#but it is probably a sign that the thing is probably not obviously objectively bad if you actually read the criticisms

[carriesthewind]

.

[weepingtalecowboy]

Doll shenanigans are creepy by default

Fanfic prompt : Legend but he accidentally lost his hylian body somewhere in hytopia after he got his two dolls

And never bothered with finding it again because he doesn’t feel any pain in his bones ,… if he simply doesn’t have any bones.

And the joints can always be fixed or oiled to keep working and even be replaced in worst case scenarios

He certainly has the money to repair magical things and stuff

After link between worlds he also had someone who had experience with magical artifacts and could potentially fix them ,

… if not he still has another doll in his basement somewhere

Ravio considered himself the luckiest man alive to be both able of studying such a genius construct …

And also a house with no rent ,

A hylian citizenship AND a life partner ,

An opportunity to set up a very close to illegal shop (his weapons are NOT overpriced he swears on link's right arm ‘that he can replace with no problem’)

A legal business on creating Prosthetic limbs (no way is he going to let his knowledge of Link breaking off legs for stupid reasons NOT turn into a new business … he has way too much experience)

And even the favor of the princess

His life can’t be better and all because Link has been breaking limbs enough to get a permanent 50% off deal from the sheer knowledge of building prosthetics that Ravio got from rebuilding him over and over again when he stumbles back with half his body missing and face torn off…

(It was a horrible first experience to say the least)

When Ravio went on to go join the war of ages he was the go to guy to get perfectly functional… but ungodly overpriced prosthetics

He was not at all ashamed about being in love with a doll (nobody quite got the sentiment of that)

Wars was very much ignoring that

Tune for odd reasons kept snickering when Ravio spoke about how great his (probably not real) husband was

During linked universe Warriors and legend still bickered until …

Warriors after his night watch: *goes to check the pulse of the person closest to him just to be sure*

Warriors realizing that legend has no pulse , no signs of breathing ,no body warmth , no movement or twitch implying any signs of life : *starts aggressively trying to resurrect him … chest compressions*

Warriors obviously failing at it : “cries*

Legend hearing it : *opens eyes just to realize his brother broke his non self repairing rib cage*

The entire chain (minus Sky) was awake and ready for a fight

Just to see Warriors crying in relief and holding Legend (bro was reliving trauma that moment)

Afterwards he was really having a bad time with his bent rib cage and unfortunately being examined by a field trained soldier, a healer and then dragged to a doctor in the nearest village

But obviously they would have never assumed that Legend is a doll with full body mobility ,a sense of self and metal joints

They concluded that legend is overachieving with every new breath he takes and probably is about to die because of his weak heart beat ,

His very cold and rough skin in some places (fake magic skin is expensive … he can’t replace it every single time)

His very minimal breathing

The sheer horror Warriors felt when he realized the dent in legend's chest is simply not healing from when he broke the ribs by accident

Means that now everyone is convinced that legend will evaporate if they turn their eyes away

And Hyrule and Warriors are feeling horrible because they can’t fix it… or just make it slightly more bearable

NOTHING WORKS on him (it’s twilight's injury all over again)

It only got worse when legend told the chain that he has been having such problems since his last three adventures already (telling people he is an object never turns out well)

The chain became overly affectionate

The sheer amount of relive they felt when Ravio somehow fixed the dent

And the most intense anger when they realized that they were worrying for literally nothing

The chain finding out that Ravio fixed the worst damage: …. : ) finally he good

The chain when they realized that Legend was Ravio's doll in question: >:(

The chain reaction when legend admits he lost his body somewhere as if it is something acceptable to say : :o

The chain : how did you lose your body

Legend : accient :) silly mstke

[th3-c0ll3ct3r]

Mildly warm take, Tommy does NOT owe his entire career to Dream

Because, YES the dream smp help propel his career as a content creator, but it does not constitute to everything you've done to make himself and his brand better

Did dream write all the jokes? The vlogs? The books? The MCC wins? The friendship formed before and after? The smp's to follow later? Origins? The comedy? Twitch con?

Because if you say That Dream did all of that for Tommy then I'm going to assume Dream Is Crawling into his skin and piloting his body

Saying dream owns Tommy's as well as other people's careers, is like saying that if I were to bake a cake it wouldn't be my cake it would be the person who made the ingredients. I still baked the cake, put the ingredients together, bought them, got the recipe and just because I didn't grow the wheat or milk the cow it doesn't make it not my cake.

The smp did objectively help his career there is no fault in that and even Tommy acknowledges it, but you can't attribute every single thing that he does now to Dream.

And you can also argue that dream was a bad person, because he was. Regardless of allegations and other people's experiences, dream intentionally seeked out a 14 year old streamer, made him sign a legal contract, took every single bit of credit, got into fights with him on a regular basis, a made him feel so bad you will slamming his head against the desk.

That's not normal. None of that's normal.

And then in an alternative perspective dream didn't do us much for the smp as he claims. The only things he did was bring the content creators together, start the server, and play as his own character.

I do not get me wrong there is credit in that and he did do those things that allow the server to operate, but those with the only things he did.

Wilbur (as much as we hate him) wrote the scripts, and alot of Tommy lore. Will stopped writing the Script after he died canonically, and then later came back because in his own words " lI had to write myself back into the narrative [...] I didn't like where it was going. Not to see dream is a bad writer, but we had different ideas". That's him putting it nicely, the worst bit for the smp realistically was when dream was writing the lore.

And I'm not saying that it was bad but what I am saying is that the majority of people found it bad, so bad in fact that they had to bring Will back.

Dream did not write his own story.

And to the other content creators, on the server they will their own lore. And they acted it out themselves, dream was no part of that yet they still had to sign contracts because it was still on the physical server.

Ranboo and Technoblade in particular had some of the best story writing and telling, and they did it all themselves.

But there's only one thing in common, that makes sense but I think we all missed, dream was in every single person story or had planned to be. And I get it it's his server but on the other hand they could have had amazing stories without his input. Ranboo could have replaced Dream with a mysterious unknown character in his lore, and the outcome and affect would have been the same story-wise. Dream didn't need to be Puffy's son, but he was. Technoblade and Philza could have skip to the side plot of saving dream and instead it needed to return a favour to someone else.

The storytelling within the server is a amazing but if you subtract dream and put someone in his place it's still would have been the same story. It's like he was made to be sandwich in everyone's story. And yes he was a great character in most stories, but in others he was unnecessary.

Put with the overall fact that he had to be in every single story obviously ties back to the server being his, but it's also a reflection of his own ego. He probably still to this day believe that every single person has a career because of him and do not because of who they are now. He definitely helped but it's not all him.

And I would say George, Sapnap and Dream, have the same issue with ego. You see the way dream behaves with over people, he dominated people's careers for many years and had it done by fear.

Sapnap, he would swear and curse every single person, to the point where Scott said he was the most difficult person to put on a team because no one wanted to play with him (I have a different post about MCC). There were many offensive and situations in which the pair of them actually ruin the game for a lot of people. If you were not a person who watched MCC back in the day then I can tell you from now they had to change so many rules, Scott had to start making applications because of the amount of times that they would bail or not communicate with him or simply people didn't want to play with him and wanted to avoid him, and due to their obsessive behaviour in needing to the practice the maps so much that when the game was chosen some people didn't even try because they knew who would win.

They're talented don't get me wrong but there is an extent in which that their Talent crosses with ego and makes the whole game unplayable. This is without mentioning the amount of people who were scared to play with this team or against this team. No one had a fun.

And even in the smp, some people purposely avoided Sapnap, because he didn't know how to manage himself.

And George you could argue also has a large ego because of the people he surrounds himself by and he's a success. He is an objectively/ conventionally attractive male, and there have been many instances including in recent times and in certain develop it situations that he used it to his advantage. He doesn't behave his age and he treats people cruelly.

And most importantly, the fans. Yes YOU. You heavily contributed to the success of the server and to the success of the creators. But the level of obsession people would have regarding these content creators is something that will always baffle me.

And alot of people asked them to speak out, especially Dream. And he didn't. Dream actually encouraged his audience by selling sketchy merchandise and a USB stick with his baby pictures on it. He enables his radical audience because they are what keeps him going. Realistically without the radical side of his audience he would not be as successful and financially well off as he is now.

