#but like he always says shit about my tastes and criticizes my style

[vmiuchi]

can u write a vv smut please 🥺 just something really tense, like maybe reader didn’t necessarily like him but she eases up on him and it eventually turns into something?

BREAKING POINT

Ville Valo x Female Reader. One shot.

word count: 1,322

(NSFW warning)

Backstage was absolute pandemonium. Amps everywhere, cables like snakes trying to trip you, folks yelling in every accent imaginable—honestly, if sweat had a flavor, this air would taste like old cigarettes and sheer panic. You’re standing outside those flimsy plywood dressing rooms, arms clamped across your chest, jaw basically carved from stone. Ville Valo’s hidden back there somewhere and, not gonna lie, you’re a millimeter from busting in Kool-Aid Man style.

Of course, he’s done it again.

Minutes ago, during HIM’s last set, Ville had to open his mouth, drop that grin that says “I know exactly what I’m doing,” and let it rip: “Shoutout to the backstage crew who just love running their mouths—even if they couldn’t play an E chord.” He doesn’t just drop the joke and move along. No, his eyes scan over, slow as hell, right to where you’re rooted, looking painfully visible.

The whole crowd eats it up. You can literally feel the rage bubbling up behind your eyeballs. Ville’s been messing with you since the moment you joined this tour, and tonight? Oh, he hauled your misery out front for everyone to see. Real crowd-pleaser, that one. You’re not laughing.

Day one, you clocked his type. Too slick, too at-ease, charisma dial turned up to “please just stop.” He glides around like he’s blessed the earth with his presence. That sly grin? You want to rip it off—or maybe do something a whole lot messier. Haven’t decided which urge wins yet.

And the way he flirts? Downright criminal. He stares a second too long, always teetering on that thin ledge between mocking and seducing you. You keep telling yourself it’s all pointless games—that you’re immune—but, yeah, well, your body’s got other ideas.

You storm in, not bothering to knock.

He’s dripping sweat, shirtless, black jeans hanging precariously low. Tattoos stretch old-school across that pale chest. He’s dabbing himself off, unfazed, looking like he just stepped out of a forbidden Calvin Klein ad.

He turns his head, lazy as you please. “If it isn’t my favorite critic.”

You shoot daggers. “What the hell was that stunt on stage, Valo?”

He grins, slings the towel aside. “You’ll have to remind me. I’ve been busy being worshipped.”

You kick the door closed with your boot. “Cut the bullshit. Was that shit about me?”

He just shrugs, mouth twitching at the corner. “Well, if the Doc Martens fit—”

You get up in his face, sweat prickling beneath your collar. “You think you’re the only one sweating blood for this band? Just ‘cuz I’m not the one crooning under the spotlights doesn’t mean I don’t exist.”

His gaze is straight-up rude at this point—slow, obvious, crawling all over you before finally landing back at your face. “Oh, believe me. You exist.”

You’re halfway through your next bark when he cuts you off, and your frustration finally boils over. You shove him, maybe harder than you mean.

He grabs your wrist without missing a beat.

Your body goes still—heart hammering, blood roaring in your ears. That hold is wild: not rough exactly, just certain. Like he owns every single inch of this room, including you.

“Let go,” you snarl.

His eyes gleam, dark and amused. “Make me.”

Yeah, that’s it. Something in the air just snaps.

You lunge, grab his chest, crush your mouth onto his—no hesitation, no gentle second thoughts. It’s a collision, not a kiss: hot, messy, angry as hell. All those months of useless banter and something way more dangerous just finally blow up.

He’s got hands everywhere, clutching fistfuls of your shirt, his fingernails raking your skin—grabbing your ass like he’s making a statement. You yank that silver chain, dragging him down and practically devouring him, both of you sucking in air like you’re drowning.

Suddenly you’re spun like a record, body smacked up against the vanity. Shit’s knocking over—a bottle falls, something clatters, but it’s all background noise now.

“That what you wanted?” he rasps, voice pure gravel against your neck.

You barely manage, “Shut up.”

He sinks teeth into your shoulder, just on the edge of not-quite-painful. Your body’s so into it you barely recognize yourself—fingers clawing at him, nails making lines down his spine. He lets out this absolutely filthy sound, way too pleased with himself.

At some point, your jeans are halfway down and you’re just rolling with it, panties snapped off with his teeth (show-off), soft kisses trailing up your thigh, everything getting fuzzier at the edges.

“I thought you hated me,” he smirks into your skin.

You pant, “I do.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”

He stands, smooth as anything, whips a condom from his pocket like he read your mind. You snatch it, rip it open, and—yep, he’s already hard—slide it onto him yourself. The weight of him in your hand twists everything inside you tighter.

“Just get on with it,” you snap.

He grins, cocky as ever, then… well, he doesn’t make you wait.

Holy hell. He fills you in one sharp, hard thrust—knocking the air right out of your lungs, almost tipping you headfirst into the chaos all over again. He’s relentless, pace wild, grunting, groaning, every thrust shoving you a half-inch more into oblivion.

“Still mad, or what?” he pants, breath salty-hot in your ear.

You bite back, “I’m gonna murder you.”

He slides a rough palm up to your throat—just enough pressure to make your skin tingle—kisses you like he’s starving, teeth clacking, tongue wild.

“Say it,” he growls.

You shake your head, stubborn.

He slams deeper, everything crashing together, and you crack—voice wrecked: “Ville.”

He bites your lip, pulls your head back by the hair, and suddenly the whole world’s disappeared, just skin and sweat and heat and the ragged sound of your breaths. The mirror’s rattling. Someone’s probably pounding on the door, but right now, you wouldn’t care if the building caught fire. Everything feels raw and dirty and maybe just a little bit perfect.

You fumbled down, nerves shot to hell, but he swatted your hand away—nah, too slow, let him handle it.

"Move. I got it," he muttered.

And, damn, did he ever. Fingers found your clit, just right, circles that made your knees want to buckle. All the while, he kept thrusting, deep and relentless, like he knew exactly how you wanted it—maybe he did. Your thighs started shaking, almost embarrassing if you had the capacity to care.

“Come for me,” he growled, voice rough enough to scrape your insides.

Did you? Well, hell yeah, you did—cried his name, your whole body tight, squeezing around him. He lost it a few heartbeats later, teeth digging into your shoulder, muffling the kind of sound that’d get you both kicked out if the whole damn hotel wasn’t already noisy.

You collapsed onto the vanity, a puddle with legs. He pulled out—gentle, surprisingly, for a guy who just ruined you—and tossed the condom in the trash, like it was just another Tuesday.

Silence dropped heavy between you, air thick with sweat and something else—maybe regret, maybe just reality biting your ass. Both of you stared at yourselves in the streaky mirror, still panting, half-dressed and ridiculously flushed.

He spun you toward him, hands big and weirdly soft on your jaw, thumb dragging lazy across your lower lip. Voice low, softer, a hint of nervous in there if you listened close: “Gonna bolt?”

You raised an eyebrow, let your mouth curl up. “What, you tired of me already?”

He snorted, like—please—and kissed you, slower this time, just lips and heat. No rush, just… whatever the hell this was.

You shoved your jeans back on, wiped your mouth ‘cause, honestly, who wants to walk out with sex lips? He watched, still half-naked, not even pretending to play it cool.

He finally broke the silence, smirking. “You good now?”

You shot him a glare that screamed bite me. “Shut up.”

But your feet wouldn’t move. Not yet.

[gingerteafairy]

shout to my boys. i love lemon sm, he deserves more. @redcherryflavourr, I'm feeding your delulu with your bf

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝐋𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧

Style & Aesthetics:

Lemon loves mixing different clothing styles and eras, creating unexpectedly stylish combinations. He makes sure to keep up his tough-guy appearance but has fun experimenting with different looks—like an ‘80s gangster with heavy chains or a modern cowboy in a leather jacket. He knows he looks good in anything and isn’t afraid to go bold.

Despite all his street style, at home, he’s the complete opposite. His home wardrobe consists of old sweatpants, faded t-shirts, and holey socks. He swears it’s all about comfort, but deep down, he’d be embarrassed to be caught looking like that. Has Tangerine ever teased him? Absolutely.

"Bloody hell, Lemon. You went to the fucking war and didn't call me. Look at all those big ass holes."

"Oh, shut the fuck up. You're always using the same suit everywhere you go."

Accessory Collector:

He has an obsession with rings, bracelets, and necklaces. His collection is huge, and every piece has a story. He’s always wearing at least one flashy accessory—whether it’s a skull ring, a gold chain, or a leather bracelet.

"This one? I got it from a guy I killed 'cause he called me stupid. Tangerine got the other one. Beautiful isn't it?"

Personality:

He’s really shy at first, but if someone catches his interest, he can talk to them like they’ve been friends for years. He always has a witty comment ready to go.

He has that effortless charm that hypnotizes people. The way he talks, his intense gaze, that little smirk… It’s impossible not to fall for him.

"Uhm... why are you looking at me like this? Is there something in my teeth? Shit, where's my toothbrush?"

