity of a global issue, better hyperfocus on the bad faith actors like that's the most important thing to do at the moment. You're truly better than everyone for not giving a fuck about anything and telling everyone you don't give a fuck. Suck a fat fucking dick from the back bitch.

when reading comprehension is swimming along with bad logic in the septic tank that is your cranium.

That's exactly what i said you dumb fucking hoe that y'all act like fucking heroes for saying genocide bad. When it's the least you could fucking do, you waste of space, time and resources.

Imagine trying to appease the gods of morality by having an opinion on noah fucking schnapp's opinion of zionism. lmao. when there's not enough problems in a 100km radius, folks like you shoot ICBMs of sympathy and pathological need to appear as being in the right. why is that you fucking phony ass bitch?

what voice of reason? i am not defending idiots out here or discussing how the conflict affects byler endgame. neither am I hyping up other actors at the cost of another actor's support for imperialism.

you woke up and chose to bleed out for this cause. good on you? i guess noah did end up doing more for your dead conscience than idk everyone else of actual import.

maybe suck your fat fucking thumb cuz you've got to be too young to suck a dick if this is your stupid fucking diatribe on anon about something that's clearly hit a nerve but not the prefrontal cortex.

i don't have to understand the full complexity bitch cuz it isn't complex. y'all wanna pretend. stfu and your infantile notions of what complex means. lemme try and fuck up your life and see how you find the complexity in allowing people to debate the morality of my actions and the impact of it on byler endgame or some shit.

also shut the fuck up you germ. the 99% is not always right. (reference to my post lest your enraged dick starts typing at the keys before your upper intestine processes any of it)

[explosionshark]

Oh yeah and sorry for the spam but I was looking through my notes and I think I forgot to mention it but in Who Am I, the contrast between the Faith/Riley intimacy scene and how freaked out Faith was by it and the much more wholesome and good for each other intimacy of the Willow/Tara magic scene that was in between them that was real good.

okay yeah i think this was a brilliant choice the show made.

i also think the depiction of faith's sexuality on the show is deeply and obviously troubled but kind of incidentally a little bit genius?

under the cut to discuss issues of sexual assault and some of the darker things the show has implied about faith

like to be clear i think that the way the show often equates faith's desire for sex with her evilness sucks and is bad.

but i also think the kind of hyper-sexuality we see from her fits in very well with all of the very strong implications that she's a victim of CSA.

i've talked about this before, but i can't find any of the posts on my blog so forgive me for repeating any points

but there's a lot of alarming details that point to faith being a CSA survivor. she makes a lot of comments about her mom's predatory boyfriends, there's the "let me stay the night, promise i won't try anything" line she mocks, there's hitting on giles, in later seasons she makes reference to events that could have only happened pre-sunnydale involving a man who asked her to dress like a school girl. all of it paints a pretty horrible picture, especially compounded with all of the implied details of the physical abuse faith suffered at her mother's hands.

so you have a young girl with a horrific background of abuse and victimization and then you give her powers but no stability, no support - is it any wonder she went dark? when faith's relationship to power has always been the ones who have it make the rules and everyone else just deals with it?

because i think this is something you see explicitly in the way faith transgresses against xander and riley.

with xander in particular, it's like. the scene where she assaults him begins with him asking to come in "just to talk, i swear" to which she replies "think you could make something happen if i didn't want it to?" which is just. a horrible bit of foreshadowing, and very telling as a first reaction. it's actually a great precursor to the riley stuff, because xander shows up and tries to connect with her emotionally. he tries to imply that he knows her, that he cares, and her immediate reaction is to dissect that genuine offer of support for the ways that it must be an attempt to manipulate her. he wants to brag that he had sex with her, or else he's trying to trick her into sleeping with him again. she denies that they have a connection because "it's just skin" which is fundamental to the way she thinks about sex. it's a tool - it offers relief or power, but not anything else.

"what do you want to do with this body?" is what faith asks riley. "am i a bad girl? do you wanna hurt me?" i mean it's not hard to read into this. fucking riley isn't about riley, it's another one of faith's weird sexual proxy deals with buffy and it's about being buffy and it's about dicking buffy over. when riley is kind and genuine in bed, when he tells 'buffy' that he loves her is when faith starts to flip out because the script she keeps trying to lay over buffy's life keeps breaking. she flips out, gets panicky, tells him "this is meaningless" in an effort to reassert something she believes to be true about sex -- that it's a tool of power with, at best, an inauthentic veneer of intimacy.

if there's one specific turning point in faith's post-graduation day redemption arc it's here. THIS is when she starts to realize she's fucked up, that her entire worldview was wrong.

to accept that she was wrong about about sex is to accept that she was wrong about power. it means the narrative of her life is all wrong. that she was hurt by her mother and by men who preyed on her was not, in fact, the uncaring laws of power in action but deliberate acts of cruelty that needlessly victimized her. it also means that every fucked up thing she's done to buffy, and xander, and angel, and riley, and everyone else is, in fact, her fault. she loses the ability to hide behind a law of the universe - we're not at full accountability yet, but this is where it starts.

right here:

when Faith stumbles out of bed, trembling and panicking, and Riley asks "what happened?"

"nothing," faith says, stricken. she says it twice, actually. the second time sounds like more of a lie.