Additionally those people attack literally anyone that set something bad about him, and at first he tried to downplay it, then he assured people he would manage it and tell them to start, but then along the way he must have realized that these people a Ride or Die for him and that if he drives away these people he drives away a lot of money, free advertisement and a defense system against his brand- and I say this because these people would defend him in any circumstance

So then he doesn't stop them, and now you've got a 19-20s yr old with an unfortunate amount of mental health issues, some people who continue to jab him with needles anytime he's upset.

And it's sad. Is far beyond something that his parents can protect him from, yet he hasn't found the resources to protect himself. He's not happy with himself. He used to be scared to stand with someone successful even though he's successful.

And I'm genuinely proud of how much Tommy has grown. He is and continues to be a dedicated, passionate and nice person regardless of circumstances, he continues to be real with his audience and tries not to waste thier time. And none of that was taught to him by Dream. He taught himself how to be himself. If I see one person saying that he's a clout chaser I'm gonna have to tell you that you're wrong because he's done so much for himself to the point where you can't even count it yet you can count the things dream did for him on a Post-it note.

Tommy did well

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

On occasion, I swear I get undertones from the side of the fandom that liked the season 5 finale that “if you didn’t enjoy it, you must not be smart enough to understand it”…

But… that’s kind of a really stupid argument?

Is this not a TV show intended for 5-12 year olds? If the writing is too complicated for a grown adult to understand, then they have failed at writing a good kids show. Point blank period.

You can write a good kids show that has elements that go right over the kids heads, but those elements should be subtle bonuses that mildly improve the story. They should not be a key part of the overall message. A great little example is this scene from Bluey where the titular character finds an obnoxious "lost" toy hidden under the sink in the laundry room:

Adults and older kids watch this scene and immediately get why the toy was under the sink, but little kids probably miss it. That's not a problem because the sink thing is just a bonus joke that is not vital to the message of this episode. If the sink joke was vital to understanding the message, then the writers would have failed at their job because they wrote something too subtle for the intended audience.

That's why I'm so critical of everything Miraculous is doing. Even if there's ultimately going to be an amazing story here, they've failed to tell it in a way that the intended audience can engage with and that makes the story objectively bad no matter how good it is for older viewers. The lessons should be obvious. The jokes should be obvious, too. There should be no question about what the message is.*

The season five ending is a perfect example of why Miraculous is objectively bad for its intended audience. Lets say that season six is going to address all of the issues with Gabriel and tell us that he was an abusive monster. How powerful is that lesson going to be to the five-year-old who grows out of the show in the year between season five ending and season six airing? What about the kid who obsessively rewatches seasons one to five in the hiatus between seasons and internalizes the happy ending? Or the kid who only watches the show casually and doesn't remember most of the early seasons by the time their issue are addressed?

Obviously those kids won't walk away with a great lesson, which is why shows aimed at kids usually make their morals clear by the end of every episode. Complex morals told over seasons are a bad fit here. Kids in the show's intended age group are only just starting to really learn about the complexities of the world. They generally don't have the life experience to question the show's morals.

That's not to say that shows for kids can't have cliffhangers. The cliffhangers just need to be about the story, not the morals. Season four was a good example of this. While I don't think it was a great final, it did have a clear message. It ends with Ladybug stating what she'd supposedly done wrong - even if season four didn't actually have her do what she said she did - and the question was only what would she do now. There was no moral ambiguity about what happened. Every episode of Miraculous should feel that way, but the show often fails at this. There's way to much ambiguity for a kids show. The fact that many adults can't tell if Gabriel was evil or not is a terrible sign!

*I will note that even perfectly clear messages can be twisted into baffling shapes by viewers of all ages and people will read into things in ways that leave even talented writers scratching their heads. The pigeon thing comes to mind as a good, Miraculous-based example of poor media literacy. So I wouldn't go so far as to say that a kids show is always bad if adults misinterpret things. It depends on how widespread the misinterpretation is and how logical the misreading is. The season five ending is a good example of a true issue because it's played like a happy ending. It's not weird that some people took that at face value while others are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Only time will tell which side is right, which should not be the case when we're dealing with content like the widespread manipulation of an abuse victim in a show aimed at children. That should be presented as unequivocally wrong. Instead, the lies lead to a kiss and happy smiles.

[nalyra-dreaming]

COMMENTS on 2x04 - SPOILERS ahead, obviously^^

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

God that play is really…. and to see the joy just leave Claudia

And the foreshadowing with her soul leaving her body!!!!!! Holy shit.

Louis’ face mirroring the disillusionment.

Lol, Santiago getting a BJ while getting ready and bitching about the play. 💀

Armand and Louis in Dubai saying different things about that time…

Armand’s notes threw😬 me - and to call her lack of enjoyment of this play after 500 performances sabotage? Definitely a choice.

Ah, I see that is where that Santiago outfit comes in^^ - I would not have expected it to be Claudia there. I so feel for her there, it is so bitter. And Santiago having her back there and challenging Armand (and his relationship with Louis) damn. Also, Louis being so… IDK. Happy to ignore the warning signs now??? Ouch.

The coven going at each other, lol

That discussion “after”. And Louis’ “inner Lestat” commenting on it all - bitter

“Do you notice how hot the room gets”!!!!! FUCK

“I try to find the vulnerability in the object.” DAMN

The laughter. And Louis calling himself out there lmao.

They didn’t like Daniel changing track that’s for sure^^.

Santiago and Claudia 😭 - god I wished. And his warning her… damn.

Oh…. so THAT is where the “tender” comes in. Ouch again.

Madeleine and Claudia

The mimicry at the banquet. Ohhhhh it’s going to go SO BAD

But it’s nice to see that when Louis snaps… he snaps^^. Canon, baby, canon.

I felt so bad for him at the photography evaluation…

The fragility comment re Armand.

The photographs mixed in!!!! Holy shit. What is going on there - has been going on there????

“This is a Stein”. LOL Armand… “Probably Rashid”. Yeah, sure.

The body in the plastic!!!! Oh we are going full horror next episode, aren’t we.

Louis letting his “inner Lestat” criticize him. Aw sweetie. “I end up eating them”…. yeah.

The laughter again. And ”Lestat” mocking Armand as being “barely Balthasar”. 💀 Oh Louis. (I do feel bad for Armand. He wants love so badly.)

Madeleine’s story. One of many I would think. I … liked how they did it.

The Louvre.

“Vintage Lioncourt” - and then his “inner Lestat”!!! That expression, lol. And also the “ha” later… that is interesting.

In sync. “Okay” Argh.

HOLY SHIT! I KNEW THEY WOULD GO FULL IN AND DARK. AND THEY ARE 😵‍💫 OHHHH DAMN.

The coven abandoned by Magnus(??). And “Lestat” shaking his head.” Interesting.

I ALMOST thought we would get a Memnoch-type event!!!!! Damn, I wanted them to go there :))))

Armand threatening Claudia -.- . And letting her know. Talk about making things clear.

The thing about Santiago’s maker again...

Practicing the fire gift I see. Ah yisssss. *rubs hands*

“manipulative gremlin” LOOOOOLLLL LOUIS HOLY SHIT

God that scene with Claudia. Me and you, indeed.

“Bad decisions”. “Love makes you stupid”. “The wilderness that is our daughter”. 😭😭😭😭

Louis trying to say goodbye to Lestat there… heartbreaking. “An elicit couple out for the cheat”. Yeah. No double meaning at all. NONE. Their theme.The initials stitched in. Letting the rain pour down. Summoning Armand. “Mutiny brewing”. 😭 God Louis, why didn’t you just leave. “I used to be real good at running things”. Louis geeeeeeeeezzzzzz you are playing with FIRE. (Yes, I know, foreshadowing.)

And Santiago and the others using that moment to get the evidence they “need”. 💀

“You sure about that, Arun?” “Yes, Maitre.” Ohhhhh fuck. So fucking dangerous. “He is Louis’ creature indeed.” DAMN. Louis dammit you beeeeep Sorry, but honestly, that was… STUPID. You make your only protection look WEAK.

