#completely agree with anon

[laf-outloud]

I hope it's okay to vent to you about this.

I am in disbelief. I didn't like it when Jensen said to "hate watch" the show or added in the would-be gaslighting line of "were you ever a real SPN fan in the first place?" I didn't care for how overgrown frat boy and egotistical ass he came across as in the MR podcast last year, especially about Jessica Alba. It just reeked of misogyny and typical toxic male performativity. But this "Suck it" takes the cake for me. Talk about an eye opener. How extremely unprofessional and petty.

Obviously, there's no video to watch to give context this time around but I'm thinking he knows that (based on the rules enforced there) and he has his wife with him and a room full of asskissers so he felt incredibly comfortable and said "fuck it" and said what he wanted to say when asked.

I was never an anti per se, of him or the show, but I did have criticisms of both (like so many others) and they were all legitimate. Despite that, I still gave the show a chance and it was appallingly bad. Even his Dean voiceovers were terrible (not once did it sound like Dean). And the thing with AU story telling is, you can't leave the full exposition until the end of a season (or movie) without some build-up. Even if they were completely full of shit and they came up with that in the 11th hour near the finale, they easily could have gone the route of "that's why there's so many things off about this universe like Carlos' hair trick and not sounding like Dean in the voiceovers and the Akrida" and it still would have been a better explanation than "suck it" and "everyone else has an AU multiverse, why not us?" (I guess people weren't wrong when they said he's desperate to be in the Marvel franchise or at least have a career comparable to RDJ). It makes no sense to leave that full exposition until the end (and they know it) because it negates any true interest and investment that an audience would have had in the ensemble cast that had been set up in the pilot, and in their universe and story line. By doing that in the end, it essentially did make it "The Dean Show". I don't have an issue with Dean being the person to pull the strings, but make it make sense; this is basic story crafting 101 for crying out loud.

The amount of vanity and smugness and overall ego that he is displaying right now is very off putting. The signs have all been there for the last couple of years, especially in this last year, but I still kept thinking "well, I don't necessarily have to be in love with him or up his ass to enjoy the work he puts out, he still played Dean for 15 years and I love Dean" but now, this really just puts me off of him for good. I have no desire to root for him or have any more interest to see what he's up to or even to see what asinine thing he says at the next con.

As much as I like Jared, when prequelgate happened, I stayed out of the ensuing drama. I could empathize with Jared, having been in a sort of similar situation myself (meaning I had taken to social media in the past, reacting to something that hurt me and making it public, and things snowballed from there) and I thought "the guy's human, why can't people understand that, he reacted to something that hurt him and caught him off guard, why hate on him, especially since he and Jensen talked it out so why continue the drama bullshit". I didn't agree with those defending Jensen by saying he didn't know about the announcement until it happened a few minutes prior, but I still loved J2 basically. But wow, Jensen has really gone further downhill in this past year alone, and I think it's abundantly clear that the reason he looks so miserable lately and appears to be drinking so much (I mean how many photos have we seen of this man in a social setting where he has a drink or can or bottle in his hand?) is maybe what others have said, he really cannot handle the reality check of realizing that not everyone kisses his ass. That not everyone accepted his show with open arms. That his name and persona weren't enough to ensure immediate success. That he wasn't thought of as the best producer ever. And if Danneel really does look at anti blogs, which there seems to be good evidence for especially since she mentioned Tumblr at NYCC all on her own, then I wonder how much she either showed him or made him aware of, especially since they now were both "producing" their own show and were most likely being told what the reactions were to TW (which is even more evidenced by Drake's explanation of the writers constantly changing the episode arcs in response to the feedback from fans and criticisms alike).