[obligatory disclaimer here wrt the fact that consent here is. a messy thing to talk about. given that this whole post is in regards to fictional characters and that the sex between riley and faith is 1) not framed as rape 2) utterly and completely fantastical given that it's facilitated by the use of a magic artifact i've avoided using the language of irl sexual assault to discuss it. ymmv]

[koriel-12]

If Gabriel had lighter skin in that image, you'd have no problem calling him white. But the fact you feel that you have to defend your claim when someone suggests a character you like is black and you have to do mental gymnastics and argue semantics seems to say that white is your default. He doesn't even have to be specifically African American to be black - "blackness" and "whiteness" are entirely social constructs: what you see is what you get, and what i see with Gabriel is a skin tone that looks most similar to that of black people IRL. The first step to getting rid of a learned bias is to recognize you have a bias. I would actually be happy if, right now, you owned up, admitted you fucked up, and tried to be more careful in the future instead of doubling down.

One thing I will admit is that I suck at putting my thoughts into words. I'm really sorry if the things I've said have had racist undertones, or have come across as anything other than reasoned discussion. I promise this is all in good faith, and if it seems otherwise then that's on me.

The reason why I "doubled down" wasn't because I was trying to defend him as white, it was because a. I thought you misunderstood what I was trying to say (again, my fault) and b. because it irritates me when people bring up race (or any other quote-unquote "sensitive topic" e.g. sexism/homophobia/transphobia/etc.) as a catchall excuse for a problem in fandom.

The main point that I am trying to get across is that Gabe doesn't really have a race (other than "angel", maybe) and it seems unnecessary to try and give him one. He may have black skin, but he doesn't have any of the culture or history that black people do. You also mentioned that he has a similar skin tone to black people IRL? which doesn't seem true.

This is Gabe's skin colour, which is definitely a "dark grey" kind of black as opposed to the dark brown colour that you see in real life. I don't think that Gabe's dark grey colour is a natural skin colour for humans.

I also wouldn't want to call him white, in any circumstance really. His armour's white. He has "white boy" vibes. But he isn't white. He's an angle, and fictional too. Projecting race onto characters that don't have one can be nice as a headcanon, but when you shame the rest of the fandom for not remembering an attribute of a character that is never explicitly stated (or, if you accept angels as a valid race, explicitly stated otherwise) then I think that makes you a bad person.

I think that covers everything. My mind tends to jump around to much to make a properly cohesive argument so if I've missed something lmk please. Again, I say this as more of a "don't shame people for something that isn't even mentioned in canon" and not "GRRR HE'S WHITE HE SHOULDN'T BE BLACK yap yap yap". Hope this clears my stance up.

[ciaran]

ok ok ok i told myself i was gonna write this so im going to write it even htough its not going to make any sense and i am not actually doing anything and everything sucks. but we live in a shitsuck world so i am gonna write my dumb little thoughts down.

mo du spoilers ahead and discussions of triggering topics

anyway so. the thing abt the last book of mo du which is a v recognisable thing to happen and i Get It as an author like i truly do despite the longest thing ive ever written having been 50k of unhinged word vomit about feeling profoundly isolated from reality. i am the shit king of things that are too complicated and simple and that make no sense and plot is not my strong point as an author and i could not have done better. but i truly believed that priest could. anyway the thing that happened is that the last book was just not good lmao and it was not good for a few very particular reasons that were EASILY rectified by having a team of good alpha readers who are willing to slap you over the head and tell you to make a damn decision.

the thing is that before that mo du IS good and my idea for what should have happened in the last arc WAS SET UP BY THE NARRATIVE! i was not an idiot for thinking that that was what would happen! its just that she refused to go there for two critical reasons

she felt like she wouldnt have enough time to resolve this plot point

she didnt want to introduce a new major trauma before the end

she didnt trust her characters to get through it

she had set up a moral system in which once u commit murder u are irretrievable from The Abyss (as proven by that one dead cop's daughter idr her name but she killed a cop by accident)

that's more than 2 but i am a lit crit bitch not a numbers bitch. moving on.

she WOULD have had time to resolve this plot point if she had simplified her plot by a few threads. that cult shit was not necessary. the fact that the mysterious organization had someone within working to bring about its downfall was a great touch that didnt go far enough. there was a parallel between fan siyuan and fei du that was never fully explored and that was a waste of both their characters.

fei du needed to Go Through Something and he just did not. he needed to suffer a major moral injury in order for that arc to work - he needed to kill his father, or be mindbroken by being submerged in the abyss. the abyss needed to affect him. instead he is untouched which is awful. where are The Horrors of finding yourself at home among monsters! where is the Relief of not needing to mask, and wondering if this might just be better, if its not a little joyous to not care about morality and goodness. where is the Fear and the Self-Hate and the moral conflict between wanting to become your worst self and wanting to slip back into a comfortable orbit. where is the CRISIS OF FAITH!

but that's the thing, she didn't trust luo wenzhou to be able to handle fei du like that. she knows lwz can handle fd when he's being like "im gonna atticwife you shixiong" while clearly being a wet bedraggled catboy but she doesnt know if lwz could handle fd while hes laughing maniacally and trying to decide between killing his father, zhou chunliang, and fan siyuan. not that fd can handle a gun's recoil but that's not the relevant part. she didn't know if lwz could see fd at his worst and still love him but he CAN! he's a little crazy too let him find it kinda hot when fd struts around masterminding complicated criminal plots.

