#does this make sense no but it's hashtag true

[shallowtboy]

Lumpen Radio? I'm tryna radio 📞📻 His lumps 🤣🙂‍↕️

[goodluckclove]

I've been meaning to say something. (100 follower hot take)

Hey! Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've had a nice day. Why don't you rest with me for a while? I made some chocolate chip cookies - with shortening instead of butter, so they're very soft and very chocolatey. I made way too many and they aren't my wife's favorite, so I could use some help in eating them.

You're probably a writer, right? Or maybe you think about how you could be. Browse the tags here, or on other social media platforms. Maybe you used to write stories as a kid. I bet those were fun. Teachers might've thought they were impressive, or they dissected them line by line until the words didn't make sense in your head anymore. Either way, if you're here you're probably here for a reason.

(rant alert)

I dipped a toe in online writing communities on and off. My last attempt was forty-five minutes scrolling through the writing hashtag on Youtube Shorts (so TikTok, I guess? I don't know). I didn't like it. I really didn't. The thing that sticks out the strongest in my mind is one particular video where a woman claims that every story needs a second act plot twist.

Huh? Every story? All of them? Why? Since when? Who are you? What qualifications do you have to make a statement like that?

That's the common thread that makes a lot of writing spaces very uncomfortable for me. Successful writers are really only successful in their genre and for the given moment, so they don't have that much objective authority in the craft. And yet I see a lot of people deciding the things that you can't do in writing. Or the things you have to do, and how you have to do them. It was so much of Writeblr at first glance that I almost dipped out once again. I didn't, though, and I'm glad I didn't because now I get to watch some of the next great storytellers from across the world grow and examine and forge their way forward.

No one can teach you how to write. No, that's not true. Teachers teach literacy. Handwriting. Typing maybe - do schools still teach typing? Let me try saying it in a different way - no one, not one single person on this goddamned planet, has the right to tell you how to make a story.

I was supposed to get my MFA in creative writing before my first breakdown. My uncle stayed in the program I was meant to be in, and a few years after I dropped out he graduated. Recently I had the thought to look up his thesis novella, and as I searched I found myself regretting my decision to leave school. If I stayed and got to develop my writing in an actual class, with other writers and a knowledgeable professor, how much further along would I be than where I am right now?

It was bad. His novella was terrible. It was so bad I had a small existential crisis for, like, three days. He spent so much money on years and years of professional education and came out with a truly soulless story that read as if you prompted an AI to write the next Great American Novel. So if you think you need a writing degree to be a legitimate author, it could help connections-wise, but it ultimately won't be the thing that does the work for you.

Not all advice I see online on writing is bad. I find the people who are able to capture the "I" statements of therapy and phrase advice as things that have worked for them, or things that they personally enjoy, to be fine. Some writing advice can spark inspiration.

But if someone is the type of person to boil every story down to troupes and cliches, and then immediately say that every story that uses the trait they don't like is automatically bad for everyone? I'm dropping the kindness for a second - that's trash. That's a trash take and I see far too many writers use it as a reason to stop before they begin.

I don't like whump. I say my reasons in previous posts if you go back through my blog. But you will never hear me say that any story with whump in it is bad, because I don't know that. You might prove me wrong. I am an adult human being and I have the humility to admit that I can like something I didn't expect to. I genuinely enjoy the direction of The Human Centipede (only the first one) and if you cringed just now that probably means you haven't seen it.

There are so many types of books and movies and plays and comics out there. To enjoy a specific genre is fine, to ignore the existence of everything else is a really, really, really odd thing to do. Maybe someone will hate your story because they think everything should be Neil Gaiman, and therefore have no way to understand your epistolary high-Western. You are not the wrong end of that situation just for existing.

And at there is a definite threshold on how many writing tips you can gather before they stop being useful. If you find them interesting, that's one thing. That's fine. But if the culture of creativity online has made you feel like you need to educate yourself on every possible angle before you can write a story, you are actively harming yourself.

Imagine taking the level of structure you put on yourself in that way and putting it on children playing pretend in the backyard. Oh, Susie, don't you know that it's overdone for your Kitsune have dead parents? Xyler, shouldn't you ask someone else before you decide how Spiderman would react to this? It would make no sense and they do not need it. Kids will make a whole world out of nothing and it's the most fucked thing in my heart that at some point they get access to Reddit and dipshits start insisting that's wrong.

They aren't wrong and you aren't either. Your favorite creative influencer can't tell you your story, strangers on the internet can't tell you your story, your teachers and loved ones can't tell you your story. They can influence it, but they can't write it honestly the way you can.

You do that. That's the thing you do.

Man that makes me upset. I can't tell you how to make a story, either. If anyone sends me asks for writing advice the most I'll do is say what I've done before hopping into your DMs and starting a direct conversation. it's so personal to each individual artist, and I'd like to think that the people selling these classes and software and promoting these platforms haven't thought about that before. Otherwise it does feel manipulative. If you have a willingness to practice and imagine and really experiment with the possibilities, you are ready to write your story.

And if it doesn't work? Try again. That's what you do.

Stephen King has written roughly a thousand books and maybe five of them have decent endings. He is unimaginably successful.

I'm rambling now. I think I got that out of my system. I was really worried to say this out of fear of being too weird or somehow reverse-gatekeeping so hard that it circles back into also being a bad thing. I've just spoken to a lot of people who I still think of throughout my day, and I truly ache for them to get past the fear of creation. Because it's worth it. It's worth it and it's fun, even when it's messy and you're tired.

Let it Be just came on. Beatles. I haven't listened to The Beatles in a long time. Feels a little apropos.

I love you, reader. Reader, Writer, Colleague. Take care of yourself. Especially the little you, still sitting there in the backyard of your soul, bathing in the sun with their bare feet in the damp earth.

Consider joining them, maybe.

[etherealhoneybee777]

Okay, the mp100 fandom (and other fandom spaces as well) makes me really hopeful✨

The internet is mostly a cruel and terrible place. It largely exists as an instrument of global capitalism. Governments use social media to push propaganda that either reinforces their fascist, conservative ideals or instills leftists that want to fight back with a sense of hopelessness that paralyzes and scares them. And we’re also getting to a point where much of the content we see online is not only made by AI, but interacted with by AI as well. We’re seeing “art” and ragebait stories that aren’t even made by real humans, but are spread online as if they’re true. Transactions are everywhere, but because everything is a subscription service, we own nothing. Corporations are putting advertisements on even the most sacred corner of the web & encouraging people to constantly consume, to BE consumed with the desire to consume more things, and to fill up the little time we have left with constant, buzzing productivity—because the internet is an instrument of capitalism, and capitalism is about constant expansion, expansion that won’t stop until everything in our lives is quantifiable and our whole being is stretched thin in service of a pointless, unstoppable economic growth.

In the face of that, I think your mp100 art is amazing. I think your fic is amazing. I am glad you decided to share it with us. I am glad you took the time to analyze Mob or Serizawa or Tome. To post screen grabs of Dimple or gifs or animatics or anything else. I’m glad you reblogged my post and added some silly or thoughtful little hashtags. I’m glad you DM’d me or posted a long ramble about Ritsu or Teru or reigen.