Music Taste:

His music taste is extensive, but he has a clear preference for hip-hop, rap, and trap. His favorites include Post Malone, Eminem, Tupac, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator.

He listens to Drake and Kanye West in secret. He’ll deny it to his grave, but if you catch him playing Flashing Lights, he’ll change the song instantly.

"What? Hotline Bling? No, I was just... Beatboxing."

There’s a side of him that few people know—he loves brazilian funk. If Ai Preto comes on, he instantly goes into main character mode. His favorites includes L7NNON, WIU, and Xamã.

"I don't understand a word they're saying, but it's fire."

Despite his tough-guy vibe, he has a refined taste for jazz and blues. He enjoys Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone, Nat King Cole, and Jimi Hendrix. "I'm a cultured man, after all."

Advanced-Level Gossiping:

He uses Thomas’ theory (yes, Thomas the Tank Engine) to analyze everyone and spill the tea with you. He knows exactly what “train” each person would be.

"I bet that girl from your job is a diesel. She can't keep her shit together and fucks everything. Take care."

The Perfect Boyfriend:

If you date Lemon, get ready for VIP treatment. He’s a gentleman, affectionate, funny, and the perfect amount of protective. He knows exactly how to give compliments, showers you with sweet little gestures, and always makes you feel like the most special person in the world. An angel.

He's a demon in bed, but this is content for another story.

He loves spoiling you with gifts, especially jewelry and clothes. He carefully picks out each piece, always making sure it matches your style—or at least what he thinks suits you. Basically, he becomes your personal stylist, taking you shopping and making sure to approve or reject every outfit with a critical eye and comments like, “This? Nah, way too basic for you,” or “This. This is so you.”

Likes and Dreams:

He loves driving with you, especially at night, listening to music and talking about life. But his true passion? Trains. If you ever take one together, get ready for random locomotive facts, railway history, and all sorts of train trivia. He always finds a way to get you interested, too.

He has a list of destinations he wants to visit with you by train, ranging from short trips to luxurious routes that look like something straight out of a movie. He’s already picturing the two of you sitting in a panoramic carriage, sipping drinks, and taking in the scenery.

Family:

He complains when Tangerine starts messing with you, throwing in a “Dude, give it a rest, will you?” but deep down, he loves the dynamic between you two. Watching you argue or joke around makes him feel at home. At the end of the day, you and Tangerine are the most important people in his life. Even if he’ll never say it out loud, he loves the chaos you bring.

[amalthea-13]

i am so sick of seeing stolas hate all over this stupid fandom.

yes, characters are worthy of criticism. yes, helluva boss is worthy of criticism. no, you don’t have to like every character in a show. but that’s not the issue here.

the issue is that the people who shit on stolas are media illiterate and give dumbass reasons like he’s classist or xenophobic towards imps or a shitty dad.

as a writer it completely melts my brain that people are THAT stupid that they watch a show zonked out of their mind and ignore any fucking subtlety thrown their way. i’ve had people read my writing who are the same way—they ask me questions and point out ‘errors’ that are super fucking obvious in the text but they don’t gaf except to criticize me.

i’m like…… why do u watch the show if u hate the deuteragonist THAT much? he’s not going away, he’s not getting punished anymore than he has. seeing people like “i hope their stupid sadboi owl suffers in s3 and gets a taste of his own medicine” is like damn bro u watched a character u hate get the worst punishment he possibly could besides death and ur still mad? ur mad that the show has sympathy for him? the second most important character in the show? do you even like this show???

these assholes can’t possibly comprehend anything that doesn’t fit into their black and white worldview. it’s the same problem with all those fucking idiots saying cheating is wrong no matter what.

as someone who also has a background associated with religious trauma, the people spewing that cheating is wrong no matter what just remind me of those sorts of religious people who will make very grand and wide sweeping statements without any exception. cheating is bad. abortion is bad. queerness is bad. etc etc

they sound like the very religion this show is criticizing. they sound like an old man unable to comprehend shows more complex than big bang theory.

sorry for rant you don’t even have to respond to this ask i am just sooooo sick of seeing a huge lack of media literacy both in and out of this fandom. finding ur blog was super fuckign refreshing im so fr

The Conception of This Blog and My Aggressive Approach

Truly it is funny to me how this blog came to be. Initially I wanted it to be my blog to interact with my Wattpad followers, but none of them came to join lol. Many of them have long since moved on from my fics about Radiodust lol. As have I so I made a post regarding Stolas and how people lacked nuance in regards to him simply because he is not a woman.

People had their fair share of opinions but the feedback was positive and therefore I went on to make the "Blitz Post". I aggressively went in on Blitz purely to get every ounce of anger and frustration due to my conversations with Tiktok Stolas Antis put in a singular post. Initially the post got some good reblogs and some nice comments- and then I interacted with a Tumblr Stolas Anti and had to SWIFTLY delete several comments or just got myself blocked.

This ensued my sequel post which dictated my style of writing for this blog. I decided if I was going to "die on this hill alone", I may as well commit. So I renamed myself to "The Aggressive Stolas Stan and Kin" to swiftly deter any antis who thought they could take me on, and swiftly but surely they funneled in.

Many came in with their baseless takes and poorly put together arguments and one by one I docked off each arguments with proof. The singular thing you will note on this blog is I always have receipts. Whether it be screenshots or GIFs.

Last night the only reason 1 of my replies didn't have GIFS or anything was purely because I was running low on energy because I had been writing for roughly 3-4 hours straight for an essay due as of this morning. I was arguing while sleep deprived and on top of that while writing.

Trust me, my wrists are on fire, but my point was made very clear yesterday, but I'll restate it here.

"Your homophobic, victim blaming rhetoric holds no power here."

The only reason I am stepping back from interacting with antis is for the sake of my mental health and for my audience. They have expressed to me that it seems distressing and concerning to my health. Therefore, I am stepping back to recover from 2 days of no sleep(essay related), and to recoup the braincells I've lost arguing with people who had the brain to body ratio of a dime on a fuckin' pool table.

My Aggressive Approach

All of my aggression comes from Stolas, but I argue this way because Blitz D!ckriders argue JUST LIKE HIM LOL! They think cussing or poorly put together arguments will deter a Stolas Stan from fighting back or that they can just be aggressive/stubborn and no one will fight back.

Hence why I cuss the way I do in my posts. For fucks sakes, I say the word fuck more times in a post than in all of S1 of Hazbin Hotel. Usually this style of writing feels beneath me just because it is "improper", but FUCK is it so much fun lol.

I just go off the handle and let myself express myself how I please. Truly, the aggressive approach was initially a joke, but it also reflects my speech patterns.

However, in my natural and calm habitat when discussing Stolas I cuss alot less in actuality. I just love talking about my sweet bird man. Love him so much.

Religious Trauma and Physical Illness

When it came to last night, a common thing I say is "this makes me physically ill", and that is never an exaggeration. The rhetoric thrown around regarding Stolas made me so sick I nearly wanted to puke. I was taking breaks between typing because of how bad it got.

Genuinely it is another reason I am stepping back from interacting with Antis. It does take a physical toll.

The rhetoric thrown around last night was petrifying because it all sounded like the same shit said to me in fucking church and I was the odd one out because guess what fuckers I'm trans and abrosexual. Talk about a fuckin' abomination!

Last night I was reeling with a lot of my trauma hitting me at once because of what I have seen and been through. Therefore, it did take a lot out of me. This is my 2nd day waking up with a headache, but I kept replying out of a sense of duty.

I invited it all since well I was reblogging and arguing with people, but everything I said was factual and therefore I didn't expect pushback.

That was my first mistake.

Therefore, it is why reblogs will just be me sharing art.

My Audience

From now on, I plan to keep this place as peaceful as possible. I am already planning my Symbolism Essay on Height in Helluva Boss. For now, I will be keeping things as light hearted as possible. A note for antis I will not always reply to asks anymore. While you may find it amusing, my mental health is far more important.

If anything I'll just reply with a GIF and leave ya as a lamb to the slaughter and let my audience tear ya a new one.

I have quite a few great minds in there.

To you anon, I do apologize for using your ask as a place to express myself, but your ask allowed me to reflect and breathe after a rough night. I do appreciate your sentiments and understand you fully. This blog is a place to Stolas Fans to breathe and was made for ya'll so please do enjoy yourselves.

However, I have exhausted myself enough.

Toodles! Amalthea Out!

[skull-pun]

Doctor Who Season 2 Review

Here's my review that isn't really a review of the second series (season?) of the RTD2 era for anyone who cares! Let's start with...

The Characters - 9/10

Ncuti continues to be a delight (rip 😢) and Verada Sethus performance as Fifteen's new companion Belinda is a breath of fresh air.

Her just wanting to go back home instead of just being another earth girl for the Doc to run around with is a nice change.

However, as much as I like Belinda, I never really bought her relationship with the Doctor and I think a few extra episodes would have helped with that.

And the side characters? Fine I guess.