i truly think that showdown should have had lwz as a captive audience so fd experiences terrible feelings. OR fd should have actually HAD TO kill his father, no take-backs, no last minute outs. murder that vegetable. pull the fucking PLUG piglet. he should have to live with patricide even if he's never going to be charged with anything. lwz should have to live with loving a guy who was forced to have blood on his hands. let him have nightmares for the rest of his life about the closure he craved for so long.

but this goes back to priest's issue with MORALITY. the morality of the mo du universe is very clearly slanted into people being either GOOD or BAD and once you cross the line you can NEVER COME BACK. there is no complexity offered to the characters and there SHOULD HAVE BEEN! fan siyuan was a horrible person but what if he felt like he didnt have a choice? what if he was just like fei du and HIS lwz died? u cant tell me that fan siyuan wasnt in love w that one guy whose photo he was trying to see in his last moments. show me the beauty under the rot. what if fei du was pushed over the line? could he still be allowed to have some light? could lwz LET HIM? and i truly think lwz can, it's fd who cant let himself have that. but fd needed some confounding factors in his worldview.

call me a whump lover but i love when theres major trauma at the end of a book but it's still slanting to a happy ending. i like a hint of bitterness, a hint of "it will never be okay but at least we have each other." it's good.

anyway when mac and i were talking about this mac also suggested that fd walking into the abyss could have been very effective as a trust fall, a sign that he KNOWS that lwz will come for him and pull him out and not let him get lost in the evilsauce. and i agree w that being hot but i also have a personal preference for fd having a crisis of faith and lwz having a crisis of faith and both of them realizing in the end that they did choose each other and they still have each other

but priest chickened out of Challenging her Characters at the end and that just meant the whole thing rang soooo hollow. big grief. mz priest i will give u one dollar and my heart if u write an alt ending

get rid of that cult shit, get rid of the moral black and whiteness, let fei du sink into hell and kill his dad and be pulled out and dusted off and loved anyway. forgive some of the people who wandered into it without meaning to. let lang qiao and xiao haiyang kiss. The End

[jack-bytez-genuine-corner]

Btw our Supreme Court just affirmed that the President could order the military to kill their political rivals and it wouldn't be a criminal act as that touches on their power over the armed forces, and any conversations from the president or the president's aides discussing that assassination would not be something prosecutors can use due to presidential privilege which now applies to people who aren't even the president but in the inner circle. This also means that if you killed the people who voted against certifying you to be the next president until you die that would also not be a criminal act. So we're literally talking about the president being above the law and only accountable if 2/3rds of both houses convict him before they get to the "Lol no you can't remove me I use drone strike to kill you for trying" part of the script.

Also, Rep Bowman, a pro Palestine, pro ceasefire House Dem just lost his primary in New York to an Israel backed pro Israel candidate who will likely rubber-stamp the genocide in Gaza via the military funding bills, a thing that Republicans will also push to do and have been pushing to do the whole time while Biden tries to slow walk arms and strongarm negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a thing he's tried 3 times that has built towards a potential but has been rejected by either party based on attempt. In a practical sense, this means Bowman's replacement who ran the most expensive house race in the US will be another vote against a redline when giving arms to Israel, and not keeping a vote towards that redline, while simultaneously Biden is trying to use any diplomatic power to get to a ceasefire but if Trump were to win the US would not be at the table of any potential ceasefire which means it would be wholly on everyone else and Israel to be at that table, and similarly means Israel would have no reason to even be at the table cause the US isn't there.

It's not just Biden here, it's Biden and Dems down ballot who will be the difference between OBGYN services existing in states or those doctors being in prison for keeping women alive, the difference between the FBI and every other federal agency being fully under control of the president or those agencies being cleaned up and fixed while making sure they exist to uphold the law fairly and protect the people over just those in power, the difference between President's being allowed to kill people via the military whenever they want even within our own borders and purely for power or extensive oversight of a SCOTUS where 6 of the 9 justices lack all merits to be seen as faithful arbiters of the law while eating endless bribes and rubbing the backs of those who pay them enough, on and on. For the record, I hate this country cause there's too many people who are perfectly content with innocent people suffering on every level, but there's also so many good people who are perfectly content with that same suffering as long as they can be righteously smug about it. I truly hate being American and I've never had pride for this country and even I'm going to bother to vote so women aren't forced to give birth or die, so we can actually pass laws to help people, so we can maybe do something about climate change, so we can maybe, IDK, do a good for once instead of just constantly declining while hurting and killing as many people as possible both foreign and domestic. The US fucking sucks and it's just as much due to evil people in power as it is the people who say they care while doing everything they can to hurt you, it's on the level of fence sitters MLK Jr talked about, at least the racists will just tell you they're racist, they won't just sit there complaining about decorum and how it's too far / not enough while claiming they'd help if you were just perfect in every way in their eyes. When inevitably the worst happens and I'm sent off to the gay desert box to die in a neo-facsist Evangelical Christian authoritarian dictatorship concentration camp I guess I can be a little happy that I put in more than zero effort to try and make things a little better while being cooked alive by the heat unlike the literal millions who choose not to vote every year which has done nothing but accelerate us to that point.