People don’t have to do these things. They don’t have to sketch characters or share headcanons or write fic or make watch parties on cute little discord servers. But they do. They do it because it’s a fun thing to do & because they’re talented and passionate. And it makes me happy that on the internet—which is increasingly being used to alienate and control us—still hosts real communities and real people making real art and writing their real thoughts without any kind of profit motive or manipulative agenda. People are literally just posting because they want to share their work and connect with others. It reminds me that no matter what capitalism does, we live in a fundamentally social world & we’re constantly trying to connect with each other about the things we like. MP100 is the thing I like and the people here make me hopeful. I see people post their art/writing/headcanons and I get super happy. I get inspired. I look at people’s bios and all the different countries they’re from and get really happy that the internet can be used as a tool to connect people across the world with the same interest together.

Choosing to create and make friends and be nice and spread positivity over the internet is a uniquely powerful thing. It may not seem like much, (and being on the internet is often framed as “wasting time”) but the Internet is important and the things you do here are actually tangible and real. Making and sharing art—making friends—sharing writing and blurbs and headcanons is a legitimate pushback against the terrible capitalistic machine that the internet has become. I’ve heard a lot of creators say that their art doesn’t get noticed/doesn’t matter because it doesn’t get a lot of attention. But it DOES matter. Because, for every second that someone spends seeing your art, that’s one second that they don’t spend on government propaganda or brain-numbing advertisements or ragebait or AI generated “content”. And even if no one sees your art, YOU spent time making it. You loved it and cared for it and valued it in a way that capitalism can never profit from or understand.

I hope you know that I see your art & love it. I look at it when I’m sad. My gf and I look at mp100 art while we sit outside and feel the world leave our bones. Maybe this is too much, but I’m feeling earnest and joyful tonight & am trying to lean into those feelings.

I’m just thankful. You create and share just because you wanted to create and share. You’re making the world a better place.

[howlingaround]

[ Doctor Who ] Timey Wimey Fanon and Headcanons that I accept as the hashtag True Canon: - Regeneration is a temporal process, and every time the Doctor regenerates a new point of origin is added to their time stream ( multiple timelines make one stream, a time lord survival mechanism maybe ?). This means that each incarnation has their own "backstory" but they are all part of the same backstory: the First Doctor is a time travelling human from the 49th Century with only one heart, but the Second Doctor has two, and the Third is biologically gallifreyan. The Seventh Doctor was Loomed, the Eighth is half human with Ulysses and Penelope as parents, the Thirteenth Doctor is Timeless - The TARDIS is spatially bigger on the inside, but also temporally bigger on the inside. All those comics and novels and audio dramas are part of the "inner" timeline / interior time stream, but we cant see them on the television adventures since they are hidden "inside". This makes no sense does it - Regeneration and Bigger on the Inside technology are side effects of Time Travel itself. Time Travel is unnatural and breaks the universe, which is why magic and gods and all those impossible things can happen in the Doctor Who Universe - The Doctors real name is the television intro theme, and all gallifreyan is spoken in song - The Eye of Harmony is inside the planet of Gallifrey, because the whole planet is bigger on the inside as well - One K9 fell into Omegas Black Hole and now theyre stuck together being annoying friends

[mobblespsycho100]

👍psychoanalyze ur kabru playlist now boy

yes I shall #1 boykisser... 🫡

ask game thing

anyway formatting the last post was kinda hell for me. which is why I'll do the same exact formatting for this one...

(rambling all over the place is commencing)

1. Valley of The Dolls by MARINA

baby. where do i freaking begin.

"In the valley of the dolls, we sleep" -> his adoptive mother, Milsiril, is a big fan of collecting dolls. Like, plushies of everything. She animates them to fight, but they're also there to soothe her. She also adopts a lot of children from short-lived races who don't have a family and she got allegations that she treats them all like her dolls lmao... I mean she kind of does in the sense that they're all precious to her. She does respect their autonomy but uhhh still living with such a doting and overbearing/overprotective mother makes u wanna break outta the dollhouse the cage . be free . hashtag transgenderism also gosh im getting off topic . anyway i bet Kabru slept with a lotta those dolls. in his comfy bed . that he left behind because hes not abt that life mama he wanna see the world and save it and get killed in dungeons. boy.

"Got a hole inside of me / Living with identities / That do not belong to me" -> Grouping these lyrics together because it makes sense for my twisted narrative i mean my very real and based takes. Anyway, he's got a hole inside of him the void in his heart (in his mind) and thats why. his autism and ptsd masking swag. thats as eloquent as i can put it. theres a lot more i can say though

"In my life, I got this far" -> He survived the tragedy of Utaya his hometown . the bloodbath because of the dungeon. It has to be for a purpose ™ . It's because he has to save the world from suffering the same fate and it's his burden to bear it's his purpose it was why he survived (the survivor's guilt... goodness man. trauma processing of all time. :[ )

"Now I'm ready for the last hoorah" -> boy . letting these panels speak for itself. putting it under the cut because spoilers for the peeps seeing this maintagged and they're not caught up with manga .

yeah boy hes falling. fallen. uhm. in the pit. Ready for the last hoorah in this case like. yeah 🤣 just leaving it up to laios (Liar . kabru and mithrun dungeon adventure speedrun)

"Dying like a shooting star" -> guy keeps dying. not even like a shooting star really. well. ig hes going out in style somewhat id getting crushed by Falin's chimera dragon claw counts as shooting star style

2. Lip Sinking by The Hoosiers

We all know Sash does not play about The Hoosiers which is why I have 26 damn The Hoosiers songs on there I should get awarded tbh .

Now Lip Sinking is really good because it's another one of those scammer / masking guy anthems i keep talking about. These lyrics in Verse 5 in particular is really easy to match to Kabru's character moment™ though, so let's break it down.

"I float above my body" -> Common depersonalization experience. For trauma reasons, Kabru probably feels like this a lot sometimes but specifically in this scene...

(apologies for no alt text peeps . but this is the friendship confession scene for those in the know if it hasnt loaded in yet)

anyway, back to the show (psychoanalyzing Kabru) . I think this disconnect with his words VS his thoughts and his heart is so real. Like. seeing urself out of ur body is again a depersonalization thing, and idk if hes feeling depersonalization in this moment specifically but he was really out of it and in a sort of , scrambled and intensely anxious state. His usually calm and cool persona slash facade is Crumbling and man he hates that .

"Must be out of my mind / Cos I watch myself / Getting it wrong everytime" -> He's like. man what the hell am I saying

letting the page speak for itself again because It's like. its there i mean its in tha text what am I supposed to dissect hes dissecting himself already 🤭😭 okay. 'What am I saying' 'I can't find the words' so true man idk what the hell im saying either rn

"I can't tell you how I'm really feeling" -> because he doesn't know his own emotions. He thinks he does, he has been so good at controlling them and like being fake about what he's truly feeling in his heart, adjusting his personality for others' sake. So they trust him, believe in him, listen to him. But for Laios, how does he even say anything? Before this, the words just spilling out, he didn't even know how he felt about Laios. It sounds ridiculous even to himself and that's why he clamps his mouth afterwards but indeed it Is what he was truly feeling all along... (and then Laios thinks he's lying and hes like "NO BITCH!!!? what?!!!?! im being vulnerable and honest rn?!?" )

"Cuz I'm just lip-syncing" -> for so long that's what he's been doing. lip syncing, saying things he doesn't really mean to influence others' perception of him... but this time his mouth moved faster than his mind racing with thoughts. that he's able to convey what he truly wanted all along and finally admit to himself and his own consciousness. like. aaaahgh. man hes so special to meeee....

bonus: the outro's lyrics is rlly good aha. he can finally say what he actually feels... he can be #real.