UNIT still doesn't really do it for me, I honestly just roll my eyes whenever they're involved. I prefer how RTD handled them in his first era where they'd appear here and there to help the Doctor or clean up after him, I'm not really a fan of the Marvel style thing they're going for.

The Monsters & Villains - 8/10

They're all great. Honestly, I have no real criticisms of the rogues gallery this series.

Did I like some over others? Sure, but that's always been the case for Doctor Who it's to be expected, not every monster is going to be a Lux y'know? We're gonna get some mediocre villains here and there.

If I had one criticism, it'd be the returning villains from classic who. I don't like how The Rani and Omega were handled, especially the latter.

Is Russell just surrounded by yes men? Who thought bringing back Omega as another live action Scooby Doo monster was a good idea? What was even the point???

The Writing - 3.5/10

Sorry, but it's just a bit shit.

Russell's heart is just not in it and it shows.

It just feels so lazy and unoriginal, like, as much as I enjoyed The Well did we really need a sequel to Midnight? Did we really need to see what it looked like? Nothing about the episode changes if you take out the connection with Midnight, but having that connection sort of leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I think what made Midnight so great is the mystery around it and all that has been ruined a little by a sequel episode that really didn't need to be a sequel.

The series just feels very rushed and not very well thought out and that's such a shame. I mean, the stuff with Poppy was just awful what was going on there.

Lux slaps though.

The Visuals - 9.5/10

Stunning, what else can I say?

I do miss the rubber costumes, practical effects, endearingly bad CGI, and overall camp look of the old series, but in the big 2025 when you're competing against shows that have movie level visuals well, yeah, it makes sense to put that Disney cash to good use.

The Score - 10/10

I mean, it's Murray Gold? Like the name suggests, everything he makes is gold.

The Regeneration - 7.5/10

Y'know what? It fucking got to me man.

The music, the visuals, Ncutis performance, yeah, it actually made me choke up a little and that's crazy because the 15th Doctor is far from my favourite incarnation, I don't even think he makes the top 10, but I was still so sad to see his time as the Doctor come to an end so quickly.

And then the 16th Doctor is revealed and it's *drum roll*

Oh, it's Billie Piper.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this casting. Nothing against Billie Piper she's a great actress and was great as Rose and hell she may even be a great Doctor, but I'm just not a fan of the nostalgia bait that was clearly done as a desperate by RTD and the BBC to increase ratings for the show, similar to what they did with Tennant and I wasn't really into that when it happened either.

I'm not gonna stop watching the show because of this, hell, I didn't quit when Chibs was in charge so I'm not gonna just quit now.

At the end of the day if Ncuti wanted to leave then that's absolutely fine and I hope to be proven wrong about this casting in the future.

Episode Ranking

Lux

The Well

Wish World/The Reality War

Lucky Day

The Robot Revolution

The Interstellar Song Contest

The Story and the Engine

Lux was the Heaven Sent of this series

The Well was good, but I didn't like that it was a sequel to Midnight.

Wish World, The Reality War, and Lucky Day are just fine with certain elements that I really don't like *cough* Omega *cough*

The Robot Revolution, Interstellar Song Contest, and the Story and the Engine were all bad/boring episodes.

Pretty rough batch tbh.

NuWho Series Ranking

Series 4

Series 1

Series 10

Series 3

Series 8

Series 2

Series 9

Series 5

Series 6

Series 7

Series 15 (Season 2)

Series 14 (Season 1)

Series 13 (Flux)

Series 12

Series 11

I was this 👌 close to putting 14 over 15 but Lux just pushed it that little bit higher even though I think the previous serious was better overall.

I just love the silly cartoon idk sue me.

Overall the episodes were fun to watch but once you start thinking about them more they tend to fall apart,

but I will still take a bad series of who over a boring series and that's what you're going to get with RTD at the helm.

[fictarian]

Hobie w/ an equally as punk reader? <3 🤘🎸

𝐇𝐢𝐦 <𝟑 . ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 𝐏𝐭. 𝟔

ღ Of course! I apologize if there are issues with this fic, because i’m not very familiar with the style despite trying to learn about it 😭 Fun facts and criticism is VERY MUCH appreciated in the comments, so don’t be afraid to comment

ღ Gang we’re like 21 followers away from 100… i’m shivering in boots ‼️‼️ Tysm for following me omg

ღ Here’s a couple headcannons for if Hobie was with a punk partner (relationship goals, shout out to all my punk lovers I aspire to be like you)

ღ Paring: Hobie Brown and a GN! Punk reader 🙏

ღ Previous part can be found here !

• Whenever the two of you go out together, you always make an effort to go to your local record store. It has become a tradition between you and Hobie to buy two records (preferably of a song that the other hasn’t listened to or knows about) each and gift them to the other at the end of the trip. This helps broaden your guys’ music taste, introduce each other to a new possible favorite band, and just be a bonding experience all together

“The Skids?” You question while looking down at the album in your hands, intrigued by the vibrant colors on the cover. Hobie only nods his head, looking down at the records you had gotten for him. “Mhm, one of my favorites. You’ll like it luv, I promise.”

• No matter what either of you say, you and Hobie are both history nerds. Especially about punk history. So there’s no doubt that whenever you both are on call or are just relaxing in your room in silence, one of you are bound to start a conversation with a history fact. And for the next couple of hours, you’ll both be ranting and exchanging facts to each other

• Since you guys have practically the same style, you often find yourself taking some of Hobie’s jackets, pins, jewelry, etc. Hobie doesn’t mind, in fact, it gets his heart racing whenever he sees you in something that belonged to him at one point (let’s be fr, he isn’t gonna get shit back). So don’t be surprised when you catch him leaning against the doorway to your room, watching you try on one of his leather jackets or ripped jeans with a small smirk and a blush coating his face 🤭

“Y’know, it’s rude to stare” “I just can’t ‘elp it luv, not when something so pretty is right ‘front of me” Hobie cooed, causing you to blush from the tone of his voice. “Whatever…”

• You’re Hobie’s #1 hype person during the concerts he participates in (he doesn’t like consistency, so obviously he switches it up a lot and plays with different bands). This makes him go absolutely WILD. Just seeing you go full on crazy and vibe to the song he’s playing makes him 🥺. Hobie makes it a requirement for you to go to every one of his gigs, which obviously, you don’t mind at all

• You always get a front row view during his concerts, no questions asked. While you’re jamming away to the song his band is performing, Hobie is staring directly at you (somehow managing to not mess up his playing). And when you notice this and finally meet his gaze, the bastard doesn’t even look the least bit shamed or embarrassed. He even sends you a wink, making you the embarrassed one instead

• Hobie dedicates songs to you. Hell, bro will full on WRITE songs for you. He just loves you so much, and wants to show you that in a form that you both bond over constantly every single day. And when Hobie does dedicate a song to you, he makes it very clear to the audience. This makes you want to stomp on him with your platform boots, but it also makes you want to pull him in by the collar of his shirt and kiss him all over his face

“This one is for my arsekicker, _____. Didn’t tell em I was gonna do this before ‘and, since they would ‘ave done just that.” Hobie announced, meeting your sharp glare with a wink and his usual smug smirk. You shook your head, feeling your face burn as the band started to play.

tag list ! @zalayni @luvstarrstruck @jrrantss @pixqlsin @kairiscorner @k4tsu3 @asmobeuses

[implausiblyjosh]

I'm Not Like Other Wholesome Games, But I Won't Tell You Why

I read a pretty bad essay, i was a teenage exocolonist (and so can you), and now I'm making it your problem.

Let's start with my issue with "wholesome games" as a concept. Personally, I think the entire concept as a marketing term is like nails on a chalkboard. The "wholesome games" directs, that game during The Game Awards being marketed as a "wholesome game", it's just a filler phrase that means nothing to me. While it can feel pretty useful coming from a friend whose tastes I understand who can actually explain what they mean by "wholesome" in context, as I said on bluesky, "it feels very overwhelmingly corporate when said out loud during several hours of gaming ads."

So a couple days after hearing about "wholesome games" during a long advertisement with occasional awards thrown in, I see a medium article from Doc Burford passed around on bluesky. Now, I already dislike this dude's writing style in general. At the end of 2023 he got main charactered on Twitter for arguing that JRPGs aren't RPGs. While I won't get into "if I think JRPG is even meaningful as a genre", and while I think he and I come to genres and their categories in two different ways, I said on Twitter that he's got "forum poster brain, where you're just an unshakable, in your mind always correct, asshole and it means any message you write is muddied by that tone." I stand by that still, he writes like an asshole who thinks he's better than anyone who disagrees. He acts as if he is not talking down to you, while the tone he takes online is actively talking down to people who disagree with him.

With all that being said, I still read the article. And it fucking blows.

When I initially read it and reacted to it, it felt like he was arguing that "wholesome games" uniquely attract shitheads to be shitheads. This felt silly because he only gives one instance of "wholesome media fandoms being little shits" with a Steven Universe example, and the rest are examples of people being awful to Doc Burford in other, non-wholesome-games contexts. In fact, at one point in the essay he says:

I’ve watched people go “no! you can’t criticize this! it’s wholesome!” come out in droves to defend a game that sucks just because they tied their consumption of the product to it.