And them arguing in the bedroom. Louis probably having done that himself??!?!!!

Daniel using the time to go through the material - and remember. Oh the FORESHADOWING

And cut.

So in total:

Loved it, lots of very bitter foreshadowing once more. Loved all the little flashback hints. Knowing where the “tender” as a description for them comes from is… 😬. Louis trying to let Lestat go - I KNEW that would be a breakup scene, but I had guessed it would be another one that came later in the book^^, loved this change though. Unfortunately we already know it won’t quite work… Louis deciding to (try to) let Lestat go (which we know won’t work), and trying to take the “bull by its horns”… god. I mean. I get him. But that made my teeth hurt I clenched them so hard because that is literally… like, I said it above, but ARMAND calling HIM “maitre”? When the coven is already plotting? Oh boy. Not good in the long run. Not good.

So yeah. Loved it. So much in it!!!

And... my heart breaks for Armand.

__

And the EPISODE INSIDER. Spelling it out once more: (A gag order definitely dropped away^^)

“Lestat is just ruining Armand’s and Louis’ romantic evenings together.”

“He almost takes on the Lestat role in his relationship with Armand.” 😬

“Louis’ relationship is a response to his relationship with Lestat.” “Armand is a rebound. A rebound that lasts for 70 to 80 years.” 💀

“I think Louis knows he can get away with more.” “Like Armand is maybe a bit of a pushover. He realizes he can manipulate that relationship a little bit more.” (LOOOOOOL JACOB)

“Ghost Lestat [] is also like Louis’ doubts about Armand.” “He tries to accept Armand the way he is.”

“Armand will always see a little bit of Lestat in Louis.” “His paranoia is all encompassing.”(!!!!)

“It’s this really sad aspect of his life.” (indeed.)

And last, but not least:

“But it’s also seeing Louis slip faster with Armand than she had planned.”(!!)

HOLY SHIT. 💀

[blakbonnet]

AUTHOR OF THE WEEK: @adhduck

Please give it up for the nicest and one of the most creative writers in this fandom: Duck! I'm just such a fan because not only does Duck manage to write the softest, gentlest, loveliest Ed and Stede (both together and apart), their fics somehow perpetually keep me looking like 🥹 all the time ough. And they were very very nice about sharing their writing process with me:

What's your writing process like? Do you start with the beginning or the end? Do you write in order or as the scenes come to you?

Mostly it’s the Taika “look at a document for 8 hours and then close the document,” honestly. I’m a very slow writer and lose motivation very easily, so I mostly get by on the muse’s fire hydrant and forcing myself to write those fifty words even when every single one feels so bad.

I go moooostly beginning to end because even though I’m generally an outliner, I always end up with little details that will affect later scenes and I don’t wanna lose continuity or have to rewrite a bunch. However, I do definitely let myself do a [finish this scene later] and move on to the next scene because otherwise I will get really fucking stuck, and sometimes I’ll write a line or a paragraph I thought of that sounds really good and tuck it away for a later scene.

Favourite trope or headcanon you like to explore while writing?

Ooooooooh, I don’t know if this is a trope but there’s just nothing I love more than huge feelings contained in mundane stories, of feelings so big you can’t actually express them and so they’re this constant hum throughout the story. I also love writing about touch for both of them, how Ed gives casual touch to hide the deep well of desire for intimate touch, how Stede is so unused to touch and craves it so deeply. (Can you tell I just really like subtle yet overwhelming emotions? Maybe it’s the aroace in me idk but that shit hits HARD.) Oh, and I love a fuckin’ allegory or object to discuss all those big feelings, whether it’s monsters or gardening or peaches or what the fuck ever (I have used all of these lol).

Whose voice is easier to write - Ed or Stede? Why?

I think Ed’s voice comes to me faster because the way I personally speak is closer to Ed’s voice, but it also means I’m sometimes double-checking myself to make sure I’m still deep in his voice, not my-voice-but-Ed. Stede isn’t necessarily harder for me, I’m just doing all that double-checking to make sure I’m not slipping into Ed voice or, god forbid, Aziraphale-lite voice. So, idk! I love writing them both, the little details of each of their inner dialogues are SO important to me (Ed’s tangents and his pshh-I-don’t-care moments, Stede actively avoiding thinking about things he doesn’t want to face, etc etc etc).

Your personal favourite thing you've written that you'd like more people to read

For the longest time it was There is Love That Doesn’t Have a Place to Rest, mostly because it was posted the day before another fic and, while I find them to be siblings and equal quality,  the other one got way more attention. That fic is about the time between signing the Act of Grace and getting to the academy and I think I really nailed where the two of them are at.

However! (And I know this is cheating okay shh.) Nowadays the one that I wish people read the most is Not Only the Sugar, But the Days. It’s the sequel to my “offscreen 30 year slowburn friends to lovers finally get together” fic and I put my whole fucking heart into it, honestly. The two boys basically go on a bunch of dates to live out the teenage experiences they never got together and work through the biggest feelings and I just! Really want people to see it! (It also can be read as a standalone, which I didn’t advertise super well lol.)

What is the one word that you think you use a lot?

Unfortunately it’s probably “just” or “a little” or filler words like that. Also obviously if the word fuck counts then, yeah, that. Maybe warm? Or something about yearning??? If I have a classic word please tell me I’m fascinated by this idea.

Do you have a beta reader? Have they made you a better writer?

The person who beta’s for basically all my fics is Owen @trans-top-stede and they are sooooo fucking helpful and incredible. So good at catching all the little things I miss, making sex scenes make sense, reminding me positioning in general is a thing, cheerleading me on, etc etc etc. My fics are so much better for their help.

Why OFMD 🥹

Ed and Stede just fit so fucking well into all sorts of AU’s (they try to invent their own AU’s in canon, even) while also having so much fun space to explore within canon. Their range is also perfect perfect perfect for writing fics—they can be in the wells of misery and fluffy as fuck and obnoxiously cheesy and realistic all in the same fic, if you want, and it’s completely accurate to their canon selves. It’s also helped me to embrace being silly and cheesy and earnest because life is about being yourself and finding your people and feeling deeper, feeling bigger, feeling more authentically without fear of being too much. Fuck I just really love these boys. (Also they’re so pretty and the whole crew’s so pretty we WON.)

Please head over to @ofmdlovelyletters (who also made the header) and send your love to all your favourite authors (and authors of the week 😈 watch that blog for some special letters coming your way)

[vivalgi]

This post is primarily meant for all the doubters, naysayers and people in denial who ganged up against me when I first declared my suspicions that wannabe Malfoy revealed on @candlelightgames' Instagram post might be AI generated.

I will point out some of the most obvious signs of AI usage after the break but first I want to quote Owen Wilson: "Wow!" Usually half the AI image detectors fail to do their job, but never before have I seen such a unanimous decision - all 7 out of 7 online tools that I managed to find are saying that the Project Spellstruck's first character art is most likely AI:

Now, onto the analysis. People are still expecting clearly visible errors from generated images, such as irregular amount of fingers or something going through another object, but AI has come a long way and it's becoming harder to point out obvious signs without focusing hard. It's even able to create a vague resemblance of symmetry and repeating elements. AI generated art isn't often published "straight out of the oven" either. Artists-prompters make the AI do a lot of inpainting and add their own little touch-ups until the images are more or less presentable. A character has 16 fingers? Just mark the problematic area you want to be regenerated, maybe even make a rough sketch over it and then have the program do its job again. Even Bardick's design evolution, CL has demonstrated, looks very similar to the typical AI-assisted workflow I just described:

It's hard to put into words what makes art feel and look AI, but don't worry, doubters, I can also point out some strange elements that strongly hint at this character art being largely made by AI.

Below is the highest quality image I could get, so you can come back to it and zoom in if you want to see the clean version without my scribbles:

The coat's lapels

In the corner of the left lapel there's this triangular piece:

Whatever it's meant to be, it's a single solid object and not nearly as incoherent as what's happening on the opposite side:

The triangular shape seems to be made up of 3 disconnected sticks and the ends of the golden protruding lines that flow into that corner, become intrusions, although they don't line up very well either. Try to explain what the artist was attempting to do here. It's a very clear example of AI making up some fuzzy incoherent details. No need to find any further evidence really, but let's move on.