3. Allies or Enemies by The Crane Wives

This one is . a lot of vibes I think.

"Are we allies or enemies? / This will be the death of me / This will be the death of me" -> He legit says this to Laios . like hes still wondering if they're allies or enemies . Technically he doesn't want them to be enemies. he's cautious but he knows Laios isn't really a bad guy but like, his mind just keeps fixating on Laios and the steps he takes to get the dungeon under control so. hes desperately trying to figure it out because goodness this guy is so. waugh

"All is fair in love and war, but I can't fight with you anymore / This will be the death of me" -> his mental conflict is sooo tasty to me. like . all is fair in love and war !!! any method is justifiable !!! means justifies the ends but also he understands that in the end he can't fully wrap his head around Laios' love of monsters but he knows that Laios will be the one to conquer the dungeon because he also loves his family. He can't fight with him anymore and he can't "kill" him anymore because somehow this man has wormed his way in. well, he never wanted him dead in the first place but I find that he often thinks about killing him to save humanity from his... well. freakishness (complimentary) (concerning sometimes) ;;; but in the end Kabru lets him go and is willing to trust and support Laios till the end ... also once again the repetitiveness of "this will be the death of me" because he's stressed as helll!!!!

"What happens now, do we have another go?" -> I think this is post-Marcille being talked down out of being dungeon lord . Kabru's probably like ok so now what. well. Laios goes its my turn with the dungeon lording 😭😭 (and shit goes down) (but its okay he got it covered)

"Do we bow out and take our seperate roads?" -> Now this is probably when they're (the whole gang) is like "WHERE'S LAIOS DID HE DIE?" no he lives guys its fine. and namari toshiro and kabru run at him in relief. wauh. and also ofc the whole people coming together to eat faligon meat and save Falin ... yippeee... so yeah they don't go seperate roads because Kabru is like yeah imma be Laios' pr manager . #royaladvisor . sticking with him fr fr

"I'll admit I had my doubts / But I want to be let in, not out / But I want to be let in, not out" -> again the repetition ... of him wanting to help. I've mostly been talking abt how this entire song is Kabru's conflicted thoughts @ Laios but this can also be Kabru lending a helping hand to Mithrun at the end of everything. Because he's the one to like help Mithrun realize that there is a purpose to living and like . new desires and ppl who care abt him... but also yeah Kabru "i want to be let in, not out" because he wants to help out Laios with running the new kingdom instead of being in the background again and being ignored ahhaa he wants to be friends for real (and maybe even . lovers. lets go gay people)

ANYWAYYY YEAH THATS THE END WOOOOO idk how to close this out. happy belated birthday kabru and ty juno for sending this in ajshjdhsb :33 ♡

[whatiswritteninthestars]

My take on what’s been going on with the fandom regarding Melissa McBride. This will get me blocks I’m sure but you have to be careful who you trust. Listen to people but don’t think they are god. Even actors and showrunners have been known to embellish the truth. I do not believe for a second Melissa is being overrun and underminded. She already left the spinoff once and a lot was put in to getting her back on board. That’s not something AMC or Norman/Scott is going to jeopardize again. A lot of talk is going around about a pro Caryl showrunner and rumors of how the men are trying to block that from happening. For one if AMC wanted them they’ll sign them. They have the power over Scott. Another thing is they are not going to refuse to hire someone over their taste in ships. These are professional people who have done this job before.

Keep in mind about who you are getting the information from. If they use the line “you don’t have to believe me” chances are they aren’t being forthcoming. If they become aggressive when you don’t believe them chances are they aren’t being honest. This seems more about a fandom power play then it does as warning to Carylers to make a movement to AMC.

I’ve seen so much division in the Caryl fandom throughout several platforms. And it’s to much competition that often times makes it unbearable. There’s a few “leaders” who are constantly at odds with each other and fight for their place at fandom Queen. It’s childish and mean girl behavior.

FYI a true leader is someone who uplifts everyone regardless of how they feel about you. Not a dictatorship which some of you are guilty of. I’ve seen you guys shut down people and try to push them out of the fandom for having the same opinion earlier that you have now. So maybe think on that before you judge next time. None of us are ever 100 percent right all the time.

Some of you really need to let that high school mantra go. I don’t believe the ones being the loudest have any true connection to higher ups at AMC or the DD/BOC show. And I don’t believe Melissa is being strongholded. She is an EP and has a say in Carol’s story. AMC official accounts are using the Caryl hashtag. There’s a lot to look forward to. She’s been a part of the show from day one giving input and helping on and off screen even before she was an EP. Melissa was a huge part of season one even without the title. Actors have always raved about how she’s made them better and the same holds true with this show. So you all need to relax. Melissa is valued.

I can tell you this with certainty the one claiming to have this insider information is the same person who would dm a wide range of accounts that seemed to have information and beg them for whatever information they could. And when she got information she refused to share any. Which is what they are doing now. Talking about a female show runner but will not name names. Put your money where your mouth is if you think you have accurate information. And I will tell you this stalking and dming crew members or production members for a tid bit of information is not a source. It’s borderline harassment. You know who you are.

Now in closing this person also claimed that if Carylers were loud enough to AMC that the spinoff would not happen. Yes they were going to waste all that money or sets and contracts. Melissa was also already there when they were trying to make this movement lol. Stop acting like they are the Buddha to the Caryl fandom like you have no common sense and can’t function without them. There are many strong Caryl fans who don’t spread misery on a daily basis you can talk to. To calm your fears or just to talk about happier things to look forward to. These so called leaders seek out emotional people that they can control who are looking for guidance. This was once the greatest fandom in the land and could be again if we would break ties with the ones holding us down. So just think about that before being sucked down with the rest. Great things are coming. I promise you that.

[beautifulhigh]

“And that is why Alex says he loves Henry on purpose. Because he is making the active choice to be with Henry, to forge a forever with him…”

All of it is beautifully persuasive and on point. But this section in particular convinced. You reminded me of Alex and Bea’s conversation and it all makes sense now. I should reread the book 😌Thank you for answering my ask so eloquently. Sincere apology to Alex, that sweet, romantic little shithead.

I'm glad my ramblings made sense! But yeah, Alex is actively choosing Henry - especially in that moment - and it's the first time that someone outside of Bea and Pez (and Shaan but the dynamics there are different) is putting him first.

I think it matters that Alex goes to Henry in that moment. Because outing is shitty enough to begin with but it's a whole other storm for Henry. It would have therefore been easy for Henry to have wanted to escape that, to run away to the 'Land of the free' and hole up in the White House as he threatened to do once.

I should have just packed a bag like I said. I could be in your bed, languishing away until I perish, fat and sexually conquered, snuffed out in the spring of my youth.