Which clearly tells me there isn't a unique issue with "wholesome games", but the actual issue is deeply tying your consumption of something into your personality. And honestly it's more broad than that, where when you tie external things into your personality it seems like an attack on those external things become an attack on you. Synder Cut fanboys, Fandom "elder" goobers who want to be percieved as very principled and smart and anti-racist, Harris voters who filmed TikToks ordering Starbucks and McDonalds over her loss... there's an obvious throughline of tying outside perseption, outside forces, and the like into your own personal identity that is not healthy.

I made a threat, to which one Doc Burford himself chimed in. This made me think about the essay again, about wholesome games and how it ties into I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, the game he's supposedly supposed to be writing about, and then it hit me.

He doesn't even talk about "wholesome games".

The back part of the essay is about I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and how it's not like other wholesome games. It's all giving off a very pick-me energy, trying to make sure this game stands out from all the pitfalls and negativity and fascism that can come into wholesome games fandoms... but he never actually talks about another wholesome game to compare this game to. The closest we get is the Steven Universe situation he uses as an example but, and I hate to tell you this, Steven Universe is a television show and not a "wholesome game". Despite opening his essay with "it’s easier to find ten games that are an example of something", he provides no examples of "wholesome games".

Well, that's not entirely true. The few times he talks about video games other than I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is when he's talking up his own games. When he finally gets to I Was A Teenage Exocolonist he explains what makes this game a "wholesome game" in his mind, which is that it looks "twee", and how he would change it in his own games. The first game he talks about, in the third paragraph of his essay, is a game he's working on under the codename "Waifu Death Squad". The only other game I can remember him talking about is Mass Effect, and that is not in the discussion of "wholesome games" but "choices matter games". He outlines a vague sketch of what a "wholesome game" is to him, which is a game about comfort without conflict with some sort of "twee" aesthetics, but never once says a game that fits this mold. The closest we get is him saying I Was A Teenage Exocolonist isn't like other "wholesome games" because there is death and conflict.

So he talks about a handful of games but never gives an example of a "wholesome game". He never gives an example of a "wholesome game" with a bad fandom. And yet Doc Burford spends several hundred words on explaing how fascists prey upon a want for "nostalgic comfort" with a section that includes nine (9) different Nazi films as examples of how fascists do this. Nine (9) nazi films, and yet we talk about two (2) video games that are not made by Doc Burford, and one (1) is Mass Effect and the one (1) is the subject of the essay. What the fuck are we even doing here?

This is truly the biggest issue about the essay, in my estimation. We're supposed to be here for I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and we're supposed to be talking about "wholesome games", and we're supposed to be talking about how I Was A Teenage Exocolonist isn't like other "wholesome games", but you're not actually talking about "wholesome games" in your essay about "wholesome games"! And I know you can make arguments with examples, because you showed me nine (9) nazi movies to drill in the idea that fascists appeal to comfort in their art. Could you give me any examples of a "wholesome game" maybe?

At this point, I can barely understand what a "wholesome game" is. If it's a game with no conflict and prioritizes comfort, the only game I can think of in the larger gaming consciousness is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a game that people seemed to really wish had some more of the conflict and edginess from earlier installments. If we're talking about "wholesome games" from a viewpoint of audience perception, as opposed to a description of the game and how it plays and what it does, then that doesn't seem like a useful genre. Should I start talking about Mob Psycho 100 in terms of it being a "wholesome anime" because it has themes about growing up and being a kid and finding yourself and so on? Should I call Call of Duty a "wholesome game" because there exists a part of the fandom that wants no conflict in the game and simply wants their multiplayer matches to look like every clip-farming CoD content creators' videos? You see how useless this all feels as a description?

All of this swirls around to make for a bad essay. Because he doesn't talk about "wholesome games", and instead talks about how attachment to consuming media is the real culprit behind having shitheads raid your fandoms and audiences, he's undermined any argument around how I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is not like other "wholesome games". Because he shows you he can come up with endless examples of nazi films that prey on nostalgic comfort, but doesn't list one (1) "wholesome game" in comparison to I Was A Teenage Exocolonist or his own games, it feels like he doesn't actually have a good framework for what a "wholesome game" even is. If you then think about how he talks more about his own accolades and games he's working on or has worked on than actual "wholesome games", and the little digs at I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, this doesn't really feel like an essay about I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. The essay reads like he's jerking off about his own success and telling you how good he could make a game in this mold (again, a mold he refuses to define). It all comes off as self-congratulatory nonsense attempting to be about trying to congratulate some other game he has no real interest in talking about.

And the worst part? He's shitty about how bad this essay is. Someone made some flippant post about the essay, to which Doc Burford says the essay is actually about "wait, this is a piece where the writer says he wants to write wholesome games but is wondering why nazis are attracted to wholesome games so much because he doesn't want them as fans". When the person defends their read on the essay, Doc Burford implies they're trying to run defense for fascists and defends this by saying the person is trying to "lie" about his work. I mean, he was in my mentions for no good reason! My posts do not Do Numbers, and it's not like he came back to be like "actually, I did talk about more wholesome games", so he just came by to be a but of a shithead and move on because he didn't like that I was negative.

This is a tantrum. Even by his own standards of what his essay is about, he clearly misses the mark. But to do this in the quote posts of someone being flippant about his essay is goofy. To be in people's mentions about it is goofy. To act like anyone who disagreed with the essay is stupid, or lacks media literacy, or is someone to talk down to is goofy. And I think that person being flippant about his essay is being too kind, because if Doc Burford had managed to bring up Stardew Valley he'd at least have talked about a singular "wholesome game" in comparison to I Was A Teenage Exocolonist!

I go back to what I said about his writing before, which is that he's got forum poster brain. This is being argumentative to keep up appearances online. There is almost no actual defense of the words he wrote but instead being mad people don't vibe with his words. He wants so badly to receive no pushback for his words because he believes no one could argue against him. I mean, look at how high his pedestal is for himself:

But several people suggested that by not liking the popular art they had consumed, I “just didn’t get it,” which was funny, cause I have multiple critically acclaimed games under my belt, have been brought into help people in AAA make their games critically acclaimed, and I have multiple degrees in storytelling and art. I am quite literally an expert in this field. These people were mostly just young adults who’d bought a $70 game that had been advertised very heavily and polished into a generic AAA paste. Like, you wanna argue with me on the points, go for it, but “you would like this product if you were smart” coming from someone with no qualifications to an expert in the field is just silly.

The people who disagree with Doc Burford just "don't get it". He's a self-proclaimed expert in the field! And when you do argue on the points he handwaves it away as being a defense for fascists, or that you're stupid, or that you don't have media literacy, or you're reading it in bad faith, or or or or or. It's frustrating and it creates for a bad reading experience because you know if you disagree too loud in public he comes in and stomps his feet and demands to be taken seriously. He's an expert after all and, no matter who you actually are or what you actually say in in relation to the essay, in his eyes you're just some dumb kid who bought a video game and think you're entitled to sit with the big kids.

This post was made as a synthesis of lots of different posts I made around the internet, like my bluesky. Thank you to my friends who I talked about this with to help me clarify my thoughts. I hope you enjoyed all my words!

[sweetandsavageautistic]

(CW: Cringe, puzzle pieces, Autism Moms, potential sensory eyesore, ableism possibly, like one sex joke)

Welcome back to me harshly criticizing graphic design choices that people make about autism where I find pictures of shirts and whatnot and I tear into them like a lion tearing into its prey. Let's get into it.

In the words of @rebmasel on TikTok: "Ka-chow."

First up the only appropriate way to do this review is in the style of Dr. Seuss.

I do not like the puzzle piece, for it disturbs my fucking peace.

The color purple is real nice, but the message here I would think twice.

No tacky colors, so that's good. I don't hate it, though I feel I should.

Final Score: 4 out of 10. I'd rather not see this again.

I know the first line's kinda cheating, but I couldn't really think of any other fitting rhyme.

Next up is this:

This is already miles better than most of what I've seen.

The colors aren't tacky, they're actually kinda nice.

You have two wolves inside of you, both of them are gay and autistic. /ref

Autism Acceptance, that's a win.

Infinity symbol instead of puzzle piece, fuck yes.

Only criticism is that it's kind of a cheesy message, but not the worst.

Final Score: 9.5 out of 10. I'd wear it.

And then the quality drops here.

Puzzle piece means you lost points.

"Autism Mom." You can say it's difficult to raise an autistic child, but you're not a goddamn superhero.

How dare you use Rosie the Riveter for this. The disrespect. /hj

The military font is tacky.

I don't like seeing blue associated with autism, but at least it's not an abominable shade of blue.

Final Score: 1 out of 10. Get it out of my sight.

Speaking of lions that I mentioned earlier:

I'm already liking the absence of puzzle pieces.