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

[your-local-gummyworm]

checking off this list from commodorez!

Switch to Firefox - done!

Ignorance is not a sin -- don't be afraid to say "I don't know", despite what academia might have taught you - very good advice

Engage in good-faith discussions with your fellow user, you might find a new friend - discussion!

Ask questions. Most of the time, the worst case scenario the answer is "I don't know" - i don't know is one of my favorite phrases

Reblog stuff you enjoy for others to enjoy. Likes don't mean much here on tumblr (think of them as bookmarks), but a reblog may make someone's day -- especially artists! - i reblog so much stuff (as you probably know :))

Cite your sources on images and try to tag things accurately where you can. Some folks will enjoy knowing where you found something so they can learn more. The breadcrumbs you drop may lead to someone else's inspiration - i need to work on this

Forgive yourself - much difficult, but can be done

Take pictures of the mundane, like your house. You never know when you will need to look back on that again for posterity/prosperity or more likely utility - i have so many random pictures of myself

Friendships made beyond school are forged through showing up regularly to the same space - beyond work as well, need a "third space" that isn't home or school/work where you meet your person(s)

Wear your face mask. Yes. Still. You want a KN95 or better, make sure it's a good seal. And keep up to date with your covid boosters. Not only do you not want to get sick, you don't want to be the reason someone else gets sick. It sucks, but getting long covid sucks more. Each time you catch it, your chances of developing long covid increase because the damage is cumulative - i don't really do but probably should

Install an adblocker: ublock origin, pi-hole, whatever's new and beautiful - ublock origin is my favorite, as well as sponsorblock for youtube, and a variety of extensions to filter out ads and ai slop

Don't feed the generative AI. Draw it shitty or hire an artist. - can confirm, i do in fact draw it shitty

Go to a Vintage Computer Festival - never heard of this, sounds mystical

Take the old batteries out of your vintage computers and electronics so you don't have to deal with a corrosion-fest. Varta meltdowns suck - don't even have to be vintage, take the batteries out if you know you're not going to use the thing for some time, or you're not sure when you're going to use it again, corrosion sucks, especially with planned obselesence(think i fucked up that spelling) making harder to find good stuff

Check if your headlights are on. DRLs are not enough, and some cars don't automatically turn them on. If you headlights are on, that will turn your tail lights on. Other drivers need to be able to see you on the road - i don't (currently) drive or have a car but also be sure you turn your headlights off when you park so you don't kill your battery!

Turn off "best stuff first" on your tumblr dashboard controls. It's your dashboard, curate it! Otherwise, you miss out on the really niche stuff - did not know this, will do it if i remember :)

Remember that progress is not always linear - no comment here :)

Take a moment to enjoy silence in your space. Mr. Rogers put it best, we live in a noisy world - silence is beautiful, but can cause loneliness in excess, beware :)

Help your mom out with doing the dishes, or however that proverb best applies to you and your situation - can apply to other family members, roommates or even just yourself

Thank folks around you for things that they do that nobody thinks to show appreciation for. It goes a long way when people are seen for the effort they put in - also compliments! compliment everyone! be genuine, everyone loves a little compliment, whether it be on their shoelaces or how their very presence brightens your day

Be good to each other - always.

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

I hate bath faith analysis of media so fucking much. Not even just the cinemasins bullshit, but the deciding to wildly misinterpret something. I personally think that if you're analyzing a media from a place of "this whole thing's stupid" you aren't going to get thoughtful analysis.

I hate Heart of Darkness. My analysis of it is a shallow "this sucks ass and I never wish to experience it again." That's not helpful or interesting to anyone. Like we all lived through the Twilight years where you either loved or hated it. And the "it sucks because the vampires sparkle" crowd were easily the most boring people to talk to. Where as the "it has a lot of cultural appropriation and weird ideas about relationships marketed towards teenage girls" crowd have a lot more to say and it's a lot more interesting and thought provoking.

Good analysis has to be more than just the compliment sandwich approach. You gotta dive in and actually care to discuss both authorial intent and how it comes across when you remove that aspect from the discussion. You gotta look at it in context even though it can be fun to explore how it is perceived out of context as well.

And you can't accurately analyze a piece of media you have not sat down and actively watched recently. If you haven't seen a movie since you were ten or have only seen it in passing as your kids watch it in the background is not something you can actively pull apart from an analysis stand point. You can't just slap a generic "[Disney Princess Movie] is about being rescued by a man" on everything and call that analysis. I will eviscerate you if you try.

[otomebanshou]

Opinionated piece on Tengoku Struggle -Strayside-

Below is a very opinionated piece based on my feelings after completing Tengoku Struggle Strayside. Please do not take any of my comments to heart, I just like to ramble and get things off my chest to throw into the void of the internet. Enjoy.

SPOILERS DISCUSSED!!!

Let’s start off with strong feelings. I didn’t like the game. 4/10, I may give it a 5 just for Sharaku being the saving grace of the game to be generous. I was always with the crowd that was down for some longer routes for love interests. This game put that to test for me with 12 chapters (13 for Goemon) for the boys and god damn did it wear me out.