Instead he's trapped in Kensington, trapped in the palace and the institution, and Alex doesn't come to save him or rescue him, despite the quip about being "Bit short for a stormtrooper". (hashtag #imtaller)

The moment that stands out for me in that scene is this:

but they meet in the middle of the room

They meet in the middle. Alex has come to Henry, he has stepped beyond the wall that separates them, but here they meet in the middle.

“And I said, ‘That’s great, Mum, but as long as you’re letting Gran keep me trapped, it doesn’t mean a fucking thing,’” Henry says. Alex stares down at him, shocked and a little impressed.

Henry is trapped in his circumstances, the palace, the family he's been born into, but when he's with Alex he's freer than he could ever be. Alex gives him that space, carves it out. (it's like the fireside scene from the movie where Henry has the line about the prince's heart "did beat freely once more" and I cried over that because Alex gives Henry freedom.)

Alex loves Henry, deeply and fiercely and forever, and so the next step is logical to him:

“Can you explain?” he attempts lamely. “What [Henry's grief over Arthur is] like? What I can do?”

He wants to know because he wants to know what he can do. He wants to understand so he can act, even if it means doing nothing. If that's what Henry needs then that is what he will do. I've read some beautiful fics that show Alex actively caring for Henry during a depressive or grief-filled episode, and I've read fics where all Alex does is be there with him. And both of those choices are valid and perfect because Bea tells Alex what he needs to do.

“Do you understand?” she asks him, looking right into his eyes. “You need to understand this to be with Henry. He is the most loving, nurturing, selfless person you could hope to meet, but there is a sadness and a hurt in him that is tremendous, and you may very well never truly understand it, but you need to love it as much as you love the rest of him, because that’s him. That is him, part and parcel. And he is prepared to give it all to you, which is far more than I ever, in a thousand years, thought I would see him do.”

My brother will love you to the ends of the earth but there will be days when he will struggle to love himself. And you need to know that you are getting both Henrys.

There is a reason why "for better or for worse" is a traditional wedding vow. It's because you are promising to be with that person, to love that person, to support them through the shittiest times just as much as you will celebrate the best of times with them.

Sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me prov'd, I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

To use the Bard's words, love is not love if it fucks off the second things get too hard. Love is not love if it decides that "nah, I liked the person you were yesterday more, please stop growing and changing even if it is just happening because I understand and know more about you". Every single one of us is altering with every single day. We get a little older, a little wiser. Things happen and we have to change and adapt. We reveal a little bit more about ourselves.

Love is not love if it decides that something is too ugly or depressing.

The more Alex comes to know and understand Henry, the more he loves him. And even when he finds out about Henry's depression he's not noping out of there. He's turning up - literally and metaphorically - and we had the foreshadowing that he would do this long before this awful moment:

Listen: I’ll fly to London right now and pull you out of whatever pointless meeting you’re in and make you admit how much you love it when I call you “baby.” I’ll take you apart with my teeth, sweetheart.

If you want out of the meeting then I will do that. If you want to be taken apart then I will do that. If you want to be held then I will do that. Tell me what to do, let me do the things that I know you love because I know you and I want to show you that I know you.

Henry subjected himself to the mortifying experience of being known and it results in them getting married. Because Alex fell in love and he made the choice to see it through. He could have bailed at any time - hell, Henry himself even gave him an out. And what was Alex's response to that?

He wrote him a list and ended with this:

20. The fact that you loved me all along I keep thinking about that last one ever since you told me, and what an idiot I was. It’s so hard for me to get out of my own head sometimes, but now I’m coming back to what I said to you the night in my room when it all started, and how I brushed you off when you offered to let me go after the DNC, how I used to try to act like it was nothing sometimes. I didn’t even know what you were offering to do to yourself. God, I want to fight everyone who’s ever hurt you, but it was me too, wasn’t it? All that time. I’m so sorry. Please stay gorgeous and strong and unbelievable. I miss you I miss you I miss you I love you. I’m calling you as soon as I send this, but I know you like to have these things written down.

(Emphasis is mine. Obvs.)

Alex knows that he has been loved since the Olympics, and the way that Henry has loved him has changed (which is different to altering) because to begin with Henry denied himself Alex to protect himself, and then after the DNC he offered to deny himself Alex to protect Alex. To give Alex a shot at his dream and life plans, all the things that Henry didn't think he could be a part of.

That moment, that offer Henry made, is before the storming of Kensington when everything is laid bare for Alex - how Henry thought he could have something, a small piece of Alex until Alex got bored or frustrated and then left him. (The infererence that other people have done that to Henry in the past will never leave me or not break my heart.) But now Henry knows that Alex is all in, will wait for however long it takes for them to work this out, and so that email is Alex's promise and reminder of that. The stream of "I miss you" without pause going straight into "I love you" makes it clear - Alex isn't even pausing for breath to let Henry know this and he will speak to Henry before he reads this but Alex knows him. Knows he likes to "have these things written down".

Here is my promise to you. Here is that reminder. Here is my choice.

So when Bea tells Alex that he needs to love and accept all the parts of Henry because Henry is willing to give Alex all of those pieces of him, Alex's response is instant. He's already made that choice, even if he didn't consciously realise it. So much of his relationship with Henry has been unconscious and he's caught up with his brain weeks, months, years later down the line.

“But I’ve always felt it, in him. There’s this side of him that’s … unknowable.” He takes a breath. “But the thing is, jumping off cliffs is kinda my thing. That’s the choice. I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”

Alex knows that he will never fully understand what it was like for Henry to lose his father in the way that he did. He can be told the story and he can see the effect of it but he cannot understand it. Not fully. His love-as-a-noun is looking on the tempest of Henry's emotions and he's not moving.

He is choosing to stand on the cliff and he is choosing to jump off it. He loves Henry. He loves the Henry who has depression and grief so visceral it incapacitates him. He loves the Henry who crafts words so carefully to express more than the words themselves ever could. He loves the Henry who is funny and smart and cutting with his wit. He loves the Henry who gives himself up so completely and loves so deeply.

Alex loves Henry all the more because he sees just how strong and brilliant he is behind the polished veneer of the Prince of Wales. (For this I could copy in the entire maps email, or the scene after the LA hotel night when Alex watches Henry transform himself into the Prince.) Alex loves Henry all the more because he is let in on those dark moments, that Henry trusts him and wants him there when he is at his most vulnerable.

Alex loves Henry for who he is, and Henry is who he is because he's been through all the things he's been through. The perfect version of the prince that Alex sneered at at the beginning of the book, the one that he was enamoured with but didn't have the words or the emotional intelligence to understand why, has been altered with each new revelation. Alex has discovered more and more about who Henry is behind that front he puts on to the world and he's still here, standing in Kensington, telling Bea he's not going anywhere. Even if he never fully understands it, even if this part of Henry remains slightly shrouded to him because he can understand the concept but not the reality.

Alex's love did not alter when it alteration found.

[mrs-monaghan]

Ahm I get what are you saying but that really isn't an excuse to defend Jikookers who hate to Tae or put down tkk moments.