Autism Acceptance is a yes.

When a lioness has children, she stops making love to the lion. The lion gets jealous, sometimes so jealous he EATS the children. You'd think this would upset the lioness; far from it. They make love again like the children never existed. I find that idea terrifying. /q

Not a fan of the colors, they're too dark for my taste.

The message feels cheesy.

Final Score: 7.5 out of 10. I dunno if I'd wear it, but it's not the worst design I've seen. The effort and care are present.

This feels like a roller coaster because it went downhill again.

"Share your friends." As someone with PDA, to quote Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3, Line 87; "No." /hj

Autism Awareness. Once again, I am very aware of my existence but sometimes I wish I wasn't; there are days where I'd like to be both perceived and NOT perceived.

The blue isn't tacky, thank God.

I hate the quote because it gives the message that autism is nothing but a burden.

Also there's a bit too much going on with it, all of the decals and shit.

I don't see any puzzle pieces, so thank God.

Final Score: 2 out of 10. I do not recommend.

This is a bit different.

There's just way too much going on in this. Absolute eyesore.

Return of the Tacky Elementary School Colors, except they dragged orange into it this time.

So many puzzle pieces.

Why is everyone trying to fight autism? It's just minding its business.

I'm pretty sure that that's going to be a signal to mean kids to bully your kid. Like, even if there's more understanding of autism, there are still asshole crotch goblins.

I haven't "done" autism, but I am curious as to whether or not autism is good in bed. /j

Final Score: 1 out of 10. No thanks, I'll pass.

Let's end part 2 on a high note.

Simple design, but colorful and pretty easy on the eyes.

And the colors aren't patronizing.

No puzzle pieces.

Acknowledgement of the intersectionality of autism and sexuality.

No cheesy message; just a funky design about autism and gayness. Not all autism shirts have to be serious or UwU or motivating, so it's always a nice change of pace.

Final Score: 11 out of 10. As an asexual biromantic autistic, I'd wear this.

[amiharana]

and even more revalink hcs from this post part 6

previous hc part 5 x i'm too lazy to tag the other ones, just go through this one 😭 i haven't done one of these in a bit so i'm doing this for funsies 😹

who's the primary protector of the two?

hard to say, since they're both warriors with protective instincts, and link had to have learned some survival skills & instincts in botw

neither of them ever rest really, constantly on their guard because they're not letting anyone get the slip on them

i imagine that maybe they bicker over who gets to protect the other, always insisting that they'll be the one to save the other 😹

who sleeps in and who is the early bird?

i think we should know by now where i stand on this 😹

i am the self-proclaimed #1 sleepy link x coddler revali enthusiast. you know damn well i am tucking that blond twunk into a soft comfy bed (the bed being revali)

who is the least patient?

hard to pin down as a generalization, because it's circumstantial between the two of them imo

like we all know link would stare into a campfire all night just to be able to hunt the best game at the exact crack of dawn

but revali is very thoughtful and methodical to me. i just reviewed his diary and the cb memory, and it's clear that his dedication to the craft warrants a lot of strategy, perseverance, and patience. he can be incredibly patient for the things that matter most to him

(i also really like the idea that revali would be very patient with fledglings 🥺 gordon ramsey type beat)

that being said, both revali and link will have a breakdown trying to assemble a single chair from ikea. they insist that the furniture is cursed but zelda assembles it in less than five minutes

which of the two listens to old music and which one is more into the newer stuff?

to me, revali seems like he would enjoy classical music, and classic pop & rock in general. anything before the 2000's, revali can get into

projecting a portion of my own music taste onto revali, he fucks with songs like 'stitches and burns' by fra lippo lippi, 'i melt with you' by modern english, and 'true' by spandau ballet. i will not be taking any criticism at this time 🙏

meanwhile link's playlist is jumping from 'good lookin'' dixon dallas to 'planet of the bass' to 'ETA' newjeans. and he finds all of it unironically genius

who's the first one to quit a new hobby because they're not great at it on the first try?

my instinct was to say revali, but the thing is, revali holds a great insecurity in wanting to be the best, and it's difficult to do that when you're dating Mr. Link Master-At-Everything-He-Tries over here

so if he's not automatically good at it but link is, you better bet your entire ass that revali is learning that shit out of spite to be better or at least just as good at it as link is

bitches can't even have like a couple hobby, everything turns into a competition if it's revali and link ✋😭

who holds a grudge the longest?

revali of course

a while ago, i made a post about how i hc'd revali to be a capricorn sun virgo rising, and i kinda still stand by that. he'll take anything to be a personal slight against him, will block you on everything, and talk shit about you to anyone. petty ahh mf

link just doesn't seem like the type to hold grudges, he's kinda goldfish brain. he'll forget he was even mad at you 15 minutes later

who secretly knows all the lyrics to the other's favorite songs but refuses to expose themselves?

revali actually 🥺

link soaks up melodies and lyrics like a sponge, so he has no problem picking any one of revali's playlists and knowing every single song on there, he will sing his heart out to each song on that damned playlist

revali is a bit of a music snob and isn't always the biggest fan of link's taste in music (as per #4 in this list LOL)

but he tries really hard to memorize link's favorites even if he fucking hates the song, which results in revali practicing korean just to be able to sing fucking 'gangnam style' psy with link 😭

who's more likely to cry about a plant dying?

link hands down. this guy gets overly attached to inanimate objects fr

bro is the type to bump into the corner of a table and be like "oops, sorry mr. table, didn't mean to hit you"

zelda once sent link a bouquet of flowers she had grown herself, and link put them in a nice little vase, made sure they got sunlight and water every day, and gave each flower names

when one of the flowers started wilting, link was about to have a whole breakdown

revali comes home to link trying to perform surgery on a flower, like why it got a whole iv drip bag now???

which of the two is the most outspoken? which of the two is quick to speak and which one is quick to listen?

these were actually two separate questions but i decided to mix them, bc i think it's pretty clear who's who

revali is more outspoken and quick to speak, he's confidently opinionated and will mansplain to you unfortunately. he's not afraid to tell you what he thinks, because he thinks he's always right. very much the type to tell you he's just being brutally honest as an excuse to a dick skjdhfkdj

link is soft-spoken, reserved, and a listener, he'll let you take the lead on the conversation or listen you out completely before saying anything.

as such, revali is the one berating the cashier for putting pickles on link's burger when he said he didn't want any 😹

and honestly? link just likes hearing revali's voice, so he's content with letting revali talk his head off as long as they get to cuddle or hold hands.

[jinie]

☁️

[daisiesonafield-blog]

daisie do u feel like this whole holivia mess is jeopardizing your feelings towards harry? Cause i feel like it is for me a little bit :/

Hi dear,

In a sense yes. But not in a 'I don't like or support him anymore' way. I understand his position in the industry as a closeted queer person inherently limits his choices and options.

But besides that, I am very angry that his team is more than happy to use us when it's convenient for promo, to sell stadiums and overcharge tickets. To sell shitty merch to. But then in the same breath use as scapegoats and throw us under the bus as hysterical Harry Styles fangirls who are jealous of his girlfriend. And then to have Harry in print on Rolling Stone allude to the same. THAT was a massive slap in the face. Especially because he had, up until that point, fervently DEFENDED not only his fans, but fans who are women. Fangirls who are brushed off as the butt of the joke and ridiculed at every turn. He had defended us. But then comes Olivia Wilde with her made up sob story of 'poor me, his unkind jealous fans bullied me online for no reason wah wah', and he allegedly commented in support of it, going against fans? Brushing off actual criticism as 'ridiculous jealous fangirls'.

Angel Sue, H, Harold, Harry....It's a complicated relationship. I absolutely hate that Harry is pissing me off. But he is. I still love him. I'm not gonna stop loving him. I still love his music and Fine Line is forever my lifetime favorite album. BUT I am allowed to love him and be super fucking pissed with him and call him out on his bullshit. If you truly love someone this is what you do. You're not a yes person. You actually give your input and true feelings.

And I will say that his approach and his team's approach of staying quiet thru this and "standing by" Olivia is really putting a terrible taste in my mouth. Their standard approach is always to not comment or say anything, then drop some cute pics/videos of H being his adorable self and expect fans to bend over, take it and forget why they were angry. But this isn't going away.

I mean they literally called us hysterical and in the same breath said that it doesn't matter what they do to our faces, we'll still buy movie tickets and line around the block, and drop our whole month salaries on LOT. That is incredibly insulting.

The nerve to shit on us but in the same breath tell us to buy movie tickets and drop thousands for love on tour tickets. THEY'RE BLATANTLY BOASTING ABOUT USING US TO OUR FACES!!! IT'S SO INSULTING.

So naturally, yeah I'm annoyed at him right now. But I am also aware that feelings are transient and I won't feel like this forever.

I just wish him and his team were a bit less afraid to stand their ground publicly on some instances.

In this case, Olivia and DWD have absolutely harmed his image. He's now a bit of an asshole. Even for people who don't care or just vaguely read a headline or watch some gossip on the news. He went from showbiz's sweetheart to another Hollywood dickhead celeb who's always in some drama.