And the thing is, Jensen can sit there and tell himself that it was prequelgate or people bitching about canon issues, but the ratings speak for themselves. And even more so, the fact that additional producers were brought in, stunt casting had to be relied on, negative press (dislikes, comments, poll results) had to be requested to be removed, reshoots had to be done, the lack of promotion by said "original producers" (who expected their names to be enough to sell it but didn't bank on reinforcing that with engagement?), the finale not being turned into the network until 2 days before airing (and admitting that publicly) - all of this speaks to just how poorly this show was produced and a real leader (in any industry) automatically knows that it all starts with the top. That's what separates a leader from a boss (as you aptly pointed out in an earlier post of yours when highlighting the difference between Jared and Jensen in the EP roles). To echo your earlier sentiments, a boss is a guy who sits on his ass while the employees they hired do all of the back breaking work. They're only there to reinforce their title, "be the face" of the company, and collect all of the profits. Leaders dig in and get their hands dirty alongside their employees. They provide support where it's needed (like say the restaurant industry for example) and they do whatever it takes to turn out a successful product or service. Leaders even have a different type of mindset compared to bosses. Leaders want to flood the harbor to lift all of the boats at the same time so everyone will be successful which helps the end result; bosses only want their boat rising while all of the others stay below. And it's pretty sad to say that Jensen has now proven himself to be the latter. Telling your young cast not to "fuck it up" and explaining to one of your leads how to stand to appear taller on camera (the same young actress you seem to have a preoccupation with that gives off seriously creepy vibes - filming her while she's singing at SNS on your phone that people actually saw you do? no matter your intentions, that's yuck) in comparison to your other lead isn't being a leader. Admittedly sitting in your car, waiting for fires to put out (which obviously there were a ton and either they knew and didn't care or no one told them but it proves they didn't care enough to have their finger on the pulse because it wouldn't provide them with an immediate cashflow) does not a leader make. They'd already be there with fire extinguisher in hand, at the ready, making sure a fire wouldn't even have a chance to start.

Jensen and Danneel came up with this idea, and I would say Jensen is more responsible here because he got the idea approved, he attached his name to it, he was the one in the show for 15 years, he's obviously the one who expected the most to come from this. (and I still have yet to know what Danneel did other than make a playlist, support Jensen's ego 100%, go along for the EP credit ride, and give some input on the costuming). So that means it all starts with him. He may not like it but that's what a real leader would realize. If your project fails, it's not on your cast/employees or your union workers/crew or even your manager/showrunner; it's on you. You set the tone (as he and Jared both have stated time and time again, EP's, directors, and lead actors set the tones on sets). It's your production company (no matter how you got it). It's on you, pal.

This is very disappointing and a little disheartening if I"m honest. It looks as if those who said he was a selfish, greedy, lying, egotistical son of a bitch were right all along. And some people can blame his wife or her influence, but this appears to be all him, which makes me wonder just exactly what she deals with on a daily basis and what we don't see or hear. Not giving her a pass on her own behaviors but it does make me wonder, especially if he's this narcissistic. Either way, it's just sad.

Thanks for letting me get that out. I was so incredibly disappointed and frustrated with some of his reported comments. Ugh. Hope the rest of your night goes well!

Of course you can vent to me! I hope it helped you to write it all down and share.

I really can't add much else to what you've written. I think you've outlined just about every thought I've had about this whole debacle since it started. I was like you, initially. I didn't want to get involved in the prequel mess and kind of just watched from the sidelines (though I did side with Jared). After it became obvious that there was absolutely no remorse on Jensen's part, I joined in the conversations.

There were occasions when it seemed like maybe Jensen had hit rock-bottom and was ready to return to being the person we thought we knew from SPN, but a week or two later and he'd say or do something arrogant again and it really hasn't stopped. I don't know what rock-bottom looks like for him, I hope he doesn't have to reach that in order to turn things around, and for all we know, he never will. I'm just grateful TW is over and pray that Jensen's obsession with continuing SPN/Dean is over.

On a personal note, it's interesting that you should point out the leader/boss ask (credit to one of my anons for the Boss/Leader differences). My retired director texted me today looking for travel advice and your post reminded me of what a great director she was. She always got involved in the nitty-gritty of what we were doing, she respected us and our ideas, frequently asked our advice (even though we knew the final decision was hers), and she knew how to manage getting the job done while still having fun. Her leadership style reminds me a lot of how people describe Jared's. (She and her husband even showed up on a Saturday to help me move to my new house!) If you ever find yourself working with a fantastic leader, stick with them. They don't come around that often.