So let’s move on to that. The game is way too fucking long for its own good. Not in a good way is it long, it’s way too damn fluffed up with pointless shit and beating around the bush. I could barely spend quality time that mattered with literally all the guys because the route wanted to push it’s very subpar plotline. 

The plot is atrocious. Not as bad as Charade Maniacs but honestly it was just as insulting. “We need to get the bad guys who escaped hell! …but we can’t fight them.” is honestly a really stupid plot. They had me going for a second, hopeful, that based on how things went down in Sharaku’s route (my first route) that it was all just leading up to a pokemon battle with the route’s villain and Rin was the pokemon trainer. Me, playing it at the time, when I got to the fights with Asaemon, I thought “oh ok! Maybe this is how the game is going to go, that’s cool I guess!” Boy was I fucking wrong. The game doesn’t know where it fucking wants to go other than beat around the bush for 90% of the chapters. 

The routes honestly would’ve been better off at 7 each, 8 for Goemon I guess. Like I said, a lot of the routes spend a majority of the time beating around the bush especially when it comes to feelings and where the fuck the plot is trying to go. Or maybe you’re Kiku and you are bitching and moaning about your sister who hates your guts for 11 chapters. No seriously his route can literally be summarized by: Kiku: Azami! Stop helping the bad guys! 🙁 Azami: ew no I hate you! Kiku: 🙁

Meanwhile, Yona and Sharaku had some of the better routes, developments, and just overall better everything. It doesn’t save the game for me however. It still left me feeling “wtf is the plot actually trying to be” for the entire time. But to give some praise, Yona is a very interesting character and his love for novels, including smutty ones, was a very nice touch that leaves me feeling very fond of him! Sharaku was just wonderful and I really enjoyed how deeply sweet his gestures for Rin were.

JacK, I love you but your route (and your personality) is a bit all over the place. I somehow felt like ranking him as my number 2 because, honestly I don’t know, I just liked him? He definitely had me on a rollercoaster of what the fuck is going on because he’s just so hot and cold and I still don’t really have a grip on who JacK REALLY is. But, like everything else, I’m blaming the writers here.

Finally, Goemon. Disa-fucking-pointing. LOL. He’s not as bad as Kiku, but lmfao, the common route hinted at the fated lovers trope, like a very typical otomate game. Fine ok, I ADORED Akaza so I had some hope. Some faith. DASHED!!!! Goemon is somewhat cute at the very least, questionably obsessed with himself that he kinda sweeps under the rug and never really talks about again, and he’s well liked. But that last part made him kinda boring to be honest. My main issue with him is the route sucked!! Rin and Goemon LITERALLLLLLYY beat around the bush about this whole “I loved you in the previous life” for ELEVEN CHAPTERS. It’s not even like rewarding. Goemon KNOWS and Rin doesn’t. I thought in like chapter 4 or 5 this shit would get cleared up and they’d build into something really amazing. Nah bro Goemon is just like “yeah uwu i really loved this dango shop, the girl there was beautiful uwu” and Rin spends nearly EVERY chapter going “god i wish i was the dango shop, the dango girl, hell the dango he ate ;_;” and Goemon kinda just.. Lets it happen which I found absolutely annoying LOL. I think the only real positive I have for this is Sharaku was funny, no shocker he’s funny in every route, and Goemon’s VA is really good, because otherwise I was really bored. My face when it said: chapter 13 PLEASE JUST END IT PLEASEE I DON’T WANNA KEEP PLAYING THIS SHIT

ALSO THE WRITERS PUSHED IN A RAPE SUBPLOT AND A OUT OF NOWHERE “BETRAYAL(????)” AND IT WAS SO BAD LMFAO like holy moly I felt nothing for that part other than “yup there it is, that's the shit they love to do for no fucking reason WHAT SO EVERRRR”

Ok, we are nearing the end I promise.

Side characters? They ranged from pretty cool to what the fuck is the point of you. 

The coolest? Asaemon, and the couple that I forget the name of. I also kinda like Shin.

Azami is pretty mid tbh. She’s just a bratty girl. Nothing really new.

Shinobikuni is the most disappointing villain? Like she literally… did nothing. Lmao @ the ending where she just kinda lets Goemon win without a fight like “lol you got me i guess!”

Lol Mukkun wtf, the whole betrayal was so short lived it lasted like 2 minutes before it just… moved on… and changed the villain… LOL…………………

And then the white haired dude I forgot the name of. He was actually ok until… yeah lmfao wtf. I honestly couldn’t really even be mad at him because it just was such a sudden and weird choice that I just… didn’t feel anything. I was more mad at the TERRIBLE decision here. And so fucking out of nowhere like why? Actually I know why, it’s only purpose was to cause shock and I’m so disappointed.

The characters who stole the show are obviously King Enma and Mr. Corporate slave. XD They were the most enjoyable and honestly very intriguing of the cast. Always bringing humor to the table and overall brightening up my glum mood from a shitload of pointless text that brought nothing to the table. King Enma was a delight, I wish his presence was more prominent in the game.

Now, Rin.

She’s honestly just ok. The eventual background information about her that you get, obviously, from Goemon’s route was ok. I was kinda with it but that was ruined by how Goemon’s route ended up. Sometimes I really liked Rin then other times I was kinda bored with her. Not that she’s bad or I think she’s a deadpan MC, just… I don’t know, I didn’t really end up loving her. She was just ok. The whole man hating thing makes sense now but I feel more bad for her in the sense I can’t believe the writers just did that to her randomly. I don’t think I’ll ever be over it.