And FOR WHAT???? An ill advised PR stunt. A movie that has given him no leverage in Hollywood so far. And a leech of a beard who found her golden goose ticket to stardom she had only ever dreamed of. And she's full of it thinking she's the shit now. A narcissist thru and thru. Bringing everyone and herself down in her selfish quest for fame and money via a movie that should have died in pre-production. And would have, if not for Harry Styles and his legion of 'pathetic, jealous fangirls' who still buy any ticket he's selling.

Truly, this is this woman's level of narcissism:

Alright this is PURE rant. Can you tell I'm pissed? lol

Oh and btw, don't give this woman money. Don't pay to go see her movie, don't stream it on HBO. You can watch it for free on *other sites*, I'll share all the links. We're a huge fandom, we can do anything. If you *must* see it in theaters then buy a ticket to something else and sneak into dwd. Don't support her or validate her pitch for the stunt saving this movie via PR. Bc that's what it'd be doing too in addition to giving her millions $$ now and in future projects.

[dailyjasontodd]

Any opinion on Red Hood: Outlaws (Webtoons)? I only read the first five chapters and kind of don't like the angry-robin-approach... Thanks in advance!

Hello! I stopped reading it a while ago so 1) my criticism for the comic isn't very fresh in my mind and 2) i don't have the full picture since i only read a handful of chapters, so i wouldnt be able to write a whole essay on it, but who doesn't love giving opinions!

From what i remember i didn't like it either, like i said disclaimer that i stopped reading halfway through and a while ago so maybe my complaints got solved down the line, my bad, etc. but the thing is that i sincerely do not want to go back and re-read it/read all the chapters which should speak for itself 🙏 I found the writing cringy and very superficial, very close to lobdell's rhato which will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. atp i don't care about jason being written as an "angry robin" as long as it has nuance and context, but i didn't get to see those two things in the webtoon so i get you (not to say it wasn't present, just that i literally didn't get there if it was expanded on later lol). What i remember pissed me off was the amount of memes and mcu style jokes in the comic, it felt lazy 🤷 i can text my friend and use 5 viral video references in it but doing the same thing on an official comic? Be serious please, i'm not asking you to become judd winick and give us the next utrh but at least dont steal funny tweets from the internet for a dialogue...

Also a thing i like about jason is that he's a dickhead but fun and charming in his own way and the jason in the webtoon was just boring sorry, if i google "action movies watch online" and picked a random title and pressed play im sure the main character would have the same feel as webtoon jason. AND ALSO! (family guy dad voice) i did not care for jason/artemis. Boring, yawning, sloppy, lazy. very predictable from the go and not even in a fun way, i was over it already and i read like only 7 chapters.  

And also a minor detail that i disliked, i hated jason's haircut KJLFG like that pissed me off so badly everytime i saw him without the helmet, put that shit back on.

Anyways, hope that was semi coherent, complaining about the way a comic is written just for the criticism so be terribly redacted is extremely ironic but well, i'm not being paid for it :P

lets hope the shawn martinbrough jason solo gets a date announcement soon jasonbits 🙏

--🐅

edit just to add that unfortunately i Have been keeping up with it (stopped paying for fast pass v early on tho lmao), and the issues jules mentions above do persist and only get worse as the comic progresses <3 it's all very superficial, doesn't make sense most of the time, pacing is so clunky and writer doesn't seem to know which canon to stick to. jason is very ooc, he's just a dick just to be a dick and not in like a fun cunty way yk ? he's portrayed as uncaring and very like,, incompetent. artemis is ooc too to an extent. like you can't even enjoy it in the way wfa can be enjoyed as a silly little webtoon it just kinda like. sucks.

-- ✨

[roydeezed]

Some Thoughts about - Poker Face

So like I know I'm late to the party but hot damn! is this show so much of what I love.

First of all I need to gush over Natasha Lyonne. Not only does she play Charlie as a snoopy little gremlin incredibly well, but when she's not snooping, her everywoman acting is so sincere and heartfelt. And beyond her acting, her directing in episode 8, The Orpheus Syndrome is jaw-dropping. It's a surrealist thriller masterpiece along the lines of fucking Suspiria and Vertigo. Throughout the whole episode I was captivated and entranced and it wasn't until I checked the credits that I realised why it was so impactful. I haven't watched much of her directorial efforts outside episode 8 of Russian Doll, but it seems like her style has always been surrealist. I gotta check it out.

And speaking of Vertigo and Hitchcock, I think after the longest time, we finally have a director that rivals his sensibilities in Rian Johnson. Hitchcock was a piece of shit but it's undeniable that his thrillers were tense masterpieces. If you don't believe me, check out my personal favourite in Rear Window. But not only does Rian Johnson remind me of Hitchcock at his best, with mysteries such as Brick and the Glass Onion movies and now Poker Face, his penchant for creating affable Detectives with kind hearts reminds me of Agatha Christie's characters in Miss Marple and Poirot.

But that's all surface level talk so below the cut I'm gonna get into some deeper thoughts and what I think the overarching themes are. Heavy spoilers below!

And speaking of themes, I wanna go over what they are, and how Episode 7, 8, and 9 helped me figure it out. At least one of the central ones. And that being Guilt.

After praising it so much, I do think I need to offer up some criticism, as I do have some. While a lot of comparisons have been made to Columbo, I think one of the key differences is that the culprits aren't always from high society, to the shows detriment. And as Charlie isn't a cop and instead fleeing across the country, it makes sense and leaves room for interesting stories. But every once in a while, like Episode 7, The Future of the Sport, starring Charles Melton and Tim Blake Nelson, both of whom I adore, you get a emotionally and socially dissonant story. As somehow the blue collar worker who's fighting against nepotism in an industry still has to be the bad guy. While it supported the themes, it still left a bad taste.

Now, you might be saying, it's a show about murders, of course it's about guilt. But it's not in the way you're thinking. Unless you are, in which case, welcome to smart people town. Population you, cause outside of this I'm still pretty much a dumbass.

Moving on, let's go over it. Poker Face talks of an unwarranted guilt. I'm sure Rian Johnson and co had a pithier phrase to represent it but what it means is that it represents a kind of survivors guilt. In Charlie's conversation with David Castaneda's character Jimmy in where she admits how much Natalie's death has weighed on her. And with the reveal that he wasn't directly responsible for her death through selling her bad coke, and the previous episodes where Tim Blake Nelson's and Nick Nolte's character's both realise they weren't the culprits, it shines a light on the constant theme of wholly unwarranted guilt.

And across the rest of the episodes, barring episode 2 for a reason I can't yet figure out, it deals with Charlie thinking she either led them to their death's, having something to do with the deaths even for the smallest moments, or helping someone that thinks they're guilty such as the stage manager in Episode 6, Exit Stage Death.

But unwarranted guilt alone provides for a pretty flimsy theme if left alone. So how's it expanded upon? The last episode makes it clear through dialogue, revelations into Charlie's past and actions themselves that this unwarranted guilt breaks you down in such a specific way. In the last episode we get what seems to be a pointless return to Charlie's past. But learning about how she moves through life, another unwarranted piece of guilt and this metaphor of swimming, brought up again at the boat, we see how the guilt puts you in a situation where either you drown from it or you swim. And the direction you swim in, the way you move through life, is inherently affected by the guilt that's drowning you, and ultimately can lead you to make bad decisions, as the first thing that comes along that can stop you from drowning, be it a boat, a life preserver, or as Cliff mentions multiple times throughout the show, The Hook. The Hook is a distraction, something deadlier than the sea that you're drowning in, and fortunately for a detective show, and unfortunately for her, Charlie's hook is trouble.

[juniperhillpatient]

"Jet" Re-Watch

I'll be honest, this episode is one of those that I've seen A LOT. So, it's not like there were any surprise takeaways. Jet is one of my favorite characters & "Jet" is one of my favorite episodes to re-watch. So, let's talk about Jet - the character - & why I love him. And let's also talk about why I have a love-hate relationship with his titular episode.

This is the very first episode of my re-watch where I'm going to.....ugh. criticize the narrative framing...

Look, I love a sympathetic anti-hero & that's at least part of why I love Jet - anyone who knows me knows I am drawn to morally gray characters, flawed people with good intentions, traumatized villains who see themselves as the hero - & that's a huge part of why I love Jet. But I think it's doing a disservice to critical engagement with the material to NOT acknowledge the way Jet is framed as the "scary evil Earth Kingdom rebel fighting back the "wrong" way." This episode felt very much like propaganda not to trust people who are TOO rebellious or TOO angry at their oppressors.

Remember kids, violent rebellion is never the answer even when you're being violently oppressed. Anyone who says otherwise probably wants to murder babies!

Sokka getting to be the grumpy mom of the group is always fun & I gotta feel bad for the guy. It can't be easy keeping these kids in check when they're always so eager to be reckless & don't even take him seriously or respect him! And poor Sokka was right in the end...And was way less of an asshole about it than I would've been after all the crap he took!