In that way you are agreeing with people who hate tf out of BTS because of their Fandom. Or just look at our own fandom, past months solos became unbearable, especially JK and JM solos are at each pthers throat all the time by spreading hate full hashtags etc. Can I say I hate JK from now on because his fb is always coming for Jimin before celebrating his win ? They were hating Jimin since the moment FACE dropped and JK wasn't even debuted. Does that make sense ? Or last time, JM solos trended hashtags accusing a karmy to be JM anti and JK solo to the point even JAKSAL had to come and defend the karmy saying they are not a JM anti. Others trended hashtags defending that karmy, so can they say they hate Jimin from now on because PJMS are nasty af ? If these Jikookers hate Tkkrs cut them out, especially if they are affecting your view of tae or tkk.

And I saw some of comments saying they were agreeing until they read the last part of my ask. But did I lie ? JK didn't gone to Jimin's performance stages, it was a fact. Jimin asked him to come multiple times, asked him to get out of the home and come more often. That also didn't happened. JK said he won't come multiple times then and there..so why am I the bad guy for pointing it out ? Something he did and said ? Aren't we all about support members but also admit when they did something insensitive ? If this was case with tkk, these same Jkkrs will point it out as a gotcha moment, don't lie. 'Oh Tae asked JK to come multiple times but he didn't came because he dont care much about tae'. I just dont wanna be hypocrite and blatantly belive and support Jikook especially JK, when they do something insensitive. Just like I think JK's success for SEVEN wasn't organic like Jimin.

For some reasons we will never know and all we can do is speculate, JK couldn't support Jimin in person. So this man did it online. He showed up. He fucking showed up. He didn't have to and most definitely didn't need to but he did.

Fuck you, anon. Seriously. If u don't think JK cares about Jimin u can fuck right off.

Even if u take your shipping goggles off JK promoted the hell out of FACE. And Jimin being who is he is with all the fans that he's got, would have made it and achieved all that he did without JK praising him and his album. And JK knows this too just like we do. But he still did it. Did u see any other member go all out like JK did? No! And even with whatever agenda u may have u know this is true.

And he did show up during Jimin's practise incase you have forgotten. You are coming off like a JK anti and I gotta say I don't like it very much.

I am not friends with any Jikookers who behave the way you are describing so yes I agree they need to be cut off and disowned. That we agree on. But what we will not do is stomp all over JK's love and adoration for Jimin. Nah, fuck that. That man loves the hell out of Jimin and I cannot believe that this is even a debatable subject.

Someone explain to me why we jump to conclusions when we don't have the whole picture???

[piracytheorist]

Just watched episode 33 in dub and uhhhhh

I don't know, but it really feels like the dub tried to be more woke and go like "This isn't feminist enough, Yor needs to be more self-assured!" or something. Like, she actually sounds like a professional assassin, and... I think that misses the point? I mean, I feel we're supposed to see the two different sides of Yor; the meticulous assassin and the kind woman who loves her family, and how those two can coexist at the same time. Like, she'll be super kind when she kills people, and she will accidentally yeet her daughter 100 meters across the sea because of her assassin skills, and she's both.

In the original, when Sniff Jobs calls Yor a heartless woman, her voice is very calm and kind when she explains herself. In the dub her voice sounds assertive and bossy, like she's almost offended someone would dare question her morals after she killed a bunch of people.

It makes for an entirely new characterization... and I really don't appreciate the change in that route. If anything, making her more assertive makes her whole questioning of her identity and purpose as an assassin kinda moot. Like, when she tells Sniff Jobs "I killed them. I had to. Sorry about that" her "Sorry" sounds a little... sarcastic? I don't know any Japanese but in the original she sounds like she recognizes it was a necessary evil, like she wishes she didn't have to do it. In the dub she sounds like "LMAO who cares".

AND THAT'S NOT THE POINT OF YOR'S CHARACTER. She doesn't see her targets are pigs for the slaughter, or as pawns to be taken away. She sees them as people and respects them and tries to deliver a quick and painless death. It's a weird dynamic and the story is openly not excusing her but THAT IS THE WHOLE POINT. IT MAKES HER LAYERED.

I mean, when poison gas guy covers her in that cloud of gas, she says "That was so rude!" In the original you can actually believe that Yor felt that the guy's choice of weapon was uncalled for. In the dub, Yor hasn't built that trust with the audience for us to think that she thinks any of that as rude, so it doesn't make any sense for her to even say that!

And when she's hit by katana guy and spends a few good seconds wondering what's happening... she doesn't sound, well, funny. In the original she sounds a little silly yes but again. That's the point. She's having a near-death experience, and we can understand some silliness as her control slips. It's what makes her jumping to thinking about Loid's shirts and Anya's library books make sense. She's in a weird state and of course she's going to think of things she shouldn't be thinking at that exact moment.

Meanwhile, the dub makes her sound like "Oh shit I'm going to die what am I going to do"... and then she thinks about the shirts and the books and it doesn't make any sense! If she was logical and had her wits with her, she wouldn't jump to silly matters like that. It's a jarring change and it's unfortunately backed by her entire characterization in the dub, where she's more assertive and trying to look less naive and self-conscious.

And it's annoying. Hashtag Not My Yor.

Finally, there were some slight changes in dialogue that I'm not sure I understood why they happened, and that they took away some great points? Like, first, when she says she has to clean up the world, that things haven't changed and that it's more important now to do that - as she thinks of the Forgers - in the dub it's "Things haven't changed, and they never truly will". Like, bruh. Do they even care about her characterization or not. If anything, saying those lines while she thinks of the Forgers... kinda makes it sound like she's complaining. In the original, the "It's more true now than ever" makes her sound like she thinks of them as an inspiration to keep doing what she does. The "They never truly will" in the dub... makes her sound like she thinks of them as a burden.

Like, idk. Maybe I'm just taking it too far. But I really didn't like it.

And then, when she grabs the katana with her hand, she says "I don't need there to be peace" like what. Uhm. I assumed the original meant that she didn't care if she didn't have any peace, not the entire fucking world. Did I just read it wrong all this time? Did the manga and the anime subs give us a wrong translation, or did the dub translators just throw the dialogue into google translate and gave the voice actress whatever mess it threw out?

All that said, I don't blame the voice actress. She's just doing her job with what she's given, and with what I assume are the directorial choices.

But it still sucks.

[cursed-daydreamer]

~Everything about green and blue~

So, after finishing Rise, I should've been shell-shocked, but actually, I wasn't... And the reason is because that had happened a while before I start reading it, when the ending was spoiled for me...🗿... (The main point of it I mean, when we realized Rhian is evil and Rafal is good)

And now the same thing happened with Fall... but to be honest, the ending of Fall wasn't that unpredictable... ( Considering the stuff that went down with Rhian)

but of course the anger and tragedy are still there, alongside an extreme urge to strangle Rhian to death.

Now that I've finished both books, I have a very big question annoyingly hanging in the air since no one seems to pay any mind or have an answer for it (yet).

Anyway here it is:

I've seen some people say that (in Rise), the twins' eye color wasn't mentioned, that we only know they have light colored eyes... Which is totally wrong!!

Yes, Rhian's eye color wasn't mentioned, but there are 4 times that Soman described Rafal's eyes as blue .

And so with all this, we know that (in Rise), Rafal, the evil schoolmaster (later the good one) has icy blue eyes.