Occasional double vision effect around the edge of the golden hem, creating parallel running lines (a typical thing I've noticed image generators tend to do):

The pants and belt

That wobbly dotted line is the edge of his pants:

I've also traced the lines of the belt buckle, so you can see exactly how much it makes sense upon closer look. Not a lot, right? Also, the prong melts into the buckle, doesn't even go through the belt's hole and there's more fuzzy scribble around it.

Shadows

The shirt's collar creates shadows to both sides of it:

The lighting source seems to be behind the guy as the corner of the collar is further from the viewer than the shadow it casts:

Some other shadows are suspicious as well but not so obviously bad to confidently demonstrate them.

This is not an attempt to turn anyone against AI, but merely an analysis to show the most obvious signs that this dude was probably more or less generated by AI. If you like this kind of artificial art and are fine with Candlelight or any other studio/artist using it, then I won't stop you from enjoying it. If you have a hard time recognizing AI art then I truly envy you, ignorance is bliss as the saying goes. However, please don't come to proudly demonstrate your ignorance and argue with me or even worse, try to make fun of me because you think I'm wrong in saying that this character art was generated with AI. As I've now proven, it most likely is. It's too early to turn into an overprotective fangirl over a project we still know barely anything about.

[asses-to-ashes]

Longass post about some problematic aspects of 2000-2010 fandom, and why antis are not the solution for ongoing problems.

When people my age talk about 2000s-2010 fandom, they usually talk about it with rose-colored glasses as if it was the Golden age of fandom. I've done the same thing in some of my posts at times, and I don't necessarily see a problem with it, especially when you're discussing it under the context of the current climate of censorship and community harassment, but it's important to look back at the past objectively. When I say old fandom in this post, just know that I'm referring to 2000 to 2010.

There is a happy medium that needs to be reached between holding people accountable in fandom and avoiding censorship. The "anti" mindset goes way too far and polices how people explore fiction, but Old Fandom had its own problems with extremely poor behavior. In this essay I'm going to be exploring these problems in old fandom, the causes and solutions, why media censorship is never the answer. It's important to recognize and reflect on these things especially for people who weren't around to experience it. History repeats itself when Forgotten.

My point is not, and has never been that old fandom was worse than new fandom. My point is not that old fandom is bad at all. My point here is looking at problems, the solutions that have been made for those problems, and why they don't relate to censoring fiction at all.

I want to reiterate that I know things I'm about to discuss still happen. You do not have to comment. But it's important that we start looking objectively at Old Fandom as a wonderful, accepting but sometimes problematic (real problematic not the way antis nave coopted that word) space.

Keep in mind that this is an opinion piece. While I do provide statistics, I'm not trying to make any objective statements. My experience is probably different than yours. The experiences of my friends and my sources are probably different than yours.

With that in mind, let's get into it. Click read more for the meat of this essay

Cosplay Is Not Consent

Consent and sexual harassment have always been a huge issue within the cosplay community, there have been countless stories of women dealing with unwanted sexual advances such as touching, cat calls, kissing, and groping in convention spaces. At conventions in 2000, consent was never mentioned. With such a severe problem, the Cosplay Is Not Consent movement began.

This has been a notion that has been around for a while, been posted at some small cons as far beck as 2012. but it really only became a popularized sentiment at New York City Comic-Con 2014, where the phrase "Costumes Are Not Consent was posted publicly in the convention apace, along with a clear anti-harassment policy.

Even though research shows that most sexual harassment goes unreported, the amount of sexual harassment reports had more than halved in the first year of the visible anti-harassment signs and movement. The amount of sexual harassment cases at NYCC remained steady at "about a dozen" per year even as the number of attendees has increased from 151,000 in 2014 to more than 200,000 in 2023- A testament to the increased awareness of sexual harassment within fandom, an ongoing movement to protect attendees with anti-harassment policies.

A policy is only as good as the structure set up around that policy. An increasing number of conventions have a policy, display their policy prominently, define harassment, explain consequences, let guests know how to report harassment, and give separate protocols when convention organizers are responsible for abuse.

Now, instead of an unspoken "look the other way" policy, congoers are more likely to notice sexual harassment, come to someone's aid, and speak out. People who harass women are more likely to be kicked out of conventions and sexual harassment is more likely to be reported.

Obviously, sexual harassment and assault is still a huge problem in convention spaces, but with an increase in awareness around the issue, it's not as prominent as before.

Subsection: Yaoi Paddles, Glomping, and dangerous conduct

Reportedly first sold in 2002 at Otakon, yowie paddles are a wooden paddle with the word Yaoi burnt into the paddle end used for spanking people. They were a huge problem at conventions and caused a lot of people to be injured as a result. There were countless stories on forums about people being hit by random passerbys using a yaoi paddle, and people begged for it to be banned.

Glomping Is a running hug action that's a mix between a hug and a pounce. It was very popular in fandom, specifically around 2005 in the anime and furry fandoms. It was mostly younger people doing this and it caused a lot of people to be injured as well. Glopping incidents sometimes even included biting or groping.

Both of these behaviors were considered very poor etiquette, but were still very common in conventions. They were common enough so that even saying the words yaoi paddle or glomp to a cosplayer my age is like activating a sleeper agent. Your life flashes before your very eyes. Obviously I'm being dramatic here but it was very annoying.

Inappropriateness with Actors

In general, poor etiquette around celebrities is still a thing now. I haven't seen etiquette getting any better, so this point is less about a problem with old fandom and more about a current issue that still needs to be addressed. I'm going to be talking about real people, fan fiction and the blurred lines between characters and actors.

I'm not here to debate the ethics of "real people fiction." For those of you who don't know, RPF is a genre of fanfiction that involves real people. These people can be actors, politicians, historical figures, youtubers, really anything like that.

The problem comes from involving real actors in your fiction about them. What I mean by this is sending the actors your explicit fan fiction, or asking them inappropriate sexual questions. This is more of a problem from the early 2000's. While this does still happen now, it was really prolific in the early Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter fandoms.

Actors would frequently be invited to fan sites that had explicit RPF fanfiction. I've seen cases where actors were asked to sign copies of RPF, actors were mailed RPF, and were showed these fanfictions at meetups and conventions.

RPF never died off, and it's still a very popular genre. Between 2016 and 2017, fanfiction about real K-pop stars. Increased 10% on Tumblr. In 2015, Larry Stylinson was the number one ship on Tumblr according to Amanda Brennan, senior content insights manager at Tumblr.

Celebrities have been harassed for not following a fandom script, online shipping has led to the real life harassment of celebrities. For example, Lili Reinhart reported that her castmate was sent death threats because her character was getting in between a popular ship. This happened in 2017 and represents an ongoing problem in fandom.

Nazism and the Anime Boston Incident

I distinctly remember going to conventions when I was younger and seeing Nazi cosplayers walking around sometimes. They could be from Indiana Jones, Captain America, or whatever movie allowed them to wear that.

It wasn't until 2017 when Rose City Comic-Con updated a change to cosplay policy outlawing Nazi cosplayers including satirical or ironic cosplays which use Nazi paraphernalia or gear. Other conventions have also enacted similar cosplay bands in response to incidents such as the hello Kitty SS uniforms (yes, this is real) and cosplays of other fictional Nazis such as old school Hydra and red skull.

The most memorable incident that I distinctly saw on the internet in 2010 was the Hetalia Anime Boston Incident. For those of you who aren't familiar with hetalia, it's a series that came out in 2009 and initially took place in WWII, and each character is the humanization of a country. There is still debate on the characterization, especially regarding the character Germany- Poor guy was the cause of this specific controversy. The Italia fandom had exponential growth since 2009, and at anime Boston 2010, there was an incident regarding a hetalia photo shoot where cosplayers decided to do a Nazi salute as a joke. Even at the time, the sparked controversy on the Hetalia fandom on livejournal which is why I remember this incident so specifically. There were incidents like this beforehand, but this garnered enough attention online so that lots of photographers made it very clear that no Nazi imagery or posing was allowed.