Jet's entrance is just so badass. I absolutely loved the Freedom Fighters coming in & immediately kicking ass & winning over both Katara & Aang. And also I'm sorry but I must say it. The Avatar fandom is so sick & twisted & wrong for everyone fighting over if Katara should be with her little brother-like friend or Zuko when Jet is RIGHT there. From the bottom of my heart, I'll never forgive the Avatar fandom for having such bad taste just LOOK AT THEM

What is this....Sad......................alright, okay, okay, I'm done.

ANYWAY!!! Katara's instant chemistry with Jet is so real & I love how she got insta-heart-eyes. I love you Simptara. Girl, can't you even tell when your episode of the week love interest is introduced anime style as a person you obviously can't trust? So fucking funny to me. Like, Katara, haven't you ever seen a single episode of television? Jet is handsome & smooth & charming & he has wheat in his mouth. Of course he's gonna break your heart baby girl, it's right there in the narrative framing.

Also, Jet is a manipulative little shit & I love him. I think a big reason Jet gets a lot of hate ASIDE from the NaRrAtIvE fRaMiNg issues is that he IS in fact very calculated & manipulative. I think it's worth noting though, that the Freedom Fighters look to him as a "good leader." Jet is clearly the kind of person that is good with people, & good at leading others as well as being mature for his age. So, he's taken on the mantle of leadership with these kids. Yes, he is manipulative & he mugs sad old Fire Nation colonizers, but like, he was given the mantle of leadership at EIGHT YEARS OLD after watching his parents die y'all. Cut him some slack for not having the soundest moral compass, jeez.

Like, what can I really say here? No, you're right guys, an eight-year-old who witnessed his village being destroyed & his parents dying & then was left to protect other orphaned kids should TOTALLY understand that #NotAllFireNationPeople are bad. Obviously, that's a reasonable expectation.

Anyway, Jet's plan to flood the village is very....interesting. I've seen it discussed endlessly whether there are ex-Fire Nation generals in that village, whether the old man Jet mugged was an ex-Fire Nation general, whether there were Earth Kingdom citizens living there or not, & well...it's all just VERY vague. The show doesn't tell us because I guess the point is that "murder is bad." Which...sure, I guess. Still would've been nice to understand more details?

A big anti-Jetara argument that I get pretty much every time I say I ship them is that he broke her heart & made her cry & also wanted to commit mass murder. To that I say.....where's your sense of drama? Jet touching Katara's face as she turns away crying, horrified by what she might've helped him accomplish is just good drama. I don't know what to tell you. Have fun shipping boring things where the characters have no complexity & only ever agree with each other I guess.....

Sokka does deserve some major props in this episode, I'll say that. He put up with pretty much constant shit from Katara & Aang both, he was right in the end about Jet's plans NOT being something Katara & Aang would like, AND he managed to warn the village about the flood. So yeah, props to Sokka.

Anyway, this "re-watch takeaway" post....ended up being.... just...me defending Jet & saying Jetara rights. Whoops. Oh well, I feel like that's a fitting takeaway for this episode :)

[grandhotelabyss]

ok but as per last anon what ARE your hot takes of the aesthetic judgment variety

I don't have that many, at least as far as anything "classic" goes. The test of time is real test, so if something's lasted I try to understand why, and I usually succeed. Still, I have my tastes, as anyone does, so here are some "strong opinions":

—While I buy Frye's argument in The Anatomy of Criticism that satire is literature's first line of defense against philosophical, religious, and political encroachment on its autonomy, I still think it's a low art form always tempting the writer toward arrogant cheap shots. Accordingly, I don't much care for Voltaire, for Twain, for Vonnegut; I don't like a lot of dystopian fiction for the same reason and dis-esteem Brave New World and The Handmaid's Tale in particular as the worst offenders. The exceptions prove the rule: Swift is a genius because you can tell he includes himself in his satire; Never Let Me Go is the greatest dystopian novel because it's really about our own everyday lives here and now, wherever here and now happen to be.

—Now I will violate my own rule in the last post about avoiding stageist and stadial cultural historiography (sometimes I contradict myself just to see if anyone is paying attention): novels written before people figured out how to write novels without just blathering on in episodic prose aren't very pleasurable to read as a whole, despite the brilliance of their parts, and this includes figures I otherwise allow to be writers of genius, whether Cervantes or Defoe or Fielding or Richardson or Scott.

—I'm missing whatever gene allows people to take pleasure in the whole nonsense wing of the avant-garde, your Gertrude Steins, your John Ashberys, many of your Dada and Surrealist and L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets, the Anne Carson books I don't enjoy (as opposed to the ones I do), and the like. Poetry should be beautiful and symbolic, novels beautiful and dramatic. "Alas a doubt in case of more go to say what it is cress. What is it. Mean. Potato. Loaves." Get out of here with this shit, lady. Literature is the eye with which the universe beholds itself and knows itself divine, not whatever that is supposed to be.

—In homage to the master of Strong Opinions himself, modern literature's veritable chessmaster, I will say that Bloom's judgment on Updike is every bit as true of Nabokov: "a minor writer with a major style."

—This kind of game always revolves around negative contrarian judgments, but on the positive side, and in defiance of what I'm sure some see as my elitism: popular, middlebrow, and/or genre novels that have stood the aforementioned test of time are almost always actually good, whether we're talking about Uncle Tom's Cabin or Dracula or The Grapes of Wrath or Dune or The Godfather or The World According to Garp or The Secret History. (One exception for me: Tolkien. The three movies—perhaps the three longest movies ever made—and a couple of pages of that put me off for life.) The gay aesthete wing of the new right over on Twitter has been making an apologia for Ayn Rand recently, to much controversy across the political spectrum, but I can believe it. I never read Rand for two reasons: one, I heard she was bad, and two, given my own libertarian streak, I was worried I would decide she wasn't.

I'll avoid comment on my contemporaries. I have plenty of hot takes there, limited only by my tendency not to finish reading what I don't like and my belief that you can't really judge a book you haven't finished, but I can't be trusted to evaluate direct rivals can I?

[skeetusmcyeetus]

I’ve making headcanons about all of my hyper fixations for a while now and just dumping them on my friends so I’m gonna also dump them here.

If you’re into All For the Game , My Hero Academia, ATLA, The Raven Cycle stay fuckn tuned my doods bc I have a loooot of stuff rattling around my empty skull.

Not all of these are 100% mine some of them are already pretty popular and I’m expanding on them or I heard something similar and edited it to my own tastes

I’ll separate them by series,,,

Theres like one canon that’s mildly nsfw

TW: drug abuse

Mha/Bnha

pro hero kirishima’s Red Riot™️ merch is insanely size inclusive bc he wants fatgum to be able to wear the hoodie that kiri’s pr team sent him but that’s not all,,

If he wasn’t super gay and in love with Bakugou he’d be very Into BBWs so again his merch is super size inclusive bc he wants everyone to be able to wear it

The company that makes the merch also takes requests for special made merch for people who’s quirks interfere with a “normal” size or dimension

ALSO ,,,,this man(kiri) is built like a fuckn MACK TRUCK OKAY he is 6’7” and cannot fit through doorways without ducking and turning a little to the side ,,, he is broad And still wears no shirt™️ ,,, this being said ,, bakugou is still around 5’8” and pretty slim don’t get me wrong he’s extremely strong and toned but he’s not huge,, it makes flying easier if he stays a little lighter ,,,,,,, the point is,, sometimes kiri will pick up bakugou with one arm and bakugou can’t even pretend to hate it anymore

Also,,,, fatgum has to use special pens and keyboards because of how big his hands are,,, he’s literally 8’2” I won’t take criticism on this

Fatgum actually loves wearing red riot and sun eater merch

Allmight and Inko start dating and one day when they’re out someone comments on how much all might “looks like a skeleton” and she absolutley lets loose on them for being so vapid and shallow and how “he’s risked his life to save people like you more times than you have ever even thought about being helpful in your life and it would serve you well to treat someone who’d die for you without even knowing you with more respect”

All might had to gently pull her away bc the guy was crying and she wasn’t anywhere near finished with him

Midnight is Asexual and aggressively pretends to be horny on main™️ because for one, it works with her quirk and two, nothing sells better than sex especially when you’re a woman.

Bakugou and kirishima use sign language to talk shit at Public events

Dabi is addicted to painkillers because he’s been on them his entire life,, he wakes up with the shakes and sometimes toga has to help him take his meds in the morning because he’s already in withdrawal

Tensei was the first one to realize that iida was autistic and immediately did copious amounts of research on ASD and how to be a good brother to him

ATLA

sokka grows his hair as long as Zuko’s (except the sides obvi) and sometimes he’ll wear his hair in the fire nation top knot and zuko loses it every time

Azula gets help and now sometimes when she wakes up with the sun after a night of fitful sleep she goes to the courtyard to have tea with iroh. They never talk, but then again they never need to.