(Tiny spoiler from Fall)

But then suddenly, in Fall, we read that Rhian's eyes are blue! (icy blue on top of that) and Rafal's eyes are GREEN!

... And it's not even the end!!

In the school for good and evil (#1), when Agust Sader possesses the good schoolmaster's soul (Rafal's soul), his hazel eyes turn blue, clearly the color of Rafal's eyes.

...So if Rafal's true eye color is green afterall, shouldn't sader's eyes have turned green instead of blue...?... And no matter what evil stuff Rhian did, I don't think he had any kind of control over the appearance characteristics or the eye color of his dead brother's ghost... :\ ...

And GOSH ! The covers also mismatch! The 1st book's cover seems to be for the second one and the second book's cover seems to be for the first one... If we put it this way, from the eye color to the plots, it'll all make sense... But in fact it's quite the contrary...

So pray tell, what the hell?!

I really am confused... Am I missing something? Did Rafal change his eye color ? Can this possibly just be a mistake? :")))

A spoiler from fall: in the ending, the part that Rafal says we were made as one,... Could that be a hint ? Like some sort of clue ...? But then again, they clearly are twins... How can their habits and personalities have changed so easily... ? And what does it have to do with their eye color ?... This just made things much more vague for me :\\\

So...that's all I came up with, I put hashtags so if you had any idea, please comment and drag me out if this sea of confusion...

[sunset-synthetica]

OPTIMUS BINGO. NEOW.

I FUCKING LOVE YOU /PLATONIC

hashtag girl

I'm gonna talk abt TFP because you know that's what my brain is unfortunately filled with and also Optimus has no right to be as interesting as she is given the show's overall quality.

There's. so much about her that I love. The weight in her movements and the consideration she puts into them. How fucking old and tired and worn down she feels. The autistic swag. Her speech patterns and expressions. Her role in the War and her duties as a Prime and how heavily it weighs on her.

Firstly, something I actually like about TFP is how the mecha have a lot of weight. The ground shakes when they move, their movements tend to be sort of slow and fluid, and, especially in the first few episodes, there are several really great shots that put into perspective how fucking MASSIVE the mecha are.

In Optimus' case, all of that remains true, but there's also the way she interacts with others. Her movements are very calculated, especially when it comes to her hands. It gives you the sense that she's aware of her size and strength and moves accordingly.

This is further underlined by seeing how she moves during battle: she's a heavy hitter, as- unlike Arcee or Bumblebee, who tend to use speed to their advantage- Optimus often uses her own frame as a weapon, and every punch has a great sense of weight and force behind it.

This contrast is incredibly cool and works so well to tell us more about Optimus. It shows us that she can absolutely be dangerous and there's a reason she's alive even after so long, while also making it clear that she's well aware of her strength and cares about others. She knows how to use her power incredibly well.

It reminds us that she's been through a lot. She's been fighting and commanding and making decisions for so long now, she's gotten perfectly used to it, but it just weighs on her and tires her out all the more.

She doesn't allow herself to participate in celebrations, or laugh, or display any sign of emotional vulnerability as long as she can help it, all so she can focus on her role. And, in the moments where she does slip up, she's quick to recover and shut herself back in.

I wish there were more works discussing/portraying the sort of… apotheosis that Optimus has (to an extent) willingly put himself through.

I think that the question of what a person is, what makes you one and how much you can strip away from someone until you're suddenly looking at something- a subject, a concept, rather than a person- is fascinating.

Optimus feels like he's something more than just a person, like he's this immortal being, and that's something he did purposefully, in my opinion. He shut himself off and stripped himself down to this- at first glance- simple idol, an idea rather than a person. It gives others hope and a sense of direction, even in desperate times, and she's willing to give them that at the cost of who she is.

She recognized the mythical status that came with his primehood, coupled with how much people looked up to her as their leader during such difficult times, and decided to fit herself into the shape of her idealized, perfect self.

She's a tragic and sad character because this is a role she didn't want, made all the more difficult by the War, and she still gave it more than what anyone could have asked for her.

Something I want to note is how others react when she puts away the act. In the scene where Starscream escapes with the keys, and Optimus does the dramatic yelling at the sky thing, it's clear that Bulkhead and Ratchet are surprised and unnerved by this. I wouldn't say they're afraid exactly, but there's certainly an amount of uncertainty and weariness there.

And, to a certain extent, it's an understandable reaction. It's made pretty clear that Optimus keeps themself very closed off and controlled, so to see them slip up like this is likely something entirely new to Bulkhead and a very rare sight to Ratchet.

But, on the other hand, it shows us how unrealistic the expectations the Autobots, albeit unintentionally, put on Optimus are. Optimus' outburst isn't him endangering his teammates, he doesn't make a reckless decision or punch a hole through a wall or anything of the sort. He yells it out. This would have been a pretty expected reaction from a lot of the other characters, but it's sudden and scary coming from Optimus.

I also really love her expressions in general. Especially how she speaks. She does her best to avoid misunderstanding, making herself as clear as possible and using 'big words' because they're more accurate (the autism is strong).

However, I do think a lot of how she presents herself simply is her. Some of it is a facade, but I do not think she's actually the joking type as she's often made out to be. Were she not in such a position, I think she would be similar to how she is now. We saw that with Orion Pax, who was much more trusting and expressive, but still more reserved than a lot of the others.

Ultimately, Optimus is a very sophisticated character, and sadly, a lot of the things that make them interesting get often either ignored, or mischaracterized to hell.

They tend to often be portrayed as naive, almost childish, especially in romantic scenarios, which is very off-putting for several reasons.

Often, people point to her attempts at talking it out with Megatron and establishing peace as a sign of naivete, and I don't think that's accurate.

She's hopeful. She's flawed, yes, but at her core, Optimus is a good, genuine and kind person with a lot of empathy. She tries to extend that towards people that many would deem either irredeemable, or just not worth it.

I think that's far from naivete. Optimus understands that they do have to kill to survive. They understand that not every situation is fit for peace talks, that they can't let themself or their team be put in danger just so they can try to talk someone down.

They know when they can try to negotiate, and when it's out of the question, and, in this situation, that's where the line between being naive and simply hopeful is.

Something else that makes me quite uncomfortable is the frequent attempts to "fix" her by making her more emotional and expressive.

Her stoicism and "lack of emotion" are not inherently negative, in that they are an aspect of her personality, and removing them changes who she is. And while the role she has forced herself into does hurt her, I believe the way she acts stems heavily from her natural personality, rather than an act.

I often see her being portrayed as far more prone to emotional outbursts, laughing relatively often, having sarcastic remarks or being very flirty, and while this is often just the mís-characterization that comes from being a new writer, it's telling how this is something that occurs specifically in the heavily autistic-coded character of the show.

The third option is villainizing her. I most often see this in relation to his treatment of Arcee, specifically her need for revenge and trauma.

As I've already stated, Optimus is a hopeful person. He hopes, above all, that there's always a right path, a way to do things that's morally and logically the best. He has a sense of this greater good he's always working towards, always trying to follow, and I feel that while this does impair his judgment at times, it's by far not enough to make him an evil person.