With more restrictive policies and increased awareness, these types of cosplays became a lot less common in the west. The band are usually around Nazi iconography and symbols such as salutes and uniforms. You still see these cosplays today, such as an example from Hong Kong at Ani-com that took place this month, July 2024.

Where do antis fit in here?

I want to make it super clear that none of these major issues that I brought up here have to do with fiction. The points that are related to fiction, such as cosplaying a Nazi character or sending RPF to actors are entirely based on people's conduct in real life.

People never stopped liking characters like Red Skull, people still write about him and draw him. People should be allowed to write about characters like Red Skull and people should be allowed to like him, the issue arises when you wear a Nazi uniform in a public place.

People never stopped liking Yaoi. Little fan girls never stopped reading exactly the same stuff that I was reading at their age. The difference comes from behavior in real life.

Universally, the vast majority of fandom regardless of the time are able to separate fiction from reality. The problems were never caused by fiction, but rather people's behavior.

In order to stop people from cosplaying Nazi characters, the solution was not getting rid of all Nazi characters in media and harassing people who write about them. The solution was, very simply, to ban this kind of iconography at conventions and hold people accountable for their conduct.

Regardless of the space and the fandom, there are always going to be people who can't behave properly. There are always going to be people who don't know how to treat others. That's just the reality of looking at a group of people, some people don't have common sense. It is not the fiction that causes people to behave this way, but rather having a large group of people in a relatively new scene that hasn't established proper regulations and etiquette yet.

Allowing people to create, consume, and appreciate fiction that is not personally tasteful to you, or appropriate for some audiences, is an important part of society. It's extremely valuable to protect these freedoms, as censorship is a slippery slope.

My next essay will be about censorship in the Cold war era, McCarthyist homophobia, and why comic books were censored for having "anti-american" ideas.

Keep an eye out for that.

[rdiowx]

Kinktober day six

Breeding with puppy frank iero

Warnings!: breeding obviously, knotting, trans male reader, rough but whiney frank.

This comes from my wanting of a cunt guys

Not proofread

Franks ruts were your favorite days, especially when you could convince him to knot you like you planned on doing today. You were at work all day today, having to leave frank alone and you felt so bad. You knew he was probably aching right now, you’d be surprised if he wasn’t. Walking into your house you were met with whines and the smell of sweat. “Im home frank!” You announced, taking your shoes off and putting them by the door. It wasnt long until you heard frank making his way towards you, his movements rather rushed as he greeted you. His shirt was off and he was covered in sweat, you could see his cock strained in his shorts and you frowned. You took his hand, taking him to your bedroom before sitting him on your guy’s shared bed. You started to take your clothes off, frank getting too excited and began to help.

It didn’t take frank long to start attacking your chest as soon as it was free, leaving marks all over. You let out a moan as frank took your nipple into his mouth, sucking on it greedily before you even got the chance to take your pants off. “Frank, c’mon im not even all the way undressed yet.” You told him, nudging him off of you causing him to whine before taking your pants off. You sat on the bed as he did so, he decided to leave your boxers on for now though. Crawling up the bed he latched onto your mouth, running his hands up your sides, gripping them in the process. “You gonna knot me today?” You asked, slipping his shorts off. “I don’t want to hurt you..” he replied, his voice shaking as you took his boxers off. You shook your head with a smile before telling him he wouldn’t.

“Okay.” He whispered before slipping his hand into your boxers, his fingers finding your entrance almost immediately. You moaned as he slipped his fingers into you, gripping onto his arms as he finger fucked you, successfully stretching you out for his cock. He got tired of not being able to see all of you and took your boxers off all the way, throwing them somewhere in the room. Frank leaned down between your thighs to press a kiss to your clit, slipping his tounge into you afterwards causing you to whine. It didn’t take him long to get impatient, he wanted his cock in you and you wanted his cock inside of you just as much.

He didn’t take long flipping you over, your lower body now being held up by your knees as you rested your head on the pillow under you. Slipping his cock inside of you must’ve been what set him off because it didn’t take long for him to start using you like you were just a fleshlight, an inanimate object without a pulse. “Fuck!” He whined while you just groaned into the pillow you were using as a muzzle. He felt so good inside of you, the feeling of his cock sliding in and out of you made your brain numb. The only thing you were aware of right now was him and the drool pooling on the pillow from how good you felt. The sound of skin on skin filled the room as well as the wet noises from your cunt.

“S’good, good boy.” Frank moaned still fucking into you, the headboard slamming against the wall with each thrust. You wouldn’t be surprised if there was a dent in the wall after. You didn’t know when you moved your hands, now clenching the sheets in between your fingers as frank held your hips in his, There was no doubt gonna be finger prints on them. You felt frank hands sliding lower before slipping under you to rub your clit making you cry out in surprise. “I want you to cum all over my cock when i knot you.” Frank whimpered from above you,to which you could only nod at, too brain dead to respond with words. You took note of how you could feel his knot against your entrance now, a telltale sign that he was close.

It didnt take long for him to slip it inside of you causing you to groan and sigh after, you loved the feeling of his knot inside of you and you felt all warm as he came inside of you as well. “Good job, good boy.” Frank sighed as he released inside of you. “Breeding you…feels so good.” He melted against your back before helping you move on your side so he could cuddle you from behind with his cock still inside of you. You knew it would take a while for his knot to go down anyways. “Feels good frank.” You whispered, tired from being fucked. “Mmhm.” He hummed, his head now in your neck.

[sw-33-ts-stuff]

hello helloooo, i may send this request to other authors

could you do a wednesday addams x gn! reader where the reader can stop time but anyone who is touching them will not be frozen? so like the reader is just like "hey wednesday,(or whatever nickname they have for her) come with me for a sec" and it obviously takes a bit of begging but then they go outside in the rain or snow and the reader just grabs wednesdays hand and puts the other hand up and stops time so the snow or rain just sits there in mid air. could probably make this super fluffy

-C<3

3rd Person POV

You sat quietly at lunch watching Xavier once again try to impress Wednesday by making his artwork come to life. You felt yourself scowl as you caught the slightest bit of intrigue in her gaze.

You remembered a time when Xavier said his powers weren't meant to be used for showing off and that everyone should hold the same mindset.

Obviously his feelings on the matter have changed.

Enid sat with Ajax watching Wednesday resist the urge to stab Xavier. She caught your line of sight and laughed under her breath. It was so painfully obvious that you were crushing on Nevermore’s resident goth, at least to everyone but the girl herself.

You and Wednesday shared a few classes together and she's been sure to share her lack of hatred towards you on several occasions, but Wednesday was always hard to read. Some days you'd dare to say she enjoyed your company and others you'd wonder if she even knew you existed.

Enid walked over to you tapping your shoulder. Your head shot up in surprise so caught up in your envy of Xavier you didn't even hear the young werewolf approach.

"Howdy Y/n!" You nodded giving the girl a small smile.

"Hey Enid."

"You know you shouldn't scowl." You felt your eyebrows furrow. The blonde rolled her eyes.

"Oh please anyone can totally see the little green monster in you whenever everyone's favorite brooding artist gets next to Wednesday."

A light red sprinkled your cheeks as you shook your head in denial.

"I-" the gloomy girls roommate just raised an eyebrow at you making you sigh.

"Am I really that bad?" The fur laughed lightly grabbing a seat next to you, in turn catching the attention of the very object of your affections.

Wednesdays eyebrows furrowed as she watched you and Enid talk. Your cheeks red and a small smile on your face, it was disgusting.

The weird sensation in her stomach making her uncomfortable and not in a good way. It certainly did not help that somewhere in the background Xavier's voice continue to drone on about the possibility of them going on a date.

It was when Enid had touched your hand that she felt aggravated. She stood and waved skipping happily back to their shared dorm making the shorter girl stand abruptly to follow.

"You never know if you don't try."

Enid's words rang on a constant loop in your head. She had encouraged you to ask Wednesday on a date but you still held a great fear of rejection.

You walked around the Quad looking up once you'd heard thunder, when lightning stuck you made your way to Ophelia Hall.

Enid was smirking at Wednesday as Thing "peeked" out from her closet.

"You know Willa if I didn't know any better I'd say you were jealous." Wednesdays glared became more intense making the werewolf stutter. "K-k-kidding but I promise it's not what you think."