Sometimes after a hard day sokka falls asleep in the bathtub and wakes up to zuko warming the water back up and washing his hair for him

Suki lounges in zukos throne while zuko gets worked up about stuff and paces all around the room

Mai is on the ace spectrum

When sokka and zuko visit the southern water tribe zuko will firebend for the all of the kids in the village,,, they love him so much and sometimes sokka gets a little teary eyed watching him

Sokka braids zukos hair water tribe style and it’s the hottest thing maybe ever

Zuko takes sokka on shopping sprees pretty frequently and sokka fuckn loves it

One time someone has the nerve to call sokka “the fire lords sugar baby” and sokka just flips his ponytail over his shoulder Ariana style and says “and what about it?”

The Raven cycle

Ronan has 100% killed Robert Parrish in his dreams and when he wakes up to see Adam next to him he almost immediately wants to go back to sleep and do it again for all the pain he’s caused Adam

Gansey is oblivious to the fact that he is indeed shredded,, when he gets really worked up he moves his arms a l o t like rolls up his sleeves, crosses and uncrosses his arms and The gang’s favorite is when he puts his hands on his head and subconsciously flexes,,,, literally entire gangsey will group swoon at him and he genuinely thinks they are marvelling at his passion for whatever he’s worked up about

Ronan watched broke back mountain once when he was like 16 and now all he can think about is being a gay cowboy ,,,

Adam will read people’s tarot wrong if theyre douchebags

Don’t you think it’s funny that the ganseys don’t have any straight children?

Blue has a T-shirt from each member of the gangsey (except Noah,, rip Noah) and shes created a terrible Franken-T-shirt by ripping them up and sewing them all back together in an extremely ugly patch work thing

Adam talks in Latin in his sleep and it really freaks his roommate out,, like a lot,, not to mention the fact that Adam already creeps him out to begin with bc he’s got that other vibe that comes from being tied to cabeswater and lindenmere ,, 6 out of 7 days his roommate is convinced that he’s a witch or a fairy or something

Ronan teaches opal how to bake and opal burns everything on purpose

aftg

Neil has definitely killed multiple people to survive

Neil’s mom definitely made him kill someone at least twice to make sure he could kill to survive on his own if they got separated

he probably definitely still has nightmares about each one

Matt and Dan both had a crush on Neil for like 30 seconds and absolutely talked to each other about him

Ppl always talk about how hot it is to crush a watermelon with your thighs,,,, Andrew could do it with his arms

Aarons ass is so flat and Andrew has an absolute dumptruck

Kevin started out as one of those annoying “obsessed with WWII” history guys and now he’s actually very into queer history and will rant about the lavender scare for an hour if you let him

The foxes lounge room(?) has a dart board with riko’s face on it to this day,, they literally have a drawer full of copies the same image of riko and every time one gets worn out they put a new one up. It’s more of an inside joke now but wymack still hates that little puke even though he’s dead so it stays up

Post-canon Neil gets drunk and teaches the team how to steal a car by hot wiring Matt’s truck

Matt does drag for halloween one year and Dan liked it a little too much *cough cough* she pegged him while he was still in drag

Someone once asked Renee if she was “saving herself for marriage like a good Christian girl should” and Allison knocked them out cold and stepped over the body

Neil calls Aaron ugly to his face literally any chance he gets (I feel like this one might be canon but I actually don’t know What’s real anymore)

Andrew Unironically wears a pink apron that says “kiss the cook” that Nicky got him for Christmas when he bakes

Okay I think that’s it ? For now?? Let me know if y’all want more,,,,, I’ll separate them next time I just really had to dump these and I didn’t want to make multiple posts.

I made this at 5:30 in the morning sorry if it’s riddled with typos and errors.

[geometricalien]

OKAY I finished Life is Strange True Colors and it's time to give my hot trash opinions that no one asked for :) (spoilers will be below the cut)

I avoided almost everything released about this game because I did not want any spoilers whatsoever and I think that served me well.

I also came in with an open mind, I gotta say I was weary since deck nine had all of the control and I didn’t particularly like before the storm that much it was fine though.

All that said True Colors was beautiful. It has excellent graphics, compelling characters and side plots for each character, the power system was new and cool. I wasn't sure how being an empath would translate but it worked well in mechanics, was epic, and suited the theme of not just the game but Alex.

I played for about 10 hours Thursday with some breaks to stretch and get food. So needless to say, I was having a great time.

It has excellent sets and even though the power mechanics are exactly the same each time it's still fresh and creative in how these emotions can shape the world around them.

This is just a personal nitpick nothing actually important, the town is a fictional Coloradan small town and as someone who grew up in a neighboring state with similar small town/mining/outdoorsy communities- or visiting them- the town buildings were fantastic! I loved main street, I've been in towns with that exact same style. But the flower bridge and the deer were just... a tinge over the top, it felt like you were trying to sell "Paradise" way too hard. But besides that I loved the towns vibe!

I felt... a little burnt out being able to play all of the chapters at once, I think part that made the lis community so strong was that it had time to build and react to the episodes together. It gave us time to theorize and make fancontent. Versus binge gaming and shot like a bullet into the air, done too quick. I don’t feel as connected to the characters because I’ve only been with them for 14 ish hours vs months

NOW THAT BEING SAID- the pacing was good, it gave us the reins being able to free roam the map at nearly all times and it never felt like we were being dragged down

Overall, True Colors is a great addition. Had amazing voice acting graphics, characters, and themes. I definitely recommend checking this game out

Spoilers now abound:

Going back to an earlier comment- almost all scenarios where you used Alex's power in depth were fresh and interesting. My favorites being Ethan, Charlotte, and Eleanor. I bring this up because Duckie's was the most dull- which you could say matches because he is normally the life of the party so... feeling empty or dull makes sense for him. But then Pike’s was also similarly lacking in environment, so it didn’t feel as fulfilling

I loved loved loved episode 3. The larping was so much fun and I was tickled with the turn based fighting. I especially loved when Ethan made the world come to life, my heart lifted in pure joy.

The two main romance interests are... interesting. Ryan's insight and caring nature drew me to him the instant we met while Steph sort of came off... as separated? But as we became friends with them both it became super hard to chose. And at the end seeing their reactions to the bomb drop showed so much characterization. Steph's ride or die and Ryan (in my playthrough) just had someone challenge his entire life view of course that's hard to take in within 30 seconds. I got that religious gay trauma, I get it.

This is where I feel spacing out the episodes could've also helped with our fondness of characters. After Ryan didn't believe me I didn't want to pursue him anymore, my affection was weakened

However I chose to forgive both Ryan and Jed despite feeling like I missed the character development to reasonably make that decision. I understand this entire game is shadow work for Alex and it is growing her emotional intelligence by miles but I think I would have preferred more sign postings from the game saying "hey bc of your choices you are growing" which wasn't really true because-

Alex was suppressing her sadness, fear, and anger from her traumatic youth. So in episode 5, reliving all of those moments were the chance to level up in emotional intelligence. It felt odd to learn exactly everything at the very end but again it's okay because she was suppressing just like Jed which made her able to understand his emotions and walk him through them

TALKING ABOUT THAT TALK WHO GOT GIFS??? I NEED TO SEE HER EYES GLOWING AND FLICKERING WITH COLOR

I loved the parallel/bookendings of chapter 1: Side A and chapter 5: Side B, I'm a sucker for that shit

It's obvious that alot of care and heart was put into this game, it has layers and the more you peel back the more it reveals thematically

Now I got to compare it to my biggest criticism of LiS and Before the Storm, and ultimately the reason why I love LiS2 more than either of them. Does your choices actually matter?

LiS? No. The game ended with an ultimatum that made all of your choices in the end not matter and LiS is sold as a "your choices actually matter" type of game so seeing that be a load of malarkey always puts a bad taste in my mouth

Lis:bts? No. It's a prequel. I can admire the idea of "life may be futile but make the most of it" while you can and that definitely encompasses Rachel's side of bts. But that doesn’t negate the fact that this is more a game with a straight plot than LiS

LiS2? YOU GOT 4 ENDINGS AND YOU CAN ONLY CHOSE 2 AND ITS NARROWED DOWN TO HOW YOU PLAYED THIS GAME- THATS WHAT I CALL A CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE/YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES

True Colors? I think TC lies somewhere between LiS2 and LiS in this aspect. Its definitely very railed, I think in every one you will get Jed to confess, so it depends on how you go about convincing him, romancing, and deciding your future to... well... decide your future. I can't fault it. It left it up to the player to decide and to not be screwed over by our previous choices (cough cough) and that is the crowd pleasing choice.

So, in the sense that it all feels very railed until the last 15 minutes when they spin us on an ice rink and say "freestyle baby"- it's fine. I'm not mad about it. But it does make me wonder what would've happened if we don't have any of the committee members on our side? Would we leave town effective immediately? Would the truth even have gotten out? Because if that's true... I would bump it up in the "does your choices matter?" 

You make choices and those choices have consequences, sometimes out of your control. That's what LiS2 perfected and what I want to see more in this franchise.