Thank you for sending in your thoughts! I truly enjoyed reading them and found myself nodding along quite frequently. I hope you have an enjoyable day/evening as well!

[fatuismooches]

Helloo, Smooches! Been a long time since I've been here😅 In meantime I got a decree and currently I'm dying from heat, but anyway - Natlan. While I'm disappointed at the lack of melanin, at least women there are pretty. And Capitano!

I just thought Capitano is the kind of guy who unintentionally can speak of his lover for a long time, until someone stops him. Sure, in trailer all he said is "Hm", but I'm telling you, in expedition with him, Varka, Mika and favonius soldiers learned a lot about you simply because Capitano kept talking and others were too scared of him to actually call him out

Then in Natlan, he'll talk to Traveler respectfully, only when needed, but as soon as Paimon asks why he takes so much photos and for who or whose *insert item* he's wearing (I feel like Capitano's lover will give him something like a good luck charm) and he'll start talking about you and oh boy, while Traveler and Paimon want to meet you (mostly bc they're curious who's that person who manged to form a relationship with #1 of Harbingers), they also regret asking anything and think how they can tactically leave. And it happens every time someone asks Capitano anything related to his lover

-🥀

It's not unknown that Capitano is a quiet man, even when he speaks he's straight to the point, not wasting time on anything unnecessary. He much prefers for his actions (or blade) to do the talking. But there are a few souls who have witnessed the Captain's mouth run on for longer, much to their surprise (said people still haven't gotten over it, except Varka. That guy knew exactly what he was doing when he met the Harbinger, he wasn't scared at all. Though he didn't mention the abrupt talkativeness because he much enjoyed seeing this side of Capitano. Even gave him some romantic advice!)

It was the same with the Traveler, he was a bit interested in them from listening to the tales of his soldiers, but his calm demeanor remained the same. He was really just focused on his mission for the Fatui - the Gnosis and whatnot, and secondly, his mission for you - getting the perfect gifts as an apology for leaving you for so long. Needless to say, he's gotten the hang of it after having to go on so many expeditions. (And his agents secretly drop hints during conversations with him, because they're the #1 Reatano shippers.)

Of course, Paimon is nosy as usual and can't help but ask about the Capitano's peculiar habits. Or wonder why someone as strong as him needs something as tiny as a good luck charm. (Can't blame her much though, it's not every day you see the Harbinger doing such... normal things.) Capitano then mentions his marriage to you very simply - he's not ever embarrassed or reluctant to say he's with you, plus he trusts the Traveler to a certain degree that they'd never hurt you. Traveler and Paimon nearly explode on the spot.

A Harbinger?! Married?! Happily married too?! And he's this dedicated to you?! Who. Are. YOU?! They try to pry a bit more for info, but even more to their surprise, he offers up more things about you (though he knows the limit - he won't ever compromise your safety.) But at the same time, he can't help but talk about you - you're just that amazing there are so much things about you that he notices every time he sees you again after ages. You- you're just so-

The traveling duo are praying to every Archon that someone will come and interrupt this conversation.

[cry-ptidd]

I know we all compare Alucard to a cat (rightfully so, the resemblance is uncanny) but have yall ever had a dachshund? Those adorable little shits are so clingy to the point where they want to crawl into your skin (and even that probably wouldn’t combat their clinginess)

I've never owned a dachshund

However

That sounds exactly like Alucard so

Hellsing au where everything is the same except Baskerville is a dachshund

[valyrfia]

the drivers should lock in and do one of those protests the drivers did in the 90s and shit. because clearly the fia needs a reality check and i don’t even know how else to give it to them

george russell i suspect you read this blog. if you’re seeing this, please consider it.