A rushed knock on the door broke the both of them from their discussion. You didn't look up as you walked in.

"Hey Enid do you think-" your eyes were caught in Wednesdays intense gaze. Dark eyes sucking you in. Enid glanced between the two of you as you both engaged in a staring contest. Thing signed something to her making the werewolf almost smile.

You took a shuttering breath. "Uh Wednesday would you want to go outside with me?"

The goth blinked. "Why?"

"Because I-I want to show you something." Her eyes narrowed and the werewolf almost growled in frustration before she felt an idea form.

"If Wednesday doesn't want to go with you I don't mind joining you." You both turned to the girl surprised. Wednesday grit her teeth, annoyed as she had yet to figure out why Enid kept being so friendly with you. You stared at her confused.

Didn't she just tell me I need to try and ask her out?

"Let me just grab my coat since Wednesday will probably want to write-"

"Rude of you to assume I didn't want to go." She turned looking up at you slightly. "I will grab my coat now, you should grab one as well."

You smirked making Wednesday pause. "I'll be ok."

You both walked towards the schools greenhouse as you hit a switch opening the room up to the sky above as it began to drizzle.

Wednesday watched as you remained calm the drizzle quickly turning into harsh rain as thunder struck.

"You're going to catch pneumonia." You felt yourself turn towards the shorter girl.

"You know if I didn't know any better I'd think you were actually worried about me Addams." The girl scoffed.

"Quite the contrary I'd much rather have your corpse to perform an autopsy then deal with your assumptions."

You laughed. What a Wednesday thing to say.

You stepped closer to her slowly putting one hand towards her palm up.

She watched as the rain began to grow harder your hair and clothes beginning to grow wet. Suddenly your pinky wrapped around hers and she watched as you lifted the other towards the sky.

She felt the air grow still. She looked at individual droplets frozen mid air, the wind had stopped blowing as did the rain. The thunder grew silent and she found a flash of lightning had just began to illuminate the sky, paused at just the right moment. She could see the tendrils of electricity traveling throughout the grey clouds above.

You smiled as you watched her eyes took everything in. She abruptly pulled her hand from yours watching as the rain had resumed above her but not you.

"You did this." You nodded looking at the scene before you swallowing harshly. Wednesday continued to stare at you making you shift uncomfortably. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking and you felt small under her gaze.

The goth continued to stare slightly impressed by your power but plagued by something else entirely. She felt disgust at the thought of being exactly as Enid suggested....jealous. What a ridiculous feeling. Jealousy suggested emotions and emotions meant weakness, yet the thought of you with her and not Enid wasn't the worst idea she could think of. The thought of you wanting her, having feelings for her and her sharing the same didn't feel weak, especially not with what you just displayed. She just had to be sure..

"Are you interested in Enid?" Your eyes grew wide in shock and you felt yourself almost laugh. If not for the scary girl in front of you you're sure you would've.

"No!" You looked down cheeks heating up as you took a deep breath. "She was giving me advice on how to ask you on a date."

Wednesday grew quiet as she stared at you her hand slowly going towards yours as her pinky slightly hooked around yours.

Time froze again around her again.

"If we were to go on a date, where would you take me?"

The Addams girl continued to keep you in your toes. You felt a small smile grow on your face.

"That would be a surprise." The shorter girl stepped closer to you.

"I hate surprises." You leaned down slightly.

"You'll like this one." You both continued to look into each others eyes as she grabbed you by your tie bringing you to her level. Her lips crashed into yours. For someone so cold her lips were warm, soft and tasted sweeter than you thought they would. She pulled away smirking when she'd seen her lipstick had stain your lips.

In your surprise you let your guard down and got soaked. You put the roof back up on the greenhouse as Wednesday took you to her dorm.

Enid and Thing painting their nails on the floor.

Enid smirked at the sight of you as Wednesday went to get you a towel.

"Nice lipstick Y/n."

[asher-agere]

I, once again, have no extra text to add before my request. There needs to be more interesting things happening in my life that aren’t very dreadful…

Request time!! Can you share some thoughts on caregiver Shirase with a little who tries to ignore their regression as much as possible because they hate not being useful. Of course, as usual with most of my requests, no specific character in mind ^_^

You say most of your requests have no second character in mind right after we did that little Stormbringer character series- But either way no worries! Don’t need a second character for simple headcanons hehe

Caregiver Shirase + Little Neglecting Regression

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

✮⋆˙ Shirase can be a selfish guy. He’s not necessarily rude or anything! But let’s be honest, he knows how to put himself first. He thinks that everyone works that way! So when he starts taking care of a little one that pushes off their own needs just to make his life a little bit easier? He’s confused to say the least. Obviously he wants his little one to take care of themselves! Neglecting your regression isn’t good ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡ )

✮⋆˙ For awhile Shirase lets it go. It’s perfectly reasonable that they just haven’t felt like regressing! He doesn’t want to make them feel bad about not regressing or push them into it! But overtime he’ll notice signs that they really need it. Spacing out, fidgeting with stuff a lot, maybe talking less. He’ll notice! It might take him some time… But he will notice eventually! Once he’s onto what’s going on he can be relentless!

✮⋆˙ Shirase tries talking about things calmly. He’ll just ask his little one “Sooooo why haven’t I seen my baby in a while? I miss them a lot y’know?” If they hesitate to answer he’ll shower them in praise, explaining how much he loves his baby and misses them, then once they’re nice and flustered he’ll ask again! Hopefully this works, they’ll admit the problem, and they can talk it through! Shirase will explain that he loves taking care of them of course! It’s a comfort for him too, remember? But sometimes a little one can be stubborn. Insisting that they’re fine and walking off. Shirase moves onto phase two!

✮⋆˙ A stubborn baby gets a bit more forceful treatment! He knows that they need to regress, even if they’re denying it. So he’ll help them get there! He’ll walk up behind them and tackle them with a blanket! He’ll pick them up so they can’t run away! Baby is quickly wrapped up in a swaddle and carried to the couch! Shirase will put on some cartoons for the little one and bounce them, cooing at them and placing a pacifier in their mouth!

✮⋆˙ If the little one is stubborn enough to insist they don’t need to regress then they’re probably stubborn enough to object to obvious babying treatment. However! Shirase can be even more stubborn. Anything the little one says to object Shirase just nods his head and hums as if they’re babbling. He doesn’t speak baby! He soothes any thrashing as if it’s a tantrum, gently shushing them and rocking them side to side “Calm down now bud… Want your paci? Look at the super cool cartoons! Oooo I love this episode, settle down so we can watch”

✮⋆˙ The little one can object all they want, he’s getting them to regress forcibly. Then whenever they’re out of headspace (Usually after a nice nap) He’ll actually talk about things! Ask them why they don’t wanna regress, why they’ve been avoiding it. He’ll explain that he loves taking care of them too! They think he’d do something he doesn’t like? They must not know him very well then. In fact the little one is very rude for not letting him do his favorite activity which is taking care of them! He’ll punish them with a tickle attack!

✮⋆˙ Obviously that self doubt isn’t the kind of thing that’ll disappear over night though. He gets that! So he’ll encourage them to regress constantly! He’s always keeping up with cartoons (He gets emotionally invested in the plot), he’ll buy any cute plushies he sees, and whenever he’s bored he’ll just go and baby his little one. An adorable little baby will surely cure his boredom! If they object he’ll beg them with puppy dog eyes, his childish behavior may not seem fitting for a caregiver, but he’s so playful! It encourages a happy drop session!

✮⋆˙ Constant reassurance! It’s like. Daily for him. He’ll give his little one a hug and say how much he loves them, send them silly stuff saying it reminded him of them and he’s looking forwards to next time he gets to watch the cute baby, he makes sure that if he’s complaining (Which he does a lot) he mentions how it would be so helpful to just take care of someone else. Tiny things, he tries not to be too pushy! But the constant reassurance can help a lot

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

Sorry I haven’t posted today ૮꒰◞ ˕ ◟ ྀི꒱ა We had no power and no WiFi and no water and I was trying to conserve my battery and not waste data? But like I also didn’t really… It was very frustrating and I’ve been on the verge of a tantrum all day (>﹏<) But I got at least one post in today! There’s also a Comic Con this weekend where I’m selling my first wig… Very busy times! I’m also going both days so I get to use both of my cosplays :0 But yeah a lot- Sorry for the yap hehe. Have a lovely day/night everyone!