His disagreement with Arcee stems from this idea of the greater good- that forgiveness is the key, that revenge is always bad and placing yourself on your enemy's level is to be avoided at all costs. If you're kind to your enemies, if you show them mercy, surely they'll treat you the same, right?

Whether it be against Starscream or Airachnid, defenseless or in battle, Arcee should not exact her revenge as it would accomplish nothing.

Optimus directly contradicts this sentiment later on by almost killing a defenseless Megatron. However, I don't think Optimus was lying or trying to manipulate Arcee by his earlier statement. Rather, I think, Optimus is forced to rethink his stance on the killing of a defenseless enemy if it means preventing future harm. At this moment, Megatron is at his mercy, and given all he's done and will likely do in the future if left alive, Optimus chooses to end it right there, even if his attempt is unsuccessful.

In the end, I think Optimus is far from naive, hypocritical or evil- he's simply flawed. He wants to do the right thing, and though he makes mistakes, they are honest mistakes, coming from a place of care and hope, rather than malice.

One last thing I want to talk about is Optimus' relationship to Megatron.

Megatron hates Optimus, that's pretty clear. He hates them for taking away his title, for their 'for the greater good' stance, for their forgiveness and wisdom and for the way they care about others and want to see the best in people.

Optimus' feelings, on the other hand, feel much more complex.

On one hand, he's aware of the danger Megatron poses. He's aware of the destruction the War has already caused and of the threat it poses for as long as Megatron is alive and able to enact his will.

Optimus understands that Megatron must be stopped, but this is where things get complicated.

He does want, and tries, to stop Megatron, but is in constant conflict with himself over how to achieve this. He's hesitant to kill Megatron at the start, even during battle, he mourns Megatron's 'death' in the first few episodes.

He wants to reason his way out of the conflict, because he still hopes that Megatron could see reason.

I've detailed their relationship more here, as it's a very interesting dynamic and I think it should be talked about outside of the context of shipping.

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi!! Neil Gaiman just answered my question if Anna and Georgia are in GO and the answer is NO. Anna was pregnant and Georgia was offered a part but turned it down for….. reasons? Unknown to us other than that she believed the part should go to someone older and more experienced? Wonder what part she’s been offered and what her character could’ve been. Also, if there was a hypothetical season 3 we have to be worried if they’ll be cast in it now. Cause he said that they’ll definitely get a part somewhere in the show

Wow, okay...my inbox has been blowing up since Neil's post earlier. Well, for those who haven't gotten to see it, @yami-no-kokoro helpfully posted a screencap above, and it seems that Georgia and Anna will not be appearing in GO season 2...but I'm not entirely sure I buy the explanations as to why.

The first thing that struck me was that Neil actually answered this question at all, instead of "wait and see"-ing it as he has done with seemingly every other GO 2-related question. I also noticed that Neil specifically mentioned that Georgia was offered a part, but AL was not. I'm sure there was a reason for it being phrased that way, but had AL been offered a part, it would've been very easy and made sense to say that there.

As for the explanation of her being pregnant and avoiding people because of Covid, we know and have evidence that this is not really true, as AL was in Scotland during filming with Lyra, and was photographed in a restaurant in Glasgow eating with Michael and Jon Hamm. Also, Michael was on set every day with countless people and then with her, so anything he would've been exposed to, she would have been as well. Logically, then, it seems like she was not taking stringent precautions against Covid, because had that been the case, she would have stayed in Wales instead of following Michael to Scotland for six months for a film shoot while pregnant during a pandemic. So to me, that makes Neil's response seem like a PR one, for the sake of glossing over the fact that AL was not offered a part.

In terms of Georgia...again, the explanation given is a curious one. My feeling is that Neil was softening up the truth, which I am guessing is that Georgia was offered the part, looked it up online, found out the person she was asked to play was older than her, got pissed off, and declined the offer. As you said, Anon #1, there don't seem to be many reasons that Georgia would turn down a role or any opportunity to further her career, so had the part been a more glamorous or attention-grabbing one, she probably would have accepted it without hesitation. I do not at all buy for a second that this had anything to do with Georgia pushing for "age appropriate" casting, except in the sense of "I'm too young to play this part and how dare you even ask, go cast some old hag instead." But again, that translated into another PR response (and a nicely finessed one, which is not at all surprising since Neil is a talented writer) that does indeed reflect well on Georgia.

I know tonight was the BAFTAs, so I'll just touch on that briefly, but Anon #2, it seems that Georgia was there at the event, but just not on the red carpet:

Right away, I have to say I'm confused by "I find it all too much" and am not even sure what that means. Earlier in the day, Georgia posted a picture of herself breastfeeding Birdie and hashtagged it #mybaftalook, but it didn't seem to get a lot of traction, as all I saw on Twitter and elsewhere was pictures of David (and Catherine, and Billie) at the BAFTAs. So I don't really know what was going on here, but her entire vibe today just seemed so weird overall. Why would she not want a picture with David on the red carpet? Was she not invited to walk the red carpet? I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but putting out the narrative of "I find it all too much" just seems disingenuous, especially since she was on the red carpet with David only recently at the Olivier Awards. (EDIT: What I wrote here was based on a misinterpretation of Georgia's post that was very different to how other people read it. I have attempted to clarify my thoughts here.)

Going back to GO 2, though, I did see some of the comments that you mentioned, Anon #3, and I find it interesting that people want to categorize specific blogs as "haters" or "anti-Georgia/Anna" when a) More often than not, it seems like I end up saying out loud what others are thinking, but by no means am I the only one thinking it--especially if the results of the recent poll about GT/AL being in season 2 are any indication; and b) I do not categorize myself as anti-Georgia/Anna, but rather anti-the mentality that they are somehow above reproach or criticism simply because of who their partners are.

I have never and will never tell anyone that they shouldn't like Georgia or Anna. If you are a fan of theirs, then by all means, be a fan. Nobody is all bad (or all good, for that matter), and if you like them, that is completely your prerogative, and go ahead and have a gay old time. But I will not be quiet about the things I've seen from Georgia and AL that discomfit me, nor put up with a narrative that I feel is phony. And I think that right there is the nuance that seems to be getting missed--that what I have a problem with and dislike is Georgia and AL's actions/things they've said, rather than just them as people. I think if folks looked at it that way, it might also help them view Georgia and AL as their own person instead of "David's wife"/"Michael's girlfriend" and would enable us to better have these discussions.

If what Neil said is, in fact, true, I do feel relieved to know that Georgia and AL are not in GO 2. To me, GO is something incredibly special, and Georgia and AL just do not "fit" in that world, and them being in the show would have had a detrimental effect on the illusion/magic of the GO universe. I think the analogy that best explains this is Mary Martin as Peter Pan on TV in the 1950s. In the scene where Peter flies, the actor is put in a harness/on wires to give the appearance of flight. It's the illusion that enthralls us, that immerses us in that sense of magic, and in that moment--even just briefly--you don't see the wires and start to believe that human beings can fly. Season 1 of GO and the incredible chemistry between Michael and David created that same sense of magic and wonder in so many of us....but having Georgia and AL in it would be like seeing the wires.