[napoleonic-confessions]

[apollos-boyfriend]

I don't understand any adult who genuinely hates kids. They can be stressful and a lot sometimes but they are so sweet and trying their best. Yes, even teenagers. I've trained a lot of teenagers at my job and every single one of them is so kind and helpful if you just give them respect, even the 'problem' ones who get into fights at school. They just lack experience and knowledge and need someone patient to teach them but they aren't trying to be 'bad' or anything. I don't even like kids all that much but not being able to get along with them and respect them as people is a skill issue.

i didn’t add this to the last post because i struggle to word it but being an adult that genuinely hates kids is like. pathetic. like kids act out and can be little shits because they’re still learning. they’re learning how to regulate their emotions and navigate social etiquette and just Be people. if you’re a grown ass adult you don’t have that excuse. saying you hate kids/being mean to kids just broadcasts to me that your abilities to regulate your emotions and acquiesce with others is worse than a Literal Child’s and that’s just sad

[journey-to-the-attic]

I just played the event and I just want to say... if it's a wedding they need, it would be funny if this was how ZhaoLu ended up married

absolute big brain idea... it's perfect because i feel like both of them would be apprehensive about putting out the idea of Actual Marriage, for emotional reasons on zhao's end and logistic ones on lucifer's (like, zhao has romantic relationship baggage, but lucifer would be 100% down if it weren't for the complications of inter-realm marriage)

i like to think they try incorporating some chinese wedding customs into it for zhao... like the tea ceremony where the newlyweds kneel and present tea to the parents, then to each other (though they have to make mammon and ik sub in because zhao's parents have probably disowned him and god isn't exactly available)

wait also chuangmen!!! basically the groom (and sometimes his groomsmen) has to pass several 'tests' to prove he is worthy of the bride, and these days they're basically games set up by the bridal party. the other brothers form lucifer's party and then ik + the others are zhao's and they take it in turns acting as each party... ideal shenanigans scenario

(the brothers come up with fairly tame stuff for zhao to do, whereas ik gets given planning privileges (because it's her dad lucifer's proving himself worthy of) and immediately starts setting up saw traps)

[ultrakill-confessions]

The amount of NSFW Gabriel x V1 I see here on tumblr is ridiculous. This is not out of a place of homophobia but rather I’m autistic and like the lore of ULTRAKILL. Guys please, V1 is a robot, a robot made to kill. V1 was not programmed to feel emotions, it was made to kill. Gabriel doesn’t even like V1, he likes the challenge V1 gives him in battle. I feel ships r ruining the fandom because there’s no room for romance in ULTRAKILL.

-

[beanghostprincess]

Final confrontation between shuggy, Buggy needs to yell at him, bare his soul in a raw and honest way, lay down all the ways Shanks fucked up. Let the universe give the clown man closure and then kill him in front of Shanks, who is powerless to stop it. This Shanks who would probably be destroyed to know how much he fucked up his first, his most important relationship, by failing him, by not trusting Buggy enough and not being upfront with him. Shanks needs to live the rest of his days in misery, mired in the knowledge that he managed to completely fuck up his childhood best friend so profoundly it affected his entire adult life. And after years of this miscommunication, of Buggy hating him and resenting him, of Shanks not knowing what went wrong, the moment they were finally getting somewhere, his friend got taken away from him. Shanks learns to live with his mistakes. This time there is no Whitebeard in front of whom he can pretend to be unaffected by Buggy leaving him, everyone in the world had witnessed what he really was. Just like Buggy said, he was a coward.

What happened to hello????? Hey???? Merry fucking Christmas to you too???? Damn this destroyed me completely

[decarbry]

a frequent visitor

[prince-liest]

oh my god…. prince……. you can’t do this to me. you’re saying next fic has vox getting fucked, focuses on vox’s transness (AH), AND ALSO HES ON THE OFF SEE SAW OF HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH VAL?????? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MEE?!!?!!????? I THINK I MIGHT ACTUALLY COMBUST. and bc another anon asked abt how alastor views the violence in voxval’s relationship, i have Another thought on the matter. as much as alastor looks down on vox, they can be Very similar sometimes. they are both egomaniacs and very prideful. i don’t think vox, without outside interference, would ever ADMIT that the violence he faces is 1) something he truly hates AND 2) out of his control. he can’t admit he hates it, because then why isn’t he stopping it? that would be admitting to not being powerful enough or strong enough. and hello, 50’s toxic masculinity coming through, he CANT be a victim of domestic violence. he’s a powerful, rich, and important man. it all comes down to perceived weakness. so, the solution is to pretend he’s mostly fine with it. sure, he can act disgruntled and upset in the moment, but i don’t think he’d ever let himself take it seriously. because then he has to start drawing lines in the sand, and what happens then? will val look down on him? will he lose val? yeah, he is not risking that over a problem he mostly refuses to acknowledge exists. and as you said, this is all happening in the setting of hell, where ultra violence IS the norm, and vox himself is excessively violent. it’s the most delicious 50 layer cake of fucked up-ness.