[modelbus]

I’ll beg on my knees for Dream saying I love you for the first time

you can get off your knees now don’t worry <3

Pairing: Cc!Dream x Gn!Reader

Fond Firsts

He says it on accident, a one-off, but you certainly didn’t miss it. Not when they’re the words you’ve been aching to hear—and say—since the moment he first kissed you.

The movie, a horror he swears by, wasn’t one you had ever seen before. Hence the horror movie after Halloween, because spooky season wasn’t just limited to October with him. The first scare was minor, something you had been expecting the entire time. All the other ones? Not so much.

You had jumped for the thousandth time, blushing furiously and rolling your eyes at how Dream had laughed and tugged you closer to him. His arm was settled around your waist, pinning you close to him. Not that you minded. But the laughing stung just a bit.

“It’s not funny! You didn’t tell me there was so much… horror!” You defended yourself, making him laugh harder.

“It’s a horror movie!” He had exclaimed, then dropped with L-bomb with a casual smile on his face. “You jump so much, oh my God. I love you.”

And just like that, your breath was stolen.

You watch as his smile falters as he realizes, his eyes widening as he straightens. “Oh, shit. Fuck fuck fuck.” He murmurs, mostly himself. Panicked.

Was this a bad sign? A good sign?

You open and close your mouth wordlessly before finding something to say. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t mean it.” Dream blurts out.

Hurt, sharp and roaring, tears up your insides. Claws your ribs apart, exposes your heart, and rips into it like a lion feasting. Oh.

“You… didn’t mean it?” You repeat slowly, like saying it all in a rush would break everything.

The movie, still playing and loud, is forgotten.

“I mean, I meant it, obviously, but I didn’t mean it then. Wait, no, I meant it then but not timing-wise. I just mean that it’s true but I had something planned! That wasn’t meant to happen right now!”

His hands, one along the curve of your waist from previously and the other newly placed on your arm squeeze like he’s afraid you’ll vanish. You don’t run, not from him, but his fear is there all the same.

You’ve known him long enough to know the way he’s speaking. The rushed, panicked rhythm. The way he gets louder, higher-pitched. How his words don’t seem to match his brain anymore, because what he’s thinking and saying are two different things with the same objective.

But you’ve definitely never seen him panic over something like this. And there’s definitely no guidebook on what to do if your boyfriend fucks up and accidentally says “I love you” for the first time.

You curl a hand into his hair, soft beneath your fingers, and tug his lips to yours. Dream doesn’t resist, greedily taking in the kiss. He doesn’t pull away completely either, leaving his forehead resting against yours.

“I love you too.” You assure him, then add, “dumbass.”

“I had a plan.” He laments. “I was going to take you to a nice dinner and kiss you Goodnight and say it then.”

The fact you could picture it makes you laugh. Wine and candlelight, because he’s cheesy. It probably wouldn’t have ended with a kiss goodnight—you were both suckers for falling asleep together—but he definitely would’ve still found a way to make it the most romantic confession of love.

And yet, you prefer it this way.

“You can still do that.” You offer, smiling as he steals another kiss from you.

“It’s not the same.”

“I can pretend.”

“It’s still not the same.”

“I’m really good at pretending.”

He laughs, finally, and you’ve won the lottery. “Fine. I’ll surprise you with it.”

Dream pulls away, thinks better of it and gives you another kiss, then resettles to watch the movie again.

“I love you.” You hedge, studying his expression.

“I love you too.” His eyes and smile are soft when he glances at your face. “You’re missing all the good parts.”

“None of it is the good part.”

“Just watch.”

Sighing endearingly, you do as told and tune back into the movie.

[jackdaniel69nice]

Dark shadow is mostly blind that gets worse the brighter it is. It wasn’t as bad when they were younger but their vision has been getting progressively worse over the years. Their eyes are a sensitive area that when hit (both physical and light attacks) actually causes harm and they will need to disappear to recharge. They have trouble reading, drawing, and looking at computers screens but they do these things anyway because they actually like to have fun and won’t let a little pain stop them. They often ask tokoyami to read important things like signs, homework, and even someone’s facial expressions when it’s to hard to deal with.

I know you’re thinking “how can they fight so well then?” Well I think they have the ability to sense the environment around them (sort of like hawks feathers). When DS is disappeared inside tokoyami they can still “sense” what is going on around and hear conversations. The way this sense works could be multiple reasons:

Sensitivity to light means wherever light bounces off of and then hits dark shadow they be able to feel it…this is sort of how eyes work already though so I’m not a fan

Movement and sound causes vibration which they are sensitive to…which is exactly like hawks quirk so still not a fan

Dark Shadow can feel darkness. Light will be blocked where the object is so they can feel it. I like this idea best

In reality it’s probably a mixture of all three of these that gives dark shadow the ability move around so well.

Tokoyami will finally ask Hatsume to make special glasses for Shadow but it will take ages for them to wear them because they are embarrassed. The glasses/goggles will block light as well as enhance the image quality, so basically fancy prescription sunglasses. The only thing unique is that it changes sizes along with dark shadow, who grows in size the darker it is, there is a limit to it’s stretch though. Obviously these are strong enough to protect DS from being hit in the eyes as well.

A final but important point, when Shadow is in a rampage their eyes turn red. This limits their vision even more by literally creating a red haze over everything. They rely heavily on sensing and hearing movement. If you stand still and stay quiet you might live another day ;)

There will be a follow up post about Tokoyami’s vision so stay tuned

[amysgiantbees]

Bad Buddy

I've struggled to get into Thai shows. It's admittedly VERY different to what I'm used to. I'm very grateful to talistheintrovert and their video all about BL. If they ever make a follow up one I'd love some new recommendations and also maybe they could give a more in depth warning to new bees about how different Thai shows can be.

I had to stop watching Bad Buddy at first because it was too different and cringe. Obviously not objectively bad, I just had to get used to the style. The cringe is subjective. But the blatant, hilariously overt product placements, goofy side affects and other little things were too off putting at first. I'm on board now but it was a journey getting here.

By the time I came to give it another shot I had to move to Daily Motion (thank god it exists) and I'm happy to say I now love it.

TBH I also struggled to care about the architecture V engineering and the parent's fight too. The stakes being tied to (seemingly at the time) two incredibly dumb pointless fights made it really difficult for me to care at first. Which is why I think it was easier for me to get into it the second time. I restarted at episode 4 or 5 where I'd left off. Skipping the will they won't they to secret dating just helped me care more and also there were more hints that the parents fight was more serious actually. The secret hiding was a lot more fun for me than the will they won't they so I found it easier to not be bothered by how low stakes it felt. Engineering V Architecture is just is like how I don't watch a lot of American HS shows where I have to get into the mindset that football games matter and are integral to the plot. At uni I didn't like the engineering department much either and I still could barely care.

Firstly, it is SO Much Ado About Nothing. The leads have a history. They don't stop bantering after they get together. Even in Skyy 2 their friends want them to get together or be closer. Even if it doesn't tick all the boxes the vibes are there.

LOVE the banter. It felt so real, never forced and never too mean. I wasn't seeing a divorce sign flashing above them. It was proper banter not fighting.

It's SUCH a fun show. I was nearly ready to throw my laptop in the last episode though because I nearly thought they did one of my least favourite tropes. I just don't like breakups at the end of love stories. That's not why I watch them. I get too invested and emotional to ever usually seek out a tragedy. Similarly, I really don't like movie series where they just pretend the previous love interest never existed or barely mention them to do a love story all over again (which is why NATM 1 is my fav).

Also, SO glad the parents didn't actually date. Don't love anything close to incest in media either. I know it technically isn't but grosses me out regardless.

I love anything where siblings, family and friends are heavily involved in people's lives. As sad as it is in the end. I relate more to people who can't cut out their family for a partner, at least not over this. This is probably the biggest highlight of BL's so far for me is that friendship and family is SO important in so many of them. Also all the casual trans rep <3. I really ADORE the side characters. Especially his sister and the besties.