I forgot the cat. He was ok I guess. I wasn’t crazy about him. Did chuckle a few times at the dick biting jokes tho.

Last thing, I did *most* of the memory stuff extras, but tbh after Goemon’s bullshit route, I was just so fed up with the game I skipped about the last 25% of them. I completed them by force skipping. I just couldn’t anymore with the game. It was already so long and I was so drained by the game’s refusal to just.. End things.

So yeah. 4/10, other people will probably like it. I also didn’t really think Birushana was a very interesting game, but a lot of people really like Birushana. So, to each their own. I'm happy the game was localized and am thankful for everyone who worked on the game!

That’s it! If you read this far, you get a gold star sticker from me and I’m sorry for my opinionated piece/rant. lol

[actually-eldritch]

Sometimes someone will type a comment that sends me in to a bit of a rage.

Ultimately whatever violence they committed was in passing: they didn't realise how fucking obtuse they were being by parroting 2D social analysis and mental health advice they don't fully comprehend on someone's cope post. They were treating it like the world stage in a fantasy AU where inconsequential tumblr user #4848594848263 vent blogging is a catalyst of unfortunate normalisation instead of a consequence of it, and offering unsolicited advisory that over-all sucks shit despite it's well meaning as people on Tumblr and The Internet At Large and also The Great Outdoors are prone to do.

That's not unusual, it's frankly a pretty comprehensible web of human tendency, at least to me.

It's borne of the fact that they don't actually comprehend the sociological analysis they're regurgitating—so much important information about a situation gets lost this way, when people keep just kind of forcibly clicking together puzzle pieces that are definitely nearby in the picture but also not quite adjacent, creating a low-res version nobody asked for and the OP has almost definitely seen before in order for them to be in interaction proximity in the first place.

Anyway.

So I'll come across this obtuse comment and instead of sending an ask I'll type my long-winded response, getting it out of my system, because historically I know people have a tendency to jump through hoops in order to believe what I have to say is incoherent or in bad faith.

This may be subconscious and totally beyond their control at least within the moment, but the point is that they probably won't be listening anyway, because they don't even see the ecosystem of behaviour they're a part of and I don't have the sanity to spend to be the one trying to tell them.

Do you know what I am in control of though?

Deleting that essay after my typing-it-at-all catharsis and blocking them since they annoyed me so fucking bad.

If the arguments were good, they'll remain rattling somewhere in my head whenever relevant discussions come up. And if it's REALLY good I can change it over the course of a few drafts to be a nice little essay that's competent instead of blind and frothing with rage. And when it's not so fucking accusatory anymore it'll actually have a chance of helping someone grasp something they couldn't comprehend and may be somewhat averse to learning, which was my real desire when I was nearly compelled to reprimand someone for their shitty fucking comment.

Isn't that just nifty?

[batmanego]

SO YOU'RE TIRED OF BATMAN: AN INTRODUCTORY GUIDE TO DC SUPERHEROES

one of the most common things i hear when trying to get people to read comics is that they're just not that into batman. which boggles my mind! not because i'm a huge batman fan -- which i am, but i can understand why people might not be interested in his comics -- but because it's insane to me that batman (or superman, or wonder woman, or any other dc superhero they've made a movie about) is people's default perception of dc superheroes.

there's a whole world out there! and if you're intimidated by the big superheroes, or uninterested in their stories, or even if you like them but you're looking for something different, this is the guide for you. without further ado, i present:

DC MINUS THE BIG THREE: A FIELD GUIDE FOR THE DISENCHANTED AND DISINTERESTED

DOOM PATROL (1987)

to nobody's surprise, doom patrol is first on my list of recommendations. it's a comic book about a group of disabled people who have been labeled freaks, weirdos, or otherwise undesirable by society, coming together to save a world that doesn't care about them because there has to be beauty in it somewhere.

good for: well, i'll let the introduction quote do the talking. “remember when all the other kids on the block had superman and batman as positive role modes? well, if you could only identify with a human brain in a metal body or a guy wrapped up in bandages, and if you grew up weird, welcome home. you’re among friends now.”

read doom patrol here. trigger warnings for: ableism, child sexual abuse, medical abuse, transphobia.

2. HELLBLAZER (1988) BUT ONLY THE FIRST 41 ISSUES OK?

hellblazer is a 300 issue long comic book, mostly comprised of dogshit stories by dogshit writers. i am recommending it because i genuinely think the first 41 issues are art. please do not do as i did and read all of hellblazer. you won't survive the experience. ok? ok.

hellblazer is a comic about aging punk magician/occultist john constantine trying desperately to sort out his life in late 80s london while constantly being beset by poor life choices, poverty, and also lots and lots and lots and lots of demons.

good for: punks, anarchists, fans of the occult, enemies of aleister crowley, anyone who has a personal vendetta against margaret thatcher.

read hellblazer here, BUT STOP READING AFTER THE FIRST 41 ISSUES OK? trigger warnings for: literally almost everything you can imagine, but specifically discussions of child sexual abuse are prominent in the original sins run. also, it was written by a white man in the 80s, so it suffers from "white man in the 80s" syndrome.