RANT ASIDE THO. i have a question. 2. do you ever plan on having vox interact with the hotel crew outside of angel? ANDDDD what would charlie’s reaction be to their friendship/situationship/ kinda love affair. i think she could add SOOOOO much hilarity and Intense Emotions to this series. not that the boys haven’t been doing their part in that so far. charlie just intensifies everything she does, god bless her. -🌓

The "getting fucked" bit and the trans conversation bit are directly related to and relevant to each other, and frankly I'm just very happy to be out here writing the specific flavors of deeply queer shenanigans that I'm writing, and to have people actively enjoy that. It genuinely means a lot to me that I've strayed so goddamn far out of the bounds of good old top/bottom yaoi archetypes that introduced me to fandom and yet have a wildly enthusiastic audience nonetheless. So, that was my long way of saying that you bring me a lot of fucking joy, anon, hahaha.

As for everything you're saying about Vox, power, and masculinity: YOU! points dramatically at you YOU GET IT! YOU GET IT!!!!!! Everyone just read this, this is it, this is the thing. I have no notes to add. There is a reason that the main point he raises the moment he actually says something vulnerable about it (before he immediately cuts himself off) is a complaint that he's an overlord, so why—?

And with regards to your questions: I'm not gonna lie, my actual planning for 666 is usually, like, extremely by the seat of my pants. I plan nothing except, "Oh, shit, had an idea for the next one. Lesgoooo—" and that's been the case for literally every single installment. It's all just been evolving naturally and building on top of itself. So! I can't say that I plan to have Vox interact with the hotel crew or Charlie, but I also will never say that I'm actively opposed to it.

That said, I do think a lot of this fic is kinda structured around hitting specific topics that come up in intimate settings between Vox and Alastor specifically, with occasional tag-ins from Angel Dust, so I don't really know if there's anything in particular I'd like to write that I think would work better in this series if more characters got involved. But, hey! Never say never!

[duchessofostergotlands]

To be honest I haven't liked the things Catherine has been saying about mental health lately. First that talking therapy doesn't help everyone, now this. For a royal to say a short sentence or two about mental health... it can easily come across the wrong way & doesn't show nuance. Yes, talking therapy doesn't help everyone, but her saying this could discourage people from trying it out. Not everyone who feels anxious has a medical condition and needs medication, but some of us do!

Let's look at what she said (and buckle up, it's a long one):

Quote number 1: At an art therapy charity. Someone said writing music had been an easier way to get their feelings out than talking in a clinical space. Kate responded: "Talking therapies don’t work for some people, they’re not for everybody. It’s so important to have a range of therapies." She then followed it up by talking about how many people won't respond to talking therapies because of their own preconceptions about clinical spaces and so it's important to let those people know that there are safe alternative spaces like this charity where they can come for help in a way that works for them.

Unless you're asserting talking therapy does work for everyone and alternative therapies shouldn't be offered, I can't see what the issue is. It's 100% truthful. An analysis by the Child Outcomes Research Consortium found that only a third of children had recovered (i.e. they were no longer above the clinical threshold) by the end of therapy. About 40% responded they'd experienced no change at all. For adults it's slightly better but NHS Digital report only 50% of adults who access therapy have recovered by the time it's over. That's before we even get into the fact that talking therapies were built by and for predominantly white westerners and so large chunks of the population find them completely unhelpful, even actively damaging. There's an article here on that. So it's accurate to state that they don't work for everyone - for a variety of reasons - and alternatives need to be accessible for those who have reason to not trust professional services, or who had therapy and haven't recovered. In fact, this is a big problem in therapy because people often go into it thinking it'll fix things and then ending treatment without being "cured" is extremely difficult for them. And that issue is caused by precisely this unwillingness from the public and some professionals to be honest and acknowledge that talking therapies won't work for everyone.