I headcannon Pran as demi ace/aro.

If you are new to BL's and can get through the first episodes I highly recommend this. I've found with BL's they usually tend to get less zaney and sound effect heavy as they go as the plot thickens and it gets more serious. It's the case with this too.

[kanerallels]

A little late, but finally, here are my thoughts about MSATD 4x06!

Absolutely LOVE the way it started. Because of course these two would wind up being chased around an abandoned factory by a guy Eliza DRUGGED THIS IS THE THIRD TIME SHE'S POISONED SOMEONE AND I LOVE HER FOR IT

"I used to box for County Harwick" "does that mean something?" "IT MEANS QUITE A LOT" absolutely PERISHING it reminds me of that post about the person who pretended not to know what Harvard was

(also from a writing perspective I loooooooooooove the vibes of just throwing us into the middle/end of a case, showing us that they've been working on quite a few cases together! Plus it's just a fun way of writing things)

I'm very proud of Eliza for working with a large staff well and being able to handle things on her own!

UGH FITZROY'S JERK DAD SHOWED UP I HATE THAT GUY

Okay this was probably my favorite case of the season. The suspense, the way it handled Fitzroy's struggle over being given that promotion, and the culmination was *chef's kiss*

I read this post about how Eliza's allegiance is to the truth, while Nash's isn't to money, but to the memory and legacy of his brother and this episode DEFINITELY hammered that point home! The scene where he was struggling with whether or not to kill that guy? SO well done, Felix Scott has got mad skills

(also while I am not a Patrick x Eliza shipper.... from an objective point of view they had some GOOD moments in this episode)

(I mean come on. "you're the only one who's ever believed in me"? Him putting down the gun for her and only shooting O'Driscoll when he tried to kill Eliza? Those are some pretty immaculate vibes. I'm still ride or die for Williza, but I can see where the Patrick x Eliza shippers are coming from)

(okay and the moment in Patrick's cell where he said that he wanted her to believe he was a good person and she said that would never happen (affectionate), but then he said "Perhaps not. But I'll keep trying anyways"? Giving SERIOUS Rose In Bloom vibes. If you know, you know)

ANYWAYS BACK TO THE PLOT I also really really really LOVED the last scene between Fitzroy and his father. He stood up to him!! And told him that he didn't care if he was disappointed in him!! And the fact that he might not have a lot of ambition wasn't painted as a bad thing!! I LOVED IT A LOT OKAY

Oh also I didn't really like Phelps taking William's place at first, but the idea's grown on me a lot in this past episode. I liked the part where he basically told Fitzroy that he shouldn't be doing this job to get a pat on the back-- while I get where my boy Fitzroy was coming from, and Phelps is definitely a lot harsher than I approve of, it reminded me of a scene in The Rookie. And therefore gets a pass. I also liked the way it showed that Fitzroy and Phelps are at their best when they're working together!

Oh and! I liked the moment where Eliza and Mr. Potts were talking and she finally elected to be honest with him, and that's what won him over. EXCELLENT scene, I really liked it

(also I loved how Fitztroy, when he was Stressed, rubbed his hand over his face like William does. These are the things I obsessively notice. I have issues)

And then I REALLY liked the ending. The whole "Eliza goes to work for Nash" plotline has never been my absolute favorite. It just doesn't feel super true to who she is-- instead of being the only female detective in the city, she's a female detective working under Nash. And while I did enjoy their partnership more than I expected, I'm so glad to see her back in her own office, where she belongs. And she finally changed the name at the top of the sign!!

(and OBVIOUSLY I loved the William flashback at the end)

So overall, this was a really fun season!! Even though I was sad to not have William for the last two episodes, they were still really fun. Eliza and Patrick have great chemistry together on screen, and they're a really fun duo to watch!

Also, even those I missed Moses a LOT, I enjoyed some of the new characters-- namely, Clarence-- and the focus on some of the old ones, like Fitzroy and Phelps!!

And I DEFINITELY can't wait for the next season

[kraeki]

do you think szobo and curtis are good players? we love them as people and all but they get the most criticism online and i always see especially with curtis that he’s overrated. do you think it’s true, honestly?

Hi, sorry for the late answer, you sent this before the Bologna game before the Twitter hive collectively changed its mind about Dom, until the next game at least. But I'm glad I waited because what I was seeing on Twitter after that match helps me make my point in answering you. I ended up accidentally word vomiting though, so my answer is below the cut.

The short answer is that yes I think they are good players. Obviously I am not objective, especially not with Dom, but I would argue that their critics are not objective either.

The Twitter section of the LFC fandom has this weird thing where they can never be happy, they love moaning, sometimes I feel like certain people are almost gleeful after a loss because it gives them a chance to peddle their miserable agendas. But even in good spells they must always have a scapegoat to moan about. Before the season even started I felt like Andy had been picked as the chosen scapegoat by Twitter. Then he has been too good for them to be able to say anything (this will change the moment he has one bad game) so they had to find another scapegoat. Which was Dom until the Bologna game.

Why Dom? Because he was playing badly? No, I actually don't think he was playing badly. He had bad periods in games but others did as well. He just didn't have many wow moments and because he's Dominik Szoboszlai that wasn't good enough. He's putting in good shifts and an essential engine in the team machine but I think Dom is one of our more overly scrutinized and criticized players and I think the reasons for that are threefold: 1) For Hungary he's the star of the show, I don't usually watch their games but from what I've read he almost single handedly wins them some games. Liverpool fans can then be confused and bitter why he isn't doing the same for us, but he's playing a wildly different role in Liverpool, for both teams he's doing what's needed and it's not fair to compare it. 2) He had a crazy good start to his Liverpool career and is a victim of his own success because he set the bar so high that anything that came after that is a disappointment. 3) He's insanely good looking and people don't know how to handle it. It means he's overly talked about and an easy target for jokes and memes. idk if some of these dudes are just attracted to him and their panic about it manifests in hating on him or if they're just resentful of how perfect he is and have to find faults??

Whatever the reason is, it seems like there always has to be discourse about him. He's either the best midfielder in the world and Stevie G reborn or a terrible signing. He's never allowed to just exist and play football at a consistently high level. And it's such a bandwagon effect as well. After the Bologna game a few people started saying that it was unfair how much the fanbase criticized Dom because he hadn't actually done anything to deserve it, and within one hour it seemed like every other account on there was scrambling to put out their own tweet about how underrated his performances have been. The same accounts that were probably calling for him to be benched last week. It just shows how insufferably reactionary the online fanbase is and I'm sick of it. I try not to pay too much attention to player discourse these days because it lacks all nuance and critical thinking.

Now for Curtis, the same reactionary scapegoat principle applies. But I haven't actually seen much criticism about him lately so it's interesting that you have. I think he has a bit the same problem as Dom, that his role in the team is not flashy. He's also a Scouser and while that endears him to the local fans, people have been saying for a long time that the only reason he gets to be in the team is because he's a Scouser and not because of his talent. I feel like this has died a bit down as he's gotten older but maybe the underlying sentiment lingers.

I don't think he's one of our best players, but we have a team of world class players and to answer your question, yes I do think he is a good player and probably underrated. I remember during his best spell last season that you could actually see Liverpool's overall performance statistically increase when he was on the pitch. His big problem is injuries though. Because it seems like he's been in great form multiple times after he manages find his rhythm and consistently starts games and then he always gets injured at the height of hype around him. Like when he was supposed to be called up to the senior England squad last March after he'd been so good for us and then he got injured and lost his chance. Heartbreaking.

I really didn't mean to write so much but here we are. Once upon a time you had plenty of bad players in Liverpool but we are very privileged now because you don't get to become a Liverpool player now if you aren't actually at a top club level.

The bottom line is that online football discourse is toxic and idiotic as hell. I wish more people just supported our players. You can point out their mistakes and criticize them without going all out with "get out of my clerb" stuff. And actually I also think Liverpool fans don't need to point out every single mistake or bad game our players have. We have opp fans to do that. We don't hype up our players enough and that's why our world class players are consistently so disrespected in the media and in awards.

You're a hero if you read this far, but yeah I think they're good players and not overrated!