3. WILDCATS (1999)

"FERRIS", some of you comic book knowers cry, "WILDCATS IS WILDSTORM NOT DC". to that i say Shut the fuck up DC acquired the rights to the wildstorm universe it's close e-fucking-nough.

wildcats 1999 is about cole cash (a conman and ex-special ops man), hadrian 7 (an alien robot posing as a human named jack marlowe), and noir (a bisexual ex-arms dealer from france who talks in the third person) picking up the pieces of the OLD wildcats team after they all found out they were soldiers in a war that ended before most of them were born and nobody bothered to tell them, and trying to 1) run a company and 2) save the world.

good for: people who hate the military, tacky sci-fi fans, anyone who wishes guys would suck more, anyone interested in the horrors of war.

read wildcats 1999 here.

4. SLEEPER

"ferris i want to leave wildstorm" too fucking bad. we're talking about sleeper right now.

sleeper is about holden carver, an undercover agent in the world's largest underground crime organization/network, who gets stuck undercover when his handler (the only guy who knows he's undercover and not just a traitor) gets shot and put in a coma. it is about grappling with your own morality, losing faith in your ideals, and (like most wildstorm properties), how war is a pointless exercise in horror.

good for: fans of spy thrillers, evil women enjoyers, evil men enjoyers, anyone who has ever thought they could make someone worse, people who want bad things to happen to people in power.

read sleeper season 1 here, and then sleeper season 2 here. trigger warnings for pedophilia (the pedophile gets beat to death in issue 2), homophobia, and child abuse.

5. THE AUTHORITY (1999)

stop crying we're almost done with wildstorm. the authority is a comic book about 6 super-people (who are very loose parodies of the justice league) forming a self-described "anarchist cell" to operate against the wishes and outside the influence of earth's governments to defend the planet against extraterrestrial threats and handle human rights violations.

good for: political science fans, good sci-fi enjoyers, people who think batman and superman should have kissed instead of making a million movies, people in polyamorous six-ples.

read the authority here. trigger warning for "this writer probably shouldn't have written this asian nation like this", homophobia, sexual abuse.

6. SUICIDE SQUAD (1987)

hey, remember how i was talking about wildcats? imagine the same sort of themes of wildcats (the horrors of war, the effects of being in the military, american imperialism, what it means to be a hero or even a good person), and then apply them to the worst group of people you've ever had the displeasure of being in the same room as, and they all fucking hate each other. suicide squad is about a bunch of incarcerated villains being "recruited" (forced) into working hero-missions for the government, because nobody will miss them if they die.

good for: villain apologists, people who (in the immortal words of hack/slash) think "there just aren't enough big mean women in comics", and this guy:

[ID: a comment on read comics online by “the king of anime” reading, “I want to give this a try would it be worth it”. end ID.]

read suicide squad here. trigger warning for, again "white man in the 80s syndrome", along with... probably pretty much everything else imaginable (it's been a while since i read this!)

7. STARMAN (1994)

starman is a story told with the drama of a theater production about jack knight, a late-20s to early-30s punk antiques dealer who gets the mantle of starman (a well-known superhero from the golden age) thrust upon him suddenly. it is a story about legacy, family duties, identity, and most importantly about being kind of a loser who gets shot at all the fucking time.

good for: sci-fi fans who are too proud to admit they also like fantasy, rock opera listeners, family disappointments, single fathers.

read starman here. trigger warning for sexual assault.

8. ARKHAM CITY: THE ORDER OF THE WORLD (2021)

"ferris you said no batman" i did. i did not say no batman villains.

arkham city: the order of the world focuses on some of batman's lesser-known foes, and the fallout of arkham asylum collapsing. i can't really explain it more than that, but it is good and legitimately unnerving at times.

good for: horror fans, enemies of the psychiatric system, villain enjoyers, people who live in new york city.

read arkham city: the order of the world here.

9. THE SHADE (1997) and THE SHADE (2012)

hey, remember starman? want a series about the old immortal victorian man with an "ambiguous sexuality" from it? okay. the shade (1997) follows his origins: specifically, his long-standing beef with one specific family. the shade (2012) is a sort of cross-country whodunnit as the shade tries to track down who is trying (and failing) to murder him.

good for: bisexual enjoyers, dramatic theater kids, vampire fans, goths, people who would have fucked lord byron given the opportunity.

read the shade (1997) here, and the shade (2012) here.

10. METAL MEN (2007)

lastly (but not least), a comic featuring will magnus from doom patrol. metal men (2007) is... a complicated story. it's about robots? it's about being mentally ill. it's about a guy who is so divorced forever. it's about being a little loser guy. it's about time travel, and terrible relationships with your brother. it's hard to describe. but it's fun.

good for: bad sci-fi enjoyers, people who can understand the timeline of looper, robot fans, anyone who has ever been consumed by a desire to create.

read metal men (2007) here.

BONUS:

not included in this list because batman is there, i encourage everyone to have a look at the original justice league international series. it is a superhero comedy. it is silly and stupid and i love it.

OKAY, THAT'S ALL! THANKS FOR READING!