Quote number 2: I can't find the full quote but essentially she said that normal anxieties should not be over-medicalised.

I wrote a whole thing about this, read that. I'm going to illustrate with an example from Drag Race. A few years ago there was a contestant who wasn't popular, I can't really remember why, but in their sob story episode they opened up about their clinical depression. And the reaction all over social media was "who cares? Everyone has depression!" But the thing is... they don't. In the US, where it was filmed, 2/3 of people don't have depression in their lifetime. We have created an environment where instead of normalising mental illness so those who have it feel accepted, we've overcorrected. And now it's cool and trendy to make stress into Anxiety Disorder, to making lying into gaslighting, to make your dick of an ex boyfriend's behaviour a Personality Disorder. All of which means that people who genuinely do have mental illnesses are taken less seriously and for conditions like mine (I have BPD) stigma is worse than it's been at any point since I was diagnosed 8 ish years ago. And that's not to mention medications for mental illnesses can be heavy duty. She was at an event for children and it's perfectly reasonable to question whether a doctor giving a child meds after a five minute appointment because the child said they were anxious is a sensible and healthy choice. It's there in the name - over medicalising. It's like any medical procedure. No one is saying you shouldn't cut someone's arm off if they have a serious infection and it's needed. But you shouldn't cut their arm off just because they got a paper cut. PS something slightly outside the scope of this because Kate can't be partisan but we talk about this a lot at work, the link between over-medicalising and poverty. A good article on that here.

I understand what you're saying about the fact that sometimes quotes are clipped out of context and royals need to think about what the headline will be but even taken out of context, all of her statements are accurate. And actually in my view it's the first time I've ever seen her be nuanced! I've always found her mental health work patchy because I feel like she unintentionally contributed to a lot of the issues I've outlined above but she's finally talking about things that are not talked about as much, even amongst professionals. I get your perspective because I was there a few years ago. When someone first mentioned the concept of over-medicalising to me I thought it was denying mental illness is real etc. But then I realised that knee jerk reaction was coming from my insecurities about my illness and my past experiences of struggling to get care, it wasn't actually about the concept itself.

[dstconfessions]

Kind of annoyed by the Wes being trans confession as it implies men can’t be effeminante without being women.

There’s so many kinds of people, just because they dont fit into your ideal image of what a gender is to you doesn’t mean they are one or the other

I don’t think that ask was implying that whatsoever. It’s just a fun headcanon! Perfectly fine to not like someone’s opinion, but saying that liking trans Wes implies they think men can’t be feminine doesn’t make sense.

[evil-mcytblrconfessions]

“whimsy this lack of whismy that” people are allowed to dislike things :/

.

[milksnake-tea]

Why did ppl hate topaz?

it was back in the aetherium wars event over in belobog, tldr she comes in to retrieve an age old debt that belobog has to the ipc, does the typical ipc thing of offering to assist (aka turning belobog into one of the ipc's planets or smth along those lines) with the eternal freeze; however she doesn't really mention that the thing only has a 66% success rate.

people didn't like her because of the colonizer (i think? i don't remember exactly) vibes she was bringing and to be fair she was an antagonist in that event, but in the end she does agree to hold the ipc off after seeing belobog put itself together, and even takes a demotion as a hit so i wouldn't say she's that bad, she's just morally grey and very misguided (she sees the ipc lowkey in rose tinted glasses) and sometimes people don't like that and categorize characters in good and evil - and topaz got stuck with evil

[motoroil-recs]

[Kinfession]

It feels kinda bad when you just don't experience memories often

Most of my fictionkin friends experience memories and stuff but I rarely do so I never know if I'm a canonmate of anybody

And sometimes people will talk about their memories to me and ask if I remember it and I'm like "idk man,,"

LIKEE some stuff could be a memory but also I'm an avid artist, writer, story maker, and daydreamer so like. could be a memory or just my brain being silly yk??

ANYWAYS I wanted to say: anyone who doesn't experience memories are also super valid!! It might feel invalidating because a lot of people do, but that doesn't matter! You're still a valid kin <3

-⭐️

🏎️‼️