As for a possible season 3, there's about a thousand different factors that will determine if there even is a season 3, let alone if Neil will cast them or even have parts for them to play. We saw how long it took between seasons 1 and 2 of GO (though Covid was obviously a large part of that), but if that is any indication of how long it could be until season 3, a lot of things can change in a few years' time, so who knows what will happen.

So, those are my thoughts on today's developments (and of course this had to happen on Mother's Day, of all days). Hopefully we'll have more GO 2 stuff to talk about in the coming weeks...

[yo9urt]

more japanese thoughts hashtag linguistics major posting

last night i was thinking about このそのあのどの and how the existence of the whole こそあど family essentially shows us that those 4 prefixes have some sort of longstanding historical association with here/there/far/[question] and then i Realized. the reason この、その、あの、どの have to be followed by a noun is because they're literally "here/etc. の [thing]"...it's literally just の doing its classic possessor/noun relationship job...actually its probably better to say that instead of having to be followed by a noun, nouns have to be PRECEDED by the の group because の　is there to establish that relationship...(whereas if you just use これ　etc. there's no relationship to establish because you already packed the thing into the word itself...)

^ i actually dont know if thats true on a linguistic level but honestly it makes so much sense im 99.9999% sure its true

having spoken an analytic language from birth and learned a fusional synthetic language in school i find it so fun and cute to see how an agglutinative synthetic language does things and to be able to compare them! with english being analytic we inflect for almost nothing (there are only 7 inflectional morphemes in this entire paragraph so far) and just kind of lay everything out on the table and of course we have a stricter word order, spanish and japanese both have MUCH more inflection going on (looking at you adjectives and adjectival nouns) but spanish as a fusional language prefers to take all that meaning and stuff it into 1-2 morphemes/inflections whereas japanese makes long stacked strings of visible morphemes each with 1 individual concrete meaning. like legos. idk it's just really cool to learn about this kind of thing in school and on wikipedia and wherever and then actually learn 3 different kinds of languages and see it in action

[stitchar]

So I finally watched the Shockwave episode in Earthspark and um....

Hm, I don't know how I feel about him.

Please understand, what I wrote down under the cut is my own opinion about this. Also CW for mentions of experimentation implications (ie; surgery stuff)

I love the design, the choice of his voice and all that, but the way he reacts to Terrans is... Not what I expected

I don't know, just the way he refers to them as... Freaks of nature somehow put me off so wrong about him. Like, raising so many red flags that I want to drop this character immediately.

Most Shockwaves I know about growing up through shows and movies had always been; the Mad Scientist. He experimented a lot of inhumane things to test the limit of Cybertronians body and mind. He cloned stuff, he even trained subjects to fight for Decepticon cause. He's in the top list you want to avoid because he's a Glados if she has a body to run around.

To me, it'd make more sense that Shockwave would be more interested in experimenting the Terrans and their unique coding/schematics to figure out how they tick. I'd think it'd be a far more interesting if Shockwave actually states he wants to run some experiments instead of going on about how Terrans aren't true Cybertronians.

Because if he does attempt to break Terrans down by parts to code, to figure out their building components, not only Megatron would be going protective Grandpa mode; he'll more than likely try and use those schematics to create armies of Decepticons to take over Earth.

Because let's face it;

Hashtag can hack into any internet no issue. If she was trained/experimented by Shockwave, she could ruin cities, even countries. Hell she can control any of your devices and use it maliciously if she could. She may even hack into Cybertronian databases and warships to sway the tide of war if she could.

Nightshade, as far as I know, scanned their owl mode from a single stone statue. I know that may be a reference to something else, but so far as I know, none of the Cybertronians had actually scanned a statue and used it. So to me, Nightshade is a rare case, cause if Cybertronians can scan a stone; Shockwave could've made Earthspark's take on Rock Lords.

While Thrash, Twitch, and Jawbreaker are the usual standard cybertronian models (a grounder, a flyer and a dinobot), that won't stop Shockwave from wanting to experiment with them. Who knows what he'll do to them too.

But that's all the limited knowledge I have of Shockwave, so I don't really know too much about Shockwave from the comics.

I don't care if people disagree with me about ES Shockwave, I personally believed they just missed the opportunity to make Shockwave to be a larger threat next to Mandriod.

[enconfess]

i want to talk about rinne more!! and how his character is constricted by the fact that he is in a gacha game :/

because first thing first i’m pretty sure him being loud and a party person type is like the first core trait they came up with, since they wanted to add a new character who is an adult and therefore can drink and make just slightly nsfw jokes. that in itself is totally cool.

but they also added his love for risk taking and i am convinced that was because they also need to essentially normalize gambling, which in turn makes people be more comfortable with spending a lot of money on gacha.

and rinne ended up being a very compelling character!! i love him!

BUT his hidden insecurities and penchant for self sacrifice don’t work as a consistent characterization when he very very rarely loses!

specifically when it comes to pachinko, him asking niki for money is always played as a joke. AND his motivation is often said to be secretly just wanting the people he cares about to be happy, which is true about him but it just isn’t the whole picture! irl gambling can put a LOT of strain on relationships but enstars doesn’t really explore this (aside from the jokes with niki) because it does not want to show a character be in serious financial difficulties caused by gambling BECAUSE it wants people to spend lots of money on gacha and not to consider the possible fallout of their actions.

all of this is to say, it annoys me when people act like “oooh rinne as a character is all about love and friendship actually”, like NO. that’s what happyelen wants you to take away from this but i just can’t agree with it.

rinne cares about other people deeply, yes. but i think he is also self destructive and people should let him be hashtag problematic. it is much more interesting to me explore him as a complex character like that.

(side note: i am more of an occasional fic reader but one of my absolute favorite enstars fics a stumbled upon was about rinne going back to the dorms late at night absolutely wasted because he was too ashamed of himself to go to niki’s place instead. and kanata as his roommate is just there for him in his pain. aughhh)

-🫧

(this got a bit long and i haven’t reread it i hope it makes sense)

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[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/729177591675748352/what-makes-me-doubt-a-supposed-romantic I'm betting they're aware of how insensitive this message is since they're copying and pasting it to other Taekookers and my guess is that's because they want to spread their queerphobic talking points as much as possible. They're not the first person to say something like this to a Taekooker either, I've seen this repeated for years. These "can't be gay if you want kids" and "can't be gay if you sing lyrics with she/her/girl in them" anons show up so regularly in TK discussions they should get a new hashtag #reusable straws Also gotta love the implication that Tae's only focus when choosing a romantic partner is just anyone he can impregnate, like that isn't insulting to every person involved.

Hi anon!

Ah, I just saw this same ask at another blog.. that does make them seem like someone who wants to stir something up. I have gotten a lot of asks like this though, some actually do think like that.. societal standards and cultural influences are quite strict at times.

I feel questions like that one are insulting to everyone who’s been adopted and everyone who (for whatever reason) adopts. It has a sense of.. thinking you can only achieve real parent-child bonds and love if it’s your biological child.. and that is not true. In fact… there are a lot of biological parents who do not love and treat their kids the way they should.

I think the homophobic situation in SK is also part of why some think Tae will choose to have kids with a women. And sure.. it’s probably not going to be smooth sailing for a queer couple to have kids there at all times. But to think Tae will choose society over love.. no that is not the Tae I see, who is trying to be as open as he can.