[klausysworld]

Hey! Could I request a Klaus x Reader where Klaus wants to do something that could get him killed and the reader is adamant about stopping him and when Klaus explodes and asks why they want to sabotage his plans, they tell him they're in love with him and couldn't stand to lose him?? How it ends is up to you but I've wanted to see this idea written for a while and your writing is so so good <3

I don’t want to lose you

“I’ll go in and ‘negotiate’ with Mikael for the white oak while you two go in and look for Elijah, father won’t have hidden him well and once he sees me he probably wont bother keeping Elijah. Y/n if you could stay here and watch Hope that would be great, right are we good?” Rebekah and Hayley nodded and discussed how they would sneak in, Klaus walked off towards his art room and i just kind of stood there.

Worry boiled inside of me at the thought of Klaus being right in-front of Mikael who has a white oak stake just waiting to kill him. I quietly made my way back upstairs and straight to where i knew he was

“i don’t think you having a chitchat with your homicidal stepfather is the best plan if i’m honest” i spoke lazily as i sunk down onto the chair in the corner and watched as he got his paints out onto his palette and picked out his brushes

“mm while thankfully nobody really requested your opinion on the matter” i rolled my eyes and trailed my eyes down him, his grey henley and dark jeans fit him perfectly if anything maybe a tiny little too tight as i watched his shoulder blades through his shirt and sucked my bottom lip

“still i think it’s stupid, i mean whatcha gonna do? it’s basically a suicide quest” his head was turned a bit so i knew he was listening, his hands tighter on the palette in his hand

“perhaps if you had a smidge of faith in me it wouldn’t be a suicide mission but an act of valour.” he sounded mad. that was good, it meant my words were affecting him and he would rethink his decision

“faith or not what’re the odds yanno? i mean you were running from him for what was it?..oh yeah a thousand years!” that seemed to do something as he dropped any artsy stuff and spun round to face me, his eyes were cold and his expression was angry, offended but i kept up my ‘does it look like i give a fuck’ face and stared blankly at him. He eyed me for a minute, his eyes darting across my face to catch any expressions i could be hiding, i was nervous. but he didn’t seem to notice that at all and viewed me as purely arrogant

“look love, i’m not entirely sure why you seem to think your voice has any sort of importance but it doesn’t so unless you actually have something nice to say u suggest leaving” i rolled my eyes but didn’t move to leave

“so you only want me around when i’m kissing the ground you walk on? maybe you should go on the trip it might be a little quieter without you around smashing all of your shit every time you throw a temper tantrum” my voice got harsher, i watched the emotion swirl behind his eyes

“who do you think you are!?” he practically growled as he got closer to me, i stood from the chair so i could get out of the room just incase he went full rage mode

“i think i’m the only person in this home with a brain! especially now that Elijah’s gone its like talking to idiots” his eyes bled into gold and he took long strides towards me, i stepped backwards until i was flush against the wall, his face just above mine looking down at me and his hands either side of my head

“what the actual fuck is wrong with you! i have a plan! i know what i’m doing, i think i should how to survive after what was it? ah yes a thousand bloody years! you don’t get to sit there as though you are high and mighty, you’re weak and pathetic, you are nothing so how daw you come here, insult me to my face and try to change the trip I’m about to take! it’s not a fucking holiday y/n! i know it’s dangerous but i’m doing it to save my oh so wonderful brother!” his chest was heaving as he huffed in face

“and what about you! Elijah’s going to be too weak to come back and save you if Mikael gets you and what if just murders you on the spot? You know that he would! Rebekah and Hayley are going to be too busy with your stupid brother to come back for you and i can’t do shit as i’m so fucking weak and pathetic! you’re going to die klaus, die!” tears slipped down my face despite trying to fight them back and i avoided his eyes suddenly finding the wall opposite much more interesting

“i’m not going to die y/n, you know that i wouldn’t let that happen i have to come back to my incompetent siblings and my daughter and you” i sniffed and shrugged

“you can’t just expect to walk out of every scenario untouched, you’ve faced your father before, you personally have told me literal horror stories of Mikael, i don’t want you near him” his hand came up to hold my jaw as i slowly looked back at him

“i’ll be right back, i can give you my word on that” i shook my head and let the tears fully stream

“i don’t want to lose you” i whispered, my voice breaking at the end

“i’m not leaving” he whispered back and went to kiss my cheek but i turned my head a little and caught his lips with mine, it was only a peck as he pulled away with a surprised look on his face and i gulped in the fear of his rejection. He hesitated before pressing his mouth back against mine, i brought my hand up to the back of his hand and pulled his closer as i pushed my tongue between his lips and poured my every emotion into this kiss, he reciprocated my passion and cupped both my cheeks.

We slowly parted, i kept him close and pulled his head down to rest our foreheads against each others

“please don’t do something stupid, i love you too much for you to die, it’s not fair” i mumbled with my eyes still closed, his thumbs caressed my skin and he gave me another small kiss

“we’ll think of a different plan okay? you come with me and lets talk to the others yeah?” i stilled when he didn’t say it back and tears filled my eyes once more

“right…yeah okay” i whispered and dropped my hands from his hair

“y/n?”

“mhm?”

“i do love you…i have for ages i thought you knew that” i breathed a laugh and shook my head

“you think if i knew that i might’ve done something sooner?” he smiled and chuckled before kissing my head

“i figured you were holding out on me love”